LADIES FINGER RAITA / LADIES FINGER PACHADI

LADIES FINGER RAITA
Ingredients
Thick Yoghurt – 2 cups
Ladies finger – 2 cups
Green Chilly paste – ½ tsp
Ginger paste – ½ tsp
Oil – for frying and tempering
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Asafetida - A pinch
Salt to taste
Curry leaves – 1 sprig (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
Chaat Masala – a pinch for garnish

Method
Wash and dry the ladies finger. Cut the top and bottom and slice them into roundels.
Heat oil in a kadhai(wok), fry the ladies finger on medium heat until it is crisp. Don’t over fry it, as that will make it crumble like a biscuit. Drain the excess oil on a kitchen towel. Keep aside. Let it cool down. Add a pinch of salt to the fried Ladies finger.
In a bowl Take yogurt, beat the yogurt lightly, add green chillies and ginger paste, the fried ladies finger and some salt and mix well.
In a small pan, take a teaspoon of oil, add the mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, add a pinch of asafetida and then the curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the raita.
You can garnish with coriander leaves and chaat masala if required.
Serve chilled.

GULAB JAMUN

GULAB JAMUN
This is an all time favorite in our home. Kids and adults enjoy this. When I was making this dish at home, little Anoushka(my four and a half year old daughter) was hovering around the area, She didn’t even have the patience to wait for the gulab jamuns to soak in the syrup and wanted to be the first one to taste the jamuns. She calls them Gulam Jamuns, she wanted to taste the first batch of jamuns that I put into the sugar syrup, I had to oblige so that I could continue with my work, on one hand there were jamuns waiting to be fried, thrown in to the syrup and here lil Anoushka was struggling to eat the hot jamuns, so I had to split it, blow over it and then feed her, lest she burn her mouth, with all this happening I was also clicking photos of the jamuns for the blog. My little one and my husband have been an audience to my cooking, decorating, photo clicking, editing and uploading the photos on to my blog ever since I started blogging. Infact, nowadays Anoushka asks me, " Amma are'nt you clicking photos" whenever I am cooking. But hubby dear is very happy these days, getting to try new dishes, while I am happily navigating through blogosphere.

Ingredients
Khoya - 500 gms
Plain flour - 125 gms
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp.
Milk - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 250 gms.
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp.
Saffron - a few strands
Ghee/Refined cooking oil to deep fry

Method
In a bowl, Crumble the khoya. Sieve in the flour and soda together. Mix in the cardamom powder and crushed saffron. Mix well to form a soft dough.While kneading put the milk little by little. Use only as much milk as required for kneading. Make balls of even size.
Heat the ghee/refined oil in a wok. Once hot, keep the flame of your gas low (in sim mode).Put the balls in batches, they will rise up, fry till golden brown. Remove from ghee/oil and keep it aside on a plate. Don’t put into the syrup immediately. This tip of mine helps from the gulab jamuns being very soft and soaking in too much syrup and breaking into the syrup. Once the balls are warm, put them in the syrup. Soak for 10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a glass bowl. When done pour the remaining syrup over the jamuns in the glass bowl and serve it warm.

RAMA NAAMA (RAM NAAM) GOD'S NAME

RAMA NAAMA
My Periamma (Mother’s elder sister) says that however busy we are, the least we can do is take God’s name atleast 3 times in a day. It is believed that uttering the name of Rama 3 times is equivalent to 1000 names of Vishnu.

The Following Shloka is extracted from Vishnu Sahasranamam(1000 names of Vishnu)

“SRI RAMA RAMA RAMETHI
RAME RAAME MANORAME
SAHASRA NAMA THATTULYAM
RAMA NAMA VARAANANE.”

Immediately I asked her as youngsters always ask, how can the utterance of the name of Rama, 3 times can be equivalent to 1000 names of Vishnu?
Periamma said that there is a calculation based on Numbers in astrology.
This is how it works :
Numbers in the astrological books are described in the form of indicative words. These numerical epithets are called katapayathi.
Bana (arrow) i.e. 5,
Dweepa (island) i.e. 7,
Vara 7,
Vayu 5,
Surya 12,
Rudra 11,
Nakshatra 27.
Ka to Jha 1 to 9.
jna 0,
Ta to Dha 1 to 9,
na 0,
Pa to ma 1 to 5,
Ya to Ha 1 to 8.
From the above katapayathi numerological method
Ra = 2, ma = 5 and 2 x 5 = 10.
As Ramas name is uttered 3 times,
its value is 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000.
Isn’t that really nice, you just utter God’s name 3 times a day and get the fruits of uttering it a 1000 times. This is the least that our Modern day busy bees can do. Now no one can complain that we dont have time for prayers.

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and lentil cakes)

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and Lentil Cakes)
Idli is very good for health, since its steam cooked and made of rice and black gram lentil and fermented overnight, its supposed to be very light on the stomach. Idli can be had during typhoid, jaundice or Malaria, its also served to ladies after delivery as it is light on the stomach and very easy to digest. Idli contains very little oil, the oil that we use to grease the moulds is all the oil that we use. If you are using a nonstick idli mould, you don’t need to use oil at all for greasing also.

Each Idli approximately provides 1.67gms of protein, 0.14gms of fat, 9.12 gms of carbohydrates, 0.21gms of minerals, 44.5kcal of energy and 0.09gms of fibre.

It’s a very good breakfast item to be had early in the morning. Idli can be fed to infants 4 months and above. Mash the cooked idlis and feed them, its very nutritious. Here is the basic Idli recipe.

Ingredients
Par boiled rice - 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup
Salt as per taste

Method
Rinse and soak rice and udad dal seperately in water for 2 hours. Grind the two seperately, and mix them together with salt. Keep it overnight for fermentation, In the morning you will see that the batter has risen and doubled in size. Mix the batter well. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

IDLI RAVA IDLIS
Making Idlis using Idli rava
If you are making Idlis using Idli Rava, The proportion you can use is
Idly Rava – 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup
Salt as per taste
Method
Soak the Idly rava and Udad dal separately. When you soak the Idly rava, any impurities will come up, remove it and change the water. Rinse the Udad dal and once it is soaked for around 2-3 hours. Grind it into a fine paste separately, Once the udad dal is grounded, Add the soaked idly rava and grind together with the grounded udad dal and your batte4r is ready. Allow it to ferment overnight. Once the batter has risen, add salt, mix well. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

MASALA IDLI
This is yet another recipe I learnt from my good friend Srilatha and tastes absolutely divine. You can make this with the freshly fermented Idli batter or with yesterdays idly batter. Srilatha says, today you can make idli and next day you can make masala idli for breakfast. This is one dish no one would complain about. People who don’t like Idlis may actually love this spicy idli. Always make the masala to be mixed with the batter, just before you pour into the idli mould else the idli wont taste so good. Don’t mix the masala in the morning and make the idlis in the evening.
Ingredients
Idli batter
Onions - 2
Grated carrot – ½ cup
Green peas – 2 tbsps(optional)
2 green chilies, chopped
1 small piece ginger grated
1/2 tsp. red chili powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
Asafetida - ½ tsp
Peanuts or Cashew nuts – 2 tbsps
Grated fresh coconut - ½ cupSalt to taste
Curry leaves – a sprig
Freshly chopped coriander leaves
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Chana dal (Bengal gram) – 1tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
OilMethod
Finely chop Onions, peel and grate the carrots, grate the ginger, finely chop the chillies.
Fry the Peanuts or Cashew nuts whichever you are using in ghee and keep aside.
In a pan, take some oil, Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chana dal, wait for the mustard seeds to crackle and then add the grated ginger, finely chopped chillies and curry leaves, once they are fried, Add the grated coconut and the grated carrot, salt, turmeric, asafetida, red chilly powder and just stir fry once, so that all the masala mixes well. The carrot should not be cooked, it should be crunchy.
Incase you are adding green peas, after frying the green chillies and ginger, add the peas and fry till you see the peas slightly changing its color and then add the remaining things as mentioned above. Add this masala into the idli batter, also add the fried cashew nuts or peanuts that you are using and mix well. Add coriander leaves and mix well.
Check for salt, if you feel it’s less add at this point. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook.
Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi. Try out the masala idli.

KANJEEPURAM IDLI
Ingredients
Par boiled Rice - 3 cups
Udad dal - 1.5 cups
Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Asafetida - ¼ tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Cooking Oil
Ghee - 2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Method
Rinse and soak par boiled rice and udad dal separately in water for 2 hours. Grind the above coarsely and add asafetida and salt to this. Keep it overnight so that this will ferment. Fry pepper, cumin seeds, grated ginger and curry leaves in ghee. Add this to the batter. Mix everything together. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

Tips:

• Some people add a pinch of soda bi-carb to the idli flour, so that it comes out well, but personally I don’t prefer to add it. Incase, your idli has flopped, may be you can add soda bi-carb and try the next round.

• Someone suggested to me that adding a tablespoon of sago to be soaked along with the udad dal and ground as usual makes the batter soft and the idlis more fluffy. I did try but the results were quite similar except that the idlis were slightly fluffier, you can try this tip.

• Someone also suggested that while grinding the dal and the rice, adding a tablespoon of cooked rice and grinding it along with the batter, will make the idlis softer and fluffier, you can try this tip and let me know.

• You can also add a teaspoon of fenugreek (methi) seeds to the dal and grind it, its good for health and gives a faint fenugreek flavor to the idli. Fenugreek is usually added during winters as it gives heat to the body during the cold season.

Note: Grinding the idli batter in a wet grinder (stone grinder), gives you more batter than grinding it in the mixie. Also the taste will be better when ground in stone.

VENN PONGAL

VENN PONGAL
Ingredients
Rice – 2 cups
Yellow Moong dal - 3/4 cup
Ginger – A small piece
Green Chillies – 2-3
Peppercorns – 1 tsp
Freshly grounded pepper powder – ½ tsp
Freshly grounded cumin powder – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 ½ tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt to taste
Ghee – 2 tbsps
Curry leaves – A sprig
Cashews – 1-2 tbsps (optional)

Method
Wash and soak the rice and dal together for about an hour, this will ensure water retention and cook the khichdi(pongal) better.

You can either finely chop the green chillies and grate the ginger or make a paste of the green chilly and ginger as I have done in this recipe.

In a pan , Take some ghee, Add the cumin seeds and whole black peppercorns(while adding peppercorns, crush one or 2 peppercorns and let them fry. When the peppers burst add the Ginger chilly paste and let it fry, add asafetida, Add the curry leaves and fry. Now pour this in the soaked rice and dal, add turmeric, salt, freshly grounded pepper powder and the freshly grounded cumin powder. If you like to add cashew nuts, you can fry some cashew nuts in ghee and add to this mixture. Mix well. Add water to one inch above level of rice and pressure cook it upto 4 whistles. Once you open the cooker your Ven-pongal also known as Khichdi in the north is ready.

Serve it hot with some hot melted ghee and Kadi(Morkzhambu) Spiced Yogurt gravy.

In the south, Pongal is had with chutney and sambhar.

GOD AND THE SPIDER

GOD AND THE SPIDER
God and the SpiderDuring World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on aPacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke andthe crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, Lord, if it be your will, please protectme. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen. After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to drawclose. He thought, Well, I guess the Lord is not going to help meout of this one.Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over thefront of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.He thought what I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor. As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. Lord, forgive me, prayed the young man. I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall. We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways.
Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a merespiders web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always and you will see His great power and love for you.

Always Smile and be happy knowing that whatever u do, God is with you....God loves each individual, we are his children. Spread love and happiness.

STORY OF NAVARATHRI

NAVARATHRI
“Nava” means nine and Rathri (means night). So as the name says it all, it is a festival of nine nights. This festival as most festivals of India is celebrated to rejoice the triumph of good over evil.

This festival also marks the start of the Autumn season, a prelude to winter

(As India doesn’t actually have Autumn, but during this period, the weather is very pleasant, it is not very hot, nor is it raining, and just the beginning of winter, so it isn’t very cold)

There are different stories that go to say why this festival is celebrated.

One story goes to say :
Celebrates Lord Rama's victory over the evil Rakshasa (demon) Ravana. That’s thhe reason they have the Ramleela (story of Rama) plays during the nine nights and burn the effigy of Ravana on the tenth day, signifying that the demon was killed by Lord Rama.

Truimph of Good over Evil. This celebration is done usually in the North of India

The other story is :

The Goddess took the form of Navadurgas to kill the Asura (demon) Mahishasura. That is why she is also called as MAHISHASURAMARDHINI (The one who killed Mahishasura). This is why we celebrate Navarathri in the south.

Here goes the story of Mahishasura

STORY OF MAHISHASURA
The Devas are divine personalities while the Asuras are demons. "Ramba" and "Karamba" were the sons of "Dhanu". Once both Ramba and Karamba undertook severe penance. Karamba had immersed himself up to neck-deep in water and Ramba in blazing fire to propitiate Lord Agni (the Lord of Fire). "Devendra", the king of Devas has foreseen the danger to his throne. He assumed the form of a crocodile, and killed Karamba while he was in deep meditation in the water. Ramba after realizing his brother’s fate got frightened and prepared to commit suicide. Lord Agni couldn’t stand by at this juncture as one of his most devout disciples was preparing to commit suicide because of what Devendra had done to Karamba. Therefore, Lord Agni appeared before Ramba and asked him what boon he wanted. Ramba requested for a son who could not be killed by the Devas, Asuras or men. The boon was granted.

On his way back home, Ramba met a beautiful female buffalo. One should also remember that all Asuras were believed to have buffalo head. The male buffalo (male Asura) is called "Mahishan" and the female buffalo (female Asura) is called "Mahishi". He fell in love with her at first sight and decided to take her home. They had to halt a night in a jungle during their trip back home. At midnight while Mahishan (Ramba) was making love with the Mahishi, another wild male buffalo got intervened and killed Ramba. The grief-stricken she-buffalo also gave up her life by jumping into the funeral fire of Ramba. It is a fact in the myth that once a boon is given, under any circumstances the boon has to materialize. Therefore a baby boy is born from the funeral fire of Ramba and the she-buffalo. The boy is later named as "Mahishasura".

Mahishasura the demon was born as a union of Rambha and a she buffalo (Mahishi) and consequently was a half man and half buffalo. The mighty demon was rendered more powerful as a result of the boon from God Agni given to his father bestowed upon him,

Mahishasura was brought up by Ramba’s (his father’s) relatives who trained him to be their king.

Mahishasura was very power hungry.

He worshipped Lord Brahma and performed severe penance for a boon. The Lord was pleased and appeared before him. Mahishasura obtained a boon from Lord Brahma by which no man could kill him. Mahisha forgot to mention that “ No woman could kill him”. He thought that he can easily overpower any woman with his powers. This was what brought his downfall later.

After receiving the boon, Mahishasura began expanding his kingdom. He was a big threat to the existence of the entire universe. Believing that he had become invincible, Mahisha along with his asuras attacked the devas. A fierce battle took place between the Devas and the Asuras. The Devas lost and the Asuras then captured the heavens. No God, be it Indra, the king of the Hindu gods, or be it Kumara, commander of the armies in heaven, could defeat him. All the Devas had to flee from heaven. The defeated and extremely helpless Devas then approached Lord Vishnu to help them.

Vishnu first took the form of Narasimha and then that of Varaha, but failed to defeat Mahishasura. They then approached Lord Shiva. Shiva opened his third eye, which could destroy all the three worlds, to set free the fire of disaster. But that was also in vain. After this they approached Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma had given the boon to the demon, so they requested him to come up with something to destroy the demon.

The God’s then decided to create a Goddess out of the collective powers or 'Tejas' of all the God's.

Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, with the help of Goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvathi and the other Gods brought out flames out of their mouth embodying their collective energy (shakti).

Out of these flames was born DURGA.

Since Durga was born out of the combined power of the Gods, she would possess their combined powers and also the combined beauty of the female Trinity.

The Gods then gifted Durga with ten different weapons, she was armed by a trident from Shiva, a Chakra from Vishnu, bows and arrows from Vayu, They gave her wonderful garbs to wear and Himalaya offered her a Lion. Astride the lion, the devi began to roar.

The Goddess filled with the combined power and anger (since she was born out of fire) of all the Gods was fierce to behold and her very sight scared the demons. The Devi was frightening, yet beautiful!

Durga provoked Mahishasura by her laughter to wage war with her. To see what had happened, Mahishasura came out of his palace. Although the goddess scared the demons just by sight, Mahishasura was ready for a fight. He accepted the challenge, he sent the brave and strongest warriors of his army, (Chikshur, Chamar, Mahahanu, Biralaksha, Vakshal) to attack the Goddess. The Goddess killed them all. Finally Mahisha came to battle with Durga.

Then Mahisha attacked the Goddess. and a fierce battle ensued Mahishasura assumed the form of a wild buffalo and using his hooves, tail and mouth, he started hurting the devas who were there to assist the Devi. The Devi then caught Mahisha in a noose. Mahisha then assumed the shape of a lion. The Devi chopped the Lion's head. Mahisha then assumed the form of a man carrying a sword. On killing that, the asura assumed the form of an elephant. The Devi chopped off the elephant's trunk. Mahisha again assumed the form of a buffalo. The battle ensued for nine days and nine nights. On the 10^th Day however, Goddess Durga picked up a bowl of nectar, slowly sipping it she looked at Mahisha and suddenly, she jumped on Mahisha's back. With one foot she pressed down his throat and she pushed her (trident) into Mahisha. Mahisha assuming his demon form emerged from the buffalo. Using her sword, the devi then chopped off Mahish's head. Mahisha died.

The Gods, rid of the demon, showered the Goddess with innumerable praises and with reverence prayed to her to appear every time they were in need of her. Granting the same to the Gods, she disappeared to appear again when called with devotion

The battle between Durga and Mahishasura and Mahishasura being killed by the Devi are ritually performed in Kerala as "Mahishasura Vadham" even nowadays.

In some places, it is believed that Shakti, takes the form of Navadurgas to kill Mahishasura. On the tenth day, the Goddess kills the asura, and that day is called Vijayadashami (Dashami is ten and Vijaya means victory). Hence, she is also known as Mahishasuramardhini- the one who vanquished the demon, Mahisha.

Vijayadashami (Also known as Dassera) marks the beginning of good tidings and the elimination of evil forces.

It is believed that Rama also worshipped the Goddess before killing Ravana in the battle.

Hope you'll enjoyed the story of Navarathri.

SPICY POTATO SALAD

SPICY POTATO SALAD
Ingredients
Potatoes - 4
Oil – 2tbsp
Onion – 1 chopped
Green chilies – 1or2 chopped
Red chilly powder - to taste
Salt - to taste
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp.
Curd -2 tbsp.
Lemon juice -1tsp
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp

Method
Boil the potatoes. Don’t over boil it. Peel and cut into cubes. Put the oil into a bowl, microwave for 1 minute. Add the onions and green chilies, microwave for 2 minutes. Mix all the ingredients along with the potatoes, microwave for 1 minute.

Serve hot / chilled

HOME MADE CHIPS

HOMEMADE CHIPS
Homemade Potato ChipsTalking of homemade chips conjures the finest memories of my childhood. Living in a Mumbai suburb, a co-operative society, a cosmopolitan neighbourhood. We were quite united and as thick as a family. Living in this atmosphere can help you to reap the benefit of learning and enjoying multi cuisines.
During our summer vacations, my mother and our neighbours, a Punjabi, a Gujrati, A Maharashtrian and we South-Indians used to negotiaite a deal with the local vegetable vendor situated below our building and buy a sack of potatoes, my neighbour aunty used to warn the vendor, "Heh, Juna batata hi dena ha bhaiyya"(please give us only old potatoes. When my mom used to raise her eyebrows in surprise, aunty used to explain to mom, "You should be very careful when you are buying one goni(one sack), these people will put new potatoes and the chips will be ruined as it will smell of the mud.
So the vendor used to bring the sack upstairs to the fifth floor, where we used to live. The venue was decided, (our Punjabi aunty's house), as their house was big, they were staying in a joint family, there were 2 ladies under one roof, also they had stoves and big size vessels. It was decided that all of us will work together and share the expenses and the chips equally.
We were so excited, that we will be able to work and play together, adding to the joy of eating and tasting the chips. We all ended up in the bathroom washing the potatoes in huge buckets and passing the washed potatoes to the kitchen in another bucket. There was one group which was given the task of peeling the potatoes. Buckets, peelers, knives were brought from all the houses sharing this task of making the chips. The doors of our houses were open giving it a wedding feel. It felt like our regular flats were transformed into a mini factory.
There was such a flurry of activity, with one group, washing the potatoes transferring them into buckets, one group peeling and putting them into buckets filled with water, one group slicing the potatoes and putting them into buckets filled with water.
After some time we took turns in our activities so that we dont get bored doing the same thing, While our group was peeling the potatoes...the Gujrati aunty started saying, "Faster, you girls are so slow, peel faster, we dont have any potatoes for slicing". The slicing was given only to the expert adults, as slicing was the dangerous part where u could cut yourselves.
Once we had 2 buckets full of sliced potatoes. Our 2 Punjabi aunties started their stoves and kept the huge kadais with 10 litres of water and started boiling the sliced potatoes. Our downstairs Kutchi aunty who is the expert came up to guide as to how much the sliced potatoes should be boiled and for how long. The kids were asked not to come near the stoves for fear of the hot boiling water falling on them.
Once the potatoes were boiled they were put into some cold water and we kids were assigned the task of carrying small basins of potatoes to be dried on the terrace, 2 of us spread bedsheets, plastic sheets and mats taken from our houses and fixed them with pegs, stones that were picked from the ground. and we started spreading the potatoes on the mats/sheets. once it was over the delivery team were asked to go down and collect more of the boiled potatoes for drying.....our mini factory with a brigade of workers finished the whole process in 3-4 hours. So one afternoon of our vacation was spent fruitfully.
The next day we went up to the terrace to flip the potatoes and this continued for 3 days until they were totally dried. Once they were dried, we brought it down and it was divided equally with a weighing scale.
All were so eager to try the potato chips which we all contributed to make.
The moment the potato chips were received all proceeded to fry it in their respective homes, I remember our excitement to see the first chip dropped in the oil, fluff up, and how me and my brother were waiting to taste the success of our labours.
It was a huge success, so much so that, the chips got over in all the households a trifle sooner than expected....so it was decided that we must do it once more, this time maybe we should add a little more salt, maybe the chips should be boiled a little longer, so all the improvisations were made and it was given a second shot. Had it all been done by one person alone, Iam sure it would have been such a tedious and laborious task and tired the person to no end, but, working like this was not only fun, but also easy on all of us. Many hands as they say make light work
Here is the recipe for the Potato Chips.........
Homemade Potato Chips
Ingredients:
5 kg. White potatoes (Always buy old potatoes, new potatoes will give a mud smell and your chips wont turn out good)
2 tbsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Alum
Water
Large Pan or Kadai for boiling (can hold atleast 10 litres)
Thick clean Plastic Sheets, old mats or even an old bed sheet will do for drying.
Method:
Fill a large vessel or clean plastic basin or bucket with cold water.
Peel the potatoes
Slice them with a potato Slicer. Slice them into thin slices using a sharp blade.
Immerse the slices into water. Cover and keep aside overnight.
In a large Pan or Kadai, heat plenty of water, bring to a complete boil, Add salt and 6-7 pinches of powdered alum
Drain out potato chips from the water and drop them into the boiling water.
Boil till chips change colour and are just a little tender.
Do not allow to overcook or they will break on draining.
Undercooking will make the chips blackish on drying.
Drain out the water completely.
Spread the plastic sheet in the hot direct sun and peg down with some weights on all corners.
Spread out the chips in single layer all over the sheet.
Allow to dry till brittle.
When all moisture evaporates, heap them indoors on another sheet. It will look like dried papads.
Bring the chips to room temperature and store in a clean dry airtight container.
To eat :
Heat oil in a frying pan till hot.
Put in 10-12 chips, allow to expand.
Drain quickly with perforated large spoon.
Put on absorbent kitchen paper to soak excess oil.
Season with salt, if u like it plain salted, Salt and chilli powder if u like it hot, Salt and pepper or chaat masala as per your taste and desire.
Toss lightly to coat all chips.
You can serve it as a Tea-time snack, have it with lunch, just gobble it up like that, eat it with dips, Take it in your lunch box, or for a picnic. Serve anytime, anywhere, with anything.
People from all age groups will love them.
Makes: 3 kg. Approx.of dry chips
Shelflife: Dried chips: 1 year or more
Fried chips: 1 week or more if they last upto a week that is.
Please do try them and if you have a neighbourhood like ours Iam sure making it would be as fun as eating it and it works out to be very cheap.

KAANDA-TOMATO KOSHIMBIR (Onion – Tomato Salad)

KAANDA-TOMATO KOSHIMBIR (Onion – Tomato Salad)
The Koshimbir or salad is usually part of a good wholesome meal. It healthy and nutritious and even Maharastrian wedding feasts are considered incomplete without them. Here’s the recipe of the Kaanda Tomato Koshimbir the way my mother-in-law makes when she is in a rush and there isn’t much time, so she rustles up this Koshimbir quickly. According to her minus the sugar the authentic tastes will never be arrived at, but for those who don’t like sugar in their food can avoid it.
Ingredients
1 medium sized ripe tomato,
1 small onion,
2 green chilies
coriander leaves,
salt,
and sugar (optional),

Method
Chop tomato, onion and chilies finely. Add salt, sugar and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves. Chill and serve.

Variation to the Koshimbir
1. One variation could be to peel and finely chop 1 small cucumber (kakdi) and add to the Koshimbir.

2. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lime juice into the Koshimbir.

3. You can sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon of some freshly grounded black pepper powder.

4. You can add red chilly powder instead of green chillies.

5. If you have more time, you can add a tablespoon of Peanut powder, which adds a very Marathi touch to the koshimbir

6. If you want to make it more fancy you can add around 2 teaspoons of freshly grated coconut. (This gives a Konkan touch to the Koshimbir)

These are some variations that you can try with this lovely healthy salad. Remember always chill and serve.