SWEET POTATO PODIMAS (Mashed Sweet Potato curry)

SWEET POTATO PODIMAS (Mashed Sweet Potato curry)
Sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamin A, C, B6 and Beta carotene. This is one sweet vegetable that a diabetic can eat.
Do read about the health benefits of eating Sweet potatoes.
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-sweet-potato-2119.html
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes – 5-6
Coconut – 1-2 tbsp
Green Chillies – 3-4
Ginger - a small piece
Asafetida – pinch
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard -1 tsp
Udad dal – 1 tsp
Chana dal -1 tsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Coriander leaves for garnish
Freshly grated coconut for garnish
Method
Wash, boil and peel the sweet potatoes. Mash them and keep it aside. Grind the coconut, ginger and chilly into a coarse paste in a dry blender without adding any water.
In a Kadhai (wok), heat some oil add mustard, when the mustard begins to crackle add the udad dal and chana dal, when the dals turn slightly pinkish, add the grounded coconut paste, add asafetida, salt and the curry leaves. Roast until you get the aroma of coconut, Add the mashed sweet potatoes and mix well, Check for salt, Add salt at this point if required and mix well. Let this cook for a few minutes.
Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and freshly grated coconut. Mix well and serve.

On the left is a picture of the Sweet Potato Plant(@Singapore Zoo) clicked by me. To see more pictures clicked by me do visit my Hobbies and Craft Blog (click on this link)

TIRANGA CAKE & INDEPENDANCE DAY

I would like to send this post to Pooja's Theme-Independence day 2008" event,

INDEPENDENCE DAY
15th August is India's Independence Day. It is celebrated to commemorate its independence from the British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation on that day in 1947.

These are the days that we miss our Motherland the most.

The National Anthem has special memories for me coz I was the person who used to sing the National Anthem everyday in my school right from Class 6 to Class 10 and here I am living in Singapore.

My hubby Yo's grandfather was very active in the freedom struggle and even went to jail with Veer Savarkar(one of the prominent Freedom fighters).

I strongly believe that, "Living abroad can’t change the love that one has in their heart for their motherland".

RESPECT OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM

Last year during Independence Day, a video was aired repeatedly, This video was made with the idea that people must respect Our National Anthem and it sure has managed to strike a chord. It used to make me cry every time that they played it.

You can watch this video here;

TIRANGA CAKE

Here is an attempt to show our National Flag on an Eggless Cake, you can click on this link for the recipe in my blog
The only change here is I have tried making an icing for the cake
For the Icing
Ingredients
Powdered Sugar – ½ cup
Vanilla Powder – 1 tsp
Milk 3-4 tbsp
Food colors – Orange and Green
Method
Mix the powdered sugar and vanilla powder and add milk little by little till you get a thick paste. this icing shouldn't be very thick, u should be able to apply with spatula. Now divide into 3 portions, you can mix the colors and apply on the cake, the top line is Orange, plain icing for the middle one in white and the bottom line is Green. Now keep it in the fridge for few hours and then apply second coat which is a smooth and final coat.
Now my little one was so excited about the cake that she wasn’t patient for me to apply the smooth and final coat and so the icing is not enough and doesn’t look professional, so please pardon my imperfection
I also used a Monaco biscuit and drew the lines with a blue marker depicting the Dharma Chakra.
Pooja’s event also says;“Create anything having combination of 3 colors. i.e. you can just catch a picture of array of vegetables/birds/flowers / anything having these 3 colors.”
So here is a picture of the beautiful flower Anthurium growing in my little balcony garden.

Gift of nature just in time for independence day as the Leaf like bract called the “Spathe” is dark orange in color. The fleshy spike called the "Spadix" where the tiny flowers emerge is white in color and the leaves below are green of course, symbolizing the 3 colors of our National Flag.

JAI HIND!!!!!

VANDE MATARAM!!!!!!

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY TO ALL THE INDIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BRILLIANTE WEBLOG AWARD, ROCKING GIRL BLOGGER AWARD & MeMe

Sheetal has bestowed upon me the Brilliante Weblog Award.
Many thanks to her that she considers me worthy of this. I would like to pass this award to
Lore,Purva, Johanna, Usha and Roma

Lakshmi thinks Iam a Rocking girl blogger and I want to let her know that she rocks too.

BOOKY MEME

And now coming to the Meme

Sheetal has passed me The Booky Meme.

The rules of the tag are as follows:

* Pick up the nearest book*

Open to page 123*

Find the 5th sentence*

Post the next three sentences*

Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you

Ok here it goes......

the nearest book is 'Sleepytime Stories and Rhymes

and on page 123, is "Alice in Wonderland"

5th Sentence is "Call the first witness!" said the king."

1. And to her Great Surprise,

2. The white rabbit called, " Alice!"

3." What do you know of this ?" asked the King.

And I'm passing this booky MeMe to

Priti, Purva, Usha, Suma and Vedamurthy

BEST BLOG DARTS THINKERS & BEAUTIFUL SITE AWARD

Sowmya of Creative Saga and Srilekha have bestowed upon me these awards.
The Best Blog Darts Thinkers Award

and the Just Nice Photos aka "Beautiful Site Award"
Thanks Sowmya & Srilekha for considering me worthy of these awards and I would like to pass these awards to
Lore,Purva ,Johanna, Usha and Roma

Enjoy the awards, You'll deserve it.

MILO DINOSAUR

This is my entry for Srilekha’s Icecreams and Milkshakes Event

MILO DINOSAUR
This is my daughter’s favorite drink. Whenever we eat outside, she will make it a point to order this if it is on the menu. I am not sure if this drink is available anywhere else, I think this would be a Singapore special drink and may have originated here. The recipe is simple and kids adore this drink.
Ingredients
Milo – 1 ½ tbsp
Water – ¼ glass
Milk – ¾ glass
Sugar – 2 tsps (as required)
Icecream – 1 scoop (Preferably Vanilla or Chocolate)
Method
In the glass/tumbler that you are serving, Add 1 tbsp of Milo, 2tsps Sugar and ¼ glass of hot water and stir well, Top it with boiled milk, stir well, Check for sugar, if more sugar is required, add, stir and chill it in the refrigerator. When cool, use a hand blender to work up a froth. This increases the volume of the Milo and makes it look like Expresso Milo (just like Expresso Coffee).

Use a transparent glass/tumbler so that the kids can see how attractive the drink looks. Top it up with a scoop of icecream, Vanilla or Chocolate flavor icecream goes best with this drink and on top sprinkle the remaining ½ tbsp of Milo powder with a tea strainer.

Put in a straw and serve this deliciously refreshing and nutritious drink to your kids.

CHEESE TOMATO CROISSANT

I would like to pack this sandwich for the picnic basket of “Waiter There’s Something in my……….Picnic hosted by Johanna of thepassionatecook.
CHEESE TOMATO CROISSANT
Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry by layering yeast dough with butter and rolling and folding a few times in succession, then rolling. A lot of time goes in making Croissants, so I decided I would buy it off the rack.
Ingredients
Croissant - 1
Tomatoes - 1
Cheese Slice - 1
Salt
Pepper
Method
Slice tomatoes, keep aside. Take one piece of croissant and carefully slice in the middle. Place one cheese slice inside and on top of it neatly place the tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt and freshly crushed pepper over the sliced vegetables. Enjoy this delicious sandwich.

VEGETABLE SANDWICH

I would like to pack this Vegetable sandwich for Johanna's(the passionatecook) picnic basket for her Picnic fare event.
I absolutely adore the logo which says “Waiter There’s Something in my………." which is a headline grabber for sure.
Here is an out and out picnic recipe from me which is nutritious, light on the stomach and can be assembled at the picnic spot with the help of friends.
VEGETABLE SANDWICH
I have used White bread in my recipe but brown bread would be a healthier option. Sandwiches taste best when freshly made, so here’s a tip, you can carry all the sliced vegetables in ziplock bags and assemble the sandwich at the picnic spot and enjoy the crunch of the fresh vegetables.
Ingredients
Two slices of White Bread/ Brown Bread
Cucumber – 1
Tomatoes - 1
Beet Root – 1
Potato – 1
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Green Coriander Chutney(Optional)(refer to link below for recipe)
Chat Masala (Optional)
Method
Peel and boil the Beet root. Boil and peel the Potatoes. Make slices of both and keep aside. Peel the cucumber and slice it. Slice tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the sliced vegetables. Once all this is done. Apply butter to one side. Place the sliced potatoes first, Place the sliced beet root over it, then place a layer of the sliced cucumbers and over it a layer of the sliced tomatoes. You can sprinkle a bit of Chaat Masala( is a tangy savory powder available in Indian stores)
On the other bread apply some Coriander chutney.(Click on the link for the recipe). Cover the sandwich with the slice of bread which has chutney on it. Top it with a bit of coriander chutney and tomato sauce as shown in the picture while serving it.

CABBAGE PORIYAL

Priti our KC member from Singapore and Purva from London are hosting the Festive

Food Event and since Rakshabandhan is round the corner their theme is Rakhi - "The Thread of love".

I belong to Tamilnadu where we dont have the tradition of Rakhi, but I was born and brought up in Mumbai, which is so cosmopolitan that we learn to adapt to different cultured and traditions and celebrating as many festivals as we can is always fun. We do have another festival that coincides with Rakshabandhan festival and on festival days we usually have a fixed menu fare as certain vegetables are avoided and only certain vegetables are cooked. We cook many dishes like Sambhar, Rasam, Avial, Dry curry(poriyal), Payasam, Pachadi, papadam, Vadai etc. I have noticed that during festivals Amma usually either makes Cabbage poriyal or beans poriyal.
So here is my recipe for Cabbage Poriyal..........

Cabbage Poriyal
Some call the dry sabzi "curry", some call it poriyal, some call it upkari and yet others call it palya, but in my house we use to call it podutuval. So here’s amma’s recipe of Cabbage podutuval.
Ingredients
Cabbage – 1 medium sized
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Udad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Green or Red chillies – 1-2
Ginger grated – 1tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Turemric powder – 1 tsp
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil
Method
Chop the Cabbage, rinse in a colander and keep aside. Heat the oil in a wok and add the mustard seeds, when they start to splutter add the udad and chana dals, when they are slightly pink add in the chillies broken into 2 pieces and the grated ginger, fry for a minute. Now add the cabbage, turmeric powder, salt to taste and hing and mix well, Cook closed with a lid on a low flame and let it cook in its own juices. Open after about 3-4 minutes. Add some water if required. Cook till the cabbage is done. Once the cabbage is totally dry, Add the grated coconut and mix well and cook for another 2 minutes till you get the faint aroma of the coconut.
Serve hot with chappati, rice and dal.
Beside the Plates are Rakhis made by me. I will be posting how I made the Rakhis and close-up photos of the Rakhis soon in my hobby blog

ONION FRITTERS WITH RED JALAPENO PEPPERS AND CASHEWNUTS

ONION FRITTERS WITH RED JALAPENO PEPPERS AND CASHEWNUTSIn the desi style we can call it Onion Bhajji/Bhajiya lal Mirchi aur kaju ke saath.

I guess I am hooked onto red Jalapeno peppers, I love the color, the flavor, the extra funk or you may say punch that it adds to any dish. Don’t replace the red jalapeno peppers with any other pepper, the taste won’t be the same. If you don’t get Jalapeno peppers in your country, you can use Red Capsicum. Here is yet another Original recipe of mine.

Ingredients Onions – 3-4

Red Jalapeno Peppers – 2

Cashewnuts – 1 tbsp

Gram Flour – 1 cup

Bishops weed (Ajwain/Omam) – ½ tsp

Asafetida – 1 tsp

Red Chilly powder – 1 tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil

Method

Chop the onion in thin slivers, Slit the Red Jalapeno peppers de-stem and de-seed them. Chop them in thin strips also. Put them in a bowl, Add the cashewnuts, then add 3 tbsps of gram flour, the bishops weed, Asafetida, Red chilly powder, salt and mix well. Allow the onions and chillies to marinate in the mixture for about 5 minutes. The onions start to sweat and you will notice the mixture to be moist, at this point, add the rest of the gram flour and some water, The water is added to make the mixture a bit loose and in dropping consistency as shown in the picture. Again keep aside for 4-5 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot, drop small balls of the batter, while dropping spread your fingers so they drop unevenly and look shapeless, this makes it more crispy. Fry the Bhajiyas(fritters) till golden and crisp on a slow fire. Remove and drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with green chutney/ coconut chutney or tomato sauce

I would like to send this dish also to Lore's Original recipes Event.

CUCUMBER IN YOGURT WITH RED JALAPENO PEPPERS

Here's yet another post for Lore's Original Recipes Event

CUCUMBER IN YOGURT WITH RED JALAPENO PEPPERS
This is also known as Cucumber Raita in India. Raita or Pachadi is usually prepared by adding vegetables or savories to thick yogurt. This is considered very cooling to the body so it is served with spicy dishes. This recipe of mine is an ode to the Chef who prepared a similar raita at KK hospital(Singapore) where I delivered my second baby. I don’t know who prepared it but it used to taste awesome. The red jalapeno peppers have an awesome flavor and this raita is simply mindblowing. Don’t ever replace the red jalapeno peppers with any other chilly as the taste will not be the same. This is my version though, so here is yet another Original recipe for Lore's event.
Ingredients
Cucumbers - 1-2 big ones
Red Jalapeno peppers – 2
Yogurt – 10-12 tbsps
Mustard seeds -2 tsps
Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
Asafetida(Hing) - a pinch
Curry leaves – a sprig
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tsp
Method
Peel and grate the cucumbers in a vessel. Drain the water that seeps out of the grated cucumber, we don’t want our raita to be very watery. Use thick yogurt, ensure that there is no whey else the raita will be watery. If the yogurt is not thick, hang it in a cloth, so you can get the thick yogurt. Mix the yogurt with the grated cucumber with salt as per taste and keep aside.
Chop the red Jalapeno peppers, this pepper is not very spicy. If you don’t want even a tinge of spice, you can slit and remove the seeds. But if you don’t mind a little spicy punch to the raita, you can retain the seed. In my case, I de-seeded it as I only wanted the flavor of the jalapeno peppers and not the spice.
Now in a small pan, heat1 tsp oil, add the mustard seeds, when the mustard seeds starts to splutter, add a pinch of asafetida, now add the chopped jalapeno peppers and fry, the peppers should get slightly fried, they become even less spicy when fried. Add the curry leaves and fry. Now add this to the grated cucumber and yogurt mix and serve chilled. You can serve it with any meals or you can have it just like that. Indulge in this cool delightful condiment.