Paneer-yarams with Creamy Fennel dip

Just when I thought I'd exhausted all my ideas for leftover idli atta, of course, kuzhi paniyarams struck me. When I posted on Facebook for ideas with Fennel greens, I had a wonderful list of things I could do with it from a bunch of friends, each one of them gems which i plan to make-
But the easy and delicious one which was immediately executable was Priya's suggestion of a dip - Then I decided I would also chop the greens and the bulb and use for the kuzhi paniyarams - had a block of paneer sitting around and decided to grate that into the kuzhi paniyarams making for delicious paneeryarams :)) Nothing like a little twist to tradition, what say?

I used
1/2 a bulb of fennel,
2 stalks of fennel greens,
1/4 red onion, 1 green chili,
1/2 tsp of turmeric
3/4 cup of grated paneer,
1/4 cup of grated cheddar.
I lightly sauteed the fennel, greens, onions. turmeric and chili in 1 tsp of olive oil.

Batch 1

First batch I made, I tried to do a sandwich with the cheeses. It tasted great but made for messy pouring - so I simply incorporated the paneer & cheddar into the batter and poured the second batch like that - result = awesomeness!

Batch 2

Fennel Dip
3 short stems of fennel greens chopped fine
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1tbsp low fat yogurt
1tsp of Tzatziki herb mix
1tsp salad spice mix (this is like paprika)
mix in and serve with hot Paneeryarams.

Showcasing dip and my peeling nail polish :)

Idli Manchurian

This part 2 of the leftover idli saga :) So those of you who read my post on Idli Bajjis, I saved some of those Idli Bajjis and made an Indian- Chinese dish out of it - Please do try - I assure you that you will LOVE it.

I added 1 tbsp each of  Spricy Szechwan stir-fry sauce and Asian hot sauce;
2tbsp each of garlic chives and spring onions
3 spicy red chilies
1 tsp of sesame oil

Prepare
Saute the above ingredients (except the sauces) in hot oil and add the idli bajjis and stir.
Add the sauces last and mix it in well -
Hear the sizzle of the sauces evaporating  - its time to switch off the stove. Serve piping hot :)

There you have it - the new and exotic avatars of a rather seeda sada and chammathu idlis :)

Idli Bajjis A.K.A Seetha aur Geetha Idlis :)

Car update - Dealing with the insurance was LOT less scary than I anticipated. But sometimes expecting the worst could actually be beneficial (this comes from the most optimistic person I know - me :) because when then anything lesser seems to be a huge relief - Saw my sweet van being towed away an hour ago and then started to of lunch - there were my idlis from yesterday and I was feeling bad as in I wanted to be bad, as in taking a perfectly healthy thing and turning into something wicked-good?  so I cut the idlis up into cubes and mixed up a handful of besan/ chickpea flour (kadalamavu) threw in some sambar powder, added water and made the batter  (I want to say 2 tsp), fired up the oil and before I knew it was on my way to eating one of THE most delicious dishes  - Idli bajjis :) I KID YOU NOT!
A simple twist to make a delicious Geetha evil-twin of the healthy idlis :) Seetha Bangayi Geetha- (For those who not have watched Seetha aur Geetha, Seetha is an utterly boring twin sister of the rather spunky Geetha in a Hinid movie from the 70s, which got remade in Tamil as Vani-Rani with Vanishree in the lead) The western connotation would be Dr. Jekyl & Mr Hyde :)

I have not fried anything in my home for over a month now so I quell the guilt - besides when I was out this morning after the insurance was dealt with, met up with my sweet prego friend and enjoyed a wonderful session of girl-chat.
Here is a 4 step pictorial of the process :) Please do try it and let me know how you liked it!

Not wanting to stop at the evil twin, I created another avatar with them which I will blog about next - You can hold your breath - I am not planning to take long to post this next one lol!

Mixed Veggies in Cashew Gravy

For blog hop wednesday, I was paired with Divya of Divya Z EasyRecipes. I picked a mixed veggie with Cashew gravy among her many wonderful recipes.  The dish looked tempting and delicious.  But yesterday turned out to be a most bizarre day with not just the horrible accident where a deer ran on to my car literally from nowhere and crushed the front hood verily leaving me shaken and distraught at the insurance claims to be dealt with!! I also forgot to serve this dish to my sweetest friend who had come over for lunch - I had made idli sambar and chutney and I guess this did not go with any of those and my brain froze! Well whatever! I don't have much time to edit my pictures, but I used the veggies I had to make it and beets kinda took over the color :) - I used some sambar powder, bay leaves and garlic for flavors. And I used my cashew butter (2 tbsp) instead of crushing cashews etc... here is my dish and I am so sorry about this haphazard post! It is almost 8 am and I have a busy day ahead of me!!! Wish me luck and think only good thoughts of me please :) Love you all!

This is part of Radhika's humungous-ly successful Blog Hop Wednesday Event -