Nutella Cookies

My first post for Avant Garde Cookies this month was a challenge - to make a dish with 5 ingredients or less - now as an Indian, you will know we use a lot of ingredients to make our food and I was turning a few recipes in my mind, including the raita I posted last ... But as luck would have it, my yoga teacher posted this cookie recipe with 4 ingredients and I was jumping with joy - Yes!!!!!! There is my post for the event :) A recipe from My Tasty Kitchen

Simple and delicious Nutella Cookies -Makes about 22- 8 minutes to prepare and 8 minutes to bake and voila!

Ingredients

• 1 cup nutella
• 1cup all purpose flour
• 1/2cup of sugar
• 1egg

Method

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. blend all 4 ingredients together 
3. Make 1 inch balls 
4. Flatten with the base of a cup
5. Bake for 8 minutes

Goes to Avant Garde Cookies -Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Radhika, Veena, Priya S, Roshni

Cucumber Raita

This is not a dish to be taken lightly, simple though it may seem to make. You need the perfect texture of yogurt, and sweet, tender and non-bitter cucumbers to make the right kind of raita. You need that 1 perfect chili that will spice it up just so and you need that perfect dash of salt that makes you want to crave this popular side dish. Raita is a dish that is served on the side with spicy pulaos or biryanis to cool your system even as you spice it up. South India has an equivalent for this called thayir pachadi.

Things that can go wrong and prevent you for making that perfect raita
you can make it
too watery (juice from the cuke)
too thick
use a yogurt that is gooey
make it too sour
over salt
make it too spicy - defeating the purpose of it
cucumbers can be too seedy so much so you miss the raita for the seeds!
and so on...you can tell I've seen them all which has really put me off raita quite a bit, unless I make it myself (sorry to sound vain, but it is the truth)

Ingredients

• 2cups of Danon plain yogurt (do not use the whey)
• 3-4 small sweet seedless cucumbers
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 green chili cut big 
• mint/ curry leaf/sprig to garnish

Method

1. Add a pinch of salt and whip the yogurt into a smooth consistency
2. Grate your cucmber
3. Squeeze all the excess juice out of it (you can drink it or use as an eye pack)
4. Add to the yogurt and mix in well
5. Add chopped chili and stir in
6. Place the mint on the raita for garnish and chill until ready to serve. (I used tender curry leaves from my plant for this - it smelt so delicious)

NOTE: I have also used some Patatas Bravas and a Tzatziki spice mixes from Oil & Vinegar for decoration on top - they also lend beautiful flavors to the raita

Milaga Bhajjis - Green Chili Fritters

It is the weekend and we are all getting ready to party... or perhaps have a wonderfully quiet and peaceful time with family -either way, Milaga bhajjis is a good way to celebrate on the weekend. These again are made from the homegrown chilies, which are not so spicy and lend themselves marvelously to this dish. For those who wanted to know the other recipe I had made with these green chilies, here you go.

For the batter

• 1 cup of gram flour/kadalamavu/ besan
• ½ cup rice flour
• (I recently found out that 1:1 of besan and rice flour) also works like a charm
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp sambar powder
• 1 pinch of Asafetida
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves chopped
• Oil to fry
• Water enough to make the batter breamy smooth (about 1 cup usually)

Method:

1. Wash and dry your chilies thoroughly.
2. Keep the stem if tender, else chop off
3. Keeping the stem makes for less splattering of seeds bursting in the oil
4. Coat the chili with batter fully
5. Heat oil
6. Drop gently in hot oil
7. Do not overcrowd.
8. Remove and place on kitchen paper towels to drain off any excess oil
9. Enjoy as is or with dip of your choice - ketchup is a good place to start or how about the chili thokku I posted earlier ;P

Cheers and wish you a fabulous weekend. Plenty of exciting fall preparations on their way - stay tuned.

Green Chili Thokku (Preserve)

My garden was bursting with green chilies and we kept collecting in the hope that we would get some spicy ones - Alas to our disappointment, although they were extremely aromatic and flavorful and raised our expectations no end about its spiciness. Ironically, they lacked the sting which is a quality all of us proper South Indians look for in our green chilies.  We have learnt now that we have to plant the different varieties of chilies at least a 10 feet away from each other because what can happen if you plant spicy ones and sweeter peppers side by side, one takes over the flavor of the other, in our case the sweet dominated the spicy :(  So a lesson learnt for next year. Joke is I had to use store-bought green chilies and a few red chilies to spice up my chili chutney (lol)  But it smells phenomenally good and and tastes incredible, esp with thachu mammu or yogurt rice; a fab spread on sandwiches and with chappatis and cheese...

Presenting to you my Green Chili Thokku/Preserve - also sharing a couple of fun art I made with them.

Ingredients

• 3lbs of Fresh green chilies 
• 4 thai green chilies (not required if you have spicy chilies already)
• 1/2 cup of urad dal
• 1tsp of tamarind paste
• 1/4 tsp of asafetida
• 1tsp turmeric
• 5tbsp Gingely/sesame oil
• salt
• Tempering with mustard seeds

Method

1. de stem the chilies and keep ready
2. In 2 tbsp of oil roast the urad dal until golden brown
3. In a wide pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add the green chilies and allow them to cook until lightly browned
4. Add the salt, tamarind and asafetida to this and stir for a little longer
5. Cool and grind 
6. Add a tbsp of raw sesame oil to the top to keep it preserved. Enjoy in any which way you want to :)

Chili Thokku

Events Galore ...

I am the happy host of two wonderful events conceived of by my blogging buddies, Julie of Eruvum Puliyum and Vardhini or Cook's Joy the two events are EP Series Cooking with Coriander or Sesame and Dish it Out with - Veggie recipes only for both events please :) TYVM

EP SERIES - HERBS & SPICES - ROSEMARY and/or SESAME
1.The event runs for the period of 1st - 31st (specify month) 2012.
2.The theme for this month is "your herb n spice".You can use one ingredient in a dish or use both but that ingredient should be one of the main ingredients.It can vary from starter,main dish ,dessert or any other recipes,sweet or savory anything.(No recipes which don't follow this rule will not qualify for the event)
3.Bloggers and Non bloggers can participate.Bloggers can link their recipes using the linky tool below.
4.Recipe must be linked to this event announcement page and to Julie's page.
5.Please Veg recipes only

6.Send in any number of entries.You can link in your old entries too but specific to the herb & spice,just add the link & logo,no reposting required.
7.Usage of logo is appreciated for all entries.
8.There are 5 awards for the BEST INNOVATIVE RECIPE AWARD, TOP CONTRIBUTOR AWARD,BEST HEALTHY DISH AWARD , PARTICIPATION AWARD & BEST PRESENTATION AWARD.So,Folks put on your innovative caps and think tight,do right and link in your recipes at the earliest before 31st (month specify),2012.

Best Wishes to All.

LINKY FOR EP EVENT HERE

DISH IT OUT - With GREEN CHILIES

1. Make a dish using "Thyme & Green Chilies". We should be able to taste the ingredients in the final dish.

2. Only vegetarian entries. Eggs are allowed in baking.

3. Use of logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.

4. Link to my Dish it Out announcement and yours is mandatory.

5. Archived entries are accepted as long as they are linked with both announcements

LINKY FOR DIO EVENT HERE

Banana Upside Down Cake

What do you do when you have a sweet craving? Sometimes you give in and go the whole nine yards and make something with what you've got. Thus came about this banana upside down cake. I has several super ripe bananas - hate those btw - and the only way I could imagine having them was in either a bread or with this recipe, in a cake. I used a recipe that I'd already tried out for the cake and just added the caramelized bananas...
Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1.5 cup all purpose flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 4-6 ripe bananas
• 3-4 tbsp Demerara sugar 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Butter a 9 inch pan (I used pyrex)
3. Cut bananas lengthwise and arrange neatly on the bottom of the pan
4. Sprinkle the Demerara Sugar generously over the bananas
5. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer
6. Add eggs 1 at a time
7. Then the flour with the baking powder
8. Mix until it s a creamy batter (don’t over mix)
9. Pour the cake batter evenly over the bananas making sure not to disturb the arrangement.
10. Bake for about 30 -35 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden.
11. Cool it before loosening the sides of the cake
12. Gently invert on to a cake holder.
13. The bananas should look glazed, caramelized and delicious. 
14. Enjoy by itself of with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Colorful Veggie Stir Fry – Indian Chinese Style

Some days the sun shines brilliantly and makes for the best day to click some good pictures – especially of food – A day like that presented itself and I was beside myself with joy since I had invited some friends over for lunch and I was planning on making this veggie stir fry. Colorful veggies can be a big turn on for the gastric juices and a visual treat. And I hope to achieve this with this recipe. For those who see my FB page, you will have seen this as my "cover photo" and on the slide above on my homepage :)

This is an all too simple recipe, the only hard or interesting part (depending on how you view it) is the veggie cutting – I made this a fun chore and you can see the result of it in the pictures below.  A few ingredients to spice it up and I was good to go.

Here now is my recipe

Ingredients

Veggies of your choice

Hot stir fry sauce

1tsp Sambar powder

1 tsp or squirt of Sirarcha sauce

1tbsp Ginger

1tbsp Garlic

1tsp sesame seeds

1tsp of Asian spices

Nuts (optional)

1tbsp +2tsp of sesame oil
Fresh green Thyme to garnish (can use basil or other too)

Method

Heat 1tbsp oil

Add the garlic and ginger and sesame seeds

Roast till garlic is golden

Add the chopped veggies
Add all the spice powders – The sambar powder infuses a fine Indian aroma to this dish while the Asian Spices confirms that it is indeed a Chinese dish with an Indian twist JThe addition of Potatoes also lends some Indianness to the dish.

NOTE: If you are using potatoes, like I did, you may want to cook it for a few minutes in the microwave or steam them ahead of time for a 3-4 minutes

Cook on high flame stirring/tossing them

Once they are tender, but still crisp, add the sauce

IMPORTANT – The veggies should be Al dente and retain their shapes and their own individual flavors – that’s what makes this dish special

Serve HOT Over noodles or as a side with Jasmine Rice J

Serving with Whole Masoor dal "soup" & Pappads

This is my week 3 Cuisine of the month at AGC posting- Do check out my co-AGCians recipes - Anusha, Jayanthi,Kavi, Priya, Radhika, Roshni and Veena