This is an excellent flavor to choose from. Orange and cranberry flavors will be sure to put you in the holiday spirit. It tastes even better the next day. For the second time, my baking turned out to be a success.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in orange zest, cranberries, and pecans. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic when completely cool.
This weekend, when I went to the Grocery Stores ,this Methi Leaves Bunch was so fresh and green that it kept calling me “Buy me buy me” kind. I usually prepare Methi Leaves Sambhar or Paruppu with it and never tried any other kind of dish. This time,I daringly attempted Methi Pulav and voila!! So nice and tasting the First Attempt! So here we go with the simple recipe,quick to make.
Things Needed:
Fenugreek/Methi – 1 bunch ((approx 1/2 lb or 250 g)
Rice- 2 cups
Oil – 2 tbsp
Onion - ½ (optional)
Peas Carrot - ½ cup
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Tomato – 1, med. diced
Turmeric Powder (Haldi) – 1/2 tsp
Green Chillies – to taste, finely chopped
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Coriander Powder (Dhaniya) – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Water – 4 cups
Methi Pulav
Method:
1. Chop the roots and the thick stems off the bunch of Fenugreek Leaves. 2. Wash well and finely chop the rest. 3. Sprinkle a generous amount of Salt on the leaves, mix and keep aside for 15-20 minutes. 4. Wash the Rice well and soak in some Water and keep aside for 20 minutes. 5. In a pan (that has a tight fitting lid), heat Oil on medium heat. 6. Once the Oil is hot, add in the Cumin Seeds and allow them to change color.Add Onion , fry for few secs. 7. Add in Green Chillies and Tomatoes, Turmeric Powder. 8. Squeeze out the water from the Fenugreek Leaves and put them in the pan.Add the Carrot Peas at this point. 9. Add in Coriander Powder and Red Chili Powder. 10. Cook for a couple of minutes. 11. Drain the water from the Rice and add the Rice to the Methi Leaves. 12. Cook for 2 minutes. 13. Add the Water and mix well. 14. Check on the Salt, add in needed. 15. Increase the heat, and allow the Rice to cook till most of the Water has evaporated and you can see the Rice come up to the surface. 16. Mix, lower heat, preferably to simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. 17. After 15 minutes, open cover, turn off the heat, mix/fluff gently. 18. Cover and allow the Rice to rest for a couple of minutes before serving. 19. Serve hot with Raita and pickle.
Tips:
1. Kasturi Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves can be substituted (approx 1 cup). 2. If Dried Fenugreek leaves are being used, there is not required to salt and soak the leaves. Add directly to the pan.
Adhoo turned two this 13th March. This year, as promised earlier, we wanted to throw out a small party for our little toddy so he can get to play and see new friends.
We booked The Club House in our community itself for Saturday March 12th. We planned for an earlier celebration as we did not want to make him and all the other kids exhausted at the end of the weekend, making it difficult for the moms n dads to head to work on Monday.
The party program was scheduled around 3 pm to 5 pm that day. Right from morning 9 am , Ravi and Ganesh (Adhoo's latest lovable Mama) were busy setting up the hall for the party,picking up the catering and blowing up the balloons.
Adhoo was all awake and ready to party by 12 pm.
We headed to the House and by 3 pm, he started getting company with the first arrival of Priya Ramesh n kids. Right away he was in all josh running behind Surya and Anjali and playing with the balloons with them. Later joined Murali-Shobi with Sthanav.
Sthanav took his time to warm up and get into the crowd but later turned out to be the star winner of the game hosted!!
Then there was Prasanth Gayathri with Baby Akshad. He is too small to get whats going on but still never missed a glimpse of the fun around him. Cute as a cupcake!
Finally cake cutting ceremony commenced with the arrival of the Chief guests Sudheepa n Natraj. Adhoo's cake this time was THOMAS TRAIN theme. The moment the cake box was opened, he fell in love with it right away!
While, cutting the cake and singing " Happy Birthday", all the while, he was eying the train on the cake and wanted to take that. As soon as the candles were blown, he plunged and got hold of the train ! Did he go away with that? NO! He wanted to leave the train on the tracks (Iced on the cake)! What a Fun!
After a small bite of the train cake, we played couple of games so that the kids and their parents get all energized for the whole day! We started of with "Who pins the Lion's Nose?"
The ultimate fun of this game lied on the fact that None of us knew that we have to aim for the Lion's Nose all through the game and we still ended up playing it! LOL!!
Then there was Thomas Pinata..similar to our Indian "Uri Adi". Kids Version of this game was not to beat the Pinata, rather pull out the right string to bring down the surprise!!
And the very second Participant after Baby Akshad, was Baby Sthanav who got it right on the first go!! YAY!!
You might be wondering who were the winners of the previous game? Well everyone were the winners for all the games!
We finally opened the Snack Bar which comprised of the menu,
Masal Vadai,Kothu Parotta ,Chips, Juices , cake and little of the Vegetable Briyani which was all parceled up ready to go in had for the guests dinner time saving them time to go back and prepare, rather they as well us we could rest after a long days fun!
The take away bag just got bigger and better by the end of the party. Thanks to all our friends out there who lent their hand to even clean up the place and give the Club House back spic and span.
By 6 pm , we all were forced to leave the hall as it was almost closing time. After , throwing away the garbage, locking up the doors, returning things back home.. we bid good bye to each other.
The moment we came home, that's when we realized how tired we all were. Adhoo , who skipped his nap time too, ended up sleeping right way after a hot shower and dinner. He was too lazy to get up early the next day, being his ACTUAL DOB.
And so were we... The party hangover hasn't got yet and we are still in the same mood and hyped about it.
Coming to the lovely presents offered by his friends, All of them turned out to be his favorite, Be it Manny the Mechanic or the Favorite Fire Truck or his yet another Bicycle!
He is enjoying one toy at a time, starting with Fire Truck.
On his actual DOB, like said earlier, it was less active day as we were all sleepy and tired. The only good thing we ended doing that day was to go to his Hospital and take a snap with him , which we missed to do 2 years ago.
Looking at the hospital , brought back all that precious moments of our lives that took place 2 years ago and we ended up sharing them with Adhoo's Uncle, Ganesh.
Later that day, we reach Walnut creek where we finished our so called dinner : Sweet and Sundal, and returned home by 11 just to hit the bed and be sound asleep.
The most memorable Birthday Weekend we ever could have! Thank you friends for making our day! You all deserve one big applause! Bravo!!
Thank you one and all for your presence and making the day very special in our lives! We all had a great time and we hope to have more funs similar to this in the near future! Our son had a great time and so did all his "little" collegues!
Thank you.
How beautiful a day can be
When kindness touches it!
My little bundle of joy is turning 2 very soon. And we are gonna have a big time celebration!!
Adhoo's Bithday Invite!
Two years gone by,
How time has flown,
We can't believe
how Adhoo's grown!
He's such a joy
and much fun too,
Oh my! Our baby's
turning Two!
The invite has been sent to our friends living nearby. Invitations have been accepted as well. All that is left is to prepare for the big day! We have rented our Community Club House for March 12th.
You all might wonder and be confused about the date. But yes..second check.. March 12th it is.
Its a Saturday so all the kiddos can have a great weekend start! They can play as much needed and take Sunday off to themselves while we plan to make 13th March "traditional",visiting the Lord and offering our prayers.
That's the jist of the day's event coming ahead. Look out for more updates n photos coming real soon of our kid's Birthday Party
I just love this bread like anything and so, whenever I head to stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, the first thing I search for is BANANA WALNUT Bread in the Bakery Aisle. I was curious whether i could try this at home. But I’m Pretty sure it involved breaking of an egg, in which I’m not a perfectionist. Our house menu usually doesn't not include egg in regular diet except for cases like today, where I’m trying to bake a cake. Then I came across this recipe in which case, egg can be eliminated for Complete Egg Haters or use ready made beaten egg carton available in stores , which reduces the smell and mess of a beaten egg hovering around your home! So my very first bread turned out to be a big Winner in the house. And so there you go! I get to share with u all! Try and Enjoy for your Breakfast,Evening Treat..etc. Good Luck
Things Needed:
1 cup
Walnuts
1¾ cup
All purpose flour
1 cup
Sugar (brown or white)
1 tsp
Baking powder
¼ tsp
Baking soda
¼ tsp
Salt
1 tsp
Vanilla extract
2 nos ½ cup
Eggs or Beaten Egg {Optional}
3 nos
Banana (ripe)
½ cup
Butter (or 1 stick)
few
dried Cranberries
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F and keep it ready. Spread the walnuts in an oven proof tray and toast for 7 minutes or less depending on your oven. Keep an eye on them while toasting to avoid them getting too brown. Remove and cool. Reserve half of the walnuts for topping and chop the rest roughly.
Melt the butter and cool.
Keep a loaf pan ready all buttered or sprayed with PAM for baking.
Mash the bananas using your hand removing all lumps. The riper the bananas are the tastier and moister your bread will be. This also requires less of sugar as the riper banana you use.
Take a bowl, combine all purpose flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and finely chopped toasted walnuts and dried cranberries.
Take a bowl, light beat the eggs with a whisk, add butter, vanilla and mashed bananas. Combine all these to make a thick batter. Its better to use white portion alone as its less cholesterol content than the yellow where its high.
Now slowly add the dry ingredients combined above to this wet batter. gently fold with a spatula until all well combined to make a chunky batter.
Pour this over the greased pan and top them with the remaining toasted walnuts and bake for about 55 to 60 minutes (depending on your oven) in the middle rack or until a toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean.
Once baked, cool it completely by placing the bread on a cooling rack ,later, slice and serve.
Don’t close it while its warm as this will lead to the formation of fungus over after certain period. Cooling it completely is VERY VERY IMPORTANT.
I should once again thank Mullai for this recipe! Wonderful way to incorporate Chow-Chow/ Bangalore Kathirikai to our diet. DID YOU KNOW CHAYOTE IS A FRUIT?
The chayote fruit is used in both raw and cooked forms. When cooked, chayote is usually handled like summer squash, it is generally lightly cooked to retain the crisp flavor. Raw chayote may be added to salads or salsas, and it is often marinated with lemon or lime juice. It can also be eaten straight, although the bland flavour makes this a dubious endeavor. Whether raw or cooked, chayote is a good source of amino acids and vitamin C.
Things needed:
1 no
Chayote (small)
3 tbsp
Split black gram
6 nos
Dry red chilies (long)
½ cup
Fresh grated coconut
½ inch
Ginger
1 no
Tamarind (blueberry size)
6 nos
Curry leaves
½ tsp
Asafoetida
½ tsp
Salt (or to taste)
3 tsp
Oil
¼ cup
Water
METHOD:
Pick a clean, light green chayote as we are going to use the whole veggies including the skin.
Wash it thoroughly in water and cut open. Discard the thick seed inside and then cut into small cubes.
Heat oil in a pan, toast the split black gram and red chillies until golden followed by adding curry leaves, Now add the cubed chayote and cook over medium flame until slightly soft, this could take 2 to 3 minutes.
Now add the coconut and toss for few seconds and switch off.
Let cool completely and then grind this with asafoetida, tamarind, ginger, salt and water to a thick paste or even to a coarse texture suiting your needs.
Serve this with hot rice with ghee or gingelly oil or as a side or idli /dosa.
This is a slight variation from that. Flour used is Multigrain Atta and adding pinches of spices to the mix makes a whole new taste! Try it! It is really awesome with Raita.
Things needed :
2 cup
Multigrain atta flour
¾ tsp
Salt
1 no
Avocado (ripe)
½ cup
Water (exact measure)
1 no
Onion (finely chopped)
2 clove
Garlic (finely minced) {Optional}
10 stks
Coriander leaves
¾ tsp
Red chili powder
¼ tsp
Garam masala powder
3 tsp
Oil
Method:
Choose ripe Avocado which normally looks dark green on outside and should feel soft when touched.
Using your knife, cut around the seed and twist, which will separate them into two halves. Using a spoon scoop out the flesh.
Chop the onions and garlic, lightly saute in a pan with few drops of oil and cool completely.
Mix to Dough
In a large bowl, sieve flour, salt, red chili powder, garam masala powder and add the avocado flesh, finely chopped coriander leaves and onion mixture. Combine everything to a crumbly texture.
Add water slowly and knead to make a soft sticky dough. (10 minutes) Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Divide them into equal portions, may yield 10 to 12 depending on the size. Roll them to make small balls, roll out to a round disc using enough flour for dusting.
Heat a tawa or iron griddle and toast the parathas for few seconds on one side, add few drops of oil if you wish but not really necessary.
Flip to the other side, it will puff up, remove and serve warm with raita or any gravy of your choice.
I am a big fan of Mallika Badrinath’s cooking. Her measurements and cooking tactics are just perfect for any new learner. My Home library will look dull if I don’t have her cook books. I just love to try her recipes and and a pinch of my creativity into it and bring out the best to the table. Last weekend, I preferred to make a traditional typical lunch which includes a thuvayal,sambhar,poriyal , rasam,n curd. Bored of the instant style Sambhar,I wanted to serve a little change in taste for the diners. And so came this ARAICHU VITTA SAMBHAR.
Things needed:
Drumstick : 4 or 5 (cut into 2 ½ inch pieces)
Thur Dhal : ½ cup
Tamarind : Small lemon sized
Salt : as required
Grind Together:
Coriander seeds : 1 Tbsp
Red Chillies : 8
Bengal Gram dhal : 2 Tsp
Fenugeek : ¼ tsp
Fry the above spices in little oil and then grind with 1/4 cup of grated coconut.
For Seasoning:
Gingili oil : 2 tsp
Mustard seeds : ¼ tsp
Hing : a pinch
Method:
Pressure cook thur dhal with enough water with turmeric powder.Allow it to cool and mash well.
Soak Tamarind in water for ½ hr and squeeze out extract . Strain well
Cook drumsticks in enough water till it becomes tender.
Add the tamarind extract,ground paste,mashed dhall and cook till thick.
Fry seasoning in oil and mix with sambhar.
Garnish with coriander leaves,curry leaves and serve hot with coked rice.
Variations:
Use small onions or diced big onions along with the vegetable.
Other vegetables can be used for this sambhar.
If using Brinjal,Ladies Finger : fry in oil for few seconds.Cook in tamarind extract,then add the thur dhal and ground paste.
Carrot,Chow-Chow,radish : cut in thin slices-steam cook in pressure cooker.
Yellow Pumpkin,White pumpkin, bottle gourd, Vegetable marrow : cook in water or tamarind extract and then make sambhar.
