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Announcing AFAM Aug '08: Lemon

AFAM or A Fruit A Month event was started by Maheswari of Beyond the usual blog. This month's AFAM is being proudly hosted by Simple Indian Food and the fruit for the month is Lemon-The King of Citrus fruits. Lemon is used for culinary as well as non culinary purposes. Although the juice is mainly used,the rind is also made use of for cooking and baking. The tart taste to the lime is due to the citric acid content. Information Source: Wikipedia

Please note that

1) Post a dish where the flavour of lemon/lime is the highlight. A link to this annoucement in your post is a must and if possible please add the logo.



2) In case you wish to send some dish that you have posted earlier, please repost it with the link to the event and logo.

3) No restrictions on the number of entries...send in as many as you can

4) Please post only vegetarian recipes for the event since this is a 100% Vegetarian blog. No eggs please. If you are a non-blogger, mail me the recipe and the picture.

5) Mail me the following details - your name, dish name and link to the post to easycrafts@gmail.com by the 31st of August '08. I will pick up the snap from your blog...you neednt send it. The roundup would be published during the first week of September.


Looking forward to your participation in the event

Blogging Friends Forever award

Skribles of Food with a pinch of love passed on this blogging friends forever award..Thanks a lot for considering me your friend


The following rules apply to this award:
1. You pass on the award to 5 people
2. 4 of them can be regular visitors of your blog
3. One (the 5th one) has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.


I would like to pass on this award to

Asha of Foodieshope
JZ
Andhra flavors
Cham
Rekha

WYF:Colour in Food event


The theme for Whats your favourite event during August is Colour in food. Each one of us have a liking for a particular colour, be it clothes or food. Lets celebrate the colour we love in food with this event. Prepare the dish in your favorite colour (it could be an ingredient or final product) say yellow from turmeric, red from beetroot or chillies, orange from carrots, green coriander/chillies, white for sugar/milk/curds, brown for any fried food or bread as so on...the list is endless and these are just to help you get hold over the concept.

Please note that

1) After posting your recipe on your blog, please link it back to this announcement and if possible add the logo. In case you wish to send some dish that you have posted earlier, please repost it with the link to the event and logo. No restrictions on the number of entries...send in as many as you can


2) Please post only vegetarian recipes for the event since this is a 100% Vegetarian blog. No eggs please. If you are a non-blogger, mail me the recipe and the picture.

3) Mail me the following details - your name, dish name and link to the post to easycrafts@gmail.com by the 31st August '08. I will pick up the snap from your blog...you neednt send it. The roundup would be published during the first week of September.





Looking forward to your participation in the event



We have just 2 more days to go for the WYF:Juices and Icecreams events to end..So please hurry up and rush in your entries by tommorrow, the 31st. The roundup would be out on the 1st of August.

CLICK :Coffee



My cup of strong refreshing filter coffee is my entry to Click:Coffee event

Carrot Dal



Ingredients

1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup green gram dal
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Few curry leaves
2 Green chillies slit into half
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp lemon juice
Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish
1/2 tsp ginger paste
A bit of asafoetida

Cook the greengram dal and carrots together till soft.

Heat oil, add mustard and cumin seeds. When it splutters, add curry leaves and green chillies. Then add turmeric, cooked dal and carrots, ginger paste and asafoetida. Cook for five minutes.

Switch off the stove and add lemon juice. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rotis/rice.

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Pal khova/Theratipaal



Ingredients

1/2 ltr milk (to get the quantity in the picture)
2 tsp ghee
3 tbsp sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Heat the milk on a deeper vessel on low heat. Keep stirring. For half a ltr milk, it takes a good 1 hour to reduce and become grainy.

Once it is done, add the sugar, ghee and cardamom powder to it and mix well.

This traditonal sweet takes a lot of time and patience, but the taste is worth it.


Optional: You could even add jaggery to it instead of sugar.
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Mixed Veg Pakoda




Ingredients

1 cup of mixed vegetables like carrot, beans, cabbage
1/2 cup gram flour
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp rice flour
A bit of asafoetida
A pinch of cooking soda

Mix all the ingredients except oil and sprinkle to water to bind everything together.

Heat oil and deep fry the pakodas till golden brown. Serve hot with sweet chutney or any other chutney or sauce of your choice.

This healthy version of pakoda is my contribution to the Pakora event
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Chocolate Milkshake with Icecream






Ingredients

1 cup cold milk
1 cup chocolate icecream
3 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp sugar
Ice cubes

Blend the cold milk, 1/2 cup icecream, cocoa powder and sugar together.

To serve..add the icecubes and the rest of the icecream over the milkshake.

Chocolate milkshake with icecream is my favorite and so this goes to the

WYF: Juices and Icecreams event..

Also sending over to CFK:Chocolate event started by Sharmi and guest hosted by Hema

Dont forget to send in your favourite juice/icecream/shakes/beverage for the event..the last date is 31st July.




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Rajma chawal


Ingredients

1 cup cooked kidney beans (rajma)
2 cups cooked rice
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1 medium sized tomato pureed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds-coriander seeds powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp ginger paste
Finely chopped coriander leaves

Heat oil, add cumin seeds. When it splutters, add tomato puree, ginger and dry masala powders. Cook till the oil starts seperating from masala.

Add rajma, cooked rice and salt to it and mix well. Add the water also that was used for cooking rajma. Cook for five minutes on low flame.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.





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Stuffed Bhindi


Ingredients

1/4 kg ladiesfinger of small size
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
4 tbsp fresh grated coconut
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp coriander-cumin seeds powder
2 tbsp oil

Mix all the ingredients except ladiesfinger. Make a cut in one side of the ladiesfinger and stuff this filling inside well.

Heat oil and add these ladiesfinger to it. Cook till tender. Add a few drops of water to reduce oil quantity for cooking.

Serve with rice/rotis.

This goes to Sia's WBB:Summer Feast as a side dish for brunch.


And also to Eating with Seasons: August hosted by Maninas

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Carrot Rice



Soumya from Creative Saga blog sent this recipe for the Mixed Rice Varieties event.

Ingredients

1 cup rice
2 big grated carrots
Salt to taste
2 green chillies
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp ginger paste
A small piece of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 Cardamoms
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds

Heat oil,add cumin seeds,cardamoms, cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon. Then add ginger paste, green chillies and the cleaned rice. Mix well. Add grated carrots and salt. Mix well. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water.

Serve hot with any raita.
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Dal Masala


This dal is adapted from Priyanka's version at Lajawaab blog

Ingredients

1/2 cup redgram dal
1/2 cup masoor dal
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 red chillies
1 medium tomato chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
A bit of asafoetida
1 green chilli
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Finely chopped coriander to garnish

Soak both the dals for about an hour and pressure cook with turmeric and green chilli until soft.

Heat oil, add cumin seeds and red chillies. Add chopped tomatoes and cook till soft. Add rest of the ingredients except lemon juice and coriander leaves and cook for some time.

Just before serving add the lemon juice and finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish.

Serve hot with rice/rotis.
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Cold Coffee


Ingredients

1 cup chilled milk
1/8 cup water
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp sugar (add more according to your taste)
Ice cubes

Heat the water and dissolve the sugar and instant coffee powder in it. Allow it to cool.

Blend it well in the mixer with chilled milk. If it is to be served immediately, add the ice cubes also while blending, else add it just before serving.

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Rasam Powder


This is also from the same South Indian cookbook as sambar powder

Ingredients

3 cups of coriander seeds
1 cup red gram dal
1 cup pepper
1/2 cup bengalgram dal
1/4 cup cumin seeds
3 cups Red chillies

Dry roast each ingredients seperately and grind to coarse powder. Store in an air-tight container.
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Sev Usal


Ingredients

2 cups of dried green peas (soaked overnight and pressure cooked till soft)
Salt to taste
A small lemon sized tamarind soaked in water
1 tsp oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin seeds and mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 green chilli finely chopped

To serve-
Sweet chutney
Green chutney
Coriander leaves finely chopped
Sev

Heat oil and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. When it splutters, add tamarind juice, cooked peas and all the other ingredients except the ones listed for serving.
Add some water if required and cook for some time till you get a thick gravy.

To serve...Spread out this gravy on a plate, add some sweet chutney and green chutney as per taste. Add lots of sev to it and finely garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve immediately with bread/pav or as it is.

Sending this over to SWC:Maharashtra hosted by Neha of Tasty Recipes

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Triveni Dal

This dal recipe is adapted from Kannada Cuisine blog.

Ingredients

1/4 cup each of red gram dal, masoor dal and green gram dal
1 medium sized tomato cut into small pieces
1 bunch of spinach
2 green chillies
Few curry leaves
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp oil
1/2tsp mustard seeds
11/4 tsp turmeric powder
A bit of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the dals, chopped spinach, tomatoes and turmeric powder.

Heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds. When it splutters, add curry leaves and green chillies. Finally add the dal and required salt.

Cook for five minutes.

Serve hot with rice/rotis.

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Kajjikayalu

This sweet dish was sent by Andhra Flavors for the Think Spice: Think Cardamom event.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp rava
A pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp ghee
Oil to fry
A pinch of soda

To stuff-
1 tbsp dry coconut powder
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1 tbsp crushed roasted groundnuts
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Make a dough of flour, rava, salt, soda and ghee adding very little water.Mix all the stuffing ingredients together.

Roll out the dough into small puris and place some stuffing inside in one half side. Cover it with the other half and press well in the corners to ensure that the filling doesnt come out.

Fry them on medium flame in hot oil till light brown.How to make kajikayalu, kajikaayalu, kajjikayalu, andhra special sweet dish recipe

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Green Chickpeas Masala


Ingredients

1 cup dry green chickpeas(soaked overnight and pressure cooked till soft)
1 medium tomato
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil
2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder


Heat oil, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and tomato. Cook till tomato is soft and cool. Grind it to a smooth paste along with 2 tbsp cooked chickpeas.

Heat the butter, add the tomato paste and fry for two minutes. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Add the rest of cooked chickpeas and let it cook well. Add salt and mix well to get a thick gravy.

Serve hot with rotis/puris or plain rice.
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Beetroot Halwa




Ingredients

2 big beetroots (grated)
5 tbsp sugar
Some roasted nuts
2 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Heat the ghee and add grated beetroot to it. Keep stirring until the beetroot gets cooked by itself without adding any water.

When beet gets cooked in about 10 to 15 minutes time, add the roasted nuts,cardamom powder and sugar. Mix well till the sugar melts and you get the halwa kind of consistency.

Tasty beetroot halwa ready to eat.

Sending this over to Zorra for her Swiss National Day event.

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Pudina (Mint) Chutney


Ingredients

1 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup coriander leaves
Salt to taste
A bit of asafoetida
2 tbsp grated coconut

Fry the mint leaves in a drop of oil till it shrinks. Cool and grind with the rest of the ingredients. Add required quantity of water to dilute it.

Serve with idlis/dosa/upma.

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Sambar Powder


The sambar powder recipe is from one of my cookery books and it gives the perfect taste of Sambar as prepared in Tamilnadu

Ingredients

3 cups of Coriander Seeds
1 cup of pepper
1 cup red gram dal
1 cup bengalgram dal
1/4 cup fenugreek seeds
1/4 cup mustard seeds
5 cups Red chillies

Dry roast all the ingredients seperately and grind to smooth powder after cooling.

Store in an air-tight container.
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Chandrakantalu



This recipe is adapted from Sailu's version at Sailus Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup greengram dal(soaked for an hr and ground to a smooth paste)
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup chopped cashews
Cardamom powder
Oil to fry

Mix the sugar, dal paste, coconut and cashews and cook on low flame till the mixture becomes one big ball.

Transfer it to a wet cloth and level it off to the required thickness. Cut into squares. Once it cools off, deep fry them in hot oil till golden brown.

This Andhra Special festival sweet goes to RCI:Andhra Festival food hosted by Vani
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Vegetable Malai Masala



This delicious side dish recipe is adapted from Sagari's version at Indian Cooking

Ingredients

1 cup boiled potatoes cut into cubes
1 cup cooked peas
1 cup paneer cut into cubes
1/2 cup carrots cut into cubes
2 tbsp cream
2 tbsp butter
Salt to taste

For the gravy-

2 tsp oil
2 tomatoes chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
2 cardamoms
1/2 cup cashews
2 green chillies
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp kasuri methi


Heat oil,and add paneer cubes. Fry them and keep aside.

Heat 1 more tsp of oil and add the ginger, green chillies, cardamom, tomatoes and cook covered for 2 minutes.Then add the rest of the gravy ingredients and cook for 2 minutes. Allow it to cool and grind it to a smooth paste.

Mix the cooked vegetables, paneer and gravy paste well and add some water to get more gravy. Add salt, butter and cream and cook for five minutes till the gravy gets thick.

Serve with hot rice/rotis.

This goes to Madhuram's Your recipe rocks event.
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Pidi Kuzhakattai


Ingredients

1 cup rice rava (broken rice)
2 cups of water
2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp bengalgram dal
1/2 tsp blackgram dal
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
Few curry leaves
2 red chillies cut into small pieces

Heat oil, add mustard, bengalgram dal and blackgram dal. When it splutters,add the red chillies, ginger, curry leaves and water. Let it come to a boil. Now add the rice rava to it and cook for 2 minutes. Allow it to cool and shape them into rounds or like tubes and steam them for about 6 to 7 minutes.

Serve with chutney of your choice.

JZ of Tasty treats has been very kind to pass me on two awards

Yum Yum blog award and Friendship award..

Thanks to Uma from Essence of Andhra blog for the Friendship award





I would like to pass them on to 15 good friends

Srilekha
Pravs
Andhra Flavors
Soumya
Ramya
Sireesha
Divya Vikram
Padma Rekha
Suman
Trupti
Kamala
Priyanka
Meera
Cham
Seema

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Spinach Rice


This recipe was sent by Usha of My spicy kitchen blog for the Mixed Rice Varieties Event. I made slight changes to suit my requirements.

Ingredients

2 tsp oil
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
A small piece of cinnamon
1/4 tsp methi powder
Few mint leaves
2 green chillies
1 tsp ginger paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 cup rice
A bunch of spinach, cleaned and chopped
1 medium sized tomato

Heat oil and add the dry spices and mint. Once the mint starts changing colour, add green chillies, ginger paste and spinach. Cook for 2 minutes and add chopped tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Let it cook till dry and finally add the rice and 2 cups of water. Pressure cook till done.

My latest Craft Project: Andal(bhoomadevi)

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Verusenaga (groundnut) podi


Ingredients

1 cup groundnuts (dry roasted)
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 red chillies
Few curry leaves
2 tbsp dry coconut powder
Salt to taste

Normally the skin of groundnuts is removed for making this powder..But we prefer it with the skin on. Dry roast the cumin seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and coconut powder.

Grind all the ingredients together to get a coarse powder. Store in an air-tight container and use as a sidedish for rice and other tiffin varieties.

Sending this over to Roma for her Long Live the shelf event.

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Pudina Roti




Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour
1 small bunch of mint leaves
1 green chilli
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
Oil

Fry the mint leaves in little oil till it shrinks. Cool and grind with green chillies and ginger paste. Add this and salt to the wheat flour to make a dough. Add more water if required. Make a soft dough and then small balls of it.

Roll out into chapatis and cook on hot tava till brown spots appear on both sides.

Serve hot with side dish of your choice or just like that.
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Friendship award

Rekha from Plantain Leaf (Andhra Recipes) and Skribles of Food with a Pinch of Love blog feel me worth their friendship and has passed on this award to me...Thank you


I would like to pass this on to

Asha
Mythreyee
Cynthia
Kalai
Vegetable Platter
Bhagyashri
Sumi
Sunshinemom
Hima
Seena

Bengalgram dal payasam



Ingredients

1 cup bengalgram dal(soaked for 1/2 hr in water and pressure cooked till soft)
1 cup grated jaggery
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Few cashews
2 tsp ghee
A pinch of edible camphor (pachai karpooram in tamil)

Heat the ghee and roast the cashews in it till light golden colour. Add the cooked bengalgram dal to it and roast for a minute. Add the jaggery to it and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Finally add the milk, cardamom powder and cook for 5 minutes. Add the edible camphor just before getting it down from the stove.

Serve hot or cold.

This is my entry to the Sweet Series: Cool Desserts event hosted by Mythreyee of Paajaka Recipes

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Yummy blog and Blogging with a purpose award

Laavanya of Cookery Corner passed on the Blogging with a purpose award to me...Thanks a lot

I would like to pass this on to

Veda Murthy
Medhaa
Sagari
Prema Sundar
Kamala

JZ of Tasty Treats has also passed me an award- Yummy blog award..Thanks JZ



Passing on this one to

Uma
Seema
Priya
Kannada Cuisine
Masala Magic

Roasted dal and groundnut chikki



Ingredients

1 cup roasted dal/pottukadalai
1 cup roasted groundnut
1 cup sugar
2 tsp ghee

Add the ghee to sugar and heat on low flame without adding any water. Keep stirring till the sugar melts well and starts turning brown. Add the dal and groundnut and mix well.

Transfer to a greased platform and roll out immediately. Cut into pieces with the help of knife and turn the entire chikki upside down. After it cools, break to get pieces.


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Mixed/Flavoured Rice Varieties Roundup

Thanks a lot to all of you for sending in lovely dishes for this event..The roundup is in the order I received the entries

JZ of Tasty Treats sent in five different dishes for the event-All her snaps make you feel hungry

Blogging with a purpose award

Madhavi from Recipes from my favourite place-Kitchen and Lavanya from Cookery Corner blog share the award "Blogging with a Purpose" with me...thanks a lot for thinking about me..

I would like to pass on this award to

Asha of Foodieshope

Rekha of Plantain Leaf

Meera of Enjoy Indian Food

Andhra Flavors

Cham of Spice Club