Let's welcome 2013...

I wish all my readers a wonderful and prosperous new year...

It had been a wonderful year of learning, sharing and insights into lot of things that enriched the whole experience. Looking forward to yet another year in cooking and sharing.

Do join me in the journey...

Launching ValliShopping.com - An online Shopping portal!

I am so happy to share the launch of our online Shopping portal Valli Shopping 

This has been our venture since December 2010 and finally opened our showroom in Chennai. We then thought we should have our online presence felt and hence a need to create an online site.

The showroom is operated by my husband, Suresh. I will be managing the online operation. We are right now into Electronic gadgets like Blackberry Mobiles, Cameras like Nikon, Canon, Sony. Computers and all accessories for Mobiles, Cameras and computers. We may extend to other brands and services shortly.

Though we are going to do the sales through our showroom based in Egmore,Chennai, we do have an online selling option too. Since we are yet to finalize a better payment gateway, we have a very simple mode of transaction for now.

Right now we will do the delivery in and around Tamil Nadu.

Please visit our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/vallishopping

Our site http://www.vallishopping.com

Our Address

      VALLI ENTERPRISES
      Shop No.20,Basement, 150, Cisons complex,
      Montieth Road, Egmore,
      600 008 Chennai
      TN
      India

We would really appreciate all the support and help we can get in terms of promotion and recommendation.

Eggless Chocolate Muffins for Birthday Celebration

I made these chocolate muffins a weekend couple of weeks ago. With the summer vacation on for the kids, they have been after me to make them some muffins. Since these ought to be eggless I was again trying out a different proportion improvising on my other muffin recipe. As a replacement for the egg, I was trying to use Olive oil, milk and butter. And also wanted to have that crumbly effect, so make a cake flour.

Having always thought that one can't make cake flour at home, discovering this simple fix was an amazing thing. I should thank Simmi for sharing her knowledge. Now be it a cake or a muffin, it is not done without corn flour being used. When I finally made these Egg less Chocolate muffin, they disappeared so fast. I just remembered to click few pictures. Second batch I dusted it with castor sugar to make it look pretty. I was baking these non stop for three days and hubby dear was complaining that if these take so much of my time, he will as well get it from shop. Athamma replied that those may not taste as good and kids may not like them.

Check out Eggless Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting for detailed procedure on how to do with step by step pictures. This is very similar muffins and gets done in a jiffy.

We celebrated Konda's birthday yesterday. She had invited her friends and my colleagues also. We are missing Athamma and twins as they have gone to visit my sil. We decided to make Chole Batura, Jeera Rice with Masoor ki Dal. Everything turned out so well and all had a great time relaxing. I was thinking it was high time I make the birthday cakes myself. So to make up for that, I baked a different one this morning, which I will be posting later.

I remember making Seviyan for her birthday last year. And both my sils were here with their families. We were hoping they will come down this year too but couldn't make. I was especially looking forward as I was planning to make some more breakfast thali. Let me see if I can anyway make it.

Now let's get into the recipe details. FYI: The basic proportion that goes into these muffins are same. You might be wondering why I should be posting almost similar recipes. I know how much it matters as each time the taste and texture differs and I would surely hope these different proportions will help a novice.

Eggless Chocolate Muffins

All purpose Flour / Maida - 1 cup *
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Cooking Soda - 1/4
Cocoa powder - 2 tsp
Salt a pinch
Icing sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tsp
Milk - 3/4 cup
Chocolate Chips handful

Method to prepare:

In a measuring cup, add the corn flour, add the flour on top of it. This will get you the cake flour.

Sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Melt the butter and add to the flour. Gently stir in the mixture. The add the olive oil, slowly add milk and gently mix in. Add the Chocolate chip at the end and stir.

You can slowly add the milk to get the mixture little loose.

Pre heat the oven at 185 deg C. Line the muffin tray with liners and scoop a spoonful into each muffin cup. I used a small cup and got about 12 muffins.

Bake at 185 deg C for 15 mins. Check if it's done by using a knife. Allow it to rest. When it's cooling over the rack, dust the top with icing sugar.

Serve little warm as it tastes best!

Celebrating Terra Madre Day

There are times when you really should slow down to enjoy those moments in life, which we miss being always so occupied with something.  For us at home it is always rushed into everything, right from the moment we get up until we hit down. Even that is rushed most times.

So for me, attending an event which focused on slowing down meant literally letting down my self and it was such an awesome period. For that, I have to thank Pratibha and Jigyasa, who invited me to join them in celebrating Terra Madre day. They organized an event to observe Terra Madre Day by having a A POT LUCK OF TRADITIONAL FOODS with the members of The Duchess Club, Chennai.

The Tarra Madre Day is conceived by Slow Food Movement started by Carlo Petrini Italy. This year more than 1000 groups & communities across the globe were participating in similar events! A much needed global resonance - each one of us needs to do our bit.

I was invited to judge the food on display, along with two other noted dignitaries. It was such a honour and  I didn't want to miss the opportunity. Believe me it was so much fun and so hard to finalize on one dish as the best. Each dish was judged on Authentic, Aesthetic, Traditional touch. I was judging Snacks, Salads and Sweets.

Valakkai Bajji - Winner among the snacks

Adad Paak- Winner among sweets

The Pledges to Save Mother Earth were truly inspiring. My Pledge was: My Mother earth – I will teach my children to enjoy nature by taking them hiking & trekking. Thank you Jigyasa & Pratibha, that was indeed perfect for me.

The lovely ladies surpassed all measures by bringing in so many innovative yet traditional dishes, as few were forgotten in the main stream cuisine. The Organic Valakkai Bajji was chosen as the best among the Snacks, other interesting dishes were Murukku with Buttermilk, Dahi Vada made with Moong dal, Sundals with Chickpea, peas relating to Marina Beach! The presentation of each participant was so meticulous and beautifully done. On the sweets front, there were so many. Finally Adad Paak, a gujarati special was chosen.

I came back feeling utterly satisfied of having met a bunch of food enthusiasts. And a knowledge that I still have so much to learn! For which I am so thankful.

Picture Courtesy:  The Duchess Club

An update...

With so many preparations for Diwali done at home, we finally never realized when it came and went! We plan something and something else, completely out of norm happens. Diwali wasn’t as grand as usual or as how we wanted it to be, with Peddu being down with fever. It’s been over ten days since he’s got fever. The reports are not clear enough to rule out Typhoid or just a viral fever; we are still waiting for the final report to come in, even as they started on Antibiotics and that has controlled his fever to great extent.

Its 4 days since we have been in the hospital. With Hubby dear shuttling around his work, home and hospital, I have completely taken off from work, trying to handle through phone calls. It’s been one hectic week that I can happily forget!

 I always wondered how one will spend the day off when the entire day is at one’s dispose. Believe me it is terrible. For one, it is extremely heartbreaking to tend to a sick child, who is happy one moment becomes cranky the next moment with the fever setting in. When the fever subsides, we have the TV for the entertainment. It has been ages since I have actually watched Tele. I was able to manage the TV dose only for a day. Finally hubby dear decided to get my laptop, hoping that it will give me company when Peddu sleeps.

We are hoping to get back home tomorrow. He didn't get fever since morning and his doctor was clear that he will not let us go home unless Peddu does not get temperature today and tomorrow. It was heart warming to see how well Chinnu was taking this separation from us. He has been on his best behaviour or so claims Athamma. While Konda is mature enough to understand still keeps asking when we will get back

My Sils’ families came to visit us for Diwali. It wasn’t much fun with Peddu being unwell. Still we wanted the rest of the kids to enjoy the day. They had sorts of celebration at home. But nobody had the mood to do much.


With guests visiting, Amma wouldn’t think of treating them with store bought stuff. I managed to pinch in when I could. It was the usual fair of Coconut Burfi, Panasa Thonalu , Mysore Pak and new dishes like Badusha.

I will write about the recipes once we get back home.

I have recorded how we have our Deepavali Celebrations every year, it makes me sad there isn't a post this year to mark the occasion. But more important than that we will have celebrations when we get back home with Peddu all well.

Do share in your diwali celebrations. With the whole time on hand, I would surely love to read elaborately on every note.

Pappulu Kajjikayalu or Pappulu Karjikayalu Step By Step Recipe | Deepavali Sweets | An Anniversary to Celebrate!

There are days that you ought to make sure you remember and make memories even if the days are made hard. An Anniversary is not something you forget, you are made sure you remember. Last year Hubby dear made sure he treated me with a trip I will never forget, by taking me to a place that was my favorite. We celebrated our decade of marriage last year with a trip ahead of the day. This year we didn't plan for a trip as I was already away for a while and wasn't prepared for another one.

When we thought we can safely forget, family and friends won't accept it anyways. Lataji remembered to wish me even while she was traveling. Friends make the occasion so much so wonderful. So a cake and special lunch is a must. With Peddu being down with a viral fever, we didn't want to do anything. But kids insisted on a cake. Eleven years is not that comes every day.

An Eggless Blackforest Cake was ordered for the occasion. Not something that I could ignore that easily!

After a tiring lunch, we wanted to retire for a nap. But the Diwali fever has caught the neighborhood already and since morning there was insistent firecrackers played with. There are times when you feel silence can be so overpowering. I felt this at my Sister's place at San Jose. There was no a drop of sound, not even a bit. All I could feel was my own heart beat. And here I was trying to catch a nap amidst a commotion that was inconceivable. Finally I thought I might just ignore napping..

As a continuation of making something for the Diwali and for the special day today, Athamma wanted to make Kajjikayalu, but with a different stuffing.

Step by Step making of Pappulu Karjikayalu

Get the dough ready and let it rest for 15 minutes

 Grind the stuffing together and keep it aside

 Roll out the dough and place the stuffing on the discs

 If you making the half moon shapes, take the rolled out disc on your palm,

 Place a spoon of the stuffing in the center.

 Close your palm and bring the sides together, slowly close it

Once you close the entire sides, press strongly to close together

 Roll one side inside, continue doing like that as shown in the picture.

Continue doing it with the rest.

 For the full shaped discs, roll out the dough into a small circle, with the stuffing in the center.

 Place another rolled out disc over this and press the sides.

 Firmly press the sides like this.

 Now you have all the shaped ones ready

Heat a pan with required oil for deep frying these Kajjikayalu, fry them on slow flame.

Once they are cooked on both sides, drain them on a kitchen towel.

Ingredients Needed:

For the cover:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Water to knead

For the filling:

Fried Gram Dal - 1 cup
Dried Coconut/ Copra - 1/2 cup
Jaggary - 1/2 cup or (you can increase as per your taste)
Cashew nuts - 10 whole
Cardamom - 2 nos

Oil for Deep frying

Method to prepare:

Kajjikayalu are normally made in half moon shapes. There are many ways to make this. You can even make these in the molds available.


To make the dough


To make the dough, take the flour, salt and ghee in a bowl. Mix well. Then slowly add water to knead into a stiff dough. If you want to get a crispy cover, the dough has to be stiff. When you allow it to rest, it will get soft again. So either you mix some more flour before rolling out. Or you knead and roll out immediately


To make the filling

Grate the Copra or the Dried coconut. This tastes great and also stays longer as the fresh one might get spoiled.

Pulse the fried gram dal and cardamon in a mixer, then add the jaggary and pulse again. Chop the cashew nuts into small pieces. This will be a dry mixture.

Making the kajjikaya on the rolling board.

Once you are ready to roll out, divide the dough into small equal balls. Using the rolling pin, dust the balls, flatten them into small circles, like the puris.

Scoop a spoonful of the dal filling and place on the middle. List one side of the dough, bring to the other side and press well. You can dab some more flour and press well so that the filling doesn't come out.

Making it in your palm.

Once you roll out the cover, take it on to your left palm. Hold it while you scoop in the fillings. Now gently cover both open sides. You will end up having a half moon.

In all shapes, to get the design, you have to turn the sides like tuck in and then press. Then again tuck in. As shown in the picture.

Round Kajjikaya.

This is much easier way to make. Roll out two small puri size dough. Place the filling in the middle. Place the other puri on top and press down well.

Once you have all the Kajjikaya filled and ready, Heat the oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot, simmer and gently drop in the kajjikaya. Fry in low flame, only then the outer layer will be crispy.

Turn to the other side, when its cooked on one side. Once its done on both sides, drain them on to a kitchen towel.




The dal stuffing will be more than what you need. You can make so many other varieties with it.

I am hoping to get some more sweets to be featured..stay tuned!

Have a great week ahead!

Guessing Game!

Well I know it's been ages since I had anything interesting to play this guessing game. I remember most of us doing it in the initial period of blogging. Guessing games are really fun as it makes you think had. But with natural ingredients, it is quite easy. 

Still I remember few bloggers who had natural ingredient yet it used to be so tough to guess them.

What I got to offer as a mystery is a cooked product. You got to guess what the main ingredient is. It is a sweet dish, well a halwa. I can see many of you saying not again! Yes I seem to have quite a few Halwa Recipes on the blog. But believe this halwa is not my creation. I would never have thought of getting this to the blog. 

But can you believe hubby dear actually asked for it couple of times, you can be sure it was excellent. Moreover I took the box to my office and nobody was able to guess the ingredient. But vouched it was really fantastic.

It is a halwa made with one unexpected part of the fruit. The fruit is very commonly available. But the main ingredient in this halwa is never used. Yet it turned out to be so delicious.

Now out with your answers!

Will post the answer and recipe tomorrow!

A Trip to San Francisco and BlogHer Food

It's been five days since coming back from the trip, yet it feels like a daze. I have travelled forth and am back to my world. Yet it feels like a dream. I made my first ever trip alone, managed quite well and back in one piece. Despite all the apprehension my family can have on sending me on my own, I had a great adventure, including a missed flight and a great mingling with wonderful folks. I was visiting my cousin sister at SFO, to attend BlogHer Food Conference.

My flight had a plane change over at Brussels, which I wasn't aware of until the last moment. We had a wait of two hours and  I met a sweet lady who was recouping from a personal loss, yet she was kind enough to let me tug along with her.

Way to NY, my neighbour was a German gentleman from Spain. We had such a lively discussion about food and culture. He was most delighted to know that I was a food blogger and confessed his love for Indian Food. The plane offered Indian food for Lunch, which he felt was spicy and to my spiced tongue was barely mild. On the whole it was an enlighten discussion on culture.

When I landed in NY, I had to get my immigration and customs cleared. By then I was happily led into a different terminal. I called up home and confirmed to all that I reached well. Only to realize something was wrong and it struck me that I will most surely miss my plane to SFO. I don't remember ever running so fast, even running period. All the while I was grinning actually knowing it was such a comedy of errors. JFK airport is so huge, one can so easily get lost.

Luckily I was booked on the next available one. My sister was all worried, I assured her I was doing just fine, infact enjoying a large chocolate bar with roasted almonds. That was a moment of self indulgence you agree right!

By the time I settled down at my sister's home, trying to account my adventure to my family it was pretty late. The simple dal with aloo podi was heavenly as it can be!

Next day my bil took us to the shopping mall. If one can actually drop down shopping it could've been us. My sis took me to the Pretzels, which were out of the world! Then to Macy's which had the best of the cookware one can see. I selected couple of muffin trays along with loads of other accessories for baking.

Next day was the BlogHer Conference, where I met many wonderful Food Bloggers.

While I was still trying to collect myself seeing the huge gathering, I was greeted by the talented duo Anuja and Hetal of the ShowMeTheCurry.com. Both of them were so kind and interesting. Imagine doing the entire Video yourself and doing the entire show by themselves. I had so much to learn from them. I have lots to thank them, including the fact that they ensure I got vegetarian food to eat. The buffet was huge but finding something for a vegetarian was tough.

These were what I lived on.

A speech by Lisa Stone & Elisa Camahort Page

 A session by Todd and Diane of the White on rice couple

The day went off quite well, with lots of demo samplings, mingling and carrying back the huge "swag".

My sis and Bil joined us for the party and on the way back home they took me through the beautiful SFO. Couple of days are not just enough to take in everything.

I was really excited for the panel to happen. I finally met Elaine Wu of Virgo Blue and BlogHer.com, who moderated our panel which had Donna Pierce from BlackAmericaCooks.com, Laura Beck from Vegansaurus.com. It was about Food Diplomats and Cuisine Ambassadors that lasted an hour and a quarter. It was a lively discussion and I had so much to share and learn. It was indeed a great experience.

Yes I finally met Jadan, she was as wonderful as she always sounded. 

 The books displayed at the BlogHer, all authored by the bloggers.

 Live Demo by the Chefs

Afternoon was a ride to the Farmer's Market and the Ferry Building. It was a lesson in history with questions on the Ferry building. The day ended with a closing party which was held at the Culinary Institute.

Closing party in the evening.

On the way back, my BIL decided to go for a second show of Enthiran. I have never been to a second show and on top sleeping only for about 4 hrs the past 4 days, I finally conked off right there. I don't remember watching the movie and will not claim having watched it either if anyone asks!

 We went on a ferry tour the next day.

 On the way back after two days, I tried taking pictures from the window.

 

Next 3 days were quick before I actually realized!

I know this post is pretty late but it's better late then never as they say right!