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

Egg Fried Rice Recipe | How to make Egg Fried Rice | Step By Step Recipe | Weekend Cooking

This is an easy egg fried rice recipe, Indian Style. Making Egg Fried Rice is not so complicated nor tedious process.When Chicken Fried Rice seem too tough you can ruffle this in no time. As always I normally make the vegetarian Fried rice first and then add the Scrambled Egg or Fried Chicken to the rice.  

I made this Egg Fried Rice couple of weeks ago for Sunday Lunch along with Vegetable Manchurian. Since this was the main course, I had to remove the portion for vegetarian before adding the scrambled eggs to it.

It's been raining non stop during the weekend. We had gone to Tirumala for Darshan and it was so chill in the hills. We had a wonderful darshan, it was a great weekend all together. Schools have been closed for the past 3 days before the weekend because of rain and we are at our wit's end to know how to keep the kids occupied at home.

Step by Step of making Egg Fried Rice.

For detailed steps to see how to make the vegetable fried rice, See Chicken Fried Rice Recipe

Cook the rice and spread it out to cool the rice. This way the rice separates into grains.

Make the vegetable mix ready. I followed the same way as Chicken Fried Rice Recipe

For the scrambled Egg, heat a pan with oil, saute onions till light brown.

Beat the eggs well with salt, add to the fried onions.

Add spring onion greens, green chilies

Scramble it quickly, sprinkle pepper over it.

Then add the cooked Fried Rice to the pan and mix well.

Chinese Fried Rice with Egg


Egg Fried Rice Ingredients

For the Rice

Basmati Rice - 3 cups
Spring Onions - 1 bunch
Capsicum - 1 medium
Beans, Carrot and Cabbage - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Ajinomoto - 1/4 tsp
Soya Sauce - 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Pepper powder - 1 tbsp

For Scrambled Eggs

Eggs  - 3 nos
Onions - 1 medium
Salt to taste
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Green Chilies - 1 long
Spring Onion greens - handful
Oil - 1 tsp

How to make Egg Fried Rice

To make the Rice:

Check the steps to make the Rice in the Chicken Fried Rice.

To make the Scrambled Eggs

Chop onions finely. Heat a pan with oil, saute onions till they turn colour. Meanwhile take the eggs in a bowl, whisk well with salt and pepper. Retain some pepper to sprinkle over the cooked eggs finally.


When the onions are done, add the egg batter, spring onion greens, green chilies, scramble it quickly over high flame. When the eggs are cooked, sprinkle the pepper over it.

Then simmer, add the required fried rice to the pan and mix again.

I served this with Vegetable Manchurian which will follow.

What did you all prepare for the weekend?

Pazham Pori | Banana Fritters | Step By Step Recipe

Pazham Pori is also known as Ethakka Appam as I am told. The mere mention of Pazham Pori conjures of memories long forgotten, of childhood delights, of youthful indulgence and a mature fantasy. Well for all the adventures we have had, the conquest of Pazham Pori remains the one of the top. And my fondness to this delightful snack remains untarnished.

If you can understand how much of an impression these Pazham Pori has had on my "snack disliker" hubby dear, who  got these Nenthra Pazham, you can know how great these tastes. I think I have some deep connection with Kerala and its cuisine as I love all their dishes. Growing up on these dishes during our many summer vacations, made us love the cuisine. In fact most times I am mistaken for a malayali and addressed in Malayalam.

Ernakulam is one city we must have visited many times. When Dad was the Medical Director, in-charge of the south zone, he used to take us along for vacations. All those wonderful trips down south, surely brings back many nostalgic memories. We could be sure of getting treated to the best of what the place had to offer. And these tempting, delicious Pazham Pori were a must on the list when we visit Ernakulam. Of course Pazham Pori is available across the state, yet I can relate this more to this place than anything else.

Hubby dear just decided he wanted to eat Pazham Pori and got some Nenthra pazham. And it was pretty late when I got down making these. We managed to finish some and even had some spared for my colleagues.

How to make Pazham Pori in Step By Step

Nenthra Pazham before peeling. I used only two of these.

After peeling cut into two horizontal pieces.

Then proceed to cut vertically into thick pieces

 Like this..

Dip the banana pieces into the batter made with all purpose flour, sugar, soda.

Make sure the fruit is coated on both sides.

 Gently drop them into hot oil.

Cook on both sides.

Drain using a colander ladle.

Pazham Pori | Banana Fritters

Ingredients Needed

Nenthra Pazham - 2 big ones
Maida / All purpose flour - 3/4 cup (can use more)
Sugar - 3-4 tsp
Cooking Soda - 2 pinches
Turmeric - a tiny pinch.
Rice flour - 1 tsp (opt I didn't use this time)

Oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:

Peel the banana and cut in the middle horizontally. Then proceed to cut vertically into think strips.

Take the flour, sugar and cooking soda in a bowl, mix well. Then slowly add the water to get a thick batter. Whisk it well so that it rises up. You wont actually see the rise but you can see froth coming out during whisking.

Heat kadai/pan with oil. When it is hot, dip the banana strips into the batter on both sides and gently drop into the hot oil. If the banana/plantain is over ripe, it will slip very badly, so got to hold it tight!

Once it turns lightly golden flip to the other side. When done, remove on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

Notes:

• The fruit has to be ripe, yet not too ripe for you not be able to handle the cutting.
  When you use rice flour, the batter tends to come out little crispy.
  Take care not to lower your fingers close to the oil, it has happened few times to me.
• I added a bit of turmeric, in fact more than necessary by mistake during the first batch. The fritters turned out pink! So if you want a little yellow hue, add a small pinch and not more.
• The proportion of Rice flour depends on how crispy you want. Without this flour the fritters tend to become soggy. 

We enjoyed the Pazham Pori and it transported me to my childhood days. Do share which dish brings your childhood to memory!

Happy Weekend and enjoy!

Announcing the "Best of year 2010" Event!

It is that time of the year and I am back with the same event. How much ever I talk about how time is flying, I ought to take a moment to think back about the months that have gone back and look forward to next that is waiting!

Last year I almost forgot about this and announced it much later. Guess this year I have been much more conscious of this.

To save myself some time, I am just writing the same thing I did as last year!

If you are interested to take such a time to pause and think back, I would welcome you to share it with me.

It can also be whatever else you want to share with me and your readers.

I am just giving few items for you to get started. It can be these or whatever you want to share:

1. Top 5 or 10 recipes of the year
2. Best dish of the month
3. Best recipe prepared from other blogs
4. Best Meal of the year
5  New things discovered in the year (can include anything related to cooking)
6. Best post or picture for each month or year
7. New blogs discovered
8. Cooking resolutions for the Year 2010!

Lets celebrate the new year with a recap of what we did during 2010!

Guidelines for the event.

1. Write your post by 31st December 2010. Feel free to use logo.

2. In your post, include a link to this announcement.

3. Mail me your details to cooking4allseasons@gmail.com with the subject line "Best of 2010".

I hope you will enjoy doing this recap.

Hoping to read the many wonderful things that happened around!

Yeah yeah times like this I tend to become sloppy and very sentimental as I have already said, so you can read about the 2007, 2008 and 2009 here.

Lunch Box Series : LBS#57 ~ Vegetable Biryani in Pressure Cooker | Vegetable Biryani with Paneer | Step By Step Recipe

Vegetable Biryani is so convenient to carry for lunch box. In the one hour one gets to get the cooking done, I mostly resort to these quick rice recipes that serve as one pot meal and you get to eat your vegetables and at the same time get things done soon. How much ever I plan ahead, I almost end up spending my first hour just cooking for my kids. 

Konda eats her breakfast and carries a lunch box, while boys just get time to drink their milk and carry their breakfast. Most days I make sure I ask them what they want. Else I know I end up having their lunch box returned without being touched. Konda most days just says anything is fine, yet has a limited list to accept! These days she loves Nutulla on bread, almost for breakfast, lunch and even dinner if I so offer. Once after much persuasion I accepted to send that for lunch one day and she was so happy.

Before getting into the recipe details I would like to share some great news with you. Rebecca whom I met couple of months back has just launched her a Recipe App. The app looks great. and so convenient. And she says "it will surely help the every day cook, have fun in the kitchen trying simple, healthy recipes from around the globe".


Please check out her video where Rebecca talks about the Recipe App. For more details, read the Press Release on the iPhone Recipe App launch.

Even better just hop on to buy the tunes, I am sure you will enjoy it!

Coming to the recipe, if you are wondering on how Paneer came into picture, of course I didn't pressure cook the paneer along with the vegetable biryani but rather garnished the rice with fried paneer. This rice variety was quite easy to make. This was adapted from a book written by Padma Vijay on Rice Treats.

I didn't make any other side dish for this other than the Onion Raitha. And it was good though not very spicy.

I made this last week when it was raining heavily and way through the last stage the power went off. Infact when I started for grinding the masala there was a power cut but luckily it came back just enough time for me to grind the masala. But imagine my predicament when I had to take the picture with my box showcasing the lunch. So the final picture was taken in complete darkness with flash on, still it came out well. Then I requested hubby dear to take a different shot when the power came back.

Step by Step to make Vegetable Biryani in Pressure Cooker.

 Grind the chilies, garlic, onions and coconut to a fine paste

Fry the paneer in 1 tsp ghee

 Remove the paneer and fry the whole spices

followed by the ground paste till the oil comes out,

which will about couple minutes in high.

 Then goes the vegetables

followed by the rice which was soaked for 15 -20 minutes

 Then pour water or coconut milk which ever you are going to use.

The paneer was again sauteed in a non stick pan frying in the pressure cooker got it sticking to the bottom.

Cover with lid and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.

Ok here is the customary picture I have of my lunch box. It was very good to bite in with the paneer pieces in between.

Ingredients Needed:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Vegetables - 2 cups (Beans, Carrots, Peas, Cauliflower which I didn't add)
Paneer cubes - 1/2 cup, fried
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 2"
Bay leaf - 1
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

For the masala

Onions - 2 medium
Coconut - 2-3 tbsp
Green Chilies - 4 long
Garlic - 4 -5 cloves

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the rice for 15 - 20 mins.

Grind the onions, coconut, garlic and chilies into a fine paste.

Heat ghee in the pressure cooker, fry paneer. This can be done in a non stick pan to avoid the paneer sticking to the bottom. I wanted to avoid using two vessels and ending up doing that anyways!

Then add the whole spices along with oil and fry, followed by the ground paste. Saute till the oil comes out.

Add the chopped vegetables, salt and a pinch of turmeric. Simmer for couple of minutes with the lid covered so that the vegetables get soft with the moisture.

Add the drain rice and saute for couple of minutes. Then add 3 cups of water or coconut milk. Just before covering with the lid, add the garam masala and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

Once the pressure falls, garnish with fried paneer and serve with onion raitha.

Notes:

• If you want you can add the paneer to the rice before pressure cooking, which I did next time. It did came out well. But this way of adding fried paneer tastes different too.
• As always when cooking with Basmati Rice ensure to use 1: 1&1/2 cups of water. Even when vegetables are added, they get soft when you simmer for few minutes.
• If you want to use coconut milk, make sure to increase the chillies as the coconut tends to reduce the spice. 
• Alternate serving can be a milk tomato kurma instead of the onion raitha.

And sorry for hitting on the publish button by mistake! I was at wits to click back on the draft. Hope this recipe interest you enough to come back..

Happy Weekend!

Moong Dal Payasam in Microwave | Microwave Pesara Pappu Payasam | How to make Moong Dal Payasam Step By Step Recipe

Making sweets in Microwave is pretty easy, especially if you are working with a lentil like Moong dal. So when Priya wanted to have Sweets for this edition of Microwave Easy Cooking Event, I had to think of another sweet that can be made.

I have already posted one version of making Moong Dal Payasam, which has Poppy seeds for a kick. While this was with different take and one that MW chef showed in a jiffy. Moong Dal works out easy in most dishes and as a sweet it simply rocks. I enjoyed eating this and making it. Do try if you want to have a quick sweet dish in microwave.

With the sun playing hide and seek the past couple of days, we are unsure when it is going to open up. As per norms, it usually rains in the night. But these days it just rains when we are all ready to set out. Imagine having to go out in pouring rain, only to see it all dry the moment you reach your destination. Not that I don't enjoy the rains, while I love getting drenched and don't mind sitting all wet at work too, it kind of puts off when you have to wade through dirty waters. Wish the authorities address the issue, rather than building showy things.

Let's see how to make Moong Dal Payasam Step by Step in Microwave

Micro Milk for 7 mins, keep it aside.

Dry roast Moong dal for 4 mins and soak in water for 30 mins.

Roast Cashew nuts and chopped Coconut in 1 tsp for 2 mins

Melt Jaggary in water and keep it aside.

Cook Moong dal along with the water for 25 mins in micro mode. Then add the boiled milk and micro for 5 mins.

Add the melted jaggary along with sugar and micro for 3 mins.

Finally add the roasted Cashew nuts and coconut and micro for 5 mins.

Stir in between once and put it back for remaining time.

Microwave Moong Dal Payasam

Moong Dal - 3 cups

Jaggary - 1/2 kgs

Sugar - 50 gms

Cardamon a pinch

Milk - 1/2 liter

Method to prepare:

Fry the Moong dal for 4 minutes and soak it in water for 30 mins.

Meanwhile boil the milk for 7 mins in micro mode.

Then cook along with the milk, moong dal for 25 mins in micro mode.

You can boil the milk along with moong dal but this way all the milk gets evaporated, so it is better to boil it separately.

Roast the cashew nuts and coconut in 1 tsp ghee and keep it aside.

When the moong dal is cooked, add these roasted nuts and micro for 5 mins.

Serve it hot

Moong dal tastes best when served hot, but you can refrigerate it for a cool dessert.


Sending this to Priya who is hosting this month's edition of Microwave Easy Cooking themed on dishes fit for a Sweet Tooth!..Have you got your dishes ready?