Arusuvai Friendship Chain!..

Yes, we, the bloggers residing in India are proud to have put a start to this new chain..named arusuvai.
A chain of friendship and fun which moves on and on…
To begin with, this will be restricted in India.

As you all know, Mrs.Latha Narasimhan, has already put the start of arusuvai..

Popularly known as Lathaji, Lathamma, Mami, as we all know is an addicted and an affectionate food blogger, the most active author of the well known domain, The 'Yum' Blog..
We wanted her to name the chain and kick it “start”, giving due respect to her seniority in terms of age, and capability; a 4 month old blogger with much enthusiasm, celebrating their 100th post and a hit of 10,000 within a couple of months!!.

Lakshmi, her daughter, holds the credit of creating these cute Logos.

Thank you Bhags, for all your valuable opinions.

Renuka and myself are honoured to be the first recipients of arusuvai and are all prepared to grab the “Surprise Ingredient”, already dispatched by dear Lathamma.


When you receive a package with a “surprise ingredient” as a part of arusuvai here are the basic rules you need to follow:

1. Prepare something tasty with it and post recipe with a picture if you are a blogger with the logo, a link to person who passed it to you and to this post if you like for reference.

2. If you don’t blog, do share the recipe with the friend who gave it to you or post it as a guest post on someone you know who blogs.

3. Pass on a “surprise ingredient” to two or more friends, one of whom must preferably an active blogger.We all want to have some fun together right?
Since this is starting here in India we request all Indian bloggers or those who’d like to be a part of this chain to show themselves up - we’ll ensure you get to be part of the fun.

Co-ordination is a requirement and a necessity to bring the bloggers together.Srivalli and myself have decided to keep a track of the donors and recipients on the go, as far as we can.

Feel free to recognise yourselves, if you an active blogger residing in India, to drop a comment in this announcement post or in the comment box link down here, to be a part of the chain..

The ribbons are cut and arusuvai is moving on…from the Southern tip of the country, creeping up to the North…

Be a part!!Have fun!!Good Luck!!..

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Indo Chinese Vegetable Noodles.

Indochinese dishes are the ones prepared using the Chinese cooking methods using the Indian ingredients, a fusion , accepted by most of the Indians world wide.

Vegetable Chow mein or noodles is my kids’ favourite, preferred any time of the day.As they are pure vegetarians( not allowed to stir in eggs either ;)..I go chop chopping the veggies...and once this part is done, the preparatory becomes simple and interesting.

Here’s my version of it..

To serve 4;

You need:

Noodles –a 200gm pack -I used Savorit Brand which is 100% veg.

Oil-to coat the cooked noodles-a tbsp

Oil you prefer-3 tbsps

Onion-one-sliced thin lengthwise

Carrots-julienned-1/2cup
Cabbage-shredded-1/2cup
Capsicum-julienned-1/2 cup
Ginger-minced or julienned-a tbsp
Garlic-3 cloves-minced or julienned
Soy sauce-a tbsp-more or less
Green chilly sauce-2 tsps-more or less
Aji-no-moto-1/4 tsp
Salt-to taste
White pepper powder-1/4 tsp
Spring onions-chopped- to garnish

To cook the noodles:

Boil a litre of water in a large pan.Add salt.When it bubbles and swirls, add noodles.Reduce the flame to medium and close the pan with a lid.Cook for 4-5 minutes or until they are ‘just’ soft.Take care not to over cook.The cooking time depends upon the quality of the noodles and the softness of the water.Drain the noodles to discard the water completely.Keep the noodles along with the drainer under a running tap of cold water.Drain the cold water and add a tbsp of oil and mix it along gently using your fingers,as the noodles must have turned cold by now.This helps to keep the strands separate and glossy.

Preparation:

Heat 3tbsps of oil in a large wok,sauté onions for a few seconds, add ginger, garlic and sauté again.Now add the vegetables(carrot, cabbage and capsicum)and sauté for 2-3 minutes, keeping the flame high.(This is imp when it comes to chinese method of cooking).Let the vegetables be crisp or just cooked and not too soft.
Add the soy and chilly sauces, aji-no-moto and mix well to the vegetables.Add the cooked noodles and mix altogether.Sprinkle pepper powder and check salt.Garnish with spring onions and serve hot with Gobi  Manchurian / Mushroom Munchurian any Indochinese sidedish.

The first picture is my entry to Click, the very own event hosted by Jai and Bee.

This is also my submission to Margot of Coffee & Vanilla who is hosting Vegetarian Awareness Month.

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A Spice Mix for a Spoonful of Christmas...

It had been quite a surprising discovery that a cute girl residing in Sweden has almost the same tastes of that of a lady who dwells in South India!!.The resemblances of these ladies are the love for chillies, spices, care for their sisters and more..So what if comes, if these attributes blend?...Care for the sisters, love for the spice mixes and sending them over as a gift?..

After having seen and read about the awesome Monday Spice Series , the collection of spice mixes, which the Swedish girl had prepared personally and gifted her sister for her wedding, the idea had been brewing up in me which had eventually turned out to reality now.

Even in her early teens my sister preferred homemade spice mixes and would remark,"when I start cooking, I am never going to get the store bought masalas or powders and will see to it that I make them personally, unadulterated!".

This is my gift to Nags , for her love of fresh spices ; my submission to A Spoonful of Christmas hosted by the sweet Zlamushka .

Sambhar masala or Sambhar powder had earned me the "greatest hit credit" among all the recipes blogged so far; the simple reason of choosing this ingredient to be gifted..

The recipe to make this "spice mix" is here and the "curry" which can be made out of this powder is here.

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RCI-Varalakshmi Vratham...

A day for Ladies, with the yellow sacred threads, kumkum, flowers and the Kalasam with the face of the Goddess atop, decorated with jewellery and flowers is a never to miss sight.Offerings or Neivedyam like white payasams, tamarind rice and some traditional sweets are made for the goddess Varalakshmi along with the offerings of fruits, coconuts and betel leaves and nuts.Pushparchanai or flower offerings is done along with the sacred Ashtothram chants with the 108 names of the Goddess!. The day falls on a Friday, every year according to the Tamil Calendar.

I had posted about Varalaksmi vratham a few weeks back, giving importance to Arisi Upma or Raw rice Upma.Find the recipe and details here.

In this post, let me add along the recipe for the Dosai and the accompanying Chutney which were again the part of the main menu for the day..

Pacharisi / Raw rice dosai.

Fermentation for the Iddly or Dosa batter requires 8 to 10 hours in normal room tempature of 25-30deg C. Parboiled rice and Urad dal in the ratio 4:1 is generally used for the purpose.

When it comes to the day of "vrutham", raw rice(pacharisi)becomes the substitute.Fermentation is avoided as it is considered “making ready the previous evening”and believed to be “unfit”!!.
Therefore the soaking is done early in the morning for an hour on the same day and ratio for the raw rice and the urad dal would be 2:1 so as to acquire preferably a “softer” output :)..

Ingredients:

Yeilds 10-12 medium dosas

Raw rice -1cup
Urad dal-1/2 cup
Salt-to taste.
Oil, you prefer,(use fresh and unused)-for making dosas

Method:

Soak together, rice and dal for an hour and a half.Grind it to a smooth batter using the required amount of water,just as you prepare the normal idly or dosa batter.
.Spread the batter on the hot tawa, meant for making dosas. Let the dough be slightly watery .Pour along in a circular way and avoid spreading into flat circles using the back side of the round ladle as you make the normal dosas.Just “pour” round and it spreads itself.Take care to fill the gap and resemble a dosa J..Flip over and cook the other side.Try to make soft and whiter dosas as this batter has the chance for making dosas harder.So avoid overcooking on the griddle or keep on flipping over and over.

Kadalai paruppu / Bengal gram dhal Chutney.

Ingredients:

Serves 2-3

Kadalai paruppu/bengal gram dhal-1/2 cup
Red chillies-4-5 or according to your preference
Oil for roasting-2 tsps
Oil for tempering-1 tsp
Mustard seeds and urad dal-1/4 tsp each
Kayam/hing-1/4 tsp
Curry leaves-a few
Salt-to taste

Method:

Heat oil for roasting in a kadai.Roast the dhal till unform golden colour.add the chillies and fry for a few seconds.Remove from fire,transfer contents to a flat dish and cool.Grind with salt adding enough water.See the picture for the consistency.Heat oil and temper using the mustard seeds and urad dal.Add hing and curry leaves.Pour it over the chutney and serve with the above hot dosas.Do not attempt to heat up the chutney.

Sambhar was also prepared, with pumpkin pieces in it. I am not going in depth with the recipe of Sambhar here as Viji had requested us to avoid regular sambhars or rasams :).

The recipe is already posted here.
The only difference with the sambhar recipe is that, onions are avoided for the day or on any such auspicious days.

The food is served on a banana leaf soon after the morning poojas and women generally skip lunch or dinner as they observe fasting for the day..

This goes to RCI-Tamil festivals hosted by Viji of vcuisine.

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Fantastic Four Meme...

The Yum girl, Lakshmi, has tagged me for a Fantastic Four Meme.Thank you Lakshmi.

I prefer posting the memes separately without the recipes, attached.

(Whispering the reality- Simply can't overcome the recent laziness to blog recipes) :)

So please bear with me to come up with "a recipe less Meme".


Here Goes:

4 Places I've lived

• Alappuzha (Kerala, India)-infancy,
  
• Kottayam (Kerala, India)-childhood till marriage,
  
• Thanjavur(T.N, India)-After Marriage,
  
• Now residing in a town of T.N- Totally Nailed-Settled for the rest of my life.

4 Jobs I've had

Ambitions- Reality

• Pursue education- Sacred Knot
  
• Specialisation-Nutrition & Dietetics- Jr Chef
  
• PhD Nutrition & Dietetics- Sr Chef
  
• A decent job outside India-Mom of 2 ; a complete housewife.

4 Favourite places I've holidayed

• Swiss-Grindelwald and Lucern in particular.I believe Swiss is heaven on earth.



• London- the architectural beauty and elevation of its historical buildings, the charming and the friendly English.



• Venice-the beautiful water body linking almost every where, the Gondolas, reminds me of "Vallam" and my ancestral Alappuzha(the Venice of the East).



• U.S-Florida-the ultimate Disney world, magical Newyork, Las vegas for gambling and Buffalo for the mystique Niagara.

4 Favourite foods

Have a broader outlook here, as brought up in such a way, "not to ignore any food"..

To quote 4..

• Anything related to "Kerala Cuisine"-Kappa puzhukku and meen mulaku arachathu topping the list.
  
• Amma's and Granny's-Anything they cook(chocolate cake and vattipulusu to mention respectively ).
  
• Kothamalli Thuvaiyal- by my ma in law...and only hers.
  
• Ammayi's(her mom's) cooking-She had been my teacher for cooking..as V had been brought up by her food tastes!.
  

4 Favourite places I'd rather be

• A couple of days relaxing in a slowly drifting House boat in Kumarakom which stops now and then to load the fresh catches of Pearl spots and baby mussels and getting cooked hot in the house boat kitchen, and me nibbling karimeen pollichathu, kakkayirachi ularthiyathu.. with a cool can of coke.
  V and kids can very well join in, if they can tolerate the stink aroma :D..
  
• Can spend even hours gazing at the crystal clear snow fed river flowing down up from the mountains amidst the fragrant flowers, the smell of the fresh green grass..deeply inhaling the fresh air.
  
• My bed room cum home theatre, watching my favourite movie(uninterrupted till finish),with surround sound speaker effects,..V and kids can join, as long as they don't bother me .. :D..
  
• Parents' place in Good old Kottayam..receiving pampers..eating all the favourites..with siblings..where I can be as I am..:)..of course back to V, with extra pounds.. :)..

4 Bloggers I like to tag

• Remya
  
  
• Sirisha
  
  
• Sona
  
  
• Roopa

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