Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Everyone in the family has some dish as their favorite, they might prefer some ingredient more than others, One would hate a dish which the other would call as favorite. Taste really differs!!!

What dad likes is not what I like, What sis likes is what dad likes, Mom hates a dish which I love, Sis drools over the dish that I really cant stand!!!!! ufffff What do I cook to satisfy all???!!!

Finally I got an answer for the toughest question... Its the Rich Creamy Cauliflower Soup. Its my family favorite now. All of them just love to have it anytime and all time :)

I am relived.. Now I know how to impress them all.. :) :) :)

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1(medium sized)
Potato - 1
Onion - 1 big
Butter - 1 1/2 Tbl sp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green chilly - 1
Wheat flour - 1 Tbl sp
Milk - 1 1/2 cup
Salt - for taste
Sugar - 2 tsp
Pepper powder - for taste

Method:

Heat butter in pressure pan and fry sliced onions for 2 to 3 minutes in reduced flame. Add cauliflower pieces and diced potatoes and continue stirring for few minutes. Now sprinkle wheat flour and fry for another one minute. Pour one cup of milk and half cup of water to it. Add ginger and chilly(Chopped into two) pieces. Close the lid and pressure cook for one whistle in reduced flame.

Let the contents cool down. Discard the ginger and chilly pieces and grind them into a smooth paste in a mixie and pass through sieve. Dilute with the rest of milk and water. Add salt, sugar and reheat in reduced flame till boiling point stirring in between for even heating.

Sprinkle pepper powder just before serving. Serve hot with grated cheese on top. :) Happy cooking. :)

I am really happy to send this soup as an entry to the "Served With Love" a beautiful event thoughtfully conducted by Arundhuti in her lovely blog called Gourmet Affair.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Merry Christmas :)

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

May god make all your dreams come true this year! :)

Celebration makes us happy, it brings us all together and gives us so much excitement. I had a lovely Christmas this year too.

I enjoyed the day with my family, cutting a cake, wishing each other, sharing chocolates etc. :)

But the sad thing was that the cake that I tried to bake failed miserably that I had to buy one to replace and keep the celebration going. Anyways we learn from our faults and I was okay about it. :)

I am sure all of you would have enjoyed the day with your family and friends too.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy new year to all my friends. :)

My Christmas Kolam :)

Hugs

Black Gram Dosa / Azhagar Kovil Dosa

Azhagar kovil is a lovely divine temple found in Madurai. Black gram dosa is specially made in a very authentic style and is offered as prasadam to the lord in this temple. This dosa taste unique and its absolutely a treat. Its healthy as well as tasty. :)

Ingredients:

Black gram (with skin urad dal/black urad dal/karupu ullundhu) - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Curd(Sour) - 1/2 cup
Gingelly oil - 1 tbl spn
Ghee - 1 tbl spn
Pepper powder-1 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Curry leaves
Salt

Method:

Soak rice and black gram separately in water for 2 hours. Grind them one by one coarsely. Now mix both the ground mixtures, add the curd and salt and allow it to ferment overnight.

Next day, add gingelly oil, ghee, pepper powder, chopped ginger and curry leaves to the batter. Add adequate water to make the batter to dosa batter consistency. Now make dosa in skillet and roast both the sides adding little ghee to it.

Azhagar kovil dosa is ready to eat. Serve it hot with garlic chutney.

Thanks to Malar Gandhi who writes a lovely blog called Kitchen Tantra for passing this cute award to me.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Cabbage Coriander Aromatic Curry

Decoration: Used my favorite little plastic bonsais to decorate the dish. :)

My taste buds are extremely choosy and so is my nose. :) They get so excited to some ingredients like coriander and garlic. When the aromatic ingredients blend along with healthy vegetables, I am sure no one can just resist eating.

One such simple and awesome blend is this cabbage curry. Try it out and you would never regret. Happy and healthy cooking :)

Ingredients:

Chopped Cabbage - 1 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Green chillies - 2
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Garlic - 3 pods
Bengal gram dhall - 1 tbl sp
Salt
Curry leaves

Method:

Cook the chopped cabbage and Bengal gram dhall separately and keep it aside. Grind coriander leaves, green chillies and ginger together into a fine paste without adding water to it. Now take a spoon of oil in a pan and season with mustard and curry leaves. Then add diced onion and finely chopped garlic to it and fry till onion turns golden brown. Add the cooked cabbage, Bengal gram dhall and saute it for few more min. Finally add the ground coriander paste and mix well.

Aromatic cabbage curry is ready to eat :)

Serve it with ghee rice or curd rice. Happy making :)

I am happy to send my Poppy seed halwa to Think spice event conducted by Radhika of Food for seven stages of life. Think spice is a lovely event started by Sunitha.




And I am sending Masala pori to Tea time snack event conducted by Simple Indian Food blog.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Pigeon Pea (Toor dhall bean) Sundal

Legumes are one of the most nutritious ingredients that we can add to a normal dish to make it an extra healthy dish. :)

The choice of legumes make me feel really excited about it. Every time I visit the market, there is some new legume that I can experiment with. :)

This time its the pigeon pea also called the toor dhall bean that caught my attention. I just loved the cute red dotted combined with a bright green color of the pea. :)

Ingredients:

Pigeon pea(Thuvar dhall bean) - 1 cup
Coconut - 1 tbl sp
Onion - 1
Garlic - 2 pods
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Green chillies - 2
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Lemon - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves

Method:

Cook the pigeon pea. Grind coconut, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, turmeric, asafoetida and salt together and keep it aside. Take a spoon of oil in a pan and season mustard and curry leaves. Now add the ground paste and fry for few min till the raw smell leaves. Once done add the cooked pea along with lemon extract and saute well. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Pigeon pea sundal is ready to eat :)

Serve it hot. You can have it just like that or with curd rice.

I am sending this to the lovely event "My legume love affair" By Srivalli which originated in Susane's blog.


I am also sending my Disaster Halwa as an entry to a very cute event called "Kitchen Mishaps" conducted by Malar Gandhi in her very interesting blog Kitchen Tantra.




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Steamed Rice Dumplings

Decoration: Placed the paper lilies that I made recently :)

Steamed Rice dumpling, as a name might sound new and complicated.. But its our very own traditional dish called mudha kudumulu(In Telugu) or Pidi Kolukattai(In Tamil).

Its a super tasty and harmless food that you can consume without any restrictions. :)

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Bengal gram dhall - 1 tbl sp
Green gram dhall - 1 tbl sp
Coconut - 1 tblsp
Water - 2 1/2 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak the rice in water for 10 min, drain it and dry the rice on a clean cloth. Now powder it coarsely(Like rava).

Soak bengal gram dhall and green gram dhall in water for min 1 hour.

Dilute the powdered rice in a cup of water and keep it aside. Boil the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water and add the soaked dhalls, salt and the diluted rice mixture and blend well. Cook for ten min, till it becomes thick. Once done allow it to cool down for a while.

Now greese your hands with oil, and make lemon sized balls of the cooked mixutre and press them with your hand to flatten them slightly. Then place them on a well greased plate(you can use idly plate) and steam cook the balls for 20 min.

Steamed rice cakes are ready to eat. :)

It goes best with Urad dhall chutney or sugar.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Cauliflower Sabzi and My Interview :)

Cauliflower is one of the most versatile vegetable that I like. Get one and you can make variety of dishes like sabji, curry, soup, manchurian, Sambar and the list goes no. So we really don't have to plan on what to make when it is at home. Anything with it will be tasty and its absolutely healthy too. :)

Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and vitamin C, possessing a very high nutritional density.

Nothing goes as best as this with roti. So enjoy eating :)

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1
Peas - 250 gms
Tomato - 4
Onion - 4
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 10 pods
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Cut cauliflower into large florets. Now half cook it in water adding little salt to it. Drain and save the water separately.

Now deep fry the cauliflower florets till golden brown and keep it aside. (This step can be skipped, but this is the secret step to make it extra tasty)

Cook peas separately. Grind onions, ginger and garlic together. Dice tomato into small pieces and keep it aside.

Now in a pan, take 3 tsp of oil and fry the onion, ginger garlic paste till the raw smell goes. Then add the chopped tomatoes and saute for a while. Add chilly powder, salt, garam masala, turmeric powder, pepper powder, cumin powder and sugar. Now add to it the cooked peas, fried cauliflower and vegetable stalk or water. Let this boil for few min. Finally add chopped coriander leaves to it.

Cauliflower sabji is ready to eat :)

Serve it with roti,chapathi, poori or nan varieties. :)

I am happy to inform you all that I have been featured on Food-India.com. Click on the link or the picture below to read my interview :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Karthikai Deepam - Celebration and Puffed Rice Snacks

Wish you all a very Happy Karthikai Deepam :)

Karthikai Deepam is a festival of lights celebrated by Tamil Hinsus on the full moon day of Karthikai month (November/December), which is observed in every home and in every temple. This occurs on the day when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai (Pleiades) and purnima.

Karthigai is essentially a festival of lamps. The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol. It is believed to ward off evil forces and usher in prosperity and joy. While the lighted lamp is important for all Hindu rituals and festivals, it is indispensable for Karthikai.

Find more details on the festival from here.

At home we do a nice Kolam in the entrance and decorate it with lamps.

Mom performs a small pooja to Annamalaiyaar (Thiruvannamalai).

Karthigai festival in Thiruvannamalai hills is very famous. On Karthigai day, a huge fire lamp is lit up on the hill, visible for several kilometers around the hill. The fire (dheepam) is called Mahabharanidheepam, Hindu devotees visit here and pray to god Shiva.

We make Sweet pori and Kaara pori as prasadam to the lord. These are made using aval pori(Puffed rice flakes).

Sweet Pori (Sweet Rice Flakes)

Ingredients:

Puffed rice flakes - 5 cups
Jaggery - 1 cup
Roasted gram - 1/2 cup
Roasted Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Cardamom - 2
Water - as required


Method:

In a large vessel take the powdered jaggery and add just enough water to immerse it. Now switch on the stove and keep stirring the mixture till it dissolves completely. Filter this contents using a strainer to remove impurities.

Now heat the syrup again for a while till it reaches lose ball consistency. Test that by pouring a drop of the syrup in a plate of water. You should be able to gater it into a lose ball without it dissolving immediately.

Once it reaches this stage simmer the stove and add the cardamom powder to it followed by the puffed rice, roasted gram and peanuts. Mix well till all the ingredients blend together.

Now make balls from it or just have it like that. :)

Sweet pori is ready to eat. :) Happy a happy festive treat. :)

Kaara Pori(Spicy Puffed Rice Flakes)

The method is all the same as the masala pori that I had posted earlier except that we dont add garlic to it.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Smashed Yam Curry (Karunai Kilangu Masiyal)

Karunai Kilangu(Elephant foot yam) Masiyal is one of the best currys that i ever crave for. Its an all in one sweet, sour and spicy curry. It goes super good when mixed with ghee rice or even with curd rice.

I am sure it would be a favorite of all dish. :)

Karunai Kilangu(Elephant foot yam)
Image source: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/2329935739_d4dccb134c.jpg

Ingredients:

Elephant Foot Yam(Karunai Kilangu)- 1/2 kg
Tamarind paste - 2 tblsp
Onion - 4
Red Chilly - 2
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Jaggery - 2 tbl sp
Rice flour - 2 tbl sp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powered - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Oil
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Method:

Pressure cook Yam and peel the skin and smash it smoothly. In a bowl, mix together the smashed yam, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt, jaggery, tamarind paste, rice flour and chilly powder.

Now in a pan(Preferably non stick kadai), take 2 tbl sp of oil and season with mustard, curry leaves and red chilly. Now dice onion into small pieces and add it to the pan. Fry till golden brown. Once done add the yam mixture to it and keep stirring it in low flame for 20 min(until it rolls out without sticking to the sides). You can add more oil if it sticks too much to the sides. Finally add the cut coriander leaves to it.

Yummy yam masiyal is ready.

You can mix this along with ghee rice or have it along with curd rice too. :)

Happy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com