Strawberry Smoothie :)

Hufffffff!! its becoming really hot here. Chennai was burning at 37°C today and I am really afraid to face the summer this time. :(

I was back after a sweaty and tiring shopping at pondy bazaar this afternoon and it really demanded something cold to drink. My search ended when I found few fresh and bright looking strawberries in my fridge. :)

a super good ice cold smoothie did the magic and was back in action to watch the CSK vs RCB match ;)

Hooray!!!! CSK won and I am celebrating it with this yummy post :)

Ingredients:

Strawberry - 5
Milk - 1 cup
Vanilla ice cream - 1 scoop
Sugar - for taste
Ice cubes - 2

Method:

Add all the ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Adding the ice cubes and then blending it gave a kind of grainy granita texture and feel which I simply loved :)

You can serve it cold with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. :)

Enjoy having a refreshing drink on a really hot day.

Happy making. :)

I am happy to send this post as an entry to the Madhuri's Serve me some smoothie event.

Written by: Nithya

Mint Pulav

I have a fairly big nose and it works over time. ;)

From childhood days, I used to guess what the breakfast and lunch menu is, by sniffing the kitchen just after I wake up ;) and I enjoy the pride of guessing right always :)

With this kind of born talent(he he), I have always liked anything that is aromatic. So without any doubt "hint of mint" in any dish becomes my first choice. :)

Mint pulav is one of my home favorite dishes and all of us love it so much. :)

Ingredients:

Mint leaves - 1 small bunch
Basmathi rice - 1 cup
Peas - 1/4 cup
Potatoes - 2 diced
Onions - 2
Grated fresh Coconut - 3 tbl sp
Green chillies - 4 (according to your preference)
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon - 2 tsp
Cloves- 3
Bay leaf - 1
Cardamoms - 2
Salt - for taste
Ghee

Method:

Pressure cook potatoes with skin and then peel it and dice into cubes. Cook peas separately. Cut onions into one inch long pieces. Now fry mint leaves in a tsp of oil and then grind it along with coconut, green chillies, ginger and turmeric powder into a smooth paste by adding some water to it.

Wash and soak rice for half an hour. Pressure cook with two cups of water. Once done allow it to cool on a plate. Add a tsp of ghee to the rice and separate the grains.

Heat 2 tsp of ghee or oil in a broad frying pan and fry cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. Now add the onion and fry till golden brown. Add the ground paste along with potatoes and peas. Stir constantly in medium flame till the raw smell goes. Add salt and the rice to it and mix well till the rice becomes steaming hot. Finally remove from stove and add the lemon juice to it and mix it gently.

Yummy aromatic mint pulav is ready. Serve it hot with onion raitha or potato chips. :)

This quantity will suffice for three people.

Written by: Nithya

Tamarind Upma / Pulusu Pindi

How many of you here hate Rava Upma????

I really dont know the reason, but I do hate it. Will never want to have it for my life time. Every time mom makes it at home, I find something or the other to eat or even decide to starve, than have it. I have heard the same kind of reaction from so many. Don't know why rava upma got such a curse!!!!

But if you are just like me, then you can go ahead and try this alternative. I am sure this tamarind upma tastes way better. If you like your dishes to be a little tangy and spicy, then this is one best choice. :)

This dish is called as pulusu pindi in telugu. :)

Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 2 cups
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Red chillies - 8 + 2
Tamarind paste - 2 tbl sp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Jaggery - 1 tbl sp
Salt - for taste
Curry leaves
Oil

Method:

Soak par-boiled rice for two hours in water. Grind soaked rice, 8 red chillies along with all the other ingredients except curry leaves into a little coarse paste. You can add water to it and grind.

Take 2 tbl sp of oil in a pan and season with mustard, 2 red chillies and curry leaves. Now pour in the ground mixture and also add 2 cups of water to it. Keep stirring until it gets thick and cooked. Now simmer the stove, close the pan with the lid and let it get cooked for a while. Stir now and then. It will take around 20 mins to get done.

Simple and yummy tamarind upma is ready to eat :)

Serve it hot with onion pickle or raw onions. :)

Thanks to Beena Shylesh, Priya Raj, Krishnaveni Mahesh and Hari Chandana for gifting me the cute Sunshine award. I am in bliss. :) Thanks a lot.


I am happy to share my happiness with Parita, Sailaja and Priya. Kindly collect the award from here. :)

Written by: Nithya

Pumpkin Fritters / Poosinika Vadai

I am a person who believes in "eat little when you are hungry every time". So I would prefer 5-6 half meals than just 3 square meals a day. I keep munching yummy stuff when ever I feel hungry. The quantity and quality of food matter when it comes to this kind of eating habit.

So here is a really interesting fried snack made out of pumpkin, for one to enjoy in the evenings. Believe me, its not oily and is absolutely lite and easy to digest snack. Adding a vegetable to a fritter makes it healthy as well. :) They are so soft and yummy.

This has been in my drafts for long and now here it is for you all. :)

Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 2 cups
Pumpkin diced- 1 cup
Coconut - 2 tbl sp
Tamarind paste - 1 tblsp
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 7
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Method:

Soak the par-boiled rice in hot water for 2 hours. Now grind pumpkin pieces, coconut, red chilies, tamarind paste, asafoetida, salt and jaggery together into a thick paste in a mixie without adding water.

Now strain the rice and grind it along with the above paste using grinder into a thick and smooth batter. Do not add water at all. Once done transfer the batter to a bowl lined with a thick cloth. Now tie the cloth and keep it aside for 15 min till the cloth absorbs all the moisture from the batter.

Add a spn of oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add this to the above batter along with finely chopped curry leaves and mix well.

Now roll lemon sized balls from the batter and press in between two greased plastic sheets to make a flat round of 3mm thickness. Make a hole in the center with your finger. Gradually remove it from the sheet and deep fry it oil, roasting it on both sides. Do not over roast. The vadai should be really soft. Now place them on tissue to remove excess oil.

Serve it hot with raw onions. Yummy Pumpkin vadai is ready to eat. :)

Enjoy making. :)

And here is my first Give away that I was happy to receive from Priya Dharshini of Priya's Feast. This was a giveaway for winning her Diwali contest. :) Thanks a lot Priya, I am loving the gifts. :)

It was the most delicious Hershey's chocolates, a lovely recipe album and a cute basket :)

Written by: Nithya

Gobi Manchurian

Gobi Manchurian is one of my favorite side dishes, in fact I can complete it just like that. :)

I usually never prefer eating cauliflower dishes in restaurants. Somehow or the other I used to feel that its not hygienic and they don't clean it as much as we do at home. At times, I even used to examine it so much to see if it is vegetarian only.. ha ha ha..

Why eat out when it can be made at home with ease and tasty too?

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 (medium sized)
Onion - 1 large
Capsicum - 1 (optional)
Tomato ketchup - 2-3 tbl spn
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Ginger paste - 1/2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Ajinomoto - a pinch (optional)
Corn flour - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour(Maida) - 1/2 cup
Sugar - a pinch
Chilly powder - for taste
Salt - for taste
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

Cut cauliflower into small florets and put them in a bowl of warm water for ten mins. Drain the water and keep it aside.

Now make a paste of maida, corn flour, chilly powder and salt using water. The paste should be like bajji paste. Dip the cauliflower florets in the paste and deep fry till golden brown. Keep aside.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in another pan and add the ginger & garlic paste, chopped onions and diced capsicum to it and saute till golden brown. Now add the tomato ketchup, soy sauce, ajinamoto, sugar and salt to it and mix well. Dilute one tsp of corn flour in some water and add it to the gravy. Mix well till it thickens and the corn flour gets cooked. Finally add the fried cauliflower to it and mix well.

Absolutely yummy Wet Gobi Manchurian is ready to eat. Serve it hot with rotis. :)

Happy eating :)

Written by: Nithya

Ugadhi Celebration with Obbattlu / Paruppu Poli

Wish you all a very Happy Ugadhi!! :)

'Yuga' means era and 'aadi' means start. So it marks the new year for the natives of Andhara pradesh and Karnataka. :)

Though I was born and brought up in Tamil Nadu more like a Tamil girl, I do have an ancestral origin of Andhra. Hence this day is a special day to me too. :)

The day started with oil bath, prayers to god and blessings from parents. Then we had the special Ugadhi Pachadi. I like the pachadi for the concept behind it.

The Pachadi is a mixture of six different tastes and it symbolizes the fact that life is a mixture of different experiences (sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) , which should be accepted together and with equanimity.

Ugadhi Pachadi

Ugadhi Pachadi is a mixture of Neem flowers (for bitterness) , Raw Mango (for tang), Tamarind juice (for sourness), Chilly powder (for spice), Jaggery (for sweetness) and Salt (for saltiness).

It definitely has a very unpredictable taste. :)

And we made Obbattu(Paruppu Poli) and Mango Vada(fritters) as prasadam.

You can find the Mango Vada(Fritters) recipe here.

Obbattu / Paruppu Poli

Ingredients:
Maida- 1 1/4 cup
Salt - a pinch
Cooking soda - a pinch

For Filling:
Bengal gram dhall - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom - 2 nos.

Method:

Take maida, salt and cooking soda in a bowl and mix well adding adequate water to it and make a smooth dough. It should be a little softer than chapthi dough. Now smear 2 tblsp of cooking oil on top of the dough and cover it with a plate. Keep it aside for 3 hours.

Cook bengal gram dhall in pressure pan. Now grind it along with jaggery and cardamom into a very thick paste. Now take a pan and add 2 tsp of ghee and the ground paste. Keep mixing it tell it becomes thick and well cooked. Once done, let it cool for a while and then roll out small balls of the filling.

Take a plastic coated paper/butter paper/Banana leaf and grease it with oil. Now take a small portion of the maida mixture and spread it with your fingers. Now place the filling ball in it and cover it nicely with the maida mixture. Once again flatten it well using your fingers into a round shape. Cook on hot tava until golden brown on both sides.

Obbattu is ready to eat. :)

Enjoy making :)

Written by: Nithya

Blog's Birthday Celebration with Triple Trifle :)

Its a year's journey.. One of the best times I have ever had. My blog has given me an identity and now I know what I am passionate about. Its food and photography. :)

Is it just that??? No.. Blog has given me lots of very good friends and I am really feeling lucky about it. :)

Its definitely an occasion to celebrate and to thank my supportive family, very sweet blogger buddies and all my visitors and followers. Thanks a million people. Without your sweet gestures of comments, mails and awards, I would have not come this far. :)

Okay, whats up for the celebration??????

YES a new name to my blog - My blog has been baptized as Fourth Sense Cooking from its regional name Fourth Sense Samayal and now it has its own tail called .com :)

A new camera and new style of pics from now on. :)

A candy looking new dress for my blog as well. :) Pinky pink is my blogs favorite color :)

Last but not the least - Triple Trifle to celebrate it all. :)

Chocolate Trifle

Ingredients:

Chocolate cake/Fruit cake - 1 piece
Chocolate chip cookies - 3
Ganache - 2 tbl spn
Chocolate flavored custard - 2 tbl spn
Fresh cream - 2 tbl spn

Method:

Take a glass tumbler and line it with a thin slice of cake. Now crumble the chocolate chip cookies and line it over the cake.(I used hide and seek biscuits).

Now melt half a bar of chocolate with 1 tsp of butter in a double boiler to make ganache. Top the cookie layer with the ganache.

Prepare the custard according to the instructions in the pack. I would suggest you to make the custard thick in consistency by adding less milk to it than required. Once done allow it to cool and then top the ganache layer with this custard. You can actually swap the ganache and custard layer order too.

Lastly add the sweetened fresh cream on top and place a chocolate to decorate it. :)

Chill and serve. :)

Banana Trifle

Ingredients:

Sponge cake - 1 slice
Honey - 1/2 tsp
Banana - 1
Vanilla flavored custard - 2 tblspn
Sweetened Fresh Cream - 2 tblspn

Method:

Take a glass tumbler or a bowl and line it with a thin slice of cake. Dilute the honey with some water and drizzle it over the cake to keep it moist. Now layer it with thinly diced banana.

Now make the custard according to the instructions in the pack. I would suggest you to make the custard thick, hence add less milk to it than required. Allow it to cool once done. Now add 2 tbl spn of it on the banana layer.

Finally add sweetened fresh cream on top and decorate with a slice of banana. :)

Chill and serve. :)

Apple Trifle

Ingredients:

Sponge cake - 1 slice
Apple - 1
Water melon - few pieces
Apple or raspberry custard - 2 tbl spn
Sweetened Fresh Cream - 2 tbl spn

Method:

The procedure is just like the banana triffle. :) Arrange them in layers and serve chill.

Happy making :)

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

Rice Dumplings in Sweet Sauce and Salt Sauce / Paal Kolukattai

Decoration: Used rice and miniature plastic coconut shells.

Rice dumplings in salt sauce or sweet sauce is a kind of complicated name that I could find for a very simple and yummy south Indian dish. :) Its nothing but the Paal kolukattai that we all relish. :)

I am a big fan of these and would love it as an evening snack or some times it servers as dinner as well. :)

Simple to make and the two variation makes it all the more interesting and grand on the whole. :)

For Dumplings:

Ingredients:

Par boiled rice - 2 cup
Coconut Scrapings - 1 cup
Salt - for taste

Method:

Soak par boiled rice in hot water(medium) for two hours. Drain the water and grind the rice along with coconut in mixie into a coarse paste. Don't add much water while grinding, it has to be thick. Add salt to it and mix well.

I used half of the dough to make salt dumplings and the other half for sweet dumplings.

For Salt dumplings:

Ingredients:

Water - 4 cups
Salt - For taste

Method:

Take the water in a big vessel. Add salt and allow it to boil.

Use half the quantity of the above dough to make these salt dumplings.

When it is boiling, make small balls out of the above dough and drop them into the vessel. See to it that the balls don't stick to each other. Reserve one tblsp of the dough and drop the remaining dough as balls into the water. Once you are done with the balls, mix up the reserved dough into the water and stir till it dissolves in the water. This would make the base a little thick and consistent. Now let it boil for another five minutes.

Rice dumplings in salt sauce is done. :)

Serve it with Urad dhall chutney or any pickle. :)

For Sweet dumplings:

Ingredients:

Milk - 1/2 liter
Water - 1/2 liter
Jaggery - 1 1/4 cups

Method:

Take the milk and water in a heavy bottomed vessel. When the milk starts boiling, make small balls out of the above said dough and drop them gently into the milk. When you done with the dough, add the jaggery and mix until it dissolves completely. Allow it to boil for another five minutes.

Rice dumplings in sweet sauce is ready to eat. :) Serve it hot or cold.

Happy making :)

I am happy to share the info that my blog has been featured in Foodista.com as the "Featured Blog of the Day". :) All smiles :)


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

Queen's B day celebration with Pumpkin Seed Dessert :)

Happy B'Day Queen!!!!!! Who is that???????

Yup.. you guessed it right.. its me the little queen of my family celebrating my birthday today. :)

I have grown a year older now, which means more of responsibilities, no more being naughty, not any more a baby.. :( (which is really sad)

But anyways I am happy and always ready to face the other phases of life. Hoping to have yet another year of excitement as ever. :):):):)

My parents, friends, foes and all played their roles to make me happy today. Its so good to feel important and noticed na.. I enjoyed it pretty well today. :)

Dad gifted me a super good SLR camera.. :) but I relish his hug and a kiss more than anything. Thanks dad. ;)

Mom made this yummy delicacy just for me. She is my best buddy always. :) Love you mom.

Sis was so sweet today. She surprised me with her visit in the afternoon along with a cute little sinfully chocolaty cake. :) And yeah she gifted me a cool looking goggles. Thank you sisy.. you are sweet as ever. :)

Thanks a lot to all my fellow bloggers and other friends who wished me and made my day really special. :)

A special thanks to my blogger buddy Rohini of Currys and spices. She has dedicated a post to wish me. :) Thats simply too sweet of you. :)

Off to the recipe now:

Pumpkin seed dessert/ Parangi vidhai payasam/ Gumidi vithulu paravannam :)

Ingredients:

Pumpkin seed(De husked) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tsp
Water - 1 cup

Method:

Soak the de husked pumpkin seeds in water for an hour. Grind the seeds into smooth paste adding water to it.

Now take this paste, sugar and milk in a heavy bottomed vessel. Mix the rice flour with little water and add it to the mixture. Now cook it for a while in medium flame mixing now and then till the raw smell leaves. Don't panic if it cuddles, that is how it is suppose to be. Switch off the flame and let it cool for a while.

Pumpkin seed payasam is ready to eat. Serve it hot or cold. I love it cold :)

Happy making. :)

Decoration: My sweet sis arranged the pumpkin seeds to dedicate the sweet to me. :)

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