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