Aalo mathe (buttermilk) ki sabji

This is a very yummy curry with simple ingredients. It is a quick recipe and the taste is simply heavenly! Sorry for the not so good pictures as it was already dinner time and didn't have the patience to click !!

Here comes the recipe without much ado..

Ingredients:

3-4 Boiled potato

1/2 finely chopped tomato

2-3 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp turmeric pwd

salt to taste

coriander leaves for garnishing

3-4 curry leaves

1-2 whole dry red chilies

1 green chili,chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp hing ( asafoetida pwd )

1 tsp red chili pwd

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp oil

method:

In a pan heat oil, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and hing. after they splutter add the curry leaves and green chili. Add the finely chopped tomato and cook till the oil comes on surface. Add salt, all the masala and boiled potato. Cook for 2 mins. Add the buttermilk and keep stirring (This step is important, do not leave the pan, continue stirring for 5 mins else the buttermilk will precipitate)

Garnish with coriander leaves/cilantro and serve hot with chapati/rice.

Sending it to

Flavours of Rajasthan - Sonu's Palate Corner & Simply.Food

http://www.simplysensationalfood.com/2014/11/announcing-eventlets-cook-with-yoghurt.html?m=1

Thank you oh lord

" Thank you oh lord your love is boundless

Thank you your presence is our peace

Thank you oh lord for so much goodness

Thank you your mercies never cease.. "

These are some of the lines from a hymn which we used to sing in our school..recently had a facebook get together with my batch mates at one of a friends post where all shared the hymns they remembered and the lovely school memories they brought along with them..it was nice nostalgia

Today these lines mean much more to me than just a song.

As the footprint story goes "When there is a difficult time god does not leave us alone, instead he picks us in his arms and takes us through".This is what happened recently when I went through one of the most difficult phase of my life. My god was there protecting, taking care..doing what was best, though I didnt think it best that time..

Ukarpendi

Being born and brought up in Maharashtra, there is a lot of influence of mahararashtrian cusine in our food preparations. Specially at my inlaws place everyone is very fond of mahashtrian food. Maharsahtrian cusine has different flavours and methods in different parts of maharashtra. My father in law likes the simple, typically less spicy and healthy versions of curries. My mother in law, being from khandesh (which is fanous for the spicy food) likes the more spicier foods (with extra tadka) :)I still remember, as a child how I loved the food, when we were invited to the mahalakshmi lunch or for ganpati dinner (in maharashtra, there is a trend to invite friends and relatives for lunch or dinner during these festivals specially if you have the deity at your home ). The food used to be so amazing, I always looked forward to going for them!! I saw this dish only after marriage and instantly liked the new taste and the health benefits of this dish. This is my mother in laws recipe where Ukarpendi is prepared using jowar flour and little besan and wheat flour. Since we had ragi also at home, and it being such a nutritive flour, I like to add a little to this. It blends very well with the other flours giving a nice aroma and increasing the health content! Ukarpendi is filling and is an extremely good option for breakfast or a lunch box item.
Ingredients
2 small katoris jowar flour
2 tbsp Finger Millet/ragi flour
1 small katori wheat flour
1 tbsp gram floor
2 onions chopped
1 tomato chopped
3-4 green chilies finely chopped
2-3 large spoon curds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander pwd
1 tsp red chili pwd
a pinch of asafetida
1-1/2 inch ginger grated
few curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
about 8-10 tbsp oil
boiled water for steam cooking.
Method:
Roast the flours in about 1 tbsp oil and keep them aside till they appear reddish and give a nice aroma. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, asafetida followed by green chilies. Add the chopped onions and saute. Now add grated ginger and curry leaves and mix. ( you can add veggies of choice like peas, carrot..)
Once the onions are done add turmeric, red chili, coriander, cumin pwds and salt to taste.
Now add the flours and roast it for a few mins in the oil. Mix in the curds and sugar. The curds adds a mild sour taste.
Add boiling water gradually and keep mixing. This process has to be done very fast ensuring no lumps are formed. Add water till the flour absorbs water and comes to a state of slightly loose dough.
Cover the pan and steam cook for about 5 minutes.
Serve hot with a dash of ghee on top and garnish with chopped cilantro.
Note: This dish needs oil in a little extra quantity, else it turns out very dry and becomes very difficult to eat. The spices need to added liberally to bring in the flavours

Scrapbook - Good times

"Family is a little world created by love"

This is again one of the pages from my scrapbook. The photographs are from our trip to lonavla.

There is a amazing co incident in our life. Both my parents (mom-dad and mom in law- father in law) have their anniversary on the same day!! To celebrate their anniversary all together, we had gone to lonavla. It was so much fun, rain drizzling along, and we enjoying at the lovely waterfalls, sitting in the water flow, getting completely drenched, munching the bhuttas, sipping hot tea!!! wow! now again it is the same time of the year. missing my mom dad very much..

Bread katori chaat

I am simply amazed at the variety and the talent all the lovely bloggers have got! With blogging, suddenly the world seems so boundless and so small at the same time. Boundless because there dosent seem to be any end for talent, the more you explore, the more you get to know..small bcoz it has made sharing so simple. Gone are the days when we used to sit in front of tv, waiting for our favs and jotting down the recipes. Now the wonderful recipes are just clicks away, thanks to the fabulous bloggers for sharing their styles, innovations and experiences.

You all have become my online gurus :) Have also learnt that cooking is not just cooking, it is a work of art. It uses all our senses, sight, smell, touch, taste and sound..

All of this started with one such amazing blogger, my co-sister Sonal bhabhi. Started following her blog and trying the recipes, and now I am hooked forever!

I am not a very good cook, but with this vast store of knowledge, I too have embarked upon my culinary journey.

Tried this wonderful recipe by Pari. I must say for the first timer, it came out really well. I followed the same method, hence linking to the original recipe here. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. This is an excellent snack/starter for any party (kids will just love it!)

Quilling - Baby Card

Created this card for my daughter, who is 2 months young today! Happy two monthly birthday darling :)

She is our little sunshine. Through this card, I wanna welcome her to this world, which has become more beautiful with her.

Wanted to create somthing for her, but with all the hospital visits and household stuff was not getting enough time. I am new to this blogging world, just stumbled upon the quill pill challenge, and to my pleasure the challenge was what i wanted to make already. Hence decided not to delay it further. This is my first ever participation in an event in this blogshpere.

Oil Painting - Childhood memories

This is my first try with oil paint on canvas. Also for the first time I used actual photographs as a inspiration.This is a scene captured when I was in US. Me and 3 friends had gone to NY over a weekend (We stayed in NJ and NY was just 2 hrs away). My roomie and me wanted to ride bicycle for a long time. This was a wonderful opportunity!! It being summer, there were tulips all around.The four of us hired a bicycle each and off we started for the bike adventure in central park (for those who dont know, Central park is a biiiiig park, all the karan johar shoots are done here! remember KANK and the fountain! :)) We thought we'll cover half of it, as we had to return the bikes in 2 hr, however we missed the turn for half and ended up making a complete parikrama of the park!! We were damm tired, later we used to ride in the slope and get down from the bike during uphills!! Enjoying in between.This was one such small lake in the garden, were we got down (obviously for a photo shoot!!! ;)) There was this little kid with the elder, feeding the swan. It was a very beautiful picture in front of us, and could not stop ourselves from clicking them. Can never forget our bike adventure, it was worth every effort.

Oil painting in the making. Will post the completed version soon.

Culinary - Laccha Paratha

This is a very simple and beautiful paratha. It takes a little time to prepare each one, but when you get the praises and everyone enjoys it, then it becomes worth the effort! My husband likes it a lot with masala sabjis, best with bharwan masale baigan(eggpant). you can make it with your regular chapati flour without any additional ingredients.

ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour/aatta ( regular chapati dough )

salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee

1 tsp ajwain (optional)

method :

Take a lemon size ball of dough (1.5 times the size of regular chapati ball). Roll it out into full size, apply ghee allover the surface on one side. Sprinkle little dry flour and ajwain (optional). If you do not add salt in the dough, you can sprinkle little salt also. Cut the entire surface into thin strips around 1 cm think.

Keep the strip one on top of another, starting from the end. bring it till the middle. repeat the same for other end. the smaller strips will be on top and the longest ones will be at the bottom. roll the strips to form a pinwheel, stick the ends by pressing it.

Now gently spread this rolled pinwheel with the rolling pin(belan)

roast this on a hot girdle(tawa) from both sides. then with the help of tongs, roast it nicely on the flame of the gas (like chapati) You can make it more crispy depending on preference, but make sure it is not uncooked, since it is quiet thick.

Apply ghee lavishly and serve hot with any masala curry.

Scrapbook - Love

This was also one of my hobbies I started during my US trips. In India we have such a busy social life, outside India, you get some more time to invest in your hobbies.

Me being a big fan of photographs and craft, scrapbooking was a good way to express both of them at a go!

Created this page for my hubby. The picture is from our second HM in australia! Australia is full of lovely beaches, this is from one of the beach called squeaky beach. Yes! the sand does make a squeaky sound when we walk on it, somthing like baby boots :)

Pencil sketch - Concentration

Increased the contrast
Original Sketch