Shaam Savera | Spinach and cottage cheese kofta curry

Every time I say the name of this dish, I remember the song from Lucky Ali..shaam savere teri yaade aati hai..lovely memories with this song. It was a nice time when there was a outburst of so many albums..we enjoying the songs with friends..getting them recorded in cassette..humming them when these songs were played on the radio, tape recorder or tv. Me and my bro loved our tape recorder!

Made this delicacy for some friends visiting our home. I found the process bit lengthy..the outcome was loved by all though..

Ingredients

600 gms spinach (palak)

125 gms paneer (cottage cheese)

1/2 tsp chopped garlic (lehsun)

2 tsp chopped green chillies

3 tsp cornflour

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

1 tbsp garam masala

400 gms tomato puree

1 tbsp ginger (adrak) paste

1 tbsp garlic (lehsun) paste

1 tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp chopped green chillies

100 ml fresh cream

1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

50 gms butter

1/2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp sugar or honey

salt to taste

Method 

Wash spinach in plenty of running water to get rid of any dirt, soil or impurities. blanch spinach in boiling hot water and refresh in cold water.

Chop and keep aside.

Add chopped green chilies, salt, chopped garlic and corn flour.

Mix well and divide into 12 equal portions.

Grate paneer. add salt and mash well. divide it into 12 small balls.

Take spinach, flatten it on your palm and stuff paneer balls in it.

Shape it into a ball (kofta).

Deep fry for 5 minutes in moderately hot oil.

Heat butter in a pan. add whole garam masala. let it crackle.

Then add ginger paste, garlic paste and chopped green chilies.

Cook for 2 minutes.

Add tomato puree, red chili powder, garam masala powder, salt in one cup of water.

Bring it to a boil. reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add sugar or honey or both and kasoori methi. stir in fresh cream.

Serve koftas cut into halves on top of makhani gravy.

Do not boil koftas in the gravy as they are liable to break.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 45

Methi matar malai | Fenugreek leaves and peas creamy curry

Hi dear friends
Sharing with you a delightful preparation. do try this yummy side dish.
I always make it following my co sisters recipe here and it never fails me . Always get compliments that it is better than restaurants! Here goes the recipe without much ado..

Ingredients :
1 cup green peas
1 cup methi leaves
1tbsp curd
1 small pc ginger
2 garlic cloves
2-3 green chillies
8-10 cahsew nuts
1 tbsp poppy seeds (khuskhus)
2 onions
1 cup milk
salt to taste
1tsp black pepper pwd
1tsp red chilli pwd
1tsp garam masala
1tsp sugar
1cup fresh thick cream
2-3 tbsp ghee
1 bay leaf
1-2 cardomon pods
raisins and cashew nuts for garnishing

Method :
Boil water,add peas,after peas are done switch off the flame,add methi leaves and keep for 2 mins.Strain the water .Grind onions,cashew nuts,ginger,garlic,green chillies,curd, poppy seeds together to a paste.Heat ghee in kadhai,add bay leaves & cardomon,then ground paste  and keep stirring continuosly on medium flame till the oil leaves the kadhai.Add all the dry masalas,fry for few minutes.add milk and fresh cream.then lastly add boiled peas and methi.Mix well.Serve hot with garnished raisins and cashew nuts.



Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 45

Celebrate good times - washi tape layout

Hi Peeps

Sharing with you a sweet layout featuring little miss, hubby and MIL.
I went all aboard with washi tapes for the first time. Loved playing with it!

Used some vellum and stamped the sentiments on it and did some doodling. The page is so colorul with washi tapes that it required minimal embellishmens :)

Do let me know how you liked it.

Sending this to

http://thestudiochallenges.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/28th-sept-scraplifts.html - Anastasia

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/october-challenge-memories.html?m=1 (Memories, rubber stamps)

http://kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/lm-212-anything-goes.html?m=1

http://scrapafrica.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/sketch-challenge-no36.html?m

Savory french toast

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp of milk, 

salt, 

1 tsp finely chopped green chilli/cayenne/red chilli flakes

1 egg 

pinch of turmeric

1/4th cup finely chopped onion

1 clove of minced garlic 

cilantro

Bread

Oil/Butter

Preparation:

Whisk together in a bowl milk, salt,finely chopped green chilli/cayenne/red chilli flakes, egg and a pinch of turmeric. Add finely chopped onion,  minced garlic and cilantro. Mix well.

Heat a pan with 1/2 tsp of oil on medium-heat.

Meanwhile, cut each bread (white or wheat) into 2 triangles. Dip the bread in the egg mixture for a 30-45 seconds.

Gently transfer the egg-soaked-bread onto the pan. Spoon some onion mixture on the top if you want to.

Cook until golden brown on both side.

Serve with some ketchup or just as-is and sip hot tea on-side.. :-)

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 45.

Chuda | Chiwda | Snacks

My family loves to munch on this with tea..going to the recipe without much ado..

INGREDIENTS-
Flattened Rice/Chivda (Thin) /Poha-2.5 cup
Puffed rice / murmure- 2 cup
Corn chivda- 1 cup
Peanuts / moongphali -3/4 cup
Roasted chana daal/ daaliya - 1/2 cup
Green chilies, chopped - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves -10
Spice mix-
Chili powder/Lal mirch - 1tsp
Castor sugar/pisi hui chini - 2 tsp
Citric acid / tatri / Nimbu phool,powdered - a pinch of
Turmeric / Haldi -3/4 tsp
Salt - to taste

PROCEDURE-

Dry roast the poha on high flame else it is not crispy and crunchy. Roast the murmure/ puffed rice also on high flame. Remove the poha and murmure in a wide pan.
Roast peanuts in little oil on slow flame until they turn reddish. Similarly roast the daaliya and coconut pieces on slow flame. Remove them on top of the poha and murmure.
Heat enough oil in a deep and wide pan/kadhai .Fry the corn flakes in oil. Remove these on the poha and murmure.
Fry the curry leaves till they become crisp,drain on a colander.After it cools down, coarsly crush the fried curry leaves and mix with all the ingredients.
Now fry chopped green chilies till crisp and then drain.
Take a small bowl and mix all the spices in it and keep aside.When you finish frying all the ingredients, immediately add the spice mix in oil and add it to the chiwda and mix well.
Let it cool down completely then store in a air tight container.
Serving Suggestions - Serve with any hot or cold beverage.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 45.

Besan Paare and a book review

My family and other animals- Five stars all the way for this one. This is a wonderful account of a 10-year old boy's childhood years on the greek island of Corfu after his family moves there from England in the 1930s. The boy is a rabid naturalist, and is always collecting poisonous, slithering, leggy, and/or hostile creatures home (much to his family's dismay) to study and keep as pets. I could not help laughing out loud in the train while reading it, sometimes trying to suppress my laughter and getting suspicious looks from fellow passengers! wisely consider your reading spot! Howling of laughter in public places might cause you troubles, but the best part - you won't care a bit and will always consider it worthy!

 It captures the culture of the period on the Greek island of Corfu. It contains animals with unique personalities. Colorful characters abound in the form of the family's driver, Spiro, the tutor, Kralefsky, and numerous friends. This family has to be one of the first dysfunctional families to be chronicled. Though I enjoyed Gerald's explorations and fascinating descriptions of nature and its creatures I loved reading about the hilarious family dynamics. The asthmatic guest and his horse-blanket, Margo kissing a pair of mummified feet or the incident with mommy-the-scorpion. I'm not a big nature person, and while this book is written by a future zoologist it doesn't seem to matter. The story is much more than a catalog of a boys adventures on Corfu, but rather a story of a very real family (just didn’t understand their source of income, since none of them seem to be working as such..and they spending quiet leisurely on the party’s and  changing the villas..)

Sometimes it's pretty hard to tell them apart... my family and the animals, that is. I don't know why my brothers and sisters complain so much. With snakes in the bath and scorpions on the lunch table, our house, on the island of Corfu, is a bit like a circus.

This was such a delightful book. I can only recommend it to all my friends out there. (the fact that I decided to write a review for it, coz I am too lazy to do it normally and just enjoy reading books ;))

What better to read a interesting book and munching your fav snack with a cuppa tea..coming to todays recipe ..

You will need :-

250 g chickpea flour or besan

250 g plain flour or chapatti flour

50 g fine semolina

100 ml oil

Salt to taste

2-3 tsp red chilli powder ( you can adjust to your liking )

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp ajwain ( carom seeds )

Oil to fry para

Masala powder to sprinkle on crackers

Red chilli powder 1 tsp.

Dry mango powder 1/2 tsp. ( Amchoor Powder )

Garam masala 1/2 tsp.

Chaat masala 1 tsp.

Anardaana powder 1/2 tsp. ( pomegranate powder )

Method :-

Mix all the masala powder ( to sprinkle ) in one bowl and leave it aside.

Mix chickpea flour, plain flour, semolina, 100 ml oil, salt, sesame seeds, ajawain seeds and red chilli powder in a bowl.

Combine everything and make a stiff pliable dough. ( like a puri dough )

Cover with wet cloth and leave it 10-15 minutes.

Divide dough into 4-5 equal parts.

Make a ball from each part of the dough and roll into a circle on a flat surface with rolling pin about 1/2 " thick .

Prick the circle with fork so para doesn't fluff up.

Cut each of the rolled dough into half with pizza cutter or knife. ( if you feel like whatever shape you desire you can 

give like square or diamond but I preffered long sheets )

Heat oil in a heavy bottom kadai , fry the paras on a medium to low heat until brown.

Remove it from the hot oil. 

Sprinkle masala powder which prepared earlier and let it cool to room temperature they will go crispy.

Enjoy !

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 45.

Follow your dream | Mixed media canvas

Hi Friends
Sharing with you a mixed media canvas. This is inspired from the lovely mixed media of my dear bloggy friend Yvonne. I am marveled by the ease with which she executes such amazing mixed media project..long way to go for me. Happy with the result for now, would love to hear how you liked it.

For this canvas,
First I applied some lovely bits of tissue paper with gesso.

Then I stenciled with modeling paste to create the lovely damask texture on the canvas. It was a single border stencil, which i repeated multiple times to get the texture on entire canvas.
Then I applied some brown acrylic paint on the border, to distress the edges. Embellished with the bicycle, Eiffel tower, and Merilyn Monroe. Used a beautiful frame for her.

Though the  embellishment matched, but I did not feel a cohesive look in the canvas. Did some stamping on the edges to add more depth to the canvas. Created the bunting from vegetable mesh and old magazine paper. Applied pink glitter in the frame and flowers. Did some more stamping and used rub ons.
I thought this is the final one now.

But then an idea stuck ! I colored the frame black with a white board marker and viola..got my focal point :)
Applied modge podge. Also used distress glitter and white mica flakes sent to me by Yvonne to complete the finishing :)

Some more Close ups:

Sending this to below challenges:

Lessology -Travel theme

Craft Challenge - color challenge 

Scrap Africa - Vintage

The Mirror Crackd - Anything mixed media

Crafty Creations Challenge - Vintage

Krishna Janmashtmi layout for a friend

Hi Friends,

Sharing with you a layout which me and my friend made, the highlight being her Son dressed as Krishna. In India most infants would be dressed up as little Krishna and Radha during the festival of Janmastmi.

In this layout we tried to capture the essence of Krishna, by depicting his flute, his favourite peacock and the naughty little krishna who enjoyed eating butter from the overhead hanging earthen vessels, which he and his friends would break with a stone and then relish the fresh home made butter!

Sending this to : http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-4-color.html - Inspired by the colors!

Warli envelops made by dear sister + Tutorial (Ceramic cone work)

Hey, got to share some beautiful hand painted envelops, my dear sister Jyoti made, before her marriage..now my priced possession ;)

So here comes tutorial, I would like to tell you all how these beautiful envelops are decorated using ceramic(again this is how my sister taught me :))..

Material required:
Ceramic powder
DDL (similar to fevicol)
Plastic bags (the milk bags wud be ideal, you can use some other thick plastic also)
Cello tape/rubber band

Steps:
I mixed Ceramic powder and DDL (its a form of fevicol) to get a mehendi or hina like consistency(little thcker than hina, coz it might spread). Then made a plastic cone and put it in that. All ready to rock...you can make any number of designs with this cone. If you want colors, you can mix fabric or poster colors in the ceramic and DDL mix..

Toilet paper roll craft | Mr and Mrs Owl | Kids Craft

Quick and simple craft to enjoy with kids!