Tambuli.. a Desi dish

Tell me, have you really heard this dish name?! Mostly no. That is good, you get to know something new
I too heard this dish name from a friend and had no clue if it mean something. Just to ensure it doesn't mean something bad  I went to http://www.dictionary.com  & searched for its meaning.:) Fortunately it means nothing. It asked me "Do you mean Tambala?" How smart ? :)

But Google was a lot smarter, the moment I searched it threw up 6380 results for "tambuli recipe".  Be assured folks, all are fake. This is the one and only original recipe :)

What does it matter where knowledge comes from? :) just take it. Besides Google is so common place and Princess Kitchen is a special place. Who wants to be in a common place when you can be with the princess in her palace. Right?! :)

The thing to remember is, this is a damn healthy and tasty dish. At least when I make it :)

The ingredients are not too uncommon. The only special thing is Vaali leaf. Look at the picture below, its so beautiful.. greeen and round :)

Start Cooking...........


Ingredients:

(For those who don't know English, the corresponding French word is in the brackets)

1. Vaali leaves( Basale soppu in Kannada) - (Feuille de Vaali)
2. Curd (Caille)
3. Chillies (Le Poivre)
4. Coconut (grated-3 spoons) - (Coco)
5. Ginger (Gingembre)
6. Cumin seeds (Graines de Cumin)
7. Mustard seeds (Graines de Moutarde)
8. Oil (1 spoon) (Huile)
9. Curry leaves (Feuille de Curry)
10. Salt (Sel)
11. Asafoetida (also known as Hing, as in "Martina Hingis" :) ) 
12. Chopped spring onions (Ciboule)

Cooking:

1. Sort the nicely washed Vaali leaves in oil till they become soft and shrink.
2. Fry chillies in a spoon of oil.
3. Grind fried chillies+ginger+grated coconut+cumin seeds. 
4. Add sorted Vaali leaves and curd at the end and grind a little
5. Take a pan & add Oil, Mustard seeds, Curry leaves and Asafoetida to it
6. Let it cool and take it in a bowl.
7. Add the ground mixture to it along with little water and salt.
8. Garnish with spring onions and serve with rice.

There you go :) You just added another feather in your handsome cooking cap.. Bravo Master Chef!! :)

Faast Food

  After a long time I thought of helping bachelors and bachelorettes with an easy dish...Tasty ofcourse (Others!!! Please don't get offended that I m being partial here ;)). With minimum ingredients and minimum time we can do miracles in kitchen.. So friends pls feel free to try out.

Ingredients:
1)Rice (cooked 2 cups- You should be able to count each grain like 1..2..3..4..)
2)Spring onions (cut into pipes of one inch length)
3)Ghee (a spoon)
4)Salt
5)Chillies 3-4 (slit each one into 2 pieces vertically)
6)Onions-2 (Slice them in sickle shape... shape matter!!!!)
7)Ginger garlic paste (2 spoons)
8)Cumin seeds (2 spoons)
9)Coriander leaves (nicely chopped)
10)Oil (3 spoons)
 

Way to go:

1)Take a pan (as usual)
2)Put 3 spoons of oil and heat
3)Add "Eid ka chand" jaise kata huva onions. and forget it...(Remember back when they turn brown and crispy. Take them out and keep aside).
4)For the same oil, with flame on, add cumin seeds, ginger-garlic paste and sort it out.
5)Add chillies and spring onions, fry till they shrink.
6)Last but not the least, add salt and ghee

Your masala is ready... take white rice which is cooked and mix the masala. serve by garnishing with nicely chopped coriander leaves.

Oooops.. wait wait... what did we do with "Eid ka Brown Chand"? they are still kept aside and forgotten???? too bad guys.. we have to add them along with coriander leaves. Better late than never ;).. So add them now and serve :)

Popular Pumpkin Paratha

   Look at the round pumpkin.. Isn't it so tempting?? Now don't get worried about getting a round tummy :). If you eat moderately I can assure you there won't be any problem. So ready to try out a wonderful dish ?! Lets get started straight away.

Ingredients
Open the cupboard, take the shopping bag, take your purse :) ... Just kidding.. Go get the following stuff from the corner shop first

• Pumpkin - Grate it nicely (Make around 3 cups)
• 3 to 4 Chillies (Chop them fine)
• 2 cups of wheat flour (Don't chop this :))
• Haldi powder (To make it look bright as Sun...!! :))
• Ginger garlic paste (Wonder how these two got paired!! :))
• Ajwain seeds (To cook not to plant)
• Mustard seeds (We eat so much seeds, we could be a field :))
• Oil (The one you like most - Rice bran seems to be the trend of trendy)
• Coriander powder
• Onion (Chop about half a cup of this)

Preparation
Let the master chef in you jump out and run away :). Just follow these instructions. Don't act too smart.. I know you are :)

1. Take a pan
2. Add 2 spoons of oil
3. Heat a bit
4. Add the following in order
1. Ajwain seeds and mustard seeds
2. Chopped chilies (or red chili powder)
3. Haldi powder (I am hoping by now you know the measure :), don't blame me)
4. Chopped onions
5. Ginger garlic paste along with it
6. Grated pumpkin
5. Sort it adding a little salt and a spoon of coriander powder.
6. Prepare a dough of wheat flour (Make it a little soft :))
7. Take the dough and press it like chapati(small rounds)
8. Stuff the prepared mixture with the wheat dough and expand it more, as large as poori
9. Take a pan
10. Add a little oil (Use ghee or butter if you wont feel guilty about it)
11. Fry it on the pan both the sides( till it gets brown dots here and there giving it a proper design)

There you go :), Your pumpkin paratha is ready to eat. Let me know how it tastes. I am totally irresponsible if you eat too much and become fat. You might :)

Ciao until next post. Hey, you did not invite me to taste any of the stuff you cooked :). I am sure its because the dish was so tasty and you did not want to share. Call it optimism :)

Shimmering Sweetcorn Salad

        I found the name board on a food shop in the food court of a nearby mall a little funny,  "Size Zero - Salad Bar". Smart move I would say, Size Zero is In, fat bodies are Out. I was thinking another addition to the billion dollar slimming industry. 


      I ordered myself a cucumber pumpkin salad. I however did the mistake of not checking the price on the menu before hand and was little shocked when the shop owner gave me a bill of 200 rupees. Well I have determined not to give him a penny more & you don't give too.


Lets start making our own salads...


     Here is the first one... Sweet Corn Salad (Its my favorite ;) ). You can replace sweet corn with others vegetables or sprouts depending on your weight.. ;)


    As  always lets get the ingredients first. If you like the salad I dont mind taking a share off your savings :).. you can send me an old fashioned Money Order 
            To, 
                    The Princess,
                     C/o The King,
                     The beautiful Castle ,
                     Princess Avenue,
                     Dream Kingdom :)

Ingredients 

• Sweet corn-2 cups
• Salt
• Butter-1 spoon
• Onion-1(smaller)
• Coriander leaves 
• Pudina + Chili chatni
• Haldiram mixture
• Grated carrot-1 cup
• Grated coconut-4 spoons
• Lemon juice-1 spoon

Preparation

• Sort sweet corns in butter(as Little as possible..... we are talking about weight loss here :P )
• Take them in a bowl
• Add nicely chopped onions
• Add grated carrots
• Add grated cocunut
• Add coriander leaves
• Add lemon 
• Add desired amount of salt
• And if you are so much behind the taste add Haldiram mixture 
• Add nicely ground pudhina and chili mixture (just a spoon based on desired hotness)
• Mix them nicely and serve

 Wasn't that easy friends. Lets go the salad way and stay desirable :)

Carrot Halwa

Murphy's Law says anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But you cannot go wrong with Coles LAW. You don't know Coles Law, Shredded Carrot and Cabbage in Mayonnaise?! :) .. 


In fact you can rarely go wrong with Carrot, raw or cooked & Carrot is not just for Rabbits


Here is a dish that is simple to make and can make your lunch or dinner from a simple affair to a grand affair making it a special occasion.

Here is a Carrot Poem :)

Carrot is a curious Fellow
Shoulders broad hip Narrow
Rabbits hide it in the Burrow
Halwa makes forget Sorrow


Ingredients
The good thing about this dish is that it won't burn a deep hole in your pocket. Here is the simple list of ingredients, should be available in the store round the corner or a mall in case you live in one of those god forsaken places :)

• 1/4 kg carrot - nicely grated
• 1/4 ltr milk
• 1 cup sugar
• Cardamom powder - 1/4th spoon
• Badam
• Kishmish
• Cashew nuts
• 1/2 cup ghee

Preparation
All right master chef, here you go. Here are your dozen  simple steps to success

1. Grate the carrots nicely (don't hurt your finger, slow and easy)
2. Add milk to it (milking your way to success)
3. Keep them in cooker - 3 whistles (1....2....3...stay attentive)
4. Take it out & stir the mixture of milk and carrot in low flame (sing a song so you don get bored)
5. Wait until water portion goes away to an extent (not completely dry) - (you know what I mean)
6. Make sure there isn't too much water before adding sugar (the purpose is to make Halwa.. not Payasam ..If Halwa doesn't come right I am holding you accountable)
7. Add a cup of sugar or more depending on the sweetness (less sweet than mysorepak and more sweet than kaju barfi.....or however you like it )
8. Mix it well so that sugar melts 
9. Add cardamom powder 
10. Add dry fruits which are sorted in ghee (Good for stamina, tastes nice too)
11. When sugar melts completely and loses its rawness add ghee (Quiz, is ghee veg or non veg? :))
12. Stir it till ghee, sugar and carrot blends nicely (To blend right is the key)

Now taste it, infact eat a couple of spoons and wait for 15 minutes. If you are still alive you are ready to treat your guest to a mouth watering dish. Hopefully your hardwork pays off. All the best :)

Carrot Trivia

We simply take too many things in life for granted. Not good. Atleast dont take Mr. Carrot (Dont ask why Mr & Mrs :)) for granted. Here is something you should know

• Carrots have the highest content of beta carotene (vitamin A) of all vegetables.
• The Longest Carrot recorded in 1996 was 5.14 metres (16 feet 10 ½ inches)
• The Heaviest Carrot recorded in the World 18.985 lb 1998 (single root mass) John V. R. Evans, USA
• Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food.
• The classic Bugs Bunny carrot is the "Danvers" type.
• Carrots are not always orange and can also be found in purple, white, red or yellow.
• Carrots were the first vegetable to be canned commercially.
• The carrot is a member of the parsley family including species such as celery, parsnip, fennel, dill and coriander.
• Holtville, California dubs itself "The Carrot Capital of the World." with an Annual Festival, now in its 60th year.
• The Anglo-Saxons included carrots as an ingredient in a medicinal drink against the devil and insanity.
• Researchers at the USDA found that study participants who consumed 2 carrots a day were able to lower their cholesterol levels about 20 percent due to a soluble fibre called calcium pectate.
• You get 10 mg of Vitamin A from 20 average carrots.
• There is as much calcium in 9 carrots as there is in a glass (250ml) of whole milk.
• China produces 274,900,000 tons of carrots per year.
• Wild rabbits do not eat carrots – you have been watching too much Bugs Bunny !
• Three Carrots give you enough energy to walk three miles.
• One pound of carrots will make approximately six to eight ounces of carrot juice.
• A teaspoon holds almost 2000 carrot seeds.
• On an average day, the year-round operation  at Grimmway Farms in California processes 2-1/2 miles of trucks loaded with 10 million pounds of carrots.
• Carrot is a symbolic of fecundity 
• The Flaming Carrot was a mysterious and demented comic book superhero.
• The British developed high-carotene carrots during World War II in order to enhance the night vision of their pilots (via massive consumption).
• Amazon bookstore includes over 200 books with the title "carrot" in them.
• The last meal on the Titanic included creamed carrots in the fifth course.
• In the 1960s, Viola Schlicting, from Texas, created the first carrot cake from her German carrot-nut bread recipe. 

Mushroom Mania

A house may not have a  bed room
But in kitchen you must have mushroom


You get a phone call, the girl friend will be home in 10 minutes & you want to make sure that you have the dinner ready and not go out. You get the point right?! Why go out with the girl friend anyway..(This story not applicable to guys ;) you can go ....)


So here is your life saver. A tasty mushroom dish that can be ready in ten minutes...


I know you are all excited with thoughts of your girl friend but please pay attention!!!


The Ingredients
I hope you have them all, else you lose time getting them. Here they are..


1/4 kg of Mushroom (double everything if your girl friend is the eating type..i mean food.. if she is  allergic to Mushroom please use peas as replacement )
3 Table spoon of oil ( Keep the rest for future use )
1/2 spoon Coriander powder ( It has some positive side effects)
1/4 spoon Garam Masala ( As hot as you )
2 Sweet Tomatoes (As sweet as you )
1 Onion (How can we miss the aphrodisiac)
1 Table Spoon of Ginger Garlic (This is good for you too)
1 Table spoon of butter (Buttering is good all the time)
Fresh Cream (I think its available in food world)
Chilli Powder (Just to make it more hotter than you....)
Turmeric Powder (To kill the germs and for other things ..)


The Cooking
We are running out of time, make it fast...the lady will be here soon..

• Clean the mushroom and Slice them in to large pieces, the one you can take a nice bite on.  :).. .
• Put a tablespoon of butter on the pan  (If its closer friend you can add two spoons ;) ) and shallow fry the mushrooms until they become soft. Soft, just the way you like. Doesn't take long, 40 to 50 seconds. Keep it away in a plate after finishing.(Attention girlssssss... mushroom smells bad if u don't follow this step)
• Take onion, tomatoes, ginger and  garlic  and grind them into  a fine paste, nothing hard in it. 
• Add four tablespoon of oil (did I say three earlier in ingredients?) to the pan and heat it, add the  paste prepared to it
• Add Chilli powder, Salt, Coriander powder, Garam masala powder and little turmeric to the paste
• Mix them all nicely and boil the mixture until oil is separated out leaving the paste finely baked.
• Now add the sorted mushroom and fresh cream. Stir it lightly so the cream just makes a wavy pattern on a saffron background ( Girls go by looks you see ;) )

Hey..she is here knocking the door. Get ready to surprise her. All the best :)

Creamy Potatoes

Here is a dish that will flood the floors with your saliva (I mean mouth watering), pop your eye balls, blast your brain cells and takes you to a whole new world filled with good taste... If you are a good cook that is :) ... Check it out..


Lets get the Ingredients First. Walk around to the nearest grocery story and get the following list. Not too old stock available in your house will also do..

• Potato
• Fresh cream
• Coriander leaves
• Coriander powder
• Chili flakes
• Salt
• Oil
• Sesame seeds
• Kasuri methi

We are all set to cook. Get your pots, pans, plates and knives ready..
Go clean your hands and get ready to make it dirty 
Here the simple steps... 1, 2,3, 4...Get, Set, Gooooooo


1. Put 2 table spoon of oil in pan with lots of love and let it heat a bit (You know not too much, not too little kind of hot)
2. Peel the potatoes and slice them cuboid, just the way you drew them in school of size  1 x 2 x 2 cm
3. Put them in oil and fry them till they turn golden brown (when was gold brown?! :)) or keep them in oven for 10 mins if you are diet conscious, bipasha look aspirant and anti oil. After they turn golden brown keep them aside and smash them so cuboid turns flat rhombus (Hope you are not getting nostalgic about high school geometry)

4. Take 1 table spoon of oil in the pan and add 

• sesame seeds, 
• chili flakes,
• coriander powder, 
• pepper powder, 
• salt and jeera powder.

We are a democratic country, but be a socialist here and add exact amount of each, quarter spoon each that is.

5. Mix it thoroughly with oil and bake it for few seconds and add kasoori methi
6. Add fried and smashed potatoes to it and mix it well.
7. Add fresh cream to it and just toss it
8. Put it to serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves and fresh cream

Aap ka manpasad khana thayyar... Mazedar Aloo ka Khoob Maza lo :)