First book to make him cry!

I am writing this because its the first time he cried after reading any book.

Dev read the book "Old Yeller" today. I have yet to read it so I don't know much about it except that its about the relation between a boy and his dog. I noticed that keeping the book away after finishing it, It seemed like he was hiding his tears. When I got closer , he just hid his head in my chest and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed . Rubbing his back, I tried consoling him "Its okay to feel sad dudu..." I had yet to complete my sentence when Jaanu interrupts in her signature way " Its okay to be sad Chetta , but NOT okay to be mad " .  Dev couldn't help smiling and for that minute forgot about the sadness in the book that he just read . I am so thankful to the cheer that Jaanu brings in everytime.

I hope my kids get to read many more books which touch them , inspire then and help them grow in ways only books can.

Eat to live or Live to Eat!! Fruit salad with a Mango base.

I had no clue my kids thought so much about my eating craze. Here i was in a " I can't take it anymore " kind of mood the other day. Hubby and kiddos had tried some tricks to cheer me up, but not to much success . So my almost 7 yr old Dev gets busy thinking and writing, giving the impression of someone doing a thesis on the creation of the Universe. Within minutes, he hands a five point plan to his dad on "How to cheer Mamma". Given below is what he had written down:
1. Whenever she wants to eat something, we give it to her.
2. We keep her enganged. ("engaged" in proper English)
3. Make her laugh and laugh.
4. We take her to a Restaurant.
5. Treat her like a Qeen !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( "Queen" in proper English)
Just a peek at the note was enough to cheer me up until i noticed that 2 of those points was about eating. When i questioned him, his earnest reply is "Well ! thats what you do most of the time!" Seeeeee....
Anyways, here is the recipe for another favorite desert of mine . Everyone who has tasted this until now has fallen in love with it. You will too and so does Dev! Its a fruit salad with a Mango base with all the stuff which adds to the yumminess of the taste of Mango!
The picture was sent by my dear friend Pratima who like others loved it.

Ingredients:

1.Heavy cream: 1 pint (473ml)carton

2.evaporated milk: one 14oz can

3.condensed milk: one 14oz can

4.Mango pulp : one Tin(30 oz)

5.a whole assortment of fruits: a few bananas chopped, 1 or 2 apples, peeled and chopped, grapes, tangerines , any fruit that you prefer.

Procedure:

Whisk the heavy cream , evaporated milk, mango pulp and condensed milk in a big bowl. Add the fruits and chill in refrigerator. Serve cold.
Be warned: all your guests will beg and plead for more coz you can never have enough of this.
I am sending this as an entry to "Mango Mela" at http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/05/announcing-mango-mela.html .

Aloo methi ki sabzi - MP style

How would you feel when your husband who has been a faithful ardent crazy fan of your culinary skills comes home after a dinner at a friend's place and goes ga-ga over your friends culinary skills ?I don't know about you but this happened to me for the first time and I for one didn't know how to handle my jealousy :). But i had to face it. Sonu is a great cook but she is also sweet enough to share all her great recipes.One such recipe of her sabzis follows which ofcourse hubby dear loves. Its a typical MP (Madhya Pradesh state of India) style dish , so simple and very delicious. I love the mild bitterness of methi and its combination with potato, especially the roasted taste of this combo. Goes great with rotis /chapatis .

Ingredients:

• Potatoes (large) : 2 peeled and cut into small cubes
• Methi(fenugreek leaves) : 1 big bunch
• Oil :4- 5 tblspns
• green chillies: 2 finely chopped
• garlic :4-5 chopped
• red chilli powder : 1-2 tspn depending on how much you can handle.
• turmeric powder :1/4 tspn
• salt to taste
  

Procedure:

1. Pick the leaves of Methi , wash and chop them up .Keep aside.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes and keep soaked in water.
3. In a pan, heat the oil. Keeping the heat at low ,add the chopped garlic and fry for a minute.
4. Once the garlic turns light brown, make sure the oil is not too hot and add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
5. Follow this by chopped Methi and Potato cubes.
6. Stir fry this on medium heat until all the water from the methi has dried up. That is the vegetables are about 3/4th cooked.
7. At this stage add the salt and continue to stir fry until the vegetables are completely cooked.Serve hot with rotis/chapati .
   The trick here is to not close the lid on the pan while it cooks.Yummmmyyy!!!

Avocado Strawberry desert

Long hiatus from blogging owing to a very nomadic experience on the family front . Back to blogging and happy to be back. Let me start, rather restart with one simple desert recipe, the source of which I am unaware of . Passed on from friends I guess. This particular recipe has no fixed measurements. Avocado, the key ingredient here is very similar to the butter fruit we get in Bangalore. The juice centres(especially the ubiquitous Ganesh fruit stalls :)) in Bangalore make a soothing milk shake out of the butter fruits. Yummmm....
The recipe I give below has a strong Avocado taste ,( well, because its an Avocado desert , dummy) and I feel only people who love this fruit will like this desert . Wow!!! i talk sense :D .
The chopped strawberries really add a great crunchy taste to this.

Ingredients :

1. Avocado: 2
2. Strawberries: 8 chopped
3. Condensed milk: just enough to give the sweetness.(i used about half a can)
4. Heavy cream: just enough to give a mousse consistency.

Procedure :

1. Take the pulp out of the Avocado fruit to a blender.
2. Add the condensed milk and heavy cream and run the blender.Add the condensed milk and heavy cream in batches so as to get the right consistency and sweetness. I feel the sweetness requirement really varies . For my atrocious sweet tooth , the more, the better :).
3. Take the mixture out of the blender into a bowl.
4. To this add chopped strawberries. Mix well and chill in the freezer for not more than 30 Min's.
5. Serve in individual cups. Enjoy

Happy Birthday to my niece!

17th Feb happened to be my little niece's 6th Birthday. She holds such a special place in my heart, which no words could describe. She is the eldest among the next generation kids in our family and is such a stickler to order that sometimes even irks her mother. I havent seen a kid so particular about everything as she is. She is blessed with such a lovely smile and laughter that could win any heart. I cant believe that my little darling is 6 now, it seems like just yesterday i was holding her as a newborn in my arms,...this tiny bundle of joy!!

Happy Birthday Chaarvee!!!

Methi Pulav / Menthya Bath

This weekend happens to be a 4 day long one. With the Saturday spent shopping and eating out, hubby was giving me the looks that i need to spend sometime in the kitchen too.Me being the Sweet ME, i cooked an elaborate meal for him today (the cook in me was actually coaxing me to :) ). The main course was Methi Pulav or what we call at home as the Menthya Bath(Menthya in Kannada refers to Fenugreek leaves and bath refers to any rice dish). The recipe being from a sis of mine who cooks just so her family survives :) , i was pleasantly surprised with the end result. It tasted real yumm.... Thanks Veena! I did make some changes to the original recipe ofcourse!

Ingredients:

• 5 -6 Tblspns Oil
• 2 Tblspn Ghee
• 5 cloves
• 2 small pieces of cinnamon
• 2 cardamom
• 1 Tomato chopped
• 1 large onion sliced thin and slit widthwise
• 3 Garic cloves(the fat ones) chopped
• Pudina(mint) leaves picked from 5 sticks and chopped coarse
• Methi(Fenugreek) leaves picked from 1 huge bunch and chopped coarse
• 1 1/2 cups Rice
• 1 1/2 cup peas
• water
• salt to taste

To grind(Masala):

• 1 onion
• 8 green chillies(as per your tolerance)
• Pudina leaves from 6 sticks
• 7 garlic cloves(fat ones)
  4 cloves
• 1" cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamom
• 1" ginger
• 1 heaped tblspn Coriander(Dhania) powder
• 10 sticks fresh coriander
• 3 Tblspns grated coconut(optional)
• 2 pinches Turmeric powder

Procedure:

1. Grind all the ingredients listed in the masala section to a smooth paste and keep aside
2. Wash and soak the rice in water for 1 hour.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom vessel.
4. Add the spices-cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and fry until you get a nice aroma.
5. Add the garlic followed by sliced onions and fry till soft.
6. Now add the tomato and greens(pudina and Methi). fry for 1 minute .
7. Lower the heat ,add the masala and fry till you get rid of the raw smell.
8. Now drain the water from the rice and add the rice along with the peas and fry for a while.
9. Add the required amount of boiling water to cook the rice. (here i do not mension the amount of water since it varies depending on the variety of rice. Generally the rice to water proportion is 1:2. For Basmati , water added is a little less ).add the salt to taste.
10. Cook till the rice is done.
11. Serve hot with a onion and tomato raita.

Please forgive me for the poor picture. Anyways its the taste that matters, and it does taste good:) .Try it to find out.

Variation: You could add mutton with this same recipe, it tastes amazing.

First try with Cupcakes

My first attempt at cupcakes and their decor. Though nothing near perfect, i am sure for a first timer like me, the results are quite encouraging.:)