MUTAR MUSHROOM WITH A TWIST OF ALOO - BUTTON MUSHROOMS WITH PEAS & POTATOES

Looking out of my office window gives a clear view of the sky, I often stop by to look at the clouds forming beautiful shapes & often wonder which one looks like what - some looking like a horse, some like a dragon, one looks like Mickey's face - the list goes on & on. I really enjoy doing that, as it gives me a break once too often. Being winters and a particularly cold day with thick fog in the moring the aura was a depressing one. The clouds brought gloom and cheerlessness....when I looked out sometime during the afternoon, what I saw was the sun struggling between a big, thick, black cloud and a few other white clouds. The white ones allowed the rays to brighten them, making them glow strangely, as if they had a light of their own. As the black one approached faster, the rays tried their best to penetrate the black one, but were soon engulfed & the atmosphere became gloomy again, but soon the cloud passed away allowing the rays to shine again, & as the warmth of the rays touched my face, I could feel that warmth flow through my whole being and spread a sort of unexplained comfort & cheer & warmth.

I think that is how life is. Once in while it throws something at us which covers us with a blanket of gloom around us, but if we allowed that to pull us down we would do no good to either ourselves or the people around us. Our victory lies in shining through and through everything & spreading a warmth & cheer around.

.....was that too much of lecture.....chalo then, lets hit the kitchen.

One evening I had just about little mushrooms & little peas which would not have been adequate for dinner for 2, so what I did was add 2 potatoes to fill the gap!!! Here's how I did it. I am giving you full ingredients, not my make do measurements.

Ingredients
250 gms - button mushrooms (sliced fine)
1/2 cup - green peas
2 medium potatoes - diced
2 onions - roughly chopped
2 onions - pureed
5/6 flakes - garlic (grated)
1/2 inch pc - ginger (grated)
salt as per taste
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp - turmeric / haldi
1 tbspn - corriander powder
1 tspn - garam masala
2 tbspn - curd

Method
In a cooker add some oil. Add the grated ginger & garlic & let fry for about half a minute.
Add the onions & fry till pink.
Add the tomato puree & cook till the oil separates.
Add all the masalas & the green chillies & fry till done
Now add the curd & mix well.
Add salt
Add the mushrooms, peas & potatoes & stir so that that masalas coats properly. Fry for about 2/3 mins.
Add about 1/4 cup water & cook for about 1 whistle on high & then another 7/8 mins.


We were content with the dinner, served with chappatis & a bowl of raita!!

Hope you enjoy it too

APPLE SPICE CHERRY CAKE

Yes that's exactly what you get when you dont have the exact ingredients printed on the recipe but make do with whatever you have in the refrigerator!!! Somewhat like life, i.e. you should learn to make yourself happy with whatever is available right now, instead of cribbing for what's not around - but do we do that??

.....hmmm..so yes I have been missing, but not because I didnt have the time to blog or anything, but because I've been lazy about blogging. I thought I'd lost it, and I was wondering if I would ever ever go back to it again, but something inside me just doesnt want to let go, and the result is this post, which I am going ahead with despite the fact that I dont have a picture of the cake.....

I think everybody comes across a phase in life, when you loose interest and nothing seems good. Mine came with Dad passing away - he left a void in me, a vaccum. I lost a friend, who meant so much to me, who said so much without saying a word, his eyes spoke of love - "unconditional love" - something which nobody else has ever been able to give me. There are times when I just look at his photograph, and run my hand across it, and there's a pain deep inside me which tells me how much I was a part of him, and how much I will miss him throughout my life ...I was his only friend. I was the only person who he actually poured out his heart to, maybe because at some stage I had made up my mind that I will just let him be him....after all he'd grown old now and maybe couldnt change himself for better or worse. So there were times, when I used to just call him and have him speak to me for hours. He used to speak to me till he had nothing more to say, and I used to just listen and listen. He never forgot to say "thank you" to me for doing that. I really am grateful to God, that he made me do that for him.

We all will agree that its never too easy to adjust with old people, people who have lived life their way, and soon they have everybody wanting them to live life in a different way altogether - dont we all overlook the needs of elders just wanting them to adjust a little bit here and there, or just give up that nagging habit of their's. I am not saying that we are wrong in expecting them to be a little more adjusting, but maybe we could remember the times when they were so much more tolerant towards our constant chattering, our unending flow of questions, our stuborrness to have our way, their not giving up on us when we were younger - arent we all not thankful for the efforts our parents / in-laws put towards bringing us / our spouses up the way we've been brought up...maybe we could do something to show that to them. A little tolerance could go a long way.

I think that's too much of "thought for the day".....I am getting down quick to the recipe, and you'll pardon me for not being up & about yet, but yes - I AM TRYING.

Ingredients

2 cups - shredded apple
3/4 cup - maida / refined flour
3/4 cup - atta / wheatflour
1/2 tsp - baking soda
2 tsp - vanilla essence
2 eggs - room temperature
3/4 cup - butter
1 cup - brown sugar
3/4 - candied cherries
1/2 tspn - cinnamon powder

Method
Cream the butter and sugar first
Add the eggs and beat again
Then add the vanilla essence
Seive the flours, baking soda, cinnamon powder together
Now add the dried ingredients into the wet ones & beat till well mixed
Finally add the cherries & apple
Mix well
I greased to loaf tins & baked for 50 mins at 160 deg C.

The result were two moist cakes.
My husband didnt like it all that much coz he's not very found of moist cakes, n neither do I, but my MIL liked it, and it quickly disappeared in the office!! To put the point forth - two loaves gone in two days!!!

So I guess its all about what tastes actually tickle your tongue!! Right??

Hope to be back soon.....

PALAK PYAZ PAKODAS - SPINACH AND ONION FRITTERS

Hi everybody....I know its been a long while now, but am somewhat glad to be back. Honestly speaking, I have been sneaking around blogs but not wanting to join in the bandwagon for some unknown reasons,...I dont have an answer myself. Maybe it was nothing but sheer laziness to get back....mmmmm....n maybe no answer will satisfy me. So i've decided to leave it at that....what say???

But I missed blogging and all in this awesome blogsphere.

I have had this recipe pending in for a long time now. I love these fritters and more so on a rainy evening, when you just want to dig into something "hoily" - what I meant was "hot & oily" :) The onions add a very different crunch to them and they are outright delish. I will also share my MIL's secret for giving them an extra crispiness....which might not be a secret to many, but to me, it was the unveiling of a biiiiig secret when I was told the method. I guess that's whats passing on traditional kitchen secrets is all about - eh???

Here I come .........





Ingredients -
250 gms - finely chopped spinach (definitely afer washing the leaves)
2 big onions - finely chopped
enough gram flour to make into a thick batter
a pinch of asofetida
salt to taste
green chillies as per taste
a pinch of haldi / turmeric powder


method

In a wok heat enough oil. I somehow prefer using lesser oil, even though I might need to fry a batch or two extra shifts, but I prefer less reuse of the used oil (I hope I am able to make myself clear).
Mix everything together to make a thick batter
Drop in spoonfuls of the batter into the oil & fry just a wee bit less than golden brown.

Now for the ultimate secret - remove them from the oil and let them cool just enough to be handled.
Keep one pakoda in the palm of your hand and just press them a wee bit and refry them.

Beleive me - there will be an extra crunch....

You have ready to dig in, hot, irrestible pakodas.

DADDY I PRAY THAT YOU REST IN PEACE..........

Hyeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I know I have been absconding from the blog world........life has been topsy-turvy to say the least. I lost my Dad a little above 2 months ago. He went away peacefully. Come what may, I will never be able to fill the void created by his passing away, but am somewhat at peace when people console saying that he was a good soul and will be seated with God right now....I believe them and I believe that my Dad is happy whereever he is today.

I will always remain his little girl, his doll, his little angel....I dont think there was anybody in this world whom he loved as much as he loved me.....yes nobody...and my family will whole heartedly agree to this statement....even today when I open the doors of the home where he lived, I feel his warm hug, his outstretched arms waiting to hug me and hold me tight, there was nobody in this world who could wipe away my tears without asking me a word, and yet comfort me. Just a sneeze or a cough would make him worry endlessly. When I am there I miss him fretting over me with something or the other to eat or drink, and I remember how irritated I used to get, just hoping he would leave me alone and not fret so much.

For years he handed over the first cup of tea into my hands, and a kiss on my foreheard, every morning - even before I could open my eyes..........my mother always complained he spoilt me rotten, but I loved every bit of it, and miss all that affection so much.

He lay so peacefully and so warm and with such a beautiful smile on his face that it was hard to beleive that he has gone....a day I dreaded so much, and it was there, and I was facing it.....it was as if a part of my heart had been torn away, and even today as I write, I feel a peice of my heart missing.

My Dad lived with just 20% of his heart functioning for as long as 10 years!! He was indeed very brave, and it was his sheer willpower and urge to live on without complaining that saw him through such a long period...Doctors amaze at his capability and zest to live.

I love you Daddy and miss you sooo much.

I hope to restart blogging very soon & I hope all my blogger friends are doing well

MIXED VEG - SPECIAL

There are some things that you would not be regularly cooking, they are going to be a special treat for a special time. Things that would be on the richer side of calories....but they really make for a treat at times, or maybe just like that you would like to prepare the dish. I call this dish "special" coz I make it rarely & it does taste yumm, but I would rather restrict myself & Rajeev to such a treat once in a while.

I made this recently to take over to a cousin's house as a pool-in, coz his wife was making the rest of the food. It turned out really good - how wouldnt it have....anything fried n smothered in cream would taste awesome - wont it??? Maybe you could try it for yourself.



Ing
1/2 cauliflower - cut into florets
4 carrots - scraped & slit into two & diced into 1 inch pcs
1/4 cup - green peas
3 potatoes - scraped & chopped into fingers
100 gms - paneer
8/10 stalks of green beans
1 capsicum - diced into cubes
1/2 tspn - jeera / cumin seeds
4 tbpn - cream
4 tbspn - thick curd
1/4 tspn - turmeric / haldi powder
1 tspn - garam masala powder
1 tspn - dhaniya powder
1/2 tspn - red chilli powder
3/4 onions - finely chopped legthwise
3/4 tomatoes
4/5 flakes of garlic
1/2 inch ginger
4 cloves
1/2 inch pcs of cinnamon broken
2 pods of cardamom - crushed

Method -
In a wok heat some oil for deep frying.
When first add the cauliflower florets & fry them - remove them on a tissue when done
next add the potatoes & fry them till done - remove on a tissue
Next add the carrots & take remove them on a tissue when done.
Boil the beans & the pease together (you can use the microwave to retain the colour)
Take another pan & take some oil in it
Add the khada garam masala i..e, the cinnamon, cloves, jeera & the cardamom
Add the onions and fry till pinkish brown
Meanwhile puree the tomatoes, garlic & ginger
Add this into the pan & fry till the oil separates
Add the turmeric & fry
Add the red chilli powder, garam masala, corriander & fry well
Now add the cream & fry till it is well blended
Add the curd & again fry till well blended
Now add the chopped capsicum & some salt
Close the lid & cook till capsicum is done - stirring in between
Once this is thru, add the fried cauliflower, potatoes & carrots along with the beans, peas & the diced paneer cubes.
Mix everything well with a light hand, to ensure that the veggies retain their shape & dont get mashed up.
Close the lid & let cook for a minute or two.
Garnish with corriander leaves

This goes very well with parathas, chappatis or as a side dish to rice.

Do try this "special" dish & let me know.

CHILLI PRAWNS

I know its been ages since I vanished from the blog scene. I owe it to a humungous amount of work pressure & a wee bit of lethargy. I honestly havent blog hopped too. My list of "To Post" keeps growing bigger.

Good Friday paased, Holi passed & then Easter paased without much ado. There were three holidays, n we could have gone on a mini-vacation but for my hubby's Exams approaching soon. I didnt wanna make him any guilty too, but then he was good n did spend quite a good amount of time with me, taking me out for "JODHA AKBAR" which we've wanted to watch since its release. I had other preferences, but chose to give into something mutually acceptable. That's how adjusting I am....

I dont regret watching the movie, except for all the bloodshed depicted. Hritik Roshan was a treat to the eyes. Looking as majestic as ever. I dont feel anybody else could have done justice to the role of Akbar in the movie. Aishwarya wasnt bad either, with minimal makeup, the mindblowing jewellery & gorgeous costumes she did look beautiful. The sets were superb. It is surely worth a watch on the big screen. The small one wont do justice to the entire effect.

Now not wanting you all to wander away, I am going to post something very close to my heart......this is absolutely my version, n I love every bit of it.















Ing -
250 gms - prawns
2 big onions - sliced finely
1/2 inch pc - ginger
4 flakes - garlic
1 big tomato - finely chopped
1 tsp - red chilli powder
1/2 tspn - turmeric / haldi powder
1/4 tspn - garam masala powder
2 stems of curry leaves
2 tbspn - maggie hot and sweet sauce
1 green chilli - chopped fine
salt as per taste

Method -
In a non-stick pan heat some oil.
Add the grated ginger & garlic
Fry well
Add the onions, n fry till pinkish brown
Add the tomatoes & fry till oil separates
Now add the curry leaves, turmeric, chillies & garam masala
Mix well to blend
Add the washed prawns, put in some salt
Cover & cook till prawns are tender & well cooked.
Add the sauce, the chopped green chilies & more salt
Cook till all moisture is dried up.

I generally eat mine with some bread, but they will go well with plain white rice...The sauce gives a wonderful tang to it which I soo love very much.

CHERISH

Its been a long time I have been putting away posting this.....I dont know why. But now I have to absolutely do it, coz I feel guilty whenever I think of it.

Before the year ended I had posted the Best of 2007, wherein I had mentioned that I had received a gift from Hotel Choclat....after much hue & cry - I finally got the packet one day.

I was excited beyond words - not that I had never won a competition before, but this really meant something for me.. Cooking is a passion in my life, n me having won for soemthing which is so close to my heart - really really meant a lot to me. N moreover I had soo many people who seemed so absolutely proud of me - my husband, my MIL, my parents, my friends - all of them....& I was gleaming. When I opened the packet I was shocked to see that the packet had been messed with, n there were open wrappers lying in the box. I suspected this coz the box did weigh lighter than the first time it had come for delivery & was given back because of an unpaid Customs Duty Bill from the Consigners behalf. Me being me - was not ready to give up on ethics, n I needed to get the courier guys by the neck to find out where the box went. Then there was suddenly my husband, who very calmly said - "you know what, just let it go - even this one box is very precious & enough for us". I was totally touched & I was left without a word to say....I just gave him a big hug n said "so be it". There were 16 pcs that I got, I honestly kept one pc each for all those who had so eagerly waited for the box to arrive, n the rest (which was very very little) we both shared. I treasure the book - hopefully I shall be able to give some of the recipes a try. My name shows here in the winners list

I will always, always cherish this memory in my heart. No joy can match this profound love.

Pictures are all that I can share with you - my wonderful friends - without whom I wouldnt be doing I what I am doing today with a good part of my day i.e., BLOGGING.

Thank you.