Mango Fried Rice (Mamidikaya pulihora)

Mango fried rice also known as mamidikaya pulihora in our regional language. After a very long time I was able to bag some raw mangoes form the Indian store. I am glad that I found them, because I was craving for this rice since last month. I didn't even remember when was the last the time I had it. Mango pulihora is easy to prepare and delicious in taste.

Serves: 2; Total time: 30min

Ingredients

Mango medium size- 2

Cooked rice- 3 cups
Green chili- 5 in number
salt to taste
Chana dal (Senaga pappu)-1tbsp
Urad dal (Minapa pappu)-1tbsp
Cumin seed- 1/2tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2tbsp
oil- 2tbsp
Cashew nuts-few (Optional)
curry leaves (optional)
Turmeric- pinch

Method:
Cut mango and grind it to a coarse paste along with little salt and green chili. Heat oil in a pan and add Chana dal and urad dal and fry till they turn light brown. Now add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and wait till they splatter and add green chili, red chili, cashew nuts and curry leaves (optional). When the green chili is cooked add in turmeric and salt and mix well, now add mango paste and mix well. Cook for 5min stirring in between under medium flame. Now add rice and mix well, cook this for about 1min and turn off the stove. The pulihora is ready to serve. I hope you like my recipe.

Kakarakaya (Bitter gourd/Karela) cooked in Buttermilk -My Mother's Recipe

Surprisingly bitter gourd used to be one of my favorite vegetable when I was a kid, while most of my friends hated it. I know the reason behind it and it's all because of the magic in my mothers cooking. Today is mother's day and I choose to make this curry because it is one of my mother's favorite and also her signature dish. So, here I am with the wonderful recipe...

Ingredients (Serves 2)
Karela/Kakarikaya.Bitter gourd- 2 sliced as shown in figure
Onions- Chopped long and thin-1 large cup
Butter milk (Majjiga) -1.5 cup
Sesame seed powdered-1/2tbsp (Nuvvula podi)
Red chili powder-1/2tbsp
salt to taste
turmeric-pinch
Curry leaf-2 leaves
tamarind pulp-1/2tbsp
oil-2tbsp
mustard seeds-1/2tbsp
cumin seeds-1/2tbsp

Method:
Heat pan under medium flame and add oil, when the oil is hot add mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds. When they splatter, add onion and bitter guard at a time and mix well. Close the pan with lid and keep stirring in between until they are semi-cooked. Then add turmeric and ginger garlic paste and cook for 1min. Now, to the butter milk add red chili powder, sesame powder, curry leaf, tamarind pulp and salt and mix well, add this mixture to bitter gourd, reduce flame and cook until it turns thick as shown in picture. Taste the curry and adjust salt and red chili powder, cook for one more minute and turn off the stove and serve hot. It goes well with paratha, roti and white rice.

I hope you like my mother's recipe.Please leave your comment before you leave. :)
Happy mother's day !!!

Ravali's easy and tasty party bites

Last weekend we went to our friends place, and we had lot of fun with games, movies and food. My friends are brilliant cook's and they inspire me to cook and try different recipes. Sooner they came to know that I am visiting their place, they started to plan the menu. I was so surprised by their wonderful recipes in such a short time. One of my friends Veda made a Panner tikka masla, which is the best paneer curry I tasted so far and my another friend Ravali made this instant wonderful evening snack. I will be posting the recipe for paneer tikka masala soon, until then you enjoy this delightful snack.
It is very easy to prepare and yet delicious in taste. We enjoyed it and I hope you will enjoy it too!

Ingredients:
Salty biscuits-10
Sour cream-10tbsp
Tomato-chop finely by removing the core-4tbsp
Onion finely chopped and soaked in water for 10 min-2tbsp
Coriander/cilantro- washed and finely chopped-1/4tbsp
Chat masala-pinch or to taste (optional)

 Other optional ingredients and substitutes:
Instead of sour cream you can use cheese or mayo or vegetable dip
You can also use 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and mix all vegetables instead of chat masala.
You can also sprinkle some aloo bhujia on top for color.

Method:
Mix all the vegetables in a bowl and add chat masala. Arrange the biscuits in a tray and spread sour cream on top of it, carefully arrange the mixed vegetables on top of the sour cream layer and serve instantly.

Note: Make this preparation just before you serve because biscuits become soggy as time progresses. But you can prepare your vegetable mixture and store in a refrigerator a day before the party.

I hope you like this recipe, please leave your comments!

Easy Spanish Rice Recipe

Spanish rice or Mexican rice what ever you call it is one of my favorite food from Mexican cuisine. First time when I had it I thought it was more near to tomato bath in Indian style but there was some twist that is making it unique in taste, then I found out that the only difference between regular tomato bath in Indian style and mexican rice was just the medium in which the rice is cooked. To make Mexican rice they use Vegetable/Chicken broth but in our tomato bath we just use water. Also, they use different kind of vegetables such as celery etc., while cooking.

Ingredients:
Rice-3 cups
Broth 5 Cups
Tomato Puree-2Cups
Butter-1tbsp
Herbs of your choice (I used thyme)
Celery- finely chopped-1 stalk
Salt to taste
green peas-1/4cup

Method
Wash and soak the rice in water for 30 min. Later remove water and add vegetable broth, salt to taste (Note: If you are using the broth from market, then please be cautious while adding salt as the broth already contain some salt in it). Mix well and cook it till it comes to boil later add tomato puree, green peas & celery & herbs and reduce the flame and cook it  (Cover the pot with lid and keep stirring in between making sure that rice is not sticking to the bottom of the vessel). Finally when the rice is done, add butter and mix well. Then the food is ready to serve. This rice tastes and smells wonderful!!!

I hope you like my recipe!!!! Please leave your comments before leaving!

Winner announcement for the Bloggoversary giveaway 2013

Hello friends here is the winner for my Bloggoversary giveaway!!!!


And the winner is............. Nitu Bala   from Nitu's Kitchen !!! Congrats!!!!!!!!
Please send me your address by email and I will send you the Rs. 200/- Flipkart gift card!!!

Making of Simple Vegetable hakka noodles and our debate about BPA

Yesterday our home turned into a assembly house, because me and my hubby were debating about plastic use in our home. Would you like to know how we started the discussion, which ended as a debate? Here is the story....
My husband's lunch box is made of plastic and recently I learned a lot about the BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical compound found in plastic ware that is known to cause different types of cancer. So, I replaced his plastic box with a pirex glass box, and now he keeps complaining that box is too heavy. My point is to serve the healthy and safe food to the extent I could and his point is that if the plastic is not safe to use then why they are selling in the market? I was not surprised by his question, because I know this would be the question that everyone will ask if you talk about BPA. Very lately the effect of this compound on the health came into light, and some countries like Canada banned the use of the plastic that contain BPA. Now, America bans baby bottles with BPA. And also you can find many water bottles and thermal flasks that say BPA free in the market. BPA is carcinogenic (Cancer causing) compound, it is known to show some hormonal effect on cancer cells, it will proliferate the cells very fast thus aiming the rapid spread of cancer in your body. Presently, lot of research is in progress on this compound, in our lab (in my college) we are testing on breast cancer cells. So, friends I highly recommend you to use the BPA free plastic ware and replace your plastic lunch box with a glass box and also make sure your water bottles are BPA free. I hope this post is helpful to you. Finally, I did not tell you about how we ended the debate, I showed him some research articles on BPA and now he agrees with me (Woo hoo!!! :)).

Coming to Vegetable hakka noodles,

Ingredients:
Hakka noodles: 1 packet (200g)
Vegetables of your choice-1 cup
Black pepper powder-1/2tbsp
salt to taste
oil-4tbsp
Whole red chili-4

Method:
Take a large pot of water and bring it to boil with little salt, then add noodles and cook till they are tender. Then drain all hot water and add cold water. Heat 4tb of oil in a frying pan and add red chili. Fry it till they turn golden brown and remove them with the help of spoon. Now dump all the vegetables and saute till they turn little tender under high flame. Make sure you do not burn them, keep stirring. When all the vegetables are done add salt and pepper powder and add in noodles and mix well. Cook for 2min by continuously stirring them and serve hot. These noodles are simple to make and very delicious in taste. Try it and you will love it!!!

Panner- Potato Tot's

Paneer is the magic ingredient which does not have any special taste on itself, but when prepared in combination with any vegetable it is a king in the recipe. For example, palak paneer the entire recipe is rich in palak but still it is worthless without the chunks of paneer. This is one of those wonderful recipe that I tried when my taste buds kept telling me try something different. Potato is also one of the magical ingredient especially for snacking, I tried every recipe with potato (Aloo, Alugadda) potato omlette, potato paniyarum,  bhajji's, bonda's, cutlet, samosa, pin wheels and curry puff's. Potato and paneer (Indian Cheese), are the best combination I tasted so far. Here is the wonderful recipe, I bet you will love it!

Ingredients:

Makes 10 tot's and takes 30 min to cook.

For making tot's

Potato boiled and mashed-2 large

Paneer- 100 grams Crumbled with hand

oil- enough for deep fry

Green chili coarsely ground-1/2tbsp

salt to taste

cumin seeds-1/4tsp

Fresh garlic- finely chopped-1/2tbsp

Fresh ginger-finely chopped-1/2tbsp

(or you can add ginger garli cpaste-1/2tbsp)

Kasuri methi-/14tbsp (Optional)

For coating the tot's:

Maida / All purpose flour-2tbsp mixed in 5tbsp of water enough to coat the tot

Pepper powder-pinch (to mix with maida)

salt-pinch(to mix with maida)

Bread crumbs-as required (Optional, or you can just grind the fresh bread)

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients mentioned for making tot's in a big bowl. Heat oil enough for deep fry. Take a lemon size mixture in to your hand and roll it into a ball and flatten it like a cylinder. Now mix all the ingredients except bread crumbs in the coating mixture in the ingredients list. Dip the prepared tot into it and roll it onto bread crumbs and deep fry under medium flame till it turns golden brown. 

For me it tasted heavenly with the soft taste of paneer and potato inside and crispy out with bread crumb's and maida. I hope you like it too! Kindly, leave your comment before you leave, I would love to hear from you!!!!

CouponDunia.in ---A simple recipe to save money- Bloggoversary giveaway, ₹200 gift card to flipkart.

Today I am posting an interesting recipe to save some money. First thing everyone looks before buying any product is discount, yup! if you see me in any grocery store you would find me with a small bag filled with coupons. I love to save money, and always think twice before spending money on something, because I know the value of money. Here in USA coupon system is very popular, if you try to search some coupons online you can find tons of coupons to many popular stores all across USA. I was wondering why this system is not implemented in India, and to my wonder few days back I came across this site CouponDunia.in and I was so excited to see so many wonderful coupons and shared this with my family in India about this. My brother already used the Dominos coupon and told me it's working. So, I thought about sharing about this wonderful website with you all. 

Here are the few interesting coupons I found

Ebay Coupons

Now-a-days eBay is becoming very popular in India. It may be because of its ease of purchase or low price than the market price. 

Couponsduniya.in is offering some wonderful coupons for televisions, computers and many more electronics. 

Dominos Coupons

The days are gone where people used to celebrate their birthdays with coke and samosa, now pizzas are rocking the party. You could save some money on pizzas by using this wonderful coupons online like my brother did for Dominos.

Flipkart Coupons

My most favorite coupon is for the flipkart, currently they are offering coupons for apparel, electronics, books and many more. I love this site. It always makes you feel better when you purchase a product lower than the regular price. You can find them on Facebook too!

It is really very interesting website and I hope this information is helpful to you. 

Today is my 2nd Bloggoversary so, I have decided to giveaway ₹200/- gift card from Flipkart. 

This giveaway is open to all the people in India 

To enter this giveaway the rules are:

1. Like me Facebook or follow me on twitter

2. Follow me on my blog

3. Leave a comment on my blog on any post you like.

Winners will be chosen randomly and announced on 15th April 2013. 

350th post celebrating with Palak Paneer easy recipe

This is my 350th post, is there any better food in the world that makes me happy and brings me to a  celebration mood other than Palak Paneer? the answer is no. Palak paneer or saag paneer is a very comforting food that everyone loves it. I always prepare this curry by pureeing the boiled spinach, but this time I made it in a qucik, easy and nutritious way. So, this is my yummy 350th post with easy, quick and healthy recipe of paneer saag (Palak/Spinach).

Ingredinets:

Spinach-washed and chopped fine-3cups

Tomato puree-1/2cup

Green chili-1

Onion-finely chopped-1/2cup

oil-1tbsp

cumin seeds-1/2tbsp

mustard seeds-1/2tbsp

Red chili-1

Cumin powder-1tbsp

coriander powder-1tbsp

garam masala-1/4tbsp (to taste)

Red chili powder-1/2tbsp (to taste)

Turmeric-pinch

salt to taste

Panner-100grms- chopped to large cubes

Method

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and allow them to splatter. Later add green chili, onion and cook them till they turn golden brown. Now add turmeric, garlic paste and cook till raw flavor of garlic goes away. Then add spinach and close the pan with a lid and cook under medium flame for 5min. Later add tomato puree, mix well and cook until raw flavor of tomato is gone and spinach is done. Add in the spice powders: cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, red chili powder and mix well. Add salt and adjust to taste.  Finally add the paneer cubes and mix well. Cook for 2min and turnoff the stove and enjoy with naan or rice. I suggest having it with garlic naan, it tastes wonderful and it is always my favorite combination.

Let me take a moment to thank you for stopping by my blog and also appreciate you for becoming the part of a huge success behind my blog. Please keep visiting and do not forget to comment, I read all your comments and will get back to you as well. 

100% Vegetarian Custard Pie

Custard means a dessert made with milk, sugar and eggs. For the people who does not like having eggs, this recipe serves as a best alternative to make a custard pie without using any eggs. Few days back I had few of my best buddies visiting my house after a long time, one of them was a vegan and I tried my best to prepare the food devoid of dairy and non-veg and that is the reason why I made this vegetarian custard pie.

Speaking about veganism brought me to an interesting topic, here in USA my world is very small I can barely count the people on my fingers whom I can call as my friends. In this small world, I observed that many of them are converting to a vegan diet and it is very interesting to know the reason behind their conversion.They all watched either "Forks over Kinfe" or "Veducated" movie on a Netflix. I was pretty amazed to see that a movie could impact someone so much that they prepared to leave their most favorite non-veg food and practice veganism. I watched both movies and could imagine how the meat eaters would have felt when they saw it. I'm a vegetarian so, I did not regret much but my heart broke apart after seeing how animals are treated, when they are raised for meat or milk production. May be I too will switch to vegan soon!!!!

Ingredients:

Ready made Pie crust-1 (I bought this from Kroger, you can find it in the frozen section)
Custard powder-5tbsp (You can buy this in any Indian store, make sure it says 100% vegetarian)
Sugar-1cup
Fruits of your choice (I used Apple, Blueberry & Raspberry)
For Jam: I used frozen Raspberry, Blueberry and Blackberry in equal quantities

Method
Blind baking: Pre-heat oven to 475F. Take pie out of the cover and with the help of fork poke some holes on the crust (It prevents the pie from raising) .Cover it on the top with parchment paper, then add any dry beans on top and bake at 475 F for 20 min. If you do not wish to blind bake you can just bake it directly.

Jam: Heat a small pot and add hand full of your favorite frozen fruit to it and mix well, soon the mixture starts converting to a thick mixture add 1tbsp of sugar to it and turnoff the stove.

Custard preparation: Heat a thick bottom pot and add 2 cups of water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2tbsp orange zest, 1/4cup orange juice and mix well. Take 1/4 cup of  warm water and add 4tbsp of custard and mix well. Add this custard mixture to the boiling sugar mixture in the pot and mix well. When the mixture is thick enough turn off the stove and let the mixture to cool little bit.

Custard pie: Arrange thinly sliced apple pieces at the bottom of a baked pie and spread prepared jam on it. Then add custard mixture and allow it to cool completely. Decorate with your desired fruits and serve cold with whipped cream on top or sprinkle some confectioners sugar on top like me.

For me this is the best vegetarian custard that I ever tasted and my friends liked it a lot.

Tips: If you do not have any problem in having milk you can substitute milk for water during custard preparation.
for real custard recipe, blind bake the pie and mix 6 large eggs, 2cups of sugar and 1cup of milk in a pan and pour this mixture on a pie and bake it @ 475  F till it turns golden brown and enjoy!!!!

I hope you like my recipe! Please leave your valuable comments!!! :)