HOLI ON A PLATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**********HAPPY HOLI**********

                                                               
                                                     
Holi, the festival of colors, is celebrated with great pomp and show in India. Celebrated in March or April according to the Hindu calender, it was meant to welcome the spring and win the blessings of God for good harvests and fertility of the land. Holi is celebrated by all the sections of Indian society and crosses the barriers of religion and caste. The joys of Holi knows no bound. The very mention of the word 'Holi' draws smile and enthusiasm amongst the people. Different people have different ways to enjoy it. Some love pouring colors...some dancing on traditional songs.....some join wild procession (that's a very common site :-))....some enjoy playing with pichkari!!!!!!
So you choose your way to celebrate it and play Holi with natural (herbal) colours. And for all skin-conscious, keep a post-Holi remedy tray ready with moisturising creams, anti allergy tablets and Caladryl lotion.
Best wishes to you for a Holi filled with sweet moments and memories to cherish for long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nargisi Kofta

I remember having Nargisi Kofta in a restaurant long time back. And the taste was so amazing that it stayed in my subconscious mind. After a lot of trial and error, finally i could obtain the desired taste in the Nargisi Kofta exactly matched like that of the restaurant. So now here I'm posting this recipe for all you paneer lovers.

                                                                              
Serves: 6, Preparation time: 40 minutes


Ingredients:
For Koftas:
250 gms Paneer (cottage cheese)
4 tsp Maida
1 big Potato (boiled)
1/2 tsp Salt


For Gravy:
2 Onions
6 pods of Garlic
2 tsp Green chilli paste
2 tsp Ginger paste
3 Tomatoes
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Poppy seeds (soaked for 1/2 hrs and ground to paste)
3 tsp Fresh cream
Salt to taste


Method:
For Koftas:
Mash paneer and sprinkle salt. Seperate 1/3 of the paneer and put 3-4 drops of yellow colour. Mash and mix well. In the balance 2/3 paneer add flour, mashed potato and salt. Make small balls of yellow coloured paneer. 

                                                                                 
Now flatten the white mashed paneer and stuff the yellow paneer. Smoothen out the koftas with wet hands. Shape of the koftas should be oval. Deep fry to a rich brown colour. Keep it aside.


For Gravy:
Make a paste of onion and garlic. Keep it aside. To make tomato puree, boil the tomatoes for 10 minutes on medium flame. Wait till it cools down and throughly blend it in a blender. Keep it aside. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry onion garlic paste. Stir a few times. When the onion turns brownish add paste of poppy seeds, keep stirring to prevent it from sticking. Add ginger and green chilli paste now. Stir for 2 minutes. Now adda pinch of haldi, dhaniya and salt. Add the tomato puree and stir for 3-4 minutes till the puree leaves oil. Pour in about 2 cups of water, cover and cook on low flame heat for 6-7 minutes. add fresh cream in the gravy and cook for 2 minutes only. Garnish it with garam masala and coriander leaves.


User comments & tips: 
Pour the gravy in the serving bowl, cut the kofta equally into 2 halves so that the yellow paneer is clearly visible.

Tofas akka the Token Of Appreciation........

First of all I would like to thank Swapna for her generosity to give me not one but 7 awards for my blog. She is such a sweetheart who always shares her awards with me. Thank you dear...... Such appreciation encourages me to work even harder and share many other recipes with my blogger friends. Swapna herself has a very attractive blog with delicious recipies. So getting an award from her is a great compliment for me and hence multiplies my joy. Again I am grateful to all of my fellow bloggers for their constant motivation and hope to receive the same in the time to come. Thanks Swapna for showering my blog with these TOFAS (Tokens Of Appreciation).....

                                                         
In my last post I forgot to acknowledge other award of Fatima. Sorry for the same dear. She had shared the above award with me.


I would like to share these awards with :

Soma Pradhan
Padhu
Arti
Shanana
Anju
Nisha
Vrinda
Faiza Ali

And here is another wonderful gift from my dear friend Priya who has just celebrated her 200th post last week. It's an inspiration for starters like us. Hope she succeeds in acheiving her goal _____unlimited!!!!!!  Thanks Priya !!!!!!!

                                                     

                                                            

                                 

Tomato soup and one more Award

                                                                 
I've received an award from my dear  friend Fatima. Dear Fatima, I appreciate your generosity. You have a wonderful  blog and mouthwatering recipes.Also, I want to share this award with all my bloggywood friends, please feel free and accept the award !!! 

                                                           

Now lets get down to today's recipe ' Tomato Soup'. Soups serve as an excellent appetizer when served before meals. And home made tomato soup is any day better than the ready to make packets. Soup has many health benefits. Tomato contains lycopene (the red pigment in tomato), this pigment is a powerful antitoxidant which helps in  fighting cancer. Tomato is also known as great antiseptic which can help protect against various infections. For best results in taste buy over ripe tomatoes or stock it 2-3 days before making soup (but not in the fridge as they won't ripen then). With little effort you can make it at your home and relish the freshness. 


Serves: 4, Preparation time: 35 minutes


Ingredients: 
6 over ripe Tomatoes
1 Carrot (peeled and coarsely grated)
1 Onion (finely chopped)
3-4 Garlic flakes (crushed)
2 tsp Ginger (crushed)
1 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp Sugar
2 Green chillies
Black pepper powder as per taste
1/2 cup Milk
1 tbsp Cornflour
6 cups of Water
Salt to taste


For Garnishing:
 Butter
1 tbsp Green corinader (chopped)


For Croutons:
2 Bread slices (cut into small cubes)
Oil for frying bread cubes


Method:
Heat oil in a pan and fry bread cubes untill golden brown, drain the extra oil and keep aside.
Wash the tomatoes and cut it into halves. In a deep frying pan cook the tomatoes with onion, carrot, ginger, garlic, green chillies, bay leaf and 6 cups of water. Cook on a moderate heat for 20 minutes untill the tomatoes are soft. Remove the outer skin of the tomatoes and bay leaf. Let them cool to room temperature.
Now grind the mixture finely in a blender. Strain the mixture with a soup strainer. Now put it back in the pan, bring it back to a simmer, add sugar, garam masala and salt. Dilute cornflour with half cup of milk to make a smooth paste. And pour it in the soup. Let it boil for 5 minutes, also add water if required for the consistency.
To enrich the soup and for silky texture, whisk in the cream mixture and serve immediately with a dash of butter, black pepper, coriander leaves and fried croutons.

                                               
User Comments & Tips: 
Just before serving the soup add croutons . Otherwise if put while cooking or all together in the ready soup they will get soggy and dissolve in the soup.

My First Award !!!

Wow ! I'm so happy today. My blogger friends Aparna and Swapna shared an award with me. Thank you Aparna and Swapna for keeping my blog in mind. I value this very much as this is my first award.

                                                                  
This award has some rules which are as follows.
Rules for accepting Kreative Blogger Award :

     1) Thank the person giving the award
     2) Copy the award to your blog
     3) Place a link to their blog
     4) Name 7 things that people don't know about you
     5) Nominate 7 bloggers
     6) Place a link to those bloggers
     7)Leave a comment letting those bloggers to know about the award

So here are 7 things that people don't know about me !!!

     1) I'm a very friendly person. And have a very good sense of humour.
     2) I'm a typical Scorpion. Very mysterious by nature. I'm an exceptional judge of human nature.
     3) I love to watch scary/horror movies. Friday the 13th, Halloween, Room no. 1408, The Omen, Psycho, Paranormal Activity are to name a few.
     4) I love to read novels. I'm an avid reader of Alfred Hitchock, Sidney Sheldon, Eisler, Dan Brown.
     5) I don't mind exploring street food.
     6) I love to do ten things at a time. And seeing my energy level my husband wonders where do i get this from? For me it's a great challenge and fun.
     7) I'm a travel freak person. I love to explore new places. Even if you wake me up at midnight I'm ready to move around.
     Though i have written 7 points but with your permission I would like to add another point which you didn't know. I'm a total water freak, who love to spend hours in water once I get into the swimming pool. Sometimes I wonder weather I was fish in my last birth :-)

I would like to share this award with:
Viki
Gita
San
Preethi
Ramya Manja
Indu
Neethu Binoi
Viki

Bread Keema in Egg (reposted)

                                                                       

Dear friends,
Thanks to Jaya for the wondeful event, one of my old posts could see the light of the day. This was my original post (Bread Keema in Egg) 5 months ago.  I hope this new post is liked by all. The kind of appreciation that I got in my last reposted recipe 'Semolina Cheela', I hope to get such generous responses from your end on this one too. This is going to "The repost event and another set of rule" by Jaya
                        

                                           
Once I was travelling by train and in a particular station I noticed this preparation. Due to shortage of time with the passengers the vendor prepared it very quickly and yet it was very tasty.

Serves: 2, Preparation time: 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
2 Eggs (one for each person)
4 slice of Bread cut into small square pieces (2 slice of bread for one person each)
1 medium Onion cut into thin stripes
1 medium Tomato finely cut
1 Green chilly finely chopped
 2 tsp chopped Coriander leaves
A pinch of Turmuric powder (haldi) 
1/2 tsp Red chilly powder 
Salt, and Black pepper as per taste
4 tsp refined oil

Method:
Cut 2 bread slice in small square pieces. Beat an egg, add onion, tomato, coriander leaves, green chillies, pinch of haldi, salt, black pepper, red chilly powder and mix well. Heat 2 tsp oil in a non stick pan. Keeping the flame on medium spread the egg mixture on the pan evenly in a circular shape, soon after that place the bread pieces on top of the egg mixture. With the help of a flat spatula press the bread pieces against the egg mixture so that both the egg and bread stick together. Now turn it until both sides are light brown in color and the bread is crispy. Serve hot with sauce.

                                                      

Semolina Cheela (reposted)

 

Hi friends,
This was my original post (Chilla) 5 months ago on 20/08/09. Those days all I used to do was to post the recipes and leave it like that. As Jaya rightly said, the initial posts are very close to the heart and you really feel sad if you do not receive the  desired response. During that time I had no blogging friends. My new year resolution was not only to post more recipes but also to learn from my fellow bloggers, the art of creative posting and making more of this interactive medium. So here I'm reposting Semolina Cheela and eager to see all my new friend's comments and reactions. Sending this to Jaya for her event "The repost event and another set of rules"

                                
Semolina cheela is very easy to make. You can make it in a very short time and the best part is that, it can be made with very little oil. It is one of the best breakfast items. I'm reposting this particular preparation with few changes. On seeing my son liking cheela very much, my mother suggested that I add finely chopped vegetables to make it more nutritious. By following her advice I did the same and to my astonishment my son enjoyed the new version of cheela.

Serves: 4, Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients: 
2 cups fine Sooji (semolina)
1.5 cup fresh Curd
1 cup Maida
1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 Carrot (grated)

50 gms Paneer (cottage cheese)
1 green chilly finely chopped
7 Curry leaves (curry patta) finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
Refined oil
Salt, Black pepper and Red chilli powder as per taste

Method:
In a bowl mix semolina, maida and curd to make a batter and let it sit for 20 minutes. I have grated all the vegetables here to make it more children friendly. If required add water because by now the mixture would have thickened. The consistency should be such it is spreadable.Heat a non stick pan, sprinkle water and let the steam evaporate. Once the pan is hot add a dash of butter to the pan. Now spread the batter in an evenly round shape in the pan. Don't flip untill the bottom is dry and cooked. Now spread a spoon of oil on the outer circle of the batter so that the oil seeps in to the lower side of the pancake. Now flip the pancake and cook for another few minutes. Serve the pancake with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Paneer Bread Roll

                                                                                                                             
How many times has it happened you that u had to rustle up something in a short notice and you ended up making Paneer Bread Roll. It is a perfect recipe that people of all age groups will absolutely love. The filling is made of Indian Cottage cheese.
This post is in refrence to Radhika Vasant's Event Announcement: Food for 7 stages of Life - Healthy Fast Food. As per the rule I'm linking it to Sudeshna's Cook Like a Bong page also.

                                             


Serves: 4, Preparation time: 15 minutes


Ingredients:
100 gms Paneer (cottage cheese)
4 Bread slices
2 Spring onions (finely chopped)
2 Green chillies
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
2 tsp Mint leaves/pudina (finely chopped)
2 tsp Chat masala
Salt to taste
Oil 


Method:
Grate paneer, mix green chillies, spring onions, coriander leaves, red chilli powder, mint leaves, chat masala and salt.
Place the bread slices in running water just to soak them for 5 seconds. Squeeze gently between palms of both the hands and discard excess water.
Place a spoonful of filling in one piece of soaked bread and press between palms to make a ball by bringing the ends of the bread together so as to seal the filling inside. Follow the same procedure for the rest of the slices. Now heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry the balls untill golden brown. Serve with Green Chutney or sauce.