Green tea with Brownies

Lets Revive!!!

2010-11-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Its been a pregnant pause with the updates on the blog. And since I am in the mode of revival, I decided to place a mark on this slumbery-blog too :)

Let me kick start with a tried and tested happy recipe from my end -

Thair-idli ( dahi - buttons... as I would coin it )

Ingredients -
Idli batter ( enough to make 30 button idlis )
Ginger ( 1 inch cube ) Finely shopped
Green chillies ( 8 to 10 ) Finely chopped
Hing
Mustard
Curry leaves
Handful of dessicated coconut (frozen preferred to dry) Imp ingredient
Cashewnuts
2 cups of beaten curds

Procedure -
Steam the idlis and arrange them on a flat bowl.
Prepare the tempering - In warm oil crackle mustards and add all ingredients, except coconut and let it fry.
To the beaten curd, add sufficient salt and red chilly powder.
Add coconut just minute before finishing the tadka and take care to not let it brown.
Add the tempering to the curd after around 5 to 6 min or once its cooled down. If added hot to the curd, it may curdle.
Pour the curd over the idlis. Garnish with red chilly powder and cilantro.

Keep aside for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy!! :)

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On other notes -

The run-baby-run is long forgotten. Shall I remove it to replace with resolutions for coming year??
Probably a new template to signify the winter and fall and kick start the blog again??

Wonder if anyone is reading at all.. but, hey, it is not that hard :)

Summers Thirst quenchers

2010-07-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Summer's here in full swing and with it comes that perpetually thirsty feeling, when you never want to eat anything thats not cold and refreshing. Here are a few things i've been going after, what are your favorites?

1. Freshly squeezed apple/orange juice with breakfast, no added sugar.

2. Yogurt with a dash of blueberries & Walnuts for added flavor

3. Yogurt blended indian style with hing, salt, green chillies & corriander, seasoned with mustard & cumin seeds. Cucumber works well in the blend too!

4. Nimbu pani - Fresh Lemonade with Salt & sugar for the kick.

Finally, A fun fact, did you know that veggies with higher water content can fill you up faster than a glass of water during a meal? More reason to veg out all over!

Love of greens

2010-07-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

I did some experimenting yesterday. Instead of trashing the gorgeous pink-veined leaves of the beetroot bunch, I chopped it up and tossed it into saag-ki-dal recipe. Believe me, these leaves taste awesome. I have also eaten the pink radish's leaves as part of a salad sometime and that is going into my next dal recipe! :)

Here is how i made it -

Toor dal - 1 cup cooked with one large tomato until mashed

Beetroot leaves - one generous bunch, chopped till the stalk gets too fibery

Onion - one cut lengthwise

For seasoning -

Mustard

Jeera

Amchur powder for 'Khatta', tangy twist

chilly powder, coriander powder.

Procedure -

Tadka the ingredients in seasoning, add the cut leaves. Let the raw smell disseminate. Add the tadka and salt to cooked dal. Add enough water and let boil for about 5 min. Once it cools, add about a tsp of lemon juice. serve Hot.

Goes great with rotis and curd.

So have you tried any new ingredient in your dishes? How did it turn out?

Black bean soup

2010-07-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Black bean soup is one of my most preferred soup for Dinner. Its so filling and easy to make !

Ingredients:

* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 Vegetable/chicken broth carton ( then don't have to add water) or
1 small chicken/veg bouillon cubes
* 1/4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
* 1-1 1/2 cup boiling water
* 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cumin
* 1/2 lemon, juice of
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (optional)
* 1/2 chilli powder ( as desired )
* 1 tsp Olive oil (optional)

Directions:

1. In a pot, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil or combine the first five ingredients; simmer for 10 -15 minutes.

2. Add half a can of beans, salt and cumin; cook for 5 minutes.

3. Puree soup ie press the bean down using a flat spoon or use a blender

4. Add the rest of the beans to the soup.

5. combine the cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.

6. Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened.

Dress up: For crisp lovers, add the crispy corn tortilla chips just before u serve. You could also add coriander leaves / grated cheese.

Last weekend, I started off to make brownies then decided why not make brownie bites (my creation !). I thought it didn't come out well but over time I loved it. Will post the recipe soon.

The dum aloo success story

2010-06-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

I have been so excited about my kashmiri dum aloo inspired dish, I knew i had to blog about it! So i drew inspiration from vah re vah video and peppered in my own style and here is how it looked and tasted awesome.

Before you venture, i must admit it is not a very healthy dish for the potatoes floating in there. But anything had in sufficient quantities is healthy even potatoes! :)

Ingredients

Onion finely chopped- 1

Potatoes ( small ) - 8 to 10

Chilly powder - 2 tsp heaps (or to your spice level)

Garam masala - 1/4th tsp ( i am not a huge fan of garam masala, hence lesso of it )

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder- 1/8th tsp ( can be substituted with tamarind )

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Elaichi ( cardamom ) - 2 green and 1 black

Curd - 1/2 cup thick beaten

Procedure

Boil the potatoes until half cooked ( i let it in the pressure cooker for 1 whistle )
In the meanwhile fry the onion + ginger garlic paste + crushed elaichis and kasoori methi in a spoon of oil.
Heat water in a bowl such that it is near boiling and add the masala powders to it. Let sit.
Peel the potatoes and fork-poke them so that they have sufficient holes to let the masala seep through.
Now add the potatoes to the fried onions and fry until they are light brown and are coated with onions and methi.
Now pour the masala mix. Add salt. Add enough hot water such that the potatoes are almost submerged. Let it simmer until the gravy thickens and the raw masala smell leaves.
Once the gravy is sufficiently thick ( takes about 20 min to get there ), lower the flame and simmer without the lid.
Now pour the beaten curd to the mixture. Make sure the gravy is not pipping hot when you add the curd, or the curd with break.
Simmer for another 2 to 3 min in low flame. Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy with rice or parathas

Final Variations -

I added a dollop of kulfi icecream before taking the dish off the stove. It gave a smooth malai touch to the dish
Cooking for a party, make a cahew paste and pour into the gravy. top it with cream.

Well its not a healthy dish... But then.. what the hell? You have to treat yourself once in a while! :)

Few summer recipes

2010-06-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Seems like the demise of the blog is in sight! Ladies, lets not let that happen! what say?

I know most of us have been busy, travelling or simply plain lazy! So here is my effort in resurrecting -

Avocado parathas -

I decided to substitute, ghee /butter ingredient in flour with 1/4th of ripe avocado.

2 cups of wheat flour

hot water

1 tsp of chilly power (optional)

salt to taste

half of a small avocado OR 1/3rd of large one.

Knead the dough like usual with the buttery avocado. No need of oil/ghee and the parathas are simply delectable. Melts in the mouth. I had them with mirchi ka salan

Tofu grills

We have been into a lots of grilling since summer and though i agree that "grill" often refers to meat, I have tried veggie options and loved it too. Tofu has been a good hit and here is how it is made -

Get extra firm tofu from store.

for marinade -

mix olive oil, chilly powder, salt, mixture of coriander+pudina. Mix and match this to you taste and ingredients. I never add the same ingredients twice! :)

smear the tofu pieces, cut in cuboidal slabs. Let sit for one hour. they are ready to be grilled! :)

Beach Sandwiches -

I name them so, since last week i had them at NC beach, made by my friend sapu and they tasted heavenly! So here is how i repeated/modified her recipe -

Whip 2 Tbps light mayo, 2 tsps of red chilly flakes, pepper and salt to taste. toss in grated carrots/grated cucumber/grated capsicum and tomato. Spread lightly, so that the sandwiches arent thick. Makes a great outdoor picnic snack. nyum!

Blue potato chips

This is not a recipe. Incase i raised that question!

I am a huge fan of terra chips. The exotic veggies in their chips are truly awesome and some taste very similar to tapioca and jackfruit chips we get in kerala. Thats another reason i love them.

I had their blue potato chips on the flight. they are made from naturally blue potatoes and they had a nutty flavor. yum!

I say try the terra chips for a change from the usual ones!

Hope summer is treating everyone well!

For love of rotis

2010-05-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

My love for rotis, different types and sizes, is my only trait thats not evidently south-indian :) I can practically go without rice for months without temptation. It caught on from my mother, who had in quest for a healthier family meal, learnt the art of making perfect bubbled phulkas during her years in Pune. She can fix the rotis from almost anytype of flour. Later she moved to carrot parathas, cabbage teplas, kulchas, aaloo parathas, rumali rotis and more.

Her phulkas still remained a master piece with every roti practically round and bubbling like a dream on the gas flame. And when smothered with a spoonful of ghee, I would gobble down way more than the stomach's capacity. I took a while to get my rotis in shape and another pregnant pause to get them to "phul" completely and the gas flame is a huge weakness for the phulka lover in me!For the same reason, gujju and marwadi food! :)

Considering N is a cringer for rotis and it is with utmost pain he manages to eat them for lunch every weekday, I ensure I give him the complete benefit of hogging rice on weekends. That also means my experiments with rotis are eaten by me alone; while N sticks to the traditional phulka and doesnt venture further. I have tried jowar and besan -di- roti and loved both. I have also ventured a lot into kakdi/beetroot/methi/pudina parathas.

So this time it was Bajra ki roti on the menu. I had it many years before at a rajasthani place in hyd. I hadnt realised it was an art to make it. Since the flour doesnt have enough gluten to hold it, it cannot be spread with the roti roller. It has to be done by hand. Nevertheless, I struggled quiet a bit, youtubed for help and finally managed it just fine in the end. It was totally yum with punjabi rajma with dahi on the side :)

Are you a roti fan too? Have you tried making anyhing new? How did it turn out?

Healthy eating everyone! Hope to see more posts.

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In case you are interested -

Running for your life!

2010-05-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

My weight issues were/are almost always a sinusoidal curve. I have had moments when I could fit into size 2 and other when even size 8 would seem tight (I sit in the comfort curve, if you may ) And going by that, my exercise regimen also followed a similar pattern of rigorous followed by lull activity times.

I was never much of a runner. I did disastrous relays at sports days and played kho-kho like no tomorrow, but that was it. Later it was only at 18, I treaded the Gold gym and enjoyed the aerobics sessions in the open terrace with the welcoming sea breeze of sultry Chennai. Later there were many moments of hot-yoga, kick boxing, boot camps, treadmills, weights et all and the gym genre had caught on in my twenties, although very haphazardly.

It was in the last couple of years that I had pressured N to join me and we had taken to hitting the road during the warmer months of the east coast. Although now, it’s a great mutual push for both of us and anything seems fun with company doesn’t it? This year we decided to get it in focus and took up the 5K challenge and completed it successfully and N did brilliantly (as I have already raved on that social networking site )

But, this time around I have established a completely different outlook. The only thing that used to keep me ticking before were the pretty dresses displayed at the consumerist-jingoism of the malls in the US. The feeling that you are never perfect for the standards set (by who or what is unfortunately never questioned). I am sure I am not alone when I say that. Let me digress to say that it is for this very reason I developed a phobia to shopping and malls until recently.

So this time, running was a completely different experience – it taught me patience, endurance and focus. It no longer concerned me to crib about a gazillion people who could eat their heart’s content and never show up an iota heavier. It didn’t concern me that Ann Taylor has displayed a new range of dresses for the weak-hearted. It also didn’t concern me that I should strive to fit into my older skinny jeans to feel younger.

been there. Done that.

Running has kept me motivated, healthier, happier and definitely more fit! And that’s whats keeping my purposes in life on check! I am sure there many more challenges to go. 10K is hopefully my next aim before the end of the year. I totally love running now, for it seems to define who I am and not what I am expected to be. The shoes. the road. the iPod. the confidence. I am sure I can conquer the world if need be!

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When I had expressed doubts about finishing a 5K race, this is what drove(ran) the point home.

“Even if you finish last, remember you still beat the world parked on the couch“.

Cross Posted here.

Updates from me!

2010-05-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

So here I am after more than a month I guess.. The non contribution being due to alas too much to do at work/home. I have realized that overworking is one of the easiest ways to lose track of health goals, especially when you dont get out of work early enough to see sunlight. Though I haven't been eating like crazy, I haven't really worked out in a while either, save for the few miles of walks each week by taking the boat instead of the train. Hoping to change that in the next few weeks & get back on the gym class rosters.

Sudan & I have discovered a new snack we both love, especially for that sweet tooth, baby oranges! They are soo yummy & great to enjoy after/before or as a mini meal!

I discovered a new salad place near work that makes a killer pear, olive oil, frisee, walnut & gorgonzola salad. The sweet & sour makes a great combo!

Saying no to rice does help in a big way to eating healthy. It makes you feel light all the time too!

Our newest love in the kitchen has to be tomatillos. These green tomato like fruit from mexico are sour & taste wonderful in dals, chutneys & kootu. Give it a try!

Apparently cutting about 50-70 calories a day helps a lot in the long term for your overall health.. try replacing your sugar with splenda or your cookie with an orange. Your body will thank you!

mettre à jour

2010-05-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

No. It is not a spam post. On the contrary, - it means "updates" in french...It was a crass effort to bring some life back to the blogpage. :)

I believe its been a lull spring, with not many posts springing... I hope the blog has done its job and turned us all hail and healthy and fit... Or not??

Anyways, here are some updates from me -

N and I have been on a running spree, irrespective of rain/frost/sun/cloud (touch wood!). And hopefully we will not suck at the 5K event this sunday! (fingers crossed)
Although, I have been running, I havent subjected myself to any stringent diet. Just following regular regime. an extra pizza slice means running an additional 0.25miles.
I made a big blunder while making muffins. I didnt "butter" the butter-cups. I thought thats done automatically because it is called "butter-cups" in the first place. So I ended up losing a lot of cake to the paper.
I have been having a great time grilling, with the weather and all. Some efforts on 'butta' here. Otherwise grilled asparagus is the new love. And of course N's specials are awesome too.
Been gardening on and off. Tomato plants are in the offing. Yet to replant in the upside-down endeavor.
Been escatic that I have lost 9 Lbs since jan. Wii fit vouched for it and recommends losing another 7 Lbs atleast to hit the "perfect" weight. Oh well.. thats not going to be easy I am sure!

Ladies, How about sending an update post our way? What you been upto?

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Food for thought -

There is a 10K run for women in october. I know most of us have no idea where we will be around that time. But do give it a thought and let me know. It will be great if I can do it with company? again the course is charles river. So do keep it in mind and let me know if anyone is interested?

Link here http://www.tuftshealthplan.com/tufts10k/index.php.

The Kindest Cut

2010-04-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

In an effort to participate in the "kindest cut" program that is run my pantene, I have been wearing my hair long since almost a year. And hopefully by the end of next month I should have the stipulated 8 inches to donate and still have some length to retain...

Considering we all so often have a hair cut and the locks simply find their way to a broom and basket.. I thought why not make a difference for a change... Long hair does take some maintenance..But then, if you are not much of a stylist, spray, blow dry, straightening kind of person.. but someone who simply does a wash, brush and wear it the way it is.. it's a lot easier to let it grow.... Here is what i do -

1. wash hair twice a week, thrice in summer

2. Once a week deep condition (coconut oil massage and leave it for one to two hours. Then wash it as usual)

3. Always condition the hair after shampoo

4. Try to use a soft shampoo/conditioner (organic if you can) . I use Dove and it has suited me just fine.

( From experience i have noticed garnier and tressemme are the worst.. too strong)

5. towel dry with a soft towel and docile-like

So before I make the cut next month.. if any of you can tell me of any salon they know where they donate hair, I'd be glad to take an appointment there, or have to do the 'pantene kindest cut' and make the cut myself and then head to the salon to shape it up...

So, anyone got any other tips for maintaining hair?? Anyone else willing to make the kindest cut??

May be we can start by spreading the word.. i just did :)

Chocolate Nut Bread

2010-04-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

To add to the flavorful bread recipes so far in this blog, here is my version of the Chocolate Nut Bread. I found this recipe on the back cover of Nestle chocolate Morsels which I customized. To my surprise this recipe doesn’t use butter except for greasing.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large eggs
1 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla syrup
1/3 cup or 4-5 tsp of canola oil or vegetable oil
1 cups NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease one 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with butter.

COMBINE flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla syrup and salt in large bowl. Combine eggs, milk and vegetable oil in medium bowl. Add to flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into prepared loaf pans.

BAKE for 50 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove from pans.

TIP: If you are looking for even more chocolate flavor, try drizzling the cooled loaves with chocolate! Microwave 1/2 cup semi-sweet morsels in heavy-duty plastic bag on HIGH (100%) power for 45 seconds; knead bag to mix. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, kneading until smooth. Cut a small hole in corner of bag; squeeze to drizzle over bread.

Next time I plan to add more chocolate :)

Tip of the day!

2010-04-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Look for spring onions, leeks and ramps (a wild onion) in your supermarkets this month. They make great omlette toppers. Eating whats in season is usually the way to go!
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Try bananas or dates before working out. It is an instant and healthy source of energy. Banana if you are working out for over an hour, otherwise like me for running for half an hour first thing in empty stomach in the mornings, one date should suffice. Way healthier than energy drinks that people gobble... don't you think?

****** I am adding a sidebar to keep the tip of the day or tips in general going.Post your tips there******

New Ideas?

2010-04-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I am back after a little while following a good vacation and some writer's block as well! Divya's entry motivated me to spring in as well ;) pun intended!

so here are some ideas:

1. How about a tip of the day item? I love reading tips, they are always fun!

2. This idea comes from the foodie in me.. post pics from great restaurants you visit/visited and rate them. I love reading picture blogs and I'm sure you do too!

what do you guys think?

Onion Fritters

2010-04-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Its been raining cats and dogs in the east coast and all I seem to think of is making (and ofcourse eating) pakodis aka fritters. I was happy to see a change in weather but did not take too long before I was wishing that it stopped raining.. turns out I am never happy with any weather ;). Since I always have a more-than-happy-to-eat-fried-food husband at home, I wasted no time and quickly whipped up the batter to make onion(one vegetable I always always n always have in my kitchen) pakodi. I am sure there are many many more variations of the batter for this recipe but me being very lazy did the quick and the easiest one :)

Ingredients
1/2 cup Rice flour
1/2 cup Besan
1 Medium onion
Oil for frying
Salt
Chilli powder

Procedure
1. Mix the rice flour, besan, salt and chilli powder with water until you have a batter with the consistency to coat the onions.
2. Peel and cut the onions in rings. Seperate the layers or rings.
3. Dip the onion rings in the batter and deep fry them in hot oil until brown.
4. Enjoy hot with Maggie Hot and Sweet sauce.

Note: I am used to only using besan for making the batter but I found rice flour gives a little crispness to the pakodi.

Spring is here....

2010-03-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

err... almost. Once we have respite from all the rain that is pouring down like no tomorrow in the east coast and giving us a glimpse of the Indian monsoon, which I love by-the-way...

I digress...

Spring means a a lot of garden work, weeds blooming in contention, appreciating N for all this lawn mowing efforts et all... With my particular disaster of vegetable garden last year - I managed to save one tomato, amidst tomato, okra, bell peppers, cilantro plants. I blame it on the hail storm that hit northern Mass.. but in reality, I was stretching my green-thumb-dreams too far - So moral of the story; this year i have decided to experiment only tomato and try the upside down plant instead of pots. So with the 70s weather this weekend, you know where I will be spending most of my time!

So has anyone begun the spring-prep? Here are a few things I am planning on doing/done -

* Found a farm nearby for the strawberry/rasberry/apple/peach pickings ( 6 miles away ) Lots of baking in the offing!

* Closing in on a grill purchase. Will send out invites for a barbecue weekend once thats done.

* Ready with my tomato seedlings/pots/starting soil/ potting mix et all... The first bout of sunshine this week and they are getting planted.

* Find trekking / hiking trails nearby. Bike purchase is indefinitely postponed.

* Gear up for the 5K in june!

So have your SPRUNG your list?

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On another note, anyone got ideas for a new event on the blog? Baking is going great, we can have another event running in paralell.. Let me know if anyone has got some ideas.

A few recipes

2010-03-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

I did two things over the weekend -

One, tried my hand at baking a healthy cake ; made maple walnut and I was glad it turned out yum; glad because i had followed my instincts for the measurement and was a little apprehensive!

Secondly, I had the most awesome crepe at AppleSeed. I will definitely recommend the spinach crepe there.

So here is my Healthy Maple Walnut cake recipe.

Ingredients -

* 1 and half cup all purpose flour

* 1 cup buttermilk

* 2 Tbsp butter melted

* 2 eggs

* 1/3 cup light brown sugar

* 1/4 cup maple syrup

* 1 tsp vanilla essence

* 1/4 cup broken walnut

* 1 tsp baking powder

Procedure -

Beat eggs, butter milk, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla essence. Wisk it with all purpose flour and bking powder. Plop in the walnuts. Bake in a greased vessel for about 50 minutes at 350F. Makes a great companion for strawberry icecream.

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Before I forget, Wish everyone a happy Ugadi! And today was ugadi potluck at work and we had an assortment of rice varieties ( Mango rice, Pulihora, Lemon rice, curd rice, pudina rice) I was the contributor of pudina rice (mint rice) and this is one recipe I have never gone wrong with (touch wood) and here you go; Thats how I make it! :)

Ingredients -

To grind -

* Generous fistful bunch of mint stalk with leaves

* cup of grated coconut

* 1 inch cube of ginger

* 3 large garlic pods

* 7 to 10 green chillies ( according to spice level tolerance)

Spices -

4 cardamom pods

2 cloves

1 star anise

bay leaves

One 3 inch cinnamon stick

3 cups Basmati Rice

Beat the above mentioned ingredients under 'To grind' in a food processor until it is a smooth paste. Add as little water as possible. It should not be smooth like chutney, but slightly granulated to touch.

In a large pan, add about 2 tsps of ghee. Add the 'Spices'. Once they sizzle, add the ground paste. Keep it on a low flame, so that the pudina paste doesnot darken, but cooks evenly.

While the paste is getting done, get the 3 cups of rice cooked. I usually soak the rice for about an hour. Then allow sufficient water to boil in a heavy bottom vessel. To the boiling water I pop in broken cardamom, 1 cm long cinnamon stick and sufficient salt. Once the water boils, I add the rice and let it cook for about 15 minutes or until it is separate grained but well cooked. Drain the rice.

Now slowly mix the rice with the pudina paste. Garnish with brown fried onions cut long and cashews.

Enjoy! Happy cooking everyone!

A dallop of avial

2010-03-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

I am surprised that this is my first Kerala recipe on the blog. I was sure I would flood it with them! :P

So I decided to start with the easiest and most popular. I agree that kerala recipes are an acquired taste and do not appease everyone in one go. And I know it well, for N isnt an instant lover of any food in general and I have modified my traditional kerala cooking to suit a 'generic' taste bud!

If you are looking for a lot of nutrition, lots of veggies and a filling meal, there is nothing better than avial. Here is the list of veggies you can add to the authentic avial recipes. But feel free to add any veggie which you think might blend in -

1. Raw hard banana (green)

2. Carrots

3. Cucumber ( all kinds )

4, Melons ( all kinds)

5. yam (chennai kezangu)

6. Koorkai ( chinese potato )

7. Chakka kuru ( jackfruit seeds.. they are yum!)

8. Cashew fruit

9. Drumstick

10. Snake gourd

11. Raw mango

I usually make it quick and easy with cucumber, carrot and raw mango. If I get good drumsticks I pop them in.

Procedure (this is going to be real easy!)

1. Cut the veggies lengthwise about half the size of your little finger

2. Allow the veggies except raw mango to boil in enough water just to immerse the veggies.

3. Sprinkle some haldi (turmeric) on top pf the sunk veggies.

4. Generously add a spoonful of coconut oil to this boiling mixture. Add salt to taste.

( I get the coconut oil from Hannaford; you can find it in any organic food store. These ones have great flavor, but do not emanate the smell which usually puts every non-mallu off from kerala food! Trust me, because N cannot stand coconut oil and he loves my avial! :) )

5. Throw in at least 7 to 8 curry leaves to this medley.

While the veggies cook,

6. In a mixer, add about a cup of shredded coconut, half teaspoon of jeera and 5 to 6 green chillies

7. Blend it without adding any water until it is smooth like a thick chutney like consistency.

8. When the veggies are half cooked, add the cut raw mango.

9. Once the veggies are cooked add the coconut mix.

10. Dribble another half spoon of coconut oil. Take the mixture off the stove after about five minutes.

Usually avial is thick like a lasagna consistency, but I make it a little gravy like by adding more water in the end, as you can see in the picture. It is my mother's recipe and it is foolproof !

Points to note:

1. Ensure you add one sour/bitter veggie ( raw mango fits the bill well ) Other options, which i know of, haven't tried are bitter gourd,tinda.
2. DONT even think of substituting coconut oil for any other oil. You will not end up with an avial end product
3. My mother makes it with beaten curds too, if you dont have the raw mango in hand. I will post that variation, once I watch her make.
4. Its a flavorful dish, but not a spicy chatpata one. So be warned.

Avial is best enjoyed with adai ( pesarattu). I love it with chapati too! N likes it with rice :)

Happy eating, let me know if you know a different recipe!

Happy weather makes me hungry!

2010-03-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

Seems like the mile meter is stalled... I am hoping it is everyone not finding time to update the spreadsheet and not the more un-encouraging reason! :(

Although in my case, I have been transcending to couch potato status for the past week and gave it a kick start by jogging outside in 50s weather yesterday. With the early onset of spring, I seem to be delving in many guilty pleasures, in hope of burning them all by running in the sun, eventually! :)

Last night it was a basket of fries and today a huge IHOP brunch! And if thats not enough, topping dinners with home baked banana bread and icecream :D

We can keep the bake-a-thon going; considering we have many new ideas popping. I bought the muffin tray recently and hoping to try that next! I was thinking we can come up with another new event for this month. Anyone got any ideas? Post it!

Until next time....

For love of Quiche

2010-03-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Pending our vacation, we wanted to have a week of healthy eating to pre compensate for the sinful munching to come.. so it was a week sans rice or heavy carbs of any kind. So lunchtimes had me running to Financier pattiserie, a french bakery known for their petite cakes and yum food in lower Manhattan. They have daily lunch specials of soups & quiche.

Mmm quiche.. fluffy eggs with great salad is quite a treat. I especially love their truffled mushroom version. I am planning to try my hand at baking on upon my return.

Have you guys ever tried quiche recipes? If so, do share..

Visit financier here

Also posting a pic of Sudan's birthday cake that I ordered here..

That's the way the cookie crumbles :) !

2010-03-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

I already made it pretty clear that I am a big time chocoholic.. Anything that has chocolate in it, it becomes my instant favourite :) Infact I have turned my husband into a choco-addict as well.. Muuuhahaha (u know.. the devilish laugh). He literally begs me to make chocolate treats/desserts now.. Life is bliss :D. Today while I was drinking green tea, I had this craving for a cookie with warm melting chocolate inside.,the next thing I know, I was on a search for some recipe with the ingredients from my baking shelf and preferrably a heathier version and I found this.. It boasts of 21% fewer calories, 42% less saturated fat and 14% less fat than the original recipe but I personally felt there was nothing major under the healthy category except for the whole wheat flour and the amount of butter used.. that's good enough for me.. all the mind game I say! It also fits in the bake-a-thon month thingie we have going here (I am under the impression that month = till there are enough contributions or till somebody comes up with a different concept :D). Also following suggestions of Divya and inspirations of other blog sites, I decided to venture into a new hobby.. photographing food! This is my debut, using Sandeep's SLR.. I am pretty excited about the whole deal.. So please comment/suggest on any pictures and recipes..will be happy and humble to accept them. I guess I have listed all my excuses and buried my guilt for indulging in chocolate pleasures so lets get started with the recipe..

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat sugars, butter, oil, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat in flour, baking soda and salt until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

2. On ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until very light golden brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

This recipe yields 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Source:Eat Better America

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Looks like someone has been patient enough to teach novices about food photography. Thought I should share the link. It looked really useful.

http://www.cookingandme.com/2006/07/food-photography-for-food-bloggers.html

Banana Bread with a chocolate twist

2010-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am totally aware that there have been 2-3 recipes of Banana nut bread that have already been posted on green tea....Nevertheless I am posting the one I use very very often for a couple of reasons :

a. My cousin Divu told me to....since every recipe has something different in it and it is true.You will see why!!
b. It is a Banana bread with choco chips rather than nuts recipe!! See I told you its different.

Well I will cut the crap here and get to the main point of the blog. Here is the recipe:

* 3 ripe bananas, mashed
* 1 egg, well beaten
* 4 ounces (1 stick) butter, melted, cooled
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts : I like to use a lot (as much as you want) of semi-sweet chocolate morsels in place of nuts....tastes WAAAAYYYY better. Nuts are ubiquitous and get pretty monotonous!!

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, beaten egg, and melted butter. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and soda and stir into banana mixture until well blended. Stir in semi-sweet chocolate morsels (more the merrier)

Pour banana nut bread batter into a 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350° for 55 to 60 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Have fun baking!!

Fridays + Friends + Food + Fun

2010-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had friends over at home(quite a gang I should say). In such occasions(especially with a group of hungry boys) usually I like to experiment some new dishes because even if something goes wrong in the process, there are still no leftovers and I really can not see food go waste(which is why I am trying hard to finish the box of chocolate covered rice crispy treats at home despite the fact that I am trying hard to loose the last few pounds of my monthly goal). I made chicken 65 which was applauded by everybody that evening. It was definitely a HUGE hit.. I mean who doesn't like spicy fried chicken? ;). It was really easy to make and I wanted to share the recipe with you here. Next time you are looking to please a crowd, go ahead and make this. You'll be star of the evening :). This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken - 1lb (Cut into 1" cubes. I used both the breast and thigh meat)

Corn Flour - 3tbspns

Egg - 1

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 1/2 tspn

Salt - To taste

Pepper - 1 tspn

Red food color - 8 drops

For Gravy/Sauce:

Canola oil - 3 tbspns

Ginger - 1 tbspn (finely chopped))

Garlic - 5 Cloves (finely chopped)

Green Chillies - 5

Chilli Sauce - 2 tbspns

Cumin seeds - 1 tspn

Cumin powder - 1 tspn

Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves - 6-7 leaves torn in half

Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn

Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn

Red food color - 10-12 drops

Salt - To taste

Water - 1/2 cup

Procedure:

In a bowl, take the chicken and add the cornflour, ginger garlic paste, salt, pepper, egg, red food color and mix till the chicken is coated well. If you find the mixture too liquidy then add some more cornflour.
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan and deep fry the chicken in the oil.
After all the chicken is fried, heat a skillet on medium flame, add oil and let it heat up a little.
Now add the cumin seeds. After they sputter a little, add the ginger and garlic and let it fry for a minute.
Now add the green chillies and the curry leaves to pan and fry for another minute.
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw flavor goes away.
Add the chilli sauce, chilli powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, salt at this stage and fry for a minute.
Add the red color, water and the fried chicken at this point. Mix well so the gravy coats the chicken and wait for the chicken to heat up in the sauce.
Serve hot.

Sadly, I do not have a picture of this recipe :(

This recipe was inspired from my neighbor and adapted from wahreywah.com

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I had the pic I had posted on facebook! Though it is notthe perfect pic, you can see that 1/4th of the dish is already hogged.. :) I vouch the chicken was awesome!
-Div

The pink health

2010-02-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

Food habits and exercise alone cannot comprise a healthy life.Personal hygiene goes a long way and I thought I should share a few things, which i learnt the hard way and hope it helps someone else without having to face it with difficulty like i did-

1. Floss. I have inherited bad teeth, had braces as a fifteen year old, cheated brushing a million times, even after seeing my mother suffer through many painful root canals. Two wisdom tooth extractions and three fillings and after, I have turned over a new 'teeth'... Do brush at least twice a day. And dont neglect flossing. I wont go into the benefits of flossing; the web is filled with that. But if you have never tried flossing before, try this product. Its battery operated, soft on your gums and really useful and I am sure you will never go back to regular brushing once you realise how useful it is.

2. Q-tips. I would run away from them as a child. Hence more than often, I would suffer immense ear pain due to a wax solidified attack and undergo the wax-melting medicine being poured down my ears at least once every month.I have come into terms with being regular on the usage of q-tip, though I am still working towards not letting it slip my mind!

3. Pedicure: No, I am not refering to the exorbitant 40$ pedicure at the nearest Nails you get done when you want to pamper yourself. I am talking about keeping your feet happy and breathing even otherwise. I learnt it from my cousin Villus and her older sisters. All you need is a dallop of shampoo, a small basin with warm/hot water, a squeeze of face scrub. Give your feet a treat every fortnight! Is a great help during summer.

Have you learnt something new that has helped make your life healthy and happy? Do share!

Tofu recipes

2010-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

The email chain floating around with shritu's suggestions for tofu recipes, I thought I will add it as a post instead...

Divya's experiment -

I made tofu sandwich. I got the extra firm tofu from traders joe. But, the tofu still needs to be handled delicately or it will easily break. If you open the pack, make sure you change the water in which the tofu is immersed everyday of refrigeration.

Procedure -

Cut the tofu into slabs thick enough for your sandwich/burger bread. Gently squeeze out as much water as you can.
In a flat vessel, add spices of your choice - I added oregano, basil, ground pepper, ground cumin, red chilly flakes. Add 2 tsp of olive oil and mix the spices so that it forms a "dosa-podi" type consistency. Add salt.
Smother the tofu pieces with this marinade. Keep it aside for atleast 1 hour. I had it marinated for 3 hours.
Toast the tofu in a flat bottom pan. To make it more crunchy, you can add more oil. I was surprised myself that the marinade powders stuck to the tofu really well and didnt wither away while toasting. Toast until it is a golden brown.
Enjoy it with honey mustard/ketchup/pickles/ other veggies in your sandwich

My cousin Villus suggests -

Add the tofu pieces like you would add paneer to the paneer mutter recipe. Add them towards the end of the preparation however.

Sandhya's plans-

I was looking for Kung-Pao-tofu recipe last week as I was planning on making one. I got the Kung-Pao sauce from the grocery store to start with :) http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/kung-pao-tofu

Have you tried any recipe with tofu lately, something you have never cooked before or often do? If so post the recipe. Simply edit this post and add on to it or leave a comment.

Mithra's tips

I like firm tofu crumbles with my salad.. a signature one would be to add mesculun greens, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds & tofu tossed with Olive oil or balsamic vinaigrette for a crisp snack or side.

I've heard a lot about these tofu noodles as a great pasta substitute, but I haven't had the courage to try yet!

Healthy Frying!

2010-02-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

In response to Divyas' question, I read this relevant article this week: healthy frying

Hope this helps! I was pleasantly surprised to discover how health(ier) bajjis were in the fried category.

My frequented food blogs on the internet:

Some nice recipes

A must visit for New yorkers

A nice blog on travel food. I found it very unique

My friends food blog

Run Baby Run - Update

2010-02-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Its great to see some wonderful progress on the miles! Though i admit, I grossly underestimated the miles :-)

I bet many of the participants are going to zoom past the required 95 way before the end of the year!

So here are a few things to note -

I have created a spreadsheet to make it easier to track your miles on a everyday basis. Here is the link to it. The link is also available below the label of Run Baby Run on the left bottom of the blog where the mile meter is. I will be checking the spreadsheet every Friday and updating the mile-meter.
You can continue way beyond 95 miles and the mile meter would simply show over a 100%. I bet we all love that. So i am not changing the miles or requirements. Let keep the good work going!

I am thinking of adding a mini-challenge part of the mile meter. Since its possible to get weary of the treadmill and other such indoor recycled air workouts, we can aim to do an activity other than machines and play some games. Be it squash, BB, FB, badminton anything you dig. The challenge is to aim to be part of at least one sport activity every week. Let me know if you have other ideas to build towards the mile-meter...

Happy workout everyone!

Bagara Baingan,Bakes,BlockOfLard

2010-02-15T15:52:00.000-08:00

When it comes to cooking, I am more of a follower. I prefer the recipes scribbled on the diary, with words of wisdom doled out by my mother in law and mother, to experiments. I also love the colorful cookery books, exact proportions and a few culinary websites I frequent; so like I term it, I am a bookish-cook. Going by the norm, I found the perfect bagara baingan recipe suiting our taste buds and N and I slurped it clean with home-made parathas yesterday for lunch. You can find the recipe here. I vouch it is foolproof! =)

A few other websites I love and frequent are -

Priya's Akshayapatram

Solai chidambaram for chettinad cooking (especially chicken varieties)

Mahanandi for the andhra veggie fix

Most evidently, my second favorite cuisine (first being kerala, of course!) is the andhra bone, hyderabadi to be specific!

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So, I make my entry to the bake-a-thon by following sush's simple recipe of vanilla flavor cake. For my first ever bake it turned out pretty yum and believe it or not, there is just one-eighth of the loaf (as seen in the picture) left. Saiz and sandhya were also party to the cake-eating.

The whole nuts peeping out is N's doing! He plopped them into the batter before I could break them! So as we let the soft cake melt in the mouth, we were rudely awakened by a huge almond to crunch into, from time to time.

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Before you wonder if this section is about a 'block of lard', let me clarify that it is about me feeling like one!

I am a deep-fry-hater. Other than the waist-watch perspective, it is the oil clinging to the carpets rendering the house into a greasy rancor that is a put off. Hence, I stick to the frying bit only on special occasions like N's birthday when I cannot veto the idea. This year, it seems I have become more lenient and ventured for the second time deep frying bajjis and paruppu vadais last evening. Company for the evening coffee made up for the incentive. Knowing fried items are a delicacy; N often makes the best of the deep-fry-occasions to fry anything he can lay hands on, until the oil turns a savage red and retching slick.

I bet two molaga bajjis (green waxy chilly bajjis), few handfuls onion pakodas, couple of paruppu vadais were more than unwelcome to the stomach that hadn't feasted to oil in a long time. Gone are the days when in the name of group-studies, I would wolf down desi french-fries and onion bajjis, which my mother would make for the "hard-working" students.

I was an acidic mess by the time I retired to bed feeling like a completely useless piece of lard swearing to never deep fry ever again! Until next time….

Hope everyone else had a healthy weekend! =)

Questions –

How do you balance deep frying and healthy eating?

What are the options for making deep frying healthy?(now that's an oxymoron! :D )

Totally unrelated

2010-02-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

This post has no relation whatsover to the blog except for another common passion of its readers, that of Books! I read an article in NYTimes yesterday which made me think a little about what to do. I have been wanting to clean out my bookshelf for a while now; and this article suggested that people shouldn't donate books to the library if they don't feel passionate about them. It said that we are doing a disservice to someone by making them read a book that we didn't care about in the first place, and that they'd have read one better book in their lifetime.

What do you girls think? Would you rather donate to the library or recycle? Do share your thoughts..

What kind of hungry are you?

2010-02-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent hours "working-from-home" by the window, expecting a snow-white scene to unfold and a blizzard to envelope my brownish yellow grass. But, as the day unwound, I watched the warning on weather.com turn from red to orange to nothing and was left with 8 mm of snow instead of the predicted 8 inches! Like someone said.."they just messed up the metrics"!

The point of the post wasn't the snow or the lack of it really... but the hunger pangs that seemed to gnaw harder while I was at home! Almost four years back, when I had gained a lousy fifteen pounds in three months (blame it on the overdose of dating one does strictly pre-marriage times, sadly with the same guy..) anyways.. I am still trying to lose the left overs from that era and striving hard to fit into my skinny jeans again!

My first intitiative to lose the pounds was to barely run 1.25 miles, pant like a dog, drink an iota of milk in the name of breakfast, let the stomach rumble until it hurt, eat a meagre lunch, feel proud of it and then 3 pm would strike; the hunger devil (as coined by my cousin villus) would cause me to burn and crash. I would give in to a heavy dinner and feel guilty. The cycle would continue. No surprises - I gained more in the bargain.

Over time, I have finally come into consensus with my body and learnt to manage the food-health-fitness cycle. Although, I am still hit with between-meals hunger accompanied by a pity-emanating-stomach-rumbling noise that can be heard two cubes away! I have tamed the beast to fat free fruit yogurt or a bowl of fresh veggies or a fruit or handful of nuts for the past sixteen months or so.

But yesterday, being home and having a shelf of haldirams displayed for the benefit of the weak-hearted, I was tempted to take more between-meal breaks and pop a spoon of snacks down my throat. When one spoon gave way to one too many, I had decided that WFH wasn't good for the heart (figuratively and literally). I finally tied the growling beast and many crunchy carrots were eaten instead and ran the risk of being called a "cow" by N (technically it should have been rabbit.. but whatever!) .

So here is what I figured about hunger in general yesterday -

1. Hungry every two hours - eat meager meals every two hours.

2. Ravenous during meal times - eat like no tomorrow each of these times

3. Balance hunger - crazy-I-will-die during breakfast, I-will-eat--to-survive at lunch, I-will-eat-because-its-dinner-time during dinner.

4. Snacker - eat whenever i please even if I am not hungry. My heart wants it.

5. Un-foodie - never know when it is meal-time. Who needs food, I say?
6. Skipper - I am too busy to be wasting time eating.. I will skip now and hog later when famished

7. the in-between - Big hungry during meal times. Small hungry between meal times.
8. superman err... super-human hungry (for fear of sounding politically incorrect!) - interleaved, cyclic, biological clock keeping, scrupulous, always fit hunger! phew!

So what kind of hungry are you?? How do you deal with hunger pangs? How do you deal with cravings that have nothing to do with hunger pangs?

Share your thoughts and let it be a help and inspiration for better or worse! =)

Mail/chat/facebook me the miles for the week tomorrow!

The team factor

2010-02-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

Apart from the zillion calories I lip-smacked at shecwang, guzzled down as empty margarita shots on saturday night and yummed to a heavenly tiramisu that Saiz and Sandhya had surprised us with...my weekend was err.. healthy?!

Sometimes, it okay to indulge in the guilty side of life don't you think? Its the guilt and the imperfectness that comes with it, that keeps us motivated to stay fit. Well.. thats how I convinced myself and hence thats the truth :p

While we are hovering on the motivation bit, N has joined me in the wii active goal-keeping-endeavor. And working as a team seems to be a lot more fun, atleast until now ;) And talking of team, I am wondering if we can close in on a group 5K run?

Friends, Romans and err.. fellow-bloggers,

What about locking June 6th for the 5K along the Charles in Boston?? Here is the link to the details. Hope we can all join for this date. may be even get a couple of t-shirts with 'green tea brownies' printed across and take up the 5K challenge ( I was kidding about the t-shirt. sigh! ). Let me know. Will be a good kick-start to a future date for a marathon!

And as we move to the running topic, Vikram has joined the mile-meter and in his effortless ability to come up with instant quips about anything, he has the following to say about the event - "A mile a day, smile a day!" So whether it is the miles making you run, or running to make the miles, I am happy the event is taking us where we want to!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Mithra bakes!

2010-02-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Our trip to BJs last week left us with a 2 dozen bag of bananas which were slowly consumed for fear of unnecessary wastage. We got down to the final two today and their skins had started turning black. Not wanting to waste them, and in light of Divya's baking suggestion I turned them into a cake here using this recipe. I did add a handful of walnuts though, and used Sush's suggestion to use a blender to beat the eggs.

Here are the results (we nibbled a little)

I was quite pleased, and albeit a bit on the sweeter side, it was quite tasty. Planning to bake a bit more tonight, will post with pictures if attempt succeeds!

This week is NYC's restaurant week, so me & S went to get dinner last night here. We were simply amazed by the yumminess of the food, and have vowed to keep ourselves off of cheaper restaurant fare & indulge in NY C's goodness at least once every quarter! The tab was a little high (The Prix frie restaurant week dinners include a starter, main course and dessert for each person for $35) but totally worth it, since it pleased both our vegetarian & meaty tastes. So if you folks visit next time, we know where we are taking you!

I STALKED the soup ( pun intended! ;-) )

2010-02-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

Last time (almost 2 years ago) I had encountered a particular debacle with my soup making. I had attempted the mixer to pulp the scorching hot veggies straight off the pressure cooker, only to have the steaming pieces go haywire and splash on my face. I had however escaped with a few burn scars and caused everyone around a near heart-attack with my screeching!

Hence, I never braved myself to try soups again for a long time; until last week, when I went for minestrone like soup which didn’t require the mixer. My soup-making-soul was kindled and to top it, I have gleefully hit common grounds with N on a soupy dinner love. Going forward, I have decided to make at least one dinner per fortnight supplemented with a hot soup!

This week’s veggie soup seems a lot healthier, for I deviously dumped in it the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage stalks, which we otherwise throw, for the fear of turning into cows chewing cuds! :P

Colorful veggies for the soup! :)

Recipe –

* Stir fry Cuds/stalks/all veggies you dig or don’t like to eat in the original form in a spoon of olive oil.

* Throw in (in Ratatouille style) couple of broken red chillies, few peppercorns, basil leaves, ginger and garlic to taste and breathe in the green flavor combined with spices!

* Add tomato in the end, before removing the veggies from the stove, so that it’s semi-cooked.

* Let them cool down (wait for about an hour!)

* Add them to the mixer and pulp it adding as little water as possible.

* In a heavy bottom vessel, add a small scoop of butter. Splutter jeera seeds (optional)

* Add the pulp to this and enough water to get a soupy consistency. Add salt to taste.

* Let it simmer with tiny almost-boiling bubbles for about 10 to 15 min.

Serve hot smeared with crushed pepper and oregano flakes.

Note: Add atleast 2 tomatoes to get the tangy touch. I also added the pineapple hard center, which is not otherwise eaten, to give a tinge of sweetness to the soup.

So the next time, before you throw away that hard stalk, think again!

Please share other thoughts on the parts we throw away but are the most nutritious. I recently read about potatoes having most of the good nutrients in the skin. So I am thinking of attempting cooking them with the skin the next time!

Hope everyone is eating healthy and working harder!
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Noteworthy - Guess who has graced us with her presence and involvement in the blog by signing up for the miles?? I will keep you at bay and leave a small clue - the beacon of vegetarianism among us who does not like vegetables! :)

Bake-a-thon!

2010-02-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

It is great to see the enthusiasm for soups, salads and workouts exploding all over the blog! I am aware of a few sleeping/snoring members and I am hoping to wake them up this week!! And while the momentum lasts for the rest of us, I thought lets indulge in some common goal for each month.

What about baking something before the end of Feb? Not confined to cakes alone, but anything invented, borrowed, inherited, internet-searched; but straight off the oven! Let it be something you have never tried before! And let’s post the recipe however it turns out! Or simply post thoughts on a baked dish you ordered at a restaurant!

Let’s welcome Fabulous Feb and enjoy the wait for spring… I am definitely waiting for spring to be able to run outside! I am tired of exercising in recycled air!!

Hope everyone participates!

crispy egg sambal

2010-01-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

I was bored with the usual egg curry, i used to make every fortnight and decided to do something different with egg. So this is what I ended up with and I am planning on trying the following with different gravies until I am bored... If you have tried something similar, please share your recipes too!

Ingredients -

Eggs - 4

Onion - 1 big cut length-wise ( i think small onions will suit this gravy best. I didnt have any at home!)

Tomato - 2 medium cut fine

Red chilly - fresh or dry (a good cupful, this is the only spice, so be generous)

cilantro - a bunch

pepper corns - 5 to 6

garlic - 1 pod

Procedure -

1. Make a thick, sufficiently crispy omelet with the eggs ( I used just the egg whites to keep it healthy). Add a tbsp of milk while beating the eggs to make the omelet fluffy. Dribble some pepper powder and salt in the omelet mix. Cut the omelet into 1 inch cuboids.

2. Saute the onions until golden brown.

3. Add the tomatoes and keep it in low flame.

4. In the meanwhile beat the garlic, red chilly, peppercorns and cilantro into a semi-fine paste.

5. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add this red chilly paste.

6. Add salt and enough water to form a gravy and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes.

7. Once the gravy thickens, add omelet pieces to it.

8. Mix the omelet with the gravy and take care not to break it. ( the thicker the omelet, the easier to mix )

9. Let it simmer for not more than 5 minutes.

Serve it hot with Phulkas or Sambol or rice. Tastes best when eaten immediately!

For those who dont eat egg, I think the gravy should go well with tofu! :)

Note: Sambal and Sambol were names I picked from a Srilankan book.

Sambal is any gravy made from red chilly.

Sambol is a easy rice dish that is had with spicy curries.

* Beat 5 to 6 small red onions, 2 to 3 garlic pods, couple of red chilles and few green chillies into a crunchy paste.

* Fry this mixture with little oil until the raw smell leaves it.

* Add a handful of coconut to this sauteed mix and fry till its golden brown.

* Add salt and mix it with a cup of cooked rice.

In the original version, along with coconut, dry fish is also added.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Dont forget to mail me the miles...

Every mile counts!! :)

Nature's bounty

2010-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

I have never been a vegetable hater, but neither have i ever enjoyed them as much as i do these days. I love them fresh most of the time or just blanched/boiled, but not overcooked. Al Dente' works great on veggies as it does on pasta! Each day, I skirt the salad bar at work for a satisfying side, and I love the falafel guy a few blocks from work thanks to the zillion veggies he adds to my sandwich. Here's a list of my ten comparatively new veggie and leafy loves, tell me if you share these!

1. Arugula : This peppery little leaf adds a burst of flavor to your salad, just drizzle olive oil & you have a fab side!

2. Asparagus: I save the tops for the last as they are soo yum!

3. Beets & more beets: They are so sweet that they make a great dessert!

4. Sweet potatoes/Yams: Love these starches over the blander potato anytime!

5. Pumpkin: I like it as a soup or in my vathal kozambu but the boiled version isn't too bad!

6. Avocado: Nature's butter is as great for the face & hair as a pack as it is for your salad.

7. Zucchini: Amazing how this humble veggie transforms when grilled with olive oil!

8. Broccoli: Crisp & yum, need i say more, i know you guys heart too!

9. Sugar snap peas: great in Salads, Asian food & by themselves!

10. Edamame: The best bean, period.

Spinach soup

2010-01-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is a twist on the traditional Palak panner that packs a punch & is just as if not more yum! Sudan & I licked our bowls clean when I made this last time, so here goes:

For two servings you will need:

1. two green chillies
2. one ripe tomato
3. Half a red onion
4. a few peppercorns
5. two pods of Garlic
6. A cup of spinach
7. a few cloves & cinnamon
8. A tablespoon of cream (optional, but it does make it more yum!)
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil

Add a tablespoon of oil & saute the spinach until it is cooked. Blend to a lush green paste.
Puree tomatoes to a fine paste
Chop the garlic, onions & green chillies finely & saute in oil with cloves & cinnamon.
Add the pureed tomatoes & salt to the mix & cook to a boil.
Powder the peppercorn & add to the mix.
Finally add the spinach & the cream & heat for 5 minutes. You should not overcook the spinach.

Enjoy with dippable bread sticks!

The soup that made itself!

2010-01-28T17:40:00.000-08:00

The day was a perfect soup day, except for my mind-numbing drive back from work in the heavy snow! The snow is not so magical when you are behind the wheel and worse when all you have is AR Rahman for company! :(

But I managed to reach home safe and sound and make the soup that made a hearty dinner!
Let me call it the medley soup, for I used whatever I could find in the refrigerator, the snow having thwarted my grocery shopping plans!
So here goes...

Ingredients -
All the wonderful veggies you can find. I added -
1. Tomatoes - 5 to 6 small
2. one large onion
3. one yellow beet
4. handful shredded cabbage
5. Carrot - one large
6. Bell peppers - half
7. garlic - 4 to 5 flakes, cut finely
8. ginger - one inch cube, cut finely
9. one small cup - mixed lentils. I used black-eyed peas and kidney beans
10. A bunch of basil and handful cut cilantro
11. Parsley/oregano flakes
12. Red chilly flakes
13. Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
14. butter - 2 cm slice cuboid

Procedure

* Add the butter to the heavy bottom pressure pan.
* add 2 tsp of olive oil.
* once the oil-butter mix sizzles, dribble parsley, organo and red chilly flakes in comfortable quantity. You can feel the flavor from the strength of the aroma.
* to this add the cut garlic and ginger.
* Saute the onions until light golden brown
* Add all the veggies and lentils except tomato and cabbage
* Keep adding parsley or basil as required at this stage.
* Once the veggies are sufficiently smothered with the flakes, place tomatoes cut by four and spread the cabbage on top.
* Now drop the ground black pepper and remaining basil leaves
* Add enough water to just sink all the veggies.
* Add enough salt and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistles.

Tada... Serve hot with cut cilantro and lightly fried cut bread in olive oil.

The main ingredients are - parsley, basil, oregano and crushed black pepper!They give the aroma and flavor!

Enjoy!!!

The Devil takes over

2010-01-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

When you come back home tired from the day's work and by merely thinking how at every step life can push you down and after sweating off all the irritation at the gym, the next thing in any sane person's mind I presume will be FOOD!

I was craving food today after the workout and although I was determined to make soup to contribute to the Soup Month that Divu enlightened me to, I decided to be lazy just for a day and make something that would have less of an aftermath effect (I mean the extensive clean up after cooking). So here comes an easy instant cooking recipe for times and days such as aforementioned!!

Mexican Chicken or whatever you want to call it

1. Chicken breasts - take as many as you want or enough to fill your baking tray
2. Hot/Medium Hot/ Mild Salsa of your choice
3. Mozarella cheese
4. Lime
5. Salt
6. Cloves of garlic

Procedure :

1. Wash the Breasts and place on the baking tray

2. Pour or apply the salsa on top of the chicken - put enough to cover it well

3. My tweaking : Squeeze a lemon on top of the chicken breasts, sprinkle a little salt, chop some garlic cloves (5-6) if you are a Garlic lover

4. Bake at 350F for 20mins

5. Pull it out and grate Mozarella cheese on top

6. Bake for another 15mins

7. Food ready to be served with Rice and Pita chips - If you want you can make the Rice-a-Roni rice that you get at the store since they are flavored.

Warning: Since it involves cheese it might be slightly tilted towards the high calorie side but then its definitely worthwhile when Time and the Lion growling in your tummy are a concern!!

(Chicken) Egg drop Soup

2010-01-26T01:54:00.000-08:00

To commemorate the occasion of National Soup month and also being an ardent fan of soups(I even bought a soup recipe book long ago!), I decided to go on a soup dinner tonight despite of a not-so-interested-about-soups husband.. lucky for me, the weather is in my favor :D

While I was going through the recipe book to pick a soup, I was in a fix.. there were about 500 varieties! And the ingredients were from all over the world representing different climates and cultures.. I did not even hear about soups served cold till I came to the USofA. When I was really young and was introduced to the we-dine-out-of-home-for-special-occasions-only culture, the only two soups I used to see on the menu in the restaurants of Tirupati were the Tomato soup and the Veg/Chicken Egg drop soup aka Sweet corn soup. So I decided to make my favorite soup of childhood :)

Ingredients:

Creamed style sweet corn can (you can find it in the canned food section)
Chicken breast (cut into small pieces)- one
Corn starch (not cornmeal)- 2tbspn
Egg whites - 2
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cups water

Procedure:

Boil the water in a pan.
After the water boils, salt it and add the sweet corn from the tin.
Let it boil again. Now add the chicken breast meat and let it boil till it cooks(for about 3 mins)
Mix the cornstarch in a separate bowl with a tbspn of water and add this to the soup. You will notice that the soup thickens.. you can always add some more or less cornstarch depending on how you like the consistency of the soup but always remember to keep stirring the soup continuously while adding the thickening agent(cornstarch) so no lumps would form.
Add the Egg white and whisk it in the bowl so there will be no big chunks of egg. Egg whites cook very quick so this step can also be done with the flame switched off.
Finally add freshly ground black pepper and Enjoy!

Note:

This soup should serve about four people as a meal.
As this belongs to the family of Chinese soups, it can be served with soy sauce, chili vinegar and the likes as enjoyed by you.
For a vegetarian version, cut carrots and green beans into very small cubes(chewable) and add it to the boiling water after step1 and boil it till they cook.. the rest would be the same in both cases except of-course you skip the chicken and egg in your soup.

Be it a homemade or canned or a takeout, lets keep the soups coming for the last week left in the month!

Till then enjoy your bowl of hearty soup!

This and Thats

2010-01-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

It is wonderful to see a salad-soup-all things good explosion on the blog! Lets keep up the good word!

Eating to the yellow beet –

Following mithra’s mention of yellow beets, I fished it from the prolific, heavenly green smelling section of ‘whole foods’! Though it’s a little pricey, this colorful salad tastes awesome and I will consider it a delicacy for I cant find it in the local Market Basket and hits it heavy on the budget! It’s my mid-afternoon snack for the day!

The desi twist to salads –

I have taken it from my mother. Be it the carrot raita mithra mentioned, or a salad or grated roots, a dribble of tadka ( ½ tsp of oil, little mustards, broken red chilly ) over the salad makes it more devouring, especially raitas for biriyani.

Don’t be fooled by ma po tofu at PF Changs –

Yesterday, I ordered ma po tofu at PF changes. It read tofu in garlic, red chilly sauce with steamed broccoli. Though it tasted awesome, but it was deep fried tofu lined with steamed broccoli! For all the goodness of broccoli and side of brown rice, I couldn’t wolf down more than a few tofu pieces, for it filled by food pipe with grease! It was the healthy broccoli for dinner instead, not just from my share, but the veggies kept aside on sandhya’s plate too! Sigh!

Facial fix –

When you are bored of eating all the salads, just squeeze all the good carrot juice and apply it to your face for the orangey glow or crush the tomato like a scrub on your face to eliminate the sunburns!

Iphone app for farmers market –

I am glad, I can find a farmers market nearby from the Iphone now (Locavore 2.0)! Though I am sure, we North-easterners have to wait it out until spring to have any open. Now I know where I will spend most of my summer money! ☺

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Why don’t we honor the ‘National soup month’ on our blog?? Let’s aim to make atleast one new soup from the website/cookery book/top of your head anything for the coming week and post the recipe and experience!

Let me know what you think!!

what soup are you?

2010-01-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like cuddling next to the fire place with a warm bowl of soup on a cold day. It is such a feel good meal which keeps you so full and happy after a long winter day. I came across this article and wanted to share it here.. did you know that this month is celebrated as the National Soup Month?

Soup Therapy

To honor this, I decide to have soup for dinner tomorrow. ;)

Happy soup eating! :D

Going Green!

2010-01-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

I used to hate anything and everything which could be categorized as 'good-for-you' when I was a kid but guess I am all grown up now. sigh! Yup. that's my dinner plate... seriously! very proud and showing-off :D

Recently my husband got determined to go on a 'healthy' diet spree(good for him). That should explain i guess :)

I cribbed when I was also included in the plan but a simple lemon vinaigrette with a huge pile of spring salad mix made me happy. Big fan.(doesn't mean I am going to order a salad if I go out for dinner:D) Combine it with a protein(grilled fish/chicken breast or tofu for a vegetarian option) and a fruit for dessert.. you will feel so proud of yourself after an amazing workout. I did for sure!

Here is how I made my venigrette:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil(E-V-O-O as coined by Racheal Ray)- 2 tbspns
Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice(makes alot of difference)- 1tbspn
Salt- 1tspn(or less depending on you- I never measure)
freshly ground black pepper- 1/2tspn

Just whisk it all in a salad bowl(and the consistency changes immediately). Now toss your prewashed salad leaves until coated and Enjoy! That is it.. No kidding.

Note: Always add the vinaigrette right before you serve so the leaves stay crunchy.

You can also add

Chopped almonds or walnuts or pecans for some crunch.

Sun dried tomatoes for the chewy texture.

Boiled egg whites for protein.

Garlic and herb croutons for a bonus ;)

I am sure there are many many more variations on the basic salad recipe I posted here.. will keep updating as and when I try them personally :)

Healthy Eating everyone :)

PS: Hey Divs, Refreshing your memory, incase you got carried away, I am not on the PATH but enjoying the light meals and everyday workouts for now :D

The austere life

2010-01-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Almost four years ago in Chennai, I had attended a course at Isha yoga foundation. It had comprised of a one month program of pranayams, meditations, good food habits and all things peaceful. I had totally enjoyed it and even put it into practice for almost six months afterwards. And then MS happened, US happened and like all Masters Students, I began to neglect the body and mind!

I had taken away a lot of good things from the course; to love yoga being one of them and I have since attended many yoga lessons at gym and the ‘backbay yoga studio’ lessons in Boston during my internship there. And I also make an honest effort to begin the day with yoga.

Now that I am trying to bring a much needed balance into my diet and exercise regime, I tried to evoke the flavors of the natural foods; I had a chance of eating during the course. The food was all vegetarian and made with natural ingredients and nothing processed. I am sure, I can’t adopt such eating habits for life until sans teeth and coddling grandchildren, but I sure did make it a point to supplement my dinner or lunch with some of these interesting recipes. Here are a few recipes, I recall from the top of my head. They make great salad recipes –

• Grated beets(yes! I have become a fan!), lemon juice, green chillies, shredded pudina and cilantro, salt, dry roasted peanuts.

• Grated carrots, green gram sprouts, grated ginger, lemon, basil leaves, salt

• Finely cut cucumber, finely cut tomato, neem leaves, fresh pepper corns, moosambi juice, salt
• peeled oranges, fresh grated cabbage, walnuts, methi leaves, grated coconut, cut red chillies

They are all mostly a blend of – one or more fresh veggies + something sour or bitter + something spicy + something citrus + something with a strong flavor.

So mix and match them up, all those veggies and lentils you see around, lying in your kitchen shelf! If you do fix up a great combo, do share them!

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On a happy note, I have come to know that Sush and her better half are on a salad drive and on the path to achieving the 20LBs-less before march challenge! And I am hoping its because of that, Sush hasnt posted any new yummy recipes!

I have been on a sinusoidal curve --
Skipped 3 days workout due to winter indoor allergy, though I snow shoveled :)
Avoided eating rice. substituted dosa with wheat dosas.
Killed it all by having an all KFC dinner (it was wedding day and N used it to advantage for the unhealthy fix)
Trying to get back with salad addendum to dinners!

Hope everyone else is keeping up their goals too! :)

Happy eating and don’t forget to mail me your miles for the week!

Desi cookies!

2010-01-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend the chef in me was inspired by my exceedingly sweet tooth. I craved one of Amma's perfectly baked biscuits, reminiscing their wonderful baked smell and the golden color. So off I went to the local grocer in my aim to recreate the recipe. It turned out pretty cool, as its all gone now, I am happy with the result.

So here's the recipe (Proportions matter here):

A cup of all purpose flour

1/3 cup of confectioners sugar (you can powder regular sugar in a blender as well)

1/3 cup of butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda (this is the egg substitute to make the cookie crumbly)

2% milk added as suitable when you knead.

Knead all ingredients together such that there are no lumps. You want a chapati doughy consistency.

Roll out the dough into a thick circle and cut out cookies with a cutter or a tumbler rim. (alternately you can make small balls & press down with a flat cup into cookie rounds for a more homemade look)

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 15 minutes until brown on top.

Enjoy!

The Snow Shoveler

2010-01-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

A weird adaptation of 'the solitary reaper'
;) :p

She loves the snow

And the peace it brings

Crystal white flakes

And the mellow it feigns

For it might last a fortnight

And never cease

Or tumble overnight

And dump a few feet

She loves it even the day after

With yellow sun and cold blue skies

Making the world a prickly bright

Roads lined a goo-ish brown

And walking makes a pulpy sound!

For she is but, well armed

With thermals, jackets and god knows what;

Bearing a shovel she completes her ascent,

Into the path of milky pleasant

Oh she digs, she digs!

Layers and layers of stubborn white sand

Sometimes wet, sometimes light

Almost heavy but yields midflight

Over the shoulder she throws

Powdery mass of water in guise

Until the dark tar is unearthed

Shiny, shimmery

And white washed

Under layers of warmers and more

She perspires a melancholy sore

Burning easy calories she does

Rowing, curling, crunching and all

Workout is what shoveling is

Care must be met when stepping on ice

For the back must be never arched

Bend only the knees

And keep working the arms

For many snow storms

She wait, she waits

To burn the unexpected calorie

And let the muscle tone

Snow is a lot of fun

She says

Love it, burn it, end up all fresh

The white world isn’t all gloom and squelch

And if you still hate the pallid spread

Fear not and head to my dwell

Give a helping hand

And shed a few pounds

Shoveling, panting, warming and all

-By Divya Durgadas

Hyderabadi Dum biriyani!

2010-01-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

Whenever we head to NJ, we have made it a point not to miss 'paradise biriyani'. It is by far the best dum biriyani I have had! Spicy and chatak! :)

Considering we Bostonions or should I say Tyngsborough-nions ( now thats a mouthful!) do not have the good luck of indian restaurants in the Mass area, I had taken on the project to bring good indian food home!
In one such mission, I had tried my friend Annie's dum biriyani recipe. Over the many times i made it, I have made addendums and improvised it... So here's the recipe, inspired by Ann's --

Ingredients

chicken - leg pieces - 5 or 6 OR 2 thighs cut in cubes

If its leg pieces, go for the smaller size of chicklets. otherwise chicken thighs should work fine(Sush had given a tip about thighs being better than breasts! ... I am sure that argument doesn't hold ground for anything other than chicken (it was a non-veg joke! sigh!)

Pudina/mint - 7 to 8 sprigs.
dhania/coriander - one handful bunch
Green chillies - around 8
thick curds - 2 cups
garlic pods - 5 to 6
egg - 1
ginger -3/4 inch cube
Garam masala
Chilly powder
Basmati rice - 3 cups
Onions - 2 big
coconut milk - 2 Tbsp

Procedure

( I )Preparing the marinade
1. Beat the curd smooth. Plop the egg into it and wisk it well. The egg makes the chicken softer.
2. Grind garlic, ginger, coriander, pudina, green chilles into a thick coarse chutney like consistency. Do not add water.

(careful not to add more than 1 or 2 pudina sprigs at this stage, else the biriyani will be very minty)

3. Add this green paste to the beaten curd-egg mixture.
4. Add 2 tsps of chilly powder and 2 tablespoons of garam masala powder and required salt to the mixture.
5. Now add the chicken to this marinade and let it sit for atleast 2 hours!

( II ) In the mean time -
1. Cut one and half onions finely criss cross. Cut the remaining half length-wise.
2. Cut a few strands of coriander and 3 to 4 sprigs of pudina.
3. Soak the 3 cups of Basmati rice.

(III) Once the marinade has sat for almost 2 hours -
1. Add little oil to a low bottom vessel.
2. Add jeera and sompf to the oil. Once they sizzle, add the finely cut onions.
3. Once the onions are fried to golden brown, add the chicken marinade.
4. Let it sit on the stove for atleast 15 to 20 minutes, while you intermittently mix it.

(IV) While the chicken marinade cooks -
1. In a heavy bottom vessel, add a little ghee.
2. Fry lightly--3 to 4 cardamom pods, black cardamom, half inch cinnamon stick, 1 or 2 cloves, star anise and 3 or 4 pudina leaves
3. To this add sufficient water, may be 2 to 3 cups, depending on the size of your vessel.
4. Add 2 Tbsps of coconut milk to this.
5. Add necessary salt. Don't forget the salt at this stage, otherwise, you can never mix the rice with salt later on.
5. Drain the soaked Basmati rice and reserve.
6. Once the water boils, add the basmati rice to it.
7. Keep checking to see how much the rice has cooked. Once it is half cooked, take it off the gas stove and drain immediately. Usually this takes 5 minutes from the time the water boils.
8. Fork the drained basmati with a dallop of ghee.
9. Preheat the oven to 350.

(V) Once the chicken marinade is 3/4th cooked and the curd gravy sufficiently reduced -
1. In a long flat baking dish, smear the bottom surface with a thin layer of ghee.
2. Pour the 3/4th cooked chicken marinade to the dish.
3. Spread the coriander and punida cut in step II on top of the marinade.
4. Evenly spread the drained and forked half cooked Basmati on top of this chicken gravy.
6. Now fry the onions cut length wise in step II, until they are deep brown and semi-crispy. Spread them on top of the spread basmati.
7. Dribble a little color powder on top of the rice (optional).
8. The oven should have attained the 350 mark by now. Cover the layered biriyani with aluminum foil and let it bake in the oven for 20 to 25 min.
9. Once you take it out of the oven, take a pic to post on facebook (optional) ;)
10. Mix the cooked rice and marinade layers nicely, but careful not to break the rice too much.

Serve hot with mirchi ka salan and raita :)

Other options --

1. Boil eggs and insert them into the biriyani layers before placing in the oven.
2. Add ghee fried cashews and curry leaves to top the biriyani, if you are cooking it for a guest! You don't want the empty calories :)
3. My MIL adds all the left over uncuttable whole chicken bits into the marinade. It simply adds to the flavor, but cannot be eaten. I for one, hate bones, so avoid it!

Though I agree, its a makeshift for dum..Since there is no dum except for a convention oven, the taste doesn't disappoint at all ! :)

For the vegetarian version -
1. No marination required.
2. Start at step II
3. Fry the onions, followed by 2 tomatoes finely cut. Add the garam masala and chilly powder and the green paste made in step I. Add the veggies. Add the curd. Let the gravy be only half or 1/4th cooked before pouring it into the baking dish!
4. Remaining steps are the same!

The recipe serves 4 ravenous adults or 6 adults mildly hungry! :)

This is one of the easiest recipes, if you haven't ventured into non-veg cooking, or you wish to cook it for your better half, like I did! Since, I am not a fan of the chicken in the biriyani, though I love the rest of the biryani, I get N to cut and marinate the chicken for me! The rest is easy work!!

Hope the recipe helps.! Let me know if you tried it!
And I definitely dare the vegetarians to resist the urge to try this awesome dish! :)

Happy eating! :)

Pep up the pepper rasam

2010-01-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Not only is a snow storm brewing for tonight in Mass, I am brewing lots of pepper rasam as well. I have been feeling under the weather since morning and I have already downed a few galleons of hot water and pepper rasam!

To top it, N made some awesome pepper chicken as well from the wahrewah recipe! So I am all pepper-ed up right now.

Well! the purpose of the post isn't pepper rasam alone, but a secret ingredient, which complements pepper rasam for an instant cold/fever relief. I had been offered that a few years ago and it worked wonders.

So the next time you are under the weather with sore throat, cold and the likes, add a shot of brandy or scotch or rum to a full mug of pepper rasam. Microwave/boil it till its pipping hot. savor it down!

Though an instant reliever, I keep it as my last resort before popping tylenol for a night's sleep!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. And dont forget to sign up for the miles...!

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Before I forget, we have a new member to the blog... my cousin Veena. She is an ardent workout freak, who is also a great foodie. She believes in eat well and play harder and is totally against dieting! Hope to see more posts from her. Until then checkout her blog on frizbee leagues here.

Workout in disguise

2010-01-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

Ever played Ultimate (Frisbee)??? If not and if you have enjoyed playing Frisbee in India then ultimate is worth a try. I was introduced to Frisbee by my friend who mentioned about his game and was wondering if I cared about playing considering that I am this sports/adventure freak! My image about Frisbee when he used the word F R I S B E E was very close to Fetch since that’s the only version of Frisbee that we are exposed to in India. Least did I know what ultimate meant here and the moment I set foot on the ground, my first reaction – “S*** I am F***ed”! With time I learnt the ins and outs of the game and now I am addicted!! Here goes the game and some tips:

1.Pretty close to American football just that the receiver cannot run once the Frisbee comes into their possession! Alas….or else I could have sprinted!! Jus kidding. ;)

2.Each game lasts for 1.5hours – a total of 13-15 points to be achieved depending on the league you play in (Spring league- 15, Summer league – 13, Fall league – 13)

3.If you love the game and wish to win then you will end up running so much that you would realize it only when every part of your body hurts after the game – Neck to feet! AAAH….The sweet pain of a FUN filled workout.

4.7 players on the field at each time

5.Ideal situation: 4 men and 3 women. However, for ages women have been pretty lame about playing and hence many times you end up with either 5 men and 2 women or 6 men and 1 woman. Sucks, but having 7 players on the field is Mandatory (unless it is one of the nasty Chicago weather days and 50% of the players don’t show up)

6.While on Offense :
a. Disc has to keep moving and cannot stay with one player for more than 10 seconds
b. If a player is unable to throw it to his teammates then game is turned – disc given to the opposition team- I hate it when that happens.
c. Forehand throws are more preferred than backhand throws since the defense team tends to force forehand to screw you up.
d. Once you pass on the disc to your peers…..run ahead towards the goal , make a cut and help your peer to throw it to you…don’t worry someone else will make the second cut to help you out. And the vicious circle continues until the disc reaches the end zone.
e. It’s a B**** when there is a turnover at the end zone and believe me it happens 90% of the times.
f. If you are person in the end zone make sure you catch the disc or else hell is let loose on you – not really ….Its more like you let hell loose on yourself if you wanted to be the STAR!
g. Enjoy every moment of the game coz if you don’t enjoy you will never play it well.
7. While on defense:
a. One suggestion – Keep your eyes on the person you are guarding and on the disc – sometimes I wonder if having Looking London Talking Tokyo kinda eyes help???
b. Run like a watchdog that has been let loose. That’s what I do to intimidate my opponent…..ARRRRGGGHHHH!!
c. Try your best to be in the path between the disc and your opponent –You have done your job then.
d. Try and guard an opponent who doesn’t believe in running much for that lets you save up your energy for offense!! See my point???

Having said that I think I have covered all the tips that I followed in the 4 leagues I played in. With time and more experience I will fill you guys with more inside news and tips. Until Spring league I let you get mentally prepared to play an ultimate game wherever you are and inspire others too!! Trust me…Its lots of FUN and a workout in disguise.

Run Baby Run

2010-01-14T09:10:00.000-08:00

Lets aim a modest 95 miles before the end of 2010!! Who all are game?

To sign up simply leave a comment. You can email me the miles you have covered at the end of each week, on fridays. I will update it on the sidebar of this blog!

Rules:

* Count the miles you run/walk on treadmill or outside/marathons/5K

* All other activities ( wii active, eliptical, cycling, yoga, aerobics ) count 15 min of workout towards 1 mile.

* household work, long walks during shopping and the like cannot be counted!

* Only activities aimed at workout can be counted!

So pull up your sock... Kindle the heat... Run a mile... Let it be displayed....Be motivated!

I have a surprise gift for the first person to complete more than 95 miles!

Hope you all join!

Shocking pink, green and orange!

2010-01-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

How often do we go overboard with buying the mesmerizingly stacked veggies, which you can't cook within a week or two and toss it in the garbage with a heavy heart?

I used to do that often, until I learnt to buy in sufficient quantities, though even now, I somehow find one or two veggies in excess at the end of the week.

Here are a few plausible plans i have come up with ; Will be great if all of you can add your tips to it as well!

* A pack of 4 beets from Market Basket - toss the beets into veggie kurma, make stir fried beets for side to rasam rice; When more are left over ( which was my case..) - Use the extractor to beat beets and carrot into an awesome sugarless fresh juice which i have been having before morning work outs! The remaining smooth pulp, add it to chapati dough for shocking pink phulkas! :)

* I have been so happy with the juice idea, that I am planning on implementing it with green veggies as well.. And in prospection, I think its a great way to make kids eat veggies... Imagine presenting them with pink,green,orange chapatis! :)

* Raw mango which i often buy for avial. Since i don't use the whole of it, the remainder is great for -

sev puri toppings

Add it to dal tadka instead of tomato

Make mango pulihora (its a andhra dish)

* Excessive tomatoes - make tomato chutney for dosas; same with excessive onions.

For the patient ones soups.

* Cabbage - the giant that never seems to be done! I haven't found a great solution, but here is what i do -

cabbage/beans/carrot dry sabji for sambhar rice

cut it long for noodles

Cabbage + dal + coconut gravy for rice

.... and there is still cabbage left over! sigh!

Do post suggestions.. Will be great to know some new ways to eat different veggies and not be intimidated to pick them at the market!

Happy Healthy eating!!

More healthy stuff and a popcorn shocker

2010-01-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

NYtimes has become my source of inspiration for all things healthy, and i came across this article yesterday which totally changed my idea about movie theater popcorn:

Movie popcorn shocker

So it will be a small only, no butter please, and only at AMC. What do you guys think?

Speaking of health habits, these days i am loving a handful of walnuts in my special K cereal in the morning, topped with Blueberries, just the way Divya recommends in the last post. I have to balance myself to eat well at lunch to go to the gym in the evening before hunger pangs strike. Strangely enough, cardio at the gym takes away hunger, while weights leave me hungry all the time..

The Choices you make...

2010-01-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

The nutri-grain ad starts with the tag line - "one good decision can lead to another"

It shows two days of poor eating habits like donuts-chinese-too much coffee-pint of icecream for dinner. And one day begins with nutri-grain, moves to salad and so forth, winds up with brushing teeth.

I cannot but agree more to the tag line, which was catchy and apt. I have often noticed this in my daily routine, when i begin it on a healthy note.

Recently mithra mentioned the NYtimes article on the time of the day for exercise. I can easily switch from morning to night person or vice-versa; but personally i prefer being a morning person and practice being one. Hence my exercise routine has stuck to wee hours (between 6 and 8) of morning, whether it is suryanamskarams or wii active or jogging outdoors. If I miss the golden hour, I miss my exercise for the day!

And whenever I begin my day burning modest calories, my decisions for the day stay healthy and gay as well! The inbetween-meals hunger attacks are always satiated with fruits alone. the evening-coffee-craving is automatically absent. Drinking lots of water and green tea after lunch comes naturally!

In the famous book "French women don't get fat" the author advocates one tiny dietary change each day, like choosing a smaller latte and then build the change gradually.

Go ahead ....

* Pop a fruit in your morning cornflakes

* Replace your oil spoon with a smaller size

* Add another cup of water to your daily intake

So what choice did you make today to get the momentum going! ??

Sweet Beginnings :)

2010-01-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the intro Div, yea I vowed to co-author and now I vow to be alive unlike my other blog(if you noticed :D). I always wanted to blog because if you know me, I always love to talk. But I realized I am a lot lazier than I thought I was. If only I had the device like Stephen Hawking to convert my thoughts to words and to sentences and to articles.. okay now I am wandering away. The point is I never had a commitment or the motivation. Its always nice to have somebody around to keep you going, especially if you are like me :)

The blog has been aptly titled for me for I am the kind of girl who never categorizes chocolate as 'junk' or 'unhealthy' and drinks green tea every single day to detox my body :D

For my first blog here I want to share my mom's cake recipe which is liked by everybody till date. This recipe was my debut to the culinary world.. my first cooking class from mom :)

Ingredients:

Maida aka all-purpose flour - 1 cup
                       Sugar - 1 cup
     Vegetable/canola oil - 1 cup
                              Eggs - 4 large
                 Baking powder - 1 tsp
                Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 330 degrees F

Beat the eggs and sugar with the vanilla essence in a large bowl (my mom used to do this in a mixer jar)

In another bowl mix together the flour and baking powder

Add oil to the dry ingredients and mix well

Now add the eggs n sugar mixture to the batter and mix well

Pour it in a greased and floured 9" baking dish and bake for 55-60 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean

Note:

Adding 4tbspns of unsweetened coco powder along with the dry ingredients will give you a chocolate cake

You can add your choice of nuts to add a little crunch to the cake

Definitely give it a try and let me know how you like it.. Its a foolproof recipe and trust me you can not go wrong with it!

Happy Baking :)

Sush

Carrot Raita!

2010-01-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Taking cue from Divya, who suggests adding shredded carrots to Chapati, here I present a really easy to make dish that is so wonderfully sweet & makes a great accompaniment to chapatis or pulao. It is pretty intuitive, but we manage to wolf it down every single time!

Prep time - 10 mins

1. Shred three carrots finely ( use the smallest holes on your grater)
2. Add to a cup of beaten yogurt
3. temper mustard seeds with green chillies & asafotida & add to yogurt
4. Add salt to taste
5. Mix well. At this point the yogurt must be orange.
6. For the coconut lovers, add a tablespoon of shredded coconut to the mix
enjoy!

The good and ugly

2010-01-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

So the holidays do "wonders" to your sleep and eat cycle. This week I have been struggling and juggling to fall asleep at 10 pm and wake up at wee hours of 6 am. And adding to this misery is sweet fancies after dinner; no surprises - I have been treating myself to a handsome scoop of vanilla icecream and dribbling it with qurbani ka meetha, which I scraped to the last drop last night.

On better news, chapatis are back on the lunch menu, after almost a week of rice. The dough has been complemented with flax-seed powder. For the non-sea-food eating junta out there, its a wonderful supplement of omega-3 fatty acids. You can read its benefits right here. And before you cringe about the healthy taste, it adds no flavor at all!

Another easy trick to ensure you get your daily dose of veggies, is to add grated carrots/beets/radish to the chapati dough.

Happy eating and exercising ! :)

Interesting read on ny times

2010-01-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Link here to a very interesting post on NY times which may dictate your workout time :)

NYTimes health nutrition

I personally agree with this article, i find my heart rates change as noted..

Fresh beginnings

2010-01-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

During my ten day winter break when I did a series of sweet nothings, which included making of a snowman, I had been secretly inspired by Julie and Julia. More than the culinary twist in the movie, I had loved the spirit; the wonderful thing called motivation that keeps one inspired to diet, eat, run a mile, read, learn, cook, blog and live!

So in the endeavor to get there (wherever it is you want to) I am taking with me a group of lovely ladies, who have vowed to co-author this blog and keep it alive. Be it your new wii active (yes! I am a proud owner and a show off!) , banana bread recipe (courtesy sush), a new travel tip (mithra), fashion statement stories (sandy), dum biriyani and new detox diet (Ann), bollywood dance steps (Sappu)… Be it anything, share it, blog it, flaunt it – like no tomorrow!

Looking forward to many posts… I am ending mine with my New Year resolutions –

DD guarantees, swears in blood and sweat –

• To give up chips cravings (a difficult task with a husband who eats chips even with Dosas!) (Sandhya! Are you listening??)

• To lose at least 5Lbs by the end of 2010.

• To learn to read tamil as fluently as possible.

• To learn to make satisfactory conversation in telugu (Ann I am assigning you as the guru)

• To make one new recipe every week! (suggestions will be greatly appreciated)

• To run a half – marathon (sush name the time, date and place)

I will be tracking the progress in my future posts. Until next time…