Sambar sadam is a very easy meal. I make this  for weekend lunch but this sambar is more of restaurant style sambar sadam. I learnt this recipe from my friend's mom very long back. She made this sambar sadam and invited us for lunch. It tasted awesome and it tasted more like the restaurant style sambar sadam.  Many times when i do i never had time to click the pictures and twice in a hurry the picture came out bad. Two weeks back, when Suresh was not in town, i made this for me and kids and clicked the pictures too.  So sharing the recipe of how to make sambar sadam today.
 Rice    3/4 Cup
    Toor dal   1/4 cup
    Sambar powder  1 and 1/2 tsp
    Small Onions  12- 15
    Tomato      1/2
    Carrots      1
    Radish       1/2
   Drumstick     1
   Tamarind     A small lemon size
    Sesame oil + Ghee  2 tblsp +2 tsp
    Mustard Seeds   1/4 tsp
    Turmeric Powder   1/4 tsp
     Salt    To taste
     Asafoetida  2 pinches
   TO GRIND:
   Channa dal    1 tblsp
   Green Chilli   1
   Red Chilli  2
   Vendayam | Fenugreek seeds    1/2 tsp
    Small onion   2-3
    Coconut   1 tblsp
    Tomato  1/2

• Cook the rice and toor dal seperately. Mash the rice after it is cooked.
• Peel the skin of the onions and cut the carrots and radish into roundels. Cut the drumsticks into small pieces.
• 
  

• In a pan add few drops of oil and add the ingredients mentioned under the headingto grind except coconut and tomato.
• Grind this along with coconut and tomato into a fine paste.
• In a pan add sesame oil and throw in the mustard seeds. when it splutters add small onions and when it turns pink add the chopped tomato. Add in the veggies and saute for a minute.
• Add the tamarind extract ( 1 cup tamarind water).
• Add the sambar powder, turmeric powder, salt and asafoetida. Let this mixture boils in a medium  flame till the veggies gets cooked.
• Add the ground paste to this .
• 
  
• Now add the cooked toor dal and mix well. After the dal and the ground paste mixes well check for the right consistency. If needed add little water to reach the sambar consistency. Add the cooked rice to this .
• Mix evenly and let this boil for 2 minutes in a low flame. 
• Add ghee to this and mix well. 
• Garnish with curry leaves. Serve hot with  appalam or vadam. 
• Have you ever tried the combo of sambar sadam with papad and mango thokku? Give it a try.  pl try it vill be yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

THAYIR SADAM RECIPE| BAGALABATH

THAYIR SADAM RECIPE| BAGALABATH

A perfect south Indian meal will never end up without this simple curd rice. Even whenever we have potluck with our friends, apart from whatever i make the job of making curd rice is usually assigned to me only. And i can happily say all the kids of my dear friends love my curd rice. I thought of posting this recipe of how to make curd rice for a long time but somehow it got postponed. So under the request of all my friends i am posting this thayir sadam recipe. 

INGREDIENTS(SERVES 2-3)

RICE(UNCOOKED)	1/2 CUP
MILK	1 CUP
YOGURT |CURD	1 CUP
SALT	AS NEEDED
OIL	1 TSP
MUSTARD SEEDS	1/2 TSP
ASAFOETIDA	1/4 TSP
GREEN CHILLI	1
CURRY LEAVES	FEW
CORIANDER LEAVES	FEW
CASHEW NUT(OPTIONAL)	FEW

• Pressure Cook the rice by adding 1 and 1/2 cup of water.
• When done mash the rice nicely with the back of the spoon.

• When it is slightly warm add milk to this. I usually add the cold milk but if you want you can add warm milk too.
• Mash it nicely and mix it up nicely with the rice. I feel clean hands will do this job perfectly

• When it is completely cool add the yogurt to this and mix it up smoothly without any lumps. Add salt to this.
• Heat a pan, add oil and throw in the mustard seeds and add the chopped green chilli, curry leaves asafoetida and lastly the coriander leaves.
• Ensure that the coriander leaves and curry leaves are chopped finely. Chop the green chilli into big pieces. I will discard this after mixing with rice.
• Add this to the curd rice.
• Mix it well and take out the green chillies. If you wish you can temper with some grated ginger too.
• Serve it with any pickle of your choice.
• my daughter love morr milagai

yummy dudhi bajji



Ingredients:
dudhi - 1/2 piece 
Oil - For Deep Frying

For Batter
Chickpeas Flour/Besan - 1 & 1/2 Cups
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp 
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - To Taste 
Soda-bi-Carb - 1/4 tsp
Chopped Coriander Leaves/Hara Dhaniya - 1 tbsp 
Water - 1 Cup or as needed
. Peel, wash and cut bottle gourd in thin roundels or in finger shape 
~ Slices has to thin otherwise it will not be cooked.
2. In a bowl add all the ingredients except water 'for batter' and mix well.


Add water and mix well without forming any lumps to make thick batter. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Deep bottle gourd slice in batter to coat all sides well.

4. Meanwhile heat oil in a wok and drop bottle gourd piece in hot oil and fry until golden brown both sides in medium-slow flame. Repeat same for rest of pieces. 
~ Don't fry in high flame or bottle gourd won't be cooked. 
~ Since my bottle gourd pieces islong  I put one ime, if you pieces are small then fry 4-5 in one batch.

Food Express from Chennai : Bajji is a common hot and crispy tea time snack in...

Food Express from Chennai : Bajji is a common hot and crispy tea time snack in...: Bajji is a common hot and crispy tea time snack in south india especially during rainy season. Bajji is a simple dish prepared by dipping a...

Bajji is a common hot and crispy tea time snack in south india especially during rainy season. Bajji is a simple dish prepared by dipping any sliced vegetable in the gram flour batter and deep frying it. Bajji can be prepared with Onion, Potato, Plantain, Eggplant / brinjal, Ladies finger (and even Bread slices) sliced into thin pieces and are dipped in Batter and deep fried in oil. And it is served with any chutney or sauce. In this food blog, i am going to share myhomemade easy indian recipe for Raw Banana (also called Plantain, Vazhakkai, Aratikaya) Bajji.

Ingredients:

Raw banana-1
Besan powder – 150gms
Rice flour- 3 tbsp
Barbeque (BBQ) Masala-2tbsp
Eno salt – a pinch
Hing powder – small pinch
Oil- to deep fry
Salt to taste

Step 1 – Banana Preparation:

Wash and clean raw banana (also known as Plantain, Vazhakkai, Aratikaya). Raw banana is always greasy and it is sticky. While cutting the plantains apply little bit oil on your hands and on the knife. Peel off the outer layer of the banana. Cut the banana into thin slices longitudinally / vertically.

Step 2 – Gram Flour Batter Preparation:

Take a small bowl, add besan (also known as Gram Flour or Chickpeas Flower) powder, Rice flour, Tandoori Barbeque (BBQ) Masala, eno salt (alternative to baking soda), hing powder and salt. Add enough water and mix all the ingredients well.

Step 3 – Deep Fry:

Heat vegetable oil in a wide mouth vessel, when the oil is superhot, dip the banana in the batter, slide the slices in to the oil slowly. Deep fry it in the medium flame until the batter coating turns golden brown colour. Drain the oil using kitchen paper.

 Raw Banana (Plantain – Vazhakkai) Bajji Fritters are ready to serve!

Serve hot with chutney or sauce.

Raw Banana (Plantain – Vazhakkai) Bajji – Traditionally, Bhajji is made with hot red chilli powder, but in the above recipe i used Tandoori Barbeque (BBQ) Masala. This gives the Bajji an awesome  color and tastes very delicious. Try it. I can really recommend it because both my daughters loves to eat every week 

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF FASHION SHOW

MY TWENTY ONE YEARS OF LIVING IN MUMBAI I HAVE BEEN TO A FASHION SHOW ..it may seem as a shock to u all but it is true ., so when i came to know that  i was going to attend myntra fashion weekend i was more than excited, i was thrilled but as know mumbais traffic i was bit minutes late so i just sat there and breathing heavily but as soon as the models started walking in a smile spread across my face., they were beautiful , elegant, charming and the dress they wore very pretty .all the models looked stunning they kept on cuming one.. two.. three..then showstopper came and the show was over. i felt a bit sad because it was over very soon .Every body started moving ..I came out then i looked right i saw a huge banner of VESPA .. i ran there immediately., i asked the volunteer what i should do he said i could take any prop and i take a picture with VESPA .i was jumping like a child ..because i never sat in a scooty before, so i ran towards the probs picked up a scarf let my hair down and tied across my neck then i went and stood  in the VESPA ....i was very happy and i felt very young .

then i saw a dupata hand printing workshop , i started hapd printing dupatta on my own ..it looked 

very beautiful.

i went into the next exhibition and volunterr handed over to me a huge beautiful jhumka to me ,it looked beautiful i wanted to wear it immediately and i did wear it and it made me look gorgeous , the volunteer said i should surely buy it.and iam sure iam going to buy it 

then i walked ahead and there were many beautiful necklaces ,as usual i started taking selfie like every other lady 

        

then i went to LAKME workshop no need to tell u can see my beauty here and i took many selfies with the probs over ther i felt like i was in a night part 

next stop hair colouring 

from I love make-up , then some treat for my stomach 

the chef teached me yummy dishes how to make how to decorate how it came and where we got this idea for dressing...

then i entered finally in to cakes wow yummy ginger cakes cocnut cakes , then i met @yakuta sarkari  from cold food company the sauce and chutneys are amazing yummy it was .. to my tongue 

and finally came out by taking a pledge of Vogue India 

then i came out of Hotel Palladium i had done everything today, i saw fashion show, put on make-up, coloured my hair, wore jewellerys sat on a scooty, took a pledge in all it was a very fulfilling afternoon thanks a lott @myantra.com .YOUR MYANTRA FASHION WEEKEND WAS AMAZING . IC OULDNT ASK FOR MORE I HOPE I VISIT IT EVERYYEAR. 

THANKS,

REGARDS,

GEETHA SRIDHAR 

I was very happy to attend the world tourism day (meet for bloggers) . the event was very well organised with lots of information on tourism in vietnam, kenya, japan etc., .It was a pleasure to interact with lot of travel bloggers, resort managers from india and abroad. I got lot of experience from the tops given by the chef .parimal sawant  on varieties of food especially the soup . I relished the spread of food which was served .each was unique in its own way . All in all it was a  learning experience on tourism , cooking, travel,etc., My special thanks to Elsie Gabriel for inviting me to this meet . I look forward to such frequent meets bing organised.thanks

GEETHA SRIDHAR 

Patta Gobi Bhajiya

I am always open to learning . i never always made patta gobi bhajiya. i always used to firectly fry it and serve it with some chutney or sauce. recently at my maharashtrian freinds house i learnt to make this. its very yummy and nutritious. Once the dish is ready just pray that it rains. you will enjoy it more

. Recipe type: Patta Gobi Bhajiya    

Prep time : 20 Mins

  Cook time: 10 Mins

Total Time: 30 

MinsServes: 10-12 

 Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded or finely chopped cabbage.

• 1½ cup besan/chick pea flour

• ½ tsp red chili powder

• 1 green chili, finely chopped

• 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

• ½ tsp cumin seeds

• a pinch of asafoetida

• ¾ cup water

• salt

oil for frying         

Ingredients

 In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except oil. Add more water if required. The pakora batter should not be thin.

1. Check the seasoning. If salt or the spiciness is less, accordingly add the salt or chili powder.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying the pakoras. Keep the flame medium. When the oil becomes hot, take spoonful of the pakora batter and pour it in the oil.
3. Add 5-6 spoonfuls of the batter in the oil, individually. So you have 5-6 pakoras frying at a time. Fry the pakoras in batches like this till they are half cooked.
4. Remove the half cooked pakoras. Press these pakoras slightly with your hand or a spatula. Take care that they do not break while pressing. Now again fry the pakoras till they become crisp and golden brown.
5. Using this technique for frying the cabbage pakoras makes them crisp. If you want, you could fry them completely at once, instead of half frying them first.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked pasta (penne, macaroni or fusilli)
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp chopped celery
1/2 cup capsicum, sliced
1 cup boiled mixed vegetables
3/4 cup milk
3 cheese slices ( or 1/2 cup grated processed cheese)
1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp butter
salt and black pepper powder to taste

Method

1. Heat the butter in a pan and sauté the onion, celery and capsicum for 2 minutes.
2. Add the milk and cheese slices and bring to a boil.
3. Add the vegetables, mixed herbs, salt and pepper and mix well.
4. Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce and bring to a boil.
5. Serve hot with toast or garlic bread.

Tips

1. Approximately 1¼ cups of dried pasta will yield 2 cups of cooked pasta.

sakara pongal

l Raw Rice 1/2 cup

Yellow moong dal 4 tblsp 
Water 3 cups 
Jaggery 3/4 Cup
Cashew nuts Few 
Ghee 1-2 tblsp
Raisins few
Edible camphor a pinch
Nutmeg powder a pinch(optional)
Cardamom powder A pinch Dry roast rice and moong dal for 3-4 minutes in medium flame , without getting burnt. Just roast till the rice and dal becomes warm.
Wash the rice and dal and pressure cook this by adding 3 cups of water. Cook till 5-6 whistles and keep it in a very low flame for 5 minutes in the last.
Switch off the flame.Meanwhile add jaggery to a pan and add little water(1/2 cup).
When the jaggery melts filter the impurities and bring the jaggery syrup to boil again.Meanwhile mash the rice with the back of a ladle. 
Add the mashed rice and dal mix to the jaggery syrup.Mix well and add cardamom powder and edible camphor. Do not add more than a pinch. If adding nutmeg powder add a pinch at this stage.Fry cashew nuts and raisins in ghee and when it turns golden brown add it to the sakkarai pongal.
Add 1 to 2 tblsp of ghee to the pongal and mix well.Switch off the flame.
Sakkari pongal is ready for neivedhyam.Colour of the sakkari pongal depends on the vellam. Always use dark vellam to get a nice brown colour.

Parippu Vada

When You walk down the markets of Chennai you can always find a shop selling parippu vada. its a very authentic yet healthy dish. We south Indians always include this vada during special occasion. Parippu Vada ad Payasam are like brothers. everyone will serve it during a festival meal. During Avani Avattam In my house i made parippu vada. What is Avani Avattam?  Upākarma "Beginning" (Sanskrit: उपाकर्म), also called Āvaṇi Aviṭṭam (Tamil: ஆவணி அவிட்டம்) and Janivārada Huṇṇime(Kannada: ಜನಿವಾರದ ಹುಣ್ಣಿಮೆ),Gamha Purnima (Oriya: ଗହ୍ମା ପୂର୍ଣିମା), is a Vedic ritual practiced by Hindus of the Brahmin caste. This ritual is also practiced by the Kshatriya and Vaishya community, who are dvijas and therefore have the rights to do Sandhyvandanam, the daily ablution ritual.

Recipe type: SnackParippu Vada (Lentil Fritters)

Prep time:  2 hours 10 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  2 hours 20 mins

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• Chana dal (split bengal gram/kadala parippu) – 2 cups
• Onion – 1 big, finely chopped
• Green chilli – 2-3, finely chopped
• Ginger – 1-2 tsp, finely chopped
• Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp (optional, refer notes)
• Curry leaves – 3-4 stems, finely chopped
•  asafetida – ⅛ tsp
• Salt
• Oil

Instructions

1. Soak chana dal in water for 2 hours. Drain the water completely. Make sure that the water is dried well, pat dry the dal with a clean kitchen towel.
2. Crush the soaked and drained dal, just run it in mixie for a few seconds. Make sure you dont grind it to a smooth paste. Add all ingredients except oil to the crushed dal and gently mix it together. Make small balls with the dal mix (gooseberry size).
3. Heat oil for deep frying pan on high flame. When oil is really hot, reduce the flame to low-medium and add the vada. Before adding to the oil, just flatten each ball in your palm. Wet your hands before flattening the dough. It is better to flatten the dough just before adding to the oil, otherwise it may break.
4. Fry till the vadas (fritters) become golden brown or if you like it extra crispy, fry till you get a darker shade of brown. Drain excess oil on a tissue paper. Serve hot.
5. You will get around 20-25 parippu vadas of small-medium size, with the above qty.
   
   Note: I Usually Make it for my children even when there is no ocassion cause chana Dal is really Good for health.