A lovely summer lunch

Summer is here right before us and we are already indulging in watermelons, juices, lemonades, curd rice, butter milk oh what not? Luckily the house we live in is in the 3rd floor. This appartment has ample space on both sides and hence the sea breeze is all ours. It starts in the mid day and lasts till late night which I should say keeps us cool so much. I love this house.

We eat more vegetarian food nowdays and having loads of veggies every day. When I went to the market day before yesterday I remembered that its long since we had any sprouted legumes. So I picked up a packet of the sprouted whole moong dal. Amma was in all smiles when she saw the packet as she had a recipe which Paravai Muniamma in her Sunday cookery show had demonstrated. So when she said she could make it I immeidately suggested Kezhvaragu kali (Raagi muddha) which would go very well with the kuzhambu. So that was the lunch yesterday and I cannot stop drooling even now as I type this. Each morsel was simply devine and when I finished my lunch with a cup of buttermilk and a slice of water melon I was prepared for a nap readily

And did I mention about the breeze in the afternoons ? Yes I spread a mattress in the balcony and a with my favorite book in hand I was in heaven.

And this is the recipe adapted from Paravai Muniamma :

Ingredients:
Sprouted whole moong dal – 2 Cups
Brinjal – 1 medium sized cut into 1 inch pieces
Tomatoes chooped – 1 cup
Onion chooped – 1/2 cup
Tamarind – 1 small lime sized
Garlic – 6-8 cloves
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder – 1.5 teaspoon
Salt – as per taste
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Peanut oil – 1 T
Mustard seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
turmeric powder – 1 pinch

How to make it ?
Soak the tamarind in 4 cups of water.

Cook the moon dal in little water (just to submerge them all) with a pinch of turmeric powder until tender.

Squeeze well the soaked tamarind in th watrer and discard the remainings after filtering in a colander.

In a thick bottomed wide vessel heat the oil. When it is hot add the mustard seeds. When it splutters add the curry leaves and fry till they wilt. Add the chopped onions and garlic cloves and saute till they turn pink. Add the brinjal pieces and saute till they turn color. Now add the tomatoes and half of the required salt and saute till the tomatoes are cooked soft. Add the chilli + coriander powder and stir to combine. Add the tamarind extract and mix well. Check for salt and adjust if required. Once the mix starts boiling let it boil for 5 minutes. Now add the cooked moong dal and let it boil for further 5 mins. By this time the gravy would have thickened. If needed simmer for further few minutes till it attains the desired consistency or you can switch off th stove and cover with a lid until ready to serve.

Serve hot with warm rice or Kezhvaragu kali. Will go well with rotis too.

CLICK Wood – Mar 09

How can I miss my favorite event ? But yes I missed it last month. Yes the CLICK Cheese. But not this time. I searched for some wooden bowl for the ideas in mind but couldn’t find any in nearby stores. I managed with these wooden spoons. At home wooddn articles are extensively used in the kitchen but they were all worn out and will not look good in my basic digital camera and through my un-artistic eyes
Hence this below click goes to CLICK Wood.

A travel update

I was away from blogging but not away from the blogging world. Was visiting all my favorite blogs. It was due to a quick and short planned travel and the related work which occupied all of my time. But should I update you all on where I went and whom I met.

Its a short official trip to Broomfield, Colorado. I happened to stay in a hotel and complete some trainings. Both the stay and the warmth given by the people around made me stay warm amidst the coldest days in CO. And will I forget to mention that I met her ? We both planned to meet before I left India and the added bonus she gave is to bring her little angel along. It was a pleasure to chit chat and go for a drive and eat in her favorite restaurant. Its the only treat I had in this shortest trip which made it a lifetime memory.

I behaved as a conservative foodie there as myself and my friend who traveled together took all quired utensils and groceries and cooked South Indian food all three times in a day ? Believe me I was making sambar with butternut squash, kootu with carrots and chayote, vathal kuzhambu, tomato rasam and what not ? But I am sure if I were not able to cook during this entire stay, it would have become a great punishment as I can’t live on burgers and pizzas.

But my friend took me to a mexican restaurant “Quidoba” where I loved their soup with chicken and a spicy chicken taco.

I was so excited to see snow (first time in my life) but with a shivering body I managed to enjoy it. And tried different veggies and fruits which I have drooled upon reading various blogs. The butternut squash which is Sunita’s favorite veggie truned to taste like the red pumpkin which we get in India. But I loved its simple taste and silky texture. The one which dissapointed me is the Grapefruit. I once made a pudding cake substituting it with Kamala orange and hence could not resist myself to pick one for a taste from the rocery. OMG, its so sour and I don’t know what to do with that. Might be it would have tasted better in a pudding cake

And coming to the recipe as part of the shopping in this shortest trip I managed to buy few things for my baking obsessions. One among them are these cutie mini muffin pans and th sprinkles. I made some lemon cup cakes using these. They turned to be absolutely delicious and I saw them disappear right before my eyes when I was clicking few pics

Recipe Lemon cupcakes (Adapted from Baking bites)

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups all corn flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the muffin tray with little butter.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Adding the lemon zest early helps release more of its flavor. Blend in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk. Add another 1/3 of the flour and the remaining milk, then stir in the remaining flour, mixing only until no streaks of flour remain.
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each approx 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Bake for 16-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
My oven baked these cuties in less than 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

I added sprinkles to the top of the batter before baking and they were looking very nice. But they were too sweet so I made another batch without them.