Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Banana Halwa... for 2... :)


We picked up some Nendra bananas last weekend & there was this lone one that wasn't gobbled up. It had gone a little mushy & so i didn't really want to eat it. Was planning to make some halwa when T reached out for it & i involuntarily screeched a 'noooooooo!!!'... He moved on to the next fruit in the bowl & i kept contemplating if 1 banana was good enough. Turns out that it serves two! :) It doesn't have the usual brownish-black color 'coz i added some wheat flour to increase the quantity(a gamble that paid off! ;)).. but was still chewy & yum!! Will save 3 form the next banana batch... :)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Tutti-frutti...

Our hostel group(engineering college days) of eight was a perpetually hungry lot that could binge on almost anything! But then, which hostel inmate is not, right? :)
It was on a lazy Sunday afternoon that P called out F & me for some treats which we jobbled in a jiffy. She saved a bit & hid some for the group-absentees & locked it away to keep it safe from prying eyes(read F & me). .. and just 'coz she did that F & me quickly gobbled it up, replacing the treats with some cream bottles & sat through the afternoon with innocent smiles. When P later found this, she was so furious that she chased us around the hostel till we could run no more!! Tutti-frutti was a major chunk of what we gobbled up & P chasing us around is what i remember anytime i see these little jewels. So, P.. here i am, dedicating this recipe to u.. hope we are even!! :D ;)

You need:
3 cups finely diced raw papaya
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
a big pinch of food color
1 tbsp brandy - optional
How to:
Peel the papaya & wash well to remove the milk that oozes out. Scoop out the seeds if any & dice the papaya finely. Wash twice to remove the milkiness. Add enough water to cover the papaya pieces. Cook this till transparent - but firm. I cooked it for 8minutes in the microwave. Drain out the water & spread on a kitchen towel to remove excess water.
Take 1/2 a cup of water in a wok & bring to boil, adding the color. Add the sugar & stir well till it dissolves. Now add the papaya & continue to heat on low till the mixture comes to a boil. Once the pieces have absorbed color completely, remove from the flame & let it rest till it cools down. Transfer the cooled tutti-frutti into a sterilized jar & refrigerate/use as required.
The original tutti-frutti recipe calls for some brandy & so i added about 1 tbsp directly into the bottle...screwed the lid on & gave it a real good shake. :)
Pointers:
- Soon after you dice them, rinse the papaya pieces well till the water runs clear.
- If the papaya pieces have not been drained well, you could reduce the water to 1/4 cup. If you still end up some liquid, add 2 tbsp of the same into your tutti-frutti bottle & discard the rest.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Girls-night-out... with gran! :)

My gran is a sweetheart! She is my maternal grandmom & doesn't let age of all things come in the way. She rode a rope-way car with a girlish grin while my mom ooooh-ed & aaaah-ed about T & me putting her mom in turmoil. I'm sure gran would love to sky-dive too! ;)

Anyways...my parents & gran had come over to stay at our place for a fortnight. For as long as i can remember, whenever gran was home, i snuggled next to her & we shared our secrets. The night T had to stay at work, I was just getting ready to snuggle in - my parents were already asleep - which was when a tiny creepy-crawly got in through the sink. There are snakes around in the green bordering our house & so me & my partner-in-crime decided to kill it. I think it was a tiny snake - it was black, shiny & slithery - but I am still not sure if it was a snake! So we'll just call it 'the thing'. I did not want to take a risk with the reptile using the now-familiar-route again! What if I was alone the next time, right?
So, we got ready... gran with poor eye-sight, without her glasses, armed with bathroom slippers & smacking away at the culprit. I did mention poor eye-sight & without glasses, right? - she hit every place around 'the thing' but never on - this went on for a few minutes with me whisper-screaming (ugh- whats that???!!!...i didn't want to wake up my parents who were already asleep - & so had to whisper my screams!) Did I forget to say that gran's hearing is bad at times? Well, this was one of those times! So with instructions from me that could not be of any help, my sweetheart gran finally nailed 'the thing'.

Ever heard of a snake's other half taking revenge? Well, i sure did! Wouldn't want to risk an angered mom's wrath, right? So we took it out to the balcony (by then it was around 01:00 AM) and lit it - gran thought that i was being superstitious ;) I am a bit(??!!) frazzled when I am sleepy which tends to make me loony too i guess! Got me thinking of the mom sniffing out the ashes & so ran in to drop a few camphor pills into the pyre. I added some sandal wood incense sticks for good measure. By now, the wariness had given way to feeling sorry for the victim (though, I had gone through all this only to ensure that none of us would be the victims). I fell asleep hugging my gran after much more ranting. And all this while, she bore all the craziness with a smile & sat through the mindless pyre set up without complaining! Even with a generation's gap, it is always an amazing girls-night-out of endless gibberish that i reel out with my gran! LUUUUVVVVVV u, amma!!! :)

Banana fritters...

These yummy, easy to make fritters are called 'Baale Nurk' in Coorg. Baale meaning banana & Nurk meaning to-squash. This snack is made by squashing bananas into a pulp - hence the name. :)
These are one of T's favorites & never fail to plaster an euphoric grin whenever they are made!
You need:
2 ripe bananas - Cavendish works great
all purpose flour (maida)
sugar to taste - optional (see pointers)
1 tsp sesame seeds - optional
oil for frying
How to:
Heat enough oil in a wok for deep frying. Meanwhile, rub the bananas between your palms, pressing lightly before they are peeled. This way, the bananas are pulpy when you peel them. Add the AP flour using tbsp measure, slowly folding in. The measure of flour would vary depending on the ripeness of the banana. Add & fold in alternately till you reach a pakora consistency. The batter should not be runny. Add the sesame seeds if required.
Once the oil is heated enough (a test drop of the batter should rise up immediately when dropped into the oil), drop bite-sized batter into the oil. I use a teaspoon to drop the batter - a non messier option. Lower the flame and keep turning the fritters over till they are a shade darker than golden-brown.
Drain over a paper towel & dive in! :) You could store them in the fridge - tastes great when served cold too! To re-heat, run them in the microwave for about 20seconds.
Pointers:
>> Ensure that you pick up really ripe bananas which are almost squishy.. the fritters taste better. This is when the bananas are the sweetest & so you wouldn't need to add sugar. Sugar blackens the fritters easily.
>> Needs to be cooked on a low flame. Else the fritters will be burnt outside, leaving the insides under-cooked.
>> If you have some spare(?!) batter & need to finish up soon, herez what you could do! :)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Crab n spice - crab masala... ;)

:D :D :D :D - That’s T when he is waiting for this dish to be done. I got this recipe from Nithya about four years back & all this time it’s been a WINNER! Everybody who has ducked into this scrumptious dish has been going mmmmmmmn…. So herez what can make you hum into oblivion.. ;)

P.P.S.: Make sure you pick the freshest of crabs – they should still be crawling when you buy them from the vendor and should smell fresh. You could ask him to crack and clean them for you – this is the part of the cooking process that I can never get involved in! Anyways, once you get past that, here goes… :)
You need:
1 kg fresh meaty crabs – marinated*
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 slit green chillies (adjust accordingly)
5-6 pods garlic finely chopped
1 inch ginger finely chopped
½ tsp turmeric
2-3 medium sized onions puréed
2-3 ripened tomatoes puréed
a big pinch of garam masala
a handful of finely chopped coriander
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp cooking oil

* * * For the marinade * * *
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp red chilly powder
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste (preferably ground at home)
4-5 medium ripened tomatoes puréed (more if you need a thicker gravy)
salt to taste

Soak the cracked and cleaned crab in the above marinade and keep aside for a couple of hours. I usually let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.
In a large wok, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Follow with the green chillies, garlic and ginger and sauté till it starts turning golden. Add the turmeric, puréed onions and cook till the onions start taking on a darker hue. Now add the puréed tomatoes and cook till you see oil bubbling at the edges. Throw in the marinated crabs, salt and cook till done. Add the garam masala and stir well. Take the wok off the flame, garnish with chopped coriander and cover till you are ready to serve.
InDuLgE .... n go mmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! :D

Pointers:
>> Crack the claws with a pestle if they are intact so that the marinade can seep in. 
>> You can ask the vendor to snap off the razor edges in the claws so that you don't get hurt if you mindlessly happen to bite into them! ;)

A lil' green for my vase... :)

One of the best things about being in Vizag is the fresh veggie market, twice a week. Yup- thatz how interesting things get around here! ;)
Itz a haze of colors - all bright & fresh - green, orange, green, purple, green, white, red, green.. well, i just meant that the greens top them all ;) And all this being amazingly low priced. The 'amma' selling spring onions yelled out an offer of 3 fresh bundles for Rs.10. I didn't really need 3 bulky bundles & tried asking for 1 - but got a stiff response of 3 or none! Guess we screwed up with our confident local dialect. ;) To cut things short, the fresh green stalks & me fell in love & had to be brought home.. couldn't really bear the thought of crushing & suffocating them in the fridge & T suggested popping them into a vase - which is where they are resting & being sacrificed, as & when craved for by the flavor sucking kitchen. Uh-huh.. not a pretty thought.. but - don't they look pretty?... :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Dream 'oracles'?.. ;)

Ever had one of these?...
A recurring dream from which u awaken tired & wasted! My frequent ones are falling into a dung-ditch at my gran's place. Though this has never happened in reality, (i did cross check with my gran if i'd fallen into it during my tot-years - which BTW was a no;) ), i seem to have the same dream again-n-again & wake up with the same alarming 'dhud' every time i fall in! But now, I'm like WTH & go right back to sleep, comforted that i don't have to wash off the stench. Though it does leave me a little hazed, it doesn't get anywhere near my sleep-runs or the sleep-fights. I have these never ending dream runs after which i wake up in the morning, tired. The fights are one-on-many. Me being the 'one'. Well, i obviously am the good guy & i still wonder what i fight for! ;) They have never reached completion though frequent fight haunts are some dark attic with great wood work. Sashes, swords & high ceiling jumps in fight robes. No bullets whizzing past! These dreams leave me frazzled & drained n ofcourse confused - though later during the day i have a faint smile building up!
T found all this amusing & wacky till one fine day, i woke up in the midst of a 'fight' and found my hands wrapped tightly around his neck. Guess who had the last laugh? ;)
P.S.: left me paranoid too.. but guess T felt worse! ;)
Do i wish for a dream-catcher?.. Naaaah...occasionally, these adrenaline-dream-rushes are way too much fun to be traded for a good night's sleep i guess! ;)
In the pik: a multi-exposure collage of some clothes on a drying line & an early morning click at Gopalswamy hills, Mysore.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Snack Time ~ Rice & Chana dal crispies...

'T' called them 'snacky-doodle-doo's...;) an easy snack & addictive too!
You need:
2 cups rice flour
1 cup chana dal - powdered
1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
2-3 tsp ghee/butter
salt to taste
chilly powder to taste
turmeric - a big pinch (optional)
water to mix in all the above
oil for frying
How to:
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add in the ghee & mix. Now add enough water for the ingredients to come together and form a soft dough.
Heat oil in a deep vessel. Pass the dough through a string-hopper maker and drop them directly into the oil. Fry them till golden, turning over to make sure they are cooked evenly. Drain on a paper towel. Crunch-munch & save the rest in air-tight containers. :)
Recipe source: Sonali.. :)