Tomato Peas Bath & Tagged again

I like making one dish meals for obvious reasons-they can be made quickly and they taste great with plain curd or pappad.

Ingredients:
Toamtoes-4
Small onions-a handful(you can use big ones also)
Garlic pods-1 or 2
Cloves-4
Cinnamon-2(each 1 inch)
Star anise-1
Bay leaf-2
Jeera-1 tsp
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Chilli powder-1/4 tsp
Green chilli-1
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
Salt
Grated Coconut-1 tbsp
Coriander leaves- to garnish
Frozen peas-a handful
Frozen corn-a handful
Ghee-1 tbsp
Oil-1 tsp
Cooked rice-sufficient for 2 people

Method:
Cook rice(I used sona masuri) separately in rice cooker.
Heat ghee plus oil in a pan. Tamper with jeera, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, garlic, star anise, green chilli, chopped onion. Fry till onions turn brown and soft.
Add chopped tomatoes, salt, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder. Fry till tomatoes are cooked well. Add frozen corn and peas when tomatoes are half done.
When the paste becomes thick, add rice,grated coconut and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve with plain yogurt/raitha/pappad.

I have been tagged again by Anudiya. The rules of the tag are:
(a) List these rules on your blog.
(b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
(c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

So here are 7 more facts about me:

1. I love Larry David(co-creator of Seinfeld). I can't explain how much I love him. I am a huge fan of his serial-"Curb your Enthusiasm". I have watched all the episodes so many times and still haven't gotten tired of them. This is one such serial which I watch with my eyes wide OPEN without dozing off in the middle :)

2. I love buying stuff as well as trashing or donating(old)stuff. I feel happy when I do both.

3. I hate moving because there at at least 400 CD's that I have to pack in boxes(Thanks to my husband for accumulating them before our wedding).

4. I hate the smell of melting butter but love the end product :)

5. I never go to the electronic stores. It drives me up the wall.

6. I am scared of dogs/cats/spiders/lizards/anything, you name it....Dogs seem to love me. They like to chase me and see me run!

7. I like to spend my time reading books in Barnes and Noble with a cup of Chocolate Mocha frappuccino with whip cream all over it!

It's time to tag 7 people: Rekha, Sunshinemom, Ramya cooks, Sireesha, Ramya Vijaykumar, Anisheetu, Anjali

shopping; recessed lighting

As planned - we did some major shopping this past weekend. I love the big box stores. A lot. I assume everyone loves these stores. It's fun to shop there. It's even fun when you leave and realize you've spent twice as much as you hoped. Fortunately, we over estimated this trip and left the place under budget. The biggest problem - some of these big shopping trips involve as much manual labor as digging a canal. We considered having them deliver the drywall and lumber for $90.00 - because, one) we couldn't fit any of the items in our CR-V and, two) having someone else carry the stuff into the house would have been a welcome luxury. Instead, we rented a truck from the store for about $30, saved about $60 and our biceps are wondering how a day without the gym ended like this.

So it doesn't look like that much, but that's thirty sheets of heavy drywall.
Okay, on to the recessed lighting. We found out during the research and shopping that there are two basic differences in recessed lighting fixtures. One is for a remodel and one is for new construction (i.e. no drywall).

We had a need for both - the one the left is for new construction: see the long braces? Those allow you to brace the light fixture in between two ceiling joists. This is ideal and keeps the housing firmly in place. The fixture on the right is set up for a remodel - which is what I did today. The lack of braces lets you shove the fixture up through the ceiling and into place. Here you can see the fixture half way into the ceiling:

And now, into place:

This next step was upon suggestion from the home improvement store lighting guy. Apparently, if you follow the typical remodel instructions the light can eventually lean or become loose from the ceiling, but some Liquid Nails will keep everything in place:

Finish installing the trim, return the power and voila! ...one step closer

Vijayadashami in Seeplaputhur, and Kuzal Puttu!

Vijayadashami in Seeplaputhur, and Kuzal Puttu!

While Mysore and Bengal celebrated the victory of Mother Goddess on Viayadashami, Seeplaputhur (Seelai-pilliyar-puthur), a very small remote agricultural village, on the banks of the gushing river Cauvery also celebrated the same, but for a different victory story.

Lord Sri Rama ended the saga of the valiant but vile Ravana on this very same day. Sri Rama, the presiding deity of the Kodanda Ramaswamy temple decked up in new clothes and flowers was carried in a procession towards the end of the street where a banana tree representing Ravana was installed. The Lord’s palanquin stopped in front of “Ravana”, and the priest performed certain poojas.

Then assuming himself to be Rama, he lifted up the bow and arrow from the palanquin and went round “Ravana” three times, each time shooting an arrow on the stem of the tree with the Naayanam (wind instrument) blaring in full frenzy. Thus after enacting the Rama Leela scene, the procession returned victoriously via the same street stopping at every house to receive the prayers which were offered and then reached the temple. A grand aarti was performed at the temple and Sundal and Sweets were distributed to one and all.

Each time we visit our village for the function, the ever smiling Rukmini has a tough time preparing about eight kilograms of sundal prasadam for distribution, and also the entire day’s meals for us. We relish her idlis which looked like white sponge balls and the hot crisp black gram dal vadais took us to new heights. She says that she used eight parts of idly rice and one part of black gram dal for the idly batter not forgetting to soak a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds along with it.

This time she agreed to prepare Kuzal Puttu in our presence on our insistence, and my husband readily started clicking his camera.

Here is Rukmini’s recipe for Kuzal Puttu.

KUZAL PUTTU
PREPARATION OF THE RICE FOR THE PUTTU
1.Wash 500 gms of raw rice and drain well.
2. Spread the drained rice on a cloth or a paper to remove all dampness.
3. When it is dry, grind the rice into a fine flour.
4. Bundle the rice flour in a clean cloth and place it in a vessel, and steam in a pressure cooker for five minutes.
5. Break the lumps, sift if needed and air the flour, and store in a dry air tight container.
6. This flour can be used to make Puttu as and when reuired.

INGREDIENTS FOR KUZAL PUTTU
1. Puttu flour – 2 cups
2. Grated jaggery – 1 cup
3. Grated fresh coconut – 1 cup
4. Ripe banana – 1
5. Raisins – 1 tbsp
6. Cashew nuts – 1 tbsp
7. Cardamom powder (Optional) – 1 pinch
8. Salt – ¼ tsp
9. Ghee – ¼ tsp

METHOD:
1. Mix coconut gratings and jaggery with the puttu flour.
2. Cut ripe banana into small pieces and mix.
3. Fry raisins and cashew nuts in ghee and mix into the flour.
4. Add cardamom powder and sprinkle a little salt water just to moisten the prepared 5. flour. The texture of should be sandy, and not lumped up.
6. Add a glass of water to the puttu pot and put it on the flame.
7. Take a strip of clean cloth and line the puttu holder or the tube.
8. Fill up the tube (Kuzal) with the puttu flour mixture lightly pressing it down.
9. Fit it on the pot and cover with its perforated lid.
10. Cook till the steam comes out (for four minutes) and the aroma of jaggery fills the air.
11. Switch off flame and allow it to cool.
12. Remove the lid and hold the kuzal in one hand
13. Gently pull the ends of the cloth strip together to remove the KUZAL PUTTU.
Relish the warm kuzal puttu as it is or with a dollop of ghee.

Tip: In case you do not have the puttu kuzal you can get creative, as the objective is to simply steam the puttu mixture. My daugther’s Keralite friend made puttu in their hostel. She took a scraped out coconut shell, and made a hole in the ‘eye’ of the coconut. This shell was filled with the puttu mixture and fitted over the nozzle of the pressure cooker (the weight is not required). The coconut cup was then covered with a small plate. The steam from the cooker directly cooks the puttu mixture in the coconut cup!