Welcome to my new Blog!

Hello Everyone,


At last, I am close to accomplishing my dream of writing my own blog. I have never attempted to write a blog but always had dreams of it. Today it is like a dream come true. Initially I thought that blogging was a serious thing. I thought that bloggers would write about serious topics and about their experiences in life. As I browse the internet for all blogs, I am amazed at the number of blogs that are out there and on a wide range of topics.


Blogs on cooking are topping the list! Oh boy! Blogging can be fun too.. Realized it very late but then "Better late than never".So here I am with my blog. Cooking has always been a passion for me.I am a novice at cooking. My role-model in life, My Mother, has always pampered me and cooked delicacies for me. I never felt the need to take cooking seriously. It was when I got married that I tried my hand at cooking. Guess what, I was enjoying every bit of it. It was experimenting initially but then I realized that its all about trials and errors.Then cooking became a passion for me and I was trying different cuisines.


This blog is dedicated to my family, my Mother whom I adore the most in the world, my late Grandmother from whom I imbibed the cultural values and learnt a lot about our tradition, my Father who has been a great support and has motivated me and to my dearest sister who has been with me from childhood till now to share all my feelings, dreams and aspirations and has been a great friend to me. My Husband has been a constant support to me and has encouraged me in every way to realize my dreams and aspirations. In my blog I will be sharing very simple and easy-to-make recipes.I myself am not a very great culinary person. I will try my best to provide you all with simple recipes to enjoy cooking and relish home made food.


I need a lot of encouragement and good wishes from all my readers who visit my blog. Please feel free to leave any comments, be it positive or negative. I will try to be innovative and creative and make my blog interesting. Kindly leave any suggestions to improve my blog.Hope everyone will enjoy reading my blog.Thank you for being a part of the blogging-cooking family!


Happy Cooking and Happy Blogging!

Kothamalli Thogayal (Dry Coriander Chutney)

Thogayal can be made quickly with very few ingredients on hand. You don't even have to make a curry to go with this. A raitha or plain yogurt on the side would be perfect. My other favorite thogayal is the one made with Mendhiyam ( Fenugreek seeds). Check it out too. It's worth a try.

Ingredients:
Urud Dal - 4 tsp
Channa Dal - 3 tsp
Red Chillies - 3
Green Chilli - 1
Tomato - 1
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Salt
Coriander Leaves/Cilantro - 1 small bunch
Oil - 3 tsp
Tamarind - a small piece



Method:
Heat oil in a pan.
Add urud dal, channa dal, red chillies, green chilli, hing and fry till the dals turn brown.
Add rest of the ingredients and fry for 5 minutes.
Cool and grind to a coarse paste by adding no more than 1 or 2 tsp water.
Mix with piping hot rice and ghee and enjoy!
Gotta have ghee in any rice dish! :)

Ringna Vatana

On my Last Vacation to India, i got some Tarla Dalal's Cookbooks, One of them is Healthy Subzi's. A Good Collection Healthy Dishes. After getting bored of the regular Dals and Onion Potato Combination, i tried this Ringna Vatana, Marinated Brinjals combine with peas to make an interesting subzi.

Ingredients
4 cups thickly sliced brinjals
2 cups tender green peas, biled
1/2 tsp cumin sedds
1 tsp lemon juice
 1 tsp oil
Coriander for garnishing

To be Mixed into a powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste

To be ground into a paste
1 onion, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped coriander
3 green chillies, chopped
1" piece of ginger
2 cardamoms
4 garlic cloves

Method

Wash and drain the brinjal slices, apply the mixed powder and keep aside for 15-20 minutes. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the cumin seeds, When they crackle, add the ground paste and fry it for few minuts

Add the brinjal slices,salt and 1 and 1/2 cups of water Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.add the green peas and lemon juice and mix well.  Serve hot garnished with coriander.

The actual recipe calls it a semi-dry subzi, but i delibarately made it a bit of gravy. So, if you want it semi-dry jus reduce the amount of water added to the subzi. After 20 minutes of cooking, the gravy was a bit thin, so i added 3 tbsp of low-fat milk mixed with 1 tsp of corn flour to make the gravy a bit thick and creamy.

Sending this to MLLA-21 hosted by Super Chef of Mirch Masala, Event started by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook.
And also to Cooking with Seeds-Coriander Seeds hosted by RV of Food for 7 Stages of Life, Event started by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes