Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Seepla Vegetable Biriani - Entry for BloggerAid

Seepla Vegetable Biriani

14th November Update: Hot off the Press! Yea! The BloggerAid Cookbook is finally out. Here is the link.

Biryani or Biriani, is one of the most popular rice based dishes, popularized by Muslim merchants and travelers across the Middle East and South Asia. There are as many delicious adaptations as there are regions. For example, there are distinct differences between a Sindhi Biryani, a Bengali Biriyani, the Awadhi Biryani of Lucknow, or the famous Hyderabadi Biryani.

Of all the special Birianis, the one made by Rukmini from our native village Seeplaputhur, is the one we cherish most! Her dish is reminiscent of the delicious flavours and aromas of kitchens in deep interior Tamil Nadu. It is made of ingredients that are quite unusual for Biryanis! Suffice to say you would not find this kind of Biriani, anywhere in the world! We are naming this unique recipe ‘Seepla Vegetable Biriani’ after our village Seeplaputhur, and sending it for the BloggerAid Cookbook.
BloggerAid is a committed group of international food bloggers who have joined forces in raising awareness and funds for those suffering from hunger. The BloggerAid Cookbook will host a collection of original recipes by food bloggers, and is slated for release, later this year. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be given to the school-meals program, which is part of the World Food Program. A big thanks to, Ivy of Kopiaste, Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen , and Val of More Than Burnt Toast, who conceived the idea of BloggerAid and driving the initiative with much energy and passion!

Both Chitra Amma, and I tried this recipe at Bangalore and Sydney respectively, with local ingredients to test out proportions and so on. Both birianis turned out delicious – the vegetables and rice were cooked just right, and every grain had absorbed the yummy masalas!
You can see Chitra Amma’s Bangalore trial here.

And here is my Sydney trial ...



A note to Asha - Thanks for asking for this recipe, as it triggered us calling Rukmini and picking her brains on how she makes this dish! It was quite a revelation for us, but we are unable to share the recipe now, just in case it gets selected for the BloggerAid Cookbook! We will publish it once we know whether we made it to the Cookbook or not! :-))))

The coffee

The coffee mean so much to me. It's the most wonderful yet relaxing day I had in this land since my arrival. Thank you Lord for preparing such a lovely companion for me. I appreciate every single minutes of the sharing and kindness. It's unforgettable one! God bless you!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Whole Wheat Eggless Dates Cake


I tried eggless dates cake from Aayi's recipes today. It was so good that I finished half of it in no time :) I reserved a few pieces to take some pictures. I loved the texture and aroma of the cake. This is a must try recipe! As I never use all purpose flour(maida) in my cooking, I replaced it with whole wheat pastry flour. I also made a few changes to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat pastry flour-3/4 cup(if you don't have this, substitute with maida)
Seedless dates-14
Warm Milk-1 cup
Oil-6 tbsp
Sugar-5 tbsp
Baking soda-1 tsp

Method:
Soak dates in 3/4 cup of warm milk for 10 minutes and grind the mixture with sugar to a smooth paste.
Add flour, baking soda, oil and remaining milk to the dates paste. Mix everything thoroughly so that there are no lumps.
If the mixture is dry, add some more milk.
Preheat oven to 350F. Pour the batter in a greased loaf pan or any oven proof pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a fork inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Next time I am going to try a low fat version without sugar and oil. I will post the recipe later.

Notes
: Do not use baking powder. The cake will turn out hard.
Whole wheat pastry flour is different from whole wheat flour(aata). It is available in chain grocery stores in the US.
Adding icing will make the cake heavy and too sweet! Of course it will taste great!

This is my entry to these events:
JFI: Wheat - April 1st
MBP: Kids Food - March 8th and Coffee’s MBP event