Lime n' Mint

My dear friends                         Wish you Happy New Year 2013  Simple and Healthy Dry Fruits Laddoos Ingredients: Dates          50g(seed less) Dry grapes  50g(seed less Cashew       50g Almonds      50g Sugar Canies 50g Warm Milk    1/2 cup Method: Coarsely grind all dry fruits and Sugar candies. Take this mixture in a pate and add  little amount of warm milk in to this mixture make it like round shaped balls.  Dry fruit mixture  Dry fruit Laddoos

Ingredients : 2 " piece orange peel (fresh) 1/2 to 3/4 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds 1 tsp ghee/ clarified butter a handful of freshly grated coconut Curd/ plain yogurt - as required Salt to taste For tempering : 2 tsp ghee/ clarified butter 3/4 tsp mustard seeds 1 whole dry red chilli a few curry leaves

One of my exciting and thrilling stays  so far happens to be in Vietnam. Along with my dear hubby,  I lived  few years in this wonderful and beautiful country, making my abode in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. It was a great experience for me living among unknown. I thought at the time of going there, that it would be like being in one of the corners of my own country, may be like going to eastern or north eastern regions, and so was not really prepared for surprises. Though Vietnam is an Asian country, almost all of the living systems, whether the language - speech or script, mannerism or behaviour, life style, culture or  eating habits -  all are so different from India. I needed a lot of adjustments to live there. As a vegetarian I faced a lot of difficulty while going out to eat  in Vietnamese restaurants, but I tasted many different types of teas like jasmine,rose and cinnamon. Vietnamese coffee is a unique beverage. Something I never tasted...

The months of heavy rains have stopped and  now Manipal is looking warm and pleasant, the mornings are bright and warm and we are finally able to see the Sun shine. Totally in my town Navaratri begins with pleasant weather. Happy Navaratri to all. My today's recipe is Moong Dal Vada, which I offered as a Prasadam to my Goddess.  Inspired by Manjula's Kitchen

Bateta nu Shaak - Gujarati Spicy Potato Fry State of Gujarat is Western part of  India.  Gujarati cuisine had its own special unique taste from all over India. .Today's my recipe Bateta nu Saak - Potato Stir  Fry is a delicacy from Gujarat. This recipe  I learn from my Gujarati neighbour. I  reminisce fondly those days....Just within a week after my marriage I had to move from South India to Northern region, almost 2000 km away to a different state.Those days I didn't know ABCs of cooking. Luckily for me, my husband got ourselves placed in the  Campus quarters of the company where he was working and, I used to go and spend my time with my wonderful neighbour friends, and get adjusted to the new locale, people and culture. Those were the times when I was introduced to North Indian dishes,Gujarati dishes. This recipe is very simple and delicious and this yummy curry  goes well with Indian breads or  Plain Rice.

Sri Krishna Jayanthi / Janmashtami Greetings to all. Though for a majority of India, its a month late, some parts of India, that goes by solar calendar,  is celebrating Sri Krishna Janmashtami on 8th September 2012.  In Manipal, the city where I am living currently is also celebrating this festival in a grand manner this week along with its twin city, the Temple Town,  Udupi. Udupi is known world over for the  Temple of Lord Krishna. As the entire region  is busy along with Udupi  for the celebrations of  birth day of Lord Krishna on the 8th/9th September, I visited  the temple, on the eve of the festival. As usual hundreds of flower vendors and fruit vendors descended and spread themselves across all main streets of the city busily selling them to the devotees and families for their festival preparations.  All families are busy decorating their homes, while devotees thronging the Temple are working through the night decorating it with flo...

Normally  South Indian homes prefer Tamarind based curries, chutnies, Rasam,Samabr in their meal. Today's my recipe also tamarind based curry most popular in my native state Andhra Pradesh.   Telugu name - Aratikata Pulusu bellam kura. Sweet and Tangy Plantain curry Ingredients: Plantain               1 big Water                  2  cups approximately Tamarind             small lemon size  Jaggery               2 table spoons grated jaggery) Vegetable oil       2 table spoons  Bengal gram        1 tea spoon Black gram          1 tea spoon Cumin seeds        1 tea spoon Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tea spoon Mustard seeds    1 tea spoon    Asafoteda           1/4 tea spoo...