Palak Kadhi

A simple and nutritious kadhi loaded with iron, protein and calcium. Very easy to make.

Heat oil, add cumin, rai and few red and green chillies. After they splutter, add Palak/Spinach and cook until done. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and cook for a minute. On the side, mix Besan/Gram flour with Dahi/Yogurt with enough water. Add that Dahi, Besan mixture to Palak/Spinach and cook until the curry becomes thick. Add salt before removing and eat hot with rice.

Forgot to add, this was made by my brother when I was busy doing other things in the kitchen.

Beerakaya/Ridge Gourd Rice

Since I love Ridge gourd, I keep trying different ways to make dishes with this wonderful vegetable and each time I make something different, my love for it increases more and more. This is so versatile and goes with anything or everything anytime. This dish too, surprisingly turned out very tasty but eat it when it is hot to enjoy the right taste. Add a bit of ghee for that extra taste, but beware of extra calories too!

1 ridge gourd, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 cup cooked rice

1 onion, cut length-wise

3 tbsp sesame seeds

3-4 dried red chillies

3 green chillies, cut into small pieces

few curry leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

3 tbsp oil

few cashews

coriander leaves for garnishing

1. Fry sesame seeds and red chillies without adding any oil until golden brown. Cool them and grind to powder.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add onion, green chillies, curry leaves and fry until onions turn brown.
3. Add ridge gourd, salt, turmeric and cook on low flame until ridge gourd pieces turn soft.
4. Add rice and the sesame, red chilli grounded powder.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and friend cashews.

Serve hot with plain yogurt or raita.

Alternately: Without adding rice, you can use the same thing as curry and eat with Chapatis.

Sabudana/Tapioca Pudding

Yes, I have finally come back to Blogosphere, I was gone missing for long :-)

We had been to California all of last week (almost 10 days trip) and we had a terrific time with a bunch of friends. It was so exciting to see them all after almost 4 or 6 years. We were wondering how our old friends would be now after all these years but we picked up where we left and we felt that the gap was not much. We all had similar thoughts as before and similar mode of enjoyment. Overall, it was a great trip and such overwhelming response definitely needs to be celebrated with some sweet.

Also today happens to be our friend Sreedhar's birthday, so wishing him happiness and joy for the coming year ahead. Now that he is married and has a wife beside him, I am sure the celebration would bring him extra fun.

This Sago pudding I made is very easy to make. Soak some half cup Sabudana in water for half hour. Remove and leave them for 2-3 hours. Heat 2 cups milk in microwave, add 1/2 cup condensed milk, 1/2 cup evaporated milk,little ghee and little sugar (according to your taste buds) and heat again for 2 mins. Add Sago and keep heating in microwave (in intervals of 1 minute or 30 seconds) until the pudding thickens a bit. Fry dry fruits in ghee and add to the pudding. Enjoy it hot or cold.

Finally, a birthday card for Sreedhar!

Trying to come back...

Hi Friends,

It's been so long that I was away from Blogging. In fact, I am checking my blog after almost 3 months. Never guessed that so much time has passed and I really missed you, all my blogger buddies and your recipes.

Many things happened in between, some good some bad, that took away a lot of time but I am trying to come back to the blogging world pretty soon. I hope you all have enjoyed the great festival season that just passed, Navrathri, Dassera, Diwali. We had a blast on Diwali with all the great decorations and food but all others were quiet.

And thank you so much Richa and Tee for the Rocking girl award you gave me. It truly made me happy.

Aamir Khan's Blog

Do you know Aamir Khan has started blogging on movies? I was trying to post this from long but atlast doing it now. Enjoy!

http://aamirkhan.com

Proud to be an Indian - Happy Independance Day!

My friend Sudhakar from Singapore has forwarded me these pictures. I thought I will share these with you.

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

JAI HIND

Aug. 15, 1947: Mountbatten swears Nehru in as Prime Minister of India

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN; India 1947. Trains packed with refugees - Hindus and Sikhs headed for India, and Muslims headed for Pakistan - were convenient targets for gangs of killers on both sides of the border. Inadequately protected 'Refugee Specials' were typically stopped, and the occupants butchered, several times in the course of the journey.

The dead - Punjab, 1947

1971: Indira Gandhi reviews the troops, in the context of military and diplomatic preparations for the Bangladesh War.

Ghandhiji Addressing people

Nehru and Gandhi at AICC meeting, July 1946

Mountbatten arrives at Delhi airport; received by Nehru and Liaquat Ali. March 25, 1947




1948: The news of Gandhi's assassination hits the streets. A stunned crowd gathers in Calcutta.




1948: Crowds in New Delhi wait for a glimpse of Gandhi's funeral procession.

A Library being divided at the time of partition. Heart trembles to see this sight and it is tough to imagine the state of the nation at the moment when people needed to hold hands.

This is our 60th Independence Day!
Freedom is not a Right but a Feeling!
Let's be proud to feel the Freedom!
Let's say loud we are INDIANS!!!
Let all of us get to-gather &
Let's Celebrate Our Freedom!

It is our duty to preserve this Freedom!
Carry this forward to the future!
We did, We do, We will do!!!

Set the celebration on Air, Share your Joy, You're Free to do it, Send this to every Indian, to say

Vande Mataram!

PS: Friends, I lost my Camera when we had gone to Virginia Tech's Alumni picnic. That is the reason for not posting any recipes, hopefully I will find it soon and start posting recipes again.