Awards

Here is another shower of awards. Thank you friends for the lovely tokens and your feedback. This is what keeps me on heels.
I would like to thank the following blogger buddies for showering me with the lovely awards. Do checkout their wonderful blogs for exciting recipes and yummy bites if you havent already done so.


Priya from Priyas recipes for this lovely award, on celebration of her 200th post. It must feel really great celebrating the milestone.

Thanks to Aruna from Veggie Paradise for the Smart food blogger Award

Thanks to new friend  Aruna Devi from Aruna's Tasty Bites for showering smart food blogger award and more Tokens OF AppreciationS.

I would like to share these with all my blogger friends with wonderfull posts out there. Please accept these friends.

Warm and Vibrant Carrot Soup on the Snowy Day

With the snow pouring in on us, over and again last few days, warm comforting dishes are on the mind. Here is a quick, easy and healthy carrot soup we enjoyed with my family this week. I otherwise have hard time getting my kids to eat carrots. This soup however worked wonders with creamy carrots incorporating gingery flavor, lemon juice blended in for the tang. Garnish with fresh parsley and a hint of rosemary makes it even more aromatic. Kids verdict - Yummy:-) Try it.. It sure is a delight.

Ingredients:
1 lb Carrots cubed
1 cup chopped celery hearts
1 sq inch piece of fresh ginger
1 medium size onion thinly sliced
1 tbsp butter (oil for vegan version)
1 tsp red pepper powder (adjust according to your taste)
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp chopped rosemary for garnish
Salt to taste
2 tbsp sour cream (skip for vegan)

Method:
Begin by boiling the carrots, celery and ginger together with 4 cups of water in a large pot (or in a cooker for a quick recipe)
When the carrots are tender set aside for a few min. to cool a bit. Remove the veggies into a blender using a slotted spoon with little bit water and save rest of the stock for later. Puree until smooth and set aside.
Heat butter (or oil for a vegan version) in a large pot, add the onions, red pepper powder and garlic paste and sauté until the onion are slightly golden.
Add the puree and mix well. Now add the stock to desired consistency and adjust the salt. Cook on simmer until it thickens a little. Stir in sour cream and mix well (skip for the vegan recipe).
Garnish with chopped parsley, a dollop of sour cream and rosemary to top off.


Your hot bowl of soup is ready to go… Enjoy!

This is my entry to the event Healthy inspirations event -Soups, hosted by Usha at Veg inspirations.
 
Now award time again-- I would like to thank Kitchen Queen from Khatta Meetha Teekha for sharing this award with me. Thanks so much KQ for this lovely token and sorry for the delay in posting it dear.
I would like to share it with Tina, Animisha, Priya and Malar. Please accept it friends.
 

Aratikaya bhajji - Plantain fritters

This is a South Indian style fried snack that is easy to make and quick to go with a hot cup of tea. Kids and adults will cherish this alike and is one of my family's favorite snack for a cold wintery evening.

Ingredients:

2 plantains peeled and sliced thinly into desired shapes

For batter:

1 cup bengal gram flour

2 tbsp rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder (optional)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp red pepper powder

chopped curry leaves

salt to taste

water to make smooth batter

oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix the ingredients for batter in water into a smooth paste, adjust the salt and chilly as per desired taste.

Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep pan. dip the sliced plantains into batter and slowly drop them into hot oil. Fry until they change color and remove with a slotted spoon draining any excess oil. Let rest on paper towels for any extra oil to absorb. serve hot with ketchup or chutney of choice.

Enjoy!

Dahi Vada

Ingredients

for vada

Urad daal

oil for deep frying

for yoghurt sauce

Plain yoghurt

red chillie powder

crushed ginger -1 tsp

8-10 curry leaves

corriander leaves-coarsely chopped for garnish

For tempering:

2 tbs oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp urad daal

a pinch of hing

1 tsp turmeric

Method:

Make vada as per this recipe.

Soak the vada briefly for 2 min in hot boiling water. (This step is to make the vada soak faster in yoghurt sauce in the subsequent step and is optional. If you bypass this step it may take sligthly longer for the dahi vada to be ready but will not make a difference in taste)

Take out the vada draining excess water by pressing with a spatula and transfer them to the yoghurt sauce prepared as below.

Yoghurt sauce:

Whisk the yoghurt slightly with a hand whisk to make it homogeneous. Don't overdo..

In a pan heat oil for tempering and add all the ingredients mentioned in order. As the seeds start to splutter stir in the crushed ginger and curry leaves. Take off the flame and mix in with the yoghurt. Adjust the salt in the sauce.

       

Now add the vadas to the sauce and garnish with chopped corriader and chilly powder. Let them rest for about half hour for the sauce and tastes to infuse. Chill before serving if desired. I am too impatient for this step, and the dahi vada are yummy even without this.

Enjoy!

Thanks to friends Esai, Aruna and SH for sharing these cute tokens - the Blogger appreciation award 2009, Esai for the Butterfly award and Aruna for the Cheerleading blog award. I wish to share these with all my followers and blogger friends!

Cheers -:)

 

2009 sure has been quite an eventful year with lots of different tastes and new friends and cheers down the road. I have enjoyed blogging and sharing with you all friends and learnt a lot, although it was diffcult to keep the pace at times.

Wishing all my readers lots of good Cheer in the coming year 2010!