Oranges rules!! January 31, 2008

Fun facts about oranges

~ Clementines: the clementine is a seedless mandarin.
~ Kumquats: the kumquat is like a citrus fruit and has an edible skin. It is the most well known of the sort fortunella which is closely related to Citrus.
~ Mandarins: type of small orange with loose skin. The mandarin got its name because it was exploited by high-ranking government officials in China (mandarins).
~ Minneolas: are a crossing between a tangerine and a grapefruit and can be recognized by 
“the little nose”. Can be peeled manually. Is a type of Tangelo, a minneola is a specifically marketed tangelo.
~ Oranges: There are different types of oranges: navel oranges, Valencia oranges and blood oranges are the most cultivated races.
~ Tangelos: a tangelo is a crossing between a tangerine, a grapefruit and an orange. A specific kind of tangelo is the Ugli which is described further on this page.
~ Satsuma:is a very special seedling from Japan. Its skin is a bit tighter than the clementine and it doesn’t have seeds as well.
~ Tangerines: a tangerine is an orange-red mandarin with a particular citrus taste. Can be peeled manually.
Uglis: a specific kind of tangelo, easier to peel.  A crossing between a tangerine, a grapefruit and an orange. Looks really ugli and sometimes has brown spots. Can be peeled manually.

Other peculiar characteristics

• The calcium in fortified orange juice is better absorbed than the calcium in milk. A glass of milk (8 ounces) has 291 mg of calcium; of which 93 mg is absorbed (31%). Fortified orange juice (8 ounces) has 350 mg of calcium; of which 130 mg. is absorbed (37%). 
• One orange contains about 50 mg. vitamin C; this is about 2/3 of our daily need;
• Oranges are an acid and therefore a detoxifying fruit;
• Bitter oranges can’t be eaten raw and are used to make marmalades;
• Citrus fruit is never colored artificially.
• The orange colors orange under the influence of cold temperatures.

Methi Rice January 27, 2008

 

Ingredients 

1 cup – Methi leaves
1 cup – onions
4 or 5 chillies sliced
1 cup peas
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 cup fried paneer

4 or 5 bay leaves
1 tsp peppercorns
Illiachi or cardamom
half cup – cashewnuts
oil and ghee(1 1/2 tsp each)
salt to taste
1 tsp red chilli powder
a pinch of turmeric powder
3 cups basmati rice soaked in salt and 1 tsp ghee for 15 min

Method

Wash the methi leaves properly and grind them in a blender into a smooth paste. Now take a pan and add 2 tbs of oil and add bay leaves, peppercorns, cardamoms, cashewnuts and fry for a while. Add onions,ginger garlic paste and green chillies and fry till golden brown. Add peas and fry. Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric and fry for a while. Now add the blended paste and cook for 10 minutes till the raw smell of the leaves is gone.

Now add the basmati rice and fry for a while and then add paneer pieces. Pour 6 cups of water and mix it well. Cover it with a lid and let it cook for another 25 min. Once ready, remove the lid and let it cool. Serve hot with curd raita or pickle.

Rava kesari January 25, 2008

 

This amazing and delicious sweet called Rava Kesari was made by my dear husband. Its all about a perfect blend of rava,sugar and ghee!! It was as sweet as my new born niece!!

Green tomato pickle January 17, 2008

This is one of the amazing pickle of Andhra. I got this recipe from my dear mother in law! She is famous for her pickles!
 
Ingredients
 
4 green tomatoes
4 tsp Mustard powder (ava podi)
4 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp Inguva or asefoetida
3 tsp oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp Turmeric powder
4 tbs water
Red chillies
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds

 

Method
 
Wipe and clean tomatoes and cut them into medium size pieces.Add salt, inguva,turmeric powder,red chilli powder, mustard powder and mix well. Add water and mix well. Now add a little oil in a pan and fry jeera, mustard seeds, inguva and red chillies and add this over the pickle and mix well. After it is cooled, transfer it into a tight container. Green tomato Pickle is ready.
 
 

Happy Sankranti January 16, 2008

Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious day for the Hindus, and is celebrated in almost all parts of the country in myriad cultural forms, with great devotion, fervor & gaiety. Lakhs of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar & Prayag and pray to Lord Sun. It is celebrated with pomp in southern parts of the country as Pongal, and in Punjab is celebrated as Lohri & Maghi. Gujarati’s not only look reverentially up to the sun, but also offer thousands of their colorful oblations in the form of beautiful kites all over the skyline.

Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God of Hindus begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. Sun for the Hindus stands for Pratyaksha-Brahman – the manifest God, who symbolizes, the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one & all tirelessly. Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial Wheel of Time. The famous Gayatri Mantra, which is chanted everyday by every faithful Hindu, is directed to Sun God to bless them with intelligence & wisdom. Sun not only represents God but also stands for an embodiment of knowledge & wisdom.
In Andhra Pradesh, it is celebrated as a three-day harvest festival Pongal. It is a big event for the people of Andhra Pradesh. The Telugus like to call it ‘Pedda Panduga’ meaning big festival. The whole event lasts for four days, the first day Bhogi, the second day Sankranti, the third day Kanuma and the fourth day, Mukkanuma. And chakkara pongali is one of the sweets which is made on this day! So here goes the recipe.

                                                        

Chakkara pongali~~ 

Ingredients
 
1 cup rice
1/2 pesara pappu (Moong daal)
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup ghee
2 cups sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1 tbls.cashews nut pieces
1 tbls.of raisins(kismis)
1/2 ts.cardamom powder 
 
Method

• Fry rice and pesara pappu without ghee/oil. Fry coconut pieces till brownish and keep aside. Fry cashews and kismis in 1 ts.ghee and keep aside.
• Cook rice and moong daal together in a pressure cooker pouring 2 cups milk and 2 cups water.Cook little more than the ordinary rice (4 whistles)
• After the rice is cooked properly, remove the pressue cooker lid and ddd fried coconut pieces,sugar and mix well. Start stirring otherwise it starts burning from the bottom. Keep adding ghee while stirring. 
• Add cardamom powder,raisins and cashews. Stir well and remove.
• Chakkara Pongali is ready to eat.

There is also another version of the pongali- the spicy one. Pressure cook rice and dal with four cups of water. Fry peppercorns, inguva, curry leaves, jeera and salt and add this popu in the cooked rice and dal and mix well. The spicy version is ready.

Collard Green Dal January 16, 2008

Ingredients:

Collard Greens – 3/4 Th of a bunch , washed and chopped finely
Moong Dal – 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Asafoetida – a pinch
Shallots – 5 to 6 , peeled and chopped
Green chilli – 2, chopped finely
Dried red chilli – 1 , broken into 1/2 ( optional)
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Pressure cook moong dal with turmeric powder and asafoetida until soft. Heat oil in a saucepan, add mustard seeds. When they start popping add cumin seeds, dried red chilli, green chillies, urad dal .

After the cumin seeds starts to sizzle add the chopped shallots and saute until they become translucent. Then add the chopped collard greens, salt and 1/2 cup of water , cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes stir in the cooked moong dal. Add another 1/4 cup of water if the curry is too thick. Cover the pan and let it cook again for 4 to 5 minutes.

Serve hot with rice and any pan fried vegetable of your choice.

Banana Muffins January 10, 2008

Perfect for cold weather!  This is my official entry for the Click event bye Jugalbandi

                      

                             

 

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces (65 grams) peppermint white chocolate, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beat
(1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 very ripe large bananas mashed well
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F for 10 min 
• In a large bowl combine the flour(sift the flour),sugars,baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate. Set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.
• With a spatula, lightly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared muffing paper cups. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes and then remove muffins from pan. Serve warm.

Palak paneer or Paneer ka saag January 4, 2008

Palak or spinach is highly nutritious. Its rich with all the vitamins and minerals. Its best to completely boil it and never throw away the spinach water. It is loaded with nutrients. Here goes the recipe-

Ingredients

1 bunch of spinach – thouroughly washed and chopped
Paneer (cottage cheese)- 10 to 12 cubes
1 onion – finely chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
5 green chillies
10 cashewnuts – roasted and grounded to powder
1 tomato – Boiled and mashed
Turmeric
Salt to taste
Jeera and Dhaniya powder (fennel and coriandar) - 2 tbs
Red chilli powder – 1 tbs
half cup of cold water

 

Method

Heat a tsp of oil in wide pan and add green chillies and then spinach leaves. saute until the leaves are wilted. Turn off the heat.Add half cup of cold water and keep it aside. It will help cool it off fast. Now add them to blender and add pinch of salt and blend to smooth paste.

Lightly saute panner cubes in one tsp of oil until they are golden brown and crispy.

Take another wide pan and add one tsp of oil. Fry the chopped onions and add ginger garlic paste and saute well. Add pureed spinach,tomato and cashew powder. Add a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste. Mix thouroughly. Cook it in low flame for about 5 to 10 minutes. Before turning off the heat, add the paneer cubes. Mix it well so that the cubes are completely coated with spinach. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes and then turn the gas off.

Serve the curry hot with chapatis! You can also add a bloack of unsalted butter on top. That is how it is served in a typical north indian dhaba!!

Banana Walnut Cake January 1, 2008

Well..its a brand new year and I thought of starting it off with a great but simple cake. Initially I thought of a baking a chocolate cake..but it takes a bit more time so i decided I will make banana walnut cake. Its best to use ripe bananas in this recipe. There is one interesting thing which i want to share about banana..may be its a known fact but i figured out quite late. I usually buy at least a bunch of bananas. Once I was in usual hurry and pulled out a banana leaving the stalk. After a while it started giving out some odour and some black insects started flying around. I still dont know how those insects came in..but i totally freaked out and threw the bunch away. But now, i have realised one thing, as long as you break the banana along with the stalk..no odour will be released hence..no insects. I was somehow very relived after this experience…thats why i wanted to share this experience. I feel US homes are loaded with invisible fungus…lol but anyway back to my banana walnut cake recipe..you can top it with chocolate syrup and it tastes delicious.  

Ingredients

1 cup brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter, unsalted
3 Eggs whiles
11/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup milk
1tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Mashed Bananas
1 cup Chopped Nuts (walnut)
half cup raisins
1 pinch Salt

 

Method

• Pre-heat oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit (175 degree Celsius).
• Grease and flour the cake pan.
• In small bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Separate the egg and keep aside.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla extract beating well.
• Mix in the mashed bananas and add milk.
• Add flour mixture alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture. Mix only to combine, and not too much.
• Stir in the nuts. Pour the batter into the pan
• Bake at 350-degree Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until test done.
• Remove from oven and cool it.
  Note: For testing use a toothpick. Pierce toothpicks into the cake if it comes out clean without sticking. It means cake is done