Ramya's Corn Chaat for MBP-Street Food

When I got a gentle reminder from my friend Sia about the MBP, I jumped into action right away. Monthly Blog Patrolling or MBP was started by Coffee and is being hosted by Sia of Monsoon Spice with the theme of Street Food. Thank you, Coffee & Sia!


Ramya's Corn Chaat was perfect for this. I had all the ingredients & since I used canned corn, it was just a matter of mixing all ingredients together to come up with this oh-so-yum chaat in minutes! Thank you, Ramya!

Recipes from Bloggers

My must-try list of recipes from fellow bloggers is a really long one (and keeps getting longer each day!). I have miles to go before I can try them all but this last week, I took a step in the right direction & tried three recipes that were all super-delicious.


TS's Sooji Dhokla (yes, it is sooji, not besan. It's yellow coz I added too much turmeric!). Also, instead of cutting them into diamonds, I just broke them into pieces. I was very intrigued with her brown-around-the-edges version where she actually fried the dhokla in sesame seeds-mustard seeds tempered oil but I could not wait long enough for the dhokla to brown. Wonderful flavor, T! Thanks for a lovely recipe!


Meera's Masoor Tikhale, made with whole moong instead. Loved the coconut-tamarind-jaggery masala along with the garam masala. Wonderful dish! Another keeper of a recipe. Thank you, Meera!


Soumya's Banana Payasa has been on my must-try list for over a year. This absolutely simple to make sweet dish is absolutely delicious! Thanks, Sowmya!

Thanks to Devipriya and Hetal for the Rockin' Girl Blogger award! You guys rock! :)


I was tagged by Sireesha for this meme. It's called "10 Things I Hate". So here goes -

1. Judgemental Attitude - Who is anybody to judge me for what I do? Especially when it comes to M - how I raise her or whether she talks in English or Kannada or if I choose not to fuss over every little thing is my business. Don't be negative & judgemental & definitely don't discuss what I do/don't do with your cohorts! Leave the judgement to God, lest ye be judged! (Can you tell I really hate this one?!)
2. Incessant Advice-giving - You've heard this from me before! Whether child-rearing, home decor, home improvement, medicine, anything under the sun - they know it all & can't wait to tell you what you should do!
3. Prejudices - black, white, brown, North Indian, South Indian, Dravidian, Aryan, rich, poor - we need to get out of classifying people negatively! There is no such thing as a superior race or a superior caste. The world would be a better place if we just accept everyone as fellow human beings & learnt to love all.
4. The atrocities & double-standards endured by women in the name of tradition, morals & religion. How come those same things don't apply to men?
5. In days of yore, dowry began as a way for a father to provide for his daughter in her time of need & to help the Son-in-Law by sharing the expenses of raising a family. Now it has degenerated into a practice where grooms demand a price (money, gold, car, house etc) for marrying the daughter! And it is directly proportional to his education/work too! Isn't that twisted coz theoritically speaking, the better a groom is placed in life, the better he can provide & therefore the less the bride's father has to? Parents should not have to scrimp & save money or take huge loans just to get daughters married off. Whatever parents want to gift their daughter & SIL (if they chose to receive) should be their call. The tortures & deaths resulting from it's mis-practice (both suicides & murders) say a lot about how horrifying the situation has become!

Ok, I am going to stop now. I'm all riled up! Could not reach 10 - I think I'd pop an artery or something by then! When I started to write this, I was thinking "hate" is such a strong word. Do I really "hate" anything that much? Turns out I do & passionately so, in some cases!

I would rather not sign off on such a heavy note. So let me share a little tip I learnt recently. When you are really sleepy eyed in the mornings (from lack of sleep or having woken up from a very deep sleep), try this- while brushing your teeth, switch to your your non-normal hand (switch to left hand if you are a right-handed person) & brush for 15 seconds. All the sleepiness will be gone by the time you are done brushing! :)

OK, now I can sign off! :)

Mixed Vegetable Kurma & Two Awards

Not-so-little-anymore M amazes me everyday, with her ever-expanding vocabulary! In the past week or so, it's like her vocabulary somehow exploded! She says things like "anna pushing me", "stop bothering me (thaap baathing me)" and "open this" or "daddy, what you dooin?" or "bess you" when someone sneezes (including herself!). She can recite numbers from one through ten. Does not know to count but any time I ask 'how many..', she knows to respond with a number, random of course. Simialrly with colors, does not know which is what but says blue, pink, red, black or white. Most days she wakes up with a great attitude - lying in her bed, all sleepy eyed but singing the ABCD song! Wish I could feel that way when I woke up!


This first picture below is my entry for Click for Bri hosted by Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi. Yellow signifies hope and enlightenment. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer. Read more about Bri & her fight in my previous post or here. Thanks to Jugalbandi and our best wishes to Bri!




For a surprise baby shower for a friend, I had prepared this Mixed Vegetable Kurma.

Ingredients:
Mixed vegetables (I used cauliflower, peas, broccoli, carrots & corn)
Coconut milk - 2 cans
Water - 1 cup
2 Tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Grind to paste:
1 medium onion
5 cloves garlic
1" ginger
4-5 green chiles (or to taste)
3-4 red chilies (or to taste)
1 tsp each saunf, jeera, dhania, turmeric
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
Asafoetida

Method:
Heat oil & fry the ground masala the raw smell of onion is gone. Add the mixed vegetables, salt and water. Cover & cook until almost done. Add the coconut milk and cook until well done. Garnish with cilantro. Though the heat index may seem rather high with the amount of red & green chillies, the addition of coconut milk neutralizes most of it. By the time we ate it in the evening (prepared in the morn), the kurma was pretty mild.



One more look at the kurma!



Sireesha, Skribles and Shubha gave me the "Nice Matters" award. "Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people, good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.” Wow! That is such a beautiful award & I'm honored! Thank you all! :)



Skribles also gave me a "Good Chat Blog" award! (Don't you love the retro look of the badge?! Kudos to whoever designed it!) Thanks again, Skribles, for thinking of me for this lovely award! :)

Technorati Tags: Indian Food, Food, Kurma, Curry, Mixed Vegetable

Click! & Fundraiser for Breast Cancer

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri.

Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease when she was 15. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.

She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.

The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR. CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri. Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer.
The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.

The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise.
There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. You may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account.

You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event and by publicising this campaign.