Monday 31 January 2011

‘ONLY’- COOKING WITH BREAD & The Giveaway Of The Month

ONLY BREAD
Hi!
Bread is one of the few things in the world that has remained as an important part of our lives throughout history. It doesn't matter  you live in which part of the world, bread will always have a special place on all our dinner tables. It may not be the centre piece of our daily meal, but we would surely feel its absence if it wasn't there.
So here’s your chance to cook something with bread, bread crumbs or even a bread completely. We used bread crumbs as binders or to provide the crunch, similarly the bread can used to make so many varieties, for eg. toasts, sandwich, rolls, cutlets etc. One can come up with so many varieties of breads, it can be a bread from any part of the world right from Focaccia to Naan  or a Pita, one can use them as a base to make many more variations, imagination is all yours..
Rules For The Event
• Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only 2 entries from the archive will be accepted. Archived entries to be reposted, else will not be accepted.
Only vegetarian ( eggs allowed) entries will be accepted.
• Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word.
• The entry should be linked back to this announcement page.
• Winner will be chosen by me by any random method after the round up is completed.
• Please send an email at cookingoodfood@gmail.com with the subject line "Only- Cooking With Bread" in the following format.
  • Name
  • Blog's name
  • Blog url
  • Recipe name
  • Recipe link
  • Picture(resized to 300pixel)
  • Country (This is an important field)
Non bloggers don't get disappointed, you can also participate, and send me the entries and the details to my email. I will post the round up within 7 days of event completion unless caught in some emergency and also, I am not eligible to win the giveaway being the host.
In case you want to host this event in future, drop me a line at cookingoodfood@gmail.com. The host line up and details of the event can be checked here.
Now coming to the giveaway, this month we have only one giveaway (we will have CSN giveaways in alternate months) i.e from http://www.tarladal.com/. The winner from India will get a book on  Sandwiches.
Product Image
Tarla Dalal has written a large number of cook books for diabetics, some of which are


One can buy these books online from here.
All the best and keep cooking.Smile
 
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Veggie/ Fruit A Month, Event Announcement For February

veggiefruit a month

Hi!

Veggie/ Fruit a Month is an event which is the brain child of a very sweet person Priya Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes. She has posted a lot of recipes from Rajasthan in her blog, do stop by her space to check that. I am thankful to Priya to provide me an opportunity to host her event.

This month is the month of choosing a fruit and as you must have  guessed from the logo, the fruit I have chosen is Strawberry. It is available abundantly here right now and thus providing us an opportunity to indulge more into it. Bake a cake, make a dessert, a dip or a chutney choice is yours. So wear your cook’s hat and come up with innovative recipes.

Coming to the rules:

  • The chosen veggie or fruit has to be the STAR of the recipe.
  • It can be cooked in any way or can be in its raw form in the recipe.
  • It can be any course of the meal (appetizer/main course/side dish/dessert/beverage or breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack).
  • Recipe has to be strictly vegetarian (eggs are allowed). This is simply to re-enforce the fact that we can eat veggies without any meat and also for all our vegetarian friends, who do not eat meat.
  • You HAVE to make new recipes and old archived posts are not allowed, so that we try and make new fresh recipes :)
  • Please send in your entries before end of February 2011.
  • If you are a blogger, you can simply send your Name and URL of your recipe and a pic of 300 pixel size of the preparation to cookingoodfood@gmail.com with the subject of "Veggie/Fruit A Month – Strawberry".
  • Non bloggers can email me your name, recipe and picture at cookingoodfood@gmail.com and I will include your recipe in the round up.
  • Link your post to the original event post along with the event announcement for this month.
  • Use of logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.

So, what are you waiting, start cooking innovative recipes and send them in..

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Potato-Sesame Toast..Indo-Chinese Way

P1050582
Hi.
A few days back me and the kids were watching a cookery show on TV and this particular recipe was shown, my elder son on watching it said, it seems quite easy to make, Mummy why don’t you make this for us. I agreed but I must confess I had not seen the recipe with full concentration. Now, that I agreed I decided to surprise him by making it for his lunch box. I did modify the stuffing as I did not remember watching it properly but I sticked to a gram flour topping with Sesame seeds. If there was no gram flour in it, it can be called a completely Chinese preparation.

Monday 24 January 2011

Som Tam /Som Tum

P1050598

Hi!

Today I share an excellent salad which is very popular in Thailand and one should try and taste it to know why. ‘Green Papaya Salad’ or Som Tam  is a beautifully unique and flavour-filled dish that will make a great impression. It’s so healthy, high on fibre, low in calories, very high in taste and eating satisfaction, helping you stay slim. This salad recipe is crunchy-delicious, whether served as a side dish/appetizer, or as the main course. It is normally served with the sticky rice but I had a bowl of it without any accompaniments.

Friday 21 January 2011

Broccoli & Mushroom Curry

P1050500
Hi!
Being a vegetarian I look forward to cooking exotic vegetables in  more innovative ways in this season. One such vegetable that I fondly cook surely is broccoli. In other seasons this vegetable is most of the times so heavily priced that a small head can cost a few hundreds. Gladly, it is not so in winter and I cook it a lot surely in all possible ways as it is not only tasty but very nutritious too.
I had some broccoli and a few mushrooms left so thought of combining the two to make a curry using fresh whole spices. I also added a few peas to increase the volume but in case you have more broccoli and mushrooms they can be completely avoided.
Ingredients
broccoli half head separated into florets and blanched
a handful of blanched peas
5-6 mushrooms sliced
2 large onions sliced
5-6 garlic pods

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Tortilla Chips with Cheese Sauce and Salsa

P1050553

Hi!

With all major stores announcing end of season sale it gave us a good opportunity to shop, so the last weekend we had gone to the mall for some shopping and I picked up a few pieces for my kitchen and I simply loved my herb chopper which I had been eyeing for sometime.

After all the shopping we landed at the food court and ordered our meals. The younger one ordered the Tex-Mex Nachos. The chips were good but the salsa along with it was pathetic. After cajoling him for a long time he managed to finish his stuff but I promised myself that I will make a better version for him.

So one fine morning when I saw the sun coming out and giving us some warmth I thought of indulging into the Tortilla Chips,  tomato salsa and a Cheese sauce which I made in the microwave in a jiffy. The kids absolutely loved it and the younger one declared that the chips were the best made in the world. S, after tasting the salsa said that the chefs should learn to make the salsa from me. I was surely on cloud nine after getting such hearty compliments from the family. I personally thought that, not only the home made chips are tasty and healthier but making them comes out really cheap as compared to the price one pays for buying them, really wonder why the readymade ones are so heavily priced!!

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Cottage Cheese In A Red Capsicum Gravy….From 660 Curries

P1050524


Hi!

There are some recipes that you want to try  the minute you read them.This curry has been in my mind for quite some time, ever since I had read it in Mirch Masala, who had adapted it from the book 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer.  

I have read rave reviews about the book and I want to buy this book at some point of time. I do not mind S or any of my friends gifting this to me either😜. I was keen to try the curry the minute I had bookmarked it,  but the unavailability of the red bell pepper in the market did not help.

Now that the red bell peppers are readily available I was keen to try. I told S that I am going to make a gravy using bell pepper. He was quite surprised and sounded a little sceptical too but I was super excited to try the red pepper in a gravy, somehow I found the concept too inviting and innovative  too.

When I had read the recipe, I realised there was no use of oil and there was absolutely no mention of roasting the masala unlike all the curries that I make. This curry was surely inviting me to give it a try. My regular readers would know how much I stress on ‘bhuno’ the masala to get the flavours out.

To my surprise the curry turned out awesome and I did not miss out roasting the spices. The curry is smooth with delicate flavours and a perfect delight for cottage cheese lovers. It is a perfect curry for a hurried dinner or even when you have unexpected guests,  as it can be cooked in very less time. 

After I cooked this, I called  S, to share my experience. He liked it when he tried it but it became my younger son’s instant favourite!

Monday 17 January 2011

Mixed Veg Salad in a Spicy Yogurt & Mayo Dressing




Mixed Veg Salad
   Hi All!

After I have come back from my holiday the days are passing by at a jet speed. New year has surely made me realize that my sabbatical should end now and I should get back to work. Last few days were surely hectic in a sense that I was doing many things at the same time, on top of it my laptop needed formatting urgently, so that surely explains why my blog hopping has been minimal and I do I regret missing out so many wonderful posts. I know things are not going to be as smooth as earlier as I start my job search again and once I am into a job I just pray that I am able to post at least few times in a month. I am already dreading that people are going to forget my name eventually :-(.

With so many veggies available these days I am freaking out on salads. I love salads especially when I want to eat light and yet want to have a wholesome meal. I do make our traditional Maharashtrian koshimbir with variations here and there, else indulge into new ones.
This particular salad is my innovation, it is a spicy and tasty preparation. The dressing, as a  matter of fact even the salad is something that can be eaten as a whole or filled in a bread and made into a sandwich, choice is entirely yours. I had a big bowl of this for my dinner and that helped me keep my stomach light.
The mayonnaise I have used here is eggless and is relatively low in fat. The recipe of the eggless mayonnaise I will post in a few days in my other blog KITCHEN-BASICS.

Thursday 13 January 2011

Healthy Baked Vegetable With Broccoli & Cauliflower

P1050453
Hi!
Blogging has made me quite a passionate baker, whether it’s baking bread, cake or a vegetable, I surely get hooked. With winter hitting our bones in this part of India, cooking can be torturous at times especially when the tap water is at the freezing point, one does not feel like touching it.
I indulge in quick cooking using a lot of vegetables these days as I am surely overwhelmed looking at the variety available and one such vegetable surely is broccoli which has finally come to a rate where common man can buy it easily and use in abundance.
It was quite some time that my family had a baked vegetable so thought of making a baked vegetable using broccoli. A soup, garlic bread and baked vegetable was on the menu. I just loved the idea that my kids would eat so many vegetables.
I made a healthy white sauce to make my baked vegetable, I call this sauce healthy as I used low fat butter, whole wheat flour to make it. Believe me one does not miss out using APF here, I find this sauce quite tasty. I personally love the white sauce less thick, one can make a thicker version. So here goes the recipe..

Monday 10 January 2011

Queen Cutlets From My Initial Days Of Learning To Cook

P1050436
Hi!
I feel elated today as I post the first recipe of 2011. I wanted to post something special, something close to my heart and which had fond memories associated with it, so I chose these ‘Queen Cutlets’. I am not sure why these cutlets are named so but I can surely assure you that they have a very fine taste which no one can ignore.
This is a recipe which I had learnt from a Parsi lady who used to run cookery classes called Breakfast Needs. She had an expertise in baking, so during my college days initially I joined her classes to learn baking. Apart from the baking, she used to teach recipes too. One could choose the recipes from her list and request her to teach them. She used to provide a printed copy of the recipe and charge us per recipe. I did learn a few recipes but realized that they were going heavy on my pocket  so I got a few recipes photo copied from another friend and then tried them later at home, this cutlet was also amongst those recipes and when I tried them the first time I was amazed with the resultant product, my family loved it and it was an instant hit.
I was going through my old diary today, while reading I got connected with this recipe again and wanted to make them. I thought it was just too apt for my first recipe post of this year as it brought back so many memories from down the memory lane.

Saturday 8 January 2011

I Am Back With The Winner Of CSN Giveaway For ‘Only’- Greens

Hi Friends!
Thanks for all the lovely wishes you left for me here, I had a great time attending weddings and playing with my 11 month old nephew. I also take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year.
I am sure all my US/ UK friends must be waiting for the winner of CSN giveaway for the month of December. There were a total of 52 comments and the links were left after the 11th comment so used random.org to pick up the winner. The 49th comment is the winner and that was of Sanyukta Gaur’s Mexican Green Rice. Congrats Sanyukta, enjoy shopping with CSN and contact me through email. Hopefully Saraswathy will post the round up of ‘Only’ Greens in the coming week.
Will try to post a recipe soon, till then see you all in your spaces.

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