Lotusroot Red Bellpepper Moong dal stir fry

Ingredients:
lotus roots/kamal kakdi - 12 slices
thai green chillies - 4 to 5no
Red Bell pepper - 1 no,small in size ,chopped
mustard seeds for seasoning
turmeric,red chilli powder,salt to taste
onion - ½ ,bigsize ,chopped into pieces
Moong dal - ½ cup,soaked in water
coriander powder - 1 tspn
oil for cooking
chopped coriander leaves - 3 to 4 sprigs


Making:
Pressure cook the chopped lotus with a pinch of turmeric.cook the soaked moongdal
(pesarpappu) in microwave with sufficient water in high for 12 to 15 minutes.moongdal should not loose its original shape but it should be cooked to bite.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,green chillies,onions one by one and saute
well.Add boiled lotus root pieces and add salt and redchilli powder,dhaniya powder
and cook for 5 minutes uncovered.Add bellpepper pieces and cook until tender.Add moongdal to the pan and stir well to mix into the curry.cook for a while by sprinkling some water.Stir in chopped coriander and transfer to a serving bowl.Serve with steamed rice with a dollop of ghee.

Here goes my recipe to this wonderful event by Zorro's

IWD EVENT.

Starfruit Juice

Starfruit is really colourful with excellent shape and texture.
Once we had this type of tropical fruit while visiting elephanta caves in bombay as a vacation with our family.Dad bought from the vendor who was infront of caves which is a cut fruit was green in colour dusted with salt and red chilli powder on it.I didnt remember the name of the fruit exactly.But it was tangy,sour,little bit sweet one.Loved the taste but never found that fruit later in A.P. After coming to US ,I found the same friut which i was looking for since my schooldays.Googled about that and came to know it is called carambola/starfruit.

Starfruit juice
Ingredients:
Starfruit/Carambola - 3 to 4 slices,deseeded
lemon juice - ½tspn
Crushed ice cubes - 3 or 4no
Cardamom - 1 no,crushed
Sugar - 2 tspn
Mint for garnishing

Preperation:
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.Add excess water to adjust the taste and pour into chilled glasses.Serve by garnishing with few mint leaves and starfruit slice.

Perfect juice to quench the thirst on a sunny day.

Puffed Wheat Balls (Laddu)

I came across these puffed wheat when i was shopping at near by grocery store.Reached house and tasted the puffed wheat.Puffed wheat is really good for making ladoo and mixture.Love the shape and nutty wheat taste.Since my childhood I am seeing my mom and grand mom making puffed rice mixture,puffed rice (plain,tamarind) upma,puffed rice balls aka borugundalu .We used to have this Crunchy one at evening times as after-school munchies.borugundalu.We used to have this Crunchy one at evening times as after-school munchies.Yum Yum.... So,I tried with puffed wheat and we liked these laddus too.

Ingredients:
Puffed Wheat - 3 cups
Jaggery - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Honey - ½ tspn
Ground nuts / Peanuts - ½ cup
Cashew nuts - 6 or 7 no,chopped
Sesame seeds - ½ cup
Raisins - ¼th cup
Black Cardamom - 2 no,crushed


How I made:
Roast sesame seeds in a pan until they start splutter.Roast the peanuts for golden brown color.Roast raisins in low flame until they double.Grind 2 spoons of sesame seeds and 1 tspn of pea nuts to coarse powder from original quantity.
Take a large sauce pan and add jaggery and water.Make thick syrup in low flame.Add a drop of jaggery syrup into a bowl of water to check the string consistency.Drop should solidify immediately.Remove from fire and add puffed wheat,raisins,cashew nut pieces,pea nuts,sesame-pea nut pwd,cardamom pwd,honey and mix well to coat jaggery syrup evenly.While still warm,shape the syrup-coated puffed wheat into round laddus.Allow to cool and keep open to dry, before storing in containers.
Note:Wet palm while shaping laddus to prevent burning.
See here for Puffed Wheat Snack

Thai Coconut Soup

Today weather is gloomy and wet.So, its time for some soup.Once we tried thai coconut soup from Thai restaurant named Aruneehouse , which is few blocks away from our place.Their coconut soup was excellent with galangal,lemongrass,lime and mushrooms.We really enjoyed their delicacies.Here goes my thai coconut milk soup (original recipe name is tom kha gai )
Ingredients:
Coconut milk - 1 tin
Ginger root - 6,thinly sliced (original recipe calls for Galangal)
lemon grass stalks - 1
onion slices - 4 no
kaffir lime leaves - 4 no, torn into pieces
celery - ½ stalk, sliced thinly
cilantro - 2 sprigs
button mushrooms - 5 or 6 no,sliced
green chillies - 3 no,chopped
Dried red chillies - 2 no
Sugar - ¼ tspn
vegetable oil for frying
lime juice - 1 tbspn /lime - ½
Vegetable stock or Water - 1½ cup
Salt and pepper according to taste



How I made:
Heat oil in a large saucepan and add sliced onion,sliced lemon grass,sliced ginger,sliced celery ,chopped green chillies ,kafir lime leaves,and sauté, stirring, for 1 minute and uncovered.Add sliced mushrooms and sauté for a 1 minute.Add coconut milk,lemon zest to the pan and bring it to boil.Bring soup to simmer and cook for 7 to 10 minutes in low flame.Add salt,pepper and lime juice according to taste.Garnish with cilantro leaves.

I felt this soup can be taken without any croutons so iam participating in
Lisa of Lisa kitchen's no-croutons-required event.

Birthday Cake

Cake for a birthday is always special for me.Dad used to bring cake for us on our birthdays.Sometimes mom used to make and decorate with icing.
This year for a change I baked a cake for my birthday though it is simple but homemade.Being a chocoholic I glazed cake with chocolate ganache.
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3 cups
Sugar - ¾ cup
Eggs - 2 no
Vegetable oil - ¾ cup
Baking powder - 1 tspn
Dried golden raisins - ½ cup
Dried cranberries - ½ cup
Vanilla paste - ½ tspn
Water - ½ cup
Butter for applying


How I made:
Pre heat oven to 350°
Butter the cake pan and lay parchement paper on it.Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy.Add oil,vanilla paste and whisk until mixed.Add sifted flour ,raisins,cranberries in batches and mix at low speed until combined evenly.Pour the batter into the cake pan and place in the middle rack of the oven.Bake for 30 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean in the center of the cake.Remove from the oven and cool it for 30 minutes.Transfer the cake to the cooling rack.Remove parchement paper and allow it to cool for another ½ hr.
Making Chocolate ganache:
Heavy cream - 2 cups
Cocoa powder - 1tbspn
Bitter sweet chocolate - 8oz,Lindt

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and add heavy cream ,cocoa pwd to it.Whisk until smooth.
Glazing cake:
Use serrated knife to slice the top layer of the cake slowly.Pour the chocolate ganache on it and spread evenly on top and sides of the cake with spatula.
Dust with powdered sugar or decorate with fruits like strawberry,raspberry,orange.I used banana.Refrigerate the cake to set the ganache for 30 to 45 minutes.
Thought of making plain one but ended with a simple goodlooking cake.

Turnip Pickle

Ingredients:
Turnip - 1 no, small in size ,peeled and chopped into ½ " size pieces
Fenugreek seeds - (Menthulu/Methi/Vendhiyam)- ½ tsp,
Mustard seeds - 2 tbspn
Cumin seeds - 2 tspn
Red Chilly pwd - 5 tspn
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Ginger -1" size,chopped
Green Chillies - 5 no,slitted and soaked in salt and lemon juice for 15 days
Sesame oil(Nuvvula nune/Til oil)- 2cups
Salt to taste
Refined Oil for frying
How I Made:
Heat oil in a saucepan and fry turnip pieces until light golden brown colour.
Remove from fire and transfer to a dry mixing bowl.Fry ginger for a light golden brown colour.
Grind mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,cumin seeds for a fine powder.
Add ground spice mixture ,red chilli powder,turmeric,salt ,soaked and dried green chillies,fried ginger to the fried turnip pieces.
Combine well with a wooden spatula until spice mixture coats turnip pieces evenly.Add sufficient sesame oil and mix well.Transfer to an earthenware and cover with a muslin cloth and leave for 2 weeks.Make sure to stir once in a week with dried wooden spatula.We liked the turnip pickle as a good condiment .It goes well with the hot rice or curd rice because of its spicy and tangy taste.