Me and my world...

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting..

glittersudha — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:11:28 +0000

It was a day before our 2nd wedding anniversary, as decided Subbu and me got together to bake the cake It was like an expedition for us !! The cake tasted great.. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients :

1 cup(100gms) walnuts or almonds, 2 and 1/2 cups (340gms) of grated carrots, 2 cups (280gms) of all purpose flour,

1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon,

4 large eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups sugar (300gms), 1 cup (240ml) vegetable or cannola oil, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract,

1/2 cup of crushed pineapple.

Cream cheese Frosting :

1/4 cup unsalted butter ( 57gms) , 8 ounces ( 227 gms) of cream cheese at room temperature, 2 cups ( 230gm) of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, lemon zest of a lemon

Procedure :

Note : I used only half the measure of the ingredients mentioned here.. That was sufficient for the 2 of us !!

Butter the baking pans and preheat the oven to 350F . Toast the almonds /pecans and let it cool. Grate the carrots.

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients together. ie. flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder.

Beat the eggs until frothy for a minute with a mixer. Add sugar and beat again for 3-4 minutes till the batter is thick lighter in color. Add oil and and vanilla extract and beat again. Now add the crushed pineapple also and mix. To this mixture add the dry flour mixture slowly and beat well. Now add the grated carrots and the almonds and mix with a spoon. Pour this mixture in the pan and bake for 20-30 mins or until done. Check with a toothpick at the centre. Now let it cool.

Mean while we need to make the cream cheese frosting. With the mixer beat the cream cheese and butter until blended with no lumps. Now add the powdered sugar and beat well. Mix in the lemon zest and the vanilla extract in the end. Now the frosting is ready to use on the cake. U can decorate the cake the way u want it. U can also make layers of the cake and then add the frosting in between also. I didnt do this. Here are the pictures.

Banana Bread…

glittersudha — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:34:30 +0000

On our anniversary i decided to bake a cake.. something i wanted to do for long. We went and got the ingredients and got back home at 8PM. I had decided to make the carrot cake the next day. But suddenly Subbu asked me to make a banana bread. He wanted a bread.. but when i searched for the recipe.. i realised its a cake.. on the fly we decided to make the cake finally it was ready at 12 in the night !!!

here is the recipe for it…

ingredients :

3-4 ripe bananas, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter, 1 egg beaten , 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon baking soda,

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour, pinch of salt, toasted almonds slices

Method :

Mix the mashed bananas with the butter well. U can use a mixer or u can just use a spoon. Now mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the baking soda and salt and mix well. Add the flour in the last slowly and mix well. Now add the toasted almonds for some slight crunch in the cake and mix lightly. Pour this mixture into a 4X8 inch buttered pan. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for 1 hr or till the cake is done.. Check out the pictures.. I used only half the quantity of the ingredients mentioned .. It tasted great..

Oven roasted potato wedges !

glittersudha — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:52:29 +0000

This is one of the most simplest dishes that i have made It tastes just great ! If ur a potato lover, then nothing like this!! The procedure to make this is as below.

Wash the potatoes properly in water. Since we are going to keep the skin on while cooking it, it must be washed well to remove any dirt on the outside. Dry it with a towel. Cut the potatoes into wedges such that each potato will give u around 6 wedges. Now put the wedges in a vessel. Pour 2-3 teaspoons of oil over it. Put salt, pepper, chilli flakes, italian seasoning and freshly grated garlic as per ur taste. Now put the wedges in a baking tray. Dont put it in a heap. Keep each wedge separately on the tray so that they can bake evenly. Preheat the oven to 400F and keep the tray in it for around 45 minutes. U can check if its done by poking it with a fork and seeing in between. Thats all, once its done eat it hot with tomato ketchup Check the photos below !

Making of a pasta dish!

glittersudha — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:46:59 +0000

Today i decided to make pasta for dinner.. Since Subbu is not here, i was not too keen on making anything complex. So decided to do this simple pasta dish for dinner. I used the shell pasta’s (they look cute). First i took a pot of water , added a pinch of salt and let it boil. Then add the pasta into it. ( Add as much as u require). Once its done strain it and keep it aside. It takes some 10 minutes.

Now for the veggies!! Its left to u.. U can use what ever veggies u like. I like Brocolli , so i decided to use that and i like its taste with fennel seeds (saunf) and pasta. I cut some tomatoes, some garlic, some chilli, some brocolli (i used the frozen ones) , then some red capsicum. Now to make it.. First take a pan, add some butter or oil in it. Then add some fennel seeds.. they smell great… Add the garlic and saute for a while. Now add the veggies and saute. Let it fry for a while. Now add the seasonings.. Add salt, pepper, italian seasoning (i used the store brought one) , red chilli flakes, some chilli paste, some tomato juice and some tomato ketchup (optional). Mix all this with the veggies and cover and cook for a while. It there be some gravy in it. Once the veggies are slightly coooked , add in the pasta and mix well. Now check the seasonings. Its ready to serve. I like the veggies crunchy.. not mashed up.. u cna cook it longer if u dont like half cooked veggies !! Check the picture below Enjoi cooking !

Homemade pizza…

glittersudha — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:17:32 +0000

hmm.. after lots of thought i finally decided to make pizza at home.. the inspiration for me was my cousin veena who had already made it at home and had given me a recipe for it… since subbu was not at home i was in no mood to cook, so i decided to make pizza.. by the way it was also my bday that day ..

i got the betty crocker pizza base mix.. u just have to mix water in it adn let it rest for 15-20 mins and the dough is ready… now i greased a baking pan with oil (u must use olive oil thought i used normal oil) spread the pizza dough on it after rolling it out. i had got the marianra sauce or the pizza sauce from rinaldo. i just spread a couple of spoons of it on top. Then i started loading the veggies.. i used capsicum, onions, jalapenos, brocolli and for some indian twist i added some panneer now i loaded it with some cheese and put it in the oven at 450F for almost 30 mins. Hot pizza was ready to eat… check the photo..

Moms 60th Birthday !

glittersudha — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:26:59 +0000

Its my moms 60th birthday today .. ie star (Pusham) bday on 9th and date on 12th Nov 2009. Its a special day today for her. She is in India at palghat. Her 2 sisters and husbands, her brother and wife and her parents are with her celebrating her bday They will be all eating a good meal at home today. Mom has decided to feed some poor kids today at the Patashala. Thats a great thing. Hats off to her for doing this. As far as i know she has not got any thing for herself . But she has been showered with gifts from her people. Wish u good luck mom. Wish daddy was here with u now. He would be celebrating it with u. Sorry that neither me or Latha are there with u today. But i am happy that u will be with Latha and fly on 12th. Have a great time amma. I am missing u all. May god give u good health and a happy life. My heart and soul are with u today.

One funny incident !

glittersudha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:36:31 +0000

Subbu and me were on our way back from Pittsburg to Chicago.. At the Pittsburg airport as usual i was searching for something vegetarian !! At last i found a Mexican shop which was selling veggie burritos. So i decided to go and ask if they would give me a burrito bowl rather than the wrap. I went up to her and she was ready, she put some rice, black beans, tomatoes and corn on it. Then i asked her the price, she told me 75 cents !! I was shocked since the price on the board said 5$. So i told her pardon me and she looked at me and asked “there is nothing on that plate, what should i charge u for!!” . I paid her 75cents and was so amused and shocked with what she said. Being veggie has its own advantages U can eat cheap Just by adding chicken or beef or pork to it the same combination it costs 5$ Anyways i was on my way , hogged the veggie burrito bowl and ran towards my aircraft

Coconut burfi recipe that i posted online..

glittersudha — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:12:09 +0000

Hi all… I just put my coconut burfi recipe on rediff for diwali specials… and they posted it.. please see the recipe there .. at this link and enjoy madi… i am also attaching a picture of it here…

http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2009/oct/15/diwali-recipes-coconut-barfi-fara-and-more.htm

Cutlet recipe…

glittersudha — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:03:20 +0000

Cutlets are one of the most yummiest snacks in indian food.. i used to love them as a kid.. It was a dish not made at home and i used to love to eat it at the hotel.. In US i havent been able to eat cutlets and i decided to make them at home.. The day i made it, we took it to the park and we also made burgers out of this and ate it at the park by the lake It was fun.. SO here goes…

Ingredients : Potatoes – 4-5 large ones boiled and grated.

Boiled vegetables (beans, carrots, peas – i used these u can use anythign u like)

Coriander leaves, ginger and garlic finely chopped ,green chillies finely chopped, Lime

Turmeric powder ,Red chilli powder, Jeera , salt, garam masala powder (home made- u can also use dhania and jeera powder only)

Bread curmbs , Maida

Process :

1. Boil the potatoes , remove skin and grate them. Do not keep the potatoes in the water for long. Remove them immediately after it is bolied so that they dont absorb the water. If this happens the cutlet will become oily. Similarly steam the vegetables - beans, carrots, peas in a microwave and remove the water completely. U can also use a paper towel to squeeze out the water from it and make it dry.

2. Heat a pan. Add 2 spoons of oil. Once the oil heats up, add some jeera. Then add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and turmeric and mix for a while. Now add the garam masala, chilli powder, salt and fry. To this add the vegetables and fry for a while. Then add fresh coriander leaves and mix. Fry for some time till it is dry. Now take this mixture and add it to the potatoes , add lime juice. If the mixture has got any more moisture in it , add some bread crumbs to it. So it will absorb the water.

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying the cutlets. Take the mixture shape it into cutlets. Now make a thin paste of the maida and water. Keep the bread crumbs ready. Now take the cutlets one by one and dip in the maida paste and immedialtey put it in the bread crumbs and coat it. Do this for all the cutlets. Now the cutlets are ready to fry. Put them in hot oil and deep fry till it is nice and golden in color.

Enjoy ur cutlets with ketchup and green chutney Check the photo below.

A place called Palakkad…

glittersudha — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:49:33 +0000

Its a long time since i wrote something on this blog.. But today felt like putting something about my native place Palakkad or Palghat.. As my parents are Palakkad Iyers.. My dad from a village called Peruvemba and my mom from the village of Chittur, i too automatically belong there.. i was born in palghat as it was known then… But i never lived there.. Most of my schooling was in Blore and calicut.. So Palakkad meant the place where i used to be during my summer holidays.. It was always wonderful to catch the train from Blore (Kanyakumari Exp) and head to palakkad… From when we were kids we visited there atleast once a year.. My dad made it a point that we must atleast visit the temples once a year.. At that time my maternal grandfather used to stay at the chittur village.. those days were fun.. running to the river in the evenings to take bath roam around there.. sing songs.. the temple functions.. eating fresh jackfruit, mangoes etc from my grandfathers farm ))) it was all fun.. certain things i would like to put down about palakkad are here..

1. the green paddy fields… i have never seen anything so beautiful before… the fields extend till where ur eyes can see… u feel like there is no end to it.. far away u can see the sun setting… its just beautiful…

2. the kalpathy gramam… where all teh iyers live… u cna see the row houses with common walls reminding us how houses used to be in the olden days..

3. vadhyars in their mundus walking down the gramams.. mamis sitting on the verandas and chit chatting

4. the great malampuzha dam, the tippu fort .. the great mountains.. ie the western ghats… they look beautiful from my house terrace…

5. the rows and rows of coconut trees… u can see no end to it…

6. the quiet and relaxed atmostphere… its a great break from city life.. everything is so slow there compared to a city ! the daily power cuts and the lanterns used )) the mosquitoes that eat u !!!

7 . all the wonderful time that i spent with all my cousins when we were kids… playing the card game “trump”…. nothing like it… it was all such fun….

8. eating elai adai , polla vadai, vadam etc etc… at amammas house.. nothing like it.. those of u who are iyers will know what these dishes are !!

In short this place is some where i would always want to go back to….. gods own country