Cauliflower Pickle

Hi all,

This was done on my son's 21st Day by my mother. Everybody loved it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1
Red Chilli Powder
Mustard Seeds Powder - 4 Tablespoons
Fenugreek Powder - 2 Tablespoons
Turmeric
Salt to taste
Lime Juice

For tadka
Oil
Mustard Seeds
Asafoetida
Red Chillies

Method of preparation
1. Cut/tear cauliflower into pieces. Small size is better.

2. Add Fenugreek powder, red chilli powder, mustard seeds powder, Salt and turmeric to the cauliflower pieces.

3. Do the tadka with oil in small vessel (let the oil get heated, then add mustard seeds - let them splutter. Add red chillies, Asafoetida) and add it to the above mixture.

4. Let it remain for 3-4 hours for the florets to pick up the taste. Enjoy the pickle with rice or roti or with upma.

Preparation time: Less than 10 minutes (marinate - atleast 4 hours)

New addition to my family

Its been so long that I wrote something in my blog. Wanted to share the good news that, we now have a new addition in our family, my son Ishaan born on Feb 5th.

Fresh Mild Salsa

We got a new comer in my kitchen. A new chopper. Shall post some pictures of it soon. Good thing about it is, we make the salsa in few seconds without striving hard. Here is the recipe of it.

Ingredients
Tomatos (preferably Roma tomatos) - 2-3 medium sized
Onion (preferably red onion) - 1/2 - 1 medium sized
Yellow Capsicum - small piece
Coriander - upto you. This gives nice fresh taste to the salsa
Jalepenos or green chilli - 1/2 - 1 very small one.(avoid it if possible).
Salt to taste (if needed).

Method of preparation
we added everything to the chopper and turned it so that the output is small pieces of everything. Have it with Tostitos or any corn style chips. Tastes good and wonderful.

Some Tips - 1

Jeera
Jeera is good for digestion. I am a fan of Jeera that is the reason. You can add it in most of the recipes except for sweets though :)

Mustard Seeds Powder
When you prepare mustard seeds powder, use it immediately otherwise the powder does not take much time to taste bitter. One of my friends suggested to store it along wiht salt, so that you dont get the bitter taste and no need to do it fresh everytime. Will try it and let you know....

More to come soon.....

Burrito or Tacos

One of our friends were making it so took a quick memory recap and made at home. Its fast to make it at home too, if you have all the ingredients. We dont like the rice in burrito or tacos so I did not add it in my recipe but it can be added if desired.

Ingredients
Tortillas
Black beans
Shredded Cheese (We bought the Mexican Shredded Cheese)
Red Onion - 1
Tomato - 1 and 1/2
Avacados - 2
Guacamole Mix
Salsa (can make fresh salsa at home or buy it from store)
Jalepenos (dipped in vinegar, from store)
Rice (Optional)
Sour Cream (Optional)




Guacamole Preparation
1. Chop 1/2 of the onion into very small pieces. Chop one Tomato into small pieces.

2. Peel the Avacados and cut into small pieces. Make sure you dont include the inside big nut.

3. Add the chopped onions, avacado pieces and guacamole mix into a bowl and try to mash them. If you have a pestel, I would recommend to use it. Your Guacamole is ready.



Note: Avacados are very sensitive to feel or see but when you try to crush it, its not that easy :) So I would recommend make it very small pieces so that your life becomes easy for crushing it.

Method of Preparation
1. Fry the Tortialla on a pan for a less than a minute.

2. Take the tortilla in hand and put a spoon of black beans, Guacamole, Jalepenos (1 or 2 depending upon your spice level required), Salsa, some onions and tomato's in the middle of the tortilla. Also add sour Cream, and at the end add the shredded cheese. Wrap it up and have a bite.....

Will post the Fresh Mild Salsa preparation soon.

Vada

I tried the normal vada this time. It came out very good. This is my husband's one of favourite. Easy to make and yummy to eat. Initially I was unable to make the round but by the time I reached end, I was fast and got the technique of how to make the shape of vada's. :)
The next things to try in my list are Masala Vada and Dahi Wada.

Ingredients
Urad Dal - Soaked overnight (or atleast 3 hours)
Baking Soda - a pinch
Salt to Taste
Oil - for frying

Method of Preparation
1. Grind the soaked urad dal with as much little water as possible. Add the salt and baking soda and keep aside.

2. Put Oil in kadai for deep frying and let me heat.

3. Take a platic cover or if you are good, you can make it on hand. I would suggest for first time/initial preparation use a plastic cover. Apply some oil on a side.

4. Take a small lump of the paste made in step 1. then put that on the plastic cover where you applied oil. Spread it with your hand so that it forms a round shape. Put a small hole in between, to make it totally of Vada shape.

5. Tilt the cover slowly and take the vada into your hand. Slowly put it in the heated oil. Careful not to touch the oil and should not drop it from long height too, as there is chance of spilling the oil.

6. Fry for a minute or two. Move the vadas to other side in between. When both sides turn golden red or brown, remove it. Your vada's are ready to serve.

Serve them with Peanut/Coconut Chutney and with Sambar.

Note: Shall post some pictures soon.