Easy Peas Pulao | Peas Pilaf

The dish which is very easy do on a hurry is here. For rice suckers like me, it is a boon. The recipe follows.

Ingredients
1. Basmati Rice 1-2 cups
2. Onion (Medium)
3. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
4. Green fresh peas
5. Ghee 1 tbsp
6. Salt for taste
. 7. Ground pepper 2 pinches
8. Cashew nuts


Steps
1. In a cooker, heat ghee till it melts
2. Add add cashews, chopped onions and garlic paste for two minutes
3. Put the wet rice which is soaked for nearly 20 minutes.
4. Saute for 2 minutes
5. Add 4 cups of water and salt. Stir well.
6. Close the lid of the cooker and let the rice o medium heat for 15 minutes.
7. Meanwhile microwave peas coated witn ghee for 1 minute . Thus we can retain peas' green color.
8. Once rice is cooked and grains are seperate add peas and pepper powder. 9. Mix well 10. Serve hot with raitha. I served with bindi raitha. It was absolutely deliciously.

Strawberry Milkshake

It was christmas day hence I was home. At home my primary activity is browsing and learning new stuffs plus trying them out. I usually go through Jeyashris's Kitchen blog. I found the strawberry milkshake recipe. I had a box of fresh strawberries too. Hence thought why not try it out. It turned out to be a great drink. Here is the recipe. I didnt change much of the recipe.
Ingredients
1. Fresh strawberries - 7-8 no
2. Milk (or) strawberry milk - 2-3 cups
3. Hersley's strawberry sauce - 2 tbsp
4. Sugar - 3 tbsp
5. Vanilla Icecream - 2 scoops

Steps
1. Blend chopped strawberries, milk, sugar and strawberry sauce into a smooth blend.
2. Refrigerate for 5-6 hrs
3. Serve it with icecream


Yummy delight!

Life Of Pi - The MOVIE

Today being a Friday, me and Nishok planned a perfect movie date. It turned out to be the best date movie. The movie was about a boy and his extraordinary journey. I was actually late home. The movie was by 9.30 PM and I reached home by 9.15 PM from work. Soon me and Nishok rode to the cinema. On the way to the theatre, I muched out the 3 lovely chappatis rolled in with onion chutney. Nishok is a lovely person who never keeps me hungry or want of anything. Hedoes more than what I need. One such desire of mine was to watch Life of Pi. The movie was a 3D one at FAME. The effects were extraordinary. From the beginning till the end the movie kept me stick to it. I was very thrilled to hear people speaking Tamil here and there. After the ship wreck, the story is taken to a different level. The absolute entertainment piece of the film is when the tiger makes it to the boat and it re entry in the boat. The whole audience was thrown to the back of their seats to see tiger jump on the hyena. The orangkuttan was really sweet. The scenes where Pi changes his name to 'pissin' to 'Pi' really showed the attitude of the boy. He thanked the tiger for saving his life. One may wonder when he tells that. He then said that he was made vigil only by the tiger hence he was alive for a long time. At the end he says another disgusting story to the people from that japanese ship company when yhey didnt believe his actual story. Then the listener says that the story with tiger was better when compared to the second one. Pi replied that even God thought that way. Those lines were touching. Totally an awesome movie. It is a must watch. If u r with a tiger for sometime u can hide from it or fear about it. When is living together with a tiger, you needvyo tame it. God has given that talent to you. Life of Pi is absolutely an adventure with beautiful yet dreadful incidents filled with much needed lessons!

My Birthday 2012

This is very special birthday. I love bday parties and suprise parties. The most victimised sweet person for all the suprise party I arrange is my brother. I used to buy cakes, fill balloons with water and break them on his head. It makes me very happy. I celebrate my loved ones bdays as a festival. This time my hubby and my parents made it a huge party. We have get together un our aunty's house. I went to Kapaleeshwarar temple that morning with my parents and brother. My mom' s childhood play area was this temple. She was thrilled. The visit to the temple made me calm and relaxed. By evening, Nishok bought a huge black forest cake. This was the yummiest cake I have ever had. He gave me a beautiful chudidhar and my mom gave me a cute chudidhar. I just loved theose clothes. With family , I cut the cake and headed to Mathsaya.There we went for buffet since ala carte was over booked and crowded. We have nice time together. A bday well spent with family is a great gift. This made me realise how much my family love and care for me. Special thanks for my friends and Fb friends and blog readers for the bday wishes.

In my studio : I ♡ rain !

Shot this after sketching it on my bus window on a rainy day. Lovely isn't it.?!

My 2012 b'day gift

This is the costliest and more thoughtful gift from my hubby!! He surprised me with a tablet which is the latest on market. Nishok bought me Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. This is very useful for me and he just want to encourage me in all my passions.

Here are few of the pics and screenshots from my Note!!

Arroz Mexicano (or) Spanish Rice

                              


My hubby has visited three continents till now. He is a fan of spicy yet healthy foods. This weekend he suggested me to try Mexican food. Since I am a rice lover, I chose Spanish Rice. This is called Arroz Mexicano (a) Mexican Tomato Rice. The recipe was without Indian masala and it was very spicy and healthy since it has vegetable broth to cook the rice. For broth, I used tomato,chillies, beans, peas in boiling water.

I was quizzed that this recipe was similar to our normal tomato rice. But it was very different and yummy too. We loved the dish.  I served it with potato wafers and spiced yogurt.



Arroz Mexicano

Ingredients

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 c. green onion, chopped
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
3 serrano chiles, stemmed, minced
2 c. long grain rice
1 c. canned crushed tomatoes in their juices
1 c. vegetable broth
salt to taste
pepper to taste


Steps

Heat oil over a medium flame in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart pan.
Add the green onion and green chiles and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the garlic and rice and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
Add the tomatoes and broth, stir well, taste, and stir in any salt and/or pepper that may be necessary.
Bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and air holes appear at the top of the mixture.
Remove from heat, fluff with a fork and serve.

YIELD:

Approximately 4 servings


 

Vijayadasmi Day

This is such a auspisious day in this festive season. Saraswathi pooja and Vijayadasmi are my favourite festivals and very close to my heart. These two days fill my heart and mind with bursting new positive energy.

My grandfather always insisted us to do all the things you want to excel in this day. Till marriage, my grandfather and my dad made me and my brother to sit with our favourite books all day. They also encourage us to do our favourite art form. They have taught us that to excel in different areas of our interest , start it on vijayadasmi. So I make it a point to start / practise the arts or studies on this day.

This practise has made me gain more interest on my passions.  I read and do things I want to excel in this day.

Thank you thatha and appa for inculcating this beautiful habit in me.

Happy Vijayadasmi. Stick to your passions and strive for excellence in the same.

Wishes =)

 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Strawberries are rich in nutrition like vitamins. Bananas add more taste and healthy values to this dish. This Saturday, we were watching The Lord of the Rings. My god !  It was a long movie and it made us hungry. So I decided to make a smoothie with strawberry and bananas.

The smoothie turned out to be the tastier drinks we had.

Ingredients

Strawberry pulpy extract - 1/4 cup
Milk - 3 cups
Banana - 2 (small)
Cardamom - a pinch
Steamed rice - 1 cup
Ice Cubes

Steps

Blend all the ingredients into a smooth drink.
Toppped it with shredded chocolate.

PS: I didnt add sugar. Sugar or honey can be added to the drink.

Hasselback Potatoes : Recipe

Everyone loves potatoes. While googling for different potato dishes, I found this funny dish of potato. This was an easy dish. I was curious to surf how this recipe was named. Then I found that these Swedish version of baked potatoes are very popular in a restaurant named ' Hasselbaken Hotel'. Hence the name.

I loved the dish. My hubby was happy too. ;)

Ingredients:

Potatos - 2-3
Salt - for taste
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 3 tsp
Italian Seasoning - for sprinkling

(Italian seasoning has dried red chilly flakes, basil, oregano, rosemary, etc)

Steps:

 

Thinly slice almost all the way through the potatoes

Drizzle with ghee, salt and Italian Seasoning.

Bake at 425 for about 40 min.

It is a yummy treat. I end this post with a beautiful quotes

" The discovery of a new dish does more human happiness than the discovery of a new star"

Priyaa's Coriander Rice

Lunch for saturday should be different according to me. So I tried a simple rice variety with fresh coriander leaves. My husbands sambar and rasams all days in the week.

I wanted a relaxed, yummy lunch. Hence coriander rice. The taste was very good, light and filling.

Ingredients

For coriander paste

Coriander leaves - handful
Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Ching's Schzewan paste - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Salt as required

For Tempering

Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Main Ingredient

Steamed Rice 2 cups

Steps

1. Grind all the ingredients to make coriander paste
2. Heat the oil in the pan and add mustard seeds to it and let it burst.
3. Put the paste in the oil and saute till the oil seperates
4, Mix steamed rice with the paste well so that the rice are seperate
5. Serve hot with raitha

 

 

Yummy. I had this rice with a cup of Tomato Italian bread soup made by my hubby. He is the sweetest man ever.

 

 

Good food not only feeds but brings happiness on many levels.

True..

 

 

Ellu Sadham (Sesame seed Rice)

One of my favourite rice item that goes very nice with potato fry is Sesame seed rice. "This is the favourite food for Hanuman and Perumal " says my grandmom. So on saturdays, since my childhood, atleast one spoon of this rice will be served in our plate.


This rice has very good nutritional values.

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds (white/black) - 3 tsp
Dried Red chilli - 3-4 No
Curry leaves - 5 - 10 leaves
Thoor dhall - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder - a generous pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt for taste
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp


Steps:

 

Heat the pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, put mustard seeds and let it burst fully.
Put Thoor dhaal, Sesame seeds ( I used black sesame seeds) , then red chillies

Add asafoetida powder and curry leaves, then salt. Stir well until cooked.

Once the ingredients emit a pleasant aroma, place them in a mixer and grind them throughly.
(Do not add water)

Mix the ground seeds with hot rice and serve hot.

As I mentioned it goes well with potato curry.