Red is here to stay

Jyothi ,Bharathy,I am done with the TAG:) you can check it at "Dew Drop Dreams" Its been good to write something about myself and now something about food again, I am not very good with good food,i mean Healthy food,Well, for me good food need not be healthy too,so i just have good food and ignore the health part of it. My colleague is one epitome of this Healthy food concept and for her it need not be tasty or yummie,so she says if it helps your health then you better eat and her husband and daughter follow her rules at home and Now in the college she makes sure that i have my break fast and lunch on time and that too my box is half the time filled with sprouts and salads and what not:( but one thing is whatever healthy food i eat i give her the credit and this one salad which i learnt is from her and boy,now this is one regular in my kitchen every day:)

All i need is One Beet root,One cucumber,Half the onion,2 carrots,Salt,Peanuts or sprouts or kabuli chana ,Tomato 1 ,Lime juice and salt.

Grate the beetroot,cucumber,onion and add tomato if you like it,and you may add capsicum also,if you have raw peanuts which you use for boiling then add them,or if you have boiled chickpeas or any sprouts,mix well,add salt and lime juice acc to you taste,chill in the refrigerator ,have it before lunch or dinner.
Good for health and good for people like me who always want something to munch on,so now a days instead of peanuts and chocolates whenever i feel like eating something i take a bowl of this salad and enjoy it all:) More than me my mom is happy,because i have never ever tasted Beetroot in my life and now i have it every day,Thanks to my colleague:)

Simply Superb;p

Its 6pm and i am done with cooking for Dinner,So soon you may ask:) Yup,i got home at 4pm,and i suddenly had this urge to rush into the kitchen at 4.30pm,i went there to find one Bottle gourd waiting for me in the fridge,It was screaming "Please take me from here;p" so i took it out and i remembered one of my favorite dish made by amma and it was specially made for me because my brother never liked it and mom would eat anything:)
so i the queen would always swear by the mention of it also "Pesarapappu sorakaya vepudu" i.e, "yellow split moong daal and bottle gourd stir fry" hmmm,accompanied by hot rasam it would taste great on a winter night with hot rice and papad. Simple meals are so exotic in taste and method of cooking also,isn't it:)

Half of Lauki or dhoodi or sorakaya or bottlegourd,One small cup of moong daal soaked for about 15min.two green chillies, one onion , jeera and two garlic pods and mustards and curryleaves for tampering.
Boil the Lauki pieces for about ten minutes and when you feel that they have become little soft shift them into another plate and squeeze out any water remaining.

Take a spoonful of oil into the Kadai and add mustard and curryleaves,when they start spluttering add green chillies and onion.

fry it for a minute or two and then add the moong daal,and the Lauki pieces to the kadai and adjust salt and add A little of turmeric also.
Cover it with a lid and let it be cooked for a while,hmmm,say ten min?,precisely once in five minutes just keep stirring

if you feel the moong daal is hard add little water so that it would be soft,but do take care not to make it too soft like paste,the moong and lauki must be separate.

If you have noticed,i dint add any ginger garlic paste, yup,not needed, just take a little jeera,add two garlic pods and crush them both properly and add to the curry,trust me,this gives a wonderful taste as well aroma to you and to the kitchen:)

Adjust chilli powder and when you see the oil leaving the sides {not much oil but you will know} the stir fry is ready.

You can have it with hot rasam and papad,trust me,the taste is heavenly when it is damn cold out side and you want to warm up your body, healthy,No masala,little oil and traditional dish ...more than anything,works out fine for me because it is a simple home cooked food which i love:)

Hot Hot rasam {recipe next post,right now i am off for shopping,Yuppieeeee,No classes for two days,so for two days i will just go to the college,gossip in the staff room,have hot thali from the canteen directly ordered to the staff room and then again gossip post lunch,come back home,now thats what i call as leisure at work,isn't it:)

Have a wonderful time people and Yes,one more thing,I keep adding lot of links to my blogroll because i would love to keep knowing about new food ideas and i am unable to comment much because i am bad at Time Management and Ashaji,Special thanks to you,Its rare to find a Blogger and wonderful person like you who has so much energy and you encourage new bloggers and praise them with such nice words,You rock:) and congratulations on your 100th post:) I hope to wish you again on your 200th post soon:)

You have 20min????

Someone in one of the posts asked me "How do you manage cooking and job both:)" Well,it made me smile because i saw my mom doing it for more than 20years,But yes,neither do i have such discipline nor the passion to feed the family and go out to work,she did it all,and boy she did it with so much commitment and at times i get worried how i would be when i come to her age,but then lets leave future to take its own shape:)

For now i manage because i have a husband who eats whatever i make,and he does it without even changing his facial expressions,the day i dont feel like cooking the dinner would be just rice and tomato daal in the name of simple meal and when i cannot make that also the N number of restaurents in Bangalore come to our rescue and
i get these bouts of energy where in i make three varities of chicken curry and sambhar and veg biryani at one go for just two people,Yeah,i know,i am eccentric and thats how my lifestye is too:D you can see me sitting till 3am and reading blogs one night or just re arranging my vast music collection or just studying (yup,i do that too) and at times i am sleeping by 6pm;p But thankfully husband is the nodal point for everything i do and just because he knows how i am,he is prepared for everything;p
And thank god for his techi job and strange timings {he leaves home at 5am and comes back at 4pm} i dont need to make lunch or breakfast,only dinner,and oh,no,i eat both but what?? You may ask;p my breakfast would be a cucumber or bread or a glass of juice or marie biscuits and lunch would be a pot of rice,yup,curd rice,lemon rice,pudina rice,you name it and i know about it:) But hell,i crave for normal three course meal but then i need to rush to my mom for that,in my house there it is still the same,i miss it,but then as husband puts it "This is just a temporary phase" Hope so too:) i lack the dicipline of getting up early to make proper food for just me,I rather spend another hour in bed,so daily it is waking up by 7am and leaving the house at 7.45am in a rush for now,rest,lets see what happens when family size increases:)

My mom always made this curry,specially when she had no idea what to make for dinner and umpteen options rejected by me and my brother this one curry always got both the votes,tomato curry with eggs beaten into it:) tomato guddu koora we call it and boy,hot rice and this curry is my favourite,specially on a winter night,yummm

Simple to make and vanishes fast from the plate, i make it often when i am tired of deciding the menu and i made this on Friday night when i wanted to sit and watch Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and dint like going into the kitchen,so if you have 20min in hand, 5tomatoes,one Onion,2green chillies,and ginger garlic paste and two eggs,get set go for this curry.

Ready to make:)

fry the onions till they turn transparent along with the chillies.

Add the tomatoes,salt and turmeric powder.

Close the lid and keep the heat on low and let it cook

Once done you see a lovely gravy rich in color,add chilli powder as per tastes.

Take three eggs,beat them slowly in to the gravy,
And DONOT mix the gravy.

Let the eggs set,the heat must be on sim and make sure not to mix the gravy,
if you need to then do it carefully without breaking the eggs

The eggs are set now:)

ready to eat,Where is my rice....;p

Mix It All Baby;p

So after staying home for two months i started working again,Two months after seven years of work experience:) quite funny how i never thought of a break,but then last year changed everything, I got married last year,and then the urge is so sudden,to stay home and not to go out for work at all,My house,i proudly pronounced to everyone,i own it,all of it is mine,i am th owner,the decision maker,i would decide how to decorate it,what to buy,how much to buy and whom to employ,new found independence in one way, did almost pretty much same things when i was with mom,when i was not married but this was different.So much happened since last year,suddenly i became Mrs. N and then came a bolt of surprise,for the first time in my life i heard about relocation,with in the country but still it was shocking,my mom,my bro,my plants and hell,my dogs too,they wont be anywhere near to me, i cannot wake up in the middle of the night and rush to them,cannot see them whenever i want to,suddenly from my work place i cannot reverse the vehicle and go off to see amma,cannot make shopping plans, but then the decision was mutual,to shift,for a better career and a new life.So i resigned,after 7yrs,my life as a lecturer came to a halt.
Bangalore is beautiful but still lonely,two months i stayed at home and then the fear creeped in,of being restricted to the four walls,i had this sudden urge to go out,meet people,do what i have been doing all along,and i got into my new job,again as a lecturer:) i still talk to amma daily,ask about the plants and dogs,still fight with bro over phone but given a chance i would want to go back to my home,my city and my family:) hope hubby is listening and takes up a job in Hyd again;p

And the new job is hectic,i start from my by 7.30am,so breakfast and lunch to be preapred so early,thankfully hubby dosnt take lunch pack,odd timings,so i am left to fend myself and i am a huge fan of one pot meals,give me anything from lemon rice to coconut rice to pulav or fried rice,or tomato rice,i would gulp it all with out a complaint.
One fine evening i realised the fact that all i have is 30min before hubby rushes home with a hungry look and feel and dashed off into the kitchen,and made this mixed vegetable rice, whatever came to my head i just did so and boy,am i not glad i did:)

i used green peas(frozen) soya chunks,capsicum,tofu(paneer made of soya milk),
one tomato, small quantity of onion,cabbage,green chillies, a table spoon full of
garam masala.

Take a handi and pour one spoon of oil,fry the chillies and onions for a while and add the cabbage and capsicum.

Now add the green peas and tomatoes also and enjoy the different colors:)

Now its time to add the soy chunks and tofu also,yeah yeah,i know too much of soya but i love it rather than adding paneer and listening to a lecture from husband about calories.

Now i added the salt and the garam masala to it.

Done and ready for the rice to be mixed:) i would have had this just like that with chapathis or bread too.

Mix the rice,i prefer hot rice,i dont like adding left over rice to it,some how the hot rice did make a difference to the taste:) maybe just a feeling. Done and have it with cold onion raitha.the spicy rice compliments well with raitha.

My heart goes hummmummmm;p

Hmmmm:)

"You dint post anything in your foodblog?? " asks hubby and i was pleasantly surprised that he checks it. "I dont know,i am kind of feeling awkward putting up posts there,you know there are so many food blogs out there,at times i feel like a lost child in between all those blogs,so many varieties and so many recipes and they present them so well,i cannot do all that and i feel i can never cook like that" i poured out all i had in my heart to him. and i got a smile back
"My dear,in two days you will be back at your new job,and in this new city you have to make new friends,so much to explore,so just things one at a time,don't worry about anything, remember you told me you started posting here for me,so that i can cook when you are not here,so just post what you know,worry not about comments,do comment when you get time,and remember,whatever you do,here or in life,Do it for your satisfaction,for a smile and for contentment" wow,a little gnan seriously and he always has been my gyan guru,he is like lord krishna who comes at the right moment to show the light;p

And i am back to posting again:) i will,whenever i can,whatever i feel is a genuine attempt,i will make sure to put it up here:)

The other day when i came back from hyderabad my fridge was almost empty except for two capsicums,a little paneer and three tomatoes and we were hungry,so i just made this curry in flat 20min and had it with hot chapathis.

required: two big onions,two green chillies,ginger garlic paste,a pinch of turmeric,one spoon of garam masala,two spoons of peanut powder,two spoons of grated kopra,salt and chilli powder.
Saute the onions and chillies along with ginger garlic paste,salt and turmeric added till they are half brown and add the capcicum first,stir it well and add tomatoes and paneer to it. {I love those colors}

Add the garam masala,peanut powder,and kopra powder along with a small glass of water,mix well.
cover the lid and let it cook for atleast 10-15min and do keep checking and add water according to the required gravy thickness,i love my gravies thick,not watery.

Done and ready to be served:) i learnt this art of not wasting one potato,one tomato or a few okra,i am saving them and utilizing them in one or the other curry in my own way,i know amma will be proud of me when she knows about it:)