Spicy SweetPotato Fry, Awards and MEME

Alright, yet another post without my garrulous and chatty talks. This time I have a long list of awards and MEME's to share. Sorry friends, you all have been so nice in sharing these awards with me, but I know I'm just too late in posting them. I got hooked up in posting the recipes than posting my awards and before I postpone it any further I have to do it today. So, I just want to quickly post a simple yet a flavorful recipe that I made today and move on to my awards and MEMEs.

The first time I read this sweet potato recipe in a magazine, I was a little hesitant to make this as I'd never made any dish with sweet-potatoes by that time. Just out of curiosity I made it and it turned out wonderful! I absolutely loved the blend of sweet flavor mixed with vibrant spice flavours. After a few more trials it has now taken a permanant place in my cookbook. Its light, its flavorful and its simple.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes - 2 cups (cooked, peeled and chopped into cubes)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal/Ulundham paruppu - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

For the powder: (feel free to adjust the spice level according to your taste)

Corriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Chana dal/kadalai paruppu- 1/2 tbsp
Urad dal/Ulundham paruppu - 1/2 tbsp
Red Chillies - 4 to 5

Procedure:

• In a pan, fry the ingredients mentioned for the powder with 1/2 tsp of oil and powder them finely.
• Heat more oil in the same pan and season with mustard seeds, urad dal.
• Once the mustard seeds pop, add turmeric and asafoetida. Fry for 10 secs.
• Add the cooked & cubed sweet potaotes, salt and fry for 2 - 3 mins in medium heat.
• Now add the spice powder and mix well. Cover for 2 mins in medium heat and fry for 3 more mins.
• Remove from heat.

We enjoy this with dal/rice.

MEME: Its Meme time! Deesha had tagged me with this 7 facts about myself and here they are Deesha!

Since I've been already talking a lot about my food likings and opinions in my posts regularly, I will stay away from my food facts in this MEME :)

1. I am a late night person and my brain works the best only late evenings. All my blogging and any serious planning activities happen only when I'm done with my regular duties and the house is super quiet like a haunted house.

2. I am not a big fan of reading books and mostly stay away from big novels, although I like to quickly glance on some of my favorite magazines.

3. I love to be alone once in a while and engross in the world of my own. I think solitude is my best companion many times.

4. I am fond of music, mostly melodies, and have a huge collection of MP3 songs. I enjoy the song lyrics as much as I enjoy the music in the song and surprisingly, I happen to know the lyrics for the majority of these songs! I learned classical music during my childhood, and after several years, my forgotten passion is back and I'm now learning classical music again from a professional teacher...

5. I'm a shopping freak, especially with apparels. My closet is always full with latest tops, pants, salwars etc. While writing this I am realizing that last two months I haven't been shopping much.. Hmmm, need to catch up!

6. I am not that good in waiting for things to happen on its own. I quickly run out of patience and need things to happen right away. I am working on it, but I also have to say that my tendency of impatience helps me in winding down things faster without postponing..

7. I'm addicted to Sudoku and have finished almost 3 books (over 300 puzzles) in just 1 month. Don't know how long this addiction will last..

Alright, now awards time!
Bhawana, Kitchen Flavours and JZ have passed me the Brilliante Weblog Award:
Vani and Srilekha passed me the "Beautiful Site Award":

Kitchen Flavours has passed me this "Friendship Blend Award":

Suma and Madhavi have passed me this "Good Job Award".

And last but not least - Vani, Purva, Raaji and Gita have passed me this "Butterfly Award".


Thank you soooo much to each one of you for thinking about me and sharing your award with me. With so many good friends around me in my blogging world, its hard for me to pick only a few people to pass these awards. I'm sure all of you have already recieved it. If you have not received it, feel free to grab them from here.. :)

Tomato Uthappam and another award...

Wow, I haven't posted anything for a week! Am I becoming lazy? I hope not... With weather being so good for the past few days, its becoming a habit for me to stay outside in the evenings for a prolonged time which makes me tired after dinner. Summer is for such a short time in my place and I want to exploit it as much as possible. I absolutely cook, but just no time to post them. I do have a lot of recipes to post and will surely catch up in the next few days..

After nursing my coffee for about 45 mins this morning, I thought of doing a simple express breakfast and then followed by an elaborated lunch! When we're not having friends over for lunch or dinner, my cooking turns out to be a relaxed one as I don't have to multi-task and rush in my cooking. Sometimes I think that the best way to relax in a weekend is to hook-up my I-pod and engross in the kitchen for a few hours! During those times I am in my own world enjoying both my favorites - Music and Cooking! In fact, I've had some of my best outcomes while cooking this way..

While pondering my refregirator today, I saw lots of tomatoes waiting for some attention.. I bought a bulk of them last week in farmer's market thinking of making some tomato thokku (pickle), but as usual kept postponing it.. So, before they get ruined I had to make something good with tomatoes... and I found this fabulous breakfast dish from my recipe book that mom had written for me 10 years ago. I had forgotten about this delight altogether, and after seeing it , I remembered how much I used to love it as a child and I realized that I had not eaten it for almost 8 years! This is an awesome dish that can be made instantly with simple ingredients. I hope you love it as much as I do. I am sending this to Raaga's WBB - Express Breakfasts Event .

Before I post the recipe, I want to thank my good friend Uma, who is been so nice in passing me the "Yummy Blog Award". Thanks Uma, for thinking about me and this means a lot to me!

"Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”

As a rule for the receiver of this award, I have to quote my favorite yummy-licious dessert(s) that I have ever prepared/eaten! So, here is my list :)

1. CoconutMilk Caramel Pudding - I tasted this in a potluck and I just loved it! I have no idea about the recipe, and still in the lookout for the recipe, So if someone is familiar about this dish, please do post the recipe :)

2. Paruppu Payasam (My all time favorite dessert)

3. Rava Thengaipal Kesari

4. Cashew Pista Halwa

I will soon pass this award to my dear fellow bloggers.. Stay tuned :)

Alright, here is the recipe for Tomato Uthappam:

Ingredients:

• Tomato Juice - 1 cup (I make it fresh)
• Gram Flour (Kadalai Mavu/Besan) - 1/2 cup
• Rava - 1/2 cup
• Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
• G.Chillies - 2
• Onions (Minced finely) - 1/4 cup
• Corriander leaves (chopped finely) - a handful

Procedure:

• Mix all of them fully until you reach a uthappam batter consistency. You can add water if required, but shouldn't be too watery.
• Rub oil in a hot pan, pour 3 tbsp of batter and spread it gently to a small circle.
• Add oil on top and around the uthappam. Let it cook fully on one side on medium heat (usually takes 3 - 4 mins).
• Turn to the other side and cook for 2 more mins. Repeat with remaining batter.

Serve hot with Chutney.

Spicy Zuchini fry and my first award!

I don't know how many of you are like me, but if I happen to like some food when I am eating in a restaurant, I have a tendency to quietly investigate the ingredients in the dish both by tasting and viewing. When I'm satisfied that I have the idea of ingredients, my curiosity catches up, and it continues to linger in my mind until I experiment it in my kitchen. There are many recipes that I have tried like this. There have been exellent outcomes and ofcourse some major disasters too :) But it's just so exciting when something that I have "tasted" in my mind interprets on the plate perfectly, especially with Indian food. Indian food uses so many ingredients unlike western food and its a challenge to replicate the exact taste with lot of guesstimates and assumptions.

This is one such dish that I tasted for the first time in an Indian restaurant when we were vacationing in Canada. The vibrant flavors and the authenticity amused me and I was pleasantly surprised to taste a western vegetable like zuchini so well blended with our authentic indian spices. Naturally, I had to start my investigation right away! The first time I tried and tested it in my kitchen, I couldn't control my excitement, because I had gotten the hang of it in just one shot! Soon after trying a couple more times, it took a permanant place in my recipe book. If I think back, probably just this curiosity and the interest to try new things is what that's driving my motivation and passion for cooking.

I had a lot of different plans for cooking today, but it all changed when a pile of fresh mexican zuchinis caught my attention in my local grocery store yesterday. It immediately reminded me of this wonderful dish and I couldn't resist buying them after that thought. I haven't made this dish in a long time and all the ingredients are pretty common and its made in a few minutes. So, what other good reason do I need to change my plans :) After coming back from the grocery store, I started preparing my favorite zuchini dish and chapathis for dinner. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Zuchinis - 2
• Onions - 1/2 cup chopped
• Garlic - 2 big pods
• Tomatoes - 1 medium
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Corriander powder - 2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Corriander leaves - a handful

Procedure:

• Peel and slice the zuchinis in triangle shapes and set aside.
• Mince the garlic and chop the onions finely.
• Heat oil in a pan, season with mustard and cumin seeds. Add the onions and minced garlic and fry until onions turn golden brown.
• Add the zuchinis and all the spice powders along with salt and mix well.
• Turn on the heat and fry the mixture for 3 - 4 mins. No need to add water as the vegetable itself releases enough water to get cooked.
• Simmer and cover for 5 mins. Then add the tomatoes and cover for another 5 mins or until the zuchini is fully cooked.
• Increase the heat to high and let all the water evaporate.
• Add the corriander leaves and keep frying until the vegetable is well roasted and turns to a nice dark red color.

Yummy! and an excellent side dish for Rotis/chapathis.

I feel so privileged to received my first award from my dear friend Vandana. It means a lot to me and is very encouraging and motivating to know that you really enjoy reading my posts. Thanks Vandana! I will pass this award very soon.