New Arrival !:-)

Dear All,

We are blessed with a baby boy (on April 13th, a day before Vishu, which was on 15th this year). We named him Devang.



This is the mini-sadya prepared by Amma for his naming ceremony. Of course, we had Pal Payasam and Neyyappam/ Unni Appam also, but I missed clicking pictures of the dishes.

Wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead...

This blog will have to wait for some more months for posts:-)

Also, I have realized that pictures from my blog are being used in other websites. This may not be something new to all bloggers out there, but I never thought it would happen to me, my pictures being of poor quality!

Check this out: http://kshore.com/recipe/?rid=48

The picture is taken from my post:

http://ammascooking.blogspot.com/2008/10/diwali-celebrations-and-events.html

I hope to get back to all this and take care to edit my photos and add a watermark/ copyright info etc.

Take care all!

Apologies and Acknowledgements

Despite my promises after my previous break from blogging, I have been away from blogging for over a month now. I think I stretched my vacation-like mode a little too far, with the result that, though I skimmed through the blog list and my reader, I rarely visited any blogs or posted on mine.

Reasons are aplenty. But primarily, after getting back from Singapore, I was caught with applying for admissions to schools for A and attending interviews (yes! they interview the parents and the 3 yr old child too :-( ) for a couple of schools, trying to get a real work at home option to work out (it didn't :-( ), getting some kind of support system in place for A in order that I get more time on my hands for my own stuff (work/hobbies, that too didn't work out :-( ), coming to terms with the stark reality of the attacks in Mumbai and the resulting fear, and so on...

Without wanting to risk sounding like our current politicians, let me not apologise profusely this time. Instead, let me acknowledge the long-time-pending-to-be-collected awards passed on to me by some dear blogger friends. First, Thank You so much dear friends:-).



Lakshmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles passed me the Butterfly Award.

Indranee of Mistress of Spices also passed the Butterfly Award to me.

The rules of the award are:
Put the logo on your blog. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate 10 other blogs. Add links to those blogs on yours, and leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I would love to pass this award to

Adam, Anudivya, Cham, Divya,
Mahimaa, Priti, Purva, Sireesha, Sowmya, and Vaishali.

Arundhuti of Gourmet Affair passed the Good Job and Inspiration Awards



She also passed A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award



This award was also passed on by Andhra Flavours of For Spicy Lovers

I would like to pass the three awards to: Sia, Sra, Srivalli, Ramya, and Usha.


P.S. I have so many pictures (yes, I did click pictures!) waiting for a post by now that I need not worry about having to cook just for blogging until New Year at least, with the exception of any special blog events this month. Hope you will visit this space soon for the recipes:-)

Acknowledgements!

During my undesired and indefinite absence from blogging, my dear blogging friends went out of their way and passed on a few awards, and I am basking in the welcome glory. This post, which is long overdue, is dedicated to acknowledging them.

Kitchen Flavours passed the Wylde Woman Award to me here. The rules of this award are:

1.You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blog site http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/. Tammy can go visit all these wonderful men and women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to men and women, who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy. It's been a blessing and an inspiration to meet all of you through your wonderful blogs.

Srilekha of Me and My Kitchen also passed the Wylde Woman Award to me here. I would love to pass this to every single food blog I have visited even once, because each and every blog has helped me learn new things, and also brightens up my day with the food photographs:D. It truly is a blessing to be able to meet and make new friends every day through their wonderful blogs.

Dershana of The Footloose Chef has passed me the Blogging Friends Forever award. Indranee of Mistress of Spices also passed the Blogging Friends Forever award.

Rules of this award:

1) Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award, 2) 4 of them followers of your blog, 3) One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world, and 4) You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

I would like to pass this on to: Adam, Easy Crafts, Priyanka, Valarmathi, and Anjali, who lives in Michigan.

EasyCrafts of Simple Indian Food tagged me. The rules for the tag are:
(a) List these rules on your blog.
(b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
(c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Here are the 7 facts (I am being very honest):

1. I am short-tempered, and get angry for very silly things
2. I am very picky and choosy about certain things, for instance, putting things back where they were taken from, cleaning up
3. I hate being late for meetings, parties, appointments, movies
4. I can never say NO to someone, if anyone asks for things, even if I may need it at the time, and if I ever do say NO, I start feeling guilty about it, and tend to apologize for no reason
5. I usually pass the blame on situations or people when things go wrong, and can easily find excuses to shun responsibility
6. I am obsessed about being perfect, doing things perfectly, and therefore, never happy with the way I do things or the way I am
7. From all of the above, you can easily guess, that I have very few close friends!

I am tagging: Priti, Purva, Sripriya, Kitchen Flavours, Sowmya, Usha and Divya

EC also passed me the Brilliante Weblog award. I have received this before. I would love to pass this award to:

Dee, Dershana, Sunshinemom, and Sangeeth
Sireesha of Mom's Recipes passed the Good Job award. Vibaas of Delectable Vegetarian Recipes also passed the Good Job award to me.

I would love to pass this to:Deesha, Cham, Sujatha, Madhavi

Priti of Indian Khana wished me a speedy recovery and passed the Perfect Blend of Friendship Award. I would like to pass this on to:

Priti, Vaishali, Nags, Suma, and Sireesha

Festive Mood, Awards, and MeMe

Ever since my dear friend Priti of Indian Khana announced the Festive Food Event along with Purva of Purva's Daawat (another dear and new friend from the food blog world), I have been elevated to a festive mood. This is the main festival season too, with Rakhi, Krishna Janmashtami, Navarathri, Ramadan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra lined up one after the other (If I have missed any, please forgive!).

Though I intend to post a sweet dish made specially on Raksha Bandhan and submit for the first FF event: Rakhi – Thread of Love, I could not help but think of Aviyal, the quintessential part of Kerala cuisine and festive occasions. Any feast is incomplete without it, and so would have been my little spread on Sunday, if I had not made the Aviyal in the picture:

Now, before get to the recipe, let me warn the Aviyal purists that this Aviyal does not have yam in it because I did not have yam at home at the time I decided to make it. Also, I used yellow pumpkin! I know, it sounds ridiculous, but then, I have grown up with Aviyal, and each time I have it, I am reminded of the story I have heard of the cook who just chopped all remaining vegetables after a feast and made Aviyal with them. So, that is exactly what I did with the vegetables that were leftover from last week in the fridge, and in a very simple way!

To make the Aviyal in the picture, you will need:

Veggies:
Plantain - 1 (I do not peel the skin)
Carrots - 1
White Pumpkin - about a 150 gm piece
Drumsticks - 1 large
Beans - 4-5
Longyard beans - 4-5
Bitter Gourd - (shocking?) - 1
Snake Gourd - 1 medium length
Green chillies -2
Curry Leaves - 2 strands
Ginger - finely chopped - 1tbsp (optional)
Garlic - 2 cloves (optional)

Note: All vegetables can be cut into long rectangles.

For the base:
Coconut - 2 cups - grated
Curd - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Jeera/ Cumin seeds powder - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp (Use Coconut Oil for the best taste)

Method:

• Boil the vegetables except garlic in a pan with 2 cups of water and salt to taste, adding the hard ones first, and the soft ones later
• Grind the coconut, curd, turmeric and jeera powders into a coarse paste (not too fine)
• Once the vegetables are evenly cooked, add the paste and curry leaves and mix well
• Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, adjust consistency (gravy/ dry) with water
• Pound the garlic and add at this stage and mix well
• Add the oil on top (Neyyi Nanakkuka), and remove from heat

Serve hot with rice. We have this with chapathis too.

Awards

*Swati of Swati's Sugarcraft and Purva of Purva's Daawat have passed me the Brillante Weblog premio-2008 award. Thank you so much, girls. This means so much to me!

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere. Here are the rules to follow:

• When you recieve the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.
• Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
• Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’.
• Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).

I would like to pass this to:

Cham of Spice Club

Nupur of One Hot Stove

Priya of Akshayapaatram

Sra of When My Soup Came Alive

Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons

Sunita of Sunita's World

VP of Vegetable Platter

*Priti of Indian Khana has passed me the 'Rocking Girl Blogger Award.' Priti is a rocking blogger herself, and I am so humbled by her gesture. Thank you, Priti :-)

I would like to pass this award to:

N of A_and_N at Delectably yours, (A, if there ever is a Rocking Boy Blogger award, I'd pass it to you, but you see, I'd never receive it in the first place!)

*SriLekha of Me and My Kitchen has passed two awards to me: "Beautiful Site Award" and "Best Blog Darts Thinker Award."

Thanks a lot, SriLekha, I am truly blessed!

I would like to pass these awards to:

Adam of Baking with Dynamite

Dee of Choos & Chews

Kevin of Closet Cooking

Laavanya of Cookery Corner

Lore of Culinarty

Nags of Edible Garden

Sia of Monsoon Spice

Sireesha of Mom's Recipes

Suganya of Tasty Palettes

Vaishali of Holy Cow!

MeMe

Pragyan of Sorisha - Cooking at Pragyan's and Priti of Indian Khana have tagged me with The Booky MeMe. I have done this before, but I so love to read, and want to do this again!

The rules of the tag are as follows:

Pick up the nearest book, Open to page 123, Find the 5th sentence, Post the next three sentences, and Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

Nearest Book: Journey of a Master, Swami Chinmayananda. The Man, the Path, the Teaching, by Nancy Patchen. Central Chinmaya Mission Trust. (Bought it this weekend, and currently reading)

The three sentences after the 5th sentence on page 123:

1. Then joining hands, they circled the lamp three times.
2. After the ceremony, the parents of both the bride and groom escorted them to Poothampalli House, Manku's family home.
3. Upon entering the home, Manku scattered grains of rice over the threshold; then she was received with honour with the lamp from the prayer room by Kouchi Narayani, the eldest woman of the household.

I would love to pass this MeMe to:

Clumbsy Cookie

JZ of Tasty Treats

Mathew of Ambrosia

Purnima of Fantasy Cooking

Sukanya of Hot N Sweet Bowl

Whew! This is one lengthy post. I need some rest after this!:-)

Fridge Magents, and more BFs :-)

Veda of Iyengar's Kitchen is hosting the Fridge Magnet Collection event on her blog. It is such a delightful idea, and the best part of the event is that she started by saying "It may be one, two or many. But they make you happy!" I have very few fridge magnets, and nothing to boast of, the only fridge magnets I have are all from 3 places.


The magnetic spoons and ladles and the windmill are from the Nederlands (Amsterdam), the cable car, the Golden Gate bridge, the picture frame, and the sand slipper (my daughter turns it upside down!) from the United States (San Francisco, California), and the Melbourne Finders Street Station from Australia.

My daughter loves to play with them, which is why some are in a bad condition. If you look closely, you will notice that I have used scotch tape for some of the spoons to hold the magnets behind them. As a baby, when I was alone with her, I would hold her in my arms while in the kitchen, and she always wanted those to hold or play with. She loves the picture frame too, and always points to it saying "Baby!" I replaced one of her older pictures with a recent passport sized one, and love to see that picture whenever I turn towards the fridge.

Before I ramble on and bore you, this post goes to the Fridge Magnet Collection event at Veda's Iyengar's Kitchen.


Now, to the BF's in the title. No, I didn't mean boyfriends :-P! I definitely am fortunate to have more Blogging Friends:-)

JZ of Tasty Treats has passed me the Blogging Friends Forever award.
Dibs of Chitra Amma's Kitchen has also passed me the same award.

Thanks a lot, JZ, and Dibs :-)

This is the fourth and fifth time that I am receiving this award. I am so delighted, I can't express how happy I am! I am unable to decide on passing the award again and following the rules, and will therefore link to the previous posts. A big thank you to all my blogging friends who visit and continue to boost my spirits.

Dry Gobi (Cauliflower) with Spring Onions

First, I would like to thank Valarmathi of Simple and Yummy Recipes, for passing me the Blogging Friends Forever award. I am so excited about receiving the award again, and all the friends I have made, and will make through this blog! I would love to pass this award to all the bloggers who visit and continue to encourage me to keep posting...

To begin with the Cauliflower with Spring Onions (scallion, green onion, salad onion), this is the first time I made something with spring onions. I never knew what to do with them, and was quite lost when R bought a pack when he shopped for groceries one weekend. I did google for recipes, but was more confused with all the results which were alien to me (I don't make salads! Yeah, not a healthy eater).

Thankfully, R had also bought cauliflower, and I decided I'd just chop those spring onions into whatever I would make with the cauliflower. I normally use onions, and therefore, it was easy to substitute them with the spring onions, including the green leaves. To make Dry Gobi with Spring Onions, you will need:

Gobi/ Cauliflower - 4-5 cups of evenly broken florets

When cooking, the outer leaves and thick stalks are removed, leaving only the florets. The leaves are also edible, but are most often discarded. The florets should be broken into similar-sized pieces so they are cooked evenly. After eight minutes of steaming, or five minutes of boiling, the florets should be soft, but not mushy (depending on size). Stirring while cooking can break the florets into smaller, uneven pieces. - Wikipedia

Spring Onions - chopped - about 2 cups
Tomatoes - chopped - 3 large
Green chilly - sliced - 1
Ginger - peeled and pounded - 1 tbsp
Garlic - peeled and pounded - 2 tsp/ 3-4 medium sized cloves
Lemon - 1/2 slice
Coriander leaves - chopped - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Jeera/ Cumin seeds powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Water - 2 cups
Salt - to taste


Method:

• After breaking the washed cauliflower florets into similar-sized pieces, boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan, remove from stove, add the cauliflower pieces, squeeze the lemon juice over it, add about a tsp of salt, mix well, and leave covered for 30 minutes.

Note: This does not cook the cauliflower. This helps to clean the cauliflower, and retain the white colour of the cauliflower.

• Heat oil in a pan, add the chopped spring onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly, and tomatoes
• Mix well, and toss in all the powders except pepper and garam masala
• Keep covered, and cook on low flame until tomatoes are cooked, stirring in between

• Drain the water completely from the cauliflower pieces, and add them to the tomato-spring onion mixture
• Add the garam masala powder, pepper, and salt to taste and mix well, taking care not to break the cauliflower
• Leave this to cook for another 5-10 minutes, covered and on low flame, until the cauliflower pieces are cooked well, but not mushy
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Serve with chapathi/ roti

Below, I have a picture of the same dish prepared with normal onions, instead of spring onions. As you will notice, the cauliflower became a little mushy and broken in this one:D

A Month Old, The 30th Post, And An Award

Hi friends!

I am so happy and excited to say that this blog has lasted a month. For all the veterans and regular bloggers out there, this must sound like a joke, but believe me, this is a huge achievement for a procrastinator like me! I have started many blogs before, and they always died within a week, because I was lazy to post. I am glad I am posting here today!

Coincidentally, this is the 30th post, and I feel elated to announce an award too!

Thanks to Sripriya of Srikar's Kitchen and Rashmi of En Vittu Virundhu for passing the Blogging Friends Forever award to me.

This award inspires me to continue blogging and make friends with all the fellow bloggers (in the foodie blog world atleast).

The following rules apply to this award:

1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award
2. 4 of them followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

Pl Note: But for the rules of this award, I would have loved to pass this to every single person who has visited my blog and left a note or two...

I am passing this to:

AF of Andhra Flavors

Priti of Indian Khana

Sireesha of Mom's Recipes

VP of Vegetable Platter

and

Cynthia of Tastes Like Home, from Barbados, who is a new visitor to my blog