Aloo-Methi Paratha (Paratha stuffed with Potato and Fenugreek leaves)

Valli, Wish you a very very Happy Birthday!!!
It's our BM Commander-in-Chief, Valli's birthday today and to celebrate the day the BM group decided to cook any dish from her blogs and post it. Valli is our organizer, our motivator and our inspiration. Without her Blogging marathon event, I don't even know if I would be blogging so regularly or not. So big thanks to her for creating this group and leading it so efficiently for more than 5 years now.

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Coconut & Tamarind Rice

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes from Fellow BM Bloggers

Dish: Coconut & Tamarind Rice
Today I have a delicious variation to tamarind rice. I bookmarked this coconut tamarind rice recipe from Priya's blog the minute I saw it. I made it couple of weeks back and it tasted amazing, so simple to make but very flavorful and delicious.

Tamarind rice is one of the dishes that is made very frequently in my household, typically around the end of the week when I'm running out of veggies and also during festival season. Both my kids love peanuts, so I had a little extra for them in this dish.

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Saravana Bhavan Sambar

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Saravana Bhavan Sambar
For the 2nd day of cooking from Veena's space, I made this perfect Saravana Bhavan sambar. Saravana bhavan is a popular restaurant in Chennai and this sambar replicates the one served there.

I've never been to this restaurant in India, but heard a lot about it. So we went to their Edison location in NJ, but lets just say the experience is nothing to talk about. The food was 'meh' and the service was 'blah' :-) But I want to visit the restaurant in Chennai some time. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later.

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Iyengar Bakery Khara Bread (Spicy Indian flavored Bread)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Iyengar Bakery Khara Bread

We are starting the final week of Blogging Marathon for this month today and I'm paired with Veena and for the next 3 days I'm going to post 3 dishes from Veena's blog. Veena blogs at Veena's Veg Nation and she has an awesome collection of recipes both traditional Indian and International. She is an amazing baker, I have quite a few of her breads and other baked goodies bookmarked, hopefully I'll get to bake them some time soon.

For the first day, I made this Iyengar Bakery style spicy Khara Bread. This bread has delicious Indian flavors with cumin seeds, onions, mint and cilantro. Make it as spicy as you want with green chilies. I kept it mild because my kids are too big on spicy food.

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Korean Onion Bread (Yang PaBbang)

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Korean Onion Bread from Varada's Kitchen
The second bread that I really wanted to bake right away was Varada's 'Korean Onion Bread'. It looked so colorful and interesting with the onion, pepper and cheese filling and topping. I remember seeing something similar in the local Korean bakery, which was another reason for me try it at home.
I made it for my Mother's day lunch and the entire loaf was gone by the end of the day. It looked and tasted delicious with the cheesy center and topping.

Original recipe had ham in it and Varada used red peppers instead. I think that was a brilliant idea because red pepper gave the bread a beautiful color and makes it taste hearty & yummy!!

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Quick Paneer Pulao (Pressure Cooker Method)

We are celebrating Sapana's Virtual Baby Shower' today. Welcoming a new bundle of joy into the family is a very exciting time for the whole family and especially to the mom. So Sapana, here's wishing you 'All the very best for the new arrival'.

So our BM group decided to cook from Sapana to celebrate her Virtual Baby Shower. I picked a simple one-pot dish, Paneer Pulao from Sapana's blog. This dish was a hit with my family. I made minor changes to the original recipe to suit for taste preference.

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Apple-Orange Mocktail

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: BM Pair (Sujatha Ram)
Dish: Apple-Orange Mocktail

For the final day of this month's marathon, I have a very simple mocktail from Sujatha's blog. I hardly ever make juices at home, I'm just too lazy to make them. Because it takes quite a bit of effort to make these juices and takes mere seconds to finish them. Sigh!! Its better for everyone to just eat their fruits than drink them. This is totally my personal opinion, no offense meant to anyone.

But this particular mocktail caught my eye on Sujatha's blog. I loved her clicks and the combination of apple and orange with ginger sounded interesting. So I made it for my kids, but I guess I was the one enjoying it the most. The weather in our neck of woods has been quite summer like and this drink was very refreshing on a hot afternoon.

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Carrot-Onion Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: BM Pair (Sujatha Ram)
Dish: Carrot-Onion Chutney

For the last week of marathon, we are cooking from our fellow marathoner. I got paired with Sujatha Ram who blogs at Indian Veg Kitchen. Sujatha is a relatively new blogger, but has quite a few authentic and delicious vegetarian dishes. I have many of her traditional desserts bookmarked and wanted to make at least one for this week, but with my husband travelling, I didn't want to eat the calories all by myself.

So for the first day, I made this Carrot chutney based on Sujatha's carrot-small onion chutney. I wanted to make something different to go along with the masala idlis and this carrot chutney sounded perfect to me. Also my son doesn't eat carrot and I wanted him to try this. He didn't know that it had carrot and ate it without complaint. Even my husband and sister didn't know that it was carrot chutney and liked it a lot.

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Kerala Egg Curry

This is a tasty egg curry cooked with spices in Kerala style to serve along with Appams. Everyone in my household loves eggs and I'm always looking for different egg curries and this one was like by everyone.

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Assam -- Labra (Mixed Vegetable Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 3
State: Assam
Dish: Labra

Assam is a state in the North eastern part of India. It is located south of the Eastern Himalayas and comprises of the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys. It is surrounded by the six of the other Seven Sister States. Geographically Assam and the other sister states are connected to India via a narrow strip of land in West Bengal called the Silguri Corridor or 'Chicken's neck' (this is something new to me and wanted to share with all of you)

Cuisine: Because of the geographical location, Assam has both the mountains and plains which influence their style of cooking. It is a confluence of cooking habits of the hills that favor fermentation and drying as forms of food preservation and those from the plains that provide fresh vegetables and abundance of fish from the many rivers and ponds that run through the state. The cuisine is characterized by very little use of spices, little cooking over fire and the preparations are rarely elaborate.

Staple Food: Rice, Fish, Meat & Vegetables.

Specialties: Tenga (light and sour fish dish), Pura (Assamese version of smoked or barbecued meat or fish), Pitika (side dishes), Bor-a etc.,

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Chili Parotta/ Kothu Parotta

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Online Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Chili Parotta

The first time I tasted Chili Parotta was about 4~5 years ago in Saravana bhavan in Edison, NJ. Both my husband and I didn't really like it. It was way too greasy and heavy on the stomach. So that ended my chili parotta eating experience on a bad note.
Recently I saw this recipe on Sandhya's blog and it looked so much tastier than what I remember chilli parotta to be. I bookmarked it right away.

My husband bought a packet of frozen 'Kawan Paratha' instead of regular wholewheat rotis that I usually buy. So I knew I had to make the chilli parotta with them and was waiting for an occasion to make it. Which came the other day when we needed a quick dinner after whole day of shopping. If you time, then you can also make your own Kerala Parottas.

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Cranberry Pulihora

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Online Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Cranberry Pulihora

For the final week of blogging marathon, I chose to do 'Online Bookmarked Recipes'. I thought this will be a great way to try and make some of the dishes from my ever-growing bookmarked recipes. It was quite a task to decide on the 3 dishes for this week. Finally based on the ingredients in the fridge and pantry I made 3 delicious dishes.
First up is this colorful Cranberry Pulihora that I bookmarked from Usha's blog. Using cranberries to give the required tartness/ sourness to pulihora sounded absolutely delicious and I wanted to try it right away.

Usha boiled the cranberries to make a gojju/ paste, but mentioned that they can be sauteed as well. Being the lazy bum that I am, I took the easy way and cooked the cranberries along with the other tempering and the cranberries cooked to perfection in just about 5~7 minutes. So this is a dish that can be made in less than 30 minutes and does not need any prior preparations.

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Adai Aviyal

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Bookmarked recipes
Dish: Adai Aviyal

We are starting the final week of Blogging Marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Bookmarked recipes'. My bookmarks are multiplying by the minute. There are so many recipes that I really really want to try but I never seem to find the time or the occasion to make them. Thanks to Valli for creating the occasion by making bookmarked recipes as a theme during BM, which gives us a chance to try at least 3 dishes from the bookmarked folder.

So for the first day, I made Adai-Aviyal (Avial). I didn't know they were served together as a combo until BM# 30 where this was part of the combo dishes. Few of my fellow marathoners made this combo and I bookmarked Vaishali's & Priya's posts.

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Kerala Parotta & Mixed Vegetable Curry

Blogging Marathon# 35: Day 2/ Week 2
Theme: Regional Dishes - Course Specific
Dish: Dinner --- Kerala Parotta & Mixed Vegetable Curry

For Day 2 of BM# 35, I decided to explore the dinner recipes of Kerala. I have seen Kerala Parotta on a number of blogs and wanted to give them a try. I never ate a properly made Kerala Parotta, I might have eaten a frozen version of it, even that I'm not very sure.

After looking through the recipe the techniquee of making it is similar to lachcha paratha. Only difference being Kerala Parotta is made with all-purpose flour or maida whereas lachcha paratha is made with atta or whole wheat flour. Also parotta has significant amount of oil used.

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Kerala Cabbage Thoran & Sambar

Blogging Marathon# 35: Day 1/ Week 2
Theme: Regional Dishes - Course Specific
Dish: Kerala Cabbage Thoran & Sambar

We are starting our Week 2 of Blogging Marathon# 35 and my theme for this week is 'Any Regional with Course Specific dishes'. After seeing Rajani's Kerala Sadya recipes during the mega month long marathon, I have been planning to try my hand at Kerala dishes. Finally I made 3 dishes for this week's marathon.
The twist that Valli put to this seemingly simple theme is that we have to post a different course every day. So for the first day I'm posting 2 Kerala Lunch dishes, a simple Cabbage thoran and a hearty Sambar.

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Baby Corn-Peas Masala Curry

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Baby Corn-Peas Masala Curry

I bookmarked this recipe from Valli's blog the minute I saw it. For some reason the combination of baby corn and peas sounded very appealing. We get canned baby corn here and I usually keep a can in the pantry, so it comes in handy when I'm running out of fresh veggies. Baby corn is also a great addition to Indo-Chinese dishes.

I have had baby corn in rice dishes and fried as appetizer, but never cooked by itself in a curry. I remember eating Chili Baby corn in a restaurant in Hyderabad and it tasted awesome. There are a ton of recipes online and may be one when I'm ready to deep fry I'll make this.

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Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

It has been a busy day and I'm very late for the 3rd day post for BM# 34. I was busy prepping for the Thanksgiving party and also finishing up the necessary shopping. Weather was lousy today, gloomy, cold and rainy -- totally uninspiring and dull.

I was planning to make one of Sapana's Chole recipe. I had already soaked the chickpeas, but by the time we came back from shopping, we were starving and I didn't have time to cook the beans and make the curry. Instead I made this quick to make Seviyan Pulao. 

I make semya pulao often, but the addition of tomato, garlic masala paste is new and added lot of flavor to the pulao. Also using carom seeds in tempering is a different element. It tasted great and we had a filling lunch.

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Fuzian Stir Fry

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Fuzian Stir Fry

Week 4 of BM# 34 and the theme for this week is one of my favorite themes, 'Cooking from fellow BMer'. I love browsing through blogs, but these days I hardly get anytime to do that, so this week's theme is great to focus on just one blog, pick 3 dishes and post them.

Valli paired me with lovely Sapana who blogs at 'Cooking with Sapana'. Sapana has been blogging for about an year, but already has about 400 recipes on her blog. So you can imagine how tough it was to chose only 3 dishes for the week :-) I picked dishes based on the limited ingredients in my pantry, because this past week my husband was travelling and I didn't go grocery shopping.

Sapana has a variety of recipes to choose from, both Indian and International. So for the first day, I picked her 'Fuzian Fried Rice' recipe, but instead of making a fried rice I made just the veggie stir fry and served it with rice.

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Oats Rava Idli (Instant Oats Idli)

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Instant Idlis/ Dosas
Dish: Oats Rava Idli

Today we are starting 2ndvweek of BM# 34 and my theme for this week is 'Instant Idlis/ Dosas'. I'm one those lazy people who always forgets to soak dal and rice for idlis and dosas, but dreams of fluffy idlis and crispy dosas. I wake up one morning craving for a good homemade South Indian style breakfast, but alas somebody forgot make the batter(!!!!!) So most of the time I'm making these instant idlis and dosas to satisfy my cravings.

I mostly make adai (mixed lentil dosas) or pesarattu (moong dal dosas) which require minimum soaking time and no fermentation time. But for the next 3 days, I'm going to post recipes that require no soaking time to up to a maximum of 30minutes soaking time. They are great for mid-week or even mid-day idli/ dosa cravings.

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Vyborg Pretzels (Eggless version)

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: BM# 32 Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Vyborg Pretzels by Chef Mireille

I am revisting my fellow bloggers posts from the A-Z Alphabet marathon for this week of BM# 33. Like I said yesterday it has been tough finalizing this week's 3 dishes. I still have no idea what to make for tomorrow from the very long list of short listed dishes. I've to check my pantry and the fridge to see what can be made with th time I have. I wish I can try all the recipes, but alas I can't.

So for Day 2, I made Chef Mireille's Vyborg Pretzels. These pretzels are popular in the city of Vyborg, which was previously part of Finland. These pretzels caught my eye the minute I saw them. I've been planning to make pretzels for quite some time now and when I saw these I knew this was going to be my very first pretzel recipe to try. I wasn't disappointed. This recipe makes 4 huge challah bread style pretzels that are soft, slightly sweet and super flavorful from the addtion of saffron and cardamom.

Changes I made were, use egg-replacer in place of eggs, brush with heavy cream in place of egg yolk-milk mixture and sprinkle some turbonado sugar on top for some extra sweetness and crunch. My pretzel shape did not turn out as professional as Mir's, but they tasted amazing especially when eaten warm. They stay fresh when wrapped well and stored at room temperature for couple of days.

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