Mango Pancake

Mangoes for breakfast! Well, it’s not that amazing. Here is one such breakfast I prepare now and then with mango juice. It’s little spicy and little sweet.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pancake mix
• Mango juice, as needed to make batter
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp red Chili Powder
• Oil

Preparation:

Add mango juice to pancake mix instead of water and make into a thin batter. No need to add salt as the pancake mix already contains salt. Add cumin seeds and chili powder to the batter and mix well.

Heat a non-stick pan, pour a ladleful of batter and spread quickly into a circular shape. Pour some oil around it and leave it for some time to be cooked. After a while flip the pancake over to cook the other side. Pour some more oil around it and leave it again for some time. Remove the pancake from the pan and transfer to a plate.

Repeat the same process with rest of the batter. Enjoy hot pancakes with fresh mango pieces and of course some mango juice!

These yummy pancakes go to dear Arundati of Escapades, who has been hosting the Mango Madness event as a part of WBB#22.

A delightful addition:

Jamie and Shubha Ravikoti has made me so happy by passing “You Make My Day” award. Thank you Jamie and Shubha.

I am passing this award to: Jayasree, Mitr_bayarea, Ranji, Swati Raman Garg, Suma Rajesh and Laavanya.

Kalai has made me jump with joy by passing “Rocking Girl Blog” award. Thank you Kalai.

I am passing this award to: Happy Cook, Rosie, Sangeeth, Sowmya, Shubha Ravikoti, Swati – Sugar craft India and Vaishali.

Congrats and enjoy your award friends!

Sashsree has tagged me for “10 things I hate” meme. I already done this before, Sashree! Please find it here.

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Raisin-Stuffed Apples

Here is another apple recipe from me. I found this recipe accidentally from my collection of recipes and I immediately thought of Srivalli’s MEC: Steamed Dishes event. This is easily done in a microwave within 10 minutes. In this process, the apples are steam cooked in a microwave.

Ingredients:

• 3 Apples (any kind)
• ¼ cup Raisins
• 2 tbsp chopped Cashews (or any mixed nuts)
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ tsp ground Cinnamon
• 1 or 2 tsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tbsp Water

Preparation:

Wash the apples well and core out the seeds.

Then peel off a strip around top of each apple. This prevents the skin from bursting during cooking.

Brush peeled portion of the fruit with a little lemon juice to keep it from turning brown. Keep aside.

In a small bowl, combine raisins, nuts, sugar and cinnamon.

In a 2-quart microwave safe bowl add the water and place the apples in that. Spoon the raisin-nut mixture prepared above, into the cored centers of the apples as in the picture below.

Place the bowl in the microwave, cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or till the apples are tender.

During cooking, remove the cover and rearrange the apples so the steam will cook them evenly. At the same time, spoon some of the cooking liquid over the fruit to moisten it.

Before serving, spoon liquid over apples again. Serve warm or cold with liquid. Makes 3 servings.

This is my contribution to dear Srivalli’s MEC: Steamed Dishes event.

This is also my contribution to "Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy” event hosted by Sangeeth.

A joyful Moment:

Dear friend Sailaja has made me so happy by passing the “Yummy Blog Award”. Thank you for thinking about me Sailaja!

Dear friend Madhavi has asked me to scream with joy while passing the “Rocking Girl Blogger” award. Do you hear my scream of joy, Madhavi! Yaaaaaaaahoooooooo! Thank you so much.

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Peanut Punch from Tastes Like Home

Tried and Tasted (T&T) is a monthly event of appreciation of other blogs - an opportunity to thank our fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them. This month, we’re given a great opportunity to cook the recipes of dear Cynthia of Tastes like Home.

Dear Zlamushka has left a sweet comment on my blog about this great event. So I peeped into Cynthia’s home to look at the taste. Oh boy! I felt like I have stepped into a paradise full of so many mouth-watering recipes and captivating pictures. I just wanted to stay at her home forever enjoying all those yummy dishes. After a while, I came to my senses and started to search for a wonderful recipe, though it was so hard to make up my mind on one recipe. After spending almost an hour there, I found this refreshing recipe for a Peanut Punch. So I immediately decided to prepare it and so I did. And I am glad I did that, because all of us (especially kids) liked it so much and it was a hit. I haven’t made any changes to the original recipe. Thank you Zlamushka for hosting such a wonderful event! Thank you Cynthia for introducing me to such great recipes!

The original recipe can be found in Cynthia’s Tastes Like Home. This is my contribution for “Tried and Tasted” event being hosted by dear Zlamushka of Spicy Kitchen.

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Mini Millet Patties

Open sesame Contest of International Food League is a context started by DK and Siri. When they announced about this contest I jumped up and cracked open a box that had the following riddle.

I am old and ancient and in many places a staple

health and longevity are wonders I wear like a lapel

My different forms give different taste

one form is enjoyed in the mornings - eaten in haste!

Another form is in form of soups and porridge

Or in forms of plain or stuffed breads

I thrive in the hot summers..But make you feel good and warm

I am good to people although many just use me for feeding birds and cattle in farms

I am just no mean and lowly grass with striking resemblance to maize

I have 'pearls' of wisdom to share if you want, to listen to me with grace

People with celiac turn to me

I give you fibre and irons, so rich i am for the world to see

Now sit tight and give it a hard thought - be clever be sane

to guess who I am,

the highly nutritious and healthful whole grain.

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Mango Manthram – Bead Art

When Indira of Mahanandi has announced the Mango Manthram event, I immediately decided to take part in this. Since then I have been scratching my head with thoughts how to do that? I realized it is not that easy creating an art piece about mango, the heavenly fruit, rather than eating it. I thought why Indira didn’t announce Mango Eating Event (he he!). Anyways, I dig a hole in my head by scratching (just kidding) and came up with this bead art. I used different colored beads from my daughter’s bead collection.

What do you say about it? Which one looks better?

In the beginning I also drew two sketches about Mango, but wasn’t satisfied with them. Have a look at them below.

I know you are laughing at my art! Hey, I just gave it a try!

Here is a mango carving by my dear hubby.

My dear friend Andhra Flavors of “For Spicy Lovers” has bestowed the “Yummy Blog Award” on me. Thank you so much for thinking about me, Andhra! You made me so happy.

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Annu’s Tomato Pasta (Your Recipe Rocks) and a Meme

Last Thursday I prepared Annu’s Tomato pasta for dinner. It was so delicious and we all enjoyed it so much. I have made some additions and deletions to the original recipe.

I omitted garlic and butter as said in the original recipe. Instead of butter I used olive oil. I added mixed vegetables and basil to the pasta. We enjoyed this tomato pasta so much. Thanks for such a yummy recipe, dear Annu! “Your recipe really rocks”.

The event “your recipe rocks” is started by dear Madhuram of Eggless Cooking. The main intention of this event is to cook a non-rice dish from a fellow blogger and it has to be a wholesome, stomach filling main dish.

Next let me talk about the meme. I have been tagged by dear Shubha Ravikoti to write about 10 things I hate. It is easy to write about 10 things I like, but 10 things I hate, has put me into test. So I sharpened by brain a little bit and finally came up with these things. Have fun reading. Thanks for the tag, Shubha! That was fun.

• 1. When it is too hot or too cold. I know it is Mother Nature’s sport and we can’t change it. Even then I hate to sweat and shiver.
• 2. I hate being alone during nights. I am afraid of darkness and the silence of night time.
• 3. I hate it when anyone tries to shower advices on me as if I know nothing.
• 4. I hate bragging.
• 5. I hate watching movies that are full of violence and hatred and of course tragedy.
• 6. I hate to take long walks, but my hubby makes me do that for fitness.
• 7. I hate to get wet in the rain (only rain!). I don’t know why!
• 8. I hate it when small kids talk big words like grown-ups. I like when the kids behave like kids.
• 9. I hate bad smells. I like fresh, fragrant odors.
• 10. I hate to eat eggs directly like boiled egg, omelets etc. Of course I eat them when they are in the invisible form like in cakes, cookies etc.

That’s all to it. No more I think! Hope you enjoyed reading it. I don’t want to tag anyone specifically. Anyone who is interested to do this meme can take up this. It’s up to you! But, believe me, it was real fun doing this.

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Happily Clicked with Awards

Click..Click..Click! Here is my entry for CLICK: Beans n Lentils being celebrated at Jai and Bee’s Jugalbandi.

Smiling Beans

I have used Moong Dal (Yellow), Moong Beans (Green) and Black Eye Peas for the click.

And to the most delicious (I mean delightful) part of this post: shower of awards! I am so happy that I have so many blog friends who think about me all the time! Here goes the list of wonderful awards I was showered on. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU ALL!

Dear Siri has made me so happy by sending this award. Thanks Siri, for considering me as a good chatter. I’ll try to keep up to it.

I want to pass this award to: Asha, Cham, Divya Vikram, Dhivya and Meera.

Swati Raman Garg, Meera, Divya Vikram and Shubha Ravikoti have thought I Rock! Thanks everyone! I am so flattered.

This award goes to: Roopa, Srivalli, Vanamala and Vandana Rajesh.

Sukanya Ramkumar and Sangeeth are saying that I make their day. Thanks friends, you too make my day everyday with your sweet comments.

Ranji thought I am nice! Thanq so much dear Ranji!

Suma thought my blog is yummy! Thank you so much Suma!

These awards go to all my blogger friends whose sweet comments always make my day! I hope I have covered all the awards and the friends who sent them. If I miss anyone by mistake please let me know. With that I am signing off. See you all in my next post!

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Bread Custard

Let me take you into my innovative dessert. This is the first time I made this and it turned out so good.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 2 cups milk
• 3 tsp custard powder + ¼ cup water
• ½ cup sugar or according to individual taste
• ½ tsp Cardamom
• Some broken cashews
• Some raisins
• 1 tsp ghee

Preparation:

Toast the bread slices in a toaster and break them into small pieces. Keep aside.

In a bowl heat ghee and add cashews and fry till they turn golden brown.

Then add the bread pieces along with the cardamom seeds, raisins and fry well.

Later add milk and sugar to the bread mixture and stir well. Keep on low flame.

In a small bowl, mix the custard powder with the water and stir well so that the liquid is smooth.
Add this custard solution to the milk + bread mixture and mix well.

Keep this on the flame for some time until the mixture becomes thick and the bread absorbs all the milk.

Turn off the flame and transfer the contents to a different bowl, cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until the custard sets.

This tastes better when eaten cold.

This is my contribution to “Think Spice: Think Cardamom Event” being hosted by dear Easy Crafts of Simple Indian Food. The Think Spice event is the brainchild of Sunita of Sunita’s World.

It’s raining awards in the blogosphere. I am so happy that dear blogger friends are thinking about me while passing the awards. Thank you so much dear friends for these awards. I will present these awards in my next post once I make up my mind on choosing the friends to pass these on (you know, how hard it is!).

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Spicy Sandwich

“Spicy, spicy”, that’s what I like in anything. It doesn’t mean I don’t eat non-spicy things! We eat sandwiches once a week either for lunch or dinner and it is our best companion during journeys. Easy to prepare, easy to carry and is so filling.

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Pooja’s Garooda – Your Recipe Rocks and An Award

Last Wednesday I tried Pooja’s delicious Garooda for our lunch. Garooda is nothing but pancakes (dosas) made with cooked rice and besan. I wish to thank Pooja for this wonderful recipe. We all liked it so much and it was so filling. It was easy to prepare and tasted so good that I would be making it frequently. I didn’t make any changes to the original recipe. The only change I made was: I added some tomatoes and desiccated coconut to the batter and omitted the capsicum. We ate it with ginger chutney.

Your Recipe Rocks is the wonderful theme started by Madhuram of Egglesscooking. I know the main rule for this event is to try recipes from our blogger friends that don’t involve rice in the ingredients. But as I liked this recipe so much and wish to show my appreciation towards Pooja for her delicious recipe, I thought of using it for “Your Recipe Rocks” theme. I hope it is O.K. Next time, when I prepare any recipe from other blogs for this theme, I will be so careful to try the recipe that doesn’t involve rice.

My dear friend, Home Cooked has made me so happy by sending the “Nice Matters Award” my way. Thank you so much for this, HC!

“Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I would like to pass this award to all my wonderful friends who always are nice with me with their sweet, encouraging comments. I know most of them have already received this award long back, but still I wish to pass this award to these friends. This award is for all of you my dear friends, even if I have picked only some!

Cham
Divya Vikram
Madhuram
Siri
Swati Raman Garg

Congrats on the award friends!

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Arroz Verde

Arroz Verde is the Mexican rice recipe meaning “Green Rice”. I got the recipe idea from here, which I customized to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Long-grain Rice (I used Basmati)
• 1 medium Onion
• 4 stalks of Celery
• 4 small Jalapeno Chilies
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• ½ cup Green Peas, frozen or fresh
• 4 small Carrots
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Salt as required
• 3 cups Water

Preparation:

Cut the celery, onion, chilies and garlic into medium pieces. Peel the skin of carrots and cut them into dice sized pieces.

In a microwave safe bowl, add celery, onion, chilies and garlic with just enough water to soak them, cover with a lid and microwave for 10 minutes or until the vegetables become tender.

Meanwhile, wash the rice well and soak in enough water for 15 minutes.

When the vegetables are cooked, take the bowl from the microwave and remove the cover. Let it stand until the vegetables cool down a little bit. Then puree them in a blender into a smooth paste. Reserve the water used for cooking the vegetables for later use as it has so many nutrients. Keep the puree aside.

In a pressure pan, heat the oil and fry the raw rice gently, so that it cooks evenly without burning. To this, add the chopped carrots and green peas and fry well for some time.

Add the pureed vegetables to the rice and stir well again.

Later add 3 cups of water to the rice (use the reserved healthy water too) and adjust the salt.

Stir well, check the salt and cover the pressure pan. Switch it off after 3 whistles. When all the pressure is gone, open the cover and mix the rice well.

Serve hot with some chips or alone.

This rice item tasted so great and the good point is it has all the healthy ingredients. This Arroz Verde is my contribution to A.W.E.D. event being hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar.

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A Note of Thanks and Awards

I am so happy to make such good friends like you! A Big Thanks to you all for your wonderful comments on my previous post of Mother’s Day! My daughter also joins me to convey her heartfelt thanks to you all for such a great encouragement. This really inspired her to do more projects in future. Some of you have asked for the picture of my kids. You can find their picture here.

I was overjoyed when dear friend Swati of Sugarcraft India has thought that I made her day. She is very talented and all her cake works simply amaze me. Thank you so much Swati to pass this award my way. I am so flattered.

I would like to share this award with all of my blogger friends who constantly encourage me with their sweet comments. I wanted to send this to a lot of friends, but it seems some of you already got this award. So, here are some friends I picked. It was really hard to do this.

Annu
Divya Vikram
Kalai
Kamala
Madhavi
Rama
Sukanya Ramkumar

And long back, dear friend Srivalli of Cooking4AllSeasons has bestowed the “Yummy Blog Award” upon me. So lovely of her to think about me! Thank you so much Srivalli. I am so elated!

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