Bread Upma

Preparation Time : 1 hr
Serves : 3 to 4

 Ingredients

1. Bread   - 1 loaf

2. Onion(big)  - 3 finely chopped

3. Green Chillies   - 3 finely chopped

4. Tomato   - 3 finely chopped
5. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
6. Corriander - 1 small cup finely chopped

7. Mustard Seeds - 1 Tsp
8. Channa Daal (Kadalai Parupu) - 2 Tsp
9. Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 2 Tsp
10. Turmeric Powder (manjal podi) - 1 Tsp

11. Ghee   - for frying and roasting bread

12. Sugar   - to taste

13. Salt   - to taste

Method

1. Cut bread slice into cubes (Alternatively the bread can be toasted in a toaster with little butter/ghee and cut into small cubes, I prefer this method as it toasts uniformly)

2. Roast the bread cubes using ghee and keep aside

3. Add ghee in a tawa, add mustard seeds and when mustard seeds crackle, add Channa Dal and when it is half fried, add Cumin seeds.  Fry till golden brown.

4. Add finely chopped onions and fry till golden brown

5. Add chillies and tomatoes
6. Add turmeric powder

7. Add salt to taste

8. Fry till there is no water content in the mixture

9. Add the bread cubes to the mixture.

10. Mix well till the mixture gets mixed with the bread cubes

11. Add sugar and then mix well.

12. Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot.

Tomato ketchup or Maggi Hot and Sweet Ketchup will go well with Bread Uppuma.
This can be made a day before and taken for lunch the next day.

Also if the bread is nearing its expiry this is a good way to use it without wasting.

Cupcakes..

These are some of the cupcakes I made for a fund raising event at work..

Potato Masal

Potato Masal

Potato Masal

 

Poori with Potato Masal

Preparation Time : 1.00 hr
Serves : 2 to 3

Ingredients

1. Potato                                            ½ lbs
2. Onion                                             1 big sliced finely
3. Green chillies                                  2 slit
4. Mustard seeds (Kadugu)                1 tsp
5. Channa Daal (Kadalai Paruppu)     1 tsp
6. Turmeric Power (Manjal Podi)       2 tsp
7. Curry leaves                                   1 sprig
8. Oil                                                  2 tbsp
9. Salt                                                 To taste
10. Ginger                                           1/4 inch piece finely chopped
                                   
Method

1. Boil potatoes with salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder, peel and mash (do not mash to a fine paste).
2. In a frying pan, add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds.
3. When mustard seeds start to splutter, add channa daal.
4. When channa daal starts to turn golden, add green chillies and curry leaves.
5. Add finely sliced onions and fry till translucent, do not fry till golden.
6. Once the onions are translucent, add remaining turmeric powder and fry for a minute. (You can add finely chopped ginger while frying the onions.)
7. Add the potatoes and a cup of water.
8. Add salt to taste and mix well.
9. Wait till the potatoes are mixed well with the onions and boil for a minute or two.
10. If the potatoes are too chunky, you can mash it a little  bit with a masher but leave some of them a little chunkier so that the whole dish does not become a mash.

Peas can also be added while adding the potatoes. 
Cilantro can be added for garnishing. 
Also for a twist a spoonful of sambar powder can be added while frying the onions, this will give a different taste and a nice orange/red colour.

This can be enjoyed with poori, chapathi,  dosa or even with yogurt rice.

Long time...

It has been a very looooooo..ng time since I posted.  I have taken a lot of pictures of my recipes and will post it as soon as I get a chance.  Also planning to post some useful tips.. trying to slowly collect tips from friends and self and will be posting soon..

Finally I thought that I could post some recipes (some from me, my mom, my husband!! and my sister). 

Here we go!!!

Wheat (Godumai) Adai

Preparation Time : 1.30 hrs (Including Soaking Time)
Serves : 3 to 4

Ingredients

1. Cracked wheat (Godumai Ravai) - 1 cup
2. Toor Daal (Thuvaram Paruppu) - 1/2 cup
3. Channa Daal (Kadalai Paruppu) - 1/2 cup
4. Urad Daal (Ulutham Paruppu) - 1/2 cup
5. Red Chillies - 4 - 5
6. Hing (Asofateda) - 1/2 tsp
7. Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup halved
8. Salt - to taste
9. Oil for pan frying

Method

1. Soak the ingredients from 1 to 4 for 30 mins to 1 hour and wash them well to remove any impurities.
2. In a food processor or mixer, add the soaked ingredients, red chillies, hing and salt and grind to a coarse batter.
3.  Add required amount of water to make a dosa batter consistency
4. Add the halved curry leaves
5. In a hot tawa, pour a laddle full of the batter and make thin adais.
6.  This will take a little longer than dosa to cook.  The longer you cook, the crispier the adai gets

Variations

1. 1/2 cup Toor Daal can be substitued with 1/4 cup toor Daal and 1/4 cup masoor daal (orange daal). This makes the adai even crispier.

2. Instead of Cracked wheat, rice can be used.

3.  Instead of curry leaves, drumstick leaves (murungai elai) can be used, but double the quantity.

4. When you spread the batter, you can add finely chopped onions, but the onions should be added right after you spread the batter, only then it will stick to the batter, otherwise, it will fall off the adai.

This cracked wheat adai is a healthier option than the rice adai.

Jaggery (vellam), coconut chutney,  milagai podi or avial will go well with this adai.

Batter can be refrigirated and used the next day also.

Rangoli

Below is a picture of the Rangoli I made for a celebration at work which had a Bollywood Theme.  I used several  Indian Spices to create this. 

Double Negative and usage of Anyways

DOUBLE NEGATIVES

I always wonder how people whose only language being English, could speak in double negative.. for eg....

I don't do nothing...
I am not going nowhere...
I do not want to hear no more...
I am not saying nothing...

A double negative is a non-standard usage of two negatives in the same sentence, that cancel each other and create a positive statement.  A sentence with double negatives is not grammatically  correct.
There are even a couple of songs by famous artist with this double negative phrases...

Usage of ANYWAYS

Also the usage of the word anyways... there is no such word as "anyways" , it should be only "anyway". 
Anyway is used if one means "in any case".. In formal writing "anyways" is never used and also it is suggested that usage of "anyways" should be avoided in an interview.

Nowadays we hear these two on  TV a lot ... 

These are basic grammatic mistakes which we can definetly aviod in our day to day speech so that the kids do not use incorrect usage of words..