Hi everyone

what's happening...no blogs since APRIL....Hows Smita and here little KUDI...eager to see her..sorry Samar and Sanjay, have't sidelined you...are you a coming to Mumbai...Or thinking over after the BOMB BLASTS....And how are things in Nayaks, Prabhus ,Shanbhag camps in the US ...where is Shailamami's andSharumami's corner ... We need to spice up our blog


VANDANA, SUDHIR, VAISHNAVI

Happy Birthday Shivanand kaka

Here's to another fun year as you grow another year younger!

Many many happy returns of the day! Wishing you the best of the best that life has to offer.
Enjoy your B-day over another round of kaki's special delicacies. We remember, to name a few, Puri bhaji, Gulab Jamuns, pulao and how could I forget....the yummy shevai that we ate year after year.

With best wishes from your near and dear (upkarisncurries-loving) family.

Thankyou much for the anniversary wishes

Mucho gracias for the wonderful wishes on our wedding anniversary. I wish I were on that train 15 years ago coz I missed out on all that fun. Guess the jaadugar had me under his spell. 15 years later we have a pillu jadugarni who has us wound round her lil fingers.

Shaadi ki Saalgirah Mubarak ho

To Cousin Smi and S Bhaoji (i don't think i have ever called him Bhaoji :-) ). 15 years... a milestone...Wishing the funtastic couple tons and tons of happiness and fun.

Cousin Smi's wedding was such a memorable event for me. The whole family (it seemed like most of us went) travelled by train to B'lore. The journey was one of its kind eating all the yummy food that Sheila mami and Shamala mami had made, the idlis the dahi rice, singing songs, playing with the cousins... waking up early in morning (woken by Rmam) to drink the station ka chai so we could beat the other travellers to the toilets :-). Staying at the IDBI quarters and listening to Smi talk to San in Konkani (that a first time for me, I had never heard her speak in Konkani before) and we all had our jaws drop. Negotiating with the Rickshawala's each day over the fare (which would be different each day for the same distance). The wedding day, where we were all taking pictures of ourselves. Sanhita had all the bags labelled and categorized so she could find things inside the bags !!!!. Amazing...
I remember sitting next to Smi and waiting for the groom to arrive. When she saw him, she said " He kay ?? Whats that on his head, he looks like a jadugaar". Well... The Jadugaar obviously did some good magic... he got the beautiful bride.
There is so much more of that trip that I remember. I could go on and on...
Anyways, on that note... Wishing the lovely couple again...from all us phoenicians here....and from Aai and Pappa in mumbai and from akka in BKK ....

Aai's chutney pitti.

We all have some memories, some things that hold a special place in our hearts, almost like a sacred thing. You never want to do anything to spoil it. Some things like your comfort foods from your childhood or people who hold a special spot in your hearts. I know I do....

One of my favorite recipes, is the taste of Aai's chutney pitti. Incomparable to anything or anyone else's in my mind. For years, I wouldn't want to even try anyone else's for being disloyal to my memories of her concoction :-) (Not that she cared or even knew about this silly notion of mine). I didn't even want to ask her the recipe because year after year, I made sure she sent it to me. That was the only thing I would ask for her instead of the delectable mithais or shimmering sarees!!. Now, that T has gotten this ajji's chutney mania (She will NOT eat any other chutney pitti. Nope...doesn't match up to Ajji's she says !!), I had to do something...I had no excuses left to not make it here. I have a fully grown kadi patta tree in my yard.

We get all the ingredients .. However there was still one glitch. Aai's recipes are never measured. It's always "thode Kobre, thode dalia...so on". So, how was I to get that exact taste? I beleive I won't ever get that but as close I get to it, would be just as good.

I had to take the challenge of producing a close enough copy so I could supplement the chutney pitti when the original gold mine would get depleted before the next batch arrived from the Mistress of Chutney pitti. So, I tried the following recipe. I had to make it several times to get the consistency and mix of sweet,tangy and hot. Of course, had to make some substitutions. But my ultimate acceptance was when both C and T said that it was just a step below Aai's ...That was a high enough praise for me :-)

Ingredients

2 cups Dalia

2 .5 cups of dry grated coconut

3 tablespoons mirchi powder

2 tsps amchur powder (Aai uses amsan but I didn't have any)

2 cups of kadi patta leaves( washed and dried)

Hing, salt, sugar to taste

Method

Roast the dalia, coconut, mirchi powder,hing and kadi patta on slow fire, one at a time. Grind them to a fine powder and add salt, sugar and amchur powder to the mix and then enjoy....

Next to master is Aai's mashli ambat :-) ..I think Akka has already mastered it so maybe she can post her experience...What say, Akka?

Shaadi Mubarak Ho.....

Our Best wishes to dear Gauri and Ketan. The little girl who sat next to me and probably a couple of other cousins coz she was the littlest girl in the family is now the bride. Showers of blessings from all of us.....

And Thankyou mami and Smi for the shaadi ke laddoo recipe :-) sounds yummy... except I have to come and see baby Anika and have a real-live demonstration of the recipe. I tried the kothimbir vadis except that i substituted the kothimbir with palak. They turned out really good.

To a sweet beginning.....BOONDI LADDOOS

Dear Gauri and Ketan,

Here's to a wonderful couple who start a 'fun'tastic life together.

To celebrate the occasion we treat you to aai's delightful 'Boondi ladoos'.

Here's the recipe....

7 cups Besan
Oil for frying
% cups sugar for syrup
3 cups water
2 tspn cardammon powder
4 tspn raisins
a pinch of saffron
10-12 cloves

Mix the Besan and add water to the flour to make it of paste consistency( for the boondis). Prepare sugar syrup of one string consistency(got to check on this one for a better explanation)
Start preparing boondis in a frying pan. Collect the fried boondis in a strainer when light brown and dip these boondis in the sugar syrup. Stir well. When done frying all the boondis add saffron, cardommon, cloves and raisins (slightly pounded). When the boondis in the syrup cool down and the syrup is all absorbed, make the laddoos and enjoy them. Ekdum Saras lage laddoo!!

To a sweet beginning and the very best in life forever and ever!!!

Best wishes from the Shanbhags

Jhatpat pedhas

Ingredients:

1 cup condensed milk
1 cup milk powder
1 cup heavy cream

Mix all the above ingredients and microwave for about 10 minutes, a few minutes at a time. Your golden brown pedhas are ready to melt in your mouth.

Rawa cake....for a very vegetarian birthday!!

Ingredients:

1 cup Rawa
1 cup milk
1 cup curd
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup ghee
1/2 tspn soda bicarb (baking soda)
2 tspn raisins
1 tspn raisins
Elaichi for flavor

Mix all the above ingredients (except) baking soda) and keep aside for 2-3 hours. Add the baking soda when ready to bake. Grease the baking tray with oil and bake for 2o minutes at 350.

Knol-khol talasani (Its Kolrabi for you ABCDs)

Aai discovered through our friendly farmer at the farmer's market that our very own desi knol khol (never knew of its existence in Hindustan) is what is popularly known as Kolrabi. While I wondered what aai could make out of yet another green leafy vegetable, she came up with this talasani for the root of this vegetable which is called the knolkhol. The greens are probably not that popular in India. Samar enjoyed this dish thinking it was his favorite batatya talasani. The recipe is similar to the Talasani. For the uninitiated, the talasani is made as follows

Ingredients:

knolkhol (or any other bhaji like potatoes cut into long thin stips)
7-8 garlic cloves (crushed)
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
2 tspn red chilli powder
11/2 tspn oil

Wash and peel off the skin of the knol khol. Heat oil in a pan. Add the crushed garlic followed by the knolkhol pieces. Stir well. Add salt. Cover for a few minutes. When cooked add turmeric and chilli powder.

Kolrabi greens stir fry

knolkhol leaves (chopped fine)
Chana dal (soaked)
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
2 tspn red chilli powder
frozen corn kernels
3 tspn green peas
mustard seeds
3-4 cloves garlic
salt to taste
11/2 tspn oil

Prepare a seasoning of mustard seeds. Add garlic, the greens, chana dal, corn and peas. Saute this mix and enjoy this upkari.
Alternately, try sauteing these greens in garlic for a few minutes. Add salt to taste.
An experimental dish that turned out pretty nice, me thinks!!

Kothimbir Wadis (Zesty steam cooked cilantro!)

Another favorite which I am sure one and all will enjoy....

Kothimbir Wadis

1 bunch coriander leaves (finely chopped)
1 cup Chana dal (soaked in water for a couple hours and ground to a coarse paste)
1 tspn each Dhania- Jeera powder
3 tspn red chilli powder
1 tspn ginger garlic paste
1 potato (boiled and mashed)
salt to taste
oil to fry

Mix all the above ingredients and pour in a shallow metal container and steam for 15-20 minutes. On cooling cut into square pieces. You could pan fry the wadis for a even fun taste!!

Garamagaram Bhajiyas!!

Sharu mami's Kanda bhajji's for a rainy day!!

Ingredients:

1 cup Bengal gram flour (Besan)
4-5 green chillies (finely cut)
1 small piece of ginger (grated)
a handful of coriader leaves (finely chopped)
salt to taste
1 tsp chilli powder
5 medium onions (chopped)
Spring onions (chopped)
oil for deep frying

Mix all the above ingredients together except the Besan. Add the Besan slowly to this mix just enough to cover the ingredients. Keep the mix dry. Heat oil in a frying pan and pour in small lumps of this mix into the heated oil and fry them until golden brown.

Now sit back and enjoy Ze Crunchy Munchy Bhajiyas!!

Happy Birthday Pratima

Birthday Wishes from Detroit...Happy Birthday Dear Pratima....I have already posted 2 cakes for your birthday..Hope you had a wonderful birthday with hubby and kids...Keep smiling giggling and laughing as you always do..Will post Paneer Parathas for you. Love and kisses from my 2 lil boys...One is in his own little world and the other older one is in his dream land...He tells me not to disturb him as he is dreaming :)

Happy Birthday Pratima

Here's to another wonderful year Pratima. May you keep on giggling as always. May all your aspirations be fulfilled. May you and your wonderful family have all the fun n fights, jokes n jabs to your hearts desire.

In honor of your birthday, I will post bhajiyas (remember the resounding roar of the half clad cook cum server at Wadala....baje baje baje!!), coz they bring back memories of the fun days of our childhood where Pratima and me sat and ate at weddings of someone or the otehr in the family and giggled away. Pratima, the foodie in the family was perhaps the only child who did justice to any dish and relished the yum yum mummum!

Lookout for the recipes!!! Coming soon!

Until then from all of us here in California and Detroit to Pratima,

'Tum Jiyo Hazaaron saal, saal ke din hai pachaas hazaar!

Happy Birthday Akka...

Here are birthday wishes swishing and sashaying all the way from Phoenix to Bangkok for a very special person. She has the the tough position of being in a foreign country (like a lot of us here but yet different because of the language barrier) having a teenage daughter ( Lord oh lord!!..remember the hormone driven fights with our own moms?? it only gets worse with each generation, i have heard :-) ) a cute little suppandi-jokes-reciter seven year old. Three Cheers to my sweet sister... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU !!!

Lets see if you can all contribute something on this occasion. A memory that says "PRATIMA" to you.

To celebrate her birthday here is my post of Chana Dal vada and Coconut Chutney that I made for my friend's Baby Shower...

Chana Dal Vada and Coconut Chutney

For the Vada

Ingredients
Chana dal - 2 Cups
Green Chillies - 4 to 5 (depending on how spicy you like it)

A small red onion- chopped
Coriander leaves - a small handful
Curry Leaves - one or two stems
Grated Coconut - 2 tsps.
Salt, hing
Soak the Chana dal for 5- 6 hours. You could soak it for a shorter duration if you like but the longer you soak it, the easier it is to grind it without water. Grind the dal without any water if you can. Add the chopped onions,chillies, cilantro, coconut,curry leaves,salt and hing.

Here is how mine looked after it was mixed and ready to be fried.

And this is the final product... Voila!!!

And now for the chutney.

Grate cocunut, rasted ginfer and green chillies and hing. Blend them to gether and add salt and lemon. And then an open phanna (in Rmam's words) with mustard seeds, hing, red chillies and curry leaves.

Eggless Fruit Cake

Eggless Fruit Cake

Because of the nut allergies in the family I only used dry fruits and no Nuts...and because of that the cake was very moist but very tasty. Also I have not been very successful with making Caramel..I remember Bhavani making it for Bread Pudding with such ease..For now I substitute 4-5 tsps of Caramel Spread. The cake is super easy to make once you have all the ingredients in place...I plan on making it for a party this weekend and will post the pics...Enjoy

EGGLESS FRUIT CAKE

Ingredients:
1 cup(125 gms) all purpose flour
1/2 cup(100gms) + 1/4 cup(50gms) sugar
7 tbl spn(100gms) butter
1 tsp All Spice
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tea spn vanilla extract
1/2 tea spn baking powder
1 tea spn baking soda
2 tbl spns orange marmalade (any mixed fruit jam can be used)
1/4 tea spn salt
Dry fruits -

1/3 cup(50gms) raisins
1/4 cup(50gms) chopped prunes
1/2 cup(50gms) chopped pecans
1/2 cup(50gms) chopped cashews
1/2 cup(100gm) tutti frutti

WHAT I USED:

1 3/4 Cup Sunmaid Raisin and Cherries mix + Sunmaid Mangoes,Pineapples,Papaya+ Candied Orange Peel

Method:
Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins.
Take all the dry fruits in a bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the fruits. Mix.
Heat 1/2 cup sugar with 1tbl spn water in a thick bottomed pan till it becomes dark brown in color (caramel. If you burn this, the cake become bitter, so be careful).

Add this to the fruits and mix. When it is cooled a bit, add orange marmalade, orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar and salt, spice mixture, vanilla.

Sieve together flour, baking powder and soda.
Add these dry ingredients to the fruit mixture a little at a time, mixing with a spoon.

Grease a baking dish and pour the batter into it. Bake it at 350F for about 25-30mins or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wait till it cools down to room temperature and then cut it. (I tried to cut it before it cooled, so it crumbled).

PS: This cake is very dense due to amount of dry fruits used in it.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Good Job Vee Keep it up. (I realize I cannot write as well as Smi and Vee so will minimize my writing ....:)Seeing your postings I realized it was time to update some of mine too. I am not doing much cooking these days since the kitchen has been taken over by Amma and am enjoying some of her authentic konkani food. But Amma loves desserts and R loves cakes so I will post some Cake recipes. Most of my cakes are not made from scratch ...they are from the ready to make store bought mixes but with some creativity they turn out great. Pineapple Upside Down Cake is one of my favourites made ofcourse from the box but turns out just great. One of my first experiments with baking was in India with my childhood friend Su. We tried this cake on Aai's Aluminium Bundt Cake pan. It was one of the best cakes I have ever had. Aai and I still regret why we gave away that pan for a fancier one.:( So here goes..Pics to follow soon.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
1 Duncan Hines Pineapple Upside Down Cake.
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 small Can crushed or sliced canned Pineapple
Cherries to decorate.

Prepare Cake mix as per Directions. (Tip: Replace the juice from the canned pineapple instead of water to add to the flavor)

Grease butter on cake pan . I sometimes even use olive oil spray.

Spread Brown sugar evenly.

Layer pineapples slices. Place one cherry on each slice. Pour the cake mix. Bake as per directions and when done ...guess what ....TURN it UPSIDE DOWN.
Tips: You can make a mix of 2 tsp honey, pineapple jam and spread it over the brown sugar.

Red Curry Shrimp with veggies

We finally got a camera. Now I have no more excuses ...

Thai food is one of our favorite cuisines to eat out. When I went to Bangkok to see Akka, I had some of the best thai food I have ever had. The crab curry, the mixed fruit papaya salad aah..mouth watering to say the least..But Of course, you would say, but it was nothing like you get here. Deliciaso, yummo food..in samik's words.

One of my favorites restaurants here in the valley is Malees Thai Bistro. A few months ago, I had been to a cooking class they hosted. I got some really cool recipes. One of them being the "Coco Chilli fish" recipe. Today I tried it, substituing the fish with shrimp. Turned out pretty good....Here is a picture and the recipe. It has been modified from the one they gave me...Kya kare aadat hi hain...can't follow instructions :-)

Ingredients

1/2 a large red onion

10 large cloves of garlic

About 12-15 red chillies , de-seeded

2 tsps Fish Sauce

1 tsp tamarind paste

1 spoon brown sugar

Tiger Shrimp

Corn Starch

Assorted vegetables

Method

Start by roasting the onions and then the garlic and red chillies. Blend them together and then fry the paste along with the tamarind paste, sugar and fish sauce. roast for atleast 10 minutes and then add the cocunut milk to get the sauce ready.

Mix the corn starch with salt and some chilli pwder. dip the shrimp in it and deep fry in hot oil (I Know..not healthy ...but once in a while its okay to treat yourself ;-) ). Stir fry the veggies.. You can serve the Shrimp topped with the sauce with brown rice(aha..there is the "good" part) and the veggies.

Coming up....

Veg Biryani

Vegetable Korma

Chicken curry...

That's my menu for the party this weekend...until then.... Ciao...