Me and my World

I was in Fort Myers, Florida a few months back at my friends. Had a great time with his wife and 2 sons, such naughty ones at that! I was there for about 5 days. We went to the Edison estates and spent quite some time. Didn't know this grand guy invented so many things that are indispensable in our every day life. And what more, Ford seems to have been his student and later partner! Edison's lab in his Fort Myers estate The next trip was to the Kennedy Space center. It was an experience. We saw the launcher which was being readied to launch in the next few days. NASA launched Dragon from that site on May 25, 2012. It was so interesting and educational to see all the pre-process. Dragon launch site at Kennedy Space center So just to celebrate my experiences in Fort Myers and to say thank you to my hospitable host Vinoth and his wife Aruna, I cooked Bajji , a very simple South India snack.  Bajji  is been a long overdue on my blog.  Bajji is a d...

Its' been a long time and I thought would start with a simple dish. As you all know, most of my dishes are South-Indian, that's who I am and so is this. My friend Eshwar is looking to cook something simple and I am helping him with that today. Vendakai kari (thoran as it is sometimes called) is a very simple side-dish to make. The knack here is to make sure the vegetable cooks well, but doesn't become soggy and sticky. This is not a fried vegetable, so diet- conscious people take heart! Vendakai in Tamil is Ladys' Finger. This vegetable is substitutable, I will tell you how. Ingredients: Vendakai (Ladys' Finger)- 200gm (1pk of cut and frozen) Oil (vegetable/olive) - 1 tsp Kadugu (Mustard seeds) - 1/2 tsp Manjal podi (Turmeric powder) - a pinch Rasam podi (Rasam powder)- 1 1/2 tsp Salt - to taste Procedure: * Heat a flat non-stick pan on the stove and add oil. * Splutter mustard seeds when oil is hot. * Add Vendakai (Ladys' Finger) to the...

Hope you have all been fine and enjoying the early spring. I have not been able to blog for quite sometime- with prep for going to India and my moving and all the chaos of packing. Here is a simple recipe for you. Pulikachal is a ready-mix recipe. Pulikachal can be stored in a cool place for a few days and in the refrigerator for a few weeks. It is a very simple recipe and takes less than 20 minutes. You can eat this by either mixing with rice or as a side dish for curd (yoghurt) rice. Ingredients: * Kadugu (Mustard seeds) - 3 tsp * Nalennai (Gingelley oil) - 4 tbsp * Kadala paruppu (Channa dal) - 1/2 cup * Ulatham paruppu (Urad dal) - 1/4 cup * Dry red chillies - 7 * Karugapillai (Curry leaves) - 7-8 leaves * Puli (Tamarind paste) - 4 tbsp * Perungayam (Asafoetida) - a pinch * Manjal podi (Turmeric powder) - 1 tsp * Salt to taste Preparation: * Heat oil and splutter mustard. Add chana and urad dal, saute till light brown. * Add red chilles and curry leaves. ...

I am moving apartments very soon and have to finish as much stuff in the kitchen as possible. I don't want to carry all these, you see. And any case, I will be happily eating anything I cook. Ya, I do like my cooking. Would love to cook for people, but since I live alone now... my everyday cooking is for self, but once in a while I get to invite people or go meet people with my novice culinary specialties. So back to my moving! I had to sell my study table today. It's not like 'am crying, but we have been together through my papers, songs and movies... and it has stored some important and not so important things for so long! Btw, I found Amma's (mother in Tamil) pottu (Tamil, red dot kept on the forehead by Hindus), and my nieces toy; and they had visited me last March!!! As I said, moving to me is also clearing as much as possible in the kitchen. I have so much of APF (all-purpose flour)and brown sugar.. so what would that mean?? Yes of course baking a cake. I fe...

In demand from my friends, I thought would publish my mixed-vegetable pickle recipe. It was one of those days a few months back when there were those left over fresh veggies, that I was cutting to either cook kurma or just a vegetable fry. My pickle bottle (then near empty) was on my counter and suddenly I decided to make fresh pickle. I got some lemon and green chillies out of my fridge so I don't forget the pickle I wanted to make. Back home in Madras, amma would always make fresh raw mango pickle in the summer, manga-kari . This was just finely cut raw mango pieces with their skin to which spices have been added. This is exactly what I wanted to do with the lemon and chillies. By the time I finished cutting the veggie for fry, my mind was made up. I wanted to make vegetable pickle, but such that the process and ingredients was easy. So I combined the fresh pickle and preserved pickle process. Here is what I used - Ingredients: Mixed vegetables (cut into 1/2" cubes or...

Thiruvathirai came and went by in early January this year. I was in Phoenix with my parents and brother's family. Amma cooked this amazing, as usual, kali and sambhar . Coming from a family that celebrates all the small and big religious and non-religious festivals, we all kids wait for these even small festivals that come by nearly every month and celebrate it with the same enthusiasm as we would show the big ones. Thiruvathirai is one of the rarest festival where a sweet and savory dish is offered to the God as neivedyam. The sweet item is the kali and the savory item is the sambhar or poduthuval . Thiruvathirai kali and sambhar is the norm in my family. My mothers' family cook poduthuval instead of sambhar , which requires indegionous Indian vegetable ' kavathu '. Kavathu is a root vegetable with a kind of sour and bitter taste. There is a tradition on the number of vegetables that needs to go into the sambhar . Amma usually adds either 5 or 7 vegetable...