Nostalgic Ads




Some of my favorite ads from the Doordarshan days.

My favorite ad was the ‘meri jaan meri jaan murgi ki ande’ ad. Anyone has links to that?

Radish Flowers

See the bee?

Last year, I had planted some radish plants. They were the simplest things to grow, and I had a very good yield. Apart from crunchy radish, they also produce the most beautiful flowers. These pictures are from last year.

This years radish are still waiting to sprout. If anyone out there is a newbie to gardening, and want some easy-to-grow plants, radish is the way to go. I didn’t use the flowers in cooking last year, but I am sure they would be great as a garnish.

It’s been a while since I have participated in my favorite event. Submitting home grown radish flowers for Flower Fest.

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

On our trip to Acadia last year, we had breakfast at a really cute place called “Two Cats“. It was a great place, great food and great ambience. You could sit amidst blooming lilacs and down their amazing stuff ( the best pancakes) with some fresh squeezed orange juice. Read another review here.

The place was so good that we couldn’t bear to have breakfast anywhere else during our stay.

And after coming home from the trip, I started making my own orange juice for breakfast. When winter came, fresh squeezed orange juice was replaced by piping hot tea. Now that summer is around the corner, it is time to bring fresh squeezed orange juice back.

How to?

I don’t have a juicer. So I just cut the oranges into two. Squeezed the oranges with my hands and using a spoon, added some of the pulp to it. Regulate the pulp content to your liking.

Serve chilled.

Notes:

Oranges should be at room temperature to get a good yield of juice.

Submitted for Weekend Breakfast Blogging (brainchild of Nandita) hosted by Padmaja of Spicyandhra.

The theme for this month is Summer Fruits.

End Blogging Break

My vacation is cancelled. Disappointed? Hell yeah!

But these beautiful tulips keep me cheerful.

And these lovely comments.

Ashwini, I am not running away after you decided to ‘dis-hibernate’.

Thanks for all the wishes. The semester ended well. We had to reschedule our vacation and we are hoping to go in a couple of months.

Blogging Break

I decided to put it off as much as possible, but I really need to take a break from blogging. The time has come to show some attention to studies (read end of semester mad scramble). And then we are off for a 3 week vacation to India and Singapore. Till then…….

Springing into action!

Spring is such un an unbelievable season. There are all this bursts of life happening everywhere. Crocus blooming, birds returning..it is a high energy time. There will be some fish missing in our pond this spring. Actually all of them perished this winter, all 10 of them. Somehow the pond freezed up down to the bottom, killing all the fish.

But life goes on, and spring reminds that after the cold and gloom of winter, there is a bright and cheery spring waiting for us. That is why I love the North East and its change of seasons.

Spinach sprouting ..

Elizabeth, we are proud of you!

I was at work when I heard this.

I was in a room with another person, but when we heard Elizabeth speak, we both stopped and listened. And we both felt a connection with her. Me as a person who takes care of people who have this disease, and the other person because she had her cancer come back too. We were both immensely proud of her for being there, letting the world know that people with cancer also lead productive lives.

As with any disease, more public awareness is the key to early detection and also the way to direct more research into it.

What can you do? See more here

Crispy Baked Okra Salad

If you like spicy and tangy flavors in a dish, this recipe is for you.

Recipe source: Adapted from Suvir Saran’s Crispy Okra Salad

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350degrees.

Clean and pat dry the okra. Don’t spend much time drying, just a quick pat and dry will do.

Cut the okra into juliennes. I slice the okra into two along the middle. Hold the two halves and make long slices.

Spread the okra onto a baking sheet. I spread them onto my cast iron pizza stone.

To this, add turmeric powder (1/4tsp) and red chili powder ( 1/4 to 1/2 tsp), and salt to taste. I added some fresh crushed black pepper too. Drizzle some olive oil on top.

Mix everything together and spread onto a single layer.

Cook in the oven till the okra is cooked and starts to attain a brown shade. It took me about 20 minutes or so to get to this stage.

Remove from oven, and to this add some thinly sliced red onions and julienned tomato.

Add the juice of half a lemon, sprinkle with chaat masala. Mix well and serve.

One more okra dish in my efforts to win Satish over to the okra loving side.

Kottayam fish curry- Fish in fiery red sauce

Fish is indispensable in Kerala. The way it is made varies from place to place, but it always make it to the table for lunch or dinner. This is how fish curry is usually made in the households in Kottayam. When my grandfather was alive, we had fish every single day. That’s right. Every single day!!

When I blogged an okra recipe recently, I got a lot of requests for the fish curry that was shown in the post. The truth of the matter is that until recently my fish curries never tasted as they should. We started writing down the recipe every time we made it, and made changes to adjust the taste. We believe this recipe comes closest to the fish curry back home. Thanks to Manisha whose initial request started this whole post.

We make our fish curry in a chatti. The chatti in our home has a story to tell. The story that ends with, ” Wives know better”. When we were in Kerala last vacation, I mentioned that I would like to take a chatti back with me. Satish had a big problem with that, and was making all kinds of excuses. He was confident that the chatti wouldn’t make it home in one piece. Thanks to my persistence, the chatti made it home with us. Guess what he wants to bring back this time!! Ha-ha..

Now to the fish. Fresh fish is hard to come by, unless you have a Chinese store with fresh fish. We usually buy catfish from the local grocery store. Mallu stores have frozen fish from Kerala, but some of them lose their taste when frozen. This time we used salmon fillets. Back home, we have meenkarans ( fish monger) that brings fish right to your doorsteps. When I was a kid, they used to come on a cycle, with a basket of fish tied to the back of the cycle. They would honk their horns as a signal, and I was often made to run out of the house to flag him down. Then my mother would look and choose the fish, and sometimes neighbors all gather to discuss fish. If you had a cat, it would be close by, sniffing and rubbing against your legs, hoping to get some heads and tails.

Recipe:

Fish - 1lb. We used salmon fillets this time. We added some salt to the fillets to make them firmer, so that they don’t break easily. If you do this, be careful when you add salt to the curry.

Oil- 2 tbsp ( I use coconut oil)

Curry leaves- 1sprig + 2 or 3 f0r layering in the chatti

Mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp each

Shallots- 4 or 5 , sliced fine

Ginger- 2 tbsp , finely minced

Garlic - 15 cloves( if the cloves are small, leave them whole)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder- 2 tsp

Paprika - 3 tsp

Kudampuli- 2pieces ( clean in running water and soak them in water with some salt added to it)

Water- 1cup or more, as needed

Kudampuli soaking in salt water

Method:

Step 1:

Layer a few sprigs of curry leaves at the bottom of the chatti. Layer the raw fish on top of that.

Step2: Making the gravy

Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the fenugreek seeds. When the fenugreek seeds starts to change into a deeper color, add the shallots, ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Cook on medium heat till the shallots turn dark brown. Then add the chili powder and turmeric powder. Stir to combine with the oil.

Lower the heat and add paprika. Stir quicky. Paprika burns fast, so don’t leave on fire too long. Add water and the kudampuli which was soaked in some salt water. I usually add the salt water also. It looks muddy from the puli but I think it adds to the taste. Add enough water to make a watery gravy. Bring to a rolling boil.

Step 3: Bringing everything together

Pour this into the fish that has been arranged in the chatti. Cook covered on low medium heat till the fish is cooked ( 15-20 mins). Every 5-8min grab the chatti with mitts and give a slight swirl. This is the best way to make sure the flavors blend without breaking the fish pieces. Cook till the fish is cooked and the gravy is lightly thick. ( some people prefer a watery gravy)

Taste for salt . Just before serving, add some coconut oil on the top and fresh curry leaves to garnish.

Notes:

The curry is good right off the stove, but the flavor intensifies after a day.

The curry can be left out in room temperature, especially in winter. Every night it is slightly warmed over the stove. During winter, our fish curry stays outside for atleast 3 days.

Coriander powder is omitted to increase shelf life.

Adding coconut oil over the fish curry after it is cooked can add a wonderful aroma, and I don’t recommend missing this step.

To serve : My favorite way is to eat this with rice and a thoran.

Also goes well with chappathi, puttu and the perpetual favorite, kappa and meen ( here and here).

Bloggers against Plagiarism

This post is to protest against Yahoo India who stole contents from bloggers.

Read more about it here and here.