Hi everybody, Hope you are all doing fine, enjoying the three days of pongal, I have loads of posts to post, starting you will be seeing two posts today..., Enjoy them...
Here is the first one, the first is for Baking Partners, this month swathi of Zesty south Indian kitchen gave us two pies one was an Apple Pie and the other one is Sun Dried Tomato Tart, Of course you would know which one I would choose, my kids love anything spicy than sweetness, and this Tart was perfect for me to bake, when my kids come home from college hungry and they love to eat something like this, I made 4 Tarts. Individually and they love it for their snack time.
This is how I made it...
This Tart was suggested by samantha, so, thanks to both of you we loved it..

SUN DRIED TOMATO AND ONION TART
Recipe Source: Martin Picard's Sundried Tomato and Onion Tart

INGREDIENTS:
1 Roll of Ready made Puff pastry
2 Medium Sized onions
6 tbsp of Sun dried Tomato Pesto (Home made)*
Chives and Onion flavoured Red Leister Cheese
few Basil leaves
1 tbsp dried Italian Herbs
salt to taste
1 and 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard powder
1 and 1/2 tbsp Double cream

METHOD:
Thaw Puff pastry as indicated in the pack
Take a Large Pan heat 2 tbsp of Olive oil to this add chopped onions and saute until it turns translucent, add a bit of salt which helps to cook quickly.
Then add Tomato pesto, dried Italian herbs some more salt ( required quantity beware you have already added some salt to the onions and also you have some salt in your pesto )
Add chopped some fresh Basil leaves
In a bowl mix mustard Powder and fresh cream and keep it aside
Meanwhile  Cut your Puff pastry into 4 squares, press them on to the tart tins and cut the extras and keep them aside in the fridge until needed.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180 degrees
Prick the bottom of the pastry and bake them in a preheated oven until the bottom becomes slightly brown. Take them out and leave it to cool.
Meanwhile your onion and Tomato filling would be cooled as well.
Fill the tarts with Sun Dried Pesto and onion filling to this add the double cream sauce into the four tarts.
Grate the cheese and top each of them with it.
Now take the cut out pieces from each tart, make them into long roll twist them to give a design join both the ends together and place them on each of the tarts and bake them now for around 20 to 25 minutes until they puff and start turning to golden brown.

Take them out once well done, on to a cooling rack, after 5 to 10 minutes slowly push  the bottom and release the tarts carefully and serve them on individual plate sand serve with some salad leaves and sauce or ketchup of your choice.
Totally awesome and my kids just loved it...
Will post my Home made Sun dried Tomato pesto Recipe soon..., stay tuned ...

This is Challenge # 6 Baking Partners

The post Sun dried Tomatoes and Onion Tart appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Absolutely yummilacious!!, You will never want to try one more recipe, divine taste, and gorgeous.., I could say a lot more to this chutney powder.  If you are from Bangalore, Karnataka, everybody would know of Subbamman Angadi in Gandhi Bazar and definitely would have bought this kind of chutney powder.  I can promise you this recipe beats that recipe. This is second version with this kind of chutney powder. The first one is here.  You would love that too..., But this one is outstanding.
Last time when I went home, I stayed in my sis home, her MIL who is also related to us in many ways!!, makes this chutney powder my kids had fallen in love with this.  She is a very good cook, and she thinks I am the good one, bless her, she asks me what do you do with this, with that vegetable and things like that :). Basically she is a fantastic lady, very helpful, very understanding and I could write a lot more about her. She has a special place in whole of the family and everybody loves her to bits.

This post and this recipe is dedicated to her, she has a very special place in my Heart - I love you so much Leela aunty. The last time I was making this, I was chatting with Lata and told her I got tired of grating nearly a kg of Copra and my hands were paining, she asked me why are you grating so much, I said I miscalculated and I have ended up in making this Chutney pudi in Kgs!!. She thought I have gone completely bonkers.  Well, any way I made around 1 and 1/2  to 2kg of Chutney pudi I think, I did not measure, and it lasted more than 4 months.., I have to make it again, kids are demanding.., I got all the things only thing is I have to make it again (dreading to grate Copra though!!).
Here is the recipe details, hope you like it and enjoy it as we all do....

CHUTNEY PUDI - BANGALORE STYLE
Recipe source : Leela Aunty

 INGREDIENTS:

175 gms Channa dal (3/4 Pav)
115 gms Urad dal (1/2 + 2 tbsp Pav)
375 gms Copra/Dry Coconut
50 gms Guntur
50 gms Byadgi
12 gms Mustard seeds
40 gms Tamarind
1/2 cup / around 120 gms - Acchu Bella (Square Jaggery)
5 to 6 twigs of Curry leaves (around 1/4 cup)
2 gms of Hing/Asafoetida
1 and 1/2 tbsp Salt ( adjust accordingly)
Oil as required

SEASONING:
2 to 3 tbsp of Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds

METHOD:
In a pan with a tsp of oil, fry each one of the Ingredients separately and in a low flame.
When you are frying dals & mustard seeds, add Dry red chilies with them and fry this way, Frying only chilies will  give that spicy aroma, which is quite harsh, and makes your throat tickle and you might start coughing.
Frying chilies in portions with other ingredients makes it more subtle and easy to handle the Ghaatu (or harshness).
First of all add a 1/2 tsp of oil fry Channa dal to golden colour.
Next Urad dal with a 1/2 tsp of oil to golden colour.
Then fry Tamarind until they become too soft, when they cool down they harden up.
Then fry mustard seeds they too change colour to a darker colour and starts spluttering.
Then fry curry leaves
Then grate Jaggery and keep aside.
Grate Copra/Dry coconut and fry them without oil into a golden colour and keep aside.
Allow all the ingredients to cool down completely, this way your mixie will not get spoiled.

Now Mix them all together with Hing , and grind them in batches as it is a large quantity to a very coarse powder, then in the end with the last two batches Grind the ingredients first then with one batch add grated jaggery and give a little pulse just to ensure it is mixed, don't run it too much. Next  batch of the powder ingredients grind Copra with a pulse, that is quick movements, to the first setting for a minute, come back and run the mixie again for a minute this way it will not become too soft and too oily.
Take all the Grinded ingredients into a large bowl now add required quantity of salt, mix them well together with you hand so that every thing is well incorporated.

Taste and adjust Salt and give a thorough mix.
Heat a pan , heat oil then add mustard seeds when they splutter switch it off.  Give it few minutes so it cools down add this seasoning to the Chutney powder, Mix well again.
It is now ready to be served.
This Chutney powder is Semma tasty ( very tasty), goes very well with Idlis, Dosas, Chapatis, my fav is with Rottis (Akki or Ragi rotti).
You can even enjoy like my friend U who sits on my breakfast bar with my pickle and chutney powder in front of her puts little on her palm, and starts licking it up!!, she is regular customer for this powder especially!!

MY TIPS:

In Bangalore, you get powdered Tamarind, you can substitute that instead of Tamarind which is very easy process.

This Chutney powder is the second entry for my Blogging Marathon started by Srivalli, check out all my other friends who are running this marathon with me.., Hope my friends and you all enjoy this as much as we do...
adieu.., c u soon with an other recipe....

Take an other look at my Chutney powder and I will sign off...

An update for this post:
As everybody is asking me what are those two different chilies I have and always have used in many of my recipes, I would like to elaborate about them a bit..

BYADGI CHILIES: It is very popular chili from Karnataka, It is grown in Byadgi town, in Haveri district of Karnataka. These chilies are crooked in shape and long, they give a deep colour to the dishes and mild in flavour.  These chilies have are not too spicy and gives a sweetness to the dish (don't get confused they are spicy too but not as spicy as the other varities - more like kashmiri chilies you can substitute kashmiri chillies )

GUNTUR CHILIES: These chilies are grown in Guntur, Andra pradesh, they are very spicy, you can see it in the left side of the photo.

So I usually combine both it to give the rich colour to the end product!!.., If are anytime in Bangalore get these Byadgi chilies and try it in your dishes you will notice the difference.  As I don't get them here I bring it from India!. You can only use just the Byadgi chilies and you will see the difference you find with the colour and the taste of the dish!
Try it out and tell me if you liked it....

As some of you have been asking me about Jaggery, I am doing an other update you can try using any other kind - I have give few links I found googling click on them.
Jaggery / Goor / Bella . I have found that you get in powder / block and some other forms. You just have to break them down. I measured the 1/2 cup jaggery which I had mentioned and weighed it was around 120 gms.  Hope this helps

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#15

The post Chutney Pudi - Bangalore style appeared first on My Veg Fare.

 Hi everybody,  this is particularly my favourite recipe, this recipe brings me my childhood days, my school mate /dosth, my school days, etc.., This recipe is by my friend's mom, hope she sees this recipe and recalls the days we used to spend together.

As I told she was my classmate and our friendship goes so long back, say from nursery!, after marriage, we had lost connection with each other, the only thing I knew was I had been to her new house, when we left college, and never went to see her at all after that, That area where her new house was not very well developed and I had a very vague memory of her house, funnily when my marriage got fixed I wanted to invite her to my wedding, but when I went so confidently that I would track her house down, I was amazed how the area had developed, well people living in Bangalore know about this I don't have to say much right ?, Now after coming her I get scared that I might not recognize lot of places when I go back, so coming back to my story, I walked up and down 2 to 3 roads, and finally zeroed it to one road, now I had to find the house, I kind of had a very vague memory, even though it was changed a bit I just went knocked on the door keeping my fingers crossed, that hopefully I will see a familiar face. To my surprise, her mom opened the door, O' my goodness, I was so delighted, chattered away so much right on the door step, even she was so excited, I would like to remember that during my 10th standard exams, my parents moved to a different area, so they left in my aunt's house, as both of lived as neighbours and B's house was down the road, so nearing exam time, three of us used to do combined studies and I used to sleep in her place most of the time, bless her and her mom they were so sweet, I can never forget those days, so we got back together again, but circumstances changed and again I lost track of her, again after 5 to 6 years I met her again, she used to come in my dreams and I thought I had to see her, we met again and now we are in touch with each other, as we now know our permanent bases :).., Remember B this is for you and your mom..,
Coming to the recipe, she served me this once, and I just got hooked to it.., love it and would love to share it...
This is a very easy peasy recipe, Here I get two kind of citrus fruit - Lemon and Lime, In India we use Limes to make our pickles, Here I have used Lime as you guessed that I made pickle recently and I was left with 6 Lime peels, don't wonder why would I be left with 6 Lime peels, If you check this recipe of mine on how I make pickles you would know why ?.
Anyways I will tell you why ?, just to get more juice in my pickles I squeeze an extra of 6 to 7 Lime Juices into my marinating Pickling Jar, this way, pickle get more juice and not water which has longer shelf life and I don't have to use too much oil :).
So, everytime I make pickle and left over with the peels, this is what I turn it into.., why waste the peel right ?.., Let's see how I make it into a lovely Thokku or spicy paste.., which goes well with rice and tsp of oil - Lemon chadam (rice), nice with chapatis, Dosas etc.., well you can use it however you want..., Here is how I make it.., Hope fully this is how she makes it, I hope B will come back to me.., if for any corrections..

LEMON / LIME PEEL THOKKU OR SPICY PASTE

INGREDIENTS:
Recipe source: sudha aunty
6 Lemon Peel (see notes)*
3 tbsp of oil
1 to 2 tbsp Chilli Powder*
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida/Hing
1 Cup water
2 tsp Salt

SEASONING:
1tbsp of oil
1 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:
*Squeeze the juice out of the Limes as shown in my click (not a good one), hope fully you can understand, if you want you can keep the pith with it, I use every thing once I squeeze the juice out of it, then cut them into bits and added the amount of water I have used here, use water accordingly as how much peel you use an one inch extra level of water of from the peel would be sufficient I suppose.

Take the chopped peel and water in a bowl and cook it in a low flame, until they well cooked
Once the Lime is cooled grind it in a mixie ( I use Indian mixie / Processor) to a smooth paste
well, not all of them will be become smooth paste you might find little chunks so that's alright not to worry.
In a Kadai or deep wok fry in a low flame,  mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds separately without oil.
Mustard seeds change colour a bit of whitish you would know as its starts spluttering making noises, frying them in low flame ensures perfect roasting and smells wonderfully.
Next fry fenugreek seeds again in low flame, be extra sure not to fry it into dark brown colour as it will spoil the taste of the end product and gives a tart taste, fry these fenugreek seeds to golden yellow/brown in colour.
You need a small jared mixie to blend these spices, blend these spices together with Asafoetida/Hing, when cool,  into a fine powder.
I have mentioned using Chilli powder*, you can use dried chillies if you want, then you must fry this in a wok, using a one or two drops of oil other wise you might feel irritation in your throat as it gives a strong smell.

I have used Chilli powder, use chilli powder according to your taste and the kind of chilli powder you are using and how spicy you like it, do not use it directly you need to fry this in the wok, Once you roasted the seeds, switch of the flame and fry chilli powder for 2 to three minutes, that's it done.
In the same wok heat 1 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, they start spluttering, add curry leaves sought for a minutes, Keep the flame low, add the ground Lime paste into it mix well and allow it cook for 2 to 3 minutes, any moisture content should just evaporate during this process.
Keep stirring now and then, careful that it doesn't stick then add the powders and salt as required mix well and add the rest of the oil, combine them well together and allow it to cook for further 10 to 12 minutes, you can see that the oil starts floating soon enough.
Now your Thokku is ready to enjoy....

I am sending this to Gayatri's walk through memory lane event....

The post Lemon or Lime Peel Thokku / Spicy Paste appeared first on My Veg Fare.

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