Cone Dosa

We made cone dosa today. Here is a little video -

Courtesy : Shilpa and Venkatesh.

Our friends in Phoenix also made cone at there house. Here is a picture that surely reminds me of the Darshini ( fast food place) in Bangalore:)

Recipie:

Ingredients:

1 cup Urad dal (Black Gram Sabut )

1 cup Moong dal ( Green gram split )

1 cup Channa dal ( Chickpeas )

1 1/2 cup Rice

1 tsp Methi seeds ( Fenugreek )

Oil to make dosa.

1. Soak all the ingredients in water for 5 hours.

2.Grind the soaked mixture until you get smooth batter like consistency.

3. Let this batter ferment for over 10 hours.

4. To the fermented batter add salt to taste, add some water if the batter is too thick and pour the it over a hot pan as show in the video to make cone dosa.

Hope you have fun making cone dosa at home.

"Sab Kushal mangal"

Today afternoon my husband and I thought of taking a walk around the lake next to our apartment. We visited the library on the way. When we were stepping out of the library,
we saw an elderly Indian man (I'm guessing he might be from U.P) walking towards the library. He was wearing a nice Nehru jacket. His forehead was prominent with a tilak and he had a jute bag in hand, on which were printed a few Hindi letters. We exchanged smiles and he quickly asked
"Sab Kushal Mangal?".
Ah! It was so good to hear those words. I felt like I was talking to my neighbor in India.

DMV California Road Rules

Kudos to DMV ! They have created videos to help the driver license applicants learn the rules of the road in a more interactive way.

I found these videos interesting and helpful. They are easy to understood, if one has already glanced at the Road Rules handbook published by the DMV California.

While learning rules through these videos is surely fun, applying them when you are behind the wheels is serious business!
Wishing everyone a safe driving experience :)

Fostercity Foto Contest Winner :)

This week we won the Fostercity Foto contest.Prize : A gift coupon from Noah's bagels !
It is an exciting and a fun game.To take a look click here.

Today's Special !

Today's special at home is the Banana cake, Thanks to this link!

Beetroot Palya.

My neighbor found fresh beetroots at the farmers market and gave me some.
Here is the recipe for the dish I tried with the beetroots.

Ingredients:
4 Beetroots
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp Channa dal
1 tbsp oil
1/8 cup of chopped coriander
1/4 cup of grated coconut

Method:
Chop the beetroots into small cubes and set them aside. Heat the oil, add mustard, wait till the mustard sputters and add urad dal and channa dal. Now add the beetroot cubes, salt to taste and one tablespoon sugar .Let it cook for 6 to 10 minutes on medium heat. Add grated coconut and chopped coriander and mix well.

Our colorful and tasty sabzi is ready to eat. This can be served with roti or rice.
After eating this dish we decided we will start buying beetroots.

Taste ka taste aur Health ka health - Shimla Mirch Tofu Sabzi

Today morning, I felt lazy and decided to keep the lunch menu very simple. I got into the kitchen, browsed the fridge and found some tofu and capsicum. These interested me to try something new and tasty. Tofu gives the taste of paneer, but is non-fatty and high in protein content. Taste ka taste aur health ka health !

Here is the dish that came about:



Shimla Mirch Sabzi with Tofu

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup grated Tofu
2 tsp Tomato salsa or 1 cut tomato.
1 Onion, Chopped long
2 Capsicum Chopped long
1tbsp Chili – Ginger paste
A few roasted groundnut seeds
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala Powder
½ tsp Sugar
2 tsp Oil
1/2 tsp mustard
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat Oil, add mustard and wait till the mustard sputters. Now, add Chili-Ginger paste and onions. Saute for a few minutes, till it becomes glazed. Now, add capsicum and groundnuts and mix well. Add tomato salsa and cook for 5 minutes. The salsa gives a unique taste. Add chili powder, salt, sugar and Garam Masala. Mix well, close the cooking pan's lid and cook on medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

Our Shimla Mirch Sabzi with Tofu is ready! Serve hot !

At last, the cake turned fluffy !

I always wondered if I could make egg-less cake the way Mom made, when I was a kid. For me, the recipe had to be simple and quick :). The cake also had to turn out spongy and fluffy, since in all my previous attempts, I couldn't get it to be so.

Ah! This time, I some how landed on a website with simple cake baking procedures. I religiously followed all the steps and my cake batter was ready in just a few minutes. It was quite an exciting experience to see the batter rise while it was getting baked. I fervently hoped that it would not overflow, off the microwaveable dish. Thankfully, the container turned out to be just perfect for the raising mix and the final shape that our delicious cake took.

This is how it looked after it was completely done. Looks good, doesn't it ? It tasted good, although it was a little less sweeter than I expected.

It is a surprise dish for today's dinner. Hurray!