Flowers Special

Back to my regime after 2 weeks of vacation to conoor, where I stayed in my cousins place. I should say the place was too good with very kind hearted people with great hospitality, whom they have the tendency to give a smile even if it’s an unknown person.
Great food, great place and great peace among all.

Tried to capture some of the flowers that fascinated me, wanted to treasure them by posting them here.

Bunch of white roses




Dont know the name of this one,but the contrast was mindblowing!



will have to find the name of this gorgeous one!



Cute ones



Mellow Yellow



Beautiful Bunches



Garland


Huge dahlia!


Beautiful mixture of colours


Its a type of shoeflower itseems,not sure though!


Lovely lavender

Fish Curry with Drumsticks(Murungakkai Meen Kuzhambu)

During my recent visit to my parents native kanyakumari, found out there people making fish curry with drumsticks, brinjals sometimes potato too which I found very weird initially, but spellbound after tasting them. It was awesome. So after coming down I tried in my home, where my father in law gave a sarcastic comment “who will use drumsticks for fish curry” but then, he ended up overeating. The drumsticks do gives a unique flavor to the fish curry.



Ingredients:
Drumsticks (chopped)-6 pieces
Shallots-15(chopped)
Fish(any type)-150gms (cleaned)
Coconut(grated)-1 cup
Tomatoes-3 nos(chopped)
Cumin seeds-1tsp
Chilli powder-2tsp
Dhania powder-3tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Tamarind extract-2cups
Salt-as per taste
Coconut oil-2tbsp
Mustard seeds-1tsp
Fenugreek seeds-1/2tsp
Curry leaves-few
Coriander (chopped)-for garnishing
Green chillies (sliced)-3nos

For Masala:
In a kadai add 1 tsp of oil, when hot add half of the chopped onion, fry well, then add the coconut, roast well tills lightly brown,add all the powders like chilli,dhani and turmeric before taking out from the fire. Grind it to a smooth paste when it cool enough.

Method
1.In a heavy bottom vessel add the ground paste, chopped tomatoes, green chillies, tamarind extract, salt, drumsticks. Check for the taste with salt and spices. Mash everything with hand,so that the tomatoes and greenchillies shld get churned with the curry(kozhambu).

2.Keep the vessel having the curry on stove and allow for a boil. Add the fish and drumstick pieces when the curry is boiling. When the fish is done remove from fire.

3.In a tempering kadai, add the remaining oil. When its hot, temper with mustard, fenugreek, curry leaves, and chopped shallots, fry well till the onions turns golden brown.
Pour on top of the curry, and serve with plain steamed rice.

Era Avarakkai Poriyal

Avarakkai(broad beans) is such a boring vegetable in my family, everybody just runs away on seeing it.:).This recipe is one of my experiments, again landed as a huge hit. Since it was cooked with prawns, the taste of the broad beans gets enhanced. Together its goes well as a sidedish for sambar.



Ingredients:
Broad beans-250gms(finely chopped)
Prawns-100gms
Onion-1(finely chopped)
Dry red chillied-4-5nos(broken)
Curry leaves-few
Oil-2tsp
Mustard seeds-1tsp
Channa dal-1/2tsp
Crushed fennel seeds(sombu)-1tsp
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Redchilli powder-1/2tsp
Grated coconut-3tbsp
Salt-as per taste

Method:
1. In a kadai add oil, when its hot enough add mustard,channa dal, crushed fennel seeds,curry leaves, broken redchillies,turmeric powder, followed by Redchilli powder, then add the finely chopped onion,fry well till the onion turns pink,then add the broad beans chopped, sauté for a 10 minutes.

2. Then add the cleaned and washed prawns to it, give it a stir, close with lid and allow to cook for a while. No need to add water, since prawns do gives out some amount of water while cooking. After 15-20 minutes open the lid add required salt and allow the remaining water to get dry. When the poriyal becomes dry, add the grated coconut cook for another 5 minutes in slow fire and remove from fire.
Serve as side dish to any meals.

Mutton biriyani

One of my most all time favorite dish. After all who hate biriyani’s? This version of Biriyani is from one of my aunt who has been into a fabulous cooking for years; she can make a simple lemon rice taste like heaven, that’s the magic of her “kai pakkuvam”.I was initially making all kinds of Biriyani in a pressure cooker which was having its own kind of taste, but then one fine day I fortunately happened to taste the Biriyani of my aunt, which made me speechless. It was so subtle yet spicy, I really loved it and immediately grabbed the recipe from her and tried it the very next day itself. It came out awesome. For the matter of fact I did not even fry the rice in vanaspathi, like how I normally was doing all these days. Instead the rice came out so well with separate grains.

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice-3cups
Big Onion-2Nos(sliced)
Tomatoes-2Nos(chopped)
Ginger and garlic paste-2tbsp
Green chilli-6
Pudhina-a handful(chopped)
Coriander-a handful(chopped)
Whole spices-cardamom(2),cinnamon(1),cloves(4)
Chilli powder-2tsp
Salt-as per taste
Mutton-1/2kg (chopped)
Oil-5tbsp
Ghee-1tbsp

Marination:
Wash the mutton and marinade with a juice of lime and half a teaspoon of salt for 1 hour prior for cooking. This makes the mutton very tender, juicy and tangy.

Wash and soak the basmathi rice in normal water for about 1 hour

Method:
1. In a pressure cooker, add oil and ghee together, season with the whole spiced given in the list. Immediately add the pudhina and coriander. Fry for a while then add the chopped onions along with the whole green chillies. Saute well for 10-15 minutes, or till the onions gets cooked in the oil, now add the ginger and garlic paste, fry till the raw smell disappears, finally add the chopped tomatoes, fry till it gets mushy and oil comes out. Then add the chilli powder, give I it a stir, followed by the marinated mutton along with required salt for the masala. Fry for a while in high flame to seal the flavor of the mutton, say for 10 minutes, and after that close the cooker and give 3 whistle and after 3 whistle give 5 minutes of complete simmer, which will allow the mutton to cook till soft. After 5 minutes switch off the stove and allow the pressure to settle for a while. The Gravy should be thick enough to get mixed with the rice. If its very watery cook it further for some more time.Switch off the stove and keep aside the mutton gravy

2. Now in another flat bottomed vessel, add 6 cups of water (rice, water ratio 1:2). And turn on the stove and allow it to boil. Add the soaked rice along with required amount of salt. Close the lid and cook till the rice is 3/4th done in a medium flame, and that will take approximately 10-15 minutes after adding rice. When the rice is half cooked and seen with some amount water, this is the stage to add the gravy and mix it well, till the masala gets evenly spread with the rice.

3. Now place a iron dosa tawa or a nonstick dosa tawa in the stove and heat it in high flame for a while, till the tawa gets hot. When it’s hot enough simmer the stove and place the flat bottomed vessel which has the gravy and rice mix on the tawa and put it in dum for about 15 minutes exactly.

4. After 15 minutes, switch of the stove and remove the vessel from tawa and give a standing time for about 20-30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can taste the finest Biriyani on earth. Serve with onion raitha.

Podi Paavakai(Bitter gourd) Kuzhambu

My mom use to do this curry with the normal size bitter gourd, I tried with the small ones which tasted absolutely fantastic, and wanted to share the recipe. This curry has the perfect blend of bitterness and sourness which tastes so great with plain white rice.


Ingredients:
Podi Paavakai(tiny bittergourds) -200gms(deseed and cut into half)
Shallots(sambar onions) -100gms(finely chopped)
Garlic -4-5 pods(chopped)
Tomatoes -2Nos(chopped)
Tamarind Extract - with a lemon size of tamarind
Coconut oil -3tsp
Mustard Seeds -1tsp
Curryleaves -few

For the Masala:
Coconut(scraped) -1cup
Fenugreek -2tsp
Cuminseeds -1tsp
Peppercorns -1tsp
Chilli powder -2 tsp
Dhania Powder -3tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Curryleaves -few
Coconut oil -1tsp

Method:
1. Prepare the masala by roasting all the ingredients with a teaspoon of oil until coconut turns real roasty brown colour, and grind it to a smooth paste when it’s cool enough.
2. In a kadai, add oil, when its hot, temper with mustard, curryleaves, followed by shallots and garlic. Saute well till the onion turns slightly golden brown. Now add the chopped bitter gourd, and fry well for 10 minutes in medium flame. Then add the chopped tomatoes, fry well till it gets mushy.
3. Now add the tamarind extract, and allow the bittergourd to cook well for 10-15 mins.
4. Finally add the ground paste and allow it to boil for 5 minutes, add salt to taste.
5. And that’s it. Enjoy with plain rice with fried appalams.

A Room full of Tears

Jerry Ham

I visited a room the other day,
In the back of my mind, well tucked away.
No one was there as I opened the door.
An empty room, but wait, there was more.
But just what it was, I could not tell,
And yet, I sensed that all was not well.
My spirit was troubled and it seemed to shout,
"Too long I've been captive, please, let me out!
"There in the darkness I struggled to see,
Trying to grasp what was troubling me.
I told myself that I'm tough and I'm strong,
But a voice spoke softly, "That's where you're wrong."
"You tell yourself, 'I can handle it all.
'No matter what happens, I must stand tall.
'"Let go of your pride and admit that you hurt.
"The pain that you feel, don't try to skirt.
"You're not alone with this illness you face.
"There are so many others who are in the same place.
"And rest assured, that they're frightened too,
"In so many ways, they're no different than you.
"Let go and reach out, take hold of their hands,
"No longer alone, but together you'll stand.
"And then there was peace, and I wept as it came,
I knew that no longer would I be the same.
Then I saw a small sign, neglected for years.
The sign said this is a Room Full of Tears

Jai Ho!!!

Truly an emotional moment to watch our very own A.R.Rahman receiving the Oscars for his original score and best song in Slum Dog Millionaire. I should say it was such a terrific moment to watch him receiving the world’s most prestigious award in front of so many Hollywood people. Rahman, the fourth Indian to win the coveted golden statuette, picked up the awards for his best original score and also the best original song "Jai ho" from the film with lyrics by Gulzar and Sukhwinder Singh as the lead singer. I personally felt so proud for that moment, for being an Indian to receive the Oscars, not one but two, which is unbelievable. I still wonder how humble and simple this man who said “எல்லா புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே!” in tamil in front of all the audience. Congratulations to A.R.Rahman, who deserves more than the Oscars, and I’m sure these Oscars are not going to bring to an end to his musical expedition.