Maha Shivaratri-The Festival of Lord Shiva

Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival falls on 14^th day of Krishna paksha every year on the Maagh (Tamil month maasi, English month Feb-March) month of Hindu calendar. It is the most auspicious festival of Lord Shiva. Shivaratri is celebrated all over India and Nepal. People on this day fast all day and stay awake all night chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ the manthra dedicated to Lord Shiva. Many rituals and pujas are performed all night in the Shiva temples. Rudra jaba abisheka is performed on this holy night to the Lord.

Rudram is the most powerful, sacred mantra dedicated to Lord Rudra (who share same feature as lord Shiva)

According to legends, there are many stories related to Shivaratri. It is believed that this is the day on which Shiva drank the poison to save the world, which emerges from churning of the ocean by demons and God. Hence he got the name ‘Neelakanda’ the blue throat one.

It’s believed that on this day Lord Shiva performed ‘Thandava’ the cosmic dance.

It is also believed that Shiva married Goddess Parvathi on this auspicious day. 

Wish You All A Happy Maha Shivartri. Let us all worship Lord Shiva and get his blessing on this auspicious day. 

Simple and Yummy Carrot Soup

I’m preparing this soup for first time. So not sure it would turn good J But! Yes! It was good!! I prepared this soup for today’s dinner along with Oats Upma . Carrot soup is one easy recipe, that won’t fail you. I learned this secret today. Usually I’m not a big fan of adding cream to recipes, especially soup. But today thought to try something new, so got this cream from grocery, especially for preparing this soup. I like the taste. I added it finally while serving, only to my bowl, as my husband is not interested in creams.  

This carrot soup is very filling. Good choice for dinner menu. 

Ingredients:

Carrots – 2 (medium size)

Onion chopped – 1 tbsp

Garlic pods – 2 big

Sugar – ½ tsp

Pepper corns – 3 numbers

Bay leaf – 1

Butter/Oil – 1 tbsp

Cream – 1 tsp (optional) (if adding, add as per your taste)

Corn flour -1/2 tsp (optional)

Water – 2 cups

Croutons

Method:

Wash the carrots, peel off the skin and chop.

Chop the garlic pods coarsely.

Heat butter/oil in pressure cooker.

Add bay leaf, garlic, pepper corns, onion and fry till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the chopped carrot and saute for 3 min.

Add ½ cup water and cook.

Switch off the stove after 3 whistles and cool the mix.

Transfer the mix to the blender and grind them to a smooth paste.

Add the paste to the same cooker and add remaining 1 ½ cups of water.

Add sugar and bring the soup to boil. (Boiling time 5 to 7 min)

Mix the corn flour in 2 tbsp water and pour it to the boiling soup.

Remove from heat and add cream.

Serve hot topping the soup with croutons, salt and pepper powder.

Note: Adding cream is optional, if you are adding; add after removing from              heat or while serving. I added while serving.

         Adding corn flour is also optional if you like the soup little watery.

Dates Chutney / Sweet Chutney / Date Tamarind Chutney

Dates chutney is a quick and healthy recipe. This chutney is commonly used in Chat dishes. No chat recipe is complete without this chutney. Its sweet and sore taste with little hotness (from chilli and cumin powder) gives a yum taste to the chat recipes.

Ingredients:

Dates – 19 numbers (seedless)

Tamarind paste – 1tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp

Cumin powder – 1tsp

Water - 1cup

Method:

Chop the dates coarsely and keep aside.

Add ½ cup water in a pan, add jaggery and tamarind past.

Boil in medium heat, till the jaggery get dissolved and bubbles start appearing.

Keep aside the syrup.

Heat the other ½ cup water in a pan and add the chopped dates and mash them using an egg beater or with a ladle.

Mash them till they become soft and turn into a pulp.

Add the jaggery, tamarind syrup to the mashed dates.

Add the chilli powder and cumin powder. Add some water if required.

Boil till it reaches the thick consistency.

Remove from heat and cool the chutney.

Transfer them to the blender and grind them to a smooth paste.

Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.  

Note: Adjust the chilli powder as per your taste. If you want sweeter chutney reduce the chilli powder.

This chutney can be stored for one to two weeks, if stored in a refrigerator.

Peanut Chutney / Nilakadalai Chutney

Apart from regular coconut and tomato chutney, this peanut chutney has its unique taste. Those who love peanuts, peanut butter or anything about peanut, definitely love this chutney. I can say this as I’m one of those peanut lovers :) Try this with Idly, Dosa. I sometime take this with chapatti/ roti when tired to prepare any side dish in the lazy afternoons. Spread it in the toasted bread while preparing sandwich, tamarind and chilli in the chutney gives nice flavor to the sandwich. Good combination for curd rice too.

Ingredients:

Peanuts – 1 cup

Tamarind – Small amla size

Red chilli – 3 to 4 numbers

Garlic pods – 2 numbers (big)

Salt

Method:

Roast the Peanuts in a pan without oil for 2 to 3 min, or till they get the heat and turn light brown.

Cool down the peanuts and remove the skin.

Heat oil in a pan, add red chilli, garlic pods and fry for few seconds. (The garlic should not get burnt)

Make puree out of the tamarind, adding small amount of water.

Now transfer roasted peanuts, red chilli, garlic, tamarind puree and salt to the blender.

Sprinkle required water and grind to smooth paste (chutney).

Now Peanut chutney is ready to serve.

Chinese Style Fried Rice– Simple Version/ Without Egg and Sauce

This version of Chinese style Fried Rice has no egg or sauce. Just veggies and pepper powder for spice. I prepared Gobi Manchurian as side dish for this Fried rice. I used cabbage, carrot and capsicum. Other than this you can add broccoli, spring onion, bean sprouts. Leftover rice can be used for this recipe.

  

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 1cup

Cabbage – ½ cup

Carrot – 1medium size

Bell pepper/ Capsicum – ¼ cup (chopped into fine pieces)

Pepper powder – ¼ tbsp.

Salt

Oil – 1tbsp

Pineapple chunks – 5 to 9 chunks (depend on your taste)

Method:

Heat oil in a wok; add the chopped cabbage; carrot and bell pepper sauté in the medium- high flame for 3min.

Add salt and pepper powder and sauté for another 2min.

All the veggies should get cooked well but shouldn’t lose its crunchiness.

Now when the veggies reached the stage, add the cooked rice, sauté for 2min in medium heat.  

In the meantime heat 1tsp oil in a pan and add the pineapple chunks to it, sauté the pineapples for a minute or 2.

Add the pineapples to the rice and give a quick sauté.

Remove from heat and serve hot. 

Gobi Manchurian (Dry) / Dry Cauliflower Manchurian - Step by step recipe

Gobi Manchurian is an Indian Chinese dish made with cauliflower. It taste little tangy, hot and spicy. Frying the cauliflower florets gives the food little crispiness. It can be taken as a plain starter or as side dish for chapatti, roti and fried rice. Both ways they taste good.

Sauce plays the major role in this dish. I have added chilli paste instead of adding chilli sauce, as it was out of stock in my pantry. But adding chilli sauce gives more authentic taste to the dish.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower – 1cup

Onion- 1big

Capsicum /bell pepper – ½ of the full pepper finely chopped.

Chopped ginger – 1/2tbsp

Chopped garlic - 1tbsp

Tomato sauce – 4tbsp

Chilli paste – 1 ½ tsp (grind 4 to 5 green chillies in warm water to fine paste)

Soy sauce – 3tbsp

Vinegar – 1tbsp

Spring onion (white part) – 2tbsp

Spring onion (green part) – 3 to 4tbsp (for dressing)\

Salt – a pinch

Water – 2tbsp

Oil – 2tbsp

For frying cauliflower:

Oil to fry

Maida / all-purpose flour – 1cup

Corn flower – 2tbsp

Rice flour – 1tbsp

Chilli powder – 1tbsp

Salt

Method:

Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets.

Add salt in water and bring them to boil.

Add the cauliflower florist to the water and boil them till they turn soft.

Remove from fire, drain them completely and keep aside.

In a wok, heat 2tbsp oil, add the chopped onion and fry till they turn light 

brown.

Add the chilli paste and chopped ginger, garlic and sauté for few min till they turn light brown.

Add the bell pepper, spring onion white part and sauté for 3min.

Add the tomato sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sauté for 2min in medium flame.

Turn off the stove.

Frying the cauliflower:

Combine all the flour, chilli powder, salt and make a thin batter adding required water.

The batter should not be too thick or thin.

Heat the oil for frying.

Once the oil is ready, dip the cauliflower florets into the batter and place it in the oil.

Do the same for remaining florets.

Fry till they turn light crisp.

Remove from the oil and place it in a paper towel.

Now add 2tbsp water to the gravy and sauté for few seconds, add the fried florets and sauté till they get coated well with the gravy.

Add the green part of the spring onion and give a quick sauté.

Serve hot.

Note: Fry the cauliflower florets and add it to the gravy just 10 or 15min before serving. Otherwise it will get soggy.

Adjust the sauces as per your taste.

Watch while adding salt, as already soy sauce and some vinegar contains salt. 

Podi Idly / Idly Milagai Podi Idly

Idly is not only a simple and healthy food but gives us more room for our creativity. Idly upma is one of those. The leftover idlis comes handy for the next day breakfast as idly upma. And this podi idly is more or less same as idly upma. Here I used idly podi for spice. Now you know why the name podi idly J Also for this recipe I cut the idlis into cubes, so that they get fried well and gives a niece crunchy taste with spicy podi. It can be taken as breakfast, a quick lunch, for dinner or even as a tea time snack. Serving hot will maintain the crunchy taste. This podi idly specifically don’t need any side dish. But onion raita goes well if the podi is too spicy.

Ingredients:

Idlis – 9 numbers (adjust depend on the size, mine is medium, not too soft)

Green chilli – 3 numbers

Idly podi – 3tbsp (again adjust depend on the spice level, mine is medium spicy)

Onion – 1 small

Sweet peppers – 2 numbers (optional) (or replace it with bell pepper)

Garlic pods – 4 numbers

Turmeric - a pinch

Mustard seeds – 1tsp

Urad dal – 1tsp

Curry leaves – 2 or 3

Salt

Oil – 1tbsp

Method:

Cut the idlis into cubes and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok and splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal and curry leaves and fry for a second.

Add the green chilli, chopped garlic, and chopped onions and fry till they turn light brown.

Add the finely chopped sweet peppers (if using), idly podi, salt, turmeric and stir for 1min.

Now add the idly cubes and toast well. Keep the flame low.

Continue the toasting till the idly cubes turn little crispy.

Remove from fire and serve hot.

Note: If the podi idly is too spicy, sprinkle some sugar and stir, before removing from fire.