Menthya Matodi Palya( Fenugreek leaves & dal subzi)

I know I have a post already on Matodi-Palya but here is an other version with fenugreek leaves. I love this dry subzi, protein rich and tasty. It isn't an easy and quick recipe, sure needs some planning and time but it's all worth it. This can be made two ways either very dry or a little dry. This time went with the dry one as you can mix it with rice and eat.

It uses toor dal for binding and taste. I know some use channa dal but my Mom used to make it with Toor dal so do I. It was my all time favorite subzi, but I don't make it that often b'coz the amount of oil it needs to cook doesn't fit in my regular diet. But once in a while it's definitely worth it.

Without anymore  chat let's jump into the recipe and direction to make it.

Ingredients:

1cup  Menthya soppu/fenugreek leaves
2tbsp Toor Dal
5-6     Dry Red chillies(2tsp red chili powder)
4tsp    Fresh coconut
1tsp    Cumin seeds/jeera seeds
1tbsp  Oil(+more)
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Turmeric powder
Pich of hing(asafetida)

Method:

Soak the Toor dal in water for about 30-45 mins. Drain the water completely once it soaked well, put it in a blender jar add dry red chillies/ powder, fresh coconut and cumin seeds. Grind  it into a fine paste without any water if possible (if not able to grind add very little water). Now make tempering with oil in a nonstick pan and add mustard seeds and when it splutters add hing and turmeric powder. Now add fenugreek leaves and fry for a while till it changes it's color. Now add dal paste, salt to taste and fry it till the oil dries out and the paste becomes a dry powder or like crystals.

Serve immediately or store in air tight container in the fridge for couple of days.

Note: Do add oil if needed in the middle, try to use a hard anodized or a non stick pan so it dosent stick in the bottom or get burnt. It stays for 5-10 days if no water is added when grinding.

Chevron clutch (crochet)

This is my first chevron stitch to explore in crochet. I loved the way it looks so classy and elegant, it's easy to do too. I made this clutch to understand more about this stitch and to make a simple project. It makes a great gift to teachers, young girls or for ur self for storing your crochet needles or patterns or anything.

I had few colors left out so I tried to mix and match them, single color would also look good too I guess. I fell in love with this pattern and thinking of making a nice cute dress for my daughter, hopefully soon.

But for now if you do want to try this pattern don't hesitate and give it a try you will like it, I am sure. For the pattern I followed this youtube video. Happy crocheting!

Tinkerbell costume for Halloween

Every little girl would like to dress up like a princess for the Halloween and so is my little princess who loves to dress up any time of the year. She is one girly who likes to get dressed in new costumes and attire and I love to dress her up. I had in the back of my mind to make some DIY costume for her with a little TLC and fun to be. I love small projects and get creative. This was a real fun project to do and it turned our very well than I imagined, it was a Tinker Bell costume.                                                           

                                              

This costume is a day project but with my schedules I took couple of says to complete but it was all worth it's time. It's a no-sew project and that's one more good thing that u can do it anytime and anywhere and no sitting in front of the sewing machine😉.

I actually followed this Blog and it has some easy step by instructions and photos to help through the project. I made few changes though, like a added a strap out of the tulle and added some pearl string glued on both the sides and didn't add flowers on the dress as for 2 reasons, 1 b'coz I couldn't find them😛 and the other being to keep it simple (actually I ran out of time😁. ) I added a wing from dollar store to complete the costume.

Black Forest Cake

My son turned 9 in September and I made this gorgeous looking Black Forest cake for him. He loved it with chocolate gratings on the top and cherry with it.  It was easy to make n bake. It was my childhood favorite and lot of memories are attached to it. So I was happy to bake this for him to make new memories of his own. I Followed a youtube link and it helped me with simple steps. It turned out well and yummy.

Only thing I would do next time is not use machine hand blenders and use hand whip so I don't brake the gluten in the cake. It turned out a little dry but taste overpowered all that.

5 min head band

I love simple projects which takes less material and my time. This project takes less than or 5 mins to make once you have all your material handy. It's the few materials which am sure is available in most of the household. It's a perfect last minute gift too. Thanks to pinterest for this great project.

My daughter loves these and she has asked me to do many more of different colors and sizes, so I am heading towards the craft stores to grab few of these kind. It can be even done with kids as a project, it'll be a great family fun. I might add few flowers and buttons to give some more bling to it.

List of Materials:

1 Ribbonof you choice( measuring around 17 inches( of my daughter) or your head size)

2 Elastic hair bands

Hot glue gun

Method:

First tie a knot with the two elastic hair bands together to secure it. Hot glue on each end of the ribbon and secure it with the hair band on each end. Walah! The head band is ready.

Holige (Ganesh Chaturthi special)

Happy Gowri-Ganesha festival to all. I know wishing you all a bit late, but I got tied up with the festival preparations and couldn't wish all my blog friends. So here is a dish very traditional and must during this festival. I always get nostalgic during this festival as it's a big one in my maternal place and we always used to look forward for this festival even when we were young. With all the colorful flowers and clothes comes the traditional and elaborated lunch to fill the whole banana leaf made by the cook specially called for such occasion. They cook every dish on the wood fire pit and it has it's own smell and taste in the food. Oh! I guess I made some of you familiar with this nostalgic aswell. Once back from a long summer vacation with parents you always miss them more. Anyways here is the dish I made for this occasion.

Holige or Obbattu in Kannada is similar to Pooran Poli in Marati/Maharastra. It's a sweet dish made during special occasions or Festivals. It's made with dal/lentils as stuffing into the dough and rolling it out like paratha. It's one of the popular dish in Karnataka and my favorite to say;)

Ingredients:
1 Cup Toor Dal
1.25 Cup Jaggery
1 tsp Kuskus/poppy seeds
1tbsp Fresh or dry coconut
1 pinch Cardamom powder
2.5 cups All purpose flour/Maida
1 tsp Turmeric
A pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp Oil
Round shaped cut parchment paper about 8 inch circumference.

Method:
In a mixing bowl take all purpose flour, turmeric and salt and mix well. Now add little water and make a soft sticky dough. Pour 2-3 tbsp of oil and coat it well , cover it and keep it aside for at least 2-3 hours. Cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker with very little water, so the dal isn't broken completely but cooked. Cool it completely. Now in a heavy bottom pan take the jaggery and once it melts add kuskus, cardamom powder, coconut and mix well. Once it starts to get sticky add the cooked dal and keep mixing till it for a little dry dough. You can add a tbsp of ghee/ clarified butter if it's getting too sticky or too dry. Now cool it completely. Divided them into small balls.

Now take small ball of the all purpose dough and make it into a bowl shaped with your fingers exactly the way you do it to stuff the filling for partita. Now add the jaggery filling inside and close it. Put it on the parchment paper and start spreading to with hands making it into round and as thin as possible. Put it on a hot skillet with adding a little oil from your dough base and cook on both the sides. Make the rest of them and store in an airtight container or serve them warm. Left overs you can refrigerate and warm them in microwave for. 30 secs with a wet tissue paper on top. Enjoy it with a spoon of ghee and warm milk.

Stuffed mini Bell Peppers

Hi all, we're back with a long. 2 months long vacation to India. It was quite a relaxing and a memorable trip, as got to spend some quality time with my parents and brother family. It's so wonderful to be around them. It's always exciting to see the kids getting along with their cousins and having fun, sleep and stay together. I treasured this vacation and hope to see more of this in future.

Once the vacation is done its time to get back to the routine and your normal life, kids r ready n excited to get back to school and I am ready to start the new year running with them all day. I wish them great success and lots of good memories. Saying all this I want to get to the dish I made today.

It's stuffed mini bell peppers, I am not a big fan of stuffed dishes but lot of people have asked me or mentioned about this and I had to try out to see what's the big deal about stuffed. Indeed it's worth all the time and effort as it tastes and looks yummy. It takes a little extra time in preparation than in cooking, so if you make more and freeze it save a lot of time in cooking.i loved the colors and the sweetness in this dish. Only complaint with this dish was its dry for roti/chapathi and my family likes a gravy dish. But I loved the taste and texture and more than all it's easy to make. Thanks to my cousin Savitha for sharing the recipe .

Ingredients:

5-6 Mini bell peppers

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1 tsp Jeera seeds

1 tsp peanut

1 tsp sesame seeds

4-5 Red chillies

1tbsp Dry coconut

1/2 tsp tamarind paste/powder

Salt to taste

1 tsp chopped coriander leaves

1 tsp Olive oil.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300*F .Wash the bell peppers and dry and keep aside. In a frying pan, dry roast coriander seeds, Jeera seeds, sesame seeds, peanut, red chillies and dry coconut. Once it's cooled, grind it into fine powder and add tamarind and salt and keep aside. Now take the peppers one at a time and slit open in the back till 3/4th for all of them. Now fill the filling well and place them in an oven safe dish. Sprinkle some olive oil on the top. Now cook in the oven for about 20 mins or till the peppers have wrinkles on the skin. Once done decorate it with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm. It's good as an appetizer or with rice or roti.