Evening snack: Mangalore bajji/ Goli Bajji

Mangalore bajji/ Goli Bajji:

Ingredients:

½kg                        Maida(all grains) flour

1cup                      Curds/butter milk

3nos.                     Finely chopped green Chillies

¼of coconut       Fresh Coconut   sliced into small pieces.

1/4tsp                   Baking Soda

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Mix maida, curds,green chillies, coconut, salt, soda and mix well.

Keep it for 3hrs. Heat oil in kadai. Make small balls of the dough and deep fry in oil.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Tips:

For better taste, mix the dough 6hrs before cooking.

Breakfast Idea: Egg Toast

Worried what to prepare on Sunday for breakfast? Don’t wry we have something interesting. Its egg toast. It’s very well-known dish, but I got to know recently from my colleague. So got a chance to experiment it today.

Preparation time: 10mins

Serves:                 3people

Ingredients:

1pound                Bread

6                          Eggs      

2                          Onions  (finely chopped)

6                          Green chillies (finely chopped)

4                          Curry leaves (chopped)

2tbsp                    Milk

1/2tsp                   Red chilli powder

2tbsp                    Chopped coriander leaves.

Salt to taste

Oil to fry (shallow)

Beat eggs and add onion, chillies, chilli powder, curry leaves, milk, coriander and salt. Beat the mixture to mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan.

Dip bread slice in the mixture and place it on frying pan. Fry it over medium flame.

Fry on both sides till its done.

Serve hot with hot Thai sauce/tomato sauce.

It will taste good when its hot, never serve it cold, it would be a disasterJ

Tips:
1.       Wondering if the mixture will stick to bread or not, don’t worry it will. If you want thick egg mixture coat on the slice, dip the slice and quickly place it on the frying pan. If needed spread the mixture on toast after placing it on pan.

2.       The process is same as eating omlette and bread. If you get bored of dipping and frying, just use the mixture to make omlette and have it with bread. You can use oven or sandwich maker to make the toast if needed.

3.       If only mixture is left out, then use paddu maker pan, pour some oil and use the mixture to make egg paddu(same way as we make paddus). Allow it to cook on both sides. Once done, serve with sauce.

4.       If you are a vegan and won’t take egg, then replace egg with besan ka atta(gram flour). You can also make omlette by replacing eggs with besan ka atta, its known as veg. omlette.

South Indian Breakfast: Paddu

Ingredients:

3cups    Uncooked rice

1cup      Urad dal(black gram)-(optional)

1/4cup  Chana dal(Bengal gram) -(optional)

1/4cup  Moong dal(split green gram)- (optional)

4-5          Methi seeds

1cup      cooked rice/flattened rice

2pinch’ Baking soda

Salt to taste

For seasoning

2              finely chopped onions

5              finely chopped green chillies

1/4tsp   Mustard seeds

1/4tsp   cumin seeds

1/4tsp   chana dal

1/4tsp   urad dal

5              curry leaves

1tbsp     Cooking Oil.

Soak raw rice in a bowl, and also soak urad dal, chana dal, moong dal, methi seeds in a bowl for about 3hrs minimum.

 After soaking, grind dal and rice for smooth consistency by adding water. Mix well. Grind cooked rice or soaked flattened rice and add to the batter. Add salt and soda(optional). Keep it overnight for fermentation.

Next morning, check if the batter is fermented. Add seasoning to this batter. For seasoning, heat oil in pan, add mustard seeds, cumin. Wait till the mustards seeds sputter. Add chana dal, urad dal, chopped onions, chillies, curry leaves. Wait till onions turn to brown. Turn off the flame and add this seasoning to the fermented batter and mix well.

Now heat paddu pan, and add little oil. Pour the batter in paddu pan and close the lid for about 2-3mins. 

Check if the paddu is fried at one side. When it is fried from one side, turn & cook on other side. 

Now take out the paddus and serve hot with coconut chutney/chutney powder.

 Tips:

• Buy a non-stick paddu tava for best results.
• If you don’t have much time to soak the rice and dal, use warm water to soak the ingredients and soak for 1hr.
• If the batter is not fermented, add sour buttermilk(1/4 cup) and keep it for 30mins. This will give same taste as the fermented one.
• The paddus will taste better if the batter is more fermented.

Domestic Violence:Who is responsible?When will it end?

I have lot of respect and belief in Indian arranged marriages. In my family a girl has to go for arrange marriage, we are not supposed to even think of considering a guy for marriage by ourselves whatever might be the reason. There is nothing like, if the girl likes a boy, parents never say, lets meet the boy and then decide. Thats how all girls are pushed to this so called arranged marriage and they are allowed to talk to him/her only after engagement and roam with, only after marriage. Quiet understandable if you are an Indian.

I have seen happy marriages be it my parents or our uncles and aunts, whatever happens, they adjust and live together. I wondered why? I think its because women just bear all the pains and humiliations and its so common in Indian society that girls parents will just say to their girl "Its common, you should adjust. he is afterall husband" Seriously?. One of my cousin recently called up her parents,little upset, saying her mother-in-law was abusing her physically and torturing mentally. Small issues,she will project it as huge and will complain to her son. eg. Eating before husband or Mother in law eats, taking a small nap in afternoons its all considered to be insulting for them. Taunts would be like, my son would have got a better bride, he ended up with you, you didnt get enough dowry, you didnt give a kid to this house, remember kid means BOY, you should not even think of Girl. Which generation are we living in?

One more case I heard the girl got a govt job and she is earning well in a small town, good enough to live luxurily in a town. There were people who were behind her,she was just 22yrs, (right for marriage but still) and she got married. Now not even a year, she is carying and her husband is having another women in his life far from the town and he visits her frequently. Girls parents know this and they are hiding it from their girl, because at this stage its not good to tell this to her.Can you believe the guys mother knowingly spoilt the daughter in law's life. You question them, they say "He is a guy, you should know how to keep him in wraps. If he is visiting other women, there should be some problem with the girl".Wow..Unbelievable. I think she would have stayed single with her own earning rather than fall for wrong person in her life.

Parents might tell hundred times to "Adjust" when their girl child complaints this. But is it really what they mean ? Anyone can feel the pain what a mother goes when her daughter is suffering and why cant the mother-in-law see this? All they want is a girl to be like a maid, cook and a lady to keep her son happy? Why dont people come out and speak up their problems?

If all these issues are very common, why do we still go for arranged marriage? For a girl, arranged marriage is like a security where they feel their parents have certified the family they can live happily with the man they choose. Is it really so? When will people come out of this belief and start raising their voice against these issues and speak up openely about the domestic violence they face, fearlessly. Is there any end for this ?If so how many light years a women has to wait for this to happen??

Disclaimer: Guys! No offense please.

Brinjal curry

Cooking time: 20mins(cooking in vessel), 10mins if you use a pressure cooker.

Ingredients

6              Brinjals(Eggplant)

2              Potatoes(optional)

2              Tomatoes

1              Onion(optional)

½tsp      Garam Masala(optional)                              

¼tsp      Turmeric             

2tsp       Chilly powder

1tsp       Coriander powder(optional)

1tsp       Ginger garlic paste

2tbsp     Oil for cooking

Salt to taste

Slice brinjal and soak it in salt water for a while to avoid bitterness. You don’t have to keep it for long time, you can just soak till you finish slicing all the brinjals. Now chop onions, tomatoes and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and add onions, tomatoes, ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute in high flame. Make sure the onions don’t get burnt, so lower the flame if you feel its too high.

Drain salt water, wash and add brinjal, potatoes in cooking pan. Add chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, garam masala, Salt to taste.

Add a half a cup of water and close the lid. Allow it to cook for about 10mins. Ocassionally stir to see if it needs some more water to cook. Add water accordingly.Check if the brinjal and potatoes are cooked. If yes, then turn off the flame and serve the curry with hot rotis/chapatis or rice.

If you are using a pressure cooker, just add all the ingredients and wait for 3-4whistles. You curry is ready. This is much faster than cooking in a pan. Only problem with pressure cooker is the curry will be in mashed form with more gravy which not everybody likes. But if you are in a hurry, you should go for a pressure cooker.

Tip:

You can add tamarind, little sugar for a chatpata taste. Also add little milk to the curry before you turn off the flame, which I am not sure what difference it made J.

Quick breakfast-Poha

Poha (flattened rice):

Ingredients

2cups Poha(flattened rice)
1 Onions
4 chillies(depending on how much spicy you need)
4 curry leaves(optional)
Coriander leaves(optional)
grated Coconut(fresh or dry)(optional)
Lemon juice
Ground nuts
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
A pinch Turmeric
Oil for cooking
Salt to taste

Soak poha for about 5mins, drain water and keep aside.

Heat a pan, pour some oil and season with mustard, cumin seeds, ground nuts, curry leaves and allow the mustard seeds to pop. Then add chopped onion, chopped green chillies and turmeric and leave it for 2mins till the onion gets cooked.

Add poha , salt to taste and mix welll. Close the lid and allow it to cook for 3mins. Now turn off the flame. Poha is ready to eat, serve hot.

You can also squeeze lemon, garnish it with grated coconut(dry/fresh), recommended fresh, and coriander.

Its the best and quick breakfast that you can make, faster than ready made maggi:).