weekend

Finally made idli, with onion-tomato chutney and sambhar.

Sunday, went to Big City and had Malaysian food. not bad. Of course, the roti canai is the BEST part. Im already craving another one.

friday

Vegetable korma (cauliflower, potato, green beans, carrot, greenpeas)
Egg burji(hubby's contribution)
Rice
paniyaram

another day, another resolution

Okay, so we went out on Thursday too. To Outback.

I hate to think how much sodium (not to mention fat, preservatives, etc) is in restaurant food. I was sooo thirsty all night and even the next morning.

So, now I am re-committing myself to cook more at home!!! But I do still have that "relative" excuse. Its not my fault.

Im grinding the idli maavu today. In my defence, sort of, the ceiling really didnt get finished when it was supposed to. I think it got done last week. OK OK, I've been procrastinating, I admit it.

Anyway, Im going to cook at home for at least..... Well, the weekend IS coming up and......

Wed

white rajma curry, rice, cucumber raita, Gobi tamatar, mango

brownie for dessert

guilty

Had Chinese for lunch and KFC for dinner. It wasnt really my choice, but I dont feel good when I eat out so much....

Monday

Black beans curry, boiled egg and poori. Tasty!

Tomato rice for hubbys lunch

Weekend

Friday: chili's
saturday: Taco bell
Sunday: curd rice, potato fry, kesari bath; lamb kheema and noodles.

thurs

veg fried rice-- with chicken

and lassi

wed

Had the leftover soup, chicken, and potato from yesterday along with avocado chapathi(inspired from here) and sorakkai dal(masoor).

finished off with a nice mango.

Tues- fiesta....

as my husband calls it when i make lots of food.


Today it was
-fish fry
-crispy "oven" chicken
-potato masala
-rice
-broccoli cheese soup
-italian bread(store bought)

long weekend

Friday, had pizza.

Sat. we went out of town. So dinner was at an asian noodle place (I had pad thai, dh had singapore noodles, B had sweet and sour chicken)

Over the three days, I made 'puffed rice' upma, sweet/sakkara pongal, bottle gourd curry, we went to "udipi cafe" and my husband actually cooked! He made one (of his two) specialties(and both involve eggs)... egg paratha masala. :D

This is what he does:

Take a package of frozen paratha, thaw it, and tear into bite size pieces.
chop onion and 1 tomato, green chili if you like
beat 6 eggs in a bowl(or according to the number of parathas)

In a large pan put oil and add tarka. then fry the green chilies, onions well and add the tomatoes, salt. Add the beaten eggs and sambar podi/masala of your choice. Stir it till half cooked and add the paratha pieces. finish cooking. Top with coriander leaves-optional- thats my addition ;).

Pongalu pongalu

Happy lohri, happy sankranti, happy pongal(a day or two early)!!!

Today it was venn pongal and radish sambhar.

happy birthday....

to my hubby!

We went to Ming- for indian-chinese food. It was quite good, and somewhat pricey.

-fried lotus stem with honey and red chili
-"crispy" lamb strips with sweet and sour sauce
-hakka chili chicken
-singapore shrimp and chicken balls
-"american" chopsuey noodles

oh and french silk cheesecake at home

Tues

"B" said she will cook, but as she says "I took over". So, it was a combined effort.

cajun chicken, penne pasta and peas with a creamy sauce.


Maintenance man is still not finished with my kitchen. Thursday they are supposed to paint and be done. Then I will finally be able to use my grinder. Idli/dosa for weekend, yippee!

Let's round it off to 10

:)
in no particular order:

6. Jalebi

7. Til chikki(sesame)

8. Bombay halwa

9. Malpua

10. (hmmm, I'll just say Kheer)

Top 5 fav Indian Sweets

In decending order:

5. Soan papdi

4. Petha- white pumpkin sweet

3. Boondi laddu- freshly made, not store bought

2. Mysore pak


1. RAS MALAI - rasgulla

..... oh, its so hard to choose!

What about you?

mon

chole masala
ash gourd pachadi
basmati rice

nice and satisfying, after a long time.

made curd rice for hubbys lunch tommorrow.

quick dinner

palak paneer and (frozen) parathas.

friday

Take out from our fav pakistani place.

Achari murgh
Chicken biryani
Naan

they didnt have mysore pak and they usually do :(

another icky restaurant

"B" was in the mood for pizza, so we went to Bertucci's(because I had a coupon and we are indecisive).

Please remind me to never go there. Every single time I dont like the food, and after a while, I forget and go back again.

Things I will make Someday

There are so many things I want to make from "scratch".
Here's a list of some of them:

• Those green chilies soaked in buttermilk, dried in the sun(or oven?) and stored for later to be fried.
  
• Pasta
• Puran-poli
• Rasgulla- I have made these, still must perfect them
• Mmmmysore pak- actually I tried this once and failed. It was too dry and crumbled. still yummy. I probably wimped out on the ghee.
• Jowar or akki roti
• Rajastani foods, like dal-batti-churma, and dal dokli
• Naan
• Cheesecake
• Italian biscotti (Update: done it)
• Souffle'
• Cooking with flowers
• Tiramisu
  

wednesday

Drumstick sambhar
Green bean poriyal
Rice



For lunch went with "B" to a new Vietnamese place. The pho was toooo americanized. Of course I always get the chicken (pho ga) which is not so authentic anyway. Its traditionally made with beef, or so I have read.

nice meal- tues

Cooked mango dal, tindora fry, vegetable makhanwala- with turnips, carrots and peas, roti, and basmati rice.


I think Ive decided I dont really like turnips, though they were tolerable with other vegs in the curry. Have tried them a few times now, but definitely not adding them to my list of favs.

Turnips

Turnips in american grocery

Turnips in indian grocery

Which would u rather eat?

I bought these small, cute, brightly coloured turnips and im not yet sure what I will do with them, but I have a couple ideas. I might even take a picture!

losing track

im losing track of the days...
yesterday had taco bell take out.

today there was a small disaster of a leaking ceiling and some plaster fallen in my kitchen! its cleaned up now but will probably be a total mess when the maintenance 'fixes' it after a few days :(

went to Bengali sweet house for chaat and sweets.
tonight, made a creamy pasta thing with broccoli and that leftover turkey. (relative is staying with us for a month)

went grocery shopping and got lotsa veggies. i was even able to get the elusive "drumstick" though it looks very very pitiful and too skinny and was 4.99 per lb. i think i got overcharged on a green mango too.
well, hopefully will do lots of cooking for a few days.

oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

By special request :o)

Vendekai Puli Kulambu

ingredients appx- I never measure

• few handfuls okra/ladies finger/vendekai
• green chilies(optional)
  
• 1 large/2 medium onions chopped
• 1 small/medium tomato chopped
  
• tamarind -extracted in water... using tamarind concentrate will not give proper consistency
• mustard seeds
• curry leaves
• sambhar podi
• salt
• handful of coconut grinded smooth with little water, or coconut milk(opt.- but really adds to the flavour)
  

Wash and fully dry the okra. Then remove the ends and cut into thirds.
Put oil in pan, heat it, and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Then add the green chilies and onions. Fry onions until soft then add the okra. Add salt, fry it well, until its no longer sticky(add more oil if necessary but do NOT add water). Only then add the tomato and cook until tomato is soft. Put sambhar powder. stir. Add the tamarind water and another cup of water(or more). Put the lid on and boil abt 5-10 mins until the okra is fully cooked. Remove lid and add the coconut. Cook until thickened.

if not using coconut, you can add some rice flour or cornstarch mixed with water to thicken.

sat

Went to the Big City. Ate at an italian restaurant called La Nonna.