Jaden's Silver Noodles

I am addicted to Steamy Kitchen. I am so close to stalking her and her blog :). When she posted my favorite noodle recipe, I had to try it at home. It came out very good except I forgot to add spinach. Here is her recipe.

It took me so long to try it because I had to go get me that julienne peeler first. Prabu tried, "I can cut them for you like that without the peeler." No thanks hon, I haz my peeler ;).

Verdict from the family is that I should include these noodles on my menu rotation. Now Prabu is hoping, I will try different things on the menu when we go out instead of ordering glass noodles every time.

Here are the sad pictures :).

Cooking for the week

I had a lovely day today (Check the details here). So I decided to end it by cooking and prepping some meals for the week. After V went to bed around 8 at night I started cooking. I was done by 11 pm and mom helped me clean up.

I don't have recipes for everything yet but here's what I made.

1. Menthaaku Pappu ( Lentils with Fenugreek Leaves)
2. Beerakaya Pappu (Moong Dal with Chinese Okra)
3. Sambar
4. Rasam
5. Carrot with fenugreek leaves
6. Zucchini Curry
7. Long Beans stir fry

And tomorrow, I have 5 more things to cook, and prep some more. Will post recipes and pictures soon.

Maggi Noodles

My cousin Vittal called me couple of weeks ago asking for this recipe because my nephew wanted it for dinner :). I gave him the recipe on the phone and I thought I would share it here.

These are like Indian version of Ramen Noodles. They recently came up with whole what noodles with sambar tastemaker. I tried that variety today and boy was it good. You can use frozen mixed vegetables if you want but I used fresh ones today. I used a big carrot but use small or medium.

Ingredients:
Maggi noodles - big pack ( has 4 sets of noodles)
Water - 3 cups
Carrot - 1 small diced
Green beans - 1/3 cup cut into small pieces
Corn Kernels - Handful
Napa cabbage - 4 leaves chopped
Onions - 1/4 cup
Zuchhini - 1/4 cup diced
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tsp.


Procedure:
Bring water to a boil in a deep vessel. Add the noodles and taste maker and cook till noodles soak up all the water and are soft to touch. Mix well so that the tastemaker masala gets into the noodles ( don't over do it though)

Heat oil in a wide skillet . Add cumin, garlic and red chili powder.
Add onions, and all other vegetables. Season with salt.
Cover and cook on medium-low flame for 5 - 8 minutes till the veggies are soft.
Once the vegetables are cooked, add the noodles to this mixture.
Mix well so that noodles and veggies are blended in.
Check for seasonings.
Serve hot.

My parents like to use ketchup on the side with this but let me tell you that using ketchup on this dish is a crime in my book. It tastes great just the way it is. Add hot sauce or something if you want but not ketchup. It ruins the whole taste. Also Prabu likes chips with it for the crunch factor :)

Pictures

At the request of a dear friend I am going to slowly add pictures to the dishes I make. I suck at taking pictures and I blame my camera. I have put in a request at Husbandville for a new and NICE camera (did someone say SLR?). I expect it to arrive in 2 - 4 years. So please bear with these pictures till then. If you cannot wait that long then please flood my husband's inbox by requesting him to comply to my request

~Sincerely
Suji ;)

Comfort Food - Tomato Pappu

There is something really soothing about a big bowl of hot rice, tomato pappu, neyyi(clarified butter/ghee) and some Andhra avakaya. I get the avakaya from my aunt ( Mom's elder sister) in India with an appadam on the side. She makes it the best and none of these store bought ones give that taste.

Let's get to the tomato pappu recipe. It's super simple. I use roma tomatoes for this because they give slightly tangy taste compares to the beefsteak variety.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Kandi Pappu(toor dal) - 1/2 cup
Roma Tomatoes - 3 diced into big chunks.
Onions - 1/4 cup diced into big chunks
Green Chillies - 3 sliced length wise
Garlic - 3 cloves crushed
Salt - To taste
Turmeric - pinch
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp - 1tsp ( depending on your palate)
Oil - as needed

For Popu:
Curry leaves - 4
Dried red chillies - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Inguva ( Asafoetida) - pinch

Procedure:

- Wash the lentils and pressure cook it with 2 cups of water, tomatoes and green chillies for one whistle.
- If you do not have a pressure cooker. Cook just the lentils in a pot and add tomatoes and chillies to the pan in the next step.
- Heat oil in a wide wok. Add the popu ingredients. Once the mustard seeds start sputtering, add garlic and onions and saute till onions are soft.
-Add the cooked lentil, tomato and chillies to this.
-Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.
- Check for seasonings and cook on medium-low till you get a thick soup like consistency but not too watery.
-Remove from heat and serve it with hot rice.