Vegetable salad

This is a very simple salad I prepare. I like to prepare my own vinaigrette / dressing as it is more convincing for me to avoid wastage. I  got the vinaigrette idea from a cook book 'Good food Gourmet', which I got from the local library. Here is a colorful vegetable salad with low calorie dressing from my kitchen to the bloggers:)

Vegetables:

Lettuce - 3 leaves
purple / red cabbage - 3 leaves
carrot - 1
plum tomato -6
olives - 6
red onion - 1/2 small

Vinaigrette:

white vinegar - 2 tbsp
Extra virgin olive oil - 3 tbsp
salt - little
sugar - 1/2 tsp
cilantro (or any herb) - 2 tbsp (chopped)

Method:

Mix the items given under vinaigrette and let it stand for an hour or more.
30 minutes before serving start preparing the salad to ensure the crispiness.
Wash the plum tomatoes and olives.
Slice the cabbage, lettuce, carrot, onion into small long pieces.
Add the vinaigrette and toss gently.
Cover tightly and keep refrigerated.

Vegetable salad is ready!

Tips:

This salad can be used as stuffing in sandwiches too.
It can be topped with bread croutons and cheese.

Stays fresh  for lunch box or for a delicious snack.
The vinaigrette can be prepared in a bulk and kept refrigerated for a month.
Preparing the salad from fresh vegetables makes it more delicious , nutritious and economical than buying a salad bag.

Yard-long beans stir fry (Karamani poriyal)

An Indian stir fry with 'yard-long beans'

Other names for Yard-long beans : Karamani - Tamil, Chori - Hindi, Chinese long beans, asparagus beans.

Though not a difficult recipe, I like this vegetable because of the delicious seeds inside. Many years ago some vegetables like karamani, kovakkai(Ivy gourd) were not popular in my native place, (as they used to sell only the locally grown fresh veggies because of transportation costs) but available in big cities like Chennai. At that time whenever I visit my aunt Anandhi chithi (my dad's younger brother's house in the city), she would fondly prepare me these vegetable curries, which I like a lot. I admire the way she receives every guest with immense pleasure and remembers their favorites. Also she would pack a bunch of these fresh vegetables for my mom . No wonder she is a favorite aunt for all in our family.....much to learn from her:)

Ingredients:
Karamani - 1 bunch
onion - 1
curry leaf - 1 sprig
dry red chilly - 4
cumin - 1 tsp
mustard - 1 tsp
urad dhal - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
salt - as per need

Method:

Select the tender long beans and if possible get the bunch with some tender seeds.
Cut the yard-long beans (Karamani) into halves, so that they fit in a big bowl. Wash thrice in cold water or till it runs clear.
Nip the ends and discard. Chop finely.
Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds, urad dhal. After the mustard splutters, add the chopped onion, curry leaf, red chilly and fry till onion wilts.
Slide in the chopped beans and fry for a minute. Then pour 1/2 cup water and cook covered in low heat. After 10 minutes remove the lid, add required salt and stir till it gets loose.
Before switching off add the shredded coconut, cumin , mix well.

Karamani poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve as side dish with sambar rice or roti.

Orange butter cookies

I prepared these orange cookies for Christmas. I had some remainder raisin soaked orange juice while preparing the fruit cake and also some orange peels. I thought of bringing out a new kind of Christmasy cookie with my Shrewsbury butter biscuit recipe. I prepared it in round shape for Christmas. Then on Christmas morning I found this beautiful 101 cookie cutter set under our Christmas tree, which I was admiring for a long time. I am so surprised and happy to see hubby dear presenting me this, which I wished secretly. I couldn't control my eager to try new cookies and gladly prepared another batch for hubby and his friend.

Orange butter cookies for Christmas.

Xav presented me this beautiful wilton 101 cookie cutter set for Christmas.

Flower cookies.

Star cookies.

Star cookies for New year.

My version of Orange Shrewsbury biscuit / cookie:
This is an eggless cookie.

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
Icing sugar - 1/2 cup
baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Ap flour - 1 1/4 cup
salt - a pinch
orange juice - 2 tbsp
(Orange juice concentrate can also be used)
orange peel powder - 1 tsp
orange food color - 2 pinch
candied orange peel - 3 tbsp
dry ginger powder - 1 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree C.
Mix butter and sugar in mixing bowl to get a creamy texture.
Sift together salt,baking powder, orange peel, ginger powder and flour.
Add everything together, knead and make a dough like chapathi dough.
Make a soft dough.The dough should be slightly sticky on your finger.
(adjust flour and sugar to get the dough consistency). Add few tsp powdered sugar if needed.
Keep in refrigerator for 15 minutes to make it easy to roll.
Place between wax paper and roll into 1/2 inch thick sheet and cut into desired shape.
Place an aluminium foil / parchment paper on a cookie tray. Arrange them on the baking tray and bake for just 6 to 8 minutes in 350 deg C.
Remove the biscuit once it starts leaving the tray. It will be soft while hot, then gets the correct rigidity after cooling.
Let it cool completely and store in air tight container.
Orange Butter biscuit is ready!

Note:

Makes 20 round or 35 (2 inch) small star cookies approximately.

Semiya Kesari

Kesari - an Indian fudge. Semiya / vermicelli - a kind of noodles / pasta.

Kesari is a dessert prepared along with breakfast during Indian festivals. The most common kesari is sooji or rava kesari, while there are some variations too.

Some years ago,  while buying a vermicelli pack I got a complimentary booklet with numerous recipes using semiya. Though it is a very small pamphlet to promote their product, all their recipes were accurate and it inspired me to collect cookbooks from that day. Here is one dish from my knowledge bank:)

Ingredients:

Semiya - 1 cup
(I used 200 gm MTR vermicelli)
sugar - 1.5 cup
water - 2.5 cup
ghee - 3 tbsp
cashew - 10
raisin - 10
cardamom - 4
orange(Kesari) food color - a small pinch

Method:

Gently crush the semiya into small bits.

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry the cashews till it gets golden color. Keep aside.
Then put the raisin and wait till it puffs up. Take out.

Add 2 tbsp ghee and roast the semiya till it turns golden.
Take the semiya and keep aside.

In the same pan bring the water to boil and add orange food color powder.
Add the vermicelli and reduce flame. Cook covered till it is completely done.
Add the sugar and wait till the water evaporates.
Now put the fried nuts, raisin, powdered cardamom and stir gently without mashing.
Switch off once it starts leaving the pan.

Semiya kesari is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve warm as dessert.
It can be served along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream too

Tips:

Substitute for orange food color - juice of carrot.

Happy New year,

Lets welcome the New year with joy,
with lots of prayers and well wishes,
May every day be filled
with happiness and peace,
May every face on earth live happily forever,
with all our needs satisfied,
May every life lives peacefully
with all our dreams come true,
May every child gets love and care,along
with all the toys they want:)
May God shower His abundant love on all of us,






Wishing you all a
beautiful, Prosperous and Blessed
Happy New Year and Happy blogging!
Love,
Viki.

Merry Christmas,

Wishing all my friends and readers a  Blessed Happy Christmas,
May all our dreams come true.

Nativity scene on Birth of Jesus Christ.

Our Christmas tree.

Christmas tradition: Cookies and snacks along with chocolate milk for Santa Clause. Cilantro for reindeer.

Fruit cake for Baby Jesus's Birthday, the Christmas,

Mixed vegetable pakoda

Pakoda / pakora / fritters. A pakoda is a deep fried spicy snack.

In Tamilnadu it is common to see the vendors making these crispy pakoras in front of their stalls to attract the crowd in the evening / night. They prepare the pakora's base batter in a big lot and would make various pakoras by dipping and frying the relevant items as per order. There are many variations in making pakora and the dominant ingredient gets the title (mint pakora, tea stall pakora, cashew pakora, onion pakoda etc.,).
Here is a different pakora with mixed vegetables. We can use almost any vegetable here and I am sure deep frying makes it delicious:) If preparing the pakora as tea time snack, I suggest making a little extra, as it makes a wonderful meal with rasam rice for dinner:)

Mixed vegetables I had.

Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda.

Important Ingredients:

Besan flour - 3/4 cup
(Bengal gram flour / kadalai mavu)
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Red onion - 1 (big)
green chilli - 5
ginger - 2 inch
hing - 1/8 tsp
salt - to taste
curry leaves- 1 brig
cilantro - 1/4 bunch
mint leaf - a handful
cilantro - a handful
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
oil - to deep fry (250 ml)

Vegetables :

cabbage - 100 gm
carrot - 1
broccoli / cauliflower - 1 cup
potato - 1
French beans - 10
(Vegetables with more water content are not suitable for this recipe).

Method:

Cut the vegetables into thin slices of 2 inch length.
Chop the onion into thin slices.
Finely chop the green chilli, ginger, cilantro and mint leaves.
Mix the chopped veggies with the besan flour and rice flour.Add chilli powder, salt and garam masala powder.
Try to knead the flour without adding water.
Heat 2 tbsp oil and add it to the mixture. This makes the pakoda more crispy. Instead of oil we can add a few drops of water also.
The dough consistency should not be like chapathi dough. It should be like a mixture of moistened flour with veggies.
Heat oil in a kadai. Drop small pieces of mixture in to the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium so that the vegetable gets cooked evenly. Flip and fry to get crispy fritters.
Take them out and place over paper towels to remove excess oil.
Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as an evening snack or as side dish with any variety-rice.
Goes fine with curd rice , rasam or sambar rice