Puttu...

Couple of days back I made puttu. Puttu is a very common mallu breakfast dish. It can be made with both rice as well as wheat flour. Puttu with hot steaming kadala curry or sweet banana and a cup of hot tea brings back so many memories. It is a very simple and healthy dish consisting of the flour with layers of grated coconut, steamed in a cylindrical vessel called puttu-kutti.

pic courtesy: HOTDishes

To make puttu, slowly add warn water with a little salt to the flour till it forms tiny lumps. Fill the puttu-kutti with it, adding layers of grated coconut in between. Once fully filled, close the top of the puttu-kutti and load it over the vessel and steam it till done.

Other variations include, steaming it in bamboo stems or coconut shells (chiratta puttu)

Well, since I donot have a putti-kutti, I opted for the easy way out which is buying a pack of instant puttu-podi. Just add equal quantity of hot water to the powder and stir for a minute with a fork. Leave for it to set for five minutes and its done. It tastes pretty much like a normal puttu except I didn’t add the grated coconut. Sprinkled it with sugar and had it with bananas.

Nowhere like the homemade ones, but craving satiated for time being!!

Quickie Dinner..

Was too lazy to labour for dinner. Just boiled rice, lentils and peas with salt to taste.

Had it with curd and some tangy tomato pickle.

Yum...

Healthy (read bland) Pasta...

After gorging on beef and going Godzilla on pastries couple of days ago, I’d decided to cut down on calories and tried making an oil free pasta. Very simple to make and not too bad on taste; though my friend told me it was quite bland to her tastes (you can add pepper to make it spicy)

Boil the pasta in good amount of water (about 4 times the quantity of pasta) with salt to taste. Boil veggies and keep them aside. Use a colourful mix of veggies like carrot, peas, capsicum etc.. Since I was going fat/oil free I didn’t make the traditional white sauce. I plainly reduced milk with corn starch and for taste added a spoon of Maggi mushroom soup powder. Mix the boiled pasta and the vegetables with the sauce and you’re done!!

Quick & Easy Pancakes!!

I love pancakes. The sweet and eggy taste makes for a perfect lazy Sunday breakfast.

Not made them from scratch yet and the few times that I’ve made them, I’ve used Betty Crocker Pan Cake Mix. The recipe on the box is quick and simple.

Beat eggs and milk together and then slowly sift in the flour; all the while stirring so that lumps are not formed. Mix well to make a smooth batter.

Heat a pan and pour in a ladle of batter onto it. Spread the batter by turning the pan. Do note that the pan needn’t be greased as the egg in the batter prevents it from sticking (as explained by a good ole friend). Cook on one side till the topmost layer of the batter solidifies and then flip it. Cook till it turns a warm yellow.

Have ‘em hot with fruits, honey, maple syrup or strawberry syrup.

Whenever I make pancakes I usually make copious amounts of batter so that I can satiate my cravings as soon as they come. It can be stored for upto 4 days in the fridge.

Attempt No:1

So here's a snapshot of my first attempt..

I think its important to be a good photographer first. Though I've been trying to photograph food for sometime, I'm nowhere near what the pros do. In fact, the only decent snap I have to date is that of a strawberry tart taken at Le Pain Quotidient which I've uploaded in the previous post.





I started out to make Rice, Dal and a vegetable curry but ended up with something quite different.







Pressure cook equal parts of rice & dal with enough salt and vegetables (in this case peas & carrots) with a spoon of bisibele bath powder (I used the MTR one). Its not the purest way to make the dish. Heck! even the recipe on the packet calls for elaborate measures. But for a single guy on his first attempt and that too trying to finish off in 20mins flat, this will do. And hey, it did taste decent..





I usually get hungry when I cook, so I made a snack too. Just cut up some mushrooms and braise them in white wine (the cheapest ones like Dia will do) with a dash of ginger-garlic paste. Spread it on dry roasted bread to get a quickie bruschetta. It did make for a good snack while cooking the rest of the meal..



For the side dish, I made a simple vegetable curry. Just boiled peas and carrots and reduced them in a gravy of tomato and sauteed onions. Also added the leftover braised mushrooms to it..

Voila! and dinner was served..





Seasoned food writers might turn in their graves, but this is my version and I'm sticking to it and am here to stay!!

World here I come..

* attempt the above at your own risk

Trying something new...

Like I said in my earlier post, I'm trying to do something new.
My first try is at food writing. I actually do know a bit about food and keep myself updated with the restaurant scene in Mumbai. But its actual writing that I have a problem with..

Anyway, made a start with an experimental dish I made a couple of days ago. Meticulously took photos also of the same. Though I made a big blunder of not photographing the actual finished product..

More on that later..

A new start..

Ok.. This I hope, is an earnest attempt to revive my blog.

Presently am in a rut.. The job sucks and I can't seem to find another one. Nothing interesting's going on. Desperately trying to divert my energies to something productive or creative..

Dug up the junk in my storage and brought out my colors and sketch book.
Not started on it though. Nor in a mood to read anything. Am mulling some ideas.

Will soon narrow on something. Hoping the blog will have something to do with it..

Let see...