Makeit & Bakeit Suncatchers and Pinwheel Snacks

So the whole neighborhood has gone on vacation. There is no-one to play with or talk to. Except me. Cos Dad's working through the weekend. Plus, it's been a rather gloomy day with sprinkles every now and then.

What does an 8 year old do?

Well, she makes Makeit & Bakeit glowing sun-catchers...


and while they are still baking, I rack my brains, remember an old Khana Khazana show, and make pinwheels for a snack...



These were easy to make and a great hit!

Pinwheel Snacks

• Two slices of bread
• Green chutney
• Ketchup (for the kid version)
  or
  Spicy red garlic chutney (for the adult version)

1. Cut the crust off each slice.
2. Flatten each slice of bread by with a rolling pin.
   
   
3. Spread green chutney on one side of a flattened slice. Cover this with the other flattened slice and spread ketchup on the one on top. (Or spicy red garlic chutney for the adults).
4. Roll it up carefully, pretty much like you would roll up a sponge cake for a Swiss Roll.
   
   


5. Slice each roll into 8 pinwheels.
   
   and serve immediately!
   

The pinwheels disappeared almost instantly. The boondi was quickly smothered in yogurt for an impromptu boondi raita that was consumed with relish.

The glowing suncatchers are out of the oven and we are waiting for them to cool before we hang them on Medha's window.

Tags: Pinwheel snacks, healthy bread snack, kid-friendly snack, green chutney

Dear Toothfairy

Priceless!

Hyderabadi Marag in a Slow Cooker

Surfing the Indian food blogs has opened up new frontiers within the realm of Indian cuisine for me. I get a virtual treat through posts that are beautifully engineered with delectable presentations and I also have new recipes to try out. One such recipe was Marag from Nabeela of Trial and Error.

Visitors with vegetarian preferences followed by a much needed vacation for me, kept me from trying Nabeela's Marag. It was, however, the first real meal I cooked on our return. I did put my own spin on it, of course. What is a recipe without one's own special touch? I do have an admiring audience at home, whose expectations must be met in order to maintain my reputation!

Marag is not a misspelling of murg; it is an Arabic term for a spicy stew or curry. It could be tomato based and have a medley of vegetables in it. Nabeela's recipe is the Hyderabadi version of Lamb Marag. It is usually made with lamb meat for stew. Interestingly enough, marag is also a Gaelic term for blood pudding! I am not sure how I feel about blood pudding but one thing is for sure, the marag I made was simply out-of-this-world delicious!

I tripled Nabeela's recipe as I had about 3 lbs of boneless lamb.

Nabeela's recipe calls for most of the cooking in a pressure cooker, with some cooking in the microwave. I made mine in a slow cooker.

The list of ingredients appears daunting but it's a really easy recipe to follow and make.

• 3 lbs boneless lamb, trimmed and diced
• 2 large onions
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp pure ghee
• 3 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 3 tamalpatra bay leaves
• 6 green cardamoms
• 9 cloves
• 30 peppercorns
• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 7-8 Thai green chillies
• 2 bunches of cilantro, chopped fine
• 2 cups plain yogurt, preferably homemade
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, freshly ground
• Salt to taste

1. Heat the olive oil and ghee in a saucepan.
2. Add all the whole spices and cook on medium heat until the spices release a heavenly aroma. Do not let the whole spices turn dark in color or burn.
3. Dice the onion and blend it in a blender to a fine paste. Add this onion paste to the oil and spices.
4. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and saute on high for about 5 minutes.
5. Transfer this to the slow cooker and add the meat and yogurt.
6. Blend the green chillies well in about 1 cup of water. Strain this mixture, reserve the chilli water and discard the residue. Add this to the slow cooker.
7. Add the finely chopped cilantro.
8. Add the garam masala and salt. Mix well.
9. Slow cook on High for 1 hour, followed by 2 hours on Low.
10. Do a taste test to see if you like it soupy or with a thick sauce. I loved the flavors so much that I could see myself slurping on the sauce. So I added 2 cups of water to make it more soupy. Adjust for salt if you do what I did.
11. Add freshly ground black pepper just before serving with hot naan or toasted sourdough bread.

This is my new comfort food! It's easy to make! It's hearty, spicy and delicious! Never before have we consumed 3 lbs of lamb within a week. Last week, we had marag for at least 3 meals and quite honestly, I could have had it for a few more, too!

This recipe is a keeper and it's something I will be making on a regular basis, especially in the cold autumn days.

Thank you, Nabeela!

Lemon Pickle Update II - It's Ready!

My lemon pickle is ready! Actually it was ready in 4 weeks but I haven't been able to post an update as this summer has been the busiest ever: birthday party for Medha, visitors, vacation and a huge backlog at work. It's not over yet cos Medha's school friend from New Lenox is coming to stay with us next week but two little girls should be easy to handle. Or am I expecting too much?!

I was surprised that it took only 4 weeks to cook in the sun. But I attribute that largely to the intensity of the sun here in Colorado; we are at a higher altitude which makes the sun even more fierce. I also think that the unexpectedly hot start to this year's summer played a significant role. The usual cooking time in the sun is about 2 months.

The juices are so thick that they stick to the lemon pieces. The thickened juice is called khaar in Marathi and a lemon piece are called limbachi phod. I washed and sliced one of the lemon pieces to show what the peel looks like when it is pickled and ready to eat. The thick peel is no longer crisp and no white parts are visible.

Once the pickle has reached this stage, allow it to rest in a dark place for at least 3 days, preferably a cool cabinet that is not opened frequently. Once past this stage, store the pickle in smaller glass jars in the refrigerator. The advantage of storing it in small jars is that you reduce the chances of contaminating the whole batch if someone double-dips into it or a not-so-dry spoon is used while serving. Storing it in the refrigerator also makes it last that much longer.

We love to have this lemon pickle on the side with meals, like we did with this simple meal of rice and thoy, a simple dal with lots of ginger.

Or with phulki (roti) and farasbeechi bhaji, which was our simple dinner last night.

We also love to have it with bagels. Yes! Warm bagels with cream cheese with a thin layer of lemon pickle. Delicious!

If you make this pickle, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

My next project is a lime pickle with ginger and green chillies, without oil and cooked in the sun. I hope to post the recipe soon!

Tags: Lemon pickle, lemon, Indian pickle, no oil pickle recipe

A huge thank you!

I noticed recently that the traffic to my blog has been on the rise. That made me delve into the logs to see just where the visitors are coming from. And, below is a list of the Indian food blogs and web sites that have been sending me visitors on a regular basis since April 2006.

• Aayi's Recipes, where Shilpa writes tirelessly on Konkani cuisine, sending me down memory lane with recipes like chiroti, fish curry with tirphal/tepla, kurlyachi amti or crab curry and so many other dishes that were made on a regular basis in our home.


• Anthony's Kitchen, where Anthony shows how a bachelor can have delicious and nutritious meals. Anthony also hosts the ever popular Curry Mela every weekend.


• Cooking Medley, where Luv2Cook shares her love of cooking and baking. Her Mamidikaya Pachi Pulusu was a hit when I made it.


• Desiknitter, my friend from Another Subcontinent who never ceases to amaze me with her skills, knitting being just one of them! She recently posted a free pattern for Clover Leaf Socks - how cool is that!


• Food for Thought, where Ashwini, like Shilpa, also sends me down memory lane with her Konkani recipes, like khath-khatha, Goan Fish Curry and mattha (scroll down on the page for the recipe).


• Food, In the Main, where Shammi has an amazing list of cakes and pies, an equally amazing list of dals and sambars, and a mouth-watering quick mango pickle. Head on over!


• Ginger and Mango, where LG intertwines her recipes and posts with a characteristic sense of humor. She has initiated the The Green Blog Project and will be writing a round-up on Oct 1st. So click through and find out what it's about, if you haven't already.


• Gluttony is no Sin, where Dr. G. Thamaraiselvan takes a break from consulting as a physician to blog about health and South Indian food.


• Happy Burp, where Vaishali, queen of word-play, presents treats from Maharashtra, my home state. Her mirchicha chatka is fire in your mouth while her Ton of Protein is a great lesson on where to seek proteins in the Indian vegetarian diet.


• Indian Potpourri, where Indianadoc writes from the UK. I thought her steamed unni palappams were idlis!


• Krishna and Arjuna's world, where KrishnaArjuna has delicious recipes like mutton biryani.


• (Lima) Beans and Delhi Cha(a)t, where Sury writes from India and Cesar blogs from Peru. Sury has some enchanting Bengali recipes like ilish relish and Ranga Alur Puli. Sury is also an author and her thoughts can be found on her writing blog.


• Mahanandi, by Indira needs no introduction. Indira is a prolific Indian food blogger with a focus on Andhra cuisine. She recently launched the rotating event Jihva for Ingredients.


• My Dhaba, where VKN writes from the Middle East. His Virtual Cooking Competitions are very popular and he offers cash prizes.


• My Rasoi, where Lakshmi explores a variety of cooking styles, especially the Rayalaseema cooking style from Andhra Pradesh.


• My Treasure, My Pleasure, where Annita also focuses on Kerala cuisine with mouth-watering recipes and pictures.


• My Workshop,where RP has a recipe for a fantastic fish biryani and a step-by-step tutorial for baked ras malai.


• Myriad Tastes, from Lera in Bangalore who has recipes for Moghlai Egg Curry and badam burfi, and more.


• Priya's Kitchen, where Priya showcases some of the best in Kerala cuisine, such as Appam, Puttu, and more.


• Santhi's Kitchen, where Santhi has an interesting mint and cilantro chicken curry.


• Sugar and Spice, where Priya Jadhav recently blogged on yummy Kancheepuram idlis and Namakparas.


• The Spice is Right, where Garam Masala tells us about the wonders of chivda and Gujarati Bharelu Shaak.


• Towards A Better Tomorrow, where Kay from Toronto introduced us to the delights of broiling veggies.


• Vindu, where Mythili experiments with fusion cooking and treats us to quick meals from her childhood like Aloo Dosa.


• Vineela's Cuisine, where Vineela has gems like methi puri for dahi chaat.

A toast and salute to you all!