Bhendi Ka Khatta Salan

I still have a small hand written book of recipes, which I penned down in a rush before leaving my mom’s place to in-laws and I added some more from my MIL. I still remember how I use to wake up in the morning and stand in the kitchen struggling to learn recipes and noting down the points whenever my MIL says. Now it looks funny when I turn back to see the flashes of those moments. This bhendi ka khatta is the first recipe in my book. For a month or so after starting my new kitchen I use to refer this book for every single step. Then I started experimenting and enjoying my cooking. May be that’s the reason behind my blogging too.

Bhendi ka khatta salan is nothing but cooking of bhendi/okra in sour tomato-tamarind gravy. Khatta meas sour. There are many variations in making this recipe. I make it in a simple way. Apart from regular fry of bhendi, this hot and sour gravy of okra is delectable with hot steamed rice and papad.

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 gms tender Lady fingers/Okra*
• 1 big sized Onion, sliced
• 1 big sized Tomato, sliced
• ½ tbsp. Ginger-Garlic paste
• 2-3 tbsp. thick Tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp. Red chilli powder
• ¼ tbsp. Turmeric powder
• Salt
• Oil
• 2 tbsp. fresh Coriander leaves, trimmed

PREPARATION:

• In a heavy bottom cooking vessel, add oil and when oil heats up add sliced onions. Cook till translucent. Now add chopped tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.
• Cook till tomatoes are soft. Now add okra pieces and give it a gentle stir. Cook covered for 2 minutes.
• When the raw smell of okra disappears add tamarind paste and little water. Cook covered for another 4-5 minutes or until the gravy thickens. Add chopped coriander and taste to adjust salt.
• Serve with steamed rice and papad or any stir fry.
• Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

VARIATIONS:

• You can also add ½ tbsp of coriander powder to the above mentioned procedure.
• My MIL roasts half a tbsp. of coriander seeds, pinch of jeera/cumin seeds and 2-3 tbsp. of desiccated dry coconut and makes a fine paste by adding sliced onions. Then fries this mixture in oil till oil starts to leave the sides. Then she adds okra pieces and fry them gently for 2-3 minutes and then adds tamarind paste and little water and cooks on low for another 5-6 minutes or till gravy thickens.

* NOTE: Wash and pat dry okra using a kitchen towel or tissue. Trim top and end. Slice into 2 inch pieces.

Guest Post: Curd Rice by Deepa

When I started this series on Bangalore food bloggers, I was overwhelmed by the entries from the bloggers. This is really a nice way to interact with them and to know what pleases them being in Bangalore. Thank you to all the people who boosted my spirit of guest post and welcomed the Bangalore food bloggers. Today I have with me Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi. As if by now, many of you know that Deepa stays very near to my house and we make regular trips to each others house. Being food bloggers, food id the integral part of our conversation and when I asked her to make a post on guest blogging, she was happy and she shoot me this recipe……scroll down what Deepa has in store for you….

Few days back when I got an invitation to post a recipe as a guest from Lubna of Yummy Food, I could hardly believe my ears. Till today, I did not think myself to be worthy enough to post at someone's blog. This is indeed a honour for me. Thanks a lot Lubna. I also must add that within a span of 6 months both of us became good friends. Also, living in the same neighbourhood helped. So, here I am posting my first recipe as a guest. Hope all of you would like it.

Now all of you must be wondering why I didn't choose my ethnic recipe that is i.e. Bengali. It is due to the fact that when I landed in Bangalore 4 years back the first local recipe that I tasted was curd rice. This was also my first local recipe that I learnt in Bangalore.

One of the staple dish in the entire South India is "Curd Rice". It is equally popular in all four states namely, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Kerala. Apart from the tasty and tangy taste of the preparation, the fact that the summer is very intense in these states helps in maintaining the system to remain cool. Also the fact that South Indian cuisine is mostly spicy takes a toll upon the stomach. Having curd with rice at the end of each meal ensures that stomach does not get upset.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups Rice
• 1 ½ cup Curd
• 3-4 Green chillies
• 2 Red chillies
• 1 tsp. Ginger, chopped
• 2 Carrots, grated
• 1 tbsp. Raisins
• 2 springs curry leaves
• 1 tsp. Mustard seeds ( black)
• 1 tbsp. Channa dal
• 1/2 tsp. Asafoetida (hing)
• 1/2 tsp. Fenugreek seeds
• 2- 2 1/2 tbsp. Oil
• Salt & sugar according to the taste

METHOD:

• Cook rice in enough water (1:3 i.e. rice is to water). Once the rice is cooled, mash with spatula. Mix curd, salt and make sure there are no lumps and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add whole red chilly, Channna dal, fenugreek seeds, and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds starts spluttering add ginger, green chillies, raisins, grated carrot, hing and curry leaves to the pan. Now fry this for a minute and pour the tempering to the curd rice. Serve this curd rice with chutney or with pickle.

NOTE:

• Use only fresh curd for this preparation.
• After cooking the rice, let this cool down in room temperature. Then only mix curd with the rice.
• After mixing rice and curd, if you find the texture to be little dry then you can add 1 tbsp. milk to thin it down.
• You can add fruits in the end to make curd rice tastier. This curd rice goes well with pomegranate and black grapes.
• Make sure you do not burn the tempering for curd rice. Otherwise it will ruin the taste.

Creating Facebook Like Box in 8 Simple Steps

With so many people asking me about how to link facebook and blog? how to create a fan page for blog? how to create Like Box for blog? I thought of making a post on this....as all these questions carry a common answer and it will be helpful to others who are not familiar in doing this. I thought a simple step-wise pictorial can be helpful...Check out each step and read completely once and then start creating....

STEP ONE: Open Facebook in a browser and click Create a Page.

STEP TWO: Click on the Artist, Brand or Public Figure - in the category choose chef - in the name box type your blog name - check that box to accept terms and conditions and say get started.

STEP THREE: If u already have an account in facebook, login using it. If not then create an account and then login.

STEP FOUR: I created a new account for demonstration, so I got this message.

STEP FIVE: Click on the activation link, which came in your mail box. Hooray! facebook page is created for your blog.

STEP SIX: Now add an profile image to your fan page, then click on Add Like Box under "promote this page on your website". Copy the URL (indicated by an arrow in the top).

STEP SEVEN: Now place the copied URL in the box below Facebook Page URL. You can adjust width (according to your sidebar), color, etc.

STEP EIGHT: Finally click on Get code, when you are done with all the necessary changes. Then a pop up window appears (as shown in the pic. below) copy the code in the first box and place in your blog by visiting Dashboard - Design - Page Elements - Add a Gadget - HTML/Java script. Click save and the facebook fan page is created for your blog. Yippee! it's so easy....Enjoy....

NOTE: Click on the images...to get a zoom look. It is always recommendable to have a separate page for your blog rather than your personal page.

If you have any doubts, you can always mail me at kitchen.flavours@gmail.com...I am just a mail away...

Guest Blogging - Food Photography #2

Some days back when I was searching for a perfect Fatteh Hummus recipe...and my search took me on a new journey.....a journey to a new kitchen.....where food is flavorsome, aromatic and sinful. Where every recipe hides a story......After landing up in Journey Kitchen, I totally forgot for what I bumped into her blog....her food pictures were so fascinating that I feel in love with them....Welcome Kulsum of Journey Kitchen as she unveils her secrets behind her improvised photography. Thank you Kulsum for considering my request and making a guest appearance in my blog.

When Lubna asked me to do a guest post for her on food photography, as much as I was humbled by her request, I wrote back to say I couldn’t. I’m very new to food photography myself and have so much to learn in the field. But it occurred to me that there is something I can do, I can share my journey of going from this picture

To this and

To this

Although still much of an amateur, I would like to believe I have improved over the last few months. I thought I’d share with you what made me improve, certain basics of food photography and why you need good photos to be a good blogger.

Many of us start a food blog without much an idea about what we are exactly headed towards (or is it just me?). When I started blogging I had no clue what food blogging was. I was just randomly posting recipes I loved and took less than edible looking pictures. The more you take part in the community however and encounter a variety of photographic styles on other food blogs – you are faced with two options – get better or continue where you are. And I have respect for both options. Some just don’t find the element of photography as inspiring and fascinating as others do. And that’s alright. Blogging should always be first and foremost for you.

But those of you who are here to share your recipes with the world and you want people to take notice, you need a decent picture. Pictures that will present your recipe and make it look good enough to capture the attention of your reader. Remember I say decent picture and not a great one. Of course the better the picture the better it is for your blog but, one doesn’t become an experienced food photographer overnight. The goal is to keep in mind when you start a blog or put together a recipe, is taking a picture that makes someone want to eat your food. This is one thing I personally didn’t work on for long time. I’m sure you guys are brighter than me and know this already.

Here are ten points that will help you if you have just started blogging or are just trying to figure out food photography. I have not covered anything on the technical camera aspect but more on the do and don’ts of food styling and basic things to keep in mind when taking a picture.

• FORGET THE FLASH: Whether you are using a point and shoot or a DSLR please don’t take pictures with your camera’s built-in flash. Professionals use external flash in their photography but getting a good shot with the built-in flash is suicidal for your food. Flash makes food look flat and ugly, with a funny color cast and bad contrast.

• USE NATURAL LIGHT:
Natural light is an amateur’s best friend. Professionals use both natural light and artificial lights but as an amateur in photography natural light makes taking good pictures a lot easier (and you probably are not eager to jump in and buy artificial lights). Try to find a window in your house which has an ample supply of sunlight and create your set up near that window. What you want is nice soft light, not harsh light that would make your eyes squint.



• SOFTEN THE LIGHT: What happens once you find that perfect spot in your house – depending on the time of day, afternoon, late afternoon, the sunlight will vary considerably. Use a thin scrim (easily available) and stick it up on the window with the help of cello tape. This will soften the light coming across.

• USE REFLECTOR: You know you learned in school how white reflects light? Yeah it’s time to make use of that learning. Say, for example you found the window and set up your food, the side from which the light will be coming may be well lit but the opposite area will be much darker. You also don’t always want both sides to be well lit and a photo without any shadows. Shadows make a picture interesting. The solution is easy, steal the white foam board from your kid or your neighbor’s kid or be decent and go buy a cheap thick white foam board. Place this foam board on the side where you want to fill in light. You will see it reduces the shadows.
  

• USE LIGHT BACKGROUNDS: White is again your friend here. I personally love dark background photography but it also made me realize it’s much more difficult to get a picture right on a dark background than on a light one. It’s not easy to master the art of perfectly white and dreamy pictures but generally lighter backgrounds are easier to deal with. They naturally make food look cleaner and it’s easier for the eye to focus on the food when there is white space around it.
  
• USE WHITE PLATES: Of the many articles I have read – even the best photographers keep saying ‘white is never out of fashion’ White plates are like the little black dress of the fashion world. Again it makes the food stand out, when your plate is white you can add one element of color in the picture like a napkin or cutlery and you can get a decent picture. As a beginner try to avoid glass or other reflective surfaces.
  

• DECLUTTER: This is debatable but it has worked for me. When I started to get a little more serious about food photography, I started to focus on the food and plating itself rather than thinking of additional props for styling. Sure, props and styling adds a lot of interest and unique dimension to a picture, but when you are just trying to get started, its helps to go simple. The most essential part of food photography is always the food and you need to get it right. Slowly, as you learn you can start adding props and other elements to your pictures.
  

• APERTURE PRIORITY: I have recently started playing around with the manual mode on my camera but I used AV mode most of time prior to that. These days many of the P&S have auto, AV and manual mode. Auto mode in layman’s language is where your camera decides all the setting for you – how much light will be in the picture, how much and where the focus will be etc. AV mode which should be of particular interest to amateurs is where you and your camera become friends and decide to make the picture together. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the shutter speed.
  

• LESS IS MORE: Even though I have said above that styling comes after having learned the basics, it’s good to know that you don’t plate your food for a picture the way you do when you are eating it. What I mean is the portion of food needs to be smaller than what would be on actual plate. Having too much food on the plate will take away from the beauty and focus on textures of the food.

• READ, GAZE & PRACTICE: Remember that everyone’s learning curve is different. Once armed with some basic knowledge, I suggest you read about photography every day. Visit blogs, food sites like tastespotting and food gawker and your favorite food photographer’s portfolios and analyze how they might have gotten the shot. Try to recreate the photos with similar setups. Read, gaze and practice, this is the only real way to get better. Some learn slowly (aka me) and some of you will learn faster, it’s important that you enjoy the process and not get discouraged.

Here are some quick licks which you might find helpful in your learning process:

A blog I’m going back a lot these days in my process of learning is my friend Dario at Food Pixel. It’s a great source of inspiration and perfect for amateurs like us as Dario covers many aspects of food photography from basics to styling.

Learn Food photography run by the talented G and Neel is another blogsite you should check out. From write ups to interviews with great photographers, the website is a gold mine of knowledge and hearing the stories and experiences of well established photographers always leaves me inspired.

Aparna from My Diverse Kitchen has write-ups on food photography which I enjoy reading immensely. From basics to type of camera choices, she covers a wide range of topics.

The more you read and practice, the more confident you will be with your camera.

Happy shooting everyone!

You can follow Kulsum at her blog, facebook, tastespotting, foodgawker and flickr.

Aloo-Shimla Mirchi-Methi Ki Sabzi and Idli Karam Podi

What makes a good food? Is it combination of spices or combo of vegetables or company of loved ones or all the above. Most of the times all the above factors make the food taste good. When you eat in the company of loved ones, a simple meal may taste flavoursome. My weekends are quite simple and lazy, all because of rains. Moody dull boring cloudy climate keeps you away from most of the things. I just want to wrap warm around my lil one throwing myself into a couch and wish someone could make a hot cuppa for me (hope Mr.K is readsJ) When you are in no mood to cook, then blame on the weather and rustle up something like this to quick fix that hunger pangs and carvings for hot food.

A simple sabzi with combination of simple vegetables, which calls for handy ingredients like this is a savour for those dull gloomy days. Potatoes, capsicum and methi leaves make an flavoursome side dish with piping hot roti/pulkha’s. This is yet another quick fix for your lunch or dinner menu. Try it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 big sized Potatoes/Aloo, cubed
• 1 Capsicum/Shimla Mirchi, cubed
• ½ cup fresh Fenugreek leaves/Methi*
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 1 Green chilli, slit length-wise
• 1 tbsp. Red chilli powder
• ¼ tbsp. Turmeric powder
• Salt
• Oil
• 1 tbsp. minced Coriander leaves

PREPARATION:

• Add oil to heavy bottom cooking vessel and when oil gets heated up add sliced onions. Fry till translucent.
• Now add methi leaves and fry till raw smell disappears.
• Then add cubed potatoes, capsicum, green chilli, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt.
• Mix well. Add little water and cook covered until potatoes are completely cooked.
• Garnish with minced coriander leaves and serve with roti or paratha or phulka.
• Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

*NOTE: Seperate the leaves from the stalk and wash thoroughly.

PRESSURE COOKER METHOD:

In a pressure cooker, add oil and fry onions to translucent and then add potatoes, capsicum, methi leaves, green chilli, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and add little water and pressure cook for 2 whistles (or until vegetables are cooked). Garnish with minced coriander and serve.

IDLI KARAM PODI RECIPE/ LENTIL SPICE MIX:

Lentil-Spice powders are something which are easy to make and can be stored for a week or two. These come as rescue when you are running low in a day or running fast in a day. This lentil spice blend tastes delectable with Idli, Dosa and Upma. Just drizzle of this spoon full of this mixture with ghee on idli/dosa/upma enhances the taster. Simple at its best.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Bengal gram/Chana Dal
• ½ cup Urad dal
• 3 tbsp. Coriander seeds
• 10 dry Red chillies
• 6 Garlic cloves
• pinch Asafoetida
• Salt
• Oil

PREPARATION:

• Dry roast chana dal and urad dal separately, on a low flame tossing regularly until they turn nicely red (Don’t burn them). Set aside.
• In the same pan dry roast coriander seeds for 1-2 minutes on low flame. Set aside,
• Now add little oil to a heavy bottom cooking vessel and fry dry red chillies.
• Once cooled, grind the ingredients to coarse powder by adding salt, garlic and asafoetida. Store in an air-tight jar.
• Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

The above lentil-spice mixture is going to participate in MLLA-36, hosted by Aqua of Served with love and event by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Happy hosting Aqua.

Guest Post: Congress Kadlekai by Deesha

When I created a facebook page on Bangalore Food Bloggers, I had no idea, that the list will come so long. There are 40+ food bloggers in the group till date and the list is growing. To celebrate this Bangalore Foodie Blogger Group, I thought of doing a 'Guest Post' series on Bangalore Food Bloggers. Hope you enjoy knowing them and reading there famous Bangalore (Karnataka) recipes.

It's my honor and pleasure to start the event with Deesha of Vegetable Platter. With only one photo per post, she makes her readers lure. Deesha is one of those buddy blogger, whom I know since the very early days of my blogging. So when I asked her to make a guest post, she said "oh yes!" and sent me her delectable entry. Please welcome Deesha of Vegetable Platter!

Hello there!!! Those of you reading this will know what a talented blogger Lubna is. And, it is of course very flattering to be asked to do a guest post.

Lubna wanted a recipe which had a bit of a local flavor & being a true blue Bangalorean, it really didn't take me very long to decide, Congress kadlekai it will be. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Congress kadlekai, it is basically roasted peanuts spiked with some basic Indian spices … A typical Bangalore specialty.

A small laid back city, that Bangalore once was, Coffee Days & Baristas didn't exist back then. Iyengar Bakeries were where people would hang out for a quick dose of Masala Toast, Aloo Bun, Veg Puffs & Badam Milk. Of course, one would never forget to pack some spicy Congress Kadlekai back home.

Now with the Coffee culture thriving in Bangalore, Congress Kadlekai is lost somewhere in between those unhealthy Burgers & Pizzas but if you walk into the by lanes of old Bangalore (I am talking about Basavanagudi here) any Iyengar bakery will have an ample stock of Congress Kadlekai.

I wouldn't really bother about making Congress Kadlekai at home because, the place I live in does not have any dearth of Iyengar Bakeries, but If you are a Bangalorean & if you are seven seas away, and, this post is making you want to take the next flight back home, Here is a very simple recipe for Congress Kadlekai to be enjoyed with a very strong dose of Filter Kaapi (Highly Recommended)

You Will Need:

• 3 cups Peanuts
• 1 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder/Haldi
• A generous pinch of Hing
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tbsp oil

How To:

• In a pan, on really low heat, dry roast the peanuts until crisp & the skins turn reddish. Do Not roast on high heat as it may burn the peanuts. Set aside & allow the peanuts to cool. Deskin the peanuts & split them into halves.
• In a pan, heat oil, once moderately hot , add Hing, turmeric & red chilli powder. Sizzle for about a minute on low heat & add peanuts, salt & sugar. mix well & turn off the heat. Allow it to cool & store in air tight jars.
• Serve with HOT filter Coffee ... Enjoi !!!

Thank you Deesha for making a guest post in my blog.