Spicyandhra

Its was chole poori time yesterday. My child’s favourite.
This time i made chole differently as I try to improve my chole curry to get that oomph factor and my hubby is a critical critic, he wouldn’t simply say its nice when its not and I wait for his verdict every time I make anything becoz that way I can only improve.

Its Thursday, my exercise and swim night so arranged everything on the table and told him to have it when he came home hungrily after a hectic stressful journey from London and dashed off to my exercise class and then my swim with one of my friend. Anyway came back late at 11:00 only be praised by my lovely hubby

I walked in and there he was waiting to tell that he had one of the most wonderful dish and how it reminded him of his college days in Pune, and that wonderful city’s lovely Punjabi restaurants It was a nice surprise, he absolutely loved it, he kept on praising me and I was like totally over the moon guys!!!
Now now now!! here comes the best bit ie., my recipe:

Chickpeas: 2 cups(soaked overnight and boiled with chilli powder and turmeric)
(make a paste of 1 handful of boiled chickpeas)
Tomatoes: 3 to 4
Onions: 2
Green chillies: 2
Chana masala: 2 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste: 1tsp.
Turmeric and Chilli powder: 1 tsp each
Salt to taste

How to make:

Fry onions and chillies in 1 tbsp of oil until the onions turn soft, now add ginger- garlic paste and saute for couple of min, i tend to add chana masala now as it release its aroma when u fry in oil.

Now add tomatoes, chilli powder, salt and turmeric and saute for 5 min.Now the chickpeas paste first and saute for 5 more min and then add chole along with the water boiled.

As soon as the water reduces, garnish with coriander and serve with hot poories!!!

Yum Yum!!!!

I have been thinking a lot about this month’s event Jihva for Tomatoes, organised by RP of My Workshop, as i make so many things with tomatoes but this time i wanted to try something new, different and so nutritional and so here it is:

my entry to JFI: Tomato hosted by Wonderful RP of My Workshop

I have always stuck to my own comfort levels and traditions and was not willingly ready to experiment with things totally unknown or may be I heard a lot about them but never knew what to do with it.
I was going thru my cookbook and suddenly this wonderful white bean and tomato salad caught my eye with this incredible ingredient in it and that’s Anchovies

Many, many recipe use anchovies for a punch of flavour where the anchovies are neither recognizable visually nor by the taste buds. Anchovies are often that secret ingredient that you just can’t put your finger on, the one that really makes the recipe pop as I had them in many wonderful dishes of Italian cuisine.

I geared up myself to endeavour this Salad made with luscious tomatoes and wonderful white beans.

Amazingly, it came out as wonderful as I kept on having couple of spoonfuls before it actually went onto the dining table.
My family were quite apprehensive to see this salad served with a salient fried salmon fillet but they were totally bowled over by so many wonderful ingredients that went into it like rosemary, parmesan cheese and anchovies.

They were so suffused that they hardly noticed whats going on around them .
So I guess that tells a lot about this wonderful salad and my experience in trying something new every week!!!!From now on, it will be one new thing a week which I had never even attempted to discover my cooking skills and going out of my comfort zone and reaching out other wonderful cuisines!!

If you’ve ever grown cherry tomatoes in your garden, you know how wonderfully prolific they can be in summer time. The following salad combines the sweetness of cherry tomatoes with white beans and parsley.

Add the other garlic, anchovies, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a food processor. Make it very smooth.
In a medium bowl, gently fold the garlic mixture in with the beans until they are well coated. Let sit for a few minutes for the beans to absorb. Gently mix in the reserved olive oil, tomatoes, and parsley and serve with fish or on its own!!

There is nothing like greeting your family in the evening with the aroma of freshly baked bread, muffins or cakes.

Muffins are so easy to make and I think after cookies, these should be the next baked goods kids can easily learn how to make
It is always such a treat to see u’r family enjoy these enthralling muffins or anything home made.

My child was poorly for couple of days with fever on and off was really getting bored to do anything.

So he asked me if I needed any help in the kitchen so here we are after making our fruit salad, had time to even bake a cake along with some muffins.

I am no good at baking as I never follow any strict rules or any guidelines and so even the end result is never the same!!
But now a days, I’m sticking religiously to the measurements mentioned in my baking cookbook and this time they were so yummy!!

Preheat the oven. And grease the pan and keep it aside
Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, baking powder, vanilla essence, 3 cups of self raising flour in a large bowl with a hand blender.

DO NOT OVER MIX, it may contain some lumps which is ok. An over mixed batter creates tough and rubbery muffins. Put batter into muffin cups and fill only 2/3 full and bake them for 20 min and check for doneness with a toothpick.

Immediately take them from the oven and cool on racks. Delicious and Fabulous Muffins ready to entice your family

It is needless to say that my child and hubby watched with curious n staring eyes and a gaping mouth and was on eatingspree yesterday!!