Paneer Sandwich

For the third week of Blogging Marathon#34, I chose the theme evening snacks. When my daughter returns from school, the very first question she asks after entering home is "Mom, What is for snacks today?" So I make sure that she gets her favourite snack every day. Some times, when I feel lazy, I buy a biscuit packet or murukku packet. As many of you have noticed, I don't have a sandwich recipe in my blog because I didn't have a sandwich maker. But recently I got a sandwich maker as a free gift when I got another kitchen appliance and I was very happy to make this sandwich for my daughter.  My mom used to make delicious sandwiches and my brother's friends in Pondicherry were great fans of her sandwiches. She used to apply a generous amount of vanaspathi on all the sides of the bread slice and she used to make a delicious potato stuffing for the sandwich. She had a sandwich maker which has to be used on a stove and I still remember it after all these years. She used to buy 3-4 packs of large Modern bread for my brother's friends and finally we would end up with no sandwich for myself and mom. They used to devour the sandwiches and I am sure they will remember it even now. Now as I am little concerned about my health, I used butter for my daughter and I made it oil and butter free for myself and hubby. It can never beat the taste of mom's sandwich but it is guilt free. I also used wheat bread instead of white bread. But do try it with white bread and vanaspathi for a delicious treat. My daughter loved these sandwiches and I think one day she will say that nothing could beat her mom's sandwiches....

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Gujarathi Gathiya

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Srivalli got the recipe for Gujarathi snack Gathiya from Vaishali who got it from her friend. Gathiya is a savoury snack which is almost like the south Indian kara sev. The only difference is it is mildly spiced whereas kara sev is extremely spicy. I made this two days back. Sruti is not a great fan of savoury snacks but hubby dear loved it. We are having a nice time during coffee. They pair up perfectly. The addition of baking soda to the dough is very quite interesting. We need to roast baking soda until brown and then add it to the flour. This makes sure that the gathiyas melt in the mouth. The addition of ajwain/ omam gives it a nice flavour.

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Green Gram/ Paasipayaru Sundal

For the second day of Blogging Marathon #34, it is a simple yet delicious sundal under evening snacks. My mom used to make sundal often for evening snacks. And I used to love this sundal. It is quite easy to make and I don't add onions in sundal. But if you like you can add a finely chopped onion while tempering. The boiling of the gram is the most important point while making this sundal. I usually cook it in a pan so that I will be able to see how much it has cooked. I stay away from pressure cooking as this sundal goes mushy very easily. During my hostel days, they used to give us this sundal on Thursday evening and they would serve some sugar along with it. At first I used to hate this combination but after some days started loving it. And even today when I prepare this sundal, I add generous helping of sugar along with the sundal and PK gives me a weird look. But who cares???

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Perfect French Fry

I have tasted French Fry once in a restaurant and then I never ever wanted to taste it again. It was soft, soggy and there was so much oil in it. My mom used to make the most delicious potato fries and I have never ever done it perfect. So I usually stay away from chips making. Last week one of my readers wanted the French Fry recipe. So I started searching for the perfect French Fry recipe which doesn't turn soft and soggy as soon as it cools down. I have read about double frying and triple frying and I have tried them both and never got my fries crispy. But anyhow it turns, my daughter finishes it off as she is a great fan. But if I want to post it in my blog, then it must be perfected as many of you will be trying it. I saw the recipe at Serious Eats. I was surprised how the author had experimented with the recipe and obtained one which makes perfect crispy fries. There was lot of techniques involved and every technique had a reason. If you want to learn about the details please check this page. It is amazing.

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Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Whenever I see Cherry tomatoes in cookery shows, I would be tempted to taste it but unfortunately we don't get them in Madurai. So it has been in my to do list for long. Last month, when I went to Nilgiris, I saw a basket full of cherry tomatoes in the vegetable section. I din't even think again. I just grabbed the basket and asked the worker to weigh it out at once. I was so happy to have got it. 

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Baked Medhu Vada - Guilt Free Version of Medhu Vada and Thayir Vada

I love medhu vadas aka ulundha vadai, but I make it only twice or thrice a year fearing the oil in the vadas. Even hubby dear loves them so much and never forgets to eat one while visiting a tea stall. But even it is so tempting, I stay away from vadas available in hotels as they are so oily. For Pongal I made them at home nearly after a year and after just making limited vadas, I refrigerated the batter. I was longing for thayir vadai but still didn't want to use oil. Yesterday while I was thinking about the dish I need to do for the blog, a thought struck. Why not bake the vadas instead of frying. 

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Navrathri Day 4 - Sweet Idiyappam

Yesterday was the fourth day of Navrathri and from the 4th day till 6th day Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped. Fortunately I got a lotus yesterday and it made a nice decoration to the kolam I drew before the Kalasam. For the morning I made Rava Laddu and Mandakki Oggarane, leaving the onions in oggarane as it was for neivedhyam. Evening it rained heavily and there was a power shut down. So it was completely dark inside the house and I couldn't take the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. I used two lamps to take the shot but was not quite satisfied. And the kalasam looked beautiful in the glow of the lamps lit. As a photographer, I couldn't resist taking a snap in that settings. So Goddess came into the camera. See how divine this looks. And I also deleted my morning snaps by mistake. When the power returned, I took the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. Due to lack of natural light, it may not be up to the mark. But something is better than nothing, Right? For the morning dishes I used my old photos as I had already posted the recipes.

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