mayurisjikoni

A colourful salad   Avocados are in abundance at the moment and I am adding it to my salad practically every day. Today, I thought of making a dressing using the avocado instead of just chopping it and adding it to the salad. I love avocado dressing. Its a great alternative for mayonnaise or other egg based dressings. I was lucky to get some plum tomatoes from Nakumatt. We don't get these delicious tomatoes often here. Whenever I am in UK or India, I prefer using plum or cherry tomatoes for my salads. However this does not deter me from making the salad whenever these tiny tomatoes are not available. I just use the normal ones.     This salad is so colourful that anyone would get tempted to have it. I served it with a flat bread as dinner. Going to bed with a light stomach is good for health. The secret to any good salad is fresh, crispy, crunchy ingredients. Go one make this salad and enjoy it. updated 09/06/2016 CORN AND TOMATO SALAD WITH AVOCADO DRESSING 4 servings 10 -12 cherry

Elephant ears?    Colocasia leaves, colocasia esculenta, arbi, arvi, taro and elephant ears are just a few names of this tropical edible plant. The leaves and tubers are used in various parts of the world. I have grown up eating the wonderful leaves steamed. Yes believe it or not but these leaves taste wonderful once cooked in the typical gujarati style. We know it as paan bhajia, but it goes by the name arbi or arvi in India. My all time favourite, these plants grow easily so we had loads of them growing in our garden. Had to have many leaves, considering the size of the family.           However, now I have to buy them as I cannot grow them in my small apartment. The tuber is made into a  dry vegetable or curry , stuffed paratha or even fried in some parts of India. The leaves are readily available in the market in Mombasa and Mumbai but have not seen them in Bangalore. The leaves are available in most Indian vegetable shops in the UK. The leaves are smeared with a paste, rolled up,

wholesome breakfast    This recipe is just right for people who are always rushing or fighting to get out of the house on time to reach work. No more skipping breakfast. Put everything in a blender, whizz it and gulp it down or carry with you. Easy, quick and of course you will have a bit of washing up to do when you get home. Silly .... remember the blender ! BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE Just for 1 2 tbsps quick oats 1 cup of fruit chunks like banana, mangoes, berries, fresh figs or chikoo ¾ cup chilled milk or yogurt ½ tsp cinnamon powder Put everything into the blender. Whizz  till it becomes smooth. Drink up. Tips: Seriously you've got time to read the tips? Ok then, add nuts of your choice. Chikoo is sapota readily available in India. Use a mixture of fruits or on its own. Sending this recipe for the following event: Nandoo's kitchen Priya's versatile recipes

Tinkering in the kitchen  When Niku my son, was home for his break, we bought a lovely orangey looking pineapple. Got excited thinking that it will be so sweet and juicy. We cut the pineapple and  much to our disappointment it was  sour. Couldn't use it up in a salad as it was too sour. So I just left the pineapple chunks in the fridge. Usually ideas crop up at the most weirdest time. In walks Niku, opens the fridge to look for some fresh juice and instantly we both think of making paletas. I was itching to use the ice pop molds he bought for me so of course the idea got stuck there..... sour fruit, molds, molds, sour fruit. As I was busy making lunch, Niku volunteered to make the mixture for the paletas. Paletas is just a fancy Latin American name for fruit ice pops or lollies. So we mixed a bit of this, a bit of that and came up with this wonderful cooling yummy dessert. If you do not have molds, freeze it in a kulfi mold or in small throw away cups.The only difficult part is get

street food  I remember my mum and Nunu would make ragda pattis using dry peas or vatana. In India most street food sellers and in most fast food restaurants, the ragda is made from white chickpeas. I prefer the one made from  peas and I like the home version as its not extremely spicy. I hate eating very chilli food. It only helps to clear out my tear glands, get a runny rose and clear the sinuses but am left with a burning tongue and dead taste buds. I would prefer to taste the other spices.I made ragda patties after a long time. Its a dish you don't really want to make for just 2, you want to share it with more. I invited Ajay's mama and his family and served them ragda pattis. Difficult to get this dish ready made in  Mombasa. The very few Indian restaurants stick to the more famous idlis, dosas, pani puri, dahi puri and pav bhaji. Ragda is the pea curry and patties are made of potatoes. This dish is served with chutneys and thin sev, made out of chickpea flour. Some also a

Healthy and filling    A few dry figs (anjeer) along with some dry apricots (alu, khubani) and a banana. Now that's a lot of fiber and anti oxidants all served in a glass along with calcium and potassium. What am I talking about? It's a smoothie. If constipation is a problem, have this smoothie as its full of fiber. It's also a good start to the day when you have to fast. Good for patients recovering from an illness as it provides a lot of energy and vital nutrients. updated 6/01/2016 BANANA FIG APRICOT SMOOTHIE For 2 1 frozen banana  6 dried figs 8 dried apricots 10 to 12 almonds 2 cups chilled milk ½  cup water Wash the figs and apricots to remove any grit. Soak the figs and apricots in water overnight. Remove the seed (stone) from the apricots. Cut apricots, figs and almonds into pieces. Put all the ingredients into a blender along with the water and liquidize. Pour into tall glasses and serve immediately. Tips: Add crushed ice if you don't have a frozen banana. Use

Garam, garam nashto! Kachoris are an indian snack. In Rajasthan it is filled with green gram lentils and spices and is usually round and flattish. The kachoris that a lot of gujaratis make, are filled with green gram lentils, fresh peas, fresh pigeon peas or a combination of either. They are round much like a ball. The filling is put in a flour pastry and then fried. The kachoris I make is with a filling I learnt from Nunu but instead of round kachoris, I prefer making them into the crescent shape the way my mum use to. The advantage with the crescent shape is that no lumps of dough is left on top. For the round kachoris, one has to try and remove extra dough as much as you can from the top so that the kachori does not taste of raw dough. My mum loved kachoris. KACHORIS Yields about 50 pieces Filling : ½ cup yellow green gram lentils (moong dal) ½ cup water 1 cup fresh peas 2 tbsps oil 1 tsp mustard seeds (rai) 1½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera) a pinch of asafoetida (hing) ¼ tsp turmeric powd

one more kadhi This Ekadashi I made some kadhi using moriyo as I didn't have any of those fancy farari flours. Usually its made from rajgira flour. I remembered that the ISKCON temple in Mumbai makes kadhi from moriyo and it goes well with moriyo itself or sabudana khichdi or even the farari theplas .  Easy to make and something different to have when you are fasting. FARARI KADHI 4 servings 1 cup yogurt 4 cups water ½ cup moriyo, samo pinch of turmeric powder (haldi) ½ to 1 tsp green chilli paste 1 tsp ginger paste 1½ tsp salt 1 tsp grated jaggery (gur) or sugar 1 tsp cumin seeds ( jeera) 8 curry leaves (limbdi) 1 inch cinnamon stick 4 cloves 6 peppercorns 2 tbsps chopped fresh coriander 1 tbsp ghee Wash and soak moriyo or samo in 1 cup of water. Let it soak for half an hour. Put the moriyo along with the water it was soaked in into a pan. Put the pan over medium heat. Add 1 cup of water and a pinch of turmeric powder. Let the moriyo cook till its done. This will take about 10

for cheese lovers    I love adding cheese cubes , crumbled cheese , grated cheese to my salad. The day hubby sees cheese in the salad, he comments " someone's favourite is on the menu again!" Not that he wouldn't eat the cheese, am sure he too loves it. Cheese makes the salad more fun.... can you imagine the mixture of different tastes.... its like music for the tongue. Enjoy this simple and lovely salad. Yes, avocados are still in season and not joking at all but now they are huge, they are actually the size of a hawaiian paw paw.  I am serious.  updated 7/03/2016 AVOCADO CHEESE SALAD 4 Servings 2 to 3 big lettuce leaves  1 big avocado or 2 small ones 1 big tomato or 12 cherry, plum, grape tomatoes 1 cup sliced cucumber ½ cup cooked sweet corn 1 medium carrot 8 to 10 olives, cut into half 10 to 12 walnuts, chopped into big pieces ½ cup tiny cheddar cheese cubes Onion Lemon Dressing : 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice 1 tsp honey 2 tbsp orange