GBP - Sorakaya/Dudhi/Lauki/Bottle Gourd!

2 inch long baby bottle gourd - the picture is deceptive but the fruit was only 2 inch long. I will use my hand as a frame of reference next time!

In my previous post, I posted a picture of the bottle gourd plant that was growing. Since then, it is not only growing but taking everything down that is in its path :). I always knew bottle gourd was an avid grower but seeing it is believing it. We had this plant growing up and we would get tired of distributing all the produce to the neighbors, relatives and acquaintances, strangers :). We had so much produce that everyone in our house started to hate(read loathe) this vegetable. But alas, all that changed when I came to the U.S. As with many things, I started appreciating this vegetable more than I ever did in my entire life.

I remember my mom would make a lot of different dishes with the sorakaya/bottle gourd - sorakaya paluposina koora, sorakaya dappalam, sorakaya sambhar, sorakaya pottu pachadi, sorakaya pappu, sorakaya halwa, sorakaya kofta, sorakaya payasam even! You name it and it was done with this vegetable. We would even pick the seeds from a very mature bottle gourd and fire roast and eat 'em! Wow, that does bring back a flood of memories! Depending on how many of these I get this season, I plan to try all the dishes my mom used to make with it, time permitting.

After publishing my previous post, I have gotten so many inquiries about how I planted the garden, how to maintain it etc. So I thought I would do a quick write-up of my "bottle gourd growing adventures"! About 3 months ago, a friend of mine gave me about 7-8 seeds and I planted the seeds in disposable water glasses (with a hole cut in the middle) in a soil-less starter medium (I used Jiffy). In about 4-5 days, almost all the seeds I planted germinated except for one/two. I then babied them for about 2-3 weeks inside with artificial lighting until they got the first two leaves and one true leaf. I think by this time, I only had about 5 plants that survived. The rest didn't make it. I then took them outside and planted them then babied them some more. After yet another couple of weeks, I only had about 3 plants left (which is what I have now). The initial growth felt like it took for ever. After the plant became well established, there was no stopping it. It keeps putting on new leaves overnight. It is truly an amazing experience to watch it grow.

Then one of my other friends told me that bottle gourd actually produces two types of flowers - male and female. And get this, they need to be "pollinated" for the baby bottle gourd to be born. She said that if there are bees in the vicinity there is no need for the hand pollination. When the flowers first started appearing, I could only see one type of flower. I had no idea if that was a female/male flower and if I needed to pollinate them. Then I did what any normal person would do - I googled! I found resources that had pictures of how a female flower looked like versus a male flower. I also read that female flowers come up about a week-ten days after the male flowers start blooming. I breathed a sigh of relief and would go out each evening hunting for the female flowers :). Then finally one day, I saw two female buds and was waiting for them to bloom so I could pollinate them. I was able to pollinate one of the females, but the other female had bloomed when we were out one night and I never had a chance to pollinate that. So, the "non-pollinated" shriveled up and started dying where as the pollinated one, started growing. It took about 8 days for the 2 inch fruit that was on the back of the flower to turn into a 11/2 feet gourd. So as of tonight, I now have my very first homegrown bottle gourd in the U.S. It is amazing how much joy and content such small things bring to life.

I am planning on going down the list and making the sorakaya paluposina koora with the very first gourd.

the fully grown 11/2 feet long bottle gourd/sorakaya/dudhi/lauki

Back for now!

Hello Blogland - It has been a while (read months) since my last update. Life has been a little bit crazy leaving very little time to blog. A big thank you to all those who e-mailed and left messages to check up on me!

Since Summer officially started a couple of days ago I decided that I am going to do something new this summer i.e. blog more :). I am pretty sure I lost the very few readers that I had so now I have to start all over again!

I thought I'd start with some pictures from my very first vegetable garden!

Japanese eggplant flower

Sweet Basil

Tomatoes and Peppers

Gongura (a native Andhra leafy vegetable) in its infancy

Mint


Thota Kura and Chukka Kura - both leafy greens

Sorakaya/Bottle Gourd/Dhudhi plant

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Homemade Pizza

pizza out from the oven, ready to eat

Until about a few weeks ago, I never made my own pizza dough. I either bought the pre-made crust/ frozen pizza dough or worst yet the "pizza kit" that they sell at the stores. It always seemed like it would be a very daunting task to make dough from scratch.

One of my so called "cooking resolutions" for this year include making bread from scratch, making pizza dough from scratch, making ravoili from scratch among other things.

I saw Elise's post on homemade pizza and that gave me the go-try-making-the-pizza-dough-now motivation. Thank you, Elise :). I even bought a pizza stone recently on one of my trips to TX so I was itching to break it in as well.

The major hindrance I have in bread making is that I don't have a stand mixer or a bread machine which means I have to knead the dough by hand. For pizza dough though, I had seen somewhere that the dough could be made in a food processor. Off I went to test my google skills and I found Sara Moulton's recipe and Emerill's recipe.

I mostly followed Moulton's recipe except for the following incorporations from Emerill's and Elise's recipe.

• I used Emerill's "soft but not sticky" concept to see when the dough was ready to come out of the food processor.
  
• I kneaded the dough for about 4-5 minutes by hand, after it was mixed in the food processor.
  
• I let the yeast rise for about 1 hour.
• I also let the dough rise after dividing into 2 portions for about 15 minutes, before I rolled them out for the crust.
• I mostly followed Elise's recipe for baking the pizza. I improvised with a cooke sheet since I do not own a pizza peel.
  

pizza dough, ready to be put in the oiled bowl

rolled-out pizza crust

turned cookie sheet being used instead of a pizza peel

pizza, ready to bake

The pizza was so good and it did not seem like it was too much work at all. Infact, after the first try, I have made it every week since then. Now as I sit here blogging, I am thinking "why did I take so long to try the homemade pizza?"

Indian inspired Turkey Burgers w/ Sweet & Baked Potato Fries and Yoghurt Dipping Sauce

turkey burgers with oven fried potatoes and yoghurt sauce

Well that is a very long title :).

I had a little more than half a pound of left over turkey from last night's pasta, so I thought I would put it to good use by making burgers out of them. I also had one lonely sweet potato and one baking potato in the pantry which I thought would make excellent oven-fries. You will notice that the veggies (green pepper and green onions)

The inspiration for the dipping sauce came from Rachael Ray. I was once watching an episode in which she made the sauce for some potato fries. I did make it with different spices so it tied well with the burger.

Eventhough this post is long, it won't take more than 45 minutes to pull this all together (not counting the baking time for the fries).

For the Fries

Software
---------------

• 1 each baking potato and sweet potato
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• salt, to taste

Method
---------------

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine the salt and spices in a small bowl.
• Peel and cut the potatoes into 1/4th inch thick pieces.
• Rub the olive oil and the spice mix directly on to the potatoes, lay them on a single layer on the baking sheet.
• Cook in the oven for about 40-45 min, until the fries are tender and crispy.

For the Yoghurt Dipping Sauce

If you have home made yoghurt and it is made with low fat milk, drain it for a couple of hours in a cheesecloth so all the water comes out and you have thick yogurt. If you use store bought yoghurt or use yoghurt made with whole milk, you can skip this step. To make the sauce, for 1 cup of yoghurt, add some chili powder to taste and about 1/2 tsp of crushed dried mint and mix well.

For the Burgers

Software
---------------

• 0.6-0.7 lbs of lean ground turkey
• 1/3 cup very finely chopped green pepper
• 1/3 cup very finely chopped scallions/green onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp red chili powder (or less)
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 pinch cumin powder
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
• 2 tbsp plain bread crumbs
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• slices of pepperjack cheese (optional)
• lettuce and tomato to assemble the burger

Hardware
---------------

• one small mixing bowl
• one electric/stove top grill pan or a skillet

turkey burgers frying on the grill pan

Method
---------------

• Mix all of the ingredients, except the olive oil together and form into patties (depending on the size of the buns). I used the normal size buns and I could get 3 patties out of the mixture.
• Put brush the patties with some olive oil, put the rest on the pan and fry on each side for about 6 min or so until well cooked.
• If using cheese, put cheese directly on top of the skiller during the last 30 seconds or so. At the same time, also put the buns, tops down so they warm up.
• Assemble the burger with lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with fries and the yoghurt dipping sauce.

Veggie and Turkey Rotini Bake

turkey, veggie, rotini pasta bake

I love pasta. I make some or other pasta atleast once a week if not more. I like pasta because it is easy to make, I can load it up with a ton of veggies and it is very fulling at the same time. 90 percent of the time, I make it with veggies alone. But today, I added in some ground turkey along with the vegetables. For this recipe, it is faster if you are a multitasker with the stove. One burner for the pasta, one for the veggies and the other for the turkey.

Software
---------------

• 3 cups garden rotini pasta
• 1/2 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 10 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp dried italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• red pepper flakes, to taste
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3-4 green onions, finely chopped to garnish
  

Hardware
---------------

• one small skillet
• one pan to cook the sauce
• one saucepan to cook the pasta
• 3 qt oven proof dish
  

Method
---------------

• Boil water in the saucepan for the pasta, cook until al dente. Drain, set aside.
• Meanwhile, heat the pan for the pasta sauce to medium heat, add 1 tbsp of the olive oil, add in the onion, fry for a couple of minutes, then add in the garlic.
• Once the onions are translucent, add the peppers and the zucchini, the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, italian seasoning and the basil.
• After the peppers and zucchini are a little soft, add in the mushrooms.
• After a minute or so, add the pasta sauce. Heat through. Turn off the heat.
  
• Put the skillet on medium heat, add in the other tbsp of olive oil, and add the ground turkey to the pan. Break the turkey with a spoon and cook until well cooked through (about 4-5 min).
  
• Combine the pasta, the veggie sauce and the turkey. Put this mixture in the 3 qt. dish and top it with the cheese.
  
• Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 10 min.
• Serve while hot.
  

Super Bowl Sunday - Tortilla Pinwheels

tortilla pinwheels ready for the Super Bowl (you can see some homemade salsa in the background)

First off, thank you to everyone that checked up on me :). It has been a long time since I blogged. Life was a little busy the last couple of months and I always felt like I had "other" things to do than blog. Well, now I hope to be back (hopefully, seriously). And what better day to resume blogging than the Super Bowl Sunday!

These pin wheels are what I took to a Super Bowl party tonight which had a "Southwest Theme". This recipe can be considered to be a "base" recipe to any tortilla pinwheels as the possiblities for the "fillings" are endless.

Each wrap will make about 10-12 pinwheels (so this recipe makes about 120-140 pinwheels). So this WILL feed a crowd!

Software
---------------

• 10-12 tortilla wraps (I used the Spinach wraps and Jalapeno Chedddar wraps)
• 3 pkgs creamcheese
• 2-3 finely shredded carrots (about 1 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked and slightly mashed black beans*
  
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle seasoning
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried oregano

Hardware
---------------

• Mixing bowl

Method
---------------

• Soften the creamcheese in the microwave by putting it in the microwave for about 30 seconds per package.
  
• Transfer the creamcheese to the mixing bowl, and beat/blend the cheese until smooth with a fork.
  
• Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  
• Put about 1/3 cup of this filling in the center of a wrap and spread it around with a knife.
• Roll the tortilla up tightly, then wrap in some plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate for about 2-3 hours or overnight.

tortilla wraps ready for the fridge

• Remove plastic wrap and cut into about 1/2 inch pieces.
• Serve with some salsa or just by themselves.

* - I avoid using canned food whenever I can. So, I hardly buy canned beans. I do have a couple of cans stuck in the basement (you know for when we are stuck down there riding a tornado out :) ). I cook beans in bulk. I cook about a pound bag according to the package directions, then freeze them in 1-2 cup freezer bags. I then pull them out anytime I need them.

PS - Other variations for the filling include - finely chopped celery, finely chopped green pepper, finely chopped cucumber, thinly sliced turkey/chicken breast (layered on top of the creamcheese mixture before rolling out), replacing creamcheese with hummus for a healthier alternative etc. The possibilties as I mentioned are endless :).

Aloo Paratha (Potato stuffed Indian Bread)

Aloo Paratha

Well long time since I blogged. Life has become very hectic lately :) which I guess is a good thing but then I don't get the time to blog as often as I want to. I have so many pictures of so many recipes to post that my "to_post" folders are taking up more space than my "on_blog" folders.

I made these aloo parathas on a lazy Sunday afternoon and froze them in batches. This was my first time freezing the parathas and they were just as good as new when defrosted and heated up. Thanks to Saffron Hut for the freezing instructions.

I am going to post this as a multi-step process instead of my usual write-up template :).

Step 1: Boil 2-3 large potatoes until soft. Peel the skin. Put them in a food processor, about a teaspoon of cumin seeds, one or two green chilis, handful of cilantro, a little salt and pulse until the whole mixture forms a ball in the food processor. If you don't have a food processor all these ingredients can be chopped and mashed together as well.

Step 2: Combine 2 cups of chapathi/paratha atta (I used Golden Temple brand), a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of ajwain seeds and knead into a pliable dough with luke warm water. Cover with a kitchen towel and set it aside for about 30 minutes.

Step 3: Divide the potato mixture into lime sized balls and the chapathi dough mixture also into balls (make sure the dough balls are a little bigger than the potato ones).

Step 4: Now on a floured board or countertop, roll out the dough ball into a small circle, put the potato mixture in the center of the flour circle, and enclose the rest of the dough so it forms a circle and the potato ball is inside the flour ball.

Ready to stuff the paratha with the potato mixture

Step 5: Roll the ball into about a 5-6 inch circle, fry it on a medium heat tawa on both sides with a little bit of oil until brown spots appear on the paratha.

Step 5: To freeze, let them all cool, alternate layers of wax paper, cover it tightly in an aluminium foil, date and freeze. I froze them in batches of 5 so I don't pull out all of them each time I took them out of the freezer.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with any pickle/achar and a side of yoghurt.

Happy Halloween!

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween, everyone! Here's my Halloween 2006 pumpkin, all lit up, ready to scare you :)!

BOO!

Murukulu - Deepavali Treat

murukulu - all ready to be gobbleed up

Murukku is a Deepavali tradition in our house. My mom would make these a day or two before the festival but preperations for this dish would start atleast 3-4 days ahead of the actual murukku making day because everything was made from scratch i.e. the flours, I mean.

The rice would be soaked in water for about an hour or two then it would be air-dried on a cotton cloth overnight. The next day, it would then be slow roasted in a pan on the stove in batches, then cooled. The urad dal would undergo the same process, except the soaking bit. It would just be roasted on the stove, then cooled. Then came our kids' chore of taking it to the flour mill to get the rice and urad dal mixture powdered to make into flour. My mom would give us special instructions to relay to the flour mill guy, to not combine the murukku mixture with any other grains (like wheat, jowar etc). She would even send with us some raw rice so the flour mill person could pour that in the mill before the actual Murkku grains went in so it would "clean" out the mill so it is devoid of the afore mentioned other grains. Going to the flour mill was the chore I hated the most growing up. I would always find ways to pawn the chore off to my siblings but it hardly worked :).

For those who are not familiar with the "flour mill(s)" I mention, these are usually one room establishments (atleast where I grew up), where they powder whatever you take. Be it be jowar grains, lentils, rice, wheat, anything you name it, they powder it for you to make into flour. Since it was only a one room place, that meant that the waiting area where you waited for your grains to be pounded was right next to the big machine that powdered the grains which also meant you would be covered in flour by the time you walked out of there. Sure you could wait outside on the street but I always loved to wait inside where I could watch the flour mill operator operate the big machine which also meant I was keeping a close watch on the grains I took so they are not adulterated by anything else :). Sometimes, there would be a line of "dabbas"/"boxes" and you would set your box in line and wait. Sometimes, you would be the only person there. It all depended on the time of year and the time of the day. Festive season would always be a busy time where everyone would bring those "special grains" get powdered - chana dal (for besan), rice (for murukku, chakili etc). During non-festive season, it would just be atta grains - wheat, jowar etc.

Wow...that was a walk down the memory lane I never intended to write about when I started this blog post :). When I look back, if feels as to how less complicated life was back then or so it seems :).

To make murukulu, you need a special gadget called the "murku maker/press". There are a couple to three of varieties of these and I have the one below. I like find this type because I feeel it is much easier to use than the makers, you have to "press". This one you just rotate and the disc on one end of spring sort of thing pushes down on the dough that is in the cylinder!

muruku maker/press

Software
---------------

• 4 cups Rice flour
• 3/4 cup Urad dal flour
• 1/4 White Sesame seeds
• 3 tablespoons Cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoons Ajwain seeds
• 1 tablespoons Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon Chili powder
• 4 tablespoons melted butter/shortening
• oil for deep frying

Hardware
---------------

• One large mixing bowl
• One small mixing bowl
• Large deep fryer
  

Method
---------------

• Mix everything listed under the ingredients together in the large mixing bowl.
• Now take about a cup of the flour mixture into the small mixing bowl, and by adding enough water make a dough that is not too tough or not too watery. It should be easily "pinchable".
  
• Put this dough mixture in a Muruku maker and press or turn away (depending on what kind of press/muruku maker you are using) onto a clean cotton cloth or some aluminium foil into small disks as in the picture.
  
• Meanwhile heat up the oil and deep fry the murkus in hot oil until well cooked and crunchy.
  

Tips and Techniques:

• When making murukus in large batches, make sure that you do not make the dough all at once. Combine all the dry ingredients together and only make the dough when ready to put the dough into the mould.

This my second entry to Vee's Special Edition Jihva for Diwali Treats !

Deepavali Shubhakankshalu (Happy Diwali)

Here's wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Deepavali!

With the experience of making Ganesha with clay under my belt, I decided to make diyas with clay too! Here are some pics!

lighted "home made" clay diyas/deepalu

"home made" diyas waiting to be lighted

making the "home made" diyas with clay and paint

Borugula(Kurmura, Churmura, Murmura, Puffed Rice) Laddu - Deepavali Treat

Diwali Treat - Kurmura Laddu

Well...with this post this cooking blog becomes an official laddu blog :). Just kidding...but it sure does seem like it? Doesn't it? Infact all Indian cooking blogs these days are starting to look like they are on mission to ruin everyone's diet plans. But it is the festive season afterall. And obviously as soon as the Indian Hindu festivals slow down for a while it will be time for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then comes Sankranthi again. So I don't think the "sweet treat" trend is going to end soon around here!

This time for Diwali I wanted to make a laddu I had never made before and was searching endlessly for an interesting recipe. As soon as I read Chandrika's poha laddu post I was immediately transported back to my school days when we used to get these borugula laddus in a small store outside our school for 10 paise each. You see, in my mind, flattened rice (Poha) and puffed rice (Kurmura) belong to the same category and hence the relation. They are even right next to each other in my pantry. I have an obsession with bundling "like" things together like that in the kitchen and everywhere else :). If any psychologists are reading this blog, feel free to post your 2 cents on what that tells about me hehe...

With Kurmura in mind, I went searching for a Laddu recipe and found a couple. I chose this one. I did make some changes to the proportion of ingredients and also added in brown sugar. It seemed pretty simple to make and it really is very simple as you will see below.

Software
---------------

• 2 cups crushed jaggery
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1 cup raw peanuts
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 4 cups puffed rice/kurumura/murmura/borugulu
• 1 pinch caradamom powder

Hardware
---------------

• one large heavy bottomed vessel
  

Method
---------------

• First roast the raw peanuts in the vessel on low-medium heat until the peanuts starts to smell nuttly and are golden brown.
  
• Fold a tea towel in half and put the peanuts on one half of the towel to cool. After the peanuts are cold enough to handle, cover the peanuts with the other half of the towel and rub gently on top of the towel with your hands. This is in order to remove the skin from the peanuts. Then gently blow air over the peanuts so the skin flys away. I usually do this at the sink and then clean it up later.
  
• In the same vessel that we used to roast the peanuts with, put in the jaggery and brown sugar and add just enough water so that the jaggery is immersed in the water. Bring it to a boil and wait for the sauce to thicken. I followed the method described in the recipe on how to check the consistency of the jaggery syrup i.e. "add a few drops into a bowl containing water and it shall solidify immediately."
• Turn off the heat and add the puffed rice, peanuts, coconut and caradamom powder. Mix it all together and allow it to cool.
  
• I tried the "grease your hands with ghee and make laddus" for this and it did not work. The puffed rice mixture was too sticky and it was sticking to my hands big time. So I devised a new technique. I took a sheet of plastic wrap and then put a spoonful of the laddu mixture in the centre of the plastic, made that into a ball - voila - no sticking at all. So this recipe does not even need any ghee!

As you must have guessed it already, this is my entry to Vee's Special Edition Jihva for Diwali Treats !

Almond Walnut Laddoo

almond and walnut laddoo

In addition to the sunnundalu (urad dal laddoo) for Dasara, I also made these almond and walnut loddos. The inspiration for this laddos came from Indira's walnut laddoo post but I changed the recipe. I basically took an easy way out than her recipe, since I did not wait for the milk and sugar to get to a pala kova consistency that Indira describes in her post. Here is my version!

Software
---------------

• 21/2 cups each walnuts and whole almonds
• 1 tin sweetened condensed milk
• 21/2 cups whole milk
• 2 pinches caradomom powder
• 3 tbsp ghee
  

Hardware
---------------

• one small microwave safe vessel
• one large heavy bottomed container
• one food processor
  

Method
---------------

• Dry roast the walnuts and almonds seperately in a pan over low to medium heat until toasty.
• After the nuts cool down, grind them seperately in a food processor until the nuts are broken down into very small pieces but not completely powdered. It takes a little longer to process the almonds.
  
• Meanwhile, boil the whole milk in a microwave safe vessel until it is hot and bubbly. This step can be eliminated and the milk can be directly boiled in the heavy bottomed container but I always boil the milk first in the microwave and then transfer it to the stove. The advantage of doing this is that milk does not get scalded in the microwave and the "stirring the milk" time gets reduced dramatically.
• Transfer the milk to the heavy bottomed container add the condensed milk and heat on medium heat until the mixture thickens up (for about 10-15 minutes).
• Add in the chopped nuts and the caradamom, stir often so it doesn't get scalded until it is thick and the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan.
• Add 2 tablespoons of the ghee and stir.
  
• Leave aside until warm enough to handle.
• Then apply a little bit of the rest of the ghee to your hands, and make round balls with the mixture.
  
• Store the laddoos in an air tight container.
  

Jihva for Ghee round up

First off an apology for taking so long to do the round up. I have been extreremely busy and was gone the weekend and am going on another trip this weekend and next week. But better late than never and here is the Jihva for Ghee round up! Enjoy!


Neyyappam
By Beyond the Usual
Ghee, Riceflour, Banana, Jaggery

Besan Ladoo
from My Food Court
Ghee, Besan, Milk,, Sugar



Maa Laddo, Neiyi Urundai
from Menu Today
Ghee, Green Moong Dal, Sugar



Besan Laddoo
By Foodie's Hope
Ghee, Besan, Milk,, Sugar



Chickpea Flour Balls
By Autres Délices
Chickpea flour, ghee, brownsugar




Brown Ghee Rice and Mysore Pak from Out of The Garden
Brown rice, Ghee, spices (Brown Ghee Rice)




Ghee Mysore Pak from Menu Today
Ghee, Besan, Sugar




Brown Ghee Rice and Mysore Pak from Out of The Garden
Ghee, Besan flour, Sugar (Mysore Pak)




Mistress of Spices
from When My Soup Came Alive
Butter, Onion, Cloves, Garlic, Cumin, other spices



Flavored Butter from AkshayaPatra
Butter, spices & fruits





Carrot Kheer from Aahar
Ghee, Carrots, Milk, Sugar



Banana Bread Halwa from Cooking Pleasures
Ghee, Bread, Milk, Sugar





Ram Prasad Ladoo from A cook @ Heart
Ghee, Whole wheat flour, jaggery


Pineapple Kesari from Letzcook
Ghee, Sooji, Crushed Pineapple





Almond/Badam Halva from Saffron Hut
Ghee, Almonds, Sugar, Milk




Butter Shortbread from My Cook Book
Butter, All purpose flour, Sugar




Pongal from Akshayapatram
Ghee, Rice, Moong Dal, Chana Dal, Jaggery




Tangy Ghee Aloo from Chatpat Food
Ghee, Potatoes, Greenchilis, Lime juice, Sugar, Panch phoran tadka




Goad Bhaat from Food for Thought
Ghee, Rice, Moong Dal, Jaggery, Coconut




Capsicum Rice from My Experiments with Food
Ghee, Bell Pepper, Basmati Rice, Spices




Thank you to everyone that participated in the event this month and I want to thank Indira for providing me the opportunity to host!

Next month's Jihva event is being hosted by Vee of Past, Present and Me. Get details in her Special Edition Jihva post!