Simple Bread rolls

Evening time is hunger time.. but who got patience to cook something up. But who likes to eat the same boring biscuits n mixtures. Hmm so here is one real quick fix recipe !! Had read in some blog don't remember which was it :(

1 cup crumbled paneer

1 small onion, chopped fine 

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp powdered cumin / jeera

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

A small bunch of coriander, chopped fine

1 tsp or a bit more tomato sauce / ketchup

4 slices of bread

Butter to toast

Salt to taste

Mix the paneer, onions, chilli pwdr, jeera pwdr, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, coriander and salt. to this add the tomato ketchup and mix well n keep aside.

cut out the crust from the bread slices. roll out the slices like u wud roll a chapati/roti. Place a spoon full of the prepared mixture on one side of the slice n roll the bread gently. Repeat for the other slices as well.

[  Now if u have time n patience n want to have a good looking bread roll do this step :

wrap the bread rolls in a clean damp piece of cloth and let it stand for abt 10 to 15 mins. ]

Once the rolls are ready brush a lil of butter on all sides and roast it on a pan/tawa till u see a nice golden color on the rolls... 

Bread rolls are ready to pounce upon !!!!

Again i dint have the patience to wait n take some pictures of the rolls. Another reason also being tat i dint bother to wrap the rolls in cloth so the bread was kind of cracking. It dint look that great  but tasted great!!

I cut each roll into 2 and put 4 of them in a plate n gave it to my lil toddler Aarik to give it to his dad n granny.. he was smarter.. he changed course n walked to the bean bag n parked himself comfortably on it and started eating :D Even granny's coaxing would not let him share the rolls....

Hey lazy.... how about trying out some other fillings as well.. may be some left over sabzi from today's lunch ??  wat say ??!!??

Green Moong Dal Wadi in Tomato Gravy

I have been trying out many recipes of late but then I dont bother to write down the recipe and the next time I attempt it I would have missed on something. So this collection of recipes on this blog is actually my recipe book :)  I don't have a picture of this dish with me. Had made this long back. Will make sure I take one the next time I make it.

For the Wadi / Cutlet :
green moong dal - 1 cup
green chillies
salt
ginger garlic paste
chopped corrainder
finely chopped onion
hing  / asafoetida
garam masala pwdr ( optional)
chilli pwdr
daniya pwdr
mustard
cummin / jeera

boil the green moong dal with some green chillies a lil salt and drain out the water. Grind it to a thick paste. Heat a pan and pour a lil oil. Add hing mustard jeera n when they splutter add chopped onions and ginger garlic paste n fry well. when done add a lil garam masala powder, cummin powder, daniya pwder, chilli powder fresh corriander n mix well. U can add a lil salt here. Add the moong dal paste and cook well till it forms a nice soft dough. Let cool for some time while u get ur gravy ready.
Once the mixture is cooled, shape them into small flat cutlets and shallow fry them.
Note : u can add a lil of corn flour if the mixture is too mushy.

For the gravy :
2 tomatoes pureed (or finely chopped)
2 big onions chopped or pureed
[1 small onion finely chopped if u are using onion puree ]
hing
ginger garlic paste
chilli pwdr
daniya pwdr
haldi / tumeric
salt
corriander
water

Heat oil in a pan, add hing jeera and the ginger garlic paste. Add the chopped onions. When the onions are transparent add the pureed onion and fry well. Add the tomato puree and cook well. add chilli powder daniya powder, haldi, salt and mix well. Add water to get a thick gravy like consistency and let it simmer till its done. garnish with fresh corriander leaves.

drop in the moond dal cutlets into the gravy before serving. Tastes best with roti's and a few onion rings for company ;)

Outings in 2010 !!!

with a infant in hand u are not supposed to be roaming around much.. rather no long distance travelling.. but who will stop us hehehe...

started this year with a trip to Madurai in Feb.. Renu was down from US n we were meeting Adwi for the 1st time.. such a sweetheart that she is. After visitng the temple in tat heat we also went to some place (i forgot the name) where they had Adwi's head shaving cermony. It was a typical Tamilnadu interior village...
a nice trip for a nice family get together...


Then came May.. It was my cousins wedding and off we were to Coorg. Well the place was not like i had seen it previously. It was hot n dry, very disappointing. But then we had our share of joy when we went to Bisille ghat. A drive to remember for long.

Come August n my lil infant is a year old !! so off we go to Ooty to celebrate the transition of my infant to a toddler :)
The trip was really good... we had the bday cake cutting in Nilgiri Express, a small cute train that runs between Ooty n Conoor. Enjoyed ourselves in the cold weather n were back after a 2 day trip.

September... time for Ganesh chaturthi... time for a trip to Goa. HAd a nice time travelling by train after long. Aarik's first visit to Goa n obviously my parents were all delighted to have thier grandson at home. n Aarik had a nice time at the beach. First day he was not ready to go close to the water.. by the third day at the beach he was not ready to come out of the water hahaha... looks like he liked to stay in water to get rid of the heat of Goa.
After a week long stay we were back in Bangalore.

A break from long distance travelling in Oct n November had us hit the road again. It was planned for Waynad.. but last min changes n we were on our way to Munnar.. Beautiful roads in Tamilnadu.. the highway was superb. but the ghats of Munnar was nauseating. :( but once in Munnar the breath taking view had us cheered up all over again. What with us driving thru the clouds on the hills covered completely with Tea gardens. A trip to Tekkady was good too.
Got to see a bear in the wild for the first time.
And as we watched a herd of wild elephants by the road side near Medupatty dam.. my lil fellow was calling them like we wud call dogs :D
A nice trip overall.. refreshing !! only thing Aarik kept throwing up really bad thru out the trip. :(

November had us make another long distance trip.. this time not a holiday kind but a formality kind. We had to attend a wedding of one of hubby's cousin at Nandayal near Karnool[AP]. Well the trip was very tiring. The place is really very hot n had Aarik crying in th heat. But then it was a experience in its own way..

Come December and hubby realises we have not made a trip to Tirupathi... so wat we waiting for.. lets go.. Been to Tirupati n lucky us..my boy din't create a scene in the queue. We also visited Kalahasti.

Trip time-out for the year.. or do we still have one for the last weekend of the year !!???!!!! :P

** Good Times 2010 **

Trip to Coorg

It was my cousin Deepu's wedding in Coorg on the 24th of MAy '10. So off we go driving to Coorg early Sunday morning. We had a lot of expectations... nice cool weather, lots of jungles n coffee estates. May be spot a elephant. But by the time we reach Kushalnagar... via Mysore... all expectations faded away... no jungles, no elephants, no coffee estates... just a hot summer day makign u sweat n tanned. :(

Visit to the golden temple which is actually a budhhist monastry was good. And visit to Nisargadham was to satisfy ourselves to an extent about having visited green area full of bamboo. This place wud be beautiful in the rains for sure.. but today it was reaaaaaally hot.

Nisargadham is a island formed by the forking of the cauvery river. Its full of bamboo shoots. It has a deer park n a elephant which u can ride on. n some cool tall machan's built with bamboo. Visit to this place was a bit of a respite from the hot sun.

Off we drove to the wedding venue. On the way we were lucky to spot 3 foxes while they were tryign to cross the road. The weather got cooler in the night.

After the wedding the next day, we were still thinking if we shud visit Nagarhole or Bisille. We had visited the sanctuary at Nagarhole before so decided we visit bisille. My uncle had told us about this place n it sounded exciting. While asking for directions many told us the road was bad. But the call of the jungles was stronger than the thgt of the bad roads. By 3pm we were on our way to Bisille. The travelling party- my dad, Anu, Aarik Rajesh n me.

Well the roads were bad.. lots of pot holes, but the drive down the mountains n the beautiful country side negated the bad roads. I made a nice lil bed for Aarik to slp on btwn me n Anu in the back seat n he happily slpt off. The road was getting from bad to worse but the jungles were getting dense n the air more cooler. we drove slowly passing few settlements/villages n then pure jungle. After about 2 hours of slow drive we reached the spot. Well it better be worth the trouble we took to drive up here.

We park our car at the gate. Its a view tower built by the forest dept in 1995. We have to walk up a lil pavement abt 200mtrs from the main road. We had a glimpse of wat we were abt to see n tat was exciting enough.

But as we reached the spot .... Goodness !!!!!!!!!!! it was a breath taking view !!!! simply superb. Lots of mountains as far as u can see, fully green n a dense forest covering. We walk in awe towards the viewing point which kind of juts out of the hill we were on. And as we walk towards the end point it was a magical experience. We could actually feel the forest floor (which was still not in view yet) raising up. It was like the whole valley was on some kind of a lift and the floor was being slowly lifted up for us to have a better look... it was simply too good to be there. We could hear a river and spotted it far below in the valley covered by trees jsut exposing itself to us at few spots. Well , it REALLY was WORTH going to this spot. Beauty spot in Bisille ghats as they call it.

We were enjoying the scene n the silence n the sound of the forest... lots of birds n crickets n the river. After soaking in the beauty of nature for long enough it was time to get back. We were thinking of which route to take back to Mysore. We decided we take the route to the holy shrine of Kukke subramanya (about 20 kms from the spot) n then drive back to mysore.

As we went ahead.. we realised the roads were worse at this side... rather we had to look for a road among the pot holes. The forest was getting more dense n we were forced to drive dead slow cause of the roads. It was like a safari drive in the jungle only diff was that we were driving a small car instead of the customary jeeps or SUV's. Oh aren't we loving it.. It was simply a superb feeling. If only we could spot few animals it would have been like a icing on the cake. But we were unfortunate with the icing. But the cake was fantastic ;).

This is a trip that every jungle lover must make. No wonder that we were the talk of the day among my cousin's new relatives. They found it crazy that we choose to drive to Mysore via Bisile ghat travelling abt 120kms extra then wat we cud on good roads in lesser time n distance. It may be something stupid in thier view, but for us it was a great experience. Something that we truely enjoyed. :)

Few pics from our trip...

My first Blog !!

Its been a hectic month this April. What with handling Aarik all by myself (ofcourse with Rajesh's support ). Its fun but tiring at times...

Thinking of various activities that i can take up other than office n home. Well all i know is travel or trek. But that is out of question for a while now with my lil boy tagging around. No more wild life safari's no more mountain climbing for a while. Got to wait a lil longer till my boy is a wee bit older.

Until then... what do i do !! thgt of blogging... YES ..i laughed at myself witht his tght.. :) but here i am blogging ... or am i just writing gibberish !!

Whatever... its something new that am getting involved in.... n for now its keeping me occupied. Lets see how far i go n what all do i put down here !!

hehehe !! this is not Madhu that i know of !!

My First Blog !!

Hi ....
This is my first attempt at blogging. Wonder what i would want to write in here... lets see :)