Announcing " My Legume Love Affair #42 "

I am very happy and excited to announce that MLLA #42 is being hosted hosted here at SUMADHURA from 1st Dec to 31st Dec.This event is the brain child of Susan,The Well Seasoned Cook.Earlier I have had the opportunity to take part in this event and also ended up winning MLLA #20.Now I welcome all my fellow blogger pals to take part in this famous event where you can come across different recipes with legumes and also get a chance to win the faboulous prizes that are offered with this event.

According to Wiki : A legume in botanical writing is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. Well known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, and peanuts.

In this MLLA Event you can send recipes made of legumes mentioned above and also from  a wide variety of dry or fresh beans, peas, pulses, lentils and other derivative products including tofu, chickpea flour(besan). Also  tamarind and fenugreek are among some of the other edible plants in the legume family which ARE included in the event.(Make sure that these ingredients must be the star of the dish ,using a spoonful of a legume is not quite enough to qualify).

Rules for the Event :

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1) Recipes from all courses and cultures are accepted  in this event but all the recipes must be Vegetarian     Only .

2) Multiple recipes are accepted but please limit them 10 per participant (only one submission will be counted towards the random drawing/s).

3) Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted, but other events might have different rules( so please check them before you send).

4) Recipes from archives can be accepted ONLY if updated and reposted as current.

5) Recipes are accepted from non-bloggers too and they are also eligible to participate in the drawings to win a prize. 

6) Use of logo is optional .

7) To participate in MLLA #42 the participant must link their entry to my announcement page and to Susan's MLLA host line up.

8) Participants must send their recipes to kjsumadhura@gmail.com with the following details :

    Your Name :

    Your Blog Name:

    Your Location:

    Your Recipe Name:

     Recipe Photo: 

Prizes for the Event are:

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1) The Baking Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask by Lauren Chattman.

This prize is offered by Susan without influence at her expense, and she will also absorb worldwide shipping charges. F.T.C. Notice: Susan does not receive any compensation from Amazon.

2) Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, sponsored by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) F.T.C. Notice: In May 2010, Susan, at her request, received two Hurst Bean complimentary products which are not available for purchase in her local markets. Susan does not generally accept free products from Hurst Bean nor is she financially compensated by them.

3) Drawing Structure - If the winner is a U.S. resident, she/he will be the recipient of both Prizes 1 and 2 above. In the event that an international winner is drawn, a second drawing will be conducted from the U.S. pool of entrants to ensure that the Hurst Prize is awarded every month. In these instances, the international winner will receive the book, and the U.S. winner will receive the Hurst Prize.

Note : My family and friends, as well as Susan's, are not eligible for the prizes .

So, why wait any more.Start sending your delicious recipes with the legumes of your choice and try to win the fabulous prizes.

Plantain Peel StirFry/Arati Thokkala Vepudu

In the previous post I shared with you all a delicious plantain soup recipe.In that post I mentioned that the plantain peels can be used for making chutneys or spice powder or stir fry.Earlier I posted few recipes using plantain peels.Today I am going to share with you a stirfry with the cooked plantain peels.

This is how the delicious plantain peels stirfry is made---------------

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Plantains/Aratikayalu....................2 large(we will use only the peels in this recipe)

Seasoning Ingredients :

---------------------------

Sesame Oil...............................2tbsp

Cumin Seeds.............................1tsp

Turmeric...................................1/4tsp

Black Pepper Powder...............1.5tsp

Salt...........................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Clean the plantains with cold water and remove the tips.Now cut both the plantains into 2 halves and pressure cook them with the peel for 2 whistles.Once the cooker cools down remove the plantains from the cooker and remove the peel from the plantain pulp and keep it aside.You can use the pulp for making curry or soup.

 

Now take the peels and cut them into small pieces for making the stir fry.

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add sesame oil to it.Once the oil heats up add cumin seeds and let them splutter.

Now add the cut plantain peels to the pan and stir well.Keep frying the peel pieces for few more minutes and add salt and turmeric too.

Fry till the peel pieces are little crisp.Now add black pepper powder and stir them well and switch off the stove.

Delicious Plantain Peel Stir Fry is ready to be served with warm rice.

This recipe goes to my event CWF-WV:Plantain being hosted by me.Please send in your delicious entries for this event before Dec10th.



Plantain Soup/Aratikaya Soup/Raw Banana Soup

Today I am sharing with you all a very delicious and healthy soup that I made with plantains.I had 2 plantains/aratikaya waiting to be cooked and within couple of days they started to ripen.This is the first time I had to cook something with ripe plantains.So I decided to make a soup with the ripe plantains as it would be too sweet for making curries.The soup turned out great.We liked it and hope you would too.

This is how the soup is made-------------

Main Ingredients :

-------------------

Ripe Plantains/Pandina Aratikayalu.....................2(large)

Onion................................................................1(large)

Carrot...............................................................2(medium)

Vegetable Broth................................................1litre(low sodium)

Seasoning Ingredients :

--------------------------

Sesame Oil.....................................1tbsp

Cinnamon Stick..............................1(small piece)

Nutmeg..........................................1(small piece)

Bay Leaves....................................2

Garlic.............................................2(pearls minced)

Paprika..........................................1/2tsp

Turmeric........................................1/2tsp

Cumin-Corinder Powder................2tsp

Black Pepper Powder....................1tsp

Salt................................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Rinse the plantains under cold water and cut off the tips.Now cut the plantains into 2 halves each with the peel(do not temove the peel) and pressure cook for 2 whistles.Once the cooker is cooled down remove the cooked plantains from the cooker and peel them.Keep the peel aside.(You can use the plantain peel for making Chutney1 ,Chutney 2 or Chutney/Spice Powder or Stirfry.)

Meanwhile dice the onion and finely chop the carrots and keep them asisde.

Now place a sauce pan or a vessel on the stove on medium high heat and add sesame oil to it.Once the oil is heated add the cinnamon stick,nutmeg and bayleaves and stir.

Later add the diced onions and let cook for few minutes till the onions sweat.Now add the minced garlic.

Once the onions are cooked add the finely chopped/grated carrot to the pan,add little salt and cook for few more minutes till the veggies start to soften.

Meanwhile take the cooked plantain pulp and blend it into a soft paste in the blender.

Once the veggies in the saucepan start to sweat add plantain puree,paprika,turmeric and cumin-coriander powder to the pan and stir well.

After 2 minutes add the low-sodium vegetable broth to the plantain spices mix and stir well.Let the entire mixture in the pan/vessel come to a boil.

Once it starts to boil switch off the stove and sprinkle a little powdered black pepper.The plantain soup is ready to be served.Remove the cinnamon stick,piece of nutmeg and bayleaves from the soup before serving.

Delicious and healthy Plantain Soup is ready to be served with some baked pita chips.Enjoy the warm soup and let me know ho you liked it.

This recipe goes to my event CWF-WV:Plantain which is being hosted by me from Oct 10th to Dec 10th.Do send in your delicious entries for this event.

Happy Diwali Everyone!

Dear Friends and Visitors of Sumadhura,

Wish You All A Very Happy & Prosperous Deepavali.May this "Festival of Lights" bring you "Happiness,Health & Riches".

Wishing all Gujarati Friends A Very Happy Diwali and Happy NewYear too.

Back with An Event Announcement: CWF-WV:Plantain/Raw Banana

Dear Friends and Visitors of SUMADHURA , Thank you very much for your continuous support during my absence from blogging.Though it was an unannounced break from blogging it was for a needed reason.This long break had helped me get better with my neck and shoulder problems.I am back with great enthusiasm and hope to get all your continued support in the present and future too.

It's been few months that I hosted an event and here I am again hosting my own event Cooking with Whole Foods.This time I have chosen Plantain/Raw Banana as the star ingredient.

Plantains are very commonly used vegetable in Southern India.Not only in India but they are a staple in Asian cuisine,African cuisine ,South American cuisine too.Though plantains look like bananas they both are not the same.To know more about the distinction between plantain and banana click here.

The plantain tree and the plantains are useful to mankind in plenty of ways.While the plantain is edible the tree and its parts are very useful too.Plantain leaves are used for cooking, and are used for dining(instead of plates), the inside part of the plantain bark is edible and has culinary and medical uses.Plantain flower is edible too and used in culinary preparations.Plantain or raw banana can be cooked in many ways.It can be boiled,fried,grilled,steamed,barbecued and enjoyed.To know more about the plantain and the different varieties that are available you can go here.Plantain is not only used in the culinary world but also has lot of medicinal uses.To know about some of the medicinal uses of plantain you can read here and here.

This is a bi-monthly event so you have good amount of time to get cooking with your plantains and send in your recipes to this event.The rules for the event are as follows :

1) Use your creativity and make a healthy dish with the main Ingredient : PLANTAIN.

2) Link your recipe to this event page and my name and my blog name.

3) Send in as many recipes as you can with the main ingredient.( All Vegetarian , No Eggs ).

4) Archived recipes are accepted, link your main recipe to this event page ,my name and blog name.(Need not repost).

5) Posting the logo is appreciated,it helps spread the word.

6) Late entries are not accepted.

7) When you mail me the recipe in the Subject mention : CWF -WV:Plantain

8) Please send your recipes to kjsumadhura@gmail.com  from now on till Dec 10th 2011 with the following details :

Your Name :

Recipe Name :

Recipe URL :

Photo of Recipe :

Non-Bloggers can send in their recipes too by sending me the recipe and a picture(optional) of the recipe and your location to kjsumadhura@gmail.com

Thank You Note to IndusLadies for Diwali Ebook

First of all I would like to thank IndusLadies for compiling such a wonderful Diwali Ebook just in time for Diwali.It is a wonderful collection of 100 Delicious Sweet & Dessert Recipes contributed by various bloggers from the blogosphere.

Don't waste any time go ahead and download a copy for yourself  from here:
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/announcements/148569-free-download-100-yummy-diwali.html

Cabbage-Amaranth-Carrot Pakora/Vegetable Fritters with MultiGrain Flours

This is a very kid friendly snack and is delicious and healthy to eat.All the ingredients in here are easily available and can be made in a jiffy.Generally, pakoras are made with besan/chickpea flour but we can make it more healthier and tastier by adding ragi flour,flax meal,rice flour,oats flour etc.In my recipe today I used besan flour,ragi flour and flax meal for binding the veggies.

Let us see how these delicious pakoras/fritters are made---------

Main Ingredients :

---------------------

Shredded Cabbage.................1 cup

Shredded Carrot.....................1/2 cup

Shredded Amaranth Greens.....1 cup(packed)

Besan/Chickpea Flour..............1/2 cup

Ragi Flour................................1/2 cup

Flax Meal................................1/4 cup

Seasoning Ingredients :

--------------------------

Saunf.................................1tsp

Coriander Seeds................1tsp

Turmeric............................1/4tsp

Paprika..............................1tsp

Salt....................................to taste

Oil.....................................for deep frying

Preparation :

---------------

Place all the cleaned and shredded veggies in a mixing bowl.

Add the besan flour,ragi flour and flax meal to the cut vegetables.

Now add the seasoning ingredients like saunf,coriander seeds,turmeric,paprika and salt to the bowl of veggies and flours.

Now mix all the ingredients in the bowl ,slowly with a clean hand till the veggies get coated well with the multi flours and spices.(I did not use any water as there was enough wetness in the vegetables,if needed slowly sprinkle a few drops of water at a time and coat the veggies with the flour.We do not want watery batter.)

Now get the oil heated up and slowly start adding the flour coated veggies to the hot oil and deep fry them.Once fried remove the pakoras/fritters from the oil and serve them with ketchup or sweet chutney or green chutney of your choice.

Delicious and healthy pakoras are ready to be served.

Note :

----------

1) I used frozen and thawed amaranth greens in the pakoras.So they had enough wetness in them to wet the grain flours.

2) These fritters did not soak in too much oil into them.So that is good.

3) I did not use any rising agents like baking soda to the pakora mix.

All in all this is a healthy snack.We enjoyed it and hope you would too.

This recipe goes to CWF-WG: Ragi/Finger Millet event guest hosted by Dennise.

Cooking With Seeds Event(CWS) : Mustard Seeds Round Up

Here I am with the round up of Cooking with Seeds Event(CWS) : Mustard Seeds.Fellow bloggers have shared their delicious dishes flavored with mustard seeds in various forms.Thank you friends for sending  your wonderful recipes for this event and also I thank Priya Suresh for letting me host this event.

Here are the delicious recipes with mustard seeds as the main flavor of food---------

1) Krithi from Krithi's Kitchen shared the recipe for Stir Fry Vegetables with Panch Phoran .

2) Denny from Oh Taste n See shared the recipe for Shukto .

3) Indrani from Recipe Junction shared the recipes for     Lau-er tarkari(vegetable Medley with bottle gourd) and     Sorshe Sim(flat beans in mustard seed paste) and  Sorshe Begun (Baby brinjals in mustard and yogurt gravy) .

4) Apu from Annarasa - Essence of Food shared the recipe for Dal aur Til Tarka Wali Patta Gobhi .

5) Chandrani Banerjee  from Cuisine Delights shared the recipes for Boara Jhal / Split Peas With Mustard Sauce and Ladies Finger/ Okra With Mustard & Poppy Seeds .

6) Sukanya from Saffronstreaks shared the recipe for Begun basanti / Eggplants in mustard sauce .

7) PriyaSuresh from Priyaeasyntastyrecipes shared the recipes for Hot Mustard Rice and Green Tomato Kootu and Ivygourd Masala Rice and Brinjal & Green Peas Curry and Okra Sukka .

8) Vatsala from Show and Tell shared the recipe for Khandavi .

9) Vaishali Sabnani from Ribbon's to Pasta's shared the recipes for Kachorin ji Kadi and Methia Masala . 

10) Vanessa from Sweet Artichoke shared the recipe for Dal with fenugreek seeds .

11) Akheela from Torviewtoronto shared the recipe for Winter melon curry .

12) Valli from IScrib.blogspot.com shared the recipe for Corn sundal .

13) Madhusmita Patra from RedSpice shared the recipe for Potato Mustard(Alu-Besara) .

14) Kalyani  from What's cooking? shared the recipe for Maavinakaayi Chitranna (Raw Mango Rice) .

15) Richa from Hobby And More shared the recipe for  Baingan Aloo(Quick Eggplant and Potato Stir fry- Mom's version) .

16) Binitha Shajesh from Yourstastefully.blogspot.com has shared the recipe for Tomato Thokku .

17) Mugdha from Cooking Fundas shared the recipe for Gota Bhendi Bhaja/Stuffed Okra .

18) Priya from http://www.elaichii.blogspot.com/ shared the recipe for Butternut squash raita .

19) Shobha from Food Mazaa shared the recipes for Instant Sooji Dhoklas and Garden Salad .

20) Suma Gandlur from Veggieplatter shared the recipe for Mango - Coconut Quinoa .

21) Finally here are my entries for the CWS-Mustard Seeds Event Aratikaya Ava Pettina Kura/Cooked Raw Plantain(Raw Banana) flavored with Mustard  and Mamidallam MenthiBaddalu/MangoGinger(Maa Inji) Pickle

Once again thank you all for sending these delicious recipes with mustard as the star ingredient.I posted all the recipes I received but in case I had missed any let me know.

Aratithokkala Podi/Plantain Peel(Raw Banana Peel) Spice Powder and Chutney for Idli,Dosa and Rice(Oil Free)

Thank you Priya Mitharwal for trying to guess the recipe ,it is partially a chutney but mainly a delicious spice powder with the plantain peels.I wanted to try something different from the chutney's and ended up making this new combination.Earlier ,too I made chutneys with plantain peels and they are very unique(Recipes here and here).I can definitely say that this is the first time anyone in the food blog world has come across this one of a kind delicious,healthy and oil free spice powder and chutney made with plantain peels.

Today I am presenting to you 2 delicious dishes from same ingredients.We all relished them and hope you would too.

Firstly,let us see how this delicious spice powder with plantain peels is made------

Main Ingredients :

---------------------

Plantain Peels.............................from 2 plantains/raw bananas steamed

Dhalia/Putnala Pappu.................1/2cup

Coconut Pieces.........................5(fresh or frozen 2inch size)

Green Chillies............................6(to taste,the chillies I used are not very spicy)

Garlic Cloves............................2

Salt...........................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Clean the plantains,remove the tips and pressure cook the plantains with the peel for 2 whistles.Once the pressure is off take the plantains out from the cooker and remove the peel.(You can use the plantain pulp for making your favorite curries).In this recipe we use only the peel.

Let the peels cool down and cut them into small pieces.Place a pan on the stove on medium-high heat and add the cut peels to it and keep stirring them till they become dry.

Once the peels are almost cooked, add the slit green chilly's and garlic cloves and keep stirring till the raw smell in them is gone.Now switch off the stove and add the dhalia/putnala pappu/gulla senagapappu to the hot pan with the peels.Also add coconut pieces to the pan.

Once the heat is reduced and just warm,transfer the ingredients to the blender/mixie jar and add required salt and grind or pulse to make a delicious powder.

Remove the powder into a contianer and enjoy it with warm rice and ghee or as a side for idli and dosas.

Plantain Peels Spice Chutney

---------------------------------------------------------

Seconly,another variation for the Dry Plantain Spice Powder is the Wet Chutney with the same powder.

If you like to have this spice powder as a wet chutney instead of dry one for the tiffins like idli,dosa and upma, try this variation.

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Plantain Peel Spice Powder....................1 cup

Yogurt...................................................1/4cup

Tamarind Paste......................................1tsp

Water....................................................as needed

Cilantro..................................................handful

Seasoning Ingredients :

---------------------------

Canola Oil...................................2tsp

Red Chilly....................................1 small piece

Mustard Seeds............................1/2tsp

Urad Daal...................................1tsp

Asafoetida/Hing..........................pinch

Curry Leaves..............................few

Preparation :

----------------

Add the Plantain Peel Spice Powder to the blender along with yogurt , tamarind and cilantro and give it a nice whip.Once the blend is ready you can use it as is or add water and blend it to the right consistency you like.Transfer the chutney to a bowl.

Now place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add oil to it.Once the oil heats up add the seasoning ingredients to it and wait till the seeds splutter,add hing and switch off the stove.

Now tranfer the seasoning to the bowl of chutney and serve it with your favorite tiffins.

Note :

---------

1) Instead of using water you can add little more yogurt to the chutney.

2) To make the chutney completely oil free you can avoid adding seasoning to it.Choice is yours.

3) Do try it and you will really love it.