BANANA RAITA....

This must be one of the easiest dish that has found entry in this event, but so tasty i would love to know if my fellow blogger would love something like this.

Here is the recipe simple , easy and tasty....

METHOD
you have to slice the banana’s ,mix them with some fresh hung curd ,add a little cardamom powder and a little sugar depending on the sweetness of the curds.
EASY!!! and its ready to be eaten.

This is my entry to the wonderful event JFI- DETAILS YOU WILL FIND HERE

SHOW ME YOUR COOKBOOK.....

This is my entry for the fun event hosted by Nags of cookingandme


MY FAVORITE COOK BOOK
My love for cook- books is well known in my family, it’s not only love but an obsession with me, for me no visit to a book store is complete till I purchase something related to food. There is so much I would like to write about my love for cookbooks and how I enjoy visiting places only for being able to get a glimpse of some new cook book but, I think I will tell you just this for today…. Along with recipe books, I love to read memoirs with recipes too. but unfortunately there are a very few found in India. I have 3 great books which are such memoirs.

Now to my favorite book it’s called TRADITIONAL TASTE OF GOA by Ms Kumudini Usgaonkar and Ms Shama Sardesai. I will tell you why it’s my favorite, no 1 it’s a goan cook book and I am a goan, secondly the way I managed to get it was according to me an outstanding effort and also that it would be the first book on goan cooking that I would own..
This book is written by an author who resides in Goa; this is an English version of the original book in Konkani, SUWADIK. I happened to come across this book at a relatives house in Mumbai which was gifted to her by a friend in Goa, as soon as I saw this book I knew that I wanted to have it in my collection . I was scheduled to visit goa in a couple of month’s time and so the first priority on my visit would be to buy this book (I forgot to say that this book is not available in Mumbai).
I was to stay in goa only for about 5 days and that gave me very little time to search for the book and not being too familiar with the place especially where I could go for good books I was a bit confused as to where I could find it. Finally I visited about 3 book shops and was dejected that it was not in stock.
Finally my last respite was a dear cousin who is very helpful and I knew would see to it that I got the book before I left for Mumbai, one phone call and she was with me for my great treasure hunt, she made a call to the person known to her, who knew a relative of the author of the book whew!!!! The third person than contacted the author’s office to check if there was a copy left in the office. Now the telephones went back in the same way they were made and that there was a copy which I could get in an hours time, WOW!!! I was so thrilled that I hugged my cousin on the road.
My cousin took me to the place where I was supposed to meet the person who would get the book for me and so finally I got my copy…
Isn’t it an amazing story?? So do you blame me for making this my favorite book?

SOME OF MY OTHER FAVORITES

MEMOIRS WITH RECIPES

Along with recipe books, I love to read memoirs with recipes too. but unfortunately there are a very few found in India. I have 3 great books which are such memoirs.
I love Marathi books and magazines too and collect them with full enthusiasm as would the English ones. I have almost all the famous Marathi cookbooks like RUCHIRA, ANNAPOURNA and the latest PERFECT RECIPES but I must add that these are a very small part of the collection that I have. I haven’t counted my cookbooks or magazines (which I should do one day, before I lose track of how many I own) but I am sure that they will surely exceed the 300 mark.I have never ever followed a recipe as it is from any cookbook I do my own changes before I cook it. I love reading about food more than the recipes as that’s what makes me more knowledgeable about the food culture and food habits of other peopleI have subscribed to a quarterly magazine called UPPERCRUST which is superb and satisfies my thirst for knowing the other food cultures to the utmost.

ULTIMATE VEG.....

I call this vegetable ULTIMATE VEG because I think that it’s a great vegetable for vegeterians, its such a versatile vegetable that anything that can be stir fried and can be eaten a bit raw, Non-veg items can be added to it {you can add prawns, chicken, which will not allow it to remain ULTIMATE VEG}. The non-veg items added, have to be properly cooked.


This is an extremely simple vegetable which is made by me without asking, or referring to any cookbook. In my quest to feed my hubby broccoli, which is a powerhouse of nutrients, in a way that he won’t falter to eat. My hubby loves half cooked food but not a broccoli enthusiast or I can say is not very comfortable eating food not cooked in a typical Indian way.

This vegetable was a great success with my hubby and has asked me to make it more often as a side dish [did you hear that ...side dish and not the main dish ha-ha….]



So here is the simple recipe.

I am not going to give you the amount, as it will vary according to your requirement.
Here is the recipe with approximate measures

METHOD

Take a thick bottom pan with oil, heat
Add a tsp of cumin seeds let them splutter then add 1 tsp hing or asafetida.
Add sliced onions stir till they change colour but don’t burn.
Add whichever vegetable you fancy.
I used cauliflower, broccoli, and moong sprouts.
The other vegetables that we could use are carrots, cauliflower, red, green, yellow capsicum etc
Add a little salt, sugar (a pinch), a little dhania jeera powder (1/2 tsp), don’t add haldi if you want it spicy you could add finely chopped green chilies.
Stir, cook for some more time, but be sure that the vegetable is not overcooked.
It should remain a bit crispy for relishing the original flavour of the vegetables used.


This is my entry for this weeks letter , which is 'U' in Nupur's event

"A to Z of indian vegetables "