Bloggers Buzz Photography session 2

Life has been crazy busy last couple of days, it got so busy all of sudden so I hardly got time to check out  my blog baby..but here I am again with my short story of Bloggers Buzz phtography session 2.Two weeks back, a bunch of us bloggers met at our fellow blogger Suchi's place for BBPC session 2, those who are wondering what that is about, here is a brief description .. Bloggers Buzz is a conducting a photography workshop on a monthly basis led by Nisha thomas of My kitchenantics and we are learning a lot from her and also from each other. Food photography  has never been so interesting to me before. This month we covered how to shoot food pictures with diffused back lighting and we choose cupcake theme for our pictures. We were asked to take few cupcakes with us and shoot it with diffused back lighting. Under Nisha's guidance we shot pictures in different angles with different styles. Overall it was a productive day and in the end we got to eat cupcakes what our friends baked and the  lovely Paav bhaji Suchi cooked for us. I had  a stuffed tummy that day and probably I was on sugar high from all the cupcakes I ate ! 

This month we also learnt about post processing and it was done by Suchi of  Kitchen karma.She made a great tutorial on how to edit pictures in Pic monkey on Bloggers buzz website and she has done a fabulous job making the tutorial and making it so easy to follow and understand for anyone. So do check out the tutorial and about the diffused lighting  here

Also find below few of the pictures I clicked during the session :)

Cupcake by me, Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream 

I used the same recipe of my vanilla cake for cupcakes which you can find here and also find the recipe of vanilla buttercream here.

Cupcakes which Manjiri of Slice off me brought for the session.

Cupcakes by Gayathri of Mummy and Me

Cupcake by Nisha of My Kitchenantics

Kozhi Pidi/ Irachi pidi/ Rice dumplings in Chicken gravy

I used to dream that when my lil one starts school full day I will get  into some serious blogging and do a lot of cooking. Its almost  2 weeks since he started school and  still I havent done much of blogging or even cooking. When my parents were here my kitchen was soo busy and lots of cooking did happen but now expect in the morning my kitchen is all so quiet and my house is soo silent except the noise of  some cars speeding by ! So I guess getting into that mood might take some time as I am in the  holiday withdrawal  mode reminiscing all the good times we had the past 2 months. Now that I have a few hours all by myself I am also looking for options to make myself useful other than just sitting at home which  has also taken its toll on  my hobbies, but anyway I am sure about one thing whether I am  free or busy I will never abandon this little blog of mine :)

Anyway coming back to topic...Have you ever craved for something which you have never cooked or tried ?? Well one fine morning I got a craving for eating this from nowhere, I wonder how it came but that day  I ignored it beacuse if my laziness, but few days passed by and it was still in the corner of my mind and after a week or soo the craving  hit back with all its strength which  left with no choice rather than making it. So after googling it I came across few  recipes here here and here and  I adapted the recipe from all three to make  my own :) I am glad I did as we all loved it and now even if I crave for it I can rely on my blog to whip it up in a jiffy :)

Ingredients

For pidi/ dumplings

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 - 1 1/2 cup

Shallots - 3-4 

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Grated coccnut - 1/2 cup

salt 

For chicken masala

Boneless chicken - 250 gm

Onion - 2( finely chopped)

Tomato - 1 small( finely chopped )

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Ginger -garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 3/4 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala or  chicken masala  -  1 tsp

Salt

Curry leaves

coriander leaves

Green chillies - 1 or 2

oil

For coconut gravy 

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Whole garam masala ( small piece of cinnamon, one clove, one cardamom, one bay leaf )

Thin coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Thick coconut milk - 1/4 cup

salt

Method

Making of Pidi

• In a bowl take the rice flour, add salt, boiling water and make a dough. 
• In a Mixie make a course paste of grated coconut, shallots and  fennel seeds.
• Add the paste to dough and mix well, knead and  make a smooth dough.
• Take a small ball of the dough( 1 tsp ) and roll it into a ball and gently press it down and make an impression in the middle with the thumb.                                                                           
  
  
  
• Steam it for 10 minutes.

Making of chicken masala, coconut gravy and the final process.

• Cut the Boneless chicken into small cubes.
• Marinate the chicken cubes with chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chicken masala, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste and salt.
• In a saucepan or cheena chatti /kadai add coconut oil and add fennel seeds and when it releases smell add  finely chopped onions, curry leaves  and saute until onions are brown and soft.
• Add  chopped tomatoes and cook until mashed and becomes a paste.
• Add marinated chicken, salt and cook until chicken is done
• Meanwhile in a nonstick pan add coconut oil and add the whole garam masala and saute for a minute or so.
• Add grated coconut and roast it until golden brown. Once its cool grind it into a paste.
• Add the grinded paste and the thin coconut milk to the cooked chicken.
• Add the steamed pidis/ dumplings to it and cook it covered for 3-4  minutes.The masala will be coated well into the dumpling now.
• Finally add the thick coconut milk and when its about to boil turn off the flame.
• Garnish with coriander leaves if you like.

SERVE WARM AND ENJOY !!

Happy Onam

Wishing all my friends a very Happy onam. Those who doesnt have any idea about Onam, let me enlighten you :) Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala,India. Onam always falls during the month  Aug - sep of every year. Malayalees all around the world celebrate this festival irrespective of religion. Few highlights of this festival are Ona Pookalam (flower carpet ) which we do with fresh flowers, family get togethers and finally an Onasadhya ( vegerterian feast ) :)

Eventhough I make sadhya every year I havent been able to post all my sadhya recipes as I never get time after the whole cooking. So below are links of  few of them which I managed to blog so far :)

    Sambar 

     Avial

     Beetroot pachadi

Pavakka Kichadi

                                                 

     Beans and carrot thoran

Tomato rasam

Parippu pradhaman

                                                  Semiya Payasam                                               

                                                         

 Paal payasam

      Have a fabulous Onam !!

Chilli paneer with step by step pictures

When I go to a restaurant there are some dishes which   never bothered  to order. Chilli paneer is one such thing . A few of my   friends here have been telling me that  there are  some Indian restaurants around where they  serve very good chilly paneer. But nope.. I still didn't want to taste it ! Wondering what changed now ? Since my parents are here on holiday ,I have been cooking a lot for them and the  other day when  I was cooking  my paneer butter masala  my Amma asked me whether I know how to make chilli paneer. I used to think that chilli paneer is popular only in my age group and is a relatively new thing, but she told me that years ago  when I was a school girl , our family went for a holiday somewhere and we ordered chilli paneer from a restaurant along with roti . She said she loved it so much and the taste of  that chilli  paneer is something she can never forget. ! Well after that  I had to rethink about tasting chilly paneer just to see what was the hype was about and thats how decided to go ahead make this especially for my Amma:) And the verdict ....yes I loved it too. Now when  I want to make a dry paneer dish I don't have to always rely on kadai paneer, infact I liked it better than kadai paneer :) So if you are paneer fan and like Indo chinese food, this is the kind of dish for u.

Ingredients

For marinade and frying 

Paneer - 250 gm

Maida/ plain flour - 4 tbs

Cornflour - 2 tbs

Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

Salt

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Water - 1/4-1/2 cup

Oil for shallow frying 

For sauce

Onion - 2 medium ( cubed )

Capsicum/ pepper - 1

Green chillies - 2( cut diagnoly )

Minced ginger - 1 tsp

Minced garlic - 1tsp

Tomato sauce/ tomato ketchup - 3 tbs

Soya sauce - 2 tbs

Chilly garlic sauce - 2  tbs

Salt 

Cornflour - 1 tbs

Water - 3 tbs

Method

• In a bowl add Plainflour, cornflour, salt,pepper, ginger garlic paste and water and make a batter ( thick enough to coat the paneer )                                                                                                 

• Dip the paneer in the batter and shallow fry them in a pan adding oil flipping the sides until they are golden brown. Drain it on paper towel / kitchen tissue and keep it aside.                                     

•    In the same pan add minced ginger, minced garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.                          

   

• Add cubed onions  and chopped green chillies and saute until onions are soft.                                   

           

• Add tomato sauce.                                                                                                              
  
             

                        

• Add soya sauce .                                                                                                                          
  
   
• Add chilly garlic sauce and cook for few minutes until oil starts to separate.                                                                                                              

• Add chopped capsium and stir for 1-2 minutes.                                                                    
  
                                                                             
• Now add the fried paneer cubes and coat it in the sauces and cook it covered for 3- 5 minutes.                                                                                                                                 
  

• Finally dissolve 1 tbs of corn flour in 3 tbs of water and pour this to the paneer and mix well. Cook for another 1-2 minute and turn of the flame.                                                                
  
  
  
  Enjoy !!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sending this to   Bloggers Buzz , BBPC assignment -1