Sattvic (truly vegetarian ) soup

Sattvic nourishes both body and mind. And if the little munchies and tit bits can also be Sattvic, then what more could one ask for? The good news is that most vegetarian dishes can be adapted to a Sattvic diet by maintaining the purity of ingredients, by keeping the cooking simple and by opening one’s mind to innovations.

Sattvic Soup
Soup is the ultimate Sattvic one-pot meal, lending itself to limitless improvisations, and providing nourishment to the body and the soul. Here is one Sattvic soup recipe to get you started…

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Ingredients
Carrots, chopped - 4 ½ cups
Grated ginger - 2 tsp
Potatoes, diced - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Hing/asafetida powder - ½ tsp
Black pepper - ½ tsp
Light vegetable stock or water - 4 cups
Salt to taste
Parsley or coriander leaves for garnish

Method
Melt butter in a 3-litre saucepan over moderate heat. Sprinkle asafetida followed by ginger, stir and then drop in the carrots, potatoes, salt, pepper and sautè for about 10 minutes.

Add the vegetable stock or water, bring to a boil, then simmer covered on low heat until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and purèe the contents till smooth. Return the soup to the pan, and gently reheat.

Serve hot garnished with freshly chopped parsley.
Sattvic Salad
Made with colorful, garden fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts, salads can be wonderfully refreshing. They stimulate different tastes and sensations and are amazingly simple to put together. Here is one we recommend…

Sprouted Mung Bean and Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
Sweet potato - 1 medium
Green chili, minced fine - 1 small
Coriander leaves, chopped fine - 1 tbsp
Sprouted mung beans - 1 ½ cups
Tomato, diced - 1 medium
Sweet pomegranates - ½ cup
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method
Boil the sweet potato until tender, peel and dice it. Combine all the ingredients. Serve immediately.

Sattvic Snack
Sattvic small bites are simple and unassuming, gently titillating the palate towards a scrumptious repast that is to come.

Vegetable Tempura
Eggplant, cut into thick slices - 1
Okra, trimmed - 4
Baby corn, trimmed - 4
Green Beans, trimmed - 4
Sweet potatoes, peeled & diced - 1

For the batter
Ice cold water - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Plain flour - ¾ cup + a little extra for dusting
Salt to taste
Ice cubes - 2, 3
Oil for frying

Method
For the batter, pour the ice cold water in a mixing bowl, add the rice flour and mix well. Add the flour, salt and mix sparingly with a fork. Do not over mix. Add the ice cubes.

Heat oil until smoking, in a wok or a deep fryer. Lightly dust the vegetables in flour, dip in the icy batter and deep fry until crisp, in batches of 2 or 3 vegetables.

Serve hot with a generous amount of love and a little soy sauce

Instant kalakand

ingredients

mawa powder - you will get this in any indian grocery store

ricotta cheese- u can choose fat free too

sugar

butter

take equal quantities of mawa powder, ricotta cheese and sugar and mix in a microvawable bowl. add 1/3 of butter to this mixture and microwave for 2 min

mix again and microwave for 2minutes

continue this process till the color of the mixture becomes milk chocolate brown

remove and spread on a greased plate

spread cashews or any dry fruit of your choice and cut in shapes of your choice..

tastes just as authentic as traditional kalakand. with much less effort

coconut chutney

this is the second in the series of chutneys
well coconut chutney is a must for traditional south indian breaktfast or tiffins

ingredients
coconut grated - 1 cup
tamarind - a small gooseberry size
green chillies - 1-2 or depending on taste
salt

tempering or seasoning

cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon
mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
red chillies 1-2
urad dal- 1/2 tea spoon
asofoetida a pinch
curry leaves - 4-5

grind the coconut with tamarind, salt and chillies
to this mixture add the seasoning

chutney is ready to serve

florence trip

when we decided to go for this trip it was an exercise which called for planning, monitoring and coordinating. well the team was good coz they were already on the team working for nike and it was no surprise that they did a great job at arranging this trip too

3 vans and a car took 20 adults and 4 kids to two guest houses housed on a scenic area in florence..the drive was good with regular coordination with others. our GPS couldnt find the cottage :-) silly ,, we had to be guided to the cottage which made the whole thing a hillarious adventure.

finally at 9.00 we all reached one of the cottages called viewpoint. oh man,, the house itself was a joy to watch right fromt he word go. the whole place had the theme,, sea items,, with a sea compass, telescope, fishing rod , small ship, 

it was cozy and very much homely. all of us settled down and later had dinner,, 

after chitchatting and all a couple of us rode to the other cottage... 

we were in for a surprise,, man this is completely different from the homely cottage. this house was totally contemporary. large windows everywhere with 3 bedrooms in the ground floor ..

photos of the family members lit up the place and gave it the personal touch for an otherwise magazine kind house.

we all slept like a log without exploring further. morning in the daylight, man,, the scene was just too beautiful,, the lake was visible frome very window in the house . 

the lake in the morning looked as if the topmost layer had frozen, so calm and so scenic. some one was kayaking disturbing the otherwise calm 

today is adventure day, time to go and get set for the day.. 

we all marched ahead to the viewpoint cottage. had sumptous breakfast. left for the sanddunes. 

well i have written about the  sand dunes already.. check it out. exhilarating experience. 

from the dunes we went ahead to the beach. to have lunch ofcourse, we were famished already. 

the beach was nice less breezy and sunny ideal for a holiday. the whole family set down to eat.. 

we spent time on the beach playing walking ,, etc.. then hiked up to the light house. ok.. the hike was good but not worth the scene we had fromt here.. well it pays to go holidaying as a team,, the fun is retained..

after the hike we drove back to viewpoint..now time to kayaking..

kayaking well a new experience to everyone of us..

each one tried and each one had a different tale, i personally enjoyed it thoroughly. wanted to stay there and experiment my twist with water.:-) but everyone was waiting for the kayak.. so had a minimum amount of fun,, my son also enjoyed it..

who wouldnt if your KAYAK is safely held with a rope :-)

anyway fun was the key and we had fun period..

well after that we had a sumptous dinner ... all the items were class apart .. ummm delicious 

after that we all went to the other cottage vista point and had a big round antakshari

this moment was like a big joint family coming together for an after dinner hungama ..

the next day began our adventure with horses, sea lions and once again the beach

well horse ride was fun for those who went for it,, manu simply enjoyed it ,, i wasnt there to witness him though..

the rest of us who werent horse riding went to watch the sea lions.. that was a bit dissappointing  though coz i expected to get a much closer view of the sea lions in their natural habitat but what we get to see is hundreds of sealions from a far distance across a gated wall.. the smell is certainly nauseating but yes the caves were a marvel and the sea lions were at thier natural best .. relaxing and sunbathing.. for once its not worth the money you pay to watch them from taht distance but then coming to think of it the money is well spent to safeguard the species ...

a good lunch at the beach and that set the adieu to the trip.. so we thought until we all landed in the traffic jam that took us another 2 hrs to reach home

home sweet home... what say 

neverthless florence trip set a new trend among us ... now outing should be grouping and outing :-)

tomato chutney

i am going to have a series on chutneys
starting with tomato chutney which i used to make for my son.
ingredients
tomatoes - 8-10
green chillies - 3- if jalapeno peppers just use 1/2
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
jeera - 1 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
salt to taste
chilil powder to taste

in the blender puree the tomatoes
In a frying pan, add oil to season mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, green chillies
add the tomatoes and allow to cook till the oil leaves the sides
add salt to taste and chilli powder

tomato chutney is ready ;; goes well with idlis, dosas, parathas

traditional rasam

rasam has always been my favorite. this watery tamrind based recipe goes well with just rice and ghee..
rasam and potato chips are an alltime favorite,, rasam and papadams are ultimate tongue teasers.
well that aside let me write the recipe for my friend
ingredients
tamarind - 1/2 lemon size nicely pureed
tomatoes 1
turmeric - teaspoon
rasam powder - 2 teaspoons
pepper powder 1 teaspoon - the fresh it is better is the flavor of the rasam
tur dal - 1/4 cup cooked in 2 cups of water

boil the tamarind pulp and tomatoes , salt and turmeric till the tomatoes are nicely cooked
now add the rasam powder and allow to boil
when the raw smell goes away,, add tur dal nicely mashed ..
after adding the dal add the pepper powder and just give a boil.. do not allow the rasam to boil in dal - this is an important tip to make mouthwatering rasam
garnish with coriander leaves

for the seasoning temper ghee with mustard seeds and jeera and asofoetida
rasam is ready ... serve with hot rice and papads

tip of the day : once u add the rasam powder allow the rasam to cook over medium heat. this allows the essence of the powder to sink in..
pepper powder in the last helps to flavor the rasam well

tamil sambar

this is for my friend who has been asking me to post recipes of sambar and rasam
well i thought why not blog it and post it for all who may like it.
sambar is essentially an everyday item on the menu either for the breakfast or lunch
traditionally sambar with sambar powder goes like this
tamarind - small lemon size
tur dal - one cup
vegetables - for the start onions, brinjal and potatoes would be fine. - around 11/2 cups
salt to taste
sambar powder - MTR brand, 777 brand or homemade would be fine - 1 tablespoon

soak the tamarind and keep aside the puree
pressure cook the tur dal

boil the vegetables in water and add tamarind puree and cook till the tamarind smell goes away :-)
now its time to add the sambar powder and allow a good boil
add tur dal - nicely mashed into this mixture and allow a boil.. the consistency of sambar can vary to taste. traditionally it should be more of dal and less of water

in a separate pan heat ghee and add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds , jeera , asafoetida and pour over the sambar.
garnish with curry leaves and tada... sambar is ready

tulip garden

saturday 25 april 2009

i used to be always awed by the tulip pictures. those flowers are always an inspiration and there is a hotel in hyderabad called the tulips where they had this theme. we used to visit the hotel just for the scenic beauty of the flowers. my friend used to have a wall poster of tulips and i was always dazzled by it.

well i got an opportunity to see them live. when we arrived it was a stunning sight. amidst the drive thru parking lots and play area we were suddenly bombarded by acres of tulip flowers.. a live view can be really much more dazzling than a photograph trust me.

we planned to leave by 11 am and by the time all of us gathered at my place it was 12.30. well anyways we did decide to go and halfway through our ride it started drizzling. oh how i prayed that the weather be good. well we were lucky that by the time we reached the gardens it was nice and sunny. 

back to tulips ,,, well one can find all the colors and for the first time i came to know that tulips have various varieties as well based on color, shape, etc. its amazing to see the splash of colors ,, like a rainbow on the ground . 

instant mango pickle

This is a fantastic recipe by eluru aunty who happened to visit beaverton for a week and inspired me a lot. 

i can write a whole essay about aunty herself but this blog is for the recipe that she gave me.

well for the mango pickle we need mangoes raw ones.

peel the mangoes and cut them into fine pieces

for 2 cups of mango pieces we would require

4 tablespoons of chilli powder (you can reduce the amount if the chilli powder is very hot)

3 table spoons of salt

1 table spoon of turmeric powder

mix them well and now is the secret 

take 1/2 cup of oil and add fair amount of mustard seeds, few fenugreek (methi seeds), pinch of asafoetida, spoon of channa dal (this adds a little crunchy taste to the pickle)

pour the oil over the mango pieces and mix them well 

the pickle is ready .. taste and add the chilli powder or salt to your taste.. 

refrigerate

tip of the day : if the mangoes arent very tangy,, add a splash of lime juice or amchur powder 

sand dunes

sand dunes.. when i heard of it i assumed it to be some part of a beach event. mountains of sands across the sea coast lined up for fun.. little did i know that i m going to experience some thing nature had designed.

we booked the buggy ride, a kind of a bus that can carry upto 20 passengers. our thougt ws that the bus will take us along the sand dunes and we can see the bikers swing their path across the dunes.. 

the moment the bus took us into the sand filled areas, the scenic beauty of it was enthrallling. acres of sand strewn across making patterns all by themselves was a beauty in itself. then the bus swayed down..... like a roller coaster and it was great. great is just the tip of the iceberg..

all of a sudden we spot a small water area in between the otherwise brown landscape,, greenish shade of water which apparently was pure spring water ushering from some rocks beneath..

the dunes are nothing but areas of otherwise rocky or tree lands covered by sands over years.. its amazing to see a 100 feet tree covered almost 90 feet in sand revealing only the 10 feet of itself ...

then the bus swayed once again, swooon  we went down and looked back to see the trail that the bsu left in the process.. photographic shot. should sy

we were watching the euphoria that the bikers were creating,, they were everywhere going up and down mercilessly..making patterns, lifting the bikes, some who were new were trying to take the decisiosn of whether to zoom down or make safe paths on the sand.. we wathced few topple over and rolll down.. hmm its dangerous to look but the sand itself is like a cushion wielding the impact..

it was  a long 1/2 hr of going down and steady down and steady mini roller coaster rides on the sand. the we stopped at a scenic place from whre we could watch sandy landscape all around with spots of green here and there..

the sand was so wonderful to feel .. my feet just loved them

after a few photographs and poses we hopped back to head home.. it was a joy ride sandy and nice..