If you love eating, you can surely be a good cook, but to be an excellent one, you should have good critics at home. For that I owe to my husband and my children.

I dedicate this blog to the young ladies - "the starters".

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Silent Valley



God still lives here-
God’s own valley,
The abode of God

Like in the ‘ark’
Birds, mammals, reptiles
In pairs they live in peace

Trees and herbs
Flowers and fruits
Sparkling rivers, with the mystic touch of God

Silence is the rule
Close your eyes
You will feel the presence of God

Dare not touch
A flower, leaf or stone
Forbidden valley for man

Step in only-
If pure in heart and soul
Determined not to hurt even the air

Else the eerie silence will bite you
The deadly- dark shadow,
Will haunt you
For ‘Nature the God’ is powerful for ever

mini thomas

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Prawn Chutney Powder





Ingredients

Grated coconut -2 cups
Dried prawns -1 ½ cup
Dried red chillies - 3
Pepper corns - 15
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - ½ cup
Sliced shallots (small onions)- ½ cup
Ginger grated -3 tbsp
Chopped garlic - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 tbsp
Oil - ½ cup
Salt to taste

Preparation

On a low flame, in a wok, pour a tablespoon of
oil for frying each ingredient separately.
Red chilli, pepper corns and urad dal can be fried together.
Each ingredient should be fried crisp.

Grind each ingredient seperately in a chutney grinder.
Mix all items together with sea salt and grind again.
Now, add the tamarind and run the mixer on high speed.
See that there are no lumps.
Store the chutney powder in an air-tight container.

Prawn chutney powder goes well with rice and curd.

It is helpful if we stock a bottle of prawn chutney or
Fish pickle to manage the lazy days.
May be a day after Onam, when you have all the
left over veggies but no fish!!

Generally,two types of dried prawns are available.
One is red, firm and comparatively bigger in size.
The other one is soft, smaller and pale in colour.
For making chutney, softer dried prawns are preferred.