A nose block BUSTER!!!!!!

Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!!…….. Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!!….. Aaa-Aaa-Aaa–Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Excuse Me!!!!! Bbbrrrrrr…… bbrrr……. Excuse me!

Thats the after effect of an eternal nose block buster!!!!!! My nose was horribly blocked with heavy sinus. The pain radiating from the middle of my nose right till the back of my temples! My eyes watering and ears paining! When I would talk with my students they would make fun of me since I was talking through my nose!!!!! The only thing that I was craving at a time like this is some nose block buster!!!!!! Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Excuse me!

Hot, spicy, tangy, tomato rasam is the best nose block buster that I recommend!! Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Excuse me! These are the after effects of course, but I prefer using a few tissues rather than pain killers!!!! Aaa-Aaa-Aaa-Choo!! Bbrrrrrrrrrrr……..!!!!!

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Spinach Uttapam and Sambhar

Ever since my school days, I have always had a shadow of South Indians around me, either in form of friends or mentors. 🙂 The the time spent with them is somehting to cherish. I had a good friend in school who was a mallu. Then in college another very good friend who was from andhra or karnataka or somewhere down south (my geography is pretty bad 😛 ). In medical college, my best friend, an iyer – the best that I have had till now. If this was not enough, the clinic where I was working in for two years before my marriage , was of a doctor who is a tamilian. 🙂 My mentor, my teacher, everything. I have a colleague and a friend with me currently – a tamilian again. 🙂 And not to mention the blog world majorly dominated by South Indians again!!!!! Also, in the place where I am staying – Singapore, out of all the Indian population here, 80% is South Indian again!!!!!!! 🙂

I can call myself half South Indian when it comes to food. Coffee is like my middle name – thanks to my medical college friend and the clinic of the South Indian doctor that I was working in. Rice is like a staple food in my house for the sheer lazyniess to come home after a whole day of work and roll out chapatis. The idli/dosa batter is forever there in my fridge, at any given time. Enough to prove me a south indian right. 🙂

The commonest complaint I have heard from them is,

“Why do you guys categorise everyone from halfway down the map of India as SOUTH INDIANS???!!!!!! Everyone from each different state has a different culture, different cuisine, different custom!!!! Why doesn’t everyone above the half way mark of India realize this???!!!! Why always the common term of SOUTH INDIANS???!!!! PHEW!!!!”

And I have no answer to this till today. 🙂 I still can’t categorize them as per their states, their culture and their languages.

For me all the languages seem to be the same. All the foods – sambhar, rasam, idli, dosa, wada, upma kuttu, poriyal, kozumbu, bisi bele, tamrind rice, appam, iddyappam …… is south Indian cuisine. Whether its pongal or vishu – its a south Indian festival.

So please my dear friends, please don’t cringe your face when you hear me say South Indian ‘n’ number of times over here. 🙂 I am really handicapped with regards to this. 🙂

So with all you South Indians ….. err, let me use ” 🙂 🙂 ” (two smilies – for the wonderful people that they are) when I want to say sou….. you know what right??? So with all you wonderful experts of ” 🙂 🙂 ” cuisine, here’s my small little attempt to showcase your food. Its like diye ko roshni dikhana (showing light to a lamp…..) …….. but let me still try 🙂

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Missi Roti, Sarson ka saag, Caramalized apples with Vanilla Ice Cream

God forgive me for this, but I happily facilitated the divorce of the ever popular and the ever green couple – makke di roti and sarson da saag. 😈

Since time immemorial the people of punjab have been enjoying the rustic flavour of this beautiful couple and then finish it off with a serving of lassi or fresh curd and white butter.

Now makke has this cousin called as missi. While makke di roti has this natural sweetness of maize, missi di roti brings out a mix of besan and wheat. Both delicious and both compliment sarson equally well. 😎

While makke gets the liberty of pairing with sarson every now and then, poor missi is left alone. 😦 So today, I helped facilitate the divorce and coupled missi and sarson together.

Don’t they make a good pair???

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WELCOME!!!!

Welcome to the cafe!! 🙂

Hope to continue with our coffee sessions from here in the same way and much more!!! 😀

I would greatly appreciate if you could update your blogrolls. 🙂

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Cous Cous

The very first time I ever heard about this wonderful grain, I was fascinated by the mearge sound of it. 🙂 Cous Cous!!!!! Sounds like you are calling a puppy!!!!! 😛

Couscous was traditionally made from the hard part of the durum wheat, the part of the grain that resisted the grinding of the relatively primitive millstone. In other words, it a grain made from semolina which is about 1 mm in size…… Or shall we say “semolina putting on weight!!!!!” 😉

The dish is the primary staple food in much of Algeria, eastern Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya it is simply known as ta`aam طعام, “food”.

The best part of this grain is its versatility in cooking. The things which cous cous will do are limited only by your imagination!!! It will happily take flavourings based on the traditions of Mexico, Italy, India and North Africa. All these variants can be achieved by changing the stock, the spices, the herbs, the contents of the initial frying, and so on.

I make this very often for our weekend breakfast…… or even when I am craving for a light lunch/dinner. 🙂 The funniest thing is that until recently I didn’t know that it belonged to the middle eastern region. It was only when I was googling around for arabic cuisine for Meeta’s MM that I discovered the truth about its origin. 🙂

Without further ado, lets get on with it……

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KHICHDI-KADHI

Khichdi (also khichdee, khichadi, khichuri, khichari and many other variants) is an Indian dish that contains a combination of rice and lentils. It is commonly considered to be India’s comfort food. Khichdi is also the first solid that babies are introduced to. Rice and lentils are simmered till mushy, seasoned with turmeric and salt and fed to infants to introduce them to “people food”.

This simple food can be cooked in a variety of forms…… While some cook khichdi as a rather rich and delectable delicacy, some cook it very differently – a very plain dish that is normally associated with bland taste and diet for people when sick.

 Khichdi is commonly served with another dish called “kadhi” and other accompaniments are papads, ghee, achar, and yoghurt. And today I serve this to you in its nutty variation with lip smackingly delicious gujarati kadhi on special request by Mallika!!!!! 🙂

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MBP – Let’s Roll (Round Up)

LET’S ROLL!!!!!!!!!

You guys have been rolling wonderfully!!!!!!!! Hats off to all of you over there!!!!!! I am one big lazy bum when it comes to rolling and hence I call myself a converted south indian!!!!! Coffee is something which I can have by gallons (I don’t need to mention that ) and I end up making rice in some or the other form for dinner for the sheer laziness to knead the dough and make chapati’s or parathas!!!!!!!!!! Keeping the theme for this month to roll was like a big challenge for me, thinking that the theme will make me get up from my laziness and get the rolling pin in my hand!!! NAH!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t!!!!! Someone read about my laziness to roll and the heights of keeping it as the theme for this month and I still didn’t budge from there………… until today morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

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