The Chilli Paneer
Colourful and spicy Chilli Paneer (cottage cheese), the vegetarian version of Chinese dishes.
© Photographer: Subhrajyoti Parida | Agency: Dreamstime.com
The Rice Pulao – veggies’s delight
Well I must confess I am a Foodie and really makes me weak at knees upon mouth watering vegetarian Indian delicacies, mostly when those are prepared by my sweet mom (hope my wife does n’t read this :)). Just kidding ! Even my wife is also a good cook and for me, is an expert in Chinese cuisines like manchurians (I like the veggie versions of them !), egg & vegetable fried rice etc etc. and nevertheless, she loves pastry but the best part of it is making those tastier by wonderful toppings.
Coming back to our subject on vegetable pulao, it is undoubtedly a mouth watering cuisine savoured by gourmets from all parts of India. It is often prepared on special occasions like festivals or when guests come to dine or foodies just love having it whenever they feel like ! Vegetable pulao is often served with a side dish like dal (lentil) fry, mixed vegetable curries, any gravy or with any other Indian curry. It is prepared from basmati rice (with the long rice grains), a variety of chopped vegetables like french beans, green peas, carrot, turnip, cauliflower, tomatoes and bit of green chilies ( well there is no such hard and fast rule of putting this many vegetables ; one can be creative enough to experiment with other vegetables too !) and not to forget Indian spices like cumin, green and black cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves to name a few. All these are cooked in ghee (butter) or oil.
I caution now that if my dear readers are thinking of trying this at home, please don’t follow my lines exactly as it us above (remember I am a foodie not a good cook at all !) . It is safer to google the recipe on internet and will be still wiser to watch it on Youtube being made by experts . You will find countless elaborate ways to prepare this colourful and delicious cuisine straight from the rich Indian vegetarian kitchen. For non-vegetarians, I do recommend to give a try and why not enjoy a plateful of it with butter chicken !
Let me know when you try vegetable pulao next time …till then enjoy your food !
Subhrajyoti
Meet me at http://www.dreamstime.com/subhra2jyoti_info
Sweet & Curvaceous…
First of all, a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you and your families. With the festive season all around us and the air thick with celebration, fun and frolic, all of us would have made grand plans (or some part of the world would have already done it !) to dine with friends and family members , having a variety of mouth watering & sumptuous dishes on plates. Sweet meats & chocolates would be definitely on menu. In India, we have a wide choice of sweet meats , made out of milk, sugar, flour, yogurt,cheese,pumpkin,cashew,almond etc etc. (The list is indeed a long one, which I can hardly recall !, My mom knows lot better than me !) . Some of the well know sweet meats are jalebi, sandesh, kaju barfi, agra ka petha, sweet vermicilli, kheer, gulab jamun, rasogolla, halwa, rabdi etc etc.(Here too the list goes on and on !)
The one in the image above, is called jalebi, a very popular sweet meat in India called as “Celebration Sweet of India”, since it is primarily served during festivals like Diwali, and national holidays like Republic Day & Independence Day.
It is primarily made out of wheat (Maida) flour, saffron, ghee and sugar, and is deep fried in pretzel or circular forms, after which they are soaked in sugar syrup. It is served both warm or cold. It has somewhat chewy texture with crystallised sugary coating. Lime juice or citric acid as well as rose water or other flavours, such as kewra water, are also sometimes added to the sugar syrup to render extra flavour to it.
Jalebi is not only enjoyed in India, but almost in every country in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa. With thousands (or even more) Asians migrating to Europe and USA, this sweet is now tingling the taste buds across all nationalities, all over the world.
So enjoy mouthful of jalebi…till next time.
This image is available for download (with out any watermarks) for commercial usage at http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-yellow-colored-indian-sweet-jalebi-image19575238#res1113654 as a part of my portfolio at Dreamstime.com.
The banana treat …..
Any guesses , what this is ???
This is a popular snacks in Kerala, one of southern most provinces of India, which we were served on board a house boat in the famous lagoons of Alleppey.
It is basically a sweet snack with a crunch taste from its surface and us usually served along with a cup of tea or coffee in evening. The base ingredient is ripe banana ( not the raw one & that too with skin intact !) which is first dipped in a mix of gram flour, salt, and chilli powder (if you want it hot). One can add other spices like chat masala , to the semi-liquid thick batter of gram flour, in order to get a a tangy and spicy taste. After dipping the ripe bananas properly in the batter, it is fried preferably in coconut oil ( sunflower or olive oil can be also used but you may risk on the authentic taste of Keralite cuisine).
Well, to say frankly, the snack was undoubtedly good , but when you mind is pre-occupied appreciating the beautiful and scenic lagoons of Alleppey , you can hardly be able to take it off from them and concentrate on the wonderful delicacies of Kerala- the God’s Own Country !
Any correction to the above process (which I could make out from my limited culinary knowledge) is always invited…Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
itravell 
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