quick stir fry

Sometimes I just need something to go with the dal chawal ( lentil soup- rice). Generally i rustle up sum jeera aloo ( cumin potatoo fry) or frozen mix veg stir fry.But since we have had them quite a few times i was thinking of what to cook with today’s dinner. As i was rummaging through my fridge there was just one capsicum. So i was like what to make with it. As i was cleaning my cupboard i found a packet of Nutrela Soya grnaules n i was like yay!!! I made sum nutrela capsicum stirfry and that wud go perfectly with my Dal chawal in the evening.Here is the recap.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and 1 chopped onion to it. Let the onions turns light brown. Sorry My non-stick pan is now non non-stick..lol

Boil 1 cup of soya granules in 4 cups of water,then cook it at low flame for 5 mts .Let it rest for 10 mts, drain it and then wash it 2-3 times with fresh water. Then press the granules to take out the excess water.

Chop the capsicum finely. I have used half of what i had as it was quite big and i didn't want the capsicum flavor to be overpowering

Add the capsicum to the onions and let them cook for 2 mts just so they soften

Add the soya granules to the onions and then add turmeric and red chilli. I also added little bit of coriander powder not pictured here.

Add salt to tatse , mix well and let it cook uncovered for about 10-15 mts till it crisps up a bit.

The stir fry is ready! Njoy!!

Go ahead and give this simple yet tasty dish a try. M sure u will love it for its simplicity as well as taste.

Read Full Post »

Rava (Semolina) Idli (cakes) recipe

Hi frnz..I made rava idlis yesterday with sambhar n chutney. I had a great tym makin it…there was little tsunami in the kitchen…:)Here is the recipe.

Ingredients for Rava idli–>

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1tbsp mustard seeds

3-4 curry leaves

pinch of hing

1 green chilly chopped

coriander leaves chopped

1 cup semolina( rava)

1 cup sour curd

salt to taste

3 tbsp Eno ( fruit salt)

Oil

Idli mould

water to steam idlis

1. RAVA IDLI : 

First take cumin seeds, mustard seeds ,4-5 curry leaves (chopped) and hing. Heat oil in a pan and put all 4 ingredients.

Once they splatter put 1 cup semolina ( rava) and fry till it turns light brownish in color.Take care not to burn or overheat the rava.Allow it to cool for 10 minutes.

Chop one green chilli and some coriander leaves.

Take 1 cup curd. It should be sour and at room temperature.

Whisk the curd nicely.

Put the chopped chillies, coriander and salt to taste in the curd.Put water in the curd little by little n mix well. The consistency should be like that of lassi ( buttermilk).

Take the idli stand n grease it with some vegetable oil so that idlis do not stick to the stand and come out of the mould easily.

Take 2 cups of water in a thick bottomed vessel and bring it to a boil.

Put the cooled down rava mix in the curd mix and blend well to form a smooth batter.

Add Eno ( fruit salt) in the idli batter.

After adding Eno, put the batter immediately in the Idli mould.

Place the idli stand in the vessel with the boiling water.

Cover the vessel with a dish leaving an outlet for the steam to escape. Cook for 15 minutes. You can also use a pressure cooker without the whistle. To check if the idlis are done or not, put a skewer throgh the idli. If it comes out clean , idli is done, if not cook for 5 more minutes till done.

Take the stand out and let it rest for 5 mts.

Tada!! Your Idlis are done:)

:))

I think its gorgeous!

The inspiration for this idli recipe is here:

http://recipesandmore-shifali.blogspot.com/2008/07/suji-idli_08.html

2.SAMBHAR:    Ingredients for sambhar–>half cup toor dal ( yellow lentils),salt to taste , turmeric, chopped vegetables of choice,oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, sambhar powder,mango powder, lime juice

jI

Take half cup toor dal ( yellow lentils), 1 cup water, pinch of turmeric and salt to taste in a pressure cooker.We wont cook it completely at this stage, just for 1 whistle.

Chop vegetables of your choice like tomato, onion ( both length wise),gourd,peas,carrots,beans etc.

Put the veggies in the pressure cooker along with the dal. Now cook this completely for 2 whistles.

Cooked dal. The veggies should be tender enough but not mashed and soggy.

In a seperate pan heat 1 tbsp oil, splatter 1 tbsp mustard seeds and3-4 chopped curry leaves. Add 1 small tomato,4 tbsp sambhar masala and 2 tbsp mango powder.

since i did not have tamarind i use lemon along with the mango powder for the sourness

Mix the masala with the dal and add lemon juice, Sambhar is ready!

3.CHUTNEY :  Ingredients for chutney–> onion , tomato, garlic, ginger, green chilly,coriander leaves, sugar, salt, lime juice

Take 1 small tomato, 1 small onion, 2 garlic cloves,2 sliver of ginger, 1 small green chilly,coriander leaves, 1 tbsp mustard oil,lime juice 1 tbsp,half tbsp sugar and salt to taste

Grind the above mentioned ingredients to a fine paste.

For the tempering, again heat 1 tbsp oil and splatter mustard seeds and curry leaves and add it to the chutney paste.

So all done!!

A hearty meal is ready!

I am proud of myself:))

It looks like a lot of work but once the idlis are done , sambhar and chutney do not take much time and effort! Hope u try it and like it as mush as I and Kay did:))

Read Full Post »

Eye makeup

Hi frnz..I have not been posting quite often lately as i was thinkin of somethin interesting to write.

Well today i will be posting pictures of my eye makeup as requested by a reader (:) <3). I am by no means a pro and this is just what i like to wear mostly:

1.On a normal day out

2.Weekend nites

3.Some special occasion

1. On a Normal Day out

After washing my face and applying moisture, i pat the eye area with my Lakme Sheer compact.

Lakme Ultra Sheer Compact

Then I line it with my Maybelline Liner Express

Liquid Liner . It has a ball point pen like tip and is very easy to use, doesn’t smudge,no tears and easy to use even on the lower lids.

Then I line the lower lid with waterproof Revlon Kohl Stick.

Kohl Stick- Revlon

I darken the lower lid thickly with my Maybelline Liner Express . It seals the kohl in the eyes so that it does not smudge.Don't worry its doesn't burn.;)

Time to make the lashes dark n nice with some Mascara

Maybelline Colossal Volume Express Waterproof Mascara

So this is generally my look in the day or may be also on a casual night out. Liner, kohl n mascara..Ready to go!

2.Weekend nites

If I am in the mood of something a little bit more  sparkly then the easy way to do that is to add on the first one above.

I simply draw a line of my Lakme green eyeshadow with a brush, above the black liner. You can also use a colored eye pencil for this.

One more variation of it can be – after patting the eye with compact in the first step, put the green eyeshadow first in a line as per the curve of your eye ,and then put a thin line of black liner as close to the lashes as possible.This will define the eyes beautifully and is the easier method .

Lakme Eye Color Quartet Peacock

To make the eyes more sparkly i add on a glitter eyeliner on to the basic black liner applied earlier.It was a gift from a friend from S'pore.

Gabrini Glitter eyeliner

So this is my more than casual eye look.:) Hope you like it.

3.Some special occasion

If there is going to be some party, or festival or some other big night i usally do as below.I generally use double shades for eys makeup but this one is more complex as it uses 4 shades. You can use as less or as many as you want. The main thing is to use a lighter shadow in the inner corner and the darker shadow in the outer corner of the eyes and  blend well …your eyes will be ready to mesmerize:)

After applying the compact on clean eye and putting a skin color base, i have put on Golden shadow on the entire lid. This is from the same Lakme Eye color quartet pictured above.

Here I have applied Maybelline Sparkling gold shadow in the inner corner of the eye as well as the outline of the entire lid. It is atleast 2 shades lighter than the dark gold base already applied

Maybelline 621 sparkling gold

Right next to the pale gold shadow in the inner corner of the eye, I have put a peach colored shimmer and on the outer corner of the eye, I have put a dark pinkish bronze shadow

LAKME sheer color eye shadow duet ( Peach and dark pinkish bronzish one)

Next step is to put a torquiose blue eye shadow at the outermost corner of the eyelid. This will shape the eyes and make it look big. The blue shadow is from the same Lakme Eye Color Quartet pictured earlier.

Now I have lightly dusted the outline of the lid with the same blue shadow as was used for the outermost area of the eyelid in the previous step.Its just like how you draw an eye with a blue pen..

This is after the Liner and the kohl has been applied.

Full view

This is after the Mascara has been put on. You can easily make out the difference in no- mascara and with- mascara picture.Now just few steps left to finish this.

Here i have put a white highlighter on the brow line and topped it off with the earlier used Maybelline pale sparkling gold shadow.

Elf brightening eye color. I have used the top most left corner whitish shade as highlighter on the brow.

So the eye makeup is complete. Following are the final shots i cudnt resist cliking:))

Dont u just love that tinge of blue at the end!!! Gives a mysterious luk i think:)

Also do not forget to darken your eyebrows for the complete effect.

Thats it guys. I really really hope u like it and feel free to give suggestions for improvement!! CIAO> Luv…xoox

Read Full Post »