tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45597467921620147472017-07-29T01:24:52.475-07:00A pinch of basilA pinch of basil is a blog about organic terrace gardening in India and easy to make recipes. Here we detail the success and failures of our vegetable garden in Bangalore, India and our experiments with planting and growing methods. Our recipe trials in kitchen are also added in the blog. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-89415353974995104482014-02-01T09:09:00.004-08:002015-01-22T10:23:26.882-08:00Caramel cake <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j0wO8Vlb5OY/UuzcVx1EJNI/AAAAAAAAAxM/OJUVGcKcFFk/s1600/Caramel+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kerala-Christmas-plum-cake-recipe" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j0wO8Vlb5OY/UuzcVx1EJNI/AAAAAAAAAxM/OJUVGcKcFFk/s1600/Caramel+cake.jpg" height="400" title="Caramel-cake" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plum cake without any 'plums', aka caramel cake</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An original Kerala Christmas cake got a few trimmings here and there, to became one of my favorite cakes - the caramel cake. I know, the whole renaming thing sounds just like the story of this <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/chocolate-vanilla-marble-cake.html">chocolate vanilla marble cake</a> that I posted earlier. :) While I was not so confident about recreating the perfect 'Zebra effect' (thereby taking an escape route using 'marble effect'), here I intentionally omitted adding raisins and plums (the obvious addition in a plum cake). The exclusion was only because my sister (this cake was for her) doesn't like raisins. Without dried fruits, nuts and wine / rum, the caramel flavor truly shines through in this recipe. </span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have tried the original recipe from Nags a number of times, in numerous ways - with or without dried fruits and nuts, adding wine or by soaking the dried fruit mix in wine for weeks. Every-time it tastes heavenly and gets better and better on ageing. Another important thing to note while making this cake is to get the right caramelization - not burnt, not crystallized but just the perfect </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">amber hue will be great. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--0kym5KLlAU/Uu0pMlGTW5I/AAAAAAAAAxc/TZSeVbgbYQw/s1600/Kerala+caramel+plum+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--0kym5KLlAU/Uu0pMlGTW5I/AAAAAAAAAxc/TZSeVbgbYQw/s1600/Kerala+caramel+plum+cake.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Caramel cake recipe</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Recipe Courtesy : <a href="http://www.cookingandme.com/2011/12/kerala-plum-cake-christmas-fruit-cake.html">Edible Garden</a> </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup all purpose flour</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 + .5 cups white sugar</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 cup water</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">150 gram unsalted butter at room temperature</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 eggs</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp spice powder (1 small piece cinnamon + 1 clove + 1 small piece maze + 4 small green cardamom pods + 1 small part of star anise)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp baking powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp honey</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pinch of salt</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Handful of chopped cashew nuts for garnish</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Direction:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Preheat the oven to 180</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> °C (160 °C fan-forced)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Grease and dust the cake tin.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a thick bottomed pan on medium high heat, add the half cup sugar kept aside for caramelization. Once it starts to dissolve and then caramelize, reduce the heat to medium and gently stir or swirl the pan to prevent burning. Wait for the amber hue to appear, and then add 1/4 cup water, just before removing from heat. It will splutter in protest, making all sorts of sound. So just take care while adding water to the hot caramel. After cooling down, this will harden and has to be reheated again to a pourable consistency. Remove from heat and set aside.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the spice powders and set aside.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale. Pour in vanilla and honey. Add eggs, one at a time and whisk till just combined, without over-beating). </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stir in the dry ingredients in two batches, gently combining with the wet ingredients without knocking the air off. Now add the cooled caramel and fold in to the mix so that the batter is well-combined. Pour the batter to the prepared cake tin. Gently tap the sides of the tin to remove air bubbles. Dredge the cashews with one tsp of flour and arrange them on top of the batter.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bake for 40-50 min until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't be tempted to open the oven door in between due to the permeating heavenly smell or caramelized cake top.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Also, t</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ry to resist the sweet temptation to eat this delicious cake immediately. Because, as I said earlier, it gets better and better on ageing :)</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-52485695585402366382014-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:002015-01-22T10:19:15.087-08:00White lily flowers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hPMiw0menHQ/Uup2mW-uuoI/AAAAAAAAAwk/p4Ppcz5YFM4/s1600/white-lilly-flower-blooms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hPMiw0menHQ/Uup2mW-uuoI/AAAAAAAAAwk/p4Ppcz5YFM4/s1600/white-lilly-flower-blooms.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is something so magical about the pristine serenity of lilies. I still remember the time when I was in Kerala, lilies popped out of nowhere during the summer season. They grew among the rubber trees and bloomed without any gardening care. After coming to Bangalore the memories of <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2014/01/blooming-lettuce-flowers-hourly-updates.html">blooming</a> Easter lilies (they normally appear during that time) began to fade. Then one fine day, I noticed these little beauties in my parents apartment garden. They rekindled the memories of solitary white bloom in summer, hiding under the shades of rubber tree, looking at the rising sun. Form that day, whenever I visit my parents place, my gaze never fail to search for lily flowers in the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/colors-from-our-garden-part-2.html">garden</a>. Here are some of the pictures of white lilies. </span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgsQEJuJSPs/Uup1FBAlGzI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/-g7MBqUqSSQ/s1600/white-lilly-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgsQEJuJSPs/Uup1FBAlGzI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/-g7MBqUqSSQ/s1600/white-lilly-flowers.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White magic!!</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uZm6PCYRFxs/Uup1khnzjqI/AAAAAAAAAwY/OG08q__hL50/s1600/white-lilly-flowers-garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uZm6PCYRFxs/Uup1khnzjqI/AAAAAAAAAwY/OG08q__hL50/s1600/white-lilly-flowers-garden.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching sun :)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xq_s3vnMtUg/UuqDZoCaJOI/AAAAAAAAAw0/ihuSGtAvfKo/s1600/lily-flower-buds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xq_s3vnMtUg/UuqDZoCaJOI/AAAAAAAAAw0/ihuSGtAvfKo/s1600/lily-flower-buds.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lily flower buds</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QnP26nW8esg/UuqD30e2nwI/AAAAAAAAAxA/TdLBBjVpewM/s1600/white-lily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QnP26nW8esg/UuqD30e2nwI/AAAAAAAAAxA/TdLBBjVpewM/s1600/white-lily.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-73921891573454184052014-01-23T10:32:00.000-08:002014-01-23T20:19:19.583-08:00Vazhakoombu (banana flower) vada<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hVys6bUbfeE/Ut9gxCaOALI/AAAAAAAAAv8/TaN7N7Cb75c/s1600/Vazhakoombu+banana+flower+vada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kerala-banana-flower-recipe" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hVys6bUbfeE/Ut9gxCaOALI/AAAAAAAAAv8/TaN7N7Cb75c/s1600/Vazhakoombu+banana+flower+vada.jpg" height="400" title="Vazhakoombu-vada" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vazhakoombu (banana flower) vada</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In South India, coconut is revered as the 'Kalpavruksha' (a mythological tree which makes every wish come true). From the roots to the flower buds, every single part of coconut is useful to mankind, and that is why this tree is considered as divine. Like coconut, there is another tree, or rather a plant, known for it's versatility and usefulness. And it is none other than the humble banana ('vazha' in Malayalam). Almost all part of this, including roots, shoot, leaves and flowers (vazhakoombu) are highly nutritious and edible. Vazhakoombu or banana flower is normally used to make thoran, with lentils and coconut as base. Today, I am not going to post <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/kerala-style-mushroom-thoran.html">thoran</a>, but an interesting <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/parippu-vada-kerala-style-lentil.html">vada recipe</a> with vazhakoombu.</span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Actually this recipe is more like a cutlet than a vada, and I really think it will be appropriate to call it as a cutlet. But then amma insists that this is vazhakoombu vada, and I don't see any point in arguing as this one is here recipe :) </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before using vazhakoombu for cooking, it should be chopped and cleaned properly to remove the stickiness from the flowers. This step is very essential, else the dish won't be pleasing to eat.. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Vazhakoombu (banana flower) vada recipe:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup vazhakoombu (after chopping, slicing, washing and draining)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 medium red onion, finely chopped</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 small potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tbsp rice flour</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 red chilly, sliced</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 green chilly, sliced</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp fennel</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp pepper powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp red chilly powder (according to spice level)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp garam masala</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp turmeric powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A small pinch of asafotedia</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tbsp + 3 tbsp vegetable oil</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 sprigs of curry leaves and coriander leaves</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Salt to taste</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To clean the vazhakoombu, remove the two outer layering of the flower and very finely grate or slice the rest of the flower. The thin slices are then immersed into salted lukewarm water for around 30 minutes. Scrub and squeeze the grated flowers with well-oiled or gloved palms till the stickiness leaves completely. Drain and wash again with clear water. Squeeze and drain the excess water from the slices, and then set aside.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a pan, add 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Stir in the chopped onion, red chilly and green chilly to the pan and cook until onion starts to change color.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Add mashed <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2014/01/kerala-style-potato-stew-with-coconut.html">potatoes</a>, cleaned vazhakoombu, asafotedia and all masala powders. Season with salt and curry leaves, and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stir in rice flour and chopped coriander leaves to this mixture. Make small uniform sized balls / vada from this mixture. Add the remaining vegetable oil to pan and shallow fry the vada on both sides till golden. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Serve immediately with ketchup.</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-73188074171844965372014-01-21T07:06:00.000-08:002014-08-07T10:59:39.106-07:00Netholi (anchovy) fish fry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Q_pZPmQbVo/Ut5MENKVwDI/AAAAAAAAAvs/8Fty95ytqOk/s1600/Kerala+netholi+fish+fry+recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fried-anchovies-Kerala-fish-recipe" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Q_pZPmQbVo/Ut5MENKVwDI/AAAAAAAAAvs/8Fty95ytqOk/s1600/Kerala+netholi+fish+fry+recipe.jpg" height="400" title="Kerala-netholi-fish-fry-recipe" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Netholi fish fry</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chocolate and anchovies?? After watching an Italian recipe (Penne al cioccolato con anchovies) of this unusual combination in David Rocco's Amalfi Getaway, me and N were left wondering with an expression ranging from amusement to awe. Our gastronomic experience with anchovies (netholi in Malayalam) were limited to the typical <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2014/01/kerala-style-chicken-stew-with-coconut.html">Kerala recipes</a>, such as fries and curries with coconut, tomatoes or mangoes, and hence cooking this nutrient dense fish with <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/chocolate-vanilla-marble-cake.html">chocolate</a> was unheard of. We don't know about the taste of that particular dish and I am not daring enough to make it in my kitchen:) So as usual, I am sticking to the traditional Kerala versions, and here is an easy netholi fry recipe from my amma.</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seafood recipes are comparatively easy to cook and this one is no different. Just take the marinated fish and shallow fry on both sides till golden. It is as simple as that. Red chilly powder, black pepper, fenugreek, asafoetida and turmeric powder goes into the marinade along with coconut oil and fresh lemon juice. Coconut oil gives a subtle nutty flavor to the dish, but as always, this can be substituted with any other vegetable oil. In Kerala, many people eat whole anchovies, without wasting even the bones. So, without wasting any more time, let's take a look at this simple recipe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Netholi (anchovy) fish fry recipe:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">250 gram netholi fish (anchovies), thoroughly cleaned and washed</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 tsp red chilly powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/2 tsp black pepper powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/4 tsp fenugreek powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1/4 tsp turmeric powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A pinch of asafoetida</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 tsp lemon juice</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 tsp + 3 tbsp coconut oil</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Salt to taste</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Curry leaves to garnish</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Directions:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To a small bowl, add red chilly, black pepper, turmeric, asafoetida and fenugreek powder. Season with salt. Drizzle 1 tsp coconut oil and lemon juice to the mix and make a fine paste by pouring more oil if necessary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pour the marinade over the cleaned fish and mix gently so that all pieces are coated completely. Cover and leave it aside for at least two hours.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a pan, heat the remaining coconut oil. Add curry leaves, followed by the marinated anchovies, almost immediately. Shallow fry till the anchovies turn golden on both sides. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-76792088209442843932014-01-17T03:23:00.003-08:002014-08-07T11:22:40.558-07:00Kerala style chicken stew with coconut<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YSLJXX1eIkM/Utj2U2lCecI/AAAAAAAAAvY/Czxl28JTdUM/s1600/Kerala+chicken+stew+with+coconut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kerala-chicken-stew-recipe" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YSLJXX1eIkM/Utj2U2lCecI/AAAAAAAAAvY/Czxl28JTdUM/s1600/Kerala+chicken+stew+with+coconut.jpg" height="400" title="Kerala-style-chicken-stew-coconut" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Those who had read my <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2014/01/kerala-style-potato-stew-with-coconut.html">Kerala potato stew recipe</a> would know that this image of chicken stew is strikingly similar to the potato stew dish. Hmmm, the truth is, both these pictures were taken on Christmas morning and I didn't have much time to change the props in between. No prizes for guessing the reason, as we (me and N) were in a hurry to polish off the plates.:) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The resemblance here doesn't contain only to the photos, but also to the recipe ingredients and cooking method as well. </span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like I mentioned before, in Kerala we like the lightly spiced version of stew. No heavy duty spices are present in this recipe, barring the quintessential coriander and pepper powder, with a dash of aromatic fennel and cinnamon. Adding coconut milk enriches the flavor and gives the dish a typical Kerala touch..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Kerala style chicken stew with coconut:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">150 gram skinless chicken, cleaned, washed and cut into small pieces</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 medium red onions, thinly sliced</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3-4 green chilies, according to taste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 tsp coriander powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp fennel powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 small pieces of cinnamon, powdered</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/8 tsp turmeric powder (optional, only for color)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp pepper powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tbsp water</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">21/2 - 3 cup thin coconut milk extract</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup thick coconut milk extract</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Salt to taste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To temper:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp mustard seeds</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2-3 shallots, finely sliced</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 red chilly</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A sprig of curry leaf</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp vegetable oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Clean the chicken pieces, add 1 tbsp lemon juice or 2 tbsp gram flour and gently mix so that the chicken pieces are nicely coated. Cover and set aside for 10-15 minutes. Wash thoroughly and drain the excess water. Pressure cook the cleaned chicken pieces for one whistle. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a small bowl, make a paste of coriander powder, fennel powder, pepper powder, cinnamon powder and turmeric powder (if using) with 1 tbsp water.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pour vegetable oil or ghee to a pan, and once it heats up, add sliced onions, green chilies and ginger garlic paste. Stir and cook till the raw smell leaves from ginger garlic paste and the onion slices are translucent. Lower the heat, add the prepared masala paste, stir and cook for a minute without letting the masala change color.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Add the chicken pieces and stir fry for a couple of minutes on medium heat. Pour in the thin extract of coconut milk, season with salt and cook for 10-15 minutes till the chicken pieces are tender and the broth is nicely reduced. Lower the heat once again and pour in the thick coconut milk extract. Simmer for a few minutes, without letting it coming to a boil. Remove the stew for heat.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a small sauce pan, add oil and once it heats up, stir in the mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter and then add finely sliced shallots, red chilly and curry leaves. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pour the tempering mixture over the stew and serve with fluffy appams...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-47337416654864502732014-01-16T01:49:00.002-08:002014-01-16T02:07:50.540-08:00Blooming lettuce flowers - hourly updates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbDROtDlKkM/UtehaIE2TbI/AAAAAAAAAtc/AZP4J08BxQQ/s1600/lettuce+flowers+9+28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbDROtDlKkM/UtehaIE2TbI/AAAAAAAAAtc/AZP4J08BxQQ/s1600/lettuce+flowers+9+28.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fgsH8g--zn8/UtenYP-LbrI/AAAAAAAAAuI/bVPdmERyVEo/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+8+45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If there is a choice between growing ornamental plants and vegetables, we will definitely choose latter. There is nothing against typical beautiful blooms of roses or the serenity of orchids, but for us, a small veggie patch is far more satisfactory and productive. If enjoying flowers is the reason behind setting up ornamental plants, then please note that the vegetable plants are not far behind</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Checkout the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/colors-from-our-garden-part-2.html">colors from our garden</a> here)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Sticking close to the story of flowers, this post is all about images - a minute by minute update of blooming bright <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/colors-from-our-garden-part-1.html">lettuce</a> flowers in the morning..</span></span></div></div><a name='more'></a><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T925lAW-s_k/UtemFOvQYII/AAAAAAAAAto/IkgC4RuuUCQ/s1600/Lettuce+at+8+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T925lAW-s_k/UtemFOvQYII/AAAAAAAAAto/IkgC4RuuUCQ/s1600/Lettuce+at+8+08.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce flowers at 8.08 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--S-fU63tgn8/UtenNhEV1zI/AAAAAAAAAt8/wfMO8keh-8Q/s1600/lettuce+flowers+8+42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--S-fU63tgn8/UtenNhEV1zI/AAAAAAAAAt8/wfMO8keh-8Q/s1600/lettuce+flowers+8+42.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce blooms 8.42 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fgsH8g--zn8/UtenYP-LbrI/AAAAAAAAAuI/bVPdmERyVEo/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+8+45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fgsH8g--zn8/UtenYP-LbrI/AAAAAAAAAuI/bVPdmERyVEo/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+8+45.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce flowers 8.45 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJmjHBj9BcY/UteoRAkJBEI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/nCvYMFiGy24/s1600/lettuce+9+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJmjHBj9BcY/UteoRAkJBEI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/nCvYMFiGy24/s1600/lettuce+9+05.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Lettuce flowers 9.05 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7Cmr33gXr0/UteooDTeTFI/AAAAAAAAAuY/jF9tAJrowsw/s1600/lettuce+9+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7Cmr33gXr0/UteooDTeTFI/AAAAAAAAAuY/jF9tAJrowsw/s1600/lettuce+9+13.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce flowers 9.13 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3TQHsnnSEFk/Uteo2U6J3nI/AAAAAAAAAug/Mc4jrihxzcc/s1600/lettuce+9+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3TQHsnnSEFk/Uteo2U6J3nI/AAAAAAAAAug/Mc4jrihxzcc/s1600/lettuce+9+15.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce flowers 9.15 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KDXhNpNKW7s/UtepF29acEI/AAAAAAAAAuo/1EEnY5-K3dY/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+9+25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KDXhNpNKW7s/UtepF29acEI/AAAAAAAAAuo/1EEnY5-K3dY/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+9+25.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettuce 9.25 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyYVsAIpad0/UtepXFBc3GI/AAAAAAAAAuw/sqNqySNAsvE/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+fully+bloomed+at+9+34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyYVsAIpad0/UtepXFBc3GI/AAAAAAAAAuw/sqNqySNAsvE/s1600/Lettuce+flowers+fully+bloomed+at+9+34.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fully bloomed at 9.34 A.M</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t686AdH8bCU/UtepirM7jKI/AAAAAAAAAu4/fkuUiEP6ey8/s1600/lettuce+flowers+after+2+months.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t686AdH8bCU/UtepirM7jKI/AAAAAAAAAu4/fkuUiEP6ey8/s1600/lettuce+flowers+after+2+months.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After two months</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-6745243210972292652014-01-12T09:32:00.005-08:002014-01-12T09:35:10.412-08:00Muringayila (drumstick leaves) curry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zJIKo0DBfm4/UtK9-zy1z9I/AAAAAAAAAtE/dWOprooJzI8/s1600/Muringayila-drumstick-leaves-curry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zJIKo0DBfm4/UtK9-zy1z9I/AAAAAAAAAtE/dWOprooJzI8/s1600/Muringayila-drumstick-leaves-curry.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In South India, muringa (<i>Moringa oleifera</i>) plants are very common. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is an easy to grow tree and doesn't require too much attention. In <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-pudding-recipe-Kerala-trip.html">Kerala</a>, it is widely believed that the roots of muringa have water purification capacity and so this tree is planted nearby wells. Another important feature of drumstick is the numerous health benefits it offers. The leaves are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and other essential nutrients, and are widely used in Ayurvedic medicines.</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are many South Indian dishes based on the muringakka</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> (drumstick), its leaves and flowers. Curries, stir fries, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/kerala-style-mushroom-thoran.html">thoran</a>, vada and soups can be made out of these, with or without the addition of coconut - a South Indian staple. This muringayila curry recipe is a typical Kerala dish with coconut. It is better to use tender leaves for this dish, as the yellow or old leaves at times taste bitter. This healthy, rich leafy gravy goes well with cooked rice..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Muringayila (drumstick leaves) curry recipe:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup tender muringayila (drumstick leaves), washed and cleaned</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 - 1 cup water</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Salt to taste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To grind:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup freshly grated coconut</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 red chilies (according to spice level)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp cumin</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 cloves of garlic</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp turmeric powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To temper:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 tbsp coconut oil / vegetable oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp mustard seeds</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 shallots, finely sliced</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 red chilies</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wash and clean the muringayila (remove the small stalks / stem), set aside without chopping them. It is better not to use old leaves for the curry. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Make a fine paste of</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> the ingredients mentioned for grinding, b</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">y adding a little water</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Set aside.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a sauce pan on medium heat, add oil and the mustard seeds. Once the seeds start spluttering, stir in the sliced shallots and red chilies. Wait for the shallots to turntranslucent and then stir in the cleaned muringayila. Cook the leaves until they start to wilt and shrink. Season with salt. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now pour in the ground paste to the mix and adjust the gravy consistency by adding more water, if required. Stir constantly and simmer on a low heat for a few minutes. Don't let the curry boil over. Immediately remove from heat and serve with rice. </span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-17418154745192514262014-01-09T10:46:00.000-08:002014-01-09T11:00:28.283-08:00Puttu, payar and pappadam - breakfasting the Kerala way<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjzWedGri7I/Us7OXXGyT0I/AAAAAAAAAr0/oVnzqIAXc3w/s1600/Kerala+puttu+payar+pappadam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kerala-breakfast-puttu-recipe" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjzWedGri7I/Us7OXXGyT0I/AAAAAAAAAr0/oVnzqIAXc3w/s1600/Kerala+puttu+payar+pappadam.jpg" height="400" title="Puttu-payar-pappadam-recipe" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puttu, payar and pappadam</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did you ever wonder why <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-pudding-recipe-Kerala-trip.html">Keralites</a> barge about their favorite puttu (steamed rice cake)? If yes, then the only way to find the answer is by tasting this simple, yet delicious breakfast. The melt-in-the-mouth feel of crumbled puttu with curry or pazham (ripe banana) is enough to make us drool over. There are many reasons why we Malayalis prefer this steamed rice dish over bread, roti or chappati. It is delicate, very easy to make and healthy. But puttu alone can't create magic on the taste buds and it does require a beautiful pairing, such as kadala (chickpea) curry, cherupayar (mung bean) thoran or <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/pazham-pori-kerala-style-banana-fritters.html">pazham</a> (banana) to make the flavors work.</span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Steaming puttu, cherupayar and crispy pappadam, with a little drizzle of warm ghee on top.. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is not easy to find fitting analogy for the taste of this mouthwatering breakfast combination. To make the main dish, we use puttukudam or a special elongated mould for steaming the moistened rice flour. If the mould is not available, then you can also use an idli steamer or cooker. The traditional shape won't be there in this method, but the taste will be same.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UJU3qQI_Gq0/Us7eUdaMS7I/AAAAAAAAAsE/hA4GKlFnUyw/s1600/puttu+payar+pappadam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UJU3qQI_Gq0/Us7eUdaMS7I/AAAAAAAAAsE/hA4GKlFnUyw/s1600/puttu+payar+pappadam.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Puttu recipe:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup white rice</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 - 3/4 cup warm water or fresh coconut water</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup freshly grated coconut</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Water for steaming</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Salt to taste</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thoroughly wash the rice in running water and then soak for 5-6 hours. After this, again wash the rice and drain the water. Spread the grains and let them dry so that the excess water is removed.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grind the dried rice into fine flour, without adding water. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a large pan, add the ground rice flour and dry roast it for about 2-3 minutes or till a nice aroma arises. Don't forget to stir constantly so as to avoid burning. Remove from heat and let it cool. Season with salt.</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YUwmA_W7ts0/Us7g1Nc7jdI/AAAAAAAAAsM/z25kUX0H-NA/s1600/Puttu+podi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YUwmA_W7ts0/Us7g1Nc7jdI/AAAAAAAAAsM/z25kUX0H-NA/s1600/Puttu+podi.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puttu podi for steaming</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once the flour is cooled down, add little by little warm water or fresh coconut water and make a moist, yet crumbly dough as seen in the picture. Pulsing for a few seconds in the mixer will give a finer texture by leveling the crumbs. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To assemble, take the top half of the puttumaker, place the chillu (kind of stopper with holes for venting the steam) and then add 2 tbsp of grated coconut. Layer the coconut with a big handful of crumbly rice flour mixture. On top of that, again add 2 tbsp of grated coconut and repeat the process till the top end is reached. Layer the flour with 2 tbsp coconut and then close the lid. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fill 1/4th of the puttukudam or steamer with water and let it come to a boil. Then place the assembled top half and steam for around 5-8 minutes on a medium high heat, or until steam starts to vent out.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remove the top half, open the lid and gently push the puttu out on to a serving platter. Serve hot. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Repeat the process with the remaining flour. T</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he rest of the flour can also be stored upto a week. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NsqcUkonp_w/Us7n38efaNI/AAAAAAAAAsg/eZ31-uKom9I/s1600/Kerala+breakfast+puttu+payar+recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NsqcUkonp_w/Us7n38efaNI/AAAAAAAAAsg/eZ31-uKom9I/s1600/Kerala+breakfast+puttu+payar+recipe.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Cherupayar(mung bean) <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/kerala-style-mushroom-thoran.html">thoran</a> recipe:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Ingredients Required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup cherupayar / mung bean</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup grated coconut</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp ghee</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp turmeric (optional)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp red chilly powder (optional)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Salt to taste</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvC0jpZA7ss/Us7n6os2LFI/AAAAAAAAAso/Fz-mtZajpJs/s1600/cheru+payar+puttu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cherupayar-thoran" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvC0jpZA7ss/Us7n6os2LFI/AAAAAAAAAso/Fz-mtZajpJs/s1600/cheru+payar+puttu.jpg" height="400" title="Puttu-payar-pappadam-recipe" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherupayar thoran</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wash and soak the mung beans or cherupayar, overnight. In the morning, drain the water and thoroughly wash the beans again. Drain and cook the beans in boiling water for around 25-30 minutes, till they are nicely done but not mushy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Add 1 tsp ghee to a pan and season with salt. The masala can be added now, but for breakfast, we normally skip adding it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stir in the mung beans and cook for a few minutes. Add the grated coconut, stir gently and cook for a couple more minutes. Remove from the heat.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cherupayar thoran is ready. Enjoy warm puttu with tasty cherupayar thoran, crispy pappadams and a little drizzle of ghee.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-44983197741139516292014-01-08T10:34:00.000-08:002014-01-08T10:37:12.067-08:00Growing thyme - a glimpse through the lens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cBhCYTpGo84/Us14y93vNPI/AAAAAAAAAqk/f3g8s9YHDYM/s1600/rooting+and+growing+thyme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Thyme-images" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cBhCYTpGo84/Us14y93vNPI/AAAAAAAAAqk/f3g8s9YHDYM/s1600/rooting+and+growing+thyme.jpg" height="400" title="Growing-thyme" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Earlier in the post about <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/saving-dying-sage-plant.html">sage</a>, we mentioned about our herb basket plans. Along with the regular Indian herbs, we had planned to grow thyme, sage and rosemary. The story of sage is well-detailed in the previous post, but nothing has been mentioned so far about rosemary or thyme in this blog. So, here are some pictures of our gorgeous thyme :)</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-on4mM49omI4/Us2Oe-_x58I/AAAAAAAAAq0/dR57i1nxPFw/s1600/growing+stages+of+thyme+picture+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-on4mM49omI4/Us2Oe-_x58I/AAAAAAAAAq0/dR57i1nxPFw/s1600/growing+stages+of+thyme+picture+.jpg" height="160" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First three pictures are taken in August. The last one is taken in September</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The growth story, or rather we will have to say the birth of our thyme, was quite dramatic. Actually it is not easy to germinate thyme from seeds and as we expected, the seeds that we bought from Garden Guru didn't germinate at all. After multiple failures, we turned into rooting hormone application.</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FkGDQPZqiwY/Us2Ru0F867I/AAAAAAAAArA/1ioLrvgzE5s/s1600/thyme+in+rainy+season.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FkGDQPZqiwY/Us2Ru0F867I/AAAAAAAAArA/1ioLrvgzE5s/s1600/thyme+in+rainy+season.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thyme in rainy season</td></tr></tbody></table></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The first trial of rooting method was a resounding failure. All the stem cuttings, on which the rooting hormone powder was applied, died down eventually. Once again we sourced thyme cuttings from super market and applied rooting hormone on them. This time, one of the cuttings began to show signs of life. </span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ2tKhXeg_s/Us2TMC9T6CI/AAAAAAAAArM/gn4VnM74ouQ/s1600/growing+thyme+at+home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQ2tKhXeg_s/Us2TMC9T6CI/AAAAAAAAArM/gn4VnM74ouQ/s1600/growing+thyme+at+home.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The growth rate was very slow at the rooting stages and the initial phases of shooting stage. Then slowly the rate began to accelerate. Thyme is not a heavy feeder and the nutrient requirements are similar to sage. Thyme is very easy to grow, but make sure that the plant gets plenty of bright sunlight.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TMegs2bNJ4/Us2Uqvle3HI/AAAAAAAAArY/HO3OPAo3TdM/s1600/thyme+diseases.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TMegs2bNJ4/Us2Uqvle3HI/AAAAAAAAArY/HO3OPAo3TdM/s1600/thyme+diseases.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diseases affecting thyme</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like sage, too much rain can be a problem for thyme. It might cause the spreading of fungal diseases. Prevention is better cure in this. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thyme is a hardy plant and can withstand stress easily. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remove the affected parts immediately and if over-watering is the cause, refrain from doing so. In the case of our thyme, we just stopped watering the plant for a few days and it was soon back to normal. Also, don't forget to transplant a few additional saplings..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3LWGINIIWDg/Us2Xx-AZKjI/AAAAAAAAArk/1pwrDgTd_nY/s1600/transplanting+thyme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3LWGINIIWDg/Us2Xx-AZKjI/AAAAAAAAArk/1pwrDgTd_nY/s1600/transplanting+thyme.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S: </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is nothing to write about rosemary, as the seeds refused to germinate even after a month. The rooting hormone method also failed to root the stem cuttings :( Hope to have better luck next time..</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-53047657753408770822014-01-06T06:49:00.000-08:002014-01-17T02:30:27.116-08:00Kerala style potato stew with coconut<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-25itJC231O4/UsqKe-h2ptI/AAAAAAAAApk/tLlDmzZ9iko/s1600/Kerala-style-potato-stew-with-coconut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kerala-potato-coconut-stew" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-25itJC231O4/UsqKe-h2ptI/AAAAAAAAApk/tLlDmzZ9iko/s1600/Kerala-style-potato-stew-with-coconut.jpg" height="400" title="Kerala-style-potato-stew-with-coconut" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Appam and stew - this classic <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-pudding-recipe-Kerala-trip.html">Kerala</a> breakfast combination is all about blending simple ingredients to create mouthwatering flavors. Along with puttu / kadala, idiyappam / egg curry and palappam / chicken curry, appam / stew has been one of the favorite breakfast for Keralites since a very long time. Whether it is <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/chicken-dum-biriyani.html">chicken</a>, lamb or potato, the delicately flavored stew cooked in coconut milk is a perfect foil for the fluffy softness of appams. This combination has won over even the non-Malayali's who dislike the taste of coconut and coconut oil.</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are wondering how come the Kerala potato stew is different from the countless other potato stews, then here is the answer. Firstly, minimal use of spices compared to the other Indian recipes is the main reason. Traditionally, this dish is spiced with green chilies or black pepper, both grown abundantly in Kerala. A dash of turmeric (which is also cultivated in Kerala) is added sometimes for color, but it is optional. Fresh coconut milk (again, this is abundant in Kerala) gives the delicate yet rich flavor to the stew. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this recipe, I have added coriander powder as well powdered fennel and cinnamon.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Kerala style potato stew with coconut:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 small-medium potatoes, scrubbed, cleaned and cut into small cubes</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 medium red onions, sliced thinly</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3-4 finely sliced green chilies (according to taste)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 1/2 tsp coriander powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp powdered fennel</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp cinnamon powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp black pepper powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/8 tsp turmeric powder (optional)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 -2 1/2 cup thin extract of coconut milk</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup thick coconut milk extract</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp ghee or oil (vegetable / coconut oil)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Salt to taste</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>To temper:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp mustard seeds</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2-3 shallot, finely sliced</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 red chilly, whole</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A sprig of curry leave</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp vegetable/ coconut oil</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a sauce pan on medium heat, pour ghee / oil. Add sliced onions and green chilies to the hot oil and saute till the onions start to change color. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stir in the potato cubes and cook them for about 5 minutes. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lower the heat and add the masala - coriander, fennel cinnamon, turmeric and black pepper powder. Stir gently till the vegetables are fully coated in the masala. Season with salt.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pour in the thin coconut extract to the mixture, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or till the vegetables are done. Once the potatoes are cooked through and coconut milk is nicely reduced, it is time to add the thick extract.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reduce the heat to minimum, and pour in the thick extract. Simmer for a minute and then remove from heat, without allowing to boil (else the thick extract will split). </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pour 1 tsp vegetable oil to a small sauce pan and stir in the mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add the rest of the tempering ingredients. Remove from heat and pour the tempering over the stew. Serve with hot appams. </span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-41727921093609579602014-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:002014-01-01T10:17:11.908-08:00Munthiri (grapes) pachadi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9dxhXFbPXSE/UsQqqwfgR5I/AAAAAAAAApU/1fnD7wfRljc/s1600/Munthiri-grapes-pachadi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kerala-munthiri-pachadi-recipe" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9dxhXFbPXSE/UsQqqwfgR5I/AAAAAAAAApU/1fnD7wfRljc/s1600/Munthiri-grapes-pachadi.jpg" height="400" title="Munthiri-grapes-pachadi" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is my first post of 2014, and I am starting the new year with a new recipe - a simple South Indian pachadi. This dish, being very easy to make, tasty as well as healthy, is always an integral element of Kerala sadya. Vegetables or fruits, grated coconut and curd are the three main ingredients in a pachadi. Normally cucumber, ginger, shallots, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/pineapple-upside-down-cake-coconut-caramelized.html">pineapple</a>, mango, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/eggless-butterless-carrot-muffins.html">carrot</a> and beetroot are the best vegetables and fruits for making this dish.</span><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here, I have given a sweet munthiri (grapes in English) pachadi recipe. Addition of grapes was just serendipity, or shall I say a necessity which turned into a pretty good dish? The grapes used here are the same ones, that we bought from our <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-pudding-recipe-Kerala-trip.html">short trip to Kerala</a>. After making a <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-loaf-cake.html">black grapes loaf cake</a>, wine and grape juice, we were left thinking about how to use up the leftover grapes, and one day I thought of adding them into pachadi. Needless to say, the combination of sweet grapes, slightly sour curd and nutty coconut rocks! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Munthiri (grapes) pachadi recipe:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ingredients required:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup seedless grapes or black grapes, pitted</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 tbsp water</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp sugar (optional and add only if the grapes and curd are too sour)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup thick curd (not so sour), lightly beaten</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pinch (less than even 1/8 tsp) fenugreek powder(uluva)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Salt to taste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To grind together:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup freshly grated coconut</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 small shallots</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 small green chilies (adjust according to taste)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp jeera / cumin</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To temper:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tbsp vegetable oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp mustard seeds</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 red chilies</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 sprig curry leaf</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Directions:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Add black grapes and 2 tbsp water to a sauce pan on medium heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes till the grapes release water and soften. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Coarsely grind freshly grated coconut, shallots, green chilies and cumin together. Add this to the grapes and saute for just a few minutes till the raw smell of coconut leaves. Take care not to overcook it. Remove from heat and let it cool. If you like the taste of raw coconut, the ground mixture can be added as such to curd, without cooking. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once cooled down, blend the grapes coconut mixture either coarsely or fine according to preference. As we like a few chunks of grapes in the pachadi, I made a coarse paste. Ensure that the mixture is cooled down completely before adding this to curd, else the latter will split.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stir in this paste to curd and mix well. Season with salt and fenugreek powder. Fenugreek should be added in a very small amount, else the pachadi will be bitter. If the pachadi is too sour, add a bit of sugar and adjust accordingly. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a small pan, add 1 tbsp oil. Once it heats up, stir in mustard seeds and red chilies. After the mustard seeds splutter in oil, add curry leaves. Immediately remove from heat and pour the tempering over the above made curd mixture. Serve with cooked rice.</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-75989786563288005432013-12-30T10:32:00.000-08:002013-12-30T10:42:11.358-08:005 tips for growing better bitter gourds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QNhNtjoISzA/UsGdr_unl7I/AAAAAAAAAok/JpZZsLH5cm4/s1600/growing-bitter-gourd-terrace-tips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="growing-bitter-gourd-terrace" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QNhNtjoISzA/UsGdr_unl7I/AAAAAAAAAok/JpZZsLH5cm4/s1600/growing-bitter-gourd-terrace-tips.jpg" height="400" title="Tips-growing-better-bitter-gourds" width="300" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bitter gourd (pavakka in Malayalam) - that name itself is enough to scare off many kids and even adults from the dining table. Most of them only include this vegetable in their diet for the sake of it's medicinal value and health benefits (especially for countering diabetics). But there are certain people, including me and N, who just love the pungent taste of this gourd. I sometimes feel that it is a kind of acquired taste, eat it more often without any pre-conceived notions and you will gradually forget the reluctance to have this vegetable.</span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Growing bitter gourd is not at all difficult and it will thrive in Indian climate, especially during the summer season. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before going into the article, let me clarify one thing about the word 'tips' in the title. I am not a gardening expert to give away tips :) and it is just the end result of my struggles to come up with a good blog post title. So this article is basically all about what worked well and what didn't in the case of the bitter gourds in our garden..</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--VaNKwDPXp0/UsGYFzStDtI/AAAAAAAAAoY/EDR8dtRYVss/s1600/tips-growing-bitter-gourd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--VaNKwDPXp0/UsGYFzStDtI/AAAAAAAAAoY/EDR8dtRYVss/s1600/tips-growing-bitter-gourd.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Providing a little help to remove the seed coat:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you have noticed, bitter gourds have a tough seed coat, thicker than the seeds of <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-bottle-gourd-lauki-at-home.html">bottle gourd</a>. Sowing such seeds directly to soil or coco peat will not prevent them from germinating, but the success rate will be low and the seeds will take more time to germinate. To avoid such situations we either immerse the seeds in lukewarm warm for overnight or 24 hours (have to change the water twice). There is one more tip that works well to loosen up the seed coat and that's by lightly rubbing the seed on a rough surface for a few times. Don't over work this tip, else it will cause seed damage.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w-siE1R7gBQ/UsGruEtTjUI/AAAAAAAAAo0/NlIWTZxvi0w/s1600/bitter-gourd-hand-pollination-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bitter-gourd-flowers-hand-pollination" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w-siE1R7gBQ/UsGruEtTjUI/AAAAAAAAAo0/NlIWTZxvi0w/s1600/bitter-gourd-hand-pollination-flowers.jpg" height="211" title="Bitter-gourd-growing-tips" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1.Female flower 2. Male flower 3. Hand pollinating the flowers</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Hand pollination:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Don't always depend on the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/who-has-visited-bitter-gourd-blooms.html">bitter gourd visitors</a>! The best way to ensure a good harvest is by hand pollinating the female and male flowers. Both flowers are very distinct in appearance and normally a cluster of male flowers appear before the female ones set. A small brush can also be used to collect the pollen, but hand pollination works well in this case. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFVLQFcVqTI/UsGxPIkVM0I/AAAAAAAAApE/7iN7Ods0-oc/s1600/bitter-gourd-pruning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="bitter-gourd-pruning" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFVLQFcVqTI/UsGxPIkVM0I/AAAAAAAAApE/7iN7Ods0-oc/s1600/bitter-gourd-pruning.jpg" height="300" title="Tips-growing-bitter-gourds" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Pruning:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like the other gourds, bitter gourds also grow vigorously, if provided with adequate nutrients. But, if your main aim is to get a nice harvest, then pruning should be done instead of letting the climber go wild. This includes removing damaged plant parts, yellow leaves and stems. The side branches can also be pruned, resulting in a healthy gourd.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Support + sunlight + nutrients + water:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being a climber, bitter gourd needs support so that the tendrils can attach to and grow vertically. Pipes, ropes, wooden extensions, walls or trellis can be used for providing support to the tendrils. Sunlight is another factor which helps in the plant growth. Keep the gourds under bright, full sun always. Daily watering (twice in a day, but not on the leaves) and nutrients (high Nitrogen till flowering, then increase Potassium and Phosphorous, along with micro nutrients, especially Magnesium) are also essential for growing better bitter gourds.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Protecting the gourds before harvesting:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Following the above tips are not enough, but for a good harvest it is very vital to protect the vegetables from preying insects and birds. Bitter gourds take sometime to mature and during this period they have to be very loosely covered with paper wraps. While doing this, ensure that the gourds can breathe easily :) Sometimes, plastic wraps are also used but we used brown paper cuttings to cover the vegetables.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These are our tips (again, from our gardening experience)for growing better bitter gourds. Hope these tips work well for your bitter gourds as well :)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-30814884735489283242013-12-27T01:04:00.001-08:002014-01-30T07:47:29.151-08:00Caramelized pineapple upside down cake with coconut<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uyUDktdvqzA/Ur0YgaXzobI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Am_AWMQIFhU/s1600/pineapple-upside-down-cake-coconut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pineapple-upside-down-cake" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uyUDktdvqzA/Ur0YgaXzobI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Am_AWMQIFhU/s1600/pineapple-upside-down-cake-coconut.jpg" height="400" title="Caramelized-pineapple-upside-down-cake-with-coconut" width="300" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who doesn't love pineapples? Well, for instance, I don't like the acidic taste of this tropical fruit. N's nephews and niece, and my niece are also averse of eating pineapple (they dislike almost all fruits). Even the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-loaf-cake.html">black grapes loaf cake</a>, that I made earlier, failed to impress them and they refused to even taste it. My niece has already told me that she doesn't like the addition of fruit bits to cake batter and has forbade me from making cakes other than vanilla or chocolate flavor. But for this cake I have bend the rules. </span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Long back, we had ordered a special pineapple cake for one of my colleague's birthday and it was deliciously light. Even though I don't like eating raw pineapple, the taste of that cake lingered on and I was etching to make it. So along with Kerala style rum fruit cake, this was our Christmas special dessert and gift.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TE25welhzJw/Ur0mlgq6EZI/AAAAAAAAAno/pj2xkUZLjIo/s1600/pineapple-upside-down-cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TE25welhzJw/Ur0mlgq6EZI/AAAAAAAAAno/pj2xkUZLjIo/s1600/pineapple-upside-down-cake.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pineapple cake</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This recipe is adapted from Delicious magazine. The pineapple pieces are caramelized and then added to the cake tin. But if the fruit is very sweet and you don't mind the slightly acidic taste, then it can be added as such, without caramelizing. I made slight changes in the original recipe by adding orange juice instead of lemon juice. The vanilla essence was substituted by pineapple essence for a rich flavor. I also added milk to adjust the batter consistency. It is not necessary to add coconut, but the addition of shredded coconut elevates the taste.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4hvSxGe70sA/Ur03qfc7heI/AAAAAAAAAn4/kQOKnnYv9_Q/s1600/caramelized-pineapple-upside-down-cake-coconut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4hvSxGe70sA/Ur03qfc7heI/AAAAAAAAAn4/kQOKnnYv9_Q/s1600/caramelized-pineapple-upside-down-cake-coconut.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Caramelized pineapple upside down cake with coconut recipe:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recipe adapted from <a href="http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/26263/pineapple+coconut+upside+down+cake">Taste.com.au</a></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ingredients required:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 small ripe pineapple, peeled and cored</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">250 gram unsalted butter, at room temperature (200 + 40 gram)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup caster sugar </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 - 4 tbsp granulated sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of pineapple)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 large eggs</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp pineapple essence</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 tbsp fresh orange juice</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 1/3 cup all purpose flour</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3/4 tsp baking powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp baking soda</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp salt</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 -3/4 cup milk (adjust according to the batter consistency)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup desiccated coconut</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Directions:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preheat the oven to 170C / 150C fan-forced. Grease and flour a 20 cm cake tin. I used a bundt pan. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cut the pineapple into four wedges, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lengthwise</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and then thinly slice the wedges, crossways.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a sauce pan, heat 40 gram unsalted butter and 2-4 tbsp granulated sugar on medium high heat. Add then pineapple pieces and cook them on both sides till both sides are nicely caramelized. Arrange the caramelized slices, along with the leftover sauce on the base of the greased cake tin. Let it cool. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cream the remaining butter (200 gram) and sugar (1 cup caster sugar) till fluffy and pale. Add the eggs, one by one and then the orange juice and pineapple essence. Whisk till everything is well-combined. Don't beat the eggs too much.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the desiccated coconut as well. Add this mixture to the above made wet ingredients in two batches, alternating with milk and gently mix together. Once everything is added, beat the batter twice or thrice using an electric mixer on the lowest setting, so that it is well-combined.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pour the batter evenly over the caramelized pineapple pieces and gently tap the cake tin on both sides to remove air bubbles. Bake for 45-55 minutes till a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cool the cake for 10 minutes, then turn out into a serving dish or cake stand and let it cool completely. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. This cake stores well and tastes even more delicious on the next day.</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-37630202379529142992013-12-26T10:18:00.004-08:002015-01-02T08:23:07.414-08:00Look who has visited our bitter gourd blooms!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgSZ5Xb5W0g/UrxiYmcKRcI/AAAAAAAAAmU/Xoohij8rTm4/s1600/bees-bitter-gourd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Bees-visiting-bitter-gourd" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgSZ5Xb5W0g/UrxiYmcKRcI/AAAAAAAAAmU/Xoohij8rTm4/s1600/bees-bitter-gourd.jpg" height="400" title="Bitter-gourd-blooms" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Posing for the photo</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This post is purely accidental and it is not at all what I thought I will be writing this week. I was planning to write a blog on bitter gourds (pavakka in Malayalam). But in came the holiday season and every thoughts of blogging, or rather writing the post vanished in a jiffy. So today, I made a conscious decision to set aside the remaining tasks for sometime and concentrate on writing a post, especially on growing bitter gourds. </span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ifXhs0kAPWc/UrxnAOpTkEI/AAAAAAAAAmg/MtqXF65XQlk/s1600/bees-visiting-bitter-gourd-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ifXhs0kAPWc/UrxnAOpTkEI/AAAAAAAAAmg/MtqXF65XQlk/s1600/bees-visiting-bitter-gourd-flowers.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Auditioning for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-2?</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While browsing through the bitter gourd photos from our terrace, I noticed that we have taken quite a few snaps of the visitors of the bitter gourd blooms as well. And they were posing for the camera in a rather cute fashion that I feel compelled not to overlook them. So here are some of the pictures of our garden visitors, who have a special liking for the vibrant bitter gourd blooms. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Warning: Some pictures might look repetitive..</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Both pictures on top are of the same visitor. As neither me, nor N is much aware of the classification of bees, we just didn't bother about the identity. Bees, being natural pollinators are a very welcome sign for the gardeners. Even though we hand pollinate our bitter gourd flowers, we long for their visits. </span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RkVl9t4vfsU/UrxnEFgWbnI/AAAAAAAAAmo/hKCkatdAKwg/s1600/bitter-gourd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RkVl9t4vfsU/UrxnEFgWbnI/AAAAAAAAAmo/hKCkatdAKwg/s1600/bitter-gourd.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A new visitor</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is the picture of another visitor, who is remarkably different from the previous one. I am not sure whether this one is a bee or a wasp. </span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zYEjPQ1Qs4E/UrxwrUQ2FTI/AAAAAAAAAnE/lPpwlaGcPYU/s1600/bitter-gourd-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zYEjPQ1Qs4E/UrxwrUQ2FTI/AAAAAAAAAnE/lPpwlaGcPYU/s1600/bitter-gourd-flowers.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lunch over</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But in our garden, not everything is rosy for these visitors. The yellow <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/sticky-paper-traps-control-garden-white-flies.html" target="_blank">sticky paper we used for trapping the white flies</a>, also caught some of the bees. They were attracted by the yellow color, and the stickiness of the paper made it impossible for them to escape once they sit on it. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jMOy51aTQiA/Urxu5Zn03fI/AAAAAAAAAm8/D6MV7i5TkBY/s1600/Bitter-gourd-blooms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jMOy51aTQiA/Urxu5Zn03fI/AAAAAAAAAm8/D6MV7i5TkBY/s1600/Bitter-gourd-blooms.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Say 'Cheese'!!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the new year looming around the corner, we hope that there will be more visitors in our garden.. And they will be able to escape the traps of sticky papers..</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-37093477880584371862013-12-22T09:02:00.003-08:002013-12-22T09:43:32.381-08:00Chicken dum biriyani <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--zuC7e9v4qg/Urap65OxkbI/AAAAAAAAAlE/E-f4TOUSM0U/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chicken-dum-biriyani-recipe" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--zuC7e9v4qg/Urap65OxkbI/AAAAAAAAAlE/E-f4TOUSM0U/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-recipe.jpg" height="400" title="Chicken-dum-biriyani" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To post or not to post? The taste of this dish has nothing to do with this dilemma. Fortunately the chicken dum biriyani here is of my father's and I have to say, he has perfected this one over the years. The main reason I was hesitant before writing this post clearly lies in the recipe length and ingredients list. The ingredient needed and directions are a bit too long and it requires a tad more patience, to write as well as to make it :)<br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Me being lazy to the core, very rarely attempt to make dum biriyani. It is always N or my parents who take the responsibility of cooking this rich dish at home. I have to say, they are pretty good at it. This recipe is easily adaptable and can be changed according to taste,especially spice level. If using tender chicken, there is no need to pressure cook it and can be added directly to the masala before keeping in dum (steam cooking the rice with vegetables and meat in a sealed vessel). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Chicken dum biriyani recipe:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b><b>1. Main ingredients:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 1/2 kg skinless chicken, cleaned and cut into desired pieces</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3 cup biriyani /long grain /basmati rice</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4 ½ cup boiling water / chicken stock to cook the rice</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Water to pressure cook chicken</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Salt to taste</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K9lR2bgBLbU/UrayYB9zNRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/uGpY8cwqjlc/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-marinate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K9lR2bgBLbU/UrayYB9zNRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/uGpY8cwqjlc/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-marinate.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2. To marinate for one hour:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 ¼ tsp pepper powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">½ tsp turmeric powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Juice of 1 lemon</div><div style="text-align: justify;">½ tsp salt</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U6y1vgSTwUc/Urayf-yUGlI/AAAAAAAAAlc/5U7uDfFfPT8/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-green+masala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U6y1vgSTwUc/Urayf-yUGlI/AAAAAAAAAlc/5U7uDfFfPT8/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-green+masala.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3. Green masala paste</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 large red onions, thinly sliced and caramelized</div><div style="text-align: justify;">10-12 cloves of garlic</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5 small ginger pieces </div><div style="text-align: justify;">5-6 green chilies (adjust according to taste)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">½ bunch coriander (10-15 stem and leaves</div><div style="text-align: justify;">¼ bunch mint (leaves)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6kUTV6-j5Mg/UraynI7h3II/AAAAAAAAAlk/gf5cPjP1EYk/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-fried.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6kUTV6-j5Mg/UraynI7h3II/AAAAAAAAAlk/gf5cPjP1EYk/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-fried.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4. To fry</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Handful of cashew nuts and raisins</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 tsp vegetable oil + 1 tsp ghee</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N7Qux5eI1k0/UrayvOYiEwI/AAAAAAAAAls/IVJtdDl4UmU/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-whole-masala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N7Qux5eI1k0/UrayvOYiEwI/AAAAAAAAAls/IVJtdDl4UmU/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-whole-masala.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>5. Whole masala for cooking rice:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3 black cardamom pods</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 bay leafs</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6-8 cloves</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 big stick of cinnamon</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2-3 mace</div><div style="text-align: justify;">12-15 black pepper corns (according to taste)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 tbsp ghee + 1 tbsp vegetable oil</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ezSjrdpkVA/Uray1SFPBqI/AAAAAAAAAl0/LuJljm_3zhI/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-steps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ezSjrdpkVA/Uray1SFPBqI/AAAAAAAAAl0/LuJljm_3zhI/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani-steps.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>6. Masala for biriyani:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 big red onion, sliced<br />2 large tomatoes, blanched and pureed</div><div style="text-align: justify;">¾ tsp turmeric powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 ½ tsp red chilli powder (according to taste)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 tsp coriander powder</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 1/2 tsp Meat masala / biriyani masala</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 1/2 tsp garam masala<br />1 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tsp ghee</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>7. Garnish:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fresh mint and coriander leaves</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Caramelized onion</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 drops vanilla essence</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lemon juice</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Optional:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A pinch of saffron in 3 tbsp warm milk, to infuse color<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IOaWx6Lujto/Urb7M-TzwLI/AAAAAAAAAmE/9xP1UNDGyTg/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IOaWx6Lujto/Urb7M-TzwLI/AAAAAAAAAmE/9xP1UNDGyTg/s1600/Chicken-dum-biriyani.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div><b>Directions:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Marinate the chicken pieces for an hour with the ingredients mentioned in step 2(pepper powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice and salt). Cover and keep in refrigerator.<br /><br />If the chicken is not tender, pressure cook the pieces for one whistle. The water level should be just enough to cover the whole pieces (the bird will release water once it starts cooking). Retain the stock for cooking rice. If using tender chicken, this step can be omitted.<br /><br />Meanwhile, soak the rice in water for half an hour. Then thoroughly wash the rice, till the water runs clear. Drain the water and spread the rice grains on a clean kitchen towel or absorbent paper to remove the excess water.<br /><br />To a large pot, add 1tbsp ghee and 1tbsp vegetable oil mentioned in step 5. Once the mix heat up, stir in the whole masala (cardamom, cinnamon, mace, cloves, bay leaves and pepper corns) and fry for a couple of minutes till a nice aroma arises. Don't forget to stir continuously. Now, add the drained rice to the whole masala and saute for a few minutes till the grains change start to change color. To check the texture, take a grain of rice and if the middle cracks into two, then it's time to add water. Pour boiling water or chicken stock (4 1/2 cup) required to cook the rice. For 1 cup rice, 11/2 cup boiling water / stock is the ratio. Season the water with salt. Cook the rice till 3/4th done and the water is evaporated. We pressure cooked the rice for one whistle.<br /><br />To a large sauce pan, add 1 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 tbsp ghee. Once the oil and ghee are hot enough, add a handful of cashew nuts(Step 4) and stir fry till golden. Remove the nuts from heat and to the same pan, fry a handful of raisins till they are golden. Remove the raisins from the pan.<br /><br />To the same pan, caramelize the thinly sliced onions (step 3). Add more 1 tbsp oil if necessary When the slices are caramelized and golden brown, remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Once cooled down, blend the onions along with the rest of the green masala ingredients (step 3) together to make a fine paste.<br /><br />To dum the biriyani, take a large vessel and heat oil and ghee, 1 tbsp each. Once it is hot enough, add the sliced onion (step 6) and saute till translucent. Add the green masala paste (step 3) from the previous paragraph and cook till the raw smell leaves. Blend in the pureed tomatoes and cook for around 8-10 minutes till the paste is reduced down and oil floats on top. Now stir in all the masalas mentioned in step 6. If the mixture is too dry, a few table spoons of hot water or chicken stock can be added. Add the chicken pieces and stir constantly so that the pieces are well-coated in the masala. Season with salt. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.<br /><br />Uncover the vessel and layer the cooked rice on the chicken pieces. On top of the first layer of rice, add fried cashews, raisins, caramelized onions (garnish) and freshly chopped coriander and mint. Add one more rice layer and repeat the process till the whole rice and garnish is used up. If using saffron, drizzle a few soaked strands and milk over the rice before adding the garnish. Cover the vessel completely and seal the edges with dough to prevent steam from escaping. Cook in a low medium flame for around 15-20 minutes.<br /><br />Remove from heat, and garnish with fresh coriander and mint, a few drops of vanilla essence and lemon juice. Serve hot with raita and pickle. After the rich and heavy main, this <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/carrot-payasam-kheer.html" target="_blank">carrot payasam</a> will be a perfect dessert. </div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-19189962907016269382013-12-19T06:39:00.000-08:002013-12-25T04:57:19.624-08:00Sticky paper traps - the best way to control garden white flies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/ants-aphids-and-a-rescue-act-by-ladybugs.html" target="_blank">aphids</a> and <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/controlling-mealybugs-ants-plants-neem-oil-spray.html" target="_blank">mealy bugs</a> turned our plants into a veritable feast, there was an overdose of another menace - the much feared white flies. They roamed around the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/how-not-to-grow-tomatoes-in-garden.html" target="_blank">tomato</a> plants with great enthusiasm, all the while feeding on cell sap and weakening the plant's defense. Like aphids, they are also known to act as a viral transmitting vectors (carries virus from one plant to another) and cause yellowing of leaves, wilting and stunted growth. At first they may seem to be quite harmless, but they are really terrible news for the gardeners. Let's take a look at the white flies first.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sFY4_LWlMUY/UrLx9wXei6I/AAAAAAAAAkI/u3A9FXXbNl8/s1600/insects-white-flies-on-leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="white-flies-leaves" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sFY4_LWlMUY/UrLx9wXei6I/AAAAAAAAAkI/u3A9FXXbNl8/s1600/insects-white-flies-on-leaves.jpg" height="300" title="Sticky-paper-traps" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">White flies, eggs and other pests on a chilly leaf<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now that we know more about the troubles caused by white flies in the garden, here is the best way to prevent their outbreak. As I mentioned in the previous posts, like in the case of other pests, organic methods such as water spraying and neem oil can contain their onslaught to an extent. But what worked well for us was sticky paper traps (especially yellow sticky papers). The bright yellow color lured the flies to sit on the paper, and the stickiness made it impossible for the pests to escape. Maybe, for pests the yellow color resembled the <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/colors-from-our-garden-part-2.html" target="_blank">bright golden flowers in the garden</a>.</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a name='more'></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KKa22yIyPmo/UrL6pwfk_GI/AAAAAAAAAkY/LGZDEMvCFHU/s1600/yellow-sticky-paper-controlling-white-flies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Yellow-sticky-paper-trapping-flies" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KKa22yIyPmo/UrL6pwfk_GI/AAAAAAAAAkY/LGZDEMvCFHU/s1600/yellow-sticky-paper-controlling-white-flies.jpg" height="300" title="Sticky-paper-traps" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow sticky paper trapping flies</td></tr></tbody></table></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We bought a bulk of sticky papers from <a href="http://www.pheromonechemicals.in/" target="_blank">Pheromone Chemicals</a>, Hyderabad. In addition to yellow, we also bought blue and white color. While yellow is used to control aphids, white flies, leaf miners and thrips, blue is preferred only for thrips. White is mainly effective against beetles, shore fly, tarnished plant bug, fungus gnats and apple sawfly. </span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bCNRzinXHmA/UrL9m0oP5iI/AAAAAAAAAkk/6WBMmGVDNaA/s1600/blue-yellow-white-sticky-paper-insect-trap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bCNRzinXHmA/UrL9m0oP5iI/AAAAAAAAAkk/6WBMmGVDNaA/s1600/blue-yellow-white-sticky-paper-insect-trap.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue, yellow and white sticky paper</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Before choosing the sticky paper, it is important to know which color will attract the specific pest. In our case, yellow and white worked better than blue. The number of papers to be kept in the garden varies according to the garden size, number of plants and pest infestation. Also important is their positioning in the garden. We attached some of them on level with the plant pots and some well above the plant trellis. Those kept well above the plant level caught more pests than the ones placed below. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Positives aside, there are some glaring negatives that can't be ignored. The main one being the in-discrimination in catching pests. Along with the white flies, yellow papers caught some of the lady bugs in the garden. We were able to rescue a few of them, but the stickiness caused great damage to the beneficial bugs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another defective aspect is related to terrace gardening. Dust and wind pose major problems for terrace gardeners. If not properly attached, the papers will just flew away with the winds. In our case, these papers used to completely covered in dust within a week, thereby losing stickiness. So we used to change them very frequently. Rain also has an effect in decreasing the efficiency of sticky papers. But on the whole, sticky papers are a great way to control garden pests - especially white flies. </div></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-47650668708829568002013-12-16T10:51:00.000-08:002013-12-16T10:59:01.407-08:00Chocolate vanilla marble cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gvKI4PeVk1Y/Uq7eIJaE9CI/AAAAAAAAAjM/v02-vaLBwFM/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Marble-cake-recipe" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gvKI4PeVk1Y/Uq7eIJaE9CI/AAAAAAAAAjM/v02-vaLBwFM/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake.jpg" height="400" title="Chocolate-vanilla-marble-cake" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chocolate vanilla marble cake</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Am I the only one who thinks that of all the months, December brings a special feel? Once the temperature drops down and winter sets in, the excitement of holidays and anticipation for Christmas and New Year begins. The sight of Christmas trees and decorations, the smell of freshly baked bread, cakes and roasts, and the struggle to get up in the misty mornings - all these things just announce that November is gone and it's December. To welcome the month of Christmas, here is one delicious dessert - chocolate vanilla marble cake. </span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tjve9O95Q-k/Uq85z8Q58lI/AAAAAAAAAjc/F1TPSVmhhJ4/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake+recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tjve9O95Q-k/Uq85z8Q58lI/AAAAAAAAAjc/F1TPSVmhhJ4/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake+recipe.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This recipe is originally the zebra cake from Home Cooking Adventure. Moist, absolutely delicious and easy to make, this cake is now our favorite. I tried so many times without any success to get the perfect zebra stripes in the batter. Finally I came to a conclusion that unless you have super quick hand reflexes for multi-tasking and the batter is runny, one can't make them. So the original zebra cake got a makeover (only in the name) from me and became marble cake. Don't worry about the amount of butter in the recipe, as it gives the cake a very moist texture. Substituting oil won't give that feel but for some consolation, it will be healthy. Take a look at the ingredients required and direction to prepare the cake.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tmw83o11qYo/Uq8_NLYkHrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/8Ua0efGn1T0/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake+batter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tmw83o11qYo/Uq8_NLYkHrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/8Ua0efGn1T0/s1600/Chocolate+vanilla+marble+cake+batter.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marbling the batter</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Chocolate vanilla marble cake</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recipe courtesy: <a href="http://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/zebra-cake" target="_blank">Home Cooking Adventure</a> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients Required:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>For the vanilla batter</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 cups flour</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">200 gram softened unsalted butter, at room temperature</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup granulated white sugar</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4 eggs</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 tsp baking powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup milk</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp salt</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>For the chocolate batter</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 tbsp cocoa powder</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 cup milk</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp sugar</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preheat the oven at 180°C (160 °C fan-forced).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a bowl, sift flour, salt and baking powder together and keep it aside for the vanilla batter.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a large bowl, add cocoa powder and sugar for the chocolate batter. Pour in the milk and mix till well-combined.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the vanilla batter, cream together butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and whisk till everything is combined together really well.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To this, add the sifted dry ingredients(flour, salt and baking powder) in batches, alternating with one cup milk. If the batter needs more liquid content, add 1-2 tbsp milk again. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remove two cups of vanilla batter and mix with the chocolate batter. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take the greased cake tin, and starting from the middle of the tin, add one tbsp vanilla batter. Pour in one tbsp chocolate batter on top of the vanilla batter. Now again add one tbsp vanilla batter on top of the chocolate batter. Alternate with chocolate and vanilla batter till everything has been added. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I followed this step, but created a marble effect (swirling with a knife) after that, as the batter was not perfectly aligned on top for the zebra effect.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gently tap the tin to remove air bubbles and then bake for 40-50 minutes till the cake is done. To check whether it is cooked, insert a skewer to the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean with a little crumbs, then it is done. Mine took 40 minutes.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes before slicing. Don't cut the cake in a hurry, else you will get crumbly pieces like this <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-loaf-cake.html" target="_blank">black grapes loaf cake</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-647225712442416662013-12-15T08:45:00.000-08:002013-12-16T05:48:07.043-08:00How not to grow tomatoes in the garden?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img alt="Tomatoes" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FxNLK3d3clI/Uq22D_rPOVI/AAAAAAAAAiA/SIq6W3h1Qj8/s1600/How+not+to+grow+tomatoes+in+the+garden.jpg" height="286" title="How-not-to-grow-tomatoes-in-the-garden" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Regret is a strong word to describe some of the feelings that wells up in mind. Sometimes, I just want to go back to the past and undo some of the things that have gone wrong, terribly wrong. If such a power is there, then surely the one thing I will do is to change the way we grew our tomatoes. The tomatoes in the terrace garden always delivered us very good harvest. But the manner in which we had planted and taken care of them was not at all upto the mark, and to make sense it was just plain ignorance from our part, boarding to be deplorable. So based on our experience, this post details how not to grow tomatoes in the garden.</span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jV39Np4G4EA/Uq2_-gZi0wI/AAAAAAAAAig/0UxePojoPHU/s1600/tomato+transplantation+and+pruning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jV39Np4G4EA/Uq2_-gZi0wI/AAAAAAAAAig/0UxePojoPHU/s1600/tomato+transplantation+and+pruning.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One plant per pot</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Transplanting / over-crowding:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tomatoes don't have much seed germination trouble. Once the seedlings attain true leaf stage, it is better to transplant them without any delay. Another major factor to be taken care is not to over-crowd the plants. We had done this mistake so many times in the past, especially to our <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/how-to-grow-amaranthus-cheera-at-home.html" target="_blank">amaranthus</a>, spinach and chilli. Whether they are saplings or seedlings, give them enough space so that they can have nutrients, water and sunlight without competing with others. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While transplanting tomatoes, ensure that the young ones are not going to get crowded in the containers and grow bags. It is always better to have one plant per container. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In our case, we transplanted some of them very early and some very late, and then over crowded (3-4 per medium sized pot) them during transplantation. Needless to say, that was not the best way to grow tomatoes.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qCtXszRRH8Q/Uq251gjRR8I/AAAAAAAAAiM/g_k7Si3Ixww/s1600/tomatoes+calcium+rot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Calcium-rot-blossom-end-rot" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qCtXszRRH8Q/Uq251gjRR8I/AAAAAAAAAiM/g_k7Si3Ixww/s1600/tomatoes+calcium+rot.jpg" height="300" title="How not to grow tomatoes in the garden" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calcium rot / blossom end rot</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Are you giving right nutrients for tomatoes?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like other fruit vegetables, this plant also need plenty of Nitrogen during the initial stages till flowering and then an abundance of Phosphorous and Potassium. Once the flower sets in, the quantity of Nitrogen should be reduced, else the plant will concentrate in </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">foliage. We failed to do that and continued feeding them with excess Nitrogen.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While growing tomatoes, another important element that shouldn't be forgotten is Calcium. If this is deficient in the soil, blossom end rot will happen and the fruits will look like the one given in the picture. This can be countered by adding more Calcium to the soil. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Micro-nutrients are also essential for the plant growth and photosynthesis. As we were concentrating only on giving Nitrogen to the plant, micro-nutrients(especially Magnesium) were forgotten and this caused chlorosis in our tomatoes.</span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6GBhjZt_Mg/Uq2_LRqMXJI/AAAAAAAAAiY/e5nFAI4vE9A/s1600/How+not+to+grow+tomato+plant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6GBhjZt_Mg/Uq2_LRqMXJI/AAAAAAAAAiY/e5nFAI4vE9A/s1600/How+not+to+grow+tomato+plant.jpg" height="320" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right: pruning Left: over-grown and crowded tomatoes without pruning and proper support</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Done pruning and staking?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pruning, or removing certain parts like small buds, suckers and stalks from plants, always ensures better growth. Tomatoes benefit from pruning and this helps the growth of healthy, strong varieties. This article gives a very nice insight on <a href="http://www.lifescript.com/life/timeout/at-home/the_benefits_of_pruning_tomato_plants.aspx" target="_blank">tomato pruning</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now staking or providing support is another major thing that shouldn't be forgotten while growing tomatoes. Our tomatoes were left to grow as creepers, as we didn't provide them with any support. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the above the picture(right side), you can see that the plants are over-grown without proper pruning and support.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Store bought or homemade bamboo cages and trellis are the best way to support vertical growth without causing damage to plants.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U89Q9-Ur7d4/Uq3DXWH6LmI/AAAAAAAAAis/MjrKkKDrirs/s1600/tomato+plant+flowering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U89Q9-Ur7d4/Uq3DXWH6LmI/AAAAAAAAAis/MjrKkKDrirs/s1600/tomato+plant+flowering.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tomato flowers and fruits</span></td></tr></tbody></table><b></b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Don't let the fruit set during the early stages of growth:</span></b></b></div><b></b><br /><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If the conditions are not favorable, tomato plants will start flowering early. At this point, many of us might welcome flowers with open hands as this is a sure sign of tomato fruits in the future. But, early flowering is not good and it is always best to pinch them off so that the plant can concentrate on the growth rather than fruit production. We forgot this rule and let them fruit very early, only to regret the decision later. That's why people say that healthy plants are the key to have gorgeous tomatoes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oNM9ZR4hodI/Uq3PLg1tM3I/AAAAAAAAAi8/eQ3rCILMIOw/s1600/tomatoes+in+the+garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oNM9ZR4hodI/Uq3PLg1tM3I/AAAAAAAAAi8/eQ3rCILMIOw/s1600/tomatoes+in+the+garden.jpg" height="400" width="337" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Other important points:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are some other important points to remember while growing tomatoes. Daily watering is a must, but while watering always refrain from spraying on the leaves. This causes mildew or fungal diseases to spread. Bright sunlight is also essential for the plants. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pests are another main factor that should be taken care of. Our tomatoes were affected by white flies and we used yellow sticky papers to ward them </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">off</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/controlling-mealybugs-ants-plants-neem-oil-spray.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Mealybugs</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> were also seen on the plants. This can be controlled by regular neem oil spray.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Companion plants are great help to distance pests and improve plant growth. Tomato grows well in the company of basil, marigold and <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/saving-dying-sage-plant.html" target="_blank">sage</a>. The plants need not be in the same pot, but they should be grown nearby.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are many other things that affect the growth of these plants. Wilting and yellowing of leaves, rot, viral attacks, stunt growth etc are some of the major cause of worry for tomato growers. So before sowing and planting, don't forget to do some research about the variety, growing methods, nutrient requirements and pest control. With proper care and knowledge, you can grow the best tomatoes :)</span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-77165927603685898942013-12-14T01:30:00.000-08:002013-12-14T09:22:42.728-08:00Double chocolate orange cookies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/cardamom-biscotti-gone-wrong.html" target="_blank">biscotti</a>, cookies are my favorite item to bake. They are no doubt very delicious, but the ease of making them is the factor that gives these buttery biscuits a thumbs up over <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-loaf-cake.html" target="_blank">cakes</a>. Unlike cakes, there is no need of endless and careful mixing, and the cookie dough can be easily customized with our favorite ingredients (that is true for cake batter also). </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dL83mexINug/UqwW2HfonkI/AAAAAAAAAhg/LvWvWOWS3u0/s1600/Double+chocolate+orange+cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Chocolate-orange-cookies-recipe" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dL83mexINug/UqwW2HfonkI/AAAAAAAAAhg/LvWvWOWS3u0/s1600/Double+chocolate+orange+cookies.jpg" height="400" title="Double-chocolate-orange-cookies" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Double chocolate orange cookies</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now take a look at the double chocolate orange cookies recipe. The main flavors, classic pairing of chocolate and orange can be altered according to preference, and whatever tweaks you make in the main recipe,in the end it will taste amazing. You can either decrease the double dose of chocolate, by omitting the grated chocolate (instead of that, nuts and raisins can be added) or by substituting coco powder with all purpose flour. If the tangy orange is not well-liked, then there is no need to include the zest. All purpose flour can be reduced by adding one part of almond or wheta flour to the dough. While working all these changes, don't forgot to increase or decrease the milk quantity accordingly, so that the cookie dough is pliable. </span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ln2W0o1r2KE/Uqwcnl7lCzI/AAAAAAAAAhw/d32f_nI7szk/s1600/Double+chocolate+orange+cookies+recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ln2W0o1r2KE/Uqwcnl7lCzI/AAAAAAAAAhw/d32f_nI7szk/s1600/Double+chocolate+orange+cookies+recipe.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cookies straight from the oven</span></td></tr></tbody></table><b></b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Double chocolate orange cookies recipe:</span></b></b></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required</b>:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3/4 cup all purpose flour</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 cup wheat flour</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">50 gram unsalted butter, softened and at room temperature</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup sugar (if using fine sugar, reduce the amount)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 egg</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp vanilla essence</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp baking powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pinch of salt (less than 1/4 tsp)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 cup coco powder</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">80 gram dark chocolate, finely grated or cut into small chunks</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp finely grated orange zest</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Milk to adjust the cookie dough</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Directions:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan-forced) for ten minutes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a large bowl, sift together all purpose flour, wheat flour, coco powder, baking powder and salt. Keep the dry ingredients aside. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cream together butter and sugar till fluffy and pale. Add egg and vanilla essence and whisk well till creamy.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Add the sifted dry ingredients to the above made wet ingredients. Stir in the grated chocolate /chocolate chunks and orange zest to the dough and gently combine everything together by adding a little milk, if necessary.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once the dough is done, cover with a cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To bake the cookies, take out the dough from refrigerator and make small equal sized balls from the dough. Flatten them and place on a parchment paper. Don't forget to leave uniform spacing between the discs. Bake for 8-12 minutes and don't over-bake. Mine was done in 10 minutes. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remove from the oven and let them cool completely, before storing in an air-tight container.</span></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-45961823920379552082013-12-13T10:36:00.000-08:002013-12-13T11:03:09.104-08:00Ants, aphids and a rescue act by ladybugs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Growing a garden without any pests will be like a dream, a dream in which everything is picture perfect. But, it is never so for the gardeners, and pests in different form and size will always be there creating multiple problems for plants and their growers. Probably the most feared and common among the pests are aphids, dreaded by gardeners all over the world. And they are not alone in the act, as the partner of crime ants are always with them to help out in troubling the plants. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bz2qzTGBTH0/UqtEo9q7_FI/AAAAAAAAAhA/sgFn6OwuulQ/s1600/Winged-black-aphids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ants-aphids-ladybugs-control" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bz2qzTGBTH0/UqtEo9q7_FI/AAAAAAAAAhA/sgFn6OwuulQ/s1600/Winged-black-aphids.jpg" height="400" title="Ants-aphids-and-a-rescue-act-from-ladybugs" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winged black aphids on basil</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Just like <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/controlling-mealybugs-ants-plants-neem-oil-spray.html" target="_blank">mealybugs</a>, they are extremely dependent on ants. Ants acts as a carrier of aphids and help to spread the infection from one plant to another. In return, they feed on the honeydew secreted by the pests. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the fairly simple relationship between ants and aphids are beneficial for both of them, it is extremely adverse for the plants. Once this pest invade a plant and adequate preventive measures are not taken, then that can be the end of the plant and its neighbors. They multiply rapidly and in no time the nearby plants will be swarmed by these tiny terrors. Aphids feed on the sap, thereby draining the energy of the plant to cause wilting, yellowing, stunted growth and in some cases even death.<br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aphids are also the main culprits in transmitting viruses from plant to plant. This type of spreading viral diseases is even more serious, and it is kind of impossible to regrow the plant or reuse the soil after it is affected. Our chilies and yard long beans were affected in this fashion and till this date we have tried numerous chilly and beans varieties (as both are quintessential in Indian cuisine) without any luck. The seeds germinates, attains the true leaf stage, and then refuse to grow (stunted growth), and in no time aphids will color the plants to black :(</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0g9GtSt65c/UqtNYo6rfyI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/opRl1LeZ2VE/s1600/Ladybug-garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Aphid-control-by-ladybug" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0g9GtSt65c/UqtNYo6rfyI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/opRl1LeZ2VE/s1600/Ladybug-garden.jpg" height="300" title="Ants-aphids-and-a-rescue-act-from-ladybugs" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladybug on okra plant in the garden</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Aphid control by ladybugs:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have mentioned it so many times in this blog. The whole credit of controlling the aphid population in our garden goes to our favorite guest - ladybugs. After most of our efforts (like spraying water and adding neem oil) to keep these pests bit dust, we were almost wishing ladybugs to soon visit the affected plants. We don't think that bugs are yet available in India for sale as biological pesticides (please correct me if I am wrong in this). So it was a very pleasant surprise that one day we found out a small yellow and black bug on our okra plant. Soon more came and to our delight, they started to eat up the aphid colonies. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But here one point should be noted. Aphids multiply very rapidly and favorable climatic conditions and the presence of ants add a boost to this. In this scenario, the number of ladybugs is very crucial as more the merrier. One or two won't be enough to keep a large population of pests in control. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also at that time we were using yellow sticky paper to prevent the white flies. Ladybugs were also attracted by the yellow color and caught by the sticky paper. We lost a few bugs due to this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If your garden also has aphid problem, pray to ladybugs for a visit and rescue act. They will do the job nicely, but meanwhile don't forget to properly sterilize the soil again if re-using. Try some tricks (baking soda, corn meal, cucumber slices, salt) to keep away the ants. Also keep faith in the handy organic neem oil spray with ginger, garlic and chilies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-57626182554605852382013-12-12T01:22:00.001-08:002013-12-12T01:26:10.300-08:00Black grapes loaf cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/12/black-grapes-pudding-recipe-Kerala-trip.html" target="_blank">short trip to Kerala</a> went very well and after coming back to Bangalore, I was in a serious dilemma. Troubling my senses were the black grapes that we bought from Dindigul. Agreed that they are very sweet and delicious, and you can just pop them into mouth to enjoy the fresh burst of flavors. But there is a limit to even the good things in life and one can't just go on eating them for ever. Soon, how to use up the excess grapes became an issue, and smoothies, sauces, wine, pudding (though it was a failure) and even pachadi (yet to make) recipes began to flash in my mind. But in the kitchen, I had a brain wave to add them in a cake. I decided to go ahead and try it, and hence born this black grapes loaf cake. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Sd0ZNGgMt4/UqlgpsVMw8I/AAAAAAAAAgg/8lSeZig5tgY/s1600/Black-grapes-loaf-cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="grapes-cake" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Sd0ZNGgMt4/UqlgpsVMw8I/AAAAAAAAAgg/8lSeZig5tgY/s1600/Black-grapes-loaf-cake.jpg" height="400" title="Black-grapes-loaf-cake" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Black grapes loaf cake</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The grapes are first cooked a little to soften them. This step can be avoided and you can add them as such without cooking first. Using the seedless variety will be the best thing, as I had to remove all the seeds first before adding them to the batter. The sweetness was perfect for us, but can be adjusted according to taste. The baking time varies according to oven, cake-tin size and the liquid content in the batter. So keep a tab on it after the top starts to turn golden color(after 25 minutes). Before slicing the cake, let it cool down completely, else you will get crumbled up uneven slices as seen in the above picture :)</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_0nNf6Q_YA/UqltEy9Hi1I/AAAAAAAAAgw/WMorsjMkfKA/s1600/Black-grapes-loaf-cake-recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="grapes-cake" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_0nNf6Q_YA/UqltEy9Hi1I/AAAAAAAAAgw/WMorsjMkfKA/s1600/Black-grapes-loaf-cake-recipe.jpg" height="400" title="Black-grapes-loaf-cake" width="300" /></a></div><b>Black grapes loaf cake recipe:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></div></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To cook:</b><br />1 cup pitted black grapes<br />3 tbsp sugar (add according to the sweetness of grapes)<br />1 tbsp water<br /><br />1 1/4 cup all purpose flour<br />50 gram softened unsalted butter<br />1/3 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar (again depends on the sweetness. I added only 1/3 cup)<br />1 egg<br />1 tsp vanilla essence<br />1 tsp baking powder<br />1/4 tsp baking soda<br />A pinch of salt<br />1/3 cup left-over water from the cooked grapes<br />1/3 cup milk (reduce the amount if the batter is too watery and add more milk if the left-over grapes water is less than 1/3 cup)<br /><br /><b>Directions:</b><br />Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan-forced) for 10-15 minutes.<br />Add grapes, sugar and water to a sauce pan and cook on a low heat for around five minutes till the grapes are softened. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool down completely. Sieve the contents and retain the cooked grapes. Set aside the leftover water.<br />Cream butter and sugar together, till pale. Add egg and vanilla essence to the mixture and whisk until creamy.<br />Sieve together all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda to another bowl. Stir this mixture to the above made butter-sugar-eggs mixture in two batches. Add salt. Pour in the leftover water from cooked grapes and gently mix by adding little-by-little milk(without knocking the air off) so that everything is combined together. <br />Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake till the cake is golden on top and done. To check whether it is cooked, insert a skewer in the middle and if the skewer comes out clean with crumbs attached to the ends, it is done. This will be done in 30-40(maximum) minutes. Mine was baked in 35 minutes. The cake was moist, yet cooked well in the middle with crumbly top. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before slicing.<br /><br /></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-64585159183465438952013-12-11T00:18:00.000-08:002015-05-25T07:59:24.025-07:00Controlling mealybugs and ants using neem-oil spray on plants <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gardening is not a path full of roses. There are many obstacles in different forms, which can spell trouble for gardeners. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Probably, the most important worry is effectively tackling the pest outbreaks in plants. A single pest is enough to drown the garden dreams into a sea of sorrow, as it can multiply in no time to produce a number of colonies, thereby causing infestation. Even a slight delay in eradicating them can really harm the plants. Innocent looking mealy-bugs, in the company of ants, top the list of garden pests. This post is all about the mealybug attack on our plants and how we controlled them using neem-oil spray.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDct9Yv6h20/UqgEIFicvEI/AAAAAAAAAfA/fSAUOoVAmmo/s1600/Mealybugs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mealybugs-on-plants-control" border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDct9Yv6h20/UqgEIFicvEI/AAAAAAAAAfA/fSAUOoVAmmo/s1600/Mealybugs.jpg" title="Controlling-mealybugs-on-plants-using-neem-oil" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mealybugs on chilly plant</td></tr></tbody></table><b>What are mealy bugs and how they affect plants:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See the picture on top? Mealybug is that white colored pest sitting on the chilly plant. They thrive on by sucking the plant sap in humid, moist conditions. This in turn weakens the plants, thereby causing dropping off leaves, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">serious wilting </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and finally death. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Check out this post about our <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/saving-dying-sage-plant.html" target="_blank">dying sage plant</a> for more details on mealybug attack.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can normally find their colonies on the stalks, where the leaf and stem joints, and on the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> leaves</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. They multiply very rapidly and if proper preventive</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> measures</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are not taken immediately, the entire garden will come under the attack of these troublemakers. </span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzijsN31irk/UqgJf5JlW_I/AAAAAAAAAfQ/OdpwRNchhx4/s1600/Ants-mealybugs-on-okra-plant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ants-mealybugs" border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzijsN31irk/UqgJf5JlW_I/AAAAAAAAAfQ/OdpwRNchhx4/s1600/Ants-mealybugs-on-okra-plant.jpg" title="Controlling-mealybugs-ants-using-neem-oil-spray-plants" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ants and mealybugs on okra plant</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Association with ants:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like aphids, mealybugs and ants have a symbiotic relationship, beneficial to both parties. Ants help them by acting as a carrier of mealybugs and their eggs from plant to plant, thereby spreading the infection. In return, ants feed on the honeydew secreted by mealybugs. This is the main reason why in order to control the grisly white pests, you have to first rein the colony of ants.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vGyN5bMNN-I/UqgOJBZY36I/AAAAAAAAAfc/OYNUaCns7kE/s1600/Ants-on-okra-flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vGyN5bMNN-I/UqgOJBZY36I/AAAAAAAAAfc/OYNUaCns7kE/s1600/Ants-on-okra-flower.jpg" title="Controlling-mealybugs-ants" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ants on okra flower</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Plants affected:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In our garden, we have a fairly high ant population wrecking havoc on plants. They first brought aphid infection, which tanked our yard long beans and chilies forever. The mealy bugs were even more terrible and many plants were severely affected by them. We struggled to contain the infection on sage, tomatoes, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-our-own-curry-leaf-plant.html" target="_blank">curry leaf plant</a>, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/how-to-grow-amaranthus-cheera-at-home.html" target="_blank">amaranthus</a>, chilly, okra and <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/10/struggle-for-the-perfect-garden-blog-name.html" target="_blank">basil</a>. </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XN_GX1abnlE/UqgT9PUhAbI/AAAAAAAAAfs/bt1FNL4XqVs/s1600/Ladybug-on-basil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XN_GX1abnlE/UqgT9PUhAbI/AAAAAAAAAfs/bt1FNL4XqVs/s1600/Ladybug-on-basil.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladybug on basil</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Preventive measures:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At first when the infection was spotted in amaranthus, we tried the water spray method (dislodging them by spraying water in full force). But the pests were not deterred and they came back to attack nearby plants.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another method to prevent them is by wiping out the colonies with alcohol solution. We didn't try this method out, but this might do the trick. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I mentioned before, our plants were affected by aphids. A few weeks after they showed up, a welcome visitor came to the garden - ladybug. The tiny bugs soon started to feed on aphids and gradually the pests were under control. We have seen them eating up the aphid population, and we do have a slight feeling that they really played some important part in controlling the mealy bugs as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These preventive measures will be ineffective if ants, which are responsible for spreading the infection, still loom large in the gardens. Wiping out their colony from the yard is entirely out of question as they are in some way beneficial to the plants, especially in pollination. But to rein in further outbreak of mealybugs, ants should be brought under control. Try the baking soda or corn flour trick, but we never had any luck with either of these tips. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Neem-oil spray:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of all these tips, what worked for us was neem-oil spray. After spraying the mixture on pests, the results are immediately visible. They started to wilt and shrink and then die down. Use this spray in alternate days for at least two weeks to get better results. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How to prepare neem-oil spray:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4-5 drops of herbal neem-oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 liter water</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 drops of dishwasher liquid (don't emit it as this acts as an emulsifier)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8-10 garlic cloves </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 small sized ginger, cleaned and peeled</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Directions:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Grind ginger and garlic to make a fine paste. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mix the paste with water and sieve it well so that the coarse particles are left out. Retain the water.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To a spray can, add neem-oil and dishwasher liquid. Add the ginger-garlic water to the can and mix well so that everything is combined nicely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Spray on the affected parts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Important:</b> Ginger and garlic is in very high concentration, so omit these when spraying on young plants. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-62654804913718102212013-12-08T23:22:00.000-08:002013-12-10T03:29:17.700-08:00Kerala style mushroom thoran<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala" target="_blank">Kerala</a> style of cooking? Now, you may wonder what is so special about the cuisine of this coastal region. Also known as God's own country, the tiny South Indian state is famous for beautiful backwaters, lush paddy fields and coconut grooves. So naturally the cuisine features lots and lots of rice, fresh seafood, locally available vegetables and an abundance of grated coconut and coconut oil. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While we are on the subject of Kerala food, there is another thought that comes to mind - wild mushrooms(koon) and monsoons. With the onset of thunderous rains, edible fungi start to sprout up everywhere, and Keralites often make delicious mushroom thoran with them.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DSWRwKiQpjQ/UqVZ4sS5PwI/AAAAAAAAAeg/kQ7zAkBwspw/s1600/Kerala-mushroom-thoran-recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Mushroom-koon-thoran" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DSWRwKiQpjQ/UqVZ4sS5PwI/AAAAAAAAAeg/kQ7zAkBwspw/s1600/Kerala-mushroom-thoran-recipe.jpg" height="400" title="Kerala-style-mushroom-thoran-recipe" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kerala style mushroom thoran</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Traditionally 'thoran' is a kind of dry, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, preparation cooked in a mixture of grated coconut, shallots, green chilies, turmeric and cumin. This is then tempered in coconut oil with mustard, fresh <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-our-own-curry-leaf-plant.html" target="_blank">curry leaves</a> and dried red chilies. Kanthari mulagu, a small and super hot Kerala chilly variety, is often used instead of the regular green chilies. It has more nutrient value and is very spicy. </span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AqAlR0a2V4Y/UqVnxmr8S9I/AAAAAAAAAew/I65lGoJqpt8/s1600/Kanthari-mulagu-Kerala-chilies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AqAlR0a2V4Y/UqVnxmr8S9I/AAAAAAAAAew/I65lGoJqpt8/s1600/Kanthari-mulagu-Kerala-chilies.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kanthari mulagu / Kerala chilies</td></tr></tbody></table></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I am living in Bangalore, picking wild mushrooms during monsoon remains a distant dream. So in this recipe I used the regular button mushrooms. Coconut oil can be substituted with vegetable oil. The amount of coconut and chilies can also be adjusted according to taste. Here is the recipe.</span></span><br /><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Kerala style mushroom thoran:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ingredients required:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">300 gram button mushrooms (one packet)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp turmeric</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/4 tsp salt</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11/2 cup lukewarm water</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To temper:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp of coconut oil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 tsp mustard seeds</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 dried red chilies, cut into two pieces</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 spring of fresh curry leaves</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To coarsely grind:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1/2 cup freshly grated coconut</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 medium red onion, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sliced</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or 5-6 shallots</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4-5 kanthari mulagu / 2 green chilies</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Salt to taste</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Directions:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thoroughly clean the mushrooms. All the dirty or damaged portions should be taken out. Slice them into small, equal portions.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a bowl pour lukewarm water, turmeric and salt. Add the sliced mushrooms into this water and leave them for around 10-15 minutes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Drain the water and squeeze the excess water out of the slices. Keep them aside. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next step is tempering. To a pan, pour coconut oil and once it is hot enough, add mustard. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, stir in the dried chilies and curry leaves immediately.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now lower the flame and blend in the coarsely ground coconut mixture. Stir continuously and cook for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell leaves.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Add the mushrooms and stir a few times so that they are well-combined with the coconut mixture. Cover and cook on medium flame for a few minutes. Don't over cook them. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Adjust salt if needed (remember, it was added earlier)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kerala style mushroom thoran is ready in less than 10 minutes :)</span></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-17881035803067027972013-12-07T22:46:00.000-08:002013-12-12T08:23:42.263-08:00What went wrong with the broccoli plants?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A member of the Brassica (cabbage) family, nutrient rich broccoli is well-known for its health benefits. So when we saw the broccoli seeds at Garden Guru Bangalore, there was no hesitation in buying it. At this point we were not having any clue regarding the growth patterns and nutrient requirements of this vegetable. Anyways, a few seeds went inside the comfort of moistened tissue papers for germination and after four days, six of them gently pepped into the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_6M3TIAOsg/UqQTm3PT56I/AAAAAAAAAd4/gSjKP0vbvjY/s1600/Healthy-broccoli-plant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Broccoli" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_6M3TIAOsg/UqQTm3PT56I/AAAAAAAAAd4/gSjKP0vbvjY/s1600/Healthy-broccoli-plant.JPG" height="300" title="What-went-wrong-with-broccoli-plant" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broccoli</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Transplantation and first mistake:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the tissue papers, the seedlings were transplanted into small cups filled with moist coco peat (we didn’t supply any nutrients at this point). Once true leaves started to emerge, these were again transplanted to growing bags filled with red soil, compost and coco peat in equal proportions. In the meantime, we lost one of the six plants. </span></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now the first mistake, over crowding the seedlings – each bag was swarmed with two rapidly growing broccoli plants. It was at the same period when we hesitated from thinning out <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/how-to-grow-amaranthus-cheera-at-home.html" target="_blank">amaranthus</a> and spinach, and lost most of them. So this was a valuable lesson for us. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Nutrients:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Broccoli loves to eat. Supply the plants with lots and lots of Nitrogen, compost and water. Nitrogen promotes the growth of leaves and stem. Once the flower heads start appearing, go easy on Nitrogen as this will cause more foliage instead of flowers. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bright sunlight is another factor that helps this plant. But in Indian condition, growing broccoli in summer, especially on terrace, can be a problem as it will easily bolt. Keeping them on partial shade will be helpful.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Daily watering is a must, but refrain from watering on leaves. This can cause an outbreak of fungal diseases. Over-watering can also cause root decay.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WkiKwsKjhnw/UqQT4d_rSzI/AAAAAAAAAeA/rkxaeqq81eg/s1600/Broccoli-flower-heads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WkiKwsKjhnw/UqQT4d_rSzI/AAAAAAAAAeA/rkxaeqq81eg/s1600/Broccoli-flower-heads.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broccoli flower heads</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What went wrong?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So they were growing well under partial shade (at that time, it was nearing summer in Bangalore). But somewhere something went wrong and plants began to show signs of distress. There were a couple of mistakes from our side, which marked the death knell for broccoli.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Most of our plants were under automated drip irrigation system. The nutrients were dissolved in water and supplied to them through pipes. Plants which require direct light were kept under this system. As summer was nearing, we placed broccoli plants under partial shade, away from drip irrigation and supplied the nutrients and water manually. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The problems began when we had to go to Kerala for an urgent visit. There was no one to take care of the plants which were not under the drip system and most of them started to drop off. I know even writing about this is a callous thing. Not providing food for plants is like knowingly killing them. We were gone for more than a week and by that time, broccoli went into stress. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The revival started once we were back, but the progress was really slow. The plants which were growing rapidly were now on the decline and the growth was almost stunted. We didn’t cut the plants off, thinking that like our <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/saving-dying-sage-plant.html" target="_blank">sage plant saving</a> them won’t be an issue. Looking back, I think removing them would’ve been the sensible thing to do. But instead we kept the plants (remember by that time it was over three months and broccoli is harvested in three months). </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-moyGqqhCNt8/UqQUCcqc_zI/AAAAAAAAAeI/o2eRaaMcu7g/s1600/broccoli-diseases.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-moyGqqhCNt8/UqQUCcqc_zI/AAAAAAAAAeI/o2eRaaMcu7g/s1600/broccoli-diseases.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broccoli diseases</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple of months later, flower heads started to appear. To this day, we are not sure whether they were true flower heads or signs of bolting. The downhill of broccoli was very evident after that. Pests, leaves losing green color and turning purple, flower head rot – problems were plenty. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The plants were kept in the company of other Brassica family, Chinese cabbage and <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-bok-choy-Chinese-cabbage-in-garden.html" target="_blank">bok choy</a>. This might have been one of the reasons for the pest attacks. We are still not able to decipher the cause of flower rot. This might be due to bacterial infection. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After witnessing the spectacular growth of broccoli for over two months, it was heart wrenching to see the plants struggle to keep alive. At this point we decided to put an end to their journey – to cut them off. Almost six months after they were sown, broccoli plants were removed from our garden. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Still, it is not easy to find out what went wrong with broccoli. There were tons of mistakes from our part. But there are some aspects we still don’t understand. There were no signs of leaf eating insects, yet the leaves were bitten off. Even though it rained, mildew or fungal attack didn’t happen. But some part of the flower heads appeared to be rotting. Unlike tomatoes and peas, ants were conspicuously absent from broccoli and as a result there were no aphids and mealy bugs. But still a cluster of tiny black bugs were present in the leaves.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyways, next time before we plant broccoli, we need to find answers to these puzzles.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Things to remember while growing broccoli:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Planting them in the right season.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Avoid overcrowding.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Providing Nitrogen rich nutrients.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Daily watering, but avoid spraying on leaves as it will cause mildew.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bright sunlight, but not too much to cause bolting.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keep them away from other Brassica family to prevent rapid spread of diseases.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Try to plant nearby companion plants.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Check out the underside of leaves for insects and worms.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remove the affected plant parts without delay.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Use neem oil spray to prevent pest outbreaks. </span></li></ul></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559746792162014747.post-74478399863250006562013-12-06T04:45:00.000-08:002013-12-06T07:50:05.886-08:00A short trip to Kerala and a black grapes pudding recipe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are two types of people - those who love to travel and those who don't. N is in the first category and I belong to the latter. For me long distance journeys are always exhausting and often I try to stay clear from them. But then travelling in the company of N is an entirely different matter. His jokes, even though he repeats them umpteen times, and gossip snippets</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lifts the gloominess and tiredness from my trips. </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sYEFzvLd9nM/UqGqaH9va2I/AAAAAAAAAcE/0It5hNWa37M/s1600/flower-rangoli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sYEFzvLd9nM/UqGqaH9va2I/AAAAAAAAAcE/0It5hNWa37M/s1600/flower-rangoli.jpg" height="400" title="A-short-trip-to-Kerala" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flower-rangoli</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last weekend we went to Trivandrum, Kerala for attending the marriage ceremony of N's cousin. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After starting from Bangalore in the early morning hours, it took us almost twelve hours to reach Trivandrum by car. The beautiful scenery on either side of the highways, covering three South Indian states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, makes the trip a memorable experience. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MKmA8sSJsZ4/UqGwbD50xoI/AAAAAAAAAcU/H3m0JdFubb8/s1600/Kerala-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MKmA8sSJsZ4/UqGwbD50xoI/AAAAAAAAAcU/H3m0JdFubb8/s1600/Kerala-flowers.jpg" height="400" width="318" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Here are some pictures from our Kerala trip. The first three pictures are from the marriage venue.</span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEqeepTkLXM/UqG1NSUB33I/AAAAAAAAAcs/NMTv_oVhQZQ/s1600/thetti-ixora-flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEqeepTkLXM/UqG1NSUB33I/AAAAAAAAAcs/NMTv_oVhQZQ/s1600/thetti-ixora-flower.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thetti</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though both of us are from Kerala, we go there only twice in a year. But when we visit there, it is always a celebration of food and fun. This time the fun was slightly marred, as most of the time N was busy finishing office work. We didn't even get enough time to visit most of our relatives. So while N was struggling with algorithms and logic, I went out to the garden and took some photos.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bFDwVat56PQ/UqGyeYen8AI/AAAAAAAAAcg/aTCdwBbx9sY/s1600/Flowers-Kerala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bFDwVat56PQ/UqGyeYen8AI/AAAAAAAAAcg/aTCdwBbx9sY/s1600/Flowers-Kerala.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flowers</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">N's father is an avid gardener and he grows almost everything from chilies, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-our-own-curry-leaf-plant.html" target="_blank">curry leaves</a>, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/how-to-grow-amaranthus-cheera-at-home.html" target="_blank">amaranthus</a>, eggplants, okras, bananas, star fruits, <a href="http://apinchofbasil.blogspot.in/2013/11/growing-bottle-gourd-lauki-at-home.html" target="_blank">gourds</a> to even avocados. When we visited he was trying to make some changes in the front yard by adding more vegetables. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take a look at his vegetable garden.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1_KiT4BzUw/UqG-WL7p-QI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/cVejgARyODo/s1600/Vegetable+gardening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1_KiT4BzUw/UqG-WL7p-QI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/cVejgARyODo/s1600/Vegetable+gardening.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vegetables</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the way back to Bangalore, we bought a box of fresh black grapes from Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. They were really sweet without even a hint of sourness. I had noted down a recipe with grapes from 'Vanitha' magazine and wanted to make it for a long time. So this time I had the perfect opportunity to make the dessert with farm fresh grapes.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNFX6OjZsh4/UqG_HpxTDfI/AAAAAAAAAdc/NvlIq7Ocp2w/s1600/Black-grapes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNFX6OjZsh4/UqG_HpxTDfI/AAAAAAAAAdc/NvlIq7Ocp2w/s1600/Black-grapes.jpg" height="400" width="341" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Black grapes</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The recipe called for agar agar and I had never used it in puddings (my savior was always gelatine). Gathering courage, I went ahead and added it, and the pudding set almost instantaneously. But I guess the agar-agar-water proportion was not right, as it was slightly wobbly. Also, the texture looks like the cream has curdled. This one tasted good, but not great. So there is a definite chance of improvisation in the recipe.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jsp6z_U4hYM/UqHBmtojKZI/AAAAAAAAAdo/IZFz_aUI0_w/s1600/Black-grapes-pudding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Black-grapes-pudding-recipe" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jsp6z_U4hYM/UqHBmtojKZI/AAAAAAAAAdo/IZFz_aUI0_w/s1600/Black-grapes-pudding.jpg" height="400" title="Black-grapes-pudding-recipe" width="340" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Black grapes pudding</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I will be making two changes to the recipe - adding more agar agar and then boiling the cream without splitting. Hope it will be fantastic next time :)</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1