Happy Birthday to Suvidha’s Kitchen.

It’s been a year today since the first post on this blog and today writing the 34^th post gives me the immense pleasure. I was thinking of starting a blog for some time but was not getting motivated with its idea, then my niece started her blog “Smita’s Desk” which somehow inspired me to start this and from then onwards it has gathered 30 followers, 76 comments and few awards till date.

Before Marriage I used to avoid cooking and in these 5 years I have started enjoying cooking and all the credit goes to my husband  who has always supported me in this and every venture and praised even my worst cooking.  

Many Thanks to all my followers who have been there on the blog and have supported it even when I couldn’t write a post for 3-4 months in 2010 year end due to excessive travelling and out of net connections. I would also like to thank all the people who visited my blog and left a constructive comment on all my posts. It was really encouraging to see people coming in and leaving their valued feedback.

I have been away from the blog for some time in between and couldn’t write posts. I wished that my first blog birthday post to be the 50^th post but somehow couldn’t manage to do it but today i promise to compensate that in the coming year and hope to celebrate the second birthday with the 100^th post.

On this first birthday, I would like to introduce something new in this blog. As this is a recipe blog, I am adding some different ways of decorating salad plates. I am going to attach some snaps of my salad plates which are very easy to make and doesn’t need any explanation on how to make it, but will give various ways on presenting the salad.

Many friends contact me personally and appreciate the blog but the right way to appreciate a blogger is to leave a comment or even better to become a follower if you really like it. I would request all my visitors to leave me a comment on the posts they like much or less.

I would like to especially thank people for commenting one of my post “Tomato Penne Pasta” which alone gathered 26 comments and inspired me to do my best.

Thank you again to all the regular readers of Suvidha’s Kitchen and lookout for my next post which will start a new feature “Salad Decoration” adding a feather to its cap.  

Recipe Coming Soon....

Gobhi Manchurian is an Indo Chinese Appetizer and is always loved as a starter and goes well with any type of drink whether hot or cold. It is very simple and easy to cook recipe and takes very little time. In this recipe we have made its gravy which is a very thick one, only used to coat the cauliflower pieces. Then deep fry the cauliflower pieces coated with a batter. It’s a perfect blend of Indian and Chinese cuisine to give that extra effect to the recipe. You can substitute the cauliflower with small idli and make Idli Manchurian or any other substitute.

INGREDIENTS

For Cauliflower Batter

1 small Cauliflower                                         ½ Cup Water
3-4 Tbsp Maida / All Purpose Flour                 Salt to taste

Oil for Deep Frying                                          ½ Tsp Garam Masala

2 Tbsp Corn Flour

For Gravy

2 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup                                 2 Tbsp Vinegar

1 Tbsp Chilly Sauce                                        1 Tbsp Soya Sauce

1 Small Onion                                                 1 Tbsp Oil

1 Pc Green Chilly                                            3-4 Tbsp Water

2 Tbsp Corn Flour                                           Salt to taste (if needed)

PREPARATION

*) Cut the cauliflower into pieces.

*) Finely chop the onion and green chilly.

*) Mix Corn Flour with Water and put it aside. (For gravy)  

METHOD

Cauliflower

In a large pan, add all purpose flour (maida), corn flour, salt, garam masala and mix well.  Add water slowly according to your needs with regard to consistency. It should be thick. Make sure there are no lumps. Coat the cauliflower pieces in this batter.  Deep fry them until golden brown.

Gravy

Switch on the flame, add oil. Let it heat and then add green chilly and onion. Fry it a little so that it becomes little soft. Remove the pan from heat and add tomato ketchup and chilly sauce. Mix it well and put the pan on heat. Add Vinegar and soya sauce. Mix well. Add pre mixed corn flour with water. Add salt if needed as the pieces also contains salt. Add coated deep fried cauliflower to this mixture and mix well. Dish is ready to be served.

PS: I am sending this recipe as part of Akila's "Dish Name Starts with G" Event.

Bottle Gourd commonly known as Lauki or Dhoodhi or even Ghiya is one of the most common vegetable which we get everywhere in India and even abroad. Though many people don’t like the taste of it but this vegetable is very common in Indian homes and is eaten as one of the regular traditional type of vegetable. This is a different version of the vegetable especially for those who don’t like to eat the simple plain bottle gourd curry. This is its modern kofta version in which we make koftas from bottle gourd and make separate gravy and eat it together as a feast. You normally don’t like to serve bottle gourd when you are hosting a party or serving some guests but definitely you can serve its kofta’s version. Bottle Gourd is also one of the most nutritional vegetable available in the market and is used for many purposes for example : It’s very efficient in weight loss. People drink its juice on a daily basis as it helps them reduce all those extra calories. (Though I haven’t tried it, but seen many people drinking its juice for weight loss).    

INGREDIENTS

KOFTA

500 gms Lauki / Bottle Gourd                2 tsp Besan / Gram Flour
2-3 Green Chilly                                     1 pc. Ginger (grated)
Salt to taste                                           1 tsp Red Chilly Powder
Coriander leaves


GRAVY

2 medium sized Onions                          2 medium sized Tomatoes
1 Green Chilly                                         1 tsp Ginger (grated)
1 tsp Cumin Seeds                                 Salt to taste
1 tsp Red Chilly Powder                         ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder                         1 tsp Garam Masala
2 sticks Dalchini / Cinnamon                   2 pc. Bay leaves / Tej patta
1 Big Cardomon / Badi Elaichi                 3-4 Cloves
2-3 tsp Oil                                              2 pc. Peppercorns / kali mirch
2 pc. White Pepper                                1 pinch Asafoetida
Coriander Leaves for Garnishing


Preparation

·          Make a puree of Onion and Tomatoes together.

·          Grate the lauki. Add ½ tsp Salt and keep aside for 5 minutes. Then squeeze the water from it and keep that water aside.  

·          Take Dalchini, Big Cardamom, Cloves, Peppercorns, White Pepper. Crush all of these to make a fine powder.

METHOD


KOFTA

In a big bowl, add grated and properly squeezed bottle gourd. Add grated ginger, chopped green chilly, chopped coriander leaves, salt and red chilly powder. Mix all the ingredients well. We want to make koftas so the consistency should be sticky. Add besan to it so as to hold all the ingredients together. There should not be any water in this otherwise koftas will fall apart while frying. Add besan according to requirement. You can make any shape, size should not be very big. Deep fry all the koftas low flame till golden brown. Low flame is required otherwise it will not properly fry from inside. 

GRAVY

         Switch on the flame. In a pan, add 3-4 tsp Oil. Add Asafoetida and cumin seeds when oil starts heating. When cumin seeds start to splutter add crushed powder (made above). Stir them and add grated ginger. Let it heat for 2 minutes and add onion and tomato paste to it. Mix them evenly and cover the pan and sim the gas. Keep on stirring in between. Let it leave the oil. Then add salt, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, tej patta, coriander powder and mix well. Add the extracted water from bottle gourd (this is nutritious and has the flavor) and mix it well. Let it boil and then add ½ glass water to the gravy (you can put less water depending on the consistency u want). Give the gravy 2-3 boil and then cover the pan and let it cook on low flame. Keep stirring at intervals and make sure the the gravy is even and well blended. Sprinkle Garam Masala and let it cook. Add koftas to the gravy 5-10 minutes before serving and garnish with coriander leaves.

Tip :
*) You can apply oil to your palm before making balls to avoid koftas sticking on your hands.

*) Mix Kofta and Gravy before serving only otherwise Koftas might dry up the gravy.