Happy B’day bloggie ..

Three years back, somewhere around Pune a couple discussing..

She: I’ve been addicted to this food blogs, appetizing snaps, lovely write ups and innovative recipes..

He:  You do enough of these kitchen experiments .. you should also bore people with your kitchen trials..

Few more days later..

She: Today @ work, I was about to start my food blog …

He:  why dint you then ? I was serious then .. instead of just ogling around you can have your own space for others to ogle ..

She: really ?? what can I name it …

He: Oh..cmmon anything like personal tadka or kitchen experiments ..

This day three years back ..

She : yay !! now I’ve my own space .. as personal tadka …

He: you really named it personal tadka ..

She: yeah .. and name is kitchen gossip, experiment was a very common word..i preferred gossip over experiments ..

He:

And so this space was born..

Happy Birthday Kitchen Gossip aka Personal tadka …

Three years.. you must be really good else I can’t commit to anything this long … thank you

How to make Ghee at Home

I consider myself a non-homely type of girl, in a very orthodox way. I’m the one who has always gone on the other end of traditional way in life.

So I never followed any cooking traditions of preparing Atta at home or preparing homemade spices. But then somewhere down the line, I tried couple of homemade stuffs and to my amusement these were much simpler than buying the expensive counterpart from a mall.

From last year I started preparing curd at home (gist mentioned in this post) and now Ghee- Tup at home. And Seriously it is much simpler than it seems. You Need full fat milk which can give you thick Malai.

There are two ways of preparing Sajuk Tupp or Desi Ghee:

• Mom’s Way :

1. Start storing thick Malai in a big bowl. Refrigerate this.
2. Mix say about 2-3 tbsp. of curd to this. Mix thoroughly.
3. As you add Malai next day, mix with the earlier mixture. And try keeping it at room temperature for about 2-3 hours daily(minimum). (overnight would do, if you belong to colder climate)
4. After say 7-8 days, when you have enough mix, keep this at room temperature. Then Whisk this adding very little water to make – “LONI” – which is nothing but our unsalted butter.
5. This Loni will form a thick layer and raise above the “Taak” , which is nothing but our buttermilk.
6. Heat this Loni in a Kadai for about 10-15 mins, till a layer of “Tupp” – butter raises above some sediments of thick curd-ly substance. (mom used to give this curd-ly substance with sugar, used to love when kid; now need to keep a check on the weight  )
7. Filter out the Tupp and store to use daily in Dal and over chapattis.

• MIL’s Way :

1. Start storing thick Malai in a big bowl. Refrigerate this.
2. Keep on adding Malai until its enough to make some ghee.
3. Heat this stored Malai in a kadai, till a layer of ghee– butter raises above some sediments of thick curd-ly substance. Here this sediment will be on higher quantity than the earlier version, even the taste will be a bit sour.
4. Done, filter the ghee and store to use for some sweets or daily parathas.

Two ways – same output. Second one easier, no rocket science required. But first one gives Loni and Taak as supplements. Unsalted butter can be used in cakes or as a side-dish for thalipeeth.

Happy Cooking and Posting about it.

Beet Soup : Jet Red Soup

Pune climate changes in a day, as the showers are in, it becomes very pleasant and quite cool. So off goes the Cool summer drinks and are immediately replaced with hot soups.

I have planned to prepare soups regularly this year, just to add up some flavour to our regular dinner. And I started off with a very healthy beetroot soup.

Normally beet is not a favourite veggie, but I love its colour and hence use it in number of recipes. But the soup was something which required just the veggie except anything else. I was a bit apprehensive, but the outcome was quite delicious hence I clicked some last minute snaps and here it goes.

You Do:

1. Boil- Pressure Cook the beet.
2. Once cooled, peel the thick skin.
3. Then blend it through a blender or mixer.
4. Boil this blended juice with some water, add to make the thickness in accordance with your taste.
5. Add salt, black pepper and sugar as per taste.
6. Heat a tadka pan, heat ghee, add cumin seeds. Once they splutter add this tadka over the beet juice.
7. Mix and boil for couple of mins.

Serve hot.

Happy Cooking and Posting about it

Bhajji : Pakodas : Indian Fritters

Monsoon is here and so are the Rainy special treats. As soon as the first rains washed the place, you get to see FB updates with bhajji-pakodas-fritters and a hot cup of tea.

It has become a tradition in our three plus year old household, first rains come in and The Foodie makes his favourite fritters. He prefers the potato ones but I do like the Onion ones too. So this mix bag of fritters make our rainy day

You Need :

• Onion : 1 Medium : chopped in thin strips
• Potato : 1 medium : finely made into circular slices
• Gram flour (Besan) : 5-6 tbsp.
• Oil : 1 tbsp.
• Fennel Seeds : 2-3 tsp.
• Cumin Seeds :  1-2 tsp.
• Coriander Leaves : finely chopped : fistful
• Green chillies : finely chopped : 2-3 medium
• Red chilli powder : ½ tsp.
• Turmeric powder : ½ tsp.
• Salt to taste
• Water to make thick paste : about 4-5 tbsp.
• Oil to deep fry

You Do:

1. Mix everything in blue to make a thick paste.
2. Heat oil for deep frying, in a Kadai.
3. For Potatoes : take 3-4 slices at a time, cover with the besan paste and immediately slide in the oil. Use spoon, its easy and safe ;)                                                                                                                                                                      
4. For Onion : mix all the thin slices with the paste. Take a spoonful each time and slide through the oil. Traditionally this is done with hands but I find it very risky to take your hands so close to heated oil, so prefer a spoon.                                                                                                                                                            
5. Fry the fritter till golden from each side.
6. Remove over to a tissue to soak out all the extra oil.

                     

Done ! Server with a ketchup or green chutney.

Grated Sweet Potato | Ratalyacha Kees

There was a time when I used to Fast once a month, when I had all my favourite fasting foods like Sabudana Khichdi , Kheer or Vadas. I quit fasting and so also preparing these dishes decreased.

Last week when I brought Sweet Potato, I decided it to prepare it similar to these fasting foods. And seriously you won’t be disappointed with the outcome. The dish is very similar to Khichdi. Instead of Sabudana-Sago use the Grated Sweet Potato.

You Need:

• Sweet Potato (Ratala in Marathi): De-skinned and Grated about 1 cup
• Peanut coarse powder : ½ cup
• Green chillies : 3-4 medium coarsely chopped
• Cumin Seeds : ½ tbsp.
• Curry Leaves : 10-15 in no.
• Coriander leaves : ½ cup finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Ghee – for tempering
• Lemon : ½ piece
• Scrapped coconut – for garnishing (optional)

You Do:

1. Heat Ghee in Kadai, Add Cumin seeds to splutter.Follow with curry leaves and chillies.
2. Add the Grated Sweet Potato with peanut powder, salt and sugar.
3. Stir well so that all is mixed properly, cover and cook till done. (it tends to stick at bottom very easily – so need to take care here)
4. Add Lime juice and mix coriander leaved and scrapped coconut.

Sweet Potato is naturally sweet by taste, green chillies makes the dish spicy and peanuts make it crunchy. Serve with Curd.
Happy Cooking and Posting about it :)