Snake gourd @ the Sunday Market

That's my son Pradyumna holding out a 6 ft long Snake Gourd at the Sunday veggi market at Yousufguda Checkpost.

Interesting vegetable; imparts a flavor some will desist as being just too bland and not doing much. But one of the best I like is the Snake ground Raitha - you pressure cook Snake gourd, add it to basic tadka (mustard, hing, red chillies and curry leaves) and add salt & yogurt on cooling - serve chilled - you will love it !

Red Guava in Mysore

Just clicked it after carving it out with a knife - looked like a flower !

Rajma, Pulao and Sitaphal Dessert

Typical vegetable pulao, Rajma, Raitha and tomato dal along with a dish we tried - Sitaphal ice cream.

Sitaphal (Custard Apple) is a very difficult fruit to eat (simply because of its seeds) but the flavor is just so awesome that you simply cannot ignore it. To make the home made icecream, I scooped out all the fruit from about 3 ripe custard apples in to a bowl, added a glass of milk and beat it vigorously and strained out the seeds to just get the pulp. Put it in a blender with some sugar and froze it. Could have been made creamer; but decided to keep it healthy !

Hummus & Pita Bread

Made simple Hummus - soaked Chickpeas overnight and grinding it with Olive oil, lemon, roasted sesame seeds and lemon juice.  Got Pita bread from a local grocery store.

Highway Foodie - Delhi - Haridwar trip

Had a great time eating our way on the Delhi -> Haridwar roadtrip when we had gone for recruitment to IIT Roorkee for recruitment. Tasty food indeed !

Missi Roti, Jeera Aloo, Cashew Curry and Dal Fry at Raju Shikanji on the Delhi Meerut Highway

Poori + Aloo at Haridwar Hotel (Can't recollect the name of the hotel) - Wonderful flavor

Meal at Namasthe Cafe at Haldirams on the Delhi Haridwar highway.

Carrot Rice and Red Paneer Masala

Cashew Tofu Spaghetti

Ingredients

1. Spaghetti - 200 gms
2. Red Capsicum - 200 gms
3. Tofu - 100 gms
4. Cashew - 50 gms
5. Tomato Puree - 200 ml
6. Ginger - 1 inch
7. Chili Flakes - 1 tsp
8. Pasta Spice Mix - 1 tbsp
9. Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
10. Salt to Taste

Method

1. Cut red capsicum into thin stripes
2. Cut the tofu into small 1 cm cubes
3. Put cashews and ginger in a blender and make a thick paste. Add some milk to help you grid it well if necessary.
4. Take a large pan, heat some olive oil in the pan and throw in a little pasta spice mix and chili flakes.
5. To the hot oil mixture add the tomato puree and bring it to a boil, add salt to taste
6. Add Cashew ginger paste and mix well, to this mixture add the capsicum and tofu.
7. Add chili flakes and let it simmer on low flame for about 15 mins. Continue to add water if you feel your sauce is getting too thick.
8. Your sauce is ready !
9. Now prepare your spaghetti pasta as per the instruction on the box.
10. Toss the sauce and spaghetti and give it a good mix.

Your Cashew Tofu Spagetti is now ready !

Preparations for Ganesh Chaturthi

(Clockwise) Rave Unde (white), Om pudi, Kharapole (greenish), 7 Cups Burfi, Chakli

Tropical Fruits - Water Apple & Carambola at Mysore (Karrighatta Hills)

Star Fruit or Carambola (top) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carambola

Water Apple or Paneer Fruit (bottom) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syzygium_samarangense

Scemendi Spiraili Pepper Pasta

Made this for our office Potluck where each one of us got something really interesting and tasty.

Ingredients:
For the White Sauce:
1) Milk - 1 cup (150 ml)
2) Corn Flour - 1 tsp (if you don't want to use too much cheese)
3) White Cream - 100 ml / gms
4) White pepper powder - 1 tsp
5) Oregano dry - 1 tsp
6) Basil dry - 1 tsp
7) Olive Oil or Butter - 1 tbsp
8) Red & Yellow Capsicum (Bell Peppers) - 1 each cut lengthwise
9) Broccoli - 1/2 head cut into small florets
10) Processed Cheese - 100 gms
11) Black olives (optional)

Method: 
1) Saute capsicum & broccoli in molten butter or olive oil in a sauce pan, add half of salt & pepper powder
2) To this mixture add cream and bring to boil.
3) Add Milk and Corn flour mixture to enable thickening - keep stirring
4) Add Oregano, remaining pepper, butter and salt.
5) Mix until the sauce thickens and take it off the heat.

For the Pasta ...

6) Boil pasta with salt and lot of water as per the instructions on the packet. Drain the water and keep aside.
7) Add the pasta of your choice to the mixture and mix well on low flame for a minute.
8) Add grated cheese along with olives as a garnish
9) Serve hot !

Food @ Emirates Lounge in Dubai

At Emirates Business Lounge at Dubai - loved the salad and some middle-eastern food

Japanese Nuts in the bowl with Salad containing -> Feta Cheese (white), Seasoned Olives, Red cabbage, Lettuce, Cherry tomatoes (red & yellow), Asparagus. avacado and arabic pickles.

Rice & Sabzi with Arab Bread (wrapped in cover) with Hummus + sunflower seed bread with olive oil.

Pongal for Shankaranthi 2014

The all famous Sweet Pongal getting prepared for Shankranthi Festivities. 3 liters of milk getting reduced to 500 ml over 3 hours with little roasted Rice and Green Gram with 500 gms sugar and roasted dry fruits for garnishing. Prepared in a bronze pot as about post pooje.

Pratheetha's 1st year birthday treat !

Celebrated my daughters 1 yr b'day at Kailash Parbat, Hyderabad - the food was awesome and so was the cake !

 Corn Cheese Balls & Hara-bara Kababs ! 

Eggless printed photo cake for Pratheetha !