Matka Watermelon kulfis and MEME

I had asked my mom to send these lovely cups called "Kullhads" in Hindi, from my kitchen in India. Kullhads are used for serving teas in a traditional way. Why the name Matka Watermelon Kulfis? Matka means a earthen pot. In India ice creams called Kulfis are served in matkas called the Matka kulfi.




I mixed up some straw berry ice cream, watermelon juice and nuts like pistachios and cashews. Put them in the fridge for a while to cool. Serve them chilled. I just used my imaginations and worked this recipe out.



This is my contribution to Bee and Jai's AFAM event. I know I took the least effort in making this recipe but could not come up with anything better.

I think MEME is the toughest post I have ever typed. I thought, thought and thought about myself ever since Nabeela has tagged me. Kept asking myself so many questions.
Life got so busy after marriage and a kid that it has been a long time since I have thought about "ME". Here are the 7 Random Musing.

1. I am the only daughter of my parents. They have given me so much love and pampered me a lot. My mom never ever forced me to do household work. I took life seriously only after marriage. I became more responsible and hard working.
Once my mom puts the left overs into the fridge, I would never eat them again. I used to yell at her saying I wanted fresh cooked food only. Now I realize, how much my mom tolerated me. Now, when I keep left overs in to the fridge and eat them the next day, I realize life teaches everyone a lesson.

2. When I get some free time out of my busy schedule, I would like to put on some face pack, relax, have a bubble bath, pedicure, settle down on the couch with some cute, humorous, romantic movie like "you've got mail", "The wedding Planner" or watch something along with my son like "over the hedge" or “Madagascar”. If I watch a horror movie, that night I make sure all the doors and windows are closed/locked. I chant prayers and sleep that particular night. Ya, I am scared of darkness too. I can never sleep if I am left all alone in my house.

3. The following are some of many things that I miss. Being in India of course. Miss the chitchat and laughter with friends during my college days. The days I spent in my hostel were the happiest. We friends, used to laugh and laugh for hours on silly jokes, making fun of what went on in the class that day. Other things I miss are the food in India, Jasmine flowers while in sari, my mom's hug every morning, a long chat with my dad, going to movies with friends, traditional weddings, meeting cousins and huge family gatherings at my grandmother's place. Sitting with my grandmother in the backyard, we cousins used to eat food, while she makes small balls of rice and gives it to us. Things that make me happy are Flowers. The farmers market I visit has a huge collection of beautiful and colorful flowers. I love watching them. The other things I love are the first rain and the fresh smell of mud, good music, and naughty kids.

4.I am a great shopping freak. I can shop till I drop. Except for Bombay I have shopped in most of the places in India. Bangalore- Commercial Street, Delhi- Karol bagh, New Market- Kolkata, Chennai-T-nagar, Hyderabad-Abids, Koti and many more. I feel shopping is more fun in India, The hustle and bustle, bargaining, taking a break and going to chaat shops, its all so much fun.

5.Something negative about me is I am very pushy when I have to get some job of mine done. I keep pestering my husband, dad, mom or anybody asking them "have they done it"? "When are they going get my job done? Why is it pending for so long!" and so on
But when somebody gets pushy on me, I get annoyed. Ya I know what you guys are thinking.

6. I Love Traveling and learning about new places, people and their culture. The one thing I want to do before I die is visit all the must see places around this world. I also have this capability of grasping and learning a language very quickly. At present learning Spanish along with my Son.

7.The one thing that horrifies me the most is small children begging on streets and common places. It brings tears in my eyes. I feel so helpless sometimes looking at them. It makes me think I wish I were the richest person in this world to end poverty or I wish I had the powers of God. I know that’s a funny thought but that’s how it makes me feel. While in India, I used to visit Mother Teresa's place and other orphanages and contributed what I could.

I Tag the following people for random MEME. If you have been already tagged please ignore.

Wokandspoon

SRA of When my soup came alive

Viji of Vicuisine

Rinku of cooking with rinku.

Chris of Mele cotte

Sailu of Sailu's food

Mint and Curry Leaves Powder

Hey all, ya I am back after a short break. I have got you guys some lovely home made Mint (Pudina) and Curry leaves powder. In the south Indian Kitchen some powders are very mandatory in the pantry like the rasam powder, sambar powder, rice powder, curry leaves powder and many more. My grandmother, mother and Mother-in-law, never purchased store made powders. The recipes for these powders is carefully passed through generations and if any one even whispered about buying them in stores it would be of great disgrace and shame to the family. Now things are slowly changing though.
For the first time I made Pudina (mint) powder which goes great with rice, dosa and idly.


Ingredients

2cups Mint leaves
1-1/3 cups of roasted chana dal (bengal gram dal roasted)
4-5 dried red chillies
2tbsp cumin seeds
dried coconut flakes (optional)
Salt

Preparation

Remove the mint leaves from the stem and wash them. Dry them with the help of a paper towel and keep aside. Slightly roast the roasted gram dal , cumin and red chillies separately in a deep bottomed pan on a medium low heat. Be careful not to burn them. Turn off the stove and to the same pan add the mint leaves and gently roast until there is heat in the pan. This is just to get rid of extra moisture. Don't roast the mint in a very hot pan as they change color and lose the fresh mint fragrance.
Now grind them all together by adding salt, in to a coarse powder and its ready. This powder tastes great when the mint marries hot rice.

Curry leaves powder

Karivepaku podi in Telugu, and karuvepilai podi in Tamil. After coming to US, when ever the curry leaf was separated and discarded from the plate I used to feel it as a great waste. I always dried them, powdered and used it as and when needed.
This is another Aromatic powder relished with rice.

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh curry leaves
1/3 cup bengal gram dal
2tbsp split black gram dal
2tbsp coriander seeds
1tbsp cumin seed
5-6 dried red chillies
Tamarind one lemon size
Salt
Dried coconut flakes (optional)


Preparation

Wash the curry leaves and dry them with a paper towel. In a deep heavy bottomed pan, dry roast all the ingredients separately. The bengal gram should be roasted until it turns red on a medium low heat and continuous tossing. Same with split black gram dal. Coriander and cumin should be roasted until the aroma is out into the kitchen. Dry chillies just for about 2 minutes.
Clean the tamarind. Now dry roast the curry leaves too until they turn crispy. Remember not to burn them.
The curry leaves looks like how it is in the picture after it is roasted.


Combine and grind them all together with salt. Aromatic curry leaf powder is ready to go with rice, dosa or idly. Both the powders are dry roasted and no oil is used. Oil is used only while having them with rice. This way it has a longer Shelf life.

My MEME will be in the next post.

Kamla Kheer and AFAM Roundup

Kamla Kheer is a traditional Bengali recipe which I came across in an Indian cook book. Kamla means orange and kheer means pudding. It is a simple yet elegant recipe to make. I also came to know more about this recipe from my friend Sandeepa's blog Bong Mom's Cook Book. She calls it Kamlalebur kheer. Check her version too.

Ingredients

1cup of clementines or mandarins
1cup whole milk
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 cardamom crushed


Preparation

Remove the thin transparent coating from each orange segment after peeling the main skin off the orange.
In a thick bottomed pan add milk and boil on medium heat. Add condensed milk and keep stirring. Add sugar and cardamom and let the milk boil and get reduced to achieve a thick creamy velvety texture. You have to keep stirring so that the bottom does not get burnt. Remove it from heat and let it cool. Let the milk rest in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Now add orange chunks and serve chilled.
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinners.

Lets Start with a healthy breakfast bar prepared by Sunita of Sunita's world. These crunchy munchy bars are a rich combination of oats, orange and dates.



Orange zest and millet paratha is a very innovative recipe by priya of Live to Cook. These crispy and delicious Parathas are made of very healthy combination of flours.

A mouthwatering orange pulao is contibuted by Priya again of Live to Cook. You have to go through the combination of ingredients she has used in the pulao.



Here is another creator, who got inspired by Rachel Ray of food network and has made us a complete meal with orange in mind. An Aromatic orange Pulao and to go with it is a orange flavored veg-kurma. To wash it all off she has Orange-Banana milk shake. This lovely meal is from Hima of SnackORama



Here is a closer look at the orange flavored veg-kurma by Hima



This one is called orange Sojjappalu, a paratha stuffed with orange flavored rava kesari. Sounds delicious!! It is contributed by Hima of SnackORama.



This is a hot-sweet-tangy, orange peel gojju which sounds very innovative is a authentic Kannada recipe. My cheeks are hurting when I see the picture. This is contributed by Madhu of Ruchi.


This carrot-orange soup is from a fabulous cook. She created it as a part of her grand weekend brunch. Check out her whole meal and get craved. She is Viji of Vcuisine.



This spoon full of surprise is cranberry-orange jam. An elegant combination of cranberry and orange is pampered with honey to create a vibrant colored jam by the very talented Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi.



Another beautiful creation is the Citrus Guacamole , made of naval oranges, avocados and onions. Looks like a real sunshine!! This piece of art is done by Chris of Mele Cotte.



Here is another creation by Chris called the Orange caprese, stacked with orange, mozzarella cheese, spinach and prosciutto. Check out her blog for more.



Desserts

First in dessert, comes this awesome looking orange caramel cream. Inspired from a cookbook, Arfi of HomeMades has made this creamy and delicious looking dessert. Doesn't it look so pretty? You get to see some more beautiful pictures of this in her blog.


This Marvelous creation is from Shn of Mishmash. She always makes jaw dropping presentation. Her orange delight is a rich cream of condensed milk, orange juice, gelatin and whipped cream. Go take a dip in her blog.



This Vibrant orange tart is a brilliant creation by Anh of Food Lover's Journey. She has a mouthwatering combination of ingredients put into her tart. Check out her blog for this lovely recipe and great photography.



This Orange Meringue tart is especially made of Australian oranges. Miss Eagle of Oz Tucker, has beautifully created this recipe inspired from a cookbook. Look at the velvety filling inside the tart!!



Vini of A Whirl of Aromas has made these yummy orange tartlets. Her craving to bake has worked wonders. These beautiful little tartlets are a great combination Almonds and orange juice.



Inspired from a cook book Pavani of Cook's Hideout, has made these lovely golden colored orange-blueberry muffins. She has made it sound so easy in her blog. Go check it out!!



These are orange- cranberry scones made by the creative cook Shivapriya of My Cookbook. These lovely scones are egg less and makes use of orange juice, orange zest and dried cranberries.



This beautiful dessert here is called the orange burfi. Aarti of Aarti's Corner makes this specialty recipe which is from Nagpur, India. See more of her creations out of the same.



Sukanya of Hot n sweet Bowl has made a yummy looking pound cake with a twist. She uses orange juice and orange zest into the cake. To go with this delicious cake she makes some orange cream cheese. That sounds heavenly.




This is a colorful orange mosaic pie innovated by Raaga of The Singing Chef. She uses ingredients like orange Jelly, orange juice and orange custard powder to make a luscious creamy pie.



Another surprising recipe from Hima are these cute little muffins which are not only egg less but also butter less. Hard to believe right? Check out SnackORama!!




Summer Coolers

Sig of Live To Eat has made a brilliant colored granita with orange and blueberry along with a little kick of ginger. She has given a lovely garnish of mint and orange slices. She is an expert in making great cocktails and mocktails. Check out her blog to beat the summer heat.



This lip smacking French dessert is called as "Mousse Au Chocolat-a-la orange" by Priyanka of Aahar. She also mentions that it is sinfully tempting. It sure is!! Check out her recipe.



This chillin bowl of ice cubes is from Shn of Mishmash. She has created a beautiful orange bowl made of ice and orange and is filled with ice. That is one cool idea to impress guests this summer.



Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen has brought us a beautiful bowl of orange souffle. This luscious souffle is inspired from a book she got as a gift from her friend.



These folks with their colorful tiny umbrellas are delicious fruit punches called the orange-raspberry punch. Richa of As Dear as Salt is quenching our thirst by adding some orange-raspberry sorbet, ginger ale and coke to give us a punch!!




Inspired from a magazine the very energetic and enthusiastic Asha Of Foodie's Hope has made California sunshine as a part of her great feast. She made them all for celebrating her daughter's wonderful achievement in school.



Archana of luv2eathate2cook has made this super cooler orange drink. This drink is a lovely cocktail of orange, lemon juice, vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit chunks. hmmm Slurpppp!



And last but not the least is a creamy orange trifle with a bang. Prema of My Cookbook has brought us a heavenly dessert filled with orange cake, condensed milk, pudding, orange chunks and whipped cream. Man it sure is a party inside your mouth.

Thank you so much dear friends for contributing not only amazing recipes but also your valuable time and effort. If I have missed out any entries please do let me know and it is not on purpose. Will add them immediately.