Bruschetta

Bruschetta, pronounced as [brus'ket.ta], is an Italian snack or appetizer.It consists of grilled Italian bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables and/or cheese.
(Source-Wiki)
I created my own version of Bruschetta.

Ingredients

Italian bread
extra virgin olive oil
1tsp Italian seasoning (consists of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil)
Salt and pepper



For the topping

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped lettuce
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup finely chopped mint
3-4 tbsp Mayonnaise

Preparation

Cut the bread as shown in the picture.


Place a grill pan over medium-high heat.Drizzle the bread slices with olive oil. Grill the bread until golden on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.Sprinkle the bread slices with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

For the topping:
In a medium bowl combine all the given ingredients and gently stir.
To serve, spoon the topping on the bread and serve or place the topping in a bowl and serve with the grilled bread alongside.

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.