So cheesy @ Bella Ciao!

Prologue 

From the day I decided to start blogging about food, my cooking sprees have drastically gone down and I' am suffering from loss of appetite and haven't been eating out much either :P . My Dr Amma and I have been trying to figure out whether I'm suffering from the any of the following Chikungunya-Muttongunya, Malaria-Loveria or Typhoid-Scarfoid :P However I dint want to go on without posting anything so I dug up some pics and some really fond memories for this post.

Disclaimer: Guys I  don't have anything new -hot from the oven ,instead I am gonna serve you all food from my fridge- lil old memories :)  Please bear with me!

Bella Ciao 

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you are hungry again"

~ George Miller

Starters

Few months back few of us from work went to Bella Ciao, for dinner, it was a lovely evening, perfect weather,  moon rise over the sea and lots of laughter. Hmmm I remember laughing a lot but I don't remember  the jokes :P  Bella ciao has two branches one at Nungambakkam and another at Thiruvanmiyur (Bang opp a quiet beach) 

"When the waitress asked if I wanted my pizza cut into four or eight slices, I said, 'Four. I don’t think I can eat eight." ~ Yogi Berra

Thin crust pizza

 I am not a pizza person at all but I ate the thin crust pizza @ Bella Ciao with no complains and yes I think it cos I enjoyed it :)

Grilled Shrimp, roasted potatoes and salad

 For my main course I had grilled shrimp with salad and side serving of roasted potatoes, I love potatoes I think its one veggie that at least 3 out of 5 individuals consider their favorite :) and I m nuts about Shrimp I know it can be quite a task to shell it but who care its sooo YUM!
 

Merlot

You can order Merlot or Chardonnay along with your meal as for me I am teetotaler so I had a glass of cool water in which someone accidentally dropped a piece of Fusilli :D

Moon light

The view from my outdoor table, the moon shinning through the Casuarina trees gently swaying in the sea breeze. It was a day before full moon nevertheless the moon was at her best. I haven't gone to Bella Ciao since then but I will soon :)


P.S "Never eat more than you can lift. "~Miss Piggy

Vazhaikaai Kofta~Green Banana Koftas Delicacy

So today everyone in our family woke up at 7:30! or should i say slept till 7:30 !
We were out of fresh veggies and after my mum saw me sleep walking and my dad reading the THE HINDU as if he is preparing for bank entrance exam - Dear appa u passed ur bank exam 30 years ago and you are gonna retire in 3 years :)):D  so anyways back to the story , my Maa decided to make something with a plantain & an onion and two tomatoes. She worked her magic to make this awesome VAZHAIKAAI KOFTHA- Green Banana Kofta!
 

Spicy Green Banana Koftas*

Another easy to prepare recipe KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) recipe

Ingredients

1 Raw green banana

1 Onion finely chopped

2 Tomatoes finely chopped

½ Spoon chilli powder

Garam masala powder

Salt as per requirement

Spices- 1 bay leaf, 3-4 cloves and a small piece of cinnamon

Optional – garlic and ginger minced

For the Kofta

1. Cut the green banana in half and pressure cook for 10 minutes
2. Peel the banana’s thick skin off (my inner voice says there goes all the fiber content *sigh* Oh well you can’t have it all)
3. Mash the boiled banana pulp with few sprinkling of salt, 
4. Optional: You can also add a pinch of Garam masala to the mashed banana pulp
5. Now make small to medium sized ball 
6. Shallow fry over low heat

Your koftas are ready.

For the gravy

1. Heat a thick pan
2. Add a spoon of oil
3. Add the spices and onion and fry till the onions turn golden brown
4. Add the mined ginger and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes in low flame
5. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and fry
6. Add ½ spoon of chilli powder, a pinch of garam masala and fry till the tomatoes are done  
7. Add the fried banana  koftas  and gently mix until the koftas are covered in gravy  
8. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, remove from flame and serve with chapathi or rice 

Ensssssooi your Green Banana Kofta!

 

*P.S. Sorry about the poor quality photograph! I am still recovering and hence terribly disoriented

Happy weekend Everyone! :)

Kaapi & more..

For those of you who are far far away from Chennai..
Hear me, Hear me~ It rained today !!

Yes it did  :) finally Chennai received her summmer quota of rains after a dry spell which seemed to last forever ! It was wonderful, the smell of earth, the soft breeze, cool drizzle..However I was amused to see many bikers pull over and stand along the road, pavement, under the trees to keep off the rain!
How ungrateful ! This is so typical of the saying ~

"As a rule man is a fool , when its hot he likes it cool , when its is cool he likes it hot, always wanting what is not "

As for me needless to say I got drenched head  to toe (purposefully)  by the time  I reached home and had an amazing cup of Amma's KAPPI .

My Maa makes the world's best "Filter Kappi

So all the caffeine in my Kappi and rain in my city made me want to sit down and write something beautiful, however my bird brain did not cooperate with me to pen down an Odyssey, instead here is a slice of my life-love notes to my fellow passengers with whom I commute everyday in the ever-crowded electric train while I travel to & from work..


(Words in italics are my mind voice :P ensoiii)

Dear Fellow Passenger

To the girl with allergic sneeze ~Bless you !! & Thank you for sharing your germs with us, please remember to sneeze into your hankie next time! :)

To the lady selling roasted peanuts ~ Women! Seriously!  Do we look like we can eat, digest or even hold a pack of peanuts now?

To the Amway guy making random hits and misses at everyone (including the blind beggar and his Mrs.) No I don’t want to become Ambani over night if I change my mind I ll inform you or better still jump off LIC :))

To the blind beggar – Are those really Rayban glasses? Whoa! Your style quotient is better than me:P

To the iPod freak ~ He he I know you got it from Burma Bazaar, P.S. My maid servant has a better version than you! Hah!

To the teen girl reading M&B with a sly smile & dreamy eyes ~ Your prince is not coming on a white horse honey, for all I know he probably took the wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions! Oh well! :D

To the Poo kaari (flower seller) who keeps looking at my hair while persuading everyone to buy POO ~ Well NO THANK YOU& No I m NOT wearing a Souri/Wig!

To the lady with the wailing baby – Errrrr so do babies come with 'sound-mute' buttons ?

To the uncle with dander on his head, shoulders and shoes~ Thank you uncle for spreading sunshine   oops! Sorry star dust & moonlight with all of us :D

To the ticket inspector who thinks he/she is Vijayshanthi/Vijaykanth ~ Ennna Maa kannu Sowkiyammaa? (Hey How you doing?) :P

 

Marundu/Milagu Kozhambu~ Medicinal Pepper Stew

Today I woke up with really bad body pain and terrible headache, So I called in sick, and crashed on the couch for the rest of the day and as if that was not bad enough, about half past noon the power went off and I dozed off in the sweaty heat only to wake up at 5pm!  I hate to fall ill (Who the devil likes to fall ill!!)

Anyways I was too tired to make anything for myself and did not like the packed lunch my mum had left for me so I fed off a HUGE bar of chocolate for lunch and for dinner I decided to get the hell out of bed and make myself something nice to eat! But I had no appetite and I was in no mood to eat another bar of chocolate for dinner. I was craving something nice and spicy yes something LIGHT! (..and something that did not involve too much work- A KISS recipe)

~ MILAGU KOZHAMBU~ 

 
Milagu Kozhambu a.k.a. Pepper stew is usually prepared if someone is suffering from incurable cold/cough, body pain or allergic sneeze as it is known to provide immediate  relief .. No My dear reader I won't bore you with the medicinal properties of Pepper :)

Ingredients
4-5shallots -peeled and chopped Optional- Half a tomato chopped finely
A small ball of tamarind soaked in water, dissolved and filtered

For  Powder

• 2 spoons Pepper corns
• 1/2 spoon Toor dhal (Thuvaram Parupu)
• 1/2 spoon Jeera seeds
• 1/2 spoon channa daal (Kadala Parupu)
• 1/4 spoon fenu greek seeds
• Roast the ingredients over low flame and Grind coarsely and preserve in an air tight container 

To saute

• Mustard 
• Jeera seeds
• Red chillis and
• Curry leaves

 Methods

• Heat a kadai and add 2 spoons of vegetable oil
• Add the Mustard, Jeera, Fenu greek seeds and red chillies - splutter over low flame
• Add the chopped shallots, and tomatoes and fry 
• Add the tamarind filtrate and bring to a boil
• Add the required amount of Powder according to your taste (I added 2 spoonful)
• Sprinkle some Asofoetida and let the gravy simmer
• This will be ready in less than 5-6 minutes
• Serve with hot rice and sleep off after the meal

I am a sucker for Smilies :)

  P.S. My body pain is gone but now I have a running nose! :P

Fish-O-Fish

This morning I got a message from a friend with whom I haven't spoken to in months! The first thing she told me was that me she enjoyed reading my blog! :) Just yesterday I was wondering whether anyone is reading my blog at all, so when I heard from my friend needless to say I was overwhelmed. She is also a foodie much like me and loves seafood especially FISH! So here are some really easy to prepare fish recipes which I hope she enjoys!

Our subject for today ~ Anchovies commonly referred to as Nethili Meen in Tamil

This one is for one of ente favorite ommana pen kutties :)

Nethili 65: Deep fried Anchovies

Deep Fried Anchovies

Ingredients
Anchovies: A cup full- cleaned, washed and marinated in lime and rock salt
1/2 spoon turmeric powder
1/2 spoon wheat atta or maida (this will serve as a binder)
1/2 rice powder (this will make the dish crispy, crunchy & YUMMY)
4-5 spoons of chilli powder
1 spoons of ginger &garlic paste
Optional: 1/2 spoon coarsely crushed pepper corns

Nethili 65

Method

• Take big bowl- mix the anchovies with the following ingredients
• chilli powder
• turmeric powder
• ginger garlic paste
• rice powder atta/maida 
• Sprinkle water and mix the contents 
• Make the marinate into a smooth paste
• Keep it aside for 15-20 minute
• Heat a pan with oil 
• Add the anchovies and cook over low heat
• The  fish will be done in less than 5-7 minutes

Serve hot just as a snack or as a side dish for sambhar rice, rasam rice or even better fish gravy & rice:)

Nethili Thokku: Anchovy gravvy

Nethili  Gravvy

Ingredients

• Shallots/ small onions a cup full -
• Wash and peel the small onions
• Do not chop- adding them whole make the dish taste better
• Anchovies a cup full
• cleaned & washed
• marinated in turmeric, lemon and rock salt 
• One whole Garlic peeled 
• Do not chop or crush garlic
• Add them as whole cloves
• A piece of ginger (2 inches-crushed )
• 10 curry leaves 
• 1/2 spoon asafoetida  
• 3-5 spoon pure chilli powder 
• Tamarind a medium sized ball- soaked in a cup of water, dissolved, and filtered 
• Take the tamarind water - add chilli powder and turmeric powder

For spluttering:  Mustard seeds, fenu greek seeds, Jeera seeds, (Optional-pepper corns), Dry red chillies & 4-5 spoons of gingelly oil


Method

• Heat a thick pan, add 4-5 spoons of Gingelly oil (you can also use vegetable oil)
• Add the mustard seed, fenu greek seeds, Pepper corns, Jeera, red chillies and fry
• Add shallots and curry leaves and saute till it turns light brown
• Add the peeled garlic and crushed ginger and saute
• Note:- this recipe does not need tomatoes, however if u want to,  you can add half a tomato finely chopped and saute it after the ginger garlic
• Add the tamarind water mixed with chilli powder and turmeric powder
• Bring to a boil, let the contents simmer until it reaches a consistency of gravy
• Add the 1/2 spoon of asafoetida
• Add the anchovies and reduce the flame
• Let it simmer in low flame for 10minute(maximum 15 minute)
• Note:- Do not stir, this will break the fish into a million tiny bits :)
• Remove from stove in 15 minutes and serve with hot rice or Idlies

 See I told ya it was an easy recipe :)

I hope these recipes were useful, do try them and tell me how it tasted! Happy eating !

P.S. Amma has made chicken curry and chappathi for dinner tonight, I m off :)

Enjoy your fried anchovies!

 

~Fin~