Revisiting My Blog

( This post was inteded for Nupur's event - I guess I am late. But nevertheless )

I started the blog for quite a few reasons

1. Very Inspired by Indira of Mahanandi
2. My passion for food
3. To engage myself while Ravi is busy with his MBA.
4. To record some family favourites especially low-cholesterol dishes

I remember the evening when I was searching for some telugu recipe and landed at Mahanandi. Looking at the karela neatly arranged on aluminum foil Ravi exclaimed "Now this is what I call passion, not the blog but the quest for perfection !!"

Then I wondered, can I too do this, after all food is something I love deep down. It was the time when Ravi was deeply engrossed with MBA and I had nothing to do except a full time job where I could work from home. Probably a month later I registered en-ulagam.

I have been blogging a little less than two years now and made a few good friends here. My passion & creativity for food continued to grow with food blog events. I became even more busy than Ravi.

Bloglife 2007 has been very good. Here are the highlights

• I got into the next level of personal association with some blogger friends. I was thrilled to exchange pictures, learn about their families and talk about non-food related subject. I felt like having a pen friend.

• Recorded some family favorites and my favorites. I just cannot shortlist. Every dish I created was with lots of love for what I did.
  

• Inji's loud and clear voice about "Plagiarism". She took my request to announce a Anti-Plagiarism day and we all made a post against yahoo. It was covered by the press.
  

• Anandavikatan responded to my pointing out about a copied image from Saffronhut. They apologized and included acknowledgment to the image in their next print version. I felt very cool.

• Starting Tamilcuisine with Prema was a very good learning experience. It taught me how to and how not to relate to people - I have to thank Shaheen, Prema and Inji. Thanks to Kanchana and Jasmine for pitching in .
  

• I achieved 100000 magic number of visitors to my blog
  

• My proud acquiring for my blog my irumbu kadai ( cast iron pan) from my mom.
  

• Last but not the least, I was able to pull away myself from participating in blog events. It took too much of my energy, was becoming kind of addiction and with blog events propping up almost every day, it turned out my menu on the real life table was getting dictated by blog events. I had to stop it somewhere. Thanks to work pressure, upcoming india trip, I was able to achieve this.
  

2008 Bloglife I have a few things to do :

1. Take a back up of my recipes posted.
   
2. Learn food photography tips and tricks
3. Record more of amma's specialities and the other recipes listed below
4. I love to host the site on my own web server, I have the know-how to do it but I dont know whether I will have the time. Lets see.

These are the recipes on my to-blog list:

Ammas' specialties

• Mutton potato drumstick kuruma

• Keeraithandu mochakottai karakozhambu - Spicy kozhambu made with stem of greens and fieldbeans


• Pacharisi thengai payasam - Coconut-Rice-Kheer


• Paruppu urundai kozhambu - Kozhambu made with lentil dumplings


• Thengai paal sadam - Coconut milk rice


• Mullangi yera kozhambu - Shrimp radish kozhambu


• Nethili kuruma - Sardines kuruma


• Beetroot halwa
  


• Gulab jamun


• Sambar powder recipe


• Rasam powder recipe

For Ravi

• Hyderabadi biriyani
  


• Erra karam dosa - Dosa smeared with red chilli paste and sprinkled with spiced powders
  


• Ravis grandma's Idly karam - I like this one better than my moms'
  


• Mokkajonna kudumulu - I got this recipe already need to post it. Indian cousin of tamale.
  

Healthy stuffies

• Kalyana murungai - I dont know whether I will even get this greens
  


• Keezhanelli urundai - That is what we eat back home when we had jaundice - another greens
  


• Veppa urundai - Neem leaves paste - for de-worming
  


• Seeraga kashayam - To relieve that bloated feeling made with roasted cumin
  


• Nochi ilai aavi - Steaming to relieve sinus block with this leaves.
  

See you all in the New Year !

Wishing you and your dear ones Good Health, Happiness and success in whatever you do.. Happy New Year !!

Homemade Organic Shampoos - Going Brown !!

I am on a hunt for natural - chemical free products. Thanks to Suganya of Tasty Palettes, I switched to Seventh Generation products a few months ago. I have been researching on organic shampoos without much success. Manufacturers are trying all gimmicks to cheat customers with words like "all-natural", "botanical extracts", "pure plant extracts". They even dare to put the organic label on the bottles and then disclaimer that no human eyes can read - Certification from Belgium, European standards etc etc

Aritha - Soap nut and the seed inside. The nuts are size of marbles


Shikakai - Acacia Concinna
Image source http://www.aminet.or.jp/~zen/hena/maha/img7/shikakai.jpg
Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikakai

Dried Shikakai pods have been used for centuries as a hair cleanser. It is a mild cleanser relatively low in pH and does not strip the hair of natural oils. So it was obviously the choice for cleansing hair in olden times. Washing hair is a elaborate routine back home. Shampoos were strict no-nos at home. I hated shikakai - hair was not like those models on TV, the silky wavy hairs I longed for !! With shikakai it was nowhere close to those shimmering shampooed hair.

I would run around dodging my mother because shikakai also causes irritation when it gets into eyes and my mother got them in my eyes everrry singglle time and I would be crying and yelling at her.

I longed for the shampoos because the model on the TV advertisement was always smiling when washing her hair - shampoo never irriate your eyes. So I thought !!! Finally my mother gave up and I remember using Egg shampoo ( I think it was Pond's) the first time. I loved the squishy yellow fragrant precious liquid and when my mom started scrubbing my hair I was all smiling with my eyes widee open ! And before I knew it got in my eyes and there I was crying and wailing - only this time my mother was yelling at me !!!

This time around when I went to India I got shikakai powder - homemade. PRECIOUS !

The shikakai pods are similar to tamarind pods. A fine powder of around half kilo of these pods along with a tablespoon each of rice, fenugreek, a handful of dried hibiscus flowers and a few sun-dried lemon peel - Makes one heck of a hair shampoo/tonic.

Aritha is also a natural hair cleanser. It is called soapnut in english, soapukai in tamil - so you get the idea. They are dried berries enclosing a seed inside. They lather with water and can be safely used on hair. Since soapnut strips hair of oils it should be used in lesser amounts and works fantastically with shikakai powder. Gently crush the the nuts to break them open and remove the seeds. Grind them in a clean dry coffee grinder and store air tight.

Aritha/soapnut berries are found here in US in the indian groceries. Alternatively you also get Hesh Aritha powder. Mix with 3 tablespoons shikakai powder to 1 tablespoon soapnut powder in little water and work up a chemical free lather.

If you have strained water from rice ( starchy water drained after cooking rice ), then use it as a conditioner - This water contains nutrients and is considered an excellent conditioner for hair.

Shikakai & Aritha powder paste - Herbal shampoo - Closest to getting organic



Aritha powder - Coffee grinder does the job.

Multigrain Idly - Ragi idly

Inji was right. After not blogging for a longg time, now when I sit to do a post, I am at a complete loss.. dont know what to type other than the recipe. Really BLANK !!!! OK. I am not going to try much - so straight to the recipe in pics.

One cup ragi & one cup idly rice - Soaked for 4 to 6 hours
One cup ural dal - Soaked for 4 to 6 hours

Ragi other names : Fingermillet, kezhvaragu

Soak cup of rice & cup of ragi ( and a cup of urad dal separately )

Grind rice & ragi to a smooth batter. Grind urad dal to butter consistency and add to the rice and ragi batter . Mix well with hands

Store the batter in a dark place for 6 hours. Store in a dark warm place. ( I place the batter in my conventional oven after pre heating). The batter ferments and rises

Add a tablespoon of salt to the fermented batter, mix well and pour in idly moulds

Idlys - steamed for 10 mins

Ragi idly with coconut chutney and banana with honey

See more idly making tips here...

I use ravi brand idly rice. Idly rice is parboiled rice that is boiled with the kernel intact. This process of boiling rice not only imparts flavour to the rice but also much of the nutrients of the kernel is absorbed by the rice.

Comparing to regular idly, ragi idlys ferment quicker and are fluffier. Tastewise I found no difference.

You can also make dosais with the same batter - again no difference tastewise.

See also :
Ragi koozhu