Kerala Food Festival

The Olives restaurant in Hotel Deccan Plaza, Royapettah, Chennai is conducting a ‘The Kerala Food Festival, a feast of delicacies from the God’s own country.

Sarasvathi Viswanathan, the famous  Chef  who created a world record by cooking 108 dishes in one hour, is the Chef creating the food feast.

I am personally meeting her the first time even though had known her and had been chatting with her  for more than 3 years. she was very open and explained each and every dish's recipe, and also gave lots of tips. 

Video Link:

For food lovers, Chef Sarasvathi is presenting a complete onam sadhya (full meals) with the following menu items:


Starter: Mango Soup with Appalam Bajjii

Main Course:

kaalan 
Oolan 
Keerai aviyal
Erissery
Chene Puzhukku
Chakka Pacchadi
Neenthrankai Thoran
Payari Thoran
Chammeathi
Pulingari
Mango kichadi
Matta Rice
Pappudum
Rasam

Varieties of Pickles

Varieties of Chips (sarkara upperi, jackfruit chips, banana chips)

Dessert:
Mango Paallada Payasam
Chakka Rabdi
Chena Pradhaman

If you are veggie food lover, you should not miss this food treat for any reason. The festival will be till June 30th, and so try and make it on the weekend.

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Fabelle’s 72Kg Bar Event for Celebrating Independence Day

Yesterday, I attended an Independence Day Celebration Event organized by Fabelle, a Chocolate Boutique of ITC, in ITC Grand Chola, Chennai. Fabelle has collaborated with Make A Wish India for this event. The theme of the event is to create a 72 Kg Chocolate Bar with 72 ingredients to commemorate India's 72nd Independence Day. 

Fabelle is ITC's chocolate boutique which makes Handcrafted Luxury Chocolates. Its Chocolates are sourced from African countries like Ghana, Madagascar, Cote D'Ivoire etc to South American Countries like Venezuela, Sao Tome etc. which grows high quality chocolates. As the Chocolates are grown amidst other crops like Oranges etc., they have a unique flavor, different from vanilla chocolates. Fabelle uses unique chocolates from these choicest cocoas to create a unique luxury experience.

Make a Wish is a social organization that fulfills poor children's small wishes and dreams to spread smiles across the world. As a part of this organization, Make A 

Wish India gets sponsors to contribute for the creation of Fabelle Chocolates and then gives it to poor children. 

Together, Make A Wish India and Fabelle created a 72kg Bar Chocolate with 72 ingredients to celebrate the 72nd Indian Independence Day. The following are the key ingredients used: Flax seeds, Chia seeds, Apricot, Almonds, Pista, Cashewnuts, Popcorn, Biscuits, Rasins, Jellies, Fennel seeds, Hazelnuts, Butter, Milk, Cranberry, etc.,

It was a great honor for me and my family to participate in this event. This is really noble way to celebrate and so kudos to all those who ideated and executed this idea.  

Fabelle and MakeAWishIndia has created an online page where you can be a sponsor for this event. Go to http://fabelle.in/independenceday/ if you also want to donate starting from just Rs.100.

#Fabelle72kgBar

#MakeAWishIndia

Here are some photos from the event.

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Pachai Mochai Kuzhambu and Kitchen Cleaning tips with LAL HIT

The year-end months (November - December) have become Fever Season. Last week, My cousin who is a doctor himself got dengue and had to be treated for week. It is not only due to climate but also due insects and mosquitoes. Cleanliness is the best defense and hence deep cleaning is the best cleaning method. Let us start the new year and pongal season with deep cleaning of our houses. What is deep cleaning? Mothers put in their best efforts to clean the kitchen every month. But cockroaches escape regular and monthly cleaning by hiding in hard to reach corners like under the cylinder, sink, cracks, and crevices. They carry germs and bacteria, come behind the back, crawl on food and utensils, contaminate food and spread Food Poisoning. While family members and guests suffer, kids are the first ones to get this infection. Hence, it’s very important to eliminate hidden cockroaches from the kitchen. The simple, handy and reliable solution is to apply LAL HIT each time when you clean the kitchen. This thorough cleaning of the nooks-and-corners of our houses with LALHIT should be aptly called deep-cleaning.

LAL HIT is the only solution that can eliminate the hidden cockroaches. It comes with a Deep Reach Nozzle that can get onside deep corners, cracks, and crevices. This simple habit can avoid food poisoning at home. Moreover, LALHIT now comes with a freshfragrance. I infact deep-clean my house almost every month with LAL-HIT.

After deep cleaning it is a time of a healthy and unique pongal recipe.

#SayNoToFoodPoisoning

Pachai Mochai Puli Kuzhambu / Fresh Field Beans Kuzhambu

Pachai mochai grows only in this season (winter). In villages pachai mochai kuzhambu along with raw rice (pacharisi satham) is a important pongal dish. The Pachai Mochai is also famous in Katrnataka. I have found out many such winter season special recipes of South India. Stay tuned for more.

Recipe Cuisine : South India            | Recipe Category: Kuzhambu

Preparation Time: 15 mins  | Cooking Time: 30 mins | Serves: 4

Pachai Mochai	1 cup
Brinjal	2
Tamarind	Gooseberry size
Turmeric Powder	½ tsp
Red Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Coriander Powder	2 tbsp
Sambar Powder	2 tsp
Coconut Milk	½ cup
Hing/ Asafoedita	½ tsp
Salt	To Taste
To Fry and paste:
Oil	2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds	1 tsp
Sambar Onion	1 cup
Tomato	1
To Temper:
Oil	1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds	½ tsp
Cumin Seeds	1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds	½ tsp
Curry Leaves	1 spring
Roughly Chopped Onion	¼ cup
Chopped Garlic	2 tbsp
To Garnish:
Chopped Coriander Leaves	2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan; add onion and cumin seeds. Fry till the onion becomes translucent.

2. Allow it to cool down completely. Add chopped tomato and grind them into a fine paste using little water. Keep it aside.

4. Soak the tamarind in warm water for 10 mins. Then extract the juice from it using required water.

5. Boil mochai payaru with little bit salt and ¼ of water in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle or cook in a vessel till it becomes tender.

6. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds wait for popping.

7. Then add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Fry for few seconds.

8. Then add the chopped onion and garlic pods. Fry till they become translucent.

9. Add chopped brinjal and fry for 2 mins.

10.  Now add tamarind juice (from 4), ground paste (from 2), turmeric powder, Red Chilli powder, coriander powder, sambar powder and salt.

11.  Boil this mixture till the raw smell goes off. Then add boiled mochai (from 5). Cook for 2 more mins.

8. Now add the coconut milk and hing powder; cook them till they become little bit thick like kuzhambu consistency.

9. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

     Pachai Mochai Katharikkai kuzhambu is ready to serve with white rice for this Pongal Celebration.

Note:

1. Adjust the spice level according to your taste.

2. You can use big onion instead of sambar onion.

3. You can use coconut paste instead of coconut milk.

This new year, begin with a healthy habit of monthly kitchen cleaning with LAL HIT and stay worry free from the cockroaches attack on your delicacies.

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Indira Agrotech - A Farm Visit

Indira Farms - An easy way to become an "activist" in the Organic Farming Trends

Organic Farming is not just a trend or fad which is to be just followed on the facebook and other socialmedia apps and forgotten. Most agree that Organic Farming should become even stronger and become an bigger Movement like Green Revolution 2.0.  The difference between a trend and movement is that more middle-class citizens become actively engaged by contributing either money or effort to the movement. The Previous Green Revolution was entirely government driven when the average Indian people was very not much knowledgeable in technology and environment. The Previous Green Revolution has been mixed because even though it helped India achieve self-sufficiency in food production, it was the start of adoption of chemical fertilizers. 

Tamilnadu is at the fore-front of this new green revolution with exceptional leaders like Nammalvar taking the lead. His followers have already taken the message and movement to wider urban population. Even other states like Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are appreciative of Tamil Nadu's leadership role in the green revolution 2.0. However, Green Revolution 2.0 is not yet achieved its full impact yet because the opportunities for the average green conscious citizen to make an effective contribution is still limited to just buying a few organic stuff now and then.

Indira Agrotech have come up with a new cooperative farming initiative which provides the right opportunity for green conscious people to make their contribution to the movement. Indira Agro Products have started an Initiative where about 65 acres of farm land at Tindivanam, just about 100 kilometers from Chennai GST. This Farm Land is located at along a road that branches off GST at Sarasvati Engineering College on the GST. Indira Agrotech offers about 1/4 acre for Rs. 5 Laks in the collective farm. If you buy the 1/4 acre plot and sign a farming contract with them, Indira Agrotech gives you 150Kg Organically grown rice for every 6 months. You can consider this as an yearly interest for your investment while the land value keeps appreciating. India Agrotech itself will sell you the plot when the price has appreciate considerable at a market-determined price.  This project is a great contribution towards green movement because if such ideas gain market adoption, corporate farming can take off a big way in Tamil nadu and India as well. As the cooperative farming idea catches up, the investors can also profit considerably from the land appreciation. More over, Indira Agrotech will create visiting facilities in their farmland so that people can come and stay on weekends in their farm and enjoy a great village getaway. Such farm and village getaways which are easily reachable by car from Chennai city would form a great educational experience and play activity for kids. 

Indira Agrotech is a win-win innovative real-estate scheme and people should consider taking a site-vist to understand more in person about this investment-cum-green-activism opportunity.

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Promises of a Firefly - Anupam Patra

Formulating a unique style and rhythm is the key for success with the audience. When you are starting out as a writer and coming up with a short stories collection, then this is also the most difficult thing to achieve. Anupam Patra's short story collection, "Promises of a firefly" comes out with flying colors in this litmus test.

A violent event like a murder or accident takes just a split second to happen. But it takes a full lifetime, or sometimes many lifetimes to comprehend and overcome the impact of the violence. The emotional affect is not only for the victim, but also for the perpetuator of the violence. Anupam's stories are all about the web of emotions like anger, shame, guilt and grief of those affected by these incidents. Anupam Patra spends more words conveying the pain of victims the violent incidents and has the talent to bring out the resonance and evoke the emotions in the reader. The stories are more emotion driven than plot driven, just like Chekov's short stories.

Most of the stories revolve around motor-related accidents which are follies that would have been easily avoided. Yet people keeping committing them so frequently throughout the world. The inexcusable impatience of the guilty and split-second slip of caution on the part of victim weighs heavily on the minds of the characters in these short-stories as unbearably heavy. The rush of the ego is the root of tragedy is a recurring theme in these short stories. It is very well brought out in romance story, "Games we never forget", when the lovers breakup over a scrabble game..

My Personal Favourite is the story, "A Temporary Promise". it's a love story in the circumstances when people can't afford to trust and also discourage to trust. The swift plot-twists that are bound to happen makes it a page turner. Another good story is "Swans" which revolves around a convict trapped in a jail and his yearning for forgiveness by his family.

Promises of a Firefly indeed shows the promise of Anupam Patra's writing talent. A very good debut indeed to start with.

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Nature Bran - Brand Product Review

Ready to use mixes is the trend of the time as it helps working people to cook their favorite dishes at home quick and easy. There are not many good readymade mixes for millet based recipes. I came across Nature Bran Millet Rava dosa and tried it.  Its good, tasty and handy to prepare. I recommend it for working people to want to cook healthy fast food at home.

This company has good reputation among the millet activist community and is known for their high quality standards.    Nature Bran is a brand you can trust and you can buy in amazon .

You can try their other products in their website.

http://www.fibrofoods.com/

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Nutty Crunch Maalaadu with Preethi Turbo Chop

I went to a Blog- Jam hosted by Preethi. Preethi introduced their Iconic Table Top Wet Grinder. The Iconic Table Top Wet Grinder simulates traditional stone (Attukkallu) grinding process so that you get exactly the same quality of Idlis our elders used to make. Preethi also showcased their Turbo Chop Kitchen Appliance.

Preethi Turbo Chop: The Kitchen Appliance for today’s Nuclear family

Kitchen Appliances too evolve with the times and needs of the people. Today's families are mostly nuclear family with two kids or just one kid, Double Income No Kids families etc. In Today's households, Ladies are also harried whether they are housewives or working women. Hence the quality time for cooking is shrinking year by year. To address this need of families, today Innovative food companies are coming up with ready-mixes for every main dish from idli, dosa to rasam etc. The next important step to simplify regular cooking is simplifying making side-dishes. Indian (and South Indian in specific) Side dishes like chutneys and pooriyals have to prepared fresh and cannot be pre-packaged like tomato-sauces of the west. 

In today's regular cooking, the chopping of vegetables for these side dishes is the most time-taking and laborious activity. Though some enterprising entrepreneurs have come up with chopped vegetables packed in special sealed packages, either they are very costly or not fresh. There is also a worry about added preservatives. There are some very important drawbacks in current mixie models in the model. For example, it is not very easy to clean as removing blades from earlier mixie models is difficult and fungus would form if we do not clean it properly. Also, older appliances like mixies, grinders are not suited for cooking for just one, two or three people only.

Preethi Turbo Chop is an innovative combination of Chopper and Mini-Mixie. You can chop the ingredients in the jar through a simple-to-use push button on the top. You have to just keep pressing till you want to chop and remove when you are done. It is very safe that even kids can do it. Turbo Chop is ideal for preparing all types of chutneys, purees and chopped vegetables for poriyal ie all key side dishes of regular cooking today. Turbo Chop can also be used to prepare all types of poodi items for monthly or long term use. It can also used for crushing nuts and preparing ingredients for festival sweets. 

As Turbo Chop is very less weight, you can easily carry it while travelling also. For example, you can take it to hospitals to prepare juices. Similarly, you can take even during tours and travels to prepare chutneys, juices on the fly and avoid hotel foods.

Preethi Turbo Chop is digital kitchen Swiss-army knife in the kitchen. With Preethi Turbo Chop you have a very well researched innovation that addresses the need of today's women of all segments - always on the run Working women in IT and other Industries, cost-conscious housewives, college-goers, bachelors, elderly people etc. 

Preethi Turbo Chop is just the type of innovation that solves a nagging -issue in cooking instead of meaningless marketing gimmick innovations which flood that market all the time. Kudos to Preethi for coming up with Turbo Chop.

Preethi Turbo Chop Technical Specifications:

1. 450 W Powerful Motor

2. Stainless Steel Blade

3. 0.7 L Bowl

4. One Press Chopper

5. Easy to use and clean

Turbo Chop Mini Mixer-Grinder is a 450W compact kitchen appliance with laser sharp blades that can grind, mix, chop, and blend within seconds. This Mini Mixie is, therefore, the perfect kitchen companion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkBlp8ClK1w

http://www.preethi.in/turbo-chop/turbo-chop

More About Preeti Blog jam: 

Unlike other Blogger-Meets, Preethi arranged for two great talks, one by Archana of ArchanaKitchen.com on how to take our blogs to the next level. The other talk was on improving food photography skills by Chef.Umasankar Dhanapal, Winner of IKA / Culinary Olympics (http://www.knifeandimpressions.com/). Both the speakers gave very good tips for improving our blogging and photography capabilities.

Nutty Crunch Maalaadu with Preethi Turbo Chop:

Festival Season has already started. Easy to make sweet recipes are in demand for both beginners making their first sweet and well-versed people planning their additional sweet. Maalaadu is a simple sweet but it is not liked by many because it is sticky. Nutty Crunch Maaladu is a variant of Maalaadu which makes it non-sticky and crunchy so that kids and adults also would relish it.

Ingredients:

Roasted Gram / Pottukadalai	1 cup
Badam	1/3 cup
Cashew Nuts	10
Ghee	¼ cup
Cardamom Powder	¼ tsp
Sugar	¼ cup
Nattu Sarkkarai / Brown Sugar	¼ cup

                                                              

Procedure:

1. Dry roast the roasted-gram (pottukadalai) till they become hot. Don’t over roast it. Keep it aside.

2. Dry roast the badam for 2 mins or till they become hot.

3. Grind the roasted gram into fine powder without any lumps using the dry mixie jar. Keep it aside.

4. Grind the badam into small granules. Don’t grind them into fine powder.

5. Chop the cashew nuts into small pieces.

6. Heat one tbsp of ghee in a pan. Fry the chopped cashew nuts till they turn into brown in color. Switch off the flame.

7. Grind the white sugar and brown sugar into a fine powder using the same jar separately.

7. In a wide bowl, add powdered roasted gram, badam granules, powdered sugar, and powdered brown sugar, roasted cashew nuts with ghee and cardamom powder. Mix them gently with ladle or with your fingers.

8. Now heat the remaining ghee in a pan, add the hot ghee little by little in the above mixture.

9. Mix them immediately with the ladle. When you can hold the mixture to make balls, stop to adding ghee.

10. Grease your hand with oil and immediately make gooseberry size balls from the mixture and keep it aside. Allow it to cool down completely.

     Now nutty and crunchy Maladoo is ready to serve!

Note:

1. Roasting badam and roasted-gram (pottukadalai) is optional.

2. You can microwave them for 2 mins instead of roasting.

3. You can grind the badam into fine powder also.

4. The given amount of ghee is enough for this recipe. You can add if you needed.

 5. If you find that the ghee is more add more powdered roasted-gram (pottukadalai).

6. Adjust the sugar level according to your taste.

7. You can use ½ cup of white sugar or ½ cup of brown sugar instead of 50-50.

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