Hello Sweeties!! Are you all set for the big Thanksgiving feast and shopping frenzy after the holiday!!! We did not celebrate this holiday nor had heard much about it back home, till the time we came here few odd years ago.
TG and BF like everything else has changed. I remember my first TG in NJ, when I saw people camping out of stores like Best buy and Walmart through the night as these stores opened in the wee hours of dawn like 4Am and 5Am Friday morning.
Lists and lists were exchanged and a fool proof plan was activated about who would shop at which store, what followed over the weekend was settling tabs and claiming electronics for guys, home ware/clothes toys etc for girls.
Stores never opened the evening or even midnight and TG was a federal Holiday for all. I am awed and at times sad at the way the shopping timings have changed, last year stores opened around mid night. but this year its TG evening.
I saw a JCPenny commercial where it said dishes can wait just eat and run and shop. TG was meant to be family/friends time, eat at peace, talk and chat into the night. It's becoming a Fast TG like Fast food, and maybe drive-in TG is not far away.
To brave the cold and gusty winds and deal with all the outdoor shopping running from one store to another, make this Ukkala/Tea and carry with you in thermos and warm up your bones.
I learnt to make this from a tea vendor outside my office in Mumbai, who would make kick ass Ukkala Tea that could be added to normal tea. We often had it when it rained and we were little under the weather.
You will need;
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup milk- preferably skim or low fat
1 Green Cardamom-Crushed with skin and pod
2 Cloves
1/2 inch stick Cinnamon
1/2 inch Ginger grated
1/2 tsp Lemon grass-Fresh or dried
1 Tspn basil Leaves or dried Tulsi Seeds
1 tea bag
Honey to taste
In a small pot, take the water and add the above except the honey, heat over medium heat and let the ukakala boil, till the spices give out the extract and the liquid changes to a slightly green color.
Pour the mixture through a sieve in a cup, add in the tea bag
add the honey and enjoy the Ukkala Tea.
Hello Sweeties!!!!! I am hogging on the Diwali treats at my end and what follows every year is a down side to all that hogging. The jeans fit a bit snug and the tummy kind of pops out every now and then.
My mom always used plantains instead of potatoes every now and then, no we were not Jain and we did eat garlic, onion everything, but she mixed matched sometimes for health reasons sometimes just to finish stuff off the fridge.
I had brought the plantains on whim last time I went for grocery, little knowing what to do with them. Then days passed with no clue until my kiddo demanded I made the potato patties. Their demand for Ragda Pattice got changed into Pattice Curry as Donut wanted ragda pattice and Munchkin wanted egg curry.
You will need;
For Patties's
2 medium size plantains
1 small potato
1-2 tspn corn flour
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
2-3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger grated
salt to taste
oil or spray to shallow fry the patties's
Boil the plantains and the potato for 2-3 whistles and then 5 mins on low flame in a pressure cooker. In a bowl, mash the plantain and potato and mix in cornflour, add all the spices and mix well.
Heat a skillet and grease the base with oil and drop
little coins of this mixture and spray them with an oil spray and
fry till they get cooked. Once done, remove and keep aside.
For the curry;
1 medium sized onion
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 tbspn ginger garlic paste
1/2 tspn haldi/turmeric
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 cup water
1/3rd cup heavy cream- Optional
Salt to taste
Tempering;
2 tbspn oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tspn shahjeera/Caraway seeds-Optional
In a deep wok, heat the oil on medium. Once the oil is hot add the seeds
and let them sizzle for 2-3 seconds, then add the ginger-garlic paste
and onions, then add in the tomato puree and cook till the oil leaves the sides of the onion and tomato mixture, then add in the haldi, and
the spices and add water and salt and cover and let it boil. Grind it into paste if you like fine texture curry. Lastly add in the cream and stir and cook for 1-2 mins. Make the curry little thick,
While serving,
Take the patties in a bowl and pour the curry on
the patties. Serve hot with phulka or flat
bread of your choice or rice. Remember to assemble the dish when you are
about to eat it.
Keeping the patties in the curry for long will result in the patties absorbing the curry
and losing the shape and everything will turn into a mess. This will
certainly not interfere with the taste, but it will not look very
pleasing.
