Zucchini Apple Bread

Zucchini is a member of the cucumber and melon family. The word zucchini comes from the Italian word ‘zucchino’meaning , small squash and from the French term for zucchini is ‘courgette’. Zucchini squash is the favored jewel of the summer squashes .The term squash comes from the Indian skutasquash meaning "green thing eaten green." Christopher Columbus originally brought seeds to the Mediterranean region and Africa. The vegetable is usually in green, yellow, light green and has a similar shape like cucumber. Farmers produce them as round or bottle-shaped fruits.
Zucchini contains fewer calories, 5% fiber, thiamin, vitaminB1, vitaminB6, Vitamin C, Folate, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum & potassium.
I am not a big fan of zucchini. But I had to eat it in some way. In the net I found several zucchini bread recipes. I got this recipe from my favorite site, www.joyofbaking.com. It also had apple, little sugar and oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:
Raw Zucchini – 1 cup (shredded)
Walnuts or pecans – ½ cup (I used walnuts)
Raw apple – ½ cup (peeled and grated)
All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cups
Baking soda- 1 teaspoon
Baking powder – ¼ teaspoon
Salt- ¼ teaspoon
Ground cinnamon – ½ teaspoon
Ground nutmeg – ¼ teaspoon
Canola oil – ½ cup
Granulated white sugar – 1 cup
Large eggs – 2 (room temperature)
Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Shredded coconut – 1/2 cup (sweetened or unsweetened)

Method:
Preheat the oven 350° F ( C = (F -32 ) * 5 /9 ≈ 177° C) and placing the rack in the center of the oven.
Use cooking spray on the loaf pan. Just keep it somewhere safe.
Toast the walnuts until lightly browned.
Chop them finely when they’re cooled.
Here begins the preparation. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another bowl, throw in the oil, sugar, eggs & vanilla extract & whisk until the mixture goes precisely.
Then toss in the shredded zucchini and apple, beat again.
After that add the flour mixture, beat again until well.
Pour in the walnuts & coconut into the mixture & fold them.
Scuff the mixture from the bowl into the loaf pan.
Bake it properly till it rises in the same temperature for at least an hour.
Take it out and let it cool.
Enjoy it with snack time with whipped cream as a companion.

This goes to the event 'Bread Mania'.

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Kaara kozhambu

காரக் குழம்பு
Kaara kozhambu is a hot and spicy gravy. Vegetables like brinjal, lady's finger (okra), drumsticks, mochcha kottai are added. The taste is enhanced by adding sambar onions and gingelly oil. But I don't get those items here. I used 'monster' red onion.
In Tamilnadu meals or "south indian thali," this kozhambu is one of the tastier gravies. This version of kaara kuzhambu is my hubby's favorite.



Ingredients:
Brinjal - 5
Red onion - 1 ( chopped)
Garlic- 6 cloves
Tomatoes - 2 (medium-chopped)
Green chilies - 4 (slit lengthly)
Sambhar powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 2 pinch
Tamarind - lime size
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Salt as required
Oil

For Grinding into paste:
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Poppy seeds -2 teaspoon

For Seasoning:
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Channa dal - 1/4 teaspoon
Urad dal - 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 spoon
Curry leaves - 6


Method:
Extract tamarind pulp as I did in any other kuzhambu variety http://ushanandini.blogspot.com/search/label/Kuzhambu.
Soak the poppy seeds in hot water.
Cut the vegetables in desired shapes.
Chop the garlic lengthwise.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan.
Season by adding the channa dal and fry till golden color. Then add the urad dal,cumin seeds and mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds starts to crackle,add the chopped garlic and fry till golden colour.
Add the onion and fry. Add the green chillies, brinjal and fry for sometime.(you can also fry the brinjal in oil separately in another small kadai and add. this saves the time )
Add the chopped tomatoes and fry.
Now add the sambhar powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well (1 minute)
Add the tamarind pulp and let it boil.
In the mean time grind the coconut and poppy seeds into paste.
After the gravy thickens and vegetables boiled add the coconut paste.
Let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes in simmer.
Finally add the curry leaves.
Serve hot with serve rice.

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Karuvepilai podi

Curry leaves powder (or) Karuvepillai podi
Curry leaves play an important role in seasoning or tempering in most of the south Indian home. Throughout my early years, right till I left for college, we had 2 curry leaf trees in our garden. Most of the times, while in the middle of cooking, mom will call and make me run to the garden and get the leaves. The oil will be already heating in the vessel. I had to run fast, get few leaves, wash them and then hand over to mom. The tree was a country variety. The aroma of leaves will linger in the home for a long time. I don’t find such varieties outside Tamilnadu. Every week she made sure for us to eat the curry leaves thuvaiyal. Neighbors, relatives, and milkman were lucky. They would freely go to the garden and take the leaves as much as they like. Chutneys, Sambhars, Rasam, Kootu, Poriyals, and non-veg dishes etc…, always got the extra distinctive flavor. அது எல்லாம் ஒரு காலம். ஹும்ம்!!!!!!!! Now I don’t have a garden , so our shopping list never ends without curry leaves.
The medicinal values are…..There is some interruption.

H: Usha, what r u writing?
U: I am writing about curry leaves.
H: But, usually you don’t write blah, blah. Just the ingredients and the method. I thought u r writing an article for some newspaper.
U: Why should I write an article?
H: Don’t forget to write about the curry leaf plant, you grew in pots. hahahaha..
U: Why r u laughing?
H: Nothing.
U: Tell me!
H: The plants in the pots had the same height for 2 years.
U: U know the reason why…….it didn’t grow well. Okay I thought of writing medicinal values but now I am not interested.
H: Why?
U: I know only few uses like hair growth, diabetic friendly, etc…

Here are the ingredients:
Curry leaves -2 cups
Bengal gram (or)
Channa dal – ¼ cup
Urad dal – ¼ cup
Whole red chili – 5
Peppercorn – ¼ teaspoon (optional)
Tamarind – 1 spoon
Asafoetida – 2 pinches
Oil – 2 teaspoon
Salt as required

Method:
Wash the curry leaves and pat dry.
Fry the curry leaves in kadai without oil, till leaves become crisp.
Fry the Bengal dal, urad dal in oil until golden color separately.
Fry the whole red chili and tamarind.
Cool.
Grind all the fried ingredients ,peppercorn (optional)and mix salt and asafoetida.
It goes well with idlis, dosai and rice.

This goes to the event 'Kitchen Masterpiece'.

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Chocolate Custard

My daughter loves any chocolate food. So I was contemplating a dessert for her. I wanted the recipe to be simple and quick with chocolate as the main ingredient. And then I came across this recipe from a site. I tried the recipe with no twists. The dessert turned out really good. She was so happy and enjoyed it. So guys, I hope you will also love this when you try this recipe!


Ingredients:
Milk - ¼ cup
Bitter-sweet chocolate (chopped or grated) - 3 ounces/85grams
Egg yolk - 1
Softened butter - 2 tablespoons
Heavy cream - ½ cup
Cinnamon Powder - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 3 tablespoons


Preparation:

In a small sauce pan, pour milk in a sauce pan and steam it in medium flame by stirring continuously.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Add 2 table spoons of sugar and dissolve it.
Then include the egg yolk and whisk.
In a bowl, use the strainer to filter the mixture.
Again pour this mixture into another saucepan and keep it in low flame.
Begin the stirring process till it thickens.
Remove from heat, immediately add the chopped chocolate.
Whisk till smooth.
Then include softened butter with a pinch of salt and mix well.
Pour this custard into flat cups and let them cool in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl add heavy cream, the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon powder and beat till mixture softens.
Dollop the cream over chocolate and garnish it with shredded chocolate.
Serve it cold.

Tip: You can make the custard a previous night, refrigerate and make the cream on next day.

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Vegetable cutlet

Ingredients:

Green beans - 10 (chopped)

Potatoes - 3 (medium - boiled)

Beets - 1 (medium - cut into small cubes)

Carrot - 2 (medium - cut into small cubes)

Onion - 1/2 finely chopped)

Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Maida - 3 tablespoons

Bread crumbs - 1 cup

Salt as required

Oil

Chopped Coriander leaves - 2 teaspoon.

Method:

Step A:

Drop the cubed and chopped vegetables into a steamer let it get steamed for 10 minutes.

Let the vegetables cool.

Mash the boiled potatoes in a bowl.

Heat ½ teaspoon of oil in a kadai.

Add chopped onions and sauté it for 2 minutes.

Include red chili powder, garam masala, cumin powder, and salt and continue the sautéing for a minute. Allow this to cool.

Pat dry the steamed vegetables in a paper towel.

Mix the steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, chopped coriander leaves and the onion mixture.

Step B:

Use another smaller bowl to make maida batter for dipping the cutlets. The maida batter should be thin.

Step C:

Cutlets may be deep fried or pan fried. Heat the pan/oil. While it is getting heated up, shape the cutlets

Make a key lime sized ball from the vegetables mix.

Mould into desired cutlet shape.

Dip the cutlet into maida batter, then roll the cutlet over bread crumbs.

After the cutlet is covered with bread crumbs, fry. ( I used deep fry method. Oil should be hot, otherwise the cutlet will break into pieces)

Remove from pan when the cutlet turned golden brown.

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Vazhakkai Podimas

வாழைக் காய் பொடிமாஸ்

Ingredients:
Green Plantain - 3 (medium sized) (முற்றலானது)
Green chillies - 4 (small-slit)
Ginger - 1/4 inch (grated)
Turmeric powder - 3 pinches
Channa dal - 1/4 teaspoon
Urad dal - 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 1/4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Grated coconut - 1 teaspoon
Salt as required
Oil
Curry leaves - 4
Asafoetida powder- 2 pinches

Method:
- Cut each plantain into 2 halves.
- Boil them in pressure cooker till the cooker gives one whistle.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Peel off the skin from plantain.
- Grate the inner white part of plantain.
- Heat the oil in a kadai and add the channa dal and urad dal.
- When the dals are fried (color changes into gold) include cumin seeds, asafoetida powder and mustard seeds.
- When mustard seeds crackle, add green chillies and ginger.
- Saute for 30 seconds.
- Then add the grated plantain and mix.
- After that, add turmeric powder, salt, curry leaves, grated coconut and stir for a minute.

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