Birthday Party-Lunch menu

It is a Birthday Party Menu this time. There is nothing like hosting and seeing all your friends together in the same place. Birthday parties are a great boast to any child's self esteem. Making them feel like Queen (or king) for the day is one of the best gift you can give them. As a parent I did the best to my children, and now it is nice to once again recall the memories when my grandchild's Birthday was celebrated.

I saw my daughter doing it all to her child and this year I  could participate in the celebration during my visit to US and help her in preparing the food for the guests. It was done with adequate planning, with guests list and few things to do. When deciding what to serve, we saw that we stick to simple dishes that don't necessitate too much last minute work, to avoid getting tired or stressed.

The menu was Indian vegetarian. In terms of finding recipes there was no shortage of food blogs and sites, so thought of centering the menu around a common theme and go with the ones that's tried and true. Our all time favourite was Gujarathi menu. Happy to mention here that we got most of them from one blog "spiceup the curry". 

To make it a full party(lunch) menu (apart from Birthday cake), planned to prepare a Welcome drink, two starters, Rotis (store bought)with two side dishes, kichidi and one kids friendly comfort food (south Indian) curd rice. And finally a dessert "Srikant".

The food related preparation work was spread over and we made most of them ahead of time and made the balance on the day of the party.

Thandi Thandai for welcome drink, Black chena chaat and Dabeli as starters,

Rotis with Panchratan Dal and Beingan palak curry, Kichidi and Curd rice. Shrikhand in canapes for desert.

We prepared Dabeli once again and this time made bite size pieces. (posted earlier in the F/B page).

Followed http://www.cookingandme.com/blog/2011/07/21/dal-panchratan-pancharatni-dal-curry/ for Dal.

Followed  http://www.korasoi.com/blog/2014/09/melt-in-the-mouth-burnt-aubergine-and-spinach-curry for beingan palak curry.

Followed http://www.spiceupthecurry.com/masala-khichdi-recipe/  for Kichidi but used green peas in addtion to onion.

Prepared curd rice taking tips from few sites to make it stay in right consistency and not become sour in taste.

        

https://www.tarladalal.com/Thandi-Thandai-38037r

Thandi thandai

http://www.spiceupthecurry.com/kala-chana-chaat-recipe/

Black Chena Chaat

http://www.spiceupthecurry.com/shrikhand-recipe/

Shrikhand
Shrikhand served in Canapes for kids

Posting this in my blogspot was not planned, so could not click pictures of each dish and also stepwise preparation pictures. I thought I should share my experience with the available pictures and I am grateful to the bloggers and the authors who inspired and made our job easy to host the party to nearly 35 people. It was a new experience for me preparing most of the dishes at home and witness them being tasted my guests in an open garden area. Many of you would have had this experience back home preparing for kittyparties and such events. Home made food is most welcomed in this place specially when it comes to our Desi food.

Kurma stuffed idli

Idlis are not only for breakfast, it can also be served for dinner. A slight variation from the usual side

dish and best use of the left over lunch preparation served the purpose of easy dinner .
Made OPOS kurma for lunch following "kannamma cooks" recipe. When the batter for Idlis was ready , thought of using the kurma as a stuffing and make soft idlis for dinner.

For idli followed " tamilkitchen" recipe.

Idli rice       3 measure
Whole urad dal.    1 1/4. Measure
Pressed rice/ poha.   1/4 measure
Methi seeds.  1 tsp
Soak rice with methi seeds for 3 hrs
Soak urad dal separately for 3 hrs.
Soak poha/ aval separately

Keep soaked urad dal 1/2 hour in refrigerator before grinding.
Grind dal smoothly, then grind rice and combine both in a large vessel.
Beat well with the palm, add salt and ferment for 8 hrs or over night.
Boil water in the idlimaker/cooker outer, grease the idli moulds and keep.
Fill batter to half the mould , then with a spoon fill the kurma (with more veges and less of gravy)
and again fill batter above the kurma.
steam cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.
remove idls after two minutes and serve.

Note: Grind urad dal for not more than 25 to 30 min.
Beating the batter with the fingers open wide, helps the fermentation.
Before steaming the idlis make sure the water kept for steaming boils.
Beat the batter before pouring into idli mould.
Steam cook for ten minutes then wait for two minutes to unmould.
Keep in a hot pack.  This keeps the idlis soft n warm.

After cooking for years I still feel there is much to learn.
Aiming for a perfect dish is always desired by women.
A change is always welcomed both for the one preparing and person eating it.
I can recommend the above measures for making idlis. And it's accompaniments are always molaga podi, chutney and sambar.

Chintakaya/puliyankai pachadi

Tangy chintakaya pachadi mixed with hot rice and ghee.

The consumption of tamarind is widespread due to its central role in the cuisines of Indian sub-continent. Apart from the edible fruit pulp the hard green pulp of a young fruit, is often used as a component of savoury dishes, as a pickling agent. The cuisines of Andhra are the spiciest in all of India. Generous use of chilli and tamarind make the dishes tangy and hot. My earlier post had chilli as main ingredient with little raw tamarind as a component. There are multiple use of this raw tamarind when marinated with just salt and turmeric powder. This is taken in small quantities and made into pachadi with roasted ingredients and also with raw ingredients without oil . Thesmall quantity of marinated raw tamarind is used in making dal (pappu) which is very yummy.

I made two dishes with the marinated raw tamarind, to have it as a side dish with cooked rice.

The selection of raw tamarind is important. Neither too tender nor too mature should be selected. The mid range ones would have seeds in formation stage which can be easily chopped and consumed. 

The first step after cleaning the raw tamarind thoroughly and dried in shade. Then they are cut into small pieces and made to a coarse paste adding salt and turmeric powder and kept to rest for three days.

The soft ground paste after three days, the chintakaya thokku which can be preserved for many months.

A small quantity ready to make pachadi

Two tablespoon of roasted thill, Asafoetida pieces(solid), one teaspoon each of fenugreek seeds and mustards seeds and eight red chillies.

Roasted in 4 tablespoon of thill oil.

Fried ingredients without oil being  pound first.

Marinated raw tamarind added in batches and ground.

After mixing the pachadi with oil used for frying dry ingredients.

Type two pachadi is made with the marinated raw tamarind thokku with a small variation . Can call this,  the most easiest pachadi with only three raw ingredients that can be stored for a year  after  grinding  with green chillies, garlic pearls and turmeric powder. The chillies and garlic can be added as per the required spiciness. This is a karnataka special.

Ripe chilli and raw tamarind pickle/ Pandumirchi chintakaya pachadi

Another pickle of the season. We get ripe chillies in December along with raw tamarind in the market. Yummy combo of the two that tickles the pallet, can be stored  a year long.
The basic paste is preserved and can be used as when required by giving fresh seasoning in hot oil. Goes very well as a side dish for idli, dosa, and of course with hot rice. I used this paste while making Chinese noodles too. Adding coarsely ground onion with this will make a yummy chutney.

INGREDIENTS

Ripe chilli	500 gms
Raw tamarind	50 gms
Salt	70 gms
Methi seeds powder	2 tblsp

FOR SEASONING ( HALF OF THE ABOVE PASTE)

Oil	3 tblsp
Methi seeds	½ tsp
Asafoetida	½ tsp
Mustard seeds	1 tsp

METHOD
Wash red (ripe) chillies, pat dry them and spread on a kitchen towel to dry well.
Remove stem and cut into small pieces and coarsely grind in a mixie using whipper mode.
Wash raw tamarind and remove string from sides and coarsely crush  them with the help of mortar and pestle.
Take both crushed tamarind and chillies in a bowl and add salt.
Let this rest for three days.
On the third day dry roast methi seeds and powder and keep.
Grind the tamarind chilli in a mixer grinder in batches to a smooth paste.
Add methi powder mix well and set aside.
This can be preserved in an airtight bottle container.
When required take the required quantity and do  tadka in hot oil adding mustard, methi seeds, asafoetida and pour on  the paste and mix.
Crushed garlic pods ( as required) can also be added in hot tadka.
To make easy onion chutney I use one big onion and grind to coarse paste, then add the required chilli tamarind paste to it and do tadka in hot oil to this.
NOTE: Adjust salt as per the heat of the chillies. Use less salt and if required can add more.

Amla/Gooseberry/Nellikai Pickle/Orugai

November is the season for Indian Gooseberry/Amla, a humble fruit known to be a rich source of Vitamin C, and which can definitely keep a number of diseases at bay. Pitted berries can be stored by crushing coarsely adding salt and turmeric powder. There are many ways of preparing pickle with these , and some of them can be preserved for a year long too. We get tiny gooseberries/star gooseberry. Today I made ready -to- eat easy Amla pickle with the big size Gooseberry. They have 6 vertical grooves on them.
This pickle can be stored for a week in the refrigerator and can be made in small batches. I used 250 grams of berries which were around 12 in number. It was also easy to deseed since the number was less.
I removed the seeds by making '+' slit on both the sides of the fruit. Then placed in the microwave on high power for one minute and one more minute after turning the side. This will almost cook the berries. Once the seeds are removed it is easy to assemble the freshly made spice , salt etc with hot mustard oil. This goes well with curd rice and as  accompaniment with any rice.

INGREDIENTS

Amla/Gooseberry	250 grms
Methi seeds/Fenugreek	½ tsp
Coriander seeds/Dania	1 tsp
Mustard seeds/Rai	1 tsp
Saunf	2 tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera	1 tsp
Mustard oil	8 tblsp
Haldi/turmeric powder	½ tsp
Asafoetida/heeng	½ tsp
Green chillies	4
Salt	To taste

METHOD:
Microwave on high, the gooseberries and remove the seed.
Alternatively they can be pressure cooked for one whistle in a cooker and deseeded.
Cut the Amla into four parts and keep.
Dry poast all the masala/spice items, cool and make powder.
Slit green chillies and cut them .
Heat the mustard oil until it smokes and switch off flame.
Add asafoetida/heeng and haldi/turmeric powder.
When it is still hot, add masala powder made, along with salt and green chilli.
Add Amla pieces and mix.
This can stay for a week when refregerated.

Navadaniya Adai/mixed pulses crepes

Here is a vegetarian  protein powerhouse to your meals. This dish has eight types of pulses combined with cereal to form a balanced diet, especially for vegetarians. I viewed this in a Tamil TV channel, and was tempted to try it as I had most of the pulses mentioned. Thanks to Navrathri which made me buy pulses for Navagraha neivedhyam. The recipe requires assembling of all ingredients the list of which is quite long. But once the batter is ready it can be stored in refrigerator for long.
Since we are combining many pulses and rice the quantity of batter we get is more. Hence we can try variations while preparing the Adai, using vegetables by using a portion of the batter. This will definitely be a boon to mothers in feeding their children with a healthy diet. Can be packed for lunch or given as snack when they return from school.
This requires soaking of pulses and rice separately  overnight or minimum eight hours.
Here is the recipe with equal proportion of protein and carbohydrate with colourful vegetables to add vitamins and minerals.

INGREDIENTS TO SOAK:

Cowpea	1 measure
Green peas	1 measure
Chicpea/Garbanza bean	1 measure
Mung bean/Whole moong	1 measure
Kidney bean/Rajma	1 measure
Ground nuts/peanuts	1 measure
Double bean	1 measure
Soya bean	1 tblsp
Boiled rice	7 measure

INGREDIENTS TO GRIND ALONGWITH THE SOAKED GRAINS:

Dry red chilli	8
Green chilli	6
Ginger	2” piece
Salt	To taste

INGREDIENTS TO BE ADDED BEFORE MAKING ADAI/CREPES

Grated coconut	1 measure
Grated carrot	1 measure
Shredded cabbage or Spring onion	1 measure
Greens preferably Amaranth /drumstick leaves	1 measure
Coriander leaves/cilantro	1 measure
Mint/pudina leaves	1 measure
Asafoetida	1 tsp

METHOD:
Decide the measure of pulses and rice to be soaked. ( I used 1/4 cup measure each for pulses and
1 1/2 cups of boiled rice).
I had only 6 varieties of pulses,  So not added cowpea/blackeyed bean. I used Mochai(lima beans) instead of soya beans.
The above measure will yield 15 adai/crepes. One adai per person will be enough when served as a breakfast or lunch.
Rinse and soak pulses together and rice separately. Grind after 8 hours or in the morning if soaked before night.
Grind rice after draining the water, adding red chilli, green chilli, ginger and salt  coarsely.
Grind the pulses too, coarsely duly draining the water.
Combine both the batter. Now the adai can be made immediately  after adding the vegetables.
Keep the vegetables, coriander leaves, pudina and coconut ready ready.
Take the required quantity of  batter and store the balance batter in refrigerator.
Add grated coconut, coriander leaves and mint/pudina.
Adding the vegetables is your choice. The combination of  any two will be fine.
Each day a different vegetable can be used while using the stored batter.
While using spring onion cabbage can be omitted.
Only greens can be used one day.
I used carrot and spring onion today.
The batter when mixed with vegetables, cilantro, pudina and coconut should not be very thick. So adjust consistency so that the batter drops from laddle and spreadable consistency.
Heat a tavva preferably tradition cast iron type,
Pour two laddleful batter and slightly spread.
Make a hole in the centre and spread oil around the adai and keep the flame on medium low.
Turn side when it is golden and crispy on sides. Spread oil around and press evenly.
It takes five minutes for each adai/crepe to be ready.
Serve with Tomato or Mint chutney

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