Wednesday 20 November 2013

A little 'news' with a simple recipe..


Hi,
Hope everyone out there is doing well. I am doing great here.  I have been getting several messages for the past many months asking about my erratic posts and sometimes total disappearance. I have also been getting several messages over Facebook asking if I was expecting a newcomer. Yes,  I am about 36 weeks now and due on December 25, X’mas Day!! 

Unlike my first pregnancy, this one was like a roller coaster ride. During the first trimester of this pregnancy, I was almost always on bed, so tired, couldn’t even get up for food. Most of the food made me nauseate, had terrible back ache and to make it worse, had heights of mood swings and was always irritant and on the verge of explosion. Often the poor husband and child became the scapegoat of my outburst. Cooked very rarely, and by the time I am done I would be so exhausted I ended up on bed for rest of the day. So, that has been my first trimester, after which I went to India. I dint face any of these in my first pregnancy, so it was a total new experience! 


I know I wouldn’t be able to do much to keep my blog alive and running. I have got several recipes and pictures in my drafts which I am not sure when I would be posting. Otherwise, I don’t do any shooting and styling. Well, I dont even cook on regular basis. So I packed away all my props. I realized that the junk I collected over the years have dominated a major chunk of space in our house, which is now free for placing something useful. I chucked them all in the garage, knowing that I won’t be able to make use them for a very long while now. I am not happy with that, but I know I won’t be able to do styling and photo shooting as it makes hell lot of mess and lot of tidying up which can be very tedious now. And my mind is always occupied with the baby stuff and organizing things before the little one arrives. 



Now, here is a recipe that I typed long ago, I guess it was for Onam, but it slipped off my mind. My boys here, loves beets in any form and beetroot pachadi is something that I cook when I get some, apart from the thoran. It is very simple to make and goes as a side dish with plain boiled rice.

Beetroot Pachadi (Beetroot in tempered yogurt sauce)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves ~ 4





Ingredients:
1 large beetroot, 220g; grated – 1 ¾ cups
2 cloves of garlic
a small piece of ginger, 7 g
1/3 cups, 50g freshly grated coconut or frozen
2/3 cup lightly whisked yogurt
water -  as required
salt -  as required

For tempering:
2 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp black mustard seeds
1 twig curry leaves
2 dried red chillies, broken up into two halves

Preparations:
1.Place beetroot in a small pan and cook it along with 2 tbsp of water on medium flame until cooked through.

2. Grind coconut, ginger and garlic adding about 1/3 cups of water to smooth paste.

3. Lightly whisk the yogurt and add to the ground coconut mixture. Once the beets have cooled down, add this coconut-yogurt mix to the beetroot and mix well.

4. put the pan back on heat and gently until steam comes though, but not boil as boiling can curdle the mixture.

To temper:

Heat oil in a small pan, and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, throw in the curry leaves and the dried chillies. Let it splutter too for few seconds and then add this tempered oil to the cooked beetroot. Cover. Just stir before serving.

27 comments:

  1. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that is such a wonderful News So happy for you Shabs. Atleast you are better than in the first months. Dec 25 th Christmas baby then. So so happy for you that I have goosebumbs just thinking about the new baby.
    And the blog can wait dodn't worry.Lots of love Finla.

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  2. MaShaAllah great news Shabs... may Allah make it easy for u dear... even my second pregnancy, though not difficult, my mood swings were absolutely bizarre and unfortunately it seems to show all on my little one!!! hehe... hope all will go well, the blog can take care of itself for the coming time when u cannot feed it, you have that much of world class stuff on! the pachadi looks delicious...

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  3. Congratulations Shabs!!! Wish you a "sukha prasavam".. My second pregnancy was also difficult... and now even though my baby is 7 months, i hardly have time to blog even though I cook daily...

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  4. WOW!! The color looks so pretty and the recipe sounds interesting too. I can definitely try this recipe out.. thanks for sharing it :)

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  5. Thnak u rafeeda and thanks for the prayers....Hope everything goes well!

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  6. All the best to you!!! We definitely missed your posts and beautiful recipes but the baby definitely takes priority.. All the best!

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  7. That is a wonderful news Shabs. Congratulations!!! I went through similar episodes during my pregnancy and I can totally empathize you. Without feeling guilty take this time to rest and nurture yourself with ideas that you can bring back to us when you start blogging again. Good luck!! Hugs

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  8. Congrats dear Shabs, thats a great news. Wishing all the very best, you take care !!!
    Beet pachadi pics looks awesome!!!

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  9. Congrats and take care.

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  10. Alhamdulillah, such a great news. Congratulations! I pray that the rest of the pregnancy and delivery goes very smooth for you, Shab. All the best to you!!!

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  11. lovely
    haffaskitchen.blogspot.com

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  12. Hi there, I'm Judy. I have a question and would love to speak with you more. Please email me when you get a chance, thank you!

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  13. All my favourite recipes are from your blog....the best being prawns biriyani...because of your recipes, I made a quick transition from beginner to excellent cook...thanks 😊

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  14. Dear Shabs cuisine,
    Have prepared the aforementioned recipe to the exact specifications. In the oven right now. Fingers crossed for outcome :)
    Thanks,
    Sheena

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  15. Hi Judy, I am sorry. I think I have forgotten to reply. May I know what you have to ask please?

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  16. Hello Shabs
    Can i use basmati rice for this? I neither have pachari nor puzhukkalari at hand now. :(

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  17. Thanks for sharing this recipe, it is my favorite. I bookmarked this blog further more information. Recently I eat this from Lunch Catering Calgary, i love indian recipies .It is one of my sweet memories of lunch, I can never forget it's taste. Now i am going to cook this at home.

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  18. Is this similar to mutta patiri prepared in kerala ?

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  19. Love your recipes http://www.marecipes.com/

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  20. Very yummy mutton curry Shabs...will try this soon...plz visit my blog
    http://nilascuisine.blogspot.ae/?m=1

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  21. This recipe looks great. Do you think you can replace the beetroot with any other vegetable?

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  22. Thanks. You can use any vegetable, like carrot, cucumber etc. You would not need to cook cuucmber though.

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  23. I like your both dishes ! Will have to give it a try.
    chowringhee kathi roll

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Hello Friends,
This blog is my humble attempt to share my tried and tasted recipes that are loved by my family and friends. Your comments, suggestions, criticism and all opinions are very much appreciated. Feel free to ask if you have any doubts on the recipes, I will clear them here as soon as possible.
Thank you for stopping by and have a nice day.