Odisha Mo Odisha

Recently, an indo-chinese restaurant opened near our place and like moths to fire, we all flocked the place to try the food out. Food was undoubtedly good but it was all like good old India, oily and very very spicy.  So I thought, if I could collect all ingredients at home and make my own info style Chinese Hakka noodles which will have my level of spices and my choice of veggies in it. How wonderful... I thought to myself.  One fine day, I was all set to make my very own veg. Hakka noodles and alas.. there was no regular noodles in the pantry. My heart sank to the deepest of the deep because I was actually looking forward to having some nice home made indo-chinese noodles on that cold rainy evening. What I had was whole wheat spaghetti though so I thought, I can make noodles sometime later but I could settle for normal pasta that day. So I started... and in the process I decided to make the exact same recipe for the Indo-chinese noodles with the whole wheat...

There's always a time that I question my culture & values.. well I am human too you know.. This time it was a silly remark about how we can't have the Italian favorite home cooked spaghetti with meatballs in marinara sauce in Italian restaurants because the meat balls are made of beef/pork (I am not really sure) and our religion does not allow us to eat that.. We have a mental block to not consume any other meat than chicken, goat or lamb.. beef & pork are a big no no in the religion.. God knows how exactly that came into being.. But then yesterday, while trying to imagine things that I could do with some ground chicken lying in the freezer... the idea came to my mind.. that a masala chicken meat ball (similar to ground chicken kofta) should be made with good old spaghetti with some yummy sauce.. and what could be more yummier than old fashioned marinara sauce.. so here it is.. Spaghetti with chicken meat balls in marinara sauce... since it was weeknight.. the marina...

We odiyas have grown up with the idea of mustard paste being added to cook fish & shrimp & veggies.. but never ever had I imagined that I could use the same concept (little tricked & changed of course to fit the bill) for chicken too.. It was a fine Saturday mid-day when the craving of having something non-veg spicy came into my mind (errrr.. my stomach..) .. The freezer had some chicken drummets from store.. which were shrieking out to be used... And just a few days back.. I had seen a post somewhere about using mustard paste with chicken gravy.. I thought I should totally try it... This was new to me..and I must confess the gravy was a super hit... we ate double the amount of white rice .. and saved some for later too.. Everyone who loves chicken and mustard paste should totally try this.. and Enjoy with white fluffy rice.. :) What I used Around 1.5 Lbs of chicken drummets (small chicken legs) 2 table spoons of black & yellow mustard seeds 1 table spoon o...

A weeknight early dinner idea which struck me as I was having some friends visit me midweek.. I needed something filling & healthy & veggie & less-time-consuming & tasty.... Well its like searching for a perfect bride or groom which takes forever.. But.. thanks to our aunty.. I got the idea of making pizza topping on a bread and baking it to crispy perfectness of snack... Paired with hot tea, this was a perfect light snack for all of us... which kind of took us through dinner too.. :) Here's what I used.. 6 slices of white bread (brown will be fine too, I think, haven't tried though) 3/4 of one green bell pepper chopped very fine 1/4 of a medium onion chopped very fine 1 celery stalk chopped very fine 8 - 10 olives chopped very fine 6-7 springs of green coriander leaves chopped very fine Grated cheese as needed (I used Mozzarella) Tomato ketchup as needed Salt + Black Pepper powder Process Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Mine is a ...

In my " Pakhala Party " post, I had mentioned that we had an Odiya friend a.k.a P bhaina bring Dry Prawns Masala which was a BIG HUGE HIT with pakhala.. Well.. I tried to re-live the recipe & came wee bit close.. I still believe, that P bhaina's "Chingudi Kassa" is still the BESTest in the world.. :) As I promised in my previous post, here is the recipe that I tried.. there are some variations that you can make.. and make it your own.. Hope you try & enjoy it... as much as we did... What I used 1.5 Lbs of medium size prawns..cleaned (head-on + left the tail cover on too) marinated in salt + turmeric for about 15 -20 mins. 2 inch Ginger + one full garlic (around 10 -12 pods) --> Crushed in mortar-pestle 1 medium size white onion finely chopped 1 medium tomato finely chopped 2 green chillies slit Masala powders (all to your taste of course) -- Jeera powder + Dhaniya powder + Garam masala powder + red chili powder 1 tea spoon whole je...

Weeknight... Store bought dosa batter staring back at you from the corner of the refrigerator.. its expiry date blinking like the red light indicator.. so what should we do??? Well... we all know the most friendly vegetable of all.. "Potatoes" (clap.. clap.. clap)... Take that with any one veggie.. (I picked frozen green peas)... and turn that into an overly simple.. very less ingredient .. .quickie stir fry... Took me about 8 - 12 mins in total in front of the gas stove.. I boiled the potatoes in the microwave.. so I don't count that as cooking time.. although its cooking time for the potatoes.. but not for me.. I don't have to stand there.. I go watch TV :) Here's what I used (The list is so small... ) 2 medium sized potatoes (boiled in the MV.. peeled & cut into small pieces) 1/2 white onion chopped ion long slices 1 cup frozen green peas (no thawing.. just drop them directly) 1 tea spoon full of mustard seeds + 2 tea spoons of urad dal for...

This story is an old one... :) The sad story of working girls is that, we don't get enough time for our own friends... its family in the morning, work in the day, gym in the evening and family again at night... Suddenly, all my girl friends started to feel the same way that I did.. so we decided to have a girls night in.. where no guys were invited, just us girls.. it was a potluck... So emails started flowing from friends.. as to who would make what !! Once of my very good friends.. emailed me.. asking if I can make my "kass-kass-paneer"... I was like.. "I have no idea.. what that is".. and she goes.. am sure.. you made it somewhere... else how will I know.. But then, I was already assigned dessert.. so I kept quite.. but it still kept me inquisitive as to what is kass-kass-paneer.. so I started searching.. and while doing that.. I understood .. she meant.. "khas-khas" i.e. poppy seeds. or posto as we call it.. So in the next lunch...