Celebrating five years of blogging with a give away!

Savi-Ruchi Turns Five Today. It's been a wonderful wonderful journey for me. I never imagined that this blog that I started out of boredom would reach such a milestone. In these years, my identity has changed. Most of them know me as Sush of Savi-Ruchi.

I did realize in these 5 years that, there is another world out here. I made many friends & am totally loving it. My hubby's friends(whom I do not even know), call him & praise about my blog. My cousins advertise about my blog to their friends. I get so many wonderful comments from people. They praise my recipes & say " God bless you". I'm very lucky to get blessings from so many people whom I got to know only because of this blog. Wow, it is beautiful feeling.

Now it is my time to say thanks to you all. A huge thank you to all my readers. In order to celebrate, I thought of gifting you guys something. I thought of giving something that is used almost everyday in the kitchen. What better thing I could think other than a skillet/griddle/tawa.  So, I decided to give Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet from Amazon.

Here are some of the ways to own this cast iron skillet .
1. Like my page on Facebook & leave me a comment. (so that I could count you for the give away).
2. If you have already liked my facebook page before, then just leave a comment on my facebook page or to my mail or write a comment below.
3. Follow me on google+ & leave me a comment to let me know you are following me.

You need not be a blogger to win this give away. This is open for all my readers.

One random winner will be chosen by the end of September'2013. If you want to increase the chances of winning this.., you could do it all ...i.e, like my facebook page, and leave a comment here. If you do that, you will get double lucky. I'll use your name twice for the lucky draw. 

One more way of getting double the luck is by sharing it with your friends. Share about this give away in your blog or facebook or twitter or google+. Do include me when you share.

This give away is open till 30th September 2013.

Note: This give away is eligible for US residents only. You are free to comment or like, even if you are a  non-US resident. If you win the give away, I'll be happy to send it to your friend or family member residing in the USA.

PS: Nobody is sponsoring me for this give away. I'm paying it from my pocket.

AND THE WINNER IS.......................................... Preety of Preety's Kitchen. Kindly get in touch (my mail id is sushmadotsaviruchiatgmaildotcom) within the next 5 days. If I do not receive any response in this week, I'll be forced to chose another winner. 

Cooking Tips: Grinding frozen coconut

Does the frozen coconut/dried coconut ooze out oil while making coconut chutney or any other coconut based gravies? Use warm to hot water while grinding the coconut & see the difference!!

Cooking Tips

• When trying to chop the boiled potato, it sticks to the knife. To avoid it, dip the knife in water & then chop the boiled potatoes.  
• Sometimes dosa(especially neer dosa)/akki rotti sticks to the spatula when we try to remove it from the griddle. Dip the spatula in water & then use it. The dosa will no more stick to the spatula.

Can you identify this?

Vegetable!

Correct Answer: Round bottle gourd.

Taiyo Meat Chopper

Are you wondering that how come a vegetarian blog is writing about meat? That is the name of the chopper that I recently invested in chopping vegetables. Sounds contradicting!! I went with the words of my friend here & bought this chopper. I am so far happy with it.

When I wrote about my chopper here, many of my friends asked me to share the information. So, here I am writing about it.

 (Pic Courtesy: http://www.courts.com.sg/Products/CourtsStoreOnlineCatalog/PID-IP010943(Courts).aspx)


Name: Taiyo Meat Chopper
From: Courts Megastore
Price: Usual price S$39.90(I bought for S$29.90, during some sale)
More details:Refer here.

Now coming to my listed pros & cons.

Pros:

• Slicing + grating of carrots, cucumbers: very good & can be done within seconds.
• Mincing + shredding + chopping very fine, great.
• Watery vegetables like tomato & cucumber could also be chopped.
• Small in size.
• Cleaning of the jar is very easy.

Cons:

• Was not able to chop green leafy vegetables.
• I did not find it useful for making stir-fry/poriyal/palya because it doesn't cut the way we need. 

Note: This is not a paid review. My friends asked for the details of the chopper, so I wrote it for them. 

Popular Rasam Recipes

My blog is getting a back seat because of other higher priority tasks. I really want to get back to blogging in full swing. Hoping to settle all the other tasks in another couple of weeks.

So, thought of taking a sneak-peak of some of my popular rasam recipes. Do try if you haven't tried them yet!

Carrot-tomato rasam

Instant majjige saaru/Instant yogurt rasam

Punarpuli saaru/Kokum rasam

Instant pepper rasam/Pepper garlic rasam

Ganji saaru

Language translation of ingredients: From English to Kannada

Here is a teeny-weeny effort from me. Will keep updating the list & try to include as many as possible. 
Your inputs & comments are most appreciated. Thank you.

English	Kannada
Amaranth leaves	Dantina soppu
Asafoetida	Hingu/ingu
Beaten rice	Avalakki
Bitter gourd	Hagalkayi
Black eyed peas	Alasande kalu
Bottle gourd	Sorekayi/Sorekai
Brahmi	Ondelaga/timare
Broken wheat	Godi rave
Capsicum	Dappa menasina kayi
Carom seeds	Omkalu/Ajwain
Cauliflower	Hukosu
Chow chow	Seeme badane kayi
Cilantro/coriander leaves	Kottambari
Cluster beans	Gorikayi/Javalikayi
Cucumber	Southekayi
Cumin seeds	Jeerige
Curry leaves	Karibevu
Dill leaves	Sabsige/Sabbakki soppu
Drumstick	Nuggekayi
Eggplant/Brinjal	Badanekayi
Finger millet	Ragi
Flax seed	Agase beeja
Ginger	Shunti
Gram flour	Kadale hittu
Gram lentils/dal	Kadale bele
Green peas	Batani
Horse gram	Hurali
Indian cottage cheese	Paneer
Ivy gourd	Thondekayi
Jackfruit	Halasu
Lemon	Nimbe hannu
Lentils	BeLe
Mustard seeds	Saasive
Okra/Ladies finger	Bendekayi
Peanuts/Ground nuts	Kadale beeja
Porridge	Ganji/Kanji
Poppy seeds	Gasgase
Potato	Aloo gadde/batate
Puffed rice	Mandakki/Kadle puri/puri
Pumpkin	Sihi kumbalakayi
Ridge gourd	Heerekayi
Skinned black gram lentils/dal	Uddina bele
Sorghum	Jola
Spinach	Palak soppu
Split pigeon peas	Thogari bele
Turmeric	Arishina
Vermicelli	Shavige
Winter melon	Boodu kumbalakayi

Top 5 Rice Recipes

I get requests once a while to put more one pot rice dishes that can be a good tiffin box or lunch item. Here are some popular rice recipes at my blog.

Gorikayi bhaath/Spiced Cluster beans rice

Coriander rice

Vegetable fried rice (Indo Chinese)

Spanish rice

Tomato bhath: Karnataka style

PS: Guessing time, post is updated. Check it out to find the correct answer!

Guessing time!

If you have observed in the first photo that this is a plant that grows near the water & it is abundantly seen during the rainy season. There are many delicacies made using this leaf as the main ingredient! Now, start guessing.

Note: I am currently enjoying my vacation & will be back after couple of weeks!!

Update: All of you have guessed it right. They are colocasia leaves used in making pathrode/pathra. Will give a tough one next time! Thanks for participating. 

Announcing my first event - "Tried & Tested" event!

Here is the announcement of a blog event "Tried & Tested", for the month of April-11. This is the first ever event on this space. When I got the confirmation from Lakshmi, I was overwhelmed & super excited...

I have chosen Prathibha's " the chef and her kitchen" blog as the blog of the month.I have bookmarked a lot of recipes from her blog & want to try them. I am sure most of you must have done it too! She has a well maintained blog with many fans following her. Her blog soothes your eyes with pictures of good food. I love her dosa varieties & Andhra recipes. I am sure you will enjoy cooking the delicacies from her blog. Then what are you waiting for. Visit her blog, cook, click & send in your entries!

Here are some simple rules:

• Cook any recipe(s) from Prathibha's blog and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post. Multiple entries are welcome!
• There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as your grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
• Have you cooked from Blog of the month before? As this event is all about tasting and reflecting on the taste, older posts are also welcome. Kindly repost it & give a link to this post. Don't forget to mention about the T&T event.
• Link your post to this announcement and to Lakshmi's blog . Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss. Kindly use the logo. Thanks :)
• Send me an e-mail to sushma.saviruchi@gmail.com with the following details:

• Your name:
• Name of the blog:
• Recipe tried:
• Your post URL as well as the original URL:
• A picture (300px by height, please):

• Deadline is 6th May 2011 and the round up will be posted within 15 days. 
• Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate.Simply e-mail me with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.

Happy 2011 and Top recipes of 2010.

Wishing you and your family a very happy and a prosperous new year 2011!

                    (Courtesy: http://topblogger.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Happy-New-Year-2011.jpg)

I thought I will compile the popular recipes of Savi-Ruchi in 2010. As it turns out, rasam recipes were a hit. I wonder what is the trend for 2011? Thanks for all the support and let's continue savoring good food, in the coming years.

Top 6: Open semolina sandwich

Top 5: Avrekayi menthesoppu rotti/Fenugreek leaves flat bread

Top 4: Instant majjige saaru/Quick yogurt soup/rasam

Top 3:Palak paneer/Spinach & cottage cheese curry

Top 2: Thili saaru/Udupi rasam/saaru/soup

Top 1: Macaroni in spinach-pumpkin seeds pesto

After a very long time, I am sending this to an event. They are off to Srivalli's "Best of 2010" event.

Recipes for Ekadashi

Today is Vaikunta Ekadashi. Some of my friends asked me to share specific dishes that could be prepared on Ekadashi. In Karnataka, consuming beaten rice & saabudana/sago is allowed on this day, however in other States of India, beaten rice are not consumed. Suprisingly at my blog, I do not have many recipes that could be prepared by everyone on Ekadashi. Here are some. (I am already late in publishing this post, hope it helps atleast next year :p)

Beaten rice recipes:
Huli avalakki/Gojju avalakki/Spiced beaten rice
Avalakki bhath/Beaten rice bhath
Avalakki kesari/Beaten rice pudding
Mosaru avalakki/Beaten rice in spiced yogurt

Identify this...can you!

No clue this time. This is very simple, don't you think so?

Update:Wow!!, all of you have guessed it right. It is indeed sapota/chiku tree. 

Happy Deepavali/Diwali

Wishing you & your family a very happy deepavali/diwali.

The vegetable

Here is the enlarged image of the same.

Thanks for the response. Many got it confused with cauliflower. The first correct answer  "Cabbage" came from myspicykitchen. Three cheers to her.

When I took this photo, I saw the cauliflower plants too, but was unable to go near to take the pictures. Both plants look alike, except that the leaves of the cauliflower plant are more pointed in shape than the cabbage plant. Also, the leaves naturally cover the cauliflower head to maintain its color. Here is the picture of the cauliflower plant (Reference: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/vegetabl/images/large/cauliflowerselfblanch.jpg)

During the trip, we saw potato plants, maize, pineapple & lot more. Here are some potatoes getting ready for shipment to your country :p

Can you identify this vegetable??

These are excellent sources of Vitamin-K & Vitamin-C. Has very few calories & dieters would dive in on the soup prepared using this. I hope I have given you enough hint ;)

Very easy one, isn't it? :)

One more milestone & a festive spread

Yippee.., Another day, another milestone...if you remember, I had recently celebrated 2nd year birthday of Savi-Ruchi. Now, with this post, I have completed 200 posts...Thank you for all the continued support. When I started, I really had not imagined that I will be enthusiastic for, so long. I am extremely satisfied with myself. I enjoy cooking; I like clicking; and I love blogging (Sorry..couldn't think of a good rhyming word :) :)...

Back to the festive spread. Thought of sharing with you my Ganesha festival thali or spread. We had a great festival this year. My son thoroughly enjoyed the prayers & the food. Poor guy was forced to fast with us, as I was busy preparing the prasadam(offerings to God).

Here is what I prepared.
1. Sabbakki payasam/kheer(Sago pudding)
2. Kosu palya (Cabbage stirfry)
3. Kadlekalu usli (steamed & spiced black chickpeas/garbanzo beans)
4. Puliyogare (Tamarind rice)
5. Thukudi/shankarpoli (Fried snack)
6. Modaka/modak (fried sweet dumplings)
7. Hayagreeva/maddi (Gram dal dessert)
8. Rice
9. Thovve (Dal fry)
10. Rasam
11. Karigadabu (Deep fried sweet dish)
12. Curd/Yogurt (It didnot take any effort to prepare this though!!)

Here is a picture for you (It has items 1-9). I was too tired & hungry after preparing. Hence, did not make effort to take pictures in different angles. Did not even bother to place them in different bowls. Will take better pictures next time. Promise!

Recipe Ideas for Ganesh Chaturthi 2013

Click on the image to open the recipe.