ME, the lazy foodie !!

I am absolutely positive that most of the Konkani people know how to prepare this. But I just wanted to put up the recipe for non-konkani people just to say its the simplest kind of daal ever. You dont have to cut onions or tomatoes or even garlic and it still tastes yummy (not to generalize but well, atleast all konkani people are in love with it). This daal can be made into either thick consistency or thin consistency and I used to love the thicker version of it and my sister used to love the thinner version of it. As usual, like I have mentioned so many times, me and my sister are like this (X): total opposites !! Anyways, we still used to enjoy the dish so much and even now I eat it like plain lentil soup. Just cannot get enough of it - EVER !!

Medu Vada, meaning soft vadas, are a very famous snack / breakfast item in South India. They are generally served as a side item with Idlis / Dosas with either chutney or sambar. Generally people eat a single medu vada with a heavy breakfast and still crave for more :) Medu vadas are soft inside and crispy on the outside when they are hot. They are super yummy and you cannot just have one :) Here is my recipe for medu vadas. I used to hate idlis back in India. So if we went to a hotel for breakfast, everyone used to order idlis with one vada each and I would get 2 vadas and skip the idlis altogether :P I just love medu vadas.

Heres for all of you a popular Deepavali dish from South India, mainly from Andhra Pradesh state. Its called Bellam Gaarelu - literally meaning jaggery vadas. They are made by soaking and grinding urdh daal, making vadas from them and soaking them in jaggery syrup to get mouth-watering bellam gaarelu. The recipe is from a close friend of mine who hails from Andhra Pradesh, and traditionally for Deepavali, his mom makes these mouth-watering gaarelu every year.

Most people I know today do not know how ghee is made from butter. It is a very simple process where large amounts of butter is heated continuously until a clear liquid is obtained and the solids separate out from it. The process of making ghee takes me back to my childhood days when the aroma of fresh ghee used to fill the house every Friday morning. My mom used to make fresh ghee for the diyas (oil lamps) on Fridays. She used to light ghee lamps on every Friday. She never used the old batch of ghee because it was already used by us for cooking / eating.

I am sure most of you foodies out there know that Andhra Pradesh is famous for its vast variety of pickles, both the ones that can be stored for years and the ones that can be eaten instantly. This recipe for cauliflower pickle is the sort which can be eaten instantly and cannot be stored for long periods of time. One of my close friends loves this pickle and I always make it especially for her. It only requires like 30 mins of your time, including cutting the cauliflower :) Its quick and quite yummy, but also very spicy. So do try it at home, if it appeals to your taste buds :)