0 Rendez Vous With A Foodie Sanoli Ghosh of Sanolis Kitchen

Days are running so faster for me, since my kids started their schooling eventhough life is back to routine, am keeping myself busy in few stuffs,obviously my days are not slow as before.Reading books,chatting with friends, outing, shopping and some baking,yes my day is filled with so many activities and am loving it coz i dont like to sit idle. Today is 7th september and its time for my event Rendez Vous With A Foodie, an event happening twice a month in my blog,the main motto of this event is to introduce budding bloggers to this immense virtual world. This event is a huge hit and am happy that finally i could conduct an event through which few of the new bloggers are getting closer to me and am enjoying the bond between us. Eventhough i wont promote myself as a Super blogger, but still i think that i may showcase those new buddies to this incredible virtual world. I started this event few months back, till now many bloggers joined their hands with me and few are still in queue to showcase their space here. Thanking god for this,needless to say that this event is very close to my heart.

Today am introducing an incredible chef, who shares many interesting dishes, especially many delicious Bengali dishes in her space, she never fails to surprise me with her droolworthy dishes with her stepwise pictures. Just go through her space, am sure you will definitely fallen in love with her space. She is none other than Sanoli Ghosh of Sanolis Kitchen, i came to know Sanoli last year and we started visiting our respective blogs mutually. Slowly we got to know more and she fabulously challenged us with an incredible dish Peas kachori with dum aloo for the famous South Vs North Challenge.I cant forget the taste of this combo even today and it became our family favourite since ever i tried it. Sanoli is an enthusiastic blogger with a huge heart, very respective and a truthful friend, a best sister whom am eagerly waiting to meet atleast once in my life time. Sanoli,this wonderful blogger who shares stepwise pictures to each and every post is really a down to earth person.Even a beginner or bachelor can learn any dish from her space as she shares accurate measurements to every dishes she blogs.

Lets hear from Sanoli now..

Today is really a very special day for me and I was waiting for it from few month’s back.  The reason is I am going to guest post on my favourite food blogger friend, my Priya Suresh akka’s space, Priya’s Versatile Recipes. Each month she introduced two of the new fellow bloggers and their recipes on her event “Rendezvous with a foodie”.

 Priya akka is a wonderful human being, whenever we, fellow bloggers (or who are new to this food blogging world) need any help, we always get guidance and the cooperation from her. When I saw she announced about her event, I placed my request and akka approved me to give a chance to showcase my recipe on the space. Feeling immense honour and it is a great opportunity to showcase my talent on this event. I admire and respect Priya Suresh akka from the core of my heart.

 I am really happy to get Priya akka in this virtual blogging world, as she is an inspiration to me in cooking and baking. I am really thankful to her to get this opportunity and feeling very honoured today. Thanks a ton akka. Here is my super delicious mouth watery recipe “Corn Peas Kababs”, a vegan kabab, which is very easy with few ingredients and can be prepared in minutes. Hope you will like this treat Priya akka, lets come to the recipe…

1) Tell us about your blog and you?

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Sanoli Ghosh, the creator & author of “Sanoli’s Kitchen”. Me and my husband both are complete foodie and cooking is my passion. I love to experiment on new dishes, as don’t like regular stuff. I entered kitchen for cooking only after marriage and on that day I was quite novice, my husband taught me the nuts and bolts of it. On those days, cooking was an adventure for me. Gradually, my cooking skills have been amplified. Now I can cook lot of varieties; as much as I love making my traditional family recipes, I also love taking a plunge into other cuisines of India and around the world. 

I don’t consider myself an expert, my blog contains all tested and tried recipes and those are loved by our family and friends. It is my belief, learning never ends. I am always enthusiastic to learn new things. I am quite outspoken and transparent in nature. Though, a careerist woman before, now enjoying this phase of life as a proud homemaker.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?

Before blogging, I was attached with corporate world, not that much sufficient time was in my hand. That time I experimented on my kitchen on weekend basis only. But after starting food blogging, I learnt a lot. I started many more exploration in my kitchen on regular basis, it is definitely changed my life and filled it with lots of fun and enjoyment. Not only cooking and serving new dishes, but food photography is also quite interesting which I started after my blogging only. Feeling so happy that I got bunches of virtual friends, who always inspiring me and definitely it changed my lonely life and gave a new trend. Before I was not aware of technical issues on blogging. But dissolving different problems, now much more aware on it.

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?

Before this year, I was in USA for 3&1/2 years. Lots of Indian bachelors and newly married couples were there who were always searching for good and tasty Indian food. Very oftenly, they asked me about several recipes. So I decided to start my food blog to share my recipes with them. As I love food and passionate on cooking & baking, I thought if my shared dishes would been tried out by them, it must be criticized and my hubby was my first critic. I admired it, because those were a lesson for me, to cook or bake in a better way towards the perfection.

4)There are a tonsof blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?

I loved to cook or bake very easy and simple recipes with step by step detailed pictorial presentation, which is surely help a novice to cook in a better way. I always tried to use very easily available ingredients which are maximum available in our pantries. So, anyone can tryout those dishes on daily basis.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

My grandma was the best inspiration to me for making traditional recipes in delicious way. After that my mom is an expert to make fusion food, I learnt different techniques from her too.

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?

I faced lots of problems while I started my blogging, first few days I was waiting for a single follower, no one was there to follow my space with a single comment. I was really too sad. But I didn’t stop myself to post recipes. After few weeks or so, people started to visit and follow my space with their beautiful comments. I got bunches of lovely, cooperating friends in this virtual world. Thanks to this blogging world.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

I love most of my recipes, but there are some which I do think are my best recipes.Litti,Mixed Chokha with hara dhaniya chutney,Grilled Murgb Tangri Kabab,Chicken Shashlik,Vanilla Chocolate Chips Muffins,Litchi Cookie Dessert,Sugar free Eggless Chocolate Pudding,Easy Bread Pizza,Ragda Patties,Green Peas Kachori With Spicy Dam Aloo and Kolambi Bhaat-Konkani Prawn Rice.

8)Few tips about food photography?

 I don’t have much knowledge in photography. But few things I must say, food photography definitely needs lots of patience. Keep clicking as much as possible. No need to use expensive and exclusive props. Try to shoot in daylight, attractive background and decent presentation are required. Lastly, use a photo editing tool to edit pictures perfectly.

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?

 I don’t have any constraint budget. Normally I try to manage with the stuffs which are available in my pantry. But nowadays I frequently purchase stuffs for baking and It increases my budget a little. For the props, no such budget, but if anything I find out lucrative, will go for it.

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

 I don’t have any plan as such. It depends on my personal commitments. But I post at least twice a week on my blog.

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

 Other than blogging, I love music, so whenever I get free time, I listen any type of music. I love to read novels. Home décor is also one of my interesting fields.

Corn Peas Kathi Kababs:

 INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Sweet Corn (frozen)

½ Cup Green Peas (frozen)

¼ Cup Sattu (roasted Bengal gram / chana dal flour)

1&1/2 tsp Finely Chopped Green Chilies

1 Egg 

8 Kabab Sticks

2 tbsps Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves

1 tsp Cumin Powder

2 tsp Dried Mango Powder (amchur)

½ tsp Paprika

1 tsp Sugar (for flavor)

Salt to taste

2-3 tbsps Oil (for shallow frying)

1/3 tsp Chaat Masala 

1 tsp Lemon Juice

METHOD:

Firstly, lightly crush corn and peas separately  in grinder.

Mix everything (except chaat masala, lemon juice, kabab sticks and oil) nicely in a large bowl.  This must be a tight mixture. (if not add little more sattu)

Grease kabab sticks with little oil. Divide the mixture in to 6 equal parts. Put onto wooden sticks with moist hand and give a shape like kababs.

Heat oil in a non-stick tawa or griddle. Place 2-3 kababs on it. 

Shallow fry those kababs on medium heat.  Turning is needed to brown evenly.

Place on a serving tray, sprinkle chaat masala and lemon juice on the top. Serve immediately with green coriander chutney and onion rings.

Enjoy this super delectable corn kathi kababs.

SERVES: 3

0 Rendez Vous With A Foodie Sharanya Palanisshami of Saras Tasty Buds

Most of my followers knows very well about my new event where am introducing upcoming new budding bloggers twice a month.As i told earlier, the main motto of this event is to showcase the new food bloggers,their passions and their respective blogs.Obviously every 7th and 20th of the month, a newbie blogger will post their guest post in my space and am very happy to introduce them eventhough some of them may be very much familiar to you. However am proud and happy to invite them to my space to post their guest post and i got immense responses from each and every newbies when i send a message through a social network.Thanks guys, am really honoured and blessed to get you all around me.

Today am introducing an another incredible,young blogger who blogs at Saras Tasty Buds,its none other than Sharanya Palanisshami,a young chef who was quite busy with her studies but still she blogs almost everyday with many different dishes. She bakes,cooks,blogs,participates in many food events and leave comments to her co-bloggers, omg dunno how she manage to do all these things.I know Sharanya since a year, but honestly she is one among the budding bloggers i love to visit often and seriously love her cooking and baking skills. Hope a day we will meet personally and get know more about her.

Shall we go to meet my todays guest Sharanya Palanisshami of Saras Tasty Buds....

    Hi friends, I am happy to write a guest post for priya akka of priya’s versatile recipes. I was a follower of her blog for a long time before I know her. We became friends from May 2012. I will be eagerly waiting to see her delicious post daily. She was excellent blogger who blogs daily with new innovative recipes. We didn’t met in person , will happen in future. When priya akka announced about the Rendez Vous With a Foodie , I immediately asked her to give a date for me and it was today…….

 These are the questionnaire from priya akka to me………

Before and after blogging, tell us wat blogging changed your life?
 Blogging had made many changes , I  came to know about many friends , different cuisines , different cooking methods and so on..

When and what motivated you to blog about food?
Cooking was my passion from childhood. I used to collect lot of recipes. I came to know about the blogging  by October of 2009 . I thought why can’t I have a digitalized version of my recipe collection  and my blog baby was born.

There are tons of blogs/pages on food these days what according to you is the speciality of your blog and the food that you cook?
Yes , there are tons of blog , each will be unique. I usually blog about the day- to - day recipes which we cook in our home. I mostly post a recipe which requires the ingredients which are easily available. I also blog about traditional , Indian , International and eggless baking recipes.

Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when it comes to blogging,tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it? Please specify with facts and details.
The biggest problem for me is to gain more visitors . I didn’t realize this problem for a long time. To bring more visitors to my blog I participated in events and challenges.

What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?
I think my best recipe was my Red Velvet Cake.My favorite recipes I had posted still are Sandhavai,Pain Ulundhi Vadai and Kongu Special,Cold Pasta Salad,Dates Roll and Jangiri.

Few tips about food photography?
I was not an expert in the photography. I will be sharing few tips ……..
Always take photographs in natural light .
Use the props contrast to the food.

What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?
I mostly use the household utensils as props. I bought few which are below 100 rupees not more than that.

How do you plan your blogposts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?
I post regularly for the past year. I want to post daily if time permits.

Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?
I love to do hand embroidering and other handworks . I have a blog for that but I didn’t post regularly. The blog name is Saranyas Handworks.

 Being from kongu region , I want to post recipes from our kongu region. Hope some know about the region and their cuisine. For those who don’t know about the cuisine , I am giving a short introduction.

 Kongunadu cuisine is the cuisine of the kongu region of the Tamil nadu. Kongu region covers salem , nammakal , erode , Coimbatore , Tiruppur, pollachi and 30 more places of Tamilnadu.

In olden days , most of the people of the region are farmers . Nowadays , they are into starting many industries , textile mills , poultry , automobile industries , educational institutiona and so on.

 Regarding the cuisine of the region , it is different from other regions and uses their farming products usually.

 The kongu nadu cuisine is a collection of exotic recipes of the people . there are so many traditional recipes we are still following. There are many legumes and pulses are used in our daily cooking. The few recipes which I name can be arisiumparuppu sadham , opputu ( poli ) , sandhavai ( Idhiyappam ) , chola paniyaram and so on.

I am going to share three of our kongu recipes today………
Kachayam / sweet Fritters
Pachai payarru sadham / Green lentil rice
Ragi vadai / pakoda

We will start with a sweet recipe……….

 Today I am sharing the recipe of the favorite sweet / snack . I won’t  count how many I had eaten . everyone will like this simple sweet delicious snack.

Kachayam/Sweet Fritters:
 Kachayam as we call is sweet fritters made using maida , sugar , banana and cardamom. It was a usual sweet dish made immediately when the guest arrives. As this kachayam can be made easily, in our home we makes this often when we are having more  fully ripen bananas.

 This is a traditional recipe of the kongunadu cuisine. Many of the people of this region makes this delicious sweet fritters.

Ingredients:
Maida / All purpose flour – 2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Banana – 2
Baking soda – ¼ tsp ( optional )
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Water
Salt – a pinch
Oil for frying

Mix the flour , salt , sugar , cardamom powder and baking soda together.

Mash the banana well and add to the flour.

Add in half cup of water and make into smooth batter.

Heat oil in a kadai , pour spoonful of batter into the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot crispy kachayams.

Kachayam are ready to serve.

It  tastes better next day but will be chewy  .

Passipayarru Sadhdam/Green Lentils Rice:

  Passipayarru sadham as we call is the rice cooked with freshly grounded masala and whole green gram lentil . This rice is unique to kongu region . Some people call this as Arisumparuppu , but we won’t call so . For us Arisumparuppu is the lentil rice – rice cooked with tuvar dhal  ( Red gram dhal ). Well , this is also dhal cooked with rice.

 This tastes different from the arisumparuppu , as the freshly grounded masala is added to this rice , which gives a unique flavor to it.

This was a easy to make one pot meal which can be taken in lunchbox too.

Ingredients:
Rice – 2 cup
Green gram dhal – 1 cup
Sesame oil – 1 tbs
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Shallots – 10
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Red chilli – 2
Asafoetida / Hing – a pinch
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt as required

To grind:
Cumin – 1 tsp
Pepper corns – 10
Ginger –  2 ” piece
Khuskhus / Poppy seeds – ½ tsp
Shallots – 4
Curry leaves - few
Garlic – 10 cloves
Red chilli – 4
Cinnamon – I small stick
Cloves – 2
Aniseeds / Fennel – 1 tsp

I used whole moong dhal to make this rice , split green gram can be used but make sure it has its skin intact.

Wash and soak the rice and dhal together for 20 minutes.

Grind the list of to grind ingredients to a fine paste.

Chop the shallots into small pieces.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker , add the hing and mustard seeds , let it crackle.

Add in the chopped shallots , split red chillies and sauté till onion becomes transparent.

Now , Add the grounded paste and fry it for two minutes.

Add the curry leaves , turmeric powder  and soaked rice and dhal , stir well.

Add about 4 ½ cup of water and required salt, mix well.

Cover the lid and cook for two whistles.

Let the pressure subsides. Open the lid and stir gently.

Pasipayarru sadham is ready to serve.

Serve  along with ghee / sesame oil  or curd.

Ragi Pakoda/Finger Millet Fritters:

  Ragi pakoda is one of the common snack of the kongu region. The speciality of this pakoda is we add murungaikeerai / drumstick leaves to this pakoda in our region.i like this snack a lot , It was healthy as both ragi and drumstick leaves are rich in Iron.

Ingredients:
Ragi flour – 2 cup
Onion – 1
Green chilli – 4
Drumstick leaves – a handful
Salt as required
Curry leaves
Water
Oil for frying

Chop the onion and green chillies to fine pieces.

In a bowl , add the flour , onion , green chillies , curry leaves , drumstick leaves , salt and mix well.

Sprinkle little water and mix well to make a smooth tight batter.

Heat oil in a kadai , add the small pieces of the dough and deep fry till crisp.

As the color of the ragi is brown , we can’t able to check from its color.  Cook in medium flame for 10 minutes is enough.

Ragi pakodas are ready to serve.

Tastes best when warm.

 Hope everyone like my simple easy to make kongu recipes...

Thank you priya akka for giving me opportunity to write on your space.