Bird in A nest

Hi everyone!!
This is one of my most interesting creations. It is great for a get together or brunch with friends or kid's parties! 
It's especially for those mothers who want to make their kids party interesting. Kids are generally difficult to satisfy when it comes to food, But when you present simple food in a cute and attractive way kids love it and eat without any hassle.

This bird's Nest is nothing but:

• 1 Packet of hakka egg noodles
• 3 big potatoes (boiled)
• 100 grams boiled peas
• Butter: 2 tbsp
• Salt and pepper according to your taste
• Oil for frying
• Some carrot for decoration

Procedure:

1) First boil the noodles properly adding salt and little oil.

Note: Don't over oil it otherwise it will become soggy.

2) Drain the water properly.

 

3) Mix salt and add 3 tsp of oil thoroughly and keep it the noodles aside ready for preparing the basket.

   

4) Follow this very carefully, as this is the trickiest part. Take a medium sized strainer like the above one, put some boilers noodles in it, then in the middle put a small bowl and press it hard to set it right.

5) Now fry the noodles in this position in hot oil making sure the position of the bowl stays intact, otherwise the shape of the basket won't come right. Fry it for minimum 10 min in medium flame or till the whole basket is fried crispy.

I am giving a video demo for your convenience       

                            

                                      

6)The crispy basket is ready!!

7) Now let's prepare the mashed potatoes!
Ready to give it a shape of a bird or a duck or may be a swan too (if you have patience), you can give it whatever shape you desire. 
Mix butter, salt, pepper and oregano in the potatoes while mashing it properly. If you want you can add a bit of cornflour for binding. 
Take a tablespoon of butter in a pan and fry the mashed potatoes for 5-6 minutes.
Now keep this aside and let it cool down.

 

8) Now give the potato mash the shape you want it to be (in my case a bird).

9) Place these birdies in the crispy noodle baskets and decorate the birds with vegetables or candies to make it colorful.

10) Serve it with some boiled and tossed veggies as healthy topping.

I wanted to keep it simple, and healthy so I used carrots for making the bird's wings and beak.

You can get more creative and use different kinds of spices or even chocolate gems for making the bird's eyes! :)

Kids who don't like vegetables will gladly eat these cute birdies in crispy noodle nests! (you can stuff and put in more vegetables for kids)

Aloo Tamatar (Potato-Tomato Curry)

Hi friends Shravan mahina is about to end. Many of you must be fasting like me on Mondays. Eating one time and preferably dishes  made out of potatoes . 

So I'm going to tell you my easy and less time consuming potato curry dish which you can prepare in a jiffy and enjoy with paratha or puri.

 Following are the ingredients:-

Boiled potato cut into pieces

Frozen green peas

                                                 3 green chilies chopped

                                                 1 tsp of cumin seeds

                                                 2 pinches of asafoetida

                                                 1 tsp of turmeric powder

                                                 1 tsp of chilly powder 

                                                 2 tsp of garam masala powder

                                                 1 tsp of clarified butter ( ghee )

4-5 tomatoes cut into pieces

PROCEDURE:-

Heat 1 tsp of refined oil in a pan, then add the cumin seeds (jeera) and hing (asafoetida) ,when the spices start spluttering add turmeric (haldi) powder and mirchi (chilli/paprika) powder. Then cook it for 1 min. Now add the tomato pieces into it and cook it for another 10 mins & also add required amount of salt in it. Now at this point add the boiled potatoes and peas and cook further so that all the spices are uniformly mixed. Then add 1 cup of water. Let the whole thing come to a proper boiling point. Then simmer the flame and add the garam masala powder and ghee. Mix it well and cover the pan. Give a standing time of 10-15 mins. Before serving sprinkle some coriander  leaves from top.

It's Done~                              

                          

~Enjoy~

Aloo Potol / Aloo Parwal

There are many exotic vegetables across the world, And India has a really wide range of exotic and unique vegetables at that which many people are unaware of. Each province/State in our country has its own unique cuisine.

The veggie called “parval” or ‘potol’ scientifically known as Trichosanthes dioica, is a veggie used in many Northern and Eastern cuisines of Indian cooking. One of the most popularly cooked version of parval (potol) is with potatoes called “Aloo potol” / Aloo parwal !

Aloo parwal curry is easy to make and healthy too! 

Parwal/Potol Vegetable

Ingredients:

-Potol/Parwal (trichosanthes dioica) -cut into halves

-Potatoes: diced it into pieces

-Tomatoes chopped: 4-5

-Ginger paste: 2 tsp
-Hing(asafoetida): 1 pinch
-Dhania powder(coriander powder): 1 tsp
-Haldi powder (turmeric): 1 tsp
-Mirchi powder (red chilli powder): 1 tsp
-Garam masala powder : 1 tsp
-Ghee(Indian clarified butter): 1 tsp
-Fresh coriander leaves 

-5 spices(panch phoron): cumin seeds, nigella/black caraway seeds,  fennel seeds, radhuni/wild celery seeds, mustard seeds

Procedure:-

• First shallow fry the potatoes and diced parval (separately) and kept it aside.
• Take 1 tsp of oil in the kadai (wok) and add 'panch phoron' ie a mix of 5 indian spices: (jeera,kalonji,saunf,radhuni &sarso)
• When the spices start spluttering, add the ginger paste.
• Then add the diced tomatoes and cook till the oil separates in the pan.
• Now add the spices: turmeric, coriander and chilli powder & cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Once you smell the aroma coming from the spices, that time add the fried parval and potatoes and salt and sugar according to your taste. 
• Add a cup of water and let the curry boil.
• Lastly when oil starts appearing at the top, add little ghee and 1 tsp of garam masala to it and mix it nicely.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves as a garnish and serve hot with steaming rice.

~ENJOY~

What is the spice Panch Phoron?

Here: Bengali Spice Mix (Wiki) 

Can I buy it online (as a readymade mixed packet) ?

Yes, they are available as ready packets

Buy them online here at: 

• Amazon In
• Amazon US