310. Tried and Tasted Roundup, Part II - Recipes

This is Part II of the roundup for Tried and Tasted featuring Meena's blog, Hooked on Heat.

Meena is a fellow Canadian who lives in Mississauga, Ontario and her life revolves around food. She is a freelance food writer, recipe developer and cooking instructor and has just written a cookbook which will be available sometime in the Spring of 2010.

I am giving a copy of Meena's cookbook as a prize for the participants in T&T.

I have received so many beautiful posts and recipes and all the bloggers are unanimous in their praise of Meena's lovely blog. They just love her food and can't make enough of it.

You have seen all the wonderful dishes in Part I of the roundup. Here are more fabulous recipes and pictures for you to enjoy:

Chana dal Masala, Spiced Split Pea Lentils

24. Ksenia whose, Tales of the Spoon are the Chronicles of a Russian Vegan Girl living in Barcelona made, you guessed it, a vegan dish - Chana dal Masala, Spiced Split Pea Lentils. Her body needed this healthy dish to counterbalance the drinking and partying she did at the Sant Joan “botellón” on June 23.

Ksenia adapted Meena's original recipe as she didn't have tumeric or fennel seeds and was very pleased with the results.

She recommends people to read Meena's “How NOT to cook Indian food” post.

Rajasthani Kadhi, Spiced Yogurt Curry

25. Sumi of Sumi's kitchen made Rajashani Kadhi from Hooked on Heat. Sumi is a fan of Meena's blog and has followed it for a long time.

She says "Hers was one of the blogs that inspired me start with my own and I came to know about the concept of food events through her event " From My Rasoi" . That was my first participation in a food event. Though I have tried many dishes from her blog, I made this 'Rajathani Kadhi' especially for this event for the second time.The recipe is very simple and yet very different from the traditional South Indian mor kuzhambhu and the North Indian Kadhi.

Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs

26. From Italy, we have Graziana, of 'Erbe in Cucina' (Cooking with herbs) making Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs.

Graziana added some lemon zest to Meena's original recipe.

Fried Egg Sambal

27. Lisa, of Lisa's Kitchen, in London, Ontario, Canada, made Meena's Fried Egg Sambal because she "always enjoys dressing up one of nature's most versatile foods!" She served the egg with some pan-fried mushrooms.

Meena's original post is here.

Baingan ka Bharta, Indian Roasted Eggplant

28. Poormina, of Tasty Treats, sent us a dish of Baingan ka Bharta, Indian Roasted Eggplant.

She has been wanting to try this dish for a long time and jumped at the chance when she saw Meena's simple and delicious looking recipe.

Poormina loved the dish and will be making it often.

Deepti Srivastava, of Dip's Kitchen sent us two recipes:

Dahi Wali Chicken Curry

29. Deepti made Dahi Wali Chicken Curry. In Meena's recipe the chicken simmered in a yogurt gravy.

Karela Masala, Tangy Bitter Gourd

30. Deeptis second recipe is Karela Masala, Tangy Bitter gourd.

Meena's recipe uses onions, tomatoes and spices to give the Karela, or bitter gourd a tangy flavour.

Bitter gourd has many medicinal properties. It is considered to be helpful in lowering blood pressure. Bitter melon is an acquired taste and this dish might be a good one for anyone interested in trying this vegetable.

Three cheers for Pooja Sekar of Pooja's Kitchen. Pooja is relocating from Africa to India in the beginning of July and she managed to enter six recipes!

Egg Masala

31. Pooja made Egg Masala from Hooked on Heat.

Gobi Manchurian, Cauliflower in spicy sauce

32. Next came Gobi Manchurian, Cauliflower in spicy sauce from here.

Jeera Alu, Potatoes fried with cumin

33. Then Pooja made Jeera Alu, Meena's Potatoes fried with cumin.

Alu bhaaji, potato curry

34. Here is another potato dish Pooja made - Alu bhaaji(potato curry).

Spicy Curry Fried Rice

35. Now we have a Spicy Curry Fried Rice from Meena's blog.

Bindi Pyaaz, Okra with onions

36. And the sixth recipe that Pooja made is Bindi Pyaaz, Okra with onions. I never liked okra but I'm willing to give it a try again after seeing this dish.

I don't know how Pooja managed to cook all these dishes while packing for a major move from one continent to another.

Best wishes to Pooja for her move to India.

Banana Almond Bread

37. This is Jaya Wagle's third entry to T&T. Jaya "can't stop making one mouth watering dish after another."

This time she bakes Banana Almond bread . Jaya adapted Meena's recipe by using walnuts and choco chips instead of almonds.

Spicy Pepper Mushrooms

38. Usha Rao, of My Spicy Kitchen, adapted Meena's recipe to make her own version of Spicy Pepper Mushrooms.

Usha loves mushrooms and Meena's recipe hit the spot. She made it three times in a week. She says "Mr. U is not a big mushrooms person but when I made it the first time, he liked how it looked and he also liked the taste of it. "

Usha is one conscientious blogger. She hadn't taken pictures of the dish the two times she made the dish so she rushed out to buy the ingredients to cook and photograph the spicy pepper mushrooms just for T&T! Thank you, Usha!

Abbhirami Rajagopal, of Soulful Creations, sent me two recipes

Alu fry

39. Abbhirami made Alu fry from a favourite blog of hers, Hooked on Heat.

"I love her blog mainly because of the simplicity of her recipes and of course good photography."

She loved Meena's Alu fry " What better than good food for a really really long and tiring day."

Mixed beans with tomatoes

40. The second dish Abbhiram loved is Mixed beans with tomatoes.

She followed Meena's recipe except that she "used long grain parboiled rice and omitted the garlic (did not feel like garlic today). I also garnished the rice with some nice crisp brown rice."

Here I am, your host, Kits Chow. I made five dishes from Meena's blog.

41. Boy choy cooked in coconut milk from here

Lamb Curry

42. My lamb curry was meant to be Kesari Gosht but I inadvertently mixed the recipe with Meena's Masala lamb and so I got a combo of the two.

Despite the mistake, it was delicious. But then, I'm not knowlegable about Indian cooking.

43. Vegetable fried rice

Curry noodle bowl

44. I hadn't eatent this dish for a while so I made Curry noodle bowl. This is a dish that Meena adapted from the Rachel Ray show.

Sooji Halwa, Semolina pudding

45. Sooji Halwa,, semolina pudding is a dish that I have wanted to make for a while and it turned out to be a lot more tricky than I expected. What can I say? Lumps, lumps and more lumps.

How to make the pudding lump free? Any tips? Finally, I strained the whole mass to get rid of the lumps. Meena didn't seem to have any problems making it.

This concludes the roundup. Here is Part I.

Thank you all for participating and making my job as host such a great pleasure. Do enjoy yourself browsing through the recipes.