Prawns and potato

Lots of things happening right now..

A shift to Chennai, hometown of my husband ...and ensuing chaos with getting late admission for our daughter, getting a flat for rent while renovating our home, meeting with contractors, visiting a lot of tile shops, showrooms, surfing the net for ideas, etc etc ...

And right now, both my daughter and I are in Kerala, with my folks while, hubby is winding up his stuff in the Delhi office..

So am having a lot of amazing dishes and a few experiments of my own also are going on... especially with a few more guinea pigs that usual, I am having a great time making new stuff...

This is a very easy dish and really foolproof... even beginners can make it.

Potatoes - 2 (medium ones cut in to cubes)

Prawns - 500 gms, (shelled and deveined)

Onion - 1 large

Tamarind - 2 pieces

dried red chillies - 2 or 3/4 sp chilly flakes

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Red chilly powder or even paprika for colour (1/2 tsp)

Soy sauce - 1/2 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Boil the potato pieces with the turmeric powder and red chilly powder. When the water is nearly gone, add the prawns and the tamarind and cook for about 10 minutes till the prawns are done. take off the heat. throw away the tamarind pieces.

Now in a kadai/wok, add some oil - about 2 tsp, add the onions and saute till golden brown. Add the prawns, the soy sauce and stir at times till the oil shows. Sprinkle with oregano and serve hot.

Easy plum jam

I saw some great plums and could not resist buying them... I bought two kilos, and we managed to consume quite a few, but still there were just two days before we left for Kerala and i did not want to waste it.. so I searched for a recipe online and found lot of different versions... as usual, I adapted one that was the easiest and thus appealed to me ..especially due to the time constraint...

many of them were not ripened well, so the result was a bit sour. that said, I have to tell you that I absolutely adored it and my daughter also had a great time sampling the jam... in fact, I had to hide it away so she wouldn't keep 'testing' it ..!!!

Plums have natural pectin in them, which is a vital ingredient for making jams. So if you are using this recipe, please make sure that the fruit is either plums, or some other fruit that is as high in pectin.

Plums - 1 kg (ensure they are ripe and add a couple or so of unripe ones to add a slight tang to the taste)

Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cups (add more according to taste. I used less sugar , so as not to overpower the taste of the fruit.

Honey - 1/2 cup

Cloves - 6 (optional - please count the cloves before adding them so they can be easy to remove. This is my own addition to the recipe)

Water - 1 tbsp

Wash the plums well. Slit once lengthwise to the stone. In a thick bottom vessel, put the plums and the water and keep it on a low flame.

Add the sugar and the cloves after about 5 minutes. Stir well. After about 20 more minutes, the stones will separate .

Remove the cloves and the stones.

the plums will become a smooth paste consistency. Add the honey and let the liquid reduce and thicken.

Once the jam becomes the stage where it will coat a spoon easily, but won't run off of it, switch of the stove.

While it cools, it will thicken again. So if the jam is too thick , it will solidify and won't be easy to spread. Likewise, a runny jam won't be nice either.

This recipe yields a sweet and tang jam with a rich and fruity taste. It is easy to spread, but does not turn the bread soggy.

Try it and let me know how it turns out.

Mural work - 2

This is the second one of the three mural pieces that I had taken classes for. Though the earlier Jharokha had been done with a lot of help from my instructor, this has been done almost by myself. I just got the instructions and then I started work on my own.

Of course, it is a bit different from what my teacher would have envisioned, but I think for a first effort it is not too bad.

I was asked by a few of my friends for the instructions on how to do it . and I will be making the tutorials when I have some free time..

right now, life is a little busy with shopping and such for going to Chennai as well as Kerala ..... Not to mention the fact that my little one is at home and keeping her from being bored is taking all my time and energy..!!!!

So I would really like to know your opinion on this particular piece.