Aroma!: cookbook

Egg Kottu Paratha flavored with Mustard seeds and Mustard powder along with other spices is my contribution to Sunita from "Sunita's World" blog's "Think Spice..Think.." event.This month's spice is "Mustard seeds", thanks for hosting Sunita!:)

Mustardy Egg Kottu Paratha!:)
Kottu Paratha is a south Indian dish, also very popular in Sri Lanka as street cart snack, similar to Pasta Marinara but using Parathas for Pasta with spicy Indian sauce or like Gujarati Dal Dhokli with a thicker sauce!!

I have seen Kottu Pratha in so many blogs,I always wanted to make this dish but never saved any Parathas to make it. Well..I made 2 parathas just for this and whipped out this mostly following the direction given in the cookbook below, adding extra brown mustard pd.YUM!! You can skip the Egg if you like!
For Parathas; you can make either Malaysian Roti Canai or layered wheat Parathas.

Gather all these first:

2 leftover or freshly made Parathas chopped into 1" squares, 2 sliced tomatoes, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tbsp ground mustard powder(store bought or ground at home),1/4 tsp Turmeric,1/4 tsp chilli pd, 1 tsp coriander powder, salt to taste, cilantro to garnish, 1 egg.
For seasoning:
1/2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 large red onion chopped fine,1-2 green chillies, few curry leaves and 2 tsp ginger and Garlic paste.

How to make Kottu Paratha:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 chopped green chillies, a few curry leaves, chopped onion, and fry until onion is golden.Add ginger-garlic paste,fry for a minute.
2. Add egg, let it scramble and then add all the spices and tomatoes. Fry for two minutes.
3. Add Paratha pieces, mix well, garnish with cilantro, and serve with pepper and lemon slice.

Another look of delicious Kottu Paratha:

Enjoy!:)

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Show me your cookbooks!!

Nagu from "cooking and me" blog has come up with the idea of a event called "Show me your cookbooks", where you showcase one of your cookbooks and ask us to write what we think of the book. That is a delight to me because I have literally hundreds of cookbooks, it's easy to choose many as my favorites!! Thanks for a great idea and for hosting Nags!:)

Here it is, one of my favorite "honest to goodness" Cookbook!!:D

I accidentally came across a website one day when browsing, which was selling these cookbooks by Mallika Badrinath, who was not at all familiar to me at that time. Her books were not very attractive to look at first and then I thought of testing one or two first because they cost way less than the other books to buy them.Once I looked through these,I was hooked and bought most of her books and still buying them!! Apparently, she is very popular in Tamilnadu and her books and her spice products are well liked! I was late to catch up with rest of the World!!:)

Why do I like her books?! Because she is a very good cook as I can see, a great author(well written recipes) and although her books are not well bound,no photos inside, not glossy and fancy like some of the books,the recipes are very down to Earth, to the point and a delight to try. Most of the dishes I have tried were very good,some didn't work for me but that's okay!! You can't expect 100% success in everything, 98% is quite good too!:D

So I choose this book for this month to show you and I also chose the above recipe from this book too with my own additions and changes.It doesn't really have the "Egg Kottu Paratha" exactly but a recipe for making plain flour Parathas and a Egg Kottu recipe to use with Parathas.I combined the two to make Egg Kottu Paratha!! It was delicious.

Some more additions to Nag's event:

Mallika Badrinath's Microwave cooking:
Great recipes and a good book to follow, as long as you keep the basic rules of Microwaving in mind like not using metal utensils and plastic while cooking! Another gem of a book from the above author.

Four Ingredient cooking by Joanna Farrow:
Great book if you like minimum ingredients and maximum flavor!! The book includes many veg, non-veg, desserts and Bread recipes too with just four ingredients and works very well for those who are tired and want a quick meal, provided if you have all the ingredients!:)

Lastly, Kebabs, Chutneys and Breads by Davinder Kumar:
An excellent book to buy, keep and cook, a non-vegetarians delight, with some vegetarian dishes and Naans too. An authentic array of traditional North Indian fare, the author is a chef for Oberoi group of hotels, also worked in Japan and France and in the food business for more than 30yrs!

Have fun!:))