Guest Post - 25 : Today's Guest - Aparna

Aparna from "Aparna's Vegetarian Cuisine" is with us today. She is a Commerce graduate. She loves to sing and cook. Now, let us hear from her...

Nithu's Kitchen : Tell us about you.

Aparna : I am from Tamil Nadu but brought up in Bangalore. I am a B.Com graduate. I am happily married for 2 yrs to Vijay and at present residing at Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Nithu's Kitchen : What are your interests Aparna.

Aparna : Cooking is my first interest rather you can say passion. Other than cooking, I love to make new friends, decorate my home, singing and ofcourse blogging.

Nithu's Kitchen : How you got this interest in cooking.

Aparna : My hubby loves to have varieties of food. To make him happy, I started to experiment on various dishes and that led my interest towards cooking increase naturally.

Nithu's Kitchen : When did you start to cook and what was your first dish.

Aparna : I used to cook basic dishes from my school days but I started to cook lot of delicacies only after marriage. Sorry, I don't remember my first dish.

Nithu's Kitchen : Share us a memorable kitchen mishap.

Aparna : I couldn't forget the day when I first time when my hands on Snake Gourd Kootu (a South Indian dish). My hubby asked me to prepare snake gourd kootu and he went out. Actually, I didn't know how to prepare and I didn't want to ask him also. What I did was, I pressure cooked the ingredients of the dish together with lots of water. When I opened the cooker, I found that the snake gourd kootu got messed up and couldn't even find any bits and pieces of snake gourd. I felt so bad. My hubby was kind enough and he told me not to worry and he went ahead and prepared it again (he is a good cook). Nowadays, Whenever I prepare this kootu, he never fails to kid me saying that I had prepared Snake Gourd Soup instead of Kootu. This was an unforgetable and a memorable incident.

Nithu's Kitchen : Aparna, that sounds really funny. How do you enjoy blogging?

Aparna : Actually I started blogging just for time pass but now it has become a part and parcel of my routine life. I enjoy it a lot with the support of my family members and friends ofcourse.

Nithu's Kitchen : Did you plan ahead about starting a blog.

Aparna : Nope it was just a sudden plan.

Nithu's Kitchen : which part of blogging you think you should improve.

Aparna : Baking. Need to learn it.

Nithu's Kitchen : What do you have today to share with us.

Aparna : Vegetable Kolhapuri

Nithu's Kitchen : Why did you select this.

Aparna : When I prepared it for the first time, it came out very well and instantly it became my hubby's favourite.

Ingredients :

Kolhapuri Garam Masala -

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Cardamom - 2 nos

Peppercorn - 1 tsp

Aniseeds - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 stick

Other Ingredients :

Mixed vegetables - 1 cup (boiled)

Paneer cubes - a few

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp

Dry coconut - 1 tbsp

Onions - 2 (chopped)

Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Corriander leaves - to garnish

Cloves - 2

Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp

Corriander seeds - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli - 2-3

Oil

Method :

Grind together all the ingredients of Kolhapuri masala into a fine powder and set aside. Heat two tbsps of oil in a Kadai. Add grated coconut, cloves, peppercorns, cashews, corriander seeds and red chilli. Fry well.Add 1/4th of the onions and cook till slightly brown. Cool and grind it into a paste. Set aside.

Heat oil in a Kadai. Add the remaining chopped onions and saute till brown. Add tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and masala paste. Add water and cook for few minutes. Add the boiled vegetables, paneer and salt. Simmer for few minutes. Sprinkle the prepared Garam Masala and mix well. Allow to boil for 2-3 min. Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with roti / paratha / naan.

Nithu's Kitchen : Thank You so much Aparna.

Friends, hope you all love Aparna's delicious colourful Vegetable Kolhapuri. If you are interested to be featured as Nithu's Kitchen's guest, please mail to nithuskitchen[at]gmail[dot]com.