Guest Post - 44 : Today's Guest - Amritha Kalyani

Today, we have Amritha from AK's Vegetarian Recipe World is with us. She holds MBA degree. She lives in San Diego. She is interested in learning different languages. Let us hear from her now...

Nithu's Kitchen : Tell us about you.

Amritha : I am a happy house wife, came to San Diego in Dec 2007. Its almost 3 yrs now and slowly got used to the living. I am an MBA ( Fin) graduate from Chennai, India. I did my schooling in various parts of Tamil Nadu. Worked in Chennai for 3.5 yrs in a Bank and moved to San Diego after my wedding. Life is good in US but I always miss family. Would love to go back anytime I get a chance to :-)

Nithu's Kitchen : What are your interests.

Amritha : I like to learn new languages. This, I developed after coming to US. I never paid attention to this interest back then in India. But after coming here, I had lots of time to develop such interests. Initially I knew only English, Tamil and Hindi. Now I know Telugu and Kannada. Presently, I am learning Chinese . This is my latest interest. I love this interesting language. I started to learn this few months back when we went to China. I was forced to learn Chinese because we dint know how to ask for milk and the products were all labelled in Chinese. It was very hard for us. Only then I realised the need for it. Now I have come to a stage where I can communicate about myself, my requirements etc. in Chinese :-) I love gardening too. I am slowly experimenting as I dint have a garden till now. Now I have enough time gardening and its my latest passion. I would like to give a small information to all our friends here.. If you are travelling to any new country, learn some basic words that are used in our daily lifestyle. It helps a lot in communicating with those people.

Nithu's Kitchen : Share one unforgettable incident.

Amritha : My first cooking experience: This is very sentimental to me. My first attempt into the kitchen was when I got engaged to my husband. My mom forced me to do something and you know if we ever try anything for the first time in the kitchen, it would be a sweet dish and that too the easiest one. Yes! It was rava kesari. My first attempt was pretty good. It was a thursday and I am a great devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. So my mom said we would distribute this as prasad in the temple. We took the kesari to the temple and I was so lucky that day as they were giving anna dhanam (Feeding the poor ) in the temple. The priest in the temple told me to take it to the dining hall quickly as they were just going to start their dinner. I served upto 15 people with my kesari and the most touching moment for me was that every one came to me and appreciated the kesari. I felt as though God himself ate my kesari and gave me such compliments. :-)

Nithu's Kitchen : How did you get the idea of starting a blog?

Amritha : It was November end 2009, my cousin Maya was talking to me about writing blogs. Initially I was not sure because I dint know if I could write so many recipes. But she encouraged me and made me start this blog. I couldn't write much last year as I was not so keen and frankly I was busy till June 2010. After July, I wanted to continue blogging. From then I am posting entires and I try to participate in as many events as possible. I should thank my cousin first who made me write this blog and of course my husband who has been my support throughout. He has been my biggest strength and best critic for my dishes. My parents and in-laws are all great supporters:-) I get lots of recipe ideas from them.

Nithu's Kitchen : What dish do you have today to share with us. Why did you select this dish.

Amritha : Vermicelli Pulao. I started this blog in the name of my grand moms. I got this vermicelli pulao recipe from my maternal grandmom. So I wanted to post this dish for this guest post as a dedication to my grand mom.

Ingredients :

Vermicelli - 2 cups

Mixed Veggies - 1 Cup cut lengthwise

Onion - 1 Small cut lengthwise.

Salt - to taste

For seasoning :

Oil - 1tbsps

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 8

Preparation :

Cook Vermicelli like how we cook pasta. Boil water in a pan, add salt and a tbsp oil. When it starts to boil, add vermicelli and let it cook till it becomes tender. Drain the water and keep vermicelli aside.

In a pan, heat oil , add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chilli . Add onions and fry till it caramelizes. Now add veggies, salt and cook till veggies become tender. Sprinkle water when necessary.

When veggies get cooked, add vermicelli and mix everything well.

Vermicelli pulao is ready. Its slightly different because of its process. The taste actually varies slightly. If you need, you could add bay leaf when you are seasoning. It add more flavor to the dish.

Nithu's Kitchen : Thank you Amritha. It was pleasure talking to you.

Amritha : Thanks Nithu.

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