Ajji's Chicken Soup(for the soul) - Guest Post for Friendship Chain

Remember the guest post I did for "Friendship Chain - Spread the Specialty" about a fortnight ago for Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty?? Now its time for me to pass that friendship torch to someone else. Blogging has expanded not just my culinary horizon but also brought me closer to many like-minded folks- Radhika of Food for 7 stages of life being the first and foremost. She is one person with whom I have taken the friendship beyond blogging. Of-course there are a few others now with whom I have established such  a wonderful connection but I have known Radhika right from the time I began blogging. She has offered me plenty of tips about blogging, made me realize the full potential of social networking and such. Besides being helpful, she is an extremely amicable person with a serene attitude and I consider myself fortunate that I bumped into her and her blog.Plus she has been gracious enough to share a chicken soup recipe that I encourage you all to try.
Make sure to check out her lovely space and a borrowed recipe from her space that I posted sometime in 2009: Madurai Chicken Curry/Kudi Amti.

Radhika Takes Over:
CL is one of the few people I first got acquainted in blogosphere and took our relationship beyond commenting in each others blog and saying a Hi. When I was too shy in making friends, she came forward and spoke to me. Since then we have spoken hours over phone. Two weeks ago I received a call from her asking me to do a guest post in her blog. I agreed to it without a second thought. It is a pleasure and privilege to write a guest post for such a wonderful friend.
CL wanted me to share a Sourashtrian recipe through this guest post. Immediately I remembered my Ajji's (Grandmother's) chicken soup , a post that has been pending ever since I started this blog. Though it sounds simple, this particular soup has been dear to me. I always make it on special occasions or whenever I miss my Mom/Grandma terribly. This soup requires minimal ingredients and it is less spicy. Hence it is a tradition in our  family to feed it to the infants/toddlers. My grandmother makes this soup, mixes it with a bowl of rice, adds lots of love and feeds us.  She fed this to her 5 children and then to an army of her grand children. My Mom followed her footsteps and I will do the same. I wonder how a simple food like this can have in-numerous memories in each one of us. 

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 200 gm
• Shallots/Pearl Onion - 4
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Pepper Powder - 1 tsp / to taste
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves - few
• Oil - 3 tsp
• Water - 2 cups

Procedure:

• In a pressure cooker, add oil. When it is hot add finely chopped shallots and saute until it turns translucent. Add curry leaves.

• Add Chicken pieces and fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium flame.

• Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears around 3 minutes.

• Add salt, 1 tsp pepper powder. Bring it to boil.Close the lid and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles. (In India Amma usually waits for atleast 5 whistles)

• Remove from flame. Allow the steam to release. Open the lid, adjust salt and pepper, transfer to serving bowls and serve it hot.

Notes:
      You can mix this soup with rice and feed it to infants/kids.

South Beach Diet Adaptable:
       Use Chicken breast and you can have it in all 3 phases of SBD.

Enjoy!

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North Arcot "Eggplant Serva" -A guest post for Friendship Chain and a sob story

Pain ... has a structure. It has a floor plan. It has designs more intricate than a chambered nautilus(a marine creature), features more baroque than the most buttressed Gothic cathedral.... it is a poem.
   --DAN SIMMONS
If you are all wondering what the heck I am talking about, read on.. I have a story to tell..Sometimes pain makes people poets, for me its "story-teller" mode or whine mode,call it as you please. Oh where do I begin? It all started a few months ago when I decided to put my son in daycare.It was the fateful time when my son who was my brightest spot also became my "greyest" cloud. Yeah, since the time when he started going to daycare, the whole family's immune system has been through a rigorous beating. So amongst all the array of misfortunes, one was dubbed as the worst by me and hubby-It was a bad, bad, really bad cold virus that we named as "THE MUCUS MAKER". In all my life I have never had to deal with a mucus so green-yellow-grey and so sticky that it could be an excellent substitute for glue. It was persistent and lasted for many many days that Kleenex company was making a profit just by selling to our family.So it came and it went and it came again last week. I was busy focusing on getting certain things in order before my In-Laws arrival(YaY!!!) that I didn't take care of myself properly when this Mucus Maker hit me the second time(Awwww)!
         So this plethora of mucus didn't get properly drained from my system,it triggered another first for me-- Infection of the maxillary sinus - Ow Ow Owwwwwwwww. I thought I had tooth ache,then I thought I had an ear infection, then I thought my eyes were gonna pop-out due to some internal pressure.But it was all of the above rolled in the form of this "weird" condition.I have never experienced such a thing before. I couldn't sleep a wink in the night.I was howling and moaning like a sad puppy that got kicked by a naughty boy.  I wanted to go to the ER but then I thought, I wasn't going to die just yet. Besides my dad's voice in my head kept telling me to learn to experience pain with grace. Plus plenty other Blah Blah Blah were passing in my mind like "what doesn't kill one makes them stronger"..So I decided to wait till morning and call my doctor, begged his assistant for an appointment.I drive my SUV at a break-neck speed for the visit..never was I so eager to see anyone.
          The good doc tells me that this acute condition has a name and that is MAXILLARY SINUSITIS. He has put me on a powerful anti-biotics dosage for 10 days and I am to patiently wait till all the infection clears up all the while battling anti-biotic side-effects like upset stomach,nausea, sending my taste-buds on a vacation etc etc. The decongestant nasal spray is entirely another sob-story. Its stink rivals that of the skunk spray! Twice a day, everyday, for 10 consecutive days, I feel like a skunk came and sprayed right up my nostrils! Its at times like this one has to remember to eat healthy and stay healthy. And its all about keeping the freaking immune system rock solid, like the "Rock of Gibraltar". 
         So while I am on the road to recovery taking my own sweet time to heal and getting strong, I didn't want to completely abandon my blog baby..So here is something, a guest post I did for lovely blogger Priya, of Priya's Easy and Tasty for the "Friendship Chain -- Spread the Specialty" started by Anamika.  I wanted to do a special dish indigenous to the region where I grew up and its a tangy wicked eggplant dish that can be eaten with Biryani, Pulav/Pilaf and such. Its called "North-Arcot Eggplant Serva". With a lot of help from my memory, mommy and a little help from this site, I managed to make this authentic dish. Check out the step-by-step recipe here.  
Some pictures of the dish - 

So what are you waiting for? Blog Hop to Priya's and check out the recipe for this delectable North Arcot Eggplant Serva. The picture doesn't do enough justice to the taste.Its so tangy and divine.Also, this dish tastes better the following day when all the flavors has had a chance to hang-out together harmoniously for a few hours.

Note: This dish would taste fabulous with Minty Mutton Biryani, Minty Mixed Vegetable Pulav/Pilaf, Herbed Vegan Fried Rice.

Enjoy!

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Thai Shrimp Curry over Rice Noodles and a CSN giftcertificate win

Dears, This is my first guest post at the KrazyKitchen. Like what you see? Head over there to key in your comments and also for the recipe. While you are there check out some incredible recipes posted by other bloggers as well. EnjoY!

Did I mention before that I won a $60 CSN Gift-Certificate at KrazyKitchen?Thanks to Tamy and others at KrazyKitchen for this super exciting gift. I will tell you in detail what I bought with it. The packages have just started to arrive and I am jumping in joy.

Happy Weekend!

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