Announcing RCI - Lucknow Cuisne for March 2009

It’s really great to host Lucknow cuisine here at my blog. Thanks Lakshmi & Vanamala for giving me this chance, which helped me to explore on Lucknow cuisine.

I was almost waiting for a year to host this RCI event. Now the most awaited takes its turn on me. Here I go..

About Lucknow:

It’s the Capital City of Uttar Pradesh(UP).
This Multi-cultural city is the most populous state in India.
It is also called as City of Nawab’s.

Places to visit in Lucknow:

1. Bada Imambada
2. Hussainabad Imambada
3. Shah Najaf Imambada
4. Residency
5. Rumi Darwaza
6. Kaiserbagh Palace Complex
7. National Botanical Research Institute
8. State Museum and Zoo

For more details on places, visit here.

About Luknow Cuisine:

It’s a Rich Cuisine, where most of the cooking methods were formed to cook for the mughal kindgdom. It is also called as Nawabi style cuisine. It has a style of cooking called Dum Style Cooking(Cooking in low flame). The spice proportion will also be so defined and perfect here.

Many speciality’s of this cuisine are

1. Dum Briyani
2. Kebab’s
3. Kofta’s
4. Indian Bread’s Naan, Kulchaa’s, Paratha’s, Roomali Roti’s and Roti
5. Chaat Item’s

So Cook a Royal Rich Nawab Dish for your Nawab’s , picture it and send across to me.

Here are the Simple Guidelines for the RCI-Lucknow Cuisine.

(a) Prepare a Dish that is a Vegetarian[Egg’s are allowed].
Only Non-Vegetarian not allowed.

(b) Post as many Luknow Dishes with Recipes as you like on your blog this March 2009. More entries per person are allowed, but the rule is, it should come under Luknow Cuisine.

(c) Link back to this RCI-Lucknow Cuisine event announcement and to Lakshmi’s blog is a must.

(d) If you can include any regional info you would like to share about the lucknow cuisine in your post, it is very much appreciated.

(e) If you have any tip’s you wish to share on Lucknow dish, it will be so usefull.

(f) Use of the Logo to the event is also appreciated.
Url of the logo image: "http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/3328443940_0ff71b972a_m.jpg"

(g) I will also accept your old post’s, but you should link back to this announcement post and to Lakshmi’s blog.
Re-Publishing old post’s for RCI-Lucknow Cuisine will make me more happy!

(h) E-mail me to glassofhoney(AT)gmail(dot)com

with SUBJECT as RCI-Lucknow and along with the following details..

Your Name:
Your Blog Name:
Name of the Dish:
Link/URL of the Post:
Attach a Picture of the Dish. Size does not matter.

(i) Deadline for all the entries will be the 6'th of April-2009. I will do the roundup by 10'th of April-2009.

(j) If you don't have a blog, but you want to be part of this wonderfull event, you can send me your Recipe along with the picture of the dish. Dont forget to mention your name and your location.

So Iam eagerly looking forward for your entries.

If you need any clarification’s on the above feel free to mail me glassofhoney(AT)gmail(dot)com or leave a comment below.

Courtesy: Wiki

Update:

Hope you havent forgot to cook for my RCI-Lucknow. Keep Pouring in.......
I know, you all find it difficult to find vegetarian Lucknawi recipe's. you can look for awadhi cuisine's veg recipe's too.
Below are few link's that will help you to explore more on lucknawi cuisine..

SurfIndia

Wiki-UttarPradesh Cuisine

Food indif

Recipe for Lucknawi Kofta

NDTV GoodTime's Lucknawi
Vegetarian Kebab's in Lucknow
Keep Sending me ur entrie's..

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambhu / Lentil Dumpling's in Spicy Tamarind Gravy

This Recipe was of little experimental type. As the Spicy level went up, i managed to add tamarind water, to level up the spicyness. But only to some extent, Tamarind was able to control the spicy. then there i made the mistake of adding Jaggery, to reduce the spicy. but what happened was Jaggery really enhanced the spicy and gave a nice sweet taste too. Actually the original recipe call's for coconut milk or coconut paste. i almost try to avoid coconut milk in gravy .

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambhu or Lentil's Dumplings in Spicy Tamarind Gravy. Does the title seam's to be so lengthy. But the Preparation don't take so long. Just you need to soak chana dal for an hour before preparing this gravy. Whenever iam in short of vegetable's, i prepare this gravy.

Method for Preparing Urundai or Dumpling's:

• First Soak a cup of chana dal in warm water for an hour.
• Grind it along with 1/2 tsp Fennel/Saunf, 3 Dry Red Chilli, little salt, few Curry leaves and with 2tbsp of water in which it was soaked.
• This should be grinded coarsely with less water.
• Shape the paste into medium sized ball's.
• Microwave it for 3 minute's. (or) Steam them for 4-5 minute's.

Ingredients for the Gravy:

1. Onion-1 finely sliced
2. Tomatoes-2 finely sliced
3. Tamarind- one small lemon size.
4. Jaggery-2 tbsp's
5. Turmeric Powder-1/4 tsp
6. Chilly Powder-2 tsp ( I use Aachi Kuzhambhu Milagaai thool)
7. Corriander Powder-3 tsp
8. Oil - 4tbsp
9. Mustard-1/4 tsp
10. Curry Leaves-10
11. Corriander Leaves- 2tsp

Method:

1. Heat Oil in a Kadaai/ Pan. add mustard seeds, when it makes sound, add curry leaves.

2. Add finely sliced onions and saute it well. Now add Tomatoes and saute it well, till they mix with each other.

3. Soak the Tamarind in a 1.2 cup of warm water for 5 minutes. and squeeze the tamarind and keep it aside.

4. Add little bit of salt, Turmeric powder, Chilli Powder and Corriander powder to the onion-tomato mix in the pan.

5. Add the steamed chana dal ball's to the pan and coat the ball's with the masala.

6. Add Tamarind water and let it boil, add Jaggery here. and close the pan with it's lid and let it sit on low flame for about 5-7 minutes.

7. Add Corriander Leaves to Garnish.

This is best with Hot Rice and for Dosa/Idli even for the next day. as there is no coconut added.

My Friend Gayathri is hosting an event called Manificent Click Contest

Iam sending her this as my entry. Do check in at her place for a variety of dishes.

Now this Goes to Ashwini's Lentil mela and to Dear Nag's The Recipe Diary Contest.

and

Think Spice-Think Fennel, an event formed by Sunita and now hosted by Ivy.

Eggless Chocolate Brownies

Brownies are my all time favorite dessert dish. a slice of brownie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup drizzled over, makes me go crazy. This time i tried egg less brownies. i substituted egg with condensed milk and orange juice. that is a wrong combination of mixing condensed milk and orange juice, as the milk gets curdled. yes it curdled a bit, but once i added the flour, everything went fine and it resulted in yummy and delicious brownies. I  managed to click step wise pictures, but could not click few steps. excuse me for that.