Peas-Carrot Bath and Paneer Pakodas

Bhu and Me joined swimming lessons 3 weeks ago … n yes….we can almost swim now :)...But the point I am trying to make is as below…read on...

The dads who come along with their kids for swimming lessons, just stand n watch or get bored or go out n sit for the long hour to pass. What if their kid drowns??

Dad Thinks...

“Aaahhh…tats okie...the instructor is there…what else did I pay him for? “ :)

But the mum’s ...Gwwdd…

“Sanchitha…head down n straight in the water, flap your arms, breathe breathe”

“Sanjana..hands like this (sways her arms in some weird fashion) .. GO GO…YOU can DO IT”

The other lady just picks her 3 year old tiny kid and PLONK! Drops her into the water … Gwwddd….n the kid fearing that she may drown flaps her arms n legs for dear life and THERE…she overcomes her fear !

So like that !

the kids in our batch may agree with me that their mum’s were a real pain in the A$$....but ..BUT (no pun intended here)…the END is achieved! And it always does…you can always count on your MUM !

The women who lay awake changing ur nappies 3 times a night, still twists n turns in bed 25 yrs later worrying about your future. Is she craze?? Right, she cud be. But wat can you do …she is your MUM :) n that’s how mum’s function. You may grow up, get acne, have numerous crushes, get your heart broken once or twice, get a job, make your first buck, elope with the boy-nxt-door, get married (may not be him), have kids n on and on….so many changes one after another…but the one person who knows it all n stands by you unconditionally, is your Mum. The lady, whose love for you stays intact n unending.

Yes! It’s Mum’s day today and I wanna breathe some life again to ma blog in honour of it! My mum is away taking care of her first born and the first born’s new born … n I miss her. Dad n me are actually counting days for her return, although we hate to admit this most times :)

On this special day, I choose to blog ma dear friend’s Nithya’s post sent almost a month ago. She and Aunty share a very special bond which words can’t describe. I had reserved her post especially for Mother’s day coz just any other day din seem right!

Peas-Carrot Bath and Paneer Pakodas by Nithya Jayakumar

I wasn't keeping well the whole of january and mom took such good care of me showering me with all her love (which she always does of course!) that I wanted to make her feel special for a day at least:-) and what best way than to take over as cook for one day! :-D

When I told her about the idea, initially she was worried about letting me cook but eventually gave in. Incidentally, it happened to be my best friend Manju's birthday around the same time. He was maha thrilled when he got to know that he would also be my guest of honour for the day:-)

Among other dishes, I made Carrot n Peas Bhath and Paneer Pakodas. Do try them out ok? They are very simple to make and taste good! And yes, I made rajma masala from Som's blog to go with the rotis which came out really really well :-) Cant thank you enough Som for having posted such a super duper dish on ur blog!

Peas and Carrot Bath

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 1 cup

2. Carrots - 4

3. Shelled peas - 1/4 cup

4. Onions - 3 big

5. Green chillies - 4

6. Red chillies - 3

7. Tomato juice - from 2 tomatoes

8. Poppy seeds (gasgase)- 1 tsp

9. Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup

10. Cashewnuts - few

11. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

12. Curry leaves - few

13. Coriander leaves - few

14. Salt - as required

15. Ghee - 1 tsp

16. Oil - 2 tsps

Method:

Cool rice and allow it to cool. Add a tsp of ghee and separate the grains with fork. Fry red chillies and poppy seeds in half a tsp of oil and grind it along with coconut and one onion. Dice carrots and onions. Slit green chillies into two. Heal toil, add cashewnuts and green chillies and then fry onions, carrots and peas. When it is half cooked, add ground masala with half cup of water. Reduce flame till carrots and peas become soft, close with a lid. When moisture is completely absorbed, add salt and turmeric powder. Mix rice to this gently. Sprinkle tomato juice while frying. Keep on low flame for few minutes till rice becomes hot. Serve garnished with finely cut coriander and curry leaves.

Paneer Pakodas

Ingredients:

1. Crumbled paneer - 1 cup

2. Bengal gram flour (kadle hittu) - 1/2 cup

3. Rice flour - 1/4 cup

4. Onions, sliced lengthwise - 1/2 cup

5. Salt to taste

6. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

7. Chopped cashnewnuts - 1 tbsp

8. Finely chopped coriander and mint leaves - 1 tbsp

9. Oil to fry

Method:

Cruble paneer well without any lumps. Add all the ingredients and pour 2 tsps of hot oil and mix well. Do not add water. The moisture in paneer is enough to hold the dough well. If only you are not able to shape the dough to fry in oil, sprinkle very little water. Deep fry the pakodas. They go well with sauce, coconut chutney or mint chutney.

Retro @ Ulsoor

I go to Sai Mandir and do bhajans on a Thursday (yep! I can sing … :) …but out to dinner? naaa..So catching up with the gang in a lounge bar on this particular day of the week felt strange and the whole time i kept thinking its a Saturday. I had taken the whole of last week off and really looking fwd for some company…so wat if its mid-week ?? Who cares antha sumne hodhe?? Dheeks ws leaving and that’s why we all wanted to catch up.

Another thing I was really desperate to eat was Dilkush/Dilpasand (the pizza shaped sweet thing with tutty fruity and coconut stuffing) at Iyengar’s bakery on Cambridge Rd. But it ws quite late and I spotted another bakery near Dheek’s place. So we ladies first gobbled half of this yummy thing, next dropped by at Sai Mandir, gobbled the hot hot vangi bath prasada (God bless them!) and headed to Retro, the lounge bar. Cambridge layout is where I grew up and everything bout this place makes me nostalgic. My school looks the same but Hot breads nxt to it is missing, the old house where we stayed is pulled down :( and there ws this dabba movie theater called Maruthi which has become a tiny mall nw :)

Retro, during my kiddo days was called Copa Cabana and was one of the happening places on Cambridge Road, when Bangalore was famously known as “The Pub City”. Maybe the management changed and it has now been renamed as Retro. The first time I visited this place was for a school reunion last year where I met kindergarten buddies nearly after a decade. The last time I had seen them all was during our Mango Fruity sipping days…and seeing them again sipping the hot beverages this time round was like “Wow! We sure have grown up?”

So coming back to Thursday eve, RCB Vs DC was playing and I suspect Zit chose this place coz it has this huge projector screen. This is the highlight of Retro. The wide seating area suits for a huge group of ppl to watch a good match any day. However, for the ones like me, who’s not a big fan of cricket (except Rahul Dravid n Anil Kumble) it’s irritating to watch all eyes glued just to the screen (Eg. Gana) But no regrets…all thanks to the hot baby corn n peanut masala which kept me busy. I had a fruit punch which ws nice and I sipped a bit of Prathi’s drink (Mango bloom) which actually tasted quite the same too :) After the beverages, we ordered veg biryani and the non-veggies had Shanghai fried rice. The rice was kinda bad and the boys din finish the Shanghai thing too.

Honestly, Retro is a good place just to hang out for drink and appetizers, but not really for dinner n conversation. The food actually comes from the family restaurant called Ruchi (same management I guess) which is housed below. We stayed put as the match was drawing to a close…but only to see RCB losing :(

Website: http://www.retroloungebar.com/

Address: 18/1, Cambridge Road, above Canara Bank,
Halasuru, Bangalore 560 008
Ph: 080 25363694 / 41320436
Timings: 12.30 pm to 3-30 pm & 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm.

Review :

Food : Stick to drinks and starters. Ruchi is claimed to be a good Andra style restaurant. But I won’t take a chance next time. Dheeks n me were actually inching close to the chat place below, by which time the rest of them arrived and trashed out our pani puri eating plan.

Service : It’s a huge place and takes over the entire roof and the waiters I guess feel they gotu walk miles from table to table. Service is thus quite slow. I don entirely blame them coz the relaxing atmosphere at Retro, I guess actually gets rubbed off a bit on them too.

Wallet factor : It’s not an expensive kinda lounge bar and really affordable. Drinks, 5 plates of appetizers and 2 bowls of rice cost us Rs.1700.

Ambience : Rooftop with bamboo blinds, airy and dimly lit and has a diff mix of seating areas. U can choose the huge couches or cusion chairs . There is also a bar with stools.

Other Attractive features : the huge projector screen, valet parking (which is a boon coz u don’t see parking places nearby anywhere unless u go round and round). This place is worth visiting for a gang of cricket fans (you boys will surely love this place) or a bunch of friends who wanna enjoy a drink on a cold rainy eve.

Cheers to Dheeks !