Rice sticks (served upside down??) and weekend in the sea...

Rice - Sticks ....it was the first time I was trying this out, and the first question that came to my mind seeing the perfectly white colour of the cooked sticks was....."Oh, my have these sticks been bleeched or tossed in Ujala (the common brand of Super-white, fabric whitener.... available in India) . The colour was way too bright!

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Cooked the sticks in water, adding salt and for an Indian touch, added cumin seeds too..it did give a distinct flavour and taste to the sticks, believe me ....

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Usually, pasta's are served with the toppings on top....but what if you start thinking the other way round ???

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Large serving of veggies below, and the noodle on top .... life is boring without variety, u agree...???

UPDATE : This image goes straight to the Click Event by Bee with this month's theme being noodles.

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My ever handy veg-mix :

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This particluar veg mix of mine, has been a great time saver for me, and the best, last weekend.

All those on the right is sauted in oil, with ginger, garlic, soya sauce(the thicker variety, lest the mix gets soggy after a while) , tomato sauce, chillie sauce, dashed with salt, pinch of sugar and pepper . Thats all its about.

But, its applications are really various.

Mix it with cooked basmathi rice, u have your instant fried-rice

Mix with Noodles...ur mixed noodles..(addition of non is at your discretion)

Stuff inside a bun, make a sandwich....go on, and play with your own ideas ....

Each time i prepare my veg mix, I usually make it in large quantity, and go with any other variation the next day......and wasn't I really glad that I did !!!

The noodles was had for Thursday dinner. Fridays, Santho goes to play cricket in the mornings (God alone know what time he leaves...I will be way too asleep to keep track)

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And on his way back, he gave me call and said "Sona we are going to beach today..get ready, Sandeep and family will be there too !!!)

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I was like ..."Oh my God, what do I prepare ???..going to the beach without my contribution of food is the least think I can think off. Rest was all ?><)*^$##@@%)@#%%.

Arabic Sandwich:

Took Kuboos bread, applied a layer of light-mayo, layered the mix, topped with chopped chicken meat slightly fried in oil, with pepper and salt (boneless chicken meat is also an ever present thingy in my freezer... u never know when, what comes in hand!) . Top it with ketchup, roll over and in a foil. Khallaasss .

Fresh Salad

Thankfully, had my maid this weekend so off she was with the chopping of the veggies for the salad plate.

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Well done Anita, u did a good job, and quite fast too !!!
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Potato Wedge :

.Chopped as shown without removing the skin, dashed some salt, pepper and chillie powder onto it..straight to the MW till tender, and deep fried.

Shrimp Curry:

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Sorry, I dont have a good snap of it, just managed a closeup, as and way it was packed hot in the casserol.

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U find a really class recipie and snap of shrimps here, by dear Mishmash. I didnt have the time to wait that long to get the roasted effect, neither coconut chunks.

...and finally, this was my contibution to our this weekend beach-day out.
Marinated fish, and Kappa (Mallu's all time fav...sponsored by Anu...Sandeep's better half)

Thought I would share some of our personal moments with my co-bloggers....

This one is from our last weekend break with family n friends....

Below is one such, during last month, also with Sandeep, Anu and our cousin Ajo..not to forget our littleman Shayne !
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The one below was a couple of month back, after we relocating our flat to this place called Mahboula, which gives us the greatest luxury of a peaceful beach just at walkng distance, and a sea view from our balcony!.. So every friday morning, is learning time...for me..Swimming !!!..Now, trust me, late 20's is not that late to start to learn..better late than never. Myself and my 2 and a half year old Shayne are learning swimming together...and Eureka!!..last week I floated by myself !!...yuppieeee!!!

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From yours to mine, the modified versions, and a Salad Dinner.

My husband informed me that we will be having the parents of one of his friend coming over for dinner, and it was his closest collegue from college, so I need to serve them well. Condition was "No experimenting on them, please..they are in their late 50's, one of them is diabetic, and the other is having cholesterol..so you have to careful with the ingredients, Sona".

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So, as a proof to him that I will not make this couple my white-rats, next day showed the blogged links of these dishes below. They are tried and tested, so are fool proof. My first thought was to go the Diet Food Event, see if any posts had come up, but couldnt find what I was looking for then..(will wait for the roundup). So, gave a try , and could very well serve them, a Salad Dinner !!!

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Prepared this Mushroom Noodle soup, by replacing chicken with mushrooms from this recipe, by The happy cook, of My Kitchen Treasures, all the way from Belgium. I used vegetable stock cube for my soup.

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Pasta- Coleslaw, from Foodie's Hope, of dear Asha. Click here for recipe. I made the addition of cooked macroni, and raisins to it, to make it similar to the ones servred by Pizza Hut (forget KFC for a while!), used low fat milk, and Light Mayo. Did not add vinegar to this, as it was in hand for the ones below.
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Simple cucumber salad: Cucumber sliced very thin, mixed with white vinegar, garlic powder, dry parsley , sesame seeds and salt to taste.
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Tabbouleh, an Arabic Salad, with finely chopped parsley, onions, tomatoes, and baked to crips, arabic pita bread (kubos), mixed with extra virgin olive oil, white vinegar and salt to taste.

Warning : Add the bread pieces just before serving, lest it gets sogged by the moisture of the veggies. (Learned from my own experience. Prepared it few hours before my guests arrived, and by the time it got served, it was all soggy...hummmmmm)

The salad tastes best when the bread is really crisp.

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Mixed Raita : Low fat curd (shop bought), mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber, baby corn, pomogranade seeds (a few), finely chopped dates, and cilantro leaves.
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Saffron Rice: Fry various spices...cardamom, pepper pods, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, mace in butter, fry the rice too, and cook with exactly double quantity water with salt to taste. Add saffron strands to low fat milk, and mix with the rice, to get the required colour. Serve by decorating it with with fried raisins, cashewnuts and onions.

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Naadan Kozhi curry, the Kerala Style Chicken....from Seena of Simple and Delicious, except that I added tomato as puree instead of pieces, and added a 4-5 table spoons of cashewnut paste too, to make the gravey really thick. You find the recipie here.

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Easy custard, which even a policeman can make. Tapioca custard powder, mixed with low fat milk, and few strands of saffron added to the milk, to get a mild yellow colour. Boiled, cooled and off to set.

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At first glance, it looks very much similar to custard prepared by the regular shop bought powders. Yet, in taste, this was different.

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Didnt have the time to play around much with it, so decorated the same way, as you would have seen earlier in one of my posts...

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Cut the set custard in triangles, laid a slice of mixed fruit jam over it, and what you see above on top, are my "flopp" choco-curls !
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Hope you all enjoyed my spread. The guests enjoyed too !....Happy cooking...

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Usually, the cookery events in the blogsphere merrily decides, what we need to cook. That was exactly the case, which made to use saffron for the rice and custard, so off it goes to the Think Saffron Event., hosted by Sunitha.

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But, as far as diet food is concerned, it was just the other way round. Had the meal prepared, and later did I realize..well..i can sent it off to Hima of SnackORama too !!!

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Two birds in a shot!

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Ceyaa..catch you later !!!