Blog Patrol # 2

Did you hear the siren around your blogs in the past few days? If you did, not to worry. It was the ever-friendly 'Blog Patrol' doing its rounds on duty. :) And this is what it has come up with. Read on!

1. Baingan ka Bharta: I have always eaten Baingan Bharta made the Maharashtrian way. My North Indian friends somehow never made it for the feasts they threw or for packed lunches that they got to work. Although I did order this a couple of times in restaurants in India, looking at the pool of oil in the dish, I never went ahead and touched it. (Goose-pimples at the sight and pimples on the face after consumption! No, don't want 'em.)
So, I decided to wait until I would come across a decent recipe of this dish. I think my quest has ended now, because I have found this one by Meenakshi of Hooked on Heat. It has a very appetising aroma of ginger and Garam Masala. The Bharta also has a vey creamy texture (which makes it easy to gobble it up effortlessly). Just one thing: I think one tomato is enough in this one (as opposed to what has been suggested in the recipe), but that could also depend upon personal taste. All in all, a great recipe. Thanks Meena.

2. Gherkin-Cashew nut Upkari: This rather unusual combination made me curious, and one look at the recipe convinced me that it should work. (Does this happen to you, too? That you read a recipe, and you kinda know already whether or not it's gonna give a good outcome.)
The outcome of this one left me licking my fingers. My two cents: I cooked the gherkins in just enough water, so that I didn't have to drain them. One observation: This dish tastes equally good without the onions too. Give us more of thse, Ashwini!

3. Mango Pachadi: Again one of those, where you know that the recipe will definitely work. The dish turned out exactly the way it looks in the photograph given by Revathi, which means that the instructions given by her are accurate. Good work there! The Pachadi strikes a nice balance between sweet, sour & savoury. A tasty accompaniment with any meal.

4. Potato Salad & Oven Baked Veggies: I am clubbing these two because Meeta herself suggests them as one menu. I, too, like an obedient follower made these two together for a dinner and offered them with readymade Ciabatta bread. My husband's colleague at work was for dinner with us that night. All of us couldn't help but just go on with our 'oohs' and 'aahs'. The aroma of the herbs coming out of the oven makes you keep wondering why the darn thing should take half an hour to bake. The salad is a perfect accompaniment (or shall I say 'a perfect something to keep your salivating mouth busy while you are waiting for the veggies to out of the oven').

I hope all of you get to try out all these dishes. After all, most of us live to eat. Or do we not?