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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Something new something fresh–part 2

Welcome back to my "Something new something fresh" – Wednesday series. Got a good response from my last week’s posting and Iam back with my second post for the series. Read more about part 1 here.



Today’s Chef is Vandana- one of my closest friends.Here's a little testimonial I had written for her once "Smart, pretty, confident, friendly ,caring and a great cook, V is a friend I would custom order, but didn’t have to because I got lucky enough to find her one fine day. One of the most genuine people I know, she’s a terrific mix of traditional and the modern……."And this was 2 yrs ago. Since then our friendship has only grown and she’s like family.


Vandana and I at Durga Puja ,2007


Vandana and I at Durga Puja,2008

Vandana is a Bombay girl(I prefer Bombay to Mumbai:)and loves her spicy street food. She comes from a close knit family and also loves corn, diamonds and Abhishek Bachchan (in no specific order) and claims that she did not cook at all before she moved to the US of A.Haha..Right!! I love her scrumptious dosas and rajasthani food. Finally, here’s the recipe I would like to share from V’s Pandora’s Box- Corn Bhel (an excellent appetizer, mid day snack and very healthy).She made it last yr at a get together and it was finger licking good.

You need
1.5 cups corn–(she used frozen corn)
1 large onion-chopped
2 large potatoes–(she used Yukon gold potatoes)
2-4 green Thai chilies finely chopped(Use 4 if you like it spicy)
2 chopped tomatoes-(optional -she doesn't use it because of allergies)
2 tablespoon cilantro chutney (recipe given below)
2 tablespoon tamarind/date chutney(she used store bought chutneys)
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
Lemon juice to taste
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Chaat Masala
1 teaspoon Sandwich Masala (she gets it from Bombay)
1/4 teaspoon Amchur Powder - optional
Sev(Indian crispy noodles) for garnishing-(bought at any Indian grocery store)

Cilantro chutney
4 cups of cilantro leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic.
2-3 green thai chillies.
1 teaspoon (cumin) seeds
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

This is how you make it
For Cilantro chutney:
Grind all the ingredients together and add a little bit of water for consistency. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.
Corn Bhel
Boil the corn with a little salt and turmeric. Drain the water & keep aside.
Boil the potatoes and peel and mash.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients thoroughly and keep aside. This bhel can be served either hot or cold. When you are ready to serve, garnish with the sev.ENJOY!!


Corn Bhel

39 comments:

Manju said...

such a simple yet delicous looking recipe! you are so lucky to have friends like her! :)

TNL said...

I really like this series, its wonderful to celebrate people who mean so much! I miss my friends back in Tampa...we used to cook and eat a LOT every week!

Cheers to your friend and the Lovely corn bhel, I love such recipes! and...i love your sarees, all of them. :)

trupti
the spice who loved me

Finla said...

I think i am more looking to you ladies saree than the dishes.
Love the sarees you both are wearing.
I too like bombay than mumbai.
Maybe as one was used to bombay.

FH said...

Great friendship, yo are lucky. My best friend is very ill and on dialysis, makes me sad, need to go and meet her in B'lore soon.

Corn Bhel looks yum! :)

Mangala Bhat said...

wow ! wonderful... i like the way u write ...lovely ..Thanks for stopping by and for ur comments ..keep visiting :)
Happy cooking
mangala

Malar Gandhi said...

Good to have such tru friends. Enjoy girls. Well said, I too like to say Bombay over Mumbai, you know.

Love this recipe, interesting street food!

Chutneytales said...

Hi thanks for visiting me..Cooking with friends is a wonderful series..Love the bhel recipe..with corn it must be amazing :)
Will be in touch!

vandana rajesh said...

The corn bhel looks yummy.Miss Bombay. And I agree with u I have still not been able to shift over to Mumbai comfortably, I prefer to refer to the lovely place as Bombay.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Happy to see ur friends here.
oh, ys. Bombay is catchier than Mumbai. I also love to say Madras than chennai:)
Corn bhel looks delicious dear.

Vandana Verdia said...

Hey M,

Beautifully written and thanks again for yet another dedication! I like the way you described my love for "ABCD" amongst others :)

Also, love the new look of the blog. Very neat, clean and pristine!

Like I have always told you - "Friends are relatives that you choose for yourself!" I am glad you are mine!!!! You rock girl! Cheers to some more chai & chatter!

V

saffronapron.blogspot.com said...

Hey Meenal,
Love reading your writes. Very crisp and pleasing:) Friends truly are a gift from God. Have fun because you've been blessed with that gift:)
Am a happy follower of your blog. Love it.

ARUNA said...

Hey Meenal,

Wonderful recipe yaa.....loved this dish! And loved your sarees too!

Priyanka Agrawal said...

you ladies look gorgeous! goood to know you have such nice friends to hang around with in the US

joyeeta said...

Minu..great job once again, such a touching dedication and very well written. It's amazing the way you pen down your feelings with a few simple words. We treasure you for that and more.

Vandy kya baat hai :) Recipe looks awesome, i can't wait to try it and by try it i mean you will make it and i will try it :D hehe
I look forward to more of your yummy recipes and the pics are lovely, ladies, you both look very purrrty! :)

Love you guys!

Samta said...

Nice post Meenal - just like happy cook said - I am looking at you lovely ladies and the beautiful sarees you are wearing.

I know what you mean by custom order friend. I have met Vandy just once - but, I feel shes a friend for life. You are lucky.

Also - the recipe is yummo.

Michele said...

Meenal!
HI!!

So glad to hear from you! Yes I remember all your delicioius recipes and awesome pictures.
I see you can still take a picture of food and make it irristable to the viewer. Yummy!

Looks like thie recipe is beyond me only because of a few of the ingredients. Sure sounds delish though!

I'll have to scroll and see if you have a fun and 'doable' receipe for Salmon. My kids are picky and I'm trying to get them to eat fish. So far, it's not working. But I keep trying because fish is so healthy!

Anyway..just wanted to return the favor of saying HI! and I'm so happy to see you are blogging again..although, as you saw, I am more on Facebook. And I agree with you, the changes are not user-friendly. I guess those creative types get bored and they like to create job security. LOL

Hope your Wednesday is going well!
HUGS

Cham said...

Good Friends are rare diamonds! Lucky u! Another great post about ur friend Vandana.
Delicous Corn bhel!

Vani said...

Loved the pictures! the sarees are beautiful! glad you have such a lovely circle of friends, and with great recipes too! :) The corn bhel looks FAB!

Unknown said...

Hey Minu,
great Job!!!! Amazing pics and godd recipe :)

Nits said...

Keep it flowing....yet another great recipe.
and I really liked the testimonial.....very touching!!!

V, when are u making the corn bhel?

Priya Sriram said...

Glad to find another foodie from Seattle... :)
Thanks for stopping by my blog Meenal! Have a wonderful day! :)

Meenal Mehta said...

@ superchef....thanks

@trupti…friends and family are what really matter in life..when there are special people in life , its good to celebrate their presence ..

Meenal Mehta said...

@happy cook..yeah its always Bombay for me ..glad u like the sarees

@Asha ..sorry to hear about your friend , hope she gets better soon .

@Mangala ..welcome to my blog..glad u like how I write,Will be visiting you again,and hope you do the same

Meenal Mehta said...

@Malar…touche and Bombay it always is

@Madhumati ..yes ,it was very good and Iam enjoying writing about it very much. Welcome to my blog and hope to see more of you here, in the future

Meenal Mehta said...

@Vandana Rajesh , ..glad to see you on my blog,yes Bombay it is

@Vicky..thanks

@Smitha ..what a wonderful thing to say ..thanks so very much.I follow yours too

Meenal Mehta said...

@Aruna,food fanatic ..thanks so much .I do have such nice friends :)

@Samta. ..thanks , good you feel that way about V

Meenal Mehta said...

@Vandana..thanks bud , thanks and thanks some more..Glad u like the new avatar and the double dedication my friend


@ Joyeeta ..do you see me smiling here ,coz Iam smiling big time after reading your comment  All I will say is thank you so much and right back at ya

Meenal Mehta said...

@Michele

It’s great to hear from you too and thanks for that wonderful compliment  . You are right; this recipe might be a limiting because you might not get all the ingredients.

Glad you asked me, because I eat a lot of fish and have some recipes here that you can follow .Or I will just send you some simple grilled ones that I do on a daily basis. You could try those for your kids.I hope that will get them to eat it .is there an email I can mail u the recipes at?
I am on fb too and quite active there ...maybe I could add you there as a friend? You are right about the job security bit they just have a lot of time on their hands too …

My Wednesday is going very well after this email from you

Hugs to you too
Meenal

Meenal Mehta said...

@Cham.. thanks and you have such nice recipes on your blog all the time

@Vani..Thanks a ton for liking the saris, the blog post and the recipe.

Meenal Mehta said...

@Ishita ..thanks sweetie

@Nits ..thanks , I plan to

@Priya Sriram ..Thanks for visiting my space ....Welcome :) have yourself a wonderful day too

Aparna said...

this one seems so simple and delicious... have always liked, bhel, chaat and the likes.. vishal loves the bombay street food as well (he spent some years there)... so well, will try this one for sure!

thanks Minu! =)

Uma said...

It's really a great feeling to have such best friends, isn't it? You both look beautiful in the sarees. Corn bhel is just mouth-watering. I love corn. Bookmarked to try!

Thanks for dropping by and your sweet comments. So happy to meet another foodie with a great talent. :)

suvi said...

Isn't having your friends close to you the bestest thing? corn bhel sounds so yum! And thanks for visiting me :)

Varsha Vipins said...

wow..such Yummy Bhel Meenal..:)

Anonymous said...

Corn bhel looks yummy Meenal :)
Both luk very cute in saree :)

Bhawna said...

Nice series, ur lucky to have a friend (really close One) here. I miss my friends They all are in India. Corn bhel is super tasty.

Cynthia said...

Thanks for introducing us to another of your friends. One of my past students name was Vandana as well. Her parents are from India but she was born here in Barbados.

Meenal Mehta said...

@Aparna..glad you like it , let me know how it turned out

@Uma..a very big thankyou for all the sweet sweet comments, really appreciate them.Welcome to my blog

Meenal Mehta said...

@ Aquadaze..yeah its good to have special freinds in your life ,

@Varsha ...thanks

@Anu..thanks a lot:)

@Bhawna ..glad you like the series, Iam having a lot of fun with it

@Cynthia .. thanks . This one was born and bred in India :)

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