“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” ~ Paulo Coelho
Life throws challenges when we least expect it. I received a call from‘Deccan Chronicle’, an Indian daily news paper the other day.
“We have been browsing your blog and are very impressed, would you consider being a columnist for our daily?” a media representative inquired in a sweet voice on other end.
With on- going workshops and a food styling project I was not sure if I can commit myself for one another work. I asked her a days time to decide and called my hubby.
“I feel you should take up this challenge. I can see you getting lazy and comfortable within your comfort zone. This might help you create new possibilities in your career” He answered.
“But you know that ‘writing’ is not my strength, moreover I have just two days to plan the recipes, cook, style, click and write the article”. I threw my last straw.
“Do remember the saying, You’ve only got three choices in life: Give up, give in, or give it all you’ve got. I leave it to you to decide” and the line got disconnected.
I have taken out of my comfort zone many times, sometimes willingly and at times pushed by the circ*mstances. Fortunately with the support of my family and some wonderful friends I was able to cross each hurdle with ease.
Well, I decided on ‘give it all’ and accepted her request. I started working promptly upon the topic they suggested for my first article as I had just two working days to complete it.
After many initial hiccups of word limits, picture formats and number of recipes I could manage to complete and send the draft in a day’s time.
The draft that I sent was tossed in many hands before it got published today in Deccan Chronicle.
There are a few errors in the print, if the recipe of Instant Idly is explained in detail, the ingredients are missing. The peanut Satay sauce ingredients are listed but the recipe is not printed.
Hmm…I love my ‘one-hand-one-shot’ published food blog 🙂
For all the friends who read the article, called and congratulated me and wanted to know the original recipe I shared i DC, here it is;
Featured in Deccan Chronicles
1. Idly Satay with Peanut Satay sauce
Chinese Dosa, Italian Paneer Naan Pizza, Chinese Bhel, Mexican parathas…there is a sudden explosion of fusion foods in India.
I have always enjoyed incorporating new elements from various cuisines and giving healthy twists to my food. But most of the days I end up cooking comfort foods at home which are far from gourmet and my children refer them as ‘boring food’.
This is when fusion recipes come to my rescue and save me from occasional food tantrums at home. It helps me break the monotony of cooking and add a fun part to the table.
Idly Satay and Idly Manchurian are two such interesting fusion recipes which were born out of necessity when my children avoided eating plain Idlis.
These delicious recipes can set the mood and pace for an exciting party at home, any time.
Idly Satay with peanut satay sauce has three components;
- Instant Oats Idly
- Dry Rub
- Peanut Satay sauce
Instant Oats Idly
Ingredients;
- 1 cup semolina or rawa
- 1/2 cup Instant Oats
- 1/2 cup sour curd
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda or eno
- 1/2 tsp.Salt
Method; Dry roast semolina and oats in a pan for 3-4 minutes.
Whisk curd with water in a large bowl and soak in roasted Oats and semolina for 5 minutes.
Add rest of the ingredients in the above mixture and mix well.
Pour this idly batter in each greased Idly mould and steam for 5-6 minutes.
I added a little turmeric powder and a pinch of red chilly powder in my Oats Idly. You can avoid it if you like white Idlis.
Dry rub
Ingredients;
- 2 tbsp. oil
- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. Chaat masala
- 1/2 tsp. red chilly powder
- 1/2 tsp. dried herbs
- 1/2 tsp salt
Method; Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Dried herbs or even finely shredded coriander leaves works good.
Slice all the Idlis in small pieces and coat it with the above spice-mix.
Heat a shallow pan and sauté the Idlis for 3- 4 minutes on medium heat.
Peanut Satay Sauce
Ingredients;
- 1 cup toasted peanuts (skinless)
- 1 tbsp. tamarind pulp mashed in 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ inch ginger piece
- 3-4 dried red chilies
- 3 tbsp. oil
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Method; Grind half cup of peanuts into very fine powder and the rest of half cup into coarse powder.
Boil powdered peanuts into tamarind water for 15 minutes. I read this tip of boiling the crushed peanut in tamarind water in a Malaysian blog, long back (sorry for not remembering the blog name) and have been following the same. It gives good colour and taste to the sauce.
Grind onion, garlic cloves, dried red chilies, and ginger into fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan and cook ground paste in it for 3-4 minutes.
Add tamarind-peanut water into this ground spice paste and simmer for another 10 minutes till he sauce thickens.
Add salt, sugar, soy sauce and take it off the flame.
Serve the dry rub spice-coated Idlis on skewers with a bowl of sweet-sour satay sauce.
2. Idly Manchurian
Ingredients;
(serve 2)
- 6 large Idlis
- 3 tbsp. chopped spring onion
- 2 tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. tomato sauce
- 3 tsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. vinegar
- 1 large onion
- 1 capsicum
- 2 Green chilies
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
Method; Slice all the Idlis into 8 even sized pieces. Chop onion and capsicum into large bite size pieces. Chop the green chilies finely.
Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a flat pan, add all the Idly pieces in it and sauté for a few minutes till they turn golden in colour.
Take out the Idlis and add 1 tbsp oil in the same pan. Add chopped garlic, grated ginger, chopped green chilies, and sauté for a few minutes.
Add tomato sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar in the pan and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add a few teaspoons of water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Add chopped onion, capsicum, spring onion and take the pan off the fame.
To serve Idly Manchurian, arrange all the shallow fried Idly pieces in a bowl and pour the prepared sauce over it.
Notes;
- Replace idly chutney powder or podi with the list of marinade to coat the Idlis.
- Substitute store bought peanut butter with roasted peanuts to make the sauce if you don’t have enough time to make.
- For a quick peanut sauce use ready-to-use peanut butter and add soy sauce, garlic, emon juice, sugar according to your taste and boil all the ingredients with a cup f water.
- Replace peanuts with any other nuts (walnuts/cashew/almonds/macadamia) if your child has nut allergy.
- Don’t add shallow fried Idlis in the Manchurian sauce before serving as they will absorb liquid and become soggy.
- To get best results, deep fry the sliced Idly pieces to make the Idly Manchurian recipe.
- Use a day old Idlis for making Manchurian as they remain firm and do not break easily.
- You can use the satay sauce as condiment, veggie dip, pasta sauce, stir frying sauce and for dressing your salads.
I want to end this post with these beautiful line;
“I feel that we are often taken out of our comfort zones, pushed and shoved out of our nests, because if not, we would never know what we could do with our wings, we would never see the horizon and the sun setting on it, we would never know that there’s something far better beyond where we are at the moment. It can hurt, but then later you say “thank you.” I have been pushed and shoved and have fallen out and away, so very, very, many, many times! And others around me have not! But then, the others haven’t seen what I have seen or felt what I have felt or been who I have been, they can’t become what I have become. I am me.” ~ C. JoyBell
