Shahi Arvi (Taro root/ Colacassia in Creamy Sauce)

Hope you are having a great weekend. We are enjoying the weekend at our cousin's house in Delaware, kids are running around and the adults are catching up on what's happening in life. Tomorrow we will all be back to business. My 6 year old wants 2 day week and 5 day weekends and sometimes I have the same feeling too, though I don't say it loud to him :-)

Our super talented blogger friend Valli @ Spicing your life & Cooking4allseasons has started another blog event called 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge', so starting today a group of bloggers will be posting recipes on the weekend from cookbooks, recipes jotted down from cooking shows, paper clippings etc. Like everybody I have a ton of cookbooks, 5~6 diaries filled with jotted down recipes from various sources, so I was thrilled when Valli announced this event. This will be a perfect way to try as many dishes as I can from my books and folders. 

For the first week, I have a rich and creamy gravy curry that I made during the A-Z Andhra Dishes. I served it with Zafrani pulao and Kadhu ki Dalcha and it was a super hit at home. Recipe courtesy is a cooking show called 'Just Cooking' n Maa Gold.

Original recipe had the arvi/ colacassia deep fried, but I didn't see the need for deep frying. I shallow fried arvi in couple of tablespoons of oil and the end result was quite tasty. 

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Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Combo Dishes - Tikkis/ Burgers
Dish: Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries
It has been unseasonally warm for the past couple of days and we are totally enjoying this weather. I took my mom, my almost 3 year old niece and my 1 year old to New York city (NYC) yesterday. We live about 20 minutes away from the city, but never go there to actually see places. I usually go there on business, either for a meeting or a seminar, never as a tourist.

I always wanted to take the NYC bus tour and finally did it yesterday. Its fun to sit on the open top double decker and see the sights of the city. I enjoyed the tour, but I want to do it again without the kids, so I can enjoy the city even more :-)

Well we came back home ravished and good thing that I had these adzuki bean-brown rice burgers frozen and ready to cook. All we had to was to bake some Sweet Potato fries and chop up some veggies for topping and in less than 30minutes we had a filling and delicious lunch.

Whole Foods sells Adzuki bean-brown rice burger. I never bought them but wanted to try that combo for a long time. Adzuki beans need only 2~3hours to soak and cook pretty quickly. In addition to the beans and rice, I added some bread crumbs, flour and a flax egg for binding. I flavored the burgers with Indian spices like kasoori methi and kitchen king masala. My focus group (my mom, sister and husband) liked them.

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Falafel (Eggless, Lower fat recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Combo Dishes - Tikkis/ Burgers
Dish: Falafel with Pita

Officially it is Fall season in our neck of woods, but it feels like summer for the past couple of days. Not that I'm complaining, but I had planned to make baked falafel for day 2 of BM# 33 and had to change plans and shallow fry them because I didn't want to turn on the oven. Baked or fried these falafel are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. We had these for lunchl served with store bought pita bread, creamy tahini sauce and crispy lettuce and cucumber salads. 

I already have a recipe for falafel that has egg in it and I've been looking for a recipe that doesn't have any egg and does not use as much oil. So when I saw this recipe @ Cookie and Kate, I knew I had to try this recipe. It is super simple to put together. Interestingly the recipe uses soaked chickpeas that do not need to be cooked, that saves time and is much more convenient.

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Aloo Tikki Wrap (Potato patty wrap)

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Combo Dishes - Tikkis/ Burgers
Dish: Aloo Tikki Wrap (Potato patty wrap)

After our month long Mega marathon last month with A-Z Andhra dishes, we are back to our regular 3 days a week Blogging marathon this month. My theme for the for the first week is 'Combo Dishes' involving tikkis and burgers. When I signed up I wasn't sure what I would be cooking for this week. After all the planning, cooking and blogging non-stop for a whole month, this week feels so unplanned and on the spur of the moment. I haven't cooked the dishes for next 2 days, hopefully they will be done on time.

My mom and my sister along with my niece are here with us. I'm enjoying the company and my mom's Andhra dishes. In turn I'm trying new recipes on them -- it's a win-win situation for me, not sure if they think so or not :-)

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