Oyster Mushroom Curry and Kurma

This time I'm not going to write my excuses for not blogging, b'coz I know you all have become tired of it. Really, things are going so crazy around me. Also, this weather has something to do with it. I feel so lazy that all I want to do is sleep all the time. I get backlogged in my work b'coz of this and end up doing things in the last minute. Can you believe that I've been so lazy that I did not even mail my entries for 3 blog events although I posted them in my blog? Anyhow, I hope I send this one atleast.

When I saw the "Grindless Gravies" event going around in the blogsphere, I thought...Hey, That's not difficult. The regular sambar and puli kuzhambu does not involve grinding! But once I visited Sra's blog "When my soup came alive " I understood her hard rules. For the past one week, I did not plan anything specific for the event. Just watched what I cooked and was trying not to use my grinding tools at all. But you know what, it was very hard. For some, I had to grind spices, others involved coconut milk or lentils. Finally I succeded in coming up with the Oyster Mushroom Curry. So, let's go to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Oyster Mushrooms- 1 pack
Cinnamon- 1 " stick
cloves- 2
Onion- 1 (big)
Tomato- 2 (big)
Ginger garlic paste- 1tsp
chilli powder- 3/4 th tsp
corriander powder- 1 tsp
cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Curry masala powder- 1/2 tsp
pepper- 1/4 tsp
Turmeric- pinch
Curry leaves and corriander leaves-few
cornflour-1tsp(optional)

Procedure:
To clean the oyster mushrooms, just cut off the ends first. Then seperate the upper portion and the stalk. Cut the stalk and the top portion into small pieces. While adding it to the gravy, first add the stalks as it takes a few minutes extra to cook than the feathery top.
Heat oil in a kadai and fry cinnamon and cloves. Then add onion and ginger garlic paste.Saute until golden brown and soft. Then add the masala powders for fry for a minute. Now add tomatoes and cook until it becomes soft and pulpy. Make sure that it forms a paste like consistency.
Then add chopped mushrooms. First the stalks. Saute for 3 mins. Then add the top part of the mushrooms. Add 1 cup water and cook for 5 to 10 mins until you get a thick gravy. Cook till you get the desired consistency. You can also add a tsp of cornflour (just dissolve it in very little water) to make the gravy thick. I did not use it here for the sake of the event. But you can certainly do it to get a nice thick gravy.

The next is Oyster Mushroom Kurma. This is another flavorful dish that goes very well with dosa, rotis and ghee rice. This was the first time I was making this kurma, so I was a little unsure to use just the mushrooms alone. That's why I went ahead and put poataoes, as kurma always tastes good with potatoes. Once done, when I tasted the dish, I really felt that the mushrooms alone did a very good job in making the gravy tasty. We enjoyed the kurma so much that nothing was leftover although it was done to be packed for the next day's lunch. So, here is my recipe. I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:
Oyster mushroom- 1 pack
cinnamon- 1" piece
cloves- 2
curry leaves- 1 twig
Onion- 1 (finely chopped)
ginger-garlic paste- 1tsp
green chillies- 5
Tomatoes- 2 (finely chopped)
red chilli- 1
jeera- 1tsp
saunf- 1 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
sambar powder- 1 1/2 tsp
garam masala- 1/4 tsp
coconut- 1/4 cup
corrinader leaves- small fistfull
water- 1 cup
salt- as required

Procedure:
Grind coconut to a smooth paste. Grind red chillies, jeera and saunf to a fine powder. Clean mushrooms by wiping off with a towel and seperate the stalks and the petals. Heat oil in a pan and fry the cinnamon and cloves. Then add onions, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste, green chillies and turmeric. Saute until golden brown. Then add tomatoes and cook till soft and mushy. Now add all the masala powders and mix well Saute for 5 mins or until the raw smell goes. Then add coconut paste and saute for 2 to3 mins. Now pour a cup of water and add required salt. Bring it to a boil. Now add the stalk portion of the mushrooms first. After 3 to 4 mins add the petals and cook it is soft and done. Garnish with corriander leaves. Goes really well with dosas.

A dark day in our life in the year 2006

Warning: This is a long health related post. Just wanted to share a chapter of my life with all of you.

Yes...The day after Thanks Giving when all the people are busy shopping and still enjoying the holidays we had a very dark day during our 2006 ThanksGiving. This is b'coz Kavin was diagonized with something called the KAWASAKI disease. Funny name uh? Yes, we thought so too when the ER doctor told us the name not knowing the seriousness behind it.

Inshort, this an acquired heart disease that affects young childeren who are less than 5 years of age and rarely above 5. You can read more about it here and here.

Kavin's story goes like this. On 17th November 2006 he woke up normal just like any other day. He had his flu shot appointment and so we went to his pediatrician around 11 am. By 12pm we met 'B' in a restaurant and had lunch. Kavin dosen't eat anyway, so we kept him busy with some crayons. He was a little fussy though, so we packed our lunches half way through and I drove him back home.

Within minutes of reaching home, he threw up and started to shiver. I panicked. Then I gave him tylenol and put him to bed. I found that he developed fever. At that time, I thought it was a side effect of the flu shot. But as the clocked ticked away, his temperature kept on rising and rising. By 5pm he was burning and had a temperature of 104 degress. I didn't wanted to keep him in home any longer. So, we took him to the emergency by 6pm. All through the way he kept throwing up and his head was drooping down. Finally we got to see the doctor only by 10pm. (You know how the ER's function in US). They asked us to give him the same tylenol and motrin alternatively and sent us home.

The next day we met Kavin's pediatrician but he didn't find anything either. All through the day, his temperature would be 102 deg under the effect of motrin. When the medicine effect wares off ,it would go back to 104 . Back again in the evening his temperature shot up high and we rushed back to the ER.

After a long wait, we got to see that day's doctor. I was really not at all happy with the way he reacted to our concerns. He spent exactly a minute listening to our complaints, didn't examine Kavin (not even looked at him) and scoffed at me for telling my concerns as he thought I was exaggerating. Again we went home to continue the tylenol and Motrin.

Again we made a trip to the Pediatrician the next day. On this day, Kavin developed cracks on his lips and his toungue was coated with white substance and his eyes were blood-red. Still, his pediatrician said that it is a viral fever as his eyes were red. He also prescribed an eye drops and Nystatin for the toungue. Again we went home with no answers.

Fourth day also no improvements. Already, Kavin has feeding difficulties. He dosen't drink milk or juice also. It was so tough to watch him live with water alone. All long we knew something was wrong but we were helpless. My parents are doctors in India and my sis is doing her final year medicine. My dad became suspicious about Kavin's condition on this day. He prescribed some medicines too. But I was afraid to give it as I would have to answer Kavin's pediatrician if something went wrong.

Fifth day also continued with high fevers of 103. Kavin was humming weakly a lullaby that I used to sing to him daily. He tried to look into my eyes and said "boo boo". Oh My God! It was the worst moment. My hubby and me burst into tears and cried out aloud with Kavin in my lap. My Dad asked us to do a blood test. So, we went to the pediatrician to ask for it. He disagreed on that and he suggested to take a x-ray alone to check if it was Pnemonia. We went to the lab and got the result as negative. Again we went to see the doctor with the lab results. My hubby asked for the blood test again but the doctor said that he is very sure that it is a viral fever and that it takes 10 days to go away.

Day 6. A day before ThanksGiving. We cancelled our dinner program in our friends place and stayed home hoping to see some improvements today atleast. But nothing much changed. Back again we went to the ER and asked them to admit Kavin as we afraid to keep him home. But they didn't so as he was not dehydrated. I did tell them that he was drinking only water and very little pedialite (just 4 ounces a day). We had to give him through a medicine despenser as he dosen't like pedialite. Still, we were kiced like a ball back to our house.

Day7. It was Thanksgiving and while the world was happy celebrating it we were still in the dark not knowing what would happen next. My dad was angry with me as I did not follow his medicines. But he warned me that this was terribly wrong and a blood test was a must. He suggested to give a steroid that is banned in US but still used in India. I was scared to try it. Didn't want to complicate anything. So, I just told my dad that I gave the medicine but I didn't. No improvements. It's been 6 days since Kavin walked.

Day 8. We woke up after sleepless nights. Again my dad insisted on the blood tests and we talked to the Pediatrician and he basically washed off his hands. He said that he has done all that he knows and said that we could go to the ER again if we want and take a blood test for our satisfaction as our pediatrician's office was closed on that day. I was frustrated with the ER at this point. I didn't want to go there at all. But my hubby said that we go there again to do the blood tests atleast. Back again we went waited for 3 hours. The ER was packed with people as it was a holiday season.

In the waiting room, when my hubby took Kavin to the restroom he noticed that he was walking wobbly. He hardly took 2 steps then he sat down. B's eyes were watery. I consoled him and measured Kavin's temperature. This time the meter showed no reading. Just "HIGH". I was scared to death. I went to the reception and yelled at them for taking such a long time. Then the nurse came and checked Kavin. They took him in right away. Within half an hour we saw the doctor and told him the entire story. He was so patient and listened to us carefully. He then did a blood test and came back with the results that it could be "KAWASAKI".

After this the treatment started in a jet speed. kavin was admitted on the spot and was getting ready to be seen by the main doctor. 'B' rushed home to get a few things for our hospital stay. Kavin was given drips and had so many wires on his body. After 20 mins, his body started to shiver badly. I tried to hug him but his body was shaking so hard that his bed was also shaking. The nurse rushed in and changed the doses and he setteled down slowly. He was give IVIG (immunoglobin -an antibodies extract from human blood).

Day 9. Kavin woke up with no fever. His eyes came back to normal. He smiled and responded to us. He became aware that he was sick and that he was in the hospital to recover. We had a sigh of relief that didn't last for long. The doctor came in and gave us a sheet about this disease. We were shocked to read thru that. Then an echo was performed on Kavin and it was found that his coronary artery has enlarged and that he was in risk level 2. Phone calls were going back and forth to India and my dad was trying to find out the underlying complications and try to to do the best possible.

Day 10. We were released from the hospital and was asked to do a follow-up visit after a week with a cardiologist. Kavi was on baby aspirin for one full month. We met the cardiologist a week later and discussed the possible problems. He said that we have to wait for 1 full month to see how Kavin's body is recovering in the post kawasaki phase. His platelettes counts was more than double of what it had to be. The doctor also warned that if the platelet count continue to be this high ,he is in a risk for cancer.

This was too much for us. We walked in dark hoping to find some light at the end. This incident really changed us a lot. We started to appreciate Kavin more and his other difficulties did not matter anymore. We just wanted him to be alive atleast. In the end, after one full month of waiting time, the doctor did his echo and said that he has miraculously escaped and that his coronary artery has come back to normal and that he has crossed the danger line. Kavin is still kept on watch for the next 3 to 5 years . But we hope he will do fine in the coming years.

From my experiences, I strongly feel that our family would not have undergone this only if the doctors were more responsible in the first place. All that the ER doctors want us to do is spend some time in the patient’s room and hope that they can pass the patient off to the next doctor coming on shift or keep the patient alive for them to be seen by their regular doctor the next day. Anyway, it's we as parents who have to fight for our children. Always trust your gut feeling and struggle as much as you can.

Keep an eye for these Symptoms:

1. persistent fever that is higher than 104 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius), and lasts for at least 5 days.
2.severe redness in the eyes
3.a rash on the child's stomach, chest, and genitals
4.red, dry, cracked lips
5.swollen tongue with a white coating and big red bumps
sore, irritated throat
6.swollen palms of the hands and soles of the feet with a purple-red color
7.swollen lymph nodes
8. Peeling of skin under the nails (For kavin it happened after his relase from the hospital

If you see any of these symptoms in your child, Please Please do not hesitate to do a blood test and check for Platelet count. Don't worry if the doctors turn deaf to your words. You got to be persistant. In our case, we could have escaped this if the kawasaki disease would have been detected atleast two days before.

I'm sorry for a long one. Hope I didn't bore you. This is just to keep you all aware about this killer disease. Coming to an end, he is a pic of my son taken recently. You can see what food blogging has done to him. He has seen me taking pics of food many times and one day I saw him doing this. So I grabbed my camera quick and took a shot. He even got a little tikes kitchen set for ThanksGiving!

This ThanksGiving was a good one. We went to a big church were our friends invited us for a lunch. There was a huge crowd from different countries. People from different places sang their National anthem on stage. And guess who sang our India's national anthem?

It was KAVIN. He sang the full song song so clearly and won a huge applause. Too bad that I didn't take a camera. My friend said that the church would have taken it and if he gets it he would send it to me. So, I'm still waiting for that. Anyhow, we were so proud of him. Exactly one year has made a huge difference in our lives.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.

Sprouts Salad, Dates Milkshake & Ginger Tea

I have become tired of making the excuses again and again that I'm busy and that my kid is sick and all that. What to do? That's what is going on and on like a cycle. Anyway, I just wanted to be a part of a few events going around in the blogsphere. So, please bear with me gals for posting everything just like that without organizing it.

Our fellow blogger "Easy Crafts" who owns a great blog "Simple Indian Cooking" has launced a new event called "Powerless cooking". I glad that came up with this, as I have also wondered what would happen if there is a total power shutdown for a few days and what we would be cooking during those times. Anyway, my contribution to this event is Mungbean sprouts salad. Nothing fancy just simple and easy to make.

I wish to send the same to "Vegan Ventures" hosted by Suganya of Tasty Palettes. I'm not that familiar with this vegan cooking yet, so here goes my entry.

Sprouts Salad:

Ingredients:
Green moong dal- 1 cup (sprouted)
carrot- grated
green chillies- 1 1 /2 (minced)
red onions- 1 tbsp (fine pieces)
corriander leaves- 2 tbsp
peanuts- 1 tbsp (broken)
salt- as reqd
lemon juice- 1 tbsp

The other ingredients you can add to this are: Finely chopped boiled potatoes, cucumber, corn, tomatoes, yogurt, corriander-mint chutney, sweet tamarind sauce. Keep your mind open and try out anything else listed above.

Procedure:
Soak mung beans overnight. Drain the water and keep it wrapped in a wet towel. Then close it with a vessel and leave it aside for one full day. The next day the mung beans would sprout beautifully. I do not like to eat it raw, so I partially steam it. You can skip this step if you want to. Anyhow, this is the way I make it.

I add steamed sprouts to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. You can add yogurt too but I'm skipping that as I going to send the same to the 'Vegan' event too.

Date's Milk Shake:

I'm going to send this to Chandrika of Akshyapatra who is hosting AFAM: Dates. Milkshakes are always my favorite especially this one which my mom used to prepare during my school and college days. I would devour this in a flash b'coz my mom would say that helps in hair growth due to the iron content in it. But I don't think it helped me at all. You should see my head now (almost bald). Anyway, the taste is really good. Try it for yourself and you'll see.

Ingredients:
Chopped Dates- 1 cup
sugar- as per taste
chopped pistachios- 2 tbsp
milk- 3 cups

Procedure:
Boil milk and after sometime bring to a simmer, add dates and cook till soft (5 to 8 mins) in a low flame. Cool this and reserve a few tbsp of pulp aside. Blend the rest with milk and sugar. You can make it thinner or thicker depending upon the amount of milk you use. Finally mix in the pulp and nuts. Give a good stir and serve it chilled .



Finally, it is GINGER TEA:

This is for the the "Think spice... Think... Ginger" event hosted by Sunita of Sunita's World. Initially, I was wondering if this would be apt to send it for the event but, after seeing the same at Nags's blog I decided to post the same . So, here is a refreshing cup of ginger tea with some Banana bread.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 cup
taj mahal tea leaves- 1 1/4 tsp
water- 1/4 cup
ginger- 1 1/2 " (grated)
cardamom- 1 (broken)
sugar- as reqd

Procedure:
Boil water with tea leaves. cardamom and ginger for 5 minutes. Then add milk and bring it to another boil. Add required sugar and mix well. Filter this and serve this steaming cup of hot ginger tea for a refreshing morning.

(This is B's fav cup ,but this is the quantity he drinks. So, I couldn't get a good pic at all. Sorry guys, bear with me.)

Idiyappam with coconut milk

It's just 20 mins left for the "Click" event hosted by Bee to be over and I'm beginning this post wondering if I would make it. So what did I chose for the event??? Rice Noodles (or) Idiyappam.

Here , I have made only a basic version of the Idiyappam. With this you can do so many things like lemon Idiyappam, Milagu Idiyappam, Curd Idiyappam or the popular one -paired with milk,cardamom and shredded coconut. It can also be served with mutton Paaya , veg kurma or stew.

My hubby helped me a lot on this.(ok ok...he did it. This is what he wants me to type) .Yesterday we did the same and I took pics. But nothing turned good. Today Mr. Perfect did it and here it is for all of you to see.

So, here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 1 cup

Hot water- as needed

salt- a pinch

oil- 1 tsp

Procedure:

Heat water in a pan with some oil. Bring it to a rolling boil. Add some salt to the flour and mix well. Now add water little by little and keep kneading it until it forms a soft dough.

Then grease the inside of the Idiyappam maker or aachu with little bit of oil. Shape the dough into a little log and put it inside the aachu and press it. Steam this in idlli pan for 5 to 7 mins.

Serve it with the accompaniant of your choice. I kept mine simple. Just coconut milk, sugar ,shredded coconut cardamom and loads of love. This is the way "B" likes it, so I did it to cool him off.

PHEW!!! I made it atlast. This is my fastest posting so far.

Before I go, I have to do one more thing. Thank you guys for all those who voted for me in the last 'click' event and also to the Judges who chose me. I wanted to mention this long back but didn't do it so long. I was so happy to see that so many of you have encouraged me and helped me gain a place in the top 10. Once again.....a big THANKS!!!

Diwali Treats and the stories behind them

Hi friends,
Hope all of you had a fantastic Diwali and back again to your normal routine. I had a great one too. The past one week was too hectic. That's why I couldn't reply to any of your comments or upmdate my blog with a new post. Anyway, Thanks for your understanding.

So, let me tell you about my diwali treats. This time I decided to do the sweets and snacks based on what I already had in the pantry. No special shopping.Then I went thru my favorite blogs and picked the recipes. Believe me...the list was huge. I had such a hard time in narrowing it down. Finally, I came up with 5 sweets and 1 snack item. They are:

Kesar Mawa Rolls:

I found this recipe from Sirisha who owns a great blog Ambrosia. This is the first time I tried a sweet with homemade khoya. I never knew that it was this easy. But I had a few pitfalls too. If you look at the original recipe you can see how the layers are distinct in color. But ,when I did mine i did not soak the saffron in milk for a long time. Moreover I guess mine needed a little more saffron. But the taste was great. A little like the cheesecake , a bit sticky to the palatte. This sweet laid the foundation for me to try the other khoya sweets with a better confidence in me.
Thanks Sirisha for all your guidance thru the comments. Truly appreciate it. The original recipe can be found here.

Next is..... Mango Coconut Truffles:
The original recipe was for Mango coconut burfi. Actually the first time I saw this recipe was in Asha's blog and I bookmarked it. Later when I decided to make it for Diwali I saw that it was originally Viji's recipe. So I combined both by using canned mango pulp and fresh coconut.
Check out Aroma of Asha's and vcuisine of Viji's versions.

I was following the recipe good, suddenly fate came in the form of my hubby. Out of no where he popped up to help me. When I was about to add sugar (1 1/2 cups) he stopped me at 1/2 a cup and said this would be perfect. He also gave me a big lecture on cooking with some common sense too. Finally I listened to him b'coz he had been my guru & critic in cooking. You know what happened in the end?
The burfi did not set. I could not make slices nor would it hold it shape as it did not have enough sugar in it. I even set it overnight in the fridge. Nothing much changed. My hubby said that we cannot serve it this way to the guests and he asked me to discard it.
OMG! How can I do it? The taste was out of the world and the aroma was unbelievable. I had to save it somehow.

So, This is what I came up with. I greased my palms with ghee and made the mango burfi into mini balls. Then I rolled them in powdered sugar so that they don't stick to the serving dish. Finally I garnished with a bit of pistachio and also came up with a new name....Mango Coconut Truffles. I served it chilled.

You won't believe it. This was the super-hit item in the party. Everbody enjoyed it and never knew that something was wrong with it. And, I was really proud of myself to have used my common sense to save the dessert although it was ruined by Mr. Perfect.

All along the preparation I was informing Viji ka about my mistakes. So, she took pity on me and emailed me her Almond peda recipe just for me although she hadn't posted it in her blog yet.
I was so happy to see the simplicity of the recipe . So the next sweet was almond peda.

Almond Pista Peda:

Here is another recipe that I got from Viji. It was so easy to prepare and it turned out really good. I did it without any disturbances as I was alone. Using my knowledge of handling khoya when I did mawa kesar rolls i handled this like a pro. Everyone thought that it was store-bought. I did not make plumpy pedas as Viji's as I had a lots of sweets and didn't want people to feel full with just one. (All the sweets were done for the Diwali party we had at our friends place. It was not a potluck. Infact the dinner was ordered from outside. but I just made these to share it withmy friends and all of you.)

Gulab Jamuns:

I made this with the MTR mix. Most of you might think what's so special about doing jamons with mix. But you what? So many things matters. The jamons should be the perfect shape, fried to the right consistency, soaked enough in the sugar syrup and all that. I've done jamuns so many times in the past and it had always been a success. But this time....OOPS. It went wrong.

I was already late for Kavin's gym classes. So I fried the jamuns and dropped them in hot sugar syrup. I mean really hot syrup. With 10 to 15 mins the jamons absorbed the syrup and they looked supersoft and spongy. In my mind I was imagining all the compliments I was going to get from my hubby.

After that I left for the classes. On my return, I tried to tranfer the jamons to a serving bowl. Alas, the disaster happened. All the jamons started loosing their shape and just melted just like that and the I ended up in one big mess. I was so mad. I wanted to scream at myself for being so idiotic. I couldn't fix it at all. I tried saving a few but it wasn't that great. I couldn't save it in anyway.

With a heavy heart I threw away everything and did a fresh batch taking enough care all the way through. This out turned perfectly good and it made up my heart for the jamons I lost. So, next time guys...don't think jamons from mixes are damn easy. Everything has to be done in a certain way to get it right.

Next was...Chocolate Pista Rolls from Viji's:

I know, I have done 3 of her recipes this time. I wanted to try something else, but the chocolate had got me pinned to it. I had no other go. This also turned out great and I also shapped them into balls and placed the pista stuffing inside. Also, I did the chocolate khoya once again and rolled them with the plain khoya to make a marbled effect. Altogether it was good and it was specially "B"'s fav.
For the original recipe go here.

The snack was Pottukadalai Murukku:

It's been years since I made this. So, I had a hard time in searching for the murukku aachu. Finally when I found it ,the star plate was stuck to the aachu. I couldn't change anyother plate whatsoever. That's why I did only one item this time.

This is my friend's Valli Meyyapan's recipe. She is not a blogger but is a good cook. We were neighbours when we were in Michigan. This recipe of hers has always been a hit in my house. Hope you like it too.

Diwali Breakfast:

Usually we have idlli and brinjal gosthu for our diwali breakfast. But this time I donno , I couldn't find time to get the batter done. My hubby was a little disappointed with that b'coz this is what he had been eating traditionally on every diwali for as long as he could remember. So, I had to do something that is equally good.

Luckily I found the 'Rava Dosa' recipe from Prema's cookbook. Thanks to her, my hubby really really enjoyed it so much that he kept eating it in jet speed not allowing me to take even one pic. Finally I took one, but by that time the chutney was all gone. Still he finished it off with some sugar. I just got to taste just one piece of it. But I was glad that it made up for the idlli-gosthu breakfast.Thanks Prema once again. (The picture is not that great. But it tasted so good. Will update this post with a good pic soon).

Anyhow, the celebration was great and all the guests enjoyed everything. I was also satisfied with the net result although I had a little bit of downfalls here and there. I know, that it is a long post. Just wanted to share with you what all I went thru in the process of preparing everything. Sorry for boring you guys.
Will continue with my normal posts and reply back to all of your comments soon. Thank you all for inspiring my Diwali. I had so many other items on the list, but didn't find time.
Will do it all for the next festival.

Happy Deepavali 2007!!!

(image from flickr.com)

Hello my dear bloggers friends and visitors,

Wish you all a very Happy, Prosperous and Safe Diwali.

Hope you all have a great time bursting crakers, eating sweets and enjoying your favorite TV programs. See you all soon with the goodies I prepared for Diwali. Bye.

-kribha.

My Kitchen Disaster

Asha had tagged me for "Nightmare in the Kitchen" meme. This was originally started by Lakshmi of "The Yum Blog". It all started when she baked her "Warm Walnut Brownie Pudding". You can check the links at the end of the post to read all the stories.

Any cook will have their moment of nightmare in the kitchen at some point of time. Ofcourse, nobody is perfect and we all learn from our mistakes. If I start to write about mine this one post wouldn't be enough. So, I'm going to write about what my hubby did recently.

The day was Oct 23rd 2007. Everything went well until 6pm evening. Suddenly the power went off for 10 mins. One of my greatest fears is DARKNESS. Really, I'm not kidding. After sometime the power came. In a few mins, I heard talking sounds and walked in that direction to find what it was. The sound was coming from my bedroom upstairs. When I walked up the stairs I noticed that the TV was ON(It was Off before the power went out).

I was shocked to see my dark bedroom glowing like a haunted house. So, I ran outside my house along with my son and asked my hubby to drive fast and come home. Also, I locked the house and drove to the nearby gas station and waited for 'B' to come. Atlast he came and took us home. First he went into the house and made sure everything was ok and then we went in.
After this scary evening 'B' offered to cook some tandoori chicken for me as I was still not ok. So I cooked some food for my son alone and went to feed him. After some time, when it was time to take out the chicken from the oven...the nightmare started.

'B' dabbed some butter on the top of the chicken and put it under the broiler moving the rack from the center to the top-most level.Within minutes, we saw smoke. When we opened the oven we saw that the chicken and the marinade drippings had caught fire. I screamed and did not know what to do. 'B' took out the tray and ran to the deck. I asked him to throw it down. But he put off the fire somehow and he even managed to save the chicken ( a few bits got stuck to the foil paper though). Finally he dressed it up beautifully and presented to me as though nothing had happened. Here are some pics of the end product.

Look at the picture closely. This was taken before eating the chicken. But half was already gone as it got stuck to the foil and turned black..

Here are the links to some of the nightmares that have been blogged so far. Prepare to have an aching stomach after reading their posts.

Lakshmi's
Asha's
Sirisha's
Siri's

Also,I would like to tag....
Sia, Sharmi and Rak's. Hope you all have fun dears.

Wanna take one last look of the chicken again? Here it is.....Enjoy!!!