Sesame crackers and Pencil drawing

Yesterday’s snack time was pretty interesting.We had few sesame crackers and mixed fruit smoothie.We have a hard core fan of Alton Brown at our house(who else than my DH..LOL). Here are his recipes with slight variation.

Sesame crackers:

Sesame seeds – 1/4 cup
Poppy seeds – 1/4 cup
Wheat flour and all purpose flour ratio = 1:1 (Here I’ve taken 4 oz each)
Olive oil – 2 tbs
Water
Salt – 1 tsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp

Method:

1) Mix all the dry ingredients and whisk them thoroughly.Add olive oil and blend it through out the dough.

2) Add enough water(approx 4 oz) and knead the dough well and let it rest for 10-20 mins.

3) Roll the dough to a thin sheet and cut as per your choice and lay them on the baking sheet.

4) Bake them at 450 F for 3-4 mins on one side and another 2-3 mins on the other side.Let them cool down completely and then you can store them in air-tight container.

Crunchy crackers are ready…

Mixed fruit smoothie:

You can consider any berry or fruit for this smoothie.Here i have used mango,peach,strawberry,blueberry and raspberry.Use half cup of milk and half cup of plain yogurt.Blend all these along with half spoon of brown sugar.You may skip the sugar part if you want.Easy and healthy mixed fruit smoothie is ready to serve.

Past two weeks i was trying few pencil drawings. This actually started from the day when my friend gave me a book on Drawing by Giovanni Civardi.I didn’t know that i can draw.All i did was exactly replicate what he did.And this fish below is the first ever try on my own.Prob you guyz should tell me how good these really are?!?!

Simple Black-Eyed Beans Curry

I’ve already posted a version of Black-eyed beans curry and this second version is from my sister.This dish is in our regular cuisine and is yummm….try it out.

Serves : 3-4 people

Ingredients:

Black-eyed beans – 3/4 cup
Desiccated or Freshly grated coconut – 1/2 cup
tamarind extract – 1 cup (from small lime size ball)
Onion – 1 medium (finely chopped)
tomato – 2 (finely chopped)
Green chilies – 4
sambar powder – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt – to taste
Oil

Method:

1) Grind coconut to fine paste.

2) Pressure cook beans with some turmeric powder until well done.Use only appropriate amount of water for cooking the beans.(2-3 whistles)

3) In a pan, splutter mustard seeds,add  fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and green chilies.Next add onion and add salt, saute till it gets translucent.

4) Add tomato and sambar powder. Cook for a minute.

5) Add tamarind extract and ground coconut paste.

6) Cook covered for few minutes and in the end add the beans.Cook covered for few more minutes and it is done.

As simple as it can get…

Apple…Apple and more apples…when you go out to a store today ,you’ll find these lovely shiny colorful fruits lying everywhere.Have you ever tried eating apples with salt and pepper??? I tried this combination for the first time during my trip to Hartford last weekend.Cut apple into small cubes, toss ’em with salt and pepper…itz different and itz tasty.This is my fav afternoon snack these days.