Today's Guest Blogger: Sandhya

Here comes the Guest blogger's space after a short gap! Till now, I was doing this space with my friends and non-blogger buddies. But I realized it is time to invite the you, the lovely bloggers out there, to adorn my blog with your fabulous recipes!

And the first person, who came to my mind was Sandhya Hariharan @ Sandhya's Kitchen. She remains a very special person to me always, as she was the first person to visit my blog and leave her comments. (I still remember the date: 22/09/09!) My joy knew no bounds when I received the first comment on my blog; I am sure all of us can remember that date, very much like the "first love" :D Thanks Sandy, you have no idea how much happiness your comment gave me! Those who haven't yet had a chance to peek in her kitchen, please do it right away. She has a lip-smacking collection of recipes with great clicks!

Over to Sandhya:
Hi I am Sandhya Hariharan .. My friends call me Sandy.. For tat matter my little one calls me San ,Sandy & Sandhya..... Amma..
This is my first guest Host in 10 months of blogging !! Thank you Rohini....Muwaah ..

Meet Sandhya:
Well.. Its ages I have written something about myself.. Last I wrote was for my campus interview ..lol ..
A South Indian having her upbringing in Mumbai... This is what I would call myself.. A total blend in culture ...coz I have been rared for 15 years of my early life which I can hardly forget... Lived in Chennai , B'lore and now in London... I love travelling to new places , learning their food culture.. and having it in my kitchen.

Meet Sandhya's Kitchen:
My Love & Passion for Cooking grew after meeting this handsome Hunk Hari who would never tired of praising & appreciating everything I cook. No matter how disastrous it could be. By Product of this Passion is Sandhya's Kitchen.

Sandhya's Kitchen is a very passionate culinary corner where I ponder & experiment Cooking. Looking forward to make it a one-stop location for any kind of Vegetarian Breaks in years to come.
I would take this lovely opportunity to thank all my blogger friends who visit my blog and shower their lovely comments. I have grown a lot in my cooking and as a person .. in these 10 months..

Inspiration/role model/favorite cook:
South Indian cook in me is very much what my mother has imbibed... Now I'm learning in bits and pieces from my Mil , Granny.... and of course my mom...

My Inspiration:Gordon Ramsay.. I love the way he does it . I totally admire his art of putting together the right ingredients and bringing the right flavours. The way Gordon presents food in Tele shows...

Favorite Cuisine: Mumbai street food / Thai food

Recipe Name: Pav Bhaji
This recipe is no new to anyone... But I have grown with this recipe.. I could cook Pav Bhaji since when I was in Class 9 .This recipe has been improvised in flavours and ingredients as I have grown and finally compiled into the final version.
I have posted this recipe when I begun my blog.. and have been updated with better pictures from time to time. Find this recipe in my blog here.

INGREDIENTS:
Sunflower oil - 2 Tsp
Chopped garlic - 3 cloves(optional)
Finely chopped green chillies - 1-2 Nos (depending upon hotness)
Medium sized onions - 2 Nos chopped finely
Freshly grated ginger - 1 Tsp
Medium size Tomato - 4 Nos diced finely
Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup
Green Pepper - 1 Nos chopped finely
Green Peas - Handful
Carrot - 1/2 Cup
Potato - 3-4 Nos boiled &mashed

Powders & Garnishing:
Pav Bhaji masala - 2-3 Tsp( I have used an Everest one)
Turmeric Powder - 3/4 Tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 Tsp
Salted Butter - 50 gm
Salt - To Taste
Lemon Juice - 3-4 Tsp
Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup

For Serving:
Sliced Lemon - 4 pieces
Dinner Rolls(Pav) - 8
Salted Butter - 10gm
Finely chopped onions - 1/4 cup
Sliced Lemon - 4 pieces
Cheese - Optional

Directions:
Cook cauliflower,peas,carrots,green pepper together in a pressure cooker and keep it aside.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan .Add garlic & green chillies and saute for 30-40 seconds. Now add ginger & onions and saute until it turns light brown. Add a pinch of salt while frying onions. It will help to evaporate the water & fry quickly.

Add the diced tomatoes to it and cook on medium heat for three to four minutes, stirring continuously or till oil separates from the masala.

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder , 1 tsp pav bhajji powder to the mixture.

Now add the cooked vegetables & mashed potatoes to this mixture along with 1-1.5 glasses of water. Using a potato smasher, press the vegetables a few times till all of them are completely smashed.Bring it to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add the rest of the pav bhaji masala and salt now.

Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes and stir continuously.

Garnish the bhajji with chopped onions and lemon juice.

For Serving:
Heat some butter in a tawa. Slice pav horizontally into two and pan fry in butter for half a minute, pressing two or three times or till pav is crisp and light brown.

Garnish the bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, a little of butter and serve hot with pav accompanied with remaining chopped onion and lemon wedges.


See you all soon with another interesting post. Till then, Happy Cooking and Happy Blogging! :)

34 comments:

Ann said...

great to know about you Sandy~! :)

Kanchan said...

For me too Sandhya will always remain one of the initial commenter on my blog.

It was wonderful knowing her :)

Sree vidya said...

Hey nice :D
This is a wonderful series.
Feeling bad for staying away from blogs.
Soon I will be back. :D

Pavithra Srihari said...

Its really nice to know about Sandy :)

Pav bhaji recipe sounds yummy , Will definitely want to put my hands on it .

Hey Rohs, btw as Sandy is to you , you are to me :)..

Sandhya Hariharan said...

thanks a lot rohini....! I have a v spl place among felloew bloggers for u.. too
Its truely an honour.... I have never done something of this sort before....
All smiles on my face...to read abt my blog!
thank you... once again..

Raks said...

Nice post,gud to know about sandhya too!

Indian Khana said...

Glad to know about Sandhya...and the pav bhaji looks awesome

Pavithra Srihari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Urmi said...

Lovely post. Its really good to know more about Sandhya.

Madhurya Karthik said...

This is my favourite... Thanks Sandhya for this wonderful recipe.
Thanks to Rohini too for this post...
Love
Madhurya

Malar said...

Nice.... :)

Sowmya said...

Nice to know abt u Sandy...thanks for the recipe....
@Rohini....no prob dear...me too...unable to post regularly nowadays...really long time...have to start again...Sure...we'll meet...i'm very eager to meet you..Btw how is nimmi...did you guys meet often?she is not regular in orkut...convey my hi to her if you meet...

Unknown said...

Yummy chaat-meal pav bhaji :)

Preety said...

great pao bhaji recipe and nice to know about sandy too

ss said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suji said...

Hi Rohini..

First time at your space..You have a fantabulous space here friend..Great going...Lovely recipes..

Please check us out when time permits @

www.cookingwithkairalisisters.com

Love
Kairali sisters

Swarna said...

Good to know you sandy and not to mention excellent dish...

Preety said...

great pao bhaji recipe..and great blog of hers too

PranisKitchen said...

hi rohini
nice post.the pav bhaji looks so delicious..good one sandhya
new to ur space.. lovely space u have

Sayali said...

Hi Rohini,

first time here and this pav bhaji recipe just looks great...

Lovely space and recipes..
Happy to follow you :)

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Nice post and wonderful dish. Great job dearies...

gtyuk said...

I love pav bhaji, that's a nice wonderful street food !!!

nice recipe of Sandhya, she's a brilliant cook too!!

have a nice day Rohini!!!

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

wonderful series Rohini. loved knowing about Sandhya. She is an awesome cook. lovely bhaji pav

GayathriRaj said...

Hey first time to ur blog and u have a lovely space here.....thats so nice to meet u...lovely recipes and clicks....this pav bhaji is awesome and i love it a lot....

Ambika said...

Rohini...where are you babe?? Whats up??

Padmajha said...

Nice to know about u Sandy and of course the Pav Bhaji looks do delicious!

callmeasviju said...

Very nice blog......if time permits visit my blog........
http://lets-cook-something.blogspot.com/

Recipeswap said...

Good to know more abt Sandhya and great clicks.

Black22 said...

great article, just stumbled onto this blog and looks good so far
the-food-place

Unknown said...

Rohini, pao bhaaji is my favorite! It reminds me of my college days in Delhi when we used to indulge in it big time. Your presentation looks brilliant & you have also taken care of giving it the original look by adding onions & lemon to it which most people forget. :)

Do visit my tiny new blog at http://www.relishdelish.blogspot.com
Soon I will add pictures to my blog too. :)

john said...

Nice post and nd the pav bhaji looks awesome

Cooking Spices

Unknown said...

Hey,

Nice to know more about u Sandy!!:)Pav bhaji looks great...Great to give oppurtunities to bloggers like this Rohini!!:)

Dr.Sameena@

http://www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/

Suman Singh said...

Lovely post..good to know more about Sandhya..Pav bhaji looks simply delicious.

Unknown said...

This is really a great post
I read most of ur post.
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