Event Announcement- "Only" Snacks And Starters

The very popular "Only" event started by Pari of Foodelicious has come to Vegetarian Tastebuds. Thanks Pari for giving me an opportunity to host this event. The theme for this month is " Only- Snacks & Starters".  Everybody is fond of eating snacks anytime and when we go to restaurants, starters is the first thing we order and eagerly wait to dig into. Evening tea is incomplete without munching on snacks and some times most of us do have midnight snack cravings. Now a days most of the people being health conscious like to have healthy snacks but still occasional binging on fried stuffs like pakoras, murukkus, mixtures, samosas, kachoris etc is must. Also starters or appetisers or entrées as one may call them are any meals highlights.

So here is the event where I invite you to share those special snacks and starters which you make and treat your families and guests with, those special fingerlicking good recipes for which your guests keep on visiting your house again and again.

Now to the exciting part of this event, there is a giveaway sponsored by www.tarladalal.com . The giveaway is open to followers/ readers (publically) of Pari's blog Foodelicious. The giveaway will be shipped only in India and the winner will be chosen by Pari from Indian entries. Others who can provide an address in India should also link their entries under Indian category and are eligible for giveaway. Those who cannot provide Indian address can  link their entries under "Other Countries" linky tool, but they are not eligible for giveaway.


Rules for the event-

• The event will run from Aril 1st to April 30th.
• Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only two entries from the archives will be accepted, provided they are reposted again.
• Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word.
• Only vegetarian dishes ( eggs are allowed) are accepted.
• Link your post to this event announcement page and Pari's event announcement page.
• Non-bloggers if interested in participating, can send me the recipe and pic to vegetariantastebuds@gmail.com. 
• Use the linky tools only to link your recipes, however if you face a problem using the linky tool, mail your entry to me. My linky tool subscription has expired so kindly mail me your entries at vegetariantastebuds@gmail.com and I will publish them during the round up. 
• There will  be two linky tools, those participating in the giveaway leave the links in first Linky "Indian Entries" and Others who cannot give Indian address link your entries under second tool of "Other Countries". Mail me your entries along with your name, country (If you can not provide Indian address then I will publish your post under other countries), post link. No need to send the picture as I will take them from your post, however if you do not permit right click in your blog, just send me the picture.

Kindly make sure to adhere to the rules while linking your entries.

Looking forward for wonderful entries. 

Handvo/ Savoury Lentil And Vegetable Cake

I am very fond of Gujarati dishes, one such dish which is very much liked by me and my family is Handvo or Ondhwa. This is a baked savoury cake made with combination of rice with lentils and vegetables. This is very healthy and ideal for breakfast. Even my daughter who rarely eats anything apart from bread for breakfast, enjoyed this a lot. This recipe is from my dear friend Meghana's blog.

I have used store bought Handvo flour for this, but this should not be confused with readymade Handvo mix. 

Those who cannot get this flour, look out my notes at the bottom of this post.

Ingredients:

Handvo Flour- 2 Cups

Grated Bottlegourd- 2 Cups

Fenugreek Leaves- 2/3 Cup (Chopped)

Corn- 1/4 Cup

Onion- 2 Medium Sized (Chopped)

Ginger-1 1/2 Inch Piece and Green Chillies- 2 ( Make a paste out of it)

Jaggery- 1 Tbsp

Turmeric- 1 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Salt- To Taste

Yoghurt- 1/2 Cup (Well Beaten)

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp

Baking Soda- 1/2 Tsp

For Tempering:

Oil- 2Tbsp

Mustard Seeds- 1 Tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 Tsp

Whole Red Chillies- 2

Asafoetida- A Pinch

Sesame Seeds- 1Tsp + 3 Tbsp for sprinkling on top

Procedure:

• In a mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except baking soda and tempering. Make a medium consistency batter with some water and let the batter rest overnight.
• In the morning check seasoning and consistency, if required add little more water.
• Preheat the oven at 190 Degree C. Grease a baking dish with oil and keep aside.
• Prepare the tempering by heating oil in a pan. After the oil gets hot add in asafoetida, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, once they splutter add in red chillies and 1 Tsp of sesame seed.
• Mix this tempering with the batter and now add in baking soda. Mix well.
• Pour this batter in the baking dish and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.
• Place in the pre heated oven and bake for about 45- 50 minutes. Bake until the corners turn slight brown and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
• Now broil for another 5 minutes to get a crispy crust.
• Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for around 15 minutes before cutting into slices. 

Serve warm with green chutney and/or ketchup.

Notes:

• These can be made vegan as well by omitting yoghurt and adding vegan buttermilk and juice of 1 lime.
• Those who cannot get handvo flour can use this combination instead- 1 Cup of rice + 1/4 Cup- Pigeon peas+2 Tbsp- split bengal gram +2 tbsp- split green gram +1Tbsp -split black gram. Soak the rice and lentils overnight and grind them in a smooth batter in the morning using little water. Now mix other given ingredients except tempering and soda. Add little water in the batter if required. Now keep this mix for about an hour and proceed as per point 3 in the procedure written above.

Sending this to my own event Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottlegourd which was started by Priya of Mharo Rajastan.

Announcing Veggie/ Fruit A Month Event- Bottle Gourd

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I take utmost pleasure in announcing that in this New Year the very popular Veggie/ Fruit A Month Event created by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan is being hosted at Vegetarian Tastebuds . I have chosen 'Bottle Gourd' as the star vegetable for this month.

Bottle gourd is known by various names like Opo Squash, Long Melon or Calabash in English and as Lauki, Ghiya, Doodhi in hindi and as Suraikkaii in Tamil. Bottle gourd is a treasure chest of goodness. Let me list some health benefits of bottle gourd-

• Bottle gourd comprises of 96% of water so it is very good for kids and people with digestive disorders as it is very light on stomach and relieves constipation.
• It has got only 12 calories per 100 grams so it is ideal for weight watchers.
• It is very high in sodium and potassium and is helpful for people with hypertension.

Now coming back to the event there are some rules for this event-

1. "Bottle Gourd" has to be the star ingredient in the dish.
2. Prepare a vegetarian recipe (eggs are allowed).
3. The recipe can be for breakfast, lunch, dinner, starters, entrées, side dishes, snacks, desserts and beverages. 
4. Recipe has to be NEW. Archived entries are NOT allowed. I know you all are very creative so put on your thinking caps.
5. Use of the logo is mandatory to help spread the word about the event.
6. Link your post to this announcement and to Priya's event page.
7. Non bloggers are also welcome just send me your name, recipe and a picture and I will include it in the round up.
8. Please send me your entries between Jan'01 to Jan'31 at vegetariantastebuds@gmail.com with 'bottle gourd' as the subject. Your details must include-

• Your Name
• Name of the blog
• Recipe Name
• Recipe URL
• Photograph of your dish. Please ensure the picture is not large.

Round up will be posted in first week of February. Thanks to dear Priya for letting me host this event. Blogger buddies do send me your creative dishes. This is my first event and please help me make it a success. 

Currently the Veggie/ Fruit Event- Cucumber is being hosted at Ambrosia till Jan'15th, so send in your cucumber entries as well to Ambrosia.