Celebrating My Friends

“Celebrating My Friends”… This was the subject of an email that I received last week. I was curious! I opened it to see that it was from my friend Sumathe! She had sent us (a group of 12 girls) an email to invite us over to her house for a lunch to celebrate our friendship! What a wonderful, heart-warming thought! A lunch without the kids and husbands! Now that sounds exciting and fun. Not that we don’t do these “girls only” parties and get-togethers all the time!
Anyways, before I delve into the post I would like to tell you guys about Sumathe and my other friends.
Sumathe is a wonderful person. Very unassuming, very easy to be with, no hang-ups and a down to earth person. She has this whacky sense of humor and is a very dedicated mom. I love the wonderful stories she shares with us about her little idiosyncrasies and little incidents with her family. Her husband is another wonderful tale! He is a quite listener, very patient and is a perfect friend a girl could ask for! And did I tell u he is obsessive, compulsive! And that forms the basis for most of Sumathe’s funny tales! But jokes apart, they’re a special couple and I’m happy that I have a good friend like Sumathe.
And as for the rest of my girlfriends, we are a crazy bunch. We laugh too much when we get together. But yet, we can discuss about anything under the sun. Politics, Finances, Stocks, Arts, Movies, Kids, Cooking etc… The list is endless! In these 10 years that I have been here and known them, we have grown, matured, gone through many a ups and downs and seen ourselves through them. We have seen each other through good and bad times. Memories that will last a lifetime and friendships to cherish!
In the true sense of it, this post is surely to celebrate my friends! Celebrating Sumathe and her friendship!
And now for the meat of the post! That afternoon Sumathe had cooked this wonderful, simple and nutritious meal for us. Every dish was unique and different. A post in itself! I went armed with my camera and decided that I was going to do this post on my blog. I got all the pictures I needed and she was kind enough to share the delicious recipes with us. So let’s go check out Sumathe’s fare!

Delicious Asparagus Soup for Starters

This soup was creamy and tasty. It was a delicious surprise to the tastbuds! And she told me "Everything that went in there was low fat!"

Creamy Asparagus SoupYou will need:

2 ½ cups Chopped Asparagus (Wash, cut out the thicker tails and chop the rest in 1inch long pieces)
½ cup Chopped Onions
½ cup Chopped Potatoes (Wash, Peel and chop into cubes)
1 cup Skim Milk
2 tsp Oil (or Butter if u want)
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Cream for Garnishing (optional)

Method:
Sauté the chopped Asparagus with a few drops of oil for a few minutes. Keep aside.
In the same pan, sauté the chopped onions until translucent. Then add the chopped potato cubes and sauté for about 4 minutes. Then add 2 cups of water. Cover with a lid and cook until the potato is almost cooked. To this add the sautéed asparagus and mix well. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn off the stove. Cool Completely. Blend this whole mixture in a blender until smooth. Add this asparagus paste, milk, salt and pepper and mix. Bring this mixture to a boil. Serve hot. Garnish with cream or chopped, cooked Asparagus bits if you want.

Mixed Vegetable Salad

This Salad was sweet and yet tangy. It was brimming with veggies and was very light to taste! An excellent filler when you're on a diet!

Mixed Vegetable SaladYou will need:

2 cups Chopped Cucumbers (Wash, Peel, core out the middle and chop the rest into fine cubes)
2 cups Chopped Carrots (Wash, Peel and chop into fine cubes)
1 bunch Green Onions (Chopped fine)
1 cup White Garbanzo Beans (White Channa, soaked overnight and cooked)
2 Green chillies (chopped fine, optional)

For the dressing:
1 bunch Mint Leaves (Wash and Chop fine)
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt to taste

Mix the above in a bowl and keep aside.

Method:
Combine all the chopped vegetables in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Add the dressing. Toss and Serve.

Hara Bhara Chaawal
This was a subtle yet delicious tasting Rice dish. It spelt "Healthy" to the core! Served with Raita, it was a perfect one pot nutritious meal!

Hara Bhara ChaawalYou will need:
2 cups Basmati Rice (Cook with salt. Spread in a large platter to cool).
1 cup Grated Carrots
1 cup Finely chopped Spinach (you can use baby spinach leaves)
3 Green Chillies – finely chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
½ Red onion – chopped fine lengthwise

For Seasoning:
3 tbsp Oil
½ tsp Mustard seeds
½ tsp Urad dal
Curry leaves

Method:
In a pan, heat the oil. Season with Mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. After the Mustard splutters add the chopped green chillies and the grated ginger. Sauté. Then add the chopped red onions and sauté until translucent. Then add the grated carrots and chopped spinach. Add a pinch of salt. Mix well and sauté for just about 2 or 3 minutes. Mix with the Basmati rice. Add some more salt if needed. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro and Serve hot.

Traditional Onion Raita

Traditional Onion RaitaThe above is the Traditional Onion Raita. Add chopped red onions, chopped tomatoes, some chopped green chillies and mix well. Add yogurt or curds. Mix well. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

Tangy Apple Thokku

Tangy Apple ThokkuThis apple thokku was very tangy and tasty. “It was actually quite simple to make “ she said. Peel and Grate two apples and keep aside. In a pan, heat about 2 tbsp of Sesame Oil. Add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add ½ tsp urad dal, some Hing (Asafoetida) and 4 methi seeds. Then add the grated apple, ½ tsp Red chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste. Mix well. Serve.


Apple Braid for Desert
Now this was a delight to look at. It was perfectly braided and was sitting on the table. Warm out of the oven, the aroma permeated the room. It was very lightly sweet and flaky! Kind off melted in your mouth! If you know me by now, I am not much for desserts or sweets! But this was one dessert that was going to stay with me! I'm sure my family would love this!

Apple Braid
The Apple Braid looks tough to make. But if you get everything together it is actually quite easy! I was surprised at how easy!

You will need:
2 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls dough (she got the reduced fat ones! Perfect, because she said there was no compromise on taste!)
1 – 8 oz package Cream Cheese (this one was reduced fat too!)
½ cup Powdered Sugar
¼ cup Chopped Pecans
1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
½ tsp Cinnamon (powdered)
1 Granny Smith Apple – Peel, Core and Slice into thin slices.

Method:
Thaw the cream cheese. Mix with the powdered sugar and whisk it well so it is all evenly mixed. Keep aside.
Mix the granulated sugar and the cinnamon and keep aside.
Roll out the dough, side by side with a gap of about 3 inches apart. With a rolling pin, smoothen the dough out until all perforations are smoothened out and the two sheets meet into one. So now you have one big rectangular piece of dough.
In the middle, spread the cream cheese mixture. Make sure you spread it only in the middle. You will need the ends to pick up and close.
Then arrange the apple slices on the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the granulated sugar-cinnamon mixture all over the apple slices. Spread one more layer of cream cheese mixture on top of the apple slices. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Now here’s the tricky part. Cut the sides of the flat rectangular dough into strips about
1½ inches wide. Lift each strip to the middle twisting in the process to the middle. Lift the equivalent strip on the other side to the middle twisting as you do. The two strips will meet in the middle. Press them together and close the top. Repeat for each strip throughout the entire length of the rectangular apple dessert.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Bake the braid for about 28 minutes at 375 degrees.
Chop into strips and serve warm.

Note: The process of braiding is kind off confusing. But once you get a hang off it, its simple. Next time, I will try to get pictures of the “Braid in the making” either when Sumathe makes it or when I try it out! Will update with those pictures eventually!

Hope you guys enjoyed the yummy spread! Do let us know if you try any of these exotic dishes!
Cheers.