Birthday of a foodie and Broccoli recipes

Happy birthday to you.....Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday happy birthday... Happy birthday to you...birthday song for the birthday week; me , mother-in-law and brother-in-law Banjit, cut our birthday cakes, had tasty foods and enjoyed the gifts.

Our birthdays are always special for us, but how much are we crazy for the day? Just answer this simple questions: Do you start counting days one month prior to your day? Do you wish yourself at midnight by making birthday card? Does all your close people get annoyed with your birthday countdown? If your answer is YES, give me a high five. I am crazy for my birthday and credit goes to my Dhaligaon mama (Dhaligaon is the place where he used to work).

My birthday is in july, which used to be summer vacation (it used to be heavy rainy season) time during student life, which means I used to celebrate at home without worrying about classes and homeworks. But there was never a fancy cake on my birthday because: 1st- during my childhood, there was no cake shop in my hometown; 2nd- my Dhaligaon mami used to bake for me. Their house was 1.5hr journey from our place. Mama and mami used to bring cake for me till my high school, every year. Once, it was raining very badly; my ma told, I would bake a cake for you, your mama wouldn't be able to come in this weather. I was waiting near the window, I told, mama would come with my cake. Within 10 mins, I saw, mama and mami coming, in his scooter, wearing raincoats. When they entered our house, they were fully drenched. But I was jumping because my birthday cake arrived on time. That was the love from my mama and mami. Every birthday, while cutting cake, I will fondly remember mama. He kept promise to a small kid in that harsh weather and the kid learned the value of trust. He made me realize, how special my birthday was. And I fell in love with my birthday celebrations. Love you Mama.

This year also I made a big deal about my birthday. I am glad that my hubby darling made the day special. Surprise gifts started coming from the (birthday-energy-annoyed) hubby, one week before my birthday.

Birthday card from my 3months old baby 

Gifts from hubby

My baby also behaved those two days: 2nd July (mother-in-law birthday) and 3rd July (mine), so I was able to cook. Foods of 2nd July were simple, as my mom-in-law liked.

Foods

    

Cake & gift

We had in lunch: bhaat, potol bhaja, paneer broccoli, broccoli bhaji, mishti kumror chhakka, daal (plain rice, fried pointed gourd, paneer with broccoli, broccoli stir fry, pumpkin stur fry, daal).

3rd july was my day and I don't know to have a simple birthday food(guilty!).

Cake and lunch

Dinner and baloons

As you can see, there was plenty of food. Lunch was: bhaat, potol posto, palak pata bhaja, pasta chingri mach diye, chaal kumro aar mishti kumro bhaja, macher dim bhaja, daal (plain rice, pointed gourd with poppy seeds, spinach fry, prawn fettuccine, fried ash gourd and pumpkin, fish egg fry, daal).
We had pancakes in the evening.
Dinner: Veg fried rice, chhole, paratha, fish, rasmalai.


So the my birthday was spent well, with two cakes, loads of gifts and lots of food. That's the birthday of a foodie.

Here is today's recipe for two of the birthday foods, fried ash gourd, spinach and pumpkin, veg fried rice and broccoli stir fry. For the recipes of rest of the foods, I will update soon. OK, not soon, because I am struggling with my baby daily, to make habit of sleeping at night; so during day tome, I need to play, dance and talk with him, so that he doesn't fall asleep.

FRIED ASH GOURD, SPINACH & PUMPKIN:

Ash gourd and Pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cleaned, cut in long and thin strips ( you can cut in shape as per image).

Spinach leaves, whole, washed and soaked in water.

For the batter:

Rice flour

Turmeric powder

Kashmiri Chilli powder

Salt

Water as per thickness requirements

Oil

Mix all the ingredients for the batter. If you don't have rice flour, you can uae gram flour or all purpose flour. But rice flour add the crunchiness in the fries, also it is healthier than other two types of flour.

Kashmiri chilli adds a vibrant red color in the yellow batter ( which we get after adding turmeric powder). It is very mild spicy.

The batter should not be too much thick; you should be able to coat the pieces of the vegetables, but there should not be thick layer on it.

Once batter is ready, heat oil in a heavy and deep bottomed kadai. Once it is completely heated, dip the pieces of vegetables inbthe batter and deep fry in oil. Keep the flame medium. Once the color of the fries become light red in both sides, take it out and enjoy eating crunchy fries.

Ash gourd & Pumpkin fry

Spinach fry

BROCCOLI STIR FRY

Broccoli 200gm, cut the broccoli florets in 2 pieces, dont make it much small; soak in boiled water for a few minutes.

Potato 1big or 2medium, cut in strips of size as per broccoli; 

Onion 1medium, thin sliced

Chilly 2 or more as per your taste

Salt, oil, onion seeds and turmeric powder.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Keep flame low. Add onion and chilly. Once onion turns light red, add broccoli and potato. Saute. Add salt and turmeric powder. Saute properly. Cover the pan. Keep on checking and keep stirring after 3/4 min. Once broccoli and potato becomes tender, you can increase the heat once vegetables turn brownish, you can transfer the content into a bowl. Enjoy with roti or rice.

VEGETABLE FRIED RICE

Biriyani Rice 2 cups (washed and soaked in water for 15mins, mixed with 2teaspoon refined oil and salt). This will help to make the rice non-sticky.

Broccoli 200gm, cut the broccoli florets in 2 pieces, dont make it much small;

2 Carrots, thin sliced

15/16 French beans, cut the beans into 1inch pieces.

Peas 1 cup

Green chilly 2

Coriander leaves, chopped, handful for garnishing.

Ghee 2 tbspoon

Onion 1 big, peeled, chopped in small square shapes.

3 tbspoon barbecue seasoning

Ghee 2 tbspoon

Cook the soaked rice in a pressure cooker. You will need 3 cups of water to cook rice. Put the flame in high, one whistle and immediately turn off the heat. Let the gas pass and open the lid. Sread the rice in plate. You need to make it completely cool, otherwise while making the layers for biriyani, rice will become soggy.

Soak the vegetables in hot water for 5minutes. Now in a thick bottomed kadai, heat oil. Add chopped onions chilly. Saute. Once onion turns brown, add the vegetables and salt. Cover and Stir fry in between until the vegetables become soft. Add cooked rice, seasoning and salt if required. Increase heat and saute a few sec. Add ghee. Mix rice and vegetables carefully and slowly, without breaking the rice. Have the fried rice with veg curry or chicken curry.

That's all for today. Typing this post from last 3days. Finally finished in a hurry, otherwise it might not get posted tonight. See ya all. Good night. Hope you like the recipes and the post as well.