Announcing Black & White Wednesday #85

Black and Wednesday has reached its 85th Edition and this time around, The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen is hosting it.

Rules are simple and unchanged:

1. Your clicks can portray anything of a culinary nature or anything related to food - an ingredient, a kitchen tool, a restaurant scene, something related to food preparation/presentation/consumption…In short, whatever your eyes perceive as a food related speech. 

2. You can shoot in b/w mode or else in colour and then process in b/w. You can use any effect you like but make sure that you keep the image in a monochrome/gray scale, with Sepia and Cyanotype tones allowed. No colour details are allowed.

3. Approximate sizes of your pictures should be portrait: 500 px wide & 700 px long or landscape: 700 px wide & 500 px long.
There is no need of a recipe, or a story or a location (but of course, they are welcome if you like). Simply a title for the picture is required.

4. You have to post your photograph within next Tuesday. (I will accept entries till I post the round up on Wednesday. Late comers will be accepted.)

5. You have to mention Black and White Wednesday in your post and link to this announcement page with my name or the name of my blog or both mentioned. Also, please mention Cindy of CindyStar Blog, who is now running the event with a link to her Host line up page as well as Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook who created this event. Usage of logo (the picture above) is optional.

6. Please send your images to pickwickcorner AT gmail DOT com with the following details: 

1. Subject: BWW #85
2. Your Name:
3. Your Blog's Name:
4. Title of Your Pic:
5. URL of your post:

Kovakka Ularthu (Stir Fried Tindora/Ivy Gourd)

Ruffling through the past few posts have made me realize that this space is under threat to become a food blog with no recipes. My fault, of course. I'm veeeery good at planning and keeping things organized. In fact, I live in the future.

Not really.

The fact is that I rarely have a post all up and ready to go at any time. My drafts section is a mess - but that is another story for another time.

Anyway, I had some pics of this Kovakka Ularthu that I had made before I left for home with me and they have come to my rescue.

That reminds me. My mom used to grow Ivy gourds in her kitchen garden years ago. Plucking them was fun and I especially loved those which had turned a bright red on the inside.

I have always loved this stir fry although lots of people don't share my enthusiasm.

The gourds must be cooked till they are very soft and tender and then sautéed very well for the stir fry to taste good.

What You Will Need: 

1. Kovakka (Ivy Gourd), each cut lengthwise into four - 2 cups.
2. Onions, sliced - 1 medium
3. Garlic, crushed - 1 tbsp. (Adjust to taste.)
4. Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp. (Adjust to taste.)
5. Curry Leaves - A few
6. Salt
7. Water
8. Oil

On To the Cauldron: 

Start by sautéing onions with a bit of salt in some oil.

Once the onions are cooked through, add the crushed garlic and sauté for a while. Now add the chilli powder and stir for a few seconds.

Tip in the gourds along with some water. I like to cook the heck out of these gourds and then sauté them well in some oil.

Switch off once they are done and serve with some rice and other sides.

Colour Me Green - Round Up

Hi Everyone,

Here is the Round Up of the Colour Me Green Photography Challenge for the month of April, 2013. I'm sorry about the delay - I couldn't connect to any network for the past few days. I probably should have just asked someone to take care of the whole thing while I am at home :)

Please note that photos are arranged in the order in which I received them. First in gets showcased first.  

I have not included the descriptions that followed each of the pics this time - The number of entries has increased and I'm very hard pressed for time this week :)

Also, I have slightly resized some of the pics (loosely around 700x500 px or 500x700 px)so that the entire round up would not be overwhelmed by one or two photos.  
 
1. "Silky Green":  Okra from Lakshmi Priya of Wok and Munch. 

2.  "My Green PAST with bright PRESENT and dry FUTURE" from Divya of Dishing.

3. Green Peas from Rekha of Food0licious Pictured. 

4.  Capsicums from Deepali of Confusion Cook. 

5. Cucumbers from Preeti of Kitchen Delicasies 

6. A bouquet of Palak Leaves from Meena of Elephants and the Coconut Trees. 

7. "Home Food Forest" from Nisha of My Food Express.

8. Curry Leaves from Aara of Sweets & Spices.

9. Young Nettles from Jasmina of Jazzy Kitchen.

10. "Green in a bed of Orange" from Tanu of Ma Niche.

11. Four Green Frogs from Jeeja Jason.

12. Green Mango from Techie 2 Mom of Mom's Cooking Adventures. 

13. Capsicums from The Foosa.

14. Ivy Gourd from Yours Truly.

 

Thanks a lot to everyone who participated in the event. Do come back for the May event!

Please take the time to visit some of these blogs and leave an encouraging comment.

Stay tuned to The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen for ongoing and future challenges as well as round ups of The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series.

The announcement post of the April Challenge - Colour Me Yellow can be found here. June will be Colour Me White.