WOVEN PICOT FLOWER

I learnt to work this stitch from sharon's blog, you will find the instructions in her new blog - Pin Tangle

Click on pictures to enlarge.As you can see, I have worked the flowers in woven picot stitch. I tried to work buds in plain woven stitch, but it did not have a rounded tip. So, I worked a lazy daisy stitch and wove through the legs of the chain - you can see the finish in the picture below.


The petals of the flowers could have been spaced more evenly.

I realise in hindsight that I should have spaced out the petals before I started working. The sketch below will not win any awards for neatness, but, I am sure you get the idea.
I worked the five short lines first and then the longer ones in between.

YAM FINGERS

Ocassionally I stumble upon some truly wonderful recipes while trying to use left over masalas from some other recipe. Sometimes it is because I can never stick to recipes. I soon forget all about it because I never bother to note it down.

I now try to note down the recipes immediately after I cook the dish.

Yam fingers is one such recipe.

Try it out and enjoy.

INGREDIENTS:

yam 1/2 kg

cornflour - 3 tbsp

salt to taste

For grinding:

urad dal - 3 tbsps

red chilles - 6

tamarind - size of 1/4 lemon wedge

chopped corriander leaves - 3 cups

METHOD:

1. Remove skin from yam and cut into desired size - here I have cut them into bit sized fingers.

CAUTION: AS FAR AS POSSIBLE TRY NOT TO HANDLE THE YAM WTH YOUR BARE FINGERS - BECAUSE YOUR FINGERS MAY START ITCHING. WASHING YOUR HANDS WITH SUGAR GRANULES SOMETIMES HELPS REDUCE THE ITCHING.

2. Steam the yam in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle - Or steam it any other way you want. Just make sure that the yam does not become soft.

3. Roast the urad dal, tamarind and red chillies in a dry kadai and powder it.

4. Now add the corriander leaves and 3tbsp of water and make a fine paste.

5. In a shallow vessel, add the cornflour, the ground paste and salt to taste and mix well.

6. To this mixture add the yam fingers mix so that all the yam is coated with the masala.

7. Marinate for about 15 minutes.

8. Deep fry in hot oil.

These yummy yam fingers can either be served hot with hot beverages especially good on a rainy day - or as a side dish with a meal.

MARINATE - MEANS TO SOAK IN