MLLA 35 Round up

Hosting MLLA 35 was a wonderful experience. Thanks a lot Susan for giving me this opportunity. All the 42 entries were exciting, each in its own way.  Different ingredients, different cooking styles, different cuisines but the end results always delightful. So here we go with the roundup. Such diversity amongst the entries, it was quite difficult to segregate them into groups, then I decided to go along the trodden path and style it like a restaurant menu.. Soups, Starters, Main Course, Sides and Dessert. So here we start with soups.

Raven Johnson's Hot and spicy Lentil soup is lentils and vegetables simmered with an array of spices, hardy and super comforting. Janet's Stew has colourful yams simmered with black beans in a medley of spices and orange juice, perfect for a rainy day.
Heather's 'Tuscan bean soup' is hardy sumptious and flavoured with balsamic vinegar.. Chick-flic, Tuscan Bean soup and the TV remote is what a gal needs!! Libby sends us a heart warming bowl of soup made with lentils, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes and herbs in her 'Kitchen Sink Soup.

Priya sends us 'oats crusted rajma balls' a delightful snack gorgeously served Kebab Style. Rajji 's 'Kala Channa Salad' is Cooked chickpeas spiked with Amchoor and a host of other spices, onions tomatoes gives this dish a 'Chat' like appeal. Mangocheeks innovative combination of lentils and chard wrapped in wonton skins to make cute potstickers. Akhella Deep fried Tofu, coated with mild seasonings like pepper, garlic and soy sauce good enough to seduce the tastebuds of the mightiest tofu-haters. Lakshmi sends us a perfect weekend breakfast of Idlis and crunchy Vada and Kanchipuram Idlis, which says heaven in one bite. Srivalli  presents an Indian twist on the baked beans on toast, this is spicy Rajma on smoothered between two slices of warm bread. Raksha offers the perfect evening snack, the well loved and appreciated 'Pakoda'. Harini's 'Channa Dal Fry' is something of a cross between the traditional south Indian Usli and the north Indian Channa Chat, it is a winner nevertheless. Valerie's unconventional humous is made of Edamame and Adzuki, a perfect accompaniment for fresh vegetables. Susan's 'Bindaetteok' is a pancake spiced with kimchi. Raji's 'Chole Bature' is one of the most popular street foods of north India, chickpeas simmered in spices served with crispy Bature. Adam Keen has sent us a 'vegan Spanish Tortilla'.I never imagined a vegan omlette like creation that can be so satisfying and packed with the goodness of soy and yeast. This Tortilla looks good for breafast-lunch-dinner-anything in between..
Nandita sends us beautiful pictures of the king of all Kannadiga meals, BBB is rather elaborate to make from scratch but worth every effort. Though BBB cannot be called a starter I am forced to include it here because other categories are full :) Vaishali sends us 'Bean Burgers'. It is the time for burgers, cute and adorable, these are a breeze to whip up.

Check out these sumptuous curries.
Priya's 'Green Tomato Kootu' is made with home grown green tomato which makes the dish tangy and great. Meghna sends us her forever comforting 'dal' to be served with steamed rice :). Kritika Very thoughtfully uses watermelon rind, combining it with Adzuki beans to end up with a delightful stew. Claire presents her rich vegan 'Makhani' gravy with soulful tofu to be served over Lemon rice. Harini sends us her 'Channa Dal over Rice' a hardy combination of tomatoes and split chickpeas. She has also sent us her Alu Ginger Pappu and Pindi Miriam which is a mixed vegetable and dal stew. Rupali combines the goodness of dal and spinach, can it sound more comforting than that!! Priya Sreeram's 'Cholar Dal' is channa dal in a spicy gravy spiked with coconut' a Bengali favorite. Valli sends over 'Gujarati Dal', a comforting combination of Dal and tomatoes…. Vanessa tempers her dal with fragrant fenugreek seeds to end up with 'Lentils with fenugreek seeds'. Renu sends us my favorite Kannadiga style Chickpeas preparation, what we call "Kadalekalu Huli", serve it up with 'Ragi Mudde'!!!

We also received some wonderful side dishes. Salads, pastas and what not! Here goes the side dishes. Janet sends us a summer salad.What says 'summer' better than starwberries? Here is a salad combining the season's best strawberries, Edamame and asparagus.She also sends us her Mango BBQ beans .Summer is almost here and so are BBQ Bean, this is the perfect marriage of Mangoes and beans BBQ style.
Caffettiera's 'Risi-e-pisi' is a creamy concoction of rice and peas an Italian comfort food with butter and Parmesan. Lubna's 'Kandi Podi' is a blend of spices that heats up the palate just enough to brighten up any meal. A must for Andhra style meals
Lisa's 'Refried Beans' is a definite crowd-pleaser loaded with spices including the unconventional asafotida. Abhirami sends us her 'Paruppu Thuvaiyal'. It is Moongdal toasted till fragrant, mixed with spices and ground into a chutney. Chitra's 'Black Urad Dal Rice' is rice cooked with roasted Urad Dal, fragrant and delectable. Richa has sent sauteed 'Cluster Beans' A popular dish down south this is cluster beans sauteed with some whole spices, tomatoes and lemon juice. Kalinda's 'Pasta-e-fagioli' is a super hit combination of beans and pasta with lots of spices.

Now for the desserts. Surprisingly enough there were only two entries on this

Raji's 'green Peas Kheer' is a heart warming mother's day presentation that is an absolute delight. Sravani celebrates her 50th post with Bobbatlu /Obbattu which has celebration all over.

And here are the winners...

Adam Keen
and the winner of the draw for the US resident is
Heather

Congrats Adam and Heather.. Thanks to all you folks for participation..I had a great time doing this round up. Hope you all had a nice time being part of MLLA 35.