Monday, January 25, 2010

Bird's Nest

Lindsay from The Chickenless Kitchen threw us a Renaissance Cook Challenge, where we are supposed to cook a dish inspired by our hobby. Though I just returned from a family wedding, I made this dish in a hurry to meet the deadline. I loved the idea and am eager to participate.

Ornithology -the study of birds or Bird watching(no pun intended) in a lay man's terms has been an interest right from my school days. Later I met a few environmentalist friends through whom I was introduced to the finer aspects of bird watching. The Book Of Indian Birds- by Dr Salim Ali has been my guide ever since. My mom's place is located close to a National Park. This gave me the privilege of watching a lot of species from the luxury of our living room, even without a pair of binoculars. Some of the species I have enjoyed watching from home were - Oriental Magpie Robin, Drongo, White-throated Kingfisher, Golden Oriole, Greater Coucal/Crow Pheasant, Egret, Coppersmith Barbet and varieties of Sunbird to name a few. (click on the links for picture).
Sadly urban development has brought about a drastic reduction in the numbers of birds. When I was there last week, I only saw a magpie robin and heard the call of a kingfisher and a coppersmith barbet, other than that I spotted none.

Bird-watching for kids- Bird watching is a great way to teach kids to respect nature and in turn protect nature. Children learn very quickly, my 4 year old can already recognise a few species.
For more fantastic pictures on Indian Birds- Indian Myna [मैना], Forest Warbler, Peacocks and Long-tailed Shrike.

Bird's Nest
Bird's Nest is probably one of the first recipes that I learnt to prepare. I used to go to summer camps in school and this was a favourite for cooking competitions. Kid's love the concept. (Since I was in a mighty hurry to prepare this dish one of my eggs almost threatened to hatch as I fried them!)

Ingredients-
For the shell-
4 large potatoes
salt to taste
bread crumbs

For the filling-
3 button mushrooms
1/4 cup green peas
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper

To decorate-
Roasted vermicilli

Preparation-
  • Boil the potatoes and peel when cool enough to handle. Mash add salt and keep aside.
  • Chop the onion, garlic and mushroom.
  • Heat oil and saute the onion and garlic. Add mushroom and peas, cover and cook.
  • When done take of the heat and add salt and pepper.
  • Make egg sized balls of the mashed potatoes and stuff with the filling mixture.
  • Roll in bread crumbs and fry.
  • Roast the vermicilli till brown and cook in water. Use to decorate.

13 comments:

  1. This is a perfect way to hide vegetables. Any filling would be great but I really love mushrooms. I should try this soon.

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  2. oh, my. now you are making boring potato so much fun!

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  3. This is such an adorable dish! Love the presentation!

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  4. Adorable!!! Love the little birdie presiding over it all. Thanks so much for participating :)

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  5. By the title I thought it's the bird's nest that we eat back home. But you've made this dish so fun to make and delicious to eat. A great way to hide vegetables.

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  6. Adorable!!! I love it! my other hobby is knitting and I'm trying to come up with something..

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  7. Hi Shirley, good to see you back on track again! And this is such a lovely meal. I'm sure your children love those EGGS very much. haha... Did they ask you why it doesn't taste like egg?

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  8. What a great idea. My mom loved bird watching as well, she would always say 'keep your bird feeders full' I will certainly try these yummy potatoes!

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  9. These look good!!! I'm passing your blog onto my 2 sisters that LOVE to cook, especially healthy :) Best of luck!

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  10. This is so cool! I would have never thought that you could represent ornithology with a food.

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  11. That was really challenging to cook with your hobby in mind. You did a great job :)

    Should try it out one day.

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  12. Oh I love how you tied your inspiration into this- very creative!

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  13. This is amazing and very inspiring....U rock ...I love your recipes!

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