THE AMRITSARI TRIP

This has been something on our list for a long time, at least since Viha's birth.  Finally the tickets were booked and we were off to Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple.  I, for one was really really looking forward to loads of stutmptous and finger licking food.  I had made a list of all the joints I wanted to eat at, which unfortuantely I couldnt make a visit to all.  Very honestly the food expectations from this City was very disappointing.  We had food at many different places, some talked about, and some not - but eventually the result was "not upto the mark"!!! 

However there were two other things that I will never forget from this trip. 

One is the visit to the Wagah Border where patriotism is seen at its best.  Even the most low profile patriotics will be awakened shouting Jai Hind, Bharat Mata Ki Jai at the top of their lungs - at least I did.  It was one unforgetful experience.  I have never felt so "Indian" before in my life.  What was it.........just two simple gates made of iron and two huge gates made of brick and mortar with "India" written on one, and "Pakistan" written on the other, creating a boundary between land which is as brown as it is here, with trees as green as they are here, with the sky looking down upon in the same way.  It was really a very strage feeling as we approached the Border and saw signs showing "Lahore - 23 kms".......never thought I would go down that lane. 

Second was the serene peace that transcends all the noise and humdrum of thousands of visitors at the Golden Temple.  The fact that you can be oblivious to the world around you, is something which is beyond comprehension.  All you can hear is the constant hymns from the Gurudwara and what your eyes can see.  Golden mystic beauty surrounded by a calm waters.  There is a certain chill in the air, or maybe it was the weather, but you can really loose your unrest somewhere in the waters and come back a lot more calm from there.

Though the food at Amritsar was not as per my expectations, what I cooked after coming home sure was.

TANDOORI STUFFED POTATOES

4 big potatoes
1/2 cup curd
2/3 flakes garlic
pinch garam masala
salt to taste
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp jeera powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder

FOR STUFFING

150 gms paneer
green chillies
corriander leaves
salt to taste
50 gms kishmish

RECIPE

put the potatoes in the cooker after washing and after a whistle switch off the gast
after they cool down, scoop a boat after cutting them into half
be careful not to break the potatoes.
Lightly shallow fry the potatoes to a golden colour. 
Beat the curd well and add the ingredients for the marinade.
Pour this over the potato boats and leave them for about 30 mins
meanwhile in a pan saute the inner portion of the potatoes alongwith the mashed paneer and kishmish and salt till the water dries up.
Add corriander leaves
Carefully stuff the paneer mixture into the potatoes
Take a cookie tray and grease it.  Place these potatoes and bake for about 30 mins
Serve hot with corriander chutney

FOR THE LOVE OF COOKING

Life has been moved on, and so have I. I became a mother after years of waiting to hold a baby in my arm. I never knew what being a mother would be like, until I became one. When the Doctor handed over a wrapped bundle onto my chest, I saw the most beautiful black eyes, looking at me with surprise. And what did i feel, all the anxiety and fear that was in me till now on the Operation Table vanished in a jiffy to God knows where. Is this true? I will never forget that moment till my last breath. The Doctor told me I had a beautiful daughter, and indeed she is beautiful, and she will remain so. She is one and half now. Time has flown. She is the most lovely gift God gave me till today. What I feel for her cannot be written down in words. I could die for her, and it would still be insufficient......... Hmmmm, that was just a peep into my hiatus of about 4 years. I surely am back for good now. You will soon know and agree with me. I really hope to be blog hopping as much as I can, and post at least 1 recipe a week to start with (that is so that I dont get addicted yet again!!!) I made a batch of Fruit and Nut Oat Cookies. Heres the recipe. The picture will follow soon.

Ing :-
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup nuts and fruits of your choice
2 tbspn honey

Method :-
Melt the butter and sugar on a very very slow flame.
Switch off flame
Add the oats and the fruits and nuts
Add the honey and vanilla essence
In another bowl mix the flour and the baking powder.
Beat the eggs and add to the flour
Add the rest of the mixture and fold in by hands
Meanwhile preheat oven to 180 Deg C
Make small balls with your hands and press them flat
Spread them on a baking tray and bake for about 20 mins
Cool and store

They were super duper delicious and to make them more healthy you could wheatflour instead of refined flour.

AM I BACK YET?? - HOPEFULLY

I dont know where to begin from? Life has been a roller coaster which much much happening. I will surely not be able to give an account of all that, but one thing is for sure that I wanted to be back in the blogworld ASAP!!! I used to blog hop once in a while, but not much. Hopefully, my love for cooking will not let go off my desire this time.

How have you all been? I am hoping all of you - each one of my friends are as good as I left them and even better.

I am putting up a neat, quick breakfast or snacktime recipe - Seviyan Upma.




Ingredients :-

Seviyan - 1 cup
Beans - finely chopped 4/5 stalks
Carrot - finely chopped 1
Peas - a handful
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1 pureed
Peanuts - handful (fried)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tspn
Salt - as per taste
Garam Masala - 1 tspn
Green Chillies - as per taste
Curry Leaves - optional but good flavour

Method -
Roast the sevian on slow flame
On the other hand boil the chopped veggies and the peas with a wee bit of salt
Chop the onions.
In a wok add some oil and when it heats add the mustard seeds till they sputter
Add the chopped onions and when they are fried add the tomato puree and fry till it leaves the oil
Add the turmeric, salt and garam masala powder and the curry leaves
Fry for about 1/2 a minute
Add 2 cups water and let it boil
Then add the roast sevian and stir and cook till the water has evaporated
Add the boiled the veggies and stir
Then add the peanuts
You can garnish it with some corriander leaves
Serve it with either ketchup or green chutney or just as it is

This is a quick and delish breakfast / snacky item that I make to save my skin at times!!!

Try and let me know

Take care and I am hoping a few visits at least, and I will be back sooooooon

FRUIT AND NUT BAR

Hi there.......hope you are all doing well and keep good spirits. "Good spirits" - is that something in our genes, or is it something that we ought to cultivate, or is it something beyond our control. I for one, have begun to believe that it is something that a few are blessed with, and it is also something that one can learn to cultivate within oneself, by taking the one's who are already blessed with as examples. It surely is not something that is beyond one's control.

We often see a few samples of God's creation who are always seen with a smile on their face, a twinke in their eyes and a spring in their steps....and they spread that attitude to others - isint that true. We look at them and think oh - how happy she or he is....but it surely is not the case that they do not have any issues in their lives. Its just that they have that attitude of letting go. If you hang onto burdens, worries and problems, they have a tendancy to pull you down. But if you learn to give them up, even if for a short while, and allow the Almighty to handle them, maybe just say a small prayer saying that you give up the particular issue into his mighty hands, you will see that you suddenly feel lighter and better. I have tried doing it a lot of times, and maybe you should to.....

My husband was returning from a 15 day tour to Africa, and I was more than excited and happy to have him back home, so that I could fight with him and trouble him. My life is no fun without him, coz I love the constant arguments and then the making up. I wanted to do make something really special for him and God knows where I got the recipe of a "FRUIT AND NUT BAR" from and since I had all the ingredients for it. Without second thoughts, I jumped off the bed and into the kitchen. I even baked a batch of Butterscotch Brownies from MY DIVERSE KITCHEN.

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar (I used normal sugar)
1 1/2 cups walnuts (I used 1 cup almonds & 1/2 cup walnuts)
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1 1/2 cup dates, pits removed and cut into quarters
1 cup (165 grams) dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces (i did not use any)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I did not have it so substituted it with maple syrup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C)
Line a square baking tin wiht aluminum foil & grease it Set aside.
In a large bowl, seive the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Stir in the sugar, walnuts, and dried fruit.
The fruit and nuts should be coated with the flour mixture - nothing better than God gifted hands to do this !!
Whisk the egg and vanilla until light colored and thick in another bowl.

Add the egg mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and mix until all the fruit and nut pieces are coated with the batter. Spread into the prepared pan, pressing to even it out. I did not use my hands but used a spoon this time.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and has pulled away from the sides of the pan.

It took all my patience to wait for it to cool down & then cut into peices. I would have got around 16 pieces.

I thought I'd click it, but not much was left to click, but it really tasted good, & am surely going to make it once again. The nuts had a really crunchy texture, n i liked them better than the fruits.

MUTAR MUSHROOM WITH A TWIST OF ALOO - BUTTON MUSHROOMS WITH PEAS & POTATOES

Looking out of my office window gives a clear view of the sky, I often stop by to look at the clouds forming beautiful shapes & often wonder which one looks like what - some looking like a horse, some like a dragon, one looks like Mickey's face - the list goes on & on. I really enjoy doing that, as it gives me a break once too often. Being winters and a particularly cold day with thick fog in the moring the aura was a depressing one. The clouds brought gloom and cheerlessness....when I looked out sometime during the afternoon, what I saw was the sun struggling between a big, thick, black cloud and a few other white clouds. The white ones allowed the rays to brighten them, making them glow strangely, as if they had a light of their own. As the black one approached faster, the rays tried their best to penetrate the black one, but were soon engulfed & the atmosphere became gloomy again, but soon the cloud passed away allowing the rays to shine again, & as the warmth of the rays touched my face, I could feel that warmth flow through my whole being and spread a sort of unexplained comfort & cheer & warmth.

I think that is how life is. Once in while it throws something at us which covers us with a blanket of gloom around us, but if we allowed that to pull us down we would do no good to either ourselves or the people around us. Our victory lies in shining through and through everything & spreading a warmth & cheer around.

.....was that too much of lecture.....chalo then, lets hit the kitchen.

One evening I had just about little mushrooms & little peas which would not have been adequate for dinner for 2, so what I did was add 2 potatoes to fill the gap!!! Here's how I did it. I am giving you full ingredients, not my make do measurements.

Ingredients
250 gms - button mushrooms (sliced fine)
1/2 cup - green peas
2 medium potatoes - diced
2 onions - roughly chopped
2 onions - pureed
5/6 flakes - garlic (grated)
1/2 inch pc - ginger (grated)
salt as per taste
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp - turmeric / haldi
1 tbspn - corriander powder
1 tspn - garam masala
2 tbspn - curd

Method
In a cooker add some oil. Add the grated ginger & garlic & let fry for about half a minute.
Add the onions & fry till pink.
Add the tomato puree & cook till the oil separates.
Add all the masalas & the green chillies & fry till done
Now add the curd & mix well.
Add salt
Add the mushrooms, peas & potatoes & stir so that that masalas coats properly. Fry for about 2/3 mins.
Add about 1/4 cup water & cook for about 1 whistle on high & then another 7/8 mins.


We were content with the dinner, served with chappatis & a bowl of raita!!

Hope you enjoy it too

APPLE SPICE CHERRY CAKE

Yes that's exactly what you get when you dont have the exact ingredients printed on the recipe but make do with whatever you have in the refrigerator!!! Somewhat like life, i.e. you should learn to make yourself happy with whatever is available right now, instead of cribbing for what's not around - but do we do that??

.....hmmm..so yes I have been missing, but not because I didnt have the time to blog or anything, but because I've been lazy about blogging. I thought I'd lost it, and I was wondering if I would ever ever go back to it again, but something inside me just doesnt want to let go, and the result is this post, which I am going ahead with despite the fact that I dont have a picture of the cake.....

I think everybody comes across a phase in life, when you loose interest and nothing seems good. Mine came with Dad passing away - he left a void in me, a vaccum. I lost a friend, who meant so much to me, who said so much without saying a word, his eyes spoke of love - "unconditional love" - something which nobody else has ever been able to give me. There are times when I just look at his photograph, and run my hand across it, and there's a pain deep inside me which tells me how much I was a part of him, and how much I will miss him throughout my life ...I was his only friend. I was the only person who he actually poured out his heart to, maybe because at some stage I had made up my mind that I will just let him be him....after all he'd grown old now and maybe couldnt change himself for better or worse. So there were times, when I used to just call him and have him speak to me for hours. He used to speak to me till he had nothing more to say, and I used to just listen and listen. He never forgot to say "thank you" to me for doing that. I really am grateful to God, that he made me do that for him.

We all will agree that its never too easy to adjust with old people, people who have lived life their way, and soon they have everybody wanting them to live life in a different way altogether - dont we all overlook the needs of elders just wanting them to adjust a little bit here and there, or just give up that nagging habit of their's. I am not saying that we are wrong in expecting them to be a little more adjusting, but maybe we could remember the times when they were so much more tolerant towards our constant chattering, our unending flow of questions, our stuborrness to have our way, their not giving up on us when we were younger - arent we all not thankful for the efforts our parents / in-laws put towards bringing us / our spouses up the way we've been brought up...maybe we could do something to show that to them. A little tolerance could go a long way.

I think that's too much of "thought for the day".....I am getting down quick to the recipe, and you'll pardon me for not being up & about yet, but yes - I AM TRYING.

Ingredients

2 cups - shredded apple
3/4 cup - maida / refined flour
3/4 cup - atta / wheatflour
1/2 tsp - baking soda
2 tsp - vanilla essence
2 eggs - room temperature
3/4 cup - butter
1 cup - brown sugar
3/4 - candied cherries
1/2 tspn - cinnamon powder

Method
Cream the butter and sugar first
Add the eggs and beat again
Then add the vanilla essence
Seive the flours, baking soda, cinnamon powder together
Now add the dried ingredients into the wet ones & beat till well mixed
Finally add the cherries & apple
Mix well
I greased to loaf tins & baked for 50 mins at 160 deg C.

The result were two moist cakes.
My husband didnt like it all that much coz he's not very found of moist cakes, n neither do I, but my MIL liked it, and it quickly disappeared in the office!! To put the point forth - two loaves gone in two days!!!

So I guess its all about what tastes actually tickle your tongue!! Right??

Hope to be back soon.....

PALAK PYAZ PAKODAS - SPINACH AND ONION FRITTERS

Hi everybody....I know its been a long while now, but am somewhat glad to be back. Honestly speaking, I have been sneaking around blogs but not wanting to join in the bandwagon for some unknown reasons,...I dont have an answer myself. Maybe it was nothing but sheer laziness to get back....mmmmm....n maybe no answer will satisfy me. So i've decided to leave it at that....what say???

But I missed blogging and all in this awesome blogsphere.

I have had this recipe pending in for a long time now. I love these fritters and more so on a rainy evening, when you just want to dig into something "hoily" - what I meant was "hot & oily" :) The onions add a very different crunch to them and they are outright delish. I will also share my MIL's secret for giving them an extra crispiness....which might not be a secret to many, but to me, it was the unveiling of a biiiiig secret when I was told the method. I guess that's whats passing on traditional kitchen secrets is all about - eh???

Here I come .........





Ingredients -
250 gms - finely chopped spinach (definitely afer washing the leaves)
2 big onions - finely chopped
enough gram flour to make into a thick batter
a pinch of asofetida
salt to taste
green chillies as per taste
a pinch of haldi / turmeric powder


method

In a wok heat enough oil. I somehow prefer using lesser oil, even though I might need to fry a batch or two extra shifts, but I prefer less reuse of the used oil (I hope I am able to make myself clear).
Mix everything together to make a thick batter
Drop in spoonfuls of the batter into the oil & fry just a wee bit less than golden brown.

Now for the ultimate secret - remove them from the oil and let them cool just enough to be handled.
Keep one pakoda in the palm of your hand and just press them a wee bit and refry them.

Beleive me - there will be an extra crunch....

You have ready to dig in, hot, irrestible pakodas.