My First Award!!!

Today I am totally ecstatic and excited that I have been awarded the "Yummy Blog Award" by Hetal of Isha’s Kitchen. Thanks a lot Hetal for the lovely award!! I’m so happy to receive this award from Hetal; she has such a gorgeous blog with so many mouth-watering recipes!!!!

Yummy Blog award was first conceptualized by Roopa of Kitchen Treats. Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with the yummiest recipes/photos.I am so lucky to be a part of this blogging world, where I feel encouraged by so many friends to make new recipes and present it. I have improved a lot after I have created my Kitchen stories, due to all the compliments and suggestions I got from my friends! Thanks everyone and lets keep rocking!! :D

I special to thanks to Laxmi of Chutki Bhar Pyar blog for being such a great help to me.

Lastly but most importantly I want to thank my hubby dearest who enthusiastically munched all that I made and encouraged me to make more delicious recipes!! Love you : D

Here are some of the many delightful desserts that I absolutely relish:

Apple Pie

Strawberry Ice Cream

Rose Falooda
Finally I will give this award to
Laxmi of http://chutkibharpyar.blogspot.com/
Messo of http://meesosweetandspicy.blogspot.com/
Divya of http://divya-dilse.blogspot.com/
Meera of http://enjoyindianfood.blogspot.com/

Wheat Laddoos!!!

First time on my blog I am posting a mithai item. Its easy to prepare and scrumptiously melting in the mouth kind of recipe!

Recipe (12 to 15 laddoos)
8 to 10 tbspn. Wheat Flour
4 to 5 tbspn. Ghee
6 to 7 tbspn. Powdered Sugar or 8 tbspn jaggery
½ tspn. Cardamom powder (Elaichi)
Saffron for decoration

Method
Heat ghee in a pan, add wheat flour to it and sauté till it is fragrant; it turns a bit darker and lighter. Don’t hurry up in this process. Keep the flame low, it should happen in about 15 to 20 minutes. This is a crucial process. Once you ensure it’s done, add sugar/jaggery while its still hot. Let it become warm, so that you can knead it properly. It should be mixed really well, it is becomes very soft. Add elaichi powder and make laddoos! You may add a little ghee while making laddoos if you feel it’s too dry.
Decorate it with saffron threads.
And pop in you mouth, I bet they will melt in your mouth!

Sweet and Spicy Purees!!

Here’s my second entry to Roti Mela!!
The recipe is a mix of my creativity and my mother’s tips! So it’s a blend of both!

Recipe Serves 2 to 3

For Sweet Purees
Ingredients
2 to 3 Carrots peeled and grated
1 tspn. Elaichi powder
3 to 4 tbspn. Sugar
2 cups Wheat flour (Wheat flour should be almost in same quantity of grated carrot)
½ tspn. Saffron or 1 tspn. Saffron essence
1 ½ tbspn. Milk
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

Method
Heat 1/2 cup water in a pan, add grated carrots and sugar and mix well. Cover it. Let the carrots cook for 3 to 4 minutes, till they become soft. Let it cool. Mix saffron with milk. Now, grind the cooked grated carrots, elaichi powder and saffron soaked in milk together and make a fine paste. You can add some more sugar if you want the purees to be sweeter before grinding. Mix the paste with the flour, add salt and knead to make soft dough adding water and oil. Make small purees of the dough and deep fry. Your crisp hot and sweet purees are ready. They spread a lovely fragrance in the whole house when you fry them.
You may add an artificial colour to the wheat flour while kneading for more colourful looking purees.

For spicy Purees
Ingredients
1 to 1 ½ cup finely chopped coriander
3 green chillies finely chopped
2 pods garlic finely chopped
1/4” ginger peeled and finely chopped
2 cups wheat flour
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method
Grind coriander, garlic, ginger and green chilles together to make a fine paste. You may add water to make it fine. Mix this paste with the wheat flour, add salt and knead to make soft dough by adding water and oil. Make small purees of the dough and deep fry.
Your spicy, crispy & hot purees are ready to be relished!

The combination of them together with some mouth watering mango pickle makes a scrumptious snacks recipe.

Super Simple Pudding

Yesterday evening I wanted to make some desert and not just eat plain ice cream, my taste buds were tickling me to their best ....so I began my search in the kitchen for something that would satisfy them!
I found was some oranges & apples! And to my delight I made a pudding out of it in no time...thanks to my thinking tongue!!!lolzz...
Its a super simple recipe....so the name!
Recipe serves 2

Ingredients
1 Apple
1 Orange
¾ cup cold milk
10 to 12 Britania mariegold biscuits (You may use any other, but ensure they arent essenced or too sweet)
1 tbspn. Honey
1 tspn Sugar
Chocolate for decoration

Method
Peel the apple skin and chop it into small pieces, same with the orange. Marinate the chopped fruits with honey and sugar for about 15 to 20 minutes. The apples dont turn dark due to honey, thats a discovery I made yesterday! They remain fresh and juicy even the next day!
Crush about 7 to 8 biscuits with your hand. Now, take a bowl suitable for setting your pudding. Place the remaining biscuits at the bottom in the bowl, on it spread the marinated fruits, top it with the layer of the crushed biscuits. Decorate with some crushed or grated chocolate.
Pour the milk evenly on it. Allow it to set in a freezer for about an hour and your pudding is ready! Its too simple to be delicious...isnt it? But you got to try it friends!
You may savour it with a vanilla ice cream scoop, but without it also it tastes too soothing!

Gajar Gobi Paratha with Onion Masala Chutney!!

This is my entry for the Roti Mela!!

I decided to make some colourful parathas….this was an attempt only…hehehe…which I wish to share with you all….:) It tasted great too!!!
Here’s the recipe
Recipe Serves 2 to 3

For the Parathas
3 to 4 cups full wheat flour
1 small cabbage (purple) finely chopped
2 medium size carrots peeled & grated
Oil for kneading & subtle frying
5 to 6 pods garlic finely crushed
½’’ ginger peeled and finely crushed
chilly powder as per taste
Salt to taste

Method
Divide the wheat flour into half. Take the first half, add salt, chilly powder, crushed ginger and grated carrots. Knead adding oil & water. Make a soft dough.Keep aside.
Now, take the other half of the wheat flour, add salt, chilly powder, crushed garlic and chopped cabbage. Make a soft dough. Keep aside.
Make parathas and fry them with butter or oil. Don’t make them too brown so that the colour is retained. You can get creative here and blend them together and make other variety designs with it for fun.

For Onion Masala Chutney
1 medium size onion finely chopped
5 to 6 curry leaves
½ tspn. Mustard seeds
¼ tspn. Turmeric powder
½ tspn. Sugar
½ tspn. Chilly powder
A pinch of hing
1 tbspn. oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, turmeric powder, curry leaves, chilly powder, sugar, salt & chopped onion. Fry till nice dark brown and fragrant. Add salt, fry for ½ a minute more. Let it cool. Grind this mixture into a thick paste.
Relish with hot parathas!!!

Maharashtrian Meal!!!

Yesterday morning both of us felt like eating proper meal, we were really bored of pizzas, pastas, or any other substitute for a wholesome meal. So I made a proper Maharashtrian style lunch comprising of Chapatis/ fulkas (poli), sabzi (bhaji), daal (aamti), rice (bhaat), chutney. For desert we galloped black current ice-cream stacked in the freezer!!


For the Chutney
3 medium size green chilies
3 tbspn. Of raw mango finely chopped
3 tbspn. Of groundnut powder
2 to 3 curry leaves
1 ½ tbspn. Of jaggery
Salt to taste
1 tbspn. Oil
½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
A pinch of hing

Method
Grind the chillies, raw mango, groundnut powder, curry leaves and jaggery together in a mixer till a fine paste is formed. Add salt. Mix well. Keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and hing. Switch off the flame after the mustard seeds sputter. Pour the hot oil on the paste made earlier. Your sweet n spicy chutney is ready!

For the Sabzi (I made French beans)
500 Gms of beans finely chopped
1 ½ tbspn. Gram seeds
1 ½ tbspn. Oil
1 tspn. Red chilly powder
1 tspn. Cumin & coriander seeds powder
½ tspn. Turmeric powder
A pinch of hing
1 tspn. Mustard seeds
1 tspn. Sugar
Salt to taste
Grated coconut for garnishing

Method
Soak the gram seeds in water for 20 to 25 minutes.
Heal oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, hing & turmeric powder. After the seeds sputter, add the chopped beans. Mix well. Sprinkle a little water. Cover it. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Uncover it, add soaked gram seeds, chilly powder, cumin & coriander powder, salt & sugar. Mix well. Cover it. Stir fry in gaps while cooking it for further 3 to 4 minutes. Garnish it with grated coconut. Serve it with Chapatis.

For the Daal (Aamti)
5to 6 tpsn. Toor daal
1 ½ tbspn. Oil
½ tspn. Turmeric powder
1 tbspn. Jaggery
1 tspn. Chilly powder
5 to 6 pods of garlic crushed
½ tspn mustard seeds
½ tbspn. Tamarind
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste

Method
Cook the Toor daal fully, till it can be smashed with hand in a pressure cooker. Add salt to taste and ½ a tspn. of jaggery. Mix well Keep aside.
Soak the tamarind in water, remove the extract. Keep aside
Heat oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic. Sauté till dark brown. Add mustard seeds, hing & turmeric powder. Immediately add the cooked toor daal. Don’t add the all of it. Keep aside a ¼ part of the whole quantity. Mix well. Add chilly, tamarind extract water, salt and jaggery. Let it boil for further 1 minute. Your daal is ready.
If you don’t like the flavour of the garlic, you may avoid it. It tastes lovely even without it.
While serving, pour some of the plain daal kept aside earlier on the rice, pour the aromatic homemade ghee on it along with some fresh lemon juice and salt. That’s the way maharashtrians eat it! After the plain daal is mixed well in rice, pop some in your mouth, I bet you will love it. Only after tasting it, add the main daal on it and savour the food. It needs to be really hot when you eat it!

For salad I just chopped tomatoes, sprinkled some bleck pepper & salt.

My First meme

My First Meme

1. Last Movie you saw in a theatre?
I saw “U Me & Hum”, it was again a copy of a Hollywood flick!!! And I kept thinking to myself, ‘If Shahrukh played the character of Ajay…it would have been a much better movie!!!” Hahaha…..

2. What book are you reading?
Well I am not reading any book currently….but I just finished reading ‘A thousand splendid suns’, by Khalid Housseni. It was an interesting book.

3. Favourite Board Game?
I love to play Carom!!! And cards too…though it isn’t a board game!

4. Favourite Magazine?
Well I don’t follow any Magazine to be frank, but I love to go through Woman’s Era, Femina and Inside Outside

5. Favourite Smell?
I would rather call it aroma or fragrance….hehe…..well I too love Petrol aroma o much that I feel like drinking it up!! And I like the smell of food….yummy food!!

6. Favourite Sounds?
I love the sound of Sonu Nigam’s voice!! And also Ghulam Ali Khan’s voice!
I love the sound of my husband’s voice.

7. Worst feeling in the world?
When my loved ones fall sick! That’s the worst feeling for me!

8. What is the first thing I think about when I wake up?
I think what sabzi to prepare in the Tiffin…hehe…

9. Favourite Fast Food Place?
In Chennai it’s ‘The Noodle House’

10. Future Child’s Name?
Well, I don’t want to disclose it so soon, because there is a lot of time before that happens! Hehehe…

11. Finish this sentence, “If I had a lot of money I would?”
I would decide it only when I get the money!

12. Do you drive fast?
Well I drive fast but safe too.

13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
No. Earlier when till I was around 12 years old, I had a stuffed rabbit to give me company in bed. Hehehe…Not anymore!

14. Storms cool or crazy?
If the storm doesn’t cause danger, then I feel it’s totally cool!

15. What was your first car?
Pre marriage my father bought a Maruti 800, Post marriage we are still to buy one!

16. Favourite Drink?
Pinacolada

17. Finish the statement, “If I had the time I would”?
I would do just what I am doing right now, because I do have time for many things even today, it’s just that I don’t decide to do things really strongly!

18. Do you eat the stems of Broccoli?
Yes, I do!

19. If you would dye your colour what colour would it be?
It would be reddish brown!! But I am not so brave to try it…hehehe…

20. Name all the different towns / cities you have lived in.
Not many, Thane & Chennai

21. Favourite sports to watch?
I don’t enjoy watching sports, but I like to give company to my husband to watch cricket and football, when he watches.

22. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
Hmmm….Laxmi is a very genuine person, very true at heart and caring.

23. Whats under your bed?
Nothing actually!

24. Would you like to be yourself again?
Yes very much, with a few corrected mistakes…hehehe…

25. Morning person or night owl?
I am night owl, I hate getting up early in the morning!!!

26. Favourite place to relax?
Home sweet home!

27. Over Easy or Sunny side up?
Both to be true, it depends.

27. Favourite Pie?
Apple Pie

28. Favourite Ice Cream Flavour?
I love strawberry and tender coconut!!! Wow!!!

29. Of all the people you have tagged, who is most likely to respond first?
I have no clue……really! Let’s wait n watch….hehehe…

I am tagging…..


Nishant Agarwal of http://specialpages.blogspot.com/
Aneeket of http://aneeket.blogspot.com/
Manpreet of http://meet-mann.blogspot.com/
Nihit of http://lvmk.blogspot.com/