Today in evening snack

This is my another favorite snack, which I can have any hour of a day...because of two reason, 1) I love idlis, 2) I love snack...so mix them both and make out something very tasty.

Fried Idlis......

Ingredients:

Steamed Idlies 6

Butter 2 spoons

Mustard seeds 1 spoon

Black pepper powder

Salt as per taste 

Coriander chopped leafs 2 spoons

Method:

• Take a pan, heat it and add 2 spoons of butter in it.
• Cut the steamed idlies in to four pieces of each.
• Add a spoon of mustard seeds in a pan, let it pop.
• Now add the idlies, stir well.
• Now sprinkle some black pepper powder and salt.
• Mix well and place it in a serving bowl, garnish with chopped coriander leafs and serve.

 

Wordless Thursday

    These three pics were taken by my father, at my home....he loves photography!

Every year these lil birds are nested on the Araucaria tree in our garden, Mom n me took this pic long way back 

This summer season please help these little birds, by placing a bowl filled with fresh n cool water in your garden, terrace, balcony, backyard.... Summers are hot for them too.They will simply bless you.

It's chocolaty....yummy !

All the chocolate lovers out there, this post is dedicated to you all......

....not this much all the Cadbury Dairymilk Chocolate lovers..

.this post is dedicated to you guys also. 

Here is my special chocolate kulfi for you all.

Ingredients:

Cadbury Dairymilk Chocolate (I used the normal one but you can use your fav one)
Milkmaid Condense milk 1L pack

Toned milk 1 n half L
Kulfi molds

Method:

• First of all boil the toned milk 
• Add the cubes of chocolate in it and stir well, till the chocolate melts thoroughly.
• Add full cane of condensed milk in it
• If you like, can add some dry-fruits too.
• After cooling down, pour it in to kulfi molds and keep it in refrigerator for setting up to 7-8 hrs.

The Chocolate kulfi is ready to eat....................enjoy! and do tel me how you like it.

Favorite track 2

Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai..............by Susheela Raman

Dil Se Tujhko Bedili Hai Mujhko Hai Dil Ka Guroor Tu Yeh Maane Ya Na Maane Log Maanenge Zaroor Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai Ya Mohabbat Ka Suroor Tu Na Pehchaane To Hai Yeh Teri Nazron Ka Kusoor Yeh Mera Deewanapan ... Dil Ko Teri Hi Tamanna Dil Ko Hai Tujhse Hi Pyar Chaahe Tu Aaye Na Aaye Hum Karenge Intezaar Yeh Mera Deewanapan... Aise Veerane Mein Ek Din Ghut Ke Mar Jayenge Hum Jitna Ji Chaahe Pukaro Phir Nahin Aayenge Hum Yeh Mera Deewanapan...

And the old version....or the original song by ..Mukesh

Roadiezzzzzz

Yesterday me & my husband saw MTV Roadies-1 episodes on youtube. MTV Roadies, the first reality show which grabs millions of youngster's attention in India, which was started in 2003 and still on. Well the purpose of writing this post is simple, as I haven't watched the very 1st season of it earlier, knew that Ranvijay who is current host of the show was the winner of season -1, so it germinate curiosity in me to see how was the very 1st Roadies season.

Well there is a vast difference in season-1 roadies and Today's roadies seasons.

That time auditions were simple, nothing hype in it.
It was started with only 7 contestant
All the contestant were made to live in OK types hotels/ resorts.
They have to manage their own budget
The full Roadies journey was covered on bikes only, now days bikes can be seen only at the time of vote-out.
and and and, the funniest part was, Raghu the producer was more skinny than today's Raghu.

Here are some videos of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLnM2ItPPhI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9O1grmqwV-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r63VtdJcsRw&feature=channel&list=UL

Sunday Special !

Today what I had in lunch.....is what I really wanted to have for last 2 days.I finally gave up thinking of it in my brain and bring it out straight on to my plate......'Moong Ki daal ka cheela'

As I have mention this before on this blog that I love snacks n this what anyone can have in breakfast or evening 7 pm snack time.The best part of cooking is that, there nothing any hard n fast rule to cook any dish in a conventional way, you can add some twist, fusion to it at any step.

Moong ki daal ka cheela is very popular authentic north Indian snack....which is usually eaten with chutneys or raita.

Ingredients:

Split moong dal 500gms pre-soaked overnight in 2-3 glass of water.
1 spoon cumin seeds.
Pinch of Asafoetida/hing
Salt as per taste

For filling:

4 boiled potatos or you can take 250 gms of paneer.
1 spoon of finely chopped green chilies.
Half bowl of finely chopped coriander
Salt as per taste
Bowl of namkeen save or bhujia

Method: For chilla filling:

• Take a khadayi pan, heat it add 2 spoons of oil.
• Add mustard seeds,1spoon haldi, spoon of coriander powder and red chilli powder to it.
• Quickly add boiled potatoes slightly mashed in it.
• Saute it well, add salt as per taste.
• Add chopped coriander,green chilies and mix it well.

For Chilla/ pan-cakes

• Take overnight soaked moong dal in a grinder, drain excess of water.
• Add cumin seeds,salt,asafoetida in it and grind it finely.
• Take out the paste in a bowl and adjust the consistency by adding water, keep it medium like dosa.
• Heat the flate pan, grease it with some oil.
• Pour a ladle full of chilla paste over and spread it evenly.
• Let it roast properly, slightly golden brown then toss it to other side.
• Toss it again now, place a spoon full of filling over the chilla, sprinkle some namkeen save on top.
• Now fold the chilla from both side and it's ready to serve.

[Tips] In case you don't have overnight soaked dal then you can soak dal in slightly warm water or microwave it for 2-3 min and keep it for 1-2 hrs.

Chilly Chana

It include frying of chick pea, Honestly, I have never thought of it, I have always cooked chick pea in conventional way (chole chawal), Once my mom had told me about this snack. Though, I have tried falafel from chick pea, which was awesome.

So, here's the Chilly Chana.

Ingredients:

Boiled chick pea 2 cup (soaked overnight, boil in the morning.)

1 large onion, cut in to pieces.

1 Capsicum cut in to pieces.

Salt as per taste.

Soy sauce 2 spoons

Green chili sauce 1 spoon

Tomato sauce, as per your taste.

Cucumber chopped.

Method:   

• First of all deep fry boiled chick pea, keep aside on kitchen towel.
• Now heat a pan, put 2 spoons of oil, fry onion till transparent, add salt.
• Add capsicum, fry it till soften.
• Now add fried chick peas in it and saute it.
• Add 2 spoons of soy sauce, green chili sauce,tomato sauce and again saute it properly.
• Place it in a serving bowl/plate, now garnish with chopped cucumber and serve hot. 

Mango Kulfi

We are blessed by nature with many things, whatever we eat, comes from mother nature.All flavors are inspired us to create our food delicious. Summers are here, The season of Mangoes. Who love mangoes......I do!!!! And Sanjeev Kapoor too, India's one of the top chef, who sprinkle a magic on every recipe he makes in his cookery show 'Khana Khazana'. I admire him a lot, he's my fav chef.

This mango kulfi he made in his show, excites  me to make my own. I tried it and it came out really delicious as he told and showed.

This can be a amazing dessert item you can add to your lunch or dinner menu for this summer. Especially kids will like it, the way it presented, is really interesting.

     
To make it:

Ingredients:

Two Middle size mangoes.

1/2L milk.

2 large spoon of mango puree.

1 cup of condensed milk.

Method:

• Take a pan, boil the milk properly.
• Add 1 cup condensed milk to it, there is no need to add sugar, as condensed milk itself is sweetened, if you are using canned one (I used Milkmaid condensed milk)
• Now add mango puree, if the mango is bit sour , you better add 2 spoons of sugar in it and mix well, so that it won't curdle the milk.
• Now let this mixture of kulfi cools for 10 min.
• Mean while take mango, cut an half inch from above, and scoop out carefully the white seed without destroying the shape of mango.
• Now fill the mango cavity with the kulfi mix (to hold the mango straight in freezer keep it on a small glass) 
• Let is be set for 7-8 hrs.
• while presenting cut the mango in two halves.

    

Here's the delicious mango kulfi......enjoy it!

You, Me & Sunshine: Fun like never before

[This  post is a work of pure fiction. Characters portrayed are also fictitious, any resemblance to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.]    

19 April, Thursday afternoon, in the office I was dodging around the words for my new special article for the May issue of our magazine “Gals & Fun”. My editor had called me several times to ask about the article, if it is ready to float, and every time I had answered her in downbeat and begged for some spare time. My boss Anita is though kind hearted but her only principle, “time and work should go together”, strategize in our office to achieve the deadlines. On the basis of my previously published articles, which got many like(s) mails, she blessed me a weekend to complete it meticulously. My flair of writing is unbeatable with anyone in my team, may be it’s because of my passion for expressing is never suppressed my interest. But this time I wanted to write something incomparable, real fun that girls can have with each other, somewhere I was lagging the feel of fun. I was drawn deeply in the search of thoughts about fun, suddenly I felt some vibration on my cubical desk. For a moment I thought of an earthquake which is frequent in Kolkata for long time. Then I look out for rest of the things, but those were dead still, then I realize it’s my smart phone buzzing inside my bag kept over the desk.

I quickly dug it out from the bag and answered it.

Me: Hello?

Caller: Hey babes how you doing, it’s me Kyra

Me: Oh! Hi you changed your number?

Elena: yup it’s my new number and guess what I’m in town.

Me: wow! That’s great so let’s catch up for dinner.

Elena: what you think I have called for…I just want to inform you I‘ll be at your place at sharp 8.

Me: hmmmm……cool see you at 8.

I quickly hung up the call and saw the time…..it was 6 pm and also a time to call it a day for office. I spread my eyes around, almost everybody has gone, and my boss is still in the office as she works till late. I swiftly packed up everything and reached out of the office, if Kolkata traffic permits me, it will take almost 35 minutes to reach home. I rushed out my car from the parking and zoom it towards home. I reached at 7:10, bang in to the house, got fresh and changed in to my favorite pajama and spaghetti. I went in to the kitchen to arrange some refreshments for Kyra and as she said….at sharp 8 my door bell rang. I open the door and saw gracious Kyra standing in front of me.

Tada!!!! I’m on time, said Kyra.

I hugged her warmly and welcomed her in….It’s been a long time I met her, I remembered our last meeting in Mumbai on my official tour last year, still can’t believe that was the first time I met Kyra and since then we became a good buddies. Though we were hooked up with each other via facebook mean while, she made herself comfortable on the couch and I sat nearby. ‘Beautiful house’, she said.

I was unpacking the dinner which I had ordered for two of us on the dining table, Kyra opened the wine bottle which she brought for me and poured it in the glasses. We sat and raised the toast…..’To friendship’, Kyra said. So what you doing this weekend’, she asked while placing the spoon full of pasta in her mouth. Nothing much, as I got the deadline to finish my article for the next month issue’, I answered. ‘Hmmmm….so what are you going to write?’, she asked me again. I have no idea, nothing at all, but I want to write something full of fun this time’, I said.

We finished our dinner and sat in the balcony, so now tell me how come you planned this surprise visit and privileged me’, I asked her. Well that’s a long story, but you won’t believe, I’m on well planned trip, and Kolkata is my intermediate destination’, she replied with a smile. Oh! I see, ‘I said. Guess what, you are also a part of this trip,’ said  Kyra. Yes definitely of your “intermediate destination” right!’ I said. She smiled again and said okay let me reveal the secret, you, me & sunshine and fun like never before…what you say. I didn’t get you,’ I said. Oho! Listen last month I had participated in a contest, ’Lakme Sun Expert Diva’ and won a trip to exotic Andaman for two days and one night for two, So I have decided you are coming with me,’ she proclaim. What! but…I, How. I know you got weekend off, C’mon Akanksha we’ll have so much of fun on beach, you always wanted a trip like this haven’t you…just for two days, please say Yes,’ she said. I didn’t hear what she said, as I almost lost in the thoughts of beach and the color blue, suddenly I hear  Kyra’s voice, ‘are you listing to me’, patting my hand. I jerk up and said ya ya, I’m listening, well for two days it’s not a bad idea…Ok I will come with you,’ I declare.

 So When and at what time we are leaving’, I inquired while placing a water bottle in the guest room. 9 O’ Clock tomorrow morning’, she replied. What it’s half past eleven now and I haven’t pack anything’, I said worriedly. So what’s the big deal babe, you just have to pack beach dresses for two days that’s it’, she said while lying down over the bed. Hmmmm…ok Good night dear’, I said and came back in to my room. After packing up all the required things, I set the alarm for morning and went to sleep at 12:30.

20 April, Friday, 11:30 am. We reached the Port Blair airport. After collecting our luggage we headed towards the taxi stand. We took taxi to the Phoenix bay Jetty-Port Blair. We are directly going to Havelock island, straight to our booked resort’, said  Kyra. We reached Havelock in 90 minutes by Makruzz. There we found our pick-up to the resort. The journey from airport to the resort was great, but little bit of tiring, as I haven’t slept completely in the night. But after reaching to the luxurious resort, I felt so fresh. The room we got, has wooden flooring, the sea blue color of the walls made it more vibrant with finest furnishing, large flower vase arranged to the corner with cute lamp shade, the bed was king size, with all size pillows arranged nicely to the one side, Bathroom was roof-less, that’s means you can bath under the sun & moon.  Kyra removes the curtain to the side, Oh! My Gosh!’, she screamed in bizarre. I ran to her and saw that speechless view of Blue Ocean with those white waves, it was really out of the world.

Suddenly the door bell rang,  Kyra opened the door, and there was a resort guy, holding one envelope in hand, this is for  Kyra madam’, he said.  Kyra took that envelope from him and un-sealed it. What is for?’ I asked. Hmmmm…there is an invitation for the party, in the honor of all the Lakme Sun Expert contest winners and their guests. Wow! We got a company here, I didn’t know that’, I said. Yes there are some more winners from different cities too’,  Kyra replied.

We both got ready for the party,  Kyra wore her beautiful frilled mini skirt with a pink floral top, and she did her hairs well with cute pink flowers clipped to one side. I also wore my beautiful yellow floral dress, pulled out my hairs to one side and clipped. No doubt we both were looking gorgeous. Before going out,  Kyra stopped me and handed me a cute yellow bottle, which reads Lakme Sun Expert Fairness + UV Lotion with SPF 50. Don’t ever forget to apply this before you go out in the sun, this protects your skin, no matter how strong the sunrays are. I did so and we went out. We headed to the party venue, it was on the beach, and the venue was beautiful, white color of sand, green color of palm trees, and sea blue color of the ocean, the picture was worth seeing than describing. We saw a big group of girls chatting, laughing and enjoying the party already. Oh! I think we are bit late’, said Kyra. We were welcomed by a manager with drinks and flowers in hand. We grabbed our drinks and flowers and joined the group. While we were busy in chit chatting, I herd a masculine voice. We all look towards the dance floor, there was one tall, handsome guy, with long hairs, wearing casuals, needed our attention. He was the owner of the resort, speaking through microphone, in order to welcome all the ladies to his resort, he also informed us about the amenities we are provided with in the resort. After he finished he whispered something in DJ’s ear and went off. DJ started hitting the music loud and clear. Where that resort owner vanished! He is damn handsome yaar, what do you think is he single?’ Kyra asked. Well you are not alone asking this dear’, I replied in smile. We were served with variety of snacks and drinks.

We hit that dance floor like crazy, Honestly, I never had dance like that before….thoroughly enjoyed. I also won the Lakme gift hamper for most stylish beach dress in that party. That was the glee moment for me. Party finished with the lunch on the pool side. After lunch me and Kyra relaxed for some moment on a beach chair. The cool and fresh air feels so soft on my face, the sound of the waves coming and going, there was something in that quiet environment, Yes I have never enjoyed Sun rays like that before. I closed my eyes and drown deeply in my thoughts, Wake up sweetie, it’s time to go back to our room’, said Kyra. I opened my eyes and saw the time it’s 5’O clock in the evening. Time flew like anything’, I said.

Back in room we got refreshed, changed and went again outside for a evening stroll, no doubt the resort was beautiful, the ambience was simply great. We sat under a circular Nicobari hut, which was present there for sitting, we were busy in looking around the place eventually a guy came and sat on the front chair beside us. Hello! I’m Rob, owner of this place, I hope you are enjoying the stay. Oh! Yes this place is awesome, I love the every bit of it’, Kyra said, excitedly. I second her. Rob’s looks were Mexican, at once we thought he’s a foreigner, who came here settled down his business. But as he said, his hometown is in Delhi, we were surprised. He pointed towards another hut and said, ‘that’s our restaurant, you can enjoy sea-food, continental, Italian, indo-continental food there. After that he stood up and wishes the fun and time, and went back. Kyra was looking towards him only, she was gone totally. I have no issues if he is the Mexican or Italian’, Kyra said playfully and winked. I smiled at her. After having dinner we went to our room and slept in peace & recollection of a beautiful day we spent. 

 Sun-set of mountains and sun-rise of a sea, both are the breath-taking views, I have herd. So to experience it I woke up early as bird next morning with Kyra, got ready to head towards the one of the most beautiful beaches in the world…The Radhanagar beach of Havelock. We took one scooter on rent which is easily available there and we drove through the beautiful countryside of Havelock and after ten minutes we reached our destination. The Sun was about to rise, as a red color layer spread just above the sea. We saw some more tourists making their way to the beach. With in a moment we saw a round red colored ball rising from the sea, it was worth seeing. I asked Kyra, ‘do you know Suryanamaskar steps’. Ya but not orderly’, she replied. I stood straight to show her, and we did suryanamaskar thrice. Some foreigners were watching us and they also started copying the steps. It was real fun. I and Kyra clicked some pictures, meanwhile the sun was rose fully. We had so much fun. We drove back to our resort and packed up things, got ready, had breakfast, as we have to leave Havelock Island and reach Port Blair airport by 11 am.  

         

‘Kyra, thanks a lot, I will never forget this trip and time spent with you’, I said. Same here dear, this fastens our friendship bond, it was a unforgettable journey’, Kyra said. We were standing out side the Kolkata airport as our flight from Port Blair landed on time. Kyra got a next flight to Bombay after half n hour. We exchanged our warm goodbye to each other, Kyra went back in to the airport and I headed towards the taxi stand. I reached home, things were set as they were, suddenly I realize that my trip is over and I’m back to the old routine. I cleaned up the house, made a cup of coffee and turn-on my laptop. A yellow colored notice was blinking on the top right-side of my lappy screen…I remembered the deadline which my boss gave me on Thursday afternoon. My article I have almost forgotten about this during this trip. I opened the new word file. Thought for a moment, yes now I know what to write for the article, I definitely got the feeling of fun now, so lets do it. ‘FUN LIKE NEVER BEFORE’ I wrote the heading and went on.

This post is written exclusively for the Lakme Diva Blogger contest

For more detail click to the link below

https://www.facebook.com/ilovelakme

Frozen Banana shake

How do you feel when you sip something thick,fruity, chocolaty n lil bit frozen at the same time....yes it's out of the world believe me....

This is what The Frozen Banana Shake ppl...

My husband made it for me and in a single sip of it...m gone....I asked him where the hell this thing was.... in these three years of our marriage dear....he said it's all about time babes ;-)

Anyways I loved it and decided to share it here.............so herez the recipe...

To make 2 glasses of Frozen Banana Shake you will need:

1/2 liter frozen milk (you can keep half L milk pack directly in the freezer)

Sugar as per taste at least 4-6 spoons

1 spoon of any chocolate flavor milk supplement you like I use Bournvita  

1 large Banana

 Method:

• In a jar put full packet of frozen milk
• Add sugar,banana pieces,bournvita.
• Blend it properly.
• Pour out in a glass, sprinkle it with some cocoa powder n serve chill.

The Chanakya's Chant

Blogging isn’t easy for those who think what to write or muse daily, it’s the interest of those who want to express themselves all the time. 

I’m happy to own this interest as this is my only passion these days. Now I’m managing two blogs at the same time, Ya got busy in setting up my new food blog properly, now I got time to share some words here.

Recently I ended up reading a novel “Chanakya’s Chant” by Ashwin Sanghi. Here is my review on this book.

Chanakya Chant is a deliberately written and a very fine novel by the author. The story revolves around two men, one who changed the history and one who is keen to make a history. Before reading this book I only knew Chanakya as India’s one of the most knowledgeable, renowned teacher from ancient India. But this book introduced Chanakya to me well, as a sharp intellectual, clued-up, whose stars were more brighter than a king as he was the king-maker. How Chanakya’s Arthashastra invented and many things.

Other side the book contrasts the story of Gangasagar who was born with the same stars of as Chanakya’s  and have a mind to create history of his own…but the connection between the story of Chanakya and Gangasagar was the Suvasini’s curse to Chanakya. Well I really like the way it’s written and narrated But one thing which I can’t bear is politics and in this book there is only politics politics n politics…but It made a good read.

So this book goes in to my good book collection.

Happy reading!         

Banana surprise

This recipe I saw on a cookery show and the main ingredient was the raw banana.That was the bingo moment for me coz for many days I was looking to make something attractive by using raw banana, I did some changes in the original recipe and herez the out come, hope you like it, if you do ...then plz leave ur kind comment 

Ingredients:

2 Raw bananas boiled.

Half bowl roasted Peanuts (un-skinned)

2 slice of Bread crumbs

Salt as per taste

Chopped Green chilies 1 spoon

Chopped coriander 1 spoon

Half bowl Postadana (Khaskhas)/ Poppy seeds

Method: 

• Mash the boiled banana in a bowl, add green chilies, coriander,salt, bread crumbs and mix it well.
• Take a little paste in your hand n roll it,fill the balls with some roasted peanuts in the middle.
• Roll out completely in balls or small patties.
• Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying.
• Now take each ball roll it on postadana and put it in the pan for frying.
• Fry it it golden brown, serve hot with green chutney, sauce or any other dips.