A.J.

One of the persons who told me years ago that I should write...( I still doubt..whether I should!!) Back then I thought...he was half kidding..but he still insists that I should... so here's a post dedicated to him for his undying encouragement towards my writing!! :)

Coming from a family of accomplished individuals, he sure has made his mark of his own. He is a very talented artist wearing many hats....he is a writer, poet, singer..and to top it all, a dedicated doctor as well! The constant crowd in his clinic only validates his popularity with the patients.

This dedication comes at this time for his tremendous achievement of completing M.A (English) with flying colours :)

Here is a diet (when made w/o the cheese!!) recipe!

MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS :

Ingredients -

1. Green/Red/Yellow Bell peppers (I used just green ones as I liked their flavor best)

2. Beans (I used tinned baked beans)

3. Cooked rice (I used basmati rice boiled with some salt) 

4. Steamed corn kernels

5. Coriander

6. Finely chopped onion

7. Taco seasoning (if not available, you can use chilli powder, black pepper powder, hot & sweet sauce, cumin powder, coriander powder and some masala as per taste)

8. Finely chopped garlic

9. Grated cheese (preferably mexican grated cheese available as it melts easily and binds the stuffing)

10. Salt to taste

11. Oil as required.

Procedure -

1. De-seed the peppers and cut vertically into two parts

2. Mix everything from 2-10 above in a bowl after reserving some cheese for topping.

3. Oil the peppers inside out and bake in oven/flame till it softens a bit.

4. Stuff the peppers with the mixture

5. Top with some cheese

6. Bake in the oven till cheese melts and browns a bit. It can also be pan fried.

7. Serve and eat!

S A -S

 

I think this is probably the perfect time for this dedication! A big cheers to S for her awards and achievements and also cheers for more success as I feel this is just the beginning! J

We both go back a long time… and I am not even going to attempt to put down all the amazing memories we share!!

I don’t remember how we became friends and now even our families are friends with each other which is great!! We feel totally at home at each other’s house which I feel is because in high school and junior college we practically used to be together doing some study or activity or just chill out during the better part of the day! I am glad for being a part of her life and would love to continue to be so! I feel if we had actually studied when we said we will meet up for studies, both of us might have been at different places career wise.. but what the heck..I don’t think we are doing bad now at all!!! Lol!! I would not trade the amazing times we had for anything! Now in this hectic and at times stressful life.. I so treasure the good times I’ve had.. and S has been a part of many of those good times! J

It has been so nice to see her progress after she found her passion and am sure she will excel more in her field of interest in the time to come!! Keep going girl!! J

Now here is the recipe of Roast Chicken in white sauce with mashed potatoes , which I am glad she liked!!!

ROAST CHICKEN IN WHITE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

Boneless Chicken - 400 gms

Olive oil

Chilly flakes

Mixed herbs

Butter

Vinegar

Garlic cloves

Mushrooms

Honey

Cheese

Fresh cream

Fine Flour

Wheat flour

1. Cut chicken into strips thin enough for them to cook easily in the pan.

2. Marinate in garlic, butter, vinegar, chilly flakes, mixed herbs, honey, salt, pepper powder  for about an hour

3. Olive oil + 1 tbsp butter in sauce pan, add lots of finely chopped garlic to it, add finely chopped mushrooms to it. When both soften, add 1.5 tsp maida and 1.5 tsp wheat flour to it. Add 1 cup of milk to it and stir to avoid lumps.

4. The sauce should be of easily pouring consistency so adjust by adding water/milk as desired.

5. To the sauce, add 1 tbsp/tsp fresh cream, cheese 1/2 cubes, 1 or 2 tsps chilly flakes [ as desired] and mixed herbs as per taste. [ The sauce should have more than enough taste of its own as it is to be poured over chicken]

6. roast the chicken pieces on the pan. add butter/ oil to it only if required.

Once the chicken is cooked, check the taste of the chicken. If it doesn’t have much taste, herbs/ pepper powder etc can be added.

Serve the chicken on the plate and pour the sauce over it and EAT!!!

Mashed Potatoes :

Scrub and boil potatoes. Mash them while they are still warm. Keep the skin on if you like.  Add butter, black pepper, herbs if u like and salt and microwave for 3-4 minutes and serve!! J

N B-N

N and me go back a long time.. maybe even before we became friends, coz our roll numbers were one after the other. And I know she will be maad at me for saying this, but my earliest memories of her include her crying because her paper was not completed in time and teacher collected it nonetheless!! ( it was when we were in 3rd 4th... i.e. a looong time ago!!) Later we became friends and I remember how we used to have a great time playing and chit chatting near the Big swing in the garden behind her house! And cricket in the passage... and catch-catch(!) with our tiffins after we had gobbled it up in the recess or even before the recess started!.. We used to have laughter attacks and keep on laughing for a long time... it was sooo much fun... and playing pranks but were counted as good girls.. so not getting the punishment most of the time... haha.. that was always fun....!!

After school..we didnt meet often for the longest time..as she went to Fergusson College and later for Architecture... but we did catch up again when we got to know about K and we kept meeting for stayovers and chit chat sessions when one by one we joined the married peoples' club!

Just recently we met and realised how cool it is to be able to just pick up conversations from the last time we met. It's nice to know how she is being a hands on mom to the cutie-pie that small 'A'... and still continuing with her work which she is definitely good at! It's always great to see her writings on the FB walls .. though its been a while tht I got a glimpse of her Art. I do belive that her art/talent reflects in the wonderful photos and captions which we see from time to time!

I dedicate this blog to her and had prepared Chicken Thai green curry with butter rice as per her request!

The recipe as such isnt that great as I got a readymade green curry paste but will pen down the procedure nonetheless as I pretty much ignored the recipe on the packet and followed my instinct!!!

Boneless chicken - 200/250 gms.. small pieces

Green curry paste - 2 tbsp ( taste it and put it as required as the oneI got was pretty hot!)

Coconut milk ( as per liking. I put as much as required to tone down the heat/sourness in the paste )

Onion 1 diced roughly

Oil - 2-3 tbsp

fish sauce/ kaffir lime leaves - I just put it coz I had got it... the paste did have good taste of 'Thai'

Basmati Rice - 1 -1.5 Wati

Water - 2-3 wati

Butter 1 tbsp/tsp as desired

Salt about 1 semi heaped tsp ( only for rice) The paste usually has enough for the curry.

Jasmine essence - if you like.. you can put it in the rice for fragrance ( I dint put it as I didnt have it!!!)

Marinate chicken pieces in salt/pepper/garlic and ginger paste for min 1/2 hr

Heat oil in pan. put in the chicken pieces and stir fry till they change colour.

Add the paste and onion pieces and fry a bit with the chicken for about a minute

Add the coconut milk and fish sauce( if you want)

Boil till you get required consistency and till the chicken is cooked.

In a Non stick Handi heat water, add salt and boil. After the water is boiled, add the soaked rice.

Keep on a low flame without covering it completely. Keep a lookout and after the rice is half cooked add the butter as much as you like . After the water is soaked up, cover completely and cook .. welll.. till it is cooked completely!! :)

You can substitute the chicken for mushrooms. Serve with steaming hot rice :)

No photos for this as I was too hungry and bored so didn't take any!! :(

This is a perfect dish to cook when you dont want to order in but are bored to eat the same ol' same ol'!!! :)

S S - K

S - amazingly creative, immensely talented and a gem at heart person... termed to be one of the naughtiest girls in class ( by the teachers!!) But being co-conspirators, we didnt think so... lol!!

 

We have been in touch quite regularly, which I feel is so good...to be updated about each other's lives.

 

We friends, can never forget the dashmis and loncha she used to get to school, Pav Bhaji and yummy food her mom used to make for us.

 

She is a v good cook herself!! But now thinking about the Pav Bhaji and other subzis, I regret that we didnt get as much chance as we would have liked to eat her Foody creations :)

Posting here the recipe of Vada Pav made by me... dedicated to her.. Cheers to our friendship S !!

VADA PAV :

1. Boiled Potatoes : 5-6 medium

2. Ground paste of Ginger, Garlic and Green chilly - As per taste

3. Fresh juice of squeezed lemon - about 1/2 lemon or as desired

4. Salt to taste

5. bit of sugar

6. Chopped coriander - For flavour

7. For the cover : Besan, rice flour/ cornflour ( a bit) , red chilli powder, salt, turmeric powder, bit of hot oil

Mix mashed potatoes, GGC paste and other ingredients and shape them like wadas. You can also add onion to it if u like.

Mix ingredients for batter and make pouring consistency batter. Runny consistency will not coat the potato well.

Dip the wada in the batter and fry till you get the desired colour.

Serve hot with Pav and deep fried Green chillies :)

M M-S

M - One of my school buddies!! :) From among the scholars in the class...one of the most well behaved ... well... for the teachers definiitely!! lol.. Though she was not one of the naughtiest in the class ( like some others in my buddies list ;)) she was never tooo far from the pranks being played in the class or the chaos ( being created ;) ) in class/science lab...but smartly never got caught for all such things. I still remember she got A grade in Intermediate art exam and I was like wow... I didnt know she drew/painted so well!! hahaha She was House prefect, was in the basketball/volleyball team, always helpful to all...all in all quite sarvagun sampann types!! We have had fun times at her place trying out our beginners cooking ...."batatyachya kachrya and phulke!!" As me, D and M stayed around the same area, we used to huff and puff our way on the bicycles home together.. and the fun part in the whole exercise (!) was eating Harbhara ( buying a gaddi for each!) and banana wafers. It used to be such excitement to do that. High point for the day! At times it required planning... financial.. mind you...to do that... as harbhara though much cheaper back then Rs. 2-3/- per Gaddi...Banana wafers were a bit costlier...Rs 5-8/- I think...At least I didnt have so much money with me always.. and even if I had.. it used to be spent on Wada pav/Samosa pav that we used to get in the canteen.!! So amhi tharvun khaycho :) We are used to hearing from our parents about simple joys that they had during their childhood.. or "their" times in general... how it used to cost nothing to enjoy simple things in life and be content with it. Well..my memories are just 10-15 years ago and I wonder if our kids will even feel this " so much joy " in such simplest things like eating harbhara/ Banana chips while coming back from school... .. I just wish they also have such memories...coz these are the small memories which have helped me build and bind friendships in school. After school me and M we werent so much in touch with different colleges and vocations...we rarely met.. but then we met.. this time to exchange wedding invitations. We both share the same wedding date.. yes.. year too... So obviously couldnt attend her wedding..but social networking sites helped a bit more to stay updated about happenings in each others lives... Back to present.. now married and a kid in tow, it appears M finds bit more time to stay in touch and how glad I am for that! :) So here is my recipe of Pav bhaji dedicated to her and cheers to our Friendship..:D

PAV BHAJI : ( the less is more version... i.e. less ingredients... more convenient :D)

Ingredients :

1. Potatoes - 1 medium per person ( yes that is how you can adjust it to your cooking if at all you want to try this out )

2. Tomatoes - 1/2 medium per person

3. Capsicum - 1/2 medium per person ( but also depends on how you like the flavour )

4. Ginger Garlic paste - Also depends on your liking...I usually put 1 flat tbsp for 3 people. Also required about a tablespoon of v v finely shopped garlic .

5. Pav Bhaji Masala - As per taste

6. Chilli Powder - As per taste

7. Salt - As per taste

8. Coriander - Half of the qty put inside... half for garnishing

9. Hot water to adjust the consistency of the bhaji - preferably I use hot water to speed up the cooking process

10. Butter+ Ghee/Oil - No comments.. lol

11. Pav

Procedure:

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes.

Finely chop capsicum and onion.

Grate the tomatoes to get puree.

Make a paste of garlic and ginger.

Add butter + oil to pan.

Saute onion and capsicum.

Add bit of salt as onion becomes soft bit sooner.

After it changes colour a bit, add GG paste.

Fry till colour changes to light brown and veggies become soft and reduce volume.

Add tomato puree..and saute a bit.

Add chilli powder and some pav bhaji masala.

Add a bit of hot water..to this gravy add mashed potatoes ( this helps mix the potatoes quickly into the pan)

Put on the lid and cook for 2-3 mins.

Add more water, salt to taste and masala.

Now cook till the you get required consistency.

After the bhaji is ready, heat butter + ghee/ oil in small phodni kadhai/pan.

Add finely chopped garlic and fry a bit.

Add bit of chilli powder and masala to this and mix this in the bhaji.. this gives awesome taste to the bhaji.. :)

Ready to serve alongwith bread and garnish of coriander, lemon wedge and sliced onions.

back to my blog!

For the longest time, I was thinking what can I write about? And just like that, I thought of this idea...

For some time now, I will put up some pictures of my art/craft and also recipes made by me for my favorite people. [ inspiration from Maria Gorretti's blog]

Sooo excited.. really looking forward to start blogging again :)

Destiny

Have you ever wondered why some things happen the way they do? Whatever our plans are for the day, for the week, for the year, or even the future for that matter.. they don't always fall into place...yeah.. even with the best of planning. Why does this happen? Have we gone wrong some where in executing the plan? No? Then why did it not go the way you want it to? Most probably because it was not destined to be..

I believe in Serendipity...it is-propensity for making fortuitous discoveries while looking for something unrelated[ i loved the movie by the way!] Sometimes you set out to do some work but it does not happen... why? maybe there is a bigger plan at work which prevents you from doing it...maybe for your own good! And in such cases.. we get something which we were not looking for... but are fortunate to have got it!!

I wish everyone experiences serendipity in their lives...its awesome!! Especially when we look back on the times and realize how things fell in place for us.. in a totally unexpected way! :)