mayurisjikoni

Healthy veggies Turia or ridge gourd is a healthy vegetable, loaded with fibers. I like using this vegetable as you can combine it with so many other vegetables to make a nice shaak or sabji to go with chappatis, parathas, plain rice and even khichdi. When you buy turias remember to buy the sturdy and fresh ones. Dry turias do not cook well. Initally, the chopped turias may seem a lot in quantity but remember it contains a lot of water. While cooking, it will let out the water and the quantity will be reduced. Cook turias on its own or with vegetables like potatoes, beans, peas, spinach, fresh fenugreek or sweet corn etc. let your imagination run wild. I made turia with fresh peas and its one of the simplest vegetables or shaak to prepare.  TURIA MATAR NU SHAAK (RIDGE GOURD AND PEAS VEGETABLE) 4 Servings 5 cups chopped chunks of  turias (about 3 large turias) ½ to 1 cup fresh peas 1 tsp green chilli paste 2 tsps ginger paste 2 tsp garlic paste a pinch of asafoetida (hing) 1 tbsp oil 1

Soft as a pillow Pav or ladi pav is nothing but the Indian name for white bread rolls. These roll are not exactly round, they appear a bit squarish and therefore the name ladi, meaning slab. Pav is used widely in most homes and by fast food outlets. Its used for the pav bhaji , vada pav, egg buns, or served with any curry etc. I love toasting the pav with a dollop of butter or ghee on a pan or tawa and having it with hot masala tea. The bun is toasted  with the cut side on the pan,till it is slightly brown and crispy. So you have a soft top but a crunchy bottom. Yummy. Most ready pavs sold in India are sickly sweet. I have reduced the amount of sugar. These rolls are slightly different from the basic white dinner rolls because it has more butter in it. Therefore you get a nice buttery and  slightly salty taste. They turn out very soft and it's an ideal sort of bread to wipe the curry off your plate! I didn't have a smaller tray and the one I used was too big to place 12 buns. T

An exotic dish I made vadi and onion vegetable a few days ago. Ajay got excited and commented that I made an exotic dish. It has been eons since I last make vadi doongri nu shaak. I remember helping my mum to make huge quantities of vadis. In India and Kenya, vadis are traditionally made during summer or hot season, dried in the sun and stored for future use.What are vadis you may ask? Vadis are basically lentil chunks dried in the sun. The types of lentils used to make the vadis differs, depending on the region of India. Punjabis usually make it out of moong dal (split green gram lentils) or urad dal (split black gram lentils). Usually the ones made in Gujarat are from chora dal (cowpea lentils). Some mix in chana dal (split chickpea lentils) or moong dal. The lentils are soaked in warm water overnight. Next day the lentils are processed, without water into a dry coarse batter. Spices like freshly minced ginger and chillis are added along with salt and coarse pepper powder. Some also

Not Like Patel Samaj       Patel Samaj in Mombasa is very famous for its Khichdi, kadhi and shaak. The shaak or vegetable is made of potatoes and brinjals. The khichdi is made of rice and tuvar dal (split pigeon pea lentils). Its the most yummiest I have ever tasted. 30 years in Mombasa and the khichdi still tastes the same. Food cooked for the community always tastes the best. The whole meal is usually made by the men. Patel Samaj does have at least 4 to 6 khichdi programs every year. It usually takes place on a Sunday at lunch time. After the heavy meal, one wants to just take a siesta. Good way to spend a Sunday. The khichdi is usually a bit gooey with loads and loads of ghee. A kachumbar (salad)  made of onions, cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage and a dressing is served with the khichdi. Today I am going to share the recipe for tuvar dal khichdi and it is not like the Patel Samaj one. If you want to make it like Patel Samaj then you need to use lots of ghee or come down to Mombasa to hav

a very common shaak At the moment most of the green vegetables or rather the indian vegetables are priced sky high. Nothing costs less than Ksh 200 and it does get a bit frustating especially even after paying so much, the freshness of the vegetable is missing. The greengrocers complain that they have no choice as their lorries are getting stuck for long periods because of the axle weight issue the government is trying to sort out with the transport companies. Yesterday, I didn't get any fresh vegetables so landed up buying some brinjals. Not that they too were absolutely fresh but anyway looked better than the rest. So, I decided to make the most common shaak, ringad bateta nu shaak i.e. brinjal potato vegetable. Goes well with chappatis, parathas or even khichdi. Yummy and versatile.  BRINJAL POTATO SHAAK/ VEGETABLE 4 Servings 2½ cups of big cubes of potatoes (about 4 to 5 small potatoes) 2 cups of big cubes of brinjal 2 tbsp oil ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds (methi) 1 tsp mustard seeds

Tropical flavours Cricket fever was on a high in our block because of the IPL (Indian Premier League) matches. Come evening and kids would be playing cricket outside. Some breaking windows, others setting off the car alarms and some getting injured. My neighbour's daughter was playing cricket with a team of boys and in the process she broke her arm. Feeling sad, depressed and irritated, my neighbour was finding to difficult to cheer her up. She loves muffins so I decided to bake some for her and that brought a broad smile onto her face. However, once the muffins got over, the broad smile too disappeared. But now homework and reading is keeping her busy. I made some eggless coconut banana cashew muffins. They turned out pretty good and tasted better the next day. Very tropical because its got coconut, banana, honey, cashew nuts and pineapple flavour. Remember the number of muffins you will get will entirely depend on the size of the muffin cups. I have medium size muffin cups so I u

I hated tindoras Before going to Sophia High School, Mt Abu, I was not too fussy about my vegetables. I pretty much ate whatever my mum cooked. Living in a large family, one did not have the luxury of being fussy. Whatever was    served, one ate. However, taste buds changed the minute I stepped into the dining hall of the boarding school in Mt Abu. My once favourite vegetable became my enemy. I loved the way my mum made tindora or ivy gourd (indian gherkins) in a simple gujju manner. But at school it was just a mass of boiled tindora with no flavour and just too soft for my palate. So there began a mission to get rid of the tindora as fast as one could....hide it under the table, hide it under the blouse with a bit of chappati to feed the dogs and birds or passing it on to a friend or class mate and in return promising to eat the veg she didn't like. Most of the times I got caught and had to eat a double serving of the yucky vegetable. Once I was out of boarding school and back hom

satisfying my craving Yesterday while I was waiting for hubby dear to get back home for lunch, I suddenly had a craving for something sweet. No chocolates, muffins, ice creams, candies but a craving for some Indian sweet. I think what they say about letting oneself get so hungry that you start craving for sugar is so true. Ajay got stuck with some patients and I was flicking through channels and thinking of some Indian sweet. Shiro, seviyan....no it would take too long to make them. Actually those two do not take up much time but remember I am on a craving high... so anything that would take more than 5 minutes seemed like forever. Suddenly the sugar starved brain flashed,blinked, sweet sev, sweet sev, sweet sev. So leaving the tv on, rushed to the kitchen, got the ingredients together and began making sweet sev or vermicelli. Rachel, my maid who was quietly and gingerly working on utensils, suddenly felt as though a tornado had hit her and not Oklahama. She decided to quickly leave th

very nutritious We are back to soups for dinner. Besides making soups that have already been blogged I am always trying to make new soups. I hate repeating any of the dishes within a week. Call it being spoilt for choice or having time on my hands or whatever. I love cooking and new recipes excite me. For a very long time I have been meaning to try out a simple and quick sweetcorn and mushroom soup. Finally the day came. I made the soup  last night for dinner. Ajay loved it (remember he is my main critic). There have been recipes that he has rejected completely e.g. my tomato bread! When I ask him what is wrong with the end result, he cannot pin point exactly but just says either the taste is wrong, or the texture is not proper or the combination of spices too overpowering or bland. I have to figure it out. So still working on the tomato bread. So coming back to the soup, when he sipped the first spoonful and said yummy, I was itching to blog the recipe. Unfortunately, our internet was

feeling great     I am on a sort of mission to get a loaf of bread pretty much perfect using a home oven. In between blogging, planning for a wedding and other chores, I do steal a bit of time searching for perfect breads. Considering I don't own a bread machine and a dough kneader as yet, the end result of my spinach cheddar bread was amazing. The loaf was light and the crust slightly chewy just the way I wanted it and the texture was soft and springy. Spinach and cheddar bread goes well with soups, salads or even to make a sandwich. I loved the peppery taste and wish I had a strong cheddar cheese. Not that the bread did not taste of cheese. A subtle taste of spinach and cheese ... yummy.      I realised that simple steps can make a load of difference to how the loaf turns out. As many suggested, I did not spray my oven with water, was too scared of damaging the electrical parts or the bulb. I simply brushed the loaf with water before putting it in the oven and the crust was chewy