mayurisjikoni

Red Theme/ Valentine's Day preparation   For the month of January The 'Shhh cooking secretly ' group decided to make something using red coloured food so as to give an idea to our followers what they can prepare for Valentine's Day.My partner for this month was Amrita Iyer a food blogger whose blog is full of colour and mouth watering recipes. Check out The Food Samaritan to find out exactly what I mean.   The colour red signifies many things. Love, warmth, danger, power,passion, determination, anger and desire.Red also draws our attention to danger. So as you can see its got its positive side and the negative too. Today we're going to think of the positive things, it means life, love and passion. As I always say Valentine's Day is not the only day your should be loving your friend, spouse, fiance with all your passion. We should be loving them everyday.    Amrita had initially given me cherries and red currants as my ingredients. Unfortunately I couldn't

Vasant Panchami/Basant Panchami/ Saraswati Puja Om Hreem Saraswatyai Namah Saraswati Ma.(source Google)      It is believed that the celebration of this auspicious day which falls on the 5th day of the Magh month (Gregorian calendar month of February) marks the beginning of spring season. Punjab region celebrates this festival by flying kites.The mustard plants begins to flower during this time, creating stretches of fields into bright yellow carpets.The blooming mustard plants symbolise youth, freshness, procreation,love, change and life itself. Its a day when people wear yellow clothes and celebrate with sweets that are yellow in colour. In Uttarkashi, its a farmers festival. Doors of homes are decorated with yellow flowers to welcome spring and the sowing season. In Bihar people wears yellow clothes and yellow tilaks of turmeric on their foreheads and perform prayers early in the morning to the Sun, Ganga and  the Earth.     At this juncture I must share with you a poem which has be

Celebrating India's 68th Republic Day   It's with much pride and joy that Indians all over the world will celebrate the 68th Republic Day on 26th January. The world's largest democracy has progressed by leaps and bounds since 1947.The Indian Constitution came into being on 26th January 1950. The chief architect of the Constitution was Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar.  January 26th 1930 was declared as the Purna Swaraj Day or Independence Day. Since 15th Aug was the actual Independence Day, 26th January was set as the Republic Day, the day when India became a Republic. Republic Day in India is celebrated with the same fanfare as Independence Day with grand parades by the Indian army, air force, navy, artists and performers not only in Delhi but in all the capital cities of all the states of India. Its a true show of diverse cultures.      Here in Mombasa, the Republic day is celebrated at the Indian High Commission where first the assistant High Commissioner hoists the flag. All prese

Happy Republic Day    When one thinks of English food, usually fish and chips, shepherd pies with mushy peas or a roast with yorkshire pudding comes to the mind.But England's most popular food are not chips, scones, crumpets or yorkshire pudding but its chicken tikka masala. British food scene changed ever since the East India Company touched the shores of the Indian Subcontinent in the mid 18th Century. Everything from cocktails to soups to main dishes and desserts changed. Not only did the British assimilate a lot of the local spices and methods of cooking but they in turn introduced a variety of dishes to the locals which got adopted and changed to suit their taste buds.    Curry houses became fashionable during the Victorian era as British officers and their wives or mothers took back new variations of the British food.In 1861 Isabella Beeton  added a recipe of the 'curry powder' in her book 'Book of Household Management.' The word curry is derived from the Tami

Time is flying   Imagine, we're into the the 3rd week of  the new year. Time flies. We barely breathe a sigh of relief over the weekend and Monday arrives. #FoodieMonday #Bloghop group decided on #Bitesizefood as the 75th theme.   It's a pretty versatile theme as we could make any bite size food right from breakfast to dinner. We normally associate bite size food with appetizers or  starters. But did you know that its a fun way to serve you normal breakfast, lunch, tea time snack or dinner in small sizes? It also in a way helps you control portions if your are dieting. Mini pizzas, mini tacos, mini burgers or sliders as they call them these days, mini vada pavs, mini uttapams, mini pav bhajis, mini parathas. You name it and you can make cute little things.     For this bite size food theme I decided to make a healthy, gluten free, rich in protein moong dal and spinach handvo. I baked the handvo in muffin cups and some of it I cut into small squares. Serve these cute little bea

Happy Uttarayan Guest post for Pushpita Aheibam     Come fly a kite      And watch it sail     Across the sky,     Waving its tail.     By Jean Warren    Once again it Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti. Uttarayan is the Gujarati name for the festival celebrated all over India. Be it Pongal, Lohri,Magha Saaji,Suggi,Ghughuti or any other name, it basically celebrates the transition of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn which is in the south part of the world to the north. It marks the ending of the winter solstice. The festival is also dedicated to the Sun God. It marks the end of the evil Poush (Kamudta) month. It is believed that Bhisma Pitah in spite of being on a bed of arrows and in grave pain, waited for the sun to be in Uttarayan to willingly die. Its also the period when the Gods awaken from their deep slumber. This festival is celebrated with a feeling of anticipation, joy and jubilation.        Gujarat celebrates this festival over two days. The next day its called Vasi Uttarayan,

Amaranth Flatbread#BreadBakers Healthy Start  Happy New Year to all the members of the wonderful, wonderful group Bread Bakers. I'm so glad to be part of a group where we learn so much about not only different breads and techniques but get to know each member more through their blogs, culture and festivals.   Pavani of Cook's Hideout wanted us to begin the new year with some healthy breads. A great theme Pavani, can't wait to check out what other participants have baked. I decided to use amaranth as my healthy ingredient. I made Amaranth Flatbread for the first time and it turned out so good. I'll probably use that as a pizza base or make a focaccia next time. I made an apple salsa to go with the flatbread and the family enjoyed it as a starter with some wine.   Amaranth is not a grain but rather a grain like seed. We use the green leaves to make curry or a dry vegetable coupled with egg plant or lentils. Amaranth or rajgira as its known in Hindi is used to prepare fo