mayurisjikoni

  Land of the Dawn Lit Mountains    As I had mentioned last month, The Shh Cooking Secretly group started by Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes is traveling round India state by state. Not physical travel, but cuisine wise. For the month of October participating members had to come up with dishes that are popular in Arunachal Pradesh with the given secret ingredients.    This state wise cooking is opening up a whole new world of cuisine for me. I'm learning new names of dishes, new ingredients and different cooking methods. Food in Arunachal Pradesh in general does not have much oil unless its a fried dish and they depend largely on ingredients grown or available locally. People of Arunachal Pradesh love their meat and bamboo shoot. Rice is a must with any meat or vegetable dish. Arunachal Pradesh is a state with 4 main regions and 26 major tribes and over 100 sub tribes. Dishes will vary according to the tribe and availability of ingredients.  Arun...

Fusion Rules    Whenever I'm asked if I prepare a lot of fusion dishes..the answer is never a clear yes or no. Sometimes unknowingly I've prepared fusion as I replace ingredients of an original recipe with ingredients that I get here. So like hung curds replaces cream cheese, mayo gets replaced by yogurt, fresh herbs get replaced by coriander or mint, tortilla gets replaced with roti etc etc.    However there are certain things I'm still a bit vary of trying say like a sweet and sour veg in a dosa (don't find that appealing) or say using the bhaji of pav bhaji to replace a pasta sauce. There are certain original tastes I like just the way they are. However, I'm still open to  trying out fusion foods of which now many restaurants serve. As long its edible and tasty. I nearly got put off by my favorite palak paneer. A few years ago I'd gone to an Indian restaurant in Versailles with my daughter in law's parents. We went to try out the food and also place...

Happy with my "Princess"    A weird title, right? Well, Princess is the name I've given my sourdough starter. At first I thought it like a weird idea to name the starter. Everyone who successfully makes a sourdough starter at home names it. I was wondering why. Now I know. You actually nuture it like a pet. Feed it and make sure its in the optimum environment.     Most days Princess is happy sitting idle in the fridge but on occasions I take her out and actually make something. This time round I made sourdough pita bread. I used a combination of wheat and plain flours. The pita bread turned out super yummy. I love the slight sour taste and did I mention it was so much lighter on the tummy than the normal pita breads?     Go on make pita bread and enjoy it with some falafels or use it to make your favorite sandwich or just enjoy it with a dip.  I had one left over and next day I enjoyed it with a cup of masala tea. I warmed it up on a frying p...

Exotic Name, Exotic Dish    Diwali week is ever so busy in general, but more so for me this year as my maid decided not to come to work and to top it up came down with a bad flu and fever. So I nearly sat out this theme. What am I talking about? Its the FoodieMonday/Bloghop day. The #115th theme - Awadhi Cuisine was decided by Kriti who blogs at Krispy Kadhai.      I was really in no mood or didn't have the energy to really do any research on that cuisine. However, eat we all must whether sick or not and I had a huge slab of paneer staring at me whenever I opened the fridge. So, do you get those days when with much vigor and power you want to tackle all the jobs from top to bottom and from side to side? Well, I had one of those days...with a runny nose and a heavy head, tackled the house work, cooked lunch and baked a batch of cookies to give away as presents. I finally managed to turn the slab of paneer into an exotic sabji. Paneer Kundan Kaliya...just the nam...

Happy Diwali    For most Gujaratis the Diwali celebrations began from yesterday with  Rama Ekadashi, whereby if you fast on this day, all your sins are forgiven and you attain salvation. However, in typical Gujarati style, fasting food or agyaras food is prepared. No grains or beans, onion, garlic, many vegetables are not allowed. However sabudana khichdi, moriyo, potatoes, etc are prepared.      Today is Vagh Baras or Vase Baras. On this day the cow and calf are worshipped. Vagh means debt and today all debts are cleared and new transactions are done in new ledger books after Labh Pancham. The word Vaak Baras is mispronounced as Vagh Baras. Vaak or Vani means  Goddess Saraswati, the one who blesses us with language and knowledge. On this day Goddess Saraswati is worshipped. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi only comes to bless our homes if before we worship her, we worship Goddess Saraswati. One must worship Goddess Saraswati on this 12th dark day o...

Include Millet In Your Diet Theme: Cookies For Your Sweet Tooth BM#81 Week 2 Day 3    Today has been such a horrible day for me. I wait till 9a.m. for the maid to turn up. I had planned so many Diwali cooking and baking items but didn't get even one done. She turns up after 9 and goes and sits down. I was a bit annoyed so didn't say anything. After a few minutes I hear long sighs... what a brilliant way to attract attention. I go to her and she tells me she is sick. So I tell her to go back home and rest and come back when she is well. She continues to sit there. The softie me asks her if she needs a cup of tea. She says yes. So I make some tea for her. She sips on the tea and then asks for money as she needs to go to the doctor. I really was mood spoilt by now... its not the end of the month and already she owes me quite a bit of money. She leaves.     I start tackling the housework. By mid morning I am so annoyed and lit...