mayurisjikoni

Kemcho? Avo maare gher. ( How are you? Welcome to my home)    March was when the Shhh Cooking Secretly group (started by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes ) ventured out to cook some Gujju (Gujarati) food. The general misconception is that Gujarati food is sweet. Yes we do use sugar and jaggery but it has to be a balance of both sweet and sour. Modern times with much health awareness, many Gujarati homes do not use sugar or jaggery in their daily cooking.     The land of Lions and Legends has countless varieties of dishes. As a Gujarati I can make out from which region the food has originated. For example kadhi made by Patel Community maybe so different in taste and texture from the one made by a Shah. Besides the slight variations, Gujaratis are so proud of their ever popular snacks. Some snacks prepared are steamed like dhokra , muthias , arvi na paan, khichdi to name a few. Khandvi batter is cooked with no oil. Oil is used to smear on the surface to spread ...

Cheers!    Go to any party, bar, pub, lounge, restaurant,  reception, and you'll see people clinking their glasses and saying cheers. Whether young or old, men or women, kids or adults all raise their glasses, filled with alcoholic or non alcoholic drinks to toast a host or for general good wishes to all present.    The word cheers originates from the French word chiere which meant face or head. By 18th century it meant gladness and was used as a way for encouragement. Today cheers is simply a way of wishing one or a group, good health and happiness.     It is believed that glasses were raised up as an offering of wine to the Gods. Clinking of glasses has many theories. However, no one is really sure which is the right one. When one has a glass of an alcoholic or non alcoholic drink in their hand, the sight of the drink evokes sight, taste, smell and feel. However to evoke the fifth sense, hearing, glasses are clinked resulting in the enhance...

Enkare Nyrobi - Cool Water        I've been spending some time in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. Nairobi gets its name from the Masai phrase Enkare Nyrobi which means cool water. It perhaps was names so as its got the Nairobi River flowing through it. However, the river is no longer what I remembered it as. Its polluted and the flow has reduced due modernization.  I was born and brought up in Nairobi but have been living in Mombasa for the past 35 years. Usually when hubby and I are traveling abroad, we do not bother to come into the city and prefer to catch our connecting flight. The traffic in Nairobi is a nightmare in spite of all the new highways and numerous inner roads. The new roads are not able to cope with the ever increasing number of cars on on the road. During this stay in Nairobi, we've been visiting several malls and other places of interests and I must admit though I've grown up here and have in previous years driven myself around, I'd now ge...

Dusting The Cobwebs Off The Cookbooks   When Poonam, who blogs at Annapurna  suggested Cook from a Cook Book as our #135 theme for FoodieMonday/Bloghop group, it was definitely time to get those books off the shelf. As fellow member Amrita commented, it gives us the opportunity to do some serious reading. I have so many cookbooks but majority are by Tarla Dalal. I was so tempted to just open one of the books and cook from her collection.However, I had to deviate from my comfort zone.     As I was going through the books, I came across Hamlyn All Colour Cook Book. How could I forget this book? It was one of the first cookbooks I had  from my family which had International dishes. At 18 I would stare at the beautiful pictures (modern cookbooks have better photos these days) of the dishes prepared. Some names I had heard for the first time and some were familiar. Can you imagine the joy of owning an International Cook Book back then? When I got married, the bo...

BM#85 MAIN COURSE WITH GRAVY OR RICE        What constantly baffles me is when people who usually prepare meat and fish dishes cannot think beyond simple potato curry for vegetarian options or a simple pea pulao for rice options. I'm seriously hoping that all die hard non vegetarians will think of vegetarian world beyond potatoes.    When you're a member of a group like Blogging Marathon, there can never be a shortage of new dishes, new ideas or a twist to any dish. For the BM#85 one of the themes that members could choose was MAIN COURSE WITH GRAVY OR RICE . Indian Cuisine definitely does not have a shortage of how many types or styles of gravies or curries one can serve to Vegetarians. Simple potato curry to more exotic koftas can grace the table for lunch or dinner. Neither is there a shortage of the styles of rice one can prepare, right from the simple and humble jeera rice to an elaborate biryani.    For the #85 BM theme, we had 32 dishes whi...