mayurisjikoni

MEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017 #80TH BLOGGING MARATHON THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES DAY:19     When I was planning what protein rich dishes I was going to make, peanut butter was on top of the list. I was planning to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, but then I came across this delicious pudding recipe. It was also full of chia seeds so one recipe took care of both the protein rich ingredients peanut butter and chia seeds. What I really like about this pudding is that one can even have on days that you are fasting. I know many people fast all 9 days of Navratri without consuming grains, pulses, salt and vegetables. So here's just the right kind of pudding to energize you and make you feel full too. Just replace the normal salt with rock salt or omit it.    One should be a bit careful about the quality of peanut butter we buy. Many of them have transfat added to them to make the whole process of processing the nuts faster, also add...

Shravan.... A Holy Month    Shravan or Saawan is the holiest month in the Hindu Calendar. Many Hindus fast for the whole of the Shravan Maas or month. Different Hindu Communities begin the fast on different dates. Some begin the fast immediately after Guru Purnima and some later on in the month. This holy month then culminates with Raksha Bandhan, a festival where the sisters tie a rakhi or thread on the wrists of their brothers. Some people fast the whole month i.e. every day for the whole month and some fast every Monday of this holy month and are called the Shravan Somvar Vrat.          Why is this month so important to the Hindus? According to the Hindu Mythology, when the Gods and Demons churned the Ocean (Samudra Manthan) many precious gems came out but also poison came out from it in the month of Shravan. This poison would have destroyed everything. However none of the Gods or Demons wanted to deal with the poison. Lord Shiva came to the re...

A Healthy Snack    Its Monday and that means the #FoodieMonday #Bloghop group will have a theme decided on last week and the recipes are live on Mondays. For our #89th theme ,our group decided on #raw bananas which was suggested by Kriti, food blogger at Krispy Kadhai .    I'm not new to raw bananas, plantains or matoke as its called in East Africa. Matoke is a part of the staple diet for many Ugandans. They add it to stew, mash it, fry it, grill it in charcoal fire or boil it. Lets not confuse the normal sweet banana with the raw banana or plantain. Plantain is the cousin of the sweet banana. It has many nutritional values just like the sweet banana. However, you cannot consume plantains in the raw form. Many diet plans replace plantains to make tortillas, cakes, cookies, mash, pizza base etc.The charming thing about plantains is that they are available throughout the year.The reason plantains is a part of the staple diet for many African countries is because its h...

Navratri celebrations      Its amazing how different states of India celebrate Navratri. Some with poojas and havans, some by laying out different types of miniature dolls depicting the Gods, demi Gods, animals and people. For Gujaratis its all about garbas and dandiya raas. I miss the small familiar community celebration that takes place every year at the Patel Samaj in Mombasa. This year I'm in Bangalore.     Years back when I was in Bangalore with my daughter, Navratri passed by without much happening. The highlight was a pooja in our society Club house and then Dussera celebration. However, Navratri celebrations have taken on a whole new meaning. As HSR Layout gets more developed, we saw lots of decorations and more temples celebrating the festival. A Durga ma pandal and the whole street was lit up making the area look so beautiful and festive. We've just moved to a new home and the society had organised a garba night on Saturday. Chaats and sweets were serv...

Hey anand umang bhayo, jai ho Nandlal ki, Nand ke anand bhayo, jai Kanhiya lal ki         Hindus all over the world will celebrate Janmashtami, Gokulashtami, Krishna Jayanti, Ashtami Rohini as its known on Thursday 25th August this year. What is Janmashtami? Janmashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is the eighth avatar(incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. He took the human form and came to this earth over 5000years ago, 5243 to be exact to vanquish evil and bring back faith in religion. Its believed that Lord Krishna was born at midnight. He was the eighth son of Devaki and Vasudev(of the Yadava dynasty) from Mathura. His maternal uncle Kansa (Devaki's brother) ascended the throne by imprisoning his father King Ugrasena.King Kansa was a tyrant. After hearing a prophesy by the heavenly voice that the eighth son of Devaki would kill him, Kansa imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudev. Kansa killed the previous children born to Devaki. It is be...