mayurisjikoni

Super Healthy    Navratri and Dussera are over, all the feasting is over..for now. After all the rich snacks and desserts, Saturday meal was a simple khichdi made using bajri (bajra, pearl millet) and moong dal.        The 112th theme for  FoodieMonday/Bloghop suggested by Amrita who blogs at The Food Samaritan , was #1Tsp Oil . This theme couldn't have come at a better time. Saturday meal was definitely light on the stomach and yet full of nutrition. Thanks Amrita for encouraging us to cook with little or no oil.     On my 'to do list' was this bajra khichdi ever since Sapana of Cooking with Sapana posted the recipe for the protein rich dishes theme. Sapana thank you so much, the khichdi turned out really delicious.    I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used moong dal with the skin and mixed vegetables. This is one dish that I know I'll be making often. My other really light on the stomach and healthy w...

Drought--A national disaster          2016 did not bring enough rains to many parts of Kenya. Fast forward to 2017 and out of 47 counties 23 which are arid or semi arid parts of Kenya are facing drought. Rivers have dried up, animals and humans are dying without food. A National and International appeal has been sent out to help these areas with food and water. NGOs, Charity organisations, Private companies all have sent out foodstuff, but that is not enough. If the long rains do not arrive by April, then many more will die without food.                   Nakumatt has put a huge box near its exit if anyone would wish to buy some foodstuff to be donated. Every time I pass the box its empty! People cannot afford to buy foodstuff to give away as they themselves are barely making ends meet with the high cost of basic food stuff. The basic 2 kg maizemeal packet which is required to make the staple food ugali or sima is sel...

Peanut and Fruit Salad(Chaat) #Fantastical Food Fight Trying to eat healthy        When you're a food blogger and food is your passion, its pretty difficult to stay away from all those tempting recipes out there in the cyber world and cook books. I get tempted to try out so many recipes and the more calories it has the temptation level is that much higher!          Recently I joined this group called Fantastical Food Fight . I got tempted to join after I saw the absolutely tempting cookies made by Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories . After I oooooogled at the photos till I was drooling, she suggested that we should check out what other members of the group had made. I scrolled down and recipes had me salivating.      Just when I joined, the theme for March happen to be PB&J (peanut butter and jelly).And I thought oh no here goes out the healthy eating... but as I read on further, Sarah Ellis (host of the group) mentioned that...

a great treat    Sabudana vada has been on my 'to do list' for a very long time. These days I am trying to avoid fried foods if possible so that when we dine out, I can indulge in whatever I want. However this Ekadashi, I just decided to make a fried snack. I am so glad I made these so crunchy and delicious vadas. A Maharashtrian snack, which is commonly found as street food, its easy to prepare and crispy from the outside and soft inside. Its usually served with sweetened yogurt. I am not a big fan of sweetened yogurt so I decided to make a yogurt coconut chutney. Sabudana vadas are very often made during fasting time. I had these crunchy vadas for the first time at the Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu and simply loved them. I fried a few and also made a few in the appe pan (paniyaram pan, ebelskiver pan). The fried ones stayed a bit crunchy even after they cooled down. However the ones made in the appe pan, became soft. So, I guess its best to serve them as soon as they are prepa...

  Times have changed     I enjoyed reading Femina magazine for many years. I found it covered all areas - housekeeping tips, food, recipes, health, children, fashion, make up ... basically anything that women identified with. It was not entirely a housewife's magazine. It also covered modern issues, balancing home and work, career options, finance and so many other worldly happenings. Then slowly the magazine began to change. More pages on fashion and brands started to appear. Now I find it is like any other fashion magazine and not as a whole package to cater for women from all walks of life and different interests. I have tried many recipes from Femina magazine, picked up numerous tips and drooled over food photos. A salad recipe I tried out from the magazine became an instant hit with our guests. That led to me being invited by various communities and ladies clubs to give a demonstration on salads. 20 years down the road and that salad is still a favourite. The favouri...

    Easy communication      WhatsApp has improved communication tremendously. You just need to be connected to an internet or wifi and voila... you're good to go. Its become easier to communicate with friends and family who are far from us or when we are travelling. So the typical messages sent are  'leaving for the airport', 'reached the airport', 'done with security and immigration', 'having coffee', 'boarding plane', 'boarded'. Then for a while its peace and quiet. As soon as one lands, the first task is to find out if there is free wifi at the airport. If there is messaging begins again. 'Lovely airport', 'immigration line very long', 'waiting for baggage', 'reached our destination', etc etc. While for most of this is really good because we can keep in touch with family and friends, sometimes whatsapp can turn out to a be a huge nuisance. If you are part of several groups, then your mobile is certai...

NO SUGAR, NO CREAM        You maybe wondering what I am talking about. I am talking about an ice cream where you don't need to add any sugar or any whipping cream, no sweetened condensed milk. I came across this recipe in an Eating well article. The original recipe used just the bananas, but I added milk to give it a more creamier, softer texture. You really can't make out that this ice cream is not made from any cream or condensed milk. Easy to make, can also make it in minutes if you get unexpected guests. However, I do recommend a very strong blender for this task. You know the magi mix type or even the steel jug type which we normally get in India. I used my kenwood blender and it worked fine for this recipe. You will need to push and prod the mixture till it can blend into a thick mixture on its own. Frozen bananas is like crushing ice in your blender. Partially thawed bananas do not work so well. This ice cream will definitely have less calories as compared to ...