mayurisjikoni

Where is my dahi?     Dahi is the hindi/gujarati word for yogurt. When my kids were growing up, yogurt was a part of their meal every single day. Plain yogurt or made into lassi but mostly good old plain home made yogurt . Dollops of the thick creamy goodness was eaten with dals, rice, khichdi and vegetable curry.If anything was slightly chilli for the kids a dollop of yogurt took care of it. While the boys were not too fussed about yogurt or lassi, my daughter on the other hand would throw a tantrum if she didn't have her bowl of yogurt for lunch.She'd cry out "where is my dahi?" if we didn't serve it with her lunch.    As you may have guessed by now, the #FoodieMonday #Bloghop 92nd theme is yogurt. Preethi our group member requested us to make anything using yogurt.         Yogurt is known to have many health benefits.  Its easier to digest than milk, its rich in calcium, it has high levels of Vitamin B especially Vitamin B12.  I...

World Cup finals BBC world news               For so many days I had pages open on my ipad researching vegetarian cuisines from Brazil, France, Germany, Costa Rica, Argentina, Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, etc. The search was narrowed down to Brazil, Germany, Netherlands and Argentina.Unfortunately Brazil suffered a humiliating defeat in both the hands of the German and Dutch team. So today the finals will be played between Germany and Argentina. I must admit I didn't watch the matches from the beginning, I usually wait for the quarter finals to get a bit excited. It has not been easy staying up till late watching football. What got me through, was the anticipation of that one or more goal. The most exciting game has to be the one played between Germany and Brazil. It was actually raining goals but what was sad to watch were the tears and disappointment on the Brazilian fans. I had decided that I would blog recipes from the two countries that reach...

tickle your tongue Whenever I use to make a Chinese meal for my family, we always had to have the famous red chilli sauce to go with everything from spring rolls to the rice. The red chilli sauce became quite famous as it started appearing on the table for other snacks right from dokhras to pudlas . My husband and I rarely have the red chilli sauce at home and I can't remember the last time I actually prepared a whole Chinese meal at home. Whenever we feel like having Chinese we go to the famous Galaxy Restaurant. I miss the Chinese restaurants in India. Anyway getting back to the red chilli sauce, I use a teeny weeny bit of it to spice up soups, mix it with butter for a sandwich or to go with any of the gujju snacks. The sauce stays for over a month in the fridge. RED CHILLI SAUCE Makes about a cup 12 to 15 (about 200g) fresh red chillis  4 to 5 tbsps good vinegar ½ cup oil ½ tsp carom seeds (ajwain) ½ to ¾ tsp salt 2 tsps red chilli powder Wash the chillis. Cut off the stalk and ...

Strawberries feature a lot in desserts. Whole, cut or pureed. The taste of strawberries can range from sweetness to slightly acidic. Orginally grown only in Europe, nowadays strawberries are grown all over the world. Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C. It also contains Vitamin B complex, Vitamin A and minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, iron, fluorine and iodine. When I was in Bangalore in March this year, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy loads of nice juicy strawberries to eat on its own or for desserts. In India strawberries are mainly grown in Mahabaleshwar. The first time I saw them some years back in the Juhu market I thought they were imported, but the fruit vendor assured me they were very much grown in India. I made strawberry sauce to serve with vanilla ice cream.  STRAWBERRY SAUCE 4 Servings 2 cups cut strawberries 2 tbsps sugar 1 tsp cornflour or cornstarch 1 tsp lemon juice Trim and hull the strawberries. Cut them into half or quarter depen...

Vegetarian 'bolognese' sauce All you vegetarian out there, have you ever noticed how limited your choice of a sauce with pasta gets when you go to a restaurant? When a non vegetarian orders spaghetti or any other pasta with a sauce, the sauce is rich not only with tomatoes and meat but also vegetables. So how difficult is it for the chef to make a simple tomato vegetable sauce or a white sauce with vegetables? Not too difficult but all you get served is a plain white sauce or a plain tomato sauce with the pasta. How boring. I love spaghetti and make my own 'bolognese' sauce at home sans the meat. I am not out to insult the fine italian chefs but just trying to make pasta more appetizing for the vegetarians. Bolognese sauce  made originally in Bologna  is a meat and vegetable tomato sauce. updated on 28/01/2016  Today, I had planned to make spaghetti with vegetarian bolognese sauce. For the past few days, I have to get up really early because we don't get water in ou...