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 ...

Happy Valentine's Day    What is Valentine's Day without roses, chocolates and all things cute? Hope hubby is reading this and gets a hint;). People could be selling Valentine's paraphernalia right under his nose and he'd still not get the hint. Sighhhh! Perhaps I should treat myself to roses.     Getting down to today's theme for FoodieMonday/Bloghop group , we unanimously decided on Valentine Rose as our 131st theme . For this theme one could either prepare something that has rose flavor or which is in the shape of a rose. I really love rose flavor so I chose to make a healthy but romantic dessert. Though I served to hubby dear a few days before Valentine's, he thoroughly enjoyed the early treat. That means I will either make something else for Valentine's Day, repeat this recipe, or perhaps like him just pretend that Valentine's Day does not exist.     Roses and other edible flowers have been used for centuries in cooking. Many Indian sweet dis...

A Himachali Curry Theme: Main Course with Gravy/Rice BM#85 Week 2 Day 2    The whole of India has so many varieties of curries that its really unbelievable. I'm guessing that if we tried out all the curries we'd probably need more than 200 days! Each variety then has a variation from state to state, region to region and home to home. As I keep on visiting other bloggers sites, I come across so many varieties that my bookmarked list is just getting too long.     Recently, for another group (Shhh Cooking Secretly) we had Himachali Cuisine as the theme and that's where I came across this wonderful curry made from two main ingredients, chickpeas and yogurt. I wanted to make this curry but the ingredients I was given made me choose another recipe. When I chose the main course with gravy or rice for this group, I knew that this curry would be one of them that I would surely try out. I am so glad that I did as I love anything that is yogurt based. Addition of simple ba...

Happy New Year A simple healthy Indian style parfait    For the month of December, the Shhh Cooking Secretly group (initiated by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes ) is visiting the state of Bihar. Bihar is in the East of India bordering Nepal. The Ganges flows through this state roughly dividing it into two parts, the east and the west. The three main districts of Bihar are Mithila, Magadh and Bhojpur. Famous for Bhojpuri films, birth place of Goddess Sita (Mithila), Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment in the famous Bodh Gaya and the birth place of the Mahavir and Vasupujya Tirthankaras of Jainism.    Bihari Cuisine is mainly divided into 3 - Bhojpuri, Maithil and Magahi Cuisine. Traditionally a predominantly vegetarian cuisine because of Hindu, Jainism and Buddhist influence. However, meat dishes are common in the Mithila region.Though present day cuisine is influenced by the neighboring states, Bihar is well known for its sattu . Its used to make cool drinks in ...

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...