Appam with Italian Flavours

I love to experiments with food. This time I give a twist to appam. The recipe is as follows :-

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 cup
Sour Buttermilk - 2 cups
Thyme - 1/4 teaspoon
Roasmary - 1/4 teaspoon
Oregano - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chili flakes - 1/4 teaspoon
Fresh Basil leaves - 7-8
Salt to taste
Mustard oil -2-3 tablespoon
Method
1. Mix rice floor and buttermilk very slow so that the lumps are not formed.
2. Keep it aside for 2 hours.
3. Add the spices, salt and chopped basil leaves. Mix them thoroughly.
4. Pour small amount of oil on heated flat tawa and spread it on whole tawa with a help of a wet cloth.
5. Pour the batter on the tawa and spread it very gentle with the back of katori or tablespoon.
6. Cook it on low or medium flame than turn it.
7. Pour some oil on the tawa on sides of appam. Let it cook.
8. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.

Knol Khol chips

In my balcony garden, a knol khol was ready to be picked up. Although I loved to eat it raw but due to problem in my teeth I couldn't eat it raw and had to cook it to make it tender and easily chew-able. I asked in a foodie group on internet to share good recipes of knol khol. My post was flooded with delicious recipes. Most of the people said that they love the knol khol pickle very much. I thought if its pickle is so delicious then must be its chips.

I prepared knol khol n potato chips. I shallow fry the thin slice of knol khol n potato till golden brown. I take out them on paper and sprinkle salt, white pepper on it. The recipe turns out to be very yummy. 

#KhulKeKheloHoli

The festival of colours – Holi is being celebrated all over India with pump and show. Whoever loves the colours – love this festival! The enthusiasm of children as well as adults reaches its peak when the nature is enthusiastically blooming with beautiful vibrant flowers. In my childhood days, we used to collect different flowers, leaves and berries from the trees, bushes and plants. We used to grind them fresh and extract their colours to play with them. Those colours were not only soothing for the face and hands but also give extremely beneficial effect on applying on skin.

We used to prepare different colours from different flowers and leaves. Red colour was mostly prepared from palash, China rose, sinduria. They were collected in bulk and then dried. The dried petals were grinded into fine powder. They could be applied on face directly. Pomegranate peels were boiled in water to obtain red colour water. Very rarely we use tomatoes to obtain the desired colour.

The other most commonly used colour was green as it was easily obtainable from henna leaves powder. We used to mix it with flour to get a nice shade of green. On mixing with water and it gave decent colour on drying. Green colour could be obtained from the leaves of China rose and kadhi patta. Both of them were very beneficial when applied on hair and skin.

We used to get the yellow colour from the turmeric powder and besan. They were mixed together with curd or milk to make a paste and on applying on skin they gave positive results. Similarly other colours like blue was obtained from crushed indigo berries, magenta from beet root, saffron from dried harsingar flower stalks, black from dried amla fruit and brown from dried tea leaves. These colours when applied on other’s face and hands were extremely beneficial.

At that time, playing with colours and water was fun and not terror. These days Holi colours are made up of harmful chemicals which can cause not only rashes on skin but also irritation on skin and in eyes. I have not been playing Holi from very long time because of the fear of being harmed by the chemicals in gulal and pakka colour. This year, I will be playing Holi with natural colours prepared with dried flowers and leaves by me and my friends. Moreover, Parachute Advansed is there to protect my skin and hair.

This Holi, I will play Holi festival like I used to play in my childhood. I will play with natural colours, will fill my belly with homemade delicacies like gujjia, bhujjia, mathari, shakarpara, dahi bhalla and pakodas and will shout on the top of my voice ‘#KhulKeKheloHoli’.

I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories atBlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.

Holi - Full Masti

In my childhood days, I love to play Holi. At that time, I celebrate Holi to the fullest! The joy of playing with colours and water was immense. I used to buy gulal in vibrant colours and the latest model of pichkari available in the market. I never forget to buy pakka colours for rubbing on my friends face and for mixing in water which is to be filled in pichkari and for throwing on my friends.

A week before the day of colours, my granny started preparing gujiyas, basen papris and bhujiyas. I loved to help her in preparing the gujjiayas. I filled it with sweet mawa and dry fruitsthen concealed the flattened dough with a gentle touch of water. I even prepared small papris. She deep fried them to prepare delicacies.

One day before Holi, water was collected in big vessels and containers as there was water shortage. On the every day, after eating snacks prepared by my granny, I took my small bucket, filled it with water and mixed the pakka colour in it. I went out of the house to find my friends to play Holi with them in the park. I and my friends throw water and colours on each other and have fun. We used to have full MASTI! In the last, when we all were tired. We sat in the park where there is ample of sunshine to dry ourselves. My granny gave delicious sweets and namkeens to each of us. We all enjoy the treat. At that time we used to celebrate Holi in true spirit.

Now a days I stopped playing Holi as these days Holi colours are made of chemicals which are very harmful of skin and hair. Moreover I am too busy to find time to play Holi as most of the time I am doing office work from home even on festivals and other holidays. I always wish to play Holi like I used to play in my childhood days and shout #KhulKeKheloHoli. But this time I have made a decision to bring back the fun and madness of Holi in my life back. I wish to revive all those golden childhood memories related to fun filled Holi festival.

This year, I have decided to take care of my skin and hair with Parachute Advansed and to tell my boss that I will not be able to do work on Holi as I want to celebrate this festival with my family and friends. I will be preparing gujiyas, bhujiyas and papris recalling my granny’s recipes. Although she is no more with us but her memories and recipes are still alive with me and will always with me.

I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories atBlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.

Strawberry in balcony garden

In a nursery, located near my house had a decent varieties of herbs, flowers and other plants. From there, I brought pok choy, lettuce, mint and strawberry for my balcony garden. All plants were growing well. More and more fresh leaves were coming from them, making me happy. In strawberry, white flowers came which converted into little green strawberries. And today, I was surprised to see a strawberry ready to be plucked! :)

Cute rabbit

I was admiring the pets in a pet shop near my house. There were guinea pigs, white parrots, bazarigars, love birds etc. Suddenly a cardboard box opened up and this cute rabbit looked out. I clicked the pic and it came out perfect. :)

Grow vegetables in balcony

There are more than 35 tomatoes on a single plant in my balcony garden. I am happy to see so many organic tomatoes. That was not tough, anybody can do that even you can! I am sharing some tips to grow and get good yield from vegetables in pots.

1. Select the pot of bigger size made up of mud or ceramics. You can also try growing plants in empty plastic bottles, empty tins or useless vessels. Don’t forget to make a small hole at bottom in plastic vessels for draining of excessive water.
2. Place the pot in south or west balcony where the plant can get maximum sunlight. You can also place it near the window which gets the maximum sunlight in your house.
3. Put the stones or small pebbles in the lowest layer of pot.
4. Set the thick layer of soil above it.
5. Spread the vegetables peels, washed tea leaves or crushed egg shells.
6. Put some earthworms on it.
7. Final layer of soil covering worms and their food.
8. Sow the seeds and moist the soil with water.
9. If there are earthworms then keep the soil sufficiently moist as they can’t sustain in soil which have less moisture.
10. You can select any vegetable like brinjal (eggplant), tomato, mint, fenugreek, spinach, capsicum, chili etc. You can buy seed or saplings from a nearby nursery.
11. To notice a new leave, a new flower or a new fruit on the plant is truly very refreshing.
12. Planting vegetable in the balcony will also clean the air around your house.