Besan Ka Churma

Besan Ka Churma

I am struggling these days to get back into the routine of blogging. There is so much going on and it just seems easier to not post sometimes and crash on a bed at the end of the day. That’s what I have been doing since the move. Finally, am finding my rhythm again. Just yesterday, I used my oven for the first time. I had never used a gas oven up until now and even though it will take some time getting used to it, it felt great. Even if it was for a pizza. Hey! Friday nights have to be all about unhealthy food, in my unhealthy opinion. [Read on…]

Rabri Ghevar

Rabri GhevarAs a child, Gangaur to me, meant one thing and one thing only……Special Jodhpuri Rabri Ghevar. Oh and you thought I was about to say ‘Fasting and praying for a good husband’, didn’t you? Well, Gotcha :). I would have, if I were that kind of a girl. Nothing wrong with praying for a good life partner but what doesn’t sit well with me is the fact that finding a good husband becomes the entire life’s mission for the girl’s parents and her whole life spins around it or at least it used to be the case in my days ( I sound like a 90-year-old woman, now). [Read on…]

Exquisite Paneer Kheer

Exquisite Paneer KheerI had a love-hate relationship with HOLI as a child. I would be wait for Holika-Dahan with all my heart only to hide in my room all day long, the next day. Our neighbors had this huge yard at the back of their house where we would spend hours assembling the logs, branches, twigs and what ever (that we had collected from a lot of places) into a triangle-shaped structure – Holika. [Read on…]

Fruit n Nut Power Packed quick Bread

Fruit n Nut quick Bread

There are two kinds of people in this world. One, who take a below-average dish and eat it as if it’s the most delicious thing they’ve eaten since the beginning of TIME. And then there are those, who take an epic dish and eat it like they have just tasted sour grapes. Fortunately and unfortunately, I have seen both kinds, in action and let me tell you this, it’s no fun watching the latter. They make everyone sitting with them, lose their appetite too. [Read on…]

Thandai Tart

Thandai Tart

I have been so distracted by all the cleaning lately that I forgot to enjoy the festivities that come along with Diwali! You could see me scrubbing down the doors and windows at the most inappropriate time of the day. And that is when I am not that much into cleaning! I guess the cleanliness bug bites me just once a year, every year. But now that I am almost ( Yeah well, you can never be 100% done with the Exam preps and Diwali cleaning, can you?) done with making sure that the first house Laxmiji visits this year is mine, I can finally concentrate on……wait for it…………Sweets!!!!!!  yay!! [Read on…]

Janmashtami Special: ‘Mango Shrikhand’ Chocolate Cups

Shrikhand Chocolate cuos

I have such vivid memories of ‘Janmashtami’ that bring smile to my face every time I think of them. As kids, we would fast the entire day just because we loved copying our parents and it felt kind-of-cool. And then at midnight, we would jump on the delicious feast laid out in front of us (that my mum had spent the entire day preparing), like we hadn’t eaten in a month. Of course at that age, not much of our thoughts went into the reasoning behind the rituals. Now that I am older and not necessarily wiser, I don’t fast but celebrate Janmashtami with a different kind of vigor and enthusiasm.  [Read on…]

Mawa Kachori

Mawa KachoriSo a lot of people, out of genuine curiosity, asked me “How are you guys celebrating Raksha Bandhan (I have 2 sons)? I am sure that the kids’ cousins must have sent Rakhis for them.” Most of time my answer is a simple “yes” and rarely do I bother with the real answer. 🙂 Simply because (a) It’s time-consuming to have to explain every time. (b) It doesn’t matter how each individual chooses to celebrate it. Raksha Bandhan, for me, has never been about a sister tying Rakhi to a brother and a brother promising to protect her from all the evils because honestly, it’s a good prime-time-story concept but it doesn’t work like that, all the time in real world. Of course, as kids we did exactly that because there isn’t too much freedom for kids in India to do things their way when it comes to couple-of-hundred year old, cast-in-concrete traditions. [Read on…]