Free Imagine Things

It is been such a long time I made Nan, as my children don't like it much, they prefer to eat roti than Nans, when we go to resturants all the four of us choose to eat roti with any kind of subzi, but my hubby always opted only for Butter Nans, Kulchas.  This event announced by Trupti's food corner is hosting this month's edition of Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted event featuring Wandering Chopsticks. made me look into wandering chopsticks, she has got lovely recipes from nook and corner of the world, It is so amazing, I took this Nan recipe from her blog but tweeked it a little bit by adding garlic and coriander to it, otherwise my kids won't eat it, venturing into events has got me introduced to so many blogs, now my list of looking into other blogs and book marking recipes has also increased with this, I am also sending this to JFI-Rajma, hosted by Divya of Dil se, JFI is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi, JFI is Jihva for ingredients is an online monthly food event celebrating the natural ingredients and what they can do for our jeeva, look out in her blog for all the JFI events, She is blogger with some great recipes and lot of things you can know from her blog.

GARLIC &CORIANDER NAN WITH RAJMA & SARSON KA MASALA

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 3/4th cup luke warm water
  
• 2 tbsp oil
  
• 3 tbsp yogurt
  
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  
• 1 & 1/2 tsp yeast
  
• Ghee or butter melted for brushing on naan
  
• Minced garlic & coriander chopped for topping
  

1. Mix Sugar, yeast and water in a large mixing bowl
2. Add all the other ingredients except for ghee and the toppings
3. Knead it into dough, cover this bowl with a clingfilm or a wet tea towel and leave it in a warm place and let it rise for 2 to 3 hours or until doubled in size.
4. Once it is raised make it into balls and flatten them with the help of rolling pin in a kind of triangular shape and pull the tapering end a little bit, now it just looks like a Nan
5. let it 1'' thick do not make it too thin
6. Now top it with the mixture of garlic & coriander leaves and press it on them lightly and place 2 of them on a baking sheet and bake it for 10 to 15 minutes you can see those red speck marks on them and just like a chapati bloating up here and there!!
7. That means your nan is done
8. Now you can take them out and brush them with butter or ghee and serve them hot with what ever side dish you like
9. You can see this done in a video by http://varehva.com/, he even tells you how you can do it on a stove top.
10. I started with the oven but ended up making them on stove top, they were very soft and nice, children did enjoy it.

• 1 Cup of Rajma or Red Kidney beans
• 1 bunch of Sarson or Mustard leaves
• 2 small tomatoes
  
• 1 large onion
  
• 4 pods of garlic
  
• 1'' ginger
  
• 5 to 6 sprigs of chopped coriander leaves
  
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  
• marble sized Tamarind or 2 to 3 tbsp of Thick Tamarind extract
  
• 1tsp of Coriander powder
  
• 1 tsp of cumin powder
  
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp of Chilli powder
  
• 1 medium sized cooked potato
  
• 4 to 5 tbsp of oil
  

1. Soak the Red Kidney beans or Rajma on the previous night with a pinch of baking soda, this helps in softening the beans, next day wash it well with clean water and cook it till soft
2. soak the tamarind in water and squeeze out the juice and keep aside
3. wash the mustard leaves well and chop them into fine pieces or else you can cook and make it into a puree or just cook it and keep aside until needed
4. Grind onion, garlic pods and ginger into a smooth paste.
5. Take a wok, heat oil and add mustard seeds, once they splutter and the ground paste and fry them until they turn golden in colour
6. Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry them until the water gets evaported and oil separates out.
7. Then add all the spices and fry them
8. Now add the tamarind juice extracted and allow it boil for few minutes until the raw smell seizes, If you are using tamarind extract add 1/2 cup of water and allow it boil
9. Now add the mustard leaves and  rajma , mix well and allow it to boil for few more minutes
10. So that the masalas are obsorbed by both,
11. peel & mash the potato and mix it in the gravy, this helps the gravy to thicken
12. add required quantity of salt and chopped coriander leaves mix well and in simmer allow it cook for another few minutes
13. Now the Rajma mustard leaves gravy is ready to be served with rice, paratha, nan, chapati or roti.

This is a sweet I always liked it is so sweet, but this is the first time I ever tried and my children enjoyed it so much, waiting for hubby when he comes back, what he would say !!, I particulary made this sweet for the RCI - Parsi cuisine, Lakshmi's RCI this october event was announced to be hosted by Meera of enjoy Indian food.  she had given some web sites to look into for parsi cuisine, I got this from http://parsicuisine.com/ they have some lovely recipes, I found that some of them are just like the Indian cuisine, and there were few more sites from which you could things about parsis their living, culture and food and it quite educative to read, thanks meera for this event and we enjoyed this sweet too..., well it doesn't look like the one shown in the photo there !!  they look fabulous in that blogspot, check out.

NANKHATAI

• 1/2 cup Superfine Sugar
• 2 tsp yogurt
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup fine semolina (suji)
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• A pinch of Cream of Tartar
• A pinch of Baking soda
• 1/2 cup Ghee (Clarified butter)
• Chironji & almonds for decorations (I did not have so I did not use it)
• 1 tsp cocoa powder

1. Take Ghee, sugar & yogurt cream it nicely (saati hidiyodu as we say in kannada), rub it nicely it becomes until fluffy.
2. Now mix all the other ingredients in a separte bowl except for the decorating nuts
3. Now mix all of them together well , it will not be like a chapati dough but little softer than that might be like a cookie dough much softer.
4. Actually the parsi cuisine says take it in a scoop and put it on to the tray & proceed to bake,
5. As I did not have the kind of scoop or spoon which is shown in the blogspot i just rolled them into small balls and pressed them like cookies.
6. One more thing I did was, I watched the video on http://varehvah.com/ where Mr.sanjay thumma shows how to make these and shows the different ways you can make it,
7. I took his way of making double coloured one like I have done, I parted the dough into two, to one of it I mixed cocoa powder
8. I rolled 2 small marble sized balls joined them together and rolled them into one and pressed them into a cookie shape and baked them on Gas Mark 2 for 20 minutes
9. They were absolutely good to eat.

Pomegrantes are quite nice to eat if they are very sweet, But they have lot of medicinal values too, they say that it has around 40% of RDA of Vitamin C and some folic acid and also raises the level of good cholesterol, when I think of pomegrantes I think of kids, I used take all the lovely red pearls in a big bowl, when all the kids used to sit and play or watch TV, I used to squeeze the juice into their moth !!, My had heard from my friend's mom that it is very good in digestion, or you can take the juice in an other way take all the pearls in a sieve and press or squeeze it nicely so the juice gets collected in a bowl below, I used to make chitranna or yellow rice made with lime substituted with this juice, not that you notice any difference, but only it is to my satisfaction!!, that i gave my kids this fruit, when they grow it is so difficult to force them to eat anything, and husband no he never fancies fruits much.  This was a good idea for me to use this juice this way!!. 
Coming back to the recipe, I wanted to participate in Think Spice started by sunita of Sunita's world and This recipe I am sending this to Priya's Think Spice Coriander event featured in Priya's Easy n' Tasty Recipes hosting October month's event.

POMEGRANATE RICE IN CORIANDER POWDER

MASALA POWDER:

• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp Black Til (kari yellu/black sesame)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp of Urad dal
• 1 fist ful of Coriander seeds
• 4-4 Badgi-Guntur Dry Red Chillies
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 2 tbsp dry coconut/dry copra/dessicated coconut

SEASONING:

• 3 to 4 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 to 3 green chillies
• 1 tbsp of channa dal
• 1 tbsp urad dal
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

METHOD:

1. First of all heat a tsp of oil in a wok starting with fenugreek seeds (until they turn golden brown) add all the ingredients one by one separetely or together except for coconut, until a nice aroma fills the air take it out and cool and grind it into a powder and add the dry copra in the 3 rd ground and keep aside.
2. cook rice into soft grains and spread it on a plate, add the pomegranate juice and salt, mix well and keep aside.
3. Next take around  3 to 4 tbsp of oil in a wok heat it, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, when they splutter, add all the other tadka (seasoning) ingredients and fry them as they change colour.
4. Add the curry leaves and coriander leaves chopped, once they are done
5. put of the stove once the season is done add  around 2 to 3 tbsp (use the powder according to your taste or spicyness you like) of the ground powder mix well.
6. Add this oily seasoned gravy to the rice mix well completely 
7. And serve it papads or some raita of your choice.

Fahad Hussayn has introduced limited collections about bridal wears, its Jewelry, Make up and styles also in Nur-Bai collection. These designs are cultural and looking so beautiful for brides. It's Bindiya, Necklace, wedding ring and dress also. Let see some designs........

The bride has Beautiful Salwar kameez, The Dupatta has beautiful floral designs with nice lance border. Kameez is in half sleeve style.


In this dress the bride has patiala salwar with beautiful kameez style. The patiala salwar is looking gorgeous for brides.

METHOD:

1. In a bowl take 2 to 3 tbsp of warm water and add yeast to it with a tsp of sugar, mix it up and allow it to froth up in a warm place.
2. Take flour, milk powder, sugar and salt , mix them all together.
3. Once the yeast froths up add it to the flour mixture and then the oil and mix it well
4. Then start adding water and make it into a dough
5. Knead for 10-15 minutes with the help of dipping your hand in the flour now & then
6. Keep the dough in a bowl, cover with a clean damp towel or pat a bit of oil to the dough so that it won't dry and cover the bowl with a cling film and leave it in a warm place until it rises doubled in size
7. Once it completely raises take it out, give a punch and handle the dough like a flower and knead it softly for an other 5 minutes.
8. Shape the dough and place in greased tin or on a baking tray or however you always bake your breads, spray a little oil on the cling film and cover it again and leave it in a warm place once again and allow it to raise until doubled in volume, Once it is completely raised take the cling film out
9. Bake in an oven, preheated to 230 degrees ( 450d farenheit/ Gas mark 8) for 30-35 minutes.
10. The baked loaf should sound hollow when tapped underneath
11. Take the loaf out of the tin and cool on a rack.

My Verdict:
which I feel is very important as the way they described me was little bit different one of them said to take the amount of water he told and asked me to put salt, sugar, yeast and oil in it and then add the flour & milk powder to it and make it into a dough, the other didn't say anything about mixing as he was busy with the customers!!, so I had to write down anything he told me over the phone and did not disturb him during his business hours, well it was fun, So what I did was I just took 250 gms of flour and as could see I halfed and halfed it!!, but the flour wasn't enough when i made the dough and dough becomes so sticky I had tried with 500gms of flour too.., So I started mixing more flour but did not increase any other ingredients and maintained them as it was, when the dough became stick I kept increasing the flour and stopped until it became less sticky and I could handle the dough easily when I was kneading if it became sticky when kneading I dipped my hand just in dough take it out and start kneading again, that way I was not adding any more flour but I got the job done!! bravo.., then came the raising section and that was the best part, even the weather didn't help may be people leaving in India might be lucky as it is quite warm up there, mine took 24 hours and I just left with lot of patience and didn't do anything until it doubled in size, Once it raised I punched it, kneaded it again and put it back in the loaf tin and left it again for an other 24 hours and then I saw the raise, I had lot of patience as I had threw the baked dough thrice, that's it no more wasting so patience was my key..., job done Lo!! here is my lovely soft sweet bread, you all must give it a try, they were just so soft as the shop bought ones and I couldn't believe it myself.
So I like to thank Harini, & my cousins who gave me this recipe and I achieved it at last..,
Last but not least because of this bread I web searched and got this web address kaythnahalli where in |I watched this year's Rathothsavam of Lord Lakshmi Jhanardhana, in a video coverage.

Hi all, You must have seen lot of Daring Bakers posting their challenges on Macarons, with lovely fillings, as I am in the challenge, I also did with this, but I just couldn't do it well !!, I just couldn't get the feet which they said but I just put my feet up and sat down and cried...., That is all I could do...., Now i feel like crying again, but my kids and hubby assured me that they were absolutely delicious to eat and they finished it off too !!
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

FRENCH MACARONS:

Ingredients:

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

The above is the original recipe from the Daring Baker's you must visit other Daring Baker's for their tips and methods of baking a good macaron.
My verdict:  I did twice, I was not happy with my achievement, I have planed to do it again, as I did not get the feet what they kept saying, I just had to put my feet up and cried my best..., I thought I must quit baking,
For the filling:  I did not try any thing, as I was quite upset, as I did not achieve the results, I used
2 tbsp of poppy seeds
4 tbsp of dessicated coconut
1/4 tsp of cardamom powder
2 tbsp of roasted pistachio
1/2 and 1/2 of butter and sugar
I roasted all the ingridients except coconut powdered them and mixed with the butter and sugar cream and filled them.
well, children said it was quite nice and have finished them, that is all I could say.

If you keep up with ESPN's Bill Simmons' columns, you know he's been slacking on said columns for the past year to crank out a massive book about basketball. If you don't, you probably aren't aware how funny and insightful he can be. Not as stiff and cliche-happy as most sportswriters, Simmons infuses pop culture (90210 and Karate Kid seem to come up all the time) and fun into sports as well as niblets of his personal life.

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy hits shelves tomorrow. The 700 plus page mammoth of a book should provide some top-notch entertainment and choice inside information. Malcolm Gladwell of Blink fame provides the foreword.

Take a look at this excerpt where Bill Simmons meets his longtime rival for a powwow at a topless pool.

What so special ?, you must be thinking, why has she posted this ?, Of course everybody in India, know what koshumbari is, there is nothing special about it, But then why did I post it ? As my daughter said, ''because it is an authentic recipe which my mom, pati cooked and it will be their always when ever I need it, mummy post what ever you cook''.  well, that is how my koshumbari has come to the blog!!, and of course my daughters are my photographers, they always arrange them and take some pictures and upload them to the computer ( but sometimes I have to keep asking them if they have uploaded so I can post !!).  Well, what ever it is or however long time they take to do it, they always don't forget to take pictures before they eat and upload them, I must thank them for that.  Thank you so much girls, I love you.

CUCUMBER-MOONGDAL KOSHUMBARI

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole cucumber
• 2 to 3 green chillies
• 4 to 5 sprigs of coriander
• salt as required
• A fist full of moong dal
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 or 2 tbsp of fresh grated coconut

METHOD

1. First of all soak Moong dal for an hour or so, it becomes quite soft when you break with your nails it just splits, you would know it , It even swells up. Once it is well soaked, drain the water completely and keep it aside.
2. Cut the cucumber into thin slices just as shown in picture, you can use the skin too, if you don't mind eating it, and is definitely good for health.
3. Mix Moong dal, cucumber, grated coconut and finely chopped coriander leaves
4. Take a kadai heat oil in it and then add mustard seeds once they splutter add the chopped green chillies, once they slightly change colour, pour it on top of the cucumber mixture, on it add the pinch of asafoetida
5. Just before serving add the required quantity of salt and mix everything together and serve immediately.
6. You can also add a squeeze of (1 to 2 tbsp) lemon juice which is optional, and of course it gives a great taste to the kosambari

Note: If you add salt prior to the Kosambari it gives out water and you wouldn't be able to enjoy the real juicy taste of the kosambari.  I am not saying it won't be nice later on but it tastes more delicious with the juice still in it, even today when all of us (my sisters & me) when we go to amma's house, we actually fight for the juice, so daddy would share it to all of us, that juice mixed with every thing tastes so nice we mix it with rice and eat, when my hubby saw this first time after our marriage, he was surprised and asked us how can we eat that, and he hates it, I don't do it as often as we used to do in mom's house, mom always makes different types of kosambari's and they are on her everyday menu list!!, like the pulkas, My hubby never eats any kosambari's !!, (poor fellow mom he doesn't know what he is missing says my daughter).  Bless her, we love it and we enjoy it, whenever I make it. you all agree with me right ?

Hi, everybody, weather is becoming slowly very cold, have to wait for 6 months again to see some sunshine, anyway even this time we did not have a good summer, I have to bring all my plants into my conservatory, so that they don't die too much of rain or cold!, My curry leaves has grown around 5 ft i think, Hibiscus has grown upto 7 ft I think, and my favourite Doddapatre has widely spread, all of these which I brought from India, I don't want them to die, and I have some more flowering plants like the crysanthymums which are giving lot of flowers !!, I don't know how I am going to manage all those pots and protect them. 
well, coming back to my recipe, I made this quite long back, for some event about omelettes, but as usual i am always late posting them on time, and one more thing which always happens to J is her computer crashes right on time!!, howzit ? God ! knows how it happens, from past 2 days something happened and just today my hubby has installed every thing back again.  My eldest she likes eating eggs, and likes eating omelettes well, I don't cherish them, I am not used to it, and funny thing my son doesn't eating it either, I was going through one of my recipe books where in I found this recipe, thought of trying this out, but I made little changes to the authentic spanish tortilla !! ( I think it is authentic I do not know exactly) thank God! it turned out well, and she liked it very much, even my friend who visited us also enjoyed it. here goes the recipe....

SPANISH TORTILLA

METHOD

1. Heat a frying pan , preferably non-stick, over a high heat.  Add the oil and heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, then add onions once they change colour add the tomatoes, once they are cooked add capsicum and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes until they are tender.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and season generously with salt and pepper.
3. Add a little bit of salt so the vegetables absorb them while cooking, then take them out and leave any excess oil in the pan and just remove any crusty bits stuck to the base of the frying pan.
4.  Rehat the frying pan over a medium-hight heat with anothr 2 tbsp of olive oil Add the egg mixture and smooth the surface, pressing the vegetable mixture into an even layer.
5. Then garnish it with fresh herb of your choice and press it on the top of the veggie mixture.
6. Cook shaking the pan occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the bottom is set.  Use a spatual to loosen the side of the tortilla.
7. Put a large plate over the top and carefully intert the frying pan and plate together so that the tortilla drops onto the plate.
8. Add a little bit of oil to the frying pan and swirl around.  carefully slide the tortilla back into the pan, cooked-side up.  Run the spatula around the tortilla, to tuck in the edge.
9. Cook for a further few minutes, or until the eggs are set and the bottom is golden brown.
10. Remove from heat and slide the tortilla onto a plate.  Leave to stand for at least 5 minutes before cutting, serve it garnished with parsley sprigs.

I have shown in red colour of how I did and changed the way they garnished and just put the chopped Basil and thyme leaves and pressed it on top of the veggie mixture.

Full Video

Full Video

Hi, I feel great at last I can post something in Madhu's egglesscooking blog which hosts whole grain (oats) this month, I have succeeded this time posting something 5 days before !!, Every time, I make something so I can participate and never post them on time and I feel so sad about it. That's about my moaning on this page to. Let's get back to the recipe, Actually this is my cookie or crunchy or what ever you want to call it, I got this recipe from a book called vegetarian cook book, which has loads of vegetarian recipes, but is not a vegan book, I had a pack of brazil nuts and I thought this was the best one I can try, The actual recipe calls for chocolate and one egg which I replaced with Raisins and Linwoods Flax seed & Goji berri powder, which I found in a health-wise shop, I just bought a packet as Madhu & Aparna had told me that flax seeds can be used for replacing eggs, unfortunately I had no flax seed powder & fortunately I had this mixed powder which I used in this recipe. Goji berries have lot of medicinal value, even though the taste is really tempting you can use it like bitter gourd for a healthy option. This powder did help and the cookies came out really crunchy, I knew it came out very well because last Saturday night I made then by Sunday evening my box was empty !!!, which has given me confidence in trying some other recipes too !!
RAISINS & BRAZIL NUT CRUNCHIES














As usual my daughters took the pictures, they told me they took with milk & not with tea as they are not allowed to drink tea or coffee !!,

Ingredients:

• 55 g/2 oz butter or margarine (I used vegan butter)
• 55 g/2 oz vegetable fat
• 140 g/ 5 oz demerara sugar
• 1 tsp Linwoods Flax seed & Goji Berry powder
• 1 tbsp Soya milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 100 g/ 3 1/2 oz plain flour
• 100 g/ 3 1/2 oz rolled oats ( I used Morrisons Organic oats powdered in my mixie)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 175 g/ 6 oz plain chocolate chips ( I used Raisins)
• 75 g / 2 1/2 oz Brazil nuts chopped

METHOD:

1. Put the butter, fat, sugar, flax seed powder, vanilla essence and milk in a blender or a food processor and process for at least 3 minutes ( the original recipe says add egg and when this process is done it says it should be processed until a fluffy consistency is reached), As I had not used eggs I first powdered flax seed & sugar into a powder and then add the rest of the ingredients said into my mixie and just processed it was not in a fluffy consistency, I added 3 to 4 tbsp of water to get them out .
2. Mix the flour, oats, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a large bowl. then stir in the above processed mixture and fold in with Raisins & brazil nuts, mix well together.
3. I added little water to combine the mixture into a nice dough consistency.
4. Then cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until firm
5. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degrees/350 dF/ Gas mark 4.
6. Grease a large baking try
7. Make them into 30 round balls flatten them a little and put them onto the baking tray, making sure that they are well spaced.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
10. I left it for 20 minutes, scared they might not have cooked in the centre, even though the colour was not so appealing the crunchiness was their and tasted very well.
    some more pictures of my crunchies

I would like to send this to siri's EFAM- Oats event too...

Don't know if you noticed, but Levi's has Walt Whitman selling jeans. At how many revolutions do you think he's spinning in his grave? Pretentious is the first word that comes to mind when seeing the pants company equates wearing jeans with freedom, law and love. The second is poop. What a waste of a poem. There's also a O Pioneers version which sounded a lot better in the Willie D song. Why didn't they just stick to eyecandy type ads like this?

hi everybody, hope you all had a lovely time, quality time with your family and friends during deepavali, I did and we did enjoy had a good time. OK, an other Biscuit which I prepared on the same day as my cashew Biscuits, this too I got it from my recipe book!!,  so, again I don't have the baking time or temperature. Here is how it goes.

PEANUT BISCUIT

INGREDIENTS:

• 100 gm Maida/ All purpose flour
• 50 gm Butter
• 40 gm powered sugar,
• 30 gm Peanuts ( roasted & powdered)
• 2 tbsp Granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
• a pinch of dry ginger
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• salt to taste

METHOD 

1. Sieve maida /APF & baking powder together twice.
2. Make a mixture of the ginger, pepper and salt.
3. Mix all the ingredients together to form a smooth dough
4. If needed add a little milk
5. Make small balls and arrange them on a baking tray and bake approximately around 20 to 25 minutes on Gas mark 4
6. Serve it hot with coffee or tea or you can much when ever you want or with a cup of cold milk too.

Full Video

Hi friends, Hope you all had a wonderful diwali, I too had a lovely time, My friends had come here, Both of them celebrated their first Diwali, that was the highlight of this Diwali, two newly married couples, We did lot of cooking (but no Photos), lit lot of crackers!!, The best thing was it was in the weekend and Of course the weather, was so good, So, we could enjoy it much more!!.
Coming back to blogging As I had some mistake in posting my crunchies with an old date even though I did the baking 2 weeks back!!, I was not able to participate in Aparna of My diverse Kitchen who is hosting High tea treats which was started by Meetu's Monthly Mingle
I was so disappointed but aparna wrote to me to do an other one ASAP, actually I did them 3 days back!!, but never had time to post them, as I had too many guests at home, and it was diwali, hoping that aparna & meetu will accept my entries to their Monthly mingle I am posting this recipe.
This recipe was from my collection of recipes book which I had started way long back since 1982-83 I think!!, I had never thought I would ever bake, may be an Idea would have at least that some day I might bake would have helped me with more details of baking. So, here is the recipe with little bits missing.

CASHEW NUT BISCUITS

• 1 Cup Maida /All purpose flour/plain flour
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 cup Cashew nuts (ground)
• 5 tsp Ghee/Clarified butter or unsalted butter
• 1 tsp Baking Powdered
• essence as per choice (I used vanilla essence - 1 tsp)
• Milk as required ( 2 to 3 tbsps)

METHOD:

1. Grind cashew nuts in a mixie into powdered and measure to 1 cup
2. Mix Maida, Sugar, Ghee & Ground Cashew nuts well adding milk, little by little
3. Prepare a thick and Pasty mixture.
4. Now smear a baking sheet with ghee and shape small round and flat biscuits with your hand and place them on the baking sheet
5. Bake in a oven till golden brown
6. Serve hot with tea or coffee.

My Verdict: I had not written what temperature I should have to bake these biscuits!!, and I just decided I will bake them in Gas Mark 4 for 25 to 30 minutes and thus decided however it is I am going to eat it !!, They did cook well, but I thought I should have taken them out around 20 minutes, may be then they would have been little bit softer, it was very good to taste but little bit harder that doesn't mean you needed a stone or hammer to break it, I thought it might have been like a cookie!! if I was sure of the Baking temperature & time, If anybody try this, could write to me about how long and what temperature I should bake them. One more thing was as I was short of Ghee I used unsalted butter.

A VERY HAPPY DEEVALI/DEEPAVALI GREETINGS....
To all my lovely visitors and all the excellent bloggers all around the world, who all love to celebrate as we do, Hope you all are having a wonderful time, Wishing all a very prosperous Deepavali.

Let God give a shape to all your dreams , let them all come true,lots and lots of happiness and prosperity. Diwali is always connected with lots of light, new clothes, and very important lots of sweets, As this festival consists of 3 days, the first day is in karnataka is called ''neeru thumbo habba'' A festival where you wash all the vessels in which you store water, we do puja to Ganga the very sacred river for Indians, Amma always made kozhukottai and I have the same practice, So, I made sweet and khara kozhukottai, yesterday & Today we have been having a lovely time, my friends are visiting me and we are all having a lovely time, with lot of cooking and lighting loads of crackers!!, I just decided even if it is so late I need to wish all my visitors a very happy diwali.






Again, I would like to wish you all a very happy diwali.

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"Everybody loves that Da Vinci code book. Bullshit, it sucks. I read it. It's for all the dummies."

A pretty succinct and accurate review of The Da Vinci Code. For more nuggets of crass wisdom, check out the shitmydadsays twitter feed.

Indian Traditional wedding party wear saree with heavy motif and zari work, This saree is in Dark yellow and brown color. As This saree has Yellow color so will have good impression in Mehndi Party. This saree has a beautiful belt of chain.

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Beautiful Traditional dark green saree in silk for day parties wear. this saree has simple designs of motif and have a nice golden gota style.


This saree has a beautiful round neck blouse in sleeveless style with colorful saree pallu. This saree has also beautiful draper style lehnga.



Nice dark cyan color saree as Traditional cultural style with a beautiful silver gota style. The saree pallu has nice motif floral and leaf style.


Its a bridal parties wear saree in cultural traditional style with heavy motif and zari work on saree pallu. The saree pallu has also beautiful wide gota style as border.




Nice Indian bridal wedding wear saree in cultural traditional collection. the saree blouse is in sleeveless style with heavy motif and mirror work. Saree pallu is in sparking golden style and saree lehnga is in dark green style.


Nice traditional party wear saree in sparking orange color with sparking gota liens border style.

Sushma Khan, National Skin Trainer, Lakme Beauty Salon

gives top tips on getting best out of your manicure and

pedicure. By Priyanka Bhattacharya (Beauty Magazine)

Moisturise often:

It is important to use hand creams to rehydrate your hands after every wash. It is more important if you have used harsh detergents.

Foot creams help:

Use a rich cream on your feet every night to restore your skin, which suffers through the day. Always wash your feet as you reach home and before applying the lotion. This will also keep your nails free from any infection.

Get antiseptic:

Since humidity can cause infection so use an antiseptic soap or a foot-wash to wash away grime. Also before you wear shoes dust your feet with an anti-fungal power. This will also keep your feet smelling fresh.

Pro care:

Once in 15 days visit a professional manicurist and a pedicurist for complete treatment. Go for hydrating treatments complete with scrub, mask, moisturiser, massage – the works. At Lakmé we have what we call hand and foot facials that replicate the balancing facials that we offer customers.

Facials for hands and feet:

We have various types of hand and foot facials where we pamper your limbs so that you are mentally and physically relaxed. We use ingredients like floral extractions, orchid essential scrub, ceramide creams, and white tea moulding mask to treat different hands and feet problems.

Try reflexology:

When you are feeling exhausted and tired, and have aching limbs then foot reflexology session can be very beneficial. It is a holistic healing technique that improves lymphatic drainage and removes toxins within the body. It is highly relaxing. The moves also leave your hands and feet feeling lighter.

Just push, don’t snip:

When you are getting a pedicure and manicure ensure that the therapist does not cut your cuticles. Instead he or she should push it back and remove only the dead layer. That will avoid infections and keep nails healthy. In case you develop infection, please wait till it gets alright before going in for a professional session.

Care in between:

In between professional treatments do take care of your hands and feet. Besides regular cream massages, also do small at home hand and foot care. Remove nail polish, file and trim your hand and toe nails, then soak them in warm soapy water, add some lemon to it to have a lightening effect. Use a face scrub to slough off dead skin cells, then wash off and massage a good cream. You can also soak your nails in olive oil to strengthen them and give them a natural shine.