Navratri Special Meethi & Teekhi Chutney / Hot & Sweet Chutney / Coriander Green Chilli Peanut Spicy Chutney / Date Tamarind Sweet Chutney

Sharad Navratri has commenced this year. Different parts of India celebrate the festival in different ways. In the Northern part of India many devotees of the Goddess keep a day long fast. After prayers, veneration and offerings to the deity at sunset the fast is broken. Only certain types and categories of food are allowed to be eaten during this fast. Also determining  the exact ingredients which will make the dishes differs from family to family. For example some families do not eat Chutneys for these 9 days. However those who do ensure firstly that the Chutney is vegetarian, gluten free and comprises only the ingredients allowed during this fast.

Quick Mushroom Corn Green Curry Recipe / Oilfree Vegan Green Curry ~ Go Green

Ever since the festive season commenced, indulgence was served generally on all platters. Not that festivities have ended yet, but with so much of goodies having gone in, the tummy did scream for some rejuvenation. Every year whenever a little detox does the the internal system of our body good, we turn a "Go Green" page in my family. After the elaborate festive fares, quick fixes, takes over the kitchen menu. But please do not think that I will be posting anything mundane or boring here. Even these quick dishes have an element of fun and adventure in them.

Hariyali Keema Recipe / Green Chicken Mince Curry Recipe / Keema Hara Masala Recipe ~ Just Recipes

With this post I am starting the Just Recipes series. This series will comprise of the dishes which I cook and post instantly. I have decided to keep the prelude to the recipe as brief as possible. Unlike my other posts, the posts in the Just Recipes series will contain only pertinent trivia about the dish presented to you. My culinary stories and travel stories will continue in my other posts. 

Menthya Soppina Chitranna Recipe / Ugadi Recipes / Lemon Rice With Fenugreek Leaves Recipe ~ Ugadi Special

Continuing with the Ugadi Special Recipes here, as we inch closer to the Ugadi celebrations with each passing day. My entire home is undergoing a deep cleaning and every nook and corner of my home is being spruced up. There is a lot of din throughout the day as from ceilings to a/c vents to sofas to carpets, you just name it, everything is being sprayed, soaped, mopped, wiped and made squeaky clean. All this intensive cleaning will be over by this noon and then immediately after, the entire family will get into a shopping spree including little D. The excitement is so clearly visible on each and everyone's face. This is what I love about festivals, the joy and happiness it brings with it, even days before it arrives.

Bajra Chi Bhakri Recipe / Bajra Roti Recipe / Indian Flat Bread Made With Pearl Millet Flour Recipe ~ Maharashtrian Cuisine

Bajra Roti is an Indian flatbread made out of the flour of Bajra or Pearl Millet Flour. This is gluten free flour and very rich in fibre. Tastes delicious when served with any curry. Making these Flatbreads with bajra flour requires a wee bit practice. As there is no gluten in this flour therefore rolling out the breads needs to be done carefully as cracks might appear all over the bread and finally the bread might break into pieces even before reaching the griddle.

Matki Chi Usal Recipe / Moth Bean Sprouts Curry ( Maharashtrian Style) Recipe ~ Flavours Of Maharashtra

Dear friends and readers, this post is a continuation of my earlier post on Maharashtrian Cuisine. I will share with you some more facets of this very delicious cuisine. Mumbai as we all know is not only the capital of Maharashtra, but is also the financial capital of India. Apart from leaving a distinct mark on the world map for its very prominent and extremely popular film industry, Mumbai is home to two very popular dishes namely 1) Vada Pav and 2) Pav Bhaji. Vada Pav is basically deep fried Potato dumplings coated in gram flour batter, served inside a square bun or pav with liberal servings of coconut chutney and a very spicy yet yummy dry garlic chutney. Pav Bhaji is basically a vegetable mish mash, wherein vegetables are steamed, spiced and mashed finely with a masher and served along with a soft bread roll or pav. Starting from Mumbai Airport , you will find the city dotted in every nook and corner with shops selling these two fast food dishes.

VEGAN BABY POTATOES AND BABY SPINACH CURRY ~ GO GREEN

The day after a feast or celebrating a festival, it becomes a real challenge for me to decide what the menu would be for the day. My family members in unison demand for light dishes, something which will satiate the hunger, yet not be heavy on the tummy. Faced with the same dilemma this morning, I sat on the dinning table gazing out into the vast wide expanse outside through the window, while my mind worked on what to cook. After the dozens of sweets and savory munchies everyone have been consuming since the Diwali festivities have commenced, I knew that no one would be in a mood for anything heavy today. Breakfast was more or less sorted, green smoothies for the rest of the family and a green smoothie pancakes for little D. But what about lunch? Suddenly I remembered the huge bag of baby potatoes lying in my kitchen pantry. Okay should I go for a Dum Aloo I thought with chapatis, well no, I thought remembering what the expressions across the dinning table could be at this dish. Not that Dum Aloo was not loved , but with chapatis no, it was always savoured with luchi or kochuri. So that was scratched off my mental menu for today at least. Still undecided I walked to check the refrigeration in my quest for new ideas for the menu.I opened the refrigerator to be greeted by again boxes of sweets, fruits and more sweets. Diwali always leaves my refrigerator screaming for space, jam packed mostly with sweets. No idea from here too I thought to myself. 

STEAMED FISH IN ARGENTINE CHIMICHURRI SAUCE - HAPPY BEAT SERIES

Yum

Today in the HAPPY BEATS series I talk about the importance of physical activity and its benefits to heart health. We all are very much aware of the rewards of physical activity to our body and whatever I am about to write here you all are very familiar with. I will still put them down because although we know it, most of us do not implement it in our day to day life, hiding behind the excuse of having no time.

MINT PUNCH BROWN BASMATI RICE WITH POMEGRANATE ARILS - HAPPY BEATS SERIES

Friends do you know if you love your HEART your heart loves you 10 folds back. How? We all know from our school Biology lessons that the HEART pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system and in this process supplies oxygen and vital nutrients to the tissues, removing carbon dioxide and other wastes. Wow that was a refresher to again reiterate the function of the HEART which is again a reminder to all of us to aid the HEART in its all important function rather than decreasing the efficiency of the HEART by pulling down its efficiency by harbouring an unhealthy lifestyle.

Mint Coriander Chutney Recipe / Pudina Dhaniya Chutney Recipe ~ Just Recipes

Mint coriander chutney is a very versatile dip and can be served with any fried vegetarian and non- vegetarian snacks as a dip.

DOUBLE BEANS WITH MINCED CHICKEN IN A SPINACH & DILL FLAVOURED CURRY - GO GREEN

Long years back as an engineering grad. I was sent on an assignment to Marseille, a picture perfect hamlet situated in the south of France along the Mediterranean Coast. This was the first time I had travelled out of my homeland alone. I don't want to sound primitive but although the mobile phone was much in vogue then, it's use was not as rampant as now. In other words the mobile phone was not the instrument to turn to at the drop of a hat then, as it is now. 

So I was given in writing the Dos and Don'ts by my parents and strictly instructed that it had to be home and office and nowhere else. And I would have to call them twice a week without fail ( to think about it, I call home every two hours now). In a foreign land where the language was foreign too, I was terribly homesick within the first few days.

GREEN SMOOTHIE PANCAKES - GO GREEN

The first meal of the day, Breakfast has to be cooked with utmost creativity, especially when you have a cute little face peering at the breakfast plate, cringing her nose and turning her head away with an emphatic No. Getting little D to eat her breakfast so early in the morning has always proved to be a Herculean task for me and I was determined that I would not send her to school without breakfast. Little D being a fussy eater I always knew that she would hardly eat her tiffin in school giving away sometimes full of what I packed, to her classmates or on some days bringing back the entire box, untouched home. 

As a mother I wanted to be assured of the fact that at least she had a few morsels in her tummy to ferry her through the day till she came home and I could coax her to eat, sometimes with a story and sometimes with a stern look.

So like it or not my creative juices had to be very active even at the time when half the world were fast asleep tucked tightly in the warm comforts of their bed. Sometimes I succeeded in making something which she ate and on other days no amount of coaxing or stern looks would make her chew.

SANTRA PANEER AUR GANTH GOBHI KE KOFTE/ COTTAGE CHEESE AND KOHLRABI DUMPLINGS WITH ORANGE FILLING - LET'S GO GREEN

Food historians say that the word KOFTA, used in variations throughout the Middle East, India and Central Asia probably comes from the Persian word Koofteh which means "pounded meat". From Persia ( today's Iran) Koofteh spread throughout all the Middle East and travelled into India with the Mughals.

There are hundreds of variations of Koftas ranging from spicy lamb Koftas grilled on the streets in Turkey to vegetable Koftas served with Naan in India. In fact Koftas made at home use extremely flexible recipes where cooks adjust the ingredients as desired.

GARBANZO BEANS IN A VELVETY SPINACH GRAVY/CHOLEY PALAK - LET'S GO GREEN

In India Garbanzo Beans/ Kabuli Chana or Choley is often associated with peppery, hot and picante flavours. With puffed deep fried breads or bhature they are most often paired and can be lapped up in a single go. In the northern part of India especially in the state of Punjab Choley is a staple and an everyday fare.

While deciding which dishes would be a part of my Go Green Mission I was very tempted to include a dish which had a creamy spinach gravy. Normally the use of cottage cheese or corn kernels in a spinach gravy is rampantly cooked and dished out in homes and restaurants alike. So I decided to choose a little less cooked but supremely yum garbanzo beans / Choley in a very thick and silky textured spinach gravy. This gravy does not contain a drop of cream or butter but when having it with piping hot flat breads you will miss neither.

Spicy Mexican Green Rice Recipe / Arroz Verde ~ LET'S GO GREEN

Through my Go Green mission I had to venture into the alluring land of Handlebar moustaches, Lava hot Jalapeños, Midnight Mariachis, Tequila Hangovers, Curvy Hot Tempered Latinas, Lip Smacking Conchitas and much much more. BIENVENIDOS A MÉXICO.....

ELBOW MACARONI IN HEALTHY GREEN SAUCE - LET'S GO GREEN

This is my first post of the year 2015. So I want to wish you all, beautiful people out there A very Happy, Healthy and Hearty 2015. This new year I wanted to commence with a mission, a mission to GO GREEN. It is my humble and earnest effort to introduce my little D and my family to the wonders of eating healthy and eating fresh.

Food which is full of nutrients and are recommended for us can be very delicious and not bereft of any taste as the common perception is. Green food would mean more natural bounty on our dinning table and I will put forth dishes which are green and supremely palatable. I will not use any artificial colouring or flavours but use all the natural products available to us to enhance both the visual appeal and appease our taste buds at the same time.