KASHMIRI NAAN

KASHMIRI NAAN
Kashmiri food is known for its liberal use of nuts and its hot-sweet taste. Here is a recipe of Kashmiri Naan. A sweet bread with nuts and cherries.
Ingredients
Maida or Self Raising Flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - ½ tsp
Soda - ¼ tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Fresh Yeast - 1 tsp
Warm Milk - ¼ cup
Yogurt - ¼ cup
Oil or Ghee - 2 tbsp

For the Stuffing
Granulated sugar – 4-5 tbsps
Slivered and chopped Cashewnuts – 1 -2 tbsps
Slivered and chopped Almonds - 1 -2 tbsps
Red Cherries - 1 -2 tbsps
In a mixie make a fine paste of all the ingredients. Keep some finely chopped cashews and almonds separately for it to stick out on the Naan.

Method
In a Big bowl mix together 2 cups Maida, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp soda and 2 tbsp of oil or ghee.

In another small bowl, combine ¼ cup warm milk, ¼ cup Yogurt, dissolve 1 tsp sugar in it. Add 1 tsp fresh yeast and add this liquid to the flour mixture in the big bowl. Now mix all this together. Add warm water to make a very soft dough. Once you make the dough, Add a tablespoon of oil and mix well, so the dough becomes glazed with oil. Cover the dough with a wet cloth for around two hours. The dough will puff up and become almost double in volume.

Now make equal sized balls apply a little oil. Make a depression in the ball and place some of the stuffing (the paste that is made) in the center of the balls circle, then fold the edges of the dough up over the stuffing and pinch it together to enclose the stuffing; press with your hands to flatten the dough and then roll it into a round shape. Stretch it from one side to give it a triangular shape like the ones you see in a restaurant. Stick some finely chopped cashews and almonds on top of the Naan. It will get nicely toasted when cooked inside the tandoor.

Now put it on the wall of a preheated Tandoor or cook in a preheated oven (250 degrees Celsius) by placing it on a greased tray.

Remove when it is crisp and golden brown on both sides. Your Naan is ready to be served with any nice curry.

Note: You can either use fresh cherries or Canned cherries

YOU ARE GOD'S WORK OF ART

YOU ARE GOD'S WORK OF ART

Outwardly, you may not appear to be much of a masterpiece. You may look like a piece of junk. But inwardly, and in reality, you are God's work of art -- and God does not make any junk. All that is outward and seen is only temporary -- like the cocoon the butterfly inhabits for only a short time. So, while you should take care of your present body, don't be overly concerned about it. Most importantly, don't think of yourself as just the body you are now living in. You are a child of Almighty God, creator and ruler of the universe. Someone God is "raising" to be His companion for eternity. You are NOT insignificant.

Admittedly, you are a work in progress. God still has more work to do with you -- but He is the artist, and He will finish His work.

(Hint: As you submit to God, the easier it is for Him to change you into the wonderful image he has in mind. Someday, everyone will clearly see what God has done in you: making you a wonderful, unique individual worthy of Himself.

What is it that makes a person beautiful? If you have not thought about it, here are some reasons.

Youth: Everyone always looks their best when they are young. Obviously, the younger one is, the better they look. Yet those who are "young at heart" - full of happiness, full of feeling a sense of wonder and adventure about the world, of child-like (not childish) happiness, etc - always project a more beautiful appearance.

Kindness: Those who are full of loving kindness, those who are positive, those who are always ready to lend a helping hand, acquire a "filter" that projects the beauty (or the ugliness) of their soul. You can prove this to yourself by thinking about a person you thought was unattractive, at first, but, as you got to know them, became more attractive because you came to like them. Or, think about a person you thought was very attractive, at first, but seemed to grow uglier as you came to dislike them as you got to know them.

Thoughts: Those who "believe" that they are beautiful - in the deepest recesses of their heart and soul - tend to act on that belief by projecting it and so they tend to be viewed as more beautiful. Ask the most beautiful person you know in real life what they think about their appearance. Even though they will be quick to point out the flaws in their appearance, they will also be quick to say that they are, in fact, beautiful.

Action: Most people on Earth try their best to make their "bag of skin” as attractive as possible. Some spend small fortunes in getting surgery to make themselves "look" better (although after multiple surgeries others would question if that was the result). Yet, what makes a person beautiful is their "acting as if" they are... and doing the best they can with what they have. So if you want to seem beautiful, start acting-projecting beauty.

PANEER PAV (COTTAGE CHEESE STUFFED BUNS)

PANEER PAV (COTTAGE CHEESE STUFFED BUNS)
Ingredients
4 unsweetened buns
150 gm paneer (cottage cheese)
1 Onion finely chopped
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 tsp pomegranate seeds powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Method
Cut the capsicums into tiny pieces. Crumble the paneer. Cut a very thin slice from the top of each bun and keep aside to be used as a lid later. With a knife, scoop out the buns so that the filling can be stuffed into it.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and sauté the onions until transparent and then add the capsicums and sauté for one minute. Add the paneer and the spices and cook over a low flame for 3-4 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Remove the paneer filling from fire and fill the scooped out buns with this filling. Cover each bun with the sliced portion cut to make a filling earlier, it would be like a lid on the bun. Now rub each bun with oil. Preheat an oven and heat till the buns are a little crisp. Serve hot.

The Power of Praise

The Power of Praise
In the early 19th century, a young man in London aspired to be a writer. But everything seemed to be against him. He had never been able to attend school more than four years. His father had been thrown in jail because he couldn't pay his debts, and this young man often knew the pangs of hunger.
Finally he got a job pasting labels on bottles in a rat-infested warehouse, and he slept at night in a dismal attic room with two other boys - guttersnipes from the slums of London.
He had so little confidence in his ability to write that he sneaked out and mailed his first manuscript in the dead of night so nobody would laugh at him. Story after story was refused.
Finally the great day came when one was accepted. True, he wasn't paid for it, but one editor had praised him. One editor had given him recognition. He was so thrilled that he wandered aimlessly around the streets with tears rolling down his cheeks.
The praise, the recognition that he received through getting one story in print changed his whole life. If it hadn't been for that encouragement, he might have spent his entire life working in rat-infested factories. You may have heard of that boy.
His name is Charles Dickens.

With the many discouragements that people face each day, we should never underestimate the power that our positive words can have on them. A word of encouragement to someone who is feeling down and depressed can mean the world to them and in effect change their outlook on their situation. Comfort the feebleminded and support those who are weak. We are called to comfort, support and lift up those who are weak and their spirits and show them the love of God through our intervention so that they may be able to stand up and continue on. Be an encourager when the opportunity arises so that others may be lifted up by your positive reinforcements. We never really know what someone else is going through and this fact alone should cause us to take the initiative to say a good word of encouragement when the opportunity presents itself.
Be encouraged to be an encourager and know that your simple uplifting words will cause a change that will greatly outlast and outweigh the sacrifice that you made in your intervention.

NAN KHATAI (INDIAN COOKIES)

VANILLA COOKIES / VANILLA NAN KHATAI

What would one think of to have with a cup of tea or coffee, Yes, you guessed it right, the answer would be cookies.

I personally prefer our Indian biscuit style cookie which I cooked dunk in my tea and relish. So here’s the recipe of the cookie that we used to get at a local bakery in Mumbai, India.

Ingredients
All purpose flour (Maida) - 150 gms
Rava (Fine sooji) - 50 gms
Powdered sugar - 85 gms
Butter - 120 gms
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp (Optional)
Cardamom powder – a pinch
Few almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts(optional)

Method
In a big bowl, beat the butter till it turns fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. 
Now add the vanilla essence followed by the maida and sooji. 
Make a smooth dough of this mixture. 
Roll out medium sized balls and cut them into two halves. 
Put a cashew nut and broken almonds or pistachios on the top of each piece. 
Bake them on a greased pan for 25 minutes at 150 C.
Wait for 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. 
Your Vanilla Biscuits or Vanilla Nan Khatai is ready. 
Dunk it into your tea and enjoy. 

LADIES FINGER RAITA / LADIES FINGER PACHADI

LADIES FINGER RAITA
Ingredients
Thick Yoghurt – 2 cups
Ladies finger – 2 cups
Green Chilly paste – ½ tsp
Ginger paste – ½ tsp
Oil – for frying and tempering
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Asafetida - A pinch
Salt to taste
Curry leaves – 1 sprig (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
Chaat Masala – a pinch for garnish

Method
Wash and dry the ladies finger. Cut the top and bottom and slice them into roundels.
Heat oil in a kadhai(wok), fry the ladies finger on medium heat until it is crisp. Don’t over fry it, as that will make it crumble like a biscuit. Drain the excess oil on a kitchen towel. Keep aside. Let it cool down. Add a pinch of salt to the fried Ladies finger.
In a bowl Take yogurt, beat the yogurt lightly, add green chillies and ginger paste, the fried ladies finger and some salt and mix well.
In a small pan, take a teaspoon of oil, add the mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, add a pinch of asafetida and then the curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the raita.
You can garnish with coriander leaves and chaat masala if required.
Serve chilled.

GULAB JAMUN

GULAB JAMUN
This is an all time favorite in our home. Kids and adults enjoy this. When I was making this dish at home, little Anoushka(my four and a half year old daughter) was hovering around the area, She didn’t even have the patience to wait for the gulab jamuns to soak in the syrup and wanted to be the first one to taste the jamuns. She calls them Gulam Jamuns, she wanted to taste the first batch of jamuns that I put into the sugar syrup, I had to oblige so that I could continue with my work, on one hand there were jamuns waiting to be fried, thrown in to the syrup and here lil Anoushka was struggling to eat the hot jamuns, so I had to split it, blow over it and then feed her, lest she burn her mouth, with all this happening I was also clicking photos of the jamuns for the blog. My little one and my husband have been an audience to my cooking, decorating, photo clicking, editing and uploading the photos on to my blog ever since I started blogging. Infact, nowadays Anoushka asks me, " Amma are'nt you clicking photos" whenever I am cooking. But hubby dear is very happy these days, getting to try new dishes, while I am happily navigating through blogosphere.

Ingredients
Khoya - 500 gms
Plain flour - 125 gms
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp.
Milk - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 250 gms.
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp.
Saffron - a few strands
Ghee/Refined cooking oil to deep fry

Method
In a bowl, Crumble the khoya. Sieve in the flour and soda together. Mix in the cardamom powder and crushed saffron. Mix well to form a soft dough.While kneading put the milk little by little. Use only as much milk as required for kneading. Make balls of even size.
Heat the ghee/refined oil in a wok. Once hot, keep the flame of your gas low (in sim mode).Put the balls in batches, they will rise up, fry till golden brown. Remove from ghee/oil and keep it aside on a plate. Don’t put into the syrup immediately. This tip of mine helps from the gulab jamuns being very soft and soaking in too much syrup and breaking into the syrup. Once the balls are warm, put them in the syrup. Soak for 10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a glass bowl. When done pour the remaining syrup over the jamuns in the glass bowl and serve it warm.

RAMA NAAMA (RAM NAAM) GOD'S NAME

RAMA NAAMA
My Periamma (Mother’s elder sister) says that however busy we are, the least we can do is take God’s name atleast 3 times in a day. It is believed that uttering the name of Rama 3 times is equivalent to 1000 names of Vishnu.

The Following Shloka is extracted from Vishnu Sahasranamam(1000 names of Vishnu)

“SRI RAMA RAMA RAMETHI
RAME RAAME MANORAME
SAHASRA NAMA THATTULYAM
RAMA NAMA VARAANANE.”

Immediately I asked her as youngsters always ask, how can the utterance of the name of Rama, 3 times can be equivalent to 1000 names of Vishnu?
Periamma said that there is a calculation based on Numbers in astrology.
This is how it works :
Numbers in the astrological books are described in the form of indicative words. These numerical epithets are called katapayathi.
Bana (arrow) i.e. 5,
Dweepa (island) i.e. 7,
Vara 7,
Vayu 5,
Surya 12,
Rudra 11,
Nakshatra 27.
Ka to Jha 1 to 9.
jna 0,
Ta to Dha 1 to 9,
na 0,
Pa to ma 1 to 5,
Ya to Ha 1 to 8.
From the above katapayathi numerological method
Ra = 2, ma = 5 and 2 x 5 = 10.
As Ramas name is uttered 3 times,
its value is 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000.
Isn’t that really nice, you just utter God’s name 3 times a day and get the fruits of uttering it a 1000 times. This is the least that our Modern day busy bees can do. Now no one can complain that we dont have time for prayers.

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and lentil cakes)

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and Lentil Cakes)
Idli is very good for health, since its steam cooked and made of rice and black gram lentil and fermented overnight, its supposed to be very light on the stomach. Idli can be had during typhoid, jaundice or Malaria, its also served to ladies after delivery as it is light on the stomach and very easy to digest. Idli contains very little oil, the oil that we use to grease the moulds is all the oil that we use. If you are using a nonstick idli mould, you don’t need to use oil at all for greasing also.

Each Idli approximately provides 1.67gms of protein, 0.14gms of fat, 9.12 gms of carbohydrates, 0.21gms of minerals, 44.5kcal of energy and 0.09gms of fibre.

It’s a very good breakfast item to be had early in the morning. Idli can be fed to infants 4 months and above. Mash the cooked idlis and feed them, its very nutritious. Here is the basic Idli recipe.

Ingredients
Par boiled rice - 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup
Salt as per taste

Method
Rinse and soak rice and udad dal seperately in water for 2 hours. Grind the two seperately, and mix them together with salt. Keep it overnight for fermentation, In the morning you will see that the batter has risen and doubled in size. Mix the batter well. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

IDLI RAVA IDLIS
Making Idlis using Idli rava
If you are making Idlis using Idli Rava, The proportion you can use is
Idly Rava – 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup
Salt as per taste
Method
Soak the Idly rava and Udad dal separately. When you soak the Idly rava, any impurities will come up, remove it and change the water. Rinse the Udad dal and once it is soaked for around 2-3 hours. Grind it into a fine paste separately, Once the udad dal is grounded, Add the soaked idly rava and grind together with the grounded udad dal and your batte4r is ready. Allow it to ferment overnight. Once the batter has risen, add salt, mix well. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

MASALA IDLI
This is yet another recipe I learnt from my good friend Srilatha and tastes absolutely divine. You can make this with the freshly fermented Idli batter or with yesterdays idly batter. Srilatha says, today you can make idli and next day you can make masala idli for breakfast. This is one dish no one would complain about. People who don’t like Idlis may actually love this spicy idli. Always make the masala to be mixed with the batter, just before you pour into the idli mould else the idli wont taste so good. Don’t mix the masala in the morning and make the idlis in the evening.
Ingredients
Idli batter
Onions - 2
Grated carrot – ½ cup
Green peas – 2 tbsps(optional)
2 green chilies, chopped
1 small piece ginger grated
1/2 tsp. red chili powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
Asafetida - ½ tsp
Peanuts or Cashew nuts – 2 tbsps
Grated fresh coconut - ½ cupSalt to taste
Curry leaves – a sprig
Freshly chopped coriander leaves
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Chana dal (Bengal gram) – 1tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
OilMethod
Finely chop Onions, peel and grate the carrots, grate the ginger, finely chop the chillies.
Fry the Peanuts or Cashew nuts whichever you are using in ghee and keep aside.
In a pan, take some oil, Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chana dal, wait for the mustard seeds to crackle and then add the grated ginger, finely chopped chillies and curry leaves, once they are fried, Add the grated coconut and the grated carrot, salt, turmeric, asafetida, red chilly powder and just stir fry once, so that all the masala mixes well. The carrot should not be cooked, it should be crunchy.
Incase you are adding green peas, after frying the green chillies and ginger, add the peas and fry till you see the peas slightly changing its color and then add the remaining things as mentioned above. Add this masala into the idli batter, also add the fried cashew nuts or peanuts that you are using and mix well. Add coriander leaves and mix well.
Check for salt, if you feel it’s less add at this point. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook.
Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi. Try out the masala idli.

KANJEEPURAM IDLI
Ingredients
Par boiled Rice - 3 cups
Udad dal - 1.5 cups
Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Asafetida - ¼ tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Cooking Oil
Ghee - 2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Method
Rinse and soak par boiled rice and udad dal separately in water for 2 hours. Grind the above coarsely and add asafetida and salt to this. Keep it overnight so that this will ferment. Fry pepper, cumin seeds, grated ginger and curry leaves in ghee. Add this to the batter. Mix everything together. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

Tips:

• Some people add a pinch of soda bi-carb to the idli flour, so that it comes out well, but personally I don’t prefer to add it. Incase, your idli has flopped, may be you can add soda bi-carb and try the next round.

• Someone suggested to me that adding a tablespoon of sago to be soaked along with the udad dal and ground as usual makes the batter soft and the idlis more fluffy. I did try but the results were quite similar except that the idlis were slightly fluffier, you can try this tip.

• Someone also suggested that while grinding the dal and the rice, adding a tablespoon of cooked rice and grinding it along with the batter, will make the idlis softer and fluffier, you can try this tip and let me know.

• You can also add a teaspoon of fenugreek (methi) seeds to the dal and grind it, its good for health and gives a faint fenugreek flavor to the idli. Fenugreek is usually added during winters as it gives heat to the body during the cold season.

Note: Grinding the idli batter in a wet grinder (stone grinder), gives you more batter than grinding it in the mixie. Also the taste will be better when ground in stone.

VENN PONGAL

VENN PONGAL
Ingredients
Rice – 2 cups
Yellow Moong dal - 3/4 cup
Ginger – A small piece
Green Chillies – 2-3
Peppercorns – 1 tsp
Freshly grounded pepper powder – ½ tsp
Freshly grounded cumin powder – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 ½ tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt to taste
Ghee – 2 tbsps
Curry leaves – A sprig
Cashews – 1-2 tbsps (optional)

Method
Wash and soak the rice and dal together for about an hour, this will ensure water retention and cook the khichdi(pongal) better.

You can either finely chop the green chillies and grate the ginger or make a paste of the green chilly and ginger as I have done in this recipe.

In a pan , Take some ghee, Add the cumin seeds and whole black peppercorns(while adding peppercorns, crush one or 2 peppercorns and let them fry. When the peppers burst add the Ginger chilly paste and let it fry, add asafetida, Add the curry leaves and fry. Now pour this in the soaked rice and dal, add turmeric, salt, freshly grounded pepper powder and the freshly grounded cumin powder. If you like to add cashew nuts, you can fry some cashew nuts in ghee and add to this mixture. Mix well. Add water to one inch above level of rice and pressure cook it upto 4 whistles. Once you open the cooker your Ven-pongal also known as Khichdi in the north is ready.

Serve it hot with some hot melted ghee and Kadi(Morkzhambu) Spiced Yogurt gravy.

In the south, Pongal is had with chutney and sambhar.