Monday, June 29, 2015

Recipes that make you drool

When I think of my favourite foods , no single dish comes to my mind . In fact I think , I kind of liked different dishes by different people and lots of childhood memories attached to it. My favorite dishes are by three most important  women in my life my mom, my grandmother (dadi),and my maternal grandmother (nani). Incidentally , these dishes were once staples of Hindi heartland.



My mom is an excellent cook so much so that everyone in the family insists on her cooking at least one dish when the whole family gets together . There is nothing in north Indian cuisine that she can't cook but the kadhi she rustles up is totally out of the world. Kadhi is a very famous Indian curry which is made up of besan( gramflour) and yogurt /buttermilk . It is mixed in that perfect proportion and cooked to perfection for around an hour on low flame stirring continuously . She then added small  pakora or gramflour dumpling . The final touches were added by her special "tadka" which included fenugreek seeds , mustard seeds ,asafoetida , onions, red chillies. Oh so yumm . The magic ingredient- lots of love.

My dadi though was never a great cook and rarely cooked. Yes,even in those times she had an official cook "the maharaj" . But there was one special dish which she made to perfection and no one else came even closer. It was the drool worthy "bajre ki khichdi". Bajra or millet was coarsely grounded and soaked for a couple of hours in water. Then , this concoction was cooked on low flame for hours. Generally, everyone had it plain with either milk or curd but my Dadi Maa added a twist to it by seasoning it with ghee, jeera ( cumin seeds) , hing (asafoetida) ,onions ,tomatoes, carrots ,beans ,peas and  chillies and coriander.Magic ingredient - lots of love.



The third most drool worthy dish is by my nani . Every summer holidays were spend at nani' s house and this was our summer special . It is called raabri ...no , it's not rabri. Raabri is another yogurt based recipe. A dalia/porridge  of barley and broken wheat is prepared and is left to cool the whole night. This cooled mixture is added to the buttermilk . Lots of finely chopped onion ,cucumber, tomatoes, coriander is added. It is healthy,filling and nourishing . Magic ingredient - lots of love.

 Leaving  kadhi pakora , the other two are somewhat lost recipes rarely made these days. I continue making these as a reminiscent of the old happier times with these three strong ,fascinating and admirable women.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Traditional Treasures In Contemporary Fashion

Hey! In today's world , when there's an acute shortage of time , all of us have shifted to western wear . It's not confined to casual , gym or work wear any more. Most of us has started opting for the modern silhouette even for weddings , receptions , engagement parties ,to even baby showers. Of course , they are easy to manoeuvre  ( hahaha ). Most of the ethnic wear are heavy , cumbersome and functionally restrict the Wearer. Traditional outfits though look ethereally gorgeous. I , personally love traditional clothes and have a really huge collection of Sarees and lehangas and wear them often. But a lot of my friends are wary of ghaghras and Sarees so I thought of giving a contemporary twist to my ethical wear to create a functional as well as beautiful outfit.
     I am wearing a traditional Bengali Saree over a pair of leggings and a crop top. As it is scorching summers , I choose a muted and subtle shade of off-white with dull gold woven in the fabric. I opted for an off-white leggings over any other hue as it would not ofset the Saree and create evenness. For the blouse , my pick was a bright yellow boxy crop top.I paired it up with mint pumps which brought a lot of freshness along . I added a rainbow necklace and voila! My look was complete. Here are a few pics :





Thursday, June 11, 2015

Curvy-shurvy: Curvy-shurvy: The ombré effect !

Curvy-shurvy: Curvy-shurvy: The ombré effect !

Nautical Natter

Hey ! my beautiful people,
How are the vacations going on for you? Mine are very chilled out and relaxed...no , haven't been to any 'it ' place till now but , just being in your mom's home and she taking care of everything under the sun , is a bliss.
I am wearing a lot of nautical these days. Nautical instantly reminds you of sea , sailors and stripes ( horizontal , to be precise ). Though , for us , curves blessed women wearing horizontal stripes is a wee bit tricky but , if you apply a little logic , you could really kill it.
      Of course , everyone is wearing stripes  as it is a big trend these days and why should your size be a hindrance . Just choose wisely and enjoy being the fashionista among your peers. I have created a few looks , you could take clues from these as well....











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