Zindagi Everyday

Nowadays, have got special affinity to kitchen. Love to cook food. Few days back made Matar Paneer & Boondi Raita following the recipe from my favourite website vegrecipesofindia.com It was a big big hit, all cleaned up with no left overs. Compliments pouring from all the in laws and most importantly husband dear. He always prefers perfection when it comes to food, so its like a big achievement for me to hear 'wow' from him. Till now his best compliment is 'you make food just like mom, i cannot differentiate if u made it or mom' .....hmm half of the target to stomach achieved,no more mumma food cravings for him now :)
During navratris, I did prepare sabudana khichdi , recipe taken from the website mentioned, and it was also a great thumbsup from hubby and me too :) I had made so good khichdi both in taste and texture for the first time in my short kitchen journey. Pics are not that great as took them in a jiffy
Now here comes the pics of both the trials !!

Matar Paneer !!

Sabudana Khichdi !!

These days I am getting a strong affinity towards Cake baking and decorating.All those beautiful cakes allures and mesmerise me so much, and no doubt I am a big cake lover. So finally I have decided to give it a try. Have contacted one of the baking classes and now just waiting for the new batch to start !!
At the same time I am so attracted towards photography too. At times I do get credit for my photography, as well as my interest towards it is forcing me to try it out for once atleast. Just waiting for right gear to switch on. This hobby of mine is going to dig hubby's pocket a big blow :P
images courtesy : google images



I know I am thinking so much of dreamy things which even I am not sure I would be able to hang on. Anyways, if I try it or not atleast I can write it ;)

I am running late in writing posts, still will try to pen down some of the moments here.
The most exciting one was my experiment fooding in the kitchen. Actually we are pretty regulars in our menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. During the month of February I started experimenting some stuff on my own. I tried to bake a choclate cake in the microwave (not convection one) , made pavbhaji, made idlis (in the microwave with instant mix), and sandwiches. And the most important factor in these experiments was the liking of everyone for the taste and texture.
Idlis are such a hit with my kido that everytime she sees me with the idli maker, she will say 'mumma idli bana do' and m happy to oblige her request :) Everytime I pick the microwave bowl, she will ask 'mumma kya kya bana rhe...cake bana rhe' . Actually she is the reason behind my kitchen adventures !!
Recipes of all the items was taken from various websites and blogs over the internet.So I am not going to post the recipes. But in case you need any recipe just visit my favorite website www.vegrecipesofindia.com It is one of the best website I have encountered so far. My pavbhaji recipe was a word to word tried from here and it was a big hit.
A snapshot of my experiments :)

Veg sandwich, recipe from Kido's friend mom :)

Rice idli prepared by the instant mix

Vanilla cake with chocolate glaze

Yum Yum Pavbhaji

The Chocolate cake baked in microwave

The best part of the cooking !!

After these outcomes, have got an affinity towards kitchen and experimenting items , which are new to me in case of making them at home !!

This winter season I tried my hands in making gajar ka halwa. By the way this is the first time I have made it in my whole life. Thanks to the google where every required recipe is easily accessible.
Though I am not a great cook, neither very experimental, but this time thought to try this winter special recipe. Googled the recipe, and started with it. The output was really awesome. Everyone was gaga over my dish..Yipee, the first experiment and that too deliciously successful.

Composing my recipe steps for future use :P
1. Grate the carrots.
2. Put the grated carrots in the kadahi or pressure cooker(lid open).
3. Allow the water in the carrots to evaporate.
4. When only a little bit of water is remaining, add milk as per your taste.  For example, I added 2 full cream milk packets (without boiling) in 1 kg grated carrots. The milk can be increased or decreased as per taste.
5. The milk starts boiling within the carrot. Time to time keep stirring this mixture of carrots and milk.Make sure the milk doesn't boil outside the vessel.
6. The milk gets sticked to the walls of the cooking vessel, keep scratching it and mixing it again in the mixture within the vessel.
7. When the carrot & milk mixture reduces to approximate 75% of the original quantity, then put 1 or 2 tablespoon of ghee.
8. When the milk starts to get near to disappear, add some elaichi powder and sugar as per taste.
9. Keep stirring this mixture, and put raisins (optional). Allow this mixture to cook on a medium flame else it will stick to the walls and base of the vessel allowing it to start burning slowly.
10. Keep stirring and cooking till whole mixture gets a good consistency and whole boiling milk disappears.
11. Add cashews, almonds, pistachios, and grated coconut (optional). The delicious halwa is ready.

Posting the final pics of the halwa, by the way one may doubt why both halwas having different colors, then let me clear it. In one I added good amount of milk so it has got light orange color, while the more red one has only a little less milk as compared to the other one.This difference in milk composition caused the color difference, but no effect on the taste.Both are yummy.  

Gajar Ka Halwa