It's Showering Awards!

Some more lovely awards from my friends...

Dear Uma of Essence of Andhra, Kitchen Flavors of Yummy Food, Arundhuti of Gourmet Affairs, Neema of Recipeswap, Vidhas of Appetizing Recipes, Malar Gandhi of Kitchen Tantra , Ramya of Ramya's Kitchen Corner , Adlak's Tiny World of Adlak's Kitchen and Andhra Flavors of For Spicy Lovers have showered me with a bunch of lovely awards..."Kreativ Blogger", "Great Buddy", "Hard Working Food Blogger", "360 Degree Foodie", "Inspiration", "Beautiful Site", "2008 Best Blog Darts Thinker" and "A Perfect Blend of Friendship" awards, along with the 7 interesting tags...Thanks a ton dear friends; you all really make me feel very happy and energized!!

Here are some facts about me:

7 Things I Say More Often: Are you sure? Thank you, Please, Bye, What? Arre baba, Take care.

7 Things I Did Before: Learnt music, Woke up early, Painted and sketched in leisure times, Believed and trusted almost everyone, Exercised regularly, Did postgraduation and secured good grades by putting in less effort, Studied for long hours.

7 Things I do now: Wake up late than before, Try to learn and cook tasty food, Blogging, Extensive writing(my passion now) in my job, newspaper and websites, Meditation and praying to God, Dreaming(whatever it may be), Listening to music and watching movies.

7 Things I Want to do: Traveling occasionally, Learn music again, Take up workouts seriously, Control my temper, Buy a car of my own, Stick to my resolutions(which somehow gets messed up), Learn a new language or something creative.

7 Things That Attract Me About Opposite Sex: Nice eyes and smile, Warmth, Generosity, Clean hygiene and habits, Sense of humor, Something done impromptu by him which will take me completely by surprise and make me smile, Sensitivity and care.

7 Favorite Foods: Biryani, Phuchka, Rolls, Chicken pakora, Spaghetti/Chowmein, Chicken kebabs, saucy/grilled fish preparations...(7 is too less for a foodie like me; how can I leave ice creams?)

I pass on these awards and tags to:

Swati, Vaishali, Happy Cook, Divya Vikram, Anamika, Lakshmi Venkatesh.

ENJOY FOLKS!!!

Awards Time!!

Some awards again! Shama of Easy2cookrecipes has passed me on the lovely Inspiration Award!


Kitchen Flavors of Yummy Food and Arundhuti of Gourmet Affair has been so sweet to pass me on an array of these wonderful awards...A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award, Butterfly Award, Chocoholic Award, Good Job Award and Inspiration Award!
Thanks a ton friends for thinking about me!! You all inspire and motivate me to work and achieve better!!






Vidhas of Appetizing Recipes thinks of me as great buddy and presented me with this lovely Great Buddy Award! Thanks dear and this feels great!!

Awards & A Special Sweetdish!

I love eating sweets, ice creams, desserts and interesting sweet dishes...but sadly these are oh-so-very sinful delights and I have to keep a watch on calories and weight:) Anyways, the festive season is still lingering...so here's a sweet dish which is my favorite(I guess for others too!). It is called Chhanar Payesh or Cottage Cheese Pudding. Try it and satisfy your taste buds!

You will need: Cottage cheese(100 grams), milk(500 ml), Condensed milk 1 tin, Sugar(2 tsp), 1 cup water, 2 tsp almonds(cut into pieces), Raisins(2 tsp), Pistachio( 2tsp).

Directions: Prepare a thin syrup with sugar and water. Add the cottage cheese in the syrup and mix it well. Boil the milk now for 2 minutes after adding the condensed milk to it. Now pour this milk into the cottage cheese in little quantities at a time. Stir and mix well. Add diced almonds, raisins and pistachio to the mix and keep in fridge. Serve cold.

Awards time!

My friend Shama of Easy2cookrecipes has presented me with this cute Good Job award.
Three of my other friends have honored me with these lovely awards! Kitchen Flavors was absolutely right when she passed me on this "I'm a Chocoholic" award...I have a passion for chocolates:)
PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds and Adlaks' Tiny World has thought of my blog as one of the coolest ones and passed me on this Butterfly award. Thanks a ton all of you for thinking about me!!The rules of the award are:

Put the logo on your blog. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate 10 other blogs. Add links to those blogs on yours, and leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I would like to pass the Butterfly Award for the coolest blogs I know to:

Vegetable Platter
Andhra Flavors
Indian Khana
Essence of Andhra
Recipeswap
Plantain Leaf
Sweetbites
Holy Cow
Spice and Curry
Mom's Cooking

Wishing You All A Happy Deepavali !!!

Hey friends! Festival of lights is here again and a wonderful time for happiness and celebration.

Here's wishing all my friends, relatives, dear and loved ones a very Happy, Colorful and Safe Deepavali and Kali Puja!!!

ENJOY & HAVE FUN!!! BE SAFE WITH CRACKERS!!!




I would also like to pass on this beautiful Magic Lamp of Luck to my friend Adlak's Tiny World and this goes especially for her cute daughter! Best of luck dear and enjoy!!

Payesh/Payasam

Lakshmi Puja is celebrated in almost every home in West Bengal right after Durga Puja. This is a special day when different types of food are offered to the Goddess. One of them is Payesh or Payasam as it is known throughout India. Though many people prepare it with vermicelli, we prepare it with rice on this special occasion.

Here's a little bit different way of preparing this traditional dessert:

Ingredients: Basmati rice 100 grams, Milk 2 liters, Raisins 50 grams, Sugar 500 grams, Cashew nuts 50 grams, Pistachio(few), Ghee 1 tsp, Cardamom 3/4.

Procedure: Soak the rice and raisins separately for half and hour. In a hollow bottomed pan, heat the ghee and add the cardamoms. Now add the rice and stir lightly. Add milk. Now keep on stirring till it becomes thick. Then add sugar, raisins, cashew nuts, and when it becomes thick, remove it from flame. When it cools down, garnish with pistachio.

Durga Puja Celebrations: Prawn Curry with Yogurt

Durga Puja, our biggest and most favorite festival is just around the corner. This gorgeous festival starts with Mahalaya, which ushers the beginning of Durga Puja, and also announces the final stages of the puja. A lot of enthusiasm and joy surrounds this festival of four days. We wait for the entire year for Durga Puja and enjoy to the hilt. Durga Puja is not only about new clothes, fun, decorations, exchanging of wishes and love, but also a whole lot about delicious food. Whether it is eating out or cooking at home, everyone wants to try something new.

So here's a delicious and easy to prepare recipe which you can try during Durga Puja...enjoy!!



You will need: Tiger prawns(6/7), Yogurt 1-2 cups, 6 Green chillies(slit), Whole spices(garam masala not grounded) 1 tsp, Chilli powder 1 tsp, Sugar 1/2 cup, White cooking oil(according to requirement), Salt to taste.

Procedure: Heat oil in a shallow pan. Fry the prawns golden brown and keep aside. Now fry the whole spice separately for few seconds. Now add the prawns, beaten yogurt, green chillies, chilli powder and salt and stir for sometime. Keep it on flame till the oil gets separated. Serve hot with steamed rice, fried rice, paratha or roti!

Bhetki Hariyali

Hello everyone!

I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus, and posting after quite a long time. Blogging is such a passion for me that I cannot stay away from it for long:)

Here's a nice recipe that I would like to share with you all. It is very tasty and easy to prepare.

You will need: Bhetki Fish(6-8 pieces), Shredded Coconut(5-6 tsp), Green Chillies 4/5, Garlic cloves 2, Coriander 1 bunch, Cooking oil 4 tsp, Turmeric(according to your need), Cumin Seeds(Jeera) 1/2 tsp, Salt to taste.

Procedure: Wash the bhetki pieces and coat them with turmeric powder/paste and salt. Heat oil in a shallow pan and fry the pieces lightly. Now make a paste of shredded coconut, coriander, green chillies, and garlic together in a mixer. Heat oil and add cumin seeds and green chillies. Then add the paste in it. Saute properly. Add a little water. Then add salt to taste. When the entire thing comes to a boil, add the fishes. Boil for 5 more minutes. Put off the flame, but keep the pan on heat for 5 more minutes. Serve hot with steamed rice or chapati and garnish with slit green chillies, tomato slices and coriander.