Matches are made not fixed !!!!!!!!!!!

Its time for my favorite celebrity couple to exchange their vows. Yes, the cricketing poster boy finally ties the knot with the beautiful Yash Raj girl. The adventurous couple have decided to have an all out beach wedding at Goa complete with the rustic shacks serving sorpotel and vindaloo ( Ofcourse...there will be the feni too). And being appointed the wedding planner, I am in seventh heaven as I get a ringside view of the nuptials! Shhh...stay tuned as I may pass on some of the insider info from time to time...........

Organizing a celebrity wedding is no easy task but being the online freak that I am, I obviously turn to one of my favorite website Baggout.com. Yeah.......it is my destination of choice for deals and coupons (hehehe..and some cashback too). Well I am going to make the most out of it and help my clients save on their wedding expenses. Agreed they earn much more than all of us put together but still they are smart people and want to spend it right.

I have been handed the guest list and the couple have given me a few suggestions for the wedding invites and the gifts that will go out with it.  Print venue  and Chumbak offer some great designs and variety along with good discounts. I am sure the couple is going to like the fact that the gifts can bear a personalized message or mugshot or even both. Planning to suggest some Photo coffee mugs/sippers/engraved pens/mobile covers that their friends are going to love.

The guests have to be flown in from all over the country and abroad. No running after travel agents or repeatedly calling up the airlines and hotel reception desks to enquire about discounts and manage the bookings. Makemytrip is the perfect solutions to get everything done at one place. Currently they offer upto 50 percent discount on hotel bookings plus 10-20 percent discount on the domestic flight bookings. Local transportation for the guests will be arranged by Olacabs which currently offers a discount of rupees 56 on every booking. Seems minuscule by itself but adds up to a lot when the all trips are taken into account.

No wedding is complete without flowers and the bouquets and flower arrangements will be taken care by  Fernsnpetals....flowers...anywhere...anytime! Apart from the lavish multi-cuisine spread at the wedding venue, just-eat.in has been roped in to ensure that the guests do not go hungry or thirsty anywhere anytime.

Coming to the couple itself, it is time get some shopping done for them.After all they be going on a month long honeymoon once the wedding is over. He has decided to gift the stylish dame some great stuff from Jabong. Hardly surprising as the lady also happens to their brand ambassador. (Click here to take a leaf outta her style guide). Since she also happens to a avid reader, he has decided to gift a whole library of books ( and e-books too) bought from Amazon and Flipkart both of which have some great discounts running on at the moment. "And since your lady openly professes her love for jewellery by saying "Gehnon se bahut bahut pyar hai", a few statement pieces from Jewelskart will definitely make her day", I offer him some girly advice which he happily accepts.

Now its time for me to sit down with the lady and help her purchase the gifts for her beau. Apart from buying some trendy designer outfits from Jabong ( yeah they have been stocking names like Rohit Bal for sometime now !!), I suggest her to buy some dapper luggage pieces as both of them practically live out of suitcases given their hectic schedules. Apart from the fine collection at Jabong, Flipkart offers a mind boggling variety in terms of designs and colors. "By the way , you can also pick up some quirky and stylish stuff from FabFurnish and India Circus to do up your new pad", I offer as a parting advise . I can see her still glued to the homepage of Baggout as I wave her goodbye for the day. I cross my fingers and hope that I still have the job when I report for work the next day. With Baggout.com's help, anyone can organize a wedding !!! Even Virat Kohli and Anuskha Sharma.............




Disclaimer - This is my blog post written for Baggout.com's contest . It is a fictional account and any resemblance to any character dead or living is highly coincidental !!!

Mula Besara ( Radish in a mustard-yogurt gravy )

Radish is one of those vegetables which is a must include for a weight loss diet.  It is low on carbs, high on roughage/fiber and loaded with water. It is low GI food which helps manage sugar levels more efficiently in diabetics and its high vitamin C, folic acid and anthocyanins make it an anti-carcinogenic. It also happens to be a wonder food for disinfecting, detoxifying and nourishing all the organs involved in the digestive system.

This vegetable is consumed in most Odia households in the form of khatta, raita, salad, bhaja and besara. All of these recipes are simple, doable and low in calories. Though my husband is not very fond of this vegetable, I quite enjoy it and make it when I am cooking a meal for myself. Today's recipe is a simple mula besara or radish cooked in a gravy of mustard-yogurt-garlic. I have tweaked the recipe a bit.

Read on -

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 1/2 cup radish ( peeled and cubed )
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1-2 green chili
• 3 tbsp thick yogurt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2  tsp mustard oil
• salt to taste
• freshly grated coconut for garnishing

Preparation - Grind the mustard, garlic and green chili into a fine paste. Dissolve in 1/2 cup water. Strain to remove all the black bits (skin). [ I was a bit clumsy while doing this and some of the un-strained paste fell into my mixing bowl. Hence you can see some black specks in the final dish]

Take all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the strained mustard paste. Mix well.

Cooking - Heat a wok. Add the contents of the mixing bowl . Cover and cook till the radish is just cooked.
(I prefer to leave it a bit crunchy/chewy)

If there is still lot of liquid remaining, remove the radish and then reduce the sauce till it is thick. Pour this thickened sauce over the radish and sprinkle freshly grated coconut.

Serve at room temperature with white rice.


Note - One can also leave out the garlic as the radish is quite pungent in itself. The yogurt and coconut also help to reduce the pungency.

Shrikhand

Shrikhand is a simple yet easy to make and good to eat Indian dessert. By using a low calorie yogurt and substituting Sugarfree/Splenda for sugar, it can be transformed into a low calorie delight. One can also add fruit puree to it. Also it happens to be one of Bal gopal's favorites.

Read on for this recipe which is also offered as prasad/neivaidyam on the occasion of Janmasthami-

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 cup hung curd
• 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• a pinch of cardamom powder
• a few nuts
• 3-4 strands of saffron
• 1 tbsp warm milk
• 1-2 drops rose water/kewda water (optional)

Preparation - Soak the saffron in the milk for 10 mins.

Transfer all ingredients (except nuts) to a blender. Buzz to get a smooth paste.

Garnish with the chopped nuts and serve chilled.

Note - I personally prefer to make shrikhand with a day old yogurt so that it has just a hint of sourness. 

Sev Tamatar ki Subzi ( sev tamatar nu shak )

Happy Janmasthami to all my readers!!!!!

Nal Lal. Bal Gopal. Kanhaiya. Devakinandan. Makhan Chor. Govinda. Murlidhar. These are some of Lord Krishna's popular names. Most of us would visualize him as a chubby toddler stealing 'Makhan' or as a teenager playfully teasing the Gopikas but most commonly as the charioteer cum adviser of Arjuna during the Mahabharata. Today as we celebrate his birthday with the breaking of the 'Dahi handi', I am sharing a simple no onion - no garlic recipe for all those who will be keeping a fast today. It is the simple 'sev tamatar  ki subzi' that is a favorite among most of my Jain friends and me too!!
 ( To know more about the story of Lord Krishna's birth , click here )


Recipe -

Preparation Time - 10-12 mins

Ingredients -

• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp chili powder ( one can reduce/increase the quantity )
• 1/3 cup sev
• 2 pinch turmeric
• a pinch of asafotida
• a pinch of garam masala
• a pinch of cumin
• salt to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp oil ( one can also use ghee )
• coriander leaves for garnishing (optional)
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Preparation - Finely chop the tomatoes.

Cooking - Heat the oil in a wok. Add the cumin seeds and allow to splutter. Add asafoetida followed by the chopped tomatoes.

Cover with a lid for 1-2 mins to soften the tomatoes.

Add turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and salt along with 3-4 tbsp water. Cover till the tomatoes are completely cooked.

Add the sugar and stir in. Then add the sev and switch off the flame.

Finally garnish with some coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/parantha/puris.

Note - One can also add onion , ginger and garlic to this recipe on non-fasting days.

Tiranga Faluda

Its that time of the year yet again. The tricolor hues seem to be floating everywhere around me. Even my kid is wearing it to school today. And not to mention all the lovely blog posts that have been popping on my screen over the past week. This one however was conceptualized almost a fortnight back for the second round of the Borosil-Indiblogger contest that I did not win. It seems one needs past laurels as well as a good sales pitch to reach the podium finish in such contests. Anyways that's in the past now.

The recipe that I am going to share today is a simple one. I have used mango, vanilla and kiwi as the flavours in the this recipe. But one can go for any three flavours that one likes and use a bit of edible food color to get the right shade. I would have liked a thicker consistency for the faluda but unfortunately there was an 8 hour long power-cut on the day and my ice creams just melted off. While it does not look as good, it does taste great. Very apt if you are entertaining any friends over the long weekend. Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

• 12 tbsp subza (basil) seeds
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 scoops vanilla ice-cream 
• 2 scoops mango ice-cream
• 2 scoops kiwi ice-cream
• 2 tbsp mango crush
• 2 tbsp kiwi crush
• few drops of orange food color ( or saffron instead )
• few drops of green food color
• chopped cherries for garnishing

Preparation - Divide the subza seeds into 3 portions. Add each portion to 2/3 cup warm milk. Add a little green color and 1 tbsp kiwi crush to one cup. To another cup, add some orange color and 1 tbsp mango crush. Soak for 1-2 hours.

Mix in the remaining mango and kiwi crush with 2 scoops of mango and 2 scoops of kiwi ice-cream respectively .

Assembly - Take some clean glasses . First add a little of the green colored subza mixture. Top it with the Kiwi ice-cream.

Then add another layer of white colored subza mixture topped with the vanilla ice-cream.

Finally add the layer of orange colored subza mix topped with mango icecream.

Sprinkle the cherries on top.

Serve immediately.

Note - I have not used sugar as the crush and ice-cream add a lot of sweetness to this dessert. But one can add some sugar as well as per preference.

Chingudi Dalma ( Our very own Prawn Dhansak )

As Dalma is usually synonymous to fasting days in the Odia culture, it came as a bit of shocker when I first heard about the non-veg versions from my husband's cousins. I am not sure how such recipes came about but I have a niggling doubt that maybe some enterprising Odia chef/restaurant was inspired by the iconic  Parsi delight 'Dhansak'. But I maybe wrong. Being from the western region of Odisha, Dalma was not something that we regularly encountered during the growing up years. It was labelled as 'Kataki' ( meaning that it was favored by people from Cuttack ) dish.

However after marriage it became an integral part of my menu and i cook it alteast 2-3 times a week as it is very light and nutritious ( i avoid any kind of garam masala and ghee unless it is a special occasion ). Also, if one has chopped veggies stored in the fridge, it hardly takes 15 mins to get this dish onto the table. But coming to today's recipe, the 'Chingudi/Prawn Dalma' has got elements of the both a Odia prawn curry and a vegetable dalma. Like mine to have the texture of a thick lentil soup with melt in the mouth vegetables and chewy prawns. ( But going by the list of ingredients, I guess it is the closet thing next to a 'Prawn Dhansak'). Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 25-30 mins


Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup diced pumpkin
• 1/2 cup green banana
• 1 small potato (cubed)
• 5-6 big cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup green peas
• 2 small tomatoes (each cut into 4 pieces)
• 1/2 cup small shrimps
• 1 small onion
• 7-8 garlic flakes
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 red chili
• 2 green cardamom
• 1 1/2 inch cinnamon
• 2 small bay leaf
• 2 pinch cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 4 tsp rice bran oil
• coriander leaves for garnishing
• 2 pinch roasted cumin-chili powder (optional)

Preparation - Wash and marinate the prawns with a bit of salt and turmeric. (If they are small, leave the shells as it is else remove the shells)

Grind the onion, ginger, garlic. bay leaf, red chili, cinnamon and cardamom into coarse paste and keep aside.

Cooking - Wash and transfer the vegetables ( except for 1 tomato ) and the dal into a pressure cooker. Add salt and turmeric.Close lid and cook for 1-2 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes.

Add 2-3 tsp oil to a wok. Thrown in the prawns and fry them on medium flame for 5 mins or till done. (Frying time depends on size)

Add the remaining oil to the same wok. Thrown in the bay leaf and cumin seeds. After the spluttering slows down, add the onion masala paste and fry till raw smell goes off.

Add the remaining tomato and cook till it softens. Now add the fried prawns and cook for 1-2 mins.

Pour the cooked dal and veggies into the wok. Bring to boil and simmer for 7-8 mins.

Sprinkle coriander leaves and roasted cumin-chili powder just before removing from the flame.

Serve hot with white rice or rotis.

Note - For a thicker and richer gravy , increase the amount of onion-garlic-ginger masala by 1.5 times, boil for 5-7 mins extra and add a little cinnamon powder just before removing from flame.

Jain Pav Bhaji

Jain food happens to be an extension of the Jainism philosophy of 'Ahimsa' or non-violence. Hence it does not include any ingredient which is harvested in a manner that causes death or injury to any living being. That eliminates all the root vegetables as it involves uprooting/killing the plant and displacing small organisms living in the vicinity. Also, foods that stimulate feelings of anger/negativity ( 'tamas') like onions and garlic are also prohibited.

My first taste of Jain pav bhaji came during my stay in Pune. This is a city that offers some really amazing jain food though I have forgotten the names of the places after so many years. Coming back to the Pav Bhaji, it is a really simple one made without using onion, garlic or even potatoes. Hence it is something that can be eaten/served to guests on 'Vrat' or fasting days. One just needs to buy a 'Pav Bhaji Masala' that eliminates onion and garlic among its ingredients and one is good to go. I got the 'no onion-no garlic' masala from a brand called 'Kapol'.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 25-30 mins ( this includes a standby of 10-12 mins )

Ingredients -

• 1/2 raw banana
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 medium sized capsicum
• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• 1 tsp pav bhaji masala
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 pinch cumin seeds
• 3 tsp oil
• salt to taste
• 4-5 pav/buns
• butter as required
• coriander leaves for garnishing
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• lemon wedges for garnishing

Preparation - Wash the cauliflower, cabbage and green peas. Transfer to a pressure cooker.

Wash and peel the raw banana and cube it. Add to the cooker along with 1/2 cup water, a pinch of turmeric and salt. Cook on medium flame for 2-3 whistles.

Keep aside till steam escapes. Use a hand blender to mash up the boiled veggies into a coarse/chunky paste. ( one can also use a traditional masher instead )

Chop the capsicum and tomatoes into small pieces.

Cooking - Heat 3 tsp oil and a bit of butter in a pan.  When sufficiently hot, add the cumin seeds.

Once the seeds stop spluttering, add chopped capsicum. Fry for 1 minute before adding the tomatoes. Cover with a lid for 1 min. Remove lid and crush the softened tomatoes with a spatula.

Add all the powdered masalas along with a little salt. Fry for 1-2 mins before adding the mashed veggies.
Cook for 8-10 min to blend all the flavours. Adjust salt if required and add a few teaspoons of hot water if it is getting too dry. Sprinkle coriander leaves and remove from flame.

Heat  1-2 tsp butter in a separate pan. Fry the pav to a light golden.

Garnish the bhaji/curry with a dollop of butter, more coriander leaves and lemon wedges. Serve hot with the pav.

Note - Use Kashmiri red chili powder if you want a reddish hue to the bhaji. Also, I have kept the quantity of chili powder quite less as I was making it for my toddler. Add more if you want it hot.