Wrapping up 2011 and Welcoming 2012 ~ With Orange and Kiwi Salad~ A Healthy Start to the New Year!

Year 2011 had ended and we are already 3 days into the new year 2012. So, here is wishing you a very happy and prosperous new year! May the new year brings you new joy, good health and peace!

Hope you all had a great start to the new year. Mine was great. We went for a short trip to London and witnessed the spectacular new year firework show live. I cannot praise it enough. It was fantastic. I will elaborate on it in a later post but for now have a look yourself.

Video Courtesy: BBC

Now coming to the Wrapping 2011 part. I wanted to do the wrapping up post on 31st Dec 2011 itself, but couldn't manage the time to compose the post. I am doing that now. It is difficult to choose favorites of favorites but somehow I have come up with my top 5s. Here are my top 5 favorites from my blog in two categories: Books & Food.

Books:

1. The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

2. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

3. Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik

4. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

5. Room by Emma Donoghue

Food:

1. Eggless Chocolate Brownie

2. Paneer Tikka with Minty Yogurt Dip

3. Malai Kulfi - Using Condensed Milk

4. Chocolate Truffles

5. Orange Spritzer

Do check out these if you have not already! 

To kick start the new year in a healthy way, I am sharing a simple fruit salad recipe.

Serves 1-2

Click here for the printable version

Ingredients:

1 Kiwi fruit, peeled and cut into wedges

2-3 clementines, peeled into wedges and the membrane removed

A dash of lemon juice, to taste

Black salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste

3-4 chopped pistachios for garnishing

Process:

Arrange the fruit pieces on a plate. Drizzle the rest of the ingredients over it. Serve immediately!

Once again, have a happy and healthy new year! 

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Lucky Library Picks#4

Here is the last of Lucky Library Picks post this year. Check out this to know what it is all about! You can find my other Lucky Library Picks posts here.

This week I have 2 books to share from the library. I had brought them from the library before it closed for Christmas.

The first one is:
Ecilipse by Stephenie Meyer
I have read the first two books of the twilight series, Twilight and New Moon and I am really looking forward to read the rest of the series.
The second is:
The Goddess Village by Nuala Woulfe
This is a new author I have picked this time in my endeavor to read more of Irish author. The blurb from the back of the book is interesting and I am hoping to enjoy reading it.

Do you have any Lucky Library Picks this week? Leave a link and I will visit your page to check out.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

This is a scheduled post.

All About Books~ The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri & The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

It has been a while since I did a post on books. I am a regular reader but of late the books I laid my hands on did not entertain/impress me and for that reason, I have not been very enthusiastic about writing about them.

I picked up The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri just by chance. The title of the book and the Indian name of the author intrigued me and the blurb was interesting too.

"Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing: Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold: the warring housewives on the first floor, lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving on the top floor of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmini and wonders if he might actually be the god Vishnu, guardian of the entire universe.

Blending incisive comedy with Hindu mythology and a dash of Bollywood sparkle, The Death of Vishnu is an intimate and compelling view of an unforgettable world."

The book started in a promising way with the author dwelling on the lives of the inhabitants of the apartment block in question, where the man named Vishnu was lying, dying every moment. The author has done a commendable job on the character building of each of the character, but I found the story line itself very confusing. The author has tried to imbibe too many things into the story without focusing on anything in particular. I found the mythological mix in the story very weird and it is what that disappointed me. Vishnu on his death,actually imagined himself to be Lord Vishnu (from Hindu mythology) and was hallucinating about it through out the story. All thanks to the nutcase, Mr Jalal. I finished the book just for the sake of it even though I had lost interest half way into the novel. It was an unsatisfying read with a gripping start, vivid characters,too many sub plots, no main storyline and an absurd ending. I do not recommend it to anyone.

The second book that I picked up was The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. 

I had a hard time reading this book. I was really looking forward to reading it and I had added it to my To Read List 2011. I gave up the first time I picked it up early this year. But, then again I felt I should trying reading it again. But, it couldn't hold my interest for long. There is something about these Man Booker Books that is above my understanding. 

 Here is the blurb from the book cover:

"High in the Himalayas sits a dilapidated mansion, home to three people, each dreaming of another time.
The judge, broken by a world too messy for justice, is haunted by his past. His orphaned granddaughter has fallen in love with her handsome tutor,despite their different background and ideals. The cook's heart is with his son, working far away in a New York restaurant, mingling with an underclass from all over the globe as he seeks somewhere to call home.

Around the house swirl the forces of revolution and change. Civil unrest is making itself felt, stirring up inner conflicts as powerful as those dividing the community, pitting the past against the present, nationalism against love, a small place against the troubles of a big world."

It was a difficult read and pathetically slow. The narrative was monotonous and unenthusiastic. I do not want to crib more about this book. It was just not my kind of read and I abandoned it after reading half way through.

 If you have read these books and have different opinion, I would like to hear from you. Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

PS: I am reading Deception Point by Dan Brown at the moment. It is a typical Brown novel and I am enjoying it. It will be 2012 when I write about it.

Samosa Recipe | How to Make Samosa at Home | Indian Street Food Recipes

Samosa #Recipe

Samosa is a pyramid-shaped pastry stuffed with a savoury potatoes peas filling. It is calorie rich, deep fried, famous Indian appetizer/roadside snack. In this post, I am going to share a samosa recipe.

I know books are not featuring in my posts for a long time now. Of late I have been blogging about food only. I can't help it when the season is so festive. With Christmas over, we are on the cusp of the new year.

Yeah! I can't really believe that 2011 is going to be over in just a few days and I am sure most of us are making some new year resolutions or other. I know many would say, new year resolutions are crap, no one sticks to them. But, at the back of our mind, we do set some goals for ourselves. Wondering where this conversation is heading towards when you actually have a luring 'Samosa' picture at the beginning of the post!

I am ACTUALLY thinking of abstaining from deep fried food at least for the first month of 2012, so thought it was a good idea to indulge in these yummy samosas, one last time this year.

And why was I tempted to make them after all?

For Blog Hop Wednesdays, a bi-monthly event by Radhika, I am assigned Sukanya's Saffron Steaks, a beautiful blog about food and travel. As I was browsing through her space, I found she blogs from Kolkata. She has posted a number of recipes and when I saw this, I knew I had to make it soon. I have just tweaked the filling from being cauliflower based to potato based.

Check out what blog hoppers are up with

Samosa Recipe | How to Make Samosa at Home

This recipe makes 8 samosas.

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 1/2 cup AP flour.
1/2 tsp salt.
3-4 tbsp oil.
1/2 tsp carom/ ajwain seeds.

Filling:

3-4 large boiled potatoes peeled and mashed finely.
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 chopped green chillies
½ tsp garam masala
½ teaspoon mango powder.
½ tsp turmeric powder.
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup green peas.
1 small carrot grated.
2 tsp grated ginger.
2-3 tbsp peanuts
A handful of fresh coriander leaves chopped.

Process:

1. For the dough mix the AP flour, ajwain seeds, salt and oil together to make a dough. Use water little by little and knead the dough for about 1 to 2 minutes to make it smooth. Set the dough aside let it sit dough sit for at least 15 minutes before using it for the samosa.

2. For making the potato filling, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds, as it cracks, add green chillies, grated ginger and sauté for few seconds. Next, add the peanuts and cook for a few minutes.

3.Add the mashed potatoes, grated carrot, peas and all the spices and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Take the pan off the gas. Let the potato masala cool down.

4. Now to make the samosa knead the dough for a minute and divide it into 4 equal balls. Roll each of it into 6-7inch diameter round discs and cut each of them into half.

5. Now fold the half roti into a cone shape. Pinch the side of this cone so that it is completely sealed. Use some water at the edges to help in sealing. Fill the cone with 3-4 tablespoons of filling. Press this filling down with your fingers. Now close the top of this cone into a triangle shape, pinching the top edge so that it is completely sealed.

6. Heat oil in a deep pan on high heat. Once heated turn it to medium and after a minute add the samosas. Fry the samosas on medium-high until they turn a light golden-brown colour on all sides. Turn them when one side is done so that it is fried evenly on all sides.

7. Put samosas 2-3 at a time so that the pan is not crowded or it depends on the size of the pan. Once fried put the samosa on a paper towel so that excess oil is soaked out.

Serve Hot with Tamarind Chutney, Green Chutney or Tomato Ketchup. Enjoy it with a cup of Tea or Coffee!

Notes:

1. Fry them over medium heat only. If the oil is too hot bubbles will form on the shell of the samosa and the samosa shell will not be crisp enough.

2. The oil added to the dough is important. Do not skip it, otherwise, the samosa shell will not be crisp.

3. Add the filling to the dough pastry only after it has cooled down to room temperature.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Heartiest Christmas Wishes with Chocolate and Dates Cake (Eggless)

At the very outset my heartiest wishes to all who celebrates Christmas. Wish you a very merry and fun filled Christmas!

Whether you celebrate this festival or not, you can't miss the festivity in the air and of course good food is all a part of the festive spirit. As everybody, I can't miss the opportunity to indulge in something delicious and of course baking comes to my mind.

I made this cake for a small get together at a friend's place. I was received well by my friends and in fact my DH also gave a thumbs up to it even though he is not a very big dates fan. The taste of dates is very subtle and in this particular cake it helps to accentuate the chocolate flavour. This recipe actually comes from one of my friends. I have only experimented a little by adding cocoa to it. 

 

Without much ado let's hop to the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup minus 2 tbsp AP Flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 cup castor sugar

1/2 cup pitted dates(About 15-18 soaked in water for 2-3 hours or overnight).

1 tsp baking powder.

3/4 tsp baking soda.

1/4 cup melted butter.

1/4 cup water used for soaking dates.

1/2 cup milk.

Process:

1. Grease a 6'' square cake tin and preheat the oven at 180C.

2. Churn the dates along the water and milk to make a smooth paste.

3. Shift flour, baking powder, soda 2-3 times together so that it is well blended.

4. Cream in the sugar and butter till well incorporated and fluffy.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients whisking all the time.

6. Whisk till the batter is smooth, around 2-3 minutes.

7. Pour into the pre greased tin and bake at 180 C for 20 mins and then lower the temperature to 160 C and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8. Let it rest in the tin for 5-10 mins before turning it on a wire rack to cool.

9. Cool completely and slice. Serve.

Thank you for stopping by! Merry Christmas! Cheers!