Gaajar ka Halwa ~ Carrot Halwa

There are certain sweets that you can associate with some particular season. Carrot Halwa or Gaajar ka Halwa is one such Indian sweet that I associate with Winters. I remember how my mom used to painstakingly shred kilos of carrot to prepare this dish. It must have been a tedious job for her to keep up with the demands of 4 kids. Every time it was prepared in our house, it was a special treat. It is amazing how a dish can bring so many fond memories.

In India, red carrots are preferred for making this dish. Since, we don't get it here, I have used the regular carrots. Red carrots do add a special note to this dish but regular works just fine. Lets see how I make it.

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded carrots.
1 tbsp ghee
1 cup milk.
¼ cup sugar or less.
A few strands of saffron.
2 cardamom pods crushed.
Almond flakes and chopped pistachios to garnish.

Process:

1. Heat a pan and add ghee. Add the shredded carrot and give it a good stir. In a tbsp of milk soak a few saffron strands.
2. After 2-3 minutes add the milk and heat the mixture on medium high heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. The milk will reduce and thicken. Add the sugar and mix it properly. Heat for another 5 minutes. 
4. Add crushed cardamom pods,saffron milk  Keep heating and stirring till the mixture gets the required consistency.
5. It may take another 5-10 minutes.Remove from heat when done. Transfer in a serving bowl. Garnish it with chopped almonds and pistachios. Serve hot.

Note:
1. Always use freshly grated carrot for this dish otherwise the color of carrots will turn brown.
2. You can add a little condensed milk if you have it at hand.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great weekend. Cheers!

Shiva Trilogy II - The Secret of the Nagas by Amish Tripathi

Shiva Trilogy II - The Secret of the Nagas

Synopsis:

The hunt is on. The sinister Naga warrior has killed his friend Brahaspati and now stalks his wife Sati. Shiva, the Tibetan immigrant who is prophesied destroyer of evil, will not rest till he finds his demonic adversary. His vengeance and the path to evil will lead him to the door of the Nagas, the serpent people. Of that he is certain.

The evidence of the malevolent rise of evil is everywhere. A kingdom is dying as it is held to ransom for a miracle drug. A crown prince is murdered. The Vasudevs - Shiva's philosopher guides- betray his unquestioning faith as they take the aide of the dark side. Even the perfect empire, Mehula is riddled with a terrible secret of Maika, the city of births. Unknown to Shiva a master puppeteer is playing a grand game.

In a journey that will take him across the length and breadth of ancient India, Shiva searches for the truth in a land of deadly mysteries - only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Fierce battle will be fought. Surprising alliances will be forged. Unbelievable secrets will be revealed in this second book of the Shiva Trilogy, the sequel to, The Immortals of Mehula.

I started reading this book right after reading The Immortals of Mehula. The story is very much connected to the first book and it starts right from the point where it was left in the the first book. In 'The Immortals of Mehula' a lot of time is devoted to sketching the characters, depicting the places, setting the plots etc. There were many loose threads in the story and a lot of secrets. The Secret of the Nagas is more action packed in that regard, with things happening fast, secrets revealed, battles fought, it was a page turner right from the beginning till the end. The identity of the Naga queen and the Naga warrior was quite a revelation, but I could guess about the secret of the Nagas.

I don't want to delve deeper into the plot here as the blurb says a lot about how the story progresses in this book. I have read in many reviews that readers were disappointed with the language in the book.
It is simple and amateurish. I have no such qualms. I was looking for an easy, fast and action packed book. The book delivered on all areas for me. I am hoping all loose threads and unanswered questions will be addressed in the next part of the trilogy.

Eagerly waiting for the third book of the trilogy - The Oath of the Vayuputras.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Shades of Blue!

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake using Yogurt

I am professing for the umpteenth time here that I love baking. Since, I bake egg less, I am always in the lookout for good egg less recipes. This egg less vanilla cake is one of the popular ways of making an egg less sponge cake. This recipe originally by Nita Mehta has been blogged by many bloggers and every one is all praises for it. I have baked it many times and am posting it today from my drafts. It's high time I am out of my blogging slumber!

This is my second favourite way of making vanilla cake next only to this one.

Source: Sharmi's Passions

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups AP flour 
1 cup Thick Yogurt 
1 cup Sugar 
1/2 tsp Baking soda 
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder 
1/2 cup Oil
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract 

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C for 10 mins. Grease a 9'' round tin and dust it with flour.

2. Sieve AP flour and keep aside. Cream the powdered sugar and yogurt until sugar completely dissolves.

3. Add baking powder, baking soda to the creamed mixture and mix well. Leave aside for 5 mins and till bubbles appear in the mixture and it increases in volume

4. Now add in vanilla essence and oil and whisk. Slowly add the AP flour little at a time and blend with wet ingredients. Beat well till creamy and thick. It will take about 2-3 minutes.

5. Pour the batter prepared tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Then reduce the temperature to 160 deg C and bake it for another 35-40 mins. 

6.  The cake is done if a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool down for 10 mins, then invert it into a serving plate. When the cake has completely cooled down, slice them into pieces. Enjoy!

Notes:

- The Slices are firm and neat if the cake it cut after cooling for 4-5 hours.
- You can replace the oil with equal quantity of butter.
- In the recipe it is baked at 200 C at first and then at 180 C. But, I found my cakes turns brown and hard at that temperature. So, I lowered the temperature to 180 C and 160 C and baked it 5 minutes longer. So, adjust the temperature as per your oven.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Shiva Trilogy I - The Immortals of Mehula by Amish Tripathi

It has been over a month and a half since I read this book. The review has been long due. The problem in writing reviews after such a long gap is that I tend to forget the tiny details of the story. So, I have decided to make the task easy by quoting the synopsis at the back of the book followed by my views on the book.

Shiva Trilogy I - The Immortals of Mehula

Synopsis:

1900 BC. In what modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilization.

The inhabitants of that period called it the land of Mehula - a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Rama, one of the greatest monarch that ever lived.

This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They all face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracized and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills.

The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: When the evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge.

Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?

This is the first book in a trilogy of Shiva, the simple man whose karma re-cast him as our Mahadev, the God of Gods.

On my India visit in 2011, I had seen this book on almost every book store, be it in Airport or Railway Station or at Crosswords. But, at that time, I was not really drawn to the title or the cover page of the book. So, I didn't buy it. Later, I saw the review of the book on blogs I follow and everyone was all praises for the book. That's when I was intrigued and decided to read it. I bought the two books of the series during my India visit this year. Before I start to shower my praises for the book, let me tell you, I am not very familiar with the actual Shiva and Sati story. So, the fictional take was all new and fresh for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The plot is gripping and kept me intrigued and engaged. The story has several layers, after every few pages something new is happening and the beauty of the whole thing is that it is intricately connected and it builds up towards the bigger picture. The author has done a commendable job in weaving mythological facts with fiction and has created a fantastic story. Kudos to his imagination! But, there are few things that I believe does not entirely suits the era the story is set in. For example, our country was not called India at that time. Many a times Shiva is portrayed as the cool dude which doesn't fit into my image of a mythological character.

The book is just not a fictional take on Lord Shiva, but has an underlying philosophical message - One's deeds decides one's destiny. It is an easy and fast read. The writing is simple and easy to understand. It has a good balance of mythology, fiction, suspense, adventure, romance, virtues and principles. The ending is quite a cliff hanger and compels you to read the next book of the series- The Secret of Nagas.

I will recommend it to anyone least bit interested Indian mythology.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!