Sol kadi/kokum kadi/ Amsol Kadi

Ingredients;
5pieces of kokum
1/2 cup of curd
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp chilli garlic paste
organic salt o taste
3/4 cup of water

Tempering
1tsp of oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida

Method :
If u have dried cocum soak atleast for 2hrs.
Make a paste of the kokum.
churn the curd and water together
Heat some oil add mustard seeds and when they splutter add cumin seeds. and asafoetida
Remove from flame and add ginger, garlic-chilli and the kokum pastes when still hot and then stir in buttermilk


Punjabi Kadi

Indian Food History

Indian Food History

Tips to fix cake batter

1. If the cake batter is too thin adjust the consistency with this mixture:
     10:10:1:: milk powder: maida  : baking powder
  If it is chocolate based recipe replace milk powder with cocoa powder
2.If the cake batter has thicker consistency, adjust consistency with
   1:1::milk:honey
or 2:1::milk:condensed milk

When you dont have an oven

If you want to bake but don't have an oven at home pressure cooker can take its place.

Fill the pressure cooker with one inch sand and preheat. The cake mould can be placed on this directly or with a small aluminium stand.
Do not close and seal the cooker, just place a heavy thali on it.
A 1/2 kg cake takes 30-40 minutes with flame on sim.

Eat and let Eat

This is probably the most important subject people should learn about in these days.
People seem to be thinking eating is a crime and waste of time and eating desserts an unpardonable sin! Even our Gods are sweet toothed yar! Always in Indian festivals and pujas the main offering or naivedyam is a sweet dish, surely there is a reason to attach importance to it.
  If people sit at a table together in a warm and friendly atmosphere and share their food joyfully there is nothing to worry about the ill effects of food.  And even if you are eating heavy foods or weight gaining foods if you are eating eat wholeheartedly and don't let guilt creep in.
   The presence of element of love and absence of guilt is important to digest all foods and give health than all the nutritions newspapers and magazines speak of. Even the most nutritios food will not do any good when eaten with disturbed state of my mind while even food laden with sugar, preservatives and added color can be beneficial when offered or eaten with love.
 People from our older generation ate together at a big table table and the families were often big ones with three different generation, there was a lot of joy and laughter at the dinner table. Nowadays all that is a forgotten story. Televeision sets have become the centre of the household, families are nuclear in nature, food is had in front of the TV with the dominant member in family switching channels using the remote and nobody concentrating on what they are eating.

Cooking in summer

The summer has already begun, with the temperature soaring, options for cooking get narrower and narrower.
Best ingredients in summer for Indian cooking:
Moong dal
Turai/ridge gourd
lauki/bottle gourd
Inclusion of cucumber salads and buttermilk/chaach/mattha/majjige(See buttermilk masala recipe)

Black Currant jam

This is not the kind of jam with the jelly like settingin commercially available jams, it is more of a grape preserve. Grapes contains galactose one of the healthiest of sugars and usage of black grapes and currants makes it an iron packed jam.

You need:
grape juice 250 ml without sugar
1tsp jaggery optional
100gms black currant/sultanas/munakka

Mix all the ingredients and heat in a thick vessel till the juice thickens and u get a very thick consistency