Easy Peasy Home made Holi Colours

Hi Everyone!

Holi, the spring festival of colour is just 2 days away! How many of you are afraid of playing Holi because of all the horrible and harmful chemical colours? I know I used to break out in painful rashes after people rubbed chemical gulal (powder colour) on me. The solution? Use herbal colours. Of course it is quite easy to find skin-safe, herbal gulal in the market. But is feels much better when you have made the colours yourself, using things that you can find easily in your kitchen cupboard. 

I ran a quick google search to see what tips were available out there. Most of the things I saw there were difficult to make with complex steps or used materials which are not always handy or readily available. 

What if I told you that you could make your own holi colours in under one minute? Don't believe me? Keep reading....

Photo Courtesy Nita Ganguly

For a bright yellow colour

Mix Turmeric powder and besan (chickpea flour) in a 1:1 ratio.  If applied as a dry powder, it is easily brushed off. If you mix water an make it to a paste like consistency, it will leave a pale yellow stain on the skin, which will wash off in a day or two. Far from harming the skin, it is a staple in your skincare routine!

For Red colour

Mix in 1:1 ratio Roli or sindoor (vermilion powder) and maida (white flour).

 

For Blue Colour

Mix in 1:1 ratio Robin Blue powder (or any indigo powder) with white flour.

  

For Green colour

Either use henna powder on its own or mix it with white flour.

Use these natural, safe colours to play Holi this year.You may even pack these up in zip-lock bags and gift them to your friends and family so they can play a safe Holi too!!

Do you have any easy peasy holi colour recipes? Share them in the comments section below.

Happy Holi!!

Disclaimer: None of the above photographs are mine. 

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Gatte Ki Sabzi (Chickpea Ball Curry)

Hi Everyone!

I have not put up a recipe post in a long while. I tried out gatte ki sabzi the other day. It came out pretty yum. And the husband was happy! So I thought of sharing this recipe with you. Its a dish from Rajasthan. Since Rajasthan is largely a desert, many of its dishes do not incorporate a lot of vegetables. So when you find yourself short of fresh veggies, try this out.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1. Besan or Chickpea Flour: 1 cup
2. Salt: a pinch
3. Carom seeds: a pinch, crushed between your palms to release its aroma
4. Baking soda: 1/4th tsp
5. Sour Curd: 2 tbsp
6. Water: a tsp or 2 to soften the dough

For The Gravy:

1. Grated Onion: 1 large
2. Grated Garlic: 3-4 cloves
3. Grated Ginger: Half tsp
4. Grated Tomato: 1 medium
5. Turmeric: Half tsp
6. Chilli Powder: Half tsp
7. Kasoori Methi or Dried Fenugreek leaves: 1 big pinch
8. Sour Curd: Half Cup beaten to remove all lumps
9. Salt to taste.
10. Torn Mint leaves for garnish

Method: 

1. Take ingredients 1-4 and mix the dry products. Then add the sour curd and knead the mixture into a soft dough. Add some water if needed. The feel of the dough should be like that of roti/chapati dough.

2. Rub a few drops of oil on your palms to prevent the dough from sticking to       your hands. Divide the dough into four parts.

3. Take each part and roll it out to form thick fingers, about 1/2 an inch in             diameter.

4. Cut them into half inch pieces

5. Boil about 1 litre water in a pan. When the water is boiling, drop the Chickpea     balls carefully into the water. Simmer for about 10-12 minutes.

                        

6. In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet and fry the onions, ginger and         garlic till they begin to turn brown

7. Add the tomato, turmeric,  red chilli powder and salt and saute till it begins to     leave oil on the sides of the skillet.

8. Now gradually add the sour curd and keep stirring the mixture or else it will      curdle. Add the Kasoori Methi/ dried fenugreek leaves.

9. When the gravy comes to a boil,add the boiled chickpea balls into this gravy.     Simmer for 10 minutes.

10. Remove from fire, por out into a serving dish, garnish with mint leaves.

11. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Bon Appetit! 

Devjani's Corner: Cook With Me: Beetroot Cutlets for the Kids' Lunch -Box!

Hello All!!

Photo courtesy: foodpunch.com 

It's been a while I posted a recipe . This time it's for mothers with fussy eaters and a constant dilemma what to give in their tiffins or snack time.


This recipe is nutritious, quick to make, can be stored in your freezer compartment and good looking too...things couldn't get better!!!


You will need

1. 3 potatoes medium sized
2. 1 medium sized beetroot
3. 100 gm paneer
4. 1/2 onion
5. 1 cup bread crumbs or fresh bread run through the mixie
6. A bit of ginger
7. Salt
8. Oil for shallow frying
9. Optional..green chilies, roasted coarsely ground pea nuts, grated fresh or dessicated coconut..though these do enhance the taste

Method

1. Boil the potatoes and beetroot ..remove from water immediately as the beetroot absorbs water

2.       Mash the potatoes , paneer and grate the beetroot.

3.        Add finely chopped ginger, 1/2 cup bread crumbs..save the rest for later,salt ,shredded coconut , peanuts,chopped onion and chillies

4.  Mix well and shape into cutlets. This measure makes 14 cutlets. Coat with bread crumbs to store or shallow fry immediately.

And it's ready to go....

Do give me your feed back.

Disclaimer: Photographs are mine unless otherwise indicated.

Devjani is a wife, mother, teacher, social worker, a gardening and cooking enthusiast, a globe trotter, a bundle of boundless energy and an extremely creative person. She loves to share easy recipes, ideas to keep kids creatively occupied, and a host of other tips and tricks around the home and beyond.

Shuchi's Colours (Cook With Me): Arty Salad

Hello Everyone!

Winter brings a lot of colourful vegetables to our table. So as winter is preparing to bid us goodbye, lets quickly rustle up a really easy to make. It is not only packed with nutrients, but it it really tasty too!!

So let's dive straight in...

Ingredients:
1.  Apple chopped into sticks
2.  Boiled beetroot ,
3. Chopped tomatoes 

4. Cottage cheese chopped into sticks

5. Broccoli, baby corn, french beans and carrots chopped and par boiled.

6. Dry fruits as in almonds, walnut and cashew nuts

7. Juice of half a lemon, 
8.  Salt, 
9.  Pepper 

10. Honey 

11. lots of love . 💕. 

Method:

1.  Mix lemon , salt , pepper and honey in par boiled vegetables, toss in tomatoes,apple, beetroot and cottage cheese. 
2.  Add dry fruit nuts. 
3.  Ready to eat , tastes better cooled.

Bon Appetit! 

About The Author

Shuchi Khanna is a well known name on the Indian art scene. She has exhibited her paintings in an number of galleries including the Rashtrapati Bhawan. She has won numerous awards, yet remains a warm and friendly person, with great enthusiasm for life! She is a great cook too. You can view her paintings on her website: www.shuchikhanna.com 

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms

Hi Everyone!

I was looking over my blogs list, and realised that I had not done a recipe post in a while. I absolutely love chicken and any experimental cooking that I do usually involves, well, chicken!

So here is another one. The Husband bought some mushrooms on the way back home and I had some chicken in the freezer. So I started putting this and that together. Fortunately I remembered to click a few photos along the way.

The end result.... some finger licking and clean plates!

Ingredients:

1. 500-600 gms of chicken on the bone (give better and richer flavour than boneless)
2. 1 medium sized onion, chopped
3. 5-6 cloves of garlic,pealed and crushed
4. Garlic an Inch and a half knob, crushed
5. Juice of half a lemon
6. Some Rosemary or any herbs that you would like to use (I had this at home)
7. Black pepper crushed about a teaspoon
8. Any creamy dressing, I had this honey mustard one.

For the Sauce: 

1. 250 gms of button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2. 1 teaspoon olive oil (or any of your choice)
3. 1 cup milk
4. 3 tablespoons of wheat flour
5. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the chicken well.
2. Put it in a pressure cooker with a cup of water, ginger, garlic and onions. Keep the burner flame high till the first whistle. Then reduce to simmer for the next 5 minutes.
3. While the chicken is in the cooker, heat 1 teaspoon for olive oil, and sear the sliced mushrooms on a high flame.
   
4. Lower the heat and add a cup of milk and wheat flour and stir till all the lumps disappear.
5. Increase heat and bring to a boil,reduce heat when the sauce  begins to thicken.
6. Add the boiled chicken to this sauce and add salt to taste.
   
7. Add rosemary, crushed black pepper and the dressing to this sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes. turn off the heat.
8. Add the lemon juice after 5 minutes.
9. Serve hot with pasta or bread.

Note: You may add colourful vegetables like broccoli, bell peppers of different colours add a greater nutritional punch! 

Bon Apetit!

Devjani's Corner (Cook with Me): Gilki or Tori (Ridge Gourd) the Malawi Way

Hello Everyone!


The malawis (of Madhya Pradesh) are mainly vegetarians .. But not boring. In fact they do interesting things to boring vegetables.

 This recipe is from Rajani's kitchen in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Rajani, a Malawi is a hard core vegetarian and her husband a strict  Mathur nonvegetarian..... So their dinner table is always an exciting blend of different cuisines. More about the Mathur meat cuisines later... Today it is back to the humble tori.
It's got a fun name there... Gilki

Gilki or tori the Malawi way

Ingredients:

1. Tori 1/2 kg scraped, slit    
    
   
2. Dhania/Coriander powder
3. Jeera/Cumin powder, 
4. Haldi/Turmeric Powder,
5. Salt, 
6. Amchoor/Mango powder
7. Red chilli powder All to taste 
8. Hing/asafoetida  and jeera/cumin seeds for tempering in one tablespoon of oil
9. 1/2cup roasted coarsely ground peanuts 
   

Method
1. Mix all powders and fill the tori. 

2. Then chop them to one inch pieces.

3. In hot oil put hing/asafoetida, jeera/cumin seeds allow it to splutter for 1/2 a minute
4. Add the vegetables.
5. If the tori is fresh it will release a lot of water to cook in it. However if they are not so fresh a few sprinkling of water may be required. 
6. Cover and cook . 

7. When done add the peanuts and serve hot.

Bon Appetite!

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Prawns in Hot and Sweet Ginger-Garlic Sauce

Hi Everyone!

Prawns are a hot favourite among a large number of communities a round the world. So you will find thousands of traditional and modern recipes for prawns. I had been trying out some Indian variants in the last few months with curry leaves, dessicated coconut, just coconut milk or some spice mix. 

This time I decided to just go without pre-planning and see what turns up! I don't boast of brilliant culinary skills, but the prawns turned up quite nice and we had no left overs!

What you will need:

1. Meduim Sized prawns: 500 gms
2. Whole egg: 1
3. Bread crumbs: about 4 table spoons
4. Onions: 1 medium, chopped
5. Ginger-Garlic paste: 2 tsp
6. Green Chillly Sauce: 1 tbsp
7. Tomato Ketchup: 2 tbsp
8. Black pepper: to taste
9. Salt: to taste
10. Oil

Method:

1. Wash and clean the prawns and pat dry.

2. Beat the eggs with some salt and black pepper and let the prawns rest in this marinade for about 15 minutes.

3. Heat oil in a pan/wok
4. Roll each prawn in the bread crumbs and fry them till golden.

5. In the left over oil, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.

6. Add the chopped onions and saute till they begin to change colour

7. Add the chilly sauce and tomato ketchup. Add a bit of water at this point.

8. Add some salt if you wish.

9. Add the fried prawns and simmer the sauce for about 5-7 mins.

10. Serve hot with steamed rice.

11. See your family polish it off their plates!

Think and Stay Beautiful!