Home made face pack - beauty secrets

Home-made face pack with rose petals.

I have made a small quantity with the homegrown pink roses. For face pack I add 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp multan mitti, 1/2 red sandal powder, 1 tsp dry rose petal powder, mix it with water/milk/curd. 

Fresh batch of rose petals I have collected from Varanasi, just kept it for drying in the sunlight. Once they are completely dry I will powder it.

A few orange peels are getting dried, will make a scrub out of it.

I use a clam shell from my shell collection for mixing the powders. 

Masala chai at Varanasi and Bodh gaya

When we were at Rana Mahal Ghat the guest house we stayed had a restaurant facing the Ganges, plenty of birds and monkeys were there, we ordered masala chai, before serving the tea, first thing came to our table was the catapult! The monkeys love chai as much as me.

The olden days most of us had charcoal based traditional stoves, saw this with a tea vendor on the streets of Varanasi.

We had our dinner yesterday at Maya Heritage, Bodh gaya, the masala chai was served in kulhad.

Having a cup of hot masala chai in the winter is a pure bliss!

I think I will help myself with a black tea right now!

What's your tea story?

Street food and chaats at Varanasi

Walking through the small gullies of Varanasi we explored the beautiful city. A few chaat places we had visited were Kashi chaat bhandar, Theth Banarasi, we had tamatar chaat, Aloo tikki chaat, dahi bhalle , kulfi today. Yesterday we had chuda matar, magai pan and carrot halwa from different places.

I just loved the tangy tamatar chaat which was something new to me.

The red guavas were sweet and I am having it for the first time.

The beauty of the city and the small gullies of Varanasi makes it a good place for a foodie.

Kulfi falooda at Kashi chaat bhandar 

Tamatar chaat at Theth Banarasi 

Aloo tikki chaat 

Chuda matar chaat 

Magai pan 

Traditional style charcoal stove we had tea at this small tea joint

Allahabadi Amroodh, the sweet Guava 

The mighty Ganges, an evening View from the guest house

केसरिया Malaiyo, it taste good, just like eating air! at केसरी resturant 

Gajar halwa, राबड़ी, rasmalai, we had at the sweet shop near market

Aloo chaat we had at kesariya resturant, Varanasi 

There are not apples, they are red guavas, very sweet and soft. Yum! 

Dhaniya, pudina green chutney /Hari chutney

Dhaniya, pudina chutney /Hari chutney

Tips for retaining the beautiful green colour.

A bunch of fresh coriander leaves, a few stalk of freshly plucked mint/pudina leaves, two green chillies, one onion, roughly chopped, 1 tbsp lemon extract, salt, sugar, a little jeera powder.

Method

In a mixie smallest jar add all the above ingredients except jeera powder.

Blend to a smooth paste, add a little water if required. Garnish with jeera powder, mix well and serve. 

Tips

Lemon extract is the most essential part of the mint chutney, it helps retain the colour, gives tangy taste.

Sugar also helps in balancing the taste

Bagara baingan salan.

We get striped brinjals year around, some varieties of brinjals we grow at home. I like brinjals in any form, especially when mixed with a whole lot of spices. Today I made this delicious dish to be served with peas parathas.

Ingredients 

Step 1

1 tsp coriander powder 

1 tsp jeera powder 

2 tsp red chilli powder 

1/4 tsp heeng powder 

1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

Salt as required 

7 - 8 brinjals slit

2 tbsp gingly oil

Mix in all the dry powders, slit the brinjals and apply it, pour oil in a kadai place all the stuffed brinjals and roast it till the brinjals are soft and well cooked. Keep aside. 

Step 2

For salan masala

2 tbsp peanuts

1 tbsp grated coconut /few slices of copra(I used the dried ones) 

2 tsp white sesame seeds

2 red spicy chillies 

2 non spicy chillies for colour

2 cloves

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp jeera seeds

One piece ginger chopped 

1 green chilli

1/2 tsp amchoor powder 

Put a little oil in a preheated kadai dry roast all the ingredients "for salan masala' cool them and grind into a coarse paste, add 3 tbsp of water and adjust the consistency. 

Add the ground masala, amchoor powder into the same kadai and add a cup of water, bring it to boil, now add cooked stuffed brinjals. 

Add three slit tomatoes and let it slowly cook in the gravy.  Cook until the gravy thickens and all the vegetables are well coated with the masala. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti, rice or choice of your main course. 

Sarson ka saag

SARSON KA SAAG 

Picture courtesy : Bharatiya Jalpan 

It is a popular dish made during winter with the flavours of mustard leaves. We use three types of greens mustard, palak and bathua. 

We get plenty of fresh greens during winter making it a favourite during this season. It's served with makki(cornmeal) ki roti, a little butter, pickle and thinly sliced onions. 

Sarson ka saag

Ingredients 

2 bunch mustard greens

1 bunch palak

1/2 bunch bathua 

6 cloves of garlic

1 turnip peeled and chopped 

1 carrot trimmed, peeled and chopped 

7 to 8 spicy green chillies chopped

1 tsp salt

4-5 cloves garlic

1/2 cup water

For the  seasoning 

2 tbsp  ghee/ mustard oil(I used mustard oil for that authentic flavour) 

2 medium sized chopped onions

2 garlic cloves chopped 

A pinch of heeng

2  whole dry red chillies

A small piece of ginger sliced 

3 tsp red chilli powder 

1 tsp coriander powder 

1 tbsp lemon extract 

Salt as required 

2 tbsp butter/ghee

Method 

*Remove the roots, greens from the bunch, clean them very well, so that all the tiny peck of mud, soil comes out

* Roughly chop the greens. 

* In a large wide pan preferably pressure cooker pan place all the greens,  add salt, green chillies, garlic, turnip and water. 

* Close it with the lid and cook on medium flame. It takes approximately 10 minutes, we are going to retain the green colour, so make sure don't over cook. 

*Now add the cornmeal and use a hand blender to mash all the ingredients together cook it for about 5 minutes on low flame. 

*In a small pan heat ghee add chopped onions, garlic, broken red chillies, ginger and roast on medium flame.

* Pour the tadka on the mashed greens, adjust salt and further cook for another 2 minutes. 

*Add lemon juice, butter, off the stove, serve hot with freshly made makki Ki रोटी, jaggery, pickle, green chillies, sliced onions. Yum! 

Tips

*Buy the fresh greens during winters, make sure there are no holes in the leaves and they have turned yellowish. 

*I used to remove the leaves and stalk and dip them in half a bucket of water for 10 minutes, thus the soil sediments and I remove the greens. Of course the washed water is used for watering plants. 

*Trim the greens, you can used every single lead and stalk. They taste great. 

*Use mustard oil if you prefer, I like it's taste. 

Bharwa bhindi (Stuffed okra)

The tender bhindis are plenty available during winters. They are fresh, soft and cooks very fast. When you wash them make sure to dry each bhindi by using a cloth, so that they are not slimy and sticky.

Bharwa Bhindi 

Ingredients 

500 grams fresh tender bhindis

1 tsp red chilli powder 

1 tsp saunf powder

1tsp garam masala

1 tsp coriander powder 

1tsp jeera powder 

A pinch heeng

1 tsp amchoor 

1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

Salt 1/2 tsp

4 tbsp Peanut oil

Method 

*Wash, dry each bhindi in a kitchen towel 

*Mix all the dry spices in a small bowl

*Slit each bhindi lengthwise apply a little masala, do the process until all the bhindis are stuffed with masala powder. 

*In a wide preheated kadai pour oil, place all the bhindis, arrange in such. way that all of them individually gets roasted. 

* Flip and cook in medium flame, close the pan with its lid. 

* Cook for about 10 minutes, gently flipping the bhindis occasionally. 

* The bhindis should turn into golden brownish and well cooked. Turn off the flame. Serve with phulkas, roti, rice or parathas. They taste delicious. 

Tips

*After washing, dry the bhindis throughly well, use a dry cloth to dry your bhindis, so that there is no moisture. Thus you can avoid them from being slimy and sticky. 

*You can either trim the edges or use it without trimming, it's upto you. I have tried with trimming and without trimming liked both ways.