Fruit and Vegetable Chaat salad

Ok Im back to this blog after 2 whole years thanx to my friend Gayathri who has constantly been pushing me to (in a good way ofcourse) to start posting recipes specially easy simple ones since she stays mostly in hostel or home alone. 

Cooking and baking has been a big part of our family. Its runs down in the family tradition. Being brought up in such a family, passion for cooking, experimenting and eating has been very high in me. This passion started off from a very young age of 10 and increased even more because of my love for desserts and as of how to prepare them. Television shows and videos in youtube kindled the baker in me and I started experimenting with different kinds of food and flavors. My biggest break was during my undergraduate in my college bazaar where students could put up various stalls ranging from clothes, shoes, accessories and food for 2 days. I had put up a muffin store and among the 88 odd stores put up, mine was selected for the top 10 stores and was asked to put up a store in a leading IT company on the occasion of women's day. This was like a breaking point and after all this, I started getting orders and started baking from home. With all the support from family, friends and well wishers, I'm here in London, Le Cordon Bleu pursuing what I have dreamt of all my life ; Baking and Pastry making course. It's been more than a month in London and it still feels surreal for me. 

So now getting back, this blog is dedicated to Gayathri and also my mother because she was the one I inherited this recipe from :)  This simple yummy recipe is something very close to my heart and a very healthy, filling one. It's something close to my heart because for the very first time in my life, I participated in a cooking competition (8th grade) and won the 1st place! :)

Wish I had snaps but promise to post good snaps from the next blogs :)

Ingredients

Apple Cubed 1 cup

Orange Deseeded 1 cup

Papaya Cubed 1 cup

Pomegranate seeds 1 cup

Ripe Mango Cubed 1 cup

Boiled, lightly fried and cubed potato 1 cup

Parsley finely chopped 2 teaspoons

Salt ½ teaspoon

Lemon Juice 1 teaspoon

Chat Masala/Jal Jira 1 teaspoon

Oregano- 1/2 teaspoon

Toasted crushed walnuts and peanuts - 1/2 cup

Method:

Add all the ingredients except Parsley, walnuts and peanuts and toss it till all the ingredients are equally distributed.  Garnish with parsley, toasted walnuts and peanuts. Tastes better when served chilled. If served chilled, add the garnish and nuts just before serving.

Serves- 6  

The Magic of Dark Chocolate

"In a box or in a bar

with nuts or raisins or creams,

Chocolate fills our deepest desires,

it’s just as simple as it seems."

Warm and melted, chilled and crunchy, dark and bitter, chocolate in all its many forms is much loved all over the world. Almost every single person would have heard their mothers talk about the risks of eating chocolate where this assumption was based on the fact that the excess consumption of chocolate caused obesity and dental problems. Believe me, I got more than a talk from my mom! (I know she will never agree with that)

As a teenager, chocolates were my addiction. I could just keep devouring them. The joy that occurs at the moment luscious, succulent chocolate shavings touch the tongue is not quite definable! As for me, my all time favorite any day would be dark chocolate. The darker, the better. Infact, the core reason for me to write on this topic!

"Science is important, but Chocolate Health is much more than chemistry and equations. We know that eating chocolate is a sensuous, emotional, and quintessentially human experience." It may sound crazy to some. Can chocolate really be healthy? Well, as long as it is the right kind, it absolutely can be. The higher the cocoa content, the more health benefits the chocolate can offer. Typically dark chocolate contains a higher amount of cocoa, and it doesn`t have to taste bitter. As long as it has atleast 70% cocoa content, chocolate can be a tasty compliment to your health that you are looking for.

When I spoke to a renowned nutritionist, about dark chocolates, this is what she had to say "Since dark chocolate contains antioxidants and polyphones, these nutrients contribute greatly to improving one’s heart health while also preventing the risk of cardiovascular disease. In consuming a good amount of dark chocolate, one will be able to counter depression because the serotonin contained acts just as effectively as the anti-depressants."

What does this mean? The body actually utilizes the flavanols found in chocolate and absorbs them almost quite readily. This leads to improved blood flow and, therefore, improved heart health. Chocolate, which is considered to be a danger to health, is actually a heart-helping treat given that it is in the right quality and quantity.

No one is saying that you can consume as much chocolate as you want. But what would days be like if you could by no means have chocolate? The upbeat benefits of chocolate can be dotingly incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.

Following are the links, related to the topic, which I found interesting.

http://www.chocolate-is-healthy.com/

http://www.darkchocolatehealthblog.com/

The Language of Food

"Out of the kitchen! NOW!" That's how my mom would screech when I was ten, trying my hand at cooking. I wouldn't blame her because I've set my share of records at being clumsy and butter fingers especially around the kitchen! For a girl so young, a kitchen is not the right place to experiment were exactly the words from my mother! But this scenario changed. When I was thirteen, I used to sneak into the kitchen with my childhood best friend Shankari with the motive of cooking "paneer butter masala". God, I used to love the way my mom prepared it. We came, we saw but did not conquer. The dish was a complete disaster. We were left with no choice but to force ourselves and eat what we prepared. This didn't stop my will to learn how to cook properly like my mother and grandmothers. Being daddy's girl, I couldn't stand it when my dad would compliment my mom every time she cooked something amazing( which was every single day) Yes, it's true my mom and grand-moms where my first inspiration to learn the culinary arts. But there is someone else who left me open mouthed when I saw her cook and proceeded to read her books. Her language-AMAZING! That would probably be an understatement. She actually speaks 'food'. "You need a balance in life between dealing with what's going on inside and not being so absorbed in yourself that it takes over." That by the way is Nigella Lawson for you all. A British food writer, journalist and broadcaster.

In the busy, stressful life of the modern woman, there could be more feel good mileage from running up a tray of muffins or baking a cake than in almost any other cooking. But we're so busy making efficient, 'modern' food, that we too easily forget, what Nigella demonstrates in her mouthwatering and deliciously reassuring cookbooks, blogs and cookery shows is that, its actually not hard to make any food, that the appreciation and satisfaction it brings are all in proportion to the effort involved. Writing in one of her blogs about her very first book, "Domestic Goddess" she says how a domestic goddess has to maintain her cool when faced with pastry. After reading that, I would say, with Nigella's guidance, even shortcrust pastry can be pretty pain-free.

Ten years later, cooking dinner for my family every night, I sleep peacefully after a hug and kiss from my dad and to top it all he would say "I loved the food today", just like the icing on a cake. And oh yes, this daddy's girl's day is made! Thanks to you Nigella. I started experimenting with food after reading one of her blogs in particular which says "Cook for yourself. When I cook for myself, I don't mind taking a risk with an ingredient because it's only me and I don't have the fear of disappointing. You discover what works and you suddenly have this reward which is a lovely supper. You need to feel free to make mistakes or you're not going to learn anything, and this is true in life."

Those were the magic words that made it all happen for me!