Merry Christmas 2020!

Growing up in a Catholic convent, Christmas of my childhood meant more than just holidays. We would spend days practising hymns, to be sung in our little school chapel.

We would spend a considerable time putting up the Nativity scene, stringing decorations, setting up a small, artificial fir tree, and decorate it with shiny rounds, streamers and top it with the silver star.

The chapel stood just beside the convent where our Sisters stayed. And so we would get sniffs of the cakes, biscuits and other goodies being baked.

Once in a while, we would be rewarded with sweets or slices of warm bread and jam and a slice of cake on other days.

Since it would be our exam time too, we used to find it very difficult to contain our excitement. The holidays started after exams but on Christmas Day, we would go to school.

Mother Superior and a Father from the local church would preside over the prayers for the school and all of us .
The school choir would bring in the joyful day with the beautiful hymns. And after that goodies were distributed.

There would be happy, shiny faces all around. Even the strictest Sister would be smiling. We would be in our civil dresses .
School seemed different to us on Christmas Day.

Always .

After a mandatory visit to the playground and making sure we swung on every swing, made use of the merry-go-round and the see saw one last time, we would troop back to our much exasperated, waiting parents for the trip home. 

Shrieks of "Haaaaappy holidaaaays " would reverberate the school grounds and to the hills beyond as we separated from our friends for a fortnight long holidays.

Back home, Ma would have her cakes and roast chicken ready.

And her famous winter salad ( I will be making a post on it soon). 

As this difficult year nears its end, we look forward to happier days and pray that the year ahead will be just as beautiful as the days of our childhood. To be able for us to make happy memories again.

I baked these two cakes this morning. 

One, a simple vanilla and orange zest added golden delicious delight.

The other, with the added very subtle flavours of coffee and spices.

You will find all my recipes of my cakes on the label 'Cakes' on the right column under labels. 

Merry Christmas and may God bless you all! 

❤️

Multigrain Parathas with vegetables .... a fulfilling and wholesome winter breakfast

Winter is such a beautiful season. 

Sporting, giving and forgiving.

You can cook and eat to your heart's content. 

There is a bountiful of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers.

The fields overflow with crops , ready to be harvested.

The granaries soon fill with the fresh new rice, new date palm jaggery and wheat and corn .... every part of the country has its own kind of crops. 

The tilted sun turns soft and has the right warmth for the making of boris / wadis. And some winter pickles. Mostly with fresh winter vegetables. And some fruits like the amla / amloki and the ber / kul. 

Kitchens start humming with active elderly ladies of the house busy churning out sweetmeats / pithe / pithas.
Afternoon siestas are replaced with groups sitting out in the soft sunlight and chatting, while the hands would be busy knitting or peeling sweet, fresh green peas.
And endless rounds of the very spicy adrakwali chai / ada chaa / ginger tea. 

All these beautiful thoughts and memories played in my mind as I prepared today's breakfast.

Winter grains, winter vegetables, soya granules, homemade punjabi garam masala, lots of garlic and green chillies went into this delicious paratha sitting on my plate.
Slathered with my homemade ghee and tawa fried till crisp. 

The flours that I used are whole wheat, corn and millet. 
The vegetables are cabbage, green peas and leftover boiled rajma. 
I also added some turmeric powder. 

Kneaded with very little water. 
Rolled out thickish parathas and tawa fried them with ghee till golden brown on both sides. 

In the absence of some fresh white butter, I topped it with a chunk of my favourite Amul butter. 

A full meal by itself.

Time saver.

Highly nutritious.

And loaded with the warmth of my memories from my home and all the beautiful places that I have visited in winter. 

Do you love winter too?

What is your favourite winter dish? 

This pairs very well with any pickle or curd on the side. 

Also with all kinds of chutneys. 

I enjoyed them with my Bengali Tomato chaatni while B opted for my Garlic chutney. 

What would you like to enjoy this with?

Care to share some suggestions? 

Chicken curry .... light, soupy and flavourful , perfect for winter meals

Ps : This was made sometime during the monsoons and has been sitting in my drafts all the while. 

I have given the story alongwith that led to the making of this curry. 

The very vegetarian, very Rajasthani husband cooked this beautiful chicken curry for me today. .

I woke up with a stiff back, body ache and painful hands. All that strain and working with water yesterday and sleeping with the a/c on last night has shown fruit. And has immobilised me completely. With the knowledge that it will be very difficult to get to my ortho or my physiotherapist, we decided that I take a break today. So while I stayed put with my heating pad and book, B took over the kitchen. .
.
.
I washed and prepped the chicken and asked him what should I marinate it with.
Drew a blank.
“Vinegar or curd?”.
“Vinegar. But very little.”
“Do you want big pieces or small pieces?”
Blank.
“What are you planning to cook ... a gravy? Or dry?”
“Hmm ... gravy. But dryish.”
“What will you be cooking in? Pressure cooker or kadahi?”
“Pressure cooker.”
So I gave him the pieces marinated with a little vinegar. .

After that I had  no idea how he made it.
But the moment the cooker let out the first whistle, I breathed in deep and knew I was in for a treat.
And a treat it indeed was.
I quickly make some mishti bhaat / basanti polau  for myself and happily put it in the background of the photo because that chicken curry / murgir jhol deserves all the limelight. .

It was light, perfect balance of salt and sugar and nothing overwhelming. Soothing, comforting, beautiful jhol.
Soft succulent pieces.
I realised it would go great with both plain rice as well as rotis.
I haven’t asked him the recipe but have asked him to make it again sometime.
It felt so good to have a homecooked chicken curry that I have not cooked myself.
Things like this makes the lockdown life bearable .

The recipe is ridiculously simple. 
I kept asking what else .... but this  is all ,  he says. 😊

Need : 

Chicken pieces 
Sliced onions

Ginger garlic paste 

Curd

Turmeric powder

Red chilli powder
Crushed black cardamom

Crushed black pepper 

Bay leaves

Salt

Sugar

Lemon juice 

Halved potato

Cooking oil  ( I use mustard oil ) 

How to : 

Mix everything together except the oil. 

Cover and keep aside for at least half an hour. 

Dump everything in a pressure cooker and cook for two whistles on low. 

Adjust gravy consistency with water as per your requirement. 

Serve steaming hot. 

I love to top with with some ghee and some more lemon juice and sip on it when the weather turns cold. 

This pairs beautifully with plain rice, rotis, parathas, mishti bhaat or even plain bread. 

That is what I love about it most .... its versatility. 

Enjoy!! 

Ps : I have been getting too many spam comments and at my wits end. 

If you are here, can you please help me out and tell me if you are able to see the captcha ??
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