WONDERFUL FEELING...

I love Goa...Here in Mumbai where we stay in apartments , we cannot enjoy the outdoors ..
I love the feeling of sitting in your own lawn and having your morning cup of tea.
I did what my heart desired on my last visit to Goa.. These are small things that people take for granted and you value it when you do not have it..
My relatives are often surprised to see me enjoying just a cup of tea or coffee or even sitting with a book on the bench outside .. or a small pleasure I get out of drying clothes on a clothes line out in the sun.
Here you will what I ate at my uncles home..

                         SHEVYACHO SANJO on a granite bench.

Some more pictures of my uncles beauuutifulll garden for you ...

HAPPY EASTER ..{ some photos taken in Goa)

Here are some pictures I clicked when I visited Goa...
I have clicked these pictures from the front seat of my car, whenever I travel to Goa I carry my camera with me as I love to see and click whatever is around I find beauty in everything as there is so much beauty, purity . Which is very difficult to find in a metro city which I live.
You find more buildings than trees and more cars than people around...

RUSTIC MEAL...

I had this for lunch yesterday .. It was a nice traditional rustic meal .
This type of meal is normally seen in village homes where Bhakri is made instead of roti...
The meal on the plate is...

CAULIFLOWER VEGETABLE
WHITE VATANA USAL OR CURRY
NACHNI BHAKRI 
UKADICHE MODAK (white dumpling made with rice flour and stuffed with a sweet mixture of coconut and jaggery)
This is a festival sweet which is done only on special occasions.

FESTIVE THALI...

This is the meal that was cooked on  Ganesha Janma i.e Birthdate of Lord Ganesha. We are ardent followers of Siddhivinayak and with my parents being here for a couple of days I though of making or cooking a complete vegeterian meal which is  normally made during the first day of Ganesh Chaturti.

Let me share with you what is the normal festive day menu at our home.

This meal comprises of ...

In the center : Mungachyo gathi or whole moong bean curry 

Moong beans which are sprouted for 24 hours and there covering removed..( I dont like to remove the cover as its unnecessary loss of fiber but thats how it is traditionally done and I do so for special occasions but when I do it on normal days I just retain the cover and hence have to soak for about 8 hours and keep for another couple of hours , after being washed and rinsed thoroughly. you can see tiny sprouts come up which is what we are looking for.)

cauliflower vegetable with potato sticks :

This is a simple vegetable made by tempering both cauliflower and potatoes with Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, green chillies and curry leaves add salt, pinch of sugar and coriander leaves to garnish. In Goa it is garnished with finely grated coconut too.
Another option to this vegetable is french beans made in a similar fashion.

Grated carrot salad:

Grated carrot with tempering and garnished with coriander and freshly grated coconut.

Patolio :

Special sweet made with a covering of rice flour and stuffed with a mixture of freshly grated coconut, jaggery and cardamom.

Shrikhand :

Sweet made with hung curd to which sugar, saffron and cardamom powder is added.

Aloo wadi

rolls made with colocasia leaves and stuffed with spicy mixture of chickpea flour (this was store bought)

Puri

Deep fried wheat flour rotis..

Rice and yellow lentil dal are not in the picture .. The salad is sometimes made with curds .too.

GOA..

I was in Goa for the new year , and when I look back at the pictures clicked I miss being there , I love the tranquil beauty of the place .. the relaxed feel .
Here in Mumbai life is in the fast lane , Its crowded everywhere and so you loose a lot of time traveling and being stuck in Traffic.
In Goa people take life at a slow pace like to enjoy the basics of life like good food, sleep Its not that people do not work but there is less competition and so you find everyone is working at a similar pace.
I will be sharing with you pictures which I have not shared before.. and some my be repeated but nevertheless good to look at...

These are clicked from the veranda of the relatives who I visited...

DRUMSTICK CURRY.....

I love this curry in the dry or wet form..It is tasty in whatever form it is made..
Its my hubby's favorite and thats the reason I learnt to make it and now I love it too.. hehe..
Here is the recipe for you ...
Please tell me if you have any more recipes with drumsticks which you can share with all bloggers.. 

Ingredients:-

4 drumsticks cut into 2 inch long pieces

¾ cup grated coconut.

A small marble size ball of jaggery

Grind to paste :-

½ cup grated coconut.
turmeric powder – a pinch
chili powder – 1 tsp or according to taste
Salt to taste

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Whole Pepper-1/4 tsp

Whole Jeera-1/2 tsp

A little tamarind paste

small marble sized ball of Jaggery. 

Tempering :-

Oil

Mustard seeds

5-6 methi seeds

½ tsp Hing or asoefotida

Method:-

Cut drumsticks into finger's length pieces (2-1/2"). Remove some of the outer hard fibers of the sticks to expose the inner soft layer.

Boil the drumsticks in water with a little salt and turmeric until the drumstick is tender.

Grind together grated coconut, pepper, coriander seeds, salt, chili powder, turmeric powder, a little jaggery in a blender.

 Heat oil in a kadai mustard seeds, and let them splutter. Then add the hing and methi seeds stir (take care not to brown them or they turn bitter)add a little water to this baghar or tempering to prevent it from burning..

Boil the drumsticks in this water with a little salt and turmeric until the drumstick is tender.

Stir take care not to break the drumsticks as they are very tender at this stage.

To this add the ground paste and cook on a medium flame.

The consistency of the gravy entirely depends on your preference , it can be either thick and watery or dry (use less water while grinding).

 
 

BEAUTIFUL GOA...

I love Goa, its my native place but I am born and bought up in Mumbai but every-time I visit Goa I find so much to photograph , so much to see and I love that.. 

I like to spend my time in Goa and to soak in its scenic and pure beauty. Goa has its natural charm there is nothing artificial or made up .. It does not need to have big structures or buildings to make it beautiful ..

Its the natural beauty that attracts tourists and locals who have migrated to other cities back to it...

 Quaint little lake side hotel .. cute!!!!  

Here I am sharing with you some pictures that I clicked when I was there in June this year... All of the pictures have been clicked while sitting on the front seat while my husband drives...

GOA IN THE RAINS !!!!!!!

I had been to Goa for the last 5 days to attend a cousins wedding..

It was my first monsoon in Goa , we from Mumbai do not normally visit Goa in the monsoons as it rains heavily there.. But never the less its a experience in itself ...

GOA IS BEAUTIFUL IN THE RAINS...

                                                 

                                      
                                                                      ANJUNA BEACH

                                        
                                                            OUTSIDE MANGESHI MATH

                                                                   
                                                                   BAMBOLIM           

                                                                          BAMBOLIM

GAJAR HALWA (sweet made with carrots)

This is a sweet dish which normally people love to eat with lunch or dinner , but at my home its eaten at breakfast with chapati or Roti...and that sweet dish is GAJAR HALWA  or sweet dish made with gajar or carrots and condensed milk or reduced milk.

INGREDIENTS


25Ogms carrots finely grated
500mi milk

100 gms khoya or mawa (Khoya is prepared by boiling and reducing the milk to a semi-solid stage.)..You can use condensed milk too...

150 gms sugar (depends on taste)

8-10 almond cut into slices 

1 tsp cardamom powder

3-4 tbsp ghee or clarified butter

METHOD:

Take a pan add the ghee to it then add the grated carrots stir...

let the carrots cook in this ghee

Then add the milk, sugar and almonds

cook on a medium flame for sometime till the mixture dries up a little

Then add the khoya and elaichi or cardamom powder.

Mix , cook covered for another 5 mins before serving hot.