Chicken Potato Tart

It was holi yesterday in India, an occasion when people of all walks of life revel in the madness of playing colors. Holi is just like any other festival celebrated in India with a great fanfare. People bond with each other over the festivity of food, colors and subsequent fun filled games.

 

I am not very fond of colors, having played holi very occasionally once or twice in childhood. After that growing up, I stopped playing holi for the difficulty involved later on in removing the colors from face. That was the most toughest part, besides tending to my daily activity with residues of colors still making its presence known in bits and patches all over my body was not something I relished really. So while staying in India, I made sure not to step out of home on the day of holi. For lovers of colors, I might appear a party-pooper but can't help it. I simply don't like the itchy feeling that smearing of colors leaves. Nevertheless keeping my personal feeling about colors aside, let me wish you my dear friends and readers a very big bright happy holi. Hope you all have enjoyed it a lot.

 

Though I wanted really to post some recipes appropriate for holi but couldn't manage time to prepare anything fancy over last few days. May be I would post some later in the year under sweet section. Meanwhile, enjoy the chicken potato tart I cooked last week. These mini tarts are ideal for a party at home in place of pizzas.

Chicken and Oat Dumpling Soup

Some people treat you in such a manner as if you owe them something. If you forget to call them, they will remind you saying "hey you don't call me these days" when they themselves don't take any initiative to keep in touch. Any message sent to them on Facebook most of the time goes unanswered but if you fail to respond to them on time, they feel offended and make it obvious to you that they are offended. They make comments without sparing a thought if the comments hurt your sentiments or not, but if you accidentally make any comment hurting them even the slightest, they make a huge issue out of it either insulting you or behaving in ways making you feel that you have barked up the wrong tree. I have an ex-colleague I used to be quite close to while working together, but in recent times all the attempts of conversation on FB were made from my side. She sometimes replied and sometimes didn't but what irked me most when while wishing me on my b'day she said "Happy B'day to you. Hope you still remember me."

 

Now I should not be the one always supposed to take initiative to keep in touch. Any friendship or any relationship for that matter is a two way affair. When I am making time out of my schedule to drop a line to a friend, I can expect my friend to treat me with respect replying to my message, no matter how late, but when I see that friend liking and sharing status messages every now and then on FB while my message goes unanswered, after a couple of attempts, I choose never to bother that friend with any means of communication. And when I suddenly stop communicating with her, she comes back wishing me on my b'day with this kind of message as if implying keeping in touch with her is my obligation and when I don't do that, my memory is accused of being challenged. What can you do in certain situation? Either you can ignore the taunting intonation hidden in her message completely and end up the note with mere 'thanks' or you may be little expressive like I had been with a reply sending the same vibe back " I was about to tell you the same "you still remember me" and thanks for your wishes."

In a recent study on human behavior I came to learn of the term "Entitlement Mentality". It is a word meant for people behaving as if they are entitled to something without any effort. This kind of mentality is staggering in number, commonly found in work place and in personal life among friends, spouses and children. Lots of studies are being done on the subject and there are a lot of syndromes explained for easy recognition of this kind of mentality. Some of the articles that I really loved reading are linked below:

http://unhappyemployee.com/2006/12/12/the-entitlement-mentality/

http://www.joywithlove.com/?p=1168

 

http://rikv.blogspot.com/2010/10/suffering-from-ems-entitlement.html

 

(Disclaimer: The above websites didn't pay me anything to publish their links on my website. I am doing it because I liked the message conveyed in the articles linked above.)

 

Back to the recipe, Chicken and dumpling soup is a tasty treat to be relished. Dumplings are usually made with either flour entirely or through a mixture of different flours, but to add a health quotient I used oats in making the dumplings and they came out to be so tasty that you cannot actually differentiate it with the ones made completely of flour.

Aar Maach Shorshe Diye

Today morning as I woke up and looked outside the window, the sight of the snow clad lawn sprawled in front of our apartment caught my eye. We will soon be rolling into the month of April and it is still snowing here, thankfully, the temperature is tolerable. It is still below minus, but compared to what it was even a month back, the weather is turning for the better. At least one can walk in the open for 30 minutes at a stretch without much ado. With winter beginning to backtrack, the teeny weeny bit of rise in the temperature is telltale sign of an imminent spring.

 

Already due to the clock being set forward by an hour, we see the sun up in the sky shining in full glory till around 8 o'clock in the evening. It feels really nice.

Anyway, few weeks back I posted the recipe of Aar Maach Kalo Jeera Bata Diye which is earning me a lot of page views, reasons enough for feeling motivated to post another recipe of Aar Maach with eggplant and bodi floating in mustard based gravy. I used a mixed batch of home-made masur dal bodi and urad dal bodi. In case if you are not familiar with bodi, bodis are tiny sun dried or oven baked dumplings that are used extensively in Bengali preparation, mainly vegetables but sometimes with unusual fishes like Aar Maach, addition of bodis takes the dish to entirely a new level of enjoyment. 

 

Tilapia Fish Salad with Spinach

Here goes another awesome appetizing salad recipe for you guys. I had few tilapia fish fillets resting in the refrigerator for over a fortnight and few tablespoons of chicken fry masala waiting for ages to be used. I grabbed the two together and combined into preparing a divine fish salad adding wee bit of vegetables whatever were there at home right then. 

 

 

It tastes super yummy and if you like you may squeeze lemon juice to zing it up further.

Grapefruit Orange Apple Juice

I talked to my mother in the morning who complained about the soaring mercury in Kolkata making life a living hell. She is worried if the temperature in the late March is so forbidding, what would turn out in May and June. The city of joy with its ever escalating temperature coupled with humidity going beyond tolerance level becomes quite insufferable during summer especially the way the heat ratio in weather turning worse every year. Cold drinks fresh out of the fridge give crisp refreshment to a parched throat thirsty after a travel outdoor. The following grapefruit orange apple juice served cold cools you down in addition to providing the vitamin needs of your body.
 

Mixed Pakoda

Looks like we will not have any respite from this age-long winter snow warning being there on this Sunday. Every time when the temperature escalates a bit, my hopes for a pleasant summer get high but all my excitements come to a naught when few days later the mercury again goes back to minus. It's sheer frustrating.

 

Last Thursday when a mild rain soaked the sky I slipped into a nostalgia for many a rain washed bygone days spent across the busy streets of Kolkata, the moment calling for some celebration my way through savoring the snacks ideal for such rainy evenings - pakoda. I had a wee tot of vegetables left over in the fridge which perfectly fit into making a batch of mixed pakodas. They are so yummy that I bet you cannot stop at one. I used the veggies that were at home right at that moment; you may mix and match the same way with whatever remnants of veggies left from your cooking.

Beetroot Juice

The current life style of young generation racked with work pressure, irregular food habit, consumption of food look-alike junk foods, alcohol and cigarette smoking is conducive to n number of degenerative diseases including cancer, kidney and heart failures etc. The number of young men and women suffering from untimely heart ailments has become increasingly common these days, our growing anxiety related to peer pressure, work and personal life balance have significant roles to play in this. Hence it is more than essential to take care of our body through an intake of healthy foods that are packed with nutrients. After all, health is wealth. 

 

Beetroot is a potent detoxifier of liver, if consumed daily it besides cleansing your system will step up the performance of your digestive tract, release a spurt of iron into your blood stream and fill your body with antioxidants that prevent the growth of cancerous cells. I have made the beet juice by combining beet with apple to acquire a hint of sweetness and added a squeeze of lemon juice and chat masala to enrich the taste. If you want you may make the juice greener by adding more vegetables like carrot, celery and the like.

Chana Paneer Chaat

 

Chaat is a savory snack rooted in Uttar Pradesh originally but over the years it has become increasingly popular all across India. I knew a shop in Pune famous for the chaats it served, the variety was unbeatable and never had I tasted chaat elsewhere so finger-licking good. That shop was also one of the reasons I felt sad for while shifting from Pune to the city of joy.

Chaat is a good item to snack upon for people working upon their weight. You may skimp on potato if you feel it to be unnecessary. Few people add dollops of yogurt to this chaat, but I assume it tastes equally nice without yogurt.

Blueberry Semolina Muffins

Recently I viewed a very useful documentary "Hungry for Change" that provides a lot of insightful information as about making the right choice of foods to keep yourself in shape. I didn't have ideas about a whole spectrum of things before I watched the documentary that made stunning revelation as regards how processed food and our favorite readymade snacks and cold drinks are infused with harmful chemicals and MSG as a bait to get you addicted so that you repeatedly buy those products. As it is, I eat very less outside in restaurants or buy processed foods and after watching this show, I am more determined than ever to remain as green as possible maintaining a green diet comprised of lot of veggies, lentils and fruits. Watch out my space, I will be including more of salad recipes in coming days.

 

 

Kris Carr beautifully explained in the film that "anything that has a shelf life longer than you, don’t eat it." Especially I got quite alarmed by what they showed on the blueberry muffins being sold on the market having been found to contain a lot of unknown chemicals that has no mention on the list of ingredients, among others. It opened my eyes wide awake about the need to become more selective when buying foods and the habit I religiously practice of cooking things at home, right from the scratch. In future, I have a plan of cultivating my own garden where I will grow fresh produce ensuring I know what goes into the mouth of me and my family.

 

In case if you are fond of blueberry muffins just as I am, it's always imperative to take the effort of making them at home rather than buying from the store, because while preparing the muffins at home, you can always adjust the amount of sugar and since the home baked muffins are consumed within a week or so, you don't add any preservative or unheard of chemical to increase the shelf life. They are fresh and hence devoid of long term harmful effects.

 

 

 

Tips: Traditional blue berry muffin preparation doesn't include semolina, but 1/2 cup of the same would add a nice crunch to the texture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Rice Soup

I used to be quite an avid fan of the soap Balika Vadhu. I had started watching it almost a week after the show was first put on air back in 2008; gradually I grew quite attached with the odyssey of the child bride. Even amidst the busy work schedule and to and fro journey of about 4 hours from office to home in Bangalore, I never grew weary of the serial, making sure not to miss an episode. Most of the days I used to return home past the show time after 8 or 8.30 pm and hence I would catch up the repeat telecast at 11 pm, sometimes staying awake just for viewing the soap. Both my mother and sister stopped watching the show following one another on the ground of the story moving at slow pace, but I didn't. In US too, I ensure to catch up the episodes on You Tube regularly, bearing with the scowls my husband casts my way every time I stream the soap from laptop to the wide screen of the idiot box. I like this serial because unlike most of the other Indian soap dramas where women are made to look insubstantial without husband, clinging on to the better-half (or bitter-half) even when he engages in an act of infidelity, berates and repulses her as if the very existence of the woman is centered around the male entity, this soap showed its lead heroine moving forward with her life carving a niche for herself where she came to be known for her work and contribution to the society.

 

 

But after Pratuyusha, the lead actress playing the central character 'Anandi' has been replaced by a new face, I finally have stopped watching it, not being able to accept the chemistry between Shiddharth Shukla (Anandi's second husband) and Toral Rashputra (the new face). Toral looks quite mature for the role she is playing, a 24 years old woman and beside Shiddharth's good looks and charms, she looks banally average. All the excitement I had for viewing the growing affection between Anandi and Shiv has worn off. At least while casting the new lead, the casting directors should have paid a bit of heed to selecting someone who would match Shiddharth's charm. I wonder why he is not offered a role in movies; with his well-built physique and cute smile he looks no less than heroes.

 

 

As regards the recipe at hand, this one I made last night successfully winning out a compliment from my otherwise reticent hubby. "This is one of the best soups I have had", my husband exclaimed; so I am sure your friends and near and dear ones too would drool over this soup.

Shrimp, Avocado and Bacon Salad

A great movie buff that I am, I don't know how come I missed to watch 'The Notebook' all these years. It is one of the best romantic movies I have seen in recent times, Ryan Gosling with his cherubic youthful smile just mesmerizes. After Tom Cruise, he has become my recent heartthrob, my heart being literally in flutter every time he was appearing on screen especially in the first half of the movie when he playing the role of a small town boy of a humbled origin garbed in a newsboy style cap of 1940s looked so stunningly angelic. I am not supremely romantic of sort to buy into soppy mushy kind of love, but I believe there once existed people like Noah who could love another with 'heart and soul' , a rarity in today's high speed world where people change partners with the frequency of clothes. Another of my favourite romantic movie is 'Cold Mountain'. There are plenty of others like 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'You have got mail', 'War & Love', 'It happened one night' and 'Roman Holiday'. Anyone fond of romantic flicks might consider watching them if not already viewed.

 

 

Concerning the recipe at hand, I got this one from Gimme Some Oven, an exciting blog featuring lots of healthy salad recipes. I just modified some salad ingredients, but I hewed to the buttermilk dressing described there. It is one of the best salads I have consumed so far, each dainty morsel exploding with delight in your mouth.

Dimer Khichuri - Egg Khichdi

I was shuffling through some old mails I exchanged with friends few years back safely cached in the mailbox. Now I love reading anything old, old diaries, old mails, old books. 'Past' fascinates me; echoes of bygone dust-covered memories associated with anything old take you into the life you once lived but which has no currency in the fast-paced ever-changing present course of life. Memories of school life, college days, first job, first crush, first heart break, marriage, child-bearing, friends, every mote of dust-laden memory that forms our very essence relegate to some remote corner of our minds in the space of time but which come unbidden in moments of reminiscence. I had a habit once of writing diary, a very constructive habit inculcated in me by my English teacher who believed writing tidbits of your life on the pages of a diary not only chronicles the events of your life but brings an edge into your writing skill. I can's say how much my English has improved by the practice of writing diary, but the old diaries stashed away safely in a closet by my mother contain treasures; treasures of memories, treasures of emotions and thoughts poured indiscreetly on the reams of paper all through my growing years. They are as if the silent witnesses of all my maiden vagaries. The old practice of translating life into manuscripts is reaping fruits now in a manner of reliving the past through the memoirs of my girlhood days.

 

Sadly though I have outgrown the habit of writing diaries, I have started nurturing another one by capturing life in my camera frame and making collage of them. As my mother in law once told me while flipping through an old album how the pictures staring at her out of the frayed dust jackets perked  her up taking to a trip down the memory lane, I too want to feel the same way when I will grow old looking back.

 

Dimer Khichuri is not relevant to any memory, only that I thought of tossing the chopped omelets into the khichuri would give an added flavor to the conventional khichuri we relish with all our hearts. Let me know how you guys enjoy it!!

Prawn Salad

 

 

The weather in Ohio is beyond any prediction. One moment you see the sun shining in full glory with the mercury soaring up taking you to believe spring is near; the next moment you see gusts of wind blowing in full force plummeting the temperature down by few degrees smashing all your thin hopes for a cool weather to smithereens. Quite tired of this cat and mouse game nature is playing on us. I was so happy yesterday to see the sun burning in full intensity in the late evening thanking god that at last winter is retracing its steps leaving space for spring to take over, but today morning with no sun in clear visibility and a dull gloomy sky nipped all my hopes in the bud. Winter could be tiring if stretched for long. Winter of US could be compared with the summer of India in terms of both testing on people's nerve making them yell for some respite.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, my harping on winter is going to be nonstop until I see it coming to an end. So readers, please bear with my gripe, after all that's the only way I can give some outlet to my rising frustration. Meanwhile, as an interlude to these nonstop gripes and complaints, enjoy the recipe of Prawn Salad below and let me know how you guys relish it.

Hakka Roti

Hakka cuisine usually refers to the cooking style derived from the south eastern aboriginals of China. Hakka food is popularly served in Indian restaurants; however, that is only an adapted version of original hakka cuisine modified to give an Indianized flavour. So the hakka cuisine so profusely relished in various parts of India is actually more of Indo Chinese bearing little or almost no resemblance to the original. The recipe below is not borrowed from Hakka cuisine though. In order to catch notice I thought the appendage of 'hakka' to the title would invoke some interest and hence.....hope you guys will enjoy the concoction.

 

 

In case if you are wondering whether the unique idea of making something so innovative as 'hakka roti' surfaced in my head or not, let me inform you that this recipe is accredited to a Bengali magazine which I read religiously to scavenge for recipes I can experiment and bring out to you all. Quite a philanthropy na !!

 

Potato Salad

Finally spring is near. From tonight on the daylight saving starts with the clock marching forward by one hour. Hopefully, by the end of this month we will have the outset of a salubrious spring. After months of confinement in winter, I just cannot wait to feel the sun stroking my face. With spring approaching nearer, summer is not far behind. Summer is the season everyone here looks forward to, quite opposite to our trend in India where the onset of summer invites a dreadful prospect that is further aggravated by the clammy sweaty climate prevailing in most of the cities with Kolkata and Chennai topping the list in terms of the humidity going beyond the level of tolerance. It was almost customary for me to have my face dotted with heat rashes in summer. I am gifted with humongous hyperactive sweat glands that soak me up in perspiration throughout the summer months making these rashes germinate all over my face. Ugh, I hated them so much. My flight to Bangalore finally helped me spend some rash free years.

 

 

Anyway, talking about summer one of the things I used to enjoy heartily amidst the tortuosity and roughness of scorching weather in Kolkata was salad. Fresh from the fridge, the vegetables still remained cold by the time they were cut and mixed together into a refreshing salad; I just loved the cold sensation passing down my throat. My love for salad still remains strong irrespective of seasons. The potato salad below is one of my favorites. I love to luxuriate myself in its creamy richness at least once a week throwing aside all the concerns of weight check and all.

 

 

Rotini Pasta Salad with Cream Cheese Pesto

Finally the long awaited weekend has arrived allowing me the opportunity to spend time galore with my husband. These days he works late hours in office, due to his imperious domineering boss, whom I have begun to hate from the bottom of my heart and because of whom my hubby goes to office early in the morning and returns home late. His boss is a bachelor still, who works like a lunatic and makes people working under him slog day and night as if they don't have families. These unmarried bosses are really dangerous; exceedingly workaholic, they relish smothering their juniors loaded down with work and responsibilities.

Since it was Friday night yesterday, instead of sulking for hubby returning home late, I planned to engage myself preparing this delicious rotini pasta salad topped with cream cheese pesto. Each mouthful of this salad is truly bluely delightful. Hope you guys will love it.

 

 

Chicken Avocado Salad with Tahini Sauce

 

Ripe avocados are so creamy and mellow, achingly sweet melting in your mouth and sensuously aphrodisiac. I fell in love with guacamole the very first time I had it. Now avocado has become pretty indispensable for me in salads and sandwiches. On the other hand, tahini is something I am newly acquiring a taste for. Recently I bought home a bottle of tahini sauce and was looking for ways to use it. So the chance came when I read somewhere that tahini can be a good substitute for so frequently used balsamic vinegar in salad dressing. I combined it with yogurt and a pinch of spices, but I perceive you may combine tahini with mayonnaise or simply drizzle it on top of your salad to add taste and desirably, it will turn out pleasant.

Chicken Avocado Salad with Tahini Sauce tastes superlatively good. You may add few croutons to jazz up your salad further, and enjoy the bliss.

 

 

Chicken Stew

 

Slurp it or sop it, you are gonna love it. I am yet to meet one who doesn't love chicken stew and it is mind-bogglingly delicious, albeit healthy. Contrary to traditional belief that chicken stew is worth consumption when one is sick, it is actually a hearty soup teeming with nutrition that can be taken daily. What I most like about this soup is its versatility, you may use whatever vegetables you wish to and still bring out the same heartwarming taste. Personally, I like to use green papaya, radish, carrots, green beans, turnips, potato, corns and so much as green peas. This time while cooking the stew, I didn't have green papaya handy, my husband bought a Caribbean papaya from the store though which turned out to be sweet in texture and hence not use worthy. The papaya has to be young and raw for adding taste.

As I said, you may use whatever vegetables you like, but take care not to clutter the soup. Keep the number of veggies limited to 3 or 4 types only.

 

 

Chicken Penne Pasta Salad with Tomato Pesto Sauce

I have heard of debit or credit card fraud, how some unlucky lot have fallen prey to this vicious crime and lost their hard-earned money to fraudsters, but this is the first time me and my husband have experienced this sort of a thing. Yesterday my husband received an alert for a purchase worth $300 that he has not made and guess what, the transaction was not attempted online. The perpetrator made a counterfeit card using the debit card details of my hubby and tried to put it to use. Thanks to the almighty, the bank waits for 48 hours before allowing a transaction pass through the gateway and in case of card being used in another state than where the cardholder stays, it asks for some mandatory security questions to verify the authenticity because of which we could stall the fraudulent transaction on time.

 

 

Now I am amazed at the brazenness of the perpetrator in making a counterfeit copy of the original card and trying to use it, I mean, can't we expect a minimum security to be ensured to us in terms of our card being secured with a unique number so that any duplicate or simulation of the same will immediately be identified when swiped in for action? So long as no concrete device comes into picture providing full-proof protection to us, the liability is on our shoulder, to a great extent, to secure us from the swindling of our money earned through backbreaking efforts. The below article putting light on how to use your cards with caution furnishes quite useful information, especially I, having come from a foreign country, have found the note very helpful.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_109814.html

 

 

 

Back to the recipe, just as I promised, in order to promote healthy eating I will post recipes of soup and salad throughout this week to encourage my readers for incorporating a healthy eating habit into their life style, the recipe of Penne Pasta Salad makes another valuable entry to the purpose. Penne Pasta and Tomato Pesto make an attractive combination, and with few chunks of chicken thrown into it, the salad gets to an ultimate level of pleasure. If you wish, you may spike up the flavor tossing few spoonfuls of grated parmesan cheese.

Corn and Crab Soup

 

Just when yesterday I felt hopeful upon seeing the Sun up in the air dazzling in the evening glow of twilight for an advent of spring, all my hopes are dashed today with the sky wearing a dismal weary look throughout the day and a constant humming of a strong gust of wind resonating through the air. Spring seems to be a distant dream now. My husband called me today in the evening, while he was on his way towards home from office, telling me to come outside so as to go to the market together for grocery shopping. I was just out for 2 minutes waiting for my hubby in the midst of heavy wind and those 2 minutes were sufficient to make me feel the wave of cold penetrating my bone and chilling it from inside. It was that bad; standing in the open for 2 minutes has become, for all intents and purposes, a nightmare. East coast is facing a storm warning in effect from Wednesday through Thursday and just as we faced during Sandy, the feel of the imminent storm is tangible in the wind even in Ohio. The very moment I begin to feel that we have had enough of snowing for this season; another round of snow falling comes to greet us. Pathetic truly!!

As readers regular to my blog might know that in order to spread consciousness about healthy eating habit among people I am celebrating a health week, and to serve the purpose an array of soup and salad recipes will preoccupy my blog throughout this week. So here goes another delightful soup recipe made with corn and crab. Very light yet fulfilling, this soup is ideal to spike your appetite.

 

 

Spicy Chicken Salad

 

As promised, in order to promote healthy eating I will post recipes of soup and salad throughout this week to encourage my readers for incorporating a healthy eating habit into their life style. Though I must say our generation is quite health and figure conscious compared to our earlier generation when having a potbelly was regarded as a sign of wealth and prosperity, but there are people still who scowl at the name of salad. For them salad is nothing but a subsistence for the sickly and anorexics. They in their desire for taste and spiciness become forgetful or intentionally ignorant of the fact that at times it's important to give your tummy a break from daily gastronomic venture and eat something healthy to provide apt nutrition to your body.

If one spends half of his life on oily deep fried unhealthy stuff, the later half he might spend eating only boiled food, provided he lives that long. So as my physician told me once that 'moderation is very important'. You may eat whatever you feel like but staying within limit and keeping salad and soup included in your regular food plan.

 

Anyway, enough harangue on eating healthy, let’s get onto the recipe now.

Spicy Turkey and Red Lentil Soup

Me and a bunch of my female friends are playing an interesting game on FB to spread Breast Cancer Awareness. The game involves some code words that have only been shared among females and throughout the week we are posting weird status messages using the codes. It's amazing to see how people react to the status messages for half of them, especially guys having no inkling of what's going on.

 

 

Since our food habit contributes, to a large extent, to our immunity and catching of any infection or diseases, nurturing of healthy food habits is imperative that coupled with healthy life style and daily physical exercise enriches us from deep within, body and mind. With the noble intent to promote good health and good food habit, I have decided to post soup and salad recipes throughout this week. Now some of us believe that soup is a bland fare, but friends soup can be made in thousands of ways from very bland to very spicy, from very thin to very thick in consistency and I know soups that are in itself a meal; 2 bowls of those soups and you don't need anything else. Soup further works a miracle in controlling or bringing down weight, and whenever I feel like giving my tummy rest for a day or two especially after a week of gastronomic adventures, soup is the only thing I rely on.

 

Capsicum Chop - Capsicum Fritters

Thanks guys for your support. Because of you, the number of page like of my page on Facebook has shot up to around 700 now. I will really appreciate if you share my page or the link of my blog on your timeline to get your friends around to vote for me. That will be freeeeeaking awesome !!

Right now the weather in Ohio is pretty depressing. Starting from day before yesterday, the sky is overcast with occasional spells of rain lingering throughout the day. I damn hate such weathers. I know rain seems romantic for some, but believe me continuity of anything for long just nips the excitement, and right now I am fed up with the winter of US hook, line and sinker waiting patiently for the arrival of sunshine. In order to lighten up the somber mood triggered by the bad weather outside, I planned of cooking Capsicum chop last evening.

 

 

Capsicum is called Capsicum in India, but folks in US address it as green pepper. In fact they call anything that adds to the heat quotient as pepper; black pepper, green pepper, red pepper, bell pepper and the like, but I wonder how one would distinguish between capsicums and the normal green chillies that we use in our preparation if we use synonymous terms for all of them. I am sure if I would have called Capsicum and green chillies both as 'green pepper' in the list of ingredients, my readers would surely be at loss. No doubt, why English is a funny language, twisted and convoluted in usage from country to country.

Capsicum Fritters make astounding snacks for the rainy evenings. Typical in Bengali fashion, we took the fritters with puffed rice. I guess the practice of consuming puffed rice with anything deep-fried in oil came into practice in Kolkata because deep fried stuff are conducive to forming of gas and acidity, puffed rice on the other hand helps beat down the gas. So the two make a good combination.

Fore more recipes on snacks, please click the links below:

Chicken Pakoda

Cauliflower Pakoda

Stuffed Bread Pakoda

Corn Paneer Fritters

Narkel Posto Boda