Aam Kheer - Kheer Mango

Just as I began to feel sad for missing yet another season of mangoes of Bengal cribbing about how the taste of mangoes available in Wal-Mart and Meyer were bland in taste, my husband brought home few Mexican mangoes one day. Now, I really didn't have any idea that Mexican breed of mangoes could be as sweet and ripe as those of Bengal. It was seriously a revelation. Sitting here in USA, if you could lay your tongue on some luscious super juicy mangoes, you would feel yourself to be in seventh heaven and that's exactly how was I like. I ate few of them raw and left the remaining ones to prepare my favorite mango dessert - Aam Kheer.

In the months of summer when the scorching weather outside leaves the mouth dry, one glass full of this kheer with lots of ripe mangoes in would take away every bit of parchedness the tortuous heat has caused.

Gatta Kofta Curry

Two of my newly married friends recently asked me and my husband about our overall experiences on our transformation into parenthood. Though the question did not surprise us a bit knowing that our friends have plans of their own to become parents themselves in the not too distant future, the answer was difficult to be summed up in one line. A lot has changed in our lives since the arrival of our son with us feeling more responsible each passing day, our old nocturnal routine replaced by the one suited to our son's sleep pattern, the once happy-go-lucky carefree souls now feeling tired and sleep deprived at all times but in a queer way, we both are enjoying every moment of our time with our son regardless of all the unusual changes our parental duties call for. When the entire US is basking in the warmth of summer going out on camping, visiting sites, me and my hubby are changing diapers, feeding the baby relentlessly at every 2-3 hours gap, giving him warm bath and massage and trying to take quick power naps in between while our sonny sleeps, but we don't complain as every time spent with him gives us thousand times more joy that any picnic or camping can ever give......so I carefully formed my response as concisely as possible in one line to my friends....'you gotta experience it yourself to feel it as the feeling is unmatched with any other feeling of life you have had so far'. I don't know how far my friends, who are apparently more uptight about the hassle taking care of a baby involves, appreciated my response but I just hope that they got the essence of my message.
 

Gatta ke Curry is basically a dish very popular in Rajasthan. I first had it here in USA when a Sindhi couple invited us to their home and regaled us with a variety of Indian cuisines. Apparently, the hostess had a passion for cooking, and she invariably experiments with her culinary fancies. Though I never made Gatta ke curry at home, I first thought of giving it a try when recently in a cooking forum on Facebook, someone shared a recipe on Gatta Kofta Curry. I changed some of the ingredients and their quantity according to my requirement but more or less they are kept as close to the original as possible. It turned out really well, so well that I managed to bag a compliment from a guest fastidious about taste.

Chicken Hazarvi Kabab

My son has completed one month today. It seems like yesterday that I went to the hospital in labor pain and ground my way through the delivery process. Any mother who has nurtured her young in her womb for 9 months and suffered one of the most excruciating painful experiences of all called labor knows why a child is called the 'bundle of joy' because the exhilaration and satisfaction upon seeing your young one nestled in your chest softly inhaling the first few breaths of fresh air of his or her life is incomparable with the joy of anything else. It is the most beautiful feeling in the world.

 

My pregnancy had been a smooth one. I was lucky in a way that I never felt nauseous for once and I could eat anything and everything I wanted. Since me and my husband were on our own throughout the pregnancy and delivery period, I was quite nervous about how everything would go, but with the grace of God, everything went smoothly. One of the most important things I have always taken care of is the food I consume. Though I was alone with no one to cook delicacies for me even when I was in the advanced stage of my pregnancy, I always took care not to let my craving go unsated.

 

It is very important to give your body proper nutrition to have a healthy baby and acquire strength enough not only to push the child out of your womb into the outside world but also to rear him or her up. One of the many things that I gorged on greedily were a variety of kababs as I had huge cravings for kababs during pregnancy. Some kababs I made at home and some I brought from restaurants, but the quality of kababs available in nearby restaurants were no match with what we get back home. In fact, some restaurants kababs were very chewy and dry in texture. Hence more than often I preferred to prepare my kababs at home only. The recipe below is one of such kababs I happened to cook quite frequently. The original recipe belongs to Sanjeev Kapoor but I replaced some ingredients according to my own convenience.

White Chicken

With great pleasure I would like to share the joy of the addition of a new member in our family with the readers of my blog - our son Debarpan born on 5th May this year. His arrival has changed our lives completely, for the better. Though in the absence of any helping hand at home, managing everything on my own is stressful, everything gets made up for when I get to see the adorable face of my newborn. My parents were supposed to come from India to give me support nursing my kid but at the last moment my father fell sick and their trip had to be cancelled. First few days after I came back home from the hospital with the newborn were quite challenging for both me and my husband, but with a bit of planning and mutual cooperation with each other, we are pulling through this phase seamlessly so far. We both are savoring every moment of our time with our son. It is pure bliss!!

 

The recipe that I am going to share today is a tried and tested recipe of a chicken preparation one of my friends recently shared on her Facebook wall. As these days I am trying to be frugal in my consumption of spices as my baby breastfeeds, I take a liking to this recipe because it is less spicy. I tried it at home recently and the outcome panned out to be fantastic. It will earn brownie points with those fond of less spicy dishes as it did with me. Happy eating!!