Scullery experiments : Sattu ka paratha

Sattu - is nothing but finely grinded chana dal.Sattu has lot of health benefits and is very nutritious.

Having stayed in Ranchi which was in Bihar earlier and now in Jharkhand, this delicacy is very popular there. Sattu is widely eaten in Bihar and Jharkhand mostly.

Here is the recipe for sattu bhar ke paratha.

Ingredients needed:

• sattu
• garlic -finely chopped
• garlic - 2 slices finely chopped
• mustard oil
• pickle and its oil
• amchur powder- about 1/2 teaspoon
• ajwain - about 1/2 teaspoon
• red chilli powder
• onion - finely chopped (optional - I usually don't add onions)

Mix the above said ingredients nicely, and if the mixture is dry you can add little mustard oil or pickle oil to make it little moist.

- Now knead using atta,oil,salt and water, and prepare a soft dough. Keep the dough covered for some time - this will ensure that the dough becomes soft.

- Pre-heat the tawa.

- Divide the dough into small pieces, and carefully fill it with the stuffing and roll the paratha.While rolling the paratha,be careful - sometimes due to air locked inside, the paratha tears and the stuffing comes out.

- Place the paratha on the tawa,and let it get cooked little bit - flip to check if both sides are equally cooked.

- Once done,add oil/ghee till both the sides are golden brown and cooked.

It can be served as breakfast or dinner with pickles/sweet chutney/curd.

You can also have slices of onions cut into round shape - with some lime juice and salt added.

Just yummy-licious!! :)

Do try it. :)

~Bon Appetite!!
 

Wanderlust Tales - Impromptu road trip to Lavasa

Unplanned road trips induce a different kind of excitement in our rote life.

And we friends, decided on a road trip to Lavasa, about 65 km from Pune. The first trip of 2015. :)

As it was impromptu, we started kind of late. Since we started late, we found quite some traffic in Pune. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach Lavasa city.
Google maps always makes your life easier, and it guided us till there easily.

Lavasa situated atop the hill is a private-planned city, as well as the  newest hill station since Independence.
And as we were ascending, the view was just splendid. Wow!!
Lavasa - A beautiful city, beautifully concept-ed and a clean city. There is lot of work in progress there. But nevertheless, it was just perfect, just perfect for visiting and spending some time during chilly winter evenings.
Waah.....awesome it was!

But to make the most of the place, start early and you can enjoy the utmost beauty of this place. We got to witness the beautiful sunset and the bird view of the city!
There are various fun water activities which one can indulge in.

The last time we were here, we came for an event to X-Thrill, where they organized many sport activities. They provided us with lodging in tents, which were pretty cool.

Finding food here is no big deal, you have ample of options - there is this WaterFrontShaw street.
Overlooking the Dasve lake, this place is just the place you need to relax.
This street is conceptualized in Italian style and it has plenty full of restaurants on one side of the walk-way. They have quite number of places to sit and relax too.
The walk through the street is refreshing. Just spending an quiet evening is enough to get you kick starting for the week.
This place is bustling with people and kids, and you will really enjoy the evening without a doubt.

Not to forget, an experienced driver is always perfect to drive you up. The roads are curvy and there are not much street lights, so drive carefully and safe! :)
Try to leave before the lights start to fade out.

Here are some photos from the trip:

As we were ascending

Dam

The waterfront shaw:

Cheers to life!!

~Journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step! :)

P.S.All the above photos have been clicked by me. :D

Art conglomeration : Paintings and sketches

Few painting done by me:



Juicy strawberries



Lord Jagannath in suna bheso



Fort in Oman

Cheers to life!!

~Believe in yourself always!!

P.S These sketches are not my original idea, it is just a humble attempt to replicate some of the beautiful pictures found in blogs/sites. 

Wanderlust Tales : Trip to Nandi hills - Bangalore

This time during my trip to Bangalore for my Durga puja vacation, our family decided on for a road trip to the famous Nandi hills.

Nandi hills, believed to be one of the beautiful getaway places near Bangalore. It is an ancient hill fortress approximately 60-65 kilometers from Kanakpura Road.
It would take approximately 2 hours to reach here -  Google maps aids in the directions on the road. If you love driving - drive through the highways would be enchanting.
You would find plentiful grape plantation across the roads.

The best time to visit would be in the wee hours of the morning, so as to get an exquisite view of the place - covered in clouds.

The roads to Nandi Hills, are quite curvy - hence make sure you are an experienced driver if you are travelling using your own vehicle. Moving up the hills gets the road steeper and steeper.

For the passengers, the drive through the curves is scenic giving you a chance to get in touch with the greenery and mother nature.

We intended to trek a little, so we parked our car around 2 km prior the entrance. Be prepared to walk and sweat a lot, to reach till the top.

Do's -

• Wear comfortable shoes
• Carry drinking water
• Carry your shades or caps waive off the sun
• Carry tissues or hanker chief

There is a ticket that we paid at the entrance.
Major problem is information not being provided in English - it gets difficult to even know what you are being charged for.

There are a couple of eatery shops right before you make your way up - you can relax and enjoy a few nibbling here - before you sweat it out to reach the top.

Reaching the top is a task in itself, climb, climb and climb.

Before you start your ascent, you would see the Amrutha Sarova - a beautiful man made water enclosure - mostly seemed to used for private bathing for the Rajas or  people of significant genre.
Then the recreation area which must been used for lazing around and spending some relaxing time.

As you climb up, you would find a beautiful park atop where you can see families with their kids having a gala time.

The Tipu's drop is another fascinating place to watch out for - it is said that the perpetrators were dropped off from this point and there was no returning for them from here.

Things to watch out here are the:

• Amrutha Sarova
• Tippu drop
• Children's playground
• Tippu's summer palace and fort
• Yoga naandeswar temple
• Horse way

We couldn't make it to all - we got exhausted way too fast making our way up. :)

While returning from the Nandi Hills - while on the highway,we spotted a beautiful temple atop the hills.
The architecture of the temple,led us to detour. Although we couldn't find a proper road to reach it, we attempted going there via the rocks and climbing up. We parked our car in the nearest empty spot we saw.
Be extra cautious while heading upwards, crooked totally.
Finally when we made our way up, we were astounded to discover that it was a Jain temple.

The view from the temple was absolutely scenic - the glance of the entire city, sent a shiver down our back. It took quite some time to sink in.

Some of the photos from the visit:

Jain Temple

View from the Jain temple

Lotus

On the way to Nandi Hills:

Curvy roads

Curvy roads

Amrutha Sarova

Recreation area

Tipu's dropping point

The view

Grape cultivation

Cheers to life!!

~Journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step! :)

P.S.All the above photos have been clicked by me. :D

Wanderlust Tales - Diwali utsav pardes main.... :)

Right after a fabulous celebration of Durga Puja back home in Bangalore, I was suppose to go on a official tour to Atlanta,USA.

These official tours somehow bore me a lot, mainly due to lack of good friends to hang around with and to top it, you also have to work late hours.But of course it comes with the perks of staying lavishly in your very own room in the hotel and finding it crystal clean when you return no matter in what state you have leave it in.The weather is a bonus.And of course, the all time favorite for me is indulging in the best of ice-creams,chocolates and cakes here. Absolute bliss! Fooooood........

It is a good time to spend time on your own,out of the social bondage - doing things you like. And for a change doing NOTHING,is also a change from the rote.

Things that happen occasionally at home become a regular like reading books or interesting articles or listening to your favorite music, jogging.You experiment with food.You meet new people and make friends.

This break is the much needed one as I share my room back in India. So the privacy constraints stay. :|

This visit, I got to witness something out of the ordinary.No parks or factory outlest or museums but - a Temple!

Being a festive season, I was pretty upset that I would have to celebrate Diwali - doing nothing. Then some Indian friends I met during my stay there,suggested about going for the Diwali Utsav in a temple located about 30 miles from my hotel.At first I was highly reluctant to visit a temple all the way in the States. 

But when I visited this place, I was stunned by its mesmerizing architecture and make. It would have been a mistake, if I would have missed this.

It is apparently the biggest temple outside our country. 

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir as they call it,was inaugurated in August 2007 after only 17 months of construction time utilizing 1.3 million volunteer hours. The Mandir is compromised of 3 types of stones(Turkish limestone,Italian marble and Indian pink sandstone). More than 34,000 individual pieces were carved by hand in India,shipped to the USA,and assembled in Lilburn like a giant 3-D puzzle.

The temple sits over 30 acres of land,and is a beauty in its own.As you enter the premises you see the temple and it is gorgeous built - the pond right in front, the beautifully carved pillars in white. The white color adds to the more heavenly look - straight from the heaven. WOW!

The Diwali Utsav was being celebrated here. And during the time, they have fantastic fireworks show which lasts for about 15-20 minutes.

It is just spell bounding affair. I was left dumbstruck by the firework show - the music,the lighting and the fireworks all in sync, which made the sight worth seeing. Just stunning! 

The place was bustling with Indians, who had come all the way to have a glimpse of the fireworks. :)

They sky were speaking more than a thousand words, literally! :)

I am attaching few pictures of the temple and the Diwali Utsav celebrations:

Entrance



Pond



Find the moon! :P

They had number of food stalls serving dishes varying from pav bhaji,chole bature,khichdi,chai,various farsans etc. Apart from food stalls - they had the books stalls, stalls selling decor items for house.

What surprised me was  they were serving prasad at the exit which was beautifully and cleanly packed with a sweet and some farsan items. They were giving along calendar too.

In all I would conclude by saying one well coordinated event which definitely is worthwhile.

Reaching there was no big hurdle, GPS makes your  life very easy to commute. For parking cars, they had a separate place near the temple premises where you can park,and the shuttles plying would pick and drop you, to and fro the temple. I was at residence inn,north point so it took approximately 45 minutes to reach the temple.

I didn't expect such fanfare, but I am happy I didn't miss the event. :) :)

Cheers to life!!

~Journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step! :)

P.S.All the above photos have been clicked by me. :D