FOOD COMBINATIONS...

I always wanted to know  more about food combinations that work universally in India or in our homes.

We follow many religious festivals, some just festivals and sometimes our own family celebrations, but each one of us have certain food combinations which work well with each other and have been going on in the family for years..

Lets share with each other what are those combination which are awesome together and which we enjoy in our family.. 

In earlier days there were lots of fasting or traditional days that ladies followed and which comes with a set menu, which was relentlessly followed and continued through generations.

These traditional menus are fast dwindling and fading off..so to keep these alive lets discuss what each one follows and if not traditional do you have some food combinations that work in your home which you will like to share.

Here are a few which I follow.. This will hopefully increase once I read your comments.

1. VARAN-BHAT ,SHRIKHAND AND PHODI (potato fritters)

2.  PARATHA AND NICE HOT NESCAFE.

3. SABUDANA KHICHDI IS ALWAYS MADE ON GOOD DAYS FOR          BREAKFAST (not necessarily for a fasting day) WITH TEA.

4. SABUDANA WADA and GULAB JAMUN - special days (for my son) .

5. DAHI –WADA AND SOME CHAT ITEM -My birthday.

I was at our cousins place where I loved the combination of sabudana khichdi with ukadeche modak  going to have that once.

My sister in laws mom always has pulao with Puran poli for dinner (i.e Puran poli is always combined with pulao for a meal)

Some people enjoy Puran poli with katachi amti i.e dal made with the water leftover after cooking channa dal for the Puran poli.

Share your ideas with me and we can all follow a new tradition.

RAKSHABANDHAN DAY....

RAKSHA BANDHAN it’s a special day for brothers and sisters. On this day sisters tie rakhi on their brothers wrist to cement their bond of love, and brothers in turn vow to protect and cherish their sisters for the rest of their life.


I had posted about my Raksha bandhan day last year in my post you can read about it here.

THE PUJA THALI RAKHI

GANAPATI RAKHI

This year RAKSHABANDHAN was on 28th August and my brother was working on Rakshabandhan day as usual. So, he came a day earlier, stayed overnight so that I could tie him a Rakhi before he left for office on the RAKSHA BANDHAN DAY. This is also what he did last year (Blogging helps you keep so many memories alive for ever).
I don’t like big Rakhi’s ,as I feel delicate ones look good on my brother’s hand, This time I wanted to get something different i.e. which looked a bit different but had to be nice too as he was going to wear them to office and hence it would be seen by many of his office colleagues. I tie two Rakhi’s one for my sister who is not in India.
You will see that there are two Rakhis, the ganapati Rakhi is mine and the other one is an interesting Rakhi with a puja thali on it. It has a coconut, a ladoo and haldi-kumkum on it.
I liked it as soon as I saw it and that was the first Rakhi I set my eyes on as I entered a Rakhi shop .

MY SPICE DABBA.........

You will find this spice dabba or box in almost all houses in Maharashtra .This is a way of keeping all the spices used everyday for your daily meals in one place.


The basis of an Maharashtrian meal is the tempering, bagar or the phodni as it is called in Marathi.

We start with oil, when heated we add the mustard seeds and the cumin seeds which we allow to splutter, you should add the hing or asoefotida at this stage, then goes in the green chilies, turmeric powder and the curry leaves. This phodni is the basis of almost all the vegetables in a Maharashtrain cuisine.

Hence our spice dabba contains all these items , mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds (used for masalas) , red chili powder,haldi or turmeric powder , dhania jeera (coriander-cumin powder), I have an additional Garam masala powder (made at home by me) .





MUSTARD SEEDS(turmeric and chilli powder too)

CUMIN SEEDS ( Dhania powder seen too)

CORIANDER SEEDS

TURMERIC or HALDI POWDER and MIRCHI or CHILLI POWDER

RUKHWAT.......

Actually "RUKHWAT"are the items displayed by the girl’s family on a wedding day. It’s usually seen in Maharashtrian weddings and not in a Goan wedding. In Goans it’s the ' SHIWAN' i.e. the stitched things or items that are usually on display for the members of the boy's family to admire. Shiwan or stitched items, is the embroidery or the patchwork done with great love and fondness by the bride's mom or near and dear ones.
I will make a separate post of the shiwan when I get an opportunity to attend a typical goan wedding.
This wedding which I attended was half Goan and hence the Rukhwat.


THE BRIDE

 
HOME MADE JAM IN DECORATED BOTTLES AND COASTER

 
I was in Pune last weekend for a wedding in the family, in olden times we could see all the items supposedly made by the bride, or given by the father to his daughter, it could be anything clothes, utensils, cupboard, everything was displayed. Traditionally you can say the significance of Rukhwat is that these are things a bride carries to her new home to start her new life. It is not done at that scale nowadays; there are enthusiastic mothers who love to display some really artistically and creatively made things. This are not necessarily made by the girl but are usually a team effort of her mother, aunts, friends and relatives, but some of the items are specially made by an expert who does it only for such occasions and for the purpose of an appealing display.

ITEMS MADE OF REDUCED MILK AND ARE EDIBLE


LADOOS PRESENTED IN A DECORATED BOX WITH A BEDSHEET [ seen below the box] WHICH IS A PATCH WORK BEDSHEET MADE BY AN AUNT.

COCONUT DECORATED WITH BEADS
 
FRUITS MADE OF MILK
  All the items made here, are made by reducing milk, if you look at these items you see how intricately they are made and such precise proportions. All the items are hand made.
.
These items are made by a lady in Goa, Ms PRAFUL KELEKAR, who I haven’t had the opportunity to meet but have heard a lot about.


POOJA THALI

FIRST BIRTHDAY....

HEY!!!!!

ITS MY BLOGS FIRST BIRTHDAY TODAY...



WHAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN, I HAVE LEARNT SO MUCH AND MADE SO MANY FRIENDS WHICH WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE OTHERWISE.

BLOGGING HAS BEEN A VERY IMPORTANT STEP IN MY LIFE.

HERITAGE STRUCTURES IN GOA.....

The goan goverment tries its best to preserve the goan heritage and the old goan charm, as thats what attracts loads of visitors from all over india and the world to goa.
Here are a few houses which fall under the goan heritage colony which have to be regularly maintained . The exterior paint for these houses or buildings is fixed and they have to have it painted and fresh whole year round so that whenever there are visitors , they have to look great!!!
they really look too good ...


THIS IS AN SMALL ART GALLERY

THIS IS A SMALL INN USUALLY OCCUPIED BY FOREIGNERS THIS IS A TYPICAL GOAN WINDOW WHICH HAS SHELL EMBEDDED GLASS WORK

FRESH FISH......

FRESH , FRESH , FRESH .... thats what you say when you go through the fish market at panaji which is the capital of goa.

as you see here the market is always full , its packed, as a goan love their fish, they have to have it fresh everyday . its usually that the men folk that usually leave for the morning market buy some great and fresh fish and off they go home so that their wives can make delicious food

before they come home for the afternoon seista.

COCONUT - VERY VERY VERSATILE...

COCONUT is very important in the day to day cooking of goan families.
Goan food is incomplete without coconut which is used in gravies, as a garnish and even for sweets.
Coconut tree is the only tree that has loads of uses , each part of the tree is put to use .I managed to get
This article from google search.





if you see the above picture you will see the rows of coconut trees along the main road which passes thorough a village , there are many villages in goa so such a site is very very common.
here is the article which i managed to get from google.\

http://ambergriscaye.com/cocopalms/uses.html

USES OF COCONUT
The most versatile 'tree' in the world
you can make lumber out of the trunks of old mature trees
the fronds provide thatching materials for roofs and matting for floors or walls and for sunshades
the dried fibers of the nut can be shredded as stuffing for pillows and mattresses
You can weave the fronds to make nice hats to shade the sun from your face
Click here for how to climb coconut palms'.
the 'wrapper' of the palm can be used for toilet paper
The center veins of the frond pinnae can be bunched together to make a very good whisk broom or used individually as a toothpick
the heart of the small coconut palm tastes as good as any heart of palm that you can eat
the dried husk of the coconut makes the best cooking fire for BBQ's or just plain campfire cooking
the dried shell of the coconut can be made into many forms of bowls/cups or storage containers
the water can be drunk/cooked with or mixed with rum for cocktail hour
the meat can be rendered to make a very fine oil that can provide lighting at night or cooking oil or as a skin lotion.
the meat of either the green or ripe or sprouted coconut can be eaten raw as high energy snack food
the smoke of the burning husk is a natural mosquito repellent
So: if you ever get stranded on a deserted island hope that it is one that has lots of coconut trees!

MAPUSA FRIDAY MARKET....

MAPUSA FRIDAY MARKET


For those who know me, must be knowing my love for visiting a market place especially when I am on a vacation
According to me a market is the hub and heart of the food culture of the place. you get to see so many things here, the locals the local fruits ,vegetables, fish everything.

I was in Goa last week and I had this urge to visit MAPUSA which holds its weekly market every Friday. It’s called as the SUNKRARCHO BAZAAR , with Sunkrar being Friday.

DRY FISH SELLER

I bought my yearly supply of dry mackeral and prawns from the above lady

when i tried to click this lady she was very inhibited in front of the camera , she said that she had never been clicked before and was trying to avert from the camera , but i finally managed to get a good snap ... and also took the dried prawns from her (you can see it at the right hand corner.The wooden thing that is used is called a 'map' or a measure by which the dried prawns are sold).

These are the common spices used in goan cooking and were very fresh here.

THE SPICE SELLER

MAPUSA market is known for its fresh farm products which the farmers and traders from all parts of Goa and beyond ,from kudal,sawantwadi,banda Come here to sell their goods and buy some for their personal use.
I went there a day before diwali, which is the “festival of lights” in India.
It’s a very important festival of the year and hence it was all the more crowded and people were all the more enthusiastic about the purchases of the day.
You name it and you get it at the MAPUSA weekly market fresh fish, dry fish, fruits , vegetable , spices , kitchen tools everything .There are no stylish stall , no fancy lighting , no glamour it’s a simple village market place , but the produce are fresh and tempting.
What attracts me about these markets is the burst of colors that you see, the liveliness of the people, the pleasant smiles with which they address you and the genuineness of the whole thing .

village people are very simple and very different from the city bred .

JACOBS BAKERY IN GOA.....

BREAD!!!!! I LOVE BREAD....

Bread is eaten extensively in Goa , especially for breakfast and also with meals when either chicken or mutton gravy is cooked.
Its called PAV in the local language and comes in various shapes (will make a post on that some time).

As lots of things have changed in India so has the process of making bread.
but some bakeries still retain the charm of baking bread by hand .
now in Goa you have a handful of bakeries which have a traditional oven built in the wall where huge amounts of fresh bread is baked daily.

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a bakery at Kalapur in Goa , my hubby's cousin Suraj organized my visit to this bakery so that i could click some pictures and share them with you.


 
BAKER-MAN ROLLING DOUGH FOR THE BREAD


 
DOUGH READY TO BE ROLLED INTO THE REQUIRED SHAPE


 
DOUGH BEING PUT INTO THE OVEN


 




 


 
BREAD JUST OUT OF THE OVEN


 
BAKER READY TO DELIVER HIS GOODS ( very happy to have his photo clicked )

 
BREAD LEFT TO COOL

 
JACOBS BAKERY