Makar Sankranti Haldi-Kumkum

I hosted a Makar Sankranti Haldi-KumKum couple of weeks back. With the chilly weather upon us, we can hardly step out for socializing, and so Haldi-KumKum is a perfect occasion to call over the girls for snacks and tea/ coffee and some chit-chat. Traditionally, the ladies wear black dress, or sari for this occasion. Black is the color of this festival and usually it is not a color associated with any festive occasion in Hindus; but Makar Sankranti is one festival you are welcome to wear black. There is a more so of a rational reason to it which being, sankranti falls in winter and wearing black helps absorb the sunlight and warmth.

My mum hosted haldi-kumkums every sankranti and I remember as a little girl, I dressed up in a sari (my love for saris I tell you!) and helped my mum organizing the get-together. The tilgul ladoos made of sesame jaggery and groundnut were my fave. Sesame and groundnuts are yummy in taste and also perfect for winters since they help to generate body heat.

This is a haldi-kumkum thali consisting of - haldi-kumkum, tilgul ladoos, a cotton puff with perfume scent, The tradition is to apply haldi-kumkum on the forehead of the lady, apply perfume on the her hand, and then give tilgul and halwa (little sugary sweets) and finally gifting a small token of love.

I gifted these small packets to each one of my friends. The packet had a hand cream, two types of sesame sweets and some chocolates. I must admit it was fun preparing these little packets; reminded me of childhood days when we exchanged return gifts after a birthday party.

I made a couple of Indian snacks and tea and coffee to serve the girls. Snacks were Sabudana khichadi (yummy dish made from sago and groundnut powder), Moong-dal pakodas (fried fritters) served with green chutney and ketchup along with some store-bought savories. I served tea in these ornate cups and saucers I got from India. I love sipping tea from cup-and-saucer, reminds me so much of how it is done back home.

I followed my mum's recipe for Moong dal pakodas. Soak 2 cups of moong-dal with 1/2 cup of udad dal for 4-5 hours. Grind it coarsely with green chillies per taste, ginger and garlic, and some jeera (fennel seeds). Heat oil in deep pan and fry spoonfuls of dough for some crispy pakodas. I add few teaspoons of hot oil to the batter (dunno why, but my mum tells me to, so!) before starting to fry.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the food or us all ladies (except for this one). All of my friends did dress up in black and couple of them even managed time to change into Indian outfits (even though it was a weekday). I wore a black long skirt with a gold top and black and gold dupatta. Sari seemed tedious to wear with all the cooking and arrangements I had to make!

Well, it was a fun evening and only thing I regret now is not taking pictures :)

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Party favors

So I am bit of procrastinator (sounds more like the terminator :P) when it comes to responding to emails, FB posts and the list goes on. But since writing this blog, I have come to realize that I have to own up to everything - and that includes the recipes that I promised to share on my blog :)

So after what seems like eons after the post on heat and the best drink to beat it, I present you the recipe for my fav drink of all times.  (Yes, I wrote an entire post on the heat quotient, sizzling temps and my fav drink..guess I was really delirious from the heat et. al.)

Well, here’s the perfect recipe to the fav drink of all times. I have adopted it from here. 

   Home-madey Lemonade\nimbu-pani

Ingredients: lemons, sugar, water, ice, saffron/ginger (optional)

Quick summary of the process (for quick readers): To sum up, it’s really boiling sugar and water together and mixing it with the lemon juice and water. Serve chilled over ice and that’s it to the lemonade.

For an elaborate description, read on for the steps with a sprinkling of tips here and there :)

Steps:

1. I made a ‘simple syrup’ using same qty sugar and water (yes the same syrup that you would soak Gulab jamuns in case you didn’t know). I put together ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water in a small saucepan on med-high gas

Quick Tip - you can also microwave the mixture too till the sugar dissolves in the water.

2. I added 4-5 saffron strands just after I turned off the gas and when the syrup was still warm. Saffron gives a nice hint of orange-yellow to the lemonade and a sweet aroma.

Quick Tip - I have also tried switching saffron to ginger sometimes. Take 1-inch cube of ginger and grate it or pinch between a pair of tongs to bring out the juice and flavor the syurp. Lemon-ginger combo has a unique taste.

3. I squeezed out juice from 3 lemons.

Quick Tip - Sometimes I just preferred limes over lemons ‘cause of the supremely tangy taste of limes, but then be mindful of the sugar qty if you are not going for the tangy taste.

4. In a pitcher, stir together the saffron syrup, lemon juice, 4 cups water. I skipped on the cardamom powder.

5. Serving Tip- I served the lemonade in tall glasses; it just brings a zing to the presentation. I dipped a rim of glass in water and coated it with salt (regular salt is fine if don’t have a margarita salt). 

6. Serve the lemonade chilled over ice. Add one or two lemon slices to the drink. 

When the salt and lemonade mixture hits your mouth, it’s pure bliss :)

I have another quick-fix recipe for lemonade – but I will keep it for another post.

While I am at food blogging, I wanted to post another recipe for a quick party favor - Paav-bhaji crostini
Paav-bhaji, a street side food served in Mumbai, is a spicy-n-buttery mixture of mashed veggies served with toasty bread. For Paav-bhaji, I usually trust this recipe. 

Yes, it’s as it simple as it sounds, of course when you have left over paav-bhaji sitting in your fridge. Instead of just having it regular style, why not jazz it up Italian style, eh?

As you may remember from here, I had friends over one Friday. And that led to left over paav bhaji for the next day. What did I do then? I made Paav-Bhaji crostinis :)

1. Take a paav/bread ( or a regular sandwich bread is fine) and cut small circles out of it using a cookie cutter (or a small sharp edged bowl). 
2. Apply butter on one side and toast it on a hot sizzling pan. 

3. Spread one table spoon of paav bhaji on it, sprinkle it will with some finely diced onions, tomato, coriander and some red chilli pwder for added kick. 

Tats it, my friends, your quick party favor is ready. 
We all love paav bhaji, so why not try it in a different avatar? I bet it will surprise the guests with your creativity. Hey and you can always use fresh paav bhaji, just let it come to room temp before serving (don’t want it to dampen the crispy paav crostini, do we now?;) )


So that was desi food served with an Italian twist, do you try such quirky twists in kitchen?