The Solitary Hut

Its after a long long time I am back at my space. Believe me I really missed blogging. Since I am still busy with quite a many stuffs and changes I may disappear now and then.
A big Thanks to all blog buddies who regularly visited my space and gave their previous comments. Sorry for not replying to all of you. Sorry to all my blogger friends for not commenting to all your beautiful posts.
Meanwhile in my busy schedule I could not stop myself from painting. This painting is primarily my version of   a Nicholas Hankins painting. The original is of course heavenly. Hope I could do a bit of justice to it.

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Together we

Completed this painting a few days back. Swans are beautiful creatures. Loved painting them.

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Instant suji dhokla in microwave

The story is:  Mr. Husband is not very fond of besan and its recipes. And I am completely in love with besan recipes. Savories like dhokla , cheela and farsan are my favorite snacks. This leads to big dilemma when I crave for these stuff. So the solution being substitute besan with something which will result the same taste. Hence the aforesaid  recipe. Quick and tasty, this makes a wonderful tea time snack or even a nice healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:
A cup of suji
A cup of curd
a teaspoon of eno
salt as per taste
sugar half a teaspoon
grated ginger
chopped chilies, chopped coriander
a pinch of turmeric
For tempering:
2 tsp oil
a pinch of hing
a curry leaves(i didnt have)
half a tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp lemon juice


Mix the salt, sugar, curd, grated ginger, chopped chilies to the suji. Mix well, so that no lumps remain. Add a pinch of turmeric, a little chilly powder(if you love spicy). You can add a tsp of refined oil. Mix well. Keep covered for half n hour. After half n hour, grease a microwaveable container deep enough to let the mixture bloom atleast 3 times. Add eno to the suji mixture. Mix well and immediately transfer the mixture to the greased container. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Check by inserting a knife. It should come off clean. Cool for 5 more minutes. Cut into squares or diamond shape. Heat 2 tsp of oil in kadhai. Once oil is hot, throw in a pinch of heeng, a tsp of mustard seeds,  curry leaves, 2-3 slit chilies. When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the dhoklas. Sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice. Toss for a minute. Garnish with coriander and serve.

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Snowy foothills

I had painted this one a few days back but wanted to add a few details here and there. Finally i completed this today. A chilly snowy winter evening at the foothills

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Spring at foothills

My version of a Bob Ross painting. I wish I could watch all his TV series, amazing artist and an equally amazing personality. He made painting such a fun with his patent phrases like "Happy little cloud" or "Lets give a friend to this tree".

Regarding the painting, I am not very satisfied. May be it was because of Acrylics which dry to quick, I am not able to blend colors as I want. May be I should try with oils now.

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Morning glory and blue bird

Painted this today. A bluebird among-st morning glories.
I was not able to justice to the leaves, but quite satisfied with the bird and flowers.

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Breezy seaside

This is my first effort at painting a seascape. I always feared painting waves. Somehow I had the feeling that painting waves would be a disaster. But after trying different landscapes I couldn't avoid painting a sea. Having said that, today I have just painted a very distance sea. Next time I am going to paint seascape, it would be crashing waves in details. But before that I need to study the anatomy of crashing waves. Lets see what Google and YouTube can provide me.

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Phulkopir singara.. The typical bengali Cauliflower samosa

In one of my previous posts "Tale of many cities", I had written about cities and towns where I had stayed briefly or for long. These cities have their own bundle of memoirs. Sweet or savory each city has offered many "MUST EATs". One such city which remained unaccounted for in my post was Agartala. Baba was posted to this capital city for some months. Although because of my studies Ma n me could not shift to Agartala, being an avid traveler like ourselves we did make it a point to visit or rather stay in Agartala for a month(of course during my sem break). And what did I like about Agartala? The lazy and peaceful life for starters, the bengali sweet shops in every nook and corner and the "SAMOSA", crisp and thin on the outside and extremely delicious in the inside. I never liked Samosa so much, except for Ma-made Aloo Phulkopir Singara(Aloo Gobhi Samosa). But this beauty was an exception. Not too large, just the perfect size, this Samosa is To Die For.

We bongs are a weird lot(no offense meant). While we love to have aloo in all our veggie as well as non-veggie recipes, we love our Samosa (or Shingara সিংগারা )with other veggies specially Gobhi along with aloo.Come winters , when the beautiful florets start blooming in the market, its almost customary to make Singara at home. 

I am not bounded by the seasonal constraint here in US as we get Cauliflowers around the year, so I decided to make these favorites at home a few days back.

So here goes the ingredients and the how to make:

For the outer covering:
A cup of flour
2-3 tbsp oil
salt to taste
a pinch of baking powder

Mix the salt, baking powder and oil to the flour. Now start adding water slowly and kneading. Knead till dough becomes smooth and firm. Cover and keep for half an hour.

For the filling:
half or full cauliflower depending on size, cut into small florets
1 medium potato(chopped)
roasted or fried peanuts, crushed coarsely
frozen peas half a cup to 1 cup
a tsp of cumin seed
salt to taste
chopped green chilies(2)
chopped coriander
a tsp turmeric
a tsp aamchur
1 inch of ginger grated
2 tsp of roasted cumin seed powder

Heat oil , temper the cumin seed. Now add the chopped potatoes and cauliflower and green chilies. Toss on high for few minutes, add turmeric and salt. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Now add all the spices and peas, mix well and toss , sprinkle a little water if needed. Cover and cook till done. Lastly add coriander and roasted peanut. Keep aside to cool.
Now take the dough, pinch out small balls from it. Roll the ball thin to a circle (more like an elongated circle). Cut into half. Take one half. Brush a little water into the straight edge, and form a cone. Fill the cone with mixture. Seal the top perfectly. Deep fry on medium flame.
Enjoy!!

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The homemade PIZZA

A couple of months back I had severe allergy and eczema. The eczema has not yet completely gone. The doc asked me to go for an allergy patch test. Oh its one the worst medical tests. Anyways the verdict: I have severe allergy to nickel and benzoic acid. And that means "NO CHOCOLATE", no tinned foods , no salmon, no blah blah blah and of course possibly "no eating out". Imagine life without Chocolate.. a sweetaholic person like myself, this is no less than a punishment. Poor me... buuuuhhuuuu..
Anyways since we have stopped eating out, I thought of making a pizza at home, with almost everything homemade. From the crust to the sauce, all was made at home. And believe me, the pizza came out really delicious.
So here's what I used and did
Ingredients
For the base :
about 1 and a 1/2 cup flour
2-3 tablespoon olive oil
instant yeast - a sachet
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For sauce(U can use ready-made tomato sauce) :
2 Large tomatoes
a little butter
2 garlic pods
a tsp of olive oil
any Italian seasoning(I used oregano, basil)
chilly flakes
crushed black pepper

For toppings
shredded mozzarella cheese
any veggies U like
I used Red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes(cut into halves and deseeded), mushroom, onion
Pepperoni(if U like, else skip) 

 Preparation
If using instant yeast ,proof the yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water ,1/2 tsp sugar. Let it bloom for 10 mins or so until it doubles. In a bowl, start kneading flour, salt and olive oil. After a couple of  minutes of kneading, start adding the yeast slowly and keep kneading. Make a perfect dough. Smear a deep bowl or utensil with oil and keep this dough in the bowl , covering the bowl with a lid in a warm place. You can keep it in your oven or microwave. In an hour the dough should double its size. Meanwhile for the sauce, I blanched the tomatoes. Remove the skin of the tomatoes, make a puree. In a pan heat olive oil. Add crushed garlic. Add a little butter for that wonderful aroma. Now add the tomato puree. Add salt as per taste, and the other seasonings and crushed black pepper. Simmer for a few minutes.

Now after an hour, take the dough, punch it to release all air, and roll it into a nice large circle. Place on a pizza pan or baking sheet and bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Keep checking, do not burn the crust.

Once the crust is done, smear a layer of tomato sauce, top it with your veggies and other toppings. Top with a generous amount of shredded cheese. Bake till the cheese melts. I kept on broil for 2 mins. Enjoy your home-made pizza.

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The mountains

Its almost a year since I have restarted painting.  Now I realize how immature my paintings were a year back , lacking all the technical details. I am trying to learn all these technicalities and I still have a long long way to go. In between I switched from watercolors to acrylic. Its fun to work with acrylics, although it dries off way too fast, its forgiving as well. If you make mistakes you can easily rectify by re-painting over it.
This is a painting on 11 x 14 canvas, with acrylic. The second one is with the flash on.
Pitfalls :
I still cant get the clouds correct.. :( .
The green color is a little too over  powering. 

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Cheesy buttery garlic rolls

The other day I baked my first bread. I was contented with my result, but wanted to improve. So again I tried today. And wow, the bread(roll actually) came as wonderful as I could imagine of. Simply simply perfect and sooo delicious. No I am not bragging. Better no more talks.
Here's what I did:
Used: 1 sachet of active yeast(around a teaspoon)
A cup and a half of All Purpose flour(the first day I had used half maida and half aata, the roll was not so very very fluffy as today's)
A teaspoon of sugar
A teaspoon of salt or as per taste
A bunch of cilantro
3-4 pods of garlic
A few green chilies for our Indian palate
around 2 teaspoon of butter
Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
A tbs or two of olive oil

For active yeast proof the yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Let it bloom for 10 mins. Now in bowl start kneading flour, salt, olive oil with the yeast mixture. You may not require the whole yeast mixture. Use till you get a smooth perfect dough. Keep the dough in a bowl in a warm place, covered for an hour or so. I kept the bowl in my microwave with the microwave door open.
Meantime, blend the butter, garlic , cilantro and chilly to a spreadable consistency.
After an hour, the dough must have risen to twice. Punch it down. Now roll it into a rectangle of approx 1/2 inch thick. Spread the garlic butter . Sprinkle the grated cheese.

Roll the rectangle and then slice into discs. Place them in an oil smeared baking tray. Microwave the remaining butter. Add a little more chopped cilantro. Brush the top with the garlic cilantro butter mixture. Sprinkle a little mozzarella. Keep for another 45 minutes. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven at 375F. Bake fore 20 minutes.
Happy Baking!!

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A tranquil Sunrise

Although I did learn sketching, I never really learnt painting. At my drawing classes, saw girls and boys learning oil painting. At home during free time , I usually tried my hand with the poster colors. 

Now I yearn to learn painting. There are so many technicalities of which I had no idea before. I have been watching a few videos of Wilson Bickford at youtube. He is a professional artist and teacher. Wish I could learn from him personally. His paintings are amazing and inspire me with different ideas. This painting is inspired from one of his paintings. 

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Romantically moonlit

The full moon always captivates me. I believe that "Chaandi" चांदनी (Full moon in hindi) magically transforms even the ordinary things to pure beauty. Since childhood I had cherished this dream of visiting and seeing the TAJ on a full moon night. What magic the full moon does to the grandeur of TAJ, I cant imagine.

There is this park in Gwalior Phool Bag(hope its still there). So one such चांदनी रात of a lazy balmy summer, my parents and I had gone to this PhoolBag to enjoy the cool summary night breeze. And while taking walk along the lanes of the park, I saw the beautiful full moon with a solitary leaf bare tree in its foreground. The scene made quite impact. Summer it was , with no homework and studies, so the moment we came back that night after our evening stroll, I took out my poster colors and drawing book and painted the scene engraved in my memory. I really don't know why I had painted it in monochrome. 

While doing this painting those memories came rushing into my mind.

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Moong Daal paratha

My Ma makes daal puri of urad daal, but daal paratha I had never tasted. I got this recipe from :
www.maayeka.blogspot.com/2012/04/moong-daal-paratha.html. Than Anjana for sharing such a wonderful and healthy recipe. Made from moong daal, this paratha can be a complete meal.
Since my recipe is a ditto of hers except that I added hing (asafoetida ) while adding fennel and cumin, I wont go about scribbling the recipe here.
Its a worth try and if you like the smell of hing , do put a pinch of it. The whiff of hing makes the paratha deliciously alluring. 

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Dahi Kabab (Yogurt Kabab)

I love yogurt and any recipes with yogurt. I got this recipe from NDTV. Carried out the recipe almost word to word. So I would rather Ctrl C , Ctrl V , with my tini-mini changes here and there.
Ingredients:

400 gms yoghurt
100 gms paneer
2 teaspoons chopped onion
1 tsp chopped ginger
Half a handful of chopped fresh coriander

10 finely chopped almonds
7 to 8 chopped raisins
1/2 tsp white pepper powder(didnt use)
1/2 a tsp green cardamom powder
salt to taste
oil to grill
Cornflour to dust
A cup of ready to eat oats(didnt use)

Method:

Hang yoghurt overnight in a muslin cloth.I hung it for 4-5 hrs.
Saute the onion and ginger in minimum oil till the onions turn translucent. Keep aside to cool.
Take the yoghurt in a bowl. Add crumbled cottage cheese, chopped raisins, coriander, almonds, and the onion mixture. Add the white pepper powder, cardamom powder and salt. Instead of white pepper I added chopped green chilies and a little roasted cumin fennnel and pepper powder(my bhaja masala)
Now make round patties with this gooey mix and pat a bit of cornflour on the outside, after giving them a shape.
Crush the oats to resemble breadcrumbs and dredge the patties in this oat powder. I didnt have oats , so used breadcrumbs.
Grease a pan with olive oil, and grill these on a medium hot skillet, till they turn brown.
Serve hot with chutney.

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Sunrise

A splendid sunrise by the river..

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Ghugni or "The Yellow peas Bengali snack"

Actually the title is not literally correct. A because the Ghugni is not a native to Bengal rather to the East Indian states of Bihar , Bengal , Orissa or Odisha(I recently happened to know that the state's name has got changed, phew God only knows what the achieve by changing names) and B its not just a snack but rather healthy breakfast too. Served in many households along with Luchi (Maida puri) or Muri (Puffed rice), this is a easy , hearty and ever welcome breakfast. And for snacks,Ghugni topped with onions , a little tamarind chutney goes great with the Cuppa.

The best Ghugni of the world award always goes to Ma's Ghugni. No its not just my mom, its the same for all bongs. Ask any bong,the best Ghugni they ever tasted and they would definitely say : "Ma er kora Ghugni" (cooked by Mom), at least I say so, Mr Husband says so, my Ma says so, my bong friends say so(long list). I really don't know whats the secret behind this mystery. So the other day I made Ghugni for breakfast, it didn't turn as wonderful as my Ma's , nonetheless it was quite yummy.
Here's the ingredients:
a cup of yellow or white peas
an onion chopped
a tomato chopped
ginger chili paste
a potato cut into dices
ginger julienne
chopped corainder,
bhaja masala(Dry roast a handful of jeera , saunf, few peppercorns and dry red chilly depending on hotness , then grind ) or roasted jeera powder
a bay leaf
Jeera

Since it was weekday I was making Ghugni , and I did not have much time in the early morning rush hours, I soaked the peas the previous day for 3-4 hours and then pressured cooked them until rightly soft but not mushy, kept the boiled peas in fridge to use the next morning.

Heat oil  in kadhai, fry the potato dices till light golden, keep aside. In the same oil(you may reduce the oil in case its too much), add bay leaf and cumin seeds. Let them splutter. Now add the onions, fry till golden brown. Add ginger chilly paste and chopped tomatoes. Fry for 3 minutes. Add turmeric, salt and keep frying till oil separates. Now add the peas and fried potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped onion and coriander and ginger julienne. Sprinkle a little bhaja masala.
I served it with Muri(puffed rice) and tea

Footnote: We have switched to Green tea as our daily breakfast cuppa. Although not as tasty and flavorful like Darjeeling or Assam or Masala tea and completely sugarless and milk-less, the green has immense health benefits compared to milk tea. And somehow we have come to enjoy this tea more than milk or black tea.

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Sorse Kopi.. Cauliflower in mustard and coconut

Bongs love any recipe with mustard paste in it..The pungent and sharp taste of ground mustard adds magic to many veggies as well as pisces recipes. Love knows no bounds and so is our love for this humble seed.

The other day I was bored of cooking and eating aloo gobhi (dry or gravy whatever). Since the choice of veggies is quite limited in Texas, and ones like Mr Cauliflower are my guest at all time any season of the year, I decided to try something new. And what better option then Sorse Kopi (Cauliflower in mustard), a very very simple and quick recipe with a very different taste to the palate.

I used:
1 medium Gobhi(Cauliflower)
5-6 green chilies (depending on the heat U like)
2 tbs of grated coconut
2 tbs of mustard seeds (soak it for an hr)
salt to taste
turmeric
a pinch of sugar
oil for cooking

Cut the gobhi into medium size florets. Keep the florets immersed in hot water (with a pinch of salt) for 5mins.(they should retain their crunch) Drain water and pat the florets dry.
Meanwhile make a paste of mustard seeds with 3-4 green chilies and a pinch of salt and a little water. I usually strain the mustard paste with a tea strainer to remove the skin of mustard seeds. In the strained mustard paste , I then add the grated coconut and give it a quick churn. Now in a kadhai , heat a little oil. Mustard oil is definitely preferred. Throw in a little nigella seeds, a dry red chilly. Add the florets and fry on high for few minutes. Now add turmeric , salt and a pinch of sugar. Add 2-3 slit green chilies After frying for a minute on high flame, cover the kadhai and keep on medium flame for few minutes. Once the gobhi is half done , add the mustard coconut paste , stir for a minute and then cover and keep on medium flame for a few minutes more. Once the gobhi is done, toss it on high for a minute or two. Enjoy with rice or roti.

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Fall Colors In Acrylic

Roaring waterfall by the mountains

Fire everywhere

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Blooms n Blooms

I love flowers.. and love to paint them.

Iris Flower.. 

Hibiscus

Being new to Acrylic paints (before I always painted with water colors), I have to go a long way before I am comfortable with Acrylics. Tried a few flowers with Acrylic but not satisfied.

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The solitary abode

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