Saturday 19 December 2015

Easy Delicious VEGETARIAN MAYONNAISE WITHOUT EGG!

With festive season round the corner, holidays afore and house full of dear ones; a homemaker needs quick fixes, store supplies and yet present delicious food.
Here i have for you a very easy and simple Mayonnaise recipe WITHOUT EGGS.
I made it tasting a bit at a time and adding ingredients
So here is what I did


Ingredients

  • Refined white flour (maida)           3 tablespoons
  • Butter                                          50 grams
  • Milk                                             2 and 1/2 cups
  • Salt                                             1 generous pinch
  • Sugar                                           2 tablespoons
  • White vinegar                               3 tablespoons

Method

Take a heavy bottom utensil and let the butter soften in it. Mix it or rather mash it well with the flour to make a smooth paste.
Now put the utensil on medium flame. Don't fry the flour to brown shade. Instead if you want white mayonnaise start adding milk to it little a time and continuously keep whisking the bubbling boiling mix. Once the all the milk is used up and you feel the consistency is right, take the utensil away from the heat.
Let it cool down
Gradually add in salt, sugar and vinegar to it and mix well
Taste it and you can improvise upon it as per your own taste.

VEGETARIAN MAYONNAISE IS READY

Note: While the utensil is on flame keep whisking continuously to avoid lumps in your mayonnaise

Variations
This is a very interesting part. You can make any kind of spread or dip with this basic mayonnaise by adding a little twist, such as:
  1. Add a little tomato sauce as per your taste or wish for colour to get a pinkish tangy mayo
  2. Add a little mustard paste or kasundi to get the heat of mustard
  3. Add melted cheese of your choice
  4. Add assorted fine chopped herbs
  5. Add assorted fine sliced/chopped vegetables and/or fruits (the picture given bellow has pomegranates, lettuce leaves and pink onion chopped)
  6. Add a crushed garlic clove for a little Mediterranean taste
  7. Go non-vegetarian by adding shredded boiled chicken or mashed boiled egg or fish. Go grab your sandwich
  8. and many more from your imagination  
Advantages
It stays well if kept in refrigerator in an air tight container  for a week or more
It has far less calories than egg mayonnaise or fresh cream
It has longer shelf life than egg mayonnaise

I tried this in number of occasions with friends and family, and they loved it
Now you try it
You will surely love it
Enjoy!

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Wednesday 2 December 2015

TRAVELOGUE: KAZIRANGA AND GUWAHATI

Hi! We took a beautiful short trip to Assam, mainly Guwahati and Kaziranga!
We took a train from Kolkata to Guwahati, but got down at a station before Guwahati, Kamakhya Railway station. Here we hired an auto to Kamakhya Temple for 200INR. The auto took us to the mountain top where the temple complex is.
This ancient temple is one of the very holy Hindu temple, also known as Pitha-Sthaan.


The temple complex has many deities stone carvings. Animal sacrifice is still practiced  here.

Then we went to our guest house, freshened up, had a quick lunch and went to Assam State Museum.
There are beautiful collection of artifacts here. The kids specially enjoyed the Assamese village household made inside the museum.
This statue of Durga in the museum was dug up in Assam. Hindu mythology talk of Goddess Durga, who was empowered by many Gods to fight the demon King Mahisasur. Here Durga is seen with 20 hands with various weapons riding a lion slaying Mahisasur  who appeared out of a cut buffalo(mahish) body.
In the evening we went to nearby markets namely Paan bazaar and Fancy bazaar.
Get yourself a Mekhala Chador, traditional wear of Assamese women.

The next morning we went to Tezpur.
Lovely, peaceful place.

BEHOLD! We are in KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK!



We took a jeep safari. Here we saw elephants, deers, wild boar, pelicans, famous Indian one horned Rhinoceros and many other birds. Tigers are a bit difficult to spot. It was great fun. My hubby, Suman was most thrilled of the lot.

Can you guess, what plant or fruit is this?
?
This is peppercorn.
Tasted it. Fresh, strong flavor with sharp heat. 

Another question
Where am I?
?
I am standing in a TEA GARDEN
These manicured shrubs caught my attention while traveling. Found that these are tea plants, and so went in.
The trees in between the the TEA shrubs have  PEPPER climbers on them.
Very Interesting!
Even chew some raw tea leaves. They leave the tastes of tannin behind..

These are orchids
This one in particular looks like the flower of banana and also smells like it..

We were lucky to be able to visit KAZIRANGA NATIONAL ORCHID PARK. Just 2 to 3 kilometer from main gate of Kaziranga National park, was inaugurated on 14th October 2015. This is the effort of  motivated people under guidance of eminent activist Akhil Gogai. It was honour to meet him in person. Very humble and enthusiastic person.
Best time to visit is March and April when all orchids are in full bloom.

Kids thrilled after they saw pitcher plant. There is cultivation of all the orchids of North East India, 200 varieties of rice, medicinal plants, two ponds full of fishes and picture gallery. They also have authentic Asamese cuisine served here, Asamese cultural pro gramme including Bihu danced being showcased and also a real tree house. MUST GO....

Here we are on Agnigarh hill top. Strain your eyes and see behind us the Kolia Bhomora Setu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolia_Bhomora_Setu This is 3015 meter long bridge built on Brahmaputra river not only joining two parts of Assam but also an important landmark joining North Eastern states of India with the mainland.


Kids having fun of Agnigrah hill. Agnigarh tells the mythological story of Tezpur. The Har-Hara war when the place was strewn with dead and blood, gives this now peaceful place its name "Tezpur".

We came back home refreshed with lovely memories...
Enjoy Assam...

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  Vibrant Mushroom Botanical Watercolor Painting is a great Artwork to own. Watch me paint Bright Watercolor Mushroom and you can enjoy this...