Chicken Curry

3:26 PM Unknown 0 Comments
Ingredients:
Chicken-1lb
Onion- 1 (finely chopped)
Ginger&Garlic paste-2 tsp
Tomato- 1 (finely chopped)
Chilli Powder- 1tsp
Corriander Powder- 1/2 tsp
Pepper- 1/2 tsp
Curry Masala Powder- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- few

Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan  and fry onions and ginger garlic paste to golden brown color. Add turmeric, tomato and all other masala powders and saute until tomato becomes soft. Add chicken and fry for few minutes. Pour 1 cup of water and allow the chicken to cook well. When it is 3/4 th cooked , remove lid from pan and allow it to dry to required consistency.

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Aloo Gobi – Potato Cauliflower – Masala Curry

3:17 PM Unknown 0 Comments


This recipe is about Aloo (Potatoes) and Gobi (Cauliflower). When I was staying in Delhi (not so long), I had a chance to live with a north Indian family. Aunty who was my neighbor used to cook very tasty and traditional North-Indian Aloo Gobi. I was luckily enough to had it for the first time. After that i had another chance to have tasty alu Gobi on-the-air. First time when I travelled to India by Indian airlines, they provided a spicy mixture of vegetable made of potatoes and cauliflower. I liked it so much. So, here comes the recipe of aloo Gobi, that i never miss to cook at least one time a week. I will keep the recipe preparation as simple as possible, so that it will be easier for beginners of Indian cooking.

Ingredients

  • Cauliflower -1 large
  • Potatoes -3 large
  • Onion -2 (chopped)
  • Tomato -3
  • Ginger -1/2 tsp. (paste)
  • Garlic -4 pieces (paste)
  • Cooking Oil - 4 tbsp.
  • Coriander leaves -1 (chopped)
  • Cumin seeds - 1tbsp.
  • Turmeric -1tbsp.
  • Salt- 1tbsp.
  • Garam masala – 2tbsp.
  • Coriander Powder- 1 tsp.
  • Chili powder -1/2tsp.

Method

Step 1

Potato and Cauliflower preparation: Peel the skin of potato, cut into medium sized cubes. Now, cut Cauliflower into big size florets.

Step 2


Tempering and Frying: Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan, add finely chopped onions and cumin seeds. Now add ginger garlic paste to the mixture. Fry until onions become creamy, golden, and translucent. Add finely chopped tomato to the mixture and fry well until everything turns in to creamy sauce. Now add garam masala, corriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Step 3

Add Potato and Cauliflower to masala mixture: When nice aroma come out add chopped potatoes and cauliflower to the frying mixture. Make sure that potato and cauliflower doesn’t stick to the pan. Sprinkle little water and ensure that the potatoes and cauliflower are coated with the curry sauce. Cook it in a low flame until potatoes are cooked nicely.

Step 4

Garnishing - Final touch: Turnoff the heat and finally garnish the curry with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Tips:

Before tempering, you can fry the potatos and cauliflower in 2 tbsp. of oil. So that it doesn’t take much time to cook.

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Lemon Rice – South Indian

3:11 PM Unknown 0 Comments



Lemon rice is a very famous and delicious authentic south Indian rice dish that can be prepared in few minutes by adding cooked rice with fresh lemon juice. Usually lemon rice goes well with raitha or Pappad snacks. In Tamil Nadu, this dish commonly prepared during festivals, traditional festivals and it is served as a prasadam in south Indian temples too. Together with Tamarind rice, Lemon rice is a popular long-lasting travel food. This rice also spelled as Ellumichai Sadam, Ellumichai Satham, Lime rice, Chitrannam, Lemon ki chawal.

Ingredients

  • Rice (cooked)- 1cup
  • Peas - 1/2cup
  • Lemon-1/2 (for juice)
  • Cashew nuts-10
  • Peanuts - 50gms
  • Onion -1(chopped)
  • Green chilly-1(chopped)
  • Turmeric powder-1/2tbsp
  • Gram dal-1/2tbsp
  • Cumin Jeera-1/2tbsp
  • Mustard seeds-1/2tbsp
  • Vegetable oil-4tbsp

Method

Step 1

Rice preparation: Wash and cook the rice with salt using 2 cups of water or little lesser. (The quantity of water differs as per type of rice). Be careful with the water, because for preparing variety rice, always cooked rice must be non-sticky. So, try to use less water than normal. Once the rice is cooked, transfer it to big plate. Cool down to room temperature. So that the rice retains its shape. Now the rice is ready for making Lemon rice.

Step 2

Peas preparation: Wash and Cook green peas with salt. If you are using frozen peas, then soak it in hot water for few mins and keep it ready for next step.

Step 3

Tempering and Frying onions: Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, When it is splitters add cumin seeds, gram dals, green chilly and onion. Fry the onion till it turns to golden color. Make sure that the burner is in medium flame.

Step 4

Lemon / Lime Juice Preparation: Extract the juice of lemon and filter the lime seeds. Now add lemon juice to the tempering. Fry for few seconds.

Step 5

Adding Peas: Mix the cooked (or frozen) peas to the tempered ingredients. Stir well.

Step 6

Mixing rice: Now add cooked rice to the ingredients. Then mix all the ingredients. Don’t mix too much.

Step 7

Add Nuts – Cashews and Peanuts: Remove the rice from the heat. Now, Roast cashews and groundnuts with 1 tsp of ghee/oil in a fresh pan seperately. Mix those nuts to the rice. You can also garnish Lemon Rice with Coriander leaves.Now yummy tasty lemon rice is ready to serve! Serve with papaddam or vathal.

Tips:

1) In order to keep the nuts crispy even after a long time, don’t add it when you prepare the dish. But, add it once the rice dish is removed from the heat and kept in room temperature for sometime.
2) You can use 1 tsp. oil before cooking the rice (just fry it in a hot pan for few mins). So that it retains its shape and rice doesn’t stick to each other after cooked. This step is important to make any variety rice dishes.

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Top 5 Foods to Feed Your Face

3:03 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Eating a nutritious and well-balanced diet is good for your health as well as beauty because it helps maintain younger-looking skin.

Foods rich in vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and vitamin E, in particular, are excellent for maintaining beautiful skin and hair.


These vitamins are useful for maintaining smooth skin and preventing skin disorders. Furthermore, make sure you drink sufficient water at regular intervals throughout the day. It is usually recommended to drink at least eight glasses of water in a day.

Here are top 5 foods that can prove to be highly beneficial for maintaining healthy skin

Orange for beauty

Orange is widely known for maintaining glowing and gorgeous skin. In addition, it slows down the aging of skin.

Thus, you can eat this fruit, drink its juice or apply rejuvenating face masks prepared from orange juice or orange peels to benefit your skin.

It contains amino acids, folic acid, flavonoids, and antioxidants that are considered excellent for skin. Needless to say, it is a good source of vitamin C.

When applied on skin, it cures acne, makes your skin soft, reduces wrinkles, opens pores, and works as a natural bleach to fade skin pigmentation and blemishes.

Avocado

Researchers have found that having avocado pulp encourages the production of embryonal collagen which, in turn, helps maintain smooth and wrinkle-free skin.

It is packed with vitamin A and contains an amino acid called glutamine that regulates cell growth and tightens loose skin.

The antioxidants present in this fruit help remove toxins that cause premature aging. It contains niacin that soothes red, blotchy skin. Moreover, regularly eating avocados lowers blood cholesterol levels.

Plus, you can apply facial masks prepared from avocado pulp to maintain soft skin. When dealing with sunburn, you can apply avocado oil for soothing the skin.

Mango

Eating mangoes is a delicious way to pamper your skin. They have a rejuvenating effect on dull skin. In addition, mangoes are packed with vitamin A and antioxidants that repair skin cells, reduce skin inflammation caused by sunburn, and fight free radicals that lead to premature aging of skin.

Moreover, you can scrub your face and neck with a paste of mango pulp and a couple of teaspoons of milk powder. Besides, you can apply a combination of mango, yogurt, and oatmeal.

Nuts

Nut and seeds like almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and so on are a good source of essential fatty acids.

You can munch on roasted nuts and seeds as snacks or sprinkle them on your yogurt, oatmeal, etc. Pumpkin seeds, for instance, are rich in zinc, too, and thus, promote skin renewal by maintaining collagen.

Furthermore, almonds are loaded with vitamin E that nourishes your skin and protects it from the damage caused by the sun’s ultraviolet rays. While taking nuts and seeds, though, eat them in moderation as they tend to be high in calories.

Broccoli

Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable high in antioxidants. Being packed with beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, and folate, it promotes collagen production, thereby assisting in maintaining supple skin, improving the turnover of cells, and guarding against damage caused by ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Plus, broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane that can repair sun damage and have anti-cancer properties. Apart from broccoli, other cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, kale, chard, mustard greens, watercress, horseradish, etc.

Furthermore, when striving to maintain gorgeous skin, reduce stress and kick the habit of cigarette smoking. Stress can trigger dermatitis and contribute in making your skin dry and scratchy. Smoking, on the other hand, leads to wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.

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CHICKEN BIRYANI (BIRIYANI) TAMILNADU STYLE

2:34 PM Unknown 0 Comments

INGREDIENTS

Chicken - 1 kg
(cook it separately in a cooker)
Basmati rice - 875 gm or 7 cups
Onion
(big) - 2 nos
Tomatoes(big) - 6 nos
or
Tomato puree - 6 spoon
Cinnamon(Karugapatta) sticks - 5 nos
Cloves
(Grambu) - 10 nos
Cardamom
(Elakka) - 5 nos
Green chillies
(big) - 3 nos
Ginger
- 2 thumb size or 3 - 4" piece
Garlic
- 1+1/2
Red chilly powder - 3 spoon
Turmeric powder
- 3 pinch
Garam masala powder - 3 tbsp
Coriander powder
- 3 tbsp
Mint leaves
(Pudhina) - 1 bunch
Coriander leaves
- 1/2 bunch
Butter milk(US) - 3 cups
or
Curd(India) - 3 cups
Oil
- 12 spoon
Lemon - 1 no
Ghee
- 1 spoon
Salt
- As reqd

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Heat up a pan.

Step 2. Add oil and ghee into it.
Step 3. Add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and fry well.
Step 4. Add green chillies and fry till skin turns white.
Step 5. Add onions and fry till golden brown.
Step 6. Add salt also.
Step 7. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry till smell goes off.
Step 8. Add red chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and coriander powder and mix well for 2 mins.
Step 9. Add pudhina and coriander leaves now and mix well.
Step 10. Add chicken(boiled in cooker) now and mix well for 5 mins.
Step 11. Add tomatoes now and fry well.
Step 12. Add butter milk and mix nicely and let it boil for 2 mins.
Step 13. Add hot water or warm water and heat it till it boils.
Step 14. Add rice and mix well.
Step 15. :- The rice level mentioned is exactly 7 cups in rice cooker cup. So add double the quantity of water. Also minus the buttermilk level. So exactly for 7 cups of rice, add 11 cups of water as buttermilk level of 3 cups has been reduced.
Step 16. Squeeze lemon.
Step 17. Close Chicken Biryani with a plate and check every 5 mins to see if the rice has cooked.
Step 18. After the Chicken Biryani rice has cooked well, leave it for 5 mins.
Step 19. Mix Chicken Biryani well again.
Step 20. :- Serve Chicken Biryani hot.

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White Chicken Enchilada Recipe (Chile & Sour Cream Sauce)

2:25 PM Unknown 0 Comments



One of my husbands favorite recipe that I make is white chicken enchiladas! Whenever I ask what he wants, this is the normal request. I thought I would share with you all the recipe so you can try it too! It’s pretty easy and doesn’t take much prep if you already have cooked chicken to work with. He actually helped make them today and I was pretty impressed with his photo taking skills too! ;)
Don’t they look yummy?! They are!
Mix the shredded chicken with a cup of cheese. I like to run the chicken under cold water first so the cheese won’t start to melt.
Make the sauce mixture on the stove so it gets thick and bubbly. Pour the sauce on top of them, making sure it gets around the edges too!
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees in the oven. You can turn on the broiler at the end to get the cheese more golden brown and crispier.

Enchilada Ingredients:

  • 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheddar cheese
  • 8 flour tortillas (soft shell)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 4oz can of diced green chiles
  • 2 cups shredded chicken (about 1 big chicken breast)
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups of chicken broth
  • Salt and pepper

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • Cook/shred your chicken breast and mix it with 1 cup of shredded cheese.
  • Lay 8 tortillas out and fill each one with the chicken mixture making sure they are all even. Roll them up tightly and put them in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
  • In a saucepan, melt the butter and add in the 3 tbsp of flour. Mix and cook for about one minute.
  • Add in the 2 cups of chicken broth, whisking until it’s a smooth consistency. Whisk over medium heat until it is thick and creamy (usually takes about 5-8 minutes).
  • Mix in the sour cream, salt/pepper, and the can of chiles to the pan.
  • Pour the creamy sauce over the rolled up tortillas evenly.
  • Add 1 cup of the cheddar cheese over the top.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.
  • Add salsa or cilantro and you’re ready to eat!

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How to Get Rid of Blackheads

2:17 PM Unknown 0 Comments



Blackheads are dark tiny bumps on skin. They are a mild type of acne and are medically known as open comed ones. Interestingly, the black color of these comedones is not due to dirt.

They appear dark and black in color as the sebum is exposed to the oxygen in air. Though slightly raised, unlike pimples, blackheads are not painful or inflamed.

More often than not, they appear as enlarged pores and black spots, especially around the nose, chin, and cheeks.

They are caused by a buildup of excess sebum and dead skin cells leading to blocked skin pores. Thus, this problem is more common in individuals with oily skin or combination skin.

Excess oil production, in turn, is caused by a number of factors like hormonal changes, genetic predisposition, stress, intake of certain medications, environmental factors, and so on.

Furthermore, improper skin care is another important reason leading to blackheads. For instance, using too much makeup, oil, or oil-based creams increase your chances of developing this problem.

How to Get Rid of Blackheads

Given below are 9 effective solutions for eliminating blackheads from your skin.
Taking facial steam every week or every alternate week is highly beneficial for opening your skin pores and softening the sebum plugs causing blackheads. For this, you can place your face over a bowl of hot water for about 10-15 minutes. You may add dried herbs or a few drops of essential oils in boiling water to increase the effectiveness of this procedure. Facial steaming and application of warm compresses makes it easier to remove the blackheads. Thus, use this procedure before applying any face mask to eliminate this problem.

Exfoliate your skin with an oatmeal mask to get rid of blackheads. To prepare the mask, add sufficient green tea or chamomile tea in a tablespoon of colloidal oatmeal to form a thin paste. You can make your own colloidal oatmeal at home by grinding rolled oats or quick oats in a food processor or coffee grinder to get a fine powder. After rinsing off the oatmeal mask from your face, dab hydrogen peroxide on the affected area with the help of a cotton ball.

Mash a few strawberries to get two tablespoons of strawberry pulp. Mix a teaspoon of honey in this pulp to form a paste. Apply it on your face and neck. Rinse it off after 20 minutes.

There is another interesting homemade peel off mask prepared by mixing half a cup of lemon juice, orange juice, or tomato juice and a packet of plain gelatin. You can heat this mixture either on a stove top or in a microwave for about 15 seconds. Leave it to set for about five minutes. Finally, brush it lightly on your face, particularly around your nose with a makeup brush or a small paintbrush and peel it off when it dries.

Whisk an egg white and apply a thin layer on your face, especially around the nose. When it dries, spread another layer. Let it dry for about 15 minutes. Finally, scrub it off with a warm, wet washcloth to reduce blackheads naturally. You can follow this procedure once or twice a week.

Use an over-the-counter cream or lotion containing benzoyl peroxide to get rid of blackheads. You can use it about two times in a day for about four to six weeks. Before applying the cream, though, make sure your clean your face thoroughly. You can also use retinoids and cleansers containing salicylic acid.

Take half a cup of boiling water and add one teaspoon of Epsom salt and three drops of iodine in it. Dip a cotton ball in this solution and apply it on the affected areas to treat blackheads.

Using blackhead strips or pore strips can be an effective way to improve blackheads and plugged pores. Besides, you can opt for comedone extractors that help remove blackheads through suction.

If nothing else works, then you may consider cosmetic procedures like laser or light therapy. In case you are interested in a non-invasive procedure then you may try chemical peels or microdermabrasion.

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