Easy and Delectable soyabean curry( pressure cooker method)

Since long time I was looking for some easy cooking recipes for days when you dont feel like cooking at all or when you dont want to devot that much time for cooking. This can be your life saver at hard times  (believe me guys I am not bluffing at all). And have you noticed the main ingredient which I am using here, Yes!

soyabean which i am sure most of the people dread to eat because of the lack of taste or not knowing much about the recipe. So without wasting any more time here comes my soyabean curry recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

SOYABEAN-1 BOX
PEAS-1/2 CUP
POTATO-1
ONION-1
GINGER-1/2
GARLIC-1,2
TOMATO-1
BAY LEAVES-1
CUMIN SEEDS-1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER-1/2 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER-1/2TSP
SALT TO TASTE
GHEE(OPTIONAL)
2 CUPS WATER
HING-1/2 TSP
GARAM MASALA-1 TSP
CORIANDER LEAVES TO GARNISH.

         First and foremost step boil the soyabean , add a  little salt to the boiling water. Take the soyabean out as soon it becomes soft, wash again properly and squeeze the remaining water properly.Keep it aside
   FOR THE GRAVY:
          Add 2 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker, when the oil gets hot  add cumin seeds, wait for the cumin seeds to sputter then add bay leaves, hing, saute for few seconds followed by finely chopped onions, ginger, garlic, tomato. Let it cook for a while then add turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt to taste.
Gradually start adding peas and potato and let it fry for few mins on a low flame. After everything is fried well add 2 cups of water . close the pressure cooker with a lid . Make sure to off the gas after you hear 1 whistle otherwise everything  will turn out more like a soup than a curry.
  Garnish the curry with garam masala, coriander leaves and ghee.
 Enjoy with rice or roti.

Homemakers Journey

  Having tied the knot at an early age of 23, not much was known to me about duties, responsibilities, sacrifices and comprimises. Early years of marriage everything looks perfect , a perfect husband , enthusiasm to learn something new , which i guess every women enjoys at that point of time. But as rightly said: LIFE IS NOT A BED OF ROSES. It comes with a lot of baggage. Every married couples has lot of misunderstandings, fights for pretty no reason yet we exaggerate it over minor issues .Whenever i think of it now a smile appears on my face,as to how immaturely we behaved.

Then came the difficut part ; staying with in-laws especially where a women is still getting used to such a big change in her life, trying to make house a HOME, understanding her responsibilities and most most important accepting the fact , its not "ME" thing anymore , before "ME" there is "US".Constant nagging , taunts, harsh comments became the part of daily routine realising that you are losing the freedom u had before marraige. Maintaining a healthy relationship seemed to be more like a burden than a duty. My in-laws belonged more to a conservative society so as a result of which i was inhibited from doing many things which according to them were inappropriate.

Life took a turn then, we moved from india to states following dreams leaving behind social gatherings, family, fun, celebrations, and altogether moved on with our new brand life on an unknown land where not even one soul was aquainted with us. That journey was surely very tough . But with time everything falls in right place at the right time. Yes! sometimes i do miss everyone back  home despite of all that life seems so much better now.

7 YEARS AND COUNTING.....

7 Years and counting , that spark had vanished from our life. Vivacity and exuberance had been replaced by dreary and vapid actions. Deeply engrossed in our own lives managing work, home;
we almost forgot that there is something called as personal life .
I know may be i am sounding selfish , but trust me this is equally important to maintain a stable relationship and pruning away negative thoughts. Expressing love and care for one another seem to be less important . Often i sit back and wonder does everyone has to face this  or its just "US". And what will happen when we  grow old.

But if we put that extra effort in our relationship , we will be succesful in bringing that oomph back in our life.There are many couples as far as i know are in a similar situation . After our baby was born we
almost forgot that spending time with one another is equally important just as caring and attending for the little one. There was a time when we wanted to have a little conversation but surprisingly fights and arguments would take place instead of a normal talk that too over petty issues.We never tried to understand each others feelings inspite of knowing what was going on in our minds or may be we didnt at all cared to think about that part. Fear gripped my mind , as to what path our life is taking us  and i desperately  needed to find an answer and surprisingly answer was within itself.And we were lucky enough to pass that rough phase with mutual understanding and a bit of effort from both the sides.

So my advice to all couples who are going through similar phase, just try and find out the root cause of problem and eliminate it from your lives if not for yourselves but for the sake of your child .Try to spend some quality time with on each other leaving behind dominant attitude if any and balancing both the lives beautifully.

        And thank god for blessing us with a such a Happy family.

TIME SURE FLIES....

        It's been more than a year i was out of blogging....yup your are right lot of things happened during this time, i got pregnant, had to deal with nausea, tiredness,anxiety, lots of dr appointments and at the same time waiting for my lil one to  arrive in this world. ufff... it was stressful, finally that day arrived my daughter was in my arms, it took me some time to believe that i m holding my baby after such a long wait. That feeling was really out of the world,and i can't believe she is already 16 months old...surely time flies.Everything seems so perfect now with our daughter and ofcourse sometimes its stressful also.
Obviously every mommy in the nook and corner of the world knows how is life with little one in your arms.        
Its fun to spend time with her, watching her grow, hear her speaking new words everyday, her constant
babbles, screaming , throwing tantrums, playing with her mommy and daddy. Waking up in the morning to see her smiling face; its a really awesome feeling to be a mother, how a women's life changes and will keep on changing as their child grows up every single day.

Motherhood is the best gift  any women can get.

LOVE

           How many of us know what exactly "Love" means ? Love doesn't means just merely  exchanging gifts , of course thats one way of showing your love for that particular person.. apart from this there is also some other things which matters . Love exist where you accept the person with his/her good and bad habits. And not trying to change that person for the sake of your happiness.

  A real love is something different, pure, full of love ; no matter you are in whatever situation your partner will always be by your side and i believe this one thing makes a relationship stronger . Love should be in such a way where there is no place for bondage , yet  there is feeling of commitment which should come directly from the heart.

 Other name for love is respect . Respecting each others feelings holds an important place in a relationship. That way relationships flourishes with more love and happiness. Also misunderstanding  can happen at some point of time in everybody's life; how do you handle the situation is a real test.

               

 

ALOO MATAR WITH A TOUCH OF BENGALI FLAVOUR.

                          Since my childhood days i have seen my mom cooking tasty dishes and i used to wonder what makes her dish so special, ofcourse mother's love. Apart from that she used one spice which would create a unique flavour in any dish- PANCHPHORON(blend of five different spices). So i thought why not give it a try. And guess what!!! it turned out great.


RECIPE FOR ALOO MATAR: 
Panchphoron- 1 tsp
Tomato puree-2 to 3 tbsp
Hing   - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Coriander powder
cumin powder
crushed Ginger- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Sugar   - 1/2 tsp
Cream - 1/2 cup
Potato - 1
Peas(matar)-1/2 cup
Coriander leaves
water - 1 cup

Heat the pan, add oil , panchphoron . After spice starts fluttering add Hing , Tomato puree, Ginger ,Salt
, Sugar.... saute well till masala fries well. Then add potato , fry for few mins , followed by peas. add rest of the spice , water and bring to boil. Add cream and cook covered for 10 mins till gravy thickens a bit.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

The place where we dwell in...

       Its been almost 4 years since we moved to chicago. When we first landed here , i still remember that evening...with so many thoughts  in my mind( will i ever belong to this city, make friends, fight with loneliness)  we came to our hotel, unlike india where you can hear out people almost anytime of the day and here it was so calm and quiet... it was indeed a good feeling but at the same time  a feeling of nostalgia gripped me , before i could realise tears welled up in my eyes... i am so so far from my home where i used to feel protected and next moment here i am all set to lead our lives on our own with no advice or guidance.

Years, months, days passed by and each day was a new experience for me with so many ups and downs.But finally at the end of the day everything would fall in place with little effort. Now after 4 years
i really feel chicago has accepted me with all his heart or should i say i feel close here. I do miss my home, family and all festivals , but i guess " to gain something you have to lose some".

And not to mention i love chicago even more in winter when it is covered in a beautiful blanket of snow

which is truly a million dollar view especially during the night , spreading the luminous light from the snow itself. With all these alluring stuffs around me i am really looking forward to spend many more years here in beautiful chicago.

LOST AGAIN....

  Last week , weather was deadly dull, rainy , i was feeling little low, not sure why but may be because of weather itself or problems in life, frustration, or loneliness; any of which never seem to end. sometimes i strongly feel life has come to standstill; god it feels so "awful". Like in a movie there is always  a happy scene after every sad one but our life is full of struggle, pain, detest, arguments, dissension and god knows what else.sometimes i feel that happiness has vanished from our lives .And when we crave for some happy moments, we run for those stupid materialistic stuffs and which in reality doesn't satisfy our cravings.

In this new century of technology, everything seems so mechanical. Now its just a matter of few seconds and your messages reaches your near and dear ones in merely one click. So socialising has been only an occasional affair for all of us. Every one of us need a companion to share happy and bad moments and of course a shoulder to cry, though not always but when 
you strongly feel the urge that " I CANT HANDLE IT ANYMORE".At that point of time, sharing your thoughts with someone may ease your a mind a bit. That way we would have felt so much stress free at that moment of time.

MAA DURGA

In our Hindu religion Maa Durga manifests -"WOMEN POWER", the luminous goddess who has      eight arms,riding a lion, carrying a weapon in one hand and a lotus in other. Maa Durga depicts      fearlessness, power and love . Goddess Durga showed her fierce compassion by killing Mahishasur.      Hence her other name is known to be " MAHISHASURMARDINI".This day of durga's victory      is celebrated in various forms in many parts of india.        It is rightly said in every women there is goddess durga. Thus women is considered to be more        supreme than men in all aspects of life wether it is related to work, family or relationship. She        is the embodiement of power, love , fear, affection, hatred.

THE CONCEPT OF ARRANGE MARRAIGE.....

                       

Unlike love marraige , arrange marraige is little different. We have to pass       through a phase where a complete stranger whom we never met is expected       to be our life partner with all possible adjustments and understanding .       It is more of a complicated situation for a women compared to men. A       women is expected to adjust herself  in all circumstances . In India, culture       of arrange marraige is very much followed than love marraige ; in other       words indians follow this trend more than any other countries.      Arrange marraige is a practice where someone other than the couple makes       the selection of a person to be wed. However it should not be confused       with forced marraige, as in arrange marraige though parents choose a suitable      bride or groom for their children ; it is solely depends on the couples  wether      they consider it as a perfect match for  themselves. once they approve then      rest of the rituals are followed.       The feelings of arrange marraige  couples is truly different , there is a sense       of excitement , fear , passion, and  ofcourse love. It is indeed a truly amazing      experience of how a two complete strangers accept each other with their likes      and dislikes. Thus taking vows in front of holy fire and whole society that no       matter what , they will always  support each other in good an bad times.     At the same time i do believe that "MARRAIGE" wether love or arranged "ARE      ALWAYS MADE IN HEAVEN".

STARTING DAY WITH A CHEERFUL NOTE.

                  As the sun rises spreading its beautiful golden colour
                  all over the universe clearly giving the message that
                  each one of us shall start our day with a cheerful and
                  jovial mood and pass on the beautiful message to
                  others so that world can be a Happy and better place.
                  With this thought i wake up  and start my day with a
                  happy note. 
                   
                
                  GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU.... :)