NON ALCOHOLIC APPLE AND PEARS SPARKLING

I know I haven’t been able to upload any new write ups of late (please do bear with me😢) due to massive overload in the work sector. I do try to post a recipe here and there to compensate though! Mind you, I don’t even get to leisurely work my way in the kitchen these days, and that is really frustrating to me (sob)!!

So, after another round of crazy day, I needed to unwind with one of my all time favourite refresher. It’s so easy to keep up…just throw everything in the blender and add in sparkling water…and that’s about the only effort you need to put! If you are a health conscious gentleman/ lady…you are definitely entitled to replace the sugar with honey or even maple syrup.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 an apple
1 medium size pear
1/2 tsp chopped ginger
3-4 mint leaves
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Himalayan black salt
A pinch of cumin powder
A pinch of ground pepper
1 cup water
2 cups of chilled fizzy water

METHOD

Properly wash and peel the fruits, before chopping them into small chunky cubes
Add every ingredient in the juice jar, minus the sparkling water
Turn the blender on and blend all the ingredients until there is no lumps
Seive the content slowly and carefully
Pour into serving glasses and add chilled soda water, fresh out of the refrigerator
You may add ice cubes if you feel like, but I refrained from using them because I have just recovered from a bad bout of flu
You may also adjust the seasoning as per your taste buds

Enjoy this wonderful glass of sweetened tang over a leisurely Sunday afternoon while catching up with your bestie after a wholesome lunch!!! If you have any feedback or want to add in your suggestion, please do feel free to leave a word in the comments section below. Until then, happy cooking 😊😊

PRAWNS TWO WAYS

We bought prawns over our place after a fair amount of time. Lazy, autumn Sundays must definitely not be spent toiling in the kitchen with a crazy recipe, unless your will says otherwise, of course. I had a big routine of chores planned out for the day….hence I was bound to go the easy way out. The best escape was that, I landed up with not one, but two incredibly easy recipes.

RECIPE 1

INGREDIENTS

Prawns, 10 in number
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
4 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp red chilli sauce
1 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lime
Salt as per taste
2 tbsp melted butter

METHOD

Clean and devein the prawns
Mix all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl
Toss the prawns in the marinade and refrigerate them covered for 20-30 minster
After the stipulated time period, grill the prawns for 6 mins on either side (or until they are ready)
Serve with piping hot rice

RECIPE 2

INGREDIENTS

Honeyed cornflakes, 2 cups
Prawns, 10 in number
Coarse ground pepper, 2 tsp
Rock salt as per taste
Paprika, 1 tsp
1 egg, beaten (add a pinch of salt, a pinch of ground peppee and a tsp of tomato ketchup)
Oil for frying

METHOD

Clean and devein the prawns

Crush the cornflakes lightly

Mix all the dry ingredients along with the crushed cornflakes

Toss the prawns once in the cornflakes mixture

Dip them in the beaten egg mixture

Once again, transfer the prawns in the cornflakes mix

Heat oil in a pan

Once the oil is appropriately hot, fry the prawns in it until crispy and golden

Serve the prawns with mayo dressed with chopped coriander and rock salt

If you have any suggestion or want to leave a feedback, kindly leave a word in the comment section below. Until then, happy cooking 😊😊

SPAGHETTI IN CREAMY EGGPLANT AND PARMESAN SAUCE

I have had this packet of spaghetti in the pantry for the longest possible time, sitting all lonely and sad with other items that I probably use everyday. I simply chopped some eggplant chunks, added a quick stir butter sauce..and voila, an easy breezy recipe that tastes just as good!

INGREDIENTS

A pack of instant spaghetti noodles
2 eggplants, cut into vertical chunks
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato puree
20 gm of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup milk
2 cups grated parmesan
Salt as per taste

METHOD

Cook the spaghetti noodles in adequate amount of water for about 8-12 mind
Once done, drain the water and keep it aside
In a wok, add olive oil and butter
Once the butter has blended completely with the oil, add the chopped green chillies, onions and garlic bits
Sauté until the onion and garlic changes colour, turning beautifully caramelised
Add in the eggplant chunks
Stir for 4-5 mins
Without putting the lid, continue stirring once in 2-3 mins
Add milk and put the lid on, turning the flame down a notch
After about 5-6 mins, add the grated parmesan and salt
Allow the cheese to melt into the gravy by stirring continuously to avoid any lumps
Add the tomato puree at this point and stir well
Finally incorporate the cooked spaghetti and give it a quick toss, so as to make sure that the sauce has coated each and every strand of the noodles.
Your spaghetti with eggplants is now ready to be served. Scatter some chilli flakes on top for the extra kick, if you prefer it that way.

If you have any feedback or want to share your tips, please feel free to stop by in the comment section below. Until next time, happy cooking😊😊😊

WHEN I LET YOU GO

I shall be mine once again, an unconquered terrain of crystalline epiphany, a raging fire in the frozen depth of a barren symphony. From your captivity of malignant autocracy, I shall clamber upon my unbridled beast until I learn to ride like the Goddess that I am supposed to be, all the way up to my indisputable sovereignty. Neither shall I yearn to be your enemy, nor shall I pray for your love, only eternity shall testify how we transformed into a chimera of mere strangers bound by a singular memory.

The drought that my eyes have borne, cold and lifeless around you, shall regain the mastery of an ebbing river of incarcerated sorrows, a healing catharsis of nature pure and true. Robbed of my wisdom to love thyself, a bonded slave you christened to beatify your hell, soon shall I foster the courage to walk again, a brutal avalanche with no restraints. My heart would trace its forgotten lineage, moment by moment, back to its rightful possessor, a heroic demeanour, the proudest moment of my fragile age.

Stripped bare, compelled to bear, agnostic virtues of your wicked soul, ceaseless nights spent to satiate your ravenous mind, your fallacious essence of whole. Deceptions I would fabricate at the break of every dawn; thou shall change, thou shall care, thou shall honour my dignity -every last morsel of hope gone astray, draped in embroidered indignity. You sheathed yourself in shades of myraid mystery, a blue eyed wonder one day, a purifying wraith the other, wanderlust glee embossed in dark history.

A galaxy of star studded dreams, an oblivion of endless possibilities, I shall eventually turn into a figment of the impossible reality – exuberant wings soaring wild and free. Ponderings of a grievously wounded faith, retrieved beliefs exhumed from clandestinely treasured days, I shall walk straight to my awaited altar, it may be my emblazoned glory or towards my impending doom shall I falter. Come what may, sunshine or hail, this is my promise, an oath abstracted in an hour of momentous crisis, and to me I must not fail.

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN

Of late, due to the slow transition in the weather coupled with my erratic shower hours, I have caught the usual flu. Sore throat and the annoying runny nose red as a ripe tomato, I am thoroughly enjoying being sick. I really needed the fiery kick of pepper and the fresh citrusy tang of lemon to bring some life back to my temporarily numb taste buds. So quite readily I jumped at the idea of cooking this peppery mess.

INGREDIENTS

250 gm chicken (I took 2 chicken breasts)
2 tsp oregano
3 tsp crushed pepper
2 tsp chilli flakes
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp grated lemon zest
Salt as per taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
Vegetable oil for shallow fry

METHOD

Wash the chicken breasts and trim the edges
Pound them lightly until they are flat and wide
In a mixing bowl, throw in the pepper, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, lemon zest, butter, olive oil and lemon juice
Add the chicken breasts and coat them well with the spice mix
Refrigerate it for about 20 mins
In a flat dish, add the rice flour and the chickpea flour, salt as well as the turmeric powder
Toss gently
Lightly coat the chicken breasts with the flour mix
Heat oil in a skillet
Once the oil is hot, carefully add the coated chicken
Turn the flame to medium and shallow fry the chicken for around 8 mins on both sides
Keep an eye on the colour. Turn the flame off if the colour is anything more than a gorgeous rust and brown
Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked and crisp, it is ready to be served. Garnish with onion rings and split green chillies

If you have any feedbacks or want to share your views, please feel free to leave a word in the comment section below. Until then, happy cooking 😊 😊

NO GOODBYES

Into the foyer of our last petals, strangers once again under the light of the sun; left alone together to smile scarlet lies, serenading wonders on our lips still shining bright. Embossed footsteps, a trailing leverage of dead memories on sand, tipsy toes inebriated like we were young and in love again. Traced fingertips drawing letters on the burning valleys of your skin, a liquor of incinerated desire seeping out through the corners of your hazel eyes, those tears they know that we ought to say no goodbyes.

(Pic courtesy: iStock)

Beneath the dying hours of twilight, an old shed on our favourite beach, we would once again entwine our golden web with silken threads of our relinquished dreams, borrowed laughter from those antiquated hopes, symbolic death of an anarchy of sorts. Alluring roses with decaying fragrance, castway beauties from the Garden of Eden, venom slithering like a river of gold, pure and radiantly bold. On the stroke of twelve, we too shall perish into ashes of blood on the soil, a lamenting choir of saddened cries, but darling we would say no goodbyes.

(Pic courtesy: asiasociety.org)

One last waltz around the pyre of our ancient myth, a silent prayer for the resurrection of buried bliss, wrapped cozy within a cocoon of your irreplaceable kiss. Beating hearts, an orchestra of classic mayhem, but thoughts of you still secured enraptured in my holy Bethlehem. There shall it remain until the devastating end of time, euphoric bells ending in a cherubic chime. Scrapes of our remaining treasure held tight, your absence perpetually echoing like a haunting lullaby; healing and wounding, time shall fly, but darling we shall say no goodbyes!

(Pic courtesy: Reddit)

SALTED CARAMEL POPCORN WITH SPICED MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN

Caramel sauce has always been a personal favourite of mine. I love pouring it over a monster chunk of cake or to even swirl it in a little pot of custard. For a change, I decided to toss these caramel coated popcorn with charred Mediterranean spiced chicken pieces, and to my surprise…it indeed was a pleasant combination!!!

INGREDIENTS

A packet of ACT II popcorn

FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE

3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN

300 gm chicken (I took a leg piece along with two pieces of pound chicken breasts)
3 tsp corriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp paprika powder
Salt as per taste
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp yogurt
4 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

CARAMEL POPCORN

At the very onset, get your popcorn ready according to the instructions provided on the packet
Then, in a saucepan, add together all the ingredients listed above
Put the flame on medium
Stir frequently until a beautiful soft caramelisation sets in touch motion. Anything darker than that would be too bitter to complement the popcorn
Once the desired colour has been attained, turn the flame off and toss in the prepared popcorn quickly before the caramel sauce hardens on the popcorn

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN

After properly washing the chicken pieces, make incision marks on them so that the spices could penetrate deep

In a deep mixing bowl, let the chicken marinade in the listed ingredients

Keep the marinated chicken pieces covered in the refrigerator for about an hour
After the stipulated time interval, heat olive oil in a fry pan
Once the oil is hot enough, gently place the chicken pieces in the pan and allow them to cook for 7 mins on each side (or until tender and ready)
Turn the flame to high. This would give the lovely charred flavour and those beautiful burnt marks on the chicken pieces.
Once the desirable colour has been attained, turn the flame off

Your dish is now ready to be devoured😉

If you have any feedbacks or want to add your own touch to the recipe, do kindly leave a word in the comment section beneath. Until then, HAPPY COOKING 😊 😊

LOVE POTION

An enchantress of an empire of occult royalty, her very eyes oozed an alchemy of seductive gold. They called her the high priestess of amorous decoy; a sweet incantation, a flicker of her magic flame, and a thousand men plunged deep into the ocean of her alluring love game.

Hair as dark as the Devil’s lair, her skin glittered a mysterious shade of bronzed flare, a divine being in a hellish reign. She forgave no offenders and exuberantly deluged those mighty lovers in her embrace of enamoured grace. Once miffed, even the Lord couldn’t intervene in her path of wrath, a massacre of epic legion, a bloodbath of undefined proportion.

(Image credit : Grandin Road)

In an old cauldron of secrets dark, she would brew a potion of imperishable love. An essence of faith she would add and stir it with a drop of dragon’s blood; brave soldiers with unwavering fidelity, an archaic recipe she would use much. A shard of broken sword melted in a concoction of pure passion, a noble man’s gentry and a teaspoon of stardust. It would simmer on gallantly through the summer nights and turn a dangerous scarlet on the eve of winter. She would eventually put a little drop of purple from a vial of bottled luck, and the haze of smoky trance would drift a thunderous distance afar.

(Image credit : Google Images)

Fearsome and hypnotic, hers was a beauty of prodigious league, lips of satin softness in a body of mesmeric curves. Capable of a perfect storm in a bed of roses, a space odyssey in a little cave of darkness, you are asked to tread into her heart with a word of caution. If disasters spelled in diamond dust and heartbreaks sewn in bewitching rust is your idea of epic love, then this glorious deception might just be your only chance, your regal escape to Babylon or sweet old France.

(Image credit : wallpoop)

(The title “Love Potion” has been suggested by WordPress royalty Aquibview, for which I am definitely very grateful).

CRISPY SWEET CORN SALAD

Bored of the same old wake up, brood, work, write and sleep routine, I wanted to try something peppy and crunchy for my TV hours. I didn’t intend to slog hard in the kitchen, for I had other things to slog after…so the best solution was to throw in a few spices to the packaged corn kernels I had stocked up in the pantry. I love its peppery zing and the zero effort factor involved in the entire cooking process. We lazy people always need to improvise 😂

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cup packaged sweet corn kernels
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 small tomato finely chopped
2 green/red chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp rice flour
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt as per taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp tabasco sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
Juice of half a lemon
Chopped cilantro
Groundnut oil for frying

METHOD

Drain the excess water from the packaged corn kernels. Make sure you keep some of the water. The water will have the dry ingredients to stick to the cornflour
In a deep mixing bowl, mix together the corn kernels, rice flour, cornflour, ground pepper, chilli powder and salt
Give the ingredients a vigorous toss so that they get incorporated together
In a non stick frying pan, heat enough oil for deep frying
Once the oil is hot, add the corn kernels and fry till they have crisped up and golden
Drain the excess oil using kitchen paper towels. If you feel like, you may enjoy them in this avatar itself or proceed further with the added ingredients
Now, heat around 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a stir fry pan and add 1 tbsp of butter to it
Add sugar and chopped onions as well as the chopped chillies
Sauté for around 3-4 mins before adding the chopped tomatoes, tabasco sauce, and dark soya sauce
Finally throw in the fried sweet corn kernels and toss them all together
Give it one single stir and turn the flame off and add the chopped cilantro / corriander leaves and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon

Your crispy golden corn in a hot and savoury sauce is ready to serve. You may go for this munchy delight while watching your favourite series on TV or as an appetiser before a proper meal. The choices are plenty.
If you like the idea behind the recipe or if you have any feedbacks to share, please do leave a comment below.

Until next time…happy cooking 😊😊😊

BEGIN AGAIN

Trudge to the edge of your sorrows, the splinters of your disintegrated dreams. On the Isle of the treacherous waves, assemble those forgotten pieces of a coveted belief, and thread by thread, weave your golden robe out of it. The pearls of rain, purgatory spells on the skin, let your disrobed wounds bathe in its cardinal purity.

(Image credit : Pinterest )

Words of agony, the ghost of known faces, spiralling down in dissipated confetti across a river of inundated races. Let it go, ashes of a pyre that engulfed you in darkness. Illuminate once again the departed senses, smoulder them doubters with your inferno of mystique, your flames of robust ingenuity. Dance in the shadow of your knightly beauty, your sinister curves, your precious body. Learn, no matter how difficult, to praise your sublime flaws, kiss them until you thaw what was once frozen.

(Image courtesy : Google images )

Your throne, your crown, your mighty battles, listen to the echo, the stillness of your perfect storm. Shroud them haters in your colours of love, a cascading volley of your unmatched worth. You are no fading star, do not let them tell you so. Your hour beckons, a free fall into the depth of your splendour, those wings would no longer rest. Stretch them far and wide, a short descent until they learn to fly. Paint yourself in the hues of unforgiving lustre, of your brilliant madness, your glorious defeats. Moult the old scars, replace them with new memories, reminescents that trail your way back to who you were.

Believe, in miracles, your kindness, your struggles, blessed ventures of unsung opulence. Sing joyous melody, set your trapped soul free. Passionate whims, innocent dreams, pretty secrets – you are entitled to everything, select what should be yours craftily. Irreplaceable gem, respect your novice, hear none of why you can’t be great. Diamonds of uncut variant, natural rawness of a spiritual realm, shine brighter than the most disturbing darkness, my brave soldiers of a lost wonderland.