Mango Ice cream!

This Mango ice cream recipe is very easy and the ice cream tastes delicious. 

-Ingredients:

Whipped Topping – 8 oz container

Mango Pulp – 30 oz can
Sweetened Condensed Milk – 14 oz can
Fresh Mango – cubed, optional

- Method:

1. In a bowl pour in the Mango Pulp, Condensed Milk and the Whipped Topping.
2. Mix all the ingredients gently.
3. Cover the mixture and place in the freezer for 3 hours.
4. After 3 hours, mix in the cubed Mango pieces and freeze it again.
5. Allow it to freeze for another 4 hours.
6. Serve and enjoy the delicious mango ice cream. 

You can add some mints leaves and Strawberries/Mangoes on the top of the ice cream to garnish it. 

Indian Masala Chai (Tea) Recipe

Chai or tea consumption is common in most parts of India. Tea selling vendors are visible on roads in most parts of India and they are known as "Chai Wallas". People start their day with a cup of tea in the morning and also consume tea in the afternoon.

This recipe will make 2 cups of tea.

Ingredients for Masala tea:

2 Cardamoms
Small piece of grated ginger
3 Mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 cup milk
1 cup water
4 teaspoon tea leaves (black tea leaves)
4 teaspoon of sugar (you can add more if you like it to be more sweet)
1/2 teaspoon Indian chai masala (Special spice mix for the tea. You can get it in any Indian grocery store or you can make it at home). This spice mix can be prepared at home too and you can also make tea without this spice mix.

Method for making Indian spice mix for tea:
Mix and grind dry ginger powder, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. Tea masala or spice mix for tea will be ready. :)


Method for Masala tea:

Boil milk and water. Add cardamom, sugar, cinnamon powder, mint leaves and tea masala. Then add tea leaves. After it comes to boil add grated ginger. Let it boil for few minutes until the tea mixture becomes brown in color (If you like more strong tea, let the mixture boil for more minutes).  After the tea mixture becomes brown in color, strain the tea in the cup with a strainer.

Enjoy the hot Chai Masala tea. :)

My Kitchen :)

Peda Recipe

Peda's are Indian sweet. Peda's are similar to milk fudge.

Ingredients to make Peda's:

2 cups of ricotta cheese

5 tbsp of condensed milk
5 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp all purpose flour
8 tbsp of sugar (Add more sugar if you like it more sweet)
Cardamom, Almond slices and Saffron for decorating 

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients together to form a paste like consistency in a bowl. Then transfer it to a thick bottomed pan. You can also add saffron to the mixture to make the Peda's yellow in color.
2.Start cooking it on a gas stove and cook it on a low flame. Keep stirring it.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat when the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
4. When it cools a little bit (You can also keep in in the refrigerator and let it cool for sometime) to make small balls. 

5. Decorate the Peda's with almonds, cardamom and saffron. 

Enjoy the yummy Peda's. 

My city: Ahmedabad

Dear Friends,

In this blog I will describe tourist attractions of my city. My city, as I mentioned in my previous post has a population of about 6 million people and is a mega city. It is located in the state of Gujarat. Few attractions for tourist in my city are:

1) Kankaria lake

2)  Mahatma Gandhi Ashram

3) Calico Textile Museum

4) Sidi saiyyed mosque 

5) Jama Masjid

6) Adalaj vav

   

7)Jhulta minar

8) Hussain Doshi's gufa

9) Auto world vintage car museum 

10) Iskon Temple

11) Akshardham Temple 

12) Vechaar utensils museum

13) Dada hari ni vav

14)  Science city

15) Three gates ,old Ahmedabad city, Heitage walk tour

16) Sabarmati riverfront

17) Street shopping in Satellite and Law garden: There are many malls in Ahmedabad but street shopping is always fun. Bargaining for the price is a must! 

18) Restaurants: There are tons of restaurants in Ahmedabad serving variety of cuisines such as Gujarati thali, Punjabi food, Italian, Mexican, Indo chinese, Lebanese, Thai, Pizza's, Veg Mac Donald, Mediterranean and Indian fast food. Few of the restaurants are listed under: 

Patang hotel 

Rajwadu 

Agashiye

19) Motera Stadium: Cricket matches are held in Motera stadium. 

20) Shanku's water park

 21) Thor Lake

22) Gulmohar greens golfand country club

23) SG highway and CG road: Lots of shops and restaurants are located on these roads. 

24)  Nal Sarovar

25) Auto rickshaw ride for foreigners and shopping at National Handloom shop

Happy and Safe travels to Ahmedabad. :) 

My city, my pride!

Hello Friends,

I am from Ahmedabad, India. Ahmedabad is a city with a population of about 6 million people and is located in the western part of India. Ahmedabad city is located in the state of Gujarat. My city is a diverse city. It consists of people speaking different languages, following different customs and cultures and relishing different cuisines. Few of the languages spoken in my city are Gujarati, Hindi, English, Tamil, Telegu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Marwari, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Malayam, Sanskrit, Urdu, Nepali. However, the national language of my state is Gujarati which is spoken by most of the people. Ethnic gujarati cuisine consists of vegetarian items such as rotli (bread), dal (curry), rice, shaak (vegetables). Many gujarati dishes are sweet and not too spicy.

Many festivals are celebrated in my city. I will provide a description of few major festivals. From the month of January the festivity begins.

On 14th January, we celebrate Uttarayan/Makarsakranti (Festival of kites). This festival lasts for 2 days. During this festival, we get on the top of the terrace since morning and fly lots of kites/balloons and also conduct kite cutting wars (Oh! it is so much fun). We also eat special cuisine on that day known as Undhiyu (a special kind of vegetable curry) and Puri (a different kind of bread). We also eat Chikki (Sweet made from Jaggery, peanut, sesame seeds, puffed rice) and Jalebi. My city also conducts International kite flying festival which attracts tons of visitor from around the world.

 26th January is celebrated as Indian republic day.

The next festival takes place in March. This festival is known as Holi. Holi is the festivals of colors. We apply colored powder to friends and family members. We also use water and throw water with colors on friends and family. This festival is celebrated as a symbol of good over evil. Special food is also prepared during this festival.

Next major festival that is celebrated is Rakshabandhan. This festival is celebrated in the month of August and it signifies the strong bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters/cousins tie a thread (it is called Rakhi) on the brothers hand and in return brother has to give a gift or money to his sister.

The next festival comes in the month of August is Janmashtmi. This festival celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. 

We also celebrate Indian Independence day on 15th August every year. 

The festival of Navratri arrives in the month of October. This festival is the festival of dance. We conduct national folk dance called (garba and raas) for 9 nights. Women and men get ready in beautiful traditional dresses known as Chaniya choli and kurta pyjama/dhoti.

In the month of October end/November first week, the festival of light, Diwali is celebrated. During this festival, people buy new clothes, lit up their houses with Diya's and lights, meet their family members, light up fireworks, eat special cuisine. People also make Rangoli (designs with dry colors/oil paints/grains). This is a five day Hindu festival. On the last day of Diwali  festival is the New year (This new year is celebrated only by the Gujarati people).

This was a brief description of few of the festivals celebrated in my state. We also celebrate festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Shivratri, Ramnavmi, Rath Yatra, Guru Purnima, Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, Dusshera, Durga puja, Karwa chauth, Nagpanchmi, Savirti puja, Eid, Mahavir jayanti, Onam, Pongal Good Friday, Christmas and New year. People from different cultures in India celebrate New year on a different day.

Thus, India is a country of diverse festivals. The festivals are celebrated differently according to different regions. All festivals have a story/history behind it. The spirit of Indian festivity remains the same in all the states of India and even Indians abroad celebrate these festivals with fervor and joy.