Shireen's Baked Beans

Have you ever walked into a British bakery, ordered a plate of baked beans on toast, have a taste of it and think, "I could totally recreate this" but then reality hits you hard and then you realize that you have put in Indian spices into your baked beans but it still tastes dang delicious? Well, that's how this recipe was born.
At first, before tasting it, I was really skeptical. My mind ran everywhere thinking I had majorly messed up a lot of food, it took some courage to take one bite and five minutes to complete one serving. I'm not ashamed and I won't judge if you do the same.
Here goes everything:

Ingredients (makes three servings):

1. 1 and 1/2 cup of  cooked soybeans or any other bean of choice;

2. 3 diced tomatoes;

3. 1/4 cup tomato paste;

4. 1 cup vegetable stock;

5. 2 clove of garlic, finely chopped;

6. 1 large onion, chopped;

7. 2 teaspoons curry powder;

8. 1 teaspoon cumin;

9. 1 tablespoon chilli powder;

10. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;

11. Salt to taste;

12. 1/2 cup cooked corn (optional).

Procedure;

1. In a medium sized pan, warm oil on medium-high heat;

2. Add in the garlic and onion until garlic is fragrant and the onion is translucent;

3. Add in the tomatoes and salt and let the tomatoes cook for five minutes;

4.Add in soybean, corn, cumin, chilli powder, tomato paste, curry powder and vegetable stock;

5. Stir around and cover with lid for 20 minutes or until thickened and reduced.

6. Serve warm with toast ( I serve mine with toast and cream cheese)

Voila! enjoy some warm Indian style baked beans!

Vegan Milks: Almond, Rice, Oat.

Veganism is a lifestyle many are adopting nowadays and it is catching on everywhere, even, here in India. I have a few friends who have named veganism their primary lifestyle about a couple of months and probably, their main problem with their lifestyle is the lack of availability of non-dairy milks except for soy-milk. If you haven't tasted soy-milk, you wouldn't know that it tastes absolutely disgusting, so, here I have three delicious non-dairy milks for my vegan and lactose-intolerant friends.

1. Almond Milk: 

Recipe:

1. 1 cup almonds;

2. 4 cup water+ extra to soak. 

Procedure:

1. Soak almonds overnight;

2. Blend almonds and 4 cups of water in a blender, till frothy and creamy;

3. Store in airtight container for 3-4 days.

2. Rice Milk:

Recipe:

1. 1 cup cooked white rice;

2, 2 cups water.

Procedure:

1. Blend rice with water in a blender until creamy;

2. Store in airtight container for 2-4 days.

3. Oat milk:

Recipe:

1. 1 cup oats;

2. 2 cups water.

Procedure:

1. Blend oats and water together in a blender until creamy;

2. Store in airtight container for 2-4 days.

I hope you give these delicious vegan milks a try and enjoy them too! until next time!

Now, we all know that nobody knows it all. I love blogging recipes and stuff for you all but I don't know each and every recipe in town.
As a result, I always look up on YouTube to be updated on each and every new recipe. I don't, obviously, copy the recipes; I just understand the basics and create an ambrosia version of it.
YouTube can be tricky, you don't know if the recipes will come out great or not and you don't know which YouTube cook/chef to trust. So, here's a list of my favourite YouTube cooks/chefs; trust me their recipes always turn out great!
(In no particular order)
1. The Domestic Geek

The Domestic Geek is run by this amazing woman named, Sara Lynn. The food she posts are mostly healthy and will make your life more convenient and nutrition enriched.
Must try recipe: Every smoothie recipe!
2. Gemma Stafford:

Gemma is a professional baker who has brought it in her genius baking techniques to YouTube. I find her recipes easy to make and the ingredients she uses readily available in India.
Must try: Her microwave mug recipes and no-machine ice cream recipes.
3. Munchies:

Munchies is a food related show run by Vice. Munchies essentially captures the essence of food and does so by treating your eyes to not only recipes but also, techniques and too by professionals. With Munchies, your taste buds and eyes are in for a treat.
Must try: A standard Five Leaves brunch recipe by the chef of five leaves himself.
4. Brothers Green Eats:

Brothers Green Eats is a YouTube channel run by brothers, Mike and Josh Greenfield. Their food can be defined best as gourmet meets street; something I have looked for for years. The food they cook is simply what I'd call divine.
Must try: 8 simple microwave recipes for gamers.
Now, where is the YouTube tab?
(P.S.: The pictures belong to their rightful owners and are only used for represention purposes.)

Student Series: Lunch Ideas For School!

When I was younger, much younger (not two years ago), my mom used to pack me lunch everyday and you might think I'm good at cooking but my mother's cooking is divine. Whenever I opened my lunch box, the food would disappear in seconds flat; this was when I was in tenth grade and we had school from 8:35 A.M to 2:40 P.M. My mum packed me really good food everyday but her food mostly consisted of chapattis and a spiced up vegetable, I appreciated all of my mother's hard work because this food was not only tasty but also filling. Then came 11th grade, this was when our workload lightened up in the form of fewer subjects, our school decided to leave us at 12:45 P.M instead of the regular 2:40 P.M. routine. I then realized that mom's lunch just wasn't appropriate. We have lunch break at 11:00 A.M. and at around 1:30 P.M.(it takes us about an hour to reach home.) our faces had to be thrust-ed with more food (act like you don't eat after school). For the sake of my stomach I asked my mom to resign from the school-lunch maker post. For a few days I attended school without proper lunch (I still do), I hogged on my friend's lunch (sorry, Shatakshi) and ate from the canteen, which isn't the best thing to do, I went online and searched for food options I could prepare easily and were, in comparison, better than cafeteria food, I found several videos but the ingredients mentioned aren't exactly available in India easily or in a cheap manner. I searched again and this time with "India" typed with my search. The results I got, 'Pizza Paratha' NoThankYouVeryMuch. So, I brainstormed and brought out two lunch ideas for school, these food items aren't hard to prepare neither do they require 1/2 of your pocket money, here we go:

 Recipe 1: Corn Salad.

This recipe is a really simple one, it's easy to make and good to go.

Ingredients:

1. Corn kernels (Frozen or Fresh);

2. 1 tomato; finely chopped;

3. Juice of 1 lemon;

4. Few leaves of coriander (chopped);

5. Salt to taste.

Procedure:

1. Boil the corn kernels till they attain a golden colour;

2. Mix the corn in with other ingredient.

Vola!

Oh, and for the side, I just packed some boiled pasta with a bit of salt. (I like it okay. Don't judge.)

Recipe 2: Corn Pizza.

You might want to make this a night before.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of boiled corn;

2. 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour;

3. Smoked chicken (optional);

4. 1 tomato finely chopped;

5. 1 and a 1/2 tablespoons Tomato ketchup;

6.1 tablespoon chili powder.

7. 1/4 cup of boiled corn.

Base:

1. Preheat an oven at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for twenty minutes;

2. Blend corn in a blender;

3. Add in the whole wheat powder, making it attain a dough like form;

4. Roll our the dough in a circle with a rolling pin (Chill, it doesn't have to be a circle);

5. Pop it in the oven for ten minutes or until perfectly done;

Sauce:

Okay, my go to sauce is just a mixture of Ketchup and chili powder. It's really good alright.

Procedure:

1. when the base is cooked, load it with the sauce and add the ingredients listed above or you know, improvise!

2. Pop it in the oven for about five minutes!

For the side, I chose two cut-up baby bananas.

Done and Done!

Also, also, also, This is the first installment of many blog posts yet to come dedicated to students, The Student Series!

I hope you guys like and enjoy all of them!

Until next time!

Fries before guys.

Okay, let's adress the elephant in the room. Yes, I've been inactive for more than a month but blame it on my half yearly examination and things got worse when the hardisk of my laptop committed suicide but since, my laptop is all well now, I can start blogging again. So, here it is.

FRIES!

I find fries hauntingly delicious, don't judge me okay, but I am a broke teenager who cannot eat restaurant grade fries everyday. I started making fries at home but those fries weren't as good or crispy as the ones you eat in some famous fast food joint, but I'm unstoppable. It took me several attempts to finally make my fries as crispy and delicious, and here I share my recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 3 large potatoes;

2. 1 tablespoon cornflour;

3. Ice cold water;

4. Oil of choice ( I used vegetable oil).  

Procedure: 

1. Peel, cut and rinse the potatoes thoroughly;

2. Soak the potatoes in cold water for at least 30 minutes;

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan to 180 degree Fahrenheit;  

4. Dry the potato cuts in a towel;

5. In a bowl, mix half a glass of water and cornflour and dunk the potato cuts in the liquid;

6. On medium heat, add the potato cuts to the oil and keep it on medium heat till the potatoes are cooked on the inside;

7. Now increase the heat level to the highest and the hottest and let the fries attain their crunch and color;

8. Cook till the fries are blonde in color and are crispy enough.

Done and Done!

Kolkata's passion and legacy.

This blog is for concord 2015 by Shireen Gupta of D.P.S Megacity
-------------
Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is the third metropolitan of India. It's one of the few cities in India that is still holding on to its authentic charisma, it keeps its history alive in every way possible.

Not unlike any other city, Kolkata doesn't have one aspect to it, it has several, each aspect of Kolkata tells a glorious tale and to do justice to these glorious tales, I'm going to divide this blog into four different sub blogs; Food, people, festival and attractions. So here we go:
FOOD.
Kolkata is known for a lot of foods but since, it is not possible to cramp it all in one post, I'll only name and describe three of the most promising foods:
Puchka: puchka is a fried light batter of different grains later filled with spiced, mashed potatoes or sweet fritter and then dipped in tangy water for not more than five seconds to retain its crispy texture but fill it with tanginess, so, when you put it in your mouth, there's a burst of all kinds of flavours. Sweet or spicy, puchkas have a way to every Kolkatans heart.

Bhapa ilish:
Bhapa ilish is ilish fish roasted in mustard sauce with curry leaves and several other spices, with a strong taste, it wins the heart of those who enjoy such serendipity, every Kolkatan loves this dish and reminisce's over it when not home.
Rasgulla:
If you know anything about Kolkata, you know how Kolkatans have an obsession with rasgulla but are we to blame? With the light textured cottage cheese derivate with a smooth sugary syrup, how can you not fall in love?
People:
People in Kolkata or Kolkatans have an undeniable charm, with a charming smile and a sweet as rasgulla voice, they attract every person towards them. Kolkatans take pride in being a part of this glorious city and so you can see.
Festival:
Kolkata is a diverse city, people of all different cultures call it home and thus every festival is celebrated with an enthusiastic turnover but the festival that every Kolkatan holds close to their heart is, "Durga Puja", this festival is celebrated because if local legend is to be believed, this is when the goddess Durga comes to visit her maternal home each year, for this celebration, "pandals" and status of goddess Durga are made which takes around one month and a lot of human toil to make. The pandals require the same amount of hardwork a temporary house requires and as for the statue, it is believed that if the statue does not pay respect to the goddess Durga, the artist who makes dies an untimely death on the day of the unmasking of the statue. So, my point is, you don't want to anger Goddess Durga.
Attractions:
Kolkata is a huge place and so it has a lot of attractions but, again, it's not possible for me to mention each one of it, so I'll mention of it:
1. Howrah bridge: Built at the time of the British empire, Howrah bridge is as authentic as it gets, one doesn't take a stroll on the Howrah bridge but it tells its story from a great distance as well.
2. Park street: Down south of Kolkata, Park street still has an imperial aura to it, you can walk down the streets during the winter and trust me, you'll think you're walking down the streets of Birmingham. Park Street is home to the oldest book store in Kolkata, the Oxford book store and Flurys which was founded by Mr and Mrs. Flury and the food is heavenly.
3. College street: If you're a book worm and you stumble on to College street, you have found paradise my friend, it has every book imaginable and that too at atleast ten percent off, you're welcome.
4. New market: Anyone who complains that they can't find foreign items in Kolkata has never been to New Market, you can find almost everything from the foreign market in New market, if you don't, it means that the specific product has not seen day light yet.
5. Bara bazar:Saree or dry fruits, bara bazar has everything, you can try finding God there or you could just stumble on to him, I guess.
Well that's about it, there's a lot more to Kolkata than mentioned above but you cannot understand Kolkata in words for this is the greatest city I've ever known and I'm proud to call myself a Kolkatan.
Like
Comment
Write a comment...
Post

PIZZA!

Okay, let me just step right in, pizza is my favourite food ever, it is delicious. I didn’t like pizza as much when I was really young *le goes to the past and slaps young Shireen.* Ninety percent of people in this world love pizza, LOVE it. It’s saucy, full of freshness, cheesy and it just sits in your mouth and consumes your senses, you shut your eyes and you see heaven in that bite of a divine food, you just feel it being right for you, it overwhelms your senses but that’s alright, you love it, it rides down your throat and reaches your stomach and makes your stomach happ...... Wait! What? No!

The only downside to pizza is that it isn’t something that makes your stomach feel happy, one eats it on Sunday so as to compensate on it being unhealthy but if you’re anything like me, you probably crave pizza every other day and it is just so hard to suppress! Those pizzeria pizzas aren’t something that can be consumed on a daily basis (unless you’re PMSing, everything is alright then), so I have come up with a recipe that I thought you guys would cherish. This one’s called healthy and yummy pizza.

INGREDIENTS:

Base:

1. 1/2 cup cauliflower;

2.1/2 cup whole wheat.

3.1/2 cup water

Sauce:

1. 2/4 cup tomato ketchup;

2. 1 teaspoon chilli flakes

Topping:

Any veggie you like! I used:

1. 1 tomato

2. Half an onion

3. Basil leaves

4. 1 tablespoon cheese.

PROCEDURE:

1. Preheat an oven to 180 degree Fahrenheit.

2. Blend the cauliflower in a blender; when blended, mix it together with the wheat and water and kneed till the dough comes out in a ball.

3. Make the sauce by simply mixing the tomato ketchup and the chilli flakes.

4. Flatten out the dough using a rolling pin.

5. Once the dough is flattened out, top it with sauce and the toppings and the cheese.

6. Put it in the oven and cook till the cheese is melted and the dough is cooked.

7. Top it with dried herbs.

Serve hot!

Chunked up!

Hey guys! How are you all today? I hope you all are fine, I’m not because I have my review tests that start this week, so, I’m a little stressed and that is reason why I am not posting recipes since, I don’t get time to experiment. Therefore, today, yet again is a food review, I’m reviewing Britannia’s Good day Chunkies.

The Brand:

Britannia is a well known brand in India; it has a huge line of biscuits. “Chunkies” has recently been released over here, so, I had to have it.

Packaging:

You don’t get a single chunky; you have to buy a box which has an individual cookie in an individual pack.

Taste and Texture:

And now, the taste and the texture, the taste is heavenly, it isn’t very rich, neither is it very light, it has a perfect texture, like it’s very name, it has a whole lot of chunks, anyone who loves chunks will definitely love this cookie, you can taste a little bit of salt which perfectly balances the flavour. All together, its taste is serendipity.

Pricing:

To be honest, chunkies is not what I would call “pocket friendly”, it retails for Rs. 50 for 100 grams or six pieces, which honestly is a lot, there are similar cookies which retail for half of its price and don’t compromise in taste.

Preference:

If you love chunks go for, even after its money factor, this cookie is worth a try!

That's it for today I guess,

Vola!

REMINISCENT.

So, today is the first day I review a food product, soo yyyaayy! The food product I’m going to review today is more like a drink product; I’m going to review three flavours of the paperboat drink franchise! The three flavours up for reviewing today are: Aamras, Jaljeera and Jamun kaala-khaata. These are the only three flavours I could get my hands on to, paperboat has a variety of drinks AND even ice teas, I will try to find some.

Let’s start with review, shall we?

1.    Aamras: Aamras had a really thick and velvety texture which makes your throat joyful, the smell reminded me of the sweet mangoes of summer but the taste disappointed, it tasted like every other mango drink in India.

Retails for: Rs. 20

Content: 200ml

1.       Jaljeera: I have mentioned this before but I’ll mention it again, I grew up smack in the middle of a metropolitan but, and here is the big but, my roots do not belong here, every once in a while, during summer vacations, we visited my grandparents’ town, me and my cousins played around in the heat and quenched our thirst to the jaljeera wala’s jaljeera, the taste still rides on my tongue, paperboat’s jaljeera drink will not disappoint you, trust me, it will remind you of childhood and the beautiful moments it contained.

Retails for: Rs. 20

Content: 200ml

1.       Jamun kala khatta: No words for this flavour, this flavour will remind you of the kala-khatta baraf ka gola from childhood, again, leaving you in nostalgia, this flavour is my personal favourite, and I recommend it!

Retails for: Rs. 20

Content: 200ml

Well, that’s it for today; I’ll see you guys next week!

ADIEU!

ALLAHABAD.

Hey guys, how are you all? I know, it’s been weeks since I last posted, I’m really sorry for that but I was making major decisions for this blog, so, this is officially a Lifestyle, travelling and food blog. So yaay!

This first blog after WEEEkKKSS, is travel related. Hands up if you love travelling, would do it even if you had to put up in a dingy motel, not tourist around, won’t go on a itinerary tour, won’t follow a map and do what the locals do because that is what I’d do. I love travelling and even the cons it offers. So, you might not know this but my aunt lives in a city named Allahabad which belongs to the state of Uttar Pradesh. I spent my summer vacation there this time, huehuehue. I’m a Kolkata girl, born and raised in a metropolitan, small towns just don’t speak to me much, it also doesn’t help that I live smack in the middle of the city and I love noise, it helps me sleep, *le Shireen Gupta trying to be deep* but seriously I hate silence, I thought of Allahabad to be one of those ghost towns but I was a tad bit surprised. You might just go ahead and call me condescending but I think lowly of towns and I had the same idea for Allahabad but it was amazing to be honest.

Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for all ya wanderlusts out there :3

DO’S:

Places to visit:

To be very very very honest, until and unless you are a religious person, I don’t think you’ll like to tourist out.

Now, the real deal, the underrated places you must visit. :

1.        There’s this apparent haunted house which used to be a factory and where around four murders took place, I don’t know the exact address but what I can tell you is that there’s a famous tank near a hanuman temple and a lane right beside it, go straight and take the first left and you’ll find a wall which has the word “disputed” written all over it, across the wall is a small house like building. Yup, that is your destination. Here’s a picture, ain’t it spooky? (BTW, you can’t go inside the house ‘cause it is disputed)

1.      2. Another haunted house, guess who’s a freak, this girl. This house is more abandoned than haunted, we went inside and all but we didn’t see or feel anything, it does have animal bones lying around but nothing scary really,oh and if you do enter this house, please go up to the terrace, the view is breathtaking. Address: Ashok Nagar, military cantonment, “Bhut Bangla”

2.    3.   If you visit Allahabad and don’t visit El Chico then God wouldn’t forgive. THE FOOD, THE GODDAMN FOOD IS HEAVENLY. Go ahead, be jelly.

Address: 24, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Civil Lines, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh: 211001.

Phone no. 05322427696

DON’Ts:

1.   1.    Don’t visit Khusro Bagh until and unless you are a couple who likes meeting in secret yet publicly.

22. DON’T GO ANYWHERE FROM 12:00 P.M. to 5:00 DURING THE SUMMER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE BURNED TO DEATH.

Best season to visit:

Autumn, autumn in Allahabad is to die for.

Things to try:

THE CHAAT, if it were up to me, every meal of mine would consist of chaat.

Oh, if you’re in luck, you’ll experience summer rain in Allahabad which is the best thing ever.

So, yeah, that’s about it I guess!

Vegetarian up!

So, how many of guys are vegetarians who like being vegetarians but dislike the fact that cupcakes are, well, made with eggs? Worry not! Shireen is here to help you out, how was this recipe created? Well, I was craving cup cakes and we ran out of eggs and I was in my bed-shorts, so, ergo.

Hope you all like the recipe!

 

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour;

½ cup butter;

1 cup unsweetened chocolate powder;

¾ cup condensed milk, how to make condensed milk:

Take equal amounts of sugar and full fat milk and put it on simmer for like two hours or until it’s thick.;

1 teaspoon baking powder.

Procedure:

Preheat an oven for 180 degrees Fahrenheit, for 15 minutes;

Melt the butter and sugar together, and then pour it in a mixing bowl;

Add in the condensed milk and slowly fold until nice and smooth;

Slowly add the dry ingredients, avoid lumps;

Beat until smooth and fill 1/3 of your cupcake moulds;

Put it in the oven and let it bake for 20 minutes or till it isn’t runny.

VOLA!