'Desserts' of 'Indian Desert'

               'Desserts' of  'Indian Desert'




Cuisine from time immemorial has given a distinct identity to a region, simultaneously echoing the culture of the same. A place where cooking food is considered an art form, one must only imagine some lip-smacking treat waiting for a man in love with authentic food. Every state has a region-specific food depending upon the vegetable- meat available and on the kind of living conditions and climate prevailing there. Similarly, “Rajasthan” is one such state that offers sumptuous and simply irresistible delicacies, leaving one asking for more.

Rajasthan’s culture depicts a primarily vegetarian cuisine style and offers a fabulous variety of tempting dishes. The spice content is quite high in comparison to other Indian states, but the food is truly scrumptious. Ghee is used in great quantity for cooking most of the dishes along with milk and butter. The state is well known for its spicy curries and delicious sweets.

 The “desert’s” cooking was influenced by both war-like lifestyles of its inhabitants and the availability of ingredients in this arid region. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred. Scarcity of water and fresh green vegetables effected cooking.

Although today, an enormous variety of sweets add to the flavour of Rajasthan which are relished and savoured by all. These are served before the meal with the main course and so, a sweet dish is never called “Dessert” in Rajasthan. Each region of the state symbolises its speciality and uniqueness, not only in its culture and living but even in its “Cuisines”. Every region is known for its reputed sweets like “Mawa Kachori” of Jodhpur, “Rasogullas” of Bikaner, “Ghevar” of Jaipur, “Malpuas” of Pushkar and many more.

“Churma” is a popular Rajasthani delicacy usually served with baatis and dal. It is coarsely ground wheat crushed and cooked with ghee and sugar. Traditionally, it was made by mashing wheat flour baatis or rotis in ghee and jaggery and is usually rich in calories.“Ghevar” is another sweet associated with Teej festival and made from oil, flour and sugar syrup. It has many varieties including plain, mawa and malai ghevar. “Gujia” is  a cuisine of North India particularly Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan made with suji or  wheat flour and stuffed with khoya.“Dilkushar”, popularly known as “Besan ki chakki”, is made of Gram flour and famous in weddings and on special occasions.

“Mawa Kachori” is a very special and prestigious dish originating from Jodhpur, made of mawa stuffed in kachori. “Kalakand”,being one of the popular Indian sweets made out of solidified, sweetened milk and cottage cheese originated from Alwar. It is commonly known as Alwars Kalakand (Milk Cake), which tempts everybody with its rich aeroma. Milkcake of Alwar is not only very famous in India but is also exported from the country. “Moong Dal ka Halwa” is a unique sweet dish of lentils sweetened with milk and sugar. It is often prepared during the winter months to keep the body warm and is calorie laden.

“Rabri” is a sweet, condensed milk based dish and serves as a tongue licking dessert. It is made by boiling milk on low heat for a long time till it becomes dense and changes its colour. Sugar, spices and nuts are added to it to give it a great taste. It is chilled and served as dessert. Traditional Rabri is made by reducing fresh whole milk. “Jaipuri Gajak” is cooked in sugar syrup and sesame seeds and set up in thin layers. The sweet is believed to have warming properties which makes it quiet appropriate for Indian winters.

Altogether, cooking in the Indian desert (Rajasthan) has its own distinctive taste and the simplest ingredients go into the preparation of most dishes. Dried lentils and beans from indigenous plants are used liberally, while gram flour is a major ingredient in cuisines. “Desserts” or “Mithais” of Rajasthan which are popular all over the world further more add up to the deliciousness and richness of the state’s culture and ambience.

Dove's New Ad Campaign: You are beautiful!

Beautiful! Every women thinks about all the things they do not like and consider themselves as imperfect. Oh well why just women perhaps men also suffer from insecurities about their appearance or physical attributes. Maybe it’s a human thing that if aren’t been narcissist then perhaps we tend to concentrate more on our “ imperfections” than what is perhaps “perfect”.

Dove’s new ad campaign breaks the age old complexity targeting women, in an effort to highlight that beauty is skin deep. 

This ad is all about comparison between women describing their own facial features and description given by how other women see them to a sketch artist , it makes them realise that the things they see as flaws are their assets . 

Dove ‘s new ad campaign underlines the fact that that women are more beautiful than their image of self. 

The subtlety in the way dove conveys that  they care for your inner beauty more than how you might feel about it. Its rather complimenting and saluting womanhood!

Can Technology Impress The Voters?

Woke up this morning with a phone call from my friend Mahesh who had been waiting in Rajkot to see his favorite leader on beautiful misty morning in Gujrat. He tells me that the party workers have been working round the clock to ensure that crowds are well managed in Ahmadabad because the leader will soon be making a public appearance. He goes on to tell me how they are all working towards revamping how political appearances will be in future and how his favorite leader is the pioneer in this very aspect as well. He goes on to narrate that another party worker is in Vadodra to question the politician about his propaganda and another worker in Surat is also one of the many waiting to meet his idol. 

This phone call had me confused that unless his leader has got himself cloned who does he plan to address crowds in 4 different cities at the same. Never did I think that the Political rallies in the country where internet penetration is yet to be 50 % or we are yet to have 100% electricity coverage areas are now taking technological aide to address crowds to talk about development! Welcome to the technical side of politics (nothing is impossible in 21st century) 

Concept front runner Tech savvy CM of Gujarat, who delivered speech in 53 different locations in a day during Gujarat election. Gone are those days when leader had to visit their constitutional area or had to address public gathering in person to spread their views and opinion. Now they can have a 3D appearance in any part of the country and share their views with just a click.

I wont be surprised if next time around am witness the leader(s) chatting me up about economy, society, development & morality of being an Indian over a cup of tea while being beamed right in my living room!

SMALL POCKETS & NEVER ENDING TEMPTATIONS

'DU', the name itself gives us a ride of the sharp huzz & buzz of a student's life including crowd both from the native place as well as big population from other parts of India. 

Delhi University's 'North Campus' is filled up with chunk of students at every corner (perhaps indulging more that studying). It could be a working day (ideally day to attend lectures) or on weekends or even on vacations the DU north campus is swamped with hoards of foodie DUites indulging in its street temptations available within the limited budget. From the in campus college canteens like Hindu and Stephens holding high reputation for their mouth watering Non-veg stuffed cuisines, the street sellers holding 'old is gold' level bench marked names like Tom Uncle, Suresh De Parathe, Chacha ke Chole Bhature are the 'Addas' for hungry tummy's of the campus.

Tandoori Momos, Chatpata lane of Kamlnagar, Chocolate frappe with grilled sandwich at forty bugs from Hansraj College, Mutton dosa and cutlet of Delhi School of Economics keeps the students stuck at their doors all year long making huge money. Street and canteen dishes are not only the delight for the students on campus but also is proving to be quite a hit with faculty on campus as well as the crowd from different parts of city willing to embrace Delhi's infamous traffic to just feed their taste buds. 

When was the last time you hogged on some good street food? Oh please do share, the foodie in me is already craving! In the meantime do check out the coolest street food place in Delhi for not just gastronomic delights but also for the buzzing vibe!

Its not a campus but its a circus!