Today is a special day for us, on this day of our religious calender, we forgive everyone wholeheartedly and we ask for their forgiveness. And on this day, we cook certain foods and pray for those who lost their lives fighting for our religion.
And on this day I end up wondering why relationships are so complicated. We have this special day ingrained in our religion, we ask for forgiveness every year but the moment the day is over, we are back to 'normal' being horrible to each other. I wish every day was a day for forgiving, I wish people would just generally be of a forgiving nature. Meh, I am rambling so here you go, on to the cooking:
I finally made a meal using Chard (yaay for a new vegetable, thanks to the friend who recommended it)! I made red lentils and tomato with the chard. The recipe is here. I followed the recipe with the addition of 1/2 an onion and 2 tbs of ginger-garlic paste (that I fried before adding anything) and 1 sprig of curry leaves (which I also added before adding the tomatoes and chard). I haven't tried it yet but I am sure it will be delicious just as any other recipe on zaiqa.net is!
And on this day I end up wondering why relationships are so complicated. We have this special day ingrained in our religion, we ask for forgiveness every year but the moment the day is over, we are back to 'normal' being horrible to each other. I wish every day was a day for forgiving, I wish people would just generally be of a forgiving nature. Meh, I am rambling so here you go, on to the cooking:
I finally made a meal using Chard (yaay for a new vegetable, thanks to the friend who recommended it)! I made red lentils and tomato with the chard. The recipe is here. I followed the recipe with the addition of 1/2 an onion and 2 tbs of ginger-garlic paste (that I fried before adding anything) and 1 sprig of curry leaves (which I also added before adding the tomatoes and chard). I haven't tried it yet but I am sure it will be delicious just as any other recipe on zaiqa.net is!
Next I made the usual 'khatta saalan' or sour curry. This time using 'bhindi' or okra:
Then, after much debating, I decided to attempt a healthier version of a dessert we usually have on this day (it has a funny name, try not to laugh as you read it); 'chongey.' Chongey are basically a cross between deep fried crepes and a funnel cake. They are not as thin and soft as crepes but they are not as thick as funnel cakes either but they are crispy. Anyways, we usually deep fry these goodies but I attempted a baked, semi-healthier version using this recipe. I used all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat (I know unhealthy but it's not traditional unless it's made with all-purpose flour), coated the top with a bit of butter, and added powdered sugar and then baked at 400 F. The first batch was kind of under-cooked so I left the second batch for 20 minutes instead of 10 and they look much better, we'll have to see how they taste. Enjoy!