Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes in a Pressure Cooker

Hello everyone. The New Year is just around the corner, so I thought I would make some easy cupcakes for you all. They are not really healthy. But it’s okay, a cupcake on the New Year’s Eve never hurt anybody. And all of you will be starting your healthy diet routine from 1^st of January 2017, right? So cupcakes won’t be a problem (wink). Here is what you will need,

	Ingredient	Quantity
1.	Flour (I used multi grain one)	2 tbsp.
2.	Chocolate	50 grams
3.	Butter	25 grams
4.	Curd	1 tbsp.
5.	Honey	1 tsp.
6.	Baking Powder	¼ tsp.
7.	Baking Soda	A pinch

Procedure:

1. Melt the chocolate in the double boiler. Read this article on how to set up the same (http://ahappygirlwrites.blogspot.com/2014/11/peanut-butter-chocolates.html).

2. Sift all the dry ingredients i.e. flour, baking soda and baking powder.

3. Add in the softened butter and mix it really well.

4. Add in the curd and honey.

5. Finally mix the melted chocolate.

6. Add the prepared mixture to medium sized silicone cupcake containers. The containers should be filled only halfway. Place these cupcakes in the flat bottomed vessel.

7. Place this vessel in the (aluminium) pressure cooker. You can also put a cooker plate below it.

8. Put the lid on the pressure cooker without the whistle and let the cupcakes cook for 10-12 minutes on high heat. You need to let the cooker cool down and it will take 10 more minutes and then your cupcakes are ready to be enjoyed.

I know this isn’t how a traditional cupcake looks like, but that’s my version. So, I hope that you will give this easy recipe a try anyways and if you do, let me know in the comments below how you like it.If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about or you want to share a picture of your recreation of this recipe, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Multi-tasking women in the ghoonghat

Hello everyone. I hope you all are doing great. Today I have an incident to share with you all. I somehow always believed that rather being born with multi-tasking quality, we women learn it as we transition from being girls to women. These women mentioned in the title have actually made me believed that we women are born to be multi-taskers. So here I narrate this particular incident.

Few weeks ago, I was out with my mother and we came across four to five small shops selling unbreakable utensils. Those were just temporary shops set up outside small huts. There was quiet a large crowd buying stuff out there, so out of curiosity we went there just to have a look around. My mom usually takes a lot of time to shop even for a pin, so I had a plenty of time to observe the people around. The scene I saw there was quiet a life changer for me. All the shops had women were selling the utensils. Each of the lady had a little baby on her lap and one or two more young kids. The men of the house were busy cooking. What struck me was the ability of these women to handle the customers, feeding the baby and keeping an eye on the other kids all at the same time. Also the men were letting their wives take the lead and helping them to deal with just the “I am the best bargainee” kind of people.

These people might not have read about or learnt or even heard about the word “multi-tasking” or “gender equality”, but they were so good at it that. There are times when we complain that we have so much to do and we have so little time to do that. But for me, these women were epitome of being the multi-taskers. There was so much to learn from these not so privileged women and men as well. If these women could do everything so perfectly, why not us? We have more facilities than them and we probably should stop complaining about too much work. I always believed that, if women are given chance, they can accomplish anything in this world. These women were just an example of that. I wish there were more men in our society who supported women and watch them succeed. This incident did leave an impact on me which is why I decided to share it with you all.

So friends, if you have any such incident to share with my friends over here, please feel free to write that in the comments below. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about or you want to share a picture of your recreation of this recipe, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Healthy Sambar/Kothimbir/Pudachi Wadi (Nagpur Style)

Hello everyone. I hope you all are doing great. Today I am going to share with you my favourite “winter special” dish aka Kothimbir wadi. It is a popular snack all year around in my region (read Nagpur), but it is a winter special recipe because the main ingredient i.e. coriander is found in its purest, freshest form in the winters. Traditionally, the coriander filling is stuffed into rolled out gram flour (besan) dough and then it is deep fried. But here I give you a healthier version of this lip smacking snack. So without further ado, let’s get started with the recipe. Here is what you will need,

	Ingredient	Quantity
1.	Coriander (finely chopped)	¾ cup
2.	Gram flour (Besan)	½ cup
3.	Wheat/Multi grain flour	½ cup
4.	Onion (finely chopped)	1 small
5.	Garlic	2 cloves
6.	Ginger	1 small piece
7.	Green chillies	1 large or 2 small
8.	Coconut (grated)	1 tbsp.
9.	Poppy seeds (khus-khus)	¼ tsp.
10.	Tumeric powder	¼ + ¼ tsp.
11.	Red chilli powder	¼ + ¼ tsp.
12.	Lemon juice	½ tsp.
13.	Oil	1+1 tsp.
14.	Dry fruits (chopped)	1 tbsp.
15.	Salt	To taste
16.	Water

Procedure:

1. To make the dough, mix gram flour, wheat/multi grain flour, ¼ tsp each of turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Add salt to taste.

2. Heat 1 tsp. oil and add the steaming hot oil into the mixture.

3. Slowly add in water, 1 tsp. at a time and make a tight dough. You will need around 2-3 tsp. water. And let it rest until we make the filling.

4. For the filling, first roast the grated coconut until it is slightly brown. Let it cool.

5. Grind garlic, ginger and green chillies.

6. In a non-stick pan, heat ½ tsp. oil. Add the onions and chilli-ginger-garlic paste. Fry it until the onions turns slightly brown.

7. Add the poppy seeds and the dry fruits. Roast them for a few minutes.

8. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Then add in the coriander.

9. Finally add the roasted coconut and lemon juice. Now your filling is ready.

10. Divide the dough into two equal parts. . Dust some flour on the rolling board and roll out each one into medium sized chapatis. The chapatis shouldn’t be too thin.

11. Now divide the filling into two and make the wadis as shown. Add the filling to the chapatti. Then, first turn the chapati into half and press down the sides, then gently roll it back to make a rectangle, the finally close the other two sides. Then press all the sides firmly so that there is no gap in the covering. It is really difficult to put these steps into words (#awkward).

12. Now add the wadis into the steamer. Read the steps 11, 12 and 13 of the steamed modaks article (http://ahappygirlwrites.blogspot.com/2014/08/healthy-steamed-modaks.html) to know how to do so.

13. Let these steam for around 20 minutes on high heat and then let them sit in steamer for 10 more minutes after turning off the heat.

14. Now add remaining oil into the non-stick pan and fry the wadis (on medium heat) until they are nice and crisp. It takes around 4-5 minutes on each side. And then these tasty kothimbir wadis are ready to serve. I like to have them warm with the home-made tamarind sauce.

I know this is a slightly exhausting dish to make, but trust me all your hard work is worth it. These wadis taste exactly like the fried ones just way less oily. So friends, I hope that you will give this recipe a try and if you do, let me know in the comments below how you like it. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about or you want to share a picture of your recreation of this recipe, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Moisturising Panchamrut Face Pack

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a great day. Winter has come in full force, so I thought I would give you all a moisturising face pack recipe that contains all natural ingredients and it is super easy to make. Panchamrut literally translates to nectar and it contains milk, curd, sugar, honey and ghee. Sugar works as a gentle exfoliant and rest of the ingredients help your skin retain its moisture and overall it is a great skin cleanser and it also helps to brighten your skin. So let’s get started. Here is what you will need,

	Ingredient	Quantity
1.	Rice flour	2 tbsp.
2.	Sugar (powdered)	1 tbsp.
3.	Milk	1 tsp.
4.	Curd	1 tsp.
5.	Honey	½ tsp.
6.	Ghee	¼ tsp.

Procedure:

1. Mix the dry ingredients viz. flour and powdered sugar.

2. Add in the wet ingredients. The consistency of the pack should be like a thick moisturiser.

3. Apply a thin layer of the pack on your face and neck. Apply the remaining pack on your hands and feet. Let is dry completely. Then put teeny tiny amount of water on your palms and use a scrubbing motion to remove the pack.

          This pack will gently scrub your skin along with hydrating it. It contains all natural ingredients so it will hopefully work on all skin types, even the sensitive skin. If you try out this pack, let me know how it works for you. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl). Till next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Have a happy day J.

Every “wrong” person is a lesson

             Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing great. Today I have a slightly hard hitting article to share with you all. As you might have guessed from the title that I am going to talk about the realities of life as taught by some people who in my opinion, no one should come across. Being a 25 year old, you kind of have seen “not so good” people. That in turn teaches you to distinguish between the people you want to be with and whom you never want to see ever in your life. And that is how we make the friends who stay with us forever. Just want to give out a disclaimer here that this article might be too much for some people, but I am just pouring my heart out so I hope you understand. And I truly believe that not everyone you meet will be the “wrong one”.

1. People might treat you like a “Use and Throw” object:

Many people stay with you until you are useful to them, but as soon as your usefulness diminishes and you are no longer useful to them, they start showing their true colours. They are the ones who start following the sign that is written at the back of most heavy vehicles, that reads “Keep safe distance”. In short they will start avoiding you in every way possible. If you ever have to deal with such a person, learn to be practical and not let him/her affect you in any way possible.

2. People might be your “Pretend friends”:

          Some people will always pretend to be your friends and try to show you how much they care for you. But the reality is completely different, they are just not your friends. They fall in the “Fake and Selfish” category of people. They will never truly care or love you no matter what. So you my dear, must learn to identify the Ron Weasley amongst the Draco Malfoys.

3. In your hardest time, you are almost alone:

          I can write pages after pages about this scenario, but let me keep it very brief. Trust me when I say that very few people actually want to be with you, when you are at your worst, not everyone is Dobby. No one wants to be with a sad loser, that’s the fact. So hold on to every soul who has supported you in your toughest time. Never let go of your family because they will always be there for you, no matter what.

4. People might take you for granted:

          A good person is most often taken for granted. So, some people will always want you to be good to them, no matter how they are. But we are all humans, you can be good to a person until other one is nice to you. But if the other person is on the opposite side of “good”, how can you be nice to him for long. These people take advantage of you and never ever return favours even in the smallest possible way. I would probably want to cut myself off from such a person.

5. People notice your faults first:

          Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that very few people actually like good things about you, most of them are usually busy finding out your faults? These people are toxic because they make you feel bad about yourself, because they are just perfect (sarcastically of course). No one is perfect, so people should just stop judging others and the world would be a happier place to live.

          So friends these are some people that have shown me the not so bright side to life. But I believe that every good person is a blessing and every bad, teaches you something. Always remember that life might be a thunderstorm sometimes, but wait for the rainbow. If you have any such experience, let me know in the comments below. Finally I would like to say that I wrote this article very impulsively, I hope no one gets offended.

If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl , even though I am very new to that). Till next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Have a happy day J.