Keep walking….

Hello everyone and I wish you all a very happy new year. Hope you have a great year ahead. Today I am going to talk about something which I have been experiencing for quiet sometime and even you might have experienced it at some point of time in your live. So here it is.

We say that life is a journey and yes indeed it is a special journey. Your path might seem similar to someone else’s path, but I believe that everyone has a unique trip planned. Also each person has a different approach on how to walk this path. There might be times when you feel that there is darkness all around you and you can’t really see your way around. Just remember that the night is the darkest right before the sunshine, so just keep walking and I am sure the glorious sunshine will greet you soon. At some point you might take a wrong path and it might lead to a dead end. This is really hard to deal with but, all you can do is take a U-turn, get back to the main road and find a road that is worth travelling. It doesn’t matter how many times fail, what matters is how many times you pull yourself up. Just keep your head held high and be the creator of your own destiny.

Initially your family and later onthe experiences teach you how to carry on with the journey, but it is always you who has to walk. You will always find co-travellers, some will stay for a short span and some forever, some will guide you and some will mislead you, some will cheer for you and some will try to pull you down, some will fill you up with light and some will leave you with darkness. It is up to you to decide whom to walk with, so choose wisely. All I can say is you cannot expect life to be easy, else how you would know your true potential. But remember that the rainbows come right after the rains, so just keep walking till you find the sunshine. And I am sure, there will be a day when you would learn to run J.

If you have such experiences or if you have some other views on the journey called life, let me know in the comments below. 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) 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.

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.