What to eat when in Central India!

Central India ? I don't even know if it is a term to be used. Nevertheless, resuming my new found zest for being regular here, I am once again revisiting this part. Please dont disown me, if I discontinue now. I meant, I wont. Or I decided to build some defence in my case. Whatever..

The series started here, and is not here. I hope it does end soon :)



P.S - As always, click on the image to view larger.

Orissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh - are you okay with being called Central India? I think it is pretty okay. The only catch is Orissa - but I would have a lot of places in East.

Of these, I have not been to Maharashtra. Yup, 24 years in India and not been to Mumbai once. Not even on transit.

Orissa - Fish Orly, Khirmohan, Rasabali, Chhenapodapitha. So tough to spell these stuff. Khirmohan is similar to Rasgulla. I may have had it in a 'bengali sweetbox'. Not sure at all. Fish Orly - :P, Rasabali, yup. I have done this one with khoa. Rasabali is the Rasmalai version of a Gulabjamun - well, sort off. I made this as a part of a sweets class, sometime when I was in college. Chhenapodapitha is the 'cheesecake' from Orissa. Wow, never knew about this. Must check out, and try sometime.

Trivia : Visited Puri when I was 10 years old. I remember eating Poori at Puri :) and talking about it in school.

Maharashtra - Shrikand, Thalipeeth, Vada Pao, Modak. All tasted. Have tried to make only vada pao from this, but I dont know if mine was authentic. I should go to Bombay and try it sometime. Thalipeeth is the NI version of Adai made with different flours. The version I had contained even ragi. Not a fan, but was nice.

Madhya Pradhesh - Lapsi, Bafla, Bhutte ki Khees, Bhopali Kebabs. Lapsi is a sweet dish made with godumai ravai. Amma makes it often. She even calls the upma from it s Lapsi Upma :)Bafla Bati and Bhopali Kebabs - Nope. Bhutte Ka Kees seems very interesting, a mix of upma and dhokla. Sometime.

Gujarat - Thepla, Dhokla and Khandvi - Love. Handvo - May be second love. Panki - A elai adai version of NI, probably. Never heard before.

Rajasthan - Dal Baati Churma, Ker Sangri, Lal Maas Gatte, Pyaaz ki Kachori. Dal Baati, I have had, but did not like it too much. May be I have not had the best versions. Lal Mass and Ker Sangri is saved :) Kachoris, only from local chaat shops.

Chattisgarh - Bafauri, Kusli and Red ant chutney. Geez, whats this ant chutney supossed to be? Ahem!

East and Rest Later :)

16 year old Talks - Thursday Thirteen #1

I am sick of my lethargy in posting here. If I hate anything about myself at the moment, this is it - the inability to write regularly. So, I spent half of a monday :P morning browsing through ideas to keep my blog going. One of my favourite is tags. In case you still do not know what tags are, just go away to this post by Nags.

So yeah,be all ready to find me tagging myself. I am that shameless to keep this blog going :)

Another major idea ( yea, thts how I call anything I think of ) was to do regular lists like some kind of a series. I know it is not exactly saving the world, but it gives some kind of a pattern to posts (whatever!). One of it is Thursday Thirteen.

So what I will do is to post a list of 13 things every Thursday. And on what I will post will depend on my silly head. This week, I planned to post the top 13 foods I have cooked. But I wanted to add photos. And I wanted to link it to the recipe, if online. And I wanted to do this, that. So it is not happening for this week. It would be a nice separate post, than this list.

So here it is, all grand music and wild entry - My Thursday Thirteen #1

13 things I should tell to the 16 year old me : (or to any 16 year old)

1. Be proud of your choice to take commerce. You did the right thing.

2. Do not stop that meditation you do now. You will learn about Isha and get involved in it, later.

3. Get used to wearing sleeveless.

4. Learn about what 'taking backup' is. Do not lose any photos.

5. Start liking 2 minute maggi noodles. Its now or never. The 24 year old me still does not.

6. Join a dance class. You will regret you did not do it, later.

7. Continue with the diary. Do it in pencil, so that you can erase stuff.

8. Her hate for you is plain jealousy. It will come back as FB request years later.

9. Start washing your tiffin boxes. It is seriously sick to start doing it at 24.

10. The annual holidays you get now, is practically unheard of for the rest of your life. Sleep well. Please.

11. Learn to manage a dupatta, properly. The girl way.

12. Stop answering back amma for everything. Years later, you will sit miles away missing her.

13. DO NOT bother about your 10th marks. The world does not care anyway.

Updates

And yes, as Anu puts it, KPMG stole it away. The 30 day challenge ( do I even call it now, that way) stopped because I managed to get a job, in 9 days of starting this challenge.

Truth be spoken, the 30 day challenge was born out a lonely desperate afternoon. I was internally feeling rotten, and badly wanted to stop the bitch in me from taking control. In miraculous ways, it helped. I started getting ideas on writing about the place I lived, the kind of food I ate or hoped to eat and unearthing drafts. Kind of upset the plan was left off, ironically because I am now in a job.

Earning in dollars :) Someone I dearly know in Chennai told me to be a disciplined spender. Never had the word 'discipline' made more sense than my absolute lack of control at the recent BodyShop sale. I had to remove at least four different bottles, simply to teach myself some discipline.

Absolute lack of enthusiasm :) For the first two weeks, I moved like a kid. I loved the trains, the job, the food - everything about it. I still do, but my enthusiasm levels are sunk. Most times, it is the moment around that influences (read DECIDES) my mood. As one of Sadhguru's quotes go ( unable to recollect fully )- we pick pieces from people, and make us. It is so true. And I warn you, when you pick it from the wrong person, it lingers for a really long time.

Yet, Yet - I leave the post with this note. And look forward to be here really soon.

Source: traceysthoughts.tumblr.com via Vicki on Pinterest