Saffron Trail

healthy vegetarian cooking

easy, vegetarian

Chakkara Pongal with Brown Rice

Chakkara Pongal / Sakkara Pongal/  Chakkarai Pongal is an auspicious sweet dish made on Pongal day. The freshly harvested rice and dal, are cooked along with jaggery for a simple, minimalistic sweet dish to mark the occasion of Pongal, a festival celebrated with much fervour in Tamil Nadu. As a kid,

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  • Today is Sunday and let's take a holiday from the food talk, shall we? 😊 . [TL;DR- taking song requests😊] So I've kicked off the IGTV channel with an old recording from last year and another song that I sung and uploaded yesterday. It's easier for me to post singing videos than cooking videos :) because I'm hopeless at video recording myself cooking. 🎵 I've recently started learning Hindustani Classical music. While I've learnt Carnatic for some 4 years as a kid, I didnt pursue / practise the music form. I love RD Burman and AR Rahman's compositions. Presently tripping on some of Agam's music which I find to be truly wow. 🎵 What I love singing -- Bollywood songs with a touch of Indian classical. Among the current lot of singers, I love Rekha Bhardwaj, @ronkinigupta , Mohit Chauhan among others. 🎵 I'd love to know if you have any song requests so I can practise and upload to IGTV for you to listen :) I'm no professional, this is one of my hobbies - consider yourself duly warned 🤣 🎵 This picture taken on a happy evening in Manchester at the @20storiesmcr bar with a stunning view from the 20th floor terrace.
  • Veggie loaded lunch today - just using up everything in my fridge :) ⭐Sourdough buckwheat crackers ⭐Korean style veggie loaded pancakes (YACHAEJEON) ⭐Rosemary roasted baby radish ⭐Sauteed mushrooms ⭐Beet salad ⭐Bell peppers and kidney beans salad ⭐Dipping sauceRecipe for this very kick-ass dipping sauce - 3 tbsp dark soya sauce 2 tsp white vinegar 1 tsp hot sauce (Pico's bhootjholokia) 1 tbsp honey 3 tbsp water
  • This for me is HAPPINESS! I couldn't buy all this fresh produce at @boroughmarket - but I did go trigger happy with the camera ♥️
  • Made these classic French style crepes with lemon and sugar for the kid yesterday as the holidays are coming to an end and I haven't been cooking anything exciting for him :) So much so that I rescued one very old lemon from the fridge for this breakfast (keeping it real guys) #notvegannotglutenfreenothealthyplaindelicious - life Is all about balance #profoundInstaDescriptions . Super simple recipe from allrecipes -- 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 egg 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup water 1 tbsp melted butter Pinch of salt Mix well to make smooth batter. Prepare thin crepes cooking on both sides (no oil needed to cook these) Sprinkle sugar and squeeze lemon juice. Fold and serve immediately. This recipe makes 4-5 large crepes. . What's your favourite filling in a crepe?
  • One of the creamiest dreamiest ice cream I've had in recent times -Pure Origin Chocolate at @gingerscomfort Manchester - I would kill for this cone of pure deliciousness. One lick and you can tell that it's been made with lot of love and care. . If you are ever in Manchester, I urge you to try an ice cream from Ginger's Comfort Emporium. PLEASE swipe to see a close up of the beauty! . Where have you eaten the best ice cream in the world?
  • Thank you for the amazing amazing response to my music post (previous post on feed) and I'm sorry I could not respond to every comment. But I'll surely do more such music posts on feed (and stories). You'll find a Music highlights in my profile. . Lunch today was phulka made using @twfflours (not an ad), celery-tomato-cucumber salad, yesterday's leftover whole masoor, garlicky mashed potatoes with spinach and mangoes (I ate way more mango than what's on my plate). The whole Masoor recipe is on my blog already - https://www.saffrontrail.com/whole-masoor-dal-recipe/ The potato recipe I'll be sharing this week on saffrontrail.com
  • A new kind of a post today and I'll post more of these if you like it :) . This weekend I had shared some clips of my singing (in stories) and a lot of you asked for me to upload the whole song as one clip. Coincidentally, friends on twitter tagged me in a #singingtwitter hashtag asking me to share a song on video. 🎤 So here it is. A very popular bandish in Raag Brindavani Sarang which I learnt only recently. It's been an ear worm since some days and I cannot stop humming it :) 🌀 A bit about this beautiful Raag - According to wiki-"It was created by Swami Haridas. He brought Lord Krishna to earth by singing this raga who took the form of an idol which can still be seen in Mathura." 🎵 This Raag belongs to Kaafi Thaat. It is meant to be sung in the late afternoon. It portrays Shringaar Ras or romance. Even without learning this theory, I could feel the rasa in the notes. Such is the beauty of music. 🎶 Parts of the song Ghoomar from Padmavat were set in this Raag. Those of you into old Bollywood music may know the song Saavan Aaye Ya Na Aaye, which is also based on this Raag.
  • First things first --- I'm very much back in Bangalore :) Just posting the older pictures one by one! . Throwback from my day on my own in London -- started at the @boroughmarket , then walked all around the London Bridge, went to the Tate Modern museum, enjoyed my coffees at Monmouth, had a meal with @mallikabasu_ and a walk around Little Venice, ending with a fun evening of music, dance and beer with my brother in law. This city has no dearth of things to keep you busy even if you are on your own🤩 all that was just around 25k steps on my Fitbit that day 😁

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