Madhubani Ganesha - madhubani borders

Sharing my Ganesha in madhubani style. Do let me know how you liked 🙂

Easy Christmas card - Cup Cake liner craft

Hi friends

Sharing simple card which we made with cup cake liners. Love the festive colors of this one :)

The fastest painting that I ever made!

Hi Friends

Wish you a very happy Diwali again! Do you remember a painting of mine which took 4 years to complete!! I am sure you dont :) You can check it out here. 

And can you believe I completed this painting just in 3 sittings! Right from the inception of the idea to final completion in just 3 days :)

Actually we had a little slot on top of the safety door, I wanted to fill it with something beautiful and that too before Diwali! I used my daughters old canvas for this. Painted with acrylic paints. Drew the Ganeshji image with hands. Later outlined the border and outlines with 3D outliners. Adorned Ganeshji's necklace with colorful stones.

Very happy with the result. Do let me know how you liked our little creation ( Yes little miss had definitely contributed in the painting in her own way, sometimes painting the bells, background and sometimes bugging me ...haha :))

This is where I started!

In progress

Diwali pop up card

Hi Friends, sharing a quick pop up card for Diwali that me and my daughter made for her school project. My daughter is very fascinated with pop up cards these days (so am I!)
So we made this using simple yellow card stock. For the front we made a pattern paper diya and decorated with rhinestones.
Made a step pop up inside. Decorated the steps with small diyas. Do let me know how you liked out card..
Happy Diwali :)

Dhaniya Prasad | Krishna Janmashtmi special

Ingredients

1/2 cup Coriander Powder / Dhaniya Powder

1/2 cup Foxnuts / Phool Makhana - Optional 

1 tbsp Dry coconut grated

1 tbsp gum, gond

1 tsp Melon Seeds / Magaz / Kharbooje Ke Beej

10 Almonds / Badam

4 tbsp Clarified Butter / Desi Ghee

1/3 cup Boora/ powdered sugar

Instructions

Heat a heavy bottom pana nd add the melon seedsand stir on low heat till they start to crackle,remove and keep aside.

add ghee in the pan and gond, roast on low heat till they swell . Remove.

Add ghee and add the almonds and roast on low heat till they start to crackle,remove from the pan.

Now add the makhana and roast for 2-3 minutes till they become crisp ,remove and keep aside

Now coarsely pound the makhana, gond and almond in the mortar and pestle

Now add the 2 tbsp ghee and roast the dhaniya powder on low heat till it start giving a nice aroma and turn darker in colour. Now emove from the pan

After 2-3 minutes mix the roasted dhaniya powder ,powdered sugar or boora , makhana,melon seeds and almonds and mix well.

Store in air tight jar. Enjoy this yummy prasad on janmashtmi!

Kids Rakhi Activity and Marwadi Son Pooja

Sharing a rakhi activity that little miss did in her school. She decorated a rakhi printout with crepe ribbons and sequence. Isnt it cute!

Also want to share a marwadi tradition for rakhi which we follow and have seen this since my childhood. We make two identical designs on a small piece of paper and stick it on both sides of the door, mainly on the sides of main door, kitchen door. So these little peices are called Son and they are stuck  a day befor on the doors. Traditionally this is done with limestone water - making a small white surface with limestomne water on both sides of the entrance, letting it dry and then painitng it with geru. But now with recent trends there is lot of fasion in this area too! :)  is my simple take on it. My SIL had sent these small son made of plastic, I stuck them on paper and decorated with 3D Outliner. Do let me know how you liked our little creations!

Madhubani Ganeshji | Mithila Ganesha

Wish you a very happy dear friends..its never too late to wish friends :)

Sharing a new madhubani painting that I made, what better start of the year than this. 

My love affair with this art in not a secret that i want to keep...so love to share my creations.

Do let me know how you liked my madhubani/mithila  ganeshji .

Would love to hear from you.

Christmas card

Hello lovely friends. Sharing a simple Christmas card that kiddo made last year.. The. Idea 💡 is from Internet. 

It's very easy to make and excellent craft for kids. 

Do you have your Santa wish list 📃 ready for this year?  Kiddo sure has one:) 

Diwali special chiroti - diwali snacks

Chiroti is a popular dessert in traditional Maharastra cuisine. This delicacy is called Pathir Pheni or Khaja. 

Chiroti is a fried flaky pastry with concentric circles of delicate layers. 

Making chiroti is not a complicated process as it might appear to the beginner cook. A stack of three to four thinly rolled out rotis that have been smeared with a paste of rice flour/corn flour are rolled up into a cylindrical log and sliced into 1/2″ thick pieces. These cut out pieces are again rolled out thin and deep fried to a golden shade. This crunchy delight is highly addictive. Chiroti is one the best Indian sweets recipes that you can make for family and friends this Diwali. :)

Ingredients

Plain Flour - 2 cups (maida)

Ghee - 2 tbsps, melted

Salt - pinch

Sugar - 3/4 cup, powdered and mixed with 1/2 tsp cardamom powder

For paste:

Rice flour or corn flour - 2 tbsps

Ghee - 1 1/2 tbsps, melted

For sugar syrup: (if using syrup to dip the chiroti)

Sugar - 1 cup, granulated

Water - 1 cup

Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp

Method

In a bowl, add the flour, salt and melted ghee and mix well. Slowly add enough water to make a smooth yet firm dough like puri dough. Cover the dough and keep aside for an hour.

The authentic recipe calls for deep frying in ghee. I have deep fried in oil.

Ensure that the dough is tight and not soft like chapati dough.

While the dough is resting prepare the powdered sugar mixture. In a bowl, add the powdered sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Keep aside.

If using sugar syrup to dip the fried chiroti, prepare the syrup. Heat water and granulated sugar in a vessel till sugar is melted and then continue to simmer till the mixture thickens to single thread consistency on low flame. Add cardamom powder and mix. Turn off flame. Keep aside.

In a small bowl, mix rice flour with melted ghee and keep aside. This paste is used to bind the layers of rotis.

Pinch off dough such that you have 6 large lemon sized balls. Roll each into thin rotis. Place a roti on your work surface, smear a tsp of the prepared rice flour paste all over the roti. Place another rolled out roti over it and again smear with a tsp of rice flour paste. Again repeat the process by placing another roti over the second roti and smear with rice flour paste. Now gently roll the pilled up rotis into a log and cut into 1/2" thick circles. Make another log following the same process using the remaining three rotis.

With the help of the rolling pin roll out each of the thick circles into thin rotis of 4" to 5" in diameter.

Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel. Once hot, reduce flame to low medium and place 3 or 4 rolled out chirotis into the hot oil. Splash the hot oil from the sides using the slotted spoon on top of the chiroti.This helps in puffing up chiroti nicely and all the layers will get separated. Deep fry the chirotis on a medium flame, flipping them gently to cook all over. Once they turn to a golden shade, remove onto an absorbant paper. Immediately sprinkle a heaped tbsp of the powdered sugar over each of the hot chirotis so that the sugar adheres to them while it is hot.

If using sugar syrup, place the hot chirotis that have been removed from the oil into the prepared sugar syrup. Allow them to absorb the syrup. 

Store in an airtight container and they stay fresh for at least one week to ten days.

Rangoli competition themes

Sharing some of the lovely rangoli ideas from the competition held at my office.

Diya decoration

Sharing some lovely dita decoration idwas from a competition held in my office.