My experiences in Vande Bharat Mission and delhi quarantine

We moved to California exactly 2 years ago and as iam not active in blogging I did not update here. 3 days back we moved back to India via Vande Bharat Mission.


From march I took care on not going out for grocery shopping or even say panicked very much for a outside walk. But life throws challenges at you and you should be brave enough to face it. We were asked to book tickets to India by my hubby company and from then the journey started. I was thankfull to beautiful souls who gave me strength and were helpful even now. This keeps me moving and it's the secret of my Strength.

This blog post is to share my experiences and few may find helpful. So first we registered at indian embassy site and then booked tickets in Air India vande bharat mission. It's not that easy to book as there are high demand. Recommend you to check tickets in website and app whenever you find time. keep checking air India site, they will release flight schedules and you can book accordingly.

Once we booked tickets, we started to sell, donate and wind up things we had and started packing.

First we ordered masks, hand gloves, sanitizers and wipes. I carried it all in my handbag which weighed 8kg with my other gadgets.

We boarded our flight at San Francisco and they did temperature check and asked us to fill an undertaking form.

It was 16hrs non stop journey. Air India provides 2 meals, snacks, water bottles, basic mask, wipes, face shield and a white coat like thing only to middle row passenger.

We should be mindful in not touching our nose. That's what I did. Few hours once used hand sanitizers and used hand gloves when I went to rest room. Few may hold your aile seat for a hold. So be mindful in cleaning your hands once a while. It was very difficult to wear n95 mask. I wore a basic mask which completely shielded my nose and mouth.

I thought journey will be more difficult. But things proved me wrong. Journey was comfortable and when I got down at delhi airport the trauma started. We were made to wait almost 11 hours after 16 hrs journey and passengers from other countries who landed also mixed with us. It exposed us to many people, which certainly could have been avoided.

They split us in groups a,b,r likewise.Only families with infants were spared I guess. Others were made to wait. Passengers from punjab, haryana, up, rajasthan were also moved separately. Other passengers were put in groups and made to wait. Even if you have next flight in few hours you should undergo this waiting. Even elderly in wheel chairs were not spared.
It took us 11.30 hrs to come out of airport. As I said even elders in wheel chair assistance also took same time. It takes 11.30 hrs for 1.thermal screening 2. Waiting for immigration checks 3. Baggage claims 4. To surrender passport 5. Medical check up/ temperature check up by delhi government 6. We are questioned in hard tone for not downloading arokiasetu app 7. To fill a undertaking form for home quarantine or hotel quarantine. You should have proper proof for home quarantine. For hotel quarantine delhi government helps us to choose from star and budget hotels.

Once we chose hotels, we will be made to wait not more than 20 mins for a bus to pick us and our baggages. A police vehicle escorts to make sure we reach hotels safely without escaping I'm between. Regarding hotel quarantine from which free wifi iam typing this post...

its a comfortable stay and they provide 3 meals at your room doorstep and ring bell. It's like my boarding school. Everyday they check our temperature. Will update about my next part of journey.

Notes:
You can skip delhi quarantine if you have a place to stay and be in home quarantine and booked a flight to your home state.

Seen elders in wheel chair assistance booked hotel for a day and travel the next day to home state.

Broccoli Rice for kids lunchbox

I know i have been missing here for a long time. So to break the ice, am sharing this broccoli rice recipe with you guys. Its so easy to make. My son loves broccoli, i just grill the broccoli florets and serve him. i even have in my draft of grilled broccoli. will soon share here. so one day i decided to make rice with broccoli for his lunchbox. It came out well and i photographed to share here.

moong dal halwa ~ பாசி பருப்பு அல்வா

I completely lost track of blogging. Since i felt i was so obsessed with blogging and checking comments, likes, etc. I thought of staying away for a while. also i had to tutor my son. which left me no time to to revive blogging. but i always  think of what to cook , what props to buy, i even have a lot of drafts pending :) also blame my laziness! Now after a while, when i want to resume, blogging, as gone way ahead, i cant even figure out how much i missed and and how much i am lagging.

Diwali is just a week away and this Diwali 2016 is very special for us because its our Anniversary too. Our son is very much expecting 29th October:) Since its Double Dhamakha, I wanted to make the blog buzzing with sweets:-)

Easy Brownie Recipe

As i always mention on each and every brownie recipe post, i am huge brownie addict. This post is a quick post, as many of my friends wanted to try this brownie and asked me for the recipe. I am posting the recipe here in midst of preparing for my son's exam:)  Yesterday i made oreo brownie for my friends daughter birthday and i shared it on my instagram. Loving all the comments and likes i get there. Between If you are interested in knowing my food trails and my day to day lunch box, please follow my instagram account.

Ramzan Special Seviyan ~ Sheer Khurma

Two days back  my friend visited home. when we were having lunch she was telling me how her son learned about this seviyan from his hindi text book and that he wanted to taste it. On hearing this, yesterday i googled and found what is seviyan / sheer korma. now here I am blogging about! Today morning i made this easy sweet dish. packed it for her son. It seams he liked it a lot! Happy Me!!

Maravalli kizhangu vadai / Tapioca vadai

This is the season of tapioca in Chennai. We used to have lots of tapioca chips during our college days as evening snack. I was in no mood to make chips, So i choose to make the batter to prepare idly, dosai and vadai. All turned out interestingly Good. So Here is the recipe to help you all out, if you need to to try this vegetable.

Cucumber pickle without oil ~ Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi

I got completely hooked to Korean food and culture. To start with i tried Koreans most favorite Kimchi. From my view it is like our Pickle, with few tweaks here and there. Its spicy, salty, little sour. They Ferment the Kimchi well, I personally did not like the taste of fermented Kimchi. So i made the kimchi and stored it in refrigerator. The Surprise part is how the cucumbers and Radish tasted. It acquired the flavors and tasted so good.

KOKUM RASAM

Kokum is a fruit which is dried and used in cooking like sherbet, saaru / rasam and in dal. kokum is available in western ghats region and more used in cooking in these regions. We happened to buy a pack of kokum in our last summer trip and i was trying many kokum recipes with that. i also keep on raving about kokum to my neighbors and friends. it imparts such a new flavor to the dish. You should try this kokum saaru / rasam to experience the taste of kokum. It is also good for health. to know more, read here

Lychee Juice ~ Longan Juice

Lychee is best for this scorching summer. I wanted to try lychee juice for a long time, finally made it last week. Recipe for lychee juice can be said in two lines. its that simple. If you have not tried lychee, do try it out.  it tastes just like Nungu / Palmyra / Ice-apple. I was surprised as it tasted just like our Nungu.

Nellikaai Thayir Pachadi ~ Gooseberry Chutney

Eating Gooseberry is Good for Health. I can never eat raw gooseberry. My taste bud never allowed me to eat one whole gooseberry till now. I like the candied gooseberry and a sweet pickle made with gooseberry. This chutney is another way that i eat. The tangy curd and spicy chilly balances the sourness. This chutney is for people like me, who could not eat raw gooseberry.

Ginger Lemon Soda

This Ginger lemon soda is good for digestion. also if pitta level in our body goes up, this soda is the best way to bring down the pitham / pitta.

Carrot Soup

Its been a long time since i made a recipe post. Life goes on as usual, but not my mind. I had and i still have severe mood swings, which made me stay away from online for a while. i always feel breaking the ice is one crucial point to go ahead with challenges. Today, this moment i decided to break the ice with my blog!! here i dusted down this carrot soup post from draft and presenting here.
Hope to Cook and Blog More in this Summer Holidays! Wish me Lots of Strength and Hope Your Wishes Pushes me furthur!!!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is easy to prepare and it is far better in taste than ready to make soups available in the market. Soup when served along with bread make it as a good meal. we prefer this simple meal in winter. I always make it a point to cook the mushroom the same day i buy. this way we can avoid the color change in mushrooms.

Chilli Gobi Fry / Cauliflower Fry

When we were in bangalore i have ordered gobi 65 at hotels as they serve it hot, which will be great for the chilling weather. Last year i found out a superb recipe for this chilli gobi at marias menu. soon i tried and liked the fry very much. Though i did not add any sauces, eating just plain was very good. it was super crisp and tasted so good. only drawback is the recipe calls for egg white.

Creamy Sweet Corn Soup

I saw this recipe in a TV show long back. when i chanced upon Del monte Creamy style Sweet corn, i bought a tin to try out this soup. It just tasted like the one we have at restaurants. its an easy recipe too. you can just follow the instructions given on the tin and make it. My son loves soup very much. he would taste all sorts of soup, but his all time favorite is my tomato soup. I am preparing mushroom soup this evening, which i will share with you tomorrow.

Vegetable Kolhapuri ~ Kolhapuri Vegetable Curry with Kolhapuri masala recipe

Cooking regional cuisines with their own special chilly is like bringing the same flavor and heat required for the dish. If you happen to find Kashmiri chilly, Goan chilly, Guntur chilly, Bedgi chilly, do try the regional special recipes. This Vegetable Kolhapuri needs kolhapuri lavangi mirchi to get the right spice and color for the dish.

Tirunelveli Halwa ~ Halwa with Cracked Wheat

Making our traditional sweets brings more happiness. Tirunelveli halwa is my hubby's favorite. He always buys a pack of halwa whenever he visits tirunelveli. I wanted to try this halwa for this diwali, first i was little hesitant to try as it takes lots of ghee to make. Watching masterchef and all the cookery shows, i gathered my confidence and tried it.

Jangri Recipe ~ How to make Jhangri

Yes! I made it! I jumped out of joy when i saw my jangri holding its shape, i was very thrilled when i tasted crispy and hot jangris. Jangri is my favorite sweet. I like to eat it warm. My Grand father would buy me warm jangri from sweet stalls, and i would devour it! Bliss!! Every diwali i used to experiment making jangri. after failing for 4 years, this time i cracked the jangri code. everyone appreciated it. My son is my best critic. he said its Nice, but it should be more sweet like the ones in sweet shops. Yes he was right. Sweet shops jangri are more sweeter than mine.

Kashmiri Aloo Curry

If you want to make changes in your cooking, change the variety of red chilly you use. I have been trying few dry red chilly and its interesting how it changes the color and taste of the dish. Recently i bought these kashmiri dry red chilly and we love the color it gives. Kashmiri chilly powder available in the markets should plead with these red chilies.

I followed the recipe for Dum aloo, but did not dum cook the curry. It turned out good. The thumb rule to prepare this is you need to use fresh curd rather using sour curd. Lots of spices are part of kashmiri cuisine. Black cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and cumin all give up a great aroma to this curry.

Though the color of the curry looks dark, it is not spicy at all.

Ingredients:

• Baby Aloo - 1/2 kg
• Fresh Curd - 1 cup
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Garam masla - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee - 2 tsp's
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cinnamon stick - 1 ' inch
• Cloves - 3
• Black Cardamom - 2
• Corriander leaves - to garnish

For grinding the spices:

• Kashmiri Dry Red Chilly - 5
• Cardamom - 2
• Corriander seeds - 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Cook the baby potatoes in pressure cooker for up to 4 whistles. Oncecooked, peel off its skin and prick them with a fork. Now heat a pan, add 1 tsp of oil and roast the baby potatoes for a minute or two.

2. First Dry roast Kashmiri red chilly, cardamom, corriander seeds and cumin seeds in slow flame till they change into light brown color.

3. Cool and Grind the spices into a fine powder and set aside.

4. Whisk a cup of curd well. add the grounded spice powder, ginger garlic paste and garam masala to the curd and mix well. set this aside.

5. In a Pan, add ghee, when its hot add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves.

6. Slow the flame and add in the curd mix. add salt according to your taste. Once the curd is added to the ghee, give a mix. it will  look like the curdled. but you need not worry. You can add 1/2 or 1 cup of water based on which consistency you need this curry. Then just simmer the flame and close the pan with its lid for 5 minutes and switch off the flame.

7. Rest the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove the curry from pan to a serving bowl. garnish with corriander leaves.

Notes:

Use Fresh curd to prepare this curry.

If you do not have Kashmiri dry red chilli, add 2 tsp's kashmiri chilly powder.

Egg Cheese Dosa

When i was pregnant with my son i used feel very hungry. i would make one thick egg cheese dosa in  2 minutes and get out of the kitchen. those days i hated to stand near the stove. One thick dosa is well enough for a meal. This egg cheese dosa, ragi adai, chapathi wrap with soy granules and noodles used to be my food during my pregnancy. Now i make these egg cheese dosa for my son after he comes home from school. he likes it very much. This is such a long due recipe from my side.

I made a video after a long time. did not have enough patience to edit much. so kindly bear with this video.

Ingredients:

•  Dosa Batter - 1 cup
•  Cheese slice - 1 / Processed cheese - 2 tsp's (grated)
•  Green chilly - 1(chopped very finely)
•  Egg - 1

 Method:

Beat the egg well and keep aside.

Grease the tawa with a drop of oil and use onion or potato to grease.

Pour the dosa batter and spead the batter. after 30 - 50 seconds, pour the beaten egg over the dosa and tilt the tawa so that egg spreads well. add oil to the sides of dosa and throw in some finely chopped green chillies and cook the dosa on both sides.

If you are using processed cheese, grate it and sprinkle above the egg layer of the dosa. if you are using cheese slices, tear the slices and place over the egg layer of the dosa.

Remove your dosa from tawa and place it on a plate. Fold the dosa when its hot, so that the cheese melts.

Serve egg cheese dosa hot!

Note:

If you are serving for kids, skip the green chilly.