How to remove tan at home / Detan at home

A lot of you have been asking me how to remove tan at home, so I thought to list a few home made natural packs. These packs can be used on any part of your body to remove the tan. I recommend you guys to apply these packs two times a week for effective results.

I - Besan n Yogurt Pack

Mix 2tbsp of besan along with 1/8 tsp of turmeric and add 1 to 2tbsp of home made yogurt. Apply this pack over the face and neck. Let it sit there for 20 to 25 minutes. Later rinse with cold water. Pat dry and don't forget to moisturize!!!

Increase the quantity depending on the area of application. This pack is used by most Indians from ancient times.


II - Rice Flour Pack

Combine a tablespoon of rice flour, which is readily available in the stores with water. End up with a thick paste. Apply this paste all over the affected, tanned area. Rinse after 20 minutes with cold water and moisturize! Best for all skin types.


III - Honey Mask

Mix honey with equal quantity of lemon juice and apply to the affected areas. Leave the pack for 30 to 45 minutes. You can also use plastic wrap and cover the pack for a while.


IV - Milk Mask

Milk is rich in lactose and this helps to remove tan easily. I prefer this milk mask for those who have dry and normal skin.

Take 2tbsp of raw milk to this add a couple drops of lemon juice. Apply this mixture with the help of a cotton ball all over the affected area, leave it for one hour. Reapply the mixture as needed if the skin drys out. Rinse with cold water.


V- Besan n Tomato Pack

Puree a small tomato in a mixie, separate the pulp and save the juice. To 2tbsp of besan add this tomato juice and 1/8tsp of turmeric powder. Apply a thick layer to the tanned area and rinse after 30 minutes. Moisturize later.

Since tomatoes doesn't suit all skin types, I recommend you guys to do a patch test before you use this mask. Suits mostly for oily skin.


VI - Almond Face Pack 

Soak 3 to 4 almonds for half hour in raw milk. Make a paste of the soaked almonds with little milk, add a tbsp of rice flour / besan and a pinch of turmeric powder.
Apply thick layer on the face / tanned area. Rinse after 20 to 30 minutes with cold water.


VII - Banana Mask

Mash a fully ripe banana, add a tsp of homemade yogurt and apply this mask on the affected area. Banana not only reduces the tan but also helps to have a healthy skin.

Karam Rotti - An authentic dish from the vysya's cuisine

This rotti can be served at tea time. Its spicy and crispy. Perfect to eat at anytime of the day.

Serves up to 10 Rottis

Category - Tea time Snack

Small Sooji / semolina / obbatt rava - 1Cup
Oil - 1/4 to 1/2 Cup
Water as needed to knead
Rice flour - 2 to 4tbsp
Green chilli paste - 1/2tsp adjust to taste
Coriander - 1 handfull, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Lemon salt - A pinch

In a mixing bowl add the sooji, oil and water and combine all and make a ball consistency, everything should hold together and there should be excess of oil floating. Keep it covered.

Soak the above mixture for 4 to 6 hours.

Later to the same dough after 6 hours, add rice flour (adjust to consistency), chilli paste, coriander and both the salts. This dough now should resemble to chapathi dough. Knead for 5 minutes.

Pinch small proportions of the dough and make balls and keep aside. Take a flat tawa / chapathi tawa and put one ball of the dough and spread thinly on the tawa and fry just like chapathis (on both sides) on low flame. The color should be light golden to deep brown. Fry to your preference. Plate the ready rotti on a plate, let it cool and then place them in an air tight box.

Serve these with tea or coffee at evenings.

Kurma for ghee rice

A spicy gravy to go with ghee rice.

Serves 4 to 6

Category - Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner


Diced or cubed Mixed vegetables - 1Cup (Carrots, green beans, potato and green peas)
Oil - 2tsp
Curry leaves - A few
Bay leaf - 1No.
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice - To taste

Dry roast the following and ground to fine paste using water -
Onion - 1/4
Tomato - 1 small one
Poppy seeds - 1tsp
Cashew nuts - 4 to 5No.
Garlic - 2 to 3 pods
Green chillies - 3No.
Red chillies - 3No.
Clove - 1No.
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Fresh coconut - 1/2 Cup
Coriander seeds - 1/2tsp
Coriander - 1 handsfull (Fry only for a few seconds)

In a pressure cooker base heat the oil, bay leaf and curry leaves, later add the mixed vegetables and sauteé for two mins. Now add the ground mixture, salt and little water. Close the lid and wait for the pressure. Just one whistle and your done. Release the pressure, check for the seasonings and consistency, adjust, add lemon juice and serve hot with Ghee Rice.

This gravy tastes good with Palak chapathi, Chapathi, Plain basmati rice and also with jeera-pulao.

Peanut chutney

Listing two different recipes of peanut chutney below, easy and yum!

Recipe I -
Peanuts - 1cup
Red chillies - 2
Small or regular onions - 50g
Fresh coconut - 1tbsp(optional)
Salt to taste
Mustard tempering - 1tsp

Heat a pan and dry roast peanut, red chillies, coconut and onions, separately. Add all these to a blender with some water and make a smooth chutney. Lastly add salt and add freshly made mustard tempering.


Recipe II -
Peanuts - 1cup (dry roast)
Green chillies - 4
Red chillies - 3
Tamarind paste - 1/2tsp
Kaddale pappu / chutney dal - 1/4cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2cup
Fresh coconut - 3tbsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Mustard tempering - 1tsp

Add all the above except mustard tempering to a blender. Add little water and ground to a paste. Lastly transfer to a bowl and add the tempering.


This peanut chutney tastes great with idlies and dosas and also can be served with other South Indian recipes.

My Nail Art Gallery (Nail art done by me)

The very popular Canvas Nail Art <3 <3 <3

Very Cute Butterfly Nail Art :)

Simple Flower Nail Art ;)

Another simple floral pattern!!!

Paneer Kati rolls

Kati rolls are nothing but Indian version of wraps.  Kati rolls can be stuffed with paneer, tofu, chicken, meat... and so on..... Here's my version of the "Paneer Kati rolls". These rolls can be served as an appetizer too, just cut the rolls into small bite size pieces.

Serves 8 or more rolls

Category - Lunch / Dinner

I - Ingredients for the rolls 
Wheat flour - 2 Cups
All purpose flour / maida - 1 Cup
Salt to taste
Oil - 4tsp
Water as needed.

In a big mixing bowl, combine all the above ingredients except for water. Mix throughly, add water slowly and start to knead by adding enough water. The dough should be little soft than chapathi dough.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes and keep it aside, covered.

After your stuffing and chutney is ready, take a small portion of this dough and roll into 1/4 inch thick discs. These discs can be rolled small or big depending on your preference. Roll all at once and fry them just like chapathis with oil.

II - Ingredients for the stuffing
Paneer - 500g or 1 big pack, small dices or bite size pieces
Onions - 2 Big ones, sliced thinly
Tomatoes - 2 medium ones, thinly diced
Green bell peppers / Capsicum - 1 medium, diced to bite size
Green chillies - 6 finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste (G&G) - 2tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Red chilli powder - 1tsp,  Adjust to taste
Garam masala - 1tsp
dhaniya /  coriander powder - 2tsp
Jeera / Cumin powder - 1tsp
Kasuri Methi - 1tsp
Dry mint powder / fresh mint - 1tsp
Oil - 5tsp
Salt to taste

In a deep bottom thick pan heat the oil, add in the G&G paste, onions, green chillies and sauteé till the onions turn transparent. Next add in the tomatoes and cook these only for 3 minutes next add in all the dry powders including salt, mint & kasuri methi. Mix throughly and sauteé for 2 to 3 minutes. Next add in the Capsicum and paneer, put the flame on low and gently mix and cook for another 2 minutes. Make sure the paneer has been coated with all the masalas. Now the stuffing is ready.


III - Ingredients for Green chutney
coriander - 30g
Green chillies - 1 or 2 depending on your taste
Curd - 2tbsp

Blend all the above without adding any water. Transfer this chutney to a bowl and keep aside.

IV - Vinegar onions
Click on Vinegar onions link above to follow the recipe.


Now to make the "Kati rolls", place the wrap on a flat surface. Now start placing your stuffings horizontally and top it with some green chutney and vinegar onions add a pinch of chat masala too. From one end start rolling along the filling just like any other wrap. Serve immediately.

There are a tons of ways to make these wraps so feel free to play with the ingredients.

VARIATIONS -
Simply replace the paneer with tofu to make a vegan friendly roll.
You can make the stuffing with chicken or meat or even eggs.
For the wraps you can use only wheat flour and omit All purpose flour, totally works fine.
You can replace the green chutney with green chilli sauce / ketchup and it can be kids friendly too.

Oats Parfait / Breakfast trifle

Oats Parfait is a healthy breakfast bowl which includes oats, fresh fruits, dry fruits and some cornflakes. In other words its a breakfast trifle.

Serves, 2 single serving trifles

Category - Breakfast

Cooked Oats with honey / sugar & milk - 4tbsp (I used quick cooking oats here but you can use any of your choice.)

Fresh mango cubes - 4tbsp

Dried figs - 2, cut to bite size pieces

Cornflakes - 2tbsp (I used plain but you can use any of your choice.)

Spoon 1tbsp of cooked oats in a clean serving glass cup, next top 1tbsp of the mango cubes, next top one more tablespoon of oats, next 1tbsp of mango cubes, add 1tbsp of cornflakes and  lastly add the chopped figs. The breakfast trifle is now ready to be served.

Follow the above procedure to make another trifle using the remaining ingredients.

Variations - 

You can add any seasonal fruits of your choice and also you can add in your favorite nuts and dry fruits.

You can make these trifles and cover it with a foil paper and store it in the fridge for upto 3 days.
You can cook the oats with almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, to make it vegan friendly.

  

Traditional sweets for any occassion

Be it any special or auspicious day, the first thing comes to mind on cooking is a Sweet. So here are a few recipes listing from my blog which can be prepared any day.

1) Besan Laddu - A simple sweet made from Besan.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2012/06/besan-laddu.html


2)Moong Dal kheer - A different kheer with many health benefits.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2013/10/moong-dal-kheer.html


3)Rava Laddu - Another traditional laddu from South India.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2011/10/rava-laadu.html


4)Sandesh - A sweet Cottage cheese famous and available in Indian sweet meat stores.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2013/10/sandesh.html


5)Beetroot or carrot halwa - A healthy version of sweet made with the goodness of beetroots or carrots. You can make it with half quantity of carrots and other half with beetroots.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2012/05/beetroot-or-carrot-halwa.html


6)Apple halwa - Very different from the regular halwa's.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2012/02/apple-halwa.html


7)Cream Burfi - A unique yet easy to make burfi.
http://meghustastebuds.blogspot.com/2011/01/cream-burfi.html

Royal falooda

This is a milk based cooling drink. This particular drink is famous on street food stalls. An easy peasy drink / dessert.

Recipe is mentioned in the picture below, so don't get lost!