Malvani Fish Curry

Happy Wednesday.

Who don’t like to have sea food in the meal?  I am sea food lover. I like fry fish, especially if it is made by my Mother in Law. Saee is a great Fish eater (knock on the wood plzz). Many of my friends asking for fish curry recipe so today I am sharing my mother in law’s special recipe, an authentic Malvani Fish Curry. She is expert in cooking all malvani fish items. I am still learning from her and hope will make exactly like her.

Serving Size: 6 Adults

Ingredients required:

Fish : Anchovy fish 250 gm

Coconut:  1 cup

Onion: 1 big

Red Chilies: Fistful

Dhania (Coriander) Seeds: 1 tsp

Garlic cloves: 4 to 5

Ginger: ½ inch

Curry Leaves: 4 to 5

Haldi: ¼ tsp

Kokum Petals: 4 to 5

Oil: 2 tsp

Salt: as per taste

Have a step by step pictorial recipe.

We have Anchovy fish (Marathi name – Mandeli), you can take any fish you like. Clean it and washed with running tap water for 3 to 4 times.

Masala preparation:

Grate the fresh coconut, cut the onion into small piece, peal the garlic and cut the ginger in small piece. Sankeshwari Red Chilies are used for malvani fish curries which are not spicy but gives a nice thick red color. Soak these red chillies in water for 5 minutes, remove the stem and cut in to two pieces.

Grind it by using a small amount of water, grind into smooth paste, like this

 

Heat oil in deep kadhai, put some onions in it and fry till it turns in pink color. Add curry leaves let them crackled

Add grounded paste and stir it for 10 seconds and let the mixture boiled.

Add salt as per taste. 

After that add washed fish. Stir it slowly so that fish get completely mixed with the masala.

Let the mixture boil for ten minutes. Lastly add kokum petals and stir the mixture again n boil for more five minutes.

Fish does not take a lot of time to cook. So take care that it should not overcook too. 

Serve it with plain steam rice or tandalchi bhakari .

Yum yum…….. We have it once in a week with different kind of fishes.

                                                                           

What are your favourite non veg items of the daily meal?

Do you like fish curry or fry fish?

Learning Activities for Preschoolers

Happy Weekend....

Disclaimer: I am not professional; I am inspired by Montessori Method. This is my experience which is worked for us and wants to share with you. Depend on your child’s interest, you can start with the various activities which keep your toddler active and build confidence within them.

Saee is 2.5 years now; I think it is the right age to start with her the learning activities. She also loves to play with different kind of activities which mumma sets for her, and asking more and more. Montessori is an education method which is based on self-directed activity, hands on learning and collaborative play. These are the basic activities for the children at different ages and to the individual personalities of each child. The main function is to help and allow the child to develop independence in all areas according to his or her inner psychological directives.

I am sharing with you five easy and DIY (do it yourself) learning activities. I set up this activity for saee when she gets up from the nap. I need to demonstrate to her and then let her play with them the way she wants. Because many time kids are not ready to listen to their moms…they want to do in their own way according to their imagination.

Here we go.....

1. Recognition of capital letters

I have book of capital and small letter with pictures like this. I bought word game which had plastic capital letters. Saee love alphabets a lot, she always playing with that. 

I asked saee to recognize the letter and put the plastic letter on that. Like where is A ? A for Apple, and then she put the letter A on that picture.

2. Coin Drop Activity

A small piggy bank which saee like it because it is House. She doesn’t know what is a piggi bank, so I thought to make a DIY with this for her play time. Instead of coin I have made a small square from old box and write numbers from 1 to 10 on them. I asked saee put the numbers 5, then she identified the numbers and put in that house. This is one of the fine gross motor skill activities which improve eye coordination. Kids also learn and able to identified the numbers.

Saee loves this drop game. Sometime I gave her coins too. This is one of quite time activity which kept her engage for a long time and I can relax.

3. Recognize and match the shapes

Saee’s first book was shape book, when she was 11 months old. I made this from using the thick card paper and stick color contact paper. I drew the shapes on the card board and colored them with color pencil. It gets bit challenging for her to match the similar shape with similar color.

I asked saee where is Crescent? she point out and put the same shape on that object. Then I asked her what is the color of square or triangle and then she match the color too.

4. Rice Pouring

This is one of the life skill activities, which enhance fine motor skill. Kids learn how to pour by using spatula and bowl. This is one of the funniest activities which saee loves to do.

I demonstrate only for one time and she said….ata mi karate.. I am using these two bowls. Once she get used to this then I will use other cutlery like small glass, jar, different shapes of cutlery through which she will be able to pour the grains. Yess there was lot of mess sometime ….but doesn’t matter…your child is learning and enjoying…so let them enjoy and ask them to tide up, they love to clean the space.

5. Stickers

Every toddlers love sticker. These are small butterfly, but you can bring different kinds of stickers like star, Barbie dolls, Mickey mouse etc..Depend on your child’s interest. I drew a big triangle and ask saee to stick the sticker inside the triangle. Then I drew circle, square or any shape which she want and she stick the stickers inside the image.

All of these are the Montessori activities. I loves to make different kinds of objects for my kiddo and play with her.

I hope you mummas got some idea with this post and will start the activity with your kids.

Do you inspired by Montessori?

Which one is your child’s favorite playtime activity ?

Havelock Island

Do you watch Travel and Living Channel?

I don’t like to watch boring, unproductive, daily soap on TV. I love to watch TLC (Travel and Living Channel) to see the culture, dressing style, eating habits, of the other planets people.  My favorite is Island Feast with Peter Kuruvita….by watching this I was so desperate to visit the islands….with sandy beach, surrounded by lush dark greenery and deep blue clean water….what a romantic!!! And…suddenly one day nitin came up with the Air ticket of Port Blair, He surprised me with the full week vacation trip at Andaman….hussshh….!! He always love to surprised me….Love you hubby….for the surprise and to fulfill my wish.

We’ve been Havelock last year….but still the memories of this trip are still fresh and will remain fresh forever. The most funniest part of this trip is that we traveled as a group with babies around 1 and 1 ½ years…..haaaaa isn’t it funny…..people visit island with loved one, with wife, girlfriend to have fun and relax. We’ve been there with kids…..with so many cringe…crying, masti, irritation….but we really enjoyed with our kids…that’s y I said it is most memorable , it was the first trip for our small babies.

Havelock is the chain of island to the east of Great Andaman in the Andaman Island. Havelock is situated 57 km north east of the capital city Port Blair. Havelock is a picturesque natural paradise with beautiful white sandy beaches, rich coral reefs and lush green forest. It is one of the populated islands in the Andaman group with an area of 113 sq.km. And is located 39 km of north east of Port Blair. (Source: from official website).

We headed to Havelock port by Government Fairy name Bambooka, from Port Blair in the morning @ 6.00 a.m. When Mr. Chellian, our Travel agent said, ‘‘Sir, Ferry, leaves at 6.30 a.m. sharp, my car will fetch you all at six o’clock from the hotel.’’ I was shocked, it’s very irritating cause we were almost with small babies and to get up early, at least 5 o’clock….really distributing!! But what to do…we have to get ready….and we reached at Havelock by 9.00 a.m. It was approximately 2 to 3 hours journey which was quiet hectic…but with the huge mob it was not so borringg . We were sailing in the deep blue sea… quite hilarious !!

We stay at Goldstar Beach Resort for 2 days, which was on the ocean…great place - a small cottage, surrounded by dark green trees, and white sand……ohh…my, I just love the place. It was clean, which is most important to me. I wanted to spend at least 15 days on the beach…..but we had very limited time span to had a whole tour of Andaman beach.

The main beach in front of our cottage where we hang all the time, since from morning to the evening….it so relaxing. 

Had a wine and lay down on the sand…!!

I love this small hut.....isn't it cute. We spend the whole afternoon here only....right in front of the ocean.

saee, so small don’t want to get down cause of sand. She said all the time….maze pay gandu hotat’ means my legs getting dirty because of sand……What a girl….!!, Pappa bought a nice swim suit for her but she didn’t  wear it and not ready to get down for a second ….always hang on mumma or pappas shoulder……

see…she’s crying….

We enjoyed mostly seafood and lots of fresh fruits, like coconut, mango, Banana…. saee’s all time favorite…..and all kiddo eating only fruits. From our beach resort we headed to Radhanagar Beach which was known as Beach No 7 on the western coast. It was named Best Beach in Asia by time 2004 (source: official website) and always crowded by so many people.

Radhanagar Beach 

I like it. Because of saee…pappa not able to enjoy sea water, but mumma enjoy with the friends. We splash in the water.

Play with the sand ....wrote name of saee...want to get her down in the sand....but it wasn't work.

At a time, one has to wait with the baby and one will enjoy…this is the only way we  managed our kiddsss. Nitin and I already prepared for this…and knew saee will cry because she’s just one and half year and first time going to see the ocean and sand...., I came to took saee n let pappa enjoyed with the friends. She is happy with her football.

 

The morning and evening temperature were cool. Our travel agent told us to carry umbrella with you all the time…cause of the changing atmosphere. But…it was overall refreshing and suits to all kiddos. It was great break from routine and nice experience. We returned home with full heart and feeling rejuvenated.

Thank you Havelock for making our fabulous vacation.

Daddy’s Girl

This post is for you Nitin……

What a truly amazing thought ……Thanks for this quote Mr. Pam Brown.

Every daughter is daddy’s girl……yes or no girls? We daughter's are grown up by seeing our dad who is superhero for us,… Yup…Nitin, you also a superhero for Saee!!

I Love this picture. Isn’t Saee looks like her papa. She loves her dad very much and dad also loves her Barbie dall. Nitin loves to watch her growing daughter n want to spend each and every moment with her. Saee needs her papa to be involved in her daily activity ….off course….her papa is also with her, no matter whatever happens. He believe in adding a life to her years…..cause time flew so fast….when will she grow as a big girl, will never comes to know. Yes.....you are the best pappa....Love you.

My kiddo is eagerly waiting in a window for her dad……Hurrey,…she listened horn…n said, mumma, papa ala”!.....a cute smile on her face shows how happy is she. Opens the door and start dance and hugs him. It is her daily rituals. Her favorite ways to love her papa is snuggle him, running naked around the house before bath time, giggling,  jumping on his belly, hiding behind the curtains and let her daddy find her, making dinner for her papa in her small kitchen, gives him tea……it’s  just melt my heart!

Every weekend we had a blast whether we are at home or out. Saee’s most favorite part is at home because her papa is there for whole two days. On weekends she want her papa to do everything for her, like from brushing her teeth, potty, bathing, dressing the cloths, combing her hair n having meals, list will goes on n on ……What do you think mommies ? Her dad is doing or not? haaa…… Nitin loves to do all this for her.  At this time she don’t need her mother, she told me you go to the kitchen and make the meals for us in her small cute words…..like (Tu ja na kitchen madhe, mumma banav)…..ohhhhh….myy…. this small girl order her mother. I love this moment and never want to interfere with them.

See how she lean back on her papp’s shoulder…..want to sleep…..sometime I am jealous…just kidding. Nitin loves to play with saee…..reading a story book for thousand of time, coloring  with her drawing book, making a big tower with the construction game….pappa never ever irritate by doing the same thing again n again for her. He is available to her by putting his tab aside. He takes her to garden. Saee’s favorite part is playing with swing and want her papa to push her higher and faster. As a family most of the time we play a football around the house by putting all works beside…….It’s give ….a pure joy and lodsss of Happiness…..n else, what you require…. A smile on everyone’s face…it makes me happy too when everyone is happy……!!!

Really……I am blessed with nice husband and great Dad….!  His Birthday today ….

Happy Birthday my sweetheart…..thanks for being mine…and always be with me to cherish the beautiful moments of our life.

                                                                                                                   

Baby Shower

Hello galss….

Eyes blinked? Mine too. It is the most wonderful and memorable event of every mom’s life!

It’s been 2 years for my baby shower but still I feel like it was yesterday…. Thanks a lotttt Hubby for such memorable event. It was on my birthday, nitin wanted to give me this event as a gift by surrounding my family member, relative, friends and near and dear one. It was the best birthday gift in my life and the best celebration with my baby too.

Stop, stop, and stop me please…..before I start to narrate my baby shower……it’s not mine…

Its my little sister’s baby shower. I can not believe that she is carrying cause she is still a baby girl for me….yupp….it’s her baby shower on 31 Jan 2016, and I am so glad that I am able to hold this moment on my blog.

In India it is called Oatibharan / Dohale Jevan. The principal reason for this ceremony is to ask the Divine to protect the baby in the womb and encourage the pregnant women to maintain positive mind and healthy body. We should celebrate this event to make both of them (pregnant women and baby in her womb) happy. It is believed the in 7^th month of pregnancy the child taste buds is developed and hence pregrent women carving for different variety of food. Dohale jevan is special meal which the pregnant ladies carve or wanted to eat. And currently she is carving for sweet, gulabjamun.

Here she is , JAYA

Chhooo cute she is looking with green sarri and flowers. She used to hate gajara but look at her now she is wearing only flowers all over her body. Let me explain you, Mukut ( on her forehead), Kambarpatta (flowers garland around her waist) Bajuband ( Flowers garland above part of her hand) Gajara rounded to her wrist. And Huge flowers garland.

with her hubby..

I love this small flowers basket….isnt it looking stunning!!!

Small decoration, we made it.

Oatibharan

Lets begins with the main ceremoney First mumma and mother in law do the auction (its marathi word means oovalane) and then fulfill her oati with sarri, coconut, some rice grains, blouse piece, fruits, sweet and tones of blessing.

Fun part of this event is to identify whether it is girl or boy?

 

  

These are two bowls under which two sweets kept.....Barfi for baby girl and Pedha for baby boy. After oatibharna both husband and wife asked to put one finger on one bowl and then we open it….

And it comes barfi means its baby girl, they both wish to have girl only. 

Blessed by family member....

 God bless the cute couple.....lottsss of love to both of youuu....

Do u have special moment like this ?