#586 Gainthaa - The food that I loved as a child

 Gainthaa – The food I loved as a child

The pic has been taken by the Author from her kitchen

I belong to Odisha, a state that lies in the Eastern part of India.

I grew up eating and appreciating the simplicity of Odia cuisine, which is simple in terms of the availability of ingredients, easy to cook, and delicious.

I try to recreate Odia cuisines that my mother and grandmother prepared while living abroad, which was an instant cure to my homesickness.

As a child, I was too fond of Gainthaa. My mom would prepare Gaintha as afternoon snacks, and we, my sister and I, would enjoy every morsel of it, leaving the plate empty in a few minutes.

Gaintha {pronounced as ga(as ‘g’ in gospel)-in-thaa} are prepared from rice flour.

Rice flour is mixed in boiling water in a pan with some grated coconut and sugar(it’s optional), until it forms a soft dough. You have to keep the ladle moving in the pan.

Grease a plate, knead the dough a bit and prepare cylinder-shaped-Gainthaa (this is the most popular shape for Gainthaa).

Then steam these Gainthaa for about 15–20 minutes, untill your toothpick comes out clean when you put them in Gainthaa to check, if they’re fully cooked.

You can either eat them like that or prepare a liquid base from milk. You can add some aromatics in the milk like cardamom, saffron for colour, or dry fruits for the extra crunch.

I prefer eating hot Gainthaa dipped in aromatized milk.

I liked it as a child and an adult, too, even though I don’t prepare it so often.

When I visited my home a few weeks ago, my mom prepared Gainthaa for me, even without me asking her to make it.

Not realizing how much I was craving them and connecting with all my carefree childhood days.

Some foods are not just for your taste buds but act as concoctions for your weary soul.

What did you love to eat in your childhood? Share it in the comment section. I would love to read about them.

© All Rights reserved!
Swati Sarangi
17.06.2025

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 P.s: This post is a part of #BlogchatterFoodFest hosted by blogchatter.

#585 Suffed Appes for evening snacks

 Stuffed Appes for Evening Snacks

Big satisfaction in small bites

Image has been taken by the Author from her kitchen

Do you feel hungry in the evening?

If your answer is Yes, how do you satisfy your hungry stomach?

I tried this recipe yesterday, which is easy, tasty, and filling.

This recipe needs to be done in stages to quickly complete it.

So, follow me along.

Take some fine Sooji(Samolina). Add salt , curd to it to make it a fine batter. You can add some cumin seeds to it, if you like. Keep this batter aside for about fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, boil some potatoes and remove their skins. Mashed them with salt, cumin powder, and chilly powder. Add a tempering of curry leaves and cumin seeds to this and make small balls out of it. You can refer to the following picture for the final result.

The image has been clicked by the Author from her kitchen

Take the batter that was kept for resting. Add some fruit salt like Eno to it and mix it for some time.

Grease an Appe Pan with oil. Put some batter in each section, then flatten small potato balls, put them in the batter as stuffing before covering the top portion of each section with another layer of batter.

The image has been clicked by the Author from her kitchen

Cover the Appe pan with a lid and cook Appes on a slow to medium flame.
Once one side of the Appes turn golden, flip them and cook them until they turn golden.

Serve them hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Let me know if you’ve tried anything new recently. I would love to hear about it in the comment section.

All Rights Reserved
Swati Sarangi
12.06.2025

You can support my work through Buy Me a Coffee.

P.s: This post is a part of #BlogchatterFoodFest hosted by blogchatter.

 

 

#584 A Decade to my first publication on Amazon

  

A Decade to My First Publication on Amazon

Pages of the first  -  hope for the future

Screenshot taken by the Author from Amazon

I got published for the first time, on the internet, that too on Amazon, a decade ago, in February 2015.

It was an Anthology of modern poems, where my poem found a place.

I remember composing this poem for a competition and receiving first prize.

I was still in undergraduate college, weaving a dream for a glorious future.

Acceptance of my poem in the Anthology provided me with a great push, thereby fuelling my confidence for submitting my writings for other online contests that followed it.

To publish something on Amazon, I need not know the nitty-gritty of publishing. I just had to submit my work on time and let the editor take charge of the remaining tasks.

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This anthology, being my first, still holds a special place in my heart because it gave me hope for being acknowledged.

A decade has passed since then, and I have kept publishing my articles and poems on different platforms, but I remember everything associated with this publication.

As someone very ambitious in my life, I never wanted to be forgotten. I want my work to be read for many years even after I’m gone from this mortal world.

Art of any form, like music, writing, or painting, has the ability to immortalize its creator, and I want my work to do that for me.

I want my work to reach the right audience and be recognised.

I don’t want anything else.

When did you get your first article or poem published? What was the story behind your first publication? I would love to hear from you in the comment section.

© All Rights Reserved!
Swati Sarangi,
27.05.2025 

You can support my work through Buy Me a Coffee.

"This post is a part of ‘Verse Wave Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters"

#583 A healthy twist to Chaat

 A healthy twist to Chaat

The picture has been taken by the Author from her kitchen

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla

Recently, I had guests at my place and I wanted them to taste this delicious Chaat.

Chaat is an Indian appetizer or can be treated as a snack. This is usually taken before the main course to stimulate hunger.

As someone who spent her childhood in UP, Tikkis made out of boiled potatoes were the most sought-after Chaat served there. One would very easily find a lot of vendors in their carts selling Alu-Tikki Chaat during the evening.

The burst of variety of flavours like sweet, tangy, spicy, or savoury comes from the Chutneys, which are prepared either from tamarind, jaggery, mint, or coriander paste. Not to forget, spiced curd for extra tanginess, onion, peanuts, or seu for the extra crunch.

Generally, Tikkis are prepared from boiled potatoes mixed with spices, but I prepared the Tikkis from boiled and mashed kidney beans, potatoes, and some rice flour.

I soaked some fistfuls of kidney beans overnight, pressure-cooked them with potatoes for about 3–4 whistles. I added some boiled potatoes with rice flour and chopped coriander leaves with boiled kidney beans. I added some salt, cumin powder, and chilli powder before creating some Tikkis out of this mixture.

 

The picture has been clicked by the Author from her kitchen

I put these Tikkis on a flat pan with Ghee greased on both sides of them and let them cook on a slow flame for about 6–7 minutes on each side. I put a lid on the pan to make them cook a bit faster.

After they’re cooked properly, I flattened them a bit more and fried them on a high flame on the same pan until they turned crispy on both sides.

After they’re done, I served them with spiced curd mixture, sweet, sour, and spicy chutneys, chopped coriander, and onion.

Compliments from my guests validated my efforts, and surprisingly, these guests consisted mainly of kids under age five! So, this proved that the dish is kid-friendly.

Try it at your home and let me know in the comment section how it turned out!

All Rights Reserved
Swati Sarangi
09.06.2025

P.s: This post is a part of #BlogchatterFoodFest hosted by blogchatter.

#582 One such day

One such day

The picture has been generated by the Author using AI tool ; GROK

It was one such day today,
My body felt heavier than usual,
Stuck to the bed as if lifeless,
When the alarm rang.

 

My morning starts at 6am,
That’s when I leave my bed,
To kickstart my day with,
Completing preplanned lessons.

 

But today was different,
Even though I was wide awake,
When the alarm rang but just
Laid still staring at the roof.

 

I was blank and numb,
A flood of tears came rolling down,
No, I wasn’t emotional or
Overwhelmed by any thoughts.

 

How some days feel so different,
Different in a way that our hearts feel,
They are like distant stars,
Unable to get a hold of them.

 

Generally, I’m a happy woman,
Always stay engaged as much as I can,
With many hobbies that have filled up
My soul more than anyone ever can.

 

I neither pushed myself to be normal,
Nor tried to investigate the reasons,
All I knew was that I wasn’t emotional
Just waited for that flood to calm down.

 

I am alone in the moment inside
A four-walled room, not looking for
Anyone to comfort me in any form,
Writing this poetry as its outcome.

 

I understand that my soul wants to cleanse,
Getting rid of suppressed emotions,
I just have to be kind and forgiving,
To listen to the unanswered expressions.

 

I have to learn to live with,
The learnings that I receive each day,
That’s how they come to me
As reflections in the end.

 

Now, that the tears have dried and
Letting my fingers what they wanted to type,
I am regaining the former me ;
Not at once but slowly and steadily.

 

It was one such day,
Stirring me up from within,
When I need not be crazy about,
Completing the big puzzle.

 

Swati Sarangi
04.06.2025
You can support my work through Buy me a Coffee.

This post was created for the Blogaberry Creative (Monthly) Challenge with theme word DAY.

 

#581 With you, without you

 

With you, without you

With you, without you,

Life moves on

It waits for none

You promised to

be my soulmate

With passage of time

Forgot all the promises

Words were fake

So, were the actions

Meant only for palpitations

Those adrenaline rush

Was temporary,

Unlike my feelings

Which I saw flushed

Into the words of lie

Hidden truths beneath

The quilt of lies

Which difficult to decode.

Living together for seven births

Was not even for a decade

Clashed into like ashes.

Was I too innocent

Or were you too sharp

And I sometimes ask

To my heart

Whether to love someone

Or give you another chance

To rectify your deeds

Perhaps, you never

Seemed to care the way

I poured love

From my heart.

May be it was

A Karmic relation

For few moments

To set me free

From the debt of

My previous birth.

SWETA SARANGI
06-05-2025 

#580 QUEST for an answer

 Quest for an answer

Source: BlogChatter

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Mister Tikku.

Why Do Good People Always Suffer? A question that comes to my mind frequently.

You must have come across this question many times.

I am no different from you. 

This question might have popped up randomly or through unfavorable experiences of your own or others in your surroundings.

If you’re someone, who has always done things right on your part and tried to give your maximum efforts but hasn’t received favorable results, then you’re bound to be haunted by this question, asking higher powers, “Why me?”

Similarly, I kept asking people this question many times, but never received any satisfactory response.

 

The image has been generated by the Author using AI tool; GROK

I even put this question on one of my social media profiles, where I’m very active. I didn’t get any satisfactory answers from there either.

I was recently discussing this question with my father and his reply is what stopped my search for the answer to this question.

He said, “God tests them more who are close to them, just like a teacher who always likes to give more tasks to his/her favorite students.”

I thought about his perspective and my intuition approved it, that’s when my mind brought me memories of my student life when teachers/professors would engage his/her favorite students in different tasks.

Instead of getting stressed by the workload, those students would take it as a privilege to complete that.

When we apply the same concept by treating God as our teacher and we are his favorite students, we won’t get disheartened by the challenges that come our way because we know that we’re his favorites.

So, good people don’t suffer; it is the test of their patience and resilience.

Source: BlogChatter

© All Rights Reserved!
Swati Sarangi 
24.04.2024 

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 I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025