This month’s contest is another easy one. I very much enjoyed reading all the valentine’s day stories last year and I would like to do the same this year. All you have to do is post your story to the disucussion forum on the Valentine’s Day topic that I have created.

You needn’t send any photos for the contest. I just want to hear your valentine’s story – what did you do for your husband, wife, girl/boyfriend, or other loved one? If you cooked something, please describe the menu that you prepared. Did you surprise your loved one? The more details, the better!

The winners will be selected randomly from all the forum post entries.

Below is my checklist:

• You will not have email me anything this time. You can simply leave a posting on the Valentine’s day forum topic.
• If you are creating a new account for the forum, please enter your email address so that I can contact you after the contest is over. Don’t worry, your email address will not be public (only I will be able to see it).
• The deadline is Februrary 24th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

We are back from our trip to India! When we got back to San Diego, we got a great welcome from our grandchildren. They wanted to make sure we will never leave them again!

This trip was definitely a trip one to remember! I don’t think I have ever taken such a long vacation. We visited relatives that we had not seen for many years. We also did a lot of sight-seeing, something we don’t usually do when we are in India. Various family members were able to sight-see with us so it was even more enjoyable!

We visited Varanasi (also known Banaras), an old Hindu historical religious town situated on river banks of Ganges. This is a town with many old temples and many old religious myths. Temples are all along on the banks of the holy river Ganga. After sun set the side of river banks are lid with oil lamps and you can hear melodies prayers sang by devotees. It is a beautiful site not to be missed. We also enjoyed the food from street vendors, Tomato chaat a new dish I never had before. One of my viewers has suggested to try “Malaiyo” this brought lot of my good childhood memories as we called this Daulat Ki Chaat.

Our next stop was Jaipur also known as Pink City. Citi has lot of royal charm. Jaipur has many old historical forts and still keeping up with old traditions. This town offers many things to do and see. The highlights were Hawa Mahal, Citi Palace, Jantar Mantar, Amber Fort and list goes on. Of course we ate on local restaurants and did shopping. We stop to Agra and saw Taj Mahal among other things.

We also visited Mumbai great town very different. In Mumbai I enjoyed the most visiting my family. Walking on the beach with my uncle and tried much local food. My niece made sure to take me to the different restaurants, she knew I will enjoy and these dishes were not as traditional but very interesting.

Most time we had spent in Delhi and around. My other niece wanted to show me other side of upcoming India. With her we visited different places and tried variation of food and did different kind of shopping, I will admit I had a blast with her.

Now that our vacation is over, I think it is time to get back to work and experiment with some new recipes, flavors and cooking techniques I learned during my travels to the various parts of India. Recipe and video to be posted soon!

I really enjoyed seeing all the photos for January’s contest. Here are the two winners that I selected at random. Congratulations to both of you.

1st Place: Monica Prashar

2nd Place: Tonya McDaniel

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest.

To start off the New Year, January contest will be an easy one and I hope everyone will participate.

Create any recipe from Manjula’s Kitchen website and post the photo on facebook or google plus. That’s all there is for this contest. Two winners will be chosen at random.

Please be sure to tag Manjula’s Kitchen Page onto the photo on facebook.

If you are using google plus, my link to the Google Plus page is here.

Add me to facebook if you haven’t already done so:

Also, you can find me on google Plus:

Below is my checklist:

• You will not have to email me anything this time.
• Simply tag a photo of any one of my recipes  on facebook or google plus.
• The contest will be open until January 31th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

I received many really good recipes this last month and I had a tough time deciding on the winners. Thank you to everyone who participated and you all did a great job. Of course, I can only select five, so here they are and two top winners from those:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Vijaya Raghunathan
• Shruthi Udupa
• Shabana Siddiqui
• Nibedita Das
• Madhulika Dev
• Mamta Rathi
• Meenu Ravi
• Amina Khaleel
• Mansi Desai
• Neeru Goyal
• Kitchen Barbarian
• Priyanka Kolanupaka
• Jyothi Kiranagi
• Archana Ladda
• Mini Gupta
• Rehana Khambaty
• Sapna Mehta
• Shyamala
• Deepti Rao

• Ramya
• Swarna Sridhar
• Prachi Chaitanya Kumthekar
• Lyan Alsabti
• Avanti
• Teena Mary
• Vani Hegde
• Mohana Natarajan
• Linju Praveen Jacob
• Tazeen Siddiqui
• Sobha M Das
• Hidemi Walsh
• Misha Pratheesh
• Maiah Albi
• Priya Suresh
• Lakshmi Swetha
• Jamuna Gopal
• Sumedha Bailur
• Neeraj Sonkar
• Melanie Booth

As you know, we have continued with our vacation to India. We have been here for almost two weeks and are having the time of our lives! With so much family, it is getting hard to decide just who to spend time with! That is a good problem to have. We have spent the days sitting and talking; and of course laughing. Both Alex and I are enjoying getting pampered and catered to. Alex is meeting many family members after a long time.

I have enjoyed eating here in India as everyone has made the dishes they know are favorites of mine. I have to say food in India has changed. It has become very cosmopolitan and a mix of different types of food – some would say fusion. I have to say I am old-fashioned and still enjoy the food from my childhood. In fact my nieces and nephews laugh and tell me to change with the times!

I have talked to many local chefs during my trip. However, I have learned a lot from my sisters and sister-in-law as they are excellent cooks. I prefer their cooking style as it is the food I have grown up with

Our next stop is Banaras, which is also known Varanasi. After that, we plan on visiting Jaipur Rajasthan.

Until then!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Almond saffron milk is a festive drink; this can be served hot or cold. Milk with blend of nuts and flavored with saffron. Saffron gives a beautiful orange-yellow color and distinctive flavor and aroma.

Recipe will serve 2-3.

Ingredients:

• 20 Oz milk
• 10 almonds
• 10 pistachios
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar adjust to taste
• few strands of saffron

 For Garnishing

• 1 teaspoon thinly sliced pistachios

 Method

1. Soak the almonds and pistachios for about 10 minutes in hot water. Blanched the almonds and pistachio.
2. Grind the almonds and pistachios using 2-3 tablespoons of milk until smooth.
3. Boil the milk in a heavy bottom pan over medium high heat stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
4. Add the almond paste, sugar, cardamom and saffron strands. Lower the heat to low and let it simmer for 4-5minutes stirring often.
5. Turn of the heat, serve warm or chilled.
6. Garnish the milk before serving with pistachios.

Enjoy!

Happy holidays from Manjula’s Kitchen!! For this month, I thought a dessert is a good idea for the holiday season. The recipe can be any dessert made with at least one of the following fruits: apple, berry (any), pineapple, or pear. You may make any type of dessert, hot or cold. The specific rules for December are the following:

• Any recipe that with at least ONE of the following fruit: apple, berry (any), pineapple, or pear.
• It must be vegetarian and also egg-less.
• Please submit only ONE recipe.

In general I will only consider recipes that I feel are complete in regards to ingredients, measurement, and instruction. From there I am looking for creativity and a recipe that my viewers would enjoy to prepare on their own. I will be judging on overall recipe and presentation also.

Below is my checklist:

• Be Creative!
• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your name along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is December 27th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

As you know, we took a short break from our vacation and returned back home to San Diego to spend time with our family. This time spent with family was much needed and I am happy we were able to come back. We are now ready to finish our vacation with a trip to India! I am very excited about visiting India. It is always fun spending time with family members. I am pampered and spoiled when I spend time with my siblings. What can be better than that? I am especially excited to meet my brother and sister’s new grandkids!

Our first stop and base will be Gurgaon. We will then venture out to Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Banaras, and Mumbai. So far these are the cities we have decided to visit. We may visit more, but we plan to play it by ear.

So far what I cook is all trial and error and I make the recipes to my family taste. Every recipe has been a learning curve for me.

During this visit to India, I want to learn and experience the recipes of the local chefs in the cities I visit. I am hoping to learn new techniques that will greatly enhance my recipes. I think these little details can make a huge difference in the dishes and can really enhance the flavors. Of course, I will share these tips with you.

I will keep in touch.

Until next time…

I really enjoyed all the entries for last month. Many people used butternut squash in the recipes. In fact, four of top five are all recipes with butternut squash. Here are the my top five entries and two top winners from those:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Sumedha
• Sowmya Chandrasekaran
• Lakshmi Satyanarayana
• Latha Muralidhar
• Hidemi Walsh
• Priya Ramakrishnan
• Sukanya
• Saket Agarwal
• Devangi Raval
• Nabeelah
• Sonia Sahni
• Laura
• Sushma Saxena

• Ashwini Deshpande
• Lakshmi Swetha
• Swetha Ramakrishna
• Mini Gupta
• Spoorthy Prasad
• Neeraj Sonkar
• Rehana Khambaty
• Gauri Naik
• Dipti Joshi
• Aishani
• Anil Parekh
• Bipasha
• Julie Sterner