Month: December 2017

Recipe | Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Published by Imtee Jamir

Celebrating the festive season isn’t half as fun without some delicious desserts. Ring in the New Year with this super-indulgent Chocolate Raspberry Tart. Dark chocolate, cream cheese, icing sugar, heavy cream, it doesn’t get any better than this! What better way to start off the new year than with a slice of this divine chocolate tart, right? Today’s dessert recipe is contributed by our lovely friend, Kutshou Therie. Let’s get baking! Ingredients : For the shell: Plain Flour 1&1/2 cup Powdered sugar 1/2 cup Cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp Salted Butter 120g Baking powder 1/4th tsp Ice cold water 2tbsp For the filling: Dark chocolate 150g Heavy cream 270 ml Raspberry pie filling 200g Cream cheese 100g Icing sugar 2-3 tbsp For the topping: Few Raspberry or pomegranate kernels Method: Sift flour, cinnamon and baking powder together. Combine butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl and stir until evenly incorporated. Add the flour mixture and sprinkle ice cold water to make a soft dough. Roll the dough and place it over a 9-inch tart pan …

Faces | Paan Shops in Nagaland are Like Local Meeting Hubs

Published by Roots & Leisure

“One of the most interesting places you can visit here in Nagaland is the colony paan shop. The shop in this photo is a small paan shop (with the owner) in Jakhama village, Kohima. These colony paan shops are like the local meeting hubs, where informal catch ups take place and titbits are exchanged. You’d probably end up collecting the latest news from all the nooks and corners of the world! This is a great leveller too; the old and the young, the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, the school kid and the businessman, all rely on these shops to meet their daily needs.” ~ Shanthungo

Naga Dish Recipe | Kidney Beans Curry With Napa

Published by Imtee Jamir

Today, we have a special authentic Naga dish prepared by Sungdi Imchen from Roots and Leisure team. It’s a simple, traditional and easy-to-cook homemade dish mixed with ‘Napa’ (Naga basil leaves), giving you that extra Naga-spice flavour in your mouth! Here’s your recipe guide to a quick, nutritious comfort food at its best: Fried Kidney Beans (‘Kholar’ beans) curry. Ingredients : 1 large tomato 1 medium onion 4-5 green chillies Napa (Naga basil leaves) 2 cups kholar beans ( Naga kidney beans) Salt (to taste) Directions to Cook: Pressure cook the kholar beans, and let it cool Sauté the onion, tomatoes and chillies, for about 10-15 mins. Now add the kholar beans and cook in low flame for a few minutes When the onion and tomatoes are tender enough, put in the Naga basil leaves (Napa) and let it simmer for another 5-10 mins. Your savoury kholar beans dish is now ready to serve. Enjoy it with a hot, steaming bowl of rice! Bon appétit! Hit Like, Share and Subscribe to Roots and Leisure on Youtube …

“My Trekking Experience to Dzükou Valley, Nagaland” by Wati Pongener

Published by Roots & Leisure

One fine Saturday, we bumped into an old friend from college days and as we got talking about how our life has progressed, we (obviously) had to mention Roots and Leisure. She was pleasantly surprised to know that her seniors from college in Ahmedabad (us! :)) are the ones behind the growing community; she has been following us for a while now. She got really excited, and immediately offered to share her own travel story with the R&L readers. Wati Pongener had made a recent trek to one of the most beautiful local attractions in Nagaland – the Dzükou Valley* “The air in Dzükou was so fresh that I could not help but think if I have been breathing wrong my whole life – before that moment! Every time I inhaled lungful of air, I imagined myself being cured of all the diseases from years of breathing polluted air.” (*Dzükou valley is situated at the border of Nagaland and Manipur just behind the Japhu peak. Its ecosystem could be classified as one of the last spots …

Recipe | Smoked Pork with Asian Spices – Cooked Naga Style over a Fireplace

Published by Roots & Leisure

Christmas is a great time to visit Nagaland. It is filled with the joyous spirit of Christmas, Weddings, the excitement of the young folks visiting their hometown for the holidays and many other celebrations – and all of these involve lots of food and merry cooking! Today we have a pork recipe from one of our founders – Sungdi’s (outdoor) kitchen; it’s a pork recipe that will have you wishing you were there right beside her – to enjoy the cooking process and of course, to taste the delicious-looking dish! Here’s the recipe of a pork dish cooked in a Naga outdoor kitchen with Asian spices for a lovely twist in flavour. Enjoy! Prep time: 15-20 mins. Cook time: 1 hour (approx.) Ingredients: Smoked pork Onions Green chilly Soya Sauce Barbecue sauce Green chilly sauce Chilly powder Ginger garlic Tomato Capsicum Directions to cook: Pre-cook the smoked pork in salt and water. (Water quantity should be just midway to the pork level) For the sauce: Sauté the tomatoes till it turns soft and brown. Then put in ginger, …

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Recipe | Eggless Apple Cinnamon Cake

Published by Imtee Jamir

Feeling the Christmas spirit yet? Celebrate this holiday season with a heavenly rich and moist apple cinnamon cake! We have a special sweet treat for you guys which you can prepare this festive season with your friends and family. All you need to make this cake are a few simple ingredients and steps to follow, a festive mood and some Christmas cheer!  Our recipe today is contributed by one of R&L’s lovely followers, Tribeni Pegu (@thenomnomlady). Scroll down to learn how to prepare this delicious delight! Ingredients: 1 apple, skinned and diced 1&1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp cinnamon powder 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla essence Process: Step 1: Butter the cake mould/loaf pan with a brush and dust it with flour and keep it aside. Step 2: For the cinnamon mix: Mix brown sugar and cinnamon powder in a bowl and keep it aside. Step 3: For the dry mix: Sieve through flour, baking powder and …

A Chat with the Creators Behind “MoonshineFolks” Hong Kong, an Art Project Involving Beautiful Floral Arrangements and People

Published by Shweta Rao

Carefully arranged pictures of pretty flowers on Instagram have become blooming works of art since a few years. Come winter and indoor hobbies like flower arrangements serve as an inspiration to the millions of us trying to create beauty for our own Hygge-inspired lives. A minimalistic Gerbera arrangement melds into a portrait of a woman ready for a Bohemian winter with an Icelandic wool knitted headband. Tiny Callistemon fruit branches and long stems of Chinese Ixora used innovatively as installation art on a terrace garden. A Van Gogh inspired Vincent Blue Bouquet. A lone Gerbera lights up a meal at home shared with friends and family. These are just a few of the stunning floral art captured by the florist cum artists behind “Moonshinefolk” We chat with the creative duo behind “Moonshinefolk”- Manki Lai and Helen Cheung from Hong Kong. “Our common interest in flowers brought us together,” says Manki. Helen is a copywriter who was learning flower arrangement at the time Moonshine was conceived. Manki is a graphic designer who loves photography and wants to try …

Faces | Sitting by the Fireside in Nagaland – Drinking Black Tea with Naga Dal and Grandma’s Memories

Published by Roots & Leisure

“I love this photo that I took while I was sitting by the fire, drinking ‘pika cha’ (black tea) with boiled Naga dal – just what my grandma used to offer me back in the days (while I was still in school in Kohima), when I used to visit her. While sitting there, I had those moments of pure bliss, reminiscing of my chats by the fire side with my grandma. No other thoughts – just those beautiful memories. And I recommend everybody to try it this winters. Just sit by the fire alone (no phone!) with a cup of tea and try to go back in time – those good ‘ol days where we had no mobile phones, and we actually used to chat and enjoy the warmth of the fire and the tea. So thankful that I got a chance to experience such days, because of which I have these lovely memories today- and not just hundreds of photos that actually don’t mean much. Instagrammable maybe, but what else?” ~ Holito Swu, Kohima

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Defying Society’s Beauty Standards with Art: Thokchom Sony | Visual Artist | Imphal & New Delhi

Published by Shweta Rao

There is a common saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That idea is further complicated when we look at it through the eyes of different cultures that exist today. In today’s globalized world, culture, race, and media intersect to create an idea of beauty that is admired by a collective and not an individual. Pop media and artists today have a bigger responsibility to open the world’s eyes to what today’s beauty standards are and what they need to be. We speak with visual artist Thokchom Sony on the importance of showcasing cultural importance in art. Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m a 29-year-old visual artist from Imphal and am currently based in New Delhi. I have lived in the south of Delhi for the last 10 years, where my career has continued to grow. This is where I’ve regained a sense of self-assurance. I have attained a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Jamia Millia Islamia Institute and I have a postgraduate diploma in visual effects and animation …

Recipe | Nepali Sel Roti

Published by Imtee Jamir

Sel Roti, a delicious traditional Nepali fried delight, mostly prepared as a festive snack during Dashain and Tihar in Nepal and Darjeeling. It is essentially a fried sweet bread prepared using pounded rice, flour, butter, milk and a mixture of fennel seed (saunf) and cardamom for flavoring. Simple yet delectable. Today’s recipe is contributed by our lovely people at PaliGhar from Kalimpong. The making of this snack is a skill and an art in itself. Let’s get started on how it’s made! Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 15-20 minutes Ingredients: Rice: 1 kg Maida (flour): 100 gms Sugar: 100 gms Butter: 100 gms Milk: 1 cup Water: 1 cup Oil: 1 litre Sael roti masala: mixture of saunf (fennel seeds) and cardamom Directions to cook: Soak the rice for a minimum of 3 hours. Drain and pound it into fine powder. Sieve the powdered rice. Mix the rice powder with maida (flour), sugar, butter, and masala thoroughly and then add milk to make a semi-thick batter. Use a deep frying pan to heat oil. Once the oil is …