Recipe For Holi – Gujiya With Groundnut Oil – Mesmara Recipes

Holi is coming up and we cannot keep calm! This is one of the most celebrated festivals in India and from youth to old, everyone eagerly awaits throughout the year for this festival of color. However, no celebration is complete without traditional food and delectable. Holi is no exception. Gujiya is one such dish that we all have grown up eating since our childhood days during Holi. No Holi celebration is complete without making this tasty dish. So, if your grand mom or mom is not around and you’re craving for those childhood memories of Gujiyas made by them, then here is for you a quick recipe for Holi. Eat it yourself or share it with your friends and family, live your childhood memories this Holi. And if you’re a health fanatic then there is a twist in this age-old Gujiya recipe, check it out.

Recipe for Holi – The secret behind a perfect Gujiya

Making a perfect gujiya like your mom and grandma is not so difficult job if you know the right proportions and knead the perfect dough. Along with all the ingredients that we have listed down below, add a dash of love to it and your perfect recipe for Holi 2019 will be ready in no time.

What is Gujiya?

In case you are from South India, you might not be aware of Gujiya. It is nothing but a traditional Holi sweet that is popular in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. It’s more or less similar to a dumpling where the crisp outer layer is made out of maida and the inner fillings are made out of Khoya, coconut and loaded with dry fruits. If you are creative enough, you can bring in variations in the fillings by using a combination of mawa, dry fruits, baked gujiyas etc. However, our favorite is the timeless classic gujiyas. The recipe of it is given below —

Traditional Gujiya Recipe

Ingredients

Flour – 2 cups

Butter – 1 cup

Water to knead the dough

Sugar or jaggery – 2 cups

Khoya – 1 cup

Dry fruits finely chopped – ½ cup

Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon

Mesmara cold–pressed groundnut oil

Ghee – 1 tablespoon

Method

1.    Take the flour in a vessel, add the ghee and mix well.

2.    Pour water slowly and keep kneading.

3.    The crispness of the outer layer depends on how the dough is kneaded. So, remember to knead the dough nicely.

4.    Keep it aside.

5.    Saute the khoya over heat for a minute or two.

6.    Then add sugar or jaggery, cardamom powder, and all the chopped dry fruits.

7.    Cook for a minute and turn of the heat. Let it cool for a while.

8.    Take a small portion of the dough and roll it out.

9.    Put the fillings and then seal the edges of the covering. You can either make shapes at the edges with hand or use a fancy cookie cutter to make the designs.

10.    Make all the gujiyas this way and keep aside.

11.    In a deep bottom pan, heat the groundnut oil. Alternatively, you can use ghee as well.

12.    Deep fry all the gujiyas in it until the color changes to golden brown.

13.    Make sugar syrup by boiling sugar water. Once you get the desired consistency keep it aside.

14.    Take out the fried gujiyas and dip it in the sugar syrup once and take it out.

15.    Serve in a plate and garnish with some chopped dry fruits on top.

Do try it out and let us know how it turned out. From the team of Mesmara we wish all our readers a colorful Happy Holi.

Mesmara’s cold-pressed oils are made from pure ingredients without application of any heat or other chemicals. Mesmara also stocks Cold-pressed Sesame Oil, Virgin Coconut Oil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Try our other healthy recipes. Click here.

Image courtesy – Wikimedia Commons

Holi Festival – Tips to Protect Your Hair and Skin

Drawing curtains on winter and welcoming the summers is the Holi festival. Everyone awaits unabated for this special day, especially the young ones. This is the festival when the town not just paints itself red but in all the colours that you can get hold off.  

With the growing demand for colours, the industry has conveniently moved to chemically prepared recipes leading to harmful colours. While they are bright and come cheap, these colours cause skin and hair related complications. However, with increasing awareness, lot of organic holi colours have come up in the market. You can use such colours to reduce your chemical footprint and also keep your skin and hair safe.

You can control what you purchase and use, you cannot say the same about your neighbours. But will all this deter you from enjoying the festival? Come on, what harm will a little colour do? Exactly our point too. Let us prepare well and take the right steps to protect our skin and hair before and after the holi celebrations. Not to sound cliched, a stitch in time saves nine and the same goes here to make it a safe and skin friendly Holi.

Pre Holi Festival Preparation

Skin care

Try to take a bath in cold water if the weather permits before stepping out. This closes the pores on your body thus stopping a lot of the colour to seep in. You should then generously massage virgin coconut oil all over your body, this creates a hydrophobic layer preventing colour absorption.

A good sunscreen is recommended to protect skin from UV radiation. Eucalyptus oil combined with olive oil makes a natural moisturizing sunscreen.

It is very important that you make sure your skin is heavily moisturised and there are no cracks.  Do start off this process a few days ahead of the big festival. Applying shea butter or cocoa butter regularly keeps your skin hydrated.  

As you protect skin, do also show some love to your nails. Massage the ends and especially around the cuticle with few drops of tea tree oil.

Hair Care

On the day of Holi, wash your hair and rinse your scalp in cold water. The pores sizes will reduce and limit the chances of chemicals and colours getting absorbed into the scalp and hair roots. Do apply some mesmara Argan hair serum and a conditioner to make the hair less frizzy. The silicon layer that forms, as a result, minimizes the colour sticking to them.

Folks with long hair should be careful not to leave their hair loose. More surface area means more potential for damage. So neatly tie it up in a bun or alternatively use a bandana/a scarf to cover up before stepping out.

During Holi Festival Celebrations

While playing, stay in shade as much as possible. Sunlight makes the colours set in faster and coupled with the tan, it is difficult to remove. Resist the use of stubborn colours to minimize post-event issues.

Post Holi Festival Celebrations Cleanup

Even before you think about taking a wash, you need to dust off all the dry colour from your hair and body. Use a dry gentle cloth and a hairbrush to remove them.

Use oil-soaked cotton balls to ease out the stubborn colours. Had you applied oil before you stepped out, you will be surprised how easier it gets to remove. Use of oil has the additional benefit, it soothes your skin and nourishes during the cleaning process.

We suggest that you choose organic cleansers to wash off the colours. They are gentle to your skin and are packed with goodness. They will alleviate the already damaged skin.

Once you are done with superficial cleansing, use face packs. Mesmara’s range is very effective and can help in deep pore cleansing. They exfoliate and cleanse and in addition restore the hydration the skin needs. At the end, indulge your body in deep moisturising sessions for a few successive days.

To protect hair, a good shampoo is the only answer. Try to minimize damage by using an organic or mild shampoo. If you’ve got a lot of colour on your hair and scalp, they may not come off all at once. In such difficult situations, you should wash and let your hair dry. Apply oil and massage it well. Leave it for a few hours before you head back into the shower for another hair wash. This repetitive process will be beneficial to your hair and scalp. The dryness will be lesser from repeated washes and the oil will help in dissolving and releasing the colours from the pores.

In contrast to the cold-water bath before you stepped out, post-Holi, the bath needs to be in hot water. This will open-up the pores and make the process easier.

Hope the festival of colours paint the canvas of your life with joy, love, happiness, prosperity, good health and success. Mesmara wishes all its readers a colourful and happy Holi.

Mini Pizza Muffins – Healthy and Tasty Valentine’s Day Snack

Muffins – this mouth-watering dish never fails to bring back childhood memories. Add pizza flavour twist to it, and it becomes everyone’s favourite savory. Kids just love Mini Pizza Muffins, and adults can polish the dish within minutes. Since its Valentine’s Day, why not make the celebration memorable by baking these bite-sized treats in their healthier version for your loved ones?

Mini Pizza Muffins Preparation:

Preparation Time – 50 mins.

Dry Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (Maida)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp dried basil

Wet Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons Mesmara Extra Virgin Olive oil
• ¼ cup low-fat milk
• ⅓ cup crumbled ricotta cheese
• 2 finely chopped medium sized onions
• 2 finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp chopped olives

Method for Preparation:

Step 1: Clean all the vegetables  properly and chop them as suggested in the list of ingredients.

Step 2: Begin with the heating the oil in a large pan  over medium heat. Stir fry onions and bell-peppers in the pan, till onions turn golden brown and bell-peppers are softened.

Step 3: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400^oF and take a mini-muffin pan and coat it evenly with cooking oil spray. You can use extra virgin olive oil as a healthy option..

Step 4: Take a medium size glass bowl and quickly whisk into it all the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl beat the egg and stir in milk, crumbled ricotta cheese, tomato paste, and olives.

Step 5: Now it is time to mix the wet and dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the wet ingredients and mix them until they are all combined together.

Step 6: Pour the mixture into mini muffins tray. Fill the muffin cups to two-thirds of their capacity and place the tray in the preheated oven.

Step 7: Check the status after 13 to 15 minutes. If you find them in light brownish color, it is the sign of a perfectly baked batch. Bring them out of the oven and place them on a wire rack for cooling.

Your Mini Pizza Muffins are ready. Serve them with the evening tea and watch them being devoured and see the love returned to you.

Health Tips:

Mesmara believes in holistic approach to living. Its newly launched Cold-Pressed oils are prepared using age old techniques of pressing the oil seeds in the Vagai wood press. The oils retain the natural health benefits of the seeds, unlike refined oils which lose their potent benefits with the high amounts of heat they are subjected to. Refined oils also contain preservatives to improve shelf life.

Mesmara’s Extra virgin olive oil helps in improving the good cholesterol or the HDL in the body and also helps in cleaning up the bad cholesterol or the LDL from the body. The benefits of regular usage of Cold-pressed oils are many. Incorporating Cold-pressed oils into your regular diet can bring about lot of healthy changes in you and your family.

This Valentine’s Day, protect the heart that loves you.

Check our store for Cold Pressed Sesame Oil, Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil and Virgin Coconut Oil. They are also available on Amazon. Check our other products on Flipkart too.

DIY Perfumes – 5 Easy Recipes For Valentine’s Day Gifting

Amit was blushing to himself while returning home from college. Ria has finally proposed him in the canteen today! They had liked each other a lot secretly for quite some time and now it has come as a sweet surprise to Amit on the eve of Valentine’s Day! The duo is all excited for their first Valentine’s day date and Amit wants to make it a memorable day for both of them. Amit knows Ria has a fondness for perfumes and fragrances. As a token of love, Amit wants to gift her some perfumes, which he wants to make using DIY perfumes recipes.

Geet has been always gifting her husband store-bought gifts every year for Valentine’s Day. She wants to try something new this year and her friend suggested DIY perfumes. Knowing her husband’s taste, Geet is all set to create DIY perfumes fragrance samples.

If you too wish to bring in some sweet and sexy fragrance in your relationship this V’day then here are some easy DIY perfume recipes for you to try out.

How to make DIY Perfumes at home?

If you have ever considered making fragrance at home then you might be aware of that any fragrance or perfume has two basic components – essential oil(s) and an alcohol base. Also, fragrance can be classified as top notes and mid tones. When you sniff any perfume, the first smell that you get is of the top notes. The smell that lingers in your senses after a while is of the mid tones and base tones.

If you are making a fragrance for the first time, here is an important tip for you: Essential oils smell different when they are combined with other essential oils, plus they smell quite different when blended with alcohol. Creating a great perfume is a work of art and you need to find the right ratio and combination to invent your own perfume. If you are doing it for the first time, try creating small fragrance samples until you get the right mix. Here are top 5 DIY perfume recipes – give it a shot or go ahead and create your own!

Recipe #1 – Everyone’s Choice Fragrance

For the base oil, mix the following essential oil in the given proportion: 1 tsp of Vanilla extract, 3 drops of Mesmara Cedarwood oil, 4 drops of Vetiver oil, 3 drops of Mesmara Ylang Ylang oil, 4 drops of Sandalwood oil, 8 drops of Mesmara Frankincense oil. Use 10 drops of Mesmara Lavender oil for middle tone.  You may also choose to add other essential oils like rose oil, geranium, and blue chamomile oil as per your choice. For top notes, choose between neroli, bergamot or wild orange. Add the fragrance you choose from bottom to top. This recipe goes well with many.

Recipe #2 – Vanilla Fragrance

For the base oil, make a mix of base essential oils like Cedarwood, Vanilla, Vetiver, Ylang Ylang, and Sandalwood, in total 20 drops. If you are a vanilla lover, you may choose to add a teaspoon of homemade vanilla extract. To it, add 25-30 drops of middle tone oils like Rose, Mesmara Lavender oil, Chamomile or Geranium. And then top it with top note oils like Neroli or wild orange.

Recipe #3 – Floral Fragrance

For a floral fragrance, select a floral essential oil of your choice. Jasmine or rose both works great. To it, add 5 drops of Mesmara Sweet Orange oil, 2 drops of lime peel, 2 drops of vanilla, and 2 drops of jasmine absolute. Your flirty floral fragrance will be ready in a minute!

Recipe #4 – Floral Twist Fragrance

If you like a twist in the above recipe, then try this blend! To a floral scent of jasmine and rose, add 5 drops of bergamot, 4 drops of sandalwood and 2 drops of rose absolute.

Recipe #5 – Fruity Fragrance

For a fruity punch fragrance, roll this one. Definitely a mood booster! 5 drops of Mesmara lemon oil mixed with 2 drops of neroli and 3 drops of Mesmara Rosemary Oil.

Always remember to store your fragrance in a dark colored bottle. Sunlight can alter how it smells. Keep it in an airtight glass bottle so that the oil and the alcohol do not evaporate away. With a few essential oils and right proportions, you have millions of opportunities to create your own fragrance.

Use any of these fragrance recipes or create your own from Mesmara’s range of Essential Oils and Carrier Oils! After all, February is the month of love and we can already smell — love is in the air!

Unique Valentine’s Day Gifts For Your Special One

How many of you know the history of Valentine’s Day? A little-known fact is that it originated sometime around 270 AD, though the real figures are still vague due to the lack of proper information. The day is celebrated to honour St. Valentine who took upon himself to allow romance when Christianity looked at it as a taboo. What is important is that we continue to celebrate it to express our love to our special someone. What better way to say it than by getting some unique Valentine’s Day gifts.

Most find it simple to buy chocolates and flowers as Valentine’s Day gifts. However, there are so many valentines day ideas that can truly make this day special. We suggest that you think out of the (chocolate) box and give some unique Valentine’s Day gifts this time. Do something which sets you apart from the pack. It is a great opportunity to show that you deeply understand that person. This thoughtful gesture will work the magic and strengthen the love even further.

Here are a bunch of cool ideas for creating the most unique Valentine’s Day gifts. We are sure after reading these you may do even better.

Personalization:

Try to get a gift that is specific to the person, to an extent that it is custom made. For men, you could look at personalized cufflinks, embroidered shirts or a nice silk neck scarf. Some sort of personalized embellishment that makes him proud to wear it. For women the choices are abundant, custom made jewellery or a dress she has been eyeing to buy but hasn’t really got to it. There are so many great natural high-end organic beauty products that could also be a great way to shower love. You can select from the wide range of Mesmara products to give a personalized touch to the gift. Personalisation makes the gifts very unique Valentine’s Day gifts that are loved by everyone.

Activities:

You must choose experiences or activities that you both can enjoy at the same time. Winemaking, preparing gourmet salads, hiking for the more active folks are some examples that give you time with each other while enjoying it.  If you both have dreamt of that special river cruise, this is the perfect time to do it. Book the boat, pick the right menu and make it an evening to remember.

You could get yourselves a nice tattoo too, something that bonds you both.

For folks who want to just cuddle up and make it a very personal day, you could choose a bunch of romantic valentines day movies and binge through them.

Pampering:

You can plan to enrol your beloved for a makeup training course. Some may think you do not like her makeup, but it could also mean that you love her enough to want her to look even more beautiful. You could take it a notch higher by recommending that special focus, e.g., eye makeup and hair highlights. If she is not really feeling for it, then you can go shop for the best cosmetics and skin care products that you can afford to make her feel special.

To spend a perfect day with the man of your dreams, a couple’s spa would be a perfect gift. You both can relax and get pampered together and energize yourself for a beautiful evening ahead.

Bookish Romance:

Another idea in unique Valentine’s Day gifts is to spend the day together with the best romantic books available. Couples can channel their love for each other by visiting the local library or a book shop and check out the love letters and poems of the best writers/poets. Couples can then issue or buy a timeless romantic book full, open a bottle of wine and take turns reading each other his/her favourites. You can also venture out and experience live music with that someone special.

Camping Under The Stars:

If both of you love to be one with nature, this activity is the best way to spend time with your loved one. Though it might need a little bit of homework. Do some google search or ask for a reference from your circle about the best places to visit to enjoy a sunset. Plan to leave early in the evening with your special one to catch a mesmerizing sunset and watch it sitting together hand in hand. As the evening turns into night, you could camp under the stars and gaze at the astronomical wonders together while thanking your lucky stars. Don’t forget to carry a mosquito repellent spray made from Citronella Essential Oil. Better still, make bug repellent candle with the flavours of Citronella Essential Oil and Rosemary Essential Oil.

We are not going to spell out everything, but you got the gist of. Do share with us about your ideas for unique Valentine’s Day gifts. Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at Mesmara.