Guest Post - 27 : Today's Guest - Jay

Today, Jay from Tasty Appetite is with us. She holds a M.Phil degree in Chemistry and worked as a lecturer in one of those best institutions. Now, she is a stay-at-home Mom who enjoys her Motherhood. Let us hear from her now...

Nithu's Kitchen : Tell us about you Jay.

Jay : Hello All ! Am Glad to be here and Thanx Nithu for giving me this wonderful opportunity…! To say abt myself, Am Jayanthy Kumaran, I was born and brought up in Chennai, India. I have done Master of Philosophy in Chemistry. I worked as Lecturer in one of the best Colleges. At present, I'm a home maker and a proud mom to two lovely kids Aish and Gautham. I'm enjoying thoroughly this phase of life , with my loving husband and cute kids. My hubby is a busy IT person. He’s not just a partner, but a great friend to spend this glorious life together. I have a very supportive family. They’ve always encouraged me to give in my best and be independent.

Nithu's Kitchen : What are your interests Jay?

Jay : I am interested in listening to music, reading novels, traveling long drives, blogging, surfing net and watch movies. I love to discover tasty and healthy food.

Nithu's Kitchen : Share us one unforgettable incident that happened to you during your travel.

Jay : This happened in the year 2009, when we visited Ooty. It was a family trip. We stayed in a Resort and we went out for a local site seeing after a small nap in the afternoon, on our way back, we found that we lost the hotel room key. Adding fuel to the fire, we found that my DH lost his mobile phone & wallet also.

To our utter dismay, the person at the Hotel reception, said that he did not have duplicate keys with him. The duplicate keys were in general with the Manager of the hotel and that day, the Manager was out of station. We were shocked on hearing this. All of us were dejected & totally confused...we didn't know, what to do? You won't believe but this happened to us. A gentleman who found our wallet in a park, took all his effort to find us. He stumbled up on our taxi driver who brought him to our hotel. Oops! we sighed with a sense of relief on seeing our wallet. We thanked those two noble people and hosted them a grand lunch. This incident taught us a great lesson and nowadays, we are extra cautious.

Nithu's Kitchen : What made you to start a blog?

Jay : I used to create soft copies of the my own recipes, the recipes I learnt from my Mom and MIL. I just wanted to have them in an electronic format instead of writing the same for my future generation. Oneday on seeing this, my DH asked me why shouldn't I do the samething through blogging. He said that, it would help others as well. This is the way I entered into the blogging world. Now am enjoy blogging and amazed to have so much loving friends and their encouraging warm wishes, which energize me going and to do more.

Nithu's Kitchen : What type of cuisine does your blog focus?

Jay : Tasty Appetite's main focus is towards fresh Indian recipes . I try and blog about our traditional recipes learnt from my Mom, MIL and Grandma. At times, I modify a little for the purpose of making it healthy and easy. In general, I do blog the recipes that were tasted by my family and friends.

Nithu's Kitchen : Who is your best critic?

Jay : My hubby is my best critic & soul mate. He encourages me in all walks of life. Often he is the test cat and appraiser for all my new recipe attempts. He’s been so supportive, making helpful suggestions & complimenting me. He always tells me that I m a wonderful mom to our children.

Nithu's Kitchen : Which part of blogging do you really think that you should concentrate more?

Jay : Am confident of contents that am giving to the blogosphere, in terms of ingredients, way of cooking, general and health tips. The area I need to and planning to improve is the layout and the presentation. If possible, I want to turn my blogging as a revenue generation activity with the help of all my well-wishers. Any pointer and tips in this regard would be very much appreciated.

Nithu's Kitchen : You have guests visit you exactly at lunch time without any prior information and you have less time as well less items in the pantry. What dishes you would prepare with limited time and pantry.

Jay : Yes, I have faced this situation quite a times. In case of Lunch, I will be preparing onion sambar, white rice with any spicy fry (depends on the availability of fresh veg in fridge) with roasted pappad. This can be prepared quick and gives a satisfactory meal.

Nithu's Kitchen : Jay, as you are interested in tasty as well healthy dishes, why don't you share us one such yummy and healthy recipe.

Jay : Thank you dear friends, for listening to me. I would like to share a wholesome filling snack & everybody’s favorite Veggie Burger recipe with you all…:)

Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients :

For the Burgers

· Burger buns - 5 to 6

For the Filling

· Capsicum slices

· Onion slices

· Cucumber slices

· Tomato slices

· Cheese slices

· Chopped coriander leaves

· Tomato ketchup

For the Veggie Mixture

· Oil - 2 tbsp

· Chilli ginger paste - 1 tbsp

· Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

· Garam masala pwd - ½ tbsp

· Potatoes - 2

· Carrot - 2

· Onion - 2

· Beans diced - ½ cup

· Wheat flour - 2 tbsp

· Cheese - ¼ cup

· Pepper pwd - 1 tsp

· Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp

· Salt to taste

Method :

Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions and chilli ginger paste to it.

Sauté for 3 to 5 mins. Add salt, pepper pwd, red chilly pwd , vegetables and mix well.

Add little water and allow to cook.

Once it is done, smash the contents.

Add cheese , wheat flour, garam masala, lemon juice and combine.

Allow to cook in low flame, until the mixture turns thick.

Turn off the flame, and allow to cool.

Now, cut each bun horizontally into two and toast them lightly in an oven or on a griddle.

Spread a little tomato ketchup on the lower half.

Place the veggie mixture on top.

Then place a capsicum slice, onion slice, cucumber slice, tomato slice, cheese slice and chopped coriander leaves.

Spread some fresh cream on top and then cover with the remaining half of the bun.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make more burgers.

Veggie burger is ready to eat. Serve hot with Tomato Ketchup.

Nithu's Kitchen : Thank you so much Jay. We enjoyed talking to you.

Hope you all love Jay's healthy veg Burger. If you are interested to be featured as Nithu's Kitchen's guest, please mail to nithuskitchen[at]gmail[dot]com.