Samosa...

The Samosa has been a popular snack in South Asia for centuries. It is believed that it originated in Central Asia (where they are known as samsa prior to the 10th century. Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995-1077), an Iranian historian has mentioned it in his history, Tarikh-e Beyhaghi. It was introduced to the Indian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th century by traders from the region.

Amir Khusro (1253–1325), a scholar and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate, wrote in around 1300 that the princes and nobles enjoyed the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on".

Ibn Battuta, the 14th century traveller and explorer, describes a meal at the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq where the samushak or sambusak, a small pie stuffed with minced meat, almonds, pistachio, walnuts and spices, was served before the third course, of pulao.

The Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century Mughal document, mentions the recipe for 'Qutab', which it says, “the people of Hindustan call sanbúsah”.http://www.samosa-connection.com/ read more..

the flavour of Ajwain..

Raw ajwain smells almost exactly like thyme because it also contains thymol, more aromatic and less subtle in taste, as well as slightly bitter and pungent. It tastes like thyme or caraway, only stronger. Even a small amount of raw ajwain will completely dominate the flavor of a dish.

It is also called Ajowan caraway, carom seeds or mistakenly as bishop's weed), is an uncommon spice except in certain areas of Asia.

In Indian cuisine, ajwain is almost never used raw, but either dry-roasted or fried in ghee or oil. This develops a much more subtle and complex aroma, somewhat similar to caraway but "brighter". Among other things, it is used for making a type of paratha, called 'ajwain ka paratha'.

Ajwain originated in the Middle East, possibly in Egypt. It is now primarily grown and used in the Indian Subcontinent, but also in Iran, Egypt and Afghanistan. It is sometimes used as an ingredient in berbere, a spice mixture favored in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

In India, the major Ajwain producing states are Rajasthan and Gujarat, where Rajasthan produces about 90% of India's total production.

Lakme

Lakmé is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata Group; it was named after the French operaLakmé, which itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian cosmet Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1998 Tata sold off their stakes in Lakmé Lever to HLL, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million US$), and went on to create Trent and Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakme still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women

Lakme also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India providing beauty services.

Jhajhariya - A sweet dish originated in India

Jhajhariya is a delicacy of Indian origin made of corn, milk, ghee and sugar garnished with raisins and nuts.

Grated or coarsely ground fresh corn is slowly roasted in a small amount of ghee for a couple of hours until it loses most of its moisture and assumes a dry granular form. This is a labor-intensive step since it involves constant stirring and monitoring, but this pre-processing can be done once a year as the resulting material can be stored for months unrefrigerated.

The final preparation is done before serving; the dried corn is simmered for about five minutes on a medium flame, then a volume of boiling water equal to that of the corn is added and the mixture is heated for another five minutes. About 3 times that amount of boiling milk followed by further heating, then adding about an equal volume of sugar and raisins. It is good when served hot, but better still after refrigerating.

enjoy eating