Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook

My readers and followers will definitely know that every 7th and 20th of the month i'll be inviting newbie bloggers from this bloggy world to write a guest post in my space. Today is an another special day for me,yep today's host is a wonderful ,sweet person, before going to know about her, if anyone want to be my guest and if your blog is less than two years please do contact me through Facebook or by a mail with your facebook name to add you in this new adventure. Hope many of you will join ur hands with me. Obviously the motto of this event is to introduce the upcoming new bloggers to this immense virtual world.

Coming to today's guest, she is a cute,very bubbly,jovial and very humble person i crossed in this virtual world. If you go through her space, you will be amazed to see how wonderfully she explains the food she share with us, no need to say about her photography skills. Earlier whenever i go to her space, i thought that the person behind this space might be someone who might have so many years of cooking experience.Seriously each and every Divya's posts will have a well detailed description with wonderful stepwise pictures, then slowly we get connected together and then a day i came to know that she is very much younger than me, i was surprised and shocked at the same time, that day i came to know that she is not only younger than me also a beautiful human who have a huge heart.I can talk for hours about her,seriously she is also one among my favourite bloggers i want to meet personally in my life atleast once in my life. Ok ok, i dont want keep the secret any more, today's guest is none other than one of my cheerful,very jovial blogger sister Divya Pramil, who blogs at You Too Can Cook.

Over to Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook..

Hello dear friends, am so excited today about doing a guest post for one of my best friend Priya akka. I never knew I will be making one for her and it is almost like a dream come true. Thanks a lot for the opportunity Priya akka.

When I first stepped into blogging I found very few consistent bloggers who’d blog regularly with passion. And I spotted out one passionate blogger who stood apart from all the other bloggers with her consistent everyday blogging. Her humble nature has always attracted me to become her friend, but I have always stood aside, thinking that she might not be interested in my friendship. Never in my life did I dream that I would become her friend. She is more than a sister to me and guides and supports me always and anytime I need some help or suggestion she would readily help. I was and am still amazed with her humble, down to earth nature and never give-up spirit. It is none other than our super-woman or duper-blogger Priya Suresh akka. I should mention now about the comments she posts on other blogger’s space, coz those were the first spark that made me like her so much.

You can always find Priya Suresh akka’s comments everywhere even in a newbie’s blog. Those comments are not just random words; they are contexts with meaning that relates to the recipes. I had come across many many successful blogging queens who never even bothered to check out a newbie’s blog, I have come across such people too, but I was really amazed with Priya akka’s attitude of supporting even a one month old blog. And now recently she has come up with the idea of this Rendez Vous with a Foodie event with an idea to showcase newbie bloggers to her wide range of audience which is really a respectable idea.

Though being a busy mom she still posts consistently and puts in so much effort into her blog, I wonder how she manages to post even amongst a tight schedule so fast. Though I do not do much work, I still sit grumbling and complaining about how there is not enough time. But its high-time I learn from this busy bee, the way to manage time!! Kudos to all your hard work, sincere effort, respectable thoughts, friendly and down-to-earth nature. Thanks for being such a support to me and many others. You are a true inspiration akka. Keep rocking as always!! And thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity.

When Priya akka announced the event, I readily volunteered, as I knew that this is one good opportunity for upcoming bloggers like me and it would be an homor to appear on her space. But from then I had confusions about deciding the recipe. As you all know she has thousands of recipes, and it was really difficult for me to choose one. I was surfing her space and found many recipes with variations and innovations and it became even tougher for me to decide the special recipe.

 Finally I came up with 3 recipes, a mutton recipe, a vegetarian recipe and this lip-smacking Mango payasam. Mutton and the vegetarian recipe sounded like a day today ordinary recipes and I know that these are not gonna be new to Priya akka. I was satisfied with the third one as it was a bit different from the regular track. And obviously it’s a sweet recipe. We people tend to start everything with a sweet and that has been a sentiment right? and this post fitted the theme; sweet & special. It’s a simple to make but super delicious and creamy dessert recipe that my grandma had taught me when I was a kid. Not a single summer has passed for me without tasting this yummilicious payasam. Hope you like it Priya akka, here is my simple treat for you.

1) Tell us about you and your blog?

Hi friends I am Divya Pramil, author of You Too Can Cook. My blog is a year old, fed with many traditional Indian recipes, both Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian. Am a fan of hot spicy delicacies, so you can find many such dishes at my space. 

About myself; am a home-maker with unlimited passion and interests in cooking. When coming to relationship, I give utmost importance to people and their emotions, am more on the sensitive side but not on the practical side. I have my own fantasy world that no one can understand and am creative too. When coming to work, I often tend to overdo work, and always I expect a lot of perfection in whatever I do. Am a pet lover and I have had many pets before I got married. I have petted puppies, kittens, squirrels, dove, love-birds and ducks. Am a very easy to go with person and am much on the fun side, I am very patient at times and everyone does wonder how I could be that patient, but rarely I lose temper and they will be the worst. 

2)Before and after blogging, tell us how blogging changed your life?

Blogging has indeed changed a lot in me. I never knew I would have so many changes in my life. Before, I was more like a lonely individual cooking passionately behind walls, within my limits for my husband, family and friends; I used to share cooking tips and tricks only within a circle. I was not much into photography nor was I so creative in clicking before. I was not much into writing either.  I was not even aware of how websites work and the technical work behind it.

But now I have started cooking for a varied audience from different places of the world, I don’t even know of. I get recipe requests from my visitors, blogger buddies and I cook recipes and post for them which is a real joy. I have gone much into photography, I keep clicking whatever I see, and I have started loving photography. These days, I write much better not a pro though. I own a blog, a space of my own, where am able to work and exhibit my interests. I spend time more usefully now and am happy that it’s useful to many people out there too. Moreover I have got really good like-minded friends who care for me much more than relatives do. Each one of them are unique but so special and close to my heart. I’ve changed a lot after blogging and am happy for it. 

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?

Cooking has always been a passion for me, but I had never ever thought of becoming an author with a space or blog of my own. Though I had internet access I had never tried recipes from blogs or websites and so I wasn’t much aware of blogging those days. But one fine day I was randomly surfing online when I ended up reading about blogging. Immediately I created a blog of my own, without a second thought about what I will be blogging. But I did start the same day with mere confidence; I blogged about technical tips, relationship advises, I even blogged about doing aari work a kind of embroidery. But later after few months I recognized that these are not my niche, so I deleted the old one and started a new blog (my present recipe blog) that I knew would be my specialization. 

4)There are tons of blogs/pages on food these days what according to you is the speciality of your blog and the food that you cook?

I focus on Indian recipes and many traditional South Indian specials that many are not aware of.  These days I have found that even Indian women tend to forget about all the Indian delicacies and switch on to westernized food. I do not want the traditional recipes to fade away from people’s mind. I still have the pride that Indian food is the best and healthiest so I focus much on that, moreover I use easily available ingredients to make my dishes and I try to explain really well. I make it simple enough to make sure that even a newbie can cook well.

5)When its comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

Obviously my mom has been a great inspiration and support. But there was another person who made me fall in love with traditional cooking, my maternal grandma. She was the greatest and my best inspiration; I have stood in awe at her cooking skills and patience many times. Though she is not here with me anymore, I still have what I have learnt from her!! 

6) Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when it comes to blogging,tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it? please specify with facts and details.

I did not have any much struggle. The only things I was very much worried about was about traffic and indexing in early days. I tried submitting my blog to different useless sites and found them to be a waste of time. But then I stopped bothering about all such factors and started enjoying blogging and everything turned out to be good on its own. 

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

I love most of my recipes, but there are some that I do think are my best recipes;Samosa , Jigardhanda, Heart Shaped Paniyaram, Strawberry rasgullas, Chicken Ghee Roast, Coconut Rice, Red Snapper Curry, Mutton Kheema Curry and many other. 

8)Few tips about food photography?

For a good photography you definitely need patience. Shoot in daylight, use different props and attractive backgrounds. Keep clicking as much as possible. 

9)What is your budget for the props, do you have any or else manage with household stuffs?

I do not have any budget nor do I plan to get props. I just purchase all types of culinary stuff that I can use in my kitchen and blog. Most of the times I use my house-hold stuff itself, I had a flair for purchasing beautiful props even before I used to blog, so I had many bowls and props already in my kitchen and this helped me a lot after I started blogging. 

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

I do not have any plans as such; I just plan about what to cook and sometimes I don’t. I click the recipes of what comes out well in my kitchen, then save them in my drafts. I try to post regularly or at least once in two days. 

1)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

Yes I have many other passions other than cooking, I love petting animals. I was once a dancer and I was busy with it in schools and colleges but not anymore. Now I do aari work, a kind of embroidery work with silk thread, jardosis, stones, chumkies on my dresses. I paint or draw at time. I love doing make-ups and hairs do’s, I have participated in competitions too. I earlier had a flair for gardening too, but now due to space constraint have not gone much into it. That’s about me and my passions. 

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2 to 3 people

Total Preparation Time - 15 minutes

1. Mango pieces - 100 grams (After grinding I got 80 ml of mango pulp)
2. Sago / Javarisi - 30 grams (1/4 cup) 
3. Boiled milk - 1 cup (150 ml) 
4. Sugar - 50 grams (1/2 cup) 
5. Saffron - 1 pinch
6. Cardamom pods - 4 (crushed) 
7. Cashew nuts - 8 to 10 
8. Raisins - Few 
9. Ghee - 4 to 5 spoons 
   
   
   
   
   

PREPARATION METHOD

• Into a saucepan add sago and  200 ml (1¼ cups) of water and place on flame. Cook until the sago pearls turn translucent and soft. 
• To a spoon of warm milk add a pinch of saffron and set aside. 
• Chop mango pieces into smaller pieces and blend into a fine paste. 
• Place a pan on flame and add 2 spoons of ghee. Then add the crushed cardamom pods saute. 
• Then add the mango pulp and saute on low flame for 3 minutes. 
• Now add the cooked sago/javarisi along with water and stir well. 
• Then add sugar and mix well. After it gets dissolved add the boiled milk and stir well. 
• Now take the saffron soaked milk and press the saffron well using your fingers, then add it into the payasam along with the milk and stir well.
• Cook on low flame for few minutes or until it thickens. 
• Now heat another pan drop 2 spoons of ghee and add cashews, saute until it turns golden brown, then add the raisins; after it puffs up, remove from flame and add it into payasam. 
• Remove payasam from flame and serve warm or chilled. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

TIP 1: You can add some milkmaid to the payasam to make it yummier. 

TIP 2: Use ripe and sweet mangoes to get the best flavors. You can also make this payasam without sago. 

Lip-smacking Mango Payasam is now ready!! 

Thank you so much Priya akka for the opportunity, loved making this post for you!!

Hope you will enjoy this delicious desser from Divya, stay tuned for an another guest post on 7th May..Till then bye from me and Divya.