Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Swasthi of Indian Healthy Recipes

Twice a month am introducing newbie bloggers to this immense blogging virtual world, just to showcase their blogs with their guest posts they prepred specially for me and i named the event as Rendez vous with a foodie. Many new fellow bloggers came towards me to join this event and shared their fabulous dishes since ever i started this event. Happy that this event is going successfully since a year. I came to know more about my guest hosts through their replies they shared for my questions along with their guestposts. Each and every posts of my guest hosts are unique in their own way.

Today's guest post is from a super chef, a health freak who never stopped surprising us with her beautiful dishes stuffed with healthy ingredients in it.Yes my today's guest is none other than Swasthi of Indian Healthy Recipes aka Swasthi's Recipes.Swasthi, her blog speaks a lot about her passion for her healthy cooking and blogging.She shares many South Indian dishes with stepwise pictures and none will go wrong with her instructions. I have became an ardent fan of her way of cooking with healthy stuffs,traditional foods and wonderful eggless,sugarless bakes. Seriously if you go through her space, am sure you will definitely fallen in love with her space.Good friends are very rare, but believe me even this virtual world brings you many wonderful friends, trust me apart from few, most of the bloggers i crossed in this virtual world are genuine,down to earth with huge heart.One among those wonderful bloggers i have crossed in this immense virtual world is Swasthi,i have to say a big thanks to her for giving me this incredible guest post and loved it. 

Lets hear from Swasthi of Indian Healthy Recipes..

1)Tell us about your blog and you?
Iam Swasthi, a home maker by choice living in Singapore with my kids and hubby. I started blogging as Swasthi, The Health Freak in April 2012. After 5 months, I moved my blog from BlogSpot to Indianhealthyrecipes.com.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?
Life has been more cheerful than before since I get connected virtually with many impressive people across the globe. Next best thing is I get more ideas to cook healthy and my kids understand a lot about healthy eating ever since I turned a food blogger.

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?
Years ago when we moved to Singapore, I was new to cooking and was looking for recipes on the web. I could find very few recipes that matched my taste like using less oil or no ghee, no refined flours, no refined sugars and no food colors. Then I stopped searching and then began to cook on my own with the help of a hand written book from my chef in Bangalore. So I thought of blogging all my ideas and recipes that could help health freaks like me.

4)There are a tons of blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?
Clear instructions with step by step pictures.  I develop healthy recipes, while trying to eliminate high fat content, refined foods, food colors and ingredients like ajinomotto where ever possible.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?
 Sanjay Thumma, popularly known as Vahchef and Sanjeev Kapoor from whom I have learnt easy cooking.

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

Firstly, like most other bloggers, I too had to fight plagiarism. I have learnt a lot, being vigilant and regularly checking if my content has been duplicated elsewhere and to bring down the stolen content are some of the steps I follow.

Secondly, Iam a very shy natured person and not very social. To excel as a food blogger one needs to open up their heart and write, make friends virtually and interact with their readers, this is something I need to learn.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?
The best recipes I have blogged till today are An “Oats Breakfast Recipe” and a Walnut Laddoo

My other favorite recipes are Ragi Nuts Ball, Ragi Laddoo and Paneer Paratha

8)Few tips about food photography?
I think iam not the right person to share any tips. Hehe! My pics are terrible. I don’t even know to use    my DSLR properly, in spite of owning it for years. I just click many shots and luckily few of them turn out to be good. My best to the worst pictures on my blog have been shot the same way.

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

I use whatever I have in my house. Sometimes, I use my son’s art and craft sheets or stuff.

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

 I try to publish 2 to 3 posts in a week.

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

I love to read, read and read. I enjoy reading all kinds of stuff on the web.

Iam very happy to be here as a guest on Priya’s blog, one of my most favorite bloggers whom I respect a lot. I absolutely adore this lovely queen for her attitude and cheerfulness. It is her attitude and virtues that brings a charm to herself. Today is a great day for me that I get to open up my heart with you all. Tons of Thanks Dear Priya, for consistently supporting me from my early days of blogging. I made this chocolate pannacotta to share with you all today. This recipe yields an yummy dessert that can be prepared in a jiffy and the setting time is only 30 minutes and can set even without refrigeration.

Ingredients:

Serves 3

1 cup whole milk (240 ml)

200 ml whipping cream or cooking cream (do not chose low fat)

1 heaped tsp agar flakes or 1 tsp of agar powder (2 gms)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar or sugar

3 0z dark chocolate (chopped)

Method

1. Warm up the milk and soak agar for 15 to 20 minutes
2. Begin to boil it till it thickens. Takes around 5 mins on a low flame

3. Add sugar, vanilla and cream.

4. Mix well and simmer till it becomes thick. It takes exactly 5 to 7 mins on a medium heat. Keep stirring else the agar sticks to the bottom

5. Add the chocolate and whisk it till the chocolate melts thoroughly.

6. i passed the mix through a strainer before transferring to the molds to remove any particles that have not melted well. But you must be quick as the mix thickens quickly.

7. Pour the mix to molds. These need less than 30 mins to set.

Keep the molds in warm water and then run a knife around and tap it on a serving plate.

Hope you all enjoyed this wonderful guest post, stay tuned for an another post from an another blogger.