12 Tips to Care for Your Nails at Home

1. Wash and dry your hands properly.

2. Using a double-sided emery board, file nails using a gentle stroke. Avoid corners of your nails.

3. Shape your nails. The most popular shape is oval, but choose the one which suites your hand and finger.

4. To harden soft nails, soak in warm olive oil for about 20 minutes, on alternate days.

5. To clean stains from your nails, mix one tablespoon of lemon juice in a cup of water and soak your nails in this liquid for a few minutes. Then, wash off with warm water and apply a hand moisturizer.

6. In case you wear nail polish, make sure to give your nails a break from time to time.

Nail Care Tips 

7. Whenever you wash your hands, make sure to dry the nails properly and apply a hand cream or lotion, using it on the nails as well. This is because soap makes the nails dry and brittle.

8. If you have brittle nails, it is advisable to wear a nail polish, or at least the colorless base coat, as much as you can.

9. Add shine to your nails by massaging coconut oil or warm castor oil on to them.

10. Dip a cotton-tipped swab in hydrogen peroxide to clean under the nails and whiten them.

11. Drink fresh carrot juice daily, this is high in calcium and phosphorus and is excellent for strengthening nail.

12. If your nails are weak, splitting, or fragile etc, the problem may possibly be traced back to a poor water intake. 

11 Signs and Symptoms for Skin Cancer

A lot of their symptoms overlap—which doesn't *really* matter because despite which category you fall under, it's still skin cancer. We tapped into Gohara's expertise to find out which "little" signs could potentially mean big trouble down the road if untested: 

1. If you cut it in half, do both sides match up evenly? Asymmetrical moles aren't good.

2. Also look out for moles with jagged or irregular edges—normal ones are typically smooth.

3. If you've noticed the color of your moles become darker or just change color, ahem.

4. Track your mole's size to see if it's growing. Anything bigger than, say, the size of a pencil eraser needs to be checked out.

5. Moles that bleed or hurt.

6. Pimples that won't go away on sun-exposed skin. Zits appear and disappear all the time, but if a translucent, pimple-like bump doesn't go away after a month or so, it's most likely not a pimple.

7. Bruises on your feet that won't heal.

8. Exposure to HPV took us by surprise. So genitals—that normally don't see daylight unless, you know, you're chilling at a nude beach—with the virus can also develop squamous cells and lead to skin cancer.

9. A key phrase is "non-healing sore," which often refers to problems in the mouth (caused by smoking). Oral skin cancer falls under the SCC column, so please, DON'T PUFF THE TOBACCO.

10. Look under your fingernails for brown or black streaks. These can also appear on your toes.

11. Crusty, scaly (gonna be sick) skin is another biggie. But there's a difference between this and things like dry skin, psoriasis, or eczema even though these can all mimic each other in appearance. Usually, skin cancers are tender and won't respond to topical creams that most other ailments react to. 

While these symptoms don't always link to skin cancer, you should schedule an appointment with a derm just to be sure.

Vaazhai Thandu Pachadi (Banana Stem Raita) - Plantain Beth Recipes

Ingredients

Banana Stem - 1/2 feet [Half feet]
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Curd - 1 cup [200 ml]
Green chilly - 3
Grated Coconut - 1 tablespoon

Preparation

1. Chop banana stem into medium size pieces

2. Put this in mixer grinder container

3. Add coconut, salt and green chilly

4. Grind this nicely

5. Mix this with curd

Jigarthanda Drink Madurai Special Recipe

Main Ingredients:

Badam pisin - 1 tsp or 4-5 small pieces (almond gum)

Milk - 4 1/2 cups, full fat milk

Nannari sharbat - 3 tbsps (sarsaparilla root syrup)

Ice cream - 3 scoops (made from reduced milk) OR store bought vanilla ice cream

Sugar - 3 tbsps (adjust)

Method

Soak badam pisin in 1 1/4 cups of water overnight. Next day, it will swell and form a transparent jelly like consistency. Remove any impurities if any.

Bring full fat milk to a boil and reduce to almost half its original quantity. You will have 2 1/4 cups of reduced milk. Turn off flame, add 3 tbsps of sugar and mix till dissolved. Bring to room temperature and chill in fridge till use.

To assemble the drink, take three tall glasses. Add a generous tbsp of the badam pisin in each glass followed by a drizzle a generous tbsp of nannari syrup. Divide the sweetened milk among the three glasses till three fourth full.

Top with a scoop of reduced milk ice cream or store bought vanilla ice cream and serve immediately.

Jigarthanda Drinks Recipe

Tips

Make reduced milk the earlier day and chill in the fridge overnight.

Make ice cream the earlier day and freeze.

You can replace nannari syrup with rose syrup/rooh afza.

You can use agar agar (china grass) instead of badam pisin, if you do not have access to almond gum/badam gond. If using agar agar, soak a fistful in 1/3 cup of warm sugar syrup till they form into a jelly and use in place of badam pisin.

Badam pisin is available in native ayurvedic medicine stores.

I have used homemade ice cream. You can use store bought vanilla ice cream.

In case the drink does not have a light brown shade, you can also achieve it by adding caramalized sugar to the reduced milk.

Pineapple Kesari Recipe

Ingredients 

1. 1/2 cup rava
2. 1/3 cup chopped pineapples
3. 3/4 cup sugar
4. 1 1/2 cup water
5. 1/2 tbsp chopped cashew nuts
6. 2 tsp raisins
7. 2 tbsp ghee
8. 2 tsp ghee

Instructions

1. Heat the one teaspoon of ghee.
2. Add the cahew nuts to ghee and fry until slightly browned.
3. Add raisins and cook for half a minute.
4. Remove the mixture from the stove and set aside.
5. Boil the water in a pot. Once it reaches boiling point, add the pineapples. Cook for five minutes.
6. Heat one teaspoon of ghee and roast the rava in it.
7. After a minute add the boiling pineapple and water mixture.
8. Stir constantly until the lumps in mixture have dissolved.
9. After the lumps are gone add the sugar and stir.
10. Add two tablespoons of ghee to the mixture and keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.
11. After it thickens, add the raisins and roasted cashew nuts, stir and then remove from the heat.
12. Serve.

How to make Rava Idli Recipe- Quick Rava Idli Recipes

Ingredients 

1 cup sooji/rava/semolina/cream of wheat

½ cup dahi/curd/yogurt, fresh or sour

a pinch of baking soda * check notes

2.5 to 3 tbsp water or more - add accordingly & as required to get a medium consistency batter, which is neither thick nor thin.

1 green chili/hari mirch, chopped

½ inch ginger/adrak, finely chopped

10-12 cashews/kaju, chopped

2 to 3 tsp ghee or oil for roasting the rava

1 tsp oil for frying the cashews

salt as required

Tempering

1-2 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds/rai

1 tsp chana dal/split and husked bengal gram

10-12 curry leaves/kadi patta, chopped

a pinch of asafoetida/hing

Instructions 

1. Heat 2 tsp ghee or oil in a pan. add the rava/sooji and roast in the ghee or oil till they become aromatic and change color.

2. Keep on stirring often when roasting them. remove the roasted rava in a mixing bowl and keep aside.in the same pan, heat 1 tsp oil again and fry the cashews in the ghee.

3. Remove and add the fried cashews to the rava in the mixing bowl.

4. In the same pan, add 1 tsp oil more and heat it.

5.Splutter mustard seeds. then add chana dal, curry leaves & asafoetida. fry till the chana dal become golden.

6. Then add this whole mixture to the roasted rava. add curd/yogurt along with chopped ginger, green chilies and salt.

7. Add water as required and make a batter which is neither thin nor thick.

8. Keep aside covered for 20-30 mins. after 20-30 minutes, if the batter looks thick, then add a few tablespoons of water to get a medium consistency. rava absorbs water and so the batter might thicken after 20 to 30 minutes.

9. Heat water in a steamer, electric cooker or pressure cooker.

10. Just before steaming, add baking soda in the batter and mix well.

11. Pour the rava idli batter in greased idli moulds.

12. Place the idli stand in the electric cooker, steamer or pressure cooker steam the rava idlis for 10-12 mins or more till a tooth pick inserted in the idlis come out clean.

13. Remove the rava idlis from the mould and serve the steaming hot rava idlis hot with idli podi or with your favorite coconut chutney and sambar.

Kanchipuram Idli Recipe - South Indian Kancheepuram Idli

Ingredients

1/2 cup urad dal (split black lentils)
1/2 cup par-boiled rice (ukda chawal)
1/2 cup raw rice (chawal)
salt to taste
a pinch of turmeric powder (haldi)
1/2 tsp dried ginger (soonth) powder
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp sesame (til) oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
3 whole black peppercorns (kalimirch)
1/2 tbsp chana dal (split bengal gram)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds ( rai / sarson)
1/2 tsp urad dal (split black lentils)
1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
1/2 tbsp chopped cashewnuts (kaju)
8 curry leaves (kadi patta)

For Serving

coconut chutney
sambhar

Method

1. Combine the urad dal and enough water in a deep bowl and soak for 4 hours.

2. Combine the parboiled rice, raw rice and enough water in a deep bowl and soak for 4 hours.

3. Drain the urad dal and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste using approx. ¾ cup of water. Transfer the mixture into a deep bowl and keep aside.

4. Drain the parboiled rice and raw rice blend in a mixer to a slightly coarse paste using approx. . ½ cup of water. Transfer the mixture into the same bowl, add the salt and mix well.

5. Cover and ferment in a warm place for 10 to 12 hours.

6. Add the turmeric powder and ginger powder and mix well. Keep aside.

7. Combine the cumin seeds and peppercorns in a mortal pestle (khalbatta) and crush to a coarse mixture and keep aside.

8. Heat the sesame oil and ghee in a small non-stick pan, add the chana dal and sauté on a medium flame for 1 minute.

9. Add the urad dal, mustard seeds and the cumin-peppercorn coarse mixture and green chillies and sauté on a medium flame for 1 minute.

10. Add the cashewnuts and curry leaves and sauté on a medium flame for 30 seconds.

11. Add this tempering to the batter and mix well.

12. Grease the idli moulds using little oil and put spoonfuls of batter into them.

13. Steam in an idli steamer for 10 minutes or till they are cooked.

14. Repeat with the remaining batter to make more idlis.

15. Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambhar.