Simple Recipes: Aaloo Palak

Aaloo Palak:

Preparation time: 30 mins

Serves: 4 adults

Best with: Rotis/Plain rice

Ingredients:

4 potatos, chopped in medium sized cubes

3 Tomatos, finely chopped

2 Onions, finely chopped

1 bunch of Palak – finely chopped

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

Chilli powder

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Oil

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Add the finely chopped onions and sauté for some time until slightly brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and continue sautéing. Add the finely chopped tomatoes, palak, and saute for some more time, until it’s cooked – about 10 mins in medium flame.

Allow the above mixture to cool and then beat them all in a mixie to a thick gravy like consistency.

In parallel, steam cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker.

Add the boiled potato cubes to the palak mixture. For seasoning, you can place grated cheese on top

Cheers :)

The Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. The pigs decided to build houses for themselves. The first pig made a house out of straw, the second pig made a house out of sticks, but the third pig decided to make a house out of bricks so it would last longer.
The first two pigs built their house fast and then lazed around for days. For the third pig, he put in a lot of efforts to make a beautiful brick house.

One day, a hungry wolf passed by their place, and noticed the 3 pigs. He thought it would be best to get the 3 pigs and he could feast on them for days. As soon as the pigs saw the wolf coming, they ran inside their houses and shut the door and windows.

The wolf first went to the straw house and knocked at the door. He said "Little pig, little pig open the door and let me in, or I will huff and puff and blow your house in". The little pig, shivering in fear said "No, I will not open the door for you or you will eat me away". The wolf then huffs and puffs and blows the straw house away. The little pig ran fast into the second pig's house, the one made out of sticks. 

The second pig shut the door and windows tight. The wolf again knocked at the door,  "Little pig, little pig open the door and let me in, or I will huff and puff and blow your house in". The little pigs, shivering in fear said "No, We will not open the door for you or you will eat us away". The wolf then huffs and puffs and blows the stick house away.

Now the two little pigs run to the third pig's house, the one made out of bricks. The three pigs shut the door and windows tight. The wolf again knocked at the door and said "Little pig, little pig open the door and let me in, or I will huff and puff and blow your house in". The little pigs, shivering in fear said "No, We will not open the door for you or you will eat us away". The wolf then huffs and puffs and blows huge, but the brick house stands strong. The wolf huffs and puffs and blows again, but the brick house stands strong. The wolf tried for a third time but in vain.Finally the wolf gave up and walked away.

The next day, the other 2 pigs also built a house made out of bricks and lived happily ever after

Gracias :)

Sakkarai Pongal in the traditional way

Hello everyone,
While we know there are various ways to make the Sakkarai Pongal, the usual Sankranthi month, we try to make it in the traditional way.
For the traditional way, we usually take a "pongal paanai" (which is a brass vessel in the shape of a pot). We can tie this around with a piece of banana, a flower, betel leaf, and sugar cane piece and then decorate the pot on all sides with kumkum (vermilion) and sandanam (sandal powder).
You may visualize the pongal paanai as below

Once done, follow the below steps for the recipe

Preparation time: 30 mins

Serving Size: Serves a family of 4

1 measure rice

1/5 measure paitam paruppu (broken green gram)

Around 3 measure of milk and 3 measures of water

Method:

Boil the milk and water together, and allow it to slightly overflow (well this is what is called pongal-o-pongal), if you don't want to dirty the place, you can reduce the gas flame as soon as the milk comes close to overflowing

Next, put the rice and dal into the above, and keep stirring. Allow the rice to become soft and be cooked. 

Parallely, in another vessel, take 1/4 measure of jaggery and 1/4 measure of water. Dissolve the jaggery in water so that no lump remains. Heat this while stirring continuously, so that it becomes a thick syrup

Now, add the jaggery syrup to the vessel with pongal. Stir well.

Add ghee.

Fry cashew nuts, raisins and badam in ghee and add to the above mixture. 

In 1.25 measure of milk, add elaichi, saffron, and slight edible menthol, then add this to the above mixture.

Top up with ghee

Enjoy the hot sakkarai pongal :)

Thanks

Make at home: Vanilla Cake

Vanilla Cake:

Preparation time: 30 mins
Serving size: A medium tray of cake

Ingredients:
Maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Butter - volume equal to 1 cup. Get white butter, if that is not available, salted butter will also do no harm.
Eggs - 3
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Vanilla flavour - 1 teaspoon

Method:

1. Mix eggs, sugar and butter in mixie to a frothy mixture (till the sugar crystals dissolve).
2. Mix maida and baking powder. If maida is not pure, sieve it before adding the baking powder.
3. Add this to mixture in step 1, slowly stirring so that no lump is formed. Add vanilla flavour (or any flavor, nuts, tutty fruitty etc). If mixture becomes too thick, add a bit of milk. If too liquidy, add maida so that the consistency is maintained as semi solid.
4. In a tray, to be kept in OTG (Oven toaster and grill), grease with a tspn of ghee or butter.
5. Add the mixture in 3 here and keep in OTG for 10 mins. Keep monitoring and ur cake is ready.

I tried this out and the cake came out amazingly nice.

Thanks :)

The Mythological Dasavatharam

Hello everyone,

This comes in as a continuation from the article "Story telling - The Navarathri Kolu" which focused on the various dolls that we usually buy for a kolu.
While arranging for one such kolu season, my daughter grew curious to understand the "Dasavatharam" set of dolls that I have. I tried explaining to her as much, but I am not sure if she could understand everything. So I decided to jot down the 10 different avatars of Lord Vishnu, thus it will help me the next time, she asks me similar question
The dolls of Dasavatharam are arranged in a regular fashion, starting from "Matsya" avatar of Vishnu until the "Kalki" avatar of Vishnu, something like below

It is believed that Lord Vishnu incarnates on earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces and to liberate the worthy ones from the cycle of life and death. These incarnations of Lord Vishnu were taken during the "Satya Yuga", "Treta Yuga", "Dwapar Yuga", and "Kali Yuga". Basically the first 4 avatars were during the Satya Yuga, then the next 3 during Treta Yuga, the next 2 during Dwapar Yuga and the last one is now, during the Kali Yuga.
These things are very interesting to listen to and more than "need to know" I would classify these beliefs to be in the "nice to know" category. I still recollect when my mother, or grandmother would tell me these stories, I would listen in apt attention. Read on....
Below are the 10 incarnations of the Lord, in the order shown in the above photo:
1) Matsya avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a fish (Matsya) to save King Manu and he takes his boat to a new world along with one of every species of plant and animal
2) Kurma avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a tortoise to save the devas from asuras and to grant them immortality
3) Varaha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a wild boar, to save the earth from Hiranyaksha, a demon
4) Narasimha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a half man and half lion being to save his ardent devotee Prahalad from his father Hiranyakashyapu
5) Vamana avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a short man, and had given immortality to King Bali
6) Parashurama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord was a warrior with the axe and had gone on a killing spree to remove the Kshatriyas on earth, because one such Kshathriya had killed his father and mother, and also destroyed the ashram he was in
7) Rama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Rama, who is worshiped by the hindus. This was during the Satya yuga, and resulted in another mythological story "Ramayana"
8) Krishna avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Krishna, again, he is worshiped by the hindus. Many know the pranks Krishna played as a little boy and then as he grew the story of Mahabharatha and Bhagwad Gita
9) Balarama avatar: This was during the same time as Krishna avatar, he appeared as the brother of Lord Krishna  and is believed to be the incarnation of Sheshnaag (the 5 headed snake - see the photo above)
10) Kalki avatar: is the final incarnation of Vishnu, foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga (the present era). He will sit atop a white horse and will have a nice sword.

In some of the beliefs, there is no Balarama, and the ninth incarnation is believed to be Buddha, but usually down south, it is still believed as Balarama and that is what shows up in most of the kolu dolls that we purchase. That is the reason I have placed Balarama as the ninth incarnation.
Further on, I will add more stories on each of these avatars to know what each avatar did and some more interesting "nice to know" articles
I welcome your comments on this and feel free to add on your suggestions.

Have a nice day
Gracias :)

First time mommies

Hello everyone,

While I am still doing the other story telling articles, one thought just passed by me, and it often does. This is more relevant to first time mothers and especially working ladies, and again belonging to our Indian society and culture.

During pregnancy, we will put on some good weight, and that is natural. If we don't put on during pregnancy, this additional weight is definitely added on during the postpartum period, because of the fat-rich food we eat and for the simple reason that the baby has to be nursed and can be healthy only if we eat well.

It is a natural phenomenon to put on weight anywhere from 12-20 kilograms depending upon your framework, etc. This happens during a course of 15 months. Working women usually rejoin office during the 5th month of the baby. They are mostly in the fatter side when they join, and their tummy is not completely normal. This usually causes a descent in the confidence level for any woman, and specially the first time mommies.

It surprises me when first time dads come and ask me, how should their wives lose their postpartum weight. Thankfully, I got back to shape in 12-15 months, so the questions I am often asked is what did I do to come back to shape. My only answer to them was/is and will be, to let time do the magic. It has taken 15 months to put on the weight and tummy, give it another 12 months to lose all that, and believe me, it happens. It is a natural process and an amazing thing to happen. We definitely have to hit the gym, but not before 5-6 months, and it is not that urgent to get back in shape. We are South Asians and our body structure is different. We are not actors who have nutritionists behind us to help us bounce back within 6 months. What is worst is, if the husbands are asking such questions, imagine the pressure on their wives. They can argue that they don't pressurize them, but being women, we can sense what our husbands want :)

My only small piece of advice to first time mothers would be, to let time do the magic, hit the gym in 6 months after delivery, and be focused to get back to shape, because the moment you lose the focus, you will get used to your body being that way. It is not easy, but definitely not impossible. Don't go on crash diets, eat normal, eat healthy (no junk please), be physically active, and don't succumb to pressures. Believe in yourself.

I welcome positive comments around this. So do share

Take care,
Ciao

Milk maid's dream

Hello everyone,

This story if you recollect is a classic story of our times and I believe each one of you still remember the moral behind the story.

Once upon a time there was a milkmaid named Radha, who would deliver milk in a village to all the inhabitants. She would carry a pot made of clay on her head and walk through the village to provide milk to her customers.

One day, as she was on her daily errand to distribute milk, she started dreaming. She said to herself that with the milk she would sell today, she will go buy eggs from the market. She would then allow the eggs to hatch to fine chicken. Once the chicken would grow into hens, she would sell the hens and make a lot of money. She thought then she would become so rich that there will be queue of prospective grooms all wanting to marry her.  She would then shake her head in denial until she meets someone befitting and worthy of her. So lost was she in her thoughts, that she started shaking her head vigorously. As soon as she shook her head, the milk pot on her head fell down and broke. All the milk was spilt.

MORAL: never count the chicken before they hatch; building castles in air will not last

Gracias :)

Story telling - The Navarathri(नवरात्री) Kolu

Hello everyone,

Come dasshera/navarathri (नवरात्री)  and in the southern part of India, you will be welcomed with dolls kept in well arranged shelves, it is called Kolu. Though auspicious, I think the major role of the Kolu is to meet and greet people, sing songs, play beautiful rhythms and enjoy the 9 days of togetherness.

I am an ardent fan of the kolu season, and as it comes nearer, I go around in search of more and more beautiful dolls. The dolls vary from the famous Dasavatharam, Ashta Lakshmi (eight lakshmi - hindu goddess), the famous Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana with Hanuman, Lord Balaji and Thayar, etc. These dolls also depict the lovely stories that we have heard from our grandmothers.

I have a beautiful daughter who is 5 now. She loves the kolu season as well. She loves to decorate the kolu, and dress up in traditional outfits. Being 5, she is at the most curious stage of her life, she is full of energy to know the story behind each doll that I buy.

The questions that she asks makes me search wiki and other online articles to be able to tell her the meaning that each doll has. Somehow these days, I believe parents also take out time to tell their kids the real thing, and not just something made up. I don't see any parent tell his kid, "This is how it is, I don't know the reason behind this". With information floating all over, each parent takes the extra effort to get to know things themselves and then narrate to their kids.

One such curiosity filled me with the thought to blog down things that my daughter asks, so that I can help some of the parents to answer the beautiful questions their kids ask.

My next continuation is the Mythological Dasavatharam. I am presently gathering information to get to know most of the facts about the ten avatars of the Lord Vishnu. The other day, when my daughter asked me the question, I was googling for Dasavatharam and to my surprise, I noticed that what we first get in the internet is Kamal Hassan's Dasavatharam movie released in 2008. I had to jot down an article to explain to her what each doll is.

Come and join me in this and suggest items that I can include. I would be glad to know your thoughts as I jot down. Check out an image of Kolu, so you can relate to what I am talking about

Gracias( Thank you in Spanish) :)