Stuffed Paratha

Paratha! Something that is quick and relatively easy to make and has the potential to be lick smacking good. However, not all parathas are created equal and it is very rare that we come across good parathas. To be called a good paratha, my check list include crispy shells on the outside, not too greasy, oodles of spicy stuffing and no potatoes please. Also, no rips and gaping holes in the shells. It does take some practice to make parathas without rips and holes. Before we go into the making paratha, let me walk down memory lane and reminisced the hot summer afternoon I happened to be in Parathewali gali, Chandni Chowk. Amma and me along with a chaperone appointed by a dear uncle went shopping at the chowk that morning. Our chaperone walked us all over in the narrow, rather dirty by lanes. Numerous stops later, holding numerous bags filled with Cikkan suit pieces, cotton suit pieces and zardosi saris, we dragged our famish selves to Parathewali gali. There were few paratha shops in the lane those days and we snuck into one of the larger ones. Amma was not convinced. She was far more puritanical those days and rolled her eyes at the stinky open drain right next the platform where parathas were being made. But the determined bully that I am left her with no choice. It was so long ago that most of the day is rather hazy. But I remember ordering panner and gobi parathas. I was slightly surprised that those parathas were actually deep fried and not cooked on a griddle like else where. But they were oh so delicious. The parathas came with a curry, sweet chutney, green spicy chutney, pumpin subzi and perhaps choley. They were great and I immediately assigned the world's best paratha crown to Delhi.

After a few months, I was back in Delhi for my university, this time for a longer stint. Lousy hostel food along with first separation from family kept my spirits low. My mint new friends trying to cheer me up took me to Ganga Dhaba in our university campus. (oh! alright I am a JNUite) They had great things to tell about the parathas at Ganga dhaba. It must be really good I assumed after all I had already assigned the Paratha crown to Delhi. Some one ordered Aloo Paratha and they came in sets of three. That was pretty much a truck load of potatoes for a very small price! I remember thinking sitting on one of the blocks that made our chair. But it was miserably bland and I was happy that my friends helped themselves to it. Bread pakoda, a slice of bread filled with seasoned potatoes and deep fried in a strange smelly oil was way better. It ended up being my default order at Ganga Dhaba during my rest of the years at JNU. They served the bread pakoda with a slightly sweet tamarind chutney.

I guess Parathewali gali set my Paratha standards high and I have very rarely come across parathas that could like up to that standard. So here is a recipe for those persnickety paratha lovers like me.

 We will need,

Wheat flour ,Salt and water to make a rather tight dough.

For the stuffing:
Panner  1 C
Cauliflower  2-3 large florets
Carrot 1 (optional)
Spinach 1 cup (optional)
Coriander fresh a big handful
Green Chilli paste 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Toasted Jeera powder (optional)
Oil/ ghee/butter to cook the parathas

Method:

• Spread a few layers of cheese cloth  on a chopping board and grate panner, cauliflower, carrots on it.
• Chop spinach and coriander very fine and stir it into the panner mixture.
• Sprinkle a little salt over the grated vegetables and set it aside for a few minutes.
• Once the vegetables have started to get tender fold the cheese cloth by the edges and squeeze as much of moisture as is possible. Stir in the other ingredients.
• Prepare a tight dough with the whole wheat flour, salt and water. It helps if the dough is not rested.
• Pinch small balls of dough and using fingers, mould it into the shape of a small bowl. Place as much of stuffing as is preferred in the hollow if the dough bowl and seal it pulling the edges together. Roll it into paratha as below. 
• Cook it on a hot griddle on both sides and serve immediately.
• If this method is hard and the parathas are getting punctured, roll out a small ball of dough into a very large round roti. Place the stuffing on one half of the roti and fold over the other half, like a turnover. Seal the edges and cook it on a hot griddle on both the sides to end up with a paratha that looks something like the one in the picture above. No punctures , half moon paratha will be ready. Serve it with butter, chutney, fresh yogurt, pickle, or an condiment of choice.

P.S: The filling needs to be as dry as possible for the parathas to be good. Also the tighter the dough the easier it is to roll out the parathas.

Ragi Shavige Uppittu

Food fads are fleeting. But some of them can actually be good and doable like 'millets'. Millets are the latest darlings out there. Move over oats (or am I too early on oats!), super buddy 'Mr. Millet' is here. My ancestors had been consuming millets till Ms.Indira Gandhi decided to feed them surplus wheat thanks to green revolution in the more advanced countries. My mother does not remember eating wheat as a young child. As an older child she remembers occasional 'chapati' made out of pounded wheat flour that resulted in tough chapati. They consumed Navane, Sajje, Ragi and Rice, most of the grains her family cultivated. As time went by the family abanndoned cultivating millets in favor of high yielding rice. Public distribution system also skewed the family's food habit in favor of rice and wheat.
Now the tables have turned. Superbuddy Mr.Millet is back and everyone wants a piece of him. We are no exception. The other day I saw this package of ragi shavige and had to try. It turned out to be delicious. Some brands need the vermicelli to be steamed before use. But this brand needs a quick dip in boiling hot water and its ready for the dressing up

 we will need,

Ragi vermicelli 1 package
Peanut oil 2-3 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous dash
Urad dal 2 tsp
Channa dal 2 tsp
Curry Leaves a handful
Green Chilli 5-6 (as per taste)
Coconut grated 1/4 cup
Salt and lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Prepare the ragi vermicelli as per the instruction on the package. Sticking to the package instruction is very critical, experimentations can go awry. Mine did and I onced endded up with a puddle of ragi flour. Once the vermicelli is ready, set it aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok.Throw in mustard seeds, jeera,hing, curry leaves. Once the spices crackle, throw in the urad and channa dal. Saute it briefly and follow it with green chilli.
• Once the chillies are fragrant, throw in the grated coconut. Cook it for a few minutes, stirring all the time. 
• Gentle toss the ragi vermicelli, adjust salt and lemon juice and serve immediately.

Bananti Uppittu

Babies bring joy to the world but to new mothers babies not only bring joy, they also bring anxiety, worry and a bunch of other emotions. New mothers without much support are no doubt lost and find it hard to take care of the baby while taking care of themselves. This is a quick breakfast recipe for new mothers. A friend recently had a baby and I made this for her.
New mothers are supposed to eat well and rest very well. Many new mothers refuse to rest, with so much going, they have a bunch of things to take care of all the time, more so if they already have a child. But, though new mothers might feel they are energetic, healthy enough to go about their tasks, but it might not be a good idea. A scientist friend found out her blood pressure spiking every time she walked around the housing doing very light house work. Body might just not be ready to handle much right after child birth. Mothers and grandmothers know best here! We cannot beat their experience. They have had way too many more babies than us.

 So here is a warm, soft savory porridge kind of Uppittu

We will need,

Rice rawa 3/4 C
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Black Pepper 3/4 tsp
Bydagi chilli 1 broken
Carrots 1 fine chopped (cooked)
Dill leaves /Sapsigesoppu 1 cup chopped (loosely packed)
Salt to taste

Method:

• Toast the rawa on a medium hot kadai till the rawa is hot to touch. Keep stirring it while toasting. Keep it aside.
• Crush the Jeera and black pepper coarsely and keep it aside.
• Heat ghee and throw in the mustard seeds. Once they pop, throw in the broken red chilli.
• Once they sizzle, throw in the Jeera and pepper. Saute for a few seconds. 
• Throw in the cooked carrots and dill. Cook till the moisture from the dill evaporates.
• Add 2 1/4 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Adjust salt.
• Reduce heat to medium low and slowly add the toasted rawa by the spoon fulls. Stir continuously so that there are no lumps. Cover and cook for a few minutes till the rawa is soft. 
• Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir and serve it immediately.
 

 

Chocolate Strawberry rolls

What would be the best possible match in the culinary marriage of chocolate? If I were to match the horoscope, I would conclude that it is orange that is the best match closely followed by strawberry. Somehow, a hint of orange in an otherwise ordinary brownie takes my taste buds several steps closer to nirvana. However in puff pastries and rolls it is strawberry that is a match made in heaven. It is not just Valentine ’s Day that Chocolate and strawberries make a great couple, they sure are any morning when I am craving for these rolls.

Speaking of match made in heaven reminds of weddings.  I love weddings, though I don’t get to go to weddings since I live so far away from family these past several years.  Back then it used to be joyous occasion with extended families, food , celebrations and new clothes, something we looked forward to.  Earliest of memories of a wedding stretch back to eighties, from the cinema wedding to a muslim one to family, several of them. The cinema wedding was indeed dramatic. A wedding sequence for the classic Kannada movie Bandana was being filmed in my neighborhood. The movie makers requested women in our neighborhood to go over to the shoot dressed for the occasion. Hoping to catch a glimpse or their favorite stars (Suhasini Maniratnam and Jai Jagadeesh) my neighbor took me along. Once the shoot was over we were to return back home but I would not budge without the traditional meals served over banana leaf. I threw a big tantrum over food. Poor my neighbor could not convince me that it was just a shoot and there would be no food. Instead she just scooped me up and hurried me back home to my mother. Then there was my teacher’s wedding -a muslim one that I distinctly remember. It was the first time I saw her in make-up and bridal finery, but that did not strike me. What struck me was that my teacher who would otherwise be chatty, pacing up and down the classroom sat amidst bunch of women with her head covered, eyes closed in stoic silence.

The best were the weddings in my own families, when my uncles or cousins got married. Each one of those marriages is unforgettable. Preparations would start months earlier once the match was finalized. There would be several trips to shop for clothing, jewelry etc. Strangely it is just not the bride and the groom that got to wear new clothes. The whole family shopped for new clothes, we end up buying clothes (mostly Saris) for members of distant branches of the family even those that we met only during weddings and have trouble remembering names and how they are related to us. These shopping trips spearheaded by the senior most women folk is a family is like Ekta Kapoor soaps- never ending. Every other day someone pops up on their radar that they had omitted from the Sari list.  This loot goes on till the last day. Men folk typically accompany the shopping party the first few times and then they throw in the towel. The very political process of distributing the loot continues parallel with shopping. There always are folks who think the other cousin scored a better or more expensive Sari. It is impossible to make everyone happy even those who were allowed to shop their own stuff will end up no-so-happy after they see the other cousin’s choice. And then there is the dangerous game of recycling Saris. The sari scored in one the weddings in the family of the third cousin twice removed will duly be stored in the closet to be presented to someone else. Some how these senior women in the family like matriarchs in an elephant herd remember everything. I wonder how, I cannot as much remember the matching blouses to my sari. Sometimes even elephantine memory does not help and these recycled stuff short circuit. As with every short circuit these situations are also associated with explosive fireworks of different intensities and some waterworks which if harvested will keep Tamil Nadu happy during the Kuruvai season. Then there will be efforts to please the aggrieved party in form of bribes, praises, more water works from the accused party and they all kiss and make up. This is just the story of Clothes (Saris). There is still jewelry, decorations, food and most important navigating the quagmire of inquisitive relatives who think they have the right to talk to you about everything in your life from bedroom to bathroom to your office desk, nothing is out of bound here.

All these for another day, for now let me focus on chocolate strawberry rolls. These chocolate strawberry rolls turned out to be soft, sweet and chocolaty. It said Sunday like nothing else. So here it is.

We will need,

For the rolls:

Maida 1 Cup

Whole Wheat flour (Chapati flour) 1 Cup

Yeast 1.5 tsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Sugar 3 tbsp (add more if sweeter rolls are preferred, these are barely sweet, just the way my family likes)

Butter 3 tbsp plus 1 tsp or so to grease

Milk  lukewarm Shy of 1 Cup

Filling:

Strawberry jam 

Chocolate Chips /chunks of choice (I love mini bitter sweet chunks) as desired

Method:

• Dissolve the yeast in milk + 1 tsp sugar and set it aside. If the mixture turns frothy in the next 15 minutes or so. If it is not frothy they discard and repeat using fresh package of yeast.
• Mix in all the dry ingredients. Melt the butter and stir it into the milk mixture. 
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Mix it well and knead it into a soft ball. Add more milk if the mixture is too stiff.  
• Grease a bowl with a little butter and place the dough. Cover it with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm spot till it doubles. It took me about 40 minutes. 
• Punch the dough down and roll it out into a rectangle about 1/4" thick. Spread the strawberry jam all over the dough excluding the the area along 1/2" from the edges. 
• Scatter the chocolate chips/chunks. Starting from the wider side, gather the edges and start rolling it tightly into a log.Keep the chocolate chips in place while rolling so that they don't bunch.
• Cut the log into six pieces and transfer it into a greased baking dish one inch apart from each other. Cover with a kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place to double. 
• Pre heat oven to 375F.  Once the dough had doubled in size, brush some butter over the dough and pop it in the oven. They are done when they are fragrant and golden on top.Serve immediately.

Avalakki Spinach Uppittu

In this age of hyper information, as much as life gets easier, it also gets complicated in other ways.  We are constantly bombarded with 'health' foods and panaceas on all of media. Reader's Digest to The Hindu to 24x7 TV channels, radio. Everyone seem to have an opinion on what constitutes 'health' foods and what will help us as a society to lead a healthy and long life. But how credible are these bits of information. Do these bits reflect current scientific evidence? Going beyond, how solid is the scientific evidence. How much of it is truth and how much of it is paid for by vested interests. It is all questions and more questions.

It is my pet peeve when people recommend the latest fad. Oats was one a  few years back. Now it is mainstream. Australia Oats lobby successfully marketed their surplus oats to 'health conscious' Indians. Now everyone seem to think Oats is a healthier than say rice/ragi/wheat. The truth is oats is as good or as bad as any other grain. It might have a slight edge over polish rice, but not unpolished rice. And then there was a the 'fat-free' fad. Everything was made fat free. But at what cost?  remove  fats and replace it with salt and sugar. How else can something that is processed to remove all fats stop tasting like cardboard? We now know that it was the sugar industry here in the USA that funded research studies that kept trying make fats look bad even though the earliest of unbiased research did show the problems associated with sugar consumption.

The fat versus sugar battle was the longest running sham show we have ever seen.
Now there seems to be a trend somewhat extolling the virtues of our own millet. Millet do not need as much water as say rice or wheat so they are environmentally friendly. They have a slightly better nutrition profile over polished grain. They can be substituted for rice/wheat in a variety of traditional recipes too.But for today we will stick to Avalakki or beaten rice. Not just any Avalakki, it is the red rice avalakki/poha. This variety retains a portion of the barn and has a slightly reddish hue. It is cooked the same way as the regular Poha. In this recipe I have bumped up the veggie quotient by throwing in spinach.

We will need,

Red Rice Avallakki/ Poha  1 cup
Peanut oil   2-3 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/8 tsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Hing  a dash
Curry Leaves a handful
Urad dal 1 tsp
Channa dal 1 tbsp
Onion chopped 1 large
Green Chillies slit into two 4-5 (adjust according to taste)
Turmeric a  generous pinch
Spinach 1 bunch (washed, patted dry and chopped)
Salt and lemon juice to taste
Toasted peanuts to top (optional)

Method:

• Wash the Avalakki in several changes of water. Sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of water on the avalakki and set it aside to plump up and soften.
• Place a Kadai on medium heat. Once it is hot, pour in the oil, quickly followed by mustard, jeera, hing, curry leaves, Urad dal and Channa dal. the spices and dal will pop and sizzle. 
• Once the dals are golden, throw in the onion and green chillies. Saute till the onions are translucent.
• Make a spot in the center and place the turmeric and cook it for a few seconds to soften the pungent edge of the turmeric. Stir well.
• Throw in the spinach and saute for a couple of minutes so the spinach wilts but is not mushy.
• Fluff up the Avalakki with your fingers /fork. Once the grains are separate, throw it into the Kadai. Add salt, lemon juice and gentle fold it all into the onion/spinach mixture. 
• Once the Avalakki is completely warm, remove from heat and scatter the peanuts. Or the peanuts can be scattered on individual servings as well.

Notes: I can easily think of substituting spinach with other greens. Any tender greens will work in this recipe.
 

Ragi Vegetable Uppittu

A heavy breakfast is the order here. Somehow all the three of us thrive on a heavy breakfast. Now that they say breakfast is good for us. Back home it has always been that way. The typical routine of a school back home used to be something like this ..

6 AM wake up: The whole household would be up by then. My mother would have finished her ablutions, prayers and would be busy preparing breakfast/lunch etc.
6-9 AM:  Study a bit and play a bit, drink a cup of scalded and cooled fresh milk somewhere along the way. Some more play/ finishing home work in a hurry
9 to 9.45 AM: Bath, breakfast and get ready to school.
10. to 5.00 PM: School
5.15 PM : Walk back home, change into play clothes and go to the street to play with the kids in the neighborhood. Play till sundown. My mother's rule was that we are home as soon as the street lights turned on. But we bargained for the 5 minutes -10 minutes and played till it got really dark. Rest of the evening was spent in studies, dinner and the whole household was bed by 10 PM. In fact the whole neighborhood would be shutdown by ten! Except for the ticking grandfather clock in my house and our neighbor's house (i.e my maternal grandfather's house) and the occasional howl of stray dogs, it would be completely silent.

And then there would be power cuts. We would have no electricity for a few hours, it is still common back home and life just goes on. Here in USA, if there is no electricity, all hell breaks loose. During those power cuts especially during summers, we would all sit in our Veranda and Amma would narrate us stories. She is an excellent story teller and many kids would come running if they got to know that the story sessions were on. We loved power cuts. We then did not have to study.

Life has changed so much since then. With the advent of cable TV, we do not see the aunties gossiping - they are all so busy with serials. Kids no long play on the street- it has become a dangerous place now. Besides with all the classes they are sent to every day of the week, they hardly have time to play. Why did we end up here? It is such a sad loss of community life something today's kids will never know.

Back to the heavy breakfast idea.  Sunny boy is somewhat a picky eater. I guess most kids of his age are. It is indeed a challenge to make him eat his vegetables and whole grains. He loved Idlis and Dosas but they are all made of refined rice. (experiments to use more whole grains in Idlis and Dosa is currently on at Kannada Cuisine kitchen, I will post the recipes one I am happy with the results) . I am currently in the experiment mode combining millets and vegetables -a great combination of hardly whole grains and vegetables.
This Ragi uppittu with Vegatables tastes great and is choke full of vegetables. It tastes great too and we all love it.
As usual I made it in my wide bottomed cast iron Kadai and love the result. I recommend using a well seasoned cast iron Kadai like this one or a non stick Kadai (I have not been using non stick cookware for years now).

We will need,

Ragi flour 1.5 cups
Water or buttermilk 1 cup or so
Peanut oil 3-4 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Cumin 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous dash
Channa dal 1 tbsp
Urad dal 1tbsp
Green chillies slit 5-6 (adjust according to taste)
Curry leaves a handful
Onions 3 medium diced
Cabbage shredded 1 heaping cup
Carrots shredded2
Coconut grated 1/4 cup
Coriander fresh a handful
Salt and lemon juice to taste.

Method:

• Place the flour in a mixing bowl and sprinkle a few tablespoons of water. Rub the water into the flour breaking all the lumps. It should start resembling breadcrumbs. Alternately place the flour in a food processor and stream in the water/buttermilk till the flour is just moist and resembles breadcrumbs. All of the water might not be used up or more might be needed. Some flours absorb more liquids and some do not. So it is a good idea to go a tablespoon at a time. Once it looks like breadcrumbs, set it aside
• Heat oil in the Kadai. Once hot, throw in the mustard seeds, cumin, hing, Channa dal, Urad dal, green chillies and curry leaves in quick succession. The spices will splutter. Stir once the spices splutter.
•  Throw in the shredded Onions, saute for a minute. Throw in the Cabbage, Carrots and coconut. Reduce heat  and cover. Cook till the vegetables are tender crisp.
• Stir in the prepared ragi flour mixture. Keep moving the mixture, it does have the tendency to stick to the bottom and burn. 
• Once the mixture turns to a deep shade of brown and is nutty, fragrant adjust salt and lemon juice. Stir in the fresh coriander. Cook for a few a minutes. The mixture should start to leave sides once it is cooked. Remove from heat and serve hot. Yogurt is an excellent with this Uppittu.

Akki Shivige Chitranna

Akki Shavige or rice vermicelli used to be a love of labor. When we were young Shavige was something we got to eat when we visited our grandparents during our summer vacation. It was like a festival. The whole family would get together and my maternal grandmother -Ammaji as I call her used to prep a huge vat full of rice flour. All the women in the family would then start working on grating coconuts for the Kayihalu. They would grate half a dozen coconut in the huge Eligemane -the wooden plank with a knife/grater fit into to it. Then the other team would prep vegetables needed to make this kind of savory chitranna . The whole kitchen would be teaming with all the ladies chatting and working hard to make the meal a success. It would then be the time to make the vermicelli itself with the huge brass vermicelli press.

The prepared rice flour balls were put in the slot and the handle pressed to squeeze out the tight rice balls into thin yummy goodness. It did require a lot of muscle power and the women could not have handled it all by themselves. My youngest maternal uncle Babu mama would then step in. The six plus tallest and presumably the stronger member of the family would keep at it till all the rice balls are neatly converted into piles of Shavige.

Once that was done, the Shavige were divided into two portions, one to be consumed with Kayihalu and the other converted into a savory Chitranna or  Uppittu. These days we are a generation of convenience all we need to so is cut the pack of vermicelli open and soak it in hot water for a minute and drain. Snip it using a pair of scissors. And lo behold the vermicelli is ready. So here we go.

We will need,

Rice Vermicelli  prepared as per package instruction   3 cups
Mixed vegetables small diced  2 cups ( I used a combination of green beans ,carrots and green peppers)
Peanut oil 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous dash
Curry leaves a handful
Green Chillies 4-5 slit in the middle into two
Turmeric a generous pinch
Ginger grated 1 tsp
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste.

Method:

• Prepare the vermicelli as per the package instructions. Using a pair of scissors cut the long stings into shorter more manageable strings. Dice vegetables but save it separately because cooking times of different vegetables vary.
• Heat the oil in a Kadai. I use my new cast iron Kadai in the picture above and I absolutely love it. Throw in the mustard seeds, Jeera, hing, curry leaves and Green Chillies. Once they stop spluttering add the turmeric and stir.
• Throw in the diced carrots and beans. Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender crisp. Throw in the green peppers, ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes. 
• Reduce heat and fold in the vermicelli gently. Add the lime juice and adjust salt. Typically the commercial vermicelli is already salted so this preparation need lot less salt than would the home made variety. Stir the mixture gently to combine the vegetables and the vermicelli. Heat it through and serve warm.

 

Jola Rawa Dosa

With the explosion of internet there has been proliferation of many things. Social media - which sometimes can be good like connect you with a long last friend while also connecting you to that unwanted nosy person whom you met only once in your kid's friend's birthday party a few years ago.
And then there is the food scene. Globalization of food is happening at a rate unheard of before. It probably took a few decades for the Indian palate to get used to the hot chilies brought in by the Portuguese traders. But these days thanks to the internet and also advanced logistics and flawed populist agricultural policies like subsidizing grain production in many countries who can afford to and also in many countries who cannot afford to but still go ahead with it any way since the others are doing it. When I go to a supermarket in India I see Kiwis, Washington apples and fruits from New Zealand. But Neralehannu or Jamoons are they are now fashionable called are now delegated to the street corner vendor who will charge you an arm and a leg for 100 grams. Same is the fate of Sibekayi/ Gauva, Yelachikayi, Barekayi  and Karehannu my favorite a small waxy sweet fruit that used to grow in wild bushes. It has been so long that I had trouble remembering the name of the fruit.

Along with new products in the market comes new fad diets as well. No wonder all the giant agri-businesses out there happens to have deep pockets. Media is friendly to them counting on their advertisement budgets, governments are friendly to them counting on political contributions. They are on committees that set the benchmark for healthy diets, conflict of interest may go to hell. So what do ordinary consumers end up with? Well we end up eating fat free egg substitutes cooked in 'olive oil' spray and oats with a tablespoon of sugar instead of something that is 'stomach happy'. 

I discovered that 'stomach happy' feeling back in the days when we were exploring different cuisines.
It would happen after so many a meals that though I enjoyed the food while it lasted, I would not feel that my stomach was really happy or to put it this way, my palate enjoyed the food but the minute the food went past the palate, there was absolutely no happiness. This feeling was very typical when I used to eat in a regular American style sit down restaurant for that matter even MacDs. That was my clue to stop eating such meals. Well I do not eat in such places any more. But the story is that stomach happens to be our sixth sense. If we are mindful about how our stomach is 'feeling' while we eat, we do not really bother much about the latest diet.

Some of the diets are absolutely appalling. No grains in some of them , no carbohydrates  in some of them, animal protein heavy , fat free foods. It makes no sense to me at all. Human population historically increased only because of carbohydrates. Generations of humans ate grains and starch in various forms, but just that they were not refined or deep fried the way normal American restaurants serve their carbohydrates. I also find that diet irresponsible. Earth would become Mars very soon if all the inhabitants of earth to follow such a diet. Where are we to get the resources needed to feed such a giant population such resource intensive animal protein. The worst of it all is the replacement of something healthy with something really harmful- like cornflakes or oats instead of say Idli, uppittu etc.  It is true that physically we are not as active as our ancestors were. Do we need to need to eliminate fats to reduce the calorific intake? or do we eliminate carbohydrate to achieve the same effect? well how about eat mindfully, slowly and chewing our food well? If we pick up our sixth sense that is the 'stomach sense' we probably will not have to follow any such fads after all.

Breakfast is an important meal in my family. We all prefer to have something very heavy. Of course a breakfast which makes my stomach happy keeps me happy for the rest of the day.  I do enjoy eating oats, cornflakes, bread but they don't seem to make my stomach happy at all. I will be craving for something to eat though not hungry an hour after eating these things. While if I eat two-three Idlies i can go on till lunch with out any craving and then I will be really hungry for my next meal. I hate this grey area where I am craving for something though my stomach is still not hungry. Turns of out that our stomach has a variety of receptors (many discovered, many yet to be!!!) -like ones for volume of food. I am sure there is one for nurturing value of foods consumed which is yet to be discovered. :)

Coming back to breakfast, hardy the breakfast the better it is. So here it is one giant Jola -Rawa dosa that can keep me going well past lunch time. Also Millets are earth friendly and also good for us. Give it a try.

We will need,

Jowar flour 1/2 cup
Chiroti Rawa 1/2 cup
Maida 1 tbsp (optional , see notes)
Onion 1 medium finally chopped
Curry leaves a handful chopped
Green Chillies  depending on taste minced
Fresh Coriander chopped a handul
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp crushed
Salt to taste
Peanut oil as required
Very hot water as required

 This is my Lodge Cast Iron rectangular Tawa that actually sits on two burners and makes a good sized Dosa. I use this for my breakfast because it is faster to feed my family one giant dosa instead of two small ones. More on Cast Iron in another post.

Method:

• Dump all the ingredients except  onions, water and oil in a mixing bowl. Add about a cup of boiling water and stir. It should make a mixture as thin as buttermilk. If not , add more hot water stir. Set it aside for about 5-10 minutes. The batter would have become thicker. Add some more water and ensure a butter milk like consistency
• Preheat your Tawa on medium heat. For best results use an old fashioned cast iron Tawa. Once the tawa is hot - hot enough to hiss when sprinkled with a few drops of water, grease it with some oil and throw the chopped onions. Spread the onions around.
• Using a ladle throw the batter on the onions to cover the Tawa. It is more of a sprinkling action than throwing itself. But that is just to say ensure a thin layer of batter all over the hot parts of tawa. Pour a few drops of oil randomly. 
• Cook the dose till it starts leaving the sides. Using a steel spatula, gently lift the Dose and fold it as desired. Since my Tawa is good sized , I fold it into three and serve it immediately with a chutney of choice.

Notes:
1.If not using Maida/All purpose flour, prepare the batter as per the first step above and run the hand blender in it for a few minutes to combine the mixture and get the gluten working. Continue with the rest of the steps. Though for convenience, I end up using Maida. 

Pav Bhaji (without Potatoes)

Hmmm... What is Pav Bhaji doing on Kannadacuisine? I was actually thinking if I should post this recipe at all. Well there is nothing Kannada about Pav-Bhaji, but then there is nothing Kannada about Rasmalai or Dum Aloo either. But Rasmalai and Dum Aloo was cooked by me, a thorough bred Kannadiga. Well, if Rasmalai can make an appearance on Kannadacuisine, Pav Bhaji can very well. So there we go.

Pav Bhaji presented a peculiar problem in my Kannadiga kitchen. For starters, potato is a huge star here and we Kannadigas particularly the older generation have always been suspicious of potatoes. My grand mother never ate them and hardly cooked them because they were 'Vata' inducing and therefore bad for her arthritic knees. But for the occasional  Masale Dose or Aloogadde Bele Huli, potatoes were pretty much banned in her house and mine as well :)
For some reason, the worm in my mind tells me that my gut is not meant to digest potatoes. The fact that Sabarmati Hostel mess in JNU goaded a truck load of potatoes down my throat in the four years I was a resident does not do any good to my already shaky relationship with potatoes. So I had to eliminate potatoes from this recipe.

The second peculiar problem was the Pav itself. Bread back home is associated with fever! Though my more progressive English-minded father preferred to have his bread with eggs and butter, bread largely meant that some one was under the weather. So I had to make it a little more interesting on that ground as well.

The third peculiar problem was to balance the 'bread' factor with loads of vegetables in the Bhaji.
After putting all these problems in the pot and stirring my magic wand, I had ..... bingo Pav Bhaji on my tables. So here it goes.

 We will need,

Cauliflower florets 2 cups
Carrot 1 big chopped
Green Beans a generous handful chopped
(Optional, Zucchini, Peas, Bell Peppers :Vegetables in all about 4 cups chopped)

For the Masala:
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous dash +a generous dash

Onion 1 medium minced
Chilly Powder 1/2 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Dhania powder 1.5 tsp
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Jeera Powder 1 tsp
Garlic powder a generous pinch
Amchoor Powder 1 tsp
Tomatoes 3 medium chopped
Salt to taste
Sugar a 1 tsp

To Serve :
Fresh butter
Bread of choice (I used Italian onion bread just to make it a little more interesting)
Lemon wedges and chopped onion

Method:

• Wash all the vegetables in running water and drain well. Place them in a pressure cooker along with a dash of Hing and 3/4 cup water. Cook till the vegetables are tender. (One whistle on my Pressure Cooker) Set it aside.
• Heat the ghee in a Kadai. Throw in the mustard and Hing. Once they stop spluttering, throw in minced onion. Saute till golden brown.
•  Throw in all the spice powders and saute for a brief 15 seconds. Throw in the tomatoes. Stir well and cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook till the masala is fragrant. 
• Meantime, when the pressure cooker is cool enough to open, remove the cooked vegetables into a wide mouth bowl and mash it with a wooden spoon /Masher.
• Pour the vegetable cooking stock into the masala and stir in the mashed vegetables into the masala as well. Adjust salt and sugar. Simmer and mash till the dish comes together. Finish with a big dollop of butter though entirely optional.
• Serve with lemon wedges, chopped onion and bread of choice

Oats Huggi

It has been a long break from the blogsphere. I could not muster the motivation to click pictures after cooking and writing. I was wondering if I had hit the wall and run out of words! That looked like a dangerous possibility. Obviously that was not the normal 'me'. Then after some pushing and prodding myself, I was able to get back to clicking pictures. I still have a list of recipes in my draft and hopefully I will let them see the light of day very soon.

I am not a very big fan of oats. But for occasional quick breakfast I would like to eat some with chopped apples, ground cinnamon, just a tad bit of salt and sugar. That works well with the quick cooking types. A few weeks back I was shopping at Trader's Joe and fell victim to product differentiation. I could not really make up my mind if the ones we typically buy is the Steel Cut variety or the Quick Cooking variety. For some reason some thing inside told me to pick up the Steel Cut ones and made this recipe happen.  Turns out that Steel Cut are the ones that resemble our 'Nucchu' where a whole grain is broken into a few pieces. Obviously they are not the ones that will work in the microwave oven for a quick breakfast. Now I am saddled with a whole box of oats, the variety we don't even use! I put on my thinking cap and zeroed in on Huggi. For one I knew oats being mushy and sort of sticky will work only in mushy rice dishes like Huggi and Bisibelebath. So here is the first attempt with Huggi and Honey loved it. I made this yesterday and he wanted me to make it today as well. Hell no. May be sometime next week.

   We will need,

Steel cut Oats 1/3 cup
Moong Dal washed and split (Hesaru Bele) 2 tbsp
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp crushed
Hing a dash
Turmeric a pinch
Pepper corns 1/2 tsp crushed coarsly
Curry leaves a handful
Green Chillies 2-5 (adjust according to taste)
Coconut grated 2 tbsp
Salt and lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Wash the oats and Moong dal in multiple changes of water. Soak it together for about 2 hours. 
• Pressure cook with about 1.25 cups of water till the oats is soft and mushy. (Took two whistles in my pressure cooker). Remove from heat and set it aside. Wait for the pressure to reduce to proceed to the next step;
• Prepare the Oggarane. Heat the ghee, throw in the mustard, jeera, hing and turmeric. Once the spices sizzle throw in the curry leaves, green chillies and coconut. Saute for a few second and remove from heat.
• Now carefully open the pressure cooker and pour the Ghee and spice mixture into it. Stir well. Adjust salt and lemon juice. Warm thoroughly and serve immediately.

Badami Haalu 2 / Almond Drink

We were a generation that grew up watching advertisements for Nutramul, Horlicks, Complan the drinks that were supposed to make kids grow big and strong. Well my mother had her own recipe to make us big and strong. I love that version and make it very often. But for the weekday rush, I have slightly modified the recipe and make the almond mixture ahead of time so that my morning-pick-me-up drink is quick and easy. All it needs is hot milk and I am ready to go.
 

We will need,

Almond flour 1/2 cup
Sugar 1/4 cup  (adjust according to taste)
Cardamon 2 pods
Saffron a generous pinch
Salt a tiny pinch

And Milk
Method:

• Combine the almond flour, salt and sugar in the mason jar. (I make my own almond flour. My grinder ends up with a slightly coarse flour, that is fine with me. Also the almond skin does not bother me) Check out some here.
• Crush the cardamon seeds into a fine powder
• Coarsely crush the saffron . Throw in the crushed cardamon and saffron into the almond flour mixture.
• Close the jar and shake well. Also stir the mixture with a spoon to make sure it is well combined
• Store it in a cool dry place. It stays good for about two weeks.
• To Prepare the Badami Haalu, scald a cup of milk. Place 1 tbsp almond mixture in a  coffee mug. Add a few tablespoons of hot milk and stir to make a paste. Gradually add the remaining milk stirring the mixture carefully. Stand it for a few seconds so that the saffron does it's magic and lo! behold delicious Almond drink is ready.

Navane Uppitti

Navane or foxtail millet is one of those hardy drought resistant grain that could not survive the deluge of green revolution. With every upside new technology ushers in, there will be a few downsides too. Like wise during the past few decades the green revolution and modernization, commercialization of agriculture has lead to decrease in the cultivation and  consumption of millet. I believe there is no policy support for millet, no minimum support price, nor does PDS distribute it as a part of their monthly quota, or for that matter research support like that of wheat or rice.  Populist governments promise rice for a rupee but not millet. 'Ragi for a rupee' sounds weird indeed. It will never fly politically.They say about Griffin's paradox in our Economics text books, unfortunately millet fall into that category.

There is a silver lining though. These days with increasing population of diabetic people, alternates to refined carbohydrates like polished rice - Ragi, millet etc are again finding a place on our tables. So what do I do when I see an attractively packaged, organically grown box of millet in our local Patel bros super market? I pick it off the shelf and put it into my shopping cart :)

There it goes. Buying the packet was one thing but then converting it into a dish that the picky family eats is another thing. So I threw in a whole lot of vegetables to make it look appetizing and colorful. The dish did fly and now it is something we eat once in a while. This dish is pretty hardy. So good to have it on the we head out to museums and long walks.

We will need,

Peanut oil 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing a dash
Ginger grated 1/4 tsp
Green chillies 5-10 adjust according to taste
Mixed vegetables diced 1 cup
Dill leaves chopped 1/2 cup
Navane/ foxtail millet 3/4 cup


Salt and lemon juice to taste
Ghee optional

Method:

• Heat oil in a Kadai. Throw in mustard seeds and hing. Once the mustard seed crackle, throw in the ginger. Saute for a few brief second.
• Throw in the green chillies and vegetable saute till they loose their crunch.
• Now add 1.5 cups of water. Once the water boils, add salt lemon juice and dill leaves. The  water should taste salty enough at this point.
• Add the millet, cover and simmer. Cook till the millet are tender. 
• Remove from heat and allow it to cool a bit. Fluff it using a fork once it is cool enough to handle.
• Add ghee on top if using.

Motte Palya/ Scrambled eggs Kannda style

I love eggs. There was a time in life when one boiled egg and half a liter of milk constituted my breakfast everyday for months at a stretch!

I do same now occasionally, just that this older me cannot really down half a liter like the then me.
In any case I believed eggs were wholesome when they were consumed whole- whites, yolks and all. I am glad to see that eggs are off the bad food  aka cholesterol increasing foods list. So is coconut these days. Now I only hope that the nasty profit makers don't get into Genetically Modified eggs or coconut.

Since I love them and always discount dietary fads, I have always continued to eat eggs in moderation. Moderation is the key because too much is too bad, even for Amrita -the elixir of life. Instead of eating half a dozen egg whites, I did rather eat just one whole egg or perhaps two if I am eating it just a few times a week. On the whole we as a family end up eating a dozen eggs in two weeks. Honey typically buys into all these dietary fads and used to buy those supposedly eggs in pouches with fat content removed. I did try those and they taste horrible! How can any one eat it. To me, whole foods are trustworthy any day and I am naturally suspicious of all stuff that comes out of a package.

Now back to this Palya. As I have said many times on this blog, a true Kannadiga will keep looking out for excuses to sneak in some Methi leaves or Avarekayi when they are in season. Being one, I continue this tradition. Methi as well as ridge gourd are two vegetables that are traditionally used in generous quantities when cooked Non-Vegetarian foods. Steeped in Ayurveda, these two vegetables are supposed to neutralize the 'heating' properties of meats. While Eggs are considered more of 'Vata' than heating adding Methi is not really to neutralize but it does add a lot of body and flavor to the dish. I love it this was and it is an additional way to add some greens to my breakfast. Also, unlike continental style scrambled eggs, we cook the hell out eggs and make sure they are not sort of mushy and moist at all! Julia Child would be rolling in the grave if we ever call this scrambled eggs!

We will need,

Peanut oil 2 tbsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
Cardamon 1
Cloves 3-4
Cinnamon 1/2 " piece
Onion 1 medium
Green Chillies 4-5 (adjust according to taste)
Fenugreek leaves trimmed, washed and drained one generous hand ful
Eggs 4
Garam Masala a pinch
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a Kadai, once it is warm, throw in all the whole spices. Saute for a few seconds. 
• Throw in the onion. Saute till onion is pink. Throw in the green chillies and fenugreek. 
• Once the fenugreek wilt, make a well in the center of the Kadai and break eggs into the well one at a time. Reduce heat and gently move the eggs as they form curds.  Make sure they do not stick to the bottom of the Kadai and burn.
• Once the moisture in the eggs have reduced and they start solidifying, throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir. Once the eggs start to resemble soy granules, they are ready. Serve warm with Chapatis.

Pudina Coconut Chutney

Chutneys define Indian cuisine in a way nothing else does. They are spicy, adds that zing which takes a meal to the next level. They are of course a part of every festive meal. They can be a part of a regular meal too. Here is a a chutney that I love. It particularly goes very well with Masale Idlis and Idlis. 

We will need,

Coconut 1 cup grated
Kadale Poppu/ Putani/Roasted Channa dal 3 tbsp
Fresh mint leaves a generous handful
Green chillies 6-10 (adjust according to taste)
Garlic 1 clove
Curry leaves a handful
Tamarind a small piece (1/4 tsp concentrate)
Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat a thick bottom pan on medium heat. Once hot, throw in the green chillies and toast them till they develop dark blister and char spots. Remove the chillies from heat.
• To the same hot pan, throw in the curry leaves and toast them till they change colour. Turn off the heat.
• Combine all the ingredients in a blender and grind it into a paste with very little water.
• Serve with Idli/Dosa or a bread of your choice.

Masale Idli

Our grandmothers were very creative when it came to using left overs. They lived in a world without Microwaves and Refrigerators so the task of preserving  and consuming left overs was rather hard. Since we have all these luxuries we did rather throw left overs in the refrigerator and heat it up the microwave. But because our grandmothers were so creative we have some really tasty bits to eat. So here is one such recipe. Back in the days when Idli batter was left over and turned a little too tart for regular Idli this is what my Grandmothers and my mother did. Now I make it often not because I have to salvage the best out of a batter past it's prime, but because these are tart,spicy and very addictive!

We will need,

Idli batter 3 cups (preferably a few days old and rather on the tart side)
Onions 1 medium chopped
Dill /Sabsige soppu a handfull chopped
Curry leaves chopped
Green Chillies 2-3 (adjust according to taste) chopped
Peanut oil 2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Salt to taste.

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, throw the mustard seeds, Jeera and Hing. Once the spices stop spluttering, throw in the onions. 
• Once the onions are translucent,  add the curry leaves and green chillies. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool down completely.
• Once the onions are cool, stir them into the batter, stir in the dill leaves adjust salt and prepare to set the idlis.
• Follow directions on your Idli cooker and prepare the steamer. (Instructions vary so I am not elaborating here) Pour batter into Idli moulds just like regular Idlis and steam till they are cooked.  I use a regular pot with a lid. I fill the pot with an inch of water at the bottom and bring it a rolling boil. I place my filled idli stand and close the pot with its lid. My Idlis are done in about 10 minutes.
• Once the Idlis are done i.e. when poked with a wet finger it should not be sticky and is  firm, remove carefully and serve immediately with Pudina coconut chutney (coming up shortly) and ghee.

Methya Avarekaalu Khara Bhaath

I often always have stories to tell, reams and reams of paper to write, yarns and yarns to knit my stories,but the  past few months have been surprisingly dry for no apparent reason. I had photographs ready to go, blog waiting for me, but I somehow could not bring myself to write a word! Today I woke up and said to myself, 'today is the day, got to write something'. So here I am.
Past few weeks has been eventful. As an immigrant living in a foreign country, there are things that even after years of living abroad appear foreign to you. Generations later the foreignness disappears and immigrants become mainstream. Once that happens the new cohort of immigrants feel a lot less foreign in the new country. Something of that sort is brewing here right now. We have a new Miss America who happens to be an Indian-American. There are also Indian-American senators, state governors, Mayors, Judge, Astronauts not to mention doctors,engineers, professors, entrepreneurs etc. The children of Indian immigrants are well adjusted, thriving and they are not the stereotypical "American Born Confused Desi" aka ABCD. Thinking of how different the part of the world their parents came from, it is indeed a tribute to the human spirit. Imagine someone growing in India during the 1960s-1970s, where buying as much as a loaf of bread was a challenge let alone radios, TVs or cars, coming to USA to a land of plenty, to an open society, a free economy. Their children growing up often as the only brown kid in their schools,a generation of ABCDs. I do not see that anymore.  Now Desis are a lot more mainstream. The only brown kid in the school is not weird, he is just Indian, the kids who would go on to the spelling bee. It is no longer that the brown kids eat a lot of smelly-spicy strange foods, on the contrary it will probably be surprised to non-brown kids to know that we do not all eat 'Naan or chicken vindaloo' for dinner!
The Celts,the Italians, Asians, South Asians and people from everywhere melting into one pot. It is interesting indeed. The parallels are very similar. This is exactly what happened to India centuries back. The promise of a better land, a better life invited people from far away and India became home to people of different ethnicity, language, religion, food habits, etc. As an Indian pluralism is my second nature. I am a Kannadiga, I am also a Hindu, I am also a South-Indian, I am also an Indian. Now I am also an Indian-American! I am happy that both the oldest and the largest democracies are pluralist societies. It reminds me of a former colleague who happened to be half-Lithuanian. The first time we met, I told her I was from India. She said immediately, 'Yes! We are all from somewhere.'. At the same time I am thankful that I am not in a society where pluralism is not tolerated, let alone respected. It is sad that most of the world is.

So here is a tribute to all Indian-Americans. A bowlful of Menthya-Avarekalu Khara Bhaath. It is funny to see Avarekalu here. Because Avarekalu is available in all Indian groceries here. But I never got to see/eat them during my years in Delhi, nor did my parents find it in Uttar Pradesh during there three long years there. So is 'Home' just so archaic an idea? Got to think about it.

We will need,

Akki Tari /Idli Rawa 1 cup
Fenugreek greens /Menthya soppu a bunch
Avarekalu /Surati Papdi Lilva 3/4 cup
Ginger 1"
Cloves 4-5
Cinnamon 1"
Mint a handful
Fresh Coriander a handful
Green Chillies 5-6 (adjust according to taste)
Ghee 3-4 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Salt to taste
Lemon Juice to taste.


Method:

• Heat a thick bottom Pot. Toast the Akki tari/ idli raw till it is warm to touch. Remove it onto a plate.
• Pour water into the pot and throw in the Avarekalu and salt to taste. Bring it to a boil and simmer till the Avarekalu is tender. Drain the water and reserve the Avarekalu.
• Pick the leafy parts of the fenugreek. Tender steams can be included. Discard the tough steams. Wash the greens in multiple change of water and reserve.
• In a blender, combine the ginger, cloves, cinnamon, mint, coriander and green chillies with as little water as possible and pulse it into a smooth paste. 
• Heat the ghee in the pot. Once the ghee is hot, throw in the mustard, jeera, hing and curry leaves.
• Once the spices splutter, throw in the masala paste. Stir for a few minutes and throw in the fenugreek. Saute till the fenugreek is tender, about 5 minutes. 
• Add two (a little more if you like it soft , i do!) cups of water to the mixture, adjust salt and lemon juice. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and throw in the Avarekalu.
• Give the mixture a good stir and gently pour in the toasted rawa, stirring to combine the mixture. Make sure to pour in the raw in a slow stream else it will end up lumpy. Cover and cook on low heat for a few minutes till the water has evaporated and the rawa is tender. 
• Serve hot will dollops of ghee on top. Yummy.

Morning Glory Slice

It is matter of few weeks. I got tired of fixing breakfast every morning. No we are not cereal-out-of-the-box or bread kind of people. We are Dose-Paddu-Chapati-Akki rotti kind of people. I felt like I needed a break from the first dish of the day but I wanted to make something rather healthful. So I decided to make morning glory muffins. But I did not have a proper muffin tin, I converted the muffin into a slice. Just that the slices were a little to small and we had to eat two of them to get the feeling of eating a decent breakfast. I love the muffins at King Arthur . But like always, I need to add and subtract from the recipe to make it my own.This particular recipe yielded the most tender and moist muffins ever. They were also rather rich. It is fine for a few days but long term this is again something that did make you regret every time you try to get into that new pair of jeans.

We will need,

Craisins 1/2 cup
Whole wheat pastry flour 1.5 cups
All purpose flour 1/2 cup
Sugar 3/4 cup (Can be increased upto 1 cup. But I found 3/4 to be rather too sweet for my taste)
Baking Soda 2 tsp
Cinnamon 1.5 tsp
Ginger ground 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg 1/8 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Grated carrots 1 cups tightly packed.
Large apple grated and pealed 1
Kopra 1/2 cup
Almonds 1/2 cup chopped fine
Sunflower seeds 1/3 cup
Sunflower oil 1/2 cup
Eggs 3
Vanilla extract
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1/2 lime

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease and line a loaf pan. (One of those largish loaf pans. If smaller use two loaf pans)
• Soak the Craisins in hot water. Set it aside. 
• Mix in all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. (flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and spices)
• In another mixing bowl stir in the wet ingredients like eggs, oil, carrots, apple, orange juice, lime juice. Combine all the ingredients well. 
• Stir the nuts and seeds into the wet ingredients. 
• Drain the craisins and toss them into the dry mixture. Make a well in the dry mixture and pour the wet ingredients. Gently mix everything together until just combined. I read somewhere that anything more than 50 strokes will make the muffins dry and tough. I agree. 
• Pour it into the loaf pan and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out dry about 30  minutes in my oven. 
• Remove onto a wire rack and allow it to cool. Once completely cooled slice the loaf and store it in an air tight jar for at least a week. Mine did not last past the week end. We are a grazing family you know.

Well actually I cannot think if this is a good breakfast recipe or is it a dessert recipe. Because we ate it both ways, I will label it thus.

Avarekalu Kadubu / Indian Beans Kadubu

It is going  to be a long rant on a contentious topic... the latest Time magazine's cover page depicting a mother nursing a toddler. Somewhere inside me there was a voice that kind of made me nod my head in disapproval that TIME had to resort to sensational photos to be able to sell more. But looking at all the resentment and disgust the photo generated, the other part in me got up vehemently to defend both TIME and the women in the photo.
I personally nursed my sunny boy well past two. In fact I weaned him without much protest (sort of baby led weaning) a couple of months ago. It was a very fulfilling experience for me and nourishing for my baby.I knew I was giving him the best while he knew his Amma is always there for him. It was such a blessing when we were traveling, when  he bumped into something and got a boo-boo, when he was sick, when he was tired, when he woke up hungry in the middle of night. I did not have to worry about a thing. Nursing comforted him, satisfied his hungry, reassured him that things are alright and he did not have to keep howling though long hours on international flights. I have nursed him in public areas, airports, train stations, trains, flights, bus, subway, Central Park, malls, kerbside, in the parked car, even while he is strapped in his car seat in a moving car(that was quite an acrobatic feat,but it was better than his nerve wracking cries). I have nursed him with cover as well as without cover. Nursed him even as people smiled at me in appreciation and also when some jerks smirked. I was just feeding my son. If I could eat my food in full public view, so should my baby. It is just the way nature intended. What can be wrong about it?

But strangely in the modern world, we find nursing especially older babies disgusting, even if it is something very very natural. The very fact that people talk about it is strange. No one talks about the urge to eat when hungry, nobody is judgmental about cauldrons of coffee people carry with them in the morning. Why even talk of breastfeeding?or worse why be judgmental about it? It is just a baby eating his food. Even with teeth babies are entitled to the food that the nature designed. Why should a baby stop nursing soon after he has his teeth? Just because he has his teeth does not means he knows how to use it. A few babies teeth pretty early, does that mean you wean them at 4-5 months? a few babies do not teeth till they are 15 months old, so are they entitled to a much longer nursing routine? Why should we even decide how long it is appropriate for a baby to nurse? Should it not be decided by the baby and the mother? If it is OK for adults to have choice and control over what they eat, should not a baby have a say in what it wants to eat (errrr apart from coins, tiny toys and every little thing that comes in the grip of their tiny hands.I mean only the edible stuff). So it is OK for me to say I hate broccoli, I love Carrots, but it is wrong if my baby wants 'Amma's milk' and not 'cow's milk'. Is it not unreasonable?

About the cover, great! the model is attractive, the baby is cute. So what? should not a nursing mother have a positive body image? Should not she feel that she is attractive. According to the public psyche, she should not. Just look at the choice of nursing clothes available at any major retailer, It is woefully boring. So a nursing mother is supposed to be boring, be discreet about nursing and not nurse in full public view. Is it fair?
Would not the world be a better place if we lived and let other live their life!!

Back to the food part now..I have always been fond of rice based dishes for breakfast.  Idli, Dosa, Kadubu et al. On days I run out of Idli/Dosa batters, it is going to be Kadubus, sometimes spiked with Averakalu, some times mixed vegetables and sometimes greens. It is Avarekalu for now.

Serves  2-3

Idli Rawa/ Rice Rawa/ Cream of Rice  3/4 Cup
Avarekalu 1/2 cup
Green Chillies 3-4 (adjust according to taste)
Ginger 1/2" minced
Curry leaves a handful
Coriander a handful
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring 2 cups of water to boil. Throw in a generous pinch of salt and the Avarekalu. Cover and cook till the Avarekalu is tender. Remove from heat.
• Place the cream of rice in a mixing bowl.
• Mince the green chillies. (If serving the Kadubu to kids, slit the green chillies length wise so  that it is easy to fish it out later). Chop the curry leaves and coriander fine.
• Throw in the green chillies, curry leaves, coriander, Jeera, Hing,ginger and salt into the cream of rice.
• Fish out the Avarekalu out of the water. Toss it with the cream of rice mixture. 
• Set up a steamer to steam the Kadubu. I set up a pot of boiling water and place a steel  colander to steam my Kadubu. A bamboo steamer or a Idli steamer will also work.
• Make a well in the center of the cream of rice mixture. Pour about 1/4 cup of hot water used to cook the Avarekalu. Stir the mixture. It should resemble bread crumbs. If not add little more water. Upto 1/2 cup of water might be needed. The mixture should resemble  bread crumbs but should come together if patted into small balls. But  it should not be as soft and moist as say a chapati dough.
• Bring together about 1/4 cup of the mixture and pat it gently into small balls using both your palms.
• Place the balls in the greased steamer and steam for 7-10 minutes  till the Kadubus are cooked.
• Remove and serve it with coconut chutney.

 Busy little hands..Sunny boy loved it.
As prosaic as it might sound, this is my Doddamma's- (my aunt-my mother's only sister) recipe.  When I got married, break fast was a hard time. I had no ideas for breakfast except Idli and Dosa. My Dodamma gave me a host of recipes including this one. She makes the cream of rice herself using the stone grinders which makes amazing upmas and Kadubus but I get things done from the super market :)
Sending it out to Cooking with love series hosted by Torviewtoronto