Bananti Saaru

I have been meaning to post more postpartum recipes but lagging behind. A few months back when a dear friend had a baby, I had an opportunity to make some special postpartum dishes for her. Here is the basic Saaru/dal. This is more of a template than a recipe. Essentially vegetables and dal combination can be varied but the spices and the process need to be pretty much the same.

We will need,

Toor dal/Moong Dal  about 1/4 cup
Turmeric  a pinch
Vegetables  1 cup (diced carrots, diced Chayote squash, green beans, dill , spinach, Methi leaves)

Ghee 1 tbsp
Black pepper corns 2 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a generous pinch
Dry red chillies 1-2
Curry leaves
Garlic 3-4 cloves
Salt to taste
Jaggery to taste(optional)

Method:

• Wash the dal in several changes of water and soak it for an hour or so. It can be soaked overnight if you happen to be forgetful like me. Drain and place it in a pressure cooker along with a pinch of turmeric and about 1 cup of water and cook till the dal is completely mushy. If baby happens to be colicky, throw in a pinch of hing and a few drop of ghee with the dal and then cook the dal.
• Cook the vegetable separately till soft. Alternately vegetable can be combined with the dal in the pressure cooker just that the vegetables will end up mushy. 
• Now prepare the Oggarane. Crush the jeera and black pepper corn into a coarse powder. 
• Heat Ghee, throw in the hing, curry leaves ,broken red chilly and crushed garlic. Fry till the garlic is fragrant. Toss the crushed black pepper and jeera mixture. Saute for a few seconds and quickly pour it into the cooked dal.
• Combine the dal, cooked vegetables and the oggarane well. Heat it thoroughly. Adjust salt and jaggery if using. Serve hot with steamed rice.

The idea is to eat freshly cooked food. But if it is not possible in this age of working mothers the recipe can be doubled/tripled. Just ensure to reduce the number of garlic cloves  by 2-3 for a bigger batch.

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.
 

 

Bananti -Post partum recipe

I have been getting mails from new mothers all over requesting Bananti recipes..I thought I should go ahead with the write up and not wait for the photos given the time sensitive nature for the request. I hope all the people who requested for such recipe read this post.

The basics are pretty clear. I mean traditional Bayaluseeme Karnataka style Banantana. I am mostly documenting the traditional wisdom of our folks that appears logical and has some scientific basis.

Consume a lot of protein :

• Milk- preferably organic grass fed cow Milk (the corn fed cow milk is rather difficult to digest also GM-Soy-Corn in the feed makes me apprehensive. ) One of the better brands to look for is Organic Valley. 
• Consume generous amounts of Ghee. Home made ghee using organic pasture butter is the best. Try getting Organic Valley  pasture butter and make your own ghee. If unavailable try their organic butter.
• Avoid Eggs as it is an allergen.
• Avoid most beans and legumes except Toor, Moong and Urad. The rest are hard to digest and may cause flatulence. Obviously new mothers are so much more prone to constipation, flatulence, we do not need to overburden her digestive system with food that can aggravate the situation.
• Toor, Moong and Urad should be soaked in water for a few hours, drained and washed well then cooked till the grains fall apart, tempered with generous amounts of garlic and ghee before consuming.
• Include plenty of greens especially Dill and Fenugreek greens. They are supposed to stimulate production of milk. 
• Consume vegetables like carrots, green beans, beet root rich in nutrition. This indeed is a latest development. My grandmother says these vegetables were not a served during her time but she did give my mother a lot of these vegetables when my mother had me.I did say thumbs up for this rule.
• Consume meat in moderate quantities if you are not a vegetarian.
• Drink plenty of warm to hot water. 
• Many women got back asking if wearing warm clothes and sweating is mandatory. I am not a medical professional but sweating does not convince me. Wearing warm clothes does make sense to me. Because our immune system is on the alert when our body temperature is higher and it sort of sleeps when body temperature is cooler. So to keep away from minor irritants like cold it is a good idea to wear warm clothes and keep indoors. This reduces the chance of  baby catching cold etc.
• Also Sowbhagya Sunti Lehya is something many women consume. It might not agree with some women. So if this Lehya increases bleeding or gives cramps it is best not to consume it. 
• On the Question of when to introduce cow's milk to your baby, I am pretty skeptical. As per the World Health Organization, breast feeding for at least two years is the best for baby (also the mother). But it might not work for every new mother. My pediatrician has suggested I start cow's milk after Sunny boy's first birthday. I held out a little longer. But when I did introduce cow's milk, Sunny boy had very bad episodes of constipation. Finally I switched over to raw pastured milk which I gently heated till cream formed on top, cooled it slightly and gave it to him. He tolerated it better than the homogenized milk. I would not consume homogenized milk much less give it to my baby.

Sample Menu:

• Pre- Breakfast : One Antinunde and one cup of Milk
• Breakfast: Akki Dose  or Akki Tari Idli with Ghee and Heralikai uppinakai or Akkitari Uppittu
• Mid morning: Apple/Mango or any sweet fruit except Banana, citrus and grapes. (I did still eat citrus but not banana and grapes)
• Lunch: A tbsp of  rice, 1/2 tsp ghee and Bananti Pudi ;  or Menasina Saaru or Dal with rice, Carrot/Green Beans/ Beetroot Palya and a cup of Milk, 
• Late Afternoon: Half a cup of Akki Payasa , Gattaki Payasa, Halkeer , Belladanna or any Kheer /Payasa and a fruit.
• Dinner:  A tbsp of  rice, 1/2 tsp ghee and Bananti Pudi ; fenugreek/dill/Chayote squash/ green beans dal   or Menasina Saaru  with rice, Carrot/Green Beans/ Beetroot Palya and a cup of Milk.
• Drink warm to hot water, about 10 or more glasses a day. 
• Munch on almonds and raisins if you are a grazer like me.

Akki Dose:

Mix 1/4 cup of Rice flour in about 1/4- 1/2 cup water to make a runny batter. Pour it over a hot skillet and cook till the sides are golden in colour. Remove and serve hot with Heralikai uppinakai and Ghee

Menasina Saaru

It is again cloudy and raining. It is so boring a day that I hardly feel like cooking anything. On such days we dish up some Menasina saaru, something that warms me up from within as well as takes just over a few minutes to cook. This is again one of the first foods that a new mother is served. It is also a tonic that does a world of good to a runny nose and a sore throat, a South Indian equivalent of 'chicken-soup-for-the-soul'.

We will need,

Tamarind soaked in warm water size of a medum lime
Jaggery crushed 1 heaping tsp
Pepper 1 tsp crushed
Jeera 1 tsp crushed
Garlic 3 cloves crushed
Ghee 1 tbsp
Curry leaves a handful
Dry red Chillies 3-4
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Coriander fresh a handful chopped
Salt

Method:

• Squeeze the tamarind pulp and add water making it about 3 cups or so. The water should be tangy but not too sharp on the tongue.
• Add the jaggery to the tamarind water and bring it to a boil
• Meantime prepare the 'oggarane'. Heat ghee in a small wok. Drop the Mustard seeds, Hing, Curry leaves, Pepper, Jeera, Garlic and  the dry red chilies. Once the mixture is fragrant, turn off the heat.
• Pour the 'oggarane' over the tamarind water and adjust salt. The saaru should have a pleasant balance of spice, sweet and tang. Bring it to a quick boil and serve piping hot.

Bananti Pudi, Postpartum chutney powder

A new mothers dietary requirements are very different. Not only do new mothers require extra calories but breast feeding mothers are constrained by a variety of foods that needs to be avoided because of the weak digestive system of the new born.
Traditionally new mothers are served this particular spice blend to improve the digestion of both newborns and the mother. The new mother starts her meal by mixing about 1/2 -1 tsp of this powder with a tablespoon of freshly cooked hot rice and about 1 tsp of ghee. This morsel is followed by the rest of the meal.
This works magic on colicky babies, it worked very well with me and my son :). I will post a few more posts on remedies for a colicky babies, after all I can not write with a great deal of experience.

To prepare this blend we will need,

Jeera 1 tbsp
Pepper 1 tbsp
Fennel Seeds /Saunf 1/2 tbsp
Ajwain/ Omkalu 1/2 tbsp

Method:

1. Toast all the spices one by one till fragrant
2. Using a mortar pestle or coffee grinder or mixer crush the spices into a fine powder.
3. Store it in an air tight jar.

Use a measure of your choice instead of the tbsp, it works just as fine. Sending it out to the home remedies event hosted by Ruchika started by Sadhana & Muskhan

Belladanna, Rice Pudding

Wishing you all a very happy sankranti. Sankranti, the harvest festival usually means sweet and savory 'pongal',cooked sweet potato, Avarekai and groundnuts. But back in the days of my granny, it was not sweet pongal but belladanna that used to occupy the center stage during Sankranti. Sankranti was also about exchanging Ellu-bella, a mixture of toasted sesame seeds, jaggery, coconut, roasted channa dal and peanuts.Me and my sister used to wear our silk-langa (reshme langa) and go about the neighbourhood exchanging Ellu-bella, sugar cane, banana, sakkare acchu and elchi hannu (ziziphus as it says in Wikipedia).Very typical of me, I had once mixed up Ellu-bella packs to-be-taken-home and to-be-given-away and mom had the surprise of the day to find all our Ellu-bella packs cozily still in my basket. This year should have been a 'bombe-Ellu' for me because of my new born. It is a tradition of distributing a small toy/doll the year a new baby is born. Sadly this is not home and I miss the tradition so much. Memories and traditions apart, these foods are rich in fat and are good during the cooler season. In fact it is surprising that people celebrating Lordhi in Punjab too consume chikkis-sesame seed chikki as well as peanut chikki. That is probably what holds India together despite the diversity...a common thread running inconspicuously.
Apart from Ellu-bella, Sankrati also mean Sakkare Acchhu, moulded sugar candy.
I love the soft ones that mom makes, in all shapes, fruits, animals,tulasi-katte, Mantapa etc. Both my grandmothers are good at making Sakkare acchu but mom is the best. I will reserve the recipe for some other day.
Another tradition associated with Sankranti is 'Kitch haisodu'. It is the 'fire-jumping' cattle. A small fire is lit and domestic cattle are prodded to jump over the fire. The cattle participating in the event are decorated with bells, colours and other trinkets. It is fun to see all the cattle so festive and colourful, though I did rather not see the fire part of it.

For now it is all about Belladanna. It is actually a very rustic and ancient family recipe. Somehow it was forgotten in between. recently mom and Doddamma retrieved the recipe for this dish and have started making it. So me and Honey had it for the first time, courtesy mom. We both liked it. It is not as heavy as sweet pongal but equally satisfying. Best of all, it is good for new mothers as well :)



Rice 1 C
Jaggery 1/3 to 1/2 C
Nutmeg a pinch
Cardamon 1 whole
Coconut grated 1/2 C (optional)
Raisin a handful
Cashew nuts a handful
Ghee 1/4 C

Method:

• Cook rice in 2 cups of water till soft.
  
• Bring the jaggery and very little water to a boil and simmer till it attains one thread consistency. (When the syrup is easily stretched into a single thread between two wet fingers. Requires care, the syrup being hot can scald)
• Mix grated coconut into the syrup.
• Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pot. Drop the cashew nuts and raisins, fry till light golden in colour. Throw in the whole cardamom. Pour it over the syrup and coconut mixture.Grate a dash of nutmeg into the syrup.
• Gently fold in the rice while still warm. Serve warm.
  

Goes to the SHF hosted by a merrier world..

Antinunde/ Edible Gum Ladoo

Breast feeding mothers need extra calories. But they should also be very careful as to what they consume because babies have a weak digestive system and are sensitive to a lot of common foods well tolerated by adults. In fact every day vegetables like tomatoes, onions, green chilies can irritate breast fed babies leading to colic. To increase nutrition and calorific value of the mother’s meal as well as making sure that the food contains no potential irritants is an ordeal in itself. Antinunde is one such dish. Consuming this rich food is supposed to strengthen back, aid recovery as well as help augment milk supply. I vouch of the potency of the food myself.It is simple to make and delicious to consume. In fact Honey has been having a merry time with these goodies all along.



Serves 25 ||  Calories per serving  225 Kcl || Protein 3.15 gm ||  fat 5.66 gm || Fiber 2.56 gm

Dates 2 cups

Almonds 2 cups

Raisins 2 cups

Edible Gum 1 cup

Poppy seeds 2 tbsp (optional)

Cloves 6

Nutmeg/ Jaikai grated ¼ tsp

Saffron a pinch (optional)

Jaggery 1.5 cups (coarsely powdered)

Ghee for deep frying

Method:

• Deep fry the edible gum in ghee in several batches till they are light and puff up. Drain on a paper towel and cool. When completely cooled pound them into a fine paste.
• Toast Almonds on a warm skillet until fragrant, about 4-5 minutes. Set it aside to cool. When cool enough to handle chop it into pieces similar in size to raisins
• Similarly chop dates. Toss them into a big mixing bowl along with the raisins.
  
• Toast poppy seeds and toss them into the mixing bowl.
  
• Add pounded edible gum, ground cloves and nutmeg to the mixture. Mix well and set it aside.
• To prepare the jaggery syrup which imparts sweetness as well as binds the mixture together, combine the jaggery, saffron and a little water in a thick bottomed saucepan. Cook the mixture unto ‘one thread’ consistency. i.e. dip the back of a spoon into the syrup. Test the mixture between moist thumb and moist fore finger. If the syrup is sticky between the fingers and can be stretched into a single thread, then the syrup is ready to go.This step takes some practice and the mixture will obviously be very hard and can scald. So one should be very careful at this point.
• Pour little syrup on the side of the dry fruit mixture. Tightly press them on the palm into small balls/ladoos. If doing a particularly large batch, make the syrup in small batches to avoid the chance of the jaggery syrup turning hard before the ladoos are done.
  P.S: Originally Antinunde is made using shredded dried coconut/ copra and cashew nuts. The idea is six cups of dried fruit and nut mixture for every cup of edible gum and 1.5 cups of jaggery. I am not a particularly big fan of coconut and cashew nuts in this dish, therefore Mom eliminated them for me.
  

Jeerige/Cumin Chutney

Child birth in India is probably a celebrated affair like nowhere else in the world. So many rituals, so many festivities and such joy no wonder we are the second most populous nation on this planet!!
It is also a critical period for the newborn as well as the new mother. A grueling experience for the mother, she needs to be taken care of the first few postpartum months. Back home, pregnant women go back to their maternal homes for the delivery and stay there for months where she is fed with special meals, giving elaborate oil baths and plenty of rest. It is a time of life except for the dietary restrictions.
I find the dietary restrictions rather strange. In my family, permitted foods include vegetables like carrot, beans, beetroot, Methi, dill, and rice & toor dal. No ragi, no wheat no other cereals. In my friend's family permitted foods include tomatoes, brinjal, bread, chapati and Moong Dal. In my co-sister's family it is brinjal, Cluster beans, Ridged gourd, Ivy gourd. No beans, no carrots. So postpartum or 'Banati' foods typically vary substantially. Universally accepted postpartum foods include garlic and Ghee.
My mother also tells me that folks back home have so much more to follow like having to wear warm clothing, consuming betel leaves after meals etc. All these are followed for anywhere between three to nine months postpartum. I wonder what my grandmother has to say to women here in the USA going back to work two weeks after childbirth!!!

I will be posting for a series of recipes that are specially served to new mothers in my family. I am sure there are new mothers out there who will find these recipes useful. Of course other folks can try these as well, for it is definitely worth the effort.

We will need,

Kopra/ Kobbari/ (dry coconut) 1/2 cup grated
Tili Saaru Powder 1 tsp
Garlic 4 large cloves
Jeera 1.5 tsp
Mustard 1/4 tsp
Tamarind 1/2 tsp extract
Jaggery 1/2 tsp crushed
Ghee 1 tbsp
Curry leaves 6-7
Salt to taste

Method:

• Roast kopra and Jeera separately till fragrant.
• Combine kopra, Jeera, Jaggery, tili saaru powder, tamarind and 1/2 a cup of water in a blender. Pulse till almost smooth.
  
• Add the garlic to the same blender and pulse till smooth.
  
• In a wok heat the ghee, drop the mustard seeds. Once it stops spluttering, add the the ground mixture and bring it to boil.
  
• Simmer for a 15 minutes and turn off the heat. Serve hot with rice and ghee. To make a fab meal serve it with Rasam, Rice, pickles and Papads.