Rawa Rotti

We love Akki Rotti. But sometimes it is difficult to make them, especially if time constrained or if just a bit lazy.  It is on such days that I end up making this one.This variety is a lot less messy and very easy to roll out. Here it is

We will need,

Chiroti Rawa 2 cup (the finest variety Rawa available)
Salt a pinch
Water 1.5 cups

• Heat water and salt in a pot preferable non stick pot for easy cleanup.
• Once the water comes to a gentle boil, dunk in the Rawa and stir well to make sure there are no lumps. Turn off the heat. Cover and let the mixture cool enough to handle.
• Once the mixture cools down, knead the mixture and bring it together.
• Pinch small balls of the dough and flatten it on a rolling board.
• Pre-heat a Tawa. Roll out the flattened balls of dough using a rolling pin into discs about 6-8 inches in diameter.
• Cook the discs on a hot Tawa on both sides and serve hot with butter/ghee and a curry of choice.

Capscium Masala

Sunny boy started school. He is having a tough time. He cries all the while, right when I hand him over at the school till the time I pick him up.It is so hard. I feel like crying my heart out and I did. I hate myself for putting that my precious little boy into such hardship. Many times I did consider pulling him out of school even if it has just been four short days with an hour session each. But somewhere down inside there is an urge to do the right thing, may be a little painful but give him some time to adjust to the strange world called school. Every night before I slip into sleep, I tell myself, O.K, just tomorrow, just one more day let me send him to school and what if he comes home happy and full of stories to tell me about his school, his teacher,his new friends.What if he likes it today....

Otherwise, I am still busy with family visiting from India and the other day we picked some peppers from a farm. They were lovely, fresh and colorful. I dished out some Capsicum Masala  along with Rawa Rotti. Everybody loved it.

We will need,

Peppers/ capsicum  1lb diced
Peanut oil 1/4 cup
Jeera 1/2 tsp

Onions 2 medium
Garlic 5 cloves
Garlic 1"
Chiili powder 1 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Jeera powder 2 tsp
Turmeric 1/4  tsp
Tomatoes 2 medium
Almonds 6-8
Garam Masala 1/4 tsp
Butter 2 tbsp (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

• Combine onions, garlic and ginger in a blender along with a little water and pulse till smooth.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom wok. Toss in the Jeera when the oil is hot. Once the Jeera stops sizzling, add the onion paste carefully, not to splatter the mixture all over.
• Stir the mixture and cook it till the raw smell disappear, about 15 minutes. 
• Meantime, blend the almonds and tomatoes into a smooth paste  and set it aside.
• Once the onion mixture is cooked, throw in the turmeric, chilli powder, Dhania powder and the Jeera powder. Stir well add a few tbsps of water if the mixture is too dry. Cook till the oil floats on top and the mixture is fragrant.
• Pour in the tomato mixture and stir well. Simmer and cook till the mixture is homogenous about 10-15  minutes.
• Throw in the diced capsicum and salt and cook for 5-10 minutes till the capsicum is slightly tender but very well crisp. Throw in the butter at the end if using. (I love the butter)
• Serve hot with a bread of choice.

Aloo Vadi

Last month was a busy month. We had a family reunion and it was a lot of cooking, cleaning and traveling. Sunny boy started school this week too. Poor little Sunny boy, he is not liking school much, keeps crying till I go there to pick him up.It feels so bad to leave him crying there. Sometimes I feel I should just get him off the school and let him play at home with me. But then I will have to bite the bullet sometime, if not today tomorrow or next year. I am confused and  Sunny boy crying makes it even worse. I only hope he feels better soon. I just feel like hugging him close to me, and keep him there forever.

This one again from my days at Amritsar. During the lean summer months, fresh vegetables are hard to come by. It is during that time that such innovative use to pantry staples becomes imperative.

We will need,

Vadi also called Badi 1.5 cups
Potatoes 2 medium diced
Brinjal 1 small diced
Peanut oil 3 tbsp + Sunflower oil to deep fry
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Fennel 1/2 tsp
Onion 1 small
Tomato 1 medium
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp (adjust  according to taste)
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Jeera Powder 2 tsp
Garam masala  a generous pinch
Fresh coriander  a handful
Salt to taste

Method:

• Break the Vadi into bite size pieces and deep fry them in hot oil. Remove and drain it on paper towels. Set it aside.
•  Heat the peanut oil in a wok and throw in the mustard seeds, Jeera and the fennel. Once they stop spluttering throw in the onion. 
• When the onions are translucent add the potatoes. Add a pinch of salt, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes, till the potatoes are ever so slightly tender but not all the way cooked. 
• Now throw in the remaining spices and saute till the raw smell of the spices disappear. 
• Add the eggplant, tomatoes and the deep fried Vadi along with a little water, cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked and the spices are well blended.
• Adjust salt and finish with the fresh coriander. 

Kadhi

I love yogurt and anything and everything that is made of yogurt. Sunny boy loves yogurt, just like little Krishna. This is yet another recipe I learned long back when my father was posted in Amritsar. I instantly fell in love with the velvety, tangy and spicy Khadi complete with crunchy Pokade. These days my Khadi is complete without Pakodes. We all love it.

We will need,

Yogurt 2 cups
Chickpea flour 2 tbsp
Chilli powder 3/4 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Dhania powder 1.5 tsp
Turmeric  1/2 tsp

For the tadka
Peanut oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1/8 tsp
Curry leaves a handful
Green chillies  1-2 slit length wise

Salt and Kasuri Methi to finish

Method:

• Make a paste with the chickpea flour, chilli powder, turmeric, dhania powder and a little water.
• Beat the yogurt well and add two cups of water.Stir in the chickpea paste. Place the mixture in a thick bottom pot and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cook the mixture till it smells fragrant.
• Make the tadka. Heat the oil and throw in all the ingredients listed under the tadka one after the other.Once they stop spluttering, remove from heat. 
• Pour the tadka  into the simmering yogurt mixture. Cook for a few more minutes. 
• Finish with two  tbsp of crushed Kasuri Methi and adjust salt.
• Serve hot with rice and may be some Boondi or Pakode.

 

Mixed Vegetable Masala

It is Blog hop Wednesday again. This time I am paired with Rajini . She has a collection of eclectic dishes and I loved her Potato roast. Thought of doing just the potatoes but at the last minute found that I had just one big potato left and so were a handful of okras and half a zucchini. Decided to throw everything in and we were surprised how good  the dish came out to be. The masala called for in the recipe can be counted on the fingers in one hand but that is what makes this dish stand out. Simple yet delicious. Also decided to start and finish the on stove top as against the original recipe.

We will need,

Potato 1 large chopped
Okra chopped 2 cups (toast the chopped okras on a hot griddle till the slime disappears)
Zucchini chopped 1 cup
Tomatoes 1 medium
Green chillies 2 slit
Salt
Peanut oil 3 tbsp

For the masala paste
Onion 1 medium
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Jeera 3/4 tsp
Chilli powder to taste

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients for the masala paste in a blender and grind it into  a smooth paste. Set it aside.
• Heat oil in a Thick bottom wok. Throw in all the vegetables and saute for a few minutes. Once the vegetables are brown and crisp on one side, pour the masala paste and toss well.Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender crisp and the masala fragrant.
• Adjust salt and serve warm with Roti.

Rice Salad

It is the balmy days of summer. It is so short, that even before we realize it is gone. While growing up in India, sunny days were not a problem at all.  Mysore was so very well endowed with sunny days that the year we moved to Bangalore was an unhappy one, for Bangalore used to be a cloudy-cool hill station! Heck, it is no longer one. It feels much hotter and lot more uncomfortable these days. The green canopy around the K.R.Circle area and the one on R.V.Road is but history. Bangalore is not the garden city any more. A few years from now clean air for breathing will probably be sold in canisters in Bangalore. It is indeed so sad to see your beloved city die a slow suffocating death.

Coming back to summer, it is time for salads. It is a common tradition to start summer back home with Kosambari on Sri Ramanavani. It used to be around  the time that our  summer vacation started and my late maternal grandfather would take us kids (me, my sister,cousins and a bunch of others in the neighborhood) to his ancestral farms about couple of kilometer from our home, to the sacred Banni tree with a small concrete platform around it. He would also carry vats of Panaka a sweetened beverage which is supposed to have a cooling effect on the body, some spiced buttermilk and then huge baskets of Kosambari. We did all sit around the tree, pray to lord Rama, recite the Rama bhajane. Our din would by then invite farmhands working nearby and our neighboring farmers (mostly related to us)  and then we would all drink and eat. Back then there were no plastic cups and plates (thank god!!) We would be served on leafy plates called 'Mutukada ele' /Donne or on shreds of plantain leaves. Drinking was tricky. Grandpa would have carried only a few steel cups with him. We did take turns to drink out of it. But then we did have to pour the beverage into our mouth from a distance lest our lips touches the cup polluting it. Obviously others could not use the polluted cup unless it has been washed thoroughly and purified with the sprinkling of tamarind water. (Watch  old Kannda movies if you do not believe me) For us it was just a summer picnic that we would look forward to once our school closed for the year. I sometimes feel so sad that Sunny boy will never know what it is to eat Kosambari  on a leafy plate, or pour a drink into your mouth from a distance while others are breathing down on you waiting for their turn.He is growing up so far away from things that were the elements of childhood. We still own those farmlands but there is hardly any life left there. The mango orchards could not bear to be away from Grandpa, so they joined him soon afterwards. My last visit a few years back was disastrous. All the old trees were gone. Actually it was such a thick and green canopy back then but a mere fallow parched earth the last time I went there. I have decided not to go there anymore. It is not worth it. I cannot hear the wind whisper in my ears, I do not feel the leaves of the old trees coming to hug me as if they recognize me from the ages past,I do not hear the Nightingale sing sweet as the mangoes themselves,nor see Kingfisher sunning after a quick dip. The stream is all dried up, not even trace of sand, just parched earth mutely singing its own eulogy.
Change they say is part of life. But for me it is a sad tribute to a part of you that just died. It is sadder that Sunny boy can never know when I relate him the stories of my childhood.

This rice salad is my tribute to summer when cooking for long hours is rather tedious but fresh produce at the farm stand makes it difficult for you to stop cooking.

We will need,

Rice 2-3 cups  (cooked and cooled, preferably left over rice)
Peanut oil 1 tbsp
Zucchini/ Squash 1 medium diced
Carrot 2 diced
Onion 1 medium diced
Mushrooms a handful diced.

Dressing:
Toasted peanut oil 1 tbsp
Soy sauce 1 tbsp
Fresh green chillies 2 -3 minced
Garlic 2 cloves minced
Ginger 1/2" piece minced
Juice of a lime
Fresh Coriander a handful chopped
Basil leaves a handful chopped (optional)


Method:

• Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and sit it at  room temperature for at least 20 minutes. This mixture can also be whizzed in a blender for a more homogenous dressing.
• Heat 1 tbsp of peanut oil in a wok and stir fry the onions, carrots till slightly caramelized about 5 minutes. Toss in the zucchini and Mushroom and fry for  another 2-3 minutes till the moisture is gone and the vegetables are crisp tender. Remove the vegetables into a bowl. 
• Throw in the rice into the hot wok and toss around to slightly warm up the rice. Once the wok is cool,  throw in the vegetables and the dressing. Toss till everything is combined.
• Check for seasonings and serve at room temperature.

Pesto chutney pasta and Miracle berry

It has been a crazy few weeks. After weaning Sunny boy I had/have postpartum depression issues. As if it is not enough, my weight seem to go haywire! I had never had a problem with my weight. Not that I was ever skinny, I love food, and I have good fitness levels and my weight has always been constant. But now I feel pressured to act.I do not believe in crash dieting and things that can prove to be problematic in the long run. But I have decided to to stick to two simple things. Number one- go sugar free, as strictly as possible. Then the second one, go for a drink of water when ever the craving to eat something strikes. A compulsive grazer that I am, I am always foraging the refrigerator or the pantry.So to get away from the habit, I am going to drink water when ever I feel like eating something. Rest of my diet is going to remain the same. Honey did loose a few pounds when he started on the sugar free diet. But he quickly exited the diet as well. I need to see how long I can stick to it. Hope to see encouraging results in the next few weeks.

We also had a tasting party the other day for Miracle Berry.It was indeed a unique experience. It is a berry that is native to Africa. The mberry version of it process the berry into tablet form and then the taster places the tablet on the tongue and allow the tablet to melt before consuming food.
We tried a bunch of things lemon, strawberry, cheese, pineapple, bitter gourd, hot chillies.Wow! it was a great experience. The tablet itself tasted like a berry. Loved it. But the surprising factor was the lemon. Lemon tasted like orange just as sweet, may be sweeter. Strawberry tasted wildly sweet. Everything tasted sweet. The chillies tasted sweet with just a hint of pungency and then the bitter gourd started sort of  mildly  bitter but then end flatly sweet. Cheese was not salty at all. We ended up wondering what it was all about. Boy how could this happen. I do not think I am going to miss sugar at all.

Coming back to the pasta, a generous bunch of basil was one of my finds the other week at the pick-your-own-farm. After the usual Caprese salad I still had way more basil than I could think of finishing, so here comes Pesto chutney yet another  Kannadised creation in my kitchen.

For the Pesto

Fresh Basil leaves 2 cups packed
Almonds toasted 2 tbsp
Tamarind 1" piece
Garlic 1 clove
Green chillies 2
Extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp

Salt & black pepper to taste

For the pasta
Pasta (any shape but I used whole wheat Rotini) 2 cups
Zucchini 1
Grape tomatoes 1 pint
Mushrooms 4-5 medium
Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
Parmesan cheese grated 2tbsp

Method:

• Combine everything under the pesto and blend it in a food processor. Add a little water to get the mixture going. Once the mixture is smooth and well combined the pesto is ready. Remove it into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. 
• For the pasta, heat oil in a sauce pan. Throw in the chopped mushrooms. After about 3-4 minutes, throw in the chopped zucchini. Saute till the vegetables are crisp tender. Throw the tomatoes in at the  last minute and turn off the heat.
• Cook pasta according to the package instruction. Once the pasta is drained, toss it with the vegetables and about 3-4 tbsp of the pesto. 
• Mix everything together and stir in the cheese. Add more pesto if the mixture lacks punch. Add a little bit of the pasta-cooking water if the mixture is too dry.
• Serve immediately.

Chiroti -South Indian 'Emperor' pastry

If Mysore Pak rules the hearts of Kannadigas, then Chiroti rules their weddings. I do not remember a wedding in my family that did not serve Chiroti. I have seen them in my parents' wedding album. (Obviously I was not invited to their wedding), It was there in my cousins' wedding, my wedding, my sister's the list goes on. Everything on the menu can change, you know 'Gobi Manchuri' taking the place of 'Pakoda','fried rice' instead of 'Bisibelebath'. But Chiroti has its place. Nothing says indulgence like Chiroti. So it has remained on the wedding menu for ages and looks like it will stay around for a while. While most of the meal in weddings is served on plantain leafs, mid meal extra steel plates are placed for Chirote or sometimes Pheni the noodle like cousin of Chiroti. So a lot of people who love either of these delicacies adjust their appetite or game plan after they see these plated being served at a distance. Boy demolishing an entire serving of chirote still remains a challenge to me and requires some degree of planning ahead.
The way it is served is also interesting. Chiroti in itself is just a pastry, it is not sweet but extremely rich. So once the  Chiroti is placed on a plate, powdered sugar is generously sprinkled followed by warm Badam milk. So people who like it crisp (like me) avoid the Badam milk. But those who love it softer, allow the Chiroti to sit in the warm milk for a few seconds.Even as I write these line, my mouth starts to water. I am craving for a wedding meal- the plantain leaf, the assorted nibbles on the top part of the leaf and the Chiroti in a steel plate next to the leaf- Ah! that is how I grew up, that is what my Sunny boy is missing.

I never took to these flaky pillowy buttery goodness as a kid. I simply hated the plate sized pastry staring at me mid-meals when my stomach is already loaded. As I grew older and my capacity increased and my tolerance for grease increased, I came to appreciate it better. It still remains an indulgence, something I can afford to have once in may be a year or two. I made these after a long research. Actually, Chiroti is flaky and tender, they are not crunchy/crisp at all. They are also super rich, so rich that every bite should leave a 'fatty' after taste, mostly 'shortening' or 'Dalda' ish taste. While making it, all I could think of was the person behind this delicacy. How could so much fat be incorporated in one single dish. Must have been Mughal or some Royal kitchen behind this dish. Only a royal kitchen could have afforded so much fat and only a king could have digested it in the by gone era.

So, let us be kings for a day and indulge in Chirotis. Only change is that the original recipe calls for shortening and I hate it. Worked out mine without the shortening. In fact substituting the shortening for the butter and ghee in the recipe makes it much easier to work with the dough and faster too.

We will need,

All purpose flour  1 cup
Butter 60 grams
Salt a pinch
Ghee 1 tbsp
Rice flour 2 tsp
Ice cold water a few tablespoons
Ghee / refined oil to deep fry (oh! yes more fat)

To serve
Sugar powdered
Cardamon
Milk
Badam Milk Mix

Method:

• Place the flour and salt in a food processor. Cut the cold  butter into small pieces and throw it into the food processor. Pulse till the mixture is crumby. 
• Add ice cold water by the tablespoon till the mixture comes together into a dough. 
• Remove the dough and wrap it in a piece of plastic and rest it in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
• Meantime, mix the ghee and the rice flour till pluffly and smooth paste like. It is called 'Saathi'
• Once the dough is well rested, divide the dough into 4-5 parts, using a rolling pin roll out each part like a roti. Smear the Saathi using a pastry brush and set the roti aside. Follow it with another roti and a layer of Saathi till all of the dough is used up.
• Now gently roll the stack of rotis a bit using a rolling pin and brush it with more Sathi. Start to roll the roti from the edge on one side and roll it into a cigar/log shape. Gently all the while.
• Cut the log/cigar of roti into two and then the twos into two and so on to end up with twelve pieces of dough. 
• Roll each of the piece of dough between your palms to give it a roundish shape. Place it on floured surface and roll it into 4-5" discs. 
• Deep fry these discs in hot ghee till they  fluff up and the color changes slightly. Flip them once.Cook  till the color changes and remove. Drain these on several layers of paper towels.
• Once the Chirotis are cool, serve it with a mixture of powdered sugar and cardamon and hot badam milk. Both on the side. That way everybody can decide how sweet they want their Chirotis to be.

Phew!! I need to hit the elliptical after this. 

Saffron Baklava

Summers are for garden parties, barbeques and picnics. We never prefer dinner parties in summer, hey! we have the entire frigid winter for dinner parties. But garden parties, barbeques and picnics are great on a nice and warm summer day. I hate to cook in the kitchen during the hotter days as well. Boy! turning on the oven makes the kitchen one inferno. This past week we were invited to a sandwich party and the food was lovely. I pitched in with the dessert and foolishly I set upon making a Baklava. The end result was fantastic and everybody loved it. But the kitchen got really hot, so hot I was wondering if the eggs would get cooked if left on the counter. So I have decided not to turn on the oven till the sun decides to sleep longer.
But it is Saffron Baklava for now. I have another version of Baklava as well. Love to Indianize-Kannadize everything in my kitchen.
I love making Baklava because it is one of those dishes that making twenty is as easy as making two or two hundred.It is easily scalable and perfect for a large party.

We will need,

Fillo sheets  1/2 package
Butter  1 stick (115 grams)
Almonds 1 + 1/4 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
Saffron few strands
Cardamon 1 skin discard and the seeds crushed

Method:

• Thaw the fillo sheets on the kitchen counter for a while, may be 20 minutes. 
• Toast the almonds either in the oven or on a thick bottom Kadai till fragrant and set it aside to cool.
• Once the almonds are cool, pulse it in a food processor with 2 tbsp of sugar. Remove and set it near by.
• Melt the butter and a grease a 12 x 8 baking dish with the melted butter and set it near by.
• Remove the fillo sheets from the package and spread the sheets on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover it with  a damp kitchen towel.
• Pre heat the oven to 350 F.Start assembling the Baklava.
• Spread one sheet of Fillo on a work surface and brush a little melted butter thoroughly. Fold it into fours and place it in the dish. Repeat with another layer.
• Brush the top most layer with some more butter and spread the almond mixture generously.
• Place another butter filo layer followed by more almond mixture, alternating with the almond and the fillo layer ending with two sheets of fillo each folded into fours at the top. 
• Once the layers  are done, cut the Balkava into desired pieces, the knife barely touching the bottom most layer.
• Place the Baklava in the oven and bake till the top is golden and the baklava is fragrant.
• Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely
• Prepare the sugar syrup. Combine the sugar with half a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat, throw in the saffron and cardamon and simmer till the mixture attains single thread consistency. i.e when the syrup is pulled  between wet thumb and fore-finger, the syrup should form a single thread.
• Remove the syrup from heat and spoon over the hot syrup on the cool fillo layers. Rest the Baklava for a few hours on the counter uncovered. Cut the pieces thoroughly using a pizza cutter and serve.

Hunna Huralikayi Huli / Mature green Beans curry

My favorite time of the year is here. The pick-your-own produce is in full swing and the farmer's market is full of vitality and colors. This past weekend we hit our favorite farm and loaded up on beautiful and fresh vegetables. We loved what we saw and we loved what we ate and are eating. This time around we got a bunch of our favorite vegetables including the bitter gourd, egg plants, capsicum including the purple ones, never seen that one before and the purple colored mature beans. I was delighted  to see the mature beans still hanging on the plants and decided to get a bunch of those. I hope I did not ruin the farmer-lady's plans of converting it to seeds for the next season. As usual Sunny boy had a great time at the farm. He picked a lot of good and not-so-good vegetables and then 'helped' me shell the beans too. They sure to grow up fast.

A sad update on my gardening venture. The past week's scorcher dried up most of my plants,including the sunflowers.My coriander did sprout. They were not irradiated after all, but they ended long before they could be on our table. May be I should try again,  the season is still long enough of a couple of attempts.

The mature green beans are a delicacy and we relish it very much. Traditionally, it is cooked with eggplants and potatoes in a curry and served with Akki Rotti or rice. This is our dinner tonight

We will need,

Mature green beans shelled and the skin discarded 1 cup
Eggplant cubed 2 cups
Potatoes cubed 1 cup
Huli Pudi/ Sambar powder 1.5 tsp
Tamarind concentrate 1/2 tsp
Onion 1 small
Coconut 1/2 cup
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Curry leaves a handful
Salt and Jaggery to taste

Method:

• Peel the onion and discard the skin. Stick it to a metal skewer or a fork and hold it over the flame. Roast it till the skin develops charred spots. Remove from the fire and set it aside to cool.
• Combine the coconut, Sambar powder, tamarind and the cooled onion in a blender and puree the mixture into a smooth paste along with a little water.
• Remove the coconut paste into a thick bottom stock pot and add 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil. Simmer and throw in the beans, eggplant and the potatoes. Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender.
• Meantime, prepare the oggarane/tadka. Heat Ghee in a pan. Throw in the mustard seeds, Jeera, Hing and curry leaves in quick succession until they pop. Remove from  heat and pour the contents into the curry. 
• Adjust salt and throw in a small piece of Jaggery. Stir well and remove from heat. Serve hot with Rice or Akki Rotti

Mango Milk shake

It is blog hop time.I missed the email earlier this month some how and was caught by surprise when I found other buddies posting already. This time I am paired with Gayathri.She has a wonder blog and I have been eying quiet a few of her recipes for a long time especially the Vatha Kolumbu. But the dish calls for ingredients not normally found in my pantry. So that one will have to wait. For now it is the Mango milkshake to fit into my Thursday fast :)

Made a small substitution. Instead of the fresh fruit called for by Gayatri, I am using Mango pulp therefore skipping sugar altogether.

We will need,
Whole Milk 1 cup
Mango Puree 1/2 cup
Cardamon powder a tiny pinch
Crushed Ice as preferred

Method:

• Combine everything in a blender jar and blitz till smooth.Serve immediately or well chilled.

Sending it out to  Radhika's Blog hop Wednesday .

Soup with avocado cream

Of late, I have been going through a rough patch. I have become very slow, as if somebody pushed the button on the remote for a speed of 0.2x from x; an unexplained lack of interest in everything I do and lack of motivation to do things that apparently I loved to do; I have stopped dropping comments on my favorite blogs, I have posted fewer recipes; The kitchen is a mess, the living room resembles an earthquake zone, but I do not have the energy to clean up or brighten things. The days look long and I am just looking for my hour to shut down and snooze. Then I wake at unearthly hour and try to kill time counting sheep and imagining weird things. Sometimes I feel so tried and so long to be alone that Sunny boy ends up watching cartoons for hours. I get irritated for no apparent reason, crying and loosing my temper for little things. I have been wondering for a while as what could be wrong with me. PMS? come on those dont last for months. Postpartum hormones? hey my baby is two and a half! Then I started considering menopause...but barely thirty and menopause did not fit in either. But that was the strongest suspect. Otherwise, why would I, a very enthusiastic person, who had all the time in the world for everything she liked/wanted, who's best friend was sunshine, and who signed up for motherhood after carefully weighing in all the options and of course brought up in the best of traditions and educated and modern for god sake, act like a psychopath portrayed in the movies? monster-like one minute and terribly sorry and full of self-pity and crying the other? I could see something just was not right, I was not being my own reasonable self. I could not subject my actions to any logic and I could not explain my own behavior to myself. This had never happened to me before. How can 'I' ..'I' of all the people in the world act unreasonably?
Despite knowing that something was wrong, I never bothered to seek help. I still have not, but at least now, I guess I know what could be wrong.

It was just a matter of chance. I was speaking to my  friend the other day, she started telling me her experiences after weaning. The story could have been mine. Everything started with me weaning Sunny boy. I had nursed him till he was very well past two. I felt ready to call it a day, I felt he was ready to call it a day too. We did it and it was not painful at all. There was no crying, no protesting nothing. It was one fine day and we both decided that nursing was beyond us and we could do well with just hugs and kisses. Sunny boy is doing very well indeed. (The only day Sunny boy demanded to nurse was at the ER with a cashew stuck way up in his nose and waiting for the doctor to pull it out. That story for another day). That was it, else that is what I thought.

But that is where the trouble began. While nursing, a mother's mood gets a lift because of all the good hormones Oxytocin and Prolactin. When the mother starts weaning, there is a gradual drop in the levels of these hormones and then bingo postpartum depression hits you when you cannot even imagine. Hey no body told me about this one. My doctor kept asking me if I am feeling blue soon after delivery. Well I was slightly sleep deprived but with my beautiful baby in my hands and all the good hormones baby sitting my nervous why would I feel blue? I was on the top of the world. She never told me when I can expect it to kick me,it did at a time when I was least expecting it. Well, you act up when you are pregnant, people are sympathetic, 'oh! poor gal,I know pregnancy can  be hard'..your baby bump justifies everything. Then when your baby is young and nursing, you act up and people are still sympathetic,'poor gal, she is sleep deprived, good work gal, keep up with the good work'..... the baby at your breast justifies everything. But once the baby talks and walks, there is absolutely no sympathy. 'Hey! what is wrong with you? are you crazy' is all you get, when actually your nervous are being whacked by the dancing hormones.

What is surprising is the fact that despite all the advances in the modern medicine, there are these unspoken, un-highlighted areas which can catch well meaning, educated and well informed women like me unguarded. Now that I know what could be wrong, I am better equipped to handle myself. If only my doctor gave me a heads up on this one. It is also surprising that such a big problem is still not mainstream, there are not many researches on this one and not many resources to help one cope up. So friends, if you are there like me, hang in there and this too will pass.

Here is a soul warming soup recipe made during one of my down days.

For the soup

Carrots 1 cup chopped
Mushrooms 2 cups  chopped
Chickpeas cooked 1 cup
Vegetable broth or chicken stock 2 cups
Extra virgin olive oil 1tbsp
Garlic 1 clove smashed
Salt and pepper to taste.

For the avocado cream

Ripe Avocado 1
Green chillies 1-2 minced
Juice of half a lemon
Fresh coriander
Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a stock pot. Saute the garlic for a few seconds.Throw in the carrots and mushrooms. Cook till they are tender but crisp. 
• Throw in the rest of the ingredients and  two more cups of water and simmer for a few minutes till everything comes together about 15minutes.
• Prepare the avocado cream in the mean time. Scoop the avocado from the skin, discard the seed and the skin. Place the flesh in a bowl and mash it with the back of a fork. Throw in the remaining ingredients.
• To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and place a dollop of avocado cream on top and serve it right away.

 

Carrot Pacchadi

Yogurt  aka curd  aka mosaru makes me weak in the knees..Can I ever become vegan? Thanks much but I love my yogurt a lot. I love it when I have lots of yogurt on hand and I have the liberty to cook and eat yogurt anytime of the week. I also sneak in yogurt in a lot of recipes substituting sour cream, heavy  cream and end up getting a good result most often than not.So next time your recipe calls for sour cream and all you have is yogurt, go for it. 

I get pastured raw milk and set my yogurt. Eating good stuff has one unintended side effect,you simply cannot eat the bad or mediocre stuff at all. I also love the fatty version. Since the milk I get is raw, we skim the cream just once before setting the yogurt, it is so rich and creamy that after our meal ending with the customary Mossarranna / curd-rice, my hand feels like just out of a manicure! Bless all the fat. By the way, I was reading in Wall Street Journal a few days ago that a balanced diet leads to better health than low-carb (Atkins) diet or no-fat diet. Come on... did we not know it already?Was not balanced diet the best? K.T.Acharya rocks. It was just the giant agri-agro-processing industry lobbying that kept these fads going for so long. Who ever thrived on these fab diet any way. I have become so skeptical of all the phoney doctored research that comes out and are being funded by the corporate giants. That is one reason why governments should invest in research-to get out facts unbiased by vested interests.

Now for the carrot Pacchadi

We will need,

Carrots 3 medium 

Yogurt 1 cup whisked

Ghee 2 tsp

Mustard  seeds 1/4 tsp

Jeera 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

Hing

Curry leaves a handful

Green Chillies 4-5 (more if necessary)

Salt and Jaggary to taste.

Coriander fresh a handful

Method:

• Wash and clean carrots. Peel and discard the skin. Chop it into 1" pieces and pressure cook in about 1.5 cups of water till soft and mushy. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
• Once the carrots are cool enough to handle, open the lid of the pressure cooker and mash the carrots using a heavy spatula or a masher. 
• Stir in crushed Jaggery into the mashed carrots. Gently heat the mixture to bring it to a simmer. 
• Prepare the Oggarane.Heat ghee in a pan, throw in the mustard seeds, Jeera and fenugreek seeds. Once they stop spluttering, add the curry leaves, slit green chillies. 
• Pour the ghee mixture onto the carrot mixture and  remove from heat. Whisk the yogurt and temper it with a tbsp of the hot carrot mixture. Pour it back into the carrot mixture and whisk gently. 
• Adjust salt and finish with chopped coriander. Serve with rice.