SOLD MY CAR!

Isold my little red car (Alto Lxi) yesterday.According to N, it was time we sold it, before it's price goes crashing down. O.K., fine, we had been talking about this for the past six months on and of, but it still was a wrench to see it being driven off by some other guy!
So what? you might say- What's the big deal about such a tiny car? But it was special to me, sentimental fool that I am..It was my very first car- my very own!
So great was my agitation (which I had carefully hidden bebeath a pokerface)that, instead of pouring dosa(pancake) batter onto the hot griddle, I poured sambar (curry!) on it!!Can you imagine? N was in splits, laughing and teasing me about that!!
Anyway,now that my depression has worn off, we are on the lookout for my new car(so much more fun than greiving ,no?)Hopefully, by this time next month, I 'll be tooling around in a shiny new swift! Toodle-oo!


DOSA AND SAMBAR
Ingredients:

Dosa-
Pachari (raw plain rice) 1 cup
Rose Ari(parboiled red rice) 1 cup
Ponni ari(Iddli rice) 1 cup
Uzhunnu(black gram dal) 1 cup
Boiled rice 1 tbsp
Salt 2 tsp
Sugar a pinch
Sodabicarb 1/2 tsp
Water as needed

Method:

1. Soak all the rices and dal overnight.

2. Put all ingredients in a blender or grinder. Add just enough water so it can be ground well.

3. Grind for at least 20 to 30 minutes till everything is well blended and the batter is thick.

4. Remove to a covered container and leave for fermenting .( at least 6-8 hours)

5. Heat a griddle, pour one spoonful of batter onto this, then spread out in circular motions till you have a flat pancake.


6. When golden in colour, add half a tsp of ghee, spread on it, and remove from griddle.

7. Serve hot with sambar ,chutney,or....have you tried chicken curry with this?just great!!


SAMBAR :

Ingredients:
toor dal 1 cup
onion, chopped 1
tomato, chopped 1
drumsticks, chopped 2
Brinjal ,chopped 2(eggplant)
Carrot , chopped 1
Potato ,chopped 1
Green chilli ,slit 5
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1tsp
Asafoetida powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste.
Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves a handful(cilantro leaves)
Cumin seeds 1 tbsp
oil 2 Tbsp
mustard seeds 1tbsp
red chillies 3
curry leaves 10
A pinch of asafoetida/hing

Method:
1. Cook the dal with turmeric, onion and 1 cup water until soft & mushy and keep aside.


2. Add the chopped vegetables and some more water, if needed, and cook till tender. You could use a pressure cooker..saves time.

3. Add the powders & mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes before adding the tamarind paste. Cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Heat oil, add mustear, let int splutter, then add curryleaves, red chilly, and a pinch of asafoetida.

5. Add to sambar,along with coriander leaves, stir, boil, then serve steaming hot.

MY HUSBAND..MY DIARY..

When I became a teenager, my mother gifted me with a tiny little diary with it's own little lock and key. She told me to write a daily journal ..told me to vent my frustrations ,anger and irritations on those pages. My mother taught me that my diary is me-my innermost soul, no holds barred...no secrets. Then she told me to read what I had written, and think, with a clear mind-did I do wrong?was I right?Should I have done things differently? If so, can I change things and situations for the better?
During those turbulent teenage years, those diaries were the best anchors I could have..they were the mirrors of my soul.i found I could lash out at anyone I wanted, in private, without losing my dignity,or hurting any one's feelings.They taught me to be ladylike. They helped me when I felt sad. I just had to read back a few pages to see how blessed I was and see that things were not as bad as they seemed. I never forgot a single moment of my life.

Over the years, I graduated from that tiny little diary to big notebooks, chockful of funny stories, sad moments, angry outbursts..silly crushes...what not!!

And then I got I got married.My diary writing went into over drive!!My emotions were fluctuating wildly in the highs and lows of my first love!!There were so many pages of syrupy simpering quotes about my dashing new husband.
Then came the many problems of two totally different people settling into a life together after the honeymoon period- Ugh!so many pages were filled with the things about him that irritated me!
Pregnancy-babies...I got so busy that I almost stopped writing. Almost..not fully....Because there were moments which were so intensely beautiful , they made me reach for pen and diary so I would never again forget those moments..
There was a time, when I would fill the pages with my fury at sitting at home, fat, with three kids, no chance to be footloose and fancy free...When I started using the D word in my writing..That should be around the 7th year of marriage(yes!!there really truly is a seven year itch!)My life was at it's lowest point..every little thing seemed to set us off into a bout of quarrelling...One day, after penning some angry words in myn diary, I started reading back...and I kept on till I reached my very first diary..( yes!I still have all my diaries...they're kept in a highly classified vault!won't tell you where!)They made me sit up and take stock of my life.And I realised that for the past few years, my behaviour and affection to my husband had been steadily going downhill...in all aspects, I was doing the wrong things..as a daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, mother, wife, aunt,cousin , friend...as a woman...I was not upto the mark. I was not the person I was before.So I decided to change...to make an effort to be a better person,to be more patient, not to let the little things rile me up,to be more understanding to make the extra effort to love all who are my family and friends.I learnt to compromise and adjust
In six months time, we were back on track!


When my attitude changed, so did his..And one fine day, I picked up the box that contained all my diaries(all 11 of them!)and asked him if he wanted to read them. (after 8 years of being married...)Till that day, no one else had read my diaries, so he was properly respectful of them.We crossed an important milestone that day. I had learnt to trust him fully and he understood that I trusted him totally now. Eight years of living together and three kids-and you know what? Our love story started only then!And he also changed so much..he started talking more about his life, his dreams..he started opening up fully. We found that we basically have the same ideas and views.And he became my diary. I could pour out my anger, fears, my joy, my dreams..my wishes ,and know that my feelings and thoughts are safe with him. He comforted me when I was sad, cautioned me when I was reckless, soothed my fears, laughed along with me,sheared my wonder ...in short..he became better than my diary!

It is now the tenth year of our marriage..and I find that I no longer write in my diary.
My husband is my diary.

MUTTON ULARTH

Ingredients:

Mutton- 1kg
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Button Onions 250 gms
Curry leaves 2-3 stalks
Dry red chillies 6-8 nos.
Green chilly 2-3 nos.
Ginger garlic crush1tbsp
Coconut OIl 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds(powdered)2tsp
Salt to taste
Water 1 cup

Method:

1. Crush dry red chillies ,onions, ginger garlic coarsely.

2. Rub meat with turmeric, salt and coconut oil and leave for 10 minutes.

3. Add all the ingredients and cover and cook till meat is soft and there is a thick gravy. Serve piping hot with chapathi, appam, bread...etc.

This one is my husband's favorite and his mom's recipe.Really great taste.
We sometimes substitute potato, or beef or chicken for the mutton..tastes great then also!!

BUSY....BUSY AS A BEE.....

It's been a busy time of the year for me, what with my parents deciding to go for Hajj, which is a pilgrimage to Mecca..then, a visit to Chennai for my husband's school alumni, a trip to Veegaland, which is a water theme park here in kerala, children's day festivities at the kids' school, ....I've been running nonstop till last week.
Will be filling you in with all the fun details( yes!!it's been good fun!)in my next post..but today, let me be a little lazy and just run off after sharing yet another recipe with all my readers..

Kalathappam, is a traditional dish .Here , in Muvattupuzha, we normally have this for breakfast teamed with beef curry..Heavy,isn't it? But very tasty...just make sure that you don't make this more than once in a month, and you can escape from the clutches of cholestrol!!hehe!!

KALATHAPPAM

Ingredients:

Riceflour 1 big cup
Coconut grated 1/2
Salt 1 tsp
Coconut oil 2-3 cups
Soda bicarb a pinch
Water enough to make a loose batter
Shallots/button onions10 sliced thin


Method:

1. Heat an uruli.This is a traditional kerala vessel made from bell metal. If you don't have an uruli, you could use a nonstick pan, or an iron pan. Once hot, add oil.

2. Heat water slightly.

3. Keep shallots aside and mix the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add the slightly hot water.

4. Mix till it is a thick batter.

5. The oil should be hot by now. Add a tsp of the sliced shallots, then pour a big spoon of the batter into the oil.

6. Turn over after 2 minutes, then remove after 2 minutes.

7. Drain on an absorbent paper, then serve hot and crispy with beef curry.

Tip: the kalathappam should be soft and thick in the middle and cripy at the edges. for those of you who don't like the taste of fried onions, remove shallots from the recipe...

Food is music ..music is food..

" The Indians are the Italians of Asia. It can be said that the Italians are the Indians of Europe, but you do understand me, I think..Every man in both countries is a inger when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them,food is music in the body, and music is food inside the heart."

I had been reading the book Shantaram the other day, and these lines, penned by Gregory David Roberts struck me as soo true..We Indians wax lyrical about our food.All our important festivals and events are centered around food and music. These two go hand in hand.
As for me, I love music. My Ipod is like my umbilical cord for me. Stuffed with happy hip hop songs (malayalam, tamil, hindi, english,kannada..)..When I am in the kitchen working, it doesn't seem like work when I have music flowing around me. And now, afetr reading these lines, I have the best explanation ..
Food is music inside the body, music is food inside the heart...


NAADAN BEEF CURRY

Ingredients:

Beef chopped and cleaned 500 gm(1/2 kg)
Onion sliced finely 2
Tomato sliced finely 1 small
Green chilly slit in half 6-8 nos.
Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
Coconut Oil 5-6 tbsp
Salt 1 tbsp
Pepper 1 tsp
Assorted spices.......(turmeric-1tsp, Chilli powder -2 tsp, Coriander powder- 3 heaped tsp, Cumin seeds powdered(perumjeerakam)2 tsp)...heat together on low flame till dark brown in colour, and you get a nice spicy smell in the kitchen.
Curry leaves 2 stalks


Method:

1. Take all the ingredients, except for pepper, and put into a pressure cooker.

2. Mix well till all the ingredients have been well blended. Keepaside ,covered , for some time.(ten to thirty minutes)

3. Pressure cook on high flame till the whistle sounds. Then lower heat and cook on low flame for 20 minutes.

4. Open cooker after 15 minutes only. The beef will be well cooked but the gravy will be watery. Keep the cooker open and boil again till gravy becomes a bit more thicker.

5. Add pepper, serve hot with coconut rice, paratha, puttu, bread..anything!!

Tip:
If you add 1/2 a tsp of ricepowder or appom batter to the watery ravy, it will turn thick faster.

EID MUBARAK

Eid is special to me..As a true blue mallu muslim, I try to follow the old time traditions as much as possible. I have lovely memories of the festival during my childhood..Eid, Onam, Vishu, Bakrid, Christmas, too...My Umma has always followed a set special routine at my home..she never deviates from it, so that as a child, I always knew what would be the menu for breakfast , lunch, dinner that day...I also knew the exact order of events that would happen on that day, where we would go, what we would do, when we would do every single thing just like the years before.
Likewise, when I got married and came to my husband's home, I found that my mother -in - law also had her own set of traditions with which my husband was totally familiar.By the time I set up my own home about two years ago, I was confused..which set of traditions should I follow that my kids relate to?
I was loath to give up my mother's traditions, at the same time, I didn't want to deprive N of all his familiar Eid routines...
So what I did was mix them up, and now, after two Eids, we have our very own traditions , and my children Insha Allah(god willing) will grow up to that familiar rhythm all their lives.

My mother used to make this sweet dish every Eid for breakfast along with Idiyappams( string hoppers) and Liver roast. What I did was to discard the latter two items, keeping only the sweet, and making Pathiri and Mutton Kurma as my mother -in-law makes for Eid ..What a great mish mash of our two separate traditions..no?


Ethappazha Kurry
SWEET BANANA CURRY

Ingredients:
Ripe bananas 2 (diced)
Coconut milk 2 cups
Sugar 6-8 tbsp
Rice powder 2 tbsp
Cardamoms crushed 6
Water 2 cups
Salt a pinch
Cashewnuts 5-6
Kismis 5-6
Ghee 2 tbsp



Method:

1. Chop Bananas and put into a saucepan along with water, cardamom, and sugar.

2. Boil till the bananas are tender and the water has become half in quantity( 10 minutes max.)

3. Mix ricepowder into coconut milk.

4. Add coconut milk, and a pinch of salt.

5. Heat again, but don't boil. Remove from heat.

6. Heat ghee in another pan, add cashenuts and kismis.

7. Saute till golden in colour and then pour onto the banana curry.

8. Serve hot or cold...tastes delicious either way!!

BUILD A FORT WITH BLANKETS..

This is such a simple and magnificient idea for the kids....for you too!!The kids will love you for it..Let them make it..help them out with suggestions, (like using the dinner table also as part of the structure!)Heavy books are also useful...to keep the sheets from sliding off !!
Having fashioned an approximate fort from all the sheets that are in your linen cupboard, the citizens of the fort will have to address the next big issue...FOOD!!
Technically and traditionally..fort food will never be nutricious..that means a big no no to rice, chapathis,etc., and big nods to jelly, icecream, fizzy drinks, biscuits..and so on...
So what this sly mommy does, is stand at the entrance of the fort with a picnic basket laden with french (or bombay..as we call it here in kerala!)toasts and frothy choclate milk with straws(!!!a big treat!!)

FRENCH(OR BOMBAY) TOAST

Ingredients:

Bread -4 slices
Milk -1/4 cup
Egg -1
Sugar -3 tbsp
Salt -a pinch
Butter -2 tbsp


Method:

1. Beat together egg,milk, sugar,and salt til light and frothy.

2. Cut bread slices into half, as triangles.

3. Heat a pan and melt a little butter.

4. Dip the bread slices in egg ,then fry till golden on either side.