Myriad Musings

Navarathri started yesterday.  In culinary terms, it means 9 sundals (beans/channa/moong salad basically) for the 9 days of navarathri, Sweets on the first day, friday, saraswathi puja day and Vijayadasami day.  Onions, Garlic are not allowed on festive days; Traditional sundals are all about a tadka of mustard, jeera,  hing and freshly grated coconut on cooked, salted beans/chana/moong/lentil.  My challenge is to come up with variations on the traditional sundal while maintaining the satvic nature of the food. First Day :  Sweet Stewed karamani sprouts inspired by Just Bento . 1 cup karamani (cranberry bean variety, not the back eyed pea variety) 1/4 cup jaggery/brown sugar 1/4 tspoon dried ginger (or to taste) 1/2 medium coconut grated 1/4 tspoon salt I soaked the karamani overnight,  then let it sprout in a collander all day. Pressure cooked with just enough water to cover the karamani - otherwise it gets mushy Add the jaggery, dry ginger sal...

My sis had twins!  Delivered at 32 weeks, each baby barely 1.4 kgs now and no bigger than the baby monkey's i see around IIT but mom and babies are doing well and together since yesterday!  I am sooooooo thrilled to finally have a baby girl in the family! Between her and work I have no time to write out or take pics of my bento inspired menu for the week: Breakfast Idli Sambhar Dosa, Peanut chutney Dosa, Tomato Gojju Vegetable Utappam, Peanut Garlic Powder Idli Sambhar Lunch Box Roti, Aloo subji Utappam, Aloo tikki, Sweet Karamani Sundal Fried rice,  with Knol Khol, Beetroot, Methi Leaves, Carrot and Paneer Multigrain Waffle sandwich with Lentil Patty Red rice, Karamani Kootu, Beans Bananas Apple, Nuts Cookies and Dark Chocolate Mixed Nuts Moong Sundal Snack Egg Sandwich Bhel Puri Chana Sundal Moong Sundal Makhana Kheer Dinner ...

I found it!  A tool to plan my menu every week!  From the justbento page! Each page is split into breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and notes for pre-prep.  I abhor the idea of printing a page and pasting on the fridge, so I am either going to spend on a whiteboard or simply work with soft copies. I know I don't quite pack my lunch into a bento box, but I think traditional Indian dabbas or their plastic tupperware equivalent my son loves work just as well.  I do plan out a protein, carbohydrate and vegetabes and/or fruits for each lunch box.  The traditional college tiffen box of pulisaatham or lemon rice does not pass muster in my house.  The biggest hurdle for me is the time - my son gets a meagre 25 min for lunch and he plays half that time.