Myriad Musings

Nothing reflects the rising cost of fresh fruits and vegetables better than greens in Chennai, especially the slightly more North Indian ones like Methi and Palak.  Methi which had never exceeded 15 Rs now sells for a shocking 30 Rs on the streets of Besantnagar, on the rare occasions you actually find it!. I normally buy vegetables and fruits from the road side hawkers - even if the cost is a 10 - 20% higher, it is a question of survival of small businesses and hopefully the produce is a little more fresh and a lot more local.  I visit big stores for exotic produce mostly, this time I found Methi in Pazhamuthir Cholai at a lovely 10Rs a bunch!  I bought 2 and we have had methi everything this week - Methi Sambhar, Methi leaves in Paniyaram and finally yesterday Methi Thepla a.k.a Methi Paratha in my house. Gau has exams this week, he spends 2 hours in school writing the paper, then comes home and mopes around the house hardly studying and grabbing every second he can ...

I woke up, reluctantly, at 6 am today, spent time pressing Gau's uniform, waking him up and still managed to get him out of the house at 6.50 am with a roti in his belly and complete, packed nutritious meal :)  DH mocked me when I announced this at home.  But seriously about 40 minutes to make and pack lunch is awesome no? Theplas are a kind of Gujarathi roti (flat bread).  The dough is prepared exactly like roti, except for the addition of yogurt, chili powder, turmeric powder, hing and sometimes vegetables and/or greens. These Theplas have amazing staying power, and travel well. Paraphrasing they stay fresh for a long while, so good to take when you are travelling. I had made the dough for Methi Theplas yesterday, and I had also soaked chana (chickpeas) plannning on Roti, Chana for lunch.  But at 6.15 I decided I lacked the time to chop lots of onions, tomatoes and garlic and still get the chickpeas cooked and ready.  I made a paneer hummus instead....