Myriad Musings

It is the hungriest of times, it is the busiest of times. My son finishes his classes by 2.30 and gets ready for an hour of badminton coaching.  (In school itself.  Thank God!  I don't have to chauffeur him with the bored younger one tagging along.) He needs to pick his school bag, lunch box, change into gym clothes and rush down 2 floors as soon as humanely possible for the sports club. The coaching itself is quite intense, working on his flexibility, speed of response and cardiac fitness in addition to learning the nuances of the game. It leaves his exhausted and hungry.  Though he never admits to either.  he thinks hunger and exhaustion is experienced by sissies and weaklings.  Like me.  It behooves upon me to give him something healthy, preferably high in calories to keep him content and the contrary devil in him asleep.  You know the one I am talking about.  The one which makes you argue over the silliest things and needle your youn...

I am on a new quest this month.  Making a different lunch every weekday for my son's lunch box.  No repeats for the entire month. July 2nd  Rajma, Roti Text book preparation of Phulkas and Rajma.  Both the kids love this.  Ash had it for breakfast lunch and dinner. July 3rd  Spinach Cabbage Pie July 4th   Idli+Shallots Sambar July 5th  Chickpea Burger - made into a Murtabak for the adults, I used the left over pie base for the bread July 6th  Ragda Patties - recipe from Tarla Dala l.  I used a cheese filling instead of the mint mix. \ July 9th Pizza - base from French Loaf, sauce and veggies to taste.  Lots of Amul cheese. July 10th Vada Paav with a Paneer+Sweet Potato vada to increase the protein levels, again base recipe is from Tarla Dalal;  Definitely make the Dry Garlic Chutney she recommends.  We had the regular vada paav for a evening snack. July 11th  Chinese Fried Rice + Onion Rait...

I have been trying no-egg baking along with Gayathri's blog every month.  It is just that either I find the result too dense or not as satisfying as the original or I run into technical problems with managing my laptop/cell phone/ipad.  This month I have decided to post what was a very satisfying pie.  It may be way past the deadline but I would like to preserve the recipe I tried online. I of course tried to make the pie as healthy as possible, though an article in the NYT is freeing my rather stingy hands when it comes to oil.  I have started carrying my own bottle to Restore and buying cold pressed oils.  The fragrance when I make dosas or adai with this oil makes everyone salivate.  It is pretty good in the base of this pie too. The regular peanut oil cannot hold a candle to it. I love the taste of sweet corn but I am haunted by the idea of how genetically modified this Monsanto import is.  I have started avoiding this in my kitchen.  I ...

I imagine if I had continued to live in the states, my blogging life would be a continuation of my social life.  The women I hang out with at/outside of work would also be the ones who blog along similar interests and share commentary on the blog.  Blogging hadn't quite taken off when I was living there, here, none of the women I know through work or mommy groups blog for fun.  Whenever I come across a local blog, by local I mean in any place in India I am familiar with, I always latch on and try to engage with comments on their blogs and trying to join their blogging-related endeavour.    Gayathri's blog was one such serendipity find.  She is the only ACTIVE blogger i have found so far. She has a egg-less  baking group I promptly signed up for, then just like at work with my research, I promptly got lost in thoughts of what to make, why is egg used etc... and didn't quite get down to baking until today.  I even planned enough to save br...

I cook chana daal with methi, onions, garlic and tomatoes; Serve it with roti and/or rice it is a blah lunch.  I cook the same chana dal, drain the water, fry the methi leaves, onion and garlic.  Mix everything together, form into patties and insert between two halves of a burger bun, it suddenly becomes irresistible?  How is that possible?  I prefer the former version, my son the latter. Does the addition of raw veggies, mint sauce and a slice of cheese really change the taste so much?  Or is he just eating wth his eyes?  Cool modern burger as opposed to my grandmother's fare? I usually add a potato to bind the chana and methi together and to give him some much needed carbs.  This is usually a hit in his lunch box, served with ketchup on the side and NO fries.

I found the perfect cookie recipe at Annie's eats .  I used Nattuchakkarai or the south Indian organic brown sugar and repeated her recipe with very little changes here.  Result?  Perfection!  I dare say, even Annie might agree, nattuchakkarai takes her excellent recipe up a notch with its fudgy gooeyness.  Also it has some chunkier bits amidst the powdery stuff and the chunky stuff hangs on to its shape stubbornly through mixing, even with a hand mixer and baking, finally giving up the ghost when you bite into the cookie. Delicious.  And to top it all, I made it with chapathi flour (whole wheat) not maida. I used a combination of ghee (i had forgotten to switch off the gas when I was melting ghee for my son's breakfast and ended up browning it up a tad too much) and melted butter.  The butter ghee mix was truly at room temperature and I did not have any issues with the dough some of the other commentators had talked about. I felt the size of the do...

I buy healthy foods like I used to shop for accessories in my college days.  I just pick random ingredients with all good intentions  of making something deceptively rich and artery clogging, but actually healthy and frequently forget about it after the first disastrous attempt.  Kollu or Horsegram was one such victim; I made kollu thuvaiyal, my co-sister's recommendation, the first time and no one could tolerate the taste, least of all me.  Kollu rasam hardly needed more than a spoon of Kollu. The Kollu stayed forgotten in the recesses of my pantry. I love hot spicy milagaipodi with idli/dosa, sometimes even with rice, but the store bought variety don't quite pack a punch and have a strong hing taste.  I decided to make horsegram version which does pack a punch, an awakening (for the kollu) if you will, tasteless on the tongue to "Wow!  What was that?" It seems to be a day of side-dishes.  I have not given up making Gau lunch he finishes with joy,...