Chooda

 Happy New Year to all of my readers and thank you for supporting and encouraging me to write. It's been a while, I blogged and today I thought I should just do it and get connected with my readers.

  My kids goes to after school Math and Reading program, and they are liking it and learning a lot.  It's twice a week and they get home work for the rest of the week. After certain level kids will be doing the work on their own and if needed teachers will be there to assist, but the basic idea is to do work independently and the work should be finished in 20-25 mins, depending on what level they are doing. All kinds of cultural groups of people come there and majority is Asians!

 So while they are doing their work, parents wait outside, in the waiting area, trying hard not to disturb the kids!  They have a board "Great minds at work,please be silent and silence your cell phones"! But it's human nature.......still the phone rings and some people just grab the phone and go outside to talk and others, do not even bother to get out of the chair!

 So last week when I was waiting for my kids......a elderly person came inside with a cup of coffee, there is a coffee shop in the same building and people usually get coffee from there, after the kids goes inside to do their math and/or reading.  And I have seen this elderly person when I go there, having coffee always.  And that day also, guess his grand kids went inside and he got himself coffee and came and sat in the chair.  In the middle chair, nobody was sitting and next to that, a guy was sitting with his Ipad.

 So this elderly person started to look what the guy was doing in the Ipad!  And the guy started to look at the elderly person, but he did not understand why he was looking at him, but he continued to peep into his Ipad.  The guy started to get irritated and he showed his irritation by swinging his head to side ways and changing his positions..........but none of them were understood by the elderly gentlemen and further leaned on the other chair, so that he can see the Ipad properly and was enjoying his coffee!!!!!!

  By that time, guess, the coffee was over, he went and threw the cup and while coming back to his chair, he had a loud long burp!!!!!!!!!! And this time he came and sat next to the guy with Ipad so that he do not have to lean to look into his Ipad, and suddenly the guy got off from his chair and said "Jesus, Oh my God" and pushed the door and went out!

 Well.........there were some 10 people sitting so silently watching the whole thing.....now did not know what and how to react to this.......I saw people trying to hide their laugh! And above all, the elderly person, did not even understand what happened and he just closed his eyes and started to doze.......!

 Hmm.........I always take a book with me and read while I wait for my kids to finish their work and never lift my head, until kids come out.  But that day, it was raining and I had to manage, umbrella,kids bag etc, so I left the book in the van, since I did not want my library book to get wet! So I happened to witness the whole scene and started to think about human nature, the upbringing,culture,sophistication!

 We, Indians are generally very caring,affectionate and we always lend a helping hand to others! We always share ours and listen to others issues or problems.  We are never, like, mind our business, types! We do tend to show curiosity in other people lives and basically I always thought it's human nature to be curious!

 So I guess, that elderly person was generally curious to see what he was doing and I think he was playing a game on Ipad, which of course has become like a epidemic disease now, according to me.  Everybody has a Ipad, most of them playing games on that. And in general curiosity the elderly person must have peeped into it, without having any ill or bad intentions.

 Burping loud.........well, I too dislike that, but getting up and going out, was little too much of a reaction, according to my opinion!

 When you are in a public place, you tend to see, meet, people with different looks,expressions,behaviour and some talk loud.......!

 I have been in this country for more than 10 years now and understand that people do not bother or interfere with other people life. And everything seems to be sort of superficial and they do take breaks from their own family people to be alone and have fun and they call it as peaceful time and relaxation. They have limitations to what ever they do regarding their kids or parents or siblings......! To say it one word, they are self-centered and give lot of self importance!

 I am not criticizing the behaviour or culture but I am just analysing........and it is not the question of right or wrong, it is only how you are and what you think, that is all to it!

 Anyways.........if I had the book that day, all these analysis would not have happened, I would have just mind my business! But still, if somebody else is reading a book, as a human nature, I might want to know, what book it is and peep into the book...........LOL, but from now on I will be careful! But I am sure I will not burp loud!

 OK, coming back to my recipes.....today I like to share a tasty snack, which compared to chips or pakodas, can be considered as healthy, since it's not a deep fried snack.  It's my mom's recipe and I like to share that with you, my kids really likes it very much.

 Generally I do not listen to my husband!!!!! But today I thought let listen to him and do what he said! He always asks me, why do I need to do a picture collage instead I can just put the final picture but I like to do a collage of all the possible steps for a recipe.  Today I listened to him and not made any collage but just put the picture of "Chooda"!

 I am not sure, many people may call it differently, but I know this as "Chooda", which is a great snack on any day with tea or coffee. So here goes the recipe, hope you will enjoy Chooda, with a cup of coffee or tea, while you watch your favorite show on TV or reading a nice book!

Ingredients:

Pooha (Very thin) 3 cups
Dry coconut 1/2 cup
Red chillies  8-10 (Or adjust according to taste)
Peanuts or Cashews
Salt to taste
Sugar 1/4 tsp
Oil   1 Tbsp
Mustard seeds
Turmeric 1/2 Tsp
Asafoetida
Few Curry leaves


Method:

  In a deep pan heat the oil and add mustard seeds and when it starts to pop up, add asafoetida,turmeric, red chillies, curry leaves,peanuts or cashews and fry them on a light flame, making sure that peanuts or cashews will not turn black.  Once they are done, add the pooha and turn the flame to sim and mix well, making sure that all the ingredients are mixed well with pooha and then salt and sugar, again mix well and then add the dry coconut and mix well.  Before taking off turn the heat to medium for a minute mix well and take out from heat and store it in a air tight container.

Tips:
  You get 2-3 varieties of pooha in Patel Brothers.  The one which says Pooha thin and it's slightly bigger than the other varieties, is the one used for chooda.




  

Chakali

  Couple of years ago, I had watched a documentary about "Old age homes", I am forgetting the name of that documentary movie, which is made in our local language,Kannada.  We speak "kannada" at home.  And some how I could not forget the characters in that movie, the faces, their expressions, it haunted me for quite some time. And even now if I think of that, I still remember the movie very clearly, if I come to remember the name of that movie, before I finish my blog, I will definitely mention it.

  So it was about the current generation of children, with their modern thoughts, their life style and entirely different thought process and out look about life,parents,Indian culture and traditions and practices. Before I move on, on this subject, I will try to throw a light on our culture and practices, so that it might give you an idea of what I am trying to express. Children are supposed to take care of their parents in their old age.  According to Indian culture, a son has to take care of their parents, since the daughter goes away after getting married.  So parents live with their son, together as a joint family.  That's how it's been from many many years.

 But from past 15-20 years, things are changing and people are getting modern,and getting influenced by other cultures, since they are getting exposed to various things, which is making them selfish,ungrateful and self centered which has gone to an extent of forgetting our duties towards our parents and elders! So the result you could see the "old age homes", coming up in our country! It's a facility where you leave your parents there, pay some money, every month, to take care of them and giving them some false hope, that one day you would take them back to their home!

 So each and every day, they would wait for their children to come and take them back, which would never happen.  And the documentary was about this, where they show 4-5 families, where the children who are married and wants some "independent" life, feels parents as burden, live their parents in a old age home and some children, don't even bother to tell their parents that they are going to leave them there, but just ask them to be there, until they come back and of course they would never come back.

 Those aged parents, used to look out of the windows every single day, expecting their children to come back........and that's how the documentary ended, showing the parents face, filled with anxious,eager,desperate,pain, looking through those windows which had bars, which sort of looks like a prison!!!!

 And some how I could not forget those faces and that movie haunted me for a long time and it was sort of faded away these days........!  But suddenly I started to remember those faces and that movie..........when I go to my younger daughter's preschool, to pick her up!

  Just to get the idea about school and get used to the routine of getting up early and get going to school next year, we thought of sending our younger daughter to preschool, from couple of months she is going to preschool only couple of days in a week and only for half day for 4 hours.  I go in the noon to pick her up and as soon as I open the door, 5-6 kids come running to me and everybody trying to say something to me and trying to catch my attention at the same time. One of them really pleads to take her home with me and keep on telling things, what all she did on that day and the teacher has to distract her, by saying, I want you to go and put all the toys away so that you can have a nap...or something like that!

 It becomes difficult to come out of that door, and I some how feel so sad and guilty turning my back on them and closing the door and walking away with my daughter........!

 Some of the kids there, are even younger to my daughter! Every time you drop off or pick up your kid, you need to sign in and out the time. So while signing I have observed that most of the kids are signed in as early in the morning at 6.45 and signed out at 6 in the evening!

 In a room from morning till evening, every single day, doing some activity, sometimes it's the same or similar activities and whether the kids is feeling sick or not in a mood or may want something else to do.......has no choice but to stay in that room every single day, because parents has to work!!!!

 Well, one thing worth to mention here is, this preschool is really awesome and take care of the kids so nicely and they try so hard to create a good healthy atmosphere for kids.

 But I keep wondering that is the job so necessary?????? Can that wait for 8-10 years when kids become totally independent physically and stable emotionally and have maturity enough to understand???? Kids need parents at every step of the way and once they are able to understand and can handle situations, then it is okay to go for work, while they are in school from morning till evening.

  When parents can afford to send to the day care, which is way too expensive, well it has to be expensive, if a day care has to provide every thing, right from feeding, putting them to nap in the noon, potty training, teaching them, and looking after them when they are sick or when they throw tantrums......! So when you have money, what is the need for you to send to the day care,leaving them alone,when they need you in every way,when it is so hard for them to adjust.

  So as I close the door of the class room and walk away with my daughter and turn back and see that the kids would be looking at us.......with tears,pain,and disappointed.......I remembered the movie about the "Old Age homes"!!!!!

 Well, it's just my thoughts about the Old Age homes and day care, which I thought of sharing with you today.

 Last week was Diwali, festival of lights, and we celebrated the festival with friends. I was remembering that, my mother used to make 5-6 kinds of sweets(desserts) and deep fried snacks and which I would eat for lunch,snack and dinner! And today I wondered that, was that really me, who ate so much of desserts and deep fried snacks??  Now I hardly eat any dessert or any snack and many of the things I have forgotten that I used to eat!

 Brr....chilly weather,cold winds,snow has started and it was Diwali and from 4-5 months there is a strict diet at home and I was remembering our old days of Diwali........so just thought to take a detour from my diet cooking and make something totally yummy,totally tasty,deep fried and for which your "heart" will say "thank you", for making me happy!

 This is my mom's recipe, which I tried for first and it came out well and kids loved it and my husband tasted and felt it was tasty and my heart sang to me "thank you.."!

 I love to share this recipe with you, hoping that you will try it, it is the most easy recipe of chakali, which is a deep fried snack. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Rice flour  2 cups
Roasted gram dhal(Hurigadale) 1 cup
Butter 3 tbsps
Green chillies  3-4 (Optional)
Asafoetida
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:

 Make a fine powder of roasted gram dhal and mix it with rice flour. Add salt to taste and mix well.  Make a paste of green chillies and asafoetida, if you are adding green chillies.  I did not make a paste of green chillies since, the moment my kids find it is green chillies they do not eat.  I just added asafoetida and butter and mixed well.  Now add little water to make dough without making any lumps.  It should be little bit more softer that chapathi dough so that when you fill and press it in the chakali maker it should come out easily, without lot of effort.

  Heat the oil in a deep pan and fill the dough in the chakali maker and press it, and it should come out easily, in to the oil. Deep fry until light brown on both the sides and take out gently from the oil and place it on a tissue paper.

 You can see the chakali maker in my picture above.

  Enjoy the chakali with your family once in a way!

Brown Basmathi Rice Masala Dosa

  I was missing, blogging, so today I thought I should just blog and say hello to all of you!  The journey of duty,responsibility,fun,joy,stress,tension,happiness, content,proud begins the moment you become a parent! And it grows as and when the kids grow up, and at certain point you will even feel that, days, months and years passes by so fast that you would not have gotten a chance to sit and take a deep breath!

  But it's a wonderful journey and I am sure every parent would enjoy and feel content and proud of this beautiful journey.  Today I like to share the fun part of this beautiful journey with you, and hoping to put a smile on your face.

  My elder daughter started to go to full time school and my younger one now has more time to spend with me, though she goes for two days of preschool in a week.  So couple of days ago, I was vacuuming the floors and my younger one came running to me and said,  "Amma,(mom) I see a cat on our deck", which sounded very unusual and I immediately went and saw, two little kittens, sitting near the plant stand and looking towards our deck door!

  They were really cute and very little.  So I told my daughter "Oh, they are kittens, guess they need some milk, that is why they are looking at us"!  But she said immediately "No, they are not kittens, they are baby cats"!  Ok, I stand corrected myself as "baby cats"!

 I asked her, "Do you think, we should give them some milk?"  And the moment I finished my question, I was shocked and surprised about myself, asking that question!  I am never ever a pet person, nor liked any cats or kittens or dogs.  And it sounded so weird coming out of me, to give some milk to the kittens! I have never done that in my life nor that kind of thought came to me.

  Actually in India, cats are not considered as auspicious and there are lot of beliefs(superstitious) about cats!  If you see a cat as soon as you wake up in the morning, something bad is going to happen on that day or if a cat passes in front of you while you are walking or driving, something bad is happening to you! So if you are one unlucky person to see a cat one morning, then on that day, you will feel miserable and scared thinking that something bad is going to happen on that day, like, if you are working, you may fear that you might be yelled for some reason by your boss, or if you are a student, you might fear, your teacher might yell at you or might fail in the test..........!  But nothing might happen on that day, but you yourself would have made it miserable, thinking that something will happen!

  And in India it's so easy to see a cat, anytime and any where.  So even I believed in that and I used to bend my head as much as I can, when I used to go out early in the morning, so that I may not have an encounter of eye to eye with a cat! Sounds so funny now.

 So with this kind of opinion about cats, and now you can imagine, why I felt so weird about myself that, I wanted to give them milk, when I saw them on my deck, that too in the morning!

 I never bothered to look at them nor appreciated if they were cute.  But that day I took some time to study them and see how they are!  Well, that is because my younger one was so excited to see the kittens, well "baby cats" and there was a minute to minute report on what they were doing and how they were sitting.

 I was cleaning up the house, my daughter keep running from the deck door to me, back and forth to describe, that, they were black and white baby cats and they were licking themselves and they yawned, they stretched, they are sleeping, they are waiting for us to feed them milk and after sometime, her imagination started working!

 She started to tell "Amma(mom), they like me, they want me to come and play with them, one baby cat, asked me can I come inside and do coloring with you..."!!!!

 By that time I was tired of telling "Wow, really, good, that's so cute"!!!!  So I just went and closed the blinds, so that there will be no further report of those "baby cats"!

  I always wondered what would my younger daughter become when she grow up and now I know, she will become a very good CNN, news reporter!  She can describe, and also put her own imagination to the news and report so well, that, even for all these years, when I believed that cats are not even good to take a look at them, thought of feeding them, today!  Like the CNN reporters, who do a great job, in reporting and covering whether it is hurricane news or about economy or how are things after 9/11.......!  So in the same way, guess my daughter will be a reporter one fine day!

 It's not that I believe in reading horoscope but now and then I do take a look on my MSN daily horoscope and I only feel content if there is something positive or good forecast for that day!  And I so happened to look some 10 days ago and had read that "I should start thinking of bringing a pet to the house, since I need some change and new people in my life, now that I am capable of showing love and affection, not just to family and friends, I need a pet"!!!!!!

 Well, the feeling of feeding those kittens was because of my stars influence or my little reporter's influence.....don't know yet!

  As I told you in my previous blogs, that I want to make it possible, just because you are on diet, you do not need to sacrifice on the favorite food you eat and a few changes to the recipe can make it more healthy and yet you can eat your favorite food.  So here I am, tried once again, with Brown Basmathi rice to make Masala dosa and it turned out to be awesome and it tastes very yummy and you will not know that the dosa is made from Brown rice, until you are told.

 So here goes the recipe, hope you will try and enjoy, as much as my husband did.  It is masala dosa recipe, but in the picture you see as "plain dosa", since, I just wanted to make sure that, it comes out well and then make onion-potato curry for masala dosa.  As you see in the picture, you will not find any difference in the dosa, it looks same, as the regular dosa, made with white rice but the batter will not look white, it looks little cream color.  One important tip is, please try this with Brown Basmathi rice, since the regular brown rice dosa, did not come up well.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Brown Basmathi Rice
1/3 Cup Urad Dal
1 fist full Pooha and channa dal
1 table spoon of Fenu greek seeds (Methi seeds)

Method:

  Soak brown basmathi rice and methi seeds together and the rest of the ingredients separatley in water for 6-8 hours and grind to a fine paste, brown basmathi rice and methi seeds and then add the rest of the ingredients and grind to fine paste.

  Keep the batter to ferment for 8-10 hours and the dosa batter is ready!  You can make onion-potato curry and chutney for the dosa.

 Heat the pan and pour the batter and spread and if I make in non stick pan, I use 1/4 Tea spoon of oil or no oil to make dosa.  It comes out very well and tasty. And you can see that dosa will be brown on the other side, then you can add a spoon full of onion-potato curry and fold the dosa and serve hot, with chutney.  If you do not want to make the curry, you can just make plain dosa and eat with chutney or chutney podi and enjoy!

 Please see the recipe of onion-potato recipe in my regular masala dosa recipe.






  

Cracked Wheat Idlis

  My daughter graduated from Kindergarten to 1st Grade!! And her school had "Moving Up Ceremony" and we were invited to the ceremony.  All the kids were given a chance to sing, individually and share their favorite day in Kindergarten! The Principal of the school spoke and praised the teacher for her excellent work!  It was very well organized and teacher had put lot of effort to train the kids and all the kids did very well.  Teacher, parents and kids looked so happy.

  My husband said, what ever they do in this country, they do with their heart, that's why they are happy, they really like and enjoy what they do, but this is not the same thing in our country(India)!

 Well, it cannot be just said in one sentence that, it's not same in India!  There are lot of factors, reasons, for that, so considering all those we need to make statements or judgements! So let me try to put my thoughts here, why it's not same in India!

  A man, who is the sole bread winner of the house, has to work so hard to meet ends, and take care of the entire family, family here, means, his aged parents, wife, kids, and if any unmarried sisters or studying or unemployed brothers. So how can he be happy and content in life, always he would be worried and running around to see what best he can do for the family? Where will he find time to celebrate and enjoy the precious moments in his life?

  And he would naturally expect his kids to do very well in life, since he has faced harsh realities in life!  So from day one, from kindergarten, kids are expected to score best, so that they can get into a good high school and then to a very good college and get the degree, and through that, they will be able to get a good, rewarding job.

 So to achieve that goal, kids need to work so hard, they are always under constant pressure of studying hard and scoring the highest marks! There is so much of competition, that, kids are really under pressure and tense all the time. Even if a kid has scored 93% marks in 10th grade (we call 10th Standard in India), but if the cut off percentage to enter into a good college is 94%, then that kid's future is gone!!!!

 93% is such a highest score and to reach that level, the kid must have really worked hard and still if he is not able to get into his desired college or does not get his desired subject to study, all the years he has spent in studying so hard would be such a waste!

 Scores are so very important to get into a good college and only getting into a good college can land you in getting a good, rewarding job!  So it's a loop.

   The system is like that, the culture is different, so how can you just say that "things are not same in India"! And how can kids be happy when there is so much of pressure on them to study hard?  How can a parent be happy and content, when there is social, financial pressure on them?  How can we expect a teacher to be happy, when there is a chance that, teaching may not be his desired profession or he might be having a hard time, in his life too?

  So under these circumstance nobody appears to be happy or content, since parents, kids, and teachers would be worried and tense to reach their goals.

  Not even a single day, my daughter was tense or stressed in doing her school homework, and the homework would be just one sheet of paper, either to trace a alphabet or color a picture or write from 1 to 5, numbers, which my daughter would do in less than 10 minutes.  There was no mid term tests or final examination.  So there was no pressure on her at all.

  I have just tried to put some light on the aspect of Indian culture and educational system, and hope you agree with my thought process.  Indian culture, education system, values, traditions, caste system is very huge and it's a very vast subject, which cannot be covered in my blog, I just tried to discuss a few aspects of it and hope that you got some idea and hoping that my husband will agree with my views!

  As I was writing in my previous blog, that, I am doing a lot of healthy cooking these days, so today I like to share a very low in carbohydrate but still tasted delicious.  Rave Idlis can be done with broken or cracked wheat, still it tastes very yummy.  I did it from scratch and I want to share the recipe with you and like to remind you, that, there is no need to sacrifice your favorite food, just because you are on diet. A little variation in the recipe can be made to reduce the amount of carbohydrates and fat, still can make the best!  So here goes, the cracked wheat idils, please try this and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Large cup cracked wheat(makes 12 idlis)
1/2 Cup non fat yogurt
5-6 green chillies(Or adjust according to taste)
few coriander leaves
few curry leaves
salt
1 Tsp oil
1/4 Tsp mustard seeds

Method:

  In a deep pan, fry cracked wheat, until you get the aroma, you cannot see the color change, since cracked wheat is light brown and keep it aside.  Whisk yogurt and add little water, if the yogurt is thick.  Non fat home made yogurt will not be thick.  Mix yogurt to the fried cracked wheat and set aside the idli batter for one and half an hour to soak well, in yogurt.

  After one and half an hour, heat oil and add mustard seeds and once it starts to splutter, add green chillies and curry leaves and add to the idli batter.  Add salt to taste and coriander leaves and mix well.

  Then pour the batter into the idli maker and steam in the cooker for 10-11 minutes.  Serve hot idlis with chutney or saagu and enjoy!

  The cracked wheat needs to be soaked in yogurt so that it becomes soft and it needs to be steamed for 10-11 minutes, since it takes little longer time, than regular Rava idlis, to cook.

 I had made onion-potato saagu, for this idlis, but I had used just a half of potato since potato is not good for weight watchers! You can get the recipe of the saagu, under my "Saagu,curries" label, that's the little variation I made, so did not miss out on saagu. Instead of regular Rava, I used cracked wheat, that's the little variation I made so that do not have to miss on eating idlis.  For chutney also, instead of coconut you can make it with onions-channa dal and totally avoid coconut but still it tastes yummy.

Whole Wheat Vegetable Rotti

   It's been a while that I blogged, actually I was acting in a movie called "Life, after Tornado"!  I know you will be so surprised and have lot of questions - is that my new hobby or when did I take up acting and what kind of movie is it and who else is there in that movie.........!!

  Well, I was hoping and thinking that the events which happened in my life, in past few months, sounded like a movie story......so that's the reason I wrote I was acting in a movie!  I wish that it was a movie, which is going to end in 3 hours(if it is a Bollywood movie), but it continued for a while and now I am hoping that it's all over and I could have some peace!  That's the reason I wrote "Life after Tornado", because I am feeling that I was caught in the tornado!

 But because of all my caring, affectionate reader's best wishes, life is getting back on track and so today I thought to blog and share my feelings, also my new kind of recipes which are heart healthy and low in carbohydrates!

 I was reading some where that, how kids feel about their parents....at age 10 they feel, their parents are awesome and best, at 20 they start to think that their parents are no good and cannot do anything, at 30 they start to think and wonder, how did our parents do everything, managing career, kids,home, finances, at 40 they feel, they cannot live without their parents....!!  It's the age that makes them feel that way, and as and when they grow up and face the world, then they start to recognize their parents!!

 Now I am a "good artist/awesome cook, look beautiful and best est in the whole world, according to my kids!!!! They just like what ever I do and I keep wondering about all the awards they give me, which no one has ever told about me in my entire life, well, except my mom!!

 So that's the motivation I get to move on and do things more and more to please them and make them happy!

 I keep trying to do different things and this time I started to cook healthy, low in carbohydrates and love to share them with you! My goal is just because it is low in carbohydrates and almost no or low fat, it should not sound horrible or scary, but it should sound interesting and encouraging!  And also I do not think that there are only a few recipes which are healthy and just because you are on diet, you got to sacrifice the food you used to eat all your life!  You can eat the same thing, with little bit of variations and changes to the same recipes! So I will keep adding new healthy recipes but will not name them specially under "healthy or heart healthy" recipes, since I like to prove that, any recipe can be low in carbohydrates or fat, with little changes made to that recipe.

 So here goes totally healthy and very low in carbohydrate and very low in fat, yet tastes very yummy at the same time.  This recipe is my brother's and it came out very well, yesterday when I made them! My husband loved it very much and I thought to share the recipe with you today, and also a way of saying thank you to my dearest brother, who is such a wonderful person, wishing him Happy Father's Day! So here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 Carrot
1 Small cucumber
1 Small white radish
1 Big onion
5-6 Green Chillies(or adjust according to taste)
3/4 Spoon non fat yogurt
6 Tbsp Whole wheat flour
Salt(according to taste)
1-2 Tsp of Oil

Method:

  Grate carrot,cucumber,and white radish.  Cut onions into small pieces. Cut green chillies.  In a bowl, add grated carrot,cucumber,white radish,cut onions,green chillies and add yogurt and salt and add one by one tbsp of whole wheat flour and mix well with the other ingredients in the bowl.  One important thing is, there is no need to add water to mix the dough, since there will be enough water in the vegetables itself. And also wheat flour is sticky, so make sure you do not add water at all!

 Now take some dough and make a small ball and start pressing it from your four fingers on a pan until you make a thin, circle of the dough.  And cook that on a medium flame, it takes little long time to cook.  Add a little oil on all the sides and cook on both sides nicely.

 Now the "tarkari godhi rotti"(Godhi means wheat) is ready to eat.  It can be served with mint chutney.  Since it has green chillies it tastes good even without any chutney!

Tips:
  I use the whole wheat flour to make it more healthier and wheat flour gets stickier so need to be very careful while adding the flour to the veggies.  I just added a pinch of salt since wanted to cut down on salt intake in a day! Still it tasted very good!

Shankarpoli

    I came to this country in December! So December means freezing cold,snow!  One after noon, it was snowing, and my husband took me out for a walk, in the snow, to have an experience of walking in the snow!  After few blocks we walked I just hated, because the wind was blowing so heavily that, the snow was coming to my face, making me feel miserable and I made a fuss to get back home!

 Well, that's the last day I went out when it was snowing! At that time we were in apartment, so there was no need for us to clean the snow.  I used to watch from my kitchen window, people who were shoveling the snow and used to feel amazed how could they do that!  After couple of years, we moved to an independent house, where you need to mow the lawn and shovel the snow, on your drive way and walk way!

  But as soon as we moved to this house, we met with an accident and I took long time to recover and after that I had kids, so I did not get a chance to shovel the snow!  My husband did it all the time, all these years!

  Last couple of week ago, my husband was not well, he had fever, cough and he was really sick and it snowed!!!!  Well, it was the time of duty calling! All night it had snowed and I was the first one to wake up early in the morning and still kids and my husband were sleeping.  Also they had closed the school because of the weather conditions!

 So I came downstairs, and dressed up myself with jacket,cap,glows,snow shoes and went out and opened the garage door!

 Oops!  Well it was 6 inches of snow! I just took a deep breath and looked around in the garage and found the hand snow shovel, and started to shovel!  All these years, I did not even bother to look how to shovel the snow nor I asked my husband how to do it!

  I started pushing the snow and lifting it up with the shovel and putting it away....!  That way I cleaned half of my drive way and found that it was totally impossible to keep cleaning that way! My hands and shoulders started hurting and I was feeling very cold.

  I came back to garage, and by this time I had made up my mind, not to give up!  So I looked around and saw the snow blower!  I just accidentally pressed some button I guess and it started!

 Well, now I figured it out how to start the snow blower and I took it out and started shoveling, thinking that my life was saved!  But no, I felt hard in pushing it back and forth and since it was 6 inches it took long time to do it.  And by this time, I had figured it out how to do it and in between I also did in hand shovel and it has been 2 hours since I started cleaning the snow!

 My neighbour, then came out, to clean his drive way and saw me cleaning and said, "Wow, for the first time, you have done a great job, and now do not bother cleaning the side walk, I will clean it for you, you can now switch on the Van and car for 10 min's and the snow on the car and van will melt because of heat".

  I thanked him and came inside the house to take the keys of van and car and my husband had just woke up and was wondering where I have gone early in the morning!

 And he was totally surprised and shocked that I had already cleaned the snow!  He felt bad that I had to do it!  But I was so glad that I was able to do it and wondered myself that I did it!

  And well, mother nature, I guess is so happy about me, cleaning the snow, that from then on, it's been snowing every other day!!!!!  And since my husband has to travel for work, I have been cleaning and getting better at it each and every time I do it........!

 And this morning, I cleaned when it was snowing, and it was little windy also, the snow flakes going to my mouth and eyes and when I went inside the house, my elder daughter said "Oh, amma(Mommy), you had snow shower"?  Snow was all over me!!!!!

    And it's been 10 years now, when first time I hated, when the snow flakes went into my eyes and mouth and I totally stopped going out when it was snowing, and today I shoveled the snow, when it was snowing.........so was remembering my resolution of not going out in snow, ten years ago.......and felt that, life and experiences can make anything and everything out of you, whether you are willing or not!  My daughter has to go to school, I need to go out for shopping, library, with the kids......so it's so essential that I have to clean the snow, I cannot sit at home, not doing anything, not trying out anything.

  Certain things become compelled or necessary or part of your life, though you may not have thought or may not have imagined doing it one day!

  So as I went down the memory lane of 10 years about snow..........the same way, I went down the memory lane of 15-20 years ago, when my mom used to make yummy,sweet,spicy,deep fried snacks for the evening times, where we used to enjoy it so much eating that, either watching a movie or reading a book......!

  Recently we had been to a store where we can get both spicy/sweet/salt snacks and we got couple of them, thinking kids might want to try it.  One of them was "Shankarpolli", its a deep fried snack, which can be made both spicy and sweet.  We got the sweet one and both my daughters liked it!

  And then I went down the memory lane, where my mother used to do it, a lot, both the spicy and the sweet ones and store it in big containers and me and my brother used to always enjoy it and eat it until its finished totally!

 So thought, why not try making that at home, so I called my mom and got the recipe and made it!  It came out very nice, and my daughters enjoyed it and am glad that they liked it!  So today I would like to share the yummy recipe of "Shankarpolli", of my mom's and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!  So here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour or Maida flour  1 cup
Sugar  6-8 spoons
Butter  1/3 cup
Oil for deep frying

Method:

   If sugar is crystal, then make it powder in the mixer, but here the sugar is powdered, it looks like salt, so I did not need to powder them.

  Mix powdered sugar to all purpose flour or maida flour.  Then add butter and mix it thoroughly.  And add little water to it and make it a dough, and the dough should not be sticky, so add very little water while mixing and if you require more you can add more.

  Take a small piece from the dough and roll it by the rolling pin,as you do for chapathi or poori.  Make sure you do not roll too thin or too thick.

  Now make marks either using a knife or from the edge of a sharp ladle, or you can use pizza cutter, if you have, I used pizza cutter, to cut into small square shapes.  Well, its traditionally diamond shaped, but since this was my first attempt, I did not get the diamond shape, but I made square shapes.

  Now heat oil for deep frying.  Once the oil is hot enough, put the small square or diamond shapes and fry them until golden brown.

 Now do the same thing for the rest of the dough,rolling them,cutting them and deep frying them!  Enjoy as a evening snack with your family!

  The spicy one is the same method, except, instead of sugar, you put salt to taste and red chili powder to taste and mix them with butter and water and the rest is the same method!  I have not tried the spicy one, will try it soon! Enjoy!

Moong Sprouts Dosa

   I never seriously thought about the roots, where we belong or about entity or identity or about the customs, religion and practices we follow until very recently........!  Few months back, one evening when my husband came back from work, he had a brown cover in his hand, which I am familiar about it!  I thought it must be a cake from "Starbucks" coffee shop!  But the cover was big and when he gave it to me, I curiously opened it to see, that it was a book!  I looked at him and he said,  "Since you like to read books, today I was at Barnes and Noble book store and I found this book and thought you might like to read and got it for you!  I was very happy as well surprised because, I have stopped reading books all these years, since I cannot concentrate on reading because of kids!  So suddenly when he got me a book, I was really happy.

   After few days, when my both kids were having noon nap, at that time my elder daughter was not going to school, I thought I will check out what the book is about and opened the book!  The book name  is "Unaccustomed Earth" written by Jhumpa Lahiri!  The author name Jhumpa Lahiri, is very unique name and I do remember the name......I tried to recollect.....and remembered that I had watched a movie called "Namesake" which was based on the book written by her "The Namesake"!

  So I started to read the book!  And my kids woke up so I had to stop after reading few pages!  I am a fast reader, I used to finish off reading a novel with in 3-4 hours!  But this one  sounded complicated because it seem to revolve around the relationships, following the customs and traditions, living away from the motherland and try to find the roots and having a conflict and strenuous relationships with our own kids!  Sounded very interesting and started to look forward for the quiet moment in the noon times, when kids went to nap, started to read the book and finally before my elder daughter started her school I finished off reading the book!

 The book has eight stories, and mainly its about Bengali families, where parents have come from India to USA at their young age to find a living here and start a family here and struggles with the kids, teaching them to respect, and follow Indian culture and traditions and finally their kids move out and find their own lives and marrying a American, and not following or respecting any of the Indian culture or traditions!! So according to the author, in all the eight stories, the second generation Indian kids, who are born and brought up in USA, has some kind of revolt nature that they do not respect or follow Indian culture nor marry a Indian!!!!!!

  Well, now I remember seeing the movie "Namesake", written by Jhumpa Lahiri, that , it also deals with the same story line, that the second generation kid wants to fit in with his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family unwillingness to let go their traditional ways!

 Now, why do the second generation kids want to do so?  Is it about kids or is it about parents? The basic thing is, if you force your kid to do something, or try to keep in control or preach and teach something, which you yourself, are not doing, then, yes, kids will revolt when they become independent!

    The thing which does not create an impact, a rule,a method, a discipline, a principle or ideal which does not create  respect, but is only a burden or scared or forced upon the kids, those kids are definitely going to revolt and of course will not have any respect for their culture!

  So it cannot be only theory that all the second generation kids who are born and brought up in USA, are not going to follow or revolt against their parents and culture!

  "Swadharma",is a sanskrit word, means our duty or our religion, meaning depends on what context you are using it.  Lord Krishna has said in Bhagavad Gita that "Its better to do your own duty, however imperfectly, than to assume the duties of another person, however successfully"

  So why follow others culture?  By not following others culture does not mean that you are disrespecting the other cultures.  Just because you are in USA, does not mean that you should not follow our culture or feel low or inferior about ours! Why is that? I feel that one has to be level headed and grounded and proud, for what you are, who you are, and where you have come from!

  I am not commenting the author, but I am surprised and very curious to know why that is the only subject for her, in all her novels!  She has won Pulitzer prize for fiction for her first novel, she was born in London and brought up in New York.  Well, in most of her stories, the parents who come to London then move to USA......!  She herself has quoted in some place that she had felt embarrassed about her name, it feels like someone causing you pain, for just being what you are!

  But her flow, her way of describing about the relationships is par excellent! She is a very good writer, you never feel bored or never feel that there is repetition or never feel that she has unnecessarily described feelings or events or issues.

  Yeah, I know I have written some heavy stuff, you all need a break from reading this topic! I can help you in getting a break from reading this complicated subject, and divert that into eating something healthy and tasty!

 Last time when I was in India, in Mysore, I used to watch food shows and few of them really sounded that I should write down the recipe and try it, so I wrote few of them and one of them was "Moong sprouts dosa", which sounded very tasty and yummy and healthy too.

  So last week I tried to make this dosa and it came out very well and my husband and kids liked it so thought of sharing it with you today! So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Moong Sprouts(Whole green gram dhal sprouts or Hesaru kallina mollake)  1 cup
Semolina (Rava) 1 cup
Rice flour (akki hittu)  1/2 cup
Green chillies  5-6 or adjust according to taste
Small piece of ginger
1-2 onions
Salt to taste
Oil to make dosa

Method:

  Soak whole green gram dhal in water for 8-10 hours.  Then drain the water and tie the dhal in a cloth tightly for 8 -10, the sprouts will be ready to use, in winter it may take long time for sprouts to come up.  Else if you have a sprout maker, then also you have to soak the dhal for 8 to 10 hours but after that if you put that in the sprout maker, you will get really long, nice sprouts.

  So grind sprouts, green chillies and ginger, together in the mixer, adding little water to a smooth paste.  In a bowl, mix the sprout paste, semolina(rava) and the rice flour together adding water, the batter should be on the thinner side, if its too thick add more water and add salt and  mix well.

 Cut onions into small pieces and mix well with the batter.  Now heat the tava or the non stick pan and pour the batter with a ladle and put 1-2 spoons of oil on all the sides of the dosa, you can see that bottom of the dosa turns golden brown and then you can turn the dosa and cook for another minute and the dosa is ready to eat!

 This dosa, does not require any chutneys since it has green chillies and onions in it, but still if you want, you can eat this dosa with chutney pudi and ghee, and  enjoy!