Bisibelebhat

Hope all my blog readers are doing good, enjoying summer, well, as I always mention, in my part of the world, it's summer.  Summer becomes like a special occasion, every year, as its only very few months where you can get as much as you can Vitamin D! lol, well that's how my perspective of summer is!

Anyways, parenting is hard, complicated, I know that, I understand it, and I am experiencing it!  I have written about parenting many times...and today also I would like to share a incident, which again, will give raise to many questions.

My kids go to Reading and Math program from past 5-6 years.  Even in summers we don't take a break.  In winter months, I always, sit in my van, waiting for my kids to finish their work, either listening to music, reading a book, or playing game on my ipad....!  I usually don't go and sit inside, where there is a waiting area, for parents to sit, as it is always crowded, and it's generally moms who comes and waits there......would be talking out loud.....and you get to hear different languages, some I can understand and many I don't!  So to avoid all those, I used to sit in my van.

Now it's summer, I thought many would be on vacation and may not be crowded inside and also I don't like AC (air conditioner), so past few times, I am going inside the center and waiting there, when my kids finish their work.

As I expected, it's not crowded and also, I see dad's waiting, who would be generally working on computers.  So as I was sitting with my ipad playing a game.......a mom came in, with two kids, both of them went inside to do their work and mom sat with her phone, she had her ear phones on, so I guessed she was talking to someone.  But as she did not talk, I thought she must be listening to music!!

I just continue playing on my ipad......with few mins, her daughter came out, saying she is done.  The girl was pretty loud, so everybody had to turn their head or lift up their head.  The mom was even louder, asking her, how come she finished so fast, she has to go inside and complete her work.  But the girl did not answer, but climbed a chair and was stood.  There is a big glass window, where you can see kids working inside.  The girl started to call loudly....I guess she was calling her brother(?).  There were two dad's working on their computer, 2 moms, one was reading a book and the other was just sitting, folded her hands and watching, and then it was me with the ipad.  We were all looking at the girl and the mom, expecting she would say something.

But the mom, seemed not disturbed or bothered.  The girl started jumping from one chair to another, and once she fell, as she slipped, we all sort of reacted as "oh", but still the mom, remained as though it has nothing to do with her!!

The girl seemed to be very restless and not able to sit in one place, she now, started drinking water, from the water cooler, and more than drinking, she started to dip her fingers and sprinkle on everyone..standing in front of them and sprinkle to their face. Seeing this, the Dad who was on computer, got up and went outside!! She did not stop,the girl was giggling, sounded fun for her, and the mom remained same cool, looking at her phone, probably, now I thought, she might be watching some serial or a movie....!? And when the girl sprinkled to her mom, then she shouted in a loud voice, to stop and sit on the chair! The girl just sat next to her, and started to ask, 'give me the phone to play'! The mom suddenly turned to her and said 'can't you not see I am working, and you sit properly on the chair, everybody can see your underpants'!!!!!!!!!!! Really, really she said that, loudly??

I felt embarrassed, as there were dads also there and I saw couple of them walked out! Girl must be about 5-6 years old, I felt, she was uncomfortable of what her mom said, she was looking at every body's face, and then sat properly, took her homework and started to go through it...! I really felt sad for the girl and felt how sensitive she should be at that young age to understand, atleast, something went wrong there!!

I was upset with the mom, who really did not care about anything! If she was really 'working', is working so important than your own kids!? Why choices becomes hard, for women, when they have to choose between career and home!? That bothers quite a bit! Well, am nobody to judge anybody, but as a matter of my observation, I just shared with you.

Having said that, I will leave at this point, for you to think......and move on......! Today is my mom's birthday, if she was there she would be 83 years beautiful mom! As a tribute to the most wonderful, amazing mom,  thought of writing a blog, sharing the most yummiest recipes of her, Bisibelebhat! The popular, South Indian dish, which my mom, was making in a authentic, from scratch, which turned out to be the delicious meal. It's a complete one pot meal, which has rice, dhal, veggies, all spices, fills you up and what else you would need! In most of the houses in South India, Bisibelebhat, even to this day, would be a Sunday special lunch or any time guest invited, Bisibelebhat would be the main part of the meal or on any festival day it would be a main thing!

My mom used to make Bisibelebhat powder also, which I will share as a separate recipe. Hope you will try this method and enjoy the most with your family and friends. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Rice -1/2 cup
Thoor dal -1 cup
Tamarind a small piece soaked in water
Jaggery-otional
salt to taste
Bisibelebhat powder- adjust according to taste and consistency
Bean
Carrots
Peas/Avarekai (Surti papdi lilva)
Onions
Potatoes
Tomatoes(1-2 optional)
Cauliflower
Capsicum
Chayote (Semebadnekai)
Kohlrabi (navilkosu)
oil/ghee-2 tsp
Mustard seeds
Cashews-(optional)

Tips:
Bisibelebhat should be on a liquidy side when you are done, as it gets to become very hard later.
Keep adjusting water through out cooking.
It takes about an hour to cook, in this method

Method:

Take a deep vessel or container, and add enough water and boil, once it starts boiling, add Thoor dal, and mix it and let the Thoor dal cook, half way, then add rice and all the veggies. You can add capsicum and onions little later, as they cook fast.  Keep stirring in between, as Thoor dal tends to stick to the bottom. Once both rice and dal cooks well, almost mushy, add tamarind water, salt, very little jaggery and keep stirring and boil it for couple of mins and add Bisibelebhat powder.  I would recommend to mix the powder in little water, make it to a paste and then add and keep stirring, adjust water as required. It's okay to be on a water consistency, later it becomes very hard and firm. Be careful at this point, as it splatters a lot and your hand might get burnt! Keep stirring and reduce the flame to medium-sim. And while doing that, in a small pan, add oil or ghee, and add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add cashews and fry golden brown and add that to the Bisibelebhat and turn it off!! Your Bisibelebhat is ready to eat, with some boondi or raitha or just as it is, with some ghee on top! Enjoy!