Dry Fruit Laddu

 Its Dec 31st of 2022. The last day of the year and all I had on my mind was to write a blog and share a recipe with you all. Life is going on a faster pace and I am feeling I have to try harder to keep up with the pace and meet all the demands at the same time, with the same zeal, focus, perfect, on time...! And somewhere I am getting exhausted and overwhelmed with the life demands! Well, my husband says, it can be descried in one word, a small three letter word 'age'!! (lol), maybe, yes, but I always think/thought, I do handle things well, work well under pressures. No, it has not come naturally or easily! It's with experiences I have gone through over the period of time, has made me really tough and stronger! 

Is tough and stronger both convey the same meaning? Let me goggle and come back...! (lol). When I searched up the meaning, both words showed up in each other's 'similar' word suggestions. But I like to use the word, 'stronger', I can say I have become stronger, to withstand the pressures of life (I think)!

2022, is, I write 'is' because, still there is exactly 11 hours and 20 mins for the new year, in my part of the world. So 2022 I can tell in one word as 'unconditional faith' gave unexpected, enormous happiness! My belief and faith in the 'ultimate', did not leave my hands, in fact has never left mine! But this year was totally a game changer!

I am ending this year, heart filled with immense gratitude and gratitude and only gratitude! 

Oh WOW! I could not complete the blog in 11 hours and 20 mins of 2022.

As we all took booster 2nd dose of vaccination, and felt a bit uneasy, I took my morning a bit slow, by drinking coffee and started writing the  blog, and had to stop as I had to cook for a potluck New Year's Eve party, went with husband to give order for the new recliner we both loved, well I can say, the whole shopping experience was like, we have grew together as partners and somewhere we meet, actually in many things! Felt comfort and content about the shopping. I always see even in the smallest things of life....is there a chemistry, is there a harmony, is there a meeting place, is everyone happy, comfortable! This shopping was one of them I felt that way. Our DD's also had loved and actively participated and involved in design and fabric selection. 

Okay long story short, so my husband and myself went and finalized the order, then I had to wash my hair, then dress up and rush to the party, which anyways we were late. So I could not sit and finish my blog. And 11 hour and 20 mins just slipped by and 2023 came and I missed writing a blog in 2022,  the regret of my life! 

As I was writing and mentioning how 2022 was so wholesome, with so many milestones achieved, so many best things happened, which will affect positively in life, so many experiences, all the patiences and dedication just got transformed into amazing results which made each one of use, proud, content, happy and the faith to 'ultimate' strongest, 2023 suddenly started of my husband and DD's falling very sick! 

The New year's party eve was also filled with fun, happiness and it all suddenly changed into, 3 people, struggling to get up, violent coughs, horrible, terrible throat pain, congestion, fever, body aches, headaches...and no one could go to school, or office. I can say, it does not happen in my household pretty often, touchwood, that we miss school or office! No, not that we don't fall sick...but we never miss!! 

But the whole entire week, no school, no office, no sign of recovery, and despite all the tests came negative and doctor could not pinpoint as to what it is and neither could suggest a proper medication! Kinda put all of us in a very strange situation, wondering what, where and how it went wrong!? Day after day, symptoms increased, violent cough increased....leaving me devastated and thinking, what I should do to make them feel better!? The soups, the Kashayas, the home remedies, the over the counter medicine, nothing seem working in a good direction. 

Above all, what left in puzzle is, I survived! I remained untouched! I felt to an extent of am I even a human being, or I felt guilt...or may be I felt that way because, people kept on asking 'Oh Bindu is okay!!!!' 

Now 15 days, everyone is on the road of recovery, going back to school, office, still not able to shake the cough off...I suddenly felt sick 5 days ago, and thought, I am mentally stressed out and will be okay in a day!!? No, thats not how it transpired....it put me down! The same symptoms as all these guys had, putting me in even more crazier state of mind, why now, when everyone actually sort of recovered!!?

But a very good friend is so kind and generous to bring hot lunch every single day, in the cold weather, with varieties, just dropping off at the door, no actually, we do not want her to come inside and get exposed. The amount of caring, attention and the love is coming, I am very grateful to the 'Ultimate'! Only these things matters in life!

'HE' has some plan for all of us! And it is of course the best plan, the right one and 'HE' will never leave our hands no matter what! This is another phase....within 11 hours and 20 mins the year changed and so as many things changed! WOWOW, I feel amazed to think about it! We never thought last year when waiting in apprehension and doubt, and fear...HE gave the best we can't even think or imagine or put rest to all our doubts, fears and apprehensions. In the same way, this is also, we never thought, we will all fall sick, without a reason or even without any diagnosis, to pinpoint! So HE will definitely help to sail through this! The first help is the kindest, caring soul who is bringing food! I bow my head humbly and accept what ever comes in my way! 

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Healthy Prosperous New Year!  Thank you so much for reading my blog, thank you for supporting and encouraging and putting up with my inconsistent time in writing blogs. I promise this year will write very often, with lots of healthy, fun amazing recipes. Today I am sharing the oldest, traditional recipe, which is my Amma's, but has modified a tiny bit in that. Its the most healthiest filled with nutrition, yummy taste and it's the best dessert! You can eat as a dessert or a snack. It's Dry Fruit Laddu. A dessert which is totally guilt free or a snack which can refresh and gives you instant energy. There is no artificial sugar or flavoring or color. Before I start to write the recipe, the thing I just modified from the original my Amma's recipe is, I do not add ghee.  And my Amma never used walnuts, she used to use, cashews. If you want to you can replace walnuts with cashews and add ghee while making. 

Ingredients: (15-20 laddus)

Almonds-1 cup

Walnuts-3/4th cup

Dates-1and 1/4 cup(cut into disc shapes)

Raisins-1/4 cup

Cloves-5

Nutmeg-1/2 Tsp

Saffron-A large pinch of saffron strands

Method:

In a large pan, dry roast almonds. Make sure you don't burnt them. Dry roast walnuts and make sure you don't burnt them. Once it cools down, add rest of the ingredients mix well and coarsely grind in the mixer. If you do not like the coarse texture, you can grind it to a fine, but then, you need to grind only the nuts to a fine powder and then add the rest of the ingredients and grind. As dates and raisins will make it harder to grind the nuts into a fine powder. 

Once you grind the mixture, shape them into laddus or balls of the desired size. This does not require to put it in the fridge, and it stays fresh on the counter more than a month. Enjoy this healthy, nutritious  very tasty and guilt free dry fruit laddus. If you want to make it more, increase the quantity of the ingredients. like double or three times

Tips: Use soft dates and I generally cut in disc shapes, so that it's easier for the mixer to grind. I use one and a quarter cup of cut dates, if you like it more sweeter, you can add more or if you prefer less, you can add less.

Khara Pongal/Ven Pongal

 Good morning dear readers. I can still call morning, as it, is 11.54 am! Whats up, how is it going? We witnessed 2nd/3rd wave, we contemplated, doubted, questioned but finally took vaccine. People like me, who has not even taken flu shots every year, made a bold decision of taking vaccine, which is totally unknown, what later on effects it could have. More concerned about the younger generation, what effect it might be on them, in future. Am sure, there all scientific research on these and it's all safe, but when you get to hear, someone had an 'heart attack' or few people have heart issues after taking vaccines, you naturally tend to get apprehensive. 

Kids started going to school, that's a big deal, wearing 7 hours of mask, I was not sure how kids can handle and was sure that school will close in a week or two, as soon as it opens, also happened in many school districts. But now its been 2 months, wearing mask every single day for 7 hours seems like a norm, as though they are wearing it from a long time...! No one, no more crib about mask at all, it was like, everyone wanted to get out of the house and have and feel the normal life, fresh air, see people faces, walk around, talk to people face to face. So wearing mask does not seem like a big deal or can endure wearing mask for 7 hours, as suppose to sit at home, behind a closed door, cooped up, most of the time cameras turned off or cameras facing the ceiling and all you can hear the teacher's voice and face covered with mask, as they were teaching from school. No physical activity, no interaction, now seems like, can't do it anymore or never ever again?

We humans, are social animals, we cannot live without talking, seeing people. But coronavirus taught us, to value, appreciate, recognize the importance of all the things, we take it for granted or never even thought we should be grateful for so many things! And even as small or a normal thing of touching, hugging or talking or seeing someone, became a big deal. We saw the ugliest side...that so many of us could not even see our own parents/siblings/friends for one last time, nor touch nor could perform the last rites properly. We were suddenly trapped in our own homes and isolation and even one member of the family was affected, that person should isolate in their own house or in the hospital! 

We do not know, we can never know, what all went through their minds, heart, physically, mentally, emotionally,  when they were alone in the hospital, wanted to see their own people, wanted to come back home, feel better....! It's just been so hard, so ugly, so scary, toughest times the entire mankind ever witnessed in their lifetimes. 

But we all went through this.....many people sailed through this, but sailed through this, with lot of heartaches, loss, and learnt lot of lesson, explored many other ways of life.

Anyways, it's been again almost a year of my blogging, thought, on this rainy, not so cold Nov morning to blog and get connected with my readers and share a recipe. Its global warming, 65 degrees in Nov, means it is global warming. Heard that this winter is going to be warmer. Many times at this time of the year, we have witnessed snow, but today it's 65 degrees, warm but raining. Now sun is coming up and rain stopped. Outside looks very beautiful with all leaves changing colors and falling off, the road looks like a colorful bed sheet draped. 

Today am going to share, my Amma's one of the best recipe, 'Pongal'/Huggi, means to 'boil or bubbling up. Huggi is derived from the old Kannada word "puggi" meaning 'bubbled up'. It has a sweet version and a spicy or salt version. Today am going to share the spicy/salt version of pongal called 'Ven pongal or Khara pongal which is the savory version which is super flavorful and delicious dish offered to GODS, as naivedya not only at homes but also in temples on auspicious days, festivals and poojas. Naivedya, is a Sanskrit word, means food offered to GOD as a part of worship ritual, before we eat. Pongal is a very favorite and most popular breakfast in South India. But it can be had as lunch/dinner as well. 

Ven Pongal/Khara Pongal is super delicious and healthy. It can be made in two different ways, either you can cook everything in the pressure cooker, which can be faster or cook in a regular pot, which takes some time to cook, but you can get the desired, perfect consistency and taste. I always cook in a regular pot.

Indgredients:

Yellow Moong Dal-1 Cup

Rice-1/2 Cup

Ghee-1-2 tbsp

Cumin and Pepper-roughly powdered-each 1 tbsp

Salt according to taste

Cashews-optional

Desiccated coconut-1/4 cup

Coconut pieces-optional

Method:

In a large deep pot, on a medium heat, fry moongdal until aromatic, make sure it does not change color. Add water and stir well. Keep stirring frequently, as moong dal tends to get stuck to the bottom of the pot, and make sure there is enough water all the time. Once moong dal is half cooked, you can check, often, how much the moong dal is cooked, by taking few moong dal out and pressing it in your fingers or to see if it has become big. You can add rice after the moong dal is half way cooked. I do not fry the rice or warm up the rice, as I feel, later on Pongal becomes too hard and too thick in consistency. You can wash and rinse rice before adding it.

Once you add rice, add more water, make sure water is always above the level of the moong dal and rice. You can see both rice and moong dal are cooked well, by taking few out and pressing it in your fingers. Both are mixing well together. 

At this point, take a small pan and add ghee, when ghee melts, add roughly crushed pepper and cumin and once it sizzles add it to the pongal and add salt and mix well, keep stirring, as rice and dal will stick to bottom of the pot. Keep adding adjusting the water to keep it in a flowing consistency. Now you can add 1/4 cup of desiccated grated coconut and finely chopped coconut pieces which are optional, which will enhance the taste and flavor of the pongal. You can fry some cashews in ghee and add them, mix well and switch off the stove. Make sure to keep it in a flowing consistency as pongal gets thicker later on. 

Serve hot with more ghee on top and enjoy the yummiest and healthiest pongal. Pongal are done in variations, many people add veggies or add ginger, curry leaves to it. But I do it my Amma's way, which is super tasty. Ven/Khara pongal can be eaten with coconut chutney or Gojju, but I like to eat pongal with ghee on top! Enjoy!

Mysore Pak

 Good morning my Dear blog followers, how is it going??  Answer for that, might not be 'boring', anymore!  We are all in this, not sure to say, whether its beginning or middle or the end!? But lets hope we are nearing the end of this pandemic! 

Its becoming like a tradition that, year end I write a blog and connect with you all! That's not what I plan for, but somehow last year also, I wrote at the end of the year and this year too! But will not, definitely not make it a tradition, will write more blogs and share more recipes, often. But I miss blogging and writing and sharing with you all and thats always on back of my mind....!

Let's for a change, instead of cribbing about pandemic, how boring and how stuck we are at homes, can we share what good things have happened in our personal lives and how we all have managed, survived and actually do the best, even staying at home!? We have gotten out some hidden, good things!

Life threw us to this horrible pandemic and it came to still, lockdowns, restrictions, masks, social distancing, quarantine, limited access to basic needs, which in turn, made people to pile up, stock up essentials to non-essentials, crazily to an extent of being selfish to even think, if I buy 10 cans of milk, there will be shortage for the next person to buy! Meeting your own people became scary and concerning of spreading the virus!

Well, did we learn anything from this?? I guess we did, initially , we stumbled, fell, but stood up, found new ways to connect, share, cooperate, bond, care, and found new ways to deal with day to day life! Thats incredible, I feel! We have done, so far a very good job, it's exactly 9 months, to be very precise, 4 days short in my part of the world, when schools got shut down, all essentials got shutdown and had to stay home!! Its 9 months, we are in this!! Kids and the old people affected the most, in my opinion! 

But they have survived too, actually done an awesome job, must say, very proud of them! As 9 months are over, I guess, we are all, just figured out how to sail through this.......??!! 

When I just sit back and think.....well, pandemic has given lot of time, for all of us to 'think'! I hope you agree with me? So when I sit back and think......pandemic has taught us to think out of the box and I just feel, we all have aced it! Everything can be done virtual, sitting at home, anything can be accomplished!

Thats incredible, I feel! We have done so much, sitting at home.  We have learnt and respect, appreciate, most importantly, appreciate and value, lot of things! Appreciate and value freedom! Regret all the things, we have taken for granted, small little things have made us to appreciate, value and respect!

Yes, we have lost lot of lives, a lot, which cannot be undone, it's a huge loss, a loss which cannot be replaced!! A lot of health care workers even to this moment, is struggling, going through hardships and tough time every moment, trying to save lives, putting their life and their family lives at risk!! I feel, we all should be more responsible in our day to day life, so that we can help healthcare workers by  minimizing our exposure, and that way reduce the no. of cases and landing up in the hospital!  Thats the only way we can help the healthcare workers who are struggling day and night to save our lives, and as well we can see light at the end of tunnel! Thats the only way, we can reduce spreading, by following just the basic rule of staying home as much as we can, wearing masks, when its totally necessary to go out, and stay away from lot of crowd and maintain social distancing! Can we not do that much? Yes we can, we did and saw the results....but it wasn't enough....we should have continued, better late than never, even now, we can start again, following all those simple things, which can save lives!

WOW! It became too serious.....well, life matters and life is valuable and it should matter and it should be a serious thing! So let's all continue to follow guidelines and be safe, be healthy and as well care and be kind to everyone, by following the guidelines! 

One thing, in pandemic has happened, commonly all over the world, is learn new cuisines, cook healthy as well, explore new kinds, types of cooking! And I also did the same......not only I tried making pizza, naan bread from scratch at home, but also learnt and tried some very traditional cooking, which I had thought to be very complicated and difficult to make, as it required certain amount of skill and expertise! 

Today, am sharing one such recipe, which is very delicate and very hard decision making, when it comes to a point, if its done or requires little more cooking! That decision changes the whole taste, texture of the dish! That's Mysore Pak! Its my Amma's one of the bestest recipes and she used to do effortlessly and every time it used to come out awesome and fantastic! I never tried all these years, thinking its the hardest to try....but my brother inspired me, motivated me to do so! Deepavali, is Festival of Lights, as well festival of sweets/desserts! I tried for the first time to make Mysore pak and it came out so very good, like Amma's, and wished she was here, to taste mine!! This is a tribute to her, today sharing her best recipe of Mysore Pak, hope you will try and enjoy it as much as my family and friends did! Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:(To get the desired result, please follow the measurements and steps as it is in the recipe)

Besan/chickpea flour/kadalehittu-1 cup

Ghee-melted-1.5 cup

Sugar-2 cups

Water-1/2-3/4 th cup

Cardamom powder-1/4 tsp

Method:

Grease a plate with ghee and keep it aside. 

Melt ghee, in a wide pan and Besan on a medium heat, keep stirring until frothy and turn off the heat and keep it aside. Don't cook more than 3 mins.

In a separate pan, add 2 cups sugar, and add 3/4 cup of water, I suggested 1/2 cup to 3/4th, but I used 3.4th cup of water, bring it to boil and once sugar is dissolved completely and boiling evenly, add the ghee-began mixture and stir constantly.  This step is very very necessary, that you need to keep on stirring, not even leaving for a moment, and do it on a slow-medium heat at this point.  You can add cardamom powder at this point. Keep staring until it leaves the sides of the pan, you can see small holes forming and color bit changed, at this point, turn off the heat and immidetly pout it into the greased plate and don't try to tap or even the mixture. After few mins, you can mark either Dimond or square shapes.  Super yummy, tasty Mysore pak is ready to eat in couple of hours!!

Gasgase Payasa

Good afternoon, my dear blog readers! I know, it’s been a very long time, sharing my story or experience and a recipe.  As I always say, I do miss blogging, connecting with you all, sharing my thoughts, my recipes...! It’s not that I am too busy in life, that I don’t have time to blog, but there comes, time in your life, which puts everything in a fast mode! Everything becomes important, and you feel, you don’t have enough time, in a day, where you can sit and think and reflect, what happened!

Priorities! Is the word! What you should prioritize, kids growing up, making decisions, being a best parent, trying to please, kids, husband, family, friends, think of a career, if you have one or start a new, health,...! Being top on all the things, makes you feel edgy! If you don’t, then there are risks that you might miss on important, crucial things of the moment.

I previously also had written about gadgets....but today, the whole gadget thing, has taken, a new dimensions, actually, has taken up our whole lives, revolving around it! Technology, social media has taken up, filled the gaps, connections, between people! Well, few things in a good way, and many ways, you don’t want it to be the way it’s going...!

Good way, that distance does not matter, you can reach, share, anybody anytime, FaceTime, instantly share anything with your loved ones. The down side is, youngsters using social media, doing more harm, than any good! Which has made parents loose sleep over it! Keeping up to date, information on technology and social media is a must for parents. Youngsters eager to be on social media, parents, wanting to protect from the potential harm, it might cause, actually cussing, a big threat and taking a toll on the relationship!

Balancing act, is a new skill, parent should know! But am sure, every parent would be feeling guilty even after, doing a good balance act! Sometimes it feels like a threat to the value system creating a doubt, which is right and which is wrong. Upbringing kids, with values, character, principles seems like a stressful, tiring task, which I feel, our parents did it with ease! Am not saying they did not struggle, but the amount of exposure this generation has, was definitely not there in our time.

So I was upgrading my balancing skills act, and trying to keep pace with the current technology, in midst of this, though I was missing my blogging, though I wanted to blog, could not...! Oops, that’s a lengthy explanation for me not blogging! But felt good and relieved that I shared with you few things.

Okay, after all these new skills learning, but never can give up on our old ones, which actually defines us, so here am sharing today, the most traditional, authentic, yummy dessert recipe of my mom, Gasgase payasa, or poppy seeds in Hindi it’s called as, Khus Khus payasa. This is my moms, one of the best recipes, am sharing at the end of 2019, ending on a sweet note. Hoping to write more often, share often more recipes n 2020. Best wishes to you all!

Ingredients:
Gasgase/poppy seeds-1/2 cup
Rice-1 table spoon
Cardamom-3 Or 4
Almonds-1/4 cup
Desiccated coconut-1/4 cup
Jaggery-as desired sweetness
Ghee-1 tbl spoon

Method:

In a pan, roast poppy seeds/ gasgase aromatic, make sure it won’t change color or burn. Keep it aside,. Add a small drop of ghee and roast rice, until aromatic and keep aside. Once the poppy seeds and rice cools down, dry grind in a mixer, poppy seeds, rice and cardamom to a fine powder, then add little water fine to a smooth paste, until you won’t feel the coarse of poppy seeds. Then add almonds and desiccated coconut, add water when required and grind to a fine paste. In a deep thick bottom container, pour the paste, add water to make it into a desired consistency, I like, payasa in a thin consistency, mix well and bring it to boil, once it starts boiling, add jaggery and keep mixing, keep on a low flame, boil for couple of mins after adding jaggery and turn off the heat. In a small pan, add ghee and slit almonds and fry golden brown and garnish on the payasa, and enjoy, hot or chill in fridge and enjoy the yummy payasa.
Note: Originally coconut is added and no almonds add for grinding, many prefer sugar instead of jageery but I like it with desiccated coconut and almonds as the payasa won’t be too thick and jaggery gives yummy taste. 

Tomatoe Gojju

Good morning, dear Blog readers!  Well, in my part of the world it's morning!  I know, I know, it's been quite sometime, that I blogged and every time, I have a huge gap in writing, my blog always start with the above line, it's funny!  I like to be honest by saying, no specific reason behind not blogging!  I just did not do it!  Though, I missed writing, rather, typing a blog! Another funny thing, I noticed myself, that every time I am silent for a long time, I do write the same line, 'I missed writing'!  But it's true, I do miss!

Writing, is something, I love!  I am not too great, when it comes to express myself, verbally or vocally, but I know, myself for a fact, I can write, express, communicate awesome by writing!  Well, I am saying this confidently because, each important people in my life, has/had admired, appreciated, recognized, loved/loves still to read my messages/emails/notes/hand written letters/ and of course you, my dear readers, encouraged and supported reading my blogs!  I can say, I have/had a quite an interesting, important people who really really encouraged, admired my writing and looking forward and missed when I did not write!

It goes back long long time ago, when I was a small girl, I used to leave small notes to my mom, on the kitchen counter(on the sugar or coffee powder box, which was always on the countertop), it would be, even as small and simple note as "Amma, kobrimitai(an Indian dessert)was awesome, or Amma, you are looking so beautiful in that yellow saree.."!!

From there, I used started writing letters to my uncle and aunt(my mom's brother and sister), who went to work and got married and went to Delhi and Bombay, respectively!  I used to write long letters to my uncle, who was my role model, well, 'was', is always, but he passed away an year ago....!  I used to write all the details about the family...my mom's side a big family, with 7 sisters and 4 brothers.  And I used to write to him, about my visit to my grand parent's house and what every one was up to....!  I use to add my little observation about the visit, in a funny way, which he used to say, after a long day's of work and stuck in traffic, when I come home today, was nothing to eat and had to cook, but there was this letter waiting for me, which made me smile and laugh and did not know, when I finished cooking and ate!  My aunt, used to always say 'your writing is like your mom, you should take up writing, seriously'!

And later on, when my grandfather went to live with one of my uncle's in Mysore, I used to write to him, often.....and I must say, he was my biggest fan, ever!!

After I got married and came far away....started to write to my mom, my brother, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law, my aunt.......!  (Oh, actually, my communication with my husband started with letters and emails!!  Since I could not get visa immediately, I could not join him, so my communication with my husband was letters and emails!) Life started to get busy, with new things, but one thing never stopped was writing!

After two kids were born, I became busy, and I did not know to drive at that time, so I could not go out on my own, had to wait for my husband for everything.  So was always home, with small kids, and the only way to have 'my' time was to write!

That's when my husband, suggested to write a blog!!  At that point, in his life, he had so much of 'experience' about my writing, I must say!!  I might be sitting next to him, but I would have sent a message or a email..and emails were always pretty long.....! lol! So he suggested, I should start blogging!

That's when I started "Ultimate Vegetarian"!!  And today after 9 years, I still do write.....emails, messages, blogs....but no more handwritten letters!!  Its so unfortunate and so sad and depressing that, to those I used to write the hand written letters, my mom, my uncle, my grandfather, my father-in-law, are no more........!  And to those I still write, all those hand written now has been replaced, with emails, whatsapp messages, facebook messengers.........!

Now I have gotten two cute very young readers, my daughters!!  Well,  how they can be spared...lol!  I communicate, with them through emails and messages!!  Yes, that sounds funny, when I can talk to them directly.....but you need to ask their perspective, they would say, 'oh, she talks, writes, leave sticky notes..'! lol

Well, well that's my journey about my writing and one thing, lived with me constant, throughout my life, I can say is, writing!  Today thought of sharing with you all, my journey of writing.  Thanks from bottom of my heart for reading, silently following my blog, encouraging, and most of all, I could do so, is only because, of you, dear Readers!  I could do this, only because you read, and respond and appreciate and give me feedback! Thank you!

Okay, let's eat!  Today, I will be sharing 'Tomato Gojju', Gojju, can be described as tangy, sweet-sour dish and it's totally South Indian, especially, Karnataka style.  It can be prepared with wide varieties of vegetables and pineapple too.  Okay, if you are too new to the word, Gojju, now you can relate something to pineapple taste, which can be sweet and sour, that's exactly Gojju, taste.  I always say, it's an acquired taste! I am sure, many people don't appreciate or like the taste of pineapple, so it's either, you love Gojju like crazy or you dislike!! (lol), no medium path...like...i might like or not...!

Tomato Gojju, is yet one another, my mom's, the best, my most favorite, very tasty Gojju, which can be done super fast.  Since I wrote about myself today, I thought of sharing one of my favorite recipe, of my mom's today.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Tomatoes-2-3(minimum)
Rasam powder-according to taste
Hing/Asafoteida-a pinch
Mustard seeds
Salt to taste
Sugar-depends on the tomatoes sourness
oil-1 tbsp
Curry leaves-few
Corainder leaves finely chopped

Method:

Wash and cut tomatoes into small pieces.  Add oil to the pan and when the oil is warm, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add hing, curry leaves, tomatoes, rasam powder, salt, sugar, and on a medium heat, keep mixing it occasionally.  If required, add a very little water, as tomatoes itself are jucier.  Allow to boil, until all the tomatoes are nicely cooked, mushy, and add coriander leaves to garnish and serve this yummy, hot Tomato Gojju, with chapathis, rice, or Dose or idlis(acquired taste!).  It can be saved for more than a week, if made for 5-6 tomatoes, in the fridge and can be eaten cold too, with some warm chapathis or yogurt/curd rice. Enjoy!

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!

Vangibhat

It's been quite sometime, 4 months, that I shared my thoughts and recipes with you all!  I missed blogging, it's very relaxing and it's my own time, which I always love to do, but sometimes life just goes on and on, though you want to sit down and write, you may not had that moment! 

But today, just started to write, as its raining heavily, cleaners have come to clean the house, after 2 months and I am forced to sit in one place, as they are cleaning around the house! So sat down with a  cup of coffee.

Public speaking! Does that comes to you easily, without blinking, without thinking, without any hesitations, inhibitions, nervousness, awkwardness? Then you are a born public speaker! No doubts about it!

Recently I attended some 13-14 sessions of public speaking classes.  Well, I did not plan to or register myself into one. It just so happened, that I attended those sessions.  My kids got enrolled in that, and there was a parent, who volunteered, she could conduct classes, for parents, while they wait for their kids for 2 hours!

So me and my friend, both decided to register to the class, as it was very cold in the morning, nothing else to do in those two hours, neither go back home, as it was bit far and come back nor anything else to do close by.

And soon we both felt, it was worth spending some time there, since we both recognized that there was so much out there, to learn, though it was hard to wake up early on weekend, and bundle up as it was freezing temperatures! Slowly I understood, its a structured program! You start off with table topics, which is on spot, you are given a topic, and you need to talk about it. And then ice breaker speech, which would be about you, you can talk about yourself or any important memory or incident of your life! Its all timed, 3-4 mins, and there will be evaluators, who would evaluate, time, how many pauses or likes,ums,so's etc being used, your body language, where you used the whole stage or just stood folding your hands,were you nervous, voice modulation, eye contact.......! Am just briefing out....!

Each and every week, you would be doing new speeches, improvising based on your previous evaluation! Well, that's what its expected or supposed to be!

Now, I like to sit behind and evaluate the whole public speaking concept!  Will it help!? Before going further on this, I will make one thing clear here is, kids at very young age, exposed to anything for that matter, grasp fast and will make a difference in what they learn, how they learn and they can really improve their skills!

But as we grow old, there are certain basic things, which, no matter how hard you try, you "might improve",  a bit, that's all! One of them is public speaking! If its not in you, sessions, classes, won't help you much, well, that's my argument or my experience or thinking!

The things which won't comes natural, will land up us in misery, awkward, embarrassing situations! I am not commenting on the sessions I participated. It was really awesome experience and met some really nice people and get to know their experiences and values. And neither I am saying, I did not learn anything.....I did! I do know many things know.....but will I be able to put all those theory into practice, time will tell....!?

But somewhere, somehow I felt, public speaking should come naturally to you.  Improving your eye contact, body language, is all fine, you might improve on those, over a period of time.  But still overcoming nervousness, hand trembling, voice shaking, face becoming red......those things, should come from within!  I don't think or call public speaking as a skill, it's just you have to born with it, thats all!

If you are introvert or shy or hesitant to speak up, or you might be humble to express.....so to those kind of people, no matter how much you get trained, it still will be awkward, feels like "fish without water"!

Having said that, I leave this topic here, for you to think.....! Now I will share the most yummiest recipe of my mom, Vangibhat! Vangi means eggplant or brinjal, cooked with spices and vangibhat powder, and mixed with rice, a typical south Indian rice dish, very commonly made in every household! My mom used to make the most authentic, yummy Vangibhat!

But now Vangibhat has now taken various twists and turns and you can add any kind of vegetables and Vangibhat powder mixed with rice, but still call it as Vangibhat! Because of its unique flavor of the powder, the mixed rice tastes very yummy. In my house, anytime, any day, my husband and kids love Vangibhat. It can be eaten with raitha too, but typically you won't, but my husband loves, raitha, pretty much with everything, so I make it and its also a nice way to make kids eat yogurt! Today I will share my mom's most yummy recipe of Vangibhat, made with onions, green bell peppers(capsicum) and averekai(Surati papdi lilva). You can add any combinations of vegetables, or just do with one, capsicum,potato,methi leaves,peas,onions,carrots and beans,cut into thin slices.

I will share my Vangibhat powder recipe separately, under my Powders, label. Until then you can try with store bought Vangibhat powder!

Ingredients:

Onions-2 medium size ( thinly sliced)
Capsicum-2 medium size(thinly sliced)
Averakai-1/2 cup (boil in water until soft)
Curry leaves-few
Coriander leaves-finely chopped
Rice-1 cup
oil-2 Tbsp
Ghee-1 Tsp(optional)
Mustard seeds
Cashews-2 Tbsp(Optional)
Vangibhat powder-according to taste(Store bought or home made)
Dry coconut/Desiccated coconut-5-6 Tbsps(optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

Pressure cook rice and keep aside, rice should not be mushy nor too split, it should be cooked just right. I use Sona masoori variety for making Vangibhat.

In a deep pan, heat oil, and add mustard seeds and once it splatters, add curry leaves and onions, capsicum, and on a low heat keep frying, until aroma comes, now add averekai, mix well and add little salt and little vangibhat powder and mix well, make sure the vegetables get nicely coated with salt and vangibhat powder.

Add rice, more required salt and Vangibhat powder and mix well. Add dry coconut or desiccated coconut and mix well. And turn off the heat. In a small pan, add ghee and cashews and fry golden brown, and add to vangibhat, add finely chopped coriander leaves and mix well. I add dry coconut sometimes, since my vangibhat powder has dry coconut powder, so its optional, some people add fresh coconut too, it's according to taste and preferences. Enjoy warm Vangibhat, with some happla-sandige or raitha or just plain vangibhat!