Fried Veggies: Many in One

We all want varieties in our meals, don't we? Who would want to eat the same fried rice for both lunch and dinner? Or who would really want to have only biscuits for tea time snacks?! We do want to try out new stuffs, but at the same time, the one working on it often ends up exhausted trying out too many varieties on the same day. So, I came up with something that can ease out things for you, but at the same time it still provides variety to everyone at home.

Using one base recipe, we can derive at below three (or even more) variety of dishes:
1. Fried Rice
2. Spring Rolls/ Fried Momos
3. Steamed Momos
4. Others: Veg Noodles, Macaroni

Many in One

At first, prepare the fried veggies in bulk and keep it aside. Next, you may decide to either cook rice  for lunch(fried rice), or prepare dough for momos for evening snacks (steamed or fried).

Ingredients:

• Vegetables: 2 onions, 2 Carrots, beans, 1 capsicum, lots of cabbage, onion springs
• Minced Ginger and Garlic 
• Salt and Pepper
• Oil for frying
• Equal quantities of maida(all purpose floor) & wheat floor for preparing momo dough
• Cooked Rice for fried rice

Preparing Fried Veggies:

• Chop all vegetables into small pieces. 
• In a large pan, add sufficient oil. Once it becomes hot, add ginger, garlic and then onion. 
• Once this turns golden, add rest of the vegetables and cook them on medium flame without adding water. You may close it with a lid for faster cooking, but remember to keep stirring it frequently.
• After around 5-7 minutes, you will notice that the veggies turn a little translucent, indicating that its cooked. It better to leave the vegetables a little crunchy. Add onion springs and cook for less than a minute. Now add salt and pepper powder. Stir well and turn off the flame. 
• Keep some veggies aside for momos and use the rest to prepare fried rice as mentioned below.

Preparing Fried Rice:

• To the same pan which has the fried veggies, add a spoon of soy sauce. Saute on high flame for a minute and turn off flame. 
• Then add cooked-and-cooled rice and mix well. 
• Adjust salt & pepper as per taste. Your fried rice is now ready to be served.

Preparing Momos Outer sheets:

• Mix equal quantities of wheat flour and maida. 
• Add salt and water. Mix well to bring it to the consistency of poori dough. 
• Keep it covered for 20mins before rolling them.

Preparing Fried/Steamed Momos:

• Make round balls out of the dough and press them flat with a rolling pin.
• Now at the center of the flattened dough, place the vegetable fillings as shown below.
• Slowly pinch and bring the edges together and seal them.
• This is now ready to be deep fried (medium flame) or steamed in a cooker (medium flame, without whistle, for 15mins).

Spring Rolls/Fried Momos

Steamed Momos

Note:

• Momos turn out very delicious when we add cabbage in large quantities.
• To get an Indian flavor, you can choose to garnish the veggies with chopped coriander leaves instead of onion spring.
• Both momos and fried rice tastes best when served with tomato/chili sauce.
• For more spice, you can add chopped green chilies while preparing fried veggies, or alternatively use hot spicy sauce.
• Instead of adding cooked rice, you can choose to cook noodles or macaroni, and add the same fried veggies to it. This gives you veg noodles/ veg macaroni and adds variety at home.

Inner Beauty

We reached the school at 10:15 am. I was happy to be there well ahead of time. Our appointment with the Principal was scheduled at 10:40 am. We were here to seek admission for my daughter for her second grade. As me and my daughter stood there scanning around, we noticed that the lobby was filled with quite a lot of applicants. Kids of age groups starting from probably five to fifteen were there – all waiting for their turn. We walked towards two empty seats and sat beside a man who suddenly smiled, not at us, but at his mobile phone.He was hooked to his phone. As we sat, I could see an old couple, in their 60s, sitting opposite us. There was a little girl beside them, mostly their grand-daughter who was in her early teens. She was dressed in denim, and looked very stylish for her age. She had straight long hair with beautiful bangs. I could see ear-pods plugged into her ears and she seemed lost in her own world. At the far end of the lobby, I could see two little boys impressing one another with their fidget spinners.

Beside me, was a mother-daughter duo just like us. Looking at them, it was very clear that they came from a very simple family. Their looks, their clothing, their body language all looked very simple, yet neat and crisp. While the mother was getting her papers ready, the girl, who was around my daughter’s age was unwrapping a peanut chikki. Her mother did not talk much, however the girl seemed very chirpy to me, which drew my attention towards her.

She asked her mom “How’s chikki prepared Amma?”

Her mother, preoccupied with the documents replied “With peanuts and... sugar of course.”

As the girl munched her chikki, she once again questioned her mom “Amma, my tooth here hurts a lot as I chew this sweet, does it mean there is a cavity in there?”

The lady, with her head bent down, still verifying her papers, replied “Finish your snack quickly, ours is next.”

The little girl popped the remaining chikki into her mouth. Fixing her hair she asked her mother “Is my hair too oily Amma?”

Her mom now lifted her head up, looked at the girl and began “Yes dear, it indeed is a little oily, but that doesn’t make you any less adorable. It’s how well you are going to answer today that will be making you look adorable. It’s your confidence, your attitude and your mental skills which will brighten the beauty in you”. She continued “Dress only to look neat and elegant, nothing beyond that. Don’t you think people like Sudha Murthy, Abdul Kalam and even your grand-mother are a perfect example of this? Now let’s go in with a smile and give your best sweetheart. Your attitude will add on more beauty to you which your dress or hair can’t!” Saying this, she grabbed the girl sideways by her shoulders and kissed her cheeks and said “love you”.

I was simply awed by the young lady’s response and nudged my daughter in admiration who was listening to all this silently. There came her timely response at once: "DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS..." and in unison we said..."COVER" as we all chuckled together softly. 

Looks matter, I agree. But in an attempt to impress others, if one starts working too much on their appearance, then rest of the aspects will be side-tracked, especially among kids. So teach your children to look neat and presentable. Nurture young minds to learn to strive towards enhancing their skills and talents.  Let their whole potential be used to intensify their inner beauty, not in enhancing their outer beauty. And always remember, "Never judge a book by its cover". You never know what lies inside.

Goddu Saaru

I prepare this special rasam whenever anyone at home catches cold/ cough. Its an excellent relief for cold/cough or even fever.

Main Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 2 spoons
Curry leaves - a few
Garlic pods - 3
8-10 pepper seeds
coconut grating - 2 spoons
turmeric
half spoon rasam powder
tamarind - as per taste
jaggery - as per taste
Salt as per taste
Ghee - 2 spoons
water.

Seasoning:

Ghee
mustard
jeera
curry leaves
1 garlic pod
a pinch of hing (optional).

Method:

Roast the toor dal in 2 spoon of ghee. After a minute add curry leaves, garlic pods and pepper. Roast until they change color.

Then put this to mixie/blender. Also, add coconut grating, half spoon rasam powder and tamarind.

Transfer the contents into a thick bottomed vessel. Add as much water to get the runny rasam consistency. Add  turmeric, jaggery and salt as per taste and bring to boil. [Remember, it gets thick as it boils, so add enough water. Just 2 spoons of toor dal/coconut is sufficient for a family of 4].

Complete it with a perfect ghee seasoning - by adding mustard, jeera, curry leaves and garlic.

Serve it hot with rice. Tastes better with liberal serving of ghee and of course plenty of love ;)

Oats Oats Oats... Oats Everywhere!

We Indians do not use much of oats in our daily meals. But, these days its become quite a trend, even among us, to consume oats for breakfast. I had 2 kilos of oats lying in my kitchen shelf and I had absolutely no clues how to use them. It looked so dry and tasteless. I tried a few online recipes, but none of them impressed our taste buds.

One cool morning, I craved to eat hot spicy upma for breakfast, but I fell short of rava. Suddenly the thought of mixing some oats flashed my mind. I went ahead and tried mixing rava and oats in 3:1 proportions. To my surprize, my upma turned out so well. Another day, I mixed some roasted oats while preparing poha. Even that was a hit. My ideas went on growing. I added oats while preparing dosa/idli batter in small quantities. It blends so well that no one could guess I added oats in my dosas. 

One fine day, it was time to experiment on my chapatis. I added wheat flour and oats flour in 3:1 ratio. And bingo! There I ended up with soft fluffy chapatis as always.

Given that, oats is so beneficial to health, I want all my near and dear ones to enjoy your usual Indian breakfast, with a little dose of oats in it. Try my below tips and get healthier.

- Simply roast a large bowl of oats in a pan, until it slightly changes its color.

- Once it cools down, take half of it, put it into a mixer & make a fine powder of it. Store it in a jar.

- Take remaining roasted oats and make a coarse powder and store it separately in another jar.

- Use fine powder while preparing chapatis, paratas or akki rotti.

- Use coarse powder in Upma, kesari bath, poha or while preparing idli/dosa batter.

- You may add approximately one-third portion of oats powder to the actual main ingredient. If you are hesitant, use smaller quantities initially and you may slowly increase its proportion.

Some facts on oats:
- Oats are very rich in dietary fiber.
- They have a range of healthy cholesterol-lowering properties.
- It prevents heart disease.
- It reduces the risk of diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes.
- It is known to enhance immune response to various infections.

Idli Fries

It was raining heavily this evening and my tummy craved to eat some yummy french fries. But, given that both my kids were sleeping, I had no chance of going out to satisfy my taste buds. So, my brains did all the crazy processing and came up with this yummy idli fries.

Ingredients:
Left over idlis
Oil for frying
Chutney/sauce to dip and eat

Procedure:
Simply cut the idlis in any preferred shape. I cut them to match the size of french fries.
Deep fry them in a pan with medium flame.
Serve with coconut chutney or tomato sauce.

I enjoyed the rain and the crunchy snack... so did my kids. I never ever thought left-over idlis would bring so much delight to my taste buds. Truly scrumptious!

Smiles and Tears

We are blessed with smiles on our lips and tears in our eyes. Yes, you read that right. Both smile & tears are a blessing to us which lets us express our feelings. Smile comes out naturally and so does tears. Do you ever control your smiles for any reason? No right? Then what makes you control your tears sometimes? Its nature's way of expressing things. When you are happy, your lips smile... when you are sad, your eyes bleed. 

But often, we throw fake smiles onto our lips, and we hide our tears beneath, thus going against nature. God has given us tears to express ourselves, not to suppress it. So when you are hurt, don't hold back, just shed a few and lighten your heart.

Don't hide your tears, don't put on a fake smile. Be yourself at least with the ones you love. Crying doesn't mean that your are weak. Laughter need not necessarily mean that you are happy. So, take that mask off and see how it makes you feel much better from inside.

Cherish Life

The tiny digital clock read 5:15 a.m. She was lying on the bed still half asleep. She hugged the pillow next to her imagining it to be her husband. She longed it really was her husband and not merely a pillow. But he was gone forever. It was already a month after the tragedy. She was not convinced yet that it was all for real. The untimely death of her husband still seemed like a bad dream.

She couldn't sleep. She woke up and prepared 2 cups of coffee as usual. One for her and one for her dead husband. She almost forgot that he wasn't there. Wiping her tears, realizing that he is no more, she placed the extra cup of coffee in front of her husband's photo, not knowing what else to do.

Some days she would cook extra food for her dead husband. She would sometimes order two meals at the take-away counter without realizing that she now needs only one. During weekends, she would forget to cook, because it was he who always cooked on Saturdays. At times, she would keep the door wide open at dusk, expecting her husband would return from work as always. At every step, she almost made everything for her non-existent husband. Accepting the death of her husband had become impossible for her. She had almost lost her mind. She wished that her non-existent husband would come back to life. She wanted him to exist. She could feel the pain in her throat, in her chest. Her heart ached. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but she was unable to do so. Her hands became stiff, she couldn't move.

Suddenly she woke up, unable to breathe. She had a hot flush. She could hear her husband snoring lightly next to her. It was a nightmare, she consoled herself. She saw the clock. It was 5:15 a.m, just like in her dream. She got off the bed and came to the balcony to get some fresh air. Suddenly, she could relate to everything. She clearly got the meaning of it.

. . . .

The couple had an argument 2 days back over a silly matter, and that was enough for them to stop talking to each other. They did not exchange smiles, no chit-chats, nothing. No "Good Morning", no "hi", no "bye". She almost treated him like he did not exist, and so did he. In the morning, she would prepare breakfast for herself and ignore him altogether. He would leave to office without a word.  In the evening, she would sip her coffee all by herself. At night, though it was his task to make the bed, he would just clean his portion, leaving all the mess on her side.

She wanted him to become non-existent. Even if he was right in front of her... she acted like he wasn't there. She ignored him. She gave him a deaf ear. She did all her daily routines like he doesn't even exist. 

As a matter of fact, just the opposite happened in her dream. He was dead in her dream, She wanted him to come to life. She did her daily routine like he existed, right beside her. She yearned that he once again came to life.

She felt very sorry for what was happening. She realized that they did not cherish their relationship enough. When in anger, she always thought that he did not exist. And in her dreams, she wanted her dead husband to still exist. 

"Better ignore his mistakes, than to ignore him... altogether" she thought and went back to bed, gently squeezed his nose so that he stop snoring, hugged him lightly and felt warm when he hugged her back. It was as easy as that.  

Through her dream, she learnt a lesson for life. Cherish the ones you have in your life, because you never know when they won't be around anymore.