Role Reversal

"Maaa.. I'm getting late... I will not have breakfast. I dont like your upma anyways....!! " I yelled tying my shoe laces. I can hear mom running around in the kitchen packing lunch box for me. She also pours hot milk in a glass and comes towards me.. I frown picking up my school bag and stomp! "I dont want milk ma...." Her eyes widen as if to eat me up and she makes me drink atleast half glass. I grumble all the way and complain to my dad. Dad has dug his head deep into the newspaper to have a mute ear to all the morning chaos that happens at home.

I pull up my sock, grab the lunch box say a grumpy bye to everyone and run to catch up with my friend who has been waiting all along for me, to go to school.

years later in MY kitchen

"Gosh..I had snoozed the alarm 3 times before finally throwing myself out of the bed rushing to start the usual morning chaos.....!!! switch on the geyser, pick milk from the bag hanging on the door knob,put rangoli,think of breakfast menu, pack lunch, get ready yourself...." I was late so made upma today! but somehow it didn't turn out well and I was scared that my husband would say "I will not have breakfast. I don't like your upma anyways....!!"
It is amazing how Time rules our lives and makes the past look like a delightful dream!
I'm thankful as my hubby is a real sweet heart and always appreciates my effort and not the final outcome![:)]
it is a bonus bonanza for me if my efforts result into very good outcomes!

Karate Kodambo / Bitter gourd gravy

I love bittergourd for one good reason that it is bitter.. :)
my family loves bitter gourd in any form. The traditional form of this recipe requires 'ambado'/ 'Amate kayi'. since I did not have them I used tamarind instead.
Ingredients
Bitter gourd 2
Urad dal 1/2 tblspn
Coriander 2 tblspns
grated coconut 1/2 cup
Tamarind juice 4 tblspns
Jaggery 3 tblspns
Red Chillies 4
curry leaves 4-5
Oil 4 tblspsn
Salt

Bitter gourd should be cut into thin small slices. Thinner the better. Last I happened to dice it into small pieces and the gravy was too bitter.
Heat 1/2 tblspn oil and fry coriander seeds,urad dal and 3 red chillies separately. grind it with coconut and tamarind.
Heat oil and put mustard seeds once they splutter add 1 red chilli. once the chilli is fried add curry leaves and all the bitter gourd , cover it and let it be on low flame till the gourd turns into a dull green colour which would take about 10 minutes. do not add any water during the process. the gourd should be cooked in oil only. now add salt and jaggery and let it cook for 5 mins. Stir it once in a while so that it doesnt stick to the pan. Now add the ground masala and 1 cup water and let it boil.
turn off heat and serve hot with rice/chapathi.
If left over this gravy can be eaten with bread next day for breakfast.

Tomato Chutney

Not all my family members eat non veg.. For breakfast this Sunday, I had to prepare veg and non veg separately which is a little tiring. with guests at home, cooking both varieties is a pain. So made bread omlette for the eggies and the super fast tomato chutney. one of my friend is a great cook and when I used to stay with her before marriage, she would make this chutney occasionally on sundays. So this recipe is picked up from her.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes medium sized 2
Cumin seeds 1 tblspns
Chilli powder 1/2 tblspns (optional)
Pepper 1.5 tblspns
Sugar 1/2 tblspns
salt

Heat oil and put cumin seeds in it. Once it changes colour add the finely chopped tomatoes, cover the pan and leave it on low flame. let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer it till the tomotoes are cooked well. add 1/2 cup water to the same and once boiled.
This tomato chutney has a tangy sweet and spicy taste and gells very well with bread/toast. I havent tried it with dosas. Will update once i try.
When i tried it last time i could not find pepper powder so I had put pepper corns in oil once jeera was fried and then put the cut tomatoes. It tasted very good but i happened to bite a corn and I was all flying after that. So I had to remove each of the corn from the chutney before serving. So this time I put powder and it was awsome!

Fast Dalitoy - Yellow Lentils gravy

Tell me one GSB who doesnot like the traditional dalitoy..! I remember when we were in Udupi for samradhane(feast on occasion of some puja), our family and our next door family would go to the temple, reserve seats for each other and drool until the food was served. I agree that my mom and grand mom were a good cooks but the food served in the temple was a delicacy.


This dalitoy is a slight deviation from the traditional dalitoy.


yellow lentils/toor dal 1 cup
green chillies 2-3
ginger garlic paste 1/2 tblspn
mustard seeds 1/2 tblspn
coriander finely chopped
cumin seeds/ powder 1/2 tblspn
coriander powder 1/2 tblspn
ghee/ oil 1 tblspn
salt
tamarind juice 1 tblspn


While placing the dal in the cooker, add a pinch of haldi, drop of oil, jeera seeds/powder and coriander powder.
heat oil/ghee, put mustard seeds, once it starts spluttering add green chillies .once the chillies are fried add ginger garlic paste. mix well with the oil and then add the cooked dal,tamarind juice and salt. let it boil for 2 minutes and then add finely chopped coriander leaves and turn off heat.
serve it with hot rice.

Ridge gourd Chutney (Ghosale sira chutney)

My mom is a great cook too and a health freak. she has such a good figure even now that I look like her big sister. She must have plucked hair from her head making me eat all the healthy stuff she prepares.
She makes Ghosale sira chutney (Ridge gourd skin chuntey) which I just adore. I started cooking when I came to Bangalore to work and one day I brought ridge gourd, removed the ridges and make the usual upkari with grated coconut. and with the ridges i thought I could make chutney. Directly ground the ingredients and the ridges. it tasted so bad that i could not ‘repair’ it! all went to the drain. It was then i called helpline mom and asked for the recipe. The main point was that I had to fry the ridges..!!(too long a story for a simple chutney isn’t it..:))well, here it is
Ingedients:
Grated coconut -3/4th cup
Ridge gourd (medium size) - 1
Cumin seeds -1 tblspn
tamarind juice 1 tblspn
pepper 2-3
oil - 1 tblspn
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
green chillies 2-3
Salt

Method:Heat oil in a pan and put split green chillies and cumin seeds. Once it changes colour put the ridges only and fry it. let it for 2 minutes and then put 1/4 glass water and cover the pan with a lid. let it be on low flame for 10 mins.turn off the heat and let it cool.Once cooled grind it with the rest of the ingredients.Heat 1-2 drops of oil and hing(Asafoetida) in it and add it to the chutney. (my mom says hing phullenu ghalka which in literal English translation means ‘fluff up Asafoetida’)
Ghosale sira chutney is ready to serve

Note:if the ridges are not cooked well then it gives a not so good raw taste.

Intro to Crunch-Munch

Never knew blogging could be such an addiction. After marriage the major difficult task I faced was cooking. Cooking a simple dinner would take hours and the exhaustion after that would wreck any good mood following! I would call up mom before cooking and ask for the in-detail recipe and note it down. still while cooking it some more doubts would crop up. So instead of calling up on mom decided to check the internet. I must admit here that I am very much impressed and inspired by Shilpa of Aayi's recipe. the way she has written about cooking the simplest meal with pictures is very good. for example, some months back frying chapati/roti was an alien thing to me no matter how many times my mom told me the correct way, I would mess it up. Finally Aayi’s recipe helped me. When so many foodie blogs are there what is so special in this blog one might wonder! well, my intention is to try and post fast to cook meals which would be beneficial to the blog visitors as well as to myself at a later point in time.
So here is my try ... ! Crunch Munch it is!!

Buddha

Some days back I was just browsing through Flickr to see some different from usual errr.. actually weird photos clicked by camera crazy people and happened to come across some pictures of Gautam Buddha . The serenity of Buddha's face captivated me instantly and suddenly I felt myself more relaxed. I browsed more and saved various pictures of Buddha on to my PC for later viewing. Ever since then I have been constantly looking and reading about Buddha. I happened to read one thesis written by someone from Oregon university; The thesis says all about Gautam Buddha's initial days and why he left his wife, about his preaching .... in the end it says "Buddha attained Nirvana and to celebrate the day Indians celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights!" I was a bit surprised by what was written. We celebrate Divali for a totally different reason. Anyways who is to correct the Oregon university professor!!
Today I was a little disturbed and I knew the easy way to cool myself. So pushed the halt button to my work and started browsing for Buddha pictures and was surprised to see lots and lots of Buddha statues in gold, across the east Asian countries. Buddha led an example for simple living, he renounced from all the worldly pleasures of mankind and went in seek of peace. Why do we have so many statues of Buddha in gold or any pricey material? Well certain questions dont have an answer, even if they have there are subjected to individuals perception and cognitive content!!


Did it really serve the purpose?

Was just reading my own blogs today and realised how silly and immaterial old posts seem! Either my attitude towards the subject has changed as I 'grew up' since I had written them or because it really is drivel!
Anyways, I Intend to write more of gimracks as I cant think of anhthing but that now!
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