Vegetables Coleslaw Sandwiches and orange juice

Today's dinner we shared with a few people in our neighborhood. I made a few sandwiches and distributed to construction labourers and other workers. Made second set for family.

We had it with orange juice.

Feeling happy that we could share our meal with less fortunate around us.

Sandwich

1 packet whole wheat bread

For the filling (coleslaw)

150 grams cabbage
1 carrot(peel and cut into very small pieces)
1tomato(chopped)
1onion(chopped)
A slice of raw mango(optional)
1green bell pepper chopped
1 tsp crushed pepper
Salt as required
3 tbsp Eggless mayonnaise

Tips

Use fresh vegetables, chop into fine pieces.

Method

*Mix in all ingredients and fill inside bread slice. I prefer not to cut the edges of bread.

* Once you spread the stuffing evenly slice the bread into two halves.

*Served with fresh orange juice.

Vegetable salad with smoked cheese

A healthy and tasty crunchy salad hardly takes 10 minutes to prepare. Washing, peeling and chopping vegetables and arranging it as a salad. Somedays children are not interested in regular meals,but request me to serve them something interesting. I find these salad bowls are refreshing and nutritious.

A quick salad for Sid. Chopped all vegetables and added a few slices of smoked cheese, crushed pepper and very less salt. As cheese,olive all had small quantities of salt. It's filling and nutritious.

Ingredients

2 cabbage leaves
1 tomato
A small cube smoked cheese
1/2 tsp sliced olives
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1 knol khol
1/4 crushed pepper
A small slice rawmango
1/4 lime extract
Salt as required

Tips

Add less salt as many ingredients we use for dressing already has a lot of salt.

Chop crunchy vegetables for this salad.

Method

* Wash,peel and chop all vegetables.

*Add all ingredients in a serving salad bowl. You can add a tsp olive oil. It's optional ( I have not added)

*Mix in smoked cheese,sal s and pepper. Add lime extract and gently toss. Adjust salt and serve.

Short story - Distance vision test

Distance vision test
***

Going to the ophthalmologist after almost 17 years of laser treatment was an adventure in itself. 

For Rohit, it's the one thing he disliked to hear, that you have to start wearing spectacles again.

How much he wished he had not gone there. Such a painstaking experience.

In rows and rows of patients he too was made to sit, one staff from nowhere appears and pour eye drops to dilate, to make  his pupils larger. The doctor can examine once it's done,

After almost 30 minutes, again they poured eye drops.

Sitting there for almost an hour, waiting for his turn. Eyes filled with tears, can't even clearly see the person sitting next.

Another staff wearing white shirt and trousers started calling out patients name! 5 were called and still his name was not in the list.

What a pity! He thought, I have meetings to attend, clients are waiting for calls. Where am I stuck!

After a couple of minutes, she walked towards him and told him, "please meet me at room number 18".

He was so annoyed, where am I going to find your room, huh?

But no one was there to respond, she had gone back to her room. Completely ignoring his tantrums.

He somehow reached room number 18 which was exactly opposite room where he was sitting. All he has to do was to turn around and walk. Instead he walked through the entire corridor and hit the wall and turned all the way back, finally he entered room number 18.

Well, Rohit, please sit down.

She brought the device closer, to  have a refraction test to check his vision. A refraction test is when the patient look through a device with different lenses at an eye chart about 20 feet away to find out any vision difficulties.

Placing different lenses she asked him to read. Like a preschooler he started to read.

He kept on reading with different lenses, sweating and trying to wipe his sweat.

Looking into his brown eyes, she was wondering why on earth it never occurred to him that he should have paid a visit!

Muttering to herself she called another senior colleague of hers. Just to make sure the *patient* need extra tests.

Finally she showed few more and declared his fate!

Sir, you need reading glasses!

Oh, really?

He felt relieved, its only reading glasses, that literally means his vision is intact. He need to wear the reading glasses only when he read or work on his computer.

Masala dosa at MTR -Review

Living in Bangalore for the past 15 years and somehow I have always missed my hometown. The proximity to temples and the ordinary simple folks who smile and greet you with love is one striking difference I have noticed. Here you know a lot of your neighbours but the warmth you get in your hometown is very different.

Having lived abroad for many years I have learnt to let it go. A formula which push me to go further.

Home is were parents are, you always will remain their shadow. 

Ah, nostalgia!

Writing about your dining experience is not an easy task. Sometimes you have bad experience and if you are lucky you may end up enjoying a good meal. Inspite of doing a lot of planning last minute change of place and getting served the best food. I think we must thank our stars! 

Yesterday we have made plans to have lunch at Vidhyarthi Bhavan. But around 11 I glanced upon the timings and realised these guys close by 11.30 and reopen after 2! 

So last minute plan change.

Then after a quick discussion we ended up in MTR, JP Nagar. The ambiance is good, being close to a park, it was somewhat cool. With high sealings and long lights and fans. A model which can be seen in old palaces.

 MTR, Bangalore is a food joint famous for its delicious dosas and idlies. 

Here is a crisp review of a good meal we had on a hot summer afternoon.

 Well Ravi is very particular about certain things. Like he dislike to drive all the way and then wait, something we both avoid.

 

We ordered plain, masala dosa. Which was served in a few minutes. A tiny cup of hot ghee was placed on top of the dosa. 

I was already feeling the ghee in dosa as I am sure the dosa  looked, tasted, crispy and crunchy. 

Ravi poured ghee and enjoyed his dosa while I kept the ghee away. The green chutney and sambar was different than what we make at home. The sambar was sweet.

I slowly started eating, pulled out masala from that triangular dosa and dipped it in a little sambar and chutney.  I gently passed sambar and chutney to Ravi. As I love to eat dosa with stuffing.

Finally asked for a couple of napkins to wipe off ghee!

Then we had a bowl of bisibele bath. It was good. Hot and tangy, sweet.

We ordered curd vada which was really soft and good. I packed one for Aru.

Then Ravi had kesari bath, I think they were bit more sweet. But Ravi liked it. I had a spoonful. Looking at the generous amount of ghee itself made me full.

We didn't wait for the lift, the joint is on top of the building.5th floor. We walked down the stairs and drove back home.

Nungu (palm fruit) and walking

I love to go for long walks, in fact the best way to know your city or any place in the world is to walk and enjoy the nature. When I travel which is a habit now, taking short break from everyday running around. I feel happy and rejuvenated after a refreshing journey to unknown destinations.

Coming back to the very interesting part of my walkaton. Well, I am preparing myself for a long walk and trekking to visit a dream destination. Valley of flowers. I don't know when I will take a break and embark to this rare gem hidden in the valley of Himalayas.

By the way I go for walking every day to short distance say 2 to 3 kilometres. But of late the desire to go for more enjoyable walks have taken over!!

So I increase the distance slowly day by day week by week. A long term planning.

Today I thought of taking a brisk walk after making breakfast and lunch. It was about 10 am and it was bright, sunny outside.

There is a small park nearby where I live and a temple, plus you can also buy fresh vegetables. Many benefits by walking around your neighbourhood.

When I reached the park it was almost closing time. A security guard was trying to chase away the few who were still sitting and doing exercise. I took a large round in the park, then realized the guard have already locked the main entrance.

To my dismay I could't see people inside probably many just left. Then I started walking towards other gates, luckily one was half open. Thanking my stars I came out of the park and walked outside.

As I was walking towards my home on the streets in a cart I saw a palm fruit seller. We call it nungu in Tamizh. After a pleasant chit chat with the guy in Kannada, he finally realised I can speak in Tamizh, which I think most of the people sense!

Well, he and a few like him get the fruit from Salem.  One full cart of nungu will get sold by afternoon! Each one costing about 30 rupees.

But they were really delicious and I enjoyed eating them. The thin layer of tender skin around the fruit was bit tricky to remove. But I tried to remove it and just gulped the tender, juicy fruit. It was yum! 

By the way he gave me another very tender one, that was full of juice. In fact while he was cutting it was dripping!

After that I went to the temple had a good darshan and merrily walked back home.

I stood under a tree and the small flowers were falling when the gentle breeze blow.

Had a great morning walk, about 4 kilometres today.  

I will come up more with my stories!! 

Kalathu podi (Roasted lentils powder)

When it comes to certain acquired taste from childhood one simple side dish always was my favourite. Even today I can eat an entire meal with kalathu podi. A fine powder made with roasted moong,urad, black pepper and salt.

But I thought of adding a twist to this very traditional dish. The best part it tastes really good.

Well, let's explore the ingredients

Kalathu podi

Ingredients

2 tbsp urad dal

2 tbsp moong dal

1/4 cup chana dal(kadala paruppu)

1/4 cup tuvar Dal

4 to 5 byadgi chili(used for bright red colour)

4 red dry chili (for spiciness)

1 tbsp black pepper

A tiny piece hing

Tips

Make small quantities

Dry roast all ingredients until crispy

Variation : you can add a few curry leaves and substitute lentils with horse gram(kollu)

Method

*In a pan dry roast all ingredients in low flame. Once they are crispy and crunchy turn off the stove.

* Allow it to cool down.

* In mixer add all ingredients and 1:tsp rock salt. Make a fine powder.

* Store in airtight containers. Serve with hot steaming rice, pour a little gingely oil or ghee and enjoy this delicious powder. It's yum!

Banana smoothie

Making milk enjoyable for children.

Banana milk shake with chocolate.

I have used a few ripe yelaki bananas and chilled milk, sugar and blend it into a smoothie. Finally drizzled a little cadburys chocolate powder. 

Banana smoothie with milk and chocolate

Ingredients

2 cups of milk

6 small ripe yelaki bananas(you can use any other variety, yelaki is plenty available in Bangalore)

3 tsp sugar

2 tsp chocolate powder

Tips

Use little over ripe bananas.

Add chocolate powder for garnish.

Method

*In mixer jar add bananas, milk, sugar and blend to a smoothie.

*Pour it in glass jars or tall glasses. 

Garnish with chocolate powder. Serve.

Black chana salad

I was wondering what to make for evening snack. It's summer and a salad was the best option with a cup of fresh sweet lime juice.

I have soaked black chana in the morning. So quickly added a cup of water, salt and boiled the chana along with two small chopped potatoes(I have kept it in a different container, while chana was kept for direct cooking)

While the chana was getting ready I managed to chop cucumber,carrot, onion, and rest of the vegetables.

Instead of adding bhel I have added south Indian mixture. It was much more crunchier than bhel.

So here is the recipe

Add mixture just before serving Ravi and Aru

Moong sprouts added to the salad

Boiled black chana and potatoes

Black Chana salad

Ingredients

1 cup soaked and boiled black chana( add a little salt before pressure cooking chana)

2 tbsp moong sprouts

1 cucumber (chopped)

1 carrot(chopped)

2 small chopped tomatoes

1 green chili(thinly sliced)

1 tsp coriander leaves chopped

2 knol khol(Peeled and sliced into very small pieces)

1 tsp jeera powder

1 tsp chat masala

2 tbsp imly chutney

2 tbsp mixture (South Indian savory)

Salt as required

Tips

Mix all ingredients in room temperature.

I have not added salt as the imly sauce had enough sweet and salt for the salad. Plus I have added little salt to the chana before boiling. 

Method

In a large serving bowl mix all ingredients together and just before serving add crunchy mixture. Served with chilled sweet lime salted juice.




Sweet lime juice

Ingredients

2 medium sized sweet lime(mosambi) extract,remove seeds

1 lemon extract, remove seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black salt

1 tsp sugar(optional)

a few fresh mint leaves

Method

Add all ingredients with 5 cups of water and few ice cubes in the mixer and blend. Serve with salad. 

Sweet lime in mixture jar with mint leaves and other spices.

Tomato rice - One pot meal

One pot meal is an option to serve a delicious quick meal. I many times prefer one pot meal as it saves time.

Today it's tomato rice but with plenty of vegetables.

Tomato rice

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice (washed and drained for 20 minutes)

1 large potato

3 large tomatoes

1 medium onion

2 small carrots

2 green chilies

A small piece ginger grated

4 to 5 pods of garlic

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp MTR tomato rice powder

A few curry leaves

A pinch of hing

3 cups of water

2 tbsp ghee

A small piece cinnamon stick

3 green cardamom crushed

For tadka

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ghee

Tips

I have added a lot of vegetables to this dish,thus reduce rice quantity.

Method

*In pressure pan pour oil,add cinnamon and crushed green cardamom, once they release aroma add garlic, ginger, onion, green chilies, carrots, potato, tomato. Wait for 2 minutes and mix in all vegetables. Cook for 2 minutes.

* Now add rice to vegetables, mix in. Add turmeric, tomato rice powder, curry leaves and peas. Add salt, water and close lid cook for 2 whistles.

*Once done do a tadka with mustard seeds. Serve with raitha.

Coffee filter cleaning procedure - Kitchen hacks

Today I will discussing with you about some of the cleaning techniques we use in our kitchen. To begin with its an old brass coffee filter.

We bought it from Palakkad and using it for the past 2 years. Its of course a very old filter engraved with initials.

Now let me explain to you how to keep your filter sparkling shine and clean.

Everyday cleaning the filter after making decoction is must, plus occasional special cleaning like the one we did today.

Cleaning coffee filter with metal polish, a air of socks and then immersing the filter in hot water for about 15 minutes. Remove and clean it with a kitchen towel. 

The one which I am using now is used by our older generation in palakkad households. Now a days its really difficult to get such beautiful brass filters. 

Anda Parathas(Egg rolls)

It's quite interesting how we can make a meal wholesome with very few ingredients. Rolls are always loved by children and us alike, don't we?

When we want to go for a lunch or early dinner option, few things come handy. Like the recipe which I tried today for Aru.

Egg rolls/Anda parathas

Ingredients

2 brown free range eggs

1 large onion chopped

1 small tomato chopped

1/2 green chili thinly sliced

A small piece ginger grated

A few curry leaves roughly chopped

Salt as required

1/4 tsp hand crushed pepper

1/2 tsp butter/sesame oil to grease the tawa

Tips

* Knead atta(parathas dough) an hour before. Keep it ready.

* Roast onion and tomato in tawa before adding to eggs. It gives a very good flavour.

Method

* Break eggs and beat it.

* Pour oil/butter on tawa roast chopped vegetables.

* Mix in roasted vegetables to beaten eggs,add salt and pepper. Mix well. Keep aside.

* Roll out a thin roti, put it on the same tawa, when one side is cooked flip it and evenly spread eggs.

* Carefully flip the roti and cook for 2 minutes.

* Use a flat ladle and remove Anda parathas from the tawa.

* Repeat the same procedure till beaten eggs are finished.

* Roll the parathas and use a knife to cut the parathas into halves.

*Serve hot with Dum aloo, pickle and serves for two.

Please share, comment and try this recipe. 

Peanuts and sesame ladoo

A tasty, simple sweet made with very few ingredients. All it took me about 20 minutes for dry roasting, powder, mixing in and rolling out. 

Peanuts and sesame(white til) ladoo

1 cup peanuts(Roast and remove the peel)

1/2 cup white til(sesame seeds- roasted)

1/2 cup powdered jaggery(make a coarse powder)

1 tablespoon of black grapes(chopped into halves)

1 tsp ghee

3 green cardamom(crushed)

Tips

Use organic jaggery which is very soft and easy to powder.

Use very less ghee and the peanuts and til has plenty of oil, once roasted and powdered, they release oil.

Method

* Roast peanuts and remove peel when its reaches room temperature.

*In the same pan dry roast sesame.

* In mixer powder peanuts, sesame and cardamom. Make a fine powder.

* In a large plate spread roasted peanuts, sesame, green cardamom and add powdered jaggery. Mix in using hands. Remove any lumps and add ghee in hands. 

* Start making small even sized ladoo, press the sides so that the ladoo are firm.

* I made about 12 ladoos. The shelf life of this ladoos is about a week. Suitable for children's snack box as its healthy and nutritious.

Mushrooms stuffed with paneer(cottage cheese)

A  starter which is very filling and I am sure you will love it. A simple dish which enhances the delicate flavour of mushrooms and paneer adds nutrition value to it. A healthy version of mushrooms filled with cottage cheese.

Mushrooms stuffed with paneer

50 grams paneer(crumbled)

10 large mushrooms(remove the stalk)

1/2 green bell pepper

4 pods of chopped garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp jeera powder

Salt as required

1/2 tsp mint leaves chopped

1/2 tsp ginger chopped

Tips

* I use large mushrooms. Wash dry and remove stalk.

* Cook garlic until golden brown. The aroma of garlic taste good in the dish.

* I have filled half capsicum with leftover paneer and roasted it on tawa.

Method

* Wash and remove stalk from mushrooms.

* In a heated pan pour little oil, add garlic and ginger cook for a while,add green chilies, crumbled paneer, salt and mint leaves. Cook for 2 minutes. Off stove.

* Take each mushroom and fill paneer stuffing. If anything is leftover fill it inside green bell pepper and roast it along with mushrooms.

* Place a griddle/tawa, pour olive oil, carefully place mushrooms, cover and cook for 2 minutes, flip and cook for 2 more minutes.

*Remove and serve hot with green chutney.

Mint leaves chutney

A few mint leaves

A few Onion shoots

1/4 tsp dhaniya powder

1/4 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tspJeera powder

2 tablespoon Curd

Salt as required

Method

* Grind all the above ingredients to a fine smooth chutney.