Event : Come Celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi With Me

Yesterday at work it was announced that 2nd Sep will be compensatory off for which we will work on the 17th. At first I was completely lost, what do I do for 5 days? The 31st and 1st were known holidays. My friends started suggesting options, some were sweet to offer an invite to their home. My elder bro Vijay called up to ask if I was coming home. I did not want to do any of it, I mean I might visit friends here if I feel like but I was not going home, 5 days is just not enough and with this short notice it is impossible to travel. All modes of transport are already full. I don't have a permanent driver now, so no more travels on a whim. I thought it would be a better idea to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with you, my blogger buddies.

No rules for this event, all you have to do is just link to this post. I shall collate all your posts and flash them all through the Ganapati festival till Gauri visarjan. I am looking at atleast 21 darshans so include a picture of the Ganapati in your Pooja or home.

Entries will be accepted till : 8pm on 6th Sep. 

Come lets celebrate and spread  the cheer of Ganapati Bappa Morya!! I am very excited. Hope you are too!

Broccoli Aloo Wadi Rassa

This curry is going to be on my special curry list as it is very easy to make and has the potential of winning everyone's heart. Kids too will love it. When I have kids over for a meal I always make a potato curry as most kids love potatoes plus it is easy to incorporate other veggies in this curry like Broccoli, cauliflower, brinjal etc. plus the protein from the wadi. This curry has a gravy that is not too thick nor too thin hence we call it rassa and that is how I like it.

Ingredients

1 small head Broccoli

8-10 baby potatoes boiled

1 aloo wadi

1 green chili

1/4 teaspoon amchur

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

a large pinch asafoetida

2 teaspoon oil

chopped cilantro a handful

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

salt to taste

juice of 1/2 a lime

Heat oil, sprinkle in the asafoetida. Sizzle up the broccoli in it with the green chili. While its cooking. Peel the boiled baby potatoes. Crush the aloo wadi with a rolling pin by putting it into a plastic bag, smaller pieces are better, they don't loose identity in the curry so don't worry about a mush after cooking. In a separate pan add another teaspoon of oil and saute the wadi to dark brown. Add them in along with broccoli. Now add all the masalas and the chopped cilantro. Stir and let it cook on sim for 5 mins. Then add a glass and a half of water to get a consistency of your choice. Boil till the curry thickens with the starchiness of the potatoes. You could even crush couple of potatoes to give it more body. Add the amchur, sugar and salt. Boil to a rolling boil for another 5 mins. Put off the gas. Let it rest for sometime. Potato curries get better as they rest and thicken up a bit. Before serving squeeze half a lime into the curry and mix well.

This curry was served with Ajwain paratha and bought out mango pickle, though I was dreaming of the chunky mango pickle that's made the Punjabi way. I loved the curry and I did crumble the wadi into my curry along with the baby potatoes meditatively before scooping up with the paratha. It is a very satisfying meal. I didn't know why I expected it to taste like non veg curry but it did not. This taste is different as the texture of even the crumbled wadi is noticeable, quite grainy. It gives you the experience of an aromatic mouthful as you relish the Punjabi wadi.

Punjabi Wadi

When you are in the south unlike Mumbai you will rarely chance upon regional specialties, especially in South Bangalore. So I first saw the mention of these wadis on Manisha's IFR and the whole world seem to be talking about it. I sulked, here I am in India itself and I did not have access to Punjabi wadi. No not even in the fancy super markets. But years after the Wadi movement I chanced upon these at Total Mall. Remember I mentioned it on the Nolen gur post.

Here is the recipe to make your own wadi.

I made Broccoli Aloo wadi curry inspired by Anita' curry and a greens stir fry with sauteed wadi in it. I loved the rasa curry more than the stir fry. The wadi is quite stiff even when cooked. While eating unless you really crumble it in the curry you will not enjoy it thoroughly. The post on the Broccoli Aloo wadi curry to follow...

Osaman

In the thali clockwise: Osaman, leafy vegetable stir fry, Rice with osaman, tomato basil salsa, coconut coriander chutney and curd

Osaman or Gujarathi Dal or Ramesh Bhai's Dal. Well the third name is by which it was known for many years in my home. You know that I grew up in the Gujarathi heartland of Mumbai, Fort and that my neighbors were a big influence on my eating habits. Kaki my neighbor made this every single day yet when Ramesh bhai her son made it, was always special. The smells of the chauk/ tadka made for the dal made me drool as a child. Recreating memories thru this dal. Soon it will be Ganapati time when the entire Rajput family visited us in Tata Colony after we moved to Chembur. Missing everyone, Preeti, Ramesh bhai, Bhabhi, Indu tai, Ansu tai, Mayuri, Vijay Jijaji, and ones who are no more with us Kaki, Ji Aaji and Japan Baba.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked tuvar dal/ split pigeon peas

2-3 pieces of kokum/ 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp

1 small piece jaggery

1/8 cup peanuts

1 inch piece of cinnamon

2-3 cloves

1 split chopped green chili

 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

4-5 curry leaves

1 teaspoon ghee
salt to taste

handful of cilantro for garnish

Heat a pateli. Add ghee, heat to smoking point. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Followed by cloves and cinnamon. Now add the asafoetida. The green chili and curry leaves go after this. Then add the kokum or tamarind pulp. Quickly add a glass of water. Throw in the peanuts and the jaggery. Bring to a boil. With a ravi/ beater blend the cooked dal to smoothness. Transfer it to the pateli. Salt it and boil vigorously for 10 mins.

Once off the gas serve immediately with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. Ladle it onto a mound of rice, basmati, kolam or ambe mohor! Love it, you bet it is lip smacking!!

Sour and Sweet Leafy Lettuce

This bowl was so colorful when I made it that it had to be put on the blog. We loved the taste too of crunchy leafy lettuce and pear and the sweetness of the bananas. The cherry tomatoes were the sour dimension to balance the sweet.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

2-3 clusters of leafy lettuce

5-6 cherry tomatoes

1/2 pear 

2 Elaichi bananas

1/2 cucumber

salt and sugar 

squeeze of lime

Take a large salad bowl. Tear out or snip up the leafy lettuce. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Cut cucumber into chunky pieces. Dice the pear. Slice the Elaichi banana. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar and a large pinch salt. Toss around the vegetable and fruits. Squeeze a lime and toss once again.

On this day our lunch was cup noodles and this salad. Just when I was feeling lazy to cook and guilty to eat processed food I was happy I made this salad with its balanced taste and utter freshness lending the meal at home a completeness.

NaraLi Bhat

It's NaraLi Pournima and Raksha bandhan today as I post this my lucky cousin Charu will reach our Mumbai home to tie rakhi for my cousin brothers. I am in Blr so have to bless them from here itself.

I made Narali bhat today. My supply of Naral or coconut is store bought and not from the game of coconut cracking as described here. I am missing home and Mumbai today, as I was speaking to my cousin brother, Hrushi he promised to visit me soon. 

In their name this sweet coconut rice is enjoyed today!

Ingredients

1/2 Basmati rice

1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut

1 table spoon ghee

2 cloves

1 cardamom

a handful of raisins

a handful of peanuts

At first wash Basmati rice. Dry it on a towel for 15 mins. Heat ghee in a wok. Now crackle up the cloves in it. Then add the peanuts and fry them up in the ghee. Add the washed and semi wet Basmati rice into the ghee. Stir to coat the grains of rice evenly. Add a glass of water and cook with a lid on. Pay attention that the rice grains should not clump. Then lower the heat and mix in the coconut, jaggery and raisins. Mix well to melt jaggery completely. Once the jaggery is molten completely it will impart a lovely pale golden color to the rice and it will glisten. Put off the heat and mix in the crushed cardamon powder. Let it cool completely before serving.

This is a traditional sweet in Maharashtra made on this day. I will make the Chauri chi Karanji too in the evening.

This sweet coconut rice or NaraLi Bhat in Marathi brings back memories of my father's Rakhi sister, Sunita Aatya, who would get it for us all the way from Goregaon to Fort. You must be wondering who is a Rakhi sister if you are not Indian. Well, on this day any woman who adopts a brother and ties a Rakhi (sacred thread) to him is called a Rakhi sister. The Indian tradition allows a woman to adopt a bro if she does not have a brother of her own. These bonds have sometimes been stronger than that of real siblings.

Going Up South?

"Going Up South?" No one ever says that, not even a southner. South is always supposed to be down. Right? No wrong! If you meant the new restaurant at Ragigudda, then you are going to Up South.

Now If I am taking visitors to see that lovely Ragigudda temple complex I also have a food destination where they can sample authentic South Indian snacks and meals in a clean environment. The combo platters are really like tasting platters, every item is in small portions. The medu vada is small, the idlis are cocktail sized, the dosa is shruken. There are 3 chutneys so enjoy, the peanutty, garlic and plain cilantro in a single plate. A ladle of sambar, sagu and some onions for sprinkles. This plate is for one large eater or can be shared by two people with an additional snack order. Like we did you could order one of the other dosas or rotis of choice, like ragi roti, akki roti etc. Our addition was set dosa. With the combo platter you could choose to have a glass of Buttermilk or filter coffee included in the price of the platter and an extra coffee for Dad. We obviously chose the later to complete our proper South Indian meal. We had this at lunch but in the South this is actually a breakfast platter. Oh I forgot to add there was a big puffed Puri too in that platter but it got passed on to Dad so you don't see it in the picture.

There are other North Indian platters too but as always avoid those in a restaurant that calls it self Up South. South is their specialty and that is what I recommend.

The colors of the decor are bright citrusy and clean. This is a self service place so you bill at the counter at the entrance. Pick your order and choose a table that gives you the view of the side road and far view of the ring road or if your focus in going to be conversation while eating then climb up to the mezzanine.

It's a good place to snack when you are in Jayanagar, J.P. Nagar shopping around or on one of the unhurried days when you are heading to work. So now you won't frown if some one asks you, "Going Up South?"

Nolen Gur Payesh

You know how these bloggers are! They tease you with their creations and you stay haunted for days, months and years. When I visited Kolkata some years ago, it was March and Nolen Gur was not yet made. It is a winter speciality. Acually I did not know much about Nolen gur till then. I just thought it was yet another obsessions the Mishti loving Bongs had. Then one day I got to taste Nolen gur Rosgullas a colleague had flown in a huge box for the team. I simply loved it.

You can only imagine my excitement when I spotted it in our next door mall. I was super thrilled! I even found a packet of premixed panch phoran. I used to make my own and at times when I did not have kalo jeero I'd sulk that my phoran was not a complete panch. On this day I got lucky and will display yet another find in the upcoming post. Now getting back to the recipe of the payesh I made today... Well Payesh is a festive preparation and that too the one with Nolen gur is almost sacred I understand from Bong Mom. While Sayantani has all these ideas for using Nolen Gur in her spectacular post on Sandesh with this magic ingredient.

While there are lots of recipes here is mine a fast track one.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rice

1/2 litre whole milk

75 gms Nolen Gur

1 teaspoon Ghee

crushed nuts like almond, chashew, pista etc.

Bring the milk to a boil in a large vessel. Now measure out 1 cup soft cooked rice. Add it to the boiling milk. Keep stirring so that the milk does not foam and boil over. Let the rice crumble into the milk a bit and allow it to thicken just slightly. Put off the heat after simmering it for about 15-20 mins. Now it is time to add Nolen Gur, to help it dissolve easily crush the gur. Keep stirring till dissolved completely. As the gur dissolves it will lend the payesh a custard like consistency and color. Like Sayantani I too am a succor for delicate flavors so avoid using any other aromatics but am sure Sandeepa's addition of bayleaf is a good variation. Lastly top the payesh with a spoonful of pure ghee. Stir in the crushed nuts and raisin to add a crunch to your gooey treat.

Dad loves sweets and so he had seconds of this Bengali speciality. I am going to save this star ingredient in the fridge and try it out it in all possible mishti! Next would be Doi, its planned already.

Patole for Nagpanchami

Yesterday was Nagpanchami in the morning itself Vidya Shenoy aunty called up to tempt me. She was making Patole and if possible would bring them over for me in the evening once I'm back home from work. I never really feel excited about Patole but I knew that Vidya aunty would add her special touch to any dish.

So there she was in the evening waiting for me at home with hot steaming Patole emitting that characteristic delicate flavor of fresh turmeric leaves. I carefully peeled the steamed leaf from the rice flour wrapped around the coconut jaggery filling and bit into it. The slender packet of heavenly aromas filled my mouth. Not too sweet and perfectly steamed with the right thickness of the rice flour wrapper is what makes this a treat fit for a special festival. Loved it!

I had one last night and one for breakfast. I was craving for more but I have started practicing discretion now, believe it or not! All smiles.

Here is a recipe and pictorial by Sanika of Delectable-Delicious. Go try it out.

Calories: 225 per piece

MyPlate Is A Good Plate

 Does your plate look like this? 
If not click on the logo to visit the site, there are lots of helpful tools.

The Maharashtrian Taat was a perfect balanced meal. When I started cooking snacks became breakfast and dinner too. I never bothered about planning a well balanced meal. That balanced meal was a privilege when Mom and Aunts cooked for the family. Last 15 odd years my week day cooking has never been a Taat with that much variety of food groups.

The USDA or the United States department of Agriculture has come up with message for the public which is a simple plate with colorful representation of a balanced meal and its portions. The brilliance of this logo is its simplicity and absence of a language for the message. Anyone who can see can understand what it conveys. 

I am happy to say my plate is exactly like this. I follow a intake of 1400 calories diet plan that is helping me move towards my ideal weight.

Pumpkin Halwa

In an attempt to eat lot of vegetables Dad has piled up the fridge. One can't be eating all types of gourds in a single week. A little pumpkin looks lovely on the shelves of the green grocer but I find it tasteless to make a subzi. Now that I am off sugar I thought of trying pumpkin halwa expecting that the vegetable has an inherent sweetness and a substitute for sugar should give a dessert that Dad and I both can enjoy. My Dad loves his sugar quotient in food even today at 69yrs though I have to put a check on myself.

Here is what I did.

Ingredients

2 cups peeled and shredded pumpkin

1/4 cup of Sugar free Natura

1 teaspoon of ghee

7-8 cloves

1/2 cup milk

Roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Heat the ghee for till molten. Add the cloves. Let them pop. Stir in the shredded pumpkin. Cook till translucent. Now add the sugar free natura and top up with milk. Let it simmer till the ghee separates and pumpkin looks glazed. Stir intermittently to avoid sticking to the vessel.

Enjoy warm sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds. Its cold in Bangalore so warm is good for us.

Roasted Potato Rolls

Today was the lightest birthday celebration in my entire life. Birthdays in the family always meant calorie rich food. I made lot of stuff today but have never been so conscious about what to cook for a Birthday. I am a foodie at heart and a some one who loves to cook for people. I enjoy my food and so I share. However having gone thru the health alerts in the last couple of months I am aware about even the smallest morsel of food that I consume. I need to know how many calories it will give me. I am not blind to what I eat now. 

In the morning I made idli and chutney for breakfast. The tea was without sugar but with a sugar replacement. For the team I roasted kothimbir vadi with a wee bit of oil and took it to office. My lunch made up of carrot cucumber salad, Maa di dal, stuffed chilies, phulka and a shared cup of cold coffee with sugar, on a normal day I would have had a full glass without thinking twice. I was tempting my friend for a brownie but she resisted, may be I have scared everyone enough around me that they have become wise eaters :P :)

I ate the most in the evening, dinner was Tomato rice, Roasted Potato rolls and fruit salad with Lichee ice cream. The sum was a good 2000 cals almost 600 cals more than prescribed! Ok. I'll make up for it. 100 cals less for next 6 days.

These rolls I am sharing here would have been generously shallow fried Aloo tikis but I prefered to roast and I loved them. I think if I bake them they will be more delectable. It was a small batch so did not use the oven instead roasted them in a greased non stick pan. You may like to try.

Ingredients

3-4 boiled potatoes
1/4 teaspoon amchur powder
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
salt to taste
handful of chopped cilantro

3 slices of bread

Mash everything together in a bowl. Roll them up. Grease the non stick pan. Lay them in it so they don't touch each other. Cook for 7-8 mins till they firm up. Then keep rolling them in the pan by flipping the pan. Cook till nice golden and crisp on the outside.

Serve hot with ketchup or chutney. Aloo in its basic form is really harmless and this is a nice lean recipe. Make it and enjoy your party.

Appeal: Construction of Annexure to Sri Brahma Chaitanya Mandira Trust

|| Sri Rama Samartha ||

Sri Rama Jayarama Jaya Jaya Rama

This is an  appeal made by the Trust: 

With the blessings of Sri Pampapathi Narayanappa Maharaj, Sri Brahma Chaitanya Mandir, came into being in a small rented house at Gavipuram Guttahalli on 11-02-1959. Later on, with the blessings of Sri. R. C. Ketkar Maharaj and Sri. Narayanappa Maharaj, the holy paduka were installed on 25-05-1972, at its own building at no.1692, Banashankari 1st stage, Bangalore. Further, a marble idol of Sri. Lord Gopalakrishna was installled on 18-05-1983, by Pujya Prof. K.V. Belsare, over the Samadhi to make it similar to Gondavale. Since the inception of the Mandir, daily upasana and other activities of this tradition, are being performed regularly.

 However, as the present accommodation is inadequate for devotees coming from outside places and the present building it too old, the neccessity for having a spacious hall, a kitchen and a few rooms is felt.

It is therefore, decided to build a new annexure for the Mandir, with better amenities. We request all the devotees of Sri Sri Maharaj to participate in the holy cause.

Sri Brahma Chaitanya Mandira Trust, Bengaluru.
Registration no. 3503 dtd. 9-9-1960

No.1692, Banashankari 1st stage, 

2nd Block, 5th Cross, 16th Main, 

Bengaluru - 560 050

Contact Persons:

B.L. Satyanarayan : 080 26699611

K.L. Srinivasa Murthy : +91 9741038109

Nagesh : +91 9241296013

Send in your donations through online fund transfer to:

CORPORATION BANK

SRINAGAR BRANCH

S.B. ACCOUNT NO. SB01016110

IFSC: CORP 0000215

I will be updating this blog with photos of the site once in a month.

View Bramha Chaitanya Mandir in a larger map

Thanking My Doctors

I had a blast with my friend Sangita today! Shopping at our favorite brand BIBA at the Inorbit Mall in Vashi. We returned tired and a dinner of Veg Pulao with mixed veg pickle and roasted papad was awaiting us made by my Dad! I made some fruit chat for desert. It was the first time this week the entire family sat down for dinner together. It feels so great to feel normal after 2 months of bad health. To feel like cooking, to feel like feeding, to feeling like going out and above all enjoy simple things in life.

Just before I started writing this post I filled up my calorie tracking sheet and I realized I had consumed almost 2000 calories today! Way beyond my prescribed 1400 intake. While filling the activity line I filled in 4hrs of walking which means 1200 calories burnt! Now will some one answer if mall walking can be considered as exercise? My legs are aching so I safely presumed I must have exerted myself enough to label it as some calorie burning activity which can be filled in my tracking sheet.

Well those who follow this blog know that I had a scare. Since 10th May I have been falling ill with small ailments. Was on antibiotics for first 2 weeks. It made me so weak and I felt very low.  I am in Mumbai for last 2 months had gone back to Blr for a short while in between but had to come back. 

In the first month I was struggling with family pressures and bad health. I was working from home, that is what kept my mind occupied. I made an attempt to get back to office in Blr but in vain. Then on returning to Mumbai I just lost immunity completely. An infection came back stronger. My family doctor was thrilled to see me, I was meeting him after 4-5 yrs. Dr. Akali suggested I undergo some investigations. I was depressed and that was unusual he said. He has been our doctor for 13years and he knows our medical histories. So off I was sent for urine tests, sonography, blood tests and after that sent straight to the hospital for treatment and further investigation. I am now able to write this lightheartedly that I have been overhauled in the last 2 months.

While this low immunity and health complexities I underwent Dental treatment, 1 root canal and some cavities. I am ashamed to mention the number. If I open my mouth now you can spot 3 metal islands! credit to Dr. Asif.

After I returned from Blr and went to the hospital and came back met other 2 new Docs a Gyanac and an Endocrinologist! Got the bombing of my life from Dr. P. S. Lamba!! I was shaken and threatened. If I wanted to live I had to loose a lot of the weight I had acquired over the years. The sonography revealed every organ was yelping for attention and had to be attended to! Dr. Lamba in his characteristic sarcasm said "You have someone in your life who loves you a lot so you are in hospital today! I said weakly but doc I'm not married. You don't cook a lot do you? Eating out or ordering a take out it easier, isn't it? I stayed mum, almost like a sheep of sacrifice. There is history in the family of cancer and stroke and I see money when I see people like YOU!"

You are going to get better and healthier! You will do it! I was laughing along with the doctor as he took a dig at me but inside I was ashamed that I had neglected my health and I had no choice now but to LOOSE A LOT OF MY WEIGHT.

Dr. Lamba does not know my medical history but the one person Dr. Akali knows it. He is such a sweet doc. He was more sympathetic towards me. He was on the phone with me all through the ordeal I went thru. It brought back memories of 8yrs ago when he suspected I might have spondilitis initiating and I went to him with a stiff neck and a frozen shoulder, he gave a medicated rub. The relief was from the medicine as much as the care and nursing!

In the last six years I have rarely gone to a doctor and I am so loyal to my doctors in Mumbai that I choose not to go for cough or fever to a local doc in Blr. My medicine for these has always been home remedies and over the counter medicine if I use, that too rarely.

My Dentist Dr. Asif is a friend and neighbor, only he has the privileged to pry open my oral cavity. LOL!!! He is now one of the well doing Dentists in Navi Mumbai but never forgets that we were his first few patients when he started out practice as a fresher just out of college. On other days we share high teas, Diwali sweets at ours and atleast once Iftar with him and Seema, his wife. When a party is to be organized he is generous to help with finalizing venues, menus and other things.

Then there is one Doctor the eye specialist Dr. K.L. Rao who we fear. He is the authority on eye treatment, a gold medalist of his times in medical college. When everyone else suggested eye surgery to correct my vision he strongly opposed it, that was way back in 1986. It was the time when eye surgeries were not without risk. I have been doing well with specs since then. He said no contact lenses for you, get used to wearing specs and I did and survived all thru my growing years and working years! Just yesterday I went for check up. There was no power and doc asked me and Dad to sit and chat while we waited for the electricians to fix the transformer down the lane. Chatting with Doc was unheard of! We did and we went down memory lane together. He remembered every detail of not only my case history but family too. We inquired about each others family. When the power was restored and as the check up was in progress I got a little too comfortable with the doc and just then I was asked to shut up and answer only to the point. That is old Dr. Rao! He did a thorough check up and wrote a couple of drug prescriptions for me and explained why I needed them. The prescription for specs was for 2 sets, one near and one distance. No variance glasses for me, says doc. Even the optician shook a bit or so I thought when he saw a prescription by Dr. K.L. Rao. Here is a Doc who has done a lot of charity, now only sees his old patients and you will not find a board outside his Clinic. His regret, only if one of his daughters had taken up his field he would have trained them with his rich experience. As I thanked him he warmly wished me goodnight and said I must visit him next when I am back in Mumbai. Yes doc I will.

Would like to hear from my readers the stories of their relationships with their doctors. Do such relationships exist with the new generation doctors?

Thanking all my Doctors old and new!

Chana Sprouts N Cabbage Salad

Not much of a recipe. Just putting together something I thought I will enjoy. Just had it for lunch and a glass of Amul's Masti Chaas for a downer.

Ingredients

1 Baby cabbage 

1 cup sprouted Green chickpeas/ Hara Chana/ any other beans

2 teaspoons Maggi chili sauce

Shred the baby cabbage. Boil the sprouts. Put it in a salad bowl. Put a dash of Maggi chili sauce about 2 teaspoons. Mix together with a salad fork. Enjoy the crunchy and protein packed salad!

Red Alert!

Just back from the hospital. A whole bunch of tests done on my health and they indicate risks. Risks that I need to attend to immediately. Hence this blog space will see a change. It will still be about food yet food that helps weight loss. I plan to maintain a log of this effort.

I have signed up for a tracking of  intake calories for 7 days. Post this will take an appointment with the nutritionist to plan for a weight loss diet.

Hope this inspires more people to have a healthy life and not wait like me till the RED ALERT.

Cheer me on.

Macroni N Cheese

Uncle Dheer spent one Saturday with us. He is fond of simple fresh food. Both Uncle Dheer and my Dad are very meager eaters. One cannot make an elaborate meal for these two so the menu was Thatte idli, chutney and sambhar for lunch. Dinner was going to be Gazpacho with Cream crackers and Fresh pasta.

Macaroni and Cheese is what I made, simple fresh and hearty. Uncle Dheer enjoyed it.

Ingredients

2 cups macaroni

Bring water to boil. Add the Macaroni into it and cook till al dente. Drain the cooked pasta on a mesh. Sprinkle some olive oil to avoid sticking. 2 cups raw macaroni gives 4 cups of cooked pasta.

For the sauce

4  large tomatoes

5-6 pods of garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 onions

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

salt and sugar to taste

Cheese for garnish

Chop onions lengthwise. Fry in oil. Cook the onions on slow meanwhile in a mixer grind together tomatoes, oregano and garlic along with salt and sugar as per taste. Pour the puree onto the onions. Cook till color changes to dark red of the tomatoes. Add the red chili powder for a bit of spice. Then finally add the pasta and cook till it absorbs some flavors and comes together as a dish. Plate out servings for 4 and grate your favorite cheese over it, as much as you like.

Enjoy!

Shirtless Men and Mango Peach Cobbler on Mumbai's Summer Day

Shirtless Somu trying to hide behind the swing as he poses for me making faces as if I am not going to let him eat it. Showing of his wife's artwork, yes Sapna painted the plate.

Mumbai has blazing heat. It is showing every where. Not that in our family Men need reason to drop the shirt. Yes even before Salman Khan made the sculpted body a fashion the original Mumbai Men never shied from showing their big 'O' or '8', forget the six packs no one even knew anything about them. If at all it sounded like a takeaway order of may be medu vada chutney!

So now when it is this Mumbai Summer the Men do what the Women cannot. Drop the shirts and show off the bodies. Inspite of the problems heat creates on health this is the time for Mangoes and here it is only Hapoos. I decided to treat my very busy family to a Mango cobbler and the two Peaches too went into it. The cobbler recipe went for a change in type of sugar and believe it or not the taste changes completely.

Here is the other cobbler I made in the past Apple N Grape Cobbler

I think since then I have made it so many times and now the slight change let me record it here on my own blog instead of rushing to ET's everytime.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup Demerera sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 large pinch salt

1/2 cup butter

2 small peaches

1 Hapoos mango

 Preparing the fruit:

Heat water to boiling. Blanch the peaches for a min in the boiling water. Remove and keep aside. While they cool. Dice the Mango into cubes.

In a large bowl mix together all purpose, sugar, milk, salt and baking powder to smoothness. The mixing should not be for more than 5 mins. 

 

In the baking dish melt the butter in the oven. Remove from oven and pour the batter over the molten butter. Now layer the fruits over it peaches at the edge. Slice out the flesh and throw away the seed. Then layer the diced mango in the center. Put the baking dish in the oven on the middle rack and bake at 180 deg Celsius for 40 mins. Test by inserting a knife to ensure it is baked completely and the knife comes out dry.

Cool a bit and serve while still warm along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Balgandharva : The Crowning Glory Of Marathi Musicals

 The epitome of feminine grace, Balgandharva

 The Naandi, the beginning with the Ganesh avahan

 

When Manjiri and Me met up for lunch at the Royal Orchid we gossiped for hours. I gave her company for shopping all the stuff she wanted to take along with her back to Singapore. Then she mentioned she was going to buy tickets for Balgandharva. It sounded really interesting so I tagged along and booked tickets for Dad and me.

I was trying to make it a family outing but my sudden appearance in Mumbai is not making anyone change their weekend plans. There are Kande pohe programs for Bal, Sumeet and Sapna are getting ready for their Himalayan Trek. Pranav has gone back to his home as school results will be announced soon. So Dad making a big fuss about going for a movie finally gave me company. Yeah he does these favors for me once in a while. He prefers to ignore that I do this for him. Uff!

 The entry of Balgandharva!

I expected this movie to be well made in the visuals. Produced by the Art director, Nitin Chandrakant Desai all I was expecting is spectacular sets, as his work is known. This movie is a piece of art which is not flawless but then what is imperfect is also attractive. I won't say that about Subodh Bhave's performance as Balgandharva. His finesse in acting is worth a standing ovation. He slips in and out of the onstage and offstage character of Balgandharva with ease. His personality carries the women characterization with equal savvy as the male character. 

 

The direction is patchy and adds to the tragedy of the biography of Balgandharva. As a child I have read a no.of articles in Marathi newspapers about him. I was in awe of how a Man could play a women's role with such ease and grace that even men fell for his characters. There were a few patrons who loved the women characters and Balgandhrva knew it. He also knew he was a trendsetter for women and was extravagant with his sarees, jewelry, perfumes etc.

Balgandharva  took the Marathi Musical scene to its pinnacle in the 1900s. His singing mesmerized the audience as much as this opulence on stage through costume and sets. The life story of Balgandharva is as dramatic as his performances. There are many a learning in his life and this movie brings it out very well. An artiste in those days without a formal education was vulnerable. He never took interest in the finances. The extravagance of presenting a play with the best costumes, jewelry and even making the experience romantic by spraying expensive perfumes on the audience as they are welcomed into the theater. The patrons were treated to lavish meals. Balgandharva's passion to please the connoisseur of art as well as the common man equally was the cause of his financial downfall.

The living of separate lives of a bill board king and his family's struggle to make both ends meet is heart wrenching. Finally his escaping into the arms of a younger women, Goharbai who extracts the life's juices out of him by making him perform with a deteriorated throat made me swear aloud. The greedy woman was the final reason for his downfall.

The death of his daughter was personal tragedy and The inaugural show went on the happen... 

That was an entertainer's commitment to his audience!!

The highlight in his life is when he inaugurates the show of Manapaman as Bhamini, he says the loss of his daughter is a personal tragedy but the show must go on. Yet for me the scene where his patrons offer to pay off his debts but he refuses it saying he will not accept alms from his audience was awesome. The mild mannered Balgandhrva coming out as a resolute human is played to perfection by Subodh Bhave.

This is not what you are thinking, It is fulfilling a spouse's wish.

The  scene where his new bride wishes to see him decked up as the glamorous woman followed by the romance dressed in all his stage finery in today's context may create a confusion in the mind. However look at the subtlety of a man who displays anger at such a wish being expressed by his bride but fulfills it nevertheless. It shows how sure he was of himself as a man! A man who cared for his spouse and her wish.

Another scene is where Shahu Maharaj gifts him a shawl and a bag of coins, he accepts it though hesitant and then as he is passing by a dargah he is drawn to the singing and offers the shawl and money there; is the spiritual height of the man called Balgandharva. Tainted by financial scandals, live in relationship at a withering age. His inability to adjust to the new era of cinema and its works. The pure soul whom Lokmanya Tilak conferred the title Balgandharva is what we would like to remember, the one who served the "Rasik mai baap" from a tender age untouched by the greed and unscrupulous people around him.

It was a great pleasure to see the theater full and with a lot of youngsters on a Sunday evening. It was a complete cultural experience. The movie ended with original pictures of  Balgandharva and in my entire life it is the first time I saw the audience standing up and clapping and watching all the credits till THE END!

Phodnichi PoLi / Chapati Upma

I am in Mumbai, working from home for a while. It's great to be able to handle all the personal pressures and yet be able to work in the comfort of ones home. This is the first time ever in the 8 yrs of my association with my org that I have used a facility like this. Feels great that company provides support.

I begin my work day at 6.30 am and work right upto noon. Then take a lunch break upto 2pm and resume work till 6pm. Go for a walk in the evening and work for another couple of hours at night.What is great is while I am working longer hours I am connected with friends in the outside world as well as surrounded by family and in my home clothes at my relaxed best. Downside is making calls is not as easy as when you are on the backbone. You have to schedule them. However this is only a minor thing.

On the personal front I am waiting for some things to work out and that is very stressful. I am just counting the months, hours, minutes, seconds and wishing this investment of time and more will result in a bumper. I am hanging onto the words "Patience is the PRIZE".

The bright side is being with family, Pranav, my nephew was here with us. He went back on Sunday and we realized that we have a batch of PoLi/ Chapati that was leftover. He is a big eater being a growing boy in his voracious tweens. Me and Sapna laughed at the mound of chapatis leftover after he went back. She was wondering what to do with it. I made this Phodnichi PoLi / Chapati Upma, which is very common in Maharashtrian homes when we are faced with PoLi that no one would otherwise touch. You see everyone wants a hot PoLi just off the girdle if given a choice!

This makes a nice breakfast though. Phodnichi PoLi in English is seasoned flat bread. Get going...

 Ingredients

5-6 chapatis/ PoLi

1 large onion chopped long

2 green chilies

a handful of chopped cilantro

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

salt to taste.

sugar to taste

Lime to squeeze over

In a grinder put the chapatis and grind them to coarse flakes. Heat oil and fry chopped onion in it. Add the chopped green chilies and the spices. Now add the chapati flakes. Sprinkle the salt and the sugar. Mix well. Cook for 5 mins till all the flakes are evenly coated with spices. Garnish with the chopped cilantro and give a stir. Serve while still warm. This upma might dry out if served cold so serve warm if you like it soft. Don't forget to squeeze lime juice over it for the zing!