Upvaas special - Sweet potato kees

This is a healthier version of traditionally made grated potato sheera also called as "batatya cha kees". Usually it is prepared on the upvaas days like sankashti or angaraki. I am substituting potato with the sweet potato just because - I think sweet potato is a healthier cousin of regular potatoes. Ref : http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/03/white-potatoes-vs-sweet-potatoes-which-is-healthier/

So here is the recipe:

Sweet Potato Kees.

Prep time : 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Sweet potatoes (orange flesh) : quantity 2  or about 4 cups - washed, peeled and grated
• Green chillies : 2-3 coarsely chopped
• Coconut : 2 tbsp grated
• Peanuts : 2 tbsp coarsely ground
• Salt : to taste

For tempering:

• Ghee / oil : approx 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds : 1 tsp

Method:

• Peel sweet potatoes and wash them. Set them on a kitchen towel to dry.
• Grate sweet potatoes and set aside.
• Heat ghee/oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
• Add green chillies with a pinch of salt and fry.
• Add grated sweet potato, salt and toss gently. Stir fry for approx 3-4 minutes or till sweet potato softens and changes to brighter orange color.
• Add peanuts and coconut and mix.
• Cook for further 2 minutes.

Serve hot.

Harry Potter revisited

ABC Family did the #potterhead marathon last weekend. All 8 movies back to back split over Saturday and Sunday. As I watched few of the movies, again, may be for 100th time, my mind started wondering what if...... What if I had a chance to revisit the Harry Potter series and redo or rather undo some incidents, would the outcome be rather more appealing - to me?

I have very high regard to J.K Rowling and her writings and I am a die hard fan of the whole series. As I read the books and watched movies, I had become rather involved in the life of Harry Potter. It broke my heart to see him lose his near and dear ones. Like for example, why did Sirius Black have to die? He was the only family Harry had. After his parents - James and Lily - Sirius was his godfather. Harry barely got to spend time with his parents. So when I met Sirius Black - and I mean "when I met" because I am that involved in this fictional series. So when I met Sirius Black, I was so thrilled.... finally Harry had found a real home and family! I thought his godfather would be able to make up atleast a little for his lost childhood. But no... we lost Sirius Black.

And Doby?? Oh that was really not fair. This loyal elf always had only one intention- save Harry Potter anywhere and everywhere! And ofcourse he died saving Harry Potter. That was so sad. I wish Dobby was alive when Harry defeated Voldemort.

Professor Snape - he is my hero. Especially when you are finished reading/watching the entire series, and you start the whole series again, at every occurrence of him, it makes me wonder - what a great man! Imagine the amount of burden he has carried all his life. Always looking out for Harry, yet hiding his emotions and on the contrary displaying immense hatred towards him, it is absolutely amazing!  Nothing to change here about him...Snape was perfect!

Vegetable pulav

Here is an awfully simple recipe of vegetable pulav:

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice : 2 cups
• Organic vegetable broth : 3 1/2 cups
• Cauliflower florets : 1 cup
• Carrots : 1 cup cut lengthwise
• Green peas : 1/2 cup
• Corn : 1/2 cup
• Green beans : 1 cup cut lengthwise
• Onion : 2 cups cut thin lengthwise
• Cashews : 1/2 cup
• Lime : 1/2 juiced
• Butter : 2 tbsp
• Oil : 1 tbsp
• Biryani masala : 2 tbsp
• Tandoori masala : 1 tbsp
• Salt : to taste

Method:

• Rinse rice and set it aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat 1 tbsp butter in a sauce pan and roast rice for about 5 minutes or until the water in the rice dries out.
• Add vegetable broth to rice and on medium flame cook it covered for about 7-8 minutes or until rice is almost cooked.
• Continue cooking rice uncovered for about 2 minutes. Transfer rice to a plate and spread it out to cool down.
• In a wok, heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter and fry onions till crisp. Remove onions and set aside.
• Add cashews and fry till golden brown. Remove cashews and set aside.
• Add cauliflower florets,green beans and carrots in the wok and toss. 
• Cook it covered for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are semi-cooked.
• Add peas and corn and continue cooking covered for approx 5 minutes. Make sure the vegetables are still crunchy and not over cooked.
• Add biryani masala, tandoori masala and a pinch of salt to the vegetables and mix.
• Add cooled rice to the wok and mix gently.
• Add half of the crisp onions and half of the cashews and mix gently.
• Add lime juice and more salt if needed.
• Cover and cook on simmer for another 5 minutes allowing the favors to mix.
• Top it with remaining onions and cashews.

Serve hot.

Notes:

• Vegetable broth - if store bought contains sodium. Sometimes dry masalas contain salt too. So add salt to pulav considering these additions.
• When mixing rice with vegetables, care should be taken that the vegetables or rice grains are not crushed.

Sonu on my mind

Sonu! Sonu! Sonu! Everyone was chanting Sonu Nigam's name in Allen Events Center. It was one magical evening when Sonu Nigam's voice filled the auditorium. My heart raced back to the times when he used to host Sa Re Ga Ma on Zee TV.  I believe it was somewhere in 1995s when he started hosting the singing talent show. I have been his ardent fan ever since then. Oh.... his awesome voice and what a charming host...!!!

Although initially he was looked upon as a "Rafi ki photocopy" he has left that image far far behind. I feel very honored to see how he has his own identity. I feel proud that I have been a witness to see him grow and prosper as a magnificent singer. I have always worshiped legends like Asha Bhosale, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, but never lived in the era when they were at the peak of their music career. But with Sonu Nigam, I can proudly say I have witnessed the rising curve of the musical career of this singing legend - started from a TV show host and still rising.

Watching Sonu Nigam perform live in concert, it was truly a blessed experience. He was so full of energy! And his stamina -OMG! He was all over the stage running and jumping and dancing when he did his peppy numbers and was so calm and serene when he sang sad ones!

I was in Sonu songs hangover for almost 2 weeks past the concert. One day it was sad ones like "Do Pal ka tha" from Veer Zaara, the other day it was "Zindagi maut na banjaye" from Sarfarosh. Other times it was tie for romantic ones like "In lamho ke" from Jodha Akbar or "Tumhi dekho na" from Kabhi alvida na kehna. List of his songs is never-ending.

Anyways, I do feel privileged to have watched Sonu perform live in concert twice in Dallas area. These are some happy musical memories which I felt like sharing and hence the tile - "Sonu on my mind".

Ready for solid foods?

Every mother enjoys watching her baby grow and graduate from each phase as she enters a new phase of learning. One such phase is transitioning from breast feeding to solid foods. Along with the excitement that I was exposing my baby to a whole new exciting world of tastes, I was also anxious about how I was going to approach this new beginning. With lots of tips and suggestions from my mother and grandmother here is what I did for the period of 6 months  to one year of her age. This might be helpful for new moms who are trying to get a  perspective this wonderful phase in life.

I started with a meal of rice and moong dal (golden gram). I used to lightly roast the washed rice and moong dal in butter (home made ghee) and then pressure cook in water.
I used to steam one or two vegetables separately and feed her a spoon of rice meal followed by a spoon of vegetable. 

Initially I used vegetables like potato, sweet potato, pumpkin,green beans,carrot etc. I was picking at least one colored vegetable so that it was fun for the baby too.

Slowly I introduced organic pasta cooked in organic chicken broth with a dash of tomato purée. That was her by far the most loved food.

Eventually I started feeding her soft chicken breast and cooked fish seasoned with salt and pepper. Occasionally I used some home made garam masala ( just a pinch to get her introduced to the flavors). The moment fish became a part of her meals, till date that been her most favorite food.

Right after the pasta, I introduced her to chapati. I used to cook toor daal (pigeon peas) and add some tomato and ginger with some salt. Then I let chapati soak in the dal and feed her mashed up chapati with some home made ghee.

Among the fruits, I started with mango, banana, lychee and avocado. Introduced them one by one and then moved on to next. Initially I used to cook apple, pear, peach, apricot etc and soften them before feeding them to my daughter.

Slowly I worked my way through all kinds of berries - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries etc and by the time she was a year old, she became well versed with a variety of tastes and textures if food.

And that was the food adventure of my dear daughter.......

Oats pohe

This is a modified (read healthier) version of traditional Sunday morning breakfast item cooked in practically every house in Maharashtra. As a default "Pohe" is the term used for flattened rice. Here I am calling it "oats pohe" since I am using quick oats. Its much healthier than plain rice pohe... you know the "good carbs" which fills you faster and keeps you full longer. So here it comes... 

Oats Pohe

Ingredients:
Organic quick oats : 1 cup
Rice pohe : 1/3 cup
Onion : 1 cup diced
Peanuts : 1 handful (halved)
Green peas : 1/2 cup
Green chillies : 2-3 chopped
Cilantro (Coriander): 2 tbsp chopped
Oil : 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For tempering: Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida (hing),  turmeric

Method:
Heat oil in a saucepan. Once oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Add hing and cumin seeds once mustard seeds stop spluttering. Then add chillies, onions and turmeric. Add salt to taste and saute till onions are translucent.
Meanwhile mix dry oats and rice pohe in a mesh bowl and wash down under water. Leave to drain.
Once onions are done, add oats and rice pohe to the saucepan and mix with onions. Add peanuts and green peas and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Garnish with chopped coriander.

Notes:
Take care that oats and rice pohe mixture is well drained. If it contains excess water, pohe can get soggy.

Organic or non-organic

Over the past couple of years I have been amazed to see the increase in the variety of items in the organic food isle. When I go grocery shopping, the word "organic" enthralls me.

As per USDA , Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.
Ref: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop

Even though organic produce is gaining its popularity, till date not all grocery stores sell organic food. Plus the price difference between organic and non-organic food item is still huge. So here is my dilemma - if I was told to pick non-organic produce, when its organic counterpart exists,  which should I pick?

After some research, I have now been following a very simple rule : if the fruit or vegetable has a thicker peel which you would discard when eating, I go for non-organic options. For example in case of a banana or avocado, because of the thicker peel, the inner flesh has less pesticide exposure compared to say berries which have thin and delicate outer skin.

So here is a categorized list from my shopping cart:
Always organic:

• All berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry etc)
• Zucchini
• Lettuce
• Celery
• Tomato
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Kale
• Chard
• Oats
• Pasta
• Milk
• Eggs
• Chicken 

OK to be non-organic:

• Banana
• Avocado
• Grapefruit
• Orange
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe

Of course at any time I would prefer buying all organic, just so that we can support the farmers  to grow more and more organic. I think of this as my way of eating healthier and also a my small contribution in working towards saving our planet.