“Confessions in groups of five”

I know, i can see my cooking blog turning into personals and memes. I am hardly cooking these days.. okay.. let me cofess. The truth is camera has travelled across seven seas for a marriage ceremony at kannur.  Yep! that is it… no pictures, so no cooking.

Charming, Nandita has tagged me for this meme. 

Five in the freezer

• Fish, staple diet, cooked everyday.
• Frozen peas.
• Freezer door is over loaded with all kinds of masala powders.
• Ice creams and condensed milk in the door section.
• Al-Kabeer frozen foods.

Five in closet

• Lots of cameras
• Loads of cloths(ridiculous and insane!)
• Hidden 'whispers'.
• Box of jewellery.
• Personal certificates and important documents.

Five in car(if i would have one for myself!!:))

• Box of soft tissues.
• A small sandal wood lord Ganesha.
• Collection of Raffi, Bryan adams and Eagles.
• Chocolate wrappers, inevitable choice, i know its hard to get rid of it….
• A crate of water bottles(Its difficult to get water on long drives in Doha) or a gas can (its difficult to see a gas station in India on long drives) and a first aid kit.

 Five in my purse

• A picture of Mother Teresa( i was so much influenced by this great soul, once i even wanted to become a nun :))
• Credit cards, which is of no use in here
• An "I miss you" keepsake card sent by my hubby when we were away.
• A photo of Lord Ventkateshwara.
• Some money if i am out for shopping.

It would be interesting to read what Busy bee Indira and hilarious LG would like to confess.

A decision made!

Indeed, it was a tough but a meaningful decision.  It has been too many years, we ever felt the zephyr of monsoon in the air, ever took a glimpse of clouds that formed just before the rain begins, ever felt the serein. It has been too long, that we got ourselves drenched in heavy downpours that escaped through small umbrellas which was never a use during monsoons.  The rains we always missed, and made several attempts to reconstruct those wonderful drizzling days to our tiny ones with our limited vocabulary.

Finally, one fine morning, in our cosy little warm house at Doha, we took this decision, to relocate ourselves to India for good. Although, rain is an essential factor, more important  is a career move for my partner and i am blessed with loads and loads of people around and never again going to miss my mother's tastes. Hoping My little earthquake is going to tremor with same intensity and high spirits as she used to be here. Atleast she will not get scared  by ants anymore and get the meaning of water falling from sky (Rain!)

The memories of Doha and Bahrain, remains refreshing and warm, and i will do post about it once in a while.

For the nonce, i take a leave from all my blog freinds, for couple of months.  Hoping to join you all very soon and blogging from my home town Bangalore!!

My posts remain intermittent in coming days. Do keep a check here for some amusements and cooking on move.

Requests and orders on hold:

1. Priya of Sugar and spice, in her first comment about Bhakshanam, happy to learn more Karnataka cooking.:)

1. LG of ginger and mango wanted a 'spotlight' on mann chatti:)

2. Vaishali of happy burp, feels good if i can cook a vegetarian dish in clay pot:).. .

3. Indira of Mahanandi, eager to know what do my mother includes in Horse gram whole curry.:)

4. Most of my pals wants the taste of my mother….:)

I will soon post all these…

I miss my mom!!

I think i just have to do it right now.. its delayed enough.. and all my blog friends tagging me left and right….. i donno i am just sitting and counting stars… i am sorry about it.

My first meme, i was found by these 'Three cook(muske)teers' Ashwini, Nabeela and GM who embarked upon their culinary adventures, and befriended me (like the original  D'Artagnan in the story)… tagged me and here i am… (i know i sound honored.. but its not…) … (Melancholy… rather weeping!)… missing my mother very badly!!!!

My mother was never so good in neat and spick-and-span kitchen platforms during cooking, but used to produce wonderful delicasies.  She says,  when you concentrate more on a very organized and tidy cooking, you will never get a free hand on that hot stove.  Overall you will be thinking, … 'oh, that peas why is it spilled all over there?'… just that and you will forget all about how to make a perfect peas masala…. and end up clearing up the spilled peas in the middle of cooking…  may be she is right in her own way, she is famous for her tasty cooking.

I never got a chance to make this authentic karnataka breakfast and my mother's classic dish Masala akki rotti, with coconut chutney.. once used to be a 'hot cake' in my circle of hungry hippos and moment i open the box, rotti used to dissappear without a clue.

Tholasida akki rotti, my mom's signature dish, i have blogged.

Tomato Gojju, gravy of tomatoe and onion.

Alasandi kalu huli, curry made with black eyed peas and brinjal.

Huruli kalu huli, curry of Horse gram whole, i craved for this during my one of those 'productive' nine month period

Mosoppu, a thick curry preparation, with five different greens cooked and mashed together with little cooked dal and a ground paste. One must taste this with Ragi balls.

My ever tried and never succeeded, mom's Magical Idlis that melts in mouth. Mother has very simple notes for this recipe. Our crazy combo for breakfast used to be, idlis dipped in kus kus(poppy seeds) payasam.

A bun embedded in a jar of sugar, i know its silly but just brings back memories of my school days, when i used to hit home from school during sultry evenings anticipating some surprises, mom offers me this sugar coated bun, and i am so much amused, how mom can reproduce the same 'sugar bun' available from local bakery!!! Then i used to feel.. what a great cook my mom is?:) (she  has improved a lot!!!atleast she can not impress me up with such things now)

Phirni, she called it pakistani dish, leaving me wonder how and from where did she ever learnt a pakistani dish?!!. Anyway, that was one cool and coolest of dessert i have ever had.

All her umpteen rice treats prepared out of her imaginations, that used to occupy my lunch box waiting for those hungry fox to attack.

There is a lot more… but meme is limited to ten, time and.. length. Off all these, there is something else also i miss is her attitude so far i never understood is, she wants me to learn cooking but never gave me a chance in her kitchen!! It used to be real irritating… but yearning for such moments sitting far off and remembering her…..:)

I would  like Bindu, Shankari, Mythili, Lakshmi, nav, Reshma, Tony, Sumitha, shaheen, RP to write few words about their most memorable moments spent with mother or unforgettable dish savored back home in mom's kitchen.  

Uppillitta Nellikka - Salted Gooseberries

Has anybody explored sweetness of water?!!!! Just follow here… 

When Indira featured her crunchy cucumber that just reminded me of a very simple and plain preparation in Kannur with Indian gooseberries('Nellikka'). Quickly, i legworked on Indian gooseberries at Family Food centre, a place where we get all Indian stuffs. Berries looked real fresh and glossy  when i bought them first but got myself busy with lot many things and i found these paavam Nellikka(feel-so-sorry gooseberries) hiding in the bag after a week. 

When i opened the bag,a long 'ooooooo…' went out of my mouth.  Later on, i found myself in not-so-bad situation with Nellikka. I peeled the skin off which i am not supposed to do. I had no choice but to get that freshness under the skin.

                       

Better half loves anything that gives tarty soury salty and spicy feeling to his taste.  Its interesting to watch him eating(bad manners i know:-)) his lunch.  Usually i serve afternoon lunch with some rice, curry(mostly fish), a curd preparation, a vegetable fry. He starts lunching by mixing all the curries together with little rice just to get that "right" taste.  He savor it with such a lot of love and interest, i grab a plate for myself just to know what is that feel-good-factor of food. I love to cook food for such people who enjoys just eating and no fuss:)

A small story behind this Nellikka, which i often hear from him, goes like  this. In those good old days when they were on their way to school they find these Nellikkas salted and stored in big glass jars in small shops by the side of the road and they would walk down to school rather taking a bus so as to save that paisa just to buy those tiny tasty wonders. The best part, he says, should drink water immediately after chewing these Nellikka. And nothing can erase that taste off your memory.

These small memories should be kept alive so that our little ones should enjoy when they grow up listening to this. isn't it?:)  Most nicest thing i can ever do for my pal is to rebuild all those memories of food that he enjoyed over years.

Let's get on with this simple yet mouth watering prep…..

If you can get a jar that is similar to Indira's collection from her Indian utensils section Jaadilu/ceramic pots, would be the best for uppillitta Nellikka(salted Nellikka). If not even a plastic jar will serve the purpose.

I bought less than a quarter kilo of Nellikka and washed and peeled the skin, which you can do if only the skin has some brown patches. You can add a whole Nellikka or can be cut into small bite sized pieces. Slit 8-10 green chillies depending on the spicy feeling your taste buds expect. Keep the chillies minimum, so that if there is no punch, you can always add up few more chillies for extra hot feeling. Chop 5-6 Indian garlic lengthwise into  small pieces. Coarsely powder a teaspoonful of Mustard seeds. Mix all the above mentioned spices including Nellikka in the jar. Pour in a pitcherful of water, so that the ingreidients starts floating in the jar. Add lots and lots of Salt, to make the whole mixture, saturated salt solution. Most of the salt content will be absorbed by Nellikka. Allow it to settle for 2 - 3 days.

                          

You can enjoy munching this whenever you get that itchy feeling on tongue to taste something crazy or i love its piquancy paricularly when i am on a mild antibiotic course that momentarily spoils the taste buds.

For unlimited eupuhoria, make sure to drink water immediately after chewing Nellikka to get that sweetness of water…..:)

Fenugreek

Clockwise : fenugreek powder, kasoori methi,seeds

Mistress of spices, Mythilli of vindhu has invited bloggers and non -bloggers for this great informative event, and while googling for information, i cleaned up so much about Fenugreek, it was like going back to college days where in we used to spend hours together in the college library reffering something which leads to something else.. ..out of subject, read the same, day and night just out of interest…no regrets if you dont score well in subjects… still you feel you are more informative than others. :-)

Now, i wish if somebody ask me 'Do you know anything about Fenugreek?' 'Yes i know lot of things about fenugreek…

The Botonical name for fenugreek is Trigonella foenum-graecum, is actually one of the oldest cultivated plants. References to fenugreek were found in records from Egyptian tombs. The plant is indigenous to western Asia and southeastern Europe but it is cultivated throughout the Mediterranean, India and Northern Africa.

 India and some parts of middle east uses fenugreek leaves(methi, menthya, uluva chappu) to make delicious dishes. The leaves are dried(Kasoori methi) and pinch of it is a real taste enchancer gives a total new flavor to the dish. The bittery flavoured seeds are aromatic when roasted.  An extract of the seeds is used commercially in artificial flavorings such as vanilla, caramel, butterscotch and especially maple.

I still remember few years back, one of my friend had asked me to take gulp of a tsp of fenugreek seeds with water for my periodical stomach aches. Trust me! It helps.  I never had a clue that fenugreek has a steroidal component which kills the pain to cetain extent.

The chemical composition of these seeds resembles that of cod-liver oil, which has similar substances that stimulate the appetite by their action on the nervous system, or produce a diuretic or ureo-poietic effect. Can avoid lot of UTI if we add it in our regular diet.

It is used in diabetes in conjunction with insulin. I have heard People who were not able to get control on excess of sugar in the blood, take gruel made of fenugreek seeds.  Its hard to drink, but a kind of boon for high diabetic lot.

Fenugreek relieves congestion, reduces inflammation and fights infection and contains natural expectorant properties.

 Fenugreek seed is widely used as a galactagogue (milk producing agent) by nursing mothers to increase inadequate breast milk supply. This point if noted can be helpful for 'to be mom'bloggers:)

I just found ample medicinal properties of fenugreek seeds. I did not want to make a Colbert report as Mythili said:). Just google as 'Fenugreek', load yourself with extra infomations.

In India it is mixed with yogurt and used as a conditioner for hair. That one was an odd point, but it helps doesn't it?.

source : Internet

Lilium Stargazer

Most of you guys who are living close to green of nature where flowers are common, the same is very precious for us who are living in arid region of the world, though we are close to the nature but in terms of sand dunes rather than flowers. These are the pictures of one such speciality that was brought home few weeks back, taken care with atmost love and affection.

 

 

Adhering to the fact that gulf regions are dominated by Malayali expats, it is rough going for any keralite to take those first steps on these sands, after landing straight from greeny beds of Kerala.  I spent very few days in those green valleys of refreshing nature, after my marriage and landed in Bahrain few days later. The missing scene was not that hustle-bustle world of Bangalore, but those pleasent moments I spent in the quiet aromatic atmosphere of kannur. It was quite difficult for me to accpet the moment of truth, sand all over and around you in the other part of the world.

Okay enough of tumtum. The only factor that enlivened me in Baharain was flowers that caught my eyes. I was syndromic in looking for something i missed the most, back home.  I had swallowed the fact that the toughest thing i could ever find in this region is the flower.  As the cold and foggy december days arrived, flowers bloomed all over the gulf.  It was no less than an effort and commitment, to produce those long stretch of vibrant blossoms that decorates the pavements.  Workers, literally, had to lift up the flat and lengthy bed of soil and grass with small flowering plants,  planted on them and structured them beside the pavements.  Earth being sandy, they need to have a separate bed of fertile soil above the sand for the healthy growth of flowers.  With so much of technicality, almost every road in the city were filled with multicolored flowers in few days. That was one of the amazing moments i spent. Now that i have seen flowers, i was all the more excited, when my pal got me two roses on 14th of that hard-to-remember month.  The journey i started with lots of sand and little lovely flowers.

Flowers cost more than anything in this part of the world and so the word precious.  These special warm guests shows up in our small home ocasisonally and we are gratified to have them wtih us and nurture them.

A stem of Liliun Stargazer was one such guest, from Abeer flowers and Plants in Doha, which  already had two fully bloomed flowers came home few weeks back. Borhan(florist) at abeer said that if the flower stick is taken care nicely by regularly changing the water, one of the three buds will bloom and one fine morning it did!

Pictures, more pictures…. of Lilium Stargazer!!

Garden information on this lily found at Nature hills and Dave's Garden