Life's small treasures....

Well, its been some time since I put a pen to the paper and I thought I need to vent myself again. So here I am now....lot has happened since I shared my thoughts last. I am now pregnant with our second baby and life could not have been better.

I have been truly blessed with a wonderful family who stands by me no matter what. I guess during pregnancy we women tend to get more emotional. I certainly feel more tuned to my life and what's happening in it. Its almost as if someone has kept a mirror in front of me. I can see more clearly that instead of cribbing about things that I am missing in my life, I should certainly be happy for the ones that I have.

I used to feel like I can't connect to my friends very well but I am good friend to my hubby, my Dad and my mum so that is fine. I have some truly unique friends who are not in the same country as me but are my true support and I can call them anytime.

Similarly I used to think, why am I not doing anything with my singing and now I am happy that I have taken the initiative and am not only learning classical music but even performing as a group and if I can say so myself, am a successful singer. So all it took was for me to really look at myself and see what I could do to reach my true potential. Its certainly there in all of us, its just that sometimes it takes you longer to find its true nature.

Now life seems to no more glass half empty but certainly glass half full...lol. Here is to wishing everyone can feel the same and reach their true potential no matter at what stage they are in their life.

My favorite Methi Bhaji Recipe

So out of so many vegetables, I have few favorite ones like okra, cauliflower, beans and in the leafy vegetables my personal favorite is Methi (Fenugreek) I cook this one often as not only you get goodness of the vegetable but also the taste that makes you feel like eating it all the time. So here is a recipe of my favorite vegetable.

Ingredients:

• 1 Bunch of Methi leaves
• 1 Medium Tomato
• 1 Medium Onion
• 3-4 cloves of Garlic
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
  
• 3/4 inch of Jaggery
• Salt to taste
• Oil 3 tsp

Recipe: Heat the oil in a kadai and add pressed garlic cloves in it. Make sure you do not chop or cut them but just press them, this will get their flavour out easily in the oil. Fry till light brown, do not burn them. Now add the chopped onions and fry till onions are transparent. Add the red chilli & turmeric powder. Mix well and add chopped tomatoes (I chop them in chunks instead of fine) Fry till tomatoes are little soft. Now add the chopped methi leaves ( I add fresh ones washed but you can also use the frozen variety for this recipe). Cover with lid and let it cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the methi is cooked, add the jaggery and salt. Mix well and serve hot with rotis or chapaties.

Healthy and Yummy....Methi Daal Recipe

Even though we eat Non-veg food, I have always been fond of simple vegetarian dishes. I usually love any kind of daals but this one is my favorite as its so easy to make and tastes really really good plus its very good for you too.

For this recipe I am not going to give separate ingredients list as you will see, only few things go in it and those I will tell you step by step.

In a pressure cooker add 1 cup of toor daal, 1 cup of chopped methi leaves, 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely, 1 medium tomato chopped, 1 small onion chopped, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, a pinch of hing. Add sufficient water ( Make sure not much of water as you need the end result a bit thicker than normal daals) and cook this for 3-4 whistles till daal is soft and almost mashed. I mash this mixture smooth with a masher.

Now make a tadka. Heat 3 tsp oil and once heated add 1 tsp cumin seeds, pinch of hing, 3 sliced garlic cloves. Once the garlic turns light brown, add 1 tsp paprika or kashmiri red chilli powder(you can even add red chillies dry 2 broken in half instead of chilli powder if you like). As soon as you add this switch the gas off. Now mix well and add this to the daal mixture. Add 1 lemon juice, salt and boil. I sometimes also add a little piece of jaggeri to balance the spicy taaste out but its optional. Serve hot with chapaties or rice. We all love this daal at our home because you get so many good things out of it and it tastes yummy....Hope you all like this too.

I am no superwoman....

Me and hubby took our time deciding for this second baby as both of us believed in one thing, unless we were physically and emotionally ready for this baby, we should not bring a child in this world. I am not including financially in this because we are doing ok financially so that wasn't a big issue here. So now that our son is 4 years old, we really wanted us to have another baby and after thinking carefully we decided to go for it. I am glad to say everything worked out and I am now pregnant with our second baby.

So when I was talking to a friend of mine today who has recently had a baby and she said, I don't know how you are going to manage the second one, I can't seem to manage even one, I kind of knew this kind of questions were going to come some time or other. The best thing was though before this baby we really brain stormed lot of things and this was certainly the most important of all, how would we manage our second baby. The one thing that we both have realized from our first baby experience is to accept that we can't do everything all the time. I would be the first to say that my house after my first baby was born, did not look spick and spank for days. I really did not have enough energy to do anything apart from recover from my delivery and look after the baby. I certainly did not spend much time looking after myself or the house. But as time goes, you learn to do things more effectively or prioratize your tasks. We have had take-aways at times when we were trying to do too many baby things, LOL...But that has been fine too and that's the way to go...If you think you can work, look after the baby, cook every single day, clean every single day, have a bit of time for yourself to look good, give your partner some time then phew....you have my salute straight from the heart. In my case though I really had to try to accomodate as many things in my day as I can and still have some sanity left, so we gave up some things like ever clean house all the time or detailed three course meals on table every day. What seemed more important for both of us was for the baby to have happy environment which meant we needed to be happy and well rested so me and hubby took turns on who would wake up when our son needed a nappy change or who would give him next feed etc. This was the only way that we could both get some rest and yet spend some time with the baby and each other. So to all those new parents or parents to be for the second, third or even fourth time, just remember one thing, we are not all superwomen or supermen and we do not need to be. I am happy being myself and hey, just like everyone else, I have my flaws and I am fine with them.

So do not worry about everything around you. Ask for help from relatives or friends or whomever you can, its ok to need and ask for that help. I know that without my close family, it would not have been easy for me either. And from time to time, I had my doubts too but one thing that kept me going was the fact that my hubby always stood by me. There was no pressure about home made food, there were no sly remarks on the dirty laundry or the not so clean house. We both just thought we were in this together and we will give our best. And I am proud to say that he is my life partner as I would not have got a better life partner and I call him that here because he truly shares all my burdens, without complaning and considers me a human being just like himself. And that is why I say this proudly, I am no Superwoman and my life partner is also no Superman but one thing we both are....and that is proud parents to our children and loving couple, for me that's more than enough.

Daali Thoy Recipe

I am sure all the konkani people have this recipe for sure as we eat Daali Toy regularly in the konkani households. The interesting part is though, there are little variations that I have seen in different households so here is my version.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of toor daal
• pinch of hing/asafoetida
• 1 inch piece of ginger (pressed with rolling pin)
• 1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 3 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 7-8 kadipatta leaves

Recipe:

In a pressure cooker, add toor daal, hing, ginger piece, haldi and enough water. Pressure cook the daal for about 4-5 whistles. I like to leave the pressure cooker on the same gas hob once I switch it off till the steams is completely out. Now open the pressure cooker and mash the daal well. In a pan make a tadka of oil, mustard seeds, pinch of hing, kadipatta (add these once the mustard seeds start crackling) Add the cooked daal on this. Add salt and cover till the daal boils. Serve hot with rice.

Tip: In the authentic recipe, my granny used to use the coconut oil for tadka but as my husband does not like the taste of it, I use normal canola oil for tadka. Some people use either 1-2 green or red chillies in tadka too but in our house we all love it plain with taste of ginger and hing predominantly in this.

Tendli Bhutti Recipe

My husband is Saraswat whereas I am GSB so there are lots of dishes that are made in their home which I am not familiar with. One of such dishes is Bhutti. The first time I heard about it, I cracked up as I thought my husband was pulling my leg but later I learnt that there really is a dish called Bhutti and it can be made with different vegetables but the one that I am going to talk about today is Tendli (Tindora as its known from Indian Grocery Shops)Bhutti. My husband loves this one which is a surprise as he is an avid non-veg fan so whenever he says he likes any particular vegetable, I jump and try to make that one so that we get our portion of veggies too this way.

So this one was a real challenge for me as not only have I not heard about this one but not seen or eaten it before which meant I had to rely on my husband every step of the way. I called up my sister in law who lives in UK and she helped me out with this one. She is one of the few people I know who can cook just about everything and that too very well. Also she can eat something and guess what the dish will have in it and how it must have been made which is an amazing quality so having taken the recipe from her in detail, I decided to give it a go today. To my utter surprise, it actually came out very good and my husband said its just as he remembered it so a big thank you to my Bhabhi for this one...

Ingredients:

• 25-30 Tindoras/Tendli (cut in circles but not too thin, for those who haven't cooked it before you need to first wash them and cut the front and end before cutting these.)
• 3/4 cup of grated wet coconut (I use the frozen variety)
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
  
• 3 tsp Dhane/Coriander Seeds
• 10-12 Byagadi Red Chillies Dry (These are not very hot but give a good color, if you use normal dry red chillies then use very sparingly and add paprika or kashmiri red chilli powder later on)
• 1/4 tsp Methi seeds
• 2 tsp Urad Daal
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp tamarind pulp
• Oil (1 tsp to fry spices and 4-5 tsp for the actual recipe)

Recipe: Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add coriander seeds, methi seeds, urad daal & red chillies. Fry till the aroma of spices start coming out. Now grind these spices with coconut in a mixie. Do not add much water while grinding and keep the paste a little coarse as you do not want a very fine paste for this preparation. Now in a kadai add the remaining oil and once heated add the finely chopped onions. Once the onions become transparent, add the tindora and fry well. At this time, add turmeric powder and paprika powder (if you used the normal red chillies or if you want extra colour without much spice-I add 1 tsp in mine as we all like it red in colour and a little spicy as it should be spicy vegetable) Now on medium flame fry the tindora till its completely done. You can even cover the kadai with lid to quicken this process. But make sure the tindora is not burnt. Once the tindora is cooked, add the ground coarse paste. Fry some more till the oil starts coming out from sides. Now add the tamarind pulp, sugar and salt. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes or so. You serve this dish dryish with coarse masala so do not add much water in this dish. Serve hot with chapaties or Dali Thoy and rice, yum yum...

Hope you all enjoy this one too.

Egg Bhurjee (Recipe) & my childhood memory of it.

I am an avid food lover and you can see this by the fact that every dish has a certain memory attached to it from my past. So when I was in school, we used to get some help in the house and the lady who used to come to our house used to sometimes cook snacks for me if I was too hungry and there was nothing in the fridge waiting for me (which was not often I must say) so one day I came home from school and was sooo hungry, so I asked Kamal (who was our household help) if she could make something for me that would be quick and filling. My cooking horizon was not that expanded by then so I used to take at least an hour to cook and I was too hungry to wait for an hour. So she asked me to get some bread and eggs which I promptly did from our local bakery. She made this dish called egg bhurjee and I was hooked on to it like anything. Then on I made sure, she cooked that at least once a week for me and then I also learnt it from her so that I could make it more often.

Here is the recipe for all of you now, hope you enjoy it as much as I do, even today...

Ingredients:

• 4 Eggs
• 1 large onion
• 1-1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (I use kashmiri chilli powder which is not too hot but gives the colour desired for this recipe)
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• Coriander leaves chopped for garnishing (optional)
• Oil 2 spoonful
• Ghee/Butter 1 spoonful
• 2 medium tomatoes

In a kadai or deep pan, add the oil and butter and heat it. Kamal used to make it all in butter but I keep the taste by having some butter and using the rest oil so its not as fattening. Once the oil is heated, add finely chopped onions to it. Fry till they are brown on the edges, do not let it burn though you just want the light golden colour to edges only. Now add turmeric and chilli powder. Mix well. Now add finely chopped tomatoes and salt. Mix well till you see oil separating from sides. Now break the eggs in this and start stirring. You can even use the spatula to break the egg pieces in the pan while the mixture is getting dry. I make sure the eggs come out like a kheema (very small pieces). Now turn the stove on high heat and make sure the bhurjee is nice and dry. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with paav (Indian bread).

Alibaag Kolambi Suke Recipe

Hmm...you must be wondering why am I calling it Alibag kolambi (prawns) suke (dry) recipe right? Well we went for a holiday to Alibaag about 15 or so years ago and since then I have searched high and low for this recipe to no avail...Let me start from the beginning. We went on a holiday and one of the days while we were sitting on a beach relaxing, one kolin (fisherwoman) came and asked us if we would like to have home made non-veg food for lunch. My dad asked her how much she would charge and the amount she mentioned seemed too low to all of us but she was making prawns, kokam kadhi, rice and chapaties. How could we resist that kind of food...So we said yes. At the end of the beach she had this hut in which there was hardly more space than 5 ft by 5ft but she had a stove and few grocery items in it. So she sat down and started cooking. Unfortunately by the time we came to see her cooking, she had already started on the kolambi so didn't get the recipe and I was just a child interested in eating not knowing how to make it at the time.

Once the food was ready she packed all of that and got it for us on the beach while we sat down and ate. The best part about this memory is, for three people it only costed us about Rs 100 but my Dad paid her more than Rs 200 just because we all loved the food and we felt she deserved lot more for the same. I mean we would have spent that much if we would have gone to the local restaurant. I always admired the fact that my Dad never hackled with the people who used to work hard to earn money like fish mongers, house helps, grocery people etc and paid them lot more sometimes saying that he grew up working in someone's house as a hired help and knew how if felt.

So back to my recipe, hmm...so after all these years of me pestering my Dad for the recipe for this he managed to catch hold of one of the local fisherwoman and asked her for the same and I so got it from the horses mouth if you know what I mean so enjoy this just like I did. Nothing gived you more pleasure than a perfect taste of a perfect dish like kolambi.

So without further delay here it goes...

Ingredients:

• 15-18 large raw peeled prawns (you can't use cooked prawns for this recipe as it will just spoil the whole taste and recipe, you will see why I am saying this if you read the recipe.)
• 10 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 big green chilli (medium hot)
• 2 big onions (the best way to know about this is your chopped onions should be 1 1/2 times the chopped prawns)
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 2-3 tsp red chilli powder ( I use paprika or kashmiri chilli powder which is not hot but gives esxcellent color-obviously you can change the quantity to suit your taste)
• Salt to taste
• Oil 4-5 big spoons
  

Puree ginger, garlic and green chilli in a blender. I usually add a small piece of tomato in this to blend small quantity easily. Now oil in this recipe is important as too little oil will not give the same taste. So heat the oil and add blended ginger-garlic-chilli puree in it and fry for 3 minutes. Now add finely chopped onions to it and fry for about 10-12 minutes and its very important that you fry the onions well for the authentic taste. Onions will become completely transparent and golden from edges. Now add red chilli powder and tomatoes in this and fry for another 4-5minutes or so. I can't emphasise enough on not cutting on the frying time as this is what gives it a unique taste. Now add chopped prawns ( I like to chop my prawns in small pieces so one prawns will have about 8-10 pieces) and cover and cook on low to medium heat for about 25 minutes, yes again please do not cut this time. Every 5-7 minutes, open the lid and turn the mixture around to make sure it doesn't stick to bottom) After 25 minutes of cooking add salt to this. Taste the prawns they should be nicely cooked by now. Now turn the gas on high and keep on turning the mixture till it gets dryish and almost 90% of the water is evaporated. You can sprinke this with coriander leaves if you like but I did not.

Now taste your creation and eat it with fresh chapaties and bless the Kolin from Alibaag who introduced me to such a lovely dish. Hope you like it and please do leave me a feedback.

Crab curry recipe (My 10pm cooking....)

So since I realized we are expecting our second baby, I have been cooking up a storm anytime I feel like it and the best part is sometimes, I end up not eating any of it after all that effort. So today suddenly out of blue, I felt like cooking (see what I mean, I say cooking and not eating) Crab Curry. So even though I have never cooked it myself (I have always eaten it in Goa and I absolutely love it) I decided to try it out. Even searched for the recipes online but somehow nothing appealed to me and then I decided to see if one of my friend (due to her request, not mentioning her name here) was online. She is from Konkan area and her mum also is a great cook so decided to ask her for recipe in case I found her online and hey presto...I actually did...So then I sent my husband out to shop for crabs (bless him, I do not think any other person would go out in the snow at 9:30pm just because I wanted to cook crabs, he even got me back ice creme that I like) and I started making the preparations. Just finished cooking the crab curry and it tasted really really great so here is my recipe for all of you.

Note: I always stayed away from cooking this because I used to find cleaning and cutting crabs a headache but in shoprite, I actually found small blackish-blue crabs which were pre cleaned so all I had to do was separate the claws which is very easy.

Tip: This is the best tip I think I got from my friend-You have to only keep the thickest claws for the curry, the rest of the thin claws you grind with water. Then strain this water and keep aside.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp methi seeds

(Roast all these without oil but do not let them get brown)

• 7 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch of ginger
• 1 bowl of coconut (wet coconut gratings-I use from frozen packet)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 6 begdi red chillies (if you do not get begdi use two tsp of kashmiri chilli powder, you can add more in the end if you find it less spicy but use less to start with. Begdi Chillies give color and are less spicy that other types of dry red chillies.)
• 1/2 tsp tamarind paste diluted in 1/2 cup of warm water.

Make a past of all of the above items including the roasted spices. The paste should be almost fine.

On a heated flat bottom pan, add 5 spoonful of oil. Once the oil is heated, add finely chopped 1 medium onion. Fry till it starts getting brown on the edges (do not let it be completely brown but just transparent and golden on edges) Now add the group paste and fry again for 3-4 minutes till oil separates from sides.

On one side, heat some water and add the crabs in it. Keep them till their color changes to orange-red. Now remove and separate claws. Add the claws and middle part (the hard shell is removed from them) and some warm water in which you kept the crabs. Let it boil. Now add salt to taste. In the end also add the strained water from the thin claws and cover and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

Voila....Your crab curry is ready and for the best taste do this at night and serve next day as it tastes even better the next day. Hope you all enjoy this one and if I get any more cravings for cooking (LOL) I will certainly post more of those too.

Rock On...My own movie experience

Here I am, writing at 3:30 am in the morning...so yes, the movie Rock On did have an impact on me. I think it will touch all of us who have lost out on a dream just to be able to survive in the practical world and still are hanging on to the tiniest thread that still has us connected to it. After watching the movie, I got home and before I knew it was writing my own version of Rock On Song...So for all its worth, here it goes:

Udasi si hai kyu chhayi huyi
Khayalonko bhi neend aayi huyi
To...Bolo na chup ho kyu
To...Bolo na gum ho kyu, tum huye bolo na
Wo O Wo O O bolo na
Chup ho kyu huye bolo na
Ab to bolo, baat ye samajho
Kuchh to bolo

Baatome teri hai jaadu
Aankhome teri adaaye
Bhula hu teri muskurahatoko main
Tujhe dekhake main khoya
Raatoko tanaha soya
Khwabome teri ho chuka tha gum yu main
Ab...Chhodo na sare gum
Phir...Se hase yuhi hum
Wo O O Bolo na
Wo O Wo O O Bolo na
Chup ho kyu huye bolo na
Ab to bolo
Baat ye samajho kuchh to bolo
Udasi si hai........

After writing and composing a tune on this, I can't even tell you how happy I felt with myself. You never realise the little things that give you the most happiness are sometimes on the back seat because of all the other things you have in your life. This movie took me back to my hidden part which was always there but somehow was lost somewhere in the back of my memory.

Now that I was on a high, I decided to see if I could write more and came up with a semi-classical version of my Rock On geet. You will see why I am calling it a geet instead of song as its so different from my first one that I couldn't believe it myself that I composed it one after another. So here goes the next one:

Ghir ghir aaye badara badara
Sawan kyu na aaye
Jiyara mora ghabaraye haaye
Ghir ghir aaye badara badara

Bhor bhaye jab panchhi gaaye
Manava mora aas lagaye
Phir bhi kyu na barase naina
Aas jiyaki kyu nahi jaaye
Jiyara mora ghabaraye haaye
Ghir ghir aaye badara badara
Ghir ghir aaye...Badara...Badara...

After writing this one, I had to share with all of you my euphoria....I feel like I am back somehow, as if I was lost before but now I know which way I need to go...Does that even make sense or is it just me talking at 4am, half asleep. All I can say is a BIG thank you to Rock On and makers of it, because of whom I got in touch with the old me, who was sleeping for a long long time....

Me and Music...(General)

Just like everyone else, I have certain things that I cherish the most in my life...My family, food, my pets and music. I am told that I started singing when I was two years old and I just wouldn't stop. Anyone just had to say the word sing and even before they finished the word, I would start singing....I have come far from that age, hence now I show modesty and ask someone else to sing first but the music lover in me is still the same. I grew up listening to Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Gulam Ali, Talat, Saigal, Noorjahan, Hemlata, Yesudas, the list goes on. I even like todays singers like Shreya, Sonu, Sunidhi, K.K., Bombay Jayashree, Alka, Richa Sharma etc etc.

I do not want to get into who are better than others as I feel every singer has their own niche. Everyone is great in their own right. The fact that they get to sing a song and so many listeners from all over the world get to listen to their voice, makes them special. Growing up, music played an important role in my life. I remember vividly that I would listen to music first thing when I woke up and would sleep, listening to music. The kind of music I would listen to would depend on my moods. The days when I didn't feel so happy, would certainly belong to Talat, Kishore Kumar (his sad or slow songs), Lata, Saigal, Yesudas and Noorjahan to some extent. Yet, when I was very happy and upbeat, I would automatically choose Asha, Kishore Kumar's fast songs. But then there were days when a song would change my mood. So having heard all the sad songs for the most part of the day, a good club song from Asha or a fast number from Kishore Kumar would lift my mood up for the rest of the day.

After all these years, now that I am a busy mum, I still sing while doing most things in the house, whether its cooking, cleaning or any other chores. I always have music in my car and I sing whenever I get a chance. Lets just say that music is where I feel, I am myself and completely relaxed. And over the years I have listened to other music styles too but my all time favorite is still Bollywood music and then Marathi music. I hope I pass this liking to my son, who I must say does show a liking towards music as of now.

I can't imagine my life without music in it. It's as essential as food for me. Now that I am learning the classical music, I have come full circle and feel that there is so much of it that I have yet to explore. The sea of music just keeps on widening and a keen listener in me feels like I don't have enough time to explore all of it. Yet the journey continues...

Another version of Potato Subzi (Indian Recipe)

Is there anyone in this world who doesn't like potatoes. In our household, that's the favorite most for everyone. We cook them in very many ways but this works out to be the simplest of all for me because there is not much for me to do in it. I got this recipe from a lady whom I used to work with. She used to do most of her cooking in the pressure cooker and even though I love to cook, I use my pressure cooker for basic things like khichadi or daal or chicken instead of making vegetables in it. So when I cooked this recipe, I was amazed at how little I had to do and how tasty it turned out to be. So here goes....

Ingredients:

2 Large or 3 Medium potatoes (peeled and cut in cubes)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1/2 tsp jeera seeds
1 tomato (finely chopped)
pinch of hing
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
water (just enough to cover the ingredients in the pressure cooker)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp of tomato paste
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves
4-5 tsp oil

Put the potatoes, onion, tomato (fresh), jeera, hing, turmeric powder and water in pressure cooker and cook till one whistle. Now switch off the flame but do not move the pressure cooker from gas and let it cool. Once its cooled then open the lid and bring to boil on medium flame. Add salt, tomato paste, garam masala. Heat the oil on side and add mustard seeds. Once they pop, add curry leaves and add this to the potato mixture and cover. Cook for couple of minutes and serve hot. You can garnish with coriander leaves if you like. Serve with chapaties, bread or rice. This is a gravy dish so goes well with any Indian bread or rice.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and do let me know how you liked it....

My favourite Maharshtrian Breakfast (Indian Recipe)

Breakfast is that first important meal of the day, that can carry you till lunch time. So given a choice, I would love to have these every day but in a family you have various members with varied choices so we have it at least once a week to satisfy my taste buds. I got this recipe from my dear Ajji (she is not my real Ajji but I call her Ajji because she surely reminds me of my own and she has the same love for feeding me so this one is all thanks to her.) because every time I would go to her house from school, she would feed me with hot pohas that always were mouth watering. So here is the recipe for Kande Pohe.

Ingredients:

1 cup thick poha
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
4-5 tsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp suger
1 tsp salt
1 green chilli (cut in 3-4 pieces)
coriander leaves for garnishing
2-3 tsp coconut (optional for garnishing)

In a strainer put the pohas and wash them with warm (not boiling hot though) water till they soften a bit and are clean. Now keeping them in the strainer sprinkle suger and salt on it. Do not mix them. In a kadai or pan, heat the oil. Add chilli pieces, onions & turmeric powder. Fry onions till slight brown (don't let them burn otherwise it will not taste good. Just fry them till transparent. Now add the pohas straight from the strainer. Mix well and cover. You only need to keep it on a low flame for about 4-5 minutes as the pohas are almost cooked while washing with warm water. Turn the gas off and garnish with coriander leaves and coconut and serve.

Note: You can also add green peas to it but I prefer it plain. And for all the non-veg lovers, have you heard of prwawn/shrimp pohas, well I have tried them and they are yum. All you do is, after the onions are fried add the shrimp (raw cleaned) and cover with a lid till they are cooked and follow the rest same. Believe me, you will love them.

Do let me know how you all liked the pohas once you try...

Are we really social? (General)

I always thought I am a friendly and social person. I would have never had to doubt this belief before. My son who is three is actually shy when he meets new people and takes his own time to make friends, which is perfectly fine. But as a mum, I make sure we take him to socialize with all his age group kids and also encourage him to talk to our friends to get him used to the socializing skills. After moving to the USA, I have tried to go out more with my little one so that in the process of his socializing, I also meet new friends and have a good group of friends. I mean how can one live without any family or friends in a completely strange country, right? After all we are all social animals. Hmmm, well its been almost two years since I have lived in this new country. I have come across thousands of people in this time. People even talk to each other in this part of the world even if you are complete strangers, unlike the previous country we lived in where people would find it strange if you smile at your co passenger in the train. So in spite of the thousands of people I have come across here, I have made how many friends you would ask now...Now its time for me to think...I used to think all the people whom I am friendly with are my friends. But lets just say that certain experiences have made me realize thats not the case. So once I take that equation out, honestly speaking there is no one that I would feel comfortable calling at 3 am for anything. So does this mean, I am not a social person? So how can I teach my son this very important life skill, if I don't posses it myself. So I think hard as to why is that the case? Is it because I am not as adaptable as other people, but then wherever I go, I can talk to anyone and I mean absolutely anyone so shyness or lack of initiation is not a problem. But how do you develop that friendly relationship to the next level where you would feel you can tell that person absolutely anything and you won't be judged or laughed at. Is it even possible for anyone to share yourself so easily? I have lots and lots of people with whom we meet on regular basis, due to our son's preschool gatherings or the community gatherings but still there is a big difference between social circle and friends circle isn't it. Then I think back to the time when I had such friends and I go back to my school days...always...That was when I had one such good friend. We could talk for hours, understand each other perfectly and no matter what we did, we never laughed at each other. It was almost the feeling of being close to someone whom you just never judge, no matter what. And then the sad thing was, she left school and we lost touch. I guess, since then I have been searching for that great deep connection and come up short with every friend I come across. Luckily for me though, my hubby is that one someone that I can say I can wake up even at 3am (though not for girl talk....) and he is the best friend for me. Will I ever feel that kind of kinship with any other friends ever, I really don't know. But the search is on....May be its not yet too late but how do you teach your kid something that you don't know is the million dollar question.