Got Guilt Mommy? Pause.Have some Chocolate Truffles.

Yesterday I got a frantic call from a friend; her toddler is my daughter’s classmate at the playgroup.  We all met up at the time of admission and bonded well while our kids were adjusting to the new school environs.

Now If I have to sum up the purpose of the call in a word then I’d call it GUILT. C’mon let’s admit which one of us has not faced it, especially the working moms. Gosh we are smothered with it.

Going back to her call –This friend of mine quit work when she had a baby and now (after a good two and a half years later) thinking of joining the workforce back. That’s HUGEE, so I congratulated her and then I hear her whimpered voice, asking if she is making the right decision. She wanted to know if the daycare my daughter goes, is good enough for her child too. Will they love her and feed her milk the way she is used to having at home. I wish I could answer  a loud Yes, but I guess no establishment in the world can replace the mommy care. Right? I wish I could sum up my experiences in one single phone call and somehow explain that inspite of all odds it’s still all right to go back to work.

I have experienced it first-hand that being a working mom of a young kid is the hardest thing ever. I wish I could convince this harried and hesitant mom who is being so hard on herself that it’s all going to be okay, and that someday we would laugh about it all, even the tough days. There are no yardsticks  and no measuring tape …just like there is NO perfect mother . We are one of those moms who come home late. We work really hard, and like everyone else come home to put away the scattered toys and cook the family favorite and inspite of all odds we will read that bedtime story  and kiss the bruises goodbye. We will sometimes wear an unmatched earrings or an un-ironed shirt to work, just to trade off that time for baking every little ones favorite chocolate balls.  

Now scoot mom. Enjoy the mommy time. Bake this with your little one and bite. Since our world is so covered with guilt , at least these chocolate truffles make you forget abstinence and denial for once. And I promise that these Chocolate Truffles have half the calories and 75 percent less fat compared to regular truffles. Hallejullah!

Guilt Free Chocolate Truffles 

Ingredients

½ can black beans- rinsed and drained

1 mashed banana

1/2 cup cocoa powder 

1/2 cup mixed nuts

3 tbsp honey

½ cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white flour 

2 tbs chia seeds (optional)

To Coat

2 tbsp cocoa and 1tbs powdered sugar.

Method

Combine all ingredients in preferably a processor and give it a whirr till it forms a smooth dough. The dough will be moist and sticky so chill it for a few hours before forming the balls. 

Once its chilled, roll it into small balls and generously dust  the balls in cocoa powder and refined sugar mixture.  Freeze for a firmer truffle. Enjoy!

Weight Watching with Sabu'r Paayesh/Tapioca Pudding with Mangoes

I have a confession to make.

I have a serious problem. Seasonal ? yes, you can say that.

The season is SPRING. It’s upon me, and of course, I have to look the part. So I started this week by ceremoniously showing some sun to all my pretty, girlie, flowery and short wearable’s, which had been put away for the winter and stacked them back into my regular wardrobe. With only a step short of stepping into them and hop scotching my way into the market, with a bright tote dangling from my shoulder…I realized that the’ only step’  is the pigheaded winter weight.

It’s not that I did not try (err shedding it) before pouring it all out here. I religiously clicked on ALL the health newsletters that popped into my mailbox , with their eye catching headers ranging anything from ‘be bikini ready in 10 days’ to ‘get ready for the summer shorts’, but somehow all this reading up did nothing for my winter waistline. 

I was about to try the detox juice diet for the navratras , started and gave it up by the evening. I convinced myself that I’m a mother and need more calories than Miranda Kerr to sustain herself. Low carb makes me feel dizzy and high protein plays with my entire digestive system (how else could I delicately frame pukish).

If by now you are thinking about shaking the booty, you are right. Gym’s a great option for people my shape.  So finally ,today I  rubbed clean my dusty membership card along with chiding my willpower and  decided to run a few kilometers on the treadmill. After huffing and puffing for a few minutes I felt that my legs have started resembling toothpicks, and I needed some food. I started thinking of all the healthy post workout meals and rushed to the attached food court. There the salad looked stale and way too less for the growling stomach .

I return home (in a listless state!) to a cup full of soaked tapioca seeds and some mangoes in my refrigerator. Fully aware that my spring wardrobe is still waiting.I turn on my thinking cap.What do I do with my oh-so healthy tapioca and fruits , in a precarious self-induced fasting mode? Of course turn it to a feast.

The delicious part is that Sabu'r Paayesh or Tapioca Pudding with Mangoes is the best post workout meal one can have, high on carbs with added nutrients in the form of mango; it almost makes it feel like a plate of warm yellow gold. It’s great for kids and is a go-to meal during the fasting days. I'm so In love with this new mango infusion.

Sabu'r Paayesh/Tapioca Pudding with Mangoes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup tapioca/Sabu/sabudana
1 cup hot water
1 large fresh mangoes ( cut to bite size pieces)
1 large mango puree
3 cups milk (you can substitute with coconut, soy  or almond milk)
Sugar to taste (I substituted with 2 tbsp splenda)

Method:
Soak the tapioca/sabudana in hot water for an hour. One they are swollen and springy in texture, wash then with running cold water and set aside.

Heat the milk till its reduced to 11/2 cups, now add the tapioca, and mix well. Add sugar and cook till its of a desired consistency. Add the mango puree and let it cool. Refrigerate for a few hours and serve chilled, topped with a few slices of mangoes.

You can also serve in a glass by  adding one scoop of cooked tapioca in milk , then add a scoop of mango puree in glass and serve..

A tale of warm Friday Fries

Daily life is boring. In so many years of togetherness, I have learnt that it’s me who is the undisputed kitchen and grocery minister of the house. A post which I have to accept with abandon, and to keep up I have to earn the 'good votes' on a daily basis. Not easy to keep up - I warn you.To survive the position, I get off from work early and set the kitchen fire, of course I have to make it up by working late into the nights (ah well somedays I blog at this hour with a side of red), so I can’t really be complaining, and to top it – I like cooking, so this mumbo jumbo just comes from a lack of direction and plan.

You know, its fun when I have an inspiration and ingredients, and absolute agony when I have the office laptop on the kitchen counter, where an undone presentation is open, and I have a demanding toddler sitting beside it while I’m wiping off the onion tears!  Even though I cover the basics by asking the ' what do ya for dinner' question routinely ,but  its almost always answered by blank stares like I've asked a life philosophy and on days when I get an answer, it’s the ‘fries/pakoras on the side’ please. So much for inspiration, but that’s how it is.

You now where it’s all going. Don’t you?

When you cook keeping the moods and days of the week in mind, it not only increases the happiness quotient of the house, it benefits the wallet, shaves off the restaurant trans-fat & in general creates a festive mood . Fresh and simple ingredients force your skin to say thank you too. This simple selection of summer fries or the more popularly known term pakoras, is usually a stable for long and elaborate bong  lunches, add a side of salad and dip and you have introduced it to the evening bar gang. Tastes best when the vegetables are picked fresh from the market  and the oil is fresh, pungent and mustardy.  Very sophisticated , yet so rustic.

The Friday Fries/Pakoras (Assorted Vegetables Fried in Chickpea Batter)

Ingredients :
1 cup Chickpea flour (besan/garbanzo bean flour)

1 medium Cauliflower (cut into florets) 3/4 cup water

1 Potato (thickly cut lengthwise)

1 Bell Pepper (de-seeded and cut lengthwise)

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp choice of seasoning (Garlic, Onion, roasted cumin, Parsley, garam masala) or other spices of choice)

Chat masala to taste

Mustard oil to deep fry (or any other vegetable oil of choice)

Method:
In a bowl mix all ingredients (except vegetables and mix well till its turns into a smooth and thick batter).
Dip the vegetable florets in the batter and deep fry.

You can also choose to grill/bake. All you need to do is brush a little oil on batter dipped vegetables and the baking pan.

Bake for 25 minutes at 175 C.

If frying , deep fry till the vegetables are cooked well.

Serve hot  and sprinkle some chat masala before serving.

Going nuts on Holi - Boiled Peanut Salad

 

 Holi is a synonym for spring to me.  A time for family and friends, flowers , colors, gujias, gulab-jamuns and endorphin rushing songs that only get played ‘on a loudspeaker mode’ just this time of the year. 

I love the spirit of the festival- and I don’t even play with colours. I run the risk of sounding like a snooty auntie who sniggers at the colors and hauls the holiday hullabaloo.  That’s sincerely not me. I’m plain shy. Just  one of those people who will stand in one corner of the apartment bacony , careful enough not to be seen, yet seizing the colourful moments from the tiny curtain opening. Once its all done, I’ll go and reward myself with a Gujiya .

Do you think that there is anything that echoes with Holi, more than the abundant servings of Gujiya, Sewain kheer or a desi celebratory salad? Yes of course , it’s the hip gyrating holi numbers in Amitabh Bacchans throaty baritone blaring from the society loudspeakers. Maybe for me the Holi magic comes from these catchy once-a-year wonders that stick in your head and feel good, perhaps only while taking a big mouthful of the freshly made spiced peanut salad with a spoon that’s a bit stained with gulal.

Bura na mano Holi hai.

No, I’m not about to present a festival sweet recipe. Today is a shortcut day. Spring cleaning for guests has taken most of my time. So it’s a short cut colourful savory and oh so healthy peanut salad day. Are you game?

Boiled Peanut Salad 

Ingredients:

1.5 cups boiled peanuts

1 cucumber diced

1 fresh tomato diced

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2-3 green chillies 

2-3 sprigs coriander leaves

Sea salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

t tbsb lemon juice(to serve)

Method:

Pressure cook the peanuts in salted water till soft but firm , not mushy. Cool to room temperature. Next toss all the other  ingredients(except lemon juice) together. I sometimes add dried prunes or raisins, but that's optional. just before serving add freshly squeezed lemon juice. As simple as it can get.

First Few Steps - with Steamed Yogurt /Bhapa Doi

"You must take the first step. The first steps will take some effort, maybe pain. But after that, everything that has to be done is real-life movement."

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I just put my daughter to a new playschool. It does make me happy to select a nice playschool, with a loving daycare, however it’s not one the most pleasing times for my little one. Changes like these, which calls for a goodbye to her mommy and daddy are painful. She is doing her bit to make the world around her know it by howling and crying with her full might. It does not please me a lot to see her crying either, but as they say, it must be done.

To make up for the advent of the unhappy hours in her day, I have tried to do atleast one happy hour for her, and NO it’s not the Mc Donald variety. My happy hour begins with picking her up and hers begin shortly after that, when I slowly inch our way towards home explaining the surprise I have planned for her.

I don’t think it’s a new concept though. It’s perhaps same as what my mother did for me in school, only difference being that back then she was oblivious to the concept of happy hours, and more of a happy day believer. Welcome to the life and times of a working mom, Ahem! And I don’t mind my taking a shortcut to happiness. After all, it’s all about celebration of the fact that we ‘mother daughter duo’ could laze around playing under the dull spring sun, for about for an hour (or two) after work, enjoying some ridiculously creamy and decadent steamed yogurt (bhapa doi) or crisp parathas  and sometimes a far simpler version of yogurt in  a little glass of summery lassi, all the while decoding the Doremon puzzles!

Of course, being as busy as I perhaps sound here, I will not go beyond basic pantry ingredients. So, I am proud to report that I have whistled away any cooking inertia and successfully turned around bowls after bowls of spring favorite toddler friendly food this week. So my happy week continues. Would you like to a spoonful?

Bhapa Doi or Steamed Yogurt

Ingredients

250 g plain yogurt

250gm condensed milk (sweet)

2-3 green cardamom (crushed fine ) 

A few strands of saffron (soaked in a tbsp. milk)

1 tbsp milk

How I did it : 

Whisk the yogurt and condensed milk together till its of a smooth and creamy consistency, now flavor with the powdered cardamoms.

Heat an oven at 180 degree C.  Put the above mixture in a pie dish or baking cups. Place those cups is a large baking dish filled with sufficient hot water to come halfway up the sides  of the baking  cups. Bake in the oven for around 10-12 minutes.

Lastly add a dollop of the saffron infused milk over each cup and bake for 5-6 minutes  , until it appears to be set.  Cool and then refrigerate till chilled. Serve it chilled. 

Khejur-gurer Paayesh with love that lives on

My grandmother was 14 years old when she first met my grandfather. My Grandfather was 21.They only heard of each other voices behind the veils when they decided to get married. She was a high school student. He was a railway apprentice.

My great grandfather was a progressive man. He wanted his daughters to be educated. This goes back to the day and age where daughters from noble Indian households lived in veiled existence and could only be homeschooled. He chose a bright railway apprentice as his daughters tutor, the only imposed condition was that he could not see the daughters. There was a thick curtained veil between my grandmother, her sister and their tutor.

He spoke to them in Bengali, saying “Amara shudhu Maths, english aar science shikhbo” (We will learn Maths, science and English) She giggled and said “yes”, she was known for her language skills.  “You speak English.” he asked, a little startled. “My father is an English Professor.” She answered as a matter of fact.
And so it began, a love story (of sorts) that began in India in 1943, celebrated the Joy of being in an independent India around four years later with a child in tow. Later landed in a sleepy little British Raj created town called Jamalpur.

I still have vivid memories of this sleepy little town, as almost all my summer vacations were spent there. Jamalpur of the 90s has always welcomed me with a faint smell of young jackfruit and a garden swaddled with overripe Jamun. My afternoons were often spent picking the berries from the garden and rest of the day was whiled away eating it. My entire summer vacation seemed to roll into one laugher filled month full of fun , frolic and food . She was the one who brought that slumbering vacation in that sleepy little town to life, atleast I love to believe that.

When my parents announced that they will be visiting me for a day this week, I thought that there could not be a better time to surprise my mom with my grandmothers specialty the Khejur Gurer Payesh (Milk pudding with date palm jaggery. Topping it with flaky almonds and cashews, toasted pumpkin nuts or nothing at all, this tastes divine.  But, somehow this khejur-gur just doesn't seem the same when it’s consumed without putting a fight with my cousins for an extra helping or enjoyed in a skyscraper which does not overlook a garden smelling of ripe jackfruit.


What it does have is a hint of that veiled love story .

Khejur-gurer Payesh (Rice Pudding with Date Palm Jaggery)

Ingredients

1 lt Full cream milk
50 gm. of gobindobhog rice or kaala-jeera rice
100gms of sugar
50-100 gm. of khejur-gur (date palm jaggery) depending on your sweetness.

How I did It
Wash , clean and drain rice.

Pout the full cream milk on  aheavy bottom pan and bring it to a boil.Now add rice and keep stirring , so that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.  Keep doing it till the rice is cooked and Milk looks thick enough. It took me around 30 minutes.

Once rice is doe , add the sugar and you need to stir again till the extra water from the sugar is evaporated and milk is thick again.

Now that you think that the milk has reached the desired consistency, you can turn off the heat and after a few minutes, add the Khejurer gur.

The heat will aid in the melting process of the Khejur er gur.

Once the Khejur er gur is all soaked up , the color will turn to caramel.

I added toasted pumpkin nuts for some crunch; you can add whatever you fancy.

Linking this to these parties :  Think Pink Sundays , One Creative Weekend , Clever Chicks Blog Hop , Sugar & Slice Sunday , Martha Mondays Link Up Party ,A Round Tuit , Creative Mondays ( Claire & Judy ) , More The Merrier Monday , Make it Pretty Monday , Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Tasteful Tuesdays , Tuesday Confessional Link Party , Tuesday Time Out , Tuesday Talent Show , Crazy Sweet Tuesday , Wednesday Adorned from Above , Whatcha' Whipped Up , Hookin Up with HoH , It's a Party! , Cast Party Wednesday , Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Wednesday Extravaganza , Riverton Housewives Round Up , Sweet Treats & Swanky Stuff , Weekend Show Off Party , Full Plate Thursday , SYS Blog Link Party , Creative Thursday Link Party , Blog Stalking Thursday , Creative Juice Thursday , Thursday's treasures ( Christie, Debi & Joan ) , Showcase Your Talent Thursday , Fantastic Thursday! , Tasty Thursday , fridays unfolded , Simply Link{Party} , what's shakin' link party , Friday Favorites , Happy Hour Friday , Delicately Constructed Friday! , Feature Yourself Friday , Shine On Fridays ( Kara & Amy ) , Foodtastic Friday ,  Foodie Friday , Freedom Fridays , Show Off Friday , Do Something Crafty Friday , Farm Girl Blog Fest , Sweets for a Saturday , Strut Your Stuff Saturday ,Serenity Saturday , Sweet Saturday , SHOW-licious Craft Showcase , Your Great Idea Link Party 

Murgir Jhol or Bengali Chicken Stew

Murgir Jhol /Bengali Chiken Stew

It's that day of the week again. Sunday morning is here. Time to have 2 cups of morning tea instead of one and time to read the paper tad 15 minutes longer. Linger over the cover story, mull over the bad state of economy , give a dirty glance over the crime rate and last but not the least -  lap up the scoops.

Today's scoop is all about a scandalous romance. Romance between Bilawal Bhutto and Hina Khar. So who are they ? Bilawal Bhutto is the chairman of the ruling Pakistani People's Party, and is also the nominated heir to his mother- Ex Benazir Bhitto and father - President Asif Zardari's respective legacies. To top it all - he has the bollywood hero's looks and Hina Khar is seriously mind blowing' as a Pakistani foreign minister, mother of two, married to a loaded guy.

How can we (India) help : This is the piece which makes the scoop all the more interesting , and quoting Shobha De's solution "Apart from asylum in India, we could make life a lot more fun for this couple. As neighbors, we owe them this much..... This is a fabulous, heaven- sent opportunity to strengthen bilateral relationships between the two nations." ha! do you think?

Now that I have  a smirky smile on my face, the day starts to roll ...Murgir Jhol in the name of India- and Pakistan. What say!

PS: I do not do scoop blogging and commenting on other peoples lives is not my hobby either . let's admit - we love a little bit of snooping around and reading oh-so -out of reach scoops .

Murgir Jhol /Bengali Chiken Stew


500 gms chicken with bones (skinless)
100 gms potato- cut in cubes
1/2 cup of any other vegetable of choice
1 cup thick doi (plain yogurt for the marination)

Dry Stew Masala

1 tsp of whole Corriander Seeds
1/4 tsp of Cumin seeds
5-6 black peppercorn seeds
6 cloves/Laung

Make a paste of the
above spices
few cloves of garlic
2" piece of peeled and chopped ginger
1 tomato
1 onion

Marinate 500 gms of whole cut up chicken with 1 tsp of Garlic Paste, 1 tsp of Ginger Paste, yogurt, a little turmeric powder, salt and lime juice. Keep aside for a few hours.


Heat vegetable oil  in an open lid pan

Add to the oil with a thin 1" stick of cinnamon and 3-4 green cardamom (gently crushed ), add the spice paste. Now stir fry, add the vegetables and meat , stir fry till the chicken starts to brown a bit.

Add about 1 cup of water. When cooking in a pan- wait till the the veggies are meat are all well done.

Garnish with green chilies and coriander.

Serve with steamed rice

I'm sending this entry to the Ongoing Serve It Series - Serve It - Boiled