Time to switch to a Chire -Doi -Aam (Beaten rice with Mango Yogurt) breakfast

After skipping breakfast two days in a row, in an attempt to lose all the post-holiday love handles and ending up with a shaky knee by late noon, I openly admit that I LOVE breakfast.  I almost adore it. Luchi Alur Dom(fried puff bread with potato curry), Apple cakes with fresh preserves, savory French toast, masala omelet and bread, coconut muri (puffed rice) and on a bad day even the diet friendly Kellogg’s K cornflakes with milk works wonders. The truth is I feel weak in my head without breakfast and It’s just a matter of embracing my waist the way it is.

Even after knowing all these, I rarely devote any time to eating a sit –down breakfast in the morning. I’m almost always guilty of neglecting it in my house. I do feed my toddler, but can’t reach a consensus on eating ‘her breakfast’ in a guilt free manner. You know what I mean? Like Suji Halwa (semolina sweet) or Dalia Sheera (broken wheat sweet) are not exactly diet friendly but soooo good for soothing a toddler’s morning tantrum.

Perhaps it’s not the cooking or the time it takes. Maybe it’s time to admit another truth – a truth that makes me an owl rather than a lark.  I’m awake agile and alert post the sun sets, it’s just the opposite when it rises. All I manage to scramble is something on the run. Often an unhealthy overdose of crispy Marie biscuits and Darjeeling tea. Not good. I’m telling ya.

For me or a person like me to eat on a busy working day , I need something portable. Guilt free, and something that can be shared both by me , my husband and daughter. Wholesome. Yum.Just about right Calories. You don’t want to whine for the rest of the day right? I found my calling in these long lost Doi Chire Aam medley (Yogurt and beaten rice mixture with mango). On work days, we need a breakfast that’s easy to whip up. In winters, I happily replace the fresh mango in the recipe with dried mango,popularly called as Aamsotto.

They’re gooey, mushy, moist, flavorful and feel decadent with abysmal calories. I would hate to call them your regular Doi Chire Aam.  They feel like fruit yogurt smoothie with a bite. You can happily whip it up in a flash.  So come just hug ‘em with your teeth.

Chire Doi Aam

Ingredients 

Beaten rice /Poha - 1 cup
Plain Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Mango - 1 (you can replace it with the dried mango pulp )
Sugar or Jaggery - to taste


All you need to do it soak the beaten rice in water and thoroughly drain off the water. Should not take you more than 2-3 minutes, as Chire/Poha or beaten rice tends to get soggy very quickly.

Add the rest of the good stuff now. You are almost there.

Now mix it well with your fingers. As mushy as you'd like.

Lick up.

You are set.

It has just the right amount of carbs,fruity goodness of mango and blessing for bones in disguise of yogurt. Want crunch, go ahead top it with some nuts.

Finished a bowl , and packed the rest of goodness in a jar. 

Tangy Cabbage Salad (bong style)

One of my Bangalore summer favourites are the gingery, mustardy heady scents that brings to mind the aromas wafting from my mothers kitchen…theres a sweet pungency to the smell quite distinctive of bong cuisine…jumping out to you, say from a tightly closed box of heeng which could never be too tight not to allow any of its sharp smell to slip by, mixing heavily with a tumbler full of freshly grounded mustard and green chillies, some fried bori (dried lentil dumplings), finally blending with the monsoony smell of the freshly washed greens, some for the salad and some for the food.

Before I continue being nostalgic about my younger days, I should add that: salad is not a part of a regular bong kitchen-as I have never seen any paraphernalia associated with it in my granny’s kitchen-- ringed onions and cucumber or either one of these two would classify as a salad!! Salad is a concept drilled in me by my mom –a crusade she started to combat the lifestyle diseases my father was battling, and needless to say the battle is won. I agree that there is no foolproof way to safeguard your life, but prevention is the key .As far as the ‘prevention process’ is concerned, the first one was of course drilling the concept of healthy eating in my ‘battle hardened baba’s mind’ and the second one was to come up with new healthy salad infuses with strong bong intonations to the dinner table everyday. Her seasonings would sometimes be bong, and through her bong touchups I think she unknowingly introduced a new genre of bong cuisine-The healhy side of a bong belly-The Bong salad(s)

Here is the recipe from my mother’s Bong Salad recipe chest or you can say Diet bong food collection, what i call my mother’s Apollo stunt

PS (Apollo is a chain of health centre promoting healthy heart friendly food)

Tangy Cabbage salad (Mom’s special)

Ingredient:
1) 2-3 tbsp orange juice concentrate
2) ½ cup julienned mint leaves/parsley /coriander
3) 2 crispy sweet apples (grated)
4) ½ cup cabbage (chopped fine)
5) Rock salt(to taste)
6) ½ cup toasted, crisp and crushed –muri (rice crispies)
7) Toasted and crushed dried red chillies(to taste)
8) Toasted and crushed peanuts, a handful
9) 2 tsp lemon juice (preferabley gandharaj lebu)

Toss 1-4 ingredients and add lime and refrigerate. Just before serving add the rock salt, crushed peanuts and crushed muri …the mint in the salad makes it summary, so if you are trying it out when its not soo hot—then parsley/coriander will do a neat job.

You can have this meal on its own on in conjunction with your lunch or even as a mid meal snack. Muri is a traditional bong snack item, this salad just retails that part of it , making it more healthier and low calorie for the weight watchers.

Calories per serving-80 calories

If having as a standalone meal, compliment it with a tall glass of salted and spicy buttermilk/sweet lassi, to make turn it into a nutritionally balanced meal in itself

Quick Bong food

Some days are just so busy, when you can’t care less for the healthy antioxidants in the food or the calories or even the masala proportions, and invariably these are the days which have to follow the Murphy’s Law to the T, talk of chaos aaaaargh!! Like yesterday, I was running late for work when I realised that the maid didn’t turn up, the electricity went out and whatever we had as a leftover is on verge of rotting…or so I was told. With age I think the nostrils flare-up at the sight of anything more than a day old, and I happen to be staying put with such two pairs of noses. Ah well! so life took a downward swing early in the morning and I needed to perk it up for my own sanity, what can be better than ‘Aromas from the east’ …Bong comfort food for the bong at heart all I needed to ensure, is that it better be super quick with an option of zanning it up with red chillies for those with red hot defiant tongues, and I’m ready to start—I better or else I miss my Monday morning meeting!!!

A couple of things before I start my quick cooking expedition is to make a mental note of inventory and list if things to prepare. So yesterday, I thought of making musurer dal(red lentils curry), Alu deem bhate (mashed potatoes with eggs) and Moon bean salad. Before I began scouting for rest of the masalas , I quickly used a pressure pan in which I put 1 cup Musurer Dal(red lentils) for softening with a pinch of salt and turmeric and two potatoes and eggs along with it for boiling. Remember only 2-3 whistles in a cooker/pressure pan, as you run the risk of mixing the egg shells with the Dal if you are not careful. For novice cooks, boiling the eggs separately is advisable.

Musurer dal(red lentils curry)

This is a Bengali quick boil Dal, especially a blessing for those frenzy days. All you need to do is

Ingredients:

1)1 cup Musurer dal/ red lentils
2) Salt to taste
3) Turmeric I tsp
4)2 green chillies
5) Ghee (clarified butter) optional
6) Coriander for garnishing
7)1 tsp cumin seeds

How I did It

As I said earlier, put 1 cup Dal with 3 cups water along with salt and turmeric in the pressure cooker, and you should be done in 2-3 whistles. Open the pan once the steam runs out and churn the Dal. Bengalis like it a little watery.

There are two options of having it, heat ghee(as much as you think you should ) I put 1 tsp for a cup of Dal serving three people, and once the you start seeing the flames splutter cumin seeds and green chillies, once they are fried , mix it with the pressure cooked and churned Dal. You will hear a hiss.

Option 2 calls for leaving the Dal as is, adding ghee and slit green chilly on top.(No cumin.) Depending on you likeability.

Alu deem bhate (mashed potatoes with eggs)
Here the pre boiled potatoes and eggs which I you put along with Musurer Dal for boiling in the cooker come in handy.

Ingredients:

1)3 boiled potatoes
2)3 boiled eggs
3) Green chillies to taste
3) 1/2cup milk
4) Mustard oil 2 tsp or any pickle oil 2 tsp
5) Coriander/parsley/chives (all or one depending on availability chopped fine)
6) Onion half (chopped fine)
7) 1 tsp cumin seeds (roast and ground)

How I did It

Mash all the above as finely as possible, use a food processor for larger quantities and lace it with mustard oil in the last leg of mashing up procedure! You are done.


Whole Green Moong salad

Now I had the soaked green Moong in the refrigerator, so no sweat. For this one needs to plan in advance as it’s quick to make but takes a long time to soak and soften. Overnight is a good time period, you can get a nice salad in the morning. As it goes, we use this little salad with our cocktail nights to hurried lunch cooking days like today. You also have the option of turning it into a western classing by stuffing the salad in tacos or go as desi as possible with zeera and lal mirch tadka(cumin and red chilly seasoning). What I did was:

Ingredients:
1) 2-21/2 cups of soaked green gram/moong beans/dal
2) 1tsp zeera/cumin seeds
3)1 finely chopped onion
3)1tsp finely chopped green chillies
4)1 pinch of heeng/Asafoetida
5) 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
6)Salt to taste
7) 1 tsp any vegetable oil

For the garnish

Finely chopped cucumber and coriander
Fresh coconut or chat masala (depending on what you like and what is available easily at home)
Lime Juice ~ 2-3 tsp

How I did it:

In a pan put the oil, once it’s hot add the zeera, ginger, heeng/Asafoetida, onion, green chilly. Once they start spluttering and onion is a little done then you can add the moong beans. If you feel its sticking to the pan because of less oil, add a little water and cover and cook. Check intermittently and stir. It will be done in 5-7 minutes.

Ps: The time taken to soften the moong will vary based on the time you have soaked the moong, the amount of water. Keep adding water till its soft for yoyr satisfaction. Continue this till the green gram/moong is soft (as you like it)and little damp with no visible water.

Garnish with coriander, chat masala, lime juice, chopped cucumber.

Enjoy it with Alu deem bhate (mashed potatoes with eggs) and Musurer dal(red lentil curry) and steaming hot rice. Perfect summer lunch for a bong belly:)