A quick meal.

At some time or other, we need to know some quick to make dishes, especially, if one works or we come home late after shopping etc.
The Recipes i am now noting, my mother used to make, those days, in a coal Sigri.
Brinjal gojju.
One big Brinjol or 4/5 fairly big ones, Tamarind a small lime size, to be soaked, jaggery as per taste, green chillies, curry leaves,udad dal,chana dal a spoofull each, mustard half a teaspoon, quarter spoon of asophotida, oil one table spoon.salt to taste.
Apply a thin film of oil and roast it on he open fire or in micro oven. {after roasting immediately immerse in water} so it can be peeled easily.peel the brinjol and mash it well, extract the pulp from the tamarind and add it to the brinjol paste, add salt and grated jaggery. Heat oil and make the seosoning with the dals and mustard, and hing, lastly add the cut green chillies and pour over the brinjol and mix well.

Pepper Saar/rasam.
Pepper......One tea spoon, Jeera...One teaspoon,Dry fry both till crisp and grind to a powder,Tomatoes Two cut into small peices,one fairly big lime,salt, hing, mustard and oil/ghee for seasoning, In a fairly big vessel pour two cups of water and put in the tomatoes and let it boil till the tomatoes are soft, mash it a bit, add more water if needed add the ground powder salt
and allow it to boil, add the curry leaves and salt. season with the mustard and hing. Add the lime juice and garnish with corriander leaves.

Corriander/Curry leaves Tencha/Raitha
A handful of Coriander or curry leaves, green chillies 3/4 as per taste,Jeera 3/4 tea spoon,Dahi 200ml,salt to taste, hing 1/4 tsp, oil a teaspoon and mustard for seosoning.
Wash the coriander/curry leaves and grind fine with chillies, jeera and salt to a fine paste, mix this ground paste in dahi add salt, mix well season with mustard and hing. Serve with rice and pappad, fried/roasted.
The above recipe can be made quickly and is filling.
If one has the time a chutney can be made.

1) This Corriander or Curry leaves can ground with Coconut  and salt  with a little Dahi and stored. this will last for a week 10 days.
 2) Sooji/Rava can be fried to a  Golden co-lour and stored.
  3)  In a kadi pour oil and  make the seasoning as far Uppit, add green chlli, curry leaves add the Rava/Sooji and fry well, and store when cool. When ever needed   heat a little oil and  saute  some onions Add  the necessary amount of water, boil and salt and the prepared as much as you need and stir well, reduce heat and cook for few minutes and your Uppit is ready.
  The above Rava mix can be used for Rava Idli -  to the Rava  add  salt  fresh ginger and curry leaves dahi and little baking soda and make idlis.

Nuchina Unde Huli / Sandige Huli.

This dish with gravy is so called because , in most houses , some years back,people used to buy Full Tur, mix it with red mud, and make a heap of it and sprinkle water over it for three days, on the fourth day the tur will star to sprout. . At this time it is separated and dryed. When it fully dryed it would be cleaned of the and milled to be made into dal. during this process , a small portion of it will become broken. This was kept by to be used for making , ambode and sandige huli. This is the reason the it got the nuchina huli. In Kanada Nuchu means, small broken peices.
Recipe for the sandige huli.
Tur Dal.......... one cup, coconut scraping .....1/2 cup, Soak a small lemon size tamarind and extract the juice, red chillies ........6/7, green chillie.....3/4 as per taste, ginger.... one inch peice,jaggery .... a little, jeera...........one tea spoon,salt to taste. curry and corriander leaves.
Soak the dal for at least one hour with the red chillies. grind this along with other incredents except tamarind , curry leaves and corriander. add this and cut fine to the paste mix it well. Keep a about two table spoon of the paste aside. With the rest make equal size balls [or a littlle longish] as desired and steam it in a idly cooker. Grind the the paste kept by to a fine paste.
Dilute the tamarind extract to desired quantity add haldhi powder and a little more salt.When the dal balls have boiled, add the the fine paste to the tamarind water and bring it ti a boil, add the balls and boil for a few minutes. Remove from fire and seoson with mustard and hing. THis is eaten with rice. Adjust the chillies to taste more or less.

POST-DELIVERY DIET

In today's fast world we are forgetting our age old customs and women are hardly aware of what they can eat and what not to eat soon after having a baby. Indian culture and traditions date back to almost 5000 years and post natal diet etc. has been derived with a view on mother and child's health; a diet that gives both the mother and the child life-long protection from diseases and ailments.

There are reasons behind every diet and on close analysis we can only stop and wonder at the deep scientific analysis behind every such tradition. And this set me thinking about the good old diets and how we analyse and inculcate it into our present tradition so we stay protected.

Doctors advise new moms to eat normal regular food, which is ok, but some small changes in the diet, goes a long way , in regard to the health of both mother and the new born.

For the first three weeks the food eaten should be healthy but not spicy. As far as possible root vegetables like potatoes, onion,yam etc should be avoided. This is because root vegetables cause a lot of gas in the system and a breastfeeding mother will pass on this gas in her milk resulting in gas and colic for the baby. For the same reason deep fried foods should be avoided.

On the other hand, plenty of greens and green vegetables can be taken. Greens and green vegetables are rich in vitamins and once again this is passed on to the baby.

All of you who have an Indian origin must be knowing that the new mother is served ghee in a small katori , at least 100 grams or more and you must have wondered how does a cup of fat in every essence help!

Well, Ghee is known for the quality of Ropana- healing, and its effectiveness in facilitating recovery from wounds. In Ayurveda, when a person has a chronic peptic ulcer or gastritis, Ghee is used to heal that ulcer inside the intestinal tract. Similarly, here the ghee is used to heal the uterus back to its original size.
Of course, in today's world of fears of obesity and its concurrent risks, one cannot take a cup of ghee but ghee should not be avoided and should be taken in whatever quantity. Remember, it is also an antioxidant.

The new mother is given an oil bath every alternate day. Abhyanga or oil bath has great curative properties. The body in preparation for the mammoth task of delivering the baby has undergone massive changes. Energy was required to deliver the baby and heat produces energy so the body has got heated and toxic to produce this tremendous energy and needs a cooling down. Oil baths cool the body, remove the heat to normalize it soon as possible.

The effect of an oil bath is illustrated in my daughter's own personal experience. My daughter developed severe urinary tract infection during the 5th month of her pregnancy. She was unable to take strong antibiotics and no amount of tender coconuts, water anything helped. She suffered for 3 or so months with severe burning until someone advised her to take oil baths every alternate day. The very first day she took an oil bath she was cured of her UTI! Such is the antioxidant properties of an oil bath!

However, oil baths being cooling can also cause cold and cold for mom means cold and sniffles for the babe so this bath is followed by a dish of sooji sheera made with semolina, almonds and ghee.
The almonds and ghee also helps increase the breast milk!

Curry leaves powder is to eaten first with hot rice and a good amount of ghee.
Curry leaves help shrink the uterus to its original size besides helping the body to recover.

Recipe for the curry leaves powder:-- Two cups curry leaves , washed and dried in the shade, one table spoon of each of the following incridents. Jeera, Oma, Chana dala,Pepper, big marble size hing(if u have it only in powder form add one tea spoon), and one inch peice of dry ginger. Fry all the incridents one by one, putting a little oil every time including the dry curry leaves. whel they have all cooled grind it with salt to taste, and store. This is very good for all especially , after post delivery.

Normal diet can be taken, but care should be taken that too much spicy, cold drinks and very sour food is not eaten.
Sour foods and cold drinks can cause cold and discomfort to the mother and passed on the the baby.

Take care not to carry heavy things like a pail of water or a grown child and the like, for at least three months after delivery.
This is because uterus which is in a delicate state now can descend and cause multiple problems.

Avoid perfume , and putting strong smelling flowers in your hair like malli flowers etc, Strong smell reduces breast milk.

After a fortnight after delivery a lehyam is eaten about a spoonfull , even before the coffee or tea. This is eaten for three months. This is made of many herbs and heat producing, so a good amount of ghee is a must.

Supary or areca nut is fried in ghee and other spices like lavang and coconut ,which is also fried and powdered. and this is eaten with betel leaves and chuna or limeIt is possible that the betelnut or supari helped in prevention of postnatal depression.This is also a digestive.
    The suggested diet for a new mother :  At  8 AM --For Break fast , Idly , Uppma, Oats. Kichdi, and Rava Idly, anything with out too much Oil and Spice.
    Mid Morning ----Glass of Milk or a health drink ( the recipe for which) given below).
    Lunch  -----------12.30/1 PM Two Prathas,   with  Bhaji, Rice Sambhar  Rasam Both Sambhar and Rasam to be had with good amount of ghee and  Sweet Dahi . The first course to be eaten is the Karepak (curry Leaves) powder with rice and GHEE.
      At tea time any snack with Milk  or what ever  one is used to Horlics, Milk,or whatever.
Dinner ---Same as lunch but may be one can cut the Sambar.
       This Diet is followed for the first month then gradual y other foods are added as the bay grows up and becomes more tolerant to foods, eaten my the mother.
      No Udad pappad is allowed but Rice Pappad can be eaten
     


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Care of the Baby.
The first few weeks the baby has to be kept warm as it is used to a temperature of 98.4 degrees for 9 to 10 months.
Make sure the baby wears a booti/socks 24 hours a day for the first three months.
Cover the tummy with a folded shawl or thick cloth, this, they say aids digesion.
The baby will cry if it is
1] Its hungry
2]Its wet, the nappy has to be changed.
3] Its cold or too warm.
4] Some discomfort or colic
5]Some clothing or bed clothes hurting the tender skin
6] In india it could be thirst.
If the baby cries check out the above first.
Keep regular feeding times after the first few months. this will be good for the mother and the child.
Maintain a regular bath time too. If the baby is kept comfortable it will give the least trouble.
Parents fighting or arguing, the baby will sense the mothers moods, so avoid it.
Give the child lot of attention but dont give in to all its demands, once the child understands that you will give it to its crying or demands there will be no end to it.
All baby's are born good, but the the way the parents bring it up will mold the child. A lot depends on the mother.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
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 For the baby's bath, please don't use baby oil ,it is a mineral oil which can  harm your child. Do use use Coconut oil or Til oil .Heat the oil with a few pepper corn and Haldhi powder ,(which has been  made at home ) . Apply the oil on the baby body before a bath. Instead of soap, Chanach Peet can be used or even Mung dal peet.
    To make Haldhi Powder at home, Buy the the Haldhi sticks from the shop, dry it well in the sun, break them into pieces and powder  it in the Mixi, Powder it well and sieve it , if some grainy remnants are left over, this can be  powder it again and sieved.You will get good , pure haldhi powder.
   While feeding the baby feed it in one place away from TV etc, later as you start to feed  solid food, mostly the baby will be able to sit up. At this time make him/her sit at the table, tie a large Bib, and  feed him/her. this way the child will get used to sitting in one place to eat. As it grows up, the child will protest to eat, at these times change the  food every few days make it bit tastier by adding a little rasam etc.  Tell the child stories and be patient with it.
 What ever the Baby book says, if the child is given 200 ml milk to drink at 7AM , it really cant eat a hearty break fast at 8/8.30. Milk takes time to  digest. So feed the child with fore thought and imagination. Give clean 3 hours break  after the milk feed.
  Some times what the mother or grand mother tell will be more useful, than a book, because, it is with experience, they will be telling.  Books can be, only, guide lines.

HERBS AND SPICES.

Mustard:

In Maharashtra and south india, importance is given to seasoning with oil and mustard.In desastha houses they go to the extent of saying men should never be served without seasoning the currys and sambar and saar [ rasam]. Now the scientists have proved that mustard has anti cancer properties.

Haldi/Turmeric:

Haldhi powder is just not for colour. Turmeric as it is called in English is called the holi powder. for its ability to prevent Alzheimer and cancer cells from multiplying as well as with cystic fibroid and sclerosis. Haldhi has powerful beta carotene and can also reduce your shortsightedness. It was on the news recently for evidence that it contains curcumin which can fight Alzheimer"s and dementia, as well as having anti -cancer properties. It has been a staple in Indian cookery for decades, the western world has recently awakened to its benefits.

Methi Seeds:

Methi seeds is known to reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels. 20 to 25grams of the powder is taken everyday. one teaspoon mixed with 1/2 cup glass buttermilk can be taken 3/4 times a day.

Ginger:

Ginger is good for digestion, is also a blood purifier.It releases acidity and curbs gastric problems.

Saffron:

Saffron has vital anti-bacterial properties and is a cooling agent as well.

Cloves:

Cloves can be used to kill oral bacteria and aid in the digestive process, the list can go on.

Coriander:

Coriander is the best possible form of calcium. The leaves are an excellent stimulant and it to reverse and retard digestive disorders, high cholesterol levels and conjunctivitis,heavy menstrual flow.

Basil:

Basil called Tulasi has antioxidant properties. It keeps the blood pure and makes your hair and skin glow. Basil leaves also aid in diabetic treatments, fever, respiratory problems, mouth infections, and dental problems.

Dill:

Dill leaves have a stimulating effect. They help cure diarrhoea, dysentery, bad breath, colds, bronchitis, swelling and is good for pregnant and lactating mothers.

Cinnamon:

cinnamon helps blood sugar levels as it contains chromium and zinc and acts as blood thinner while preventing fungal infections.

Jeera/Cumin:
Jeera prevents cold and acidity. When we feel the first sign of cold, jeera boiled for a few minutes is taken every few hours will prevent the cold. drink it hot.

Chutneys cont.

Bengal gram chutney.

Bengal gram dal. or Chana dal....1/2 cup, red chillies....6to 8,coconut scrapings.....1/2 cup, hing 1/2 tsp, and salt to taste. Fry the dal and chillies till the dal is golden. when cool grind to a coarse paste with salt and hing, season with two teaspoons oil mustard, hing and curry leaves.

This chutney is made when no other gravy like sambar etc is made. This chutney is served with saar[rasam] pappad or any vadams and dahi.

Benefits: Makes a complete balanced meal. Chana dal or Bengal gram dal as it is called provides the protein provided by legumes, while the coconut fills up on fibre and red chillies have anti inflammatory and anti cancer properties and hing is a digestive.
Chana dal can be a good food for people with diabetes because it has a low glycemic index.


Coconut chutney.

Coconut scrapings....... one cup, Green chillies 4/4 or as per taste, tamarind a big marble size, salt and hing, oil and mustard for seasoning. If desired a little fresh coriander Grind everything together and season with oil and mustard seeds. If coconut is not enough little chutney dal can be added. Instead of tamarind, raw mango pieces or lime juice can used. This will give the chutney a little different taste.

Benefits: It is interesting to note that coconut and coconut oil is now being lauded as a remedy thyroid problems.

Tur Dal chutney.

1/2 cup tur dal, red dry chillies 6 to 8 , as per taste. tamarind, fresh or dry coconut scrapings 1/2 a cup, hing , oil and mustard for seasoning. fry the dal and chillies in a little oil till the dal is golden. add the other ingredients and grind to a course paste. season with mustard seeds and curry leaves.



Moong dal chutney.

Moong dal.... 1/2 cup, fresh coconut scrapings 1/4 to 1/2 cup, green chillies....5/6 as per taste, hing, salt to taste and juice of one lime,coriander leaves for garnishing, oil and mustard. the dal has to be soaked for 3/4 to 1 hour. grind the dal, coconut, green chillies and salt together coarsely, add the lime juice and season and garnish with coriander leaves.

Benefits: This chutney is made summer as the moong dal is said to keep the body cool.

Chutneys as a part of a balanced meal --a Dose of nutrients and fibre

From a long long time before anybody derived the Food Pyramid, Indians used to balance their daily intake of food. In South India on a normal day the menu for lunch would be chutney, sambar or any one gravy with a vegetable, saar, a must, a bhaji and dahi and of course, rice.

Usually chutney will be made of the pulp of the vegetable or the peelings of the veg used for the sambar or bhaji. As we all know that peels do contain a lot of good vitamins and of course, fibre.

For example, to cucumber peels will be added green chillie and tamarind and salt and ground into a course paste and seasoned with a little oil and mustard. This is really a tasty chutney, goes well with rice , chappathis or even dosai.

The basic ingredients for most chutneys are Red dry chillies, udad dal, asophotida[hing], tamarind and salt. These ingredients added vary according to the amount of chutney one wants to make. These basic ingredients are for Curry leaves Chutney, Mint leaves chutney, coriander leaves chutney or the fresh pulp of red pumpkin,[ with the seeds removed] and padaval or snake gourd.Brinjal, this has to be roasted on a open fire or in the micro. peel it and proceded as per the other chutneys.
Ridge gourd or ridge gourd peels chutney can also be made. remove the string from the peel before cutting. the incridents are the same, udad dal red chillies hing and tamarind. increase the chillies as per taste, as the gourd bland by itself. cut the gourd into small peices. one way is it can be fryed in oil and then ground or grind it and and fry it in oil till the raw smell dissapears then add the dal and chillie powder. grind the gourd with the tamarind.

Method:

Curry Leaf Chutney

To make a cup full of curry leaves, you will need two spoons of udad dal, 4/5 dry chillies, a marble size tamarind, 1/4 tsp hing and salt to taste. Clean and wash the curry leaves drain the water. in a kadai fry the dal and chillies. remove from the fire. in the same kadai add a little more oil and fry the curry leaves till they look withered. Grind the dal and chillies coarsely, add the curry leaves, tamarind and salt, grind to the desired consistency. season with mustard.

This same method can be followed for all the above mentioned vegetables.

Raw Mango Chutney

Fry 8 red chillies and a little 1/2tsp methi seeds seperately.
Grate the mango coarsely.grind the chillies ad methi then add the mango and grind again to required consistancy. seosan with oil, mustard and hing. for variation a little coconut scappings can be added and also a little jaggery if the mango is too sour.