Moment of Pride!

   There was too much hullabaloo all over the school and in the playground. All of us were busy getting the children assemble house-wise. It was Sports Day. Children were excited. Noise all over, PTI's whistle blowing and blaring sound of the loudspeaker. Suddenly,I felt a hand on my shoulder and... I saw Abi with a red, swollen face, crying uncontrollably in his teacher's lap and wanting to come to me. I understood the problem immediately.

  Abi is not comfortable with too many people around him or too much noise. It took a while to bring him back to normalcy. For the next two days he refused to go to his class or his teacher. He stuck to me all the while, even though we were in different houses. It took a lot of persuasion to make him participate in different events meant for nursery kids. On the first day, he participated in frog race, toffee collection and throwing a ball competition. After participating in the event, he would rush back to me. To my surprise, he came first in throwing a ball and second in frog race. I later found out from his teachers that he is good in frog jump and should have come first. The second day, he took part in running race and bagged third prize. Whether first or third, it really did not matter to us. Our happiness knew no bounds. As far as I'm concerned it was no less than the Arjuna award!

He, of course, was least bothered whether he got a prize or not. All he wanted was his naani by his side (and some peace!) When the results were announced and his name was called, he simply refused to go up the stage to collect his prize!. With great difficulty, we made him to take his position on the stand but then he refused to take the medal around his neck and hesitantly took them in his hand. It was much later, after coming home I made him wear the medals and clicked a few precious snaps and the medals have taken a central place in our living hall. Congratulations!!!  Bless you my darling.

Are we really educated?

" If you educate one girl child, you are educating two families" - I read this somewhere and even believe it to be true to an extent. But looking at life in practice, I have also come to believe that women are the greatest enemies of women. In most of the crimes against women  be it dowry, domestic violence, ill treatment of domestic help or teaching the girl child that she is inferior, weak and to be protected by men, it is women (mom, sister, mom-in-law etc) who play a major role. However, what I heard during a train journey, in a conversation between a mother and her daughter, made me realise that it is not just crimes against women that are perpetrated by women, rather in every small way, this inferiority is reaffirmed. The duo's conversation saddened me and made me wonder, are we really educating our girls in the true and right sense? 

   We were coming back from our vacation. We had a group of five people as our co-passengers, an old lady (mother), her daughter (educated, well spoken) and three grandchildren. The journey started in the afternoon. The children were well mannered and the ladies themselves were very particular about the cleanliness around them (which is very rare in the train). I was quite happy to see that.

 After their dinner, the mother put the children to bed and the elder ladies (mother-daughter) sat down to discuss their  extended family members. Their conversation goes like this: (I was not eavesdropping, they were oblivious of their surrounding)

D: ma, how old is neha now?

M: she must be 30+, but she is yet to conceive.

D: she has been married for how many years?

M:3 years completed. 4th running.

D: oh.. neha is going face difficulties now. What must her in-laws be feeling. All the relatives must have started talking about it. What is the use of her beauty and education if she does not produce a child soon within a year or so. She is becoming old and I think if she does not have a baby soon, she will be finished. God only can help her.

... and she went on and on about how bad not having a child as soon as anyone gets married is for the girl!

I was shocked to say the least. If the mother had spoken something like this I could have understood because she belongs to a different school of thought. But the daughter, an educated girl, with a girl child of her own talking like women are under some sort of obligation to become a child - producing machine from the minute they are married or God help them - was shocking to say the least. What has "education" meant to this lady when her thinking hasn't changed enough to respect her own gender..

Babycorn Wrap

      Since Abi is a picky eater we have difficulty in selecting food items to cook for him. Like most children he likes fried food items but that also selectively. He does not like the taste of baby corn except in pasta. So I thought of camouflaging them into something to make him eat it. As I was looking for some new way of cooking baby corns, I found this recipe by Rajshri food video very interesting. It was an instant hit as elders in the family liked it but Abi did not like the baby corn part of it and enjoyed only the outer covering! Overall, I found it an interesting find and hence I'm posting this to BM#60. 

Ingredients to marinade:

• Baby corns: 6 pieces
• Tomato sauce: 2 teaspoon
• Tabasco Sauce:1 teaspoon
• Chilly sauce: 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil: 1/2 teaspoon
• Oregano: 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Method:

 Boil the baby corns for 2  to 3 minutes. Mix all the other ingredients together add the corns into the mixture. Coat them nicely and keep them for half an hour. After half an hour cook them on a slow heat in a frying pan. Let them cool. 

Ingredients for the wrap:

• Potatoes: 3 nos
• Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
• Green chilli paste: 1 teaspoon
• Corn flour: 2 tablespoons
•  Salt to taste
• Bread crumbs: as needed
• Oil: for frying

1. Boil and mash the potatoes. Add all the ingredients for wrap and mix them nicely.

2. Take a tablespoon of the mixture (depends upon the size of the baby corn) roll into an oblong shape then flatten it. Keep the corn in the centre and cover it with the potato mixture.

3. Roll the wrap in bread crumbs and fry them in hot oil till golden brown.

4. Drain them on a kitchen towel and serve with green chutney or any dip of your choice.

 check out Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#60

Paneer Papad Bites

All types of papad do not go well with rice (south indian food). Here in Rajasthan papad curry is made. While looking for some different recipe to use papad, I chanced upon quite a few recipes. Borrowing the idea from rajshri food, I modified it to our taste. I was a little sceptical about the outcome of it. But it really came out very well and needless to say that everyone liked it including my l'l one.

Ingredients :

• Paneer: 200 gms
• Papad: 3 nos
• Oil: for frying

For marinade:                                                        

• Paneer: 200 gm
• Tomato sauce: 2 tablespoons
• Tabasco sauce: 1 tablespoon
• Red chilli sauce:1 teaspoon
• Corn flour: 2 to 3 tablespoons
• Chat masala: 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste.                                                                                                                            

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients except the paneer. See that it is not too thin or thick (adjust with corn flour).
• Cut paneer into square or rectangle shapes. Coat the paneer pieces with the marinade and keep it for half an hour.
• Crush the papad into small pieces( not powder). Coat the paneer pieces all over nicely.
• Fry them in hot oil till papad is done turning the pieces around quickly. 
• Drain and serve them hot. No need for any dip or chutney as they are quite spicy.

Vegetable rolls /Surprise roll

This particular roll is a hit in our circle. Abi too likes this one as he likes surprises. A simple and easy to make recipe - the filling is the surprise here. One can change the filling according to the taste and availability of ingredients. Here I have used vegetables. An ideal snack for children and for parties.

Ingredients for the base:

• All purpose flour: 2 cups
• Ajwain: 1 teaspoon
• Salt: to taste
• Oil: 3 tablespoon

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients nicely. Add a little water to make a smooth and tight dough (like the one we make for samosa) and keep aside.

Ingredients for the filling:

• Potatoes: 2nos 
• Peas: 2 tablespoons 
• Carrot: 1 no
• Cabbage: 2 tablespoons                       
• Capsicum: 1 no
• Cheese: 1 tablespoon
• Onion: 1no
• Green chillies: 2 nos(optional)
• Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoons
• Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste.
• Oil: 1 tablespoon                                                  

 Method:    

• Finely chop the onion, green chillies and all the vegetables.

• Heat oil in a pan, add ginger paste,onion and chillies. Saute them for a few minutes.

• Add the chopped vegetables and salt. Cook them on low heat till they are done. Let them cool.

• Take some dough and roll it like a big chapati. It should be thin.

• Take some filling and place it in one end of the chapati. Roll the chapati till the end and close both the ends.

• Heat oil in a pan and drop the rolls slowly into the medium heat oil.Fry them till they turn golden brown on all sides.

• Drain and cut them into small pieces. Serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

It tastes so good during winters and rainy seasons. You can check out Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#60 for more yummy surprises for your loved ones.

Choorma

Dal batti choorma are the main dishes in kacha khaana of Rajasthani food. I'm learning them from our cook who is an expert in this. Of this trio, choorma is the sweet dish and my favourite. It can be made in the form of laddoo or burfi (the diamond shaped ones) or choorma, the granule form. The granule form of choorma is slightly messy to eat. So I prefer the firm shaped ones. Here I choose the ladoo form as my l'il one likes laddoos.  So many such delectable dishes to learn about on  Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#60

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour: 1cup

2. Milk: to knead

3. Sugar: 50gms

4. Coconut powder: 15 gms

5. Dry fruits: as much as you like

6. Cardamom: 5nos

7: Ghee: 50 ml

Method:

1. Add the milk to the flour and mix it. Now add a little water and make tight dough (like for pooris) and leave it for 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Take a lemon sized dough flatten it with hand to make a small and thick poori.

3. Heat ghee in a kadai, fry the pooris in slow fire turning once in awhile. Remove them when they turn nice golden brown.Let them cool.

4. Break the fried pooris into small pieces and grind them coarsely.

5. Add powdered sugar, coconut powder,coarsely ground nuts, ghee and cardamom powder and mix them all together nicely.

6.Take a tablespoon full of the mixture at a time and shape them into a laddoos.

Garlic Chutney

This is my second day post for the regional special. As I've mentioned in my baati recipe post, garlic chutney is very famous and a must have side dish on most of the occasions in Rajasthan, especially when kaccha khana is served. If you like garlic taste then this simple and no fuss recipe is for you  with minimal ingredients. Our other Bloggers have put up lovely dishes which can be viewed on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#60

 Ingredients for grinding:

1. Garlic: 50gms

2. Red chillies: 5 nos or more, if you like it spicy

3. Tamarind: 1 small lemon size
4. Jeera: 1 teaspoon

5: Black salt: to taste
6: Salt: to taste 

For seasoning:

1. Ghee: 2 tablespoons

2. Mustard seeds:
3. Onion paste: 1 small 

4. Curry leaves: (optional)

Method:

Grind all the grinding ingredients together with little water to make a fine paste. Heat ghee in a frying pan add mustard seeds. After the seeds crackle add curry leaves and onion paste. Fry them till onion is golden brown. Now add the ground paste. Cook till ghee separates. Serve hot or cold with baati  or chapathi.