Play Holi With Colors But Without Water

There is acute water shortage in Maharashtra. Water meant for industrial projects are diverted to private developers of real estate projects like water parks and golf courses. Providing clean water is going to be the biggest challenge for Indian states in the coming year

This morning, I was watching news channels and saw children of Maharashtra making a pledge of not wasting water during this festival of Holi. They will miss out the fun we had during our growing years. But then we didn't play in extremes. We never ordered water tankers to have rain dance and waste water. Anything that is used in excess becomes a curse. We have to set limits for use of water. The sooner the awareness begins, the better. Last week I had also seen kids of ‘Podar School’ walk down the street raising the awareness of water shortage. Imagine that! Five years young kids educating the public! They pledged to play Holi without wasting water. 

Holi is fun to play with colors, but we have to be careful in selecting colors too. Some of the colors are quite harmful and can bring permanent damage to the sensitive skin.

To play safe Holi, it is best to play with eco-friendly colors.

Colors are everywhere. You find them in fruits, vegetables and flowers. To play safe, it is best to make them at home.

Red colour can be obtained from tomatoes and carrots juice. This can be diluted with sufficient quantity of water to remove the stickiness. You could also use Pomegranate peels, boiled in water. Or, better still, you could soak red hibiscus flowers in water overnight get a red which also has medicinal value.

For dry red colour, you could take red sandal wood powder, known as Raktachandan/lalchandan or Pterocarpus santalinus. This is extremely beneficial to skin and is used in face packs.

For Yellow colour you could mix 4 teaspoon of turmeric powder in to two liters of water. This can be boiled to increase the concentration of color.

For dry yellow colour, you could mix two tablespoons of turmeric powder with four tablespoons of gram flour, these are extremely healthy for our skin. Flowers like Amaltas (Cassia fistula), Marigold / Gainda (Tagetus erecta), Yellow Chrysanthemums, Black Babul (Acacia arabica) yield different shades of yellow. Dry the petals of these flowers under shade and crush them to obtain a fine yellow powder. Mix appropriate quantity of the powder with gram flour or use it separately.

Green colour can be obtained by mixing a fine paste of leaves like spinach, coriander, mint, tomato leaves, etc. into water.

For dry green colour, you could use henna powder, separately or mix with equal quantity of any suitable flour to attain a lovely green shade. You could also crush the tender leaves of the Wheat plant or the leaves of Gulmohur (Delonix regia) tree to obtain a natural safe green Holi color.

Blue colour can be obtained by crushing the blue berries (fruits) of the Indigo plant and adding to water for desired colour strength. In some Indigo species, the leaves when boiled in water also yield a rich blue color.

For dry blue colour, you could dry and grind the Jacaranda flowers or blue Hibiscus to obtain beautiful blue powder.

Magenta colour can be obtained by soaking grated Beet-root in one litre of water, to get a deeper shade; you could boil it for ten minutes.

Saffron colour can be obtained by soaking a few stalks of saffron (kesar) in two tablespoons of water. Leave it for few hours and then grind it. Dilute with water for desired colour strength. Though expensive, it is excellent for our skin.

For dry saffron colour you could dry and powder the dried flowers of the ‘Flame of the forest’ (Butea monosperma), known as Tesu, Palash or Dhak in vernacular languages, which is the source of the wonderful, traditional colour for Holi

Brown colour can be obtained by boiling tea or coffee leaves in water. Also ‘Kattha’ (Acacia catechu), the one eaten in pan, when mixed with water will give a brownish color.

Black colour can be obtained from the juice of black grapes; you could dilute it with sufficient quantity of water to remove stickiness

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Holi is all about playing with colour, singing and dancing to the rhythm of dholak and having bhang. The intoxication of bhang brings mischief to the party. This intoxicant that hits you slower than alcohol at first, could knock you off totally when it finally enters your system. It could keep you laughing or crying for hours together, as most people will testify from their experiences.

How to make Bhang

Ingredients

50 grams Poppy seeds

1 ounce marijuana (fresh leaves and flowers of a female plant preferred)

2 tablespoons whole black pepper

3 teaspoons Cumin seeds

3 – 4 pieces of cloves

70 grams Almonds

 20 strands Saffron

15-16 green cardamom

¼ teaspoon powdered ginger

4 glasses of milk

2 cups of water

 12 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon rose water

Method:

1. Soak poppy seeds overnight
2. Bring water to rapid boil and pour it in a clean tea pot and brew the marijuana leaves after removing seeds and twigs from it.
3. Strain out the leaves and flowers and save the water
4. Crush the squeezed flowers and leaves with 2 tablespoons of milk in a mortar.
5. Slowly but firmly grind the milk and leaves together.
6. Gather up the marijuana and squeeze out as much milk as you can.
7. Repeat this process until you have used about 1/2 cup of milk (about 4 to 5 times).
8. Collect all the milk that has been extracted and place in a bowl.
9. Soak almonds for 30 minutes
10. Wash the poppy seeds, letting the dirt settle at the bottom
11. Grind the poppy seeds, almonds, cardamom, cumin seeds, whole pepper and saffron and little water (that you had saved while straining the leaves) to a fine paste.
12. Mix this fine paste with the milk that was extracted from marijuana
13. Soak and strain with your fingers, squeezing the muslin cloth to extract the milk
14. Tie the remaining paste in muslin cloth and pour cold milk over it
15. Squeeze out the milk till the pulp is dry.
16. Add sugar and serve cold.

Colorful Vegetarian Briyani

Okay, You might say, where are those beautiful rainbow colors of the briyani?

Briyani is supposed to be colorful with red, green and yellow colored rice, layered one on the top of another with variety of vegetables glimmering through the grains, but No! Thank you! I don’t use food coloring in my cooking, I use colorful vegetables instead, differently-colored-vegetables can also give a colorful effect. And, of course, if you still  insist, I do have an option to use natural food colors like turmeric for yellow, beetroot juice for red color and crushed spinach for green, but that is unnecessary.

Every responsible chef will agree that food coloring is not good for health. I, too, am very much against those bright color dyes used in toffees and ice-creams. Sure, those colored food look very appealing and makes food look brighter, but at what cost?

Food dyes—used in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings—pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. A top government scientist agrees, and says that food dyes present unnecessary risks to the public.

If your child is hyperactive, or has a behavior problem, blame it on dyes and stop his artificially colored candies immediately.

The food will taste good if it is nutritious and made with interest, color is just a feast for the eyes.

I believe that every vegetable has its own taste and its own cooking point. If we cook all together, there is uneven tenderness in vegetables that is good only if you wish to mash them up to make ‘Pav bhaji’, but if you wish to bite each vegetable and relish them, then its better to cook each one differently, some to cook the proper way, with/without gravy as you wish, some to stir-fry and some to deep fry, its just the matter of understanding what kind of taste would suit your dish.

I agree my Briyani does not look beautiful, but it was so tasty that I was very happy that my family enjoyed it.

It takes me about 2 hours to cook Briyani and I really have to be in a very good mood to cook it for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice

4 medium size Onions

6 tsps Olive oil

1 tin(200gms) Soya chunks

1 cup Yogurt

3 tsp Garlic

2 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp red chili powder

2 Cumin sticks

4 Cardamom

4 Bay leaves

4 Cloves

A pinch of saffron strands

1 medium size Carrot(diced)

1 medium size Capsicum(chopped)

1 large Potato (diced)

1 medium size Eggplant (diced)

2 medium size Tomatoes

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

2 tbsp chopped mixed dry fruits(almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts, raisin)

2 tbsp lime juice

4 tbsp milk

oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

So this is how I make……

Step one: Deep fry 3 medium sized onions (sliced evenly) till dark brown, keep it aside.

Step two: While the onions are frying, start chopping other vegetables, and marinate soya chunks in yogurt, 1tsp garlic, 1tsp ginger, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt.

Step three: Par boil the rice (that has been soaked for 30 minutes before parboiling), strain the water, spread it on a big plate and add cumin sticks, crushed cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, saffron strands and 1tsp olive oil

Step four: Fry 1tsp garlic in one teaspoon of olive oil, and stir fry carrots and capsicum, add salt and keep it aside.

Step five: Deep fry potatoes and egg plant

Step six: In a pan, fry one (finely chopped) onion in 2 tsp of olive oil till light brown, add ½ glass of water, cook till onions are tender, add 1tsp garlic and 1tsp ginger, add marinated soya chunks, add tomatoes and cook till oil separates.

Step seven: Grease the pot with 1tsp olive oil, arrange fried onions at the base, cover it with ¾ of spiced rice, add the layer of stir-fried carrot and capsicum, add the layer of cooked soya chunks, add the layer of fried potatoes and egg plant, cover it with remaining rice.

Step eight: Garnish with remaining fried onions, coriander leaves and dry fruits, sprinkle lime juice and milk and I tsp olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil, then with a lid and keep it on low heat for forty-five minutes

Serve with onion raita and potato chips.