To Market, To Market, To Celebrate #SabziTarkariDin

One more day to celebrate with Rushina, this time #SabziTarkariDin, one more reason to blog……

You can only see what is in season when you visit your local vegetable market. There will be many carts selling same selected vegetables or fruits at very reasonable price. I never like to bargain with these vegetable sellers and most of the time I don’t even ask them the rates, I just buy what I want. If they make extra money from me, its their karma.

We don’t bargain at big Supermarkets so why haggle over the price at the local market? Let them make the money nah, they too have family to support.

When we go for shopping at the big food mall, we are likely to see whole range of fruits and vegetables, fresh and exotic, some food mall stock all the vegetables from all over the world..some of them frozen to the core and quite tasteless too..having lost their nutrients while travelling from one country to another sometimes. Have you checked price?..you might faint. Many a times, when I have picked a packet of some exotic vegetable or fresh herb, I have put it back to the shelf when I eye at the price label. 

“Are you mad? You will spend Rs300 for just this vegetable? Put it back” I scold myself.

But the local market place will always sell fresh fruits and vegetable..Especially if you go to a small town market away from the main city. Recently I went to Karjat for a weekend and was surprised at the rate of the veggies sold there. All the vegetables were in abundance, very fresh and very economical. Most of the vegetable were at Rs20 a kilo. My friend, who has a farm house in Karjat, regularly visits these markets and comes back with car full of veggies for her family and friends. Not only were these fresh and seasonal  but they were very tasty as well.

But no matter what season it is..bananas, celery and potatoes are always tasty and always a good buy

This morning my friend called me and told me that the flower of elephant foot yam is available in the market. Now I have never seen it although my other friends always cooks it when it is in season. I was curious (ofcourse) she told me that its expensive. Told her not to bargain with the vegetable seller and just buy it at whatever the cost (Rs200 a kilo).. she got me 400grams.

So here I was..went to google aunt to do some research on flower of elephant foot yam, spoke to few friends asking them how they would make it.

Then cut into pieces to see the inside

Then did the most foolish thing...I bit into it to get its raw taste....

Oops..not a good idea..because..i didnt even wash it at first..after a small bite..washed it properly, peeled and took a bigger bite..it had woody taste and ouch..my lips and chin were scratchy and some blisters on my tongue..I spat it out..cleaned my tongue several times till the itching stopped.

But yes..I cooked..following the recipe of a mutton dish

I first cleaned all of it, peeled it.salted them for few hours….then deep fried it.

Then cooked it in black pepper and tomato gravy.

The #TarkariSabziDin was celebrated by food bloggers all over India and I was able to catch few live coverage..

Like I saw the organic kitchen garden of Saffron trail and she showed us how to plant veggies at home...without any fancy equipments at all.

Made a virtual tour of Pali Market with Rushina and Kalyan.

Some celebrated with a potluck of foodies of Mumbai  at foodblogger Shital Kakad’s cozy home..

I Loved watching Monika shopping in the Bangalore market with her son.

Also saw the live coverage of the walk with DFW to the whole vegetable market in Delhi, Azadpur Mandi, Asia's largest wholesale market for fruits and vegetables 

I hate going to crowded vegetable markets because I am afraid of slipping on rotten leaves that lay scattered in the path but this markets that were visited by foodbloggers were quite clean and spacious and I was very happy to do the virtual tour with food bloggers.

Enjoyed #SabziTarkariDin and #IndianFoodObservance day with all the food-bloggers from the comfort of my home, while I was busy cooking the flowers of Elephant foot yam for my guests. I also made exotic salad, Guacamole from the buttery avocado, Sesame fragrant rice, roasted chicken and fried fish on that day

Ingredients

400grams Flowers of Elephant Foot Yam

2pods of cardamom

1tsp black pepper

1/2inch ginger

2 green chilies

1 bunch Spinach

1tsp turmeric powder

2tsp coriander powder

2 tbsp coriander leaves

salt to taste.

Method:

Salt the flowers, wash and deep fry. Keep it aside

In a pan, stir fry cardamom, black pepper, ginger and green chilies

Add the deep fried flowers , stir to mix it.

Add spinach, tomatoes, turmeric, coriander powder and salt.

Mix and cover on low flame till tender

Add coriander leaves and black pepper

Serve with chappatis.

I have been celebrating #IndianFoodObservance days with Rushina whenever I could and have blogged......

Dal Divas Potluck inJan2018

Chutneys My familyenjoy around the world in September 2017

Celebrating Pulaobiryani Day with Family in June 2017

Authentic Garam Masalaused in Sindhi kitchen in May 2017

Waiting for another Food observance day….

Exercising Away To FBAI Dialogues- A Conference: Part Two’

Hope you are back here again to read the second part of my blog on the event that I attended. 

If you missed ‘Exercising Away To FBAI Dialogues- A Conference: Part One’,  you can find it HERE

One thing good about this conference was that It was very vibrant and entertaining. There were many distraction to keep you away from dozing off. For example- on each table, there was a box of ‘Soul flower’ emitting heady fragrance, there was a beautiful lilly at the table- a feast for the eye..then there was an hand santizer by Godrej, some sweets, water by Kelzai….all reminding us of the sponsors of this event. And also there were Zumba and Bollywood music to dance away the blues.

And the talks were interesting too

David Cananzi- F&B Wizard spoke about Curation of healthy menus at home. In India, we have privilege of having fresh vegetables and fruits, we should use it to our advantage. He spoke about most important facts that you must include in our daily diet. He stressed the need to cook with your soul, it must suit your life style, you must know your ingredients - their taste and their nutrient value, use fresh vegetables. If you have to save it, store it in freezer to retain their freshness. “If you wish to be healthy, you must follow your instinct” he said.

Rachna Chhachi – nutritionalist and cancer coach, cures people without medicines and works with autistic people. Its all about lifestyles that you adapt to discipline your mind. Reduce the quantity of food, don’t overeat, eat 30% less. Look at your plate, half of it should be raw. Eat right oil and fat, include nuts in your daily diet. Keep everything in view and think what you want to do. Take fresh look at why you need to be happy.. Nutrition, exercise and sleep are investment plan for health. Believe in 8 hours sleep, enjoy healthy meal and avoid junk food. “Learn to chill-enjoy your own company, eat slowly and enjoy food” she said.

Eefa Shrof- A fitness and lifestyle coach spoke about mind-body fitness. Being thin does not mean that you are fit. You can be thin but not healthy, you can be fat but healthy. Ask yourself as to why you wish to be thin? And if your reasons are convincing you to become thin that should inspire you to loose weight. Most importantly, remember that heart should be taken care of and you don’t have to reduce muscles to become thin. Follow the advise of an experienced trainer. “In giving out exercise and nutrition programs, a trainer aims to help, not please the client” said she.

Ranveer Brar – spoke about how he keeps fit as a celebrity chef. People ask him as to how can he be a foodie and still be thin?. He said that prayers can give fitness of the soul, but eating the right food at the right time gives fitness to the body. We were sent in this world to be happy and food is the essential instrument to happiness. Our ancient wisdom understood that food was the key. We all have memories of our grandmother who told us what and when to eat, without giving any reasons. Even if you protested and asked for answer, she would just nod and ask us to follow because she believed it. In today’s world we look for answers for any myth that has been passed down through centuries. We believe only if it is confirmed by western philosophy. We have to understand our relation with food. It doesn’t have to be tasty, it should also be nutritious. You must know its reaction and its usefulness to your body.”A true foodie will find the medicinal value of food, believe and find its nutritional value too.” He said.

Saloni Malkani hosted a Panel discussion on re-imaging modern Kitchen with Kalyan Karmakar, Smita Deo, Sujit Patil and Vaishali Shah.  Kitchens have changed a lot over the years. It used to be gathering place for whole family and now it is small space, specially in big cities. Kitchen should reflect who you are, the way you have styled it. The display of food jars, ingredients, gadjets that you use and the vairiety of things that one sees in your kitchen reflects your identity. Vaishali spoke about how she has remodeled her bedroom into one big kitchen where whole family meets. “Kitchen won’t be seen as close spaces in future, but as an open place for the whole family to meet” said Vaisali Lahoti Shah, the lead designer of Godrej Interiors.

Rushina Ghildiyal, the food consultant spoke about substituting Indian ingredients for exotic ones. Instead of cutting on food, its better to exercise. If we are grown up eating certain kinds of food, we tend to stick to that. The fact is that we don’t market our own products, we have forgotten to eat grains such as Millet, Ragi, which is more healthy. We should eat more protiens and eat food that is grown locally in your country, if we don’t buy local food then farmers might stop farming and move on to different profession. Just because certain food works best in certain eco system and envirnoment, it may not necessarily work for you in your country. “Its all about adapting knowledge. Whatever is suitable for you, use it to adapt to your parameters.” She said,

The day ended with Rumba. Music is not only for dancing at the discos. It can be adapted as an exercise for healthy living and lifestyle.