Khichdi at Sindhi Homes

Khichdi..a comfort food, was a regular breakfast that appeared at our dining tables in my house during my growing up days. A combination of just rice and lentil cooked to very soft consistency, it was churned to mix it and then topped with a simple garnishing of burnt mustard seeds. We would eat with curds and fried papads or sometimes with pickle as accompaniment or would just sprinkle a spoonful of sugar and relish it.

Mom was very creative and made different breakfast everyday. Sometimes there was puri bhajji, other times masala loli or just salt n pepper loli, sweet sayyu, sweet wheat porridge. Bread, buns and oats were normally served to our NRI guests, mutton or kheema pav was for special occasions. Breakfast was always at home, nobody ever talked about eating out, except on very special occasions, that too never breakfast or lunch, it used to be only dinner in formal wear.

But did you know that Khichdi is as old as hills? It’s score: Nearly 2000 years!

Archaeologists have found burnt pieces of rice and green gram, aka moong dal, that were cooked together in Maharashtra in 1st century AD, indicating that the comfort food was equally savoured back then.    Source:  DNAIndia.com  

I still savor Khichdi but not for breakfast, now it’s for light dinner. It’s humble no more because I have altered the taste too. Sometimes I add vegetables and sometimes the left-overs meat too.

On my last visit to Chicago, my cousin made this breakfast that was spicy and tasty. I had liked it so much that I asked him for a recipe.

He had shared with me verbally then, but of course, my memory always plays tricks on me and it stayed back buried in my grey cells until recently I saw the picture of the khichidi in the family watsapp group.

And so I asked him again, making sure to try it out and noting it on my blog. So here it is.

Boiled 1cup small grain rice with ½ cup green dhal till tender. Mix it well.

In a pan, fry 1tsp mustard seeds till they crackle. Add 1tsp cumin seeds. fry finely chopped onion, add 1tsp crushed garlic and 1tsp grated ginger. Add curry leaves and green chilies.

Add this to the mixture of rice and lentil.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot. 

Cousin says don't put coriander leaves. "arrey why? I like it and its good for my kidney too.... kidney ki safai hoti hai kotmir sey"... I told him.

Book Launch: Low Fat Low Guilt: Recipes & Lifestyle by Dr Namita Jain

Last month, we had a society meeting, the members requested the society to serve ‘good snacks’. What they meant was that they didn’t want to eat the junk food of mumbai like Samosas, Patties, Ragda, or any other oily stuff that normally appears at every social event. Everybody is getting health conscious with fancy gyms mushrooming all over the city and people watching their diet. So this is the good time to invest in books that educates you on healthy food. The book #LowFatLowDiet does just that. It educates you on how to enjoy ‘good food’ without guilt.

This week I attended the book lauch and the unveiling of Dr Namita Jain’s 12th book titled Low Fat Low Guilt: Recipes & Lifestyle at The Leela Mumbai. The book was unveiled by India's Tennis Icon and Fitness Extraordinaire Padma Shri Vijay Amritraj

Is Junk Food Bad Food?

“No food is bad. But when food contributes more calories than nutrients, the problem of empty calories versus nutrition becomes something to consider. While junk food need not be excluded from your diet, the quantity and frequency of consumption must be controlled” writes Dr Namita in her book.

In conversation with Mr Vijay Amritraj, many elements of healthy eating were discussed. He started at a very young age considering that health and fitness are the critical elements of our living. He wanted to be a doctor but sports gave him more exposure. He enjoys food, and travelling around the world makes it difficult for him to control his diet. “The important part of sports is our ability to stay fit and healthy” he said. He spoke about his son who is health fanatic and he feels that our body is like a temple and we have to watch what goes into our body.

Dr Namita Jain feels that Indian food is the best diet one can have, for example in Thali you have dhal, veggies, rice, chappati, papad and sweets that covers all the nutrients that our body requires. She feels that you don’t have to overeat but just 80% is enough to leave enough space for digestion. A light meal at night before 7pm is advisable and it is better to stay away from fat. A long walk, exercise to burn off the fat and a visit to gym can be added to the lifestyle to stay fit.

A leaf from her book explain the food pyramid.

It was an interesting evening. The book has all the recipes that interests me. Its colorful, glossy with pictures that make you hungry

I wanted to buy this book immediately but I was lucky to get one free copy for me, specially autographed by Dr Namita.

Nowadays, all the recipes are available on u-tube, but still this book has been a complete sold out. Low Fat, Low Guilt is an essential guide to following a healthy diet without compromising on the taste. It features low-cal recipes of delicious soups, salads, wraps, toasts, rice dishes, pastas and dips, making healthy eating a pleasurable experience.

I think this book is a treasure and is the latest addition on my cook book shelf

Food Trail In Tenerife

This May, I made a trip to my family home at Tenerife, Canary Islands. I have lived in this town for over 10 years and I am fond of some of the Canarian Cuisine. Initially it was difficult for me to eat their bland food. Spanish don’t eat chillies at all, the closest they come to spicy food is garlic and capsicum. But over the years I have developed a taste for some of the well known dishes. I decided to try only my favorite ones during this one month trip.

I called my brother and told him that I would like to go directly from airport (before going home) to the Venezuelian restaurant (Carejita, my favorite) at Los Realejos, where I enjoy their Areperas. Interestingly, areperas are like big sandwiches , the bread is made of corn, it is deep fried and stuffed with different patties (veg or non-veg), cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and serve with chillies sauce and avocado sauce. My journey from Mumbai to Tenerife was quite long of three flights and transit at two stops. I was too tired to enjoy this meal of Chicken arepera, tequienya and yuca.

Went to visit my family (who were living on other side of the island) after few days and the dinner is must. Da Canio Pizzaria Italanio atSantaCruzDeTenerife has a typical Canarian and Italian food. Papas arugadas, padrones pimentos and championes a la ajo are typical Canarian cuisine enjoyed by locals. Whereas Pizzas, Rissoto campesia, brinjals with tomato and queso and buenueli de avocado gambas aand pollo are italian cusine.

On the day when I went for a drive with my nieces up the narrow slopes of Icod de los Vinos, and then drive down closer to the shores during sunset, we decided to stop by the petrol pump that also has a restaurant with a beautiful view called Mirador. We stopped by for cappuchino, sandwiches and a plateful of french fries dripping of cheese sauce, tomato sauce and ham

Then the day arrived, which was the main reason for making this trip. My nephew’s graduation day celebration at La Ecologia at SantaCruzDeTenerife. Pizza is the favorite of my nephew and the pizzas served in this restaurant were all organic. There were four different types of pizzas like pizza de louigi, capsicum egg plant, basil cheese and almonds and they all were amazing. Besides that I even loved the crispy fried brinjals in caramel sauce.

Las Rosas at LasEspernza is the restaurant where we celebrated the mother’s day. Although we had booked the table, we still had to wait for more than a hour. It was very crowded and this restaurant is well known for roasted meat and tapas (snacks) I specially enjoyed the cheese platter that had different types of cheese and coated with tomato sauce, avocado sauce and cheese sauce…so very rich. Their meat was so tender and juicy. And of course their lovely salads. Since the restaurant did not have much variety for vegetarians, we had taken vegetarian food for some members that were heated in their ovens.  

My niece was particularly eager to have some sushis, so we went to this Asian restaurant at SantaCruz called Daresashu. This seemed to be run by one close knit family with all members working in the restaurant. The service was quick and food was excellent and they even had in-house chilli sauce. We had Phillipino spring rolls. Sushi tempuras. Chicken ramen japanese and chicken tonkatsu.

One day I spent at Corte Ignes mall, shopping all day and tried some typical Canarian cuisine at their food mall on their top floor. Enjoyed the sardines sandwich and tortilla. And that wonderful churro chocolate.

How much can one eat outside if food cooked at home is also equally delicious? Tried my hand on various cuisines that my family enjoys in the evenings. I started going to the store with my brother every morning. There is a restaurant just opposite my brother’s store (Bazar Tejban, thats my brother's shop). Everyday I would see lots of tourists visiting this restaurant opposite our shop, called La Parada. They had Canarian cuisine. I went alone across to taste their food. Just ordered one dish (Squids in Ink with rice and potatoes) for me and the chef prepared specially for me. He understands that Indian prefer spicy food so he added few chillies too and gave me some hot mojos.

Just outside my brother’s store, Bazar Tejban, is a walking plaza. Every Saturday, farmers and natives come with their local produce of breads, sauces, cakes, herbs and fruits. There is cultural program held here with people in traditional dresses singing togather. It’s a tourists attraction and there is some local street food too. I bought papas arrugada and carne de cordero. The gravy was bland but the meat was quite tender.

My family enjoy asian cuisine and they wanted me to try one Chinese restaurant near their house that they frequent a lot. So one evening we went to Tian Li Asiatic Restaurant. They have good vegetarian variety and the vegetarian Sizzlers that had soya chunks, shallots and mushrooms. They were really good. I had my chicken in almonds and noodles. They serve prawn crackers to munch on till the food arrives. Loved those crisps.

There were many invites too where I had free food…lol.. Friends were happy to serve Indian food..mainly fried food and snacks. And we went to this Indian restaurant at Puertodelacruzcalled Indian Express Tandoori and Curry. We had chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, tandoori express platter, bombay aloo and some vegetable cutlets. I would suggest that if you are Indian travelling abroad, don’t bother dining in an Indian restaurant. Their food is cooked to suit the resident’s and tourists taste and is equally bland. It cannot be compared to Indian cuisine back home..so please don’t.

There was good food everywhere. At the restaurants and even at home. The trip was good and am back now..tummy happy.