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Archives for March 2014

Neem Flowers with Rice: Tasty, therapeutic hors d’oeuvres.

March 31, 2014 By iladori Leave a Comment

This one is an Ugadi special!
So what’s an hors d’oeuvre doing with an Indian meal? And therapeutic?!

Hors d’oeuvre (according to Merriam-Webster) refers to a food served in small portions before the main part of a meal, and which Wikipedia states is “often meant to be eaten by hand”.

Though this might not be quite what the French meant, it is exactly that.

Neem flower is the first in a series of an amazing variety of combinations with various ingredients that are mixed with rice and eaten right at the beginning of a meal (in this case an Andhra meal).
Of course, in a typical Andhra meal everything is mixed with rice.
But, these ‘starters’ are often not very well known, because they tend to be in the category of “Home Remedies”, though just as likely to be eaten as appetizers.
Such combinations would be informally mixed up according to need or appetite and to suit an individual’s specific requirement, for example the administration of carom seeds for an upset stomach.

There are many variations, but typically, tend to be a spice (either whole or powdered) which would be fried gently in a little bit of ghee or oil, salted and mixed with a bit of rice (sometimes with a further drizzle of ghee or oil) and eaten in small portions, like one or two tablespoonfuls, and before any thing else. 
The ingredient used would usually be one that aids digestion, or is otherwise known for it’s beneficial properties in some way or the other.  Since it is the first thing to be consumed, it gets a head-start in its therapeutic work, as well as sets the stage for optimum digestion of the meal to follow.
Neem flowers are seen in profusion during the festival of Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. They are used in  a symbolic dish called “Ugadi Pachadi“.
Invariably there will be some of the spare flowers left over after making this pachadi, something I look forward to, because then I get to make this very exotic, deliciously bitter dish that I wouldn’t mind as the main course!
Note: Most of the following pictures are closeups (nearly four years old; that’s when I meant to originally write this post!), so to get an idea of scale, please refer to the first picture on top where the grains of rice would give an indication of the actual size.  
Procedure: 
Take some fresh neem flowers. Sometimes the very tiny, tender young leaves which are red in colour, are also used.
Remove the thicker stems. 
Wash.

Heat a half or one teaspoon or pure, organic ghee, or a good oil like cold pressed organic sesame oil, add the flowers and fry till lightly browned, and

nicely crisp!

Add salt to taste and mix well with hot rice.

Serve hot, at the start of the meal.

A truly exotic treat!

Filed Under: Andhra cooking, appetizers, digestive aid, exotic, Food Therapy, home remedies, Hors d'oeuvres, medicinal, Medicine In My Garden, Neem flowers, Pictorial glossary, Random, therapeutic hors d'oeuvres, ugadi

Adrak-Tulsi ki Chai, (Ginger-Basil Tisane): Herbal Home Remedies

March 22, 2014 By iladori Leave a Comment

Kid-friendly, too.

A couple of months back everyone at home was going through a spell of colds and coughs.

A very valid reason to behave like a complete invalid.

The thing to do of course, is get plenty of rest and fluids.

Catch up on reading, if one can somehow manage to hold up a book to read!

And lots of Ginger Tea! There’s no such thing as too much comfort, is there?

This version of the chai, is a herbal infusion (tisane), a relatively mild version compared to the strong, sweet milky adrak-ki-chai (remember this?) – which is also highly recommended in such a case, but perhaps too rich to be had frequently throughout the day.

For a very bad sore throat or cold, though, we don’t mess around with teas, but instead squeeze the juice from freshly grated ginger, mix equal quanitity of honey and gulp down half a teaspoon or so of this extremely spicy mix ‘neat’! Concentrated, highly potent. Best had in small, spaced-out doses.

In this tisane, since there are no actual tea leaves used, it can be given to an ailing child, and if desired, by diluting it with hot water, or by omitting the boiling process and merely steeping the ingredients in hot water for a few minutes. And it can be had more often in milder versions.

Method:

Clean and grate (or crush) a piece of fresh root ginger. I like to scrape off the peel, but that’s optional.

Roughly chop some leaves of the tulsi plant (Holy Basil, Ocimum tenuiflorum or Ocimum sanctum).

Bring a pot of water to boil.
Add the grated or crushed ginger to it and boil for a while (2-3 minutes. Longer for stronger taste)

Watch out for rapid boil-overs! Keep the flame on simmer.
Add the chopped or pinched or crushed basil leaves, turn off the flame.

 Cover, and let it steep for two or three minutes.

 Strain.

Add honey, lemon juice, freshly milled black pepper to taste.

Feel much better. And get well soon.

Filed Under: Adrak ki chai, Beverages, Ginger, Ginger tea, healthy drinks, herb, Herbal Tea, Herbs in my Garden, home remedies, How to, italian basil, medicinal, medicinal herb, Medicine In My Garden, What is

Boiled Peanuts. (Street Food Series)

March 20, 2014 By iladori Leave a Comment

You will either love them or hate them. I belong to the former group.

If I ever see a hot, steaming batch of boiled peanuts being sold on the street (which is often), I cannot resist getting some!

The most common reason cited for the frequent advice to avoid eating these, is that the quality of water being used to boil the tender peanuts may not be the best sort.

I think that since the water is kept boiling for a few hours while the peanuts cook, it should be fine. Guilty of being too lazy to boil them at home!

To eat, just crack open the shell, a little pressure easily splits them in half, and pop the contents into mouth. Repeat.

 Watch out for the occasional shell that’s loaded with salty water!

Yum.

Filed Under: boiled, Have you ever tried, Healthy, healthy snacks, Peanuts, Pictorial glossary, Random, Street food, What is

Methi Sprouts Kosambri (Fresh Salad with Fenugreek Sprouts and Carrots)

March 4, 2014 By iladori 1 Comment

Raw salad at it’s beautiful, delicious best!

All organic ingredients. Garnish of nasturtium flower, methi, palak leaves fresh from the garden.

Kosambari (also known as Kosumalli or Koshimbir) is a fresh raw salad, made most often with soaked mung dal and grated carrots or cucumber. It is usually served in the initial course of a full festive meal in south India. A kachumber of sorts, it makes a truly refreshing, healthy, very appetizing start!
Although typically served in small portions (a tablespoon or two; after all, one needs to leave room for the rest of the large meal to follow!), it is worthy of being enjoyed in heartier portions at non-festive occasions.
Here I’ve made it with methi sprouts (see here for how to make sprouts), which combine their mildly bitter freshness with the sweet crunch of carrots, all tossed in a fresh lemon juice dressing with just a hint of that all-important, exotic tempering.
Ingredients:
Grated carrots – half cup
Methi sprouts  (see here for how to make)- quarter cup or to taste (depending on desired bitter-sweet proportion)
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped – 2 tablespoons
Fresh lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
Green Chilly – 1 slit (optional)
Grated Fresh Coconut – 2 tablespoons (optional)
Salt – to taste
Tempering:
Organic Oil – 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
Urad dal (split, husked black gram dal) – 1/8 teaspoon
Hing (Asafoetida) – very small pinch
Dried Red Chilly – 1, broken into large bits (optional)
Curry leaves – 6-7

Fragrant curry leaves are often used as a tempering ingredient  many south-Indian dishes.

They are also very nutritious, but more often than not, picked out of dishes and left on the side, uneaten because of their slightly stiff texture and strong flavour.

Although the flavour will be present even if the leaves get discarded, since it is carried well by the tempering oil, I still feel it’s worth the little effort to chop it up finely so that it gets eaten!

To do this is quite easy.

Just stack the leaves and cut into very thin strips (about 1/8 or even 1/16 of an inch), which makes ribbon-like strips called a “chiffonade”.

Then turn at a right angle, and further cut the strips into miniature square bits. This would be called a “brunoise” if it was a vegetable.

Coriander can be chopped finely, too

Heat the oil, and add the tempering ingredients in, first the mustard + urad dal, followed by the pinch of hing, then lastly the red chilly and curry leaf bits.

Mix everything gently in a bowl.

And it’s ready!

Bursting with nutrients!

Filed Under: Completely Organic, fenugreek, Fresh, Garden to Plate, Gluten Free, Good food for Diabetes, Healthy, healthy snacks, Heart Friendly, methi sprouts, Raw Food, Salads, sprouts, SSA, Vegan

How to make Sprouts at Home. (Methi/Fenugreek)

March 2, 2014 By iladori Leave a Comment

No special equipment required.

 Note:
This post shows how to make methi sprouts. The same technique can be used to make just about any kind of sprouts like moong dal, moth dal, kali masoor dal, chana, dal, alfalfa ,ragi, urad dal, chick peas etc.

Sprouts, as we all know, are just seeds starting to germinate.

One of the reasons why seeds/grains are healthier after soaking and sprouting, is because germination transforms the seed, not only making the nutritional value shoot up, but also making the nutrition far more assimilable.  The enzymes start to pre-digest, the starch is broken down into more easily digestible, simpler compounds and the level of vitamins goes up. Even the vitamins and minerals become more bio-available.

According to Wikipedia (link here),

“Sprouts are said to be rich in digestible energy, bioavailable vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, and phytochemicals, as these are necessary for a germinating plant to grow.”

The general picture is evident – sprouting brings out more of the good stuff, reduces the bad.

Best of all, they are incredibly easy to make (and eat)!

Easy, because nature does all the work.

All we have to do is set in place the right conditions. No rocket science here.

Take a quarter cup of methi seeds. I used organic, from my pantry.

It is important to use only edible seeds, and not garden variety or others which might have fungicide coatings.

 Wash well and soak overnight, or 6-8 hours.

By which time there will be visible evidence of changes taking place in the seeds.

Some, like chick peas would take longer, days even, some like alfalfa, mustard might take less time.
Here is a link with a convenient chart on page 2, giving soaking, germinating times of various seeds.

Upon hydration, they will have swelled up in size, the outer seed coat layer will have softened and started to split up.

The next thing to do is rinse the seeds well and place them on a shallow tray or plate.

Add just enough filtered, drinking water to form a half or one millimeter thick film at the base, which will keep all the seeds moist, but not drowned, and they also get light (diffused, not direct) and air.

This can then be left in an undisturbed area of the counter or table.

The main thing at this point is to make sure the germinating seeds don’t dry out, and that they get air.

So every now and then (say two to four times in a day) I rinse them again thoroughly with fresh water and replenish the thin film of water at the bottom of the thali, which tends to disappear with evaporation and absorption.

The frequency of this requirement will vary depending on the heat and humidity levels.

If protection from the environment is needed, cover with a cloth, mesh lid, a sieve or a perforated plate.

Other possible methods include tying them into a cheesecloth bundle which can be hung or placed in a bowl or sieve and periodically rinsed and kept moist.

Similarly a jar, would do, preferably made of glass, with a mesh or cloth lid.

Also available in stores are ‘sproutmakers‘, usually plastic, with tiered compartments that facilitate multiple sprout varieties or staggered germination timings to provide a steady supply of just-ready sprouts with a little planning.

A stainless steel mesh colander is also a suitable option, which makes rinsing easy (though needed more frequently, since it air-dries faster) and was my earlier favorite method.

There are a few reasons why, I favour a stainless steel thali over the others –

1.  It is relatively non-reactive, and far easier to keep clean and hygienic than cloth or plastic or anything else. Sprouts leave messy marks, despite all the rinsing and water changing. Stainless steel can be scrubbed or scoured clean. Or, for that matter, even boiled, steamed or baked.
Ceramic is also great.

2. Although rinsing is easier in a sieve or cheesecloth, those are often difficult to clean because many of the sprouting roots grow through the weave of the sieve/cloth and are subsequently broken off resulting in unnecessary wastage and then have to be plucked out while cleaning.

3. The jar, although simpler, and the smaller footprint more convenient, doesn’t have as much air circulation.

Dark, moist conditions are tricky, since bacteria like those, too.

So it seems the safest bet in terms of hygiene to let there be light (heh), though not direct, and plenty of air circulating, with frequent, thorough washing using good quality drinking water, completely draining old rinse water each time.

So, coming back to the story, next, the ‘radicle‘, which is the embryonic root will make an appearance by emerging from the seed. The hitherto “soaks” are now “sprouts”.

The sprouts are ready to be consumed, but typically allowed to grow a bit more.

Continue with the rinsing and draining process maintaining optimum moisture and air conditions till the sprouts are of the length desired.

You can see in the picture below how some of the seeds stuck a little bit higher on the sides have dried out. These will have to be discarded.

Longer and longer they grow.

Until the first leaves start showing through.

On their way to becoming “microgreens”.

If not eaten soon, you might as well let the seed “go to plant” and grow it in a pot instead!
In the picture below, the methi plants have been intentionally left to “go to seed” – one seed pod can be spotted already, to harvest for the next crop.

But, of course, I want the sprouts this time. A half to three-quarters of an inch is good enough for me.

The process might take 3-5 days (see chart in the link give above).

A final thorough rinse and drying is necessary before storing it in the fridge.

TIP: To remove any last traces of moisture, drain, pat dry gently, and leave uncovered in the fridge for an hour or two which has a dessicating effect, or use a salad spinner.
Then cover and store for upto 4-5 days in the fridge. The cold slows down the growing process, though doesn’t completely halt it!

The living food that is literally growing on your plate as you eat!

Great in salads, stir-fries, sandwiches.

Filed Under: Cooking Basics, From my garden, Good food for Diabetes, Healthy, How to, make at home, methi sprouts, Organic, Pictorial glossary, Raw Food, Salads, sprouts, SSA

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I'm ila, the cook, chronicler, recipe developer, photographer, clear-er-up and wiper-of-spills when it is over and done with.  I love doing all of those except the last two which is what I end up doing most of.
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