Happy Pongal

Today is Jan 15th and the first post of the year and the first post in a long time.  

Today is the Tamil harvest festival Pongal and also celebrated as Sankranti in other parts of India. 

There is a famous joke that you can eat Pongal on Deepavali but you cannot eat Deepavali on Pongal. 

Anyways today is a day to remember and appreciate everyone in the farming community. 

The food on our plates comes from different sources... the rice , the lentils , the vegetables .... Heres thanking every person involved in this chain from the time the seed goes to the ground to the time it reaches our homes and our dining tables.

Somehow as a child I was not very fond of Pongal. I used to say its just dal rice but with moong dal. Sweet Pongal was more of a favorite. With age I have learnt to appreciate the taste that comes from the addition of warm ghee , the flavor that wafts from the pepper and cumin thats added and the crunchiness of the cashewnuts that we add. Its a combination thats heavenly. 

Happy Pongal everyone 

Just some random stuff - a plane is a vehicle , so am I

 Its been a while since I wrote! It is to the extent that I have forgotten that i have a space in blogspot where I have mused and penned down over the years. In the world of youtube shorts and instagram reels where does a written piece stand ?? I do have thoughts like these!  But there are some who when I have met them told me, hey do u still write ? I do follow your blog, thanks to those kind souls.   A blog is sometimes focussed on something specific isnt it ? technology or food or travel ? But what is my blog? ..Just some random stuff ! Maybe that is what I should have called it! - Just some random stuff. 

The other day we were randomly discussing airlines when I remembered the first ever flight I had taken. A domestic Jet Airways flight within India . What has stuck to my memory about that journey is the flavored strawberry yoghurt I got to try for the first time on board. I probably paid more attention to the safety instructions by the air hostess than any lecture i had attended in my university days. I would have passed with flying colors and gotten the top score on that flight if someone had tested the passengers on how to inflate a life jacket or use an oxygen mask.  Oh yes my first flight was after I graduated during my first year at work. I also paid full attention to exactly figure out the point in time and space when the wheels left the ground and the vehicle was afloat. I still enjoy watching city lights just after take off and just when we are about to land. 

Now do you even call a plane a vehicle? Had to google to clarify that , yes a plane is a vehicle indeed and though we do have a lot of search engines, google is the one that sort of became a verb too that we are all used to these days.  Coming to that will chat gpt become a verb someday ? I wonder ! I also have added the fact to my worldly knowledge that if someone carried a cat across the room , the person becomes a vehicle too !( that was from Quora ) . Since I have done that many times I am a vehicle too !  

What if a person carrying a cat is actually inside a plane? Then its a vehicle carrying a vehicle carrying a cat! And what if this particular plane is on a huge ship and is slightly taxiing before take off.  What a nested vehicle set up that would be ! 

Book I read : Charlotte's Web

 I was going through a good reads list of Best Books when I saw that Charlotte s Web was on it.  This has been lying on our book shelf for a few years now as it was a prescribed text for my son in class 4.

Now I decided to read it and so I did.

Its the story of a pig named Wilbur and his journey from being the runt in a litter to a celebrated and award winning pig on a farm. 

The titular character Charlotte is a spider who befriends him and helps him along the way. 

It is a children s book and it is written in that kind of tone, but nevertheless it is a fun read.

There is some interestibg facts about the animal world mentioned here and there. Some statements made as the animals ' observations of humans is witty and thoughtful too.

My favorite character is Templeton the mouse. He initially seems like a cunning selfish guy but he is the one that plays an important role in helping Wilbur on multiple occasions.

Then there is the goose with her eggs and goslings and some sheep like any other farm.

A nice story and read ! 

HaZelnut Coffee

From the hot weather of Chennai, I transported to chilly post winter Wisconsin in March of 2005 within a couple of years after my foray into the software development world. After hearing a lot of stories about the United States from colleagues, friends and the talkative aunts at weddings who spoke more about California and Texas than probably the governors themselves, it was finally time to explore by myself.

One of the first things I got accustomed to having

around at home was the microwave and the plethora of microwaveable ready to eat food. The story about the dim-witted me trying to boil an egg in it in the middle of the night and what ensued needs a blog post of its own.I leave that to your imagination. 

My then roommate taught me how to make hazelnut coffee with milk in the microwave.It was Love at first sip and I have been in the relationship

ever since. I love hazelnut in my desserts too but

there is something about its combination with coffee thats absolutely heavenly. I am not a big fan of instant coffee. It can never replace the taste of filter coffee but this was a whole new revelation.

In Singapore coffee outlets are quite common where you get good hazelnut coffee but I am yet to find a good instant coffee brand with hazelnut flavour. Recently I discovered a 3-in-1 ready to mix 

version that seems quite close.

As a result, my Sunday mornings are my moments of peace in my rocking chair with the morning newspaper, watching the sun

rise. Me, my memories, my thoughts and my cup of hot, delicious hazelnut coffee. 

How do you like your coffee ?

I drew this with Sketch on my phone.

Food for thought:

Today's food for thought is not a saying or quote. Its an interesting information shared by my son to me. I made up a kiddie story about a tiger hunting  zebras. He intercepted and argued that it was not possible as Zebras are found in Africa where there are no tigers and so they do not know each other. Now that was an interesting point. If a tiger is moved to a place very different from the habitat it grew up in, will it develop the skills to look out for food alternatives ? Or does it believe that anything that eats grass is food? 

We humans often find ourselves in places or situations where the food is absolutely alien to us, not to mention the added complexity if one is vegetarian. Do you have any such experience to share?

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There I have done it! Hip HipHurrah! The whole of April I was part of the A to Z blogging challenge where one had to publish one post everyday in alphabetical order from A to Z. This is the final post of the series for this year. 

To everyone who has visited my blog, read my posts, sent messages or left comments I would like to give a big Shout-out ...THANK YOU :)  

To everyone else who participated irrespective of whether you published all 26 or a part of it ... Kudos to you!!! You rock! 

Yam and Yoghurt

 Have you heard of Yam ??

Image credit: wikimedia commons

Well, yam is a family of plants that produces edible tubers. It comes in different varieties and is commonly found in India and across South East Asia. I do not know if its eaten in other parts of the world.

One type of yam we regularly use is senaikkilangu  which apparently translates to Elephant Foot Yam in English. If you see the picture you may agree that its an apt name.

Its brown on the outside and a sort of yellow on the inside. It can get a little itchy while cutting and the tip to handling such vegetables is to soak them in sour substances like buttermilk or tamarind water or even starchy water gotten from washing rice. 

We make the sauteed version of the vegetable to go with rice. I personally love flavouring it with fennel seeds and it gives out a beautiful flavour. We can also make curries with it. 

I remember one of my friend's mother replacing fish with yam in a fried fish recipe when they had to go vegetarian for a month for some religious reason. In India, its common for non vegetarians to abstain from meat on days of religious significance 

After staying in Malaysia and Singapore , a unique discovery was yam flavoured icecream. I believe its made from the sweeter varieties of the vegetable. On Google I found out that it is a popular Filipino delicacy and is called Ube.

Food from other lands:

During my growing up years,  trains and buses were our main modes of intercity transport. My first flight journey was after I started working. That was not the only first on that day. It was also when i tasted yoghurt for the first time. Reading that line again, I guess I am close to making it sound like to an event of historical significance! Ha ha!

We do make curd at home but flavored yoghurt was a new discovery and i have been hooked ever since. It is a family favorite. I especially love the ones that have fruit bits like strawberry or nata de coco or aloevera . We get the low fat versions mostly and so its a healthier dessert compared to icecream. I love yoghurt on my salads too. Yoghurt and herbs dressing with carrots, peas, pineapples and almonds ! Ooh !! 

Food for thought: 

The quote for Y is also from Thirukkural, a great literary work of Tamil on ethics and morality that is supposed to have been composed around 2000 years ago. It consists of 1330 couplets (kurals) of seven words each. 

These words are from anciemt literary Tamizh and totally different from the colloquial or contemporary literary versions of the language.

Yaakaavaa raayinum naakaakka kaavaakkaal
soakaappar sollizhukkup pattu

This sort of tongue twisting kural has deep meaning.

Naa (naaku) - tongue

Kaaka - guard

Aayinum - even if

Yaakaavaarayinum - whatever one does not guard

Soakappar - face misery

Sollizhukku - fault of speech

Pattu - become subject to

Whatever be the possessions we guard or fail to guard, we must guard our tongue. 

In other words , exercise caution while talking. If not, once own words can cause one sorrow or misery.

Basically , it says , restraint is a must in speech. In todays world of social media its very important, isn't it ?

X - FoXtail Millet , Xonocostle

 Millets are called sirudhanyam in Tamil translating to small grains . Traditionally varieties of millets like kodo millet, pearl millet etc have been part of our agricultural produce and cuisine. With the advent of modern living and lifestyles , the usage had taken a backseat but now thanks to increased focus on health awareness and healthy lifestyles their usage is becoming popular.

They are apparently packed with proteins and fiber and are a healthier choice compared to rice. In fact now we have facebook groups that are dedicated to sharing recipes using these millets.

I am more familiar with their Tamil names and any one of the millets can be used in the recipes i am familiar with. We can substitute them instead of rice for the traditional savoury items. We have millet upma(cooked millets sauteed with spices and vegetables), pongal (grains cooked with lentils) , dosa (something like crepe) made with ground millets and the list goes on. To be honest , sometimes its tough to get people to switch to the slightly different texture compared to rice especially those who prefer taste to nutrition. My first attempt had a " Something is not right in the Pongal today" from my kids. We have cookie recipes too.

One type of millet is the foxtail millet, known as Thinai in Tamil. When I googled foxtail millet , i could understand why its called so. The plant has shoots that do resemble a fox's tail in shape.  

Image credit: wikimedia commons

Food from other lands:

I had no clue of any food item with X and so I asked good old google. Apparently there is a fruit called xonocostle in  Mexico that is obtained from a type of cactus plant. The prickly pear is supposedly sour and put to a lot of use in the local cuisine as an ingredient in soups and stews. 

Have you heard of this before ? Do you know any food items starting with X ? 

Food for thought:

Tough to find a quote with X , so my own thought for the day.

Sometimes things will go haywire. Inhale, eXhale , take deep breaths and keep calm . The problem wont be solved but will look more manageable! 

Ward off the Evil Eye with Winter Melon

 There is a vegetable commonly available in TamilNadu known as vellai pooosanikkai which translates to white pumpkin.

Image credit: wikimedia commons

Apparently it is also called Ash Gourd. In these parts like Singapore and Malaysia, we get slices of something called wintermelon at the supermarket which looks and tastes quite similar and that is what I use for the vellai poosanikkai recipes. I am not sure if they are the same, if not they are definitely siblings!

This watery vegetable is quite big and oblong in shape. We add them to our curries and even make halwa with them . ( a sweet about which I had spoken in my H post.)

Another use for this vegetable is in a non food context. The poosanikkai is extensively used to remove "kan dhrishti" or the evil eye! It is believed that when anything good is happening , or anything is functioning well as expected, the onlooker's thoughts or envy can cast an evil eye that may have repercussions.  Babies, newborns, pregnant women, children, newly married couples,  new job, new home, new car, wealth, health, fame,beauty..... the subject's list is limitless!

Thankfully for this belief, there is a counter system in practise. There are ways to ward off the evil eye effect. Some light camphor and move it in a circle in front of the family members especially children. Some do the same with red chillies and then throw them in the fire. Some apply a small black mark under the child's foot with kajal( a paste traditionally made with soot used for eye make up). Some tie black threads to the bonnet of newly bought cars. Some hang pictures of donkeys or demonic masks outside of their homes. This topic needs a book on its own and a post can't cover even 10%.

Coming back to the vegetable, it is a common practice to light camphor on this melon, move it in circles and then crash it on the ground to ward off all evil eye effect.

At a spiritual level some believe this to be related to aura etc. Some say that it is just a superstition.It is the belief system I grew up in and if you ask me if I believe it, I would be lying if I said Not at all! Its a deeply engrained part of our culture. I don't know if its true but no one proved otherwise! Anyone can tell me something is beautiful. Camphor or the wintermelon can handle the effect! Ha ha  

Food from other lands:

I tasted wasabi flavored chips some time back. Its a Japanese condiment or paste made from a radish type plant as far as I know. It has a strong pungent flavor. Something that hits you on the head - that strong! Have you had wasabi before?

Food for thought:

Simple requests:

SAVE WATER

DO NOT WASTE FOOD

There are people that have to walk miles for drinking water or struggling for a fistful of rice. Let us do what we can !

This post is written as part of the A to Z blogging challenge, an annual event in April when many of us bloggers all over the globe publish one post every day for each letter of the alphabet(except Sundays)