Bear Hugs!! ;-)

While shopping, i came across these bunch of teddies displayed. The way they were arranged looked funny, so captured in my camera. Though they were toys, they had some life in their eyes and expression. Waiting to give a bear hug!....

They were squeezing each other to come to the front, some peeping from behind eagerly to come to the front, some disappointed for not having picked up and some dozing, some smiling, some giving a naughty look......

Idli Milagaipodi / Idli Chutney Powder / இட்லி மிளகாய் பொடி

A South Indian chutney powder also known as gun powder, goes well with tiffin items like Dosai, Idli and Upmaa when you don't have time to make chutney or sambhar.

Ingridients : 

1. Whole White Urad - 1 tea cup (black gram)
2. Channa Dal - 1/2 tea cup (bengal gram)
3. Black Til - little less than 1/4 tea cup
4. Red Chillies - 16 - 20 Nos. or as per preference
5. Hing powder - 1 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Gingelly Oil - 2 tsp

Procedure :

• Heat a Pan / Kadai and add gingelly oil to it
• Add Urad and fry till it turns into golden brown & transfer it to a plate
• Now in the same pan / kadai, add channa dal & roast till it becomes crispy and changes colour slightly, transfer it to the plate containing urad.
• Roast black til till it pops & add it to the fried dals
• Roast red chilli add it to the dals and let it cool.
• In a mixie jar add the fried items & grind it for 30 seconds.
• Add salt and hing and powder them. (A coarse texture will give it a crispiness while chewing)

Variation :-

You can alter the quantity of black gram (urad) and Channa dal (bengal gram)  which gives different flavour & taste to this preparation. I alter them to bring change in taste.

Suggestions :-

• Instead of chutney or sambhar, you can have them with this power mixed in little oil into a pasty texture. Can be consumed without mixing oil too.
• Oil used for deep frying, when reaches the smoking point once, is not good to use it again for frying purposes. That oil can be used for mixing it with the chutney powder and makes the molagaipodi even more tastier.

A Blissful Experience of a Foodie

When I was chatting with one of my friend, I got a wonderful nostalgic moment of a blissful experience which I had. Thought of sharing with you.

More than a decade back, when I was working, I attended the "Art of Living" course for a week.  My home was very far from my work place and the course was conducted in a place for which I had to travel even further ahead from my office. So everyday after my work, I attended the course and then reached home by 10.30 or 11.00 pm.  When I started from my work place, my stomach had already started rumbling. The biscuits were peanuts compared to my hunger. So you can guess how hungry I was by the time I reached home .

The batch was a very interesting one with people of different age groups. One day when the tutor was teaching us pranayama (breathing exercise). we were told to feel the breathe in our nostrils while inhaling and exhaling. The course was conducted in a place where lot of residential buildings were housed.  When I was inhaling to achieve my goal of sensing the air going through my nostrils, I had a blissful experience of smelling the wonderful aroma of Dosai (Dosa) which floated in the air and reached my nose. (the air was doing a good job by getting the right aroma to the right nostrils!). Aroma therapy!!! Being hungry, it made me drool and I went gastrnomic. Lost into the dream world of wonderful food spread in front of me making me feel like the gadotkach with the background music of the famous tamizh song from an old film "Mayabazar" in which Gadotkach was shown having a wonderful feast spread in front of him and the lyrics goes thus "Kalyana samayal sadham".

Here is the song for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDBEDNyhbSc to enjoy seeing the wonderful spread. Though it is a black & white movie, you can still relish the feast shown. The lyrics goes like this :-

kalyaNa samayal saadham
kaai karigaLum pramaadham
andha kaurava prasaadam
idhuvae ennakku pOdhum
ahhahahahahaha...

andhaara bajji angae
sunsaara sojji engae
sandhosham meeri ponga
ahhahahahahaha
idhuvae ennakku thinga

kalyaNa samayal saadham
kaai karigaLum pramaadham
andha kaurava prasaadam
idhuvae ennakku pOdhum
ahhahahahahaha....

puLiyotharaiyin sOru
vegu poruthamaai sambaaru
puri kizhanghu paaru
ahhahahahahaha
idhuvae ennakku joru

kalyaNa samayal saadham
kaai karigaLum pramaadham
andha kaurava prasaadam
idhuvae ennakku pOdhum
ahhahahahahaha....

joraana peNi laddu
suvayana seeni puttu
eraaLamaana thattu
ahhahahahahaha
ini ishtam pOla vettu

kalyaNa samayal saadham
kaai karigaLum pramaadham
andha kaurava prasaadam
idhuvae ennakku pOdhum
ahhahahahahaha..

These thoughts were going in a flash in my mind and suddenly the voice of the tutor echoed in to my ears, "Are you able to feel your breathe?". My foodie mind directed my toungue like a lightening hitting before the thunder and immediately answered breaking the silence "Yes I can realise something more than that". The tutor asked "What is it?", I replied "The wonderful aroma of yummy crispy dosa" and opened my eyes only to become a disappointed gadotkach to see only few heads & the tutor in front of me.

The whole batch burst into laughter & broke the silence with the tutor joining in and I followed them after few seconds (as I was just getting into this realistic world from my foodie world) realising what I said. 

Everyone says you will get a bliss through yoga and ofcourse I had it but in my own foodie way for a day but it is a moment which acted as a stress buster not only to others but also to me and made the 'pranayama' session a memorable one.

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