Tendli Bhaat and Food for the Soul
I have been an avid reader of the Sunday Times of India supplement “The Speaking Tree” ever since TOI started publishing it a year or so back. I love the anecdotes, the articles and the soul stirring stories about spirituality the supplement has to offer. A good part of my Sunday is spent in reading and re-reading the paper 
This week’s speaking tree had a very interesting story – I’ve heard it before, but with what is going on in my life right now somehow it took on a new meaning and and the story has a totally new perspective…here goes the story – A professor teaching his class, held up a glass with water in it. He asked his students “How much does this weigh?” His students answered “maybe 50 or 100 gms”. The professor said – “I really would not know unless I weight it; but what if I held it the same way for a little longer?” The students said “Nothing would happen”…The professor said “How about if I held it up for an hour?” The students said “Your arm would begin to ache…” And the professor said “What if I held it up for a whole day?” The students replied “ Your arm would go numb and you might end up paralyzed in your hand..” So then the professor said “Great! So tell me in all this – Did the weight of the glass change??” “No” was the answer. The professor asked “So then what caused the muscle ache and paralysis??” and “What should I do to get rid of the pain?” One of the students replied “Put the glass down.”
“Exactly!” said the professor…He said “Life’s problems are something like this glass of water..hold them for a little bit and its ok, hold them for longer then they will begin to hurt you, hold them for very long then they will begin to paralyze. You will then reach a point when you will be unable to do anything about it.” It is important to think about the problems and challenges in our life. But even more important is to learn to put them down at the end of day before we go to sleep. That way we are not stressed and wake up fresh every day strong and ready to be able to handle the day – any issue, any challenge that comes our way..
I have seen from my own life experiences that the divine has a grand plan, we are just little pawns in the whole scheme of things; the wiser thing would be to let things be and live through life happily without worrying about what will happen next…what has to happen will happen, remember that it is all planned!
Ok enough of the heavy stuff for today, let’s get to the lighter side of life..or should I say heavier side really…food…:-P
Digging into my old recipes and pictures, I decided to post on “Tendli Bhaat” which translates into Tindora rice or Gherkins Rice (Kovakkai in Tamil and Tondakaya in Telugu). This is a very Maharashtrian recipe that has worked well for me all these years, it is a light refreshing rice recipe that goes great for lunch, lunch boxes and even when you have those unexpected guests. Served with raita it makes a wholesome meal…
You will need:
2 cups Tindora – Washed, and chopped lengthwise
½ cup fresh green peas
1 large onion – Chopped lengthwise
6 green chillies – Slit lengthwise
1 tsp chopped garlic
½ tsp shredded ginger
½ tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)
1 tsp Red chilli powder
2 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
1 tsp Black Goda masala (Maharashtrian masala)
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 small pieces cinnamon
a few cloves
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
3 tbsp Oil
2 cups Rice – Washed and Cooked (For basmati I use 1 cup rice: 1 ½ cup water; for regular Sona masoori/raw rice I use 1 cup rice: 2 cups water)
Method:
Cook the rice, cool and spread in a platter.
In a pan, heat the oil, add the cumin seeds and the whole spices (cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves). Add the green chillies and onions and sauté for a few minutes. Then add the chopped tindora, green peas, salt and the dry spice powders. Mix well. Add about a cup of water and cook covered with a lid on a low flame until the tindora is tender. Open the lid and allow all the water to evaporate. Add this mixture to the rice, some more salt if needed and mix gently. Serve hot with raita.
I have not been very good at taking any pictures lately. But one of my new year goals this year is to get this blog (that has been hibernating ) up and running!
More to come. Thanks for stopping by folks…
Hot Pakodis for “The Holiday Buffet”
One of my friends on FB posted a few days back “is it winter, monsoon, summer ???? Bangalore make up your mind”…how true! The Bangalore weather just can’t seem to make up its mind on “weather” it has to be winter or monsoon or summer….. One day it is nice and sunny, the next minute it pours cats and dogs and then its so chill that you have run indoors for a nice warm fuzzy sweater! For the past two days its been raining off and on, the roads are slushy and all the trees and plants are resplendant with green! Even though i dont like the slush too much I will not complain about the rain…it makes the city looks really pretty, the orange gulmohar flowers are in full bloom and the trees are their greenest best!
Now with the weather being finicky like this, it demands some nice hot chai and even hotter pakodis on a rainy day! And I wanted to very much be a part of Nupur’s event ever since i read about it. Let me tell you about Nupur…she’s this extremely friendly, adventurous, inspiring and punctual blogger whom I have read and followed for years. Her ” A Konkani Sunday” way back in 2005 was the post that inspired me to start my own blog way back then and till today this awesome lady continues to inspire me with her lovely posts!
To participate in Nupur’s event and kickstart my entries (watch out you’re gonna have more from me!) I decided to go with something familiar that I have made multiple times ever since i came across this recipe on Sailu’s blog (another one of my favorite bloggers!). I’ve posted about this before and the post is gone to lala land…:-) But if i can make it several times then i’m sure you guys can read about it once more
No changes to the recipe…just make it as is on Sailu’s blog…The recipe has not failed me and has always inpressed my guests! Enjoy…
Hot Pakodis for a cold, wet day!
And before I leave here, just wanted to share with you guys a picture…
Spicy and Hot Aloo Dum Biryani Sizzler
This was a part of our main course at a restaurant for lunch recently…I have had all kinds of sizzlers, but this was the first time I had a rice sizzler! It was spicy, hot and very tasty! It had big chunks of aloo(Potato) and paneer tikka pieces in it and was generously laced with cheese and butter…not very heart friendly, but for a one off meal, it sure is a treat!
Hope you enjoyed the post! Thanks for stopping by!
Three cheers to FB!
If you’re not already on Facebook then I would suggest that you get yourself an account. Ok FB is not paying me to market for them I have not been very much into social networking either.. FB just happened to me a few years back and then it sat in the backburner like my blog and twitter account has been sitting. But a few months back I got back on to FB to get reconnected with the world and boy has it been a wonderful journey! I’ve gotten back in touch with so many old, long lost friends and to tell you not the least it has been an awesome experience! It’s amazing how some of us have grown, all level headed mature and successful individuals, doing our own thing in this world, making our mark in our own little way!
And thanks to FB a couple weeks back a bunch of us girls met up after 15 or so odd years! It was a crazy reunion full of laughter, reminiscing about old times , teachers, friends, incidents etc. We laughed so much that people in the restaurant wanted to know what all the noise was about! The food was great and the pictures below will tell you more………….
Chaat
Quiche and some gravy dish that I did not try
The yummy deserts!
Shessh kababs!
More main course...
- Loved these little pots of Mishti Doi…
Dissappearing Act – The blog and me
Several of you – blog friends, readers and family have been wondering what happened to masalamagic.. Well, ever since we moved back to India life has happened and things had gotten unnaturally hectic. Not to mention the huge life lessons I have had to learn this past 1 and 1/2 years. But looking back now, I truly believe I am here for a reason and the ‘karma’ that happened has made me a stronger and wiser person. With all that said, blogging was put on the back burner..and then in a fit of madness I did the unthinkable – I deleted all my posts! Now don’t ask my why…It just seemed the thing to do at that time…And trust me I have gottten so much crap from all my friends and family around here for that! And not to mention my lovely readers – you – have been very polite enough to send me emails checking on the blog. I apologize. But no regrets..I plan to start blogging again … whenever time permits that is…and hopefully will be able to post many more interesting posts…and now that I do plan to restart ..I’d like this blog to be more of a lifestyle blog – recipes (of course that is top priority), articles on life, happenings, decor, spirituality etc. whatever i feel like that is…no restrictions and no bounds…the birth of “Masalamagic and More”
Thank you for stopping and hope you’ll come back again…Happy Birthday to MM&M
