Modaks Or Kozhakattais for Ganesha Chaturthi

Today we performed puja to lord Ganesha, the celestial remover of obstacles.

Morning found me busy preparing the modaks or kozhakattais. When I was making the jaggery filling for the outer cover of the processed rice dough, I was reminded of the Chinese momos. The fillings are different, though always vegetarian. The covering is different. The shape is almost the same and the process of steaming is also very similar.

I called out to my mother to help me with making the rice cups so that we could fill in the jaggery/grated coconut mix and steam them all at one go.

There was some rice dough left so we made small marble size balls and steamed them too. This item is known as ammini kozhakattai. This is slightly salted and spiced up with a seasoning of mustard seeds, curry leaves, grated coconut and either cut green or red chillies.

My mom was mentioning how she learnt all her cooking from just helping around her elderly in-laws' side of relatives in the kitchen. She would be made to grind batter for idli, dosa, vadai, adai and endless masalas for sambar, pachidis, etc. Then deep frying was her department. Usually it would be the ghee/nai appams, appalams, vadais.

She shared with me an insight I thought I should share with you all. Her sister-in-law took charge of the kitchen for big functions where at least 40 relatives would eat the feast.
So sister-in-law's kitchen was always equipped with a special set of vessels for the purpose. This set would be called the onnukkul-onnu which roughly translates into one-in another.
this was the most interesting set consisting of 7 vessels which can be stacked one inside the other. Therefore, 7 different sizes or measures would be kept as a benchmark to prepare items for 40 people.
The biggest one would hold the rice, the next would hold the sambar, the next would hold the mor kozhambu or kadi which is a curd based dish, the next would be for the rasam, the next one would be for the sweet pachadi, the next would be for the curd pachadi and the last and smallest one would be for lightly salted cooked dal which is a must-serve item for such big occasssions.
Of course, there would be many more items like the deep fried vadas, papads, the pickles, payasam or sweet.
This set was a standard measure to feed 40 people.

I always wonder at the ingenuitu of people from the ancient times. We learn a lot if we get a chance to participate or involve ourselves in such activities. And there is so much joy in such gatherings.
The cause may be different but it is like having a party alright!

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

The Art Of Fixing/Repairing Things At Home

The 14" TV kept in my mom's room was giving trouble. The audio would simply not work for sometime and after 15 minutes begin to blare out loudly.

My husband is a very resourceful person. He tinkers with all the electrical and electronic items at home. So he took the TV apart and found some circuit responding only to a bit of heat for the audio to function. The audio works only when the TV is kept 'on' for sometime. But he could not repair it as the circuits are all too tiny and one mistake and the whole set will be gone. Also he does not have all the proper tools for repair except for a soldering unit.

So he hit upon another great idea. There are quite a few tape recorders lying around house for a long time in unused state. He got one out and just plugged to inter-connect the TV with the tape recorder. My mom was so happy to see the TV and hear the sound booming out with greater clarity than ever before. He made the TV work with a simple idea. He is undoubtedly very creative.

We have in the past called the repair fellows who come and yet these problems have persisted despite constant repairs. I and mom have learnt to wait patiently until my husband is ready to solve such problems and when he does, it works! Same with the kitchen gadgets and the computers at home.

He is great at repairing and making things work again when all hopes are but gone. We always feel impatient when everyday gadgets don't work. We are in a hurry. We either call a service provider to rectify and do not know whether it will work well even after such repairs cost us a small fortune. Or we are tempted and ready to exchange this one for a new set which is not possible each time one thing conks off.

I admire this quality in him. He uses simple ideas to solve such problems. I learn a lot from him each and every day. More than anything it is his patience that helps him to think and solve problems in a calm manner. Yet his 'patience' can be very testy at times for us who want a gadget to work 'immediately after it conks off' but we have learnt to allow him to find the time or have the inclination to repair. We respect and value his time and inclination to undertake these thankless jobs day in and day out. The service is free and the gadgets get working again without the help of an outsider!!

I consider myself really lucky that he's around house and does these things for us without grumbling. I rarely call an outsider to get things fixed in case of gadget breakdowns and that includes the various computer problems and hitches as well. He just makes the softwares and hardware work smoothly. It is thanks to him that this pc from which I am blogging got working after a bad crash last week. It is another matter that we have 2 computers working at home and that helps keep in touch with the outside world without a break unless both decide to crash around the same time :)

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

What You Do - Do It With Love

As four daughters in the family with a working mother, we would be the ones to prepare tea, the evening tiffin, dinner, etc., most often.

Mom would prepare the morning meal and pack our lunch boxes. After our return from school and college, it would mean one of us would have to prepare the tea first and then the tiffin, etc. Who would bell the cat and who will ultimately do it?

The eldest would pass on the baton to the 2nd sister, she in turn would tell me to make tea, the 4th and the youngest would be requested to prepare it with a comment that she makes the best tea! Being in her early teens she would be upset at the buck passing to her almost every working day. I am sure if she had a younger sister she would have done what we did to her!!
But once she says yes we would all follow her and help her out. We were the friendly four and used to do most work together. Chatting and sharing about the day's happenings were the golden moments we shared with each other.

My 2nd sister would always tell all of us that whatever we do we should do it with a smile or with love. Her logic was - we will anyway have to prepare one thing or the other, so why pout at all. The same work if done with love would spread so much happiness around. I have heeded to her advice on such matters and put this into action. I have found a lot of peace and love in doing jobs with total devotion.

To this day I follow this simple rule. What I do I do with all the love and affection for the other person. It has become second nature and my mind is always calm and peaceful. My mind feels happy when I do things for others which gene I might have inherited from my daddy dear.
It has given me a rare confidence and the ability to remain calm even during a lot of crisis.
In anger and jealousy is hidden a lot of tension, pain and insecurity ultimately leading to ill-health. These are traits for those who are too attached to certain things in life. It is a pain for them as well as others who have to live with them.
Again chronic ailments may be due to some other factor, but generally ailments are a result of too much tension/anxiety and anger against people in general in matters big or small.
If one is able to bless the person who is creating trouble for us in some way, we move on that much faster in life to enjoy our share of happiness.
May we all enjoy our lives. May we all 'get a life'. May we bless all those who create problems for us as they are our true teachers but is the headache really worth all our time and energy is a question I ask myself too often but that's a topic fit for another blog :D

Take care.
Mahalakshmi

The Welcome Drink in Beautiful Sea Blue!

My nephew, Ramanathan threw a birthday party for his 2 year old son, yesterday.

Since I was consulted about the menu for the party, I suggested a welcome drink different from the usual orange and lemony ones.
We served 'Sprite' with 'Curoco' syrup which gives the colorless Sprite a beautiful blue tinge. You can deepen or lighten the blue by adjusting the quantity of the syrup. (Curoco is an edible corn starch based blue syrup which is freely available at stores like Nilgiris and Nuts & Spices across Chennai). Since I had the syrup at home I could share some with them.

Then there were other typical party items like samosa, finger chips, mini jamuns, a piece of the birthday cake and for dinner, a vegetable biryani with raitha, curd rice with a sweet sour ginger chutney.

I called two young boys (sons of my nieces) to help circulate the welcome drinks among the guests. They did so without helping themselves to it first which is strange for enthusiastic youngsters! When I asked them the reason, they said it looked like kerosene!! It stunned me for a minute but soon I started seeing it their way.
It was like looking at the same thing in a very different way.

Kerosene sold through the Public Distribution System/Ration Shops locally is colored blue to detect pilferage of this heavily subsidized item by the Tamil Nadu state government.

The fizz was there, the color was great, the welcome drink was the conversation piece for sometime among the guests, yet I too started seeing it as kerosene instead of the delightful Curoco's blue.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi