Anu Chenji

Constantly amazed by the greenness of America – no one ever seems to speak about how much of the land is forest-covered! In the last three weeks, we’ve driven through almost three thousand miles of the country – from Cincinnati to Columbus to the Niagara to Boston to New Hampshire, New York, Washington and finally back to Columbus today through miles and miles of some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen.

Hubby adds here – through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever snored through! Okay, okay, so I need my little naps now and then and there’s something about the combination of road and wheels and being driven rather than driving that brings on a stage of gentle somnolence followed by a stage of deep and gentle (well, I like to think it is gentle anyway – though I’ve occasionally woken myself up – am sure that I’ve heard rumbles in a tunnel!) snoring.

But this countryside is so beautiful – I swooned over the prettyness of the New Hampshire region, the incredibly lush forests of West Virginia (yes I had to sing THE SONG – how could I not – when the country roads were so inviting!) and the rolling fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Well, I did miss bits because to truly appreciate the country, you have to be fully awake and what better way to stay alert than take little naps – an occasional hour off makes the green greener!

Except when I am at the wheel myself, I have had a lifelong habit to drift off when someone else is driving… something which seems to drive a lot of people nuts – no, not hubby! I simply do not see the point in two people doing the same job – it seems such a waste of storage resources. For instance, for two people to apply their minds to exactly the same thing and remember exactly the same telephone numbers, say! Think of computers, for instance – would you build two RAMs in one system? That too not a crucial system but rather a random set of info like which is the best restaurant in town for Mexican food or dates for family birthdays! No way – it’s a far more efficient way to carry one set of info around with you and let the other guy carry around his own set of info! Solves the problem of two people being competitive too – no more arguments like, “You never remember our anniversary!” or “What are the passwords to all our bank accounts, insurance stuff, investments, blah, blah..?!” I don’t KNOW! And I don’t WANT to know! Do you remember YOUR mom’s birthday? NO. I will remind you – it is in my RAM!

See how simple it becomes? Assign tasks according to people’s abilities (basic management stuff!) at home too and life will be a breeze! Like for instance, one person drives, one navigates and one helpfully keeps the peace by snoring away in the backseat!

After weeks of American food, I am dreaming too – of quintessential travel food in the south of India and one variety of Andhra pulihora which I love – come to think of it – I love ’em all!

AAVAPETTINA PULIHORA (TAMARIND RICE WITH RAW MUSTARD)

• Cooked rice – 3 cups
• Tamarind – soaked for an hour and juice extracted twice – 1 lime sized ball
• Jaggery – 2 tbsp
• Salt
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Sesame oil – 3 tbsp +1 tbsp
• Peanuts – 1 handful
• Chana dal – 1 tbsp
• Urad dal – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1.5 tsp – soak in 1 tsp water along with 1 red chili – grind to a paste and set aside
• Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
• Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp – roast and powder
• Curry leaves – 3-4 sprigs
• Green chilies – slit – 2
• Chili powder – 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a saucepan and add the peanuts.

When they are fried, add the chana dal and the urad dal. Fry till golden.

Add curry leaves, green chilies and chili powder.

Add sambar powder, turmeric and asafoetida.

Pour in the tamarind juice, add salt and jaggery. Cook till thick and the tamarind smells cooked – about 20 minutes. You may need to add water if it dries out too soon.

The consistency should be of a thick paste – pourable rather than spreadable – pulihora mix.

Mix one tbsp of sesame oil with the rice and spread out to cool. Add the pulihora mix and mix well with your fingers.

Add the mustard paste and the sesame powder and toss well.

For a different flavour, add fried ginger juliennes to the rice – about 1 tbsp (optional)

Let it soak for at least two hours before serving with appadams and roast potato curry.

This rice tastes even better the next day.

Just like the countryside looks totally refreshed after a nap – your nap, not its, I mean!

“And once upon a time, there lived a crow (kaakamma) and a sparrow (pichukamma). Pichukamma was sweet as sugar while Kaakamma… well Kaakamma was a big, BAD crow – mean as they come and constantly trying to beat up poor li’l Pichukamma… and then… and then… ” my mom’s voice would be on auto-pilot as she told us stories to distract our minds from the extremely unpleasant business of having your head washed with sheekai (soapnut powder).

This weekly ritual was a big affair, consuming many hours of parental time and effort. It started with the oil massage, where you were pommelled and squished till your skin turned bright red and then left to run around in the sun in your undies till someone chased you and caught you and then dragged you into the bathroom, kicking and fighting for your life against the ordeal to come.

Your hair was then scrubbed out of your scalp (well, almost!) and the oil was scrubbed off you with a nalugupindi mixture (chickpea paste) – supposed to be GOOD FOR YOU! The whole was washed off with scaldingly hot water and then you came out smelling… what did you expect… roses? No way – you smelt exactly like a pakoda! Inevitably, the sheekai mixture ran into your eyes and you came out not only smelling like a bajji shop but also red-eyed, like a drunken sailor after a Saturday night binge!

You were then left alone till the next Sunday and the whole process was repeated. If I had to do this for three kids today I’d probably turn over and decide to spend Sunday in bed instead! Jes’ kidding, I did the same thing to my kids too – why should I be the only one to suffer???!

But I was forgetting the story of Kaakamma and Pichukamma… “Mummy, noooo, that is not what happens next! Tell the story properly pleeaase!” and we’d beg our forgetful and inventive mother to repeat exactly what she had told us the previous Sunday. Since the story was always made up on the spot and there was no way she could remember (we did, but then kids can be pestilentially persistent!), she palmed it off as the next instalment! And thus was born the television serial – because no one could remember what had happened earlier! There was also another story about a red car and a black car which chased each other all over the world – really bad story, Mom! – but it helped take my mind off the sheekai water which was running into my eyes and burning like they were on fire!

This morning, shampooing my hair in a teensy little shower stall in Washington, I was reminded of my mom’s stories and how impossible it would be to give a kid an oil bath in these bathrooms! Even if they were big, imagine cleaning them up afterwards – of the sheekai which a flailing kid would have splashed all the way to the ceiling! Maybe you could scrape it off and make something out of it? Naah, gross, right?

Dreaming of chickpea flour and what I could make with it… 5 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook – c’est tout!

THE KHAMAN DHOKLA

• 1 cup besan/chickpea flour/senagapindi/kadalemaavu
• Rava/semolina – 1 tbsp
• Juice of one lime
• Enos fruit salts – 1 sachet – abt a tsp
• Ginger – finely grated – 1/2 tsp
• Green chili – 1 – minced
• Yogurt – 3 tbsp – whisked with 3/4 cup of water
• Salt

TO TEMPER

• Oil – 2 tbsp + 1 tsp for greasing the steaming plate
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Green chilies – slit – 2 or 3
• Chopped coriander – 2 tbsp
• Fresh coconut – grated – 2 tbsp
• Water – 1/4 cup
• Sugar – 2 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1 generous pinch

Use large steel plates to steam the dhoklas. Grease the plates. Fill two cups water in the steamer and place on the heat – as you begin because the next process takes only about 2-3 mintues and the steamer needs to be ready.

Mix all the ingredients for the batter together really well and pour into the plates. Place in the steamer and cover.

Steam for about 13-15 minutes till done and spongy.

Take off the fire.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the sesame, curry leaves, green chilies and asafoetida. Lower the flame and pour in the water – be careful – it’ll spit at you-  just like one of those kids you’re trying to give an oil bath to! – and the sugar. Take off the fire and mix well. Pour over the dhoklas in the plates, covering everything evenly.

Garnish with coriander and coconut, cut into chunks and serve with mint and coriander chutney or ketchup if you’re feeling lazy! This is a Gujju dish and from experience, I know just how much Gujjus love ketchup!

P.S.: You could make them in idli moulds too.

“Stop jumping on that couch, R!”

Jumping continues…

Two minutes later, “I SAID, STOP jumping on that couch right now!”

R stares right back at the dad, defying him to do anything about it. The jumping increases in frequency! The springs on the couch squeak ominously.

The dad now has the additional task of not just getting the kid to stop doing what he is doing right now and also not losing face! We’ve all faced it, right? The parent dilemma – how much control is too much? How much punishment is enough without breaking the kid’s spirit? Unfortunately, kids don’t come with an instruction manual and no two are ever alike! Like as two peas in a pod is a myth!

So the dad in question does what he thinks is the best thing. He splutters a bit and then comes up with this classic, “When you grow up and get a job and buy a couch, I will come to your home and jump on it till the springs break”!!!! Huh?

That couch jumping kid is now on the verge of getting his own couch and we hear him challenging the dad to come DO IT!

I’ve heard a lot of mothers of boys telling me that bringing up girls is different – they mean easier. Well, all I can say from this side of the fence is that you have all the above and then the other watery route to deal with! Easy tears so the dad runs for cover all the way to what a little niece of ours told her dad (who’s just threatened to break her legs if she does that one more time!). She does it one more time and then holds out her little leg, daring him to break it! Dad backs off in a hurry!

The same little kid’s older sister receives a similar injunction and promptly bursts into floods of tears, leaving the dad to run for cover this time!

My own younger one’s favourite ploy is to raise her already squeaky voice to an impossible high pitch, look soulfully at her dad and say, “But appa, I’m your only younger daughter…!” I’d like to see the dad who can resist that! The same kid, let me assure you would sell her great grandmom down the river in a trice!

Easier, huh?

Kids!

You need fortifications! Vitamins! Energy! Health boosters!

Here’s one- from a super soup joint just outside the Takoma Park rail station in Maryland – a vegan place called Soupergirl. Great service, great soups and value for money. I also loved the fact that their parsley seasoning and herbed croutons (yum!) are left on the counter in a bowl for customers to serve themselves rather than in thos ubiquitous and tasting-of-nothing little sachets that most joints seem to prefer. This is much more ecologically conscious. Plus there are real sunshine-y yellow chrysanthemums on the table – chirpy green and red tables.

SPINACH AND COUSCOUS SOUP (Adapted from the Soupergirl recipe)

• 2 cups spinach – chopped fine
• Boiled chickpeas (chana) – 1 cup
• Couscous – 1/4 cup (can replace with brown rice or quinoa)
• Green chilies – minced – 2
• Juice of 1 lime
• Carrots – cubed – 2
• Onion – 1 small – chopped
• Spring onions – 3 – chopped – greens and onion part separately
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Crushed pepper – 1/4 tsp
• Garlic – 2 -3 flakes – minced
• 3-4 tbsp of tzatziki – to garnish (whip together 1/2 cup hung yogurt, 1/2 cup grated cucumber, 1 flake of garlic, salt, 1/4 tsp sugar and a generous pinch of dill and refrigerate until needed)
• Parsley or chopped coriander or mint to garnish
• Oil – 2 tbsp

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the cumin seeds and green chilies.

Add the onions and the onion part of the spring onions, Saute till golden.

Add the garlic and saute for a further minute.

Add the carrots, chickpeas and spinach along with 3 cups of water and boil – about 5-6 minutes till tender.

Add the couscous, pepper and salt and boil for a further five minutes.

Take off the heat and cool slightly.

Ladle into bowls and squeeze lemon in each bowl – makes about 4 large bowls.

Pour a tbsp of tzatziki over each one. Garnish with herbs and serve with brown, crusty sourdough bread for a really filling meal.

If making ahead, do not add the lemon and tzatziki till serving time.

And go right ahead and make that ultimate threat to your kids, “Wait till you have kids of your own!” No wonder birth rates world over are dropping!

“Oh my god, look at those furnishings!”

“What will I do looking at them? I’m never going to own them!”

“Look at that painting!”

“Oh lord, that reminds me, I’d asked the painter to come today and forgot all about it! Do you have any clue what it takes to get a painter to come home?” 

The scene is a museum in Copenhagen and the players are a couple – obviously with different ideas of what constitutes “having fun” on a holiday!

The husband, very interested, inspects every item on display with great interest, even taking down notes as he does so! The wife, of a more practical bent of mind, has to figure out how to keep two young boys engaged as they trail disconsolately around the millionth museum with the dad! She also has to take care of two ageing parents with aching feet, rheumatic joints, very frequent vists to the restroom and even more frequent need for fortification with strong coffee as they visit yet another museum! Small children and museums do NOT a good pair make! Ditto with many elderly people with no interest in history…

Something has to give! In this case, it is someone! The littlest one, about six years old, finally plonks himself down on the floor in the middle of the corridor and refuses to budge an inch further! The grandparents look like they would love to do the same thing. The older kid wishes he’d thought of it first! The long-suffering wife prays for an earthquake! The grumbles have turned into a full scale rebellion.

The dad capitulates. Back to the hotel, you’d think? No way! We are made of tough Indian idli and sambar and vattha kozhambu, not to mention bhindi and other “brain foods” and are not going to back down so easily! But we also recognise where we need to make compromises. We are also good bargainers! And so, it comes down to offering a bribe of one new flavour of icecream for every new room in the museum. Methinks the dad got away too easily! I’d have taught the kids to bargain for at least a weekend of ball, swimming, pool or whatever and pizza for every extra exhibit – and been in clover for a whole year! That would have iced the cake very nicely!

Like this fantastic dessert that Patrick, our host in Takoma, Maryland served up for us today. After two days of disappointing fare in NYC (at rip-off tourist-y joints that we rookies could not recognise), we had a really superb vegetarian meal at Mark’s Kitchen in Takoma Park, Maryland where we had a most interesting vegetable rice (flavoured with peanuts). We come back to our b&b where Patrick serves us this scrumptious dessert.

PATRICK’S DESSERT

• Pound cake – several slices – generous ones!
• Fresh strawberries – 1 cup, sugar – 2 tbsp and 1/4 tsp vanilla essence – whizzed into a knobbly sauce (no cooking!)
• Fresh cream – whipped
• Vanilla icecream – however much you want!
• Chocolate sauce – make it fresh – melt 50 gm of dark chocolate with 3 tbsp of cream over a double boiler, stirring constantly)

To serve

Lay one slice of pound cake on a plate. Put a LARGE dollop of icecream on top like a flying saucer.

Layer with strawberry sauce

Pipe the whipped cream all over – be generous – this dessert is like Patrick – very generous!

More strawberry sauce.

Drizzle chocolate sauce over.

And your family will follow you to as many museums as you like!