Shrikhand - Half Empty Nest Syndrome

My older son has just gone off to study some more ( much against his wishes at first). But now he is thrilled to go and make his own life. No more nagging from mom for a long time. But he did not bargain for a tech savvy  mom who can buzz him on Whatsapp every now and then and ending up being a real pain in the ass caring mom.  People keep asking me how I am feeling now that my nest is half empty. I feel quite guilty to say I am fine and very happy for him. I guess with technology the way it is today, he is just one ping away. So it has really not been that hard. And I always have my second one to keep me on my toes and not have enough time to miss Vish.

My older one is very partial to Shrikhand. This is his most favorite dessert and he can eat it by the bowlfuls.  So this post is for him. Hopefully he will soon learn how to make it on his own using greek yoghurt which does not need draining out the whey.

Simply put, Shrikhand is thick yoghurt drained of every last drop of moisture sweetened with sugar and flavoured with cardamom powder and saffron and garnished with almonds.
Usually, you make curd with full fat milk and tie it in a cheesecloth overnight to strain all the whey out. But this makes it a bit sour thanks to the Indian weather. So our way out is to make the curd and tie it and leave it to drain the refrigerator overnight. By the morning we have this nice thick and creamy yogurt left ready to be made into shrikhand which is not sour.

INGREDIENTS:

2 liters + 2 teaspoons Full Cream Milk

1/4 teaspoon Saffron

1 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cardamom Powdered

50 grams Almonds 

METHOD:

Make the milk into curd. Tie in a cheesecloth or muslin cloth and hang till all the whey has drained out. Remove hung curd into a bowl.

Heat the 2 teaspoons of milk and add saffron to it. Rub well till the milk gets an orange hue.

Mix into the hung curd. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Check for sweetness. Add more sugar if required.

Blanch the almonds in a little hot water. Peel and dice the almonds into small bits.

Add to the Shrikhand. 

Serve cold.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!

Majiga Pulusu and Mom's Cooking- Andhra Food Series

My mom was quite a good cook and my dad always had this story ( he was secretly very proud of her for this talent) that she would taste something either in someone else's home or at a restaurant and will be able to very accurately identify the ingredients that went into it. She was very rarely wrong or if so, off by maximum of an ingredient. She could replicate dishes at home quite easily and also innovate on them.
I always had an interest in cooking but it did not come to the fore till I got married. Then slowly, I started learning a few things from her and others. But the problem was that I only learnt those things that I personally loved as a kid. I totally forgot that tastes change over time and maybe what I loved then may not be quite what I love now.
Unfortunately, Mom is not in a position to really cook now and thanks to her accident, along with many other things, now has totally forgotten how to cook. From being a cook who could rustle up a meal for ten without any problem, she now struggles to remember simple recipes.
Now thinking back, I am glad that I learned the few recipes that I did from her. It is more special now to me.
My sincere advice to all you readers out there is that one needs to learn things that are important and unimportant quickly and never put it off for later. One never knows how things happen and it is sad that there are so many things that I would still have loved to learn from her, if only to make sure she gets to eat exactly what she likes.

Anyway enough of the morose talk...

She is very very fond of Majiga Pulusu aka More kozhambu, kadhi etc in defferent parts of the country. Majiga means butter milk and pulusu loosely translates into gravy(?). It is a combination of buttermilk, spices and vegetables thickened with the use of besan or chana dal ( Bengal Gram).
My dad's constant joke went that her pulusus always had more veggies than the gravy and therefore was wrongly referred to as pulusu. Well that is a healthy way of eating and I totally endorse it. More veggies, the better it is..

Now for the recipe...


Ingredients:


1 tablespoon raw rice
1 Tablespoon Bengal gram
2 teaspoons grated coconut
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
1 teaspoon Dhania (coriander seeds)
1 green chillie

1/2 litre sour curds

500 grams of potato, carrot and bottle gourd
2 Green chillies
2 sprigs coriander leaves
1/2 teapsoon Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

1 teaspoon Oil
1/2 teaspoon mustrad seeds
1/2 teaspoon jeera
2 red chillies

Method:

Soak the rice, Bengal gram, coconut, green chillie coriander seeds and jeera in a little water for an hour. Then grind to a coarse paste.

Dice the vegetables into large pieces.

Pour enough water over it just so that it covers the vegetables.

Boil the vegetables along with the green chillies, coriander leaves, turmeric powder and salt.

Mix the curds and the ground paste and cook on a slow/medium flame till heated through and it begins to thicken. Do not let it boil.

Add the boiled vegetables.

Take off the flame.

Heat Oil and fry the popu ( mustard, jeera and red chillies).

Pour over the majiga pulusu.

Serve along with rice.

Enjoy !!!!!