Health is Tough !

Pure Protein

As planned, my boiled chicken was waiting for me in the refrigerator. I’d thought my breakfast would comprise of pure diced n sautéed chicken with some cucumber. 

1. 
   
   
   As preparation to the dish, all you need is some 4-5 cloves of crushed garlic, a green chilli, cilantro, a handful and ginger, about an inch , crushed. Lemon is mostly an additive in my preparations. 
   For some reason, a marble mortar n a pestle, this size always perks me up and gets me going!
   Personal quirk : What am I cooking with is as important as the thing that I am cooking.
    I’ve come to realise that if given the luxury of time, I work best with aesthetics, tools and a process in place. I love internalising.
    It gives me immense satisfaction! 
   
   

Ah! The butcher’s knife. My Dad’s favorite.The wooden chopping board and chicken, in all its beige glory!

A bit of a digression here!

This is Kylie Kwong. An Australian food show presenter. An expert in Cantonese cooking .I have been watching her shows off and on on TLC and she’s brilliant. She works like a sorceress in her kitchen and churns out magical delights! I love the way, more than anything else,how she works with her hands and kitchen tools. How she tears her herbs, puts pressure on the butcher’s knife and all the while explaining with so much of compassion for her audience and objectivity so you don’t miss a thing.You can almost feel like you are her guest for the evening and  invited to soak in all the aromatic ambience and the dishes she’s so carefully brewed and made to apparate..almost by magic!

Trivia: Cantonese cuisine is one of the 8  traditional cuisines,Chinese cuisine derives its inspiration from.

Back to our pure protein.

Let the chopped garlic, ginger, cilantro and chillies splutter in a bit of ghee.

Add diced chicken and fold in the herbs.. Let it turn a little crimson and crispy but not too much.

Accompany it with a plate of thinly sliced cucumber.and relish your protein joint ! 

Final thoughts. Pursuing mindful nutrition can be tough so do it with a lot of love and attention! ♥️

Fulsome Awesome Fish!

Robust Rohu!

‘Rehu’ or ‘Rohu’  as it’s called in Bihar and Bengal is a fulsome protein food rich with Omega 3 fatty acid, iron,zinc and Vitamin C. 

It’s particularly good for children as it takes care of their recurring cough n cold. 

Fish, once a week is a good frequency to keep. With my children , I have tried to incorporate fish whenever and wherever possible.

My younger son, Arjun, learnt to eat fish at a very young age. Maybe 5 or 6 ?!

Yes,it’s an art to eat fish.. since the fine bones need to be removed dextrously..looks easy but takes years of practice to perfect this.

Trivia : There’s a common practice in Bihar that when a fish bone gets stuck in your throat you have a lump of cooked rice called ‘bhaat’ to push down that spikey, irritable bone down your food pipe.Always works! 😎

Rohu is a fresh water fish also known as Carpo fish or Labeo rohita. 

It’s a food rich in protein.

When you’re on a weight loss program, a meal containing just 2 pieces of well sautéed Rohu in ghee does the trick. Just a dash of lemon, a dredge of chaat masala, few sprigs of cilantro and you’re good to go! 

It’s smooth and  tender on your palate! Juicy n succulent! The skin around it turns crispy and especially a delight to munch on. My older one,  Adi, loves it! 

You can accompany your ‘Rohu’ with maybe thinly sliced cucumber or lettuce.

Think health, live fit ! ♥️

Aubergine Divine!

This is Baingan ka bharta.Or as some people might want to put it, Baingan ka chokha!

The aubergine mash! 

Our homegrown eggplant.The reason why they are called eggplants in the first place is because to a European it looked like goose eggs without the wine purple color. It was named in the middle of the 18th century. 

Most commonly cooked in the Bihari kitchen. A favourite palate teaser with dashes of mustard oil, a must in a Bihari kitchen cupboard.

 A complete tamsik delight with garlic, onion,lemon juice, coriander greens and green chillies. Its unmatchable in taste and usually had with bhaat, daal and simple aloo ka bhujia. 

Here goes the Google find... 

 This curious comestible (actually a fruit, but eaten as a vegetable) probably has more names in varieties of the English language than any other. That’s because it has been cultivated for a very long time and it has been widely transmitted across the world from its heartland in eastern and southern Asia (the Arabs introduced it to Spain from India as early as the eighth century AD, and the Persians took it to Africa).

The name of eggplant was given it by Europeans in the middle of the eighteenth century because the variety they knew had fruits that were the shape and size of goose eggs. That variety also had fruits that are a whitish or yellowish colour rather than the wine purple that is more familiar to us nowadays. So the sort they knew really did look as though it had fruits like eggs.

In Britain, it is usually called an aubergine, a name which was borrowed through French and Catalan from its Arabic name al-badinjan. That word had reached Arabic through Persian from the Sanskrit vatimgana, which indicates how long it has been cultivated in India. In India, it has in the past been called brinjal, a word which comes from the same Arabic source as British aubergine, but filtered through Portuguese (the current term among English speakers in India is either the Hindi baingan, or aubergine). Some people in the southern states of the US still know it as Guinea squash, a name that commemorates its having been brought there from West Africa in the eighteenth century.

Anyhow, ‘Baingan ka bharta’ is best had when it’s roasted and smoked black on naked fire.

Simmering hot coal would be most preferred if you have the luxury  of an old world, native life and an expanse of space and a scurry of manpower.

Baingan ka bharta is exotic when eaten with ‘Litti’.

( some other time)

Its great with puffed rice too.

And in regular meals. Hot and steamy.

So. you stoke a well rounded , well endowed Aubergine on fire with garlic cloves some 4-5 of them pushed inside randomly after some gashes.

Smoke it till it looks like a charred, limp, defeated version of its glistening, waxy deep purple self.

You leave no effort in making it look that way by making sure it’s burnt from all sides.

You immideately put it in cold water. Chip off it’s charred covering.. 

A word of caution : when you choose your aubergine, make sure it’s well examined. You have to look out for the seedy ones.You don’t want a seedy Baingan bharta on your table!

Phir kya hai?!

A generous dredge of mustard oil over it. 

A must have in Bihari kitchen.

Finely chopped onion, garlic, tomatoes, coriander leaves, green chillies salt and a good dash of lemon. 

Your Baingan ka bharta is ready to be devoured !

Courage is a muscle which needs to be exercised every goddamn day!!!

It begins with the four letter word starting with F!

                           F.E.A.R

What if?

• you are incapacitated?
• you lose your priorities?
• your children are left floundering?
• you die?
• that one single parent they had is dead?

Good news is I am here to stay..

WHATEVER it takes!

My kids are going to take shape under my wings and fly and how?! I don’t have no answer but I do have      the how’s.. and I’m working on it at my own pace.. :)

Burnishing till I blow out...♥️

 

Possible Protein !!!

Curd and Protein scoop in a jiffy.

Needless to say, protein builds muscles, helps in repair and wear and tear of the body. It’s the most overlooked nutrient we ingest.

Our daily protein intake should be equal to our body weight.

For instance,

my 81 kg should be = 81 grams of protein 

At least.

And more.

I scoop of protein powder promises 8gms.

Other ways Protein can be incorporated in your diet is by eggs ,6 gms.

lean meat - 53 gms ,

fish, shrimps, lentils,

almonds - 6 gms in one ounce

Oats - 11 gms

cashews, peanuts, tofu paneer, cottage cheese, milk et al.

Caution : Facts are Google based. I go by it.Beware of calories.

Disclaimer: my math is dubious

Yet. I get by.

Here,  my Protein shake contains

2 large serving spoons of curd

a 1/2 glass milk

roasted coriander powder about 2 generous pinch

salt a pinch, low.

a scoop of plant based protein.

Blend in a mixie

Pour in your favourite glass!

Voila! 

My 8 grams to the scaffolding!!! 😀

Baby steps to internal health! ♥️

Health on my plate!!!

At 46. At 82 kilograms. Widowed.Two boys.

Beginning to get very very health conscious.Concentrating on weight loss.Addressing joint pains and back inflammation ,bouts of migraine, low haemoglobin, tizziness, premenopausal symptoms.Focusing on being fit.😅😎

Aspire to inspire my children!☺️

Day 1

Started on a wrong note.Ooops! Must’ve only proteins. But having sautéed veggies and fruits too.

Nevertheless.

My Breakfast menu

2 scrambled eggs fried in saturated fat.

sauteed cottage cheese

 boiled cabbage,beans,carrots, garlic, cilantro sautéed in leftover minced meat n cheese and saturated fat or ghee.

1 whole pomegranate 

1 whole orange

cucumber with a dash of lemon

no Indian bread, no baker’s bread.

Done.

Feel health n happiness! ♥️

Dahi Handi with Kesar!

Dahi Handi with Kesar! 

This is my humble Dahi Handi and I look forward to setting curd every night in it because it makes the mundane,aesthetic in looks and divine in taste.. 

I love to engage with this terracotta utensil in an endearing way. This maroon red labour of sweat and love crafted by some potter in some remote village finds its place in a plush kitchen is a story in itself! 

I love how it feels and looks when its washed wet, fresh to behold the milky white liquid, stirred with the leftover curd,we know as a 'starter'. 

In our part of the country, Bihar,we call it 'जोरन' जमाना। Coloquilly speaking!  

This part is the crucial part as here, the secret of it holding the 'creamy white' lies. The milk has  to be lukewarm, such that as you dip your finger, just a hint of heat perks it up.Right temperature. Neither too hot nor too cold.Understanding this, comes with practice! 

 It's stirred with great care,swirling till your starter dissolves completely in milk. 

'केसर' ।

The name itself is so poetic. 

Here, I've added  strands of Kesar in my curd while setting it. Intending to add some color and health benefits into it. My sense of aesthetics and a pursuit to balance it with functionality leads me to investigate further. 

These threads of  crimson are the stigma of the flower, Crocus Sativus.

Kesar or saffron is a great antioxidant.

Widely used in dishes like Biryani, Srikhand, Mango lassi, Meethi Sevayian, zafrani pulav and many other dishes, these slender threads are very potent and have a long shelf life. 

They are very laboriously harvested and therefore, have their weight worth in gold, infact, more, quite literally. They are revered for their medicinal qualities in treating a plethora of maladies. They are said to be  an anti-depressant and a mood enhancer.Its said to cure Cancer,often reduces PMS in women  and works as an aphrodisiac! 

Well then. Get set, to set it,and go! ❤