Masala vadai and coconut chutney (Mama's recipes)

Ingredients

For vadai:
chana dal - 1 cup
finely chopped onion - 1/4 cup
green chilli - 1
fennel seeds - 1/4 tbsp
garlic cloves - 2
finely chopped coriander - 1/4 cup
oil - 10 mL
salt

For coconut chutney:
grated coconut - 1 cup
roasted bengal gram -  1/3 up
Green chillies - 2
mustard seeds
urad dal
curry leaves
Asafoetida
oil - 1 tbsp
salt

Recipe

For vadai:

1. Soak chana dal in 1-1.5 cup water for 2 hours.
2. Drain the water and transfer the dal to a mixie. Add salt and garlic. Using the pulse mode break the dal into very small pieces. Don't grind the dal too smooth.
3. Meanwhile heat about 10 mL of oil in a deep frying pan.
3. Remove the dal from the mixie on to a plate. Add the chopped onions, coriander, chilli and mix well. Make them into small balls on your palms and flatten them slightly and then add them to hot oil.
4. Fry them until they turn brown. Keep tossing them from one side to another and don't let them burn.

For coconut chutney:

1. Grind the coconut, bengal gram, chilli, salt and 1/2 cup water in a mixie using the pulse mode for 20 sec.
2. Add more water if required (depends on taste, I like my chutney thick).
3. Remove the contents from the mixie to a bowl.
4. In a frying pan add some oil. When the oil is hot add some mustard seed (1 tbsp). Add 2 tbsp of urad dal when the mustard seeds start popping. Add 1/8 tbsp of asafoetida at the end.
5. Add this straight to the bowl. Mix well.
6. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. I used frozen grated coconut and it worked well.
2. The chillies, salt and thickness of coconut chutney can be adjusted based on the taste.
3. To prevent the dal sticking onto palms during making the balls for vadai, I rubbed some oil in my palms.
4. I used as little oil as possible. But I feel it can be reduced more.
5. Serves as a delicious snack on evenings and as an appetizer for dinner.

Metamorphosis

Have you ever wondered how you became someone you never wanted to be? That you do things which you absolutely hated in the past and could never see yourself doing it ever.

I feel these emotions sometimes. Have I just become more broad minded or have I just grown up? Or have I just lost what I used to be?

Do I really want to go back in the past and become what I was once again?

May be not.

I'm happy that life once again turned out to be unpredictable and taught me new things to appreciate. I don't want to forget the good things of the past but I want to give life the chance to teach me and to prove my existing thoughts to be wrong.

p.s The title reminds me of Dr. E. Good memories :)

Innocence

-->

I talk to my nephew over Skype, at least once in two days. He is 4 months old and doesn’t realize that he is talking to me on the webcam. It takes him a few minutes to identify me, but once he knows he is talking to his favorite aunt, he gets really happy. He lifts his hands with a smile, indicating that he wants me to lift him up in my arms, hug and kiss him. And after a while of trying hard, when he finds that I don’t lift him up, he gets sad and cries. After a while he tries again.

He doesn’t know what a computer or a webcam is. But his love is so genuine. He is not egoistic. It doesn't matter to him, who takes the first step when it comes to showing emotions. He just does what he feels like. If he loves someone and wants to be loved, he just asks for it. He doesn’t pretend, he is not embarrassed to show his sadness when he is upset. He lives in the moment, happy when he is loved, sad when he is ignored. Is this what one calls innocence?

Why do we become so complicated when we grow up? Why are we so scared of falling in love? Why are we so easily embarrassed about small things, scared of showing our real self to the world and hence pretend? Where does our innocence disappear? At what point in our life do we forget how to live in the moment?