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Chia Pudding For Potluck 

When you want to take some thing healthy, new and easy to potluck , chia pudding is good. I took this to work today for our monthly birthday celebration. It looked good presentation wise. Here’s how I did it:

  • Take chia seeds, little bit oatmeal, raisins and coconut flakes in a bowl.
  • Pour unsweetened almond milk over it and keep it in fridge overnight.
  • Garnish with some nuts and fruits. Mango will be really good .
  • If you like more sweeter , mix honey before garnishing but I would recommend skipping. There’s enough sweetness from raisin and fruits. 
  • Enjoy !
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Randhan Chhath, Shitala Satam Festival 


Month of shravan or August has many vrats in India where ppl will fast or eat 1 time. Shravan month also is a very rainy month and hence digestion is poor and there might be lot of sickness too due to it. So our seers arranged all these routines .Seer meaning who can see. 

Randhan Chhat and Shitala Satam is celebrated in Gujarat big time . Let’s see if we can decode it. On Randhan Chhat day, several dishes are prepared that will stay good next day without fridge. And hence all fried food which doesn’t get spoiled easily. After food is all cooked, stove is cleaned and ppl do Pooja. In olden times, earthen hearths were used and they were refurnished with cow dung. My grandma had 3 of them and I had pleasure of seeing and eating food cooked on it. Next day Shitala meaning cold food is eaten.

So what does that mean? When you apply cow dung , it takes time to dry and you cannot cook on it right away . I also wonder if it deinfected hearth. And so food was prepared in advance and eat cold food next day.

Now in today ‘s world our stoves are cleaned and deinfected everyday and we also have fridge to store things . 

We can still enjoy festivals and have fun with them. But it’s good to know thought behind it. 

By the way, picture is of fig jam I made . Yum ! No recipe needed. It’s sugar and figs with some cloves , cinnamon.

Enjoy !

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Pineapple Fried Quinoa 


As I mentioned last time, I did try pineapple fried quinoa. Exactly same way but I ran out of fresh pineapple. Oops. I did use all veggies, coconut oil, soya sauce and chili garlic sauce.

Quinoa is rich in protein and good iron too which is always good for vegetarians. Makes a good lunch to take to work or for school kids too. Easy to eat and got all good things in it. Or a very good option for breakfast too.

Enjoy ! (While I go out to buy some fresh pineapple on sale.)

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Paloodeh – Cantaloupe Drink

 

Do you like simple things in life? I do. Keep life, thoughts , food everything simple. Why complicate things unnecessarily and confuse self? Today’s drink is simple too. This drink has been on mind and I bought cantaloupe specifically for drink but I ate it up. So bought again but this time finally made drink. It’s so good and refreshing . I will be making a lot in summer.
Here’s how I did:

  • Chop cantaloupe in big chunks. Blend with little water depending on how thin you want.
  • Add little bit of rose water if you like. I didn’t have any but am gonna buy. It will elevate drink to next level I feel .
  • You can add some finely chopped or shredded cantaloupe too for garnish on top.
  • I didn’t add any sugar but you can.
  • Garnish with mint.
  • By the way, it’s a middle eastern drink or just from Iran. Not sure. 
  • If cantaloupe is not available, then you can use other similar kind of melons like at my place in India, we have similar kind of fruit we call shakkarteti. But it will need some sugar.
  • Enjoy !
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Fava Bean Curry

  
Have you ever had middle eastern Foul Mudammas? I never had even fava beans before but today I went to middle eastern store and got a can of fava beans. There are lot of simple foul recipes online. Since I wanted to eat with roti, paratha I made it little more on gravy side and calling it curry. Here’s how I did:

  • Heat olive oil, add chopped garlic and sauté. Add chopped onion and then tomatoes. Cook the mixture until tomatoes are mushy.
  • Add red chili powder, cumin powder and fava beans. Add little water and let it cook for some time.
  • Mash beans with potato masher. Now you will have only few beans here and there.
  • Add black pepper powder. And some fresh lemon juice.
  • Boil it depending on how thick you want .
  • Drizzle little olive oil when serving.
  • You can thicken mixture and serve like hummus too with pita chips. Top with tahini, olives, tomatoes whatever you have and like.It’s yummy and so easy to make.
  • Try and expand your horizon little more. 
  • Enjoy !