Sunday 8 December 2013

Food

The three basic essentials of life are food,clothing and shelter. (roti , kaapda aur makaan)

Our theme for Write Tribe is my favourite and I suppose everybody's as we have been endowed with a hungry stomach and a sense organ called tongue which is a catalyst to release hunger pangs. The nose inhales the aroma of piping hot food to make us run to the kitchen. Our eyes feast on the sumptuous array of  beautifully arranged food.

Food has not only to be cooked well but presented well to appeal to the eyes.


           


Among the 33 crores ,  gods and goddesses of Hindu  pantheon , Annapoorna Mata (Goddess of food) occupies a revered place. 

I remember my maternal grandmother , worshipping the earthern çhulha' or stove everyday and the first spoonful of cooked rice mixed with pure ghee was offered to the earthern chulha as a mark of respect and gratitude for Mata Annapoorna and Fire God. The first roti or Indian bread prepared was fed to the calf or cow and the last roti was reserved for a beggar. Thus all the sections of society were fed.

                                      

My grandmother briefed us about the the different stages of farming and I got to know the efforts taken by the agrarian community to put food on our table. The moral was to encourage to eat and relish food and not to waste a morsel of food. Leftover food was judiciously converted to another tasty dish the next day or given to the household maid.

Our country has a rich tradition of a balanced and tasty diet varying with different seasons. Wheat and rice are the staple grains while jowar or Sorghum , bajra or Pearl_millet and nachani or finger millet too are consumed. Multi-grain rotis and breads are very popular.


                                                     


 Cereals and pulses too are popular. Locally grown vegetables are consumed with Indian rotis and rice. 
                                              

Home made butter and ghee too are consumed in small quantities.

Fruits too occupy an important place in the diet of the Indians.

Some people consume and relish non-vegetarian food like fish, mutton , chicken etc.

With growing obesity , diabetes , blood pressure and cardiac problems , the importance of proper and balanced food is greatly felt along with a change in life-style. 

Some pockets of our country are staring at malnourishment.

The government provides mid-day meals to many municipal school to discourage absenteeism and encourage proper nourishment but the quality of the food is far from satisfactory

Some institutions like the Akshayapatra are doing yeomen  service to the society by providing food. Read here.

Desserts are my weakness. I am sharing a sweet dish which me and my son love to finish off ................................
                     

                            CARAMEL BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients : 3 cups milk , 2 eggs ,  2 slices bread (stale) , 10 tbsp + 2 tbsp sugar , 3-4 drops of vanilla essence , 1 tbsp raisins.

FOR THE CARAMEL :

take a pan. put it on the gas stove with 1 tbsp water. Add 2 tbsp sugar. mix well. when it changes colour , remove from fire and pour the hot caramel in the shallow bottom steel vessel. Rotate the vessel so that it sticks to the bottom of the entire vessel. keep aside.

Method :

Boil milk . Add 10 tbsp sugar. Stir till the sugar dissolves. Add raisins. Let it cool completely.

Add the bread pieces and allow  to soak for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl beat the eggs . Add it to the milk-bread mixture. stir well. Transfer this milk mixture to the caramelised vessel . Add vanilla essence. Mix. Seal the surface of the vessel with aluminium foil. Steam it for 10-15 minutes in a pressure cooker without the whistle.

Let it cool . Remove the alu. foil .Take a flat serving plate and put the vessel  upside down. tap on the vessel. The pudding comes off easily on the plate.

                                                     Serve chilled.


Option : Instead of bread slice one may add grated apple to the milk mixture.










Readers , will you try out the caramel bread pudding? Do share with us your food preferences.


                             FOR : WRITE TRIBE FESTIVAL OF WORDS -II DAY 2


                                                     Write Tribe

  

read here. Day 1 -Memories.


47 comments:

  1. Akshyapatra is a good one. I like the way you are talking about social issues with the prompts. No wasting food theory is what has led me to gain weight! The leftover from children's plate end up in me. Must try this pudding for Christmas this year. :)

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    1. Jyothi, but a mom loses the extra kilos gained by running behind the kids.

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  2. Our favorite food that we cook is East Indian and we just can't get it hot enough! Will try some of the spices here.

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    1. I have heard about East Indian food and the secret bottle masala.

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    2. Kalpana - the Americans refer to us as East Indians to differentiate from the Native Americans (Red Indians). I think Carol is referring to Indian food in general! :)

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  3. i too had always wondered why in villages my relatives would worship the earthen chullah...i was a kid then... now i know....

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    1. Glad you got to know about it Pratikshya. and the aroma released when the cooked rice was offered to the burning culha is great.

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  4. Nice take on today's prompt Kalpana, loved the visuals as well

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    1. Jairam it is said that the eyes feast on the food and later the tongue.

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  5. The left over breakfast idlies become upma for tea in the evening. Our mothers are smart!!!
    Thanks for sharing the recipe. Shall try and let you know.

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    Replies
    1. and the upma made from leftover idlis is yummy.

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  6. what a delightful read ... thanks for the recipe

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    1. Do try the recipe Rajlakshmi. you will love it.

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  7. It looks great, will definitely have to try making this!!

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  8. This looks great, will have to try making it

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  9. My mom is always searching for new pudding recipes. This is gonna make her happy and me hungry :D

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    1. This is a very simple but tasty pudding. Why don't you try it Sheetha;?

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  10. Looks yummy....I feel like gobbling it right away!!! :-D

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    1. That's what we are all doing today Gayatri. Isn't it?

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  11. The caramel pudding does sound yummy. Will try this during the holidays. And you are right about not wasting food. Our mothers and grannies were so resourceful in utilizing left over food and creatively using it the next day :-)

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    1. Left-over food loses its nutritional value , as its rightly said. But the mantra is not to waste food. so the leftovers are creatively used. My mom stills tells me to cook the right quantity of food so that there are not leftovers. I haven't mastered that art.

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  12. Speaking about food, you have very rightly stated that Annapoorna mata was worshipped by your grand ma. My mother-in -law also also offered to the Goddess the first thing made early morning. My grand children also love caramel pudding. I add custard powder instead of bread.

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    1. Annaporna Mata and Fire God are equally revered for the continuation of the human species.

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  13. The recipe seems yummy! Nicely composed post!:)

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  14. There's much to learn from our grandmothers. I always say my grandmother's daily menus were the most balanced and nutritious meal I ever had. Thanks for sharing the significance of the pranam to the chula.

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    1. Our grandmoms are the original nutritionists. Aren't they Suzy?

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  15. A lovely write up on food. Thanks for sharing the information about the dessert.

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  16. Thanks for the words of wisdom and wow how u passed an important message through the prompt, don't waste food. love the education behind food:0

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    1. Lord Krishna had told Draupadi not to waste food when one grain of rice was still stuck to the Akashaypatra. He ate the last grain and the it is said that the whole Universe was fed and satiated.

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  17. AH! A recipe. The only one among all the posts that I have read. Will be trying this one really soon. Also liked the informative nuggets that preceded it! :)

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    1. these nuggets of information were handed down to me by grandmom and mom.

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  18. I think I may have to try that recipe!

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  19. Will try the recipe for sure. Does it smell eggy? That's my only concern.

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    Replies
    1. Add two more drops of vanilla essence to camouflage the eggy taste.

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  20. Sure will...i mean try it :) Loved your take. A brilliant post!

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  21. Caramel Bread Pudding... it will be tomorrow for us. Love this simple and easy to make recipe.

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  22. The food that is cooked on chulha and earthen ware have a very distinct flavour. Have to give this recipe a try :)

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  23. I had no idea about the chulla being worshiped, Kalpana. Thanks for adding to my knowledge. The bread pudding is a regular at my Mom's place. Me, I'm not so fond of it and Jose can't eat too many sweets!

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  24. the Caramel bread pudding looks great! :)
    my granny used to cook on one of those stoves too - the one in the pic or on charcoal stoves..
    the food always tastes yummier! :D

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  25. My sweet tooth is smiling reading the recipie. Thank you for sharing it.

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  26. "the first spoonful of cooked rice mixed with pure ghee was offered to the earthern chulha as a mark of respect and gratitude for Mata Annapoorna and Fire God. The first roti or Indian bread prepared was fed to the calf or cow and the last roti was reserved for a beggar."
    This is something my grandmother used to do too. I do offer a chappatti to the cow whenever I can, but do not do that religiously. :-|

    I am definitely going to try out the Caramel Bread Pudding in a day or two. The girls are gonna love it! :-)

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  27. Great post Kalpana - Learned a lot, and thanks for the recipe. I shall try soon! And it was a practice of expressing gratitude.. Not just cooking, but many elders even offer a part of their meals ! There is a WHY for many of these things, just got lost along the way. Thanks for sharing this knowledge

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  28. Very informative post with lovely visuals as well. Loved it :)

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  29. I love chulha food! And your posts always have a message Kalpana I love that fact. Yes if we speak of food undernourishment is a word which has to come to our minds. This recipe? Well I will surely try!

    Richa

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