Split pea soup

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 c split peas, soak overnight and drain 

Water

1 carrot, scraped and chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped 

1 t salt

3-4 T ghee

1/2 T fresh ginger root, grated (optional)

1 t black mustard seeds

1 t cumin seeds

1 t ground coriander 

1/4 t black pepper

PREPARATION:

1. Bring the peas covered in water to a boil. Skim off the foam. 
2. Add the salt and vegetables. Cover and cook on simmer until soft and peas fall apart. Add more water as needed. This is not a thick soup.
3. Make a chaunk with the ghee:

• Heat the ghee in a small pot on high heat.
• Add the ginger, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Cover until the mustard seeds stop popping.
• Add the coriander powder and black pepper.
• The entire chaunk should be nicely browned (dark even but not burnt!)
• Pour the chaunk into the pea soup dahl.
• Add a little more salt, if needed. Go by 1 teaspoon salt per 4 cups of finished dahl.
• Offer to Krishna with rice, etc

VARIATIONS:

• Replace coriander with 1 t whole fennel seeds put in the chaunk with the ginger and mustard and cumin.
• Omit the vegetables. This soup is very good just plain with the spices!

Pigweed, aka Amaranth

Another “weed” worth posting. It’s edible. It shows here the leaves and seeds. There is one variety that has really sharp thorns. Those need to be pulled up. And then you may be blessed, hopefully, with the thornless type growing prolifically in your garden. It’s cooked like a spinach. The seeds may be used as a cooked cereal or ground into a flour

 

Cabbage and Paneer Subji

INGREDIENTS:

About 8 cups of chopped cabbage

2 T ghee

1 T grated ginger

1/4 t yellow hing

1 t coriander powder

1/4 t black pepper

1 t turmeric

Salt

paneer from 1/2 gallon of milk

PREPARATION:

1. Heat the ghee  and add the following spices. The ginger should be browned first, followed by the hing, coriander powder, black pepper, and turmeric in quick succession.

2. Add the cabbage and stirfry a few minutes as it softens in the ghee and spices. Add salt, as desired.

3. The paneer is generally stirfried in some ghee separately, but to save time, throw it into the ghee and spices before  the cabbage. Stir it around in the ghee until it’s a little browned and then add the cabbage for frying. Otherwise, fry it separate and add at the end. 

4. When the cabbage is wilted, add a little water or some whey. Keep on high heat covered to cook. When a little dry, stir and check for doneness.. 

Offer with lemon slices and a bowl of yogur, rice and or chapati.

Whey smoothie

 

A lot of whey gets made while making paneer. That extra whey is great in chapati and bread doughs; subjis,  and dahl  (only after the dahl is cooked and thickened). And here we are using it in a smoothie. 

Just blend together bananas, whey, roasted nuts and ground cardamom in the proportions desired. It’s that simple. I’m not going to write out a regular recipe here. Just experiment, and when you blend it don’t put all the whey in at once. First blend the nuts and banana with a little whey, so that it is well blended and then thin it out with more whey, as desired

Upma

 Often a breakfast item.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c coarsely ground wheat ( or farina/sooji)

4-5 T ghee or butter

3 c water

1 T ginger, grated 

1 t mustard seeds

1 t cumin seeds 

1 t urad dahl

1/4 t hing

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper 

1/2 t ground coriander 

1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

1 t fenugreek seeds 

3 c chopped veggies  ( zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots…)

Salt ( about 1 1/2 t)

PREPARATION:

1. Toast the wheat in ghee or butter on very low heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned 

2. Meanwhile, prepare a chaunk in the remaining ghee. 

Add ginger, mustard seeds and cumin. When the mustard seeds stop popping, add the remaining spices except the salt.

3. Toss veggies into the chaunk and add some of the salt and then stir fry to coat veggies with the ghee and spices. When a little browned and wilting, add some water (if needed, some veggies can cook in their own juices on very low heat) and cover and cook until veggies are almost tender (higher heat can be used if water was added) and water almost all evaporated.

4. Add 3 c more water and the remaining salt and bring to a boil. 

5. Add the toasted farina. Stir well. Cover and turn off heat. Let upma sit to absorb the water for about 10 minutes. Stir and offer piping hot to Krishna. Goes well with a chickpea dish or besan halava. Fried paneer patties (as pictured) And or a bowl of yogurt. Or sour cream 

VARIATIONS:

• Use paneer way instead of water.
• Soak the wheat overnight in water or whey. Stir into the dish when the vegetables are brought to a boil (in only 2 cups water).

Twig toothbrush

 After much research and trying to find a local supply of twigs, it was satisfying  to discover that my local supplier of twigs was all along right in our front yard. A willow tree. In this case, black willow. 

Another plus is the bark of this tree contains salicin and this used, with a little preliminary education, as a pain reliever. Salicin is the major component in aspirin 

YouTube videos are available to educate one how to use the twig for cleaning your teeth. You begin by chewing to create a brush at the top. 

This chewing action in turn begins the work of cleaning your teeth, beginning with the back molars used for the chewing. Then the brush is used to clean all surfaces and long strands of chewed twig can even get between teeth the way floss does

Seriously? What an amazing thought how mother nature is so perfectly designed for supplying  everything for our existence, even  tooth brushes. All by the father’s will, of course, dear Lord Krishna.

Well, the past couple days I put my first-ever twigs to the test. I’m happy about how clean my mouth has been feeling every time. For anyone interested, here’s  a video to get started: 

And Wikipedia lists some trees located in North America to do  the job: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth-cleaning_twig

August 2023 update: I found out that the thicker stems of curry trees, aka "sweet neem", can also work. We got plenty of curry plants around here!

Carrots for breakfast

That’s right. Carrots (New Talavan farm fresh, too!). I got off long ago the well beaten path of sugary sweet foods typical in the American diet. And breakfast over here has been evolving ever since.

 

The carrots pictured below accompanied some vegie rice with chickpeas and a bowl of sweetened yogurt.

Yesterday it was daikon radish and beets sautéed  together with their accompanying greens alongside freshly fried urad dahl dosas.  

Of course, we all crave some serious sweetness now and then, so things like cooked sweetened cereals and pancakes have not been discarded. It’s just nice to have a widening variety of choices and flavors for good health and Krishna’s offerings.

Tulasi Gets Elevated

Tulasi just wants to serve. And occasionally we get a chance for a little extra service for her.

 I started noticing browning on the tips of some of her leaves. So I went to a couple expert devotees for advice. Here was the reply:

“This is often diagnosed as black mold... If there is a way to elevate Tulasi Devi off the surface She is sitting on to create an air pocket underneath Her, this usually clears it up.”

Each Tulasi devi is now sitting on a cake rack for air circulation. I hope it helps! 

Later Note: Their advice worked!  :):):)

Another thing that worked is when transplanting Tulasi, do not put her in a new pot too much larger than what she already is in. Change sizes gradually to prevent the excess soil in a larger pot from retaining moisture longer than the soil above it. This can lead to root rot, among other problems.

Tulasi Gets Her Bath

 In winter, Tulasi can suffer taken indoors into dry, heated homes in the west, since  she likes humidity. This in turn makes the infamous appearance of spider mites. To keep them away and keep Tulasi happy, spray under her leaves morning and evening. For smaller pots of Tulasi, a sprayer attached to a sink works well.

Another method is using a spray bottle for bathing, ideally filling the bottle with fresh water daily, and using a mister likewise, a more gentler sprayer which mimics morning dew and adds humidity 

Tulasi doesn’t require much water in winter. Only if her pot feels light and soil dry, give her a good soaking until the water runs freely from top to bottom of the pot. And if you have hard well water like we do, occasionally a little sprinkling of Epsom salts on top of her soil, helps her take up nutrients better. Epsom salts diluted in water in a spray bottle also helps for her to absorb directly through her leaves. But do not do this everyday. 

Keep her on a sunny window ledge during the day and remove her in the evenings, so she doesn’t catch a chill.

Caring for tulasi helps us build a relationship with her and pleases Lord Krishna very much.

Fresh Coriander Storage

Some people grow it and cut it as needed. Which is ideal. But to store it can be challenging. It doesn’t do well in plastic bags from the grocery store. Some suggest storing it with the tips submerged in water. Others say wrap it in a paper towel. Somewhere came the idea to wrap it unwashed in an absorbent cloth, then put it in the plastic grocery bag.

 Periodically, remove any aging leaves and stems . Also at least once, replace the cloth with a fresh, dry one and turn the plastic bag inside out so any trapped moisture accumulated can get evaporated. With this method the coriander leaves can stay good for at least a couple weeks!

DIY yogurt

Do you ever wonder how villagers in India make yogurt without getting some already made at the store to use as a starter to make your own? Well, several videos on YouTube show how it’s possible. Some make it from tamarind pods or chilies with stems intact. And others from a piece of lemon. 

We decided to give it a try. 

Basically you get a little warm milk, enough to cover a slice of lemon and its peel. Then keep it in a warm place for about 16 hours. In the following example, a warmed oven was used, and it got  warmed up again, as needed, in between time. I also keep a couple iron cast skillets in the oven. To keep the warmth in there.

The result was yogurt!

Now the observant will notice two pieces of lemon were used in this case. That’s because I spaced out and left the oven on too long. The heat kills the culture and perhaps whatever was on the lemon. So it got cooled down again and a second piece of lemon was  added, just in case. 

The finished product usually tastes a little lemony.  And maybe even more so this time around because of the inattentiveness. But the trick is to boil a bigger pot of milk and use this starter to make the bigger pot of milk into yogurt next.

After that turns to yogurt ( in about 5 hours ), bottle and refrigerate that amount to be used for making more pots of yogurt, using the amount needed in proportion to how much milk is used. This lessens any aftertaste over time. 

We tried chilies, too, and worked just as well. 

Speaking of yogurt, also know as “curd” in India, click here for some tips for the best ways to serve or eat it.

Why You Shouldn’t Kill Cows

(this got posted on Pinterest, but wasn't allowed to remain there long)

What other animal on earth gives as many varieties of foodstuffs as cows? 

Pictured here are milk, yogurt, whey, ghee, buttermilk  and paneer or fresh cheese. All are used in many ways for delicious and nutritious preparations. Not forgetting the uses of scrumptious butter and cream!

Mother cow is so generous that she provides plenty of milk for humanity as well as for her calves.

In fact, there was a cow here who gave us milk long after she had any calf! Treat her well and she reciprocates.

Oxen and bulls are valuable too, as work animals or for producing more cows. And let’s not forget that all these beautiful creatures also provide very valuable dung for use in the garden to grow so many other foods in abundance!

Now, if that’s not enough to consider sparing their lives in gratitude, think about how, if protected for life, these valuable bovines still can provide even after their death such things like leather, gelatin and fertilizers such as blood and bone meal. And if there were to be any food shortages in the future- a daily supply of milk products can be had indefinitely compared to a dead animal for meat. 

So tell me, which animal on earth is more valuable! And you want world peace? Protect cows!

Cloth japa beads

 A friend of ours was in jail a couple of days for distributing books. “How’d you chant your rounds?”, he was asked. His method was a strip of cloth that he tied to make “beads” 

Some years later I had no japa beads and so tore a strip of cloth from an old sari. I decided to give the description I had heard before, a try. Funny that the colors of that particular sari make the “beads” look wooden from a distance.