A Motivational Video :)

How to Unstiffen Starched Clothes from India. Fast.

Regular starch washes out right away, but often you get the synthetic starch which makes clothing look something like this after the first wash and dry:

And the second and the third and the fourth wash and...(!)

WHAT TO DO? Crunch it up really good after each washing. This will soften it up in no time.

Potato and Cauliflower Subji (Aloo Gobhi Subji)

Serves 3-4
INGREDIENTS:

• About 1/2 a medium sized cauliflower, chopped
• 2-3 small potatoes
• 3-4 T ghee
• 1 t fresh gingerroot, minced
• 1 pinch hing
• 1 t coriander powder
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1 t turmeric
• salt

PREPARATION:

1. Heat the ghee on high heat and chaunce the ginger until browned. Then add cumin and fry until brown,. Add remining spices.
2. Stir in the vegetables and sautee in ghee and spices a few minutes
3. Add water to just barely covering the veggies. 
4. Cover and cook on high heat until almost all the water has evaporated. 
5. Add salt and offer to Krishna with love.

VARIATION: Stir in some sour cream!

Grind Your Own, Part 2

SPICES
My beloved spice grinder finally breathed its last. We'd been together for almost ten years. Sniff. It got used so much the plastic top had worn off, but I continued to grind by poking the plastic grinding button with a knife while covering the top with a cloth or my hand so the spices wouldn't fly out. It was a true servitor of the Lord.


But no worries. Over the years, I'd been experimenting with another type of grinder, a stone mortar and pestle that I found on Amazon.com.

I got inspired to get one after discovering an awesome stone grinder in India but had to leave behind. I learned a few things from practice. It just takes practice. And patience. But seems to go more quickly over time.

When I grind spices, I find it helpful in many cases to start with a small amount, like a teaspoon full. It's especially less frustrating if you are new at grinding. But over time you'll learn what grinds easily and what needs more patience by doing little by little. Ideally, you'd want to do this first thing each morning or before every cooking session, just enough for that day or offering you are cooking, so you do not need to do a lot anyway. Then the spices are very fresh in flavor.

Move the pestle in a circular motion and from side to side. You can pound also, as needed. Or just dropping the pestle, using its own weight to break things apart (and not have it fly out of the mortar!). Place a towel under the mortar if it moves at all or is noisy.

More info in on the web. But mostly just practice to get a smooth grind. But it isn't necessary to compete with a machine, even a coarse grind can work great. And many spices get cooked anyway to soften them.

POWDERED SUGAR Just add your favorite sugar and grind to a powder.

Grind Your Own

(The latest grinder I use is a Komo Classic.grain mill Works well.)

WHEAT FLOUR (ATTA)
STEP 1 Get wheat berries. My favorite is Kamut. I store it in tightly sealed containers.

STEP 2 In a large, dry pan, sort your wheat for any foreign matter.


I set the Komo to a fine grind to make wheat flour (not pictured).

FARINA (SOOJI) I set the grinder to somewhere in the middle for sooji. Not too coarse nor fine.

The texture is like fine sand when toasted for upma or halava.


OATMEAL Not exactly steel cut, but the texture is good enough when set on a coarsest grind.


BESAN Use regular chana dahl, small split chickpeas, NOT kubli chana (garbanzo beans). Grind on fine setting like you would making atta.

TO BE CONTINUED


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Grind Your Own Part II

Handy Cooking Tools

Peepul, a Sacred Tree

I've worshiped the sacred Tulasi tree daily for years and years. And I lived under a huge banyan tree once. Banyans are also considered holy. And it wasn't too long ago that I had heard about a special "peepul tree" residing at the most sacred spot, Radha Kunda.

Well, I learned recently "peepul" is another name for banyan or asvattha tree. Wikipedia says:

"Ficus religiosa or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent,[2] and Indochina.[3] It belongs to the Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree,[4] pippala tree, peepul tree,[2] peepal tree or ashwattha tree (in India and Nepal )"

So when I was told there was a peepul tree nearby the place we are now living, I got excited; I immediately went to search it out. It helped that I noticed a young Indian man walking by and thenpaying respects to a tree a few yards away from where I was sitting while taking a break from my search. Then I noticed flowers and also burnt ghee lamps at the base of the tree. Krishna's mercy, I had found the holy peepul tree! Or banyan. Or asvattha. Whatever you prefer to call it.

The Nectar of Devotion says: "In the Skanda Purana it is directed that a devotee should offer water to the tulasi plant and the amalaki trees. He should offer respect to the banyan tree (asvattha)...These processes will help the devotee to diminish the reactions to his past sinful activities."

Hare Krishna

The mataji who told me about this tree also said she goes to pay respects and waters it like every new moon day or on special occasion.

Spinach Paneer Subji (Paneer Shaak)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 bunches of spinach, washed and chopped
• paneer from a half gallon of milk, cubed
• 3-4 T ghee
• 1 t fresh gingerroot, minced
• 1 t ground coriander seeds
• a pinch asafetida (opt)
• 1/4 t ground black pepper
• a sprinkling of garam masala 
• 1 t turmeric
• salt

PREPARATION:

1. Heat very hot a tablespoon of ghee and fry the paneer cubes on a skillet, preferably cast iron. Set aside.
2. Chaunce in remaining ghee the ginger until brown and crisp. Then add coriander powder, black pepper and turmeric in quick succession, followed by chopped spinach and a little cinnamon, if desired.
3. If the spinach does not fit in the pot, stir and cook a little until you can fit it all in as it soften.
4. Stir in the paneer now or after cooking. Stirring in now will heat it up if necessary. 
5. Keep on high heat until all the spinach is in the pot and stirred a bit with the spices.
6. Cover the pot and continue to cook until most the water is evaporated. You can leave it on high heat, but be careful not to burn. If you prefer wetter subji, you can turn the heat down to a simmer. (Note that no water is added to the spinach. Juices from the spinach itself come out to cook everything along with drops of water if the spinach was recently washed, so judge how much heat is needed to desired wetness of subji and adjust the heat as needed. Also some like spinach well cooked. Others prefer less so.)
7. Stir in paneer if you didn't do so yet. Add a couple sprinklings of salt over entire prep

Then offer to Guru and Lord Krishna with love and faith.

Easy- to- Care- for Deities

Keeping deities that are dressed and so on requires time. An alternative is a beautiful deity like this. Predressed and He even has a stock of butter if home cooked food offerings are limited. And He still can get a water bath, although the wooden base may not like that too often. A mental bath and a real garland and so on now and then can be good enough, just to do those little extras that make deity worship so pleasantly absorbing. Of course, if someone does have the time and no easy access to a local temple where there is plenty of deity services already, it's great fun to purchase or even to plan and create little outfits for deities that require clothing made.


Other similar forms of Krishna in His different moods and pastimes may be available at a local Hare Krishna temple gift shop, as well as a deity of HDG Srila Prabhupada ki jaya.

Collected Cooking Tips, Part II

Working smarter rather than harder. (For more collected tips, click here  and here)

DIY "SLOW COOKER" for overnighter cooking. 

NO PANEER OR POTATOES Try nuts and seeds for fillers. Pictured is almonds and sesame seeds with bok choy. And pecans with green beans.

READY TO USE, PRESOAKED CHICKPEAS- Keep in the fridge until ready to use. Long term they even start to sprout. Especially good tossed into a salad or stir fried. If they ever get a little slimy just rinse and they are ready to use.

READY TO USE CHAPATI DOUGH

Make dough first thing, then use, as needed, throughout the day(s)

READY TO USE PANEER Make ahead and can store in fridge also. Stays good at least a few days.

READY TO USE SHUCKED CORN- Whenever corn cobs are prepared, shuck any end pieces, and then refrigerate until needed.

NOT JUST FOR DISHES A dish wand makes a good stove cleaner, too.

EASY WAY TO KEEP PRASADA HOT Keep water in a larger pot underneath hot with a low flame. This way foods don't dry out like when keeping something in a warm oven. This also works better for reheating leftover prasada you want to keep moist.

QUICK AND EASY HOMEMADE "GREEK" YOGURT Let yogurt strain in a finely wired sieve while you do other things. And you can save the whey to add to a lassi or use it to curdle milk for paneer. WARNING: This will not work if you stir the yogurt first. It must be freshly made yogurt. You'll see the whey and it will easily separate with this method. Stirred up yogurt or store bought will not drain out any whey.

ALL THOSE VEGETABLE SCRAPS such as the heart of a cabbage or the stem and leaves left from a cauliflower or kale. Chop them fine and add to soups and kichari to cook until tender and flavorful.

QUICK WAY TO PEEL ORANGES Score into sections, Then peel

SOFTENING WITH SALT  For cooking dahls faster, especially those split peas that seem to take forever to soften, add a pinch or two of salt to the cooking water. Ditto getting veggies to soften and cook more quickly. But be careful. It's easier to salt them at the end because they will shrink.

STRAINING GHEE Sometimes it is slow to drain from regular piece of cotton cloth, so twisty ties can be handy. This can work for finding a place to hang mung beans to sprout, too.

KEEP SPINACH LONGER Put a towel on the fridge shelve and take the spinach out of it's plastic bag and unwrap any twisty ties so the leaves can breathe and stay on a dry surface such as a terry cloth towel. If the fridge is very cold, you can even wrap the greens with the cloth for extra protection.

Fresh coriander, string beans, kale, spinach... stay good longer this way too. Some may wilt over time, but will stay good at least a week or so.

NO MORE MOLDY GRAPES As soon as they get to Krishna's kitchen from the grocery store, get them out of the plastic bag and tucked into an absorbent, cotton cloth. Be surprised how much longer they'll stay fresh.

Update: to keep the coriander from wilting, it is now wrapped in cloth and then bagged. Even better is the bag the produce came in with a label on it. You may want to check the cloth after a few days and exchange it for a dryer one. Also look for any past due pieces so they don't affect the fresher one. In this way, coriander will stay fresh for at least two weeks!

BRAISING VEGETABLES

Vegetables gently boiled in soups or steamed in subjis are good enough, but this occasional cooking method can bring out extra flavor for a special kick. Simply braise the veggies separately in their own juices before adding them. First heat some ghee very hot in a cooking pan, add the vegetables and stir fry a few minutes to start the browning process.

Next, cover the pan and reduce the heat to very low and let the vegetables continue to cook until tender. No extra water is added, they simply simmer in their own juices as they emerge from the vegetables.

Add the cooked vegetables to subji or soup, etc, and then pour a little water in the pan to get the last bits of browned vegetable goodness coating the bottom of the cooking pan and add

HOW TO NOT WASTE MILK
Fridge broke down? Turn milk into paneer or yogurt.
Yogurt got overheated and the dead culture produced no more yogurt? Boil the milk and the dead culture is still sour enough to turn the milk into paneer. Assist with a little lemon juice if necessary.
What to do with paneer whey? Use it in chapatis and baked goods.

What to do with cream skimmed off of yogurt? Churn it into butter an buttermilk....

TO BE CONTINUED

Better Butter, Part II

More adventures in the buttermaking that first got posted here.

About 3/4 gallon of cream was turned into yogurt. Then chilled. Then churned with a stand up mixer on low speed if you are busy doing things, or higher speeds if you are close by.

But this is what can happen when you are close by on high speed but not paying attention:

All cleaned up again. Look at that nice butter. Makhan. What Krishna loves to eat:



Next, the buttermilk gets strained out.


Then the butter is packed into containers or patted into balls to wrap and refrigerate or turned into ghee right away.


3/4 gallon of cream made this amount of butter and buttermilk:

Some nicely buttered chapatis are now with Krishna's offering.



YOU CAN ALSO MAKE BUTTER, BUTTERMILK AND LOW FAT MILK FROM NON HOMOGENIZED MILK
Daily save the cream that pours out of the non-homogenized milk carton when you are using non-homogenized milk (And what's left is non fat milk!). A lot of times it'll already be butter because it got jostled around in the milk jug on the way to the market. Use the days collection to add to your daily yogurt making or whenever you are making another batch of yogurt (hopefully pretty often).

Next day you'll see the collected cream or butter has floated to the top of the yogurt. Skim that off and collect it in a jar until you have enough to churn and separate any yogurt from the cream and already formed butter.

After churning, strain out the buttermilk as usual. Here is how much got made from a three day 

collection. It made 1/2 cup butter: