Viyam Ja Khaada|Postpartum Food|AlifBe~49

Alka Keswani — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 15:07:37 +0000

The last alphabet of AlifBe, the Sindhi alphabet is ي in Arabic Sindhi, य in Devanagari and ‘Y’ is Roman Sindhi. It is also used as a vowel and could be pronounced as /e/ (even long /eee/). No Sindhi dish starts with the letter Y. Hence for the last alphabet in this series I have picked ‘Viyam Ja khaada’ . Viyam /Vyam/Vi-am means Delivery (Child birth) and Khaada means food/dishes. So basically it means the food that is supposed to be consumed by new mothers, particularly for the first 40 days after child birth. Traditionally, the new mother is supposed to consume nutrient dense, freshly cooked, home made food, following dietary restrictions. The food is cooked without onions, garlic, garam masala, coriander seeds, turmeric etc . Refined oils are strictly avoided and meals are cooked in Ghee only. No pungent ingredients are used to cook meals for the lactating mothers for the first forty days. Cruciferous vegetables, beans, pulses are also avoided for initial few weeks. Cold food, cold drinks, ice creams, fried food etc are also avoided. Cumin seeds are generously added to almost every dish. Chillies are avoided and only black pepper powder is used to make food for the new moms. Vegetables like bitter melons, Sponge gourds, Ridge gourds, bottle gourds, drumsticks etc are to be consumed. These vegetables are cooked in tomato based curries, flavored with green cardamoms and black pepper. Fenugreek leaves, drumstick flowers, dried tender drumsticks (Suhandhro) are most commonly had by the lactating mothers in the first few weeks after delivery. Steamed rice, pulav, biryani etc are avoided for first 40 days. Khichdi cooked in Ghee with pepper corns and green cardamoms is generally had in the lunch along with Methi or gourd’s curry. The rotis are made with whole wheat flour with loads of cumin, pepper and Ghee added to it. Lolo i.e roti sweetened with jaggery is mandatory to have and so are the home made sweets like Khorak, Majun, Khoyo, Magaz Ja ladoo etc, enriched with dry fruits, nuts, Khaun (Gum/Gond). A special mix of digestive herbs and nuts, called Fakki, is made for the new mothers. Broken wheat, Jowar or millet porridge could be had for the breakfast. A special sweet beverage is made, known as Tring/Ting by roasting whole wheat flour in ghee and is flavored with cumin and peppercorns. The above Thali represents the food that could be consumed by a new mom, not necessarily in a single meal. Starting from carrots, in a clockwise direction the dishes are as follows: 1) Carrots 2) Chehro Phulko (Cumin, salt, pepper flavored roti) 3) Methi (Fenugreek leaves) 4) Singyun Tamate mein (Drumsticks cooked in tomato gravy) 5) Tooryun (Sponge gourds) 6) Phote mein Karela (Bitter gourds cooked in Cardamom flavored curry) 7) Lolo (in the centre of the Thali). Check the recipe of lolo here! 8) Rajgira ladoo (Not home made) 9) Tring (placed out of the Thali) Since most of the times, food is exclusively cooked for the new mother, I am sharing recipes for smaller portions (1-2 people max.) Chehro Phulko: Just add salt, pepper powder and cumin seeds to the whole wheat flour dough and make a thicker roti. Use ghee liberally to cook the roti. Methi: In a kadai (Preferably an iron wok), heat a tbsp of ghee and add a tbsp of cumin seeds (optional). Add two cups of fenugreek leaves and saute on high heat. Add a large tomato, finely chopped and salt as per the taste. Cook covered till tomatoes are mushy and the excess of moisture evaporates. Singyun Tamate mein: In a pressure cooker, heat 1 tbsp of ghee. Add 1 heaped tbsp of cumin seeds, 2 green cardamoms and then add two grated/blended tomatoes. Add salt and cook on high heat. Ginger is optional. Some do add it while others skip. When tomatoes are cooked (ghee leaves the sides) add drumsticks (7-8 pieces) that are scrapped and cut into 2 inch pieces, each. Mix and add around 1 glass of water, if you want it soupy or else add around 3/4 th glass of water. Sprinkle around 1/4th tbsp of back pepper and cover the cooker with the lid. Wait for one whistle and then lower the heat. Switch off the heat after 3-4 minutes. Can garnish with coriander leaves (optional) and pounded black pepper. Tooryun: Peel and chop 2-3 sponge gourds/ridge gourds. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of Ghee and add 1 tbsp of cumin seeds. When the seeds crackle add 2 green cardamoms and 1 large tomato, chopped or blended. Add salt and around 1/4th – 1/2 tbsp of black pepper powder. Cook covered, for 8-10 minutes. Can add few spoons of water if the gourd is not cooked well by now. Garnish with some more black pepper powder while serving. Photey mein Karela: Bitter melons could be cooked in tomato gravy (Refer the Drumsticks curry recipe shared above) or could be made in watery gravy. The Photey mein karela that I made were without tomatoes. Peel, slit and smear salt inside the slits of gourds. After 2-3 hours, rinse the gourds (2 large or 3, if smaller in size) with water, multiple times and squeeze well. Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan/kadai/cooker and saute the salted gourds. Add 2-4 green cardamoms. Cook for 2 minutes on high heat and then lower the flame. Keep stirring frequently. After 5 minutes, add around 2 glasses of water, some salt and black pepper powder. Allow the gourds to cook, covered. In a pan it make take 15-20 minutes. If cooking in a pressure cooker, cook for 2-3 whistles. Garnish with more black pepper powder while eating. Tring: Recipe by Ms Neetu Matani! Video Recipe of Tring: In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee. Add 1 tbsp of whole wheat flour. Roast on low heat. Add more ghee if needed. When aromatic, add 1 and half glass of water. Stir vigorously to avoid lumps. Use a whisker to break lumps, if any. Add 2-3 green cardamoms and 1 heaped spoon of jaggery (or more if you wish) and mix well. Allow it to simmer till it thickens a bit (3-5 minutes). Add 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds, 4-5 whole pepper corns and mix well. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or till the consistency is soup like. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with dried fruits/nuts. Some do add a little of poppy seeds and dried coconut powder too. Serve warm, preferably for the breakfast. And here is the last tutorial explaining the formation of Sindhi alphabet ي!

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Methi Paratha

Alka Keswani — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:58:29 +0000

Marriage as I said previously, is a strange alliance of two totally different personalities.No matter how much compatible two people are with each other, no matter how much they compromise and adjust, there are bound to be some differences in thoughts and opinions. So while shopping with hubby might be a wonderful pass time for you (obviously because of his credit cards), it could be a pure torture for Hubby dear. Watching a romantic movie together might be your idea of spending a day with him, but his mind must be surely wandering towards latest Sci-fi thriller that is been screened in the same Multiplex. Searching food items in menu of a restaurant must be a general practice for him,while your eyes just roll on right side of menu (prize listed). While he might be large hearted when it comes to spending money on gizmos, you could be sulking for the so called, unnecessary expenditures. Debating with a rickshawaala over few rupees must be CHINDIGIRI ( stingy/acting like miser) in his dictionary,while you thought it to be an act of consumer rights. His techie talks might make you doze off in moments,while your daily Soap opera irks him to the extent that he almost bang his head on wall .Then there are so many little fights over wet towels on bed, scattered papers, misplaced socks, working till late nights and not spending enough time with family. The list could go on and on and on….. But ever wondered what happens when the same person is not around for few days ? The whole world seems to turn topsy turvy ….those little irritating habits of him/her,suddenly seems to be cute.You actually start liking the things that you hated about him/her. you start missing those fights and tantrums and ho..you feel like a lovesick teenager (overlooking your salt and pepper hairs) Well i don’t know about you,but i surely miss Him,when he is not around for few days (coz fixing leaky taps,carrying shopping bags,driving ,withdrawing money from ATMs are few things that I am not good at…he he he) Jokes apart, lets move to the recipe of the day,which is simple Methi paratha.My hubby is very fond of Gujrati Theplas and I try to make them with all the culinary experiments.One such day,when I was asked to make theplas , panic hit me.I ran short of gramflour (chickpea flour) and not wanting to disappoint hubby dear, I just used wheat flour and went ahead with rest of the ingredients and procedure of Theplas.They turned out to be good,and so here I am sharing these lovely parathas with you all. Print Methi Paratha Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Serves: 4 A healthy paratha recipe, with methi leaves and whole wheat flour. Ingredients Wheat flour 2 cups -makes around 5 parathas (more or less depend on size of cup and parathas too) Fresh fenugreek leaves 1 cup ( picked leaves) Coriander leaves a handful Curd or yogurt approximately 5 tsp (flexible as per your taste) Green chilies 2-3 Ginger garlic paste 1tsp Turmeric powder ¼ tsp Sugar 1 tsp (or less) Oil 1 tbsp(3-4 tsp....3 tsp for mixing in dough and rest for applying on parathas while cooking) Salt as per taste Method Take 2 cups of wheat flour,add salt,turmeric powder and sugar Coarsely grind (without adding water) methi leaves (pick them,rinse thoroughly with water, place these in colander to drain out excess water) along with coriander leaves,green chillies. You can use ginger garlic paste or you can add 5 cloves of garlic and about an inch size piece of ginger to methi mixture while grinding Remember you need a coarse mixture and not a Chutney. Add this mixture to the flour Beat the curd properly,add little water if needed to prepare sort of buttermilk (lassi or chaach) Add this buttermilk little by little and knead the flour till it binds properly (as done for phulkas or rotis) Finally add 1 tbsp of oil and smooth-en it Let it rest (covered) for about an hour (Optional) Later divide the dough into 5-6 small size rounds. Roll each one as regular roti (not too thick as parathas but not too thin like phulkas) Place it on hot griddle and roast it on both sides,drizzling a tad of oil while flipping ,till small brown spots appear on surface Serve them with any Subzi,papad or curd 2.2.1 This goes without saying, to our Just For You event, since I made these for my dearly loved hubby (blushing blushing blushing )

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Viyam Ja Khaada|Postpartum Food|AlifBe~49

Methi Paratha