Mrs. Mac meets the Indian Princess at the Dinner Table

I couldn't resist trying Amrita's recipe for Keema Aloo and curd rice.   I keep a well stocked spice cabinet, have herbs,potatoes, onions & peppers growing in the garden.  A chest freezer full of beef, pounds and pounds of Asian rice, and I substituted kefir (a lacto-fermented milk beverage) for the yogurt in the curd rice.  It, the meal, was a HUGE success.  I have a new love ... Indian food.  I also discovered a great way for Nathan to consume kefir ... by mixing it in with his rice and serving it with the Keema Aloo on top.  He added his own touch by requesting a few squirts of tomato ketchup.  We took the curd rice and meat sauce and ate it with flour tortillas.  I'm planning on making it again this weekend when we have company.  We'll have an international smorgasbord because Sunday's breakfast will consist of Danish ableskivers and fresh pork sausage patties ... complete with homemade huckleberry syrup.  I LOVE having sisters all over the globe!

Day Five- Stuffed Pepper, Yogurt and Keema Aloo

Another hot and humid day in India and time for some hot spicy food. Traditionally Indians eat home cooked food made from the scratch. A lot of it requires elaborate preparation. Grinding of masalas, chopping of vegetables, marinating ingredients and so on.
Anyone who can afford has servants to cock for them or least help them. There was a time when Amrita 's family had servants, but she can' t afford them any longer. But she enjoys cooking so its OK.

STUFFED CAPSICUM (Green Peppers)

Amrita made these stuffed peppers for dinner. She baked them instead of frying them. That way we use less oil.. You can make a stuffing with cooked mince meat too. And they go well with rice, chapatis or in case brown bread.

Stuffed Green Peppers
Ingredients:

5-6 Capsicum (simlamirch)

2 boiled potatoes

2 tbsp boiled green peas (optional)

1 Onion finely chopped

1/4th tsp turmeric powder

Red chili powder to taste (optional)

1/4th tsp Garam masala (optional)

Salt To Taste

Oil/ghee for frying (any vegetable oil)
Preparation:
Wash the capsicum and boil them whole till they are tender (not too much), drain water and keep aside to cool.
Mash the boiled potatoes.
Now in a pan heat 2-tbsp oil/ghee and add chopped onion and fry till it turns golden brown.
Now add all spices, mashed potatoes and peas and fry for few moments.
With a sharp knife cut the stem of the capsicum and take out seeds from the top gently and add the stuffing in it.
Now take oil/ghee in a kadhai (skillet)and fry the stuffed capsicums on all sides.
Garnish the capsicum with grated paneer (any kind of cheese), chopped coriander leaves and thinly sliced rings of tomato. Serve hot.

In India we use yogurt or curds as a part of our meals.You can get plain or sweet yogurt.

Amrita makes her own yogurt at home. She likes to sprinkle yogurt with some salt and pepper and have it with chapatis.- makes low cal health food.

This is Keema /aloo (mince meat with potatoes) with curd rice.

You can try this recipe.

Keema Aloo- Mince meat with Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 250 gms Potatoes (cut in small pieces) •

1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder (don 't worry if you don 't have garam masala )

• 1 tsp Salt (according to taste)

• 1 Large Onion (chopped)

• 1 tsp Coriander Leaves

• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder •

6 Whole Black Pepper

• 1 Black Cardamom

• 1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds

• 3/4 tsp Chili Powder (optional)

• 1 tsp Ginger Paste

• 1 tsp Garlic Paste

• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

• 1/2 kg Minced Beef (1 pound)

• 2 Tomatoes

• 6 tbsp Oil ( I use mustard oil-but any oil will do)

• 6 Cloves
How to make Aloo Keema:
•
Heat the oil in a pan over medium flame.
•
Saute the chopped onion pieces in oil until light brown.
•
Add black pepper, cloves, cardamom, cumin seeds, ginger-garlic paste and finely chopped tomatoes to the onions.
•
Cook on medium heat till the water is dried. Add mince meat, mix and dry the water again.
•
Add salt, turmeric and enough water to cover the meat completely.
•
Cook till meat is tender and the water dries.
•
Add potatoes and cook till the potatoes are soft.
•
Sprinkle garam masala powder and garnish with fresh coriander leaves, green chilies and lemon juice.
•
Aloo Keema is ready. Serve with naan.

This apron was soiled and dirty marked with 18 years of shame and social stigma.

An un-named unfortunate woman wanted to get rid of this apron.

When Jesus passed through her town, she followed him in the crowd trying to be inconspicuous, shy and afraid she was. And desperate too. Unable to voice her prayer for healing she reached out with a trembling hand and touched the hem of the Master 's garment. You know what happened next.

A large crowd followed and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ His disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, “Who touched Me?”’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and knelt at His feet, and trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering’” (MAR 5:25-34).

“As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. And there was a woman there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ‘Who touched Me?’ Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.’ The woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace’” (LUK 8:43-47).

A lot more can be said here but I don 't want to prolong my post.

God bless you all

PS I am posting this on Tuesday, but couldn 't change the time for some reason

Day Four- Some Indian Luches

Well. taking the proverbial quill in hand I am ready to make a fourth entry into my Indian diary. We did not cook all the dishes displayed in one day.This is what we did over the past few days.

A sudden heavy downpour on Monday knocked down a large bunch of bananas. That gave us an opportunity to have the ripened ones as fruit and cook as vegetable and cake. We also gave away plenty.

Amrita and her mother really like the dry banana sabzi. You make it with raw bananas. They had it with rice and yellow lentils.. Here it was served on a banana leaf. If you don 't want to do any dish washing , serve your meal on a banana leaf which has been washed carefully.

Amrita slices raw bananas thinly and deep fries them to make delicious homemade chips.

The next day we made chole or chickpea curry which is very popular in North India. You can have it with rice or various breads the best being bhaturey or fried bread. Amrita makes a her own invented recipe but here is one from the web, if you want to try it. Dry chickpeas are available in the West too. You have to soak them overnight to cook the next day, like we do. If you get canned ones , you can just follow the instructions.

Ingredients :

1 can chick peas

1 large tomato, sliced

1 medium tomato, chopped

2 spoon tomato paste

2 large onions

4-5 green chillies

1 spoon cumin seeds

1 0/2 spoon chopped coriander

1 large piece of ginger

3-4 large flakes garlic

2-3 spoon ghee or oil for frying (you can use vegetable oil or butter)

2 bay leaves

1-2 Cinnamon sticks

2-3 cloves

1-1/2 spoon red chilli powder (skip this if you like)

1/2 spoon turmeric powder

2 spoon coriander powder

1 spoon sugar

1/2 spoon garam masala

1/2 spoon punjabi chole masala ( you can skip this too, if its not available- I don 't use it)

salt to taste

Method

:Blend large tomato, one onion,cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, green chillies,cinammon and cloves to a smooth paste using little water.

Slice other onion.

Heat ghee and add the bay leaves.(use butter or eg oil instead of ghee)

After 10 seconds, add the sliced onion and fry till the onion turns light brown.

Now add the tomato paste and fry till the ghee leaves the sides of the masala. (masala means spice)

Add the dry powders (chili powder, turmeric,sugar and coriander powder).Fry for 60 seconds.

Now add the chopped tomato and coriander leaves

.Fry for about 5 minutes.

Now add the chick peas with the water, tomato paste and salt to taste.

Add some water to get a gravy.

Add the garam masala and punjabi chole masalaand mix well.

Let it come to a boil on low heat.

Simmer for about 5 minutes after it comes to a boil

.Serve hot with phulka (chapati), puri or bhatura.

If you are using dry, overnight soake d chickpeas, boil them till they ar e soft and cook them like th e canned ones. Retain the liqueur to put into the curry.

Today w e made red lentils with bottle gourd or lauki. Its a nice soup which can be eaten with either rice or chapatis. Bottle gourd is a very healthy vegetable, hardly any calories, full of water, good for weight watchers and convalescing patients. Amrita also cooks it with meat.

This is kitchrie ( rice & lentils cookd together) Its very popular all over India specially the north. This dish is fast to cook, simple and light. Can be cooked if you are in a hurry or emergency.

The kitchree was tainted by the British colonizer 's insistence of adding flaked fish and hard boiled eggs to a much drier rice-dal blend and renaming it kedgeree. They had it for breakfast I believe.

We had it with stove top roasted papads or poppadoms. Instead of deep frying poppadoms Amrits roasts them on the gas ring, to avoid the oil.

Let us share a recipe with you.

Kitcheree is an excellent regenerating food. It is a super meal for people who want to cut down on meat without losing out on a protein source. Kitcheree is also an excellent food for the elderly and sick. It is very nutritious and easily digested.

RECIPE:
Add 1/2 cup of mung beans to 16 cups of filtered water.
Boil the mung beans first for about 10minutes, then add:
1 cup thoroughly washed basmati rice,

1 finely chopped onion,

5 to 7 cloves of sliced or chopped garlic, ( I don 't use garlic and ginger, so you can skip it if you want)

1 teaspoon peeled and chopped ginger root,

1/2 teaspoon turmeric,

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper,

3/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes, (these can also be avoided)

1/2 teaspoon cumin or the indian spice garam masala (optional).

Boil covered over low flame (covered) 30 to 40 minutes until very soft and soupy. Then add 1 or 2 cups of any chopped vegetables, preferably green, like asparagus, broccoli, swiss chard, celery, zucchini. You can also add carrots.
Optional: during cooking, add Braggs liquid aminos (similar to tamari). A few sprigs of fresh mint cooked in with all the vegetables is really good. So is adding a little fresh basil.
For a complete meal, serve with plain, or yogurt raita, salad or any kind of chutney or relish.

Our fourth apron belongs to a little Jewish maid to served her cared for her master so much tha t it saved his life. She served the wife of the Syrian military commander Naman. A little slave girl, brought from Israel in captivity. She remains nameless. Her story i s found in 2 Kings chapter 5 in the Old Testament.

How she would miss her family and friends far away in Israel. The familiar scenes of the childhood were not dimmed by the grandeur of Naman' s mansion. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard that her master was suffering from the incurable disease of leprosy.

Her apron of service was also an apron of care, concern and confidence in the mighty hand of God. She told her master about the Prophet Elisha who could heal him.

Her apron glowed with faith and hope.

Take a moment to read her full story.

Ben-hadad, the dark-eyed King of Syria, could no longer leap into his chariot and drive his swift horses through the fields as he used to do. He could not draw the bow of steel or fling the heavy spear as far or as straight as the young men of his tribe, for he was getting old; and he had given up going with his warriors on their fighting across the Jordan, leaving it to his younger chieftains. His home was in the beautiful town of Damascus, set in a land so rich and green with tapering trees, vineyards, and fields of grass, and watered with such delightful streams, that the Arabs, coming on their camels from the yellow sands of the hot desert, cried out, when they saw its white walls hung with green creepers, that it shone "like a handful of pearls in a green cup."

He ruled the tribes of Syria from that walled city, and in the spring-time of the year his chiefs gathered the young warriors to make up their minds where they should go to fight and plunder. Among the chiefs was Naaman the Syrian, a young man who led them out to battle when the king could not go, and had several times beaten their foes. Sitting among his chiefs, with his royal spear in his hand, a band of gold round his brow, and rings of gold on his arms and legs, the old king talked with them about fighting the men of Israel, and gave them their orders; and best of all his warriors the king loved Naaman the Syrian.

Now when Naaman blew the king's horns and beat the king's drums up and down the country, calling the young men of the tribes for a raid across the Jordan, it was either to steal cattle and corn, or to capture slaves; and boys and girls were the slaves they liked best.

One day, when he returned from one of these slave-raids, Naaman brought back with him a little Jewish maid; and she looked so pretty with her dark eyes and ruddy cheeks that he gave her as a present to his Syrian wife, to wait upon her and run her messages. When her mistress washed her hands, the little maid held the basin on bended knee. When she dressed her dark hair, she held the comb and the oil, and the little pots of yellow dye for her nails and the black paint for her eyebrows. When she went out, this little maid went also, in a little dress of scarlet, with a white kerchief on her dark head.

She learnt to love her mistress very much; and was sorry for her master, for he was troubled with the terrible sickness of leprosy, and she often wished he could be made well. One day she sighed, and said to her mistress,- "Oh, I would to God that my master were with our prophet in Samaria! then he would get better of his leprosy." She believed with all her heart that Elisha the prophet, like a clever doctor, could do something for him.

Now what she had said was told to Naaman, who told it to the king; and as they had both heard about Elisha, the wild prophet of Israel, the king told his favourite chief to go and see the wonderful man. And he also wrote a letter to Joram, the King of Israel, and gave it to Naaman to deliver; and this is what he wrote:- "When this letter comes to thee, O King Joram, it is to tell thee that I have sent Naaman, my servant, for thee to heal him of his leprosy." Naaman folded the letter in his tunic, and filling a few small bags with silver and gold, and rolling up some bundles of new clothing, he put them into the wide saddle-bags of his camels as presents for the King of Israel. Then stepping into his chariot, he drove down the river valley, with his men clattering after him, and up the hills to Samaria on the watch-hill, where he delivered the letter.

The King of Israel read it, and his chiefs saw that he was much troubled. Seizing his white tunic with both hands, he tore it from neck to hem-a sign of great grief-saying bitterly that he was not able to heal people of leprosy, and that the powerful King of Syria was only seeking another cause to quarrel with him. What kings say and what kings do many tongues tell, and Elisha the prophet, who had a house in white-walled Samaria, heard about the king's grief, and sent his servant Gehazi to give him a message,- "Why do you rend your clothes? Send the man to me!"

The king was delighted, and soon Naaman's chariot and horses, his armed guards and his brown camels, were standing at the door of the prophet's house. But only Gehazi appeared in answer to the captain's call. "Go," he said to the proud Syrian chief-"go and wash thyself seven times in the river Jordan, and thou shalt be healed, and be clean of thy leprosy." This was a message from his master Elisha, who was not coming out to see the great captain!

The Syrian chief was filled with anger at the man who dared to send him away from the prophet's door as if he were a beggar, and he exclaimed,- "I thought he would surely come out to see me, and stand and call on his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal me. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?" Springing into his chariot, he grasped the reins, and shook them as he brought his whip fiercely down on the horses' backs, causing them to leap forward from the door. The horses galloped swiftly through the narrow streets, and out by the gate in the city wall, and down the road to the plain, the guards and servants of the great captain following after him as quickly as they could. Naaman considered that he had been mocked by this foreign prophet, and was galloping back to Syria as quickly as he could. But horses cannot gallop for ever, however angry their masters may be; and when at length they came to a walking pace, Naaman began to talk with his friends about the insult he had received from the rude old prophet. Why should he bathe in the Jordan River, where the water was clay-white and often muddy, when he had his own rivers of Abana the golden and Pharpar the sweet, brimming with the finest water in the world? His friends did not answer him in his wrath; but they soon reached the ford of crossing, and if he would not bathe in the Jordan, he would have to ride through it, for there was no bridge. Then one of his friends gave him this piece of very good advice. "My father," he said, "if the prophet had told thee to do some hard thing, thou wouldst have done it. How much more shouldst thou obey him when what he commands is such a little thing as this?" Naaman's rage had passed off with the lashing of his horses and his furious driving, but his terrible leprosy remained. Was he going back to his master with the disease still upon him, to tell him that he had not done what the prophet had told him because it was too easy?

There was the white river rushing past at his feet. To ride so far and then refuse to wash would seem very foolish; so he changed his mind, and stopping his chariot at the water's edge, went into the stream and bathed, and to his surprise and delight was at once healed of his leprosy, so that his skin became like that of a little child. It was with a changed heart that he turned his horses' heads and drove slowly back out of the valley, and up the road to the hills down which he had just come clattering in his anger. When next he stood at the door of the prophet's little house all the pride was gone out of him. "Now I know," he said to the prophet, "that there is no God in all the world but in Israel. I pray thee to take a present from thy servant."

Elisha stood before him in worn cloak and sandals, his head covered with a striped kerchief, his eyes bright and piercing. The camels were there, laden with presents in their saddle-bags. "As God liveth, before whom I stand," exclaimed the old man, "I will take nothing." Gold and silver, fine clothing, sweet spices, scented oils, had no real value for him. They were only a few of the many things he could quite well do without. This Syrian chief had obeyed what was really the command of the living God, and that was much more important. The Syrian pressed him to take something, but the poor prophet would have nothing. Naaman then asked leave to carry away two mule loads of earth from Samaria, saying that he would never again offer sacrifice to idols after the manner of his own people, but would sacrifice to God only. Again Naaman shook the reins and cracked his whip as the horses sprang forward with the light chariot, the wooden wheels clattering on the stones.

Outside the city walls his servants scraped the earth together until they had filled two mule-sacks, and then the small band of Syrians, shouldering their spears, set out on the homeward road. Soon the eyes of the Syrian drivers saw the green palm-trees, the spires of glittering brass, and the white walls of Damascus. They were back again in their own country, bringing no camel-loads of plunder, no droves of stolen cattle, no chains of weeping slaves-only two sacks of earth from Samaria, and a chief with a healthy body and a grateful heart. If his wife was glad to see him, so also was the little Jewish maid; and we need not doubt that she would not be much longer a slave, but free-set free as a sign that Naaman the Syrian had a grateful heart for his little friend who had sent him to be healed by the prophet of Israel.

let me introduce myself ...

hello scarf sisters ... my name is saija ... (pronounced "sigh ya" ... )

our mutual - sweet friend - mrs. mac, has invited me to join your merry band of sisters ... thank you for the honour ... *smile*

notice "honour" is spelt a wee bit differently ... that's 'cause i'm a canadian gal (born in finland) and we keep to the british way of spelling certain words ... though spelling is not my strong suit!

i live in southern manitoba (cottage country) ...

i've been married to my sweetie for 36 years now ...

we don't have any children ... though we have had a number of furry family members over the years ... currently we share our condo with indie - a small black cat from a local shelter ...

our life is a little out of the ordinary in that my husband leo, has lived with chronic, disabling, back pain for 27 years  (2 failed back surgeries, plus the hospital stays, etc etc) - he was forced to take an early retirement ... without our faith in God, i truly don't think we could have survived some of the upheavel chronic pain brings with it ...

i've been blogging for almost 6 years now (www.saija.blogspot.com) ... unfortunately the last 2 years has been sporadic posting only! - but i've made such good friends through this way of communicating, that i don't want to stop blogging ... AND just a few weeks ago, i had my very first face to face encounter with one of my blogging buds ...

yup, the canadian gal herself - terry and her husband bernie ... it was so sweet of them to drop by for coffee and a chitchat ... they were such nice folks ...

just a brief intro ... i'm looking forward to whatever mrs. mac has up her sleave for the sisterhood of the travelling scarf this year ... blessings on your week!

An Indian Food Scrapbook

As the world turned Miss Apron and I decided to create a little Indian food scrapbook. She will resume her journal ling tomorrow.

India is a land of myriads of cuisines and tastes ranging from the very basic and frugal to the sinfully rich. You can eat from a banana leaf or from a dish covered with silver or gold leaf , the food is covered with a very thin layer of silver or gold sheet called warq, which is edible. I will search for some images of that.

Bharat Ek Bhoj
India One Feast

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. We got them from the Outlook magazine.
This is an Iyer family from South India. They are Brahmins, high caste Hindus.


A Bengali gentleman buying fish in Calcutta (Kolkata) The Bengalis must have fish on their table every day.

This is a traditional Kerala feast served on a banana leaf. I love their food, spicy with coconut flavoring. Their tamarind fish is divine. Dosas (stuffed rice pancakes) from Kerala are our national favourite. You can find Kerala eateries all over India, and they say jokingly even on the moon.

A Gujarati family is being served by their family chef. They are from Western India. You can find Gujarati settlers all over the world.They are very able businessmen.

Above is a family from Mewar, western India.

A conservative Muslim family from Hyderabad - Central India sits down to share a dastarkhan. Hyderabadi food is famous all over the world, specially their biryani (aromatic pilaf with meat).

A group of rich, elite people dining in a luxury hotel. They are having Punjabi food.

The Parsees or Zorashtrians migrated to India from Iran several centuries ago. Although they have adapted to Indian life, they have retained their uniqueness and rich eating habits. I enjoyed food prepared by my Parsee (Iranian) friend.

Mr Salman Khurshid (center) is a politian from my state. He is Muslim and his wife Louise is a Catholic from Mangalore (South India).

Here they are enjoying barbecued seekh kebabs.

Oh there is so much more to talk about . Food from Goa, Mumbai (Bombay) Punjab, Delhi, my own home state and Kashmir, may be another time.

Hope you enjoy a little glimpse into our cavernous Indian kitchen.

An E Ticket Party

For Miss Terry at Disneyland.  Let's go for a roller coaster of a ride as we help celebrate our ever thoughtful Scarf Sister ... Here's for a fun filled day ... enjoy your time with The Gift. 

You must have one pretty fat birthday/anniversary/holiday book sitting on your desk.  There's hardly an important date that you overlook.  Today is Nathan's turn to help his favorite 'auntie' have a great fun filled day.  

Happy birthday from The Mac Family!

Wishing our Golden Lady a Happy Golden Birthday

Dear Terry, Our Golden Lady,

all of us from around the world

join together to wish you

a very Happy and Blessed Birthday.

Your messages of encouragement,

Scripture verses,

uplifting music videos,

creative graphics,

and most of all your prayers

bless us so much.

Click Here For Images &
Happy Birthday Balloons Pictures

Reading about the warm and loving fellowship

you have as a family and church

drew me to your blog.

May God bless you as you serve in church
and Sunday School
Although we are invisible in this picture, we all are there in spirit in Mom Golden 's living room to celebrate this joyous day. May God give you many more to come.

Miss Apron suggested that we bake you a nice banana birthday cake. We put Miss Kitty next to it to say Hello to Bernie.
She wanted a raisin heart for you

Miss Apron wanted me to show the fridge magnet of the Canadian flag I have..

I love this beautiful hymn "The Lilly of the Valley and I want to dedicate it to you.