The vadaam tradition

This write-up is for Tharini's theme on traditions this month at DMC. With the festival season in swing now with navarathri under way, I first wanted to do a post on Navarathri and Deepavali, but I changed my mind and I am going to do this post on a slightly different topic – the ‘vadakam/vathal’ (rice crispies) preparing tradition. I don’t know if this officially qualifies as a tradition but this has been something in which everyone in our family were involved in and we enjoyed every bit of it. For people who are not aware of vadakams (vadaams as I call it) – they are deep fried crispies made out of rice flour or sago and have a gorgeous, melt-in-your-mouth taste and they are excellent side dishes with traditional South Indian rice items like lemon rice or puliyodharai. It is also an excellent snack, not very healthy though ;) and it comes second only to pakoda to be enjoyed on a rainy day with a cup of tea. Usually the vadaam season starts in late April or early May before Agni Nakshatram (the time when temperatures peak during the summer). My Paati (Paternal Grand Mom) initiates the preparations and all the ingredients needed like Javvarisi (sago/sabudhana), green chillies, lemon would be purchased and ticked off the list. The veshti (dhoti) on which the vadaams are laid on, are washed thoroughly and dried. My Grand mom used to prepare several different kinds of vadakam – thenkuzhal vadakam, javvarisi vadakam, koozh vadakam are the usual stuff. Sometimes the more exotic varieties like vengaya vadaam (onion vadaam)also feature on the menu.

Before the day vadaams are prepared, Paati instructs me to go to the milling machine near our house and grind the soaked and dried up rice according to the vadaam requirement. She would find a teeny weeny piece of paper, she didn’t like wastage :) and write down in tiny hand writing the exact way in which the flour should be ground. The lady at the mill was very respectful and affectionate towards Paati and she would follow Paati’s instructions very religiously and grind the rice flour exactly like Paati wants. On that day, everyone is usually awake at the crack of dawn and she prepares the dough for the vadaams. Each vadaam requires a different proportion of ingredients and cooking time. I find the vadaam dough absolutely delicious (even better than the vadaam itself) and would eat some when Paati or Amma are not looking :) Paaati prepares all the dough patiently and everyone is ready to go to the terrace at our home by 5 ‘o’ clock in the morning. There the dhotis are laid down and stones are placed in the corners to prevent it from flying. Then the prepared dough is put into thenkuzhal achu (mould) and would be pressed onto the dhoti in neat rows. If it is koozh vadaam then we would just take it in a ladle and pour it in a oval shape on the dhoti. I, my sister and my Mom would press the vadaam onto the dhoti while Paati would supervise. We would place a black umbrella nearby to scare away the crows that come to eat the vadaam. It would take a good two hours before all the dough is finished and laid out in neat rows on the dhoti and the sun would have risen by then. There the vadaams would lie, on our terrace drying up in the sun all day. In the evening we would bring it back and then dry the vadaams a few more times until it is nice and crisp. Of course the best part is eating puliyodharai with the deep fried newly prepared vadaams. Every year we used to look forward to this vadaam tradition though I haven’t done it here in Portland. So vadaam is kind of a rare commodity here and I always ask my Mom or In laws to pack some vadaams when they visit here. Not too bad if I indulge once in a while isn't it?
And here is a picture of the yummy vadaams! The last few pieces left in my stock actually.

Developing Lifelong Relationship...

[posted by Sheela at The Joy of My Life]

... with Food.

Yes, indeed, with Food!

Ever look back on the wee one's infancy days with nostalgia? How easy it was to just pack a bottle or two of formula or breast milk (just in case privacy turned out to be elusive, like at the supermarket), or even just a bottle or two of mush... ummm... I mean, Stage 1 or Stage 2 foods? (Or even just raagi or oats or rice cereal and a bit of juice or water, plus a spoon)?

While it is true that food is a form of nourishment to keep the body and soul together, as many moms know, it can also become a constant point of contention with our wee ones around toddlerhood.

One of the good advices I got from my mom and close family is to never make the dining table (or highchair) a battleground. Food should not add to the child's anxiety. They already have enough to contend with. If gentle coercion fails, find alternate methods. After all, who said parenting was easy? And why should we expect a child, a tiny little entity discovering the world, to understand why broccoli and spinach is better than French fries and pizza every night? Because I said so is not an acceptable answer, at least not for me :)

Another piece of advice that came in handy for me is to encourage independence by putting the food out in front of the wee ones and allowing them to have control over picking and putting the food in their mouths. Of course, once they have the dexterity and co-ordination, that is... (Rather than running behind them trying to shove food in their mouths with the dreaded "Eat this now or else...").

Although I thought this piece of advice was bogus, it actually seemed to have some validity based on some studies at Pennsylvania State University: don't reward if they eat the good food, and don't punish if they reject the good food. Rather, encourage healthy habits by only providing "allowed" foods at all times and staying reassuringly neutral.

There have been ongoing studies on Children's Eating Behavior. As this article in Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics endeavors to show:

The first years of life mark a time of rapid development and dietary change, as children transition from an exclusive milk diet to a modified adult diet. During these early years, children's learning about food and eating plays a central role in shaping subsequent food choices, diet quality, and weight status. Parents play a powerful role in children's eating behavior, providing both genes and environment for children. For example, they influence children's developing preferences and eating behaviors by making some foods available rather than others, and by acting as models of eating behavior.
...
To meet the challenge of promoting healthy weight in children in the current eating environment, parents need guidance regarding alternatives to traditional feeding practices.

Another article I came across (wish I had bookmarked it) quoted that nutritionist Susan Roberts of Tufts University supports the "Rule of 15″ — parents must set down a food at least 15 times before a child will begin to like it. However, this does not mean we offer broccoli 15 times in a row every meal, every day till the child relents.

This particular Rule of 15, or Rule of 10 more like it in my case, has been true with Ana. I usually offer her what we eat. The first few times I offered beetroot she outrightly refused to touch it. And each time, I tried it with different texture and flavor - say, grated, diced, sliced, sautéed with spices, tossed with lemon juice and olive oil and what-not. Eventually, even though I can't go so far as to say she loves it and asks for it all the time, she at least eats the small serving I offer her these days.

By the same token, if after repeated attempts, the food still stands rejected, then, simply accept it and move on. Since babyhood Ana has disliked sweet potato. I've tried different presentations of it and to this day she still will not eat more than the first bite that I manage with, "Try it and tell me if you like it...just one bite, OK?"

And that could be genetics, per the NYT article I read recently. Apparently, a recent study by Dr. Lucy Cooke in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), managed to quantify the genetic and environmental influence on food neophobia^† in children. And the results do seem to support that dislike for certain new foods could be genetic.

^†It was interesting to read that food neophobia (fear of new foods) is an essential and possibly a survival skill: after all, we could not have had many cave babies heading out into the forest and putting anything and everything they found along the way into their mouths and live to tell the tale :)

While it is very tempting to mush down the sweet potato and disguise it somehow and pass it off along with another favorite food, and hopefully feel satisfied that it got into her system, it does not help her learn to like the sweet potato, so I prefer not to do it. If the idea is to get Ana to try new foods and develop a liking for them and thereby establish a lifelong relationship with healthy foods, this strategy of morphing and sneaking it in feels counter-intuitive to me. But, hey, as a mom, if that happens to be my last resort for my undernourished/underweight baby, I'll have to go for it!

Many days, I know I just need to eat for sustenance, but, my favorite pippali rasam and rice with green beans paruppusili seems unpalatable when served 3 times a day for even just 3 consecutive days.

Not because it is not healthy or tasty. Intellectually, as adults we can fathom that much. But, variety is the spice of life. And we eat with more than just the mouth - visual and olfactory senses complete our meal experience.

So, how can I expect to pick a battle with a mere child over this? She barely grazes most days. And sometimes, she sits with us for dinner and within seconds I can tell she will not eat another morsel but she still sits with us at the table till I clear the food away. Except, I save her portion, just in case... And, true enough, some days, she was just not ready even if the clock said so. And when I offer her the saved portion later, she polishes it off...

Anyway, keeping an eye on overall nutrition (instead of balancing every meal), offering healthy food choices and being consistent about it, accepting the fact that certain of our food presentations are going to be rejected and not taking it personally are a few things I have learnt so far, and am sure there is plenty more to learn as Ana grows up :)

p.s: Broccoli happens to be Ana's favorite - it is just a placeholder in this post for the dreaded/hated toddler food - whatever that might be in your case :D

p.p.s: just thought I'd add a note to clarify, after leaving a comment: the point is not to deny certain foods (ex: what we call junk, empty calories) but to restrict and find a balance... how can we help the child develop a good relationship with food so they make healthy choices is what I wanted to get across here :) And there is no easy answer - we can only keep teaching ourselves and our children...

Little crafted box cars

[This post is written by Tharini of Winkie's Way.]

As if Winkie does not have enough train engines, freight cars and track sets, I set out to give him one more. This time crafted from scratch, with the simplest of materials lying around the house. The original idea came in a little weekly craft newsletter. Usually I would glance through them, and since I won't have one or the other raw material at home, I would reject it. But a quick look at the list of stuff needed for this craft and I knew I wanted to try it with Winkie. Take a look at the list yourself. Isn't it simple and easy?

4 matchboxes
Paint
Buttons or black stickers
Aluminium foil
Glue
Scissors
Marker pen
Ribbon

Cool huh?

I didn't follow the exact instructions. Once I got a rough idea, I did my own thing.

1. Took out all the little boxes from the matchbox and painted them in different colours.

2. Took a little ribbon and glued the boxes to the ribbon, so all the box cars get connected.

3. Glued on little coloured buttons for the wheels.

4. Cut half a matchbox and glued it on to the first car, so it becomes the engine.

5. You can used scrunched up circles of foil glued on to the first car, and make it the train lights, or use little silver sequins like me.

6. As an additional personal touch, and since I had them at home, I used some alphabet beads I had lying around (I was to make key chains for every member of the family with those, abandoned the idea when R refused to use his!)...and glued them on to the boxcars, named after Winkie and Thambi.

This was the result. In the original idea, they used the matchbox covers as the actual box cars, and the match'box' with the open side up, was laid on top, and filled with little pebbles so it had the total freight car feel. I should do it that way next time.

Winkie does like them, and its easy for him to play with this mini set on the dining table. And for the past 24 hours, he has set aside his Thomas Trains and Salty engines for the simple pleasures of home made goods.

Weaning foods

One of my friends told me about this wonderful weaning food that her sister used to make. Of course, by the time I had my kids, I did not remember the original recipe but I did remember the gist of it, and made this for both my kids. My kids' paediatrician found it a very healthful recipe and has been recommending it to her other weaning mums. This is supposed to be a traditional Karnataka recipe.

Ingredients: 1 cup each
Plain rice
Wheat flour
Ragi
Moong Dal
Almonds

Dry roast each of the ingredients and keep aside to cool.
Grind it all into a fine powder and mix to ensure all the ingredients have blended well together.
You can store it in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

When making it for the baby, simply boil with plain water, soup/ veg stock or milk until it becomes a porridgey looking dish. You can serve this plain or add mashed vegetables and a dash of ghee.

Snacks for Kids

This is something I had posted on my food blog, and I am reposting it here, because both the recipes are great for kids. Many of my food memories center around summer holidays during childhood. One of the snacks that we loved the most was Hacchida Avalakki - something that I also began craving when I was expecting my son. I don't know whether it was because he had so much of it indirectly, but this is a favourite dish of my son's too.

Sometime that year, my cousins had come from Dharwad, and one of them had carried a delicious avalakki( poha/ flattened rice) snack which is ludicrously easy to make and low cal too. I often make it and store it during the summer, as it's light, quick to make and enjoyed by everyone.

Avalakki

2-3 cups flattened rice/ poha ( try to get the thinner variety)

1 cup shelled peanuts with the skin on

1 handful curry leaves

2 tsp black mustard seeds

5-6 byadgi chillies ( Karnataka chillies)

1/2 tsp asafoetida (heeng)

1/2 cup dessicated coconut cut into fine slivers

Salt to taste

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp oil

On a sunny day, spread the avalakki out on a clean paper and leave it out in the sun for 3-4 hours. It will get nice and crisp.

In a large bandley (wok), heat the oil.

Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop.

Then add the turmeric, the asafoetida, the chillies and the curry leaves. Fry until the chillies and curry leaves are crisp.

Add the dessicated peanuts and cook, stirring occasionally, until the skin darkens and any exposed bits turn pale brown.

Add the coconut slivers and fry until they turn light brown.

Add in the avalakki, the salt and the pepper and stir to mix everything well.

Store in an airtight jar.

I love the smell of heeng so I tend to add more of it than I've mentioned.

Hacchida Avalakki

1 cup avalakki ( plain poha)

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tbsp oil

2-3 green chillies, finely chopped

Handful grated fresh coconut

1 cucumber, finely chopped

1 red onion, finely chopped

Handful coriander leaves, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime ( or more, to taste)

Salt to taste

In a bandley, heat the oil.

Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop.

Add the avalakki and stir briskly for a few minutes so it turns crisp, and turn off the heat.

Add all the other ingredients, lime juice last, and stir to mix well.

Serve immediately, and eat fast before it turns soggy! Omit the green chillies and reduce the quantity of onions for younger kids. Also, in the avalakki recipe, omit the nuts in case you are worried about allergies.

Kids Food festival

Hi Ladies,
The DesiMomzclub is proud to announce "Kids Food festival". This is a unique online food festival hosted for the first time on DMC and we would like to get inputs from all members. I request each member of DMC to contribute a kid-friendly recipe every week on Saturday, complete with pictures and method of preparation. If you do not have the time or opportunity to post the recipe, please email me (mnamma@gmail.com) the recipes and the pictures and I would post it on DMC on your behalf. So ladies mark your calendars for every Saturday starting from today as ‘Kid food festival day’ and share with us some of your wonderful recipes and let us make this food festival a huge success. All the food bloggers who have yummy, kid-friendly recipes posted on your blog – you are welcome to repost it on the DMC blog. The rules for participating in the food festival are pretty simple as outlined by Sandeepa of Bong Mom’s cook book:

1) Food should be healthy.

2) Food should be suitable for infants who have started on solids or lunch dishes for toddlers and preschool kids.

3) Food should be such that, it can be packed for lunch and be eaten with minimum mess.

4) Food should be primarily Indian in nature as we want the kiddies to develop a love for Indian food.

5) Food should be fun. Colorful foods decorated in creative ways are bound to be well liked by toddlers and preschoolers.

6) Food should not be very spicy, keep in mind the target eaters.

7) Mom or any one should not spend more than 30-40 minutes on preparation.

8) Please use the label ‘kid food fest’ on all your posts related to the food festival.

9) Please specify the age group for which he recipe you would be posting is appropriate.



I am pretty sure most of the Moms reading this would have experienced the dismay of opening the lunch boxes of their toddlers or preschool kids who have returned from school, only to find it untouched or half eaten. The child returns homes cranky, hungry and tired and almost the entire day is ruined because of that. I have faced that situation a lot of times myself. Our wonderful Tharini of Winkies-Way fame had posted on this topic , a few days back on her blog space.

My twin daughters have strong likes/dislikes with regard to food and it is quite a challenge to keep them happy and cater to their taste and at the same time be uncompromising in nutrition. They want their food not too hot or spicy, not too bland, not too hard to bite, not too mushy but just right – like the story of 'Goldilocks and the three bears'. I have a few recipes that have been a hit with my 4 year old daughters and I would like to share them with you. The recipe that I am posting here is the ubiquitous 'vegetable rice' or 'vegetable pulao'. This one has a lot of nutrients in it and is also very easy to prepare. This dish is suitable for toddlers and preschoolers in the age group of 3-6. This is how I prepare it:

Ingredients
Basmati rice – 2 cups
Cardamom – 3
Cloves – 2 or 3
Bay leaves – 1 or 2
Cinnamon stick - one inch piece
Mustard seeds, cumin and fennel seeds for seasoning.
Garam masala powder – a pinch
Salt – according to taste
Olive oil – 6 teaspoons
Butter or ghee – a small quantity for the aroma.
Onion
Ginger garlic paste – about half teaspoon
Green chilies (minced) – 1 (This is optional and if your toddler or preschooler doesn’t eat hot food you don’t need to add chilies)

Carrot
Beans
Cauliflower
Red Bell pepper (I use this because of the sweeter taste and the color)
Potato
Peas
Coriander – for garnishing
Any other vegetable that your child may prefer.





I use about 3 cups of all these chopped vegetables. You may add more according to your taste. Cook the basmati rice separately in a rice cooker with a little bit of salt, bay leaves, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon stick added to it.
In a pan, sauté mustard seeds, cumin and fennel in a little bit of olive oil. Add onions and ginger, garlic, green chili paste. Sauté it until the onions change color. Then add the veggies. Cook until the veggies are cooked and then add salt and the garam masala powder. Mix the cooked rice with the veggies and then add the butter or ghee and mix together well. Garnish with coriander. Serve with cucumber or onion raitha. This recipe takes about 40 minutes including chopping the vegetables.

Posts from Moms of Infants who have just started solids are also very welcome. We would love to hear about a tasty and nutritious first food you made for your baby. I remember Poppins posting a recipe like this a while back. So come on ladies – put on your chef caps and show us the magic you can create to bring a contended, well-fed smile to those little faces.

Traditions

What a lovely theme as we begin the festive season. It's interesting that each and every family has its own traditions and rituals, quite apart from social traditions, that we adopt, and over time these play such an important role in knitting the familt unit together. Some of the traditions are so strange, at times, that only the family will ever understand the in-joke!

We're not a very traditional family ( tradition in the social/ religious sense) - by family I mean me, my husband and our two kids - because my husband and I are from opposite corners of India - I'm South Indian, he's from the North, I'm Hindu, he is Muslim. My parents are extremely traditional, and you will hear the lovely strains of Sanskrit shlokas being chanted every morning as each of them does their puje, and the food is by and large typically traditional Kannadiga/ Mysore food too. Each festival has some set things in the puje, and on the menu. For Gowri Habba, we used to make little Gowri figurines out of turmeric, and always buy a Goowri and Ganesha idol made of clay from Bangalore. My mother decorates the Gowri idol beautifully and till date has kept up the tradition of calling friends and neighbours over for Arshna-Kumkuma ( haldi-kumkum) in the evening on those two days. Guests are always served Shundal in little leaf-cups. My father, if he happens to travel South before the festival, always gets beautiful flower strings - Mallige, sampige, kanakaambra - which are also given away to the guests. Ganesha Chathurthi always meant Karjikaayi and Diwali usually means Holige of some kind. On birthdays, my mom always made a festive meal, complete with the birthday person's favourite kheer.

One of the traditions my parents started was that of Christmas. We always used to have a christmas tree at home, sometimes even one just made out of paper and pasted onto a wall. My folks would play Jim Reeves' carols all day. On Christmas eve, dad would sneak a present under our pillows. That's a tradition we continue in our home too. I decorate a Norfolk Pine tree, which has nice weight-bearing branches, with lovely Kashmiri papier mache decorations and we play carols at home. I try and bake cookies, or at least bring home a fruit cake. We usually have a festive Christmas meal, which is as continental as I can make it, with Red pepper soup, Potatoes Dauphinoise, a quiche or vegetable pie, salad and the cake, of course. And presents - but of course!

Another tradition my parents started when we lived in Bangalore was that of Beladingalu Oota - Dinner by moonlight. On full moon nights, my mother would set our food out on the floor of the enormous balcony of our house in Bangalore. We would eat only by the light of the moon, enjoying the strange, pale light and the unusual flavour it added to the food. That's something I plan to start as soon as my daughter turns three.

One of the most beautiful rituals we have is that a baby's first outing, apart from doctor's visits, has to be to a place of worship. Of course with our mixed up household, we went the whole hog. First we took our kids to the Baha'i Temple, as being a neutral place, then a mosque, a gurdwara and then a temple!

We have started a tradition of having an open house party midway between Id and Diwali. We call all our friends and colleagues - with the caveat that the colleagues have to be friends, not just co-workers - and we have a menu which is kind of set by now. We cater in the Biryani and kebabs from one particular place called Matka Pir in Delhi. I usually make a spiced rice dish for the vegetarians. And one dish that all our guests remember year upon year and pre-request just in case I had plans of turning lazy that year is Badaam Halwa. it's quite a painstaking dish to make, and last year, since I was back at work full time with a 4 month old baby in tow, it took me a full week to make it. All our friends look forward to this party, since it is one place they know they'll meet everybody, and our guest list keeps growing. Last year we counted 94 people before we gave up! We love hosting this year after year, even though we're dog tired by the end of it, because with today's crazy schedules, that's the only time we can count on seeing all our friends.