Last weekend I had to buy rice and wasn't sure if I should get the long grain rice from any of the American stores or first see if the Indian store has some rice in stock. I happened to be at a store in Sunnyvale and I found that they had lots of sona masoori rice bags and even price seems to have dropped by $10, to $24.95 for a 20lb bag.
Yaay, so I got a bag of rice this time without feeling very guilty :)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
When was nonbu really?
Most of us Indians that live here have this practice of celebrating Indian festivals right on the same date as it is celebrated in India. In reality, the actual date of the festival is determined based on the position of the moon and it varies every year. It never occurred to me until my husband's cousin told us that. Now, that I think of it, when you are in a different geographic location the position of moon does differ and that would mean the auspicious time to celebrate a certain festival might not be the same date and time as it is in India.
This year karadaiyan nonbu happened to fall on Friday for us in USA but most people observed it on Saturday. I don't know if I'm very pious but I do like to observe the religious stuff at the right time, so at the beginning of this year, I went ahead and purchased the calender from the Livermore temple and use it to determine when to celebrate or perform all the religious rituals.
As I'm writing this I just realized that my mother-in-law had actually looked up the right day for the nonbu here and told me the correct date right at the first go :). That's really awesome that she made sure she gave me the right date.
Anyways, if you do care about doing things at the right time it might just be a good idea to either refer to the temple's calendar or purchase a calendar.
This year karadaiyan nonbu happened to fall on Friday for us in USA but most people observed it on Saturday. I don't know if I'm very pious but I do like to observe the religious stuff at the right time, so at the beginning of this year, I went ahead and purchased the calender from the Livermore temple and use it to determine when to celebrate or perform all the religious rituals.
As I'm writing this I just realized that my mother-in-law had actually looked up the right day for the nonbu here and told me the correct date right at the first go :). That's really awesome that she made sure she gave me the right date.
Anyways, if you do care about doing things at the right time it might just be a good idea to either refer to the temple's calendar or purchase a calendar.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Poori
Yaay...my husband and I had plans of having channa batura at Dosa place this weekend but had to compromise that plan. In the end we decided to make poori at home. I had made poori once before, and that was 3 or 4 years ago. I wasn't 100% sure but still decided to make it as we still had some lasagna that we baked as back up.
Even though I knew the basics I was looking up for poori recipes online but the fancy ones were really fancy therefore I just stuck to the recipe I knew. Here's the basic recipe:
1. 2.5 cups of wheat flour (I used 160ml cups)
2. 1/2 tsp baking powder
3. oil (for mixing and then frying)
4. salt (0.5 - 1 tsp)
5. Warm water (3/4 - 1 cup)
I kinda like poori simply because the chances of screwing up is very less. Anyways, here's the directions
First mix wheat flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. I typically use 2 tbsp of oil when mixing the dough. First add 1 tbsp oil and some warm water and start mixing, continue adding water as required, once the dough starts to get pliable add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and mix well. Add water sparingly during the mixing procedure as the dough shouldn't have excess water. Once the dough is pliable and doesn't stick to your fingers it's time for you to set it aside. Just cover it and leave it alone for 20-30 mins (you could continue to make poori's without leaving the dough aside as well).
Now knead the dough once more and start making small 1.5 inch rounds with the dough mixture. Now start rolling the dough rounds that you made. Typically roll them out to have 4 or 5 inch diameter. The key to making nice poori is to have uniform thickness. First roll the center nicely and then roll around the corners so that the whole thing has uniform thickness. Even when you lift it to drop in the frying pan, the shape shouldn't change. If the dough is rolled out thin, there'll be elongations where you touch 'em.
Now heat generous amount of oil in a pan, drop the rolled out poori's gently, once the dough on the side on top rises, its time to turn the poori around to cook the other side. Poori's done once both sides are cooked. If you notice that the poori's turn to deep brown instead of golden then its time to turn down the heat. I use a gas stove so I have more precise heat control, but with electric stoves, it might just be better to have the heat set at med or med-hi.
Note: You can substitute half of wheat flour with maida if you want the poori's to be more softer.
We had a really great meal last night and I still think poori is one of the easiest dishes to make.
Even though I knew the basics I was looking up for poori recipes online but the fancy ones were really fancy therefore I just stuck to the recipe I knew. Here's the basic recipe:
1. 2.5 cups of wheat flour (I used 160ml cups)
2. 1/2 tsp baking powder
3. oil (for mixing and then frying)
4. salt (0.5 - 1 tsp)
5. Warm water (3/4 - 1 cup)
I kinda like poori simply because the chances of screwing up is very less. Anyways, here's the directions
First mix wheat flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. I typically use 2 tbsp of oil when mixing the dough. First add 1 tbsp oil and some warm water and start mixing, continue adding water as required, once the dough starts to get pliable add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and mix well. Add water sparingly during the mixing procedure as the dough shouldn't have excess water. Once the dough is pliable and doesn't stick to your fingers it's time for you to set it aside. Just cover it and leave it alone for 20-30 mins (you could continue to make poori's without leaving the dough aside as well).
Now knead the dough once more and start making small 1.5 inch rounds with the dough mixture. Now start rolling the dough rounds that you made. Typically roll them out to have 4 or 5 inch diameter. The key to making nice poori is to have uniform thickness. First roll the center nicely and then roll around the corners so that the whole thing has uniform thickness. Even when you lift it to drop in the frying pan, the shape shouldn't change. If the dough is rolled out thin, there'll be elongations where you touch 'em.
Now heat generous amount of oil in a pan, drop the rolled out poori's gently, once the dough on the side on top rises, its time to turn the poori around to cook the other side. Poori's done once both sides are cooked. If you notice that the poori's turn to deep brown instead of golden then its time to turn down the heat. I use a gas stove so I have more precise heat control, but with electric stoves, it might just be better to have the heat set at med or med-hi.
Note: You can substitute half of wheat flour with maida if you want the poori's to be more softer.
We had a really great meal last night and I still think poori is one of the easiest dishes to make.
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