Something to snack on

In my quest for finding healthy and nutritious snack options for the boy, I suddenly remembered the ultimate sweet dish from Maharashtra, the very humble, the very superstar, Puran Poli. Back in my university in Hyderabad, there was a hot chips joint right outside the university where they used to sell home made fresh Puran Polis. Quite naturally, I drifted to the internet for recipes and the first ever puran poli I made from scratch was born. It was not as hard as I thought. Instead of the maida prescribed in most recipes, I used whole grain wheat and it tasted just as good. 

Here, take a look at the lovely thing. 

Check out the sweet lentil filling inside...

Just look at it.

Going.

Going.

Going.

Gone.

Yumm!

Now if anyone at all cares for the recipe, this is how I did it.

I cooked the chana dal in a pressure cooker, then fried it some more with grated jaggery and ghee until it was dry.

Kneaded dough with some sugar, salt and turmeric powder. Filled the sweet lentil mixture inside the small dough balls, if you are familiar with the aloo paratha process, that is exactly how. Then I rolled it and fried it with a dash of ghee.

The quantities were haphazard. Just improvise as you go, will you.

Be brave and try.

Recycle Bug in Neon Yellow

Recycling junk into art is an incurable disease. I haven't been recycling stuff for the longest period until I went to Kerala and picked up these uneven sized plywood waste from the kitchen remodelling happened in our neighbourhood. The plywood pieces metamorphosed into neon yellow and black statement deco pieces for the brother's room. So glad by the way it turned out. 

Here. 

Neon yellow and black were the only available paints at home. I like how it turned out.

Chevron is a pattern I heart.

Nicey Nicey.

Jackfruit Hunter, Chick Magnet

Our kerala vacation is ending today. Some highlights from the month long stay. 

The boy grabbed some noses...

and was the welcomed guest of honour in neighbourhood households, really, I get it when people say it takes an entire village to raise a child.

So he danced around in chaddis,
and hopped on to autorickshaws...

and was in general pleased with his lifestyle...

He witnessed the dismembering of many a jackfruit bodies...

and supervised if the cut was nice and neat...

and tasted the jackfruit to see if it was just the right kind of ripe...

he even had his beloved ancy aunty to give him company in jackfruit tasting...

but when Ancy aunty and grandmom fussed over the jackfruit being not ripe enough, he lost interest and walked way. Chinnu chechy was the only one who kept a watchful eye.

Alone the jackfruit pilot went to wash his hands near the washing stone,

and shared heart laughs...

and together they ventured to another venue where the chicks are...

The boy liked playmates in his eye level...

So he summoned them to come closer....

He tried harder...

But they were as stubborn as, well, a bunch of chicks.

The boy pleaded again to come play with him.

But then he decided that he has had enough...

So he thought he will leave...

He turned around to look back one last time...

Then "kakka" (crow) got his attention, he was thrilled.

But oh wait, the story doesn't end there, for the chicks came looking for the boy.

And they played for a while...

And then he danced around among chicks...

Lo and behold, meet the original chick magnet!

Adventures of the boy will continue from Delhi. :)

Farm Animals we met

 In Delhi, chicken was the frozen meat that came in a packet which we cooked and ate. In Kerala, chicken are those pretty two legged runners who makes his evenings lively. After a month long chicken rearing and chakka-manga-thenga-perakka hunting, we decided to go meet some new farm animals. We went to meet a local farm in Neendoor, Kottayam called JYes Farm where the boy met lots of strange new living things. 

For example the goose. 

Or the strange and ancient Emu. The emu gave him the scare of his life. The boy now calls every bird kakka ( crow). Emu was a big scary kakka he met. He was excited and bewildered to meet this gigantic bird. That night he woke up in his sleep crying "kaakka"!! This is the boy's second nightmare, the first was on that dreadful night last year when he met the Ganesh Chathurthi Yo yo honey singh enthusiasts on the road in a traffic jam.

We like jumping around. 

Like, a lot. 

See, maamaa, Kaakka!!!

Ammachi and the boy.

The boy made friends at the park.

And sat next to a huge cart wheel which was brightly painted!

Fun!