Gujhiya

I am not a cook but I love to entertain and experiment with new recipes and at the same time I cook all the traditional fare for the festivals that we celebrate. It is a little tougher here away from Traditional Indian markets because you don't get many of the prepped ingredients like you might find in India and neither do you have an experienced maid at your disposal that you can delegate things too but these limitations just add to the adventure of starting from the scratch.
Well not quite so cause I didn't grow/grind the wheat and neither did I adopt a cow for a pet... He..he...he...

Since I got so many hits on the Roti photo post, I decided to do a similar photo version of the process of making 'Gujhiyas'. Gujhiyas are a traditional holi festival dish and are made with a shell of wheat flour dough which is filled with various soft fillings, like jaggery and dried ginger, coconut, sweet semolina, milk solids. The milk solid (Khoya or Mava) filling is the most common gujhiya in North India and can be found in sweet shops there around the spring time. I think its closest food cousin on this side of the world would be the South American sweet 'Empanadas'.
Again since I am not a cook, there are no recipes from me but I'm sure there must be plenty available on the web if you have the urge to make some yourself.

First off, you start with Khoya for the filling and its a long and slow process that requires continuous attention of boiling milk slowly till it turns solid. I have had many friends ask me if there's a trick and how is that even possible but trust me it does eventually turns into a paste and then a drier paste too. I start this process a few days in advance and keep the khoya ready in the fridge for whenever I am ready to make Gujhiyas. And this is one step that I sometimes wish I could delegate to a 'help' or buy fresh from the market, but given the circumstances, DH is my biggest help and he usually does a better job of making khoya than me :-)



Thickening Milk




A few specks in the milk from when
I wasn't paying attention and milk stuck to the
bottom of the pan.



Turning into a loose paste



Almost there...





Filling is ready- mixed with sugar, a little coconut and raisins

Caution: Don't add nuts that can damage the shell cause if the gujhiya breaks while frying it spoils the oil in the pan and its tough to salvage that.

Roll the dough



Add the filling




Fold into a semicircle and seal edges



make a few at a time and store in a cheese cloth
to prevent from drying out



Fry it on high heat, till medium brown



And its ready to be devoured

Dohar

The last time I heard this word was from my Dadi’s conversation when I was still in the early years of my elementary school. The hindi word ‘Doharana’ in literal terms mean repeating and dohar would imply layers. It is a light summer quilt that used to be made out of fine, old , almost translucent, cotton saris and bound at the edges with heavier linen or satin to bring structural integrity to the layers.

In trying to describe and write what a dohar means, I am transported to a cool summer morning, on the terrace at my grandma's house hidden under the warmth of cool cotton layers that is blocking the gentle cool morning breeze and yet letting the warmth of morning sun filter in.

Now, you must wonder how I (we) could let go of something that felt so wonderful. It’s not just that, there is a lot more that we have forgotten that still lies along the curb of the roadways that we have traversed with great speed and dexterity focused solely on getting ahead and forgetting all that which couldn't keep up the pace. 

While reading online version of Lonny Magazine, I came across the article about textiles from south east Asia and reached the website, Mela and Roam. I explored the site for quite sometime and was held captive not just by the products but their names as well. Names like Orai, Fatehpur, Betul, reminds me of obscure train journeys and halts at unknown platforms that have taken a form to envelope nostalgia. 

There are many things like that, that tug on to the emotional and to quite an extent sensible strings of my heart; like the tussar silk where the cocoon is unraveled and not killed to make silk, the hand looms that provide livelihood and a means of expression to the village women, the iron molten and forced into an idea. And many many other arts like that which are dying a slow death burying within a culture and a generation and a philosophy which we should rather hold on to. 

DOHAR - image from Mela and Roam 

I'd like to revive and bring the things from comfortable pace of life to the fast paced life of ours, to cherish and appreciate the simpler times. 

After spending a significant amount of time at Mela and Roam, my resolve was strengthened, its a sign, its the direction that I have been looking for and I must not procrastinate any longer...

The Help - Book Review

Last week, I finished reading the book ‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett. I started this book after the conversations of similarities between the house hold of southern states in the 60s to the maid servant mentioned in the book ‘The space between us’ based in Mumbai. This book as I had mentioned was part of our book club reading last year and evoked a lot of conversation about women and their rights in general.

The movie, ‘The Help’ also came out last year and I had to read the book before I watched the movie. I loved reading the book and even though I was falling behind on reading my current book club book but I couldn’t put it down.

I liked the writing style of the author and the way she developed the characters, you could almost feel their presence and imagine their voiceless frustrations. The book is about the black ladies who served as ‘Help’ in the white homes often neglecting their own homes and kids and a white lady’s effort to bring their point of view to light. It was set in the early 60s during the thick of the civil rights movement. The burning issues highlighted in the book would have been relevant at any time even today but the back drop of civil rights movement added a clichéd drama for added touch.

The words and situations in the book often transported me and I found myself in the familiar pages of books read previously, like the living conditions maid servant of ‘The space between us’ in the slums of a developing country and the way she was forbidden from sitting on the same furniture that she cleaned every day.

Also, in ‘The American Wife’, there was mention of clubs where blacks weren’t forbidden to join but there were still no black members. And also the stern reprimand tone of Alice’s Mother-in-law when she went to the Opera with the house maid. Although these were a few years after the Civil Rights movement and the book was based in Chicago but it’s interesting to monitor the pace of change, seems so slow when one is working towards it and eagerly anticipates its arrival.

I guess dramatic revolutionary changes effect the minds of a few people who care to think different and then those minds slowly churn the wheel of time and set the stage for change. Had those few people not acted on their impulse and on their belief or had procrastinated to act on their decisions, we’d never had seen the change. I guess, I am veering off topic, but needless to say I like books that make me think and especially if the main characters are women. It made me think about the past, about how we live and take things granted today and also about the things that I am procrastinating on and need to take action…

And about the book but a slight different topic, the Doves on the cover of the book and their significance is inspiring me to paint my own Doves, hopefully soon.

Lorax - the movie

Last week was Spring Break for kids and I didn’t have enough vacation hours stored away to take time off and allow myself a leisure break away from the regular routine. Like any another time but with a little more intensity, mothers’ guilt hung over my head every time I picked them from after school program, specially so because the weather was gorgeous totally unlike Minnesota in March.

Both DH and I managed to take the Fridays of the spring break off and spent time with the girls. This Friday we took the girls to see ‘Lorax’, of course made both girls read the book before we took them to see it. It was a fun movie and I didn’t have many comments because I didn’t read the book, let me try to re-phrase that. I started the book (with droopy eyelids on my bedside) and finished the book (while helping my 4 year old) but the middle was somehow left out.

So, I am presenting the reviews of others about the movie.

My 4 year old love the movie, her favorite part was that Lorax picked his bottom to fly to the sky just like he did in the book illustration. She has declared herself a ‘girl’ Lorax and still giggles thinking about a few dialogues that left an impression on her.

My 7 year old loved the book more than the movie. She said the movie was good but she liked the book better but didn’t give any specifics. I can relate to that because I go through similar emotions when the vivid scenes of my imaginations while reading the book don’t match up the movie version.

DH also thought that besides glamorizing the story they could have done a better job at including the subtle nuances of the book, like including the names of the fishes and bears that made the book so fun but were missed out in the movie.

Project Life - an update, week 4 & 5

Before you think that I have given up on documenting life through album 'Project life', here's an update from week 4 and week 5. Again I'm sorry about the quality of pictures of these pages because I know they can be much better yet I am happy that they are crappy pictures that no one would want to copy and manipulate.

WEEK4:

 WEEK 5:

And as for the coming weeks and my strategy to keep up with this documentation of our lives, I usually capture the story and notes from day to day in the album and then get pictures printed about once every 3-4 weeks. I have yet to experiment with printing pictures at home but for now, I seem to be struggling with the want of time so that I can crop and add pictures that I have already printed.

Some of the notes from weeks gone by preserved in my albums and waiting for pictures to accompany them on this story telling journey...



Fiesta Plate with thumb prints

Volunteering at young kids’ school is a very fulfilling experience. I'll put it in the same category as spending time with your nieces and nephews. You can have fun, spoil them, buy them presents, feed them candy and before the sugar rush hits, you get to go home. No need to discipline them, grade them or monitor their progress... You get the point, right?


Last month, I helped second graders type up their story so that they can illustrate them and publish their own stories. It was such a great insight and a wonderful new perspective to encounter. As I read the stories while correcting small mistakes and helping them find letters on the keyboard, I realized these kids are their own unique authors with different styles of writing. Some like to talk one on one in their stories, others indulge in smaller details of life. There were some that like to make up their own words to make it sound funny and carry the full impact. There were also some that really liked drama that used blood and scratches and falling down on the roadway with elaborate attention. Reading their stories were equally fun but if they all take up writing as their career, I already know which ones would be my favorite assuming that they don’t curb their natural style.

Speaking of volunteering for kids, Last week was the big fundraiser for kids school and I helped out with the class project. It was a chip and salsa plate that we decorated in the ‘fiesta’ theme using thumb prints and then adding a few strokes to make them look like salsa ingredients. Of course it totally depended on the same the kids printed but we had everything from garlic and spring onions to avocado and lime. Here are some shots of the plate in the making.

Tiny little thumb prints

Numbers to identify the kids



Plate finalized, just before glazing




Plate ready for auction



I hope this dish inspires you to take up a project of your own, just with the little ones or for the whole family. I also helped decorate the dinning /silent auction room for the ‘fiesta’ gathering and will share those with you too in another post.