Steps towards self-sufficiency - Homemade turmeric powder

 I have been dreaming about and slowly working towards partial self-sufficiency in a few things that can be managed in a mostly urban area. Due to the lack of growing space and lack of time, complete self-sufficiency is not going to be possible. But there are quite a lot of things that I can still do in my urban home so as not to purchase every single thing from a store. The reasons are two fold - by not consuming a lot of processed things, I hope to maintain good health for my family for a long time. The second reason stems from my effort to be ecologically conscious, to try to tread as lightly as possible on this earth for as long as we are privileged to be here! 

To that end, I have been growing some vegetables and herbs in my backyard. As a full time working mom of two boys, I haven't been able to devote a lot of focused time to the kitchen garden and that shows in my sporadic harvests. But this past year has been slightly better. Although I got to a late start and didn't grow as many plants, I still got a very decent harvest of long beans, Armenian cucumbers, okra, amaranth, cow peas, cluster beans and spring onions. I also grew mint, rosemary, sage and oregano and was able to dry some and make my own mixed herbs. I realized that with a little bit more planning and with an organized approach, I would be able to grow a little bit more. 

One harvest that I was really looking forward to was the turmeric harvest. Turmeric is very widely used in Indian cuisine and I had long envisioned growing and making my own turmeric powder. A good friend had shared a few rhizomes with me a couple of years back. I had let the clump grow for about 2 years without harvesting at all. This year, I decided to see if there was any action going on underground at all! 

The day I cut down the long fragrant leaves of the plants and dug up the clumps was like a day at the candy store for a sweet toothed kid! I pulled out all the roots and dug around the area carefully so as not to break any rhizomes. The whole muddy clump was actually a delight to behold! 

Once cleaned and sorted, the turmeric rhizomes weighed about 4.5 pounds, which was a fantastic surprise! 

This was one of the clumps that I dug out. I had two big clumps growing next to each other. I had to dig gently up to almost 8 - 10 inches underneath the surface to get to most of the rhizomes. I think I did get everything out, if not, we will know in the spring when the rhizomes will start sending out shoots again! 

The dried flower was another bonus. I did not use it for anything, but the fragrance was out of this world. Very earthy, but also floral and heady. I would go out to the plant just to get a whiff of the flower. 

Once I harvested all the rhizomes, I got a big bucket, filled it with water and dumped everything into the water. I let it sit there for about 30 minutes and then went back and rinsed off the rhizomes pretty thoroughly, changing the water several times, until the water was clear and the rhizomes looked very clean.

Since I did this on the back patio, I was able to minimize the mud and the dirty water in the kitchen. The water went into the nearby plants!

This was the sum total of all my turmeric harvest, after the ends were chopped off and the mud was cleaned off. The darkest rhizomes on right were the original ones that I had planted. The paler ones are the new growth. I left the rhizomes on a sheet of paper in my kitchen corner for a few days.

I set aside some of the turmeric to use in pickles and other dishes. The rest of them were destined to be made into powder. After a couple of days on the sheet of paper, some of the outer skin was getting dried. I used a paper towel to brush off the dried layers and used a box grater to thinly slice the turmeric as best as I could. 

I did not boil the rhizomes before hand. I had read several articles on how to make the powder and there were two thoughts on that. Some boiled the roots in water until tender and then dried them and powdered them, others didn't. My sister in law back in India told me that she never boiled hers. She has been doing this process for a long time and so I decided to follow hers.

I spread out the slices into a single layer on a parchment lined baking tray and set it out in the sun. I covered the tray with a mesh net to prevent the slices from flying off and to prevent and birds from pecking at them.

I brought the tray back in at night and set it out again the next day. I continued the process until the slices were crisp and dried and had no hint of moisture. 

I then blended it using my Indian blender jar. 

Of course its not as finely milled as it would be in a professional mill, but for home use it will do.

The powder is also very pungent and fragrant and a little goes a long way.

It remains to be seen how long this will last for me and my family since I use turmeric powder in a lot of my dishes. 

Have you tried making turmeric powder before? Do share your tips and techniques in the comments below! 

~ Until next time, may the grass always be greener on your side of the fence ~

A little bit of luck, a whole lot of beans and greens!

"Its a new day, its a new plan..........here we are, still goin' strong..."

So crooned singer Bryan Adams in his hit song - Here I am..

Seems pretty apt for the time that we all find ourselves in. Its the beginning of a brand new year. We have, hopefully learned a few things about the people around us and more importantly, a lot about ourselves. If nothing else, then 2020 should have served as the year of new insights, new adventures, new perspectives along with a dash of renewed hope, renewed contentment with what we have and a resolve to continue to improve, no matter what. 

With that, I will move on from that topic and resume with regular programming!! 

Among the many recipes that crop up during the New Years Day, I kept seeing a lot of pages devoted to a dish called Hopping John. Its a classic southern US dish, usually eaten on New Year's Day and is supposed to bring in a lot of luck. Traditionally, its a dish with rice, black eyed peas, onions and eaten with collard greens. The idea of a hearty dish with beans and greens sounded lovely for a cold day here in North Dallas and who wouldn't want a bit of fortune to go along with that? 

So that was what went on my menu plan for the day. I had to check to make sure I had some beans, I didn't want to make a trip to a grocery store just to get beans. I have been trying to limit my trips to grocery stores - less exposure, less impulsive buys and more opportunities to use up what I already have in the pantry. I knew I had about half a cup of dried black eyed peas, some red peas and frozen greens. 

I made the dish for lunch in my Instant Pot, served it up with steamed white rice and the whole family gobbled it up with relish. I hope you try this dish.

                             Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year! 

Ingredients:

1/2 C dried black eyed peas

1/2 C red beans (Rajma)

1/2 C chopped onions

1 medium tomato, diced

2 C mixed chopped greens (I used spinach and amaranth greens)

 2 tsp oil (I used avocado oil)

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp curry powder ( I used Kitchen King) 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp jaggery(any unrefined sugar) (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the beans and soak them in plenty of water for at least 8 hours or overnight. I would really recommend this step so that the beans cook up very nicely.

2. Set the Instant Pot to saute mode. Once its hot, add the oil. Add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic and fry for a minute or two. 

3. Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are soft. Add all the spice powders and mix well.

4. Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Add enough water to cover the beans.

5. Add chopped greens of choice. Add the salt and the jaggery and mix well.

6. Cover the lid of the Instant Pot and change the setting to Beans. This cooks on high pressure for 30 minutes. If you had soaked your beans well, this time should be sufficient. If not, you might need to cook for an additional 10 minutes. 

7. Wait for the pressure to release naturally. If you are in a hurry, wait for at least 10 minutes before a quick steam release.

8. Stir well, add more water to adjust consistency, if required. Mash a few of the beans to get a smooth texture. Serve piping hot with rice.

Notes: 

1. I really enjoyed this dish. Admittedly, I veered quite a bit from the original recipe, but still! The heartiness of the beans and the earthiness of the greens, combined with the potent spices is a wonderful meal. 

2. You can use a combination of any beans and greens for this dish, I would just recommend that you check the cooking times for the beans.

3. If you use canned beans and frozen greens, this can become a very quick - cooking dish.

4. I used amaranth greens that I grew in my backyard this past summer and froze the excess.  Other greens of choice would be collard greens, chard, spinach. 

5. You could use powdered ginger and garlic, but fresh is always better! 

6. Instead of white rice, you could always use quinoa, brown rice or millet or any grain of your choice. 

16 Bean Dosa - High Protein breakfast

Food - a simple concept most of the time, or at least it should be. But it seems like everytime I turn around, there are changes in scientific research that either vilify a particular food or glorify it to such an extreme that prices then are necessarily through the proverbial roof!
As a person trying my best to feed my family healthy meals, I have found that exercising moderation in all aspects is the golden key to solving this food puzzle. In an effort to reduce the over consumption of  polished white rice, I am always on the lookout for recipes that utilize other grains / lentils and beans. My niece had remarked once that she used a combination of beans in her dosa batter and had achieved good results. The light bulb went off the next time I was pondering over the weekend breakfast.
I had some 16 bean mix that I had purchased from the bulk bins of my local Natural Food market.
(As an aside, if you have access to any grocery store that has bulk bins - Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Winco, do check out their bulk bins. They have an amazing variety of items that you can try and incorporate into a healthy eating routine.)
I soaked a cup and a half of the 16 bean mix overnight. The next morning, I drained the beans and ground them up in my blender with an inch of fresh ginger, a couple of green chillies and a handful of fresh cilantro. I added a sufficient quantity of water to ensure that the blender ran smoothly and to get a free flowing batter. I also added half acup of semolina and a teaspoon of salt.
You could also add half a cup of rice flour instead to ensure that the batter spreads evenly and has a crispy texture.
This batter does not need any fermentation time. I let it sit for about 15 minutes while I did some other chores. 
 

I served the dosas along with coconut chutney and the family indulged in a rice free, protein rich breakfast that didnt take too much effort to put on the table.

Ingredients: 
1.5 C of mixed beans and lentils (Either store bought or mix it yourself)
1 inch fresh ginger
2 -3 green chillies (depending on taste)
1/2 C finely chopped cilantro
1/2 C finely chopped onion (optional)
1/2 C semolina or rice flour
1 tsp salt or to taste

Method:
1. Soak the beans overnight. This will ensure that the beans are soft enough for grinding. If you do not have a high powered blender, then make sure you grind in batches and rest the blender in between to prevent an overload.
2. Drain the beans and discard the soaking water, Blend the beans in batches, if required along with the ginger, chillies and cilantro.
3. Remove the mixture into a pot / vessel. Add the semolina or rice flour and adjust to a pouring consistency by adding sufficient water. Add the salt.
4. Add the onions if using and mix well.
5. Heat a pan well and then make dosas by pouring a ladle of the batter and spreading it out on the pan with the back of the ladle in a circular motion.
6. Cover the dosa to ensure that it gets cooked well. Drizzle a little oil around the edges of the dosa.
7. Flip the dosa and cook it on the other side for a while.
8. Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice.

Notes:
As with any other dosa / pancake, make the first one slightly thick. Subsequent dosas can be spread thinly. Make sure the pan is sufficiently hot before you start making the dosas.
I prefer to eat dosas while they are piping hot. These will still taste good when cold, but eat them while they are hot if possible!
 

Wishes, Purposes and Fulfillment

As the day bowed down and gave way to the impending night, so did the exhausted old year yield to the energetic new one. I had already started getting messages and forwards from friends and family across the ocean through social media, celebratory and jubilant. All expressing a wish that my family and I would have a prosperous, fun filled,healthy and happy new year; that the new year would bring with it new beginnings, new hopes and new aspirations. After all, they had already bid adieu to the old year and relegated it to their memories.
I, on the other hand was still in the process of saying my goodbyes. It was still New Years Eve for us in the western hemisphere and the old year was like the guest who was leaving after the party, but was in the midst of a last minute conversation at the door. The old year had not yet been captured and framed to be boxed up with its predecessors. I was preparing for a quiet separation, one that would not involve boisterous games and excited conversations and kids running around waiting for the obligatory slice of cake.
When the new year dawned on me, it brought with it more messages and wishes, all of them more or less repetitions of the same variety. I had nothing against them, I myself had sent numerous such replies to my well-wishers. But once I had done that, I found myself in an introspective mood. What, in the end, did these wishes mean? What is the recipient to do?
"Wishing you a New Year filled with new hope, new aspirations and new happiness"
Wouldn't it be amazing if wishes such as these were self-fulfilling and would grant us all that they contained, without needing anything from us in return? They would be fantastic!
Alas, then that wishes have no such power hidden in their depths. All they convey are expectations and desires and wants, whether for ourselves or for others. Do we then receive them, acknowledge them and let them flow through the sieves of our daily routines?
What if we picked through the list and selected the wishes that spoke most compellingly?
New aspirations? Check.
New happiness? Yes, please.
Then, what if we added our own goals and wants and yearnings to the pile?
Dig through that discarded bag of resolutions and dust off the "better health", "better relationships", "better career" wishes and look at them through renewed eyes.
Its time to convert the well meaning wishes into something more purposeful, something achievable and something that we all have to do for ourselves.
I want better health this year, like I have wanted for the past several years. I am going to have to take steps to achieve that, though. I will need to make better choices regarding food and I am most definitely going to need to make a sustainable plan for working out on a regular basis and follow through. I also want better relationships. That means, I will need to work on that also. I need to make plans to spend time in a meaningful way with my husband and my kids and my friends. Its not something that will happen automatically.

So dear readers, here I am, at the beginning of another beautiful year, not just wishing you a happy new year, but urging you all to find the purpose in your wishes and then working through a plan to bring those wishes to fulfillment. We are all fellow travelers in this life. Our wishes, goals and purposes might be as different as chalk and cheese, but the happiness that we will derive from the fulfillment will most certainly be the same.
Let us then make this year not just about passage of time, but about an achievement of desires and wants. Let us not be beguiled into thinking that our friends and neighbors have a better life than us just on the basis of their social media presence. They are also, after all struggling through their own personal obstacles that we might know nothing about. Let us look through a lens of optimism and encouragement and perseverance and realize that when we focus, we progress and when we progress, we fulfill. When we fulfill, we have contentment.
Let us all strive towards a state of contentment so that when it is time to look at this year in our rear view mirrors, we can do so with a lighter heart, a smiling face.
                                                 
                                                        Happy New Year

Himalaya Botanique Complete Care Toothpaste - review

Gone are the days when everything that a family might need for its day to day living was made at home. In the modern world, all daily necessities are easily available in any store or market. There are sores of brands that churn out newer and more improved varieties of personal hygiene products like soaps, shampoos and creams. Toothpastes are by no means an exception. Rows upon rows are filled with tubes of all shapes, sizes and brands, Colorful pictures and texts proclaim benefits upon benefits. But an informed consumer should know that not all toothpastes are created equal.
A glance at the ingredient list in most common toothpastes will show names such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, Triclosan, Artificial sweeteners and colors, Propelene Glycol among others, Studies have shown that these ingredients are not really good for our health and yet they are used to make a product that is used at least twice a day, if not more.

When I got the opportunity to try out the Himalaya Botanique Complete Care Toothpaste through the Moms Meet program, I was intrigued by a couple of points. The first was that ingredients included Neem, pomegranate, Triphala and xylitol. The product was also free from SLS, fluoride, carrageenan and gluten. I readily agreed to try the product with my family.
The review kit was really a surprise. I got to try several varieties of Himalaya paste including peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon and Neem and pomegranate. The tubes came in beautiful cardboard boxes, which are completely recyclable. The toothpastes definitely have the astringent taste because of the Neem, Triphala and the pomegranate. There was a pleasant feeling after brushing.
Some of the more salient features of the product are as follows:
* Neem leaves have been used traditionally to maintain dental health and they work to keep the mouth clean.
* Pomegranate has astringent properties and helps support healthy gums by tightening the tissues.
* Triphala is a much loved Ayurvedic formulation and is composed of three different fruits and helps in keeping the teeth clean.
* Xylitol is a tooth - friendly sweetener and has also been clinically studied to support good dental hygiene.
* With regular brushing, this herbal formulation helps remove plaque, supports healthy gums and maintains white teeth.
* The Himalaya Botanique Complete Care toothpastes contain Papain and Bromelain, enzymes from Papaya and Pineapple to remove surface stains.
* The toothpastes are gluten free, carrageenan free, SLS free and fluoride free.
* The toothpastes are available in a variety of flavors and retail for $5.99

For more information, do visit the following sites:
www.himalayatoothpaste.com
www.facebook.com/HimalayaUSA
www.twitter.com/HimalayaUSA
www.instagram.com/HimalayaUSA

My kids found the flavors a tad overwhelming, but both my husband and I really liked the paste and are using it daily. I like that there aren't any sulphates and artificial sweeteners and colors. I like the inclusion of Ayurvedic ingredients. I would really recommend this toothpaste to anybody looking for more herbal preparations for their dental health.


Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com), May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own.