Tomato and Peanut Chutney

 Ingredients

• Ripe tomatoes - 3
• Raw or roasted peanuts - 3 tablespoons
• Fresh grated coconut - 2-3 tablespoons
• Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Dried red chillies - 2 broken
• Hing/Asafoetida - 1/8 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves fresh - 12 leaves washed
• Cooking oil - 4 teaspoons
• Black mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Ginger - half inch piece sliced
• Cilantro chopped - 2 teaspoons
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
• Sambar powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Steps

• Part One - prepare garnish
• Heat a frying pan, add 2 teaspoons cooking oil
• Add the mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves (half quantity) and a pinch of Hing/asafoetida
• Once the mustard seeds crackle, turn off the heat and shift the contents to a bowl
• Part Two - prepare chutney
• Cut the tomatoes into 4 pieces each
• Heat the same pan, add 2 teaspoons cooking oil
• Add the Urad dal and fry till sligth brown
• Add the tomatoes, peanuts, ginger, remaining curry leaves, salt, sambar powder and fry
• Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons water if needed
• Once the tomatoes are cooked and mushy, turn off the heat
• Add the cooked tomatoes mixture into a mixie/grinder jar, add the cilantro leaves and make a fine paste
• Shift the paste to the same bowl with the garnish in part one
• Adjust salt by adding more if needed. Add a pinch of red chilli powder if more spice is needed

Enjoy the chutney with your favorite dish like idli, dosa, vada, pakora etc or mix with rice, ghee and eat

She - a poem

 She

She is a bundle of joy

She taught me the happiness in innocence

She taught me motherhood

She made me cry and laugh

With a twinkle in her eye

And a smile with a dimple

 

She is a bubbling butterfly

She wants to explore everywhere

She has a question about everything

She loves all her friends

She is running like a rabbit

To catch the next rainbow

 

She is a bud exposed to the sun

She is blooming like a gentle flower

She is buzzing like a honeybee

She is learning new things

She likes to question everything

To be a philosopher and scientist rolled into one

 

She is a teacher, politician, engineer

She is a nurse, physician, a CEO

She is an accountant, attorney, a scientist

She is a daughter, mother, sister and wife

She is a leader and beacon

In every field you can think

 

She is a friend, philosopher and guide

She is the radiating energy of hope

She is the cheerleader and go-to reference

She is driver behind every drive

She is a compassionate companion

Till the day I lie in my coffin

Chole with sweet potatoes (Chickpea gravy curry) - InstantPot method

This uses the overnight soak and cook method takes about 20 minutes max to make. You can also do this first thing in the morning for dinner time. So you could start the soaking at 8 or 9 PM. Upon waking make the masala add it and have the chole ready around 10-11 AM for lunch.

You could start the soak at 8 AM, add the masala around 4 PM and have the chole ready to consume at 6-7 PM dinner.

Ingredients:

Organic Chickpea (kabuli chana) dry - 2 cups 

Large sweet potato - 1 (or 2 small) - peeled and diced to cubes 

    --> you can substitute with 3-4 small cubed potatoes or 2 large potatoes. You have to mash a little harder - see below

Red onion - 1 large

Tomato - 1 large

Garlic - 2 pods peeled & chopped

Ginger - 1 inch - chopped

Cilantro - 2 table spoon chopped

MDH Chana Masala - 1.5 tea spoons 

    --> you can substitute with a brand of your choice, check if they already have salt and chilli powder etc so you dont double add

Red chilli powder 1/4 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/8 tea spoon

Water 6 cups

Oil - 2 table spoons

Ghee - 1 tea spoon (substitute with 1-2 teaspoons of butter)

Fennel seeds (saunf) - 1 tea spoon

Salt - 1 tea spoon (start with this and adjust later)

Overnight soak (5 minutes)

This uses the overnight soak and cook method. You can also do this first thing in the morning for dinner time.

In the InstantPot vessel (taken out) add the 2 cups chickpea, wash and rinse with cold water and drain it fully. Add 6 cups water and the diced sweet potatoes. Add a pinch of salt.

Place the vessel in the InstantPot, close with the lid and set to sealing position. Once you power on the InstantPot, press Pressure cook for 25 minutes, press Delay Start for 8 hours. This will soak your chickpeas for 8 hours and then pressure cook for 25 minutes.

In the morning you will find the chickpea and sweet potatoes fully cooked. 

Masala preparation (10 minutes)

In a pan heat 2 table spoons of oil, add the fennel seeds. Once they are light brown add the chopped garlic and ginger. After a minute of frying add the red onions. Add the salt and ghee and fry the onions for 4-5 minutes. At this point add the tomatoes, MDH chana masala powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mix & fry it till the tomatoes are mushy. Turn off the heat and add the chilantro.

Let this cool for 10 minutes and use a hand blender to grind to a coarse paste (of onion, tomatoes, spices etc).

Finishing ( 3 minutes)

In the Instantpot take a ladle and mash the sweet potatoes till it forms the gravy and the chickpea is intact with it's shape.

Add the ground masala paste to the InstantPot now along with the mashed sweet potatoes and chickpea with all the gravy liquid in it. Add salt if needed to get it to the right taste of your choice. Add a little water if you want to make the gravy thinner.

Power on the InstanPot and press slow cook for 4 hours. Set the lid to venting.

After the slow cook your Chole is ready to eat for lunch with poori, bhatura, parahta, rotis, cooked basmati rice of your choice. 

You can also use this Chole to eat with Tikki or Veggie patty of your choice as well. Add a cilantro and date/tamrind chutney to go with this. Add some chopped onion and fresh cilantro on the top.

Job - a short story

It was a nice clear morning in a suburb of Salem junction area. The streets were quiet except for some stray dogs barking and some goats walking around. The modest detached residential house was painted in pistachio green with a pink border. Jyothi had finished her morning chores and sent her son to the elementary school. She was bringing a second round of tea for her in-laws who were discussing the daily news from the papers and television channels. 

A small Maruti car pulled up in front of that house and a person wearing dark glasses and a mask on his face walked in with his backpack.

Good morning, I am looking for Mr. Sampath, he asked me to come by and give a quote for a steel grill for your backdoor.

"Jyothi", called out the mother-in-law, someone has come to check the rear door. Jyothi walked up to the front door with a mask and asked who the person was. 

"Good morning Madam, I am from Shree Steelworks, my name is Suresh Babu". The name and voice sounded familiar to Jyothi. He gave her his visiting card which matched what he had introduced. Jyothi took him around the outer corridor of the house to the rear side. Suresh took out a measuring tape and took down some measurements. While he was doing so his mask slipped and his face was clearly seen.

For a moment Jyothi's heart skipped a beat. Her mind went back ten years. She was a student in the nearby Sharada High school in the suburb of Coimbatore. She lived in a middle class neighborhood with a row of houses. Her father worked in the local bank and her mother was a teacher in a nearby elementary school. She remembered her days when she would take her bicycle to her school. She had only one person nearby who would ride the bicycle to the same school. Suresh Babu used to live two houses down the street. Her parents were okay for her to ride together with Suresh till about seventh grade. After that she wasn’t allowed to socialize with him. She insisted for safety she needed company along the mile long stretch to her school and he was the only person who rides the same route every day.

On the way they would both exchange notes from their class day as they were in the same classroom every day. Each teacher's mannerism was their favorite topic. They would discuss their career plans and discovered that both had a passion to pursue engineering. The state had severe caste based reservations and being part of the forward caste, both of them knew their odds were limited unless they secure very high marks in the 12th standard examinations held at the state level.

When the final results were announced, Jyothi has topped the district and Suresh was a little behind, enough to make it difficult to get an engineering admission. Jyothi joined the prestigious Engineering College in Guindy Chennai. She pursued her Mechanical and Industrial engineering major and again graduated with flying colors. She secured a job in her campus interview as well. Her parents had different plans as they had arranged for her marriage to someone in Salem through known channels. Jyothi resisted but could not stop the wedding. 

She found that her in-laws were not in favor of her leaving the home and working elsewhere. As time rolled she had a son who was born and was a lot of fun to watch him grow. She lost herself between the kitchen and taking care of her family. She would glance at her college text books once in a while and feel bad for not having accomplished anything with that education.

The silence was broken by Suresh, who discussed the details of the door and gave couple of design and price options. He continued and asked if she was Jyothi from Coimbatore who studied in Sharada High School. He was so happy to have met her after a long time. Jyothi got him a cup of tea and were both chatting on the staircase next to the door.

Suresh shared his side of the story as to how he went to the engineering college selection counselling session and was only offered admission in a private engineering college. This meant his father had to spend an additional Rs. 15 lakhs. His father did not have the funds or was willing to get a loan. He was admitted into a diploma program focusing on mechanical design and welding. After graduation, he joined Shree Steelworks in Salem. He was a quick learner and was very good with customers. With his innovative ideas the company grew from a five person startup to a twenty employees. He was pursuing his part-time AMIE to get the engineering degree which evade him. He was also enrolled in a weekend MBA program to complement his practical knowledge with some theory. The owner introduced Suresh to his niece and they got married. After a year his owner gave him the full responsibility of the company and retired. Suresh showed the photograph of his family including his daughter to Jyothi.

Today Shree had over 50 employees and handing larger contracts. Suresh expressed his unhappiness with engineering graduates like Jyothi who are not able to achieve their dreams and aspirations. In turn they also block the goals for other serious students like him. Jyothi brought him to speed on what happened in her life.

Suresh asked, "would you be interested in working from home? I need to hire a design engineer for my company to complete large government contracts. You have to be online from 10AM to 4PM so we can all work together, later you can finish your tasks at a flexible schedule. Once a month you have to spend 2 hours with all members of the company and meet your team members".

"I know how well you would have studied and also your aptitude to draw and would be a good fit. I am willing to give you an opportunity now. We can start with a monthly salary of Rs. 30,000 with potential for growth. We will provide you a laptop and required CAD software to work from home. You need to find a quiet location in your house and get a high speed internet connection. The first three months you would be training and coming to speed, to cover the cost of the laptop and software you would not be paid during that period. If you do well then your employment will be permanent with a salary". Jyothi could not believe her ears and it sounded like music.

She discussed with her husband that evening, who then shared the news with his parents. They were all suddenly very supportive, the money makes all the difference Jyothi thought. She overheard her in-laws discussing about getting Parvatam Mami who cooks at their neighbors to help out and give a relief to Jyothi. We have to pay Rs. 3000 to the cook and get Rs. 30,000, that's a good deal, they were discussing.

Jyothi started dusting off her college textbooks and finding her space in life. The fact that she was finally putting her education to use towards a real job was exciting to her. She pinched herself to check if all this was real. Maybe the Covid working from home became a boon for her new job!

Six months had passed and Jyothi's daily routine had changed magically. Parvatam Mami took over the kitchen and that was a big relief. Her mother-in-law served her a second round of tea with biscuits every morning. Her son spent more time with his grandparents who dropped off and picked him up from the school bus stop and helped him with his homework. Her husband Sampath picks up groceries and vegetables as needed from the market. Wow what a change her job had brought to her life. She got ready to call her friend Hema who was in a similar boat stuck at home after having topped her Chemical engineering class. She wanted to encourage Hema to find a similar job working from home.