15 Marbles

Moments.Musings.Memories. ❤️Gathering little marbles from ordinary days and keeping them for our memory jar. ❤️

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  • Going it alone

    This one is a bit vulnerable.

    I thought about posting it here, leaving it in my head, or taking it to the group chat – where I will probably hash it to death anyway. 😃

    But here it is too.

    I’m booked in for a four-day professional development training program away from home.

    This will be the first time I’ve attended something like this completely on my own – as in, without a colleague or someone familiar to turn to.

    I won’t lie. I’m a little nervous about not knowing anyone.

    I know I’m going there to learn, but it’s been decades since I’ve sat in a physical classroom without a friend by my side.

    What if I can’t find anyone to sit with at lunch or talk to?

    What if they’re all younger and wonder what I’m doing there?

    What if everyone already knows people from their own teams, university or somewhere else?

    My university course was online and interstate, so even that experience didn’t involve walking into a classroom and finding somewhere to sit.

    Yeah.

    I’m anxious.

    A friend I shared this with reassured me that I’d be fine, and that I have enough extrovert and social energy in me to get through the four days.

    But then, she’s only seen me here at this workplace – where I’ve been for what feels like forever. Eleven years.

    Here, I know people. I know where I fit. Even then sometimes, I feel like an imposter.

    This will be different.

    So, wish me luck.

    Hopefully I’ll come back and tell you I was worried about absolutely nothing.

    And if you have any tips for walking into a room where you don’t know a soul and pretending to be a perfectly normal, socially capable adult 😂 — please share them.

    Any and all suggestions will be very gratefully received.

    ❤️ Trish

  • Chicken Biryani- Instant Pot version

    Slightly hazy photo because it was piping hot!

    [In a hurry?] Jump straight to the Recipe

    💕You can always come back for the story later💕

    My family loves my chicken biryani. It’s one dish that is often requested and makes an appearance when the kids’ friends are visiting.

    I have it on good authority that the resident teenagers are slightly biased towards my biryani over the restaurant versions.

    Maybe it’s because the spice levels are tailored to their taste buds. Or maybe it’s the warm cooking aromas floating up to their rooms or greeting them as they walk into the house.

    And just for that, I want it to turn out right – at least 99% of the time. 😃

    So, when I first got the Instant Pot, of course I had to try making biryani in it.

    I asked Google and AI, studied a couple of recipes and then worked out a version that suited my own cooking style of “just wing it.”

    It was one of the first dishes I made in the Instant Pot – my motto being, Go big or go home!

    It worked well. Luckily, because it was my first time making it, I had actually noted the timings.

    Except I didn’t release the pressure in time.

    Mushy rice.

    And I do not like mushy biryani rice.

    So I cooked it and re-cooked it until I perfected it to my liking – each grain of rice separate, just the way I like it.

    And when the husband asked me what I’d been doing differently with my biryani lately, I knew it was time to share the recipe.

    The amount of water may seem low, but trust the process. Of course, feel free to adjust the spices – and anything else – to suit your own taste.

    Recipe

    Ingredients

    • 500 g chicken breast, diced
    • 1.5 cups basmati rice
    • 1.5 cups water
    • 2 medium red onions
    • 1 medium tomato
    • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
    • 3–4 tbsp yoghurt
    • 2½ tbsp tandoori paste
    • 2 tbsp crushed fried onions
    • 1 tsp kasuri methi
    • 2 tsp ground coriander
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 1½–2 tsp red chilli powder — add more if you like it hotter
    • 1 tsp meat masala or garam masala
    • ¼ tsp turmeric
    • Salt, to taste
    • ½ tsp cumin seeds
    • Oil, for frying and cooking
    • 8–10 strands saffron, soaked in a little warm milk
    • Fresh mint and coriander leaves, to garnish

    Preparation

    Marinate the chicken with the tandoori paste, yoghurt and crushed fried onions. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

    Wash the basmati rice well and soak for 30–40 minutes. Drain before using.

    Thinly slice 1½ onions.

    Finely chop the remaining ½ onion and the tomato in a food processor.

    Cooking

    1. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté – High. Add oil and the thinly sliced onions. Fry until golden brown and caramelised, then remove and set aside. FYI : Mine’s set for 6 minutes & I continue cooking at that temperature till I am ready to change the mode – restarting or extending time if needed .
    2. Add a little more oil to the pot, followed by the cumin seeds and ginger-garlic paste. Add a splash of water to deglaze the bottom of the pot.
    3. Add the finely chopped onion and tomato mixture, followed by the coriander, cumin, chilli powder, meat masala or garam masala, turmeric and kasuri methi.
    4. Sauté until the onion and tomato mixture is soft and mushy and the spices are well combined.
    5. Add the marinated chicken, salt and a small splash of water – I usually rinse out the marinade container. Cook for 3–4 minutes. If you use leg pieces or thighs pieces, you may need to cook the chicken longer.
    6. Add a layer of the caramelised onions over the chicken.
    7. Add the drained rice, spreading it evenly over the top, then add 1.5 cups of water. The rice should be fully covered. Do not stir or mix at this stage.
    8. Cancel Sauté mode. Secure the lid and cook on Pressure Cook – High for 8 minutes.
    9. Release the pressure immediately, but leave the lid closed for another 5 minutes before opening.
    10. Pour over the saffron-infused milk and let the biryani stand with the lid closed for 2–3 minutes.
    11. Gently fluff and mix, then garnish with fresh mint and coriander leaves.

    Serve hot with raita or even plain yoghurt. Enjoy !

    If you do try this recipe, do leave a comment with your feedback and any tweaks that you might make.

  • Why 15 Marbles,though?

    I have been asked this question often – almost every time I share the link to my blog.

    Some have wondered if it has something to do with how unhinged I can be – you know, the number of marbles I may have lost – while others have wondered if it has something to do with a secret hobby I may have.

    Sorry to disappoint both sides, but it literally came from a place of permanence.

    Or maybe, my desire for permanence.

    At one point, I even called myself – and my blog – The Gypsy Mumma because that’s how frequently we moved : first as a child with my parents and later with my husband.

    For work. 🙄 Nothing overly exciting, in case you were curious.

    I had moved my blog URL nearly as many times as I had moved myself from place to place. So when life finally felt a little more settled, I wanted the blog to have a permanent home too.

    And 15 Marbles became it.

    I moved all my old posts there, much like I had carried little souvenirs collected along the way from one home to another.

    Whether anything in life is ever truly permanent remains to be seen.

    But the name stayed.

    And over time, the more I read my posts – both old and new – the more I realise that the name has taken on its own meaning.

    This blog has become a holding space for my thoughts, recipes, stories and memories.

    Sort of like a memory jar.

    I keep bringing little marbles back to it – no matter how big or small, special or mundane.

    Precious to me regardless.

    I share my thoughts here mostly unfiltered. It’s probably the one place where I let that mental filter drop almost completely.

    I do that to keep my voice true, and in the hope that when you – and eventually my girls – read these posts, you’ll recognise my voice in them.

    Maybe you’ll relate.

    Maybe you’ll feel heard too.

    Or maybe you’ll simply know me a little better.

    So there you go.

    Now you know why 15 Marbles.

    Well… sort of. 😉

    What would you name your blog, journal or memoir if you had to choose today?

  • Memory keeper

    I am the self-appointed memory keeper for my family, my sister, and my own life.

    I take photos, insist on them taking photos, despite them all objecting – because photos are memories. I plan trips and I tell them the ‘remember when’ stories.

    When you lose a parent earlier in life, you rely on your surviving parent for remembering, sharing and reminding you of your life when it was complete – you know when everything was right, despite the everyday mayhem.

    My dad was that surviving parent.

    He regaled us with stories of ‘when your mummy and I were younger’; ‘when you were little’; ‘when we went to this place’; ‘your mummy used to tell me…’

    He was the one I called when I couldn’t remember a silly little detail, or when I couldn’t recall what a treat was called. You know that odd moment when your mind suddenly remembers the taste of a rare treat you tried on a vacation, but you don’t remember anything else about it? My dad was sure to know.

    That being said, he couldn’t remember if I had had chickenpox, and we both got sad about the fact that mummy would definitely know.

    But barring a few odd occasions, his memory was fantastic. And I am proud of the fact that I inherited it.

    I remember the smallest of details, which is great on most days.

    I often get memory flashes where I can clearly see our old homes – yes, there were a few because my father had a transferable job. I can see our old homes, where things were kept, people talking, interacting – almost like watching a movie.

    I have toyed with the idea of writing it all down, so I don’t forget, but also because I want to know that it was real and not a fragment of my imagination.

    I wish there was a way to preserve the voices too.

    It breaks my heart that I don’t have any voice notes from either of my parents.

    Anyhow, about the idea of writing my memory flashes as and when I can – I am still mulling over it. I don’t know yet if I will share it publicly.

    Or maybe I will.

    Because I want the world to know and remember my parents.

    I started writing this without planning, so there is no real reason for this post but to just empty my mind and to put my thoughts into words.

    Because some how, that makes them real.