15 Marbles

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

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  • Daal-Baati-Churma

    [ Image-courtesy Google Image search.]

    My dad is rajasthani Maratha. Ok,I am kidding-there is so such community. But my dad spent most of his childhood in Rajasthan and is equally at home at both his village in rajasthan and at his posh Thane home. His home-town,Lakheri, is home to one of the oldest cement factories and that’s where my dad got his first job as a chemist. And though he got transferred later,I spent the first 10 years of my life at Lakheri.

    And since my father’s family was pretty well-known and loved there, any time we were invited to one of the local homes, we were served the special meal of Daal–baati–Churma.And I remember feeling so full and heady after those meals. And not to mention,thirsty.. All that Ghee does that to you.

    This time when my dad was here,I pestered him and finally we planned to have this special meal.Now,I have made Daal– baati on my own before ,but this time,with dad’s special tips,it turned out awesome and so I had to share the recipe here.Daal is basically a mixture of 3 or 5 daals.Here I am using a mixture of 3 daals. Baati is essentially balls of flour, baked in an oven and eaten with the above mentioned daal.

    Here goes-

    Daal :-

    Ingredients-

    1 cup urad Dal

    1 cup chana Dal
    1 cup whole moong.
    2-3 green chillies
    1 tsp fresh grated ginger
    1 tsp fresh grated garlic
    1 tsp red chili powder
    1 tsp coriander powder
    1 tsp garam masala
    salt to taste
    1/2 tsp cumin seeds
    ghee for seasoning
    fresh chopped coriander for garnish.

    Mix the three daals together-wash and soak in warm water for 30 minutes.


    Boil the Daal mixture with about 4 cups of water and salt till soft.Keep aside.


    Preparing the seasoning- Heat ghee in a pan.Add cumin seeds .When they start splattering, add cut green chilies and then add all the spices- red chili powder,corriander powder,garam masala and mix well.Add half a cup of water and bring it to a boil.Add this to the cooked daal, add another 1/2 cup water and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Garnish with fresh cut coriander and serve hot.

    Baati- ( Makes about 12-14 baatis)

    Ingredients-
    2 cups Whole wheat flour
    1/4 cup semolina
    1/2 tsp ajwain ( Ajowan /carom seeds)
    1/2 cup ghee
    salt to taste
    water to knead the dough.

    Method-

    Sift the flour and semolina. Add ajwain seeds and salt.Keep aside. Melt ghee in a pan. Make a well in the flour and pour the molten ghee in it. Mix it all well. And make it into a hard ball of dough adding minimum water.

    Make small,smooth balls of this dough. Arrange on a greasedbaking tray.


    Pre-heat oven to 450 F(four hundred and fifty) and bake these balls for 20 minutes, turning over in 10 minutes, so that both the sides are evenly cooked. Grill for 5 minutes on each side.

    Serve hot with ghee and daal. Enjoy!

    Unfortunately,I dont have any more pictures for you-The food was so appetizing and the aroma had already made us so hungry that pictures were the last thing on my mind. So,I had to post pictures from other Google image search.

  • 7 month update-Part I

    Aadya turns 7 months old today and she is getting naughtier and naughtier and some more. She is constantly babbling now.Her favorite words are Papa..pa.babbaba,mammamma,naaa,nammana,gaah,kaaah.When I am rocking her to sleep,she is talking or babbling.Till a few weeks back,she would just be singing aaaaa. She knows who her Papa is –Every time we ask her -Where is Papa? She looks at him. If she is already looking at him,she points at him with a slight lift of her chin. Ask her Where is Mamma? and all you get is blank looks. So, guess who is walking around with a big head,these days?

    Finally,she has figured out how to crawl forward and not backwards.She crawled forward for the first time on Saturday(Oct 27th) and since then she has been going forward. While crawling seems like lot of fun and she is now enjoying her new mobility,still when she has crawled enough and she is bored,guess who gets to build some muscles?Mamma!

    As soon as Aadya spots Mamma,she stretches her arms and starts cooing ..no no correction,not just cooing,calling out to mamma. And all hell breaks loose if Mamma is late in picking her up.Most days,its so bad that this little Missy doesn’t want to sit down at all..Well,No,she does sit down,as long as I am sitting down with her. If I get up to grab a glass of water or something,the crying starts,complete with big fat tears rolling down the cheeks.

    Her latest favorite toy is Mamma’s cell phone-that and anything and everything Mamma touches. Picture this-Aadya sitting on her play mat,playing with some random toy.Seeing her busy,Mamma sneaks off to get her book and a bottle of water. Suddenly Aadya looks up,sees her leaving and starts screaming. Mamma grabs the nearest empty bottle of water(yeah we have lots of bottles) and throws it on the play-mat. Aadya leaves the random toy and grabs the bottle. Mamma comes back and sits down with her bottle and book.Now Aadya wants the book..so she scrambles over,climbs all over mamma,trying to grab the book.Mamma keeps the book aside,distracts Aadya with her toys.Attention diverted,Mamma drinks some water-Now Aadya wants the bottle…and so it continues!

    Aadya think “No” is a joke.All Mamma has to say is No! and Aadya starts giggling.If Mamma gets angry,Aadya giggles more! Now,every time Papa calls,Aadya has to talk to him. And all his questions are answered with a beautiful chuckle and big smiles.If he could see those,he would be working from home all days.Masi’s web-calls are also happily answered now..big smiles and lots of babbling.

    This month has been really eventful and there are so many new skills that Aadya has learnt and mastered. And there are so many naughty things that I have to share with you,that this update will run into a second part. For now,I will just say-

    Happy 7th Month,Baby! Love you!

    To be continued

  • Quick Tomato Soup

    Winters are here and on these cold days, you crave something warm. And if you are all out of those canned soups and soup powders, but in no mood for something elaborate,this soup is your best bet. It is also great for those days when you are just too tired or sick.
    Without further Ado,I present the quick Tomato soup-
    Ingredients-
    3-4 ripe medium sized tomatoes.
    1-2 green chillies
    1 tsp oil
    1/2 tsp jeera(cumin seeds)
    few sprigs of fresh coriander
    salt to taste
    1/2 tsp Sugar
    1/2 tsp black pepper powder (can be substituted with red chili powder,depending on your taste-buds)
    Method-
    Cut the tomatoes in big chunks and put them in a microwave safe bowl with 3 cups of water. Cook it in the microwave for 8-10 mins(*varies with microwave ovens*) till the tomato pieces are soft.

    Use a hand blender to puree’ the tomatoes.

    Pass this mixture through a sieve,to remove the pulp and keep aside.

    In a thick bottomed vessel,heat a teaspoonful of oil and add cumin seeds. When they turn brown,add chopped green chillies and then add the soup to it.

    Add salt , pepper powder and sugar.Bring it to a boil.

    Finally,add fresh coriander and simmer.

    Serve hot -as a hot soup or as an accompaniment with steamed rice or pulav.

    Note- You can leave the pulp in for that extra dose of fibers.

  • Her Best friends

    This is what Aadya got as an early Diwali gift from her Nanu. She didn’t want to let go of the box,after it was first handed over to her. Finally,she got distracted with something else,and Mamma managed to put the box away safely.

    On Dusshera day, we decided to remove her old ear-rings and put on these new beauties.While piercing the ears and getting those first earrings in took less than 5 minutes,getting them out was crazy.After I had tried unsuccessfully and managed to upset Aadya,so much that she wouldn’t even let me touch her ears,we decided to take her back to the place where we had got her ears pierced.

    So off we went to the mall,to Claire’s and there the girl behind the counter sterilised her hands and in 2 minutes she handed me the first earring and in the next minute,the other one.Just like that! OH well,I mumbled something about my failed attempts and how it upset the baby and just then the Baby decided to bestow her with a smile. Yeah, whatever!

    Anyway,we came back home and then putting the new earrings on didn’t take more than 5 minutes. So, now my baby girl is sporting her brand new diamond earrings.