Art makes an entry

Decided to buy the kids some art material (Drawing/Painting paper), paints, color pencils (the whole thing was less than 10 bucks) and let them have some fun this week.

It has been a busy week with me going out of control trying to juggle work, sinus problems and the kids.

The materials were a good idea. As an added bonus we are now decorating the shelves in the garage with the kid's art work. Kind of their own showcase to show their friends and visitors how they are doing.

We never realized how good the little one was with a paint brush. As a rule of thumb two things have been banned inside the house for as long as we can remember

a. water/oil paints
b. china clay (playdough)

for fear of ruining the carpet or floor.

That ban has been lifted now. The kids will be allowed to paint from now on instead of just draw with crayons.

The parenting learning goes on..

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Vatha Kuzhambu (வத்தகுழம்பு) - Do it youself Video

If you are a graduate student and you have stocked up on some grandma (or mom) made Sambar Powder before embarking on your trip to a non-sambar country (or even managed to purchase some Sambar powder from the stores), you are in luck.

You can make a quick Vatha Kuzhambu using some of this powder, salt, asafoedita(hing) - which is optional, tamarind paste (or tamarind soaked in water). You will also need a pinch of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, some Channa and Toor dal, curry leaves (optional), Appalam (or papad) which is again optional.

The whole thing gets done in under 6 minutes.

NOTE : See how I usually taste the stuff we cook at the end of the video and here we didn't do that? Don't taste this thing as is. Just a touch and lick is fine. Remember, you are creating a concentrate that can be mixed with rice.

One glass of water in this case ends up becoming 1/2 glass (or cup) worth Vatha Kuzhambu. This is enough to mix with 5 cups of cooked rice!!! i.e., it can feed a family of one (aka graduate student) for upto 4 meals!.. Goes great with Potato chips or roasted (microwaved) appalam/papad.

As an option you can also add some frozen shredded coconut to the fried lentils(the Channa and Toor Daal) before you add the liquid in. The upside is it gives you an amazing smell and flavor, but the downside is that it will spoil sooner if you do not refrigerate.

Have fun making வத்தகுழம்பு!

ps. If you know your Appalam is slightly on the salty side, add less salt.. 3/4th spoon of salt for one spoon sambar powder and it will be perfect.

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Wheat Chips (Cheese Nips) - கோதுமை சிப்ஸ் - Do it yourself Video

My mom used to make delicious sweet or spicy wheat chips when we were kids. It was a treat, especially when we were confined to be indoors during the rainy season!

One of my successful grad student experimental variations was to put small blocks of Amul cheese inside these chips.

The videos explain it all..

You use wheat flour, salt, hing (asafoedita)and chili powder for the spicy version.

Just wheat flour and sugar for the sweet version.

Wait for 40 minutes to an hour for the dough to stabilize before making flats out of them, slicing and frying.

Warning : If you are a newbie at deep frying, make sure the cheese is completely encapsulated by dough and all the air is pressed out.

Think of this as the Indian equivalent of Tortilla chips..

Hope you have fun making Wheat chips (கோதுமை சிப்ஸ்) after watching this video. Guaranteed hit with little kids who love crunchy stuff.

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