Achan: Aanapurhathu ninnu engane veezhaathirikkaam ennu ninakku ariyaamO?
Njaan: Ariyilla ...
Achan: Njaan ninakku paranju thannathu ithra pettennu marannu pOyO?
Njaan: MarannupOyi ...
Achan: Aanapurhathu ninnu engane veezhaathirikkaanulla eluppa vidya - Aanapurathu kayaraathirikkuka!!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Some Griha Vaidyam for an Upset Stomach
My 2&1/2 year old had some serious stomach upset recently - It took its time to go away, but we went through a series of Griha Vaidyam during the course it ran ...
Jeerakam + Karicha Panjasaara Vellam
Heat some jeerakam in low heat. Once you get the smell of jeerakam, reduce heat further and add some sugar (if heat is high the sugar will melt - it is not a big problem if it melts though...). Once the sugar gets a reddish colour (it is getting caramalised ...) add a glass of water. Filter this water out. This water seems to be good for the stomach upset.
May be this water has some salt+sugar combination that helps the body maintain the required salt & sugar - which is a tough goal to achieve during a somach upset ...
Boiled Plantain with black seeds removed - This seems to be good food during a stomach upset
Chukku Ittu Moru Kaachiyathu
Burst some mustard in oil. Add some chukku powder, turmeric & curry vepila. Stir for 1/2 a minute. Add some mOru. This seems to be good for the stomach upset.
I think this is a good thing to eat rice with during a stomach upset. It is very light and, maybe, has the some medicinal value from chukku and turmeric ...
Maathala Naaranga Peel Vellam
It seems water boiled with Maathala Naaranga Peels is good for a stomach upset
We tried the first three, but the stomach upset still ran its course. I think, though these are not medicines that stops the stomach upset, they are good things to have during a stomach upset - especially when it is tough to eat anything at all ...
I think this is what finally helped my son's stomach upset to stop - We stopped Milk completely for two days. But, never sure of what really helped ...
Jeerakam + Karicha Panjasaara Vellam
Heat some jeerakam in low heat. Once you get the smell of jeerakam, reduce heat further and add some sugar (if heat is high the sugar will melt - it is not a big problem if it melts though...). Once the sugar gets a reddish colour (it is getting caramalised ...) add a glass of water. Filter this water out. This water seems to be good for the stomach upset.
May be this water has some salt+sugar combination that helps the body maintain the required salt & sugar - which is a tough goal to achieve during a somach upset ...
Boiled Plantain with black seeds removed - This seems to be good food during a stomach upset
Chukku Ittu Moru Kaachiyathu
Burst some mustard in oil. Add some chukku powder, turmeric & curry vepila. Stir for 1/2 a minute. Add some mOru. This seems to be good for the stomach upset.
I think this is a good thing to eat rice with during a stomach upset. It is very light and, maybe, has the some medicinal value from chukku and turmeric ...
Maathala Naaranga Peel Vellam
It seems water boiled with Maathala Naaranga Peels is good for a stomach upset
We tried the first three, but the stomach upset still ran its course. I think, though these are not medicines that stops the stomach upset, they are good things to have during a stomach upset - especially when it is tough to eat anything at all ...
I think this is what finally helped my son's stomach upset to stop - We stopped Milk completely for two days. But, never sure of what really helped ...
Vishu Kanji Recipe
I had this first from my grand mother (on my Mother's side) for Vishu. She called it Vishu Kanji.
My Mother's home is at Panambukaadu (Ernakulam) and my grand mother's original home was in the Paroor area. So, this dish should be hailing from somewhere in these areas ...
Slightly reddish-tannish payar: this one used for this dish is 2-3 times larger than cherupayar and has a reddish-tannish hue - 1/4 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Boil these in pressure cooker in 4 cup water. Boil in low heat for 10 minutes after the pressure cooker reaches full pressure, then allow to cool and open
Meanwhile, melt 1/2 kg jaggery. Powder some chukku, jeerakam, cardamom
Once the cooker is opened, turn the heat on again. Add 1/2 cup - 1 cup coconut milk and melted jaggery to the cooker and keep stirring.
Add some ghee, the powdered chukku, jeerakam, cardamom.
Done.
My Mother's home is at Panambukaadu (Ernakulam) and my grand mother's original home was in the Paroor area. So, this dish should be hailing from somewhere in these areas ...
Slightly reddish-tannish payar: this one used for this dish is 2-3 times larger than cherupayar and has a reddish-tannish hue - 1/4 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Boil these in pressure cooker in 4 cup water. Boil in low heat for 10 minutes after the pressure cooker reaches full pressure, then allow to cool and open
Meanwhile, melt 1/2 kg jaggery. Powder some chukku, jeerakam, cardamom
Once the cooker is opened, turn the heat on again. Add 1/2 cup - 1 cup coconut milk and melted jaggery to the cooker and keep stirring.
Add some ghee, the powdered chukku, jeerakam, cardamom.
Done.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Shamir's Three Pass Protocol and Kandam Betcha Kottu!
It all started from a Car Talk weekly Puzzler (http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/200750/index.html).
Just in case you have trouble going to the website, here is the puzzle:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RAY: This came from a fellow named Michael Wortman and it is from my lock and key series, which I just started today. I had to add a few things to make it sufficiently bogus.
Imagine you have a friend who lives in Russia where the KGB spies on everyone and everything and you want to send a valuable object to this friend. So you have a box which is more than large enough to contain the object and you have several locks with keys.
Now this box, I suppose you could call it a strongbox, has a lock ring which is more than large enough to have a padlock attached to it. In fact it's large enough to accommodate several locks. But your friend does not have to the key to any lock that you have. Now you can't send a key in the mail because the KGB will intercept it and they will copy it. And you can't not lock the box, because the object is very valuable. So you have to send it through the mail. You can't hand deliver it. You want to lock it so that your friend can open it, but the KGB can't.
The question is, how would you do it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard it, thought about it a little bit, and decided that I had not heard some important part of the question - or maybe it is something silly. I put the puzzle in front of some of my friends, but none had an answer. But for sure I was interested in the answer, and the answer was so GREAT. I marvelled at the puzzle after I heard the answer - It was the best puzzle I had heard for a long time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the answer (again copied from cartalk.com):
RAY: So the question is how do you package your valuable objects so that the KGB cannot open it, but your friend can? Now instead of a key, I would have mailed a hacksaw. But in the spirit of the puzzler that wouldn't have been fair.
TOM: Sure.
RAY: You put the valuable thing in the box. You put as many locks as you want on the clasp, making sure you leave room for at least one more.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: You mail the thing to Russia. Your friend gets it. He doesn't have a key to any of these locks that you put on it. He puts another lock on it for which he has the key. He mails it back to you. You remove all of your locks and you can't get it open now. But you don't have to.
TOM: He can.
RAY: When you mail it back to him.
TOM: Oh.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found out later that this is a well known puzzle and is known in the field of secure communications as "Shamir's three pass protocol".
Now that I was so impressed by the puzzle, I started posing it to everybody I talked to - and, surely, I posed it to my parents on one of the calls home. After posing the puzzle, puzzling them for some time, and then giving the answer, my father goes:
"bEndaatha chOdyangalonnum chOdikkaathE bedakke!"
(for non-mallus: it means "Do not ask un-necessary questions" with a Muslim accent)
And then follows a song:
thalayum kaatti nadannaalE,
peNNungalkkuLLoru haalu
theeyaaluLLoru makkana ittu
nadakkaNam avarude gathikEdu
mudi narEzhaayi keeReeTTu,
neriya paalam kETTeeTTu,
athile nadakkaNam ennalE,
parENathu marichu chenniTTu.
adiyilu kathaNa theeyaNu,
theeyilu kothaNa paampaaNu,
This it seems is from Basheer's "Kandam Betcha Kottu". A grandpa is singing this to his grand-daughter explaining the plight of Muslim women who do not wear the veil (for non-mallus: It basicaly says that they will have to walk on a bridge made of hair hanging above a fire). In the course of the song the girl gets a doubt - Wouldn't the hair burn because of the fire underneath?
The grandpa's response goes:
"bEndaatha chOdyangalonnum chOdikkaathE bedakke!"
I always liked Basheer's writing - have to try to get the book if possible. I could not get the full lyrics after extensive Googling ...
By the way, I tried transliterating the Malayalam above at http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/Malayalam. It does not do composite words properly ...
ciao ...
any corrections welcome ...
Just in case you have trouble going to the website, here is the puzzle:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RAY: This came from a fellow named Michael Wortman and it is from my lock and key series, which I just started today. I had to add a few things to make it sufficiently bogus.
Imagine you have a friend who lives in Russia where the KGB spies on everyone and everything and you want to send a valuable object to this friend. So you have a box which is more than large enough to contain the object and you have several locks with keys.
Now this box, I suppose you could call it a strongbox, has a lock ring which is more than large enough to have a padlock attached to it. In fact it's large enough to accommodate several locks. But your friend does not have to the key to any lock that you have. Now you can't send a key in the mail because the KGB will intercept it and they will copy it. And you can't not lock the box, because the object is very valuable. So you have to send it through the mail. You can't hand deliver it. You want to lock it so that your friend can open it, but the KGB can't.
The question is, how would you do it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard it, thought about it a little bit, and decided that I had not heard some important part of the question - or maybe it is something silly. I put the puzzle in front of some of my friends, but none had an answer. But for sure I was interested in the answer, and the answer was so GREAT. I marvelled at the puzzle after I heard the answer - It was the best puzzle I had heard for a long time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the answer (again copied from cartalk.com):
RAY: So the question is how do you package your valuable objects so that the KGB cannot open it, but your friend can? Now instead of a key, I would have mailed a hacksaw. But in the spirit of the puzzler that wouldn't have been fair.
TOM: Sure.
RAY: You put the valuable thing in the box. You put as many locks as you want on the clasp, making sure you leave room for at least one more.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: You mail the thing to Russia. Your friend gets it. He doesn't have a key to any of these locks that you put on it. He puts another lock on it for which he has the key. He mails it back to you. You remove all of your locks and you can't get it open now. But you don't have to.
TOM: He can.
RAY: When you mail it back to him.
TOM: Oh.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found out later that this is a well known puzzle and is known in the field of secure communications as "Shamir's three pass protocol".
Now that I was so impressed by the puzzle, I started posing it to everybody I talked to - and, surely, I posed it to my parents on one of the calls home. After posing the puzzle, puzzling them for some time, and then giving the answer, my father goes:
"bEndaatha chOdyangalonnum chOdikkaathE bedakke!"
(for non-mallus: it means "Do not ask un-necessary questions" with a Muslim accent)
And then follows a song:
thalayum kaatti nadannaalE,
peNNungalkkuLLoru haalu
theeyaaluLLoru makkana ittu
nadakkaNam avarude gathikEdu
mudi narEzhaayi keeReeTTu,
neriya paalam kETTeeTTu,
athile nadakkaNam ennalE,
parENathu marichu chenniTTu.
adiyilu kathaNa theeyaNu,
theeyilu kothaNa paampaaNu,
This it seems is from Basheer's "Kandam Betcha Kottu". A grandpa is singing this to his grand-daughter explaining the plight of Muslim women who do not wear the veil (for non-mallus: It basicaly says that they will have to walk on a bridge made of hair hanging above a fire). In the course of the song the girl gets a doubt - Wouldn't the hair burn because of the fire underneath?
The grandpa's response goes:
"bEndaatha chOdyangalonnum chOdikkaathE bedakke!"
I always liked Basheer's writing - have to try to get the book if possible. I could not get the full lyrics after extensive Googling ...
By the way, I tried transliterating the Malayalam above at http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/Malayalam. It does not do composite words properly ...
ciao ...
any corrections welcome ...
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Attukal Pongala Recipe
This is the recipe from my Amma for Attukal Pongala.
I know Attukal Pongala is a festival, but we (at my home) call the payasam made during the festival as Pongala - hence the title.
I tested this one!
Wash 2 cup pachari (raw rice) (sona masoori) (do not heap the cup)
Put to cook in 7 cup water + 1 tsp ghee
(idea is to over cook slightly, because rice will harden some when you add jaggery - overcook some)
While cooking keep stirring, add more ghee if needed
(idea is to make rice not stick to bottom of vessel) Adding more ghee will make the rice soft and tasty
While the rice is cooking prepare other things:
Melt sharkkara (jaggery). For two cup rice, melt 1 kg jaggery. As the amount needed depends on how sweet you want the pongala to be, I suggest to melt 1 kg, and add as much as needed, tasting the sweetness while adding
Filter the melted jaggery through a metal filter after it is slightly cool. (See more explanation in Note1 below)
There will be 2-3 cup melted jaggery after melting
Get ready with 1/3 tsp elakkaaya (cardamom) powder, chukku (dry ginger) powder and jeerakam powder
Also get ready with cashew and raisins fried in ghee. Fry seperately.
Get ready with 1 coconut - grated
Wait for rice to be cooked (remember - slightly over cook). Once rice is cooked, we are going to add the melted jaggery - while adding, there should be just a little bit water left in the cooking rice - you should not see any water at the bottom of the vessel, but there should be just a little bit fluidity. If the rice is too dry by the time it is cooked and ready for the jaggery, just add some more HOT water and bring it to the above mentioned fluidity. (Also see more explanation in Note2 below)
Add melted jaggery. Keep stirring well and mixing when you pour the jaggery. Add ghee to help stirring easy. Take another persons help if needed to stir while you pour. Add enough jaggery to meet the sweetness you desire.
Add all the other stuff with some ghee to help stirring.
Wait till the pongala becomes thick again. Remember it will thicken some before serving, so it is OK if it is not completely dry when you take it off the stove.
You need 3-5 tsp ghee totally for this recipe.
Looks healthy - jaggery is not all that bad, atleast it is better than sugar, and not too much ghee.Looks healthier than chakkara pongal - no milk! But no Moong dal though - meaning no protein.
Note1:Achan: Filter sharkkara immediately after it melts. Otherwise it would be tough to filter. Then put it back on stove and thicken some more. Thickened sharkkara gives more taste than more liquid sharkkara.Amma: This is needed only if you add more water while melting sharkkara
Note2:Achan: Add sharkkara to rice just before the rice is completely dry - a sign of this is when the rice boils with some sputtering. While the rice is still boiling, add some melted sharkkara. Now the boiling will stop. Let it boil again, then add more melted sharkkara and so on.
I know Attukal Pongala is a festival, but we (at my home) call the payasam made during the festival as Pongala - hence the title.
I tested this one!
Wash 2 cup pachari (raw rice) (sona masoori) (do not heap the cup)
Put to cook in 7 cup water + 1 tsp ghee
(idea is to over cook slightly, because rice will harden some when you add jaggery - overcook some)
While cooking keep stirring, add more ghee if needed
(idea is to make rice not stick to bottom of vessel) Adding more ghee will make the rice soft and tasty
While the rice is cooking prepare other things:
Melt sharkkara (jaggery). For two cup rice, melt 1 kg jaggery. As the amount needed depends on how sweet you want the pongala to be, I suggest to melt 1 kg, and add as much as needed, tasting the sweetness while adding
Filter the melted jaggery through a metal filter after it is slightly cool. (See more explanation in Note1 below)
There will be 2-3 cup melted jaggery after melting
Get ready with 1/3 tsp elakkaaya (cardamom) powder, chukku (dry ginger) powder and jeerakam powder
Also get ready with cashew and raisins fried in ghee. Fry seperately.
Get ready with 1 coconut - grated
Wait for rice to be cooked (remember - slightly over cook). Once rice is cooked, we are going to add the melted jaggery - while adding, there should be just a little bit water left in the cooking rice - you should not see any water at the bottom of the vessel, but there should be just a little bit fluidity. If the rice is too dry by the time it is cooked and ready for the jaggery, just add some more HOT water and bring it to the above mentioned fluidity. (Also see more explanation in Note2 below)
Add melted jaggery. Keep stirring well and mixing when you pour the jaggery. Add ghee to help stirring easy. Take another persons help if needed to stir while you pour. Add enough jaggery to meet the sweetness you desire.
Add all the other stuff with some ghee to help stirring.
Wait till the pongala becomes thick again. Remember it will thicken some before serving, so it is OK if it is not completely dry when you take it off the stove.
You need 3-5 tsp ghee totally for this recipe.
Looks healthy - jaggery is not all that bad, atleast it is better than sugar, and not too much ghee.Looks healthier than chakkara pongal - no milk! But no Moong dal though - meaning no protein.
Note1:Achan: Filter sharkkara immediately after it melts. Otherwise it would be tough to filter. Then put it back on stove and thicken some more. Thickened sharkkara gives more taste than more liquid sharkkara.Amma: This is needed only if you add more water while melting sharkkara
Note2:Achan: Add sharkkara to rice just before the rice is completely dry - a sign of this is when the rice boils with some sputtering. While the rice is still boiling, add some melted sharkkara. Now the boiling will stop. Let it boil again, then add more melted sharkkara and so on.
from my achan and amma
The title says it all.
I plan to fill this space with interesting things that I get from them. I pan to do this to preserve what they have to say from getting lost for us :-(
In mind right now are - history, recipes and other small-talk ...
Most of the writing may NOT be refined. If I wait to publish 'good writing', it may not happen ... So ...
I plan to fill this space with interesting things that I get from them. I pan to do this to preserve what they have to say from getting lost for us :-(
In mind right now are - history, recipes and other small-talk ...
Most of the writing may NOT be refined. If I wait to publish 'good writing', it may not happen ... So ...
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