Chakli aka Mullu Murukku (முள்ளு முறுக்கு)- do it yourself

We buy the Chakli (which goes by Mullu Murukku  முள்ளு முறுக்கு in Tamil) from the local desi stores. However there is one problem. It has sesame seeds in it. Everyone loves it including daddy who pretty much is restricted to eating a small piece for taste. 

So every now and then we make it at home with cumin seeds substituting for sesame seeds to give it a slightly different flavor!

Yesterday we had mom away from the house for a few hours and that was the perfect time to launch into the Chakli project with the kids. They pretty much did everything except the frying part. In a few years they will do that also. 

Two hopes as this video is posted

1. Folks who see it use it to make hot chakli 

2. some day Jr. and the little one play this back and make it with their kids (who knows if I will be around to watch that?! at least the video is there to remind them of good times.)

It is not expensive to make. Just time consuming. The end result is great! 

We also made a few bhajjis after the chakli was done to use up the oil that was still left. 

It has been a busy January with work, thoughts of work, a more regular Yoga practice and trying to catch up on sleep. 

Now Feb is flying by! It is almost Valentines day! Should make something special for my babies on Valentines day..

Snake Gourd Kootu (புடலங்காய் கூட்டு)

Snake Gourd (புடலங்காய்) is one of our favorite veggies. However finding it in the US desi grocery stores is very rare. It is very seasonal and we are lucky if we get it here for a few months and getting good quality snake gourd .. we usually give up. 

So San comes back home from Indian store with a surprise for me. Great quality புடலங்காய்! Since pepper kootu is my eminent domain, she asked I make the kootu. Told her will do it on condition that it will be videoblogged.

The little one forced herself into the picture by being videographer. After some point mommy took over the camera..

Making the kootu is the easy part. Finding the vegetable is the hard part!

Hope the video is of help to folks who are trying to make milagu kootu with Pudalangaai..

The budding chef

The kids have been complaining that there are no new baby videos.. that is what they call old videos of them that we see in the blog before bedtime!

So we need more baby videos for three years from now.. Here is a start!

She is becoming quite a chef!

The older one is as elusive as a vampire in daylight! Will have to work hard to catch that one on camera doing something cute.

Have been busy with the new job the last week. Loving it so far. Also have a nice Macbook Air. A Mac work laptop after 15 years. Loving that too.. Getting used to the trackpad as fast as I can. 

The other amazing thing is that it runs VMware Fusion. That means with a swipe of the mouse it goes from a Mac screen to a Windows screen and runs my Windows apps!

We also spent some time with the kids today at Pier 39 watching the Blue Angels fly just between us and Alcatraz. Have some nice photos.. but the editing has to wait till middle of the week.

Until then..