Gokulashtami 2020

This year we are celebrating Gokulashtami in a much simpler way. 

Made some seedai in the morning with some help from San who also made some maladdoos and looked lovely today..

We did a small pooja and did neivedhiyam and deeparadhanai. 

did I mention she looked absolutely lovely today?

This year, one more person dear to us has reached Krishna.. San's grandpa is one with Krishna now! Was thinking of him, even if it was for a brief moment while doing the deepa aaradhanai. 

The kids have stopped dressing up for functions, but their motivation for dressing up is when someone is going to see them dressed up. Parents don't count on that list. Given COVID times, I understood and gave them a pass. There are a few functions they look forward to.. especially when the star of the show is a cute crawling baby, a cute looking elephant, lighting lamps and bursting fire crackers or simply the excuse of "I cant study today because all my books are with Saraswati ummachi". 

We have passed on what we could to the next generation. Feel happy that my kids are aware of traditions. Right now there are kids growing up in Tamil Nadu as well as a lot of young adults who have managed to develop so much self loathing for their own culture and tradition in the name of secularism that is being pushed in their face. The marketing machinery that has gone into over drive in recent times to do this to so many kids at this scale is mind boggling. 

You can accept another's faith without having to show you gave up on your own! This is so much easier to do and understand, especially when you have a concept of god being in every form, shape, size, color, nature and being open to acceptance. I can understand it being a lot harder for religions where the concept is "my way is the only way". 

"Sarva deva namaskaraha Keshavam prathigachathi" is something we say as part of doing Sandhyavandhanam every day.  When you prostrate yourself in front of any god, it all eventually goes to the same god. It is a beautiful message. 

On a totally tangential note, I have been wearing the same 5 "pocket vechcha T-shirts"  in rotation since the lockdown when going out. Inside the house it has been the 60-day challenge shirts in rotation.  Using Krishna's birthday as an excuse, finally put on a new T-shirt from the collection of unopened gifts. 

This one was courtesy of my FIL/MIL or one of San's uncles. Feels good to wear new clothes every now and then! Apparenlty after eating everything I do look like a blue whale. 

A very happy Gokulashtami to everyone. I know that given the technicality of the calendar a lot of folks celebrate Krishnas birthday in early September this year. An advance Gokulashtami wish to them!  

Samosas - do it yourself

Last weekend I had gone for a grocery run and saw the empty samosa area in the Indian store. They used to have piping hot samosas there all the time. 

San or me would always get two samosas from any desi store run.. it was something we both do and it invariably makes the other person happy.. we share it with chai. 

When I told my kids how I missed samosas and it has been a long time since we had any, they piled up on me by saying they miss a lot of things like Chipotle too.. so I should shut up and make my own samosas just like how they are making their own mexican food at home!

Samosas are labor intensive and not easy to make on a small scale. Still having been encouraged (challenged if you take it in another way) by some fellow yogis.. decided to make it the weekend project. 

there is a lot of ground work required. I got 15 samosas after almost 90 minutes of effort.. guessing you can make 30 of these in 2 hours with same oil. 

Ended up with 1/2 the masala leftover which we plan to use to make parathas tomorrow. 

Recipe used (scaled everything down to 15 samosas)

1. 3 aaloos (potato) boiled, peeled, mushed

2. 1/2 cup peas

3. one clove garlic (dont need it actually), 1/2 onion (again you can skip this), 1 red chilli, 1 spoon of corriander seeds (dhaniya) - two spoons water and make into a paste. 

4. small bunch of cilantro

fry a spoon of jeera (cumin) in two spoons oil and add the paste, then add the cilantro, peas, potato and make the curry.

Separately  made the dough with 2 cups all purpose flour and 2 spoons of clarified butter (ghee).. think oil will be okay as well if you are vegan. Let the dough sit for 30 minutes under wrap. 

Make the samosas by using water to seal the dough after flattening and filling it with a spoon and a half of the potato masala. 

Trick is in the frying. Keep it at medium high to begin with.. after 30 seconds, drop heat to medium low and wait for a good 3-4 minutes before taking the samosas out.. Then set it medium high again, wait for 5 minutes before adding next batch in. The temperature toggling is what takes time.. so it makes sense to do 50 samosas at one time in a large kadai like in the street vendors.. Bihari (our tea shop from college days in Varanasi) used to make 25 at a time in his large kadai.. they would all come with a consistant golden brown color and a smooth texture.. 

One thing I realized.. the second batch came out with smooth surface like in store samosas simply because the moisture had gone a little bit as they waited. That is one trick I will use next time. That was not mentioned in any video... 

there are many recipes that use flour tortillas or pastry sheets to make samosas ... but if you are going to do something..... go for it with all your heart. No short cuts. 

The samosas came out very well. The feedback from family "masala is really good. The skin of the samosa is really thick in some places, but taste is really good."

They all liked the second batch better than the first batch. 

Had fun doing this.. have allergies thanks to the gardening effort earlier in the day.. so you can hear me sniffling all the time..

Now I am late for yoga class. Fortunately yoga class is only 20 steps away now instead of a 15 minute drive.. and we are on a flexi schedule. 

Here is a video of how this was made.. 

If I can do this, so can you.. so try it from scratch. It is intimidating when you watch all those videos. For a first attempt this came out well ! 

Happy Pongal 2019

We celebrated Pongal on a weekday this year.. so it was the San and myself team effort at 5AM to make pongal and vadai and do a quick pooja before taking off to work. The kids were not even up in time to participate.

Had to make a rush for the sugarcane in the local Indian store.. stiff competition from customers for the 10 or so canes that were there!

Managed to see the sun at work during a lunch walk on Pongal, which in itself is becoming a hit or miss the last few years. 

My office mates know from the "chandhana pottu" on my forehead that there must have been some function/ festival going on. When I describe Pongal to them they go "oh, so it is your version of thanksgiving!" 

There was no chance to recreate our Pongal family picture during the week. It was too cold outside and given our backyard has been remodelled, there was no chance to get that same shot anyways.. so the closest I got to a collage was this..

The kids can no longer stand in front of us!  It was also not easy to be in a dhoti today, given the cold weather.

In four years, Jr. will be a senior in college and the little one a freshman.  It is my sincere wish that they show up for Pongal to take one more picture. Daddy will be waiting with pongal in one hand and camera in the other..

one can always hope.. put senti on the blog.. etc. but these kids have a mind of their own.

To everyone who celebrates Pongal, may this year be a good one for you!