Moksha Food

This summer I exercised my green thumb and tried growing a few easy plants and vegetables at home. I managed to get my hands on Indian favorites like Tulsi (Holy Basil), Hibiscus and Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum). In a tiny corner of my solarium, I am enthusiastically growing fenugreek (methi), chilies and tomatoes from seeds. The fenugreek micro-greens are easiest to grow with 3-4 weeks growth cycle. My first harvest of fenugreek micro-greens was so beautiful that I didn't have the heart to pull it out. My daughter loves munching on the micro-greens raw. That's the healthiest snack anybody could ever have.  I noticed some stems slowly wilting away so had to think of ways to put them to good use. I had some ideas dancing in my mind like Methi Bajra Debras -Fenugreek Millet Flatbread , or Fenugreek Millet Fritters but wanted to try something new. I had to prepare a chicken curry and decided to add fenugreek micro-green to enhance the taste and nutritional value. T

Bottle gourd/dudhi/lauki/lau is a mild tasting vegetable. Its usually heavily flavored with spices or other ingredients to make it more enjoyable. Lau Ghonto is a gem in the Bengali cuisine repertoire which not only celebrates the mild flavor of bottle gourd but further enhances it by lending a creamy texture with milk and mildly sweetening it with sugar. Bottle gourd contains high water content and is considered to have cooling properties on the body. This vegetable is ideal to cook during the hot summer months. It really cooks in a jiffy so you can be out of your kitchen and enjoy your summer outdoors. This recipe is a must try for even bottle gourd haters and easy to appease kids. Ingredients: 1 bottle gourd, de-skinned and chopped into small pieces 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas 1 tsp kalonji (black onion seeds) 1/4 cup milk 1-2 tablespoons rice flour salt to taste 1-2 tablespoons sugar oil Directions: In a large saucepan, heat a tablespoon of oil to medium

Lentils are a great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. Indian cu isine has a well  evolved understanding of vegetarian food habits and balances the diet wi th a large variety of lentils and vegetables. Lentils also known as dals is a regular staple in every Indian meal. E ach lentil is cooked in numerous ways acr oss India such that you c ould make a different recipe of dal every day of the week. Lentils/ Dals are also made into snacks or de sserts. These L entil Squares/ Cakes can be had a s a healthy protein packed snack or you could smother them in your favorite sauce as a main course m eal. There are many variations of this recipe all ac ross India. My mom would make dal iche vad e or pan fried dal fritter s by s oaking the chana dal for a few hours and then coarsely grinding them with green chilies, ginger, cilant ro and salt. She would then drop a couple of tablespoons of this mixture on a greased heated pan and spread them into small 2 inch discs. The