Kundru Posto Not

Ok, so that 7 Day Challenge I was doing last week didn't work. I mean didn't work as in I fell off the wagon *THWACK* 3 days into it. Not my fault really, it was the hub.

He went and got goat meat on Day 4. Who does that, tell me ? If I am saying "lean meat" or "no meat" how does it point to this. But then again he did it for Baby A's nanny, who is going away on a vacation and so we wanted to have a special dinner for her before she left. On the aside, we also wanted her to cook that goat meat, 'coz she makes it real good. So long story short, I had goat meat with white rice on Day 4 which is a sacrilege if you are doing "7 Day of No Carb" and which thus declares the whole Challenge null and void.

But seriously we all need a lifestyle change. Boys in the age of 6 to 19 in this country, have an obesity problem and this year the data shows that though the obesity epidemic in the US had reached a plateau, boys in this age are an exception. Now why do you think it is ONLY boys in this age group are affected ? What about girls ? It is not that I want girls to go and eat junk and be obese but really what is the difference in their metabolism that is making the poor boys fatter ? I think teenage girls have a controlled weight more due to societal pressure than a healthier lifestyle and I really don't know which one is better.

One thing I have noticed though, other than the daily intake of unhealthy foods by kids here there is very little in terms of exercise in the schools, especially in the winter months. As a kid, our school had an hours recess and 2 huge playgrounds, not to mention the basketball court. Everyday after lunch we would play some game that required a lot of running and sweating.

In sharp contrast here in my daughter's school, the recess during the winter months is spent in the classroom doing sedentary work. There is little or no regular exercise at home either, now if you add McD to all this, what do you get -- OBESITY.

But all is not lost for the boys. The Y chromosome which appeared to be in "an evolutionary freefall" with just 70 or 80 genes left, is not receding. Even with the less number of genes that it has right now, Y chromosome is evolving at a faster and rapid pace. So Men do change, hmmmmmpf !!!!

I liked what one of the commenters said in this article "So, this means that female genes help us trace where we've been and male genes can tell us where we're heading to"

Now back to food. I had Kundru Posto in my draft today waiting to be posted . But I am not going to post it. Instead I will ask you to take a moment and spare a thought for Haiti. They need clean water, food and shelter. In short they need your help. If you want to make donations to charities involved in the earthquake relief effort at Haiti, you can select one from the list here.

To make donations to Haiti Earthquake Children's Fund go here

You can also donate for a shelterbox, more information at Jugalbandi.

The recipe, we will do that tomorrow. Oh and no pithe puli this Sankranti, maybe next time.

Dry Roasted Spicy Chickpea Salad -- Going local ?

Prelude

I am the kind of consumer who is pro organic because my primary concern is safety in food. Though due to cost and restricted availability I do not buy everything organic.

I did not rely much on "local food" because I do not have access to good locally grown produce. The nearby Farmers market that I go to have lovely produce, very good price but produce is never ever seasonal. If I compare their produce to this Harvest Dates for Jersey, it can only mean produce there is NOT local. Neither is the produce there certified organic. I am confused.

During summer the only local vegetables that I have seen in limited quantity(as sold in Wegmans or Whole Foods) is Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Tomatoes and Corn.

So if I want to eat Local I have a choice of very few vegetables and that too only during 5-6 months of the year. Not practical.

After I expressed my own doubts about Local Food on reading Indosungod's very informative post, I read the comments and felt I needed to know more and re-evaluate my decision . I then ventured into a little more research. Disclaimer: The following is information that I have gathered over the internet and then my interpretation.

Why we should buy Local

Local is really important as a deep investment into your local economy and developing a relationship with the person who produces your food. Local food is also fresher and more richer in nutrients. Proponents of Local Food say "Local" is the new "Organic". In an ideal world food would have been "Local and Organic". There would be no other kind and no discussion.

Is Local Sustainable ?

While dreams of our future food system may rely on the romantic image of local farmers, the reality is: this model(Local or Organic or both) can't do what we need it to do, that is, feed billions of people. From TreeHugger. But really is there an alternative, organic farming method that is sustainable ?

But Is Local always Safe and Organic ?

This largely depends on where you are and also on the trust relationship you have with the grower. If I don't know the farmer or am not sure if there is a vigilant body checking the farmer's activity, I cannot be sure of his method of growing food. The CSAs or the CoOps are more trustworthy.(Read Times Article)
The trust and the local farming practice also also depends on the country where you are. We tend to think of only the Western World when discussing such stuff.

Local Farming and Environment

It is not necessarily true that Local Food has a lower carbon footprint. More than transport, methods of growing impacts "food miles". It is likely to be more environmentally friendly for tomatoes to be grown in Spain and transported to the UK than for the same tomatoes to be grown in greenhouses in the UK requiring electricity to light and heat them.(Read more)

Local Farming and Third World Countries

If people in developed nations are convinced to eat only locally grown food what happens to the farmer in the third world country whose income is from exporting his produce. Afghanistan produces some of the world’s tastiest fruits and nuts. If these do not reach the world market how does that country better its economy ?
Also take an ordinary farmer in India. The prices of locally produced food is usually higher because they are not subsidized. Because of WTO's free trade policies it will be very hard for a poor farmer in India to compete his local grown produce with imported ones. So then is local food only a privilege of people in wealthier nations ?
I don't have much knowledge on this and really would love to know more about how local farming works in developing nations

How does Local fare in a Global Flat world

Local had always been how produce was grown when I was a kid. Food was seasonal and my Mother did without tomatoes and cauliflower in summer and didn't make mango chutney in winter. We waited for the fruit and vegetable of the season and accepted nature's way. Now with world going flat food is not only non-seasonal, it has also gone global. So even if you have moved countries and shifted loyalties you can still eat your jackfruit curry for lunch and suck on an alphonso mango after dinner. How do you put a stop to that craving and go local ?

Conclusion as a Consumer

"If the average meat eater gave up meat once a week that would be the equivalent of eating all of your food local."
—James McWilliams, author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. From The TakeAway.

Eat Organic and Local as and when you can but they truly might not be the answer to building a sustainable food system. For each of us eating local or organic may mean different thing and I think it is largely a personal choice.
I was reading a book by Bourdain and there he talked about a sushi place in New York, the most expensive restaurant where they fly in fish from Japan every single day. If patrons of this sushi place, the rich & the famous of NYC, drive a 3 hrs distance from the city to a farm to get their local produce because buying local makes them feel warm and fuzzy and "in with the crowd", I will think the idea is somewhere defeated.

References from

Wiki -- Local Food
Wiki -- Organic Food
Eating Better than Organic -- Times
TreeHugger
Food That Travels Well - NY Times

Now back to these lovely dry roasted chickpeas spiced with Indian spices. They are great as a snack and also makes for a very healthy and satisfying meal. That they look pretty is an added bonus.


Read more...

Inspired by Kalyn's Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spice.

Dry Roasted Spicy Chickpea Salad

Wash canned chickpeas in several changes of water. I used a 29oz can of Goya Garbanzo

In a bowl toss garbanzo beans with
1 & 1/2 - 2 tsp Dry Mango Powder,
1/2 - 1 tsp Red Chili Powder,
1/2 - 1 tsp fresh Coriander powder(grind coriander seeds in your spice grinder),
little Kitchen King Masala(optional),
salt and
1 tsp Olive Oil

Heat oven to 350F

Put the chickpeas in a single layer on a tray and bake for 30-40 mins or so.

To eat as a salad, toss together the roasted chickpeas with some peeled and chopped cucumber,chopped red onions and finely chopped green chili. Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil and combine. Add salt and pepper if needed

This made for a very filling and also satisfying packed lunch for work. Though I suggest that it tastes better when had fresh off the oven and tossed as a salad.

Mr. Pinto ? Bean there Done That

A couple of days back I was driving to the mall with Big Sis S in the backseat. A lot of things were going through my mind including how best to avail of the discount at Bath & Body Works.

When S from the back squeals: "What is WOW"?

Me: "That's a gym."

S: "Why does it say Wow ?"

Preoccupied Me: "Dunno". Actually it is "Work Out World"

S: "I know. Wow as in WOW you are so fat, you will become thin if you join me !!!"

Me: "!!!"

I need a WOW factor in my life. I need catcalls, to fit into skinny jeans, to wear fitted tees. I have a mid age crisis, I think I am sixteen. No seriously who am I kidding, I don't want any of those, I just want to be fit enough to survive, sitting down cross-legged on the floor 560 times, bending down to pick up toys 250 times, going up&down 100 times, kneeling down to mop a spill 90 times like any other Mom does. For all else there is Photoshop.

To achieve that I have two options. I either take Google Ad's tip that keeps appearing on my sidebar like a bad dream or I take this month to eat well, well as in healthy, more vegetables, more fish, more fruits, less meat, no sugar, no processed food, no grains well. Since I did this 7 Day Challenge last year, I keep going back to it every month or so. Even a week of this restricted eating helps me feel better about myself.

Pssst, but seriously how does Google know that I need tips and maybe more to get a flat belly ?

Whenever I have such healthy eating agenda on mind I browse through Kalyn's blog. She has wonderful SBD friendly recipes and so does Sig. This Pinto Bean recipe that I have today is adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen's this recipe.

Now I had never been to Rubios and so had no clue what she was talking about. But then again I had never tried cooking pinto beans either. But all that talk about creamy, "not refried" beans hooked me on. I loosely adapted her recipe and now am a big fan of Rubios, wherever it is. A creamy chunky bowl of these beans will fill you up and satisfy your hunger as well as taste cravings.


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Creamy Pinto Bean

I have no measurements and you shouldn't really need any. Follow Kalyn's recipe to cook and mash the beans.

Soak Dried Pinto Beans in water overnight or for at least 12 hrs. Note: If not soaking, cooking time will be longer

Cook them in pressure cooker with salt, coarsely ground black pepper and little of finely minced garlic. I had to pressure cook mine twice about 10-15 mins each time. You need the beans to be really soft, falling apart kind so if it is not done after the first 15 minutes do it again in second stage.

With the back of a spatula or a potato masher vigorously mash the beans until they are almost mashed but about 25% of them are still chunky. You don't want to mash all of them. Note: You can make a big batch of this and freeze. When needed spice it up. I would suggest not to add garlic if you intend to freeze, it might become too garlicky

Now comes my own story of spicing up everything

Heat olive oil in a deep bottom pot

Add some sliced onions and minced garlic and fry till onion is soft and translucent.

Add Pav Bhaji masala and a little red chili powder. Add the cooked and mashed beans and mix well. Adjust for salt and seasoning. Add a little water and let the beans simmer and thicken. Stir in between till you feel the creaminess is perfect.

While serving garnish with roasted garlic pods and chopped coriander. You can squirt a little lime juice if you wish. That red sumac on top is just for the pictures, you don't really need it.

More healthy eats



Trivia:The pinto bean (Spanish: frijol pinto, literally "painted bean") is named for its mottled skin. It is the most common bean in the United States and northwestern Mexico.Rice and pinto beans served with cornbread or corn tortillas are often a staple meal for the poor where there is limited money for meat; the amino acids in this combination make it a complete protein source