Keela Nelli - Phyllanthus niruri - Bhumyamalaki

Keelanelli

Keelanelli Bhumyamlaki Closeup

Medicinal Benefits
Wiki
Not supposed to be had during pregnancy
siddha
herbs

Keelanelli Chutney
On asking mom, how she makes Keelanelli chutney, she said, they just feed it to cows. So in order to escape the bitterness of keelanelli, added corriander, pudhina, curry leaves, coconut and fried channa and urad dal to make the keelanelli chutney. It was quite yummy.
      

Keelanelli Chutney with Aavaram Poo Chutney

Keelanelli Parantha
A trite bitter, but yummy.

Bhumyamlaki Parantha with Amlaki chutney

Ponnankanni - Matsyaksi - Alternanthera Sessilis - Sessile Joyweed

So many varieties of this keerai are there, that every time, i would ask mom, is this also ponnakanni? Reddish ones, the ones i ate as a child, and this one now.

Ponnakanni Leaves

Ponnakanni leaves with flowers

Medicinal benefits

It is good for eyes is what i have been told.
1. See this blog
2. Flowers
3. Divinewellness

Weekend Saturday Samayal
      After PG food, this was sheer ambrosia. Thanks to god for this food and all the blessings. I came home after almost a month after mom's birthday. During Independence day holidays, had gone to sister's place, where i got to drink fresh cow's milk, fresh curd from cow's milk in Sriperumbudur. A rarity in the world of pasteurized milk.

Paasi paruppu payasam, Kathrika Sambar, Rasam, Curd, Nei paruppu, Ponnakanni Kootu, Kothavaranga Paruppu Usili, Roast Moong Papad

Mom said, she would pluck drumstick leaves, but went to office, without getting me the leaves. While coming back, she came with ponnakanni, keelanelli, kuppaimeni and paruppu keerai leaves - all plucked from the thickets inside her factory compound walls. The keerai kootu in the picture has both ponnakanni and a little bit of paruppu keerai. I left the kuppaimeni and keelanelli alone, to make them separately, so as to discern their individual tastes.

Mom cleaned and chopped the leaves and made the coconut cumin seeds paste. With a little bit of moong dal and thuvar dal, Ponnakanni paruppukeerai kootu was ready in minutes.

Maramallis
      Come september, the divine fragrance of maramallis simply stops me on the road. Every morning, it is a carpet of these fragrant maramallis. With screeching crickets, and plenty of open space, god! it feels so good after pg in bangalore.


Recipes

Ponnankanni Kootu
Wash and cut leaves.
Heat oil/ghee, splutter mustards and add curry leaves, and a little asafoetida powder
Saute the cut leaves till the volume reduces
Add turmeric, salt, water and let it cook till leaves are soft
Add cooked dal, coconut cumin seed paste and mix well
After coconut paste is added, take it off flame within a minute.

Kothavaranga paruppu usili
My colleague BK introduced me to various usilis in 2004-05. She would say that her mom made a rice paste, always made vathal puli kozhambus.
recipe

Rasam
It is tamarind very rarely for rasams or sambhar. Mostly just tomatoes, raw mango or lemon.
Grind a little pepper, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, one chilli, curry leaves coarsely in mixie
Heat few drops of oil, saute the ground mix, add asafoetida
Saute cut tomatoes and add water, salt, turmeric, a little bit of coriander leaves
When rasam starts frothing, before it comes to boil, take it off flame and garnish with coriander, curry leaves

Simple Sambhar
Heat oil, fry mustards, curry leaves, asafoetida
Saute cut vegetables- brinjal and lots of tomatoes in the absence of tamarind
Add turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, salt, mix well
Add the water in which brinjal was soaked.
Once vegetable is partially cooked, add cooked dal, cook for 3-4 minutes
Finally, do a tadka with ghee or oil, mustards, asafoetida and curry leaves

Instant Paasi paruppu payasam
Need something sweet to start and end a meal. My payasams are not traditional, they are instant, for i start late close to 12 pm and have to finish before mom returns from office around 12:40 pm. Even if nothing is available, i mash a little cooked rice/wheat flour/multi grain flour/aval or poha/rava to liberal dose of jaggery, ghee, milk, add lots of nuts fried in ghee with ellaichi

In the slowest flame, heat ghee, fry nuts and keep nuts aside.
Add pressure cooked moong dal to this ghee and stir gently
Mix lots of powdered jaggery and ellaichi to dal
Add thick milk to this mix, after taking off flame (to prevent curdling of milk)
Garnish with nuts fried in ghee

KuppaiMeni Indian Nettle Aristamanjari

Kuppaimeni in Sriperumbudur

Kuppaimeni in Trichy

A pleasing thicket of kuppaimenis

A colleague here wanted me to bring live plant from trichy for his father who had kidney ailment. I read it is good for skin, hair, could not read about kidney effects. Whatever, mom says, she included it in our thugayal for idlies when we were kids. Yahoo answer describes so much of its health benefits. Most of it goes beyond my head.

Health benefits
Yahoo answer
LongHairCommunity
blog

Kuppaimeni Chutney

Yummy Kuppaimeni Chutney with roast blackgram, channa dal, coconut and red chilli

Crisp ghee dosa with kuppaimeni chutney

On the plate: Kuppaimeni Parantha, Bindi Poriyal, Carrot Channa Sabji - In the small cups:  Rice Kheer, Brinjal kolambu, Rasam, Curd

Kuppaimeni thumbai Kootu

 

Sweet: Ellu urundai with yellow pumpkin halwa (dumroot halwa/kAsi halwa with jaggery)
Yellow pumpkin kootu
kuppaimeni thumbai Kootu
Orange peel puli kolambu
Nellika thugayal
Curd

Why do people Saamy Aadify?

I remember there was a discovery channel or NatGeo channel program, which showed how a person praying to Lord Muruga gets temporarily into trance. Chemical changes explained it away.

Few First hand experiences
There is a temple near our place shortened to Sithoonavayal. It was supposed to be inhabited by siddhars (accomplished ones) in the past. A temple lay submerged under the earth. And a local soothsayer, who had got the blessings of the wandering monks by feeding them, wants to build a temple on top of the submerged temple. For years, great many number of people would come and participate in anna dhanam, till government put barbed wire on that place. It is somewhere near where IIM trichy is coming up and Swamy said, how government officials from Bangalore came to buy land there, while prices were cheaper. 

That temple was the place where I saw folks getting into trance just like that. There was this middle aged lady, who was sitting next to me silently. The next second, she was at some distance and she got into fits or trance and was shaking all over. Around that small temple, one woman, got on her knees and started hissing like a snake and went around that Muruga temple. There was something in the air. Like the balayogi temple here, where folks are forever in trance like a mantra tied hens.
 
A Pooja function at home
My relative was going for ayyapa swamy pilgrimage and there was big pooja. Gods were invoked and swamys were fed first before having food. Just around maha arati time, the dead grandmother entered her grandson. Most of the planets were in their own house in his chart. The grandmother had a hip problem and the grandson, complained of the same hip problem and it took some hours for him to come back to normalcy. I was like thinking, does the dead soul still cling to the physical body problem even after quitting body. Whatever!!! Need to investigate this in detail later.

Gokulastami
Our admin lady dragged me to Chinmaya mission Krishna temple on CMH road and I was awestruck with the floral decorations. So beautiful Krishna was. Madhuram!! Madhuram!! I was quite pleased and was glad. The day after next, the grandson’s saga came out. Seems, like the trance prone grandson had gone with his friends for Gokulastami to Marina Beach. One of his thiruvanamalai friend was swept off due to sea current and his body landed up in Ennore beach some 25+ kms away the next day. What gives watery grave? Sudden transformations. A fun day at beach becomes the last day. What if I was dead right now? What is the most important thing I would have liked to done before I die? That sithoona vayal subramanya swamy temple needs to be re-constructed. A temple where everyone can have proper darshan and old people have place to sit. Need to repay pitru-rin by sponsoring or adopting a child and providing for it.  Need to give back while am still alive. Scriptures say, the soul first ensures its next birth for the non-moksha folks, before it quits this body. Long life ahead for me. Miles to go before I sleep.

Moringa oleifera - Shigru patram - Murungai leaves - Yet another weekend

Last friday, it was pouring cats and dogs. So much of rain, that i could not step out on the water logged roads. I was writing an assignment, that i missed the 5 pm cab and boarded the 6 pm cab to board the 7:35 train at carmelaram. Typically, i keep remembering Rama and focus on the present, but this time, i chose to worry about whether or not i would miss the train.

At 7:45, after crawling through Koramangla, HSR, the cab came to a halt due to train signal. I alighted and dragged the trolley in the drizzle to find that the train waiting was Ernakulam express. The 7:35 pm train came around 9 pm. I could have avoided that needless worry on missing the train.

Home Sweet Home

Periyamma came out to receive me and the previous night comedy vanished at her sight. Back home, i remembered my colleague's description of Krishna Cafe meals. He described the kaara kolambu and more milagai. I was arguing, home food was the best, and he was talking about the time spent in cooking. Even my brother said, put some value for human efforts. He said, he would step out for lunch, provided hunger was greater than his joint pain after organizing a function the previous day. He said, if mom had to stay with him, he would arrange a cook at home. Whatever, mom had plucked the leaves, and removed the stigma of plantain flowers. I was feeling delicate to chop plantain flowers from our own backyard. Mom kept on saying, that one should remove the first few flowers for the plantain tree to grow properly. Whatever, didn't get the logic. It is so difficult to eat out on the leaves, that grow in your own backyard under your protection. So i decided to eat on plate. Milk got over, so made bajra scoops instead of kheer.

1. Bajra (Kambu) Scoops with cardamoms, pistas, cashews and raisins
2. Paruppu with melting ghee - paruppu podi
3. Drum stick leaves poriyal
4. Vaazhai Poo Kootu in coconut and cumin seeds gravy
5. Spicy beetroot with beans and rajma - flavoured with saunf and ginger
6. Avarakkai sambar with roast and ground spices
7. Murungaka kaara kolambu
8. Rasam
9. Curd
10. Roast pepper paapad

Opportunity Cost
The assignment had a question on economic costs and i was thinking, about spending 2.5 hours on cooking food for mom, instead of appointing a cook and another help for washing vessels. I could research some articles and publish some useful papers, instead of matching Krishna Cafe's spread for a one time meal. If it was just me, i would rather survive on maggi noodles and upmas. Certain things are beyond cost benefit analysis.

Back in PG
My roomie saw the snaps and asked me, do you take a photo every time before you eat? Not always, I told her. What is mandatory is we keep a morsel outside for cats or crows before we start eating and pray before we start. When we see the food and wait for a moment in prayer or in appreciation, saliva is secreted, the digestive juices get the signal and what goes in, gets absorbed efficiently. Eating food with a complete focused mind is a type of yoga, prayer to God. In Vethathri Maharishi's class, we were told to drink water or eat food, focusing few inches above the head, as an offering to God. So easy to say, so easy to start, so difficult to sustain the practice.

Navdhanya Scoops - Yet Another Sunday Pulav

Navadhanya Scoops - Sathu mavu urundai

Potato Pepper Fry - Urulai Milagu Roast

Navadhanya Scoops, Potato Wedges, Kathrika Dalca, Rice, Curd, Veg Pulav

Was shocked to see potatoes in kitchen. Mom told me, that potatoes cost Rs 10 a kg. Back in PG, potatoes, kovakais (ivy gourds), brinjals are a class of vegetables, i keep away from. Had planned to make mulangi sambar. Mom said, make biryani, and then quickly added, you get to eat pulavs often right, so make meals. So i ended up making pulav.

For desserts rather starters, i fried sathu mavu powder in ghee with ellaichi, cashew, raisins and jaggery to sweeten with milk and scooped them with a round spoon. Fresh 5 mins desserts, to eat before meals. Things are best, when left to nature. Curd was ultimate finishing.

Rotis and Paranthas

Parantha 1 - Shobanjana Parantha (murangai keerai) with tamatar paneer

Parantha 2 - Shobanjana Parantha with Moong Dal and Turmeric Milk

Roti 3 - Crisp Rotis with Bittergourd laced with jaggery

Roti 4 - Roti with pudhina cilantro paneer

Parantha 5 - Mooli Parantha with pirandai chutney

Parantha 6 - Mooli Parantha with Carrot Beans Sabji

Parantha 7 - Bhumyamlaki Parantha

Parantha 8 - Ajwain Parantha with Pudhina Curry Leaves Paneer

Ajwain Parantha with Okra (with fenugreek, dried ginger and horsegram mix)

Mudakathan Keerai Parantha with Tomato Chutney

Pudhina Multigrain roti (sathu mavu) with Mealmaker and Carrot Halwa

 Till pudhina got over!

Pudhina Poori with Mealmaker Mutter