Today I hop out of bed before the alarm rings. My weight has gone up by almost a kg... which could be because of last night's indulgence or it could also be because of my chums being round the corner. I am definitely in a crabby mood :( My mood lifts up with the thought that I will be free to plonk in the pool during weekend when I have planned a trip with my chaddi buddies. Yay!
I wade into the kitchen and make myself a smoothie of banana, honey, a bit of coconut milk and water... and blend it more to the consistency of a juice.
I am in no mood to cook today as I am feeling very lethargic (some things never change I guess no matter what you eat ;) so will make some basic simple recipes. I decide to make the traditional Gajarachi Koshimbir (a salad made out of carrot) and Kanda Kairichi chutney (recipe shared earlier) which will not take too much effort.
As I watch a bright yellow blooming Laburnum tree from the cab on the way to work, I think... Spring started with the mass blooming of the pink trumpet trees opposite Godrej on the Eastern Express Highway and melted into golden hot summers with the lone Bahava or Laburnum blooming exuberantly in this city. One look at even a single one in its full glory and dil garden garden ho jata hai. Imagine a few hundred Bahava trees all blooming together in a park! Then, like the Cherry Blossom of Japan, we can have our very own richer Golden Laburnum Festival! These blooms last also much longer than the cherry blossoms.
I shall stop dreaming and get back to the salad recipe...
Basic Carrot Salad
Ingredients:
Grated Carrot - 1 big katori
2 tbsp - grated fresh coconut
1 - 2 tbsp coarsely ground peanuts
Chopped Coriander for garnishing
You can add a few pomegranate pearls. I didn't today as I didn't have the energies to deshell them
Salt per taste
a pinch of sugar (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
For Seasoning
1 tsp vegetable oil / ghee
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp aesafotida
1 chopped green chilli
Method:
Mix all the ingredients. Heat oil in a seasoning pan, add the cumin. Once it sputters, add the hing and chillies. Turn off the gas and add it to the salad for additional flavour
I pack this salad with a bit of pickle and aamras for lunch and carry a guava, orange and jamun for the in between snack. For evening I have carried the raw corn and kairi salad with a lemon and rock salt dressing.
By noon a plan of meeting some old friends materialises. So another social evening with friends. I decide to stick to the salad and a fresh fruit juice. So I end up having a health bowl (which has lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes and corn and a sprinkle of grated cheese) with an orange juice. Between the animated talks, we do not realise the hours slipping away and very soon it is close to midnight and I am exhausted. We say our goodbyes and disperse. By the time I reach home, I am hungry again as the salad has long digested. I have a handful of kurmura and a forgotten sorbet of chikoo and banana that I have prepared and shoved in the freezer a few days ago and switch off the lights on Day 22.