Life Unprocessed!

Chaula Makara Today is Makar Sankranti , the harvest festival celebrated all over India albeit by different names . I wanted to surprise my hubby with typical Odia Makar Sankranti food , so here we are. Chaula (Rice) Makar is the most common Odia Makar Sankranti food , taking its name from the festival itself .

This is my version of the recipe . I’ve had to make changes as I didn’t have some of the required ingredients on hand .

½ cup basmati rice soaked overnight (original says arwa chawal) ½ cup coconut milk ( original recipe calls for grated fresh coconut ) 1 mashed banana 1 slice of fresh ginger A few peppercorns ground Sugar or jaggery to taste (I've used 2tbsp) ½ cup milk Cut fruits : apples and grapes ( original recipe calls for cubes of sugarcane , grapes and pomegranate)

They say necessity is the Mother of invention..... or innovation.... they couldn't be more true !! This Diwali morning saw m rushing around in the mall for last minute grocery shopping which included,  among other things , Playdough !! And it seemed that the Playdough stars were not in my favour as I returned empty handed from two shops . And why did I want Playdough.... well I wanted my 3 year old Daughter to participate in the traditional rangoli making,.... and powdered colours would've been a disaster . So here I was heaving my shopping around and searching frantically for Playdough. Well it was not to be , so I decided to make my own .  I had known about home made Playdough for quite a while but hadn't got myself to making it yet .... until now when I had no other option but to just do it !!! 

I got the recipe from the internet .... no claims to the recipe here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/

I followed the recipe exactly.  Mixed 2 cups flour with 2 cups warm water , added 2 tbsp oil , 1 cup salt ( avoid coarse salt ) and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar . Cook it over gas for 10 min till the dough clumps together then take it out and knead the life out of it . Till everything is all incorporated and smooth .  Add food colouring of your choice and you have Playdough . 

My Daughter was mighty excited , and we had a lovely time making the rangolis. 

Happy Diwali 

Artisan “Boule” Sourdough Bread

This has been one of the easiest sourdough breads to make . It so incredibly easy I wonder how anyone didn’t think of this earlier. This recipe has been adapted from the ‘Boule’ bread mix from the book “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Their recipe was was a yeast bread , I have just replaced the yeast with sourdough starter and viola …. I have sourdough bread . The yeast bread recipe is actually copyrighted so I wouldn’t want to publish it here . What I am going to put here is my sourdough version:

3 cups of wholewheat flour 1.5 cups of lukewarm water ( just warm enough to stick your finger in) 1 - 1.5 tsp of sea salt 50 gm of sourdough starter

Mix flour and salt . Add water and mix with a spatula, just enough to incorporate the flour and water and you don’t have dry patches of flour and then that’s it. Leave it to rise for an hour .

At this point you can bake or if you don’t want to just put it in a plastic container and store it in the fridge . This can be stored for up to two weeks .

Whenever you want to bake take out the amount you Want to bake . Form it into the desired shape and leave it to rise on the counter for 20 min . Meanwhile preheat the oven with Dutch oven in it to 260 degrees C for 20 min . After 20 min , take out the Dutch oven , dust it with Flour and place the dough in it . Also place a small metal glass with water in the Dutch oven . Close the lid and place the Dutch oven in the oven . Let it Bake at 260 degrees C for 20 min . Reduce temperature to 220 , remove the Dutch oven lid and bake open for 20 min .

The bread is done . Love this method . It is convenient, easy and best of all not so sour .

Sunscreen is a necessity in sunny Singapore. I have been worried about having to slather my little one with this chemical gloop every morning, ever since I started reading up on the nasties that are present in the commercially available sunscreen . But as I didn't have an alternative, I just had to .... well now I don't !!!!   

Presenting home made sunscreen... No Nasties

I saw this recipe on Dr Axe , it was incredibly simple , I couldn't not try it. I added an extra ingredient to make it waterproof... 😉... coz Little Miss 3 year old loves water play.

Here is the recipe :

3/4 cup coconut oil

2 tbsp Shea butter

2 tbsp beeswax (this is the extra ingredient ... so this is optional)

10 drops lavender oil ( therapeutic grade)

2 tbsp zinc oxide ( non nano ... very important)

1tbsp pomegranate oil

That's all 

In a double boiler , melt the bees wax first , coz that takes the longest.

Then the shea butter . Once both have melted to a clear liquid, add the coconut oil. Then the lavender oil and pomegranate oil. 

(I didn't have pomegranate oil so skipped it)

Once all are mixed , add the zinc oxide and stir vigorously. 

Pour into containers you want to store it in ... and you are done . 

Unknown to us , many of us suffer from adrenal fatigue . one of the symptoms of this is inability to sleep at night . Many people have found that drinking this adrenal cocktail helps them relax and sleep better at night . It's the simplest recipe and I have had friends swearing by the effectiveness of this drink . 

Here is the recipe :

4 oz  orange juice ( vitamin C) - roughly 2 medium oranges should be enough 

1/4 tsp cream of tartar ( for potassium )

1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt or sea salt ( sodium and other minerals )

Just mix it up and drink .