Layers of peahens

Cooking With Singharas (Water Chestnuts)

I have always associated singharas (English name water chestnuts) with fasts; things you eat either raw or in powdered form (known as singhare ka atta in Hindi).

But these days, because of the ongoing pandemic, consumption of foods in their raw form is risky.

So, inspired from a few internet posts, I recently made a dry sabji with singharas for the first time in my life. It turned out to be so delicious. I wish I had made it for my Mom when she was alive. She would have loved it too. See the pic below.

Here are the steps.

1. Peel the singharas and cut them into small pieces.
2. Boil them in a pressure cooker with 4 whistles. This should soften them enough without turning them mushy.
3. In a karahi, heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Add some whole jeera seeds, some chopped onion, one chopped green chilli. Stir.
4. Once the onions become pink, add spices and one chopped tomato.
5. When the tomatoes are soft, add the boiled singharas and salt as per your taste. Stir a little and cover the karahi for a minute.
6. Your singhara sabji is ready now. Enjoy. Let me know how it turns out for you. Also share the pics. Here’s mine.

Bird Food

Two Bodies, One Soul

Romancing by the window

Handling Fame

On 12 November 2020, two days before Diwali, I lost my job because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I was shocked and I had no idea where and when my next job would come from.

When I returned home that day, I was so overwhelmed that I just didn’t want to speak to anyone. I thought I would just shut myself into my little world and give myself some time to heal internally. I put my share of Diwali cleaning at home on hold till I felt okay.

Next day, Mayank Austen Soofi called regarding a poem I had submitted to him a few days ago for sharing in one of his writing projects. He wanted to know my age and where I was working. Age, I told him, calmly, was 54, but I lost my job yesterday. He was surprised and asked me for more details in a questionnaire.

When I began filling it, a big floodgate burst open and words began tumbling out from my heart.

The edited piece finally appeared in The Hindustan Times, Delhi Edition, in Mayank Austen Soofi’s column Delhiwale, on 17 October 2020. Here is the link:https://m.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhiwale-losing-your-job/story-t2IUY2KyjnMg8GYx5WJtNN.html

My poem, he said, he will use later.

Mayank’s newspaper article turned me into a big sensation and got me about 300 friend requests on Facebook alone! I had to change my Facebook settings to stop this. It is hard to handle fame when all you want is another job to be able to live in peace with your family.

Lots of friends called me to congratulate me for being so brave, but they found the piece extremely distressful.

I spoke to many ex-colleagues to let me know whenever they heard of any suitable openings in Delhi NCR. But the job market appears to be completely dried up these days. All they could say was, “Have patience, Jasbir. God has something good in mind for you.”

Till then, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I might as well enjoy my second ‘lockdown phase,’ isn’t it?

Online Learning – Certificate No. 1

Now that I am unemployed again, I thought it best to do some upskilling.

Like everyone else, I have also started collecting certificates. The pic above is the first among all those I hope to share in the coming days.

Only God knows where Covid-19 will take us to. I thought my formal education ended in 1997. But now I feel compelled to re-start it all over again…

When God Becomes A Pavement Dweller

Corn-Potato Tikkis

A few days ago, I bought some corn cobs and boiled them at home. I thought they would serve as good evening snacks for my family. They taste nice and have a feel-good factor, especially when they are rubbed with pieces of lemon dipped in salt and black pepper.

But my daughter and husband work at home these days and often get too engrossed in work without realizing it. The cobs sat in the fridge for several days. I had to do something about it.

So, based on some ideas from the internet, I made potato-corn Tikkis. They were delicious! See their pic on top.

Here are the photos along with brief descriptions.

1. Extract corn from the cobs with the help of a grater.  Discard the empty cobs.

2. Churn the grated corn in a mixer jar along with garlic, ginger, and green chillies.





3. Mash some boiled potatoes with the corn mixture, salt, and spices.




4. Make tikkkis with your palms from the dough and  shallow fry them in batches on a non-stick tawa.



5. Kept turning them around till they turn brown. Once done, place them on a serving dish.

We had them with chole, imli chutney, and chopped onions.

Doggy Stares