Sarika | Plants, Balcony Gardening & Simple Living

Its a winter season and green peas are everywhere in market and in kitchen. Green peas pulav,Green peas usal,Matar pattice ,matar chi karanji,stuff matar paratha,matar soup and you can really get innovative here.Even simple poha upama suddenly has green appearance in abundance Now there is an argument here you get matar throughout the season or haven't you heard about frozen mutter. But then grown up in modest middle class family one of the values that got imbibed is to have seasonal stuff.Season stuff which you get Rs 30-40 sh/kg, off season can roar up to Rs 150 quarter kg and then buying it at that price is a sin :)  (here there is no question of whether you afford it or not. Just your whims to have some food will not justify that price.) So when its a season you stock it up and then deep freezer section will have different dessert boxes filled with green peas. You take out one box for the menu on the card. Whenever I make mattar pattice I remember mavshi who had invited me for ...

Scene 1: Dropped son at stop for school bus and on the way back picked up milk packets from centre . while tea was on, milk was up for boiling I was on daily task list one by one.. collect malai ,warm left over milk ,set curd , make buttermilk for day. Took vegetables out from tray and started cutting it. "So much work you have in the morning." exclaimed my sister in law who was watching all these morning silent movie. Really? Ya..we really don't do all this in USA.Just take out milk can  from freeze and make tea. Canned milk so no need to boil.Curd doesn't set well of that milk so no question of setting curd. No curd no buttermilk. Skimmed milk so no malai no butter making no ghee making. and there I am thinking >>all this may be comes naturally in many of Indian house holds..We have grown up watching mothers /grand mothers doing all these activities and as we set our own kitchen many of that we picked up unknowingly. Scene 2: All of them were meeting for schoo...