I am totally against cold and cough medicines and usually offer it to my daughter with great reluctance. The recent bout of cold that attacked me and my kids made dig out some old home-made recipes to ward off colds. FYI, most cold medicines are quite useless and sometimes, dangerous (usually because of the chances of an overdose), for kids under 3 years of age.
Tulsi, honey mix
Ingredients:
10 leaves of tulsi
1 teaspoon honey
some warm warm
a small piece of muslin cloth
Method:
Wet the tulsi leaves in warm water and tie it together in the muslin cloth. Pound the leaves with a pestle and extract the juice of the tulsi. Mix it with the honey and your home-made cough and cold remedy is ready.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The goodness of wheat
I always like to give a variety of cereals to my daughter. Usually, it is oatmeal with a fruit or dry fruits (see my second post) in the morning, rice and dal (with vegetables) in the afternoon and wheat in the evenings. Unfortunately, my daughter is not interested in chapathis at all. I keep hoping she begin to like it some day but so far, my plan has always derailed. Whenever I offer her a piece of chapathi, she opens her mouth, tastes it religiously spits out every morsel, making me all nervous about what else I should give her for dinner.
Finally, I decided to give broken wheat (also known as dalia or semba) a try and thankfully, she loved it. Broken wheat has a wholesome taste and really goes well with all kinds of vegetables. My little one hates ghee but doesn't notice it when included in the semba pongal.
Broken Wheat Pongal
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of broken wheat (dalia or semba)
1 teaspoon moong dal
A small piece of finely diced ginger
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ghee
Any vegetables your child likes or you want to include (best in grated form).
Method:
Dry roast the broken wheat and moong dal. Then in a small vessel add the dry-roasted mixture, the cumin seeds, salt, ghee, curry leaves and ginger (and the vegetables). Pour adequate water to cook and place in pressure cooker. I usually let it cook for at least 4 whistles.
Tada, the pongal is ready. Now, my daughter always likes to add a twist to ruin my plans. I usually start with the plain pongal and if she gets a little fussy during the meal, I add some rasam to the pongal and she usually cooperates for a couple of more spoons. When she gets tired of this mix too, I throw in my truimph card -- yoghurt -- she loves yoghurt and usually gulps down a couple of more spoons before she figures out my gameplan :). Viel Glueck!
Finally, I decided to give broken wheat (also known as dalia or semba) a try and thankfully, she loved it. Broken wheat has a wholesome taste and really goes well with all kinds of vegetables. My little one hates ghee but doesn't notice it when included in the semba pongal.
Broken Wheat Pongal
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of broken wheat (dalia or semba)
1 teaspoon moong dal
A small piece of finely diced ginger
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ghee
Any vegetables your child likes or you want to include (best in grated form).
Method:
Dry roast the broken wheat and moong dal. Then in a small vessel add the dry-roasted mixture, the cumin seeds, salt, ghee, curry leaves and ginger (and the vegetables). Pour adequate water to cook and place in pressure cooker. I usually let it cook for at least 4 whistles.
Tada, the pongal is ready. Now, my daughter always likes to add a twist to ruin my plans. I usually start with the plain pongal and if she gets a little fussy during the meal, I add some rasam to the pongal and she usually cooperates for a couple of more spoons. When she gets tired of this mix too, I throw in my truimph card -- yoghurt -- she loves yoghurt and usually gulps down a couple of more spoons before she figures out my gameplan :). Viel Glueck!
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