Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Spice up this winter!

" Aangikam Bhuvanam Yasya,
Vachikam Sarva vangmayam ,
Aaharyam Chandra taradi,
Tvam NAMAH SATVIKAM SHIVAM.
.."

( The whole Universe is HIS body,
All the sounds embody His speech,
The moon and stars are his ornaments ,
To you ...WHO IS THE ESSENCE OF ALL THAT IS (SATVIKA) I BOW DOWN)

With this invocation let me welcome you to this blog!.. "Satvika"

Have you ever thought that what we eat influences our thoughts? and what we think makes us who we are? According to Ayurveda which advocates a healthy way of life there are three categories of food with individual characteristics which in turn reflects on an indivivual's personality. They are the satva , rajas and tamas. In the satva category we can find fresh fruits , vegetables , legumes , milk and nuts which instill satvik qualities ,... in the rajas we can find spicy and hot food , red meat, sour and pungent food which makes one impulsive and succumb to too much anger and vigour, and the tamas consists of onions , garlic etc which gives rise to inertia. There should be a proper balance between these three......70% of satva, 20% of rajas and 10% of tamas to lead a healthy life! This is what inspired me to name my blog satvika!



Winter is gaining momentum and who doesn't yearn for something hot and spicy:)
Last week PP who can hardly resist fruits brought home 2 big water melons ! WATER MELONS and winter might start with the same alphabet.... but how can they ever go together. This is the last thing I wanted!I always associated water melons with peak summer in Chennai, where vendors piled up their truck loads of water melons on the streets and and waited for the customers under the scorching sun.
But here, when outside temperature has dropped to -20 degrees who will ever imagine to eat water melons!
Water melons waited on my counter for a week, receiving my pathetic glances.... and one fine day I decided to experiment with it! why not a spicy watermelon curry! flash backs of cut watermelon sprinkled with salt and chilly powder on our hike to Tirupati temple struck me... and that is how this recipe was born!


What you need:


diced water melon 3 cups
garlic cloves 6
shredded ginger 2 table spoons
coriander seeds 4 tbsps
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilly powder 1 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
lemon juice 1tbsp
coriander leaves for garnish
oil for seasoning
salt to taste

Method:
coarsely grind together garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, turmeric powder and chilly powder and 1 cup water melon. heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Then add in the coarsely ground mixture and allow to boil. Add in the remaining water melon cubes . Add salt and cover and cook for 5 minutes. before removing from heat , sprinkle lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves before serving!Have it hot with rice or any bread !

15 comments:

Bharathy said...

Hope I am the first to comment here,Nandu..:)..and absolutely PRIVILEGED for the same :)

You can't Imagine how happy I am too see your food blog!!!(see I almost ignored your post :))

Wish you all the very verrrry BEST, Nandukutty :)

Susan said...

YAY! And about time, too. : )
Wishing you great success with your new food blog, Nanditha. I would eat watermelon in the dead of winter, especially in a curry!

Question: if you added sugar and boiled this down, would it turn into a chutney?

Nanditha Prabhu said...

Bharathy,
Thanks a ton for your encouragement and your wishes!I am also glad that you are the first to comment here!I am still doubtful on how much i can offer here.

Susan,
Thanks Susan. Regarding your question , I am sure your suggestion of boiling down this , with some sugar will make it a tasty chutney!

FH said...

What a cool and hot concept!! Looks great!:)

Anonymous said...

I think this is fantastic. My partner will surely love this site & your recipes. Since water melon is available here in only the summer months I will save this recipe to try out then...Wishing to see more of your lovely recipes in the coming future...Keep going & all the best wishes for this blog!

Mishmash ! said...

Welcome aboard, my friend! Wonder what took you so long to open up this space :)

Looking forward to many more cool stuff from you :) All the best.

Shn

Pooja Na(i)rayan said...

What a good start. You have unique way of presenting complicated stuff in life with such a ease.
Water melon curry ??????????Interresting concept. WHy not when we make curries with other fruits. All the best dear

krystyna said...

Hi Nanditha!
What a wonderful welcome and wonderful name "Satvika" and good cause for this name.
I studied Ayurveda (in Poland) and I love this kind of healthy way of life.
Perfect health comprises both physical and mental health. Both body and mind should have perfect health to live a purposeful life.
Perfect idea with Spice Watermelon during winter time.
I'll be try.

Good luck with Food for the Soul!

Nanditha Prabhu said...

Asha,
hope you enjoyed this hot and cool concept. thanks!

kalyan,
thanks for your warm wishes! my regards to your wife!

mishmash,
i know i took too long to take this first step. seeing so many wonderful food blogs was inspiring , at the same time daunting! it left me wondering whether i will be able to do justice if i start off! now that i have started , thanks for your wishes, dear! they do count a lot! take care ! will call you !

mocha,
i was also wondering , that we could make curries with other fruits 1 the other day i ate a peach curry at a friend's place ! it tasted so divine! and yesterday i did try out something with golden delicious apples! it did come out well!

krystyna,
thanks for your warm wishes dear! take care !

Bharathy said...

Love the cool and spicy recipe,Nandu!..

Just post whenever you can!,,and no pressuring urselves! :)

Unknown said...

hi nanditha i am new in ur blog...nice one!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nanditha Prabhu said...

bharathy,
thanks ! thnk you for your concern and warm words!hugs!

chithra,
thnaks for visiting and leaving your comments! come again!

Pooja said...

This is really creative.
I never heard of it.
Colors are too good.

Sri said...

Very unusual and interesting!