Must make this. Bajra, jowar, oats, ragi atta. Use for shake, kanji, roti atta. Make ragi kanji or rotis and most importantly use in shake with bananas, palak, dry fruits etc. Buy from local chakki (not pre packed ones). Roast light and can it in a box; use over a week or more. For good stomach and health and fitness. To feel full.
Learn to Cook. It helps hope.
When you are down, when all is not well in life and you are struggling like never before, then you still have an option. You always have an option. Of doing more. Of working more. Of struggling more. So that you are down but you wont’ pass; so that you would rise again after you hit the bottom. That belief is optimism. That hope for future and positivity is what drives change in life.
For me optimism these days reflects in my engagements with the kitchen. All is not well in life. But that is not a matter of concern if I still find the passion to keep moving. Because moving in the right direction even if slowly is the right thing to do.
So what do you do when you all is not well? You find the passion to keep going.
I found this passion with cooking, and I brought a smile on the face of friends and family apart from brining some light to my own face.
So it happened that one night in late 2013, I didn’t had anything to eat. I was a bit down with fever and didn’t wanted to go out to eat. It was a major holiday and not many were willing to home-deliver food. I was alone, friends were away. I wanted to eat something bad but had no access to any cooked or canned food.
I decided to take initiative. I realized that just worrying was not going to be of any help. I must become a producer of cooked food! Lo, there was my Eureka moment.
I went straight to the kitchen. It was still in okay condition after aunty had left months ago. I checked out supplies, boxes. There was some rice, dal, spices and many other things.
I washed rice and dal. And put them together in pressure cooker. I had no vegetables but that didn’t matter. I was creating and this was a special moment in my life: I would eat it come what may and would find it very tasty too.
In some twenty minutes and four whistles, I switched off the gas stove. I let the pressure cooker cool for some five minutes and after it. And my food was ready!
Pure labour of love. I had learnt to ‘look up’. I had found my heaven, with cooking. I was smiling as I had made a modest meal. It was not a wonderful thing but it was very tasty and every grain was full of hope and optimism.
You see optimism can be found all around especially in small things, that we choose to ignore or delegate to others. Try cooking a meal today and you will understand what I have understood. Look up to your kitchen and fill your home with hope for future.
Start Cooking- Start a New Life
Yes, start cooking. And you will start a new life.
That may sound a bit odd to most people but that is true or so I have found out like the many out there who are cooking for self-reliance or for recreational reasons.
You are not living with your family. You are also not in a hostel where you will get cooked food. What do you do? How do you adjust to it? How do you change yourself or your life so that you make your life better in what you would say are worsening conditions?
Most of us I would go and eat in dhabas and eateries. Some of us would order a tiffin system and so on. But very few of us would actually think of starting to cook.
Most of us have a resistance to cooking. We have not done it for a major part of our lives and this is something that intimidates us. It was the case with me too; I too ate outside in hotels, restaurants, dhabas. But it was not for long. I decided to make the change in my life and slowly took initiative.
I did some thinking, calculations and realized the following:
With these concerns, I set up my own kitchen. I started with basic cooking, survival grade: mostly rice, dal, bhujia (easiest to prepare for a North Indian). I bought utensils, kitchen appliances and started reading various blogs online. I had some friends to help me with it who had some experience with cooking.
In no time, I was cooking so many things from preparing oats shake to making Baingan masala to making litti chokha. Cooking is indeed so much fun.
One small bold step is all it takes to change life. So don’t hesitate to silver lining in the dark clouds. You may be away from home, but that does not mean that you cannot feel like home. You can always start your kitchen, start cooking and can make yourself comfortable in your home or apartment.
So start a new life; live better, do better. Go after the things you avoid in life when they matter. Because that is what will bring you growth in life, happiness in life. So #StartANewLife and shed the old patterns. Make the new path, leave your established ways of doing and thinking. Life is great if you are open and receptive to the greatness it offers.
From my experience; how to get rid of resistance for cooking.
Men Must Start Cooking. It is fun with learning. And is a very rewarding activity.
Okay, all the best. Detailed How-to later.
Make sprouts every day. Or once in 2-3 days. Don’t buy a sprout maker, fancy utensil if you are in a warm country like India. Just soak chana, green moong, methi, alfalfa seeds (and anything else you want to experiment with) for eight hours in water, drain, Keep covered (or 90 per cent covered) and it will easily sprout by next day or next evening if temperature is above 35c. Keep it in atta tin box or casserole in winter to help sprouting. you can also wrap it in cloth and hang it like they do in villages.
Better still, add a lot of vegetables and fruits in it and make it a fruit chaat; will publish pics of that soon. It gets less boring and very healthy and tasty then.
Do not try to fry it to make it tasty. Don’t ruin the health benefits.
Flaxseeds (or alsi) is a must-have in foods. Buy organic I suggest. Grind it and put it in fridge, airtight. Add it in shakes, atta for roti etc.
If your vegetables are not organic then you should take special care to wash them well in water. You should scrape them well too wherever needed for example with potatoes, cucumber etc.
Vegetables like cauliflower (open), radish leaves are most prone to pesticide contamination according to a study by School of Environmental Sciences.
Men Must Cook 