Cuisine Catastrophe !

A couple of days back, not being in a mood to cook full course meal of dal, roti, sabzi, , I decided to make heavy tiffin. With freshly ground coriander chutney sitting complacently in the fridge , I hit upon the idea of making arisi upma ie. upma made of coarsely ground rice and dal ( which my husband likes and which I detest -the very sight of which is enough to kill my appetite ! ) . The thought of making this simple dish (my dislike not withstanding ) was enough to bring a spring in my step as I looked forward to a leisurely evening , watching my favourite serials ("sob sob serials as my daughter refers to them ) in peace. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the catastrophe that was to befall !

It does'nt require a gourmet cook to make arisi upma - unlike exotic dishes which comprise of complicated ingredients (half of them you probably would never have heard of ! ) , this dish has only about 5-6 ingredients , is easy to make, virtually oil free and healthy ( the only villian being coconut which anyway can be excluded if cholestrol looms large in the family - but which in my case , this time, proved to be my undoing ! ).

My body recently welcomed yet another tenant (othe tenants being Diabetes , Thyroid ,Rheumatoid Arthritis ! ) into its dwelling ! On my last visit to my diabetologist for my checkup, My doc looked at my reports (a full package deal !) and then looked at me disapprovingly and remarked that my cholestrol (the bad one of course)level being high, I was to cut down not only on starchy foods but also on cholestrol raising demons like coconut , fats (which any way my diabetes had already enforced ) and other such foods . Personally at the end of all this melee , I think I will be left eating only salads and vegetables of all kinds (root veg of course will not be part of this diet !) The day High Blood pressure joins the merry gang inside me , my food habits will equal that of rabbits and of all the herbivorous animals that one sees on Animal Planet !

The above mentioned was the determining factor in making coconut-free arisi upma that evening . Par honi ko kaun taal saktha hai ? It was ordained that evening that khayamat hone wali thi ! Instead of going about the recipe as usual (omitting only the coconut ) , my adventurous mind decided to try out one of the tips given in one of my innumerable cookery books - that is, grinding pepper , cumminseeds and channa dal coarsely and adding it to the upma flour . Happily and confidently (how misplaced it was I was soon to realize by the end of the day ! )I made the upma and transferred it to the casserole.

Dinnertime arrived and the thought of eating a different type of arisi upma actually built up my appetite (considering my dislike of it , I myself was surprised ! ). Opening the casserole , my senses were enveloped by the aroma of ghee ("one more cholestrol raising demon" said my mind -shush ,go away said my alter mind -if one can have alter ego why not an alter mind too ? ) and pepper and greedliy I served a heapful of upma and coriander chutney onto my plate and sat down to eat ! In went the first mouthful and "OUT" appeared invisible flames from my ears , nose and face ! Ooooooooooh I felt as if my whole body was on fire ! Realization hit me -I had happily overlooked the proportion of pepper in my state of overconfidence and added pepper liberally to cummin and chana dal while grinding.
Before he sat down for dinner , I warned my better half about the situation so that he would'nt also be subjected to the same torture ! Finally it was the morning meal of morkuhambu (South Indian version of Kadhi ),urulaikizhangu (potato) curry and rice that saved the day .Otherwise the family would have had to resort to eating "home-delivered restaurant food" which my better half hates ,and which I love to have once in a while . My daughter being the ever wise one (she detests all kinds of upma )had her usual fare of rice, morkuzhambu,urulaikizhangu curry !

Moral of the Story- It does not need too many cooks to spoil a broth. Even one cook can achieve that !