The Invisible Hand (Part 2)

When the going gets tough, many a times I have noticed that I dont get going :) Instead, depending on just how tough the things are (and this depends on my energy level of course :D) I often catch myself either complaining or bawling my eyes out! While crying it out often helps my mind settle down and accept the situation, complaining does nothing of the sort. On the contrary, it tangles my mind up more and more in misery and questions like: "Why does this only happen to me?" "How come no one is helping?" and (ironically) "Why are people so self-absorbed!" :D A few weeks ago, having discovered that the earlier diagnosis of "no stones in my gallbladder" was wrong, I went into a low energy self-pity mode, stopped eating and started complaining about everything and everyone around me. What happened with my stones and my chain of complaining in relation to the stones is a long story... saved for the next blog post. But in this post, I relate a shorter cuter incident.

So I was in this "not so happy" state of mind. I went to work, came back home and started cooking. My little angel was happily playing and "talking" to herself in the living room. I looked into the refrigerator and found only a large hard pumpkin available for cooking. Immediately came a set of complaints - "this is just totally unfair! Why do I have to do all the pumpkin chopping on my own? How come I don't have any help? My hubby is so much stronger than me - he could have chopped the pumpkin before leaving!" etc. etc.

At that moment, I heard Meera in the living room making a whole lot of noise banging some of her toys on the floor. I peeked in to see what was going on... As I watched, she played for some more time, and then started crawling around the room. At one point, she noticed one of her socks (she loves/hates her socks dearly and keeps trying to eat them for some reason!)stuck at a difficult place under the living room table. She immediately got onto her belly and started reaching out for the it. I instinctively started to move forward to help her get the sock. But then I stopped and thought "let her do it - she can. Its not dangerous and she is learning. So its better for her if I don't help her." Finally she managed to got hold of her sock and was really happy with herself (or with having the sock back - I dont know! :)) She started chewing on the sock and then carefully investigating what it really was. See below - Meera chewing away on her sock!

After a while, she got bored of the sock and started crawling around the room again to explore other hidden treasures. Lo and behold... there was another small toy stuck under the sofa this time. Once again, she started reaching out and trying to grab it using all her skills. Just to see what would happen, I went ahead and helped her this time - I took the toy out and gave it to her. She looked at me, then at the toy, and immediately turned away and started looking for other toys :) She had no interest (left) in the toy that was made available to her so easily!

I remembered at that moment my state of mind while I was in the kitchen - I had been complaining about not having help! Yet, often, not being given help is actually the biggest help! We also often don't really appreciate the things that come to us too easily and enjoy more things that we have worked hard to get. Doing things ourselves teaches us more things than having help readily available. Indeed, if I helped Meera all the time, she would probably develop her muscles and co-ordination skills a lot slower! So who is the one who is truly helping? One who helps or one who doesn't help? I think both are helping - one is just more subtle than the other :D Another kind of invisible hand :)

So here's to all the invisible helping hands - the people who help us improve our skills and strengths. I thank you from the bottom of my heart! :)

Todays Simple Recipe: Paneer (Indian Cheese)

I've read several paneer making tips online and in books - but I was never able to make soft paneer at home. I started experimenting with making paneer using various proportions of yogurt, lemon and milk. This is the proportion I find to be really cool for getting soft paneer each time!

Ingredients:
3.5 liters full cream milk (3.5% fat or more)
250 grams (one cup) yogurt
2 large lemons


Method
In a large pot, heat the milk while stirring from time to time using a wooden spatula or spoon (stir such that the fat doesn't stick to the bottom - by scraping the bottom of the pan with the wooden spatula). (If you have a heavy bottomed pan, this might not be needed.)
While the milk heats up, squeeze the juice of half the lemon into the yogurt and mix well. Squeeze the juice of the remaining one and a half lemons into a separate cup and set aside.



When the milk is close to coming to a boil, add the yogurt-lemon juice mix and stir well. You will now see the milk starting to curdle and small grains of cheese starting to surface. Let the milk come close to boiling over and then add the remaining lemon juice that you had set aside. Stir once and reduce the flame to minimum. You should now see large chunks of cheese starting to surface and the liquid under it should start becoming translucent. (Once the liquid below is entirely translucent and has lost its milkiness, you know that all the cheese has surfaced.) Remove the pot from the fire and once again scrape the surface with the wooden spatula to ensure that no cheese is sticking to the bottom (do not stir too hard or you might break the cheese into tiny bits).
Using a large strainer, transfer the cheese floating on the surface onto a cheese cloth (or muslin cloth) placed on a pot.


Wait for 10 minutes to let the paneer cool down a little. Tightly wrap the cheese cloth around the paneer to squeeze out as much water from the paneer as possible.


Tie up the cheese cloth containing the paneer into a tight ball and set aside for one or two hours. (I do not feel the need to place a heavy weight on top of the paneer - doing so makes the paneer too hard in my opinion) Open the cloth, cut the ball of paneer into slices or cubes and use in any recipe of your choice :) Look out for some right here - coming soon! :D

Fresh soft sliced paneer :)