Responsible Risks

For the first 6 months of her life, when ever I was home (and cooking), Meera (my daughter, now 17 months old) mostly played with her toys keeping herself entertained without demanding too much of my attention. I felt quite comfortable leaving her "alone" for 10-15 mins at a time to play and discover herself and her toys. Come month #7 and she started crawling - backwards! Also, dragging herself across the floor to get to things she found "interesting." As she took more risks, she got more often injured and cried more often, BUT, she also got more attention from me. Being an intelligent soul, she realised very quickly that the amount of attention she gets from me is directly proportional to the number of naughty risky things she does :D So now, she does them all the time! Interestingly, once I pick her up and am carrying her around, she is very happy and content! Almost as if she was doing those things only to get my undivided attention :D :D

A few weeks ago, as I was carrying her around (partly to prevent her from climbing on to the chairs in the balcony in an attempt to look over the balcony safety grill!), I remembered a question that someone once asked Sri Sri during a public talk - "Why do you keep some people more close to you that others?" He replied - "whether or not it is apparent, everyone is close to me. But I keep a closer watch on the trouble makers :)" I always wondered what he meant by "trouble makers." Over the years, I had come to believe that by "trouble makers" he means "the doers and risk takers" - people who are constantly up to something, doing new things, accepting new challenges, taking on more and more responsibilities! As I looked at Meera happily mumbling in my arms in the baby carry system, I knew that this was probably true! The more things we do, the more risks and responsibilities we take (especially risks aimed at increasing our own strength or benefiting others perhaps) the more "attention" nature, divinity, God and our Gurus shower on us :)

It is no wonder that Guruji says that the greater responsibility you take, more power and energy will be given to you... So here's to improving our skills and our strength and taking on more responsibilities!

Today's naughty-new recipe: Healthy Millet Cutlets with Mint Chutney

Ingredients

To cook the millets (Hirse - for my German friends :)) :
1/2 cup millets (Hirse)
1.5 cups water
1/3 tsp salt

Other things to be added to the cooked millets:
2 medium sized potatoes
3 medium sized carrots
1 cup peas (optional)
Handful of raisins
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Chilli powder (optional)
1/2 tsp Garam Masala (Or Curry Powder)
1/3 tsp Turmeric (Curcuma) powder
1/2 inch ginger - grated
Powdered/Crushed rusk (Zwieback) or powdered very crunchy toast
Oil for light frying
(Some more) Salt to taste

Method

Wash the millets well. Put in the water and 1/3 tsp of salt and let it come to a boil, reduce the heat to minimum and cook for another 15-20 mins (or till the water is all gone). While the millets cook, wash, peel and chop the potatoes and carrots. Steam cook the peas, potatoes and carrots for 10-15 mins (Till soft/mashable).
Mix the millets, steamed vegetables, salt, ginger and all the spices and mash well. Make balls and flatten them out a bit (into desired shapes :D).

Put a thin layer of crushed Zwieback/toast on a plate. Place each side of the cutlets on the crumbs so there is an even layer of crumbs on both sides and the circumference. Put about 2 tablespoons of oil in a well heated frying pan and place 3-4 cutlets (max) at a time in it. Fry on each side for 2-3 mins (or till golden brown in colour). Serve immediately will Ketchup Or Mint Chutney (Recipe below)

Mint Chutney

1 bushel/bunch of fresh mint
1 bunch of fresh coriander
1 inch piece of ginger - grated
1 green chilli (optional)
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon (Depending on how sour you like your chutney to be)
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste (1/2 to 3/4 tsp)
1/3 cup water



To fry:
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder

Remove the Coriander and mint leaves from their thin branches, wash well. In a high speed blender, put half the leaves. Add all the other ingredients and blend till smooth (you may need to add more water if the whole thing gets stuck). Add the rest of the leaves and blend again till smooth.

In a small frying pan, warm the oil and add all three spices. Stir on low heat till it starts to sizzle a little - do not turn up the heat to speed up the process or the spices will burn! Add the cooked spice mix to the blended leaves in the blender and blend again till well mixed. Serve immediately!
(Will stay good in the refrigerator for 4-5 days)