Badhaam Kanji:

When my Dad visited here, he had a different outlook at American way of life’ especially, how we act towards food! Well, Mississippi has highest rate of obesity, he was going on like this…Oh boy, the people who are considered over weight and fat in India will be very fit and normal here:( ‘Eating’ is the only entertainment people have here! When many people shrink their social interaction and sit in the couch with lot of free time, they eat! And moreover all the advertisements are all highlighted with ‘how one can save so much time, using this n that product’. Just a simple question, what you want to do with all that free time? Play solitaire in computer or watch a terrible movie, surf aimlessly, scroll the clickers and not to mention – snack again! Oxford is a small town, once in a blue moon…we can catch up on Southern Music, plan trekking / cycling or go to a Cinema theatre…otherwise its always restricted with ‘Eating Entertainment’…exploring new restaurants and various cuisines:) So, going out is synonymous with food, here:) He genuinely asked me’ who the hell needs vending machines in the rest room!!! I felt like as if I was reading Michael Pollan’s ‘Omnivore dilemma’ book, once again! Come on Dad…no one could be that happy with your style of ‘simple food’. My Pappa is very content with so little food! He can go hungry for days, without complaining…at the same time, he is also very active, dynamic, energetic, hard working (both physical and mental)’…quite charismatic too:) So, how could he be active without concentrating on his diet, he calls that stamina and will power! Which I completely lack:( Anyhow, I simply pull his leg saying ‘he is solar powered’ and that is how his friends tease him, as well. So for today’s story, this is my Dad’s recipe. He fixes this porridge quite often and both my Mom and Dad love it:)

Ingredients:

Broken Red rice 1 cup
Water 5-7 cups
Almonds – exactly 2, and definitely not more than that!
Ginger 1″ grated
Mint leaves 4 – chopped
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Salt.

Method:

Soak the almonds in warm water and wet-grind the same. Set aside.

In a wide vessel, boil water. Add all the ingredients to it…continue boiling, till its done to the consistency of a porridge.

Serve warm. Enjoy, I mean try to enjoy:)