The beauty of movement

It's been a little over 25 years now. What began as a hobby, something I was 'made' to do as a child came back to stick with me for life. I feel like my real journey with it started only in the last five years though. It is now something of an undying passion, a window into inexplicable other-worldly bliss and a change from this-worldly mundanity (there is such a word, I looked it up :)). I am speaking, of course, about Bharatanatyam.

My parents were (still are) heavily into classical music and dance. My mom didn't have the opportunity to learn when she was little so she sent me to take dance lessons when I was 4. Growing up, it was just another of my hobbies and didn't particularly enjoy it. At that time, I only went to classes because I was made to. I did my Arangetram to make my parents happy. Now, I cannot live without Bharatanatyam. It has taken me several years to understand it, make friends with it and absorb it....but I finally did.

It has taught me the beauty of movement and of letting oneself flow freely into space in a way that awakens the inner calm. Movement that energizes, yet brings into focus a certain stillness. It has challenged me with intellectual and emotional complexity...and of expanding mental boundaries and letting go of conscious feelings. I have also learnt the importance of practice, rigour and focus. To me, it is a spiritual experience without the bounds of any defined religion. It is a way to channel my energies. It allows me to dream, forget worries and be at peace, in the present, devoid of ego and absorbed in the moment.

It isn't just an art form to me, but a way of life.

When I was little....

Ashwin is always amazed (and amused) at the number of 'when I was little' stories I tell. He asks me how I remember these things in such minute detail. I'm not sure myself. In any case, here's another one. :) It's not so much a story this time though, rather a fond memory. For several years, Sunday lunch used to be my favorite meal at home and Sunday afternoon my favorite time of the whole week. This was due to several reasons:

1. Mom was home - she didn't go to work on Sundays. :-)
2. I used to come rushing back from my early morning dance class to catch the last bits of my Sunday morning cartoons followed by other tv shows and watch them with the whole family. I lived in an extended family back then and was one of 4 kids, the youngest. :-)
3. Sunday lunch (most often) automatically implied a special and fully North Indian menu (most other days were a mix of South and North Indian). 

It's not that I didn't like South Indian food but at the time the Sunday meal was my favorite. I would return from dance class in the morning welcomed by the aroma of frying puris along with chole and pulav. It was the best thing in the whole world to be fed puris by mum! Life was simple from my perspective and all of the world's problems could be fixed with puris, chole and pulao. :-)

When I started cooking during my undergrad years, I never cooked pulav much. Not exactly sure why. I think I made it a couple of times. The first couple of times I probably couldn't replicate the taste as I remembered it so I gave up on making pulao for the most part. Then I started making an Indian style fried rice I learnt from my brother which was pretty good. That gave me more courage to try other pulao dishes. A couple of years ago I made my own version of a methi pulao and it turned out pretty darn awesome. Ashwin liked it too and he actually asked for it again. :-) Those who know him know that him asking for veggie food a second time is worth a mention. :-) Since then I've been trying various rice based one-dish-meal recipes off and on.

My latest is a mixed vegetable pulao. We had this pulao at a friend's place recently. My friend's mom was visiting and she made it for lunch with spinach raita (which was also delicious btw but I haven't tried that yet). I got the recipe from her and tried it out with a couple of my own tweaks. It turned out truly fabulous and reminded me of the mixed vegetable pulao I used to have "when I was little". :-) I figured I'd share the recipe. This one is pretty easy. Only the assembling of the ingredients might take a little while, but not too bad. So dont be afraid of the long list! Here goes.

Ingredients:

1 tblsp butter/ghee
1 tsp oil

1/4 inch piece cinnamon
1 green cardamom - remove the outer covering
2-3 cloves
1/2 of a bay leaf crushed into little pieces

1 medium onion chopped
1 inch piece ginger grated
2 big garlic cloves grated
1 medium green chilli chopped fine

1 medium green bell pepper chopped
1 medium red bell pepper chopped
10-12 green beans chopped

2 tsp dhania powder
3/4 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 cup of finely chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 cup of finely chopped mint leaves
2 teaspoons of kasoori methi

1 cup basmati rice freshly cooked

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash/rinse the basmati rice and put in a rice cooker (or whatever else you use to cook rice). Let it cook while you prep the veggies. I use a 1:2 ratio for rice:water and my rice cooker turns out perfectly fluffed basmati rice.

Chop the onions, bell peppers and green beans. I usually chop into smallish pieces and of equal sizes since they cook evenly and faster that way. The total amout of chopped veggies I used added up to about two cups worth.

Grate the ginger and garlic. Alternatively, you could use ginger-garlic paste. Chop the green chillis, cilantro and mint leaves into tiny tiny pieces.

Heat the oil and the butter/ghee in a pan. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and crushed bay leaf. Saute the spices for a minute or so until you get an aroma.

Then the green chillis. Stir for a min. Next up, ginger and garlic until light brown. Be careful not to burn them. Then add the onions. Saute until light golden and add the rest of the veggies. At this point also add dhania, jeera and garam masala powder and salt to taste and mix thoroughly. Cover and let it cook on medium heat until nearly done, stirring occasionally so the veggies dont stick to the bottom. The steam generated from covering the pan should be enough water to cook the veggies. If you feel they're drying up too much, you can sprinkle some water.

WHen the veggies are nearly cooked, add all the leaves - cilantro, mint and kasoori methi. Stir for a couple of minutes while the flavors sink in. The veggies are now ready! Now add in the cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Adjust salt if you need to at this point and let it cook covered for a couple of minutes more. Turn off the heat and voila! Your pulao is ready.

Feel free to experiment with other veggies (cauliflower, carrots, peas etc). Also remember that my quantities are approximations.

We had this with a cucumber, mint and cilantro raita. Yup, you guessed it: mint was the overarching theme of our dinner that night. :-) Do let me know how it went if you tried it!

PS: I was planning on writing about our recent travels (referring to my previous rather abrupt post) to distant lands but decided to abandon the idea because Ashwin has been writing. He's finished about 3 parts so far. Check it out @ http://ashwinsheadchurn.blogspot.com.