Ade Dose/Adai

Ade Dose is a highly nutritious, protein rich dose. It has four kinds of dals in it. It is also a very good way of giving protein to your child. A great dish for their lunch box too.

This dose/dosa is very familiar in Bangalore, but unheard of in Kota region. So even though I grew up in Bangalore, I never heard about this dose until I came to US.

My cousin Chethana and a friend of mine had given this recipe to me long back. But somehow when I tried it, I found the taste of dals very overpowering and never really bothered to try it again. After I had my daughter, I was on a lookout for new ways of feeding her dal. I tried this dosa again, but she didn’t like it much either. So, I had basically given up on this dosa until my friend Prathibha served this to me at her house. The taste of it simply blew me away!! It was mind blowing-ly delicious! More importantly, my daughter liked it and asked for more! I asked Prathibha for the proportions, and to my surprise it was the same I had tried before. Then she gave me a secret - that the batter should be very coarse! 

I took her advice and voila! I too started making yummy dosa!! Coarse batter makes the dosa very crunchy. Crunchiness subdues the taste of the dal. 

You can add spices to this batter and eat it without any accompaniments. But it is not necessary. You can skip spices and eat it with chutney or chutney powder. My daughter likes to eat it with sugar. 
For her lunch box, I spread some ghee and then sprinkle some sugar and then roll it like a burritto. 

This is a great, healthy, nutritional lunch box recipe. 

Mixed Vegetable Kootu

Tomorrow is Mother’s day! What does or should this mean to a mother? neglecting oneself and being neglected by others whole year and then being celebrated for just one day for being just that? I mean why wait for one day, let everyday be mothers’s day, right? :) Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against celebrating Mother’s day. I like being appreciated and if a day is set aside for that, I’ll gladly accept the honor :) 

But, I’m talking about the way mothers neglect themselves so much more than needed. I am not even blaming them, I blame the society which puts sacrifices that comes with the motherhood on a pedestal and glorifies it to such an extent that mother’s feel guilty to do anything for themselves!

I think the biggest lesson I can teach my daughter is to learn to value her time, her health and her body, herself.. and I can only teach her that by being an example. I don’t want her to grow up seeing a mom who puts everyone else’s needs before hers all the time... 

If my daughter wants something from my plate, I give her a little and then tell her that it’s mommy’s share and then I eat it guilt free :)... If I have to read something, or browse something I tell her clearly that it’s mommy’s time and she should not disturb.. not that she listens, but still I am showing her that my time and my needs are also important... whenever I am taking a meal, if she interrupts, I tell her that she has to wait till amma finishes her food.. because food, tea/coffee is something I want to savor every bite/sip uninterrupted :) 

So, enjoy yourself, enjoy motherhood, learn to trust your husband to take care of your child(this part is difficult, I know:) ) and take a break, buy nice things for yourself, pamper yourself before mother’s day, on mother’s day, and after mother’s day :) 

Happy Mothers Day everyone!  

Coming to the recipe, this Kootu has got to be one of the easiest things to cook.. It is soo tasty that it’s hard to believe that it’s so healthy and easy.. you just need to put all the ingredients in a cooker and let it whistle - as simple as that!