Exams and a bowl of porridge

Ever wondered why we have to appear for an exam and disliked the very thought of its existence? 

Well, l guess most of us have and many would disagree with me too. Its not an opinion I hold, but yes when my daughter has her exams, I land up asking myself " Did I not have enough of my own share in school and college?" I guess Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Knowledge, Art, Learning, Music and Wisdom thinks I probably need some more knowledge or I didn't do justice to it in my growing up years.

We didn't have the Internet and the World Wide Web when i was in school and even college..(ya ya I belong the pre internet era and you can keep guessing how old I am) to help us with our studies the way we do today. Now, I take a lot  of help from Google to make sure I am teaching my daughter the right concepts..(read - I don't trust my brains anymore). So many explanations are easily available on any subject or topics that I never studied in school. With changing times even our food habits have evolved tremendously. But I know so many women around me in my family, my friends or others including me trying our best to fulfill the nutrition requirements of our families in whatever way we can.

With growing age, especially tweens or teens comes a huge social circle in a child's life that it becomes difficult to keep up and as parents we start feeling guilty with thoughts like 'Am i doing enough." Its practically impossible to be with your child all  the time or to give them 10 tiffin boxes to carry when they are busy running from school or college to tuition or activity class or sports practice etc.  And even if we are able to manage that, temptations of easily available food items play culprit.  Not that I encourage outside food or junk food, but there are times when I have not been able to cope up with the growing demands of this generation or you can say demands of the competitive world.  My kitchen schedule goes for a toss during my daughters exams and we land up ordering a lot of take away food  to save time, especially at dinner time.

So, given the whole scenario that I created above, that is my life during the 15 days of exams where I'm studying too with my daughter. And when I am actually trying my best to see that shes eating well given the exam stress, she enters the kitchen....'Ma what made u think of making Daliya today?" Me..eyes rolled and how...."Okay Okay. I'll eat it".  My my...the power of an eye roll... Thank u to my Ma for passing on an heirloom weapon that possesses magical qualities of making your child do everything you want them to. I don't know how long this will work but its surely helping me now...

Okay, I hope I've not bored anyone with the trivialities of my life by using exams as an excuse. So heres a breakfast recipe to kick start your and your family's day with a very healthy option.







Daliya or broken wheat porridge

Recipe:

• Dry roast daliya on low flame (2 tbsp per person).
• Add water enough to soften it.
• Add elaichi powder and little kesar if you wish (1/2 tsp each).
• Add raisins khajoor anjeer (can chop in tiny bites, atleast a tbsp each or more)
• Let this boil till soft.
• Add slivered almonds n pistas
• Pour hot milk in individual bowls when eating.

I add a tsp of honey in individual bowls if required else add sugar as per sweetness required. If you can avoid adding sugar or any other sweetener its great really as it gets it taste from the dry fruits added. If having it cold or at room temperature you can add chopped fruits like apple or banana too.