Power packed Sandwich

Sandwich is the one dish which can be made with lot of variations. Just fill whatever you like or want in-between two breads and Sandwich gets a life!!

My family likes Sandwich a lot lately. Kids version of sandwich is quite simple with their favorite veggies a little( Yes ! a little) and lot of cheese.

My husband and I prefer to make it a power packed breakfast simply adding all the veggies and an egg goes in too!

Weekends mostly starts with this breakfast and we don't feel hungry for next few hours definitely. 😉

Many prefer to have it light and you can get 'n' number of variations and style it or design it, be creative and still call it Sandwich.😃

My recipe, which we enjoying having for our breakfast, here it goes.

Ingredients
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Whole wheat bread - as required
Potato - 1 (Boiled, peeled and cut to thin slices)
Big onion - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Tomato - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Egg - 1
Lettuce or Baby spinach - few leaves
Cucumber - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Green chutney - Blend coriander with chilly and salt along with cashew/almonds
Tomato Ketchup - as required
salt - as required
pepper - as required
cheese - thin slices
Tofu slices - optional
Any veggies of your choice. In this recipe, in addition to usual veggies, I have used Capsicum/peppers.

Directions
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1. Boil potato and cut to thin slices after peeling the skin.
2. Slice all the veggies and sprinkle little pepper and salt all over and keep them ready.

3. Grind the coriander and green chilly along with salt. To make it smooth and spreadable, grind with few cashews/almonds.

4. Break the egg in a pan and add salt along with pepper. Toss it when cooked and keep the omlette ready. Or use a boiled egg sliced into thin pieces as in picture.

5. Heat a pan. Take a bread slice and apply the green chutney generously and layer it with the veggies, cheese and egg. We are not a big fan of cheese hence a quarter from a slice of cheese. And have added few drops of spicy sauce. We love heat!

6. Cover the spread with the other bread after applying ketchup all over. 



7. Apply butter around and toss it after the corners turns crisp.

8. Serve hot.

Tips:

1. Toasting the bread in low flame and applying butter from all sides, makes it evenly crispy. 

2. Sandwich doesn't need any specific recipes to be followed. If any ingredient is not available skip and replace with something else. Imagination is the key.

3. When you have any leftover gravies or subzi's, use them in your sandwich for a different and native Indian style flavored sandwich.

Patio garden 2020

Gardening was never my interest until I got married. Though my house always had a wonderful garden or we lived in houses with wonderful trees all along my childhood, I didn't find interest until I set up one post marriage. 

My parents made a bed of soil, compost and planted many fruit yielding trees and flower plants after we moved to our home in 2002. My garden was not that big, it was always a balcony garden where I had the most needed few herbal plants and a couple of flowering plants. This was my usual take. 

Since we moved to US, I always wanted to experiment growing plants here. But gardening is always a challenge here since its difficult to maintain plants in winter. 

In US, as every year pass by, the plants and pots have increased. For our small balcony garden, we don't maintain greenhouse effect still try to keep few annual plants indoor. Most of them being perennial, we enjoy the season with good amount of flowering plants. It all started with flowering plants, of course to create a lively and colorful ambience and also I love to offer to God almost all through spring and summer. Sometimes it extends to Fall too. 

This year I tried few microgreens, tomato from scratch, coriander from seeds and few more roses. Have made my children to check at them first thing in the morning and they share the bond with them as well. 

Watching them grow itself  is a very good meditation  and calms our mind positively.

Chellama Bharathi (செல்லமா பாரதி)

Bharathi!

This name means a lot to me. I never knew at what age I noticed him or from when I started to adore him.

His poems, his portrait, his life everything seems to be so close to my heart.

I carry a small version of 'Bharathiyar Kavithaigal' with me where ever I go. And the book has travelled with me to Thanjavur, Bangalore, Chennai and to Michigan,United States. Because I never want to miss that for the last 15 yrs. Thanks to modern technologies, but my small book has a lot of memories, feelings and stories in its pages. And I love holding that possession of mine. 

I could still remember, one day in my early teens, My parents planned for a shopping trip to Pondicherry. It was during the festival of Pongal. Those times where very special for us. And as a young girl, I loved watching the streets of Pondicherry and shopping there was fun. And this hasn't changed even now. 

But I was adamantly staying back asking others to proceed with the shopping, as I saw the movie 'Bharathi' being telecast in a channel. I knew I wasn't watching it the first time. Yet! I stayed back and we cancelled the plan. Yes, I love him.

And ahh! Why am I penning the memories of Bharathi when the topic choosen is about the great Chellama Bharathi.

Yes now to Chellama...

The more I loved and adored Bharathi, when I started reading about his life, my attraction and respect to Chellama was roaring in heights. She was an epitome of patience. Yes I mean it. 

When Men in Social life shines bright, its the light of the women in their family. The sacrifice and endurance to run their family, makes the married men to shine in their social life. 

Chellama not only married a man who stood by his strong belief in social reforms but he was also a poet who took pride in his writings.  Till this decade, an artist who makes his living performing natural art does his work struggling in the puddles of poverty. And Bharathi's life was of no exception.

She struggled all along her life marrying this man, trying to give her best to support him and this love for standing alongside him had brought several hatred for her in her own community. With lot of fear and fear, she always tried to have her best foot with him. 

Bharathi understood the importance of this women in his life only after his first child. Especially when he was advised the importance of  womenhood and shakthi by his 'Gurumani' as he fondly calls Nivedita Devi. And here's when Bharathi opened his eyes towards Chellama.

I always wonder reading poems with the name Kanamma . Thinking, where did this character come from. And my world of imagination always revolved with lot of questions with this character. To my surprise, it was only today, I found the answer.

The answer was very clear in the writings of Dr.Vijaya Bharati(grand daughter of Bharathi & daughter of Thangammal Bharathi). She mentions that Bharathi's daughter's had written that their father had always mentioned about their mother Chellama in his poems and it was not Kanamma as it was published.

They have addressed as, this might be the change made by their maternal uncle who doesn't want his sister's (Chellama) personal life to be in magazines.

Yes! my mystery revolving around my head for years is in peace now.

Her life not only put her in lot of struggles and stress, living with the man in pride, but even after his death. 

She along with her brother had managed to start a publication and print the Mahakavi's work. The hardwork her husband had put in, she could not see that go in vain. The strong urge in her was to bring in all that was unpublished earlier and to consolidate the ones published for newspapers. Again she did all of this against people complaining her efforts, the rumours that spread in newspapers about Bharathi's life. She faced everything, Yet she could not win them. 

But it was all her efforts that many of Mahakavi's writings came out to be published. 

She was not a celebrated hero's wife but a women the society missed to celebrate.

She was not an epitome of success always but she lived to spread the soul of her husband which is buried deep in his poems. And definitely she had succeeded in that. 

She is undoubtedly one of the best women, whom I love always and the one the world forgot to appreciate.

Reference- https://subramaniabharati.com/category/chellamma/