Stackable Felt Rings

Felt Story Board : The Ocean

Basic full skirt - I

What's coming up tomorrow

Wait for this easy peasy tshirt makeover tomorrow. A simple yet lovely bunting tshirt.

Homemade Multi-grain Cereal

In Sri Lanka, multi-grain cereals are quite popular. These cereals usually include a mixture of rice, soy beans and cornmeal.

Reading the label of one such cereal brand got me thinking if I couldn't whip one of these up at home. It surely couldn't be that hard.

This is what I came up with.

I used brown rice, soy beans, mung beans, chick peas, barley, oats and horse gram.

First of all, wash all the grains and dry well. Then individually dry fry/roast all grains except oats and barley. Let cool.

Toss everything together and grind to a fine powder using a coffee grinder.

Sift through a mesh sieve.

If you find the cereal tasting raw, just dry fry the sifted powder for a minute or two.

To make the cereal, add freshly boiled hot water or hot milk and mix well. Add a bit of sugar if you like.

Let me know if there are any questions. Till next time! Ta ta!!

The easiest ever crochet baby sandals

These are so easy to make that you can easily whip up a pair in less than an hour. They're perfect for these hot days and are very comfortable for little feet.

They are basically two ovals with double crochet front and ankle straps and a button  for closure. 

The best thing about these sandals is that you can make the ovals (i.e soles of the sandals) longer, shorter, wider, thinner, to match your baby's feet. 

Here's how I made them. I used a size 4 crochet hook and acrylic yarn.

Round one :

Chain 15 (for longer feet chain more, for smaller feet chain less)

On the 4th chain stitch from the hook, 2 dc. ( leftover ch 3 counts as the 1st dc)

dc in the next ch and continue (1 dc in each ch st) until the one before last.

6 dc in the last ch. 

Don't turn. Continue down the other side.

dc in each ch until the last one. 3 dc in the last ch. Join with sl st to the top of ch3. (30 dc)

Round two:

ch3(always counts as 1st dc). Don't turn. dc into the same st as sl st. 2dc each into next two dc.

dc into next st. dc each into next 8 sts. 2 dc each into next 6 sts.

don't turn. dc into next st. dc each into next 8 sts. 2 dc each into next 3 sts.

Join with sl st to the top of ch3. (42 dc)

Round three.

ch3. Don't turn. dc into the same st as sl st. dc into  the next st. 

(2 dc into the next st. dc into the next st.)twice. 

dc each into next 9 sts. 

(2 dc into the next st. dc into the next st.)6 times.

dc each into next 9 sts.

(2 dc into the next st. dc into the next st.)thrice.

Join with sl st to the top of ch3.(54 dc)

For babies who are less than 3 months old, stop the oval here.

Round four.

ch3. Don't turn. dc into the same st as sl st. dc each into  the next 2 sts. 

(2 dc into the next st. dc each into the next st.)twice. 

dc each into next 9 sts. 

(2 dc into the next st. dc each into the next 2 sts.)6 times.

dc each into next 9 sts.

(2 dc into the next st. dc each into the next 2 sts.)thrice.

Join with sl st to the top of ch3.(66 dc).

Fold the sole lengthwise. At both ends, tie a marker at the exact middle of round four. One will be where the ankle rests and the other will be the middle toe point. 

Back piece:

Make a ch on a new yarn. From the marker count four to the right and draw the ch made, through it and ch 2 more. dc in the next 7 sts. The marker should come exactly between the 4tg and 5th dcs.

turn. ch3. dc each in the next 7 sts. 

Ankle strap:

Ch 15. dc in 4th st from hook and dc each in all ch. After the final dc is made, attach strap to back piece with sl st.

Front strap:

Make a ch on a new yarn. From the marker count 6 to the right and draw the ch made, through it and ch 15 more. Attach chain to 6th st from the marker on the other side with sl st. dc in 4th st from hook and dc each into all ch. After the final dc is made, attach strap to the sole with sl st.

Attach button to the back piece.To make  the other sandal, flip the sides and crochet straps. 

To wear the sandals, slip the button through any two dcs in the ankle strap where it fits snug.

Let me know if you have any questions.

dc: double crochet

ch: chain

st: stitch

sl st: slip stitch

Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry. As promised. Everyone loves a good chicken curry. (Everyone except a vegetarian like me, sorry to be a buzz kill!).Whether to mop up with a fresh slice of bread or with steaming hot rice, chicken curry sure does the trick.

This particular one is a favourite of my hubby and I like to think my brother quite likes it too, although he likes to brag, now that he cooks for himself, that his chicken curry is better than mine. :)

Before we get in to the nitty gritties, there is something I need to say about the earthenware that is used in Sri Lankan cooking. Of course, now we have all moved to easier ones, copper, aluminum, cast iron etc etc, but in a traditional Sri Lankan kitchen food is cooked in earthenware pots and pans. While they are without a doubt healthier to use than their metal counterparts as food does not react with them, Sri Lankans also believe that food cooked in earthenware dishes are tastier. It is true of course that certain dishes such as "Fish ambul thiyal" and "polos ambul" taste much better when cooked in an earthenware pot. So here, I've used an earthenware pan or what we call "mati walanda" just to show you what it looks like. But you can use whatever pan you have handy.

Let's begin shall we?

serves 2

Ingredients

Four or five pieces of chicken
5 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger
few curry leaves
2 inch piece of rampe leaf (pandan leaf)
1 small tomato
2 green chillies
1 tsp roasted curry powder
1 tsp chillie powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup water
salt

How to
Slice the shallots into thin slices, chop the garlic and the ginger, halve the two chillies lengthwise, and slice the tomato.
Put the pan on medium heat and let it heat up. Put the tablespoon of coconut oil, let it heat up for about thirty seconds.
Add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Add garlic, ginger, shallots, curry leaves, rampe, tomato slices, and the halved green chilles.
Stir with a spoon and let them temper in the oil for about a minute.
Add the spices, i.e roasted curry powder, turmeric and chillie powder, also add salt to taste and the vinegar. Stir.

                                         spices and the herbs together.

Keep on stirring for about a minute.
Add the chicken and mix.

                                         Mixing after adding the chicken.


Add the water. Mix. Let the curry cook without stirring until the chicken is cooked halfway.

                                         The chicken cooked halfway.
Add the coconut milk.

                                         Right after adding the coconut milk.

Stir well. The milk will bubble and simmer after a while. At this point, stir the curry (this will take about five minutes) until the gravy has thickened and halved.

If you want to use the chicken curry as gravy for bread, don't thicken the gravy, just add the coconut milk, let it simmer once and then take off the fire. Thickened curry is great with rice.

                                                       Bubbling away.


Your curry is done.

This is excellent with steaming hot rice, with or without other accompaniments.
                               

This particular lunch plate has, white rice, beet root curry, curried chick peas, cucumber salsa, and stir fried broccoli. (I lost you at broccoli right?)

Note

Here's what to do if you can't find any of the ingredients.
Can't find coconut oil? Use regular cooking oil.
coconut milk? add water or regular milk. (The taste won't be the same, but who's to know right?)

I will be more than happy to answer any question or to clarify any doubts. Just leave a comment. :)

See you next time with Coconut Sambal.