Blog – Page 55 – Daana – The Small and Marginal Farmers' Network

Government Forecasts Record Food Grain Output in the Crop Year of 2018

Crop production forecasts are commonly understood as an important tool in preparing the food balance sheets of the country. They also give a fair idea regarding food production shortfalls.

So when the Agriculture Ministry, Government of India forecasts a record food grain output in this crop year ending in June 2018, in view of the good rainfall received in the country, the clouds of food price inflation and temporary food insecurity recede. Rice production is pegged at 1.2% higher than last year at 110.11 million tonnes. How accurate will this forecast be? Only time will tell.

By the way, India ranks 66 in the Global Food Security Index of 2012, despite PDS.

Read the full story here:

Vegan Fish Curry at the Natural Food Festival

I kid you not. Before you guffaw or roll your eyes. Here is the video proof. (There is more about betel dosa at the end of this post)

The Natural Food Festival in Hyderabad happened on Feb 17 and 18. I took the tribe along. Humera and Rayyan were motivated by the food, Rajaa was there to get nice pictures and I was curious. I swear that the millet and jaggery chocolate brownies takes the cake. Put it on your bucket list.

So, it turns out (you didn’t watch the video, did you?) the vegan fish curry was a vegan (fish-less) curry made with the same spices, and vegetables. Yes, I tried tasting it and I finished all of it. It was lip-smacking-ly goooood. But on to the main story, after all, isn’t all food natural? Valid point. Chew on a millet cracker while we explore this.

The natural food festival, should have really been called the Slow Food festival. As opposed to fast food…. food that is chemically laced, unhealthy and more often than not, unethically, factory produced. Food that is heavily promoted by multinational food conglomerates. Slow food is nutritiously tasty food cooked from traditional recipes from local, organically grown crops and grains and naturally raised animals.

It was a surprise in many ways. First, it is not very often that a government decides to promote Natural Foods. We sauntered in at the closing bell of the last day. I was fully expecting to see a deserted place. No, I was surprised !!

DDS
There were many familiar faces. Deccan Development Society was there. For those who came in late (and read Phantom comics), a documentary film maker, Sateesh decided to go native and returned to his village in Zaheerabad district a few decades ago. He started to work with the local farmer women and soon developed an amazing society of empowered women who grow, negotiate, think, make movies and generally give everyone a tough time. Here is one of them talking about their exhibits

Litti Choka
There were quite a few participants from really far off places. There was this young woman from Siliguri (the pitstop for Darjeeling). She gave us a taste of Litti Choka. This is a dough ball made with whole wheat and stuffed with sattu and other spices and herbs. It is normally roasted over wood fire and served with Ghee . It is best eaten with aloo bharta or baingan bharta accompanied with a generous portion of curd.

Millet Snacks
And there was a phenomenal spread of Millet snacks. Remember the jaggery and millet chocolate brownie I mentioned?? This is the video I shot.

I will update this post later with more pictures from the festival. I hope to return next year with more of the gang and on both days. Don’t miss it the next year.

– Farhan

Gujiyas for Holi

Gujiya is a gujarati sweet dish that is synonymous with Holi and Diwali. It is like a sweet samosa. It keeps well, and hence can be made a couple of days ahead of time. We present to you a healthier version of the dish, without stepping too far from tradition. Enjoy, and wish you a very happy and colourful holi.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup dry fruits(almond,cashew,walnut)
1 cup desiccated coconut
⅓ cup jaggery
⅓ cup dates
½ tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sooji or semolina
1 tsp elaichi or cardamom
2 tbsp water
2 cup atta
¼ cup sooji or semolina
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp oil
Warm water for kneading
1 tbsp aata with 1 tbsp water, for sealing
Oil for frying

Instructions:

Dry roast the dry fruits in a pan for 5-7 minutes.Keep it aside and let it cool.
Grind them into a coarse mixture.
Heat oil in a pan.
Add the shredded coconut.
Saute for 5 minutes on low flame and add the roughly chopped dates, jaggery and dry fruits. (Add some cashewnut paste to this if you want a deep rich taste)
Add semolina with 2 tbsp water.
Cook this mixture for 5 minutes on low flame and allow it to cool.
Knead the dough with flour, 2 tbsp oil ,semolina, water and salt.
Add extra flour as needed to keep from sticking to hands and board.
Place the dough in a greased vessel.
Cover with a cloth/plastic wrap for 15 minutes.
Take a small portion and roll it into small round ball. Roll it out and lay it on the inside of a gujiya mould (Grease the mould to make sure that the rolled dough doesn’t stick to it)
Add filling in the rolled pastry.
Seal the edges with flour and water mix.
Brush the gujiya with oil and bake for 10 minutes@160 degree Centigrade.
Heat oil in a small & deep kadai.
Once the oil is hot, add half-baked gujiya to it.
Cook on low flame for 10 minutes or until golden brown. (or skip #15-17 and deep fry the traditional way)

India Leads in Number of Organic Producers

More than 30% of the world’s organic producers hail from India, according to the World of Organic Agriculture Report 2018 published this month. Of the total 2.7 miliion organic producers in the world, 8,35,000 organic producers are Indians. This makes it the country with the largest number of organic producers. In terms of numbers, it is way ahead of other countries. Uganda comes second with 210,352 producers and Mexico is third with 210,000 organic producers.

On an average each organic farmer in India has a farm holding of less than two hectares. Most of these are marginal farmers. In India, the area under certified organic cultivation, is only 2.59 per cent (1.5 million hectares) of the total area (57.8 million hectares).

For once China is nowhere in the scene, rather it is battling with heavy pesticide pollution of its land and water resources. This year China ranked first in the list of world’s worst food safety violation offenders.

The 19^th edition of the World of Organic Agriculture report claimed that organic agriculture area, and its products value has increased. The data was collected from 178 countries by the research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the State of Sustainability Initiative (SSI), and International Trade Center. The report was released during the 2018 edition of BIOFACH, world’s most well known organic agriculture show, held in Germany. Read more

Daana procures produce from small and marginal farmers and offers them a fair price.

Cold Pressed Oils Can Up Your Immunity

Winter is on its way out in most parts of the country and the ‘now warm-now cold’ weather is giving many of us the sniffles. You pack away the warm blankets one day, only to pull them out the next. The first to be attacked by the flu are those with low body immunity. It is at times like these that we wish our immunity was higher and our body constitution stronger to weather the seasonal changes.

Your grandparents and other family elders would have probably told you that they were much healthier than you even though they didn’t have such a variety of things to eat. Hearts of hearts we have envied them and wondered about the secret of their good health.

There are many ways to boost the body immunity – exposure to sunlight, regular intake of greens, fruits, vegetables, onion, ginger, garlic, probiotics and fermented foods. Consuming cold pressed oils is also one way to boost your body immunity. Your grandparents will vouch for this one, but the term cold pressed wasn’t around when they were young.

Cold pressed oils give us immune benefiting components, antioxidants and substances that trigger the healing process.

So, how can we slip in cold pressed oils in our diet regimes? Here are a few suggestions:

Hot soups are welcome when you have the sniffles. Add teaspoon of cold pressed oil to stir fry the veggies that go into the soup. It will give your soup some texture and also make it healthier.
Salad dressings are another super easy way you can add cold pressed oils to your diet. There are many delicious salad dressings that are best made at home. Choose one that suits the taste buds of your family and toss up a tasty salad.
Homemade mayonnaise is another way you can use cold pressed oils. Flavourful and creamy mayonnaise can be had with sandwiches and salads.
Make peanut butter at home. Add a tablespoonful of cold pressed groundnut oil for extra creamy smoothness to the peanut butter.
And the best way to use cold pressed oils I would say, is to have nalla kharam or molaga podi or gun powder as it is popularly called, with hot rice. Normally we use ghee with our molaga podi, but you can take half ghee and half cold pressed oil. Heat it in a pan, add some mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, drizzle this ghee-oil mix on the hot rice. Sprinkle a tablespoonful of molaga podi, mix it and enjoy. Out with the sniffles!

When we are healthy and well rested, we feel better and do better. We are also kinder, smarter and more productive. So eat healthy and live better!

Sujata C

Daana cold pressed oils are organic and procured from small and marginal farmers. Daana Blog is produced by Daana Farmers Network to promote understanding about Naturally grown, Organic food. Support us by buying your grains, oils and staples from our farmers through Amazon, Bigbasket or directly from Daana.in.

Forgotten Super Food: Hand Pound Rice

In a small tribal village Hansuli in Chattisgarh, few women farmers’ groups are trying to revive a 300 year old tradition of hand pounding rice. They are also able to generate additional income in the process.

Currently, rice mill machine use rubber rollers to produce a rice which looks like hand pounded rice. But it is not the same thing because the heat created by milling and pounding machine changes the taste and also removes the micro nutrients from the rice. Human hand pounding of rice is a slow and laborious process that takes a longer time. It doesn’t produce heat so you get a natural taste. Nutrients and micro nutrients are preserved in the human hand pounded rice. Hand pound rice is rich in selenium which keeps away cancers, cardiac diseases and arthritis.

Human hand pounded rice has various names in different part of world – Dheki Rice, Hath Sadi Tandul, Kaikuthal arisi, Dhampudu Biyyam.

It is a super food by all standards as it can keep lifestyle ailments at bay. Read more here:

Daana supports small and marginal farmers who brings many such healthy farm produce to consumers.

How a Desi Seed Goes Extinct

Back in the 70s, when the state government introduced new high yielding jowar cultivars developed by International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics to farmers in Adilabad district of Telangana, little did they realise that the indigenous variety Persa Jonna would be lost in the process. ICRISAT scientists have once again offered new crop varieties to Adivasi farmers in Novemebr last year. What will the consequences be? Should the farmers hold back on the side of caution? How did the loss of Persa Jonna impact the lives of farmers? Here’s the full story- Read more:

Beejotsav held in Hyderabad

When farmers take up cudgels for Mother Earth, you know there is something good going. The Desi Seed Festival held at the Ramakrishna Mutt, Domulguda, Hyderabad elicited an enthusiastic response from seed conserving farmers. The event was organised by SAVE ( Society for Awareness and Vision on Environment) in association with independent organisation Bharat Beej Swaraj for three days from Feb 3-5. Thousands of farmers from nearby states Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh thronged the venue to listen to natural farming exponent Subhas Palekar and other practitioners.

Over 5000 varieties of desi seeds were exhibited. Desi seeds were also distributed free of cost to farmers.

Watch this video to know more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ6-Weq2SBw

Biryani: The Dish that Devours Boundaries

There are two must-dos for any visitor who comes to Hyderabad – eat biryani and buy pearls. The funny thing is both these items don’t originate here. Hyderabad is not on the sea coast and pearls are not natively found here and despite a 400 year old association with Hyderabad, biryani did not originate here.

If you were to plot a route for biryani, you will need the map of Asia, for that is what it is – an Asian dish popular in its varied forms. It is probably the only single pot dish that has travelled from region to region devouring boundaries on its way and picking up the flavours of the places it passed.

Biryani is known to have been brought to India by Taimur-e Lang, the lame but fierce Mongol ruler who invaded India towards the end of the Tughlaq dynasty. It is very interesting to track the spread of biryani in India. The dish took on the flavours and and aromas peculiar to each region and evolved into a variety of region specific biryanis – the Kashmiri, the Awadhi or Lucknowi, the Malabari, the Arcot biryani, Calicut biryani and the Hyderabadi biryani, each unique and delicious in its own way.

Dig into history: People say biryani was the Nizam’s gift of love to Hyderabad, but the history of the Hyderabadi biryani predates the Nizams. Legend has it that Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan and mother of Aurangzeb, cooked up the recipe of this meat and rice dish to quell the hunger pangs of marching soldiers who had to walk long distances.

It is possible that Aurangzeb brought the biryani to Hyderabad along with him when he came down to conquer the Deccan and his army laid siege for nine months camping in the Fateh Maidan to conquer the Golconda Fort.

Yet another piece of history says that the nomads of West Asia came up with this dish. They would mix rice, meat and spices in a pot and bury it in the sand. Cooked by the heat of the sun, the biryani would be ready when the pot was dug up after a few hours. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it!

We talked about pot cooking in our last post. We take it forward here with this recipe for a chicken pot biryani. Try it out one evening and look out for the compliments!

Sujata C

You don’t need basmati rice for this recipe. Use Organic Sona masuri Rice and Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil for the best taste.

You can find these ingredients on Amazon here

Mud Pot Cooking- Forefathers’ Style

The pot we cook our food in affects the quality of the food both taste and nutrition. Mud pots were used for storing water and cooking food since the dawn of civilization. They were an integral part of traditional cooking and one of the secrets to the delicious taste of dishes.

It appears that mud pot cooking is now on a comeback trail and many people are already bringing it into practice. You can spot these traditionally attired Rajasthani women selling clay tavas these days in Hyderabad at every traffic signal.There are many online shops selling them as well and many exhibitions also display these trending cookware.

Rasams and sambars simmered in an earthen pot taste much better than when they are cooked in metal vessels. They get an earthy flavor which every foodie will die for. Some of the best biryanis are made in mud pots, any Hyderabadi will tell you that. Matka biryani is a chef’s special in many restaurants. Punjabis love to slow cook their sarson da saag in a clay pot to get the authentic taste.

Why mud pots:

Clay is porous in nature and this permits air and moisture to circulate from the food into the pot.
The minerals present in the clay get a chance to permeate the food, thus improving the nutrient quality. Doctors say mud pots add calcium, phosphorous and magnesium to the food.
Clay is alkaline and it neutralizes the acidity of the food, making it more balanced for the body.
Clay takes longer to heat hence food is slow cooked. This retains the nutrients and natural flavours in the food.
Cooking in clay pots takes medium heat which makes the micronutrients in the food available.
It requires less fat/oil to cook food in a clay pot making the food healthier.
The food stays warm for a long time as the clay pot retains heat for longer.
The flavour and taste of the food gets enhanced.
Clay pots are inexpensive and easily available.

After cooking, hand wash the clay pot. Soak it in water to loosen food particles. Scrub with a scouring pad. Don’t use any detergents. Use baking soda or salt if at all you want to get rid of any lingering smells.

Before you try your hand at cooking the way our forefathers did, make sure you do not buy glazed pots as they may be coated with lead or mercury making it a hazardous proposition. Go for the simple unglazed red or black coloured mud pots that are available in the street market. Soak a new pot in water for a few hours to cure it and then start using it. Treat your family to food with the flavor of earth and pat yourself on the back for adding a touch of green to your cooking.

Sujata C