Amma, get me SOMEthing to eat...

This's probably familiar to all the moms out there. "Amma, get me SOMEthing to eat...".

My "Ok, what sort of a thing do you feel like eating?" is usally followed by, "I don't know" (very sing-song). Then come my suggestions, "Something salty?", "Something sweet?" And I said finally, "Ok, I am going to make it a surprise. "

A has been coming up with and making salad dressings based on my basic guidelines for well over a year now. And he comes up with very interesting ideas. This time he said, "Just make sure it has grated tootsie rolls in it." I said he was welcome to come and grate it himself, and he did exactly that. He grated a tootsie roll chocolate candy, and wanted me to make something to sprnkle that on! We were out of icecream, which was my first idea. My second idea worked. It was bhel. I cracked up some baked tortilla chips we had hanging around, added some pori (puffed rice) to it, and some Indian store mixture of fried junk (a very small amount - for that little authentic kick), and dried sweetened cranberries, some date chutney I'd made (grind up seed less mejdool dates, add paste of tamarind (Laxmi brand seems best), salt and sugar and spices like chilli powder) and finally on top of that, the grated candy!! I couldn't resist chopping up some cilantro, and a roma tomato, and red onion (very small amount), and a small red potato microwaved for 3 minutes, and that was it!! Sorry I don't have a picture - it's just too much work. But it looked nice!! And he finished it all.

Next time, I think I'll add some "pottu kadalai" (split dalia (a dried bean)) or chopped walnuts for nutrition.