Day 2

Day 2

    

    Dear Diary,

    Today is yet another day I would like to share with you because of your curiosity. The Covid-19 is still going on, and because we were running out of resources, my dad had to go get our groceries. But don't worry diary, because my dad wore a mask that my mom made with very simple steps. This is a method that helps prevent the spread of the virus from one person to another through air. Most of the time, my mom was on a video call with him so that she could tell him what to get. 

So basically to make the mask, you fold a piece of cloth you have in half, and then fold the half you made in half again. Then, you put both the ends of the folded cloth inside a rubber band each as shown in step 2. Then, you fold the parts of the cloth separated by the rubber bands inwards, which makes step 3. Then, you pull on the rubber bands and put them around your ears. This makes your own simple and easy mask!        

    Once my dad came back from shopping, he went straight to the bathroom, washed his hands, and took a bath. Meanwhile, my mom took categories of different groceries and washed them to the best of her ability. She cleaned all the packed things with Clorox wipes, the individual vegetables and fruits with water, and she cleaned our house's entrance with a disinfectant that killed 99.9% of all viruses and bacteria. She did this during different times to break down the work, and I just followed my schedule, as I was not allowed near any grocery item until it was cleaned. 

    Now diary, you might be thinking that I am so boring, as I keep talking about the same thing over and over. But now, I am going to tell you something cooler. As you know diary, these lock-down times give us an opportunity to experiment and create. So with that opportunity, my mom made Falafels. This was something that my mom had never made before. The exciting part was, ;that I got to help. So below is the recipe for delicious and mouth watering Falafels.

The Falafels after we started eating them

The Falafels when we made them

   Recipe For Tasty Falafels (Serves 4)

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

* 1 cup soaked Chickpeas (Soak them for 12 hours)

* 1/4 cup Cilantro or Parsley (Pick any one)

* 2 medium sized Onions

* 4 cloves of Garlic

* 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

* Salt to taste

* 1 tsp Black Pepper Powder

* 1 tsp Ground Cumin Powder

* 1 tsp Coriander Powder

* Chili-flakes or Red Chili Powder to taste (Pick any one)

* 1 small Chili (Optional)

* Half of a lemon              

* 2 tomatoes

* Half a Cucumber

* Half Cup Lettuce

* Hummus (Bought from the store;Any Amount;Optional)

* Pita Bread (Bought from the store;Any Amount;Optional)

* Oil for frying

Step 2: The Process

* First of all, chop one of the onions into smaller pieces, separate the 4 cloves of garlic, and chop a green chili if you want.

* Next, in a grinder, take all of the soaked Chickpeas, 1/4 cup of the Cilantro/Parsley, the smaller pieces of the onion you chopped, and the four cloves of garlic that you separated. Grind until you get an even mixture, but you don't want it to be powdery. (Add the chopped green chili if you want to)

* Then, in a little bowl, put the 1 tsp of Black Pepper Powder, 1 tsp of the Ground Cumin Powder, 1 tsp of the Coriander Powder, and any amount of the Chili Flakes or the Red Chili Powder. 
* Take a bigger bowl this time and put in the mixture from the grinder, put in the 1/4 cup of flour, squeeze in Half of a Lemon, add some salt according to your taste, and add the mixture from the little bowl. Mix well.
* Once we have the mixture in the big bowl, we will roll them up into little balls and fry them in a deep pan with oil. (You could use an Air Fryer) Once we have fried our little balls, we have made our Falafels. 

* Now, for an optional part, we will chop the onion we have left, the two tomatoes, the half of a cucumber, and the lettuce to create our salad.

* Then, we take our Pita Bread and cut it in half. Then, you will see pockets in each half which you should slightly open up.
* Finally, we line our pockets with some store bought hummus, add 2 tbsp of our salad, and finally put our Falafels in the remaining space. 

Step 3: Enjoy!

* Eat the Falafel and get amazed by how good it is
* Post a photo of your Falafels in the comments

    So Diary, this was what I had for lunch, and trust me, it was great! Now that I told you this, I have to take my leave again to start yet another new day. I will hope to see you tomorrow, which I know is going to be a better day. 

By yours Truly,

Shubh Varshney