Mighty Rule of Fist

My mother taught me that there should always be enough food in the house to feed an unexpected visitor. It is always good to feed the hungry. Never to count the chapattis that are made, in fact one should never count the chapattis eaten.

Because I have always been the ladoo of my mother's eye, I always followed her advise.

I would sometimes pour the rice in a pan and cook. Estimates work, who needs to measure. Even if I did measure, 1 and 1/2 katori of uncooked rice was a must for me and my husband.

Same for the chapattis, I would pour the flour and make the dough. 2 chapattis for my husband, 2 for me and 1 or 2 extra for the unexpected visitor who till date never turned up on our door.

But why bother about the extra share, the extra stuff was always handy to satisfy our hunger.

So the estimated amount of rice which was half big casserole was finished in no time. The chapattis which were big and thick and always 1-2 extra will always finish.

So, you see after all I am a good house keeper. I don't waste food at all. I cook and eat to finish.

And please tell me how can someone measure pasta. I would just slit open the packet and pour the whole stuff in. I craved pasta and both me and my husband will finish that off too.

But with that much amount of food no wonder we were what we were. In fact there never was an estimate how much we ate stuff like rice, pasta, poha, upma.

Now I was watching a TV cookery show and this one lady was cooking rice. For estimate she said, for 7 people take 7 fist of rice.

And that was it. I have heard so much about the wonders of frequent little meals but the answer was right in my hand.

Now this is also I have read and I am going to write it here, ever wondered that why saints/monks ask for offerings by combining two hands because that amount of food is sufficient for one to be eaten at one time.

So from there started my mighty rule of fist. I cook rice for two people - 2 fist. I make chapattis for 2 people -2 fist flour. Poha -2 fist, upma- 2 fist.
The first day I made 2-fist poha I kept wondering how my husband will howl from hunger. But he didn't. He felt hungry only after 2 hours.

Now the fist rule is followed in my house as both me and my husband are trying to reduce weight.

So 1 and a half katori rice is reduced to less than half katori now. With 2 fist flour you can only make 3 thin chapattis.

As for the unexpected visitor who has not yet turned up but if arrives, he will share the same amount of food with lots of fruits. His photo will be clicked and published on my food blog with a title "Guest who ate less and healthy."