The Spice is Right

Almond Nankhatai: Indian shortbread cookies

2011-07-24T00:08:00.002-05:00

Every cook needs to have that tried and tested recipe to fallback on during dire times.I have a cookie recipe that has come in handy during several emergencies. Say I need to impress the in-laws in a flash, or cook a last minute dish for a potluck, bring that a-ha cookie to a bake sale or fedex a mothers day gift that wont spoil in transit? Out pops the recipe of this unassuming cookie, all battered and bruised from the elements in my kitchen. I am talking of course of, Almond Nankhatai. No egg, Indian shortbread style cookie with the flavours of almonds and cardamom. Each cookie is feather light, crumbly and melts readily in the mouth. Ofcourse thats because of all the butter that goes into it. But hey, you don't have to eat them all. This recipe is meant for sharing.

You can customize the master recipe by replacing some of the almonds with other nut powders, adding a tad bit extra cardamom or saffron to please you palate. Roll our the dough and use a cookie cutter to shape the cookies any which way you please. Or just shape them into the traditional rounds and flatten them slightly between your palms. What ever you do, make sure all your cookies are evenly sized. And time them closely, since cooktime will vary based on the shape.

Almond Nankhatai (Indian Shortbread Cookies)
3 cups all purpose flour 1 cup sugar Pinch of salt 4 tablespoons ground almonds ½ lb or 2 sticks of butter 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp freshly powdered cardamom	Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Use your hands to bring everything together into a ball
	Shape your cookies anyway you want. I simply take about 2 tablespoons of dough, roll it into a round and lightly flatten in my palms.
	Bake at 350 degree F for 15 – 20 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Note that the cookies will still be soft to the touch when they are hot/warm out of the oven.

The Chappati Heartache

2011-06-17T17:21:00.000-05:00

How do normal people react to reading their own past work ? Everytime I re-read something I have written, I cringe a little bit. To me, my work always seems juvinile, with plenty of room for improvement. Recently, I stumbled upon a piece that was published about 7 years ago on Sulekha. This was back when postings on that site had to be edited and approved by a reviewing team. I titled the article 'The chappati heartache' and it was meant to be a sarcastic yet useful guide for the kitchen self-starter to make their own chappatis/rotis from scratch. I have come a long way in my kitchen experiences since then, yet many of my feelings about making rotis have not changed. I still enjoy the whole process and more so enjoy complaining about it. As I read this article, I had an instant urge to edit my own work. But the older and wiser me decided that any changes would just ruin the innocence and the sheer geekiness that shines so proudly from it. So here, for your reading pleasure and for my records, I present to you the unedited 'Chappati Heartache' -- an account of my culinary frustrations more than 7 years ago.

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The Chappati Heartache
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The soul of Indian food is composed of rotis. These complex carbohydrates form the staple food of a billion people worldwide. They are delicious to eat and highly nourishing for the body (proteins and fiber). So naturally, they are a delightful pain to make. The procedure is messy, time consuming, exhausting and at the end of it all, you are just glad there is something to eat! I would attribute getting consistent (good) chappati results over and over again to a stroke of pure luck. At every attempt at chappati making, you get closer to getting better. Which only means that you will never be perfect, just like an infinite series only promises to converge at infinity. Are you willing to wait till eternity to eat perfect chappatis made by you?

If you don't believe me, allow me to exemplify my theory with -- myself! I am your average girl next door, have been away from home for several years, eating copious amounts of rice and pasta during those years and close to being sick of rice and any form of beans. I greatly enjoy (and sorely miss) my mother's cooking. I have been trying to make chappatis for a while now but the art of chappati-making completely eludes me! Sure, every once in a while, I have the blessing to enjoy my own handmade steamy, puffy, soft, melt-in-my-mouth chappatis, but the sheer amount of times I have had to eat thick, hard, chewy chappatis just ruins the pleasure. It's like my chappatis are forever jinxed by a cosmic conspiracy. How else would you explain that in say, x number of times I have made chappatis, 10x! uniquely different things have gone wrong? Now, do I see some heads nodding in agreement? Haven't we all been there, ladies (and um... the real gentlemen)? Hence the chappati heartache -- consistency is the key in chappati making, but the lock is unfortunately password protected.

Don't get me wrong. I love the entire cooking process, but failure frustrates me. Repeated failure prompts me to write about it. It is my belief that cooking results directly indicate the mood and frustration level of the chef. I have noticed that if I am frustrated about something (other than cooking), my chappatis come out great. This I believe is because, frustration is good for the dough-making process, you have all the motivation to beat the crap out of it and the dough comes out soft and smooth. Ironically, if I am frustrated about how my chappatis are turning out, their quality just goes downhill from there.

For the benefit of the naive beginners and the entertainment of the (self-proclaimed) chappati experts, allow me to explain the nuances of the fine art of chappati-making. It is hoped that in spite of some not-so-subtle sarcastic (frustrated) statements, this will be considered a useful guide.

The chappati making process has 4 main steps:

Kneading the dough
Making small balls of the dough
Rolling out chappatis
Roasting the chappatis

It is difficult to judge which one of the above steps is the most idiot proof, because like I mentioned, I have goofed up every step of the way, and still discovering new goofs and mutations of old ones.

Step 1: Kneading the dough

This process is a little messy. Beginners, please remember to clip your nails and wash hands with soap and water! Use a nice broad mouthed vessel for this process, one that would have room for various violent arm movements.

Start with some atta (wheat flour) in the vessel, and add salt to it.

Then add 1 teaspoon of oil and rub into the mixture.

Now gradually add water, rub into the mixture. Continue adding water until the mixture looks like dry scrambled eggs.

Now sprinkle about a fistful (?) of water and combine into a single dough structure.

Knead and knead, till your knuckles give out, and your carpal tunneled wrists are permanently hanging at right angles to your arm.

Wash hands and cover and keep dough aside for at least 10 minutes.

Tips on kneading dough

Start making the dough when you are frustrated. Imagine the dough as the object of your frustration and vent it out. Start at the end of the long school/ workday for the ideal frustration level.

Salt is an important and easy-to-forget ingredient!

Keep in mind, the physics theories of relativity and the uncertainty principle.

Why? If you made nearly perfect dough today, measured the amount of ingredients with astronomical precision and the next day mixed up the exact astronomical amount to make the dough, the result will almost always never be perfect. According to my research, this is due to the fact that your experiments can be affected by the plethora of factors, your sense of measurement, instruments used, number of experimental trials, temperature, humidity, sweat level of the palms, magnitude and direction of the force vectors applied to the dough, quality of the mill that ground the flour, entropy of the atmosphere, pollen count etc., to name a few. In the big picture, all this boils down to the following factors: the speed of light, the speed of kneading relative to the speed of light, the orientation of the earth, its rotational speed and the resulting centripetal force and the gravitational pull of other celestial objects to name a few of them. That is how physics becomes involved. As you will soon realize, it is difficult for an uninformed mind to keep all these factors in mind. For a more detailed guide for this step, please refer to another guide that will be written after the completion of research: “No Two Dough Balls Are The Same – Why?”

Rare second chance opportunity, If dough turns out too dry/hard, try adding water and knead extra hard to incorporate in the dough.

If dough turns out too soft/sticky, You have messed up. You can try adding more dry flour and knead till you pass out, but I doubt if the situation is recoverable.

A word of confidence: Whatever the end doughy result is, try to continue with the following steps, because after all, you can always eat thick, ugly chappatis.

Step 2: Making balls from the dough

1. Break the dough into 'ping-pong size' balls, smooth, no cracks or gradations on the surface. Opinions vary among the chappati gurus, some say 'marble sized', some say 'lemon sized' and some others say 'small melon' sized. My short stint of experience seems to suggest that 1.45” would be more or less the precise diameter.

This sounds a little too easy but believe you me, if you mess up here this could jeopardize the next steps.

Step 3: Rolling out chappatis

Keep dry flour handy for dusting purposes (a little more if your dough is on the sticky side)

Take each ball from the previous step, flatten on the rolling board, apply flour and roll with the rolling pin. In the beginning, the rolling process would seem more like flattening. But this is a delicate process; one has got to respect the chappati.

Roll out into rounds of about 6-7 inches in diameter. And that's it!

Tips, Tricks and Strategies for rolling

You have to talk to the chappati, sometimes curse at it. Show who the boss is. At the same time, be gentle. Just like teaching a kid how to tie his/her shoelaces (except for the cursing part).

The trick is to roll such that the chappati rotates with your motions, so that it is even throughout.

A neat little trick that my mom once taught me: Once the chappatis are about 1 inch in diameter, roll with even pressure (not measurements again), trying to roll out the edges to prevent overworking the center.

If you worry too much about the shape, it will never come out round.

Remember that you cannot get the round shape by tricky rolling pin movements in the end. That is why step 2 is so important; you have to make the balls such that if you flatten it, it is a perfect round. Now rotate it and roll evenly to try and maintain that as far as possible.

Step 4: Roasting the chappati

Preheat the tawa/griddle.

Wait till small bubbles are formed and the surface facing the tawa has small brown spots.

Use a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth and apply pressure on the chappati to cook it from within.

Remove and apply ghee to the surface that has just left the tawa. As a wise man once said, “It is very important to realize that in the real world, everything has a right side and a wrong side.” Truer words have never been spoken.

If you followed all the above steps 100% correctly, there is about 50% probability that the chappati will puff up nicely. Tips and Tricks for roasting

Keep your eyes peeled at the chappatis; they love to burn.

When in doubt, turn the chappati over to check for doneness. If it is not done, flip it back. Defense is the best strategy you can use here.

Keep the flame on 'high' while cooking the chappatis. This is supposed to prevent them from becoming hard on cooling.

Now that the process is outlined, do you feel you are up to it yet? Here is the final twister that adds slight complications – multiplexing.

Yes, you are expected to perform the rolling, toasting and greasing processes in a parallel, pipelined fashion for optimum time and fuel efficiency. By the time you lovingly roll out the chappati at hand into a semi-circle with Australia on top, the one on the tawa has turned to coal and the ones piled up waiting to be greased have turned to stone.

As with most things in life, one should start with this adventure simple and add the multiplexing to give themselves a challenge along the way. Unfortunately, such people are considered lowly novices among the chappati elites.

I can almost see those chappati experts rolling their eyes saying, well, Rome wasn't built in a day! My answer to them would be, of course that makes sense, Romans were so preoccupied with making pizza dough that they procrastinated building Rome!

They say perseverance pays and practice makes perfect (or nearly perfect in this case). In the meantime, misery loves company, so I am sharing my whines and complaints. Then again, a new day will come and I will go through the process once more, and maybe one day I will be close to getting better at it. Remember, he who says he is perfect, lies. She, who says she is perfect, usually lies.

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Spicy Granola aka Bhel Puri

2011-03-14T01:11:00.001-05:00

You know, we Indians may not be born sophisticated like the French, or have a sexy accent like the Spanish or Italians, or be as athletic as the Chinese or Americans, but dammit, we can eat really spicy food! We would put spice on our morning cereal if it didn't curdle the milk! Occasionally you get the rare Indian with a sweet tooth, but by golly we love our steaming stack of spicy aloo parathas. Our dosas aren't the same with out being smeared with spicy gunpowder masala. And, no experience with Indian food is complete without getting a taste of our Chaat.

Chaat is the blanket name given to all kinds of heavenly street food in India and quite aptly, the word 'chaat' literally means 'to lick' in Hindi. While 'chaat' stalls are easy to spot in any busy marketplace or street corner, the best 'feast for the eyes' experience comes from eating from a

chaat vendor at the beach. There are several dishes that make the chaat category chief among them are:

The tiny, round, puffy, crisp semolina puris that are stuffed with warm boiled potatoes and silky legumes, then filled with a cold, minty, spicy and tangy, green liquid. Once filled with the liquid you move really quickly and put the puri as a whole into a wide open mouth. As your teeth sink into it, there is a gush of warm meeting the cold. The crisp meeting the soft. The spicy and tangy meeting a very satisfied palate. A complete balanced meal if you asked me! This is called the Pani Puri -- and undoubtedly my favorite in the chaat family. One day, I will tell you more about the experience if you have never had the good fortune of enjoying this at an Indian street corner.
Then there is the Pav bhaji. A spicy medley of vegetables - potatoes, cauliflower, green peppers etc, simmered in a tomato based sauce with a special blend of spices. This is served with a slab of butter melting on top with a side of pillows of soft bread rolls toasted slightly on a hot griddle. Here is a picture of a the street side chef cooking up a batch of Pav Bhaji, taken during a recent trip to Mumbai.
Next, there is the Ragda Pattice. A layered dish of crisp potato cutlets, with a generous helping of spicy chickpea/white pigeon pea curry (similar your usual chana masala from the neighborhood Indian restaurant), topped with condiments such as spicy mint and tangy tamarind chutneys, chopped raw onions and crispy fried chickpea flour noodles. The aroma of the cutlets frying up on the extra large griddle is not easily resisted. Neither can you miss the metallic din of the stainless spatula used to flip and cook the Pattice or cutlet on the cast iron griddle the size of Texas.
Vada Pavs are to Mumbai what Hot Dogs are to New York City. The original veggie burger, simply dressed in fresh out the frying pan warmth. A spicy mixture of mashed potatoes with onions, garlic and spices are formed to round balls. They are then dipped in a thick chick pea batter and fried to crispy goodness to form the vada. Then, the softest imaginable dinner rolls called Pav are split and slathered with a red chili garlic powder. The beloved vada is held between two halves of the Pav. The whole snack is only palm sized, and is devoured in only a few bites but packs a devastating punch in flavor. No need for any other fancy toppings, or dipping sauces, this is the on the go snack for the city that truly never sleeps. Just watching the efficient supply chain management of one of the vada pav vendors can easily form a case study lesson for business schools. Not Kidding!
The most popular and easily portable snack among the masses is undoubtedly the bhel puri. You could think of it as the Indian trail mix. It is a mixture of churmura or puffed rice, sev or crispy fried noodles, papdi or flat fried chick pea disks and mungfalli or peanuts, roasted together with seasonings and spices. Just before serving, this is folded in with mint and tamarind chutneys, minced vegetables onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes green chili (yes, ofcourse it counts as a vegetable!).

The bhel puri man is by extension, the most portable snack man in India. He carries a tall wicker stool on top of which he transports all the ingredients. He will settle himself at different strategic spots depending on the time of the day. During lean periods, he will mince onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, green chilis, coriander leaves into the finest confetti you can imagine using a tiny paring knife. All the knife skills prized by the modern culinary world are shattered as you watch this man at work [without using a cutting board]. Then when a customer approaches him, he portions out a serving of the dry bhel puri mix into a little container. Then the adds the onions, tomato, chili, coriander and the spices. At this point, he will let you interject if you want to customize your serving with extra spice or additional crunch or another shot of chutney. He will give this mixture a squeeze of lemon, then mix it with great pomp and show attracting passer-bys. Then he forms a rectangular piece of newspaper into a cone and fills it with the bhel puri and hands it over to you. You then walk away, munching in happiness.

If you don't live in India, you can still replicate the Bhel puri as close as possible, with the ingredients available in ethnic stores. Here is a link to a basic traditional recipe video for bhel puri. Now, not to defy tradition, but I don't always shop at ethnic stores or sometimes I am unhappy with the products they carry, and occasionally I get bitten by the healthy eating bug. So I make this healthier version of bhel puri, which can be made from ingredients available at your regular North American grocery stores.

For the Bhel Puri Mix:

Bhel Puri Mix
2 tsps vegetable oil 1/8 tsp mustard seeds A few sprigs of curry leaves A dash of asafetida 4 green chilis, minced	Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, once they pop, add the remaining ingredients and fry for a 30 secs or so.
2 cups Kashi 7 Grain Puffed cereal 1 cup baked salted pita chips, broken up ¼ cup roasted peanuts	Add the puffed cereal, peanuts and the pita chips and roast till the mixture is crispy

Once cooled, store this mixture in a airtight container. Just snack as is or make into bhel puri.

For the Bhel Puri:

Bhel Puri
1 cup of bhel mix ½ onion, minced ½ tomato, minced 1 small cucumber, minced 1 ear of corn, separated and roasted A generous handful of coriander, minced finely 1 tbsp of mint, green chili chutney 1 tsp lemon juice	Toss together all the ingredients on the left!

Thats it. A healthier, unorthodox way of enjoying Bhel Puri. Not the same as the street side counterpart, but a close nostalgic fusion.

Of course during my rather long discourse on chaat, I have not included other chaat items like Frankie rolls, chole bhatura, snow cones, and beverages like chai, sugar cane juice and many others that I will remember with extreme, inexplicable guilt once this post is published.

Potato of Color: Ratala Kees

2010-10-23T16:44:00.009-05:00

Sweet potatoes are quite a misunderstood species of vegetable. Life is tough for a vegetable of color, especially when it is distantly related the world's most popular 'vegetable'. The 'sweet' in the name made me approach it cautiously, but I am glad that years ago, I gave this tuber a shot on my dinner table. The mild sweetness of the complex sugars melds beautifully in any spicy preparation. The orange hue is an eye pleaser, quite literally and figuratively. That beta-carotene will keep your eyesight sharp even in inevitable old-age. Like any misunderstood human being, the sweet potato has a tough exterior that is hard to penetrate. Just the sheer number of times I have cut open my fingers with my knife skills trying to create beautiful, even bite size chunks of the sweet p' ought to have scarred me for life. But, with the correct tool anything is possible. For me, cutting raw sweet potatoes without a mandolin slicer or a box grater is equivalent to a kitchen blood bath. Fortunately, using those very tools automatically cuts down on cooking time drastically. Baking, boiling, the sweet potato before using in a recipe works quite well too. If you thought the potato was ubiquitous, let me introduce you to his sweeter cousin. He can do anything the potato can do -- only better. Bake it, broil it, braise it, steam it, saute it, mash it, or fry it if you must. Whatever you do be sure to season well with salt and a touch of chili spice. Let the complex carbs keep you going and going... even when you don't feel like it.

Try this super-simple preparation; Ratala Kees (Grated Sweet Potato) regional to the Indian state of Maharashtra, and chronicled at Nupur's steaming hot stove. This is exactly the sort of stuff that you will not find at Indian restaurants. The recipe is pretty much verbatim from aforementioned source, replicated only for my records.

Ratala Kees (Grated Sweet Potato Curry)

1 tbsp oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 5-6 fresh curry leaves 2-3 (or more) dried red chilies	Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. When hot add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and dried red chilies. Cook for about 30 seconds.
2 sweet potatoes, washed, peeled and coarsely grated salt to taste (about 1/2 tspns) 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder (optional)	Add the sweet potato, salt and cayenne pepper. Mix well, and cover and cook for 4-5 mins till tender.
2 tbsp crushed, roasted peanuts	Add the peanuts and combine well.
1 tbsp lemon juice 2tbsp chopped cilantro	Turn off the heat, combine lemon juice and top off with cilantro

Make this a complete everyday Indian meal, paired with some rotis and a cup of yogurt on the side.

How to quit whining: Trader Joe's Masala Burgers

2010-08-11T07:27:00.007-05:00

The first few weeks after a move to a different city can dampen your style. You have to learn the ways of your new home and navigate the new lifestyle. One of things that slowed me down since my latest move was finding things on my list at the grocery store. The aisles were arranged in a manner completely counter intuitive to me. Tofu was is in the meat section, sometimes in the diary aisle and sometimes in the produce aisle. None of the stores have quite the variety and novel items as Trader Joes.

We often grossly underestimate just how much we value something until we don’t have it anymore. My pantry misses the TJs vegetarian pasta sauces, rennet free cheeses, real fruit juices, granola bars and breakfast cereal. My soul and saliva glands miss the 'Vegetarian Masala Burgers’. These frozen patties made from real vegetables can debunk any veggie burger stereotype you may have.

After 6 months of moaning and complaining about non-exciting grocery shopping and tasteless burgers, I decided to take matters on my own hands and decided to quit whining. You see, to quit whining, you need to suck it up and find an alternative. I decided to recreate the flavors of the burger in my own home based on memory. One look at this recipe and I felt greater confidence that I could bring the TJ magic into my kitchen. What the burger needed was mealy potatoes mashed with lots of vegetables and some smoky Indian spices and herbs.

Vegetable Masala Burgers

4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and grated 1 green poblano pepper, grated 2 ears of fresh corn, with the kernels grated 1 carrot grated A handful of peas Big generous handful of chopped coriander leaves	Mash the vegetables together in a large mixing bowl
1 tbsp freshly ground coriander seeds 1 tbsp finely chopped green chilies 1 tsp red chili powder 2 tsp dry mango powder Salt to taste	Stir in the spices and incorporate completely into the potato vegetable mixture. Form into patties, you should get about 5 medium sized patties
a few tbsps oil to fry	Heat oil in a griddle and cook the patties about 4 mins on each side until brown
1 onion sliced 1 bell pepper sliced	In the same griddle, drop the onions and bell pepper and brown them till slightly tender.
Burger buns Sriracha hot sauce (rooster sauce)	Assemble the burger by squirting on some hot sauce on one side of a bun, place the cooked patty on it. Top it off with some browned onions and peppers and cover with the second bun. Open wide and stuff your face.

This burger is going to feature on my dinner table quite often. I still miss my TJs, and stock up on their merchandise at every available opportunity. Meanwhile, I will try to do a little less of whining and perhaps the occasional wining. But I won't promise anything.

Stuff it, if you can: Tofu Stuffed Bell Peppers

2010-07-25T10:02:00.013-05:00

She was wandering the aisles of the grocery store, loosing all track of time. So many pretty little treats were loaded up her cart and she barely managed to peek through the top of her pile. She walked through the produce shelves picking up this and that; then did a screeching double take as she passed these adorable baby peppers in bright pastel red, yellow and orange. "Come home little beauties in to my kitchen. I'll stuff you up with flavors and have you smitten", she said to them. She hurried home passing all the slow-coaches on the highway, donned her apron and gathered her ingredients.

She crumbled some firm tofu into bits and set them to brown. In another pan she dropped sliced onions, chick pea flour and crushed roasted peanuts with spices and seasonings. In a few minutes, the tofu was thrown into this with some

tomato paste to bring the stuffing together. Then she happily stuffed each of her tiny peppers with this mixture setting them on a cookie sheet (trimming off the bottom of each pepper so it stands on its own). When the oven was preheated to 400 she popped them in and skipped off to stir other mischief in the house. Some of the stuffing mixture remained in the pan, so she poured some stock in to it and let it come to a boil. She made a slurry of chickpea flour with water and

thickened her quick pan sauce in no time at all.

When the timer (15 minutes) reminded her of her peppers in the oven, she took her mind off the sauce. She poked the peppers to check for doneness and pulled them out of the steam room

(oven) dropped them into the hot tub (sauce). She rang the bell for dinner and the family(husband) came bounding to the table. She served the little stuffed babies (peppers) with some hot fresh naan.

Tofu Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 tsp vegetable oil
½ block extra firm tofu crumbled

Heat oil in a heavy pan and add the tofu. Allow it to brown about 7 mins. Check on it once or twice

2 tsp veg oil
1 onion sliced
½ cup crushed roasted peanuts
2 tbsp chickpea flour
2 tbsp tomato paste

Heat oil in another pan, and fry the onions till soft. Add the chick pea flour and peanuts and cook till the raw smell of the flour is lost. Add the tomato paste and a splash of water to combine

1 tsp dry mango powder
1 tsp red chili powder
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp cumin and coriander powder
Salt to taste

Add the spices and seasonings, stir to combine. Mix in the browned tofu into this pot.

6 small peppers in assorted colors

Trim the bottoms of the peppers, cut of the top and remove the seeds. Stuff the peppers with prepared mixture till filled to the top. Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 deg F oven

Remaining stuffing
½ cup vegetable stock (or water)
Salt to taste
1 tsp chick pea flour dissolved in ¼ cup water

Add the stock to the remaining stuffing in the same pan and bring to boil. Add salt or adjust seasonings to taste. Add the chick pea flour slurry to thicken sauce.

Get the peppers out of the oven, add to the saucepan let it soak in the sauce before plating.

Whats that smell?

2010-07-18T21:57:00.003-05:00

How many times have you heard that we eat with all five of our senses? Olfaction, or the keen human sense of smell learns of an imminent treat even before the eye or tongue get a ‘whiff’ of any sensory stimulus. Ever had the 3 o’clock feeling when you pass by your office kitchen as the butter from just-popped corn disperses from the microwave? Or walked past a boulangerie or bakery and developed a healthy appetite? Or had a sweet heady high feeling from just smelling good coffee? Lingering food smells are always dreamy unless of course your cuisine of choice is Indian; In that case it is a wardrobe and hair nightmare.

The trouble is that Indian food smells extremely inviting when it is fresh and hot and oh so delicious. There have been many days in my years of apartment living when I felt instantly homesick having woken up to the smell of ‘khichdi’ or ‘paratha’ or ‘rasam’ from the kitchens of my many Indian neighbors, dispersing through the long carpet lined corridors in the building. That same night as I would return home, I would be instantly nauseated by the weakened, yet prominent elements of the same morning smells in the corridors. Like the smell of cooked basmati rice. Or cooked lentils. It is never the freshly ground spices you smell at this time long after the food has been cooked and perhaps even eaten. Those volatile pleasant odors just disperse into thin air. What you smell are the persistent remains of background ingredients that penetrate through everything. You skin, your clothes, your hair. No amount of perfume or cologne in the world can help you. The only solution is a nice long soak in the bath, good amount of scrubbing and some rinsing with scalding hot water. Lather, rinse, and then repeat. Do that for yourself then for your entire closet.

Now it is my personal belief that the smell is mainly due to the type of oil used and type of degeneration it goes through at the temperatures it is heated to. Olive oil can stink up a whole neighborhood if heated high enough to make a proper Indian ‘tadka’. You need a good heat friendly vegetable oil or sunflower oil for that. Even then there is a chance you will be walking around smelling like ‘dal’ depending tadka ingredients and how long you let them brown. About 65% of all Indian food calls for frying in hot oil – and invariably the oil gets beaten and battered at high temperatures and the aromas of the oil fumes just envelope and eventually overpower your natural scent.

So, am I saying avoid Indian food? No, absolutely not. The best thing you can do to your palate is to experience the flavors of Indian cuisine. Ask any Indian worth his/her dhoti/dupatta – they will tell you that when it comes to combating the strong, complex aromas of Indian cooking, prevention is better than cure. I assure that like my husband, there are many of them out there have tried to study the wind patterns in their poorly ventilated North American kitchens. Many a ‘gadgets’ have been invented to direct the air from the kitchen out through the closest windows. We used to have a dedicated fan near the kitchen that had to be turned on high speed and angled just right to sweep the cooking air out through the back door. This was in addition to a loud vacuum inducing exhaust over the stove. I no longer mind that the exhaust drowns the sound of the TV or music playing in the background.

Allow me to offer some wisdom on dampening the possible effects of Indian cooking on your home atmospheric air. Before entering the kitchen to begin prepping for cooking, be sure to close all other doors to all rooms in the house, including closet doors. Make sure you are not wearing your ‘going out’ clothes, because you are going to have to put everything you are wearing for wash as soon as the cooking is done. Put away any odor sensitive items such as blankets, sweaters, coats etc behind closed doors. Open up windows on two opposing walls if available, to induce some healthy cross ventilation in the kitchen and attached living areas. You want to leave the air only one place to go – out the open windows. Remember warm air rises like a cloud. So a cold breeze from a fan or AC vent near the heat source can greatly improve circulation. A good quality over-the-stove exhaust is absolutely essential – be sure it is on before your stove turns on. Proceed to enjoying the cooking process at your leisurely pace now. Keep the exhaust fan going for atleast 30 minutes after the cooking is done. With these precautions alone you can minimize damage area. Don’t wait too long before cleaning up the kitchen after all the cooking. Store your leftovers in airtight containers in the coolest part of your refrigerator (top shelf closest to the freezer). Now you may light up some fragrant candles or oils until you get your house back.

Say you forgot to take some of the precautionary measures and your house now smells like last night’s dinner. Allow me to impress upon you the fact that I told you so. But I will also offer some possible solutions. Close all the windows, and turn up the heat in your house to a level above the outside ambient temperature. I know you will get sweaty, but don’t be impatient. Now turn the heat off and open all doors and windows for about 15 minutes. The warmer inside air will escape out while you welcome the cooler fresher air in.

So while the popular stereotype about the exotic Indian food staying with you long after coming in contact with it may have some truth – hope by now I have helped you lose some of your fear of trying out the cuisine for yourself. As for the other myths and stereotypes like imaginary ingredients, namely ‘curry powder’, well, that’s a whole another topic for another day.

Think Pink: Beetroot Roti

2010-04-07T22:33:00.003-05:00

Have you seen 'Chopped' on food network? I absolutely love the show. The creators of 'Chopped' go out of the way to select the most outrageous food combinations -- quail eggs, fish and dried cherries for instance, and have chefs compete against each other by cooking up the best possible appetizer/entree/dessert dish using the chosen ingredients.

As I opened my refrigerator door looking for some sort of dinner inspiration, I found the beetroot stashed behind the bag of apples with half a squash tucked in between. If I was at my creative best perhaps I could have used all three ingredients. I picked out the beets and squash.

I don't like to cook with beets that much. They make too much of a mess and stain everything on their path. If they were not so good for you and taste so darn good -- I would never bother with them. So, whenever I have to prepare beets, I prefer to cook and eat from the same apparatus. Tonight I grated the beets and squash into a giant bowl, mixed up seasonings (chili powder, ginger + garlic paste and vegetable bouillon cube) and whole wheat flour, made a dough out of it. Then took lumps of the dough between two large gallon sized freezer baggies and flattened then into flat discs using my palm . Then transferred the disks to a hot griddle and cooked them till done on both sides. Ate them with some sriracha hot sauce. Dinner accomplished yet again.

The sweet from the beetroot and spice from the chili powder made for a very interesting combination. The pink hue looked bright and pleasant on my white dinner plates.

Chaat it up! Restaurant Review

2009-09-03T00:35:00.003-05:00

You can take a woman out of India but you will never get India out of her. If you are like me -- you would give up several days of food in return for fresh street made Chaat food on demand, in the middle of the city cacophony. I was up in Oh Canada a few days back -- and some parts around Toronto are as Indian as Chandni Chowk. Actually Chandni Chowk with four times the space and half as many people :-D What better place to look for authentic chaat on the other side of the globe? A simple google search for "best chaat Toronto area" yielded an article from the Toronto Star which recomeneded -- Dhaba (King West, Toronto), Brars (Brampton) and Mirch Masala (Brampton). The first two finds were quickly vetoed because they served Chaat as appetizers! How tacky and high society! Give and take respect, people! Mirch Masala in Brampton, Ontario was touted to be the place to get together with friends over a fun meal. One look at the menu sampler on the article and I was sold. Pani Puri. Bhel Puri. Papdi Chaat. Whats not to like?

We drove into Bramdesh, as the localites lovingly refer to Brampton -- and into this hidden jewel somewhere outside of town

Mirch Masala
8917 The Gore Rd,
Brampton, ON

We pulled into the sprawling strip mall aptly titled Jaipur Gore Mall, lined with Indian businesses -- a Hindu temple, a Hindu Montessori school, Subzi Mandi cash and carry, Chilli Szhezuan Indian Chinese restaurant etc. Snug n the middle was 'Mirch Masala' standing out with its bright yellow sign and the attractive posters boasting of the sheer variety in the menu. "21 Paratha varieties", "51 eggless cake flavors", "100 % Vegetarian". We walk in -- and we are the only ones there! Maybe we were the only chaat crazy ones on a late Sunday afternoon. Well -- no time is better for chaat than right now if anyone cared for my humble opinion.

On glance at the menu and you know you are out for a smogarsboard. Why can't you have yourself a Pani Puri, a Bhel Puri, Dahi Puri, Aaloo tiki chaat and Papdi chaat when you have it all for less than CAD 5.00 a piece? Once you are down with the light stuff, head over to the 11 different varieties of vegetarian burgers. Are you reading this McDonalds? Now that is what I call a happy meal. Try a 'samosa'wich burger -- a burger packed with samosa pieces and spicy chickpea curry, topped with onion, tomato and lettuce. Add chilies to your burger, kick back your shoes and sink in. Samosa does not fancy you today? No problem, try a Indian curry burger or a Bollywood burger or a Greek Burger. Make it a combo and add Masala fries and a soda.

Ok, you really wanted to go to Brars but your chaat crazy wife guilted you into coming to Mirch Masala? Don't worry, you will not be missing out on anything. Have a Paneer Tikka platter - includes grilled paneer tikka, with grilled peppers, tomatoes and onions. With a side of chickpea curry, butter nan and rice for CAD 8.99.

And end the meal with hot gulab jamuns. Wash it all off with a fresh lime soda or masala chai.
Sriracha hot sauce flows free as the Niagara Falls. Goodbye bland food!

Next time you are in the area, stop by at Mirch Masala and enjoy a quick meal. The menu is sure to please all kinds of taste buds. If any locals are reading this -- please enlighten me -- why wasn't the place swarming with people, a place like this deserves dedicated patronage :) Is there a better chaat place I should try?

Dinner Dance

2009-08-11T23:28:00.003-05:00

You may graduate from college in four years, but graduating from the college lifestyle can take longer. I have trouble getting up for those early meetings. I am forever running 10 minutes late for everything. Dinner is something I get in the stomach, not necessarily on the table. While I am growing out of these habits slowly and steadily, there are crazy days that I absolutely need to conjure dinner in less than 10 minutes. Most often this is because I am absolutely dying of hunger at the end of the day. I call this my weekday dinner dance. Today being an exemplary day of swooning to the rumblings beats of hunger, I turned the stove on, rummaged for my favorite pan, drizzled a few drops of oil it and placed the pan on the stove. Then I tapped off my shoes and washed my hands. From the freezer, I picked out some veggies – chopped mixed peppers, broccoli or cauliflower, threw in a handful of them in the hot pan added some seasoning. As the veggies rocked and rolled on the stove, I morphed into my pyjamas and washed up. I ran a knife through whatever combination of fresh aromatics I had on hand – onions, garlic, cilantro, and chili peppers and dropped them into the party. Thinly sliced tofu and aimed them into to the pan with seasonings of salt and pepper. The tofu and vegetables browned as I checked out the day’s mail and separated the bills from the junk. Two huge fistfuls of dry thin rice noodles went to the pan, with a cup of water. Now I did some on the spot walking as I patiently let the noodles cook up and the water get absorbed or evaporated. Noodles were transferred to a plastic container and eaten right out of the container. The leftovers were left over in the same container for the next meal which may be the next day’s lunch.

Such is the joy of cooking that satisfies your basic human needs.

Granola bars - bhel puri ishtyle

2009-08-05T22:08:00.001-05:00

I have become a breakfast person. I still have difficulty waking up in time for breakfast, but I can have breakfast foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am a self proclaimed coffee addict and quick cooking oats fan. I love my dosas, idlis and vada sambars. If I were to skip a meal before bed, I would dream about the white fleshy doughy morsels of idlis soaked in a spicy mixture. True to my Indian born thirst for the complex spices, I will run a marathon (heck, a triathlon) if the reward was a bellyful supply of chaat – pani puri, bhel puri, pav bhaji and the likes.

And I like crunchy cereal and granola bars. My only peeve is that most American breakfast foods (whatever is vegetarian-izable) is laden with sugar and cannot be enjoyed if you have a spice tooth. Why do granola bars have to be based on honey and sugar syrups. The three primary seasonings in our culinary world are salt, pepper and chili powder – why can’t we have a granola bar or a health bar that actually uses one of them? I decided to break the trends and create the spicy granola bar. The ultimate go-to snack chaat bar. I would base it off the classic Indian street food – bhel puri.

The main challenge involved in steering the sweetness out of the bar – find a sticky substance powerful enough to bind the ingredients together and not fall apart. Bhel puri is like a salad or crumbly granola of sorts made of puffed rice, fried dough chips (papdi – vernacularly translated), chopped onions, tomatoes, spices with a dressing of tangy, sweet, spicy chutneys. Now puffed rice would readily get soggy at the first hint of moisture and that would make for bhel that tastes like cotton. And making the bhel-puri bar healthy would not be a bad idea.

So off I went to the neighborhood Whole foods and spent a leisurely evening of food label reading. I came back with the following

Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (substitute for the rice puffs)

Old fashioned rolled oats (it is a granola bar of course)

Sliced almonds (initial thought was peanuts, but figured almonds are healthier)

Baked pita chips (substitute for the papdis)

Dates (sticky substance + sweet taste)

Tamarind paste (sticky substance + sour taste)

Mixed dry fruit – cranberries and apricots

My game plan was this – just like a traditional granola bar, I would toast the oats and nuts while I create the binding sticky substance. I contemplated using molasses as the sticky agent. But that would be sweet all over again. I decided on using egg replacer as a thickening agent and if ever it shows properties similar to the egg, when baked it should coagulate and bind its neighboring particles together. If all else fails, I may not end up with a bar – it may just be a crunchy granola mixture. But, it shall be spicy and it shall be healthy.

1 cup sliced almonds

1.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats

Spread on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven at 300F for 10 mins. Allow to cool

2 cups brown rice crisps cereal

1 cup baked pita chips broken into bits

Mix together with the toasted ingredients and set aside

2 tbspoon tamarind paste

5 dates (pitted)

A handful of coriander leaves

A few curry leaves

Salt (about half tsp)

Any hot sauce (for desired spice level)

.5 tsp Cumin seeds

Using as little water as possible blend into a nice sticky paste.

2.5 tsp Ener-G egg replacer

1 tbspoon water

Dissolve the egg replacer with water and combine into the sticky paste.

Now in a convenient mixing bowl combine your dry ingredients with the sticky ingredients

Grease a baking dish slightly and transfer your mixed granola. Press down firmly to allow all ingredients to acquire stickage.

Bake at 300F for 10 minutes or till nice and crunchy

Allow to cool overnight and then cut into bars.

I still need to let the bars cool overnight. I may not have achieved the desired level of stickiness – but the bars are still quite warm to touch. I did hazard a taste and not bad ladies and gents, it may be a worthwhile experiment. I forgot to include the dried fruit in the bars – but I can eat those while I wait for the bars to cool.

Whats the verdict? not bad for experiment #1. I still have not dropped the idea completely.

If folks out there want to try making the traditional granola bars, look know further than the Alton Brown recipe.

Southwest Scrambled Tofu

2008-03-08T23:33:00.006-05:00

I aspire to be a morning person. Every morning, I attempt to wake up around 6 am, very groggily fix myself a cup of Joe that I drink while catching up on the morning news and weather outlook. With that relatively calm beginining, the hum-drum of the day commences. I will admit I do not do justice to breakfast - the supposed most important meal of the day! However, I am usually big on balanced meals. If breakfast consisted of junk, I try to ensure lunch or dinner fare better!

Being the unabashed tofu fan that I am, most weekend brunches involve tofu put together with the contents of the fridge - different veggies: peppers, spinach, accompaniments: ketchup, soy cheese and warm toasted bread. Here is a Tex-mex variation of tofu scramble with chipotle chillis. These are smoked jalapeno peppers that come in a jar all soaked in Mexican Adobo sauce. The Adobo seasonings include garlic, tomato paste and onion. So, thats all you need for the flavorings. When I run out of the usual green chilis I used for daily fare, I substitute these chipotle chilis.

Here is how I went about making the Southwest Scrambled Tofu. Use firm or extra firm tofu, cut off desired amount from the block, slice thin and squeeze out excess liquid from the tofu crumbling it in the process.

Southwest Tofu Scramble
1 tsp peanut oil 1 cup crumbled tofu (liquid squeezed out) 2 chipotle chilis (or less for a milder flavor), chopped 1 tsp of adobo sauce from chipotle chili jar .25 tsp turmerica pinch of salt (or more to taste)	Heat the oil in a pan (omlette pan works well). Add the tofu, chili, turmeric and the sauce. Add salt if necessary - the Adobo sauce is seasoned. Cook for 2-3 minutes till tofu is dry and resembles scrambled eggs
2 tbsp cooked black beans	Add the black beans to the tofu, heat through. Serve with heartly whole wheat bread

Add a glass of freshly squeezed orange-grapefruit juice, and you have given your metabolism an early morning boost!

On most weekdays I do the cereal routine. If you are like me and flee at the mention of milk, try adding cereal or granola to some greek styled yogurt. Greek yogurt is strained thick yogurt that comes low fat and is readily available in most regular well stocked supermarkets! I like Kashi's Go Lean Crunch cereal. It is delicious and each 1 cup serving has 9 gms of protein, 8g fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids.

This balanced breakfast is my entry to this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging (WBB), concieved by Nandita of Saffron Trail, hosted this month by Mansi. Thanks for choosing the theme of 'balanced breakfast meals'!

Doodh Peda (Milk Fudge) : 6 Minute Guilty Pleasure

2007-07-31T15:29:00.002-05:00

When it comes to enjoying Indian sweets, I find Milk Pedas absolutely *irresistible*. Next in the sweet hit list would be all kinds of milk based desserts - likes of Gulab Jamun, Ras Malai, Kala Jamun. At the tail end of the list are all dry fruit based sweets. Kaju Katli (Cashewnut fudge), in my humble opinion is nauseating. Just thinking of it makes my stomach churn uncomfortably. How some people I know (take Hubbie for instance) can down them 4-5 at a time is alarming.

But all good things in life are difficult to come by. Agree? Traditionally to make pedas you must painstakingly boil the milk for hours *without* burning it. However, with the magic of processed foods and invention of appliances for busy people you can enjoy pedas in not 9 minutes, not even 8 minutes, but just 7 minutes and 59 seconds. However, if you were to follow the recipe properly you can cut 2 full minutes of prep time. Hopefully I have made you googly eyed just like those attractive infomercials on TV this time of year :-)

All you need for this recipe is a nice big microwave safe glass bowl (with a wide mouth), a can of sweetened condensed milk, a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of non fat dry milk. I don't regularly endorse brands, but Carnation brand dry milk works best - other brands I have tried have given less than optimal results.

Doodh Peda
1 stick or 1/2 cup unsalted butter	Place butter in a large glass bowl and microwave for 30 seconds or more so as to melt it.
one 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk 1-1/2 cup of non-fat dry milk	Mix in the condensed milk and dry milk powder and microwave for a minute. Stir vigorously to combine. Repeat the microwaving for a minute and stirring 4-5 times until the texture and color of the mixture resembles cooked oatmeal.
2-3 cardamom pods a healthy pinch of saffron	Grind the black seeds inside the cardamom pods and the saffron into a powder and mix in with the peda mixture. Let the mixture cool until it can be handled by hand. Shaped into small balls and flatten to form pedas. Alternatively spread on a greased sheet and cut into shapes when cooled completely. Decorate with slivered almond or pistachios

Only seriously insanely obsessive picky eaters will be able to tell you have not slaved over the stove for hours. For the rest of us - this tastes as authentic as it gets. There are many variations to this basic peda recipe - but this one has turned out perfectly multiple times and is what I call a keeper recipe. Thanks to my dear cousin who made these pedas specially on my birthday!

All in one solitary meal: Tofu Spinach Roti

2007-06-26T21:08:00.001-05:00

I can tell that it has been too long since my last visit to the grocery store because I am all out of junk food. Yes, been a slacker lately - no excuses. Plenty of theories for my lack of motivation to cook (besides the hackneyed too busy at work) -we'll go over them another day.

But, today I was possessed with the will to cook something good. I was surveying the pantry when it came to me - the mother of all one dish meals - the paratha (Indian flat bread). I gathered all elements of the USDA food pyramid - whole wheat flour, tofu, frozen spinach, vegetable stock cube, water and oil. And got to work. Also, in my life when it rains, it pours. So in true overachiever behaviorial pattern, I also launched another unit of processing - laundry. I kneaded the dough for the parathas and put the clothes in the washer as the dough rested. The whole cooking, cleaning and eating process was done before the end of the dryer cycle. Of course, I was eating as I was cooking. Here goes the recipe for the parathas/rotis

Tofu Spinach Roti/Paratha
0.5 cups frozen spinach 1/2 a vegetable stock cube	Place spinach and half a stock cube in a microwave safe bowl (big enough to knead the dough in) and nuke for 1 min to defrost the spinach
1.5 cups whole wheat flour 2-3 tbsp crumbled tofu (no need to drain) 1 tsp chili pow Not more than 1/2 cup water	Add the flour, tofu and chili pow (and salt if needed, the stock cube will have seasonings). Use your hands to incorporate all the ingredients. Add water little by little and knead into a smooth dough. Keep aside for a few minutes if you can spare.
	Divide dough into 10 parts, Roll into balls and flatten to form discs. Using a rolling pin, roll out into discs of about 6in diameter. Shape has no effect on the taste and nutrition. Heat a griddle/shallow frying pan till hot. Slap on a rolled out disc, flip after cooking ~30 sec on each side. Now drizzle some oil if desired and toast both sides applying slight pressure till brown spots appear on both sides.

Eat by itself or with plain yogurt. A proper meal, two loads of laundry and a blog post all in one week night - tonight is going to be hard to beat. If only I can now muster up motivation to put away that laundry!

Peanut Coconut Curry Sauce - So easy even the Geico Caveman can do it

2007-05-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

I love PF Changs - the Chinese Bistro. But have you tried getting a table at the restaurant lately? Reservation or not - you need advance notice to plan for a fun evening at PF Changs - the place is notoriously full by 6:30 pm on most week nights! I haven't been there as many times as I would like because most of our plans tend to be spontaneous and regrettably last minute - so I am left salivating on thoughts of Tofu lettuce wraps, Coconut curry vegetables and some fresh brewed tea!

I came across a recipe for a Simple Coconut based peanut sauce (vegetarian-ized version of Sandra Lee's recipe) - once all the ingredients are at hand, it took less than 10 mins to put together. Reminded me of PF Chang's Coconut Curry sauce - one of my favorites. My kind of a meal - definitely one that would please many others. And I hereby confer on this recipe the Geico Caveman approval seal. Here is the recipe that will comfortably serve 2 as the main meal with rice

Vegetables in Peanut Coconut Curry Sauce
1/2 block of tofu cut into cubes (of desired size) 1 tbsp oil a splash of soy sauce	Heat oil in a pan. When oil is HOT, add the cubes of tofu and pan fry till a nice brown crust is formed. Add a splash of soy sauce and allow the tofu to absorb the liquid.
2 cups of chopped vegetables of your choice (green beans, peppers, broccoli, snap peas etc) salt to taste	Add veggies and salt to the pan, cook till vegetables are tender crisp. Around 3-5 minutes
1 12 oz can light coconut milk 1/2 cup vegetable broth 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter 2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp red chili paste 1 tsp tamarind extract (or a few bits of tamarind soaked in the stock)	Whisk together ingredients on the left into a smooth sauce. Add to the pan of simmering veggies. Taste for salt since the broth/peanut butter are seasoned. Simmer and let sauce thicken for about 6-8 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with steamed brown or white rice

Change is good And Healthful modifications

2007-05-06T16:18:00.000-05:00

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine

I read that quote on an email signature and laughed out aloud. If the last time I had updated this blog some one had told me how much my life would change in just one year - I wouldn't have believed them. Life today has taken unbelievable twists leaving the future murky and uncertain. We don't know whats in store for us but at least we have the option of making it what we want it to be. Change is good. Change is good, indeed. Change is certainly difficult to get accustomed to. But here we are facing refreshingly new challenges, cleaning out the cobwebs in our heads - change is good indeed.

So, to take my mind off how different things are, I decided to come back here to my familiar spot in the blog world. Thanks to the people who have cared to ask how I am doing. The last year has been one enjoyable roller-coaster ride - failures and successes. Finally, both hubby and I are pursuing what we have wanted to. In the midst of all that action - this blog has suffered my lack of attention. But I am back at least for now.

The last I mentioned here was a wonderful book that I had come to own - a book on healthy eating. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I really wanted to get one recipe that I have made time and again out on this blog - Cracked Wheat Idli

If you like Rava idli (steamed dumplings made of semolina flour), you can make a simple modification of substituting some or all of the Rava with cracked wheat for an equally delicious, yet more nutritious idli.

Cracked Wheat Idli
1 cup cracked wheat (fine)	Dry roast in a pan the raw flour smell is gone (just before it turns brown)
1 cup yogurt salt to taste water to dilute	To the roasted wheat add yogurt and salt. Mix to combine. Add water (tablespoons at a time) to make the dough into a pouring consistency of idli batter. Not more than 1/2 cup water. Allow this mixture to rest for at least 15 minutes
1/4 cup grated carrot 2 tbsp grated coconut 1 in piece of ginger grated 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander	Add grated carrots, ginger, coriander and coconut to the mixture. Pour ladle-fulls of the mixture into idli moulds and steam cook for 15 minutes. Serve with coconut chutney.

You can add any vegetable to this idli just be careful about the water content. For instance if you are going to add grated bottle gourd, cut down on the water in the recipe accordingly. Need to settle down into my blog yet again. So much has changed here as well. Need to find out whats new with the Google blogger. Until then, it feels GREAT to be back!

What I have learnt from MIL

2006-08-01T16:00:00.001-05:00

I mostly learnt to cook by trial and error and parental phone guidance. I wish I had paid more attention at home when my mother had taken care of the food side of things :) But, whoever gained anything from crying over spilt milk, right? As some of you have noticed my absence from the scene, it was because we were trying to spend as much time as possible with my parents-in-law who were visiting us.

MIL too is an ardent cook ... she loves to cook not just for herself, but for sharing with everyone. And I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog that she enjoys food discussion and description! So, needless to say, I got to learn a lot many new recipes with her around. Infact she brought with her a cookbook in Hindi which I greedily grabbed. It has been such a long time (10 years to be specific) since I have properly read any form of Hindi. I used to be prolific reader of the language during my school days. Now, I will get a chance to rebuild my Hindi skills along with healthy cooking ideas. The book is titled (Translated for every one's benefit) - Health Reviving Dishes - Vegetarian Related. I also have a fresh supply of family recipes, which ofcourse I will try to share with you all in due course :)

Some other important cooking lessons that MIL has imparted on me

Reduce Wastage - This one is a biggie. In my daily rush to get done with dinner, I usually throw in what I find in the fridge. No proper planning into whats been there for how long or how leftovers can be used. With MIL here for these past months, I just cannot remember throwing out any edible item just because it went bad before it could be used. She had a plan of what to do with a vegetable or produce item when we bought it at the store. Also left overs were planned for accordingly. For example, today's leftover dal or cooked rice would be made into muthiya's for the next day's breakfast. Wastage also was not only in food items - I tend to be prolific in my use of plastic ziploc bags, paper towels etc. Since my habit is an easier and quicker option, it might be difficult to change. But I will certainly be concious about other alternatives before I lunge to grab another bag or paper towel :)
Importance of Breakfast - This is something I knew all along... that a good breakfast is a great start to the day. But, somehow never incorporated it in my lifestyle. Cooking up a hot breakfast means adding planning time, cooking time and extra washing time to the morning drill. So, I have usually avoided it in the past. When MIL was here, she would make it a point that we didn't leave without a hearty breakfast. She would make us hot jowar/bajra rotis. Just one at 8 in the morning would fill me up good until 12 or 1 in the afternoon. We have gone back to our cold cereal routine for now, but maybe I can practice speed-breakfast skills on weekends.

Sev Tameta - (Tomato & Chickpea flour fritters)

2006-06-14T19:34:00.001-05:00

Slacker? Procrastinator? Absent-Minded? What would you brand a person who posts this tantalizing teaser almost two years ago... but doesn't realize that the post providing answers to her puzzle is safely tucked away as a draft in her blogger dashboard? Well, here is the pheonix you all would have never expected to rise out of its ashes - the much awaited, the much guessed about, the minimalist wonder, the sensational - Sev Tameta!!

If you were actually waiting for this post all this time, please accept my heartfelt apologies for imposing this excruciating suspense!Without further ado, here's how you make Sev Tameta
Simple foods... that are simple enough to cook without planning give you inexplicable joy. That's what happened to us during our Lake George trip. We packed a bunch of spicy Indian snacks including the Indian Sev and Gathia. These snacks are made of a spicy chick pea flour dough, pressed out of sev/gathia presses similar to Murukku presses (cookie press) and deep fried. The stuff we carried of course, were store brought.

So we packed these snacks for tea time munchies. As we got used to cooking at the well equipped kitchen at the resort, we realized we had all the ingredients for this famous Gujarati dish - Sev Tameta, which is one of Hubbie's favorites. So we decided to be happy campers and leverage our limited supplies towards lunch.

You can use any kind of sev, gathia or even crisp puris (as used in papdi chaats)... We used a mixture of the kinds we had... Bhavnagri Gathia (Speciality of a region in Gujarat called Bhavnagar) and Spicy Sev pictured below

Sev Tameta
2-3 tbsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds pinch asafetida 1 tsp tumeric powder 1 tsp coriander powder	Heat oil, add mustard seeds. Allow to sputter, then add asafetida, turmeric powder and coriander pow
1 tomato chopped fine salt to taste splash of water (if required)	Add tomatoes and salt and cook down until the mixture is pulpy. If the tomato is not juicy enough, add a splash of water
2 cups assorted sev/gathias	Add to mixture and mix. Turn off heat and allow to soak until the sev is tender

You can add more water to this dish if you prefer it watery. The soaking time for the sev depends of its thickness. Serve this with chappatis or theplas. Yum!

Soaking up sun, water & wind

2006-06-14T19:21:00.000-05:00

We are currently soaking up all the good stuff... fresh air, warm sun and breathtaking scenery! Presently, we are vacationing in beautiful Lake George located in the Southern Adirondack region in upstate New York. A perfect relaxing vacation, in a resort right along the lake. Here is a view from our lodge

And even while away at this resort, we are trying to be 'Happy Campers'... cooking us comfy little simple meals with the fewest ingredients. Here is something we cooked up the other day. Any guesses what it might be? I'll post details and the recipe in a couple of days... Enjoy!

These are a few of my favorite things

2006-06-08T09:29:00.003-05:00

Note to the Reader: This particular post was supposed to go up on Mother's day.. but I didn't have time then. But, now even Mom's b'day is a long way off, so I thought I would post this now anyway. Another motherly figure (MIL) is with us right now... and I can't wait to write about the excellent dishes she is making for us here. I will try to be back soon :)

10 things I miss of Mom's cooking

Try as I might, I can never enjoy my own cooking. It has been cruelly long since I've had any of mom's cooking and I thought I would salivate a little thinking of what I miss the most. Here is what I came up with...

10. Her many undocumented masterpieces... *clean up the fridge special*... with warm just ballooned chappatis. I miss the variety in taste and the incredible suspense in those meals. Oh.. the joy when we correctly guessed the secret ingredients :)
9. Badam Kheer (Almond milk pudding)
8. Fragrant Arachvitta Sambar (Sambar with freshly ground spices) with drumsticks
7. Alu Paratha
6. Rava Payasam (Semolina milk pudding)
5. Filter Coffee
4. Masala Dal Vada (deep fried, crunchy lentil fritters)
3. Lemon rasam, rice and crunchy roasted small potatoes and/or Vazhaka Podimas (Spicy Mashed Plantains)
2. Hot idlis, rubbed generously with Molaga Podi
1. Vatral Kuzhumbu with hot steaming rice, with creamy spinach kootu on the side

I am rumbly in the tummy with all that food talk.
I would love to hear what some of the readers consider their childhood indulgence!

UPDATE: Following the suggestions of some fellow bloggers, I have decided to make this into a Meme - 10 Things I Miss of Mom's Cooking. It doesn't have to be a food item, may be just a meal tradition etc. I hope you will enjoy writing it up! Here are the first few people (in no particular order) I am tagging.

1. Revathi
2. Aparna
3. Ashwini
4. Shammi
5. L.G.
6. Mika
7. BDSN
8. Sailu

Participation ofcourse will be entirely optional. Tag 3-5 people to continue the meme. Enjoy!

Tomatoes are to Pasta what Peas are to Carrots

2006-05-23T08:54:00.000-05:00

Pasta and Pomodoro go together like peas and carrots (a la Forrest Gump). The sweet tang together with the chewy goodness of pasta is often a quick meal. Most pasta sauces are so forgiving that you can use canned diced or crushed tomatoes. Leftover sauces can be creatively used in any Indian gravy recipes inplace of tomatoes or tomato puree.

I remember seeing this recipe on a TV cooking show long back, I don't remember which one. Reconstructing by memory, here is Pasta with Three Tomatoes (fresh, canned and sun dried)

Pasta With Three Tomatoes
1 lb spaghetti Plenty of water salt to taste	Bring plenty of well salted water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente
2 tbsp tomato olive oil (from oil packed sun dried tomatoes) 2 tbsp minced garlic 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes	Heat oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes 1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes halved	Add crushed tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes, cook down for 15 mins. Then, add the halved cherry tomatoes and simmer until the cherry tomato just turns soft. Drain spaghetti, add to the sauce. Add some retained pasta water to dilute sauce if desired. Top with grated Parmesan cheese (optional).

Each tomato sauce recipe has its signature - play with herbs, add a dash of vodka or wine or in this case, work with different flavors of the tomato. If you don't like the sour taste of sun dried tomatoes, you can reduce the amount used in the recipe.

This is an entry to ARF/5-a-day at Sweetnicks.

Snack Happy!

2006-05-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

Don't we all love to snack once in a while or several times in a while? Unfortunately, most sought after snacks in the Indian cuisine are heavy for the belly - being deep fried most of the time.
Chivda is a wonderfully crispy and delicious snack made from crunchy beaten rice flakes (Poha). It can be considered healthy with oodles of peanuts, dry coconut and seasame seeds. It is not deep fried, but you may decide to add more oil to crisp up the dish more.

The list of ingredients may seem long, but it comes together before you can say ... it's tea time. Ok not that quick, but you know what I mean :)

Traditionally the beaten flakes are sun dried inorder to crisp them. Us urbanites can achive a similar effect by roasting in the oven. I personally prefer the toaster oven, where the heat is more uniform and is faster than the regular oven. I usually divide the poha into small batches and toast in the oven for about 2.5 mins each batch

Roasted rice flakes batch

Roast them twice for an extra and long lasting crunch.

Bringing the ingredients together - Clockwise from the top - minced green chilies, dry coconut, peanuts, broken cashews, curry leaves, dalia. In the center, sesame seeds and mustard seeds

Chivda
2 lbs thin Poha (beaten rice)	Roast in small batches in a toaster oven. About 2.5 mins per batch.
6 tbsp oil	Heat oil in a big pan (enough to fit all ingredients)
1 cup roasted chick peas (dalia)	Fry till brown in the oil, remove all set aside with the poha
1 cup peanuts and cashews (together)	Fry till brown in the oil, remove and set aside
1 cup thinly sliced dry coconut	Fry till brown on low heat, remove and set aside
2 tbsp oil	Add extra oil to the remaining oil in the pan, and heat.
2 tbsp mustard seeds 3 tbsp sesame seeds several sprigs of curry leaves 4-5 green chilies minced	Add the seeds, allow to sputter, then add the curry leaves and green chilies. Fry till nicely browned.
1 tsp asafetida 2 tbsp turmeric powder salt to taste	Add the spices to oil and cook for a few seconds. Add the poha and the other prepared ingredients and mix really well on a slow flame.
2 tbsp sugar	After the ingredients are well mixed, turn off heat, take the pan off the stove and add sugar. Mix well to incorporate.

Of all wierd and wonderful food combinations, this ones seems outrageous. But Chivda makes a great side to left over cold chappatis :) Enjoy.

I'll be bringing over some Chivda to Meeta's Monthly Mingle and snack while watching the game.

Dash 'n Dine Meals

2006-05-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

Yes, how awfully long since my last post! But, I've been busy with work lately and had to resist any blogging temptation. Thanks for all your enquries while I was gone! It is certainly appreciated.

During my busy phase, several delicious quickie, dash-in and dish-out meals courtesy of fellow bloggers were presented at the dinner table. (Sorry no pictures)

1. Mango Rice , Indira - This was one of the many recipes from the decadent Jhiva for Ingredients (JFI) spread that I must try this Mango season. Preparation of this meal was less than 15 minutes (excluding cleanup, of course :) ) Keep the rice to cook while you grate the mango, saute the ingredients and finally mix with rice. Perfection!

2. Wheat Dosa, Indira - I once said that you can make a paratha out of anything. On a similar note, if you are bored with parathas, make a dosa out of that something. Check out Shilpa of Aayi's recipes fame, for her excellent collection of dosas. Back to Wheat dosas, they were delicious and satisfying. Each dosa takes about 5 mins to cook (on my electic stove, *sighing and moving on*), but that is good news if you have to multi task. Just put each dosa to cook, go about your business around the house, come back to turn it over and so on. Will be making this often. Unlike rava dosa, this one seemed to take less oil to cook too.

3. Tamarind Rice, Sailu - I've had a eye on Sailu's Bisi Bele for the longest time, but never got around to making it. Why? because the recipes asks to let the rice and spices sit together for 45 mins. One of these days, I want to try the recipe the traditional way. Anyway, another recipe that should go in the 'recipes to keep' folder is her Tamarind Rice. Simple to prepare and such a satisfying meal along with some vegetable, this one was a hit at dinner and also a thumbs up by Hubbie to pack for his lunch the next day. This was my first time making tamarind rice 'from scratch'. I didn't realize it was this easy.

4. Dahi Baingan, Saffron Hut - Simple to execute yet looks like you have slaved in the kitchen to prepare this dish! I baked/broiled the baingan, and in the mean time prepared the rotis. Now thats a 30 minute meal(cleanup not incuded)

5. Saar Upkari, Happy Burp - A ton of protein, yet so simple. I used canned chickpeas and frozen yams for this one. As Vaishali says, the recipe is so forgiving, go ahead and add your signature to it :) A simplistic meal is a perfect end to a whirlwind of a day.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Dash 'n Dine meals!

Spring Time Rice aka Tomato Rice

2006-04-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

You know it is the end of winter when you see produce like this at the market!

But what to do with these tomatoes for a weekday meal? Something that would do justice to these beauties... Answer Tomato Rice. Another recipe from Hemant Trivedi. Don't frown at the long list of ingredients -- it's simple to put together and really tomatillicious. If not for taste, you can eat it for health reasons, Lycopene found in tomatoes, is one of the most sought after antioxidants. On that note, I would like to submit this to the weekly healthful ARF event hosted by Cate .

Tomato Rice
1 cup long grained Rice 1/4 cup peas 1/4 cup carrots, chopped 2 tsp salt	Cook rice with salt, until grains are separate. Drop in the peas and carrots during the cooking process
1 tbsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped	Heat oil in a wide pan. Add seeds, when they start to sputter, add tomatoes and stir fry till oil separates
1 red onion, cubed 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 inch ginger, grated	Add onion and cook till soft. Then add garlic and ginger, cook for 3-4 minutes
1 tsp garam masala salt to taste 2 tsp chilli powder 1 tsp turmeric powder 1/4 tsp pepper powder 4-5 curry leaves	Add the dry spices and curry leaves and cook for 2-3 mins. The tomato mixture must be pulpy by now. Take off heat.
1 tsp oil 4-5 cloves 2 inch cinnamon stick	For tempering, heat oil add cloves and cinnamon. When the cloves puff up, add to the tomato mixture. Add cooked rice and vegetables to the tomato mixture and mix well. Serve with yogurt or raita

Check out Sweetnicks place to see a round up of other healthy ARF entries.

Food Bloggers Around the World Meme

2006-04-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

Wonderful Sumi tagged me for this Food Bloggers Around the world meme. Just for that, Sumi, I have decided to emerge out of my blogging sabbatical :-) I've missed blogging and visiting around!! Unfortunately, my dear readers, be prepared for more interrupted blogging from my side until atleast the end of April. After that, I hope to return in full ferver. Until then, enjoy the meme :)

1. Three recipes recently bookmarked to try

a) Tri-Colored Paneer Kababs from Sailu - With summer almost upon us, this is a great barbeque recipe. I love the colors so rich and pleasing! I do intend to try it out some time this summer.

b) Vindalu Vegetables from The Fat Free Vegan Kitchen - For some time now I've been curious about slow cooking/crockpots. I thought they were only useful for cooking meat or beans. But this one is an adaptation of a vegetable recipe cooking entirely in a slow cooker. One of my projects this summer is to find out once and for all if slow cooking is any good for our lifestyle and eating habits.

c) Rich Fruit Plum Cake from Annita - Plum cake is awesome! Annita provides such detailed explanations, that I think I might be able to manage this! And I do love plum cake...

2. A food blog in your vicinity

Most of the food blogs from the US are close to me! Distance of course, is relative :-)

3. A food blog or more that is located far away from you

Happy Burp, from Germany

4. A food blog (or more) that you've recently found

Recently? I'm going to take that as in the last two weeks.

Sumi's Kitchen
Happy Burp
Vineela's

5. Any people or bloggers you would like to tag

Ah... so many people I know have already taken part in the fun... But lets see..

Ashwini
Kay
Mika

You guys are tagged!

Bharelu Shaak: Gujarati Style Stuffed Vegetables

2006-04-02T22:03:00.001-05:00

Gujarati food is another unique cooking style in India. Majority of Gujaratis are vegetarians and their cuisine comprises of the simplest of ingredients, which combine to deliver a signature taste and texture. Gujaratis love their food. Maybe thats an understatement :) If you have ever visited a Gujarati family or a Gujju restaurant, you know. They are absolutely passionate about food! There is seldom a Gujju restaurant without a huge Thali spread, commonly unlimited. From their simplest kadhis (curd based dish, served with rice), to the multi flavored oondiyu (signature dish, mixed vegetables slow cooked with special spices), each dish can offer something new to the taste buds! Some of their preparations can come across a bit sweet (small amount of sugar added to enhance other flavors), if you are new to the cuisine. This is essentially true of the Kathiawadi (a region in Gujarat) style preparation. On the other hand, the Surati (another region) preparation is predominantly savory. While on the topic of Surati food, Surati Farsans (snacks... fried snacks) immediately come to mind! Jalebi (Indian Funnel cake) with Fafda (chick pea flour fritters) is a nostalgic brunch combination. Dhokla, Khandvi, Handvo, Patra ... all snack items!

Also, another interesting point to note is that Gujaratis are the #1 consumers of cooking oil in India! Thats what makes their food so irresistable I guess :) One of my favorite Gujju dishes is a stuffed vegetable preparation, which very suprisingly is NOT deep fried! More surprisingly, inspite of being non-deep fried, it is one of Hubbie's favorites too. Just bring up this recipe, and you will undoubtedly hear him rave about how well his grandmother makes this and sigh in foodie nostalgia! I suspect it is one of his favorite childhood memories.

Indian food bloggers have blogged about varieties of stuffed eggplant... Andhra, Maharashtrian and modern-deconstructed version. Here is another variety - stuffed Eggplant, Baby Potatoes and Onion. Kanda-Batata-Ringana Nu Bhareli Shaak (Onion-Potato-Brinjal stuffed Curry)

The trick here is in choosing the vegetable and stuffing it. Choose small baby purple brinjals, baby potatoes and small red onions. Usually you would make a plus shaped cut to stuff the vegetables. But stuffing them can be a gentle art, especially frustrating for stuffing onion. Here is are some stuffing tips directly from Hubbie's favorite chef (his grandmother)
Onion - Trim the tips, peel and wash
Potato - Peel and Wash
Brinjal - Wash and trim the stalks.

Hold each vegetable vertically and make a diagonal slit, 3/4 into the vegetable. Then turn it upside down and make a similar slit on the opposite diagonal. Instead of the cross cut of the same side, you have the two slits on the opposite ends. This enables easier and more abundant stuffing. Now here the the details of the recipe

Clockwise from left Potato, brinjal and Onion

Stuffed Onion Potato and Brinjal	Serves 2
2 small red onions 4 small brinjals 4 small potatoes	Peel/wash and make slits on the vegetables as described above
1.5 tbsp chickpea flour 2 tbsp coriander powder 1 tbsp cumin powder 1 tsp red chili powder 1 tsp garam masala 2 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar juice of one lemon 2 tbsp minced coriander leaves 2 tbsp oil	Mix all these ingredients until they form a coarse lumpy texture. Stuff generously on both slits of the vegetables. Place the vegetables in a steamer basket and steam for about 20-30 mins or until a knife goes through gently into the potatoes.
1 tbsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 2 tsp cumin seeds	Heat oil in a large (wide) non stick pan, add the seeds and allow to sputter. carefully drop the steamed vegetables. Toss them around in the oil being careful. Avoid using a ladle and just shake the pan gently to move the vegetables around for 2-3 minutes.

This preparation goes best with juwar rotli. An excellent guide to the delectable rotlis can be found at the Cook's Cottage. Here is what my attempt at the rotlis looked like.
Wam, fluffy rotis also make a great accompaniment to the stuffed veggies.

ARF/5-a-Day #13: Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach and Feta

2006-03-28T17:09:00.001-05:00

For this week's ARF event, I prepared a one-dish-meal rich in not one, not two but THREE ingredients from the top 10 Antioxidant foods - whole grain, spinach and garlic. Mediterranean style Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese - One pot meal with a side of quick garlic bread. The recipe is adapted from the book "Vegetarian Times Cooks - Mediterranean". This book by the way, is an excellent collection of unique vegetarian recipes from France, Italy, Spain and others in the region. The savory tarts, focaccia and pizza recipes are in my must try list. Many traditional recipes are modified to include vegetarian or even vegan ingredients.
Ok, on with the recipe.

Spinach and whole wheat pasta taste great together. To vegan-ize the recipe, you can replace milk with oat or soy milk, and substitute feta cheese with one cup of well drained, well pressed crumbled firm tofu which has been sauteed over high heat with garlic in olive oil.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese	Serves 6
1 lb dried whole wheat pasta (I used fusilli) 1 bag (10 ounces) spinach leaves, washed	Add pasta to large pot of salted boiling water. Cook till al dente, about 11 mins. Stir in the spinach during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tbsp all purpose flour 1 cup milk	Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, cook until soft. Add flour and cook stirring continuously for about 2 mins. Remove from heat and add the milk. Return to the stove, and cook stirring continuously till the sauce boils.
1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp white pepper (freshly ground) 1/4 tsp nutmeg (I skipped this one)	Remove from heat and add salt, pepper and nutmeg
1 cup crumbled feta cheese 1/4 cup minced dill (I skipped this one too)	Drain pasta and spinach and transfer to serving bowl. Add the sauce, feta cheese and dill. Mix well. Serve with garlic bread.

One dish to rule them all, one dish to find them, one dish to bring them all and in the heat of the stove, bind them. erm... the essential food groups (carbs, protein, fat, fibre and minerals) I mean :-)

Visit Sweetnicks place to read this week's ARF roundup!

Tyrannosaurus Veg?

2006-03-16T11:31:00.000-05:00

Presented below is an editorial by Chandan Mitra, verbatum from The Pioneer . Then I shall present my 'thoughts' on it :)

Tyrannosaurus Veg
That vegetarians are relatively docile beings is an extremely misleading notion. In my experience, they are actually quite tyrannical. Take for example dinosaurs. Even the biggest of them, Tyrannosaurus Rex was a veggie. As the name itself suggests, it must have tyrannised the rest of its tribe as well as other prehistoric beings.
I had a taste of vegetarian intolerance during the last few weeks of the bird flu hoax that swept across much of the country. The story, in my firm opinion, was a media creation and served certain interests (especially those of pharma companies with excess inventory) rather well. Of course it was blown out of all proportion and cost almost a million chickens their lives. The dreaded flu, if it was indeed bird flu, was confined to a small area in Maharashtra and did not warrant the nationwide panic that ensued. But taking advantage of the scare scenario, veggie fanatics went on the rampage, whipping up frenzy against all forms of flesh.
It is rare for such viruses to survive India's heat and dust as we saw earlier during the much more serious SARS scare. I was sceptical about the alleged bird flu epidemic especially its purported threat to human lives, from the day the story broke. In fact, I argued (unsuccessfully) with my colleagues against making it the main story on the front page. They were all petrified at the prospect of contracting the flu and insisted that it was our professional duty to scare our readers too. Faced with their fundamentalist conviction, I conceded and The Pioneer like every other paper in the country gave full play to the story while it lasted. Occasionally, I managed to squeeze in a report doubting the extent of the disease or pointing out that all blood samples had returned a negative reading.
Armed with these alarmist media reports, veggies ran riot. Non-veg food was unceremoniously turfed out of trains and planes. The few diehard meat eaters like me were compelled to furtively shop for fish or mutton, whose prices skyrocketed. As it is, I belong to an endangered minority since I smoke. With vegetarian cacophony reaching a crescendo, I faced double jeopardy. Travelling to Mumbai at the height of the bird flu hoax, I gingerly asked the airhostess what was on offer for non-vegetarians. Scowling most disapprovingly, she asked me whether I never read newspapers. Apologetically, I ventured to tell her I edited one.
Unfazed, she informed me with all the official authority at her command that non-vegetarian meals had been discontinued in view of the bird flu. Infected chicken being banned, I understood, I plaintively argued back. But what about serving mutton or fish? She didn't bother to reply. From her looks it was apparent she was a vegetarian fundamentalist - the type that drools at the mere mention of the word 'paneer' or 'gobi parantha' or worse, kaddu and arbi! Anyway, I was instantly saddled with a meal of hara-bhara kebab, cabbage-stuffed spring rolls and alu-matar.
Conventional wisdom has it that meat is bad for the heart, cholesterol and what not. Ayatollahs of vegetarianism would probably insist deep fried spring rolls, frightfully spicy hara kebabs and subzi preparations that float in an ocean of oil at wedding meals do wonders to your lipid profile or cardiac condition! Agreed, all vegetarian food is not disagreeable; in fact, Rajasthani food is rather tasty, South Indian is delicious and even Bengali veg is fabulous at times.
Still, I ardently believe that there can be nothing more offensive to the human taste buds than paneer or lauki or kaddu. Tons of paneer invade my house every week because my Canadian-origin, pedigreed Labrador finds that gruesome thing delightful, and gobbles up dollops in seconds. Needless to add, I never touch the stuff.
My suffering at the hands of tyrannical veggies didn't end with the plane journey. Rushed for time in Mumbai, I decided to pick up some fast food to eat in the car en route to Nariman Point from Bandra. Since no McDonald's or Dominos was conveniently located, my colleague suggested a croissant joint, which apparently served some super chicken or sausage croissants. We entered to find two sad-looking cheese and onion variants - the last croissants left in the shop's display cages by hungry Mumbaikars of the locality. Anything non-veg, I dared to query, undeterred by my airline experience. The shocked expression on the salesman's face was reply enough. Okay, okay, sorry I even asked, I mumbled, picked up the dilapidated remnants and forced myself to gulp them down with some diet Coke.
A week later, I took the Shatabdi to Ludhiana to be greeted by the same intolerance. Since chicken was taboo, there was no doubt about which ban came first. Eggs were nyet, nyet. The waiter, who recognised me presumably from my TV appearances, was at least apologetic. Come back next week, Sir, and we will start serving eggs again, he said as if to console. I was served me some cold vegetable cutlet stuffed with yet another subzi I happen to hate - carrots. I have never understood why carrot is referred to with such approval in the expression, 'carrot and stick policy'.
Give me the stick any day, if the alternative is carrot! I had hoped my hosts in Ludhiana would spread out a sumptuous non-veg meal, for the earthy Sardar usually finds a meal inedible without generous helpings of kukkad. Chicken is, indeed, Punjabi by nature and the vice versa is not true. But for once the reverse appeared correct. There was no chicken on the menu, although they tried to make up with lots of fried fish, which didn't quite gel with the rest of the fare.
Mercifully, the conspiracy against non-vegetarians is finally petering out. The Parliament House canteens have resumed chicken. So I gather have airlines. But I am sure the tyrants are displeased about it. This was probably the second time in Independent India's 58-year history that democracy was brutally throttled. I have no doubt that given half a chance their latent tyranny will resurface. I recall an incident when I moved to a rented house in A-1 block of South Delhi's Panchsheel Enclave. This was located just behind Soami Nagar. One day, some worthies from the neighbouring colony landed up, saying nobody was allowed to consume fish or meat in their locality. They produced a document regarding the rules of conduct in Soami Nagar. I was rather baffled, not knowing what they were cribbing about. Finally, they demanded rather categorically that we discontinue our 'obnoxious' non-vegetarian culinary preference for theirs was a 'holy' colony. Angrily, I told them to keep their holiness to themselves and not attempt to expand their zone of intolerance beyond the boundaries of their 'sacred' Soami Nagar.
I am told that a particular shop in Bengali Market is boycotted by the rest of the shopowners because it serves chicken cutlets, shami kebabs and cakes that contain eggs. But unknown to rabid vegetarians, they end up consuming vegetable oils or using soap said to contain beef tallow!
Don't get me wrong, dear vegetarian reader. I uphold your right to vegetarianism. I accommodate sensibilities by shifting to another table if a vegetarian friend seems uncomfortable looking at my plate laden with non-veg delicacies. Live and let live should be one's mantra. But the unseen hand of veggie tyranny doesn't seem to be too happy about that philosophy.

Mitra humorously lashes out his friendly frustration towards fundamentalist vegetarians in India! Mr. Mitra - Have you considered that the pharmacutical industry is behind the situation you describe and is cashing in this uproar surrounding the bird flu? Recently, I read a not so nice article about the 'self-absorbant' vegetarians. I will not even bother quoting the immature article from a juvennile college publication. Being a vegetarian, I can understand Mitra's frustration, but the second publication I mentioned is the one which is 'self absorbed'. Now that I have a wonderful medium of this blog to express my opinions on this, I will do so without further ado.

I prefer to practice a live and let live attitude towards all kinds of diets and hopefully my dealings with my diverse population of friends exemplify that. I don't appreciate infliction of opinion on others. By now, I am used to the blank stares I sometimes get at restaurants when I ask them if they can modify one of their menu items to not include the meat. Some times the restaurants oblige graciously but many times, point me towards their over-priced, wilty garden salads. Luckily for me, I like salads and steamed veggies with salt and pepper :) Lately I have taken to really read food labels and discuss about ingredients with friends and sometimes call the company. It is surprising how many ingredients can be animal derived.

I am a vegetarian due to religious and some personal standards regarding cruelty. The meat industry has become a slaughter factory today, with the most attrocious measures of cost reduction. I won't get into the details here, but there are various grim and graphic resources available, just a google search away. The same cruelty unfortunately is true of the diary industry today. I am determined to pay the extra price for kindness and make necessary life style changes to switch to organic milk and eggs. I agree with the views expressed by Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries in this article (a very well deserved 'Best Post' food blog award). If people killed their own animals for meat, there will be a lot less non-vegetarians in the world today.

I am proud to be a vegetarian, not because my beliefs are supreme, but because for once, I have been able to stand up for something. Among my resolutions to wake up earlier in the morning, complete items on my to-do list, restart abandoned projects, I have been able to continue practicing vegetarianism and stick to my beliefs, in an uninvasive way. If the above sounds fundamentalist, then, well - bring me a dictionary.

I've met my share of 'tyrannous' vegetarians - people who insist on muttering incoherantly under their breath while carrying a raw egg (with shell and all) covered in kitchen napkins, staring disgustingly at their already apologetic room-mates. I understand, and find that over bearing too! But, please, don't blame a poor unsuspecting vegetarian who screams at the sight of raw squids lying in his/her kitchen sink, left by inconsiderate house-mates! Vegetarians come in many flavors, and it is wrong to stereotype them all as 'self-absorbed' or 'fundamentalist'. They are a minority and hence a somewhat oppressed population. Think of the number of products that don't completely reveal their ingredient sources or worse mask ingredients under the two words 'Natural Flavors'. Being a vegetarian in the vast outside world is like having a food allergy, the more information you can extract about the food, the better for you.

I hope this post is not overly opinionated! I express my appreciation to many non-vegetarian friends for their thoughtful consideration every time they have us over! Also, I thank them for accepting food invitations at our place, knowing very well that they will be served boring vegetarian food. Sorry, Mr. Mitra that vegetarians have troubled you :) It is not easy being a vegetarian either (in the US). I do see the satire in your article. It is difficult being different in a crowd... a meat eater in a majority of vegetarians in India or as in my case a vegetarian in a country of mainly meat eaters. Who said life is fair :)

Frequently asked food questions - about Indian food?

2006-03-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

How many times have we heard that India is a land of diverse culture? Experiencing diversity can be a very enjoyable experience, but learning about the nuances, names and the history of different foods can be pretty confusing and contradicting! Every region in India has a signature cuisine that uniquely identifies it. Each is unique in its main ingredients used, spices and cooking methods. Yet there is some common thread that ties them, hence the confusion. I am myself faced with some daunting questions about Indian foods and its terminology. Here is one question that has bothered me for a long time and I was determined to find the answer. Here is what I have gathered from various sources.

Is there a difference between a ‘roti’, ‘phulka’ and ‘chappati’?
On hind sight, all three terms seem to mean the same. Wheat flour mixture called ‘atta’, combined with a proportion of salt, oil and water to form dough. Small portions of the dough rolled out into thin discs, which are toasted on a griddle (tawa). This is the basic Indian bread, consumed in most Indian homes. So why the different names for the seemingly same things?

Roti is the universal term for all Indian breads. It might just be the most ambiguous term in the Indian cuisine terminology. Just plain roti can mean phulka roti, naan roti, double roti (bread make after double rising of dough), rumali roti, makki-di-roti, tandoori roti or any other form of desi bread.

Phulka is a thin roti, which is oil or grease free. The dough is made with just water, sometimes even omitting salt. Then portions of the dough is rolled out into thin discs about 6 inches in diameter and half roasted on a tawa, then on an open flame. The phulka puffs up into a ball due to accumulation of steam inside it. Once it puffs up, it is removed from heat and served sooka (dry) or without any added grease. This becomes a phulka (literally means swollen) roti.

Chappati can be a thin or a thick roti. It is called a chappati because it is traditionally made by patting the dough balls between the palms of the two hands and flattening it(chappat in hindi means flat). So some veterans would say that it is not a chappati if it is not flattened by hand, i.e. without the use of a rolling pin. A chappati may or may not puff up like a phulka. Some also cook it completely on a tawa, by applying slight pressure on the surface of the dough-disc thereby cooking it completely. But I have noticed that chappatis cooked this way tended to harden up quickly, atleast on my electric stove. I did get much better results on my gas stove at my previous abode. If you have an electric stove like me and are wondering how to puff up your chappati-phulkas, look no further. Thanks to my friend V, I am now cautiously satisfied with the quality of my chappati-phulkas! Here is what a chappati-phulka grill looks like (available under $5 in most Indian stores)

You need to have the tawa on one burner, and the chappati-phulka grill on the other, on high heat. Then once the rolled out disc on the tawa is half roasted on both sides, transfer it to the grill with tongs and watch it puff :).

Anyway, with all the above discussion, I think the ‘rotis’ I make at home are rolling-pin-rolled-chappati-phukas! I could just call them rotis - the generic term, but would that be misuse of terminlogy? I would love it if anyone can add more insight into the name origins.

Now that we are somewhat clear on that, what on earth is a Rotli and a Rotla?
If you ever had that question, congratulations, you are truly experiencing the diversity and getting into the regional terms. Rotli and Rotla are Gujrati terms. Rotli, I believe is Gujrati (Gujju) for roti. And Rotla is Gujju for the Marathi word Bhakri. Bhakri is term given to thick 'rotis' made from non-wheat flours like sorghum (jowar) and millet (ragi or bajra). These 'rotis' are patted by the palms of the hands on a flat surface and cooked on the tawa.
Any other questions you've had out cooking terms, bring 'em on. We will ponder on them together!
Another question that has bothered me is one about South Indian, Tamil food. What, if any, is the difference between a kozhumbu, kootu and sambar?

Kozhumbu (pronounced something like: ko-eyh-m-bu.) seems to be the universal (tamil) term for all south Indian main dishes which have thick, yet liquid consistency.

If any kozhumbu contains sambar powder it becomes a sambar, I guess.

If kootu is the name given for all dishes with contain dal and veggies, why does a dish called poricha kozhumbu (dal and veggies, spiced with coconut paste) not called a kootu?

If a kootu must not contain coconut, how do we explain Mor (buttermilk) Kootu (contains coconut, buttermilk and veggies)? For that matter what is the difference between Mor Kootu and Mor Kozhumbu

If kozhumbu must contain a dal, then why is Mor Kozhumbu (doesnot contain dal) or Vatral Kozhumbu have that name?

If kozhumbu must have tamarind, what about Mor Kozhumbu (no tamarind, contains buttermilk and coconut)?

See how terminology can quickly get confusing? Please anybody out there care to shed light on this? If I get sufficient info on the comments, I intend to compile the answers for other obsessive people who might be wondering about the issue!

ARF/5-a-Day #10: Grape Nuts Date Bread

2006-03-07T19:48:00.001-05:00

After my earlier post on the 'non'-Grape nuts ceareal, several bloggers kindly shared serving suggestions for this whole-grain packed cereal! While I wouldn't mind eating it just for the sake of nutrition, real victory in my opinion would be to get Hubbie to eat the cereal too. We have moved on to other cereals which are tried and tested, so the grape nuts are at my disposal to be disguised in various forms. First up, I took-up a suggestion to add this cereal to baked goods. I found a recipe for Grape Nuts bread with dates here. As soon as I saw the recipe, my first instinct was to change a couple of things like eliminate the use of eggs and the white flour. Then, Hubbie's wise words came to mind. Though he uncomplainingly puts up with some of my weird kitchen productions, he always wonders "Why I would change some recipe without knowing how it would have turned out in the first place?". So, the only teeny change I made was to substitute 3 cups of flour for 2 cups of flour + 1 cup wheat flour :) I really couldn't help myself!

Anyway on to the weekly Anti Oxidant Rich Foods (ARF) event hosted by Sweetnicks... Sadly I missed last week, didn't get much time to blog. But I am back! Did you know that coffee is the number 1 antioxidant food consumed in America. Whether its effects are good or bad is up for debate. I would have expected chocolate to hold that top spot:)

Dates have the high amounts of antioxidant foods per serving size, and are ranked up there with the berry family. They are also considered to be rich sources of iron. Also, they are naturally very sweet, so great for deserts without additional refined sugars!

This bread recipe turned out great... and it quick (no double rising). Going further, I would like to experiement with using yeast to leaven the bread and eliminate egg, baking powder, and see if the recipe can withstand more whole wheat!

Grape Nut Date Bread
2 cups milk, scalded 1 cup Grape Nut Cereal	Pour hot milk over Grape-Nuts; cool.
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar	Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar to the mixture
1 egg, well beaten 3 tablespoons melted butter 1 cup dates, pitted and chopped	To the cereal mixture, add egg, butter and dates. Blend Well. Add dry ingredients, stirring just enough to moisten (I found it best to use hands) Transfer into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Let STAND for 20 minutes and bake at 350F for 1 hour 20 minutes

The bread turned out well, with a nice crumbly crust. It seemed to go dry with time, after which we toasted it briefly to perk it up. All in all a good way to use up the cereal, though the dates were the reason I liked the bread :)

How Far Can I Push The Pantry (HFCIPTP) # 3: Pasta sauce

2006-02-27T10:09:00.001-05:00

Here is another in the series of using up stuff in my pantry to whip up balanced meals. A few thoughtful opening and closing of pantry and refrigerator doors later, I had my mind made up. It was going to be pasta that day with ready made sauce. Then as I put the pot of water on the stove and waited for it to boil, I remembered Indira's recipe of pasta sauce which used peanuts. That got my mind scheming on how I can adapt that recipe to my limited pantry. After a few seconds, the answer seemed obvious.

This is why I love blogging and blog hopping. I find myself spending less and less time pondering about whats for dinner. Thank to all fellow food bloggers for sharing the seemingly mundane details of what you had for dinner/lunch!

On to the sauce... lets give it a name "Roasted Pepper sauce with peanuts and soy burgers". I don't have a picture of this yet, but it was delicious (for now you have to just take my word for it)! Will update with the pic soon.

Roasted Pepper sauce with peanuts and soy
2 cups roughly chopped bell peppers 1/2 cup roasted peanuts 1 frozen veggie burger, thawed and chopped 2 tsp olive oil	Heat oil in a skillet, add the chopped peppers and roast well untill browned. You may also use onions in this step if you have some in your pantry. Add roasted peanuts and chopped burger and cook till the the burger is slightly browned as well. Cool and process in a blender to desired smoothness/chunkiness.
2 cups Ragu pasta sauce (Optionally, use canned or fresh tomatoes) 2 tsp sugar grated parmesan/romano cheese to taste	Return the blended pepper mixture to the skillet and add the tomato sauce and sugar. Stir until heated though.Serve over cooked pasta,topped with grated cheese and crushed pepper.

The sauce was ready with the pasta and tasted great for a last minute meal.

And the award for the Most Misleading Product Name goes to...

2006-02-21T15:57:00.000-05:00

This being Oscar season and all, I thought I would hand out of couple of awards of my own. First up, is the category of the Most Misleading Product Name. A clear winner in this category is the Post Grape Nuts cereal. The ingredients do not contain any grapes or nuts! Apparently this cereal was christened after its inventor Charles William Post, who reasoned that grape sugar is formed in the baking process of this cereal and that it has a nutty flavor! Talk about misleading... they should put that info on the box , like a statutory warning :-D. But it is supposed to be an excellent source of whole grain and therefore heart healthy.

I bought it at our local Costco some time back, simply because we were mostly tired of the other brands and cereal types. We try to stick to 'low' sugar cereals as much as our morning taste buds will allow. Grape nuts looked interesting, so we adventurously bought a wholesale sized carton. Showing incredible courage and will to eat healthy, we poured cereal and milk into our bowls. The first spoonful tasted like gravel and it only got worse from there on. We immediately gave it a more fitting name ... 'Hindi: Ghode Ka Chaara', translation Horse/Cattle feed. Hubbie promptly stopped eating it when he couldn't take it anymore and handed his bowl to me, saying he would pick up something for breakfast on his way to work. The next morning, we both got up with the same gloomy thought... 'Oh no, we forgot to pick up some cereal last night'!

We are still left with oodles of the un-Grape-Nuts, which we mix with other taste friendly cereals to decrease the impact of the healthy pebbles. And once again, we resolve to first try out new things in small quantities before buying bulkloads of them.

ARF/5-a-Day#8 and HFCIPTP #2

2006-02-20T23:52:00.001-05:00

Another week gone by and it's Sweetnicks' ARF/5-a-day Tuesday again! This event has truly changed the way I approach my Monday night dinners :-) I did not need to be extra creative to accomplish ARF meals on my stock-limited pantry. I had plenty of canned chick peas which formed the basis of my 'Methi Kabuli Channa (Chick peas with fenugreek leaves). Here's a great picture of methi leaves by Indira. Today's recipe is adapted from Hemant Trivedi's, specifically I substituted dried kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) for fresh ones. This is a Rajasthani (a desert in India) recipe, which is cooked without onions, garlic and other vegetables since they were hard to come by in the desert climate. Still, this is one of the best chick pea recipes I have tried, and I will definitely be making it again (with fresh leaves!)

Chick peas are a great source of protien, and contain a substance called saponin, which can act as antioxidants. Here is the recipe for "Fenugreek Chick Peas"

Fenugreek Chickpeas
1 tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter) or oil 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 4-5 cloves 1/2 inch sticks cinnamon 1/2 tsp asafetida 3/4 tsp mustard seeds	Heat oil in a saute pan/sauce pan and add the seeds. Allow seeds to sputter.
2 green chilies, chopped finely 3.5 tablespoons kasuri methi	Add and allow to sear very briefly until fragrance exudes
3/4 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp garam masala powder 1 tsp asafetida 1/4 tsp turmeric powder salt to taste 2 tbsp tomato paste	Add to the 'tadka' and stir
2- 14oz cans of chick peas drained and rinsed 1 cup of water Amchur (dry mango pow) or tamarind paste, to taste for desired sourness	Add and allow to simmer. Crush a few chick peas to thicken the gravy/sauce
1 tsp besan (chickpea flour) 2-3 tbsp cold water	Mix flour and water to form a thick paste. Add to the chick peas and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes

Serve hot with warm chappatis or a bed of steaming rice.

HFCIPTP #1: Veggie Pizza Indian Style

2006-02-14T17:05:00.001-05:00

How Far Can I Push The Pantry... This is the question I have been asking myself. It has been almost four weeks since a visit to the grocery store. Most of the perishable items I have are mostly wholesale items purchased at the local Costco (carrots, peppers). We were planning of going shopping over the weekend, but the Nor'easter came gatecrashing into the east coast. We got plenty of the white stuff and sat at home with friends, sipping Leo coffee.

Picture taken by Hubbie after about 15 in of snow had fallen

I am prepared for this pantry stretching challenge, and to start off, I made (streched :) ) some pizza. I used a breadmaker to prepare the pizza dough. But it is really easy to make it by hand too. Here's a recipe from Priya. Be sure you have active dry yeast and some all purpose/whole wheat/bread flour in your pantry. My pizza dough from the breadmaker rose bountifully.

Pizza Dough - risen and all ready to roll

Like I said - no melting cheeses (I had a small amount of processed Amul cheese from the Indian store), no tomatoes for the sauce... just some peppers, chilies, my last onion and some garlic. Here is an Indian take on pizza. I think Hubbie and I like this better than regular cheesy pizzas.

Indian Style Veggie Pizza
1 recipe for 10-in pizza crust dough	Roll out dough into a 10 in crust on a pizza tray. As far as possible try to strech by hand. It doesn't make the crust too dense, plus its fun!
5 tbsps spicy tomato ketchup (I used the Indian brand Maggi) 3 tbsps Garlic Chutney (Nupur's recipe, made ahead)	Spread ketchup on the crust and sprinkle generously with the chutney
1 onion, sliced into half-moons 2 garlic cloves, sliced 1 cup assorted colored peppers, sliced 2 chilies chopped fine some chopped chunks of Amul cheese (optional)	Top the crust evenly with the toppings. Bake in a 425F oven till crust is light brown. Remove from oven, cut into slices and serve. Top with crushed red pepper flakes.

I think I am now going to turn to Rajasthani or Jain dishes in the Indian cuisine, which do not use onions, garlic, tomatoes etc.

ARF/5-a-day-Tuesday #7: Green Tea

2006-02-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

It's Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day time again! And, one the home front, this is our fourth week running without a trip to the grocery store. We are out of most fresh produce except for some sweet red and yellow peppers and a couple of potatoes. Now's the time test just how well stocked my pantry really is. I have a decent stock of flours, dals/lentils, frozen peas and corn, canned beans and tomato paste. Without further ado, I declare this week, HFCIPTP week aka How Far Can I Push The Pantry week.
This reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer and Newman are test driving a car with the fuel indicator dangerously pointing at empty. After several tense hours, they get to their exit, but in a Thelma Louise moment, they dare to ask, "just how far do you think we can go? " And they continue on the freeway not sure how long they would last :) Lets see if I can last till this weekend... with different types of balanced meals everyday, without testing Hubbie's patience and understanding tolerance :)

We usually jump start our mornings with a hot cup of masala chai (tea). Unfortunately this morning when I woke up and got to the kitchen to start up a batch of tea, I was taken aback to find that we had run out of Indian Tea. Drat, I added tea to the looong grocery shopping list hanging on the refrigerator door. Then my eyes fell upon the Green Tea (I have lost track of how long I've had it). My eyes lit up (like they do so often these days) - Green Tea! This would make a great ARF entry :) I used tea bags, but for best results, use tea leaves.

Green Tea	Serves 2
2 cups of filtered cold water 2 teaspoons green tea (or 2 teabags)	Bring water to a boil. Take it off the heat. Add the tea (or bags) and cover. Let it brew for 2-3 minutes. Not more or it will become bitter.
2 teaspoons sugar (optional) touch of milk to taste (optional)	Add one teaspoon of sugar and a touch of milk into two teacups. Microwave for 30 seconds to warm up the milk. If not using milk or sugar, warm the cups by filling them with hot water. When ready to serve it, empty the water from cups. Strain or pour tea into the prepared cups and enjoy!

Green tea is said to have potent antioxidants (25 times the amount found in most fruits and vegetables) that have been shown to be extremely beneficial, among many others, believed to lower cholesterol and prevent cancer.

Welcome back Sweetnicks!

Faux Kheema Mattar (Faux Minced-meat with Peas)

2006-02-07T16:54:00.001-05:00

When I saw a recipe for this faux kheema on Bilbocancook's Smorgasbord, I mentally bookmarked it. Who wouldn't want to stretch their grocery visits, stock up on non-perishable items like soya nuggets and frozen peas? There will come a time in any home cook's life, when all they'd have in their pantry in terms of vegetables are some onions. Times like these don't think any further, pull out the stash of nuggets, peas, a can of tomato paste and whip up a quickie vegitarian kheema. Thanks bilbo, now I have one more thing I can make from Soy Nuggets. I am not sure what the shelf life of tofu is, but these nuggets will last a looong time.

Soya nuggets can be used in any gravied curry or pilaf recipes. Before adding to the dish, soak in warm water (salt the water if the nuggets are added at the end of the recipe) for 5 minutes, drain and squeeze out all moisture from nuggets. Use as desired in stir fries and curries.

Faux Kheema Muttar
1 cup soya nuggets	Soak in hot water to cover for 5 minutes. Microwave for 2-3 minute intervals until cooked. Drain, run under cold water and squeeze out excess moisture. Process in a food processor until well minced.
1 tbsp peanut oil 1 red onion, chopped fine 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated	Heat oil and saute onion and garlic until soft and fragrant
1 tbsp tomato paste salt to taste 2 tsp fresh garam masala powder 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed	Add to the pot, incorporate the paste and cook till aroma exudes. Add the reserved 'kheema'.
1/2 cup water	Add water and simmer for 5-7 minutes

This is a great way to add soy to your diet. Thanks Bilbo, for the recipe. Serve hot with warm chappatis, a salad and butter milk.

A Balanced Meal

Doodhi Aur Jowar ki Masala Roti

2006-02-07T11:27:00.001-05:00

Jowar aka sorghum is a gluten free, wheat free whole grain. I was blissfully unaware of the existence of this grain until MIL came into the picture. I instantly liked the bhakris (rotis that are rolled by patting), warm off the tawa with ghee and garlic chutney. The texture of the bhakri was unlike anything I had tasted before. Because the jowar flour is gluten free, it is difficult to roll out and breaks easily. One tip MIL graciously shared with me, is to prepare the dough with hot water. Add hot water to dough while stiring around with a spoon and when it forms the consistency of scrambled eggs, use both hands to form a firm dough. This makes the dough on the stickier side, which makes it easier to roll out. That said, I will be the first to admit that I have great difficulty rolling out the bakri, and end up doing patch work. As a result, the bhakris are not round, nor do they puff up ever so slightly when cooked :-( If you want to take a look at what jowar rotis should look like, you might want to visit Ashwini's Food-for Thought. Edit: Another excellent resource can be found at the Cook's Cottage. Thanks! I feel a renewed zeal to try out the jowar bhakris.

But... No despair, MIL gave me another recipe for masala jowar rotis which is very forgiving. It tastes great - all patched up. It is sorgum roti, stuffed with doodhi or bottlegourd. It is quick, nutritious and best of all - one-dish-meal! No fuss cleanup. This roti is best eaten fresh, smeared with ghee or butter accompanied with garlic chutney and a glass of buttermilk.

Jowar Aur Doodhi (Bottle gourd) ki masala Roti
1 cup bottle gourd peeled and cut into large chunks 3-4 green chilies 3 cloves garlic 1 small red onion, peeled and chunked	Place all ingredients in a food processor and give it a 'whir' until the ingredients are grated. Transfer to a wide mouth mixing bowl
2 cups jowar flour 2-3 tbps sprouted moong or bean sprouts (optional) 1 tbsp coriander powder salt to taste	Add to the vegetable mixture. Incorporate into a dough adding hot water only if necessary. Most often the water from the gourd and onion would suffice. Break dough into 6 lumps, shaping each into a ball. Use extra dry flour for dusting, and roll out each lump into a thick disc with hands. Carefully remove with a spatula. Place on a heated tawa, press and cook on both sides till blistered. Remove from heat and smear with ghee/butter. Serve immediately.

Cooking this roti tends of take its toll on nonstick coated (strongly discouraged for this recipe) or even hard anodized griddles/tava. Use a cast iron griddle if you have one. Or like me, use an old tava saving it exclusively for jowar/bajra rotis.

ARF/5-a-day-Tuesday #6: Marinated Tofu Stir Fry Noodles

2006-02-07T10:07:00.001-05:00

Using a variety of veggies and antioxidant rich food is a challenge for me on week nights. But cooking and blogging about them later is a great incentive to eat right for me. So I jumped at Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day Tuesday event. Albeit 6 weeks late, I hereby join the bandwagon. This week the event is hosted by Stephanie aka The Happy Sorceress. Thanks for hosting ladies!

I never say no to any form of one-dish meal, this week I dabbled with whole wheat noodles. I tried to include soy protiein (tofu) and antioxidant rich, bright colored peppers and carrots. The end product looked and tasted satisfying.

Marinated Tofu and Vegetable Noodles
1 package extra firm silken tofu 4 tbps soya sauce 1 tsp ginger garlic paste	Cut tofu into one inch cubes, place in a shallow baking dish. Add water to cover and stir in soya sauce until amber in color. Add ginger garlic paste. Let tofu marinate for 20 mins. Drain.
2 tbsp oil (preferably dark sesame) 2 garlic cloves minced 1 red onion, cut into thin slices 1 carror julienned 3 green chillies minced or chopped fine	Heat oil in a wide skillet, add the garlic, green chillies, onion and carrot and saute on high heat for 5 minutes.
2 cups green, red and orange bell peppers, cut into strips 1/2 cup button mushrooms, thinly sliced	Add to the stir fry and cook till peppers are slightly crisp.
1 10oz package of dried whole wheat noodles	Cook noodles in plenty of salt water, according to package direction. Drain well. Add immediately to stir fry to prevent clumping. Cook till noodles are heated through. Top with additional soya sauce or hot sauce (sambal)

Coconut Poha (Flattened Rice)

2006-01-24T15:21:00.000-05:00

Breakfast is a tricky time of day. When I'm rushing out the door, I want to be able to eat something that is super-quick and dirties the least number of dishes. None preferably... but cooking without dirtying dishes is an oxymoron in itself! Most weekday mornings, we eat cold cereal... Cherios, Special K, Honey Bunches of Oats and the likes. I know they are processed and loaded with salt, sugar and what not... but better than most options out there, no? I try to avoid eating packaged cereal bars and granola bars, since most of the commercial chewy ones contain gelatin as part of their 'Natural Flavors'. The most creative I can get on winter mornings, in my cold kitchen is toast some bread and fix us a classic PB&J sandwich.

On the weekends, we usually make it a point to start the day right with some breakfast over hot chai. In fact I get out of bed only when I have a clear picture of whats going to be on for breakfast! I love poha or flattened rice. It's quick, easy and delicious. Now thats not a combination we see that often. Poha can be flavored in many different ways, anything you put in an upma (oh no not that again) can be used in poha. Buy thick flattened rice for this as they tend to be plumper and not fall apart. To prep poha, rinse it under running water in a colander making sure all the grains are moistened. Then allow to drain.

Coconut Poha
2 cups thick poha or flattened rice salt to taste	Rinse poha, allow to drain. Add salt, toss and set aside
2 tsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp black gram dal (soaked in water for 2 mins and drained) 3 dried red chillies 3 green chillies minced or chopped fine	Heat oil in a skillet, add the other ingredients, allow to sputter.
3/4 cup grated coconut (thawed if frozen)	Add and fry till coconut turns a reddish brown Add poha and cook till dry

Enjoy with a steaming cup of tea. If you don't have poha, you can also substitute cooked rice. Just increase the amount of coconut and you'll have coconut rice.

Coconut Poha - my entry to From my rasoi breakfast event hosted by Meena of Hooked on Heat.

Comfort Food South Indian style

2006-01-09T19:17:00.001-05:00

Even though I have acquired tastes for different types of cuisines and love food in general, I enjoy South Indian food in my own way. Infact according to hubbie, I eat Southie food with the occasional trademark slurp ( Don't be alarmed, I absolutely don't). But, I agree to the extent that I really savour the taste. I made a modest but extremly heartly meal of Vatral Kuzhumbu, Vazhakkai (plantain) curry, Lemon rasam, plain rice, curd rice to extinguish the flames and salad.

Vatral Kuzhumbu

Every family has their own take on this. Here is one from food blogosphere's Shammi.
Here is how it is made in the old GM house.

Vatral Kuzhumbu
2 ladles oil	Heat
1 tsp mustad seeds 1/4 tsp methi seeds 2-3 dried red chillies	Add to oil and crackle
1 cup sliced onion 3 tsp sambar powder 2 tsp rasam powder	Add to oil and fry till fragrance exudes
1 lime sized tamarind	Extract 3 cups of juice and add
2 tsp salt	Add
Boil for 15-20 mins or thick consistency

Traditionally as Shammi points out, you use dried goodies (Vatral) that you can get from the Indian stores. In their absence, you can use other vegetables (like I have) onions, brinjal, beans, okra etc, and fry them well in the cooking process. Also, keep in mind that the spices must also cook well until the raw smell is gone. In my opinion, the simplest and best accompaniment to this Kuzhumbu is simple potatoes cooked till crispy in simple seasonings like salt and turmeric. Also, Spinach is another classic accompaniment.

I however decided to cook potato's cousin brother, the plantain.

Vazhakkai (Plantain) Curry
3 plantains	Peel, wash and chop into even bite size pieces
2 tbps oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp urad dal	Heat oil and crackle seeds. Add chopped plantains
2 tsp salt pinch asafetida	Scald the plantains. Cook undisturbed for 10 mins
2 tsp curry powder or sambar powder	When slight browning occurs, add curry powder. Cook uncovered for 5 -10 mins more till desired crispiness obtained

As a wise one has rightly said "Self Restraint solves all problems". I tried to practice it, and didnot harass the veggies, just let them cook in peace, and the results as promised were great.

Lemon (Juicy) Rasam

I love rasam. What a tangy and nutritious meal it makes. There are different types of rasam... my absolute fav is lemon rasam. Apparently when I was young (er), I coined the term 'juicy' rasam meaning lemon rasam. But my suspicion is that Mommie came up with this term, she is always making up cute names to make things sound appetizing. Rasams are also the easiest things in the world to make! Throw in the ingredients, and let the heat do the job. The only smarts needed is NEVER let the rasam boil. It must gently froth just below boiling point.

Lemon Rasam
5 cups water 4-5 green chillies slit 1 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp salt 2 tsp rasam powder big pinch asafotida 1 tomato chopped roughly	Add to stockpot/vessel on medium heat.
1.5 cups cooked toor dal	When rasam begins to froth, add dal. Let the mixture bubble and froth
juice of 1 lemon	Add
1 tsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds	Add tempering to rasam

There you go. Don't forget to enjoy a nice helping of curd rice at the end of this meal. Here is a great recipe for curd rice by Raji of My Cuisine.

Cream of asparagus soup

2006-01-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Asparagus is one of those 'rich' vegetables that tastes simply great just steamed and topped with melted butter. It has traditionally not been included in Indian dishes, but I would love to know if some one has tried. Here is something we always make whenever aparagus is available in our refrigerator.

Asparagus Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb young asparagus
3 tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion roughly chopped
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2.5 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup milk
1/2 cup light cream (I substituted 1 mashed ripe avocado... for a mild avocado taste but the same creamy texture)
salt and freshly ground pepper

How to proceed

1. Cut 1.5 inches off the tops of half the asparagus and set aside for a garnish. Slice the remaining asparagus.

2. Melt 2 tbsps of the butter in a large sauce pan and saute the sliced onion for 2-3 minutes until soft.

3. Add the asparagus and saute over low heat for 1 minute.

4. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the stock or water and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, half-cover the pan, then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the asparagus is very tender. (If crazy enough to use the avocado, mash and add at this point)

5. Cool slightly and then process the soup in a food processor or blender until smooth. (You may then press the pureed asparagus through a sieve. I usually skip it as I don't mind some texture)

6. Add milk to the mixture and heat gently for 3-4 minutes.

7. Melt remaining butter and saute the reserved asparagus tips gently for 3-4 minutes to soften. Add to the soup as garnish.

This recipe is adapted from the book "Vegetarian - the best ever recipe collection" by Linda Fraser. Give it a try, I assure you that you will not be dissappointed!

For those of you who have been following my tryst with the avocado, it is finally over! I have used up all those avocados in a variety of ways. The most successful ones are mentioned on this blog :)

Winter Cauliflower Subzi

2005-12-28T14:26:00.000-05:00

Growing up in North India, the fresh vegetable choices in the winter were reduced to mostly cauliflower, peas and the 'ever-blossoming' potatoes. Atleast this was the scene at at our local 'Munna' grocer's store. Come weekend, Mommie would instruct Daddie to get the freshest veggies from Munna and we would sometimes tag along with him with our handy-dandy baskets/shopping bags. Invariably, we came home cauliflower among other things. Throughout the winter, would have had different combinations of cauliflower, peas and potato curries!! Every parent in this world has tried to coax their child to eat cauliflower just because they look like 'trees'. This has worked on majority kids atleast when they are naive. (except some like Hubbie). But I think I have developed a taste for this flowery vegetable which represents 'childhood winter' for me!

Here is how I like to make them

Ingredients

1 small head of a cauliflower (yielding 2 cups of florets)
1 med red onion sliced
3 green chillies slit
3 cloves of garlis sliced
2 tsp jeera powder
2 tsp dhania powder
1/2 tsp amchur powder
2 tsp oil
salt to taste

How to proceed

1. Break the flower into bite size florets, rinse under flowing water. Toss with salt and steam cook for 4-5 mins (almost cooked, not tender... whats the word.. al dente). I usually place a steel (heat resistant) bowl contaning the florets in an electric rice cooker containing 1/2 cup water and turn it off after 5 mins.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add sliced garlic, green chillies and onions and saute until onions are soft. Add spices, and fry for a few seconds. Add the steamed florets and saute until mostly dry.

Serve with warm chappatis, leftovers can be sandwiched for next day's lunch.

I like to steam the florets to reduce the cooking time... they steam while I prep the other ingredients and 5 mins later... done.

This is my entry to the "From my Rasoi - winter" event hosted by the effervescent Meenakshi of Hooked On Heat.

Popover for some tea?

2005-12-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

Hope everybody is relaxing and enjoying the holidays. I know I am! After a long time, I spent my afternoons in the kitchen, whipping up stuff I always wanted to try.

On our trip to Maine this past summer, we had wonderful ‘popovers’ after a a long hike at the Acadia National Park. This cosy little teahouse called ‘The Jordan Pond House’ is located right in the middle of the park exactly where most visitors are likely to end up tired and hungry. The location was picture perfect, weather was great and we were served hot tea and wonderfully warm, fresh out the oven popovers with strawberry jam. I can almost still taste it!!

What makes popovers intersting is that they rise without any baking powder, soda or yeast. When you split them apart, they are almost hollow in the center. They rise mainly due to the steam generated by the high water content of the recipe, and the eggs hold them together. They are surpisingly easy to make... Only 5 ingredients!! You would ideally need a popover pan, which looks like a muffin pan BUT each cup is completely separated from others on all four sides. I used a muffin pan but just filled out the four corner cups since I was only serving two people.

Here is my rendition of popovers... not quite like the one we had in Maine... but close enough to keep us satisfied until we visit again.

Ingredients:
(Makes 4)

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
3 tbsps melted butter

How to proceed

1. To a blender jar, add flour, milk, salt and eggs and blend together. Scrape the sides to ensure all dry flour is incorporated.
2. Pour into individual popover cups. If using a muffin pan, fill only the corner cups 2/3 full.
3. Bake in a 425 degree (F) oven for about 20 - 30 mins.

More tea any one?

Oh Mr. Kringle... It's soon gonna Jingle!!

2005-12-19T08:18:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again! Finals, vacations, overdose of the red and green colors. I still feel deprived of the festive feeling of Diwali, since I have been preoccupied ('busy') ever since November. Now that I feel at ease, I decided to cook up some festive feeling this 'Holiday' and started out with baking a cake for Hubbie's colleagues at work.

This DRY FRUIT CAKE reciepe is courtesy of my friend 'Khatti Imli' is simple yet sinful. It is a cake with just the right amount of sweetness and crunch. Most of the ingredients may already be in your pantry, so you can just get to work when you feel like cake:-)

DRY FRUIT CAKE

Ingredients

2 Sticks butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup desiccated coconut (Optional - I always leave this one out :))
1/2 cup walnuts (blended or pieces)
1/2 cup unsalted almonds (blended or pieces)
1/2 cup orange juice

How to proceed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix together the first 6 ingredients in microwaveable bowl and microwave for 3.5 minutes on high. Good idea to do 2 mins and 1.5 min batches and watch the bowl so that the contents don't oveflow. It is a sticky mess to clean.
3. Mix batter with spatula until smooth
4. Add flour a little at a time (to avoid lumps) and mix well until batter is smooth and has no lumps.
5. Add raisins, coconut, chopped nuts, orange juice and again mix well. The batter should now run smooth when dripped from the spoon.
6. If the batter appears lumpy, fill 1/2 the empty can on condensed milk with hot water and gradually pour into the batter while mixing.
7. Grease a 9x12 baking pan and pout batter in the pan and garnish with any nuts and raisins.
8. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes at 350 degree F.

Some observations and tips
1. Do not leave the batter of butter and condensed milk after warming... add the other dry ingredients immediately. Keep all the ingredients at hand before starting the recipe.

The smell of the melting butter and the cake baking is truly intoxicating :)

Cracked Wheat Upma

2005-12-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

Upma was one of my least favorite things to eat growing up. Poor Mommie tried everything she could to make it look and sound appetizing. For some time, the word upma was taboo at home... Mommie insisted on calling it 'khichdi'. Still, when we put the spoon to our mouths, we would know it was no khichdi, but upma in disguise.

Now when I am far from all things home, upma has made an ironic come back in my life. I end up making upma once in a while simply because it is easy, quick and filling. The irony of it all is that Hubbie is not so fond of upma either :-) He scrunches his nose at the sound of it. But after reading this entry on Mahanandi about Cracked Wheat Upma, I decided that it sounded too nutritious to pass off just because of its 'taste' :-) The only change to the recipe I made was in the use of vegetables in my fridge. Also, in addition to water, I added a cube of frozen V8 vegetable juice that I keep in the freezer. (Pour V8 juice into ice trays, freeze, once set, transfer them into a freezer safe zip lock baggie. One or two cubes into a gravy vegetable is a great substitute... especially when you are running short on tomatoes)

I need to work on my pictures... too much shadow on this one... but the upma was great!!

So the moral of this discussion is that if your son/daughter is being too picky or finicky about food, just send them out into the big bad world to fend for themselves... Then they will learn to appreciate the goodness of home cooked food :-)

Vegetarian Eggs?

2005-12-04T14:25:00.000-05:00

This week at the supermarket, my eyes fell on Cage free 'Vegetarian Eggs'. I am not the keenest of observers, so not sure if it is a new product, but this is the first time I have seen it. More information on the company and which stores carry it can be found here. The gist is that they rear their hens in a 'farm' enviroment rather than a 'factory' environment, their feed is drug and hormone free. In the case of vegetarian eggs, the hens are fed grains and no animal byproducts. A dozen such eggs are priced at $2.99, about 60% more than regular eggs. In my opinion they are worth the extra cost and I can easily afford it by avoiding some of my frivolous expenses like too much coffee each day. After reading Indira's blog on milk, I do hope they reestablish cruelty free milk production soon.

Finally, without sounding too preachy - I hope with some of our support, companies like Egg Innovations can stay in business.

Avocado Parathas

2005-12-01T08:53:00.001-05:00

It's true. You can make parathas of anything if you just put your mind to it.
We bought some avocados from our local wholesale retailer last week, which we have been trying to incorporate into our diet in many ways. We tried them sliced or mashed stuffed in sandwiches, which was a great lunch sandwich. Then the legendary guacomole. But anyone familiar with wholesale shopping wouldnot be surprised to know that we still have plenty of avocados to consume, but we are running out of ideas.

Avocado is actually fruit (like tomato), which is in season in the winter. It was first discovered in Mexico and then taken to the English. It is actually pretty versatile. It is used in salads, soups, breads, appetizers, maincourses even desserts believe it nor not. For more interesting food history of avocados and interesting recipes, visit http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa012698.htm . You should buy avocados that are fresh, just picked but not ripe. Ripen them at home by keeping them in a brown bag away from direct sunlight and the refridgerator. Ripe avocados are fleshy and yield to touch. Just word about nutrition. Avocados are known to have high fat content, but it is mono saturated, so it is good for you in LIMITED quanity and they say it can control cholesterol. It is said that you can avoid using butter altogether by spreading creamed avovados on your bread. hmmmmm...

So, when I got home last night and looked at the fridge for any quick options and my eyes landed on the avocados. Immediately I ran out and checked if hubbie was in a whacky, i-don't-mind-trying-new-stuff-today mood. So then I set to work...

1 ripe avocado, pitted and fleshed (remove skin like an orange or cut lengthwise and scoop out flesh)
2 cups of chappati flour
1tsp salt (to taste)
1tbs corriander pow
1tbs any other masala you fancy (chaat masala, jeera pow, garam masala etc)
1 tsp chilli pow
water as required (small quantity)

In a large bowl, mash avocado pulp with a fork. Add flour and all masalas. Rub the mixture together and use the moisture of avocado to knead a smooth dough, adding water only if necessary (I needed to add about 2-3 tbsps of water). The dough usually is pretty smooth due to the above stated fat content. Then, break into even sized pieces (about 10). Roll out into ~6 in rounds and slap it on to a hot tava/griddle. It was a weekday dinner, so I didn't spend time folding the rounds over and rolling them again to obtain layers. But I bet you would get nice flaky layers, again due to the above state (good) high fat content. When small bubbles appear, flip and slap the other side on the tava. When that side bubbles up and shows some color, flip again and apply slight pressure with a folded paper napkin or a clean kitchen towel to cook it through. Serve with dal or other vegetable for a complete meal.

The results, well hubbie didn't complain as much about experimenting on him, so I think they were good. I liked them too :-)

No surprise again, but we still have more avocados remaning, so if you liked this one, stay tuned for more recipes. May be I will try the avocado bread over the weekend. Lets not get our hopes up just yet.

In the mean time, let me know some of your whacky creations...

Date Cake

2005-11-26T23:54:00.000-05:00

Very easy to put together, suitable for surprise entertaining. Even during CHAOS (Cannot Have Anyone Over Syndrome). Also the cake is eggless!!! It doesn't get any better :-)

Date Cake
Ingredients:
12 dates, pitted and chopped
1 1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda (not baking powder)
12 walnuts, chopped

To Proceed:
1. Boil the milk in a saucepan. Remove from heat.
2. Add the dates and let it stand until cool.
3. When cool put into a blender or food processor and process or blend until the dates are ground.
4. Add the oil into blender/food processor and blend/process again until incorporated and mixture becomes thick. Add sugar to the mixture in the blender/food processor and blend until incorporated.
5. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl. Seive flour and baking soda well. Fold in the flour until it is mixed well.
Note: You can at this point add a little more milk in case you find the batter a little thick. The batter should be of pouring consistency like most cake batters.
6. Pour batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 375F for 25 - 30 mins depending on your oven.

We loved this cake and ended up making it twice in one week. I bet you could try this with dried apricots, figs etc for similar results.

As an end note, keep posted for experiments on slow cookers and how slow cooking is/isn't better than regular stove top cooking for Indian cooking.

Oven Fried Banana Chips

2005-11-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for this week's cooking experiment came from Tarla Dalal's newsletter(www.tarladalal.com) which sends a bunch of 'new' recipes every 15 days or so. Now at this point, it is important to note that I am biased against Tarla Dalal's recipes. I have unsuccessfully tried following some of her very 'novel' westernized dishes with Indian ingredients. Mrs. Dalal, I like to follow recipies so that I don't have to exercise my noggin, but your 'novel' , 'imaginative' recipes need constant improvisation which makes me doubt if they have been tested. But credit should be given where credit is deserved. Kudos to you for building your own 'empire' and brand name all over the world based on the simple ingredients of vegetarianism. But - call me biased or inexperienced, I would recommend only your strictly Gujarati recipes to friends who are starting out. That said, MIL is a HUGE fan of yours and owns a copy of almost all of your books. One of them is also personally autographed by you.

On to today's topic. So Mrs. Dalal's recipe called for using the microwave oven to crisp the banana chips, but I had my doubts if that would work since microwaves tend to make wet foods soggy at the bottom. So I decided to use the conventional oven instead. One of these days I will try this using the microwave and report the results (which may be just as good)

So,

Ingredients
One Raw Banana (Plaintain)
salt
pepper
jeera pow
(or any other masala that strikes your fancy)
oil a few tsps

How to proceed

Peel the raw banana. This step was the hardest in my case because I own a lousy peeler which took several rounds of peeling to remove all the thick skin. I didnot want to use a knife and loose majority of the pulp. I would like any recommendation on what kind of gadgets would work well for plaintains.

Use a box grater or slicer to slice wafer thin rounds of the plaintain. The thinner the slices are, the faster it will crisp. You HAVE to be careful if you are using a conventional grater for this.

Preheat oven to ~400F. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. In a bowl (or a ziploc bag if you don't wont to dirty too many dishes) place the slices, add about 2 tbsps of oil and salt to taste. Toss around to coat both sides of the slices. Place the slices in a single layer on the baking sheet. Use 2 baking sheets if you are making a big batch. Place in oven for 15 mins or till crisp. Flip over the slices once in between.

Once out if the oven and still hot, toss in other dry masalas like jeera pow, chilli pow etc.
Enjoy with rice and dal or rice and sambar or eat it just as is.

Just for Mommie

2005-11-03T10:02:00.000-05:00

I am posting this separately because this one is special. This is the first real recipe I 'shared' with Mommie. The credit to the recipe of 'Rava Dosa' undoubtedly goes to MIL. It is a snap to put together and is a crowd pleaser.

Rava Dosa

2 cups dry roasted rava
1 cup rice flour
2-3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp jeera
pinch of asafoteda
1 tsp of grated coconut (optional)
Water (?? need some algorithm to calculate the amount of water)

Mix all dry ingredients together in a fairly large bowl. Add water until the mixture is very thin, watery (the thinner, the crisper the dosas turn out) . If you leave the batter standing for some time, most of the rava settles at the bottom. Before ladling it out, give it a vigorous stir to make sure all the good stuff from the bottom is incorporated.

Heat tava. After it is nice and hot, pour 1 cup of the thin batter. Drizzle some oil just like you would on a regular dosa. It takes longer to cook and crisp, but you only need to cook only one side. Serve with molagai pudi or any chutnies for a snack or with sambar for a full meal.

Scaling the recipe to 1 cup rava with 1/2 cup rice flour makes just enough dosas for two very hungry people.

Thanks MIL for this instant dosa recipe. Try this one and let me know how it turns out.

2005-10-27T15:20:00.000-05:00

Around here the spice is just right. Or atleast I would like it to be. This blog is going to be about escapades pertaining to the kitchen realm. I am what you might call the average person living it up with a brand-new hubbie.

So we cook meals most of the weekdays and it is your regular desi veggie fare. Chappati/Bhaji or some form of rice, dals, pasta, beans etc. But on the weekends, hubbie refuses to eat anything ordinary. Funny how he has started calling chappaties ordinary and mundane. There used to be a time when he looked forward to chappaties (or is it chappatis?) in a near salivating manner. Maybe he needs a refresher dose on his not so recent student life cuisines? So as I was saying, hubbie demands special stuff on weekends - something 'scrumptuously delicious'. When I ask him what he means by that, he just repeats the word with emphasis on different syllables.

The eating habits on his side of the family has amazed me from day one. Bhajjis for breakfast and bhel puri/pani puri for dinner as a full meal, each meal has atleast one item deep fried in ghee/oil. Infact the first time I met his grandmother, we had pani puri for dinner. I must have eaten about 20 puris and a lot of that spiced water. Not too good for your GI tract :-) On the other hand, he finds the food habits on my side of the family equally strange. How we can enjoy and crave the delicate flavors of simplest things like curd rice always amuses him.

Hubbie's mother (shall be called MIL henceforth) is known around the entire neighbourhood and beyond for her hand at the chaat items as the uncrowned queen of party pleasing items. In fact if she was not in the profession she is in right now, she would have been an excellent cooking show host. Ask her innocently about one of her recipes and she will enthusiastically explain beginning from how to boil water accompanied by any sound effects, ending with a description of how to present the finished dish.

Mommie on the other hand is the uncrowned queen of multiplexing and improvisation. The sheer speed at which she weaves in and out of the kitchen with innovative meal creations is amazing. Her after school one dish meals were nutritious and satisfying. I don't think even she knew what she was making for dinner on a busy day. She would put a pan on the stove, pour some oil in it and run to the fridge and look for dinner options. In about half hour, she would have whipped up a 'balanced' meal. She is not afraid of trying unconventional things in the kitchen, and I think this has rubbed off on sis and me whether we realize it or not.

Sis will try/eat anything new. She will experiement with different recipes every other day and feed the neighbourhood kids :-) So as you can see I have a lot to live up to.

In my quest to discover new 'scrumptous' items to tickle hubbie's taste buds, I introduce this blog of experiences, success, contentment, disasters and spice. Until the weekend, eat well.

2 tsp vegetable oil ½ block extra firm tofu crumbled	Heat oil in a heavy pan and add the tofu. Allow it to brown about 7 mins. Check on it once or twice
2 tsp veg oil 1 onion sliced ½ cup crushed roasted peanuts 2 tbsp chickpea flour 2 tbsp tomato paste	Heat oil in another pan, and fry the onions till soft. Add the chick pea flour and peanuts and cook till the raw smell of the flour is lost. Add the tomato paste and a splash of water to combine
1 tsp dry mango powder 1 tsp red chili powder ½ tsp sugar 1 tbsp cumin and coriander powder Salt to taste	Add the spices and seasonings, stir to combine. Mix in the browned tofu into this pot.
6 small peppers in assorted colors	Trim the bottoms of the peppers, cut of the top and remove the seeds. Stuff the peppers with prepared mixture till filled to the top. Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 deg F oven
Remaining stuffing ½ cup vegetable stock (or water) Salt to taste 1 tsp chick pea flour dissolved in ¼ cup water	Add the stock to the remaining stuffing in the same pan and bring to boil. Add salt or adjust seasonings to taste. Add the chick pea flour slurry to thicken sauce. Get the peppers out of the oven, add to the saucepan let it soak in the sauce before plating.