Delhi Belle

Eggless Mango Bread

2010-07-21T19:28:00.000+08:00

I have recently tip toed into baking, with a few easy looking cake recipes. I had been doubting all along if my old Microwave-Convection oven is up to the task of making cakes, cookies and breads, as that's the only oven I have as of now, and I have been happily surprised at how much this little oven can do.

Today I tried making mango bread, which I have been wanting to try ever since I saw Vaishali's version on her blog. I did not have whole wheat pastry flour, so i substituted with what I had, and it turned out great. Thank you Vaishali, for an awesome recipe.
I made a modifications to Vaishali's recipe, so I'm putting down my recipe here.

1.5 cups AP flour

¼ cup semolina (sooji)

¼ cup whole wheat flour (atta)

¾ cup fine grained sugar ( I only had ½ cup sugar at home, so the bread was a little less sweet than what it should be)

2 cups Alphonso mango pulp ( I used tinned: The brand was "Mother’s Recipe, I think, sorry, I threw the tin away before getting the name)

4 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking powder

0.8 tsp baking soda (recipe calls for 1 tsp)

A pinch of fine sea salt

2 tbsp flax meal

1 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

Baking spray

Preheat oven to 180C using the convection mode. Sieve together both the flours, sooji, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together mango pulp, oil, sugar, flax meal, cardamom powder & vanilla extract. Spray 9X5 inch loaf pan with baking spray. Mix wet ingredients to dry with a spatula. Bake for around 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. ( I baked for 45 minutes).

Let it cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Unmold and cool for at least an hour or more before slicing.

I ended up slicing within 10 minutes, so my slices were not all that neat. However, the taste and heady smell of the warm bread that we were rewarded with made up for it.

Here's another great sounding recipe for mango bread, that I plan to try next.

Samosa

2010-07-09T14:25:00.000+08:00

I have made samose ( plural for 'samosa') many times before, and while they've always got eaten quickly, this is the first time that I'm 100% happy with how they turned out..okk, i agree, they could have been more uniform, but when I'm making like 40 of them for a potluck, do you think I'd care:)

My earlier attempts almost always resulted in a crust flecked with tiny bubbles, or chewy samose like so.

There are a few things to be kept in mind to avoid this from happening:

1. The crust needs a reasonable amount of oil to work, there's no getting around it, if you seek "proper" samose.

3. The doough should be firm, yet smooth. If there are dry cracks in the dough, you won't be able to roll it properly. If that happens, sprinkle a few drops of water, and knead some more.

3. Finally, the samose should be cooked on a low-medium flame to ensure that the crust has enough time to get cooked inside.

So here's the recipe that worked well, while its still fresh in my memory

Makes 40 dainty samose/ 20 large ones, I suppose

The crust:

4 cups of AP flour (maida)

4 to 6 tbsp of oil ( I first added four, then a little more to get a crumbly mix)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)

Mix the flour, salt and ajwain in a big bowl. Add the oil, and mix it well with the flour, till you get a somewhat coarse breadcrumby consistency. Now add water, and knead it into a firm dough ( will be firmer than roti dough, and would depend on the humidity and temperature around). I used about a little less than a cup of water. Now cover it with a well fitting plate/ damp towel/ plastic wrap, and allow it to rest while you start work on the filling.

The filling:

Here you can be as imaginative as your pantry allows you: spinach & paneer, cooked and mashed mung dal, soya mince, minced & cooked mushrooms are all good bets. I stuck to the more traditional filling of potato and peas, which is always a crowd pleaser.

5 medium potatoes, boiled and slightly coarsely mashed

1 cup of peas ( defrosted if frozen, boiled if using fresh peas)

1 tsp of chili powder ( or to taste)

2 tsp of coriander powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tsp cumin seeds ( zeera)

1/2 tsp garam masala ( optional)

salt to taste

1 tbsp of oil

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Heat oil in a pan ( I used non stick ), and toss in the cumin seeds. As soon as they start spluttering, take the pan off heat ( so that spices don't burn), and add all the spice powders.

Now put it back on heat, and add the potatoes, peas and salt, and mix well with the spices. Cook for about two minutes, the turn off the flame. Add the lemon juice, and cilantro and mix once more. Turn it out into a plate to cool.

Divide the dough into 4 parts, and divide each part into five equal sized piceces. Work with one part, while you keep the others covered. Keep some water handy in a bowl to seal.

Shape each piece into a ball, and roll out into a thin, round circle. Now cut it through the middle to get 2 semi circles. Dip your finger in the water and trace the circumfrence of the semi circle with your wet finger. Now pick up the semi circle, overlap the edges, and stick them together to form a cone. Stuff potato mixture in the cone, making sure not to overstuff, or else it will be difficult to seal. Pinch the edges together, to seal, making sure there's no opening.

Repeat till you finish making the samose. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a wok, making sure the oil is not too hot, else the crust will colour without cooking through. The oil should very gently bubble when you slip in the samosa to fry. Cook till they turn a light golden colour, then dish out on a plate.

Serve with green chutney, ketchup, barbeque sauce, salsa, chili sauce or any dip you fancy.

Undhiyu

2010-06-12T11:18:00.011+08:00

Hello there!
Hope you're all having a lovely summer.
I'm kicking back and enjoying a break from studies at the moment, which brings me back me to my little internet kitchen.
Over the past one year, I barely registered what I ate and hardly ever cooked, as we had someone to help with cooking. But on the stray occasions when I did enter the kitchen, it would be cook something special but not too involved. Thus, over the next couple of months, I plan to post recipes from my draft, which for us are what we used to eat as a break from everyday food.
To begin with, let me share a quick, breezy and light undhiyu that is based on a number of recipes off the internet.The undhiyu I have had thus far have been supremely tasty but supremely oily too. Since it's such a richly flavoured and fragrant dish, I thought that a healthier version should work too, and work it did, for us. Do try it sometime, and tell me if you like too.

An undhiyu that worked
Serves 4 (accompanied by dal)
4 small eggplants, slit halfway cross wise (slit only halfway, so that we can stuff it later)
1 raw banana cut into discs of about3/4th to 1 inch thickness, I kind of prefer it unpeeled, but peel is fine as well.
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 potato, cubed/ 8 baby potatoes slit cross wise, halfway
a bunch of surati papdi, stringed, if needed
1 purple yam ( i couldn't find it but do throw in some if you have)

Stuffing:
1 bunch of green garlic/ 6 small cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of cilantro
4 tbsp grated coconut (frozen worked fine)
1/2 inch piece of ginger
5 green chillies
a pinch of sugar
1/ tsp salt
Make a coarse paste,and stuff the eggplants and baby potatoes.
Check out this great picture of the stuffed veggies in Nupur's undhiyu post on One hot Stove
Methi muthia
a small bunch of methi, coarsely chopped (leaves only)
5 tbsp besan
1 tbsp atta
salt, turmeric, chili powder
Mix and make a firm dough using a little water. Make discs and shallow fry two at a time in 1 tbsp oil . This way, I found some oil remains after frying, which can be used for frying the vegetables. ( You can also use an appe/abelskeiver pan if you have one). Of course we can also deep fry little blobs of muthiya, which is the traditional way of making it.
Using the same oil, splutter ajwain, hing, add chili powder, dhana jira powder
and the leftover stuffing. Fry for 2 minutes and add the vegetables and 1/2 to 1 cup of water.
Sprinkle salt to taste and a pinch of sugar, transfer to a pressure cooker and give 1 to 2 whistles (Adjust according to your cooker).Open when steam releases, there should be some gravy left. Add the muthiya now.
Sprinkle some water if needed and cook for another 5 minutes or so, till the muthiyas absob the flavours. (if your muthiyas turn out hard, you can add them with the vegetables and cook for one whistle too).
Enjoy your undhiyu with soft, warm phulkas.

P.S: I must add here that the generous use of oil, does lend a better clinging sauce to the dish, which together with fried muthiyas enhances the taste. However, I'm happy enough with the healthier version to not miss the oil:)

Vegetable Momos

2010-01-01T20:01:00.017+08:00

Wish you all a blissful 2010.

To ring in the new year, here's a popular Nepali snack, that's probably been the staple diet every college goer in Delhi University (or good old DU!), particularly in the North Campus.

For a long, long time, I was afraid to try momos, as getting that pretty crimped ghujiya like pattern looks like painstaking work. However, I discovered, it's just as good without the pattern, in the taste department, if not in looks, so like me, if that's been holding you back, give it a go!

Vegetable Momos
The dough :
2 cups plain flour
Water to bind the dough
A few drops of oil (optional)
Knead the flour to smooth but not sticky dough, and keep aside. You may smear a little oil on the dough to keep it from drying, else cover it with a damp cloth. I tried the dough both ways, with and without oil, but didn't find much difference, so I prefer the oil free version.
As much as I avoid using maida(refined flour), I cannot imagine atta (wholewheat) momos, but if any of you, health conscious friends were to try it, do let me know the results.

The filling :
Finely minced carrots, cabbage, onion, paneer, ginger, garlic
6 grains, each of methi seeds & Sichuan pepper(timmur in Nepali) (these are optional, but they lend the dish that distinct nepali flavour), a pinch each of turmeric & red chilli powder, salt to taste.
Heat a tsp of mustard oil and add methi & timmur, if using, ensuring that they don’t burn. If you’re concerned about biting into them, you can remove them at this stage, they would have imparted their flavour to the oil.
Add the ginger, garlic ,veggies, paneer and haldi & chilli. Fry for a minute. Then add salt, mix well and leave to cool. If there is any water, drain well before using. The filling should be dry, and this is why we add salt in the end.

Take a ball of dough and roll out thinly. Stamp out rounds using a steel glass or katori, or cookie cutter.

Flatten and elongate the edges a bit as you put in some filling so that the middle portion of the wrapper remains somewhat thicker than the edges until you get around a 2.5 inch circle. Keep them covered with a bowl, till you get the others done, unless you have the help of your friends, kids, or other half , in which case it becomes a smooth assembly line operation.

For stuffing them, place the circle on the palm of your left hand (or on the right hand for the lefties), put a small heap of the filling in the center, fold it over, bring the edges together and crimp them making sure that the filling is enclosed. It doesn’t need to be perfect so seal in whichever pattern is manageable, as long as it gets completely sealed. Also try that edges don’t become too thick, or else they’ll be chewy when cooked. Steam for around 10 to 12 minutes, till they get done. Serve with Tomato Achar.
Tomato Achar
2 medium tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
3 dried red chillies
Salt to taste
Though it’s called achar, it’s more like a salsa. Roast the tomatoes in an oven, or a griddle until charred. Optionally, you can roast the garlic & chillies too, if you don’t care for the taste of raw garlic. Peel the tomatoes, and then pound everything together till you get an almost smooth sauce, of course you could use a blender too. Enjoy it with momos.
If making all those momos has drained out and you want to keep the dipping sauce simple, try this Spicy Soy-Based Dipping Sauce , courtsey tulsi regmi, which I haven't yet tried myself. She also has lots of momo recipes at this link.
Sherpa momo achar
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon mustard oil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon ground timur (Szechwan pepper)

In a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Serve with steamed momos.

Oh, and before I forget, you could also fry them, or better still, kothe them, which as far as I gathered, means pan fry them. Either way, it's a treat you won't regret.

P.S : Here is a plate of gorgeous momos, made by my dear friend Swati, who's left food blogging now. Miss you, Swati

Tom Yum Fried Rice

2009-12-12T14:46:00.004+08:00

For those of us who like making thai curried from scratch at home, what do you do with the bounty of leftover herbs and spices? Since I make thai food often , this has been a frequent problem, which prompted me to look for home style thai recipes that use them creatively.

This is one such recipe, a quick and spicy rice dish, redolent with thai flavours of lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime. The Singaporean version served in most restaurants rely on readymade tom yum paste, however, the thai way of making it with fresh herbs is so much better.

Serves 2:

1.5 cups of cold rice

2 Tbsp each Lemongrass (only the inner,tender part), Galangal : very finely chopped

a couple of kaffir lime leaves (very finely shredded)

1 tbsp garlic (finely chopped)

fresh red chillies, finely chopped (optional)

Chili paste

shredded vegetables of your choice

a sliver of deseeded tomato, chopped (optional)

lime juice ( 1 to 2tbsp or so), sugar (a pinch) & salt, to taste

light soy sauce, to taste

Heat some oil, and add the garlic and chillies (if using), quickly followed by lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime. Fry for a minute or so, then add whatever veggies etc. you are using ( I kept it really simple with french beans and corn), and fry for another minute. Now add cold rice, chili paste, soy sauce, salt and sugar, and mix well. Taste for seasonings in case it needs adjustment. Mix in the lime juice. Done.

Tinda masala

2009-11-30T19:46:00.008+08:00

My apologies to all those, who came here looking for updates and were disappointed to find none. I went missing again, and I can't even promise that it will be the last time. Studying at this age and stage is keeping me a lot busier than I thought, which means that blogging got relegated to the list of chores that kept sinking lower and lower in priority. And when something you enjoyed becomes a chore, it’s better to step back for a while and return to it when you can honestly feel joyful about doing it again. Meanwhile, I surely and sorely, missed you guys, although I tried to keep up with reading all my favourite blogs at every opportunity, found a few of my posts plagiarised and discovered some delightful new blogs.

Today’s recipe is especially for someone who’s very special to me, my elder sister, Manju didi, who discovered my blog awhile back, which was ironically just when I stopped posting ( No didi..I did not stop posting because you discovered my blog!!)

Didi is the only person I know who LOVES tinda, the only veggie that I was never fond of. Still, I was delighted to chance upon it at the grocer, got it home and started hunting for recipes, hoping good ol’ Manjula auntie will have some nice recipe for tinda. Instead, I found this video from a program called Food afternoon with Farah, unfortunately the link for which I cannot find any longer. She got the recipe from a dhaba in Sindh , and this recipe does bring about that distinct dhaba taste. The garden fresh tomatoes that I found added oodles to the taste and colour ( the colours have been totally untouched in that picture).

The recipe is pretty straightforward, but makes one helluva’ tinda:

250 gms tinda, scraped lightly and quartered
1 medium onion, sliced
2 ripe, medium sized tomatoes, chopped
½ to 1tsp red chilli powder ( more or less to taste)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Crushed black pepper
Green chillies (optional)
cilantro

Sauté the sliced onions in oil till they just turn golden, then add the tomatoes, turmeric, salt and chilli powder and fry till they turn pulpy, and the masala leaves the sides, add just a splash of water to keep the spiced from burning. Add the tinda, mix well, add some more (around 1/4 cup) water and cover. Cook covered on a low flame till tinda gets tender, (should take around 15 minutes, but really depends upon how fresh the tindas are). Once done, garnish with fresh cilantro and crushed black pepper ( the recipe calls for green chillies too, but it was already spicy enough for us). Enjoy with warm roti or rice.

Here are some of the recipes from your blogs that I have made and enjoyed many times over the past few months:

Meera's dalimbi bhaat (delicious!)

Sharmila's suji roti with jolkhabarer torkari (now that's some brekkie!)

Swati's chole bhature (true blue stuff!)

Bharti's stuffed parathas for dummies (this is an absolute lifesaver!)

Sig's mambazha pulissery (great way to use up not too sweet mangoes)

Kajal's bittergourd with raw mango (sweet & sour & really interesting)

Thukpa:Noodle Soup for the Soul

2009-06-26T19:30:00.003+08:00

Thukpa is a hearty tibetan noodle soup, which can be made spicy or plain as per individual taste. It is a wonderfully nourishing and warming dish and therefore an ideal one dish meal for the coming monsoons.
The mustard oil in this thukpa gives it a Nepalese twist, try it if you adore mustard like I do, else use any cooking medium that you like. You could leave out the green chilli and the spices and it's still tasty. I'm giving here the maximum spice version that I learned, so feel free to eliminate any one or as many spices as you like :)

Thukpa
1 to 2 servings
Ingredients
1/2tsp butter or ghee (clarified butter)+ ½ tsp oil(I used mustard)
(You could use 1 tsp of any oil, I find that this combo gives it a lovely flavour)
1 tsp each minced ginger and garlic
1/4 medium-sized red onion
A really tiny pinch Garam masala (optional)
1/2 tsp. Red chili paste ( optional)
½ tsp chili powder (optional)
1 red baby potato ( or half a medium potato)
1/2 chopped fresh tomato (medium sized)
1 fresh green chilli, coarsely chopped
2½ cups water
2 to3 oz noodles of your choice( This time I used a local brand of low fat instant noodle called Koka)
1 cup mixed veggies (I used cauliflower, long beans, mushrooms, carrot, cabbage, baby spinach)
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce (or to taste)
Salt, a pinch of sugar (& black pepper/optional)
Fresh cilantro
lime juice

1. Boil or MW potato till it's almost soft(I microwaved it for 1.5 minute with 1 glass water)
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, lightly saute onion, ginger, and garlic about 1 minute (until transparent)
3. Add all remaining spices (including chili paste) and fry about 1 minute or until the aroma is released from the spices.
4. Add tomatoes, chilli and potatoes, and all the veggies except cabbage and spinach
and fry for about a minute
5. Add water and bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes
6. Add half cooked noodles and boil about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
7. Season with sugar, salt, pepper, and soya sauce to taste.
8. Add cabbage & spinach and boil another minute
9. Garnish with cilantro, and add a little lime juice.
10. Slurrp!
Here's another recipe for Thukpa, that looks really delicious, by Bindiya. Do check it out.

Lucknow style dry urad dal

2009-06-19T16:44:00.002+08:00

Back after a whirlwind holiday with the in laws and the house seems very lonely and desolate all of a sudden.

Here's a traditional and tasty little recipe that'll bring the simple yet sophisticated taste of Lucknow to you.

Serves 4

1 cup dhuli (split and washed) urad dal

1 onion, finely sliced

2 dry red chillies

3 tbsp oil

1 clove of sliced garlic

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste

Rinse and wash the dal as you usually do and then soak for around 2 hours.

Now heat one tsp oil, add cumin seeds and cook the dal with salt and turmeric in around 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker or a saucepan, so that the water absorbs completely. 2 whistles in my cooker does it. It could get done in even one, or take three whistles. The idea is that the dal should get completely cooked, but each grain should be separate. Leave it covered for a while after cooking so that any extra water gets absorbed.

Meanwhile, fry the sliced onions , garlic and dried chillies in the remaining oil, till the onion turns a rich brown colour, and pour this tarka over the dal. That's it!

P.S: The leftovers make a neat stuffing for paranthas

A quick update

2009-05-31T17:43:00.003+08:00

No I haven't done the ditching act again. In laws are visiting for a fortnight and even though a lot of cooking is planned, blogging unfortunately will have to take a backseat. Will be back soon and if I'm lucky, with a couple of ma in law's traidtional awadhi recipes:)

Miss me.Please.

Korean noodles: Japchae

2009-05-22T12:15:00.005+08:00

Japchae is a healthy and light Korean dish with noodles made from potato starch. they have a smooth & springy texture and a unique taste. I tried them simply because they look like a lot of fun, and they were!

Serves 2

around 100 gms dangmyeon (korean potato starch noodles)

1 carrot, julienned

1 onion, sliced

5 re hydrated dried shitake mushrooms

two generous handfuls of spinach, leaves separated & blanched lightly

some spring onions( I did not have any)

a few drops of oil (preferably sesame)

1 to 2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp of soy sauce ( or to taste)

Gochujang: Korean hot pepper paste(optional)

toasted sesame seeds for garnish

The veggies in the picture are for a single serving only

Boil the noodles in plenty of water around 5 to 6 minutes (after the water starts boiling) or according to the packet instructions. Wash with cold water, snip into manageable lengths and toss with a splash of soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil to keep them from sticking

Then, prepare the veggies by lightly cooking them individually with a few drops of oil and some soy sauce each, without browning them. While this ensures that all the vegetables are cooked perfectly, next time I'm going to try to cook them in one go, and see if it really makes a difference. Finally, fry the garlic & add the noodles with a bit of gochujang(if using) and all the vegetables and mix well

None of the recipes actually called for gochujang but since I had purchased a bottle with the noodles, I just wanted to use it. You could add a pinch of sugar though, if you are not using gochujang, which is sweet and spicy(not very spicy though, by Indian standards!)

The noodles need to be cooked for only a minute or so to warm them and mix them thoroughly with everything else. Sprinkle sesame seeds ( I like lots of it!)

Nasi Goreng

2009-05-15T10:06:00.011+08:00

Hello people, it's me again..back once more and hopefully for good this time!
What's my story now? Nothing actually..just plain laziness and lack of motivation. The stark, white hospital ward look of my blog doesn't help either, but then I better leave the interior decoration bit for another day. Right now, I want to start dwelling here again, before I get caught up with the rigmarole of student life after nearly a decade! Yes, I'm going back to school:)

Over the past two years that we have been in Singapore, I have had the opportunity to see an astounding variety of Asian food and ingredients. I would love to share with all of you, the ones that we have enjoyed most and managed to re-create at home successfully. Starting this post, I will be posting vegetarianised versions of popular Asian dishes and look forward to hearing from you about your favourite Asian foods.

Let me begin this series with the very easy, but delicious 'Nasi Goreng'

Nasi in Malay means rice and goreng is anything fried- regardless of whether a dish is stir fried, shallow or deep fried. This dish is the Malay/Indonesian version of fried rice, and is a popular breakfast in these parts. While it's a total throw in what you like sort of meal, the mainstays are pre-cooked rice, soy sauce, onions/shallots and garlic. One protein item (usually meat based) is invariably added and the garnishes that make it a meal are cucumber slices, crackers(typically shrimp/prawn) and an optional fried egg. A little tamarind or tomato paste is sometimes used to add a bit of tang, which my sambal already included, so I did not use them. Go ahead and customize it to suit your taste buds, even leaving sambal out totally, if you don't care for spicy food, it'll still be authentic and delish!

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked rice

1.5 cups of mixed veggies-do try to include cabbage, adds a nice crunch

( I used cabbage, broccoli, carrots and french beans)

1/2 cup of paneer/tofu/soy chunks ( your protein of choice basically)

2 tbsp sliced shallots/red onions

1 tbsp sliced garlic

1 fresh red chili-totally optional

2 tsp sambal ( recipe follows)

soy sauce-preferably both light and dark-1 tbsp and 1 tsp, resp.

salt, only if needed

a pinch of sugar*

* For total authenticity, use kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), a standard Indonesian ingredient, which lends a lovely caramelized taste and colour to the rice. Since most of us can't find it easily, a similar effect can be achieved with a combi of dark soy sauce and sugar.

For those who want to know the different varieties of soy sauce, see the Soy sauce primer here.

Sambal: use any of your favourite ready made sambal(check for shrimp paste) or chili paste, chili/sriracha/hot sauce, or if you're crazy and have lots of time like me, do this:

Boil 10 to 12 red chillies for a couple of minutes and grind together with one shallot, a little salt and 2 cloves of medium sized garlic to a paste. Heat a few tablespoons of oil, add this and cook until the oil separates. Add a little tamarind juice (approx. 1 tbsp) and a 1/2 tsp ( or to taste) sugar, cook for another minute, check taste, cool and store in the refrigerator.

Step 1 : Prepare the soy chunks by soaking/boiling according to package instructions and squeeze out the excess water, so that they are ready to soak in the quick marinade we are going to make. The tofu can be just rinsed, patted dry and marinated. Paneer is a star regardless. If you're in a hurry, skip this part, but know that tofu & soy chunks can be pretty much flavourless on their own.

Mix a generous splash of light soy sauce, a pinch of sugar & a few drops of lime juice/vinegar and marinade soy chunks or tofu just for as long as it takes to get the other ingredients going. Believe me, it takes much longer to write all this, than to actually make it!

Step 2: Prep the veggies and the garnishes and pleeasse try it with cabbage at least once.

Step 3: Heat 1 tsp of oil in a wok/non stick pan, and lightly fry the soy chunks/tofu/paneer till it gets a slightly crispy coating. I cut them into two at this point as I find that a better size. Keep aside.

Step 4:Add another 2 tsp of oil, add shallots & garlic, stir, add the veggies (except cabbage) and lightly fry them for a minute or so. Now add the rice and the cabbage. Also, add back the soy /tofu/paneer and the seasonings as well as the sambal and fry for a couple of minutes. You can add a little splash of water, if the rice starts sticking, although this is unlikely if you're using leftover rice and a well seasoned pan.

Step 5:Plate it with a few cucumbers, tomatoes and any crackers you like ( I used baked corn chips) and a crispy fried egg if you eat eggs. Here's the plate I did for hubby, with my (admittedly tacky) attempt at a heart shaped fried egg!

Now I'm off to read my favourite blogs, to get much needed inspiration and motivation to keep blogging. See you again..soon!

Thai Papaya Salad: Som Tam

2009-04-09T10:56:00.006+08:00

After all that curry-vurry,kheer-sheer, of the past few days, me craves some cool salads.
Till sometime back, salad conjured up images of a pile of limp greens in a bland creamy dressing, but having discovered thai salads, I have had to completely revised my concept. The thais love their salads, like we love our chaats, and with steamed rice , it often becomes a lovely, light meal.

The most well known of these is Som Tum, or raw papaya salad, which is made with shredded green papaya tossed with a spicy dressing. This is how it goes

One small coarsely shredded green papaya ( around 1.5 cups)
7 to 8 cherry tomatoes, or one medium, firm tomato, quartered
a handful of long beans (around 1/4th cup), snapped into manageable bits
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh green/red chilli
Lime juice, salt, sugar to taste ( I used the juice of one lime & 1 tsp sugar)
a few splashes of light soy sauce (optional)
1/4th cup roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed or chopped

For those who would like to make it the traditional way, these videos explain it . Pound the garlic and chili with a little salt in a mortar and pestle, if you have one.

Else,smash the garlic and chili and finely chop them. Toss in the long beans and pound a bit more, or smash those too. The tomatoes also need to be pounded (only lightly )to extract the juice. You could also, slice them and mix. Add the shredded papaya and the seasonings, sprinkle the peanuts and you're good to go. It does taste a lot better than it may look!

Off this goes to It's a vegan world-Thai, hosted by Priya at Akshaypaatram, an event created by Vaishali

Birthday celebrations with Zafrani Kheer

2009-03-30T19:00:00.010+08:00

(Belated)Happy Birthday, DelhiBelle!

5 days back, this blog of mine quietly turned one, and true to my track record, I am late with my own blog's birthday post! However, one interesting observation is that this will be my 53rd post, which means that I have posted at the rate of exactly a recipe a week. Not as bad as I thought,what say?

To celebrate, let’s take a walk down memory lane with a delicious reminder of long forgotten days, when simple was beautiful, mangoes were to be had only in summer and vacations meant the grandparent’s farmhouse, not Spain!
Make and enjoy this sweet, decadent pleasure, on a leisurely weekend, the way it was made in the good old days. Put away the pressure cooker, skip the condensed milk, bring out your best, heavy bottomed pot and get down to making kheer, the traditional way. The resulting labour of love will not only be superior tasting, but will also be much more satisfying to make.
The inputs

5 cups (1 litre) of whole milk
1/4th cup (4 tbsp) rice
1/3rd cup (around 5 to 6 tbsp) of sugar
1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter (use unsalted butter if you cannot find ghee)
Flavourings:
½ tsp saffron strands, soaked in one tbsp of milk
¼ tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
Garnishes:
Toasted, slivered pistachios, almonds & cashews
The process

Heat the ghee on medium heat and toast the rice until it smells nice and slightly nutty (takes only about a minute or two). Slowly add the milk and bring to a boil. Now, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally to ensure milk does not stick or burn, till it is reduced to almost half its original volume( approximately 25 to 30 minutes). At this point, add the sugar, cardamom, soaked saffron & raisins if using, let it cook for a few more minutes till the sugar completely dissolves. Check for sweetness, bearing in mind that cooling will considerably blunt the sugariness. Bring down to room temperature, or cool in a refrigerator, sprinkle with the toasted nuts and serve.

If you're feeling fancy (I was!), decorate it with some silver varq. This makes it look really festive.

The output

This is how it looks after a few hours in the refrigerator, which is how I like it best.

Fun & modern Twists
Flavouring: Rosewater, Kewra (Screwpine), Cinnamon, Vanilla
Garnish: Strawberries, mangoes, oranges, cranberries, raisins
Regional variations and cousins :Kheeri, Payesh, Phirni, Payasam, Bhat Payasa

Kheer Trivia
Did you know that in the Jagannath Temple in Puri, nearly 800 cooks make kheer using a 2000 year old recipe, as Prasad for almost 10,000 devotees each day!

Delhi’s arguably best known kheer can be sampled for all of Rs.12 (S$0.40) at Bade Mian’s kheer shop in Hauz Qazi, Old Delhi

Sri Lankan Jackfruit Curry and Ceylon fried rice

2009-03-21T20:54:00.004+08:00

Sri Lanka's spices has attracted numerous traders over centuries, even though the spice trade is no longer the gold mine it once was,Sri Lanka is still one of the leading exporters of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, mace and even vanilla.
It should not come as a surprise then that an ordinary Sinhalese curry can contain upto thirteen herbs and spices!
My very first attempt at a Sri Lankan meal convinced me that it is completely blog worthy and so here it is,bad pictures and poor lighting at dinner time, notwidthstanding.

This super fragrant yet mild Ceylon Rice complements the curry perfectly and is really quick to rustle up using leftover rice.

Since I could not find any definitive recipes for Sri Lankan curry on the internet, this is what I came up with based on the nearly half a dozen recipes that finally seemed workable.
Polos(young jackfruit in Sinhalese) is one of my favourite vegetables(fruit?)and is believed to have such a high medicinal value that it was a staple diet of ancient Lankan royalty. Together with potato, it lends the perfect texture to this curry.

1 cup raw jackfruit, chopped
1 medium potato, cut into large chunks
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped
curry leaves , 6 to 8
2 tsp oil
1 cup coconut milk
around 5 cloves & cardamom each
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp tamarind pulp

Spice powder:

1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp fennel powder
a dash of powdered cinnamon
a pinch of garam masala

I didn't want to add another bottle of spice powder to my burgeoning collection so I used individual,powdered spices to make up the spice base.

If you'd like to whip up curry powder from scratch these are two of the recipes that I liked. My chilli quotient is a bit higher than what they recommend though.

Heat 2 tsp oil and fry the mustard, curry leaves,whole spices, onion and garlic till the onion begins to brown.Add the jackfruit and potatoes and the spice base and mix well to coat them with the masala. Now add the coconut milk, little by little and stir fry till you can see some specks of oil. Add around half a cup of water and salt to taste and transfer the whole thing to a pressure cooker. Cook for 2 to 3 whistles and let the cooker release steam naturally before opening it. Cook uncovered for a few minutes till it reaches a creamy consistency. Check salt and take off the heat. After a couple of minutes, mix the tamarind pulp(adding it too soon can cause the coconut milk to split) and serve.

Ceylon Fried Rice

The Sinhalese love for cashewnuts and fragrant spices makes for a crunchy, nutty and very flavourful rice.

2 cups cooked rice
whole cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black pepper(leave out if you don't enjoy biting into pepper)
a pinch of saffron soaked in a tbsp of milk
a handful of frozen peas, defrosted
1 tsp of ghee
as many cashews as you'd care to eat
salt to taste

Heat ghee, add cashews, whole spices and cook till the cashews turn a pale brown. Add the frozen peas, rice and salt to taste and mix well. Finally add the saffron milk, turn off the heat and cover for a couple of minutes. Serve with curry.

Besan wali gwar ki sabzi

2009-03-18T21:17:00.007+08:00

As I turn another year older tomorrow, I find myself missing the simple and delicious UP baniya dishes of my childhood.

This is a quick recipe for one of those homey veggies: gwar phali(cluster beans). Gwar is one of those vegetables that has both fans and detractors and I now happen to be the former.

This is a typical UP style way of cooking this veggie, that is sans, onion or garlic, thereby retaining the original taste of the vegetable. I tweaked my recipe from here, a site that has lots of UP recipes.

Since the author has learnt this from her sister in Lucknow, I hope this can also qualify for RCI Awadhi:)

Ingredients
250 gm. (1 1/2 cup prepared) gwar ki phali/cluster beans
2-3 tbsp oil
1/3 tsp. carom seed or ajwain seeds
A pinch of asafoetida or heeng powder
1 heaped tbsp besan or gram flour(chickpea flour)
1/4tsp turmeric powder or haldi
1/2tsp. chilli powder or to taste
1 tsp. coriander or dhania powder
1/2 tsp. Amchoor (dry mango powder). Can be substituted with lemon juice.
salt to taste
Method

1.Top & tail guar phalli. Chop into 2-3 inch pieces.
2.Boil/microwave lightly, so they are softened but not mushy. In my microwave it took around 5 minutes on high power.Drain water off.
3.Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida powder and carom seeds . As soon as the seeds begin to splutter, sprinkle besan and fry on low heat for 20 to 30 seconds, until lightly browned.
4.Add turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, and then the beans. Add salt and stir fry until all water has dried and beans look shiny. Cover and cook for a few minutes, if beans are still undercooked. Mine were.
5.When they are cooked through, add mango powder, mix well and check salt.Serve hot with roti.

Although the original recipe calls for adding amchoor early on, I prefer adding it later as I have been taught that sour stuff slows the tenderizing/cooking process.

Note: It is not advisable to be too measly with oil here, as the besan clumps can turn dry and brittle if the oil is too little. A generous but reasonable quantity (3 tbsp) makes the dish moist and tasty.

Bisi Bele Bhath

2009-03-12T11:00:00.007+08:00

Hope Holi was fun, colorful and full of good food for everyone. Our Holi lunch this time was Bisi Bele Bhath (BBB).
Although I am a big, Big, BIG fan of BBB,I never thought it was possible to make a decent one at home from scratch. I have made it a couple of times using the MTR mix, but it could hardly compare with some of the better reneditions of this fabulous dish I have had.
Finally, I came across a recipe that works well, and brings out the fresh, vibrant flavours that I associate with this dish.

Yesterday after enjoying it for the second time, I know this one is a winner.This is a recipe by Lali who has some neat cookery videos on youtube, and this is her mom's favourite dish. I also referred to this video on youtube, which uses the speedier way of cooking rice, veggies & dal together.
Based on the two videos, I came up with the following method, although I stayed true to Lali's BBB masala paste . You can add onions which I didn't use this time, as I avoid it on festivals. It still tasted wonderful, though, so it's really up to you.

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup thai rice
3/4 cup dal (80% arhar/toor+ 10% dhuli moong+ 10% red masoor)

2 cups of mixed veggie ( carrots, French beans, potato, peas)

2 tomatoes, quartered

1 small capsicum, cubed

a handful of soaked, cooked chickpeas (optional, don't fret over it if it's not handy)

fresh green chillies, optional
BBB masala,as below
1/2 glass tamarind juice( 1 lime sized lump of tamarind), soaked and strained
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
A handful of peanuts
A handful of curry leaves ( 15 or so)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

a pinch of red chili powder, if desired

BBB Masala

5 cloves , 1 inch cinnamon stick , 5 dried red chillies, 1 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp coriander seeds

Method

Step 1:

Soak the dal in warm water and rice in room temperature water for half an hour, while you prep the veggies (I used carrots, french beans, potato and peas). Also chop the tomatoes, capsicum and chillies as below.

Step 2:

Cook the dal, rice and veggies together in a pressure cooker for around 20 minutes (3 to 4whistles).

Step3:

Get the masala ingredients together. The peanuts are not part of the masala, they go in later.

Step 4:

Roast cloves, cinnamon, chana dal and coriander one at a time in a few drops of oil and keep aside.

Step5:

Grind together with the grated coconut into a coarse paste.

Heat oil in a wok,fry the peanuts and then curry leaves.Once they start to crackle,then tip in the tomatoes, capsicum & green chillies and cook for a bit.

Now add the masala dissolved in tamarind juice and more boiling water as needed to get a loose mix. Add salt,turmeric and chilli powder,if using, mix well and cook on low heat till it reaches a slightly runnier consistency than you want as it will thicken considerably on cooling.

Drizzle some ghee if you like and serve with fresh curd,your choice of vadam and salad.

Defattened Daily Delhi type meal

2009-02-21T22:31:00.003+08:00

In my parents' home in Delhi, we were access to some great cooks, and Prema aunty was one of the most formidable cooks in that little neighbourhood of ours. Living alone, she had learned to leverage her hobbies of rearing dogs and cooking to earn her livelihood. While I don't really know much about the first, but boy was she a good cook or what!

I especially remember her typical punju dishes, cholay, rajma chawal, bharta, aloo gobhi et al. Now while I was never a big fan of bhindi, especially the soggy, sticky version I usually came across, I loved Prema aunty's bhindi, until I discovered that she fried and heavy handedly coated it with a rich pyaaz tamatar( onion-toato) gravy. However, the last time I picked up Okra, I decided to defatten Prema Aunty's bhindi recipe and was pretty satisfied with the result. In keeping with the low fat theme , I made oil free kadhi and steamed rice, to round off the meal. Simple additions such as rotis, papad, salad and pickle would all complement the meal, for those who like slightly more elaborate spreads.

Here are the recipes:

Kadai Bhindi

250 gms okra, washed & wiped dry

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium tomato, finely chopped

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

Halve the bhindis lengthwise, if they are big, else just top and tail them. As always, the smaller variety of okra tends to be more flavourful and tender than the larger .

Drizzle around 1 tbsp oil on the okra, toss well to mix and roast in a preheated oven till done ( I used my tiny toaster oven which has imprecise temperature settings, so just approxiamated the time, which can be anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes). While the okra is roasting, heat up the remaining oil, fry onions till golden, add tomatoes, followed by all the spice powders and cook till it leaves a little oil. Once the okra is done, toss it with the onion tomato mixture, add salt to taste, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. That's it!

Sinless Kadhi Pakora

1 cup curd (I used whole milk)

3 tsp besan ( chickpea flour)

1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)

a pinch of turmeric powder

salt to taste

1 litre water

Pakori

1/2 cup besan

1/3 cup water

a pinch of salt

1 tsp of hot oil

Beat together besan and water and salt, really well, till you get a thick, flowing, lump free batter. Heat an appe pan ( I used a japanese takoyaki pan), and pour a few drops of oil in each depression. Drop sponfull of batter into each, and cook well on both sides. You can safely leave these pakoris while you are doing other work, they just don't taste as good as the fried ones, but after dropping them in the kadhi, you can hardly tell them apart!

For the kadhi, mix together everything except the salt in a large saucepan, pot. Bring to a slow boil, stirring continously. Once the mixture starts boiling, you need to stir intermittently every couple of minutes. let the kadhi cook on low heat for about 20 to 25 minutes after it starts boiling. You can increase/decrease the time depending on whether you want your kadhi thicker or runnier. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, bung in the pakoris. Remember that the kadhi will thicken somewhat on cooling.

Serve with freshly steamed, hot rice and kadai bhindi for a light, blissful lunch.

Tofu Matar Masala for an inspiring cause

2009-02-08T23:14:00.004+08:00

Hello everyone!

Just like with some of you, the global gloom and lack of a camera had me feeling thorughly uninspired to blog. While tackling the first problem is beyond me, I have finally decided to take on the second and buy myself a new camera, so hopefully there should be lots of foodie action here soon. Meanwhile, the realization that in three months, I will be completing a year of blogging, has me scampering to clear my drafts folder to ensure that my blog's second year starts with all fresh stuff.

However, the real catalyst to get me going again is something I came to know through Soma's blog, a BloggerAid fundraiser, organised by three thinking bloggers, Val, Giz and Ivy, aimed at raising funds for the United Nation's World Food Program. This will be in the form of a cookbook, with recipes contributed from bloggers all over the world, people like you and me. Do learn more about this project here and also consider contributing your own recipe to this great cause.

My humble contribution will be my easy, peasy (sorry, couldn't resist!), but really tasty Tofu Matar Masala, which has converted many tofu haters. Pan fried Tofu is tossed in a spicy, tomato sambal with peas and onions, a fusion of Indian and Indonesian cooking styles.Since the rules require that the recipe be totally original and should not be posted on your blog, I cannot share it here.

I would like to thank all of you who checked on me, and apologize to those who were disapointed by lack of new posts. Will really try to be regular henceforth.

Take care

Vegetarian Pad Thai

2008-12-18T23:07:00.011+08:00

Pad Thai is perhaps the most beloved of all Thai dishes, and also the easiest to vegetarianise. This is Thailand's ubiquitous street food, which is almost always made to order and so it's easy to opt out of meat, eggs and the omnipresent nam pla (fish sauce).

The term 'Pad Thai' literally translates to 'fried thai', but it really refers to (usually) flat rice noodles fried with thai spices & seasonings.

I remember at the end of a long trek on the hills of Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, we came upon this little shack which sold only 3 things: Pad Thai, Pepsi and Singha beer! We were so famished that we devoured that pad thai, nam pla and all, because try as we might, we just could not explain 'no fish sauce' to the dear old lady who cooked it. Aside of that, it was the most delicious Pad Thai I have had till date.

Now almost a decade of pad thai-ing later, I still rely on memories of that one's perfect texture and seasoning, to cook this dish at home. The recipe that follows is exactly how I remember it being made and served back then.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1. Flat rice noodles , around 100 gms

These need to be soaked for at least 45 minutes to up to 90 minutes in warm water, after which they would be soft and expanded, somewhat like this:

2. Peanuts (1/2 a cup although,the more, the merrier!)

dry roast in a fry pan till till the skin blisters, let cool then rub between your palms to skin them, or use pre-roasted peanuts

1 cup each
Moong bean sprouts
Garlic Chives (can be easily substituted with spring onions)

100 gms
Firm tofu, sliced & roasted without oil in a non stick pan, then cubed

Learn about 'Tofu Geometry' and dry roasting tofu here
Pad Thai sauce:
6 Tbsp of light soy sauce
3 to 4 tbsp of tamarind pulp
1 to 2 tbsp of sugar
salt, a pinch, or to taste
Mix and simmer everything together till the sugar gets dissolved. Taste to check if the balance of sweet, sour & salty is to your liking, the above proportions are broadly how I like it, although by now I have stopped measuring exactly. Add more salt, sugar, tamarind accordingly. Keep aside.
Shortcut: Substitute with common gur imli ( jaggery Tamarind) chutney that you use for chaat, its almost the same, minus the soy sauce, really!
What else:
4 tsp chopped garlic & shallots each
Oil
water as needed
salt, if required
lime and chili powder to garnish
Putting it together:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok, add 1 tsp garlic, followed by 1 tsp of shallots and fry for around a minute. Now add some tofu, then drain and add the a quarter of the soaked noodles. Fry for around another minute on medium flame and add some of the sauce. Keep stirring to ensure the noodles don't stick, should that happen, or if the noodles start looking too dry, add a splash of water. Now add beansprouts and chives and toss well to mix. Be generous with chives and sprouts as they cook down considerably. Check for salt and other seasonings, like all thai food, pad thai is really all about individual preference.Another 30 seconds or so and it should be done.

Tip: It helps to make only 1 to 2 servings at a time when making this, or any noodle dish for that matter. Even if you use a large wok, a big bunch of noodles almost always tends to get lumpy, or overcooked. Moreover, once you have everything ready, each serving takes only a few minutes to cook. For us , the above serves 3 adults and one child and I usually make it in 2 or 3 lots.

This is a great video I referred to the first few times I made pad thai. Do check it out.
The traditional way to garnish pad thai is with some more chives and sprouts, but it is totally up to your liking for them. As for me, I like them a lot, and like them raw, just as I remember them.

Serve some crushed peanuts, coarsely powdered chili & lime for everyone to season further to their taste. In Thailand, they also give a tiny mound of sugar on each plate, which I still haven't developed a taste for, but try that if you like.

Here's an extra spicy plate, the way ol' P likes it!

This plate of Pad Thai goes to AWED Thailand hosted by DK on her blog, Culinary Bazaar

Sugar & Spice mixed nuts

2008-12-08T22:40:00.007+08:00

My mom usually prepares lots of spiced, mixed nuts to offer guests who drop in on Diwali. In keeping with the tradition, this Diwali I made these toasty, fragrant nuts from a Nigella Lawson recipe, and my friends and family could just not get enough of them. These pictures in no way do justice to this lovely snack, as I only have my phone camera now to take pictures with. As some of you know, I forgot my camera back in India (And no way am I splurging on a new one right now!)

My friends couldn't believe at first that these were home made, claiming that they tasted like posh nosh from some fancy tuckshop, reason enough to blog it, bad pics and all!

Recipe:

I modified Nigella 's "Union Square Cafe Bar nuts" recipe(whew!) to include what I had at home, and what we have always had at India, and so pistachios replaced pecans and jaggery replaced muscavado sugar from the original recipe. The rosemary however I had to try and I am glad I did. While I am not sure what could be a good substitute (perhaps dried rosemary?), I am certain they would taste just as good without.
Around 150 gms each :

unsalted cashwnuts, almonds & pistachios

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

1.5 tsp salt

0.5 tsp chili powder

2 tsp powdered/ grated jaggery

2 tsp melted butter

Toast the nuts in a preheated oven for around 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix well everything else. Once the nuts are toasted, toss together with the spice mixture till nicely coated. Store in an airtight container, once they reach room temperature

Healthy,Spicy,Junky: Misal

2008-12-04T16:10:00.005+08:00

My apologies to everyone who visited this space looking for updates and particularly to friends who got tired of my "khandvi pics staring back at them":) you know who you are, don't you...

It has been more than a month since I wrote last so have been deliberating a lot on what to post. At first I thought of celebrating with some nice, fried thinggies, but just wasn't able to get the kadhai up, but then plain healthy stuff was not particularly appealing in the cool, rainy Singapore right now, so here's my compromise: healthy-junk food, an oxymoron as someone rightly calls it, and a close second favourite breakfast, after poha for a lot of my marathi friends.

The recipe I used is one I noted down years ago from the magazine "Upper Crust", which ran an article on Phadtare misal centre in Kolhapur.

Now misal is a bit of an involved 'fast food', as in you can't just decide to make Misal on a whim..the moth beans need to be sprouted, or soaked overnight/few hours at the very least. With sprouts on hand, putting misal together is a breeze.On with the recipe now:

Ingredients

1 cup moth beans (matki), soaked and sprouted

1 onion, finely chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1 boiled potato ( I usually skip it)

2 tsp garlic-ginger paste

1/2 tsp each : Mustard and Cumin seeds

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp goda or garam masala powder

White bread (I use the sasta, local type for authentic taste!)

Farsan/Namkeen of your choice

Oil , salt and chili powder to taste

Lemon, Cilantro and chopped onion for garnishing

Method

If you intend to sprout the beans, refer nupur or meera's excellent notes on the subject. If not then soak for a few hours and boil till slightly soft but not falling apart or mushy.

Usal

Fry one tsp ginger-garlic paste in oil until it turns reddish brown. Add onions and fry them , followed by tomato and fry till you get a nice paste which leaves a little oil on the side.Now add turmeric, salt, coriander powder and mix. (Optional:one some red chilli powder to the above)

Now add the sprouted moth/matki and the boiled potato if using . Pour some water ( say, 1 cup or so) and let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes on low flame till the liquid mostly dries up.
Katt:

Heat oil and fry the remaining ginger-garlic paste, add onions and cook till nicely fried. Now, add as much red chilli powder you'd care to eat. Add some coriander powder or dhana-jeera powder, turmeric powder, goda/garam masala powder and salt.Add tomatoes to this mixture and fry it until it forms a paste ( you can add tomato puree also.)
Add around 1.5 to 2 cups of water into the whole mixture and boil till it cooks through. The katt usually has a thin, soupy consistency.
Assembling:

Take the usal in a bowl. Add some farsan/namkeen to it. Put some kat on the top of that. Garnish with onion, cilantro, and some more farsaan, and sprinlkle little lemon juice if you like. Eat quickly before the farsaan gets too soggy with slices of plain, untoasted bread.

Also check out these authentic, traditional, misal posts, and variations

MW Khandvi and Namkeen Besan Burfi

2008-10-10T16:04:00.010+08:00

Khandvi, to me, is an exquisite and delicate snack, which I could anytime, if only someone would be willing to make for me. That is because, I associate khandvi with lot of hard work and time, stirring the mix at the stove, spreading it on thaalis and then painstakingly rolling each one. However, Sia's Microwave version eliminates the pain out of the first part atleast, and if kids are willing to help, then rolling them out is such fun.

However, my favourite way to eat these tangy snacks, as namkeen burfis, does not even require rolling them up. This is something that my mom does when she makes huge batches of khandvi, as by the time she finishes spreading it on 8 to 10 thalis, the last bit of the mix would have cooled down to an unspreadable mass, which she sets on one of the smaller thalis, and cuts into diamond, or square shaped burfis, depending on what the kids root for :)

Note:
The cooking time would really depend on your Microwave and the quantity you are making. I used a 4 year old Samsung combi MW and made a small batch, as I was cooking only for myself that day. I am only recapping Sia's recipe, see her post for the detailed version.
1/3 cup besan
1 cup buttermilk ( 1/3 dahi+ 2/3 water)
Add salt, turmeric, chili powder, hing
Mix well. MW on high for 11 minutes stirring every 3 minutes. Spread on greased thalis. cool, cut, roll, temper, eat.

Here's how much I got out of the above quantity, approxiamately two small thalis, with some leftover for burfis ( see the small white plate)

Tadka:

This is where I deviated a bit from the recipe, and used the tadka that my mom does for khandvi, which needs:

1 tsp oil, 1/4 tsp mustard, 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, 2 curry leaves and a pinch of red chilli powder.

Heat the oil in a tadka pan, add sesame and mustard seeds, and curry leaves (watch out for the splutter!). Take it off the heat, wait for 5 seconds and add the red chilli powder. Spoon on the khandvis.

MW Khandvi goes to T&T: Monsoon Spice hosted by Zlamushka. Thank you Sia, for a lovely and lazy khandvi recipe.

Back with Dal Bukhara & Tandoori Roti

2008-10-03T21:35:00.009+08:00

Feels good to be back here after a fortnight in India, centered around family, friends, festivities, fun and food , and lots of each!

On the food front, it was wonderful to confidently stride into any eating joint, without first pondering if they have vegetarian options. Infact, I actually had a vegetarian hot dog at a little kiosk in one of the nouveau dilli malls!!

Just like every time, I also had my fill of Dal Bukhara(DB) and Chole Bhature(CB), food that Delhi does better than anywhere else in the world. Anyone who shares my fondness for CB, drop me a line and I will be happy to share my favourite CB haunts:)

As for DB, while there are many worthy contenders, who may at times even surpass the original, for a predictably good kali dal, there is only one mecca, even if dal bukhara is pretty much all vegetarians like me can order there:(

After dozens of trials, and not quite there experiments, I am happy to report a recipe that in my admittedly biased opinion is nearly there.Have it with whole wheat, home made tandoori rotis, and you have a hearty, delicious meal.

Update:

If dal bukhara and makhni leave you confused, read what someone who has run through quite a few of them has to say

Dal Bukhara

This is one recipe that gives you a real bang for your butter, with just 2 tsp cream and 1 tbsp butter ( and yes.. that includes the butter & cream garnish on the dal!)
a little more than ¾ cup whole urad

a little less than¼ cup rajma

(Basically 1 katori together of which approxiamately 80% is urad and 20% is rajma).
2 small/1 large tomato pureed with an optional green chilli

paste of 8 cloves of garlic and a one inch knob of ginger
½ cup of readymade tomato puree ( I used Hunt's)
1 tbsp( 3tsp) unsalted butter
½ cup of milk
2 tsp cream
½ tsp Cumin, 4 cloves, 1 bayleaf, 1 inch cinnamon

salt, chili powder to taste

Update:

I was strongly advised against soaking this dal overnight as that makes the texture completely different after cooking and so , I have always made this dal after soaking in warm water for 2 hours at best, or at times even without pre-soaking and it has worked. But some pressure cookers do not cook this dal thoroughly without soaking for 2 to 3 hours, so do adjust according to your experience with your cooker.

Boil urad and rajma together in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water.In my old style hawkins cooker, it takes around 20 minutes on medium low flame, after the first whistle. Meanwhile, heat together 2 tsp oil and 2 tsp butter, add cumin, whole masala. Once it pops, add ginger garlic paste, fry till aromatic, then add fresh tomato puree. Cook it till all the juice evaporates and the tomato mixture thickens .

Now add ready made puree and cook for a few minutes before adding around half a cup of water. Let it cook some more till specks of oil can be seen on the top. If you have used as little oil as I do, you may not really see oil floating on the top, but it is cooked when it looks something like this:

Add the powdered spices and mix well. The dal will also be probably cooked by now, the grains soft but not totally mush.

Add the tomato mix to the cooker along with 1 cup of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Might need some more water if it turns too thick, too soon.Add milk and 1tsp cream, and cook till nice and thick. Garnish with remaining cream and butter.

Tandoori Roti

These short cut tandoori rotis were taught to me by our cook, Khem Singh, who in turn learned it during his stint at a small 4 star hotel, renowned for its great food. This was also his strategy to use up leftover atta dough that was not quite ideal for phulkas but was still not bad enough to be discarded. This is precisely what I used as well, atta that had been languishing in the refrigerator for two days.

For Tandoori Roti, use atta kneaded with just plain water, without any salt, or oil.Before making rotis, leave it outside the refrigerator for about 2 to 3 hours, if in a warm area like Singapore ( 30C or so), else adjust accordingly. Apparently, this makes the dough rise a bit, although I could not detect any visible change.

Now take a largish ball of dough (slightly smaller than a tennis ball) and roll out using wet hands on a kitchen slab or rolling board, or simply clap it between your hands.I did a bit of both. You may have to moisten your hands a few times to ensure that the roti does not stick to your hands. It does not really matter if the roti is not perfectly round, I gave up on that years back.

Have a frying pan handy, and keep it upside down on the gas flame for a few minutes. Slap the roti carefully on the bottom of the pan so that it sticks, and now keep it back on the flame upside down, like so:

Once the underside is cooked, (which should only take two to three minutes, but really depends on how strong your flame is) hold the pan over the flame, right side up so that the flames are almost touching the top of the roti. If everything has gone well, the top of the roti should rise slightly to form a nice, crisp crust, which cracks when tapped.

Pat a tiny bit of butter or ghee on the roti, if you like

Dal Bukhara goes as my entry to two great events where I am participating for the first time, Legume Love Affair concieved by Susan and hosted by Sra, and..

FIC Brown, concieved and hosted by Sunshine Mom

Moong Ke Cheelay, Haldiram Style

2008-09-14T18:18:00.012+08:00

Life has been a bit hectic for the past few days and will probably remain that way for all of this month as I am leaving for India later this week.
For now, let me share one of my favourite breakfast treat: Moong dal cheela err..no cheelay. Cheelay is the plural form of the lone cheela, and since I can never stop at one, it is always cheelay for me and not cheela

Now most Delhi halwais worth their halwa make cheelay, but the best according to me are what good old Haldiram dishes out. Light and flaky, with a scrumptious paneer and peas stuffing, they are an absolute delight. Since I was making them for a pre gym meal, I left out the paneer and used only the peas. To make it richer, add grated paneer or cheese to the stuffing, and serve with green chutney as Haldiram does. I wanted to add a calcium component to my meal and therefore served it with spiced dahi (yoghurt), making it an almost zone friendly meal
For 2 to 3 cheelay, we need
1/2 cup skinless moong dal
a tiny knob of ginger
one green chilli (optional)
a pinch of turmeric
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
Soak the dal for a minimum of 4 hours or even overnight. Drain and grind with ginger and chillies, using little water. We need roughly dosa batter consistency. Add turmeric, salt and asafoetida and beat it well for a couple of minutes, this makes them soft and light when cooked.
Tip:
If your batter becomes too watery, add a little besan to bring it to the right consistency.
If you are not inclined to beat the batter, add a pinch of baking soda to make it light and fluffy.
Peas stuffing:
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/ tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp oil

Crush the defrosted peas roughly. Heat oil and spluter cumin seeds, add hing followed by the peas. Add salt and chili powder. Mix well and cook for a minute or so till it turns a little dry. Keep aside.
Making the cheelay
Heat a non stick tawa and spread a ladleful dal batter in a circular motion, starting from the centre. At haliram they use a small katori ( steel bowl) to do this, but I don't want burnt knuckles, thank you, so a ladle it is for me.

Now dribble a few drops of oil all around the cheela and cook it for around two minutes on medium flame. When the underside turns golden, flip the cheela and cook the other side as well. If the cheelas are thin, overcooking them can make them tough, so adjust cooking time according to how thick or thin you spread them. Now put a little (or lots, as I do) stuffing on one side of the cheela.

Now fold the cheela and take it off the tawa. Make all the cheelas similarly. Depending on the size and thickness, 1/2 cup of dal yields about 2 to 3 cheelay.

Make spiced yoghurt to serve alongside, by adding salt, roasted cumin powder and red chili powder, or groundnut chutney powder ( recipe coming up in a later post).

These cheelay go off to Aparna who is hosting WBB Grains in my Breakfast started by Nandita of Saffron Trail.

And I absolutely must share my first experience of an 'OnaSadya', the fabulous traditional Onam spread . The restaurant, was dimly lit, and I only had my phone camera, but this meal has to be recorded in this blog , so here it is:

If any of my mallu friends are reading this, please correct me and don't laugh.

Starting from the top, there are pickles, and pachadis, one of them, a fruity one. Moving clockwise, we have banana chips, papad, kerala rice, parippu,avial, thoran, rasam and sambhar with Erissery and Olan in the middle. The two bowls on the right are pradhaman, one lentil and the other rice based.With so much food, its hard to imagine a second helping but I could not imagine waiting another year for that superlatively delicious olan and rosematta rice, and so I actually had another round of rice and olan . Whew!

HAPPY ONAM TO ALL!

A Hyderabadi Meal

2008-09-05T22:08:00.000+08:00

Hyderabad, the city of Charminar, gorgeous bangles and pearls, is although known more for its carnivorous food, does offer some amazing vegetarian delights..think baghare baingan, salan, kut, shirmal & khubaani ka meetha. All very decadent and delicious, but I perhaps a little too rich for everyday meals. Take for instance the baghare baingan for which a lot of recipes ask for atleast 1/4 cup of oil in addition to lots of peanuts, sesame and coconut, all of which are loaded with natural oils, making it a scrumptious but occasional indulgence.

Now there are some dishes where I don't mind the fat, but then baingan is the kind of vegetable that I eat all the time, unlike say brownies or pizza, and so to me a 385 calorie side dish of eggplants is plain illogical. I pared the oil down to 1 tsp, for 4 servings, which I could not reduce further, as I had onions to fry. Next time I will do away with the oil and onions completely and simply rely on the coconuts, peanuts and sesame to release their fragrant natural oils, ala thai curries and see if that works as well in this dish. For now, here's baghare baingan, in a dieter's delight version :

6 to 8 small purple eggplants,

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp grated coconut

1 tbsp peanuts

1.5 tsp coriander seeds, or 1 tsp coriander powder

3 to 4 dry red chillies ( go with 1 or 2 if you like it less spicy), or use 1/2 tsp chilli powder/cayenne

5 to 6 methi seeds (1/4 tsp)

1/2 cumin seeds

1 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 tsp oil

Wash and dry the eggplants, cut the base (stem part) off slightly make so that it can stand. Now make two perpendicular cuts on the other (rounded) end. For the stuffing, dry roast peanuts, sesame and coconut separately. Also roast the coriander seeds and dry chilli, unless you are using the readymade powders for these. Grind everything together till you get a coarse paste. Stuff this generously into the eggplant slits and keep any remaining stuffing aside.

Heat oil and add mustard and cumin seeds, followed by chopped onions once the seeds crackle. Once the onion is cooked, add the extra stuffing, if any and then carefully keep the eggplants one by one, cross side up. Add 1 cup of water and salt to taste and cover and cook on a low flame till the eggplants are done to your liking. I like them really soft, it took me a little over 20 minutes to get them done. If the water dries up too soon, add a little more.Once the eggplants are nearly done, add the tamarind pulp dissolved in 3 tbsp of water, mix well and cook for another couple of minutes. Serve warm.

1 cup of evenly sized arbi (taro/colocasia)

1 small onion, sliced

1 large tomato, finely chopped

1 tbsp tamarind pulp (optional)

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp each mustard and cumin seeds

1 tsp oil

Boil the arbi till tender but not mushy, took around 3 whistles in my pressure cooker. It works best if you boil them a couple of hours before preaparing as it is easier to peel once it cools down. If you are rushed, stick them in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes after boiling. Peel and cut the larger ones into two to make bite sized pieces. Now, flash fry it for a few seconds just to remove any sliminess or sprinkle some oil and roast it in the oven for a few minutes. Heat 1 tsp oil, crackle cumin and mustard seeds, and then add the onion. Once the onion is cooked, add the tomatoes and the turmeric, coriander & chili powder. Keep cooking till the tomatoes break down completely, then add the arvi. Season with salt to taste. Add tamarind now if using, I did'nt as it was already khatta enough for me. The original recipe called for 1 cup of water but i used only 1/2 cup as I wanted a dry curry. Simmer for a few mi utes till it reaches a consistency you like. Done.

We had these with plain rotis, and curd and dal. Initially I planned khatti dal, but since both the curries were tangy enough, I left the dal plain.All those lovely nuts and spices in these tangy curries ensured that we didn't miss the oil at all.

This goes to the Hyderabadi food festival hosted at Mona's pretty blog, Zaiqa.

Methi Matar Malai

2008-08-29T19:02:00.006+08:00

Methi Matar Malai is a gorgeous way to eat those greens. This is THE dish to convert methi haters into its ardent fans, at least that's what I underwent during my teens, and now I can have methi in any form, even seeds!

Yep, methi seeds are a detoxing aid, as shared by my trainer at Talwalkar, Mumbai years back. Just soak a quarter teaspoon (about 12 seeds) overnight, discard the water in the morning and gulp down the seeds with warm water on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning. It is said to clear the skin and strengthen hair.

Ok, getting back to mmm....methi matar malai, that is :D

We need,

1.5 cup fresh methi leaves, washed and plucked

1 cup frozen peas

1 small onion

1 to 2 large, mild green chillies, slit in the middle

2 cloves

2 green cardamom

1.5 cups milk

10 cashew nuts ( soaked in warm water for 20 minutes)

1 tbsp cream (optional)

1 tsp oil+1 tsp ghee ( or 2 tsp oil)

1/2 tsp coriander powder

a pinch of sugar

salt to taste

Make slits on the peeled onion, stud the cloves and cardamom and boil till the onion softens, should take around 6 to 8 minutes after the water reaches a boil. Discard the cloves and cardamom after boiling, they have done their job, you can add them back to the gravy later if you like a stronger flavour. Blend the drained onions. You can also blend the green chillies together with the onions if you prefer it spicy, but I wanted to keep it kid friendly this time. Adding the green chillies gives a lovely green hue to the paste.

Make a paste of the soaked cashewnuts and keep aside. Heat the oil & ghee (if using) together in a pan, saute the chillies and onion paste till the paste is lightly coloured and then add the cashewnut paste and fry till you can see small specks of oil. Now add the methi leaves and saute for a few minutes till they collapse slightly. Add the defrosted peas, coriander powder, salt, sugar and stir gently to mix everything. Add the milk and bring it to a gentle boil, stirring every two minutes. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat low and cook till it thickens slightly, remember that it will thicken a lot more after keeping. Check seasoning. Add cream now if you are using.I have made MMM many times before but this is the first time that i used cream and honestly I would not have guessed if I had'nt cooked it myself, as I could'nt really tell the difference between this and the one without cream. Goes really well with rotis and paranthas.

Variation:

A friend taught me a similar MMM recipe, with some tomatoes added. Just grate one large tomato and add it after frying the onion paste, but before adding the cashewnut paste. Proceed similar to the above recipe.

Off this goes to Herb Mania: Fenugreek hosted by Red Chillies.

Bánh mì chay

2008-08-24T15:41:00.029+08:00

Bánh mì is an edible souvenir of Vietnam's french colonisation . Encompassing the best of Eurpean and Asian food, with crusty french bread and fresh Asian herbs, it is a lovely fusion in the true sense of the word.The 'chay' denotes that it is vegetarian.

While Bánh mì is a sandwich really, it is not your pat some butter & cheese, slap another slice and eat and run sort of thing. This one needs a bit of time and planning, to create all the layers of flavours and textures that a good banh mi is, making it a great Sunday brunch, which is what is was for us today.

While some of the fillings are easy to play around with based on what you like and what you have, the key ingredients are pickled carrot and daikon(radish), and fresh cilantro, with a boldly flavoured protein bit ( Pork or chicken are traditional, then there is a basic egg version , I subbed with Tofu, but paneer should work even better). Most recipes also call for cucumber but we had none at hand, so add that if you like.

The components of this sandwich are :

*************************************************************************************************************************** Part I :The Sweet & Sour

Everyday Carrot and Daikon Pickle ( Đồ Chua)

Carrot, Julienned or coarsely grated to make 1 cup
Daikon (Mooli), Julienned or coarsely grated to make 1 cup
Vinegar 1/4 cup
Sugar, 1 tbsp
Salt,1.5 tsp
Water 2 cups

Dissolve the salt & sugar in vinegar and water to make a brine. Add the carrot and daikon to this and leave for atleat an hour. Whatever you don't use can keep for a month. Next time I will try to julienne instead of grating them as that will keep them crunchier much longer. I also had some extra brine and threw in a couple of chillies in it.Adapted from here.

********************************************************************************************************************************

Part II: The Succulent & Flavourful

Lemongrass Tofu (Dau Hu Xa Ot)

Firm Tofu ( or Paneer) 100 gms
Fresh Lemongrass 1 bulb, chopped to yield 1 tbsp
Garlic, 1 to 2 cloves, depending on the size
a pinch of turmeric
chilli powder (optional)
salt, a pinch
pepper ( black, white either should do)
cooking oil, 1 tsp
Light soy sauce 1 tbsp or regular soy sauce 1 tsp or salt 1/2 tsp

Pat dry and thinly slice the tofu or paneer. Finely chop lemongrass and garlic. Now if possible, crush them together with everything else, except the oil and soy sauce, else let it be and just mix the chopped lemongrass and garlic with turmeric, salt, chili and pepper.

Rub this marinade on the tofu, sprinkle the soy sauce and the oil and keep it aside to marinate for an hour ideally .

Now pan fry in a non stick pan using a little oil if required. If you are in a hurry, you could cook after 10 minutes of marination.

Inspired by this and this

*************************************************************************************

What else is required

French Baguette (In Vietnam they use a Baguette made with rice and wheat flour, which makes it really crusty and chewy). This is the size we used for two adults and 1 kid.

Fresh Cilantro (Coriander), just wash well, snap off the root and use together with the stalks (yes, the stalks do taste interesting)

Mayonnaise, Vegenaise, or this

Maggi Seasoning Sauce

Don't have it? Substitute it with a few drops of Ching's Mushroom Soy Sauce, or even leave it out. We only need a couple of drops anyway, and I did not want to add it to Shiv's sandwich as it does contain MSG. It is usually added to Banh Mi, but does not make much of a difference. Really.

Assembling the Bánh mì

Toast the bread just enough to warm it nicely.

Split it open at one end. Scoop out a bit inside if it is too dense for the fillings to hold well, I did not have to. Slice the onions, gently squeeze the water from the cilantro and pickled carrot & daikon.

Now, Spread some mayo on the bread, add some onions, then a couple of tofu slices . Stuff in some pickled carrot & daikon and add a few stalks of cilantro. Do not be tempted to leave out the stems, they taste delicious in this sandwich. Sprinkle a few drops of the seasoning sauce and the pickled chili, if using.
Keep your hungry other half from devouring it while you click some pics
Open your mouth as wide as you can and dig in.

These go to JFI Soya hosted by Sia, WBB Combi Breakfast at Latha's and A.W.E.D Vietnamese by DK. Thank you D, you finally made me try these out.

Puranpoli

2008-08-22T20:47:00.007+08:00

I have been so excited ever since Zlamushka announced this month's Tried & Tasted, celebrating Bee & Jai's blog, Jugalbandi. My favorites folder is overflowing with their recipes that I have been wanting to try, but my laziness and IQ (Inefficiency Quotient!) have been steadily growing as well. This blog has been getting ignored on some or the other lame excuse, for quite some time now.However, when I came across this recipe, I could not wait , as I had run out of excuses , to not make this.

All ingredients at hand ? Check.

Reasonably easy? Yep

Not unhealthy ? Nearly

Can it make a one dish meal ? Certainly

Will Shiv like it ? Oh yes

Do I like it ? Yes, yes, yes

Selfish as it may sound, the last one was the clincher.

Now there are only three sweet dishes that I really adore, Thai Sticky Rice with Mango, Ada Pradhaman and Puranpoli.

I no longer find fresh mangoes here so the first one is out. Ada pradhaman, I am too scared to attempt(what if I mess it up and then stop liking it too!). Finally, Puranpoli always seemed to be too much work and too much maida (white, refined flour) and so I almost never get to eat any home made sweets.

Bee's mom's amazing puranpoli are a blessing, made with wholewheat flour and very little ghee..no way was I going to pass these up.

They were also suprisingly easy to roll out, it took less than 1 minute to roll out each, and for someone whose rotis are rarely round, these turned out pretty decent.

The only variations I made:

1. I used our regular Roti dough, made with atta and water, as I had some that needed using up. I am certain that milk would have made the polis exceptionally softer, and that is what I will do when I next make these ( and that's going to be soon, I think)

2. Since the dough had no salt, I added a pinch of salt to the dal. A little salt does give a nice edge to the sweetness.

The verdict:

Exceptionally delicious, the atta makes it much more hearty and moreish, and compliments the earthy chana dal beautifully.

This is a truly special post and I cannot thank Bee enough for sharing her amma's recipe. These are easily the best Puranpolis I have had.

P.S : Getting carried away by the lovely pics at Jugalbandi, I also tried to roll all my polis stacked on each other , which gave them a scrumptious, crumbly top, that screamed for a dab of ghee. Go ahead and try that, these are totally worth it!

These have been inspiring in more ways than one, making me bloggish again. From now on, I will try and post at least once a week, every Friday, and stay better connected to this wonderful blog group.
One of our most active bloggers, Srivalli, has organised a fund raiser for 28 year old Lakshmi, who is urgent need of support from all of us to enable her to undergo an operation for Coronary Artery disease. Please visit Srivalli and contribute in whatever way you can. Thank You.

Happy Independence Day with Paneer Matar Tak-A-Tak

2008-08-15T16:22:00.007+08:00

In honour of independence day, i would like to share a simple but yummy dish, which I make whenever I get fresh/soft homemade paneer.

Tak-a -Tak dishes are typical Delhi shaadi ka khaana(wedding party grub).These are usually made to order on a huge tawa (griddle), kind of like the ones used for dosa.Tak a Tak is the sound that the spatula makes everytime it stirs the tawa contents. The dude cooking this up would sometimes match the sound to simple,popular tunes to amuse the kids .

This is a quick and tasty dish, if you have paneer and frozen peas on hand. It is usually very rich as it is cooked with a happy amount of oil, but tastes almost as good with very little oil too.

250 gms Paneer, cubed into small pieces

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 onion, chopped fine

1 tomato, chopped fine

1 tsp tawa fry masala or pav bhaji masala

salt to taste

2 tsp oil

Heat oil in a non stick wok, fry the onions for a couple of minutes, and then add the tomatoes. Fry some more till tomatoes turn mushy. Add the masala, paneer and peas. Sprinkle salt, and mix well, taking care not to mash the paneer. Taste and adjust seasonings. Eat with garam rotis.

Off this goes to dear Pooja's event.

Happy independence Day, folks

Kesar Narangi Basundi

2008-08-12T23:26:00.007+08:00

Basundi is something I have wanting to make for ages, and when I found a beautiful looking basundi recipe, I wasted no time in trying it out.

This is a heavenly milk based dessert, usually flavoured with mango, custard apple, oranges, pineapple or strawberries. To me, the combination of orange with milk sounded particularly appealing and so I made narangi basundi, with a generous dose of saffron, which elevates the most humble dish to something special and exotic.

After going through a number of recipes,I finally found one that did not need condensed milk or cream, none of which I had or was keen on as we wanted an extremely light summer dessert.

I pretty much followed the recipe to the extent that I even modelled my picture on it. I was not sure of how milk and oranges will really taste together so I halved it. Next time I will surely make lots more as it tastes even better the next day, when the flavours have melded beautifully.

Ingredients

3 cups whole milk

1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar **

Roasted almonds

1 orange, peel and remove the pith

1 tsp of saffron

Bring the milk to a boil, and let it simmer till it reduces to 2 cups, you could simmer it down to half of what you started with if you would like it thicker, which as I understand is how it should be.

Meanwhile toast 8 to 10 almonds on 160C for 7 to 8 minutes. Keep checking to ensure that they don't burn.

Dissolve half the saffron in 1 tsp warm milk and add it back to the rest. Keep the other half for garnishing. Just leave the remaining saffron in your still warm oven after the almonds are done for half a minute or so. Warming it intensifies the flavour of saffron.

When the milk is reduced to a thickness you like , add the sugar and leave it to cool. The milk will thicken a bit more after cooling.

Once it cools completely, mix the orange segments, sprinkle toasted almonds and saffron.

**I started with 1/4 cup of sugar, tried it and added a little more. Taste and stop when it reaches the right sweetness. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of sugar for 1 litre of milk.

You can also add half a tsp of cardamom powder, in which case, just halve the amount of saffron.

This Saffron flavoured Basundi is my entry to Sunita's Think Spice, which is celebrating its anniversary this month. Congratulations, Dear Sunita.

Mad about Thai: Yellow Curry

2008-08-03T23:42:00.021+08:00

Thai food is our undisputed favourite after Indian and every week or so, we get Thai food attacks. Having discovered some lovely thai stores, I now invariably make curries at home from scratch and what a sensory experience it is. The whole process of chopping herbs and spices and then pounding the curry paste is a lovely workout for your nose and arms. But if you would rather skip the excercise, go ahead and use a foodprocessor, and even then you would get way better curry paste what you get out of a can.

Being a vegetarian, I am usually uncomfortable with restaurant thai curries, as you cannot be sure that it does not contain shrimp paste or fish sauce, and making them at home ensures that I have them with my choice of vegetables, without any worries of the dreaded shrimp paste. My first crush was on red curry, then green and back to red, and yellow curry is a nice change when we want to go easy on heat.

Since I cannot quite decide which one is my favourite, I keep making them to help make up my mind;)
I would like to share today, the'Yellow curry' which is mild, and a super fragrant version of Indian curries .

Since I had enough paste to make two rounds of curry, we had it twice in a fortnight. The curry in the picture above is made using this technique to split the coconut milk which gives it a more roasted flavour and glossier look. I also added an extra pinch of chili powder to the curry.

Else ,I just fry the curry paste in oil and leave out chili powder, and the curry looks like this:

As with all Thai curries, we first make a fresh curry paste .

For making roughly 1/4 cup of Yellow Curry Paste, we need:

5 to 6 dried red chillies, soaked to soften
3/4 tsp whole coriander seeds
0.5 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass (use only the inner tender part)
1.5 tsp curry powder**
2 tsp chopped shallots (or red onions)
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped galangal
1 tsp chopped ginger

**I used a Thai brand called "Waugh's Curry Powder" recommended by a Thai cooking teacher in Phuket. To make your own, use turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder in the ratio of 2:1:1 and add a generous pinch of tea masala and garam masala .You can also use kitchen king masala as recommended by Jugalbandi.

Dry roast lightly, the coriander & cumin seeds on a tawa or a frying pan.

Using a pinch of salt ,pound everything in a mortar or use your food processor, but try not to make too fine a paste, we want a slight texture. The salt helps in grinding and keeps the paste fresh longer.

The vegetables I used the first time are carrots, babycorn, fresh water chestnuts, baby potatoes, shallots and broccoli. Water chestnuts add a flavourful crunch to the dish and this was how I had yellow curry the first time at the lovely Spice Route at Imperial, Delhi. I have not tried but canned ones may work too.Potatoes are preferably parboiled before using.

The second time I made this, I used only straw mushrooms, baby corn, long beans and broccoli, which were the vegetables I had on hand.

Making the curry:

Now there are two ways to do this. The first method involves heating the coconut milk on a low flame till it releases oil and using that to fry the paste. This method can give better results, using no oil, but is time consuming and not quite foolproof, depending on the quality of coconut milk. The easier approach is to fry the paste in some oil first.

Serves 1 or 2

1 cup of mixed vegetables
1 tbsp of sliced shallots, for topping
2 tbsp yellow curry paste
200 ml coconut milk (1 cup)
Light Soya sauce 2 tbsp ( or salt to taste)
a pinch of sugar (optional but recommended)
1.5 tbsp oil

1. Heat a wok ( preferably non stick) and add some oil ( around 1.5 to 2 tbsp) and fry the chopped shallots, drain and keep aside.In the same oil, fry the curry paste till fragrant ( around 2 minutes).

2. Add coconut milk and mix well. Let it come to a boil on low heat. Add all the vegetables in the order that they need to be cooked. If using potatoes, add them first.

3. Add around 1/4 cup of water if the curry looks too thick, although yellow curry is generally thicker and creamier than other curries.

4. Add soya/salt and sugar when the vegetables are nearly done. Simmer for another couple of minutes, check and adjust seasoning if required. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

This curry goes all the way from Thailand via Singapore to Srivalli's Curry Mela

A Summer Feast for Special Guests!

2008-07-30T18:15:00.001+08:00

The whole of this month, I have been planning a party for some really special, important but extremely hard to please guests.
Anyone cares to guess who could they be ????

It was my little one's birthday this Sunday and the 'guests' were 18 of his friends!

All those with young kids would understand my dilemma..I mean it's hard enough trying to figure out what to make that would please one child; just imagine coming up with attractive looking, non-messy food that would go down happily with one and a half dozen kids

Days of research and pondering later, this is what I came up with, and I am happy to inform you most of the food was enjoyed by the little conossieurs, with just enough leftovers to constitute my next day's brunch and tell me that kiddie food can be pretty, yummy and easy to put together.
Starting with sonny boy's favourite:

These were inspired by Saffron Hut, whose talented author no longer blogs, but has left behind a brilliant blog for all of us to admire and get inspired by.
I did make a few changes to her version, asI did not want to use peanut butter for fear of any of the kids being allergic to nuts, so here I am giving the list of what I used:
Oreo
Plain pretzels
Plain M&M
Cheese spread to stick the eyes
I also used some cheese spread on one inner side of the cookie to help pretzels stick better.

Saffron's recipe uses peanut butter. Try Jam. Or Nutella. Basically any sticky, yummy tasting stuff would work

I could not bear the ask the kids to wait for me to take pictures of the cookies, so I made them again today, to show what they look like.
Uh-oh, the green one's trying to run away!!

The next one was my personal favourite. Fresh, summer fruits threaded onto a satay stick to make a fruit kebab. Dunno why, but they tasted a lot nicer, eating them one after another heightens their taste, or maybe its just the visual appeal. Whatever be the reason, these did disappear even faster than the cookies!

Now this one certainly does not need a recipe, but here are some thoughts :

Do pick seasonal fruit, it always tastes better.

Try to go for a range of colours, textures and flavours. Some ideas:

Green, crunchy & sweet: Grapes, kiwis, melon( green apple is risky, kids are sometimes not too fond of it)
Red & juicy: Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, apple, watermelon
White: Marshmallow
Yellow & fragrant: Mango, pineapple, orange, papaya, peach
Creamy & sweet: Banana

That's it.....go make up your own rainbow

The final one is good old cucmber sandwich, which is dressed up ( down?) to make it look pretty and unusual. This was completely inspired by VegeyumYum, a fundu food artist....I mean, just look at this !!

We need:

Sandwich bread

Cheese Spread or Cream cheese

Cukes, thinly sliced using a peeler

Freshly crushed Black pepper

I used Amul cheese spread and the slim Japanese cucumbers.

Peel cucmber using a sharp peeler. Lay the slices of cucumber, slighlt overlapping. Do not use salt, as it will make the sandwiches soggy. The cheese usually has enough salt, anyway.Cut into desired shape.

See how she makes them even prettier by using cookie cutters to get interesting shapes.

And finally, my son would be extremely disappointed if I do not put a picture of his cake on the blog, given that he proudly chose it himself, with a picture of his current idol!

No, I certainly did not make it myself, infact I secretly tried to scrape off the Batman part before giving it to the kids, because of the food colour, which seemed to bother only me. For those who are interested, it was a fresh cream and strawberry layered cake. Quite alright.

For the accompanying adults, there was a Filipino style pasta salad, fries & chicken nuggets.

Me and P were too busy trying to play with kids to have much ourselves, and these were our brunch the next day, so I hope dear Sia would allow me to also send it to her sweet summer party.

Have a lovely day !

Monsoon Celebration:Chili Lime Chana, Salt & Vinegar Chana, Chiwda and Murukku

2008-07-24T05:34:00.016+08:00

The daily drizzle in Singapore has made me too lazy to cook, and step out of the house. The weather has given us perfect excuse to slob it out, watch bollywood movies and catch up on reading. But then, movies and books are no fun without masala tea, and tea is not half as good without some spicy munchies!
So here is some of my current favourite nosh which is easy to make, fun to eat, and best of all: guilt free!

Chili Lime Chana
Outside most schools,colleges and cinema halls in Delhi, you can find chana mungphalli bhaiyas, selling little cones of fried, spicy chickpeas and peanuts . As delicious as they are, I no longer have the nerve to mindlessly run through a couple of these in a go. This is a yummy alternative to keep your hands busy while you concentrate on unravelling that movie plot!

For 1 cup of Chili Lime Chana, we need:
1 cup roasted chickpeas
1 Tbsp lime juice ( to taste)
0.5 tsp each chili powder & cumin powder
a pinch of sugar & salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Mix lime juice, salt, sugar, spices and oil in a bowl. Coat the chickpeas liberally with this dressing and transfer to a foil lined baking dish. Go ahead and try one to check seasoning , after roasting it will be somewhat less masaledar than now.

Bake at 160C to 180C for about 7 to 10 minutes, checking after every couple of minutes to ensure it does not burn. The spices and lime should dry down to form a crisp coating on the chickpeas and the sugar caramelizes to lend it a nice crunch, try not to skip it:)

P.S : Anyone interested to see what happens if you forget the chickpeas roasting in the oven and let them burn, pls mail me for pics of my first attempt!

Salt & Vinegar Chana
If you like salt & vinegar crisps, you will like these salty, pungent chickpeas
1 cup roasted chickpeas
1.5 Tbsp vinegar( to taste)
salt to taste

a pinch of sugar
1 tsp oil

Mix vinegar, salt, sugar and oil in a bowl. Coat the chickpeas liberally with this dressing and bake at 180C for about 7 to 10 minutes, checking after every couple of minutes to ensure it does not burn.

The method for making both types of chana is exactly the same, only the flavourings differ. The base is dry roasted chickpeas ( bhuna chana), this was what I used.

Update:
If you cannot find Roasted Gram, then try using raw chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked till tender but retaining a bite, then roast similarly. In this case, they might require roasting longer.These links also describe how canned chickpeas might work in a similar recipe.
Although I have not tried yet, I feel Peanuts roasted the same way would be delicious as well !

Cereal Chiwda

Cereal Chiwda is another really delicious tea-time snack , and of late together with a cup of milk is often my breakfast as well. ( No, I do not mix them and eat !!)

Of course, any one or a combination of your favourite cereals would work well. I used the following:
1.5 cups Cheerios
0.5 cup of Kellogg Rice Krispies
0.5 cup of Cornflakes
0.5 cup of corn pops
a handful of roasted peanuts
2 tbsp of thick sev (optional)
1 tsp sesame seeds
0.5 tsp each of mustard seeds and cumin
0.5 tsp of sugar, turmeric powder and chili powder
1 tbsp of oil
salt to taste

Dry roast all the cereal in a large wok to remove any sogginess and keep aside(this is necessary given the humid weather here, it may not be required if your cereal is crunchy).
Heat half the oil in a large wok, add sesame seeds, mustard, cumin . Add all the cereal together and cook on a low flame for around two to four minutes. Add the spices and the remaining oil and mix well. Add salt and sugar, mix then add peanuts and sev. Cool and store.

Murukku
The final one..Murukku, may not be the healthiest snack around, but is oh soooo.. yummy that each is easily worth those extra 20 minutes on the treadmill!

I picked up a pack of MTR Murukku flour, which just needs to be mixed with water. I also added 1 tbsp of melted butter and 1 tsp of sesame seeds to the mix, and made these using my new murukku maker, which I was wanting to use for a long time.
That's all for now folks !
Enjoy the Monsoon Mania to the fullest !

Two ways with Wontons

2008-07-14T23:06:00.022+08:00

Wontons are one of our favourite snacks, and we enjoy them in all their glorious avtaars, potstickers (Gyoza), Red(Chili) Oil wontons, boiled and doused with fiery chili dressing and the simple but nourishing Wonton Soup. Here is a picture of chili oil wonton that I found on a Chinese Restaurant menu. I have never tried these ones outside home as I have yet to find a vegetarian version, but it is one of the most popular dishes in Sichuan Restaurants in Singapore.

Wonton in Chili Oil

Wonton soup was available only in a few chinese restaurants in India, during my childhood days. I still remember the fun I had with my cousins competing to see who could manage the whole wonton in a go. A delicately flavoured,clear soup makes a light accompanient to these little beauties .

Wonton in Soup
For both the above, the first step is to make wontons. If you cannot find readymade wonton wrappers, make a smooth dough with plain flour and cornflour in the ratio of 4:1, using water, roll into thin rotis and cut using a square cookie cutter.

Vegetarian Wontons

18 to 20 wonton wrappers
1/2 cup each carrots, cabbage, French beans,
1 tsp each ginger & garlic
1 tsp oil
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil, fry ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add all the other vegetables. Cook for a few minutes. All salt at the end to avoid it becoming a watery mess. Let cool before using.

Wrapping the Wonton
Wontons can be folded in many different ways. The one below works well for soup and the chili oil version below. It's original name in Chinese is chāo shǒu , which literally translates to folded hands. Poetic, isn't it ?

1. Put around one heaped teaspoon of filling in the center of a thawed wonton wrapper. Dip your finger in some water and lightly wet the edges to help them seal.

2. Fold it in half , by joining the opposite corners to form a triangle

3. Now, pick it up holding one corner in each hand and in one swift motion bring the two corners together and stick them by pressing firmly. Use a dab of water if the wontons are dry and cannot stick properly.

4. Make all of them similarly. You can freeze them at this stage if you like. Don't they look so cute with their folded hands? And like ultaa nurse caps!

Chili Oil Wonton
To make 2 servings, we need:
Wontons 9 to 10, wrapped as described above, with your choice of filling
For the sauce, mix together the following
Light Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
Chili Paste, 1 tsp
Chili oil ,3 tsp
To make chili oil at home , heat 1/4 cup oil, (preferably peanut) to smoking, switch off the gas and add 5 broken dried red chillies. Strain after two hours and use. Keeps for a month

Method:
Bring some water to a boil, drop the wontons a few at a time and cook till they float up on their own.
Scoop a few wonton a bowl.Pour half the sauce over them, top with chopped green onions, a little crushed peanut and (optional) fried onions.

Eat!

Wonton Soup

For wonton soup, first make vegetable stock, by simmering 1/2 cup of any or all of your favourite vegetables, 2 cloves of garlic, one onion, whole sichuan pepper (or 2 cloves and a few peppercorns) in around 4 cups of water. Strain and use when the water is reduced to about 3 cups.
Some vegetables I like to use for stock are:
Carrot, Potato, Asparagus, Leeks, Shitake Mushroom

Bring the stock to boil, season to taste with salt, pepper and light soya sauce.Divide the wontons between the serving bowls, and top with the hot stock. You can add a few leaves of spinach too, they taste lovely in this soup, and can add cubed tofu/paneer as well. Top with green onions. Slurppp!

Update:

If you do not have light soya sauce, then this might work:

dark soy sauce: 3/4 tsp

salt: 1/4 tsp

water: 3 Tbsp

Mix all the above and use instead of 4 tbsp of light soy.

Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries has a soy sauce primer , describing the various types of soy sauce and how they differ.

These are my second entry to AWED Chinese hosted by DK. The first was Chili Garlic noodles.

Dr. Roopa's Bhuni Arbi and Sev Tameta: Less is More

2008-07-10T16:41:00.010+08:00

Nupur, I must admit that your 'Less is More' theme is really addictive!

Of late, I find myself invariably seeking out simple, easy recipes and almost always getting pleasantly surprised at how good subzis taste with fewer ingredients, and the increased diposable time it leaves you with is certainly a bonus!

Bhuni Arbi

This is one dish that I tried quite sometime back, and remembered to take pictures of. This is a recipe shared by Anjali of Anna Parabrahma, who in turn got it from her family friend Dr. Roopa. Dr. Roopa is a visionary who has been silently working on improving the life of tribals, healing through alternative medicine and is also a progressive educationist. Do read more about her and her work on Anjali's blog. Little surprise then, that her recipe for Bhuni Arbi is one of the tastiest and healthiest ways of preparing this vegetable.

Minus, oil & salt, the original recipe lists six ingredients, with coriander powder and cumin powder given separately. Since I used dhana jeera powder ( coriander-cumin powder), I hope Nupur will allow me to categorize it as a five ingredient dish!

Served with plain rotis and Pooja's awesome Sev Tameta, this was a homely, yet truly memorable lunch.

Nupur, you got me so hooked that I can hardly wait to make my next 'Less is More' dish!

Bhuni Arbi, Sev Tameta and Roti

Meera's Khatarnak Tendlya Talasani ! 'Less is More'

2008-07-07T21:35:00.008+08:00

When this month's MBP was announced by my favourite blogger, Nupur, I almost whooped for joy!

Trust Nups to come up with the minimalistic theme of 'Less is More' for MBP, dishes that take less than 5 ingredients to make.
As my first entry, I decied to make the gorgeous Tendlya Talasani from Meera's lovely blog, a fun recipe where you spank the poor Tendli and garlic into submission to one of the simplest but yummiest side dishes I have had in a long time.

Tendlya Talasani

A word of caution for Clumsies like me; do not be over zealous in smashing up the Tendlis, or your kitchen and clothes will all be splattered like so:

Other than mess up everything around, including my laptop which I had planted in the kitchen so as to not miss any step, I followed Meera's recipe to the T, including adding salt only after the Tendlis had finish cooking.

For those who are planning to try it, I can just say that this recipe is mindblowing, almost literally, as it is not for the faint of heart!

But spice lovers like me will barely be able to let it finish cooking as the tantalizing aroma of chilli and garlic frying together is pure torture! It's no surprise therefore that my finished dish does not look half as good as Meera's, but this did not stop me from enjoying it to the last bit over two dal chawal meals.

My favourite bits were the chilli coated garlic pieces, a perfect complement to the crunchy Tendli. This was my first time making a Konkani dish, and I am completely hooked!

Meera, I totally LOVE the delicious, traditional fare that you cook. Thank you so much for helping me discover the wonderful cooking of your homeland.

Baniyon wale Dahi ke Alu

2008-07-02T16:02:00.008+08:00

I have gone through more than my fair share of identity crisis, as all my life I have been mistaken for a Punjabi, even though my knowledge of Punjabi is laughable at best , and way below what most dilliwallahs can manage!

Not only in Mumbai, did I have to patiently educate junta that just because I am from Delhi does not automatically qualify me as a Punjabi, but the worst was when most Delhi folks also mistook me for one!

The story continues in Singapore too, as the minute I step into any Indian DVD store, all the latest 'punjabi' hits are offered to me!

Bhags, I am sure you understand what I go through, and taking a page from your book, I assert my 'bania-ness' with this authentic, homestyle recipe for 'dahi wale aloo'.

The Baniyas of UP rarely ever use onion and garlic in their food, relying on simple spices to create subtle but delicious gravy dishes. This recipe is usually made with boiled, mashed potatoes or arbi(colocasia), but this time I used baby potatoes, just because they look so cute !

Ingredients

Boiled & peeled whole baby potatoes, 10 to 12

1 medium tomato

1/2 cup dahi (plain yoghurt)

a small knob of ginger, peeled

one or two fresh green chillies,optional

1/2 tsp each cumin seeds, red chili powder, turmeric & coriander powder

a pinch of hing ( asafoetida)

2 tsp oil

salt to taste

How to:

Poke the potatoes gently in a couple of places with a fork, toothpick, or the back of a matchstick, as our cook used to!

Whizz the tomatoes, ginger & green chillis in a blender. Heat the oil in a pan and add hing & cumin. As soon as the cumin starts popping, (it should not burn or blacken, will turn bitter!), add the dry spice powders and the tomato, ginger-chili paste. Fry nicely, till it leaves some oil.

Now, take it off the flame and after a minute or so, add half the yoghurt, stirring constantly. Put the pan back on the flame and stir for a couple of minutes till the yoghurt gets completely cooked. This is an important step, if ignored, the curd can split and get curdled!

Add around 2 cups of water and salt and let it simmer till the water is reduced by half a cup. Now take some of the gravy and mix it with the remaining yoghurt and add it back to the saucepan, which should be on a really low flame. Check for seasoning, garnish with fresh coriander and serve with plain paranthe or poori.

For those who can read Hindi, here's another homestyle way of making dahi aloo without the tomatoes, resulting in the typical 'yellow' dahi aloo. Me? I love my tomatoes!

Chilli Garlic Shanghai noodles

2008-06-29T16:27:00.006+08:00

Hope everyone is having a great weekend !

This weekend has been rather dull on the cooking front, as we did not cook and eat much at home. We are heading out for dinner again at a friend's place but just wanted to share a quick recipe for spicy noodles that we had for lunch today .

Chili Garlic Shanghai noodles

Ingredients

Wheat noodles 100 gms (dry weight)

Shredded cabbage 1 cup

Shredded carrot 1/2 cup

Wood ear mushrooms soaked & chopped 1/2 cup

Chopped spring onions 2 stalks

Finely chopped garlic 1 tbsp

Finely chopped ginger 1tsp

Dried Red chillies 3 to 4

Salt 1/2 tsp

Light soy sauce 2tbsp (or 2tsp dark soy)

Chili paste/Chili sauce 1tsp

Oil 2 tsp

Method

Bring around 5 cups of water to a rolling boil, and add the noodles . It is important to add the noodles only after the water starts boiling, else they may get overcooked. Boil for about three minutes or as per the noodle maker's instructions. Wash under cold water,drain, sprinkle a few drops of oil and keep aside.These are the noodles I used:

Heat the oil in a non stick wok and fry chillies till they turn a shade darker and keep aside. What we are left with is chili oil. In the same oil, fry the garlic and ginger till fragrant. Then add the cabbage, carrot and spring onion whites and toss for about 30 seconds. Add the noodles, chili paste, soy sauce and toss lightly to mix. Do not fry for too long as the noodles will get overcooked. Top with the spring onion greens and the chili that we had fried earlier, broken into pieces.

Enjoy !

Here are some that we made for our little one, replacing ketchup with chili paste:

Off this goes now as my entry to A.W.E.D Chinese hosted by DK at her lovely Culinary Bazaar.

Pithale, Bhakri & Peanut Chutney for Nupur's Tried & Tasted

2008-06-25T20:04:00.011+08:00

Posts for MBP and Tried & Tasted kind of blog events are the easiest kinds to write. No worrying about the proportions, somebody else has already perfected that for you, no need to jot down the recipe, all you have to do is cook, click and eat!

Nupur's blog will always be extra special for me as she was my introduction to food blogging. I discovered her blog on googling vada pav, when I was homesick in Singapore and I could hardly believe what I found! What a treasure trove it was: Sukh Sagar's pav bhaji, Bombay sandwiches and lots popular vegetarian fare from regional Indian and International cuisines !

Even though Nupur's repertoire is extremely vast, with recipes ranging from easy to elaborate, I picked up one of her simplest recipes, as it is something I have been wanting to try for ages: Pithale.

Pithale is a bit like Kadhi without the yoghurt, with a very nice, earthy taste. I made jowar bhakris to go with it, and rounded off the meal with some onions, green chilli and readymade chilli garlic peanut chutney, for which Nupur has a great recipe too, if you want to make it at home.

Her recipe is meant to serve four, but I had it all by myself for lunch, so scrumptious it was.

I changed nothing, except skipping curry and coriander leaves, none of which were on hand. A truly delicious and satiating meal. Off this goes to Tried & Tasted hosted by Zlamushka. Thank you Nupur and Zlamushka!

Masala Puri from Aayi's recipe:MBP Streetfood and some awards long due!

2008-06-22T21:03:00.009+08:00

MBP Streetfood, now that's my kind of event! My arrival here just in the nick time is usual, notwithstanding my great love for streetfood. This sasta, rasta ka nashta ( inexpensive roadside snack) is often enough my lunch but can rarely make it to the blog as it is hard for me to pause to take pics of chaat, and it gets over way faster than I can make it!

However, finally I resolved that I will halt for a count of 10, click 5 quick pictures and then attack! The other thing was that I wanted to make something totally new but as a hard core chaat aficionado, it was hard to find a popular chaat that I had not tried earlier. My hunt paid off with this recipe at Shilpa's outstanding blog, heartwarmingly named Aayi's recipes.On my few visits to Bangalore, I have surprisingly missed this chaat as there are too many favourites out there to try, but one look at it and I knew we would click!

My only two modifications: replacing sweet imli chutney with dry garlic chutney as I am not a big fan of sweet chutney, and skipping carrots which I would have loved but did not have. Both of us were hooked after the first bite and I know now, why this recipe met Shilpa's exacting standards.

A big Thank You to Sia for hosting this event, started by Coffee which helps you discover fabulous gems from our friend's blogs, and choosing street food as it's theme. I still remember Nupur's beautiful & apt desrciption of a vada pav: "the heartbeat of a city in a portable, edible form". To me, nothing else encapsulates the taste of a city like its street food. Food which people across age groups, income level & religion enjoy together. Food which is more customized than what is possible in the finest restaurants. Food that costs next to nothing but feeds the soul.

My salaam to street food !!

I would also like to take this opportunity to pass on some awards that I have been hoarding for a while now. Once a bania, always a bania , I guess:)

Now that I have earned enough sood (interest) on it, let me pass it on to my more deserving blogger pals.

Starting with the adorable Good Chat Award, which I would like to pass on to these newly discovered ( for me!)blogs with honest writing and honest food, where I have learnt some wholesome, delicious , everyday recipes:

Bharti of Veggie Foodist

Sharmila of Kichukon

Mallika of Quick Indian cooking

Nice matters award

Asha of Foodie's hope:

The beloved Asha akka of Foodie's hope is not just fab cook, she is also a thoroughly nice person, who takes out time to visit blogs, including those of new comers like me and her lavish praise has encouraged many of us to cook more and better. Thank you Asha, for being so nice.

Nupur of One Hot Stove:

Nupur must be one of the nicest people around, even though I only know her through her writing, I almost feel like she's an old pal. Yay for Nupur!

Bee of Jugalbandi:

Sugar & Spice & everything nice is what comes to my mind when I think of Bee. We all know that her food, photographs & writing, all have a punch, but it is nothing compared to how wonderful a person she is. She has added a fabulous word : "possibilitarian" to my vocabulary and hopefully my attitude. Thank you Bee, for being a possibilitarian and showing me that I can 'bee' one too.

You make my day award

Swati of Chatkhor:

Swati & I hit it off almost instantly and what was only a way for me to chronicle recipes has found me a very close friend. Even though most of the time she is all games and masti, she is a very sensitive and warm person at heart . Chatting and talking with her rubs off her 'enthu' on me and makes even my dullest day. To use her lingo, I'm senti about her, and I hope that one day she fulfills all her dreams.

Sharmila of Kichukon:

Even though she has started blogging only recently, in a little over a month, Sharmila has posted 30 recipes! Her food, her writing and her comments are all so comforting and homely. I was deeply touched when on reading my comment on her awesome jolkhaberer torkari, she immediately updated her post with a recipe for the same. Her blog has some lovely nuggets like this really easy & healthy laddoo made out of leftover rotis and delicious ghugni from a stall near Orissa's Konark temple. Even though her blog has had few visitors and fewer commentors, she writes with much more enthusiasm and frequency than a lazy bum like me does. Keep writing girl, I am proud of you , and reading you truly makes my day.

Kolkata Street Food: JHAL MURI

2008-06-18T03:06:00.013+08:00

Jhal Muri means to Kolkata what Bhel means to Mumbai, and even though both are based on puffed rice, they are a world apart in flavour. Between the two, Jhal Muri is easier to put together on a whim, as it does not need three kinds of chutney, and therefore requires less pre-planning than bhel. Apparently, Jhal can mean not just spicy, but also pungent , and this snack gets its jhal from mustard oil, red onions and if you are up for it : fresh green chillies !

Do you remember, Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, Namesake, where Ashima, craves for Muri in the 70’s US, and has to make do with rice krispies. We are fortunate to get our muri supplies from little Bangladeshi stores here, including Bengali chanachur(a spicy crispy namkeen) and mustard oil. Endowed with these precious resources, muri is something I whip up ever so often, whenever we need a quick, light bite.

Even though I have never been to Kolkata, the Muri we used to have in CR Park, Delhi’s Little Kolkata, was my introduction to this lovely snack. As the sun would go down, the CR park market would get filled with families, each member heading to their favourite snack wallah with Ghugni, chowmein, roll and of course muri being the biggest draws.

This is how our favourite "muri bhaiya" used to make it:

Ingredients:
2 cups crisp puffed rice
1 medium red onion, chopped
½ a boiled potato, chopped
A little chanchur, or any spicy crisp Indian mixture-can use sev or bhujiya also
½ tsp bhuna zeera (roasted cumin powder)
Salt to taste
2 fresh green chillies
1 tsp mustard oil : very important-substitute with pickle oil if you don’t have this
Variation: I added half a small, firm tomato, finely diced. This is neither traditional, nor recommended unless the tomato is really firm, as it can turn muri soggy, but since I am very fond of tomatoes and happened to have an exceptionally firm one around, I added it this time.
Optional additions:
Finely chopped fresh coconut pieces
Finely chopped Raw mango
1 tbsp Kala chana, or black gram, soaked overnight
Method
Here’s our own little muri station

Mix the chanachur and salt with the muri (puffed rice)

Add the potato, onion, green chillies and tomato (if using)

Add cumin powder and mustard oil. Mix well and eat as soon as possible.

Mooli na Thepla, Kacha Papaya nu Shaak aur Masala Chai

2008-06-16T02:08:00.013+08:00

Even though I belong to India's Roti heartland, I believe that it is the Gujaratis that have discovered the secret to making the best rotis in the world, and I have always loved their rotlis, theplas & puris. My latest attempt at thepla had me singing for joy, as after several tries at thepla in the past one year, I have finally hit upon THE formula that worked just like I wanted and I could not wait to share it with all of you.

This meal rescued two fibre rich vegetables, purchased with the promise of being turned into crunchy salads, but which had remained forgotten till these Gujarati recipes came along to rescue them. The papaya shaak, which is actually a cross between a salad and pickle is from this book by Asha Khatau .

Served with a dollop of dahi, or yoghurt, this combo makes a delicious, hearty Indian breakfast. The concluding touch to this meal was the best masala tea that I have ever made, the secret to which is hard to guess. Thanks to Trupti of The Spice Who Loved Me who shared her Dad's special tea. The mystery ingredient in this tea is kulfi masala! I brought home the only two brands of kulfi masala that I could get as I could not find the one she recommended , but what a difference it made to the tea! The recipe is here.

Mooli Thepla

Ingredients

1.5 cups of wheat flour

1 small radish (1/2 cup grated)
1 tbsp of oil
1 tsp sesame seeds

1/2 tsp coriander-cumin powder
1/2 tsp of chilli powder

1/2 tsp of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

Method:

Coarsely grate the radish. Mix the Flour, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, and oil
Add the radish and mix with the flour, squeezing the radish as you go. Sprinkle water, oif needed, little at a time till you get a nice smooth dough.

Make golf ball size balls of the dough and roll out about into a thin round.Partially cook the first side on slow heat first, turn it over and cook the other side similarly.Smear 1/2 tsp of oil on the first side and turn it over. Repeat with the other side.Now flip back to the first side, the thepla should have some brown spots. Repeat with the other side.

Do read this for another recipe for mooli thepla and an interesting story about chapati bais

Kacha Papaya nu Shaak (Raw Papaya Salad)
(adapted from Asha Khatau's book on Indian cooking)
Ingredients
1 small Raw papaya, peeled and sliced (or grated)
1” piece Ginger, finely chopped
2 Green chillies, slit from the middle
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
A few curry leaves
1 tsp Oil
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves, to garnish
Method:
Heat oil, add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, chilies, ginger and turmeric. Now add raw papaya, cook for a couple of minutes.

Add salt and cover till a bit soft. Add sugar, turn off the flame. Sprinkle lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with coriander and serve at room temperature.

Serve at room temperature with theplas.These Mooli na Theplas are going to Srivalli's Roti Mela.

Thai style Banana Blossom Salad

2008-06-13T16:06:00.010+08:00

I first saw these purple beauties in Delhi's CR park, a few years back. Almost immediately I bought it, without knowing what can be done with it! Luckily, our Bengali cook, knew lots of ways of cooking it and she proceeded to make mochar ghonto with it. Now all I gathered about the cooking process is that the ghonto, took many ghantas to prepare. Since I have never understood the point in slaving for hours in the kitchen just to make one small bowl of sabzi, this pretty vegetable did not make an appearance in my kitchen again.

Not very sure of my spellings, but its called vazhapoo in tamil, mochar in bengali , kele ka phool in hindi and hua plee in thai.

Many years later, when we tried a thai salad called yum hua plee, we were amazed at the lovely crunchy texture and I knew I had to make it atleast once. I was delighted when I found out that this salad literally takes minutes to put together, as preparing it is almost as easy as slicing onions, without the tears!

This little salad, in its various avatars is extremely popular throughout SE Asia, but the ones that we make most often are a spunky Thai style and a milder Filipino rendition, which I have learnt from Jocelyn, our Filipino helper.

The generic name for Thai salads is yum, and yummy they are! Most Thai salads are a delicate balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy , and this one is no different. What makes this one unusual though, is the texture and the slightly astringent taste of the banana blossom, which many find similar to artichokes ! To make it vegetarian, I have substituted tofu for the chicken that is typically added, but you can just as well add paneer, or even make it with only banana blossom.

For this recipe, we do not need the baby buds, or the florets, which contain the bitter stamen, and therefore prepping it is really easy. Simply pluck away the tough, purple coloured outer leaves till or bracts until the inner, paler portion is revealed. Cut it lengthwise into two, and slice thinly. While you prepare the other ingredienyts, soak it in water to which some lime juice/ white vinegar has been added to eliminate any bitterness and prevent discolouration. Drain when ready to use. The florets can be used to make delicious paruppu usli , with some excellent step by step instrunctions by Suganya.

Update: Since some of us are not quite sure of what part to use, I have added a link to prema's excellent post on preparing banana bud. We slice the white bud in the picture, which she has used whole. Thank you Prema for an excellent recipe!

Yum Hua Plee
Serves 2
1 banana blossom, prepared as above

3 shallots /small red onion, sliced
½ firm, small tomato, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
½ cup baked/fried tofu/paneer (optional)
Dressing:
Mix together:
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp light soy sauce/ salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chilli paste

1 tbsp coconut milk/cream

Garnish:
cilantro, spring onions and fried shallots

Drain the banana blossom and toss with the dressing. Add tofu/paneer if using. Garnish with some cilantro,spring onion greens and crispy fried shallots .
Enjoy!

Lucknowi Special: Awadhi Katahal Biryani (Jackfruit Biryani)

2008-06-10T16:01:00.018+08:00

The first time I heard about this awesome dish was when in a nostalgic moment, Prashant was reminiscing about Lucknowi khana, which he used to miss in Delhi, Since that day, this biryani was soething he mentioned often, leaving me with little choice but to dig up its recipe and try my hand at it. The first time when we made it, I came closer to understanding, why mutton biryani and the humble vegetable biryani are in different leagues altogether.

Update: I was editing this post and I accidentally deleted it. I'll be putting down the recipe again soon, but it might be a bit different from what I had written earlier. Meanwhile, if anybody happens to have saved a copy, please do let me know. Thank you.

Click for Bri: Home made Mustard, Bengali Kasundi

2008-06-05T15:10:00.013+08:00

Ironically, after getting officially labelled as a chatterbox, there has been a sudden silence on my blog. We have been eating and cooking at home as often, with the enthu of a food blog fresher, but after reading about Bri, i just knew that my next post had to be Click for Bri. Every time I logged on to my computer, our past meals stared at me hopefully, patiently awaiting publication, but I had totally lost the inclination to post them, till I completed Click for Bri.

Briana Brownlow-'Bri' to her friends is one of the 5% of women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 30. That was two and a half years ago.In August 2007, she started Figs With Bri - a serene, beautiful space where she shares with us her creative experiments with wonderful local organic ingredients. A month and a half ago, her worst fears came true. She learnt that her cancer has returned and metastasized to her lungs, her lymph nodes and several areas in her bones and is at Stage IV. Jugalbandi has organisd a fundraiser for Bri, to empower her to explore holistic treatment alternatives, which her health insurance company has shockingly denied !

Please visit jugalbandi and Bri to know more about her, and contribute in any way that you can to help her win this battle. You can make a difference in any or all of the following ways:

Contribute for her treatment

Participate in this special edition of click

and,

Help spread the word

I have made my own humble contribution, and would like to post this recipe, which is special for me, only for Bri.

I normally dread mustard sauce, my memories tainted by years of escaping Nirula’s illogically popular mustard. But a couple of years back , at a Bengali restaurant called “Oh Calcutta” in Delhi,a freshly made version of mustard sauce called Kasundi, totally swept me off my feet , so much so that I tried to convince them to start retailing these. The restaurant manager, who knew that their flavourful mustard is what makes its customers repeatedly ordering those wonderful chops and cutlets, diplomatically managed his way out of my request. Ever since, I have tried all the different brands of kasundi that I could find, but none measured up to that one.

So, when this event was announced, I knew I had to finally try my hand at the lovely yellow kasundi, and began a frantic search for the right recipe, but managed to find only one recipe and dozens of kasundi fan clubs. It seems that most kasundi lovers buy the stuff readymade, from their trusty old sources. Since I am not so lucky, with much trepidation , I decided to use that lone recipe. Thankfully, I lucked out, as it was comfortingly close to the fabled Kasundi that I was seeking.

This is how I made it:
1 small raw mango (green)
2 tbsp mustard seeds-I used a mix of brown & yellow
5 green chillis
5 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt

Simply whizz them together in a blender, adding some water to facilitate blending. Despite adding yellow mustard seeds, the paste initially was pale green and not pungent enough, so in a moment of panic, I added a pinch of turmeric and 1 spoon of raw mustard oil. Later I realised that this was perhaps unnecessary, as the colour and flavour both intensified over the next few hours. The above proportions resulted in a nice and thick kasundi which was pungent and spicy, but does not batter your olfactory senses like some commercial ones do.
Verdict : This was so lip-smackingly good, that I actually skipped dinner and dipped anything that i could lay my hands on from crudités & crackers to ripe mango in it. It was also a fabulous dip for the pumpkin korokke ( the closest I can find to Bengali chops!) that I bought from a local Japanese deli, especially for this.

In fact, it was so addictive that I had to keep it by my bedside table, just in case !

So, finally how yellow was my Kasundi ?

I got so carried away, that I clicked it against all the yellow objects that I could find on my desk

As you can see, a little later I almost completely lost it

Dear Bri, sending this your way, with all my prayers for your speedy recovery. Your wisdom, warmth and wit so inspire us and we are all rooting for you.
Go Bri !

Ho jaye kuch gup shup aur Benaras ki galiyon ka nashta!

2008-06-01T01:48:00.014+08:00

My first month of food blogging is ending on a happy note today with the very cute "good chat award" from swati.I would love to pass on this award to all of you great bloggers and chatters, and in particular these two bloggers whose posts make me smile, reflect, and laugh.

bhags of crazy curry: She rides a bike, reads Proust, loves snacking, and refers to her husband as Mr. Kanth, whose stories I so enjoy reading about.Read this post to see how she outwits Mr. Kanth.

arundathi of my food blog: a pro with chopsticks , who enjoys fast driving and is helping a friend set up her kitchen. Here she even has a riddle..see if you can guess this one.

And now, to celebrate the joys of chatting, or gapashtik, as my dear hubby likes to call it in lucknowi hindi, I want to share what I consider , a great find of a recipe which I chanced upon several years ago. This recipe was contributed by Supriyo Dey at Bawarchi and this is what Supriyo says about it:

"I am contributing an authentic and easiest recipe that I learnt from my mom. This is a traditonal Benarsi breakfast sold with Hing ki kachori and Jalebi, in every "raasta" and "galis "of Varanasi "

This recipe has that distinctive street food aroma, and is healthy to boot.You can easily team it with roti or parantha and if you want to have it with rice, just retain the gravy, and it will pair up fabulously !

After making it exactly as per this recipe the first time, I have made a slight variation of cooking the chana before adding the rest of the ingredients, as otherwise it remains a bit undercooked for my liking. Do check out the original recipe to decide how you prefer it.

Ingredients

1 medium Eggplant cut in big pieces
1 medium sized Potatoes cubed
1/4 cup Black Grams (kaala chana) soaked overnight
1 big Tomato chopped roughly
one inch piece of Ginger, chopped or grated
1/2 tsp Panchphoran
a pinch of Hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Amchoor
1/4 tsp Garam Masala

Method:

Pressure cook chana with 2 cups water for 3 to 4 whistles, and keep aside. Meanwhile, heat 3 tsp oil in a non stick wok. Add hing, followed by Panchphoran, turmeric and chilli powder. Add eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes and stir till tomatoes turn a bit mushy.

Add this to the cooker with chana (including the water in which it was cooked) and add salt to taste, half of the ginger and green chillies. Pressure cook for another 2 to 3 whistles.

Once the cooker releases steam, take the lid off and mash some vegetables to thicken the gravy. Lastly, add the grated ginger, garam masala and amchoor, and cook till it reaches the consistency you like.

Since we were having it with pooris, I cooked it till the gravy became pretty thick.

Serve it to your gang of friends with your favourite kachori or pooris, garma garam chai and lots of gossip!

Spicy Kadai Tofu

2008-05-30T23:15:00.008+08:00

Whenever P finds out that we are having Tofu-something for dinner, his work day gets extended miraculously, from 7 pm to 9pm, and he is invariably half full by the time he comes home , on some random snack picked up on the way.

But a couple of evenings back, I decided to do a little number on him, when I told him that I am making kadhai paneer for dinner. And what d' you know, P is home at 7:00 sharp, full appetite in tow. I barely get time to take a few hurried pictures, when we begin to eat. Midway through the meal, I tell him that he is eating tofu but by now he is too involved with the dinner to care !

Finally,after we finish dinner, his verdict was : If this is so good with tofu, I can only imagine how awesome it will taste with paneer !

This has therefore become my goto recipe for any dish with the kadhai pre-fix. Kadhai-mushroom, K-gobhi, K- aloo..

My base recipe was Sanjeev Kapoor's kadhai paneer recipe, and the only change I have made is to cut down the quantity of oil mentioned, in addition to substituting pan fried tofu for paneer.

Firm Tofu 300 gms
2 medium sized Tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 capsicum (chopped into large chunks)
1 medium sized Onion-sliced
1 tsp each Ginger & garlic paste
2 Dried Red chillies
1 tbsp Coriander seeds -crushed
1 tsp each Coriander and red chilli powder
2 Cloves , one inch stick of Cinnamon and one bay leaf
Salt to taste
1.5 tbsp oil

1. Spray some oil in a wok and lightly fry the tofu, till it turns brown at the edges. Keep aside and heat the oil in the same wok. Add bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies broken into two and f the crushed coriander seeds. Sauté for half a minute.
2. Add onion and stir-fry for thirty seconds and add ginger paste and garlic paste. Cook for another thirty seconds.
3. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and tomatoes. Cook on high heat till tomatoes start to break down a bit. Add tofu, capsicum and salt. Add half a cup of water. Cook covered on low heat for five minutes. Garnish with cilantro, if you have any, I did not.

Update: Capsicum/Green Bell pepper, which is tofu's co-star in this recipe may qualify this for pooja's VOW-Bell Pepper. Will try my luck and send it across to her:)

CLICK : Beans 'n Lentils

2008-05-30T12:27:00.007+08:00

This photograph shows nine beans, soaked and sprouted in a recycled takeaway container. The original post is here.

This picture is special for me as it is the very first photograph that I took for my food blog. My dear blogger pal, Swati who read through my entire blog, dug this one out and encouraged me to send this to click, hosted by jai & bee.

To be honest, I am rather nervous about this humble entry, as it was never planned as a showcase picture, and moreover as most of you know by now, photography is not my strong point. A quick Google search on recent entries to click threw up such awe inspiring photographs that I just hope you guys don’t laugh at me for sending this to click.

And finally, even though it may sound corny, but for Swati, I want to say :

Friends are people who remember things about you that you have long forgotten yourself.......

Going ga ga over Gyozas!!

2008-05-29T11:12:00.017+08:00

Much to P's chagrin, my lil one's current favourite food when eating out is..............................................................................................Japanese !

Little S loves it with almost the same passion that the Big P avoids it with. Me, I am somewhere between the two, but much closer to S than P. But one Japanese food that we all adore equally(besides the yummy fried tempuras, of course! ) is Gyoza.

At a very basic level, Gyoza are similar to our momos, Chinese wonton, and even Italian ravioli, in that they are all dough wrappers with various fillings. What differs is the thickness of the skin, the fillings, the dipping sauce and in some cases the cooking technique. Since all of the above is usually available in a mostly carnivorous avatar here, I end up making my own, whenever the urge to eat them strikes, which is often:P

This time when we made them, I remembered to take pictures of every step and even urged Jocelyn, our dear helper to demo how to pleat it. After much persuasion and promising that the camera will only capture her hands, she finally agreed, So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Step 1

Chop all the filling ingredients , as fine as you possibly can, as chunky pieces can tear your beautiful gyozas. Traditional Japanese fillings for Gyoza are leeks, cabbage, mushrooms or pork. I made vegetarian momo type filling with carrots, cabbage, French beans, ginger & garlic.

Step 2

Fry together lightly using a tiny bit of oil. Add seasonings ( salt & pepper) once it cools down a bit to avoid making it watery. Since I like things spicy, I added red chilli powder as well. A lot of recipes do not call for cooking the filling, but I like it better this way.

Step 3

I used readymade gyoza wrappers, since they are available easily here, but one simple way to make them from scratch is to just make a nice dough of flour (maida) with warm water, similar to soft roti dough. You could then roll out each into a circle or just make a huge roti and cut out circles with a cookie cutter. Check out how Pearls of East makes the dough from scratch .

Okie, these Japanese wrappers are what I used for the first half of the dumplings, and for the other half I used Chinese wonton skins. The main difference between the two is that the Jap wrappers are thinner and white coloured as they do not use eggs. The Chinese ones are slightly thicker and yellow because of the egg. They can be round or square, depending on the final shape you want. Here in Singapore, every shape/pattern has a distinctive filling and manner of cooking-steaming, boiling, frying or pan frying.

The first picture at the top uses japanese gyoza wrapper and this one is using chinese gyoza skins:

Step 4
Spoon some filling in each wrappers, wet the edges with some water, just enough to make it sticky nut not too wet, and crimp the border . I will shut up here and just let the video explain how. It may look daunting at first to make those pleats, but half of those gyozas have been wrapped by me, who was trying it the first time (and no, those are not the worst looking ones there!).So trust me, with a little practice, you can do it too. It took all of 75 seconds to make one gyoza, that too when J was going deliberately slow.Those who can do gunjiyas or ghugras have an obvious edge, but after making a few, you will soon get the hang of it.

Here's a video of our dear Jocelyn showing us how to make gyoza:)

Now there are various ways to cook gyoza, but my favourite and the easiest way is to pan fry it. The subsequent day I made some more, this time boiled in a soup and another delicious sichuan chilli oil variation that is popular . I will put that up soon.

Step 5

Heat up a little oil in a wok/saucepan which has a lid. You can also an oil spray instead in a non stick wok.

Step 6

When the oil is moderately hot, put in all the gyoza carefully, flat side down.I made two standing gyozas ( the ones n the centre), slightly differently shaped than the others, but the other ones are tastier as greater surface area gets fried.

Step 7

Let it cook for around 2 minutes, and then add half a cup of water and quickly cover it. The water turns to steam and cooks the gyoza through.

Step 8

In another 4 to 5 minutes, the water should have dried off, if not uncover and let the excess water evaporate. The bottoms of the gyozas would have turned crispy by now, and the other side should be shiny ,plump & translucent. I like my gyozas a bit burnt, so you decide how crisp you want them.

Serve them with any dipping sauce you like. The ones I used are :

Sriracha sauce,

And this dipping sauce:
3 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp red chilli paste ( optional)
two drops sesame oil

Simply mix everything together and serve with the gyozas.

Also check out the lip smacking dip that our 'chatkhor' has made for her momos, which would go fantastically with these

Cardamom-scented, Creamy Hot Chocolate

2008-05-27T22:37:00.011+08:00

We are normally not big fans of white chocolate as it is too sweet, buttery and almost burfi-esque, and hey, it's actually not even chocolate ! While I am far from an evolved chocolate aficionado, I have invariably treated the fair-skinned, distant cousin of the rich , brown mood elevator with contempt!

But when last week, some friends brought home big slabs of the stuff, I could not bear to let it go waste, and began my hunt for ways to use it meaningfully. Luckily, I managed to find a fairy godmother of a recipe that transforms this plain lump of sugar and cocoa butter into a soothing, creamy drink. The very characteristics that make it fall short as a chocolate are what make it excel as a sweet, buttery beverage. However, it still needs a comrade to conquer its blandness, and the super-aromatic cardamom comes to it's rescue and elevates it to a star. Although the original recipe recommends flavouring it with coffee powder, I personally felt that the strong espresso flavour will prove more a competitor than an ally to the demure white chocolate.

Do try this delicious drink, even if, you cannot stand white chocolate. Just one warm, cardamom perfumed cuppa will change your relationship with this fair maiden forever.

We need:

1 cup of milk (2%, skim is fine, but I used whole)

30 gms of white chocolate, chopped

(Do take this site's suggestion about the quality of white chocolate seriously!)

1 green cardamom

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Makes one mug of comfort

Add the chocolate and vanilla extract to a heat proof container. Microwave/ warm milk together with the cardamom just till it is about to boil. Add 1/4 cup of this milk to the chocolate and stir till the chocolate melts. Add the remaining milk, and using a hand blender, or milk frother, mix nicely till desired foaminess is reached. Sprinkle a little dark cocoa powder before serving, if you do not want the chocolate conoisseur brigade to come after you !

Many of my wet, Singapore afternoons, when it rains endlessly have been cheered up by this almost beatific looking beverage and a not so beatific paperback!

I would also like to send this to Sunita's Think Spice-Cardamom hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food. I hope she accepts it as I am nearly two days late. If not, you can be sure I will be drowning my sorrows in another cup of- HWC !

Update: I am also sending this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle on appetizers and Hors'D oeuvres hosted by our flamboyant hostess Mansi:)

An award, a confession and a simple thai dessert

2008-05-25T17:56:00.018+08:00

A few days back, a dear blogger friend from Singapore, who goes by the intriguing name of Not yet 100, passed on my first ever blog award:the yummy blog award. Since she has granted me my five mintes of fame, I would like to get a few things off my chest that I have been wanting to say for some time now. This award started by Roopa , requires me to:

a. Name four of my favourite desserts
b. Pass this award to four fab bloggers.

Now both these tasks are just a little bit complicated for me.The first one, because I have been (in)famous within my friends and family as a dessert hater-more specifically I have always avoided Indian desserts as I find most of them overwhelmingly sweet- the prospect of having jalebis, gulabjamuns, laddus etc. is daunting for me.

So much so that on my engagement day, as per the custom, all my aunt/uncle in laws would 'muh mitha' me (feed me some sweets to welcome me to the family). The very idea of enduring all those laddus made me dizzy, and good ol' Prashant, told his mom. My empathetic MIL, who had come down from Lucknow, arranged for kishmish(raisins), so that the custom could be honoured without the fascinating spectacle of their DIL daintily throwing up all over the place!

However, a few desserts which are mildly sweets (and chocolates),are welcome once in a while.These are :

1. Mango with sweet sticky rice (Khao neow mamuang): This is a famous thai dessert that we discovered accidently this January during a cooing workshop in Phuket. Imagine my surprise on discovering how delicious this dish is when just before the class, I was urging the instructor to let me swap this one for another salad/noodle dish. However, she insisted that I should try this and I am glad that for once I listened to those who know better !

2. Chocolate fudge: Almost 2 decades ago, this was the first dish I ever made, from a Tarla Dalal recipe, and recently chocolate fudge again off Deeba's blog.

3. Ada pradhaman : I first had this at Ananda Bhavan in Singapore as part of my thali and found it amazingly mellow and delicious.

4. Movenpick Caramel Ice cream: For all my talk of disliking sweet desserts, this is one of the very few ice creams I like and it happens to be seriously sweet. But this one works for me..dunno why ! Call me wierd but it does remind me of Mishti Doi, which is another sweet that I am pretty fond of !

Now comes the second part and my confession:

This award needs to be passed on to four bloggers whose blogs I find yummy. Lots of problems here : just FOUR blogs ( you can imagine how tough this is for someone like me who perhaps subscribes to, like 50 blogs !!!!), not to mention that most blogs have already recieved the award, some even twice !

OK..OK , cut to the chase..so what is my confession ?

I, um have shamelessly bookmarked dozens of recipes in my non blogging days, usually even without a little thank you or comment to the blogger who took the pains to click, write and post a recipe. ( Hang my head in shame). Partly because I was not sure how to intoduce myself to the blogger, and partly my laziness. Not that either of the two is a good enough reason, but well that's how its been.

In an admittedly lame effort to make up, I would like to pass this award to some of the bloggers I have most often bookmarked/tried but failed to credit when I should have. These are :

Manasi of A cook at heart, who taught me the very delicious Dadpe pohe, a yummy unfried version of the ever popular poha. Not only has her healthier recipe made me lose 57 gms of excess weight that i attribute to my fondness for poha but has also caused a great poha divide between me & P, who still favours the cooked version.

Kamini of The Bubbling Cauldron : Her awesome aloo sabzi has perked up many dull dinners for us, I think I have bookmarked nearly half of her blog.

Daagh of A.R.A.D, who taught me to finally start liking simple vegetables like Guvar and palak tamatar, as much as the yummy cheese balls and mont carlo that the charming fatee whips up!

Saju,Mohsin,Joanne & Graingers of Chachi's kitchen for who showed me that with some effort, everything from vegan sushi to moussaka is possible.

These four amazing bloggers have made our meals happier, easier and newer by introducing me to unusual recipes and showing me how to make some of our favourites.There are lots of other bloggers too who have inspired me but today I have to limit myself to only four. Henceforth, I have also made it a point to always leave comments before book marking any recipe, else let the curse of the food gods turn my food to dust! A very warm and heartfelt thanks to all of you and hope you will forgive me for not acknowledging and thanking you then.

I would also like to make a special mention of the very popular Nupur of One Hot Stove, who was my very first introduction to the world of food blogs and remains my hero. Her recipes, her writing and her wisdom, has always so inspired me.She has already recieved this and many more well deserved awards, and I am another of her ardent fan.

Finally when on my birthday in March, I decided to 'gift' myself a blog, I realized how much thought goes into each and every post. That too, when my photography is limited to a very old & basic digicam, or my camera phone. I can imagine the kind of effort it is for those who take great pains to create beautiful settings and click those fab pictures that can put glossies to shame.

Now I also know how happy new comers feel when a veteran notices and encourages them. This is how I felt when I first saw Bee's comment. And I could hardly believe it when subsequently Asha, Richa, Trupti, Manasi, Nandita and Anita visited my still rather 'rough around the edges' blog. It's like you grow up watching Amitabh Bachhan, and one day he turns around and says hi !

All of you are such heroes that I would not have the audacity to hand you an award, even though your blogs are yummy beyond doubt.

All I can say is THANK YOU for sharing your lovely pictures and recipes with us so generously and enriching our lives with your wonderful writing.

And finally, for those of you who are still with me, here's the recipe, for one of the simplest desserts ever:

This is a dish that I first tasted and learnt rather reluctantly in a cooking workshop, but quickly changed my opinion after the first few spoonfuls. For those who like mangoes and coconuts ( I guess that should include most of us), this is such a winning combination, that I strongly urge you to try making it atleast once at home as the one served in most thai restaurants is usually made hours before and just does not taste the same. Do as the thais do, and have it for lunch/light dinner on summer evenings when it is too hot to cook a full meal.

Khao Niew Mamuang or Mangoes with sweet, sticky rice

All it needs is :

1 cup of glutinous rice*
1 cup of coconut milk
5 to 6 tbsp of sugar ( to taste, actually)
a tiny pinch of salt ( yep, salt!)
Your favourite mango, sliced or cubed ( i used the Alphonso in the picture below)

* This is a special opaque,short grained rice easily available in asian stores, looks something like this:

Rinse and soak the rice for 3 hours or even overnight. If in a hurry, you can even make do with 30 to 60 minutes of soaking, but pre-soaking is a must.

The traditional method calls for steaming the rice for about 20 minutes in a muslin cloth (similar to what you use for making paneer/coconut milk). However, I have recently learned a MW method which works almost as well, which is to cook rice with 10% more water than the rice (1 cup rice to 1.1 cup water) for about 9 to 10 minutes at full power. The rice should be cooked completely and give easily but not be too mushy. Here's a close up of the final dish:

Separately, we make the coconut sauce: On a low heat, mix the sugar & salt with the coconut milk till dissolved & keep aside. The salt is absolutely integral to the recipe as it emphasizes the sweetness of the sugar and coconut. When the rice is still warm, add 3/4th of the sauce to the rice, mix gently and keep covered for 10 minutes.

At the time of serving, plate some rice and mangoes for each person, pour some sauce on top and sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds. BTW, another popular way of serving this in thailand is with some fried moong dal sprinkled on top ! Yes, the same dal that we all love to snack on :)

And what can we do with the odd little bits of mango and little clumps of rice, that sometimes remain after all the bowls have been set ?

Make mango sushi ! My little one enjoyed it so much that I also tried the same trick with watermelon, and he loved that too !

This sweet, fragrant, cheery looking,yellow and white dessert is dedicated to all those wonderful people who touch others lives with their lovely blogs.

Scrumptious,Oil-free, Thai Red curry

2008-05-23T12:59:00.016+08:00

All this yummy curry-talk in the blogsphere made me want to rustle up one of my favourite curries, the thai red curry. Most cooks in Thailand make coconut based curries without adding any oil, as the coconut milk iteslf is fairly rich in oil. However, since some recipe books advise frying the paste in oil, I was reluctant to try otherwise for a long time. A few months back, a lonely afternoon found me cooking only for myself , and I thought what the heck, lets try out curry without oil.

Surprise, surprise..not only did it turn out tastier, with a more pronounced coco-nutty favour, it looked way richer than my earlier curries did. Although, for this method to work well, it is critical to use good quality coconut milk, which separates easily on frying, poor quality coconut milk sometimes curdles with this method. Some recipes that also use this method are here and here.

We need

1 cup of mixed veggies+tofu/chicken
1.5 tbsp curry paste
2 tbsp coconut cream
1 cup coconut milk/water ( For a richer curry, use coconut milk)
5 kaffir lime leaves
2 tbsp light soya sauce

Here's what I did:

1. Prepare all the ingredients you want to use for the curry-I used carrots, cauliflower, beans and ready cooked tofu.

2.Skim off two tablespoons of the thick coconut cream which settles if you leave the milk undisturbed for a while and add to the pan.

3. On a low flame stir for a few minutes till it breaks.You will notice specks of oil when this happens. Have patience-this can take a few minutes. You want to avoid oil now, don't you ?

4. Add curry paste ( I used readymade paste picked up from thailand this time-which also explains the otherwordly orange colour! but the recipe I use to make it from scratch is very close to the one from this book)

5. Mix it well and stir intermittently till it starts looking like this- it will take only a minute or so

6. Add water/coconut milk-I used water, but coconut milk gives it a more mellow flavour & colour and not the bright red you see here.

7. Let it come to a boil and add the veggies only. ( I add tofu later, but if you are using chicken/meat which needs longer cooking, I believe it needs to be added now).

8. When the veggies are almost cooked, add tofu, soya/fish sauce & lime leaves and let it simmer for another minute.

9. Take it off the flame. You can drizzle some coconut milk on top like the restaurants tend to- I invariably skip this. Also add some some fresh basil leaves-I ran out of it, but it adds a wonderful aroma.

10. Serve with some steamed jasmine rice and slurp up !

Sev Tomato Poha

2008-05-21T10:52:00.007+08:00

I have been eating poha for as long as I can remember. However,the poha that I grew up eating and the one that I mostly make now are rather different. Till I moved to Bombay, I was only familiar with turmeric-less poha made with a sprinkle of red chilli powder, which tinged it with a gentle pink-brown.

It was in Bombay that I learned how to make batata, kanda poha with the characteristic yellow hue. And recently, after reading Kajal's post on poha, I have started adding freshly chopped tomatoes and sev to the poha, which adds such an interesting texture and flavour to the poha that now we don't like it any other way.

I usually skip potatoes and peas, unless I am making poha or guests as I find it too 'carby' for a regular breakfast. That aside,my method almost the same as Kajal's. Thanks Kajal, for introducing us to these yummy additions to our regular poha. We totally love it !

Bombay's Ultimate Triple Decker grilled sandwich

2008-05-18T23:35:00.001+08:00

What happens when a kitchen newbie take over for half a day ?

Breakfast is served at 11, three pans are needed for boiling and peeling potatoes, another seven bowls are fished out for cheese, tomato and onion, butter & cheese is used with gay abandon but all is happily overlooked when wicked cheese sandwiches replace the usual angelic cereal and cold milk.

This is what happened in our little kitch today when Prashant after getting pestered by me to make breakfast whipped up a truly scrumtious grilled sandwich, just like we used to eat ever so often at a little fast food joint near Breach candy, called 'The Right Place', during our bombay days.

Somehow, I can never manage to get this sandwich to taste like the real thing, not only am I too wimpish when it comes to cheese and butter, I am also too lazy to gather all the stuff that goes into it, willing to substitute , or do without whatever's unavailable. On the other hand, Prashant happily butters the slices and tosses in shredded cheese with as much nonchalance as The Right Place sandwich 'bhaiyas', and also diligently tracks down all the delightful stuffings like simla mirch (yellow peppers don't have the same zing!) and Amul butter that are characteristic of the real Mc Coy. Therefore, my demands of going easy on the butter & cheese is met with a reaction not unlike that of the bhaiyas at Right Place who would throw me a disdainful look when I made such odd requests !

Here's Prashant's fully loaded, perfect grilled sandwich, which together with a tall glass of ice tea makes our yummy sunday brunch.

all we need is :

white sandwich bread 6 slices
1 firm tomato, sliced
1 onion, sliced into rings
1 medium boiled potato, mashed with salt/chaat masala
1 small capsicum, sliced
75g cheddar cheese
butter
chaat masala/salt & pepper

Method:
Butter the bread slices on one side, (at Right Place, obviously both sides have to be buttered, after all, 50 rupey ka sandwich hai!). slather some green chutney over the butter, spread potato and onion on one slice and capsicum & tomato on the other. Toss some shredded cheese on both.With the first slice as base, place the second one on top, veggie side up. Top with the third slice, with the chutney side pressing down on the veggies/cheese. PAM spray both sides of the sandwich maker (use the grill attachment), and grill till crispy and golden brown. No sanwich maker ? No problem, just cook it on a hot tawa using PAM/oil/butter till nicely done. Take it one level higher by serving with some xtra zingy ketchup, :p created by the jugalbandi duo

Off this goes to the sandwich festival hosted by Anupama.

Janki has a lovely post on the "breach candy sandwiches", as they are called in Bombay, with a step by step pictorial guide to making them. She concludes by declaring it No.1 Bombay food ! Do check out her illustrated guide to these sandwiches here.

A rustic rajasthani thali : Bundi ki kadhi, jowar pyaz ki roti and lahsun chutney

2008-05-12T20:54:00.001+08:00

I am a great fan of simple, rustic meals rustled up with just a handful of ingredients. Rajasthan is one of the few states in India where the people excel at making the most of whatever they get, which I first learnt on my visit to a village called Rajgarh in Alwar,Rajasthan.

I was a fussy teenager then and accepted the homely meal that was offered to me in the village only out of politeness, planning to pick up a packet of Uncle Chips after our visit was over. After the first couple of reluctant bites, I realized how very enjoyable that meal was and promptly requested for seconds:-)

I have tried to recreate that same meal as my entry to RCI Rajasthan, with Bundi ki kadhi, jowar pyaz ki roti, lahsun chutney, kairi chutney and a simple dal srved with pyaaz. This kadhi can also be made completely oil free, if instead of tadka we just add cloves, methi and hing to the besan mixture.

Bundi ki Kadhi

Ingredients

1 cup sour curd

3 tbsp besan

1/2 tsp each chilli and turmeric powder

4 cups water

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

5 cloves, 1/ tsp methi seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds and a pinch of hing

1 tsp ghee

To serve:

2 tbsp readymade bundi

chilli flakes (optional)

Method

Beat the curd and besan together and add the salt, turmeric and chilli powders. Add the water and keep aside. Heat the oil in a thick bottomed saucepan, add cloves and methi ( watch out-those things pop !). Take the pan off heat and pour the curd besan mixture. Keep it back on the flame and bring it to a slow boil, stirring continously. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for 20 minutes or till it almost reaches the consistency you want, it will thicken on cooling. Add boondi now and when ready to serve, give a tadka with ghee, cumin and hing. Sprinkle crushed chilli flakes on top for that quintessential Rajasthani look :-)

Jowar pyaaz ki roti

Yield : 4 to 5 rotis

(Based on a recipe from the Rajasthani section in Tarla Dalal's website)

1 cup jowar flour

1/ cup spring onion, chopped

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

* The recipe calls for a chopped green chilli which I skipped

Make a soft dough with all the above. Roll it out into a 4 to 5 inch roti between two sheets of plastic ( I used a zip lock bag that had been cut open on three sides) using a rolling pin. Cook both sides on the tava. Top with butter/ghee ( optional)

Lahsun chutney

10 to 12 cloves garlic

5 tbsp chilli powder

salt to taste

a few drops of lemon juice

Grind all the above, sprinkling water if necessary. (I used a M&P so did not need water)

Kairi chutney

1/2 of a small raw mango, coarsely chopped (I do not peel)

2 cups of fresh cilantro

2 to 4 green chillies

1/4tsp 'raw' cumin

salt to taste

Grind everything together using a little water.

Thanks to Padmaja , the host of RCI Rajasthan, I remembered that simple but extremely satisfying meal, and also from now I will surely be experimenting with different flours to make roti.

Chocolate Fudge

2008-05-06T01:29:00.002+08:00

It's a good thing that my dessert making skills are pathetic, else I would have been 5 kgs heavier ! However, this chocolate fudge recipe from the very talented Deeba's blog inspired me for two reasons : It needs all of 5 ingredients, one of which is salt aaand it was whipped up by Domestic Goddess Junior who is less than half my age !

Encouraged by the great results, I set out to try this fudge last night. The only change I made was that I reduced the quantity to less than a third of the original as I did not want 64 pieces of wicked calorie bombs in the house ;-)

A little research on Nigella's recipe on which these are based told me that they are 70 calories a piece. Just right for a euphoria inducing cocoa shot after those dull dinner from leftovers ! See original recipe here :

I used :

1 3.5 oz bar of Lindt Excellence 70% Dark Cocoa Chocolate Bar

1/3 tin of milkmaid condensed milk

( Its so yummy that I can finish half the tin in a go !)

10g unsalted butter ( 3/4 tbsp)

a pinch of salt

handful of pistachios, chopped coarsely

Melt the first four together, mix the last, cool, cut, devour !

For the detailed recipe and pictures, hop over to Deeba's blog.

Thank you Deeba for such a nice recipe, and thanks to your lovely daughter for showing me how its done. Finally, something from your blog, a dessert wrecker like me can make :-)

Express Paneer Biryani

2008-05-04T16:23:00.002+08:00

On Sundays we usually eat out. But today we wanted to :

a. stay in

b. eat good Indian food

c. not exert too much

This express biryani was just the thing to rustle up in a jiffy and the aromatic spices really hit the right notes. And it took all of 30 minutes to make, aside from the 20 minutes for soaking the rice, which I do not like to skip even when cooking in a fast forward mode.

Ingredients:

1 katori basmati rice

200 gms paneer (i used frozen)

1 katori peas (also frozen)

1 medium onion, chopped finely

1 large tomato pureed with 2 cloves garlic, 1 inch ginger and 1 green chilli

1/3 packet Shan bombay biryani masala

1.5 tbsp curd

2 tbsp oil

1tsp ghee/butter (optional but recommended)

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice,defrost paneer and peas

2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry the chopped onions till golden brown

3. Add tomato puree and cook until it leaves oil. Add paneer & peas

4. Add biryani masala and a pinch of salt and mix.

5. Take the cooker off the flame and add curd stirring constantly till it is incorporated nicely.

6. Keep the cooker back on the burner and add the drained rice. Mix well and add 2 cups of water.

7. After two whistles and turn off the gas.

8. Open the cooker when the steam releases, drizzle 1tsp ghee/butter and gently mix. Serve with raita, chutney and salad.

P.S : In my hunger-driven frenzy, I did not bother to turn the rice over gently , which made the it a bit mushy. Luchily, the taste was largely unaffected.

Kway Teow Pad Kee mao-Spicy Drunken noodles

2008-05-02T19:59:00.001+08:00

No..it's not what you think..its not the noodles that are err.. inebriated. To get the story on why they are called thus, refer here .

These noodles may not be able to compete with pad thai in the looks department but when it comes to packing a spicy, fragrant punch, pad kee mao is the clear winner। The suffix kee mao in thai is used for dishes that feature the sacred trinity of fresh chillies, garlic and holy basil

If you cannot find these thick flat noodles (sen yai), feel free to substitute them with spaghetti ( that's how it was served to us in a chi chi restaurant in phuket)

This recipe is loosely based from a book called 'The best of Thai Vegetarian Food' by Sisamon Kongpan that we picked up in Bangkok . On with the recipe:

Rice noodles 50 g

Garlic cloves 4 to 6

Fresh Red chillies 3 to 4 ( This dish is not named drunken noodles for nothing, see history)

Salt 1/2 tsp

Tofu 30 g

Optional but not authentic : Broccoli, Baby corn, Cabbage.Blanch first two

Sliced Tomato 1 small

Fresh basil leaves ( a generous handful)

Unless you have basil at hand, don't bother to make this dish !

Light soy sauce

Maggi seasoning sauce ( This is a secret sauce used by thai restaurants, adds a delicate flavour)

1. Marinate the tofu in soy sauce for 10 minutes while you prepare other stuff.

2. Boil the noodles 'al dente" or 80 % done or according to package directions. This time I used fresh pre cooked rice noodles, but the dried ones need to be cooked for around 3 to 5 minutes typically. See here for more info on preparing noodles.

3. Spray a non stick wok with oil and fry the tofu lightly till the edges brown.Keep aside

4. Heat some oil in a wok ( around 2 tbsp) and fry the ground paste. Turn up your exhaust if you don't want to choke the whole house ! Add the prepared veggies, if using and fry lightly. Add the noodles and soy sauce and maggi seasoning sauce. Fry gently for about 2 minutes. Add the tofu.

5. Bung in the basil and suddenly magical smells will waft from the wok ! Throw in the tomatoes and stir around for a few sconds until the basil slightly wilts.

6. Serve

Some step by step instrunctions on these are :

1. http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/drunken-noodles/

2. with chicken

3. Short cut version

Vegetable Fried Rice

2008-05-02T19:35:00.001+08:00

Vegetable Fried Rice

This fried rice pairs nicely with schezwan cauliflower and was taught by the same chef. Do try to use leftover rice for this as it really helps keep the grains separate while frying. From start to end, this takes a maximum of 15 minutes including chopping vegetables.

Another one of interesting his tips on chinese cooking was that the size of vegetables for any chinese dish should match th size of the carb ! So, for fried rice, the ingredients need to be diced in small cubes and for noodles, they should be chopped into thin strips resembling the noodles.The rice should not be in the wok for more than 3 to 4 minutes max !

Ingredients

Cooked Rice 2 cups

Mix vegetables chopped finely 1 cup

( I used carrots, bell peppers, spring onions, french beans and bean sprouts)

Chopped garlic 1 tsp

Chilli paste 1 tsp ( optional)

Light soya sauce 2 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a wok and add garlic and chilli paste. Fry for 20 seconds and add the vegetables except beansprouts and spring onion greens. Fry for 30 seconds or so and add the rice. Splash in soya sauce and salt if required and toss together . Add beansprouts and fry for another 30 seconds. Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Schezwan Cauliflower

2008-05-02T19:10:00.001+08:00

Schezwan Cauliflower

Believe it or not but this and the fried rice recipe that follow were taught to me by an ex sous chef from the House of Ming, Taj , Delhi. A decade back, House of Ming was considered one of the best chinese restaurants in the city, and perhaps India. I learned this during a cookery workshop I attended with some friends at his house in Delhi. This is how it goes:

Cauliflower florets 8 to 10

Maida 1/4 cup

cornflour 1/4 cup

water 1/3 cup approxiamately

1 tbsp Chilli garlic paste (This one minus cumin is versatile and great)

2 tbsp light soya or 2 tsp dark soya

bell pepper 1 small

Spring onions 2

Ginger, garlic chopped 1 tsp each

green chillies slit 2

2 Shallots/1/2 Red onion

Method

1. Blanch the cauliflower lightly and keep aside

2. Make a thick, pakora type batter with maida and cornflour.

3. To get a deep brown colour in the restaurant, they add soya sauce to the batter. I skipped this.

4. Here's his chef's tip: The proportion of maida to cornflour depends on the texture desired. For a crispy, crunchy effect keep cornflour proportion high ( around 40 to 60% and for a more spongy texture, keep maida : cornflour ratio 3:1)

5. Dip the blanched cauliflower in this batter and deep fry.The remaining batter can be thinned with 1/2 cup water to be added to the sauce.

6. For the schezwan gavy, fry the dried chillies, followed by ginger garlic and green chillies. Add shallots, bell pepper and chilli paste.Add soya and the thinned batter and boil.

7. Taste the sauce to check for seasonings

8. Turn off the flame and and add the fried cauliflower. Mix gently and serve with fried rice.

Hokkien aka Hakka Noodles

2008-05-02T18:49:00.001+08:00

Hokkien Noodles

Craving a quick, healthy lunch in less than half an hour ? These Hakka noodles can be rustled up quickly and nicely fulfil indo Chinese grub cravings.

Here’s what we need:

1 coil of dried noodles
Veggies of your choice 1 cup
( I used carrots, bean sprouts, spring onions, long beans, kalian/spinach)
Fried Tofu strips (optional)
Light soya sauce 2 tbsp
Salt ½ tsp
Your favourite chilli paste or sambal ( I used homemade paste)
Completely optional : I also had some soya chunks from the previous night that I tossed in, which added a great texture to the noodles
Garnish:
Thinly sliced cucumber
Lime

Method:
1. Boil noodles according to package directions. Mine required boiling for 5 minutes

2. If using long beans, can parboil together with the noodles. French beans usually do not require boiling.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a non stick wok and stir fry carrot, beans and any hard veggies that need to go in first. Add tofu, if using. ( Can use chicken instead). Fry until cooked.

4. Add the noodles and salt. Add chilli paste and fry nicely. A few splashes of soya sauce if using light soya, otherwise add dark soya to taste.

5. At this stage I added soya, and the other veggies. Fry for around a minute or so, sprinkling water( yes ! water) if it looks too dry.

6. Serve with lime and cucumber.

Serves 1 hungry adult

Kaeng khari pak - An Indo thai meal

2008-05-02T17:56:00.000+08:00

I am a self declared purist when it comes to thai food. Then why is this dish labelled indo thai ? Because it is recognizably Indian in its origin, what with the use of spices like elaichi, haldi,dhaniya etc. in the ubiquitious curry powder and the addition of aloo ( yes ! aloo) and carrots in the curry. The vegetarian version that I made replaces chicken with babycorn and snow peas. Of course, any veggies/tofu of your choice would taste great !

Vegetarian thai yellow curry

Serves 2

Ingredients

1.5 tbsp yellow curry paste or 1tbsp red curry paste mixed with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (yes !learned this from a thai chef)

1 cup mixed vegetables (I used carrot, baby corn and snow peas)

1 medium potato, cubed and parboiled

1 shallot cut into largish chunks

5 to 6 kaffir lime leaves

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp oil

Light soy sauce/ salt to taste

1/2 to 1 tsp sugar

1. Fry the paste in 1 tbsp oil for about 2 to 3 minutes till it leaves oil. The traditional method eliminates oil and uses 2 to 3 tbsp coconut cream to fry the paste. Try that if you have coconut cream handy.

2. Once the paste is cooked, add the coconut milk and bring it to a gentle simmer. Please do not fry the veggies in oil as it gives them an overcooked taste which we do not want here.

3.Add the veggies and potato and let them boil on a medium flame till nearly cooked to your liking.

4. Add soy/salt and sugar and lime leaves. If cooked correctly, the curry should have just a hint of oil floating on the top ( which, I feel is the hallmark of a well made curry!).

5. Serve with jasmine rice.

Genius

2008-04-01T11:34:00.001+08:00

Shiv’s latest addition to his vocabulary is the word “genius”. I have no idea where and how he picked up this word, but he does manage to use it in the relevant context.

Last week’s sample conversation between me and him: while me and prashant are engrossed in a movie, he sneaks into the kitchen,grabs a handful of his favourite candy and silently consumes the lot. When he is down to the last piece, he feels the urge to confess..mama, I ate a lot of candy, do you want this one ?

When I tell him ...oooh you are so naughty, he replies with utmost seriousness “no mama, I am not naughty, I am a genius”...whaaat ? When did he learn this new word ? I had to reconfirm if I really heard him correctly, I did. He knows what a genius is and when to be one !

Nepalese Dinner- Kwanti & Aloo achaar

2008-03-25T21:38:00.002+08:00

Kwanti

Does it not sound like the name of a pretty village lass. When I first heard the name, I almost pictured a doe eyed, smiling, Nepali belle. Well kwanti is actually a delicious lentil curry, made with NINE different beans.

Wait ! Don’t run off so soon.....most of these pulses and spices are staple in Indian kitchens, and the ones that are not can easily be substituted with any other sproutable lentils.

This recipe is from a neat little book on Nepalese food lovingly written by Lok Rajye Lakshmi Devi , part of the Chef special series published by Roli books . I have drastically reduced the quantity of ghee and mustard oil mentioned in the original recipe ( 1 cup and ¼ cup respectively!) to make it lighter and substituted red rajma for white. Served along with Nepalese aloo achar (recipe follows), it makes for a light and interesting meal !

Ingredients

The beans :

50 g (3 Tbsp) Chickpeas (kabuli chana)
50 g (3 Tbsp) Dried green peas (sookhey matar)
50 g ((3 Tbsp) Black-eyed beans (lobhia/chawli)
50 g (3 Tbsp) Dill (soya beans) seeds
30 g (2Tbsp) Kidney beans (Rajma)
30 g (2Tbsp) Whole green gram (sabut moong)
30 g (2Tbsp) Whole black gram (sabut urad)
30 g (2 tbsp) Lentil (sabut masoor)
20 g (4 tsp) Moth beans (moth/matki)

AND
2 Onions, medium-sized, peeled, finely sliced 250 g ( 2 to 3 medium)Tomatoes, chopped 6 cloves Garlic (lasan), peeled, crushed 4 tsp (24 g) Ginger (adrak), peeled, ground
1 cup (200 g) 7 oz Yoghurt (dahi)

The spices (masale)

a pinch Asafoetida (hing)
5 - 8 Cloves (laung),
5 - 6 Green cardamom (choti elaichi)
1 Cinnamon (dalchini), 1 inch stick 1 tsp Turmeric (haldi) powder
1 tbsp Coriander (dhaniya) powder
2 tsp Cumin (jeera) powder
1 tsp Black pepper (kali mirch) powder
1 tsp Garam masala
1 tbsp Red chilli powder
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp oil +1 tsp Ghee
Tempering ( Tadka)
1 tbsp Mustard (sarson) oil
1 tsp Carom (ajwain) seeds 3 - 4 Dry red chillies (sookhi lal mirch), halved
Garnish :
Chopped cilantro (hara dhaniya)

Method
1.Clean the pulses and legumes and soak them overnight. Wash well, tie in a muslin cloth and leave for a day to sprout. The next day, repeat the washing and tying up again. The beans should sprout in 2 days.

2. Heat the ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan; add asafoetida, cloves, green cardamom, and cinnamon.

3. Add the garlic. When it becomes reddish, add onions and brown. Add the sprouts, turmeric powder, and salt. Fry, stirring continuously till the water dries.

4. Now add all the powdered spices, yoghurt, and ginger paste. Mix together. Stir for 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomatoes and stir.

6. Mix well till the tomatoes integrate well with the beans.

7. Add 4 - 5 cups water and cook till the sprouts become soft. (This dish should have a thin gravy, so add more water to get the correct consistency). Cook until done. Took about 5whistles in my cooker.

8. Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan; when the oil starts smoking, lower heat and add the carom seeds, and dry red chillies. Once the dry red chillies swell, pour this into the prepared curry and cover the pan with a lid immediately. Remove from heat.

7. Check the seasoning and alter, if necessary. Add green coriander and garnish with lemon wedges. Serve accompanied by rice.

Aloo Achaar

3 medium potatoes, boiled in their jackets
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp sichuan pepper or timmur ( optional)
Turmeric ¼ tsp
Lime juice 1 tbsp
1 tbsp mustard oil
2 medium green chillies
Salt to taste

1.Break half the potatoes into big pieces and roughly mash the rest.

2. Dry roast the sesame, sichuan pepper & cumin

3.Coarsely grind the sesame seeds with cumin and Sichuan pepper (if using). I used my stone mortar and pestle to do this, but a clean coffee grinder should work fine too. The original recipe advised adding a bit of water while grinding, but I prefer to dry grind in my mortar. A bit of salt added while grinding helps.

4. Add the ground mix to the potatoes and toss.

5. Heat the mustard oil and take off the flame for a minute before adding fenugreek seeds and the green chillies. Add the turmeric powder and pour the contents over the potatoes and immediately cover the bowl. After two minutes, uncover and toss to mix. The flavours truly come through after sitting for 20 minutes.

serves: 4 to 6