Happy Burp

Round-up for POTATO : Part 2

2007-03-31T22:30:00.000+05:30

Breakfast / Brunch

She made these at home for the first time. All worth the effort, I am sure. :-)

It is less of a dish and more of an achievement.

Curries

Apparently, a regular feature at her mother's home in the hot summer months.

Now, what do you like more? The preparation or the pan or the photograph? :-)

Visit her post not just for the recipe but also for a few quotes and anecdotes.

You have seen recipes by mothers and mothers-in-law, but how many have you seen by fathers-in-law? Not many? Well, here's one.

For those who thought that potatoes are more for celebrations: Think again! Potatoes also belong to the plate when you are recuperating. Especially when the taste-buds need to be brought back to life...

This one will be great if paired with Jowar Rotis, I feel. A humble, healthy yet hearty meal that'd be.

Main Dishes

That's curry and rice in one!

Salads / Side dishes

Did you know of a variey called Nicola Potatoes? And that they are waxy? Well, now you do! :-)

Potato Salad with Red Bell Peppers...hmmmm....Interesting!

The stuffing is potato!

The recipe is explained only in three steps. Too easy to be true? :-)

Soups

A combination of diverse ingredients.

Snacks / Starters

A traditional Maharashtrian fasting-snack. Of course, you don't necessarily have to be fasting to enjoy this one!

Deliciously pretty!

Apparently, potatoes have never been a favourite in her home. There are exceptions to every rule!

Mmmm....aromatic....mmmm.....

Desserts !

How do we decide who is versatile? The dish or its creator?

A good-looking dessert. And rather guilt-free too!

Round-up for POTATO : Part 1

2007-03-14T19:53:00.000+05:30

My Hotmail inbox has never ever seen so many new mails coming in within such a short span of time. Nearly 20 new mails every day?! Hosting JFI does make you feel important, Beybeh! :-)

And it also makes you get tense! How am I gonna visit so many blogs? And how am I gonna read through so many posts? What happens to all those fancy ideas that I had for the round-up? Too many questions, and nearly no answers. What do I do then? Well, I do what I do best in such situations. Cannot decide on something? Procrastinate! I know, it's a lousy idea, but I often tend to do that, when I can't handle something. Which should explain the 10-day-long wait till the round-up, I guess.

Anyway, let me just stop this blabber and open up the gallery of Potato dishes. And hey, do not forget to bookmark this page coz when you run out of all veggies, you always still have potatoes...and whenever you run out of potato recipes, this is where you'll find something. :-)

By the way, I am publishing the round-up in parts because handling a post three times this big is not really easy. So, here's the first part.

* Please move the cursor over the picture to see the name of the dish and its creator. Click on it to get to the post.

Breakfast / Brunch

This new blogger on the block gives us two fantastic recipes which can be made with leftover Potato Bhaji. Scroll down for the other one...

A great looking breakfast dish. And guess what, the post gives you Nutrition Info too!

Aren't they pretty? And hey, these two-in-one Idlis are very practical too.

Hope the house did not get as messy after cooking these as it used to become when she was small. ;-)

Tasty. Can-be-made-healthy. Exotic. What more do we want?

Curries

You can try this once you are tired of making of Dum Aloo the Kashmiri and the Benarasi and the Hyderabadi and the Chettinad way. Don't believe me? Check out the post!

She calls it just one of the many versions possible. I think it is more than just that...

A classic!

Just one of the hundred superb things that she manages to cook every day...

Yet another classic! This time around it's from a Bengali kitchen.

One look at the photograph and you know that this curry is rich...and spicy. And what's the surprise? Mustard seeds in the paste!

Be ready to be pulled aside for the recipe of this one, if you are making it for a big crowd!

If this is not different, what is?

Kanchana says that this is the yummiest potato curry ever. And that you can make Potato Curry Sandwiches with it. You can make what? Yeah, exactly.

You too don't mind gobbling it up with hot 'Puris' without counting them, do you?

Apparently, you could serve it with Coconut Pulav. Oooooh, sinful!

Main dishes

And who said making Gnocchi at home was tedious?

Interesting combination, eh?

Salads / Side dishes

A cool recipe that is definitely a keeper for hot summers.

A recipe passed down by a grandmother has different charm, right?

Easy to put together. Yet great to taste, I am sure. (Btw, that rhymes!)

Check out the post in case you want to know more about the Hakka Chinese cuisine in India!

I am sure they are a crowd-pleaser at any party. Baby potatoes always are, aren't they?

Snacks

Perfect for my carry-to-work lunch, I feel.

Another classic!

Potatoes need not always be fattening, right?

Dumela brings these Cutlets to us despite an emergency surgery. That's the spirit!

Yummmmy!!!!

Don't you wish somebody offered you Patties with a steming cup of tea after a hard day's work? :-)

This entry is one of her very first posts. Actually, she started her blog because she wanted to participate in this event. Sweet, isn't it?

Still working...

2007-03-13T23:07:00.000+05:30

Hi Guys!

I know I wanted to do the roundup for JFI Potato around the 8th of this month, but actually the entries were still coming in on the 8th. Ok, that really is no excuse for the delay.

Well, the thing is that it has been pretty mad at home as well as at work. To add to the misery, my domestic help has gone on holiday for ten days. :-( Yeah, yeah, I know that some of you will envy me for having domestic help in the first place.

Anyway, I just wanted to keep you posted that I am still working on the entries, and that hopefully the round-up will be done before it's time for the next one. :-)

In the meanwhile, you may want to decide on what you want to make for JFI Tomato hosted by the lovely RP of My Workshop. I know what I am gonna make. ;-)

Indian Winter # 3 : Tender Toor Sukke with Baby Potatoes

2007-02-26T00:16:00.000+05:30

The Sukke was fresh and fragrant, when I clicked this snap.
The snap is not exactly fresh, though. :-(

I have not been blogging, I know. And no, it's not the New Boss. Actually, it's the old husband, who was so busy at the beginning of this month that he had no time for the house or the dauthter or the me. Since the me had to look after the earlier two, there was no time left for anything else. Including the blog.

So, what did I do? I just packed off the old husband to a faraway country, to the land of 'Sahib'. I wouldn't let anything or ANYBODY come between my blog and me, you see. (For fellow Hindi film buffs: Duniya ki koi taaqat mere blog ko mere se judaa nahin kar saktee...nahin...)

My agony was not to end here, though. The next hurdle showed up when I actually managed to switch on my PC at home. Although all else was fine, I could not log in to Blogger. I could see all blogs, including mine, but logging on to Blogger? Nah...that wasn't happening.

So, what did I do? Well, I fooled Blogger. I as in Vaishali, the Smarty Pie (oooh, I like that) somehow managed to log in through my old Blogger account. When I tried to go to my posts, it reminded me that I had switched to the 'new' Blogger, (it was YOU who was suffering of amnesia, Blogger, not me!) and asked to to log in to my new account. And it worked. Yipee!

Now, there I am. With my recipe and my pictures. It's not really winter here in Pune any longer. (Although you Guys out there reach out for that extra sheet early in the morning!) But hey, the winter veggies are still available. Also, there's gonna be a winter next year too. So, why not stock up on recipes before the next winter hits us? There...I got you convinced...I can see that. :-)

Anti-clockwise from top: whole Toor beans, shelled green/tender Toor, the 'everyday' Toor dal

Before I move on to the recipe, a little about 'tender Toor'. These are fresh pigeon peas. Once dried and split, they become 'Toor dal' or 'split pigeon peas'. As you can see in the picture above.

And now the

Recipe for Tender Toor Sukke with Baby Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 heaped cup shelled tender Toor ( ½ kg. of the beans should yield that much)
12 Baby potatoes
¼ cup chopped onion
salt to taste

For the paste:
3 dried red chillis
1 tsp Urad dal
a lime-sized ball of tamarind, soaked in water
1 cup grated fresh coconut

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig of curry leaves

Shelled tender Toor (left behind) and boiled & skinned Baby Potatoes (front)

Method:

1. Rinse the shelled tender Toor once and put them into a wide vessel that fits into your pressure cooker. Pour water over the Toor until just covered.
2. You could add washed Baby potatoes to the same vessel or you could arrange them on the lid that covers the vessel in the pressure cooker.
Any which way, please make sure that the Toor as well as the potatoes are cooked thoroughly. :-)
3. Roast the dried red chillis in a couple of drops of oil until they turn two shades darker. Then take them out.
4. Roast the Urad dal in the same vessel without adding any oil till it turns golden and aromatic.
5. Sqeeze all the water out of the soaked tamarind, and discard the residue. In case you do not want to have any impurities, pass the tamarind water through a strainer once.
6. Grind the roasted red chillis, roasted Urad dal and grated coconut with the tamarind water until you get a smooth paste.
7. Take the ground paste as well as the cooked Toor and boiled potatoes into a heavy-bottomed vessel. Add the chopped onion and salt to it.
8. Cook this mixture on high heat. Add more water, if necessary. However, please keep in mind that this is a rather dry dish; it's not expected to have a lot of gravy.
9. Once the dish appears to have come together, turn the heat off.
10. Heat the oil in a Tadka ladle. Add mustard seeds, and let them splutter. Then add the curry leaves, and take the ladle off heat.
11. Add this Tadka to the Toor+potatoes mixture. Cover it immediately with a lid so that all flavours blend well.

Serve warm with Rotis / Phulkas or with rice & dal.
By the way, this Konkani dish can be prepared using any pulse instead of the tender Toor. You could use fresh green peas too. I assure you that it will taste equally stunning. :-)

Jihva for POTATO

2007-02-06T11:35:00.000+05:30

Call it ‘Kartoffel’. Or ‘pomme de terre’. Or ‘batata’. Or even ‘Aaloo’. Call it just anything. What you get at the end of the day is ‘POTATO’, the chubby tuber that almost all of us love…and probably hate too. :)

We love it, because it is so very adaptable. Add it to anything, and it takes on the flavour of that dish. No interference, only dedication. :)

But then, why do we hate it? Well, because it is infamous since preparations with this vegetable are usually fat-laden. Be it potato chips…be it crisps/wafers…be it Batata Wada. But hey, that’s not potato’s fault! It is always upto us as to how healthy or unhealthy we want to make a vegetable, right?

So, let’s get together and give POTATO, the world's most widely grown tuber crop the credit that it deserves. Use any type, size or form of potato. Use it fresh, tinned, uncooked, boiled, diced, mashed or even dried and powdered. Use it in an Italian dish or in a spicy Indian curry. Use it in a snack or in a breakfast dish. Use it as a surprise addition to a homely dish or in a gourmet preparation.

Flip through those recipe books. Sift through those newspaper cuttings. Use your imagination. You have unlimited choices with the POTATO.

What you need to keep in mind is

- Cook anything with Potato(es), and publish your post preferably on the 1st of March as your entry for Jihva for Ingredients.
(But folks, let’s not use ‘sweet potatoes’. They are a versatile ingredient, and they deserve to be a theme on their own.)

- Send me an email at vaishalikamath@hotmail.com with the permalink to your post and a photo of the dish in 75×75 pixel size.

- Include the name of your dish as well as of your blog in the mail.

- Come around to my blog around the 8th of March to check out the round-up.

! Non-bloggers: Please send me the photo of your dish along with the write-up . I’ll publish it here, and also include it in the round-up.

So, come on, Guys. Put on that apron, set the camera ready, and open the bag of POTATOES…

Tags: JFI; Jihva for Ingredients

Indian Winter # 2 : Ladoos with Green Peas and fresh Green Chick Peas

2007-01-15T23:52:00.000+05:30

Vegetarian Ladoos with a 'non-veg' garnishing?

Before I start, let me make a special mention of HareKrishnaji, because
a) he is the only one who guessed 'Green chick peas' (Harbhare in Marathi) as one of the ingredients in these Ladoos right
b) he is a loyal reader of this blog (by 'loyal', I mean somebody who praises you)
c) he blogs from Pune too (the other place being Mumbai).
Thanks, HKji, for being there, and for leaving your comments regularly. I appreciate it.

A special note to the other loyal readers (the number was 5 at the last count, wasn't it?): I appreciate you Guys too. ;-)

Since I am in the mood to appreciate, let me also mention Vidya, who brought it to my notice, that silver leaf, the stuff that I have used to garnish these Ladoos is made in such a way that it is not suitable for vegetarians. Vidya was kind enough to also provide a link which leads to several other ones that prove this fact. What makes me sad, though, is that the Mithai vendors in India, who are well aware of its production process, continue selling sweets covered with silver leaf, inspite of knowing that a large portion of their clientele consists of vegetarians. Whatever happened to social resposiblity?

Anyway, let me just move on with today's recipe now; the post has had to wait pretty long. Ah, that reminds me: Guys, I have a new job now. So, if my posts become erratic and/or infrequent, blame it on my new Boss! :)

Left to right: Green peas, Khoya/Mawa, fresh Green chick peas

Recipe for Ladoos with Green Peas and Green Chick Peas
(adapted from a recipe shown on E-TV Marathi)

Makes 12-15 small Ladoos.

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh green peas
1 cup fresh green chick peas (Hara Chana in Hindi)
200 g. Khoya/Mawa
½ cup sugar (The quantity depends also upon the sweetness of both kinds of peas.)
3 tbsp Ghee
powder from 5 cardamoms

For garnishing: 12-15 cashewnut halves (I have used silver leaf, but I don't advocate its use any longer.)

Method:

1. Mix both peas in a blender and make fine, smooth paste without adding water.
2. Heat the Ghee in a heavy-bottomed or non-stick pan, and fry the paste in it for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the Khoya and sugar and cook again for a while. Do not cover the pan at any point.

Two-peas paste and Khoya being cooked

4. The mixture is done when it starts moving as one mass when you stir it. Take it off the heat, add the cardamom powder, stir once and let cool.
5. Once the mixture is cool, make pingpong sized Ladoos out of it. If using cashewnuts for garnishing, press one half on every Ladoo.

Serve these Ladoos, and ask your guests/family members to guess the ingredients. And please don't think that they can guess it more easily because they can taste the Ladoos. Nope. None of my family members could guess the ingredients right...not even after consuming two Ladoos.
HEY...hang on a second...did they really need two of them to guess or was that a pretext? Hmmm... that's got me thinking, Guys.

Anyway, enjoy these green beauties, and make sure you finish them soon. They don't really taste great after 3 days. Also, please don't forget to store them in the refrigerator, if you are in a warm place.

In the meanwhile, I hope you had a happy Makarsakranti/ Lohri/ Pongal. I did. :)

Guessing games might be 'out', but...

2007-01-10T23:25:00.000+05:30

So...it's time to give out the answers. And they are (tadaa!)

Green peas (Matar in Hindi / Marathi)
Green chick peas (Hara Chana in Hindi / Harbhare in Marathi)
Khoya / Mawa (both words Hindi)
Sugar
Cardamom powder

I'll try to put up the recipe this weekend. As for now, it's a little past midnight and I am yawning more than I am breathing. Good night, Fellas...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outdated...passé...obsolete...yeah, guessing games might be all of that...but a unique preparation like this one calls for a guessing game. It deserves one, actually. You'll agree when I give out the answers. Until then...keep guessing! :)

The colour of the Ladoos comes from the ingredients. No added colour here.

What blog events do to you... Coconut Bread Burfi

2007-01-07T12:42:00.000+05:30

Can you spot me in the picture?

Had it not been for Jihva for Coconut hosted by Ashwini, I would have perhaps never made this Burfi. Why? Because I am not really a dessert person. I mean, I like desserts but I do not really look forward to making them (excluding baked goodies, that is). If you are somebody who has been to my place for lunch or dinner, then you perhaps know that. Although there would be several chutneys and various vegetable preparations in the menu, the dessert would usually be store-bought.

Blog events have changed the scene in my kitchen, though. The urge to make something special and to try out a new recipe for a blog event has resulted in me making various sweets in the last few months. Like I gathered the courage to make Puranpoli only for Jihva for Dal hosted by Sailu. Or like I made Pista Choco Squares only for Jihva for Milk hosted by Vineela.

This time, when Ashwini announced 'Coconut' as the theme, I immediately thought of Undi. And then I said, nah...something new...yes, the event deserves something new...an experiment...
Next moment I was going through all the recipe books on my shelves.
Which one? Which one? Aaaah, this one it's gotta be. Yeah, a Burfi made with coconut and bread(!)...now that sounds exotic!
So, Coconut Bread Burfi it is. Adapted from the Marathi cookbook 'Annapoorna' by Mangala Barve.

My only problem is that other recipes and foods that I want to blog about never get the chance to see the light of the day. Or they get published some three months after I take the pictures. Like I have made the preparations for at least five posts for my Indian Winter series, but those recipes always have to take a backseat when some event comes up. I hope I get to finish the series while it is still winter here in India (which is just another month or so!).

Anyway, let's proceed to the Recipe for Coconut Bread Burfi for the time being.

Clockwise from top right: White bread slices, grated fresh coconut, whole coconut

Makes 20 (3 cm. X 3 cm.) squares

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups grated coconut
1 ½ cups breadcrumbs (from approx. 3-4 slices of white bread without the edges)
1 cup sugar
powder from 5-6 cardamoms
a few strands of saffron (optional)
1 tsp Ghee to grease the dish / Thali

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients upto powdered cardamoms in a heavy bottomed pan or a non-stick pan. (I used the latter.) Cook uncovered on a medium flame until the mixture starts moving in a mass when stirred. (This process takes only about 10 minutes. The breadcrumbs play a great role in quickly bringing all ingredients together.) Add saffron strands, if using.
2. Grease a small Thali or a shallow dish with the Ghee.
3. Transfer the coconut-breadcrumbs mixture into the Thali, and spread it evenly. Press it with the back of a bowl to make the surface smooth. Let cool.
4. Once cool, cut the Burfi in desired pieces. You could grease the knife with some Ghee to prevent the mixture from sticking to it.

Serve Coconut Bread Burfi as dessert or offer it to kids as a sweet treat after school. Whoever you serve it to will not guess the ingredients right. I mean the bread in it. At least nobody in my family circle did. :)
You could stretch the guessing game to 10 days, because that's how long it keeps fresh without refrigeration in winter.

Let me now hurry to Ashwini's to ask her to include my post in her round-up now. I know, it's late, but I also know that she is kind. :)

Tags: Coconut, Barfi, Burfi, Bread, White bread, Breadcrumbs, Mithai

Jihva for Coconut : Undi

2007-01-03T16:12:00.000+05:30

This is one more dish that required some getting used to from me. First of all, I had never eaten anything like this before. Secondly, it is eaten with jaggery syrup and fresh butter. "Sorry, with what???", was my first reaction when I saw that combination. The last but not the least, considering that it's an everyday breakfast dish and not a festive sweet, the amount of coconut that goes into it is shocking.

In the beginning of my marriage, I generally used to find the amount of coconut being used in Konkani kitchens really objectionable. I mean, how can you treat coconut(!) just like any other ingredient? How can you finish one entire coconut in a day's cooking????? I must say that it does not disturb me any longer. One reason is habit. Another one is that the consumption of coconut around me has also gone down in the last few years. Because the doctors are shouting 'Cholesterol' clear and loud. :)

Also, I have learnt to respect other cuisines much more. All said and done, some of the dishes in the Konkani cuisine are just unique. For example, Undi. You don't come across dishes like this every day. Neither the combination of accompaniments. Earlier, it was a strict no-no in my kitchen. However, nowadays, I make it once in a while. So that I continue the tradition. So that my daughter gets to know her father's cuisine as well as her mother's. So that me carrying the surname 'Kamath' has more meaning to it.

And cholesterol can wait. I am not going to the gym for nothing, am I? :)

Left to right: Grated fresh coconut and raw rice

Recipe for Undi (pronounced Oun-deeh)

Makes 20 pingpong-sized balls (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

2 cups raw rice (not parboiled)
1 cup grated fresh coconut
1 tsp salt (or to taste)

2 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp Urad dal (You could use a sprig of curry leaves instead.)

For the jaggery syrup (Ravo in Konkani):
1 cup jaggery
approx. ½ cup water (Sorry, I do not have exact quantity of water for this one. I will update the post when I make it next time.)
Powder from 4-5 cardamom seeds

Method:

1. Soak rice in water for two hours. You could soak it for longer, although it's not really necessary. Actually, in case you are in a hurry, and own a good heavy-duty grinder, then soaking the rice only for 30 minutes suffices too.
2. Grind the soaked rice with grated coconut to a coarse batter. The ground granules of rice should be the size of Idli Rawa or coarse semolina granules.
3. Transfer this batter to another vessel. Add one of water to the grinder, shake, and add this water to the batter. (How much more economical can you get? :) Add salt, and give the mixture a thorough stir.
4. In a thick-bottomed pan or a non-stick Kadhai (I used the latter.), heat the oil. Add mustard seeds. Once they begin to splutter, add the fenugreek seeds and Urad dal/curry leaves.
5. Once all mustard seeds have popped, and the fenugreek seeds are a shade of golden brown, add the prepared batter. Cook it uncovered on medium-high heat until much water evaporates and the mixture turns into a thick mass, that is too difficult to be stirred with a spatula.

6. Take the pan off heat and let the mixture in it cool.
7. Divide the cooled mixture into 20 portions and shape these into flattish balls. Press one of the flat sides with a finger to make a depression, so that the centre too cooks well.

Undi ready to be steamed in a pressure-cooker

8. Arrange all these balls in a vessel that fits into your pressure cooker. Alternatively, you could arrange the balls on your Idli stand or on the perforated sheet that comes with your Idli steamer (Pedavan in Konkani).
9. Fill your pressure cooker / Idli steamer with enough water and heat it. Once the water starts boiling, place the vessel / stand with Undi in it. Cover and steam the Undi for good 20 minutes. No shortcuts here. Or else, the Undi will stay unpleasantly uncooked.
10. While the Undi are steaming, you could prepare the jaggery syrup by combining the jaggery and water, and cooking on medium heat until the mixture reaches the consistency of honey. Take the syrup off heat and add powdered cardamom seeds to it.

Serve warm Undi with the jaggery syrup and fresh home-made butter (at room temperature) . The way to eat it is by dipping Undi in the butter first and then into the Ravo/jaggery syrup. The morsel that lands into your mouth is sure to make you look forward to the rest of the day. No, really, I have experienced it. :)

Undi served with jaggery syrup. A simple yet exquisite breakfast.

Note:

Since this breakfast dish requires a lot of preparation, it is advisable to do most of it the previous evening. Usually, I finish the preparation until Step 7 the previous night and store the unsteamed Undi in the refrigerator in a container with a tight lid. I prepare the jaggery syrup too (Step 10) the earlier night; it stays fresh outside the fridge for several days. The following morning, I just steam the Undi and voila...breakfast is ready.

Hope you Guys try out this dish and like it. Hope Ashwini likes it too. As my entry, although late, to Jihva for Coconut. :)
And before I leave, let me wish All of You a very Happy New Year!

Tags: Konkani, Mangalorean, South Indian, South Kanara, South Canara

The Unbeatable Root # 1 : Beetroot Tomato Cucumber Raita

2006-12-19T02:28:00.000+05:30

A lifebuoy in a boat? :)

One big misconception that got cleared in mind about two years back is that beetroot contains lots of iron. Just like almost everybody else around me, I too used to think beetroot would be a great weapon against Anaemia. But nope, it isn't. It has lots of goodness in it, but no iron.
Like it has Folate in it. A nutrient that is of utmost importance just before and after conception. And a lot of fiber, which is of great importance throughout one's life.

The recipe that I have got for you today includes two more virtuous vegetables - cucumber and tomato. Healthy? No doubt. My own recipe idea? No d...... No. :) The original recipe is by Tarla Dalal. But it's a great one, I tell you. Have a look.

Recipe for Beetroot Tomato Cucumber Raita

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh yogurt, beaten
1 beetroot, boiled and cut into cubes
1 cucumber, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 tbsp roasted, skinned, coarsely crused peanuts
1 green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp grated fresh or dessicated coconut (optional; I use seldom.)
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch asafoetida

coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in the first list (upto salt).
2. Heat oil in a Tadka ladle. Take the ladle off the heat and add cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida.
3. Let the Tadka cool a little, then add it to the Raita and mix it well.

Serve with Parathas for brunch or as an accompaniment to any meal.

By the way, this dish has had a 100% success rate at my place so far. None of the times that I have made it when entertaining guests, have I had to put any leftovers back into the fridge. (I make it so complicated!! I could have just said that the bowl is polished off clean. Any idea where you can take Creative Writing classes, Guys?)

Indian Winter # 1 : Garlic Greens Chutney

2006-12-14T19:29:00.000+05:30

Garlic Greens Chutney decorated with a garlic greens braid

Although garlic is available (in almost the whole world?) all year around, the green chive-like shoots on garlic are to be seen in the markets here in Pune only during winter which is from November to January. When you spot these and some more veggies in the markets, you know it is winter.

Growing garlic greens is rather easy, I have heard. I have also been planning to do it for some time now. But I guess, I don't have a green thumb like Inji Pennu. I don't know whether it's the lack of dedication or interest or just the lack of enough water(?), but my plants often die prematurely. :( Shammi, maybe you relate to me?

Well, anyway, the point is that I cook with garlic greens only when they are available in the market, which they are right now. Lots of them. Among other things, what I also made with them is this chutney. Let me add that this one is entirely my creation. I mean, ok, it's just a simple recipe and no diagram for making rockets, but heck, it's mine!!!

By the way, in case you want to grow garlic greens at home, Martha Stewart has got some help to offer.

(Left to right) Garlic greens with fresh cloves at one end and roasted, skinned peanuts

Recipe for Garlic Greens Chutney

Makes 1 cup.

Ingredients:

7-8 stalks of garlic greens
½ cup roasted, skinned peanuts
½ cup beaten yogurt
1 large chilli
1 tsp chopped ginger or ginger paste
a pinch sugar
salt to taste

1 tsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds

coriander leaves for garnishing (or a braid made with three green garlic stalks)

Method:

1. Wash the garlic greens. Remove the roots at the end and discoloured stalks, if any.
2. Mix all ingredients in the first list (i.e. upto salt) in a grinder and grind until you have a smooth paste. Take this paste out into a serving bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a Tadka ladle. Once hot, add the cumin seeds to it and take the ladle off heat. The cumin seeds will pop in the hot oil. Let the oil cool a little.
4. Add the Tadka to the garlic greens-peanut paste. Either mix and serve OR leave the Tadka on top; it makes for an interesting garnish.

Serve this chutney as an accompaniment with any meal. In case you don't mind having garlic for breakfast, you could serve it with Idlis or Dosas too.

Notes:

1. In case you do not have access to garlic greens, you could use regular garlic too. The chutney will still taste good. However, if you can make garlic greens available for yourself, then I'd highly recommend it, because the greens lend a unique depth of flavour to the chutney.

2. If you have much more garlic greens on hand than what this chutney requires, try using them in place of regular garlic in any dish. You won't regret, I guarantee.

I would like to send this first post in my series 'Indian Winter' to Kalyn for her Weekend Herb Blogging. I know, it's gonna be a 'Holiday Special' edition this time around, but then we don't have holidays here in India. :(

Announcing two new series...

2006-12-13T18:25:00.000+05:30

In addition to the already running 'Ton of Protein' series, I would like to announce two more. They are

1. Indian Winter : Indian 'Winter' ? 'What's that?', you might wonder. We know Indian Summer, but winter...does it even exist? Well, yes. Although it isn't as *wintery* as the winters outside the tropics, it sure does exist. This month, we have already had a minimum temperature of 10.1°C here in Pune. Now you are convinced, aren't you? :)
So, what will this series have? Basically, I will blog about vegetables and preparations that are typical to winter here. How the series develops in the course of time will have to be seen.

2. The Unbeatable Root : I plan to paint the town red with this one. :)
Leaving wordplay aside (Did I hear you say 'Thank God!'?), this series will feature recipes with the Beetroot.

Hope you like them both.

Jihva for Jaggery : Carrot Jaggery Parathas

2006-12-06T00:16:00.000+05:30

Carrot Jaggery Parathas served with Ghee

Jaggery was introduced to me when I was a toddler, as is the case with many children in Maharashtra/India. ‘Gool Toop Poli’ (jaggery, Ghee and chapati) is a staple for toddlers and young children. And why should it not be, considering that it is nutritious as well as quick to put together. Moreover, children always eat with more gusto, if the food is sweet. Well, at least I used to and so does my daughter. :)

Coming to these Parathas, I had found the recipe more than two years back in the supplement of a Marathi daily. I had cut it out then, but never really managed to try it out. When Kay asked us all Food-Bloggers to "try a recipe with jaggery that we've never tried before", I knew I had to grab that envelope,which carries all the recipe cuttings I have made from various sources. The original author has called this preparation 'Thalipeeth', which in my opinion is not the right word. Also, I have reduced the quantity of jaggery in it by half, because the Parathas would have become too sweet otherwise. The rest of the recipe is like this.

Recipe for Carrot Jaggery Parathas

Makes approx. 8 Parathas of 12 cms. diameter

Ingredients:

250 g. OR 3 medium carrots (approx. 2 cups when grated)

125 g. jaggery (approx. 1½ cups when grated)

1¼ cups wheat flour (Please refer to Step 6 for the quantity.)

some more wheat flour OR rice flour OR oil to roll the Parathas

a generous pinch of salt (or to taste)

6-7 tbsp oil

Ghee to serve the Parathas with

Method:

1. Wash, peel and grate the carrots. Grate the jaggery separately.

2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the grated carrots to it. Stir the carrot gratings and cover the pan. Let cook for 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat.

3. Uncover the pan and add the jaggery to it. Stir to mix well.

4. Take the pan off heat as soon as all the jaggery has melted. Let the mixture cool completely.

5. Take the cooled mixture into a large, shallow dish or a mixing bowl and add salt to it.

6. Now add the wheat flour a little at a time and knead as you go. Add as much wheat flour as the carrot-jaggery mixture allows you to.

7. Knead well to make a dough similar to that of chapati. Add 2 tsp oil to it towards the end.

8. Divide this dough into 8 portions. Dust a rolling board with wheat or rice flour OR oil it. (I oiled the board and the rolling pin.)

9. Roll one portion of the dough to form a circle with a thickness of about ½ centimetre.

10. Roast this circle on both sides on a hot griddle or Tava until tiny, brown spots appear. Sprinkle a little oil on it, if you want the Parathas to become softer.

11. Make more Parathas like this with the rest of the dough.

Serve them warm or at room temperature with Ghee. They taste better after a few hours of making them.

Since these Parathas have no water in them, they keep well for several days. Although I must say that they do not last more than one day, because they are so tasty. :)

They are not only tasty, but highly nourishing too. Carrots provide the much needed carotene and jaggery brings along loads of iron. Wheat flour gives carbohydrates and the oil makes the absorption of some of the nutrients easier. Ghee stops the jaggery from increasing the body's heat and also gives Omega 3 fatty acids.

I think they are great for growing children. Maybe Kay wants to keep this recipe for later? For when Meera grows up and comes home from school tired and hungry? :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2006-11-29T15:42:00.000+05:30

This is a tale of two butters.
One came from the US and the other was more of a World Citizen. Both had an identity and were rather proud of it.
The one from the US was proud because it had no animal fat. Vegans too could enjoy it. People called it Peanut Butter.
The other was proud of itself because almost everybody in the world knew it. Also, it could be easily made at home too. This was your 'friendly neighbourhood' Butter. Yeah, just plain Butter.
Once they got fighting as to which one was better. Arguments flowed and voices rose. They fought for several hours, but none agreed to give up. Then, when they were too tired to argue any further, they went to the kind(!) girl(!) Vaishali. They asked her to give the verdict. Vaishali, the kind girl(??) she was, convinced them that both were equal. That both were good in their own right, and it was wrong to compare them at all.
To prove that they were both equal, she gave them equal opportunity and importance. In these cookies. :)

Recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies
(adapted from this German book)

Makes about 25 fairly large cookies

Ingredients:

115 g. butter at room temperature
115 g. peanut butter (Smooth or crunchy doesn't matter.)
115 g. light brown sugar (I use only 100 g. of both sugars.)
115 g. castor sugar (Regular sugar after a whirl in the grinder is ok.)
115 g. oat flakes
85 g. all-purpose flour (Maida)
1 egg, beaten to just mix well
3 drops of vanilla essence
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a baking sheet with some butter or line it with baking parchment. You'd be able to bake all cookies in one batch, if you have three baking sheets. This, however, is not necessary. I always bake them on one sheet in three batches.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine both butters and mix well. You could also use your hand-held blender for this recipe.
3. Add the sugars, egg and vanilla essence and mix again.
4. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and sieve these into the above mixture.
5. Add the oat flakes and mix thoroughly.
6. Now drop spoonfuls of this mixture well apart from each other onto the baking sheet(s) and press them lightly with a fork.
7. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until they are pleasantly browned.
8. Take the baking sheet(s) out of the oven and let cool for 2 minutes.
9. Then transfer the cookies onto a cooling grill and let cool completely.

Once cool, transfer the cookies into an airtight container.

They are great munchies for when you feel peckish at odd hours. Otherwise, offering them for breakfast with a mug of coffee is not a bad idea either. What say, Nandita? Shall I send them to your Weekend Breakfast Blogging #7 then? :)

Cookies with Two Butters

Chutney with Fresh Turmeric and Mango Ginger

2006-11-27T21:48:00.000+05:30

I hope that either you already know about these two main ingredients or you have read about them in my earlier post. In case neither, then in a nutshell, Fresh Turmeric is...well...Fresh Turmeric and Mango Ginger or Ambehalad or Curcuma Amada is a rhizome from the ginger family, which gives out, when cut or crushed, the smell of fresh unripe mangoes. What I made using these two ingredients and some more is this.

Recipe for Chutney with Fresh Turmeric and Mango Ginger

Ingredients:

Before I start, let me mention that there are no set measurements for this chutney. You can add ingredients as per availability and liking. The quantities I used this time are as below.

gratings from ¼ of a coconut
100g. fresh turmeric
100g. Mango Ginger (Ambehalad)
50g. ginger (Adrak)
2 green chillis
juice from ½ of a lemon
4 tsp sugar (This ingredient is quite important as it balances the tartness coming from all those rhizomes.)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash, peel and chop all rhizomes. You might consider wearing gloves while handling the fresh turmeric, because it stains your hands pretty badly. And the stains take at least three days to go away completely. Want proof?

2. Combine all ingredients and grind to a fine paste without using any water.

This chutney keeps in the fridge for several days. Serve it as an accompaniment to any meal. Like so.

Clockwise from left: Fresh Turmeric & Mango Ginger Chutney, salt, Tomato chi Aamti, Cabbage Bhaji, Bottle Gourd Bhaji with Moong Dal and Phulkas

All dishes cooked with turmeric in some form or the other. Cancer isn't even gonna look this way, is it? :)

I'd like to send this post as well as the earlier one containing the info to Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging #61. Off to her then...

Guess guess...Not any longer...:)

2006-11-22T14:54:00.000+05:30

It is ginger in the above picture. No prizes for guessing that. :)
But do you know the two rhizomes in the following picture? Both are from the same family as ginger, but are still very different.

I am sure, you would have recognised them, had you seen them dried and powdered. Ooops...was that a clue? ;-)

Ok Guys, it's time to publish the answers. The orange-yellow rhizome in the picture is Fresh Turmeric (Oli Halad in Marathi). The white one, which can be easily mistaken for ginger is Mango Ginger or Curcuma Amada (Ambehalad in Marathi). Although the botanical as well as the name in Marathi have the word 'turmeric' in it, this rhizome has nothing to do with turmeric because it does not have the colour-lending 'curcumin' in it. It is from the ginger family and gives out the smell of unripe mangoes when cut or crushed. That's why the names.

Both rhizomes are often used in pickles. However, what I made with them is a chutney, the recipe for which you'll find in this post.

I would like to send this post as well as the one containing the recipe to Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging #61. Hope she finds them interesting.

Milk cake OR Why I am not blogging regularly.

2006-11-15T20:36:00.000+05:30

Rich? Oh yes!

Why did I not blog for the last ten days or so? Have I lost the interest? Have I not been cooking? Or have I just been too lazy to take photographs?

Well, none of the above. I haven't been blogging because my broadband connection was down; that's why.
Many of you have asked me in the past one month to write about my experience of moving back to India and how I find life here now. One thing that I would like to point out in this context is that we as a people are laid-back. Please don't misunderstand me. I absolutely respect my country. I wouldn't have come back otherwise. However, every country or community has a few flaws, and they can be corrected only if you step back for a while and watch it like an onlooker. Many of you will agree that living outside India gives you that perspective easily.
And I am sure that many of you will agree with me when I say that 'time' does not put as much pressure on us as it does on some other communities. For example,

- we give unrealistic deadlines. We are always too afraid to say that it will take 'one full week'. We always only use the word 'soon'.

- we never are punctual. Although everybody seems to be in a deadly hurry on the road, nobody reaches anywhere on time. Why the hurry then?

- we do not value others' time. We just don't.

The moral of the story is that I had to live with a dead broadband connection for about ten days. But believe me, I have not been wasting my time during this period. I have been cooking and photographing while cooking quite religiously.

Like I finally managed to try out this dessert, the recipe for which I had for the last three years. Shall I straight away head to the recipe without wasting any more 'time' of yours then? :)

White goods? :)
Clockwise from top left: condensed milk, plain milk, Paneer

Recipe for Milk Cake
(Can you please please suggest a better name? I know that you are good at it.)

Makes 12 small servings.

Ingredients:

400g. sweetened condensed milk (I used one tin of this.)
250g. finely grated Paneer (I used store-bought.)
½ cup milk OR water (Please see Step 1.)
2-3 tsp castor or powdered sugar (optional; I didn't use.)
2 tbsp Ghee

saffron strands, chopped nuts for garnishing (I used this store-bought blend.)

Method:

1. Combine the condensed milk and grated Paneer in a non-stick pan. In case you are using up the entire tin of condensed milk, add ½ cup of water to it, shake vigorously and add this 'milk' to the pan. Otherwise, add ½ cup of plain milk.(Don't you just admire my sense of 'economy' in the kitchen? :))
2. Add sugar, if using and put this mixture to boil on medium-high heat. Stir continuously.
3. After about 10 minutes, add 1 tbsp of Ghee along the sides of the pan. The mixture of will start getting thicker now. It will move as one mass as you stir.

4. Take the pan off heat and let it cool for about five minutes.
5. In the meanwhile, grease the sides of a mould with the rest of the Ghee. Spread the saffron strands and/or chopped nuts on it. If you wish, you could add some to the mixture in the pan too.
6. Spread the mixture evenly into the greased mould and allow it to set. No refrigeration is required for it to set.

After about an hour, unmould the 'Milk Cake' onto a decorative dish or platter. Garnish it more, if you wish, cut into pieces/wedges and serve.

I made this dessert for my younger sister's bridal shower. Or shall I say 'one bridal shower'? There are two more planned in the next 15 days. Is the foodie in me HAPPY or what? :)

Now I need to rush this post to the Festive Food Fair organised by Anna. After all, it has a long way to go. Australia isn't around the corner, is it? :)

Tags: festive food fair, Dessert, Kalakand, Condensed Milk, Paneer, Barfi

A wish fulfilled : Pineapple Coconut Muffins

2006-11-05T22:15:00.000+05:30

Pineapple Coconut Muffins

Do you know what pineapple is called in German? 'Ananas'! Which means, if you know Marathi or Hindi, then you already know a little bit of German. :) :)

Let me leave humour aside now and thank my kid-cousin, Leena for this post. It is because of her that I made these muffins in Düsseldorf. She had come visiting us along with her parents (her mother is my father's cousin) and her brother in September. A fortnight before we left Germany for good. I know, it sounds weird, but weird can be fun sometimes, right? So there.

Leena had come to us with this big wish of baking something with me. She loves baking, and she knows that I do too. And bake we did. Only a bit in a hurry. A few hours before they were to leave our place. Sounds weird again, I know, but she really really wanted to bake, and we hadn't managed it until then because we were busy doing 'Düsseldorf-Sightseeing'.

By the way, lack of time wasn't the only hurdle there. Once I realised that I had to bake something with her, I started looking for recipes. However, every recipe that looked 'do-able' asked for some ingredient or the other that I didn't have in stock. Naturally, because I had kinda started finishing off stuff because of the impending move. What I did have, though, was all-purpose flour. And that is what saved me. The paper bag containing the flour, to be precise. I found this recipe on that bag and guess what (!), I had all the ingredients. Apart from rum, that is. Well, even if I had it, I wouldn't have used it, because two kids were gonna have those muffins. And did they have them? Oh yes, with lots of gusto. And they got a few packed for the journey too. What I got in return was a tried and tested recipe AND my kid-cousin's happy face. A win-win situation, what? :)

Recipe for Pineapple Coconut Muffins

Makes 15 rather large muffins. You might consider making 18 smaller ones.

Ingredients:

200g. all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g. dessicated coconut
250g. pineapple pieces (Preferably canned.)
1 egg
150g. brown sugar (White sugar should be ok too.)
100ml oil (I used sunflower oil.)
250g. plain yogurt
1 tbsp rum (I used milk instead.)

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional; I used)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Sieve the flour and baking powder together. Add the dessicated coconut to it.
3. Beat the egg. (I used a simple fork for it.) Add the sugar, oil, yogurt and rum/milk to it. Cut the pineapple into smaller pieces, in case the ones from the can are largish. Add them to the mixture and stir well.
4. Add the flour mixture and stir until just mixed. You need not use your electric beater here. Just a large spoon is enough.
5. Grease the muffin moulds with butter/oil or line them with paper cups. Fill the batter in them and bake in the pre-heated oven on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes.
6. They are done when a skewer/ knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then take out the muffin pan and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
7. Unmould the muffins and let them cool on a cooling rack.

Dust with powedered sugar, if you like.

Great for breakfast, as evening snack or when on the road. I've got the feedback. :)

I'd like to send this plateful of muffins to Nandita for WBB #7 Baking for Breakfast and to Meeta for MM #6 Give Thanks. And I thank them for hosting these events. (Enough of your wordplay, Vaishali. It's time to end the post now.)
-takes cue- Ok then, Bye Folks. ;-)

Tags: WBB, Monthly Mingle, Muffin, Breakfast, Cupcakes

A Ton of Protein # 10 - Moong aur Chane ki Dal

2006-11-02T00:16:00.000+05:30

Moong aur Chane ki Dal served with microwave-cooked rice (behind)

When I published my post on Shankarpali, I thought I was 'back'. I was happy that I did not have to stay away from blogging for too long. I was so wrong. And I will be wrong again, if I think that I'll find the time for blogging easily. Nope, it's not gonna be that easy. I'll have to *make* time for it. The reasons being
a) We had a very limited social circle in Germany. Which meant less time spent in socialising. Here in Pune, however, I can socialise with different people everyday and still have others complaining that we don't see each other often enough. :) No, I am not complaining. This is what we came back for. I am just stating facts.
b) Sundays often were 'stay-at-home' days in Germany. Because all shops there are closed on Sundays. Which often translated into me blogging for several hours together. Whereas here in India, Sundays can sometimes be the busiest days.
c) We get Indian newspapers here!!! When it comes to newspapers, I enjoy reading only Indian newspapers. Better still, Marathi newspapers. And if it is Sakal, then I can spend at least an hour reading it. Which I often do. :)

When do I get the time for blogging then? Well, as you can see, I haven't been getting any. But this will change. I'll have to make sure that it does. Wish me luck!

Let me come back to this post now. It's the tenth one in my series of 'A Ton of Protein'. I got the original recipe 'sent' to me in one of the newsletters from this site. (How convenient is that! :)) The recipe does not 'look' very different from the other Dal recipes that you might be having, but it gives lip-smacking results. Maybe it's the green Moong Dal, maybe it's the proportion of spices or maybe it's both. In case you want to find it out yourself, here's the recipe. :)

'Three' ingredients...'Tenth' post...A 'Ton' of Protein

Recipe for Moong aur Chane ki Dal

Ingredients:

½ cup Moong dal with skin
1 tbsp Chana dal
½ tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp coriander seeds powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ inch ginger, chopped fine
salt to taste
2 cups water
juice from half a lime

1 tbsp Ghee or oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

1. Pressure-cook both Dals together with 1 cup water.
2. Mix all the spice powders in ½ cup water to make thin paste.
3. Heat Ghee/oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the cumin seeds.
4. Add ginger. Add the paste of spice powders. Fry for a minute. Reduce heat, in case the paste jumps too high as it can cause burns.
5. Then add the Dal, salt and the remaining ½ cup water. Add more, in case you like it thin. Boil it on high heat for about five minutes or until it reaches a consistency of your choice.
6. Once you turn off the heat, add the lime juice.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. I happened to have a coil-shaped red chilli in my kitchen, so I used that as well. :)

Serve with rice or Rotis.

Note:

Lime juice added after the Dal is cooked retains all the Vitamin C in it, which helps the body absorb iron from the Dal. (That's my two cents. Just so that I don't feel guilty for reproducing the recipe exactly as I got it. :))

My favourite Diwali Treat : Shankarpali

2006-10-19T23:37:00.000+05:30

Shankarpali - Always in the foreground for me :)

One of the biggest pleasures of being back in India? The FOOD. And the best part of it is that you get it even without moving a finger. Like when your mother cooks it for you. Or like when somebody just drops in, because they were *in the area*, and gets steaming hot Batata Wadas from the shop *at the corner*. It is bliss, I tell you, sheer bliss. :)

All the fat that I had lost during shifting from Germany to India is slowly creeping back again. And there is more on the way, I know. Because there are still many more goodies to be cooked and eaten yet. It's Diwali, after all. :) What Vee, the JFI host for this month, says here is true. I am indeed gonna have to "go to the darned gym and melt off all those calories put on in the name of Diwali".

If not anybody else, my mother will definitely agree. Because she saw me gobbling up those Shankarpali yesterday. Well, they are my favourite after all. I can eat them by the kilos. Literally. :) Then how could I resist them while they were fresh and still warm? And hey, I also *needed* them. As refreshments. I was doing the frying, you know. By the way, this is the first post on this blog with 'frying' involved. Does that mean, that my return to India make this blog a little less healthy then? We will see. :)

Recipe for Shankarpali

Makes about 1.5 kg (!) of these crispy little babies.

Ingredients:

1 cup oil or Ghee (We used oil.)
1 cup milk
1 ¼ cup sugar (This amount of sugar makes moderately sweet Shankarpali. If you like your sweets to be really sweet, you could consider using more.)
a pinch of salt
approx. 5 cups all-purpose flour (Please refer to the instructions below.)

Oil or Ghee for deep-frying (We used oil, but I like the taste more when we use Ghee.)

Method:

1. Mix the first three ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pan and heat. Turn the heat off, as soon as the mixture comes to a boil.
2. Pour it into a wide, shallow dish. Once it is not too hot to touch, add the salt. Also, add the flour, a little at a time. Please do not add all the flour now. We are going to need only as much as the oil-sugar-milk mixture takes in.
3. Go on kneading and adding the flour till you have soft dough which is pliable and not sticky. Keep this dough aside, covered, for about half an hour. This also gives you the time to make the rest of the preparations. :)
4. Now assemble all the necessary tools. You will need a rolling pin, a rolling board, a knife or a wheel that looks like a pizza-cutter (see picture below), a skillet/Kadhai and a slotted spoon for frying, another wide & shallow dish to take out the fried Shankarpali onto. Please take out a couple of additional small plates, just in case.
5. Now pour some oil/Ghee into the skillet. The quantity will depend upon how big and deep your skillet is. Heat the oil.
6. Knead the dough lightly. Take a fistful of it and roll it into a round ball using your palms. Oil the rolling board lightly and roll this ball on it into a circle. Like in the following picture. Do not dust the rolling board (or stone as in our case) with flour like we do for Chapatis.

7. Cut this rolled out 'Chapati' into small squares or diamonds with a knife or a cutting wheel like in the next picture. The one we have used has a serrated edge. We call it 'Kaatani' in Marathi.

8. Deep-fry these pieces. Please make sure that the oil is not too hot. It should not smoke. That can result into Shankarpali fried dark brown on the outside and uncooked on the inside.
You could fry as many as you want at one point. It only depends (again) upon the size of the Kadhai. We used a smallish Kadhai, so we fried half of a batch every time (that's half of the pieces in the above picture).
9. Take them out of the oil and onto the shallow dish, when they look light brown. They will continue cooking a little even after they are taken out of the oil.
10. Make more Shankarpali as explained from Step 6 to Step 9 until the dough gets over.

Let the fried Shankarpali cool completely on a shallow dish. Then store them in a dry container with a tight lid.

Enjoy them with a cup of tea or with the rest of the Diwali goodies. Like so. :)

Clockwise from top left: Besan Laddoo, Chakli, Shankarpali

I am back...

2006-10-18T23:33:00.000+05:30

...well, sort of. I mean, I am back in Pune, India. And I also have access to the internet now. However, when exactly I'll be able to publish my next post is still a question. I have my fingers crossed. :)

In the meanwhile, let me wish you all a very Happy Diwali.

Bye to a kitchen...

2006-09-26T21:47:00.000+05:30

I am soon going to say 'Bye' to this kitchen. I wonder whether I can say 'Auf Wiedersehn' (See you again!) to the birthplace of many posts on my blog. :(

Don't miss the printout of a recipe and some more scribbled ones on the fridge :)

At the same time, I am looking forward to going back to *our own* kitchen in Pune, which my husband and I designed to suit our needs. The only thing that I won't have in that kitchen is this view.

These trees are green throughout the year. (Apart from when it snows. Then they look white. :)) The 'green' of them is soothing, isn't it?

Surprise Inside! Jam-in-the-hole Muffins

2006-09-22T18:04:00.000+05:30

Oh yes, the muffin does have a surprise inside. If you have read the title of the post, then you certainly know what exactly is inside. :) What you don't know, though, is the other surprise this post has got for you. Well, it's not a surprise really; it's more of a news. And the news is that we are moving back to Pune, India. We had it on our minds since June this year. Then we slowly started working towards it, and now it's already time to pack bags. Literally, because we are scheduled to leave Germany in a week's time. That's soon, isn't it?
Right now, we are in the process of winding up here. Selling/Giving away the stuff that we can't take with us. (If you are reading this and are in the Düsseldorf area, please drop me an e-mail. I am sure you can make use of many things that I have.)

As far as my kitchen is concerned, I am trying my best to use up the stuff, so that I don't have to throw it away. Which is also why my posts these days have different combinations and at times weird recipes. These muffins also had a few diverse ingredients (which weren't there in the original recipe) going into it. For example, semolina. You'll know more when you read the recipe.

I found the original recipe in a 'Cake Special' issue of this German magazine. I was anyway keen on trying it out, and that's when Alanna announced the theme for Sugar High Friday 23: Surprise Inside! When I read the theme, I knew I HAD to make these. Actually, this recipe, with the jam in it, also has a sort of hangover of the previous SHF i.e. No. 22.

In case you are not one of those, who scrolled straight down to see what's inside the muffin, then here's one picture for you. :)

Recipe for Jam-in-the-hole Muffins (The original has a boring name: Breakfast Muffins. Yawn.)

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

280g. all-purpose flour/ Maida (I used a combination of flour, cornflour and extra-fine semolina ¹)
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda /sodium bicarbonate
a pinch of salt
8g. or about 2 tsp vanilla sugar
60g. butter
1 egg
300g. plain yogurt (That is two of these yogurt cups.)
5 tbsp milk
12 tsp any jam (The original asks for Strawberry Jam. I used one with red currants made by me at home using this recipe by Ulrike.)

Store-bought blanched, slivered almonds for decoration (optional; I used)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla sugar to it. (In case you want to use vanilla essence, add it at Step 4.)
3. Melt the butter on gentle heat until just liquidy. I did this in the microwave, in a glass bowl which I later used for mixing the batter. (Economic use of vessels!) Let the melted butter cool a little.
4. Then beat the butter and egg until frothy. You could use your electric beater for this; I didn't. :) To this, add the yogurt and milk.
5. Add the flour mixture to this and stir until just mixed. Let's not forget that these are muffins and not a cake. Which means that you need not use your electric beater here. Just a (wooden) spoon is fine.
6. Line the moulds in the muffin pan with paper cups. I did not do it, and ended up with a few scratches on the pan while unmoulding the muffins. :(
7. Distribute half of the batter in the cups. Place a teaspoonful of the jam on it. Like so.

8. Distribute the rest of the batter on top and even it out. If using slivered almonds, place them on top of the batter now.
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven on the second rack from below for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
10. Then take the muffin pan out of the oven and let it cool (preferably on a cooling rack) for 15 minutes.
11. Then unmould the muffins gently and let them cool further on the cooling rack.

Enjoy the muffins with a glass of milk, if you like. Perfect for brunch. Or as an after-school treat for children. Please make sure that you store them under lock and key, though, because they disappear fast. Here's proof. :)

Notes:

1. Sorry, I cannot give you the measurement of the flour in cups because I did not have enough flour. I used cornflour and extra-fine semolina as well. I just made sure that all of it together weighed 280 grams. Why did I use different flours? See, this is why you shouldn't have scrolled down straight to the second picture without having read the introduction. :)
2. We call the extra-fine semolina 'Zero number Rawa' in Maharashtra. Elsewhere too?

Tags: SHF23, Muffin, Baking, Dessert, Breakfast

Can you guess the main ingredient? - Polenta Idlis

2006-09-20T14:44:00.000+05:30

Cornmeal Idlis served with No-Coconut Chutney (green) by Asha &
Peanut-Onion Chutney (brown) by Latha

You guessed it right!!! Are you smart or are you smart?! It is indeed coarse cornmeal or Polenta or Makai ka Rawa. I was sooooo sure that it was hard to guess. (Meaning: I would have never guessed it right, had this been a guessing game on someone else's blog.) Well, I underestimated you, Darlings. :)

Coarse cornmeal / Polenta/ Makai ka Rawa

The recipe is quite simple. I just followed a recipe for Urad Dal-Semolina/Rawa idli that I have got from my mother-in-law. Why did I use Polenta then? Well, I bought it a few months back because I wanted to try making (guess what!) Polenta, the Italian staple. Somewhere down the lane, I totally forgot about it. When I found the pack of Polenta again, I just instinctively wanted to make Idlis with it. (This happens just too often to me, don't you think?) So, Idlis is what I made with them. Here's how.

Recipe for Polenta Idlis (Or Rawa Idlis, for that matter)

Serves 4. (No point in giving the number of Idlis here. As you can see, mine are the 'giant' versions.)

Ingredients:

1 cup Urad Dal
2 cups Polenta (or wheat Rawa/ semolina)
1/2 tsp Methi/ fenugreek seeds (optional; I always use)
water, as required
salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak the Urad Dal and Methi seeds (if using) in water for approx. 8 hours or till a point, where you see tiny bubbles on the water (and the Urad Dal starts giving a slightly unpleasant smell).
2. Then grind it to a fine paste. By fine I really mean fine. Leave it again to ferment; overnight, if you plan to make Idlis for breakfast the following morning. If you are left with some of the water in which the Urad Dal was soaked, keep it aside too. It will be useful in making the batter thinner, once the Polenta/Rawa is added.
3. In a piece of cloth as big as a handkerchief, tie the Polenta or Rawa in a bundle. Put this bundle in a vessel and steam it in your pressure-cooker / steamer for about 15 minutes. Like so.

Steamed Polenta

4. Take the bundle out and let it cool. Once cool, add it to the fermented Urad Dal batter. Add salt and mix well. The batter should be the consistensy of Milkmaid condensed milk. (Do you Guys think of another equivalent?) If the batter is too thick, add the Urad Dal water that you have kept aside the earlier evening.
5. Oil the Idli stand/cups in which you want to make Idlis. I usually use steel bowls/Katori (Hindi)/Vaatya (Marathi) because I don't have my Idli stand here. You can see those bowls here and here.
6. Steam the batter in a pressure cooker/steamer for 10 minutes. Take the stand/bowls out and wait for about five minutes. This makes unmoulding them easier.

Unmould Idlis and serve warm with chutney or Sambar. As you can see in the caption for the first photograph, I served them with two chutneys blogged by Asha and Latha.

I would like to send this post to Nandita's Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Let's see what she says. :)

Tags: Polenta, Rawa, Semolina, Cream of wheat, Idli, Rava, Idly, Breakfast, Snacks, South Indian, Low-fat, Low-cal

Suspense...

2006-09-19T13:35:00.000+05:30

There was a hissing sound coming out of the chamber. As though something were trying to escape through a hole. I went closer. There was a knob. I turned it. The hissing sound started dying, a little at a time. Then it stopped.

I opened the chamber. A strong smell hit my nostrils. Strong and overwhelming. I stretched my hand to touch what was inside…sssssss…I pulled it back with a jolt. I had burnt my finger.
I waited. I was not going to give up.
After a few moments, I touched it again, and pulled it out quickly. It made a ‘thud’ and rested. The smell still emanating from it, but no more sound.

I knew I had to do something. I knew it. I reached out for a knife. Yes… a knife is what I needed. I looked at ‘it’ with the knife in my hand. “Is it time?” I asked myself. I had burnt my finger once. Then...something in me said “Yes”. I held the knife firmly and dug it into ‘it’. I took it out and dug it again…and again…and again…until…

…until I had unmoulded all Idlis from the stand.

My Latest Kitchen Acquisition and Pasta with Ricotta & Mushrooms

2006-09-18T04:16:00.000+05:30

This kitchen tool is my latest kitchen acquisition. It helps you drain water from the pan after you cook 'Pasta'. What you do is that you hold it at the upper rim of the pan as though it were the lid. The *wings* on its two sides help you hold it with the handle grips of the pan. You hold the pan and the perforated *lid* on the sink, as away from you as possible, and then drain the water. Which also means that you do not have to use a colander for that job. The pasta can stay in the same pan in which it was cooked. Isn't it handy?

Since it is so good, I put it to use immediately as well as frequently and made a few dishes with pasta, which will feature here in the next few weeks. Today is the lucky(!) day for

Spinach Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms
(I found the original recipe in German here.)

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

250g. Ricotta Cheese
300g. Tagliatelle (I used the ones with spinach. You could use plain noodles too.)
200g. mushrooms, sliced thin
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 tbsp olive oil
Parsley or any other herb (I didn't use any.)
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional; not in the original recipe)
about 1/4 cup milk (I used white wine instead. Hic.)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Take approx. 3 litres of water in a pan and put it to boil. Add a little salt to it. (I often add a vegetable stock cube instead; that gives the pasta some more taste of its own.) Once the water starts boiling, add the pasta and cook on high heat. The time taken to cook the pasta 'al dente' is normally written on the pack.
2. In the meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Sauté the chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms in it.
3. Stir the Ricotta cheese with the milk/wine to make it smooth and slightly thinner. Pour it over the mushrooms. Add the tomato paste, if you like. I add it to give the sauce a nice tang.
4. Add salt and pepper to it and cook on very low heat. If using any herb, add it now.
5. By now the Tagliatelle should be cooked. Drain the water from it. (This is where my new baby comes in handy. :))
6. Serve the cooked Tagliatelle onto individual plates. Pour the creamy Ricotta sauce over it. Sprinkle some more pepper over it, if you like.

Serve with a salad on the side.

Green Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms

(By the way, I bought the tool and also took the photographs in this post before I got my new camera. So, the pictures aren't as great as I'd love them to be. Clicking them all over again could have been an option, but I am too lazy for that. :( )

And no, this post isn't being sent to any event. Isn't that strange?

Tags: Pasta, Cheese, Ricotta, Mushrooms, Wine, Italian

Pumpkin Walnut Cake

2006-09-15T17:50:00.000+05:30

Pumpkin Walnut Cake

Did you know that pumpkin is a berry? The largest berry, actually. I didn't know that until I started looking for more information on pumpkins. Why did I look for more information? Because Meeta has chosen it as the theme for this month's From My Rasoi. A very apt theme for the month of September, isn't it? (Having said that, I must mention again that pumpkins are available in India throughout the year and not just around Halloween.)

What I learnt more about pumpkins is that they were around even 12000 years ago, and were very much a part of man's diet in the Ice Age. They are supposed to have originated in South America. (Which makes me think that every second fruit or vegetable that I know has its roots in the Americas. What in the world did our ancestors eat before the 'New Land' was discovered?)
Also, how did they make many of the Indian string instruments before that? If I am not wrong, it is dried pumpkins that they use in making them. e.g. Sitar or Veena. Actually, the main chamber in them is called 'Bhopla' in Marathi or 'Kaddu' in Hindi. Both are words for pumpkin in those languages. That asks for another 'Google search', I guess. :)

Hokkaido pumpkins

As for today's recipe, I didn't really have to do a 'search' for it. Because I found it in a German cookbook that I had borrowed from the library, after I saw the first pumpkins in the markets here. :) This book is dedicated to only pumpkins, squashes and melons. All from the same family. Some of the recipes in this book looked far-fetched to me; maybe included only to make the list of recipes longer. For example, Melon Soup with Pesto. Doesn't sound too great to me. I am happy eating melons as they are.
However, this recipe with pumpkin and walnuts turned out wonderful. And what aroma...ummmm...! By the way, I used a Hokkaido pumpkin for it. As you can see in the pictures in this post, the skin as well as flesh are bright orange. Which indicates high carotene content. That is also the reason why they are preferred in making bottled baby food. Apart from the sweet and nutty taste, of course. The name of this variety hints at its Japanese roots. However, I haven't managed to find out more about its origin. Maybe one of you knows?

Recipe for Pumpkin Walnut Cake

Makes a fairly large cake. (Mine weighed 870 grams.)

Ingredients:

300g. or 4 loosely packed cups grated pumpkin
75g. or 3/4 cup powdered walnuts
1 egg
100 ml. or 1/3 cup oil (I used sunflower oil.)
250g. or 2½ cups all-purpose flour/Maida (I used 150g. flour and 100g. cornflour. Only because I wanted to use up the rapidly-aging cornflour.)
200g. or heaped 3/4 cup sugar (I used soft brown sugar. For the same reason as above. :))
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered cinnamon (I used store-bought.)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 heaped tsp baking powder

butter/oil to grease the mould (I didn't use any. It's a silicone mould.)
powdered/icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Clockwise from top left: silicone Bundt mould,
batter for cake getting ready, grated pumpkin waiting to be a part of the batter :)

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a cake mould and keep aside.
2. Separate the egg : the egg white into a small bowl and the yolk into a bigger bowl, which you will also use for mixing the batter. If you are not confident of separating the egg only with your hands, you might want to invest in a separator, like Shammi.
3. Stir the egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar, oil and cinnamon until mixed well. Add the grated pumpkin and stir again.
4. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl. Then add the powdered walnuts to it. Stir the batter well to mix all ingredients.
5. With an electric beater, beat the egg white to resemble firm snow. Like so.

6. Add this 'egg snow' to to the batter and stir gently.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake mould and bake for about 50 minutes. The cake is ready when a knife or skewer inserted in the middle of it comes out clean. (You don't really have to think to write this sentence, do you? :))
8. Once the cake is done, turn off the oven (Duh!) and take out the mould. Let the cake cool in it for 10 minutes.
9. Then unmould it onto a cooling wire rack. Once cooled, you could dust it with some icing sugar. I too did after taking the photograph. :)

Make this for you Halloween party and see all *ghosts* gathering around the table. ;-)
In the meanwhile, I'll go call Meeta to have a look at it. :)

Tags: Dessert, Pumpkin, Walnut, Cake, Baking

Things to Eat Before You Die (, although I don't want you to die really.)

2006-09-14T15:48:00.000+05:30

The Traveller's Lunchbox has come up with this idea of compiling a list of a food-bloggers' top picks. It is about things you've eaten and think that everyone should eat at least once before they die. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Thanks a lot, Mandira, for tagging me.

Since I grew up in Pune...or as my husband once said, since my life has always revolved in a radius of 3 kilometers in a certain part of Pune, all my food memories and longings are connected to this city, that I call my home. (By the way, I am sure you have noticed that I wrote '...my husband once said...'. He is being punished so severely for that one occasion that he will perhaps never say that or anything alike ever again. Trust me. :))

Following is the list of foods or food destinations that I keep going back to. And I will do so until the last breath leaves my body. (What melodrama! Straight out of a Hindi tear-jerker. :))

1. Mango Ice-cream at Buva Ice-creamwale: Yummy yummy yummy ice-cream. It's a modest place in the heart of the city. (Near 'Udyan-Prasad' Mangal Karyalay, for those interested.) The decor inside hasn't changed in the last 30 years (that's how long I have been going there). Neither have the people. Most important of all : The taste hasn't changed. It is still the same taste and texture that I have in my oldest of memories. I am looking forward to making more memories there with my grandchildren. :)

2. Bedekar Misal: This is another one of those old-world joints in the heart of Pune city. If I am not wrong, the restaurant has a different name. I don't remember it, because everyone calls it Bedekaraanchi Misal. Now, Misal, as the name suggests, is a dish made by mixing lots of things. You can see the recipe for it here. But you know what, don't bother making it at home. Just pay a visit to Pune and have it at Bedekars'. You will regret, if you don't. :)

3. Shrewsbury Biscuits by Kayani Bakery: This is an item that many non-Puneites too know of. These famous biscuits make a perfect gift to take home, if you are visiting the city. Only that you have to make sure that you are at the bakery by 7 a.m., if you want to make sure that you get them. :) Read more about the bakery and the biscuits here.
The one thing that I'll want to do before I die is: Sprawl on the sofa in the living room at my parents' place, my sister beside me, both of us giggling like mad without reason, MTV playing on TV, and me munching on Shrewsbury biscuits. BLISS.

4. Kajukand: This is again something that memories are made of. When I was a child, my father used to bring me these sweet, pink squares made of cashews, sugar and with a hint of rosewater. These candies are healthier and cheaper, no doubt. They are also very simple, true-to-the-earth. For me, a symbol of the simple, middle-class life that we had. A life devoid of brands, luxury or affluence. Something that you don't really go looking for in supermarkets. It's the traditional-looking Maharashtrian shops that sell those. Try them out. You'll like them.

The last item on the list is purely a personal pleasure.

5. Tea made by my husband: You would perhaps not find anything special in it. Or maybe you would. Me, I'll want to have it till the last moment. The very last one.

I'd like to read what Anupama (I always tag her, don't I?), Linda and Mythili want us to eat before we die. :)

Away from the grind : Didir Dosa

2006-09-13T02:16:00.000+05:30

I bought some Urad dal flour back in January. I bought it because I had read a recipe then, which required it. After some days, when I again saw the recipe to make that dish, I realised that I didn't really fancy making it. (Does this happen to you too?) As a result, the Urad dal flour stayed in the pack, unopened, at the back of the cabinet...until I saw it again, when I emptied the cabinet to clean it thoroughly. This time I was determined to use it, and started looking for recipes on the net.

This thing called the internet is perhaps one of the best things to have happened to mankind in the recent years. (Now that was a 'pearl of wisdom', Maa Vaishali Devi!) Although I did not find too many recipes, which ask for Urad dal flour (perhaps there aren't too many anyway?), the one that I found is reeeaaaally good. It is for this Dosa, Didir Dosa. I found the same recipe at a few sites. The one site, which I like the most, is this. The only thing that none of the sites told me is *why* the Dosa is called so. I am sure that one of you will know. :)

This Dosa has two very good qualities.
1) It requires no grinding at all. Which means that bachelors or people on the move or people who are just starting a household and do not have all the kitchen gadgets yet can also make great Dosas.
2) Moreover, the no-grind batter gives you perfect Dosas. I think the pictures are proof enough. :)

The recipe is very uncomplicated too. Let me tell you how.

Recipe for Didir Dosa

I do not really remember how many Dosas I made, but it made four adults so full that they almost skipped lunch. :)

Ingredients:

3 cups rice flour
1 cup Urad flour
salt to taste
water for the batter

oil for the griddle/Tava when making Dosas

Rice flour & Urad flour - Can you tell which is which? :)

Method:

1. Mix both flours and salt. Add enough water to make a soft, lump-free paste. Please make sure that it isn't too runny.

Batter to be fermented yet

2. Leave the batter to ferment for at least 8 hours or overnight. Once the batter rises, check the taste again for salt.

Risen batter

3. For making Dosas, heat a Tava. Pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre and spread it with the back of the ladle moving in concentric circles. Spread a few drops of oil at the edges of the Dosa. For step-by-step fotos, see here. Once the edges of the Dosa start *lifting themselves* from the Tava/griddle, slide a spatula beneath it, fold it in half and take it out.

If you want to serve it like the 'Topi Dosa' that they serve in Udupi restaurants in India, make one cut in the Dosa from the centre through to the edge. Fold it with both hands to make it look like a party hat. Like this.

'Topi' Dosa

Serve it with this chutney or any other chutney of your choice. I served it with this.

I'd like to take this 'hat' along to Nandita's. For her Weekend Breakfast Party...er...Blogging. :)

Another Meme!

2006-09-09T02:57:00.000+05:30

Trappeto Beach. You wanna be there, don't you? :)

Thanks for tagging me, Nabeela. I love writing memes. :)

I am thinking about: at least ten other things right now.
I said: too many mean things to my husband during the first year of our marriage. :(
I want to: lose at least 10 kilograms.
I wish: I could paint and sing.
I regret: not having studied with enough dedication.
I hear: the dishwasher in the background as I am writing this.
I am: Vaishali.
I dance: with my upper body when I hear a catchy number on the car radio.
I sing: to my daughter to put her to sleep. Difficult to believe, but I do.
I cry: easily.
I am not: as snobbish as I appear to be.
I am: still Vaishali. How many more times do I have to tell you?
I write: my grocery lists in Marathi.
I confuse: between 'paraan' and 'pairi', the words for day-after-tomorrow and day-before-yesterday in Konkani.
I need: to get rid of my habit of procrastinating things.
I tag: Anupama.

Spaghettini with Zucchini / Bottle gourd and its leaves

2006-09-08T00:03:00.000+05:30

Spaghettini with Italian bottle gourd and its leaves

It needs to be eaten with a spoon.
I realised this only after I clicked the photo with a fork on the side. :(

You might think that I am crazy about bottle gourd. Considering my latest posts, you have reason enough to. However, to be honest, this one is just a coincidence. Well, let me begin from the beginning.

As you know, I went on a holiday last week. As many of you guessed it right here, it was Italy. More precisely, Sicily. ('Mafia' is the first word that comes to your mind? You are a well-read person then. :)) We stayed in the village of Trappeto, which is a part of the Palermo province. We went there on an invitation by this Italian friend of mine, Nina. She has a house there; it's her hometown. Although she is very much a resident of Düsseldorf for over forty years now, she enjoys staying in Sicily in the summer months. I don't blame her; Sicily is indeed beautiful. Will write more about it in another post.

One of the highlights of our stay there was Italian food. Home-made as well as restaurant-made. What I observed was that, like in India, in Italy too home-cooked food is quite different from restaurant food. Until then, I somehow very naïvely thought, that Italians cooked at home what they served in restaurants, or vice versa. But no. I found the home-cooked food much less spicy and much more wholesome. Like this dish. It is a perfect one-dish meal with a good amount of carbs, fibre, Vitamin C and lots more goodness in it. You'll agree when you see the recipe.

Before that, a few notes:

The 'Zucchini' that is used in this dish is actually bottle gourd in a different shape. (Maybe we could call it bottle-snake-gourd-zucchini. Or better still, zucchino, because that is the singular!) What they mean, when they call something a zucchino in Sicily, is this bottle gourd. The dark green zucchini that we know, are not to be seen there.

Also, the leaves are of the same vine, on which this gourd grows. They are sold regularly at the vegetable vendors there. Since I was sure, that I wouldn't find them easily outside Sicily, I asked Nina for a substitute. Well, there is no substiute really. Unless you want to try it out with spinach, she says. I haven't tried making this at home with spinach yet. Maybe you want to?

Besides, the Spaghettini that we used in this dish is like Spaghetti, but with slightly thinner and much shorter strands. If you don't have it at home, feel free to break regular spaghetti in 2-inch long strands. For this, you just have to hold the bunch of spaghetti that you want to use vertically in both hands and give it several twists. What you get is Spaghettini. Simple? :)

What they call zucchino in Sicily (R) and its leaves (L).
Only the smaller, tender leaves were used in the dish.

Recipe for Spaghettini with Zucchini/Bottle gourd and its leaves

Serves 5.

Ingredients:

One long Italian bottle gourd or a medium-size regular bottle gourd or two small dark green zucchini, as we know them
Leaves of the bottle gourd vine (Only the tender ones at the tip should be picked.)
250 g. Spaghettini (or spaghetti crushed as explained above)

2-3 tbsp olive oil
7-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut
4-5 tomatoes

water for cooking
salt & pepper to taste
grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese to sprinkle

Method:

1. Coarsely chop the tender leaves picked from the bottle gourd vine. Soak them in salted water for the tiny insects/worms to settle at the bottom. In case using spinach, first wash the leaves with plain water and then chop them coarse.
2. Peel the bottle gourd/zucchini. In case you are wondering what to do with the peel, see here. Chop it in bite-sized pieces.

Left to right: chopped bottle gourd, peeled bottle gourd and
picked & chopped bottle gourd leaves

3. Take the leaves out of the salt-water solution and give them a quick rinse.
4. Take lots of water in a large pan and bring it to boil. Then add the leaves as well as the chopped zucchini to it.

5. Cook uncovered until the zucchini pieces are soft.

6. Drain the cooked vegetables reserving the water in which they were cooked.
7. Now place the tomatoes in a shallow dish and pour some boiling water over them. Let them rest like that for a couple of minutes, then take them out into a plate and peel them. The peel will come out easily. Roughly chop these tomatoes.
8. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic pieces. Once they turn a shade darker, add the peeled, chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook uncovered on high heat. Mash it with the back of a ladle while it is cooking.

Olive oil ready to sizzle the garlic
(That's a lot of oil, but Nina is not scared.
It is locally pressed oil from locally grown olives.
It can do no harm, she believes.)

9. In the meanwhile, heat the water in which the veggies were cooked. Once it starts boiling, add the spaghettini and some salt. Cook it uncovered until al dente. Once cooked, drain much of the water from it, reserving some in the pan.
10. The tomato sauce must be ready now with a smooth, homogenous consistency. Add it to the pan with the Spaghettini. Add the cooked veggies too. The dish should be rather soupy. Give it a stir and check the taste for salt.
11. Ladle it into deep dishes/bowls. Sprinkle crushed pepper and grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese over it.

Serve hot with some olives and warm Ciabatta bread on the side. Mmmmmmm....... Buono.... :)

I think, this makes a fitting entry for Meeta's Monthly Mingle with 'Holiday Cuisine' as the theme this time. Here I come, Meeta.....

Tags: Italian Food, Sicily, Pasta, Zucchini

Pista Choco Squares

2006-09-06T04:26:00.000+05:30

Pista Choco Squares

I am back from my holiday. Relaxed and charged up. Contradictory? Maybe...but that is how I feel right now. :) Because I had a great holiday. Short, yet very very sweet. Will write more about it in the next post.

In this post, I must write about the sweet that I made using the low-fat, quick-to-make Khoya. I have promised it to Vineela, and she must be waiting for me to send this post to her, so that she can finish doing the round-up for JFI. Sweet of her.

Now about the dish. I made it using a recipe for Pista Choco Roll by Tarla Dalal. The recipe looked rather uncomplicated to me, when I began. I was looking forward to shaping the sweet in rolls. However, when I actually started making them, I observed a few things. Like

a) it was very difficult to shape the dough, let alone making dainty rolls out of it. Perhaps it was because of the homemade Mawa that I used. Or perhaps the recipe lacks something. As a result, I had to make squares out of it.
b) Also, I am quite sure, that food colour has been used in it to make it look as attractive as it does in the picture on Dalal's website. I have seen this sweet in Mithai shops in India, and there too it looks much darker in colour. Since I am not really in favour of using food colour, I did not use any. So, my preparation looks somewhat paler.

However, it has all the taste that can make your tastebuds rock. ;-) More while explaining the recipe.

Recipe for Pista Choco Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup grated Khoya (Mawa)

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp cocoa powder (I used grated chocolate instead, but I would recommend cocoa powder.)

2 tbsp chopped pistachios (I powdered them.)
+ a couple more pistachios, chopped, for garnishing

2 drops rose essence (I used a few drops of pure rose water.)

Method:

1. Combine the Khoya and powdered sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook on a slow flame, while stirring continuously till the sugar has dissolved and the moisture has evaporated. However, please make sure, that it does not become too dry and crumbly to handle.

Khoya, after roasting with powdered sugar
(I think, 'real' Khoya will look much smoother and more shiny once roasted.)

2. Cool it completely. Then add the rose essence/water, and divide the mixture in two portions.
3. Add the cocoa powder to one portion and mix well. Add the chopped/powdered pistachios to the other portion and mix well. In case the mixture has become too loose, add a few drops of ghee or milk to tighten it.
4. In a shallow dish/Thali, press the portion with cocoa powder and even out the surface. Then press the pistachio portion on it, and even out the surface again. Press the chopped pistachios set aside for garnishing on it.
5. Let the dish/Thali rest for 15-20 minutes. Then cut the sweet into squares.

Serve as dessert. I think, it will be appreciated most, if offered to children as a surprise treat. Maybe when they come to your place to scare you for Halloween? :)

Dum Bhindi (Okra marinated in Yogurt)

2006-08-30T18:03:00.000+05:30

Do you like this picture? Do you find it different? Yes?
Do you know why? No?
Fine, then let me tell you. -tries to hide the extreme gleam, but fails- It...is...because...I...have...a...NEW CAMERA!!!!!! Yay!!!! It's a birthday present from Hubby Dear. Well, I asked for it, but it still is a present. :) :) I am sooooo excited. It is all that I wanted in a camera. The one I used so far did not really do justice to my extraordinarily artistic(!) ideas, you know. ;-) But hey, I still love my old Kodak buddy. It was there for me throughout my 'teething' days. :)

Anyway, coming back to today's dish, the recipe for which I found here. I came across it while looking for different recipes for Bhindi/Okra/Lady's Fingers, because that is one of the few vegetables, which are always fresh and available at my favourite SriLankan shop. Which means that I cook okra at least once a week, if not twice. However, cooking the same vegetable always in the same way is boring for me. Not enough excitement in the kitchen, you see.

Well, then how is this dish? First of all, it is 'Satvik', meaning (amongst other things,) it has no onion or garlic, which makes it perfect for all the religious feasts that we are gonna have until Diwali. Also, the combination of spices used in it makes it very special. The texture of cooked okra in it is not exactly crispy, as many like it to be. It is slightly chewy, but not rubbery. What would attract the people at home (and maybe the neighbours too!) to the kitchen is the aroma of it while it cooks. Sniff sniff...ummmmmmm..... :)

Clockwise from left: Fresh okra, green chillis, yogurt, red chillis being pounded

Recipe for Dum Bhindi

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

500 g. Bhindi/Okra/Lady's Fingers
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp Garam Masala (I used store-bought Sabji Masala instead.)
+ some more Garam Masala (I did not substitute this.)
2 red chillis, pounded
2 green chilies, chopped
4 tsp ghee (I used 1 tbsp Ghee and a non-stick pan.)
+ some more Ghee ( a few drops)
4 tsp ginger paste ( I used julienned ginger.¹)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste

Method:

1. Using a mixer, blend together yogurt, Garam Masala (or Sabji Masala), salt, pounded red chilis and one chopped green chilli. Take it out into a largish pot, which will also accomodate the Bhindi.
2. Wash,wipe, top and tail the Bhindi. Cut it in 1 inch long pieces and make slits in it, making sure that it does not get cut in half.
3. Soak it in the yogurt mixture and let it marinate for about half an hour. Like so.

Clockwise from bottom left: Ginger juliennes, whole ginger,
okra marinating in yogurt-spice blend

4. Heat the Ghee in a pan. Add the ginger paste (or juliennes), the other green chilli, turmeric powder and fry it for about a minute.
5. Now add the Bhindi with the marinade, stir, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle some Ghee and a little Garam Masala on top of the Bhindi. Cover the pan with a lid. Steam-cook on a low heat for 5 minutes.
7. Remove the lid and cook till almost dry. This may take around 15 minutes.

Serve hot with chapatis or Missi Roti or with rice and Dal.

Note:
1. I julienned the ginger or cut it into matchsticks instead of paste, because the paste while frying causes *oil sprays*, leaving the cooking herd, counter-top and your hands very oily. On the other hand, the matchsticks fry rather *peacefully*. Also, they are a pleasure to bite into. :)

This would be my second entry to this month's JFI hosted by Vineela. There could be a third one, if Vineela is ready to accept it late. I have made and photographed the dish, but cannot publish it until Tuesday next week, because I am off on a short holiday. Ciao ciao! (By the way, that's a clue. ;-) ;-))

Make Khawa / Khoya / Mawa at home!

2006-08-28T17:33:00.000+05:30

Vineela has chosen Milk as this month's theme for Jihva for Ingredients. Not just milk, but all milk products too. That makes it simple, right? Wrong! That gives you so much choice, that you take about a month to decide what your entry for this event will be. That again has a few hurdles. For example, the main ingredient. You realise that you have always *bought* the main ingredient that goes into the dish, that you fancy making for the D-Day.

Well, now the 'you' in the above story is 'me'. (Oh, stop it, Vaish. We're sick of your non-existent humour.) - ignores and continues - And the ingredient in question is 'Khawa or Khoya or Mawa', which are milk solids obtained by evaporating milk. Which is usually done by the neighbourhood Mithai vendor. Nobody makes it at home, at least in the circles that I know. Unless you are living in Germany...

So, that's what I did. I made Khoya at home. Using an uncomplicated, quick method, that I found here.

Recipe for Khawa/Khoya/Mawa

Makes 1 cup.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk powder (I used the variety with 3.5% fat.)
approx. ¼ cup water
a few drops of ghee

Also:

a pressure cooker / steamer &
a metal vessel that fits into it
a piece of cotton cloth (May I suggest an old handkerchief of your husband? ;-))

Method:

1. Take the milk powder into a shallow bowl/dish for kneading. Add a little water.
2. Start kneading, and add water as you go. We want to knead it into a soft dough as that for chapatis.
3. Finish kneading with a few drops of ghee on your fingers. Shape it into a ball. Like so.

Khoya khoya chand...? :)

4. Place this ball in the piece of cloth. Tie the cloth in a bundle. Place this bundle into the metal vessel.
5. Place this vessel into the pressure cooker / steamer and steam for 10 minutes. (Like idlis; without the weight/whistle.)
6. Take the vessel out and let it cool for about five minutes. Untie the bundle.
Khoya is ready for you.

Khoya is well-made, if there are lots of tiny holes inside, like a sponge

Before you use this Khoya in any preparation, a few
Notes:

1. First off, let's not forget that this is just a substiute and not the real thing. You can use this homemade Khoya in almost all preparations that ask for this milk product. However, the dish will not have exactly the same texture and taste that it would, had the real Khoya been used.
2. It retains some of the milk powder smell, much of which goes away once cooked (like when cooked with carrots to make Gajar Halwa).
3. One biggest advantage of it is, that it has much less fat compared to the real McCoy. Sounds nice, no? :)

I am sending this post as an early entry to Vineela for this month's JFI. I posted it early coz I thought it might help those who want to make something with Khoya, but have no access to a Mithai vendor.

Tags: Milk Powder, Dessert, Indian food

Barfi with Mascarpone Cheese & Sunflower Seeds

2006-08-25T03:42:00.000+05:30

In the plate: Sinful Barfi &
Fuits of Physalis for those, who do not want to indulge :)

When Katherine of Toast Point announced 'Improved Indian Dessert' as the theme for this month's FMR, I knew that I wanted to make this Barfi. I came across this recipe at the German Maggi website way back in April, and was looking for a good opportunity to try it out since then. I actually even thought of adding mango pulp to it for the first JFI event. Somehow I never came around to doing it. Now when I come to think of it, it seems to be a recipe tailor-made only for this event, because
a) the concept of this dessert (Barfi) is Indian,
b) although it is prepared with a non-traditional technique as well as non-traditional ingredients.
c) I am sure it will appeal to the western palate, or at least the German palate, because the main spice in it is cinnamon, which Germans like
d) and it has seeds & nuts, which Germans just looooooove.

I don't think, I could have come up with a more fitting entry for this event. (Ok, ok, we get the point.) I must make it clear, though, that I have used the original recipe almost unchanged. Only that I have translated it in English here, and also that I converted the measurements from 'weight' to 'cups'. It is common for every German household to have kitchen weighing scales, and hence most of the recipes on German websites and in German books are in grams. It can be rather irritating in the beginning, but the best way to tackle the issue is to buy kitchen scales. :)

Anyway, without further blah blah, let me give you the recipe for

Barfi with Mascarpone Cheese & Sunflower Seeds. (I wish I could write 'Improved' in a yellow oval with serrated edges here. The way they do on shampoo bottles, for example. :))

Makes at least 20 pieces of 0.5 cms thickness, measuring 4.5 cms x 3.5 cms

Ingredients:

250 g. Mascarpone cheese
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp unsalted, shelled pistachios
4 tbsp soft brown sugar (White sugar should be fine too.)
13 cloves
Seeds from 20 cardamom pods
1 tsp cinnamon powder (I used store-bought.)

Some butter to grease the dish

Top row (Blue bowls) L to R: pistachios, soft brown sugar, sunflower seeds
In the plate (Clockwise from top): cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom
Below: Mascarpone Cheese

Method:

1. Grind the cardamom and cloves along with some of the sugar to a fine powder. Coarsely chop the pistachios.
2. Grease a shallow (preferably rectuangular) ceramic/glass dish. (The picture below might give you an idea.) Keep it aside.
3. Toast the sunflower seeds in a heavy-bottomed pan. (I used non-stick.) Once a few of them get light brown spots, add the Mascarpone cheese. Keep the heat low.
4. Add the sugar and ground spices. Stir the mixture every now and then.
5. The mixture is ready, when it moves as one mass as you try to stir it. It takes about 5 minutes to come to this stage.
6. Now pour this mixture into the prepared ceramic/glass dish. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on it. Press the surface flat with the back of a bowl.

Mascarpone Barfi almost ready
Needs to be pressed flat and refrigerated yet

7. Let it cool to room temperature. Then cover the dish with aluminium foil/cling film and refrigerate to set for about two hours.

After two hours, the Barfi will be set and ready to be relished. Cut it into square or any desired shapes. Serve them cool or at room temperature as dessert. I think, this Barfi should also make an interesting base for vanilla ice-cream. The way they sell ice-cream with chocolate/date fudge at restaurants in India. (Haven't seen it here in Europe.)

By the way, that reminds me of something. If you have ever been to Lonavala, the hill-station between Pune and Mumbai, and if you have eaten the fudges and chikkis there, it will help you imagine the taste and texture of this dessert. It is somewhere between the two.
80% fudge + 20% chikki = 100% satisfaction. Hehehehe....

Before we part, I'd like to pen down (but wait, I thought I was typing!) a few notes, which will also help me in future.

Notes:
1. Using sunflower seeds in a dessert was new to me. Quite exciting too. Also, I wanted to keep that 'should please the western palate' aspect in mind. However, if I am preparing this Barfi for a pucca Indian crowd next time, I'd use chopped cashews, almonds or mixed nuts instead of the seeds.
2. Also, I'd reduce the quantity of cinnamon by half and increase that of the cardamom by double.

Let me rush a mail to Katherine now...before my heavy eyelids stop me from writing any further. Bye. (Yaaaawwwn...)

Tags: Mascarpone, Barfi, Pistachios, Nuts, Dessert

Bottle Gourd Curry with Moong Dal & Yogurt

2006-08-23T19:13:00.000+05:30

The curry is not as yellow as it looks in the photograph.
I think, I went overboard while trying to adjust the contrast. :)

I learnt this recipe from my mother. Also, I have only seen her making this preparation and nobody else. (Although I am sure that somebody in some corner of this world must be making it too. :))
Anyway, when she gave me the recipe, she just mentioned in passing that it is based on a Kerala recipe, although she did not mention which one. (As I have mentioned before, she has studied Home Science, in which the students get to learn a lot of cuisines. Hence the connection.)
Before I started blogging, my knowledge of the cuisine of Kerala was limited to 'Avial'. And I knew that this dish could not have been based on that. So I just left it at that.

Then, a few days back, when Indira blogged about 'Kaalan', a bottle gourd and yogurt preparation from Kerala, I was sure it was the mother of this preparation by my mother. :)
As you can see in the next pic, I made this curry with the beautifully round bottle gourd, which was in the guessing game yesterday. Here's how I prepared it.

Recipe for Bottle Gourd Curry with Moong Dal & Yogurt

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

approx. 500 g. bottle gourd/Doodhi/Lauki (3 packed cups, when diced)
1 tbsp Moong Dal, washed and soaked in about ¼ cup water for ½ hour
4-5 tbsp yogurt, beaten smooth
3-4 green chillis
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch asafoetida powder

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Clockwise from top: Bottle gourd, green chillis, Moong Dal

Method:

1. Wash and peel the bottle gourd. (You need not throw away the peels. This chutney can be made using them.)
2. Dice the peeled bottle gourd. Cut the green chillis in ½ inch long pieces.
3. Heat the oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds once it is hot. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida powder.
4. Add the Moong Dal along with the water and quickly cover the pan with a lid. The water tends to jump high at this point, and may burn your fingers.
5. After about two minutes, open the lid, and add turmeric powder and bottle gourd dices to the pan. Stir and add ½ cup of water.
6. Cover and cook the bottle gourd on medium-high heat for about ten minutes.
7. Once the bottle gourd is cooked, add salt, yogurt and green chilli pieces.
8. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes, while stirring often, so that the yogurt does not separate too much.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm with phulkas/chapatis or rice & dal.

Tags: Bottle gourd, Moong Dal, Yogurt, Vegetarian

Can you guess it? Bottle gourd / Doodhi / Lauki

2006-08-22T17:40:00.000+05:30

You know this vegetable. Only that the shape of this one is unusual. Can you guess the name? I'll go have my glass of milk in the meanwhile. ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------

It is bottle gourd, Folks. In a different shape and size. 'Milk' was a clue (Doodhi), although a pretty lousy one. But I tried (!) .....
Thank you all for coming up with interesting guesses, no matter right or wrong. :)

Blog Patrol # 4

2006-08-22T01:49:00.000+05:30

The Blog Patrol team has been busy again. Busy checking out recipes by food-bloggers, and then busy trying them out. Here's the report. :) Alphabetically presented.

1. Butternnut squash Subzi/ Kaddu ki Curry by Krithika of Manpasand: Krithika presented this recipe as a part of an informal event: Nigella Awesome. And this dish too was simply awesome. I had never eaten pumpkin/butternut squash paired with Kalonji/nigella seeds before, but I now know that I am gonna make it often. Apart from the earthy aroma of nigella seeds, what makes this curry special is the addition of Amchoor/dried mango powder. Try it out. You won't regret.

2. Eggless maple syrup-pecan cake by Shammi of Food, in the Main...: I took this one along to a typically German 'Kaffee und Kuchen' party with my Italian friends. They loved it. I loved it too. They were surprised to hear that it had no eggs. (They also found it difficult to understand why somebody would * want * to bake a cake without eggs. I didn't try to explain it to them. They don't understand vegetarianism. Never mind. :))
What is important here, is that it is a great cake, and I highly recommend it.

3. Honey Banana Muffins by Nandita of Saffron Trail: I made these muffins almost immediately after Nandita did her post on them. I found the combination interesting, and the fact that there are no eggs in it encouraged me even more. (It's not that I don't eat eggs, but I somehow fancy baking without them. Maybe because they were never a part of my growing-up?)
As for the muffins, they were easy to prepare and were ready to be taken out of the oven in 15 minutes. Ideal as a surprise evening treat for a tired-after-work husband. :) Even better, if the husband makes them as a surprise treat for a tired you!

4. Italian Vegetable Soup with Gnocchi by Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey?: This one too I made almost immediately after Meeta blogged about it. Only that I didn't include it in one of my previous editions of 'Blog Patrol', because every one of them already has at least one dish blogged by Meeta. :) To be honest, whenever I want to cook something non-Indian, I open Meeta's blog. Each and every vegetarian dish of hers that I have tried, has been a success. Especially the Italian ones...mmmmmmm.
As for this dish, Meeta gives us the option of combining various vegetables. The last time I made it, I used one small zucchini, 1 medium carrot, 1 medium red onion and 1 small yellow pepper. Also, I used readymade stock cubes. (Although Meeta graciously asks to refer to a post by me for the recipe of vegtable stock! See the irony of things? :))

5. Tomato Rice by Saffron Hut: A wonderfully aromatic preparation. It smells so delicious while it is cooking, that you don't even have to call your family to the table; you find them waiting there already! :) And it is ready within minutes. Great for those weekend dinners, when you are too tired after a day's shopping. ;-)
By the way, I used 'imported' from India readymade Biryani Masala instead of the Garam Masala suggested by SH. (I wish we knew her name. Calling somebody a 'hut' is just too much.)
Anyway, name or no name, this recipe is a keeper.

A Ton Of Protein # 9 - Padval Dalimbya (Snake gourd with Hyacinth beans)

2006-08-19T00:10:00.000+05:30

Left to right:
Dried Indian/Hyacinth/Lablab Beans (Val) & Snake Gourd (Padval)

This preparation is a combination of two rather uncommon ingredients. What I mean by 'uncommon' is that I have seen them, especially the dried Val/Hyacinth/Lablab beans, being cooked only in a few Indian households. More specifically, in families from some regions - particularly the coastal reagions - of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In Karnataka, like at my in-laws' place, they prefer the fresh, shelled Hyacinth beans (called Avrekai). Check out this post by Lavannya for a photograph as well as a recipe with them in it. Our resident gardener, LG aka Inji Pennu grows these beans (like pretty much everything!) in her garden. Here is where you can find out what the flowers and the fresh beans look like.

As for snake gourd, I know, that it is quite common in South India. Many of our fellow bloggers from the southern states of India have blogged about it. However, I am yet to come across a recipe from North India with snake gourd. Please let me know, if you know about any. If you want to see the pretty flower which later turns into a not-exactly-pretty snake gourd, check out this post by LG.

In my opinion, it is the unusual appearance and/or the slightly unpleasant smell that makes people cringe their noses at the mention of Padval or snake gourd. However, I have seen that those very people are happy to eat it when paired with soaked, skinned Val beans or Dalimbya, as we call them in Maharashtra. By the way, one could also use gherkins (Tondli in Marathi) instead of snake gourd in this recipe, which goes like this.

Recipe for Padval Dalimbya

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

1 cup/approx. 200 grams dried Val beans (about 2 cups, when soaked & skinned)
approx. 200 grams snake gourd (packed two cups, when diced/sliced)

1/2 tbsp jaggery
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
approx. 3/4 cup of water

1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder

chopped coriander leaves or shredded coconut for garnishing

Method:

1. Soak the dried Val beans in water for at least five hours or preferably overnight. Skin them on the following day. If they are well-soaked, it is quite easy to skin them. You have to hold one bean and press it with your fingers. The bean inside the skin just pops out. (It's a lot of fun to do that, actually. Perfect activity for when watching a movie on TV! :))
2. Cut the snake gourd vertically in half. Scoop out the seeds, if there are any. Now cut the halves diagonally in slices. Like in the next picture. (Alternatively, just dice the snake gourd after scooping out the seeds. I slice it like this only because I like it. :))

Left to right: soaked & skinned Val beans, sliced snake gourd

3. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida powder.
4. Now add the skinned Val beans, turmeric powder and ¼ cup water.
5. Stir once, cover and cook on medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes.
6. Then add the diced/sliced snake gourd, salt and another ¼ cup of water.
7. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on medium-high heat.
8. Once both - the beans as well as the gourd - are cooked well, add the rest of the ingredients and some more water (if necessary).
9. Turn the heat off after about two minutes.

Garnish with coriander or coconut, and serve warm with chapatis or with rice & dal.

Padval Dalimbya garnished with coriander leaves and baby corn

Note:

The trickiest part in making this dish is cooking the beans and the gourd without overcooking them. Because once overcooked, both tend to fall apart * badly *, and the dish ends up as one 'un-pretty' mush. I, after having cooked it umpteen times, still manage to make a mess of it. Yesterday, when I got it right (after many days!), I knew I had to blog about it. :)

I would like to send this post to Kalyn as my entry for her Weekend Herb Blogging. Since Anthony of Anthony's Bachelor Cooking is the host this weekend, I am off to him. Sayonara!

Tags: Snake gourd, Beans, Bhaji, Curry

I am touched.

2006-08-18T06:23:00.000+05:30

A big 'Thank you' to all of you for having wished me a happy birthday. It's your wishes, which made it a happy day for me. :)

And Anupama, I owe you...

Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

2006-08-15T02:35:00.000+05:30

Idlis & Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

One of the themes doing the rounds of food-blogosphere these days is 'Chutneys'. One of the main ingredients of it being peels of vegetables. I have blogged about one such chutney already. Here's another one. But it's not just another chutney, you know. It is not just eco-friendly but also very very tasty. Because it is made with peels of bottle gourd (Doodhi/Lauki).

Bottle gourd being peeled

And now that I am back from my trip to the Black Forest (with a postcard for the next BPW event by Meeta ;-)) , I can also share the recipe for this chutney. Here it is.

Recipe for Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

Ingredients:

Peels of one biggish bottle gourd (I took 1½ cups.)
¼ cup dry-roasted sesame or ¼ cup roasted and peeled peanuts
or ¼ cup roasted Chana Dal (Dariya in Gujarati/Pandharpuri Daale in Marathi)
or a combination of any of these making ¼ cup
(I used 1/8 cup dry-roasted sesame + 1/8 cup roasted & peeled peanuts.)
¼ cup yogurt
2 green chillis (or to taste)
¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp sugar (or to taste, depending upon the heat from the chillis)
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
heaped ¼ tsp asafoetida powder

From left to right: chopped bottle gourd peels, roasted & peeled peanuts, coriander leaves, sesame seeds

Method:

1. Chop the bottle gourd peels and green chillis.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add the cumin seeds, and then the asafoetida powder.
3. Add the chopped bottle gourd peels and green chillis. Stir. Sprinkle some water, cover the pan and let them steam-cook. (I usually use a non-stick pan for this, so I do not really need much water. However, if you are using a regular pan, you might need to add about ¼ cup of water, and also keep a close eye.)
4. Once the peels are soft (They fall apart easily when pressed with a ladle.), add sugar, salt and chopped coriander leaves. Sauté until most of the water has evaporated. Turn the heat off, and let it cool.
5. Once it is cool, add it along with the roasted sesame seeds or peanuts or the combination you are using and the yogurt to the jar of your mixie or food processor. Grind it till you get a fairly smooth paste. The chutney is ready!

Serve it with anything of your choice like Idlis, Dosas, spicy parathas or just with any regular meal. This mild-tasting chutney goes well with a lot of things. I served it this time for breakfast, with Idlis...so that I can send it to Nandita for her next 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging' event. :)

In case you are in a mood to try out more chutney varieties, you could check out these lovely recipes recently blogged by Madhu of Ruchi, Mythili of Vindu, Priya of Sugar And Spice and Shammi of Food, in the main...

In the meanwhile, here's wishing all of you a Happy Independence Day!

Tags: Chutney, Bottle gourd, Sesame seeds, Breakfast, Food

Spiced Chick Peas & Vegetables for Couscous

2006-08-09T04:00:00.000+05:30

Clockwise from left: cooked chick peas, spring onions, zucchini, red onions, carrots, garlic, store-bought vegetable stock cube

I wrote about a Couscous Paella more than two months back. In my post, I wrote that the Couscous preparation in itself was not tasty enough, so I served the leftovers with a spicy preparation. I also promised then that I'd blog about 'that' preparation soon. I think, I forgot to mention that for me 'soon' can mean anything between two days and two months. :)

Anyway, here's the recipe for that spicy preparation. It is based on one from this German cookbook. Before I start: I have used the vegetables that you can see in the picture above. However, you can use many others in addition to or instead of these. eg. green cabbage, leeks, celery (stems as well as roots), broccoli. I used the ones that I did because I did not want to repeat the vegetables used for Couscous Paella. (Although I ended up repeating carrots. But then, some extra carotene would do no harm, would it? :))

Recipe for Spiced Chick Peas & Vegetables for Couscous

Serves 4. (As an accompaniment to Couscous or rice)

Ingredients:

1 can cooked chick peas (drained weight 240 g.)
2 large zucchini, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 cup sliced spring onion (white as well as green parts)
1 tsp concentrated tomato paste or 1 small tomato, chopped

1 vegetable stock cube
1-2 cloves of garlic, grated
salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp olive oil
½ tsp cumin seeds

Method:

1. Prepare vegetable stock using the cube and according to the instructions on the package.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Sauté the diced onion in it for about two minutes.
3. Add all vegetables apart from tomato pieces/paste. Sauté them for about 5 minutes. Then add tomato pieces/paste.
4. After a few seconds, add the prepared vegetable stock. Bring the mixture to a boil.
5. Add cumin seeds, grated garlic, salt and pepper.
6. Reduce heat, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook for about 10 minutes.

Veggie goodness in a pot :)

7. When the vegetables are almost cooked, drain the cooked chick peas from the can and add to the vegetables.
8. Taste and adjust the seasoning before turning the heat off.

Serve steaming hot with warm Couscous Paella or with plain cooked Couscous. Goes well with cooked rice too.

Couscous Paella and Spiced Chick Peas & Veggies garnished with orange bell pepper fans

With so many vegetables in it, I am sure, 'sweet' Cate will accept this post as my entry to her ARF/5-a-day Tuesday.

Tags: Couscous , Cous Cous , Moroccan food , chick peas , vegetables , seasoning cube

My first blogger postcard is here!

2006-08-07T02:47:00.000+05:30

I received my first Blogger Postcard! I am so thrilled!!

Thanks, Payal, for the sweet note on the card. And thanks, Meeta, for coming up with this brilliant idea. (Btw, if you want to see what lovely Payal looks like, click here. ;-) )

Now I'm waiting for my postcard to reach the recipient. It's gonna take time, I know. It has a long way to travel after all. All the way to A.... oops, I am not supposed to tell yet. ;-)

Narayan Kataar - My MIL's version of Nan Khatai

2006-08-04T23:41:00.000+05:30

Nan Khatai isn't what I was planning to make for JFI # 4 : Flour. Because I wasn't planning to make them at all. Because my mother-in-law makes them, and was supposed to bring a big batch for us from India. And she almost did. I mean, she did spend the time and energy to make these biscuits. Only that they never reached us. Why? (Now I've got you curious and all! :))
Because my mother-in-law's checked-in baggage got lost. Blame it on Air India, their baggage handlers or destiny. What remains is that my MIL's bag got lost with all the belongings in it. And most importantly, all the goodies in it. :( We were so looking forward to digging our teeth into those homemade laddoos, biscuits and other snacks. *Sigh*
Never mind. Life is not just about good food. (Or...maybe...er...it is?...um?...?...?)

Well, anyway. To make up for the loss (Read: Unable to push the idea of having these scrumptious biscuits out of my head), I decided to make Nan Khatai with my MIL's recipe and under her supervision for the first time. And they turned out well, although not as good and aromatic as the ones made by her, because she always uses homemade ghee and I used the store-bought variety. Otherwise, they were pucca home stuff and extremely delicious. And also very easy to make. Fattening? Well...yes...but not until you swallow them! ;-)

Recipe for Narayan Kataar

Makes 16 biscuits (of 4 cm. diameter)

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour (Maida)
½ cup powdered sugar (Not necessarily store-bought.
Regular sugar ground at home is perfectly all right.)
9-10 cardamom pods, peeled and the seeds crushed or ½ tsp cardamom powder
heaped ½ tsp baking powder or baking soda/sodium bicarbonate
a small pinch of salt
6-7 tbsp ghee or as required (preferably homemade for that extra 'something')

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder/soda together into a mixing bowl. If using store-bought powdered sugar, sieve it along.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the ghee.
3. Add ghee, a little at a time, while mixing and kneading the dough until you have it the consistency of chapati dough. It should be pliable enough to be shaped into a ball. Like in the picture below.

In the glass bowl : kneaded Nan Khatai dough

4. Cover the dough well or put it into a container with a tight lid. Keep it in a cool place (not the fridge!) for a few hours or overnight. (I know, this is different. I know, we have already added the baking powder/soda. I know, they always say that you add it just before baking. But this is how my MIL does it, and asked me to do it. And it still worked! She anyway has a thing against rules, you know. :))
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
6. Grease/Line a baking sheet. Divide the dough into 16 portions. Shape those portions into round balls and flatten them a little between your palms.
7. Arrange them on the baking sheet well away from each other. Like this.

8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits develop a few 'scars' on top and are slightly browned at the bottom.
9. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet itself.
10. Once cool, store them in an air-tight container.

Remember to store the container under lock and key. Or be prepared to see it empty after a few hours. :) :) :)

Let me rush to Santhi now. Hope she accepts these crisp and flavourful biscuits, although late.

Tags: Biscuits , cookies , Konkani cuisine , Indian food

Blogger Postcards from the World - This is exciting! :)

2006-08-01T23:46:00.000+05:30

What I am sending as my first entry to Meeta's Blogger Postcards from the World is a postcard that I bought last Sunday at Schloss Benrath on the outskirts of the city of Düsseldorf. Schloss Benrath is a castle from the late 18th century with a huge park, which measures 612,000 square metres (!) .

My postcard has the aerial view of the castle and the park. I hope, the recipient of this card likes it. (Nope...I'm not telling you the name!)
;-)
Below is a photograph of the castle taken by me. And that is a virtual postcard from me to all of you. Hope you like it! :)

A Ton Of Protein # 8 - Kataachi Aamti

2006-07-27T04:10:00.000+05:30

Kataachi Aamti (Do you see the reflection of my camera in it? :)

Although I have been cooking a lot everyday since my parents-in-law are here, that is also the reason why I find little time to blog. However, I have been religiously taking photographs of all new/different dishes. Which means that I will blog about all them sooner or later. Today's * lucky * dish is Kataachi Aamti.

In my post on Puranpoli, I mentioned that it is often served with this spicy Dal prepared with water (kat) drained from the cooked Chana Dal. To thicken the Aamti, some of the stuffing (Puran) is used.
To be honest, it is not really a practical idea to make Puranpoli every time you want to make Kataachi Aamti. Moreover, who says that it cannot be served with rice or phulkas? So there.

What I am giving here is the way to make it with Chana Dal cooked only for this purpose. A few things about this Aamti, before I start off.
Kataachi Aamti is supposed to be rather watery. It is actually *drunk* from the bowls in which it is served. :) Also, this preparation is sweet, sour, rather spicy and very very aromatic. When you make it, you will know at once that it is a special festive preparation. But how will you make it, unless I give you the recipe? (That was my attempt at humour, by the way. Does anybody know of laughtrack for blogs? I so wish I could use it here.) Anyway, here's the recipe.

Recipe for Kataachi Aamti

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

½ cup Chana Dal
2 tsp Goda Masala
1 tsp tamarind concentrate dissolved in ¼ cup of water
2 ½ tbsp jaggery or muscovado sugar (I used m. sugar.)
½ tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
upto four cups of warm water

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
a pinch Methi/fenugreek seeds (approx. 10 seeds)
heaped ¼ tsp asafoetida powder

To be ground together:
3-4 tbsp grated dried coconut (Kopra)
2 peeled cardamom pods
2 cloves
½ tsp cumin seeds
a pinch grated nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon powder (Or a 1" piece of cinnamon)

curry leaves or chopped coriander leaves for more flavour as well as garnishing (optional)
a dash of lime juice to enhance the flavour as well as to stop the spices from * burning the throat * :)

Clockwise from top:
cooked Chana Dal, cinnamon, cumin seeds, grated dried coconut, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg

Method:

1. Pressure-cook the Chana Dal with 1 cup of water. Once cooked, mash it well with a ladle or with a hand-held blender.
2. Grind the spices together into a homogenous coarse powder. If you find it difficult to dry-grind them in your mixie, grind them to a paste using the tamarind water.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add the fenugreed seeds. Once they start changing colour, add the asafoetida powder and then the cooked Chana Dal.
4. Add warm water. As I have mentioned before, this Aamti is meant to be thin. So, you could add upto four cups of water. However, I would suggest that you add one cup at a time and check the consistency. If you feel like, add another cup or half and so on.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil and add all other ingredients barring the coriander or curry leaves and the lime juice.
6. Boil the Aamti on high heat for about five minutes.
7. If using coriander or curry leaves, add them just before turning the heat off.
8. Once off the heat, cover the pan for the flavours to blend well.
9. Add a dash of lime juice just before serving. Alternatively, you could serve wedges of lime with the rest of the meal.

Serve Kataachi Aamti warm with rice or phulkas. If entertaining a Maharashtrian guest, try serving this with Puranpoli, and see him/her turning into your slave for life. :) :)

Note:
1. Every Maharashtrian household has its own, slightly-different-from-others' recipe for K. Aamti. This is my recipe, and the Aamti that I make tastes different even from what my mother makes. So, if your Aamti made using this recipe does not turn out like the one that you've eaten before, I'd suggest, that you use this recipe as the base and keep experimenting (mainly with the quantity of the spices) until you think that you have achieved * that * taste.
2. If you don't have Goda Masala with you, you could try increasing the quantity of the spices ground together.

Bitter Gourd & Green Mango Curry

2006-07-21T06:20:00.000+05:30

One green mango & three bitter gourds

I learnt this curry only last week from my mother-in-law, who has come with my father-in-law to visit us here in Germany. I knew that this time again I'd learn some more recipes from her. It has always been like that. Just when I start thinking that I know all of Konkani cuisine, she comes up with a few dishes that I have never even heard of.

But hey, let me tell you, I too have served her at least a dozen new dishes this time. All thanks to you fellow bloggers. :) Which means that both of us - my MIL and me - have our own little treasure chests now, a drawer of which we open for each other, every time we meet. Isn't it exciting?

Back to the curry now. Bitter gourd and green (unripe) mango is an unusual combination for me. To be honest, I was a little sceptical when I started off. But believe me, if you like bitter gourds and the aroma of garlic, there is nothing that can stop you from liking this curry. :) And it is very very easy to make. You'll know once you see the recipe.

Recipe for Bitter gourd & Green Mango Curry

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:

3 bitter gourds (Karela)
1 green/unripe mango
½ tsp chilli powder or to taste
3 tbsp jaggery or to taste
salt to taste

1 tsp oil
5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled (Less, if the garlic cloves are fat)

Method:

1. Cut the bitter gourds vertically in half. Take out hard seeds, if any, and discard. Slice the bitter gourds, and put the slices onto a kitchen paper as shown in the picture below.

Karela slices about to be wrapped in kitchen paper

2. Sprinkle salt over the bitter gourd slices, and wrap them tightly in the kitchen paper. This makes the bitter gourds * more tolerably bitter *. (I hope you know what I mean. :))
3. Once the bitter gourd slices are dryish (or the kitchen paper is too wet to take any more of their juice), chop the green mango without removing the peel in bite-sized pieces. Do not take the seed, though.
4. Now heat ½ cup water in a pan, and add the bitter gourd slices to it. Cover and cook for a few minutes. Once they are softer, add the mango pieces and cook further. Add some more water (about ¼ cup), if necessary.
5. Once the mango pieces are cooked too, add chilli powder and jaggery. Taste the curry, and add salt, if required. (Please keep in mind that we added salt to bitter gourd slices at Step 2.) Also, please check whether you'd like to add more jaggery.
6. Let the curry simmer gently. At the same time, heat a ladle for Tadka. Add oil. Crush the peeled garlic cloves (but please do not make fine pieces or paste). Once the oil is hot, add the crushed garlic, and let it brown a little. (Your kitchen will be filled with wonderful garlic aroma by now. :))
7. Add the Tadka to the curry and cover the pan immediately. Turn the heat off, and let the flavours blend.

Serve this deliciously bitter-sweet-sour-garlicky curry with phulkas or with rice & dal.

'Karaate Ambuli Randhai' (What my MIL calls it)

Note:
For a change, you could also add broken red chilli pieces to the Tadka. You could omit the chilli powder then.

I hope Anthony will accept this 50th post of mine to his Curry Mela. Off to the Bachelor Cooking Blog then. Tschüs.

Chutney with Red bell pepper & Ridge gourd peels

2006-07-18T00:32:00.000+05:30

When Indira blogged about her recipe for chutney with red bell peppers, I knew that I had to make it. It was again one of those recipes where one look at it tells you that you are gonna like it. (And at Indira's blog, you get this feeling after reading every post. :)) However, once I made sure that I had all the ingredients, and started making this chutney, some other ingredients expressed the willingness to be a part of it. :) In other words: I had some ridge gourd peels lying around on the kitchen top at that time. ;-)
What came out was a delicious chutney. (It got over in a couple of hours!) Perhaps it does not taste too different from the original. (Or maybe the original one tastes better!) I am yet to try out the original recipe by Indira. However, what I am happy & excited about is that I used ridge gourd peels, which are thrown away otherwise.

Having said that, I must make it clear that using peels of vegetables in chutneys is not really 'my' idea. It is rather common in the Maharastrian cuisine. (And maybe other cuisines too? Please let me know.)
I like it for two reasons.
A) You benefit from the nutrients, which are in or right under the peel.
B) You generate less waste!!
What you emerge as, after eating this, is a healthy plus environment-friendly person. :)

Before I get tempted into more exaggeration and word-play, here is the recipe. :)

Recipe for Red bell pepper chutney with ridge gourd peels

Ingredients:

1 large red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 medium red/yellow onion, cut into chunks
peels of 1 ridge gourd
3-4 dried red chillis, broken into 2-3 pieces each
1 tsp oil
¼ cup roasted, peeled & crushed peanuts (I used store-bought roasted peanuts.)
1 tsp readymade tamarind concentrate, dissolved in some water
½ tbsp jaggery or to taste
salt to taste

1 tsp cumin seeds

Clockwise from left: chopped yellow onion, chopped red bell pepper, ridge gourd peels

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan/skillet. Sauté the first four ingredients in it until light brown. Let cool.
2. Mix all ingredients apart from the cumin seeds in a mixie/food processor and grind till it reaches a smooth paste-like consistency. Add water as you go, if necessary. Take it out into a serving bowl.
3. Heat the same pan that you used for roasting the veggies. Roast the cumin seeds in it until darker in colour and aromatic.
4. Sprinkle these roasted cumins seeds over the chutney. (That's garnishing and seasoning in one! :))
5. Mix the chutney well when serving.

This one is a great accompaniment to any kind of dosas or a side-dish with any kinda meals. What Indira paired it with are these yummy Besan dosas. (Next on my must-try list.) If you want it to be a totally 'green' breakfast (environmentally, that is), serve the chutney with these pancakes by Ashwini, which can be made using the white part of watermelons. Yes, the part which is usually thrown away. (Bye bye, Waste-bin? :))

While I leave you wondering whether waste-bins are really necessary, let me rush my post to Cate for her ARF/5-a-day event and to Nandita for her next edition of Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Bye.

Too Darned Hot: Mirchicha Chatka

2006-07-14T23:23:00.000+05:30

When I saw chillis as the theme for Barbara's event 'The Spice is Right', this image of the non-culinary use of green chillis kept coming back to my mind. For those not in the know: This 'garland'-like thing in the photograph on the left is hung on cars or at the main door of houses/offices in India. It is mainly to ward off the evil and/or to protect the object from jealous eyes. :) I don't know whether it involves *light* black magic or whether there is any scientific explanation behind it. (Although there are rules for making it. Like it can't have just any number of chillis. It should be an odd number like 5,7,9...) I don't really mean to endorse this practise here. It is just that you see it so often at so many places in India that the image gets imprinted on your mind. I am sure, many (or almost all) of my Indian fellow-bloggers and readers will agree with me.

Well, anyway, what I made for this event is a Maharashtrian 'Tondilavane' (chutney-like dish) called 'Mirchicha Chatka'. It is my mother's recipe, and she is 'too darned good' at making it. :)
Now, 'mirchi' is chilli and 'chatka' means a 'burn' in Marathi. That should already give you an idea about this preparation. :) Just in case I am not clear enough, please please please make sure that you don't serve yourself or others more than a teaspoon-full at a time. And please let everybody at the table know that the main ingredient in this one is green chillis...instead of them knowing it the hard way after the first morsel. :) It is still a good idea to keep some water/sweet drink or sugar ready at the table. :) :)

Recipe for Mirchicha Chatka

Makes about ½ cup.

Ingredients:

9-10 green chillis
5-6 tbsp yogurt
½ tsp salt (or to taste)

1 tsp oil
¼ mustard seeds
¼ cumin seeds

Method:

1. Destem and wash the green chillis. Roast (almost burn) them on open gas flame. (Traditionally, they were roasted on hot ambers.) If you don't have gas burners (like yours truly :-( ), bake them for about ten minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180°C. The chillis should turn brown black like in the following picture.

Roasted green chillis & yogurt

2. Once cool, mix the roasted green chillis and salt in the chutney attachment/coffee grinder of your food processor and give it just one whirl. We want the chillis shredded in faily big pieces and not churned into a paste.
3. Mix the green chillis and salt with yogurt in a serving bowl.
4. Make Tadka by heating the oil in a pan and letting the mustard and cumin seeds splutter in it. Turn the heat off before the last few seeds pop, because we don't want to add it immediately to the yogurt for it will turn bitter.
5. Once slightly cooler, add the Tadka to the chilli-yogurt mixture. Stir.

Serve 'Mirchicha Chatka' at room temperature and at your own risk. :)

Crowded vegetables - Gajbaje

2006-07-12T04:18:00.000+05:30

Gajbaje served on a bed of rice

This dish makes a regular appearance in my in-laws' family on the day before Ganesh Chaturthi. It is a tradition to prepare it as a part of the lavish spread for lunch that day. And the lunch consists of some twenty odd items. All delicious no end rather but time-consuming. However, when all women in the family sit together and work while chatting, all that work does not seem as tedious as it would otherwise.

I made this dish the other day for no special occasion as such. Perhaps the only reason being that summer means a lot of fresh vegetables in the markets/superstores here. Especially when I saw fresh corn-cobs (well, they are actually being sold to be grilled), I knew that I had to make Gajbaje. It's not necessary to use corn-cobs in this dish. For that matter, any and every vegetable from Arvi to Zucchini can be used in it. My mother-in-law often reminds me, when we speak about this dish, that she has made it once with 27 vegetables. (By the way, my MIL has a tendency to add or to subtract as per convenience. Like this dish was made with 14 vegetables when I heard first about it about five years back. :)) However, ever since I have eaten Gajbaje with corn-cobs at our friend-cum-relative, S. Akka's place, I always make it a point to use them in it. What I used apart from corn on the cob is this.

Clockwise from left: corn on the cob, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, butternut squash, drumsticks, sweet potato

Recipe for Gajbaje

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

5 cups chopped vegetables of your choice

I used:
1 corn cob (I did not count it in the 5 cups.)
1 small sweet potato
¼th of the butternut squash in the picture
1 drumstick
¼th of the bottle gourd in the picture
1 ridge gourd

salt to taste

For the paste:
1 cup grated coconut
1 heaped tbsp tamarind soaked in water (or 1 tsp tamarind concentrate dissolved in some water)
5-6 red chillis, roasted in ½ tsp oil

For the Tadka:
2 tsp oil
½ heaped tsp mustard seeds
10-12 curry leaves

Clockwise from bottom left: tamarind, roasted red chillis, coconut, paste made with these ingredients

Method:

1. Wash, peel (where necessary) and cut the vegetables that you are using in bite-sized pieces. Boil just enough water and cook the pieces in it until tender. Please make sure that you add the harder vegetables first and the quick-cooking ones towards the end. I put the vegetables that I used in the same order as they are listed above.
2. While the veggies are cooking, prepare the paste. For this, if using tamarind soaked in water, squeeze out the water from the tamarind, making sure that there are no traces of tamarind shell or seed in the water.
3. Grind the grated coconut with roasted red chillis and tamarind water to a smooth paste like in one of the earlier pictures. Add some more water, if necessary.

Cooked vegetables

4. If the vegetables are cooked by now, add salt and stir. Add the paste, stir and bring the curry to a boil.
5. Boil it on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Turn the heat off.
6. Heat oil in a ladle for Tadka. Add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add curry leaves. Once all mustard seeds have spluttered, add the Tadka to the vegetables.
7. Cover the pan and let the flavours blend well for some time.

Serve warm with rice and dal or with chapatis.

Loaded with so many vegetables, this post needs to be sent to Cate for her event, ARF/5-a-day Tuesday.

And hey, check out this link for a similar yet different curry.

Tikhat-Mithaacha Sanja (Maharashtrian version of Upma)

2006-07-09T20:50:00.000+05:30

Tikhat-Mithaacha Sanja served with Sev

If you go to Pune, and are looking for a place where you could get authentic Maharashtrian breakfast/tiffin items or snacks, make sure you go to 'Janaseva Dugdha Mandir' on Laxmi Road. As the name suggests, they do sell dairy products in a corner of the eatery, which serves as the shop. However, where you want to go is the modest little restaurant (if that is what I want to call it) inside. It is one of those places, where time has stood still. You could be in the year 2006, but that place still has the atmosphere of the seventies. Wooden benches (nope, no chairs) with white turned yellowish laminate covering, an old clock on the wall sharing the space with a blackboard on which the regular items available are written with white paint. (No menu cards here!) The prices are written with white chalk. Well, they can't be painted, because they can change! By the way, the prices too are as down-to-earth as it gets, the most 'expensive' dish costing Rs. 15. :)

There are a few more signs of it being a pucca old-world, 'Puneri' joint. Like the waitors do not hesitate to tell you, if a dish is over. And they don't feel guilty about it; they keep a perfectly straight face. But then hey, they don't accept any tip either. Moreover, there is no tea or coffee available. If you are thirsty, you can order 'Masala Milk' or 'Kokum Sherbet'.
And to satiate the hunger, there are those mouth-watering traditional Maharashtrian breakfast/tiffin dishes like Batata Wada, Sabudana Khichadi or Tikhat-Mithaacha Sanja. The last dish in the list is what I made for breakfast today.

Tikhat-Mithaacha Sanja is the Maharashtrian version of Upma. Sanja, the word on its own, means a sweet preparation made with Rava/semolina/cream of wheat and jaggery. However, when paired with the words Tikhat (meaning hot/with chillis) and Meeth (meaning salt), it means the savoury version. Now, is this version of Upma radically different from the other ones in this category? Well, here's the recipe for it. You could find it out yourselves. :)

Recipe for Tikhat-Mithaacha Sanja

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups coarse semolina (known as Sanja/Kesari Rava in Maharashtra)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 small green chillis, vertically cut into two each
2 ½ cups water
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ cup buttermilk (or yogurt & water mixed to make ¼ cup)
1 tbsp Moong dal, washed (optional)
2-3 tbsp grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
¼ cup coriander leaves, chopped
7-8 curry leaves
1 - 1 ½ tsp sugar
1 - 1 ½ tsp lime juice
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp ghee (optional)
Sev for garnishing

Before you start:

Roast the semolina without ghee/oil until deep yellow in colour. Spread the roasted semolina on a large plate/tray and let it cool. If roasted and stored like this, semolina stays well for months together. Especially in a hot & humid climate like that of India, roasting stops the semolina from catching worms. Also, when roasted semolina is used, lumps do not form in the Upma/ Sanja.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let splutter. Then add chopped onion and green chilli halves. Cover and cook.
2. Once the onion is soft and translucent, add water, turmeric, buttermilk and Moong dal. Add salt, grated coconut, chopped coriander and curry leaves too.
3. Once the water comes to a boil, add the roasted semolina and sugar. Stir well, cover and cook. In case you see the semolina sticking to the bottom of the pan, leave some water onto the internal sides of the pan.
4. T-M cha Sanja is cooked when all the water is absorbed, and the semolina grains look slightly swollen. Turn the heat off; add the lime juice and ghee, if using. Stir the Sanja well.

Serve it steaming hot, garnished with Sev.

In the meanwhile, I will send this post to Nandita as my entry for her Weekend Breakfast Blogging.

Black Grape Smoothie

2006-07-06T15:12:00.000+05:30

It's been really hot for the last few days here in Düsseldorf; the maximum temperatures ranging between 34° & 36° Celsius. Back home in Pune, where the day temperatures would always be between 25° & 40° Celsius irrespective of the season, it was not so shocking to have a harsh summer. However, when you've had 3.5° C during the day for months together, then you look at 35 degrees with a different set of eyes. (Or shall I say 'with a different pair of glasses', since my photochromatic specs are again in use now? Hehehehehehehe....... And yes, I am 'chashmish'. :))

Well, coming back to the heat, what I made to beat it, was yet another Lassi. With black grapes this time. The original recipe is by Tarla Dalal. I have been making this Lassi/smoothie for a few years now. It's an absolute favourite with us. The most attractive part of it being the unusual colour. After all, how often do you come across food that is an appetising shade of lavender?!

Since summer is also the time to enjoy barbeque parties, and since Meeta is hosting one at her blog, I'd like to take my smoothie along to her party. A cool treat to wash down all the goodies hot off the coals. Here I come, Meeta. :)

Recipe for Black Grape Smoothie

Makes 4 small glasses.

Ingredients:

2 cups seedless black grapes
1 cup yogurt
1 cup milk
4 tbsp sugar (or to taste)

ice-cubes or crushed ice (optional)

Method:

1. Blend all ingredients apart from the ice in a liquidiser.
2. Add the ice, if using and serve.

A hassle-free yet tasty and visually appealing drink is ready in seconds. In case you don't fancy biting into stray pieces of grape skin, take only the grapes first, give them a whirl in the liquidiser and strain that pulp before going on to step 1.

Btw, do you know the trick to make easy grape sorbet? Just place some black grapes in a freezer-proof container and freeze them until hard. As a child, I have spent many a summer afternoon biting into those icy grapes while watching some time-pass Hindi movie. In case you try it out and like it, please do let me know. In case you don't like eating those frozen grapes, just throw them into a blender, and make this smoothie. Howzzat? ;-)

Blog Patrol # 3 - A Ton Of Protein

2006-07-05T16:18:00.000+05:30

It's been long since 'Blog Patrol' came up with a report. However, it deserves to be mentioned that the said party (now, who's that?) has been working on that report. And with a certain theme in mind. What's the theme, you ask? Well, I was coming to that anyway. :)
The theme is 'marriage'. A Marriage (made in heaven?) of two features that make an appearance on this blog. I am sure the title of the post explains the rest.
Fine then, let's see what yummy dishes with protein our fellow bloggers have offered to us so far. Listed in alphabetical order, here they are.

1. Aruchavitta vengaya Sambar by Shammi of Food, in the main... : I had never made Sambar with freshly ground Masala until then. I had heard about it, but that's it. I am happy that I chose this recipe for my first attempt. The Sambar turned out great. I don't know how it is supposed to taste, but I felt that it tasted authentic. (Is that statement contradictory?) And biting into those cooked yet juicy baby onions (yeah, we get them in German shops here) was very very enjoyable.
In case you don't have your own 'family recipe' for this kind of Sambar, just go for this one. You won't regret. :)

2. Bell pepper sambar by Shammi again: What I have got to say about this dish, is something that Shammi has written in her post already. MMMmmmmmmmmmm...... :) :) :)

3. Lasooni Dal Palak by Nandita of Saffron Trail: If you offered this one to your guests, they'd think that you ordered it from a take-away. It's that good. For me, home food is good when it tastes like home food. And typical restaurant food or street food is great when it does NOT taste like home food. I hope you know what I mean.
Well anyway, just try this one out, and you'll know what I am trying to say. :)

4. Mango Dal by Indira of Mahanandi: Do you like unripe mangoes? Do you like the heady aroma of Urad dal in the tadka? Do you like your Dal to be sour and spicy? Do you like it when a dish offers surprises in every morsel?
If your answer is 'yes' to three of these four questions, then just go ahead and make this Dal. Period.
(I am so good at sounding serious about my work, aren't I? :))

5. Mattar Paneer Masala by VKN of My Dhaba: The first thoughts that come to our mind when we see the word 'Paneer' in a recipe are 'fat', 'calories', 'weight gain', 'no no no...'. But let's not forget that Paneer has a lot of protein too. Something that especially vegetarians often do not have enough of in their diet. And as far as Paneer is concerned, it can be made with low-fat milk too.
Now coming to the dish, it is another one with that 'hotel type' taste. Great to put on the table, especially when you are entertaining guests. I assure you, that your guests won't stop singing praises of your cooking skills. :) Thanks, VKN, for this wonderful recipe.

That's it for now, People. See you in a day or two. Ciao!
(No, the last word has nothing to do with the Italians winning the semi-finals yesterday. My loyalties are still with the Germans.)
-cough...choke...cough-

Puranpoli

2006-07-01T17:34:00.000+05:30

Puranpolis served with pickle and milk

Puranpoli is to Maharashtrians what cheese is to the French. Or locally brewed beer to the Germans. Or Chicken Tikka to the Brits. ;-) Basically, close to the heart. Even the tolerantest of Maharashtrians could resort to violence, if you told them that Puranpoli is a drab little dessert.

I know I am exaggerating. There is a lot many dishes that we are proud of. And not all of them, including Puranpoli, are unique to Maharashtra. It's just one of those things, which we seek pride in. And for anybody to be called a 'Sugaran' (meaning a good cook in Marathi, with its origins in the Sanskrit word 'Sugrihini'), it is one of the essential dishes that she* should be able to prepare. (* This word is used only for women. There is no separate word for a good male cook. Goes on to show that cooking has traditionally always been women's domain.)

Let me come back to the point, after much digression, that last week I tried making Puranpolis for the first time, in order to qualify for the much-coveted title of 'Sugaran', and in the hope to send them as my entry to the Jihva for Ingredients event hosted by Sailu this month. They turned out well. :)

A little about Puranpolis, before I tell you, how I made them.
Puran = any kind of stuffing + Poli = flatbread.

From left to right: Puran (the stuffing), rice flour, kneaded Atta for the cover

Even though any stuffing can be referred to as Puran, the word is often associated only with that used for Puranpoli. Although it is a 'sweet dish', it is not served like a dessert, after the meal. When Puranpolis are made, they are the main dish. Usually, no separate chapatis/rotis are made, and although there are some side dishes served to go with it, they are just to cleanse the palate in between two morsels of the sweet Puranpoli. Usually, we end up eating these side dishes as leftovers in the evening with some curd-rice to help the stomach take some rest. :) (All those side dishes are missing in the first photograph of this post, I know. I was so tired after making the Puranpolis, that I had no energy left in me for cooking anything else. :) Since on the subject, let me also admit that I completely forgot to use ghee to roast the Puranpolis. That did not make much difference to the taste, but I think the cover would have been softer, had I used ghee. I was nervous, you see. :))

Well, enough of theory and story-telling there. I'll now proceed to the

Recipe for Puranpoli.

Makes 5-6 Nos.
(I made only these many because it was an experiment for me. You could scale up the ingredients to make more pieces.)

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:
1 cup Chana dal
3 cups water
2/3 cup grated jaggery
1/3 cup sugar
4-5 cardamoms, powdered
1/8 heaped tsp grated/powdered nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt

For the cover:
1/2 heaped cup chapati Atta
1/2 heaped cup white flour (Maida)
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp oil

1/4 cup rice flour (or as per requirement) for rolling out the Puranpolis
ghee to roast the Puranpolis (The quantity is entirely upto you.)

Top: grated jaggery; Middle: Chana dal; Bottom (from left to right): white flour, sugar, Atta

Method:

1. In a heavy-bottomed pan, bring the water for the stuffing to boil. Wash the Chana Dal and add to the water. Let the dal cook uncovered on medium-high heat. Please DO NOT give in to the temptation of pressure-cooking the dal. It makes the texture of the stuffing too runny to handle.
2. In the meanwhile, knead the dough for the cover using 1 tbsp oil and lukewarm water. (You could substitute a portion of the water with milk.) Keep the kneaded, duly covered dough aside.
3. The dal should be cooked by now. It is well-cooked, if a grain of it can be easily pressed between the thumb and the index finger.
4. Turn the heat off. Drain the water on top of the dal into another container. It is called 'kat' in Marathi (pronounced somewhat like 'cut'). Do not discard it. You could use it to thin down any dal or soup. Usually, it is used to make a special dal/Aamti, the recipe for which is coming up here soon. :)
5. Transfer the dal to a food processor now, and grind till all grains of dal have fallen apart. Transfer it back to the heavy-bottomed pan. Add the rest of the ingredients mentioned under 'stuffing' and start cooking it once again on low heat.
6. The Puran/stuffing will have to be stirred every now and then while cooking, because it tends to stick easily to the bottom. The Puran is cooked when it looks smooth, with every grain cooked and fallen apart. It is thick enough, when a flat spatula inserted in it stands straight. Like this.

A test of well-cooked Puran

7. Keep the cooked Puran aside to cool down. Cover it, if at all necessary, only partly for the steam to escape.
8. Once the Puran has cooled down completely, knead the dough for the cover once again using the rest of the oil. Divide it in five or six portions, depending upon how big you want to roll the Puranpolis.
9. Heat a Tava/griddle.
10. Divide the Puran/stuffing in as many portions as the dough. Roll out one portion of the dough at a time in a small circle. Place a ball of Puran on it. (The ball is usually 2.5 to 3 times bigger than the quantity of dough.) Enclose the cover over the stuffing tightly, and seal it off. Click here for detailed photographs of this step. If you are fairly good at making stuffed parathas, then you should have hardly any problems at this step.
11. Roll out the Puranpoli using some rice flour. The cover needs to become so thin, that you can see the Puran inside. Transfer it to the hot griddle. Roast both sides, using some ghee, until golden brown spots appear. Do not flip the Puranpoli too often.

12. Repeat steps 10 & 11 to make remaining Puranpolis.

Serve fresh and warm Puranpolis with dollops of ghee or with a bowl of milk to dunk it in. At my place, we enjoy Puranpolis with milk, only when they are not warm any longer.

Have these Puranpolis for lunch on a lazy Sunday and take a siesta after that. The feeling of well-being that you get after waking up is too good to be put in words. It is pure Nirvana. Believe me. :)

Tags: Puranpoli , Chana Dal , wheat flour, Maharashtrian , Indian dessert , 101 Indian sweets

Mozzarella Salad with Oxheart Tomatoes

2006-06-29T22:38:00.000+05:30

Oxheart Tomato Salad with Mozzarella

After I published pictures of an unusual tomato in this post, many of you asked me what variety of tomato it actually was. I didn't know then, because as I mentioned in that post, I took the snaps at a friend's place, and she didn't know what they were called. In her comment, our fellow-blogger Linda was kind enough to point out that it could be an 'heirloom' variety. I had never heard of that term, and I definitely wanted to find out what exactly it was. So, I just found myself on the way to the vegetable vendor at the farmers' market in Düsseldorf's city centre one day. The same place where my friend had bought her tomato.

I was lucky. The French veggie vendor had some more of those tomatoes. To be precise, the 'Oxheart' or the 'cœur de bœuf' tomatoes. It is a variey of beefsteak tomatoes. The ones coming into Germany are grown in France. These tomatoes are grown in the USA as well. Has anybody of you come across it? There is this article on it on Wikipedia; it's in German. Unfortunately, there is none in English.

Anyway, after bringing home this tomato, when I cut it, I saw this beautiful pattern of compartments inside. The slices look like flowers, don't they? So, I dropped all ideas of chopping it up. I had to use those pretty slices just the way they were. The only thing I thought of making with it was the simple Tomato salad with Mozzarella. And that's what I made.

From left to right: Mozzarella slices, Oxheart tomato slices

Recipe for Mozzarella Salad with Oxheart Tomatoes

Serves 2-3 .

Ingredients:

1 large Oxheart tomato OR two medium regular tomatoes
One ball of Mozzarella cheese (approx. 75g. - 100g. drained weight. I used the low-fat version with 8.5% total fat content.)
a few Basil leaves for garnishing

For the dressing:
2 tsp olive/walnut oil (I used walnut oil.)
a dash of white wine vinegar (optional)
3-4 Basil leaves, torn
salt & pepper to taste

Clockwise from bottom left: fresh Basil leaves, tomato, pepper mill, white wine vinegar, walnut oil, salad dressing ready to be used

Method:

1. Cut the tomato(es) horizontally in not very thin slices. Arrange them on a serving plate.
2. Cut the Mozzarella in slices. Arrange the slices on top of the tomato slices.
3. Mix all ingredients listed separately to make the dressing.
4. Distribute the dressing with a spoon evenly over the arranged tomato and mozzarella slices.
5. Sprinkle some salt and freshly crushed pepper over it, if you like.
6. Garnish with some fresh Basil leaves. Serve.

This salad is one of the few dishes, which take hardly any time to prepare, but are full of flavour in every bite. Moreover, if the tomato slices are beautiful to look at, then nothing like it. :)

Since tomatoes are rich in anti-oxidants, I'd like to send this post as an early entry to Cate's ARF/5-a-day Tuesday. Nandita suggests that I should send it to Kalyn for her Weekend Herb Blogging event. So, I shall do that too.

Tags: salad mozzarella oxheart tomato

Do you know your blog-buddies?

2006-06-28T00:19:00.000+05:30

When I saw this quiz on spices by Santhi, I thought : Why not a quiz about our fellow-bloggers? Ok, we don't know each other that well, but there are always a few bits of information to be seen in some corners. :)

By the way, before I start, let me make it clear that the questions are not in any particular order. No preference or priority here. I just went on writing as it came to my mind.

If you know who I am talking about, then just leave your answers in the comments section. I'll publish the answers, when the time is right(!). And hey, if I have not included you in the quiz, it's just that I didn't think of anything quizzy. I appreciate you as a fellow-blogger anyway.

One more important thing: Do you really wanna get into the temptation of reading others' comments? (You must have got caught copying in school exams then!)

----------- Spoiler follows ----------------

Ok, then. Get ready for the answers, Folks.

1. If it is weekend, she must be baking. - Pushpa with her Weekend Baking Sessions

2. No, they don't preach Geeta here. It's just a food blog. - Krishna & Arjuna's World

3. Let's see how her lemon pickle turns out in the end. - Manisha. Check out her lemon pickle.

4. He is a ... well, that itself is a clue. Mela kya? Sorry, mila kya? - Tony with his Curry Mela. The only man running a food-blog apart from VKN .

5. She shows us the 'roads' to healthy weight-loss. A weight-watcher's Utopia? - Neelu of Crossroads. http://neelusutopia.blogspot.com/

6. It's two separate bloggers. Both of them have non-Indian partners and both went on separate trips to the US recently. Do you know them? - Meeta and Shammi.

7. She never got to celebrate her birthday in school with her mates. Neither did she cut a cake as we know it. - Ashwini of Food for Thought. Read this post for more info.

8. Her name is Nalyavan. Doesn't sound right? Well, you just have to change your perspective and you'll know it. - Lavannya aka Perspective.

9. She always writes 'without fax'. Sorry, what was that again? - Mythili. She often ends her posts with the words 'without wax'. An important line from this Dan Brown novel.

10. I wonder why she took her turtle-neck sweaters from the US to Mumbai. - Nandita. The answer to this question is here.

Thank you ALL for participating. It was great fun!

A Ton Of Protein # 7 + Nigella Awesome - Dal Fry

2006-06-26T01:09:00.000+05:30

Dal fry garnished with chilli powder

One of my blog-buddies, Ashwini of Food for Thought did an informative post on nigella Seeds (Kalonji) a few days back, in which she appealed to the blogosphere in general to let her know about recipes using this spice, since it is not easy to come across any that easily. As she points out in this post, Nigella seeds seem to be under-appreciated in the Indian cuisine. Or maybe there is a treasure of recipes using this spice, which is just waiting to be unearthed. As our first little attempt at unearthing this treasure, some of us food-bloggers are blogging today about the dishes using Kalonji in our informal event, Nigella Awesome. (A take on the British celebrity cookbook author!) Please feel free to blog about your recipes using this black beauty in the coming days. The event should not end today; let this just be the beginning.

What I have got today is the ubiquitous Dal Fry. This is one dish, which we order each and every time we go out to a Punjabi restaurant in India. Although Dal Fry can taste different at every restaurant, it is one of those dishes which you can always bank upon. The recipe that I use for making this lentil dish is by Tarla Dalal. I follow it exactly the way given by her (which is not quite my style really!), because it turns out really well. With a characteristic earthy flavour of the awesome nigella seeds.

Recipe for Dal Fry

Dal Fry shake, anyone? :)

Ingredients:

1 cup red Masoor dal (red lentils in the earlier picture)
¼ cup yellow moong dal (yellow lentils in the earlier picture)
1 green chilli, slit
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp grated garlic
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee/oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon nigella seeds (the black seeds in the earlier picture)
1 red chilli

chopped coriander leaves / some butter for garnishing

Method :

1. Wash the dals. Pressure cook them together along with the chilli, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt and 2 cups of water.
2. Take the chilli out and discard it. Whisk the dal till it is smooth. You could use your hand-held blender for this. Keep the dal aside.
3. Heat the ghee/oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, nigella seeds and red chilli, once the oil is hot.
4. When the mustard seeds pop, add the onion and sauté till it is translucent.
5. Add the tomato and sauté for another 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Add the dals & 1 cup of water, mix well and bring to a boil.
7. Garnish with chopped coriader leaves or a dollop of butter. In case the Dal Fry is not hot enough for you, you could garnish it with some chilli powder like in my first photograph.

Serve warm with rice/rotis/naan/paratha or phulkas.

Dal fry served with rice and a wedge of lime

As their participation to this event, this is what our fellow bloggers have got.

Ashwini : Achaari Baingan
Krithika : Squash Subzi
Priya : Achaari Aloo, Naan, Namakparas
Shammi : Savoury Cheddar cheese biscuits

Check them out!

Sakharbhaat (Mildly spiced sweet rice)

2006-06-24T02:18:00.000+05:30

Sakharbhaat
(It looks much better than this actually. My sorry camera could capture only 35% of its beauty.)

It is my father's birthday today. Just the way it has more or less become a tradition at my parents' place to make Puranpoli for my birthday, it always used to be kinda predecided that it would be Sakharbhaat for my father's. That was until his high blood sugar levels were detected. Even now, it is us, his family, who are not in favour of this tradition any longer. He would still be happy to find this dessert on his plate. Because he strongly believes that Diabetes is a curable disease, and that his is nearly cured. :) Well, who said that only children can give their parents a tough time? The opposite is equally possible. That is the reason why I have made this dish only as a virtual treat for him. (Technology is not all that bad after all, is it?) I hope he enjoys it. And so do you, when you make it.

A little about this Maharashtrian/Goan dessert: Sakhar=sugar & bhaat=rice. This sweet rice has a wonderful aroma of cloves and cardamom. Traditionally, desserts are always served with the meal itself in Maharashtra (and in many of the Indian cuisines that I know.) So is this one. It is rarely seen at big ceremonies like weddings, at least in the urban parts of Maharashtra. It is a pucca home dessert. And this is how it is made.

Recipe for Sakharbhaat

Ingredients:

1 cup Basmati rice
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp ghee
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
a little less than ½ cup water (for the sugar syrup)
2 cloves
3-4 cardamom pods
1 tbsp sugar (for clove-cardamom powder)
8-10 cashewnuts, halved
saffron strands, the more the better

Method:

1. Grind the cloves and cardamom with sugar. You could also pound them with a pestle and mortar.
2. Cook the rice with lime juice, ghee and salt in just enough quantity of water, because we want every rice grain to be separate. (If cooking it in the microwave, add only 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice.)
3. Once cooked, spread it on a wide plate/tray with gentle hands, making sure that the rice grains do not break. I often use a fork for this. Let the rice cool down.
4. In the meanwhile, mix the sugar and water and put it to cook. Boil it until you get thick sugar syrup. It is thick enough, if a drop of it, when put on a metal plate, does not run but stays firm. We call this 'golibund paak' in Marathi.
5. Add the saffron strands to the syrup. Add the cooled rice too and cover the pan. Steam-cook the rice for a couple of minutes.

Rice cooking in the sugar syrup

6. Open the lid, stir the rice and steam-cook it for another couple of minutes.
7. Add the powdered/pounded cloves & cardamom and the cashewnuts. Mix them all well with the rice. Cook it uncovered on low heat until all the water has evaporated.

Serve it preferably warm or at room temperature. Sakharbhaat is not really enjoyable, if served cold. It tastes even better the following day. I often take advantage of that, and make it on the previous day, when I am entertaining. That helps me gain more time on the day of the lunch/dinner to prepare other dishes.

Note:
Although the procedure looks lengthy, it is one of the easiest desserts to prepare, in my opinion. If you make it once, it is child's play the second time around.

I would like to send this one as my entry to Paz for this month's From My Rasoi event.

Tags: rice , Maharashtrian , Indian dessert , 101 Indian sweets

'Confessions in Groups of Five' Meme

2006-06-22T14:46:00.000+05:30

I have been tagged by the ever-friendly Nandita for this meme. Thanks, Nandita. I was really looking forward to being tagged for this one.

5 items in my freezer

1. Frozen vegetables
2. Frozen herbs
3. Frozen strawberries
4. Our first tub of ice-cream this year (It's a yummilicious walnut ice-cream with lots 'n' lots of walnut pieces.)
5. Frozen leftovers

5 items in my closet

1. My broken Mangalsutra. My daughter pulled and broke it last December. I haven't gone to India after that. That poor thing is still awaiting repairs.
2. My perfum bottles. Too precious to be kept on the dressing table coz my little one pulls down everything from there.
3. A couple of sarees and Salwar Kameez sets, which haven't seen the light of the day in the last 7-8 months.
4. Lesser number of hangers than clothes. Some of the hangers are carrying three pairs of trousers on them. :)
5. Dust from the lint of clothes. Eewwww...

5 items in my car

1. My daughter's toys
2. Music cassettes - some with Hindi songs, some with nursery rhymes
3. One Europe atlas, one Düsseldorf Atlas
4. Tissue
5. A chewing gum, which is badly stuck to one of the rear mats. I think it came there clinging to somebody's shoe and then just decided to make our car its home. That darn thing doesn't want to come off at all. Any suggestions there?

5 items in my purse

1. My daughter's and my own health insurance cards
2. Several store loyalty cards. I love the whole business of collecting reward points and then dreaming of all the nice things that I'll get for 'free' by redeeming those points. Oh, how I love it!
3. A one rupee note, which has been there for a couple of years now. There was no reason behind keeping it there in the beginning really. Now I have got superstitious about it.
4. My Driving License
5. My husband's visiting card. Just in case I fainted on the road, they should know whom to call up!

I would like to tag Ashwini, Linda, Nila, Pushpa, Shammi and Sumitha for this meme.

You guessed it right! - Kohlrabi/Knol Kohl/ Navalkol

2006-06-21T21:48:00.000+05:30

You guessed it right, Guys. It is indeed Knol Kohl or Kohlrabi. It is called Navalkol in Marathi. Continuing the discussion on the origin of words, we can again see on this example how a foreign word like 'Knol Kohl' was changed to fit into the local language, and became 'Navalkol'. From the comments to my quiz, I can see that the names for this veggie in other Indian languages are similar (Navila Kosu-Kannada, Nool Kol-Tamil).

As for this vegetable, I have seen that it is not very popular in India (at least in Maharashtra) because it has a strong smell, which many find obnoxious. I remember, I used to be one of the very few ones in my class in school, who used to bring this vegetable for the packed lunch, in their 'dabba'. Having said that, I must mention that it is a popular and much-loved vegetable here in Germany. No wonder then that one of its names, Kohlrabi, happens to be German. (Actually, I feel that the roots of the name Knol Kohl are also German. Knollenkohl, maybe. What do my German-speaking readers think?) However, an interesting fact is that the 'Kohlrabi Capital of the World' is in Michigan, US. Read here more about it.

Well, anyway, what I made with it is a simple Maharashtrian preparation. Navalkolchi Bhaji.

Navalkolchi Bhaji served here with wholewheat chapatis

Recipe for Navalkolchi Bhaji

Serves 3-4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized Kohlrabi
¼ cup Chana Dal
½ tsp chilli powder
a pinch turmeric powder
2 tsp jaggery (optional)

1 tsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

From left to right: Chana dal, whole peeled Kohlrabi (above) and diced Kohlrabi (below), Kohlrabi peels

Method:

1. Wash the Chana Dal and soak it in ¼ cup water for about half an hour.
2. Peel the Kohlrabi until all the fibre is gone and you have only the smooth flesh. The fibre neither cooks well nor does it taste good. If the Kohlrabi is fresh and tender, then it won't need much peeling. Please refer to the earlier photgraph for this.

3. Dice the Kohlrabi in bite-sized pieces. Pressure-cook the pieces until soft. Roughly, they take the same time to cook as lentils.

Clockwise from top: coriander leaves, cooked Kohlrabi dices, soaked Chana dal

4. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
5. Add the soaked Chana dal with the water, turmeric powder and the cooked Kohlrabi and steam-cook it for a couple of minutes.
6. Then add the chilli powder, salt and jaggery. Let the Bhaji simmer on low heat for about five minutes.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm with chapatis/phulkas or rice and dal.

Note:
1. Cabbage can be cooked in the same way. Only that it does not require pressure-cooking. It can be added raw with the soaked Chana dal.

Enjoy this vegetable and wish you a Happy Longest Day!

Tags: kohlrabi , Maharashtrian

Do you know this vegetable?

2006-06-19T15:23:00.000+05:30

Do you know this vegetable? And no, it's not Lady's finger. ;-)

Low-fat Sweet Lassi with a hint of Rose

2006-06-19T05:28:00.000+05:30

Low-fat Sweet Lassi ready to drink

The mercury has again gone up here in Düsseldorf. It wasn't exactly warm last week, but the weekend has been nice and summery. It has been, yesterday as well as today, bright and sunny. Ideal weather for going to a park or generally doing something outdoors. But you know what? Hubby dear has got hay fever! The doctor has told him : Whenever it is nice and sunny with clear skies and gentle breezes, don't go out. Isn't that sad? :(

Well, anyway, since the World Cup is on, sitting at home is not really boring. And if your hands are holding a glass of a cooling drink to sip onto...hmm, not a bad idea is it? :) What we had today to cool our throats after shouting 'Goal Goal' several times is this Lassi. Easy to make, low-fat and very satisfying. Here is how I made it.

Recipe for Sweet Lassi

Makes 3 glasses.

Ingredients:

3 cups chilled, plain low-fat youghurt (I used readymade yoghurt with 0.1% fat content.)

1 cup chilled water

heaped ¼ cup sugar

heaped ½ tsp salt

½ tsp pure rosewater (not essence)

a pinch jeera powder (for a very subtle spicy hint)

ice-cubes (optional; I did not use any)

some more brown/white sugar to coat the glass rims (optional; only for garnishing)

How to decorate the glasses:

1. Spread the sugar meant for garnishing in a saucer. Take the glasses and wipe their rims with a piece/slice of a lemon. Dip the glass rims in the sugar and let them get coated with sugar crystals. Like this.

Keep the decorated glasses aside.

Method for Lassi:

1. Add all ingredients to the blender attachment of your food processor/mixer.

2. Blend them together until well-mixed and frothy.

3. Pour into the prepared glasses, add the ice-cubes, if using and serve.

A perfect drink for lazy summery afternoons or evenings!

Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries has been very kind and has accepted this post as my entry to her event The Spice is Right III: The Perfumed Garden. Thanks, Barbara.

A Ton Of Protein # 6 - Tomatochi Aamti

2006-06-18T05:30:00.000+05:30

I saw this wonderful looking tomato at my friend Mrs. G's place the other day. Luckily, I had my digital camera with me, so I could photograph it. Isn't it beautiful?

By the way, none of the traditional Maharashtrian dishes ask for tomatoes. None whatsoever. Maybe a proof of the fact that tomato is not indigenous to India? When they are used in a dish, they are often a substitute for some other sour ingredient like tamarind or kokum. Having said that, I must mention that this vegetable (or is it a fruit?) has been accepted well in the Marathi cuisine and the dishes made with it are utterly delicious. One of them is this Dal with tomatoes. It is like any other Dal, which you too must be making every other day. I mean, I didn't really have to do a post on it. But then how else would I show you the photographs of that attractive tomato? It deserved a proper post to go with it, didn't it? So, here it goes.

Recipe for Tomatochi Aamti

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

½ cup Toor dal
1 large tomato (or 2 small ones), diced small
a pinch turmeric powder
¼ - ½ tsp chilli powder or 2-3 green chillis, cut into ½ inch long pieces
approx. ½ cup hot water
a pinch sugar to balance the taste (optional)
salt to taste
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
a pinch asafoetida (optional)
7-8 curry leaves

Method:

1. Pressure-cook the Toor dal with 1 cup of water. Mash it well so that no lumps remain. Keep it aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds.
3. Add the asafoetida, if using. Add the curry leaves.
4. Add the green chillis, if using (not the chilli powder, though). Add the diced tomato(es). Please take care at this step, because the oil tends to jump high at this point, and is likely to cause burns. To avoid this, you could cover the pan as soon as the tomato pieces are added.
5. Let the tomato pieces cook a little. Then add the turmeric powder, cooked Toor dal and hot water. If using chilli powder, add it now.
6. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil. Add salt and sugar, and continue boiling the dal on high heat for about five minutes or till it reaches the consistency/thickness that you like.
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve piping hot with rice or phulkas/chapatis.

Tomatochi Aamti served with rice

This is one of the simplest Aamtis and can be prepared with the most basic ingredients of Indian cooking. It is one of my favourite ones. However, my fondness for it is nothing compared to the love my cousin, R has for it. He can have it every single day of the year - for lunch as well as for dinner. (That's 730 meals! Omigosh!!)

Anyway, R, this post is dedicated to you.

'Ten dishes I miss the most' meme

2006-06-14T14:58:00.000+05:30

Ashwini and Revathi have tagged me for this meme. We are meant to write about what we miss most of our moms' cooking. As I have mentioned here, my cooking is equally influenced by my mother and my mother-in-law. It would be unfair then, if I wrote only about my mom's cooking. Although I have a really looooooong list in my mind, I will try and restrict myself to five of my mother's dishes and five of my mother-in-law's. Let me begin then.

What I miss most of my mom's cooking:

1) Simple everyday subzis: My mother cooks a lot of different vegetables. Hardly any vegetable that is easily available in Pune's markets fails to make an appearance on the dining table, and all of them taste so good. It is thanks to her, that I have always been an 'unfussy' eater.
2) Goda Masala: This essential ingredient in Maharashtrian cooking looks rather easy to make. I have a few recipes for it too. However, my blend of Goda Masala and hence the subzis cooked with it never taste as good as my mom's.
3) Ice-cream: My mother has a simple, no-fuss method of making this without any ice-cream maker. But the kind of ice-cream she makes is divine. You should taste her mango ice-cream - smooth (no crystals whatsoever!), creamy and very mangoey. Baskin-Robbins and the likes can hang their heads in shame.
4) Gulab Jamun: Ambrosia...no jokes! All balls of the same size, with an appetizing dark-brown complexion, cooked to the centre and dunked in a wonderfully aromatic, cardamomey sugar syrup. If I am around while she makes the Gulab Jamun, I eat them in every stage : the raw dough, hot fried balls just out of the pan, Gulab Jamun still warm in the sugar syrup and Gulab Jamun well soaked in the sugar syrup. The Gulab Jamun are never seen around beyond this stage, because they are all resting in my tummy by then.
5) Puranpoli: I love her Puranpoli, and she knows it. So, if I am in town for my birthday, then everybody knows what the menu for lunch/dinner would be. Well, this year too I will not have that pleasure.

What I miss most of my mother-in-law's cooking:

1) NanKhatai: She calls these cookies Narayan Katar. So much for adapting the word to become more tongue-friendly. But the cookies are addictive. No one can eat just one!
2) Coconut Chutney: My ma-in-law prepares various kinds of coconut chutney to go with the yummy goodies for breakfast every day. All of them are too good to resist. When I am in Bangalore at her place, I suddenly forget all my 'healthy eating' fundas and start looking at the good properties of coconut. Cholesterol? What's that?
3) Breakfast: Having mentioned the chutneys, I must say that they are not the only attraction. The daily ritual of breakfast itself is something to look forward to. And mind you, she always prepares it on her own. My help comes into the picture, only when she starts cooking for lunch/dinner. If getting pampered at your in-laws' place is being lucky, then yes, I am lucky.
4) Curry leaves chutney powder: Spicy and yummy! I always get one large bottle full of this, whenever she comes to visit us in Pune or we visit her in Bangalore.
5) Konkani vegetable preparations: The vegetables that make an appearance in her kitchen are very different from what my mother cooks. Her selection is more of typical coastal produce, much of which was unknown to me until marriage. However, it is because of her cooking that I took to all those veggies, the very first time I ate them. I find it great, because bringing in variation in my cooking is quite easy for me, using the double set of veggies (my mum's and my MIL's) that I am familiar with.

Oh God, I just did a preview of this post and my, I have written a pretty long meme, haven't I? Thank God, that neither my father nor my father-in-law ever took any interest (much to their spouses' dismay) in cooking. Imagine how much I would have written otherwise!

I would love to read some more memes, so I am tagging Luv2Cook, Meeta, Mythili, Nandita and Veda.

Toasted Sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji

2006-06-13T05:13:00.000+05:30

Toasted sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji served with mint chutney and tomato ketchup

The kind of guessing games we food-bloggers have for each other remind me of Navratri during my childhood. Back in those days in Pune, Dandiya was nearly non-existent for us Maharashtrians. What we as little girls would celebrate was 'Bhondla/Hadga'. During those nine days, each one of us would host it one evening in the garden or on the terrace of our houses. There used to be an elephant drawn either with Rangoli on the soil or with a chalk on a slate in the middle, and we girls used to go around it in a circle, holding each other's hands and singing the Bhondla songs. All the Bhondla songs were traditional, innocent songs passed down the generations. Many of them were funny too.
There used to be a set of roughly ten songs, with a particular song, which was always sung in the end. This song used to end with the words '...khiraapatila kaay ga?' (meaning 'What's for Prashaad?/What is the special dish today?) Now, this is where the food part comes in. This 'Khiraapat' used to be a special dish often made laboriously by the mother of the host girl. Sometimes, it used to be several dishes. The rest of the girls had to guess that dish/those dishes, until which the food would not be served. Our mothers too - very sweet of them - used to come up with rare dishes or combinations, which used to be difficult to guess. I still remember us begging to the host girl to tell us the name of the dish after about half an hour of futile guessing and salivating mouths. However, I used to enjoy it the most when I was the hostess, and I used to so test the girls' patience. (Wicked me!) Those were fun days.

I rarely hear any young girls talking about Bhondla these days. I wonder how many of them even know about it. Are the days of innocent fun gone then? Is it only something like 'Jhankaar Beats Dandiya Nite' that interests them now-a-days?

Anyway, let's come back to our little guessing game with Cabbage Bhaji. All of you were great, I must say. I love the enthusiasm with which you went about guessing the end product. All of you were correct in guessing one important thing : That I used the Bhaji as a filling/stuffing for something. Well, as you must have already noticed, I used it as a filling for toasted sandwiches. Here is how I made them.

Recipe for Toasted Sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji

Makes 8 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1 recipe Cabbage Bhaji
16 bread slices (I used some white and some wholewheat bread slices.)
Butter for brushing the outer surfaces of the bread

Cabbage Bhaji and bread slices

Method:

1. Remove and discard the chilli pieces from the Bhaji, if you don't want them in your sandwiches.
2. Divide the Bhaji into 8 portions and fill it into the bread slices to make 8 sandwiches.

3. Brush some butter on the outer surfaces of the sandwiches.

4. Toast the sandwiches in a Sandwich Toaster until golden brown. (Normally, the Sandwich Toaster takes care of this part.)

Serve these sandwiches hot with any relish/chutney (e.g. mint and coriader chutney) or tomato ketchup. They are perfect for those evenings, when you crave for something 'snacky', but don't want to go for any fried/fatty stuff like burgers or cutlets.

At my parents' place, the Sandwich Toaster used to come out whenever my father used to be away on tour. Us three ladies - my mother, my younger sister and I - would then have such 'harmless junk food' for days together. Sigh, those were the days...

Anyway, let me just come out of that nostalgia mood and send this recipe over to Cate for her ARF/5-a-day Tuesday event. Off to Sweetnicks.

Cabbage Bhaji - What did I do with it?

2006-06-12T05:16:00.000+05:30

Cabbage Bhaji

This is a simple and quick-to-make Bhaji made with cabbage. I have used white cabbage, but Savoy cabbage or Brussels sprouts can also be used to make it. It is great for dieters too.

It is very much a side dish on its own, but I did not serve it as a side dish. I used it as an ingredient in 'something'. Can you guess what I made with it?

In the meanwhile, here is the Recipe for Cabbage Bhaji

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded cabbage
3-4 green chillis

a generous pinch turmeric powder

salt to taste

a pinch of sugar (optional)

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

Clockwise from top: a wedge of whole cabbage, coriander leaves, shredded cabbage, green chillis

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter too.

2. Add the shredded cabbage, chopped green chillis and turmeric powder. Sprinkle a little water.

3. Cover the pan and steam-cook the cabbage. Stir it every now and then, especially if you are not using a non-stick pan. Sprinkle some more water, if you see the cabbage sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4. Add sugar, if using. Add salt, stir the cabbage and steam-cook it further until it becomes as soft as you like it.

5. Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve it with chapatis or rice and dal. *

*But but but, I didn't serve it with any of these. I served it as a part of 'something'. Can you guess what that 'something' is?

A Ton of Protein # 5 - Matki Farasbee Bhaji (Green beans cooked with Moath sprouts)

2006-06-08T21:07:00.000+05:30

Matki Farasbee Bhaji

Etymology, the origin of words, has always fascinated me. Especially the words brought into Indian languages by European traders and colonial powers. Many of them are so well incorporated in the local languages that it is often hard to believe that they were 'foreign' once upon a time.

For example, the Marathi word for soap. A soap is called 'saaban' in Marathi. Mind you, the 'n' is not pronounced like 'n' in English, but is a distinct nasal sound written phonetically as 'tn'. (Click here for the audio key for 'tn'.) The point is that this word which has this distinct Marathi sound is not even Marathi. It is derived from the Portuguese word 'sabão'. No wonder, because the Portuguese ruled much of the coastal region in Maharashtra before the Britishers arrived. Moreover, there was no concept of 'soap' in the Indian culture before the European traders arrived. The toiletries used by us before that were totally different. (And maybe healthier too, because they were Ayurvedic??)

'Farasbee', the Marathi word for green beans is another such example. It comes from 'French beans' in English. Now, French beans is just a way of preparing green beans and not a vegetable in itself. Also, these beans are not indigenous to India. Maybe the 'natives' (who were perhaps working as cooks for the Gora Sahib) heard only this term whenever they saw these 'new' beans. And when they tried to say it, their Marathi tongues forced them to say a word which fitted better in the pronunciation pattern. So, French beans became Farasbee. And if the pronunciation could be changed to become more 'local sounding', then cooking the vegetable to suit the local palate could have been no big issue. Let the Sahib have his bland French beans. What we will serve on our brass thalis is 'Farasbee chi Bhaji'. :)

What I have got for you today is a version made with Matki/Moath sprouts. High in protein and a perfect marriage of local beans with 'phoren' ones.

Left to right: whole and chopped green beans, sprouted Matki

Recipe for Matki Farasbee Bhaji

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped Green beans (approx. ¼ kg. will yield 2 cups)
1½ cup sprouted Matki/Moath
a pinch turmeric powder
1 tbsp Goda Masala (or any other not-too-overpowering-the-taste Masala)

1 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
2-3 tbsp crushed jaggery or Muscovado sugar
3 tbsp fresh/frozen grated coconut (optional)
salt to taste
½ - ¾ cup hot water
chopped coriander leaves (optional)

1 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
a pinch asafoetida

Clockwise from left: chopped green beans, sprouted Matki, grated coconut

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add the asafoetida.
2. Add the chopped beans, sprouts and turmeric powder. Sprinkle some water on them. Cover with a lid and steam them till they are cooked yet have a slight crunch.
3. Now add the hot water and all the other ingredients. Let the Bhaji simmer very gently for 3-4 minutes.
4. Garnish with some more chopped coriander leaves or grated coconut.
5. Serve warm with phulkas/rotis/Bhakri.

Easy? Very.
Tasty? Very very!!

Berry Easy Yoghurt Cake

2006-06-01T15:34:00.000+05:30

Strawberry Yoghurt cake with white chocolate-dipped strawberries

This cake can be considered as one of the milestones in my baking adventures. (Oh Boy, I am so good at making myself sound important!) I started baking cakes rather early. Late school days, as far as I remember. It was with my mother's help, who is a meticulous baker. Also, she has a degree in Home Science, so she used to see to it, that we used the correct amount of all ingredients. I always used to enjoy it, although it sometimes used to be a tiring experience. Because
a) We didn't have a hand-held blender then. My mother still doesn't. Turning the batter by hand can definitely take the sweat out of you towards the end.
b) Being very particular about the quantity of the stuff that goes into it, checking whether none of the utensils/spoons are wet, making sure that you turn the batter always only in one direction can at times be strenuous for the brain.
But as I said, it still used to be fun. Also, the delicious cakes that then used to come out of the oven (which, by the way, was a basic model with no temperature regulator) were always so delicious, that we (my younger sister and I) would look always forward to the next baking session.

So, this particular cake, that I have baked for the Jihva for Ingredients event, was the one which shook the basic foundation of cake-baking for me. It was N, my ex-colleague in UK (French by birth and tired of all the Froggie jokes & presents), who gave me this recipe. By the way, she did not really give me the recipe, she just shouted it out from across the desks. Moreover, the quantities were all approximate. Like she said (read yelled): Two-three eggs. Two-three eggs??? How can anybody be so casual about this? It has to be either two OR three eggs. Same was the case with baking powder. She said that she always used self raising flour for this. But what if I want to use regular flour? Well, I had to work it out myself.

All said and done, N was very very charming. And so is this cake. And the recipe is more so, because it does not require any measuring cups or spoons. What do you measure the ingredients with then? Well, yoghurt pots. That's right. Yoghurt pots. To be precise, a yoghurt pot. You use the same pot, which has the yoghurt that would go into this cake. Great, isn't it?

And yes, N, this post is dedicated to you.

Recipe for Easy Yoghurt Cake

In the centre: Strawberry yoghurt;
In the outer circle, clockwise from top: egg, flour, sugar, egg, oil, sugar, egg, flour, flour

Ingredients:

1 pot strawberry yoghurt with real strawberry pieces (I assume that the quantity is 150g. everywhere.)
3 pots self-raising flour (I used two pots white and one pot wholewheat.)
2 pots sugar
½ pot vegetable oil (I used sunflower.)
1 egg (as opposed to the three featured in the earlier picture as well as in the introduction)

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grease a loaf tin. (I use one made of silicone. Can it technically be called a 'tin'?) Line the base with greaseproof paper, if you like.
3. Beat the egg in a bowl.
4. Add the yoghurt. Measure sugar and oil with the same pot. Add them too and combine well.
5. Measure the self-raising flour again with the same pot, add to the batter and mix thoroughly. You could add all of it in one go, in case using a hand-held mixer. If turning the batter by hand, adding two spoonfuls at a time makes it much easier.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer/knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
7. Take the tin out of the oven and let it cool for five minutes.
8. Turn the cake out on a wire rack and cool completely before serving/storing in an airtight container.

Easy? I told you so.

Strawberry Yoghurt cake

Some handy Notes:
1. In case not using self-raising flour, adding 2 tsp of baking powder to the regular flour gives the same results.
2. You could use yoghurt with any fruit. My personal choice, however, is always strawberry.

Tags: strawberry , strawberries , yogurt , cake

Mistress of Spices - Asafoetida / Hing

2006-05-31T19:13:00.000+05:30

My stock of asafoetida

Mythili of Vindhu has urged us food-bloggers to write about our favourite spice for her event 'Mistress of Spices'. And no, we are not talking about Aishwarya Rai here, as Mythili too is prompt to point out. (A more apt title for Ms. AR would be 'Mistress of Failed Relationships', whaddya say? Anyway, her personal life is none of our business, right? Right??)

Coming back to the spices, I chose to write about Asafoetida because
a) It is one of my favourite spices. Meaning I would feel handicapped, if I didn't have it in my kitchen.
b) I use it a lot. A lot more than my mother and the women in my parents' families. It is the Konkani influence, I guess. (A proof of that is that my mother-in-law says the word 'Hingu' at least five times, when she is explaining a recipe to me, and that even when the recipe does not include asafoetida. )
c) I have three small plastic bottles of asafoetida in my kitchen drawer right now. Need I say more?

So, here are the facts regarding Asafoetida

Name

Asafoetida gets its name from the Persian aza, for resin, and the Latin foetidus, for stinking. Its pungent odour has earned itself a lot of mean names e.g. it is called Teufelsdreck in German (literally meaning Devil's Dung). C'mon, it's not that bad, is it? In many North Indian languages and in Marathi, it is called 'Hing'; in Konkani 'Hingu'; in Telugu 'Inguva' and in Tamil 'Perungaayam'. Please do let me know in your comment the name for asafoetida in your language, in case it is not mentioned here.

Cultivation and Harvest

Asafoetida is mainly grown in Iran (the country of its origin), Afghanistan and in India. Can you guess where it is grown in India? In the land of saffron, Kashmir. Surprising, isn't it? I didn't know this until I started looking for information about this spice on the internet, thanks to Mythili.

The plant of asafoetida is found in natural forests, where rarely anything else grows. It grows about 2 metres tall, and is useful only once it is about four years old. The older the plant, the more productive it is. The time to start harvesting the gum from the rather succulent stem and the root is just before flowering, which is in the months of March / April.

An incision is made in the upper part of the root/lower part of the stem and the exuding gum/latex is collected. Several incisions can be made in the root/stem till there is no more gum oozing. This process can last up to three months and one plant can yield up to 2 pounds of gum. The resinous gum is greyish-white when fresh, and darkens to a deep yellow/amber when dried. Chunks of asafoetida resin are broken off to be sold commercially. The gum is seldom sold in its pure form. It is often combined with Arabic gum, wheat/rice flour, turmeric, etc. and sold as Compounded Asafoetida.

Which brings us to its Culinary Uses

I will write here about the use of this spice only in Indian cuisine, because I am not familiar with any other.

1. Asafoetida is used in many ways in lentil and/or vegetable preparations. Three ways known to me are
a) Adding the powder/granules to the hot oil while making Tadka.
b) Adding the powder to the preparation just before turning the heat off and putting the lid on.
c) Adding water in which a piece of asafoetida has been dissolved to the preparation before putting the lid in the end.

2. Asafoetida is used as an important condiment in pickles, relishes/chutneys and papads.

Asafoetida is usually used only in minute quantities, because even a little of it goes a long way. Although its smell is strong (I like it actually) when raw, it turns into a pleasant aroma when cooked. Indian preparations with lentils and beans are quite unthinkable without the use of this spice. The reason being its medicinal properties.

Medicinal Properties

The biggest property of asafoetida is that it aids digestion. It can lesson flatulence and give relief from painful gas. Since lentils and beans are supposed to be hard to digest, it is always a good idea to add a pinch of this stinking gum to the dish.

A medicine that comes to my mind when I think of asafoetida is the Ayurvedic preparation, Hingashtak Choorna. Earlier, families used to have their own recipies of Hingashtak, because it is apparently easy to make, since the other herbs and spices, which go into it are easy to find in an Indian kitchen. I don't think it is made at home any longer. However, several boards advertising the Choorna of various brands are always hanging in drug stores/pharmacies back in Pune.

An interesting fact that I came across on this website was that it was believed that asafoetida enhanced singers' voices. In the days of the Moghul aristocracy, the court singers of Agra and Delhi would eat a spoonful of asafoetida with butter and practise on the banks of the river Yamuna.

A common home remedy up my sleeve for painful gas is to have a generous pinch of asafoetida dissolved in buttermilk or lukewarm water. You tend to give out a loud and hearty burp (A happy burp? ;-)) within minutes of drinking it, and that gives immediate relief. However, never have more than 1/8th of a teaspoon of asafoetida at one time. Otherwise, it can result in loose motions.

Do you know of any other home remedies using asafoetida? Please do let me know.

For some more information on this spice, please visit here.

(And by the way, can you guess what the white plastic bottle at the back in the picture on top is standing on?)

Couscous Paella

2006-05-31T01:09:00.000+05:30

Clockwise from left: green pepper, red pepper (Do you like the straight-out-of-the-fridge matte finish on it?), leek, carrots, mushrooms, garlic

I made this Couscous dish the other day based on a recipe from a German book. Two main reasons that tempted me to try it out were:
a) I like cooking and experimenting with Couscous.
b) The quantity and combination of vegetables in the recipe appealed to me.

Making it was sure fun. So was photographing the colourful vegetables. However, the Couscous turned out to be way too bland for my taste. There aren't any spices listed in the recipe and I was aware of that. However, I thought that all those vegetables would lend their taste to the Couscous and make it tasty. I also added lots of Harissa paste, which was not mentioned in the recipe. My conclusion is that this dish needs many more spices. Although the book says that this dish can be had on its own for the main course, I now think that I shouldn't have believed it. Like I didn't trust the book when it asked for 500 grams of Couscous for 4 portions. (Now, portions are usually large in Germany. I never manage to finish mine when we eat out, although I have a large appetite.) So, I reduced the quantity of the Couscous by half to 250 grams. However, I did not scale down the quantity of the vegetables, because my husband and I like to have lots of vegetables in our food. Moreover, my husband has 'problems of a certain kind', if there is not enough fibre in the food. Oops, sorry, I was not supposed to write that. I hope, he does not read this post. ;-)

What I was saying is that this Couscous preparation cannot be had on its own. Hence, I prepared something to go with it, but only the following day, when we were finishing leftovers. (Yes, 250 grams still managed to make 4 portions. I can't imagine what I would have ended up with, had I used 500 grams, as asked in the recipe.) I'll blog about that 'something' in the next few days. Sorry, don't have the time for two posts right now.

Most important is, that this 'Paella' (I don't know why the book calls it that coz I don't see much of resemblance here.) is very good, if had with something spicy. Since it is loaded with vegetables, I would like to send it over to Cate for this week's ARF/5-A-Day event.

Here's the recipe for Couscous Paella

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

250 grams Couscous
One can of chopped tomatoes (The quantity is roughly 400 grams here in Europe.)
2 carrots
2 spring onions or one leek (I used the latter, as you can see in the picture.)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper (Using 2 green peppers should be fine too.)
250 grams white/brown mushrooms (I used white ones.)
2-3 cloves of garlic (Corresponding quantity of readymade garlic paste should be ok.)
2 tbsp olive oil
Harissa paste to taste (Please add only a little first, check, and add more, if required.)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Take the Couscous into a large container or shallow dish. Sprinkle about ¼ liter of water on it and mix it with the Couscous using your fingers so that it spreads evenly all over. Let the Couscous rest for about half an hour, after which the grains will have fluffed up nicely and will have grown about three times in quntity.

In the glass container: Couscous half-risen after about 15 minutes of mixing with water

2. In the meanwhile, cut the leek/spring onions (white as well as green part) into roundels. Peel the carrots, if you like, although it is not always necessary. Just rubbing them hard while washing them suffices often. Cut them in 5cm. long sticks.

3. De-stem and de-seed the bell peppers. Cut them in long slices. Clean the mushrooms with a soft brush. (I have come to know only recently that you are not supposed to wash them. Does anybody of you know why? Please enlighten.) Cut the mushrooms in bite-sized slices.

4. If using fresh garlic, peel it and chop it fine. Open the can of tomatoes. ( I always happen to open the can in such a way that the tin sheet stays attached to the can in at least two places. And to think that I am otherwise quite good with other tools and gadgets in the house. Does anybody of you have this problem too? Or is it that I require a new can opener?)

5. Heat the oil in a wide pan or wok. Once it is hot, add the carrot sticks. Sauté them for two seconds so that they are coated with oil, then close the pan with a lid and cook the carrots for 4-5 minutes. Add a sprinking of water to the pan, if you see the carrots sticking to the bottom.

6. Now add the sliced mushrooms, sliced bell peppers and sliced leek/spring onions. Sauté all vegetables on high heat for 5 minutes while stirring them often. The vegetables should cook, but should still be rather crunchy.

Vegetables cooking in the pan

7. Add the garlic pieces/paste, canned tomatoes, Harissa paste and salt now. Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

8. Add the softened Couscous and again mix thoroughly. Cover the pan and cook for further 10 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally while it is cooking.

Couscous Paella is ready when the vegetables are coated with cooked Coucous grains, like this.

Couscous Paella

Serve it on its own, if you don't mind it bland. I served it the first day like that, but it did not satisfy our taste buds. The following evening, I served it with a spicy preparation, and it was perfect. Watch this space for the recipe of that preparation. Bye for now!

A Ton Of Protein # 4 - Moong Dal Usli

2006-05-28T03:17:00.000+05:30

Moong Dal Usli

Ayurveda, as much as I have read about it, rates Moong Dal the highest amongst all lentils. Perhaps because it is the easiest to digest, and Ayurveda insists that foods be easy to digest. I don't know about other foods, but I am sure Moong Dal should be rather easy on the stomach, because in Maharashtrian households, a Khichdi made of rice and Moong Dal (Mugachya Daalichi Khichadi) is served to people when they are ill and later when they are still recovering.

Apart from the digestibility, I feel, that Moong beans and the dal are also quite versatile. They can be used in all possible forms and in all possible dishes. Sample this. Moong beans can be used as is, or after sprouting; the Dal can be used with the skin still on it (Moong Dal Chhilka) and without. Moreoever, the skinless Dal can be used to cook Dal, in Khichdis, as a thickening agent in soups, as a fried snack and in desserts too. The rich Moong Dal Halwa of North India is quite famous. Equally rich with ghee and coveted amongst Maharashtrians is the Mugachya daalicha Shira. More on that sometime later perhaps.

What I am writing about today is a Konkani breakfast dish, the Muga Daali Usli. Having this kind of a dish for breakfast was totally new to me when I got married. I was curious but also slightly apprehensive of having a Bhaji-like thing with bread early in the morning. Of course, being born and having grown up in a Maharashtrian family, I was hesitant to do a lot many things once a part of a Mangalorean Konkani family. Like eating coconut oil. It gave me a feeling in the beginning as though I were eating hair. I know it sounds gross, but my only association of coconut oil was with hair. But I am totally comfortable eating it now. I mean coconut oil. Anyway, more on that sometime later.

Coming back to the Moong Dal Usli, I totally love it now and it's on my breakfast menu quite often. It was earlier eaten with roasted puffed rice (Churmure in Marathi/Murmura in Hindi). However, it has become a common practise to have the Usli with white sliced bread now, maybe for the sake of convenience? I am actually a wholemeal bread freak, but I have noticed that this particular dish pairs better with white bread. Ayurveda will never approve of it, but there you go. :)

So, here goes the recipe for Moong Daal Usli

Serves 2 (hungry persons after a whole night's fast!).

Ingredients:

1 heaped cup Moong/Green gram Dal
2 ½ cups water
2 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
7-8 curry leaves (I used 12-15 because I used dried curry leaves)
3 green chillis (3 red chillis can also be used once in a while for a change)
salt to taste

½ inch piece ginger
a handful coriander leaves (or to taste)

At the base: Moong Dal; On the base (clockwise from top): dried curry leaves, fresh coriander leaves, green chillis; In the centre: ginger

Method:

1. Wash the Moong Dal and keep aside.

2. Make a slit in the green chillis, making sure not to cut them in two. In case using red chillis, break them in 2-3 pieces each.

3. Chop the ginger in tiny pieces. Chop the coriander leaves. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and chillis.

5. After about two seconds, add the water. Stir in salt.

6. Bring it to a boil, then add the washed Moong dal. The water will 'jump' high at this point. Take care not to burn yourself.

7. Reduce the heat to 'medium' and let it continue boiling gently. Do not cover the pan yet, or else the water will boil over.

8. Once the water is the same level as the Dal, cover the pan, but leave a gap for the steam to escape.

9. Stir the mixture every now and then, especially if you are not using a non-stick pan. The Dal can easily stick to the bottom.

10. The Usli is cooked, when the Dal is soft to touch (can be pressed easily with two fingers), and all the water is absorbed. It is ok, if the Dal looks somewhat mushy, that is how it is supposed to look - with half the grains still retaining their form and half of them mushy.

11. Add the chopped ginger and coriander leaves now, stir the Usli and cover the pan tightly for about five minutes for the ginger to release its aroma into the Usli.

12. Serve hot with some bread and a fruit juice for a tasty and satisfying breakfast.

Moong Dal Usli served with white sliced bread

Have this breakfast, and you'll be ready to face the day with a smile!

Date & Apple Shake

2006-05-24T19:55:00.000+05:30

Date & Apple Shake served with potato crisps

Football fever is hightening every day here in Germany. All possible things are being sold in the shape of a football - bread rolls, cakes and pastries & tarts with icing made to look like a football. You name it, they have it. Pizzerias are advertising that they are open all throughout the tournament and are also offering special deals for larger groups. Almost every pub has hung a board outside saying that the patrons can enjoy the tournament inside on their large screen (and buy bottles after bottles of the local 'Alt' while watching the game). I am sure most of them are going to make so much business during that month, that they will afford to shut down the place for several weeks after the World Cup is over.

No wonder then that my 'goals' have changed temporarily. I am thinking football and thinking of eating football all the time. (Eating football?) What I mean is that I often find myself thinking of making something innovative for the 'Monthly Mingle' organised by Meeta. I prepared something a few weeks back, but could not sit quiet after that. So, what innovative thing did I make? Well, nothing. And that is because whatever I thought of making is being sold here in the shops anyway. For example, I thought of making a pastry with a football icing. But they are selling it now in shops, as I have already mentioned. (Copy-cats!) What I could have done is that I could have just photgraphed a readymade pastry and posted it as 'mine'. (They are never gonna know about this in the US and in India, are they?) But hey, what about integrity? Ah, those darn values!

The moral of the story is that I made only a milk shake to wash down my pizza. Well, it's just a milk shake, but then you can always have it, even well after the football season is over. Moreover, it's nutritious and tasty. Good enough to make your son the next David Beckham. (That's of course, if you are ready to accept somebody like Posh yuk! Spice as your daughter-in-law!)

Anyway, here's the recipe for Date & Apple Shake based on one by Tarla Dalal

Ingredients:

4 cups Low Fat Milk
1 large apple
10 black dates, deseeded and finely chopped
a few drops vanilla extract/essence or 2 tsp readymade/homemade vanilla sugar
3 to 4 ice-cubes (optional)

Clockwise from top left: vanilla bean, milk, apple, dates

Method:

1. Soak the dates in 1 cup warm water for about half an hour.

2. Chop the apple. You could peel it, if you like. But please don't forget, that there is a lot of nutrition right under the peel!

3. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend them till you get a fairly smooth and frothy shake.

4. Garnish them with any chopped nuts or pieces of a bright-coloured fruit e.g. strawberries. My garnish were the special football glasses. ;-)

A few Notes:
1. In case using readymade vanilla sugar in sachets, just empty one of those into the blender without bothering to measure. The quantity in those sachets is normally 8 grams here in Europe. Hopefully it is the same in the US.

2. You can make vanilla sugar at home like this: Buy a vanilla bean as shown in the earlier picture, use the pulp in a cake or in any recipe that asks for it, and then insert the remaining outer cover in a jar filled with sugar. You’ll get wonderfully aromatic vanilla sugar in about a week.

3. You could use a banana instead of the apple, if you like.

4. This shake tastes equally good, when made without ice-cubes. On the other hand, if you want it really chilled, you could use vanilla ice-cream instead of the milk (barring that used for soaking dates), vanilla essence and ice-cubes. Visit here for another great recipe for a similar milk shake.

Enjoy the shake! Enjoy the game!! And may ~~Brazil~~ Germany win!!!