vegetarian in me

Stir-fried Spinach with Tomato and Tofu ~palak tamatar aur tofu ki bhaji~

2009-02-02T21:00:00.008+04:00

There are the odds and ends in the fridge that need to be chopped and turned edible before I restock. There's some cauliflower, a few carrots and beans, and also a bunch of spinach which I couldn't resist picking up yesterday!

Sometimes I lack inspiration in the kitchen, and that's when cookbooks come alive in my kitchen. But I always adapt when it comes to vegetarian cooking, throwing in this or that or taking out a condiment I think unnecessary. And that is how a tomato palak stir-fry recipe got tofu for company. The original version is from a collection called 'The Indian Vegetarian Cookbook'. Here's my version:

Ingredients
Spinach roughly chopped - 1 bunch
Silken Soft Tofu chopped - 1/2 cup
Tomato chopped - 1 cup
Onion chopped - 1 small
Garlic sliced - 3
Ginger julienned - 2 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Dry red chilly - 1 (or more)
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Chilly pdr - 1 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Olive Oil - 1 tsp

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, add the dry red chily, cumin, onions, garlic, half of the ginger julienne and the red chilly, turmeric and asafoetida pdrs. Fry for a couple of minutes.
2. Next add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, and then drop in the spinach/palak. Add salt, toss and cook covered over low heat for 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Now drop in the tofu cubes, cook covered for about a minute.
4. Serve hot garnished with the rest of the ginger.

Have it with rotis, or rice, I had the palak bhaji with Makkai ki roti. And if you're making for kids, just reduce the chilly. Its nice and tomatoey!

Over the Kitchen Sink...

2009-01-28T19:20:00.004+04:00

I find disconnect over my kitchen sink. I spend some time on auto mode doing the dishes. But my attention belongs out on the street, the ladies are out in force. I can watch them, unnoticed, safe, from behind the kitchen sink.

Out on the street I cannot meet their eye. These are the women of the street, in their homes, behind their own kitchen sink, maybe their mascara runs down. But here leaning nonchalantly by the parking meter, they can look a man squarely in the eye, their eyes programmed to detect a tiny gesture, a look, a movement in the passing toyota, lexus, nissan.

Today I am drawn to writing about the view from my kitchen window after taking a peek at the beauty beyond the sink at Taste Memory's.

In the bleached-out afternoon some green distracts me momentarily. The new sprouts and shoots on my sill provide me a degree of fuzzy comfort. The weather is optimistic these days and the hopeless heat is still some months away. Opposite the colourful ladies, on the other side of the street, the gents in blue sit on their haunches under a reluctant ghaf tree. A rickety TATA motors bus will arrive any minute to take them to their camps, until then they entertain themselves by huddling together and cracking bawdy jokes.

My view of the horizon has long been obscured by a building that apparantly no longer serves its purpose. Its reflective exterior so dark that it hides the emptiness inside and fools passersby with their own reflection.

I remember another view from another kitchen - the kitchen window of my childhood home, the sun's rays bursting through the green lattice of the coffee tree, its blossoms taut and white against the green. Stray chicken foraging in the kitchen garden, a crow on a solitary palm frond waiting for the bits and bobs that will surely come his way after the family breakfast. The commotion of the warblers hell bent on talking all at once. The dogs lazily napping in a sunny spot after a hard nights work. And familiar voices approaching the window calling out for this and that.

These are some of my own memories over the kitchen sink. Care to share yours?

And this is the coffee tree I am talking about, she bears fruits every year unfailingly. I took this picture of the tree laden with berries on my recent trip home and it is indeed my click for Click! Red.

Moist Vegan Chocolate Cake (with Avocado)

2009-01-25T15:30:00.002+04:00

I like wholewheat cakes, I like cake recipes that call for no eggs or butter or milk, and off late I am intrigued by the idea of adding fruit purés to cakes. Now there is this one chocolate cake that I have baked often, it's an eggless, butterless chocolate cake, and have never been disappointed with the result. I got it off the net along time ago and don't have the source link but its a recipe I got off the All Recipes site.

This time I've just made one tiny change - I halved the oil mentioned and added some avocado purée - and it didn't make a damn difference! honestly! And the lil one couldn't stop gushing "wow bootiful caaake"!

Ingredients:
All-purpose flour - 3 cups
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 6 Tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 cups
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup
Avocado purée - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cups
Distilled white vinegar - 2 Tbsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C/gas Mark 4.
2. Sieve all the dry ingredients (except sugar) together.
3. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Now add sugar into the wet mix and stir.
5. Next mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat until smooth.
6. Pour batter into a greased cake tin. Bake for 25 to 30 min. till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (My cake took over an hour to make - I don't know what happened it could be that due to the avocado the liquid was too much - but I usually do the toothpick test and it works for me - my gas oven always gives me different timings than one listed in recipes). So if you are trying this one out - don't panic just hang around for the toothpick test.
7. Don't tell anyone there's avocado in it, I still haven't!

see how perfect it is!!

It tastes best after its well cooled (preferably the next day) - so be patient for the first bite. In cool weather you don't need to refrigerate it, but I did after day 2 'cos it has avocado. So keeping the cake in the fridge could do you only good.

Welcome to Dubai

2009-01-19T17:00:00.004+04:00

Life in Dubai is like living in a hot air gas balloon. It has all the levity, uncertainty, buoyancy mixed with a good dose of optimism and complete faith in your guide. Inshallah!

Now for those who don't know Dubai is one of the 7 emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Its a country of contradictions, you have the in your face retail culture of Dubai and just down at the emirate of Abu Dhabi (also the national capital) there is an elegant calm. Further north there's Fujairah sharing its coast with the Gulf of Oman, here you can see more of the old world charm.

A little departure from food today, and for the rest of you and those coming over from BATW here's a little about the tiny emirate of Dubai I call home (away from home), in conversation with I, me, myself.

Q. Its so hot here in the summers I am getting a headache, what should I do?

A. It could be migraine, go to a doctor, there are a few here who do more than nose jobs, liposuction, collagen injections, and laser therapy.

Q. I am bored what are my options?

A. Plenty - there are approximately 24 malls and counting in Dubai.

Q. There's no park near my place, where can I play with my kids?
A. There's always the parking.

Q. I feel like the king of the world!

A. As in The World?

Q. So are you the same Khadi wearing idealistic Indian?

A. I am afraid I have switched to lycra, ditched the Bata chappals and straightened my hair.

Q. Eeeeew!

A. I still go to Fabindia to buy my soaps. Does that count?

Q. So what do you do to stay out of trouble?

A. Dress decently generally and while at the beach, and don't snog in public unless you want to become (in)famous like the sex on the beach couple.

Q. I heard obesity is a big problem in the UAE?

A. Heck no! its hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease that's the no. one killer here.

Q. I miss my friends!

A. Don't look for Orkut, its a no no!

Q. What about Flickr?

A. That too.

Q. I am so bored and I miss my friends!

A. Say hello to your Pakistani, Lebanese, Srilankan, Eqyptian, African, Bangladeshi, Russian, Phillippino neighbours, my friend.

Q. What? no British?

A. Not where I live, check Jumeirah or the Meadows... or the beach.

Q. Why do I feel there are too many of us?

A. Because there are! the expat local ratio is 80:20.

Q. Why do I not see any camels?

A. They are all racing at Nad Al Sheba. But habibi if you want to really see wild camels head to the desert.

Q. You know I have this image about Arabia...

A. Its not Arabia, there are countries here like Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Throw out that Lawrence of Arabia VHS from your closet.

Q. I heard Arab men are really romantic.

A. I wouldn't know I am married to an Indian.

Q. I am really bored now... is there any wild life here?

A. There are some seedy nightclubs in the 'grey' underbelly of Dubai that specialise in the sort of bellydancing you seem to be hinting at.

Q. No seriously I mean wildlife - as in lions, tigers!

A. Ah ok... there's the Dubai Zoo, the aquarium at the Dubai Mall, the Atlantis Palm has 'rescued' a whale shark - the poor guy's posing for photographs for his food over there. Why do you ask? you interested in buying some? that can be arranged too.

Q. Stop kidding... and please continue...

A. Ok then let me give you the larger picture... there's the natural desert wildlife in UAE and some populations of arabian oryx, leopard out in the desert. UAE's coastal mangroves are the most extensive in the region. Though falconry is a part of the culture here, a lot is being done to ensure enough numbers of its prey the houbara bustard survives in the wild. In Dubai and the Northern Emirates - there's the Gulf Coast and the mangroves. You can do a bit of birdwatching here at Ras Al Khor and then for more desert ecology head out to the dunes and the mountains of Hajar.

Q. I've heard of the shopping there, is it fun?

A. Are you kidding it is a serious part of culture!

Q. I am bored.

A. Then get out! It was fun having your around though. And come again, Dubai does that to people - I know!

Spicy Chilly Yoghurt ~pachchamulagum thairumchértha pachadi~

2009-01-13T19:21:00.009+04:00

The funny thing about achachan's cookbook is its language. My grasp of malayalam is not something I am terribly proud of, though I speak fairly fluently for a non resident keralite born and brought up entirely in the north of the Vindhyas. I can barely write malayalam but oh yes I can read the language haltingly. Thankgod for that!

A recipe in the old cookbook is sometimes just one long sentence, some words have no spaces and they just go on and on. Anyone who's heard south indians speak will know what I am talking about, and therein lies my problem. Let's say I am in the middle of a sentence and my daughter comes and whacks the book from my hand (she does that pretty often) I not only lose the page I am reading I have no clue where to look - since the pages are numbered in malayalam numerals! Or lets say hubby feels suddenly romantic at his myopic wife rabidly reading the one para for the last 30 minutes, out flies the book, and I say to myself I'll wake up early next morning or there's always the afternoon and so on.

So its no wonder my picks from the book are the really simple recipes, and yes, I have started bookmarking the pages!

I discovered recipe No.2 from my grandfather's times is a super spicy raita/pachadi . Pachchamulagum Thairumchértha Pachadi. I mean who can go wrong with yoghurt! This raita/pachadi is so good I couldn't stop eating it - spicey be damned!

yoghurt with chillies & seasoning

Ingredients (enough for 2 people):
Green Chillies - 8
Thick Yoghurt - 1 cup
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp (lightly crushed)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - 1 generous pinch
Ghee/Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric - 1 pinch

Method:
1. Beat the yoghurt with salt and keep aside.
2. Half or quarter the chilles lengthwise.
3. Heat oil in a wok and splutter the mustard, and then add the rest of the seasoning one
after the other - cumin, fenugreek, coriander - take care not to burn them.
4. Add some asafoetida and mix.
5. Now drop in the chillies and fry for a bit.
6. Remove and pour over the beaten curd, sprinkle some turmeric and mix well.

Let the pachadi sit for some time - so that the yoghurt assimilates the flavours. The highlight of this raita is the bite of coriander seeds - I've never tasted coriander in combination with yoghurt so was blown away by it. My verdict is that it can definitely jazz up a simple meal - I am definitely going to make this pachadi again & again & again.

Lentil Soup and Vermicilli Rice ~shurba al adas & riz bi sh'areh~

2009-01-11T16:15:00.005+04:00

Shurba al Adas - Lentil Soup

In simple words Lentil Soup and Vermicelli Rice - two of my favorite dishes from the Arabic vegetarian spread. No surprise really since they are close cousins of our Dal Chawal. Both these dishes are familiar names in Levant cooking and if you happen to be in the area, and ravenously hungry, I'd say go for it. I always have lentil soup with a generous dash of lemon juice when I am eating anywhere Arabic.

Ingredients for the soup:
Red Lentils/Masoor Dal - 1 cup
Minced Garlic - 2 cloves
Cumin - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste.

Method:
1. Cook the lentils till soft.
2. Heat oil in a skillet, and fry the cumin and the garlic, taking care not to burn either. Lightly saute and then pour over the cooked lentil.
3. Simmer the soup for ten minutes, adding salt and water to adjust the consistency.
4. Finally stir in the lemon juice.

The soup can be had plain or with vermicelli rice.

Riz bi Sh'areh - Vermicelli Rice

Ingredients (enough and more for 1 adult and 1 toddler):

Rice - 1 cup

Vermicelli broken into small bits - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 cups

Butter/Ghee - 1 Tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Roast vermicelli in ghee/butter in a pan.

2. Next add the rice followed by water.

3. Mix in some salt and bring rice to a boil, reduce flame and simmer on low until water is absorbed and rice is done. Fluff with a fork.

Simple enough! My Shurba al Adas & Riz bi Sh'areh is taking the flavour of Levant to FIC Yellow at Tongueticklers.

Plantain and Tamarind Chutney ~vazhakkai puli thuvayal~

2009-01-06T19:15:00.008+04:00

My paternal grandfather, my achachan, was an excellent cook. I am sure if he were alive today he might be outraged at how some of the traditional recipes have evolved bearing no resemblance to their former selves. Me? I love evolution, its only evolution that lets pretenders like me to hang on and claim great achievments in our kitchens.

My achachan had no interest in farming - which was terrible for a household whose mainstay was agriculture... instead he wanted to cook. At some point in the 1930s he boarded a ship and cooked his way to Penang. Here he worked as a khansamah on one of the plantations until WW2, at which point he returned home to his village and set up a Tea Club (the café culture arrived half a century later).

Years later when my mother entered their household, my achachan apparantly found his true successor. And it is to her that he handed down his precious cookbook. Now torn at the edges, its delicate pages brown with age - it perhaps holds the secret beginnings of many tamil-malayali dishes we see today and some that have disappeared up the chimney.

In an attempt to resurrect these old recipes I am starting a series called My Grandfather's Cookbook: Tastes Long Forgotten. The idea is not to improvise and to stay true to achachan's cookbook, that way we get the idea of what the dish tasted like, back then. The language in the book is old malayalam and I do take a while to read and comprehend it, the measurements are according to old Kerala standards, so I am taking proportionate measurements to suit me - that is the only adjustment I am allowing myself.

My first dish in the series is Vazhakkai Puli Thuvayal. Thuvayal is like a chammanthi/chutney/dip. It essentially belongs to the Tamil kitchen, but I suspect pallakadan malayalis may also be familiar with the taste. The consistency is a bit like hummus, which most people are familiar with. Its really simple to make and I really liked it.

Ingredients:
Vazhakkai/Raw Plantain - 1 big
Whole dry chilly - 2,3
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Tamarind - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Some hot water

Method:
1. Roast the plantain directly on the gas till the peel looks evenly charred and it looks cooked. (Or roast it on a wood fire - if you have one/or bake it in foil)
2. In a wok, roast the whole red chilly and the urad dal.
3. Discard the charred peel of the plaintain and cube it.
4. Drop the plantain, roasted red chilly, urad dal, salt, and tamarind into a blender, add a bit of hot water and make a hummus like paste.

Mix in some warm gingelly oil and have with rice, or use as a dip for chips. Interesting texture, nice taste.

Vazhakkai Thuvayal on other blogs - Cardamom - Vazhakai Thugayal

Stuffed Zucchini Wheels

2009-01-05T16:00:00.001+04:00

I just bought this book by Jessica Seinfeld called Deceptively Delicious, and frankly though the book has some unsympathetic ways of combining chocolate and cauliflower, I was a little disappointed because it doesn't address enjoying vegetables as they are and generally speaking the vegetarian options are too few and far between. Anyway the good thing was that it really kicked my own creativity.

NT eats most vegetables without fuss except cauliflower so I was basically trying to figure out a method to get her to eat atleast some cauliflower. I was also dying to create an edible version of a zucchini starter that I'd eaten at a fancy restaurant recently. For my version I've used the Indian zucchini.

Ingredients:
Indian Zucchini/Ridge Gourd - 1
Potato - 2

Cauliflower - 1,2 heads

Garammasala - 1/2 tsp

Chat Masala - 1 tsp plus a little for sprinkling (optional)

Chopped coriander - 1 bunch

Salt to taste

Breadcrumbs for rolling.

Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

1. Boil and mash the potatoes and cauliflower, mix together along with the masalas, salt and coriander.

2. Pare the zucchini, cut circular pieces and discard the core.

3. Now stuff each piece with the potato cauliflower mixture, roll on breadcrumbs and keep aside.

4. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry till brown on all sides.

5. Sprinkle some chat masala over the wheels right before serving. Best eaten hot.

Puttu Payar - Spicy Red Gram Curry

2008-12-27T14:40:00.001+04:00

Puttu or Pittu is a malayali staple breakfast. It's quick to prepare, and requires no elaborate planning, soaking, grinding, fermenting and so on. And it lends itself to improvisations. At my place contemporary puttu making has elevated itself to an art. My dad is the in-house puttu specialist and he has so far come up with Wholewheat Puttu, Ragi Puttu, Cornmeal Puttu, and Rava Puttu and I am quite sure that soon more grains will add up to this list.

When I was a kid, close to 40 days every year were spent in our ancestral homes in Kerala. At my dad's place, pittu (as he calls it) was rarely made, maybe because pounding the rice for flour seemed too daunting a task to my achamma (dad's mum). At my mum's place however there was always a cacophony in the kitchen with all the aunts planning and preparing for meals always a day in advance. Puttu was a common breakfast, though not with kadala (that was a rarity) but instead mixed with mashed bananas and a good dollop of ghee. Those days the rice was grown in our paddy, local paddy workers processed it, and later it was hand pounded by my aunts, then roasted, meanwhile the ghee came from the cows in our shed and the coconut and bananas from the orchard.

Its shocking that in as little as 25 years, life has become far too simple - I get packaged puttu flour from a grocer, he supplies me grated coconut, bananas or whatever I pay for. I have no clue who grows what, and I also have the option of home-delivery.

Nostalgia aside, for the classical malayali breakfast go for Puttu Kadala (black chickpeas in spicy coconut gravy), for the mundane - look no further than Puttu Pazham Pappadam (small bananas, large bananas or steamed banana), or if its a filling, high protein breakfast morning then the simple Puttu Payar (both green or red gram in a spicy curry) will leave you wanting no more (that day atleast).

Both whole green mung (cherupayar) or red gram/bean (vanpayar) taste equally delicious in this curry, here's the basics for payar curry.

Ingredients:

Red Gram - 1 cup (soaked a couple of hours)

Shallots - 6,7

Whole Red Chilly - 2

Curry leaves - 1 bunch

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Oil/Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Boil the soaked beans, with the turmeric until soft.

2. Thinly chop the shallots.

3. Heat oil in a wok, drop in the chillies and as soon as it changes colour splutter the mustard.

4. Now add the chopped shallots and curry leaves. Fry until the onions caramelise lightly.

5. Now add the cooked beans, salt and a little water, bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. And finally, serve hot with steaming mounds of Puttu.

My trusty malayali blue collar breakfast Payar Curry is off to Tasty Palette to join in the sixth helping of the My Legume Love Affair event.

And for another kerala speciality with red beans (vanpayar) try Snow Peas & Pumpkin Olan.

Potatoes & Onions - Open Sandwich

2008-12-24T08:39:00.006+04:00

Boiled Potatoes - 1 (sliced)
Onions - 1 medium (thinly sliced)
Green chilly - 2 (chopped fine)
Garam Masala - a pinch (optional)
Coriander leaves - 2 Tbsp (be generous)
Grated cheese - a little
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat a pan with the oil and caramelise the onions along with a little salt and garam masala. Now add the chopped chillies and coriander and just wilt lightly. Remove.

2. On each half of the bread roll arrange - a little cheese, boiled potato slices, a sprinkle of salt, some more cheese and a portion of the caramelised onions.

3. Bake in the oven Gas mark 3 till the cheese looks melted.

4. Enjoy your b'fast sandwiches out in the winter sun with a cup of hot coffee.

And so off once more to the one place more open than my mind - Lore's Original Recipes Roundup.

Another great sandwich idea -Masala Scrambled Eggs on Toast.

Carrot Almond Mincemeat

2008-12-18T15:00:00.001+04:00

Its probably a little late in the season to post about mincemeat. Like its name, the taste and smell of the mincemeat is crazily intruiging. It reeks of winter but tastes like summer, its cozy like a warm blanket when your feet feel stubbornly cold, but it can also be brazen like a sultry summer but mainly it holds the promise of a well kept secret. Naughty and nice.

I remember the Christmas parties at my mum's unit mess in Dehradun and luscious fruitcakes made by an anglo indian family friend. Chattelier Uncle had a way around cookies and cakes, such a fabulously talented craftsman - carpenter - chef. His specialities were petits fours, marshmallows, nougats, macaroons and cakes of all sort. And for every christmas, birthday and diwali he and wife would dutifully drop off a mixed bag of these goodies at our place. Aunty ofcourse never ventured near the kitchen, and claimed that it was not the place for her 'lily white hands'. I think my mother secretly disapproved and I remember telling her that her hands were lily white too. I really thought so.

So this christmas I've been wanting to make mincemeat pies. A few of mum's recipe books have found their way to my house and one of them contains a picture of these pies & tarts that I've been drooling over for many many years. So first up, tackling the mincemeat. And a little departure from the traditional apple base - here's a carrot and almond mincemeat recipe from my kitchen. (I had no apples at home that's why.)

Carrot (fairly plump) - 3
Cinnamon - 1 stick

Chopped Almond - 1 cup
Chopped Prunes, dried fruits (figs, dried cherries, mixed berries) - 2 cups
Glazed cherries - 100 gms
Candied peel - 100 gms
Muscovado sugar - 1 cup
Lemon rind - 1 tsp
Rind of 1 large orange
Juice of 1 large orange
Powdered clove - 1/2 tsp
Powdered cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Grated nutmeg - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1 walnut sized knob
Whiskey - 4 Tbsps

Method:
1. Cut up the carrot in chunks and pressure cook along with a stick of cinnamon - for 1 whistle. Take off fire. Let cool, then remove the cinnamon and excess water and mash the carrots using a potato masher. (I got about 1 + 3/4 cups of mashed carrot)

2. Mix the mashed carrots, dried fruits, cherries, peel, sugar, almonds, orange juice, rinds, melted butter, and spices in a large bowl.

3. Add the whiskey (or sub it with a little more orange juice). Mix again, leave it covered with a tea towel for 24 hours.

4. Mix again - let all the flavours come together - inhale exhale, sneak a bite, pour yourself a drink - feel the glow.

5. Pour into clean, dry glass jars and let rest. Leave to mature for 3, 4 weeks.

The mincemeat tasted FANTASTIC - the carrot gave it a distinct rich, red festive colour, the taste had depth (could it be the whiskey? hic). I decided to use only almonds because I think carrots and almonds make a neat combination.

Now it remains to be seen how long it will keep - the traditional mincemeat keeps for a couple of months, I still have to figure out the longevity of my carrot almond mincemeat. I will update the post in a little while.

Its so much easier to prepare than jam, and I think its totally okay to experiment with flavours. In the spirit of the season, Carrot Almond Mincemeat is off to Lore's Original Recipe at Culinarty.

Over the edge and back

2008-12-12T06:33:00.002+04:00

the remains of the day

If there's a key out there somewhere for a 'successful birthday party' please someone send it to me - I will need it again, in less than 365 days. The girl's 2nd Birthday party is done and over with. Because the gathering was not too large I managed to cook most of the party treats, and that's mainly because inadvertently fellow bloggers helped me with it, a few mishaps notwithstanding.

The cake itself came from a box - I didn't want to waste time on a recipe from scratch - maybe next time. So it was a french vanilla cake with buttercream filling and fondant icing (I bought that) and marzipan (I bought this as well) decorations - the theme by and large was a garden theme 'cos the l'il one loves the outdoors. It was fun putting the theme together and colouring the marzipan and creating a flower garden with bees, catterpillar and even a snail.

I got the idea for the bees from a blog called Only Slightly Pretentious Food - the rest of it is really me having a blast! Anyone looking at making marzipan at home there's a recipe at Deeba's.

Now the vanilla buttercream icing recipes on the web all sounded uniformly complicated -I absolutely hate fretting over recipes so I pulled out the simplest one from my shelf - an old cookbook belonging to my mum - its called Reader's Digest Guide to Creative Cooking and Entertaining - and the recipe is as follows (makes enough to fill and ice the tops and sides of an 8 in round cake):

Unsalted butter - 150 gm

Sieved icing sugar - 275 gm

Vanilla - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Cream the butter with a wooden spoon and gradually beat in the icing sugar and the vanilla until soft and fluffy. If you want the texture to be lighter you can add a Tbsp or 2 of milk. I didn't.

So the birthday cake was really all about assembling:

1. The cake was baked using a ready mix.

2. Bought fondant, marzipan, colours and shape cutters.

3. Made the icing for the filling and crumb coat.

4. Cake was cooled then sliced for filling, then crumb coated it with the remaining buttercream.

5. Rolled out the fondant and covered the cake - from now on you cannot refrigerate the cake so I did this on a sunday afternoon (the party was on tuesday evening).

6. Then worked on the decorations as and when I had time, usually when the girl slept, 'cos she was hell bent on helping me!

7. I completed the cake by monday evening, and within an hour I found NT had climbed over the table and taken off the lid and was literally playing in the garden! I actually caught her with a few bees in her mouth, the catterpillar was squashed and few flowers were missing not to mention the remaining wingless creatures. So it took me a few more hours in the casualty.

Meanwhile I also made mini pizzas - and pretty much followed Food Blogga's recipe for homemade pizza dough. I got about 25 mini pizza bases. I pre baked the bases, cooled and clingwrapped them in bunches and stored in room temperature. Its cooler these days so it was okay and anyway thanks to the cake the a/c was on throughout.

Couple of hours before the party I arranged the topping and baked the bases for about 10 min. The topping was a basic pizza sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, a tomato, few olives, jalapeno and some more cheese.

Next up were the burgers - courtesy Stitched in Holland - the blogger Ashleigh can be now found over at Ash in Amsterdam. Made two batches of these and got about 36 burgers, reasonably large! mini burgers. Stuffed the burgers with vegetable patties, tomato, lettuce, cheese and mayo! Quite a mouthful there.

There were also loads of potato wedges and chicken nuggets - got the frozen ones and fried these - and finally, very cute cupcake pops. The process is a bit prolonged, but if you have the patience its really worth it. I highly recommend cupcake pops particularly for kids birthday parties - my lil one really loved it although she kept insisting its ice cream, whatever. Thank you, Bakerella!

pop goes the cupcake!

The Birthday Conundrum: 6 days to go...

2008-11-25T18:40:00.001+04:00

Our ideas of what a birthday ought to be like sure takes a beating as we grow older. When I was around 8 or 9 or maybe 10 my entire social life revolved around being invited to a birthday party - and always, always my birthday party just had to be the best. My mum and dad really did go over the top those days, my dad was (and is) the creative guy - he'd really do up the whole house with balloons, and ribbons and all glitzy thingummajiggs that were popular in the 80s and my mom - she would cook up delicious party treats (those kinds that would go on being discussed for weeks after).

Mum like all mums could be a terror with her creative cooking at times - now at sixty - she's not so experimental. But there was a time, and what times those were! I have a particularly frightening story of her creativity, it happened when I was turning 9 or 10 (as you can see my early memory begins at 9 or 10) mum was figuring out what's the best birthday cake to bake for her girl. Usually at our place there would be one bakery bought all dressed up 'birthday cake' and two other simple home baked vanilla cakes. This time mum decided nothing store bought would do and thereafter started tossing out each and every cake idea presented by us. When suddenly her eyes lit up (and in retrospect I think she must have thought she was on a cool idea) and she said she had an idea that could make me a talk of the town - a giant idli cake. Imagine that!

At first I thought mum was kidding but I saw she was really warming up to the idea, as she was explaining it to me. I managed to scrape my 10 year old dignity off the floor and said if there was going to be an idli cake then I'd pack my bags and leave home. And because there was a previous history of that event, thankfully there was no giant idli cake. It was bad enough being a madrasi, I suspect a giant idli with chutney icing might not have improved my chances with the happening crowd!

Anyways its my turn now and thankfully my girl isn't grown up enough to leave home on her own, she can barely make it out of the potty by herself. But here I am already close to passing out at the thought of the 2nd birthday party. They do grow up real fast eh?!

... and here she is not yet One!

Lemon Chilly Pickle

2008-09-08T13:07:00.010+04:00

Any prolonged inactivity at my blog is due to the fact that I am home in India right now, enjoying the tail end of a later than normal monsoon. Its bliss - to say the least, and really haven't had much time to sit on the computer at a stretch. Onam season has already started here, most homes have pookalams (flower decorations) and there are onam sales & ramadan sales at every street corner, in any case Malayalis don't need any excuse for splurging, its practically second nature.

My post today isn't about any of my Kerala experience but an unfinished business from Dubai - a super simple Lemon Chilly pickle. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the seasoned pickle - my trip was a hurried one and the circumstances I'll write about another day. For now just keep your imagination running and remember that the pickle looks a little more golden when finally done.

The recipe is from a Pakistani cookery show that I chanced upon one day while channel surfing and the host(ess) was going on and on about "Khichri, Papad aur Achar" (Khichdi is sort of an Indian rissotto with lentils, Papad is poppadom and Achar ofcourse means pickle). The khichdi recipe was a little unusual, I still haven't tried it out. And the pickle was super tempting and was so simple that all I had to do was assemble stuff together. Here goes,

Ingredients:

Lemon - 10

Green Chilly - 1 cup

Minced Garlic - 1 Tbsp

Salt - 4 Tbsp

Raw Mustard Oil - about 1 cup

Method:

1. Cube the lemons and chop the green chillies.

2. Mix well with generous amount of salt and the minced garlic and fill in a sterile glass jar.

3. Pour raw mustard oil over the pickle, the oil should cover the vegetables. Cover and close tightly.

4. The pickle needs to be sunned for a minimum of 3 days.

I found the chillies edible after three days, but since I had used the bigger south african lemons, that have a thicker skin, I found the pickle needed to sit for awhile more.

Do mix the pickle well once before use and add more salt if you like. Lemon pickles have a long shelf life simply because limes and lemons contain a high concentration of citric acid - a natural preservative. Similarly, mustard oil also acts as a preservative by inhibiting the growth of yeasts and molds. So these along with salt, should give you a total shelf life that lasts beyond 6 months without refrigeration.

The chillies in the pickle were nice and tangy and great with plain bread and butter sandwiches and the pickle itself can, and should be, eaten with Khichdi, or along with your main meal. Bon Apetit!

Sending my easy peasy Lemon Chilly pickle to Roma's (Roma's Space) Long Live the Shelf event.

Worms 'n' Weeds: Garden Chow - a 5 min. recipe!

2008-08-28T16:00:00.011+04:00

Maggi! I love maggi! I think the largest consumer of Maggie got to be students - part of hostel life was smuggling in maggie, heating water using immersion rod, cooking maggie and gulping it before anyone could get a wind of it. Yet néstle targets only moms and kids with their "bas do minute" ads!!

For me maggie is comfort food, and perhaps the longest I went without it was when I was pregnant - didn't want no MSG to mess with my baby!

Oh well! now I am recovering maggie addict and have found this philippino version of instant noodles out here that needs no cooking, just 5 minutes in a hot water bath and a slurpy bowl of noodles is ready. Its that quick. With a kid in the house, the choices I make are a little cautious, so I thought noodles with vegetables are kind of good, and the girl - she loves a plate full of weeds 'n' worms.

Ingredients:

Chinese Noodles - 1 pkt

Hot water - 1 litre

2 cups finely chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, spring onions, broccoli, bell pepper and beans)

Vinegar - 1 Tbsp

Soy Sauce - 1 tsp

Whole dry red chilly - 1 (optional)

Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Roast the chinese noodles in an open pan for about a minute. You may or may not use oil, I smeared a little oil all over the pan.

2. Immerse the noodles in the boiling hot water, it should be cooked in about 5 minutes, drain, add few drops of olive oil and toss. Leave uncovered while you cook the veggies.

3. Heat the oil in a wok , throw in a whole dry chilly and stir fry the vegetables, add salt and just as the veggies look done add vinegar and soy sauce.

4. Drop in the noodles and toss about on high flame for about a minute.

5. Its done!!

Its so simple and though its no comparison to the joys of Maggie 2 minute! its fast enough for when you're feeling too lazy to cook an elaborate meal and yet you have a toddler who can do without MSG.

Chocolate Muhallabiah, ruby red pomegranates and a whiff of orange blossom

2008-08-25T15:30:00.012+04:00

revealed!

Indeed it is the pomegranate! and for those of you looking for me I am in that corner nursing a case of saying too much too soon! well what were the odds of almost all of you getting it right?! guess the family will have to eat some food over the coming weeks, and your recipes will be a welcome addition on our table. :)

Muhallabiah is a very simple and yet a rich tasting Rice & Almond pudding from the middle east. Flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water, and topped with pomegranate and nuts, a spoonful of this creamy pudding can send you into throes of ecstacy, if there's such a thing.

Anna of Morsels & Musings has a wonderfully original and absolutely decadent version of muhallabiah (a muhallabiah mousse) and my version is totally inspired by her. Usually the pudding is primarily made of rice flour and almond meal is added to it, i reversed the order and made a more almondy muhallabiah to go with the chocolate.

Ingredients:
Paste of almonds - 1 cup
White chocolate - 145 gms
Condensed milk - 1 tin
Rice Flour - 2 Tbsp
Almond essence - 1 tsp
Sugar if required

Topping:
Whipped cream - 1/2 cup (optional)

Orange Blossom water/Rose water - 1 tsp

Pomegranate - 1/2 cup

Peeled Pistachios - 1/4 cup

Almond slivers - 1/4 cup

Pine nuts - 2 Tbsp

Sugar Syrup - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Pour the condensed milk into a saucepan, using the same container to measure add 1 1/2 cups of water into the sauce pan. Gently heat.

2. Add the almond meal and keep stirring till the mixture reaches a custard like consistency. Mix the rice flour with some water and pour that into the mixture stirring all along, the custard will be thicker now, taste for sugar if its not enough add some.

3. Now add the almond essence. Mix well. Meanwhile melt the chocolate and stir that in as well.

4. Take off flame and let cool. The pudding will be like thick custard. Once cool enough to handle pour into individual serving dish, cognac glasses - whatever takes your fancy. Refrigerate.

5. Get the topping together. Boil sugar and a tsp of water, to make syrup. Let cool.

5. Mix pomegranates, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts and the orange blossom water/rose water along with the cool sugar syrup. Chill till you are ready to serve.

6. To serve top the muhallabiah with whipped cream followed by sweet pomegranate and nuts flavoured with orange blossom water.

If colours and tastes could speak this one would speak in a milion dialects! there's the chocolate just lacing the flavour of almonds, and every mouthful comes with the bite of pomegranate, the earthiness of pistachios & almond and there's the pinenuts that remind you of someplace else, and finally heaven... well its the smell of orange blossoms!

My Mohallabiah is off to celebrate Fruit & Chocolate at Meeta's Monthy Mingle.

More than meets the eye - do you know what this is?

2008-08-21T22:20:00.002+04:00

Can you guess what this is? obviously its edible and features prominently in my next post - but do YOU know what it is? no gifts or freebies for this, but if anyone gets it right I'll cook a dish featured in their blog! :)

Pizza or what happened... when yeast meets the beast

2008-08-21T04:16:00.003+04:00

Now that I am not so scared of yeast anymore, I've been on a rampant baking spree in my kitchen hence no blogs left unseen and no one spared from my experiments. This whole bread making experience has been quite uplifting... and its actually fun to watch dough rise up only to get punched down. I am not known to be such a sadist, but you know like I said before, these days things are different.

fungal cruelty

Ok this thing about pizzas (this is a veggie rant so you may skip it altogether and hit the next para) why do vegetarians only have two pizza choices? the promising Veggie Delight and the oh-so-promising Garden Veggie Delight... when actually everything about the two are far from delightful. While browsing today I came across a link at a blog called Veggie Terrain. The link takes you to a very humorous article by Taylor Clark called Meatless Like Me and the following line from there succinctly sums up my present line of thinking "vegetarians are normal people with normal food cravings".

The pizza recipe is a 'from scratch one' I scavenged out of a pile of archives at Deeba's blog. Needless to say, practically every post of hers is on my must make list. For the recipe do check out Passionate About Baking: Pizza from scratch.

Here's how I made the pizza sauce:
Paste of Tomatoes - about 4
Tomato sauce - 1 cup
Bay leaf - 1
Minced Garlic - 2 cloves
Oregano - 1 tsp
Chilly pdr/paprika - 1 tsp or less
Olive oil - a little
Salt & sugar to taste.

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wide pan, sauté the bay leaf followed by garlic, tomato paste & the tomato sauce.

2. Sprinkle the oregano and chilly powder, followed by some salt and about a tsp of sugar.

3. Let cook on low flame till most of the water evaporates and the mixture has a sauce like consistency. Check for seasoning, take off flame and allow to cool.

Once you roll out the pizza spread the sauce liberally, add your toppings and a dash of olive oil and bake gas mark 4 for about 15, 20 min.or until the cheese looks melted and the crust begins to brown.

I made two kinds of pizzas, one was the 'Vengeful Veggie' (i threw in some thinly sliced eggplants, onions, spring onions, zuchini, peppers and spinach along with mozzarella). The other I call 'Popeye Delight' this one had mozarella, spinach, mozarella, cottage cheese - in that order.

Popeye Delight

Vengeful Veggie

I had some dough leftover so I tried out two things: Curried Calzone and Micro mini pizzas - perfect for kids (and adults) to nibble on. The beast has been unleashed, watch this space for more on my tryst with the pizza dough.

Thanks to Deeba's tipoff I found the Wild Yeast blog by Susan, there's some mean actions going on there, I am tame by comparison. So right now I am off now for some YeastSpotting!

Wholewheat Dinner Rolls - I finally baked bread!

2008-08-17T16:18:00.007+04:00

Many blogs these days are smelling of freshly baked bread - some like me are first timers just learning to love the smell of a loaf baking in the oven, or waiting giddily for the dough to rise, or gingerly touching the tin of dry yeast that's somehow wound up from the supermarket aisle to their kitchen top.

The 'others' - there's a virtual colosseum of the others on the web - the daring bakers, the loaf maniacs, the bread hounds - call them whatever, if its bread they want, it is bread they get, no matter at what cost. But thanks to them I finally baked my first bread.

The recipe for these Dinner Rolls can be found at Amulya's blog - she calls it Amu's Crazy World. She gives a great step by step tutorial on baking these and thankfully the portions were small enough to give me enough room for mistakes!

I made the rolls with Atta/Wholewheat flour - so they are dense in texture, the skin is thicker but oh-so-yum. Forget dinner, we dunked 'em in chai and straight devoured!

my first bread

Karma Korma

2008-08-14T15:28:00.007+04:00

As free India enters its 61st year, like all Indians in every corner of the world, I am happy that we are free, I am happy that I was born into this free nation, I am happy that I was born into privilege, I am happy that I was born a girl, I am happy that the freedom I received in my own life reflects the freedom many other girls in privileged households get all over India. But there is yet another side to this freedom, and as much as we remember our past it is also important to move forward and uphold the spirit of democratic India the fighters for our freedom wanted for us.

For if we weren't 'one' out of many castes, communities, religion and cultures, there would be no Indianness. Isn't that what the melting pot is all about? So Happy Independence day to all you folks. Tiranga ooncha rahé hamaara!

Indians being so obsessed with eating I think its only apt that we indulge our freedom by cooking, feeding others and sharing our joyous bounty. 15th August at my place is usually Kadhi Chawal, and I've no idea how it all started, but we usually asked our mum to make kadhi on Independence day. Maybe I'll make the same tomorrow, but today I want to post about a dish, though originally Mughlai, has been adapted by all Indians to suit their regional palates. What else but Korma, Kurma, Qurma, Kuruma!

In the north you'll find it with cashew paste, sometimes with a hint of fenugreek and yoghurt and in the south there's the coconut cream. Vegetarians and non vegetarians both have a go at this dish and it tastes equally good with rice, rotis, parathas, appams, and doshas.

My version is perhaps at best, a combination of the north south variety and is really so good and fragrant that you'll most definitely want to have a second helping. I am no good at playing it down you know.

Ingredients:

2 cups mixed vegetable chunks of your choice - Cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, onion

Diced tomato - 1

Bay leaf - 1

Grind to a fine paste:

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Coriander leaves - a few sprigs

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Black cardamom - 1

Small cardamom - 1

Pound using mortar & pestle:

Dry roasted Cinnamon - 1 stick

Fennel seeds/Saunf - 1 tsp

Cashew nuts - 4

Ghee - 2 Tbsp

Method:

1. Boil the vegetables chunks, along with the bay leaf, on medium burner till done.

2. Meanwhile make the coconut, coriander, spice paste in the blender and add to the cooked vegetables, mix well and let it come to a boil, leave to simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the fennel, cashew, spice powder - follwed by 2 generous Tbsps of ghee. Mix well, again let it simmer for a couple of minutes, before turning off the flame.

Try a spoonful of korma - its a keeper for sure!!

Tofu Tikka

2008-08-12T16:11:00.010+04:00

For long now I've been wanting to try my hand at paneer tikka, and never got around to doing it. For some reason the local groceries are not stocking up on paneer anymore. I've really never had to travel so far and wide to get a block of cottage cheese. I suppose I could make it at home but just don't want to take on the project.

Lulu at Karama center is one of the few places that stocks paneer, they have both Amul as well as their own fresh paneer. So that's a blessing. At Spinney's near my place I encountered a helpful staff who put down the whole mystery behind the missing paneer to the 'paneer machine in this big Indian company has broken down'. Okay whatever!

So I went home with a big block of extra firm tofu, quite determined to put it to good use.

Tofu Tikka is really simple to make and infact you can assemble it a couple of hours in advance and regrigerate it, in any case it requires a minimum of 30 minutes of marination.

First thing you need is a block of extra firm tofu. Rub a pinch of salt on the tofu and leave it on an incline near the kitchen sink, so that water in the tofu drains out.

Meanwhile get hold of the following ingredients for the marinade:

Chilly pdr - 1 tsp
Cumin pdr - 1/2 tsp
Coriander pdr - 2 tsp
Thick yoghurt - 3 Tbsp
Ground Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Minced ginger - 1 tsp
Minced garlic - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Other vegetables for the grill:
Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1
Onion - 1

Method:
1. Pick up the resting tofu block and press it together between your palms to drain out any water left in it. Cut into thick cubes.

2. Mix the ingredients for the marinade together are apply on the tofu cubes, put away any remaining marinade. The the tofu sit for atleast 30 minutes, or put it in the refrigerator for later use.

3. When you're ready for the grill, cube the capsicum and the onion. Separate the onion layers. Apply the leftover marinade on the two.

4. Arrange the pepper, onion & tofu cubes on a skewer - alternating between them. I made bite sized tikkas by skewering them onto toothpicks. Smear a little oil on the tikkas.

5. Grill on both sides till brownish spots appear on the veggies.

Serve piping hot with mint raita, or any chutney you like. Sending this off to the inhouse vegan who like me 'dreams in colour' - Sunshinemom! of Tongueticklers and her event Food in Colours. This month the theme is Red. So colour me red it is.

Tofu Tikkas are also going off to JFI Soya being hosted by Sia of Monsoon Spice. In her own words "Jihva for Ingredients a.k.a. JFI is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi. Indira started this event to showcase the natural ingredients every month and undoubtedly it is one of the most popular food blogging events among the food bloggers."

Energy-O Bars

2008-08-11T17:00:00.001+04:00

My entry for Click Aug '08 (Citrus)!

Even though it feels vain I really might like to grow old like Dev Anand the evergreen heart-throb of atleast a couple of Hindi movie going generations. Yes he’s gazillion years old, and someone really ought to tell Dev saab that dyeing his hair black (or is that a black wig) does nothing to take away the creases he has collected over the years. But I also think he doesn’t really care for what people make of him – he’s out there doing his thing. Which was entertaining the masses till a couple of decades ago and now I guess the masses entertain him or else what must he be thinking making all those stupendously surreal movies that he has been making in the recent past? But really the man has energy and yes I’d love to have some of that serious joy for life when I get as old as him. Inshallah!

Maybe these energy bars could spell an end to the energy crisis that hits mums of one year olds. It’ll be nice to be remembered as the lady who’s got all the answers, but sadly though I have ‘adapted’ it now, these energy bars aren’t really my own creation. I went back and forth two sources, first a delectable blog called, The Kitchen Sink and the other a site called RecipeLand.com. I don't have the source link.

Kristin of Kitchen Sink calls these Granola Bars, mine don’t have any granola only loads of fruits, nuts & orange zest, hence came up with Energy O Bars. O ofcourse stands for the unmistakable burst of orange that comes with each bite!

Ingredients:
Almonds – 1 cup
Chopped Walnuts – 1 cup
Sesame seeds –1/4 cup
Chopped pitted dried Plums – 1 cup
Dried mixed berries – 1/2 cup
Chopped dried apples – 1/2 cup
Golden Raisins – 1 cup
Bran flakes/corn cereal – 3 cups
Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Orange zest – 2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Butter – 1/4 cup
Firmly packed soft brown sugar – 1/4 cup
Corn Syrup – 1/4 cup
Honey – 1/4 cup

A rectangular approx. 9 inch dish lined with aluminium foil. The foil should be spilling out of the dish.

Method:
1. Dry roast, separately, the walnuts, almonds and sesame seeds.

2. Combine all the ingredients except the last four (butter, sugar, honey and syrup) and pulse it in the blender. It’ll still be coarse and some almonds will be whole, that’s how it is meant to be.

3. Heat a heavy bottomed pan on medium burner and melt the butter, drop in the brown sugar and stir nicely till it melts.

4. Next add the corn syrup and honey or again you can entirely use only honey and let it come to a uniform boil.

5. Now lower the flame and add the fruit and nuts mixture stirring till it coats evenly.

6. Now transfer to the dish lined with foil, spread evenly and press down firmly with the bottom of your measuring cup.

7. Leave to cool completely, infact once its half cool put the dish in your refrigerator and don’t look at it until after a couple of hours.

8. Take the dish out and lift out the mass with the foil handles and lay upside down on a cutting tray.

9. Remove the foil carefully and cut the fruit and nuts piece into bars of desired size.

I cling wrapped the bars and they are so good on the go that they are off to WTSIM... the summer edition - being hosted by thepassionatecook.

And my entry for Bee & Jai's Click event is also off from this post. The theme this month is Citrus and the last date for entries is 30th of August!!

An unexpected mail & an Award!!

2008-08-10T16:08:00.007+04:00

Weekend was great even though some tasks we’d set for ourselves never got done – namely cleaning up our cupboard, organising NT’s space and so on. So you can imagine the weekend was great!! An additional factor for great joy and happiness in my household was an unexpected mail.

Giz and Psychgrad’s mail said I had won the first place for my post on Potato Croquettes in Equal Opportunity Kitchen’s Tried, Tested & True Two – can you imagine it’s the first ever cooking ‘contest’ I’ve ever taken part in – I guess it’s true what they say about beginner’s luck.

chef christine cushing making the big announcement

I mean take a look at the round up and you’ll know what I am talking about. Anyway who’s complaining?! So thank you all at Equal Opportunity Kitchen for making my day, week, month, year...!!

Another person I would like to thank - although a little belatedly is Lyb of And then I do the Dishes - an excellent photographer herself she thinks pics on my blog deserve the Arte Y Pico award. Thank you and I really appreciate that you dropped by my blog! I am forwarding this to 5 other bloggers who according to me are not just great cooks but know how to make their food look good as well!!

The rules of Arte Y Pico award are:

Pick five blogs who deserve this award because the content of their blog is creative, interesting, and they inspire the blogging community. Each recipient has to have their name and link back to their blog. The recipient must display the award and link back to the blog that awarded them the award. The recipient must also show the link back to Arte y Pico blog so everyone knows the origin of the award.

Do drop by these blogs and discover heaven!

Shn of Mishmash!
Padma of Padma's Kitchen
Dragon of Dragon's Kitchen
Michelle of Greedy Gourmet
Zainab & Meedo of Arabic Bites

Just want to tell you guys - you're superb and keep up the good work!

Palak Makhana - Lotus Seeds in Spinach Gravy

2008-08-06T16:30:00.004+04:00

It’s been awhile since my last post. Have spent the time fruitfully, moping around the house, feeling sorry for myself. My s-i-l just left for India and terribly missing her bubbly presence, and its not just me, NT misses her a lot too. These days she spends a lot of her time near the shoe rack pulling out Lakkimamma’s fauxfur-lined pumps! and puttering about in them. Looks like she knows now that amma’s comfortable sneakers are really not to die for!

An article I had worked on in the meantime is up on Tehelka, so for some other stuff that I write about click “Falconer’s Sport”.

Ok... today’s post is another one of my dinner favourites. I don’t know why but I make it only for dinner meals – but I guess you can try it out any time of the day. Its really simple and again a great option to Palak Paneer. Now the only problem I see here is getting hold of makhana. Makhana is basically popped lotus seeds. I got mine from Delhi, it’s over now and I’ve yet to figure out where one can find makhana in Dubai.

For more details on makhana – check out Nidhi’s Cooking Made Easy – a wonderful blog I discovered today while looking for makhana. She’s posted a great recipe for Makhane Ki Kheer (Makhana Pudding) – which I am sure I’ll try out once I get hold of a new packet. The first and last time I had Makhane Ki Kheer was in Delhi, my friend Nina and I were shooting a short film for Cansupport and the folks there pampered us with lunch and the kheer. Will never forget that taste!

Ok back to Palak Makhana – here’s how to put it together.

Ingredients:
Palak/Spinach – 1 bunch
Chopped onion – 1 small
Chopped tomato – 1 large
Makhana – 1 cup

Cumin/Jeera – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Cinnamon pdr – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp

Milk – 1/4 cup (optional)
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Roughly chop the spinach, cover & boil along with a pinch of turmeric. Once its semi cooked take off flame, let cool, then just pulse it in the blender. Don’t make a paste.

2. Meanwhile toast the makhana in a pan with a bit of oil, it’ll brown lightly and when it’s cool it’ll be crunchy.

3. Now in the same pan, heat the remaining oil and splutter the cumin followed by the onions. Sauté till the onions look translucent, add the tomatoes now and cook till the oil separates.

4. Add the dry masalas – turmeric, garam masala, cinnamon pdr, salt and chilly pdr, if using. Mix well.

5. Add about 1/4 cup of water to this and let the gravy simmer for a minute or two.

6. Now add the spinach and again give a good stir. Let it come to a boil, then leave to simmer or low flame. Add a bit of water if the gravy looks too thick. Check for salt and seasoning.

7. Now drop in the toasted makhana, followed by the milk – if using. Simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes.

That’s all there’s to it folks. Enjoy Palak Makhana with roti or jeera rice.

Thanks to Srivalli's kind reminder I am sending this off to the Curry Mela, its on till August 20th 2008.

Soya Seekh Kabab

2008-07-24T16:03:00.002+04:00

I hate to complain but the fact is that vegetarians are very easily sidelined in elaborate dinner arrangements. I have done so too, when friends of both orientation turn up I admit I take greater pains to whip up the chicken curry or biryani than I take to make chholé or matter paneer. Most that vegetarians get during such dinners is paneer in some form or the other. I think meat eaters clearly have a wrong impression there about vegetarians – no I don’t want paneer! I mean it, I don’t want matter paneer, shahi paneer, palak paneer, paneer bhurji, kadahi paneer or even paneer tikka. So what else you got?

How about some vegetarian seekh kababs? How about something that looks as if you spent more than 20 minutes cooking up!

So here I am trying to break away from norm – the soul of vegetarian party food – paneer. And guess who came to my rescue, click here for the original recipe.

Here’s Soya Seekh Kabab, its grilled, its healthy, its fat free and its great tasting.

Ingredients:
Soya flakes – 1 1/2 cup
Soaked Channa dal/Bengal gram dhal – 1/4 cup
Oats – 1/4 cup
Powdered roasted bengal gram dal – 1/2 cup
Chopped Onions – 2
Chopped Carrot – 1
Chopped Beans – 10
Green Chillies – 3
Ginger – 1 Tbsp
Garlic – 4,5 cloves
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Coriander pdr – 1 Tbsp
Garam Masala pdr – 1 Tbsp
Pepper pdr – 1 Tbsp
Lime juice or vinegar – 1 Tbsp
Oil – 2 Tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves – 1/2 cup
Chopped mint leaves – 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Soak 1 cup soya flakes in water for about 10 mins.

2. Boil the Bengal gram dal, chopped carrots, beans and soya flakes along with the turmeric for about 8 minutes. Let cool and squeeze out all the water. The mixture should be dry.

3. Now mix this along with 1/2 cup of unsoaked flakes plus chopped onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves, garam masala and grind to a paste.

4. Next using your hands mix in pepper, vinegar, mint leaves, salt, oats and roasted Bengal gram powder into the paste. The dough should be tight and leave the sides of the bowl easily.

5. Let the dough stand for an hour.

6. Next grease your hands and skew them onto skewers and grill, turning sides, until the kababs are evenly browned.

Note: if you find the dough is falling off the skewer its still not tight enough, you can add a little more of the roasted gram flour for binding, and try again.

Serve with chutney/sauce. Its really simple to make, but again a departure from the same old same old.

This evening I am making tikkis with the leftover dough – just need to shallow fry for that.

Sending this off to Monthly Mingle – Grill It! being hosted by Sig of LivetoEat. The deadline in August 15th so hurry up with your entries.