Saffron Trail

On growing strawberries and recipe for Eggless Strawberry Yogurt Cake

2012-03-10T17:25:00.000+05:30

My three year old son and me have a morning routine nowadays. After his drink of milk, we go to the garden and check if there's any red peeking out of the strawberry patch. If we didn't do this, the squirrels and ants, who have been blessed with a better foraging sense than us human beings, will get to the juicy berries before we do. We don't get too much, but a small handful a day, to add to cereal or to make a couple of muffins, or to eat as it is. The latter doesn't happen often as I am not very tolerant to acidic fruits and I'm yet to taste lusciously sweet strawberries grown in India. Here, strawberry needs sugar as a partner to make it more palatable.

But, however little, that sense of joy we get from having watched something grow for nearly eight months, and finally bearing fruit, is such a fulfilling one. These strawberry saplings were planted in June and they quickly propagated and covered the ground, but there was not a single flower in sight even after six months. The newbie gardener that I am, I quickly lost hope. Patience is clearly not one of my virtues, hence I stand to benefit a lot from gardening. I am slowly learning that nature doesn't work at the speed of a 4Mbps internet connection. It takes its own sweet time. And what sweeter time than spring time? I don't need my neighbours to drench me in permanent colours (albeit organic) and hose me with tons of water, to announce the arrival of spring (I'm talking about the one festival I dread, Holi). The new blooms and fruits in my garden had already whispered to me a few weeks ago that spring is not far away...

Just plucked strawberries basking in the morning sun

A few years ago, if someone told me that I could grow strawberries in India, I would have laughed it off. But Bangalore weather is somehow to conducive to growing almost anything. Like my friend @abithaanandh tweeted this morning -

"Am willing to overlook 11pm deadlines,bad infrastructure,forever 90s music loop- all 4 those few precious hrs in the garden! Tk U #Bangalore"

It is so true. I'll continue to grow strawberries next year too. I'm told they bear better fruit in the 2nd and 3rd year. Only, I'll be growing them in hanging baskets, so I dont have to compete with the ants to pluck the fruit!

I've been wanting to bake a strawberry cake for a while now. Not the types where the fruit is pureed in, but stands out like red jewels, slightly mushy from the baking and a burst of flavour in the mouth, when you bite into it. And somehow, I wanted to pair it with yogurt as I couldn't use eggs in this. A Foodblogsearch didn't find me the kind of recipe I had in mind, so I did my own improvisation. Yesterday afternoon, just before the baking session, I found a bottle of strawberry essence at Nilgiri's, so the fruit, the essence and the jam made the taste pretty intense, but not in the cloying sort of way.

The recipe I'm sharing with you seems to be the most low-fat and healthiest version among all those that I went through as a result of my various searches.

This is a tea cake or a weekend breakfast cake. I'm not asking you to believe that it's dessert. Umm...may be with ice cream, yes :)

The texture was very moist and delicate despite not using eggs or butter.
Do give it a try before the strawberry season bids us a goodbye.

Recipe for Strawberry-Yogurt Cake
Eggfree / Eggless / Lowfat
Tea time or breakfast cake
Makes 1 tall 8" cake

Ingredients

¾ cup yogurt
¼ cup milk (skimmed or toned, as you prefer)

¼ cup rice bran oil (or any cooking oil)
¾ cup sugar
2 generous tablespoons of strawberry or mixed fruit jam
1 tsp Strawberry essence or mixed fruit essence (gives a more fruitier flavour, if you don’t have either, use vanilla extract 1 tsp)

1.5 cups all purpose flour OR 1 cup AP flour + ½ cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt

Roughly 1 cup finely diced strawberries
Handful of tutti-frutty (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven at 180 C

Grease an 8” round cake tin. If using silicon pan, no need to grease.

In one bowl, whisk the oil, yogurt, milk, sugar and jam.

In another big bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well. Add the whisked wet ingredients. Fold until they come together. Over enthusiastic beating / whisking is better avoided.

Towards the end, fold in chopped berries and tutti-fruity.

Scrape the batter into the greased tin / silicon mould and bake at 180 C for around 45-55 minutes, checking with a tester if it comes out clean.

After 10 minutes, unmould and cool on a wire rack.

Cut into wedges, dust with icing sugar and serve with tea.

The same recipe will work with raspberries or blueberries to make a blueberry yogurt cake or a raspberry yogurt cake.

On how the monstrous zucchini got Tambrahm-ised

2012-03-08T17:30:00.001+05:30

[Those who voted for me and got me into the final 6 Healthy Cooking Blogs, thank you! In the finals, my blog as of now is 5th. Feels kinda pointless asking to vote now as the better blogs lead by tons of votes, but if you've loved my work here, go ahead and vote for me. Directions here ]

My garden always surprises me. Which is why I like to take my morning tea up to my terrace garden, perch myself on one of the tiny stone benches and sharing that morning moment with the plants to the background music of the birds. While I try to get a few sips of my tea, a little fruit, a new flower and small shoot will beckon me to admire it. And I will go take a look at them while my tea sits on the bench going cold. Every morning, a new surprise, however little, that makes me smile and sets the mood for the rest of my day. It is an exercise in positivity. Many flowering plants that I assumed were dead, suddenly start showing signs of life as spring is round the corner. My lavender bushes, since 9 months didn't show one sign of flowering and I thought "Damn! The nursery fooled me with a non flowering variety!" And I was proved wrong when the prettiest lavender flowers bloomed this month. If there is a tiny bit of life left in the plant, come spring time and it will revive. What's more beautiful in life than hope, after all?

And then sometimes a garden makes you laugh out loud. Like this monstrously huge zucchini that had been hiding under the huge leaves for nearly a month, that had missed my keen scrutiny each morning only to be found by my driver a few days ago. He showed me this green thing nearly as big as a new born baby-and I shuddered! And then laughed so hard when I knew that it was indeed a zucchini that had hidden away from all prying eyes and grown so big~nearly 2.5 kilos.

Not to show off my (old) iPhone but to give you size perspective :)
This is after a third of the zucchini has been chopped off

I kept it on my table to admire it's beauty for the first 2 days, then it spent a few more days in the refrigerator. When other vegetables came in from the supermarket, this big fellow could no more occupy precious refrigerator real estate and he had to be brought out.

The husband is not a big fan of zucchinis and though we had shared enough jokes about how big this sly vegetable had grown, his enthusiasm stopped there. When I was cutting it up this morning, he said, "Please, I don't want this for lunch." Since there are very few things he doesn't like, I usually indulge his whims, but this time, I just smiled and said "We will see."

Over the six years that I've been food blogging, I've seen several bloggers making Zucchini thogayal. But zucchini, in India, has always retailed at around Rs.100 a kilo. At that price, why on earth would I want to puree it to death in a blender. I wanted to see and enjoy this vegetable in salads, pasta and such. But thogayal, no way!

But when you have a 5 pounder zucchini sitting on your counter top, the thogayal did indeed seem like a good idea. And boy, did it taste good or what.

Zucchini Thogayal and Zucchini Curry (both recipes below)

For the uninitiated, thogayal or thuvaiyal is a Tambrahm style of converting mildly unpalatable vegetables (Chow-chow, pumpkins, ridge gourds, bottle gourds etc) into chutneys so Tambrahm uncles will mumble good things about the food even if they are eating some vegetable they don't like. Many blogs will say you can eat Thogayal on bread or with idli or dosai or chapathi or pasta or just about anything. I wont say they are lying. But there is only one way to really savour this. Hot rice, gingelly oil (yes, oil and NOT ghee) and thogayal and a roasted appalam on the side.

And the zucchini hating husband tasted some of it, hesitantly, after he had eaten beans curry-rice and rasam and said "Please keep some for me, I want to eat this for dinner."

I guess after this, I can well call this 5 pounder- 'Zucchini Iyer'.

Ingredients

2 medium sized green zucchinis

1/4 cup scraped fresh or frozen coconut

a tiny piece of tamarind soaked in 2-3 tsp of water

2.5 tsp gingelly oil or any other cooking oil

2 tbsp + 1 tsp udad dal

4 medium dried red chillies

1/2-3/4 tsp salt

2 sprigs curry leaves

Fat pinch asafoetida

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 green chilli

Directions

Chop the zucchini into medium sized cubes. No need to peel the skin.
Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan. Add 2 tbsp udad dal and red chillies and saute on medium heat until the udad dal is golden brown. Remove onto a plate and cool for few minutes.
Heat the remaining 1 tsp oil in same pan. On high heat, scald the chopped zucchini by tossing it around for a minute or so.
Reduce the flame, add 1/4 cup water, pinch of salt, cover and cook till zucchini is tender and fully cooked.
In small mixer-grind the fried udad dal-red chillies, soaked tamarind and coconut to coarse paste. To this add the cooled cooked zucchini, salt and scrape the sides of the mixer and grind to a paste. Remove this into a bowl.
Heat 1-2 tsp oil in a tempering ladle or small kadai. Add pinch of asafoetida, mustard seeds, once they splutter, add curry leaves and udad dal. Wait for dal to turn golden and transfer the tempering over the thogayal.

Notes

Traditionally a lot more coconut is used, so you could use as much as your health consciousness permits.

If you know this one recipe, you will have at least one way to deal with most of the vegetables that the world at large considers boring.

Another way to Tambrahm-ise Zucchini : Zucchini Curry

A small clarification here. In Tambrahm cooking, a curry is not a gravy dish that Brits seem to love. It's a simply prepared dry saute with minimal spices and the star being the tempering. I pressure cooked this for a bit as it was a mature zucchini, if your's is tender, you can simply add it raw and cover and cook till done.

Place 1.5 cups of zucchini pieces (small) in a container in a pressure cooker. Don't add water to zucchini. Pressure cook for one whistle.
In a kadai, heat 2 tsp oil. Add pinch of asafoetida, 2 dried red chillies, 1 tbsp udad dal, few curry leaves, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and saute till udad dal is golden.
To this add the cooked (or raw) zucchini, pinch of turmeric (optional), salt and toss gently to coat with tempering, on a low flame.
Add a bit of fresh coconut and it's ready to serve. Those who find this very bland can add 1-2 tsp of sambar powder or rasam powder towards the end and give it another toss.

Homies 2012 Finalist in Best Healthy Food Blog- Need your Votes

2012-03-05T16:52:00.002+05:30

Thank you for responding to my appeal on my blog, FB page, Twitter and Facebook. Despite getting nominated with 2 days to spare, I made it into the final round of voting.

I need all your support (and votes) to win this. The voting process is a little cumbersome if you dont have an apartment therapy website log-in. So here's taking you through the process:

First, click here and go to the voting page for the Healthy Cooking Blog finalists.

If you already voted for me in the previous round, use that same Twitter/Facebook id to directly sign in and vote - using the 'SIGN IN' link on the page.

REGISTER
If you don't have an existing sign in, then you have to register by clicking the 'Register' link.

Register your email id and password as shown below

SIGN-IN

Get back to the voting page link and click Sign in with your mail id and password

VOTE

Now you can vote for me...

It isn't as complicated as it seems, just register, sign back into the voting page and vote for me.

A big thank you, to my friend Punita for helping me with the screenshots!

Nominated for the Best Healthy Cooking Blog - Homies 2012

2012-03-01T10:45:00.000+05:30

This is one of the rare occasions in the last six years that I've been blogging, I'm kicked enough to do some self-promotion and ask you to vote for me as the Best Healthy Cooking Blog in the Homies 2012 awards conducted by thekitchn.com - This is the first time they have a Healthy Cooking Blog category in their awards and I'm happy that my blog fits the bill quite neatly.

The voting process is a little tedious, you need to log in with your twitter or facebook id over here
and then go to the nominations page here for Healthy Cooking Blogs, search for 'Saffron Trail' and vote for me.

This is the first round of voting for nominations which is open until March 1 (midnight EST) after which the top six contenders will be open to votes once again.

Looking forward to your support!

Once again - the links

To log in - http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/sign_in

The voting page - http://www.thekitchn.com/best-healthy-cooking-blog-nominations-the-homies-2012-166622

Thanks a lot!

Raw banana (plantain) kababs

2012-02-24T22:30:00.000+05:30

Vazhakka or plantain is one of my favourite vegetables. There are at least three favourite ways I make this in true Tambrahm style. One is a roast, where it is sliced thinly and slow roasted until it turns crispy. The other way to make it is to cube it, cook it and saute it with whole red chillies, udad dal, mustard seeds and curry leaves with a garnish of coconut. The third one is a vazhakka podimaas. All three taste yummy with rasam-rice or mor kozhambu and rice.

Since there are three yummy ways to make this vegetable, I rarely end up making anything else. This time I picked up the plantains with the sole idea of making kababs so they don't end up in one of my favourite curries. I did a quick google search for plantain kababs and the one that appealed most was from Vah Chef Sanjay Thumma. Mine is an adaptation of that recipe.

Kababs are best served with roomali rotis, which are not that difficult to make at home provided you have a tough aluminium/ cast iron kadai that you can turn upside down on the flame and cook the roti on the upturned kadai. Please don't try this with your expensive teflon coated non-stick kadai.

Also, there is no need to indulge in the dramatics of the chef in the Punjabi restaurants of the 80s and 90s where they would throw a roomali roti in the air in open buffet counters to grab the interest of the diners.

Roomali Roti

For the dough, I use a mix of 3 parts atta and 1 part maida, salt and water, rest it for 30 minutes and then roll them out into big sized rotis as thin as i possibly can. I cook this on the upturned kadai kept over a big flame for a few seconds until golden spots appear and repeat on the other side. Fold into quarters and keep in airtight casserole until ready to eat.

Carrot-Radish-Rocket Salad

You can serve this with sliced onions soaked in vinegar for some 30 minutes. I shredded a radish, carrot and sliced a small bunch of rocket leaves-dressed it with lemon juice, salt, pepper and tiny pinch of sugar. It tastes better if you cover this bowl and leave it in the fridge for sometime.

Dinner is served

Recipe for Raw Banana Kababs
Makes 16-20 1" kababs

Ingredients
2 raw bananas
1 potato
1 medium carrot
3 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup grated paneer / tofu
handful of finely chopped coriander
1 heaped tsp amchoor powder
1-1.5 tsp salt

Dry roast till fragrant:
1 tsp caraway seeds (shahjeera) or cumin seeds
1 tsp aniseed (saunf)
1 tsp coriander seeds
5-6 whole black peppers
4 cloves
2 green cardamoms

Once cooled, grind to fine powder in spice grinder

Directions:
Halve the raw bananas. Place 1 L water to boil and put the halved bananas. Boil for around 10 minutes, until bananas are tender. Remove from water. Cool, peel and grate.

Pressure cook potato, peel and grate.

Peel carrot and grate.

Add the grated raw banana, potato, carrot along with all the other ingredients included freshly ground spice powder and 1-1.5 tsp salt to the mix and knead until all ingredients are well mixed to make a smooth dough.

Roll into small lemon sized balls and flatted on palm to make 1" sized patties. Place on hot greased tava and cook on medium flame until golden brown. Flip and cook on other sized for 5-7 minutes until golden, adding some oil around the sides, if required.

Serve with roomali roti, salad and chutneys.

I served it with a simple shredded radish-carrot-rocket salad seasoned with salt, sugar, pepper & lemon juice and spicy green chutney.

Morkeerai or Spinach and yogurt stew : Garden to plate

2012-02-18T15:24:00.000+05:30

TamBrahm cooking or the recipes from Tamil Brahmin households could well vary from house to house. While I've eaten Tambrahm food all through my growing years (albeit sometimes reluctantly) - when this recipe for Morkeerai came to me for posting in Tambrahmrage Cooks - I was surprised I've never eaten this. I'd never even heard my grandmum, aunts or mum mention this ever.

Spinach patch

Chilli Plant

Plucked and ready for the recipe

Spinach seeds

Since we have having a good crop of spinach and chillies currently in our small terrace garden, this seemed like the perfect way to use freshly grown produce. The procedure to make this Mor-Keerai (more:buttermilk and Keerai:spinach in Tamil) seemed to be like that for Mor-Kozhambu. Grind fresh spice paste with coconut, add it to sour yogurt / thick buttermilk and bring to a simmer. Spinach was an addition to the regular mor-kozhambu recipe.

I loved the subtle flavours of this stew. You can use any seasonal fresh greens such as amaranth, water amaranth, agathi keerai or Bathua. I have promptly passed this recipe on to my mom.

More Keerai served with Carrot Curry and Brown Rice

Recipe for Mor Keerai
Spinach and yogurt stew
Serves 3-4
Originally posted on our other blog

Ingredients
2 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp raw rice
1/3 - 1/2 cup coconut scrapings
2 sprigs curry leaves
Handful of coriander leaves
4-6 green chillies
2 cups thick yogurt
3 packed cups of finely chopped spinach leaves
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp udad dal
pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp pure coconut oil (optional)

Directions

1. Soak 2 tbsp chana dal and 1 tbsp rice for about half hour.

2. Grind to a fine paste:

1/3 - 1/2 cup coconut scrapings 2 sprigs curry leavesHandful of coriander leaves4-6 green chillies-depending on how spicy they are& the soaked chana dal and rice.

3. Mix this paste into roughly 2 cups of thick sour yogurt

4. Wash and finely chop spinach leaves to get 3 cups packed

5. In a kadai, heat 1 tsp oil-temper 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp udad dal and pinch of asafoetida. Add chopped spinach with a pinch of salt. Saute for a few minutes until wilted. Sprinkle some water and let the spinach cook thoroughly.

6. Add the curds with spice paste to the cooked spinach and salt as required. Once this starts frothing, remove from flame and garnish with pure coconut oil. Dont let the curds boil or it will split.

Serve with hot rice and a vegetable curry.

Black eyed peas curry with fresh ground masala

2012-02-06T12:40:00.004+05:30

Do you follow the Tambrahmrage Blog? If not, check it out now so you are not deprived of the laughs we have been having over the last few months. I am happy to announce that Saffrontrail along with the Tambrahmrage blogger have started another blog called Tambrahmrage Cooks. It is traditional tamil brahmin cooking served with dollops of ~~sambar~~ humour and real audio files means that you literally hear the recipes from the Maamis' mouths.

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This post is hot off my kitchen counter. I made this for lunch today and one taste of it finally made me shake off my blogging lethargy. My generous self felt that this recipe MUST be shared with the world at large. And here it is for you...

You can use any beans for this curry. Some of them I can think of are dried peas (white / green), green moong, whole masoor, moth beans, rajma beans, fresh lablab (mocchai) or anything else. Simple rule to remember is, if the beans are dried, soak them overnight.

Red Chauli - Dry (click for a larger picture)

Fresh beans like mocchai can be pressure cooked without soaking. 4 hours should do for the smaller varieties like moong, masoor, moth, black eyed peas (white/red), while the bigger beans like rajma or dried peas do well with an overnight soak.

Black Eyed Peas Curry with fresh ground masala
Time taken - Under 30 minutes with a pressure cooker
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
3/4 cup black eyed peas (I used the red Chauli)
3 medium tomatoes

To be ground into a paste:
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped roughly
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 medium cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garam masala powder or 1 tsp rasam/sambar powder

Lots of finely chopped fresh coriander

Directions
Use a pressure cooker with separators. In one compartment, place the rehydrated peas with just enough water to cover.
Halve the tomatoes and place in another compartment. No water required in this.
You can cook rice in the third compartment if you want to serve this curry with rice. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and keep on sim for 5-7 minutes and remove from flame. Open when cool enough.
The peas should be cooked to very soft but maintain their shape. Tug off the tomato skins, mash with fingers and keep aside.
In a large kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp cumin seeds, fat pinch of asafoetida. Once the cumin splutters, add the ground paste to the oil and fry on medium flame for around 5 minutes, until oil separates and the onion and garlic is cooked off.
To the cooked paste, add the cooked black eyed peas and the mashed tomatoes. Add turmeric, salt and garam masala powder. Bring to a simmer. Add some water if it is too dry. Let this simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from flame and add fresh coriander.

If you don't have / use / like a pressure cooker-
Boil the soaked beans in plenty of water for around 45 minutes (until really soft) and blanche the tomatoes in boiling water, peel and mash them with fingers-proceed with recipe.

Serve with steamed rice or rotis.

The fresh mocchai beans are still in season. You must give this recipe a try with them. No soaking required, directly pressure cook as directed above.

Celery Rice with Orange Zest

2011-12-18T15:04:00.000+05:30

Celery has to be one of the most fragrant vegetables of them all. It is possibly an acquired taste, but a tiny bit added to salads or soups does its job. I got a fresh bunch of celery with beautiful greens in my home-delivered vegetables yesterday and I wanted to use them before they wilted. This recipe is a great way to use a whole bunch of celery, which is very high on nutritive value, especially fibre.

This rice is a good variation to regular pulao, and it goes well with both Indian curries and 'continental' style baked vegetables. It is mild enough to serve to young kids too. The orange zest provides just that tinge of citrus in the background and will keep your guests guessing as to what's that mystery aroma in the dish!

We had this with a mixed seasonal winter vegetables curry, recipe of which I shall blog soon.

Click on image to enlarge

If you are lucky to find celery bunch with roots intact, chop off the stems leaving an inch of stem above the root, place in a jar of water for a week or so until new roots appear and then stick it into a pot with good soil. You will have your own supply of celery for soups and salads.

Easy Jam Filled Muffins - A perfect kiddie treat

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000+05:30

December is a hectic month. Socializing, vacation plans, festive madness all around. More so for me as it was my son's 3rd birthday on 4 December and I took on myself what only a few crazy (foodblogger) moms would - ie. Catering to a small crowd of some 18 kids and 2 dozen adults all by myself (a couple of things ordered from outside though, including the cake) and also hand making all the decorations and buntings.

A & N got the most amazing cookies to the party which had the kids all quiet and focussed on eating. They were called World Peace cookies by Dorie Greenspan for a reason, but given that we had kids from a few different countries from around the world, it was almost like the World Peace cookies were being served to a mini UN delegation (which is what our friend Vinod remarked). Since I went through quite some dilemma on what to serve in a kiddie's birthday party with adults, I'm sharing the menu with you, in case any of you plan to do the same, it can give you an idea.

Jelly Boats were a big hit with the kids (and some adults too)

Kids' Menu
Juices
Potato wafers
Banana- Blueberry Bread
World Peace Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cucumber Sticks
Tomato Cheese Spread Sandwiches
Jam Sandwiches
Jelly Boats (Tarla Dalal's recipe)

Kokum Sherbet in recycled Olive / Jalapeño bottles

For Moms & Dads
Kokum sherbet with mint sprigs
Masala Chai (was perfect for the outdoors on a cold winter afternoon)
Rosemary Shortbread
Peanut Butter Brownies (Rachel Allen's recipe)
Hummus with Cucumber Sticks
Kachori with sweet chutney
Jalebis

Everyone, including me had loads of fun and the food was well liked by everyone. The rosemary shortbread was the star for me. What an amazing discovery from the NYTimes website! I have made another batch within a week and nearly everyone whom I've shared it with is in love with this buttery-melt in your mouth-dainty smelling cookie. Because I am a good girl and I believe in sharing, here is the recipe link for you. Remember me for good karma when people want to kiss your fingers after eating this.

Another fun thing that happened this week and it was to get featured in Bangalore TimeOut, complete with a picture of me in my ~~cluttered~~ not so spic-n-span kitchen. But that's how busy kitchens look like, right? Right! If you subscribe to Bangalore Time Out, check out Page 62.

Back to the subject of this post, these jam filled muffins are a wonderful treat for your kids. Imagine the surprise in their eyes when they break open a plain boring-looking muffin to find their favourite jam oozing out, like a cute Jack in the Box.

Not just kids, I'm sure adults will love it too. Especially if you fill a little adult something inside, like Orange Marmalade or Vodka-infused Jam (Ideas credit : Monika, Sin-a-mon)

I made these in 30 minutes to surprise a friend on her birthday. So it's something you can rustle up in a jiffy even when your kid brings his/her friends home without a notice ;) The muffins were soft and mildly sweet to contrast the sweet jammy filling inside. And a little dusting of icing sugar makes everything look pretty.

Jammy muffin with little extra bit of bitter marmalade for me

Jam Filled Muffins
Adapted from Muffin Bible
Makes 12 regular sized muffins or
24 mini muffins
Printable version of recipe

Ingredients
1 ½ Cups All purpose flour
½ Cup Sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

¼ Cup Butter
½ Cup yogurt
¾ Cup Juice (Use one that matches with the jam flavour. I used Dark Grapes juice)
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Jam (upto 12 tsp, I used black currant jam)
Icing sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven.
Line a 12 muffin tin with paper liners or grease well and keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix well (with a fork) flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar.

In a microwave safe glass bowl, melt butter (20 seconds).
Add to this cold yogurt, juice and vanilla extract.
Check if this mix has come to room temperature and then add one beaten egg.
(If you add egg to hot melted butter, it will scramble, hence the precaution)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and lightly combine with a fork until they come together. Do NOT beat or overmix. This will make your muffins rock like.

Spoon a little over a tsp of batter in each muffin liner. Place around a tsp of jam over this and cover with 1-2 tsp of batter, dividing the batter evenly between 12 cups.

Bake at 180 C for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (some melted jam may stick to skewer, but that is okay)

Remove and dust with icing sugar.

Tip:

Please note that I added little under a tsp of jam as I thought the jam would melt inside the oven itself and make the muffins look messy. Turns out I was wrong. You can be generous with the jam filling, and it wont spill out as most of the liquid part gets absorbed into the muffin while baking.

In case you want to know where i found the pretty muffin liners - they are from General Food Additives, Sheshadripuram, Bangalore. That one little shop can take care of your baking needs completely.

Oven Crisped Bhindi (okra)

2011-11-24T14:08:00.001+05:30

To make sure I am blogging more frequently, I'm going to do these mini-posts. Mini posts are recipe cards made using iPhone pics and coming straight to the recipe without any (much) rambling.

Who doesn't like fried Bhindi / Okra? But truth is okra can soak in a whole oil tank to get crisp. Here's my almost no-oil (compared to the deep frying method) method to get crispy crunchy okra in minutes. Even if you are the lucky ones who doesn't need to watch your waist line, deep frying is such a hassle. So here's the cheat code.

The only thing you need to be careful about is the baking time. At 200 C, once the slices have browned, they can get charred in no time. So, please keep a watch post the 8-9 min mark.

I made this for lunch today to go on top of my (boring) tomato-cucumber-dill salad. And it did take the salad up by several notches.

Text Version Recipe of Crispy Bhindi

Wash bhindi and pat dry.
Thinly slice them.
Take 2 cups sliced bhindi.
Preheat oven.
Heat 2 tsp oil in wok.
Add bhindi slices, toss well to coat with oil.
Line a 10X10 baking tray with foil.
Spread bhindi slices in single layer.
Bake at 200 C for 10-12 minutes until it turns golden brown.
Remove, cool for 2 minutes and use in raita, as salad topping or just like that.
You can sprinkle salt / chaat masala on it once cooled.

(Picture formatted in Instagram)

Lasagna Verde with roasted vegetables and tomato-mushroom sauce

2011-11-19T10:28:00.000+05:30

If there is one country I want to visit, it is Italy. For its wine, its food and the culture. La Cucina Italiana...I find beauty in this food. The vibrant colours, flavours that burst in your mouth tantalizing your taste buds, the freshness of simple ingredients like a raw tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese and locally extracted olive oil, just writing about these is making my mouth water. And how can I leave out Basil? There is NO aroma dearer to me that that of a freshly plucked sweet Italian basil leaf crushed between my finger tips. It transports me to the romance of that far off land.

Needless to say, when I got the chance of growing my own little vegetable and herb garden, I pleaded, blackmailed, sweet-talked friends into getting me basil seeds when they were coming from abroad. This was the first thing I wanted to grow. And now, I have 4 Indian varieties and 3 other varieties for cooking purposes (Sweet, Thai & Lemon Basil) For those who don't have generous friends like mine, Namdhari's in Bangalore sells freshly packed sweet basil, so fresh that when i get back home from the shop with a packet of basil in my shopping bag, the car smells like i'm in a basil field. Namdhari's also sells basil saplings at very reasonable costs. The kind of sunshine we get in India, it is not a tough one to grow at all.

Coming back to this recipe, lasagna was one of the things I was always scared to make. While I make regular pasta almost twice a week, this was more of a fear of the unknown or the mental block to cooking a dish that has a number of steps. This was my second attempt and except for the pasta sheets which could be more cooked that they were, the tastes in each bite were quite beautiful. Next time, I want to roll out my own pasta sheets. Lasagna sheets should be the easiest pasta to make by hand, given that we are good at rolling out the thinnest of rotis!

The number of steps can seem intimidating, but the sauce can be made ahead, the vegetables roasted ahead of time. What remains is the grated cheese and the assembly, which is hardly time consuming.

This for me is a perfect weekend dinner paired with a very simple salad and a glass of red wine. I made this for our little impromptu dinner with Nandini & Ajit and they offered me constructive feedback like starting the layering with some watery sauce at the bottom of the pan so the steam from it will cook the upper pasta layers as it bakes in the oven. I have incorporated in the recipe.

The components
Around 9 sheets of lasagna
Tomato Sauce
Roasted vegetables
Grated Cheese ( I used Britannia's Pizza cheese)
Baking tin / glass bakeware
Some more fresh herbs

Making the tomato sauce
8 large tomatoes
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1cup finely sliced button mushrooms
Salt
Handful of fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
1/4 cup red wine (optional)

Place 2 litres of water in a 4L pot. Bring to a boil. Slit crosses on top of tomatoes and gently put them in boiling water. Once the water comes back to a boil, switch off the flame and cover for 5 minutes. Fish out the tomatoes from hot water at the end of 5 minutes, place it in a bowl to get cool. Peel the skins, finely chop and keep aside.

In a large wok, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on a low flame. Before oil gets hot, throw in finely chopped garlic cloves and finely chopped onion. Saute on a medium flame for 4-5 minutes, before adding finely sliced mushrooms. Add 1/4 tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper, any fresh herbs of your choice (I've used fresh basil) and saute till the mushrooms and onions are soft.

At this stage add the finely chopped tomatoes kept aside from earlier step. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Add red wine and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes until it all comes together like a sauce. Check for seasoning and adjust as per your liking. If you find this a little too sour, add a fat pinch of sugar and boil it till sugar dissolves (around 2 minutes). Remove the sauce into a bowl and keep it aside.

For the roasted vegetables
1 medium eggplant
2 large red bell peppers

Slice the eggplant into 1 cm thick slices. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp of sea salt. Arrange on a greased foil lining a baking sheet.

Bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes, until soft.

Slice the red bell peppers (1/2" width), toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle a pinch of salt and bake similar to the eggplant, until soft but not mushy (around 20 minutes)

Grated Cheese
Place the block of cheese in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Grease the grater with fingers dipped in olive oil. Grate up to one cup cheese and keep aside. Mozzarella or Cheddar or a mix of both, is fine.

Assembling
Lightly grease a 9X4 or 9 X5 ovenproof pan (glass or tin). Spread 2-3 tbsp of tomato sauce at the bottom with 2 tbsp of water and keep aside.
Bring a large wide pan of water to boil. Add a fat pinch of salt to this. Keep the lasagna sheets ready.
When the water starts to boil, dip the lasagna sheets in boiling water, one at a time for 2 minutes each. Remove and do the first layer in the baking pan, two sheets length wise side by side and one cut to size to place horizontally where the pan is exposed.
Cover this layer with 1/4rd of the sauce and 1/4 th of the cheese. Sprinkle some dried / fresh herbs, freshly ground black pepper over this.
Boil 3 more lasagna sheets, one by one and layer on top of this as explained above.
Cover with a layer of roasted vegetables and 1/4th of the sauce thinly spread in the gaps.
Boil the last three lasagna sheets, layer as explained above.
Pour all of the remaining sauce, any vegetables left over from the previous layer, all the remaining cheese, fresh herbs and some black pepper.

This can be covered and kept aside for a while if you have made this ahead of serving.
Otherwise, place the baking pan in a preheated oven at 180C. Bake for 30 minutes until the pasta is cooked through and cheese melted.

Cut into 6 servings and serve hot with a light salad on the side.

Food Shopping
Lasagna sheets are available in most supermarkets, or you can try and make your own by making pasta dough, rolling it out into thin rotis and cutting them to fit the shape of your pan.
Herbs, both fresh and dried are available at most supermarkets. Keya's or Fabindia for dried herbs and Namdhari's for fresh are my personal preference.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with flavours of Lemongrass and Ginger

2011-11-13T06:45:00.001+05:30

We're not yet fully into winter and yet early morning temperatures are hitting lows of 15C. Bangalore, how I love thee for this. With this soup I made for my son and me a couple of nights ago, I have hit upon another perfectly warming soup recipe for the winter evenings. The lemongrass keeps it fresh and the ginger gives it the warmth.

I buy fresh lemongrass from Namdhari's that comes chopped in batons and sold in plastic bags. I'm talking about the green leaves here and not the stalk that is used in Thai cooking. I keep this in the freezer once opened, and it stays for a long time. My favourite use for this is in my morning Chai. Other than this I use it in Thai curry pastes, or even just simmer in a curry and fish it out in the end for that fresh lemony flavour. I have found that Lemon Basil is a great substitute for lemongrass in tea as well as curries.

This soup is as filling and creamy as it can get, without adding even a touch of cream. You could do an oven roasted pumpkin soup, but I find the flavours very similar even with slow roasting on a stove top pan. I used the yellow pumpkin for this. You could try the same with butternut squash or the darker orange pumpkin too.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Lemongrass and Ginger
Serves 3
Under 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 grams yellow pumpkin
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
6-7 lemon grass leaves
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 cups skimmed milk
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
Dried parsley

Preparation
Peel and slice the pumpkin into medium sized pieces
Peel and thinly slice the onion
Slice the garlic

Directions

In a large wok, heat the olive oil. Before oil gets hot, add the sliced garlic and onions. Saute on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemongrass leaves and ginger. Stir for a few seconds.
Add the sliced pumpkin. Braise on high heat, shaking the wok every now and then until the slices get a golden brown coating.
At this stage sprinkle sea salt and let this cook uncovered for 5 minutes on low heat.
Add 1/2 cup water, cover and cook the pumpkin now, until it is fully done and falls apart when touched with a ladle.
Remove to a dish and cool. Remove the lemon grass leaves from the cooked veggies and discard.
Once cooled, remove this to a blender and blend to a smooth puree with milk.
Get this back into a saucepan and check for seasoning. The soup will be reasonably thick and very creamy at this stage. Adjust consistency of soup using some water if required, if you prefer a thinner soup.

Serving
Ladle the hot soup into bowls. Top with some extra virgin olive oil. sprinkling of paprika, a tinge of grated ginger and some fresh lemongrass leaves as a garnish.
Serve with sliced toasted baguette which have been rubbed with garlic cloves, or soup sticks.

Tip
You can make this soup spicier by adding a Thai red chilli in the initial stage along with ginger and lemon grass.
You could try adding a tsp of fresh thyme leaves towards the end for a more intense flavour.
Here's a colourful guide on the different commonly available pumpkins and how to cook them.

Oatmeal Prune Cookies spiced with Chai Masala

2011-11-10T17:16:00.001+05:30

Hello! The line "I'm finally back after a long break" seems to be my opening line for every post in the last few months. A new kitchen, a big oven, nurturing my own little vegetable patch and still I am looking for the inspiration to be blogging regularly.

Last month, Aparna was in Bangalore and some of the Bangalore food bloggers met up over a scrumptious buffet lunch. Much fun was had. Lots of pictures taken. And of course the food critic role played.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

For our first Diwali in the new house, I made the 7 cup cake, a shortcut mixture and Bakerella's sweet potato cupcakes with chocolate ganache. My version of shortcut mixture was puffed rice (pori) crisped up with tempering of chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, mustard seeds, peanuts and fried gram dal. To this I added store bought shankarpala, khara boondi and omapodi (sev). This is the best I could manage when my mildly over-inquisitive son didn't even have the school to keep him engaged.

Last weekend, I cooked for a crowd of 9 people (umm okay, not crowd but group). While I was toying between a Mexican and a Lebanese menu, the friends 'demanded' Tambrahm food, politely put as 'food you cook regularly' or 'food you cook well'! So I set aside all my hopes of winning compliments as a truly world-class vegetarian chef and sat down to draw out a Tambrahm menu, as many items as I can possibly make all by myself with a 3 year old hanging around me dangerously!

The menu finally turned out to be :

Kosumalli / Kosumbari (with grated carrot, cucumber, gooseberry)

Crispy Bhindi Raita (crisped in the oven, no deep frying)

Arachuvitta sambar with small onions & carrots

Baby Potato roast Chettinad style flavoured with fresh dill

Yennai Kathrikkai - stuffed baby eggplants ( Google docs link to a friend's recipe notes)

Vazhakkai Podimaas

Store bought Banana Chips

Rice

Mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache - Adapted from Dan Lepard's Easy chocolate cake recipe

Now that I'm done updating you, here's what today's blogpost is about. My friend Preethi sent me a few baking trays that included this beautiful cookie mould tray in which one can bake x-massy snowflake imprint cookies. I couldn't wait to try baking cookies in this one. The recipe is adapted from the cover of on of the Wilton cookie trays. These imprint cookies will be better with all purpose flour or whole wheat flour rather than chewy oatmeal cookies, so by all means you can bake these cookies on a plain cookie tray dropping spoonfuls of dough or flattening balls of dough on your palm and baking them until golden. The addition of oats makes these chewy and somewhat soft, perfect for your teething babies or aged parents who can't bite very hard biscuits. If you want these crisper, you can pat them thinner and bake for a few minutes more.

The addition of chai masala is my own twist to a traditional American recipe for the only way I eat cookies is with my chai, and this way they will complement each other beautifully. You could substitute ground cardamom, ground cinnamon or a mix of your favourite spices.

Printable version of recipe

Oatmeal Prune cookies spiced with Chai Masala

Makes 12-14 cookies

Time taken Under 30 minutes

3/4 cup oats

1 cup all purpose flour + a few tbsp on the side in case required to bind dough

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tsp Chai Masala ( Everest or any other brand)

1 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

3 tbsp finely chopped prunes or use raisins

Handful of finely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven at 180C.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and egg. Beat some more.
Run the oats for a few seconds in the small jar of your mixer until coarsely powdered.

Add the oats, flour, salt, baking powder and chai masala.

Stir well it all the dry ingredients are incorporated into wet ingredients. Add the nuts and prunes in the final stage of mixing.

Line a cookie sheet with grease proof paper.

Divide dough into 12-14 balls adding some of the reserved flour to the dough if too sticky and tough to handle.

Flatten using fingers dipped in milk and place on cookie sheet leaving adequate space in between cookies as they will expand while baking.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Store in airtight container once cooled.

I used a cookie sheet with moulds, so I pressed the dough balls into each of the shape-moulds to get pretty snowflake imprints on them.

Thank you Preethi for this sweetest housewarming gift. Check out her food blog here

P.S.
If you like reading my blog and you are on Facebook, please show some love to my blog page there : http://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail

P.P.S
It will be nice to meet up the Bangalore Foodbloggers, over food (what else?!) and discuss food (no surprises there) this Saturday once again as we have our first ever Mega Bangalore Food Bloggers' meet up. We have a group on Facebook, so if you are a foodblogger who blogs from Bangalore and you aren't a part of the group yet, please leave a note in the comments, so we can send you an invite.

Eggplant salad with spicy greens - From garden to plate

2011-09-20T10:15:00.001+05:30

Brinjal Blooms - I like these more than the vegetable :)

There are people you love at first sight and you can't wait to know them more and spend more time with them. Then there are others who you can't decide about. But you wouldn't mind meeting them once in a while. And finally, the third type, whom you dislike right from the world go, but funnily when you keep running into them and get to know them better, they grow on you and you wonder how you ever disliked them in the first place. My relationship with eggplant / brinjal / kathrikkai is exactly of the third type.

As a child, this was the one vegetable I had exemption from as it would make my throat itch whenever I ate it and I promptly declared to my family that I had a brinjal allergy. The fact that I disliked this vegetable, made me convince myself and others even more vehemently that I was allergic to this one. The reverse also happens. When you like something, you are very hesitant to admit that you are allergic to it, especially if the allergy is a mild one. For example, walnuts give me a slight itch in the throat, but that has never made me refuse a walnut brownie, ever!

So coming back to my relationship with eggplants, I first forayed into the world of roasted eggplant recipes like Bhartha ( I make a mean one), Baba Ganoush (always a star in the Mezze platter) and Kathrikkai Pachidi.

Then came the other entries like Brinjal in Sambar, Rasavaangi (this is a most delightful Tambram recipe with freshly ground coconut based masala) and Yenna Kathrikkai. And now, I am eating this vegetable, sliced and lightly grilled on a stove top grill pan in salads! And totally surprising myself with that.

Brinjal was the first to get planted in our terrace vegetable garden and was the first to flower and fruit. My dad even mocks me that people who come to your house for lunch with get Brinjal curry with Brinjal Sambar and Brinjal Pachidi. (Recipe follows)

I'm not one to go to such extremes though. I pluck off those ready for harvest and if i am not cooking with them, I pass it on to friends or relatives who can enjoy home grown, fresh, organic bounty. There's something about slicing a just plucked tender eggplant, thinly slicing it and placing it on a grill pan greased with olive oil. A minute per side, you get these lovely grill marks and they are done. Ready to be tossed into a salad or had as a starter with some pesto on it. I do the same with long slices of zucchini.

Salad Patch

Growing spicy salad greens like arugula (rocket), mustard etc. (Spicy salad mix from Burpee seeds thanks to Nupur) has made me realise how lettuce is the most boring, tasteless of all salad greens. Especially the wilted stuff served in most restaurants. Every leaf in this mix has a bold taste, spicy, pungent, bitter - each of them come with a personality.

I make this salad for my dinner at least twice a week. To make it heartier and more filling, add some boiled chick peas / grilled tofu / grilled chicken / paneer / cooked whole wheat pasta to the salad before tossing.

Dressing - Red Wine Vinaigrette

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp Coleman's mustard paste

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp sugar

3 small cloves of garlic - finely grated or mashed to a paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1 fresh red chilli deseeded and finely chopped (or green)

Add all the above to a small empty jam jar, shake it up and keep aside.

For the salad

3 small eggplants or half a large eggplant

1 medium cucumber, thick slices into half rounds

2 cups mixed salad greens, washed and dried, torn roughly

1 small red onion, finely sliced (optional)

Add any of the extras given above if you want to have this as a meal.

Handful of mixed fresh herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, sage

Slice the eggplants thinly, not necessarily paper thin. Keep a stove top grill pan on heat. Brush with some olive oil. Arrange the slices in a layer. After one minute you'll see grill marks on the heated side. With a pair of tongs turn all the slices to grill and cook the other side.

Remove onto a plate. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the slices.

In a large bowl, combine the grilled slices with cucumber, torn salad greens and onion.

Give the jam jar one final shake and pour over the salad just before serving, reserving a few spoonfuls to drizzle over the top just before eating.

This makes one big salad or for 2-3 people as a starter to a meal.

Bangalore Shopping guide

Red Wine Vinegar from Nilgiri's Whitefield

Good quality Mixed salad greens at Namdhari's

Excellent fresh herbs at Namdhari's

Stove top grill pan - I have the Premier brand but there are quite a few in the market nowadays. If you don't have a grill pan, by all means use the Tava for this.

Coleman's mustard - Most supermarkets

Hello from Bangalore, finally

2011-09-04T07:17:00.000+05:30

Namaskara! Ten weeks after moving to my final destination, I think I am converted. The always-pleasant weather, living away from the bustle of the main city roads, the slow life- it has totally seeped into me. The way Mumbai spoils you with its sheer pace of life and the pace of getting things done, Bangalore spoils you with the weather and the slow life. I don't think I must have complained about the weather more than a couple of times in the last two months, which is a pretty neat record for the weather-cribber in me.

A couple more things have changed in the last few weeks.

All my adult life, I have been a morning tea person, unless someone made a steaming hot filter kaapi for me. Lately, tea just doesn't cut it first thing in the morning. My brain cells seem to ask for a stronger dose of caffeine than what comes in a cup of tea. No, I'm not importing 'kaapi-podi' from ChennaiMadras. The Bayar's brand (not a paid promotion) available in most supermarkets in Bangalore seems to hit the spot neatly. Many people swear by Cotha's but I find the grind quite coarse for my coffee filters.

Before you assume it, no, I haven't given up on tea, not at all. It is simply used to fill up the empty moments in the day, rather than as a morning kickstart. Ginger-ed, lemongrass-ed, cardamom-ed, simple green tea, just about every kind of tea depending on the mood, and of course the weather, leaving empty mugs around in every corner of the house, to be picked up later, of course, when I find that I have run out of clean mugs.

The next thing in matters of change is my sudden love for Rasam. Either it is to do with the fact that I am growing old, or the steaming cup of tomato-ey spicy liquid pairs well with the Bangalore weather or it is to do with the sour tomatoes that I'm growing in my terrace garden that lend themselves quite beautifully to this.

First two homegrown tomatoes

I've always maintained that I am a Sambar-person. If there is Sambar and Rasam made at home, I would rather have two helpings of rice with sambar and leave the rasam alone, without a second glance, like a Bottega Veneta lady shunning a Hidesign bag. In fact, when I am visiting my parents and my mom makes just rasam and no sambar, I squarely point it out to her on how she is favouring my sister over me. Needless to say, the sister is a rasam-person. So yes, I have started making a mean rasam, which is not in anyway to blow the trumpet (or saxophone) about my culinary genius, but simply a matter of practice. Yes, that's how often I've been making rasam. If you followed me on Twitter, you'd know. Looks like I have already hit upon the topic of my next blog post. Byebye blogger's block!

Dill growing wild

Apart from the vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes (okay, it is a fruit), okra and carrots- we're being adventurous and trying to grow strawberries on our terrace garden. The gardening experts tell us we can expect to eat some fruit by November, I'm praying the ants don't get to them before I do.

Strawberry patch

There's dwarf lemons and a dwarf chikoo too, on the terrace garden. Just yesterday, a Cherry bush has been added to the fruit family in the hope that we can eat some homegrown fruit if we are patient enough to care for the trees over the next 2-3 years. Or at least, do the birds some social service.

Sapota

The first to be harvested from the garden was the most sweet smelling lush green coriander and the chutney made using those homegrown leaves tasted most amazing.

Coriander Flowers

If you have the tiny bit of space, even for a couple of pots, or a tiny area of soil where you can sow some seeds, do it. The sheer joy of watching your food grow from the seed and the joy of turning it into a dish for your family is quite unparalleled. Try sprinkling a few kitchen seeds like mustard or fenugreek into good soil and watch the magic unfold :)

Mustard greens some ten days after sowing seeds

I write a monthly column for Sunday DNA called Tiny Tummies. Here is the link to my page there.

For more gardening / food updates - do follow my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail

All pics above, taken on on the iPhone (yeah, lazy me thanks to Bangalore weather), processed on the free app Instagram. If you are an iPhone user and you haven't downloaded this app, you've been missing some fine things in life. Here's my Instagram feed.

Now that I've managed to break the long silence, I shall be back soon.

Related reads :

Veggies at home
Herb Mentality - Growing herbs and home and ways to use them

Mango Paneer Cake or how we make the HOT summers bearable

2011-05-20T17:49:00.000+05:30

So how have you been? It's been quite hot in my neck of the woods, so I have nearly giving up on cooking and also, my outdoor runs. Any sliver of training that was falling in place for the marathon next year has been abandoned until the weather gods turn kinder or until I move to cooler climes. Oh yes, a move is in the offing. I started this food blog when I was in Bombay, then we moved to Hyderabad in November 2008 and it's time to move again. This time, hopefully a permanent move, to Bangalore.

I'm looking forward to this move, more than anything else for the vegetables I will be growing in our terrace garden, the beautiful kitchen with a space for a table where I can chop vegetables, drink tea (or wine, depending on time of the day) and write while looking out from the kitchen window and of course a *big* oven in which lots of baking will happen. I am also happy to report that I have rounded up some enthusiastic food bloggers in the vicinity of my new home and we are going to have some fun food times together. Nandini, Archana, Monika, I hope you girls are gearing up!

Ooh and as some of my friends are teasing me, I am now a "posh girl" after Roshni Bajaj featured me in her story on The Food Network in the Vogue magazine (May 2011) along with friend Madhu Menon. Check the PDF version of the story here (Page 1 and Page 2).

Getting back to the recipe I want to share with you today, it is a seasonal modification of the paneer cake that I blogged about sometime ago, a recipe I found in an old-fashioned cookbook while browsing through a little bookshop in Pondicherry. If you are a mango lover (like a certain Ms. Katrina Kaif, in the literal sense), you can add mango to any dish, be it rice, dal, veggies, brownies, cake and you'll be sure to love it. I'm not crazy for mangoes, in the sense that I wont feel lost at sea if I do not eat mangoes every single day of the mango season. Believe me when I tell you, I know people like that. They cannot go one day without eating a mango or half a dozen of them when they are in season. But yes, I do love the flavour boost a ripe, fragrant mango adds to simple dishes and takes them to another level. So here is the recipe for you. I do hope you get access to beautiful, ripe mangoes wherever you are and when you are tired of eating them as it is, use one of them to make this simple cake.

Mango Coconut Paneer Cake

Low-fat teatime treat

Printable Version of recipe here

This is a variation of the Paneer Cake, using the mangoes that are in season.

Grease three 450 ml aluminium foil tins or an 8-9” round tin.

Preheat oven at 180C.

Make paneer from 500 ml cow’s milk. Reserve the whey water.

Grind to a puree

-pieces from one large mango

-½ cup paneer or than from ½ L milk.

-¾ cup sugar

Remove to a large bowl. Whisk in in ¼ cup oil, 2 tbsp vinegar and ½ cup whey water.

Add ½ tsp mango essence or vanilla extract

In a large bowl, sift 1 cup all purpose flour, ½ cup whole wheat flour (atta), 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda and pinch of salt. Mix in ¼ cup dessicated coconut with a fork.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet.

Add handful of pumpkin seeds or flaked almonds, a few spoons of colourful tutti-frutti and mix until combined.

Thin with some reserved whey water if batter is too thick.

Divide batter into the three foil tins or one round tin.

Sprinkle some coconut flakes on the top.

Bake at 180C for 20-40 minutes (20 for the smaller foil tins and 40-45 mins for single large tin) until a tester comes out clean.

Serve warm with honey or marmalade if you want it sweeter. It is a very flavourful cake but low on sugar, perfect accompaniment to tea or coffee.

Spinach Lentil Soup - Lunch for one

2011-04-23T09:49:00.006+05:30

Spinach Lentil Soup
(Click for larger image)

Cooking for oneself can get extremely boring and uninspiring even for a food blogger. Sandwich, salad or soup is easily made for one person, without going through the bother of making a 3 part Indian meal like roti, vegetable and dal. It is also a good way to compensate a heavy dinner buffet of the previous night. A soup like this is a perfect alternative to skipping a meal. The latter, as a nutrition doctor, I will never advocate.

Any fresh greens can be used instead of spinach and I have used Masoor Dal which are one of the lightest and fastest cooking lentils around. The 1.5L Hawkins Pressure Cooker is a blessing when cooking for one or a small family of two or for making your baby's meals. Whether it is cooking dal or rice in a matter of minutes, or making a light gravy vegetable in the cooker itself - this is one piece of kitchen equipment that I find indispensable.

Printable Version of Recipe

Wash 1/4 cup masoor dal well and place it directly in the smallest pressure cooker you have. To this add a cup of well washed spinach leaves, discarding the thicker stems. Also add 1-2 cloves of peeled garlic.
Add a cup of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles and 5 minutes on sim.
Once the contents have cooled, puree finely in a blender. Keep aside.
In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 tsp oil or ghee.
Add a tiny pinch of asafoetida, 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper. Once the cumin seeds splutter, add the pureed soup and required quantity of water to achieve the desired consistency. Bring to a boil. Season with salt and some more pepper if required. Remove to a bowl.

Serve hot with soup sticks, bread or a salad on the side.

This is a delicately flavoured soup that will also make a good option of stage 2 solid food for your baby. You can leave out the black pepper and take care to wash the spinach extra well, even if you buy pre-washed leaves. For an older baby, you can soak bread slice or roti pieces for more texture and a more filling meal.
Next time, I will add more cumin seeds, because the taste of the fried seeds and their crunchy texture was quite yummy!

And hey, my favourite Blogger is offering 4 Dynamic Views - Check out the links below and tell me which you like...I love all four and can't decide which one looks better.

Mosaic View
Flipcard View
Snapshot View
Timeslide View
Sidebar View

Cauliflower Potato Cold Salad with Middle-Eastern Flavours

2011-03-30T11:13:00.000+05:30

Summer is upon us. As usual, the desire to heat piping hot food has evaporated in the heat. Cold salads, smoothies, seasonal fruits and lots of yogurt are all that I'm craving for.

While I love to make (and eat) Tandoori Cauliflower where partly blanched florets are marinated in a onion-tomato-ginger-garlic-spices paste and baked off in oven for 20 minutes, even that is no incentive to turn on the oven in this kind of weather. So the plan took a turn from Tandoori to cold Middle Eastern Salad.

The bottle of Tahini and the spices like sumac, za'taar, dried mint were calling out to me and the idea of tossing just tender cauliflower and potatoes in a Middle Eastern dressing and spices was too appealing.
It's another quick recipe that doesn't need you slaving near the stove for anywhere more than 5-10 minutes.

Although I am a vegetarian, I think the same recipe can be followed using cooked or grilled chicken breasts to make a meal by itself, or combine the chicken with vegetables.

Cauliflower Potato Salad
Time taken- Under 20 minutes
Serves 3-4
Salad or Main Course

Ingredients
4 cups of medium sized cauliflower florets
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt

Dressing
1/4 cup Tahini
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Za'taar
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2-1 tsp red chilli flakes or powder
Upto 1 tsp salt
Pinch of sugar (optional)

For garnish
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Few mint leaves
Pinch of sumac (optional)
Pinch of Za'taar or dried mint

Directions

In a large pan, bring two cups of water to boil with 1 tsp salt. Add the washed cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes to this. Cover and cook till just tender, around 7 minutes or so. Drain immediately until dry and keep chilled until dressing is ready.
Mix all ingredients for dressing in a medium sized bowl. Reserve a few spoons of dressing to pour over the top in the end.
Remove the vegetables from the fridge and toss well with tips of fingers in the dressing until coated well.
Arrange on a platter. Top with pomegranate, mint leaves, sprinkle dried mint, sumac and za'taar over this.
Refrigerate until serving time.

P.S.

If you notice somewhat better pictures in this post, it is thanks to my new Canon EOS550D and the 50mm/1.8 lens. Any links for SLR newbies are welcome. This is my FIRST food shot with the new camera and it is therefore special to me :)

Aloo Palak Biryani - The Express Way

2011-03-22T11:51:00.001+05:30

Things have been kinda quiet around this blog. Those of you who follow me on Twitter might know the reason for the silence on the food blogging front. The husband became the first Indian to run the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Crossing happened between 6 -12 March in Chile. Here's the blog where I have captured all the details of his run, and the links to photos and videos. Although, I couldn't be there personally at the finish line to cheer him, the updates from the organisers and the tons of pictures kept me clued in as to how the husband and the other runners were faring.

Also, I have started a personal tumblog for recording the non-food feelings. From the great response the blog has received, I see that people enjoy reading snippets from others' lives and also identify with a whole of things. It becomes a platform to share thoughts with like minded people who also leave words of empathy and useful advice.
Do read the two recent posts on it and let me know your thoughts.

Coming back to food, last evening was one of those times where I got totally stuck on what to cook for dinner. Having picked up fresh spinach on the way back from my run and I wanted to use it up. I was inspired by the Chhole-Biryani my dad made us one day for lunch when they were here, so I decided to use a similar method and spices to prepare this spinach and potato biryani.

Let me add a disclaimer that this is not made in authentic biryani style such as layering the curry with rice and then cooking under dum, etc. I choose to call this biryani, but if you are too much of a purist, then call this pulao or vegetable rice or by any other name you please. I can promise you this will taste as good. While it took me just around 25 minutes from start to finish because I use the pressure cooker for everything and it speeds up my cooking, if you choose to pan cook the potatoes and rice, this will take somewhat longer.

I loved this fragrant, spicy rice dinner. Paired with raita, it makes a complete meal.

Printer-friendly version of recipe

Recipe for Aloo-Palak Biryani
Spinach and potato rice
Serves 3 people generously
Time taken - Under half hour

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil and ghee
Dry spices
2 cinnamon sticks
1 piece of mace
4-5 cloves
1 black cardamom
1/2 tsp shahjeera (caraway seeds)
1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1 large onion, sliced thin
3 cups of shredded spinach
2 tsps of Chhole masala ( I use Goldiee, see notes)
1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 cup crumbled paneer, optional
2 large potatoes, cut into big pieces
1 cup basmati rice
5-6 strand of saffron in 3 tbsp of warm milk

Directions

In a pressure cooker, place the washed rice with 2 cups water and pinch of salt. Cover this vessel with a dish and place the large potato cubes on this. Pressure cook for one whistle, keep on sim for 3-5 minutes and switch off the flame. We want both the rice and potatoes to be just done and not mashed.

In a large kadai, heat ghee. Add pinch of asafoetida, all the dry spices. Stir for a few seconds, then add the sliced onions, ginger-garlic paste. Saute on medium heat for 3 -5 minutes, adding the shredded spinach after that. Allow spinach to wilt on high heat.

Once the cooker is cool enough to be opened, remove the potato cubes. Remove the rice onto a large dish, gently separate with fork and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Add the potato cubes to the onion-spinach mix along with the spice powders and salt. Toss gently to coat the potato with spices, let this cook on low heat for 5 minutes with occasional turning, adding the crumbled paneer towards the end.

Add the nearly cooled rice to the mix in the kadai, toss gently till evenly mixed along with saffron-milk.
Cover this with a tight light and let the flavours come together on low heat for 5 more minutes.

Serve hot with raita and papad.

Notes
I highly recommend Goldiee Chhole Ka Masala. After using this for the last 3 years, I can tell you, no other masala comes close. While it is manufactured in Kanpur, most of it is exported to Gulf countries, I believe. My friend who's relatives own this company, is always generous to send me a few boxes of this masala each year which i treasure dearly. All you hing fans, Goldiee Heera Hing is strong and fragrant like NO OTHER. Use it to believe it. And no, I am not getting paid to promote this! Check their website for more details.

All you Aloo-Methi lovers can substitute the spinach with fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves for a delicious variation.

Featured in Femina Online

2011-03-18T11:10:00.001+05:30

This was in October and I can be so procrastinating at times.

Read the entire story on the Femina website

Many thanks to Rajani Mani for this, and she has a gorgeous food blog herself! Check it out.

Chettinad Style Senai (Elephant Yam) Curry

2011-03-04T09:33:00.002+05:30

Elephant Yam / Senai / Sooran is one of those vegetables that my mom always gets home from the market. The whole sooran weighs around 3 kilos, with a rough muddy exterior and smooth pink interior.

Simple yam curry with a sprinkle of fresh coconut is their comfort food with rasam sadam (rasam-rice). However, my skin gets all red and itchy if I happen to touch this in the raw form, which is why I can never buy it from a market, where a piece is cut off the large vegetable and sold by weight.
In supermarkets, it is a different deal. Cut pieces are neatly wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap.
I have seen yam peeled and cubed, sold frozen in some Indian stores in the US.

Here, when I get home this itchy vegetable, it is usually the plastic wrapped variety from the supermarket, which my househelp cleans and cuts into cubes, ready to be used. If you are handling yam for the first time, make sure you wear sturdy gloves because a large number of people I know have skin allergy to the raw vegetable. Some experience itchy tongue and throat after eating the cooked vegetable too.

Yam like any other starchy vegetable, when pressure cooked without its skin, can turn into a mush pretty quickly and in a closed cooker it is a process that can easily get out of control. Which is why, although i am a big advocate of pressure cooking, I make an exception here, to boil the pieces in water with salt and turmeric, remove them when they are just tender and proceed with the curry.

In a traditional Tambram style, once the pieces are cooked in salted water, they are drained. Mustard seeds, asafoetida, udad dal and dried chillies are tempered in hot oil and then the boiled yam cubes added with any required salt and a little bit of sambar powder for taste. It is finished off with a light garnish of freshly scraped coconut.

The Chettinad style is slightly spicier and more fragrant because of use of fennel seeds (saunf/sombu). You can also add crushed garlic to the tempering for more punch, which I have avoided.
This is a very simple recipe, the only thing is to get the yam cubes boiled to the right degree, so it does not turn mushy and pasty.

Recipe for Chettinad Style Senai Curry
Serves 2-3
Time taken: Under 20 minutes

Ingredients
250 grams yam, skinned and cut into roughly 2 cm cubes
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of turmeric powder

1/2-1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tsp of desiccated or fresh coconut
Handful of mint leaves (optional)

For tempering
2 tsp oil
Pinch of asafoetida
2 sprigs curry leaves
3 dried red chillies, broken
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp chana dal
1 tsp udad dal

Directions
In a vessel, place 2 cups of water with 1/2 tsp salt and pinch of turmeric powder. Bring it to a rapid boil.
Add the cubed yam to this, cover with a lid, leaving a small opening for the steam to escape.
Check with a knife to see when it is nearly tender. This should take around 6-8 minutes depending on the variety of yam.
Remove this in a colander / sieve and allow to drain well.
Meanwhile, prepare the tempering. Heat the oil in a non stick kadai (wok). Add all tempering ingredients one after the other, and stir on medium flame till the udad dal and chana dal turn golden brown.
To this add the drained yam cubes, red chilli powder, coriander powder, coconut and mint leaves. Toss gently to coat well. Add the remaining 1/2 tsp salt as per taste. On a low flame, let this crisp up a bit.
Serve hot with roti or with any sambar or mor kozhambu and rice.

Variations
Most starchy vegetables like colocassia (seppankizhangu), potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains (vazhakkaai) or a mix of these can be prepared in this manner.

Farfelle Aglio Olio with celery leaves and crumbled paneer

2011-02-07T16:53:00.000+05:30

While I do like my pasta to be nearly smothered in a healthy portion of tomato sauce (not floury, creamy, white sauce), this kind of pasta is light and beautiful, goes perfectly when you are serving a vegetable soup as a part of the meal.

In my case, I made a light Minestrone (no pasta in the soup) with plenty of celery. Since the soup was already tomato based, this aglio olio pasta was the perfect accompaniment. The addition of celery was inspired by the fresh beautiful greens that came along with the celery stalks. They are so incredibly fragrant, that it is a shame to chop them off and discard them. I will even go to the extent of saying that pick your celery with the tops on. It shows that celery is fresh, it keeps well for longer and you can put the leaves to good use, like my recipe below.

Celery greens are very rich in nutrients too!

If you are just getting started with Italian cooking, this is the perfect recipe to get started. Few ingredients, simple steps and it gets done in no time. And, does it look pretty or what!

Ingredients
2 cups of celery leaves, picked, washed thoroughly
Paneer from 1/2 litre cow's milk or half cup cubes
A cup of dried short pasta (I used Farfalle)
2 tbsp olive oil
6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
3 dried red chillies, crumbled or finely chopped (1-2 tsp of chilli flakes)
1 tsp each dried basil and parsley
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
In a large pot, boil water with salt and 1 tsp oil for the pasta and cook as per instructions on pack.
Finely shred the celery leaves.
Meanwhile, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large wok, once moderately hot, add minced garlic and chilli flakes.
Saute for a few seconds, then add the shredded celery greens. Once the greens wilt (1-2 minutes), add the crumbled or cubed paneer. Sprinkle salt and pepper, along with any dried herbs of your choice.
Toss gently for 1-2 minutes.
Once the pasta is done, drain and add to the wok.
Toss well to coat. Check for salt and adjust.
Serve hot with a topping of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Making Paneer
In a vessel, bring the milk to a boil. When it comes to a boil, add a tbsp of white vinegar stirring continuously till the milk separates into solids and clear whey. If the whey is too milky, add some more vinegar and stir. Filter out using a sieve or a muslin cloth and press to remove excess liquid. Cover in layers of clean kitchen towel and keep a heavy weight on the top, such as a marble slab. Cut into cubes to use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight box with some whey.

Variations
Minus the celery leaves and paneer, this becomes a simple aglio olio pasta dish, which is one of the easiest pasta dishes to make. No chopping, saucing required.
Adding some toasted pine nuts or walnuts towards the end, adds an extra texture and taste to the dish.
In place of celery leaves, feel free to use any of your local greens, or herbs like fennel greens, basil, or even vegetable greens like carrot tops or cauliflower leaves.

Shopping guide
Farfalle pasta made from durum wheat - from Waitrose Aisle of Hypercity, Cyberabad
Celery with greens - Spar, Begumpet
Parmesan Cheese by weight available at Spar, Begumpet
Dried herbs - Fabindia, Keya's herbs available at most supermarkets

Thakkali Chutney (Tomato chutney)

2011-02-05T13:27:00.001+05:30

During my early blogging days, I posted pics of tomato chutney made with both red and green tomatoes and wrote that I'll post the recipe soon. That 'soon' never came until Sowmya posted a comment on that old post, a couple of days ago asking for the recipe.
Since it also fits with my theme of the month, easy cooking with few ingredients - here it is. The photo is a capture from the iPhone of the breakfast we had earlier this week.

Choose firm but fully ripe red tomatoes for this. I have chosen the Bangalore variety as it is fleshier with less water content and seeds compared to the local variety, which means this chutney takes lesser time to get dried up and ready. It may be less sour than the local variety, which you can remedy by using some tamarind extract or ready tamarind paste.

Authentic Tamil Brahmin style will not have garlic. This is my addition and it tastes equally good minus the garlic.

Ingredients
5 large ripe red tomatoes, cubed roughly
1-2 tbsp gingelly oil

For tempering:
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
3-4 dried red chillies, broken into bits
fat pinch asafoetida
1 tsp Chana dal
1 tsp udad dal
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1-2 sprigs curry leaves
4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced (optional)

1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 - 1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Directions

In a heavy bottomed kadai, heat the oil. Splutter the mustard seeds.
Add chana dal, udad dal and stir until golden.
Next, add the asafoetida, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and garlic and stir for a minute or so on medium heat.
Add the chopped tomatoes and the salt. On medium to high flame keep stirring until tomatoes break down, get cooked and become pulpy. This should take roughly 8-10 minutes for this quantity. Towards the end, add the turmeric and red chilli powder. Check for salt and adjust.

Serve with idlis, dosas or mix into steamed and cooled rice to make tomato baath. You can also use this as a sandwich spread.This will stay for 3-4 days in airtight bottle in the fridge, but we use it all up at one go.
Traditional Tamil chutneys, pickles are mostly made with gingelly oil. It gives its own taste to the preparation. You could however use any oil of your choice, including mustard oil for a sharp pungent taste to the chutney. Garlic is completely optional. You will get a whole different taste dimension just by using or omitting this one ingredient.

Variations
Add a handful of chopped mint leaves or a tsp of dried mint to this during the cooking process.
If you find that the tomatoes are not sour enough, add 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste to the tomatoes while they are cooking for that tangy mouthwatering effect.
Try this with green tomatoes, when they are in season.

Dry capsicum subzi / Bell pepper curry

2011-02-04T10:22:00.001+05:30

Whoa, it is a month into 2011 and I have already fallen back on my resolution to make 2011 the year with maximum posts on the blog.

However, I must share with you the menu for the year end dinner I hosted for friends, a completely vegetarian Lebanese Menu. Details and links to the recipes here.

Most of Jan was spent outside of home, partly visiting family and then a small vacation to Hong Kong. Being vegetarians, finding good vegetarian food in HK turns into a mini-adventure by itself. I must write about some of the good stuff we tried there, in a different post.

I have a blog-plan in place for this month. It's going to be the month of simple recipes, beginner-friendly even, all of February. The first in this series is a dry capsicum curry, which can be had with rotis or even to spice up a basic dal-rice menu.

I use green capsicums for this as it does not have the sweetness of the red or yellow variety. If you like that taste, then go ahead and substitute this with that, or even use a medley of colours to make the dish look pretty.

Dry capsicum subzi / Bell pepper curry
Serves 2-3
Time taken - Under 20 minutes

Ingredients
4 medium sized green capsicums or 2 large ones
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp each - fennel seeds, Nigella seeds (kalonji), fenugreek seeds (methi), mustard seeds (rai)

In a small bowl, mix together-
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp amchoor powder (dried mango powder)
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt or as per taste

Directions
Wash and cut the capsicums to a medium dice, removing the membranes and seeds.
Heat the oil in a non-stick wok and splutter the fennel, nigella, fenugreek and mustard seeds.
Add the diced capsicum to this, toss on high flame for a few seconds, reduce the flame to medium and cook for 6-8 minutes, till nearly softened.
To this add the mixed spice powders and toss well to coat evenly. On a low flame, let this cook for another 5 minutes until the raw smell of the spice powders is gone.
Using a non-stick pan makes it very easy to prepare this, as on a regular wok, the spice powders will stick and burn as we are not using too much oil.
Remove from wok and serve hot with rotis or rice.

Variations
You could also add a handful of frozen sweet corn, peas or boiled and diced potatoes to this dish.

Saying Thanks to the Santas on Saffron Trail

2010-12-28T10:21:00.000+05:30

I have to write this note of thanks for the generosity of certain people, who have played Santa to me, in the last two months.

It started with Kulsum of Journey's Kitchen. One evening, i tweeted about a hummus-Baba gannoush-pita bread Lebanese dinner preparation at home, and she asked me where I get my Tahini. I admitted to her that i've always made my own and have never tasted the real stuff. She immediately told me that her sister was leaving for India in a couple of days and she'd love to send me some. Given my love for this cuisine, it didn't take much coaxing on her part to send her my address. In less than three days, I received a whole big bottle of Tahina (sesame juice, as they call it), Za'taar, Sumac and Dried Mint.

Another friend I found on Twitter - Kishi Arora, the Foodaholics lady who bakes some of the best cakes in Delhi sent me a foodie package with parchment paper, cacao nibs, tea, nutmegs, Chinese 5 spice and 7 spice powder PLUS her delicious fudge. While the fudge was polished off in no time, and the parchment paper was put to good use while making Xmas fruitcakes, I'm still wondering what good stuff I can make using the cacao nibs.

A blog reader, Mani Mama as I call him, was the first to write to me a week before he was leaving US to come to India and ask if I would like some stuff from there. After writing back and forth half a dozen times, I finally sent him a list and when I collected my package from the person he had sent it to Hyderabad with, I couldn't stop smiling. You can see for yourself.

Another Twitter contact, Jigar Parmar showered some festive cheer on me by sending me two lovely books, one on Food in Italy and the other a coffee-table book on Mumbai.

I had tasted this peanut gajak for the first time at Preethi's house a couple of weeks ago and boy, it was addictive to say the least. When I tweeted about how I loved it and how I feel like having some more, my friend there said she will send me some. And just yesterday, three boxes of the sesame-jaggery goodness reached my doorstep. Yet to take a pic of that, as each time I go near the box, i end up eating some more of it, and forget to take a picture.

Thank you, my dear Santas. May be I have really been a good girl this year. You have really cheered me up with these lovely foodie-gifts.