Cooking to me is like an experiment in the laboratory, just that I am like the first year student in the chemistry lab having more than one idea that will set off his/her lab partner's duppata on fire! It is another story, it happened to me. Just that it was my Kurta not the dupatta. My stupid lab partner spilled some HCL on my Kurta and it developed a 3-4" hole in the matter of seconds, my classmates noticed some smoke as well.. but I could not see as it was on my rear side! what did i do? I wore the same kurta every week to the lab for the rest of the course! Imagine same burnt kurta every time I went to the lab! But then I did not want to take chance with the rest of my wardrobe knowing what a moron my partner was..I hope my lab instructor was much more sensible as to not interpret my action from the angle of affordability.
Story apart, my experiment in the kitchen is so much similar, I have scalded my fingers, palm, wrist so many a times that I have innumerable scars squeezed right in that small area starting from finger tips to wrist! But then it is an adventure right? the best part is, if successful, tongue, stomach, mind and Honey are all happy contended, a very small price to pay for all the happiness indeed!!
I like cooking that way, like an adventure, setting out not knowing what lies ahead at the end of the process. Never sticking to a recipe or measurements, never really knowing what lies in store in the next step! But of late, I am also looking at cookbooks, with their meticulous measurements and awe-inspiring instructions. In fact I feel some of the cook books make cooking look so tedious,I am sure there are people who put down the book saying, 'my-gosh-I-do-not-think-i-will-ever-be-able-to-make-it'
There is one cook book I was recently impressed with, that i even thinking of buying my own copy. It is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. So many recipe ideas from around the world, I am impressed, the only down side may be is the absence of glossy pictures. I love the look of those glossy sheets. But never mind the recipes are good enough to compensate for the missing pictures. But again, the book is predominantly for the western palate and I would have to pump up the spice level a bit.
This is one such recipe from the book. But then I am not very honest to the book, I always tinker the recipe to suit my taste. So this is my version of the dish which is originally from the Indian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. It was yummy with Chapatis and we loved it.
You will need,
Brinjal /Eggplant the large ones 1 about 1 lb or so
Tomatoes medium 3
Red onion medium 1 diced
Garlic 3 cloves
Green Chillies 6 (adjust according to taste, this makes it pretty spicy)
Salt
Lemon juice a dash
Oil 2 tbsp
Method:
- Wash the eggplant and tomatoes and pat them dry.
- Turn on the broiler. Place the eggplant and tomatoes on a baking sheet, spray some non-stick spray onto them, pop it into the oven.
- Keep a close eye, once the skin of the vegetables is charred, remove from the oven and flip them around. That is about 10 minutes in my oven.
- Just about 5 minutes before the vegetables are charred on all sides, throw the pods of garlic onto the baking sheet.
- After 5-7 minutes remove from the oven.Set it aside to cool
- To prepare the choka, heat oil in a wok. Add the slit green chillies. Remove from heat.
- Once the roasted vegetables are cool enough to handle, peel off the charred skin and coarsely chop the pulp and throw it into a mixing bowl. Stir in diced onions
- Pour the Tadka over the vegetable mixture, stir adjust salt, lemon juice and serve warm/room temperature with rice or chapatis.
Note: I like to slightly cook onions because Honey has a problem eating raw onions. So I sauteed onions in the tadka for a couple of minutes. So which ever way you make it, it tastes good!
