Brussel Sprouts Rice

We Indians have long been a seafaring community. We have long gone to unknown lands and called it our home. Our forefathers went to lands as far as Guyana, Caribbeans,South Africa, Mauritius, Belize, Fiji, Malaysia ages ago when they were quite sure that once they left there was no coming back. Back in those days when there was not as much as a telephone much less 'unlimited calling to India and 60 other countries- try Vonage today'!

How did they feel when they landed on lands that were so alien to what they had seen their entire life? Were they forced to leave their home country because the far off lands promised them a life that their home land could not afford? Was life back home so miserable that they readily boarded a ship to cross an ocean they had never seen? Was it the spirit of adventure, the innate human curiosity to see and experience things that were new? What ever it was, we were absolutely unapologetic about it. We went everywhere, where ever we went, we took a part of homeland and made a new land our new home. So people in Trinidad still eat what their ancestors remembered for their meals back home albeit with new ingredients and substitutions for ingredients that were hard to find. That is why curry is so pervasive all across the populations descending from the south Asian stock. (I meam the broader sense of curry, the subzi,bhaji, saaru,kari, all together)

As I think of all these people, I think of myself an expat too. I also think of people who came to the States about thirty-forty years ago, who ended having and raising kids here. The first time they set their foot in this country of skyscrapers, underwater tunnels, cable bridges and other engineering marvels! of 24 hr electricity, metaled roads, cars...coming from a country that had a handful of airports let alone metaled roads or 24 hr electricity or TV! When I set foot here for the first time, it was just another place. I was used to almost 24 hrs electricity, back up power, broadband internet, car and a pot holed but still metaled road. There were a few cultural surprises but I was not surprised that buildings could indeed be so high. All I could marvel was the time they were constructed. Just around the time when my great grand father as a police officer rode a horse all night long across tiger infested jungles to attend a status meeting with his British bosses!
As I try to incorporate more seasonal produce in my menus, the more I Indianize, just like our forefathers elsewhere did, to please our palate. So here goes a sort of Vangibhath styled Brussel Sprouts rice. Please do not go in search of Brussel sprouts if it is hard to find. Just substitute any leafy member of the cabbage family.

We will need,
Rice 2 cups cooked and cooled
Brussel sprouts 2 lbs washed cleaned
Peanut oil 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 15-20
Green chillies 2-3 (Adjust according to taste)
Hing a dash
Chilli powder 2 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Jeera powder 2 tsp
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala 1/4 tsp
 Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Spice the brussel sprouts length wise and chop the halved into thin strips (julienne). Set it aside.
• Heat oil in a wok. Once hot, throw in the mustard, Jeera and Hing. 
• Once the spices stop spluttering, thrown in the curry leaves and the slit green chillies. Once they stop sizzling, throw in the powdered spices. Saute the spices for a few seconds till aromatic and throw in the brussel sprouts.
• Saute the sprouts till tender crisp. Keep moving the vegetable, we need it nice and tender not steamed and mushy.
• Adjust salt and remove from heat. 
• Stir in the cooled rice, adjust lemon juice and serve warm with yogurt on the side.

Grilled Veggie Salad

I got to know that recently a Kannada cookery show aired an episode featuring Oats in good old Akki Rotti. Ah! So good job Quaker and agriculture department of Australia.
It looks like there are pouring tonnes of money on promoting the 'healthfulness' of oats and our people are readily buying it. So we are abandoning our native grains which our forefather ate, thrived well on and lived long healthy lives, for grains that were grown and consumed in very different climates by people with very different lifestyle, habits and of course genes. We so very well buy the argument of loud MNCs than look at our own backyards. There is a saying in Kannada, 'Hittala gida maddalla'. Your backyard herb cannot be a medicine! indeed.

I know we are a generation living on instant gratification and depth of sensual experience. But our common sense is not something that should take a back seat. 'I was never thus, but keep going on...' goes a poem. Yes I was never thus. But as more candles pile on my birthday cake my point of view changes. Now when I look back at all the years trying to  'live healthy' eating 'canola oil' I cannot stop but think 'what the hell was I thinking?'.
Now it is all about eating sensibly. No hard rules. But I am not going to buy ten different of things, just because a recipe calls for it,or it so 'oh!god so healthy'. So if I have peanuts instead of peanut butter I just go ahead crush some and toss it. I am not buying raw peanuts, peanut butter and salted peanuts. I am also not going on a missionary quest for some strange vegetable that I read about or the miracle food that has kept some Amazonian tribe youthful into their eighties.  

The mantra now is what is available locally and seasonally. The best part of summers in this part of the world is the bounty of vegetables. Keeping in mind my current approach to food, I just grilled a few fresh vegetables and served it with minimal dressing. It was yummy. The dressing also was do-with-whatever-is-in-your-fridge, but very creamy and tasty.

We will need,

Zucchini  2 medium cut into length wise and diced into half moons about 1/4"thick
Peppers   4 medium cut into 2" squares
Red Onions 2 medium cut into quarters and separated
Lettuce as needed
Oil as needed

for the dressing,
Yogurt/sour cream 2-3 tbsp
Ginger grated 1 tsp
Garlic 1 clove
Green chilli 1 minced
Coriander a handful
Salt to taste
Juice of lemon to taste

Method:

• Heat a griddle on high heat. Brush the griddle with some oil and dump the Zucchini, peppers and onions. Sprinkle salt. Grill till the vegetables and nice and charred on the edges. Remove and keep it warm. If the griddle is small, do the vegetables in batches as we do not want them steam. Also the vegetables can be done one at a time because the cooking time varies for the vegetables. My griddle is fairly big so I could accommodate all of them at once.
• Crush the garlic and ginger. Push the mixture through a sieve and collect the juice in big serving bowl. Discard the ginger garlic fibers. 
• Toss in the lemon juice, green chillies, chopped coriander and yogurt/sour cream. Adjust salt. 
• Toss in all the grill vegetables. Serve warm on a bed of lettuce. We had it for lunch and this was the only dish that day. We just grated some cheese on top.  It was yummy.

Avial - Majjige Huli

All cultures celebrate a vegetable medley dish. For some reason we all adore our mixed vegetable dish. They are just so festive and awesome.  We Kannadigas we have Huli where all kind of vegetables find a place. The Gujarati's have Undiyo, then the Bengalis have Shukto, the French have their Ratatouille and of course the Malayalis have Aviyal.
Aviyal is a wonderful combination of vegetables in a coconut and yogurt gravy, much like our own Majjige Huli.  The actual version calls for the vegetables to swim in the gravy but I did rather have just enough gravy that we could finish the dish in day. We do not appreciate the gravy sans the veggies.
Just about any vegetable can go in there. But my favorite combination is green beans, carrots, ivy gourd, Zucchini and plantain. I would love the snake gourd, raw mangoes (those that are not so tart).
So here is how it goes. This is typically not the way to make Aviyal. The purists will cringe at my handling, But this is more or less how we make Avial's cousin Majjige Huli. I love the idea of mixed vegetables in a Majjige huli like gravy. So here it is.

We will need,

Mixed vegetables 1 lb (cut into 1/8" wide 2" long sticks)
Coconut         1/4 cup grated
Green Chillies 4-5
Coriander a handful
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1 tsp
Coconut oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing a dash
Curry leaves a handful
Yogurt 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Method:

• Combine the vegetables in a wide mouth pan and about 1/2 a cup of water. Cove and cook the vegetables till they are slightly tender but still crunchy, about 10-15 minutes on medium low heat. Set it aside.
• Combine the coconut, green chillies, Jeera, coriander, turmeric and 1/4 cup water in a blender and grind till smooth.
• Place the ground mixture in a thick bottom pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-7  minutes. Add more water if mixture is very thick.
• Transfer the coconut mixture to the vegetables. 
• Prepare the oggarane. Heat the coconut oil. Throw in the mustard seeds and hing. Once they crackle throw in the curry leaves. Remove from heat and pour over the vegetables. 
• Stir in the yogurt simmer the mixture for a few more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with hot rice.

Google reader to be retired

Friends,

I recently found out that Google is retiring the Reader. All these days I have used the Google Reader to keep in tough with all you folks and your lovely blogs.
My question is how are you people planning to keep in touch? Any tips to depend on Facebook to follow blogs?

Thanks much

Motte Tovve

As I grow older and as I spend more and more time in the kitchen I realize that my idea of a well stocked pantry was too exhaustive. In fact my list can actually be cut down by half. If we are creative, we can dish out excellent and healthy meals with very few ingredients perhaps with what ever we have in the pantry/refrigerator. I have been steadily reducing the number of items in my pantry and still being functional.

This was one such week, I decided not to go grocery shopping until I used up every thinkable ingredient. Finally I was down to two ingredients eggs and split green grams (Hesaru Bele). So this is what I did and we enjoyed the dish so much that it set me thinking on a well-stocked-pantry Vs creativity.

My very good friend A got me an earthen pot from Kerala a few months back. I just love it.She had it seasoned in India too. It was a breeze to use, but so much better than any other pot I have used till date. This earthen pots make the best of Tovve, dals and of course fish curries.  I have tried a number of dals in this pot and all of it tasted great. The dal miraculously turns silky, rich and delicious even without any additional fat. So lets get cooking in an earthen pot.

Split washed Moong dal (Hesaru bele) 1/2 cup
Turmeric a  generous pinch +1/4 tsp
Eggs 4
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing
Red chilli powder 2 tsp
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Tomatoes 1 chopped
Garam Masala 1/4 tsp
Fresh coriander a handful
lemon juice and salt to taste

Method:

• Wash the dal in several changes of water. Combine it with 2 cups of water, a pinch turmeric and a touch of ghee and pressure cook till  the dal is soft.  (I cooked my dal in the earthen pot)
• Hard boil the eggs, shell it and keep it aside. (If you do not mind the green ring, pressure cook the eggs with the dal)
• Heat the ghee in a pan. Throw in the mustard and jeera. Once they splutter, add the hing, chilli powder, turmeric and dhania powder. 
• Throw in the tomatoes right after the spices. Cook till the tomatoes soften. 
• Now gently lower the eggs and saute the eggs till all sides are colored.
• Transfer the eggs and spices to the dal. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Add more water if needed. 
• Fold in the Garam Masala. Adjust salt and lemon juice.
• Finish with coriander. Serve hot with rice or a bread of your choice.

Morning Glory Slice

It is matter of few weeks. I got tired of fixing breakfast every morning. No we are not cereal-out-of-the-box or bread kind of people. We are Dose-Paddu-Chapati-Akki rotti kind of people. I felt like I needed a break from the first dish of the day but I wanted to make something rather healthful. So I decided to make morning glory muffins. But I did not have a proper muffin tin, I converted the muffin into a slice. Just that the slices were a little to small and we had to eat two of them to get the feeling of eating a decent breakfast. I love the muffins at King Arthur . But like always, I need to add and subtract from the recipe to make it my own.This particular recipe yielded the most tender and moist muffins ever. They were also rather rich. It is fine for a few days but long term this is again something that did make you regret every time you try to get into that new pair of jeans.

We will need,

Craisins 1/2 cup
Whole wheat pastry flour 1.5 cups
All purpose flour 1/2 cup
Sugar 3/4 cup (Can be increased upto 1 cup. But I found 3/4 to be rather too sweet for my taste)
Baking Soda 2 tsp
Cinnamon 1.5 tsp
Ginger ground 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg 1/8 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Grated carrots 1 cups tightly packed.
Large apple grated and pealed 1
Kopra 1/2 cup
Almonds 1/2 cup chopped fine
Sunflower seeds 1/3 cup
Sunflower oil 1/2 cup
Eggs 3
Vanilla extract
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1/2 lime

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease and line a loaf pan. (One of those largish loaf pans. If smaller use two loaf pans)
• Soak the Craisins in hot water. Set it aside. 
• Mix in all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. (flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and spices)
• In another mixing bowl stir in the wet ingredients like eggs, oil, carrots, apple, orange juice, lime juice. Combine all the ingredients well. 
• Stir the nuts and seeds into the wet ingredients. 
• Drain the craisins and toss them into the dry mixture. Make a well in the dry mixture and pour the wet ingredients. Gently mix everything together until just combined. I read somewhere that anything more than 50 strokes will make the muffins dry and tough. I agree. 
• Pour it into the loaf pan and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out dry about 30  minutes in my oven. 
• Remove onto a wire rack and allow it to cool. Once completely cooled slice the loaf and store it in an air tight jar for at least a week. Mine did not last past the week end. We are a grazing family you know.

Well actually I cannot think if this is a good breakfast recipe or is it a dessert recipe. Because we ate it both ways, I will label it thus.

Kayi Obbattu

Ugadi is just round the corner. Ugadi is the first day of our calender and therefore celebrated by all communities across the Kannada heartland. It is probably the one of the two festivals that is widely celebrated back home, the other being Deepawali. Traditional Ugadi celebrations are best observed in smaller towns and cities. Bangalore being so cosmopolitan these days Ugadi in Bangalore is just like any other day. But growing up in Mysore and a host of other smaller towns and cities in Karnataka, my memories of Ugadi is all about food, family and gambling. While food and family are the usual suspects, gambling is rather unusual right. But well that was the tradition. I still remember tents and pandals being set up by the road side, in parks and essentially every where there is space enough to hold those tents. Those tents and pandals serve as makeshift gambling dens. It is perfectly legal to gamble and to set up gambling facilities on and around Ugadi. So any body is free to gamble and have a good time on Ugadi. Las Vegas? yes please, they did do it on Ugadi. So after the ritualistic bath, wearing new clothes, pooja, partaking of the prasadas and 'Bevu-Bella' a combination of Neem blossoms and jaggery (which is a our way of paying tribute to both good and bad in life) we indulge in one serious meal. Then off to gambling. We never visited any of those dens but we would play a game or two of cards at home and my father would give us money regardless of who won the game. I love Ugadi and hope this new year fills our lives with all joys and just a touch of Neem.

Here is Kayi Obbattu. Obbattu and Ugadi goes together. But the one with 'bele' or dal is traditionally made the same day. But if you are looking forward to a make ahead Obbattu, it is Kayi obbattu. It is festive, tasty but also good made ahead.

We will need,

Coconut grated 3 cups

Jaggery roughly crushed 2-3 cups (2 would do for me, but FIL likes it sweeter )

Cardamon 2 (seeds crushed and the skin discarded)

Poppy seeds 2 tbsp (toasted and ground)

For the dough:
All purpose flour 1 (may be 1.5 cups)
Salt pinch
Turmeric pinch
Oil 3 tbsp

Method:

• Sift flour with turmeric. Stir in the salt. Dump the flour on to a large plate. Make a well in the center of the well. Pour water into the well a little by little and start combing the flour and the water, making a dough much softer than chapati dough. Knead the dough very well, like while making bread. The dough is ready when it is very stretchy. Pour the oil on top of the dough and cover with a damp cloth and rest it for at least 2 hours
• Combine the coconut, cardamon and the poppy seeds in the food processor and process till the they are well combined and the coconut has become rather homogenous.  Do not add water while processing the mixture. 
• Remove the coconut into a thick bottom non-stick skillet. Throw in the jaggery, cook till the jaggery has melted and the mixture comes together. Remove from heat and set it aside to cool. The sweet filling /hurana is ready to go.
• Pinch small balls of dough and roll the filling into small balls as well.
  
• On a greased plastic sheet, roll out the dough balls into circles of 3" diameter using your fingers. Place the filling and pinch the dough to close the filling.
  
• Using your fingers, roll the stuffed dough ball into 8-9" circles.
  
• Ideally the filling should be uniformly distributed and the flour skin should be as thin as possible, so trying to achieve the ideal is a good idea. Mine is never perfect, but in my quest for the perfect, i end up making decent stuff..
• Heat a griddle. When smoking, grease it with ghee. Place the rolled out obbattu on to the griddle. cook of both sides with oodles of ghee.
• Serve it hot or at room temperature. If storing to be consumed later, cool it completely and store it in air-tight boxes between parchment sheets.

Badam Puri

Badam puri also known as Surali puri is one of those old fashioned sweets which were very popular back in the days when everything home made was the only option. I remember my grand mother making this for important occasions. She made it for our house warming ceremony and for my cousins naming ceremony. Those were the days when women in family gathered to cook elaborate meals for 100-200 people. Catering was as common as it is today. Everything had to be cooked at home and offered to gods before it was served to guests. Today life is much simpler. Call a caterer and the food will arrive just in time and of course they will serve, clean etc. Our generation of women never got to huddle  in front of the giant temporary wood burning stoves and gossip as we stirred the giant vats of curry. Instead we can huddle up in front of the TV and comment on how silly the heroine looks!

We will need,

All purpose flour 1/2 cup
Chiroti Rawa (cream of wheat) 1/2 cup
Salt a pinch
Ghee 1/4 cup
Orange food colour (optional, I dont use it)
Sugar 1.5 cups
Saffron a few strands
Kopra 1/4 cup grated
Cardamon 2 pods
Refined oil to deep fry (I prefer sunflower oil)

Method:

• Pour the flour, chiroti rawa, food colour and salt into a deep mixing bowl. Stir in water a little by little till the mixture forms a tight dough. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set it aside to rest.
• Mean time, heat sugar and 1 cup of water over medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Throw in the saffron. Simmer till it attains a single thread consistency i.e. when the syrup is pulled between the thumb and the fore finger, it forms a single thread. Remove from heat and set it aside.
• Set a wok on the stove with the sunflower oil. Heat it till the oil shimmers. 
• Meantime start rolling out the Puris. Pinch a lime size dough and roll it out like a roti. Brush it with ghee and fold it into a semi circle. Brush it once again with ghee and fold it once more to get something of a triangle.
• Drop the triangles into hot oil. Deep fry till golden in color. The golden ones will be flaky and tender while a deeper golden brown color will yield Puris that are softer and chewier.
• Dip the hot puris in the sugar syrup and set it aside. Repeat till all the dough is exhausted.
• Crush the cardamon seeds and mix it with the Kopra.
• Sprinkle the kopra-cardamon on top of the Puris. Store them in a air-tight box for upto a week.

Huli Pudi

When do cooks back home feel they have come of age and are no longer amateurs in the kitchen? My answer would be when you make pickles and pudis. I few weeks back I ran out of my stash of Huli Pudi that my MIL brought last summer. I had been conserving it for quite some time but I had to see the bottom of the bottle one fine day. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to do what was needed. I had the recipe from my grandmother who makes the best in the world Huli Pudi. So I set out to make Huli Pudi for the first time.
It was a long labour intensive process. Imagine with food processors we feel it is time and labour intensive, if only I was born in the previous century I did be pounding the wicked spices as it blew into my lungs! huff huff. I know that is how my grandmother started making it. Some where later in her life that those flour mills started to pop up and she got the wicked spices ground at those noisy mills.
This time my pudi turned out sort of good, not as half as good as my grandmother, not as good as my mother or MIL would make but still I prefer this over the silly stuff sold in Indian stores labeled 'Sambar Powder'.

Here we go,

Chillies  1/2 kg
Dhania 1/2 kg
Jeera 360 grams
Pepper 60 grams
Turmeric 60 grams
Hing 60 grams
Channa Dal 120 grams
Uddina Bele 120 grams
Fenugreek seeds 120 grams
Mustard seeds 120 grams
Curry leaves 2 giant bunches (washed and dried)
Cinnamon 50 grams
Marati Moggu 3-4
Jaggery 60 grams
Salt a generous fist full

Method:

• Measure out all the spices carefully and keep it handy. A choice of chillis can be used. I prefer 3/4 Byadagi  and 1/4 Guntur or the spicy varieties because Sunny boy still prefers milder food. My grandmother and mother do  1:1 for Byadagi:Guntur.
• Open windows if any all over the house. Turn on the exhaust at full speed.
• Set a heavy kadai on medium flame. One the kadai is hot, start toasting the Dhania. When the Dhania is toasted and is fragrant, remove into a big wide platter and allow it to cool.
• Mean time, start toasting the other spices one at a time starting with the spice after Dhania up until curry leaves.
• Once the curry leaves are done start toasting the chillies. This one is the wickedest of all. It will make us cough and gasp for breath. Toast them till they change color.
• Remove the chillies to the same platter. Allow it to cool.
• Once cold throw in the Jaggary and salt. Grind the spice mixture in a coffee grinder till fine but still has some texture left.
• Combine the ground spices in the large platter and allow it to cool slightly. Mix the spice blend using a dry spatula. 
• Once the spices are cool, fill it in bottles and use as required.

Thanks Chitz and Nagashree  for thinking of me

1. If you were allowed to change something about yourselves, what would that be? :I would definitely be more organized and be detail oriented. 
2. Your favorite time pass other than cooking :Reading
3. According to you which is most important in a blog - presentation, recipe or pictures? : Well I did say the story
4. Your ultimate dream: Win a lottery perhaps?
5. Three qualities you would love to see in others: Patience, kindness and reason
6. One prank that you played on someone: write anonymous love letter to a friend and giggle when she did show it to us.
7. Your favorite vacation spot: erstwhile Kovalam beach
8. Cooking according to you is: stress buster
9. Who influences you the most? Like you would always listen to what this person says: my mom
10. Your favorite dessert: Rasgolla
11. One habit that you cannot change for life: over-eating when I like something.

Here are a set of questions Nagashree sent me.

1. What was your reaction when you received the Liebster award? :Wow 
2. What do you most look forward to with your blogging? Comments
3. What is your all time favorite ingredient or spice in cooking? Ghee
4. Do you always give credit to a recipe source or blogger when you use one? yes
5. What are your hobbies outside of food blogging? reading and eating
6. What appeals to you most in other food blogs (writing style, blog layout and visual appeal, pictures, recipes and anything else)? story and the pictures
7. How has blogging changed your life? Make new friends with the same feathers
8. How do you feel about plagiarism in food blogs? uh! despicable , come on gals it is supposed to be a creative outlet.
9. Who is the one person that influenced you most in starting your blog? LG
10. Who is your all time favorite cook/chef and why? Jacques Pepin, his philosophy is waste not want not. Love it.
11. What is cooking currently in your kitchen?Mixed vegetables from left over vegetables.

Spring Break Brownie

It is time for spring break in this corner of the world. Sunny boy too enjoyed a sort of spring break last week. We had a wonderful time. We hit a milestone that I have been looking forward for a long time. We baked together for the first time. No prize for guessing that we did a brownie. Sunny boy helped me measure out everything. He stirred the mixture and of course he licked my beaters clean.
I have always had him in my kitchen as I cooked. Long before he was 15 months old he knew the names of the vegetables and ingredients.  This very morning he was playing with his father and then all of a sudden he said, "Appa, will you please move away a bit?" Honey was perplexed and asked him why. Sunny boy said, "I am preparing Oggarane and it will splatter all over you". It make my heart puff up in joy. Like me my son. I am so very looking forward to having him in the kitchen and of course cook with him. I certainly hope that when he grows up, he will put together healthy from the scratch meals for his family in which ever part of the world he did be.

The brownie we put together was gone before I could snap a few pictures. But here is the journey which was way better than the destination. Sunny boy mixing batter. The end product looked like it was over mixed. The brownie had a cake like texture to it because of the over mixing. But  Sunny boy liked it anyway.Between me and him, we polished half the 8" we made that day.

After mixing the batter and popping it into the oven, Sunny boy got to lick the beaters.By the way, licking is supposed to be very bad etiquette back home. That is a strict no no. My grand mother would be livid if she gets to see this. Any way grand mother is  far away from my kitchen and will probably not eat any thing from my kitchen any way.

In short, we had a great time! I cannot believe that my little sunny baby is old enough to cook with me.

Tondekayi Fry

After three short years my laptop battery decided to die on me stalling my life as a blogger for weeks. Just happened to receive my shipment and guess what the first thing on my mind, write up a post. I have a bunch of photographs from the previous weeks that needs to be done and sent to blogger heaven!


Here is the first one. Tondekayi or the Tindora /Ivy goud is one of my favorite vegetables. It makes a wonderful Huli, Palya and also Gojju. This one is a fry. In my lexicon, that means a more elaborate dish than a Palya but less so than a Gojju. Mom makes a delicious version but that one seems to take forever and also she uses like a cup of oil for every kilo of the vegetable which is a little too much even by my standard. But sure enough it is absolutely tastey. This version is my modified version with much less oil almost the bang taste wise.

We will need,

Ivy Gourd/Tondekayi/ Tindora 2 lbs (cleaned slit into four length wise, ends discarded)
Peanut oil 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Curry leaves a handful
Turmeric a generous pinch
Green chillies 4-5 chopped
Dhania powder 1.5 tsp
Jeera powder 1 tsp
Jaggery  about a tsp crushed
Amchoor powder 1.5 tsp
Kopra 1/4 cup (coarsely powdered)
Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat peanut oil in a non-stick wide bottom skillet. 
• Throw in the mustard, Jeera, Hing and curry leaves. Once they stop sizzling, throw in the Ivy Gourd. Cover and cook for about 7-10 minutes till they are every so slightly tender. 
• Throw in all the spice powders, stir well cover and cook till three fourth cooked. It took me about 10 minutes on very low heat. 
• Once the Ivy gourds are tender-crisp, throw in the Kopra, adjust salt and remove from heat immediately. 
• Serve hot with hot rice and a little ghee. Goes well with Rotis as well.

Pinto Beans Toge

Winter is such a sad time for a vegetable lover like me. There are very few great looking produce in the super markets. So this is the time of the year that I end up buying all kinds of beans and lentils. This past week I got a big bag of Pinto beans. They looked good and they ended up in my Toge. The toge was rich and creamy and very rich even though there was hardly any added fat.
We ate this with Chapatis. I can imagine this particular dish going very well with rice.

We will need,

Pinto Beans 1 cup
Turmeric a pinch
Hing a generous dash
Coconut oil / peanut oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Onions 1 large
Tomatoes 2 medium
Garlic 2 cloves
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp (more if preferred spicy)
Jeera Powder 2 tsp
Green chillies 2 
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

•  Pick and clean the pinto beans. Wash it in multiple changes of water. Soak it in a wide mouth bowl with  plenty of water overnight. 
• Drain the pinto beans place it in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water, hing and turmeric. Cook till the beans are soft. (As my mom tells me, its  belly should be soft enough to squeeze). Set it aside.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom pot. Throw in the mustard seeds. 
• Once the seeds splutter, throw in the onions. Cook till the onions are deep brown in colour. Keep stirring making sure they do not burn.
• Once the onions are brown, throw in the garlic and cook for a minute or so just to get the garlic warmed up a bit. 
• Throw in all the powders. Stir the mixture and cook for a few minutes till the spices are aromatic. 
• Throw in the tomatoes along with all their juices. Pick up the masala and onion bits from the bottom of the pot. 
• Add a little water if the spices are burning. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy and the spices have come together. 
• Pour the beans along with the water into the Masala. Bring it to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
• Adjust salt and lemon. Throw the green chillies slit length wise. Cover and remove from heat. Serve warm with rice or roti.

Mushroomy Onion Soup

I had heard so much about the french onion soup. I had to try it. Long long ago, when I landed a job, I took Honey out for a treat to a local restaurant. I saw the soup on the menu and was very excited about trying it. I asked the waitress if the soup contained meat. She said no. I was ecstatic. I ordered the soup ate it and enjoyed it. As a new bee to this country and to the culture, I did no know the difference between 'something containing meat' and something being 'vegetarian'. It did hit me like a tonne of bricks watching a cookery show where they called for beef stock in their french onion soup. The next time we were in the same restaurant I asked the waitress the right question. No it was not vegetarian. I did not want to know what was in there. It was sad. So if you are new to the States and what to know if the food is vegetarian, shoot the straight question. Never try to state a complicated problem the way I did.
The was my only experience with the soup. But I did enjoy the soup. I had been thinking of making my own version of the soup. This time I did and loved it. It is quite simple to substitute chicken stock/beef stock call for in most recipes. Just use Porcini/ dried shiitake mushrooms. Soak them and use the soaking liquid as a substitute to stock. Throw in a few bay leaves, cloves and a piece of cinnamon. The broth will be as flavorful as any meat based stock. I routinely use this method and get excellent results all the time. The Shiitake mushrooms does smell sort of fishy but I am ok with it. I did rather do the fishy mushroom than an over processed junk called bouillon/ stock cubes. Just a look at the ingredient list of the cubes is good enough to put me off for the rest of my life. No thanks Nestle, I am good on my own.

We will need,

Mushrooms 1/2 lb chopped
Onions 2 large chopped
Shiitake mushrooms 5-6 caps soaked in hot water
Kashmiri chilli (dried)-1
Butter 1 tbsp
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Garlic 2 cloves
Soy sauce to taste
Rice vinegar/ lemon juice to taste
Ginger root 1/2"
Mint for garnish.

Method:

• Heat the butter and oil in a thick bottom pot. Throw in the chopped  onion. Cook the onions till the onions are deep brown in colour. Keep stirring making sure that the onions do not burn. It took me about 30 minutes to get there.
• Push the onions to the side and throw the chopped garlic. Cook for a quick minute.
• Throw in the chopped mushrooms , the soaking liquid. 
• Chop the shiitake mushroom and throw them into the pot as well.
• Puncture the Kashmiri chilli and throw it  into the soup pot. Bring it to a boil.
• Simmer and cook till the mushrooms are tender and the soup has come together.
• Adjust the soy sauce and vinegar.
• Garnish with fresh slivers of ginger and chopped mint. Serve warm with some crusty bread or with cheese toasts.