Win's Aloo Gobi

This weekend, we survived one more of our marathon Diwali party - which we tend to style as day-long open houses. It's lovely hosting hundreds of friends, but let's just say that I'm a tad tired the rest of the week! Sree's friends are an amazing crew - one of them, Betty, has a great blog that you'll see here. Betty's personal revelations on Diwali reminded me about how much we take for granted in Indian festivals, hospitality and quirky expectations (of course, we expect 300 people to take off their shoes before coming into our home!) I've used one of Betty's luminous photo here.

S's friend Win stopped to chat on his way out and mentioned reading this blog. I urged him to send me his own favorite Indian recipe. Here it is.

Says Win:

"I like this because it uses my stove, oven & microwave to speed things along . . ..

I roast my cauliflower using the technique from Cook's Illustrated. (Oven preheated to 475; Cauliflower head into 8 equal wedges so that core and florets remain intact; season with oil, salt and pepper, bake for 20 minutes making sure to flip the peices mid-way to brown both sides.)

I put red bliss potatoes cut to be an inch or so in all directions in a loosely covered bowl with a little water in the microwave and push cook-potato.

I cut up an onion or two and cook it relatively slowly in butter and olive oil liberally dosed with curry (powder), maybe 1/4 cup, until soft.
I cut up the cauliflower in pieces about the same size as the potatoes or maybe a little bigger and mix everything together with plain yogurt to give it sauce.

I could imagine doing the recipe without the yogurt.

I also may add leftover cooked peas for color if I have them around.
Enjoy!"

Mushroom and Blue Cheese Hors d'œuvre

K's teachers invited me to come cook with the kids one day in November, and so the three of us (D, K and I) have been mulling over the options. K loves my ramekin creations, but the thought of little hands grabbing ceramic dishes out of the oven worried me. So we tried out a simple but fun recipe today, which I'm sure is part dredged-up memory of cocktail party appetizers, and part "staring into the fridge" inspiration. I wanted to make sure that this would be something that the kids could actually create along with me - it had to be safe, easy, tasty, and as messy as possible! I think the following meets all the criteria.

Ingredients:

Button mushrooms, about 2 to 4 per person depending on the size of the mushrooms

Crumbled blue cheese: One table spoon per mushroom [I plan to substitute simple cheddar cheese for the school cooking experience]

Melted butter to prep the mushroom

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
• Use a butter knife to pop the stem off the mushroom, then dice the stems. The kids needed some help with getting the stems out, but liked the dicing since it was pretty easy
• Mix diced stems and cheese
• Brush melted butter on the body of the mushroom, inside and out
• Spoon the stem and cheese mix into the hollow of the mushroom. The kids just used their fingers to get the mix in
• Line a baking sheet with wax paper, them place the mushrooms about an inch apart (since they tend to leach out some of the liquids and you don't want a soggy mess at the end)
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes
• Serve hot or cool - works either way
• I think I'd like to try this with more pepper, crushed chillies, coriander, etc. Maybe a variety tray of these mushroom pies, with one spice added in each.... I'll tell you how that works out. For now, the kids and I will go with the cheese version. D loved the blue cheese version, K voted that we go with cheddar for his friends. More on that after our school kitchen adventure!

Any suggestions for improvements or variations you've tried?

Quinoa with Mixed Vegetables Pilaf

Friend and fellow-vegetarian Ven sent me the following recipe for Quinoa. I have to admit that I haven't tried the recipe (indeed, was only vaguely familiar with the "pseudo cereal" as it's described), but I do plan on sharing updates when I do try this out.

Says Ven: "As a vegetarian, I always struggle to eat a balanced diet and since Quinoa has all the essential amino acids and several other nutrients it looked like a good option. Over the last year, I have been cooking this grain and like any recent convert, I am an ardent devotee. Quinoa is so easy to cook that it has become my staple replacing Thayir Sadham. I read somewhere that there are concerns about the high nitrate content in the grains because of fertilizer use but I am not sure if this is an issue with the Organic varieties that I buy from Costco and Whole Foods.

Ingredients

2 cups Quinoa

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

1 thinly sliced Tomato

1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil

Curry leaves

1/2 tablespoon of sliced ginger

1/2 tablespoon of Turmeric

¾ tablespoon of Salt and a pinch of chilli powder and garam masala

Rinse Quinoa seeds 3-4 times until the water runs clear.

Add 4 cups of water and cook Quinoa for about 10 mts until you see a little white thread coming out.

Add mixed vegetables and sliced Tomato and cook for another five minutes.

Add salt, turmeric, chilli powder, masala, curry leaves and cook for a five more minutes.

Remove from heat and wait for at least ten minutes before serving. "

Sleepy Hollow Cornmeal Shortcakes

A sleepy afternoon at Philipsburg Manor and Farm in Sleepy Hollow was just what the doctor ordered for us this weekend - we had a lovely time learning about 17th century Hudson valley history and lifestyles. The kids learned how to make Flax and collected cornmeal at a working grist-mill. We decided to spend some of Sunday afternoon making the cornmeal shortcakes as they were originally made in the 17th century, thanks to the recipes posted on the Historic Hudson Valley website. A nice commemoration of the quadricentennial....

The kids loved all the measuring involved. And just so you know, we substituted butter for the vegetable shortening. Another trick - make buttermilk by combining 2/3 cups of low fat yogurt and 1/3 cup skimmed milk for one cup of buttermilk.

Enjoy!

Click through to the site here for the original recipe.....

Eating while vegetarian

Last night, hubby and a few of his friends were out at the widely recommended Malaysian restaurant Nyonya in the Lower East Side. While most of the group had a great meal, the vegetarian in the group sent me the following mobile picture which lays out his vegetarian options...

In case the photo isn't clear, here's the unfriendly "Vegetable" section:

VEGETABLES

1. SALTED FISH WITH BEAN SPROUTS 6.95
   
2. SALTED FISH WITH CHINESE BROCCOLI 7.95
   
3. SPINACH WITH PRESERVED BEAN CURD Sauce 6.95
   
4. CHINESE WATERCRESS W. PRESERVED BEAN CURD sauce 6.95
   
5. KANG KUNG BELACAN 9.95
   Sauteed convolus w. spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce.
   
6. SHRIMPS W. LADIES FINGERS MALAYSIAN STYLE 9.95
   Sauteed okra with spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce.
   
7. Shrimps w. eggplant malaysian style 9.95
   
8. SHRIMPS W. STRING BEANS MALAYSIAN STYLE 9.95
   Sauteed string beans with spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce.
   
9. MALAYSIAN BUDDHIST 9.95Mixed vegetable w. bean curd skin & Chinese mushroom in Chef's special sauce.
   
10. BEAN CURD IN THAI STYLE 9.95Bean curd topped w. minced pork, shrimp & Chinese mushroom in Chef's special spicy sauce.

Only three out of 10 items in the "vegetable" section did not contain seafood or pork.

As a newish vegetarian, I guess I won't be rushing down there anytime soon.

Ramekins rule!

The following recipe is extremely easy to assemble and can be pretty accurately timed for perfection. An added benefit is that it's can be set up as a highly participative and messy process...a sport, almost. D&K had a whale of a time, and since the baking was done at around 4 pm, they realized they were really hungry for dinner at around 4.01 pm. Once again, dinner wanished pretty much as soon as it was on the table.




Ingredients:
(for one medium Ramekin)

2 mini meatballs, quartered
One slice of whole wheat bread, trimmed to fit at the bottom of the ramekin
One egg
5 olives
Half a teaspoon of capers
One small tomato, cubed
Two tablespoons blue cheese
Two tablespoons shaved parmigiano cheese


For the vegetarian version, I used Arugula (from friend Hari's backyard!) and diced carrots instead of the meatballs.

• Preheat the overn to 350 degrees
• Place the trimmed slice of bread at the bottom of the ramekin
• Layer one tablespoon blue cheese, the meatballs, tomatoes, olives and capers, eggs (make sure the yolk is pierced, blue cheese and the parmigiano
• In the case of the vegetarian version, the carrots replace the meatballs, and the arugula goes just below the top layer of cheese
• Bake for 30 minutes and serve piping hot

Hari's herbs

Our friend Hari stopped by this evening with a cornucopia of fresh herbs and vegetables that he's been growing in his backyard. The amazingly fragrant mint, the lemon grass, chives, cilantro are currently flavoring the air - and I'm still trying to figure out what two bunches are. One has a distinct lemony smell, the other is extremely curry-like, but certainly aren't curry leaves. Thanks to eHow, I'm trying out some creative ways to keep these flavors alive. Any insights on what you've done with your fresh herbs are welcome!

It's back to the basics...eat veggies, no matter what the farming approach

Interesting that this site, dedicated to "Gardening, harvesting, cooking and preserving with kids in tow" surfaced this story that organic foods are only as nutritious as conventionally grown veggies!

Women's healths tips on healthy cooking

I haven't been on for a while - crazy busy at work. But I saw this article and thought I ought to share it. It's crazy that you have to click 50 times, but in a strange way I found that I'm better able to remember the 50 tips they suggested here to fight fat with routine cooking tips:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/easy-weight-loss-tips

Coconut and Chocolate Pancakes

After another blogging hiatus, driven by an exciting time at work, I thought I'd share a very fun recipe with you. It's a perfect Sunday morning treat, and this time, the kids were able to do pretty much everything...my role was purely stove-side!

After a dawn mask-making session (I have a couple of early risers), we all set off to pull together breakfast. They weren't enthusiastic about an omelet, but perked up when I mentioned pancakes. D volunteered to take care of measuring, and K took on what's becoming a "traditional" role in charge of beating the eggs. In less than fifteen minutes, breakfast was done!

Ingredients:
Two medium-sized eggs
One cup milk
Half a cup shredded coconut
Six Hershey kisses, chopped
Two cups Bisquick
One teaspoon sugar
A small pat of butter for the pan

• Start with beating the eggs, and when it's frothy, add in milk
• Mix in the coconut and the chopped chocolate
• Add in the sugar, and once the mix takes on an even consistency, add in the Bisquick slowly and keep mixing so there aren't any clumps of the flour
• Heat a wide pan on a medium flame, and butter it lightly. Pour about four tablespoons of the pancake mix on and roll the pan slightly to evenly distribute into a nice circular shape. The pancakes should take about a minute or half a minute of cooking on each side.
• Given the coconut and chocolate, the kids didn't need any syrup with the pancakes "this is tasty, we don't need that" said K. A cup of milk to wash it down, and we had some happy campers....
  

Sambar'd Salmon and Black Radishes, pan-seared

A couple of days ago I found myself lying in bed and mentally bemoaning my lack of activity on this blog. I realized that I'd have to get typing if I were to create a totally new recipe - I'd feel the urge to share the experience...be it a calamity or a triumph. And in the quest for something that I suspect hasn't been tried before, I sat up and started listing my favorite tastes and dishes. Right on top of the list were salmon and sambar (falafel is up there...but I'm swearing off fried foods for a bit!) So, I said, what about Sambar Salmon...which is totally different from Salmon Sambar.

Just so you know, I consider this one a triumph. Ask the husband....

Sambar, for those readers who aren't familiar with South Indian cooking, is a tangy lentil curry that is usually served with rice, dosa or idli (steamed rice cakes.) Besides lentils, sambar often contains pearl onions or radishes and can be quite versatile, as curries go. I wasn't about to pop the fish in the sambar - that felt somehow inappropriate. Instead, I decided to deconstruct the sambar, and use key ingredients to define a modern plate.

I'll share a sambar recipe with you soon, but for now, the key ingredients I planned to hijack for my salmon and radish were:
- Tamarind paste
- Red chilli powder
- Turmeric
- Coriander powder
- Sambar masala
- Cumin powder
(I'll add in curry leaves and mustard seeds the next time around - didn't do that for the first go around.)

Sambar'd Salmon:

Two large slices of Salmon (around one pound)
One tablespoon chilli powder
A quarter tea-spoon Tamarind paste
A teaspoon of Red chilli powder (but if you don't like spicy food, you can just add a pinch)
A half- teaspoon Turmeric powder
A half - teaspoon Coriander powder
One table-spoon sambar masala
A half-teaspoon Cumin powder
I also added in a teaspoon of garam masala
The juice of half a lemon
A half or one tea-spoon olive oil

• Skin the salmon slices, and coat them with the lemon juice
• Mix all the powdered spices mentioned above, and pat them onto the lemon-coated fish
• Allow the spices to seep in, I gave it about three hours
• After the marinating is done, take the tamarind paste and rub gently on the fish. Make sure that you still have a coating of the tamarind and spices on the body of the fish
• Lightly sprinkle a half-teaspoon of olive oil in a wide pan, and over a medium heat start searing the salmon slices
• I tend to cook the fish through, and I suspect that works best with such flavorful spices
• Serve with the radishes mentioned below...though, you could also use the marinade and pan-searing method on smaller cubes, and serve them up as appetizers with a dash of Greek yogurt....

Tangy Radish

One black radish
Two cups broth
A half-teaspoon tamarind paste
A teaspoon of vegetable oil

• Skin the radishes and cube into one-eighths or into half-inch cubes
• Boil the radish cubes for abut 15 minutes in broth, so that they are cooked through, but not soft to the touch. Drain and set aside
• In a frying pan, heat the oil over a gentle flame, then mix in the tamarind paste so the bottom of the pan is coated in the nice brown mixture
• Add the radish, and let the cubes get caramelized a little along the edges

These are strong flavors, so you might choose have a gentle foil to it. I could see them served with a simple vegetable rice pulau. Today, I served them up with a side of carrots lightly boiled in broth to soften just a tad. Hubby S also added a slice of home-made bread to the mix.

Getting back to baking (Olive bread, Hummus & Banana Caramel pie)

The end of the annus horriblis was particularly difficult...being ill and generally run down by all the craziness in the air, I wasn't much of a blogger! Well, despite all indications to the contrary (given Gaza, Madoff, et al.) I insist on thinking of 2009 as a potential annus mirabilis .

From Drop Box

My daughter D and I decided to get busy in the kitchen today, and multi-tasked all morning to pull together a snack table for a play-date. She wanted a banana pie, and I'd been planning on pulling together a hummus and olive-parmesan bread combo that I'd seen on a TV show a couple of weeks ago. The show was Flavors of America, but unfortunately, the website didn't get me to the recipes. I landed up scouring my mom's old recipes and a couple of websites for inspiration. The following recipes pull from all those sources, and work well. These aren't quick recipes, but are pretty easy. D enjoyed all the kneading, the control of the food-processor buttons (!) and slicing of bananas and generally getting to lick the caramel dish....



Hummus

One can Garbanzos
Three tablespoons Tahini
Two medium-sized garlic cloves
Juice of one small lime
Five to Ten pitted olives, slices

• Dice the garlics and olives and squeeze the juice of a small lime (if you're using pre-squeezed lime juice, plan on using about three tablespoons.)
• Collect half of the liquid in the can of garbanzos to use, discard the rest
• In a food-processor, toss in the garbanzos, three tablespoons of tahini sauce, garlic and lime juice and whip it to a rough paste
• Add in the olives and the reserved liquid from the can into the mix, and whip it to the consistency you like - I tend to like my hummus rather smooth

Banana Caramel Pie
Be ready for an hour's prep and cooking time

Filling:
One can sweetened condensed milk
Two bananas
Two tablespoons chopped chocolate

Pie crust:
Half cup butter
Quarter cup milk
Half cup flour
Half teaspoon salt

• I learned this easy caramel recipe from About.com. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a 9-inch pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil and place in larger shallow pan. Fill the larger pan with hot water. Bake at 425° for about one and a half hours, or until thick and caramel colored
  
• Get the oven temperature down to 350 degrees (this is the right temperature for the olive bread as well, so if you happen to have a similar list of dishes cooking, plan on having prepped the bread while you were cooking the caramel....)
• I have made a Bisquick crust before, which works fantastically, but this time, I decided to try a more conventional pie crust. I have to admit, I prefer my Bisquick version!
• In a nine inch pie plate, mix all the ingredients for the pie crust. It will take some kneading, and after that, press the dough out over the pan. Try to smooth it out to a consistent thickness, and do work to make sure that there aren't any perforations or the pie will suffer! Bake the crust for around 20 minutes, or till golden
• Cool the pie crust before you introduce the filling
  
• Slice two bananas thinly, and layer it on the crust. Sprinkle the chocolate on the bananas. Add the caramel on top and place the pie in the fridge for a couple of hours
• It's ready to serve!

Olive Parmesan Bread

Two and half cups of flour
One cup warm water
Half a cup pitted sliced olives
Half cup grated Parmesan
Half cup olive oil
A couple of tablespoons of milk to glaze the bread
A tablespoon of yeast
A tablespoon of sugar

• Heat water - not quite to boiling point (you should be able to drink it.) In about a quarter cup, mix in the yeast and sugar and let the yeast get activated
• In a bowl, sift the flour and salt together. Make a small depression in the center and pour in the yeast liquid and the rest of the water and knead lightly. Let rest for about ten minutes
• Add in the olive oil, and knead well. Keep aside, covered with a moist cloth for about 20 minutes
• On a floured surface, pat down the dough to a thick rectangle, and sprinkle the sliced olives and Parmesan (reserve some cheese for sprinkling on the surface)
• Roll or fold the dough like you would a taco...visualize a swirl of olives and cheese as you slice through the bread
• The loaf still has some rising to do, so let the roll rest for about ten minutes
• Place the roll in a floured baking sheet and brush it with milk for a nice shine. Sprinkle some Parmesan on the top
• Base in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for around forty minutes

The snack table had chips and olive bread to go with the hummus, and the pie. Great fun was had by all!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey and gravy pot pie

The sheer volume of meat on a sixteen pound turkey doesn't strike you, even when the bird comes out of the oven. It's when you start slicing it up, that the prospect of somehow getting all that meat eaten gets daunting. On Friday, I pulled together a turkey curry that worked well with the cornbread stuffing as well as the mashed potatoes. Today, the kids and I tried our hands at making a turkey and gravy pot pie! The kids took exception at the name, for some reason...but I talked them over that little technicality! They helped me dice the carrots with butter knives - that took about ten minutes. Then they enjoyed messing around with the dough....

I've never been a big fan of store-bought pie-crusts. There is something bomb shelter-like about them, tho' I would use one if I needed to.... I remember creating a pie crust a couple of years ago when I pulled together a quiche for a friend who was on the Atkins diet. It used Crisco shortening, and I had more than a half tin of it in the back of the fridge for months. This time, I went with a simpler recipe that's butter-based.

Pie crust:

Four cups Bisquick
One cup butter

Eight tablespoons boiling water

• In a large bowl, mix the Bisquick and butter with a fork till it's a nice crumbly mass
• Add the boiling hot water and knead the mix into a soft dough
• Lower layer: Use a little more than half the dough to line a nine or ten-inch baking dish. Pat the dough with your fingers so that there is a consistent layer of dough, ideally a millimeter thick
• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
• Place the dish in the freezer for about ten minutes, then place in the oven to bake the pie crust for 15 minutes
• Upper layer: Given the crumbly nature of a good pie crust, it's tough to manage the "lid." I figured out a little trick today. Lay a tin foil on the dish before putting it in the oven and tap it so you have the diameter of dish. Then knead out the dough so it is set up as a nice consistently thick layer that's the absolute right size. When it's time, you can slowly roll over the lid onto the pot pie!

Stuffing
Two cups chopped leftover turkey
One cup diced carrots
One cup leftover gravy

• Mix the ingredients in a bowl, then ladle it into the baked pie crust
• Roll the lid on, then place the pie in the oven to cook for about twenty-five minutes
• Take out, let cool (maybe on a window-sill) slice and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry sauce on Breakfast foods

Thanks to friend Meera, we used up the leftover cranberry sauce this morning, using it instead of syrup with waffles. At one point, it looked like K was eating cranberry sauce with waffles on the side, not the other way around. A huge hit! There a little leftover, and I'm going to mix it into my oatmeal tomorrow - a nice wallop of vitamin C in the morning, AND one less dish in the fridge!

PINCH pizzas and S'Macs

The day after thanksgiving, we planned on a day at the museum with friends, but instead landed up walking lazily around the UWS and enjoying a childlike gastronomic treat. We stumbled on PINCH, Pizza by the Inch. Besides pizzas, the cheery joint also featured S'macs, or Sarita's Macaroni and cheeses. The kids enjoyed the "inches" of cheese and cheese and olive pizzas. The mac and cheese was deemed "totally cheesy - almost too cheesy!" The grown-ups tried the Macaroni and cheeses, including Masala(cheddar, American, tomato, cilantro, garlic, ginger, and various Indian spices) Mediterranean (goat cheese, spinach, olives and roasted garlic) s'macs. Innovative, and extremely tasty, these s'macs are served up piping hot in skillets and are a real treat. Sarita Ekya (nee Malhotra) certainly hit on a great idea here. Eight thumbs ups from the four of us....

Vikas Khanna's Lamb Chops

I had to delete this post I had originally posted in January, because of a garbled comment left by "craftmatic bed" - a link with lots of search words (argh)

"Last night, I saw the kids eat up what must amount to a small lamb! We were at a tree-trimming party at Shelley Rubin's (of the fabulous Rubin Museum) and she had invited Vikas Khanna to cater the elegant evening. The whole meal was amazing, with a whole series of appetizers circulating all night, and multitude of entrees to choose from. I especially loved the eggnog, which Vikas had engineered into a delicious "warm kulfi" affair.My kids, however, were true gourmands - yes, gourmands, when it came to the mini lamb chops. Given that my son said he'd "eat these lamb chops for breakfast, lunch and dinner," we weren't surprised. It got to a point where the nice waiter would come straight out of the kitchen with the platter of lamb chops and make a bee-line to lil' K, who would proceed to take two at a time and place it on his plate. Five minutes of silent munching later, he ran back to continue decorating the tree.For an in-depth recipe for the lamb chops, see Vikas's book "Modern Indian Cooking" (foreword by the legendary Daniel Boulud).

Vikas's recipe calls for marinating the thinly sliced lamb chops in a mix of yogurt, garam masala and salt (1 cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon garam masala, salt to taste for a pound and a half of lamb chops). As with most meats, it's best to marinate it overnight. Grill the lamb chops in a pre-heated oven (at 375°) turning over once for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Given the marination, the chops should be very tender and easy to get done. I should admit, I haven't tried this at home, but wanted to share the recipe and quote the book for the adventurous spirits out there. This isn't a spicy dish, so the kids will love it (I speak from experience there!)Serve the chops with couscous (see my veggie-filled couscous recipe coming up soon). "

Pudina (Mint) and Cucumber sandwiches

Pudina (or mint) sandwiches are perfect for a warm evening snack, or a mid-morning nosh. When the kid’s weekend class had a small Diwali get-together, we took pudina sandwiches as a starter for lunch a couple of weeks ago. They pretty much vanished!

I remember these sandwiches from warm picnics out in the park with my parents…there is a charm about sitting back, with family, and gulping down lemonade and sandwiches under the shade of a tree….

Ideally, you serve them cut into triangles, sprinkle fresh mint or chives around them to add some color to the presentation. Use a nice white or lightly flowered plate to pay them out. I believe these sandwiches may be by English sandwiches, though the Indian version has very piquant sauces and in some cases, they even use sliced potatoes instead of cucumbers! You just boil the potatoes till they are soft but sturdy enough to be cut into thin slices and place them just like you would the cucumber in the following recipe.

For the sandwich:
A loaf of white bread. White bread works best, since the mint and cucumber are delicate flavors and may clash with fancier breads
Butter
Kirby cucumbers (small)
Pudina paste ingredients (see below)

Pudina paste:
- One cup mint leaves (pudina)
- Half cup coriander leaves
- One chopped green chilli (optional, I don’t use this with kids)
- Half tea spoon of ginger paste
- Quarter cup lemon juice (you can also use tamarind juice, instead)
- Grated coconut, ¼ cup (optional, I don't usually use it but does add some body to the sauce)
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, ideally crushed before being put in the blender

Grind all the above ingredients in a food processor till it’s is a consistent paste (but retain some texture.)

Preparing the cucumbers:
I have learned to slice the tip of cucumbers off, them rubbing the cut ends together. You may see a white foam emerge – that seems to get rid of the bitterness that some cucumbers have as they ripen. Cut another slice off the cucumber, and you’re ready to go!
Peel the cucumbers and slice them finely

Assembling the sandwiches:
- Spread butter on a slice of bread
- Follow with a layer of mint sauce
- Arrange 4 to 6 slices of cucumber on the slice, and sprinkle salt and pepper on the cucumber
- Butter the next slice and close the sandwich
- Trim the edges, then cut it cross-wise into 2 triangle sandwiches

Coconut Raisin Loaf

I was ill for a couple of days, and spent some time recuperating in bed. As I prepared to get back to work on Monday, I realized I needed to get out of bed and be a little more active. The kids wanted to make it a family activity - and since I didn't have the energy to play ball, we decided on a kitchen adventure.

We rifled through the cupboard and fridge, and pulled out a box of organic cocoa powder, sweetened coconut flakes, raisins, Bisquick, eggs, confectioners sugar and milk. After a quick review of online recipes, none of which worked perfectly, I concocted the following recipe.

Ingredients:
Two and a half cups Bisquick
Three teaspoons baking powder
Eight tablespoons cocoa
Four eggs
Half cup butter
Half cup sugar
Quarter cup milk
Half cup raisins
One cup sweetened coconut

• Soften the butter. Beat the eggs till they are fluffy
• Sieve the Bisquick, cocoa and baking powder together into a large bowl
• Mix in the coconut flakes and raisings into the dry ingredients
• Fold in the butter, and then the eggs. Whisk the mixture gently and ensure there are no lumps (other than the raisins and coconut, of course!)
• Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees
• Generously butter a baking dish, pour in batter and pop it into to the oven for 30 minutes

The kids had a great time whisking the eggs, measuring out the ingredients, and generally doing pretty much everything except putting the dish into the oven and taking it out. Try it - this was fun and delicious!

Betsy's Farmer Market Salad Recipes

Every so often, we try to get the neighbors together for a peripatetic dinner. We start with appetizers in one apartment, dinner in another, dessert in the third, etc. The changes in decor, mood and wine as we progress through the evening can make the whole experience mildly kaleidoscopic. ...A couple of weekends ago, after around a hundred emails, we managed to get four families together and it proved, as always, to be congenial, relaxed and a gastronomical adventure. My neighbor Betsy whipped up some divine salads this year, and I asked her to share them. Below is her email....

"The recipe quantities are very informal because these are really just farmers' market recipes...I figure it out as I go along.

Watermelon Salad
Ingredients:
seedless watermelon (enough to yield chunks to fill your salad bowl 3/4 full)
goat cheese (you can use fresh chevre, or feta, or a firm goat cheese like a crottin - 1/4 pound is plenty)
fresh mint (3-4 sprigs - do not use dried mint! - washed and patted dry)
arugula (2 big handfuls, washed and spun dry)
sea salt

Making the salad:
Chop the fresh mint leaves finely and place in your salad bowl.
Slice as much melon as you want to use, peel it, cut into bite-size chunks, and toss the melon gently in the salad bowl with the mint.
Crumble the cheese into the salad bowl, add the arugula, and toss gently.
Season with as much or as little sea salt as you like; I use sea salt because the crunch adds a nice texture.
Serve promptly because otherwise you will have watermelon-cheese soup.

Flat Salad
(I call this "flat salad" because of how it's served, not because the flavors are flat!)
Ingredients:
the most flavorful heirloom tomatoes available at the Greenmarket (taste and choose)
fresh corn in the husk
fresh shelling beans (cranberry beans, sometimes called borlotti beans, are what I used)
sweet red onions
sweet basil
olive oil
red wine vinegar
and a large serving platter.

The quantities will vary depending on the size of the tomatoes, how many people you are feeding, and the size of your serving platter. For the six of us, I used four big tomatoes (2 red/yellow, 2 red) and 2 or 3 smaller green tomatoes, plus 1 ear of corn, about 2 cups of beans (shelled - that would be around 1 pound of beans unshelled), and one red onion.

Making the salad:
First, make the beans. Put some water on to boil while you shell the beans, but don't salt the water because it will make the beans tough. Drop the shelled beans into the water with some peppercorns and 2-3 crushed garlic cloves, turn the heat down to medium (a slow boil), and cook the beans for 15 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and taste a bean to check for done-ness. They should be soft inside but not sloppy-squishy-soft. If they need more cooking, check for doneness every 5 minutes or so. When the beans are done, drain them and pour 1 tbsp olive oil over them while they're warm; season with sea salt and set aside.

While the beans are cooking, slice the tomatoes horizontally into circles about 1/2" thick and arrange them on the platter. Husk the corn, rinse the ears, put each in a plastic bag, and microwave for 1 minute; turn the ears over and microwave for another minute; then take them out of the plastic so they don't steam, and let them cool till you can handle them. With a sharp knife, shave the kernels off the cobs and scatter the kernels over the sliced tomatoes. Mince as much basil as you like, add it to the beans, and scatter the beans and basil over the corn. Slice the onion into very thin crescents and put the slices in a bowl. Over them, pour 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes. Taste and if they're still bitter, cover the bowl and microwave for another 1 or 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, add 1 tbsp peanut oil, and pour the onions and the dressing over the tomato/beans/corn platter. Serve with bread to mop up the tomato juice.

There are, of course, variations on this theme. Barry likes to arrange the tomatoes on top of a bed of chopped romaine lettuce. When fresh shelling beans aren't available, I leave them out and add a second ear of corn instead. And so on. It's really a Greenmarket salad because you choose the ingredients based on what looks good to eat."

Modakams (Kozhakatta) for modern times

I've always thought of Ganesha as the with-it God -- like the hip older relative who enjoys the latest blogs and youtube clips. A sense of Ganesh as friend, guide and general obstacle-destroyer guides the common Hindu sensibility. Of course, it's always been a little problematic for me to explain the whole dad-chopping-off head element of the story to the kids. I'll wait a couple of decades before having a happy chat about the contrast with the other famous acrimonious father-dad pairing of Oedipus and Laius.

Legend has it that Ganesha loved the sweet, round sweet called the moda, modakam or kozhakatta (I guess the literal translation of that word is basically, hand-molded clump!) Today is Ganesha chaturthi or Vinayaka chaturthi, considered his birthday. One celebrates by making modakams and praying to him in the morning. It was nice that it was the first day of school for the kids too - and I hoped that Ganesha's blessings went with them. A great modakam would require all kinds of grinding and stirring thick mixes. D and I took the easier route - and above are some of our modakams (the little one with some of the filling showing is D's!). Here's our recipe.

Modakan or Kozhakatta
Ingredients:
One cup rice powder
Two tablespoons rava
Three-fourths cup of water
One cup shredded coconut for the filling, half cup coconut for the outer shell
Two teaspoons brown sugar (optional)
One cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of cardomom seeds
2 teaspoons ghee (optional)

• Prepare the filling: you can choose to go with the low-fat approach and just use the cup of coconut as is for a slightly less sweet end-product. I added brown sugar to give the filling some color and sweetness. I also cooked the mix in some ghee to give it some pliability. I had started heating the ghee over a low flame, and tossed in the spices to give it some flavor, fished out the spices once they started sputtering, then put the coconut mix in and tossed it till golden.
• Set the filling aside
• Bring the water to a boil. Then in a mixer, add the rice flour, rava, half cup of coconut, a pinch of salt, then slowly add in the hot water and blend the mixture. D loves to manage the buttons of the mixer, pressing blend then stop as we go through the steps. It's real team work!
• Take the mix out, let cool
• Coat your palm with ghee or flour. Pat about two tablespoons of the mix into a thick layer, then scoop in a tablespoon of the filling in. D did a great job of creating perfectly flat layers of dough on her little palms
• Slowly start folding in the dough, until you have a dumpling
• Make sure to clean your palms between modakams, or you'll have a sticky mess to content with. D was great about reminding me to clean up each time (have a wet napkin or dish-cloth handy, and the ghee or flour set up for easy reach for your child and you)
• Steam the modakam for 15 minutes, and voila, you have Ganesha's prasadam AND
  a tasty treat that the kids will devour
  

BBQ Nights

Apologies to my pals who haven't had a blog post inflicted on them in a few weeks. I'm recovering from a suburban experiment, and continuing to juggle an interestingly busy work schedule.




So, suburban experiment - that needs some explaining. Our Ridgewood pals N and T were off to the Jersey short, and extended an invitation to us to use their home while they were away. The idea was for us to commute to work from the suburb, and get a sense of what the commuting life would feel like. Lovely home, lovely garden, lovely nature, but man - we're just NOT commuting types!!




We did manage to get two lovely weekends in - and we managed to have an outdoor BBQ lunch the first Sunday. The Saturday after, however, my visiting sis and parents were greeted by light August showers. I'd marinated a whole bunch of meats and skewered kebabs, but found N's stove-top griddle that worked fantastically for a whole indoor BBQ. We had a fantastic candle-lit meal and all over-ate! I even got my dad to eat eggplant - which he normally won't touch! The kebabs were a great hit, as were the pork chops.

Here's what I learned, from my first real full-blown BB experience -- it's all about the marinade and planning for the rotation of quick cook and slow cooking items. I also learned to cook up a stir-fried squash dish that worked fantastically.

The BBQ line-up...

• Stir-fried squash


• Shrimp kebabs


• Chicken kebabs


• Pork chops


• Grilled eggplants


• Grilled potato wedges (these are dicey!!)


• Grilled portabello mushrooms
  

Stir-fried squash:

One of two squash
Half an onion
Two table-spoons oil (sesame oil works well, but I'm addicted to olive oil now)
Soy sauce
Black-bean or stir fry sauce (I've made a separate sauce with tomatoe, onions and sugar that would work too -- will upload that soon)
Half teaspoon sesame seeds

Dice the squash and onions into half-inch cubes. Heat the oil, and toss in some sesame seeds. Start by frying the diced onions till they get to be transculent. Before they get too browned, toss in the squash and let the squash brown. Once the squash starts to soften, put in about a half-cup of the sauce and let simmer. Take the dish off the stove-top while there's still some crunch to the veggies and you've got a pretty good center to a meat-laden plate!

Grilled Eggplants


The trick here is to marinate the sliced eggplants in a dash of lemon juice, red chilli powder, salt and olive oil.

Generally, you'll have a good sense of how much of the spices you need to use. It's generally half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of pepper or chilli powder for one large eggplant.

These need to be watched closely, since they can brown. It's nice to get them crunchy - I know one of our pals uses a foil on the grill so they can crisp up a little more without sogging up.

Pork Chop marinade: For two medium sized chops, use three teaspoons of soy sauce, four crushed garlic cloves, a teaspoon BBQ sauce, Salsito red chilli sauce. Marinade overnight (keeping them in the fridge, of course!)That marinade will really liven up a BBQ'd pork chop!

Recommendation: Kerala Fish Curry from Daily Delight

Readers of previous posts may have noticed my purist tendencies: let the kids know what veggies they're eating, don't cop out and use ready-made masalas, etc. However, I am happy to announce that I've found a ready-to-eat product that I'll vouch for. We picked up some frozen, ready-to-eat Kerala Fish Curry (a brand called Daily Delight) when we were driving through Edison a couple of weekends ago. Getting in late from work today, I heated up the dish and was truly impressed: "just like mom makes it!" There was enough for two grown-ups, if you eat it with rice or a dosa. It would certainly be a filling dish for one. At $3.99, this was fantastic value-for-money. I was also happy to see that this was actually prepared in Kerala - yaay for globalization, I say.

An Argentine twist on scrambled eggs

When we told friends we were off for a couple of weeks in Buenos Aireas, they all warned that we'd better be into beef in a big way. Well, I'm not, but it's not hard to find fantastic food here in the many great restaurants that dot this city. Most friends seemed to have a favorite. The breads and starters at Cabana las Lilas alone was worth the hike to Puerto Madero - thanks for that recommendation C. Thanks to V for introducing us to the empanadas of La Querencia in Recoleta. It's here that D discovered the Gramaja scrambled egg dish that she has announced is her favorite dish (for now!!) The friends who took us to the restaurant were dismissive of the dish, since it's considered a bit of a unsophisticated, hardy dish, but like a lot of hardy dishes, it was actually amazingly tasty. A recipe follows at the end of this post....

I have to admit that the trip has been an eye-opener in many ways. The idea that this country was independent in 1816 - way before India's unified tussle with the crown began - was startling. It's just an indicator of our (my) relative lack of exposure to South American history.... Well, Gramajo has a bit of history attached too. It seems to have been first cooked up, or perhaps just recorded properly, in the mid-1860s when President Roca met an administrator called Artemio Gramajo who had the dish made for him while the President was visiting his regiment. Gramajo became the president's fast friend, and the Gramajo scrambled egg became a fixture in the latter's diet. It's a dish known to have been the kicker to a soldier's day, but is now a fixture at restaurants where I see the dish produced for kids in neighboring tables quite regularly... kids seem to choose either gramajo or the Milanese chicken (a variant of the schnitzel.)

Gramajo Scrambled Eggs

Half a medium sized onion (though most traditional recipes suggest two onions)

One medium sized potato (once again, the online recipes tend to suggest two, but I wasn't ready for that!!)

One cup peas (or boiled beans)

Half a cup of cooked cubed chicken (I made do with the chicken, because I hadn't bought any ham at the local Coto, tho' that's the traditional meat used)

Four eggs

Salt, pepper, oil

• Cut the onion into very small cubes and heat slowly in oil till they get to be soft and a translucent
• Peel the potato and cut into tin trips (almost like french fries, tho thinner.) Fry the potato strips in a layer of oil in a pan, till they are crisp and golden brown. Pull them out of the oil and pat out the oil with a paper napkin
• Pat the cubed chicken with a little salt, then saute till cooked in the oil left in the panPrep the peas (I use frozen peas, and defrosting well is critical for a nice dish)Beat eggs well, and add salt and pepper to taste Put in the fried potatoes and peas back in with the chicken, and stir so that everything heats evenly
• Add the beaten eggs and stir gently till the eggs set but doesn't get thoroughly dried out
• I served the gramajo with whole wheat bread and ketchup, but traditionally, it's seems to be served with rolls or small baguettes

For a friend

My friend C sent us a note today that made us reflect on the fragility of life, and reminded us to cherish who we have in our lives. Sharing part of her note with you.

"Thank you for helping the New York Out of the Darkness walk raise more than $1.7 million for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

In the early evening of June 7, nearly 1,200 walkers and more than 300 crew members gathered in Brooklyn for the start of the walk. Our wounds, generally hidden, were made public for one night by colored beaded necklaces. Those who had lost a child to suicide wore white beads. Survivor spouses wore red. Siblings, orange. Supporters, blue. I wore gold beads signifying the loss of a parent, purple for the loss of another relative or friend, and green as a sign of my personal struggles with depression.

I was surprised by the intense emotions I felt as I saw clusters of people wearing a single face or name on their matching t-shirts. The colors of their beads announcing that this walker was the mother, this the sister, this the husband, this the friend… The concentric circles of devastation wrought by just one suicide were made palpable by far too many different groups. Our grief, often shared only privately, was openly acknowledged and made visible. It was difficult to process it all.

In the twenty years since my father’s death, I have reached a certain understanding about that loss. But the walk made it clear to me that I haven’t begun to process the immeasurable pain and loss caused by the fact that every 16 minutes someone else dies by suicide. Every 16 minutes the miracle of life is extinguished. And every 16 minutes new circles, pulsating with grief and rage and what ifs, are formed around each of those deaths.

The tragedy is heightened as this suffering is largely unnecessary: Ninety percent of the people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable psychiatric condition.

At the opening ceremonies, Bob Gebbia, the executive director of AFSP, highlighted that psychiatric illness must be recognized as a disease in order to prevent suicide: “We are walking tonight to state loud and clear that depression and other mental illnesses are just that – illnesses. Not weaknesses. Not character flaws. These illnesses of the brain are nothing to be ashamed of. And like so many other illnesses they can sometimes be fatal. Those suffering require – and deserve – understanding, treatment, and the same compassion as people afflicted with any other illness.”

We also heard from a mom who lost both of her twin sons to suicide. On the third anniversary of her eldest son’s death, she placed a memorial ad in her local newspaper. The tribute apparently included the cause of his death and some information about mood disorders and suicide. The next day a coworker who had known the mom and the sons for 20 years approached her and asked, “When are you going to stop doing this?” “Doing what?” “This whole suicide thing. When are you going to just get over it and move on?”

I’m not exactly sure how the mom responded to her coworker, but I imagine it was some form of what she told us: “I’ll stop when suicide stops. I’ll stop when no other parent, friend, spouse, or family member has to live my nightmare. I’ll stop doing this when there is mental health parity and anyone who needs it can get treatment for depression just like they can for any other illness.”

Her resolve buoyed us, and we filed out of Cadman Plaza, silent or speaking in hushed voices. The beauty of the Promenade and the Manhattan skyline at sunset felt surreal. Then we began the half-mile ascent to the crest of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Watchtower clock announced that at 8 PM, even with the breezes from the water, the temperature was 88 degrees. We were only at the beginning, and as we slogged upward through the thick air, the obstacles to a world without suicide seemed manifest.

I was grateful though for the demanding conditions that evening, thankful for the physical effort and discomforts. They served to balance the emotional aspects of the walk. I walked with a few women I had met earlier in my training. Among us we had lost a father, uncle, sister, brother, and two dear friends. Lizzie, pictured here with me, lost her brother to mental illness in November.

After walking around the tip of Manhattan (punctuated by a brief but impressive thunderstorm), up to Central Park, and back downtown again, my group crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for a second time. It was 4 AM, and the clock showed the walk’s lowest temperature: 78 degrees. As we entered Cadman Plaza we were greeted by the sight of a thousand luminaria leading the way to the stage. Before the event, each walker had been given a white bag on which to detail why they were walking. The bags were now filled with lights and bore the names and pictures of individuals lost to suicide, messages to loved ones, cries for an end to this tragedy, and prayers of hope for those struggling with mental illness.
As a result of my fundraising appeal, many of you shared with me that you and your families had also been touched by suicide and mood disorders. Your stories made very concrete the scope of this problem, and I was truly honored to pay tribute to your loved ones’ memories and to acknowledge their suffering by placing a luminaria for each of them and by wearing their names on the back of my shirt.

I walked to honor my dad, Norman Clark, and my uncle Brad. It was a balm for me to also walk in memory of the following:

Portia’s dad, Saint Elmo Cribbs
Jenny’s mom, Mary Ellen Gee
Jenny’s uncle, Justus Eddy
Joan Lakin
Adrian’s cousin, Robert Levy
Quentin’s dad, Glen Curtis
Pete’s dad
Kristi’s grandfather, George
Scott’s aunt and cousin
Nuria’s dad, Luis Pereira
Roberta’s mom
Stuart deProsse"

Thanks, dear C, for sharing your story, and your endeavor with us.

Pea Soup Swim

I swam in the Hudson River this Sunday afternoon, and actually enjoyed it. And yes, I jumped - wasn't pushed! It started as a bit of a lark, something I thought I would back out of once I had achieved my exercise goals. The quest to qualify was initially my goal (88 lengths in our pool!) ...and then I qualified. Once that was done, I couldn't let myself down. I had to do it!

Anyway, the first indication that something may be amiss was when I received an email and then a call from the organizers of the Park to Park swim that said that they'd changed the course of the race. No longer was it going to be with the direction of the current (from 144 to 166 street), but out from 166 to the center of the river, then downtown against the current and back to the starting point.

Not one of the 227 swimmers who gather that Sunday morning seems fazed by this change - some were clearly biatheletes, people who had done these swims many times before and there to win, and others were like me, just in it for fun. For me, the question was, would I actually dive in. I did (see youtube video of the start)! Not just that, I survived and valiantly battled the currents for 25 minutes, at which point I flipped on my back and tried the back stroke (from pure exhaustion) and was shocked when an NYPD motor boat passed by and one of the guys said - "you're going backwards...you all are!" I grabbed a nearby Kayak and looked around - and saw swimmers being ferried back to shore. I had put off giving up, since I didn't want to be the first one giving up, or have my kids see my give up. Now that I knew that completing the swim was a futile exercise, I was ok with being rescued! The cheery kayak'er (who struggled mightily with the currents himself) and the lovely NYPD blokes got me and a bunch of others back to the rocks and we clambered back.

Apart from my family posse (dad, mom, hubby and kids), some of our friends came to cheer me on. I'm not sure what they thought - that I was demented, possibly, but maybe also kinda brave...? Either way, they proved their mettle by actually hugging and kissing me, Hudson water and all. The parents deserve special mention, since they had trekked out to umpteen rifle shooting competitions before in my avatar as rifle champ, but this was the first time they saw me in a new, and dangerous, element. Mamma slept a couple of hours that evening, as she worked out her stress and the exhaustion of the long walk through Washinton Sqare park! And of course, a special thanks (and many Hudson-smelling hugs) to the extremely supportive guy by my side!!

So, you ask, what's with the title of this post? Just 'cause I remember thinking as I dived into the river that it looked and felt a little like Pea Soup! The resemblance ends there - I drank a couple of quarts of the stuff as I swam across the current and kept getting hit in the face by the swells as I came up for air. Boy, was I happy I got all those shots (Hep A, Typhoid and Tetanus, in case you're wondering.) Still, I'm sharing a Pea Soup recipe that I've played with in the past, since a recipe or food reference is the price of entry on this blog!!

Pea Soup a la Hudson!

One and a half cups of green peas (split peas soak and hence cook faster)
Four cups chicken (or veggie) broth
Half a small onion, diced
One medium carrot, diced
Quarter teaspoon lime juice
One garlic clove
Half a stalk of celery
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of turmeric and garam masala for the extra punch

• Soak the peas in the broth overnight (in the fridge, or the broth will turn)
• Cook the peas and broth till the peas start to show they are cooking, which should take around 20 minutes
• Toss in the diced garlic, onion, carrot and celery and cook with the turmeric and garam masala
• Pick out some of the vegetable pieces when they get tender, to add some character to the soup at the end
• Puree the cooked peas and vegetables to a smooth consistency (you may need to add some broth, in case it gets too thick)
• Mix in the reserved vegetables and serve
• Optional: Dribble some cream to decorate the soup as you serve in bowls. You can also add in cubed ham with the vegetables, which is quite conventional. You might also garnish with a sprig of mint, if you want to mix it up a bit!

My debts to Oxford... and they're not the ones you're thinking of

My years in Oxford were quite life-changing - the thought-provoking tutorials, the plethora of inspiring, forgotten books in the Indian Institute section of the Bodleian library, graduate life.

But the element that's most relevant to this blog? Oxford is where I was forced to learn that essential life-skill -- cooking! My recent visit back there for the Rhodes Women's Reunion (celebrating 30 years of women Rhodes scholars) underscored that the essentials don't really change at Oxford. The food at hall was still weird enough to ensure that scholars will either learn to live on crisps and Coke or start/renew their culinary journeys.

On the first evening at Oxford, Jen, our lovely hostess, walked a group of us over to Balliol College, my nurturing alma mater. The smiling porter, the gorgeous green quad, the leafy promenade, the pleasant undergrads all reminded me of my time there 13 years ago. We walked into hall (think the dining hall of Harry Potter's school) and my mind flashed back to memories of long chats about the nature of death, the meaning of life, the newest Bond movie...and remembered why I tended to wear jeans a lot those days (the cost of laundry, but also the long benches meant that you have to swivel over them very inelegantly -- the frock I was wearing made the whole effort quite bothersome!)

They were serving a vegetable dish of corn and peppers with turkey cordon bleu. I opted for this combination and received a huge mound of the slightly flavored vegetables and the breaded white meat with cheese in the center. Not the best meal I've had, but adequate. I saw why I went out at the end of the first week and bought myself an inexpensive set of cooking pots, pans and ladles at Argos. A daily dose of this stuff would have killed of some part of me....
I wasn't surprised when I saw that they had closed the dining hall at Holywell Manor - our cerebral and welcoming graduate accomadations, where I learned so much from fellow-students and extremely philosophical porters (so great to see Terry and Ken there again)

I also remembered why I would save for formal hall (more dressy dinners in cap and gown with a small price tag attached). I was at high table at the Rhodes House dinner the next evening, and the elegance and delicate flavors of the meal that evening were such a great contrast to normal hall. Even the asparagus in the salad had a distinct flavor that set it apart from even the best NYC restaurant. Then came a superior chicken with potatoes au gratin. The mousse with berries hidden in it was sinful, and probably cost me two 45-minute sets on the elliptical machine. The well-chosen wines (I wish I had taken notes) rounded it all off beautifully.

So, thank you Oxford for an inimitable educational experience, but also for making me learn the basics of good cooking (I'll share my first experiments with you some time soon -- a good dal, tossed tuna, vegetable noodles, sambar...), some skill for a well-organized sit down dinner, and an appreciation of good wine (and an occasional port).

(The pix on this page: our group being led by a bagpiper from the keynote lecture by Bonnie St. John at the Sheldonian to Rhodes House; the head of the Rhodes Trust speaking to us at the Rhodes House dinner; and one of me speaking at the opening panel).

Not doing it all

A comment on a previous post, and ruminations on a Boston Globe article on the choices women make got me thinking about ambitions and effort, priorities and circumstances, and the idea of having the time for multiple acts in one's life. There was a time when I felt it was critical to live life like there was no tomorrow, but I now find myself at a point where it's just irresponsible to live that way. I have to think of there being many days and many acts ahead for the family and me. Being responsible in the choices I make (exercising, dedicating saturdays to taking the kids to Balvihar, teaching them about infinity and math early, lowering stress at work, etc.) feel more critical than ever before....

"A side of broccoli with my breakfast"

S was brushing my son K's teeth in the kids' bathroom and I heard snatches of their conversation. "Tomorrow, I'd like to have broccoli on the side for breakfast", says K.

Sure, I've verged on monomaniacal in my insistence on the kids having vegetables at pretty much every lunch and dinner, and broccoli has been standard fare in my kitchen. But this took it to a totally different level -- I'm impressed. K has tended to consistently choose broccoli on the side when we go out for a meal. No whining, just a happy child digging into the florets. D doesn't complain, but the enthusiasm K brings to the broccoli is astonishing.

As they went in for story time, I hear K tell us, "And now, tell me a story of someone who ate vegetables and did exercise." Given that the D, K and I sat down and ate a bag of spinach ( tossed with chopped mandarin slices, sesame tofu and Caesar dressing) for lunch today, I feel I can safely say these are not veggie-phobic kids!

Swearing off packaged masalas

I've had friends and relatives who seem to be able to whip up fantastic dishes with the help of the magicians at different ready made spice mix purveyors (Eastern Brand, Pataks and MTR, to name a few). Well, I'm swearing off that formula. In the past month, I tried a Fish curry masala, a curry sauce straight from the bottle and a Bombay biriyani mix. I was religious in measuring out all the ingredients, sticking to the recipe, and all that jazz. All I can say is that none of them lived up my mom's good old "crunch the fresh spices in a pestle, yaar" approach. So, it's goodbye, masalas-out-of-a- pouch, welcome back little wood mortar-and-pestle.

Birthday planning

So, a little early in the day, I decided to do what I've marvelled at other moms for doing. This year, I'm going to be cooking up all the food for the birthday. Here's what the menu looks like right now:

1. Home made cake (yes!!)
2. A large pasta dish with white sauce and signature vegetables added!
3. Baked Mac and Cheese (will need to get the recipe from friend Sanjana, who was featured in my Superbowl blog post)
4. Meatballs or Indian-style cutlets
5. Veggie platter (with blue cheese dipping sauce)
6. Fruit platter (with chocolate dipping sauce)
7. Rotis (confession -- these will probably come pre-cooked out of a packet!)
8. Chicken curry
9. Garbanzos (Channa curry) or paneer curry
10. Maybe S's Malabar Shrimp
...and I guess we'll need to play it safe and order in some pizzas as well.

What do you think? Over the top? I got a couple of suggestions for tofu-related dishes, but I'm not convinced

It's the jeans, ouch, I mean genes

Asks sister D "This is where we throw up our hands and blame it all on the genes???!!" when she read this BBC online article.

Meanwhile, saw a clip this morning on the today show (look for the "how to help your body image" video) that talked about how hanging on to your old skinny jeans can be bad for your body image (sets up unrealistic expectations, negative internal dialogues, etc.) I've been pretty good about throwing the really old ones out (like the one I went spent most of my undergrad years in), but it was fun being able to get back into my pre-baby jeans the other day. Hurray for swimming and elliptical trainers!

Birthday foods

Am starting to think through birthday menus, and wondered what people out there have tried and enjoyed. Do me a favor, and if you have ideas, click on comments and tell me more!

Tortelloni and eggplant

I've tended to ignore the recipe suggestions on ingredient bags before, but the Barilla eggplant suggestion worked out really well. I didn't have cherry tomatoes, but diced tomatoes worked just as well. I also tossed in some cheese and a touch of onions.
Ingredients:
One 18 oz. bag tortelloni (I used the ricotta and spinach tortelloni)
Three tablespoons olive oil
One clove garlic diced
One cup chopped eggplants
One medium tomato diced
Two tablespoons chopped basil leaves
Half a teaspoon salt
Quarter cup grated cheese
Quarter onion diced
Quarter cup water

• Cook tortelloni, which usually takes around 10 to 12 minutes. Drain
• Heat the olive oil and fry the garlic which starts up a lovely aroma around the house
• Saute the eggplant in the flavored olive oil, taking care to stir often. Let the eggplant start to turn transclucent
• Add the tomatoes and basil, water and salt
• Let the mix simmer so that the some of the eggplant gets squishy
• Take the mix off the heat, and add to the cooked tortelloni, and sprinkle in the onion for a spicy kick (for the grown-ups -- the kids got it onion-free)
• Top it all off with the cheese or basil

Eggs galore: allrecipes report

I just received a note on a site called allrecipes which has a bunch of recipes. I found their reports interesting though. Who knew eggs were this poplular? Devilled eggs and Egg salad were in their top three most-searched terms last month. I guess it's not surprising that I had an urge to try out scotch eggs this past weekend!

Cream of Vegetable Soup

In my last post, I mentioned a vegetable soup that accompanied the scotch eggs surprisingly well. It took a more work than pouring out of a can (!) but the effort was so worth it....

Ingredients:
750 ml Vegetable stock
Four stalks of celery (around 60 gms)
One small onion (60 gms)
Two medium potatoes (120 gms)
6 baby carrots
Two medium tomatoes
3/4 turnip (around 60 gms)
Two heaped tablespoons flour
15 gms butter
One cup milk
Salt to taste

• Wash and chop all the vegetables into half inch cubes
• Drop them in a deep saucepan with the cold stock, and cook on a medium flame till the veggies are tender. This should take about 20 minutes
• Whip the whole mix in a food processor (D loved to help with this), and ideally sieve the puree to get a smooth extract (another activity she had a whale of a time with!)
• Prepare a white sauce with the flour, butter and milk. To do this, first melt the butter in a sauce pan, then whisk in the flour ensuring that there is no clumping and don't let the flour brown. Once the flour and butter are whisked in to a smooth paste, pour in the milk. Boil this mix till it gets to a nice thick consistency, whisking all along
• Add the white sauce to the puree, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Reheat and serve hot

Scotch Eggs!

The kids and I had loads of fun this weekend, cooking up brunch for their visiting pals. Rather than the usual - which in our case tends to be omelets, smoked salmon and bagels or dosas and chutney - we went with scotch eggs, vegetable soup and garlic bread. A little eclectic, but it worked.

Scotch Eggs Ingredients:

Eight hard boiled eggs

Two uncooked eggs

One and half pounds ground turkey meat

One small chopped onion

One sprig parsley
Four tablespoons flour

Breadcrumbs

Pepper to taste

2 teaspoons salt

Oil to fry

• Shell hard boiled eggs - get the kids to do this! Roll them in flour seasoned slightly with a pinch or two of salt and pepper
• Finely chop the onions and the parsley. Mix it into the minced meat with salt and pepper
• Coat the eggs with the meat mixture so that the eggs are not visible. Your goal should be to have at least a couple of millimeters of meat all around the egg
• Beat the uncooked eggs in a separate bowl
• Roll the meat-covered egg with the raw egg, then coat in breadcrumbs
• Heat the oil on a medium flame, then pop in the coated eggs
• Let the coated eggs cook to a nice golden brown
• Cut the eggs in half and set in a nice pattern, either on lettuce or with parsley springs
• The kids will wold them down! They didn't even ask for ketchup!! I had forgotten to take pictures before the meal, hence the lonely eggs shown in the picture above!

Belly fat!

Was browsing articles on health and popped ears (I have a bout of it right now thanks to diving too deep in our pool), and for some odd reason turned up this article. I clearly need some lessons on better search techniques - wonder who I should work with on that?
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_12_23/ai_n6125800/pg_1
"While experts do know that high cortisol levels contribute to abnormal accumulation of abdominal fat and the subsequent development of life-threatening diseases, they haven't yet come up with a magic nail to permanently deflate your spare tire."
The article also has a nice couscous recipe that introduced Feta cheese and mint into the mix. I'll have to try that next time.

Chicken baingan-wala (Chicken and Eggplant curry)

My mother-in-law is visiting and made a fantastic, easy curry that some of you might want to try out. I'd never used eggplant in my chicken curry, but this was an eye-opener.

Ingredients:

Two pounds chicken (split thighs)

Half a large eggplant (three cups when cubed)

One potato, cubed

One sliced onion

One teaspoon crushed ginger

Two cloves crushed garlicHalf a teaspoon turmeric

Coriander leaves to garnish the dish

RajBhog Madras Curry Paste (Madras curry pastes are pretty spicy and easy to pull together. Here's one on recipezaar that you can try)

Three tablespoons of olive oil

• Heat the oil, and fry the ginger and garlic, then toss in the onion and brown
• Add the Madras Curry paste and mix in the turmeric. Saute till the mixture comes to a boil
• Add the diced potato and chicken and cover well in the paste
• As the chicken gets tender, add the eggplant and let soften
• Add around a half-cup of hot water to cook the mix
• An optional addition is two tablespoons of coconut powder, which thickens the sauce

This is a non-traditional side-dish, which can be served with rice or flat breads. It had an interesting Italian element to it all - perhaps thanks to the eggplant.

Water, again

I've been a bit of a water advocate, since I remember using it as a mechanism to still my beating heart a little when I competed in rifle-shooting events. I always felt like it was more about the act of having to stop, breath, take a sip, reflect, than the physiological effect of the water. However, with no real evidence to the contrary, I worked to drink at least eight glasses of water a day, as I described in a previous post. Now, the scientists have gotten back on the "don't over-hydrate" platform.

A couple of University of Pennsylvania researchers seem to suggest that there is little scientific data to suggest that over hydrating is beneficial in terms of weight control, better skin, etc.... Well, my approach is, as long as it's not proven to be detrimental, I'll keep with my eight glass regimen.

Deepa's Carrot Halva

"Serious competition from the Nellari family", said my brother-in-law, as he emailed me my sister's recipe. I've eaten my sister's desserts and have to admit she can do some magic in that department. Her Halva is delicious.

[For the sociologists out there, Nellari is my matrilineal family name.]

Ingredients:

Four Cups Grated carrots

12 Oz Evaporated SkimMilk

1/2 cup sugar or sugar alternate

Sliced Almonds

3-4 pods cardomom

2-3 drops Rose waterPinch of saffron

• Mix carrots, sugar and evaporated milk in a pan and bring to boil.
• Cook until all the milk has been absorbed.
• Add rose water, crushedcardomom, almonds and mix well.
• Spread the Halva in a platter to 1inch thickness, garnish with almond slices.
• Maybe served hot or cold.Also can be combined with ice cream.
• Optional ingredients include raisins, lightly fried in butter and mixed in towards the end of step one

Artichokes: A Stuffed Artichoke recipe

My sister and brother can get away with a lot...mostly because I remember my first cooking experiment and how they took it. I must have been ten, enamoured by my mother's glossy Life-Time recipe books, and insistent that I cook myself. After a long afternoon's work cooking up an artichoke, I served it to my siblings, who dutifully ate them. Then I tried...and realized I'd really not cooked the tartar sauce properly. Yeuck!! Full points to S&D for chomping away and not complaining at all!

Today's artichoke effort came about because my son K read a Pinky Dinky Doo book that featured the interesting-looking veggie and decided he needed to try it. Poor hubby got sent out last night to find a couple (he tried three stores) and I scoured around for recipes. Serendipitously, friend Aparna mailed me an Italian recipe book that gave me a couple of ideas and the following was the result.

Ingredients:
Two medium sized artichokes
Olive oil
Lemon
One egg
Breadcrumbs

Stuffing:
Half pound minced turkey
Two tomatoes
One onion
One egg
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of turmeric, garam masala and chilli powder

Sauce:
Garlic
One onion
Two teaspoons diced garlic
Pasta sauce (one medium bottle)

• I prepped the stuffing as I normally would, i.e., with an Indian twist.... I started by frying diced onions till golden, mixing in the diced tomato, and when it all starts simmering, mix in the minced turkey and cook till the mix is dry.
• Cool the mix, then mix in one egg so the stuffing hangs together.
• Start prepping the artichoke. This means the following:
  - Slice the stem off, being careful not to cut into the artichoke flower
  - Pull off the outer bracts (the "petals" as the kids called them) till you get to the softer bracts
  - Chop the top of the floweret, so it has a stright edge on the top. Nip off the tips of the bracts that still have tips
  - Open out the flowerette, till you get to the central core. Gauge the tenderness of the central bracts, but I found that the center has to go. It's pretty sharp and hard
  - Having effectively created a cup for the stuffing, it's best to run water through the flowerettes, then squeeze lemon juice over them - this prevents discoloration
• Put in the stuffing into the artichoke "cups", patting it down nicely so it's packed in well (the kids loved doing this)
• Beat the extra egg, and dip the top of the stuffing and the encircling edges of the artichoke bracts in it. Then dip it in the bread crumbs (dad loved doing this!)
• In a large pan, heat oil, then put the srtichokes face-down (stuffing side down) in the oil so it fries nicely. Once the tops are brown, take them off and cool
• Start the sauce: fry the garlic and onion and pour in the pasta sauce, and bring to a simmer
• Put the two artichokes in a pot, pour the sauce around them and cook on a medium flame for about 40 minutes (that's right!!)

This was a complex job, but tactile and hence lots of fun for the kids. The unique look and feel also made this an interesting eating experience for the kiddies. They loved the stuffing, and liked the bite and pull technique needed to get the flesh off the bracts. It reminded them of the Muringa (also called drum-sticks in India) that I use in my sambars!

Crepes, faux or not

Our dear pal H surprised us earlier this week by sending us amazing brownies and pancake mix from the classy and wholesome Dancing Deer Baking Co. The brownies disappeared pretty much instantly, with some sobbing when the kids discovered that the grown-ups had helped

themselves to some of them! This morning, D and I decided to start the day with some cooking, and we opened up the pancake mix. As we were just getting started, something triggered D to

talk about her friend J's birthday when the kids all cooked up crepes. Of course, that meant one thing. Time to experiment!!

The recipe called for whipping up one egg, 3/4 cups of milk,

two tablespoons butter and a cup of pancake mix. Instead, I opted to shift the proportions a little, only adding in a little more than half a cup pancake mix. It worked! This mix made the best ever crepes!

D did most of the mixing, with some help from dad. D also enjoyed the pouring on the chocolate sauce!!!

Thanks, H -- come have breakfast with us again SOON!

Crunchy Okra: Simple but perfect

I've tended to avoid Okra - it has the awful habit of going all mushy on me. It was the veggie that filled me with foreboding...until this weekend. Friends R&V showed me how to ensure that you can get to a nice crunchy side-dish, without emptying out a bottle of oil at that! The key is to wash the okra, then pat dry thoroughly before cutting. As simple as that. I suspect my mother has told me this at some point, but I guess I just never gave the okra time to dry out properly.

Ingredients:

Two pounds of okra

Two teaspoons of salt

One teaspoon garam masala

One teaspoon coriander powder

About three tablespoons of oil

- Start by cutting off the okra tops, then cut the okra down the middle into two long pieces

- Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet or saucepan, and toss in the okra

- Add salt and saute the okra, stirring occasionally as it browns

- As the okra gets to be uniformly brown, put in the garam masala and coriander and stir in thoroughly

- It's ready to go!

- Here's R, and the okra dish her lil' uns are addicted to!

Responses to my "Presentation" survey...what's a leaf got to do with it?

It's been interesting for me to engage in my set of online communities - to see the way people engage, interact, respond, or not. This blog has been a great way for me to maintain a web journal, and also be my version of my mom's recipe book that my kids can hopefully access some day as they decide to try their hand at their own dinner parties, perhaps.

I had set up my survey on the importance of presentation on this blog - and got some results. But the colorful commentary came through my friends on facebook -they were responding to my emailed link! One surprising result - a number of them brought up the banana leaf as the best presentation device they remember. For those of you scratching your heads at this, take a gander at these photos from my last Onam party. Onam celebrates the harvest season, and commemorates the legendary homecoming of the great king Mahabali.

The picture to the left shows us in the middle of filling the plate with the traditional meal or the onam sadhya, which can have as many as twelve elements to the meal. Says one friend: "i prefer banana leaf - it's so old school it's cool!" And says another, " Okay the Mallu in me is coming out, I suggest leaves for a light train snack, or better newspaper. But it would have to be classy, the FT or Times?" !!

[Mallu is short for Malayalee, as people originally from the Indian state of Kerala are known]

A huge positive in this approach is that this is just one aspect of a fast-disappearing culture that tried to be very respectful of, and be one with, nature. Traditional Kerala culture tends to be very attuned with nature - and these leaf plates are bio-degradable, and pretty elegant.

If you want to try this out, ask for palm leaves at any Hispanic store. The come folded and frozen. Palm leaves can also be used to wrap and cook fish. I'll try this out and write it up some time soon.

Also, here's the quirkiest response to my question: "but remember to be careful eating at Grand Central Station. you could be in the middle of an expensive meal with a great glass of wine and suddenly you may be attacked by bats. it happened to me once -- i was there with a few other folks. everyone freaked out, including the restaurant workers."

Survey: What you've told me about yourselves

I love surveys - it's been great hearing from you folks. One survey that I've run since I started this blog about three months ago was a "Tell me about yourself" survey. Here's what I got:
Visitors were friends of Roopa, from the USA mostly, and many were moms looking for ideas.

Tell me more about what you want to see on this blog (vote at the survey to the right), and I'll see what I can do for you!

Your Opinion: Spicy Options at Grand Central

My husband S and I met up after work today, and wandered through Grand Central Station figuring out what we planned to do for dinner. It struck us that a quick meal at the dining concourse would work -- and boy, were we impressed by the variety there. Mexican, American, Chinese, Indian, Japanese....the works. We landed up opting for Cafe Spice Express. As we sat there eating our delicious and reasonably priced meals (dishes average between $ 7 to $9), I wondered, would I have enjoyed it better on an elegant plate, vs. the styrofoam boxes the food was served in?

Sangam: A delightful NY culinary experience

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited by Ishrat and Rafat to join them for a meal at their new restaurant on Bleecker Street, Sangam. It's a lovely spot, just the right size for a family or a small party. Rafat cooks up a storm in her kitchen, with amazing Nargisi Qeema Paratha Rolls, vegetarian rolls and biryanis. These dishes are based on her own recipes, and they are "la-jawab" (without compare!) I wish them the best with their new venture - and look forward to going back soon! FYI - Israt also runs Caffe Vivaldi, just around the corner and brings a nice cosmopolitan feel to the whole eating experience.

Mughlai or Moglai Biriyani

A few weeks ago, I posted about my parents sending over a copy of all my mother's special recipes from India. It's fun to browse through, and admire the nuances that make up a perfect dish. I was drawn to the Mughlai (Mogalai) Biriyani recipe, and tried it out for my sister's Surprise Birthday party. It was fragrant, and the next time around, I'll remember to cook the rice just a bit more. Here's the recipe. (This one calls for mutton/lamb, but I found it worked just fine with chicken.)

Ingredients:

Three cups Pulao or Basmati Rice (450 gms in the original recipe)

One pound lamb or chicken (500 gms)

One lime

Quarter cup nuts (almonds or cashews)

Mint leaves, a few sprigs

Three tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

1/4 bunch coriander leaves

Two large onions

One inch of ginger (one tablespoon crushed)

Five green chillies

Three cloves of garlic

One cup of yogurt

Half a cup of milk

One pinch or turmeric

Other spices: Saffron, bay leaves, cardamom, cumin and Cinnamon (a pinch of each)

Preparation:

• Grind ginger,chillies, garlic and nuts into a fine paste
• Fry sliced onions in the ghee or butter till golden brown and crisp
• Remove the onion and in the hot ghee, fry the ground paste and then add the meat in that paste and fry
• After about five minutes, add a cup of water and cook till the meat is tender. make sure to cover the meat as it cooks. I found it took about fifteen minutes, and I added another cup of water as well.
• In parallel, start cooking rice till it is 3/4 done (I'd use a quarter less water and cook for a quarter less time than normal)
• Once the rice is ready, add a teaspoon of salt to it and mix well
• In the cup of yogurt, add the powdered spices (except for the saffron), and add in a sliced chilli, mint and lime juice
• Add the yogurt mix to the cooked meat and stir in well
• Dissolve the saffron in some warm milk
• Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees
• In a strong (oven-safe), deep pan lay out one layer of rice. Plan on there being at least two layers of rice
• Sprinkle some saffron milk onto the rice. Next layer some onion and lamb on.
• Repeat the rice/ onion/ lamb (or chicken) layer
• Cover tightly and place in a 300 degree oven, and bake for an hour

Fat Pack

The Fat Pack article in the NYT brought to mind memories of friends of the family and relatives, who I watched as a child. Somehow, it always felt like they'd just given up. I kinda made up their mental banter "what the heck, that puri looks like it wants to be eaten. Mmm, fat..." I was fascinated, because there's definitely a gourmet/ gourmand behind one of the mystery doors in my head. I've tended to put a nicely toned guard outside that door, but the "fatty" slips out every so often. My guilty food pleasures are cheese and red wine...and puri/ bhaturas. What's yours?

Paneer curry, Peas and Paneer

Earlier this week, I tried my hand at making paneer. It worked out pretty well, and taught me to be less diffident about taking on tasks that I'd watched my mother do, with awe. Today I used up the paneer in a peas, carrots and paneer curry. (I'd have liked to use up the paneer the day after I made it - it needs that time to dry - but I had a pretty hectic week at work.)

Ingredients:
two tomatoes
one onion
about a quarter pound of paneer (from one gallon of milk) -
half a pound of peas and chopped carrots
one teaspoon chopped ginger
four cloves of garlic
a handful of cilantro
two teaspoons of garam masala
one teaspoon salt

• The kids and I started our cooking adventure with a chopping exercise. They wanted to try their hand at chopping. So I armed them with blunt butter knives, cutting sheets and very ripe tomatoes
• Toss the tomatoes in a mixer, and blend finely with the garlic and ginger (add about a cup of water to the mix)
• Shop the onions into slivers. Also cube the paneer
• Fry the onion in about a teaspoon of oil, add the garam masala. Once the onion gets to be translucent, add in the paneer and toss
• As the paneer starts to brown, add in the peas and carrots and sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt in
• Give the vegetables time to get about half cooked, then pour in the tomato/garlic/ginger paste
• Let simmer for about 15 minutes, till the liquid reduces and soaks into the paneer a bit
• It's ready to serve. This curry works equally well with rotis and rice

Cooking conversions

I was cooking up a storm from my mother's cook book this weekend (wait for the biriyani update, coming up soon!)

The metrics proved to be a challenge, given that her notes were in grams and litres. I kinda made it up, but this morning combed the web for helpful online converters. The most helpful one I found was simply called OnlineConversion.com. Very handy ways to swap one kind of measuring scale for another.

Enjoy.

Make your own Paneer (Panir, or Indian cottage cheese)

Paneer is a milk-protein preparation that reminds one of tofu and is a really nice additive to vegetarian curries. It takes a while to set nicely, and I've tended to opt to just buy the cubed paneer from shops. However, some over-zealous shopping instructions from me had resulted in both hubby and bro-in-law buying way too much much milk (two gallons - or two 3.7 litre bottles).
Ingredients:
One gallon milk
One lemon



You'll also need muslin or cheese cloth, a colander and a large pot that the colander can fit into.

Start by bringing the milk to a boil

As the milk starts to bubble, squeeze in the juice of a lemon


• Stir the milk and lemon concoction. The milk protein will start to separate out. Keep stirring so you don't get any inconsistent lumps.

As the mix comes to a second boil, take it off the stove and let cool

Wrap the muslin around the colander on the inside so you have an inner cloth "bowl" into which to ladle the mix. Place the whole into a larger pot so the operation doesn't get too messy!

Get the kids involved in pouring the mix into this set up. They'll love the sight of the solids emerging as the liquid percolates out

Once you have all the liquid out, twist the muslin so that you have the paneer caught in the end as a nice lump. Place it under a weight (I placed it between plates and put a heavy vase on top!) and let as much of the liquid seep out

It's ready! Try it in a peas or spinach curry. I'll share a recipe with you soon.

Spitter

Not enjoying discussions about current affairs!

VIDEO: Godhamba Dosa (Indian wheat flour pancakes) and chutney

[Am experimenting with something new: adding short videos from the kitchen. Using video from The Flip camera is very easy, I am learning...]

One of my favorite breakfasts as a child was mom's Godhamba dosa. It was really a good "default" breakfast, when we couldn't really be bothered with the longer process of making idli, rice-based dosa or upumma. D, my daughter, was playing sous chef today, and enjoying the flipping of the dosas...with some mess involved!

Rava Dosa
Ingredients
half cup chappati flour
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
half teaspoon salt
one cup water

• In a bowl, sift the salt into the flour, then mix in the water. The flour tends to be easy to mix, with little clumping.
• Mix in the cumin seeds
• Heat a flat skillet or pan, and smooth a thin layer of oil on it to prep it for cooking
• Ladle an eighth cup of the mix onto the skillet and smooth it out, working in a circular motion from center out (see the home-movie attached here!)
• Wait for the flour to set, then flip it over
• Take the dosa off the skillet when it gets to be a light brown
  
  

Sweet Chutney
As a child, I used to accompany the dosa with sugar. We experimented with sweet chutney today.

Ingredients:
quarter cup coconut flakes
half teaspoon cumin seeds
quarter cup water
(Conventional chutneys would also have one fresh green or red chili, a dried red chili, ten leaves of mint, and mustard seeds)

• Grind all the above in a food processor or mixie for about 5 minutes. It's ready to go. We also mixed in a teaspoon of confectioners sugar. See the action below!
• More conventional chutneys would have you blend a chili and mint. Once you pour out the chutney, you would pop the mustard seeds and dried chili in a teaspoon of oil and pour it in to top the chutney

Treasure trove of recipes

I came home last night and found a package waiting for me.

It was an international fedex package, containing a copy of the recipes my mother collected during her cookery classes, and years of kitchen experiments. My parents have watched our cooking adventures with interest, and this was their amazing contribution. I'm committing to cooking at least one of these cordon bleu recipes each week - look out!

Coming attractions: baked fish souffle, pomfret colbert (that right, colbert), baked coconut pudding

NOT coming: brain cutlets!!

Aloo, poori, tandoori chicken...and apple pancakes!

When I woke up this Sunday morning, I had no idea I would be putting everyone at home to work in my kitchen - but yes, I did. It started with my son K discovering an apple pancake recipe on a countries and art CD he's playing with. He declared that he really wanted pancakes - and dad went off to hunt and gather some eggs and apples. Meanwhile, I was starting to prep for brunch, since we had invited a lovely family who had just moved in to the UWS over as they unpacked.

First, the Apple Pancakes.
I have to admit, once again, I didn't follow the recipe on the CD - just my instincts. It worked!
Ingredients:
Two eggs
One apple
One cup milk
3/4 cup self-raising flour
Two tablespoons sugar
One pinch salt
One teaspoon vanilla extract
One teaspoon butter, softened

• D&K helped beat the eggs, them mixed in the milk, extract - and then mixed in the flour. The butter was dropped in and mixed as well, with the sugar and salt. (Hubby came in and saved the day, by whisking the lumpy mix!)
• Peel the apple and core it. Shop it into quarter inch cubes
• Mix the apple into the pancake mix
• On a heated, buttered pan or skillet, pour in a ladle of mix. Carefully swish the pan in a circular motion
• Give it a minute to form, and test the edges to make sure it wont fall apart. Flip it over and leave it over a medium flame
• Pop off the skillet and you're ready to go (the apple makes it pretty sweet). You could also use syrup, of course

I know I've ribbed hubby for a couple of years that I've had every other guy in his family cook in my kitchen (grandpa, brother in law, son....) I have to admit, he pulled together a great pancake breakfast today with his little sou chefs.

The brunch menu, which was initially going to be grilled fish and veggies, but brother-in-law M's girlfriend SP came over - and we'd talked about her love for pooris (puri). So the menu was revised quite radically. We went to pooris with a classic potato curry and some tandoori chicken to mix it up.

Of course, that meant that I put M and SP to work!

Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken breast pieces, legs and wings (about 2 pounds)
4 tablespoons Badshah tandoori masala (yes, I cheated)
1/2 cupYogurt
Juice from half a lemon

• Pat the masala onto the chicken pieces, but also mix in lemon juice and yogurt
• Marinate for three hours, then lay out on oiled pan and cook for 25 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 300 degrees
• Make sure to flip the pieces over about 15 minutes into the baking
• Serve with slices of lemon

Pooris (or Puris)

I didn't let up that this happens to be my Indian favorite breakfast/ brunch element. Given it's deep-fried, it is best to not to over-indulge. But it's so tasty, you HAVE to try it -- the kids love it. I've tended to get them into the job of rolling out and flattening the dough. We get creative shapes, of course!

Ingredients:
Three cups chapati flour or atta (This is a blend of wheat and malted barley flours, you can get in Indian stores)
Two tablespoon oil
Two tablespoons salt
Water
Flour to powder the rolling pin and rolling surface
One cup of oil in a small pan to fry

• Start by sifting the flour and salt together. Knead in the oil and start by slowly mixing in water
• I tend to use around a cup of water, but keep adding the water in a little by little till you have a firm dough
• Let the dough sit for an hour or so
• Roll the dough into balls, then start flattening the balls out into think circles
• Heat the oil over a medium flame, and test with a small pinch of dough. You're ready to fry the pooris when the dough pops up to the surface of the oil
• Slide the flattened dough slowly into the heated oil
• As bubbles start popping up on the dough, gently pat down the poori. That will cause the poori to puff up beautifully
• Once the poori is puffed, turn it over and let cook for about a half-minute and take out
• Let the oil leach out of the poori into a paper napkin

Pooris taste best with a nice potato curry

Ingredients:
Five skinned medium potatoes
Two medium onions
One teaspoon of mustard seeds
Three tablespoons of oil
Two large garlic
One teaspoon turmeric
Two teaspoons salt
Five curry leaves

• Chop the onions into medium slices. Skin the potatoes and chop into half-inch cubes
• In a medium pot, heat the oil. When hot, pour the mustard seeds in and let pop. Also toss in the curry leaves, which will crisp quickly
• Fry the onions in the mustard-scented oil till light brown. Also toss in the sliced garlic
• Mix in the potatoes and stir till all the potato pieces are coated in oil
• Then pour in water to cover the potatoes, and add in the turmeric and salt
• Let the mix cook for about ten to fifteen minutes, then stir the mix so that a few of the peices crumble. This gives the curry a nice thick feel

The potato curry is pretty unique. It works well with pooris and chappatis, but I'm not sure it works with much else. However, it has a nice delicate feel -- and the kids do tend to eat it by itself every so often.

Your thoughts: To lock or not to lock....

Do you/ would you install a child lock on your fridge?

Every so often, the hubby and I have civilized differences of opinion that end with, "Well dear, we'll just have to see how this works out." (Our version of "Ok, let's agree to disagree"!!) This week, we gently disagreed around the children's access to the fridge. It was brought to focus when we visited our pals H&U, who have a child-proofed fridge. In our place, our guys will, once in a while, pop into the kitchen to see what they want for a snack or a drink. My approach is to not really stock anything I don't think the kids should have AND/ OR make the rules really clear. So today, I insisted that they had to finish dinner and eat their grapes before they got hold of the Dibs (ice cream) -- and D&K were good about sticking with the rules. Once they were done with the grapes, though, they ran in, pulled out the Dibs, counted out their quota (I set it arbitrarily at 8) and were happy as ever.

Tell me what you think!

D whips up a smoothie

D (my daughter) was helping me around the kitchen this morning, putting away the dishes I took out of the dishwasher. When I pulled out the blender bowl, she announced that she wanted to make a milkshake. After some discussion around why her idea of a grape milkshake might not work, we settled on a banana-strawberry-blueberry milkshake. I set up the blender, with the usual cautionary stories on why hands didn't belong in the blender bowl, etc. With that, I set her up with the ingredients and she set to work.

Beginners Fruit Milkshake (Smoothie)
Ingredients:
One medium banana
Four Strawberries
One cup Blueberries
Two tsps sugar
Three-fourths cup 2% milk
One peeled apple
One cup shredded iced

• D started by putting in the banana, having broken it into a couple of peices. With some help getting the leaves off the strawberry, she used a childrens butter knife to cut the strawberries and toss them on top of the bananas. The follwed the cup of blueberries. Finally, toss in cubed, peeled apples.
• Pour in the milk, with as little poured on the counter, kitchen floor and yourself!
• Top off the whole thing with the ice and sugar, then hit blend (the only button on our blender that starts with B)

Durga proceeded to pur out the resulting milkshake into four cups, and serve the family! I'm happy to announce that very little landed on the floor! More importantly, I was thrilled to see how normal it felt to D to be creating in the kitchen -- and ensuring that all four of us tried her handiwork.

Health and wellness

We were at a lovely dinner at H&U's home yesterday with loads and loads of lovely food (I'm hoping to post a couple of those recipes soon) and scintillating conversation. A lot of it veered towards health and wellness - triggered partly by all that food, and partly by the fact that all of us were at least in our 30's and thinking or working actively on remaining healthy. Somewhere along the line, after long and sometimes fractious discussions on the role of medicine in modern society, we established that diet and exercise were the magic bullet after all!

I personally have found it amazingly difficult to manage my own expectations on health, wellness and body image. All my medical tests come back perfect, but I keep at it, trying to get back to my pre-preg weight. At 40 minutes of exercise (elliptical trainer, swimming, abs training) and with some diet control (I'm trying to stick to a slim-fast log that keeps me at around 1300 calories a day, without really doing the cans!), it's still a slog to get those pounds down. A long road ahead!! It's going to be an interesting balancing act to teach the kids to enjoy their food AND know their limits, enjoy their games AND really plunge into the disciple of sports.

Blogger moms!

The blogosphere is an amazing thing. I was trawling for Malayalee recipes and ran into one by RV, another Roopa who blogs recipes and kitchen tips. We exchanged blog comments, and directed me to a cool forum of blogger moms. I'm waiting to be invited (I applied), but am quite impressed by the turn-out at this site: DesiMomzBlog.

Herbs for your water

I was surprised by the number of comments I received on facebook from folks who saw my blog show up there. Some wanted to know where one gets hold these herbs here. I have to confess, i've tended to just bring a little back with me whenever I've had the chance (rarely!) However, I did search online, using the botanical names of these herbs. Since I haven't actually bought from any of these places, and the packaging is unfamiliar, I can't vouch for any of these online outlets, but here's what I found for Karingali (Acacia Catechu), I got a hit on a site called Chinese Herbs Direct . I'm not sure if it'll turn out to be what we use in India, but may go ahead and order just to see if it is.

Family dishes - managing multiple tastes

I woke up to find an email in my inbox from a friend who'd just been on this blog. We landed up exchanging notes about a couple of things, including this part of her note:
"I have been struggling to figure out what I should be feeding my children and have been trying to create a meal plan of what the children are having for their meals each week but have not got that figured out. No, we have not quite reached the point where the children eat the same stuff is we do. I would like to try to move towards that except that we are often more calorie-conscious and would like to eat spicier foods."

My response:
"Yes, it's a hard one, but once the kids get to an age when you're starting to think about their calorie intake as well (I know we are), it's easier to start cooking a common meal. AND, now we have huge collection of pickles to go with the less spicy meals!"
Of course, some of you may know that I mean Indian Pickles or Achar which are rather different from the innocuous pickled kirby you get with your deli sandwich. The easiest way to manage your craving for mind-blowing spice is to pick up a bottle of the spicy stuff at your nearest Indian store. However, here's a recipe for those of you who'd rather try this at home:

Manga pickle (Indian mango pickle)
Ingredients:
One pound of green mango
Two tsp salt
Two pinches of cumin seeds
Two tea spoons of mustard seeds
Two teaspoons of red chili powder
Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
Two teaspoons Oil (preferably mustard oil)

• Slice the mangoes into narrow, 1 inch pieces (keep the peels on)
• Add half the chili powder, all the turmeric and salt and mix well in a large bowl.
• Roast cumin seeds, and mustard seeds, stir in the rest of the chili powder and mix with the mango pieces
• Pour in the oil, and mix well
• Let stand till cool, then pack into a jar with a tight lid, and let sit for at least a week before you try the spicy mix! (Check on it each day, and shake the bottle/ jar each time.)

My first web radio interview about this blog

Thanks to all who listened to the BlogTalkRadio "CAT scan" with my husband about this blog...

Listen to it here.



I also followed BlogTalkRadio's founder Alan Levy's advice and looked up other cooking shows on that site. It's an exciting space!

"Max and Ruby" on cooking

This morning, the kids and I were watching "Max and Ruby", the sweet though befuddling cartoon series on Noggin(where are their parents????) This episode had Ruby and Louise singing about apple pie:

Brown sugar
Applesauce
Spices
Flour
Put them in the oven for half an hour

BakeBubble
BubbleBake
Apple pie is fun to make!

Of course, this resulted in the kids clamoring for us to cook up Apple Pies! Watch this space!

Flavored water: My father weighs in

I wrote today about homemade flavored water. When I called my father for some fact-checking, he responded with the following email:

Dear Roopa,
We used to boil water with pieces of 'karingali' which is supposed to be good for quenching thirst in summer.You can add 'ramacham' or 'hus' roots(which is also widely used in North India to pack window blinds in summer to give a pleasant aroma when moistened),'nannari' or sarasaparilla for getting added fragrabceto the boiled water. In Malabar they also add pieces of 'Pathimukham' which gives water a pleasant deep pink colour but no fragrance. It however is said to have medicinal qualities. 'Srisadan' an ayurveda vaidyasala at Cannanore is marketing a 'dahasamani'/thirst quencher of their own named 'Khadira Shariba'(?) which contains karingali, ramacham, nannari and pathimukham. You may like to check the encyclopedea about khus etc. In North India they have what is called 'thandhayi'.
Achan

Lessons learned - sugar cookies

We had fun pulling together the sugar cookies described in this cooks.com page, but here are some lessons learned:

• One way to cut down on sugary snacks like this, while still enjoying the experience of cooking with the kids, is to halve the quantity, so this recipe got us about 30 little cookies
• Remember the salt in the butter!! I replaced the butter with "I can't believe it's not butter" and it worked well with regards to consistency, etc. Unfortunately the cookies came out a little salty -- and no, that didn't stop us from wolfing it down!

Water!

Yes, a water recipe. Don't scoff - read on.

I've signed on to something my father's been urging me to do for ages: drinking 8 glasses of water a day, appropximately 64 oz. in all. While I've found this rather refreshing, the monotony does get to me. I've found myself trying to count my green tea in as water (not quite right, since the caffein cuts water absorption somewhat.) This morning, I remembered what my mother and grandma would do in India, where boiling the water is advisable, if not critical. They would pop in different spices or dried flavorful roots. These included Karingali roots or bark which are credited with antiseptic qualities, Ramacham or vetiver which is credited with digestive benefits. I remember the Karingali water taking on a rich brown color, almost like 12-year old scoth! I suspect the use of these elements was partly for their beneficial qualities, and partly to mask the taste of the well water that was, and often still is, usually used in Kerala and other parts of India.

Jheeraga Vallam (Cummin-flavored water)

Ingredients:

One quart water

One tsp cummin seeds

One cardamom pod

• Start heating a quart of water in a medium pot on a medium flame
• After about four to five drop in the teaspoon of cummin seeds, and the cardamom pod
• Once the water starts boiling, take it off the flame
• You may choose to strain the spices out, though leaving them in lets the flavors infuse further

Karmic weight?

Who found this article depressing? I'd really like to use a couple of my pals as examples of mind over body (Mr. Merchant?)

Sanjana's Malabar Fried Shrimp

I asked Sanjana to share her recipe for the Malabar fried shrimp that was the star appetizer on her Superbowl menu. Here it is. I'll upload pictures once I try it out at home.

Ingredients :
Two tablespoons of oil (In Kerala/ Malabar, I think they'd go with coconut oil, but it works with olive oil as well)
Two lbs shrimp cleaned & cooked
One tsp each of chilli powder, pepper & garlic
One sliced onion
10 to 20 curry leaves (available in most Indian stores)
Salt and lemon juice to taste (around 1 teaspoon each)

• Marinate shrimp w the powders and little lemon juice and salt to taste ( around 1 tsp ) for as long as you like ( Sanjana has gone from one hour to an overnight marinade )
• Heat oil, fry 1-2 sliced onions until brown
• Add shrimp and fry / saute till almost done to desired level of crispness
• Add handfull of curry leaves and fry a little more.

Tuna Casserole, that ol' favorite

I can't believe it took me so many years to introduce the kids to tuna casserole. My mom was a whiz at it, and I remember the anticipation I'd feel when I saw her take out the can-opener - it meant we were going to have a tuna dish, and her favorite was and is the casserole. It was our favorite as well.

Here it is - based on memory to come extent and to a couple of recipe sites. While simple to set up, with baking time, this dish may take up to 45 minutes to get onto the dinner table!

Ingredients:
One large handfull of noodles (my measurements tend to be peculiar when it comes to noodles. Also, I used Soba noodles.)
Three tablespoons butter (I replaced it today with "I can't believe it's not butter")
Two and a half tablespoons flour
One and a quarter cup milk (I use SkimPlus)
One cup shredded Cheddar cheese for the sauce, and a half cup for the top

One cup of peas or mixed vegetables
One can tuna, drained

Half teaspoons each of salt and pepper

Sliced tomato to decorate the top of the casserole

• Cook the noodles, most take around 8 minutes to get to a nice al dente texture
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter, then slowly add the flour as you mix it in. Also add pepper and salt to taste. Mix till this has a smooth consistency, but don't let it brown.
• This is when the kids can get involved. Have them add in the milk, then the cheese and mix to a sauce. Always stay very close (see K at work in the picture above!)
• Mix in the the peas, tuna and noodles, preferably in that order so that you get as even a mix as possible of all the ingredients. K was pretty excited to give me a hand as all the ingredients were added and then all that glorious mixing...!
• You'll have to do the heavy lifting - pour the whole mixture into a greased pan. I use pyrex, and for the quantities above you might want a 2 quart, simple square pan
• Add a layer of cheese as topping, and arrange the tomato slices for decoration
• While you are at the stove, mixing up the ingredients, you might want to start pre-heating the over to 300 or 350 degrees. Go with 350 degrees, if it's a small oven, such as the one I like to use for my quick meals. F (175 degrees C). The dish should be ready in about 30 minutes
• You can serve it by itself, or with a small garden salad on the side. I suspect hubby will be breaking out the hot sauce, though

"This is delicious, mom. You should blog about it!"

That's what my 4-year-old declared, endorsing my turkey chili, which I made twice this weekend.

Chili con carne, the traditional dish of beans and meat is a great, popular dish. Hard to get wrong, but absolutely amazing when it comes together well. I'd been planning to make chili for the Superbowl party that my pals Sanjana and George were throwing. So, come Saturday, I experimented on the family, and got all kinds of praise from my own fave four. My daughter declared it was the "most tasty dish in the world."

My major inspiration was my brother-in-law, Balu, and his famous chili. I'd watched him pull it all together a couple of months ago, and enjoyed the dish. It was a revelation, because I have to confess that I'd always assumed the dish was vaguely unhealthy. But there are some great ways to make this a healthy meal (less oil, lean meat, throw in some vegetables). I used Balu's recipe as the base, but added a couple of ingredients and steps inspired by my web research and my unshakeable belief in the health benefits of Indian spices!

For the Super Bowl party, I made two versions. A kid's version with very little chilli powder, and a big boys and girls version. Sanjana's Super Bowl party table was a testament to the great melting pot. Here's what we had:

Appetizers: Malabar fried shrimp and tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa
Main courses: Turkey chilli served with sour cream and cheese, chicken biriyani with raita (plain yogurt with chives), all rounded off with chicken curry
Desserts: Panna cotta and ice cream bon-bons

I can tell you we were almost comatose at the end of that meal...and then the fourth quarter happened!! Go Giants!!!

Pictured here are Sree and George as they launch into the meal.

Turkey Chili with an Indian Twist
Enough to feed a small army (Ok, a very small army of around 15 people)

Ingredients:
two teaspoons olive oil
three pound ground turkey
three onion, chopped
three(28 ounce) can canned diced tomatoes
three (16 ounce) can canned kidney beans
One small can of tomato paste
two large red peppers, cored and cubed
six to eight garlic cloves chopped coarsely (use only a quarter of that quantity for the kids dish)
five tablespoons chili powder (1 teaspoon, for the kids version)
one teaspoon ground cumin
two teaspoon salt
two teaspoon ground black pepper
I couldn't resist my Indian roots, and ended up also adding:
three large green chillies
two teaspoons of turmeric powder
half a bunch of coriander leaves
one teaspoon of allspice

• I haven't seen this in any of the recipes, but I come from a tradition that doesn't really enjoy non-marinaded meat. So, I start by mixing the meat and two table spoons of chilli powder, a tea spoon of turmeric and a tea-spoon of salt. Let it sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients
• Chop the onions, garlic, red peppers, chillies
• Prep the cans. In the case of the beans, remember to drain them
• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place turkey in the pot, and cook until evenly brown.
• Stir in onion and garlic. Cook this mixture till the onions look tended
• Mix in tomatoes, kidney beans, and red peppers.
• Season with the rest of the chili powder, cumin, diced green chillies, coriander, allspice (only if you're up for that kinda thing!) salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. This last step is essential, since it really brings squeezes out all the flavors and melds them with the meat and beans
• You can serve the chilli straight with white rice which is how we like it at home. However, most traditional recipes suggest serving it up as a course, with sour cream and cheese. Not really necessary, since this is a flavorful dish that can stand on its own merits.

Puntarelle - Chicory(!) salad

Was at lunch with a colleague at Osteria Laguna today, and tried an ancient Roman salad (ancient by it's original provenance, that is..,) Puntarelle. I liked the recipe on epicurious and About. Pretty simple stuff, but very tasty with lots of personality. Try it. I don't think hubby will touch it, though, given the prominent role of anchovies. I'm tracking calories these day, so if anyone can find a calculator for unusual dishes like this, do tell. I've found calorie-count.com does the tricks on most dishes.

Indian meals

When we visited India last summer, we were all a little worried that my kids were a bit too Americano, in that they hardly ate any good Desi food for a couple of days. Since India - Madras anyway - now had pasta and pasta sauces in most grocery stores, they certainly didn't starve. I caught some flak for this behavior even though I insisted that they were perfectly well balanced Americans of Indian origin (with eating habits to match!) Well, last night I was thoroughly vindicated. The kids ate rice, chicken curry, cabbage and yogurt dinners. They even volunteered to try the spicy pickle - Dad was ecstatic (though he didn't go that far!)

Cutlets, Indian-style

I remember utterly confusing one of the kids' babysitters when I instructed her to serve them cutlets for dinner. Look as she might, she didn't see any cuts of meat in the fridge. After an unamusing 10 minutes on the phone, she found the patties that I insisted were cutlets - well, that's what an Indian calls them!


These cutlets are definitely not low-fat, since they're fried. However, you can always use exactly the same basic meat mixture to grill into kebabs. I'll have more on kebabs later! I have to classify cutlets as disappearing food. I was frying some up last night for today's lunch, and the kids saunter in and start eating them off the plate. I had to shoo them away, stating the "no eating after 7.30pm rule."

Ingredients:
Half a medium-sized red onion
One pound ground chicken (or turkey)
Four medium potatoes
One tablespoon salt
One tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
One egg
Bread-crumbs

• Finely chop the onions and mix in the salt, garam masala, cumin powder and garlic paste
• Let sit for 5 minutes, then mix in the ground meat
• Beat the egg, which will serve as the binding for the bread crumb coating on the patties. Smooth the breadcrumbs into a layer on a platter
• Boil the potatoes till they are soft (around 15 minutes should do the trick), skin them, mash them and let them cool. When they are at room temperature, mix the mash into the meat mixture
• Start heating oil in a small pan, with about a half-inch of oil so the patties can be half-submerged in it
• Roll the mixture into circular patties, dip them in the egg and roll them in the breadcrumbs
• Pop the patties into the oil and let cook for about three minutes on each side
• When evenly browned, take them out of the oil and place them on a napkin to seep away excess oil
• It's ready to serve
  
• If you're serving to grown-ups, cutlets taste great with onions steeped in vinegar with a touch of oil
  
  
  

You say Kurma...I say Khorma, let's not call the whole thing off

The down-side to shopping with FreshDirect is that I inevitably go a little crazy and order up a bunch of stuff. This time, there are 3 quarts of skimplus milk to finish - right after the two other open quarts in the fridge. I stared at the copious amounts of carrot, broccoli, onion and potato on my counter top and decided I was going to cook up a vegetable khurma. I had memories of my mother's khurma in my head, but it did mean bringing down the blender, so I opted instead to look for a couple of recipes online just to see what my options were. Here are two completely different recipes that I liked: http://www.recipezaar.com/7801 (seemed a little on the fattening side!) and http://arundathi-foodblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/vegetable-kurma.html

I landed up with a rather simple recipe all my own, that I guess doesn't quite qualify as a khurma, but worked really well with rice.
Ingredients:
Two teaspoons cumin seeds
Three tablespoons olive oil
Two bunches of brocolli
Four large potatoes
One bag of baby carrots
One large red onion
Two teaspoons garam masala
Two tea spoons coriander powder
One tablespoon of salt
Half a cup of milk
Chopped tomatoes (I use a 26oz carton of Pomi Chopped Tomatoes)

• Chop the potatoes into half-inch cubes, and cut the brocolli flowerets into individual bits. Cut the onion into thin slices
• Start by heating the oil in a deep pan, and popping the cumin seeds in the oil
• Fry the onion in that flavored oil, and when it starts to brown, toss in the garam masala and coriander powder and fry for a couple of minutes
• Add in the chopped tomato and cook for a couple of minutes
• Stir in the vegetables - start with potatoes and carrots, wait for about 10 minutes and then add in the brocolli
• Once the brocolli is in, give the whole curry a good 10 minutes to cook properly. Then stir in the yogurt and take it off the flames (otherwise, you might see the yogurt separating out rather unattractively)

Nothing fancy, but very tasty!

Winter Grilling at 24° F

It was an extremely cold MLK day this year, and we stayed indoors. We'd hoped to spend the morning swimming, but that fell through as we waited for friends to join us. Instead, we chose to break out our indoor grill. It's a handy dandy, smokeless grill that gets us thinking of the summer even as biting cold winds blow outdoors.

D&K watched as I sliced up the salmon into chunks (2" x 3" x 1"), and helped squeeze lime juice out into pans, added turmeric and salt to one pan, and chilli powder, turmeric and salt into the other pan. The first was the marinade for the kids' batch, and the second for the grown-ups. I use Tupperware with lids for marinading, since it allows you to close the box and shake the meat/ fish and marinade around well and evenly coat the meat. We also halved some white mushrooms and beefsteak tomatoes, and marinaded them in a soy-based seasoning sauce. It takes less than a half-hour for the fish and veggies to take on the marinade flavors. Since we were doing all this on the fly, I can vouch for that (don't over-power the fish and veggies with too much marinading.) I also quartered medium-sized red onions and placed them on the grill. If your grill has a solid portion, choose that for veggies, since it's not like there's fat to drain or any such thing.
Ingredients:
Two pounds of Salmon fillets
One lime (half each for each marinade)
Half a teaspoon of turmeric for each marinade
One teaspoon of salt for each marinade
Half a teaspoon of chilli powder for the grown-up marinade
Maggi seasoning sauce for the vegetable seasoning

Remember to brush the grilling surface with a light coat of olive oil before placing the fish and veggies on it. Even though the grill was at high heat, it was safe enough for the kids to help place the fish and veggies on the grill (make sure there's a lot of hand-washing happening, of course!) Remember to brush the veggies with olive oil every so often, since they tend to get rather dry if ignored. The platter of food shown here was polished off in one short sitting!

Rajma (Red Kidney Beans)

Kidney beans are high on fiber and iron, with one cup providing ~50% of your daily dietary fiber needs, and ~30% of your iron quota. An added benefit is that it tastes fantastic (unlike the health food Ezikiel cereal I bought yesterday..."Umm, gravel..." said my husband as he chomped into it this morning!)

I picked up a bag of rajma (red kidney beans) a couple of weeks ago. It's easier if you buy canned kidney beans, but it's easy enough to cook the beans from scratch.

Ingredients:
Two cups of red kidney beans (or two cans of kidney beans)
One onion
One tomato
One teaspoon of coriander powder
One teaspoon of garam masala
Half a teaspoon of turmeric
Two teaspoons of salt

• Soak two cups of kidney beans in 6 cups of water, since the beans expand - soak it overnight
• After the 8 to 10 hours of soaking, drain the beans. If using canned beans, you don't need to have soaked the beans, of course!
• Start by boiling the kidney beans in a pot in fresh water for around 20 minutes with a teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of turmeric
• Chop up the onion and fry it in a separate pan
• When the onions turn golden, toss in a chopped tomato
• As the tomato starts softening, add the rest of the dry ingredients (one teaspoon of coriander powder, one teaspoon of garam masala, one teaspoons of salt)
• Once the onion, tomato and spice mixture softens and gets to a lumpy consistency, mix it into the boiling rajma
• Stir in the spiced mixture. As the rajma softens, crush some of it - about two tablespoons - against the side of the pot, since that will give the curry some body (otherwise, you'll have the beans sitting separately for the watery liquid).
• Test the rajma, but about 20 to 25 minutes on the stove should do the trick

Lunch today was interesting: I ate my Rajma rather conventionally with rice, K mixed it in with lettuce as his own impromptu salad dressing and D ate it with pasta shells!

The magic of the moving image...and cake time!

Saturday was S's brother's birthday, and the kids spent the morning creating a rather creative birthday card that looked like a cake! Two large circles for the top and bottom of the cake, a long strip and sticks to give the cake depth and lots of pompoms for the decoration.
They then hopped off for a swim. I was straightening the house up and working on lunch with the TV at the background, not paying too much attention to what was on. When the kids troops back in, they start watching the Barefoot Contessa. Now that's good TV -- they landed up learning about rosemary, thyme, kitchen gardens and such. In addition, they got pretty caught up in the delicious images of her Carrot and Pineapple Cake, and decided that's another thing they wanted to make for their uncle (I suspect there a selfish agenda in there somewhere too!) I gave in after some cajoling, and went off to grab the ingredients. The end result of about an hour of messy collaboration between the three of us is in the picture above. It was delicious - kudos to D&K for their hard work and patience! I have to admit, I replaced the 1 1/3 cup of vegetable oil with a cup of butter and an extra egg (somehow, I can't ever bring myself to use oil in cakes.) NOT diet food, I must say, especially once you factor in the frosting. In the case of both the egg and the frosting, I cut down the sugar as well, and it didn't hurt the cake one bit (one cup of sugar instead of two for the cake and a half pound of confectioner's sugar instead of one for the frosting.) Also, I used canned pineapples which worked out well.

• I had a hard time explaining how vanilla extract is made. I got pretty close, but some sites that do a good job of explaining are Vanilla Company and Recipezaar
• Use aprons! D&K have some great ones as goddies from their friend Julian's party at apple seeds

Umm, (Spinach) Pie...

Young E was K's best friend when he was two, mostly because they got to egg each other onto all kinds of mischief at school. E's mom Suzanne, was famous for her Spinach pie - and I remember the kids wolfing it down at a school party. Suzanne was sweet enough to share the recipe with me. But, in the long tradition of women in my family, I admit I tinkered with the recipe from day one and - dare I say?- made it my own. Suzanne, if you're reading this, could you add your original recipe and commentary to this post?
Here's my version.

Ingredients:
One medium sized egg
One egg white
One cup Bisquick
Half a cup of cheese (I think Suzanne's original recipe called for Parmesan, but I've been equally successful with Cheddar, and more pungent flavors like Gruyere with great results)
Half a cup of oil (Vegetable oil, in Suzanne's case. I've preferred melted butter, but also have used olive oil for a truly fragrant dish)
One pack of frozen spinach (approx. 10 oz) OR about two cups of any diced, crunchy vegetable. I've worked with peas, beans and carrots to good effect!
Pepper to taste (a pinch should do)

• Preheat your oven to 375°. My little Black and Decker toaster oven has been a whiz to bake with, and I don't often bother with my larger stove-top oven
• Start defrosting the spinach. Once defrosted, drain the excess water
• Try and use a bake-safe glass bowl or casserole dish - a 5" or 6" dish should do, though it should be around 3" deep, since the pie will rise. I try to be as economical as possible in the use of dishes, since I'm obsessed with conserving water AND about being good to my husband and brother-in-law, who are the designated dish-washers at our home!
• Get the kids to participate: They'll have a blast learning how to separate the egg yolk from the white, and then beating the ingredients together
• Beat the egg and egg white well. Once the eggs are a little frothy, mix in the oil/butter and then fold in the Bisquick. Make sure it isn't too lumpy
• Fold in the cheese and spinach and stir well to make sure the spinach and cheese are evenly distributed
• Pop in the oven and bake for around 25 minutes, till you get a nice golden crust. Test at the center of the dish with a fork to make sure it's fully cooked

The pie is a favorite school lunch for the kids, since it's yummy, neat and easy to handle. I'm happy because it gets them spinach in all it's glory, and I hardly ever have leftovers! Also, the prep time is less than 10 minutes, so you can read, put your feet up or run around with the kids while the pie bakes!

Some caveats:
- If you're going with olive oil, then stick to one of the simpler cheeses so that the flavors don't overpower each other
- D&K are very active kids who are into swimming, karate and dance. If you're worried about about weight gain, I'd skip this recipe OR make it a rare treat. The chicken with spinach dish may be a better way to get some greens in the diet
- I don't often have the issue of having to reheat the pie (it disappears....) If you've had to refrigerate leftovers, take them out and let them get to room temperature before a quick reheat, since the pie tends to get a little mushy if reheated for too long

Cabbages for my prince (and princess)

Was chopping into a cabbage last night, en route to whipping up a simple sauteed veggie dish to go with the rotis and fish and realized that it's so simple to go right with vegetables. Yes, go right. Don't get me wrong. I lived in England for more than 3 years, so know how easy it seems to be to go very wrong with veggies. (Ugh, those slops of boiled cabbage they served! Drove me to cooking, they did!)

I can't remember a single meal where we didn't have a vegetable side dish - my mom's beans are to die for! The distinction in Indian cooking is the flavor infused in the oil, and the simple additive that enhances the dish.

I washed the cabbage ahead of time, since you don't want any splattering oil. Also, you do not wash leafy veggies after cutting them, since that leaches away a good bit of their nutrients. Then you set about with the 5 minutes of cooking that gives you a lovely, nutritious side-dish.

Ingredients include: half a cabbage, oil (I prefer olive oil), salt, turmeric, mustard seeds and unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

• Slice half a medium-sized cabbage into long thin strips
• In a medium non-stick pot, start heating a table-spoon of oil. Test the oil with one mustard seed, if it pops, toss in 2 pinches of them (around 10 to 15 seeds)
• Once they pop, mix in the cauliflower. Stir well, to make sure all of the cabbage gets a thin coating of the oil. Pop in a half tea spoon of salt, and a quarter tea spoon of turmeric
• Sir in very little water (maybe 2 table spoons at the most.) The cabbage has enough moisture within it to cook well
• With about 8 minutes on a medium flame, you've got a tasty veggie dish
• A nice additive is a quarter cup of coconut flakes. Make sure the flakes you have are not sweetened. Sometimes, it's worth soaking about a quarter cup in a little water and squeezing out the "first milk" from the coconut. That way, you don't land up with sweet cabbage. Just toss it into the cooked cabbage and mix it in for an added twist. If you're watching your cholestrol, skip this step!
• You can use the coconut milk for other dishes such as a curry or even to flavor your rice as it boils

Shopping for ingredients in Manhattan

I've had a couple of enquiries about where to pick up ingredients for recipes I've shared here. I have my favorite store - the appropriately names Little India Grocery - which is an artifact of my having worked around the corner for seven years. At 128 E. 28th St (on 28th Street, closer to Lexington), the store is chock-a-block with all kinds of ingredients from "back home." Another store with a lot of these ingredients, is Kalustyan's (Lexington, between 28th and 29th), which may feel a little neater.

Of course, the largest selection and range of products are at places like the legendary Patel Brothers in places like Queens and Edison, New Jersey. Ditto for the wonderfully named Subzi Mandi chain (literally, "vegetable market"). We go to those places when we find ourselves there with a rental car, but otherwise, have to make do with whatever's in Manhattan. I wish there were a Indian store in the Upper West Side. Sigh.

Just as a general practice, always check expiry dates - I'm not impugning these grocery stores, just making sure you're looking to get the freshest ingredients.

A fun tilapia recipe

I picked up a pound-and-a-half tilapia this morning. In my opinion, salmon is the perfect fish. It's great grilled western style or with Indian spices, fried crisp or as a curry. Tilapia is one I'm just getting used to, and it definitely seems to stand up to some of my usual preparations.

I'm from Kerala, in Southern India. A relatively thin sliver of land defined by the ocean and backwaters, as well as green paddy fields and coconut palms. Of course, there's the rampant unemployment, political ferment, etc. But that's for another blog. It's the fish that I remember - fried, curried, fried then curried, cooked wrapped in banana leaves, the list goes on.

I marinated a pound of the tilapia in tamarind sauce, salt, chilli powder and turmeric. For a pound of fish, I used about four tablespoons of tamarind concentrate, a half tea spoon of chilli powder, a quarter teaspoon of turmeric and a tea spoon of salt. Add a dash of red wine vinegar if it the marinade needs some liquid (depends on how thick the tamarind concentrate is). This is a spicy curry, so tone down the tamarind and chilli powder if you're making this for the kids. When I make curry for the kids, I only add about a tea spoon of turmeric and replace the chilli powder with a pinch of pepper instead.
Fish curry
Ingredients:
1 pound of fish (tilapia and salmon)
1 large onion
1 tea spoon of mustard seed
2 table spoons olive oil
1/2 spoon chilli powder (optional)
1/4 tea spoon of turmeric
1 table spoon of salt
1 cup of yogurt
4 table spoons of tamarind concentrate
Red wine vinegar (optional)
4 to 6 curry leaves (optional, you would find them in the fresh vegetables section of an Indian grocery)

Prep:

• Slice the fish into 1 inch cubes and marinate in the tamarind concentrate, salt, turmeric and chilli
• Slice the onion thinly
• In a small pot, heat oil and pop the mustard seeds. When they have popped, fry the onion till lightly browned
• Pop in the marinaded fish, with the marinade
• Cook for 10 minutes, till the pieces of fish turn white (under the coating of the spices, of course!)
• Add a cup of yogurt to add some body to the curry. Pop in the curry leaves (optional)
• Mix well, taking care to not break the fish pieces. It should be done as soon as the whole curry comes to a boil

The kids really enjoy fish grilled or fried. In those cases, I marinate the fish (cliched into smaller pieces) in salt, turmeric and a pinch of pepper. For a half-pound, use a half tea spoon of salt, and two pinches of turmeric, pepper to taste. I usually lightly fry the fish (just a table spoon full of oil, in a non-stick pan.)

A good Keralite would eat these dishes with white rice, but they are great with couscous, bread or Indian bread.

The Magic of One

Baking is a favorite Sturday afternoon activity. It's a great treat, especially on days when the kids have had a strenuous morning (in our case, swimming or park time.) Today, we cooked up cookies, with a bit of a short-bread taste. The following recipe has an elegance to it, that comes from the uniformity of the ingredients we use. It comes from memories of baking with my own mom, as well as various other sources (I'm sure you'd find many online recipes that look a little like this one.) It's just something I cook up with my kids almost instinctively.

Simple Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tea spoon baking soda
1 egg
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 tea spoon strawberry essence
1 half-teaspoon salt
(All about the number 1, see?!)

• If you're working with multiple kids, make sure that they know ahead of time what their roles are. In my case, D is in charge of the "wet" ingredients (eggs, sugar and butter batter), and K in charge of the dry ones. They also know that they need my help when using the hand-held beater. Have them choose their favorite decorations, etc., to build the anticipation
• In a glass bowl, beat the butter, sugar and essence together till crumbly, then add the egg and beat till smooth. I love my little Cuisinart 9-speed hand-held beater
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together
• Mix the dry ingredients (second bullet) into the wet (first bullet above), a spoon at a time, beating all the time
• Start pre-heating the oven to 350°
• Spoon the batter onto baking sheets, a table-spoon of batter should get you a nice-sized cookie. Leave at least a half-inch around all sides of each dollop, since the batter will spread out as it cooks. I tend to use Reynolds wrap on the baking sheet since that makes it much easier to clean up, and you don't need to butter the baking sheet
• An optional step is to have the kids add in their decorations. D uses her dragon sprinkles, and K uses his rainbow sprinkles
• Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, till they get to be a nice golder-brown. Take them out, and pop them off the sheets to serve!

You should have about 20 cookies (depends on how big the dollops are - ours are never uniform!) It's loads of fun, and if you draw out the prep time, you can make this into a 1 hour activity. If in a rush, it won't take more than 20 minutes of mommy cooking time!

Kitchen Timesavers

Saw this article on LifeHacker, a cool "get things done" site, that had a bunch of interesting tips. Some I knew from watching mom - a whiz at innovating in the kitchen (she'd be able to add a bunch of new ideas in the garlic section) - but some were new. I'm planning to try out the ice cube advice - to freeze extra herbs with just enough water to lock them in. I can't wait. I've always hated just freezing curry leaves (turns then an unattractive brown), and tend to waste mounds of mint (pudhina) once I've used the pinch needed for the dish. Now anymore!

Pappads

The Potato chips and Lays that are the American child's best friend would get a run for their money if Pappads ever got a fair chance here. Granted, they don't come ready to eat (I don't think) and bring up the spectre of hot oil to anyone who's had to make them...BUT, wow, what a tasty treat! Typically served as part of the meal in most South Indian culinary traditions, Pappads (Appalum or Pappadum depending on where in India you're from) are round wafers made from rice and lentils.

In the '80s, my mother and I would drive out to Mylapore, one of the old areas of Madras (now Chennai, India) to the tiny little Ambika Appalam store about once every month or so. She's buy a pack of 500 pappads. We'd fry about 20 of them for each lunch or dinner, and they always vanished. They were deep-fried, and I'm guessing that we weren't being too calorie conscious. However, since the main meal was rather well balanced (some rice, a lentil-based curry, copious amounts of vegetables, fish, etc.), the pappads less positive effect must have been nullified....

I bought a bundle of papads at Edison last week, and the kids got some with their rice and puzhuku. They loved it. A healthy option would be to buy one of the flavored pappads (pepper or cummin, for example), heat an over to around 170, and roast the pappad till lightly browned OR till it puffs up in patches. The time needed will depend on the size and thinckness of the pappad. My sister has figured out a way to zap pappads in the michrowave - more on that soon.

Happy New Year, and Happy Memories

We fell asleep at around 4 am this morning, exhausted but happy to have had a lovely bunch of pals take over at our place for the evening. I hope the new year brings great cheer and good health to all....


Like most people, I tend to get pretty nostalgic at the turn of the year, a condition exacerbated by it being so close to my birthday as well. Something about Indian food makes it central or at least a significant player in most memories - the flavor of a dish, the whiff of a spice on mamma's saree, the slight smell of garam masala as she walked past, dad's perfect tea-making, grandma's stories from the Ramayana told to you at dusk over ghee rice balls.... As I ducked into my kitchen yesterday morning, I glimpsed a bag of Mung Dal (or Moong Dal.) It reminded me at once about evenings in Madras, where mom would whip up the best "Puzhukoo" or moong dal curry with chappati (India think bread). I'd ladle a bowl-full of it that I took in to keep me company as I finished my home-work, then a small bowl to accompany a TV show, and then had just enough space for a small bowl of it with half a chappati for dinner. Of course, her preparation was a little more elaborate than mine, but I've tried to recreate the taste and get pretty close. Try it, you'll get addicted, as will the kids in your life. Introduce them to strong flavors, in this case garlic in all its glory.
Ingredients: 1 cup of moong Dal (should be available in most health food stores, though I picked mine up at one of grocery stores in Oak Tree Road, Edison), coconut powder (I use Krafts), 3 large garlic cloves, coconut oil, turmeric powder and salt. Cumin powder and ghee add to the taste, but are not essential.

• Start by boiling one cup of moong dal in 3 cups of water, with a tea spoon of salt, and a pinch of turmeric
• Once it comes to a boil, reduce the flame so medium and cook for around 20 minutes, till the dal becomes soft to the touch
• Stir in 2 table spoons of coconut powder and a pinch of cumin powder
• Thinly slice the garlic and fry it till brown in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Toss this into the dal
• The dish is done when some of the dal dissolves, giving the whole dish a thick consistency

While the truly careful cooks could get the same effect by halving the coconut powder and coconut oil used, I was definitely focused on matching the taste of my mothers cooking! Given that I don't do this often, I serve the dal mixed in well into steaming rice with a teaspoon of ghee. Disappearing food! On the side was the irreplaceable Ambika Papdum... (more on Papads later!)

Butter and sensory overload at the hibachi

Driving home from a New Jersey Xmas sleepover party, we stopped for lunch at restaurant called Imperial 46 on Route 46. We were looking for Chinese, which my kids and husband love. But when we saw it had a hibachi, Benihana style, we opted for that. It turned into another new experience for the twins - and one more case of being close to the cooking action.

It was a revelation to see the amount of butter used in this genre of cooking. I thought it would be a lot healthier that it was. I also wasn't excited about the fact that all our dishes (veggie, salmon and chicken) landed up tasting pretty much the same, with a lot of teriyaki sauce.

However, it was fun to see the fiery volcano the cook set up (see photo). It did freak the kids out just a bit at first. The lunch was well worth the spectacle, though I wouldn't make it a habit (unlike shabu shabu, which I would!)

Eatin' out right with some shabu shabu

Shabu shabu (think fondue without the cheese) is definitely a contact sport - and a great way to get some uncomplicated veggies into kids. Once again, it's the experience of participating in the experience that gets the kids excited about it all.

We went in for an early dinner to Cafe Swish on the UWS. Each spot at the table is set up as a small (very safe) stove, and you order a base (flavored veggie or chicken stock), and a bunch of additions (dumplings, thin slivers of chicken, tofu, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc.) and noodles. There's a variety of sauces to choose from - even the lettuce "saucers" that the ingredients came in were chomped up once they were dipped in some of the great peanut sauce. As the stock comes to a boil, you pop in each of the additional ingredients you've ordered. You get a small sieve and chop sticks to fish out the cooked ingredients - let the kids drop in the ingredients and fish them out. My kids landed up eating tofu, cabbage and noodles with relish. I'll have to figure out a safe way to set this up at home -- tell me if you have any suggestions!

Sorghum

We were walking past the little triangle at the intersection of Broadway and Columbus a couple of weekends ago with kids in tow. A couple of farmers from Wood Homestead Maple Farm, grit under their nails and all, were selling varieties of syrup. They had roughly cut pieces of waffle, and small cups of syrup to dip and test. I was intrigued by the murky brown liquid called sorghum...and by golly, it was delicious!

This morning, I cooked up some pancakes (1 tbsp butter, 1 cup milk, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 egg, a dash of salt -- I mix in some strawberry extract just for fun.) The kids went wild over the sorghum, clearly preferring it over the store brands. Ah, to be young and calorie-free....

Uppumma: A 15 minute meal!

Apropos my past post around anti-cancer super foods, with Broccoli cited high on any list of such foods, I've tended to incorporate it in all kinds of foods. This morning, I tossed it into an Uppumma that the twins will have for lunch. Cooking it up took me just around 15 minutes!

While Uppumma can be made with a variety of base ingredients (rava, noodles, chopped up idlis, etc.), the base ingredient used most commonly is Rava (aka Semolina, Sooji). The prep is pretty easy.

• Start by measuring out one cup of rava into a heated pan or pot. Rava tends to be close to white. Roast it till it is golden brown (hope you can see the "before and after" difference in the pix above.) PUT IT ASIDE on a dry plate. Roasting the Rava ensures that you don't end up with a soggy mess at the end of the process!
• Heat about two teaspoons of oil in the pot, and flavor it when hot with a pinch of mustard seeds.
• Chop 1/2 an onion into small cubes. Fry the onions in the oil till they are slightly browned.
• Toss in about 1 cup of mixed veggies, peas or broccoli flowerets. Cook for about 5 minutes
• Add 2 cups of water to the mix, and bring it to a boil. You might also mix it up a bit, replacing 1 cup of water with chicken broth (1 cup water, 1 cup broth.) Using only broth may overpower the dish a bit. Note: Don't be startled by all the roiling and bubbling you'll have when you pour in the liquid into the heated veggies. It's normal....
• Flavor the mix with a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper.
• Once the mixture comes to a constant boil, reduce the flame to medium or low, and evenly pour in the rava, continuing to stir.
• The Rava will soak up the liquid in about 2 to 4 minutes, and is ready to serve!
• OPTIONAL: Ghee is a great way to flavor Uppumma. One option is to start with two teaspoons of Ghee. If you're worried about the fattening effects of Ghee (I do!), you can avoid it OR you can just pop a teaspoon of it into the dish while the rava is soaking in the liquids.
  

Health food junkies

Once in a while, on a rainy afternoon, one of the kids will look up at me and say, "do you think we can try a junk food snack today". Given all the dogmatic discussions out there about how we should talk about food with kids, I'm not sure whether schooling kids on good foods and bad is recommended. Anyway, it's done. The kids know that eating fried potato crisps isn't doing them any good...and in fact, they don't see it lying around the house much.

I've been intrigued about the anti-cancer food campaigns, having seen one of those extremely hurried PSAs a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get to take down the url - which was convoluted and not very intuitive. The tag line went something like: "Protect your kids from cancer with healthy diets...." Anyone who knows what I'm talking about?

Found a couple of decent articles on good old www, though: in iVillage and truehealth (scrool all the way down to see the recommended foods). As I see it, Broccoli and Blueberries rock.

Kulfi dreams

A shout out to Vikas Khanna from the lovely Purnima . The man's a culinary genius. I won't ever forget the paan kulfi (betel flavored Indian ice cream) he served at my dad's 70th birthday.
...I think you have to be from the subcontinent to truly enjoy it, though. Happily, everything else on the menu is universal and classic!

Easy Peasy (OK, not Peas -- Garbanzos)

Wadya do when you pop awake at 6am, don't really feel up to going to the gym yet, but can't wait to get cracking? Plan the kids' lunch....

I love garbanzos: they're nutritious (I think), extremely adaptable and can be cooked up in a snap if you're ok with canned goods. Seriously, all you need is a medium sized onion, half a tomato (yes, half), oil, ginger and garlic pastes, garam masala, mustard seeds, a 15 oz can of garbanzos and a small pot.

Prep:

• Cut the onion so that you have a little less than a quarter set aside


• Chop the larger bit into chunks, and do the same to hal a tomato


• Blend the chunks of tomatoes and onion with a teaspoon each of garlic (diced or paste) and ginger (preferrably the paste)


• Blend till it's just short of a smooth paste


• Chop the rest of the onion into small squares


• Drain the liquid from garbanzo can

I like flavoring my oils lightly - in this case, tossing in a small pinch of mustard seeds into the oil as it heats. Don't let the oil get to smoking point, but wait for a couple of minutes so that the seeds pop when they're introduced in the oil. Careful - step back a tad so you don't get a seed popping out onto you.

Pop in the chopped onion (NOT the paste, yet). Fry till they start turning brown. Put in a spoon-ful of garam masala and stir this around for about a minute on a medium flame. Pour in the garbanzos, and stir them around till they're all coated with the garam masala/ onion mix. Wait a couple of minutes, pour in the blended onion/tomato/ginger/ garlic paste. Add a tea-spoon of salt and let simmer for about 10 minutes. You need to let the dish cook for at least that long, or you'll have the odd taste of uncooked, blended onions. Not a personal favorite.

If you're new to Indian cooking, you might want to pass on the mustard seeds and maybe cut down on the garam masala. Additionally, you might use just half the blend (you can put it in the fridge to add flavor to another curry, but use it within about 3 days or it ferments), and add some water to get enough sauce.

I usually serve it with parathas (Indian flat breads) that I buy frozen and cook on a tava.

The whole meal takes about 20 minutes to assemble!

Grand (Central) thoughts....

My husband and I shared a commute this morning (now that's a great way to catch up on family news, holiday planning and chore updates!) As we walked through the Shuttle corridor, we gazed at the wonderfully svelte ladies pretending to pop luscious Godiva chocolates, and I blurted out..."Yeah, like she's gonna eat one of those!"

Made me think of a simple treat - try it with the kids. Blend a cup of mango pulp (I like Swad's Kesar mango pulp), about a cup of non-fat yogurt and a half-cup of milk. Blend till it's reached a smooth and even consistency. Some optional additions: sugar to taste (don't go past 2 teaspoons, though) or a similar amount of honey. You might also add some Kesar (saffron) - just a thread or two will do the trick.

You can serve it as a drink for the kiddies and grown-ups OR, pour some in pop moulds and freeze for a faux - but yummy- kulfi (an Indian ice cream).

Coming soon

• Photographs: I'm going to try and get the kids to help me take pics of dishes we cook
• Some favorites: Uppuma, couscous, channa (garbano curry), dosas and pancakes

Chicken Saag-wala: My favorite chicken dish (with spinach!)

Some thanks for this recipe should go to a college-mate from Oxford, but I've taken all kinds of liberties with it, of course.

Components of this great dish:

• About 2 pounds of chicken ( ~ 2 breasts, and 2 legs)
• 2 medium onions
• 2 medium tomatoes
• garlic paste
• ginger paste
• cloves
• cardamom
• bay leaves
• 2 boxes frozen chopped spinach (10 oz each) OR about 2 medium bunches
• Heavy cream (optional)
• Olive oil
• Optional: a cup of chicken broth, One 6oz can of tomato paste

Prep:

• Start by cubing the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes, and halve the legs. I've found that the curry tastes better when you have some pieces with bones in them, hence the leg pieces.
• Chop the onions into think slices.
• Cube the tomatoes.
• Turmeric, garam masala and chili powder (all available in the cool lil' Indian stores on Lexington and 28th in NYC. For other cities, look for stores that stock regional cooking ingredients.)
• Defrost the spinach. (If you're going with fresh spinach, rinse the spinach BEFORE you chop it up, since you'll lose nutrients if you wash after you chop the leaves.) The reason I prefer frozen spinach is that it's easier to fit into the pot. Fresh spinach will first take up a lot of space, but will settle down as it get's heated up.

Cooking time!

• Heat 2 table-spoons of olive oil in a large cooking pot (I love non-stick pots, since you can use less oil.)
• Flavor the oil with a couple of cardamoms, a clove and a large bay-leaf.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Put in a teaspoon-ful of ginger paste and garlic paste, then add in the onion and cook till they are translucent.
• Toss in the tomatoes, and cook till they get separate out into a bit of a sauce-like consistency.
• Put in a large table-spoon of garam masala, a quarter TEA spoon turmeric and stir.
• This is when you make a bit of a decision about chili powder. If you, or the kids, are new to spices, then DON'T use chili powder, but add in a dash of pepper. If you're ready for the taste explosion, I'd suggest about a half teaspoon of it. Stir in well into the onion and tomato mix.
• Mix in the chicken, so that all the pieces are covered in the onion-tomato mix. A good technique is to ladle the mixture to one side of the pot, lay the chicken on the bottom, then move the mixture onto the chicken pieces. Keep going around the pot, till all the chicken is nicely coated with the mixture.
• Let the chicken cook in this mixture for about 15 minutes on a medium flame. Ideally, there will be water coming out of the chicken that keeps it moist. If you're worries, you can pour in a cup of chicken broth.
• Test the chicken (it should be flaky at the end of 15 minutes). Stir in the spinach.
• Let the mixture simmer on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
• Stir in one cup of cream to give the curry a creamy flavor (If you're watching the calories, or can't mix meat and dairy for dietary or religious reasons, you may choose to skip this step, or use the can of tomato paste instead.)
• Take the dish off the heat once the spinach gets very tender and the chicken goes from flaky to very tender.
• Serve with rice.

As with everything, you have a couple of choices to make, depending on your audience and taste. How much chili powder you use can be critical to a good experience (you know you've used too much if your pals all turn a little red! Yogurt is great for mitigating the effects of a flaming curry!). I've also stopped using cream in my cooking, but it makes for a delicious curry.

Quick vegetable pulau

A great, simple way to get veggies into the kids...

• Heat 3 teaspoons of butter in a sauce-pan (you can also use olive oil.) Flavor the butter or oil with 2 cardamoms and a clove.
• Toss in a cup and a half of chopped vegetables (I like peas and carrots). Frozen, defrosted vegetables always work, though it's also nice to work with quarter-inch sections of organic baby carrots.
• Saute the veggies for about 5 minutes, then add in 2 cups of rice. Keep stirring. Don't brown the rice, just watch for some of the rice grains so at least half of the rice goes from looking translucent to white.
• Put the rice and veggies into a microwaveable bowl, add 5 cups of water. Cook for 20 minutes and check for the rice to be firm and well-cooked. (see the previous entry for how to ensure cooking to the right consistency).

Good ol' rice (with a microwave twist)

Rice will get the kids excited, especially if they've helped make it. Here's an easy way to make an aromatic focal point to a yummy meal (thanks to Deepa kunjamma for teaching me the microwave trick!)

• Have the kids help you measure out two cups of rice into a microwaveable bowl. (I like basmati rice, since it won't fall apart and smells beautiful.) Have the kids help you measure in a couple of tea-spoons of olive oil into the rice, and pop in a dash of salt.
• The kids will enjoy measuring and pouring in the water - about 2 and a half cups of water to each cup of rice. So, have them pour in 5 cups of water into the bowl of rice.
• Pop the bowl into the microwave, full power, for 20 minutes.
• Carefully, take out the bowl after the 20 minutes, and stir the rice. If the rice from the bottom of the bowl seems soggy, stir well, then pop the bowl in for another 5 minutes. (Results will vary, depending on your microwave's settings. An easy way to establish the perfect settign would be to start with 15 minutes for 2 cups of rice, then stir to check for cooking. Put in for increments of 5 minutes, till the rice is firm, cooked, and not soggy.)
• The grains of rice should be firm, but well cooked.
  
  The kids will love the aroma. Serve it with yogurt or one of the curries I'll share in a bit.

Remember: set up cooking experiences for kids in a safe spot - away from the stove and microwave, since you don't want them coming in contact with very hot food or dishes. Set them up with a clean working space (and in an area you don't mind getting very, very messy!)

Mini Pitas

Went shopping at Gourmet Garage with my son, who was at the perfect height to see the Pita shelves and ask why these ones were so small...well, 'cause they were a pack of 8 Mini Pitas (from Damascus Bakeries, who's tag line seems to suggest they are America's original Pitas!)

They reminded me of something I'd experimented with a couple of years ago. Now that D&K have their own aprons, they're into the idea of helping make dinner.

The trick is to have the components of this meal all ready on the counter (imagine you're one of those TV chefs.) Last nights, the components were:

• 4 mini pitas


• carrots & mushroom


• French brie

Prep:

1. Slice a small crescent off the top of each pita (the kids have trouble with this). The idea is to open up a small section of the pita, then gently open out the "pocket" of the pita.


2. Prep the stuffing: Take about 2 cups of chicken broth (I like the salt-free College inn broth you can get in large tetra-packs), bring to a boil and toss in about a cup of sliced white mushrooms and a cup of chopped baby carrots, cut to half-inch sections. Since mushrooms take a little longer to cook, put them in a couple of minutes before you put in the carrots. Cook for about 10 minutes or till the broth is all absorbed/ evaporated. I prefer the veggies crunchy, and dry. If you like the veggies mushy, go ahead and add more broth and cook longer, but it could make for a soggy meal.


3. Brie: You can't go very wrong with Brie. Get one that's billed as a 60% Brie, since it'll be pretty spreadable (it'll have some body, so tell the kids to take big chunks and work it into the pita pocket)

Put a pita pocket on each kid's favorite plate, have them spread in copious amounts of brie inside the pocket. Remind them to be gentle, since you don't want them to tear the pita. Give them a small bowl of the veggies and have them push them into the pocket.

You'll have to help them, of course. But, that's it - a nice, interactive meal, ready to eat!

About Roopa's Recipes

Why?
I've gone online for a couple of years, searching for inspiration as I stand in front of the fridge trying to figure something nice, nutritious and nosh'y for the kiddies. Hopefully, this blog can help other moms...and for that matter, anyone looking for some serendipitous food ideas.

A couple of ways I think of these recipes: by main ingredient (chicken, couscous, rice, etc.), provenance (Indian, Middle East, etc.) and kid category (mid-morning snack, intro to spice, etc.)

As a working mom in NYC, I've tended to make the kitchen and cooking a dynamic part of my time with the kids. They hang out on tall chairs on the other side of the counter, chatting with me, snacking on ingredients, and more and more these days helping me cook! When the kids were younger (...and not quite up to the task of sitting up, etc.!), I would wake up at 5 am and cook up breakfast and lunch before leaving for work. I made sure that I hung out in the morning and fed them breakfast, and used that time to chat about the day, their friends, and bond over their fruit, eggs, cereals.... They still cried copiously as I left and I still ached as I got in the elevator. Knowing they were eating well was one of the many things that got me through the days at work (apart from the cool work I was doing!) Nowadays, I make sure to cook lunch and dinner about 3 days a week, and of course the weekends are cook-fests! The kids have their own spatulas, and aprons, and are real mini-chefs, and it's one big party most weekends!