IMBB 16: An Eggsotic Biryani Feast!

This month's IMBB, hosted by Viv of Seattle Bon Vivant, has a theme that is dear to my heart. Something that can be savored at every meal, starting from breakfast to the last luscious bite of dessert, and for an ovo-vegetarian like me, it is a very valuable source of nourishment indeed. It is the incredible edible egg!

The number of ways in which I use eggs are truly countless, so this time I wanted to make something a little elaborate, something I do not get around to cooking very often. It is one of India's most-beloved feast dishes: a layered rice dish called biryani. Biryani is a labor of love. One does not make biryani for a quick supper. It is made at leisure, and consumed at leisure. And after a biryani meal, the proper thing to do is to flop on the sofa like a beached whale and take a nap.

Egg Biryani, in a few easy steps

(for 4-6 servings)

1. The aromatic saffron rice: 

• Cook 2 cups Basmati rice with about 4 peppercorns, 4 cloves, 2-3 cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick.
• Set rice aside to cool, then toss it with 1 tbsp. ghee.
• Drizzle the rice with 1/4 tsp saffron that has been soaked for a few minutes in 1/4 cup warm milk.

2. Garnishes: Fry the following in some vegetable oil, then drain and set aside-

• 1 large onion, sliced thinly
• 1 large potato, cut into fingers
• handful of cashews
• handful of golden raisins

3. Curry:

• Slice 2 onions. Heat oil in a saucepan and fry the onions till pink.
• As the onions are frying, make a thick paste of 1 bunch cilantro, 1 bunch mint and 1 tbsp. yogurt.
• Add ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and the herb chutney into the onions and fry well.
• Add 1/2 cup tomato puree, simmer for several minutes and set aside.

4. Eggs

• Hard-boil 6 eggs. 
• Peel them and cut them into quarters.

Now the components are made and set out neatly and I am ready to start making the layers:

Layering: Grease a large pot or Dutch oven. Add layers in following order: rice, curry, eggs, garnishes. End the last layer with garnishes.

Cover the Dutch oven tightly and place it on low heat till the biryani is steaming hot. The rice at the bottom may get dried out and crispy, but that only makes it tastier.

Raita is the perfect accompaniment for biryani. Dice up some onions and tomatoes, add yogurt and cilanto, season with cumin and salt and toss everything together. The raita is a cool counter-point to the spiciness of the biryani.

There you have it- an egg-sotic feast fit for royalty!

Meme: The Cook Next Door

I've been tagged by Mika for my very first meme! I have enjoyed reading this meme on other blogs, and am thrilled to share my own version with you. So here goes-

What's your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
My parents loved to entertain, and my mother would organize dinner parties for 30-40 people, and one of my first jobs was to make fruit salad for such a party. On other days, our long-time cook Anji (we consider her a family member) often recruited me as a sous-chef, to do small jobs like peeling vegetables and mashing potatoes. When I was about 14 and moved in with my aunt to study in Bombay, she trusted me enough to let me use her kitchen freely. I remember making spaghetti, ragda-patties (called aloo-tikki in other parts of India), saag paneer as my early tried-and-tested dishes. I even typed them into a little cook-book in MS Word and distributed copies among some friends! All in all, the seeds for this blog were sown early on.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
All the wonderful women in my family. My mother works full time but always found time to make birthday cakes, special dinners, treats for the lunch-box and throw lavish dinner parties at home. My grandmom is an great cook too; she is known for her meat specialties (which I stopped eating when I turned vegetarian at the age of 14), and for her hand-molded chocolates. Many of my aunts are people whose hands simply have the gift of turning out great food day after day. Anji, the lovely lady who cooks lunch in my parents' home, invented "cooking under fire" before anyone thought of making that show! She cooks in 5-6 households everyday and her meals sustained me growing up. My current influences are all the wonderful bloggers out there, amateur cooks who amaze me with their creativity and skill. I learn from them every day.

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world?
All my birthday photos growing up are evidence of the culinary expertise in my family. My parents would bake and lavishly decorate a cake for my sister and me for each and every birthday. They came up with the most creative ideas. My first birthday cake was a merry-go-round. Other cakes have been a swimming pool (complete with swimmers), a summer hat, butterflies etc.

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
Desserts (other than simple cakes) make me panic when I see the amount of sugar and butter that goes in! I think I would rather just buy them from a patesserie and remain blissfully unaware of the caloric content :)

What are your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
I LOVE my Braun immersion blender...I think it is so much value for money. I use it for pureeing soups, making batters and beating eggs. The pressure cooker is certainly another gadget I cannot live without, for quick pilafs and cooking dals and beans. The biggest letdown was the "Turbo Cooker" :D, an As seen on TV gadget that I bought for a ridiculous amount of money. What can I say, I'm a sucker!!

Biggest disappointment?
I once tried making paneer from supermarket cottage cheese. Boy that was a sorry mess and a waste of good cottage cheese! In cooking the mess a good non-stick pan was ruined. Never again.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else does.
This is not really weird, but I love potato chips with dal-rice.

What are the three edibles or dishes you simply don't want to live without?
Potato chips. Instant Noodles. Doritos. I'm a bad, bad girl.

Your favorite ice-cream
It is an ice cream sundae called "Special Cocktail" served by one "Imperial Ice Cream Parlor" in my home town of Kolhapur. They take a tall glass and layer chunks of fruits and nuts, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of rose ice cream, cubes of jelly, with mango smoothie poured on top. I don't have a sweet tooth at all but "Special Cocktail" rocks!

You will definitely never eat...
Foie Gras. Caviar. Miracle Whip (Have you read the ingredients on a can of Miracle Whip? The only miracle is that it is edible).

Your own signature dish...
These days it is the Sri Lankan egg curry that I have already posted in April. It is always requested by friends who are coming over, and the pot is always licked clean. It takes about 10 minutes to make, but hush, don't tell anyone.

My own added question...

What is your most memorable meal?
When I was about 10 yrs old, my parents and a bunch of their friends took all their families to the sea-side resort town of Goa for a vacation. Back then, Goa was about seafood and ONLY about seafood! I hated the smell of fish and basically starved for a week, only eating French fries. When we were driving back, we stopped for lunch at a tiny cafeteria that served plate meals. They had a meal of plain boiled rice with yellow dal with a squeeze of lemon juice. I ate and ate and ate. That's got to be my most delicious meal ever.

Meet the Ridge Gourd

Have you ever met a ridge gourd?

It is a rather pretty vegetable; dark green, ridged (duh!) and tapering. Ridge gourds are well beloved in India, atleast the region I come from (they are called "dodka" in Marathi), and I love ridge gourd cooked into a tasty peanut curry. However, ridge gourds are not native to the US so I have to look for them whenever I go to the Indian grocery store. Today I decided to cook the beauties I bought last week.
The first step is to wash and peel the ridge gourds, and to cut them into chunks like so...

The rest of the vegetable preparation is very simple, perfect for a weeknight.
RIDGE GOURD SUBZI
serves 2-3
4 ridge gourds, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
1 potato, diced
4-5 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 cup roasted peanut powder
1 tsp jaggery (or brown sugar)
1 tsp tamarind paste
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, when they sputter, add curry leaves and onion. Stir till onion is transluscent. Add turmeric, salt, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala and stir for a few seconds. Add ridge gourd and potato and stir for 2 minutes. Add a cup of water, peanut powder, jaggery, tamarind paste and let simmer on medium heat till potatoes are tender and curry is thickened. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with rotis or yogurt-rice.

SHF#9: Rosy Apple Tartlets

Just last week I was reading the February 2005 edition of Martha's "Living" when the dessert of the month made me gasp! That very day, I saw that Life in Flow has decreed that the SHF#9 shall be Tantalizing Titillating Tempting Tarts and right away I put two and two together...I would use Martha's idea of rosy apple tarts. The pastry shells filled with cream and topped with roses fashioned from apples ended up looking too good to eat.

Rosy Apple Tartlets
(adapted from Martha Stewart "Living" Feb. 2005)
Step 1: Poach the apples: Bring to a boil in a small saucepan 1 cup sugar, 2 cups water and 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice. While the mixture is boiling, take 2 red apples and core them. Rub the exposed flesh with lemon wedges to avoid browning. Use a mandoline to cut the apples cross-wise into thin slices. (I tried doing this with a knife but that did not work well. You need a really sharp knife and even sharper cutting skills to achieve this with a knife. So the mandoline gifted by my mom during my last visit to India came in very handy). Once the syrup has boiled, take it aside and place apple slices into it. Cover the surface by placing a parchment paper directly on it (I don't know why this is done but Martha said it had to be done and thats good enough for me :)). Let syrup cool down completely.
Step 2: Make the puff pastry cups, or as I like to think of them, the tiny "vases" for our rosebuds. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Take a thawed sheet of puff pastry and cut it evenly into 12 rectangles. Press each rectangle into a cup of a 12-muffin pan and prick with a fork. Bake for about 12 minutes till pastry is golden all over. Cool the pastry cups.
Step 3: Whip up he filling...Whip a cup of heavy cream till soft peaks form. Into the whipped cream, fold in 3 tbsp of confectioner's sugar and a tsp of cinnamon. Spoon the cream into the puff pastry cups.
Step 4: Assemble the roses: Take a poached apple slice and cut into semi-circle, now twist it into the form of a bud, with peel-side facing you. Take another semi-circle and wrap it around the bud to make a bigger flower. The pictures probably shows you best how this was done. In school, we kids would make similar roses from pencil shavings (Thanks S for reminding me of this). The apple roses are simply tucked into the cream in the pastry cup. A garnish of tender basil leaves adds a nice contrasting color. Somehow the roses have this very pretty rosy color too...it could be the color of the red skin leaking off into the poaching liquid or the partial slight browning or reddening of the cut apples , or a combination of these two factors.

So what did this taste like? Wellll, like a mouthful of puff pastry to tell you the truth! The roses taste wonderful (sweet and lemony) and go very well with the cinnamon cream...but the puff pastry overwhelms the overall taste. So I won't be making the exact same recipe ever again. I will, however, make the roses often and use them as an adorable decoration for other desserts. Imagine a chocolate cake topped with roses and cream! They look like perfect decorations for bridal shower and baby shower confections.
This is what the roses in Martha's magazine looked like:

And my life has been rosy ever since I made these...just yesterday I went to the rose exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden and stopped by to smell some real roses! Its a beautiful life...

Please visit Life in Flow for a full round-up of Tantalizing Titillating Tempting Tarts!

A Primer on Sprouting Lentils

The goal: To convert dry whole beans and lentils into lush sprouted beans and lentils in just a couple of days.

Why would you want to sprout? The nutritional value of beans and lentils goes through the roof once they are sprouted. You simply end up with more bang for your buck. Sprouting can also make beans and lentils more digestible.

How to sprout, the low tech way: I assure you that every kitchen has the tools to make sprouts at home. All you need is a strainer or a colander and a clean cotton cloth or dishcloth.

1. SOAK. Take a cup of lentils ( I used the brown supermarket variety). Place them in a bowl and rinse 2-3 times. Then leave them soaked in warm water for 6-8 hours. By this time they get hydrated and plump up like so-


2. SET UP. Take a colander and line it with a clean cotton cloth (such as an handkerchief) or layers of cheesecloth. Place the plumped lentils in the colander and fold the cloth over them.



3. RINSE and REPEAT. Place colander under a sink and flow warm water over it for few seconds. Let the water drain and leave the lentils for 12 hours. Repeat the rinsing twice a day for a couple of days (say in the morning when you are making coffee and at night when you are clearing up after dinner) and this is what you end up with.


So with the minimum of effort, you now have 3-4 cups of fresh wonderful sprouts. For my first IMBB ever, in the days before my own blog existed, I made this recipe. There are many other ways to use sprouts however. Here is what I did with these lentils: I nuked them for 7-8 minutes (in bursts of 2 minutes) to get them slightly tender. Then I added halved cheery tomatoes, halved baby vidalia onions and dressed with lemon juice, salt and "chaat masala" to make a nice summer salad.

EoMEoTE #7: Egg Onion Float

Here's to the end of the month of May! It was a hectic, awful month for me work-wise (though I did get to take a work-related trip to the Canadian Rockies) so I am looking forward to a more relaxed month ahead. Travel is all well and good, but hey, give me a nice weekend at home any day!

As usual, Cook Sister is hosting the monthly eggy carb-fest and this month's theme is limericks so what are we waiting for?

You know how it is...

...there are days when you want to sup and hop into bed
but the sight of your empty 'fridge fills you with dread
Well, don't stand around and mope
make some Egg-Onion Float
Instead of hungry, you will end up over-fed!

:)

Egg Onion Float is a recipe devised by my parents decades ago when they were both medical students in Bombay. Well, times have changed but we all love the recipe very much and now it is my turn as a hungry graduate student to use it often and with great results. This is thrown together with pantry ingredients, quantities can be easily eye-balled.

Egg Onion Float

1. Heat some oil in a skillet. 
2. Saute some onions with ginger and garlic. 
3. Add salt to taste, red chili flakes for a spicy kick, turmeric for some color, tomato puree and ketchup and stir around. 
4. Pat down the mixture, make wells in it and break an egg in each well. 
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook till eggs are done as you like 'em. 

I ate these with rotis (Indian flatbread) but any kind of bread works great !

Happy June, everyone!

The Spice Files: Focus on CURRY LEAVES

Curry leaves (kadipatta in Hindi and Marathi) are one of my favorite spices. For the sake of fresh curry leaves, I frequently trek to Queens to the Indian store rather than do without them. Curry leaves should not be mistaken for bay leaves, these two are worlds apart. Curry leaves add a fresh citrusy fragrance to food that is simply unmistakeable.

I generally buy fresh leaves, pat them dry and store them in the refrigerator for a few weeks. They keep quite well and hold flavor much better than when they are frozen or dried. A friend mentioned that curry leaves can be grown by sticking the stalks into a pot of soil. Really? Well, I potted my curry-stalks today and shall keep you updated about whether they take root and grow :)

The recipe I have chosen to showcase curry leaves is a very simple cabbage subzi. Subzi is the general name for dry vegetable stir-fries. These can be eaten with roti/bread or with rice and lentils. To increase the protein content of my vegetarian diet, I often make subzis with added lentils or peanuts as shown in this recipe.

Cabbage Subzi

Ingredients
1 small head cabbage, washed and shredded (about 6-8 cups)
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup hulled chana dal, soaked for 30 minutes (optional)
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
Handful of minced cilantro
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. oil
salt to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard and cumin seeds, let them splutter and then add onion and curry leaves. 
2. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes on medium heat till onions have softened. 
3. Add turmeric, red pepper flakes, salt to taste and stir for a few seconds. 
4. Add the cabbage and chana dal and stir around to coat them with spices. 
5. Add 1/4 cup of water and let the cabbage simmer for 10-15 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. The subzi is done when the cabbage and chana dal is tender and the preparation is almost dry. Garnish with cilantro and dress with lemon juice just before serving.

EoMEoTE#6: Indian Railways Omelet Sandwich

It's the end of the month again (yikes) which means two things for me:
a) Pay the bills
b) Make eggs on toast for the EoMEoTE#6.

What is this tongue-twister ? Well, it is a really fun food-blog event and you may please toodle off to the ova-enthusiastic Cook Sister so she can tell you all about it.

Me, I am making Indian Railways Omelet Sandwiches for the event. Ok, it probably is not the most appetizing name ever given to a dish, but the honest truth is that I associate this sandwich with railway journeys. The Indian Railways are a truly amazing system of some 11,000 trains that run the length and breadth of the sub-continent, and they have catering services on most of them. I remember that this omelet sandwich was often sold on trains from Bombay to Pune. It is very filling and tasty. Here is the recipe for making two sandwiches.

Omelet Sandwich

Making the Indian-style Omelet

1. Beat together 3 large eggs. 
2. Add half a minced onion, 1 tbsp milk/cream, 1 finely minced fresh chile pepper, 2 tbsp minced cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Make 2 omelets using this mixture.

Assembling the sandwiches

1. Liberally butter 4 slices of bread. 
2. Fill each pair of bread slices with sliced tomatoes, folded omelets and a slice of cheese, if desired. 
3. Serve with ketchup and a cup of steaming hot chai.

That was easy!

Bombay Street Food: Pav Bhaji

Bombay- now there's a city that loves tucking in! A teeming metropolis of about 20 million people (bigger than most European nations), it makes even New York City feel like a sleepy little town! At any point in time, millions of Bombayites are out in the streets eating. Even at midnight (especially at midnight), hordes of people crowd at little restaurants and roadside stalls to tuck into spicy chaat and crispy dosas and creamy fruit-flavored kulfis and above all, pav bhaji.

Whenever I visit Bombay, the main item on the agenda is : Eat Sukh Sagar Pav Bhaji. Sukh Sagar is a little restaurant near the Chowpatty beach in South Bombay, and it serves simply the most awesome snacks, the likes of which evoke feelings usually reserved for religious epiphanies.

What, then, is Pav Bhaji? It is a spicy vegetable stew that you sop up with pillowy bread. The pav bhaji chef (bhaiyya) stands at the mouth of the restaurant with a huge cast-iron pan in front of him. He is surrounded by bowls of chopped veggies and an alarming number of packets of Amul brand butter. The bhaiyya will start sautéing the veggies together with boiled potatoes, spices and enormous dollops of butter and mash the whole mixture into a sizzling vegetable dish. He will then serve this bhaji with rolls of bread called pav that have been likewise drowned in butter. The final touch: the dish is topped with raw onion slices and lemon wedges. The whole mess is simply heaven on a plate. Or a heart attack on a plate, depending on your point of view.

Which brings me to the misery that overcomes people who move out of Bombay and would have to fly 24 hours to get to our beloved Sukh Sagar. What do we do? The best solution would be to catch the next flight out of JFK but an alternative solution is to make pav bhaji at home. Every Indian store sells pav bhaji masala, a dry mix of some 18 or so spices. The method is simplicity itself: saute onions and ginger-garlic, add veggies and boiled potatoes, tomato and pav bhaji masala; then taste it and wail about how it is not like Sukh Sagar's. It tastes OK but is just not the real thing.

I lived my life in sub-standard-pav-bhaji-hood, until last December. That's when I was visiting my parents and my Mom's close pal Aunt Madhuri dropped in with some home-made pav bhaji for me. I was like "yeah, thanks" because, you know, Auntie M is an amazing cook, but is hardly the Sukh Sagar Bhaiyya. Then my mother started reheating the pav-bhaji and I started jumping for joy...the aroma was exactly like that of the genuine article. And it tasted so darn close too! I accosted Aunt M and wheedled the recipe out of her and was dismayed at how plain and simple (and almost wrong!) it sounded. She insisted that onions are not to be sautéed for the bhaji (what!!) because they lend a sweetish non-authentic flavor. Her method used a lot of cauliflower which again seemed totally wrong. She used Everest brand pav bhaji masala so anyway, I bought a couple of packets and returned to NYC.

Once here, I barely waited for the jet lag to subside and then set out to make pav bhaji exactly as per good ol' M. The whole time I was making it I was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster (I wondered bitterly if M was protecting her culinary secrets by giving out bogus recipes) but I persevered and suddenly at the last stage of cooking, there was a miracle: my kitchen smelled like, you guessed it, Sukh Sagar. Hallelujah Hallelujah, praise to aunt Madhuri and her pav bhaji recipe. Here it is, for about 4-6 servings.

Pav Bhaji

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 tbsp. oil
1 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. chili powder or red chili paste (or more to taste)
1 tsp. ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste
2-3 cups tomato puree or 2-3 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)...optional
1 tbsp. Everest pav bhaji masala (or more to taste)
1-2 tbsp. butter

Method

1. Boil the cauliflower and potatoes till tender and set aside. I usually do this in a pressure cooker or instant pot (pressure cook HIGH 3 mins; release pressure). Mash the vegetables.
2. Heat oil in a deep saucepan or dutch oven and saute the pepper. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute some more.
3. Add turmeric powder, chili powder to taste and salt to taste. Saute for a few seconds.
4. Add tomato puree, peas, boiled potatoes and cauliflower, pav bhaji masala and butter.
5. Keep sauteeing and mashing it together till it is a smooth mixture, adding water as required (you can use a potato masher to help you along). Be aware that the mixture can spurt up as it boils, so keep a lid on it while you are not actively stirring it. Simmer for 20-25 minutes to really get the flavors to meld together.

You have to keep tasting and adjusting salt, masala and tomato till you like the balance between the tomato-ey tang and the heat of the masala.

Serve with:
1. More pats of butter (as much as you can dare really, don't be chicken now),
2. Finely sliced/ chopped onions, minced cilantro and wedges of lemon.

 

3. The genuine pav-bhaji is served with real Bombay laadi pav...slabs of bread, so named because the rolls are sold as entire slabs and you break the rolls off as required. This bread is so yeasty and terrific! I serve it with any crusty bread that is chewy on the inside, like ciabatta or country boule or French rolls. I don't recommend burger buns at all...they are too soft and pasty. Try and find "real" bread in a bakery :)

Variations:
1. Fry the bread in some butter first. For an even spicier result, make masala pav...melt some butter in a skillet. Sprinkle pav bhaji masala in it, then fry the bread in this spicy butter until sizzling and golden.
2. To make cheese pav-bhaji, top the pav bhaji with some shredded cheese. In India, the brand used is Amul cheese...in the US, Monterey Jack cheese comes close to this. Or try Cheddar. (Thanks Anon, for reminding me of this variation)
3. Some readers have suggested frozen mixed vegetables to increase the veggie content of the pav bhaji. I think beans and carrots would work well.
4. A reader named Manasi suggests the addition of some garam masala to the bhaji to give it an even more authentic taste. She also recommends MDH brand pav bhaji masala.
5. Another anonymous reader suggests adding Priya's Tomato Garlic Pickle for added pizzazz.

I hope you enjoy this taste of Bombay! I thank everyone who has tried this recipe, and takes the time to leave their valuable feedback, often with great suggestions and variations.

IMBB#14: Orange you glad I made tortilla soup?

This is a lovely theme for Is My Blog Burning: the color orange.

The only problem: what to make, what to make, because with the Indian penchant for using turmeric and spices, all our food looks almost uniformly brown-orange. It is a problem, many of our desserts are orange too, with the use of mango and saffron. So theoretically, I could have made any of a thousand recipes. But it is a busy day, and I had friends over for a Mexican fiesta so the orange recipe is going to be Mexican-inspired- Tortilla Soup.

I love making this soup for various reasons: It has a history of being passed on from room-mate to room-mate ( I got it from my old room-mate Steph who got it from her old roommate Eve who...you get the picture).

It is also a very student-friendly recipe, made from all pantry ingredients and budget-friendly ones at that. Finally and most importantly, it is totally and undeniably ORANGE!

The habanero pepper (one of the hottest peppers in the world) is the only exotic ingredient and it adds an incredible kick but it can be totally substituted with chili powder or other peppers.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients
2 cans corn kernels/2 boxes frozen corn
1 medium diced onion
2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 hananero pepper
3/4 can crushed tomato
2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. lime juice
Tortilla chips (lime flavored ones work well)

Method

1. Heat oil in stockpot. Fry onion, corn kernels, spices, season with salt and pepper.
2. Add tomatoes. Saute for a few minutes. 
3. Add 5 cups water and habanero pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes. 
4. Pull out and discard hanabero pepper (this is important is you want to avoid dialling 911 during dinner...habanero is one of the hottest peppers known to man).
5. Add lime juice and a handful of chips and blend the soup partially to make it more brothy.

Serve topped with more crushed chips, shredded Monterey cheese (or another hard cheese like cheddar) and cilantro. Enjoy!

SHF#7: Gooey Gajar Halwa

The theme for April's Sugar High Friday is at once unusual and very familiar: Molasses!

Familiar because I grew up in a part of India that is a major producer of sugar and consequently, molasses; and unusual because I never thought of using molasses as an ingredient.

Where I grew up, sugarcane production ruled the local economy. Tall stalks of sugarcane can be seen waving along vast expases of land. Seasonally, the sugarcane is harvested and sent to huge sugar factories to make refined sugar or to smaller cottage industries called gurhal to make jaggery or unrefined sugar. The process of making jaggery is fascinating and people often gather at the gurhal to watch and enjoy the process. You gather around a huge pan (the diameter is about 20 feet) in which sugarcane juice bubbles over a wood fire. This is where the you get to chew on sugarcane stalks, roast peanuts in the fire and enjoy local produce. Once the juice is thick enough, 6-10 men will grab the pan with a special harness and pour the juice into what looks like a swimming pool cut like a huge trough in the ground. This is the mould where the thick juice sets into jaggery and is then cut into blocks. The newly made foamy jaggery, scooped from the pool using sugarcane stalks, is the best candy I have ever tasted in my life.

But I digress. Molasses (kakvi in Marathi) is a by-product of sugar production and not of jaggery. We always had a bottle of the stuff lying around the house. Other than eating it with hot rotis as a snack, I can't for the life of me remember what it was used for.

For SHF#7, I decided to adapt a traditional Indian dessert, gajar halwa, a stove-top carrot pudding. Traditionally it does not contain molasses so this is a twist on the classic recipe. I love making gajar halwa, and people often request it but without a food processor, grating enough carrots for the halwa is painful. I was grocery shopping today and dawdling around the produce section when inspiration stuck. Why grate your own carrots when the nice folks at Dole will do it for you? So here it is, gajar halwa with a gooey twist.

Gajar Halwa with Molasses

INGREDIENTS
10 oz. bag of shredded carrots (you lucky ones with fancy food processors can grate your own)
12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. molasses
1 tsp. cardamom powder
1/2 cup chopped cashews, pecans, walnuts, raisins
1 tbsp. butter

METHOD

1. Heat butter in a non-stick pan and stir fry the carrots and nuts/raisins for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the evaporated milk and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally till the mixture thickens quite a bit. 
3. Add the sugar, molasses, cardamom and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring constantly till the mixture is almost dry. 

These days in India it is very fashionable to serve gajar halwa with vanilla ice-cream. Me, I'm gobbling it down just like it is :) The molasses gives a wonderful complexity to the halwa. Many thanks to Derrick from An Obsession with Food and Wine for coming up with this challenging theme, and for writing this delicious round-up of molasses recipes.

A "Konkani" Sunday

I took a haitus from the blog last week because I was in Toronto. I stayed with a dear who treated me to wonderful home-cooked suppers. This aunt is Konkani, her family comes from the Konkan coast of Western India and so I got to eat some pretty awesome Konkani specialties. One night she made a simple supper of dal and rice but the instant I tasted it, I knew this was no ordinary dal. It turned out to be a specialty called Moong Dal Ghassi, a dal simmered with a coconut masala. Now coconut is widely used in Indian cooking as a base for vegetable, egg and meat curries, and grated coconut is often used a garnish for dry vegetable dishes. But a dal with coconut...now that is quite unusual to me. My aunt recited the recipe for me and I mentally noted it down and the very day I was back in NYC I thought I should try it out.

Most Indians eat dal every single day and vegetarians rely heavily on dals for protein so it is hardly surprising that a vast variety of dals have evolved in the Indian repertoire. Punjab is known for dal makhani, Gujarat is known for its sweet dal, South India is known for its sambar and rasam. I'm happy to add Konkani moong dal ghassi to my list of favorites. This dal has a complex and exotic flavor and is perfect served with some plain steamed rice.

Moong Dal Ghassi

(My aunt's recipe, serves about 4)

Ingredients:
1 cup split (hulled, yellow) moong dal
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp. tamarind paste
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
salt to taste
Masala...
1 tsp. oil
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
2 dried red chillies (or more to taste)
4 tbsp. dry unsweetened coconut (or fresh or frozen)
Tempering...
1 tbsp. oil or ghee
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
small onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Garnish...
slices of fresh lemon
cilantro, minced

Method:

1. Cook the moong dal in a pressure cooker or the stove-top and set aside. 
2. Make the masala by toasting the ingredients together in the oil until fragrant and then grinding with a little water to make a thick and smooth paste. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil/ ghee in a pan. Temper with mustard and cumin seeds. Then add curry leaves, onion and garlic and saute for 3-4 minutes. 
4. Add the dal, turmeric, salt, tomato, tamarind paste and masala paste. Stir well to mix everything together. 
5. Add enough water to get the dal to the desired consistency. Taste and adjust the balance of salty and tangy flavors. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
6. Garnish with cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lemon to add a fresh note. Serve hot.

Happy New Year!

No, I am not out of my mind. I am well aware that it is the middle of April. Different cultures follow different calendars, and according to the Hindu calendar, this is the first month of the year!

In my home state of Maharastra, today is New Year's Day, also called Gudi Padwa. In India, every celebration and festival calls for a special dessert and I decided to make the easiest of them all: kheer.

Kheer is essentially a dessert made from some carb (rice or noodles) cooked in milk and sugar, flavored with some cardamom and saffron. The kheer most commonly made at my parents' home was sevayachi kheer. Seviyan is vermicelli, a very thin pasta.

Ingredients: vermicelli, raisins and bits of cashews. 

Kheer is also made from rice, wheat kernels and makhana or puffed lotus seeds, an exotic ingredient if ever you saw one! Coconut milk can be used instead of dairy milk for some types of kheer.

Kheer is eaten hot with rotis or puris, or chilled and enjoyed just by itself. Here is my easy easy recipe which serves 5-6 regular people or 3-4 starving grad students.

Kheer

Ingredients
1 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)
1 pint whole milk
3-4 tbsp. vermicelli (depending on how thick you want the kheer)
1 tbsp. broken cashews
1 tbsp. raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cardamom
2 pinches saffron

Method

• Heat the ghee and fry the vermicelli, cashews and raisins till golden brown (watch out, it turns color quite suddenly). 
• Add milk, sugar, cardamom and saffron. 
• Bring to boil and simmer till it reduces a bit. The vermicelli will thicken it further. 

Is that easy or is it easy? Have a sweet and yummy new year!

Cuisines and Cuisines

What comes to mind when you think of Indian food? What is the national dish of India? Chicken Tikka? or Aloo Gobi? or Mango Lassi? The truth is that every state and region of India are like little countries in and of themselves. Different culture, different language and most importantly, different cuisines!

So here is my modest attempt to round up the different Indian cuisines you can find in restaurants in New York City.

1. North Indian: It is the first Indian sub-cuisine to make its way onto international tables. People also refer to it as Punjabi food. Restaurants like Curry in a Hurry and Baluchi's in Manhattan, and Jackson Diner in Queens showcase North Indian cuisine. Typically, the meal consists of breads like roti and paratha, vegetables like aloo gobi, paneer tikka, lentils like dal makhani and rice in the form of pilafs and biryanis. North Indian food tends to be rich and heavily influenced by the Mughal style of cooking. Lassis (yogurt drinks) come from this region, although I have to say that I have never seen mango lassi anywhere outside of North America ( and I spent 22 years in India so I had enough time to look around).

2. South Indian: This is a very different cuisine from the one above. Go nosh at Chennai Garden or Pongal or Madras Mahal, all on the same block in Manhattan and see what I mean. Typical foods are idli (steamed cakes) and dosa (crepes) served with fragrant coconut chutneys and a spicy vegetable dal called sambar. Another sub-cuisine from Southern India is from the Chettinad region and involves the heavy use of coarsely ground black pepper. Try Asaivam for a taste of Chettinad cuisine.

3. Gujarati: Gujarat is a state of Western India and the food from here is heavily vegetarian and absolutely delicious. It tends to be mildly spiced with a intermingling of sweet and sour flavors. Vatan is a Manhattan restaurant which offers a prix fixe Gujarati thali that makes for a sumptuous tasting menu.

4. Street food: Chaat or Indian street food is becoming a food fad faster that I can say "bhelpuri"! Try chaat in any of these restaurants. Another version of Indian snack food is Kathi rolls sold in Indian Bread Company- very tasty morsels.

5. Indian-Chinese: This food is off-beat and worth trying! India and China are neighbours and it is no wonder that influences from Chinese food have crept into our cuisine, and the unsual marriage is called "Indian-Chinese". You have to try some gobi manchurian and hakka noodles at Chinese Mirch in Manhattan or Talk of the Town in Jackson Heights, Queens.

This modest list leaves out about a thousand other Indian sub-cuisines. Hopefully new ones will show up as Indian food is becoming ever-popular. Meanwhile, Chola is a note-worthy restaurant that features unusual regional dishes that can never be found on menus outside India. I hope you enjoyed this little journey. Let me know what your favorite restaurants are!

EoMEoTE#5: Pateta-par-Eeda

I first stumbled upon the End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza ( whew...that's a mouthful) a few days ago while reading a post on Who wants seconds and was quite sad that I missed the first 4 eggstravaganzas! Well, I'm not missing this one, being hosted by Johanna, the Passionate Cook and I decided to make my favorite brunch recipe.

It is a Parsee recipe called Pateta par Eeda. "Pateta" as in potato, "Eeda" as in eggs and "par" as in "upon which" (approximately). So it is basically eggs on top of potatoes.

The Parsees are a small but vibrant community that fled from Persia and settled in India several centuries ago. They are followers of Zoroasterianism and worshippers of fire. Their tiny community is astonishingly successful and much-admired for its philanthropic spirit. Parsee food is rich in meats and eggs and represents an amalgamation of Persian and South-Asian cooking styles. One of the favorite Parsee styles of breakfast foods includes pan-frying a variety of vegetables (leftovers work fine), pressing them down in the pan, then making wells and cracking eggs into it for a quick brunch dish. This one is my absolute favorite.

Pateta Par Eeda

For 2 hungry souls, you need...

Ingredients:
3-4 eggs
3 medium-large potatoes, shredded (by hand or using a food processor)
1 small onion
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp minced cilantro
pinch of turmeric
pinch of chili powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a non-stick skillet and fry the onions, ginger and garlic till lightly browned.
2. Season with salt and pepper, turmeric and chili powder if using.
3. Press any excess water out of the shredded potatoes and add them to the pan.
4. Add the cilantro and toss everything together and pat it down in the pan. Cook on medium heat till the potato cake is browned at the bottom.
5. Flip it over (easily done by flipping first onto a plate, then slide into pan). Break the eggs over the potato cake and season them.
6. Cover and cook till the eggs are set the way you like them and the bottom gets browned and crispy.

This breakfast casserole looks and smells so good! The straw potato cake is delicious...it is like serving eggs and hash browns all at once. You can serve it in wedges and enjoy it just like it is, or serve it with toast and offer ketchup on the side.



Variations- 

1. Beat the eggs lightly and pour them on the potatoes instead of cracking whole eggs. This is for people who don't care for the taste of yolks. 
2. Garnish with cilantro instead of adding cilantro to the base. This results in pretty green flecks. 
3. Sprinkle with cheese for added flavor.
4. Sprinkle with paprika for a pretty touch of red.
5. Cut the pateta par eeda into wedges or squares to serve as an appetizer. 

Khichdi-Kadhi: India's Comfort Food

If you asked a hundred Indians what their favorite comfort food is, I would guess that 95+ would say "Khichdi". I certainly would! This soothing combination of rice and lentils is the food that lights up my memories. When I was growing up, it was the dinner served before starting on a journey. It was the dinner of monsoon nights, when sheets of rain would batter us. It was the thursday night dinner in my college dorm when everyone would eat khichdi and kadhi and pretend they were in the comfort of home. When there was a death in the family, neighbors brought in pots of khichdi to comfort and console.
The nourishing, healing, comforting powers of khichdi are universally accepted. Khichdi is the first solid that babies are introduced to. In a world far removed from Gerber's baby food, rice and lentils are simmered till mushy, seasoned with turmeric and salt and fed to infants to introduce them to "people food". Khichdi is the only food people eat when they are sick. The warmth and aroma of just-cooked khichdi perks up palates which are dulled by illness; maybe we should dub it "Indian Penicillin". Khichdi is a meal that is simmered in a single pot. It is the ideal food for campfires and soup kitchens. Khichdi is the food of the poor, a meal that is accessible even with the food budget stretched to its limits. Khichdi is the food of the rich, a showcase for the choicest vegetables simmered with a plethora of lentils and studded with nuts.

The word khichdi literally means hodgepodge or mishmash. Hodgepodge or not, khichdi makes for a complete one-pot meal. The rice provides the carbohydrates, the lentils provide the protein, the vegetables add the vitamins and minerals and fiber. A dollop of ghee (clarified butter) provides the right amount of fat and calories, which are as important in a diet as any other food group. All over India, there are as many recipes for khichdi as there as households. It can be spicy or plain, made with a single lentil or combinations of 2-5 lentils. Special khichdis are often made to celebrate special festival days. Traditionally, khichdi is served with a yogurt curry called kadhi. Khichdi-kadhi is the food of the masses, and the food of the gods.

In keeping with the philosophy of khichdi-making, I will provide a method rather than a recipe.

• To make khichdi, heat oil/ butter/ghee in a pot, fry 1 tsp. of cumin seeds and some minced onion for a couple of minutes. 
• Season with salt and turmeric and a dash of garam masala. 
• Add a few cups of mixed diced vegetables (any combination of potatoes, eggplant, peas, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, tomatoes is generally used). 
• Add a cup of rice and half a cup of lentils (I generally use a combination of red and yellow split lentils). 
• Add 3-4 cups of water and simmer the whole thing till done. It should be mushy and comforting. 
• Garnish with minced cilantro and generous dollops of ghee.

The kadhi is made as follows:

• Mix 1 cup plain yogurt, 1.5 cups water, 3 tsp. besan ( chickpea flour), 1 tsp. sugar and a dash of salt in a bowl, whisk together and set aside. 
• Now heat oil in a saucepan and "temper" it will 5-6 curry leaves, 1 tsp. minced ginger, 3 dried red chillies and 1 tsp. each of mustard and cumin seeds. 
• Once the tempering is sizzling, add the yogurt mixture and bring to boil. Simmer it for 10-12 minutes stirring almost constantly or until the chickpea flour is cooked. 
• Garnish with cilantro.

I served the khichdi and kadhi with roasted papads and pickled vegetables, on a traditional Indian steel thali. This is the stuff food memories are made of.

Caramel Custard

I'm so excited...my blog is celebrating its first event! It is an appropriately sweet one :) Actually, I did participate in the IMBB: Beans event but I did not have a blog then and Cathy from My Little Kitchen who hosted the IMBB was wonderful enough to post my humble li'l entry on her blog. I enjoyed the experience so much that I started writing my own blog- thank you for the inspiration Cathy!

On to Sugar High Friday. When I read that Debbie from Words To Eat By has chosen the theme Caramel, I was saved the trouble of thinking of what to make. In my mind, CARAMEL=CARAMEL CUSTARD.

I am not really a dessert person. Some days I like mango ice-cream and chocolate mousse. I enjoy the occasional slice of pecan pie. But on days when I am tired or upset, in need of a hug, I simply crave caramel custard. It is the first dessert that I ever learnt to make back home in India. In India, caramel custard is often steamed in a pressure cooker (without using the pressure). Since I was making a tried and tested recipe, I wanted to use a new method of cooking it to make it a learning experience for me. Enter the bain marie, where the custard is baked in a water bath.

My obsession for food shows on PBS have ensured that I have watched the bain marie in action so I was pretty eager to try it for myself. The only bain that I could think of was my standard 13x9 glass baking tray. The only thing that would now sit in it holding my custard was my non-stick loaf pan. Certainly an odd contraption to make custard in but it worked.

To make the caramel, I placed 4 tbsp of sugar ( with some drizzles of water) in the non-stick loaf pan and placed it on the stove top, then fussed over it for several minutes turning it this way and that till the sugar started caramelizing. Soon a lovely brown layer of caramel was coating the pan and I hastily pulled the pan off and set it aside. One learns the hard way that there is a thin line between caramel and charcoal.

To make the custard, I started by scalding two and a half cups of whole milk , then dissolving 2 tbsps of sugar in the hot milk. I added a slice of bread to the hot mixture so that the bread soaked and swelled and gave way. I know bread is not traditionally part of this recipe but I really like the "body" that it lends to the custard. I let this mixture cool while I watched Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way...by then the mixture was cool enough so I cracked 2 eggs into it and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then using an immersion blender I whirred the whole thing into a wonderful custard and poured it into the pan with the caramel.

For the bain marie, I poured boiling water 1/3 of the way into the 13x9 dish and placed that in a 325 deg F oven. Then I placed my custard pan gently into it and held my breath for about 30 minutes. I did not expect it to cook so quickly but by 30 minutes it was done and the knife came clean. I had to chill it for 3 hours and then eagerly turned it onto another tray. Hallelujah! My first attempt at bain marie was a success. The texture of the custard was creamy and smooth and cooked to perfection and utterly luscious. V (the significant other) and I grabbed a fork and ate it right out of the platter! Dale (he who woofs) also got a tiny bit...he loves people food.

Caramel Custard

Ingredients
2.5 cups milk
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 slice bread
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Caramelize the sugar in the pan in which you want to make the custard. Alternatively, caramelize the sugar in another small saucepan and then pour it into the baking dish to coat the bottom.
2. In a saucepan, scald the milk. Dissolve 2 T sugar in the milk and crumble the bread into it. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. 
3. Blend the milk with the eggs and vanilla and pour the custard into the pan with the caramel.
4. Bake in a bain marie for 30-40 minutes till a knife comes clean and the custard is set. 
5. Chill for a few hours and then invert into a serving platter. It is that simple.

Notes:

• If your custard has an eggy smell, increase the amount of vanilla extract.
• Custard can be made in a pressure cooker, but steam it without the weight! 

A primer on making RAITA

Indian food is not known for its salads! Friends often ask me if Indian meals traditionally include salads at all. The answer is yes; most home-style meals in India are served with some form of raw vegetables, such as

• Kachumbar: This consists of chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumbers tossed together with a generous sprinkling of cilantro and lemon juice. The citrus really accentuates the fresh flavors and this salad is a great palate cleanser.
• Often thinly sliced salad vegetables are simply arranged on a big platter and sprinkled with salt and pepper.
• Raita: This is a versatile salad with a yogurt base. It serves as a cool contrast to the spicy flavors of a curry meal.  

Raitas can work as a side-dish, salad, or dip. They are so easy to put together:

Base: Whipped yogurt seasoned with salt. Low-fat or non-fat yogurt works fine, as does sour cream, in a pinch. I often use some milk to think down yogurt so it can be whipped more easily. If the yogurt is sour, a dash of sugar goes a long way in enhancing the flavor.

Vegetables: Use any combination of the following vegetables, chopped or grated; tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, beets, boiled potatoes.

Herbs: Sprinkle any of all of the following finely minced herbs; mint, cilantro, parsley.

Seasoning: A minimalistic raita will need nothing more than a dash of salt and pepper. If you are feeling more adventurous, try crushed roasted cumin seeds, a sprinkling of paprika or finely minced fresh ginger.

Topping: I love using crushed roasted peanuts as a topping for my raita. It is one of the traditional ways of making raita in Maharashtra where I grew up.

Simply toss all the components together in a bowl and let it chill for a while before serving.

Good Life Pancakes

Pancakes
Originally uploaded by one hot stove.

On Saturday mornings I am in the mood for a proper breakfast, defined as anything non-toast/oatmeal/cereal.

Today I decided to make Banana Pecan Walnut Pancakes, all the better to use up a banana which was slowly turning to syrup in my fruit bowl.

HANDY TIP: Pancakes, muffins and smoothies are a great way to use up bananas that look too ripe to be eaten. In case you are pressed for time, an over-ripe banana can be easily peeled and frozen till you get around to using it. In short, there is no excuse for throwing bananas in the trash.

Banana Pecan Walnut Pancakes

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl: 

• ¹⁄₂ cup whole wheat flour
• ¹⁄₂ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• some chopped walnuts and pecans
• dash of cinnamon or allspice

2. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl:

• 1 mashed ripe banana
• 1 cup soymilk/milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup.

3. Combine contents of the two bowls and stir to mix. Don't overmix or the pancakes will not be as fluffy.

4. Make pancakes in a non-stick pan. They cook very quickly.

Top with applesauce and enjoy your Saturday breakfast!

Global Dinners: Sri Lankan Egg Curry

Dinner today was a tried and tested favorite. I have made it for everyone I know and they all love it. When my dear friend Megha tasted it, her first remark was that it tasted like the beach, which just about nails it.

Sri Lankan cuisine conjures up images of fragrant spices blended with frothy coconut milk. Some day soon I will try my hand at making a full Sri Lankan supper, with appams and all, but for now, let's stick with this egg curry made from simple pantry ingredients.

I got the recipe for the Sri lankan curry powder from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, a fat and lovely cookbook full of unusual regional recipes. In the book, Jaffrey calls it Sri Lankan Raw Curry Powder- the ingredients are toasted gently over an hour in a very low oven before being ground. She recommends it for vegetable dishes. I have adapted the curry powder for this coconut-based egg curry.

Madhur Jaffrey's Sri Lankan Curry Powder

To make this curry powder, toast the following ever so slightly and then grind them to a fine powder:

• 2 tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp. fennel seeds
• 1 ¹⁄₂ tbsp. cumin seeds
• 4-5 fenugreek seeds
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. mustard seeds
• 3 sprigs curry leaves (dried on a low heat)
• 1 tbsp. dry coconut flakes
• 1 ¹⁄₂ tsp. raw rice

Egg Curry with a Sri Lankan Spice Mix

1. Saute 2 medium sliced onions and 1 sprig of curry leaves in 1 tbsp. oil. 
2. Add salt, pepper, turmeric, red chilli powder (all to taste), Sri Lankan curry powder (entire recipe above) and stir fry for a minute.
3. Add 1 cup tomato puree and saute for 10 minutes.
4. Add a can of coconut milk  (about 1 to 2 cups) and a handful of minced cilantro. Simmer for a few more minutes.
5. Meanwhile, boil 5 eggs. Peel and quarter them, stir into the curry. Taste the curry.
6. Serve the curry on a bed of freshly steamed rice.

Notes:

• To make regular egg curry (without making the spice mix), add ginger, garlic and garam masala instead of the Sri Lankan curry powder.
• You could use vegetables like peas, carrots, cauliflower and potato instead of eggs to make an equally delicious vegan curry.
• If the curry tastes a little bitter, balance the flavor with some lemon juice and a pinch of sugar/jaggery.