A Spreadsheet of Home Cooking, Menu Planning, and Three Books

When I was in college in Mumbai, I lived with my maternal grandma's family, including my aunt who was a very good cook. Day after day, she would churn out lunches and dinners for six, not counting frequent visitors and guests. I remember her fretting and saying, "The hardest part is deciding what to make day after day. Once I know what to make, cooking it is no big deal". 

Do you agree or disagree with this? Now that I am the primary cook in my household, I find my aunt's statement quite relatable. It is tiresome to decide what to make, day after day. It is certainly no use asking my spouse or kids what to make. The spouse says, "Anything will do" while the kids say "Pasta"! 

My solution to many of life's problems is to make a spreadsheet. So I made one a couple of years ago, listing all the different dishes that I know how to make, in different categories. Here's the spreadsheet for anyone who wants to take a look. When I find myself in a cooking rut, I can glance at the spreadsheet and see what I haven't made in a while and put it back into the dinner rotation. 

When friends come over for a meal- which they used to practically every weekend before March 2020, and have started to do much more occasionally and carefully now- planning a menu is quite fun and easy because I choose a dish or two from different categories in this spreadsheet. 

I should mention that this spreadsheet is still a work in progress. On this blog alone, I have hundreds of recipes from 17 years of blogging- many of which are lost to my memory. I need to spend some time and dig through the archives to find long lost favorites. 

The brunch tab is the first and the best. Brunch is my favorite meal both to plan and cook (and eat). I have a brunch menu formula which I find very effective- you'll see it on the spreadsheet. 

The Thanksgiving tab is another favorite. It seems strange to devote a whole tab to a meal that I cook once a year but the fact is that I make Thanksgiving dishes from November to February- they're all the hearty, comforting, cold-weather ones. 

My kids eat lunch at school so I don't pack lunch boxes regularly during the school year. But starting next week, they will be attending summer day camps and taking snacks and lunch from home daily, so I believe my picnic/lunchboxes tab will get some use and also need some updates. 

Tell me your favorite recipes that are missing from my spreadsheet and I'll give them a try! 

* * *

I read a lot of books- I'll always maintain that reading is my favorite hobby, maybe even above cooking. Most of the books I read I give a rating (whether it is on Goodreads or just in my head) of 4 out of 5, or 3/5. There are certainly ones that I don't finish and put away and don't even bother to rate. This past month I hit the reading jackpot- I read three books that I rated unequivocally as a 5/5. All are non-fiction books. 

1. Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking. This posthumously published book contains a series of 10 short essays where the legendary cosmologist Stephen Hawking tackles the big questions of life, the universe and everything. I'm giving it five stars for the first essay alone- Is there a God? Some of the essays are directly related to Hawking's work in cosmology, others are more speculative. All are written with wit and compassion and Hawking's skill in conveying complex concepts to lay readers. 

2. Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado, Vince Rause. This one is a memoir, one of the best I have ever read. I read this book for the Read Harder 2022 prompt "Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author." Written by an Uruguayan author, the adventure was something he (and his rugby teammates- all young men and their travel companions) had thrust upon them after a plane crash on a glacier in the remote Andes mountains. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this memoir is a great example of that. The other striking thing is that Parrado writes with complete honesty and transparency and in a very accessible way. 

3. Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon. I read this for the POPsugar 2022 reading challenge prompt "An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner". I had not heard of this book award before and learned this: The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. This book won the award for 2013 for Nonfiction. What an incredible work it is. A thick tome of 700 pages (nearly a 1000 if you count notes and bibliography) and so engrossing that I whipped through it in under a week. The central idea of the book is that some traits are transmitted- through DNA, but also through shared cultural norms- as vertical identities between parents and children (generally speaking, race, language, religion, nationality). But sometimes children have traits that are very different from their parents, and these are horizontal identities. Solomon deeply investigates several of these horizontal identities- dwarfism, deafness, genius, Down syndrome and others. His candid interviews with families are remarkable and engaging. There is much content here to open the eyes of even the most progressive thinker and so many things to ponder. I don't agree with everything Solomon says but I am so glad I read this book. 

Tell me what you're cooking, eating and reading!

Potato-Cauliflower Masala Dosa Filling, and other Instant Pot Subzis

One of the cornerstones of Indian home cooking is a simple stir-fried vegetable preparation commonly known as subzi (Hindi) or the bhaaji (Marathi). It can be made with one vegetable, or a duo (aloo gobi, or potato cauliflower is a classic example) or a medley. Far from being a side dish, it is the center of the everyday lunch or dinner plate, to be rolled up in a roti, or eaten with dal-rice or yogurt-rice. I love stuffing leftover subzis into a sandwich or a quesadilla. 

My sister gave me an Instant Pot for my birthday nearly 3 years ago and I quickly embraced it as the workhorse of my kitchen. Among its many uses, I find that the Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker of this sort) makes excellent subzis- in minutes, with very little supervision, and with the vegetables cooked until just tender. 

The general method is simple:

1. On saute mode, heat a bit of oil and add spices (some combo of mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric, red chili powder, one of the masala mixes like goda masala or kitchen king masala) and aromatics (some combo of ginger, garlic, onion, curry leaves) for tempering and flavor.

2. Add diced veggies and just a bit of water. I generally use fresh veggies but some frozen veggies like green beans work well.

3. Turn off saute mode and pressure cook on HIGH- 3 minutes seems to be my magic number for veggies that are tender but not mushy.

4. Release pressure immediately.

Cabbage subzi made with the 
general method above

Frozen green beans subzi

A few days ago, I made a filling for masala dosas very quickly in the Instant Pot following this same method. It is the typical potato masala, only I reduced the amount of potato and added some cauliflower. Typical dosa filling, to me, has a nice tempering, with aromatic curry leaves and mustard seeds, and crunchy chana dal and urad dal. And the other hallmark is plentiful onions, cut thinly lengthwise. 

Potato-Cauliflower Masala

• 1 medium onion, sliced finely lengthwise
• 1 russet potato, peeled and cut in small dice
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, cut in small dice

Turn Instant Pot to saute mode. Heat 1-2 tsp. oil and temper it with mustard seeds, asafetida, curry leaves, ural dal and chana dal. 

Add onions, turmeric, salt, small dab of ginger garlic paste, either finely minced green chillies or red chili powder (your choice, for heat), and coriander cumin powder. Saute for a couple of minutes until onions are translucent. 

Turn off saute mode. Stir in diced potato and cauliflower and 1/4 cup water. 

Pressure cook on HIGH for 3 minutes. Release pressure immediately. 

Because the veggies are cut in small dice, they will be very tender. Mash the veggies roughly. Let cool and use as dosa filling.

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Dosa and dosa-related recipes make a frequent appearance on One Hot Stove. 

• I have a recipe for OG potato masala in this crispy dosa post.
• If you're looking for something different, try this kale and butternut squash masala dosa filling.
• This post has a discussion of types of dosa and a recipe for Mysore masala dosa.
• Here's a quinoa dosa.
• This post has a trio of dosa-adjacent recipes including Udipi sambar.
• Another dosa formula and a recipe for onion chutney.
• Finally, a recipe for golden adai in the vitamix.

Chocolate Desserts, Book Challenges and Narrative Non-fiction

I have a big collection of recipes bookmarked, pinned, marked with sticky notes in cookbooks, sometimes printed or torn out of magazines- all waiting patiently for a chance to be debuted in my kitchen. One of them is a showy chocoflan, a composite dessert of chocolate cake and flan that I have wanted to make for years. I own the right-sized bundt pan for this and everything; all it needed was an occasion, and because it makes over a dozen servings, it needed a big enough crowd of eaters, not easy to come by in pandemic times. 

This past weekend, a small group of families did get together. Our Brazilian friends cooked up a tasty and comforting lunch of rice, black beans, collards, and farofa. My daughter and I decided to make the chocoflan for the occasion. 

I used the chocoflan recipe from the Smitten Kitchen blog. With a can of store-bought dulce de leche, and a couple of kitchen appliances (stand mixer for the cake batter, and a blender for the flan), this dessert was very easy to make and not at all the big, complicated project that I had imagined. 

The chocoflan easily serves 12-15 people. The only modifications I made to the recipe:

• Used decaf instant coffee instead of brewed coffee (because kids would be eating this)
• Cut down sugar in the cake from 1 cup to 3/4 cup
• Baked for 1 hour, 40 minutes only (Next time, I'll test at 1 hour and 30 minutes.) 

This recipe is referred to as a "magic", "impossible" dessert because of what happens during baking. When you first set up the bundt pan, the cake batter goes in first, followed by the flan mixture. During baking, they switch places because the flan mixture is denser than the cake mixture, and so when you lift off the foil cover after baking, you see the chocolate cake now on top. Pretty cool! 

To serve with the chocoflan, I made this easy caramel sauce. The taste is about what you would expect- two really good desserts on one plate, a total crowd-pleaser. This dessert is a keeper. 

* * *

My daughter owns a couple of kids' cookbooks and enjoys leafing through them. For Valentine's Day, she made us a chocolate mug cake that was the absolutely perfect sweet treat. The recipe is from America's Test Kitchen's The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs. It makes 2 servings in big mugs but she divided the batter into 4 coffee cups for the four of us and it was a lovely serving size with some vanilla ice cream, and topped with a chocolate kiss! 

This recipe uses simple pantry ingredients. The mug cake is made entirely in the microwave oven, much safer for kids to use on their own as compared to conventional ovens. You just have to remember to use 50% power while making this recipe to avoid scorching the chocolate.

Fudgy Chocolate Mug Cake (For Four)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 tsp. baking powder. 

2. In medium microwave bowl, combine 4 tbsp. butter (cut in a few pieces) and 3 tbsp. dark chocolate chips. Melt in microwave, 1 minute at a time at 50% power.

3. Add 2 large eggs,  scant 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tbsp. cocoa powder, 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp. salt and whisk in. 

4. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Use a spoon to evenly divide the mixture between 4 coffee cups. 

6. Cook 2 mugs at a time, placing them on opposite sides of the microwave turntable. Cook for 1 minute at 50% power, then stir, and cook for another 45-60 seconds at 50% power. 

7. Let mug cakes cool for 3-5 minutes, then serve! Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream is highly recommended as a topping.

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I’m doing two reading challenges this year- the POPsugar 2022 reading challenge and the Book Riot 2022 reading challenge. The first has 40 prompts and the second has 24 prompts, and I feel 0 pressure to do all or even most of them. I’ll just enjoy the challenges at my own pace. I love hunting down books to fit prompts, and time and again, reading challenges have stretched my reading muscles and led to great reads that I would have otherwise missed out on. 

I just finished The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, a 2013 narrative nonfiction book by the American author Brendan I. Koerner. It fit the POPsugar prompt Book set on a plane, train or cruise ship, AND also the Book Riot prompt Read a history from a period you know little about. This book is a fascinating history of the "golden age" of aircraft hijacking in the United States from 1961 to 1973, when there were hundreds of hijackings in US skies. These incidents were shockingly routine, with sometimes two separate hijackings occurring on the same day. The book is a great romp through the history and politics of the time, and the factors that drove airline policies that we see even today. 

Narrative non-fiction is informative or factual writing that uses storytelling to make it interesting and even entertaining, and is one of my favorite genres. Just for fun, I made the graphic below showing some of the gripping narrative books that I remember vividly, years after reading them. 

6 memorable narrative non-fiction books

What are you cooking and reading this month?

Undhiyu- A Winter Specialty

Seasonal eating is a central theme in Indian regional cooking. And when I think of classic winter dishes, the one on top of the list is that divine vegetable stew/casserole from Gujarat, undhiyu. The real thing has an elaborate preparation, traditionally cooked for hours in pots underground. My version here is easy enough for the modern kitchen, using vegetables and lots of short-cuts cobbled together from the Indian store. 

I've heard people complain that they get bored of their own cooking because, "everything I make tastes the same", and it is such a relatable sentiment. We tend to have patterns for everyday cooking, where every curry, for instance, starts with sautéed onions, and includes tomatoes. This is why when someone else cooks us the simplest meal- dal and rice- it can taste so different and refreshing.

Undhiyu is one of those dishes that has a very distinctive flavor. There's ajwain or carom seeds, which have a unique taste and that I don't tend to use often. There's a complete lack of onions and tomatoes. And there's a particular combination of vegetables and muthia (fenugreek and chickpea dumplings) and ripe banana for a savory dish with a strikingly sweet note. I made this big batch of undhiyu and happily ate it for lunch four days in a row with a roti. 

Undhiyu in the Instant Pot

• 10 baby eggplants
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 packet frozen papdi (lilva papdi/ Surti papdi/ broad beans)
• 1/2 packet frozen lilva (beans from the broad beans pod)
• 1 packet frozen undhiyu mix
• 1 packet (or less) frozen methi muthia

Make the masala by mixing together:

• Grated coconut (I used frozen, thawed)
• Crushed peanuts
• Minced cilantro
• Minced green chillies (optional)
• Undhiyu masala (I used Badshah brand)
• Ginger-garlic paste
• Cumin-coriander powder
• Turmeric powder
• Jaggery to taste
• Salt to taste
• A bit of oil
• A bit of water

1. Remove the stem from the eggplants. Cut slits into each eggplant keeping the stem side intact. Cut the banana (unpeeled) into 4 pieces and cut slits into each piece. Stuff some of the masala into the eggplant and bananas. 

2. In a large bowl, mix the rest of the masala with the frozen undhiyu veg mix, papdi and lilva. 

3. In the Instant Pot, heat some oil on saute mode. Add carom seeds (ajwain), then add the contents of the bowl (step 2) and fry for a minute or so. Turn off the instant pot.

4. Layer with the stuffed eggplants and banana. Add the methi muthia last. Drizzle with up to 1/2 cup water.

5. Pressure cook under high pressure for 5 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then release remaining pressure. 

6. Add minced cilantro and lemon juice and mix together very gently. Serve with rotis. 

* * *

Some food pics from the last few months- 

My parents visited from India and brought along lots of goodies, including kandi pedha, small treats of milky fudge flavored with cardamom, homemade chaklis- spiky, spiral, spicy, savory fried things :) and nankhatai- shortbread biscuits from a local bakery that have a pretty floral design. 

Treats from India

I made flan for my parents' wedding anniversary. Over the holidays, I made them some of my usual favorites- biscotti and fruit and nut shortbread. 

The best baking project of the season was a buche de Noel or Christmas log. My dad wanted to try making a Swiss roll and I have had this Christmas log (a decorated Swiss roll) on my baking bucket list for the longest time, so we went for it. It was easier than we imagined. A thin chocolate cake is rolled up with some cream cheese filling. Then a portion is cut off one end and placed as the "branch". A whipped ganache frosting is generously slathered on and fork tines are used to create a log effect. It was perfectly seasonal and fun to make together, definitely a baking memory that I will cherish. 

Holiday sweets

I hope 2022 is off to a good start for you! 

P.S: Sangeetha, you commented a few days ago asking for a post on making yogurt. I realized I wrote one over a decade ago and I just updated it- read it here.

What I eat for breakfast every single day

Before I launch into the post: Did you notice a change on the blog? After years and years of keeping the same blog header, I was ready for a change and tinkered around and made a new one, just for fun. It looks a little blurry and I still need to figure out how to fix that. 

Today I'm writing a quick post about breakfast, which remains an important meal for my early-bird self. Two years ago, I went on a work trip and discovered the hearty simplicity of steel-cut oats. Back home, I quickly got into the groove of cooking 1 cup of dry steel-cut oats and eating that batch over 4 days. Rinse and repeat. Having discovered an easy and tasty topping for the plain porridge, I found myself eating it every day. I waited to tire of it, but almost 2 years have passed and I still look forward to that hearty bowl of oatmeal, no matter the season. 

My husband has eaten granola for breakfast for about 15 years and counting. I always wondered how he did not tire of eating the exact same thing every day and now here I am, eating the same meal every morning. There's something to be said for it. I spent so much time planning, shopping for, and cooking meals, trying to keep the menu somewhat varied and interesting, that it is a relief to have one meal that is sorted out every day. Just a little less decision-making in a day filled with thousands of choices and decisions, minor as they may be. 

Basic steel cut oats

(About 4 servings)

1 cup dry steel-cut oats

4 cups water

1/4  tsp. salt

• Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot.
• Pressure cook on HIGH for 4 minutes. 
• Natural pressure release. The natural pressure release is important so that the oatmeal does not stick to the bottom of the insert.

I usually add 3/4 cup or so of almond milk to the oats after cooking, for some creaminess. 

On days 2, 3 and 4, when I am eating refrigerated oatmeal, I simply scoop some in a bowl, add some water if needed, and microwave for a couple of minutes until it is piping hot.

To my bowl of warm oatmeal, I typically add:

1. 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries, thawed in the microwave for a minute

2. A spoonful of hemp seeds

3. A spoonful of ground flax seeds

4. A serving of mixed nut butter

On alternate days, I add 1 or 2 chopped Brazil nuts for the selenium.

So that is it- my low effort breakfast! 

Do you or would you eat the same thing every day for a meal?

Classic flan in the Instant Pot

While I don't have much of a sweet tooth, there are some desserts that I am very fond of. Near the top of that list is flan, or as I grew up knowing it, caramel pudding. A simple and comforting confection of eggs, milk and sugar, it was the first dessert I really learned to make- in the pressure cooker, in those stainless steel inserts- and also one of the first posts I wrote back in the spring of 2005. 

My pressure cooker was small, so I was making caramel custard in the oven, using a bain marie (water bath). The same method went into making a pumpkin flan that featured on our Thanksgiving table some years later. However, bain maries are a bit tedious and I never really felt like I had a standardized flan recipe. By standardized, I mean a solid recipe that works in my hands, with tools that I own and familiar ingredients, and quantities that fit in my pots and pans, and with great results. 

Finally, I have landed on a flan recipe that checks all the boxes. I made it this weekend for dinner guests and it is "the one". For one thing, it is made in the Instant Pot so there is no fussing with the oven or a bain marie. The flan mixture exactly fills my 7-cup Pyrex bowl which in turn exactly fits in the Instant Pot. The resulting flan has the perfect, smooth texture and serves 10-12, enough for a dinner gathering of two families, with a bit left over for the next day. 

Making caramel is probably the hardest part of this recipe, which is good news because caramel is not hard to make at all. It can be done in the oven, stovetop or microwave and having tried them all at different times, I am firmly in the stovetop camp. 

While flan is definitely a rich dessert and an occasional, special, treat, it is far from being cloyingly sweet. I don't use a whole can of condensed milk, saving a portion of it in a glass jar in the fridge. We can use it for another dessert later this month.

Classic Flan

(recipe adapted from this video)

1. Set out whole milk, cream cheese and eggs out to come to room temperature (check quantities below).

2. Make the caramel. In a small saucepan, mix 1/2 cup regular sugar and 3 tbsp. water. Heat on medium heat until sugar melts, bubbles and caramelizes into a deep golden color. Watch the pot carefully because caramel can burn quickly. Pour the caramel into an ungreased 7 cup round bowl and let it cool for a few minutes. 

3. In a blender, blend the following to a smooth mixture-

• 4 oz. cream cheese (quarter of a standard brick)
• 1 can evaporated milk
• Most of a can of condensed milk (4/5 or so)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt

4. Pour the flan mixture into the bowl that has cooled caramel. Cover the bowl tightly with foil.

5. Place 2 cups water into the Instant Pot insert. The bowl goes onto a trivet and into the Instant Pot. Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. 

6. Pull out the flan from the Instant Pot. Let it sit out for 15 minutes to cool slightly, then refrigerate for several hours to chill thoroughly before serving.

7. Run a knife around the edge of the flan to loosen it, then turn into a platter to catch the lovely caramel sauce. 

* * * 

Duncan enjoying a beautiful fall day

My interview on a podcast, and 10th birthday fun

I have been blogging in this space for over 16 years, and have lost track of everything that the blog has given me- friends in different places, loads of goodwill, and opportunities to meet cool people and experience new things. The blog brought me another "first" a few months ago when a reader named Aditi emailed me and asked me to be a guest on the podcast she co-hosts with Natasha. 

It turns out that Aditi and Natasha were childhood friends in India. They both now live in the US and have stayed friends over the decades. Their conversations about life in the US turned into a podcast called Chai and Chat, in which they chat with their guests about bicultural and bilingual identities in America and swap cultural stories in a relaxed and informal way, just the way you would have a thoughtful discussion with a good friend over a cup of chai. 

I had never been a guest on a podcast and am pretty self-conscious about being interviewed, but after I listened to a few episodes of Chai and Chat, I wrote back and said I would be thrilled to meet with them. And so we had a zoom call (on a rainy Saturday, with me locked in the bedroom, hiding from the kids and hoping for some peace and quiet), and it was simply delightful. Aditi and Natasha are so warm and sweet, and they put me at ease right away. They are expert conversationalists, which is an art in itself. They know how to ask interesting questions, coax out stories and anecdotes from their guests, and steer a conversation into thoughtful territory. 

If you have 32 minutes and 10 seconds to spare, listen to the episode here. Our conversation was completely unscripted, impromptu and flowed in many directions. I'm a self-conscious speaker, often tongue-tied and riddled with verbal tics. I say "you know" 3 times in every sentence! You have been warned. If you're up for it, and want to hear the person behind this blog, go listen to the "Home on the range" (LOL) episode of Chai and Chat. And my huge thanks to Aditi and Natasha for inviting me on their podcast, and most of all, for their overall efforts in bringing new voices and stories into the world. 

* * *

Double digit excitement! The other big event in our life recently was that my daughter (whose birth I announced here) turned 10 years old. From being too small even for newborn sized onesies, she now wears the same shoe size as me. As they say, the days are long but the years are short. We celebrated her birthday in a small way, while giving her everything she requested- pizza and salad for dinner, an ice cream cake, and a sleepover with two close friends with pancakes the morning after. 

Even before the official party started, the birthday celebrations kicked off with a breakfast of pastries from a local bakery.

The pizza recipe was the crispy pan pizza from King Arthur flour. It is an excellent recipe with low effort and great results, and the recipe can be doubled or tripled as needed. I started the dough the day before the party, and made personal pan pizzas by rounding up a bunch of cake pans. Everyone got to choose their own toppings- olives, red peppers, onions and so on. I helped myself out by buying jarred pizza sauce and shredded cheese.

The pizza dough can be frozen, and prepared pizza itself can be refrigerated and reheated on a griddle. All this to say that this is a keeper recipe if you're looking to make pizza at home. 

Next up, the cake, or rather ice cream "cake". The birthday girl much prefers ice cream over cake and we looked at ice cream concoctions online as we planned her party. Ina Garten's ice cream bombe caught her eye immediately. Luckily, I own a set of nested glass Pyrex bowls which were perfect for assembling this. 

I made the bombe the weekend before the party- a big advantage of ice cream cakes is the make-ahead feature- and again, simplified things for myself by buying these three ice cream tubs. All that was needed was softening and assembly. I lined the big bowl with plastic wrap and when it came time to unmold the thing, I was glad I did that. 

I didn't get any great pictures (just that messy one below), but the ice cream bombe was a pretty grand dessert. Each wedge has mango sorbet, raspberry sorbet and strawberry ice cream, a refreshing combination of flavors and also pleasing to the eye.  This thing was about 16 servings. (We still have some in the freezer!) 

I will definitely make this again. In fact, we were brainstorming other flavor combos that would work. Raspberry sorbet, dark chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream would be nice. I would always keep the outermost shell a sorbet, because they freeze more solid than ice creams do, and make for better cutting of the bombe. 

After the sleepover, the kids were treated to chocolate chip pancakes with fresh berries. I used this recipe and the result was fabulous. 

With only 2 little guests and a birthday girl and a milestone birthday, I decide to put some effort into a party favor and made matching book pillows for the three girls. These are 18 x 18 inch throw pillows with a pocket in front, big enough to tuck some books and a flashlight, or maybe a diary and a pen, or a coloring book and a few markers, or some card games. They have a handle so you can take them on car trips or just from room to room. I used this pattern to make the pillows and was very pleased with how they turned out.

Tell me what podcasts you listen to, and what you have been making and cooking and eating! 

Stuffed eggplant, lemon rice and other summer delights

We're halfway through August! How are you doing? Here in Northeast Georgia, August is the hottest month of the year. Temperatures soar to about 95F (35C) most days and are broken only by occasional furious afternoon thunderstorms. It still feels very much like the peak of summer, but also, since the new school year has started, it feels like we're done with summer and into a new season. 

Vacation pics from
Jekyll Island, a barrier island off the Georgia coast

The school summer break- May through July- went by safely and with some sense of normalcy, which I am extremely grateful for. We were able to take a weeklong beach vacation to the Georgia coast with my sister and nephew. My daughter was able to attend several creative and engaging summer day camps- a sewing camp, art camps, a camp at a barn animal sanctuary, among others- all of the camps being held either outdoors or with indoors with masks. My son graduated from his preschool and started kindergarten at the "big school"- the elementary public school. Our school district has a mask mandate and I am glad the kids get to be in school with their teachers and friends- while staying as safe as possible under the circumstances.

There's a lot of uncertainty about how the coming weeks and months will shape up, with COVID cases rising again locally and nationally- so we are still taking it a day at a time.

* * *

Over the years, I have been a frequent subscriber to CSA boxes, paying local farmers for a regular share of produce and other locally grown food. I restarted my CSA this spring and enjoy picking up a selection of fresh vegetables every week. 

This month's selection has been heavy on some of my favorite vegetables, the stars of summer- okra, eggplant, peppers. There are fresh tomatoes- green ones, red slicers, cherry tomatoes that my kids love to snack on. And fruits too- ripe fresh figs and berries. 

I love all vegetables but eggplant is up there at the top of the list. Growing up, eggplants big and small featured in a lot of everyday curries- stuffed eggplant (bharli vangi), vangi batata- eggplants with potato, eggplant sambar, smoky vangi bharit or mashed eggplant. Eggplant is also a component of the sublime Gujarati winter dish undhiyu. 

Since moving to the US, I've discovered the different ways in which global cuisines cook eggplant and I adore every single one of them- Italian eggplant parmesan, Middle Eastern baba ghanouj, Thai curries with eggplant, and Sichuan eggplant. 

Surprisingly, several of my close American friends who love Indian food and love vegetables will pointedly say, "all vegetables except eggplant"- they don't care for the taste and texture of eggplant. I think this may be because supermarket eggplant is often tough and bitter. The summer eggplant I've been getting in my veggies boxes, in contrast, is so tender and sweet, and a joy to cook and savor. 

I've been adapting many recipes to the Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) since my sister got me one a couple of years ago, and this month I discovered that stuffed eggplant (bharli vangi) is so easy and wonderful in the Instant Pot. 

You start by making a tasty stuffing mixture, a paste with savory, sweet and tangy notes. Baby eggplants are washed and have slits cut into them. Then you stuff them with the paste, and pressure cook them for a few minutes with only a bit of water. The result is tender eggplant in a luxurious sauce. I love this dish with a bit of yogurt rice but it is great with lentils, roti, rice or any combination of the above.

Stuffed baby eggplant (bharli vangi)

Stuffed eggplant (bharli vangi)

The stuffing: This time I made an easy, no-cook stuffing, using what I have on hand. Mix it up in a small bowl.

• The base for the paste is minced onions and crushed roasted peanuts.
• This is seasoned by salt, turmeric, red chili powder, ground cumin and coriander, goda masala if you have it, or garam masala instead. 
• Then you add something tangy, like tamarind paste or lemon juice; I have even used cranberry chutney at times. 
• And something sweet, like crushed jaggery. 
• Optional- Seeds like poppy seeds or sesame seeds can be added for taste and texture. Grated coconut or a little coconut milk can add richness. 
• Finally, a handful of minced cilantro goes in and you mix everything together. The stuffing should be a nice balance of flavors.

The eggplant: Choose tender baby eggplants. Wash them and at the side opposite the stem, cut slits to make a deep "X", without slicing through the eggplant completely. Stuff each eggplant and set aside. Save any leftover stuffing.

Cooking the dish: 

• Heat a little oil in the Instant Pot on saute mode. 
• Pop a generous amount of mustard seeds in the hot oil. 
• Then layer the stuffed eggplant gently. Turn off saute mode. 
• Mix up a little water (half a cup to a cup at most) in the leftover stuffing and pour over the eggplants.
• Cook at high pressure for 3 or 4 minutes. (The first time I cooked it for 6 minutes and the eggplant were overcooked.)
• Release pressure quickly.
• Test eggplant to see if a knife goes through easily. If not cover and let it cook in the residual heat for a bit. 

* * *

Lemon rice is another quintessential summer dish and easily made in the Instant Pot. (Look up the instruction manual for ratios of rice and water). 

Instant pot on saute mode: Heat a bit of oil and temper it with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and chana dal, curry leaves, dried chilis. Add salt, turmeric, grated fresh ginger. Turn off saute mode. 

Add soaked and drained rice and water. Pressure cook for 4 minutes on high. Release pressure after 5 minutes. 

Add fresh lemon zest and lemon juice (or lime zest and juice to make lime rice), and minced cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

* * *

Stuffed peppers
waiting to be 
pan-fried

Stuffed poblano peppers were a treat when I got a big haul of fresh peppers in the veggie box. Cut the tops off poblano peppers and cut in half vertically. Microwave the halved peppers for 3 minutes with a sprinkle of water, to par-cook them. Drain well. 

For the stuffing, mix mashed/grated boiled potato, minced onion, ginger and garlic and salt, spices and herbs. Stuff the peppers.

Pan-fry the pepper, starting cut side down, until they are browned. Covering the pan in the last few minutes is a great way to get the peppers to cook through. 

Just a pic of another classic summer lunch:
Khichdi with pan-fried okra/bhindi

After I wrote this post, I realize that I've written a very similar post 16 years ago! 

And with this array of home-style Indian dishes, I will end by saying (a day ahead of time)- Happy Independence Day, India!

Tell me how things are in your neck of the woods, and what you are cooking and eating in August 2021.

Catching up on the United Tastes series

In earlier posts this year, I shared about the United Tastes project that my daughter and I are working on, reading and cooking our way alphabetically through the 50 States, starting with the four A states and California and Colorado. Here are the others that we have toured since...

#7 Connecticut: Every now and then, my daughter will ask me to take her to Subway (the sandwich chain) for a lunch treat; it is our little mom and daughter tradition a few times a year. (My husband refuses to step foot into this particular chain restaurant.) It turns out that Subway started in Bridgeport, Connecticut when a student started selling sub sandwiches to earn money for college. So for the state food, we made our own Subway sandwiches. 

I always get the veggie patty sandwich at Subway and that's what I wanted to recreate. The Morningstar garden veggie burger sold in the supermarket frozen section comes very close to the veggie patty that Subway sells. On a toasted sub-sandwich bun, we layered a bit of cheese and the veggie burger, followed by lettuce, tomatoes, onions and picked jalapeños. Finally, I made a knock-off southwest chipotle sauce based on this recipe by mixing a few ingredients that I had on hand- like mayo, yogurt, ranch dressing powder, white vinegar, chipotles in adobo, etc. and added it liberally, and the result was so tasty. We will be making this sandwich again and again.

#8 Delaware: The 8th state of our journey is famous for being the first state of the union. Here in Georgia we claim peaches as our own, but peaches were an important crop in Delaware in the 1830s way before they made their way south as the railroads were built. In fact the peach blossom remains the state flower of Delaware. So we made a snacking peach cobbler cake, with canned peaches, as fresh ones are not yet in season. The peach snack cake came along with us to a park picnic. 

#9 Florida: Florida is our wild neighbor to the South and we have visited beaches on the Atlantic coast there. At some point, I suppose we will make a pilgrimage to Orlando and the theme parks, a mainstay of American childhood. We went all out on the food front and celebrated two iconic Floridian things- Cuban food and citrus. We made lime bars (with regular limes because key limes are hard to find!) using this recipe. I also made vegetarian Cuban sandwiches using Tofurkey vegan "ham", cheese, mustard and pickles, with the sandwich toasted by pressing on a griddle, and washed down the sandwich with a glass of OJ from FL. 

#10 Georgia: This is the state that we have called home for the last 8+ years. During this time we have come to embrace Southern Comfort and to love this state and its people. From mountains to beaches to forests and waterfalls, GA has loads of natural beauty and we love to get out there and fawn over it. As for food, we had endless choices. We eat Southern food all the time. Over here we just call it food! Peaches would have been the obvious choice for the Peach State but they’re not in season yet. 

The universe made my decision easy when Vidalia onions arrived in my CSA share that week. Vidalia onions are sweet onions that are grown only in Georgia and they are the state vegetable. We made a beautiful Vidalia onion pie. (I should have served the Vidalia onion pie with some Diet Coke because, as you probably know, Coca Cola was invented in Atlanta). Georgia is also nicknamed the Goober state so we also enjoyed some boiled peanuts for snack. Peanuts came to North America with enslaved Africans and remain a very important cash crop in GA to this day.

#11 Hawaii is a chain of volcanic islands floating away in the Pacific Ocean, far far away from pretty much anywhere. I mean, their state animal is the humpback whale!! Hawaii joined the US as the 50th state only very recently, in 1959. The word most associated with Hawaii- Aloha- is not Hawaiian slang for “hi”. It is a word with a spiritual meaning; the coordination of mind and spirit within each person. Hawaii is associated with macadamia nuts, sugarcane, pineapple. We made Dole whip, a pineapple soft serve dessert with frozen pineapple and juice and vanilla ice cream (which in my hands turned out softer than soft serve but was still praised by my two kids and a visiting neighbor kid). We also made classic Hawaiian comfort food called loco moco- rice topped with a burger, mushroom gravy and a fried egg. 

#12 Idaho, the Potato State. Idaho is synonymous with potatoes so there was no doubt that this is the ingredient to showcase. Idaho was our state for Memorial Day weekend back in May, the unofficial start of summer. So we made a tub of potato salad with the works (Pickles! Onions! Chives! Celery!) and took it out to a state park for a picnic lunch. 

#13 Illinois! We lived in neighboring Missouri for many years and have visited Illinois several times- my experience can be summarized as lots of flat crop land after which you arrive in the glittering city of Chicago with its great restaurants and museums and the lakefront. We paid homage to Chicago by making deep dish pizza from scratch. It was a half day project and lots of fun- a buttery crust with some cornmeal for tenderness; cheese at the bottom and sauce on top (an upside down version of regular pizza) and baked in a deep cake pan for thick cake-style slices. It turned out fantastic! This was my favorite culinary experience of all the states we have covered so far and I highly recommend this recipe if you are looking for a cooking project. 

#14 Indiana: You know how we often rave about things being “the best thing since sliced bread”? Well, the OG sliced bread- the first pre-sliced bread that was commercially sold- was Wonder Bread from Indiana. The iconic wrapper of this bread was inspired by the colorful hot air balloons at the international balloon race on the Indy motorway. Wonder Bread celebrates its 100th anniversary this year so, well, we bought ourselves a loaf as the food of Indiana. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are THE food of American childhood. I made a back-of-the-envelope calculation that I have made over a thousand PB&Js since my kids were born and will probably make a couple thousand more before they grow up. So we used the Wonder Bread for a PB&J (this was my first and last time buying Wonder Bread; there is much better bread out there.) And for something extra, we made French toast roll-ups stuffed with peanut butter and jelly with the bread.

#15 Iowa. Iowa is a big corn producer and the Midwest does love its casseroles so we made a corn casserole as the state dish, using fresh sweet corn which is in season at this time. It was pretty good. A few interesting facts about Iowa: there are 7 pigs for every human in Iowa. Quaker Oats got its start in Iowa. The house shown in Grant Woods’s iconic 1930 painting American Gothic still stands in Eldon, Iowa. 

If you are on Instagram, I update the project here every week (or two or three; life has been busy lately); feel free to follow along if interested! You will also see pictures of the books we're reading for each state. The next state is Kansas, known to be the bread basket of America. 

How is life going for you? 

Pav bhaji with a very pav-like focaccia, and what I'm reading

A couple of months ago, I heard of a program in our community that delivers food to seniors in need. Someone came up with the idea to add homemade bread to the food delivery as a gesture of love, and asked for volunteer bakers. I volunteered to send two loaves, and decided that one would be sweet and the other savory. I ended up being a cake baked in a bread pan and a bread baked in a cake pan.

This happened back in March, and for the sweet bread, I decided on a pumpkin loaf to use up the last can of pumpkin puree for the season. I found a recipe for easy pumpkin bread that uses a whole can of pumpkin and makes 2 loaves- one to share, and one for home. 

For the savory bread, I wanted to make a focaccia, because it is a versatile bread that can be made into a sandwich, or toasted, or served with soup. I hunted for a recipe with the main criterion being that it would make two loaves, again, one to share and the other to keep.

Finished focaccia

And somehow I stumbled upon this gem of a recipe. The ridiculously easy focaccia- as it is titled- is really, truly that easy. I followed the recipe closely. However, I was able to avoid using plastic wrap, just covering the bowl with a lid and also avoided lining the cake pans with parchment. My cake pans are dark non-stick metal and the focaccia slid out easily after baking. 

Dimpled, bubbly and ready for the oven

This recipe is a total keeper! With no effort at all, I got focaccia that was flavorful, airy, pillowy with all the good hallmarks of pav, being crusty on the outside but soft on the inside. 

* * * 

This weekend I made the focaccia again, as a pav to dunk into pav bhaji. 

My pav bhaji recipe has been a popular one on this blog, and one I've used for years, and I made the same recipe, just in an instant pot, using the saute mode followed by the pressure cooking mode.

1. Saute 1 minced green pepper
2. Add ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder,  pav bhaji masala
3. Add 1 cup of tomato puree
4. Add rough chopped 2 potatoes and 1 medium head cauliflower.
5. Pressure cook for 4 minutes
6. Natural pressure release (or quick release after 10-15 minutes)
7. Mash it up
8. Simmer for a bit to thicken

IP pav bhaji

Serve with onion, cilantro, lemon and extra spice! 
Also butter.

* * *

Some good reads from the last few months-

Three Keys by Kelly Yang. This is the sequel to Yang's middle-grade book, Front Desk, which I adored. Mia Tang is back- a sixth-grader who helps her parents run a motel. This book is set in the 90s and covers the immigration-related political events in California at the time. 

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga. This book was a very thoughtful and unexpected gift. The cover art is gorgeous. 12 year old Jude tells her story- in free verse- of leaving an unstable situation in Syria with her mother and fleeing to her uncle's home in suburban America. With ups and downs, she finds her footing in middle school. A beautiful story!

“There is an Arabic proverb that says:
She makes you feel
like a loaf of freshly baked bread.

It is said about
the nicest
kindest
people.
The type of people
who help you
rise.”

Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. This one is a non-fiction parenting book by my favorite duo who wrote another book that I adore. My two kids are typical siblings in the "can't live with you; can't live without you" style, and it is always nice to find ways to quell some of the sibling drama that inevitably happens. A few of their tips:

Feelings-- Acknowledge negative feelings about a sibling in words and express what the child might wish. Show better ways to express anger but stop their hurtful actions.

Comparisons-- Avoid unfavorable comparisons AND favorable comparisons. Instead describe what you see, what you feel or what needs to be done.

Equality-- Instead of worrying about giving equally, focus on each child’s needs. Instead of claiming equal love, show each child how they are loved uniquely. Give according to need.

Roles-- Don’t lock a child into a role and don’t let the child themselves or their sibling lock them into a role (the bully, the victim, the smart one, the pretty one)

Fights-- In case of physical fights, pay attention to the injured party, not the aggressor.

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz. Just a good escapist cozy mystery. Or actually, two cozy mysteries in one book!!

Humans by Brandon Stanton. Stanton goes around the world interviewing people. Everyone- absolutely everyone- has a story and Stanton wants to hear it. This book is a collection of some of the photos and stories and it gave me all the feels. Stanton runs a blockbuster Instagram account- here's one of my favorite stories that he has featured- I dare you not to tear up. 

The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon. I read this book for a task in the Read Harder challenge: Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness. Solomon has written an absolute tome on depression- part memoir, part investigative journalism, part history. 

How are you doing? What are you cooking and eating?

California rolls, knock-off Hot Pockets, and what I'm watching

In my last post, I introduced the United Tastes virtual travel project that my daughter and I have started, and shared what we made for the four "A" states. Our alphabetical journey continued west from Arkansas to the great state of California, the Golden State. 

California is a state that is golden in many ways- it bears an outsize influence on the culture of the US and the world in general. There is so much to learn and admire about this state and its people. We read three books about different aspects of California history and life. The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks by Barb Rosenstock is an interesting slice of history and a tale of how a leader's vision helped to put laws in place to conserve some of our outstanding natural resources in the form of national parks. Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea: A Fairly Fabricated Story of a Pair of Pants by Tony Johnston is a funny tale of how denim jeans came into vogue in the days of the California gold rush. In First Day in Grapes Book by L. King Pérez, the author tells a story about a migrant child who goes to a new school every few months as his family travels from place to place to pick different types of produce in California.

California food presents us with a number of choices. There is the famous San Fransisco sourdough bread, which is enjoying a trendy moment at this time but is more of a commitment than I wanted to make. The ever popular ranch dressing and green goddess dressing were both invented in California. Other choices were California club sandwiches and mission burritos. But my daughter suggested California rolls and that's what we went with. 

California rolls are a type of sushi, non-traditional but highly popular. They are characterized by being rolled inside out, with rice on the outside and the seaweed sheet inside. Usually they contain crab or imitation crab, but we followed this recipe for a vegan California roll. The other Cali-special ingredient in this roll is avocado. 

California rolls in the foreground and "regular"
sushi rolls in the background

The first order of business was to go to the local Asian store and buy some sushi rice (grown in California!) and roasted nori (seaweed) sheets. I already had seasoned rice wine vinegar at home. To serve with the sushi, I also bought a small tub of sweet pink pickled ginger. 

The vegan "crab" mixture calls for chickpeas, cabbage, carrot, etc. with a dash of cashew paste for creaminess. As odd as it might sound, it tasted really great. 

I made a cup of sushi rice in the instant pot. Then we laid out the "crab" filling, and thin slices of cucumber and avocado. We had fun rolling the inside-out California rolls with the help of a bamboo sushi mat, although they turned out far from perfect in our inexpert hands. Still very tasty, though! For a change, we also made some "regular" rolls using the same ingredients. Funny enough, the rice-out rolls tasted better to me. With the leftover ingredients, I made some sushi bowls the following day, also good to eat and very easy to put together!

It was fun to try something new, and I was gratified that it turned out tasty at the first try. Now I have 5 pound of sushi rice and will have to make these frequently over the next few months. This is good timing, as sushi rolls are a refreshing and light choice during the summer months. 

* * *

From California, we flew to Colorado, the Centennial State. We read two fascinating books about the history of the region- Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed Explorer by Deborah Kogan Ray, and The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde by Caroline Arnold. We had the opportunity to visit Colorado for a cousin's wedding a few years ago, and it is such a spectacular place.

For Colorado we considered making a Denver omelet, which is a thick and sturdy American-style omelet (almost a frittata) with onions, peppers and ham. Another choice was to make a batch of trail mix, because I strongly associate Colorado with hiking, climbing and other outdoor adventures fueled by a baggie of trail mix. 

It turns out that Hot Pockets, the frozen microwaveable snacks, were invented by a pair of immigrant brothers in Denver, CO, in the 70s. I've never actually bought or tasted Hot Pockets but this factoid reminded me of the comedian Jim Gaffigan's bit on Hot Pockets, parodying their ridiculous ad jingle. We decided to make our own Hot Pockets for this state's food.

Hot Pockets! 

I found this knock-off recipe, which calls for a quick dough that is somewhat like pie crust. Normally, I would use puff pastry dough or something as a short-cut for pastries of this sort, but this dough came together in just a few minutes. I simply used a bowl, not a stand mixer. I stuck the dough in the fridge while I made the filling- mushrooms sautéed with some onions and garlic, with a bit of tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. 

When we were ready to make the Hot Pockets, I rolled out the dough, sliced it into 8 portions, added some filling + mozzarella cheese to each pastry sheet, then folded and crimped them. The resulting mushroom Hot Pockets were absolutely delicious! The crust was tasty and it would be perfect for samosas. 

* * *

My TV watching time is severely limited these days. I just go to bed as soon as the kids go to bed, and sometimes even before they go to bed! But here are a few good shows from recent months.

Looking around for some light reading, I checked out Tina Fey's memoir, Bossypants, a book that has been on my to-read list for many years. I love Tina Fey's sardonic brand of humor and her work on SNL, and this book was really fun to read. I particularly enjoyed the behind the scenes chatter about 30 Rock and have now started watching 30 Rock on Prime streaming. A great escapist sitcom.

During dinner every evening, we have been watching a couple of episodes of Jeopardy! on Netflix. My husband and I are both trivia buffs. Alex Trebek hosted this show for decades; he passed away a few months ago. I happened to find Trebek's memoirs The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life in the new books section of the library (yes, the library is open again and it the biggest joy to be able to browse again) and it was a very quick and fun read. With little snippets and anecdotes, Trebek shares some moments from his life and from behind the scenes at Jeopardy!

Perhaps the most gripping show I watched recently is Challenger: The Final Flight, a four part documentary series on Netflix on the ill-fated space shuttle mission. The demands of managers and bureaucrats were prioritized over the concerns of engineers, with devastating results. 

Wherever in the world you are, I hope you are safe and well. Please share snippets of your life- what are you eating? What are you watching?