Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Well, any number of things, of course. But I think if its a Sunday afternoon lunch to be made from scratch, well, then, only a palak-dal (spinach-and-lentils) will do.
And of course, the ultimate subzi to accompany that is an Alu-Gobi (potatoes-and-cauliflower).
Have it with rice. Or roti.
Enjoy!
Time for the old posts to come out to the new blog! This one was first published in my private blog on Thursday, December 04, 2008.
On a cold wintery mid-morning, what better a thing to bake than a loaf of my banana-walnut bread? So, here it is. I used a large round pan (actually my cheesecake pan), but technically, I suppose, a loaf pan ought to be used… Well, these things don’t matter too much to me—loaf pans, cake pans, cheesecake pans, square pans, they’re all one and the same. What’s of import is what’s inside them!
The other thing I made just now is choley—with a twist. I added a can of black beans to the standard garbanzo (or chickpeas) beans. Serve it up with hot steaming white rice, and its an entrée fit for a king, don’t you think? 🙂
Lovely blend of East and West in cooking techniques and choice of dishes, no? A slice of the banana-walnut bread will go nicely with a cup of tea or coffee. And the choley will be dinner, of course.
Bon Appetit!
So, what’s as special as cake on your birthday? Well, if you’ve got a thing for samosas– homemade ones at that– then you’d probably want those for your birthday!
Which is what a friend of my firstborn asked for as a birthday present!
So, next thing I knew, I was being recruited to “help” make them!
We made two kinds: one batch with a traditional potatoes-and-peas filling, and the other with a keema-and-peas filling.
And when I say scratch, I mean scratch from the very scratchiest scratch. That included kneading the dough, rolling it for the wrappers, making the two fillings, preparing each samosa in the traditional triangular shape, crimping the edges, and finally frying them to a golden brown.
See the slideshow below if you’re in the mood for a DIY. And good luck!
Time to dig up these old posts… this one from a couple years ago, first published on Tuesday, December 09, 2008.
Take for example this absolutely fantastic pasta dish I created yesterday: I added as the key seasoning several dollops of my tomato chutney (made with tons of roasted garlic, cumin, onions, dry red chillies, karipatta, some chana dal, and tomatoes of course– all blended together and then tempered with a tadka of desi ghee) to a stir-fry of mixed veggies and diced boneless chicken tenderloin (marinated in homemade yogurt and spices), and folded it all in with whole-wheat spaghetti cooked separately.
The result? Fantastico! The Italians would kill for it. As would the Greeks, the Argentinians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Indonesians, and of course, the Indians!
See for yourself! Is that art, or that art?! And if you think the sight of this is an assault on the eyes, I wish that you could have only smelled the gorgeous flavors that wreaked havoc on the rest of the faculties!
So, here’s to chutney today. Remember, its so much more than just that. It’s the very essence of the dish, without which this pasta suprema dish would be nothing more than a bland weekday dinner.
May it be, that just like this chutney, we pause to look for and recognize the various things in life that may appear ordinary and peripheral, but are, in fact, what makes life special.
Another old post dug out to be published here. First published on Thursday, December 11, 2008.
I cooked some today myself. And so fascinating did I find the lovely bright purple coloring of the small fruit (they’re technically a fruit, you see!), that I couldn’t help but pull out my camera and take a picture!
BTW, these are in water. That’s how my mother taught me to cut and handle eggplant. Always put them into water so they won’t oxidize and turn a dirty grayish-brownish hue.
In India, we get the small variety with the thorns on the stem. These are generally trimmed off and slit right from the top of the stem into halves or fourths without going all the way down the entire egglpant, thereby leaving each one still whole, but with several slits that absorb all the masalas while cooking.
Well, I usually cut them up like that, but today, I decided to take my knife all the way down the length of each one and made nice long slices. Soaking in this lovely stainless-steel tray (new one that I brought back from India this past summer!), they look like the perfect model for a lovely still-life drawing!
I think it was my grandmother who used to say that the brinjal is the king of the vegetables– hmm… I don’t know if I’d argue with her because I gotta say this is one versatile and yummy and a good-for-you veggie that can be made in a multitude of ways.
In Hyderabad, the Bagara Baingan is the traditional sidedish that goes with Biryani. The small ones are used for this: smothered in the most decadent gravy of khuskhus and peanuts and all kinds of garam masala, the baingan look almost too good to eat! But the baingan can also be made in a variety of other more humble ways: I made a simple subzi that has a base of onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and some basic masala. Ocassionally, I’ll toss in some potatoes as well, but I didn’t have any today. There are as many themes and variations to making the eggplant as there are differences by region and customs. In the South, it is routinely added to sambar and made into a variety of colombos. 🙂 And beyond India, it is equally popular in other parts of the world as well: in the Middle East, Baba Ghanouj has as its key ingredient– you guessed it: the eggplant. In Italy, Greece, Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean, the eggplant is glorified in all kinds of casseroles and doused with cheese and breadcrumbs and is boiled and baked and even deep-fried.
Well, very interesting it is that the eggplant is native to India. So much India has given to the world! How resourceful its people are to cultivate something good, and then to offer it to the many foreigners who came to its shores so as to allow them to take the seeds back to their own native lands and cultivate it for themselves.
Well, in case you wish to learn more about this wonderful fruit/vegetable, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant
So, like I said, I made some today. Both the before and after pictures are works of art, methinks. 🙂 oh, and that other picture? Well, that’s some yummy dal. Not sambar, now. Just plain dal with some tomatoes and a fantastic tadka. Enjoy!
This is a post that was first published almost exactly two years ago, on Tuesday, December 30, 2008. I reproduce it now in order to celebrate the gift of life of which food is the expression of love, among other things. And especially since this blog has been created to be the repository of all things food. May it be that you receive as much joy in viewing this post as I did in making each of these things, and reflecting upon them.
Tennyson shows more than any poet I know (perhaps has been a warning to me) how much there is in finest verbalism. There is such a latent charm in mere words, cunning collocutions, and in the voice ringing them, which he has caught and brought out…
Break, Break, Break
Lord Alfred TennysonBreak, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O, well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
And there’s another purpose to our tongues: the ability to experience the tangible. Which comes, many a time, in the form of glorious foods. Here are some home-made goodies that yours truly had the pleasure of creating and experiencing just this past week. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure!
Yes, that’s right, people! Sambar is associated with plenty of veggies, but I’m here to tell you that you can take any and all veggies you have or like and cook them with your favorite lentil, in my case it is the split yellow-pea, a.k.a, arhar dal, and make a fantabulous dal that can double as a hearty winter lentil soup.
Which is what I made for lunch today.
Again, you have a lovely slideshow to see for yourself what the ingredients are, and the order in which they were used and the technique of cooking. You’ll need no measures, although, you might want to get a pressure-cooker if you don’t have one. All the pictures are labeled for the details on what’s what and what’s happening!
Serve it as a stand-alone soup of the most gourmet kind, or the traditional way over white rice. Either way, enjoy! Slideshow follows:
Oh, and for all you foodies who must know the difference between a dal and a sambar: the latter has lots of veggies like the dal here, but it is also seasoned with tamarind, tomatoes and a number of other masalas.
So, if you know one interesting fact about me, I hope it might have something to do with Hyderabadi Biryani, or in particular, the fact that I can make it. From scratch. The kind that willl leave you stunned at the fact that you didn’t know how impossibly amazing that dish could be. And leave you talking about it forever. 🙂
Well, that’s the kind I make. For all special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. I obvioulsy made it this past Christmas.
So, this is a step-by-step slideshow of the very many steps of this many-layered dish. You’ll have to get your own recipe, or guesstimate the measures from the pictures here, but the sequence is critical to success. This is a huge degchi (pot) that holds about 20 lbs. The pictures are all captioned so you can see what’s what.
The best part, however, is serving it up with love for the ones you love! Oh, and the papads/appalams, pudina chutney and the boondi raita are the consummate accompaniments to the dish.
Bon Appetit! Or, like we say around here: Yeh Hui Na Baat!
