Of earbuds, rolling pins and lighters

One fine spring (almost), I mentally prepared myself for a workshop on Indian vegetarian food. I've done a few other workshops and talks before. I've had demos of Indian attire, rangoli, Indian children and customs, and 5 other cooking workshops.

The cooking workshops tend to be the easiest. The format was always one curry (sometimes two) and rice, and we all sit down to lunch after that. The rice and curry workshops were rather simple. All the participants had to do was to prepare the assorted vegetables and watch me assemble the final dish, answer questions about spices and finally eat.

This one however, was the most interactive, as I was going to teach them to make phulkas. After making 2 curry dishes, the participants would roll out their own phulkas. In the flyer that went out, I'd asked people to get rolling pins if they had them, but that's a whole other story...

On the day of the workshop, I took along my rolling pin, and hoped that 20 odd people would not have to make chappatis with just one rolling pin in under two hours. Fortunately 5 others had brought their belans along, and we got off to a good start. Phew...

I spoke to soon. I'd planned to make baingan ka bharta and Palak Tofu. Unfortunately, the person who was in charge of local purchases couldn't find the big eggplants, and bought plenty of Japanese eggplant. So there was some on the spot improvisation, and with the same ingredients listed in the recipe, I decided to make a different type of baingan curry. No problems there.

The ladies in the workshop were quite skeptical about the use of spinach in curry. Initially, I had this idea of making palak paneer, but the co-ordinators asked that I use locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. I took the recipe for this particular palak-tofu curry from Mahanandi. When I asked her, Indira was kind enough to let me use the recipe and the picture from her post in the promotional flyer. Thanks, Indira!

As the curries reached final stages, and just needed to be simmered, I started on the phulkas. I rolled out one thin circular disc, toasted, and let it puff up on an open flame... to applause. And I was asked to do it again. After I made three, I handed over the baton.. er .. belan and asked someone else to have a go.

Mrs. A, a lovely Korean lady, took her turn, rolled out a chappati, toasted, and puffed it up beautifully... on first go... and every time she tried after that. Each one of hers was a perfect circle, and puffed up evenly. Damn, I can't remember the number of times my phulkas have been confused with khakras, or worse, appalams. Or the time we could use each roti and guess what country's map it looked like! I asked Mrs A if she used a rolling pin in Korean cuisine. But no, it was the first time she's rolled out dough of any sort. And I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't had one of my off days, where I start with phulkas and after a a failed attempt or two, switch to parathas.

The ladies started rolling and toasting and flaming their phulkas. Literally. Mrs W figured out hers wasn't cooked fully through, refused to wait her turn at the skillet to toast it again, and very resourcefully took out her lighter and started flaming her phulka. No comments there.

A burst of applause every now and then meant someone got their phulka to puff up right.

When we sat down to lunch (just 10 minutes behind schedule) I could see folks looking at each other, and not quite ready to commit themselves to the lovely green of the spinach. I tore off a piece of phulka, scooped up some spinach and popped into my mouth. And fed some to my little one. When they saw that we didn't quite turn funny colours or start doing weird things, they too started to eat. And went "Oishii!" (delicious) with very surprised looks on their faces.

Just as I packed up and was leaving, Mrs K came up to me, and said what a lovely time she'd had, and would I do another session during the school holidays. And then, she had to know,
"But what did you want earbuds for?"

New kid on the Blog

I'm reasonably sure that my friend Gouri would be very amused when I call her the new kid on the blog.

Gouri is a writer, editor, counsellor and (most important) a foodie! She started blogging a while ago, but never got around to posting regularly. Now that she's been bitten by the blogging bug, do read her little nuggets of wisdom at Random Harvest where, in her own words, 'Gouri Dange talks about this, that and mostly the other'.

D-Day!

One workshop

One Teacher

Twenty three students

Two hours

One rolling pin

God knows how many earbuds

Ave Caesar. Morituri te salutant

I asked for a ... what?????

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. I'm doing a workshop on Indian Vegetarian food for the 'Mother's Club' at Aditi's school. The workshop's next week, and I've a feeling I might totally lose it before it's over.

I'd asked one of the mothers to lunch, to discuss some school activities. I'd made phulkas, and she simply loved them, and asked me to do a workshop. Sure, why not, I thought. A culinary workshop shouldn't be too difficult.

First I had to book a suitable kitchen at one of the local community center. Then I had to order spices from the grocer in Tokyo. Then we got busy with the flyer. There was a whole week of discussions on whether to use pictures in the flyer or not, before the committee decided not to. Then we went back to check the kitchen one more time. As we took a quick inventory, I realised that there wasn't a single rolling pin there!

That could be slightly difficult. I would take my rolling pin there, but if 15 people wanted to try their hand at making phulkas, AND two other dishes, I somehow thought 2 hours wouldn't quite suffice. I suggested that maybe we could ask the participants to bring a rolling pin if they had one at home. There are three counters in the community kitchen, and if we had at least three pins, everyone could try their hand at phulkas in the given time.

'What's a rolling pin?' asked one of the co-ordinators. I was totally floored. I didn't want any confusion here, so I took an English-speaking member home with me, and showed her my rolling pin. She called the committee and explained it to them in rapid-fire Japanese.

So the flyers were printed. They were distributed. People signed up.

And yesterday at school, a couple of mothers said they had what I'd asked for.

And gave me a packet of earbuds.....

I kid you not... earbuds!!!!!!

As far as I know there's no call for earwax in any Indian delicacy.

And I have no clue how to make rotis with earbuds.

After a little R & D, I think I've figured out the problem. There are two ways to write that particular word. One would indicate rolling pin and the other means 'an object used to clean ears'. Or at least I hope that's the correct explanation!

And I have a workshop in less than a week's time.

Maybe I should watch 'Lost in Translation'..... NOT.
I'm living it.

Fried Rice with Hot and sour Tofu

The Other Half and I, are big fans of Chinese food.... Desi style.

A few years ago, we were discussing Chinese food, with a Chinese friend. She asked her what our favourites were. And we promptly said, "Gobi Manchurian."

She'd never heard of it, and asked what it was like. As I described how it was made, I could see the look of growing horror on her face. When I was done, she said, "But thats not Chinese food."

"Well, in India it is!" said I, trying not to laugh.

And I did invite her over once when I'd made some. She tried it, emphatically stated there was nothing like it in China. "Just because it's got soy sauce, it doesn't make it Chinese."

Well, authentic or not, we love it.

Whenever the OH sees fresh spring onions in the supermarket, the first question is always, "Chinese for dinner??" And I always ask, "With Gobi Manchurian?"

This time, however, we looked at our waistlines, unattractive as they were, and the OH said, "Maybe something that doesn't involve too much frying?"

Hmmm... "Stir fried vegetables?"
OH: "No, that's too dry. Something with some gravy.."

I told you, we only eat desi Chinese food.

In which case I wonder if we should call it Chinese at all.

Vegetable Fried Rice
Serves 2

3 cups cooked rice (cooled)
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup spring onions (chopped fine)

1 small onion (chopped fine)
1 small onion (chopped fine)
1/4 cup cauliflower florets (chopped fine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp oil
Fresh ground pepper
salt to taste



Heat oil to smoking point.
Add ginger and garlic and fry for a few seconds.
Add 3/4 cup spring onions, and other vegetables, and stir fry on high heat for about a minute, till cooked, but still crunchy.
Add soy sauce and vinegar and toss lightly.
Reduce heat and add rice, salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Toss until well mixed.
Garnish with reserved spring onions and serve.

Hot-n-Sour Tofu
serves 2

200 gms firm tofu (cut in 1" cubes)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
2 cups vegetable stock
1 green chilli (chopped fine)
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chopped spring onions


Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet.
Lightly sear tofu and keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok.
Add garlic and chilli and fry for a minute.
Add spring onion and cook a little.
Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
Dissolve cornstarch in a little water.
Add cornstarch to the stock, and simmer for a few minutes till it thickens.
Add soy sauce and vinegar.
Add tofu and simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve with fried rice.

Soup, salad and some indulgence

Weekday lunches, are something the other half and I look forward to. On weekdays, lunch is the most relaxed and 'No-don't'-free meal. By the time the OH comes home for lunch, the littlest one is fed and watered, and not very likely to be noisy. If we're very lucky, she might even be asleep, and we might even have a 'real' conversation.

Lunch is one meal where I can try something different, and not worry about whether it would suit little palates. Lunch is when I can really experiment. And try to make something elaborate or fancy. Or in other words, food that makes the other-half take skeptical or even outright suspicious looks or sniffs.

And since I'm focusing on eating healthy, I thought of making a soup and salad lunch.

I'd bookmarked this recipe from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen. As usual, I didn't have half the ingredients in hand, didn't have the enthusiasm to trudge through gale and snow to a store, and decided to make do with what I had. I garnished this soup with fresh roasted and crushed coriander seeds. That acted as a thickener, and gave the soup a lovely spicy boost.

Lentil and Vegetable soup
serves 2

1/4 cup lentils (whole masur dal)
1 carrot (peeled and sliced thick)
1 medium potato (peeled and cubed)
1/4 cup cauliflower florets
1 large onion (sliced fine)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 large tomato (chopped fine)
1 tbsp coriander seeds
salt to taste


Wash lentils, and soak for 30 minutes.
In a pressure cooker, cook lentils. carrots, onions, potato, cauliflower, salt, turmeric and pepper with 4 cups water, for about 7 minutes.
Roast coriander seeds till fragrant, and crush to a coarse powder.
Add chopped tomato to the lentil mix, and simmer for for 10 minutes or till the tomato is cooked through.
Season with coriander powder and adjust salt if needed.
Serve hot.

After the soup was done, I wanted to try something new. I thought I'd try my hand at a terrine. The rice was rather dry. Next time I would like to toss some cottage cheese with the rice, and see if that would make it less dry.

Potato and Rice Terrine
serves 2

1 large Potato (Peeled and sliced)
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup vegetable stock


Heat oven to 180ºC.
Line 2 ramekins with Baking parchment.
Warm vegetable stock (about 40ºC)
Soak potato slices in vegetable stock for 15-20 minutes.
Remove slices from stock. Reserve stock.
Arrange a few slices of potato in the bottom of each ramekin. (reserve 2 large potato slices for later use)
Fill each ramekin with cooked rice.
Cover ramekins with baking parchment, and bake for about 20 minutes.
Drizzle reserved stock over the rice in both ramekins.
Cover with reserved potato slice.
Cover ramekins again with baking parchment, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Invert over a plate and serve hot.

And now that our lunch was so wonderfully healthy, I just had to add some indulgence.

No-fuss Mango Dessert
serves 2

1 cup + 2 tbsp mango pulp
1/2 cup low fat Mascarpone cheese
Sugar to taste (optional)


Whisk Mascarpone, 1 cup mango pulp and sugar (if using) till smooth and the mixture starts to thicken.
Divide equally into dessert bowls.
Top with reserved mango pulp.
Chill for an hour.
Serve cold.

Salad for a kid

We recently went out to lunch with some friends and their kids. And there I witnessed a minor miracle. My daughter ate all her salad!!!! Every single bit of it on her plate, without being told to. It might have helped that her two little friends were eating without a fuss. But the bottom line was that she ate her vegetables, raw vegetables at that, without a peep.

The next day she asked me to make the same salad for her daily 'obento'. While she watched me pack her lunch, she asked, "Amma, whats this orange vegetable?" And our regular game was on. "Carrot!" I said. "What is this red vegetable?" "That's a tomato."

And then "Amma, tell me the name of this green vegetable."
"That's lettuce, baby."
And she started to bawl. The other half came to see what the matter was.

"Appa, I asked Amma to make the salad we ate yesterday. She has put lettuce in it!...waaaah"
The OH gave me a perplexed look. He took an inventory of what was in that salad, and since it matched exactly with what we'd eaten the previous day, he had no idea what the little one was upset about. And he tried to solve it, the right way.
"What did you eat in your salad yesterday?"
"I ate cabbage, I don't like lettuce. It's not cute"
The OH looked at me, and with a very straight face, asked, "Don't you know the name of this green thing? It's cabbage. Amma is rather silly, isn't she?"

And the little one giggled, gave me sweet smile and said, "Thank you Amma for the cabbage."

A lettuce by any other name..... as long as it gets eaten, it's perfectly fine.

And that particular salad, dressing and all, is almost a daily affair.

The dressing is quite simple, and I make it fresh every time.

Salad and dressing
serves one

2 cups Lettuce (washed, dried and shredded)
1 medium tomato (cut in wedges)
1 cup carrot (peeled and cut into juliennes)

1 tsp Extra-virgin Olive oil
1/2 tsp Garlic powder (or crushed garlic)
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
1/4 tsp Basil (fresh of dry)
salt to taste

Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and garlic till well blended.
Season with salt and basil.
Drizzle dressing on prepared vegetables, and toss well before serving.

Sometimes, in the interests of the 'cute' factor, and I toss the carrots and tomatoes in the dressing, and wrap them in bunches in whole lettuce leaves.

And just for a change, I tried feeding my daughter coleslaw, with REAL cabbage.
And she said, "Amma, this cabbage is not nice."

I wonder what I have to look forward to once the littlest one starts to speak, and starts to develop her own opinions on food.

I can envision lots of gray hair.

War and Peace and waistlines

I have my own methods to forecast weather. I just look out of the window. If I can see the peak of Mt. Gassan, then it's quite likely to be a clear day.

In the colder months, if the trees are weighed down with snow,
or if my neighbour's car is almost buried in snow, then I know it's going to be a really cold day.
Out here, when it snows, it snows. After I got back from a really long holiday, it started snowing in the 2nd week of January and snowed on and on and on till the end of the month. Then there was a break for a day. Then it started to snow again. Last weekend, the skies were clear. Then it started to snow.

You get the idea.

These days it seems like we're wearing a quarter of the contents of our closet indoors, and half our closets if we step out. Initially I figured that my jeans were feeling rather... er.. snug.. because of all the layers. Then after a series of almost blizzards (think daytime high -2ºC) when the jeans shrunk another size in the wash (not!) I wondered if the problem lay elsewhere. The equation almost always seemed to be something like

sub-zero temperatures + gales from Siberia + incessant snow = Masala chai + k
(where k is constant and always equals fried snacks like pakodas, bajjis, bondas etc.)

That explained it all.

Now, in that glorified little closet I call my kitchen, I've started to experiment with fat-free (or as little fat as possible) food. And I need to get around to taking pictures and posting some of these experiments soon.

Not all these experiments were total successes. There were times when the other half looked very suspiciously at what was on his plate. And days where the lunch box came home almost uneaten. Ah well, one step at a time.

At least the jeans and the waistline are starting to get along. They haven't signed a peace treaty yet, but there aren't any more pitched battles.

Quite a pickle

The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

Well, that's quite a drastic start to this story. But that's exactly how it started. Early last summer, I made a really good batch of lemon squash, and then decided to make another batch while the sun was shining. With one thing and another I suddenly realized that I was starting to wear sweaters everyday, the days were getting visibly shorter, and HELP... the lemons in the refrigerator were nearing the end of their limited shelf life.

And so I decided to make PICKLES.

Before I get started with my story on pickling, I have to thank two wonderful people. Manisha, who's blog Indian Food Rocks is a real lifesaver and Indosungod who writes her Daily Musings, took time out of their busy lives to help me out of this pickle.

A healthy amount of time was spent trawling the internet for suitable recipes. With the number of lemons I had in hand, and keeping in mind that I am the only pickle-eater in our home, it had to have a long shelf life. After some R and D, I decided that cooked pickles were out. And since the weather was turning cold at an alarming rate, the sun-cooked variety was not that good an option. I finally decided that these two recipes fit the bill well.

Once I took the lemons out of the fridge, I saw that quite a few of them were unsuitable for pickling. That left me with (hold your heart) 30 large lemons. I let them get to room temperature, washed and dried them thoroughly, cut them and then got down to spicing said pickles. I made up a spice blend that was a combination of Manisha and Indosungod's recipes. And pickled the lemons in two batches. One batch was totally oil free. For the second batch, I heated some oil, let it cool and added it to the pickle jar. Whenever I could see the sun and feel some warmth outdoors, I left the jars outside. On other days, the two jars sat close to the stove, the warmest place in my kitchen.

After three weeks, the jar that had no oil in it had a very thick layer of pale gray furry looking stuff growing on it. And it all went straight to the dustbin. Jar 2 seemed alright, so I let it be. And continued to keep it near the stove for another month.

Then I went on my holiday. I cleaned up the kitchen before I left, put things away, and totally forgot about the pickles for nearly two months.

A week ago, a Japanese friend was having dinner with me, and asked if Indians really eat pickled lemon. That reminded me of that experiment, and I rushed to bring out that jar from the back of the kitchen cupboard. I opened it and it looked alright. And smelt alright too.

I took a deep breath. "A-san, would you like to try some pickled lemon??"

A-san looked torn. The idea of pickled lemon seemed quite alien to her, but she also wanted to know what the fuss was all about. "May I try some?" she asked, and I could see that curiousity won out.

She took one bite, and her knee jerk reaction was "Supai desu ne!" (It tastes sour)

And then after a few seconds, she said that it didn't taste sour anymore. She asked for a second helping and a third, and then asked if she could take some home for her family.

And I must admit they were awesome. Just perfect with hot parathas!

If you want to try the straightforward method, choose any of these two recipes.

Or if you like to do things the complicated way:

Prep the limes the was Indosungod does in this recipe.

Follow Manisha's instructions exactly.

The spice mix I used was as follows:
1 tsp methi seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida or hing powder
1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)

Roast these ingredients individually till browned (about 4-5 minutes)
Let cool completely.
Grind to a fine powder.

Finally, heat 1/2 cup of oil till almost smoking.
Add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp fennel seeds and let them splutter.
Let it cool completely.
Add to the jar of pickles along with 1/2 cup sugar and shake gently till well mixed.

Cross your fingers and pray for lots of sunshine.

The finally result was quite nice. It was a nice blend of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavours.

Next time however, I plan to follow any one recipe, and do it properly.

Thank you again, Manisha and Indosungod.

And maybe you're thanking your lucky stars that I'm too far away to send you a sample.

Lunch Time

Yes, I've very much alive. Its just that I've been on a very long vacation. Er.. I wasn't on vacation for 3 months (since my last blog post) nor have I totally stopped cooking. I just haven't made time to post some of the stuff I've cooked up in the last few months. I have this bad habit of taking pictures, uploading them on blogger, and then never getting around to doing a decent write up.

These days most of my culinary creativity is directed at lunch boxes. Packing lunch for a four-year old is quite taxing. I need to include the major food groups, modify and beautify stuff that is not likely to be eaten, and then pray for an empty box when she gets home.

Twice a week, I try to make a vegetarian version of the lunch that other kids get at school. That is quite a tall order. Sometimes a meatless substitute is easy. Like grilled paneer or tofu in place of grilled fish, vegetable patties or cutlets instead of steaks.

Some substitutions are quite challenging. What does one do for a vegetarian version of chicken drumsticks? Sometimes I can't figure out what on earth they are serving these kids. Some of these experiments in translation are unmitigated disasters. One menu said 'vegetables in almond sauce'. And it came back untouched.

Grilled paneer, steamed sweet potato, vegetables in almond sauce, banana slices and cheese

cheese omelette, lettuce salad, fruit and cheese

Pan-fried tofu, potato-pancakes, carrot sticks, spinach, fruit yogurt

Potato patties, rice and dal, steamed corn kernels, cinnamon flakes, fruit and cheese

Potato pancakes are what I call that substitute for hamburg steak. They're quite simple to make. Cinnamon flakes are a nice standby as a filler when I can't of think of a decent substitute for something. Potato patties/fingers are a good standby too.

Potato Pancakes
1 medium potato
oil to grease
salt to taste
Microwave potato on high for 5 minutes.
Peel and cut into 1/2 cm slices.
Roast slices over a hot, lightly greased, skillet till lightly browned on both sides (about 2 minutes a side).
Sprinkle with salt.

Pan Fried Tofu
2 slices of firm tofu
Marinade of choice
Marinate tofu slices for 5 minutes.
(I used a blend of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic powder and salt)
Shallow fry in very little oil over low heat, till lightly browned.
Remove from pan and drain excess oil.
Serve with little mayonnaise.

Steamed Sweet Potato
Peel and slice sweet potato.
Lightly steam for 5 minutes or so.
Toss with salt and lemon juice.

Cinnamon Flakes
Puff pastry scraps (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
Bake puff pastry scraps at 160C for 7 minutes (or till they start to brown)
Cool for 10 minutes and toss lightly with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Cool completely and store in airtight container.

These days I've taken to filling her lunch box with at least one raw vegetable, some fruit and cheese. Most days the easiest raw vegetable is carrot sticks.

Quesadilla,phulkas, potato curry, tomato salad, fruit and cheese

Rice, dal and ghee, Carrot sticks, beans curry, coleslaw, fruit and cheese

A set of molds are always handy. They can be used to shape rice, patties, and even eggs. I'll be the first to admit that there has to be a knack to molding an egg. I've seen molded ones, and well, I guess I'm making a mess somewhere. Rice molded like a teddy bear is always welcome in the lunch box. It definitely qualifies as 'cute'. And 'cute' is what my daughter wants to eat.

Rice, potato patties, dal, fruit and cheese

Did I mention that she also wants foods she can eat with chopsticks?? That led to omelet rolls. Make a thin omelet, and instead of flipping it over, or folding in half, when it's almost cooked sprinkle some cheese on it, and then roll it up and cut into small pieces.

Carrot sticks, steamed broccoli, omelet-rolls, fruit and cheese

Like my friend Hemu said, I am never going to win a good looking Obento contest. But as long as my daughter thinks they're cute, and eats it up, I'm happy.

A tale of a few substitutes

Some days, I like to experiment. And throw caution to the winds.

Today, I wanted some Thai Curry. I wanted it at once. And went to the one and only place that stocks 'foreign' foods. They were all out of Thai curry paste. None of the supermarkets had any lemongrass. The funny thing is, they've never stocked any before this, but for some obscure reason, I felt the need to make the attempt. Reason takes a backseat when stubbornness takes over.

Back home, I took a kitchen inventory. I compared the ingredient list with the contents of my pantry. Red Chilly, check; galangal, no; garlic, check; ... and finally kept aside what I had.

I started with the chillis. They were rather sad looking. They looked faded. What's a Thai curry without that brilliant fiery red hue?

Reason attempted to take over, but was deflected by skin thicker that the diameter or a rhinoceros. Thai curry I wanted, and Thai curry I'd make.

If I couldn't get red, why not a brilliant yellow. So out came the turmeric (the powder.. not fresh root). Shallots?? Hah! I had just made onion sambar the previous day, and used up all my stock...... and out came an onion. There was ginger (alright, I never get galangal here) and garlic. And then horror of horrors..... no lemon grass. None at all.

That needed some thought. Some rational thought. Some reason in the madness. Remember that rhinoceros I mentioned? That one charged, and drove calm, rational logic away. And convinced that obstinate illogical mind to substitute it with.. hold your breath.. lemon zest.

And ground said ingredients into a paste. And fried said paste. Added a bag of frozen veggies to said fried paste. Seasoned it with a little salt, and let said concoction simmer till the veggies were cooked. And then added a very generous dollop of coconut milk to said mix, and let it simmer a bit, and garnished with basil.

Just then the other half came home for lunch. 'Something smells nice,' he said.

I served up the curry with basil scented rice. And started to attend to the baby's lunch.

OH took a bite. And asked, 'what's for dinner?'

Hmmm... I hadn't planned that far ahead. 'Chappatis, maybe??'

'Great,' said OH. And refused a second helping, insisting he was saving space for chappatis.

After the baby had her lunch, I settled her down for a nap. And sat down to a leisurely lunch, and a good book. I took a bite of that bright yellow curry. And winced.

As curries went, it was not bad at all. It may not have been Thai curry, but was a rather decent curry in its own right. But the lemon zest had made it really bitter. Killed it completely.

I too had a light lunch... saved space for chappatis.

Next time that rhino interferes in the kitchen, I plan to call for pizza... "Sumimasen.... pizza O-hitotsu onegaishimasu" and then try to blunder through my order for a vegetarian pizza, and delivery address in Japanese.

Art, sweets and some Math

An acquaintance of ours, Mrs. Y, has been asking me for a while to conduct an "Understand India" session at one of the various organizations she's a patron of. Understand India? It sounded too broad a brief, and I agreed, without a single clue what I was going to do or talk about. My abysmal Japanese notwithstanding.

Once I was given the brief it didn't sound that bad. "Think of a typically Indian activity for kids, and make one Indian dish that the kids can also help make." All right. That didn't sound too bad. But as D-day loomed, I hadn't thought of a single thing that was "typically Indian". Then I realised, that I'd comitted to this session on the same date Ganesha chaturthi, and inspired by that, I said I'd show kids about Rangoli. That idea was a really winner. The kids really enjoyed it, and had a whale of a time giving free reign to their limitless imagination.

For the typically Indian dish, I had major constrains. The venue had just a small hot plate. I had work with that. That ruled out most traditional stuff. And it had to be kid friendly. Decisions, decisions!

I finally decided on 'maalaadu', an old favourite, that was simple enough to make. I powdered the pottu kadalai (roasted-chana-dal) and sugar in advance, and all that there was to do, was the assembly. And that too went down quite well. So after sweating it out in the sun, we all sat down to a very welcome snack of 'maalaadu' and lassi.

Maalaadu/Besan laddoo

1/2 kg Roasted chana dal/pottu kadalai (finely powdered)
1/2 kg sugar (finely powdered)
1/4 tsp cardomom powder
1/2 kg ghee















Mix the dry ingredients well in a large bowl.
Heat the ghee.
Pour over the powders, and stir in well with a wooden spoon, or spatula.
Mix well.
Shape into laddoos while still warm.

During the introduction, Mrs Y introduced India and Indians to the kids as mathematical geniuses. Genius?? Well, the kids started throwing numbers at me, asking to multiply them mentally. And these were numbers they could manage. All under 20. At this point, the imp in me took over, and I started demonstrating the finer points of vedic mathematics to these kids. Just a couple of 'sutras', but sutras that I was very very sure about. The very elementary, simple ones. Soon I had kids writing numbers on the board, and writing out the answers before they could key in and get the answer from a calculator. God, that was some ego trip! The awe on the faces of the students, and teachers alike, had to be seen to be believed. So in this neck of the woods at least, we have kids thinking that Indians have a second brain for mathematics.

Thank goodness they didn't want to look at my marks cards.

Egg Curry

One of the first thing that someone tells me, once they hear that I'm from India, is "I love butter chicken." The sum total of interest in Indian cuisine seems limited to butter chicken. There are people here who actually believe that I eat 'butter chicker kare' for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can't get them to understand that I'm vegetarian, or that there's more to Indian food that 'Butter Chicken'.

And after being asked about Butter Chicken once too often, I decided that I have to try making a egg or paneer version of the dish. The results weren't anything to blog about. Unfortunately, most of the gravies/masalas that taste awesome with some meat based dishes, don't work that well with vegetable substitutes.

After a lot of trial and error, I earmarked one set of proportions that seemed to work well with eggs or paneer. But it still lacked a certain something. One fine day, as I was making my monthly grocery list, I saw that my grocer had listed a new item, "Chicken Curry masala". Also, by this time, I was so bugged with the absurdly limited vegetable and spice options here that I was willing to try something new. I was willing to try ANYTHING new. So I ordered one packet of the masala. The next time I made a paneer dish, I ignored the usual 'Kitchen King' and Garam Masalas, and seasoned it with the Chicken Curry masala. A was quite impressed. He had no clue what had gone into it, but said it tasted wonderful. I tried it again with Egg Curry, and the result was simply fabulous. I should mention that it tastes wonderful with other vegetable gravies too. Chicken curry masala is a pantry staple now. Always on hand to jazz up a dish when we get bored with the same things over and over again.

Egg Curry

8 Eggs (hard boiled, peeled and slit with a sharp knife)
1 tbsp ginger, garlic paste -
2 large onion
2 large tomato
1 tsp kasuri methi
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
3/4 tsp chicken curry masala
3 tbsp cup cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
6 cashewnuts paste
1 tsp khus-kush
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste



Grind onion to a smooth paste. Puree the tomatoes.
Soak cashewnuts and khus-khus. Drain excess water and grind to a smooth paste.
Heat a heavy bottom kadhai. Quickly toast the kasuri methi and keep aside.
Heat oil in the kadhai. Add onion paste and saute till oil separates.
Add ginger-garlic paste, and saute till the raw smell is gone.
Add all spice-powders (except chicken curry masala) and saute for a minute.
Add tomato puree and khuskhus-cashew paste.
Adjust salt to taste.
Crush roasted kasuri methi to fine powder and add to kadhai.
Bring the gravy to a simmer. Add eggs to the gravy and continue to simmer.
When gravy starts to thicken, add chicken curry masala powder and simmer for a minute more.
Remove kadhai from heat, and stir in butter and cream.

Serve hot.

More Dal, please

Dal, wonderful dal. It's something we take so much for granted. I've ranted about how this wonderful dish is not given it's due. Recently, we had some of A's colleagues over for lunch. After I'd finished cooking, I suddenly wondered if most things would be too spicy for my guests' palates. I thought it'd be prudent to make some dal. Just in case.

At lunch, my husband simply ignored other fancy stuff and kept helping himself to dal. So did my daughter. Out guests were quite surprised about how a simple process like tadka (tempering) could infuse a plain dish with so much subtle flavour. And seperating the tempering did make it look a little fancy too.

Basic Dal

1 cup moong dal (washed and cooked with salt and turmeric)
1 tsp ghee
1 pinch hing
2 (or more) dry red chillis
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander


Heat ghee.
Quickly saute the chillis, remove from ghee and add to dal.
Add the cumin seeds, and let them brown. Add hing. Remove cumin from ghee and add to dal.
Add mustard seeds to the ghee, and after they splutter, add them to the dal along with the remaining ghee.
Add chopped coriander for garnish.
Stir well before serving.
Serve hot.

Lunch Box Solutions

Weekday mornings are all about lunch boxes. Before the school bus drives up to our doorstep, I need to get my daughter's lunch-box (or Obento) ready. Getting a lunch box ready is not that much of an issue. What's really needed is an obento that my daughter is sure to like.

If that didn't tell you what the problem is, then allow me to elucidate. The little darling is a picky eater. Very picky. Most days we have this early morning battle over the planned lunch. She takes one look at what I'm cooking, and asks, "Is that cute? I want a cute obento." No, I have no clue what a cute obento is. Depending on her mood, it could be anything from crispy potato rolls, to spaghetti to dal-and-rice. Depends on her mood, the tides, phase of the moon, and anything else you'd care to throw into the mix.

One simple fix is Pooris. Pooris are always a hit with kids. Little ones and big ones. To add to the 'cute' factor, I roll out a really large poori, and cut out smaller ones before I fry them. Using a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter, it adds up to around 2 regular pooris.

My daughter liked these tiny pooris so much that she prefers them to regular sized pooris. I'm certainly not complaining. The potato curry for this one is stripped down to absolute basics.

Very Simple Potato Curry

1 medium potato (chopped fine)
1 small onion (chopped fine) (optional)
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 pinch turmeric
1 pinch hing
Salt to taste


Heat oil. Temper with mustard, hing and turmeric.
Add onions, if using, and saute till onions turn transperent.
Add potatoes and salt. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or till done.

Add some fruit, and lunch is ready to go!

Chappatis for lunch turned out be another challenge. The little gourmet wanted small chappatis. And then the real fun started. I rolled out a really huge chappati, and with a 'katori' cut out smaller disks. I started off cooking 4 or 5 at a time on my tava. I was about then I asked myself that all important question. How on earth am I supposed to fluff these tiny things over an open flame? My tongs would surely tear them up. And my fingers had way too much to do over the course of the day, so using them was out. One fell right through my little wire phulka frame. Necessity breeds solutions. I put my little tea insufer to good use. It was tiny enough to hold one tiny corner while I fluffed them over an open flame.

And after all that early morning drama, the lunch box came back totally empty! At the end of the day, thats all that counts. Whether it was it all eaten up.

On a recent festival, I thought it was really unfair that the little one missed out on the multi-course lunch. She could always have some when she got back from school, but why not AT school? And a typical south Indian lunch is not that difficult to make into an obento.

Dal-rice with ghee, crisp urad-dal vadais, tomato salad, carrot salad, cabbage curry and fruit. Next time I need to figure out how to pack payasam so that it doesn't spill.

Uninspired mornings sometimes breed inspired solutions. In a totally bored frame of mind, I made a little potato curry, and stared stupidly into my fridge and freezer, and wondered what to do. Should I make rice, chappati, poori?? Should I just give up and go back to sleep? And then I saw some frozen puff-pastry sheets in a corner of the freezer. And came up with this. I have no idea what to call this, so go right ahead and name it. Be my guest.


Puff-pastry-thingies

1 sheet puff pastry (20cm x 10cm x 0.5cm)
1 cup potato filling (recipe follows)

1 large potato (chopped very fine)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 pinch turmeric
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Heat oil.
Add the spice powders, and stir for a few seconds, and immediately add the chopped potato.
Add salt to taste. Cover and cook for 10 mins, or till done.
Preheat oven to 175C.
Thaw puff pastry, and roll to 2mm thickness.
Spread prepared filling over it.
Shape into a roll. Cover roll with cling-film and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Line a cookie sheet with baking paper.
Cut into slices. Arrange on sheet, leaving 2-3 cms between rolls.
Bake until golden brown. About 12-15 minutes.

Next time I want to try a grown up version of this, with some garam masala, and chilli powder. Lets see how that works.