Ukdiche Modak - Morya re!

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi, everybody! I had been eying these modaks for a while now.. waiting for Ganesh Chaturthi to arrive to try my hand. Finally this weekend I got all the ingredients together and went shree-ganesh!

Ukdiche Modak - Bappa's favorite!

The story goes that Lord Ganesha, the Elephant-headed God, loved Modak. So on his birthday everyone serves his favorite dessert! The festival isn't complete without modak of some sort or other.

These modaks are a popular Maharashtrian tradition during Ganesh Chaturthi. My family usually made a slightly different fried version and performed aarthi with cotton vaatis, dipped in ghee, mounted at the very apex of the modaks. I didn't want to make fried modaks though. So the ukdiche steamed version was the way to go! Ukad is the cooked dough and the filling is made with coconut and jaggery.

Making Ukdiche modak is notorious for being a skillful endeavour.. how thin is the outer-shell, how fine are the petals/pleats, etc etc. Funnily enough, the more difficult the stories made it seem, the more I wanted to make it! ;) What's the fun without some difficulty, eh? And it always tastes great, no matter the shape!

I scoured high and low for a fool proof recipe. No taking a bit of water and a little more rice, please..! Finally I went with Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe and some trial and error modifications to make it convenient for me. Going to note my procedure here:

Cooked dough (ukad), outer shell pressed out and pinched
into a cupped-flower-like shape, filled with the jaggery-coconut fillling
and steamed in a cooker (on an idli stand).

Pizza and fruit tart - party time!

Hey everyone..!

How do you celebrate birthdays in your home? As we start to grow up people arbitrarily decide that they don't need a cake.. they'd rather not call friends and make a big "fuss".. it's a week day and everyone is tired.. it's no big deal.. and so on. But I realized some time back that a birthday doesn't feel "properly celebrated" in my mind until there is some sharing of a cakey-dessert and food with friends and lots of laughter.

Our uneducated, but very very wise maid back home once told me.. when you celebrate festivals and birthdays, clean and decorate your house, cook for special occasions, grow some fragrant greens, play some music/news in the morning.. the ghar (house) finally becomes a saunsaar (home). At the time I thought she was just being cute. But now I rather agree with her!

This weekend I forced a very reluctant adult to celebrate their birthday just to make me happy! ;) Just posting a few clicks of some food we made.

Pizza!!!

We kept it simple.. I made MM's pizza sauce and used "Moma Mary's" pizza base and Amul cheese. Had posted the recipe here some time back. We tried a few other pizza bases, but they didn't taste like good-old Monginis pizza base from back home. This one was decent in taste, so am sticking with this brand in future. Everybody over-ate a bit. So much so that some of our guests barely had room for dessert..!

Fruit Tart/Pie

I tried making a light strawberry-blueberry tart with store bought pie crust. I eyeballed the recipe for filling along the lines of the one at The Kitchen Sink Recipes. Probably shouldn't have poured all the berries (with syrup) into the pie-crust, turned out a bit watery. Khair, it was very light and guilt-free. I should definitely try the whole recipe another time. Couldn't take a picture of the whole tart.. (please.. birthday candles, singing wishes and posing for pictures would be really pushing it!) so posting only a small portion in a bowl. Vanilla ice-cream alongside would be nice too!

Thanks for stopping by! Cheerio!

Sandesh

Hey everyone..

The weekend arrives with a bright sunny Saturday morning. An old Bollywood classics station plays on my online radio. Rajesh asks Sharmila when his Sapnon ki Rani will arrive while I imagine her dimpled smile.. I get ready, light a diya, water my little container garden, smell the basil and mint.. pick some basil leaves for a caprese breakfast sandwich and start pounding elaichi to make chai.

Sandesh with strawberry and orange garnish

 All fed and satisfied, I wonder if today I will make something special? While the family is "busy" tinkering around with "important" tasks on their laptops (nobody's buying that..) I browse a few blogs (my idea of important tasks).. and zero in on this Sandesh.

Look.. how pretty it's turned out!! I mostly followed the recipe from Manjula's Kitchen. Here's how I made my Sandesh: 

Step 1: Make Paneer:

Ingredients:
Milk - 8 cups, I used 2% milk
Lemon juice - 1/4 cup diluted with 1 cup warm water

Method:
Boil milk, when well boiled, add the diluted lemon juice till whey and paneer separate. Turn off heat. Drain paneer onto cheesecloth or good quality paper towel. Rinse paneer well with water, drain. Wrap with cheese cloth and place under a heavy weight for about 20-30 minutes.

Step 2: Make Sandesh

Ingredients:
Paneer from above step 1
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Fresh cardamom powder - about 4 or 5 pods
Small amount of pretty fruit for garnish, say 1 strawberry
Saffron - 8 strands + 2 tsp warm milk, also for garnish 

Method:
1) Knead the paneer well.
2) Mix sugar and cardamom powder and knead some more. Mixture may get slightly moist as you add more of the sugar. Mine did this time, previous times it didn't. It's ok either way, just a note.
3) Heat mixture in non-stick pan on very low heat. Heat till the mixture looks cooked and before it gets crumbly. (Ah-haan.. but how does one identify a before-crumbly stage? Just stop quickly when it looks crumbly, ya, no worries).
4) If the mixture is not crumbly, knead a tiny bit. If the mixture got slightly crumbly then knead some more till the mixture is smooth-smooth, soft and easily comes together when rolled into a ball.
5) Now roll the mixture into little flattened balls with indentation in the middle.
6) For garnish, heat the 2 tsp milk, add 8 saffron strands and mix till it's all yellow. Decorate the center indentations of  the sandesh pieces with this yellow liquid (gives color and fragrance). Can also use teeny-tiny chopped strawberry slices or an orange slice and fill in the center indentations.

The Sandesh turned out light, soft, moist and ever so subtle!!

Happy birthday to two little darlings my friends just had! We wish them everything good in life! :)

Cheerio and thanks for stopping by, everyone!

Baked Nimki, Happy Janmashtami!

Hey everyone.. long time no see.. sorry about that.. Hope all's well with everybody. Happy Janmashtami!! I didn't actually make nimki for Janmashtami.. but it was Janmashtami recently and I made nimki recently, so..

Nimki

Tried baking the Nimki to minimize oil. Turned out pretty decent. Started out with BongMom's recipe which I've made before (fried) and had turned out perfect. I just modified small things to accommodate baking and the fact that I didn't have any whole wheat flour at the time.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 and 2/3 cup (In future I will try to combo with whole wheat flour and rice flour)
Fine Semolina (Pani puri sooji) - 1/3 cup or slightly more
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Kalonji - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 6 tbsp
Water - 1/2 cup, appx., use judgement, I think I used a bit less.

Method:
1) Mix well - flours, salt, sugar, kalonji, baking powder.
2) Add oil, mix by hand till oil seems to be evenly distributed in the mixture, looks kind of crumbly.
3) Add water, knead well, cover with clingwrap and let rest for 30 mins or so.
4) Make small balls of the dough and roll into thin rotis. Prick with fork if you want the nimki to not puff up. Cut into diamond shapes. (Note: I have rolled on my normal wooden roti-base before. But when I cut the nimki it left cutting marks on my nice, (mostly unused), wooden base. So this time I just covered my chopping board with non-stick foil and rolled on it.)
5) Pull the nimki off and arrange on a non-stick cookie sheet, covered with non-stick foil. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 F for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye, don't let them turn too brown. Can flip the nimkis in between if you feel it's necessary.

Turned out glorious. I made the nimkis thin because I thought that would help make them crisp. It did help! They are perfectly crisp! But thin rolling made for a lot of rolling, lot of rotis, lot of nimkis and baking on multiple cookie-sheets. :) Oh well, more to eat!

Pip-pip-cheerio!

Auntyji's Khatta Macchi

Hey everyone.. it's time to fish!

Fig. 1. Auntyji's Khatta Macchi

This is from my Mom's recipe collection. Mom got this recipe from their childhood neighbour "Auntyji".

Every neighborhood has a motley assortment of residents. Some befriend us, some are just polite acquaintances, some quarrel with us and some ignore us. Almost every family knows an Auntyji in the 'hood. She's our building friend Chickoo's Mom, or she is Mom's polite companion when together they wait at the bus stop for us kids to return from school. Sometimes she's the neighbor who picks up our milk when we take off for a day and forget to update the doodh-wala.  And sometimes she is the bagal-wali Auntyji with the beautiful rose garden who is always on the look out for notorious gulab-chors (rose-thieves).

Auntyjis enter our lives and leave our lives as they move on with their own. Some leave with Chickoo, the building friend. Some leave with the school bus. Some Aunties leave behind real packets of milk while some leave behind memories of fresh, fragrant roses and ethical conundrums about ownership and longevity versus joy, beauty and spontaneity.

Mom has some marvelous stories to tell about her Auntyji and her family who were friends with Mom's family. Sometimes you get a real lot from family friends. So much that you can pass it on even to the next generation! We may not be neighbors with Auntyji anymore. But Auntyji left with us one very treasured heirloom! Auntyji's Khatta Macchi has been made and relished by my Grandma, my Mom and now me!

On behalf of my Mom and our family, thanks to Auntyji for this recipe and all the memories that came along with it. 

Anhinga

Hey everyone..

I haven't stopped keeping an eye out for birds and little creatures. Just recently I spotted this bird sitting on the banks of a pond. Wings wide open, waving a lazy sunny welcome to Soorya-dev!

Fig. 1. Anhinga

I looked it up on the net and found that this is an Anhinga. A boy Anhinga (because of the full black body). This is a "darter" or sometimes called a snake bird, which is certainly a very apt name. It swoops into the water.. all the way in. And then swims with its whole body underwater.. except for its head and long neck which entirely stick out into the air. Looks exactly like a snake dancing on the water! ;)

After all those underwater acrobatics, it is sitting out on the banks now sunning itself to dry out its wings. And you thought birds don't have to dry their laundry!

Bhapa Doi and 1st Blog Birthday!

Hey everyone!!

Fig. 1. Bhapa Doi

Reminds me of a poem we learnt as kids..

ABCD-EFG,
come on Leena play with me!
HIJK-L-M-N,
it's Leena's birthday, she is ten!

Well.. today it's my blog's birthday and it is ONE! :D

When I started reading food blogs, I used them primarily for the recipes, and then for the encouraging food clicks. Over time though I started really reading the posts. And I realized that most of the blogs I liked had posts that essentially told simple stories of the daily lives of many many women everywhere. And that is what makes me visit them again and again..

Reading food blogs is like peeking into someone's kitchen window. And the thought that another ordinary person, not some celebrity chef, but someone pretty much like me, is doing pretty much the same things as me gives me an incredible sense of companionship! It also encourages me to think about doing the things they are doing that I am not. And as you all know by now, I am always on the lookout for inspiration. 

Over time I realized that it would be good to record all the food I was making for my own future reference. I was cooking anyway. Might as well take pictures and post my version of the recipe. I find that taking a picture and writing it up serves as a tangible reminder at a later date when I am super-busy, eating only Maggie and have forgotten that I can cook! ;) I cannot argue with a picture of my own fish curry or rasgulla. Well, a year has passed, I am stilling writing, still referring back to old pictures and am encouraged to cook more!

A major reason this blogging continues is readership! People visit this site and visit again. Some stay on and give advice, tips and feedback! Just last week I cooked red chard for the first time.. and I got two more recipe suggestions in reader feedback! Thanks everyone for your companionship! It is greatly valued!

Let me also give a big shout-out to Aparna, whose blog, Apy Cooking, happens to have the same birth date as mine! Happy Blog Birthday, Aparna! :)

On to Bhapa Doi..

Aloo Chard

Heylo everyone!!

Fig. 1. Aloo Chard

I know I have been very remiss.. Haven't been visiting online much, haven't been posting much and quite honestly haven't been cooking very much either. Shame-shame na.. But I'll be good now.. I'll cook and post and blog-hop too! Well, I'll try anyway! :)

Back to the food.. This post is about Red Chard. And notes to myself about using it in future.

When I go grocery shopping, I try to get something I "didn't get last time". That is actually not as easy as it sounds. Especially if I have been slacking off from the blogosphere. I tend to relapse into my old ways of buying the same-same stuff over and over. Spinach, bag of salad, onions, tomatoes, beans, carrots.. Really! And how would anyone be induced to cook with that same-old same-old!!

So every now and then I remind myself to just go with the seasons and cycle through all the fruits and vegetables over the year. But quite honestly I have little idea of what is in season and what isn't.

I try to reason that probably the in-season foods must over-fill the market in season, right? So instead of doing research and homework about it, I just hop over to the grocers and look around to see which vegetable is available in plllennty and pick up some. That way, on an average we end up eating most veggies at one time or another.

A few days ago I got a big bunch of Red Chard. I had never eaten Red Chard before, knowingly that is ;). So I wasn't quite sure what I would make with it. I wasn't even sure it was in-season at all. There was plenty of it. And it looked good and fresh. So I said.. hey-ho, lets go for it! Maybe it is the season for Red Chard!

Turkish Paneer Kababs

Hey everyone.. food-time!!

Here is a party appetizer I made recently, for a Turkish potluck with vegetarian guests! :)

Fig. 1. Turkish Paneer Kababs

The original recipe of my Kababs, Izgara Kofte from Turkish Cuisine, calls for meat. But I went ahead and made it with paneer to make it vegetarian. I served it with Roasted Garlic Hummus and pita. For my future reference, the above Turkish food blog has a great collection of recipes. I have also made Adana Kabab from there with minced chicken and that too turned out great, but I took no pics that time.

New Year begins

Hey everyone.. it's still January (barely).. so I will go ahead and wish you all a Happy New Year! :)

The new year dawned and I went for a run. When I returned and stretched I could feel every muscle in my body! And I suddenly felt thankful!

I am thankful for these legs, lungs, arms and a back! For the ability to use them all! Every little thing I lift with these arms, every step I walk up the stairs, every brisk scrubbing of vessels with my hands, every time I lift a laundry basket, bend over the dishwasher, every hour I sit glued to a desk and my back doesn't complain, I am thankful to have a body!

I am thankful for everything I have!

I am thankful also, for the strength to sustain everything I do not have! When my body complains or when things I want do not happen, I am thankful for the strength to endure. And I am thankful to have family and friends that give me this strength! Not only do I get strength, but also joy, cheer and a whole lot of laughs from you all. Many thanks!

I am verry thankful to have this blog and readers! It's been fun all of last year to cook, run, write and receive feedback from your clicks, comments and replies! Thanks!

Wish you all a good year!

Coconut Vanilla Macaroons and food fiction

Hey everyone.. the last of the desserts..

Fig.1. Coconut Vanilla Macaroons

 I spotted these on Champa's blog Versatile Kitchen. The recipe is simple:

Roast 2/3 cup of all purpose flour till it smells sweet. Then add 1/2 teaspoon salt and a little less than one 14 oz bag of sweetened flaked coconut in it. Mix well. Now mix 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence with a little less than one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk. Add to the dry mix above. Mix by hand. The "little less" is because I did not want them to be too sweet. So use your judgment for sweetness. The "dough" should be thick, moist, sticky and pliable. Now make small flattened balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Use oil on your hands if needed. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 F, till the coconut flakes are lightly toasted. That's all! How quick and simple! And eggless too!!

Now it's time for another silly story. This story sends good wishes to people who have SAD. And it goes to Jaya of Spice and Curry who is hosting the event Chalks and Chopsticks started by Aqua.

Raushni Suryavansham and the terrible Dark

Raushni Suryavansham was the name of our favorite girl.
She was ever bright and sunny, and her life was a whirl.
Up and about, always busy and fulfilled,
Perfect was her life, like Mango Lassi, chilled.

But then one day Raushni, met a terrible Monster!!
Dark-vader was his name, (atleast that's what he announced her).
He said, "Hoo-haa!! I am Dark-vader!! People fear me and run!
Raushni Suryavansham.. my reign has begun!!"

For many days and many nights she was haunted by Dark-vader,
She lost all her joy and josh to the Energy Invader. 
Raushni's sunny soul was gradually exhausted,
And one day, darling Raushni simply couldn't get out of bed.

Then Raushni's Dad had an idea! He got broad-spectrum energy-savers.
Mom made Coconut Vanilla Macaroons - Raushni's favorite flavours!
The roasted flour and toasted coconut had an irresistible aroma
which wafted slowly to Raushni's room and she awoke with a delighted "Oh, Ma!"

It smelt like summer. Was it summer? No.. the Dark Monster was still in sight
hovering around.. between her and her macaroons.. like a terrible terrible Blight!
"Hoo-haa!!" said Dark-vader, "People fear me and run!!
I am terrible! I am mean!! And I fear no one!!"

This monstrous Dark-vader had made her life Helly!
And now, the impetuous blighter was coming between Raushni and her belly!
Raushni WOULDN'T take it any more! She sprang out of bed.
"I'll take you up on your word and RUN!!" and kitchen-wards she sped.

She scooped up a warm macaroon and popped it into her mouth.
Summer and Winter had imploded.. it was like she had flown South!
Dark-vader was close at her heels. But instead of being afraid,
Raushni charged straight at her Bully with a mean Coconut Grenade!

"Hoo-haa!!" she bellowed with fury, "I am Raushni Suryavansham!!
Dark-vader, you better run.. for this is the land of the SUN!!"

Dark-vader had met his match! He grabbed his dark cloak,
heading straight for the nearest rest-room, (terror-struck old bloke.)

Raushni had won back her joy. She would never fear Dark anymore!
Under bright lights, with foodie delights, she danced, "Teri Ore, teri ore!"

Thanks for reading everyone! Best wishes to anyone suffering from mild or severe SAD.

Hello Dolly!

Ok.. I will admit it right away.. I made these because I loved the name.. :D

Fig. 1. Hello Dolly Bars!

Plus they are made of chocolate! And they are supremely quick and easy to make!

I saw them on Delish. This is a blog I found via One Hot Stove and I have been tapping it for my bakes ever since! There are delicious and super-quick recipes tempting me to pig out every time I check out this blog! So it is apt that this post should go to Blog Bites for the Holiday Buffet!

Nankattai

Hey everyone.. Happy December! 'Tis the season to make goodies!

Fig. 1. Nankattai by the window sill

Do you have any favorite holiday goodies you almost always bake around this time of the year? I usually make all sorts of cookies. Nankattai this year is the first in line. I will be baking crinkle cookies and chocolate chip cookies next. I like to put all sorts of stuff in those. Might add some toffee bits this time. Mint chips and raspberry chips also taste terrific with chocolate based cookies. I love baking cookies. Hope to pack a few goodies and mail them off to family and friends. Let's see how much baking I manage.

Nankattai are cookies my Mom used to bake back home. So this is her recipe. There is nothing like the warm and fragrant elaichi with a hint of nutmeg! Start off the morning with Nankattai baking hot in the oven... and you know that the day ahead will be just perfect! You can imagine having these mildly sweet cookies with some yummy adrak-elaichi-wali chai (ginger-cardamom tea).

Some of the above yummy is now officially in the tummy.. some of my cookie giftees will just have to wait for a few more batches! ;) And yes, I took the pan over to the window sill to get some real light in the picture.

Besan ke Laddoo

Hidey ho everyone...

Fig. 1. Besan ke Laddoo

Firstly I must apologize for not visiting my co-bloggers a lot lately. Just busy. Also to my readers, I must apologize for the longish duration I have not posted here. I have been cooking. But my pics aren't coming out too great. I flatly blame the dark evenings and short daylight hours for this!! Finally this pic seems to have turned out ok. So these Besan ke Laddoos are okayed to be posted. :)

This recipe is from Manjula's Kitchen. Actually I am not such a big fan of Besan ke Laddoo. Despite a humongous sweet-tooth, I never seem to have craved for them. I guessed that meant that I was not super-fond of this variety of Laddoos. And yet.. Manjula's Kitchen.. and her videos.. her videos are really are cute. I had to make them after I saw her make these!

I thought, chalo.. post-Halloween Holiday Season is officially here. So I can enjoy the making of the Laddoos, surely someone will enjoy the eating of them!

And I must admit the finished product is just really delicious! Even I have changed my mind. I think it may be because they were super-fresh.. warm and fragrant, right off the pan! Not too greasy, not too sweet... I must admit that it sure does make a difference when you make something at home and hog on it fresh and warm!

Pumpkin Kadamb

Happy Halloween and early Diwali to everyone!

Fig. 1. Pumpkin Kadamb

Pumpkin season and Halloween = Pumpkin recipes! We often get good pumpkins at the market in this period. And usually pumpkin pie is the thing to make. But recently my Mom sent me some "Haldi Paan" (turmeric leaves)!!!! :)

She had got them fresh during Ganesh Chaturthi and it appears to still be available some places. She knew there was no way I could get my hands on the fresh haldi leaves. So she dried them and saved a bunch for me!! And as soon as some of my family came around to visit they brought along this amazing gift of leaves!! Ya-ya-yippee-yippee-ya-ya-yeah!!

Haldi-paan are used to flavour/impart-fragrance to several somewhat super-traditional dishes. So the fragrance of haldi leaves reminds me of Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Satyanarayan poojas and other such religious festivities! Ooh.. I couldn't wait to use them!

I got pumpkin, thinking I would make pie with it. Then I spoke with Mom and she mentioned she adds pumpkin to Kadamb (KuhDumb). And Kadamb also uses haldi paan! I jumped at that! :) Pie will happen next time. Now we make Kadamb!

Parotta Salad

Hey everyone.. a good lunch-box item today!

Fig. 1. Parotta Salad

Every day I pack lunch. And I find myself having to constrain the contents based on various objections. True life examples: "When one bites into a soggy sandwich, tiny pieces of food get stuck in the front teeth. Then that doesn't look good." and "Wraps drip, hands get yucky." "Egg smells." "Food that is too Indian also smells... then people look at me funny." and then there is the questionable "This aloo-palak looks too green-green. I don't want to be called a grass-eater. So let's skip too-green stuff, too brown-stuff.. anything that might elicit comment actually."

No, it is not my kids that register the above complaints, bless their little angel-hearts. No, it is not the significant other, bless his tall, dark, handsome, Prince Charming-ness. And no, this is not my dabba-service clients either, bless their well-paying, hard-working souls.

These are all my own objections.. (eyes lower with embracement.. noticing a badly needed pedicure..)

And since it is me-myself that packs lunch, such constraints mean that I eliminate about 90% of the refrigerator.

One-pot dishes are really the most convenient for lunch-boxes. And I do make pulavs and khichdis a lottt. Fortunately the world of food-blogs opens us to many potential dabba candidates. I had seen kothu parotta on several blogs. Cham's version with chalna looks like a good one to try.. somewhat more authentic looking. I will make her version very soon too. So I am noting the link here. I also found a quick and easy version of Kothu Parotta on Show me the Curry, which does not require chalna preparation. So I note that here for quick week-nights.

I will post the real Kothu Parotta sometime in future when I actually manage to make it like the recipe says. I started out thinking that I would make Kothu Parotta. But by the time I got to the refrigerator I found myself wondering if there isn't a cold version of this dish I could concoct? A Parotta Salad? I suddenly remembered a whole bunch of salads I had seen at Soma's ecurry!

So I decided that Parotta Salad it would be! I started out with the basic idea of Kothu Parotta from what I have gleaned from these blogs - mixing cut roti/paratha pieces for carbs, a source of protein (like egg or chicken), mixed vegetables and a curry or sauce to bring them all together. I just adapted the ingredients to make it a cold salad.

The technology of cooking

Ok, an interesting TED talk for when you have time.. about cooking as a technology! This gentleman brings up some interesting ideas. He projects that cooking is a technology that was invented to make the energy conversion (by our body) more efficient. Talks about how cooking influenced the evolution of our body, brain and gut.

Ref: http://www.ted.com/talks/heribert_watzke_the_brain_in_your_gut.html

Yes, cooking is a technology older than most "technology" commonly brought to mind. And it has helped us consume many foods that earlier were probably either hard to eat, like certain raw vegetables or seeds, or even completely inedible like raw meats. Since we are the only species that cook food before eating, Mr. W calls us "coctivores" rather than omnivores. :)

Ok, summary over.

This talk made me realize that we, cook-ers, perhaps rarely think this way about our own cooking.. as a technology! But indeed (if we now think about it) that is exactly how cooking works. People learn to cook. Are taught or develop certain techniques. Then we try newer things. Mix and match and generate newer recipes. And this has been on-going for many many years!

First there are cars, then come faster cars, safer cars, more fancy cars. And then there is the abrupt and prolific jump to airplanes. What are the jumps or prolific advances in cooking that you really appreciate?

Techniques like grilling, frying, baking.. baking cakes versus cookies, making kulfi versus ice-cream versus gelato and now frozen yogurt (mostly heat-cold applications) are a big benefit to us.

Also techniques of handling certain foods, for instance, how to cook colocassia leaves and rhubarb, handling the oxalate crystals, how to make pickles, preserves, jams, how to ferment batter, idli-dosa-dhokla.. dried goods like papad, wadis, etc.. fried goods.. making cheese, paneer, even simple yogurt..

There are also certain combinations in meals which probably allowed us to eat certain foods - for instance a lot of traditional Indian Thalis combine cool drinks like lassi, matthaa, buttermilk, solkadi or yogurt raithas and kadhis with our hot and spicy curries. And there are of course umpteen spices that probably work in certain combinations for good digestive health - ginger, heeng, cumin and whatnot. One often finds them in dals and other foods that are high in protein and harder to digest.

And then there are some seemingly mundane things that I, personally, think are cool inventions (nothing to do with evolution.. but oh well..) like tortilla and lettuce wraps - getting rid of the bread, granola bars - compact-ification of breakfast, cutlets or burgers - a method to combine any food into a convenient portion, all the egg-substitutes are cool discoveries, all the chaats we love are inventions of ingredient-combination, oh there are scores of such discoveries and inventions.. :)

Can you tell me about any other common cooking inventions/techniques that strike you as cool and handy?

I think even just adding pakoda to kadhi is a big deal! ;)

Three cheers for cook-ers everywhere! :)
 

Tandoori Fish

Tandoori anything is always a big treat! And at the end of a busy day there is nothing like this fish!

Fig. 1. Tandoori Fish

Sometimes I feel like all of the day is spent battling with paperwork. Fill this form, organize this that and something else, check on payments, make copies for your record, copies for someone else's record... Uff! Lately at least a lot of things can be done online. But even the online paperwork is not all that simple.

I was very excited to find that some forms I needed to fill could be filled online. I went, yay!! And then realized, never rejoice too soon. The one form was broken up into a series of 15 webpages! And you had to go fill-nextpage, fill-nextpage, through all 15. And then there was no option to save in the middle! What's more, by the curse of some crazy Rishi, the site would time-out in 15 minutes regardless of whether you are actively online filling the form or idling away from the screen with some chai-pani!!

When I was only on page 5.. the site starts giving me a warning.. "Your session will expire in 5 minutes." And I go Holy Rangoli!! 5 minutes for the remaining 10 pages!! I had no chance.. I totally couldn't make it. The session expired around page 8. And I had to start all over again!! Boy, was I mad!!

And when I am mad, I get even!! I had to do it again! And the second time around, I was prepared! If they were gonna play this new kind of speed game, I would play it too.. but Indiana Jones ishtyle! I got up, and found myself a hat, rubbed my trusty typing-finger on the collar.. (don't laugh.. I'm sure some of you out there type with only one finger too!) I set my stopwatch to buzz every 60 seconds, and.. GO!

This time I zippetty-zipped through the form and hit submit with perfect timing... and also saved my hat from being left behind! Haa! Speed demon!!

Needless to say, I soon heard back from the form-people. My submission was "invalid" it seems. They claim I have submitted the incorrect form!

Jealous.. that's what I think they are!

After all that excitement who wouldn't be rrravenous for dinner? Fortunately the fish was already marinated. All I had to do was bake! Such is the beauty of the refrigerator.. Anybody up for a refrigerator story? Maybe next time.. ;)

Blue Jay on a run

Hey everyone..

I have been back to running fairly consistently past few days now. And every morning I remind myself of days like these.. See there are very definite benefits of running outdoors. You get to see cute stuff! :) Here is a little blue birdie I saw recently while out on a run.

Fig.1. Blue Jay - kind of small, maybe a baby Blue Jay?

It was nestling at the bottom of a tree trunk. All fluffy and cozy. Head under its wing. Like it did not want to wake up. Like it did not care that it was daylight outside. Like it did not even know that it was a week day for goodness sake!

Birds these days, I tell you..

Now if birds were on Twitter, we could leave them tweets about the day's to-do, whats-in, whats-not, which worm is happening and which isn't.. Then they wouldn't dream about staying in bed like this and missing out on all the buzz!

When will birds learn to tweet..

PS: On a more serious note.. why would a little bird be sleeping on the ground? Shouldn't it be in a nest somewhere up there? I couldn't see a nest up in the tree.. but then that doesn't mean there wasn't one. Oh well.. another mundane, but unsolved mystery!

Doi Fulkopi - Cauliflower Curry

Hey everyone.. I had been eying this curry for a while. Why did it take me so long to get down to it..?

Fig. 1 Doi Fulkopi - Cauliflower Curry

I love Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and all those mystery novels. When I am really irritated and in a bad mood.. a juicy Agatha Christie is all I need! Tell an Agatha Christie fan that there was no murder! Tell a Nancy Drew fan that there is no secret behind the staircase.

But mundane real life mysteries are not about murder and vanishing staircases. They are more commonly about things like... Why did Suhasini not pick up my phone? Who does she think she is? Conversely who is it that picks up my Wall Street Journal? A big one.. where is our checked bag? And somewhat intriguingly.. why is my toothbrush still wet in the morning?

One mystery was in my kitchen...

I had seen this recipe at Bong Mom's Cook Book many many months ago and yet it took me this long to finally make it! Lahsuni Aloo Gobi is the only other dish I make with cauliflower as the main ingredient (will post in future). And it's not as if I have made that very much either. So.. the big mystery is..

Where is the cauliflower in my house going?

It is never entering the house! Mystery solved.

And the wet toothbrush?

.. aah.. that is because I am staying up too late and getting up too early!! :D Ain't gettin' time to dry.