Thank You My Kitchen

This has been my kitchen for the longest time.8 years and 7 months to be precise.To be round and fair we can also say 9 years, given the few months that we had taken to close and move.

As a kid we moved houses and hence kitchens every 3-4 years. My father's job was as they said "transferable one" and we moved with the call of his duty. Since kitchen was not on the top 15 of my priorities those days it was amongst the things I missed least when we moved. I am sure my Ma had her own woeful stories about moving from large kitchens with huge windows to galley ones but of course then I never paid attention.

Now when I am the master of my own food, I can no longer say the same. I  remember distinctly the huge kitchen of the 1BR apartment I shared in Mumbai, the one in Bangalore which had a separate faucet for Cauvery water, the ample kitchens in the apartments in the US where I was thrilled to find the gas stove light up without a match stick. But of all these I love my current kitchen the best; the one that has survived me for all of 9 years, well almost. When I look back and count the years on my fingers this is the longest time I have cooked at a stretch and this is the longest time that this kitchen has been there to support me.

For 9 years or 8 years and 7 months to be exact, almost every morning I have been standing at the same spot, facing west towards the back splash that D had put up, making my tea. Some mornings it is so early that that the sky outside my window is still a slate gray and I have the kitchen lights on. On others, sunlight is streaming through the large windows facing south, bathing my little kitchen in light. I am always there at the same exact spot, the frayed red rug soft and almost tattered under my feet, the saucepan bubbling on the front burner of my gas stove.

In this kitchen I can close my eyes and reach out for spices and masalas in the wooden cabinets that abound. I know each of them personally. The liners on each of these shelves were cut and arranged by a dear friend 9 years ago and they still work well. The shelves were filled with jars, pots, stacks of  empty Yogurt containers exactly so with help of another and I have dared  not to change the order though I have had to throw out the yogurt containers on their insistence.Psssst...secret I still have some of them.

That cabinet, the one just above the sink hold my knick knacks that I use as props for the blog, the odd plate, the scalloped bowl, the lonely table mat. The bottom cabinet, the one right of the stove has colored plastic cups, lots of them, from IKEA. Those are the ones LS uses to make a juice stand or a coffee shop.

By the window, the breakfast nook as they say, is the table, a round wood top bought 12 years ago from K-mart. One of the first piece of furniture I owned in this country. We have had umpteen meals on that table for four. We have brought in extra chairs, rubbed shoulders and sat around it even when we had more than that for company. We have cut many cakes, lighted candles, arranged gifts and served buffet lunches and dinners right there. On most days I have arranged food on it and clicked pictures for the blog. And when we have been done with food, Big Sis has finished her homework on that same table while Little Sis has scribbled and made crayon marks on its surface.

My kitchen is more than a kitchen. For almost 9 years, it is the place which has seen my daughters grow, my friends come together to rejoice happy occasions and to share the not so happy ones, my mother and my ma-in-law cook their best dishes for their granddaughters. It has seen my Baba brewing the afternoon tea and my Father-in-law chopping vegetables. It has seen the husband man packing lunches for the girls and making scrumptious breakfast on the weekend. It has seen me and him fight, make up and argue.It has seen us admonish the girls, them speaking back and then saying sorry. It has seen spartan salads, rich mutton curries laced in elaichi and zafran, simple dals bubbling in stainless steel pots, turmeric stains from fragrant Ilish jhol, brown rice, white rice, sugary gokul pithe, puffed up and the ones that refused to puff white luchi, endless days of different varieties of pasta and lots and lots of pureed, mashed baby food.And it has seen me always.

Six years ago on a Fall evening it was here, standing in this kitchen, that I had resolved to start a blog. A food blog.

In a culture and environment ,where writing a blog, that too a food one is at the best considered a hobby, and any writing that does not come close to Marquez, Ghosh, Bibhutibhushan, Shibram or even Archer is considered frivolous; there have been times when writing up anecdotes and recipes with the hope that "someday when my daughter turns 22 will cook this " has seemed too far fetching. When I have waited for the girls to go to bed and yet again missed an episode of "Big Bang Theory" just so that I can take one more pic of Gajar Halwa, the whole process has seemed futile.

But then every time when I am back in my kitchen, trying to make even a simple Khichuri and screwing it up, I have felt the excitement, the beat of the food, the urge to blog. Even when the dish is mundane and there is nothing exemplary about the aroma, I have enjoyed the process. I have loved to put in words, the food I cook and eat. I am not really a very outgoing person but I have loved to interact with everyone, (barring the ones who want to sell me viagara), who reads this blog. I have loved writing the book as much as I love this blog.And I have realized I have stuck to this whole goddamn thing for the simple reason that I love doing it.This love.I owe it to my kitchen.

And next week I will miss my current muse. Next programming for "Bong Mom's CookBook" will be from a different kitchen in a different home . Hope the new kitchen adapts me, nurtures me, makes me her own and brings the same joy to my family and friends as this one did.

Thank You My Kitchen. You will always have a special place in my life.

Ahona Gupta's Methi Machchi -- my style

This is a recipe from Ahona who had said in a FaceBook comment two months back that she is in love with Methi and suggested her recipe of Sindhi Methi Machchi.

That "Methi Fish" remained in the subconscious strata of my brain. Now you might question the existence of "my brain" but we will not go there, we will just dwell on the subconscious where the "Methi Machchi" had sunk deep.

More than two months later, one hot, sunny morning in August I went on a quest to find that recipe. From my own FB page. It was a gargantuan task. Yes, "gargantuan". I have wanted to use that word for a while now and have never found the opportunity but this one fits, so we will stick with it. I searched high, low, through the timeline, through other people's vacation pics, through total stranger's family photos but could not find Ahona's recipe. There it was one fine day. Right there as a comment on one of the umpteen status messages I tend to post on my FB blog page. And then Boom, the next thing you know it was lost in the bottomless sink of FB status.

That kind of worried me. I mean here I am striving each day, spending precious time, trying to think up smart "Status Updates" and then couple months later ta-da there is no way to find them. My precious pearls of wisdom gone down the drain and without any copyright notice attached to them.

The very thought that there is some FB bin where my hard-worked on status is being messed around with someone's dumb updates like "Guess???" is totally freaking me out. Gawd, who ever wrote the code to this thing.

Anyway thank my stars that I finally found that recipe of Ahona's. By then it was almost lunch time and I had not moved a finger except on the scroll button. And then I realized that I did not have tomatoes or fresh methi which would have been good, errrm actually required ingredients for the dish. But I am an improvisation master and so I substituted tomatoes with yogurt, fresh green methi gave way to Kasoori methi and then I did a whole lot of other changes.By the time I was done and the house reeked of Kasoori Methi and the fish simmered in the beautiful gravy, I did not dare to call this dish "Sindhi". I have no clue on the "Sindhi"-ness of the dish, the "Methi" part is 100% fulfilled though.

This really is a beautiful dish with newer flavors to the same fish curry and was a hit at my home. Thank you Ahona and I am so glad you shared your recipe with me.

Methi Machchi -- Fish cooked in a Methi flavored Curry

I used Tilapia Fillet for this fish. You can use fillet of any other firm fish. You can also use steak pieces of Rohu or Katla. Pomfret too would be a good choice.

I started off with two fillet which I cut in 3x2 pieces. Rubbed the fish pieces with
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder 
1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder 
1 tsp Coriander Powder 
1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste 
Salt 
Little Lime juice 

Heat 2tsp of Oil in a Fry pan.
Fry 3/4 cup of chopped red onion(half of a large one) and
about 8-10 clove of garlic(6 of the fat ones should be good) till onion is soft and browned.

Cool the onion-garlic. In a blender jar put
 fried onion-garlic 
1/4th cup thick yogurt
Blend to a thick paste with aid of little water.
Note: Alternately, instead of yogurt use 1/2 Cup of pureed tomato

Next add 2 tbsp oil to the same pan and heat. Shallow fry the fish till they are golden brown on both sides. Remove and keep aside.

Now we will make the gravy so if needed add 1tbsp more oil to the same pan.

Temper the oil with 1/4 tsp Methi(Fenugreek) Seeds.

Once the oil is flavored, lower the heat and add
the onion-garlic-yogurt paste
along with 1/2 tsp sugar
Also add 1 tbsp loosely packed Maida/AP Flour and fry the paste for couple of minutes.
Note: If you are using the tomato, then add the pureed tomato after the above step. Fry till raw smell of tomatoes is gone

Next add the spices
1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder or 1 tsp Kashmiri Mirch(adjust the red chili to your taste) 
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder 
1tsp Coriander Powder 
2tbsp Kasoori Methi crushed between your palm 
Note: Mix the spices with 2-3 tbsp of yogurt and then add
Raise heat to medium and with sprinkle of water fry the masala for 3-4 minutes till there is oil separating from the masala and the masala has no raw smell.

Add a fistful of chopped coriander and about a cup of warm water. Add salt to taste. Add couple of slit green chilies. Mix everything together and let the gravy simmer and come to boil.

Simmer till you feel the gravy has reached right thickness. It should not be too watery or soupy. 

Add 2 tbsp of heavy cream towards the end for a richer taste

Slowly add the fried pieces of fish to the gravy. Let the gravy simmer for couple more minutes and then switch off heat.Wait for around 30-40 minutes for the flavors to blend in. Serve with rice.

Grilled Mushroom and Quinoa Salad with Cucumber-Onion

For years I have resisted Quinoa.  And for what reason I do not know. The internet had been alive with it but I refused to budge.

"Quinoa ( /ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds.It has a high protein content and it is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is also a source of calcium, and thus is useful for vegans and those who are lactose intolrant."

Brown Rice -- Check.
Daliya -- Check.
Flax Seed -- check.
Quinoa -- Ummm...

And then one day I got a frozen box of cooked quinoa from Trader Joe's, the kind which says defrost and cook in microwave for 12.5 minutes. It was a disaster. Really. I don't know how I could have gone wrong with those instructions, there were barely any. But it was so bad that D refused to eat any of it.So there went my Quinoa dream.

Then again one fine day while on vacation in Cape Cod, I spotted a Trader Joe's. Of course I had to go in. More important than disturbing the colony of whales and ogling at them I tell you.Since I couldn't buy anything frozen, I bought a whole packet of uncooked quinoa and carried it all the way back home where it sat in the pantry for almost two months. Until today that is.

Watching the opening ceremony of the London Olympics seemed a befitting time to try a new grain. The opulence of one could mask the other's failure, I assumed.

The idea of a quinoa salad with cucumber came from here also the instruction to cook it right. I also decided to pair the quinoa salad with a grilled mushroom and sweet pepper on the side. The idea of the marinade for the vegetables came from Progna's blog.

This is what went in the marinade:

1/4cup Olive Oil
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp whole black pepper coarsely crushed
3 clove of garlic coarsely pounded
1 tsp Red Chili flakes
2 tsp Brown Sugar
Salt
1/4 tsp or more Lime zest

The baby portabella were rinsed, dried and tossed in the marinade along with some sweet peppers. After an hour soaking up the marinade the vegetables were set on the outside grill to char and cook. Alternately you can also roast them in the oven.

Now comes making the Quinoa Salad:

Meanwhile 1 cup of Quinoa was soaked in water for 5 minutes.

On the stove was set to boil a pan with 3 cups of salted water. When the water comes to a boil, drain the quinoa on a strainer and add to the pan. Lower heat to medium and cook for 12-15 minutes. Little thread like thingy will come out from the seeds when they are cooked and the tiny seeds will turn translucent. Once done, drain the Quinoa, put it back in the pan and let it sit for 5 minutes. I also rinsed it in cold water while draining and then fluffed it with a fork.

Chop cucumber, red onion and green chili and in a bowl toss them with olive oil, salt and lime juice.Add some finely chopped coriander leaves. Gradually add the cooked quinoa to this bowl and toss. Taste and adjust for seasoning as you go.

The Quinoa Salad was darn good by itself  and we had it with the grilled mushroom and sweet pepper.

Faster, Higher, Stronger....the amazing power of the Human Bean. Go Olympics.

Now when I had started this post I thought I would send it to Jaya's "Healthy Food--Whole Grain" event. But Quinoa is technically a seed and not a grain so I am not sure if it deserves an entry.

Chicken Fry -- did you ever try this?

Quick, quick post about the Chicken Fry with mighty fragrant kari patta which I make very often. That recipe was based on blogger Sumitha's Kerala Chicken Fry Recipe. She would blog at Kitchen Wonders and this is 2007 I am talking about. Since then as they say "much water has flown under the bridge" and when I clicked on the original recipe link on Saturday, the page said "Permission denied".

My much used toaster oven

As you will understand I was extremely sad. There were many recipes of Sumitha's which I am sure I procrastinated on and now there is no way to go back. If Sumitha of Kitchen Wonders, you are reading this post please give me access. Puhleese. As of present I can only breathe easy that I had enough oz of sense to note down this easy and simple Chicken Fry recipe. So that you guys can make this easy chicken fry with little effort, I decided to re-post the recipe with some newer pictures I had.

Also as I was reading that post of mine, when BigSis was probably 3and1/2, I cannot help but smile. All the insecurities of a first time Mom is writ in bold over there. Maybe I was exaggerating a bit but I do remember, I obsessed about playdates at that time. Now, I am still the Mom with hair sticking out, but I do not go around befriending other Moms and setting up playdates. LS just tags along with BS and not surprisingly she does not have a single friend of her own age.I know it will work out fine and so I hyperventilate over other stuff. Ahhh, some things don't change.

To make this Chicken Fry follow the recipe here: Chicken Fry .

If you don't have Chicken Curry Powder use a homemade Garam Masala or Biryani Masala. The latter tastes awesome.

The more you marinate the better it tastes. Give it overnight and it is too flavorful. You can also marinate it and then freeze to be used later.

I often use chopped onions for frying instead of onion paste. I like that better. Use lots of hot, hot green chilies.

If you don't want to use the oven, you can cook the drumsticks on stove top, in a covered container with little oil and then continue with the second stage.

Oven temperature will vary. In my toaster oven, this takes 30-35 minutes at 400F. Also brush with oil before putting in the oven.

Finish cooking the chicken in the fry pan. If needed sprinkle water as you go.

Happy 4th of July folks. If you make this fry hot enough, you won't need any fireworks

Burrito Bowl -- speaks of Summer

I don't know if a Burrito Bowl has anything to do with summer at all. I just wrote that.

I wrote that because I love the seasons in the East Coast and I have come to deeply appreciate the earth's tilt at a current angle of 23.44 degrees.

I love seasons as much as I do the park system here.

And I am not even going into the National Park Service. Not even the Sate Parks. The mere county parks scattered all around with their abundant greenery, springing with life as soon as winter folds away its last London Fog jacket astounds me.

I almost go berserk and on weekends we walk along simple trails amidst trees which hover above us with familiar green canopies and unknown scents.

The littlest one plonks down besides the lake dipping twigs and pebbles in the clear, sparkling water. "Is there someone down below shining a flashlight?", she asks, surprised by the tiny waves glittering in the sunlight.

Then they grumble and are tired and want a park with slide and swings. And right in the trees is a clearing with tire swings and an ancient slide.

We don't always plan a picnic and carry a small snack.This time it was only butter-jelly sandwiches, croissant from Dunkin', oranges and juice which though sparse and minimal seems to be just right for the setting.

Later in the evening I make a Fish Burrito Bowl at home. A friend had recently introduced me to the Burrito Bowl at Chipotle and I am now a fan.Sadly the family is not big on Mexican food and my Chipotle Burrito Bowl craving is not shared by anyone else.

So I decide to make one with more Indian touches than Mexican spices and am inspired by Indosungod's Fish Burrito Bowl. I loosely follow this Copy Cat recipe but mostly do my own thing First is the Cilantro-Lime Rice. I cook Brown Rice with lots of Lime juice, Cilantro and salt. 

Second is the Black Beans. instead of Black beans, I use Black Eyed peas which had been cooked and frozen the week before. I saute the cooked beans in Olive Oil with minced garlic, chopped rounds of green chili, cumin powder and ancho chili pepper powder. 

Now instead of adobo chicken I add fish. Salmon. That has been rubbed with ginger-garlic paste, fish masala, salt, olive oil and baked at 400F. 

I skip the corn salsa and stick with the pico de gallo, fresh with cherry tomatoes, red onion, crushed garlic and lime juice. I add a touch of rock salt and squeeze a bit of lime juice.

Instead of the sour cream I strain greek yogurt and add a dollop.It is an easy meal to assemble and I am happy with the minimal work.

Tomorrow there will be more parks.

 I am taking a short break for the long weekend and will see you next week

No crust Quiche or Baked Frittata ?

Now that the writing for my book is towards the end and is at a point-- where I am having the I-want-to-scratch-the-whole-thing-and-start-all-over-again-but-even-then-I-am-going-to-write-the-same-thing-so-we-will-wait-for-the-editor syndrome -- I find myself with some time after 9:30 at night .

Since I keep referring to the book as my third child I must tell you this was kind of similar to the sentiments that swept over me when I was second time pregnant. My first pregnancy was a difficult one and most people in their sane minds who knew me did not think that I would go in for a second haul."Are you crazy?" they suggested in unsaid words. But I dearly, dearly wanted another child. And then the moment I knew it was going to happen--I was dead scared. But eventually everything fell into place and I am very very grateful for my daughters. If I had to do it again I would do it the exact same.

So anyway instead of doing anything worthwhile after 9:30 at night like cooking,tidying up the kids' clothes dresser, making healthy lunches etc. etc. I watch television.I watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and then I watched The Big Bang Theory every day last week and in the process I also managed to watch two Bangla movies back to back.

The movies were courtesy a friend and probably we would have never watched if she hadn't insisted, logged into her movie account and started us off on the whole thing. The movies were brilliant. There was a time when Bangla movies were gorgeous in Black&White, Uttam Kumar, Suchitra, Bhanu Bandopadhyay, Madhabi Mukherjee and the works.Then came a brief period where the general situation was pretty bad and it was sheer blasphemy if you watched anything other than Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen or Ritwik Ghatak. Then for the last decade or so I watched only movies made by Rituparno Ghose or Aparna Sen.

In the last two years however things seemed to have improved immensely in the Tollygunje studios or wherever they shoot Bangla movies. I have watched a number of pretty decent movies lately and "Bhooter Bhobishyot" that I watched recently took the cake. Thanks R for finally making us watch it. The dialogues were hilarious, the acting impeccable and the movie was really perfectly funny. The movie comes with subtitles and though the essence of the dialogs may be lost in that try to see if you like it.

The other movie that I watched was Royal Bengal Rahoshyo based on Ray's very popular Feluda series and directed by his son. I had not watched a Feluda movie since the originals(Joi Baba Felunath and Shonar Kella) and was a bit apprehensive but the movie at times reminded me of the master with similar music scores and certain touches. Of course no one can replace the original Lalmohan Ganguly but we make do.

And now to the food which this blog is apparently about. If you have been reading me for a while you know how much I love the egg muffins that I learned from Kalyn's blog. I also love a frittata and many days it makes a nice dinner for us. Now combining the two I have started making a baked Frittata kind of thing or say a crustless quiche kinda dish. Since it is super easy and cooks itself in the oven, leaving me time to do what I please I am hooked onto it and try to make it at least once a week. It is really one of those wholesome, healthy and easy dish which you desperately need to bail you out mid-week. The dish is also very flexible and you can add/subtract your own spices/vegetables/what-have-you to make it your own special dish.

Here is how I do it.

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Baked Frittata or Crustless Quiche ?

Grease a oven proof baking dish with olive oil. Add some sliced onions and halved grape tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt. Toss the onion-tomatoes around so the they have a fine sheen of olive oil.

Put this dish in the oven turned on to 400F. This is my toaster oven setting and will vary for your larger oven. In 10 mins or so the onions will start softening and browning a little as will the tomatoes.

At this point add the vegetables. Here I have added some baby spinach. At other times I have added finely chopped bell peppers or steamed broccoli florets. For the pepper and broccoli you can saute them in a fry pan and then add them to the dish too. Oh, and if you get the bag of onion-peppers from the frozen veggies section it works very well in this dish.

Next tear up a single slice of bread and add it randomly. You can totally skip this step though.

Add some grated Parmesan. And then pour in the eggs. I used a 16oz carton of egg white and it made a thick frittata. You can use whole eggs beaten too.

To spice it up I added garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt. You use your imagination.

Bake at 400F for 25-30 mins. Again this is my toaster oven setting and will vary for your larger oven. Once done check with a toothpick to see that it is cooked through. Now put your oven on broil and broil for about 10 mins to get a crisp surface,

Paneer Korma -- in a spiced yogurt sauce

Yesterday Little A chopped off her hair. Not all of it. Few strands. She took the pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer which she uses to cut paper. She said she wants to cut paper. But did she cut paper ? No. Instead she cut off some of her own hair.

I told her never to repeat the act again and at that she cried so much that Big Sis had to volunteer two dolls from her collection to get hair chopped off by Little A.

D, the Dad, says I am too lenient with the little one. Believe me I am not. I mean yes I have changed as a Mother since I have had Big Sis and I try to pick my battles or maybe I just give up on certain areas that can involve a lot of bawling from a 3 yr old but lenient I am not. It is the kid who is different. And she is not even that naughty. It is just that she is different from Big Sis who was more obedient and conforming. And I think in some areas I have changed for the better. Better for rowdy mankind.

Before I was this woman hyper about everything being in place, the cushion just so, the walls pristine and I wouldn't let friends put up their feet on my cream sofa even if the said feet was beautifully pedicured. Now, honestly, I do not care. My painted walls have scribbles in unseen corners and I just avert my eyes, the sofa is jumped on, the cushions never in place. The friends are surprised. The husband repeats the "lenient dialog" and then he says I have become the "Bhalo Kakima", the "good aunt" (or so they decided) in their neighborhood who would let them ransack the house. The "Baje Kakima" (bad aunt) no doubt had a prettier home, disciplined kids and an orderly life.

I shudder.

And then I make Paneer Korma. In blog language it was "a beautiful dish with soft pieces of paneer nestled in creamy yogurt sauce perfumed with mint and coriander and then garnished with purple hued fried onions". In my everyday language it was a darn simple dish to cook and really good to eat which Big Sis loved like she loves Paneer.

The dish was inspired by this dish by Sanjeev Kappor and my Madhur Jaffrey Chicken Korma. The fried onion was a nice touch. Do add them.


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Paneer Korma 

Chop about 200gm of Paneer in small cubes. I buy Nanak brand which is really soft. If yours is not like that try lightly frying and dunking in warm salted water.

Soak 2 tbsp of cashew or blanched almond in water to soften.

In a blender add
1/3 Cup of thick yogurt 
2 tbsp cashew 
3 hot green chili 
Make a smooth paste adding water if necessary.
To this add 1 tsp of flour and mix well. The flour will prevent the yogurt from curdling if you live in that fear.

Heat Oil for cooking.

Fry 1 small onion chopped in thin slices with a sprinkle of sugar. The onion should turn a pretty purple-pink and become soft and translucent. Remove and keep aside.

Now temper the oil with the following whole garam masala
2 small green elaichi slightly bruised 
4 clove 
a 2" thin stick of cinnamon 
10 whole black peppercorns

When the spices pop add 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste. 

Saute for a minute and add the paneer pieces. Sprinkle some turmeric powder. Lightly saute till the paneer cubes turn light golden.

Next reduce the heat to low and add the yogurt mix that you had made earlier. At low heat cook for couple of minutes stirring in between.

Add about 1 cup of lukewarm water and mix well. Raise the heat.

Sprinkle around 1/4 tsp of dried mint, and 1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves. Add salt and some sugar to taste.

Let the gravy come to a boil and then simmer till the gravy becomes thick. Now add the fried onions and cook for a minute.

Serve with Roti, Naan or a Pulao.

Spring Mix-Roasted Sweet Pepper-Mango Salad

I think I should come out clean and let you know that most days I do not cook elaborate meals. I have neither the time nor the energy for it. It also helps that I am kind of lazy.

But then again I am a believer in home cooked food with a certain aura of health around it. Ask my friends, at times my healthy cooking spree drives them 56 miles away from my home. But I stick to it with the same earnestness that SRK has for his six-packs or Salman for his shirts. This, my earnestness, means I need to do some preps like cooking ahead or making masala pastes, baking fish instead of maacher jhol or serving a salad that gets done in the oven 90% of the time.

Fridays becomes a tad challenging to eat an interesting dinner within my vegetarian boundaries. More so if I decide to not eat alu-posto, musurir dal and bhaat.

Recently the bag of mini sweet peppers that I have been picking up from Costco or Wegmans have helped somewhat in that direction. Roasted with a splash of olive oil and sprinkle of black pepper they taste divine. Some Feta drives it up a whole notch.

Today I made a salad with a boring box of spring mix, the roasted sweet pepper and some mangoes. It really, really was divine and I don't say such stuff often. The husband who on spotting a salad always asks "Ar ki ache?" (What else is there?) was almost happy to have just the salad and nothing else. Given that the sweet peppers roast themselves in the oven and the organic greens come right out of a box this is the kind of meals I love to cook. That way I get far more time to take pictures than actually cooking it.

I got a batch of six mangoes yesterday but they were not really sweet. A sprinkle of brown sugar and some paprika made them eminently edible though.

The peppers roasted in my toaster oven at 350F for 20-25 mins are delicious by themselves. Some feta and lime juice can only make it better.

The final salad was as good as it was pretty.Try it out and am sure you will like it.Happy Friday Everyone.

Ajwain wali Chicken --Chicken with Ajwain

When I was younger, nubile(not), nymph like(not) I adored guys who wrote mushy love letters and chose white befuddled pigeons as their choice of courier. Mailman were passe. In between they would have saved the world, brought justice, developed six packs and delivered hot kisses.

Now I am in love with Dads who stay calm, rock solid and raise foul mouthing hormonal girls, trying to bond with them without losing an oz of coolness while in the background a wife who has been unfaithful is dying.(The Descendants)

Compared to the latter, the former looks like cake walk.

When I was younger, nubile(not), nymph like(not) I never thought of ajwain as anything but an after meal digestive which soothes a tummy that has had too many kochuri or alur chop or phuchka as the case maybe.We called ajwain -- "Joan"-- not "Joanne" mind you.We bought sachets of spicy and dusty "joan" on local trains in anticipation of a heavy meal. We drank Joaner Arok (also known as Aqua Ptychotis) in gulps after every wedding reception and talked of it with as much reverence as reserved for Joan of Arc. Ajwain or "joan" was then intermingled with our life---only in a different way.

Now I use ajwain for making a chicken.It was an accident, a stupid one, the ajwain. I used it to temper the hot oil in which the chicken will be cooked. I nodded at the sharp, strong taste that a teeny spoon of that seed can bring. I won't say I am in love yet. But it is a different beginning for sure.

Now let me tell you about the stupidity. I adapted this recipe from Anjum Anand's "Sindhi Lamb Curry" which uses Caraway seeds aka Sha jeera. In a rush I read it as Carom seeds aka Ajwain. I hesitated a moment wondering whether I should go ahead but then I took heart from the delicious looking kadhai jhinga cooked with ajwain and went ahead.I spiked up the hotness, used chicken and just called it ajwain wali chicken.

By the time I realized that the recipe had neve ever asked for Ajwain, the deed had been done and a new recipe born. For the original recipe replace the Ajwain with Sha Jeera.


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Make a paste of
5 cloves of garlic
1" of ginger
5-6 hot green chili

In a bowl marinate almost 2lb of skinless chicken pieces with
1/4 cup yogurt(well beaten)
1&1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp carom seeds/ajwain
5 green cardamom ground
ginger-garlic-chili paste
salt

Heat 3 tbsp oil for cooking in a saucier

Temper the oil with
1/2 tsp of carom seeds/ajwain,
4 dry red chili crushed,
1 small bay leaf,
1 black badi elaichi
and 5 green cardamom lightly crushed.
Now add about 2 cup of sliced onion and fry till onion is golden. Next add 2 tomatoes finely chopped. Add about 1 tsp of Red Chili powder. Add little salt. Cook till tomatoes are all mushed up and oil starts separating from the masala.

Next add the chicken along with the marinade. Fry the chicken for at least 20 minutes at low-medium heat till you see the chicken has lost its raw color and has started browning. Now sprinkle a little water, add salt to taste and cover and let chicken cook. Remove cover and stir in between. Do not add any more water.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove cover and continue frying the chicken till the masala releases oil on the surface. Add fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice and serve.

Vegetarian Sweet Corn Soup

Everybody and their nephew must already know how to make a Sweet Corn Soup. I didn't. Before Jan 16th that is. I didn't even want to know. Sweet Corn Soup wasn't the kind of soup I ordered at a restaurant. At a restaurant I usually skip the soup. Except of course if it is Thai where I can practically live on the soup. And if it is Panera where I go to torture myself.

But on Jan 16th after all the PatiShapta and whatnot I went to the gym. It was a miracle that I remembered the co-ordinates given that I was going there after months.

And then I did something I should have never, ever done.

No, not steal towels silly. I stepped on the shiny, new digital scale there.

For a fraction of a second there was dead silence all around, the Zumba ladies froze with their clenched derrieres suspended in mid-air, the treadmills came to a stand still, the spinners hunched on their shoulders forgot to look up, the water drop from the water fountain forgot to drip. And then amidst clanging bells a voice from nowhere said "Beti jao, soup piyo" Translated in English "Go home and drink soup" but the Hindi actually has more punch to it.

I went home enlightened.

Before that I bought two small cans of sweet corn.

And then I told Mom: "Ma, today I will cook and then we will drink only soup for dinner"

Ma: "Ok, but after you eat rice and maacher jhol"

Me: "I guess you didn't understand me. ONLY soup for dinner. NO rice. I need to lose the whole 3 lbs that I gained since November to go back to a weight that was far from ideal in the first place"

Ma: "Why, what is wrong with rice. What has it to do with weight?"

Me: "Rice is grains and that translates to Carb. Dear lady have you not heard of South Beach-Palm beach-Myrtle Beach and such where humans do not eat rice and thus achieve a figure like Priyanka Chopra."

Ma: "That is okay, Priyanka Chopra is much younger than you. You eat Ruti. You know our neighbor in Kolkata, the Sen's, since her son relocated to Gurgaon they only speak Hindi and eat Ruti"

Me: " But Maaa...Ruti=Wheat=Grains. What did I say?"

My Mother gives me the royal ignore: "Do whatever you want. It is your house, your kitchen. but at this age don't tell me that eating rice one gets fat. It is exercise that you need to do."

Enter BigSis: "What soup are you going to make Mommy? The Thai Shrimp soup?"

Me: "Nope.Sweet Corn Soup. Remember in 2008 March you had it at N's house and loved it. Well that is what I am going to make for dinner today. Ta-da."

BigSis: "You know what, I am actually full. Didun gave me maacher chop after school. I really don't need dinner today"

The husband man knew the menu that comes up in January and so is already on the first half of his extended travel plan where they do meetings in BeerGartens.

So I made a huge vat of soup and am eating it or drinking it (what ever is grammatically correct) all by myself for three days. I can do anything. I am also having the maacher jhol and bhaat. And then day before actually had dinner at a Portugese place where I ate paella and clams and lobsters. In between the soup is keeping me warm.

The recipe I kinda followed is this one here, but I did not add chicken or ajino moto or eggs.Instead I added thinly sliced carrots. Mushroom would have been good but I did not have any. I also used garlic, soy sauce, chilis and vinegar. I used the Sweet Corn Cream Style in a can and so the whole thing was pretty effortless. It actually tasted pretty good too and BigSis did have a bowl of it.

Heat 1 tsp Olive Oil. Add 1 fat clove of garlic minced to flavor the oil. Add some finely chopped green chili and then the thinly sliced carrots. Next add 1 tsp of Soy Sauce and a splash of the stock or water. Cover and let the carrot cook. Once the carrots are almost done add the sweet corn, about 1 cup of it.

Next a little vinegar followed by 1 whole can of chicken or vegetable broth. Meanwhile mix 1 tbsp of Corn flour with 4 tbsp of cold water. Add this to the pot. Add salt to taste. Let the soup simmer to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.

Garnish with chopped scallion.