Kasoori Gobi -- with roasted cauliflower

I have become some kind of a social recluse recently, if I am not I certainly want to become one.

With a whole week of working outside the home, and then again inside the home followed with two kids and their individual demands I totally fizzle out like a damp cracker by Friday evening. All I think would love to do come Friday is pass out on the sofa with a book in hand while the kids play in the background and hubby makes warm ginger tea and fries pakodas.

The Phamily is however NOT the background kind and no one fries any pakodas. We have boiled Maggi for dinner instead and relax amidst each other's chaotic company.

I look forward to weekend mornings, hot chai with Marie biscuits, leisurely breakfast cooked by D, cooking and clicking for the blog, massaging the baby in the sun lit patch of our family room, bathing her with Big Sis S helping out and then resting down for a afternoon nap with the two of them. I see myself not wanting to compromise or hurry on the above tasks for just one more get together and turn down dinner invitations saying it is too cold to take out the baby.

On retrospect hosting a luncheon or dinner does not excite me either. The vision of cooking for all those who come by and then cleaning up trails of disaster does not appeal to me any longer. This is a far cry from my yester-years when I would go all lengths to straighten up the closet and cook excitedly to entertain. I do not aspire to be the hostess with the orderly medicine cabinet and finger-licking rogan josh any more.


Do virtual social networks make you a recluse in real life ? With smaller families and fast paced weeks, time spent with one's family becomes limited. So while you can talk, discuss, vent , bitch and have your egos fed, all in your PJ's with a click of a mouse why would you take the trouble to don a Kanjeevaram and spend a precious Saturday evening with well known strangers ? (Close real life friends are not considered in this scenario and I agree that without seeing a couple of them every now & then, life would be difficult, at least mine would)

So what did you do this weekend ?

Coming back to the Gobi, my MIL makes a roast cauliflower and then my Ma makes a cauliflower roast. The two are very different and in fact my MIL's is not even roasted. When I last invited some people, I wanted to do a Cauliflower, and chose my Ma-in-law's way. I also chanced upon Indira's Kasoori Methi Gobi at the same time. Kasoori Methi would add a nice flavor to Ma-in-laws recipe I thought and so this dish was made. Kasoori Gobi is not a new dish but this is my version of Kasoori Gobi or maybe Cauliflower roast with Kasoori Methi.

This is a delicious preparation with the cauliflower holding its own while it is submerged in the sweet and salty spiciness of the almost dry gravy. Kasoori Methi or sun-dried fenugreek leaves add a pleasant robust flavor to this dish.



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Kasoori Gobi

Chop 1 small cauliflower into medium sized florets. Don't chop too small, or do not remove the stalks completely

Drizzle a little olive oil, sprinkle some sea salt(ordinary salt will do) and red chilli pepper and then bake the florets for 25-30 minutes at about 350F (this is my counter top toaster oven settings). The cauliflowers should be slightly roasted at the end of this process

Heat Oil in a deep bottomed pan or Kadhai

Fry 1 & 1/2 medium sized onion chopped, 3-4 green chillies slit, 1 fat clove of garlic chopped, 1" of ginger peeled and chopped till the onion turns pink and translucent. Note: I go low on garlic and the garlic I use have really fat cloves, you can use about 2-3 cloves if you want

Add 1 large chopped tomato and fry for couple more minutes till the tomato is soft

Cool the above mixture and grind to a paste. This is the onion+ginger+garlic+tomato paste

Temper the same oil(you might need to add a little more) with 1 Bay Leaf/Tej patta, 2" stick of cinnamon/darchini and 4 green cardamom/elaichi

Add the onion+ginger+garlic+tomato paste and fry for a minute with 1/4 tsp of sugar(sugar is optional)

Add 2 heaped tsp of Kasoori Methi, 2 tsp of Kitchen King masala (or use 1 tsp Garam masala), 1/4 tsp of Red Chilli Powder, a little turmeric and saute the masala till oil separates

Add the part roasted cauliflower florets, mix well with the spices

Add about 1 cup of water, salt to taste and mix well

Cook till the cauliflower is done and the water has almost dried up. During this step stir the cauliflower in between and be careful so that the cauliflower is not over done. The way I like it there is very little gravy, you can adjust to your liking

Add 1/2 tsp of amchur powder, a fistful of soaked raisins and mix well

Delicious Kasoori Gobi is ready to be served with Roti or Rice

Gajar Sandesh -- quick easy way

My neighbors are moderately nice people. They didn't utter a word when I doused a part of their lawn along with mine with a weed killer and burnt their grass in the process. I haven't yet hollered out to them for dire help but they oblige every time I call up and ask them to peep & check if I have shut my garage door.

Theirs is an Indian family of grandparents, parents and a little daughter. Of all of them I am most thankful for this little girl who is the exact same age as Big Sis S. Big Sis S can pop over to their place pretty much any time and is always welcome, so is their little girl in my house. True to her nature Big Sis S also devours unfamiliar food with much joy at their house.

Auntie (the grandmom) is a fantastic cook. The only problem is she doesn't understand Hindi or English and I don't speak their language, so communication is difficult. She sends over Dosa and Idli and unknown-to-me fried goodies, cooked at her place and taught my Ma to make the perfect fluffy Idli. How my ma communicated and got the recipe I don't know, but I have learned to not ask for the recipe or re-create anything she sends over and instead just enjoy the delicious food.

The only teeny-weeny problem in this scenario is what do I do with the empty plates. My Ma had always taught us that a plate, bowl, whatever that had been filled with food should never be returned empty and so I feel obliged to reciprocate by sending back the plates with some edible items. However what little I know of them, I have gathered that they are very traditional when it comes to food. They rarely, very rarely eat out and enjoy only their kind of home-cooked food.

I have sent some of my food over before but have never received any kind of acknowledgment and I didn't want to burden them with stuff they will probably never eat. My over enthusiasm might put a stop to future Dosas and vadais and idlis I felt. So I usually send store bought Indian Sweets.

A week back we again got a supply of soft Masala Dosa and a fabulous chutney. We weren't going to get Indian Mithai anytime soon and I had a tub of Ricotta. So I thought of making a quick sandesh, framed on a recipe I got from here (Oops this was the page that had the recipe, I don't see the page anymore). I am usually lazy and have no time to make Chena(home made paneer) and then the sandesh, so this was a quick shortcut which I loved. Still no acknowledgment but the sandesh(or sondesh) with carrots or gajor sandesh are a quick fix delicious dessert for lazy souls like me and for maybe many of you too.

My Ma would scoff at this and say I could have as well mixed ricotta with condensed milk and have it as it is, because anything with Condensed Milk is bound to taste good. But then again I am no puritan and neither is this recipe for such souls.

Try Vee for a very nice almost step-by-step pics of making the chena(paneer) and then the real sandesh

A very fresh un-cooked recipe of Sandesh here


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Gajor Sandesh

Makes at the most 8-10 sweets

In a microwave safe bowl mix 1 cup Ricotta Cheese with 1/2 cup Condensed Milk and 1/2 cup of Mawa/Milk Powder. Add a little cardamom powder or rose essence.

Microwave for 2 mins at full power

Add this mix to a non-stick Kadhai on the Stove top

Add 2/3 cup of grated baby carrots(will cook faster). For ordinary carrots you can cook the grated carrots with 2% milk in the microwave and the add to the mix here

Stir this mix till it thickens and the carrots are done. Takes about 20-25 minutes for the amount in this recipe. If you see that the mix has thickened but the carrots haven't cooked add a little 2% MIlk and some Condensed milk and continue stirring

You will know when it is done when the mix starts leaving the side of the Kadhai

Pour on a greased square bowl or plate and allow to cool

If you have the sandesh mold and want pretty shapes do while it is warm

After I had cooled it and cut in squares I wanted to top them with a layer of Gajar Halwa. Didn't have enough grated Gajar though and so microwaved 1/2 tsp of Ghee in a microwave safe bowl for 20 secs. To that added 1/2 Cup grated Carrots and microwaved for 1 minutes. Next added 1/2 Cup Condensed Milk to it and microwaved for 2-3 minutes. Some kheer kind of thing was created which was used to top the sandesh.

Follow this recipe to make a quick microwave gajar halwa and use that as a topping instead

Top each individual sandesh with a thin layer of gajar halwa and serve

Option 2: Follow this recipe to make a Bhapa Sandesh or Steamed Sandesh. Add grated carrots to the mix. Top with the Gajar Halwa and serve

Trivia: Bengali sandesh or sondesh is famous all over the world. But there is one more sandesh famous in Bengal, it is "Sandesh" a popular Children's magazine started by UpedraKishore RayChowdhury (among the first proponents of children's novels and books in Bengal), grandfather of Satyajit Ray. Later Sukumar Ray and his son Satyajit Ray along with their family members Lila majumdar and Nalini Das revived this magazine. Since almost everyone in the Ray family were excellent story tellers and authors of children's books(Sukumar Ray and Lila Majumdar being my favorite), this magazine was a treasure of literary gems. More from wiki.

Lijjat Papad -- Karram Kurram

(This post was drafted on Friday but then we had guests staying over the weekend and this never got edited & posted)

I was on my way back home driving and suddenly I hear this voice over NPR saying Papad and Pappadam with a thick accent. Ahhhhh, some new fad of Indian cooking they must have discovered I thought.
And then the news caster went on to talk about Lijjat Papad and I was pleasantly surprised. I had a warm fuzzy feeling driving home in the sun listening about Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, popularly known as Lijjat, completing 50 gloroius years on March 15, 2009.

Representative of a typical middle class Indian Kitchen, my Ma's pantry was always stocked with Lijjat Papad. They were fried to be served with tea when impromptu guets arrived,roasted on fire and served with dal, roasted and crumbled on some sabzi's and sometimes even made into a dish by itself.

That Lijjat was the brain child of seven semi-literate Gujarati housewives from Bombay who wanted to start a venture to create a sustainable livelihood using the only skill they had i.e. cooking, makes me very proud.

We talk about women getting more independence, equality, freedom and I think of myself and these women. Having had the exact same opportunity as any boy would while growing up, having had the same education and starting off a career in a similar role as the husband, today I bring back home less than 2/3rd of his salary not because my employer pays women less but because I chose such a role to enjoy motherhood.

Am I privileged because I have a choice to do so or did I put my freedom to wrong use ?

I do voluntarily contribute more as a parent in our household and I get immense satisfaction of shaping two lives but then again really I haven't achieved even a fraction of what these semi-literate women have.

So what is it that personifies women power? Is it the choice that many educated women like me get today or the financial freedom these semi-literate women (with very little freedom possible in a India 50 years ago) struggled to achieve 50 years ago and have achieved not only financially but also socially by empowering a large population of Indian women

More about history of Lijjat Papad here

To roast a Lijjat Papad, pop one in the MicroWave for about a minute at 100% power.

To fry, deep fry in hot bubbling oil