Prerna's Strawberry Chutney

Sometime back I received my signed copy of  Prerna's The Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook. Need I say, I was thrilled.

The author Prerna Singh is also the author of IndianSimmer, a beautiful blog in its own rights. I have been a long time admirer of her blog and I was looking forward to her book. Given that I am not much of a slowcooker person and do most of my cooking on the stove top and use my pressure cooker far more than the slowcooker, I was curious too. But I must tell you that book is a treasure of recipes and they are delicious, slow cooker or not.

I liked the section "Basics of Indian Cooking" a lot which explains many of the cooking terms and spices used in Indian cooking.There is also a section on Basic Sauces and Spice mixes which has recipes for Pav Bhaji Masala and Tandoori Maslaa which I am making next for sure. There are fifteen chapters in total with an array of about 300 recipes encompassing appetizer to beverage.

I tried the Five-Spice Strawberry Chutney spiced with paanch phoron from her book and though I did it on the stove top it turned out great. It is a simple chutney spiced with the fragrant paanchphoron and sweetened with jaggery and the naturally sweet strawberries. The chutney turned out really good and for recipes of that and more  check out her book on Amazon

Miri's Gosthu(Eggplant in a tangy tomato gravy)

For the next couple of days, I will do a series of posts which were actually intended for February. I had planned to do them the week of Saraswati Puja because she being the goddess of  knowledge and art and art and creativity was what my posts were going to celebrate. But things often don't go according to plan. Well actually things NEVER go according to plan. So instead of February, I will do the posts over the next few days.
*****************

The entire month of February, I thought of Miri. Off and on. Off and on. I would go to one of my older posts and her comment would be right there. I browsed through her blog , going through her older posts, expecting new ones. And then I thought it was only befitting that I share the Goshtu recipe that she had sent me. The post was there on her blog but not the recipe and I had asked for it in the comment. She had promptly sent it by e-mail.

Hey there Sandeepa!

Hope you had a great Diwali...

here's the recipe I used - didn't want to post it because its Blog Bites and you are supposed to link to the original!

Gosthu

Ingredients
Moong dal – ¼ cup
2 cups diced - (eggplant, carrot, potato)
Onion - 1 big sliced
Tomato – 1, chopped
Tamarind – 1 tbsp paste dissolved in 1 cup water
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
1 tbsp sambar powder
1 tsp chilli powder

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – few

Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped

Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt

Method
Pressure cook moong dal until soft.

Heat oil, add mustard and when it splutters add the curry leaves
Add onion and saute for 5 minutes till soft. Then the tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli powder and sambar powder and saute some more till they are mushy.
Add the vegetables and stir fry for 10-12 minutes till they are half cooked.
Add tamarind water, salt and one more cup of water. Bring to boil and then simmer covered for 20 minutes.
Finally, add the cooked dal, mix well and boil for another 5 minutes or simmer till it has thickened. Add coriander leaves and serve.

I had actually been looking for an eggplant dish, I had tasted way back in an Office cafeteria in Bangalore and the Goshtu though similar had Dal which the cafeteria eggplant did not.

So I said

"Dear Miri

Thanks so much for the recipe. Now that I read it, I realize though that this wasn't the cafeteria eggplant, this is like the one a Tam colleague used to get here. I have had this and really liked it. The cafeteria one had no dal as far as I remember."

And then she said

"You are welcome!... the cafeteria one must be with onions and tomatoes, but also sambar powder - I make a version of that with drumsticks and brinjal and its really nice. "

That is what I decided to make, a variation of her Goshtu

But for a long time, I did not make it. It was one more of those recipes you treasure but don't always cook. Today I made it and it tasted delicious. Why was I waiting, I thought ? But we all do that. We wait and wait and wait until the moment has passed and things are not as they used to be. And then a known flavor, an unknown scent reminds us of what could have been.

Today Miri lived in my home through her food that she had shared many months ago and I wish her and her family the best always. I am not posting a pic of the finished dish because hers looked infinitely better than mine, the eggplants in my dish were not as soft. I rather we remember the dish as it looks on her blog post. Perfect.

This post is dedicated to Miri and her Gosthu and also to all my blogger friends who continue making this blog world richer, colorful and appetizing with the aroma of their home-cooked food. Joining Manisha of Indian Food Rocks for the same

Sweet Potato Broccoli Parmesan Tikkis

These tikkis or croquettes are inspired by two people. Mandira of Ahaar and The IKEA people. But before diving into them, let me pique your interest by showing you my picture, as rendered by our in-house artist LS.

Did you see it ? Did you see it ? Ain't it cute ?

She has made me look so good in there. My adult acne and thick moustache has been totally covered up and my flowery feet and similarly flowery fingers have been accentuated. My arms look toned and my ears round and well formed. That girl sure knows how to bring out the best in her subjects.

And did you see the belly button ? My belly button ? That big round circle with a dot is apparently my belly button. She pushed up my shirt and confirmed that body part. "Oita tomar belly button", she said with conviction.

"Really ? " I thought. "It pops out like that ? Why did no one ever tell me about this wardrobe malfunction of mine? Or is that my tummy is so big that it surfaces as the most prominent part like the tip of an iceberg ?"

No idea which is what, but it must be true, given that it is the artist's view and all. I had thought that after completing its foremost important job of connecting me to my Mother, the belly button had taken a retirement package. Looks like it has resurfaced.

So any of you interested in getting a better-than-real portrait drawn, e-mail me please. We are still accepting orders.

Edited to add: The picture also shows my computer/laptop and a wireless mouse. Go find them

Now to these tikkis which I had set my mind on when I first saw them as cutlets at Mandira's Ahaar.

Then one fine weekday morning, I had the rare opportunity to go to Ikea. I had never seen the interiors of IKEA on a working weekday morning before and I am telling you, it is an experience. Whole lot better than a weekend one. The best thing was the cafeteria, where for once there was more food than people.Over and above the fixed menu items, there were many other edible stuff and the broccoli and potato medallions which I added to the tray as an afterthought was the best find after the Hemnes mirror. Those were really good and I could only think that it would only get better with Mandira's sweet potato idea.

When I came home and googled though for Ikea potato and broccoli medallion copy cat recipes, I got this. I had no whipped cream but I had parmesan. Also I wanted to use sweet potatoes. When done, those Sweet Potato Broccoli tikkis turned out great. I have packed them for school lunch along with bread. You can make a sandwich with them as the patty but BS did not like that idea, instead she wanted them separate. You can also wrap them in a roti and that is how she had them for dinner.

For the recipe of  Sweet Potato Broccoli Parmesan Tikkis check my kid's blog where I am storing Kid's Lunch Box ideas.