A month before our marriage and "I don't know how to cook" was something my husband heard me say more often than "I love you". Much as I was eager to tie the knot, the thought of having to manage a house, especially handling the cooking, was giving me nightmares.

He would, of course, reassure me that I didn't have to worry about cooking. "Takeaway" and "employing someone to cook" were the words he said more often than "I love you".


Perhaps it was the lure of the shiny, new pots and pans. Perhaps it was the complete boredom with having takeaway food everyday. Perhaps it was that thing called love. Whatever it was, before long, I wanted to cook a meal for us.


Batatyachi kachryachi bhaji (loosely translated as sliced potato stir fry) is what I settled on. After all, you can't go wrong with potatoes - they taste delicious any which way you make them. Plus, though I had never actually made the stir fry myself, I had seen my mum make it very very often and knew that it was very easy to make.

"This is delicious! Who says you can't cook?!" he said when he had the potato stir fry. " Yessss, I can cook," I thought to myself happily. Carried away by the success at the potato stir fry, I took on a more challenging recipe to cook the next day. That was a disaster, but more of that on some other post.

For now, check out this easy breezy spicy potato stir fry, our favourite way of having potatoes.



Ingredients:


Potatoes: 3 medium sized
Onions: 1 large
Curry leaves: 7-8
Green chillies: 2, chopped
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsps, chopped
Mustard seeds: 3/4 tsp
Asafoetida/hing: 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt, to taste
Oil: 1.5 tbsps

Method:


Wash the potatoes and pat dry. Quarter them length-wise and then slice them into thin triangles.


Soak them in a bowl of water for about 10 mins and then drain them.


Heat oil in a non stick wok. Add the mustard seeds and when they crackle, add the green chillies, curry leaves and the hing and stir for half a minute.


Toss in the onions and saute till they soften and turn pink. Add the turmeric powder and salt and stir for half a minute.


Now add the drained potatoes and stir fry them on a high heat (you need to keep stirring constantly else the potatoes will stick to the pan and gently else they will fall apart as they start to cook) for about 10 minutes or until done.

Finally, add the coriander leaves and the juice of half a lemon.


Serve hot with dal, rice and some pickle on the side for a really rustic, hearty and satisfying meal.

Let me tell you a little of how we spend our weekends. Now we aren't the kind of family that plans a variety of activities to do over a weekend - we are much to lazy for that. In fact, we are the kind of family that spends its weekends lounging on the sofa, listening to music or reading some books and not moving a muscle for as long as we can help it.


Yes, we do our fair share of going out. But a lot of it is related to food and eating out. For eg. we go very often to the beach in the mornings because we love having breakfast at the South Indian restaurant there. Or we end up at the Botanical Gardens because having lunch at a restaurant there over a couple of beers on a hot, sunny afternoon seems almost magical. You get the drift right?



But much as we enjoy eating out, come Sunday evenings and we crave for a dinner that is very simple to make and very hearty. Most of the times, we settle for some piping hot aloo parathas or a hearty spanish omelette. Occasionally, I make kathi rolls from some leftovers.


Often, I dig up and pick out bits and bobs of vegetables buried in my crisper and throw them together into a low fat white sauce.

Now I know what you are thinking - that 'low fat' white sauce is an oxymoron. Well, not quite.

Based on an idea I saw on Raaga's blog, I make my white sauce with skimmed milk and low fat cheese slices. The resultant sauce is adequately thick and creamy and perfect for a light and satisfying Sunday evening vegetable casserole.

Ingredients:

Butter: 1 tbsp
All purpose flour: 2.5 tbsps
Skimmed milk: 2.5 cups (the milk should be at room temperature)
Low fat cheese slices: 3
Salt, pepper: to taste
Mustard paste: 1 tsp

Mixed vegetables: approximately 2 cups ( I used 1/2 cup each of green peas, broccoli and cauliflower; 1 carrot and 1 potato )

Grated cheddar cheese: 2 tbsps


Method:

Steam all the vegetables and set aside. You might need to cook them separately as the cooking time for every vegetable varies. I zap them in the microwave for a few minutes).

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and mix it well. Cook on low heat for about 4-5 minutes, without allowing the flour to turn brown. I take my pan off the burner a few times when doing this in order to avoid browning of the flour.


Stirring constantly, slowly add the milk in a thin stream and in small batches. (Here's what I do to avoid lumps in my white sauce - transfer the flour from the pan into a mug and add a little milk and mix it thoroughly. Then transfer it back to the pan and add the rest of the milk. The result? Completely lump-free sauce)


Keep stirring and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add all the salt, pepper powder and the mustard paste. Finally add the cheese slices and mix well till the cheese melts. Simmer for a few more minutes till the sauce thickens.


Arrange the vegetables in a baking dish, I use my 9" pie dish. Pour the sauce over it, sprinkle the grated cheese over it and bake in the oven (pre-heat the oven first) at 200 deg C till the cheese starts to brown.


Serve with some brown bread.


Taking this vegetable casserole to Nupur's Blog Bites - 9, the theme this time is Holiday Buffet.

Sukanya sighed and looked at her watch for the umpteenth time, as if looking at the watch innumerable times would make the train miraculously roll into the platform.


Her day had begun badly enough; it seemed it would end no better.


She had been chasing time all day today - she had woken up late in the morning and was therefore late getting in to work. Consequently, she had had to leave later than she usually did. Now with the trains running late, there was no way she would get home before 8.30 tonight.


She had been feeling unusually exhausted all day making her wonder she had caught some bug. All she wanted to do was just curl up and sleep, but knew that was not to be. She was all too aware of the dinner that had to be made and some other sundry chores that had to be attended to at home.


She looked at her watch once again and sighed deeply as she looked at the swelling crowd on the platform; with every second more and more people seemed to be waiting on the platform. She sighed once again, mentally resigning herself to standing for a better part of her 75 minute journey back home.


A few more minutes of waiting and finally the train rolled in. As expected, she could not find a seat but managed to find a toehold beside the train doors. It was certainly a little unsafe but at least she would get some cool breeze on her face and some fresh air to breathe in – that was immeasurably better than being crushed between sweaty bodies or having someone’s smelly armpit shoved in her face!


Normally, she would chit-chat with her friends - she had made friends with several women who travelled on the same train as her every evening. However, today she simply rested her head on the door and closed her eyes reflecting, with a little despondency, on the rut her life seemed to be stuck in.


She was roused out of her thoughts by someone’s cheerful ‘hi Sukanya’. Opening her eyes, she saw a face that looked vaguely familiar but she couldn’t quite recollect the young girl’s name or where she had met her.


“Remember me? Naina….we met at the Diwali party a few months ago….”


Of course, now she remembered. Naina was married to someone….now what was his name……who worked in the same company as her husband. She now remembered being introduced to her.


She smiled, “You looked so different in all the finery that I couldn’t place you at all. How are you and your husband….umm…Sameer?”


“Can’t blame you….I’ve changed my hairstyle soon after. But I think we’ll meet often now that we’ve moved somewhere very close to your building. Do you always take the 6.13?”


“Yes,” said Sukanya, smiling at Naina’s exuberance. “So where do you….,” she wanted to ask her where she worked but was interrupted by the ringing of Naina’s cell phone.


‘Think another 50 minutes.’
‘Hmmm….’
‘Baingan bharta? Ok. But don’t roast the baingan on the gas, the whole house will get smoky. Use the oven. And listen…..’


“Shit....the network’s gone!” she said suddenly with a mild note of irritation as she tried to call back.


Sukanya hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but Naina was talking loudly enough for everyone in the compartment to listen. Probably giving instructions to her cook, she thought to herself. High time I employed one too. At 45, age is starting to creep up on me - I do tire easily these days. Maybe I should ask Naina for the number of her cook, no matter the resistance from the husband.


“Your cook?” she asked Naina who had given up dialing the number but was turning the phone this way and that over everybody’s heads in the cramped compartment in an attempt to get the signal back.


“Cook!” she exclaimed incredulously. “I don’t employ one – well I used to but that was over 4 years ago. Actually that was Sameer asking me what to prepare for dinner tonight.”


“Sameer cooks? That is great. Lucky you.”


“Well, he can’t really cook….neither can I, but we manage. And no, he is the one who is lucky. After all, I work too and I also have to travel to work every single day, unlike people like Sameer and your husband whose office is so close to their homes. They are the lucky ones, I say!”


Sukanya merely smiled but she couldn’t help but feel a just a teeny bit jealous of Naina. Mine can’t even make tea…..he wouldn’t even if he could, she thought a little bitterly. He was one of those who believed that cooking and other housework were solely a woman’s responsibility. If only he were a little sensitive to her travails. Like today for example. It was so easy for him to ask me to make methi bhaat at dinner. “It’s been so long since you last made it. You know how much I like it,” he had complained.


They all loved methi bhaat, but separating the leaves from their stalks was a lot of work and she would have much preferred to do it over the weekend while watching T.V. However, her protestations about how tiresome and time consuming it was to separate the leaves from the stalks was greeted with some whining of how he never demanded anything elaborate from her at dinner. “And I don’t understand why can’t you do that in the train on your way back?”


She glanced at the bundles of methi leaves in the bag that she had been unable to sort standing in the crowded train. She would have to do it all at home, she looked at her watch and estimated she would be home in another 20 minutes.


When she reached home, her husband was sprawled on the sofa watching cricket on the T.V., his feet on the coffee table. “You are late today….trains, huh? Just make the dinner quickly, I am really very hungry,” he said through a mouthful of chivda.


She shook her head in resignation and put the methi bundles in the kitchen. She was very quick in the kitchen and reckoned she would have the dinner ready in under an hour but she needed to take a shower before she began cooking.


She passed her son’s room on the way to her own. She peeped in; her son was glued to the computer playing some game. “Oh mom, you spoiled my game,” he said. Just at that instant, she heard her husband exult ‘great shot.’

Something in her snapped at that moment. Like father, like son, she thought. No one was bothered to even offer her a cup of tea or ask her how her day was.


“Aniket, I am going to take a shower. In the meantime, go to the kitchen and cook some rice and boil some potatoes too,” she said, much to her son’s horror.
“Mom, not me, I don’t even know how to…”
“You are 17 and old enough to learn. I’ll tell you what to do.”
“Mom….,” he stopped mid-sentence, realizing she would not accept any argument.


There was nothing she could do to change her husband’s attitude – it was too late for that, but it was high time she influenced the way her son turned out, she thought as she headed into the shower.

The suburban train network in Mumbai is its lifeline and is the quickest way to get from one end of the city to the other. There are some people who travel for as little as 15 minutes and there are others who travel almost 2 hours one way to get to their place of work. In the evenings, they are back in the train for the same length of time.

The trains are also very crowded; at peak hours, it is not unusual to find people hanging out of its doors, sometimes, you even find some perched on the roof of the compartments. In many ways, the suburban train travel in Mumbai is a great leveller - no matter what your occupation, no matter the money you earn, at the end of the day, you are

People have found many ways to keep themselves occupied - other than chatting and reading and sleeping, there are groups who sing bhajans or play cards to while away the time.

But it is in the ladies' compartments that you really get to witness glimpses of people's lives, their joys and their struggles. The chatter is endless; most of the times, there is laughter and occasionally, fierce arguments too. But beneath all the chatter is the anxiety and eagerness to get home as soon as possible to attend to the children and other chores. The women do much more than just chat or play cards or sing bhajans - they use their time in the train far more productively - it is not unusual to see women knitting, their needles going clicketty clack, or even cleaning some vegetables in preparation for dinner.

The story of just another day in Sukanya's life which is my (again very late) entry to Of Chalks and Chopsticks that PJ is hosting is based on the small nuggets of conversations gleaned from my train travels many moons ago.

Methi Bhaat/ Rice with Fenugreek leaves

Ingredients:

Onion: 1 large, finely chopped
Tomato: 2, chopped
Garlic: 7-8 cloves, choppped
Boiled potatoes/sweet potatoes: 1/2 cup
Methi/Fenugreek leaves: 2.5 cups, washed and chopped
Dry spices: Turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala
Jaggery: 1 tbsp
Salt
Oil

Rice: 1.5 cups, cooked and cooled completely



Method:


Cut the boiled sweet potato into cubes. Grease a frying pan with some cooking spray and lightly fry the cubes till brown. Set aside.


Heat oil in a wok and add in the chopped garlic. Saute till the garlic turns brown.


Then toss in the onions and fry till they turn pink. Next, add in the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes become soft and mushy. Add in the dry spices, the jaggery and the salt.

Add in the methi leaves and turn up the heat. Stir constantly till the leaves are cooked, about 4- 5 minutes. Then add the fried potatoes and mix well.

Add in the cold rice into the vegetable mixture and gently stir till all the grains are evenly coated with the vegetable mixture. Cover and steam on a very low heat, stirring occasionally till the rice is heated through.

Serve with some yogurt and papad.

Simply put, biryani is nothing but rice layered alternately with meat or fish or even vegetables. The taste, however, is anything but simple to describe. Aromatic from the use of saffron and rose water, subtly flavoured from the sprinkling of spices, biryani is a one pot meal that is extremlely satiating.

True, making biryani is time-consuming. There are spices to be ground and onions to be fried; there are many small steps that make their way to a delicious biryani and absolutely no room for any short cuts. But one whiff of the cooked biryani and all the effort taken and the time spent in making it seem totally worth it.

Biryani is a crowd pleaser and this vegetable biryani is something that gets made very often, especially when we are entertaining. It has taken me numerous attempts and many a charred vessels to get finally get it right, here's how I make it.

Ingredients:


Rice: 1 1/4 cup
Assorted Vegetables: 1 1/2 cups ( I use carrots, cauliflower, french beans and green peas)
Paneer: 1/2 cup

Tomato Puree: 2 tbsps

Yogurt: 1/3 cup
Cashewnut powder: 2 1/2 tbsps
Dry spices: Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp, turmeric - 1/4 tsp, garam masala - 1 tbsp, salt to taste

Whole spices: bay leaf - 1, cloves - 6, cinnamon - 1" stick, black cardamom - 1


Raisins: 1 tbsp
Saffron: 1 pinch, soaked in 1 tsp rosewater and 1 tsp kewra water


Ghee: 2 - 3 tbsps
Oil: 2 tbsps + as required for deep frying

grind to a paste:

Onion: 2 medium sized
Mint leaves: 1/3 cup
Coriander leaves: 6 sprigs
Garlic: 6 cloves
Ginger: 1" piece


for garnishing:


Potato: 1 large
Onion: 1 large, sliced
a few mint leaves
green chillies


Method:


pre-preparation:


Peel and slice one onion. Toss the slices in a pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp sugar. Deep fry till golden brown.

Peel and cut the potato into 1/4" thick circles and fry till golden.


cook the rice:


Soak the rice in water for half an hour. Heat ghee in a vessel, add the black cardamom followed by the strained rice. Fry gently till the grains are all coated with the ghee. Add 2 cups boiling water and some salt and cook the rice.


Once cooked, fluff with a fork and spread it onto a plate to cool.


prepare the vegetable curry:


Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and steam till they are just cooked.


Grind the masala paste. Heat oil and add the whole garam masala. Let it sizzle for half a minute and then add the masala paste to the pan, fry till the raw smell disappears.


Add in the tomato puree and fry another 5 - 7 minutes. Sprinkle a few drops of water if the puree sticks to the pan. Whisk together the yogurt, cashewnut powder and the dry spices; fry till the oil separates.


Mix the steamed vegetables, the paneer cubes and the raisins into the fried masala paste and toss gently for about 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle a little water if the curry sticks to the bottom of the pan.


assemble the biryani

In a heavy bottomed vessel, melt some ghee.


Spread half the rice. On top of the rice, sprinkle a pinch of the garam masala followed by 1/4 of the fried onions. A few mint leaves and whole green chillies go next.


Then spread the cooked vegetable curry followed by the remaining rice.


Pour the saffron water over the rice. Layer the fried potatoes on the rice, sprinkle the remaining fried onions, some mint leaves and whole green chillies.

Seal the vessel with 2-3 layers of aluminium foil and cover with a tight fitting lid.

Place a frying pan on the gas and put the vessel that you just layered the biryani in on top of the pan. On the lowest possible heat setting, cook the biryani for about 25- 30 minutes. (Putting the vessel atop a pan and then heating the biryani ensures that the rice won't stick to the bottom and get charred).

Alternately, you could also layer the biryani in a similar fashion in a microwave proof bowl and microwave on high for about 10 mins. But the aroma of the stove-top method is something the microwave method simply cannot replicate.

I serve with the biryani with this eggplant raita and some papad. Finger licking good.

In one of my earlier posts, I had claimed to 'love' eggplants. In retrospect, I now think that that statement was a huge exaggeration.

The truth is that I don't love eggplant per se. I love it only and only when it is cooked in a few ways - eggplant raita and baingan ka bharta - are amongst my favourite ways of having them eggplants. Any other way and I have small moment of hesitation before taking the first bite.


A few months ago, we were served this rather unusual 'eggplant pizza' at a party. Just one bite and I was completely bowled over by the taste. Soon, I was making it very often at home. And why wouldn't I? After all, it makes for an excellent appetizer or a light evening snack - tasty, nutritious and very, very easy to make!













Tomatoes - 2 large
Garlic - 1 large clove
Onion - 1 small
Seasonings : Chilli flakes, basil leaves, salt, sugar - to taste
Oil






While the oven pre-heats, prepare the tomato sauce. Blanch the tomatoes and peel the skin. Cut into half, scoop out the seeds and chop it up. Heat oil, saute the garlic and onions for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook till soft. Let it cool and then puree in the mixie.
Return to the pan, add the seasonings and simmer till the sauce thickens.

My parents are visiting and I had thought that with them around, I'd have a lots to blog about. I had imagined that I'd cook a lot of interesting food for them, take pictures and for once, become a prolific blogger and have a new post ever so often!

However, as it has turned out, I don't seem to be very inclined towards blogging these days. In fact, ever since they have come, I don't seem to be very inclined towards doing anything. Other than lounging on the sofa and reading.


The kitchen, though, is abuzz with the sound and smells of cooking - mom and dad are the ones who are doing the cooking. Both are avid cooks and have a huge collection of recipes and they are only too eager to experiment in the kitchen.


My only contribution - other than deciding what is to be made and buying the ingredients for it - is shrieks of horror ( so much oil!), or murmurs of disapproval (not spicy enough!) or grunts of grudging admiration (the salt is just right - every single time) - and then I am back to lounging on the sofa doing... nothing!


On rare days, I manage to take the camera out, click a few pictures and finally update the blog!

This spinach and macaroni casserole is something that my dad started making as a way of using up leftover palak paneer. Over time, the recipe has evolved to this:

Ingredients:

Macaroni: 3/4 cup


Spinach - 2 cups, finely chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
Tomato - 2 nos, chopped
Paneer / Cottage cheese - 1/2 cup (if using paneer cubes, grate or crumble it)
Red chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Black cardamom - 1

Oil

for the topping:

Parmesan/cheddar cheese - 4-5 tbsps
Tomato - 5 round slices, optional


for white sauce:

Plain flour - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1.5 tbsps
Low fat milk - 1 cup
Salt and pepper to taste
Mustard paste - 1 tsp







Method:


First make the white sauce:
Melt butter in a pan. To that, add the plain flour and stir briskly till the flour starts to change colour. Stirring continuously, add the milk in a thin stream. Keep stirring till the sauce comes to a boil and thickens. Add mustard paste, salt, pepper and a tbsp of grated cheese. Remove from fire and set aside.


Cook the pasta as per the package instructions. Drain and set aside for 5 minutes.


Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C.


Heat some oil in a pan. Add the bay leaf, black cardamom and the chopped garlic; let them sizzle for half a minute. Add in the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes get soft and mushy.


Then, put the chopped spinach and stir till the spinach starts looking wilted (don't cook the spinach at this stage). Add in the crumbed paneer and the salt and the crushed red chillies. Stir for a minute. Then add in the white sauce and the cooked pasta and mix well.

Transfer to a baking dish, top with the grated cheese and the tomato slices and bake till the cheese is browned and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Sending this to Mansi who is hosting Presto Pasta Nights - 169, an event started by Ruth.

One morning....


TH: What's for breakfast?
Me: I made a focaccia yesterday. I'm thinking of topping it with some cherry tomatoes and cheese and grilling it in the oven.
TH: Sounds great!


The next morning....


TH: Can you make me the same thing you made yesterday? It was delicious!
Me: Sure.



The following day....


TH: What's for breakfast?
Me: Focaccia topped with an egg white omelette.
TH: Well, ok.



Later that evening....


TH: What's for dinner?
Me: Chicken stew with some...
TH: Let me guess. Focaccia.
Me: Spot on!
TH: Just how much focaccia did you make?
Me: (injured look)
TH: Now don't give me that look! The bread is delicious, but how many more days are we going to eat it?

Well, this recipe makes a lot of it! If you, like us, are a family of 2 and 1/2 that doesn't eat too much bread, you might want to halve the recipe.

I adapted this recipe from The Little Big Cook Book; the original recipe uses potatoes. However, I have been using sweet potatoes in place of potatoes for quite a while now and decided to try them in this recipe.

Turns out that sweet potatoes were indeed perfect in the focaccia. You really can't taste them and yet, the bread does taste a lot better with that slight hint of sweetness.

Plus, they up the nutrition content significantly. After all, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta carotene and vitamins A and C. And most importantly, they are an excellent source of carbohydrates with the additional benefit of having a low Glycemic Index.

Ingredients:

Active dry yeast: 1 package or 15 gms
Sugar: 1 .5 tsp
Water: 2 tbsps

Bread / All purpose Flour: 3 cups ( I used 2 and 1/4 cup bread flour; for the balance 3/4 cup, I used wholemeal bread flour)

Sweet Potatoes: 250 gms
Salt: 1.5 tsp
Olive oil: 3 tbsps
Warm water for kneading the dough

Herbs of your choice for the topping.


Method:

Mix together the yeast, sugar and 2 tbsps warm water. Set aside till the yeast becomes frothy, about 15-20 minutes.

(A very valuable lesson I learnt in bread making came from this book - HALVE THE YEAST, DOUBLE THE RISING TIME.

Accordingly, I always use half the yeast that a recipe calls for; in this case as well, I used half a package of yeast).

Boil the sweet potatoes; peel and mash while they are still hot.

Mix together the sweet potatoes (they need to be warm when you start making the bread), the flour, salt and 1 and 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil. Make a well in the centre of this mixture and pour in the yeast mixture. Mix to combine the yeast thoroughly.

Then add just enough warm water to make a shaggy dough, I needed 13 tbsps. The dough will be very sticky and clingy - which is how it should be. Knead for a couple of minutes with a wooden spoon and set aside to rise. My dough took about two hours to rise.

Knock out the air from the risen dough - about 3-4 punches should do it - and transfer to a well -oiled jam roll tray. Mine is 7" X 13". Spread the dough with your hands, cover and let it rise for about 45 mins.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 mins. Meanwhile, dimple the surface with your knuckles, sprinkle the topping of your choice ( I used freshly ground pepper, dried basil leaves and dried garlic flakes ) and drizzle the remaining olive oil on top.

Bake for about 20-25 mins or until the top is a lovely golden brown and the aroma of freshly baked bread permeates through every nook and cranny of your house!

Sending this Sweet Potato Focaccia to Susan's Yeastspotting.

I was never fond of sweet potatoes growing up. Though I was never a fussy eater, there were certain things that I had a mental block for. Sweet potatoes fell in that category. Somehow, I didn't like "sweet" and "potatoes" together.


My fascination with sweet potatoes started a couple of years ago when I had them at a barbeque. Just a blob of butter, a dash of pepper and a sprinkle of salt on the perfectly roasted tuber. It was deliciously sweet and had that 'melt in the mouth' texture and between a few mouthfuls, I was hooked to the sweet potato.


Soon, as if to make up for all the years I scorned them, I was using sweet potatoes wherever I could. Combining them with potatoes. OR replacing potatoes with sweet potatoes.

Aloo chaat is something I make very often. It serves as the perfect snack in the evenings, especially on week ends when we like to nibble on something that is not too high in calories but is very satiating.

Replacing sweet potatoes in the chaat works perfectly: their naturally sweet taste is in fact nicely balanced with the tanginess of the chaat ; adding in chickpeas gives an added protein boost.

Sweet Potato and Chickpeas Chaat


Sweet potatoes: 2
Chickpeas: 1/2 cup




Coriander leaves: 2 tbsps
Chopped green chillies

Onion: 1, cut into cubes



Dry spice powders: Chaat masala: 3.5 tsps, Roasted cumin seed powder: 1.5 tsps

Black salt: to taste
Sugar: 1 tsp



Juice of half a lemon



Oil: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp






Method:




Soak the chickpeas in water for 6-8 hrs. Then, cook them till they are soft and cooked; about 3 whistles in the pressure cooker should be enough to cook them. Once cooked, drain the water and let them cool.


Cut the sweet potato into cubes and steam them till cooked but still firm.



In a bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, the chick peas and the onion, sprinkle the dry spice powders, salt and sugar and toss well so that the spice powders coat the sweet potato cubes and the chickpeas. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the chopped green chillies and the coriander leaves and mix again.



Heat the oil , add the cumin seeds and when the splutter, pour over the chaat.



Serve topped with a dollop of sweetened yogurt.





Sending this to Lisa's No Croutons Required and MLLA - 21 hosted this time at Mirch Masala, event started by Susan.

This is a recipe that just happened.

I actually wanted to make arbi this way which incidentally is my favourite way of making arbi; however, the when I set out to make it, I realised that I had run out of ajwain. There wasn't enough time to make the tangy arbi either, but I was craving a slightly tangy taste and made this achari arbi on the spur of the moment.

And we just loved it! It is ridiculously easy to put together and very delicious.

Method:

Pressure cook the arbi (I need 3 whistles). Peel and cut into bite - sized pieces. Let the arbi cool completely.

Heat oil and pop in some curry leaves, followed by about 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder. Add the arbi and stir fry on high flame for about 5 mins so that the arbi is slightly crisp on the outside.

Now add about 2 tsps of achari masala (any brand is OK, I use Shaan's Achari Meat Masala), some black salt and chopped green chillies. Stir till the arbi is evenly coated by the masala.

Serve hot with some dal and rotis/rice.

We liked it so much that the following day I made it again; this time, I fried the arbi till it was crisper on the outside. And instead of serving it with rotis/rice, we had it as a starter - it was delicious!

I think even potatoes and paneer should be yum in a similar stir fry, will keep you posted if and when I make it with either of the two!

So, the husband comes home the other day and asks to see the pictures.
What pictures, I ask him.
The ones you clicked of the aloo gobi, he responds.

(As you can seee, he has become very conditioned to this cooking-clicking-reviewing the pictures-then finally eating routine).

But I didn't click any, I tell him
Oh, aren't you going to blog about it, he queries.

Blog? About aloo gobi? No, not really, I tell him.
For one, it is the most basic of veggies. Everyone knows how to make this.

Ahem, he smiles. Everyone knows how to make it, he repeats.

For, a long time ago, aloo gobi was my nemesis. I'd never get it right - either the potatoes would be burnt or the gobi (cauliflower) would be mushy and over-cooked. But then, one learns!

So well, yes, I know that aloo gobi is one of the easiest of all veggies that one can make. That almost everyone has their own perfect way of making it. Here's mine.




Ingredients:


Cauliflower, broken into florets - 1 1/2 cup
Potato - 1 large, peeled and cut into cubes
Ginger - 1 tbsp, grated
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dry masalas: cumin powder - 1 tsp, coriander powder - 1.5 tsp, turmeric - 1/2 tsp,
aamchur - 1/4 tsp, red chilli powder - to your taste

Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Salt

Chopped coriander

Method:

Par-boil the potatoes with a pinch of salt and turmeric. Drain and set aside.

Heat oil and fry the cumin seeds until they begin to splutter. Add the cauliflower florets and the ginger and stir on high heat for about 5 minutes.

Add in the par-boiled potatoes, all the dry spices and salt and stir till all the vegetables are evenly coated by the spices. Cover and cook on a low flame for a further 10 mins or until the vegetables are cooked, stirring frequently.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot with rotis.

Notes:

As far as possible, avoid adding any water when making aloo gobhi, else the cauliflowers will look quite wilted. If the veggies start sticking to the bottom of the pan, just sprinkle a few drops of water.

You could also add some green peas or carrots to make a more colourful dish.

I sometimes substitute the cumin SEEDS with kalonji or panch phoran to change the taste a bit.

The stalks and leaves of the cauliflower are edible and nutritious. If you have the time, combine these with some mushrooms, tomatoes, salt, garlic, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves to make vegetable stock. Freeze the stock in ice trays and use it to flavour your soups or to cook pasta.

Comfort food........food that gives a sense of emotional satisfaction. It means different things to different people - after all, comfort food choices are a complex mix of culture, memories and other food associations- and so, what is comfort food to someone might be an absolute no - no to another. Nevertheless, no matter what our individual choice, we are all familiar with that sense of satisfaction, that sense of well being that comfort food gives.

So what exactly is this 'comfort food'? And why, after tucking into some 'comfort food' do we feel so good - a feeling that even the best of gourmet food can't bring?

Comfort food, it seems, alleviates stress, fatigue, depression, the general feeling of 'blues' - in other words, all negative states by minds by triggering certain chemicals in the brain that ultimately lead to the 'feel good' state of mind.

So what is my comfort food? Well, different things at different times - sometimes I crave chicken soup, at other times, nothing else but khichdi kadhi will do; sometimes, I yearn for some cheese and there are times when only dark chocolate is what I am after.

But my ultimate comfort food is Tomato Saar. Piping hot tomato saar, poured into a bowl, my hands cupping the hot bowl and the warmth seems to course through my hands all through my body. I could ask for nothing more, it satiates me so completely and yet leaves me craving for more!!

Tell me, what is your comfort food?




Tomato Saar

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 1/2 kilo
Onion - 1, chopped
Ginger - 1 tbsp, grated
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cloves - 5
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Crushed peppercorn - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 8-10
Coriander leaves - 1 tsp finely chopped + some more for garnishing
Coconut milk - 75 ml
Salt and sugar - to taste
Oil
Ghee - 1 tsp (optional)

Method:

Cut the tomatoes into half and scoop out the seeds. Then, boil them in a pan of water (the water should just about cover the tomatoes) with a tsp. of sugar till they are soft. Peel off the skins and puree the tomatoes in a blender.

Heat oil, add the cinnamon and the cloves, followed by the onions. Saute till the onions take on a slight pink hue.

Then, add the grated ginger and the cumin seeds and stir for half a minute.

Slowly, add the tomatoe puree to the pan (make sure that you lower the flame to the lowest, else the puree will splutter) and add the crushed peppercorn, red chilli powder, salt, sugar and the curry leaves and bring to a boil. Lower the flame and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Now add the coconut milk (this gives the saar a lovely salmon colour) and bring to a boil - I use packaged coconut milk, if you use home-made coconut milk, then you might need to increase the quantity.

Add in the chopped corainder and the ghee.
(the ghee is optional, but there is no denying the lovely taste it gives the saar)

I serve this with piping hot rice and some veggies such as French beans or tindli or snake gourd . But most of the times, I like to sip it just like that. Tangy, sweet and spicy, all at once, all in one sip, it is an awesome explosion of flavours.


This, alongwith Fettucine with Prawns in Creamy Coconut Sauce is my entry to Let's Go Nuts: Coconuts being hosted by PJ this month.

or, the story of 3 phone calls and how to stretch 1 eggplant to make enough bharta for 4 adults.

It all started with a simple phone call to my closest friend in Singapore. I was just back from India and had a bunch of goodies for her. After the usual pleasantries, we decided we should meet for lunch.

"Aqua, I really am craving baingan ka bharta, but I just can't stomach the smell of the roasting eggplant. instead of going out for lunch, would you mind making me some bharta?"

Now, you don't ever deny a pregnant friend her food cravings, do you? So, baingan bharta it was.
The next day, however, she called... her cousin and his wife were on a stopover in Singapore, there was some mix up with the dates and they had landed up early that morning.
"I'll take a rain check on the lunch," she said.

After an hour, another call. It's a small world and six degrees of separations and all that - it turned out that the cousin's wife and I lived in the same building many moons ago. We just had to meet....lunch was on after all.

"Aqua, I don't want you to sweat over the cooking, I'll get something along, you please make the baingan ka bharta. I am really craving it".

Baingan ka bharta - for 4 people with from 1 eggplant that barely weighed 500 gms! How does one stretch 1 eggplant to make enough bharta for 4 people?

Here's how.

Trooping off to the market to buy another eggplant was certainly not the option, I was feeling way too lazy for that.

Fortunately, I remembered reading somewhere in some magazine that grated cabbage can be added to a bharta, and decided to give that a try.

It worked...nobody could tell that there was something other than baingan in the bharta and the bharta nicely served 4 people.

Though the use of cabbage is just optional, I now use it regularly in my bharta.

Ingredients:

Eggplant - 1 large
Cabbage - 1/2 cup, grated (Optional)
Green peas - 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 2 medium sized
Tomatoes - 2 medium sized
Ginger - 11/2 tsp, grated
Garlic - 1 tsp, grated
Green chilli - 1 tsp, chopped
Hing - a pinch

dry masalas

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
cumin powder - 3/4 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
salt to taste

Oil

Juice of half a lemon
Coriander leaves - 1 tsp, chopped
Spring onion - 3 tbsps, chopped

Method:

Smear some oil over the eggplant and roast it over an open flame. Keep turning it often and cook till the skin gets charred. Let it cool for a few minutes, then put the eggplant in a ziploc bag and leave it in for about 15 mins. This makes it easier to peel the charred skin.

Peel the skin from eggplant and discard the seeds, if any. With the back of a spoon, mash the eggplant.

Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When the crackle, add the hing followed by the ginger garlic paste and fry till fragrant. Then add the onions and fry till pink.

Next add the tomatoes and green chillies. When the tomatoes turn soft, add all the dry masalas and salt.

Now add the roasted eggplant and stir and mash and stir and mash till the eggplant gets nicely mixed into the masala. Add the grated cabbage and the green peas and cook the bharta, stirring occasionally, for about 10 mins till the bharta turns a rich brown color.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, a tsp of sugar and the coriander leaves and mix it in well.

Finally, add the chopped spring onions, turn off the gas and cover. The addition of spring onions adds a really lovely twist to the baingan bharta. Try it, I am sure you will enjoy it!

Sending this, alongwith my Baingan ka Raita, over to FIL - Brinjal hosted by Sanghi.

There was a time when my daughter was very fascinated by colours - she still is - but back then, she was just understanding the colours and learning to identify them and so she would talk about colours all the time.

So, I thought it would be a great idea to induce her to eat different (healthy) food types by talking about food in terms of colour.

So there was white mummum (mummum is food BTW, for her) = curd rice, and orange mummum = khichdi, or yellow mummum = egg curry and so on. I even managed pink mummum = pureed beetroot with yoghurt. What had me and still has me stumped was the day she asked for faint blue mummum!

Faint blue mummum.....any suggestions?

Green mummum = palak paneer is something that she loves, here's my version of it.




Microwave Palak Paneer

*when I make this for my daughter, I completely omit the green chilli and the red chilli powder

This is my entry to CFK:Greens hosted by Pavani, event started by Sharmi

Come winter and the markets would be flooded with what the vegetable vendors called "delli walle mutter" (green peas from Delhi). The Delhi green peas were indeed very sweet and tender, we used to love eating them straight out of the pod!

My mum would make lovely peas patties - one December when we had the family New Years party at our place, we pestered mum to include that in the menu. Now, shelling enough peas to make patties for a huge family of 23 was no easy task and we - a gang of 6 cousins - assured her that we would help.

Of course (and needless to say), in a short time, none of us were shelling the peas - someone found a worm in a pod and put it on another's neck, fights erupted and the group broke away. But the peas did get shelled (courtesy mum and aunts) and the patties duly devoured by the ones who demanded them.

It's been years since I have even laid my eyes on green peas in pods, the frozen ones suit me just fine! And my kitchen is incomplete with them frozen green peas and frozen paneer, they come in very handy especially when I am caught with no veggies!

Imagine....what if there were no potatoes? Can you? I, for one, can't think of my kitchen without potatoes. No, it is not like I put potatoes in everything or I cook potatoes regularly, quite on the contrary. But it is a great comfort to know that I have potatoes in the kitchen. That if need be, I can whip up something quite tasty and filling with very little effort or seasoning. Can't think of any other vegetable that is quite as versatile as the good ol' potato.

I can have potatoes in any form (mashed, dry sabzis, curries, wedges), but my very favorite is the one my mom used to make whenever papa or she observed a fast. It is very similar to jeera alu, but the addition of peanuts takes the taste up by a few notches. You guessed it - I almost never observe a fast, but make this very regularly nevertheless.




Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium sized
Sweet potato - 1, optional but very highly recommended!
green chillies - 2, slit
curry leaves - 7-10
dried red chillies - 2
peanuts - 4 tbsps, roasted and ground to a coarse powder
jeera - 1.5 tsps
lime juice
coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Method:

Pressure cook the potatoes, peel and cut into cubes. Toss with the peanut powder, salt and sugar.

Heat oil. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the green chillies, red chillies and the curry leaves in quick succession and stir for half a minute. Add the potatoes and stir well so that the masala coats the potato cubes. Add the lime juice and stir. Cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring infrequently so that the potatoes get slightly crisp on the outside. Sprinkle some chopped coriander and serve with dal and rotis/rice.

This goes to my own Lets go nuts: Peanuts. Only two days to go, guys, do get nutty!!

I wonder if this happens to you guys as well...sometimes, I find myself sticking to a particular recipe (for no reason at all) .... it is almost like being on a default mode in the kitchen!! For example, I am normally very partial to this recipe of making arbi and though I know few others, it's been ages since I used them.

So when Raaga made Masala Arbi Fries, I knew what I was going to make the next time I bought arbi.

Thanks Raaga, for reminding me about this recipe.

Ingredients:

Arbi 250 gms
Potato 2 nos
1 tbsp ajwain
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
4 tbsp tomato chilli sauce (I use Maggi Chilli Sauce)
1.5 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Pressure cook the arbi and the potato until they are just cooked (don't overcook, usually I cook mine for 2 whistles). Also use a little dried tamarind or 1/2 a lemon when cooking arbi, this takes away the itchiness it can sometimes cause.
2. Peel and cut arbi and potatoes into cubes.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and shallow fry till they are properly browned. Drain on a kitchen towel.
4. In the same pan, heat the remaining oil. Add the ajwain and let it splutter. Add the dry masalas and stir. Use a couple of tsps of water if the masalas seem to burn. Next, add the sauce and stir so that the sauce and the masalas are properly mixed.
5. Add the fried arbi and the potato and toss till they are evenly coated.

Warning: Make these just before serving. Do not taste, just serve them.....I serve this as a side dish with roti and dal, though by the time they make it to the table - well, didn't I say do not taste!!!

This goes to Think Spice...think carom as well.