This is a small part of an e-mail I wrote 2 years ago, soon after I wrote this post, to a few of my very special childhood friends. We were a group of 3 girls and 2 boys and their friendship was one of the best things that ever happened to me.


Do you remember our summer holidays? The months of April and May when the sun shone with all its might and we roamed aimlessly around the neighbourhood, barefoot, with nary a care in the world.
Except, of course, our exam results.

Tell me, do you remember those little white lies we told each other of how well we had done in our exams, only to sheepishly hang our heads in shame when our mothers got together and bemoaned our dismal results?


Do you remember the games we used to play? I know how that sounds - games we played - but back then, it simply meant lagori, dabba ice-spice, chor police, dodge ball, carrom, statue or colour - colour, to name some. We could play all day long; in fact, the day isn't just long enough to accomodate all our games, we used to complain!
Of course, there were times when we would fight. Bitterly. Loudly. Physically. We would take sides, split into groups, and declare a cold war.....only to reconcile a few hours later, and start playing again, as if the fight had never happened. Playing, fighting, reconciling - it was all so easy then.


Do you remember us glugging down glasses of cold panha, kokum sherbet or Rasna after playing in the hot sun, and egging you M, to burp? Louder, louder, we used chant. And you would oblige us every single time.
We would all collapse into giggles. We would laugh so hard that we would get hiccups. So we'd drink some more juice to get rid of the hiccups, and start with the 'burp' game again.


Do you remember landing up at odd hours at each others' houses, demanding to be fed? With our mouths stuffed with food, and without any regard for the feelings of the aunty feeding us, we would start loud arguments about how our respective mom was the 'world's best cook'.


Do you remember the races we had? No, we never had running or cycling races. We competed to find who could eat a ripe mango the fastest. We would soften the mango between our fingers and suck on it, the juice dripping down on our already stained and muddy clothes. K, your 'white' petticoats would take quite a beating! We never savoured the taste then, all we wanted was to eat as fast as possible.


And, do you remember looking up at the skies towards the end of May when the monsoon clouds would start to gather? We couldn't wait to get wet in the first monsoon showers, and yet the first showers would always sadden us a little. For with the first showers also came the realisation that our schools would reopen soon, and we would have to wait a whole year for the fun to begin again.
"Oh what a vacation we 've had", we would say over and over again. "We are never going to forget it".


So tell me....tell me that you still remember. Because I....I have never forgotten.


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I have said this before and I don't mind saying it again. No matter where I live, no matter what the season it is there at that time, to me the months of April and May will forever mean summer holidays.

And mangoes. Lots of mangoes.


And amrakhand. We preferred amrakhand over shrikhand and when the mango season was at its peak, there would be amrakhand at the table almost every other day.





Amrakhand is simply mango pulp mixed together with chakka or hung curd and sweetened with a bit sugar. Making it is very easy but it does need some pre-preparation.


Making chakka or hung curd:

Chakka or hung curd is nothing but yogurt from which excess water has been drained off.




To make hung curd, you will need a muslin cloth and a bowl. Place the muslin cloth over the bowl and pour the yogurt in the centre of the muslin cloth. Tie up the muslin cloth tightly with a string and suspend it over a hook. ( I suspend mine over a door knob) and place the bowl directly under the cloth. This is important, else you will end up with a puddle of whey!

After about 4 hours, open the muslin cloth and gently mix the yogurt, tie it up tightly once again and suspend it for another 4 hours. At the end of about 8 hours, you should end up with a creamy yogurt, almost like cream cheese.

(Don't discard the water strained from the yogurt. You can use it in your curries or to knead dough; I use it to make dugh).

Once you have the thick and creamy hung curd, making amrakhand is a breeze.




Amrakhand


Ingredients:

Hung curd: 2 cups
Fresh mango pulp: 1.5 cups - 2 cups ( see 'notes' below)
Cardamom powder: 3/4 tsp
Icing sugar: 2 tbsps, or to taste
Salt: a pinch

for garnishing, optional:

Chopped nuts: 2-3 tbsps
Mango cubes: 1/2 cup


Method:

Make mango pulp by pureeing mango cubes in a blender.

Place a sieve over a bowl, put the the hung curd and the mango pulp into the sieve and mix together with a spoon.





You could mix the two directly in a bowl, but passing it through the sieve ensures a smooth, lump - free, glossy amrakhand.

Add the cardamom powder and the salt. Do a taste test and add sugar as needed. I sometimes don't need to add any sugar, the sweetness from the mangoes is good enough for us.

Let it rest in the refrigerator for atleast a couple of hours before serving in order to allow the flavours to mingle.


Garnish with nuts and serve the traditional way, with hot puris.


Or, if frying puris is as tedious for you as it is for me, fold in a few mango cubes and serve it as a post meal dessert. Absolute manna from heaven!






Notes:

Canned mango pulp is very easy to get these days. It doesn't matter. Make amrakhand with fresh mangoes only. For nothing else can match the taste of fresh mangoes in amrakhand.

The colour of your amrakhand will depend on the type of mango used.


Use pulpy as opposed to juicy mangoes. In India, Alphonso mangoes work best. Here in Johannesburg, I used Heidi mangoes.

If I am serving the amrakhand with puris, I use 1.5 cups of mango pulp for 2 cups of hung curd in order to get a thicker amrakhand. I increase the mango pulp to 2 cups if I am serving it as a post meal dessert to get a more intense mango flavour.

It was late morning on a lazy Sunday. The sun shone high up in the sky and the garden had burst into a myriad of colours. Under the clear blue skies, the scent of flowers hung heavy in the air and the bees buzzed noisily. High up on the branches of a tree whose name I don't know, the weaver birds worked furiously to build their nests.










It was the kind of day that made me want to do nothing but bask in the warm sun and feel the gentle breeze ruffling through my hair. It was the kind of day that made me want to lie down on a hammock (which, unfortunately, we don't have) and read a book whilst sipping on a cocktail.

It was also the kind of day that made me crave a hearty home cooked lunch, but one that took little effort to make. I went over the contents of my vegetable crisper but somehow, the cauliflower, the carrots and the potatoes just didn't inspire. .


With the vivid colours of the garden still dancing before my eyes, what I wanted was a splash of colour on the plate.









Since nothing in the vegetable crisper quite fit the bill of 'colourful', the reluctant husband was sent to the nearest fruit and veg market with a list of vegetables to buy.

Within minutes of having the vegetables, lunch was ready. Easy enough to put together, light yet filling - a one pot meal that was bursting with flavour and colour......







Black Pepper Noodles with Stir Fried Vegetables

Ingredients:

Dried Noodles: 150 gms

Red, green and yellow peppers: 1/2 each, thinly sliced
Onion: 1 small, sliced
Garlic: 3 cloves, sliced
Purple baby cabbage: 1, thinly sliced
Brown mushrooms: 6 nos
Spring onions: 5-6 stalks, finely chopped (discard the onions)

for the sauce:

Soy sauce: 1 tbsp
Sweet soy sauce: 2 tsps
White wine vinegar: 1.5 tsps
Black pepper powder: 1 - 2 tsps (adjust as per your spice tolerance and preference)

Salt, to taste

Oil: 1.5 tbsps + 1 tsp


Method:

Cook the noodles as per package instructions. Drain the hot water from noodles, wash them in cold water, toss in 1 tsp of oil and set aside to cool.

While the noodles cook, slice the vegetables. Also, mix together the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, vinegar and black pepper powder in a bowl.



In a non-stick wok, heat oil till it starts to smoke. (When stir frying the veggies, always work on high heat and stir constantly).  Add the sliced garlic and stir till it starts to turn brown. Add the onions and stir till they start to soften. Toss in the mushrooms and stir till they are cooked.


Then add the sliced peppers and the cabbage and toss for about 2 minutes. Don't cook them, you want them to retain their crunch.

Add the sauce to the veggies. Finally, add the cooked noodles and toss till they are coated with the sauce and the stir fried veggies are evenly distributed through the noodles.

(At this stage, taste for salt; the sauces have a lot of salt in them and I normally don't need to add any table salt to my black pepper noodles).


Dish out the noodles in a bowl and garnish with the chopped spring onions.





It is said that we eat with our eyes first. Tell me, doesn't that bowl of noodles with a rainbow of colours look absolutely appetising?

When we moved the Singapore, every single person who knew anything about Singapore had one thing to tell us : that we must have Hainanese Chicken Rice.



And so, the day we landed in Singapore, we made our way to a food court to have what is the national dish of Singapore.



However, when I first lay my eyes on the plate of chicken and rice, all I felt was disappointment. "Why is there so much fuss about Hainanese Chicken Rice? It is just boiled chicken," I whispered to my husband.





It was, however, love at first bite. The chicken was extremely fragrant and succulent, the rice very flavourful. It looked no fancier than boiled chicken, but the taste was anything but.



I have so many people to thank for this recipe - a couple of Singaporean friends, my chicken vendor in the Tekka wet market and Elaine's blog.





Here's how you make it:


Ingredients:

for the chicken

Chicken: 1 kg (buy the best and freshest chicken you can, I normally buy a free range chicken)

Chicken bones, to make the stock: optional


Garlic: 8-10 cloves,
Ginger:1.5" piece, peeled


Cloves: 4
Star anise: 2


Screwpine leaves (pandan leaves): 4 nos, washed and tied into a knot
(if you can't find these, replace with 4 stalks of spring onions - discard the onions)

Salt: 3 - 4 tsps


Sesame oil: 2 tbsps
Light soy sauce: 1 tbsp



Method:


In a large pot, pour about 2 litres of water. Add to it the chicken bones (if using), 2 tsps salt, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2" piece of ginger, 2 cloves, 1 star anise and 2 pandan leaves. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Retain the spices and the herbs, discard the bones.


While you make the stock, wash the chicken. Sprinkle the remaining salt over the chicken, leave for about 5 minutes and rub thoroughly. Salt is a meat tenderiser and this step goes a long way in making the chicken succulent. Wash the chicken again and stuff the cavity with the remaining cloves, star anise, ginger, garlic and pandan leaves.


Slowly slide the chicken breast side down into the boiling stock; the stock should completely cover the chicken (if not, boil some water on the side and pour it into the pot).


Allow the water to come to a boil again, cover the pot and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Then, turn off the heat and leave the chicken undisturbed for 1.5 hours. This is very important - don't open the cover of the pot.


I know how radically opposite this method of cooking chicken is to more popular method of cooking chicken, but trust me, the chicken will be fully cooked and absolutely succulent.


Uncover the pot after 1.5 hours and if desired, poke a skewer into the thigh; the juices should run clear.


Tip the stock into another pot  - don't discard the stock for the rice is cooked in it and that is what gives the rice its flavour. Pour cold water over the chicken to stop it from cooking any further.


Mix together the sesame oil and the soy sauce and rub over the chicken.


For the rice:


Rice: 1 cup, washed
Chicken stock: 2 1/4 cups
Garlic: 1 clove
Ginger: 1" piece
Sesame oil: 1 tbsp
Light soy sauce: 1 tbsp
Screwpine leaves: 1, tied into a knot



Method:


Heat oil, and fry the garlic till it turns light brown. Add the ginger and the rice and saute for a minute. Add the stock, the screwpine leaf and the soy sauce. Once the rice has absorbed all the stock, cover the pot and lower the heat to the lowest, steam for a minute and take the pot off the burner.


For the sauce:


Pound together 4 cloves of garlic, 10 fresh red chillies, 1" piece of ginger. Add to it 2 tbsps of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp of chopped shallots and 1 tsp of chopped coriande leaves.



To serve:

Slice the chicken and serve with a scoop of rice, sliced cucumbers, the stock and the sauce.

"I will be experimenting with a whole wheat & low fat version, but I think we should all be a little decadent sometimes and indulge ourselves :)," she had written.


The cake looked and sounded delicious and I copied her recipe on my 'must make' word document, noted her email address and decided to write to her and ask her if she made those changes to her recipe. That was about 2 years ago.


Early last year, I was looking for a different chocolate cake recipe and was reminded of the one I had bookmarked from her blog.

I should write to her. I will write to her...soon, I resolved



I should have written to her, or at the very least, her read her blog more often than I did. That way, I would have known that she did make those changes to her recipe. That way, I could have made the cake a lot earlier than I did.
That way, I could have thanked her for her fabulous chocolate cake.








No, I didn't know her, I didn't make the effort to. But today, and sadly, when she is no longer with us, I have learnt a lot more about her. Through the words of those who knew her. The words of her friends paint a vivid picture of a woman who was vivacious, spirited and tenacious and lived her life with  fortitude and grace.





                                                                           (pic.credit Manisha)



Thank you, Raji. Through your life, I have learnt that it is possible to spread cheer and positivity all around you, even when faced with some of life's biggest challenges.


R.I.P.




(Miri's divine chocolate cake can be found here.

She later made the same cake with a little less butter and added some whole wheat flour. That is the one I made, and it is here.

But don't just stop at these two posts. Her blog is testimony to her spirit and you should read every single post).




To know more about her inspiring life, read Manisha's, Sandeepa's and Nina's posts.

"You must make sweet potatoes a part of your daily diet," I told my mum emphatically over Skype one day. "They are almost a wonder food," I said and started enumerating the benefits of sweet potatoes, almost feeling a little smug about telling my mum - who always seemed to be telling us what to eat - how to improve her diet. 


"Remind me," she said "to twist your ears the next time I meet you."


Oh oh....this conversation wasn't really going quite the way I had envisaged.


"Of course, you don't remember the times when I would add sweet potatoes to batatyacha kees (spicy grated potatoes) and you girls would refuse to touch it with cries of 'yuck, we don't want to have sweet potatoes.' And now, you are telling me to eat them! We eat them more regularly than you know," she informed me.


Oh well...guess my mom is always going to be a step ahead of me.



  




Well yes, there was a time when I hated sweet potaoes with a passion and for no real reason. Exactly when I started liking them, I can't recollect. Probably when I had baked sweet potato wedges, I think, at a friend's place. Then, it was the taste that drew me to the tubers.


But, as I became more aware of how nutrient packed sweet potatoes are, I slowly started cooking with them more and more often. Initially, I used them alongwith potatoes, primarily in spicy curries and baked wedges or like my mom used to, in  batatycha kees (spicy grated potatoes). 


Over a period of time, sweet potatoes have almost nudged the beloved potato out of my pantry.









Rosti, traditionally made with potatoes, is something I now make exclusively with sweet potatoes. The sweet potato rosti has a very delicate, almost melt in your mouth texture and is much quicker to cook than the rosti made with potatoes.








Sweet Potato Rosti



Ingredients:


Grated sweet potatoes: 1 - 1/4 cup
Garlic: 1 small clove, very finely minced
Onion: 1/2, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oil: 1 -1/2 tbsp
Lemon wedge, optional



Method:


Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a 6" pan (I sometimes divide the potatoes into 2 and cook 2 rostis in a smaller pan, as in the photos). Add the minced garlic and the chopped onions and fry for a minute. Add the grated sweet potatoes, sprinkle the salt and pepper and toss well till they are coated with oil.


With the help of a spatula, distribute the potatoes evenly all over the pan and gently press them to get a pancake about 1/2" thick. Drizzle a few drops of oil around the edges and on a medium heat, cook the potatoes till the bottom is golden brown and crispy, about 8-10 minutes.


Shake the pan to loosen the rosti from the edges, flip it** and cook the other side till golden brown and crisp.


(** to flip the rosti, you will need a plate that fits snugly into the pan you are cooking the rosti in. Cover the rosti with the plate and invert the pan, the cooked side of the rosti will be on top. Then with the help of the spatula, gently slide the rosti, uncooked side down, into the pan. Don't fret too much if the rosti breaks - mine does very often, because of the delicate texture of the sweet potatoes - just assemble it back into a pancake).


Slide the cooked rosti on a plate, squeeze some lemon juice and sprinkle some cracked pepper on it; serve with some fried eggs and fruit on the side for a wholesome breakfast.