Smokey Summer Cooler

Is it summer already? Well, it sure felt that way this weekend with all the mercury soaring. We were outdoors a lot, on Saturday I had a party for the kids and now Anshul has this gardening project going.

The cat has already damaged 3 of the little tomato seedlings that earned him compliants from his two siblings - yes, the kids call him their brother. Well, he holds his own, he meaaod back and proceeded to go and drink water out of the crystal vase toppling the vase and flowers in the process. I tell you, there is never a dull moment, who needs reality TV.

Anyhow, I picked up some green mangoes from the Indian store. I love using them in all kinds of things. I was however very inspired by this recipe, of aam pora shorbot.

The rock salt in this imparts and accentuates the smokiness of the mango, if you are thinking margarita I am right there with you, I actually added pineapples to sweeten the drink and the marriage of flavors was a very smooth union.

Smokey Summer Cooler

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Makes 6 glasses

Ingredients

2 green mangoes

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks, about 1/2 a fresh pineapple

1 cup ice

1 cup water

1 tbsp black salt

2 tbsp raw turbinado sugar (more to taste)

Method of Preparation

1. Roast the mangoes on an open flame. This is done the same way you would do an eggplant for baigan bharta. This process takes a little time but the results are well worth it. The mango needs to be turned once.

2. Cool the mangoes and peel the skin carefully. Carefully scoop the pulp (this gets pretty soft at this point) into the blender.

3. Add the water and blend into a smooth slushy puree. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Explaining Motherhood and Children!

A childless man observed to me today, "Gosh, children must be so exhausting!!!!", I was a taken aback by this observation, because LOL, hell yes, they are exhasuting but, can I imagine or even want to think of a life without them, no...

How can I explain to a man like him, how rejuvenating my son's welcome smile is when I walk back home after a long day at work, how lovely it is to hear my daughter squeal in delight when I make her favorite and simple scrambled eggs with cheese, how lovely it is to see her dance her first steps!! Yes, the little princess has started Indian Dance lessons. I tear up every year when the daycare celebrates their annual anniversary, it is just so amazing to remember the days when I first dropped Deepta and Aadi off, so yes, children are exhausting but what a lonely, selfish and empty existence one would have without them.

Here is to a simple earthy recipe for Earth Day!

Mustard seasoned zucchini

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon mustard oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 zucchinis, sliced

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and wait till they crackle.

2. Add in the onion and tomato and saute for 1-2 minutes.

3. Mix in all the remaining ingredients and cook for about 4 minutes, till the zucchini is soft and cooked through.

4. Enjoy as a flavorful side.

Cauliflower with ginger and fenugreek

OMG! looking at the monsoon outside, who would think spring was almost here this weekend!

What a perfectly clear day! We went to the teatown lake's Earth Day, hikathon! I tried to be good over the weekend, did not use plastic bags, drank lots of NY wine and cooked mostly vegetarian food.

Actually the recipe, I am posting was done earlier in the week a somewhat different variation of my usual cauliflower, with a touch of dried fenugreek. It is quite amazing how much flavor this adds to the dish!

Outside of things, I paid homage to Sparkles the clown and prepped for my kids birthday party next week!

Cauliflower with ginger and fenugreek

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Method of Preparation

3/4 head of a cauliflower

2 potatoes

3 tomatoes

2-3 tablespoons sour cream

2-3 green chillies

3-4 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin-coriander powder

1/2 cup green peas

1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves

Method of Preparation

1. Cut the cauliflower into medium sized pieces and peel and cut the potatoes.

2. In a blender puree the tomatoes and sour cream.

3. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and grated ginger, followed by the potatoes.

4. Stir well and mix in the turmeric and salt. Cover and cook the potatoes till almost done. This takes about 7 minutes.

5. Add in the cauliflower and the tomato puree and peas and cumin-coriander powder, mix well and cover and cook till the cauliflower is cooked. Stir in the dried fenugreek and cook for 2 more minutes and serve.

Awards and Tags

I am not totally sure how this is done, but Sharmistha passed me this tag and award. Oh number tags can be interesting and challenging, here is what I have cobbled up,

1. The one and only sibbling that I have, my dear brother!

2. My two beautiful children - Deepta and Aadi.

3. My third child - my dear cat Benji.

4. The four essentials in my cooking - ginger, garlic, onion and cilantro.

5. Ok, my dear panch phoron - nigella, cumin, coriander, fennel and fenugreek.

6. My dear daughter age!

7. The number of months we have active farmers markets in Westchester county!

8. The time we try to put the kids to sleep!

9. Struggling to get to work!

10. The time at night I call my own.

I shall pass this on to, Sharmila and Sharmi.

Marylou's Devilled Eggs

Marylou is our lovely and kind neighbour who goes out of her way to make life a little more cheerful for us, she gets me cut flowers from her garden, whenever possible she helps with the kids, brings us nice seasonal surprises. So yesterday was no different. She actually took my daughter over to make these lovely devilled eggs, then she asked me to come up with a more Indianized version so we had two variations of these. My son decided to amuse himself my writing his name all over the sheet. (the bed sheet that is). That kid has no plans of growing up. He was even upset that I fussed, since he was practicing writing as I had asked him too, LOL!

So here we have the recipes, the original,

Marylou's Devilled Eggs

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 hardboiled eggs

Beetjuice to color

2 tablespoons mayonaise

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon relish

Method of Preparation

1. Carefully cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.

2. Soak the eggs in a pool of beetjuice and watch as the color seeps in.

3. Remove and set aside.

4. Mix the eggs with the remaining ingredients and stuff back into the hollows.

5. Enjoy!

Marylou's Eggs after a cup of tea with Rinku

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 hardboiled eggs
Beetjuice to color
2 tablespoons mayonaise
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon chat masala

1 teaspoon minced green chillies
1 teaspoon salt

Method of Preparation

1. Carefully cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.
2. Soak the eggs in a pool of beetjuice and watch as the color seeps in.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. Mix the eggs with the remaining ingredients and stuff back into the hollows.
5. Enjoy!

Bengali Risoto - Mushoor Daler Kichuri

I am not trying to make a homestyle dish sexy by calling it risotto, its just last night while making the recipe I was pretty surprised at the how similar the process, instructions and texture are. Everytime I make Khichuri I keep hearing my mother's voice telling me to keep stirring and make sure that is it creamy but not overcooked. Sounds familiar? Yes, much like any risotto, the rice hear is different, technique similar, ingredients somewhat healthier and this could make a vegan dish if you so wish. The other day I came across fresh green peas so I had to make this dish. Fresh green peas can be used for all recipes but in my opinion they make the most impact in a rice dish.

Bengali Risoto - Mushoor Daler Kichuri

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 cup of mushoor dal (red split lentils)

8 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

3/4 cup rice (I use the kalajeera variety)

1 potato, peeled at cut into eights

1 cup cauliflower florettes

1/2 cup green peas (preferably frozen)

For the tempering

2-3 tbsp oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tomato, cut into a dice

Method of Preparation

1. Place the lentils in a pot with 3 cups of water, salt, turmeric and chili powder. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the temperature and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. The lentils should be only partially cooked.

2. Add in the rice, potatoes and cauliflower and the peas (only if fresh) and another cup of water. Continue cooking stirring occasionally adding the remaining water as needed. The objective is to reach a stage where the lentils are a smooth yellow puree and the rice is soft but not mushy. This takes about 25 minutes.

3. Add in any remaining water and the frozen peas if using frozen peas. Cover the pot and turn off the heat, this allows the gentle completion of the cooking process.

4. Heat the oil and add the onions and let these cook onlow-medium heat, stirring ever so occasionally, continue this until the onions begin to turn lightly golden brown (takes a good 10 minutes).

5. Stir in the cumin seeds and the tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and then mix this into the lentil rice (khichuri) mixture.

6. Place the entire khichuri on the fire for a couple of minutes and serve immediately.

Asparagus Risotto

I think one of the greatest joys of enjoying food and being in the kitchen is that you can do something comforting and interesting even when things are mundane. To me sometime quitely fussing with a different but practical recipe helps cheer me up, generally feel pleased.

I had come across an Asparagus Risotto in an edition of the Gourmet magaizne a while back and scoffed at the thought of barley measuring up to sinfully rich, meltingly soft arborio rice. This is what is interesting about this risotto, it actually is pretty creamy without an inordinate amount of grease. The barley retains a bit if chewiness but still lends some creaminess to the dish. I have modified the recipe quite a bit for spicing but left the original concept of using up the asparagus intact. Sorry, I have not saved the clipping so I cannot really link or mention the recipe more specifically. This recipe is laced with garlic and lots of star anise and complements most Indian and or new world cuisines. I have fussied my recipe format becoz, I think this helps in cutting and pasting for class notes.

Asparagus Risotto with Barley

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 lbs. fresh asparagus

6 cups water

2 tsp salt

3 cloves of garlic
1 onion

3 tbsp olive oil

2 star anise

1-2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon red pepper

1.5 cups pearl barley

1/3 cup sliced carrots (optional)

3 tablespoons parmasan cheese

1 tsp chopped cilantro

2 -3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)

Method of Preparation

1. Chop the asparagus separating the tips and soft stems from the rest. Cut and set these pieces aside.
2. Trim of the really hard edges and coarsely chop the rest of the asparagus.
3. In a large pan place the water and the salt to boil and add the regular stems (in step 2) and boil for 8 minutes. Strain these stems with a slotted spoon into a food processor and add the tender tips and stems and cook for 2 minutes. Remove into a colander and place under running cold water. Reserve the water that the asparagus was cooked in.
4. Process the asparagus in the blender, grate the garlic and chop the onion finely.
5. Heat the oil and add the star anise, bay leaves, grated garlic and onion and saute for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the red pepper and the pearl barley and mix in for 1 minute.
6. Add in the water and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook on low for 40 minutes. The texture needs to be that of a stew, add extra water if needed. Once the barley reaches this consistency, stir in the pureed asparagus and carrots (if using) and cook for 2-3 minutes.
7. Mix in the asparagus tips and tender stems with the cheese and cook for 1-2 minutes.
8. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and the lime juice and enjoy!

Zucchini and Eggplant Bharit - From the turmeric trail

I made this nice variation in baigan bhartha from a book that I end up reading a lot for the prose almost more than the recipes. This is not because the recipes are not good, just find the authors narration catchy. The book is such an interesting read in that the authors memories do focus on some dark aspects of his childhood but with an exceedingly light touch - sort of like adding chillies to a rich makhani sauce, it does infuse the bite, gently with a very subtle impact.

Well ever so often I go back and forth with cookbooks in my collection and passed through the mentioned book. I loved the idea of the classic pureered eggplant with some crunch from peanuts. Well I varied this a little partly to use up a zucchini in the fride and partly to add certain spices I thought worked well with the recipe. So this is how I did it.

Zuchini and Eggplant Bharit - Zuchini with Pureed eggplants and crushed peanuts

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 medium sized eggplant

1 zuchini

2-3 tbsp oil

3/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin

1 medium onion diced

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tomato, cut into a dice

1/3 cup, roasted coarsely ground peanuts

2 green chillies, minced

8-20 curry leaves

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Roast the eggplant on a grill or open gas flame till the outer skin is completely charred and the eggplant is cooked through. The process takes about 10-12 minutes. Cool and peel the skin off.

2. Grate the zucchini with the skin on and set aside.

3. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and cumin and wait till the mustard begins to pop.

4. Stir the onion, turmeric and tomato and cook for 1-2 minutes.

5. Mix in the roasted eggplant and zucchini and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring well to mix and soften the eggplant.

6. Mix in all the remaining ingredients and cook for 3-4 minutes. Enjoy!

Cilantro Paneer and Potatoes

I made this awfully simple dish, but was quite blown away with how flavorful it had turned out! It was inspired by a similar dish I had tasted at my friend Vivek's house but the gingery overtones were just a little bolder in this dish. See somehow I think different people handle and percieve spices differently, this is why recipes end up tasting different from person to person. By this I mean the tiny nuances that cannot be camputured irrespective of how specific a recipe is. A small illustration is that my househelper often assists me with chopping veggies, I tell her to chop onion finely, what I end up with is medium fine in my opinion. Now, with ginger it ends up being the other way around she always grated this using the fine blade of the grater I end up using the coarser side.

Anyhow, here is how I made this dish, tastes fresh and light, works well with simple white rice.

Cilantro Paneer and Potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp grated ginger
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup cubed paneer or tofu
1 potato, parboiled, peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 green chilly
1 tomato
1 tsp garam masala

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and let this cook briefly for a few seconds.
2. Add the ginger and onions and saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Mix in the paneer and potato with the salt and cumin-coriander powder and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Grind the cilantro, green chilli and tomato in a blender with about 1/4 cup water.
5. Pour this over the paneer and potato mixture and cook for about 5 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with garam masala and enjoy!