An event, backyard cooking and more...

Anshul's summer project is begining to bear fruit - more vegetables to be precise, but we are really proliferated with lovely green spinach, red beets and yet new big tomatoes. I am a little tired tonight to post the garden pictures, but promise to do this over the weekend!

This particular recipe is the begining of what I shall be calling backyard cooking, recipes inspired by what I can find in my backyard - in this instance the tomato and the cilantro are from the backyard. The rest of the recipe just came together.


Butternut Squash and Zucchini Curry

The recipe has lots of lemony notes that are a perfect contrast to the sweet butternut squash used here. I have also added crumbled paneer (I made this a couple of days back) for some richness and body. The recipe is gently tempered with mustard seeds, that makes a lovely nutty contrast to the onions and garlic scapes that are used to form the base of this rather simple homestyle dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mustard or extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 medium sized red onion, peeled and cut into a dice
1/2 cup finely chopped garlic scapes
1 large tomato, cut into a dice
1 zuchini, cut into a large dice (basically the size here is in between a cube and a dice)
2 cups, diced butternut squash (this can be pumpkin)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
3/4 cup crumbled paneer
1 lime or lemon, halved and seeded
3/4 cup chopped cilantro


Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the mustard and nigella seeds and cook for about 30 seconds until the mustard seeds begin to pop.
2. Add in the onion and garlic scapes and saute on low heat for 3-4 minutes until the onion is wilted and transluscent.
3. Add in the tomato and cook for another 3-4 minutes until soft.
4. Stir in the zuchini and butternut squash with the salt, turmeric and chili powder (if using this) and the paneer, mix well, cover and cook for 7 minutes till the vegetables are soft.
5. Squeeze in the lemon or lime juice and the cilantro. Remove from heat and serve.

If you like this kind of cooking, please check in through next week. The Westchester bloggers are doing a blogathon to promote the local farmers markets. You can see the blogs in the, "In the neighbourhood section of my blog. If you are a food blogger in Westchester, please join the Westchester Food Bloggers group on Facebook to join the fun!

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.

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!