Pre-Thanksgiving musings - a shrimp curry

It is that time of the year when most of us feel reflective, the growing season is winding down, the year is ending the days are getting smaller and yes, it is Thankgiving. Like most people who love to cook, it is my favorite holiday of the year. I also like to reflect more on the things that I can be grateful for. From simple things like the joy I feel in the kitchen to more complicated things. Something that really helps is my children's after-school program that runs holiday coverage. They are right across the road, this helps on a day like today. I was at home but diwas running around trying to get all the shopping done, but did feel a little guilty, so my compromise was to make the kids some warm lunch and drop it off. A classic that never goes out of style is the grilled cheese. How I did theirs today was with oatmeal bread and some turkey and tomato in the center.

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Reclaiming counter space - mostly in the kitchen!

All right, I have realized that I am completely bursting in the seams in terms of kitchen space. This is not as easy as I would like to believe, my kitchen while not huge is certainly adequately spaced. I am really good at organizing my world electronically but unfortunately everything else can be quite unweildy. I also have a hard time getting rid of things! Not to mention the clutter caused by kids bowls, drinking cups, etc. But again, this really is a very small part of the problem... Most of the problem is really caused by my love of buying spices, beans, lentils, you get the idea... More often than not I try a new vinegar, use it for a dish and then it sits on the counter accumulating dust, the same holds true for teas that I try (it does not help that I like leaf tea and Anshul prefers teabags), so this is going to be my organize my kitchen project. It shall include disposing off several things to reclaim the counter-space in my kitchen. This is going to be painful and so I do need to share this exercise really for inspiration and therapeutic reasons. I am giving myself two weeks for this exercise. I know that is ambitious but sometimes, you have to bite the bullet!

So, today I actually filled two garbage bags full of trash - this is what got tossed out, cheap plastic ware (looked pretty at some point of time), empty duplicate cartons, misc dried spices and herbs, I just dont use these anymore, lots of old powdered spices, package of Handvo mix, old appam mix, two pots that I had no idea existed, mismatched tupperware, three readymade food packages (rajma and amritsari chole) that someone brought along all the way from India, to save me the inconvienience of cooking from them. Well, tomorrow I shall have to take a hard look at the appliances.

Mental notes - Costo is not for food shopping for our family, I do not need to buy poppy seeds or Amchur powder in a very long time.

Dal and Cauliflower Bhartha - Summer 2009!

What makes Summer 2009 different, I honestly am not sure and yet it is different. Possibly because I have actually learnt to appreciate little things through my children's eyes - I do hope that I do not ever lose that perspective.

Small things make a big difference in their worlds, they are also content most days! For example, the highlight of Aadi's world today was to see me use a new pair of cat clippers on Benji! Anshul has been happy with the garden project, I am so happy to finally have more tomatoes than I can use, even if this is transient it is not a mean feat in our household, we are practically addicted to tomatoes!

Well, I have also learnt to love blueberries! For some reason, I restricted my summer berry love to just raspberries and strawberries, thus far!

The other night, I made this very simple bhartha, where I actually substituted cauliflower for potatoes. I was curious to see how this would turn out and in the process realized how important mustard oil is too me. No, I do not use it everyday or for every meal, but I guess when I need it it is an essential. I do not really even have pictures to post of this

A bharta is a puree, usually of eggplant or potatoes. This particular variety is the bengali variety, which does include lentils and usually is made with starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, taro and of course potatoes. I made this with red lentils (masuur dal) and cauliflower and loved it!

Kofi and mushur daler bhorta - Dal and Cauliflower Puree

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

2/3 cup of red lentils

1 small potato, peeled and cut into quarters

1/2 a head of medium cauliflower

1 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 tomato, quartered

1-2 tablespoons mustard oil

1/2 red onion, very finely diced

2 green chillies, finely chopped

2 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the lentils, potato, cauliflower, garlic, salt, turmeric and tomato in a pressure cooker. Add 1/3 cup of water.

2. Bring the pressure cooker to full pressure and cook for 3 minutes. Cool naturally and remove the pressure.

3. What you should see is a well steamed caulflower with spices clinging to it, a wilted tomato and soft flaky lentils that are fairly dry.

4. With a firm hand and a wooden spoon, mix the vegetables and lentils into a smooth puree.

5. Mix in the other ingredients and enjoy as a side dish or even a dip or spread.

The center of our household.

I came across this Kitchen event through Kalyn's Blog.

Other than being a great blog it is such a wealth of information about food, events in the food world technical tool and other blogs. This is being hosted by Ilva.

What can I say about my kitchen, firstly I love the fact that it is a very comfortable size. It has lots of light, and fits in my children's chairs. It allows me the luxury of being able to spend time with them and cook. The center of the Kitchen is fairly typical has a kitchen stove, closets and tabletops and is where most of the major cooking activity takes place. The refrigerator doubles as an art display hub, as well as an educational center so that we can spell and eat at the same time.

There is room for several theatrical performances especially when we do not want to go to bed. The oposite size has a breakfast nook and a baker's rack for my cookbooks.

It is currently the training group for a chef who is all for 34 months. Move aside Nigella Lawson. Finally, I have my gadget corner. I especally like the fact that there is a pull out work station here. What I do not like is that there is not enough glass, the wood is nice but some contrast would be nice. I had once thought I would paint the room yellow, but realized that the white reflects well on a sunny day. So there you have it, my favorite room, the center of our household, not immaculate but cosy.

Back from India

India was interesting as usual!

Just back from a three week stint of India, I went to Kolkatta and Delhi, it was so interesting to be there over the festivals. Unfrtunately, I caught the tailend of Durga Puja, but even then it was great. My camera has been left behind so one will have to wait for my pictures. No biases, while the capital city has improved in its cuisine, it just cannot match the gastronomical delights of Kolkatta, where people live to eat. Ate amazing rolls, bhetki, chinese and of course lots of sweets. Two great recipes, I picked up for desserts were for Rasogollar payesh, (this differs slightly from its cousin -rasomalai) and Labanga Latika (neat pastry packages filled with kheer and coconut). The trends for fusion has expanded from Chinese to Thai, Mexican and Italian.

In Delhi, of course I tried chaat, Alu tikkis and for the first time I tried pure Awadhi cuisine. Some thing that I did not try but caught my attention was the popularity of Japanese cuisine. Sushi seems to be quite the rage, go figure!

Deepta and Ma make parathas

A girl needs to learn how to make proper Daal, per Bend it Like Beckham, well the way to a man's heart is through really good pastry...
Here is Deepta holding her own with the roller.
I had quite an experience cooking with 20 preschoolers last Thursday. After, all the acolades of my cooking, imagine my shock when I see my delectable Mohon Bhog being transformed into Playdoh, oh well! such is life. I need to get back to the population council writeup.

What's in a name? Tofu ka Tikki

Tofu ka tikki ya tikka?

Here is the deal, this is an amazingly good salad that I created for one of the classes and I want to use for the book. When I am translating these recipes, Anshul takes a look and says but tikki is feminine and hence I need to change the title to Tofu ki tikki.

Folks, this is probably why I abandonned French a while back. I cannot really comprehend a language that assigns a gender to a food that is gone even before I can place it on the leaves.