American Upama

On most weekday mornings I have to drag myself out of the bed to get ready for work. I stumble like a drunkard missing a step or two, desperately seeking a drink, which in my case is a steaming cup of Indian tea. Only after a few divine sips, I start focusing on the banal tasks that lay ahead of me. I brush off any thought of a hearty breakfast, rush to work and nibble on a bowl of cold cereal while going through scores of emails.
I have yet to meet a person who jumps out of his bed with utter joy at or before the first wail of his alarm, fixes himself a satisfying platter to welcome the new day, tidies the kitchen and prances into his workplace to face the exciting challenges. I believe that existence of such a person in an urban myth, although I do have a friend who defies routine and routinely spices up her breakfast and spoils my mornings with her creativity. Both her head and the breakfast creation that she had dictated the cafeteria staff to whip up for her, held high, she passes my cube. With a victorious smile, she casts a contemptuous glass at my cold breakfast. I abandon my work and sneak into her cube to partake the tasty treat. She generously shares the recipe with me and the creation then makes regular appearance in my lunch box. One of her simple yet satisfying fusion dish is what she calls an American Upama – cooked cream of wheat cereal topped with grilled vegetables and jalapenos. This friend also brings for lunch mouth-watering Andhra chutneys and curries that look dangerously spicy and are daringly hot. I am currently listing down excuses to camp at her house for a month or two to note down all the recipes, but in the meantime you will have to be happy with the following two.

American Upama

2 cups cooked cream of wheat cereal
2 cups total chopped green bell peppers, onions. You can add mushrooms for an earthy flavor.
1 small tomato chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Pickled Jalapenos
1 or 2 tbsp olive oil
1. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet .
2. Sauté vegetables till they start losing their crunch adding salt and pepper halfway through. Do not overcook them.
3. Stir in chopped tomato and cook for a minute or two.
4. Warm the cereal and mix in vegetables.
5. Garnish with jalapenos.

Pumpkin Chutney

Andhra vegetable chutneys are part of everyday meal and they sure add zing to any meal. They can be eaten with paratha, chapatti or rice. I made couple of changes to my friend’s recipe by adding toor dal and cooking garlic with pumpkin. She always uses raw garlic for extra flavor.

1 Tsp Toor Dal
5 green chilies
6 garlic cloves
1 ½ cups chopped pumpkin
2 tbsp cilantro leaves. You could use mint leaves instead for a different taste.
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds
Pinch of Asafoetida
Sprig of curry leaves

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan.
2. Sauté toor dal, chilles and garlic cloves for 1 minute.
3. Stir pumpkin pieces and salt, and cover and cook till tender.
4. Let cool, add cilantro leaves and grind to a coarse paste.
5. Heat 1 tsp oil in a sauce pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves.
6. Add asafetida when mustards seeds start popping and stir in the paste from step 4.
7. Add tamarind pulp, salt and cook for 3-5 minutes on low heat till the flavors blend.
8. Serve chutney with parathas, chapatti or rice. This will be a great spread for sandwiches too.

Love is in the Air

Last week when I went to the popular mall in our town, I almost got run over by the enthusiastic crowd shopping for Valentine’s Day. Majority of them were young people who were trying hard to buy presents for their loved ones, the female portion of the lot was drawn to the shops promising beauty and artistry and the diamond business was at its peak. The air was thick with anxiety, doubt, anticipation, promises and frustration – love was definitely in the air. Having passed all these phases and stages, I was happy to plop down on the nearest bench and soak myself in the fountain of youth. The problem was, I was accompanied by a smartly dressed friend, who after taking one look at my dowdy clothes had advised me to develop some love for the fashion industry. She had now made it her mission to change my “mom” wardrobe to one of a fashionable career woman.

As we were going through racks of clothes, I kept catching snippets of conversion and was surprised to find that many ways of courting still remained the same. By now, love had possessed my mind. After arriving home, I asked my family what love meant to them – my husband rolled his eyes, the tween made gagging sounds and my youngest son gave me a big hug. Of course everyone has their own way of expressing love, some bestow gifts on their partners, some cook a grand meal, and some foot a large bill at an expensive restaurant while others thoughtfully offer acts of kindness.

I steer clear of restaurants on Mother’s day and Valentine’s day, the long waits at the restaurants hamper any plans of an enjoyable meal. We prefer a sugar-free meal in the evening after the onslaught of sugar high parties at school and work. A bowl of tomato soup, freshly baked baguette and side salad will perfectly fit the bill tomorrow night; incidentally I did discover a recipe for baguette (with a crackling crust) on the King Arthur Website and oh, that is one of the finest breads I have ever eaten. I have now bade my farewell to the supermarket baguette, and Valentine’s day or not, you are sure to enjoy this recipe. I followed the recipe closely extending only the rising times as we had sub-zero temperatures last week.

My Big Fat Shadow

I look outside the window
And catch a glimpse of a ghastly shadow
Snow glitters on the ground
My dreams have no bounds

Do I see a turning point
Or is it shadow’s ugly footprint

My ambition has no limit
My fantasies are running wild
I am feeling high
And now I remember
That no bird soars too high

The shadow keeps pouncing
It works hard on intimidating
I fight it with strong will
I am exhausted from the tough drill

But I realize it’s a shadow of my doubt
I need to crush it flat-out
Till I conquer it fully
It will be my biggest bully

Should I settle down with a beer can
And start devising a project plan
Do I develop test cases
And try to cover all the bases

Oh, do they ever finish on time
They are like partners in crime.
I decide to work solo
And in no time get rid of that slimy shadow

Potpourri

In the last few weeks I tried a couple of new recipes, noted down exact quantities of all the ingredients for a few tried and improved recipes by my mother and made them, dutifully took their pictures and never found inspiration to write about them and post them. Was I a  victim of winter blues or did I lack the discipline required to gather my thoughts and put them on a piece of paper or was I overworked and tired or was I just being lazy and opted to sit back and relax and catch some tube time.  In fact, it was a combination of everything. Today however I decided to fight the winter blues and present a potpourri of recipes.

The first recipe comes from Ruth Reichl’s ‘Gourmet Today’.  I am a big fan of her writing and have read all her books. These toasts are simply addictive; I made them over Thanksgiving break and my kids chose them over pumpkin pie.

Toasted Anise Seed Cake Slices

 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 ¾ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

3 eggs

¾ cups white sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 ½ tsp anise seeds, finely crushed. I put them in a ziplock bag and ran a rolling pin on them.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Lightly butter and flour a 8 1/2 X 4 ½ inch loaf pan.
3. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bow.
4. Beat eggs and sugar in a mixer till tripled in volume,
5. Stir flour in the egg mixture in three batches mixing after each addition.
6. Stir in butter and anise seeds.
7. Pour the mixture into loaf pan.
8. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or till the top is golden brown.
9. Cool for five minutes in a pan and then invert the loaf on cooling rack and cool it for 35 minutes right side up.
10. Preheat the oven to 400 degree Farenheit.
11. Trim the ends of the loaf and cut into ½ inch thick slices. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for about 5 more minutes till the toasts are golden brown.

I have tried my hand at puris quite a few times, but mine were never picture perfect and never soft like my mom’s. So during my mom’s last visit I noted down the ingredients and whipped a batch of impeccable puris.

Puris

1 cup wheat flour

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp besan

2 tbsp thin rawa

2 tbsp Rice Flour

2 tbsp. oil

1.  Mix all the ingredients except oil in a medium bowl. Add as little water as possible to make a firm dough. Knead till it becomes soft adding oil in the end.
2. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
3. Make  balls little bigger than marble size and roll the puris in into 4” circles.
4. Heat enough oil in a kadai to submerge puffed up puris.
5. Fry the puris one at a time, holding the puri down till it puffs up, turn it up and fry for few more seconds.

 

Basic Buttermilk Muffins from Deborah Madison’s -Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have hadd 100% success rate with all the recipes. 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1/3 cup oil or melted butter.  Butter yields a moist crumb.

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Butter the muffin pan.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients a bowl.
4. In a medium bowl beat the eggs lightly.
5. In a measuring cup pour the melted butter and add buttermilk stirring at the same time. You will find the buttermilk curdling to a consistency of a cottage cheese.
6. Now Add this mixture to eggs,
7. Add sugar and vanilla and add dry mixture stirring just enough till everything  is mixed together.
8. If desired you could add cupful of chopped fresh fruit or dried fruit or chocolate chips. My family always votes for chocolate chip muffin.
9. Fill muffin cups to the top with prepared mixture and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

 

Fall Impressions

 
Simmering soups on the stove top
Time for some lemon cough drops
A trip to the doctor for Stinging flu shots

A pile of leaves in the back yard
A row of pumpkins near my doorstop
Apple cider and pumpkin patch

Halloween candy and aching teeth
Scary monsters and creepy goblins
Doors adorned with orange wreaths

Thanksgiving turkey and tasty stuffing
Football game with huffing and puffing
Long lines for Black Friday shopping

Light sweaters and knee-high boots
Body covered in colorful wool
Fashionable scarves and belts too

Waiting nervously for snow and sleet
City fixing messed up streets
While I nurse my whisky neat..

Hungry on Halloween

 

I find Halloween pretty scary but unlike others my reasons are a little different. Halloween tends to deliver colder temperatures and that means I start getting confined to the indoors. The gray months of winter lay listlessly ahead and I find myself sinking low in winter doldrums.   The days continue to get shorter and I find myself struggling with layers of clothing. I initiate the much dreaded activity of my household – I take out our neatly packed winter clothes and order my boys to try them on to get an idea of what all shopping needs to be done. They absolutely detest this task – they groan and moan, whine and repine, protest and object, but I don’t budge or bend. This year my youngest son commented that, I, hands down win the honor of the scariest creature around Halloween and mind you, he was only half joking. After the clothes are sorted in different piles and a shopping list is made, I drag the boys to the mall to get over shopping.  On these occasions, my husband suddenly develops flu symptom even though no flu cases are discovered in the vicinity of 100 miles, and decides to rest while watching football.

Halloween also brings end to my kids’ fall sport activities and we face a long winter with two boys with unbounded energy. This year Halloween is even scarier as only last week my mom returned to India, transferring all the daily household duties to me. Over the weekend, I found myself in the kitchen going over the contents of my kitchen fridge and mulling over the lunch menu instead of going for my routine hour-long walk. Bags of candies were lying around and I was tempted to skip cooking and declare it a chocolate day; my kids gave me carte blanche, but my husband being a spoil sport demanded a proper meal.  I didn’t want to spend the whole day in kitchen as I was donning the chef’s hat after a long time, and decided to go with quick but appealing spicy chicken sandwich. The temperature had dropped drastically on Sunday and some sort of soup was in order. I found few stray potatoes and a carton of chicken broth in the pantry and cooked  a creamy potato soup.

Chicken Sandwich

6 Chicken cutlets

4 tbsp all-purpose flour/Maida

4 tbsp thin sooji

2 tbsp + 1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp black pepper

Salt to taste

2 tbsp Red Hot Sauce- I  used Frank’s

1. Season chicken cutlets liberally with salt,1tsp black pepper and 1 tsp cayenne pepper.
2. In a bowl mix 2 tbsp red hot sauce with 4 tbsp water.
3. In a large bowl mix flour ,thin sooji, cayenne pepper and salt. You can skip the sooji and  use just flour or  bread crumbs or  a mixture of two. Add 2 tbps cayenne pepper and 1 tsp of black pepper.
4. Heat  a cast iron skillet over medium high and add 2 tbsp oil.
5. Dip cutlets one a time into flour mixture, shake off excess flour. Dip it into hot sauce mixture and dip again into the flour mixture coating all the sides well. Repeat the process for all the cutlets.
6. Place 3 cutlets on the skillet, cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until the cutlets are cooked through. Add more oil and cook the remaining cutlets.

Onion-Pepper topping

1. Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onions and peppers seasoning them with salt, cayenne pepper and a pinch of sugar. You can add mushrooms, carrots, cabbage or any other vegetables that you fancy.

 To Assemble

1. Spread Mayo on 2 sliced of bread.  I used French bread - any rustic bread such as Ciabatta will work well.
2. Keep cutlet on one slice and onion-pepper mixture on the other. Sprinkle any other seasonings of choice or like me squeeze some Sriracha sauce on the chicken for extra heat.
3. Add cheese , lettuce if desired and enjoy.

Potato Soup

1 garlic clove minced

1 tbsp chopped onion

4 small russet potatoes Peeled and cubed. Red potatoes work well too.

2 cups chicken broth/vegetable broth

1 cup milk/half and half/cream. I used 2% milk.

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan and sauté garlic and onions.
2. Add potatoes and cover them with water. Cover the sauce pan and cook till potatoes are tender.
3. Drain the potatoes , reserve the water.
4. Mash potatoes and add  to the reserved water.
5. Add chicken broth, salt, pepper and simmer.
6. Add milk and warm the soup for few minutes on a low heat. You could skip the broth  for half and half for a richer soup; for a vegan entry substitute vegetable stock  for  milk and chicken broth.

 

 

Aamboli Etc.

 

 

I have gone through various eating phases throughout my life..Since when I remember, I was a kadak pav devotee and  I never got tired of  it. Even today whenever I visit Mumbai, I religiously eat it for breakfast every day. When in grade school, I developed a taste for aamboli -it was my first encounter with dosa in any form .My earliest memories are that of waking up on some Sunday mornings  and finding my mom in the kitchen making piles of thick, golden aamboli.  What a perfect way to start a day (for me, not for my mom); a tall steaming mug of tea was a perfect medium to dip these pancakes for a hearty breakfast. We would then savor the aamboli with chicken or mutton curry for lunch and leftovers would grace our school lunches the next day. My mom would also make it on special occasions such as Gokulashtami and we would then eat it dipped in naralacha ras (sweetened coconut milk); this is a preferred way of eating aamboli in  Konkan region where my family hails from.

 My mom also used to make pole (a soft dosa)  with Maharashtrian style green chutney, but I always preferred to eat them, yes you guessed it right, dipped in hot tea. When I divulged this piece of information to my South Indian husband, he was totally disgusted and advised me not to ever mention it to his side of the family. Apparently, dosa in any guise should be eaten only with coconut chutney, sambar, chutney powder or potato subzi, and any other way is considered corrupt .  

I learnt many types of dosas from my mother-in-law and decided to capture them in one single post. This will be my one-stop reference when my family is in a mood for Indian pancakes.

Aamboli

 2 cup raw rice

½ cup Urad Dal

¼ cup chana dal

¼ cup moong dal

¼ cup Toor Dal

½ cup thin poha

2 tsp fenugreek seeds

• Soak all the dals and fenugreeek seeds together in enough water from 5-8 hours.
• Soak rice in enough water for 8 hours.
• Before grinding drain the water, add poha to rice  along with half a cup of water and wait for 15 minutes or  till poha becomes soft.
• Grind everything to a smooth paste.
• Ferment overnight or for 8 hour or till the batter doubles in volume.
• Add ½ cup grated coconut if desired.
• Add to the batter 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp oil and salt to taste. Stir well.
• Heat a cast-iron skillet on a medium heat.
• Spread 1 teaspoon oil on the skillet.
• Pour a cupful of batter and spread into a thick circle.
• When one side is done, flip the pancake.
• Sprinkle some water on top side and spread it with your palm.
• Ccover the aamboli  with lid and let cook for a couple of minutes.
• The application of water will keep the aamboli soft.
• Now dig in.



Aamboli with sambar, coconut chutney and chutney pudi

Naral Ras

Add jiggery, pinch of salt and pinch of cardamom powder to coconut milk and stir to mix.

Pole

1 cup urad dal

2 cup raw rice

1 tsp methi seeds

Dosa

1 cup urad dal

3 cups  raw rice ( I use long grain)

1 tbsp methi seeds

Handlful of thin poha

Rava Dosa

1 cup Urad dal

2 cups of thin sooji

1 cup raw rice

Or

1 cup Urad dal

1 cup thin soji/ thin rava

2 cup raw rice

For the above 4 types of dosas

1. Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 5-8 hours
2. Soak rice for 8 hours.
3. Soak the rava(if an ingredient) for an hour or more.
4. Grind the rice and dal together, add rawa and ferment overnight.
5. Add salt and oil before making dosa.
6. If making pole , make them thicker than dosa. They will be soft and spongy. Dosa should be thin and crispy.

Instant Rava Dosa

1 – 2 cup sour curd

1 cup Rice flour

1 cup thin sooji

½ cup wheat flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

1. Mix all the ingredients and keep them aside for couple of hours.
2. Add chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilies, curry leaves, cilantro, salt and oil.
3. Make thin  dosas on a cast-iron pan.