Of quiet husbands and risotto surprises

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction (except for the recipe) and may or may not have some resemblence to persons living.

“You are going to be late for class,” he said as she dunked her toast and sipped her tea at a leisurely pace.

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of time. It takes 25 minutes to reach school, 35 max if there is traffic,” she replied in her nonchalant way.

He just shrugged and went back to reading his book. He knew it wouldn’t do any good to point out that the traffic increased at this time of the day.

She had always been like this, relaxed and completely out of sync with time; he sometimes wondered how she got anything done at all.

Earlier in their marriage, he used to get exasperated. “I am so glad you are not a doctor. Your patients would have died waiting for you on the operating table.” She would just laugh and walk away.

In time, he had learnt to relax around her laid back attitude but there were times when he still bristled when she went about her business as if time was infinite. Most of the time, he just shrugged and let go. It was easier that way, less stressful.

“Ok, I am ready. How do I look?” she asked with that twinkle in her eyes he had grown to love so much.

“Good,” he said. He wasn’t the loquacious one in this union. She pecked him on his cheek, got into the car and sped off.

“I hope she reaches school in time,” he muttered under his breath as he headed back into the house.

He was glad she was finally doing something with her life. The ten years they had been married he had stood by her as she squandered away her life on trivial pursuits instead of doing something productive with her talent.

“At least she woke up before she turned 50,” he thought as he went back to the book he was reading. He had picked it up at a garage sale for a dollar. It was called Risotto, Polenta and Pasta, a Taste of Italy.

He decided he would try his hand at making risotto. He knew she didn’t like him cooking without her present.

“You make too much mess and you are not very efficient with the chopping and the pots and pans. Let me help you,” she would insist.

He hated being told how to cook or her interfering “help”. He had his own ideas and even if he was wrong, he wanted to find it out for himself.

Today was the perfect chance. She won’t be back for another four hours. He can drive down to the grocery store for the supplies; cook to his heart’s content and even clean up the kitchen decently before she came home.

He set about in his meticulous way writing down the ingredients he needed for the risotto. The list was a big point of contention between the two. He believed in them, she didn’t. Today, he gets to do things his own way.

Best, easiest almond cup cakes ever

What is the difference between cupcakes and muffins? I have not the faintest clue.

Ten years ago when I stepped foot in a nearby Walmart for the first time I encountered muffins, which looked like the cupcake’s chunkier older sibling. I did not for a moment suspect that the difference in name equated to the difference in taste. After all, coriander was cilantro, okra was American for ladyfinger and lady fingers were Italian dessert not to mention brinjal was eggplant! So who could blame me when I decided to get the 12-pack of muffins anticipating the delicious, subtly flavored cupcakes that the local bakeries sell back home.

It is to be noted that I was forewarned by him of the huge difference in taste. I, of little faith, did not want to believe him. To me, it was a slice of home and I had to have it.

Ten years to that fateful day I haven’t gone near a muffin for money or love. A cupcake is another matter altogether. I will eat it any day of the week, if I can just manage to find them in a country obsessed with mass production of everything including baked goods.

Was it any wonder then that when I chanced upon a cupcake recipe, it was from a French chef? Yes, one of the most venerable and exalted of French chef’s in America, Jacque Peppin. Regular readers of this blog will remember my paean to him when I posted his Tibetan Skillet Bread. If you thought the bread was easy, wait till you try these almond cup cakes which Jacque’s calls mini almond cakes.

The recipe is simple, with just five ingredients and a splash of vanilla, I added to simulate that home like taste. It all comes together in the time it takes to preheat the oven and best of all, no fancy baking equipment. A food processor is all you need.

Here’s a video of him making the aforementioned mini cakes.


In theme with the simple to make cupcakes, this post will also be short and simple. Without further ado, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:
Makes: 4 cupcakes*

1/4 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup AP Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
Splash of vanilla (my addition and optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners.
Grind the almonds to a fine powder. Add the flour, sugar and baking powder. Give it a whirr to mix.
Add the melted butter, egg and splash of vanilla. Mix till everything is incorporated, about a minute.
Divide equally in the muffin cups and bake for 12-15 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool and serve with fruits, ice cream or just eat them plain.

*Measurements can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled to make 8, 12 or 16 muffins.

A research into difference between cupcakes and muffins came up with these views on an internet forum. The most interesting post was this:

If you threw a cupcake against a wall, you would hear something of a “poof”! If you threw a muffin, you would hear a “thud!”

Sounds good to me (no pun intended).

The delicious cupcakes are being shipped to the Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen's weekly bake off event.

Something old, something borrowed, something green

Palak Paneer (Cottage cheese in Spinach curry)

How do you come back after more than a month of hiatus? First order of business: Update 359 Days of DSM, which had been gathering cobwebs since I decided to hang up my blogging gloves and pick up US Government and History books. DSM is almost updated. It took almost two weeks to update a month and a half of clicks. As of today, only three days remain to be uploaded. Fruits of procrastination are not sweet, believe me!
Next, to figure out blogger in draft and revamp DSM to look all spiffy and hi-tech like, err... the other spiffy and hi-tech blogs.
While in the midst of updating a daily blog (yes, I am aware it is an oxymoron) and revamping the original blog, I decided to do a quick Google search for Kothimbir Vadi (roughly translated, steamed cilantro pudding?) and landed on Nupur’s One Hot Stove and almost sizzled with excitement over her The Adaptation Edition. A perfect come back for yours truly who has a hard time following a recipe to a T.
Besides, the way I look at it, Indian cooking is versatile enough to substitute chole masala instead of garam masala and add cream cheese instead of heavy cream in a restaurant-style curry. The result is unpredictable but rarely, if ever, undesirable.

Take note all those Nay-Sayers who think Indian cooking is too involved. Most of the time, a teaspoon or two of garam masala, some turmeric, red chili and mustard and/or cumin seeds is all you need in your pantry to cook up Indian food.

You may want to unsubscribe now...

A few months ago, when Manisha asked the same of her readers, it was for a totally opposite reason than mine. She was about to embark on the NaBloWriMo.
I, on the other hand, have already embarked on a journey I never thought I would take again after I was done with my degrees and started working. Now, a decade and some later, in my adopted country where it is never too late to start anew, I have decided to get a degree in arts, something I had always wanted to do.
Combined with all the trappings involved with being a mom and a good student, it is hard to keep up with the obligations of a blog not to mention hours spent blog hopping and facebooking.
When Randy Pausch tells you to prioritize your work load according to the following rule, you listen and as a result, blogging takes a back seat to the four year old, school and the four walls one calls a home.

That is not to say I am taking a permanent break from blogging. I will still post but not on a regular basis. Or should we say my regular basis will be sporadic, as evident from this second post in a month.
If any of you want to catch up with me or what is going on in my life, you can always look me up on 359 days of DSM, where I try to post at least once in two days. Why that and not DSM, you may ask? Because it takes me a few minutes to post here as opposed to a few hours on this blog.
So, if you decide to unsubscribe, I understand and agree. Let the countdown begin.

Tibetan bread in a skillet

This and the posts that will follow have been a long time coming. Call it blog fatigue or my tendency to bite more than I can chew, DSM took a back seat to other chores equally important, like going to school and trying to stay updated on my other blog, 359 Days of DSM. So, to all those who wondered and expressed concern at the absence of activity on this blog, Thank You. I appreciate the love and support of my virtual friends, which I find sometimes lacking in my real life friends.

A couple of weeks ago imprisoned in our own house by 6 inches of snow and too thin blooded to go out and play, we turned to culinary games. Fortunately for us, the day before the white flurries descended on our Tx homeland, I had scored a couple of cookbooks from our library, one of which was his favorite chef Jacques Pepin’s More Fast Food My Way. If you thought French cooks were snooty just watch Jacques in action and you will think your favorite uncle was showing you magic tricks with food. He can be found with his culinary magic tricks here or on PBS every Sunday.

As with all things, he is never happy with a first attempt and the long internment gave him ample time to
experiment till he came up with something he liked. It goes without saying that unlike me, he perfected the original recipe first, which is as simple as bread cooked in a skillet can get.
The original calls for flour, salt, baking powder, water, a few tablespoons of oil and a 12 inch skillet. It does, like all things instant, need to be consumed within a couple of hours, preferably right out of the skillet. The modified version is also easy, fast and tastes best right out of the skillet but you can use the leftovers next day. If you are watching your carb intake, this recipe is not for you. Go eat some moong dal dosas, recipe can be found here.

Unlike regular breads, this is a wait-till-the-last-minute to make a bread kind of recipe. So, plan and keep ready the rest of the meal before you make this. I made chole-palak (garbanzo beans and spinach curry) to go with it. Pair it with your choice of spicy curry.

Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 ½ Cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 Tsp salt
1 Tsp baking powder
1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 cup water, plus about 2 tbsp more for steaming the bread

His additions: (also see note)
1 Tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
1/4 cups finely chopped cilantro

Method:
Whisk all the dry ingredients together and add water to make a thick, gooey batter. It should be thinner than a dosa batter but thicker than buttermilk.
Spread the oil in a 12 inch skillet, preferably non-stick and add a swirl of olive oil to it. Pour the batter in the skillet and spread it evenly on the floor of the skillet with the back of a spatula.
Add some water along the edges and cover with a tight fitting lid and get the bread cooking. Place on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. The water steams the bread and helps it cook. At the end of 10 minutes the water should be gone and the dough frying.
Reduce the heat and, using a fork, flip the bread. Cook the other side, covered, for another five minutes. Turn off the heat, uncover and cool a little in the skillet before cutting it into wedges. Serve with chole palak or curry of your choice.

Note: We have tried this with a 1:2 combination of APF and whole wheat flour too. I liked it, he didn’t. So try the original version first and then experiment with the flour combination.

You can use any combination or assortment of herbs to make the batter.

Rounding up the reposts

After the high of announcing an event you go through the low of waiting the first few days, checking your email for the 10th time, wondering if there will be any entrees at all. Half way through the deadline the entrees start trickling in and you get excited. More so because they are from bloggers you look up to and read regularly.
It is even more exciting to discover some wonderful, new bloggers that slipped under your radar but you found them through your event. There are some who in their haste to send in an entry forget to read the rules but are gracious enough to redo their posts.
Here is a big thank you from the heart to all of you who took the time to go over your old posts and reposted them with anecdotes, nutritional information and amazing photos.                     

What are the chances that the very first entry you receive is also one of your favorite meals? Ruchika's very first post, which she kept updating to add tips and tricks to make the softest, fluffiest idlis, did not receive a single comment. Just goes to show, good things don't always get their due desserts err... sambhar.

The sweet sakkarai  pongal was sent with a smacking new photo from Dil Se by Divya. Made by following her mother's original recipe, it was her maiden post two years ago. 

 

A witty writer who knows her words and her food, Sra reposted her nutty beginnings, almost four years later,  and it is as "Nutty" as the rest of her blog, When My Soup Came Alive. 

        

When Sig sent me a repost of her Caramelized Catfish, I did a double take, not only because the recipe was totally new to me, the photo looks like a tenderly cooked piece of meat instead of seafood. And that is the magic of this vivacious girl's foodie blog, Live to eat.

Nivedita's Cornflakes Chiwda was reposted a couple of days after I gave away my unused but perfectly good box of cornflakes to the neighbor. She came up with the recipe while living in UAE and it even got picked up to be featured in Radio 4 FM! Naturally, it was her very first post when she started her blog, Nivedita's Kitchen, in March of last year.          

Devi reposted her Coca Burfi which incidentally was not only her first attempt at making sweets but also her first post on her two year old Devi's Blog.         

An expat living in China, PJ's blog has a unique touch of the orient. But when it came to blogging, one of her first few posts was that of a traditional family recipe, Bisi Bele Huli Anna, passed down from her great grandma. PJ tried her mom's version of the recipe just for the repost event and in the process wrote the confessions of a sore thumb.

                         

What started almost four years ago as a simple chicken curry has evolved into an almost foolproof one for Indhu's gorgeous blog, Daily Musings. Besides, you have to love a delicious chicken curry that cooks in one pot (pressure cooker) and is open to change based on the mood or the weather.   

Nivedita's second entry did not make it to the radio but she assures us that the flavor of burnt jeera (cumin seeds) in this dal is tooo good to resist. And I believe her even though she points out her original post did not get any response. 

Shama reposted her Arisi Paruppu Sadam or dal rice with red carrot fry, with a slight variation on the original recipe and better photos of the delectable meal. Her blog is worthy of its name Easy2Cook Recipes.

Deepa started her blog Hamaree Rasoi (Our Kitchen) not six months ago and she started the New Year with a resolve to not only post more recipes from her kitchen but also learn from her fellow bloggers. She reposted this easy-to-appease-your-hunger recipe for semolina cheela which she modified by adding veggies to. However, her original recipe sounds as good as the new one.

She is the essential garnish for almost every savory Indian fare and possibly for all the Indie bloggers out there. Her very first recipe, Boondi Ladoo, on her beautiful blog, Cilantro, is one of mine and possibly every kid and adult's favorite sweet to eat for festive occasions and during weddings.  

Jyoti of two month old Veggie Hut  dressed up her original post and reposted the Gujjia Vada, a gourmet take on the regular dahi vada. Laced with cashews and raisins, no wonder this delectable recipe is an all time favorite of her spouse. 

It started as a carrot kheer recipe for a friend in Nithus's Kitchen but somewhere along the way she decided to turn the boring beets to a delicious and healthy beetroot kheer. And if you thought the buck with beets stops at kheer, check out her original post. She was planning to make halwa with it! 

Deepa's second entry, bread keema in egg, was inspired at a train station when the vendor passed it hastily through the compartment window. This delicious mash of eggs and bread was posted originally five months ago.

From Preethi's Dreamy Delights come two delightful reposts. One for eggless tiramisu and one for almond cranberry biscotti.  The eggless tiramisu was made using eggless sponge cake in the absence of eggless lady fingers and was her very first post. The repost also included the recipe for the sponge cake.

The biscotti, on the other hand, was a lesson in writing down the correct oven temperature. After a burnt first batch, the second one turned out prefect and was the fourth post on her blog. 

She is everyones favorite blogger not only because of her delicious recipes and even more appetizing photos but because almost all of us rely on her blog aggregator to get visitors to our blogs. Only in Supriya's world can the bitter gourd turn out crunchy and delicious with a photo you want to take a bite out of. But if you want to know how she arrived at the recipe, check out her hilarious initial post conversation with her better half.

As Vaishali Bhutani got more involved with her blog, Adding Zest to Your Life, she graduated from pictures taken with her cell phone to a proper camera. The above photo was taken when she made her easy to make microwave double layered chocolate burfi for some friends who were coming over for dinner. 

When your kids come back from school and ask if you got any comments on the blog, you are in the presence of a dedicated blogger mom who names her blog The Joy Of Cooking. Her Indianized take on the  falafel is versatile for kids as well as to be frozen and later heated up and served as  quick appetizer for guests.

When Aqua serves you bread pudding with love you don't say no, especially when she turns the humble pudding into something out of a gourmet restaurant. Check out her very first foray into the dessert world and the world of blogging. Aqua, before you correct me I did read your post word to word and know you were an expert at the pudding at the tender age of eight, which was long before you started blogging.

She thought she was tardy for my party but little did this fellow Texan know there were others to come after her. If you haven't met Ann's Split Pear Personality you are missing out on some of the most adventurous, varied recipes a girl can blog about and have a sense of humor about it. Her curried couscous has gone through a lot of changes since the first time she made it and she presents it proudly with a new photo and an extra garnish "that grew out of the side of the dish like a tumor and took up most of the money shot."

With a name like Foodielicious you can expect finger licking recipes not unlike this Dhabba Style Palak Paneer. At the age of 20 Pari cooked this smoky dish for a party of 45 and not only got praise for her cooking skills but her cleanliness as well. No wonder this recipe is close to her heart and one of the first posts on her blog.

The World according to Rujuta has a Varan Phal recipe that brought back nostalgia of a comfort food that had almost slipped out of my culinary consciousness. Rujuta decided to repost this one with links to other versions of this recipe also known as dal dokhali and a salute to her father and his roots in the orange city of India, Nagpur.

True to her name, Cool Lassie decided her initial two posts were perfect the way they were. But honoring the rules of the event she decided to repost the two recipes with new photos which more than do justice to her Navrattan Korma and Turkey Meatballs with raisins.

We are what we eat and no one practices that philosophy more passionately than Vaishali of Holy Cow. If you think vegan and vegetarian is the same thing, Vaishali will not only set the record right for you, she will give you one delicious vegan recipe after another before you can say, "Holy Cow!" (my weak attempt at pun). Head on over to her blog for a lesson in compassionate cooking and healthy choices for the mind and the body.

Adhering to the Indian tradition of the host eating after the guests have had their fill, here's my humble contribution to my own event, Sabudana Khichdi 101 and Indori Kanda Poha.

Since this is my first event I decided to do the roundup in the order of the entry received. I have tried to be as precise as possible making sure all the entrees are included and hall the links work. If you spot any glitches, you know where to find me.

And she did. Just as I was starting to get a big head from all the compliments Champa brought me down to earth. I looked and found her email hiding in the spam folder along with another entry from Nithu Bala. So with my apologies to the two lovely ladies here goes their entrees at the tail end of the roundup.

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Nithu Bala's second entry was Milagu Kuzhambu which is a favorite of her dad's when he is down with a cold. After learning its medicinal properties, Nithu too started loving this previously hated nutritious soup.

Champa's vegan almond cookies evolved from a recipe a friend's mom had given and a recipe scribbleed down so long time ago she didn't remember where. But the recipe was a keeper and she reposted it in  Stories from an Indian kitchen by prettying up the cookies with an almond placed in the center. 

Carrot greens with moong dal

My mother was incredulous. Her grown up daughter of thirty six was experimenting with winter greens, she who had, growing up, caused her much heartburn by refusing to eat even the cilantro floating in the dal!
Yes, she was finally grown up and it had taken not a mother’s love but her husband’s love for all things vegetables to turn her around. There she was, listening over the phone at her excited daughter’s recipe for, of all things, carrot greens adapted from her (mother’s) fenugreek lentil sabzi!
And yes, I have also posted a similar version without the ginger and garlic for green beans and lentils and which Supriya adapted recently to suit her family’s taste.
If, like me, you have never cooked with carrot greens before, they taste a little carroty after being cooked and the taste is enhanced by the addition of some cilantro to it. I have on occasions also added some chopped up baby spinach but it does not make or break the recipe. I have added it purely for volume and not taste.

Ingredients
1/4 cup of yellow, split moong dal (lentils)
1 bunch of carrot greens
1/2 bunch of cilantro sprigs
2 carrots, chopped fine
1 tbsp ginger and garlic chopped fine (2 big cloves of garlic and 1 inch piece of ginger should do it)
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of asafetida (hing)
1/2 tsp of red chili powder
1 tsp of garam masala
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash the moong dal two to three times in water and soak with1/2 cup of water. Keep it aside while you wash the carrot greens in plenty of water. They are gritty and it is important to soak them in a big pot of water for a few minutes to let the grit settle down.
Pick and clean the cilantro sprigs as well. Don’t be tempted to use the tough stems.
In a heavy bottom kadahi, add about two swirls of olive oil and let it heat gently. Add the mustard seeds. As they start to sputter turn the heat to low, add asafetida, red chili and the finely chopped ginger garlic. The ginger garlic should start giving off their aromas within a minute as they start to cook. At this point add the soaked moong dal and the chopped carrots. Turn the heat to medium low. The moong dal should start to puff up. Add the garam masal and some salt and cover for about five minutes. Keep checking in between to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Remove the lid, turn the heat to low and with a pair of kitchen scissors start snipping the carrot greens and cilantro directly over the cooking dal and carrot mix.
If you are the more organized or perfectionist kind of cook, feel free to chop it on a chopping board and then add it. More power to you.
Add some salt, give a final mix to the greens lentils combo and cover on medium low for about ten minutes or till the greens are wilted. Serve as a side with chappati or phulkas or dosas (hey, I have eaten stranger combos and this one tasted pretty good).

A review of Skinny Bitch in the Kitchen will be coming soon. But first, this is off to Rachael of Crispy Cook, who is hosting this month's MLLA #20 for Susan.