When your profession is all about cooking, you are expected to cook for everyone – family, friends, peers.  So when someone cooks for you it’s a blessing in disguise. Puja and Sarath were gracious to invite. Nothing can beat a healthy conversation, gift parcel with some yum food, right?!

Puja is a health freak, (she will kill me for this) health enthusiast highly well-informed about diets, workouts and organic produce. A friend I learn a lot from esp. coz she spends half her time in Delhi and the other half in the hills exploring them. She works with Chirag and Kilmora and the whole conversation from organic fruits to berries to the herbs makes me want to travel with her. Oh did I also tell you the couple loves travelling and Sarath always gets me a little “food” parcel from places he visits! It’s a blessing to have friends who care for you and love.

So coming back to the topic where we started, she made some tomato chutney, green coconut chutney, sambhar and soft melt in mouth idli’s. We were joined by another dear friend Reshma (another food enthusiast and runs a company called earthy goods)They make some of the most amazing jams and if you are into organic natural stuff, you will even love me more for letting you know about them. Do check out there Earth Store for some lovely gifts you can gift your friends this season.

Here are the quick recipes as told by Puja

Pudina-Coconut:

SUPER Easy . Fry some green chilies and pudina (mint) in a small bit of oil. Add some roasted channa dal. Grind this with some coconut and tamarind paste and salt. Garnish with tadka of hing, mustard seeds, urad dal, kadipatta and chilli.

Tomato-Onion
Fry some sambar onions (you can use normal onions if you don’t have), tomato, chilli with some hing till well cooked.. Let cool. Add tamarind paste and 2 cloves of garlic when grinding the tomato chutney. Tadka of Mustard seeds and hing and kadipatta

Sambar:
Boil a bunch of veggies (ghiya, mooli, carrots,)with tur dal – don’t forget to add a few methi seeds and turmeric. After it is boiled, add a couple of tablespoons of sambar powder (MTR, 777, etc), some tamarind paste and give it a boil. Sauté some sambar onions in ghee and add. Tadka of mustard seeds, hing, kadipatta, chillies, etc.

Idli:
1 cup Urad Dal;
2.25 cup Idli Rice
a teaspoon of methi
a cup of cooked rice optional.

Soak the urad and rice separately overnight. Grind the urad first superfine. Add the cup of cooked rice at this point if you want. Add salt, add the soaked rice, and grind fine. Let it ferment for about 6 hrs (you may need to put a shawl or something over it to keep it warm and happy in cold weather). Add the mixture on greased idli molds and Steam for about 10 mins.

Eat.

burp! Eat more!!

For desserts I took some red currant lemon poppy muffins which were enjoyed with ginger tea made by Sarath as he claims he makes it better than Puja:)

Busy with so many things around haven’t blogged so much. Have been craving pad thai for a while now and I guess with brother back in town it kind of gave me a push to make it. I have a lot of fond memories with Thailand and some bitter ones too. Customarily Pad Thai is a dish of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. It is normally served with a piece of lime, the juice of which can be added along with Thai condiments. Pad Thai is one of Thailand’s national dishes.

I don’t follow the traditional recipe of the same. I cook with the veggies I have and cook the amount according to the number of people eating. Being the house filled with foodies we generally tend to have a lot of food around. Plus my pantry is filled with all exotic items.

Here is quick recipe:

I packet Pad Thai rice noodles
1 box silken tofu
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 Red onion Sliced
3-4 Snow Peas Chopped
10-12 beans sliced length wise
½ head cauliflower chopped
2 cups bean sprouts
2 green onions, sliced
1/3 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
1/4 cup ground peanuts

PAD THAI SAUCE:
3/4 Tbsp. tamarind paste
1/4 cup hot water
4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 to 2 tsp. chilli sauce (to taste)
2 Tbsp Honey

OTHER:
3-4 Tbsp. oil for stir-frying
2-3 Tbsp. beg stock or water
Lemon wedges for serving

Preparation:

• Bring a pot of water to a bubble and remove from heat. Bathe as I would like to say noodles in the hot water for 6-8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Tip: Noodles are ready to drain when they are soft enough to eat, but still firm and a little bit “crunchy”. The noodles will finish cooking when they are fried.

• Dissolve the tamarind paste in the hot water. Add the other pad thai sauce ingredients and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Add as much or as little chilli sauce as you prefer, but don’t skimp on the sugar (you need it to balance the sourness of the tamarind).

• Reserve

• Place your wok (Kadai if you don’t have wok) over medium-high heat.

• Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus the garlic and red onion

• Stir-fry 1 minute till translucent.

• Add all the veggies/tofu and stir fry again for a min or so.

• Add the noodles.

• Add half the pad thai sauce (coconut milk optional)and continue stir-frying in the same way for 1-2 more minutes, or until the noodles begin to soften and become sticky. Reduce heat to medium if noodles begin to stick and burn.

• Add the bean sprouts plus the remaining sauce. Stir-fry to incorporate everything together for 1-3 more minutes, or until noodles are done.

• To garnish in end add peanuts, lemon juice and some sweet basil and some cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy and tell me how it was…I for sure ate and enjoyed!!

I am a yogurt admirer. I can’t imagine my meal devoid of it. I wonder where it originated…with the Turks Europeans or Asia??
To counteract its natural acidity, yoghurt can be made sweetened, flavoured, or in containers with fruit or fruit jam on the base. Swiss Style is a very common way to consume yogurt too in which the fruit has been stirred into it .I mean think of a cuisine and it’s at hand in some form. Be it savoury or sweet. I still consider I have not developed a feel for sweet yogurt that you get in India.
The taste of Greek style yogurt is similar to the Italian ricotta and which can be irresistible with honey occasionally.

I attended Ahaar exhibition for a second time this year and I realized how many companies have entered the Indian market with the sweet yogurt. From flavours like blueberry, litchi, pineapple, mixed berries, black currant etc. In western culture the concept of savoury yogurt is not big. I remember the days at school (in us) when I use to make “raita” and my roommates always had an unpleasant expression. I don’t think it was the yogurt per se I think it had more to do with the sulphur in the black salt. It always is reminiscent of eggs.
I habitually use Dahi (yogurt in Hindi) mixed with turmeric and honey as a face pack. Or use Khatta (sour) Dahi as hair conditioner.

These days I am hooked to chaach (butter milk) tempered with mustard seeds, mint and ginger. If you are travelling Rajasthan Saras chaach is something one shouldn’t miss. Another thing on my lunch menu is pineapple raita.

Here you go:

Yogurt 1 cup
Cumin Seeds 1 tsp
Fresh mint leaves (chopped) 2 tbsp
Cilantro leaves (chopped) 1 tsbp
Black salt ½ tsp
Chaat Masala ½ tsp
Salt and pepper t.t.
Pineapple (chopped) ½ cup
Red chilli ¼ tsp
Ginger (grated) ¼ tsp

Take the yogurt and whisk it till smooth and add all the ingredients. Serve chilled. Raita has a cooling effect on the palate making it a must in summers. It’s a great condiment be it with breads or with kebabs for some, with stews or vegetables. A spoonful of yogurt- first-class medicine, excellent probiotic!

I am a workaholic thanks to foodaholics! I am determined to teach my maid today. You know it’s hard sometimes to multitask…as much as I find irresistible body for sure can get fatigued. So I found the solution. For dinner I decided to make burgers…home style and decided to teach my maid so my life becomes easy. I call my maid “Gudiya” coz she is about 19-20 in age and a darling.

There are days she asks me attention-grabbing questions when I am assembling cakes. She recognizes fruits by colour. I am teaching her how to write, pack chocolates, bake cakes, learning the ingredients my helper in real sense. I make her taste all the stuff I make so she learns the taste. Now and then I get the most genuine/weird/funny response from her. At times she gets confused between spatula and an off set spatula or between fondant and marzipan and when she picks up something wrong I just give her the look…almost saying gudiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa not again!! And she just cracks up. And both of just become the reason for each other’s amusement. Tell you she is a real entertainer.

I think I am getting a bit emotional I am very fond of her and she is thinking of going back to the village. I don’t want her to go. She lost her parents in an accident and I don’t know if she goes back will she have a healthier existence. Nevertheless getting back to the meal so where were we-Vegetarian burgers ok?

So here you go… (Good for 5 people, I ate twoJ)

Burger Buns                                                             6

Potatoes                                                                   3

Soya small pieces                                                   300 Gms (nutrela chura)

Carrots                                                                      2 medium

Beans                                                                         100-150 Gms

Cauliflower                                                              1 small

Capsicum                                                                  2 small

Onions                                                                       1 large

Salt                                                                             2 tsp

Black pepper                                                           1tsp

Red chilli                                                                   1 ½ tsp

Mango powder (amchur)                                                ½ tsp

Coriander powder                                                 ½ tsp

Panko/bread crumbs                                            100 Gms

Oil                                                                               4-5 tbsp

Bread if required                                                    2 slices

Flax seeds                                                                 1 tbsp

Method:

1.     Boil the potatoes and grate them.

2.     Add all the veggies together and chop them super fine. I use an electric mixer.

3.     Mix all the potatoes and the veggies together. And all the seasoning.

4.     Add panko (Japanese bread crumbs) or regular ones. Bread Crumbs: I use multigrain bread to make them at home. I like the concept of flax seeds in the burger. Today I added some extra other than the 1tbsp.

5.     Mix all the ingredients together and form sort of dough. Potatoes and bread help to bind.

6.     Make small balls and shallow fry them on a flat pan.

7.     Make the balls nice and round and press them as they cook that way the whole mixtures will cook evenly and you won’t get the raw feeling in the middle.

8.     Once both sides are nice and brown put them on a mesh plate. So they dry up and still don’t get soggy.

By and large I don’t eat my burgers with mayo like the rest of the world. Did you know I don’t eat ketchup?

So I more often than not put green chutney made of fresh coriander, mint, onion, ginger and cumin.

Another relish I love putting in there is the Thai sweet chilli sauce. It adds a bit of the tang. It’s non-compulsory. Though you can get it at any market INA rocks!!

On the same pan take the buns and cook them till light golden brown.

Take some lettuce, cucumber, tomato; cherry tomato if it’s available. Onions whatever salad items you like toss them in some lemon juice black pepper, extra virgin olive oil or add some balsamic vinaigrette.(check the recipe section) Toss it and fantastic …home style burger ready!

Ps- the preeminent ingredient of this meal…gudiya now knows how to make it! One task overJ