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 

Food and Architecture

So I am in no mood for recipe writing. Instead I feel like talking about food. I remember my class “principles of design” with Prof. Ostwal. This post is a dedication to that class.

 Food-we buy, cook, and consume it in many different public places designed to accommodate, even enhance, these activities of daily life. Much of the urban streetscape is composed of just such places: the market, the grocery, the pub, the café and the restaurant, as well as the supermarket, fast-food outlet or takeaway. Likewise, architecture is in food. Chefs design dishes that resemble works of art but which must also stand up and be eaten. And architecture is like food. Each is fashioned from raw materials into a cultural product. We depend on both to meet ordinary needs and to celebrate special events. Architects and cooks alike manipulate color, texture and shape to tantalize our senses.

Dessert should maximize visual design and flavor to delight the audience at least many of us think that way. I was just wondering today what I should make new and not many thoughts are coming at the moment. Monday Blues? Well I can’t really say that -keeping in mind I work 7 days a week. So to shake of the blues…I do what my friends say I am addicted to Google. I think I Google everything…try it you will find solutions to half your problems in life. Since I was thinking cheesecake –I ” googled ” Xangos. When I see the pictures of these Xangos (pronounced: ch­an’-gos), rich creamy cheesecake…wrapped in a pastry tortilla…fried until flaky and golden, then dusted with cinnamon sugar, I am reminded of the ancient architecture of Stonehenge to some extent.

Stonehenge is definitely one of England’s greatest icons. I hope if I travel in June , I get a chance to see it. Its original purpose is still somewhat unclear, but some have speculated that it was made for worship of ancient earth deities. Stonehenge’s plan is centralized-disposed around a vertical axis-and longitudinal, developed along a horizontal axis set into the central plane. The structure was part of the landscape, yet set off from it. It was an enclosure, isolated from the world by successive rings of stone, yet open to it through the stone screens. The great and ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is one of the great wonders of the world. What we see today are the substantial remnants of a sequence of monuments erected earlier. Each was a circular structure aligned around the rising of the sun at the midsummer solstice.  

Stonehenge is basically a structure of sandstone monoliths arranged in a horseshoe, and formerly joined by a common roof. The construction is highly accurate for the period. The engineering required transporting, shaping, raising and connecting the stones and the accuracy of their positioning.

Xangoe’s starts with a frame just like a picture that demands attention, creating both the compare and contrast level. The arrangement of the Xangos in a hap hazard position is what makes it similar to the arrangement of the stones in Stonehenge. Then we do have the contrast of the wedge shaped Xangos, giving them a slope and a different shape than the stones. The individual pieces that comprise the entire piece vary between the dessert and the landmark, with the uncut Xangos having a more cylindrical shape, while Stonehenge is constructed of cubical or organic shaped stones.       

Use of no more than three colors in Xangoes makes it simple and elegant. Had there been excess in this area it could have drawn the eye away from the dessert, which is after all, the main event. Xangos are more of warm colors, having a welcoming and moving effect. The golden, crispy color on the top makes it firm and, thus, shows the bold effect. As far as Stonehenge is concerned, its colors are more earthtones if I may say so. Just wondering is earthtones a word??? Having a green environment around and the blend of grays and earthy colors gives it a calming effect.

 The size, being one aspect for comparison, is also a valid point to talk about. Stonehenge is a gigantic structure. But we are not comparing the physical measurement in real terms. It’s more that if these Xangoe’s were made larger, lets put it as family size, then the comparison could have been better. They have the same pattern, though, giving the overall composition a lot of resemblance. Both things, when compared, do have some symmetry having different scales and proportions. The fallen Xangoe’s do create an anomaly to the big standing stones. 

Texture plays an important role in image analysis and understanding. Talking about the texture, Xangoes have a soft mushy center giving it a tender look inside achieved by the smooth filling. Temperatures–hot, cold, or a combination of these variables-also play a vital role in achieving textural interest. The pale yellow color gives it a warm tender feeling. Crisp crust contrasted with soft cheesecake, provides an element of a soft, creamy and buttery flavor giving the product a good “mouth feel”. The texture of Stonehenge is more hard and rocky due to big boulders.

There are many qualities that make food and architecture similar. They are both masterpieces, ones that the designer, or chef in cases of food, work hard to perfect.  They are usually stimulating to the eye, evoking a sense of awe from the on-looker and consumer.  Their duty is to satisfy.  While Xangoes and Stonehenge have many differences, their main purpose is to please the eye and to fulfill the cravings of adventure and curiosity. Now I am craving Xango- but may be I will have to do with just a Mango. Lunch time…catch you guys later.