Indulge in a Bit of Food Porn

Indulge in this succulent, juicy, melt in the mouth mutton keema, baked to perfection in glassware from http://www.myborosil.com/ .

The mouthwatering aroma fills your senses as you behold the warm dish that holds the manna from heaven.

As soon as you pick a spoonful of keema and place it on your tongue, the divine cocktail of  flavours and blend of spices burst into your mouth, tantalizing and teasing your taste buds.

Slowly and rhythmically as you savour the first layer of baked cheese that melts in your mouth in a golden haze of perfection, your mind cries for more.

As you experience the next layer of soul satisfying rich, brown, granular and soft mutton keema, flavoured with an oriental blend of warm and cold spices of cinnamon and pepper with strong, piquant and savoury ginger and garlic spices, the essential ingredients in an Indian kitchen, you reach out for more, sighing with pleasure.

The dance of the flavours and aroma captures your mind, plays with your senses and leaves your hunger satiated but your treacherous tongue wants more and more of this delicious and aromatic dish that has been baked in a pristine and clear glass dish designed for healthy cooking.




This post is my entry for the contest on http://www.myborosil.com/
Check out the contest at http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=112 

Oats Soup

A healthy, quick and easy concoction.

Blanch finely cut carrots, peas, onions, beans, corn, capsicum etc in a cooker. Add salt and pepper and a maggi masala pouch. 

Add oats as per quantity needed. 3 to 4 table spoons per person should be good. Bring to boil and add some milk. Boil and garnish with Coriander leaves.

That is all....

Mango Memories

This post is in response to the I Heart Mangoes Blogathon / Mangothon hosted by Tulika  books.
Hop over and read it and participate. The more the merrier.

Food is transportive. Each food is linked to a memory or memories and those memories have the capability to transport you to far off places or to journey through time to the past.

This piece on mango memories talk of my best memories with my favourite fruit mango. So have a glass of chilled mango lassi to go with this and read on...

My earliest memories are those of hot summers in Patna. My grandfather had a mango orchard, now isn't that the loveliest thing to have. A mango lover's dream! So every summer different varieties of mangoes would arrive at the house...bambaiya aam, was the first to arrive and the last but not the least would be malda aam, a proud Bihari's staple mango also known as langda aam  in some parts.

Vacations in Patna meant the complete gathering of the gang of assorted aunts and cousins.
Our days began with Aam and ended with Aam.

Breakfast would be a hand mixed (maa ke haath ka and all that) preparation of boiled and lukewarm milk, sugar, rotis and juicy mangoes. They were mixed in a huge vessel and hand mashed to make a very even mix and served in large bowls to all of us who would slurp it up with much speed and gusto. Err not to forget a minor detail- there was also a race to clean the mango pulp that were still attached to the peels piled in a large plate.

Lunch would end with an individual mango sucked to thoroughness with all cousins competing on who would make the mango seed the cleanest and the whitest. Every trace of pulp and fibre and colour were thoroughly removed and in the end the results were compared and the winner declared.

Desserts that were served post dinner was either huge plates of cut mangoes or sweet mango pulp in fresh cream sugared generously.

Not to forget the aampanna that was consumed throughout the day to prevent heatstrokes.

The mom brigade would also make this sweet chutney - raw mangoes boiled with jaggery and seasoned appropriately to give a sweet and tangy chutney which was served as accompaniments to the meal. A serving would have slices of cooked mango in the sweet-sour juice. Slurp.


The best part about having a mango tree in your own garden is to be able to pick mangoes that fall on the ground during the night or after a windy evening. Any tree is like a shared resource. It is fair game for the neighboring house and also for all passers by. And each find is a like a treasure to be hunted out from among the grass and fallen leaves and the presented to the mom for making them into pickles or simply cutting them and eating with a touch of salt.

And this picture is my most recent memory. At less than a year of age, his eyes are shining more for the mangoes on mamma's plate rather than mamma, methinks.

To carry the tradition forward, of having a mango tree in the garden, the sons have planted a mango seed in the flower pot!!! And they water the same judiciously, ignoring the rest of the pots.

Will they, won't they grow for them? I wonder.

The Hilton Ayna

In honour of The Reluctant Detective (Kiran Manral), publishing house Westland organised a blogger's dinner at The Hilton in their ostentatious restaurant Ayna.

Ayna meaning mirror is a contemporary Indian restaurant where the blend of tradition and International helps create a meal which Is a gourmand's delight.

The decor reflects the Indian culture yet manages to look stylishly sleek. The decor is predominantly Indian. I loved the walls inspired by the eye of the peacock and the interiors that were done in carved mirrors and rich wood patterns, interspersed with glass and silver ware at strategic locations. The architecture is very contemporary and furniture a blend of modern and traditional.

The best part is that the restaurant has nooks and corners and enclosures that give a fair bit of privacy to the diners, we were seated in a private dining room which seated the 8 of us in a very royal manner, with the chairs laid far enough to allow sufficient elbow room while dinng.

The chef took personal care of us and served us a yummy sit down 5 course m

eal. According to them, they revisit the original recipes and traditional methods of cooking to retain the unique and consistent flavours of the dishes.
In totality, the Ayna is not just a place to eat, it is an experiential dining in its ful glory.

We were given a choice of non veg and veg sit down meal.
The veg consisted of a yummy surprise package of starters served on a skewer...charcoal roasted basil chicken, mutton cubes and malwani prawn served with a strip of garlic naan.

The main course had Goan fish curry, mutton from Bengal, rogan josh, countr

y chicken and prawn served with apam, malabar paratha and a very sinful ghee enriched parantha sprinkled with poppy seeds. There were more...biriyani, daal makes which we declined.

The desserts were to die for. Served in an individual platter we had Malpua, orange kulfi, chenna payesh and sandesh.
This culminated with a platter of create your own paan and that is the only snap I took as this is so very unique.
We ended with, yes there was more, a ginger coffee to help digest all that we had consumed.
I forgt to add, the sweet pickled pineapple jelly was beyond yummy.






Sent from my Nokia phone

Proud Bihari's Cuisine

You are not a Bihari worth your salt/ mustard oil/ chaat masala/ sattu/ mutton and all if you do not know how to make these Bihari snacks called Pedakia (gujiya) and thekua( funny names naa!! even I find them very funny)
Well, I could call myself Bihari ke naam par kalank as I never got these right in the last 7 years. Either the dough would have less of jaggery or the khoya filling would get stiff and therefore very difficult to handle. But this time I got the mix really well. So here I document them.

Thekua (recipe courtsey Nani- she gave the exact measure...and all of us scrambled to write it down, but frankly nothing beats experience in handling this)
1/2 kg wheat flour
1/4 kg palm jaggery
100g ghee
(Makes 45 small pieces)

Method
Melt the jaggery in 200ml warm water (just enough for kneading the dough)
Filter the liquid jaggery.
Mix all ingredients and quickly knead them into a soft pliable dough.
Either roll them out and cut them into diamonds/ squares or just press them on a wooden mould which has floral/ tree like designs.
Deep fry them on low flame until they are golden/ dark brown in colour.

Pedakiya

This is fairly simple - if you can make samosas, you will have no problem with teh dough.

Filling

Khoya- 400g (unsweetened please- not sweetened)

Sugar- for swetening- 6-7 table spoons

Dry fruits/ grated coconut etc.

roast the khoya until it starts leaving ghee and starts collapsing into a ball. Add dry fruits etc.

Wait till it gets cold and then mix the sugar. Rub it properly.

It will form a powder.

For the Outer shell

1/2 kg maida (flour)

50 g or more ghee

rub the flour and ghee together. take a pinch- it should bind together else add more ghee.

Knead the above into a stiff dough adding water.

Divide the dough into 28-30 balls.

Make a round and then add filling. Fold into a semicircle and bind the sides

Deep fry on medium-low flame.

The Kipling Cafe for a Date

Last weekend, the kids had to go to a birthday party. And we decided that we could use this as an opportunity and go on a date, leaving the kids behind to rock the party. A first for the kids- readily agreeing to be left behind, perhaps because this was their classmate's birthday party and they didn't need me to sit around.

We went to Kipling Cafe situated on ECR. A nice place tucked in between the bunglows right at the end of a road. Blink and you miss it. No boards, no signs. Thsi place serves continental and Thai and is ideal for a quiet lunch or a small dinner party.
Varied Seating arrangements all over the place

Huts for private seating ...

Rustic chairs in the lawn..

Outdoor hut has its own pankha on the thatched ceiling

Wheel Barrow for the rustic look

Wooden salt -pepper shakers

Boneless chiken cooked in Thai style with rice. Was enough for 2 having eaten a nice serving of calorific kalamari and fried onion rings

Compliment or Annoyance

When the kids' friends eat up the contents of their snack box, do I feel annoyed or take it as a compliment?

Junk Food

While searching in vain for the juice that Nana had bought for them and I had hidden promptly, Ojas & Tejas chanced upon the packet of potato chips.

Ojas- There is chips. He has bought junk food.

The 2 and their 2 friends dismiss the chips and go off to play.

Buy 2 Get 1 Free

Was the offer going on in Spencer's for Brittania Actimind.
Being the smart consumer that I am, I did some quick calculations and picked up 12 bottles- Buy 8, take 12. So that given my policy of juice in lunch box twice a week, I could utilize these bottles for 3 weeks.

Only, Ojas & Tejas had other plans.
The first day, they took 1 each to school, came home and shared one more bottle.
3 down.
The next day- they drank 2 each and even kept one in the bag- to share with their friend.
8 down, in a span of 2 days.
Now only the free bottles are remaining and just a week has gone by.

Grade I Boys

Yesterday the boys started Grade 1 in the big school.
Compared to the small and personal atmosphere in the junior school, I found this school huge, crowded, buzzing with activity and largely impersonal.
But they were very organised in spotting the newcomers and finding us the right section.
Like last year, both go into separate sections. They were better prepared for it but Ojas did balk at the prospect of getting in first and at the idea that Tejas will be with me until he gets into his class.
But within moments they were fine.
Ojas thinks his teacher is not his teacher because she is also his classmate's mom.
He insisted- Woh m'am nahin hai. woh N ka mamma hai.

The morning goes in a blur- I have 3 hours to do the following
- prepare breakfast
-rush to gym
-get fruits if needed on the way back
-wake the kids up, shove their food in and send them to get ready
-prepare their snack and lunch box (and pack them in their new Milton hot case)
-Fill cold water in their new Milton water bottles.
-Get the kids to pack their assorted boxes and bottles in their new Ben 10-Reebox bags- which was bought much to the disgust of the Dad who wanted to buy a boring and sensible American tourister
-Eat and get ready.
-Drive them to school and proceed thankfully in the same direction to work. Thank God for small mercies
The lunch and snack boxes are a challenge- making them as nutricious and delicious as possible is the key.
Combos and suggestions from my friends are pouring into my inbox thankfully.
Though as Ro suggests, I would love to outsource the lunchbox to eve's lungs

Resident Taster

Tejas must have eaten melon just once till date.
The other day he asked me for watermelon juice and Ojas asked for watermelon + musk melon juice.
The balance of this juice, I poured into Tejas' glass. He took a sip and said- melon jaisa taste hai!

Not easy to fool him in the taste and smell department- like his Mamma!

While on teh topic of fruits- this year is alphonso discovery one. I have eaten the same from Mumbai, and Chennai both- unlike usually I prefer not to take the low quality alphonso.
But my heart still beats for Himsagar, that I discovered a couple of years ago and Langda of course.

We also bought Lichis at teh criminal price of Rs 150/ kg. The kids love it. Not as good as the red, juicy, luscious ones you get in Patna though. :(

My Views on Women's Day

errrr

Forget it, I am just not cut out for writing such stuff. Instead let me just write what I did today which I do anyway irrespective of it being women's day or not.

Just wore a nice dress with this jazzy dupatta which made me feel instantly good about myself...

...because I was going out for lunch with friend AD.

We did lunch - where else- at Barbecue Nation and stuffed our faces until full.

In the evening, I am meeting another friend NS- funny thing is that it is more like a playdate- and funny because all our life we have been having so called play dates with each other and now we are doing the same with our children.

And I am also reading Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and appreciating the making of a well loved comedy.

Tell Me How & What

1. How Do I make the kids eat a decent treat during parties. They just refuse to eat and I end up making noodles at home later on. The whole purpose of going to a birthday party is lost according to me.

2. How do I tell them that food that is junk food in school lunch pack remains junk food at home also. So they cannot demand the same at home whereas refuse to eat them in the snack box- something like Noodles?

3. What are the good options for a snack box. I am dreading class 1. Just because of the snack box demon. Long hours mean wholesome snacks and my kids will never eat on their own, the stuff that remotely look wholesome.

4. What makes my kids shy away from participating in any "fun" games organised by the event management people during parties? Or interact with the kids during a party.

5. What is the cure for clingfestness especially when I am busy organising a party or event?

The Way to a Boy's Heart is Through the Stomach

Tejas plants a sudden kiss on my cheek as I was reading to him at bedtime.
Me- why baby, what happened
Tejas- isiliye tum humko accha lagta hai (because I like you)
Mamma- why baby?
Tejas- isiliye ki tum humko khana diya (because you gave me dinner)
Methinks the Nokia story book brought that.

While on food,
Dadda was gobbling up the papayas, which are a favourite for Ojas
Ojas- Dadda, why are you eating so many papayas? Don't eat so many.

Dear Radisson Kabab Factory

Many a memorable dinners and lunches have been had in your premises.
I have taken foreign colleauges out there for the Great Indian Kabab experience.
I have had special occassion dinners for two and thereafter lunches for 2 + 2. Even my kids fell in love with you.
We love your kababs- the mutton seekh, the galauti kabab pressed on a flat bread and smeared with green chutney, sprinkle of onion rings, a dash of lime and rolled and eaten like a frankie. Oooh I can almost taste them on my tongue.
As long as the cost for the 4 kababs, assorted breads and the biriyani and mini dessert platter that are never done justice to, were upto Rs 750 plus or minus a few bucks, it was value for money. Commoners like us could still come to you for our small and insignificant celebrations.

Well, on a given day that we choose to come to you, how many kababs will we eat- 8 or may be 10 max. After that we normally have no space for the meal/ desserts.
So if I were to compare with the Copper Chimmney share platter of 20 for Rs 1300 or Barbecue nation unlimited lunch platter of 5 different kababs for Rs 450 with a drink and buffet thrown in, a Kabab Factory platter for Rs 1300 plus would be definitely termed as daylight robbery.
Well, they said, we have changed the menu so we increased the price. I really didn't find any obvious change in the menu but yes the restaurant was redone.
I also did not find an increase in variety of kababs for lunch and most certainly I can say that my tummy does not accomodate more kababs with the increase in price.
Yes, I am crazy about you Kabab Factory. So much so that if one wakes me up from sleep and tells me to go to Kabab Factory, I will do that barefoot.
With the increase in price, I may of course pray to God that I get lots of foreign colleagues visiting India so I may bring them to you, Kabab Factory. But there will be a nagging feeling of guilt that I am going there whereas not taking the kids who enjoy your food so much.
I may still treat myself to Kabab Factory perhaps once in a year or once in two years or atleast until my kids turn 8 because one saving grace is that you do not charge for kids below 8. Despite my warnings that the kids will eat atleast 3 kababs each and there are 2 of them.
I try to tell myself that may be we are having some degree of value for money because 2 kids are also eating for free.
But then these excuses have a short life span. Sooner or later I will compare it to Barbecue nation that is not really bad on the taste front. It is of great value for money too for frequent eating.
So Dear Kactory.
At Rs 1300 per platter, I am sorry to say, you are most certainly not worth it.

Parental Control or Children Control

The husband and I were eating the Sri Krishna sweet mixture at a rapid speed. Ojas walks up to us, takes in the scene, takes the mixture bag and hides it behind himself.
We get busy with the TV.
He slinks towards the kitchen, Paati asks him- what is it?
Ojas says- nothing, it is all over.
Ojas reaches the kitchen, deposits the mixture pack there and comes out.
It so happens that Ojas loves mixture.

Ah well, Karma comes to bite me in my ample bum- many a times I have eaten a fistful of haldiram's nimboo masala mixture away from the kids'line of vision, if I believe it is not the right time for them to eat mixture.

Honey Oranges

Can you guess the size of these oranges?

Now?

What do you think?

And how about now?

Honey oranges is what the store calls them. Very very sweet, kids love it and so do we.

Foodie or Greedy?

One extremely cynical-about-India person I know who has left desh long ago to live abroad once said in so many and more words- In India one thing is very obnoxious- people are always talking about food.
I reserved my thoughts to myself at that point of time but personally I felt that such people who comment on "Indians and our Indianess" are perfect assholes and are hiding within themselves a deeper secret self of being extremely greedy towards food and feel a certain entitlment towards home made food just because they have come from abroad- food that they do not get abroad because there is no concerned Indian aunty running behind them discussing what breakfast lunch or dinner they will want to eat.
Yes, food defines Indians in so many different ways - the lovely map that I got from the net is just one way of saying that Indian cuisine is not just about curry! We celebrate with food. Every festival has a distinct mix of dishes that need to be made. We show care with food- we send across a box of stuff to neighbours on any ordinary day and a box of special stuff during festivals. Indian hospitality begins and ends with food. People who come home are loaded with snacks and are not allowed to leave without having dinner.

I have always loved food (and sadly, it shows!). But love for food apart, I am not the greedy types.
Allow me to explain the differences between foodies and greedies.
1. Foodies love to share down to the last morsel, the Greedy ones hate sharing, err down to the last morsel- A foodie may look like a greedy grabbing the last bit of food off the plate but what distinguishes them from the greedy is that before doing that they will always ask if you want because they do not mind sharing. In fact they like to spread the joy. Because they love community building of people who enjoy the same food. The greedy will never ask. Just keep eating without asking if you want a bit. Because they dread it that you might actually say yes and they will lose a morsel that could have gone into their stomach.

2. Foodies love to plan meals- breakfast, lunch, dinner, tiffin boxes are the highlights of their day. There is a fine way to distinguish between the foodies and the greedies. The greedy ones do not plan meals and all. They just watch out for leftovers, or treats that have been bought in the last purchase and sporadically plan their next meal or lunch box which consist of those leftovers or treats- obviously if you blatantly say give me all that is left over- no one else will want to eat that.

3. Foodies love to take photos of food. Because food is also aesthetics. Food is used to communicate. Food is communication. Food can become an entire blog post. A great part of my salary comes from food. So obviously, I have to take lots and lots of pictures of the source of my salary.
The greedy ones may be just afraid that their food may run away so they take those snaps.


4. The foodies love to eat and so do the greedies but there is a subtle difference in their approach. Let me illustrate. Lets say I bought a box of cashew sweets to serve my house guests. Suppose I offer to pack some for my houseguest to take home since there is a lot of it, they will eagerly and gladly accept. But if I offer the same to a greedy, they will vehementally refuse then strategise the entire night and the next morning, when everyone is fast asleep, they will pack almost the entire box of sweets for themselves and not even have the courtsey to inform the host.
And suppose, they do agree to take a pack when offered, the greedies will pack the choicest pieces from the chicken curry and leave only the gravy behind for the host, whereas a foodie will take a good mix and leave enough for the host because foodies believe in sharing/ spreading the joy.

5. Foodies and Greedies both love food but Foodies will proclaim their love. Greedies will always say- I don't eat sweets, or I don't eat mithai because they don't want people to suspect that the person who ate up the entire ice cream on the sly are the greedy in their midst.

6. Foodies call you home for dinner/ lunch because they genuinely want to feed you. Greedies call you out of guilt- just to do a return favour so that they do not have the cosmic debt in their accounts.

7. Foodies will ask you to bring their favourite food for them. Greedies will also do the same. The difference is that foodies will also get a treat bag of your favourite food for you and the greedies will never do that. Just demand. Demand with a sense of entitlement.

So are you a foodie or a greedy or you are the ones who eat only to survive?
Believe me, I had plenty of friends of the last kind who were benchmarks for my mom in my growing up years.

Micro Managing

Years ago, I fell in love with the microwave. Or rather, the idea of a machine that can cook in a jiffy. Or a cooking contraption that has a light bulb inside to easily display what's going on inside- unlike an OTG.
Lots of people lamented that they use their microwave only for re-heating. And yet others warned that Microwave cooking is actually harmful for the health.
Whatever.
Microwave was on top priority in my purchase list post marriage and the love affair has started since then.
The first few months I experimented rapidly- I baked cakes, I made carrot halwa, pasta, veggies, chicken, rice, masala peanuts. I experimented with browning, used various modes- convection, grill, micro.
Along with my microwave, I had got a Sanjeev Kapoor cook book and a free cooking class from not Sanjeev Kapoor. This lady went about saying - actually, it is trial and error everytime someone would ask a question on cooking methodology.
Well, I smirked at her and went about doing exactly what she said- Trial and not so many Errors before coming up with my own set of cheat rules for microwave cooking.

- Focus on Positives
The main advantage of microwaving is time saving and the main disadvantage is no browning. So I use this simple rule to decide my cooking mode- When time saving is required- like a caramel pudding that takes a looooong time to get baked in convection mode- I go for a 6 minute microwaving- quick and easy.
Whereas when browning is needed- I go for grill mode after a quick micro mode to "cook" the stuff fast.

- Never Ignore the Experts
I swear by the Sanjeev Kapoor cookbook as it is written for the users of my microwave brand. Whenever I am confused by what power or which mode or how much time, I refer the book and replicate the specifics and make adjustments according to the item I am cooking.

- Compare and Contrast
If it takes as much or more time to cook a particular dish in the microwave as compared to doing on the gas, I don't bother to microwave. Like daals, rajma/ chana/ chole family or rice.

- Combine
Want to have the best of both worlds? The deep rich taste of kadahi masala and the baked notes of the oven- quickly fry the spices / onions in the kadahi and bung the rest of the ingredients with the fried masala into the micro- I often do that with my pasta when I want a combo of fried veggie taste and baked cheese.

- Non Veg
Yes- it cooks as well, sometimes even better in the microwave- I blindly trust the preset "roast chicken" mode for fish, chicken or mutton (keema is what I have tried).

- Cutting Down number of Steps
I really do not like cooking anything that requires too many stages and steps. Therefore the first thing I do when I look at a recipe is to cut down the steps required. Which is what I do when I look at the microwave recipes too. If the steps involved are taking too many dishes or pre cooking various ingredients in separate steps, I rather go for cooking on the gas and vice versa.
I have discovered a carrot halwa is easier to do in the microwave whereas a kheer is easier on the gas. But again, that's my own perception.

- Want a brown note?
Last evening I was making fish curry. I had two options- to deep fry and dip in the curry or just stew- Stew would be heathy but bland and deep fried would be very very delicious. I choose the best of both worlds- Ground all the usual ingredients, mixed them well with the fish, added a little oil and put the dish in my favourite chicken roast mode. The spices and the fish browned and gave me a pseudo fried feel without the overt oily sensation that lingers after eating fried fish - so healthy & tasty!

So who says Microwave is only good for heating?

Eating Out is Becoming Expensive Day by Day

Before
Where do you want to eat?
Kids- KFC

Now
Where do you want to eat?
Ojas- That roll mutton I ate naa, and there were grapes and cucumber
Me- Copper Chimmney
Ojas- Nooooooo were they also gave grape, cucumber....

(He means Mutton seekh kabab and the place is specifically Kabab Factory where they serve salads before the kabab course)