Baked Samosas - a party snack

While i am idly browsing through food blogs, songs from the movie 'Baazigar' reach my ear from far. Suddenly i feel nostalgic for a Shahrukh movie. I feel an urge to write, sudden inspiration from an unexpected source. I used to be a big fan, used to enjoy the silliness; i have become indifferent. I can't claim to be a fan anymore when the last movie i watched on the big screen was some five years ago and that too in a movie theater in London. There it seemed important that 'Billu' be given his due. Back in India i don't care; I can't make time. I should go watch his next release, just for old times sake. Anybody wanna go watch with me? And sponsor the popcorn ? Or some samosa?

Healthy Carrot Cake for a birthday

I have been MIA (been so eager to use that word) and will stop trying to justify my absence. You are used to my apologies by now, aren't you? Its just that i have been lazy and uninspired. You know, that realisation that i am adding nothing to this blog by talking about what i eat. Then again i read recently in another blog's comments that the purpose of a blog is to write and not about others reading it, that's what inspired me to finally make a comeback and put my thoughts out here.

What i would like to remind myself today is that i have started out on this mission of trying out new foods and documenting the results here a year ago and it has been a fulfilling experience, especially when not much else was happening in life. Not only have i cooked up new foods that i would otherwise not have, but i would like to think that i brought happiness to people along the way with my baking experiments. So in keeping with the tradition, i baked a healthy carrot cake for my mother-in-law's birthday last week.

Easy Home-made Frech Fries

I have been cooking so much lately, i have had no time to talk about it. And these french fries have been featuring prominently as evening snacks most days of the week, ever since i discovered them about two months ago. I saw them featured on The Pioneer Woman and they looked delicious. Not its easy to say no to fried potato whether they are really in front of you or just virtually in pics. But then i am also one for shortcuts. I usually don't have the patience for pre-planning. So while the source recipe tells you to soak the potato cut into fries for at least an hour and then fry them twice once in hot oil and next in very hot oil, that sounded too long winded and cumbersome to me. And it asked for a thermometer to measure the temperature of oil. There i gave up. But i didn't give up entirely.

Multi colour pasta in alfredo sauce

I stopped making pizza at home for almost a month now. Not because i was bored, but because the man in the house thought i was making pizza too healthy and the flavour was supposedly turning Indian instead of Italian. (In his defence, for my latest attempt i had replaced half the all purpose flour for the pizza base with whole wheat flour and added an extra teaspoon of ragi flour. I loved the crust that day.) Now shouldn't he have been thanking me for taking care of his cholesterol. Instead he said "Look, why don't we just eat out whenever we feel the craving for pizza". Needless to say i was shocked and mad. Because, he is the health nut in our relationship, but turns out he wants his pizza in the most unhealthy way. Most friends i have talked to preferred pizza making at home so they could control the amount of cheese they put into it. My man prefers (or used to prefer) home-made pizza for the exact same reason, only he wants more cheese than a double cheese pizza at Pizza Hut. What do i do? Simply switch to my other Italian favourite - Pasta.

Mashed plantain fry (aratikaya fry)

I remember even when i was very little that i have been interested in new foods. Not as much the cooking as the eating part. And it helped that mom was a fantastic cook willing to experiment. She even had a recipe book where she had jotted down recipes that caught her fancy and there were all sorts of things from curries to snacks to desserts including jams, jellies and sauces. It used to be a good time-pass to go through that book and dream about all sorts of foods. I distinctly remember one such Sunday afternoon when i was twelve or thirteen. I was browsing through the recipes and found one recipe for 'potato latkes' that sounded easy enough to me and volunteered to cook it for the rest of my family. I did make those cutlet type snacks that evening but had undercooked the potatoes. The outside was turning from dark brown to almost sooty black but the potatoes refused to become soft. I was so disappointed. I don't think i ever offered to make a new dish again until many many years later.

Button Mushroom Fry (Dry Curry)

A few years ago i used to take up a pen and paper only when i was unhappy, writing was almost therapeutic. But these days, i don't touch the blog when i am not in a good mood. I don't do philosophical musings anymore because i am not sure how people will react. We go online to spread happiness and good cheer, to share in the joy and not to hear other people's troubles. And so when i lack inspiration to write cheerfully, i have been giving up trying to write entirely. Today i decided it was high time you see something else on my homepage than week old wishes for a festival that has long been celebrated and even the festive cooking leftovers have long disappeared from the fridge. So i come back to you with something i have cooked last year, i mean last month, i mean it was just a couple of weeks ago. I chose this dish to share today because i loved the photography while cooking this as much as i loved the end result in food.

Cauliflower Tomato Rice

Its been so hot in Hyderabad the last few days with the day temperatures hovering around 33 degrees centigrade. Hyderabadi winter was supposed to cool, cold even and if not until February, at least until the middle of January. Sure, its ideal weather for my home made ice cream to be gobbled up, but please believe me i was not praying for hot weather just to enjoy my ice cream. And now because i am wondering if the weather Gods are changing the temperatures to suit my cooking, I am going for a spicy hot Cauliflower rice.

I love rice. A good fried once remarked that it was my favourite not just among food items, but my most favourite thing in the world. So much did i love it, that he was considering gifting me a big bag of rice as a birthday gift. No, i ended up with a cake that year, but it wasn't out of consideration if you must know. 

Red and Green Peppers Pizza

For the first time since i started blogging, i got inspired to cook for a blogging event. The event is "Lets cook for Christmas - Red and Green". I didn't even read the blog rules that apply for participation, i simply wanted to cook something using red and green ingredients and with a finished product that looks red and green. I was so very happy when the pizza came out of the oven the day after Christmas, and not just because during the previous week i had baked my first inedible pizza (I really don't want to talk about that disaster. It happened because i decided i didn't have to knead the dough, at all! Yeah, after baking about two dozen pizzas, i baked one that went straight to the trash can). This one though was miles ahead of the last one, the thin crust with whole wheat flour included was not only healthier, it was delicious too. And staying with sauteed bell peppers, without overloading with all sorts of toppings, brought out those delicate sweet flavours absolutely perfectly. When the soft mozzarella was bubbling away without burning during the last two minutes of baking, the house smelled amazing too. One of the best pizzas i have eaten in a long time.

Bottle gourd kofta curry (Sorakaya Kofta kura)

Maybe I am getting lazier, or maybe i am taking mom for granted, or both. Why else, as one who stays at home all day, everyday, would i ask mom to type in the recipe and send it to me by email, when i was right next to her when she made this for me on my last trip there. I have surely become lazier. And taking advantage of the fact that moms are always trying to be there for their daughters, even when the said daughter has quit her job after a mere five years in the corporate world. And  then when the said mom is having a one week leave from her day job (one that she has kept at for almost thirty years), she is asked to kindly type in the recipe because her daughter is too lazy. OK, i hope you get the point that i am very guilty right now. But can i be forgiven, please? I am not saying i deserve it, I am simply asking you to be magnanimous. Its the season for that too, right? Pretty please?

Simple Tomato Chutney

If you are regular reader, you might think that i have talked enough about my love for chutneys, but then you probably still don't know me too well. As i recently found out what the husband discovered about me - that i tell a story with such gushing enthusiasm, then get a little disappointed when i notice that i am not getting the expected reaction, it usually turns out i have told him that same story at least twice already. Either my brain's getting old before i even turn thirty, or i have a childlike enthusiasm,despite advancing years, where i can talk without worrying about my audience's reactions. You decide if that's good or bad. I mean for me. Of course its not the best of things to happen to an interested audience, so i shall try to keep my memory good. Otherwise you will remind me, no?

Cauliflower Pickle - Andhra Style

I was sipping delicious sweet water with a straw from a fresh tender coconut a little while ago while staring into the sunset from a window at my home. And the idea of a tropical beach holiday described in some book or television or somewhere on the Internet flashed into my head. This was the not first time i had coconut water straight from a tender green coconut, nor was this the first time i admired a sunset at home (having even tried to capture it with my camera several times, precariously balancing the camera outside the third floor window), but it was the first time it struck me as something romantic. That a lot of things in everyday life seem interesting only when they are described in beautiful words by a stranger. That our perspective of everyday events can determine our happiness, not the events themselves. And i am surprisingly happy today, maybe just happy to be surprised at what my mind can throw at me to ponder.

Hello everybody and seasons greetings to you all.

Beerakaya Senagapappu Kura/ Ridgegourd Curry with Bengal Gram

Anybody like ridge gourd? I mean like, love ridge gourd. Jump and squeal when you hear that's the curry for the day. OK, maybe not jump and squeal but really love it. I for one had never been in that category. For as long as i can remember when mom was cooking our meals, i wouldn't turn to look under the plate that was was covering ridge gourd curry. I knew it was easy to cook, i knew it had great many nutrients and was light on the stomach (making it a perfect curry for convalescents). Those were just not enough reason for me to eat this green vegetable. I mean when made into a curry. Of course i would devour the chutney made with ridge gourd. That's because i am very partial to chutneys, but you already know that. So what convinced me to eat ridge gourd in curry form finally. Well, i have not one but two reasons. 

Capsicum Fry/ Bell pepper curry

Of late i find my mother and mother-in-law both experimenting with foods, trying out new combinations of vegetables for curries, that is almost surreal. They have no access to the Internet and my mother is a working woman who rarely watches TV (she most definitely believes it is the idiot box). And i find them dishing out delicious curries with never-heard-before combinations, and i am the one reading through dozens of food blogs. I was talking to my mother during the week and after some usual chit chat, she generally asks me what i made for lunch and if i have nothing to blabber about, i ask her the same. And she shocked me with a curry she made with chukka kura (sorry, but couldn't find the English name for this. It is a sour leafy vegetable and usually cooked with lentils similar to spinach) and sorakaya (bottle gourd). Has anyone ever heard of this combination before? I know I never did. 

Mushroom Manchurian - Wet and Dry - step by step

On the last day of our recent holiday, an hour before boarding the train, we went to a nearby restaurant to have some snacks and to get dinner packed for the overnight journey. Having had our fill of dosas and puris over the previous three days, we ordered a plate of Mushroom Manchurian which was listed under 'Chinese snacks'. Indianised version of Chinese food is huge in almost all parts of India. From small mobile street stalls to fancy restaurants, there are many who serve "Chinese" food in India. But if you have ever been to China, you would know that it is something completely different. No is the answer, if you are asking me if i have ever been to China. But i talked to a good friend who did go, who was there for a few months for an IT project. And heard him complain about how there was nothing to eat in China. He never expected a problem when going there because he was eating "Chinese" in Kolkata (or you may know it as Calcutta) all the time. Eventually, he did adapt quite well and bragged about being able to eat peanuts with chopsticks. Apparently that's not the easiest thing to do.

Easy Indian Potato Curry

Potatoes are possibly the most ubiquitous food. I am yet to hear of any cuisine that never cook with potatoes. And with all that starch, a real comfort food too. There are possibly a million ways to cook potato and i may have tasted a few dozen. In the cities of west bengal in India, and i have lived two years each in two cities, potatoes are used in almost all their meals. During my student days in the city with the longest railway platform, our meals were cooked in the canteen of the student hall of residence, we had very little say over what was served to us. The only choice was eat or don't. (Wow, suddenly makes me realise how much luckier i am now to be able to cook and eat all this variety of meals!) Yes, we did have student body meetings and decide a weekly menu for the next month, but more often than not, the cook would make what he wanted. When confronted, he always had the same excuse - couldn't get the ingredients of the set menu within budget. So he added potatoes!

Bachali kura pappu/ Malabar Spinach curry

The weekend was hectic. I made mushroom pizza for Saturday lunch. Dad was in town on Saturday and i cooked him some dinner. I made him some plain Naan and served it with chicken curry. And later made myself some masala Naan that i had with the potato curry leftover from here. And since i also wanted to give him something special to take home to mom, i baked this cake again earlier in the day and packed it for him. On sunday, we went to a housewarming get-together and i got to eat my favourite Hyderabadi Biryani for lunch there. The recipes for the new stuff i cooked on the weekend will have to wait, because i have decided that i will first tell you more about what i cooked for lunch today.

Tendli Fry/ Dondakaya Fry

I used to eat this a lot when i was young, still do, but never knew what it was called in English. It was only after i started shopping in these huge supermarkets in Hyderabad that i was enlightened with the English and Hindi names of the vegetables for which i only knew Telugu names till then. And for the purpose of this blog i even did some google searching and wikipedia reading. My finding was that what i fondly called dondakaya in Telugu is called Coccinia grandis (ah, sounds grand!) or Ivy gourd in English and Tendli in Hindi and a lot of other names in other languages which you can search yourself, if really interested. Also, its supposed to contain beta-carotene. And my lesson on this vegetable comes to an end.

Don't go away yet. I am now going to tell you how you can turn the tender green fruits (vegetable actually, despite what wikipedia calls it) of this exotic tropical vine plant into delicious food. And how very simple it is too. You just cut them into whatever shape you like, shallow fry them for a while in a little oil, season them and you are done. You can eat it straight away based on the amount of seasoning you add, or like us Indians, add a lot of salt and mix it with rice as a curry. If you would like a little more specific instructions, below is my recipe for dondakaya fry, i mean tendli fry, i mean {insert whatever you call it in your mother tongue}.

Jackfruit seeds curry/ Panasa ginjala kura

We love jackfruit, finally a food that the husband and i both love. The ripe fruit in its golden yellow colour, and delicious smell beckons to me, every time i open the fridge. We eat little else for snacking any time of the day when there is jackfruit at home. And the jackfruit season is one time i feel lucky to be living in India (that's compared to the times when i can't get fresh rosemary or blueberries or leeks or fennel or basil or.. you get the point, things like that at reasonable prices) lucky to be able to buy a whole big fruit at the farmer's market, to be able to get the vendor to do the messy job of cutting it open and picking the juicy, fleshy, yellow, eatable bits out. All fresh, possibly organic and at totally affordable prices. You gotta love it.

Green Plantain Curry/ Aratikaya Kura

When i started this blog earlier this month, i started clicking pictures of everything i cooked, hopeful that i can put them up here soon. Still it took me almost 3 weeks to give you this recipe. That's partly because i have been busy re-baking the things i had already posted, chocolate cakes and chocolate chip cookies. My mom was in Hyderabad last week and who better people than parents to try your cooking experiments on, so i made a heap of chocolate chip cookies and one slab of chocolate cake to send them home with her. And now aunts, cousins, grandma, mom and dad - even if they are all the people obliged to like what i cook - have been telling me how wonderful my baked goods taste. And i am in heaven. This has given me renewed enthusiasm to take my blog forward, to keep a journal of what i have been cooking at the very least. 

Spicy Baby Brinjal/Eggplant Fry

Brinjal (also known as Eggplant or Aubergine in different parts of the world) comes in many sizes, shapes and colours. The variety that suits this recipe best is the small, round and purple one. The most common use of brinjal in India is to make curries with tomato based gravy, or cashew based gravy or stuffed brinjals. I wasn't a big fan of brinjal and growing up, my mom always had to prepare a separate curry for me if she was cooking brinjal. Those were the days when i still got to demand special treatment. Now, when i have to do the cooking myself, i am willing to adapt. OK, you already figured that out.