Egg & Cabbage salad

I read this recipe in a book by Nita Mehta. It is unique in the way this salad is dressed. The tamarind as dressing is what gives this salad the zing! So here goes.

Take 4 hard boiled eggs, 2 potatoes. 4-5 and cabbage leaves which are fresh and green, 1 deseeded green chilli, 1 onion and 2 table spoons of finely chopped coriander leaves or cilantro. Cut the cabbage leaves into 1 inch squares. Chop the onion finely. Chop the green chilli really finely.

For the dressing, you need 1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp(use fun foods jar if you have), 4 table spoons of tomato ketchup, ½ teaspoon of chilli powder. ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of pepper and ½ teaspoon of cumin powder.    

Boil eggs for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and put the eggs in tap water immediately. Peel and cut the boiled eggs into 4 long pieces. Boil potatoes, peel and cut into ¼ inch thick round slices. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a skillet/pan and ensure that you rotate the pan so that the oil spread all over. Once heated, place the potato slices in an even single layer and fry till they are crisp and golden. Change sides and do likewise. To the potatoes, add cabbage leaves, chopped onion, green chilli and cilantro. Mix well so that all the vegetables are coated with oil. Whisk all the items for dressing in a small bowl. Keep aside 1 tablespoon. Pour the rest of the dressing over the vegetables in the pan and mix well. Transfer to your serving platter. Arrange the eggs on the salad. Dot each piece of egg with the dressing you had kept aside. 

Serve at room temperature or even cold.

PS- I promise that I will make this again and put up a better taken picture to do just to the salad.

Chicken Sandwich Spread

My sis-in-law is a great cook.  She shared this yummy easy-to-do and great-for-kids recipe. It is brilliant when you have growing kids at home who are perennially hungry. And if you have a social kid who is always having friends over, this is your life-saver recipe.

Boil a kilo of chicken. Keep the stock after boiling. During boiling, ensure that you do not add too much water as the stock should be a bit thick. Once the chicken can be felt at room temperature, shred the chicken. Now in a wok, add 75 grams of salted butter. Add 2 table spoons of chopped parsley. Add the shredded chicken. To this add 2 slices of wet centre parts of bread slices. Now add in the stock. Once you have added salt and pepper to taste, stir the chicken till it is gooey. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.

                                                

Egg Samosas

Anecdote

Kanchana decided not to be my friend. Instinctively she liked what she saw but other factors deterred her. Let the factors be a mystery for now, and let me introduce you to this very pretty English looking Bengali buddy of mine. 

Kanchana's unique appealing proposition is her ever zealous penchant to learn. She is always in the path of learning and does not hesitate to admit that she did not or does not know. Always on a path of progression, this freelance corporate writer therefore loves what is new. New fashion, new cuisine, new technology and new parenting comes naturally to her. Thankfully, what still hold ground in the old is her man!

The fact that mother and son went on a trek to eat a goat cheese salad in a tiny obscure cafe in Barcelona just because Abhi aunty had said it was pure heaven is a case in point.

Stuff that you must have:

(From 6 eggs, you can easily make about 13-14 samosas )

6 Boiled eggs, chopped into very small pieces

1 Large Onion chopped finely

3 Green chillies chopped finely (this varies on taste)

Salt and pepper powder.

What to do:

In a non-stick pan take some oil. Heat it. Put the chopped onions and sauté till glossy. Add green chillies. Mix well and then add the chopped boiled eggs. Mix very well. Then add salt and pepper powder. Make sure that egg-onion mixture is very mixed and a little oily. After it is done, let it cool. Put some salt and oil in flour and prepare dough like you would when you make puris. Then make flour balls of slightly large size and roll out a big circle. Cut the circle into half. Lift one half and hold it like a cup between your thumb and forefinger. Spoon in the egg mixture and seal the mouth of the dough cup. You should form small triangular samosas. The samosas shouldn’t be too big or too small. Pour oil in a wok. Heat it very well and then deep fry the samosa. Your egg samosa is now ready. Serve it hot with tomato sauce.

How to serve:

Serve it hot with tomato sauce.

Trivia:

Samosas originated in Central Asia in the 10th century and came to India via traders. Ibn Battuta is said to written about the samosa as a part of the third course of a meal served with pulao in the court of Muhammed bin Tughluq. Samosas in most parts of the world are filled with potatoes or onions or meat or chicken. However the egg filling is found in Indonesia.

Cabbage Onion cutlets

Anecdote

A collector of recipe books and art, Sharda is my aspirational buddy. She is a perfect ten. When many of us were lolling around in college, she applied her high IQ and admitted herself to one of the most coveted business schools in the country. This was the stepping stone to a hot-shot career as a corporate employee and then a corporate entrepreneur. She looks gorgeous, keeps a gorgeous home and is bringing up a gorgeous daughter.

She has also achieved the impossible, she has a gorgeous hubby!

We go way back. She has always encouraged my passion for cooking food. This recipe is also a note from encouragement from Sharda.

Stuff that you must have:

Sorghum or jowar
Wheat
Gram flour or besan
Cabbage
Onions
Cumin or Jeera powder
Ginger garlic paste
Garam masala powder
Fennel powder or saunf
Turmeric or haldi powder
Green chilli paste
Water

What to do:

In a mixing bowl, mix jowar , wheat and besan in proportions of 2:1:1. Add thinly sliced cabbage and onions, a cup each. Take 1 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste, 1 teaspoon of green chilli paste, 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder, 1 tea spoon of haldi powder, 1 teaspoon of jeera powder and 2 tea spoons of saunf. Add to the mixture in the bowl. Now add the vegetables. Add water enough to bind the dough. Now grease your palm with a bit of oil and make oblong shapes. When ready to eat, please shallow fry the cutlets.

How to serve:

It is a great tea time snack. Just fry and serve hot with maybe some tamarind or coriander chutney.

Trivia:

The word ‘cutlet’ did not originate from the word ‘cut”. Rather it was born from the French word côtelette, which in turn comes from the word coste meaning rib. The cutlet is a part of cusines from most parts of the world, American, Iranian, Indian, Australian, Russian, Britsh, Japanese, Austrian, Polish, Italian and Hongkong.

Mushroom on a bed of potatoes

Anecdote

In 1993, I met Sakina. She was a Bombay girl, whole and soul. She had attitude, spunk and panache and she made no bones about anything. With the same gusto she played pictionary as she conducted groups to gather consumer insights for brands of tea, gum or stationary. To win on a board game she could kill. Even throw a stapler at an opponent.

Sakina made our first years of work and marriage very lively. Even after nineteen years, Nitu and I, the MARG wives, remember pictionery and her so fondly. On one such fun and laughter night, Sakina made us this sumptuous bake in her Domlur flat. Nostalgia and mushrooms come hand in hand for me ever since.

Stuff that you must have:

4 large Potatoes
Two packets of button mushrooms
Butter
Ground Pepper
Salt
2 large onions
10 pods of garlic 

What to do:

Wet wipe the mushrooms. Avoid washing mushrooms as water takes the flavour away. Chop them into medium sized slices. Longitudinally slice the onions. Chop the garlic. Warm olive oil in a wok. Throw in the onions till they turn pink. Drop the garlic. Stir fry briefly. Add the chopped mushrooms. Cook in high flame, add salt to taste and a generous amount of ground pepper. Now reduce the flame for about three to four minutes. The mushroom will release a bit of dark sauce. Take the wok off the flame.
Boil potatoes. Peel and mash when they are hot. Add butter, salt and a bit of pepper powder. Smoothly make a base with a bit of milk.
Pour in the mushroom on top of the bed of potatoes. Dress with some grated mozzarella.
Bake in a hot oven for five minutes.

How to serve:

Bake it in a dish which can be served. Some fochachio bread is a great accompaniment for this wholesome dish.

Trivia:

Did you know that mushrooms are used to denote various life-changing concepts in proverbs in various countries? Some examples would be;

Asparagus and mushrooms teach a chef humility, Sicily
It's better to eat a mushroom in freedom than to eat meat in slavery, Africa
Without stooping down for the mushroom, you cannot put it in your basket, Russia
The wedding feast is not made with mushrooms only, Spain
If the hunter comes back with mushrooms, don't ask him how his hunt was, Ghana
Once the mushroom has sprouted from the earth, there is no turning back.

Chick pea & carrot salad

Anecdote

Rupa and Sandeep invited us to their beautiful new home. The décor and theme was a lovely white, quite like the quintessentially white, Simi Garewal. Every room and corner was simple and tasteful. With this couple, time spent is always high on qualities like family bonding, easy banter and shared stories about growing boys.

Aayush was 2 years old when he would go knocking at their door for a place in their dinner table. He spoke rather late, but sign language got him his way every evening. The ever caring Rupa, with her easy affectionate smile had most of her dinners on a stool while his highness ate his chocos with the family around the table.

One evening, we enjoyed an equally tasteful vegetarian meal. This salad was the winner of the meal. I borrowed the recipe while I was attacking my plate.

Stuff that you must have:

1 cup boiled chick peas
1 large carrot cleaned and grated
Half a handful of raisins
1 tea spoons mustard seeds
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste
2 sprigs of curry leaves, chopped

What to do:


In a non-stick pan take 2 tea spoons of oil. Once heated, throw in the mustard seeds. Add the curry leaves while the seeds are sputtering. Add the chick peas. Stir and toss with some salt to taste. Sprinkle the lime juice. In about 2 minutes, add the fresh grated carrot. Stir fry for another minute. Serve hot, cold or at room temperature.

How to serve:

On the side of any grill or as a salad with Indian food.

Trivia:

Chickpeas alias garbanzo beans are not always beige in colour. They also come in black, green, red and brown. They give you energy to burn while stabilizing blood sugar. The botanical name for chick peas is Cicer arietinum having being derived from Aries (the Ram) referring to the unique shape of the seed that resembles a ram’s head.

A German writer in 1793 mentioned that ground roast chickpeas were the best substitute for coffee in Europe and are still used as such in several parts of the world.

Mushroom Pate

Anecdote

I met Neha in our children's school. Weird but somehow whenever I saw her, I knew that one day we would know each other more than just be sharing road space on St. Cyril Road. My astrological prowess was proved accurate. Many dinners, lunches and one potluck followed.

In that potluck, she served us mushroom pate on Melba toast. The pate looked murky and grey. One would think it looked rather helpless sitting there on tiny toasts as though it was saying “I am sorry but I forgot my blush-on today”. The tray was going around the room. I could see some reservation and intrigue, as the little platters got picked up. And quickly, oh so quickly, it was my turn. The little antipasto went right into my mouth without further ado.

And lo behold! It was pure delish!

Neha finally gave me the recipe on a tissue at potpourri (am told Lemon Grass has taken that place over, such a pity! They made the best duck bruschettas) and this is how it is done.

Stuff that you must have:

Mushroom

Black pepper powder

Grated mozzarella

Garlic cloves, peeled

Olive oil

Wok and spatula

Salt

What to do:

Warm 2 table spoons of Olive Oil in a wok. Add the garlic pods. Within less than a minute add the chopped mushrooms, 2 packets. Add salt to taste and generous (2 table spoons) amount of black pepper powder. Stir fry on a medium flame till the mushroom cooks. This would be for about 4-5 minutes. Add the grated cheese and take the wok off the flame. Cool the mushroom till it is at room temperature. Taste for salt and pepper. At this point I usually throw in about one tea spoon of pepper powder. Once cool, blend the mushroom till it is pasty like a pate. Good to serve 10 adults.

How to serve:

Option 1: Spread it on Melba toasts

Option 2: Spread it on crackers. Dress it up with half an olive.

Option 3: Serve in a bowl with a sprig of fresh parsley on top with some pita bread in case you are doing Lebanese food.

Option 4: Do your own thing. Its fun.  

Trivia:

Pâté (pronounced pah-TAY) is French for "pie." Gerad Depardieu, the veteran French star once confessed that his bizarre friendship with the former Cuban leader Fidel Castro was based on their bonding over their shared love of pate. 

A 1 minute Dip

Anecdote

Sarbani and I wore gold dust for parties at eighteen. Flowery printed frocks, mismatched lipsticks and mismatched men. We met early in life and there was no going back. We indulged in many things together, college, economics, 6 AM phone calls, junk jewellery, early marriages, corporate careers and motherhood.

I taught her the best way to make Khao Suey. Or so as I thought. Because Sarbani’s mind has hands, legs and a mouse of its own. She insisted on making Khao Suey minus the coconut milk. To my absolute horror she wanted to make a broth with gram flour and use that as the principle medium. I would politely nod when she would make these bizarre suggestions and meekly protest too as I am a die-hard conformist. 

Sarbani pursues life with passion and euphoria. She also perfects whatever she does and leaves no detail unnoticed. She writes, she works, she runs a home, she learns, she reads, she parties, she smokes and she lives. She taught me how to make this dip with a twist.

PS: And she has invited me for dinner next Saturday where the main course is Khao Suey.  

Stuff that you must have:

Cheese Spread
Sour yogurt or sour cream 
Garlic paste
Chillie flakes
Olive oil

What to do:

·     Preparation time: 1 minute

·     Take 4-5 table spoons of cheese spread + 1 tablespoon of sour yoghurt or sour cream. Add half a teaspoon of garlic paste and sprinkle chilli flakes on it. Whip with a fork. This mixture should neither be too thick, nor too thin – the consistency of humus, I would say. Set it in a pretty bowl, then add olive oil to it. The olive oil will float above the cheese paste. Dip the bread through the oil and into the paste before devouring it. The taste is a surprise in your mouth.

How to serve:

In a pretty bowl. Accompanied by bread (assorted or sticks) or anything else actually. Maybe vegetable sticks or wafers or crackers. It’s an instant hit at a party, goes well with wine - or anything really! Try Pita.

Trivia:

Alton Brown, the author of several cooking how-to books, suggests that a dip is defined based on its ability to "maintain contact with its transport mechanism over three feet of white carpet".
Dip is a very widespread food. Forms of dip are eaten all over the world. The name comes from the fact that you don’t spread this sauce on the food but you “dip” the food into the sauce.

Full Gobi, Caulifower roast

                                 

                     
Anecdote

When my brother got married, it was an arranged affair, arranged largely by yours truly, he had laid out a condition. That his in-laws should be more into food than we were and that his wife making diced potato curry cooked with black cumin seeds to be devoured with fattening flour puris would be a good to have. Now, archaic as this traditional desire of his sounded, we all laughed along and inadvertently found him a perfect match.

Mashi, in our community is a generic term for an aunt though the dictionary representation is mother’s sister. I however refer to Mashi in this chapter, to my brother’s mother-in-law who gave this cauliflower concoction recipe to my mother who then passed it on to me. So, I bring to you Mashi’s cauliflower roast the recipe of which Ashwini, my suave investment banker friend, requested to be passed on further. 

Stuff that you must have:

Cauliflower
Tomato puree
Ginger and onion paste
Tomato ketch-up
Wostershire sauce
Salt
Sugar
Cooking oil

What to do:

In a large bowl par boil large chunks of cauliflower, one cut into 6-8 large pieces in salt water. Drain the water out and wipe the florets. Warm oil in a wok and golden fry the florets. Make a paste of 2 onions and 1 and a half inch of ginger. In warm oil, add in the paste after seasoning the oil with 4 whole cardamoms and a half inch long stick of cinnamon. Stir the paste so that it cooks till it releases drops of oil in the wok sides. Add a tetra pack of tomato puree. Stir for 2 minutes. Add the florets and dry roast in the wok. Add salt to taste. This will be a 4 minute process. Add a pinch of sugar, 3 tea spoons of tomato ketch-up and 2 tea spoons of worcester sauce. Stir for another minute or two and you are done.

How to serve:

Like any roast set the dish out in a large semi flat glass or ceramic bowl. You can serve some French fries in the side of the same bowl just for some carb kicks. Best had with bread or even some carrot rice.

Trivia:

Though the 'Cauliflower' is low in fat and high on vitamin A, it has not been treated well in English literature. Mark Twain called the cauliflower nothing but 'cabbage with a college education'. 

Egg-less yogurt chocolate cake

Anecdote


Mamta Mehra and I met in grade six. We were like chalk and cheese, so much so that the Hindi Sir had told her mom that she will do better in her grades if she had appropriate company. Both mother and daughter Mehra had the sense to not pay any heed to this and we carried on exchanging clothes, shoes, music, books and letters.

Mamta and I were quite the cooks at a very early age. We tried recipes. We exchanged recipes. We discussed recipes. She learnt this chocolate cake recipe from an aunt in Kanpur and has made it 45000 times ever since. I have made it 45000-1 times till Thursday, last week.

Last Sunday, I actually tried out a quick fun snack, a recipe not acquired from my friend, but from her teenage daughter Simran. Time flies, doesn’t it?

Stuff that you must have:

Flour
Yogurt
Sugar
Cocoa powder
Drinking chocolate powder
Cooking soda
Cooking oil
Water

What to do:

In a mixing bowl, take half cup of water, cooking oil and yoghurt each and mix well with a spatula. Add three-fourth cup of sugar and mix in the same till it dissolves into the liquid. In a separate container, take one and a half cups of flour. Add four teaspoons of cocoa powder and eight teaspoons of drinking chocolate powder. Now add half a tea spoon of cooking soda to the dry mixture. Fold in the dry mixture to the wet mix. Again with the spatula, mix the batter till smooth. Pour in the mix into a well greased baking dish.

Preheat oven at 100 degrees for ten minutes. Set the baking dish and keep the temperature to 150 degrees. Bake for fifteen minutes. Introduce a needle and see if it comes out of the cake with nothing stuck to it. If so, viola, you cake is ready.

How to serve:

It is good served warm or cold. It is also good served with ice cream or whipped cream.

Trivia:

Ever wondered why they are called cup cakes. It is because to make cup cakes, you take a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, a cup of butter.....

The word cake is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary back to the 13th century. It is a derivation of 'kaka', an Old Norse word.

Also, ever wondered why cakes are around…Food historians offer several theories. Each depends upon period, culture and cuisine. Generally, the round cakes we know today descended from ancient bread. Ancient breads and cakes were made by hand. They were typically fashioned into round balls and baked on hearthstones or in low, shallow pans. 

Apple snow

Anecdote

Mrs. Krishna Basu is my Mami-in-law. At twenty four I wore tight jeans and tight shirts. So when MIL told me to wear a saree in a train journey to Bangalore to impress this Mami, I was very admissibly peeved. Apprehensions in my heart, irritation in my mind and a placating husband in tow, the train arrived at Bangalore station with Mami at the platform, dressed in jeans and a Fab-India Kurta, gifts in hand and a warm hug in her plans.  

We spent every Sunday at her place for the next four years. She made pastries & pies, curries & cutlets, jams & jellies, and was quite the dessert queen. “Krish Chocolates”, retailed at Bangalore club were her delightful creations too. You could get apricot syrup in the middle of December in her larder and probably fresh mango pulp in the middle of January. I don’t live in Bangalore any more but I suspect that even in her early seventies, Mami’s kitchen is still the Julia Child’s kitchen that one would always want to raid.

Stuff that you must have:

Fresh cream
Vanilla Ice-cream
Nougat (can be replaced by Indian Chickies)
Vanilla extract or essence
Red Apples

What to do:

Whip about two soup sized bowls. Fold in vanilla ice-cream in equal proportion.  Whisk the two till the consistency is creamy. Separately ground about a cup of nougat to small rough bits, do not make it dusty, they should be crunchy. Add to the creamy mixture. Just before serving add in about three grated apples into the mix. You must only grate the apples just before serving the dessert else the grated apple will release unnecessary water.

How to serve:

You can serve the dish cold in separate dessert bowl. Dress it up with a slice of apple on the rim to create some drama.

Trivia:

Snow cream is also called a dessert that falls from the sky. It used to be a child's winter novelty, the stuff of snow days, reloading after a snowball fight and impatiently watching flakes accumulate in a bowl the mother had set outside. Making snow cream is simple: Mix together freshly fallen snow; milk, cream, or condensed milk; sugar; and vanilla. (Some recipes call for the addition of whole raw eggs, making the snow cream custardy.) This homemade cousin of slushes, shaved ice and sorbet might not dazzle the palate, but it is a low-budget, traditional treat of the Mid-Atlantic.
However cream based snow desserts, as this recipe, became quite fashionable in Europe way back in 15^th and 16^th century.

Meringue Pie

Anecdote

My husband claims that I normally don’t get along with women who do not bitch about their spouses.

Now that’s not true! But when Madhulina said at a tea-party that her role model was her husband while others were awarding the title to their fathers or to Mother Teresa, many of us pounced on her as though she had just announced an extra-marital relationship. Poor “M” (referred to as by this Mr. Bond, the in-question husband) found herself finding excuses to defend this sudden declaration of romance to a pack of aggressive suspecting women.

Sumantra and Madhulina have had us over many a time at their very elegant and alluring Calcutta-Victorian-styled home. A couple of such evenings have ended with this equally alluring meringue pie. Brought in on a cross-legged old-fashioned portable table, this picturesque pie is as welcoming visually as it is deeply satisfying to the palette.

Stuff that you must have:

4 egg whites

1 cup of castor sugar

3 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon white vinegar

What to do:

Heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Beat egg whites till soft peaks start appearing. When stiff. Fold in vinegar and corn flour. Spread mixture in a greased baking tray. Bake for 40 minutes till pale and crisp. Cool in the oven. Add chilled fruits and cream before serving.

How to serve:

On a large flat dish plate. A compatible knife to carve it and a spatula like flat serving spoon to serve it.

Trivia:

Meringues used like cookies are baked at a very low heat for a long time. One name for them is "Forgotten Cookies" as they can be left in a gas oven for long periods of time after the cooking is done.

Chicken Schnitzels

Anecdote

Kavi has always surprised me. She defies so many stereotypes but does not appear to be a maverick at all.

Kavita urf Kavi is a member of the spice girls that I have referred to earlier. When we started out in 1994, two things happened. I found one of my best friends ever. India business environment inadvertently found one of its best investments.   

She sings Carnatic music beautifully, does weights almost for a living, goes ballistic when she sees cars and dogs, travels the world, earns mega bucks and takes down recipes even before sampling the food.

I have spent some of the craziest and funnest times of my life with her. She is one hell of a lady at everything she does, especially in being my all time well-wisher. A vegetarian by birth and family practice, she shares a very easy-to-do chicken schnitzel recipe.

Stuff that you must have:

Chicken breast pieces
Salt
Chlli powder
Pepper  powder
Eggs
Bread Crumbs

What to do:

Make 2 fine fillets out of each breast piece. Pound the fillet flat, care do not damage the meat. Marinate the flattened fillets in salt , pepper powder and chilli powder to taste. Dip in egg (both white and yellow ) beaten well. Roll in bread crumbs. Deep fry in oil (ensure it is hot).

How to serve:

Serve with fried egg or omlette, mashed potatoes, German potato salad or French fries.

Trivia:

The schnitzel is originally an Austrian dish if made with veal most popularly in Vienna or a German dish if made with pork. However when made with chicken, it is most well known in Australia. In UK, the chicken schnitzel is referred to as the escalope.

Marshy Fruit & Nut Ice Cream

Anecdote

Ravinder nicknamed Goga came for an interview in a crisp silk saree, wreathed in poise and wrapped in glamour. She conducted herself so well, that I felt my fellow panelists were regretting their early decision to make me Assistant Manager. She was sure of herself alright. She had a way with things and people and always knew how to complete tasks.

It took us one and a half days to manage this stoic boss-subordinate equation. One crisis incident and I was an intimate part of her life battles. The next few months unfolded into a riot. Purple lingerie, animal printed inners, innumerable lies (to fathers and husbands) and crazy night-outs followed. Spice girls was the label given by the CEO to us three mad women who were workoholics during the day and wild at night.

Goga was used to insanity. Her brother would do things like painting an extra inverted red arrow to ensure that the street to his home was a two-way street. They had a parrot at home who would repeat everything after everybody. She was a maverick who conformed to sikh rituals so much that she would put off overtures from interesting prospective men because they were not committed to the five “K”s. Now in Sydney married to J D Singh, she stands at her verandah and waves at the Sikhs driving to the gurdwara and raises two gorgeous kids!

Gogs gave me this easy peasy japaneasy and perfectly yum recipe, a must try for all kid families!


Stuff that you must have:

1 Tub thickened cream
1 Can condensed milk
1 big block Cadburys Fruit & Nut chocolate
1 packet Marshmallows

What to do:

Whip the cream and add the condensed milk
Put the marshmallows in the microwave stirring till it melts
Add the marshmallows to the cream and condensed milk
Crush the chocolate and add to the mixture
Put into freezer to set

How to serve:

Hey its icecream….play around with it. Cones , bowls, cups, sticks..everything works!

Trivia:

Marshmallow as a candy dates all the way back to Egypt, about 2000 BC. The ancient Egyptians are believed to have discovered a wild herb growing in marshes from which a sweet substance could be extracted and made into a very special confection reserved only for the pharaohs and gods. The Egyptians used a honey based candy and thickened it with the sap of the marsh mallow plant (althea officinalis)….hence the name marshmallow.

Sesame potatoes

Anecdote

My 9 AM phone call friend, five years younger and mom to a living doll is the owner of this chapter.  Ishani is not obedient about following recipes. She will not put in all the ingredients listed in a recipe. She will add a twist or not add a critical something. She will do all of these illegal acts and be blasé about the same much to my chagrin. And almost always and most annoyingly, this kitchen queen will create a gorgeous dish.

Every Monday morning, while we compare notes about our weekends, we discuss the food that had been devoured in thorough detail. And again invariably some magical new recipe gets discovered and patented. On one such long distance long call, Ishani gave me this wondrous recipe.

Because I am very obedient (which Ishani finds very “40’s” about me) each time that I have followed her instructions, my guests have taken home this recipe like a take-back gift.

Stuff that you must have:

Baby potatoes
Sesame
Tomato ketch-up
Cooking oil
Wok and spatula
Salt

What to do:

Boil about half a Kilogram of baby potatoes, skin them and massage them with a dash of salt. Keep them aside for a couple of hours. Warm about 2 table spoons of oil in a wok. When warm throw in 2 table spoon heaps of white sesame. The seeds start sputtering and turning into a mild golden hue. Add half a cup of tomato ketch-up. Very quickly thrown in the potatoes and stir fry. Add salt to taste. Toss around for 3-4 minutes and you are done. Good to serve 10 adults.

How to serve:

This carbo-creation is good as starters and as a side dish. Its duality does not end here. It compliments continental food and also oriental cuisine. It can be served on flat square (just to create contrasting shape images) trays with tooth-picks or small fruit forks. It tastes tangy and curiously different.

Trivia:

According to Assyrian legend, when the Gods met to create the world, they drank wine made from sesame seeds.

“Open Sesame”, the famous phrase from Arabian Nights, reflects the distinguishing feature of the sesame pod, which bursts open when it reaches maturity.

Grilled Bassa with garlic spinach

Anecdote

Who says old friendships are the only friendships? Shalina, an actor by passion, is my most recent friend. Sharing is not always easy, especially the non materialistic type. This was was easy. It came easily. And it has been fun.

Shalina like me enjoys her food, both to eat and to cook. But unlike me she stays fit. Sometime during the times of yore, she grappled with over-weight issues. This yoga expert, weights pusher and gym-freak has many innovative healthy food ideas. One such is the recipe below. This delicious disarming dish is a lot like the way she styles herself. Her winning quotient is casual charm and easy attractiveness. 

My biggest disconnect with Shals was her love for dogs, she pets strays and I am mortally petrified of pets. Sigh, very again disarmingly, she has won that battle too! Now I order her huge dog (read tiger) around and play ball with him which I prise out from his mouth.

Stuff that you must have:

Spinach, 2 bundles

Garlic, a few cloves

Bassa, half a kg

Chick pea, 75 grams

Tomato, 1 large

Dry red chilli, 1

Garlic, a few pods

Olive Oil

Oregano

White vinegar

Mexican spice, a few spoons. Available in any gourmet store

What to do:

Spinach - chop roughly, crush 2-3 cloves garlic. Add garlic in heated pan (no oil) just dry roast, then add spinach. Let it cook in the water given out by the spinach. Use full flame, no cover, or will remain very watery. The idea is not to overcook the spinach. So don't cook till its dark green and all completely wilted. Also one can avoid salt when cooking this way as spinach contains its own salt. Salt last can be added if one feels the need to.

Optional: can add 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper

Fish - Cut bassa (or any boneless fish) into 3-4 inch pieces. Pat dry and add Mexican spice and little salt. (always check if the spices have pre-added salt). Put aside for 1/2 hr. Cook fish by grilling. Or can also pan cook in 1 spoon olive oil. Bassa cooks very fast. Cook fish till slightly brown on the outside.

Chickpea sauce: This is a very nutritous and filling sauce that is also often used in pastas in place of the white cheese sauce. This one is a modified version. So since this is a dinner menu and some of us want to avoid 'carbs' for dinner, this is a good thing to use as its so filling.

Soak a large handful of chckpeas for 2-3 hrs (or more). Drain. Blend together chickpeas, one dry red chilli, 1 raw tomato, salt to taste, 2 cloves garlic (or depending on taste..if you are partial to garlic , you can add 4-5), 1 tsp white  vinegar, little water and grind to a paste.

In a thick pan heat 1 teaspoon olive oil and add the paste, some oregano and cook for a min or two. Don't allow it to get lumpy. Has to be a smooth paste.

Tomatoes: Slice in rounds. Grill with some dried basil or parley (fresh if available) and salt sprinkled over them. They cook in about one or two minutes.

How to serve:

Before serving squeeze lime on fish. Use fresh parsley to garnish if you like.

Trivia: 

Spinach was the first frozen vegetable to be sold. 

Date-Carrot cake

Anecdote


Kavery Subbiah Ganapathy has a hat stand at home. She also serves home -made ginger wine with awesome cup cakes. She belongs to Kodagu popularly anglicised as Coorg. Like the people of her land, Kavery has a distinct ethnicity of her own. A practicing Buddhist, mother of two, and an ex-colleague turned long-time buddy of mine, Kavery loves baking. We have shared some real quality time pouring over baking books, trying recipes and sharing best practices.

Once Kavery sent us on a wild goose chase to find Keema Dosas in East End Hotel on a rainy night with no roof over our head.  She said, “as soon as your bus reaches Madikeri, you get down at the corner and first head to East End Hotel for the best keema dosas ever!” Ah, well! That was some night. She missed adding that these dosas are available only between 4 and 7pm and we were in Coorg in the peak of the wedding season. We spent the night in a ‘daak bangla”!
Yet, seventeen years later, am I glad that they dropped the moving to London plan.

Stuff that you must have:

2 eggs
1 cup of finely grated carrot
1 cup flour
¾ cup cooking oil
Half teaspoon cooking soda
Half teaspoon baking powder
Half teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons finely chopped dates
2 tablespoons powdered cashew nuts
Half cup powdered sugar

What to do:

Mix the cashew powder, carrot and date. Let us call it mixture A. Separately mix the flour, baking powder and the cooking soda and pass this through a sieve. Add cinnamon powder to this. Let us call this mixture B.  Now separate eggs. Whip them separately. Once the egg white is kind of stiff, add the beaten yolk. Slowly add oil. Add the sugar and fold it in. Fold in the A mixture. Once folded, add B mixture. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Then bake at 150 degrees till the needle passes through unscathed.

How to serve:

This is not really a cake that you cut at a birthday. It is more of a dessert that you serve with some vanilla ice cream or some cream out of a jug. It is very tasty served cold. In fact, it tastes yummier the next day.

Trivia:

The reason why most of the carrots we buy today are orange dates from the 17th century, when the House of Orange decided that the orange carrot was a great emblem and symbolic of the struggle for Dutch independence – and it became the carrot of choice amongst Dutch breeders.
Also, the phallus-shaped carrot has been associated with sexual stimulation since ancient times and was used by early Middle Eastern royalty to aid seduction.