I find it pretty amazing that most of my "memories" of people and incidents are somehow also linked with food. Even when food is not the central focus in that memory; it is still prominent. Not only does my mind take me back to the day that I'm reminded of, but sometimes the feel and smell of the day is revoked as well.
Traveling with food comes naturally to most of the families from the Indian sub-continent. My MIL packs a stash of "Pooris" and a boiled potato. After peeling and chopping the potato, she'd mix in some salt and pepper and it was ready to eat with her Pooris. My parents, and my grandparents before them, always travelled with their traditional potato preparation called "Achaari Aloo" along with wonderfully crisp "Parathas". As soon as the "tiffin" opened, the smell of this mix between an achaar (pickle)and a subzi permeated the whole train car. I have these elaborate memories of us sharing our food with whoever happened to be our neighbor in the train car, or got drawn to our berth by the mouth-watering aroma of Achaari Aloo. Not even my mom could make this dish taste like my grandma's. Towards the end of every summer vacation at my naani's, we'd get a letter from my dad (this was the pre-telephone era in India) requesting that she send him some of her Achaari Aloo and parathas. Naani always did. And daddy got to the food the moment we got home, and ate it all up. If, per chance, there was some left over, he'd tell my mom that he wanted it for breakfast - this from a guy who never ever liked leftovers......
The last day of Navratri fasting is today. Glad to have made it through one more time. These days are pretty easy as far as traditional fasting goes. You only give up grains and legumes for the 9 days; so there's a lot left outside of the diet to eat.
I followed a one-meal a day diet, restricting my spices to sendha namak (rock salt), green chillies and cumin (can't think of cooking without jeera at all :-)). Also allowed myself 2 cups of chai or coffee a day- one for breakfast, and one to get over the 3o'clock sugar crash at work :-) And finally, I also permitted myself one or two fruits at around noon- some days were more hectic at work than others and even the colleagues could hear my stomach rumble ....
The Jains' observe a week of renunciation and austerity during the months of August-September; and I gave you a glimpse of that in my last week's post on Paryushan. As with any other matter of the heart; the Jain religion is split up in the middle into two major sects. And despite being almost identical in faith and lifestyle, the observances between the two sects vary. Which is why one Jain is fasting this week; ending on Sept 29th - the Anant Chaturdeshi day, equivalent to the Samvatsri in my last post. Which is also why, in my home, the entire experience gets extended to 18 days (A and I come from the two different sects of Jains, and in my zest to neither give up and yet be accepted, I've been trying to assimilate the differences in observance). This year, I've split my observances with my visiting MIL, who is responsible for the 10-day long Das-Lakshan Parv, as opposed to my 8 days of Paryushan. I definitely get the better deal out of this whole arrangement :-))
I love potatoes. They're the base of my entire food pyramid. If there were no potatoes, there'd be no food on my table. I can't think of a life outside of potatoes. And just for that reason, I can not be a conforming "Jain" - ever :-))
My dad told me that my first word as a toddler was Wa...Wa - except he pronounced it as Wah Wah - which would loosely translate as "Very good"- and that I was pointing to a potato when I said it :-)). He also made it a point to add on that I got this from his side of the family; particularly him. For a very long time growing up, I'd only eat "aloo". Oftentimes, all my mother had to do to make me try some new dish, was to add a potato to it. And greasier the dish, the better I liked it. My favorites- aloo ki tikki, aloo-cutlets, aloo ki Poori, potato chips...and anything else aloo. Over the years, I've added more favorites to my potato obsession- Potato salad and fries for example. And now, the latest- Hasselback potato.
The past month went by in a tizzy. I didn't even realize that the month was over, till I turned a page in Anya's school calendar and came to a whole list of end-of-the year activities. Realized that I'd been so into myself, that didn't even get to notice my garden's summer bounty this year. Things bloomed, and then died without me sitting outside to enjoy them with a cup of tea and a good book.
Come to think of it, I haven't read anything substantial in a while. I'm dragging my feet over Reading Lolita in Tehran for over a month now- it's a great book, don't get me wrong- it's just the wrong subject matter for my frame of mind at this time. And I haven't picked up anything else yet!
Then yesterday, a good friend pointed out that I hadn't written anything on this space for over a month ( did get out a work-related-manuscript; just so you know that I haven't been totally worthless....). To be honest, it felt good that some one had noticed the time gap!! Adulation is extremely ingratiating for the soul.... I pointed her over to to my FaceBook page; but she wasn't buying that. So here I am sitting up, typing away as soon as I got out of bed this morning. For her especially......but hopefully the rest of you have missed my ramblings as well (take the hint sweeties; and start dropping me some tidbits in the comments section or FB....)
The title isn't misleading at all. If, being of Indian origin, you've ever liked Tzatziki; that's probably because your tastebuds are so very attuned to the dahi concoctions with various members of the Cucurbitaceae family. I've yet to find a fellow-Indian who said they didnt like Tzatziki. At the middle- eastern places that I eat at , my favorite game is to guess if their Tzatziki leans more towards tasting like our kheera-ka-raita; or lauki-ka-raita!
A raita basically refers to savory, spiced yogurt (dahi) in our culture. And if you add any fruit/vegetable to it, it becomes a raita. A must at almost any meal, dahi becomes a raita at special occasions or for guests; sometimes even if we want a change of taste from plain old dahi. Unlike here in the US, sweetened yogurt is not on menu on an everyday basis. I got dahi-cheeni (yogurt with sugar) as a kid only if I'd been exceptionally good some day. Or one spoonful when heading out for exams or interviews (sweetened yogurt is considered auspicious in most parts of Northern India, and believed to bring good luck). Fruit-flavored yogurt was pretty much non-existent during my time in India, and till today, I haven't developed much of a liking for it.
When I think signature dishes, the ones that instantly come to my mind are my MIL's recipes. Probably because these were the ones that I encountered as 'new' in my adult life, and got to associate with especially her. One of the first of these that I tasted from her was a Holi special (but we'll leave that for later). The other one is her favorite snack recipe. I've known her to make this up at any of those times when you're feeling hungry for no apparent reason, and meal time is hours away. She's also been known to substitute this for an early dinner sometimes. As for me, I can eat her 'Sooji-ka Uttapam' anytime, anywhere and in humongous quantities - that's how good it is. Despite my liking for this, I hadn't really tried to make this my own. This was something that was predominantly "mummy' domain- I demonstrated by appreciation by eating it, but leave the actual making of it to her. Although to be truthful, I've tried it a couple of times...and then left it for the experts like her!
I am so deprived of tools required to be blogging....
These past months havs been absolutely catastrophic. First, baby P, in one of her naughty moods, started to run off with my camera, tripped over the carpet and dropped my very prized possession. I was so upset that I actually gave her a time out before realizing that I'd to ask if she was hurt in the fall as well:-)) Since that day, I can't seem to get clear pictures with this Canon that I'd spent days researching before I bought it. But I've plodded along- photoshopping a lot, trying to get my pictures to look sort of like they're supposed to. While waiting to decide whether to buy a new camera or not, I transferred the old pictures out of there and drafted a few posts with genuine intentions of clearing up the back log.
There is a history between me and Spaghetti Squash: a fall vegetable that looks like a smallish, oblong fruit I knew of as 'phoot(or fruit) kakdi' in Rajasthan. My extensive googling has not got any hit to explain this fruit (the phhot kakdi; I mean) to you. So, to draw for you a mental picture, imagine a dull orange colored obling/ elliptical, smooth skinned fruit (sometimes with dark brown stripes along its length), about 8 inches in diameter at its widest. When cut open, the insides reveal very thin skin, bright orange, melony-flavored flesh and a core that looks just like a melon. The taste, is somewhat in between that of a kakdi(not cucumber- but the long, light green kakdis of North India), and a not-so-sweet melon. Or, if you know a spaghetti squash; then imagine that on the outside and a not-so-sweet melon on the inside.
It isn't easy for me to tell you this. Actually, the confession downright hurts. The recipe that you are going to read about here; is as basic as it gets. However, it has taken me years to get it to work. The fact of the matter is that I am not very kitchen savvy (here is your cue to humor me and insist that I am.....)! What I am, is tenacious. Sometimes I can make things work - like the dhokla below- and then I get to show you a pretty picture and gloat about it through your words. Often times, things don't go as expected, and I just hush the matter up and you go on thinking that I'm a genius at work.Which I totally am. I insist you to go on believing that and reaffirming it to me. But let's come back to this later. First the dhokla story.
One of the last weekend get togethers I hosted before my impromptu hospital visit was for some friends that we hadn't seen in a long while. Every time we set up a meet-together, we had to rethink our plans - either at their end or mine. So this time, when they asked if we could meet, I agreed; disregarding the fact that A was away that entire week on a work-related trip. As Saturday came nearer, my anxiety mounted. A wasn't coming back till late Saturday afternoon, which meant that I'd be on my own for the preperatory phase of this get together. Not to mention that the summer was really heating up. Not really feeling up to conjuring up an elaborate Indian meal; I decided leave the responsibility of the main meal for A and his outdoor grill. My menu was going to be:
A couple weeks ago, I had asked you all to guess this plant from my kitchen garden. I was so sure that no one will have seen this sprout often enough to recognize it! I'm actually surprised that a couple of you guessed it right- and that's you two; Meera and Seema. Well good for you- goes on to show that you're experts in matters pertaining to kitchen basics! It isn't always that those living in cities can identify the source of our food. This sprout in question on the left is Kala chana (Bengal gram), widely used in Indian cuisine in its myriad avatars. Here, I am going to talk about one more use for it. This post is more talk, less recipe. So, bear with me as I bore you with the simplest recipe ever on my blog yet!
There are two reactions/incidents that come to mind when I think about today's choice for my recipe - a good and a not- so- good. Both memorable days in my cooking history. Lets start with the not-so-good and get it out of the way first.
A colleague at work asked me what my lunch was. I was still new at this job, and the only source of cultural diversity. His expression told it all...he didn't really want to know. When I asked him why, he said that my dish looked all gooey, that there was no texture to it. 'Vegetables are supposed to be crisp and el dente', he said. 'Mashed potatoes are all gooey', I said. 'Yeah well, they're potatoes, not veggies'. Needless to say, he turned down my offer to at least try a bit from my lunch before hitting the 'Dislike' button.
I’ve been working on some of these blog posts for so long, that I’d practically forgotten that they were still not posted. The delay was in part due to laziness, and part due to circumstances. To get around laziness, I’ve decided to impose a rule on myself – at least two posts a month- with deadlines of the 15th and 30th. Whether circumstances allow or not, is still to be seen. I will definitely try my best though. And for now, humor me by pretending that this one belongs in November, even though it’s posted on the first day of December.
Last month, when a new Wegmans opened in our area, I just had to go there. For those of you who don't know of this food store, it is one of those in league with Whole foods and Trader Joe's. May even be slightly higher end than those. And I'd heard so much about this store from a friend....So I went there...hubby and girls in tow. And we looked and looked and looked. I just couldn't recognize anything in there. Not only the brand names they carry are different from the ones in a regular grocery store, but they had hundreds of things that I didn't know what they were.
" Are you going to buy anything or not?" asked my husband seeing that my shopping cart was gloriously empty after about a half hour, except for a water melon and a jar of almond butter.
I started this blog as a punching bag for my bottled up thoughts and frustrations, accompanied with food of course - for you can't let the guests leave hungry! It was meant to wrap around my moods; that I could pursue at my pace, with no pressures or deadlines to meet. That is why I have tried never to write around event announcements. So that day when I stumbled upon this leftover makeover announcement, I didn't really pay much attention. Except that little poke in the back of my brain that kept pointing towards my favorite food in the whole world. I had to have it, and I had to write about it so I can share it with you all. Just because this dish is such a unique and refreshing makeover of leftover rice. I haven't seen or heard anyone outside of my family to even know of this prep. And that brings us to the story for this post....
So, if you've been good about following me (did you get the pointer :-)?), you'd know by now that I'm part Rajasthani. My mom and her two brothers grew up in western Rajasthan, almost bordering Pakistan. That is where we went every year for our summer holidays, till I went to college. Naani's home is a magical place during childhood. Now I look back with nostalgia; those days, we laughed at our endearing, but very earthy naani and her small dusty town. Compared to big city Delhi, my naani's town was an overgrown village. Very dusty unpaved roads, streets crowded with strays, especially cows and pigs (I'm not kidding!!); and my naani's whimsical foods. Bari aur papad ki sabzi stands out the most in my mind, followed by turai ke chilke ki sabzi and tarbooz ke chilke ki sabzi. I hope all of you reading this know hindi, because I can't even begin to translate these things. My dad and I would actually sit and snicker about what naani was going to serve right under her nose. I'm sure she knew what we were upto, but she never complained. This is where my earliest memory of Chawaliis from.
Despite the initial skepticism, I found that I loved it. But when mom actually started making this at home in Delhi, especially for me, that is when dad switched camps and he and my bro started snickering at mom and I! I've kept up with this dish though. It is my favorite comfort food and an excellent use of leftover rice. Moreover, now both my daughters love it. I now actually make sure I have leftovers the day I make plain white rice, so we can enjoy this the next day. Here's the recipe for you.
Heat the ghee in a saucepan and splutter your cumin seeds in it. Add the chilli powder and let it smoke for a min or so. My mom said that the more you let the chillis burn, the less pungent they become, and in this dish, you don't want the heat, but the color from chilli powder.
Add the water now- stay away for the ghee is going to spatter like crazy. Protect yourself at this point.
Now add the salt, and let the water come to a wild boil.
Next add your milk. Again, my mom said that if you mix milk and salt, you'd curdle the milk. So make sure your salt boils in water for a good 2-3 min before putting the milk in.
Finally, add your leftover boiled white rice, and let the whole thing come to a boil. Lower the heat for a few min.
That's it. If you're brave enough to try it, let me know what you think about my Chawali!
My two cents: None what so ever. I love this dish and my daughters too. Naani used to break up a chappati into small pieces and dump it into my Chawali, so I've also called this preparation Chawal ki sabzi. Actually, that is exactly how I present this food to my daughters (and myself). They get to eat rice, bread and milk all in the same bowl; making me the happiest mom on earth!! Oh, and just a thought- I always make my rice with a tsp of salt. If you don't, then you might need to adjust it accordingly in your Chawali.
August has always put me in a fast-forward mode. Since my childhood, I've greeted the month with growing excitement - the weather started cooling down a bit after sizzling summers, we could begin to see my favorite fruits- oranges and grapes at the vendors, plus the festivities began with Teej festival around this time. I loved putting on Mehandi and going out to shop for Ghevar, Shakkarpara and red and green glass bangles with my mom. When I was very little, my dad would even string up a rope in the bedroom doorway to make a jhoola for me to swing on. Teej meant Rakhi was around the corner, bringing forth another round of festivities and other goodies to enjoy. In the recent years, however, August has taken on a more melancholic symbolism for me. It reminds me of our days in the hospital, waiting on my dad in the ICU and our nights at home praying for his recovery. I still wait for Rakhi as before, not only for the festivities, or because I miss my bro, but because I can't seem to forget that that was our last celebration as a family with my dad. Now I just wish for the month of august to roll by fast, so I can banish my ghost of memories into a dark closet.
This last week, I got together with a friend for lunch. The sun was out for the first time in ages, and it finally looked and felt like spring. As both of us peeled our oranges on a bench outside our work place, the thoughts meandered towards food we ate around Delhi University campus –moolismeared with lemon juice,kamrakh, imli, bhel, matar-kulcha and finally the achaars at the million little dhabas and canteens we frequented. She watered at the thought of those baby onions pickled in vinegar while I couldn’t get my mind off of the mixed achaar my mom made. Like a little seed, the mental picture of thatachaarembedded itself in my mind and grew to ginormous proportions as the day progressed.
The first thing I did when I got home was to call my mom for recipe - and before giving me the recipe, she actually gave me a piece of her mind at being dragged out of bed at 6am, Indian time, for a measly recipe! I survived that, wrote the recipe down, and then spent the next 2h converting her fist,katori and spoon measures into more recipe-friendly terms! The next evening was spent collecting everything I needed for the achaar. I was amazed at how empty my pantry was when it came to replicating my mom’s recipes. And these were things that I’ll probably never ever use again…I could probably do without a few ingredients. A quick call back to mommy dearest assured me I could, and I was walking on air again…..
Sunday arrived – the day of all my trials and tribulation in the kitchen- and guess what? No sun outside but pouring rain. The first step in my mom’s recipe note card; wash veggies and dry them outside in the sun for 3h; wasn’t going to be. A desperate call back; only to be told that the veggies had to be dried in the sun- put a definite damper on the day. Boy, was I pickled....Put science to work, goad mom about why the sun was important, why drying with paper towels can’t work, and then the newsflash- sun dehydrates veggies. OK, mission accomplished; I could dehydrate veggies without the sun, and make this achaar here in pouring rain in the US of A!
Mixed Sweet and sour pickle
Cauliflower (Gobhi) 1head
Baby carrots (Gajar) 1lb / 1bag
Turnips (Shalgam) 1 lb
White vinegar 1/2cup
Jaggery (Gur) To taste
Mustard seeds 1tbsp
Fennel seeds 1tbsp
Methi seeds ½ tbsp
Kalonji 1tbsp (optional)
Rai seeds powdered 1 tbsp (optional)
Red chilli powder 1tsp
Coriander powder 2tbsp
Turmeric ½ tsp
Salt 2 ½ tbsp
Mustard oil ¼ cup
1. Cut the cauliflower into florets, turnips into thin roundels and slice the baby carrots lengthwise into two. Wash everything thoroughly and let drain through a colander for a few min.
2. Soak the gur in vinegar and stir occasionally to dissolve. I had the cubed kind, and I used 8 medium sized cubes for the entire recipe. You can always taste this and adjust the amount of vinegar to jaggery according to taste.
3. Put the veggies in a single layer on cookie sheets in the oven set to roast at 300F for 10-15 min. Turnips and carrots take less time than cauliflower florets. You’ll know by the wrinkling of the veggies when they’re done.
4. Turn the veggies over on the other side and roast them for another 5 min. Then turn off the oven, but leave the veggies inside till you’re ready.
5. Make sure the gur is dissolved and all the other ingredients are handy before proceeding to the next step.
6. In a kadai or wok, bring the mustard oil to smoking hot, then add all the seeds. Turn down the heat to low. Let splutter, then add the vinegar-jaggery mix. The oil will foam and rise up, so stir occasionally and keep an eye on it. Takes about 2 min for the foaminess to go away.
7. Now dump all your veggies in the oil mix, add the spices and mix to coat. Cook for an additional 5 min, and then turn off the heat.
8. Takes about a day or so to mature further in the jar; then it is ready to eat!
My two cents: It was good- no doubt about it. I could’ve notched the salt down a bit – the ½ tbsp I added over the 2tbsp, wasn’t needed. Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything here!
A word of caution: When mixing oil and vinegar, make sure the stove is turned down low- you don't want to set the kitchen on fire. Also, the oil-vinegar mix starts to sting your eyes as it cooks- it is to be expected, just do what you can to protect yourself. All the best!
