Rasmalai

Create pillows of soft ras malai swimming in a pool of sweet milk rabdi. I know how to do it. Take a liter of milk and reduce it, till it is thick and creamy and add the sugar. Heat another liter of milk, curdle it with lemon juice. Scoop the soft paneer and squeeze the water out of it, every last drop. Then gather it in a fine muslin cloth and let it hang for half an hour. Smoothen the cheese in the food processor or knead it till you get a soft dough. Make spheres out of the cheese and drop them gently in a boiling light syrup of six parts of water to one part of sugar. Steam for five minutes, reveling in the new gigantic shape the cheese balls acquire. Cool these soft spongy balls of bliss and pour the rabdi on top. Sure I could, but what after that. Face the world again. I am not ready for that yet.

Random

It is amusing how one person’s personal preferences become your own touchstone to judge the merit of your own work. For instance, any time I make okra, I am reminded of U Masi because she detested beans and okra completely. She complained about the stickiness of okra and unconsciously she influenced me – my okra cannot be sticky either. One of my friends once told me how she hated cooked soft cauliflower – guess what, my cauliflower has to be crisp. I never loved pumpkin when I was a kid till I discovered how passionate one of my uncles was about this humble vegetable and now I love pumpkin cooked with jaggery and dried mango powder. As a child I could not tolerate chilies, my brother would call me a ‘chilly meter’ because I would squeal at the slightest hint of chilly in a dish , and then I lived in Ahmadabad with a family bought up on, I suspect, a diet of peppers and chilies only- now I even lace my omelettes with paprika.

Bharwan Mirch

I saw these longish peppers at the Chinese market and was transported back to time right there. I had made a version of stuffed peppers years ago, using bell peppers instead of these peppers I found at the Chinese Supermarket. I refrained from ever doing it again because I hate deep frying; after I deep fry something I don't want to eat it for some weird reasons.
Coming back to stuffed peppers, I had a very tantalizing version of this recipe in Leavenworth , Washington State. Leavenworth is a cheesy German themed town redeemed by its proximity to tall alpine trees and luscious streams. In a Latin Food Restaraunt I had chilies stuffed with cubed plaintains and rice. I might recreate my own version some day and season it with Indian spices. One of my Chinese friends made a version where the pepper was stuffed with an aromatic pork stuffing. Of course I never ate it , but the fragrance, the looks were something my passionately vegetarian self could admire. Different cultures have different versions of stuffed peppers. And why not - the dish looks festive , impresses your guest and the stuffing always takes in the subtle flavor and scent of the pepper.
Since I detest deep frying , the next time I make stuffed peppers, I will just brush oil over my pepper after stuffing them and bake them in a moderate oven. The pepper should look wilted , bruised and charred after the frying - raw pepper will not work well with the stuffing. This worked out well when the tangy minty potatoes take on the flavor of the peppers.

2 Large green chilies
5 medium potatoes
1/2 cup finely choppped mint leaves
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tspn zeera
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1/2 tspn garam masala
1 pinch asfoetida

1. Boil and mash potatoes or microwave and mash.
2. In a small pan, heat some oil. Add asfoeitida and cumin seeds wait till they splutter.
3. Add potatoes.
4. Mix in spices and mint leaves.
5. When potatoes are done add lime juice.
6. Split open chilies and fill with potato mixture.
7. Shallow fry till the skin is bruised and brown.

Lauki Ka Halwa

My mother fasted every monday. She would eat once a day and the meal was marked by many restrictions - no salt, no grains, no onions, no garlic, no vegetable that grew under the soil like carrots and radishes. She would make all sorts of puddings on monday - since rice pudding was taboo the most popular pudding would be the sago kheer. A number of vegetables make good kheers well suited for a vrata- sweet potatoes, carrots, water chestnuts,and bottle gourd. A vegetable which is slightly sweet can be grated cooked in milk and then spiced with cardomom, raisins and nuts. This recipe is actually more successful as a kheer. These are excellent substitutes for rice pudding during a vrata, or festivals.

1/2 lauki grated
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
5 pods cardomom
2 tbspn ghee
pistachios to garnish

1. Heat the ghee and add the grated lauki. Cook till tender and translucent.
2. Add the milk. Cook till milk reduces and the halwa looks like a homogenous mass.
3. Add cardomom and garnish with pistachios.

Bengali Dal

I am always looking at ways to vary my dal. And then I stumbled on a recipe which seasons the dal with panch phoron. Panch phoron, a spice mixture commonly used in Bengali cooking, is made by mixing equal parts of fennel seeds (saunf), mustard seeds (rai), nigella seeds (kalonji), cumin seeds (zeera), and fenugreek seeds (methi). This dal was replete with flavors I was so unaccustomed to. The fennel seeds give the dal a unique simple flavor and pairs up with the tangy dried mango powder so well.

The spice mixture is a colorful medley- black nigella, green fennel, golden fenugreek, brown cumin and mustard. The spice mixture is fried in oil to release the aroma and the seeds are allowed to pop. This spice mixture should also work with spinach, potatoes, and other lentils.


1 cup channa dal
3 cups water
1 tbspn dried mango powder
2 dried red chillies
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn salt
1 tbspn panch phoron
1 tspn fennel seeds

1. Pressure cook the channa dal with water, salt, turmeric, and coriander powder.
2. In a small pan heat some oil. Add the panch phoron and fennel seeds. Wait till they splutter.
3. Add the red chilies after breaking them open.
4. Add the fried mango powder.
5. Add the oil and spice mixture to dal.
6. Garnish with coriander.

Lauki Ke Kofte - Bottle Gourd Dumplings in Gravy

My mother excelled at making lauki koftas- they would melt in your mouth with just the right amount of softness and have the structure not to disintegrate in the gravy. I once ate a version, at the home of a fanatic health freak, where the dumplings were not deep fried but just boiled in the gravy. My verdict- distinctly unpleasant. The kofta needs structure and the toughness to withstand the gravy, and also the melt in your mouth softness at the same time. The least you can do is shallow fry it and if you are a fanatic health freak, instead of butchering a beautiful dish, eat raw tofu.Lauki is a popular vegetable in India, often disliked. As a kid I would wrinkle my nose in distaste when confronted with a bowl of plain lauki subzi. However the kofta is loved and relished and justifies the hard work that goes in creating it. If you can’t find lauki, try using zucchini, however a lot of Indian and Chinese stores carry this vegetable.

Coming to cooking, I think it is the medium where I have not only started to relieve my boredom but also feel closer to India and my mother. I have started relating to her and appreciating her more, while trying to recreate her flavors in my kitchen. I never learnt how to cook from her, as a kid she expected me to study all the time and not bother with the kitchen; justifiably so because after all you can easily afford a cook in India. And then she passed away. But what she gave me was a flavor reference, a touch stone to measure my progress against. I do not know how she cooked but I know how the dish should taste, and I try to get right there. When I made these kofta knew I was somewhere near that gold standard. The softness of the kofta, the tanginess of the gravy, she would have approved if she cared.

Cooking also helps me reconnect to the places I have left behind. After my mother’s kitchen it was eating out at the homes of my parent’s friends, who primarily came from different parts of Uttar Pradesh, and surprisingly each part, east or west, had its own distinct flavor profile. And then I ended up living in Lucknow, renowned for its Awadhi cuisine. The flavors of the north vary so much that I will write a separate blog post on that. And then I moved west to Pune, Gujarat, and Mumbai. All I can say is that, food brings back a whiff of the past, memories of people and places and food is a comforting reassurance that they might be very far away but they still exist.



For the dumplings
1/2 small bottle gourd grated- Lauki
4 tbspb besan
1 tspn salt
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn cumi powder

For the gravy
1/2 large onion finely diced
1 large tomato
1 tspn coriander powder
2 chillies
3 cloves garlic
1" piece garlic
1/2 tspn turmeric
2 bay leaves
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
salt to taste
2 tbspn yoghurt

for the dumplings
1. Wring the grated lauki of excess water .
2. Mix with all ingredients.
3. Shallow fry or deep fry 8 small balls

for gravy
1. Blend the tomatoe, chilly and garlic.
2. In a pan add the oil, cumin seeds and bay leaves. Wait till the seeds splutter.
3. Add the onions, fry till brown.
4. Add tomato paste. Fry till it sweats.
5. Add the spices.
6. Add the yoghurt. Saute for a minute.
7. Add some water.
8. When gravy is nearly done add dumplings.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Kadhai Paneer

I can eat paneer every day , cooked in a myriad of ways. I have often seen people substitute tofu for paneer in the bay area. Bad call. Tofu is bland and does not have the structure to stand upto the spicy gravy. Paneer has a great flavor of its own and stand up very well to most gravies expecially tomato based ones. The milky chessy texture of paneer compliments the tangy sweet tartness of tomatoes very well. This recipe consists of choppping vegetables into thick batons and crisping them up. The tomato sauce is added later to coat the vegetables rather than allow the vegetables to simmer in a tomato sauce. I added mushrooms just because I had some lying around, omitting them is perfectly acceptable. Once the sauce is added , the vegetables should not be cooked much ; the crispy texture of the bell pepper is integral to the dish.

1large tomato- finely diced
1 large onion
10 oz paneer
2 large bell peppers
1 cup cremini mushrooms
1 ½ tspns coriander powder
½ tspn cumin powder
1 tspn garam masala
1 tspn red chilly powder
½ tspn turmeric
1 tbspn dried fenugreek leaves
2 tspn salt
2 cloves garlic
½ “ piece ginger
1tspn cumin seeds
Oil

1. In a sauce pan heat some oil and add the cumin seeds till they splutter. Now add coriander, turmeric, cumin, and red chilly powder. Sauté for a minute. Add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes sweat. Now add some water and salt. Keep aside.
2. Cut the paneer, bell pepper, and onion into long thin strips./
3. In a pan, add some oil. Add the onions, fry till pink. Add the minced garlic and ginger.
4. Add the mushrooms, bell pepper and paneer. Sauté till done.
5. Add the tomato sauce. Cook for a few minutes.
6. Add garam masala and fenugreek leaves.