Rushina
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Posts posted by Rushina
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I use peanuts to make a starter. Just roast raw peanuts, cool and toss with lemon juice, chopped onions, corriander, salt and chillies.
Episure you are forgetting the famous sindhi "sel dabal"...
Some gujju things done in my house...
take leftover namkeens, combine in a bowl, toss with diced onion, tomato, chilli and fresh corriander and serve.
Also a dich the maharaj in my house used to make was bhujia in the usual onion tomato pcurry paste yummmm.
Rushina
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I know barberries, an Iranian aunt doles out a share to me everytime she gets them. I saute them with onion and scatter over pulav.
I also use the dried limes (from the same source). Adam could you share some recipes for both of these ingredients?
Vikram Amchur is the powdered form of peeled kairis. I dont know if it has to be a specific species however as I recall my grandma used to dry odd bits of Pickling mangoes (bits cut from close to the stone that were not attractive enought for the pickle) and then grind them into a powder. Amchoor spoils fast.
In our family it is traditional to use the summer months to put down pickles and preserves and spices for the coming year. When I was little i often accompanied my grandmother to the family home in Ahemdabad (where our family originates from), for a whole month in the summer. This is when she would get masallas and pickles made for the rest of the year. I am told she made some 100 different pickles, sadly the recipes have gone with her. along with the tradition of annual pickling etc. I try to follow the tradition at my tiny scale by doing a bit of the pickling etc. in that month but it is nowhere near the way she did it.
Another Gujerati aunt in Ahemdabad (yes i am truly blessed!) is now my source for all of the masallas. Haldi, Red Chilli Powder, Dhaniya Jeera Powder and dried mango, both salty and sweet. (the sweet ones are nice to chew on). Another thing she sends me is the diced, dried and spiced stones of the mango. These aromatic masallas have a very distinct aroma compared to the packaged ones. I feel liek they smell of the sun that they have been dried in...
Rushina
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A bit of ellaboration on the sauces and chillies you have would be interestinf to read. Also what are your favourites?
What is your favourite thing to cook? Please keep the pictures coming, for people like me (far away in India) it is educative to see pictures of ingredients like Jicama and what is done with them...
Rushina
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I have a question, I know that it is advised that one should eat egg white and avoid the yolk but does that apply to kids? A friend has been told by her pediatrician that she should not give her two year old daughter the yold of the egg.
Rushina
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A lot of our friends are single and usually end up at our place for beer and "Ghar ka khana" (home cooked food). We end up doing something once a week at the least so I have learned to be prepared...
I usually have the following things stocked up to facilitate easy entertaining...
Freezer
Paneer (cut into cubes, drizzle with lemon juice sprinnkle salt and pepper or chilli powder and fresh herbs (mint or corriander) and serve. OR saute in (a smidgen only!!) of ghee sprinkle Kitchen ing and lemon juice and serve.
Sweet Corn (Preassure cook and toss in A. butter chilli powder and salt/ B. flavoured olive oil.) side dish or starter..
Green peas (Makes aloo muttar or muttar pulav possible)
Sausages and cold cuts (not so indian but works with beer cut into chunks and saute in a little olive oil till done, cool. In a bowl combine mayonaise and mustard to taste, add chopped green herbs that are at hand or finely chop 1 small onion and mix into the dressing add the meat/s adjust seasonings and serve with a few toothpicks)
Kitchen shelf
tetra packs of Tomato Puree (Instant cream of tomato soup), Fresh cream (to add dimension to any dish) and Coconut Cream (Thai curry, goan curry or Episures Malabar curry).
Cans of Sweet corn Cream style and baked beans Saute with diced onions add cheese and use to fill canapes or top biscuits/ toast.)
Packet soups - Aside from the obvious these are great to use a a base for gravys for chinese or Italian dishes. (Tomato for tomato pasta sauce make a past of the soup powder with a bit of water and add to onion sauted in olive oil. Add cheese adjust flavours and seasoning etc and serve. Similarly use the chinese soups for a sauce for chilly chicken or sweet sour vegetqbles...)
Another thing I always have is some of these or others of the ilk - black bean sauce (recently acquired), stir fry sauce and thai chilli sauce Schezwan sauce (Schezwan paneer or potatoes). When necessity is the mother of invention these come handy.
For mains
Gujerati Kadhi and garlic aloo with rice is an option since dahi should be easy to source and besan can be stocked. The garlic in the aloo complements the kadhi very well. (For the garlic potatoes saute pre boiled or raw potatoes in required amount of ghee, while they are cooking in a blender process a whole head of garlic to a coarse texture with whatever fresh hrbs are at hand or just the garlic and add it into the potatoes when they are almost done. Wait a bit till you can smell that the garlic is cooked and take of flame.) Let me know if you anyone wants the recipe for Gujju Kadhi...
Egg Curry and rice. I am very partial to the egg curry recipe in the Calcutta cookbook. It calls for breaking the eggs into the curry when it is boiling. Ever since I did them that way I always break the eggs into the curry whatever type of Egg curry I am making.
I plan my menus in advance around the weekend and when I am on moms side of town (South Bombay) I usually pick up Pita Breads that freeze very well for upto a month. These can be served with all sorts of things. Just toast them on a tava and cut into sticks. (In fact you could try freezing other breads too).
When I am prepping for the week ahead on Weekends, I usually use up leftover potatoes by boiling them and keeping them in the fridge to toss into anything salads subzis etc. I also keep cooked chickpeas (the white ones) for the same purpose.
The other thing I usually do is a spicy chutney or a dip or something to use through the week. THis work two ways since aside for a fall back as a dip it also serves to spice up my meals since I use almost no chillies in my cooking (my husband ansd son both do not go for this. Once or twice a month I designate meals where we finish up stuff that has not gotten used up or just use that as an excuse and invite the hungry hordes to dinner.
Wow that has been a long post... hope it all makes sense...
Rushina
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Inspired by Suzi, I went through my cookbooks over the weekend and pulled out some that I want to give away. I have posted the list on the India Forum since most of the books are Indian. Please feel free to go look.
Rushina
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Educate me Episure what exactly is Jambhu grass? (I think you had mentioned this before but i forget...)
When my daal is cooked and i have the temperring done to pour over it, I take the tempering off the gass add the jambhu to the hot ghee, pour it into the daal and cover the dall tightly. on uncovering it just before serving there is an almost intoxicating aroma.
Rushina
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Gingerly, I checked with my grandma and here is what she gave me as a recipe ...
2 cups rice
1 cup toor (arhar) daal
1/4 cup each of urad, split green moong dal,chana dal
1 cup of sour yoghurt
2 1/2 cups grated white pumpkin
6-7 tbsp oil (though 3-4 works for me)
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp sugar
chilli powder to taste we use 1 1/2 tsp
1 tsp soda bi carb
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp ginger paste
1 1/2 tsp chilli paste
salt to taste
Wash all the grains and soak them together for 4/5 hours. Drain and grind in the blender to a grainy paste ( i feel this give a nice texture) add the sour yoghurt and leave overnight. the next morning add the remaining ingrediantc and mix it all up well. Pour into the greased tin or baking dish, make a tempering with 1/2 tsp hing, 2 tbsp each of mustard, ajwain and sesame in about 4 tsp of oil and pour this on top of the handva mix. bake at 200 C for 30 - 35 mins watching closely the first time. When done the crust should be a golden brown.
Enjoy!!! .
As a child I remember eating this with homemade ghee and chundo.
I have also found that Handvo is a great way to use up leftover daals. You know the bits that get left in the packet and are not enough to make into a dish by themselves....
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Along with the millets that I picked up (as discussed on another thread)
I have also picked up organic Rajma, organic urad, a daal called navrangi which I think is lobiya but I cant be sure, will take a picture and post it.
I also picked up Bhangjeera which is a local seed used in a very yummy chutney and Bhang seeds. Bhaang seeds again are used to make a chutney and wild apricot oil. The oil I am thinking is going to be great to dress fruit based salads...
Any ideas anyone ?
Rushina
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We make a salad with raw tondli in my moms house, I remember it because my dad loved it.
split dhuli mung daal (the yellow one) is washed properly and soaked till it has absorbed water and become soft. The tondli again washed well, topped and tailed is chopped into tiny bits. both are mixed together with lemon juice, red chilli powder and salt to taste. Sometimes finely chopped onions are also added. ( I like it spicy)
The way I cook tondli is that I i slice it accross into little circles, I then saute chopped onions til their edges start to brown, add a puree of fresh curry leaves, corriander, tomato, garlic and ginger, cook till the oil seperates and then add the tondli slices cover and cook till the tondli turns a bright green. At this point add turmeric, red chilli, stir and after one minute switch of the gas. (this can be cooked thru but I have a preference for crunchy vegetables) And of course as with all my recipes a little kitchen king goes a long way....
Rushina
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The Gongura Pickle I am happy to say is a great addition to my Pantry. I would however call it a chutney since there are no chunks of anything in it...
I served it with arhar-malka dal (toor and masoor), baigan (aubergine) ki sabji, rotis and dehra dun ka basmati. The daal was tempered wit copious amounts of heeng and a garhwali herb that is locally referred to as jumbu or faran. I wanted to take a picture of the daal but my husband wouldnt let me saying "may you make many more such daals to take pictures of....
To come back to the subject - the gongura lent a smoky spicy back drop to the daal and in retrospect, I think I would be quite happy with just the gongura pickle, a daal and rice.
That papaya pickle I have been talking about however seems to have become an addiction. It does not have any obvious papaya flavour but it is spicy sweet and I am finding all sorts of excuses to go to the kitchen to dip into the bottle!
Rushina
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I am really excited because I have just picked up fozen momos at a little store near my house! I know not as good as fresh but something is better than nothing! I look forward to trying them will keep all posted!
Rushina
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Apologies to make everyone run around, but this pickle needs to be where other pickle lovers may read about it!
I first had Hing ka achaar when my husband was still courting me. Used to sit and eat it out of the bottle with a spoon.
Heeng ka achaar is a really delicious Pahari achaar that tastes great from the day it is made. On the day it is mixed up to be put down the savoury spices and and fresh sour mangoes are a mouth puckering treat. When I make it a lot of the fresh stuff gets "tasted". The recipe is a simple one. Green Mangoes (usually the ones that fall off on windy days...) are peeled and shaved into thick flakes. (My mouth is waterring!) these flakes are then marinated and left to slowly mature in the sun over a few months in a spice mix of which a large part is Heeng. THe end result is meltingly soft bits of mango that can be eaten with just about anything. It is really delicious and I have never eaten it anywhere else. I do have an exact recipe, but I am saving it for my book. (Terribly sorry if that sounds mean but Suman if you are really interested pm me your snailmail address and I will endeavour to send you some if red tape allows...). There is also a pork pickle that I found a recipe for and one for teetar ka achaar.
My mom in law also makes a really delicious lime pickle which I have people beg me for. It is sour peppery and sweet. The other pickles she makes are Stuffed red chilli, Green chilli, Jackfruit, sweet almost caramelised mango (I think this is what you like Vikram), amla, two three different unripe mango pickles and some more I cant recall at the moment.
Episure, yes that was Gathadi, I am going to get a bottle of it soon along with the exact recipe. THanks for the Bamboo Shoot Pickle that I await with bated breath! For other pickle lovers this Gathadi or Bheendi pickle is very nice, I do not think it is available storebought however, one would likely have to knck on the door of a Sindhi friend.
I tried out the Papaya chutney, It is really quite interesting, salty sweet with a hot backnote... (Vikram am going to split that one with you.)
I bought the Gongura pickle today that I had been curious about for so long! I am going to try that with dinner tonight. I could not find the MTR one had to settle for Mothers recipe.
Rushina
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Rushina, I'd love to hear more about the hing ka achaar.
I am going to be a little painful and describe the Hing ka achar on the Pickle thread because it deserves its place in the limelight!
Rushina
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There is a Gujerati "fast Food" available in Bombay. I call it fast food because we pick it up still warm from farsanwallas. It is Called Jelebi Ganthiya. Golden yellow fat jalebis, still warm Crisp Besan Ganthiyas (Chickpea flour batter seasoned with salt and spiced with jeera ajwain chili and haldi is piped into boiling oil) that can be anything from little wafers to big roti sized ones.
These ganthyai come with a Green Papaya chutney that I love. This Chutney is freshly made and the ganthiyas are dipped into it. Spiked with whole green chillies, tempered with mustard, it can be dry or wet but it always has chickpea flour to give it body. I can go through a whole bowl at one sitting (and I usually do, with a couple of ganthiyas for names sake...
I have just picked up a pappaya chutney from Dehra Dun that I am going to open the coming weekend for a Pahari meal I am cooking up for some friends.
Rushina
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Tamarind Amchur any souring agent is a must. I remember having Alu wadi without enuff of a souring agent - suffice to say it was not pleasant.
Alu vadi is the maharashtrian version of the patyud, maybe Monica could elaborate. It is pronounced "ADOO" . (I might have the spelling wrong)
Rushina
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Very versatile plant this...
In Garhwali food the leaves are made into Patyud alocal version of the famous gujerati Patra/maharashtran aduwadi). (the leaves are spread with a lentil/rice paste flavoured with ginger, amchur, garlic and green chillies and rolled up. these rolls are steamed then sliced and either deep fried or stirfried.) In Garhwal these are eaten with hing ka achaar (aafeotida pickle)
The leaves are also chopped up with the leaves of a local Pumpkin, tempered with Jakhiya (a local spice) and cooked into a vegetable.
At the height of summer the stalks are coated with a paste of Urad, dried, cut into chunks and stored. These chunks called nal badi are then stored for the next year and usually cooked into a curry with onions potatoes and tomatoes. The curry is eaten with rice.
The roots are also made into a curry pindaloo ka saag (basically aloo saag but with arbi instead of potatoes.)
I once had a baked arbi that was very nice. My friend's mother had boiled the roots, peeled them and then marinated them in a spiced yoghurt. She then baked them.
PLEASE be careful when handling Taro. the juice from the leaves and stems can stain your clothes irrepairably. Also coat your hands witha layer of oil (we use mustard but anything should work) to protect from the juice of the taro root. Else your hands will itch.
Rushina
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Hi everyone.
I am back from Dehra Dun, having discovered several new and very interesting things. I will have some pictures for all of you soon, along with information.
Mongo on another thread asked for recipes with Horsegram. The bhaat is listed above. The others I will pm you if you want.
Rushina
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I have just picked up a papaya chutney from Dehra Dun that I am looking forward to trying.
Have a Sindhi grated mango pickle coming my way soon. I tried that it was really yummy.
Where can I find the lagan pickle Vikram. I read about it recently and i want to try it. And no a parsi wedding is not an option.
Rushina
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Funnily enough I discovered the Kitchen King masalla when I was putting together an "Indian Pantry hamper for a client. I picked up a pack for myself and now I buy a succeeding packet before the current one is finished.
I did not have a chance to reply to this one earier but here are just a few things I use KKM for.
masalla bhaat, egg curry, vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower,
I have even been known to throw a little into fried rice.
if you want your family/guests to drool sprinkle a bit into the food just before you serve. It always works to get the mouth watering!
(My husband's first question when he walks through the door on a day I have used it is what smells so good?)
Rushina
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Hey people!
Went on a momo hunt in Dehra Dun this trip, despite dire warnings of it being monsoon...
Unfortunately fates were conspiring against us as all the places we went to had run out of nonvegetarian momos.
Had three / four versions of vegetarian momos. Beggars cant be choosers sfter all!
the last lot was the best with a mint / chilli chutney that had us in tears...
Rushina
P.s Vikram did you find that Restaurant for momos? Ellen - are you back? On bended knee we ask you to share your expertise with momos.
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Anyone every used apricot oil in their cooking?
Wild apricot oil is produced in Garhwal India and I picked up a bottle on a recent trip. I thought is would be good to dress fruit salads and the like but was wondering if it could be used for anything else.
Had tons of fresh apricots too, just as they were thouhg...
Rushina
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Hi Mongo and everyone else!
Horsegram is a winter staple in Garhwal. Called Gehat it is predominantly made into soup. The cooked daal is strained out to stuff paranthas (the cooked dadl retains its form and gives the filling a great texture even after cooking) the cooking liquid is served as a soup.
The paranthas come steaming hot to the table and my husband and his family will make a hole in the top and drop in a big ball of ghee or white butter (shudder). They somethimes eat it with a bit of Hing ka achar. the copious amounts of fat that it drenched in use to give me hives but after i tried it I have to agree it was really good on those cold winter days.
I will check if I have posted the recipes for the gehat/kulith soup and the paranthas in my thread on pahari food If not I will PM it to you. If anyone else wants it let me know.
Gehat is also combined with Tor (pidgeon pea) to make a daal. Tor is another winter staple. THis is eaten with rice. Gehat also goes into the combo of winter dals that make the KUmaoni Ras.
Rushina
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I am going to Dehra Dun today, They have amazing bakeries and biscuits there.
Will get back to all of you with notes...
Rushina
Taro root recipes?
in India: Cooking & Baking
Posted
http://www.wcc.hawaii.edu/commsvcs/taro/recipes.htm
Heres something I found while surfing
Rushina