Girls nite out - Sangria and great times

The last couple of weeks have been great in all respects - greatly stressful, greatly peaceful (paradoxical, I know), greatly emotional, greatly interesting, greatly rewarding, and the most important - greatly fun.

And it's thanks to the girlies in my life that I can add the last one. A few weeks back, we finally made time to go out together. It was Archana's birthday and we all ended up at Hawaiian Shack, and with a few drinks inside us, we danced and sang the night away to retro numbers. It was a fantastic night as you can see by our smiles:

Nisha, Me, Archana, Akshata and Grazielia

So last night we had the pleasure of visiting Archana's beautiful apartment. I wish I'd taken my camera, I really do. She's decorated the place with fabulous shades of greeny-blue and chocolate brown, and her mum's handpainted bottles decorate the small, but fantastic balcony. Not only does Archana have the perfect place, but she's also the hostess with the most-ess!

As we arrived, we were greeted with Sangria (I know we typically associate Sangria with summer and I know it's freezing cold and snowing across most of the world right now, but it's still warm in Mumbai!) and nibbles... Large, sweet purple grapes with salty green olives and creamy, peppery cheese made a wonderful combination that hit all the right notes...

A few more glasses of Sangria later and Archana stepped it up a notch with a beautifully creamy yet crunchy salad, with a roast chicken version for the non-veggies amongst us (I love that Indian phrase - 'Non-Veg').

After a couple of raucous hands of Uno later, we got down to the main course (yup.. that was after me polishing off most of the grapes & olives and two bowls of salad) of spaghetti with courgette (zucchini) and babycorn topped with a home-made cheese sauce - this woman knows how to entertain & how to cook...I'm now a little worried - if the girlies come to my place, I'll hand them the take out menus!

I'm not gonna try and compete with Archana's wonderful food... I'll get the recipes from her and put them up for the rest of the world to enjoy. In the meantime, I thought we'd have a boozy theme of the day. It's so warm here that Sangria is a wonderful drink to sip on a lazy Sunday afternoon, whereas I know there's been snow back home (England...I do miss the cold sometimes, but not the grey, blustery, miserable days) and that puts me in mind of Mulled Wine - the perfect winter warmer when it's got dark early, and there's snow outside. The best bit is they're both based on a good bottle of red wine :D

Sangria - fruity, red wine punch

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1 bottle of red wine
Splash of OJ
1 large lemon, chopped into wedges and de-seeded (coz nobody likes seeds in their drink!)
1 Orange, cut into slices and/or wedges and again, de-seeded
A tablespoon or two of sugar (to taste)
Some club soda (how much you add will determine how light your drink is)

1. Pop the wine in a big jug with the OJ, fruit and sugar. Stick in the fridge and leave overnight.
2. Just before serving, add the club soda.
3. Serve with ice

There are soooooooooooo many variations of this fruity punch... other fruit can work wonderfully, like grapes and apples, or berries - but add these fruit just before serving, otherwise they'll turn mushy. Many recipes call for a shot or two of brandy, gin or triple sec...If you're using this add it at step 1. Other people swear by adding ginger ale instead of club soda.

Mulled Wine - a nicely, spicy warming drink best enjoyed on a cold, dark evening

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Well, I'm gonna hand this one over to my mate, Jamie.
Jamie's quite adept at this food and drink malarky and his Mulled Wine recipe is wonderful.



The night was sooooo badly needed as I'm currently going through one of those 'Interesting Times' in life - I'll spare you all the details. I just wanted to say one last 'Thank You' to Akshata, Archana, Grazielia and Nisha - for being sooooooo wonderful and making it more manageable to live through this 'Interesting Time'.

May you live in Interesting Times...

See in the dark... Carrots galore (and the kitchen adventures of Coco the Chor)

Eat your carrots...They'll help you see in the dark

Eat your spinach...You'll grow big and strong, just like Popeye

Eat your crusts...Or your hair won't curl (I always eat my crusts and have a mop to show for it!)

Eat your tomato...Before Coco steals it (A new saying - not one that you might've heard before, coz as I just writing the last line, Coco skidded to a halt under the sofa. This is her sign for "I've got something that wasn't given to me so I'm not sure if I'm meant to have it, so I'll hide just in case..." When I looked from one angle I couldn't see anything. This doesn't mean that she's innocent, it just means I should look from another angle...lo-and-behold, my tomato that was sitting on the side in the kitchen, warming up to room temperature and destined to become the filling in a sandwich along with a cheese slice, now has a whole bunch of doggie teeth marks and is Coco's companion below the sofa.)


Tomatoes, onions and carrots always seem to be present in my kitchen, even when there's little else. So bored of tomatoey-oniony things I thought I'd try out a carroty recipe. This is one adapted from a pumpkin/squash recipe that I found over at Mamta's Kitchen, and it turned out quite tasty.

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Carroty Bhaji:

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin) seeds
A pinch of Hing (asafoetida) powder
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
4-5 carrots (use the yummy red variety if you can get them...regular orangy ones are ok too), peeled and chopped into thin-ish rounds
1/2 teaspoon haldi (turmeric) powder
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
Salt to taste
A little sugar to taste
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango) powder
Coriander leaves, to garnish


1. Heat oil over medium heat and add jeera seeds and hing once hot. Allow to splutter or turn light brown.
2. Add ginger and chilli, fry for a few seconds
3. Add carrots, haldi, chilli powder, salt and sugar. Mix thoroughly and stir fry for a minute or two on high heat.
4. Reduce heat and cook until soft, stirring from time to time. You might need to add a little water to stop the carrots from burning
5. Add garam masala, amchoor powder and coriander leaves. Mix well
6. Eat with roti!

If you can't get amchoor powder, then you can use the juice of 1/2 a lemon instead.

Off to get another tomato out of the fridge... will put this one up high, out of the reach of Coco the Chor (Hindi for 'Tea-Leaf' (Cockney Rhyming slang for 'Thief'))

It's all Greek to me...

It's all sunny and bright and since I've come back from Goa it feels all summery... which is a bit screwed up since it's November and Christmas is round the corner! I've taken to eating Orange ice-lollies and really enjoying them (Both me and Coco had one yesterday, and I fancy another one today!), it's like I'm a kid again. I soooooo wish I'd been able to make a sandcastle when we were in Goa. Or even better, a sand-fort, huge with moats and several huge trenches to keep the sea at bay for a few minutes longer before the waves rush over it and drag the sand back into the rolling surf.

Besides ice creams and lollies, other food memories of my childhood holidays are hot, fresh doughnuts (Yup, they're English and this is how we spell it) covered in sugar; sticky, pink candyfloss, spun right in front of your eyes; Dairylea cheese and salad cream sandwiches, with gritty sand as an added bonus. As I got older, in the evening I might be allowed half a pint of dry cider with a packet of dry roasted peanuts. Wow, I really miss those family summer holidays!

Now summer foods that take my fancy are things like chilled watermelon and fresh salads. One of my favourite salads is Greek Salad, full of ripe tomatoes, crunchy capsicum, tangy red onion and juicy purple olives with the creamy, saltiness of Feta cheese... and that's pretty much the recipe right there!

Greek Salad
Tomato
Cucumber
Capsicum
Red onion
Kalamata olives
Feta cheese
Lemon juice
Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. chop the tomato, cucumber and capsicum into chunks
2. dice the feta, or crumble it
3. thinly slice the red onion
4. put everything in a bowl and toss with a couple of glugs of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice
5. season with salt and pepper
6. serve with warm, crusty bread

yummy... I love salads with a tomato and cucumber base. I quite often throw in other ingredients too, like sweetcorn, or kidney beans (rajma), or chickpeas (kabuli chana). I'm not too keen on lots of capsicum, so sometimes I substitute this with a bit of carrot for that same crunch. Sweet pickled beetroot or gherkin is an interesting addition - but only in small amounts.

One blog that I love is Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen - she has such good recipes. One that I love is her Chickpea and Tomato Salad with Chat Masala. Her recipe is an Indian take on a Greek salad, with chickpeas rather than feta, and is so tasty. She's got loads of interesting ideas and recipes for pulses, so I'll be going back there quite often!

Well, it's nearly time for Coco's walk now, so I'm off to enjoy the beautiful evening light as the sun sets over Mumbai...

SOUP-ercalifragalistic Ex-PEA-alidocious

I'm feeling very autumnal, even though I live in Mumbai and the temperature is in the 30's (that's Celsius not Fahrenheit). So how come I'm feeling this way? Well, it was Diwali this week, and it fell at the same time as Guy Fawkes Day (or Bonfire Night as we called it when I was little). Diwali is the festival of light, so everyone lets off fireworks and crackers.

On Friday night there were four hours (yes, FOUR- from 8pm to midnight) of uninterrupted bangs, booms and flashes of spectacular colour in every direction I could see from my window. And it didn't end there - the fireworks continued more sporadically for several hours after that. And as I work up thirsty this morning around half-five, I could still here more booms and bangs.

So as I sat at my window watching the fantastic display, the smell of gun-powder transported me back 15 years or so (crickey - I'm old) to my university days, where me and my friends put on the college fireworks display one year. That night will always be with me as one of the most exhilarating times of my life - after the display ended and all the other students made their way to the Autumn dance, me and my friends went to a quiet room to let the adrenaline wear off!

We were later congratulated on holding one of the best fireworks displays in the history of the college - everyone seemed mightily impressed with 'that fantastic firework, you know, the big one that went off at ground level' (otherwise known as 'the huge rocket that should have exploded 20 meters or so up in the air, but got stuck in it's holder and showered us all with sparks' or 'OhmyGod-I'mgonnadieinanastyexplosion').

I'm glad we impressed!

So yes, I'm feeling very autumnal. And to me that means warming, yummy soup.

I have two soups that I love to make, that are both souper easy to make (sorry, couldn't help myself). One is a Pea and Basil soup and the other is Carrot, Squash and Parsnip soup.

Pea and Basil soup

Peas & Basil

4-5 handfuls of peas
Enough Vegetable stock to cover the peas and a little bit more
Couple of handfuls of fresh basil

1. Cook the peas in the vegetable stock.
2. Remove the peas from the stock to let them cool for a few minutes. Keep the stock warm.
3. Blend the peas and basil with a splash of stock, until smooth.
4. Add stock until until you get the desired consistency.
5. Season to taste and serve.

This soup is a gorgeous, bright-green colour, with a delicate flavour. It doesn't matter whether you use fresh or frozen peas, it's still yummy. If you can't get your hands on basil, then you can do a more decadent version using a couple of spoonfuls of pesto and you'll get much bigger flavours.


Carrot, Squash and Parsnip soup

Carrots, Squash & Parsnips

2 carrots
2 parsnips
small squash
Enough Vegetable stock to cover the veg and a little bit more
cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon dhaniya (coriander) powder
1/4 teaspoon jeera (cumin) powder

1. Peel the carrots, parsnips and squash and cut into chunks.
2. Cook the veggies in the stock along with the spices until tender - this will take a good 15 mins or so.
3. Separate the veggies and stock and remove the cinnamon stick. Keep the stock warm.
4. Once the veggies have cooled for a few minutes, pop them into a blender with a splash of water and blend to a fine puree.
5. Add the stock slowly to get the desired consistency.
6. Season to taste and serve.

A proper warming soup. If you prefer a chunkier soup, then don't blend all the veggies - keep a few aside to add back in later. Sometimes I also add cooked chickpeas (kabuli channa) to the soup after it's blended, or I use other combinations of root vegetables.

Well, the booms and bangs of crackers are still sounding in my neighbourhood - so I wish a Happy Diwali to everyone :D

Have a great week!