Saturday, July 24, 2010

Stray Dogs, Bugs, Rats and Perfect, Fluffy Rice with Curd...

Not a particularly appealing title for a blog about food, right? I agree! But India has a lot of these things.

Coco (my Lab) has a boyfriend! His name is Brownie, he lives in the grounds of our building and he's taken a real shine to Coco. So much so, that this dog now accompanies us on our walks, even though it's way outside of his territory and he's clearly quite terrified. He hides behind me if he feels threatened, which is a bit strange, as if he sees me without Coco he growls at me and runs away. In this mad dog's head I'm clearly two different people!

Coco's boyf, Brownie
India is a place of bugs... the insect variety and the stomach variety. Why is this part of my blog today? Well I've currently got the second type of bug and I've been scared to death by the first type from time to time.

About a year ago, on the way back from an outing in Malshej Ghat, my friends and I stopped for food in a roadside dhaba. We didn't really have a choice, as we were in the middle of nowhere. The place had the lights turned down low, so you really didn't notice the immense number of bugs in the place until your eyes got used to the low lights. If the place had been empty, then I'd have run away screaming, but it was doing good business.

The food was fresh and good, and we were half way through when we saw two rats running though the place quite freely. Everyone ignored them, except us. As we watched them for a minute, we realised that these weren't rats after all. They were gigantic cockroaches - as big as my hand! Supersized bugs freak me more than rats - rats are meant to be that big!

So that brings me to the last bit... I've already mentioned that this weekend I'm suffering from a stomach bug. These are common place in a country with such a large number of stray dogs, bugs and rats running around the place. And monsoon time is the time when you need to be most careful about eating 'outside food'.

And I have been careful about outside food. Instead, I've managed to poison myself with my own leftovers! This did confuse me a little, as I made sure I'd heated everything properly and it was less than 24 hours old and had been carefully stored in the fridge.

Then last night after I dragged myself out to take Coco on her last walk of the day, with her boyfriend in tow, I got home and popped into my kitchen. That's when I see a rat run out of my window! I live on the 5th Floor of my apartment block. Now I think I know how I got this stomach bug and I swear I'm never opening that window ever again!

So I'm miserable. I've got a bad stomach, a rat and a stray doggie lusting after Coco. And all I'm allowed to eat is Plain Rice and Curd. All I can say, is it's a good job I learned to make fluffy rice a few months back. Up until that point, the rice I made was always sticky and starchy. Now I know why - I was dumping rice into cold water and bringing it to the boil - wrong!


Perfect, fluffy rice:

perfect, fluffy rice1 measure of rice
4 measures of water for cooking
Salt to taste

1. Wash the rice really well, until the water runs clear.
2. Soak the rice for half an hour.
3. Bring the water to the boil then add the rice and salt.
4. Bring it back to the boil then simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
5. Drain off any excess water.

Some types of rice will take less time and others will take longer to cook. I use Basmati and it takes about 10 mins.

When you're ill with a tummy bug, eat this perfect, fluffy rice with curd (yoghurt) - preferably a probiotic variety to help the good bacteria in your tummy kick the bad bacteria to the kerb!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Aubergine, Eggplant, Brinjal, Baingan... Whatever you want to call it!

I love aubergine when it's cooked well. I've enjoyed it in Moroccan, Lebanese, Italian and Indian dishes - from Moussaka, via Baba Ganoush, stuffed aubergine and Parmigiana di Melanzane, to Aloo Baingan.

What I also love about Brinjal is the variety you get, in size, shape and colour.


When aubergine is not well cooked it tastes bitter and has a texture of a well worn shoe... I've had some nasty experiences of this when cooking with Aubergine in the past!



What I didn't know is that you can draw the bitter juices out of the aubergine by salting it well and leaving for half an hour or so. Also, like potato, aubergine goes a nasty brown colour when chopped and left. Putting it in water stops this happening.


So here's the recipe for my current aubergine fave...

Aloo Baingan:

1 tablespoon Oil
1 teaspoon Rai (Mustard seeds)
1 teaspoon Ginger paste
1 teaspoon Garlic paste
1-2 Green chillies, slit and deseeded
1 med Onion, finely chopped
1 med Tomato, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon Haldi (Turmeric powder)
1 teaspoon Chilli powder
1 teaspoon Jeera (cumin) powder
2 med Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 kg Baingan (aubergine), cut into chunks
2 cups water
Coriander leaves – for garnishing

1. Heat oil over medium flame and add rai.
2. When popping, add ginger and garlic pastes along with the chilli. Cook for a minute or so.
3. Add onions and cook until translucent.
4. Add tomatoes and fry until oil starts to separate.
5. Add haldi, chilli powder, jeera and salt. Fry for a few minutes.
6. Add potatoes and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add a little water if needed.
7. Add baingan and fry for 3-4 minutes.
8. Add 2 cups of water and simmer for about half an hour, until potato and baingan are tender.
9. Serve garnished with coriander leaves and eat with roti.


What's your favourite aubergine dish? Let me know so I can try it too?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sev Tomato - My Favourite

Tomatoes are my favourite fruit/veg. I'm not going to get into a debate about which they are, I just know that they taste fabulous, and can really make a dish.

A cheddar cheese sandwich on thick, crusty white bread is made a thousand times better by adding a few juicy slices of ripe tomato. Pasta turns from bland to fabulous with a rich tomato-based sauce. Little cherry tomatoes of all shapes and colours add a new dimension to a boring bowl of lettuce.

One of my favourite dishes of recent times is one that I got from my Gujurati friend's mum - Sev Tomato. It is soooooooooooo easy to make. And it's so good that my dog, who knows she's not allowed to eat off my plate, actually stole this from me as I was half way through. Obviously she thought it was her food!


Sev Tomato

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1 teaspoon of ginger paste
7-8 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric powder)
1 teaspoon dhaniya (coriander powder)
salt to taste
1-2 handfuls nylon sev

1. Heat the oil then add the jeera, hing and ginger paste. Stir for a few seconds.
2. Add tomatoes, haldi, dhaniya and salt - mix well. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until tomatoes are really soft and disintegrating.
3. Serve topped with sev - eat quickly or the sev goes all mushy.

Eat with roti/chapatti (or if you're like me, straight out of the pan with a spoon!)
As I'm such a tomato freak, I often eat this without the Sev, and it's still really tasty.

For those that don't know, sev is made from besan (gram/chickpea flour), mixed into a dough with a few bits and bobs, pressed through a small sieve to make little, wiggly besan worms, then deep fried.
Picture courtesy of the Bengali Sweet House - USA, where you can buy Sev amongst many other Indian items.

If you want to try making your own sev, then try this recipe from Tarla Dalal, Indian cookery queen.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Cooking with Corn

One of my favourite memories of recent times is from the monsoon in Mumbai last year. Having got soaked to the skin, I stood with my friends & stared out to sea with a cup of hot, spicy sweetcorn to warm me from the inside - A perfect day...
























So when I got wet in the rain a few days ago, the beautiful looking, fresh corn cobs at the market just jumped out at me. Three days later I'm still enjoying the corn, and have had a chance to try out some scrumptious recipes.

Corn is sooooo easy to cook - just boil or saute. And even if you just eat it totally plain it's extremely tasty. This is why corn appeals to me. It's easy to cook and pretty difficult to mess it up!

So Friday and Saturday nights have been accompanied by corn - I just wish my camera was working so I could take some photos of the food. Not only was it really tasty, but it looked pretty good too! Anyway, here are the recipes...

Friday night: Sweetcorn Pulao

1 tablespoon oil / butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger paste
3-4 cloves (laung)
3-4 peppercorns
2-3 cardamoms (elaichi)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
1 cup sweetcorn
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cups cooked Basmati rice
Coriander leaves, finely chopped


1. Heat the oil / butter then add the jeera.
2. When jeera splutters add the onion and cook over a medium heat until starting to brown.
3. Add the ginger paste, laung, peppercorns, elaichi and haldi. Stir for a few minutes.
4. Add the corn and salt. Cook until corn is soft, ~7 minutes.
5. Stir in the cooked rice. Mix well and heat through for a few minutes.
6. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander

I enjoyed this with curd and sliced tomatoes. It was really tasty, if I do say so myself!
















Saturday night: Palak Makkai (Spinachy-corn or Green corn)

1 bunch spinach (palak)
1 tablespoon oil / butter
2 onions finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1 cup sweetcorn, boiled
Salt to taste
Handful of cashews, ground to a paste with a little water
A little water/milk (optional - if you prefer a thinner consistency)
Chopped coriander leaves


1. wilt the spinach in a hot pan. Leave to cool. Grind to a paste in a blender.
2. Heat the oil and cook the onions over a medium heat until starting to brown.
3. Add chillies, garlic and ginger paste and chilli powder. Fry for a few minutes.
4. Add tomatoes and cook until soft
5. Stir in garam masala, salt, palak and corn
6. Cook for 10 minutes or so until everythings well cooked, then add the cashew paste. Simmerfor a few more minutes.
7. If you prefer a thinner consistency, add a little water or milk towards the end.
8. Garnish with some chopped coriander.

I had mine with roti, but it's good with rice too.
If you feel really indulgent then add a lump of butter at the end, or a splash of cream

Hope you enjoy these... I'm still on the look out for more corn recipes, so please send me your favourite one!