Book Review: Dont Try this @ Home

Ever since I read Heat by Bill Buford and Kitchen confidential by Anthony Bourdain ( read my reviews here) Ive been interested in the cook as a professional and what it takes to be one. This book is a collection of essays by a whos who of professional chefs in North America. It is really really hilarious! Did you know that chefs in training in France have to choose between becoming a waiter or a chef?

Many many of the essays deal with "accidents" in the kitchen and the resulting wonderful product. Others deal with the question of management of a professional kitchen and how cooking and management are two sides of running a restaurant. Yet other essays paint a wonderful picture of the culinary profession in the decades past.

I would highly recommend this book for pulling back the curtain on the professional kitchen.

GYO: Mulai keerai / Amaranth Kootu

Grow Your Own is an event started and usually hosted by Andrea of Andreas Recipes. This fortnight, GYO is being hosted by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi. This is my entry for this edition of GYO.

I finally managed to out my kutti inner green thumb. My little amaranth is all growed up. Growing a food plant for the first time was interesting- it played into my little fantasy where all urbanites are forced to grow their own food in little pots on their window sill- driven by high costs of food transportation. Being a locavore(someone who eats food grown within a 100 miles) may be trendy now, but will soon become a necessity. When I first realised my grape tomatoes came all the way from the DOMINICAN republic and my Okra from CHINA, boy was I mad. Everybody is only now sitting down to calculate the true costs of flying your food in from all around the world.

My plants did not really look like any of the amaranths Ive seen at Indiras Mahanandi - perhaps it is a different sub species. So for my first experiment with Mulaikeerai or Amaranth - I decided to play it safe and made Mulaikeerai/ Amaranth Kootu( Amaranth leaf lentil curry).

I served this traditional Iyengar rendition of Kootu with crisp Brinjal Podi Karamad( Brinjal Dry vegetable curry with ground spices) , Carrot Kosumalli( Carrot salad) and yoghurt. It was finger licking delicious!!

For the Kootu Spice Powder:
2 tbsp Urad dal
1 tsp Black Pepper
3 Red Chillies or to taste

Saute in a heavy bottomed pan until the urad dal turn golden brown and you can smell the roasted urad. Grind. This will keep for ever and is enough to make Kootu twice.

For the Kootu:
Take two cups of fresh amaranth greens or any other greens you have with about 3/4 cup yellow moong dal, and pressure cook for about two whistles. Add a tablespoon of the Kootu spice powder, salt to taste and boil briefly until the Kootu bubbles.

At this point the Kootu is basically done. You could temper the Kootu wih mustard, curry leaves and perhaps a tomato. Tomatoes in my grandmothers times were expensive, so she used them but rarely. Today it is a question of taste.

The Kootu does need an acid , sometimes I use a tomato - sometimes I just go with a Kosumalli. Kootu is as difficult to photograph as soup - the result just looks like yellow goo. This kootu speaks of home and simple pleasures and is infinitely customizable and has too many variations to keep track of.

Vegetable Carving: Radish Flowers

Roma of Roma's space is holding a unique vegetable carving event this July. These are my entries. I made the flowers above from Red Radish. The second is a more elaborate fruit bouquet that I made for my daughters first birthday. I used a fruit baller, knives and cookie cutters for both these.

Book Review: Short history of the American stomach

Always a sucker for an attractive title, I picked up this new book at my local library recently. I am a history buff, but my knowledge of American history is limited to its urban history.

The parts I loved about the book, the parts that were smooth, informative and hilariously funny - about half the book, had a good comparison going on between past and present in way that made food history accessible to the layman. The very first chapter compares the cookbook craze of this era with that of a century ago. The very first chapter also has a hilarious comparison between Food network camera work and the shot angles of porn movies. Yes you read that right, the author gets a porn star to review food network and its video, which then segues into a short story on the frustrations of being a food network star. All very amusing and clever- but I did not get the slightest hint of any historical angle to this brief insight into food media.

I feel better that todays' twin sins of dieting and then desperate self starvation are very old ideas, and the author does do a good job of descibing the excesses of over and deliberate starvation centuries ago. The oldest reference in history that I can think of , of a people, a class - deliberately doing this to themselves are the Romans with their Bacchanalia. They used to eat ginormous quantities of food and then tickle the back of their throat to vomit the whole thing, and start the whole feasting process again. Whew - an orgy sounds more like work than pleasure to me today.

Some of the best ideas of the book however are underdeveloped and orphaned early. For example later in his book , the author Frederick Kaufman explores the relation between Food, its purity and spirituality. He goes on to explore how even the act of declaring a food pure enough to eat by a particular religion has become a big business.

The other good idea he has is the outsourced stomach. In these days of outsourced everything, why not the stomach? But this is where he focuses on minuteae and forgets the big picture. He focuses of a particular type of genetically reengineered Asian oyster which he laments is replacing all the native oyster species. I just do not get it, exactly which meal of his is completely american? My own garlic comes from China, my tomatoes from Italy, my Okra from China and India. Focusing on native / invasive species debate misses the wood for the trees.

My recommendation: Skip this book unless you have a good grounding in American History.

Growing Amaranth/Mulaikeerai

Two pictures of my baby kutti Amaranths grown from Organic Rajgira seeds

Now, plants hate me because I usually approach them with love and affection but eventually kill them off! It is not neglect, I take care of them, but they still die on me. Whats a girl to do? I have been eyeing the lovely Amaranth recipes Indira has at Mahanandi for a while now. We donot get Amaranth leaves in our local farmers market.So finally I decided to grow these in a pot on my windowsill.

My mother in law sent me a copy of the English edition of the famous Tamil cookbook Samaithu paar, which had an, "Amaranth kootu/ Mulaikeerai recipe"- This is when I realised that Mulaikeerai is an Amaranth. My mom grew up having Molakeerai or Araikeerai Kootu everyday of the week - Both of which turned out to be Amaranths. Yay! Growing Amaranth myself now brought me closer to my moms roots too- an unexpected bonus.

Did you know that amaranth is over 4000 years old? Or that it was found at a Harappan site(Surkotada, Kutch: Gujarat)? I did not!

KT Achaya's Indian Food, a Historical Companion is the first book that my husband H. bought me from the Oxford University Press. It is not a work you read from cover to cover because of its serious academic tone, but whenever I dip into it - I come away with fascinating historical insights into Indian food.

Some other fascinating tidbits about amaranth from this book:
Amaranth is a genus with many different species. The most common amaranth grain variety in India is A. hybridus. It is also called ramdhana, chua, bathua , pungikeerai or thotakura in India. Rajgeera itself comes from the variant A. hybridus subsp. cruentus whose leaves are eaten as chaulai, mathbhaji or pungikeerai.

The third species A. caudatus is an ornamental garden plant also called love lies bleedng, and it was originally brought in from South America. The Picture on the left is of Love lies Bleeding and is from Britannica. I seem to remember this plant lurking in the gardens of my childhood.

Three other Amaranthus species are found in India, with Sanskrit names and probably of Indian origin.
A. Spinosus, in Sanskrit Alpamarisha, in Hindi Kantachaula and in Tamil Mulaikeerai.
A. Tricolor, in Sanskrit Marisha, makanada or tanduliya, Hindi Chaulai and Tamil Araikerai or thandukeerai.
A. Viridis , in Sanskrit tanduliya or vishnaga and in Tamil kuppukeerai or sinnakeerai.

These three are also called Malabar Spinach, Chinese Spinach & Tampala ( Generic Sri Lankan Name)respectively in the Western World.

Amaranths are also very nutritious, more about that in another post. Also Recipes for amaranth coming up in future posts. I cannot wait for my little, kutti plants to grow up - when I can finally try out the Amaranth recipes Indira has!

Ghau na fada ne Dudhi na Muthia

Muthias are a much blogged about Gujarati snack / light meal. I am a gujju @ heart so I love Muthias- they are steamed , they have a good proportion of veggies to carbs, they are tasty!In this version, my mom uses Ghau na fada or cracked wheat, which is different from other recipes in the blogosphere. Cracked wheat is less processed than flour and provides some bite,texture and fibre to this recipe.

The only thing you have to be careful in this recipe is the proportion of Cracked wheat to veggies. Too much and your muthias will be very very hard.

Ingredients:
2 cups grated dudhi or bottlegourd
1 cups cracked wheat or ghau na fada
1/2 cup Besan or Kadala maavu
3 cloves of garlic(large)
1 green chilli

For the seasoning:
1 tsp mustard
pinch asofoetida
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
Coriander Leaves
Method:
Grate the Bottlegourd. Add a tsp of salt and leave it alone for ten to fifteen minutes. Water will leech out of the Dudhi. Now add the Besan, Ghau na fada or cracked wheat, Garlic, Green chilli and salt if needed. Now shape into a log and steam for fifteen minutes as shown in the picture.

Open the steamer vessel and let the Muthias cool down for another fifteen minutes. If you try to cut them while hot ,they will break.

Add oil to a wide and shallow vessel. When hot, add the mustard. After the mustard pops, add the sesame seeds, muthia, red chilli powder and turmeric in that order. Saute for two to three minutes or until the turmeric does not smell raw.

Turn off the heat and add the salt, sugar, lemon juice and coriander leaves.

You could also try a Muthia Recipe from other Blogs:
1. Jugalbandis Mystery Veggie Muthia
2. Kajals Dudhi na Muthia
3. Mansi's Palak and Dudhi Muthia
4. Meeras Microwave Muthia
5. Coffee Mixed Vegetable Muthias

Dosa Mela: Body Builder Dosa

Last minute entry for Srivallis Dosa Mela

Srivalli is surely going to throw stones, rotten eggs and tomatoes at me for this entry! :) While i sat on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs, the entire blogging community has come up with some amazing dosas. My only excuse for this last minute entry is that i was too busy trying and eating their entries( Sia's Moong chilla and Srivallis Curds Dosa really delicious)

I was all out of ideas, when i re read srivallis original announcement. It helpfully had a link to the wiki post on dosa, which led me to the wiki on crepes- which briefly mentioned a crepe called body builder crepe.

I was intrigued. It is getting to summer now and H. and I have just started hitting the gym to exercise away the cakes and rich foods of winter.A protein rich low carb dosa/crepe sounded like just the thing we needed. After much googling, I found a recipe to a protein rich pancake here. I am reproducing the recipe below:

Cindy's Protein Crepe/Pancake / Body builder dosa:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup slow cooked oats raw
1/4 cup light cottage cheese
5 egg whites
cinnamon to taste

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend about 15 seconds. Heat skillet and put half of your batter on the pan. Watch your heat! Too high can really destroy it. My skillet is usually about 325-350 degrees. Don't forget to flip your crepe!"

I adapted it to an Indian palette. I replaced the slow cooked oats with quick cooking ones, removed the cinnamon and added green chillies, coriander leaves and whey protein powder(2 tbsp).

I was not sure what I would get at the end, but i went ahead and made a dosa with the mixture.

The verdict: Wow. It was really good. It tastes almost exactly like an omlette, but it really fills you up. Two eggs make one utthapams style crepe. A quick back of the envelope calculation- and one crepe made from two eggs is approximately around 120 calories.(cottage cheese: Around 25 calories
Quick cooking oats: Around 30 calories
Two egg whites at 17 calories each: 34
Protein powder: Around 30 calories)

I am sure you can use egg beaters for this recipe. It does not have egg yolks, so it does not have cholestrol. It has fibre from the oats. I am sure you can add any vegetables you like, like tomato or shredded cabbage, spinach and any cheese that you like. Or have it with fruits as per cindys post.

So happy summer gym-ming with the body builder dosa.

Norwegian Potato Roti: Lefse

This is my entry for Sia's Ode to Potato Event

I first came accross Lefse on the blogs on Epicurious. The article went on and on and on about the glorious joys of eating this THING, a traditional roti type bread in Norway: they eat it with lutefisk(a fish), they eat it with jam & yada yada yada. This is probably the first time I have been nagged into making something :)- that too by an article!

I was like, okay okay ill make it.

You can find comprehensive info on Lefse at Wikipedia.You can find step by step PHOTO instructions for the traditional Lefse here.

The recipe that I prefer is not really the traditional recipe for Lefse. Traditionally, Lefse recipes contain a lot of flour - in terms of proportion, around half to two third of the amount of potatoes. Ive chosen to reduce the flour to only around a tablespoon. My Lefse is all potato all the way.So they are a lot smaller than norwegian lefske.

You can adapt this recipe for fasting days by substituting the flour with some sago/ sabudana flour.

Ingredients:
5 medium sized boiling or yukon gold potatoes.Donot use baking potatoes.
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp butter, unsalted, soft.
about 1 tbsp all purpose flour, more if needed.
Salt, to taste

Method:
1. Boiling the potatoes: Peel the potatoes and halve them to have pieces pproximately the same size. Boil with plenty of water for 15 minutes, until soft but firm. The texture is very important because, the potato should not disintegrate or become too watery. If the center part of the potato is firm, but the sides are well done, go ahead and remove it from the water. Drain and reserve on a plate.
2.Grate the Potato:First cool the potatoes completely. About an hour or so. You can referigerate them and hasten the process. Grate using a grater with small holes( like a cheese grater).
3. Finish the dough: Add the cream,salt, the butter and the flour and mix very delicately. Just bring it all together into a ball.Do not knead. If you need more flour and your potato mixture is very wet , you can add more flour. Remember, the more flour you add, the less tender your lefse is going to be.
4. Roll out the Roti: Roll the Lefse out like a roti. Put on Tava and cook on both sides until you have brown spots. Spread some ghee on top, just like a normal roti.

The end texture we are aiming for is meltingly soft.

Serve with any sabji/chutney of your choice. I love it plain without anything.I was finding it very difficult to photograph it without gobbling the whole thing up :)

More power to Mr.Spudly!

Baked Egg with Pico de Gallo

My Entry for WBB#20
Hosted by Mansi Desai

I make this Baked egg with Potato and Pico de Gallo quite frequently on weekends. Its a luxurious and somewhat well balanced breakfast.If you can keep yourself from going after the potato for seconds that is. :) When I reluctantly wake up on a quiet sunday, stretch out, read the newspaper and reach out for this breakfast, life seems beautifully lazy with infinite possibilities. Ah the rhapsodies of a happily full stomach!

There are two components to this recipe:
1.The Potato Hash
2.Pico de Gallo

Both are do ahead. You can make them the previous night and throw the egg and potato in the oven in the morning.

So here is the recipe:

1.The Potato hash
Ingredients:
4 medium Potatoes, preferably yukon gold
2 medium Onions, finely chopped
Chives, finely chopped
Salt
Black Pepper, freshly ground.

Peel the potatoes, and dice into 1 cm cubes. The next step is to roast them . You can do this on a non stick pan, that way it gets beautifully golden without much Oil. I find that Yukon gold potatoes absorb very little oil and roast beautifully. When the potatoes are nicely brown , add the onions. When the onions are translucent, add the chopped chives, salt and season well with pepper.

Dont be stingy with the pepper. These potatoes taste good with a solid peppery blast.

2. Pico De Gallo

2 Tomatoes, diced
1 small Onion, finely chopped
1 Jalapeno, finely chopped
Fresh Lemon Juice
Salt
Cilantro / Coriander leaves

This is a classic Spanish / Mexican Condiment. Just mix together all the ingredients. If you are planning to serve this the next morning , add the lemon juice and the salt half an hour before serving. Taste and adjust jalapenos if needed.

To finish
Take the potato hash in a baking dish( Ceramic or Foil). Make four little indentations in the potato. Crack open four eggs and put in the little indentations.

Bake at 350 F for half an hour for firm yolks. If you prefer softer ones, 15 to 20 min are enough.

So, this Breakfast has vegetables, fruits ( Tomato is technically a fruit!) and Egg. Im sure you can make it with only egg whites, in which case baking time is only 5 minutes. You can always top it with grated cheese.

Accompanied by fresh coffee or fruit juice this breakfast is the gateway to the glorious philosophical mindset of a Full stomach :) Enjoy!

Marcha ane Rai na Kuria : RCI Gujarat

This is my last minute entry for Mythili's
RCI GUJARAT






















Gujarat is dry desert region and this recipe really shows their love for chillies and pickles. In a Gujarati village, I saw fresh chilies picked in the morning from the Vadi, roasted over charcoals, skinned and served with a little salt to accompany the simple lunch of Bhakri Ane Shaak. Gujaratis have a whole repertoire of pickles that they pickle only with lemon and salt which include roots such as fresh turmeric root and mango turmeric( manga inji).

This recipe is a simple Gujarati fresh pickle recipe from my best friend's mom.

Ingredients:

Green Chilies
Lemon Juice
Salt
Rai na Kuria (Mustard Flakes easily available at your local Indian grocery)

Slice the green chilies vertically. Remove all the seeds. Split the chilies into four. Place in a glass jar with tight lid. Add two table spoons of lemon juice for every half cup of green chilies.Add water until the chillies are submerged. Salt until fairly briny like sea water. Add about one table spoon of rai na kuria. Put the lid and set aside for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. Serve as a pickle with roti and shaak. After two or three days, the chilies will become brown and thats when you know they are ready. Enjoy