Sundays in the Kitchen #3

I really need to try harder at keeping this up. This post is for Feb 19.


The last Sunday, I planned a huge Spanish meal for the family. I was all prepared only to find out that the parents had other dinner plans. So, this is postponed for another Sunday. And the coming Sunday is a Brownie Points sale at Soul Sante. There'll be lots of baking in the kitchen, but wont be posting anything here. 


Panna Cotta


I ate this heavenly dessert about 10 years ago in the Piazza Navona. One of the few times where I didn't regret not ordering something chocolate. It was so grand that I ordered a second one.


The only other place which came close to matching that one was a restaurant called Giancarlos (where Fireflies is now). Perfect panna cotta and perfect berry coulis too.


I tried making it once before. I made a grand passion fruit coulis, but the gelatin was really rubbish and it didn't set properly, so we had to eat it like pudding. Still tasted good though.


Thanks to my lovely Aunt, I acquired some great gelatin leaves, and quite proud to say that it worked perfectly!


Thank you James Martin for the super rich and super easy recipe with a stunning photograph next to it for motivation.

Sundays in the Kitchen #2

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


Happy Valentines Day. Here's a nice soppy song I was listening to today.

So, back to the kitchen. I actually did bake this on Sunday, it just took a while to post it. 


Another birthday calls for another cake. This is a recipe that I've loved making not because of the taste but more because of how it looks. Even if the top is uneven or if it cracks or looks ugly, you just flip the cake and it's beautiful. Very deceptive, since it is actually a really simple recipe.

Sundays in the Kitchen #1

Sunday lunch at home is my department. But usually I end up making my ten minute rice and dhal and vegetable fry. Nothing too exciting. I overcame my urge to be lazy this Sunday and decided to cook something different for lunch.


The menu:
Cashew nut and Mushroom Rice, Brinjal (Rat) Curry, Tomato Raita


Brinjal (Rat) curry:
For as long as I can remember, this curry with the whole mini brinjals has been called 'rat curry' at home. Despite the resemblance, it's still quite a gross name.


First wash and trim the tails of the brinjals. Cut into quarters but not all the way up the stem to keep them intact. Make a masala paste with dry mango powder, haldi, garam masala, salt and oil. Use a knife to spread the paste into the slits of the brinjal. Deep fry till the skin is slightly crispy and and the insides are cooked.


In a saucepan, add 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1 tsp of grated garlic to 4 tbsps of hot vegetable oil (if you have groundnut oil, it adds a nice nuttiness to the curry). Add 2 onions that are finely chopped. Mix well and cook till the onions have turned translucent. Add 4 tsps of andhra masala- this is a combination of chili powder, corriander powder, jeera powder, haldi, powdered cloves and probably other things too.  The one we have at home was given to us, so I can't even check any list of ingredients. But I'm sure you can experiment with the use of various powders. Just make sure none of them overpower the dish.

Once the masalas are nicely mixed up, add 5 finely chopped tomatoes. Reduce the flame, cover with a lid and leave to cook for about ten or fifteen minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Once nicely cooked, add about 150 ml of coconut milk. If you don't have fresh coconut milk/cream, just mix about 4 tbsps of dried coconut powder with milk. Stir well and put over the fried brinjals. I didn't have any fresh corriander today, but it will make a nice garnish.


Cashew and Mushroom Rice:
In a saucepan, add half a chopped onion, 1 tsp of jeera seeds to 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of ghee. Then add 1 tsp of grated garlic, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. Once it is fried well, add a handful of cashew nuts and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms. Fry till mushrooms are cooked and cashew nuts and golden. Add 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil, then lower heat, put the lid on and cook for ten minutes.

Tomato Raita:
Whisk up about 400g of set curd. Add 3 tsps of black salt, 1 tsp of corriander powder and a pinch of chili powder. Then add 3 finely chopped up tomatoes and half a green chili.

And that was my lunch today. Was quite nice. :)

I really need more practice with food presentation and photography. The thing is I'm far too impatient because the food becomes cold. There's always next Sunday for more practice.

Results, Buses and Weddings

Hello 2012.


This is a post about my plans to revive my blog. I've had a pretty eventful first month of the year which is my excuse for not posting on my blog. This is the summary:


1. The dreaded thesis. I spent New Year's eve home alone listening to firecrackers (not even watching, just listening) while I continued working. The stress and lack of sleep and sanity ended a few days later and I got to catch up on sleep, movies and everything else. The results came out and the pretty decent grades finally marks the end of that madness. 


2. The job hunting. This was quite a painful process that began 3 months ago. I sent out a gazillion applications and checked my mail for replies every 6 seconds (I'm not exaggerating). After a lot of depressing phone calls and lack of positive responses, I had to settle for the 5th (yes, there were 4 other cities I applied to) option- Bangalore. I took 2 months to convince myself that I would still be happy, and then a week before I had to join, I sadly had to reject the offer. Anyway, I got another job and surprisingly I've really enjoyed the first 2 weeks of work, despite this job being a backup of my 4th backup option. 


3. I've been lazy. Had lots of ideas of things to post about, but just too lazy to write about it. I did a little cooking, but was lazy to take pictures.

Another Year

2011

Once again I am at that stage when I really don’t know what happened this year for me to write about. Has this year been significantly different to the past ones? Have I changed this year? Have I actually been striving towards my life goal- to be happy? Or am I not really striving, but pointlessly getting through life and living for the day and not for anything beyond that, but happy anyway? Yup, it’s the latter for sure. 

I will try my best not to make this depressing. I think the general mood of last year’s post was leaning towards the depressing side. The thing is, 2010 was a really good year. But I’ve noticed that even in my highest level of optimism, it is hard to completely drown out the not-so-good things with good things.

This year was a good year too.

"I know my time is coming..."

Yes, my blog has been pretty dormant. Unfortunately, due to my brilliance in procrastinating work, I am piled up way over my head with thesis work that is due in a week. I've wasted time like mad. Christmas was still fun.

One of the few benefits of this is that I find new music and new artists during my work. Today I discovered 'Quiet Company'. Grooveshark was advertising them and I really like their music.

I know the lyrics are not about me waiting for my jury. But it sort of reminded me of that. 


I tried a million times to understand it, and I thought I did. But at the bottom of this there is a panic, and I bought right in. But the problem with me and the problem with you is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming.

So let's bow our heads....for something, pray that god is on our side. But the pagan and the pious, they all sound the same, "Oh my god! Oh my god!" The problem with me and the problem with you, is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming, I can't keep my time from coming.

Ahhhh! I know my time is coming in just over a week! :(

Sunday Lunch

I love being alone at home. When the house is empty, I have the sudden desire to do things. I think it's the excitement that takes away the usual laziness (not that I don't love having the rest of the family at home.) Sometimes I resort to frenzied house tidying or singing along to insanely loud music and sometimes I cook.


Red + Green + White = Perfect meal
If the meal has all three colours, it generally means that you've included something from each food group, i.e. carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.

This is a relatively easy meal.


For the pasta- Make simple tomato sauce while the pasta is boiling- same recipe as used here. 


For the broccoli cheese- steam broccoli like I did in this recipe. For the cheese sauce- Put 2 tablespoons of butter (50g) in a hot pan and add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir well and add 200ml of milk. Keep stirring till it thickens. Add 2 tsps of garlic salt. 
Then pour sauce over broccoli and grate cheese over the top (I used Red Leicester). Put in the oven for about ten minutes.


While that is baking, make the bruschetta. This is not the usual raw one that I do. I cooked it. Chop up 2 tomatoes into small pieces. Add to hot pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Let the tomatoes cook well till soft. Add pinch of salt and pinch of lemon pepper. Lastly, add a tbsp of pesto- recipe here. 


NOTE: If you don't have any bought pesto and don't feel like making it from scratch, you could even add chopped up basil leaves. 


Add the tomatoes to lightly toasted bread and then chop up some mozzarella for the top.


By this time, the cheese on the broccoli will be nicely melted. Take out from the oven and rest for about 5 minutes while the sauce thickens again.


Potato Patty- This is the easiest part of the meal. Take out 1 McCain patty from freezer. Defrost and lightly brown on a pan with a smear of oil. 


Voila. And the meal is done. This was enough for 2, so my brother got to eat some for dinner. 

Ate in front of the TV while I watched 'Gone with the Wind' (Well, just a part of it. That movie is 4 hours!) 
Perfect Sunday afternoon. :)

Pesto Broccoli

I made this as an entre for my ravioli meal. 


Pesto is really easy to make. All you need are the right ingredients to blend up. We usually have a bottle of homemade pesto in the fridge. We used to follow the recipe from the book, 'Best-Ever Pasta' (Linda Fraser), but now I think my Mum just improvises.


The recipe + modifications:
3/4 cup of fresh basil leaves (not hard to find, but make sure it's not Thai basil- that has a lemon-ey flavour), 4 cloves of peeled garlic, 4 tbsps pine nuts- these are not easily available, but we use cashew-nuts. Tastes pretty good, so add about a handful and a half, 5 tbsps of olive oil, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan (the only cheese that can be a substitute is Pecorino.) 
Blend all this up till the consistency that you're happy with. I prefer slightly gritty.

Parboil/steam chopped broccoli. What I did was put the broccoli into a bowl of water and microwave for about 5 minutes. In a pan with about 2 tbsp of oil, add onions (1/2 finely chopped) and garlic (2 cloves, grated) (essentials in everything I cook!). Then add about 4 or 5 tbsps of pesto and the broccoli. Cook till broccoli is tender. I like a bite on the veggies. Shouldn't be too soft. 

Tortellini Funghi Pomodoro

And my love for pasta grows further. My Mum suggested I go to Northern Italy and work in a tiny ristorante, oh and maybe work with an architect as well.

When I am bored and more bored than lazy, I usually end up cooking. This time, greatly influenced by the delicate intricate cooking I've been watching on Masterchef, I decided to take pasta-making one step further and try ravioli and tortellini.

Funghi- mushrooms. It's funny how most people associate fungus with something disgusting. I made the filling for the pasta with fungus. 

Take about 2 cups of finely chopped mushrooms. Add them to a pan of hot olive oil and 4 cloves of grated garlic. Stir together. Add 1 tsp of salt, 1tsp of dried sage, 1/4 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Once all the water has come out of the mushrooms and evaporated. Add about 50ml of thick cream. This will combine all the ingredients together to form a nice creamy, slightly sticky filling.

To make the pasta- pretty simple. 2 cups of flour + 3 eggs and a pinch of salt. This time, instead of mixing it out on the counter like I did for the Mushroom Lasagne, I did it in a bowl. Far less mess. If the dough is sticky, dust more flour on the surface while kneading. If you don't have a pasta maker, it will take time rolling it out into thin sheets. I don't think I would have taken the effort to do that. Wrap in clingfilm and rest the dough for a while before rolling. Roll them out into quite thin sheets, because when you make the ravioli/tortellini it becomes a double layer.


Note: Keep dusting it lightly with flour. If it's not dry enough, it would roll out easily. Also, keep the dough in the clingfilm so it doesn't dry out.

The fish on the land ain't happy.

"...The fish on the land ain't happy
They sad 'cause they in their bowl
But fish in the bowl is lucky
They in for a worser fate
One day when the boss get hungry
Guess who's gon' be on the plate... Oh no!" ('Under the Sea'- The Little Mermaid)


I am a vegetarian. But I am also a big big foodie. I could watch the food shows on TLC or read recipe books all day. The thing is, I am left out of quite a big chunk of the food experience because I am a vegetarian. I can't even relate to the things they say.


I've tasted meat many times- chicken and fish. Mutton and beef once, but not much more than that. Oh, once I tasted quail and guinea fowl too. But the food that puzzled me the most was seafood. I don't mean ordinary fish, but the squid and oysters and lobsters and octopus and all those slimy, squirmy, tentacle-y things that still look that they are going to move on the plate. I could never imagine that one could enjoy the texture of them, let alone the taste. I totally agreed with Dave Barry who said, "The only kind of seafood I trust is the fish stick, a totally featureless fish that doesn't have eyeballs or fins." 


But, after countless recipes with seafood and friends raving about their delicate flavours did I decide that one day, someday I will try it.