Shaved Carrot And Mint Salad With Spicy Galangal Dressing

Recently, I had a lot of locally grown carrots from a shoot and they were so sweet and mellow in flavour, I couldn't bring myself to cook with them. Though the likes of carrot halwa and carrot pancakes played on my mind for a long time, I eventually just made this simple carrot salad which we pretty much ate back to back for days until we got sick of it! Then last week, I made it to family barbecue party as a side and it went down in no time.

Green Chutney, Avocado, Tomatoes and Fried Egg Open Sandwich

During my days of living in India, my sister in law and I had a customary late afternoon walk. The sun would calm down, the streets started to buzz again with horns and hawkers after the sleepy high heat afternoon hours. People from all walks of life, blue collar to white could be seen taking a break or snatching a bite of this and that on the street. The unsaid truth about our walks was, we never returned home without filling ourselves with some kind of street food. It was the real purpose of 'the walk'. Careful of never talking about it at home of course, my mother in law just as my mother would never approve of us eating on the streets.

Zucchini Koftas in Creamy Coconut Tomato Sauce

My family moved to India from Kuwait when I was just out of high school.  At a confused end of teenage years, academic pressures and moving countries left me at very angry-at-the-world grumpy seventeen year old. To add to the pain, we were shifting to a town. A remote town.

There was nothing much to do at first. No scratch that, there was nothing to do at all. Cousins, whom now I know where ticketed by Ammi came to hang out with me, often returned disappointed in my lack of interest to create a conversation. The only activity that felt remotely similar to my life in Kuwait was reading. I begged cousins to borrow books from the school library. I asked them to hunt down people who might have used books. Most of the books I gathered had been left unattended for years. I felt a terrible comfort in those yellowed pages, sniffing through the smell of old pages that sometimes would surprise me with  the stale smell of dried roses. Days would pass into nights, and I would for all I can remember, sleep reading. 

How To Make The Everyday Indian Flatbread - Roti/Chapati

On the weekends, I would often wake up late to the sound of Ammi saying utho roti banao which meant 'wake up and make some bread'. I would lazily get out of bed, excited about getting fresh hot, ghee crisped roti drizzled with honey and thick cream to go with my chai, not as much about making roti.

Ammi always neatly ties her hair and covers it with a head scarf while making any bread. It is roti among all food that deserves utmost respect, she says. I often marvel at how bread has such religious and cultural significance in almost every culture.

Naan seems to be the popular flatbread outside India but back home naan is seldom eaten on daily basis and often limited to restaurants. In most North Indian homes, roti is the first thing to be made in the mornings. This unleavened flatbread is soft, light, wholesome and easiest to wrap around any morsel of food. The dough - a basic mix of flour and water when kneaded to different hardness and cooked differently (baked in tandoor, deep fried, layered) creates a unique bread, each one has it's own merit and combination with certain foods, but it is safe to say that a chapati pairs well with everything! If not with curries, it is equally good with a good old lemon pickle, chutney or with honey.

Orange Nankhatai - Indian Shortbread Cookie

 

This year has been one fine year. From the arrival of my little sunshine, having family and friends visiting all year round and getting to work on photography and food assignments - I feel totally blessed. To make sure I make most of the family time, the blogging has taken a small step back but I'm so excited about the coming year and what it holds.

Pumpkin Orange Halwa and Latest work for Ecru

Pumpkin was never a major part of my life growing up and not something we made at home often. Weekend eat outs would sometimes have pumpkin desserts which we devoured but never requested Ammi to make. Then, there were community dinners that sometimes featured pumpkin halwa, which I liked but still preferred Ammi's bottle gourd halwa, carrot, apple and pineapple halwa hands down.

Amaranth Pea Fritters (Amaranth Vada)

We rushed through the narrow passage hunting down our seats in an attempt to get the window seat. It was for the first time we three sisters were travelling alone and we debated for a while who's going to be the odd one who had to sit with someone else. Being the eldest, I sat my younger sisters together and took to my separate seat anxiously waiting for who would come next to mine.

A huge lady walked to the seat and before she settled, I wondered if she would fit into the cramped economy class seats with barely any leg room. Would she be able to get up if I had an emergency nature's call? What if she snored? The feeble mind of a 13 year old.

Rai waale Aloo - Curry Leaves, Mustard Seeds Tempered Potatoes

Despite of what it may look like from my Instagram feed, I have been skipping lunch way often lately. Been pampered with always having someone to share meals with lunching on my own is something I still haven't got used to.  I reason being carried away with work and being busy, but at the core of it,  

I just can't bring myself to cook for one. To break something that's almost becoming a habit, I challenged myself to cook and blog about meal for one.  And hoped there are people out there who are like me.

Steamed Masala Whole Chicken (Murgh Musallam) and Rice with Peas

The giveaway for The Green Kitchen cookbook is still open! Don't miss a chance to win a signed copy here

I often felt that when he wasn't in his dishdasha, his ways where much more casual, his questions more unassuming and random. Perhaps that's why when my ex boss asked me what my favorite last meal would be, I wasn't surprised. Or it was because he had recently learned about me being a food blogger, I'm not sure.

Without the usual 'what would be the best answer to this' approach - I unhesitatingly answered roasted chicken. I knew immediately I have disappointed him with the answer. It wasn't  a fancy lobster dish like his, it wasn't even a unique Indian recipe, it was just roasted chicken. 

Rhubarb and Cardamom Cake

The morning rays stream in abundance through her kitchen window where she and her humble three burner stove stands. Her henna colored white hair glitters like gold, the untamed golden sun makes her lines and wrinkles even more visible. She leans forward for her almond shaped marble mortar and pestle, never placed an inch further from its designated place.

She pulls her spice drawer and picks out the glass jar, labelled 'elaichi' in indecipherable Hindi writing, not that she ever reads or requires labeling.  But most treasured spices always got a glass jar and a label. The rest, found their fortune in plastic containers.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas, Kale and Mango Salad

Recently, I asked my sister if she knew about Kale, she instantly replied with "The New Godleaf". Well, I couldn't deny that, everybody seems to be eating Kale and surprisingly the trend has also caught up in India where people are cultivating it at  home gardens. Indians take very well to bitter leaves and vegetables, so Kale is sure to please.

Of many things I love about Kale, one is it's such a sturdy leaf. Unlike spinach, it doesn't wilt into a messy ugly green. Infact when flash cooked, it's shiner and glossier than raw.

Paper Thin Whole Wheat Wraps

The daily produce is laid in front of us on the ground on a wide Indian motif printed, bright and summery red square cloth. We sit on it, with our legs folded, crossed under. Perhaps a posture only Indians can relate to as relaxed.  We teasingly argue about who gets which task to perform. The herbs have to be washed and dried, the cluster beans deveined, the stem plucked of the green chilies and the most sought after task - peel and cube the mangoes, so that one would enjoy sucking the last remaining flesh off the seeds after it's all done. It's messy, but none of the vivid mustard color flesh can go to waste, the king of fruits deserves that respect. 

Flaky Blood Orange Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce

Friday brings mixed feelings to surface every single week. It is the only day of the week we get to spent together. Yet, before the day starts, fear of the day ending too fast starts evading my mind. The idea of sleeping through the day without having talked enough, cooked enough and done enough just scares me. Friday has to be special, something I can hold onto all week and look forward to the next.

Baked Dulce de leche Yogurt - Mishti Doi - Guest Post for Indian Simmer

Today’s recipe is inspired from a traditional sweet recipe from the city of Kolkatta called Mishti Doi, which M has childhood memories of. Mishti Doi is also called Lal doi meaning red yogurt due to it characteristic reddish color. It is made by caramelizing milk and then setting fresh yogurt in earthen pots. Considering I always have dulce de leche on hand, sweetening my hot chocolate and drizzling it over everything I bake, I figured it will work great for adding that caramelized flavor for Mishti doi. 

Beetroot with Mutton - Chukhandar Gosht

Growing up I only remember occasional traces of shredded beetroot in our salads, often overshadowed by many other ingredients, such that I could barely remember their taste. In my own kitchen, I often bought beetroot because 'I need to eat healthy stuff', but not until recently have I started appreciating it. My favorite juice these days is beetroot juice, that says something.

Masoor Dal with Bell Peppers and Avocado Ginger Mash

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What is your favorite lentil?  Indian brown lentil also called masoor dal, is my absolute favorite. There is something about the mild earthy flavor with aromatic Indian spices and spicy hot ginger, that is so comforting. It reminds you of how simple food that mother earth has blessed us with can be far more soothing and warming, warmth that comes from within, that no food out of box can do. That is the beauty of real food.

Lemony Coconut Milk and Sweet Corn Soup

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I was fifteen or may be sixteen, when I realized I could live ten days straight just on chicken soup. In a desperate attempt to lose couple of pounds I declared a ten day soup diet. Of course, in my not so well developed mind of fifteen, soups meant chicken soups, nothing more and nothing less.

Paneer Bruschetta with Alfalfa Sprouts

Paneer was nothing but a 'cheap filler'  we siblings used to complain to mom, asking for meat instead.  Like all things we didn't like, we ganged up against her, protesting to not eat it, leaving her with little option but to cook us what we liked. That's the power of having 3 siblings. I used it. Paneer vanished from our lives.

Knowing M and his family's love for paneer I prepared my self to mentally gulp down paneer after marriage. Then the day came. Everyone at home demanded to eat my mother in law's paneer roll, which made my mother in law quite happy. "Easiest thing to make! Let me teach you how to make it" she said. I followed her to the kitchen, wishing all along a change in plan. While she fried her paneer to beautiful golden brown she told me about their humble starting as a family. "Meat was not always an option and paneer was my go to healthy 'filler' for the children and they loved it" she smiled with pride.

Indian Omelette

If it wasn't for fusion food, my morning would be omelette less and that could be such a pity. And atleast half the time in the week, there would be no breakfast for M. And that's only calling trouble later in the day when M becomes extremely finicky when he didn't have his breakfast right. How the fusion that took place ages ago can make my life a happy one!

Savory Fennel Seed Oats

If anything M did good for me with regard to food, it must be that he made me a breakfast person.