Truth Personified

It’s not always about food is it? I’ve been putting together a collection of sorts… It’s really funny how I love collecting and rarely like actually wearing any of this.

Well since this is a food blog, I thought of sharing a recipe I made up for (R)oomie… How this came about was actually this Valentines Day we ate at this restaurant called Mediterraneo and I ordered butternut squash sweet potato gnocchi. (R)oomie LOVED it. We went back 2 months later and they had taken it off their menu.

So I’d been on the hunt for butternut squash sauce since without much luck. One day as I was strolling through the aisles in Trader Joes I spotted Butternut squash soup! And I thought a simple reduction with some spices should do the job. It worked. The gnocchi is something you could get at the store - I haven’t dared make it from scratch yet. The sauce is a simple reduction of the soup with salt, pepper and some paprika. 

This reduction requires you to stand right by the stove and keep stirring or your kitchen is going to be very very messy - not that I would know it from personal experience or anything.

Gnocchi is in general really heavy and so we had some salad on the side…

Enjoy!

I was brought up by a Mom that did not like to waste anything. We made sure to compost at home, recycle and reuse bags, papers anything and everything. I have had dreams of doing the same with my family - whether they liked it or not. I was going to be all out organic, grow my own veggies, adopt strays, take care of the planet and all of that. I’ve probably gotten as far as 1% of that dream. Why am I telling you this? Just a little background on why I am who I want to be.

These lemons once squeezed would be applied on our skin - a natural toner and astringent, some of the shells reserved to be boiled in water to be used for bathing, and all the waste then used for compost. 

Did you know that putting one half of these in your aluminium cooker helps clean it up to look all sparkling? There’s a tip!

Honey Lemonade:

Ingredients(for 2):

Lemon - 2 medium sized

Honey - 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Water - 1 Cup

If the lemons are too hard to squeeze, you could either let them rest in warm water for 5 min or simply roll them between your palm and your counter top a few times.

Cut and squeeze the juice using any instrument you like. I like what you see in the picture because my Mom gave it to me :) Add the rest of the ingredients, mix and adjust quantities to suit to your taste. Drink this early morning and watch yourself go!

Note: Many use sugar, I prefer honey. Again trust your tongue.

I’ve grown up depending on home remedies because of my insane fear of doctors. If I could I would never had my forehead stitched my qualified doctors and let my skull heal on its own. Ok, not the best way to start a food blog post. 

Well backing up a bit, I was brought up on homeopathic meds, ayurvedic meds and a rare visit to the doctor. The rest of the time for minor ailments we depended on home remedies. All I can vouch for is for them being the best to lift a dull mood since I am not qualified to say anything more…

One of the best known of them all is the Jeera Kashayam or Cumin seed juice. A simple concoction really but oh what a relief to the ailing tummy. We usually make a huge pot and drink it throughout the day if the stomach feels funny. It helps in digestion so on days when we treat ourselves to crazy food downing one glass helps reduce any uncomfortable gas formation and other ahem issues that follow digestion.

Ingredients:

Cumin seeds - 1 Tbsp

Water - 1/2 Gallon

How to go about it:

Dry roast the cumin seeds on a pan and add to a pot of water and bring to a rolling boil. Boil till the water reduces to nearly half its volume. Turn off heat and let cool. Filter out the cumin seeds and consume as required.

Note: You can also use pre-roasted cumin seeds.

Quinoa with mix veggies and sautéed spinach… I love this mix - although I am tempted to make Quinoa with vegetable stock instead of just water. Maybe even add some saffron to it - which is what is happening in my kitchen right now…

Quinoa again but this time with veggies sausages, a balsamic reduction and some scrambled eggs.

This is my regular Oats dosa with Indian peanut chutney. I gave some of this chutney to my ex manager and a colleague and they said it was good. Also they ate it as a topping on a cracker - so im gonna take that as positive feedback.

The lovely quinoa pearls - I loved clicking these babies.

Indian condiments that I always have in stock. These are tequila shot glasses that I use for spices and condiments instead.

I’ve been collecting some junk jewellery which you can see on my Instagram feed - mostly stuff I got from ebay or other rare purchases I made along the way.

Becca, the lady that works at the Starbucks in Disney made my day!

I’ve had this recipe on my mind for a long time now. It’s healthy, tasty and very filling. You know how we end up reading that we need to have at least _ servings of veggies a day and _ servings of whole grains etc ? Well, this recipe could be an answer to that. And it doesn’t need you to be standing by it while it cooks up and absorbs all the flavors. You could very well be reading your favorite novel, or catching up on an episode of Downton Abbey or doing something more fruitful even. ;)

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

Olive oil - 2 Tsp

Garlic - 2 pods minced fine

Barley : 1/2 Cup - washed and drained

Frozen/Fresh veggies of your choice - 2 Cups

I used:

sweet onion - 1/4 cup finely chopped

potatoes - 1/4 cup cubed to 1/2 inch pieces

green pepper - 1/4 cup cut to the same size as the potatoes

Tomato - 1/4 cup finely cut

The rest of it was a mix of frozen veggies(Carrots, green beans, peas, lima beans and corn)

Water : 3 Cups or more if you’d like

Seasoning:

Garlic herb - 1 Tsp

Sweet Basil - 1 Tsp

Salt and Pepper - to taste

Paprika - 1/2 Tsp adjust based on the level of spice you prefer

How to go about it:

In a heavy bottomed vessel, pour the olive oil and add the garlic and the onion. Saute for 3-4 minutes on medium heat and then add the potatoes and the green pepper. Saute for another 5 minutes.

Now add the tomatoes, the frozen veggies and the barley - mix well and add all the seasoning now.  Let this cook for about 5 minutes. 

Add water to this mix and reduce the heat to medium low, cover and let cook for about 40 minutes. This is when you dont have to bother about it at all.

After the 40 minutes, stop by the kitchen and carefully lift the lid and mix well. The Barley must we all cooked now. Taste to see if you’d like some more seasoning or if its too thick for your liking, add some more water and let it come to a quick boil.

Serve warm with some bread or eat it as is. Your tummy will thank you for this one pot comfort meal.

Last year has so much I want to write about but before I go there I want to try and focus on the positives. Yes there has been a loss of humanity and I really want to be in a happy place - forgetting all the bad and hiding behind something that makes me happy.

Although there was so much bad going on around us, for me, personally this last year is very very special. Some milestones were reached, some hardships overcome, some new friends made and another year lived.

In all this i have a companion, someone who drives me insane and yet makes it all worthwhile. Someone that tries his hardest to understand me and keep me happy.

Its been 3 years since we tied the knot - a formality that lets you do anything and get away with it.

This someone who has to put up with my craze for saffron. My need to not cook for the sake of cooking but to experiment and blog about it.

Someone that understands that rasam and rice are what make me happy and makes it for me the moment I crave it.

it’s been fun, hon! It’s fun putting the last 3 years together in this strange puzzle of life…

Here’s to the 3 we just lived and at least 30 more… We’ll add some more when we get there. 

Well I’ve been asked to patent this recipe :D So I’m mighty happy with it and so are some others! I’ve tried a version of this earlier and this time I tried chocolate and it was ‘purrrr fect!

I had people come up to me and compliment the cake as well as ask me for the recipe. Even fruit cake haters. Wait don’t run away - this ain’t the regular long process fruit cake you are used to every Christmas. This one is fun and yumm!

Sharing both the easy way and the from scratch way of making this recipe:

This is because some of my friends do not try my recipes because they feel it’s too much work starting from scratch. Also I assure you that this cake does not have RUM or MANGOES.

The easy AND tasty way out:

Use the best chocolate box mix you can get. If I’m ever in a hurry I get the ghirardelli mix or the Duncan Hines or an interesting looking/sounding box mix from Home Goods maybe.

Chop up these dry fruits really small so that they pack up in a cup:

Dried cherries - 1/4 cup

Dried Apricots - 10

Dried Raisins - 1/4 cup

Dates - 7-10

 Feel free to change the ratios to suit your palate - I personally do not like raisins as much and apricots bake really well in cakes.

In a large enough glass bowl soak the dry fruits in 2 Cups Irish cream. The Irish cream adds both sweetness and makes the cake moist.

I left this in the fridge for about a week. You can leave it in overnight - i’ve tried that too and it works!

If you are using the box mix, follow the instructions to make the batter - usually they ask you to add oil, eggs(add an extra egg always for a more dense/soft and moist cake) and water. I replace the water with milk - again for a better consistency.

Mix in the soaked fruits. Bake at 350 F for about 45-50 minutes or till the toothpick comes clean.

This cake will most probably rise in the middle.

The longer from scratch method:

This is the link to the base cake recipe. The original source is here.

I didn’t have butter milk so I used google and found this substitute which surprised me but worked fantastically.

The ingredients I used:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar (I used this)

1/2 cup  sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 cup milk and 1 Tbpsn white vinegar - the buttermilk substitute (or simply use 1 Cup buttermilk)

1 Tspn vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa powder

1/2 Tspn baking soda

1/4 Tspn salt

1/4 cup chocolate chips - the really tiny ones so that the cake is not overpowered with the big chunks of chocolate. If you are not a fan of chocolate chips, feel free to skip it.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar.

Add the egg and beat well, then the buttermilk(or its substitute) and vanilla.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and add it into your wet ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until well-blended but do not over mix.

Scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are mixed well else you’ll have some dry spots in the cake.

Now add the chocolate chips and the soaked dry fruits mix and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan/cake pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 325 F, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Amma has been asking me to try this recipe since forever now. I finally did and it definitely was worth a blog write up. I will also share a chutney’s recipe here because I promised a friend :)

I could never find a dosa making pan for the longest time. I wanted one which had no edges like the one in this pic. Now it’s here and it’s here to stay! This recipe is health itself - well im probably exaggerating but it really is the healthiest uttappam i’ve had.

Ingredients:

·         1 Cup oats

·         ½ Cup home made yogurt

·         ½ Cup warm Water (Substitute with ½ cup Buttermilk if you like it to taste a little more sour)

·         3 small green chilies finely chopped

·         1 Tomato finely chopped (You can strain the juices and de-seed if you like, we didn’t)

·         Spinach – ¼ cup finely chopped

·         Carrots – ¼ cup finely shredded

·         You can go on and add other vegetables…

Take a glass bowl, and mix in oats and the yogurt and water or buttermilk and let soak for about 15 to 30 minutes. We did this because this was the traditional oats and needed time to get soft. If you have the quick oats then 5-10 minutes would be sufficient. Now add the green chilies, spinach and add salt to taste.

Now heat the dosa pan and tap a drop of oil to it, spread the oats carefully to form any fun shape you like. The batter is going to be slightly gooey and not as easy to spread as dosa/uttapam  batter usually is. Sprinkle the toppings evenly and let cook for about a minute or two. The batter changes color as it starts cooking. Carefully turn over and cook for another minute or two. Do not cook on high heat because that might just end up burning your toppings and not cook the batter through and through.

Serve with some coconut, onion or peanut chutney.

Peanut Chutney:

Ingredients

·         1 Cup peanuts (I use the Indian variety because I like their taste better)

·         Red chilies – 5-10 based on your spice buds

·         Tamarind paste – 2 tbps

·         ¼ Cup onion chopped

·         Coriander -

·         Curry leaves – 10 leaves

·         Salt to taste

Roast peanuts, red chilies, curry leaves and onion for about 5 minutes and let cool. Grind together all the ingredients and add a little water to aid the grinding to a consistency you prefer. Transfer to a serving bowl. Temper using the below ingredients if you like the chutney with tempering. You can skip this step entirely.

·         1 Tsp oil (Use Canola or coconut oil)

·         ¼ tsp mustard

·         ¼ tsp jeera

·         ¼ tsp urad dal and chana dal

·         Curry leaves – about 10 leaves

Heat oil and add the ingredients in the above mentioned order. Pour over the chutney and mix before serving. Serve with warm uttapams for a healthy and happy stomach!

This is going to be a pretty short post. I don’t have much to say for a multitude of reasons:

> I’m no sushi guru (Have you watched Jiro dreams of Sushi?)

> Nor is my (R)oomie and you can hardly tell looking at how great they turned out

> He dumbfounded me by making the perfect looking/tasting rolls

• This being his first ever time!!!
• Having zero sushi making apparatus!!!

Recipe?

Ingredients:

Nori - 3 sheets

*Rice - long grain washed multiple times and soaked for about 30-45 minutes and cooked - 1 Cup

Cucumber - Sliced thin and long

Carrots - Sliced thin - 1/4 cup

Broiled Tofu - Drained and pressed and sliced thin

Sesame teriyaki sauce - 1 Tbsp

Soy sauce - For dipping

Wasabi - As per taste

Procedure: The first pic(you can see a glimpse of his hand) pretty much gives you an idea of everything so I’ll try not to explain too much. Apart from cutting all the vegetables thin and long, we fried the tofu in a pan and then drizzled a bit of the teriyaki sauce over it. The tofu adds flavor and crunch to the otherwise bland sushi rolls. The rolling past was where the skill came in and I’ll leave it at that. :)

Rice: We used long grain rice, washed it about 4 times and then soaked it in cold water for another 45 minutes. Add plenty of water to the rice and cook it in the microwave for about 25 minutes. Drain the excess water and pass under running water to cool. Fluff with a fork and use.

The story behind this post is that we watched ‘Jiro dreams of Sushi’ and it got (R)oomie all excited to make us some sushi that we could eat. We then went about buying the basic ingredients knowing very well that we wouldn’t be doing this very often and so a huge investment was not needed.

I helped a bit with prepping the ingredients but the rest is all his doing. I have been proud of him for various reasons but this takes it to a new high for me personally. I’m glad he made his comeback on the blog with something, I consider sushitacular.

A round-up of all the boba i’ve had. Now to explore other cities :)

Some yogurt, fresh strawberries and some granola make for a perfect treat anyday anytime.

A nutella treat… Trying to convert the peanut butter lovers ;)

Being treated to special dinners by (r)oomie is definitely a weekend high! And broiled tofu is awesome!

Pumpkin butter - a treat for someone you loooowe. Well I’m not a pumpkin fan so this one is for (r)oomie.

This is the best Teriyaki I’ve had in a long time. I’d definitely recommend it.

Spanish rice(a box mix) and some tofu glazed with teriyaki sauce. This is a quick and easy dinner.

Water anyone?