One last London picture

A scene from Borough Market.  Went there yesterday for some coffee and mulled cider.  Everyone is getting ready for the holidays.

What do hungry owls eat in Britain?

It's turned colder, and readers, I've been missing my blog.  But I haven't been cooking without you, I've just not been cooking.  The last few weeks in London, I've been eating out a lot, making really simple dinners (eggs and toast), and not posting new recipes for the blog.

I've had some vegetarian adventures, including delicious East African Asian at Tooting's Kastoori and Mock Meat at Peking Palace.  I also had veggie bangers and mash at s&m in Spitalfields.

The sausages weren't mock meat, but Mushroom and Tarragon and Caerphilly and Leek patties.  Kind of the consistency of falafel.  Really good with the mash and red onion gravy.

I've also come across food in my research.  So many of the community organizations I've been looking at, focus on food as bringing people together.  Or suggest that the food of immigrants is a positive contribution to their societies.  I can't disagree!  This one organization, the Food Information Centre, published this guide for recent south Asian immigrants adjusting to groceries in London.

The brochure says that it is sensitive to the dietary habits of Hindus and Muslims, but their recipe for Kitchidi (rice and lentils, like pongal) includes Maggi beef stock!  Now south asians have a variety of food habits, and many people eat meat, but Maggi beef stock in Kitchidi?!  That's like putting Maggi beef stock in oatmeal.  This organization thought that Indians coming to England were poor and confused, and not getting enough nutrients (and that a vegetarian diet made you weak), and these recipes incorporate a variety of tinned goods (as well as Maggi beef stock) to try to boost nutritional value.  I'm skeptical.

I hope you observant readers noticed the symbol of this organization.  An owl with knife and fork!

I'll have to get a better image of the wee hungry owl.

This will probably be my last post from London.  I leave on Monday for California and Christmas.  Stay tuned, I plan on making a lot of cookies and other things in the next few weeks.  I am already drooling over Martha Stewart's Cookie calendar.

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope the next few weeks are full of friends and family and food!

Pongal for One

Today I came home, dead tired, to see that my little hyacinths had opened!  They had turned colors and begun to spread apart this morning, but no hint yet of a bloom.  The woman at the Borough Market said it would take them 3 weeks or so, but I guess they like my warm, damp room.  (I learned that the bulbs could be stored in a dark, dry place until next year when they will bloom again)

Readers, I made the most delicious dinner!  I'm so glad I stopped by the grocery store just to get some fresh spinach and tomatoes, everything else I had in my pantry which I keep very well-stocked with staples.  It was really simple, pongal, a mixture of rice and lentils, with sauteed spinach and tomatoes.  This is becoming my standard dinner, what I crave around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Pongal for one

Takes 20 minutes

Makes 1 serving

butter

1/4 tsp. cumin seeds

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

little bit of ginger

1/4 cup rice

1/4 cup masoor dal

salt

3 small cloves garlic

1/4 tsp. mustard seeds

1/2 chili, sliced lengthwise

2 big handfuls of fresh spinach, washed well

4 or 5 cherry tomatoes, halved

In a sauce pan, heat butter on low-medium low heat.  Decide the size of butter depending on what kind of day it was.  Mine was a 1/2 tbsp. day: I really needed the butter.  Otherwise, I would have used half that amount with some safflower or canola oil.  You do not want the heat to be too high because the butter will burn, but if it's too low, nothing will sizzle.

When the butter is melted, add cumin seeds, pepper and ginger.  When cumin seeds begin really sizzling and everything is very fragrant, add rice and dal, and saute for a minute.  It's ok if the butter is browning because that makes everything taste better.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to taste.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover for 15 minutes.

While the pongal is cooking, heat a little bit of oil in a small saute pan on medium high heat.  Add the garlic, chili and mustard seeds.  Be ready with the spinach!  When the mustard seeds begin popping, add spinach and tomatoes to the pan.  Add salt and saute for 1 minute or until spinach is soft and tomatoes are beginning to shrivel.

Eat!  With pickles or yoghurt or just by itself.  It was so good!

Eggplant at the end of the Rainbow

Things are going really well in London.  Not only because I've recently returned from what can really only be called a vacation in Copenhagen.  And, as you can see in the photo above, the archives are a veritable treasure at the end of the rainbow...

And yet, I have been very embarrassed because I haven't been taking pictures of food, and I have been hiding from my blog.

There's been visits and reunions

Remembrance

 

The National Front

We shared disapproval with a policeman and another man on the street.  They came actually quite close, and they looked so...apprehensive.  Like they felt a little ashamed and were not sure what they would encounter.  But as the policeman said, I guess this is democracy.

I promise there will be more pictures of food soon.  I have plans to make something with mushrooms and farro for dinner tonight, and there are not one, but two Thanksgiving meals coming up!  In the meantime, here's a picture-less recipe for my dinner from a couple nights ago.

Simple and Saucy Eggplant Pasta

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 3-4 servings

a slice of butter

2 cloves garlic, smashed

2 Italian eggplants, chopped into 1 inch cubes

1 can tomatoes (28 oz.)

pepper

salt

1/2 package penne

optional

parmesan

1 medium size ball of fresh mozzarella

herbs

olives

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tbsp. olive oil and the little bit of butter on medium heat.  When the butter is melted, add the garlic, and saute until fragrant.  Add the eggplant, and saute for 10-15 minutes.  You don't have to keep stirring.  Make sure there is enough oil, and let them brown but not burn.   When they appear soft and take up much less room in the pan, add the tomatoes and pepper to taste.  Crushed red pepper is good too if you like spicy.    Turn the heat down to low, and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes until thickened.  Towards the end, begin stirring to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom.  Check for salt.

Meanwhile, once you've added the tomatoes, you can start water for pasta.  Cook according to package directions.  When the pasta is almost finished, add to the sauce pan, and finish cooking in the pan.  You can add some of the pasta water too if your sauce is looking thicker than you'd like.

If you'd like, chop up the mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes and add once the pasta is done and you've turned off the heat.  Top with more pepper and parmesan if you'd like.  But really, the pasta is good without any cheese at all.

This would also be delicious with fresh herbs, basil or parsley.  Or olives!  Add a 1/4 cup chopped kalamata or oil cured olives when you add the eggplant, for super olive flavor.  Yum.

Ok, here's something I do have a picture for: poached eggs and polenta!  I had such a craving on Sunday, and so I just went for it.  They were misshapen and delicious!

I ate them with a really simple tomato salad (salt, pepper, olive oil), and some Punjabi Pickles I picked up at the local market.

amazing chocolate chip cookies

I made some chocolate chip cookies before I left Halifax.  Not for Paddy--these are filled with butter and eggs--but for friends going through a hard time.  They are so good, the best medicine I hope.  This is a special request recipe for Kevin, because he says my recipes are too complicated looking.  But really, they are for Katie and Dan, because I am too far away right now and can't bring them over myself.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

based on Carla Rollins' recipe from Gourmet October 2003

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Takes 2 hours (for all the baking and cooling)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (16 ounces)

1/2 c. lightly toasted hazelnuts (or walnuts, or pecans - and really you don't have to toast them), roughly crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Lightly beat 1 egg with a fork in a small bowl and add 1 3/4 tablespoons of it plus 2 remaining whole eggs.  Beat in vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture until just blended, then stir in chips and nuts.

Evenly scoop big spoons of dough onto 2 baking sheets, 8 cookies per sheet.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden, 12 or 13 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool and keep making cookies.

NB: I turn my oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit because my oven is very hot.  if yours seems to work for other recipes at the prescribed temperature, then bake these at 350.  Also, my oven is hotter on one side than it is on the other.  I turn my cookies around 6 minutes through the recipe.  The cookies will look a little puffy and undercooked when you take them out.  Fear not!  They will fall and be perfectly done.  This recipe produces a cookie that is firm on the outside, but moist and dense inside.  Not in any way cake-like, not crispy, but the perfect cookie consistency.

scrounging for food in London town

Traveling is disconcerting.  I loved it when I was younger.  We regularly flew through Heathrow on our summer trips to India, and I looked forward to seeing all the people, getting a Cadbury's chocolate bar, and the yellow signs!  But now, I like comfort and home and routine!  And traveling for 24 hours is not comfortable, homey or familiar.  You wake up in one bed and go to sleep in another, the money looks funny, and you don't know where to eat!

This flight to London was particularly rough, despite the couple of bottles of Underberg Jessica sent me off from Chicago with!  I couldn't sleep at all, and of course, they now charge $6 for beer or wine on the flight, so there was no extra help.  This meal from my United flight was not horrible.  I always order the Asian Vegetarian meal on flights.  It's usually Indian and vegan, and...not horrible.  Definitely comparable to a bad Indian restaurant.  Of course, now I can't even think about meals on flights without remembering that crazy complaint letter about the bhaaji-custard on a Virgin flight.

Arriving in London, I set off for a conference at the British Museum.  That was good, and it was a treat to be at the Museum in the evening.  For dinner, I had hummous and ful at a little take-out place.  Not bad for 3 pounds.

The next day I went to a great conference at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.  Greenwich is so serene and lovely.  And they were nice enough to give us little sandwiches.  I ate about 3/4 of a hummous sandwich.  That evening for dinner, I grabbed a beigel at the Brick Lane Beigel Bake on my way out to a bar.

Not very substantial meals, and if you have been reading this blog, then you know I like to eat.

So I was so thrilled the next day, when after schlepping my things all the way across town to my more permanent place, to get a delicious tofu banh mi for lunch.  yum!   I was hoping to get my produce for the week at the Borough Market, but I am having some cash flow issues at the moment, and I had to stop at Sainsbury's for some quick things.  Unfortunately, everything here comes in plastic, but you do get info about where it's from and how fresh it is.

Dinner that night was with Michael and Tom at Masala Zone, but not before we had a couple of really delicious manhattans at B@1.

On Sunday, after discovering all the wonderful little grocery stores here in Elephant & Castle, I had a real dilemma about what to make for dinner.  But not really, I wanted dal the whole time.  It's the best comfort food.

Dal

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 small onion, sliced

1/4 inch piece of ginger, sliced

1 cup massoor dal
1 tsp turmeric powder

1 green chili, sliced lenghtwise

In a pot, heat oil on medium high heat.  When hot add cumin seeds.  After they have toasted for a minute or so, add the onion and ginger, and saute until translucent.

Add the massoor dal and turmeric and cook until the lentils are shiny and smell toasty.

Add three cups of water, salt and the green chili.

Bring to a boil, and then turn down to simmer.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes.

I also made

Cauliflower curry

1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 onion, sliced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, sliced
1 green chili, sliced lenghtwise
1/2 cauliflower chopped into even pieces (maybe 1.5 inches) and the greens too
1 tsp. turmeric

heat oil on medium high heat until hot.  add cumin, saute until toasty.  add onion and ginger and saute until translucent.  Add cauliflower, turmeric and green chili, and saute for a bit.  add salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp), and the greens from the cauliflower if you have them.  add about a 1/2 cup of water, put lid on it, and let cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Check for salt and spice.

I ate this with some rice and some fresh tomatoes.  It was so good!

 Things are starting to feel homier already.

onion rava masala dosai and sambhar

I've been working on two blog posts, one of my last meal in Halifax, onion rava masala dosai, which I am posting here now.  And one on my first meal in London, dal and cauliflower curry, which I'll post tomorrow.  This recipe is for dosai, potato curry and sambhar!  I've tried to write it the way I made it so that everything is ready at the right time.  I also recommend reading it all the way through before you begin because there are a lot of parts.  But I promise, it's not that hard.

Did you guys see in the new and last Gourmet that they had a recipe for Rava dosai?!  Theirs was all wrong.  Way too much flour.  And peas and chickpeas in the potato masala?!  Quelle horreur!

onion rava masala dosai and sambhar

Takes 2 hours

Makes enough for 4

Begin with the sambhar, because as it's simmering, you can get everything else ready.  You can also make the sambhar ahead of time, because it only gets better as it sits.

chinna vengyam sambhar (little onion sambhar)

1 cup toor dal

golf-ball size tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup hot water for about 15 minutes

1 pound baby onions

2 big tomatoes, quartered

1 tbsp sambhar powder*

1 green or red chili

salt to taste

1 tsp. mustard seeds

curry leaves from one stem

1 dried red chilli (or 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper)

2 shakes aesofotida

freshly chopped corriander leaves for garnish

In a medium saucepan, bring the lentils and 3 cups of water to a boil.  Lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  While it's cooking, chop the ends off of the onions, and peel.  I find it helpful to have a bowl of water nearby to put the onions in once they are peeled.  They are so potent those little ones!

In another pot, heat oil on medium high heat.  When hot, add baby onions, saute until slightly translucent.  Add sambhar powder, chili and tomatoes, and the tamarind juice.  Squeeze all the tamarind juice and pulp from the remaining harder bits.  Add an additional 2 cups of water.  Bring to a simmer.

When the dal is ready, add it to the other pot.  Continue cooking at a simmer, until it is well-blended and smelling so delicious.  You can jump at this point to the other parts of the meal.  At some point you will have to add the other ingredients.  Here's what you do when you are ready for that part:

In a little pan, heat a little oil on medium high heat.  When hot, add the mustard seeds.  As soon as they start sizzling, add the dried chili, the curry leaves and the asofetida.  As soon as they start popping, pour it all into the sambhar.

This can sit while you are making other things, like the dosai.

Onion rava dosai

1 c. rava (semolina)

1/2 c. rice flour

1/4 c. yogurt

2 tsp. cumin seeds

1 green chili, sliced fine

1 onion, diced fine

curry leaves, if you have them

salt

water

Combine all ingredients and add water, 4 to 5 cups, it will depend on the consistency of the yogurt you use, so it is better to add 3 cups of water first, mix it together and then decide. The batter should be very runny, it should fall easily from the spoon. The real test will be when you make your first dosai.

Leave the batter sit while you make the potato curry.

potato curry
1 tbsp. channa dal

1 onion, diced

1 green chili, sliced lengthwise

4 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tsp. turmeric

2 shakes asofetida

1/2 tsp. red chili powder

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 lime

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high. When the oil is hot, add the the channa dal, and toast until they are fragrant and light brown. Add the onions and green chili. When the onions are translucent, add the potatoes, turmeric, asofetida, chili powder and salt. Saute until the potatoes are evenly coated and everything is very fragrant. Add a cup of water, cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes. Check at this point for salt, if the curry needs more water, and how well the potatoes are done. Adjust as necessary. Cook for about 5 minutes more, depending on doneness of potatoes. It will be ready when the potatoes hold their shape, but are soft around the edges and in a sea of yummy yellow potato curry. When finished, squeeze lime on potatoes and sprinkle with cilantro.

Back to the dosai.

The most important thing about making dosais is to have your pan at the right heat and your batter the right consistency. Heat a skillet to almost but not quite high and add just enough oil to lightly coat the pan. Stir your batter, and when you think the pan is ready, spoon a small amount onto the griddle. It should immediately make a lacy round. If it runs everywhere, your heat is too low. If it sticks and doesn't have holes, then the heat is too high. Another problem can be your batter. If the pan seems hot enough, but holes are still not forming, then add water to the batter.

When you think you are ready for a real dosai: quickly ladle one spoon of batter (we use a 1/2 cup measure) onto the griddle to make a circle.  It doesn't matter what shape your dosai is really, as long as the dosai is thin and crispy and delicious.

Add a little extra oil to the dosai as it cooks for extra crispiness. Swirl the pan around so the oil coasts all the edges, and even spread to the inner holes of the dosai.

When it has fried for about 2 minutes, or the edges are easy to lift from the griddle, flip it over. This is mostly to admire your handiwork. What had been the bottom should be a deliciously golden brown lacework of yumminess. After a minute flip it over again. Place a spoonful of the potato curry in the middle of the dosai, flip one side of the dosai over it, and serve with a bowl of hot sambhar.

Keep making dosais, about 12 in all. Keep stirring the batter as it will separate.

The batter keeps well, better than cooked dosais.

I wish I had some now...

 

* some words on sambhar powder.  Ours is ground for us at my family's mill in Chidambaram.  If you can't stop by Veeraraghavanaickan Street for some, I suggest MTR brand.  It's from Tamil Nadu, unlike other spices.  Or 777, I think, makes some powders.  Otherwise, this very nice blog has a recipe for sambhar powder.  Some friends and I made some recently, not according to this recipe, but a similar one, and it came out beautifully!

Corn Chowder

This might be my last post for awhile as I leave for London tomorrow.   Soon I will be hungry for Halifax!

I was really impressed by Kevin from Top Chef's Quickfire "deconstructed green bean casserole" from two weeks ago.  He made a corn pudding, topped with a confit of tomatoes and green peas that looked delicious.  So I thought I would make a corn chowder with a little tomato salad to go on top.  It was sooo good.  The soup was really creamy and simple.  And the tomato salad and the red peppers we had on the side, were perfect complements.

Vegan Corn Chowdah

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 big bowls of soup

1/2 large onion, diced

1 large garlic clove, sliced

1 very large potato, cubed

2 ears corn, shucked (not really sure if this is the right word.  get the kernels off the ears people)

4 cups water

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

In a pot on medium high heat, add some olive oil.  Saute the onions and garlic until translucent.  Add the potatoes and black pepper and saute for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and a 1/2 tsp. of salt.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer.  After about 5 minutes, add the corn, and cook for about 5 minutes more.

Puree with a hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender.  Check for salt.

Tomato Confit

Takes 30 minutes

Makes 4 soup toppings

10 tomatoes, small yellow ones

salt

pepper

olive oil

basil or parsley or any herbs you want

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut tomatoes into quarters.  Toss with some olive oil, the salt and pepper and herbs.  Put into an oven-proof pan and "confit" for 20 minutes.

This would be so good on toast!

We ate the soup with roasted peppers--red and long skinny green one that was a little spicy.

I also made a new loaf of bread.  More on that experiment gone wrong later.  Wasn't it the cutest little dough ball though?

Dissertation here I come!

Yummy Plummy Crumble

This summer in Halifax, we've been enjoying a lot of delicious plums.  Yellow ones, sugar plums, and the delicious Italian prune plums that are so good preserved, crisped and tarted.

I made this Martha Stewart Plum Crostata earlier this summer, replacing the Port with a simple syrup I made from boiling the plum pits (which always end up with so much flesh: I am so bad at halving and pitting fruit!) with the sugar and water until it reduced to 1/2 a cup.

I made a version of this plum preserve recipe this summer.  We opened the jar earlier this week, and it is so good: tart with a taste of honey.  Extra good on buttered toast!

So when I saw prune plums at the market last week, I snatched them, knowing they'd probably be the last of the season.  I combined a recipe posted by Orangette for the fruit with this simple plum crisp recipe from Gourmet for the crisp, trading out the butter for a combination of Smart Balance and Special Hazelnut butter.  Paddy likes to mix hazelnut butter with honey to make a delicious spread for toast.  We had just a quarter cup left, so I mixed that with the Smart Balance.  Here's my masterpiece.

Vegan Plum Crumble with a hint of honey

Takes 2 hours

Makes 9 servings

Plum Filling

2 pounds Prune Plums, halved and pitted

2 Tbsp. light brown Sugar

2 Tbsp. raw cane Sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Crumble

3/4 cup raw almonds (or sliced)

1/4 cup Smart Balance (or butter)

1/4 cup Nut Butter (I used Hazelnut, Almond would work too)*

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Grease a 9x9 baking pan with Smart Balance.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees fareinheit.

On baking tray, toast almonds until golden, 10 minutes for the sliced almonds, 15 minutes for the raw almonds.  Let Cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the plum filling until combined.  Pour into baking dish.

In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup oats, all of the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, and mix until combined.  Work in butter (substitute) and nut butter until the mixture resembles crumble topping.

Once the nuts are cool (smash the whole almonds if you used those, either in a mortar or in a plastic bag with a heavy jar), add those and the remaining 1/4 cup of oats to the rest of the crumble topping.  Mix to combine.  Spread evenly onto the plums.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crumble is browned and the plums are done (Stick a fork in a plum, if it's soft, it's done!).

We enjoyed ours last night while watching the Edith Piaf film La Vie en Rose.  Thank god we had this plummy crumble to remind us there is goodness in the world.  That film is sad.

*  Paddy thinks his Special Hazelnut Honey Butter is approximately 60-66% Hazelnut Butter and 33-40% Honey.  I forgot to reduce the amount of sugar I used in the Crumble Topping to compensate for the honey.  It turned out ok because the plum filling remains very tart in this recipe.  I think I will keep the crumble topping this sweet when I make this again next summer.

Ragu it's in there

It is cold here in halifax.  On Monday, I made this really fragrant and satisfying sauce with vegetables from the farmer's market.  The carrots were particularly beautiful, moist and crisp!  I think these will be the last fresh tomatoes for the season.  Some of them were a little mealy, and I was very sad.

I used the tomatoes we canned in August for this ragu, and they were so delicious!  Definitely worth the ordeal.

Ragu it's in there!

Takes 2 hours

Makes 4 servings

1 large onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1 pint mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup sherry

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 500ml jar tomatoes

8 roma tomatoes, diced

1 package linguine

Heat oil in a large skillet on high heat.  When hot, add fennel seeds.  Toast for a few seconds, add onions and carrots and smoked paprika.  When it smells smoky and the onions are translucent, add the garlic and the mushrooms.  Cook until the water from the mushrooms is released, evaporates, and the mushrooms begin to brown.  It will take awhile, especially if like me you don't have a big enough pan.  It took my mushrooms about 15 minutes.

They weren't done yet in that picture.

Add sherry, and cook until it evaporates.  Add the bayleaf, salt (you might not want as much as I have here, add 1/2 tsp. now, and you can add the rest later), pepper, and both kind of tomatoes.  Reduce heat to simmer, and continue to cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until it is thick and the oil shimmers on the surface.

Meanwhile, heat a large pot of water for the pasta.  I add salt to my water.   Cook according to package directions.  I made linguine.  I like to under-cook mine in the pasta water, drain and finish it in the sauce, an extra 3 to 4 minutes

Sprinkle with basil/parsley/parmesan.  Whatever you want!

We ate ours with some sauteed spinach.  Unfortunately, I am still figuring out the picture taking, and I don't have any of the final sauce.  Just imagine, thick tomato-ey, mushroom-y goodness.

Thakkali saddam means tomato rice

I wanted to share my mom's recipe for tomato rice, thakkali saddam.  This was a favorite recipe for special occasions when we were growing up.  The rice is deliciously flavored with tomato, cinnamon and other spices, so all you need to eat it with is some yoghurt, or some really simple greens or a salad.

I think this would be great with a long grain brown rice.  I haven't tried that, but I assume it would just need a little bit more water.

I'm leaving her directions as is, but I'll write an ingredient list.

Thakkali Saddam

Makes 6 Servings

Takes 2 hours

2 cups Basmati or Jasmine Rice

3 large onions

5 or 6 large ripe tomatoes

2 green chilies

1 inch piece of ginger

5 or 6 garlic pods

canola oil

2 sticks cinnamon

2 bay leaves

10 cloves

2 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. lime juice

big handful of mint

1) Soak 2 cups Basmati rice for 30 minutes or so.   

2) Cut 3 large onion (thinly sliced or chopped)

3) Chop 5 to 6 large ripe tomatoes (if roma tomatoes may be 12)

4) Chop 2 green chilies, grate ginger and grate 5 or 6 garlic pods.  5) In 6qt or 8 qt vessel, add 5 or 6 tsp of veg/canola oil

6) Add 1 or 2 stick of cinnamon, 1 or 2 bay leaves (if available), 8 or 10 cloves, and 2 tsp fennel seeds.  Fry for a minute or so.

7) Add chopped onions and fry well.

8) Add chopped tomatoes and fry well till it becomes smooth paste (use masher to mash it well). If needed, add more oil.

9) Add ginger and garlic. Fry

10) Add salt and chilly powder if needed.

11) Drain water from rice and add rice to the tomato gravy. Fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of water (if tomato sauce is liquidy, add less water)

12) Lower heat and cover the pot and put the timer for 20 minutes.

13) Let it cool for an hour. With fork fluff the rice, add salt if needed and add 1 tsp of lime juice if not tart. Mix and move it to a serving bowl.

14) Garnish with mint leaves if available. If not it is okay. Sometime the bottom may be burnt if there is not much oil. Discard that rice from the bottom layer. 

She's crazy with that last instruction.  The Crispy bits on the bottom are the best part!

One last Happy Diwali to you all!  Sad as I was to not have old friends with me this year on Diwali, our new friends here in Halifax added their own enthusiasms and we had a really nice evening.

Thanks to Jaymie and Ken for some new pictures!

Happy Diwali! (with recipes)

For the past 7 or 8 years, Diwali has meant inviting friends over and making very large meals.  I love everyone coming together, and George, Catherine and I would cram our apartment in New York with all the people we love and eat a lot!  I remember our first Diwali in Manhattan, driving around the East Village grocery shopping and listening to the Smiths.  Sometimes Deepa would come down from Boston, and I remember one year we tried to make paneer!

Mostly I remember everyone crammed into that tiny apartment on 2nd street eating.  I appreciated so much, that regardless of whether it was their first or twenty-first Diwali, everyone really participated in making it a festive celebration, especially Catherine and George.

In Berkeley, we've invited everyone over for a special meal, but it hasn't been quite the same.  One year, there was a conference and I came home as the party was already started.  I remember Deepa making a special Persian Love Cake for a certain someone during the POGD.  Last year we celebrated Diwal-O-ween with a little weiner dog.

I was a chili pepper. 

This year, I was looking forward to Paddy and I celebrating our first Diwali together in the same place, even though this place does not have the friends I have come to depend on.

There was a lot of cooking, and I will spread the recipes over a couple of posts (especially since I am waiting for more pictures of our little party last night).  There was a lot of cooking, and to be perfectly honest, some things did not come out very well.

(A dramatic re-enactment of the meal)

I made

Manjula's parathas
Kala channa masala
Aloo muttar gobi
Keera
Carrot Salad
Pickled Onions
Takkali Sadam (Tomato Rice)
Kesari








I won't say a lot about the recipes I took from other bloggers.  Manjula's parathas were delicious as always.  I was having a bit of a hard time getting the heat right, as many of the parathas did not puff as well as they should have.  I made my own ghee, and it came out so well!  And I definitely used a lot of ghee to keep the parathas soft after they came off the tawa.  They were a big hit.  My one recommendation for Manjula's parathas, is that you are better making four bigger parathas than the 5 she suggests her recipe makes.

For the kesari, I did not use kesari powder, but added two pinches of saffron when I added the cardamom.

Delicious!

I have to say, the recipes from Mad Tea Party were not that great.  I probably screwed up the proportions, and I definitely did not add enough salt at the final tasting.  The chole was too spicy, not hot, but just too much of the spices.  The aloo gobi tasted ok, but I should have chopped the potatoes smaller, because they did not cook as quickly as the cauliflower.  Maybe added the potatoes first and the then the cauliflower?  Anyway, mushy cauliflower, hard potatoes.  Yuck.

The Keera went really well.  As did the thakkali sadam, my mom's recipe.  I'll post the Keera recipe and the carrot salad recipe today, and post the thakkali sadam recipe tomorrow.  Hopefully I will have other pictures than these pictures of the leftovers!

Keera (spinach)
takes 20 minutes (mostly for washing spinach)
makes 4 servings


1 pound spinach, very well washed
1 tsp. urad dal (skinned and split) 
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/4 tsp. crushed chili pepper flakes, or 1 dried red chili
salt


Ok, this happens quickly, so gather all your ingredients.  Heat oil on medium high heat in a large saute pan.  When it is very hot, add the urad dal, and toast until light brown.  Add the cumin seeds, when they become brown and very fragrant add the red chili pepper.  Wait 2 seconds, and add the spinach.  It might not all fit into the pan at first.  Add salt and keep stirring, it will reduce very quickly.  Cook until the spinach is done, to your taste.  I like it barely cooked (about 1 minute once it's all in the pan) so it is still very bright green.  Paddy likes the spinach very well done, about 3 minutes.


You can also use frozen spinach.  Let it thaw (for about 20 minutes).  Cook a bit longer than you would fresh spinach.

Carrot Salad
takes 20 minutes
makes 4 servings

3 carrots
1 green chili, split lengthwise
1 tsp. mustard seeds
salt
1 lime
handful cilantro

Wash and peel the carrots.  Grate.  Add green chili and salt to taste, about 1/2 tsp.  Squeeze the juice of the lime onto the carrots.  In a small saute pan heat oil on medium high heat to very hot.  Have the lid ready.  Add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to pop, put the lid on and turn off the heat!  When the spluttering has subsided, spoon the mustard seeds out of the pan onto the carrots.  Mix it all together, and let sit for about 10 minutes.  Top with cilantro.

Carrot salad is really good with yoghurt rice and also rasam and rice.  

To all of my Berkeley and New York friends, I miss you so much!  Diwali is not the same in Canada.  Great people, good food, but not the same.

More recipes coming!