Couscous with love and patience.

I can see yesteryear Algerian women making couscous at home - hand rolling the semolina.It is planned, time consuming and laborious. Some day I would like to watch and learn this long process and make it from scratch, at least once. For now, couscous is fast food for me,since it moves from a box into a bowl. Talk about paradox ! And also about marketable skills. Well, lets move on to something more comforting,it is after all the weekend,....

I pour warm tomato broth (rich with a spice blend of salt, fennel seeds, garlic, fenugreek, urad dal\masoordal\green moong dal)into a bowl of couscous and let it steam.

Finely diced cilantro and baked beetroot, carrot, also goes into the bowl. Let the couscous mingle and get friendly with all of them. OR shall I say, bask in the glory of all the flavors ?

The more it rests - at least 2 hours or so,the flavors will settle in well. When it is time to serve, crumbled feta goes in.Pumpkin seeds will complete the picture.

Eat brunch like a king my dear.

Relish With Gratitude

notes to self

...when you connect with people ...do you change their world ?

Warm company.

I love the lime cilantro rice served at Chipotle,the younger health conscientious sister of the giant McDonalds.

To break the cold snap,we had to eat something right off the stove.Brown rice is a staple.

A small drizzle of lemony-garlicky-cilantro vinaigrette dressed the hot fluffy brown rice.

Cooked and drained black beans was added to caramelized onions,tomatoes, salt,cumin and turmeric.

Long thin strips of green bell pepper and left overs of a roasted chicken was sauteed together on high heat for a minute or two with a dash of salt and pepper.

Can you see a pretty plate ? A brunch perfect for company !

No grocery run for me.

The Lotus root - currently lies untouched in the bottom drawer of the fridge and I have been cooking this in my mind every since it was bought.

Option 1 . Make a thai based gravy , with coconut milk, kaffir lime, galangal, lemon grass and Thai chillies. The gravy would be thin.

Option 2. Include Tamarind pulp and Peanut sauce to Option 1 and one would get a thicker based gravy.

Option 3. Since there is no coconut milk at home, can the gravy be made of Milk, curry leaves, tomatoes, garlic, green chillies, coriander powder, turmeric .

Option 1 ingredients are not at home right now.
Option 3 seems most likely.

Since cooking the lotus has been done 3 times already in my minds eye , will it ever see the stove or will the lotus root get rotten ? Remains to be seen !

Banana Flower on my plate

Yes, banana flower , you read that right. Raised in a city, I had missed out in understanding vegetation. My long spells of nature are the summer vacations to my ancestors village down south. From the time the train left the suburbs of Bombay and the train chugged through khandala and Lonavala, we had left the concrete jungle to enjoy brooks and streams, ghats and hills - breath taking scenes ( we didn't have a camera back then ) and these scenes still lives vividly in my memory. But why am I going down memory lane you may ask ?

At a filipino grocery store we found banana flowers,a vegetable that was commonly found in the backyards of our ancestors .

With Google as my guide,I followed a few instructions.

First, oiling the flower so that it would oxidize slower.
Second, trying to make a fine dice .

As the hot iron pan sizzled the finely diced flower took its honorable place.
After a few minutes curry leaves were added. Diced garlic, cumin and fennel seeds also went in .
(roasted seeds release greater amount of flavor ) In 5 minutes when I thought the vegetable was about to burn, we added some water , placed the lid and the vegetable now steamed quietly. In another 10 minutes it was the turn of grated dry khopra( coconut ) and we switched off the gas.

A good first attempt I thought , after I had a taste of the vegetable with rice and curd. Next time, the slender stems will not be going in because that's what makes the vegetable bitter.

It is said that banana flower is a great source of iron and that's exactly why it oxidizes in seconds when it is being diced.

The designer in me says that the banana flower will make a great table arrangement, but that's a picture for another post.

Dressing up black beans

The black beans has been resting a while in my pantry. Read - A good 6 months or so. Fortunately they have not turned bad. Has it lost its freshness ? I don't know. When it is cold and one does not want to go to the grocery store, one reaches into the nook and corners of kitchen shelves to make a meal.

2 cups of black beans soaked in the morning. Cooked and drained in the evening.

Roasted carrots with some thyme.

pureed roasted carrots with a mexican chilli pepper, which was first soaked so that it could be softened ( fails me what type of chilli it was but it gives a kick to the otherwise sweet carrot soup.)

The black beans looked like shiny black pebbles inside the carrot soup. It made a delicious picture in a white bowl. crumbled feta is optional.( i have a huge packet at home and i put it in everything i eat)

Enjoy

Tomato Miso Soup .

I came home to eat macaroni and cheese;an excuse to switch on the oven.But found an empty box of macaroni languishing on the shelf. The heat could break the icy wind that just blew over me.
Instead I had to pick -
a can of diced tomatoes(411g)
green tea soba noodles(200g)
a handful of dried sea weeds
From the refrigerator-
5 pods of garlic
a table spoon of miso soup.

The can of tomatoes and 5 pods of garlic boiled together. It was then pureed.
A table spoon of miso was mixed thoroughly.

In a cup of water, a small handful of sea weeds was boiled in the microwave which was added to the pureed tomato.

Cooked and drained green tea soba noddles was dropped into a bowl of tomato miso soup, which was eaten with great relish.

Good food can act as a balm. One forgets that temperatures have been below zero for a few days now.

Always with gratitude,
Anrosh

...And Another Time Piece

I like moments,but I really like MOVEMENTS and look forward to it everyday. Everyday has been incredibly miraculous the last year.In the last few days of the year, I counted my joys and sorrows, blessings and disappointments.

I understood the word "believe" better.We are closer to an answer that we have been searching for the past 11 years. We need great health and healing. We need miracles.

Wishing all of you another year of miracles everyday.

-Breathe.

Family Tree.

"A tortilla is either corn or wheat

A corn tortilla folded and filled is a taco,

Whereas a filled wheat tortilla is a burrito.

Deep fry a burrito, it’s a chimichanga.

Toast a tortilla, its a tostada.

Roll it, its an enchilada."

- From the movie, ONE DAY.

Christmas Cheer 2011

A steel vessel with a copper base sat on the stove. In went 2 cups of washed bulgar wheat and a cup of amaranth.

While the amaranth and bulgar wheat boiled together,a cup of masoor dal was boiling alone on the adjacent stove.

One cup of chunky Tomatoes,2 cups of diced gherkins,and a handful of dried curry leaves joined the amaranth and bulgar wheat boil.

In a cup - 2 table spoon of curd was whisked thoroughly. Shortly it was accompanied by a teaspoon of cumin and fennel seeds,2 pods of grated garlic, a pinch of turmeric, a dash of salt and 3 table spoons of grated Khopra(dried coconut). The aroma they exhaled indicated they enjoyed the company of each other.

The last dance happened soon : the amaranth-Bulgar wheat pool met the khopra-curd melange and the boiled masoor dal. All the three steamed together and became the Holiday cheer.

With gratitude I had a bowl.