The Rich Vegetarian

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Tag: Indian (page 5 of 6)

May 10, 2011 / 0 Comments

Such a long time…

Have been MIA a long time, haven’t I?

Maybe you can say that “real life” intervened. Actually, nothing as dramatic as that. P’s parents arrived from India a couple of weeks back. They brought along with them truckloads (okay, that is heavily dramatic) of goodies from home. Some were lovingly made by my mother, mother-in-law, aunts and friends while some were carefully purchased from local stores. Spiral chaklis, ribbon pakodas, crisp jackfruit chips, thin round banana fries, rectangular gol-papdi (possibly my favorite Indian sweet ever), peanut chikki, globular til laddoos, spicy poha chivda… the list goes on. We have managed to make a dent in the supply pretty well, even if I say so. In any case, fried food doesn’t sit well with me. Or my digestive system. It starts to develop an aversion of sorts which works out excellently in terms of preventing me from bingeing on any goodie.

My mother-in-law is a fabulous cook. She has tons of tips and tricks, techniques and methods that she has honed over years and years of cooking for a full house with little help… in addition to working full-time and running a home and taking care of a little kid. She is super-efficient and ingenious with her use of ingredients and resources. In spite of all the years of cooking experience, she is always open to new flavors, cooking techniques and new kinds of foods. Last time she visited was in 2007. Dad-in-law and she stayed us with almost six months. During the entire period, I didn’t step into the kitchen. Or maybe I did… to do the dishes, clean up, all those sundry tasks. This time, I have been doing a lot more than that. Makes me happy to think that I can cook for my in-laws and do a decent job of it as well.

Boy, have I matured as a cook.

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February 18, 2011 / 6 Comments

‘Jhootha? What is that?’

In traditional Hindu homes, there are certain rules regarding food. This includes (and is not restricted to) preparation and storage of food, serving, consumption, cleaning, etc. The main idea behind these guidelines is that food is sacred, and it needs to treated with sanctity. Makes sense, doesn’t it? The food we eat nourishes our body, our minds, and our souls. It becomes us. Obviously, it is important that we pay attention to what we feed our body and mind. Ayurveda has specific guidelines about food and its consumption. Here is a science that looks at the body as part of the Universe it resides in, and I cannot imagine a better perspective to understand health and well-being. Anyway, I am no authority on Ayurveda, so I’ll move on to writing about what I originally intended… the concept of ‘Jhootha.’

‘Jhootha’ is a Hindi word that literally means ‘liar.’ It’s also used in the sense of ‘cross-contaminated.’ Simply put, if I were to use a ladle to taste the soup bubbling away on the stove, then put the ladle back into the pot, it essentially means that the soup is ‘Jhootha.’ Seinfeld’s famous ‘double dip’ episode talks about the same point. In case of a meal that comprises of meat and vegetarian preparations, using the same serving spoon for both kinds of food amounts to cross-contamination as well. Maybe not so much for the folks eating meat but I’d imagine a very different response from the vegetarians at the table.

Essentially, it is about maintaining the purity of things, in a larger sense. Keeping the milk from curdling because you used a spoon that was resting in the yogurt container, maintaining the cleanliness of your actions, keeping the space around and within sacred and special… I am not sure if that makes much sense. But I’ll leave it at that for now. And hopefully come back to it later when I am able to articulate better.

Anonymous (in the comments below) tells me that the actual pronunciation of the word is ‘Jootha’ and it means cross-contaminated. The Hindi word for ‘liar’ is ‘Jhootha,’ with a heavier emphasis on the first syllable. Thanks, Anonymous!

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January 10, 2011 / 6 Comments

An old picture, a lovely platter

Paraaanthas

What you see is lunch from a few months back, maybe even last year.

Paraanthas made of cornflour, whole wheat flour and methi leaves, a sabzi containing sprouted moong, chopped tomatoes and onions, garnished with coriander/cilantro leaves, a bowl of homemade yogurt garnished with a spice mix.

I used the Kitchen-Aid to make the dough for the paraanthas.

Just threw in corn flour, whole wheat flour and fresh methi leaves. Sesame oil (my oft-used cooking medium), some salt, a smidgen of red chilli powder (or more?), some garam masala. Add water and run the mixer until you get a dough that’s soft and pliable. Roll into rounds, put on a warm pan, add some ghee, flip it a couple of times, until nice and brown and cooked. YUM.

I sprout moong a lot during summer. I tried doing it this winter and it was a bad bad bad idea. Firstly, sprouting is tough due to the low temperatures. Secondly, sprouts are not the best thing to eat during winter simply because they generate vata (unless well-cooked) and winter is a vata-aggravating season anyway. You are far better off eating vata-pacifying and grounding foods this time of the year. I am no Ayurveda expert but a HUGE enthusiast. There are many wonderful books out there that can give you more information about this amazing science of health.

How to sprout moong?

Take a cup of whole green moong seeds. Rinse with water thoroughly.
Cover with filtered water making sure that all seeds are completely submerged and there is a couple of inches of water above them. This is important because the seeds absorb the water and expand in size. So you want to have extra water in the bowl.
Check the seeds after a few hours (you can leave them overnight too).
Drain out the excess water, if any. Take a clean handkerchief, wet it with water, wring it out, wrap the soaked seeds in the wet cloth and place back in the bowl. Check back in a few hours.
Wet the cloth again, wring it out, wrap the seeds again, repeat. In a couple of days, you will see tiny shoots sprouting through.

You can repeat the process until the sprouts are nice and long. Now take them out and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can add them to salads, sabzis, even pulaos/pilafs and biryanis. I must mention, in this above mentioned sabzi, I don’t toss in the sprouts as is. I steam them beforehand so that they’re easier to digest.

How to make home made yogurt? In another post.

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November 11, 2010 / 2 Comments

A cool recipe + picture

Delicious Dum Aloo

Delicious Dum Aloo

As I don’t have the next cool vegetarian place to write about, I thought I would share a picture from my kitchen.

This is Dum Aloo, a dish I have never cooked before. Roasted baby potatoes in a cashew-tomato-onion sauce, spiced with cumin, nigella seeds, dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala, garnished with verdant cilantro.

This recipe is a total keeper. It comes from One Hot Stove, one of my favorite food blogs. I refer to this blog again and again, and I have a running list of to-make dishes, all taken from here. Nupur has an approach to cooking that is fairly similar to my own and I am hugely inspired by his resourcefulness, creativity, sensible attitude and dynamism.

Here is the original recipe.

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