Mango popsicles for summer

Lil A's new favorite is ice-cream and Popsicle! He demands one every day now. Considering that he wouldn't even eat ice-cream till he was almost 2, this is quite a turn-around. When we ran out of his recent stock, I casually mentioned to him that we should make some popsicle at home. I shouldn't have, or at least I shouldn't have till I had all the ingredients to make it right then!

For the next two weeks he asked me, much like the 'Are we there yet?'Verizon guy, "when are we making the popsicle?" He planted this bug in my head. I became all excited about trying to make popsicles at home. I ordered the mold and set to work with him one Friday afternoon and we had popsicles ready by the time we went for a playdate with Nina.

The evening was well-spent in the company of mango popsicles. Nina, her brother, and parents and all of us enjoyed our very own homemade mango popsicles.

 

The last one was shared the next day by Aswin, Lil A and me. Lil A was so excited about getting his turn that he would yell "to me, to me," instead of "me too, me too."

We are already planning colors and flavors for the next round. I can see a tasty summer before us.

Ingredients:
(makes 10 popsicles)
2 1/2 mangoes - I used fresh Indian mangoes, you can also use frozen mangoes
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup condensed milk

Method:

Cut and chop all the mangoes

Add them in the blender and make it a smooth paste or a chunky one depending on your taste.

Put them in the mold and freeze it for atleast 5-6 hours. Overnight is better.

Run the mold under cold water (no hot water) until the sticks loosen. Enjoy the taste of summer!

Watermelon salad and Plenty

A friend recently gave us a cookbook as a gift. I haven't received a cookbook as a gift in a while, so I was curious about this one. The book is "Plenty" by Yotam Ottolenghi, one of the hottest chef in UK, I hear. The book has a stunning photo on the cover and high reviews in press already.

I liked the way the book is arranged around a central ingredient: pasta, eggplant, squashes, fruits etc just to name a few. This vegetarian cookbook takes his columns that have appeared in Guardian and put them in a book form with some beautiful pictures. It made me want to cook with it immediately. And I did!

I have made a couple of recipes from this already. I will share them slowly. What I want to share today is the simplest recipe which is such a wonderful turn on watermelon. I have never really thought of making a salad with watermelon before. When I saw it in the book, I knew I had to try it for the little grilling party later in the evening.

The salad was just delicious. I tweaked a little bit with salt and pepper and served it immediately. We ate some as starter, some as side. The menu for the evening with friends was:

• watermelon salad
• grilled corn
• grilled mushroom
• grilled tofu
• grilled tandoori chicken
• Naan
• smashed potato with sauce
• chanar dalna
• and the dessert was some blueberry yogurt cake.

Ingredients:
(serves 4-6)

1 small watermelon 
1/4 red onion
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbled
6-7 basil leaves torn
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Cut the onion in thin slices. And cut the watermelon in small bite-size pieces. Mix them together. Add salt and pepper and mix one more time.
Now add the feta on top and then the basil leaves.
Add olive oil on top and serve immediately.
Enjoy.

In my kitchen and Almond Chutney

The last few weeks we all have been spent in company of medicine. First Lil A, then me, then Tiny M, and then Lil A again and so it went. Ear infections, bacterial infection of another kind and cold and coughs in between. We all took turns to get on antibiotics. So despite my best intentions, the recipes are still sitting in the computer and the pictures are in the camera.

The long weekend helped get us on the road to recovery. And the weather is warming too.

Here are a few of what we cooked and ate over the long weekend.

Even though it was freezing we ate melons and pretended it was summer.

Some simple chicken curry which warms the soul and makes any weekend perfect. 

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I saw a lovely kitchen post on Nupur's blog last month. So inspired by that post I am doing a "in my kitchen" post myself.

 In my kitchen are two little pictures that have been with me since my first year in the US and continue to cheer me.

In my kitchen are carrots and pears getting ready for Tiny M's dinner.

In my kitchen is a white elephant teapot we received as a gift and in which we brew a pot during weekend for that extra cup.

 In my kitchen is picture on the fridge from Lil A.

In my kitchen is Naga pickle we picked up from London a year ago and still use it to spruce up veggies every now and then.

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In this post, I want to share this recipe of almond chutney that we have been making for years now. This is so versatile, and a good source of fat and protein for little ones. I have used this as a side for soft idlis, crunchy dosas, in sandwiches, and even with rotis. I've even had it a couple of times with plain hot white rice.

You can make it as spicy as you want. I make it mild for Lil A. 

Ingredients:
1/3 cup almonds
1 green chilli deseeded
handful of cilantro
salt to taste

For tadka/tempering
1 tspoon oil
1/2 tspoon mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves broken

Method:
Boil water and soak the almonds in the  hot water for 5-6 minutes. The peels will pop off.

Now add the deseeded chilli, cilantro and salt and grind it to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a small pan and add the asafoetida, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds have popped, add it to the almond paste.

Stir it and serve. It stays in the fridge for 3-5 days. 

Detoxing this spring with neem begun (margosa with eggplant)

If you had told me that one day I will be posting neem begun recipe, I wouldn't have believed you.

I wasn't a big fan of this recipe. I still vividly remember the big neem tree in front of our house growing up. Every spring, my mom would ask someone to cut some tender leaves of neem (margosa, Azadirachta indica) and saute them with eggplants.

We would try to get out of eating them. My mother would insist that we try some. "It is antibacterial and antifungal." Or "You wouldn't get chicken pox if you eat it," she said as she tried to coax us to take a few bites. We would and make faces as the bitter juices escaped and mixed with the rice and soft eggplants and then would quickly gulp it down. 

Fast forward to last week when I found some leaves in the Indian store. I picked some up and brought it home. And double checked with my parents, because I was so surprised to find them here for the first time! The leaves were not so tender, but fresh enough. "What perfect timing," I thought, "just in time for spring cleaning!"

So this spring, we are doing an internal cleaning as well with some bitter neem or margosa leaves.

For the little ones, I boiled some leaves in water for a bath.

And for us, I recreated my childhood recipe of neem begun.

Ingredients:
small bunch of neem/margosa leaves - the fresher the beter
1 small eggplant
1/4 tspoon turmeric
salt to taste
3-4 tbspoon oil

Method:
Chop the eggplant in small cubes, rub some salt and turmeric and set it aside.Tear the leaves and keep it aside.

Heat a pan with half the oil and saute the leaves with some turmeric and salt on low medium heat. Take it out. Add some more oil and saute the eggplants till they start to turn soft.

Once the eggplant is almost done, add in the neem leaves and cover it.

It is typically the first course and tastes best when mixed in with some rice. It is also said to increase appetite too along with all the other medicinal properties.

What are you doing this spring?

Lobia salad (Black-eyed peas salad)

Why is it that I have never blogged a black eyed peas recipe before, I scratch my head thinking and yet I can come up with no answer.

It's not that I don't make it. I make it often, almost every week sometimes. And somehow I have never photographed it or written down the recipe. Has it ever happened to you dear friends that you have a go-to recipe and you have never shared it before?

Today, along with this familiar recipe I want to share the book I am reading. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala. It's the most gut-wrenching book I have read. Wave's starting point is her experience of the tsunami where she loses her husband, her two sons and her parents and recounts her life thereafter.

I have been reading it slowly in bits and snatches when I have time after putting my boys to sleep or early in the morning. And I am glad that I am reading it slowly because I don't think I would finish it otherwise. Her grief is raw, tangible almost and as NYTimes puts it "opens beneath you like a sinkhole."

It's dark, angry and there are no clean endings here. But in between this dark anger and suicidal fury there is also love and happy memories of her life before.

Why such stories matter? This is what Teju Cole says in the New Yorker review: "In witnessing something far-fetched, something brought out before us from the distant perimeter of human experience, we are in some way fortified for our own inevitable, if lesser, struggles."

Here is the recipe of the Lobia/black eyed peas salad.

 Ingredients:
1 cup lobia
2/3 cucumber - chopped
1 avacado - chopped
1 small onion - sliced
2 tbspoon lemon juice 
1/4 tspoon fresh black pepper
1/2 tspoon  toasted cumin seed powder
1/4 tspoon chilli powder
salt to taste

Method:
Soak the lobia overnight in water and then boil it. Take half of it for the salad and reserve the rest for a curry for another day. 

Put the lobia in a bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients - cucumber, avacado and onions. Add the lemon juice, black pepper, cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix it nicely. I just use my hands for the mixing. 

Serve as a side or a starter. It's a good with wine too!

Sending this to MLLA 58 being hosted by Chez Cayenne. It was started by Susan and has now been taken over by Lisa. 

Baked masala mushroom frittata

Aswin makes a mean frittata. He found the recipe about a year ago and has been tweaking it since then. He has experimented with veggies, spices and even how long the frittata should cook. We've had it over weekends, taken it for brunches with friends and finally it has been given the green light to be posted.

Now let me tell you how luxurious this frittata feels when you've had a chance to sleep for an extra 45 minutes without any kid demanding your attention. No constant "Mommy, wake up" calls from the older one or the little one wanting to be nursed.

And then there is hot tea waiting with some Parle G. Yes, that's my favorite to dunk in tea anytime of the day! The house is smelling divine too. I ask and find there is a masala mushroom frittata in the oven. I take another sip of tea. Yes, this is what Sunday feels like!

What did you do for your weekend?

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped mushroom
1 small onion chopped
1 green chilli chopped
1/4 tspoon chilli powder
pinch of turmeric
1/4 tspoon cumin powder
1/4 tspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tbspoon oil
handful of grated cheese
salt to taste

Method:
Heat the oven to 350 deg C. Butter a round 9inch pan.

Heat a pan with the oil and saute the onion for a couple of minutes. Then add the mushroom and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add in the spices, salt and the green chilli and let it cook for a minute long. Set it aside to cool.

Break the eggs and whisk it. Now add in the milk, and salt and whisk till its fully combined.

Transfer the mushroom and onion mix to the pan, and pour the egg mixture on top. Now add the cheese on top and it's ready to be baked.

Put it in the oven and let it cook for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. The frittata should be set.

Serve warm.

Khejur gurer payesh for Holi

It's Holi today and I am dry, going about my daily routine. But in my mind, I am thinking about Holi I celebrated a couple of years ago at home. I was home for Holi after many years, and it was Lil A's first trip to India so it was extra special.

The evening before Holi, I was sure that we would do dry colors, just a little bit here and there and we will be done. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, applied oil and changed into holi clothes and then we were all ready.

Then the first group of aunties came.  I had forgotten about aunties' holi-playing techniques. I went out with gulaal or abeer and that turned out to be very bad strategy. In minutes I was soaked with all kinds of color. And then all the resolutions were out of the window. We played a wet, wet holi with family, cousins, friends and neighbors. By the end, we had run out of colors and were making do with plain water.

After we cleaned up we ate hot Khichuri my mom made for purnima (full moon) and my father made khejur gur/nalen gur/patali gurer payesh.

My parents are here and this time they got some patali gur from Kolkata so for Holi we may not have played colors but we do have Khejur gurer payesh.

Khejur gur or jaggery is made with sap of the date palms during the winter months. A good comparison would be maple syrup. The payesh turns out caramely, smoky, mildly sweet and incredibly rich and delicious. Here is a wiki entry which talks about it.

You may want to test your gur before adding it in milk. Add a small bit in hot milk, if the milk separates, it may not be the best one for payesh.

I use a combination of whole milk and 2% milk for my payesh and it turns out as creamy as regular payesh.

Ingredients:
1 ltr  2% milk
1/2 ltr whole milk
1/3 cup gobindo bhog rice (this rice is has aroma all it's own and is small unlike basmati)
1 cup patali gur (chopped in small pieces)
handful chopped almonds (optional)

Method:
In a thick bottom saucepan, boil the milk on low-medium heat, stirring continuously. Once it's boiled add the rice and let it cook on low heat for 5-7 minutes. Stir and cook for another 5-7 minutes stirring so it doesn't get burned.

After the rice is almost done, add the gur little by little. Now cook it on low heat till the milk reduces and the rice is done.

 

Take is off the heat and sprinkle the almonds. Serve either warm or cold.

Happy Holi everyone.

Tarkari diye Moong Dal (in pressure cooker)

A few days back a friend posted on her Facebook that work life balance is a myth. With two little kids and a full-time job, a sentence like this gets my attention. I agree it's hard to find even a day when I have it in balance. For me, the weight shifts every week, make it everyday, depending on what I have going. Depending on what time of day you ask me, I may be trying hard to get one or the other in order.

What I do find, however, are moments when things are working in harmony and it is those moments that make it wonderful.

What do you think? Is it a myth? Or you have work and home in harmony with a good balance?

When you add to this question a healthy, balanced meal, things get even more complex. And that's where a dal like this comes in handy.

The recipe is my sister-in-law's who started making this when my niece was little. Now I have started making it as well. What makes it even better is it gets cooked in a pressure cooker.

I recently saw Bong Mom Cookbook and Indian Food Rocks showcasing their pressure cookers and I wanted to join in even though I am late for the event. So I wrote to Jaya of Desi Soccer Mom and she graciously accepted my request.

 I don't know what I would do without my pressure cookers. I use it several times during the week to boil dal, make sabji, make a quick chole, rajma, other lentils and sometimes even murgir jhol. When Lil A was small I made his lunch in a little pressure cooker. In a few months it will be Tiny M's turn to eat delicious stuff made fresh in a pressure cooker just for him.

I own three cookers, a small Hawkins, medium Prestige one and a big Futura pressure cooker.

I mostly make the dal with carrots and peas, but you can add any vegetable of your choice.

Ingredients:
1 cup Moong dal (washed)
1 big carrot or 2 medium chopped small
1/4 cup peas
1/2 tspoon ghee
2 pinch of asafoetida (hing)
2/3 tspoon cumin seeds
1 green chilli (adjust to taste)
1/2 tspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tspoon cumin seed powder
salt to taste
1 tspoon oil

Method:
Heat oil and ghee in a pressure cooker. Then temper it with asafoetida, cumin seeds and chilli.

Then add the washed moong dal and the vegetables and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the turmeric powder, cumin seed powder, and salt and let it mix together for another 1-2 minutes.

Add double the amount (and a little more) of water, so for 1 cup I add about 2 1/2 cups of water.  Close the lid and move the heat to medium high. Let it cook for 3 whistle and turn it off.

The dal is now ready to eat. Serve with rice and a salad.