Friday 25 June 2010

25th June 2010 - Breakfast - Upama

What?
Was another one of dishes I had screwed up last year, and avenged them in the second try. I have Rawa/Suji from back home, so Upama with some vegetables was a neat idea.

How did it look?
A posteriori
  • Although I was aware that you need to add a lot of water while making it, I was simply not prepared for the way it kept on absorbing all the water that I poured into it. It really swells up, this stuff. When I thought it was over, I tasted it, and it felt very uncooked - it was after another half a litre of water and 15 minutes that I finally got what I wanted.

Thursday 24 June 2010

23rd June 2010 - Dinner - Mushroom Sauté

What?
This was a quickie. Sangram and Ramu bought a can of mushrooms that day, so I thought I would give them a try. This was the first time I was making anything with mushrooms, and I generally don't like them too soggy, so I went for this thing that we had as a starter. I took some regular butter, a dollop of garlic spread and stir fried some green peppers and tomatoes with these cut mushrooms. Some ground pepper, salt and lemon juice later, we had a tasty appetizer. Partial credits to Anasuya for the idea.

How did it look?

A posteriori
  • Some garlic spread on the thing gave a good end taste the whole thing.
  • So, the general funda now is - take some garlic spread and butter and use it to stir fry peppers and anything else for some time - add salt, pepper and lemon juice - and you have a winner.

Friday 18 June 2010

11th June 2010 - Lunch - Gaajar ka Halwa

What?
Plain and simple. Gajar ka Halwa, something that was long overdue this summer. We didn't have a grater earlier, but then it was available for like $3.5 so I thought we might as well purchase it. It was useful though. I also use it for grating onions, whenever I want to make a gravy in which onion paste is needed. Short of a mixer/grinder, this gives reasonable results.

How did it look?

A posteriori
  • No condensed milk this time, just simple 2% milk.
  • In tune with my general technique, I did the preliminary cooking in the µWave and then proceeded with adding milk gradually.

17th June 2010 - Dinner - Paav Bhaaji

What?
This year, apart from making routine stuff, I have decided I would avenge all those dishes that got screwed up last year. Uptil now, noodles, fried rice, kofta sort of stuff have come out pretty well, and next in line was Paav Bhaaji. When I had tried to make Paav Bhaaji here and here, the result had been pretty disappointing. In both cases I had added cabbage, a most terrible mistake, worsened by the fact that I had used red cabbage. On top of all this, the masaala I had purchased was of some random company, and that clearly showed.

However, this time, none of this was to be. I stuck to potatoes, carrots, peas and carrots, and had Everest Paav Bhaaji masala.

How did it look?
A posteriori
  • At home, we make it in a slightly different way. Tomatoes are boiled with the rest of the vegetables and blend in. But, since I use minced tomatoes here and because I wanted the restaurant sort of red look, I skipped boiling them and rather used onions and tomatoes to make the gravy in which the boiled, mashed vegetables were mixed. If you have ever seen the guy at Gulmohar cafeteria make paav bhaji, his approach is similar - mashed vegetables are kept separately, and as per the order, he takes some tomato gravy on his big black pan (for lack of a better name) and mixes them.
  • At the end, liberal quantities of lemon juice and butter, along with some cilantro of course.

Saturday 12 June 2010

12th June 2010 - Breakfast - Eggie in a Basket!

What?
I watched V for Vendetta yesterday and obviously, the brilliant looking egg and bread thing that V makes Evey for breakfast and which is later made and described as Eggie in the Basket by Gordon Deitrich (Stephen Fry) caught my attention. It looked very interesting, and I just had to make it. This was the first attempt, and I sort of screwed the first one, but the next two were pretty satisfactory.

How did it look?

A posteriori?
  • The bread I had was a bit small, so when I cut a smaller hole, the egg spilled all over. For these two, I cut a large hole, but you can see that most of the bread is removed in this case.
  • In one case (the left one), I broke the yolk after filling it in the hole, so I got a uniform yellow colour and the yolk was well cooked. This is for those who like full-fried eggs. For the second bread, I did not break the yolk and in this case, you still have liquid yolk in the middle when you eat the thing, so this suits the half-fry fans. Normally, you dip the cutout bread in the yolk and eat it
  • I had this along with some peach yoghurt and fresh fruit. Happy Breakfast!

Wednesday 9 June 2010

8th June 2010 - Dinner - Hakka Noodles

What?
Continuing with my Indo-Chinese fare, I made Hakka Noodles today. We had spring onions, cabbage and pepper, along with soya sauce - everything that you would want, except perhaps carrots and vinegar.

How did it look?

A posteriori
  • I have gotten the hang of this kind of cooking now, so I am all for trying more stuff like this. Maybe Chilly Paneer when I am back home.
  • Since even the biggest pans I have here are not big enough for stir frying the vegetables well, I do it in two pans simultaneously and then mix everything together in a vessel.
  • Personally, I liked it, and I am sure Raghu would be proud (not that I ever liked Chinese stuff in H2, although their parathas are better)

Tuesday 8 June 2010

1st June 2010 - Dinner - Veg Fried Rice

What?
The first time I had tried to make anything Indo-Chinese (I use this term especially for those who will fuss about how Chinese food in India is not really Chinese food or whatever) was last year, with something that was intended to be hakka noodles, but began as patta gobhi ki sabzi and ended up, traumatically, as a tasteless bulk of smelly cabbage mixed with over-boiled noodles.

I had of course made loads of mistakes, most of which I was able to figure out, but it was quite some time before I dared venturing into that territory again.

Today, I decided to make Fried Rice, and since I had purchased Soya Sauce just a day before and had peppers and spring onions, it made perfect sense to go the Indo-Chinese way.

How did it look?
The pic could have been better. It's a bad angle for a rice dish, but well.

A posteriori
  • The rice we purchased here does to me, what in Marathi is called छळणे. In my Dollar Consciousness, I purchased the cheapest that was available, and it shows. Apart from not being full grain, it always ends up gummy and mushy, and while it is still OK for a daal-chaawal sort of meal, it is totally disastrous for making fried rice. Even after putting less water and reducing cooking time, it ends up the same way. So, this time, I took special precautions, and got a marginally better result. I then spread all the rice in two plates and let it dry for half an hour before proceeding on. Later, I tried to change my rice algorithm. Soaked it for 20 minutes and then cooked the rice in an open vessel with constant stirring and continuous evaluation (counselling season, sorry). The result was much better.
  • The Veg Fried Rice was better than I originally expected, but there's chance for improvement. I goofed up the cutting direction for the peppers too. Will take care of that the next time. I would prefer a larger flat pan though, since you can't really stir-fry the vegetables well in a small pan while using less oil and maintaining their crispiness.