What I cooked

Spaghetti all'aglio e olio con spinaci

2011-12-17T09:18:00.002+01:00

What?
Aglio is Italian for garlic, olio is oil and you get no points for guessing what spinaci is. Aglio e olio is a traditional Italian pasta dressing, its USP being that it doesn't need expensive ingredients such as bell peppers which cost ¥200 a piece (~INR 130). I had this two weeks ago at ITC Maratha and it tasted fairly interesting, so I decided to make it, and tossed some spinach in there too.

How did it look?

A posteriori
Somehow, whenever I make pasta, the sauce falls short. The same happened this time too, so I had to toss some more garlics and spinach separately and add it to the mix. It became better then. And some parsley on top. Also, I didn't throw all the pasta water away, thinking it would help the whole thing mix, but it still was enough to make it all wet. Lesson learnt.

14th December 2011—Breakfast—Scrambled Eggs with Parsley

2011-12-14T02:15:00.003+01:00

For those of you who've been wondering (or dreading) whether I will resume this blog again, there's both good news and bad news. The good (or bad) part is that I will resume it, and the bad (or good) part is that the posts will be relatively infrequent. Unlike with the previous two editions of this blog (WIGH Germany and WIGH Canada), I would post on WIGH Japan only when I make something not previously on the blog.

What?

I have a brunch here at about 11 a.m., and dinner around 8:30 p.m. Brunch is usually heavy, and is a mix of eggs, milk and something else that can double up as a part of the dinner. Today, among other things, I scrambled two eggs and added some parsley and pepper on top (this is only the second time I'm trying scrambled eggs, the first time being yesterday).

How did it look?

A posteriori

Nothing much for the moment. I don't see too many fresh herbs here, so I think I'm gonna have to do with packed powders. Next time, I will try it out with chives or thyme and see whether it tastes better.

14th July 2010 - Lunch - Chana Masala

2010-07-15T01:35:00.005+02:00

What?

Since the last post, I had been either in the US or Toronto, surviving on fast/expensive food and it it had gotten on my nerves. Finally, when I reached London on Monday, my first sentiment was that I would be able to cook again and eat something that was not, fundamentally, stuff kept between two pieces of bread.

As this summer in Canada nears an end, I am wrapping up my cooking here, trying to finish things that have been lying since a while now, and the packet of kaale chane had long been trying to catch my attention.

How did it look?

A posteriori

I added delta tomato, that wasn't part of the original plan, but the result turned out quite well, so I am not complaining
A bit of that Chhole Masaala I had also gave it a nice flavour, and there was lemon juice on top for the twang
Another first timer that yielded a satisfactory result

25th June 2010 - Breakfast - Upama

2010-06-25T17:33:00.004+02:00

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.

23rd June 2010 - Dinner - Mushroom Sauté

2010-06-24T05:08:00.003+02:00

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.

11th June 2010 - Lunch - Gaajar ka Halwa

2010-06-18T17:11:00.002+02:00

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

2010-06-18T04:05:00.005+02:00

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.

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

2010-06-12T16:21:00.007+02:00

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!

8th June 2010 - Dinner - Hakka Noodles

2010-06-09T07:05:00.006+02:00

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)

1st June 2010 - Dinner - Veg Fried Rice

2010-06-08T20:12:00.002+02:00

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.

30th May 2010 - Dinner - Aloo Mutter

2010-05-31T05:55:00.004+02:00

What?

This was the first time I was making Aloo Mutter. I mean, it's hardly different from aloo rassa/jhol/whatever, but, well, a new dish's a new dish.

How did it look?

A posteriori

No onions in the gravy this time. Just tomatoes and some puree (which I use all the time because it is so much more convenient and makes stuff richer). Tomatoes here are pretty costly, so I normally put half a tomato for the texture, and puree for the actual gravy.
I added some dry garlic chutney I have gotten from home. It is pretty useful and can be used directly on sandwiches too!
As some improvisation, I added some Paav Bhaaji masaala too at the end. Not too much, half a tea-spoon maybe. But it deed help in imparting good fragrance.
The quickest and the most convenient way to make it would be using a pressure cooker, but since the cooker I have is too small for making enough for 4 people, that's ruled out. Cooking potatoes with the gravy takes too long. So, I normally put the whole thing in the µWave after the chhonk and then just cook it for like 6 minutes. Nomw the potatoes are about 3/4th cooked. Back to the pan and I can now add water for the gravy and let it boil once. Bingo.

27th May 2010 - Lunch - Pasta

2010-05-31T05:32:00.005+02:00

What?

This was the third time I made Pasta here. The first two times, I had some weird macaroni sort of pasta (purchased primarily for its low price) and I didn't have much stuff for the gravy either. This time, I had Rotini. Without peppers and oregano and cheese, you end up just putting onions and tomatoes in everything and it all just tastes the same, so the first two attempts were just stomach fillers, so to speak.

This time, however, I had all I needed, and some (pretty) fresh oregano too, aah the smell!

How did it look?

A posteriori

The first time I made it here, I dunked too much pasta into too less water, so it ended up being very mushy and messy. The second time I was more careful, but I still boiled it more than it needed. This time, however, I had gotten an idea of the timing and the quantity of water needed, so I actually split the pasta over two sauce pans so that they got boiled in sufficient water.
I also didn't make the mistake of adding oil while boiling the pasta (something I had done the first two times). You do put oil when you boil noodles for stuff like Hakka Noodles, but here, it only leads to terrible results as the sauce just won't stick if there is too much oil.
A bit of oregano (that's looking gorgeous in the pic too) was all we needed for a pretty satisfying pasta.
Since I was making pasta, I did not want it to taste unnecessarily Indian, so I did not put any of the Indian tadka stuff in it - no haldi, no laal mirch, no jeera/rai. Only salt, pepper, garlic and oregano. The tomato puree was good enough for the sourness too. Hopefully, this one would look less Indian to Mukund than last year's :P

25th May 2010 - Dinner - Paat Vadi

2010-05-27T00:21:00.004+02:00

What?

I had made Paat Vadi last year too, and there was an entry on the blog, but since it was the first time I made it in Canada, I thought I would post a new entry. I am generally nervous with Besan dishes - Besan is a relatively precious commodity here, so I don't want to screw a Besan dish.

How did it look?

A posteriori

Since I don't have a blender here, I had to make a plain yoghurt gravy with finely chopped onions. My mom tells me that the original gravy has lots of coconut - another thing I don't get here very easily.
I was afraid that the vadi would disintegrate once put in the gravy, but luckily that didn't happen!
Pahle jo gravy thee, wo kam lagi, so Sangram was like - make more gravy!, so we made more of it in another pan and poured it on top and mixed the whole thing.

20th May 2010 - Dinner - Rasam

2010-05-21T02:57:00.002+02:00

What?

I have been lucky enough to have been introduced to all kinds of Indian food all through my childhood. We are Maharashtrians, but my mother was raised in Madhya Pradesh, and both my parents have spent a few years at Bangalore. So, at home, we make all sorts of stuff - dishes from all over the country. I am glad I have had this exposure - it does make one open about cuisines and appreciative about cooking in general.

On the list today was Rasam, a very delicious preparation from down South. Spicy, sour and tangy, it is an great accompaniment to rice. I remember that, when our hostel mess manager Prabhu ji retired, they had this special Kerala themed lunch for which they had also prepared Rasam. It was pretty tasty and it was quite disheartening to see most of the Marathi junta scowling at it.

I had made sure I carried some Rasam powder from back home. As for daal, I had made a bit extra yesterday and had saved half a cup for this. The recipe was sort of a hybrid of what Rohit Kiran's mom supplied via him and what my mom had given.

This was one of the most satisfying dishes I have made, simply because it turned out so well and tasted very authentic and exactly as desired.

How did it look?

A posteriori

Many versions of Rasam do not use daal at all. When we make Rasam at home, we generally add just the teensy bit of daal to carry the whole taste, so that's what I did.
I don't have a blender here, so we simply used chopped tomatoes instead of boiled, blended ones.
The part I had most fun with was putting the taDka on top, called Talimpu in Telugu. Of course, you need need Kadi Patta/Meethi Neem also for the whole effect, but I used what I had. Pouring the hot mixture on the fully prepared Rasam was a real treat!
I also had those dried masaala mirchis that you fry in oil and eat. At home, we love them. A red chilly is traditionally used for garnishing and also for the tadka, but I used this one, and it looked good enough.
I had forgotten to add garlic in the beginning, so I crushed some and added it to the tadka itself.

19th May 2010 - Dinner - Chhole

2010-05-20T03:17:00.003+02:00

What?

It's been around 17 days that I am here, and I thought it was high time I made chhole. My mom's recipe (using which we get chhole less spicy but tastier than the Punjabi chhole type dish) has never failed her, nor did it disappoint me last year, so I set about making it with the same gusto.

How did it look?

A posteriori

This time, I had also gotten tamarind (imli) for home. I soaked it in water in the morning and added some of that tamarind water in the dish. Gives it a nice sour flavour.
The rest of the stuff was pretty copy-book style, though I could have added some more water at the end.
It does help to mash some of the chhole so that it slightly thickens the gravy and makes it, erm, substantial.

18th May 2010 - Dinner - Corn Paalak and Daal Fry

2010-05-19T12:41:00.003+02:00

What?

Playing on with the spinach theme, I tried a corn-paalak dish, whose gravy is quite like the gravy in Paalak Paneer. Along with it was a version of Daal Fry.

How did it look?

A posteriori

For starters, I was unsure of how much water to add when cooking the spinach in the pressure cooker. I figured it would be safer to add more instead of less, so what we got in the end after mashing the boiled spinach was loads of "spinach water". First we thought that we should put it with the corn, but on seeing that adding even a bit of that water made the final result pretty watery and lame, we just took the water separately, added lemon juice and salt and Ramu had some "Clear Spinach Soup"
This dish is flavoured just with ground pepper, some red chilly and lemon juice (apart from salt, of course). So, the "Indian Curry" taste is not there, something I prefer with a subtle dish like Corn-Spinach.
Despite removing the water, we had ended up adding enough to make the thing more watery then we had desired. Anyhow, that is a lesson learnt for the next time I make this, and that will be soon enough; the spinach here is amazing.

17th May 2010 - Dinner - Palak Daal and French Beans

2010-05-19T12:33:00.002+02:00

What?

This time I have planned to try lots of Daal varieties that I couldn't or didn't last year. Also, I was able to get spinach here easily, so, this week has been devoted to it. Friday brunch (before leaving for Toronto) was Aloo-Paalak and Onion Paratha and today's dinner had Palak daal. Sabji was French beans primarily with some mixed veg and potatoes.

How did it look?

A posteriori

It was the first time I was making this daal, so I was a bit nervous, especially because my Daal attempts often go slightly haywire. Luckily though, it turned out the way I wanted, hallelujah!
Paalak gets cooked (and burnt) incredibly fast, so it pays to be wary when putting it initially in the chhonk.
The chhonk in kadhaai and cook in microwave routine works very well for stuff with potatoes in it. You get all the taste you want and it is cooked very uniformly at the same time.

13th May 2010 - Lunch - Pulaao

2010-05-14T09:00:00.003+02:00

What?

We wanted to whip something up for lunch without too much hard work, so something with rice seemed to fit well. So, I went for this Pulaao thing in which you take all the vegetables you want, sauté them just a little bit, add whatever spices you want and then add rice and water and cook it like normal rice.

How did it look?

A posteriori

Looks like I am still getting my salt estimate wrong when I cook for 4 people. I almost always get conservative and then have to add more later. But stuff added later doesn't always mix well, so, I guess I just have to be slightly more daring with the salt.
I love this recipe, generally. Luckily, it did not disappoint. We put in lots of stuff actually, the pack of mixed veg. that has featured in many of the previous posts finally got finished with this one. Also, we had a can of carrots, so some of that also went in.
A bit of whole pepper is what we often put at home, but I had it not, so well, we did without it.

10th May 2010 - Dinner - Cabbage Kofta and Sautéd Vegetables

2010-05-11T03:16:00.003+02:00

What?

Last year, when I set about making kofta and ended up with the disaster that I decided to call Cabbage Fry for lack of a better name (http://was-ich-gekocht-habe.blogspot.com/2005/06/4th-june-2009-dinner-cabbage-fry.html), I had vowed to redeem what I had lost that day (last sentence in the same entry).

I then made some simple tomato gravy for the kofta and Jeera Rice to go with it. A ready-to-make packet of Daal Makhani was also prepared to complement the whole thing.

Along with this, as a side dish, I decided to sauté a few vegetables (Thanks Anasuya for the tip). Taking my usual pea-carrot-green beans-lima beans-corn mix, I sautéd it in garlic butter and added some salt, pepper and lemon juice as seasoning. No other spice was added, and it tasted pretty good, mainly because the veg. mix we get here is very tasty inherently, and with pepper and lemon, it just can't go wrong :)

How did it look?

A posteriori

The kofta turned out considerably better than last year. I made sure I did not repeat the mistakes that had proved to be its nemesis. The cabbage was finely chopped They got fried well, the cabbage inside was cooked and tasted pretty decent with the gravy.
The sauté stuff reminded me of the sweetcorn I almost always have at DMart. We have decided to have it for every meal, apart from whatever else we are making

9th May 2010 - Breakfast - Bread Roll

2010-05-09T17:37:00.002+02:00

What?

On weekends, I can devote more time to cooking and get an opportunity to make more elaborate stuff. On the menu today morning was Bread Roll. For those not aware of this dish, it is basically boiled, mashed potatoes (with salt, chilly, the works) filled in bread and fried.

This brings us to the number two item on the list of things that Indians almost never do in a Microwave oven: Boiling potatoes.

Traditionally, a pressure cooker is used for this purpose (or sometimes the good old pateli), but boiled potatoes turn out very well using a µWave. You do not need any extra water (yes!). The water content of the potatoes is good enough. Just cut them into halves, make a few holes using a fork, put them together and wrap them in a plastic oven wrap, and voilà, leaving your cooker free for other pursuits.

How did it look?

A posteriori

While serving them, some chopped onions on the top, some ketchup, some Thousand Island Dressing and some coriander.
Ramu was very apprehensive of the whole affair, mostly because he had had a bad experience with this dish in his hostel mess. Earnest request to all humankind: Please, please and pretty please, do not judge food items based on how your mess made them! That's so not cool! Just imagine a whole crop of Marathi kids harbouring murderous sentiments against the very concept of Raajma, Gatte ki Sabji and Daal-Baati, just because they have only ever eaten it in their hostel mess! I don't know if I was able to redeem this dish for him, but I do hope he found it better than what he had in the mess.
We have this kitchen chimney thing which has given me the courage to actually make fried stuff, because the fumes from the hot oil are very annoying otherwise. Plus, the darned smoke alarms which have probably not been introduced to the concept of taDka/phoDni (whichever language floats your boat)
This thing ends up absorbing a lot of oil, I guess it helps to keep the bread rolls wrapped in tissue and squeeze them a bit, so that all the excess oil is absorbed.

8th May 2010 - Dinner - Masala Papad

2010-05-09T17:30:00.003+02:00

What?

Well, it was part of the dinner (an appetizer, if you please), but not the whole dinner :D

I want to try newer stuff this time, even if it is something simple. As such, there is nothing much to Masala Papad, but it was something I hadn't done before, so there you go...

Papad tops my list of items that Indians almost never make using a microwave oven, whereas they should. Microwave it for half a minute, turn in over and run it for another half a minute, and you have a perfect papad without all the chik-chik and jhik-jhik that the stove business has. Plus, it doesn't char and is uniformly cooked.

How did it look?

7th May 2010 - Breakfast - Instant noodles with mixed vegetables

2010-05-08T12:33:00.003+02:00

What?

I had never ever imagined I would put anything Maggi-related on this blog. The words Maggi and Tea deserve to be in the same sentence as the word "cooking" only if it's a joke. Also, I used to think as a kid that Maggi was one thing no one could possibly screw up, but that was before I had the travesty that they sell at Shack. One would think that an official Nestlé joint could be expected to do justice to their product, but that's a different story...

When we were left without bread yesterday, and wanted to whip something up quickly, our attention went to the packet of Maggi we had from back home. I was feeling pretty guilty making Maggi for "Breakfast", a meal that is supposed to be more nutritious than 85 grams of refined wheat flour.

So, as redemption, I tried to make the version of Maggi that all mothers are shown making in those countless advertisements that are shown on TeeVee. I had got a huge pack of mixed vegetables - corn, peas, beans, carrots - very amazing and all plump and sweet, so I decided to sauté these veggies in some oil and added some turmeric and chilly to make up for the additional mass. After doing this, I put in all the maggi and enough water, and just boiled it to the pic happy state you see here.

How did it look?

A posteriori

The vegetable mix we get here is so awesome and tasty that it really makes everything good.
Next time, I will try to dunk in some cheese too, as a tribute to our Hostel canteen's Cheese Maggi!

5th May 2010 - Dinner - Cabbage and Potatoes

2010-05-08T12:17:00.003+02:00

What?

It was routine stuff, so it is here pretty much just for the heck of it. Difference being, this time's Aloo-Patta gobhi was much more to my satisfaction than any I have previously made.

How did it look?

A posteriori

I always missed Dhaniya in Europe, and I love it here now, since it really makes stuff much better, and is amazing for garnishing.

Apart from that, this was pretty routine stuff, so not much to write.

4th May 2010 - Dinner - Corn, Beans, Peas Mixed Veg

2010-05-05T02:12:00.004+02:00

What?

Yay, so we went for grocery shopping yesterday, and boy, is food expensive here! I mean, food in Europe was pretty cheap compared to the monstrosity that prices here are. Anyhow, we did get an assortment of stuff, from beans to frozen peas and potatoes and spring onions, and we also got our dishes and knives and stuff today, so we decided to kick off with a vegetable mix that had beans, corn and peas, and chapaati of course.

Sangram and Ramanath were very enthusiastic with the chapaatis and handled that affair pretty well, right from kneading the dough to turning out the finished product.

How did it look?

A posteriori

The best thing was that I got Cilantro (Coriander) here, and that goes miles in making the dish look great and taste nice. This was something I totally missed in Germany.
The gravy was the yoghurt gravy that I had tried a few times last year. (Ref: Potatoes in Sunshine Gravy and Paat Vadi), and it turned out fine, but I would have wanted it slightly more spicy.
The gravy was pretty thin, I guess I went overboard with the amount of yoghurt, must rectify that the next time.
A bit of garlic spread at the end gave a good flavour and great aroma.

Season 2!

2010-05-04T16:55:00.004+02:00

Hi there, and, wow, it feels awesomely nostalgic!

Exactly one year ago, on 4th May 2009, I started 'Was ich gekocht habe', and I doubt there is any better day to start Season 2 of my cooking adventures.

It's another year, it's another continent. Although the location has shifted from Karlsruhe, Germany to London, Ontario, Canada, the philosophy behind this blog stays the same.

There would still be stuff I make and the ways in which I think it can be improved, and there will still not be any recipes, because the purpose of this blog is not to teach cooking (I am hardly qualified for that).

Many dishes will obviously repeat, so I will refrain from posting everything I make, especially if it is mundane and repetitive, but if there's anything special/different, it will be up.

Last year, the blog (and in turn, I) got amazing encouragement (barring a few statistically insignificant pathological cases), and I hope you will continue to read and comment.

Ciao, then, and I will see you soon!

2nd January 2010 - Rich Chocolate Cake & Date n Walnut Cake

2010-01-02T11:02:00.009+01:00

What?

The last three times I have come home, I have made cake to take back. This time was no different. We made two cakes - one I like to call Gâteau aux trois chocolats (Three Chocolate Cake) and Date and Walnut Cake.

How did it look?

Both the cakes ended up looking pretty similar, the brown-black colour due to the chocolate in the first cake was imparted by the dates in the second cake, so I am just putting up one pic. In the chocolate cake, I added cocoa powder, Bournvita and a drinking chocolate mixture I had gotten from Germany.

A posteriori

My mom had the idea of pouring some cream and butterscotch syrup on a few cake pieces to make a nice desert. It turned out sufficiently soft and fluffy. Neeta Mehta's recipes rock!

12th December 2009 - Lunch @ Claire's

2009-12-12T14:34:00.005+01:00

What?

Wow, it's been 5 whole months since I posted on this blog! It's like this one huge pang of nostalgia...

Anyhow, I wanted to make at least some stuff in December, and Claire and I decided to do it this weekend. We went yesterday to DMart and did some shopping, and had lots of plans for today!

What I finally did end up making was Egg Curry (Dim-er jhol :P), Chapati and Gajar Ka Halwa. The Egg Curry was intended to be pretty bland so that Claire could have it sans prolèmes.

While I was zealously grating carrots, Claire helped chop all the stuff we needed, and was very enthusiastic about kneading dough too. She also volunteered to roll her first chapati, which, with its striking resemblance to the French map, was a display of her patriotism.

How did it look?

Again, the orange carrots

Claire making her first Roti

Halwa, ready. Somehow, I can never get the GkH feel unless it is red :(

Egg Curry

All, on the table, seconds before being devoured

A posteriori

So, more or less, it was great going back to the books! The Halwa turned out to be really satisfactorily and Claire enjoyed it too. The egg curry left a lot for the wanting, though. My attempt to make it bland ended up making it sorta lame. I over-zealously used the tomato purée, making it sour with nothing to complement the taste. I had made quite a lot, and had pinged CP, Baheti, Anasuya, Kovid and Kaustubh about this, so took some Halwa for them. Anasuya very graciously offered to take the rest of the Egg Curry, while Pragya got some Halwaa, and barring CP, who was busy somewhere down South and so missed out on the whole affair, the rest (including Anand, who got some) were generous in their praise, making me a bunch of smiles.

Next weekend, I am planning to make Raajma and a cake. Claire is also thinking of making Crumble, which is basically a sort of baked fruit pudding.

Do keep visiting and thanks for the support you have always given!

Ciao

Parting Shots

2009-07-26T18:41:00.003+02:00

My intern in Germany is over, and I am back to IIT. That does culminate my cooking adventures in Karlsruhe, but certainly does not end this blog. This summer has been best summer I have had so far, and it got only better with all the fun I had cooking. I had always wanted to learn how to cook, but somehow never found time.

This blog will be dormant for the moment, for IIT-life offers neither the time nor the facilities needed for cooking, but I will surely post updates whenever I go home and make something.

The blog recieved more readership and appreciation than I had expected when I started it. Thanks a lot to all you people who read, commented or just kept coming back. Special thanks to Anasuya, Piyush, CP and Sindhu.

My mother deserves a bulk of the credit. She supplied most of the recipes, kept up on the encouragement, and first and foremost, gave me an excellent standard for pitting my dishes against - her own cooking. Also, my grandmother (nani), whose fingers ooze nothing short of magic when it comes to cooking.

This is just a long and sentimental post, but I mean every word of it. So once again, thanks all of you, and I will definitely be back!

Cheers

Antariksh

24th July 2009 - Fest - Chocolate Cake

2009-07-24T17:26:00.004+02:00

What?

I wanted to make some sort of a cake during my stay here and since this was the last day, and I luckily had some maida left over, I went for the plunge. For the chocolate, I used the Bourvita-esque drinking chocolate I had purchased here.

How did it look?

No, the white thing is not flour. It's powdered sugar

Improvement

The sugar here is not as sweet as the one we find in India, which I realized later; the cake could have done with more sugar. Apart from that, though, it was pretty satisfactory.

24th July 2009 - Fest - Besan ke laddoo

2009-07-24T11:21:00.003+02:00

What?

Today is my last day here, and there's so much I want to make... I always wanted to try makin sweets, and rawa+besan ke laddoo are pretty easy. Also, that would help me finish the last bit of besan I have left. The recipe my mother gave looked delightfully simple, and yielded excellent results!

How did it look?

Improvement

I was told that the balls need to be rolled when the mix is still hot, or otherwise they will fall apart. In my case, the mix was too powdery, so I added some milk. I don't know if that was expected, but the laddoo came out fine after that.
I didn't have a lot of besan left, so I could make only 5 laddoos, but they turned out well, and that's what matters the most to me...

UP NEXT: Chocolate Cake

22nd July 2009 - Dinner - Corn, Paprika and Peas!

2009-07-23T19:02:00.005+02:00

What?

I bought a can of Mexico-Mix from the Supermarket. It basically had corn, red pepper and peas, and I just sauted them a bit with some garlic butter and mix-veg masaala, and tossed in cubed boiled potatoes. Boy, corn does make stuff very very tasty.

How did it look?

Improvement

You can experiment a lot with vegetables in this case. Today, I have carrots, beans, peas and corn, and I am gonna see how it turns out.
This dish did well with some drops of lemon juice.
The overall flavour is a slightly light, so I didn't spoil it by adding unnecessary red chilly powder

22nd July 2009 - Dinner - Gaajar ka Halwa

2009-07-23T18:40:00.003+02:00

What?

I have a lot of sugar and ghee left, so what better way to use it than something sweet! So, Gaajar ka Halwa it was!

How did it look?

Improvement

What I made was pretty bare-bones. For better results, condensed milk must be used, and stuff like ilaaychi etc add to the flavour
I did make sure not to commit last time's mistake of adding too much milk, which had made the halwa soggy
The carrots you get here are orange in colour, not like the red ones common in India. So, obviously the halwa also turned out much less red than what we are used to seeing. Although that doesn't change the taste, it still makes the Halwa look, erm, unrealistic. Well, can't help it!

21st July 2009 - Dinner - Raajma

2009-07-23T18:26:00.003+02:00

What?

The last round of Raajma. Saath mei.n chapaati and rice. Except, I only have maida now, so that chapaatis are nice, round, thin and white, and like chewing-gum.

How did it look?

21th July 2009 - Lunch - Suji/Rawa ke Cheele

2009-07-21T14:02:00.005+02:00

What

Credits to Rohit Shroff (affectionately (?) called CP) again for suggesting the dish and giving a decent recipe. It was a cheela sort of preparation again, only with rawa/suji/semolina. I didn't have a lot of time, so I skipped the onions etc, and just filled it with mashed potatoes so that it would be filling for lunch. That, and half a litre of milk with cocoa would do nicely for Lunch!

How did it look?

Improvement

A lot can be done. Some chopped onions, better stuff to fill and so on.
To save time, I made thicker ones, which don't taste as nice as the thinner ones. Compromises!
FLIPS! Today was fun. As my time in Germany nears its end, I am desperate to try as much stuff as possible. I just had to do the flipping again. I practised more, just to be sure, and then took the video. Vanity! The first time I tried the flip, it was half-hearted, and resulted in a half-flip, which neatly folds the cheela. The full flip will lose points for bad landing though. It's fun practising this stuff. So, I tried to do that again, and voilà!

20th July 2009 - Dinner - Veg Frankie

2009-07-21T13:57:00.003+02:00

What?

It was an attempt at making Veg Frankie, the sort they serve at canteens, with a few changes.

Credits to Rohit Shroff for the suggestion. I checked out the recipe at Tarla Dalal's website, but she would have had me fry both the Roti and the potato balls, which was just too much, so I by-passed the recipe a bit.

How did it look?

A bit messy

Improvement

I would only call the result average. The wrap wasn't thin enough, nor big enough (though that is due to the small pan), and would open up again and again.
For filling, I used boiled, mashed potatotes with cheese, and chopped onions and tomatoes mixed with the oh so awesome Jaljira. Some chilly sauce on top and some Bhujia sprinkled for the flavour.

20th July 2009 - Lunch - Besan ke Cheele

2009-07-20T12:03:00.006+02:00

[This, by the way, is the 50th post on this blog. Yay]

What?

I think the names for this dish differ a lot, but many people recognize it by the name of Besan ke cheele, so that's what I am using. I had tried to make it in the first week of my stay in Germany, and it had been a complete disaster. Today, armed with more experience, and a lot of Besan, I decided to conquer it.

How did it look?

The pic isn't as good as usual, please don't mind.

Improvement

In all such dishes which involve making stuff like pancakes/omlettes, I have realized there are too crucial things: Making sure it's uniform, and making sure it doesn't stick and/or break.
This also makes it easy to screw them up. I ruined one even today (not pictured :P). But the sticking problem can be solved by first spreading a uniform layer of oil/butter/ghee on the pan, and then spreading the batter.
As for the breaking, I found it's best not to try to turn it when it's still quite wet. Once it gets cooked a bit and has some structural strength (!), you can go for the flip, making it as quick as possible.
I was always fascinated by the way chefs flip pancakes and stuff by giving that jerk to the pan, without using a spoon or anything else. I desperately wanted to try it, but was scared of losing a well-formed cheela! I tried it, et voilà, it was easier than I expected!
In my vanity, I even took a video of the whole thing, except I didn't have a decent vantage point for the camera, so you only see the cheela momentarily, but the flipping noise and the fact that you don't see it falling down should be proof enough :P. Check out

18th July 2009 - Lunch - Chhole Tikki

2009-07-18T18:00:00.004+02:00

What?

I had decided that the last week of my stay here would see as much variety as I could manage. So, today, I thought of making Chhole Tikki. I had purchased 1 kg. chick peas, so I had some left which I used today. The result was pretty satisfying!

How did it look?

OK, so let's go step by step!

2 down, 3 to go

Vaibhav wanted to be photographed doing the frying :)

All done

Jeera Rice on the side

All set

Improvement

This was really fun. The tikki had great consistency and there was no trouble with the shallow frying.
Potatoes are best boiled in the µWave. I mean, it saves time, energy and nutrients. In about 4-5 minutes, you can boil 4 potatoes without using any extra water! That's the beauty of it all. Potatoes contain enough water for self-boiling.
I had some jeera rice along with this, so I made sufficient gravy for the Chhole and then poured it and some chhole on the rice, while using the rest for the Tikki.
The whole thing works best with chopped onion, ketchup, imli ki chutney and some coriander on the top. After that, you can always add stuff like aloo bhujiya for additional taste. I used chopped onions, chilli sauce and a special type of salad dressing which tasted quite well.

18th July 2009 - Breakfast - Omlette

2009-07-18T09:52:00.003+02:00

What?

I had made an omlette last week too, but didn't put it up. Today when I made it, it turned out exceptionally well, and I had to upload it!

How did it look?

Improvement

Making the egg blend is not tough at all, but getting a round and uniform omlette needs practice. I was thwarted often by the most crucial step, flipping it on the pan.
To ensure that it didn't stick, first layered the pan with lots of butter.
After spreading the mix uniformly, the best way to check if it is sticking is to shake the pan and the omlette should slide freely, which it did!
And of course, while flipping, it was necessary to ensure it didn't break.
A bit of milk in the blend does wonders; makes it all nice and fluffy.

15th July 2009 - Lunch - Onion Paraathey

2009-07-16T01:25:00.001+02:00

What?

After a few days, I decided to try my hands once more on Onion Paraathey, and the results were greatly exceeding expectations.

They turned out exactly the way I usually like them, were quite round and did not break on folding!

How did it look?

14th July 2009 - Lunch - Halwa

2009-07-15T22:55:00.002+02:00

What?

I made Suji ka Halwa (suji, rawa, whatever). We call it Sheera, and it turned out pretty well. I had made quite a few times here, but this was the first time I took a pic.

How dit it look?

12th July 2009 - Dinner - Daal Dhokla

2009-07-15T22:51:00.002+02:00

What?

We call it by various names, Daal Dhokla being one of them. It is a pretty quick dish, and is slightly non-conventional, so makes for a nice change from the normal routine. Also, it is quite filling as it functions like a complete meal.

How did it look?

Improvements?

The daal got sligthly soggy and sort of made the whole thing look like yellow paste. Although the taste was fine, it would be better to cook it a bit less.

12th July 2009 - Lunch - Potatoes in Sunshine Gravy

2009-07-15T22:46:00.005+02:00

What?

This was a repeat of the dish I had made last month. The gravy's made using yoghurt and is bright yellow in colour. This is a good choice if you are out of onions, as it tastes good even when plain.

How did it look?

Improvement

The best thing about this gravy is that it is minimalistic, yet tasty. The yoghurt gives a nice sour and tangy flavour, which can be slightly accentuated by a few drops of lemon juice if your yoghurt is lame.
If you make onion paste and add it to the yoghurt, you will get, more or less, the gravy they use in Gatte ki sabji

13th July 2009 - Dinner - PaaT Vadi

2009-07-13T22:17:00.003+02:00

What?

This is a Maharashtrian dish, slightly similar to the Rajasthani gaTTe. You first make the vadi using besan and then mix it with gravy. I made the yoghurt gravy I make for gaTTe.

How did it look?

Before making the gravy

Finally

11th July 2009 - Dinner - Chhole

2009-07-12T21:19:00.004+02:00

What?

Shantanu Saathe was going to stay over for the night, so I thought of making chhole, although I had just come back from Paris. It was a set recipe, and turned out well.

How did it look?

9th July 2009 - Dinner - Aloo Gravy

2009-07-12T20:52:00.002+02:00

What?

Another round at potato gravy, only this time I added tomatoes and onions too, and made it sour and spicy. Accompanying this were paraathey.

How did it look?

10th July 2009 - Lunch - Paraatha-Bhurji

2009-07-12T20:46:00.003+02:00

What?

For lunch, I made normal Paraathe and Egg bhurji, and then wrapped it in the paraathe so as to make a quick meal. You can just pick one of the rolls and start munching. Plus, the Paraathe stay soft!

How did it look?

Comme ça

8th July 2009 - Dinner - Cabbage Kofta

2009-07-12T20:27:00.004+02:00

What?

I reckoned the best way to make the purple cabbage look good was to hide it with loads of gravy.

So I made this Cabbage Kofta, fried balls made of shredded cabbage and besan.

How did it look?

It still had the black remnants of the cabbage, but it tasted fine!

Improvement

The problem was, the besan didn't get cooked quite well, so there was this taste and smell of raw besan, so I dunked the kofta in the gravy and boiled it along. Normally, that will make the whole thing soggy, which is did, but it was better than eating raw besan.
Cabbage has a fundamental problem: it smells vile when partially cooked. Whatever you do, you just can't escape from the nauseating smell of half-cooked cabbage, which makes it a risky thing to attempt to make unless you are very sure of it.

7th July 2009 - Dinner - Paav Bhaaji

2009-07-12T19:52:00.003+02:00

What?

I decided to make Paav Bhaaji once more, but I purchased red cabbage instead of the normal one, so it looked quite gruesome, truth be told.

How did it look?

This one wasn't one of those dishes I am proud of. It smelled quite horrible and didn't look very great either.

6th July 2009 - Dinner - Raajma and Jeera Rice

2009-07-06T22:37:00.002+02:00

What?

I went for another round of Raajma today. Along with it was some Jeera Rice. Ankit Jha was again invited, and it was another Happy Meal!

How did it look?

Improvement?

This is another set recipe now, and the result was very good. The jeera rice was a good complement. I added in some onions and pepper before boiling it and had made the raajma with more gravy than usual, so after finishing with the chapatis, we proceeded to the real punjabi combination - Raajma-Chaawal

6th July 2009 - Lunch - Paange

2009-07-06T22:33:00.004+02:00

What?

I don't know what it is called elsewhere; at home, we call them Paange. It is nothing great actually, just a mini-chapaati albeit thicker and slightly salty. At home, we often eat it with guR. I took it for lunch today.

How did it look?

The picture's not all that awesome, truth be told. I realised later that the camera had shaken.

5th July 2009 - Dinner - Pasta with Tomatoes and Garlic

2009-07-06T22:21:00.003+02:00

What?

We were pretty full after a rather late lunch, so I didn't want to make anything elaborate. I still had some fusilli left, so I just boiled it, dunked in butter, a chopped tomato, some garlic, some tomato puree, some Swiss cheese, a little milk, some oregano and pepper, and just mixed the whole damn thing on medium heat for some time, a bit like those Salads they serve in restaurants.

How did it look?

Improvement

This was a jhat-pat dish, really, so it leaves a lot of scope for creativity. I guess we can always tweak with ingredients.

5th July 2009 - Lunch - Mashed potatoes with spices

2009-07-05T15:23:00.002+02:00

What?

I actually wanted to make Aloo Vade, but I had little oil left, so I decided to be creative with boiled potatoes. Mashing them and adding in some spices and stir fried onion, I got a pretty neat dish!

How did it look?

Improvement

This was an experimental thing, no recipes, but it turned out quite well.
I stir fried chooped onions in garlic butter and added in oregano, salt and some chilly powder.
Dunking this into the mashed potatoes and mixing well made the potatoes nice and slightly crunchy (onions rock), so I topped it with some fresh lemon juice, oregano, pepper and some more of that wonderful garlic butter. And yeah, chopped onions too

2nd July 2009 - Dinner - Egg Curry

2009-07-05T15:04:00.003+02:00

What?

This was another quick preparation. I quite like Egg Curry as it is both delicious and filling. Aaron joined us too for this one, supplying 6 eggs.

How did it look?

Voilà

Improvements

A pretty set recipe now, so I just went ahead and made it. So, nothing in particular

1st July 2009 - Dinner - Gatte ki Sabji

2009-07-01T22:51:00.003+02:00

What?

The problem with typical North Indian dishes is that almost all IITB inmates who are from Maharashtra or further South taste them for the first time in Hostel Messes. Now if you can do one thing to ensure that a person develops mortal fear for a particular dish, it is to make him it that thing in the mess. Gatte ki Sabji (Rajasthani) shares, with numerous other North Indian dishes like Daal-Baati (Rajasthan, MP) and Raajma (Punjab) the misfortune of very very poorly represented.

It is hence with an exasperated tone that I defend these poor dishes against bitter criticism lashed out by my friends at IIT.

I remember Sameer Joglekar once complaining that I offered the same old explanation ("it tastes better in real life") for every dish that the mess managed to give him a bad first impression of. Anyhow, I wish he were here today. At least, I would have been able to win a point.

How did it look?

Compliments to my mother for the impeccable recipe which didn't seem to go wrong at all. It ended up exactly like I wanted it to be, and I hope a Rajasthani would have been proud. :D

The rice also obliged us by being just about perfect.

Improvements

The key to this dish is gravy with a yoghurt base. It is technically supposed to be made with onion-garlic paste, but since we didn't have a grinder here, we went for the simple alternative: we grated the onions with a very fine grater, and what we got would give any grinder a run for its money.
To substitute for garlic paste, I added Garlic powder to the grated onion paste and it blended in quite well.
I was a bit apprehensive about the gatte disintegrating when boiled, but luckily that didn't happen.
I realised that I had made the gatte too thick, so I cut them in half after boiling them. This did lead to some disintegration, but it only helped in thickening the gravy, so it was cool.

30th June 2009 - Fusilli

2009-06-30T22:47:00.001+02:00

What?

This was another go at Fusilli and the recipe was almost the same as last time, except today I didn't make the mistake of making too little. Ankit Jha was invited for dinner too, and I asked him to get a baguette along, and it was a nice, filling meal!

How did it look?

Improvements

I have made this sauce twice now, and I am sort of bored of it. Next time, I will definitely try to make the one with the white sauce, though it normally ends up being slightly bland for my taste.

29th June 2009 - Dinner - Chana Masala & Plain Dal

2009-06-29T22:42:00.003+02:00

What?

I had lots kabuli chana left, so I decided to make Chana Masala today. Spicy and tangy, it is an awsome dish, and very filling too. Along with it, I had some plain daal, a preparation quite unknown to many North Indians

How did it look?

The chilly is going back to the refrigerator, can't afford chillies for garnishing :P

Daal, plain and simple
Vaibhav's pièce de résistance

Happy Meal

Improvements?

It's very simple to make. Chopped onions and tomatoes is all you need, and boiled chana of course, but with fresh lemon juice and lots of red and green chillies make it tangy, hot and spicy.
The quantity turned out to be bit less, but the Daal I made more than filled up for it.

27th June 2009 - Dinner - Pulaav

2009-06-27T22:39:00.001+02:00

What?

I have trying my hand at Pulaav since a few days, tweaking one thing or the other everytime. This one was rather a barebones one, with only potatoes. But I also made one with boiled chick peas (chhole) and it turned out to be quite filling. It is an ideal lunch for days when I wake up late.

How did it look?

Improvements

A lot can be done, actually. I added very little stuff. You can definitely add more veggies, beans, carrots and so on, and it can be quite nutritious and tasty.
I am partial to haldi (turmeric) so I add it quite liberally to everything I make. I think some people like their rice whiter, so to speak.

27th June 2009 - Lunch - Aloo Paraathey

2009-06-27T21:05:00.000+02:00

What?

For our weekend trip to Salzburg, we wanted to carry something filling but easily portable, so we decided to give Aloo Paraathey a try. They turned out pretty well.

My mother had told me too recipes for this. In one, you mix the mashed potatoes with flour and cook the whole thing, and in the other you stuff the potatoes later. I went for the first recipe as it's rather convenient.

How did it look?

I was quite apprehensive about this and hence hadn't given it a try uptil now, but my fears were quite ungrounded. :)

Improvements

I realized that I had again gone conservative in adding salt, so we made good use of the pickle I had brought from India.
The dough was slightly wetter than needed, so we had to apply lots of flour when rolling it. We could probably improve on that.

Dinner - 24th June 2009 - Chhole and Jeera Rice

2009-06-24T22:38:00.003+02:00

What?

Chhole! I purchased Chhole from the Asian store and let them soak for a day. All the other stuff I needed was already present, and here I was! Also, I decided to make some Jeera rice. Vaibhav had already made chapaatis, so I decided to make some Jeera rice.

How did it look?

Improvements

There was slightly extra water (again), so I went back to the old standard of boiling it away. Anyhow, the dish tastes best when the gravy is absorbed into the chhole and so after reducing a quarter of the water, I left the whole thing to stand for half an hour. Chhole soak in water very fast, and by the end of the half-hour, I had nice thick gravy which I infact had to thin a bit by adding half a cup of water.
Tomato Purée along with a fresh tomato were essential to the taste, and so was the Chhole Masala Amil's mother lent me when I went to their place in Holland.
Lemon Juice of course, for the wonderful fresh sour flavour.
Finally, the Jeera rice was a quick affair, with seasoning of jeera and fresh green chillies.

I also realised how much we eat in Dinner. The quantity I made would easily serve 4 people, but the two of us downed it quite easily. Dinner is our one decent meal of the day and we make the most of it. We don't bother with small bowls, we eat directly off the casserole! Grand :P

Lunch - 24th June 2009 - Onion Parathe

2009-06-24T22:11:00.002+02:00

What?

Pranay Jain suggested I make Onion Parathey, so I thought I try it for lunch today. Anyhow, eating bread and boiled eggs is depressing (the low point of the day, so to speak), so I woke early to make this stuff. Packed some dry aloo ki subji along with it.

How did it look?

Improvements?

Onions were chopped slightly coarsely, so they were not belding well with the flour, and made the whole thing a bit wet, so I had to wrap in a lot of flour to hold the damn thing together.
I decided I was better of making thicker parathe and cooking them nicely with oil, so I ended up making a thinner version of what Maharashtrians call Thaalipeeth.
This is a nifty practice that I had observed at home, and managed to replicate with success. In order to ensure proper cooking of the thick paraatha, they make small holes throughout in which they put in some oil, so that it gets cooked uniformly and throughly. I tried to do it (I already had lots of holes because of using less flour) and it came out well.

This reminds me of a classmate of mine (Aditya Singh) back when I was in Class VI. Every day, he used to invariably get Onion Paraathey for lunch, and they were the best I have ever tasted. It was not uncommon for all of us to pounce on his tiffin and finish a big chunk of his lunch even before he could shout STOP!

Dinner - 23rd June 2009 - Happy Meal

2009-06-23T21:58:00.000+02:00

What?

I call this the Happy Meal because Pitl is one thing that everyone in our house likes. Often, when noone can think of what they want to eat, this dish is the perfect choice that makes everyone happy. With onions on the side, and sour fried chillies, it's just aweseme (and filling too).

How did it look?

Improvement?

Pretty routine stuff; At the end, I heated some rai in oil and poured the whole thing on top; it looks splendid.

Dinner - 22nd June 2009 - Potatoes in sunshine yellow yogurt gravy

2009-06-23T18:38:00.004+02:00

What?

There is this simple gravy that my mother often makes which uses yogurt. I thought of giving it a try today, and it came out very well. This was just potatoes in the yogurt gravy, with no onions, tomatoed etc. Yogurt imparts a nice sour taste to the gravy.

How did it look?

Bright yellow!

Improvements

I added fresh green chillies give a nice hot flavour and also squeezed in some fresh lime juice, blending it with some sugar for the sweet-sour taste.

Jeera was in abundance, and there was no oregano or pepper this time!

17th June 2009 - Dinner - Fusilli with assorted peppers blended in Tomato and Onion gravy

2009-06-17T21:15:00.008+02:00

What?

Ever since I had screwed up the noodles last month, I was determined to make ammends. So, here I was, sailing into uncharted waters, going where I had never gone before. This was one of those times when I had no recipe, and was working merely on intuition. I had eaten this is Berlin last weekend and remembered the taste, so I was sort of reverse engineering the thing. Luckily, it turned out pretty satisfactorily. The only glitch was that, being over cautious, I added less pasta, so I toasted some bread to eat along with it.

I decided to go for the red gravy rather than the white one (I had seen a few recipes in which you would blend it with floor and then bake it, but that is too bland for my taste).

How did it look?

Improvements

Tomato Puree is the best for getting a rich gravy, but it makes the whole thing very silky smooth. I always prefer to have some munchy bits in the gravy, so I chopped onions a bit coarsely and also added in half a tomato, bluntly cut. When boiled for some time, the whole thing blended quite well, and I got gravy that was thick but not like sauce.
I wanted the red pepper to impart its flavour well, so I took care not to overpower the subtle flavours by our Indian masaale. So, added just a little bit of chilly powder.
I realized a bit of garlic would have been good, but that was when the thing was almost ready, so I sprinkled in some garlic powder.
Of course, at the end, a few drops of fresh lemon juice and some cheese and butter were in order. Finally, added some garlic butter (that thing tastes awesome) and let it melt its way in. Topping it all up with Oregano and pepper. Thyme is highly recommended for such dishes, but I had it not, so I had to do with our good old oregano.

16th June 2009 - Dinner - Egg Curry

2009-06-16T21:38:00.003+02:00

What?

Egg Curry. Simple! I like it a lot; it's filling, and tasty. And I still had some of the tomato puree I had got for Raajma, so I put it to good use here.

How did it look?

Improvement

This dish works best with onion paste instead of chopped onions (coutesy my mother!) but I didn't have a grinder here, so I just chopped it as finely as I could, cooked them well, added more water than I needed and then let it boil away to pulp.
The tomato puree really gives a very rich flavour, almost impossible with simple tomatoes.
At the end, I added the halved eggs and switched the burner off, letting them slowly absorb the gravy.
Also put in some butter, cheese, oregano and pepper for the taste and smell.

9th June 2009 - Dinner - Raajma

2009-06-09T23:11:00.005+02:00

Wow, so this was one dish I was all excited about preparing. I wanted it to be just perfect, and had bought all ingredients that were, erm, prescribed.

What?

Raajma used to be one of my favourite dishes before coming to IIT. Then, after eating the vile Raajma-Lashun ki chatni-namkeen poori combination for lunch in the mess for 104 consecutive Thursdays, I had gotten pretty fed up of it. The worst part was that most people used to taste Raajma for the first time in their lives in the mess (a lot of Maharashtrians, for instance) and that would totally put them off. The same happens with Daal-Baati, Rasam and most other dishes which localites have never sampled before.

Anyhow, I purchased Raajma from the Asian shop, got Raajma Masaala too, and bought lemons from Edeka. The lemons here are as big as lousy oranges in India. Three of them weighed 400 grams! I even got myself some Tomato puree.

Vaibhav was away for a Conference Dinner, but I had made it for two people, so once it was ready, I tasted it and as it seemed good, I invited a friend over for dinner ;)

Of course, I had to make extra chapaatis, but if there is anything more satisfying than cooking for yourself, it is cooking for someone else.

I am all charged up now, though, and Chhole is defnitely on the list, apart from a second round of Paav Bhaaji, and some Daal Makhaani too.

How did it look?

Improvements

Like most other recipes, even this one was courtesy my mother. She gave a few nifty little tips, and boy, did they work well! Adding fresh lemon juice was the key, and it did wonders.
Initially, when I boiled the raajma, it still retained a lot of water, which I then slowly boiled off while cooking the raajma. After that I let it stand for an hour, by which most of the water had been nicely absorbed to leave gravy of just the right consistency.
Raajma masaala was of course central to lending it the authentic fragrance and flavour that raajma is so characteristic of.

I often feel I have been very lucky to have been exposed to food from all around the country, something that not many people can boast of. I mean, we are Maharashtrians, but apart from the so called tradiotional dishes, we make Punjabi dishes, Rajasthani dishes, South Indian stuff and lots of other dishes typical of various Indian states. I remember our maid once commented that it would be impossible to figure out where we are from just by looking at the stuff me eat!

8th June 2009 - Dinner - Sambhaar

2009-06-09T11:10:00.005+02:00

What?
I had purchased Sambhaar Masaala from the Asian shop, and was itching to use it, so decided to make Sambhaar-Rice today. Had potatoes, onions, tomatoes and French beans, and of course, the Magic Masala!

For a change, we cooked Basmati rice that Vaibhav had got from India.

How did it look?
Like regular Daal Fry, except it smelled and tasted like Sambhar, which meant the Masala was worth the 1.2 euros I paid for the 100 gram pack.

Improvements

All in all, it turned out satisfactorily. I could have added Brinjals if the future of the world depended on it, but in all other circumstances, I am happier without it.
It still was thicker than normal, probably because I added more daal, but since we focus on taking in as much food as possible, we don't care about that.
I have realized that the masaala is all about the smell. The fragrance of the spices is fundamental to Indian cuisine, and since smell plays a very important role in what the brain interpretes as taste (which explains why food tastes very bland when you have a cold), even a pinch of masaala does wonders.

Up for today's dinner is Raajma!

4th June 2009 - Dinner - Cabbage Fry

2009-06-05T17:14:00.002+02:00

What?

I must confess. This was supposed to be Patta-Gobhi kofta. But in an attempt to finally finish that mammoth cabbage, I chopped whatever remained and dunked it in. However, I wanted to be conservative in my Besan and Oil usage, which basically meant that there wasn't enough Besan to wrap the Kofta completely, nor enough oil to fry it well. After several exasperated tries and refusing to waste more oil and besan in this fruitless exercise, I just decided to fry whatever patta-gobhi-besan mixture I had, in the hope that it would be eatable.

How did it look?

Deceptively good.

What went wrong?

My kanjoosi in putting ingredients took its toll. What resulted was a vile smelling dish (half-cooked patta gobhi smells like it's rotting), which made me gag when I tried to eat it. After downing whatever amount I could, I had to throw the leftover, something I had never thought I would do to self-cooked food.
Well, I am going to come back to this dish again, and this time I will own it. ;)

3rd June 2009 - Dinner - French Beans with Potatoes

2009-06-03T22:59:00.006+02:00

What?

I love French Beans (Haricots), so I finally purchased a packet of Frozen beans from the SuperMarkt today. They looked surprisingly fresh after dunking them in some warm water and very soft, so it was fun chopping them.

How did it look?

Chopped, ready to be cooked

The final product

Improvements

I added some garlic butter and cheese while cooking the beans and sprinkled some pepper on top.
A bit of sugar added at the also helps, and so does something like Neembu-Sat for the sour flavour

2nd June 2009 - Dinner - Paav Bhaji

2009-06-02T22:42:00.000+02:00

What?

I still have some of the 3kg cabbage left over, and I had carrots from the Gajar Halwa time, so I thought it was time to give a try to Paav Bhaaji.

How did it look?

Improvements?

I didn't have Paav Bhaji masala (purchased it later), so although the thing tasted nice, it didn't taste like the Paav Bhaji we are used to eating back in India.
I did add a generous amount of butter while cooking it, and also loads of cheese, finally topping it up with more butter, so, all in all, it worked well. Also, Pepper and Oregano, as always.
I bought some Paav-like bread, but it turned out to be sweet, so we had to do with midly toasted American Sandwich Bread.

27th May 2009 - Dinner - Gajar ka Halwa, Aloo Gravy & Paraathe

2009-05-27T23:17:00.006+02:00

In order to celebrate my return to cooking, and the Champions League final, and the fact that it is 27th May, I decided to go for a slightly more ambitious menu. I had wanted to make Gajar ka Halwa since many days, so I went ahead and purchased carrots (die Karotten) and condensed milk (Kondensmilch).

What?

I decided to make Gajar ka Halwa, Potatoes with a richer gravy (which meant that I added onions, tomatoes and a small piece of carrot while cooking) and Parathe.

I have special associations with Gajar ka Halwa, since it was the first one I cooked myself (not counting Chaai and Maggi), back when I was in Class VII. Also, this is the only dish I have made for guests.

How did it look?

There you go:

Fresh carrots! Notice the distinct orange colour vis-à-vis the red ones we get in India

All grated and ready to cook

The finished product

Aloo gravy

Paraathey

Improvements

I erred on the side of caution when adding milk to the Halwa, due to which a lot of milk was left even after cooking it. As a result, I had to boil the whole thing for a long time to reduce the milk, but this excessive boiling made the carrots slightly soggy. Also, the initial plan to add condensed milk later got trashed.
Got slightly over zealous while adding sugar. A little less would have sufficed.
Made sure that the mistakes of yesterday's Parathey were not repeated. So, all in all, the Parathey turned out really well.
Sabji turned out pretty well. I wanted a rich flavour with thicker gravy, so I added onions and tomatoes too (the bare-bones version uses only potatoes). Also, added, apart from the standard Haldi-Mirch and Hing, some lahsun ki chatni, pepper, oregano and chopped green chillies for the fresh and hot flavour. The only problem was that I added a bit too much water, so had to boil this one too, due to which the potatoes got sort of mashed up, but it tasted nice at the end, so I wasn't complaining!

26th May 2009 - Dinner - Parathe and Egg Bhurji

2009-05-27T10:28:00.006+02:00

If you checked this blog in the past week, you might have noticed the absence of any post for the past 7-8 days. Not that I am tired of cooking, just that I was in Italy for 5 days and something or the other cropped up before that which left us with little time to cook. So, anyhow, after surviving on Bread for 3 days, I was completely fed up, and decided to get back to the kitchen.

What?
The dish wasn't new, I made Egg Bhurji once more, but this time I thought I should give a try to Parathe (Mukund was the one who suggested it for the first time, I guess). The method ain't very different from the Roti method, except you use oil liberally.

How did it look?

Improvements

The bhurji tasted fine, I added some pepper at the end. I realised that making it in a deep, large container yields much better results (finer texture) than making it in a shallow one, the latter giving the typical shredded-omlette look.
Parathe were sort of average. They didn't burn or get too hard, but somehow they didn't taste as fine as I wanted. The best Parathe I have ever had are made by my Nani (who has a magic hand when it comes to cooking).
I added a bit of milk to the dough when kneading it. I had read somewhere that it helps make the Parathe softer (or keeps them soft, I don't remember), but I didn't see any appreciable change. Probably, I added very little milk.

18th May 2009 - Dinner - Aloo & Patta Gobhi

2009-05-19T11:19:00.005+02:00

What?
Remember the 3 kg Cabbage we bought? I did a second round of Aloo-Patta gobhi this time. We ate our fill (dinners are the one proper meal we have, so we eat at least 1.5 times that of normal). But, still, exactly half of the cabbage is left.

How did it look?
Improvement

Made sure that I didn't repeat last time's mistakes. So, turned the burner to a lower setting to ensure it doesn't burn, chopped enough cabbage which, before being cooked, looked as if it would feed half a dozen hungry IITians (you get the idea).
To improve the taste, added some chilly sauce in the final stage and mixed it well.
A bit of water helps cook the cabbage more uniformly. Don't add too much though, or it gets soggy. I prefer my cabbage on the crispy side.

14th May 2009 - Dinner - Daal Fry

2009-05-15T00:00:00.003+02:00

What?

Made Daal Fry once more, this time with Tuar (arhar) daal. Pretty simple recipe, actually. It is sort of a repeat dish, so won't post a lot of details. Onions, tomatoes, garlic and two green chillies (they are hot in ways more than one, considering they cost almost 85 times that in India)

How did it look?

13th May 2009 - Dinner - Pizza with Fruit Salad

2009-05-14T23:44:00.005+02:00

I was going to skip this one, because we purchased the Pizza from the Supermarket, and it wasn't really cooking, but am putting it for the sake of completeness.

Anyhow, we were very happy when we saw 12 mini pizzas, with 4 types of cheese, available at € 1,79. It seemed too good an offer, and we purchased the thing. What we did not take into account was the mini-ness of the pizza.

It turned out to be hardly bigger than a slightly generously-sized cookie, and as for the 4 types of cheese, well, that was all the pizza, or the pizzino, as the cute sounding title said, had.

Anyhow, we bought some fruits, and made some sort of a fruit salad. Took some milk, added sugar, heated, chopped apples, bananas and just mixed the whole damn thing together. Except, we realized later, it was nothing more than fruits and milk, and tasted just the same, so we ended up eating the fruits, and then drinking the milk later. :D

Anyhow, the pic

In the background you can see the Pizzinos in all their petite glory.

12th May 2009 - Dinner - Pitla

2009-05-12T20:42:00.005+02:00

On today's Dinner menu was Pitla (the ending is a schwa not a long a sound), a quintessentially Maharashtrian dish, though it is also made in Gujarat, albeit slightly differently.

What?

Most North Indians might not be aware of Pitla, a staple dish for Maharashtrians. Made using Besan, which is nothing but ground Chana Daal, it is pretty filling. And is pretty hassle-free to make; all the spices can be added to the besan mixture itself, so it minimises the number of utensils you need to clean afterwards (that is the primary factor for me while choosing one out of two recipes!)

How did it look?

The Tadka

Improvement

Nothing much, except I added a final tadka on the top, just for the effect. Took a small frying pan, heated some oil, put in rai (black mustard seed), jeera and then poured it on top of the dish (pic above).
This can also be made in a dry form, which has a longer shelf life, and can be carried on a trip.
When we make this, a bit of the besan sticks to the frying pan too, but unlike normal stuff which burns on getting stuck and makes your life more difficult when you want to clean the pan, this one does not. If you continuously stir the mixture, what you get on the sides is a nice vertical version of besan ka cheela, a dish not restricted to Maharashtra. Vaibhav liked it a lot, and we had fun scraping and eating that stuff.

11th May 2009 - Dinner - Egg Bhurji

2009-05-11T22:37:00.007+02:00

Egg bhurji, or anDa bhurji, the Indian version of scrambled eggs is a very easy-to-prepare dish, that acts as quite a filler, plus gives us our dose of protein in an other wise carbohydrate-high diet (potatotes, potatoes and more potatoes).

What?

Today, decided to make Egg Bhurji. Chopped seven-ninths of an onion and a tomato, and stir fried them, finally adding 4 eggs (not-whipped) and then vigorously stirred it, so that it does not congeal into one mass.

How did it look?

Voilà

How to NOT make it the way it is made in IIT messes and canteens

OK, so all the while you make this, remember that ultimate aim!

Chop the onions finely, thick ones don't work equally well. Ditto with the tomatoes
Stir fry the onions and tomatoes, don't let them be too uncooked
Add Haldi
The most crucial, or mission-critical step is to vigorously stir the contents of the pan after adding the eggs. This has to be done to ensure that [1] the thing doesn't congeal, [2] the resulting bhurji is not coarse, but very fine and light, [3] the egg does not stick to the walls of the pan.
Preferably made in a deep pan rather than a shallow one so that the stuff does not spill when you stir it.
If not stirred well, it will end up tasting like shredded omlette, which pretty much removes the fun out of it
I personally prefer it relatively drier. YMMV, but for people who are not very used to the smell of eggs, or who are probably trying out eggs for the first time, it is better to not make it sort of wet. The drier version has a fainter smell too.

The bhurji that is made in the mess is made on those large flat surfaces used for making Dosas etc, and the onions never get cooked enough, nor the mixture shredded enough, leading to raw onions and the congealed thing I was talking about.

10th May 2009 - Dinner - Aloo Gravy (Different Recipe)

2009-05-11T22:20:00.007+02:00

What?

Dinner was Aloo Gravy again, but with a different recipe, this one easier and hassle-free. Just dice potatoes and cook them in a pressure-cooker. No need to boil potatotes beforehand and the whole thing gets cooked in about 15 minutes.

How did it look?

Like this

Improvements

What I made is a highly no-frills version of the dish. Normally, we can add a tomato (chopped) to thicken the gravy a bit and also improve the taste. Also, an onion (chopped) would help.
In case the gravy is too thin, it helps to boil the thing for some time. I added some pepper and a hint of oregano to make it taste even better.
In most cases, we assume that dishes are supposed to be either salty or sweet. In reality, it does not work that way, and adding a pinch of sugar to dishes like these actually does wonders. Also, some sour stuff like fresh lemon juice/neebu sat (citric acid) or whatever you have will help.

10th May 2009 - Lunch - Namkeen Puri

2009-05-10T00:49:00.005+02:00

So we are going to go to Stuttgart tomorrow, and I thought we could pack a couple of Puris along. Vaibhav had gone out for some time, so I took a nap, then woke up again at 11:30 for the Puri adventure

What?

What we call TikhaT-meeThachi puri in Marathi, simply translates to mirch-namak ki puri ~ namkeen puri.

Vaibhav did the bulk of the operations today. He has been managing the Flour-Department uptil now, and this fell directly under him. We mixed salt, chilly, powder etc and kneaded the dough as usual, only denser.

How did it look?

Here's how

Improvements

On tasting it, I realised that salt added earlier was too less and we would probably need to down the thing with achaar.
I was generally conservative in adding chilly etc, so the final puris were more normal ones than, erm, namkeen ones, but that's fine.
ACHTUNG: Oil does not like water. We all know that. If there's anything which hates it more, it is hot oil. Never let water touch hot oil, unless you are prepared for disastrous consequences. No, we did not learn this the hard way, but it is something I realised we take.

9th May 2009 - Lunch - Moong Dal Tadka!

2009-05-09T16:11:00.004+02:00

After a slightly depressing end to yesterday's cooking, I was back this afternoon with renewed enthusiasm, sure to not let Murphy thwart me. As it's a holiday, there was scope for making a fuller meal, so we skipped the sabji part and made rice and moong dal tadka, apart from roti.

What?

Moong Daal Tadka. Quite straightforward. In a pressure cooker, fry onions and garlics along with some Jeera (I am not bothering with English names for everything. Sounds very pompous and typical artificial high-society).

Moong daal - often hailed as the quintessential meal for the sick guy, is highly under-rated. I mean, agreed that plain boiled daal can only appease someone whose taste-buds are underperforming, but if you fry it nicely, it promises to be very tasty.

How did it look?

Voilà

Improvements

God is merciful. Whatever he took from us in the form of yesterday's dinner was returned doubled. The thing tasted quite good and we had a rather filling meal.
Of course, I sprinkled that tiny bit of oregano for the smell and the looks. Apart from that, I had the awesome Nimbu ka achaar I had brought from home, which very nicely complemented the daal.

All in all, happy meal!

8th May 2009 - Dinner - Noodles

2009-05-08T20:48:00.003+02:00

As written earlier, I was going to make Noodles today. We had cabbage (from yesterday, remember?), yellow pepper, onions and tomatoes.

And yeah, by the way, all recipe credits to my mother!

What?

Chopped all the vegetables, boiled noodles separately, sautéd vegetables, added noodles after straining, blah blah.

Also found some Balsamic vinegar, and already had chilly sauce, so added that too.

How did it look?

Voilà

What went wrong?

Many things, I guess. Frankly, it didn't taste very good. And we made too much. I erred on the side of excess and boiled a second round of noodles and it turns out the first set was sufficient. What you see in the pic has been taken out for purposes of photography, the real bowl held almost 6 times this amount.

Also, the vegetables got over-cooked, it got soggy, it became a bit smelly, as cabbage tends to do, and so the result wasn't very encouraging.

But, I guess we win some, we lose some, and with every loss, it is experience++

So, here's to more successful ventures!

P.S. If you are reading this blog for the first time, not all my attempts are bad ;) Read the stuff below! :P

7th May 2009 - Dinner - Cabbage and Potatoes

2009-05-07T22:32:00.005+02:00

So, today's plan was to make cabbage (patta-gobhi) with potatoes. I like the sort of fried version we sometimes make at home, which tastes spicy and uses oil liberally.

What?

Recipe's simple, like all previous ones. Chop loads of cabbage and a potato and cook the mixture up.

Thanks to this useful thing sent by Vaibhav's mother, kneading dough has become very easy. You just need to put the flour in, add a bit of water and rotate the mixer until the desired consistency is achieved. Quite a cakewalk, really. Without it, it gets slightly messy, if not difficult.

How did it look?

Voilà

Top View

Isometric View

Improvements

The cabbages you get here are HUGE. Ek khareed lo to poora khaandaan khaa le. The one I purchased today weighed 2.9 kgs. And cutting it was hell! So, I ended up using about 2/9 th of the cabbage today, and thought I had added a lot. Except, when I cooked it, the whole thing shrivelled to like half its size, and my plans of using the dish for tomorrow's breakfast were shattered.
This one takes a long time to cook, so what I do in such cases is, I do the initial steps in a normal pan, and when all the spices are mixed up, I put it in a Microwave and keep it for about 4 minutes, by which time everything nicely softens up.
I purchased a bottle of chilly sauce today. Pretty cheap at €0,49. It is great if you want to add that zing to your food. Often, if you get your chilly or salt or other spices wrong when preparing the dish, adding some sauce can make the whole thing taste quite nice.
Cheese! Also purchased a pouch of shredded cheese, ready to be used on stuff. Cheese is of course fabulous, and if used as garnishing, makes the dish look quite nice!

Next on the list: Noodles!

7th May 2009 - Lunch - Sandwiches

2009-05-07T09:08:00.003+02:00

When I made yestersay's potatoes for dinner, I boiled 2-3 extra and kept them aside for preparing today's lunch. In the morning, I used them and quickly got 5 sandwiches ready in like 15 minutes.

What?
Took the potatoes, mashed them with my fist (!) and added salt, red chilly etc. Took bread loaves and sandwiched the mashed potatoes between them and then slightly roasted the stuff on a pan, with some ghee. Pretty standard stuff, really.

What did it look like?
Voilà

Isometric view

Head on

6th May 2009 - Dinner - Curried potatoes with gravy

2009-05-06T21:12:00.004+02:00

Happy with the success of the previous two days, we thought it was time for more advanced stuff. Potatoes with gravy was what was decided, and after checking up the recipe from home, off we were!

What?

Aloo-rassa (rassa=tari=jhol=whatever) is a common dish in North India, though lots of variations exist. What I made is what we call Station waali sabji, for reasons guessable.

With the fresh flavour that green chillies provide, this dish is pretty easy to make, but can turn out quite well.

And of course, chapati, which has become common fare now.

How did it look?

Isometric view

Top view

Improvements

Of course, the final sprinkling of Oregano and pepper added to the taste, and the green chillies helped too.
I am thinking of putting fresh lemon juice instead of citric acid powder that I added at the end for improving the taste.
Was told that mashing a few potatoes first and adding to the initial mixture would thicken the gravy, but I forgot to do that. Although it still turned out fine, I will try that next time.

All in all, today's was very satisfying. It tasted good and looked good too.

5th May 2009 - Dinner - Of tomatoes and onions!

2009-05-05T12:42:00.002+02:00

Today's visit to the Supermarkt was for purchasing Tomatoes (Tomaten) and Onions (Zwiebeln) among other things.

What?

Another one of my favourites from home, a very simple preparation that I like a lot. Tamatar Pyaaj ki sabji. Very simple to prepare, but can be very satisfying. And of course, Roti, which we have now more or less gotten the hang of.

Vaibhav is already the resident Roti expert, and seems to have a natural talent for making that stuff nice and circular. Either that, or he has been furiously practising the past few weeks days :D

Also, to compensate for the lack of an open flame, I pat the roti with a small pad made by folding a few napkins. That ensures the uniform cooking.

How did it look?

The dish was simple, except there were lots of interesting lessons to be learnt.

All chopped and ready!

The whole Roti business is pretty much sorted out now. Neat and tidy!

The end result

Improvement?

The onions and tomatoes you get in Germany are a bit different from what you get in India. So, when you try to cut onions, they don't behave they do back home. This led to slightly bigger pieces which might not get cooked well enough.
The tomatoes here are quite rigid, not the lame, limp stuff we get back home. So, cutting can be finer.
OREGANO! This is one magic herb. We didn't have Dhaniya (Coriander) anyhow, and I wanted some seasoning, so I mixed liberal amounts of Oregano with the sabji. Man, what aroma! Also, it smells and tastes very fresh.

4th May 2009 - Dinner - Aloo Kaap and Rotis

2009-05-04T23:28:00.001+02:00

So, we decided to start cooking today. Went to the Supermarkt (Supermarket) and purchased basic stuff, you know, milk (Milsch), eggs (Eier), potatoes (Kartoffel) and the like.

What?

Decided to make what we call Aloo Kaap at home. Simple name, actually, combining the word for potatoes and the Marathi verb for kaaTna (to cut), because that's exactly what this dish is all about.

Then, when I realized I still had enthusiasm (apart from hunger), decided to make Rotis/Chapatis too!

How did it look?

Voilà.

The finished products. Rotis have been relegated to the background, but justice will be the done in the next pic.

Top View, almost

Digging In

Not too bad for a first time Roti, eh?

What went wrong?

Here, you can't make Phulkas easily because you can't place the Roti directly on the fire, there being no fire. So, I had to pat the roti with a napkin while it was on the pan. The burner was at the highest setting, and this led to the first roti getting a bit burnt.
Erring on the side of caution the second time, I lowered the temperature, but kept it on the pan for a long time. Result: Unburnt roti, but very hard, like a Khakhra
The third time, I had quite perfected the technique, except I was a bit too cautious again, and this one remained slightly uncooked.
After that, I had a fairly decent idea of the timing required and the final 5 turned out pretty well!

So, after dunking the rotis in a lot of Ghee, off we were to the table, relishing the first meal we cooked in Germany!