7th July 2009 - Dinner - Paav Bhaaji

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.