Diwali!

Best wishes from the blushingbasil household...
(Diwali classics in the pic - Mullu Murukku (lentil fritters), Almond Halwa and Mango Shrikhand)

Fenugreek Leaves' Sambar

When I sit down to write a post, most often I do not have a clue as to what to write about. The recipe part is the easier of the two. So for the story part, I just begin with whatever is on the top of my mind at the moment and then ramble on about it. Today's recipe about Methi Sambar is a neat recipe and turns out to be one of my faves but there's nothing glamorous about it that I can write stories about.

To play catch up for the months I have been missing out posting -

Feb - left me frazzled since the rush of things so demanded to exercise some of my old-time indefatigable spirit. (No, I don't enjoy being that and did pleasantly surprise myself that I could pull it off (again).)
V-Day - Though the practical half of my brain agrees that the hype about Feb 14th is one pompous marketing gimmick that is prevalent worldwide, I have to confess that I got bitten by the V-day bug a long time ago. Gimmick or no gimmick, I associate this day with a colorful kaleidoscope of events ever since my undergrad days. The anticipation and nerves felt was very infectious even to a person completely untouched by the fever (like me). The atmosphere remained charged all through the week and culminated in very different ways for every walking soul. It also led to a lot of "illegal" betting as to who would give THE card to who and the act of speculation turned out to be the top-rated sport of the month. It was considered perfectly normal (for even those very serious-in-life-first-benchers) to bandy around gossip. You could hear a lot of shushing in the corridors when some much sought-after maidens or hunks passed by. Times have changed and a decade has rolled by...V-Day has metamorphosized to being more predictable and pleasant. But I sure do miss the feeling of restlessness that so accompanies folks in their very early 20s. ;)

March - February segued into March and things mellowed down quite a bit. It was suffused with numerous fun events, a refreshing change to enjoy blithely, after what seemed like forever. (The two girls I consider "best" friends were on a long vacation in India and I couldn't help missing the insanely interesting phone chats.)

April - saw me very excited when my dad finally booked his tickets to here. Albeit he was never against visiting here, it took convincing from at least 15 different people to make him take a break from his teaching job at the college. The tough part was trying to drive down the fact that "now" was indeed a good time! He arrives in the first week of June and needless to say I’m thrilled. Apart from that, we also had one of our customary potlucks, complete with dress code and all. Though donning a sari is one of the most complicated tasks for an artistically-challenged imbecile like me, I never relent and make use of any opportunity that comes my way. The guests arrived resplendent in colorful and trendy kurtas and saris. We had a ball of a time hogging and playing games until late into the night.

May – was good especially because of all the summer shopping I unabashedly indulged in. On Sundays, Vee and I did some serious trail biking on our mountain bikes on the ever-so scenic trails in and around the Bay Area, wending our ways to the summit. Riding alongside a bubbling brook or going downhill on a bumpy dirt road unfailingly proves to be a catharsis of all the built-up stress.

June - After work, I love watching the sunset from our 7th floor west-facing apartment. The garnet ball that sinks into the horizon has one musing over whether this epitome of serenity could indeed be the rambunctious sun that scorches mercilessly during the day. The shimmering light adorns the worn-out city like a jewel. (hmm...dreamland eh?)

Getting back to this recipe, I am quite a fan of the unique taste of Fenugreek leaves and always have stuck religiously to Aloo-Methi to relish it. The downside to Aloo-Methi is I can't make it as often as I'd like due to the high carb nature of potatoes. My quest for an equally interesting dish minus the high carb levels led me to this intensely flavored sambar. This is one of those recipes which I credit to Amma.

Methi Sambar served over hot rice and pan-fried plantain

Ingredients -
1) Fenugreek leaves - 2 large or 3 small bunches (leaves separated with short stalks on - washed)
2) Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
3) Fenugreek seeds - 3/4th tspn
4) Red chilies - 1
5) Toor dal - 1.5 tbspns
6) Asafetida - a generous pinch
7) Green chilies - 2
8) Toor dal - 1/2 a cup (separate from #5)
9) Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tspn
10) Olive Oil (or any cooking oil) - 2 tspns
11) Tamarind - Gooseberry-sized ball (soaked in 1/4 cup of warm water for 20 minutes)
12) Sambar Powder - 2 heaped tspns (Scale this down if your sambar powder has a lot of heat in it.)

Method -
1) In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with ingredients 2-7 adding one at a time and evenly frying them.
2) Add in washed toor dal on top of the sauteed condiments.
3) Stack cleaned and washed fenugreek leaves as the third tier and pour just enough water so the lentils get cooked.
4) Sprinkle half the salt you intend to use for the dish along with turmeric powder and pressure cook for 3 whistles or 8 minutes if you are using an electric pressure cooker.
5) Squeeze the juices out of the soaked tamarind, add some water if needed so that the extract is no more than 1/2 a cup.
6) Boil the tamarind water with the remaining salt and the sambar powder.
7) After all the steam has cooled off, pour the tamarind-sambar powder mixture into the cooker and mash slightly.
8) Simmer for 5-7 minutes until it all comes together. (You can add more water if you like your sambar thin.)
9) Serve along with hot rice and watch the hungry folks dig in!

Oh man! We did it!

As a principle, I wouldn't want to write about something that has been/is going to be written about a lot but today I can barely contain the enormous rush of feelings towards ARR, Resul Pookutty and Slumdog as a movie in general. Millions are the diehard fans of ARR (like me) in India and scores of us right from the moment we heard Chinna Chinna Aasai in Roja way back in 1991, but the very realization that this adorable wonder-boy from Chennai has transformed himself into a leaf in the history of India is simply mind-blowing. The sheer delight in being able to perform on a stage as prestigious as the Academy Awards by itself is an achievement of a lifetime for any Indian. I'm sure fellow Indians would agree with me, we would consider that as pride unequalled even if ARR hadn't bagged any award last night. Seeing him exude his trademark unassuming, soft-spoken, very-common-man-like persona in a ceremony which is probably the ultimate showcase of glamour, riches and beauty was a breath of fresh air that serves to strengthen scores of age-old adages.

Resul Pookutty and ARR - we salute you! Jaya Ho!

P.S. - The only other truly remarkable thing about last night was getting to see that "the three kids" got to attend the Oscars too. What an indelible mark in the hearts of the families of those endearing kids who live in the Mumbai slums!

Bell Pepper Delight!

Oh no! Nooooo!

Oh yes, I chickened out! I hate to admit it but I have been pretty apprehensive about even attempting to type http://www.blogger.com/ in the address bar out of fear that guilt and emotion threaten to overcome me. I do not know if other bloggers experience something as insane as this but I kinda' hate visiting other blogs as well when I set foot into such a self-created predicament. Writing this post is almost like a confession about my dark side in reality. Vee says he suspects I must have suffered some trauma during childhood for me to react in this ridiculous fashion. But I've assured him that that is not the case. I have always been this able-minded individual right since I was a kid (almost like the kid in Robin Cook's Mutation, you know ;)). I have been busy no doubt, but the very feeling that I am unable to be religious in what I started haves me feeling like I want to throw up each time I hear the word "blog". My dear reader, if you didn't think I was that crazy while reading the beginning of this post, I'm sure you must have concluded I am no less than a mad girl whose madness has reached swooning proportions. The funny thing is I have been doing these kitchen expeditions which turned out to be good successes but no, I simply wouldn't click any pictures of those dishes. It is like the urge to click pictures for the blog got thrown out the window and got bulldozed by some roadwork vehicle. A classic case of nut-ism!

Q - So, how do I make peace with myself?

A - By being back with a bang! (Bang reads as a damn good recipe in my "mental" (literally) dictionary!)

Also, Anu kind of prodded me to at least post "something" (anything) because she's absolutely tired of looking at the Oats Pongal post for ages now! Should I waste some of my blog space lamenting about how busy it has been and blah blah? Hell, no! It is clichéd to say "Life is a rollercoaster" but I continue to be appalled by the sudden out-of-the-blue twists and turns. May be that's what keeps one's interest "to live" piqued. Imagine a world where everything was as utopian as it could get - you'd die out of boredom within a month!

Some good healthy recipes have been crowding my inbox these past 3 months which I am hoping will soon transform themselves into blog posts to see the light of the day. :)

Today, I have a lovely recipe up my sleeve to blog about. The name that I have coined for it might be misleading because in reality it is a dry curry which can be had as an accompaniment with any gravy or dal over rice. (Lest I incur the wrath of my Tamil friends here, this is called podi-idicha karamadu in my parents-in-laws' home.) Bell pepper had (yes, "had" not "has"!) been one of my favorite vegetables during my Delhi days. I wonder if it had something to do with the cooler climate in the north that had us hankering for the hot shimla mirch subzi or if it really was the bell pepper we got in Delhi during the 80's that was bursting with oodles of flavor. There was this kid named Ruchika in my class whose swanky lunch box always had some toothsome Punjabi curry or attractive fusion dish in it. Thanks to our moral ethics' cops (a.k.a. prefects), who took it on themselves to ensure the kids shared their food, I always got a bite or two of her appetizing lunches! Back home, I used to urge my mom to make the same dishes, Ruchika's mom's way. It was a tough call for her, since all she had to work with, was a 6-year old's description of the taste and appearance. But since moms' are born kitchen scientists, the outcome always turned out palatable, close to the original and more than enough to bring a smile on a kid's face. The huge hybrid bell pepper that we find in the U.S. sure does have a delicious crunch but it doesn't come close to its Indian counterpart which had a distinct hot taste to it. I personally prefer the red bell peppers to the green ones here. Also, I have taught myself to dress up the American pepper in ways which make the pepper feel special and loved.

Here goes one very South Indian recipe -

Ingredients -

1) Bell peppers - 6 medium-sized ones - chopped into 1" pieces

2) Oil - 2 tspns

3) Mustard - 1 tspn

4) Curry leaves - a few

5) Asafetida - a pinch

Fry in 1 tspn of oil, cool and grind to a coarse powder -

1) Bengal Gram Dal - 3 tspns

2) Whole Urad Dal - 3 tspns

3) Coriander Seeds - 3 tspns

4) Red Chilies - 3

5) Asafetida - a pinch

Method -

1) In a pan, heat the oil and splutter the mustard seeds, followed by curry leaves and asafetida.

2) Dunk in the chopped bell pepper.

3) Sprinkle water and cover and cook in low flame until almost cooked.

4) Turn up the heat, fry for a minute and sprinkle the ground powder.

5) Toss around until coated evenly and then continue frying for a few minutes.

6) Serve along with rice and gravy of your choice!

Note - The bell pepper can be substituted with pretty much any vegetable of your choice.

Candlelight Vigil for India - I

Posted from my drafts - written a while ago- of course there have been many developments after this but those have been saved for part II.

It's been a while since I posted something new around here and I was bubbling with so many delightful incidents to spin my stories around. But alas! The past five days have left me too sober to think about anything other than the state of affairs in my home country. It is a rude awakening for folks like me who tend to complain (or crib) at the drop of a feather. For the past few days, I have been looking at my life with the eye of an insufferable on the borderline of indulging in self-pity. But all my little misgivings with life have seemed to have shied away in the wake of the magnitude of what happened at Mumbai. This entire Thanksgiving, I have been glued to the couch in front of the TV and after the international telecast on CNN got cut, I have been drinking in the inspiring journalism on NDTV 24X7 Live. Sometimes my heart feels so numb that my mind starts playing tricks on me and I drift into a trance where I am certain I have imagined it all. If only life could be that fair!

In the past three decades, "We, the (Indian) people" - think we have been through it all - from watching riots break out outside our homes on various occasions including brutal assassinations of at least two prime ministers, having some of the most terrible politicians history could have ever seen rule over our land, observe passively one tragedy after the other engulf the country - Bhopal gas leak, religion/caste centric riots, slanders and wars, natural calamities like earthquakes and tsunamis claiming thousands of lives, - to being thrown in a world where the air we breathe is deemed unfit according to international health standards. Of course, Indians are a very resilient lot. How else could we have borne all this? Whatever happens, L-I-F-E goes on. Correction - Life has to go on. We are a developing country after all, who cannot afford to take some time off for ourselves for mourning, can we? Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable but there is no refuting the fact. So deep down in your heart, when you have this smug feeling about adversity and wonder what could be worse, along comes a reminder of terror that sweeps you off your wit's end. To hear about "something" that happened in the news is one thing and to actually experience it live as the horror revealed itself little by little over three excruciatingly long days is a different dimension of fear altogether.

May be that is what makes our heart wrench when we hear the words 9/11 to this day many years later and it is the same familiar feeling that is gripping our souls today about Mumbai.

May be that is what has rekindled the flame of revolution in the hearts of the youth in Mumbai.

May be that is what the media has decided to showcase in their fight against dirty politics.

The "media" have been typecast as news-hungry gossip-mongers since forever of course. But akin to all other things in life, "not all" media is bad, right? We expect radical changes, then we'd better get used to the fact that positive journalism can act as a fast-acting catalyst. After all, life is all about taking risks and shattering the umbrella of "conventionalism". If I may say so, the only lucrative outcome of this tragedy is that India has learnt to recognize "both" of its worst enemies - the "religion-less" terrorists themselves and internal politics leading to costly mistakes. The citizens have risen and taken it upon themselves to ask precise questions - "Why were the intelligence reports from the U.S. ignored? What took the NSG commandoes more than 7 hours to reach the location? Why aren't our cops better trained/equipped to handle chaotic, dangerous situations?" The past has to be dug up and cleansed thoroughly in order to usher in the new "tomorrow". Security analysts in the U.S. admit that the stand that U.S. has always taken against India-Pakistan tensions cannot continue to be played by the rule-book anymore.

Looking ahead...Many were the images of carnage that moved us to tears but one of the most striking images that brought with it a breath of fresh life-saving air is that of the citizens (people) holding candles in the dark of the night (some until as late as 1:00 a.m. in the morning). Their glowing angry faces represents the future of India, I thought. I hear them talk day in day out in what is now being called as "We, the people - Citizen's Movement" and I'm transfixed by how lucid they are in expressing their opinions. Why does the voice of the common "man" whose average intelligence is much higher than people-who-shall-not-be-named get buried beneath all those bureaucratic blankets? Not anymore, I pray! The vigil has begun inside the country but what can we, who are away in greener pastures, do? The inability to do anything has been ravaging my being. I say to myself - there could be something we could do to bring about a radical change too. I examine my conscience to look for answers to whether I've inadvertently stepped into the shoes of the clan of the younger generation that decided "enough is enough" a long time ago and fled to greener pastures. I have an urge to not just sit around pondering over this but actually do something. I realize every small step will be one step closer to the goal and the flame that the folks in Mumbai lit up, is blazing through every Indian's heart.

May the flame remain immortal!

Oats Pongal!

In a pensive mood after a considerably long and refreshing vacation at a few of the East Coast spotlights, I have not been spending much time in the kitchen this past week. One would expect to be in brighter spirits after a trip of that sorts, but the darned tasks that I had blissfully abandoned before I left, have been daunting me ever since the flight touched down in San Francisco last week. As soon as the pilot announced - "The South West crew would like to welcome you to San Francisco and at this time, we request you to remain in your seats until the seat belt sign is turned off", I closed my eyes and tried not to think of the doom that lied in wait for me. On the car ride back home, we stopped for dinner at Saravanaa's (a South Indian restaurant which is a branch of Saravana Bhavan in India) along with Ashwin who had come to get us. The food was comforting as always and I stuck to eating Rava Idlis with a few mouthfuls of their excellent curd rice. At the end of a trip, I find myself almost always craving for simple home food. Hot rasam with rice followed by curd rice with oil-free pickles like the tiny mangoes' one (maavadu) or the dried lemon one (naarthanga) continue to top the lists. (The chennai-ite in me is still alive and kicking, I note!) In a futile attempt to delay the demise of our trip, we tried to prolong the dinner by punctuating it with a lot of forced conversation. But the parents were tired and I caught them furtively (and longingly) looking towards the exit more than once. Out of pity for them and poor Ashwin as well, who had kindly driven all the way to the airport right out of work, we finally signaled to the waiter to bring us the check. At thirty past nine in the night, we reached home. Scanning through my mental Outlook Calendar, I figured I had to do at least a teeny bit of unpacking, xxx, xxxxwww and yyyzzz but instead, all I managed was to sit around dumbly staring at some TBS show before taking an extra-long hot shower. A few minutes later, I was curled up in bed reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. (Was I in reverse-denial?) I slept fitfully that night and woke up to the sounds of the countless chores buzzing around in my head. I started running around trying to complete all of them at once and here I am, a week later still an avid participant in the mad rat-race!
In the same context, here is something that I read on one of my favorite blogs - a true masterpiece, this post is! With reference to the same post, I am still waiting for the un-invited Sunday evening guy to leave. May be this weekend, he'll pack his bags and bid farewell...I hope so...I would so love that!

Since I have been harried with all those unfavorable thoughts all week, eating healthful and quick-to-make dishes has gained a lot of priority. One such dish which has not disappointed me so far is Oats Pongal - guilt-free and wholesome, it tastes just fine without any dipping! If I were to describe pongal in a single sentence I would say - it is a first cousin of moong dal ki kichdi. I made it this crazy week too when I had no interest whatsoever in cooking! It's been a regular in the basil household since the past year or so after I came up with the idea (of dressing up oatmeal the gratifying pongal way) in my quest for a healthy but delicious dish. Now, it also serves as my pretext to sneak oats into Vee's diet as he cannot stand a steaming bowl of plain oatmeal with milk and fruit. This is off to Suganya's JFI - Whole grains.

Oats Pongal - oatmeal with lentils.

Without further ado, here is the recipe -

Ingredients -

1) Steel-cut Oats - 3/4th cup

2) Green gram dal (moong dal) - 1/3rd cup

3) Ginger - 1" piece

4) Cumin seeds - 1.5 tspns

5) Black peppercorns - 1 tspn

6) Curry leaves - few

7) Oil - 1.5 tspns

8) Ghee - 1 tspn

9) Asafetida - a generous heap

10) Salt - to taste

11) Cashew nuts - 1 tbspn (broken)

Method -

1) Rinse the dal and dunk it in a pressure cooker along with the oats. Add about 3.5 cups of water.

2) Grate the ginger and stir in half of it in the pressure cooker. Also add in 1/2 a teaspoon of cumin seeds along with salt (to taste) and pressure cook for 12-15 minutes or 4-5 whistles. (The cooking time can vary with the cooker. If not done properly, add about 1/2 a cup of water and pressure cook again until done well.)

3) Take the remaining cumin seeds and peppercorns and give them a quick run in the blender. I generally prefer a very coarse powder in my pongal. However, this step could be modified to suit your palate by making it into a fine powder or omitting the grinding altogether.

4) In a small pan, heat the oil and ghee together. Put the cumin and peppercorn mixture and after that turns crisp, toss the ginger, curry leaves, asafetida and cashew nuts. Everything should fry well but take care so it doesn't get charred .

5) Pour over the cooked oats and dal mixture and mix well.

6) Serve piping hot with nothing or coconut chutney!

Festive Sweetmeats & Savories!

I can understand God looking forward to us folks celebrating his birthday (pun unintended ;)). After all who could resist it if millions were busy making merry on your annual special day! But what beats me is why in this wide world would HE prefer the pure ghee (clarified butter) drenched sweets and oil-fried crunchy snacks? The only sane answer I can think of in his defense is, HE being the immortal deity, doesn't really have to dread the almost imminent side-effects of cholesterol or fat that afflict us mortals. That is just the tip of the iceberg though. It is common belief that if you ate the offerings that were presented to him, you are blessed and hence no harm (read as gaining a pound or two) will befall you. As you and I know, that is just a cock-and-bull story. I am a huge fan of the numerous exceptionally riveting mythological stories from the good old Indian epics. Though I haven't really laid my hands on an unabridged version yet, the retold English Amar Chitra Katha versions are good for me for a lifetime. Back home in India, on a dusty bookshelf in my now-not-so-used study, there sits an enormous collection of them. Amidst those very books, in some corner lies buried, my childhood. Some day, may be my kids or grandkids would inherit the treasure and I am hoping they will get as starry-eyed as I have always. A month ago, it was Lord Krishna's birthday and I being the new daughter-in-law, dutifully followed the customs and rituals that my new-found family has practised over the generations. I like to think that I had a great time doing whatever I was doing but it stirred up a lot of thoughts lying dormant. Over the centuries, man's interpretation of festivals and GOD has become pretty skewed, don't you think? I dislike sounding judgmental but IMHO the focus should be more on the lines of -

• remembering HIM for a few insightful moments (and may be the wondrous epics his life has been portrayed by),
• listening to some carnatic melodies sung by M.S. (Ah! Paradise!),
• being good all day by thinking fine thoughts,
• sharing life's joys with friends and family,
• spreading love and then doing something divine like helping a person in need,
• and last but not the least having quality F-U-N.

(FYI - I came up with this list after ransacking my brain for quite some time.)

In all the hustle surrounding festivals, people get so caught up coddling the Lord by performing austere ceremonies that the true spirit of the day lies around completely forgotten and shunned by everyone. When we overdo the petty things, the bigger more important tasks get thrown out of our heads. One could argue that that is exactly what preserving culture is all about. My philosophy is - preserve and pass on the culture to the next generation but do it in a way it will truly remain indelible.

Now that those thoughts that have been swimming around in my head have found their vent, I'd like to proudly present the goodies Amma, Vee and I made for Krishna Jayanti a.k.a Janmaashtami/Gokulaashtami. Though I am an advocate of health-eating, I couldn't help but gobble up indecent amounts of everything we made. Gosh! What a shame! As a repercussion, I am now constantly high strung, planning the extra hours I should be sweating out at the gym. Not fun at all! While walking around, I seem to be pouncing over my reflection on any shaggy bit of reflective surface to see if all that deadly gluttony has made me go pudgy. That kind of paranoia is gross indeed!

Mullu Murukku, Cashew Burfi, Rice Flakes Payasam, Rice Flour puffs (Uppu Seedai) - A collage! (Missing in picture - Appam and Jaggery Seedai)

Mullu Murukku

In this post, I am sharing only the lentil-flour thorny fritters' (mullu murukku) recipe. The other recipes will be posted subsequently as updates to this post.

Ingredients -
1) Deshusked Green gram dal flour (Moong Dal flour) - 1 cup
2) Rice Flour - 3 cups
3) Salt - 3tspns
4) White sesame seeds - 2 tspns
5) Asafetida - 1/2 a tspn
6) Hot Oil - 1 tbsp
7) Water - 1/2 - 3/4 cup (or as need arises!)
8) Oil - for deep frying

Paraphernalia needed-
1) Murukku Mold (or squeezer) with the star-shaped holes' plate! (Picture is at the very end of this post.)
2) Slotted spoon (I like to call it a hole-riddled ladle.)

Method-
1) In a large mixing bowl, mix well all the dry ingredients listed in 1 through 5 and make a well for pouring in the liquids.
2) Heat the oil and pour it in the well. Mix it in the flour after it is not too hot for your fingers.
3) The flour will still be dry at this stage but with a glaze to it.
4) The dough has to made in small batches, where each batch is not bigger than a lemon-sized ball. The stress here is on the size because you make enough dough for just one murukku. If you end up kneading all the flour, then it would dry up significantly and the murukkus would not come out good, I am assured by Amma.
5) In a deep pan, heat enough oil for deep frying.
6) Take a smaller bowl and add about a handful of the flour mixture into it.
7) Sprinkle water and knead it into a ball. It should be soft but not sticky. Sprinkle more water if required.
8) Press the lemon-sized dough ball into the squeezer after removing the piston part (bottom one).
9) To test the oil to see if the heat is enough to transform the sticky dough into some very crunchy fritters, drop a small bead of dough into it and check to see if it bobs right up to the surface.
9) Replace the piston into the squeezer. Hold it directly over the oil and press such that the dough that escapes out of the star shaped holes at the bottom falls into the oil. While doing so, remember to continually make circular motions with your hands in a very random fashion as though you are creating some kind of a squiggly solid.
10) After about a minute, the murukku can be turned over using the hole-riddled ladle if it has firmed enough.
11) Remove onto a paper napkin after the murukku gets a glowing brown color. (Ours turned out to have a greenish tinge because we used the green gram dal flour which was not dehusked!)
12) Wait for it to cool and the excess oil to get absorbed by the paper before storing away in an air-tight storage dish.
13) Repeat the process for the remaining dough and enjoy these mullu murukkus which are guaranteed to become a raging favorite of all in the family!

The Murukku maker with the star-shaped squeeze pattern