Obsessions Galore!

I have it all figured out. (You bet!) Life is all about obsessing. {Drumroll…}

Seriously, you can be passionate about a lot of things but the only ones which transform themselves into success stories are those that you are obsessive about. As the disclaimer goes - this rule applies only to an Average Joe like me. Albeit as with any law or rule, exceptions must occur. But of course, the exceptionally smart and the truly talented, could be good at things they cared two boots about. Not me. Whatever it is I do, I have to take it to a point of feverish obsession to actually make it happen in a passable way. (I sure do hope prospective employers never read this. :o) People that repudiate hard work would dispute this line of thought. A close contender to obsession is quite definitely, F-O-C-U-S. Putting the two together, the key to happiness could be defined as - Obsess about what you want to do and if you want it badly enough, suffuse it with focus to achieve it. This article here talks about the maestro ARR’s simple self-taught guidelines and leaves one in awe!

I was obsessed with fitness and weight-loss a decade ago and that paid off handsomely; it was almost like rebirth when I lost the 80 odd pounds. At the risk of sounding pompous, I’d dare say - now that is one maniacal obsession, I would never like to lose. Though I have to confess, the enthusiasm has waned some now. (May be that is why I don’t hit the gym as much as I like anymore…see!) In the latter part of the past decade, I became fanatical about eating right and the saga continues. I am a firm believer of – You are what you eat (and) If health is lost, everything is lost. Perhaps that is why I so religiously admire Raj Ganpath (an indirect friend) for the work he does. I cannot help but extoll the indomitable courage with which he threw away his desk job and pursued what he liked doing best.

When it comes to hobbies, my passions for a few art forms seem to be ambling around in my day-to-day journey of existence but a busy life being a mom and managing a career keeps my hands fettered. Vee’s brain is wired differently – not a surprise, he is from Mars, right. Vee adds a whole new dimension to obsessing, I should say. He is a zealot who is unstoppable once he sets his mind on something. Sometimes, we are pitted against each other in pursuing hobbies. Following a time-off policy which allows each one their much-needed space for coddling art forms is the ideal sweet spot we’d like to achieve. Over the years I have known him, his interests have segued from one thing to another – photography, love for nature, skiing, motorcycle riding, roller-skating, ice-skating, short stints of tennis and now back to more DSLR photography. Talk about - Jack of all trades…and the-rest-shall-not-be-said. (Tongue-in-cheek moment, Vee! ;))

Around 8 weeks ago, we went to watch Sanhiti’s dance show “Perceptions” – a fundraiser for the latest Charity Org – Aram Sei. Tangible performance and mind-blowing production! A very intoxicating feeling it was, to watch the entire troop sway gracefully to peppy Tamil numbers, drawn together by their steadfast predilection for dance. Irumbiley Oru Irudayam Mulaikudo – which stole the best dance of the evening place (in my head, that is), was choreographed in an entirely different light (literally!) and it totally worked. From start to end, the dance was projected on a screen in the form of dancing shadows (of the dancers hidden scrupulously behind the screen), interestingly sequined with computer-graphically generated animated silhouettes. “Shadow dance” enthralled the audience so much that it had everyone screaming “once more”! These beautiful shows tend to instill in one, fresh and unadulterated motivation, and that’s precisely what I love most about them.  I can’t begin to imagine what it takes to be a part of something of that magnitude while working full-time in high-profile Silicon Valley jobs. Commitment, a by-product of obsession needs to be paid its due diligence respect to see aspirations come true, I observe. My takeaway conclusion - Redefining aforementioned key to succeed à Obsess about what you want to do and if you want it badly enough, suffuse it with focus and make a commitment to achieve it.

I don’t have to look far to draw inspiration in reality. Every morning, the News Feed on FB beckons me to read updates of friends, showcasing a lot of talent. I seem to have a very dandy social network with highly cultivated tastes. It is heartwarming to see a vivid display in a potpourri fashion which includes the works of an eclectic mix of artists, dancers, bakers, fitness bloggers, health freaks, jewelry designers, astute entrepreneurs and photography-buffs – to only name a few. Just so you know I am not kidding, I have added links to some of my friends who seem to be doing excellent work here à 1, 2 and 4.

After writing about the fitness GOD, this post would be a shame if I didn’t follow it with a grain-free recipe. I have been experimenting a lot on grain-free cooking and hope to add a lot of recipes under that section. Here’s one simple dish to begin with…Okra-Mushroom Curry. I like to call this a curry because the veggies hold their texture pretty well as opposed to a soup. But this can be eaten as is, like a soup or with some gooey protein-rich cottage cheese on the side. I find cottage cheese to be a good substitute for grains almost always and it pairs really well with spiced curries.

Ingredients -

1) Chopped mushrooms - 3/4th cup

2) Frozen or fresh okra - 3/4th cup (chopped)

3) Onion - 1/2 - diced

4) Garlic - 3 cloves - chopped finely

5) Paprika  - 1/4 tspn

6) Red chilli flakes - 1/2 a tspn

7) Salt - to taste

8) Olive Oil - 1-2 tspns

9) Carrots - 2
10) Red Bell Pepper -1
11) Vegetable Broth - 2 cups

Method -

1) Pressure cook the carrots and bell pepper for 1 whistle. Cool and grind to a smooth paste.
2) Heat Olive oil slightly and season with garlic and red chilli flakes.

3) Add onions and saute.

4) Toss in the mushrooms - saute.

5) Okra - saute for a few minutes.

6) Add broth, cover and simmer until okra softens.

7) Stir in the ground paste along with paprika powder.

8) Bring to a rolling boil and remove from flame.

9) Garnish with cilantro to infuse a lovely rasam-like comfort flavor.

A leaf out of my memory book and cupcakes!

It was the summer of 1992 during my 8-week break before moving to the ninth grade. Since my family had suffered a traumatic loss just a couple years prior to the time frame that had driven us to despondency, my dad decided the time was ripe to splurge on a long-awaited vacation. The choice of places was easy - our beloved Delhi and my dad's personal favorite - Kanpur. I was more than thrilled because it was to be my first visit to Kanpur and I couldn't wait to get back to Delhi to meet all the familiar and much-loved faces of my childhood. The multitude of Uncles, Aunties, Bhaiyyas, Didis compounded with the friends I had from school, made it an impressive number of people to meet in the fifteen days we were going to spend there. The itinerary was all charted out and ready by the end of March and I could barely manage to stay composed during the austere annual exam season. Do you happen to remember the feeling that washes over you, the moment you finish penning down the answer to the very last question, on the very last day of the very last exam, in the very last half hour? You are so relieved that your mind almost forgets to nag you that you are pretty worried over how that History exam from two days ago is going to turn out. (History exams were my worst nightmares in those days, you see. I could never reconcile with the fact that you had to memorize and remember mundane details with precise timing of when they happened and what repercussions followed. In retrospect, I attribute that middle school paranoia to being taught by an intimidatingly stickler duo – Ms. S and Ms. F.) I had been subjected to a fairly big change very early in life when we moved from North India to South India. If you remember the India of the 80’s and 90’s, this was a huge deal; analogous to moving to a different country because everything changed overnight. Delhi – a swanky city I was immoderately fond of – was too hard to let go and it continued to haunt my dreams in a pleading way. So when my dad proposed this trip, I was jumping with joy thinking of the happy reunion with my favorite city after three long arduous years.

On the day of departure, I was dizzy with happiness with the only sad part being parting from my three little sweethearts – Revathi, Bharathi and Madhu aged 3, 3 and 6 respectively. The trio sisters and I literally lived under the same roof and regarded each other as 4 happy sisters. I could wax eloquent about the relationship I shared with their parents (R Uncle and G Auntie) but I should save that up for later. I will never know what it is like to have an Uncle of my own but I sure do know what it felt like to be treated as one of his own. G Auntie was more sibling-like and I adored her for everything she was. After hugs and kisses with R Uncle’s family, my dad and I reached Chennai Central. We were greeted by the characteristic unpleasant odors of the railway station that brought back a lot of memories from our tryst with the station in the 80’s. Nevertheless it was a heartwarming feeling in spite of spotting rats scuffling around near the tracks. We had a coupe sleeper to ourselves for a whole two days and two nights and no sooner had the engine tugged at the coaches, than I buried my nose in one of the bunch of books I had specially brought along for the long journey. Ah! Paradise found! Today, I would give anything to being able to do something like that – be a kid on a summer trip with no worries nagging at your mind that you can actually finish reading books in the peace and quiet of a train’s coupe compartment with its multifarious rocking motions, gently caressing you to sleep. After a panoramic journey punctuated with many picturesque sights, we alighted from the train on to the Kanpur Station when the night was still young. A minor glitch in the colossal travel system caused a mere couple hours of delay. But we were still living in the sans-mobile-phones era and little did we know that that would cause this glitch to mutate itself into a mini-volcano. Here’s how that came about.

My half-Punjabi cousins who meant to receive us, showed up much earlier than the train’s arrival and to their chagrin, got informed by the Information Desk that the train was running late by 4 or so hours. Hence when we arrived just a couple hours late, there was no familiar face that we caught a glimpse of. Well…they still had the PCOs (Public Call Office a.k.a payphone) at the station, right. All one had to do was tender some change into the device and make a call for rides. Off we went, in search of a PCO and soon managed to find one which was flanked by a seemingly odd bunch of four guys, hanging out together. We decided to wait up behind them but no, that was not meant to be. The man who was the biggest of all, wore a yellow silk shirt with black trousers and had sunglasses perched atop his head. A few beads of sweat glistened on his temples which had caked the excess talcum powder there, giving his face a white outline. My memory has faded a little but I will not be exaggerating if I added he had a red cloth tied like a scarf loosely around his neck which partially concealed a few heavy gold chains. The corner of his mouth was adorned with irregularly shaped tiny red blotches – marks left by red drool while chewing on paan (betel leaf). The other three guys fit the bill of stooges and looked like the sorts that wasted time piddling around at public places. My womanly instincts flared up the very instant the Yellow Shirt guy started giving us undue attention and I looked askance at him. My dad, I was sure, didn’t smell anything rotten but I had a funny feeling in my tummy. Anyway, this dubious chap greeted us cheerily and offered to help us out by getting us a cab. We declined his offer politely by stating all we had to do was to make the call. He not-so-lightly patted the back of one of the stooges’ heads and asked him to rush an order of soft drinks for us. We refused again but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. To paint an accurate picture, he was weaving the word “Sir-ji” a lot in his conversation as in --> Aap Bolo Sir-ji, Hum aapko taxi pakadvadeyngey sir-ji, Aap chinta math keejiye, sirji, Aap number bolo, hum mila key deyngey sir-ji. (Translation --> Do not worry my respected sir; we’ll get you on a cab in no time; I will dial the number for you, sire, just let me know the phone number.) The number was dialed and the message conveyed, which ensured the waiting cousins left for the station immediately after. As we sat making small talk with this shady bunch sipping our drinks in the waiting area, two things happened. 1- I felt a hand graze my back a couple times; the first time I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt but the second time, my heart was in my mouth. 2 - We were attracting a lot of stares from the folks in the waiting area. The gang promised to bring us something more (dinner may be!?), for which they momentarily disappeared and lo behold, two families approached us and told us to get the hell out of the place. I distinctly remember what one good lady, clad in a crisp saree and big bindi with a perfect pedicure, had to say to my dad – In Kanpur, there is no paucity of Goondahs (crooks) in the current times; they target naïve tourists and you have a young daughter; so please take care and leave while you still can. If my dad had slight doubts lingering in his head after the first gentleman had warned him, he had none left, after the lady made her statement. Seizing the opportunity and praying that we lose them, my dad and I scurried away into the teeming masses of people gathered near the exit. I was praying we would miraculously melt away and within five minutes, we were in a cab, speeding towards the cousins’ place. Adrenaline rush is an understatement; it felt like a great escape, akin to the ones in the Hindi movies. My dad must have been deeply disturbed by the events that had transpired surely, because he never once brought this up with me again. The eventful night came to an end, with us being welcomed warmly by the friendly and lovable Lab Retriever at my Aunt’s. The poor cousins returned in due course after the second futile trip to the Station that night. As we were cozily huddled together with the family on the couch after being plied with delish hot parathas and subzi, the phone rang. Wondering aloud who it could be at that hour, my aunt answered the call. It scared the living daylights out of me when I heard the Yellow Shirt guy on the other end of the line asking for me!?! How in the world had he gotten the number? Of course he had memorized it, when he had fleetingly dialed the number, feigning concern for us. Oops! Butterflies fluttered around in the nooks and crannies of my anatomy. I was determined to not let the inner fear belie the stern note in my voice telling him to not call up again. The irksome calls would not stop for a couple days at which point, we enlisted the help of a specific someone to convey in a brusque way (read with the use of threatening/intimidating/curse jargon) to leave us alone. That did the trick…sure enough, the stalker did abandon us after that.

Contrary to the lousy manner in which the much awaited holiday had commenced, the rest of that trip went fairly well, interlaced (not particularly in that order) with - extended family reunions, sightseeing expeditions, Lucknow forts, shopping for Lucknowi Kurtas, Punjabi weddings, IIT Delhi Campus parties, childhood BFFs (Manjula and Preethi) meet-ups, primary school visit, authentic Delhi khaana and the likes. Today, many years later, whenever I reminisce about the days long gone, the Yellow Shirt guy unfailingly makes an appearance in the Kanpur Station scene playing out in my head. :o Interesting, it is, how certain people inadvertently end up getting locked in memories forever of some unlikely others.

As far as a recipe for this post goes, I wanted to write about some cupcakes I made for Vee’s birthday last year. Vee and Kzee (the new addition to the Blushing Basil household who turned two recently) chowed the entire batch down in less than two days. I followed the recipe for these Real Strawberry Cupcakes, verbatim from All Recipes here. The only change I made, was to reduce the pudding mix to 2 tbspns instead of 3 tbspns to give it less of an artificial flavor. The cupcakes turned out delightfully soft and very moist.

Frosted Real Strawberry Cupcakes

All right, signing off now! :)

My first bread and an incomplete post!

One of my posts from drafts (talking about July 4th, 2009 and the weekend after) -

I am back from a refreshing double bonanza of lovely times over the past two weekends. The weekend before the last - the July 4th one turned out to be memorable because one of my very best friends visited us with her family. It feels weird to be writing 'her family' because her hubby happens to be an old classmate and good friend too. So the new member in reality was her cute little seventeen-month old. Anu and I met after a gap of 3 long years but it really felt like we had seen each other just the previous day. I always seem to get this euphoric feeling only with friends that I am most comfortable at heart with and do not have to worry about anything. They arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning (July 3rd) and a beautiful four days whirred past us. Though we did make it a point to go places almost every day, we didn't do anything spectacular or crazy. But just hanging out with each other after eons of separation was sufficient to effuse our souls with bubbling spirits. I was particularly enchanted by how the boombox can instantly calm a seventeen month old with an inordinate fondness for music. Music of any sorts seems to make him go from absolutely refusing to swallow his tiny bite-sized morsels of food to sitting around and dancing to the tunes (that's when you sneak in some food into his mouth). In short, Pranav was a delight to be with and he made us laugh a lot with all his sweetly naughty antics. The one other highlight of that weekend was our seventh-floor apartment proving to be an excellent vantage point for watching fireworks on the night of 4th. As the adage goes, all good things have to come to an end, Monday night saw the entire family pack their bags and leave. Farewells always make me way too queasy and I despise them. But we assured ourselves this time around saying we would be meeting up soon enough. (I'll have to wait and watch to see if that prophecy comes true now.)

The following weekend was a planned trip to Yosemite - planned solely with the view of taking my dad around but which soon got morphed into a hearty party of eight of us when our friends accepted our trip plan with alacrity. We booked a family suite at Cedar Lodge and I should say I was quite impressed with the maintenance and cleanliness of the place. It was a comfortable stay in the wilderness that did a good job at erasing all signs of weariness from us folks who had driven for over 5 hours to get there Friday night. We awoke on Saturday morning to the soft chirping of birds on trees surrounding the cabin and within minutes got organized into a team making cheese-mint sandwiches for breakfast. (One good thing that is an undeniable part of nature trips is you are not counting calories simply because 1-you can't afford to and 2-you are feeling assured you are going to burn them off during the day. :)) We were fortunate to enjoy the company of yet another kid for this weekend - Sunitha's little one Sathvik (a three-year old this time). Sunitha and Ram were pretty efficient at having him all dressed and fed, well before the ETD. By a half past nine in the morning we were driving through the very scenic serpentine road (that culminates in the entrance to the Yosemite Park) alongside the gushing Merced river. My heart always does a little victory jig inside me while experiencing anything remotely mountain and to be at a place which clearly earns the privilege of one of THE BEST mountain parks where nature seems to be untouched by man's threat, was nothing less than experiencing heaven to me. When we were hiking back from Lake Mirror, we were pleasantly surprised to share the road with a hirsute bear cub for a few brief moments. Though you have an unknown fear gnawing away at some corner of your heart, you cannot ignore the sheer adrenaline rush you feel that makes you want more of it.

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Back to the present (March 24th 2012) - I don't remember the details vividly enough anymore to expound on that good trip of ours over two years ago. So one shall just say - Well! It was an absolutely relaxing and exhilarating trip one had during the first trimester of one's pregnancy. :) I was/and will continue to remain enamored by the pristine beauty of Yosemite.

If you know me really well, it wouldn't surprise you that my first bread was a focaccia. A focaccia - with olives, rosemary and lemon. I primarily used this and this to create my own version detailed below. I baked this over a year ago but I distinctly remember that both Vee and I enjoyed a slice of this every day for a week along with a hearty cup of oatmeal. We just couldn't get enough of it!

Focaccia just before sticking in the oven

Baked goodness - Olive-Rosemary Focaccia

Ingredients -

For the Dough -->

1) Active Dry Yeast - 1.5 tspns

2) All Purpose Flour - 2.125 cups

3) Warm Water - 1 cup

4) Salt - 1/2 tspn

5) Olive Oil - 1 tbspn

6) Extra Flour for dusting - a little

7) Cornmeal - a little

For the Topping -->

1) Kalamata Olives (pitted; sliced) - 1/4 cup

2) Black Olives (pitted; sliced) - 1/4 cup

3) Fresh Rosemary - a few sprigs

4) Olive Oil - 3 tbspns

5) Garlic Cloves - 3 (Thinly sliced or crushed)

6) Sea Salt - 1/2 tspn

7) Cracked Black Pepper - 1/2 tspn

Method -

1) Dissolve the yeast in warm water.
2) Take the solution from step 1 and fold together with half the flour, olive oil, sugar and salt.
3) Wrap the bowl and let it sit for 15-20 minutes in a warm place.
4) Mix in the remaining flour and knead well to make a soft pliable dough.
5) Refrigerate overnight.
6) The next day, the dough needs to sit again in a warm spot for 1-2 hours.

Shaping and Topping -->

7) Pour the dough on an oiled baking sheet (dusted with a little flour and cornmeal) and shape it like shown in pic.

8) Get creative with the toppings. :)

9) Stick it in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F for about 15-20 mins.

10) Let cool on a cooling rack before slicing through...

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

Eggless Birthday Cake!

Just the other day I was accused of rambling on and on in the post on baking and not posting any useful baked delight recipe. My rejoinder sounded lame but true - I blog here to treat both my passions - writing and cooking. They are my passions all right but I have a long and arduous way to go in both before I reach a milestone where I can take a rest break may be. Anyway it feels like some kind of festive event at home since the past two days. I have been on my toes in the kitchen so much that it elicited a remark from Appa, "Is Diwali coming in early this time around?" Well! It is Vee's first birthday after our wedding and this is the first birthday he gets to spend with his parents after 7 years. Predictably, we are excited! Try as much as I can, it never is possible to keep a surprise from Vee. Call me sloppy and or may be he is just too evil! He HAS to find out what I vainly plan as a mighty surprise. To him, it is some kind of a silly game to fumble all my covert plans. At the stroke of midnight, we had a small candles-blowing and cake-cutting sort of a family affair not-a-surprise-anymore-party. For the cake to soak up the flavors well, I had to bake it in the morning and I let it sit on the kitchen counter for about 11 hours. My insides were all queasy because this is the first time I baked this one the eggless way. When we did sit down to grab a bite in the middle of the night, the verdict was favorable. Vee, Appa and Amma - found it irresistible. I found it a tad too sweet but the texture was light and flaky which I loved. After slicing and storing the cake and licking away the dregs left behind in the pan, Vee and I comfortably settled in on the couch and watched two episodes of "Heroes" one after the other! :) (It was enjoyable and addictive that night but it sure did lead to me having to sacrifice my spin class in the morning and a lingering dull headache all through work the next day!) x-(

Here is the recipe which is now my version after scouring dozens on the internet.

Gooey Caramel Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Ingredients -

For the upside-down topping-
1) Dark Brown Sugar - 1 cup (tightly packed)
2) Pineapple slices - 8 oz. can
3) Maraschino cherries - 1 small can
4) Butter - 1/4 cup (No melting or softening required here.)

For the cake -

1) AP Flour - 3 cups

2) Baking Powder - 5 tspns

3) Softened Butter - 1/2 cup

4) Sugar - 1.5 cups (Can reduce this a bit.)

5) Vanilla extract - 1 tspn

6) Cinnamon Powder - 1/4th tspn

7) Milk - 1/2 cup

8) Pineapple juice (from the sliced pineapple can) - 1/2 cup

9) Crushed pineapple - 3/4th cup

10) Salt - 1/2 tspn

For the egg substitute -

1) Flax seeds - 2 tbspns

2) Water - 6 tbspns

Method -

Making the egg substitute-

1) Grind the flax seeds to a fine powder.

2) Mix the powder with the water without forming any lumps.

3) Simmer on a medium flame for 5 minutes - stirring often.

4) Let it cool down completely before using.

The topping -

1) Cut up the butter and sprinkle the bits around evenly on a 9X13" rectangular pan.

2) Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes.

3) Remove and spread the now liquid butter and grease the sides of the pan too.

4) There will be a lot more butter than required for greasing though but that will be used for our topping. Stir in the brown sugar and spread evenly.

5) Return the pan to the oven for 5 more minutes.

6) Retrieve pan. The sugar must now be a semi-liquid caramel sort of consistency.

7) Arrange neatly the pineapple slices and cherries.

8) Important - Do not let the topping cool for too long before pouring in the cake batter. Adjust and plan the sequence of steps accordingly.

Baking the cake -

1) Mix the AP flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and keep aside.

2) Cream together the melted butter along with the sugar until light and fluffy. (A couple minutes of pulsing using a hand blender at this stage would be sufficient.)

3) Stir in the flax seed mixture a little at a time, while continuing to beat the mixture. Add the cinnamon powder and vanilla extract too. (This should be done within a couple more minutes of pulsing.)

4) The dry flour, the liquids (milk and pineapple juice) and crushed pineapple can be added in an alternating fashion.

5) Beat until everything is all mixed up well. (At the most, 3 more minutes of whirring the blender.)

6) Pour over the topping and pat to evenly spread the batter.

7) Place the pan in the pre-heated oven and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees F.

8) After the knife-test has been cleared, remove from oven and let it cool in pan for 15 minutes. (Take care not to leave in pan for long because there is the danger of the topping getting stuck to the pan.)

9) Turn over on a cookie sheet and let it sit for a few hours before devouring it!

Up close

Poha and Grad School Life

Green, yellow, brown, pink, red - this dish has them all! A great way to incorporate all the colors on your platter. Recent studies suggest we need to try and fill our plates with all the colors in the spectrum - VIBGYOR as a rule of thumb. Each colored vegetable has a different vital nutrient and since this is a nifty way to remember, the diet bulletins really canvass for the rainbow diet. A good method to make any dish healthy is to reduce the oil as much as you can, and replace the little oil added with extra-virgin olive oil. Rice flakes seem to be a raging favorite of many but this was not a staple at home in India for me. I got hooked when my good friend Chetna made it for us at Rolla during our grad school life together.

A little divagation here (as always) - IMHO, Indian graduate students in the U.S. simply have a ball of a time! Of course there is this constant worry of monetary troubles nibbling away at the back of your mind along with the more pressing problems of homework deadlines, project submissions, term papers, EXAMS, T.A. class preps and last but not the least, research papers to submit to journals or conferences ominously looming over your head. Phew! We had this week before the finals week called "dead" week in our school. No way I am kidding...even the professors used it. When I first heard it during my first sem at grad school, I didn't need an explanation from anyone because I knew I was going to be so dead that week any way. If you managed to catch at least 3 hours of shut-eye every day of dead week on an average, then you must be a super whiz kid or something to that equivalent. The place used to be filled with sleep-deprived, unshaven, disheveled, worried-looking, red-eyed zombies and just like in the movies, you could find them everywhere - in the labs, lounges, library, T.A rooms, vacant classrooms and restrooms too. Some cult that was! You survive dead week, only to find yourself hurled into the finals week. All those sleepless nights that lead to the next make your whining mind tell you no more of scurrying along is going to get you that A. Yet, you fight and suddenly you are all done! You can't believe it at first. OMG! What am I going to do with all this free time on my hands, you catch yourself lamenting to yourself at least once. After may be a week of partying and sleeping-like-a-log days, it dawns on you that life couldn't have been better. The glorious holidays are finally here and research at last gets the amount of respect it always deserved. And yeah, you get to make up for all those missed episodes of House and Everybody Loves Raymond too!

Chetna makes yummy poha and I for one, like her way of making it, the best. She used to whip it up in a jiffy on those memorable grad school days which were bound to turn into all-nighters. The key to making delicious poha is to keep the spice as less as possible. The grain itself is very light in texture and easily catches on to the flavoring. The first time I made it on my own after painstakingly jotting down the recipe from her, I ended up with a sticky dough-like pulpy fiasco. I was disgusted. A transcript of the phone call that followed after the niceties were exchanged-

me - Hey! I followed your recipe verbatim but I ended up with a less-than-desirable product. What the hell did I do wrong?

she - Aww! May be you soaked it for too long in too much water.

me - Whaaaattt? Weren't you the one that said the longer it soaked, the better it would fluff up?

she - That is true but you did soak it in a colander, didn't you?

me - What do you mean by "soaking in a colander"?? A colander obviously lets all the water run out, correct? That is not soaking by any means. How come you missed telling me this?

she - Arrrrey! You cook all these complicated dishes...I assumed you would know rey!

me (too petulant to reply) - (growl) You..you...(grunt)

she - LOL!

me (now embarrassed) - I had no clue, Chetna.

Here's her classic recipe (which I have been successfully making for the past 3 or so years now) -

Colorful Poha

Ingredients -
1) Rice Flakes (thick) - 1.5 cups
2) Mustard Seeds - 1 tspn
3) Cumin Seeds - 1/2 a tspn
4) Asafetida - a pinch
5) Roasted peanuts - 2 tbspns
6) Curry leaves - few, washed and squeezed
7) Green Chili - one (slit)
8) Onion - 1 finely cut
9) Tomatoes - 2 small or 1 large (chopped)
10) Frozen peas - 1/2 cup (thawed)
11) Frozen corn - 1/2 cup (thawed) (Substitute both frozen goodies with fresh if desired.)
12) Cilantro - few sprigs
13) Oil - 2 tspns
14) Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tspn (Increase if you like it spicy.)
15) Salt - to taste

Method -
1) Wash the rice flakes in a colander in running water. Shake it around so that all the flakes get wet. Hold under water for a minute.
2) Place the colander in a bigger vessel lest a particularly wet kitchen counter digs you. Cover and leave in the colander for 20 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, add ingredients 2-7, one at a time after each turns crisp.
4) Throw in the onions and saute till the translucent stage is reached.
5) Tomatoes next! After they start losing shape, add the frozen veggies, salt and red chili powder too. Continue frying till most of the moisture is gone.
6) Reduce heat to a simmer and fluff up the "soaked-well-in-a-colander" rice flakes with a fork. Add the flakes slowly, stirring with a light hand the entire time.
7) Cover and leave on a low flame for 5 minutes until the marriage of the tastes happens.
8) Remove from flame and garnish with chopped cilantro.
9) Serve hot without any condiment.

Variation - You can subsitute corn with boiled, cooled, peeled and cut potatoes.

10-minute Coconut Rice Noodles and a summer chiller!

When you are having one of those lazy Saturdays when you are not up for cooking something elaborate for "brunch" but would rather like to keep it low-key and quick, this is exactly the dish for you. On weekends, I'm a person that begs to differ; differ from what I feed myself over the week for breakfast. Our Saturdays in the basil household, begin a little late with a rigorous circuit and core strengthening workout class at the gym. The class itself lasts for an hour and a half but its unrelenting effects last for a day and a half, absolutely in the literal sense. Sunday is a no-workout day or in other words a "rest" day in my exercise schedule but I always intend to do some yoga at home. Though that's never seemed to materialize simply because Saturday kind of exhausts me and there's always the abyss-like pit of "to-dos" that I end up falling into. Rice noodles come in two varieties broadly - Thai variety and the Indian variety. This savory flavoring works well for both but I enjoy the Indian version better because the gooey-ness is absent here. If you were to ask a "maami" (auntie) from Chennai, she would very well launch into a lengthy discourse on how the noodle (sevai) is to be made. In South India, they actually make the rice noodle from rice flour using a noodle-maker (achu). Evolution is necessary if you want to stay afloat in turbid seas filled with the tantalizing, blood-thirsty jaws of to-do lists. x-(

Here's the 10-minute version with the instant rice noodles. We lapped it up in a jiffy and I made a healthy watermelon-grape chiller to wash it down with!

Coconut Sevai

Ingredients -

1) Instant rice noodles - 2-3 cups cooked and drained as per instructions on package.

2) Mustard - 1 tspn

3) Red Chilies - 2

4) Bengal gram dal - 1 tbspns

5) Black gram dal - 1 tspn

6) Curry leaves - a few (washed)

7) Asafetida - 3 pinches

8) Coconut - 3 tbspns (grated)

9) Oil - 2 tspns

10) Salt - to taste

Method -

1) Let the rice noodles cool well. Fluff with a fork.

2) In a pan, heat oil and add the seasonings from 2-7 in that order making sure each is crisp but not charred before tossing in the next one.

3) Stir in the coconut and add salt. Continue sauteing for a minute.

4) Dunk the cooled noodles and mix together on a low flame for 5 minutes until the salt and the flavors have all blended together.

5) Serve as is or with whatever accompaniment you'd like - sambar, tomato chutney - anything pairs up well!

Watermelon-Grape Punch -

No fuss here! Blend together, some watermelon chunks and red seedless grapes. Strain to get a clear juice or go the healthy way and drink it up with the pulp like we did! A mint leaf on the top makes a cute picture and a nice excuse to nibble on it. :)

Game Nite Rasmalai!

We had this Game Nite last weekend and since it was a post-dinner affair, I was left with no choice but to make some dessert. I sound like I am cribbing because I am supposed to be on a diet for heaven's sakes! As a consolation, the other dish I served the guests was a healthy one - mildly spiced popcorn. The rasmalai itself turned out pretty good I thought, given that I was only making it for the second time. This happens to be a dessert I learnt from one of my friends in grad school - Smitha. The first time I made it, it took ages since I was a novice to baking and kind of overestimated the amount I'd need for a party. The result was almost two huge pans of leftover rasmalai....not that my roommates complained though. ;) This time around, I was careful about the quantity so as not to compromise the quality. We served this when everyone was in the midst of an action-packed round of Pictionary and they were quite nonplussed to be served home-made rasmalai and cube-shaped ones at that. I was fine with their bewilderment as long as there was none who screamed sacrilege! Next day, the poor rasmalai managed to pass the ultimate acid test and that too with an A+. How? Well! Appa remarked that it tasted better than the conventional way in which it was made 'coz he felt the malai part never really has a lot of flavor while this modified way seemed to produce malai's which were bursting with taste. The only sad part of this whole affair is the fact that since the past three days, the leftover rasmalai has been sitting in our refrigerator and it feels like an anathema by all means. Vee and I are on a crash 7-day diet plan, you see...

Chilled Rasmalai

Ingredients -

1) Ricotta Cheese - 1 lb tub

2) Sugar - 1.5 cups or lesser

3) Cardamom - 1/2 a tspn (powdered)

4) Whole Milk - 5-6 cups

5) Almonds - a handful (sliced or pounded)

6) Pistachio nuts - a handful (pounded)

7) Saffron - a few strands soaked in a few tspns of milk.

8) Rose Water - a few drops

Method -

1) In a bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, half of the 1.5 cups of sugar and a generous pinch of cardamom powder. You can use a hand blender to get a silky consistency. (If you don't have one, the good old fork will do the trick too.) The sugar can be adjusted according to taste, but remember the milk in which the malai will be dunked into, will be sweet too. You don't want to end up making it cloyingly sweet!

2) Grease a baking pan and pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees F.

3) Pour the sweet cheese mixture into the pan (or pans) and spread it out evenly. The amount you pour, should not be more than 1-1.5 inches thicker. This simple check ensures the cheese doesn't take too long to bake. Reach for a second smaller pan if you think the mixture is already laid out thick in the first one.

4) Bake at 300 degrees F for about an hour and leave on broil for 5-6 minutes until the top gets some hazel colored specks. Wait until the knife test yields a neat pass and the cheese springs back from the pan. Importantly, do not expect the cheese to solidify to a hard cake. It will feel slightly soft but when you leave it to cool down, it firms up quite a bit.

5) Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan. After it has cooled for three quarters of an hour, cut it up in diamonds or squares.

6) As and when the baking happens, you can set the milk boiling in a heavy-bottomed dish.

7) Once it reaches boiling point, add the remaining sugar and simmer. Be sure to stir often so that it doesn't spill over. The cardamom powder, saffron stands, rose water and all the pounded nuts also go in at this stage.

8) Continue simmering until the milk syrup has reduced in quantity but is not too thick like a basundi by any means. Too thick is not good because the malai cubes will refuse to soak well.

9) Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes before adding the cut up sweet cheese cubes. Assembling in a wide mouthed basin helps in avoiding traffic among the pretty cubes.

10) Cover and refrigerate for 4-5 hours before serving. And...let the party begin!

Low-fat Caulifower Soup

I return from work to find that I am late yet again. The rain drops I battled with my windshield wipers lash around unobtrusively on my window sill. It has been cool and wet all day long and now in the late evening, nature seems to be doing its garish little dance with rain and clouds. Folks at home are in a drowsy mood and I start thinking of something that would fire up the atmosphere. Natural choice is hot bhajjis as I am so used to fantasizing from my Chennai days. No, I tell myself....find something healthy! Weighing a lot of options, I tactfully start making trade-offs between taste and time. Choices range from masala bhel, spicy popcorn, ragi roti to hot soups. And the winner is - S-O-U-P. I start ravaging my veggie-tray in the refrigerator and find this small cauliflower hiding in a corner - it is your turn tonight, sweetie - I say to its forlorn looking face! Within minutes, I have it washed and scrubbed clean. There are at least 3 different ways in which I make this soup and I decide which one of those to use. This one takes about a half hour to make from the time you pick the veggie to spooning the soup into bowls. Thirty minutes later, I lay out the table and start summoning everyone for dinner. "Whatz for dinner, honey?", asks Vee without looking away from his laptop. I refrain from replying so that he would be forced to check for himself. After deliberating for a little bit, he finally hops over to the table and what he sees, brightens his face. The guy loves soup of any kind. Amma and Appa prefer soups any day to the mundane salads that I so often serve them for dinner. The soup is still piping hot and as everyone savors it one spoonful at a time, all the sleepiness is driven away. They are as pepped up as they could ever get!

Here's the recipe which is my own adaptation from Mrs. Mallika's "100 Refreshing Soups and Stews" cookbook.

Steaming bowl of cauliflower soup

Ingredients -

1) Cauliflower - 1 (quickly separated into large florets)

2) Garlic - 2 small cloves (If you'd rather prefer ginger, go with a 1" piece of it!)

3) Onion - 1 small (roughly chopped up)

4) Green Chilies - 2

5) Milk - 1.5 cups (I used 1%-low fat.)

6) Whole Wheat Flour - 1 tbspn

7) Oil - 1 tspn (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.)

8) Softened butter or ghee - two drops

9) Salt - to taste

10) Black Pepper - a few corns

Method -

1) Heat the oil and butter in a pressure cooker or pan and saute the garlic cloves and green chilies until the raw smell of garlic is all gone.

2) Throw in the onions and continue sauteing for a few minutes until they turn translucent.

3) Next go in, the cauliflower florets. Fry some more.

4) After about 5 minutes, sprinkle the wheat flour and stir around till everything is well coated.

5) Add 1 cup of milk and about 1/2 a cup of water and salt to taste.

6) Pressure cook in a low flame for 10 minutes or until one whistle sounds.

7) Wait till all the pressure is released and leave the cooker open for some time for the contents to cool thoroughly.

8) Take all the solid particles you can find (in the cooker) in a blender and pulse a few times to get a paste-like consistency. It is important to not pour in all the contents with the liquid into the blender as that will result in a not-so-smooth texture.

9) Transfer the soup paste into the cooker again and mix with the liquid portion. Add in the remaining milk and stir well.

10) Simmer until the soup starts boiling and if the soup is too thick for your taste, you can pour a cup of water and wait till it boils through.

11) Spoon into bowls and pulverize some peppercorns over them. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro!

A chef and an obsession...

Baking is an art form in reality. In most other styles of cooking, it is easy to undo human error. Undoing in totality might prove to be difficult may be, but surely the dish can be salvaged by using tips from experts. Digressing a little, Mrs. Mallika Badrinath - rendered a top chef in Tamil Nadu - offers a bunch of SoS tips in almost all her books. I have the whole series of her books sitting on my book shelf. It is interesting that I never purchased even one of them. That is not to be mistaken that I did not intend to buy them, but what I meant is even before I heard of her fame and glory, I got gifted a couple of her books by her son who happens to be a good friend of mine. I started experimenting recipes from her books and within weeks I was hooked! Peps (as we call him) must have realized how much I adored them 'coz he gave me the entire series as a wedding gift. Her recipes are tried and tested ones but what makes them valuable is, they are described in a surprisingly simple way with ingredients right off the kitchen shelf. There is indeed something in them that makes you want to start making them, the moment you set your eyes on them. Three cheers to her!

So baking, I reiterate can turn into a gruesome nightmare if some of its vital ingredients were omitted or forgotten or a pre-processing step skipped. There are some "cool" and handy recipes which fall under the failsafe category while some others can prove to be very finicky. When we lived in IIT Delhi, we had this family living in the apartment above ours, who had returned back to India after living a few years in London. Uncle was a professor in IIT and auntie was a homemaker. After living a few years in India, they decided to go back to London again and that's when they decided to get rid of all the stuff that they couldn't possibly take back with them. We, who were pretty good friends with them started to become proud owners of a lot of "Made in England" stuff. Assorted things started becoming new members in our household which included travel guides on London, some very adorable dolls, a sandwich maker, pens, knife-sharpener (which lived true to its name until its disappearance some twenty years later) and an electric cake oven. One of the dolls that I christened "Goldilocks" still lives in my home in Chennai though she only has her head attached to the torso now. Her hair was and is a point of fascination to me to this day. You'd probably mistake me for being slightly soft in the head if I revealed the things I've done with her hair like shampooing and using the drier to style it. She's lived through it all - the pretty Miss. GL. My mom was an epitome of experimentation. She never ceased to try out new stuff - be it picking up a new art form like doll-making, knitting, crocheting or trying out new foods, collecting new recipes, stitching new patterns of dresses from fashion magazines, learning new beauty treatment techniques or baking new cakes! The oven that we inherited from our neighbors easily became her obsession. We are looking at the early 80's here before the times of food blogs and the internet. She didn't have a recipe book on baking or cakes either. She just followed her instincts to start trying out different combinations of flour, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, butter and flavoring essences to come up with some truly delectable cakes. I was a kid and to me, her cakes looked and tasted very different from the ones we got from the bakery in neighboring Hauz Khas. I loved them for their freshness and ambrosial flavor. Many years later, some time in 2001, I baked my first pseudo-cake. Pseudo because it was from an instant packaged mix but the experience was gratifying. I was a grad student and I didn't have a baking pan back then. Following my friend Anu's suggestion, I ended up baking it in a heavy- bottomed pressure pan and it still turned out great. A series of instant cakes followed but it was not until the fall of 2003 that I tried baking a cake from scratch (again acting on Anu's recipe that she had gotten from her cousin in Dallas). The difference was instantly obvious and the flavor reminded me of the home-made cakes my mom used to bake. That triggered a saga of obsession with baking ONLY from scratch! I wonder sometimes if I inherited the crazy-about-baking gene from my mom 'cuz today if I go without baking something (anything!) for a couple weeks in a row, I start getting panic attacks. x-( Baking being a very healthy substitute to frying gives me that extra bit of adrenaline rush.

When I started writing this post, I wanted to follow it with a cake or muffin recipe but for fear of having to post something ridiculously long, I stop here.