Rooh Afza and Saffron Cardamom Macarons

I will hold my hand up here. I am terrible at piping, icing or decorating. My biggest achievements when it comes to doing any sort of measly decoration have been Aditi's (very easy) birthday cakes (its not like one can go wrong with Hello Kitty or Binoo) and the odd Christmas or Valentine's Day cookies. 

Its not like I am not a creative person. Its just that the majority of my creativity seems to be taken up with savoury food, ice creams, popsicles and easy cakes. Cuisine and desserts, of course, but that's a given. So when my very talented friend Lillian from Beyond Umami asked me if I'd like to learn how to make macarons, I was understandably apprehensive. But then she mentioned that she'd like to play with Indian flavours, at which I relaxed considerably. I can do Indian, and I can do flavour. We brainstormed a bit, and I asked her if she'd be interested in trying out a very classic South Asian flavoured syrup called Rooh Afza. Lil was intrigued, and so we settled on this first flavour.

Rooh Afza is a flavoured rose and herbal syrup from India and is well known all over the subcontinent as a cooler and flavoring for several classic Indian desserts and drinks like kulfi and falooda.

As a kid, we always had a botle of Rooh Afza in the fridge. It came into its own during the hot summers, where we would be out playing in the blazing hot sun all day, and whenever we were thirsty, we came in and drizzled some of this fragrant syrup into cold water and quenched our thirst. Rooh Afza is incredibly sweet, and a little goes a long way, so we would get constantly yelled at for pouring in lots of the syrup into our iced waters, and mum would threaten to take it away if we kept at it. And when I was a little more grown up, during my short stay in Bombay, I loved to hang out at small roadside halwai (sweetshops) that did some of the best Rooh Afza faloodas *more on those in another post.

Rooh Afza is very easy to source in Edmonton. Any desi grocer on 34 Ave will have boatloads of these bottles, and they are reasonably priced too. And like I said earlier, a little goes a long way, and the syrup never goes off, so if you like the flavour (and to be honest, it can be an acquired taste due to its flavour and super sweet taste) its worth getting a bottle. 

Coming back to these macarons, though, Lillian and I wanted to make another Indian flavour, and of course, knowing me I was always going to go with cardamom and saffron, my two absolute favourite spices. If you read my site with any sort of regularity, you'll know that this combination of saffron and cardamom is one of the recurring themes on it, especially when it comes to desserts. Kulfi, kheer... you name it, I'll put cardamom/ saffron in it. So of course, it was pretty much a no-brainer when Indian flavoured macaron number two was going to be.

Lil already makes wonderful chai macarons, some of the best I've had, and she actually infuses chai flavour into the shell and not just the buttercream (plus I am so chuffed that she uses my chai recipe for it) So with these two added to that Indian classic, I think its a rather fabulous collection of desi flavoured macarons.

Lillian was a pretty patient, encouraging and very organised teacher. I now know why our mutual friend Diane called her and her husband Dan hardcore foodies :) She is very precise, take lots and lots of notes and loves getting her recipes absolutely perfect, and we were both delighted with how these macarons came out. Well, I was just pleased that I didn't have to pipe them out, as I am pretty sure I would have messed it up, but Lil made me pipe the buttercream and even butterfingers here couldn't mess that up.

I must have been so annoying to her as I kept swiping the macaron shells as they came out of the oven, and here she was going on about how macarons need to be aged for a couple of days before they can be eaten. Ha... like I have the patience... but in the end I did wait, even though it killed me and the flavour was unbeatable. I think the Rooh Afza one was a little on the sweet side, but Lil figured she could fix that easily enough. The cardamom-saffron one, on the other hand, was outstanding. Kay, Aditi and I pretty much devoured them all, and who knows, I might even be persuaded to try to make some of my own soon.

But for now, do head over to Lillian's blog, Beyond Umami, for her recipe and notes on how to make these super decadent, classic French macarons, Indian ishtyle. Enjoy! 

Recipe for Rooh Afza Macarons 

Recipe for Saffron Cardamom Macarons
 

Moosehead and Caesars, Salt Cod and Tarte Au Sucre - My First Authentic Canadian Food Memory

So I know the title is a bit, WTH? But please, let me explain it all, and I am pretty sure it will make sense at the end. It's all about life, love, countries old and new and foods unusual and 'exotic'.

The first time I met my husband, I was a newly arrived, fresh off the boat Indian student in the UK. I hadn't been exposed to very many international cuisines and when I had, they were all heavily dolloped with hot sauce :) So some of the first authentic food experiences I have had are indelibly etched in my memories.

Italian food, for example. My friend D was an amazing Italian cook. His recipes were traditional and very Italian, and he made the best food I've had in forever, or at least I thought that until I tasted his mom's food, after which D paled a bit. I remember my first carbonara, my first real Italian wedding feast, and my first Italian grappa (ahem, that may be a story for another time)

On the other hand, my then boyfriend (now husband) Kay was a rare breed... a pescitarian Canadian.  I still remember looking at him in utmost bemusement when he said he didn't eat meat. Really? A non-meat eating 'Westerner'... that was a shock and surprise in itself. So, of course, the first meal Kay made me was a salad and stir fry and I looked at him and very politely and innocently asked him why there was grass on my plate? :) I am still not a green salad fan.

So yeah, the food of Canada didn't really have massive appeal to me at any point.

Barbequed Tandoori Turkey Drumsticks with Mushroom Medley Pilaf

Yay!! Grilling season is here. And what better way to start it off by making these delicious barbequed tandoori turkey drumsticks? And to make it even better, I also added a fragrant, earth spiced mushroom pilaf, to make it a complete meal.

I've been addicted to the smoky flavours of the barbeque and grill, ever since as a clueless ten year old I ate grilled sausages off a backyard pit in the coffee estates of the Nilgiri hills. OK, I also just realised that the above statement would make zero sense to anyone else reading it, other than me :) Please, allow me to explain. I didn't grow up with barbeque, in the sense that its used in North America. We had our tandoors, of course, but they were used more in restaurants rather than in homes. This didn't mean we didn't cook over open fires, in my grandparents' place, we still have a room with a fireplace stove that we cook staples on. My grandma maintains that you can't really get the true taste of a curry and rice without cooking it in a clay pot on an open fire, which infuses dishes with a smoky, deeply intense flavour. But barbeques were a Western concept, and some of my relatives learnt this when they lived in the States, Canada or Australia.

Some of these friends and relatives were coffee estate owners and spent their summers on the cool slopes of the Nilgiri Hills and in their estates. It was usually a treat to be invited to spend summers with them and I loved being able to romp around the estate, hanging out in the cool, ranch style houses, swimming in crystal clear watering holes and 'hiking'... usually walking a distance a teeny bit further than the nearest cane sofa :) And eating, of course. My uncle would rig up a crude grille over an open fire pit and we would then 'barbeque' 'exotic' Western food items like sausages and bacon and salami. It was the beginning of my addiction to all things barbeque. 

British Classics (With a Twist) - Pimm's Cup Popsicles (Pimmsicles)

Finally! Finally!!! I don't care how many exclamation points I use for these two words, because they are well deserved. Finally, warmth has come to Edmonton. And we seemed to have completely skipped over spring, going to straight to summer, which, to be perfectly honest, that is absolutely fine with me. So to celebrate, the first thing I got out was my trusty popsicle maker.

Oh popsicles, I have missed you! There is something so innocent and happy about a icy cold popsicle that takes you right back to childhood and memories of running after the ice candy man and begging the parents for an extra two rupees on the way to school, so we could splurge on a bright, artificially coloured ice candy, after a hard school's day, that turned our tongues a blazing red or orange and put us on a sugar high for the rest of the evening. Or every day after school, when we would head into this tiny 'goodangadi' or corner shop, conveniently located right outside the school gates and buy ourselves a tasty, chilled freezie for 50 paise (less than a half a penny) that we would then suck on all the way back home.

Of course, mother dearest would be horrified and threaten us with all sorts of dire consequences if we spoiled our appetite for dinner, notwithstanding all the diseases we would get from the contaminated water. But we were young and our immune systems were healthy and that was all that mattered when it came to these tastes of childhood.

 

Indian Classics - Traditional Potato and Peas Samosas

My favourite samosa memory is from my hometown, even though I've had über delicious ones when I've been away at university as well. My cousin Brad introduced me to this little chaat place just under a block of apartments close to home, called Vrindavan. They made some really good chaats and samosas. One of my favourite chaats from there was a 'ragda samosa' where there made and fried fresh samosas, which were then broken up and smothered in a curried pigeon pea or chickpea sauce called a ragda and sprinkled over with chopped onion, a sweet/ sour tamarind chutney, cilantro and spicy, fried chickpea noodles called sev. The whole experience is, and has always been, mindblowing to me, with all the textures and tasted melding together into an explosion of flavours. Every time I visit back home, this is one of my first foodie stops.

Of course, I would be doing the dhabas of Delhi a disservice if I didn't mention them when it comes to samosas, of course. JNU, where I was at residential university is widely considered to have some of the best dhabas or street eateries in Delhi (though I am sure other university students would disagree vehemently with me) and samosas used to be the fail safe option as we staggered out bleary eyed after pulling all-nighters at the library or in friends' rooms. Or even after a hard night's partying, haha. Samosas were my personal hangover cure at university, all that deep fried goodness and a hot, steaming cup of  masala chai... what's not to love about that cure? (OK, until I discovered the traditional British fry-up, but that's a story for another time) 

Mangalorean Fried Prawns With Chilli and Vinegar (Sungtan Meeth Mirsang)

So the Yeggies came and went, and as I predicted, I didn't win :) But I did get the opportunity to chat about food with CTV's Morning Live with host, Stacey Brotzel. I haven't been on TV since my Masterchef days, so I hated how I looked and sounded, obviously. Of course, I then had to go and have a look at my old MC video and I was kind of shocked how much my accent had changed and how blimmin' young I looked in those videos. Anyway I'll let you be  judge, as the video is over here. Just try not too laugh too hard, will you?

Meanwhile, in other news, Aditi has been getting all cheeky on me. Today, I had a ladybird fly into my hand. So I got all excited, and told Aditi, 'hey, look, a ladybird flew into my hand... I am going to be so lucky' At which point, she deigned to look up at me from her game, all bored, like, and went 'yeah mom, you are lucky. You have me'... ooooh, that li'l monster. If she didn't have her moments like the one below, she'd be sold to the gypsies in a second (kidding, of course, no one would pay anything for her, in fact they'd probably pay me to take her back, haha)

So what did she say that made me bawl? Well, she's been getting an allowance of a dollar every Friday, and she has been saving up hard for a backpack toy. Every week she counts her coins and decides how many more she needs for the toy.

So she comes up to me a few days ago and said, 'Mom, I've decided not to buy the toy after all'. So I said, 'Why not, Aditi?' She then says to me, 'Mom, cause next Sunday is Mother's Day and I have two more Fridays to go before that... and I want to spend all my coins buying you the best present in the world!' I was stunned and asked 'Did Dad tell you to do this?' and she was like 'No, I just decided this, and of course Dad will be taking me to get you a present, but I want to spend my own money and its going to be the best surprise you ever had'.

I think I already got the best present in the world!

10 Things I Learned at the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference (FBC2013)

1. That the best laid plans of mice and mine can be thwarted by an ice-storm or two. But also that a crazy bumpy red eye flight, freezing rain on arrival, an evangelical vegetarian anti-immigrant (who is also an immigrant) taxi driver and bone deep tiredness stands no chance against the real life warmth of meeting the three people who are the heart and soul of FBC.
   
   
2. That swag-bags need to be stuffed with military precision. Just ask Kathy.
   
   
3. That power cuts just mean more time in front of warm, cosy fireplaces. Unwashed hair be damned. Well, not if it stinks... but most Canadians are too polite to say you stink anyway. So I guess, unwashed hair be damned.
   
   
4. That meeting Sweetopia turns you into a mumbling, blushing (yep, brown people can blush) inarticulate fangirl.
   
   
5. That your voice is what draws readers to you. And if they like it, keeps them with you. And occasional pictures of cookies don't hurt either. 
    

My Masala Dabba (Spice Box) - All About Cassia Bark and Cinnamon

I don't know anyone who can resist the warm, soothing fragrance of cinnamon, do you? This warm, aromatic spice is used in everything from mulled wine to fragrantly spiced curries, to enduring cinnamon buns and baking of all kinds of goodies.Cinnamon has been prized everywhere since the early Egyptians and its not surprising that its a staple in Middle Eastern cooking as well as in cusines from all over the world. Mexican cuisine prizes its 'cannella' and no Indian spice cupboard is complete without its distinctive curls and bark.

There are several varieties of cinnamon, but in this short piece I will be focusing on the two genus' that I use the most, cassia bark and 'true' cinnamon. 

Cassia Bark  

Latin Names: Cinnamomum Cassia (Chinese)/ Cinnamomum Burmannii (Indonesian)/ Cinnamomum Loureiroi (Vietnamese)

Indian Names: (Jungli/ Wild) Dalchini (dahl-chi-nee)

One of the most familiar spices in the Indian kitchen is cassia bark. I always thought that cassia was the outside bark of the cinnamon tree/ shrub, and to some extent I was right. But as I read and researched more about cinnamon, I found out that cassia is actually a genus of cinnamon, and commonly grown in China, and therefore also known as Chinese Cinnamon. It grows extensively in China and South East Asia, and is cheaper to cultivate the 'true' cinnamon. Chinese cinnamon is cheaper and exported widely around the world, and also comprises a large portion of the ground cinnamon market. There are three commonly used types of cassia, Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese (Saigon). Saigon cassia tends to be more expensive, though disruptions in production have meant that its Chinese cassia that is the most exported and consumed. India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) are also huge producers of cassia, with the state of Kerala in India, in particular, having some of the largest cassia/ cinnamon estates in Asia.

Cassia bark is widely used in Indian cooking, in particular, and my research suggests that the reason is that its cheaper to buy and use. However, taste testing also suggests that the flavour of cassia is milder and less intense than 'true' cinnamon, and this contributes to the flavour profiles of several Indian dishes in which cassia is widely used.

Cassia bark can be easily identified by its rough, tree bark like texture and tends to be extremely hard and difficult to powder. The flavour, as I said earlier, is milder and less intense to cinnamon, and youy have to rub your fingers on it to get a sense of the fragrance. The profile is warm and aromatic, similar to cinnamon, but the taste tends to be less overpowering, therefore it can be used in larger quantities to ground or 'true' cinnamon.

Dukra Maas (Mangalorean Pork Curry with Bafat Spice Mix/ Bafat Pork)

Its a ritual that takes place in almost every Mangalorean Catholic home every Sunday. First, the women of the family are up at an ungodly hour to start the sannas, the batter of which would have been ground the night before. Then the kids are unceremoniously kicked out of bed, and yelled at to get ready, otherwise they're going to be late to Sunday school. After the due religious routines have been followed, said kids may be lucky enough to be taken to a nearby restaurant, duly salivating at the thought of a masala dosa or a idli sambar (a thin rice crepe filled with spicy potato curry, and a steamed, fluffy rice cake, not unlike a sanna, with a hot steaming vegetable stew) Then the men of the family are dispatched to various grocery errands, while the women (and very often, the reluctant, whining, complaining kids who would rather be watching Sunday morning kid's television) would start the (seemingly endless) chopping of onions, ginger, garlic and hot green chillies that could take out an elephant, that was the base of this dukra maas. 

The bafat would usually have been made a few weeks earlier, with fresh batches smuggled legally sent to various relatives who live in 'abroad'... and a small batch is left behind for the weekly Sunday ritual of the dukra maas, of course. Once the chopping is all done, the pork is then cubed into small pieces, and the cooking process begins. During the cooking process there will probably be a steady stream of 'I am hungry....' whines coming from all directions. The dog would add a couple of squeaks too... and he may be lucky enough to get a bone for his troubles. The house starts to smell more and more fragrant as the curry simmers away, and the smell is strong enough to lure a few interested neighbours into the fray. They peek at the curry, shoot some breeze, ask a few questions about the provenance of said cooking pig, and then meander away to their own homes, where, perhaps there is another kind of curry cooking.

Indian Classics - Kesar Badam Milk (Indian Almond Milk With Saffron)

Growing up in Catholic Mangalore, the one festival that we didn't really celebrate was the intensely riotous festival of colours, Holi. In India, Holi signifies the arrival of spring and is celebrated by throwing powdered colours at people, as well as buckets full of coloured water.

But that changed when I headed to university in Delhi, and for two crazy years, I celebrated Holi with a passion that belied all my Holi-less days growing up. Our university turned into a rainbow as everyone was doused in every shade of colour known to humankind.

Holi is also about bhang... click on that word at your own peril :) Bhang is an intoxicating drink made with the leaves and buds of the female marijuana plant, and for one day is pretty much legal all over India. At university, we used to be served 'bhang thandai' (a chilled milk based bhang drink) in our residence mess halls. Obviously, you could choose if you wanted to drink it or not, but to be honest, what self respecting university student, away from home, wouldn't indulge? So we started off with bhang first thing in the morning, steadily getting more and more intoxicated as the day wore on and we all were wearing a plethora of colour. We danced out in the streets with wild abandon, and even the most uptight of people let go of their inhibitions, as everyone embraced the beginning of spring and the bounty it brings. Technically we still had classes, but seeing as most of the lecturers were down with the students, I can only assume not much teaching or learning happened. 

And once the day was done, we all scraped ourselves off the ground, and oozed our way back to our rooms, where we spent hours trying to wash all the colours out of our hair and skin, usually to the chorus of 'why are you hogging the bathroom, get out and let others shower too' 'knock, knock, are you ever getting out of there?' 'other people need to shower too'... (these are Indian student halls, about four bathrooms shared between twenty odd girls led to a fair bit of possessiveness and yelling and screaming and threatening and accompanying hilarity :))

Sadly, as I am not so much in with the East Indian population here in Edmonton, I didn't manage to find an, ahem! bhang party to attend this year... to be honest, I would imagine most people celebrated quietly indoors anyway, owing to the freezing temperatures :) So this year, my Holi has been spent vicariously enjoying all the pictures that my friends in India, and some abroad, have been posting on their Facebook timelines! And missing the bhang warmth and colours of India.

Mango Ginger Crumble

 

I've always said that you can take a girl out of the tropics, but you can't take the tropics out of the girl. Yes, and that would describe me to a tee. As I always bemoan on this site, I miss the tropics. I am not saying that I don't love living in Edmonton, but to be honest, when its the end of March and we have over a foot of snow... well, it gets old very fast. This is the time when I am so heartily sick of winter and the cabin fever sets in. I get really tired of having to put on a million (erm... maybe a slight exaggeration, but close, nevertheless) layers of clothes, and hats and mittens and giant snowboots... its so wrong. Especially when then cat's bounding along with spring fever and shedding everywhere, and on occasion, you can hear a lonely bird or two tweedling their lonesome song... 

Yes, these are the days the sunshine girl in me longs to shed all those layers and the only hat I want to wear is a sunhat. Preferably a pink one. With pink flipflops to match... its not that much of an ask, is it?

Recipe. Dragon. Giveaway. 'Cookin' Greens' Rapini with Coconut and Spices

Well, piqued yet?

I was recently approached by my absolute favourite brand of frozen greens, 'Cookin' Greens' who threw down an intriguing challenge to me. Cookin' Greens may already be familiar to my readers. Last year, I made my Palak Paneer with their Flash Frozen Chopped Spinach, and to date, its one of the most popular recipes on The Tiffin Box.

This time round, the challenge was a different one. I was very excited to hear that Cookin' Greens were going to be on CBC's Dragon's Den and to celebrate this, they contacted their favourite food bloggers (ahem!) and gave them a rather fiery task... we were to create a recipe for a Dragon, using a Cookin' Greens product.

My pet dragon turned out to be internet mogul Bruce Croxon and I had to make him 'dinner' using Cookin' Greens Chopped Rapini. Yipes! Bruce turned out to be a pretty formidable challenge for this poor food blogger, but I went with my sword erm... knife, flying, and my pans all girded up.