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Wednesday 28 September 2011

Mangalorean Fried Chicken1

OK, I'll admit it. This recipe from my mum is so easy that I had half a mind to tinker with it just so it looked a little more difficult. Not that I did, mind, because in my world, the simpler the better. And why mess around with a winner anyway?

In fact, my actual notes for this recipe went something like this - chicken, chilly, bit ginger, garlic, taste salt, lemon, whatever stuff, marinate, fridge, fry lowish oil.

Yes, that's how I scribble my notes when on a phone call with mum, mostly in between discussion about family and friends and children and coconut trees and cousins and visas and visits and everything (and everyone, wink) else in world.

I made this chicken fry a few weeks ago, but felt like making it again to celebrate my birthday. When I was a kid, birthdays were a lot of fun, but there wasn't a huge fuss made, one way or another. We would get to go to school in 'colour dress', which basically meant not in uniform, and we handed out chocolates or candies to the rest of our class. But of course, I had to make this simple routine difficult for my mum, right? Right. My birthday, unfortunately for me, almost always co-incided with mid term examinations. Without fail, for the first seventeen years of my life! Sigh! Not much celebrating you can do, when all you can think of is studying your backside off for maths or science exams.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Its birthday month. Both for We Should Cocoa, who turn one, and me who turns... errr, lets not get into that!

The challenge for this month was to come up with a birthday cake. For me, nothing screams birthday as much as a chocolate cake. As it turns out, I had the perfect cake recipe practically handed to me. My neighbour Vee, she of the Lemon Courgette Cookies fame had also passed on a recipe for a chocolate zucchini loaf. I've been waiting to try it out for a while, but like most good intentions, this one got side tracked by other things. You know what they say, the road to a diet is paved with chocolate cake recipes :-)

I finally got the chance to make it today, and hopefully in time for We Should Cocoa. I was a bit worried, as it was the first time I was making the recipe, so I scaled it down a bit. The zucchini came from my garden, as usual (sigh!) and I changed around a few bits as bobs (also as per usual for me :-))

This cake was just gorgeous! I used a good Lindt dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips, and the zucchini just kept it so moist, it was unbelievable. Instead of just serving it plain, I decided to then go all out and made a delicious dark chocolate cream sauce to go with it. After all its a birthday celebration!

Friday 23 September 2011

Beet Greens and Lentils

Have you ever hated anything as a kid and started to love it as an adult? I posed this question on this blog's Facebook page a few days ago, and got a wide variety of answers, from avocadoes and fish to sorpotel [though how anyone can hate sorpotel is beyond me!!!] When I first started weaning Aditi, one of the best pieces of advice that someone gave me was not to assume that just because I hated something it automatically meant that Aditi would hate it too. That advice has served me well, and surprisingly, has also led me to try things that I used to hate as a child.

The reason I asked the question on my page, is because I realised after quite a few years that beet greens are not the enemy after all. My mum always used to say that beet greens make your 'blood redder'. I finally figured out that she meant that they were high in iron, geez mum, talk about cryptic clues :-) And I do need all the iron I can get as I have always been on the anaemic side. But I hated those greens as a child, however my mum cooked them, and only serious threats would make me eat them. Mostly I would hide them under my rice or try and feed them to my numerous cats and dogs!

I don't know why I didn't like them. Perhaps it was the slightly bitter edge to them, or the crunchiness? Who knows the mind of a child anyway? For example, Aditi won't eat eggs at all, however I cook them. When I ask her why, she says that she doesn't like that they have been taken away from the hen! An ethical kid, just what I need, when I am already struggling to make sure she has a balanced diet.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Lemon Courgette Cookies 4

Neighbours! Love them or hate them, they are an integral part of our lives.

Kay and I have lived through a wide variety of them. The Liverpool fan in London, for example. We lived in the apartment above him, and he cheered and banged the ceiling every time his team scored a goal. Unfortunately for him, Arsenal, who I support, were in their 'invincible' phase then, so I out cheered him every time. I am kind of glad I don't live next to Mr Liverpool anymore, especially considering Arsenal's recent performances :-)

The there was the time when we first moved to Liverpool and lived smack bang in the middle of student halls... I don't have to draw you a picture of that, surely. Lets just say that we only stayed there for a month! Then of course, Madam Rubbish, in the apartment next door to us in Liverpool, who thought that the shared apartment hallway was the perfect place to leave garbage bags full of rotting food. Or the creatures in the penthouse above us, whose moving in party lasted three whole days and nights... and ended up with shoes and household items being chucked over balconies.

Sunday 18 September 2011

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My childhood and adolescence were defined by these puffs. If you think that's a sweeping statement to be making, well, lets just say that these puffs figured in, oh, 300 out of the 365 days for the first 20 years of my life. Yes, that's a lot of puffs, wouldn't you say? In all their varieties of course, meat, vegetable and eggs.

Puffs are very popular snacks in many parts of South India, particularly Mangalore and the south coast. They consist of a spicy onion masala, with either meat, vegetables or eggs encased in a light puff pastry. I am not sure how they originated or how they came to be such a such a staple. I suspect that they may have been part of the Portuguese culture that colonised Goa, and then been adopted by the Indians in their spicy avatar. Whatever the origin, these spicy snacks are ubiquitous everywhere, and an absolute favourite of every young child, teenager and adults too.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Banana IceCream Salted Caramel Sauce 3

There a nip in the air. Uh oh! It feels like almost overnight that the temperature has been dropping, going from those glorious +30s to almost zero. I've been in denial for the past few days, denial because the summer did give us half a beautiful month. But I have to face it, its no longer summer, and autumn has made the decision to come by.

So the sweaters are coming out and the coats are being aired. Shorts and tees are (very sadly) being put away. Socks are turning woollen, and shoes are getting thicker. Sandals are but a distant memory. The wind is getting colder, and the sunshine is not warm anymore. The squirrels are busy hoarding spruce cones, rushing around tirelessly, from tree to den. The leaves are turning yellow, and Kay is keeping a lookout for frost, because the tomatoes and herbs have to come in. Grass is turning browner, and the trees look a bit sad. There are piles of yellow leaves on the lawns, and the vegetables are giving us one last bounty before winter sets in.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

My friend Shireen from Ruchik Randhap tagged me in the 7 link project. I have never done a challenge like this before and I was pleased to be tagged by Shireen.

This project was interesting for me, because I never really thought about how I feel about my blog posts. I mean, I have posted on blogging before, but this gave me a chance to go back and look at the posts, and I was quite surprised to find the answers to these questions were not as easy as I had expected.

Saturday 10 September 2011

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Summer has finally decided to show up... just as the leaves have started to change colour and the days have started getting shorter. Sigh! But I am not complaining, even when its +34, that's for sure. I am very much a summer person, unlike Kay and Aditi who both love winters. Me, on the other hand... well, lets just say, you can take the girl out of the tropics, but not the tropics out of the girl. I feel like that sunflower in the picture below, and I would certainly follow the sun everywhere if I could.

Sunday 4 September 2011

Chai Pani ka Chai

Recently, Lis from the Daring Kitchen asked for people to write for their Food Talk section. I jumped at the chance, as I have been trying to refine my writing skills, not just food writing, but writing in general. I chose the topic 'Chai' or 'Indian Tea', and you can read the article here.

I hope you enjoy it, and please feel free to come by and give me your criticisms, I always welcome feedback and appreciate it very much.

As a bit of a tie-in to the chai theme, I also wanted to let you all know about some of the places I enjoy hanging out in Edmonton. I am no reviewer, and neither am I am expert on various cuisines. But I know what I like, and so this feature is going to be on a recent addition to Edmonton's food and cafe scene, Chai Pani on Whyte Avenue.

'Pappppooo, chai pani leke aana' (Pappu, bring some tea-water) is a relatively familiar phrase for those of us who have lived in India. In fact, shopping in India can be so enjoyable, as most of the places we visit serve us chai pani, or thanda (cold drink) Its not only Indian, though, as a lot of far Eastern countries have a similar concept of cafes, or a place to have chai pani attached to them.

Friday 2 September 2011

Zucchini Cumin

Our courgette plant has gone crazy. Every day it produces more and more of these fat green vegetables, and I swear to you, you can practically watch these suckers grow in front of your eyes. With such a glut of vegetables, I have had to come up with some creative ways of using them up, especially as they don't freeze well unless they are grated. That is not to say that these courgettes are not oh-so-delicious or healthy for you. Its only that there's so many of them and even the neighbours are getting sick of them!!

However, I have made a committment to myself to eat much more locally, and lets face it, you can't get more local than your own garden can you?