Mango Lime Margaritas (Virgin or Alcoholic)

One of the saddest times in my life is always the end of mango season. Growing up in India, mangoes were synonymous with summer, and school holidays, and the end of season meant the inexorable approach of the monsoon rains and school starting up again. It was not all bad. We had probably eaten several times our body weight in mangoes by the end of summer. Any unripe mangoes were duly picked, sunned, pickled and preserved for the coming monsoons. The smell of spicy pickles was hard to get out of our skins, and even today, when I smell mustard oil, it takes me right back to those late summer days of sneaking half cured mango pickles out of large earthenware jars.

Luckily for me, I don't have to give up mangoes just yet. Despite the season for Alphonsos and Haden mangoes passing, Asian stores here are still well stocked with Ataulfos, which means I can enjoy the king of fruits for a little while longer. And enjoy them, I have. Every week, I am off with my giant grocery bag to the Indian stores (I have an 'in' with their produce guy, who tells me exactly when the mango shipments come in) I buy at least two to three dozen mangoes... which disappear in exactly a week, after which I am constantly reminded to make sure to go to the store for more. I think I may have created a monster mango family.

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Indian Festival Specials - Thandai (Spiced Chilled Milk) for Holi

It's Holi. Holi-day. Yay!

A celebration of springtime, this year it feels very apt, as after a cold, harsh February, the weather seems to have finally turned a corner here. The sun is warm on my face, the skies are a brilliant blue, the birds are singing and starting to fill the nesting boxes, it stays light later and later in the day and my life just feels brighter and happier. Kay planted his seeds for the garden last weekend, and I started getting excited about all the fresh harvests and bounty coming my way soon.

Holi is characterised by colour. People throw coloured powders up in the air, douse each other with coloured water and celebrate the arrival of flowers and fruit. Holi is also the festival of love and this bittersweet emotion is embodied in Hindu mythology. Legend has it that Lord Shiva, in his anger at being shot by Kaamadeva's arrow (the Indian God of love, similar to Cupid) reduced him to ashes. The arrow worked, however, and Shiva married Parvati. Rati, the wife of Kaamadeva, begged Shiva to revive her husband, and Shiva, understanding true love, granted her wish (and everyone lives happily ever after...)

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Indian Street Food (and Drinks) - Saffron, Cardamom and Rosewater Lassi

There are a few things I miss about India. Having been back for close to four weeks now, Adz and I are slowly adjusting back to normal life... well, if normal life means dealing with early morning school runs, -42 C, layers and layers of clothes and frozen nose hair (yes, really!) February and March aren't usually this bad in Edmonton, but this year seems unusually harsh. Or maybe its just that we haven't managed to get used to the cold after the balmy tropical breezes of India.

So yes, missing the warmth is probably top of the list. And this...

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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.

Probably the first time I tasted something that could be called authentically Canadian was that quintessential Canadian drink, the Caesar. It was at the Maple Leaf Bar tucked away in a side street behind London's Covent Garden Market, and populated, or so it seemed, by big, redheaded Canadians, a smattering of Aussies, a few South Africans and a disproportionately large number of Eastern Europeans. I can only assume it was the ice hockey that brought them all there (wink).

Every time we visited Canada, my first request on Air Canada was a Clamato juice, and I was always obliged. It was a running joke in the family, that the first drink I had aboard a Canadian aeroplane would be a heavily salted, extra spicy clam juice... in hindsight, probably not the best for flying, but for me, that defined the start of my Canadian adventure.

Coming back to the title of the post, though, Kay and I started off with a tradition, almost from the first year we were together, and that was our annual Canada Day party. The first year we threw the shindig, Kay was working, so I ended up schlepping down to Central London, back to the Canada Store near Covent Garden and came back with a giant backpack full of Moosehead beer. Between that and copious amounts of Caesars, I can only remember so much of the party, but I imagine it was a success. We have continued that quaint tradition, and so we throw a Canada Day party even here in Canada! Unfortunately after the first few years, the Canada Store didn't carry Clamato Juice anymore, apparently there were customs restrictions, so we relied on Canadian friends and family to bring in this contraband drink.

I can assure you I am not a complete alcoholic, promise :) Its just that the last few posts seem to have had some version of alcohol in them, but I put that down to the summer.

My first authentic Canadian food experience (I didn't just have drink experience, swear) was, funnily enough, again with my Italian friend D and his wife Cee. We were all good friends, and one evening, as we were kicking about London, D started ribbing Kay about Canadian food. At which, Kay invited them over for what he called a very traditional Canadian lunch.

Kay, who also happens to be a rather good cook himself (I haven't beaten it out of him, haha), decided on a few different items. Thankfully no grass, ahem, salad :) He decided to do the traditional Acadian salt cod fish cakes and for dessert, the very Canadian Tarte Au Sucre or maple syrup pie. It took us a while to source the salt cod for the dish, with a few trips to fishmongers around London. Thankfully our local fishmonger in Chiswick High Street told us he could order in salt cod, and we duly took delivery of it. And I am pretty sure we spent a fortune on good maple syrup too, it was certainly not cheap in London (not that its cheap here, mind!) but the taste of that pie is still one of my most favourite food memories, and the two together, are probably my first authentic Canadian food experiences. Now that title makes sense, right?

My recipe today is for the Bloody Caesar, probably Canada's favourite cocktail. I love it hot and spicy with a good glug of vodka. When in season, I love using asparagus to serve with it, though the classic accompaniment is celery sticks of course. I also like rimming my glass with sea salt, pepper and celery salt for an extra salty kick.

I will totally not claim any authenticity to this recipe, though, this is how I like my Caesars and I am pretty sure there are enough Caesar recipes as there are Canadian households :)

PS - I made sure to conveniently forget my other two 'authentic' Canadian food experiences...one called Kraft Dinner and the other Tim Horton's :)

Bloody Caesar Recipe:

(Printable Recipe)

Makes 4 Bloody Caesars

100 ml (roughly 4 oz) vodka
500 ml (roughly 16 oz) Clamato Juice (I used Mott's Extra Spicy)
1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce or to taste
A couple teaspoons Worcester Sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon lime juice

To serve: 

1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
Wedges of lime
Celery sticks

Method: 

Muddle together the vodka, clamato, hot sauce, worcester sauce and lime juice. Taste and add more hot sauce, if you like your Caesar spicy.

Mix the salt, pepper and celery salt on a plate. Moisten the rims of your glasses and rim with the salt mixture. Pour in the Caesars and serve with a wedge of lime and a celery stick.

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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.

 

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Indian Street Food (and Drinks) - Sugarcane Juice

I'll start off on a weird note. Have you heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Despite its complicated sounding name, its a simple thing, really. It a phenomenon when you hear, see, or find something unusual, and then suddenly you hear it repeated within a very short period of time. For example, I was reading this book, and one of the key aspects of it was a tuna melt (yeah, I know, I know!! Humour me, OK). The next day I went with Kay to the Blue Plate Diner here in Edmonton, and, lo! a tuna melt was staring at me from the menu. 

At this point, you're probably wondering where on earth this waffle of mine is going, right? Well, its going somewhere... I promise. And it all started with a piece of sugarcane grass. Kathryn and I were shopping at Fruiticana, a local Indian grocery store for our Cook Indian Vegetarian class, and what should be staring at me, but piles of sugarcanes, all beautiful in their green and gold finery! I almost did a little dance right there with excitement (Kathryn and Aditi must have thought I was completely nuts!) as I convinced Kathryn that we should buy one straightaway. The plan was to use them in our South East Asian class, but that never really came about, and the sugarcane was duly stolen appropriated by the chief leftover scrounger, aka, me.

So I get home with this cane, and my Kay just looks at me and goes, is that sugarcane?? Really? And I go, well, yeah. What's wrong? And he tells me that on the very same day, one of the students in his office, a lovely young Zimbabwean chap called Chaka was bemoaning the fact that he couldn't find sugarcane anywhere in Edmonton... talk about Baader-Meinhof phenomenon overload or what!! So Kay happily took a piece of the sugarcane to Chaka, who was impressed and pleased and excited too, and my good deed for the day was done :) And to make things even weirder, just the day before, Michael, another one of Kay's students had just told him about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. As Jughead would say, 'weird, weird'.

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Grandpa's Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur Recipe

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... all the stores have their Christmas displays on, the lights are bright and sparkly, and the Christmas trees are beginning to appear. Not in our house though, seeing as we still have a couple of birthdays to celebrate first, eeps. December is always an expensive month for me, with Aditi turning five this year and Kay... well, lets not go there :)
 
But the one thing that really puts me in the mood for Christmas is this delicious recipe for homemade Irish cream liqueur from Kay's dad, affectionately referred to as 'Grandpa's Hooch'. Come Christmas, FIL makes up batches of this recipe for friends, and its a lovely tradition that I follow every year at Christmas (er, and a few times in between...). And indulge is definitely the right word here... this is not for the calorie counters. Its choc-a-bloc with cream, condensed milk and of course, the staple Irish whiskey. Its very reminiscent of Bailey's, but with a kick of its own that makes it pretty unique, and in my humble opinion, even better than Baileys. 

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Strawberry and Rose Lassi

I have had the kind of week that I have really wished, on many ocasions, that I could just go back to bed and sleep it away. Sadly, between a very sick husband and daughter, I have had more than my share of broken nights and completely crazy days. The internet and cable then crashed on us, and if you have ever had a very sick child and no TV you will know exactly what I went through!

I then misplaced both my wedding and engagement rings, along with a beautiful set of earrings that Kay had given me for Christmas. I still haven't found them, despite turning the house upside down. I am sure they'll show up somewhere obvious, and then I will just bang my head against the nearest wall... but for the moment they're still MIA.

I also decided to have a run of incredibly bad luck with public transport, missing buses and trains, getting on the wrong bus, getting completely lost in the Edmonton suburbs, being late for everything, and pretty much having Edmonton Transit messing with my head. Even the weather played silly bugs with me, bright and sunny one day, and then hailing on me (and these guys were BIG hailstones) the next.

And then, in a fit of blank headedness, I deleted my chaat masala post, and had to rewrite it from scratch. Bawwwwwwlllll!!!

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Ginger Scented Lemon Soda (Nimbu Pani) Rimmed With Chaat Masala and Rock Salt

If you've ever been to the south of India, the first thing that probably hit you, as you stepped off the plane is the intense heat and humidity, right? Kay described it as being 'slapped in the face with a hot wet towel' and I have to admit he's got it spot on. He also described some other unflattering elements of that experience, but I won't repeat them here... I don't want to stop you from experiencing India in all its glory.

Unlike popular expectations though, the whole of India is not uniformly hot. The North of India actually has seasons, and can get incredibly hot and cold. The climate in the South is more tropical, and the temperature usually fluctuates between a balmy 25 - 35 C, with intense monsoons between June and September. The rains are actually a blessing, as the heat would have been unbearable during this season otherwise. We like to joke that there are three seasons in the South, hot, hotter and hottest, and each vying to make you the most uncomfortable. A lot of people don't realise that its not the heat that gets you, though, its the humidity. That wet towel feeling, to be precise.



So the one thing you do need to do while visiting India is keep well hydrated throughout your journey. This can be a lot harder than we realise. Having grown up in the heat, as kids, we were kept well watered througout the year. Be it tender coconut water (one of the biggest coolers around!), fresh fruit juices, this nimbu pani and... erm... Pepsi, the one thing that was drummed into us pretty constantly was the need to keep drinking fluids constantly.

Which is why it was a tad embarrassing, I suppose, when I got my first ever sunstroke in Terrace, BC, Canada, as opposed to Mangalore, India :) But that's a story for another time.



So, that universal cooler, lemonade. Pretty much every country in the world has its own recipe for lemonade. Be it those tall, frosty glasses here in Canada, or the little kids selling it on suburban streets, its a ubiquitous drink that needs no introduction, or, even for that matter, a recipe. In India, lemonade is called 'nimbu pani' or 'lime water', and is sold on every street corner, usually with gigantic cubes of ice and a splash of soda. Sometimes, its is scented with the unique spiciness of ginger, and I must admit that this version is my personal favourite.

A significant portion of my university life was spent in the dhaba (street eatery) outside my hostel, drinking copious amounts of this sweet/ salty drink, in a futile attempt to battle the horrendous Delhi summer. I reminisce about my days at uni, in this post for Maamu's mango lassi, but lets say the honours were shared equally between his 'nimbu pani' and his lassi! To add an exotic, unusual touch, I rimmed the glasses with my homemade chaat masala and splashed in a few lemons and limes. I love this drink, and as summer approaches, I am looking forward to having loads of it on the deck, perhaps enlivened with a cheeky dash of gin, what say?





Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

Ginger-Lemon Syrup

Juice of 3 lemons
Juice of 1 lime
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
½ cup sugar (or to taste)   

To Serve

Club soda or sparkling water
A generous pinch of salt
A teaspoon of chaat masala (try my homemade recipe)
A teaspoon of coarse rock salt or sea salt
Lemon or lime slices
Mint leaves (optional)

Method:

To make the ginger-lemon syrup, combine the lemon and lime juices with the ginger and sugar in a small pan.

Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer for about 3 - 4 minutes.

Cool, then strain through a fine sieve or a muslin cloth, discarding any ginger solids. This syrup will keep for about two - four days in the refrigerator, and can also be frozen.

To serve, spread out the salt and chaat masala on a plate. Rim the glasses with a mixture of chaat masala and coarse sea salt.

Place 3-4 tablespoons of syrup in a tall glass. Top up with club soda.

Garnish with a lemon or lime slice, and mint leaves, if desired.

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Cherry Lemonade

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.

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Masala Chai (Authentic Indian Spiced Tea)

Watch me making chai from scratch on CTV. 

Do any of you watch The Big Bang Theory? We do, and we are all addicted to the show, even Aditi. She can sing the whole theme song, including the autotrophs drooling and the neanderthals developing tools (The Barenaked Ladies would be so proud!). Anyway, I digress. The reason I brought up the show is because, if you've watched it, you'll know that one of the favourite pastimes of the boys is teasing the staff at the Apple store. Well, one of my favourite things is to tease the wait staff at coffee shops here when they ask me if I want 'chai tea'... I tell them they've just asked me if I want 'tea tea', as the word 'chai' basically just means 'tea' in Hindi (and assorted Indian languages)

Tea. The ultimate comfort drink, anytime day or night. Well beloved of the English and all over the world, including China and India. The variations in the way people drink tea is amazing, each region having their own twists and traditions. The Chinese like it light, the English love their 'builder's tea', the Japanese have an entire ritual around it, and the Indians... well, we love our tea stewed to death with spices and sugary enough that it could be classed as a dessert. Kim at Jhovaan has a really interesting post here on Badawi Shai or Bedouin Tea.

I read this article in Maclean's the other day and had a bit of a snigger at it. Tea snobs, for example, or this whole thing of serving masala chai in 'silence'. I get that people don't want to be disturbed by others yakking away on mobiles, but the whole snobbery around masala chai did bring about some snorts of laughter. Laughter, because,

a) India is probably the least quiet of any country in the world and
b) Chai is one of the basic necessities of Indian life, so to be snobbish about it is actually laughable.

Another example from the article '“They” are the growing minority of masala chai snobs. “The demand for better masala chai can be explained by what happened to yoga,” noted Venk Prabhu, owner of Shanti Tea...“People realized that yoga was more than just exercise. They realized, ‘Hey, we’re only doing part of the practice. We want to be purists.’ Same goes for chai.” (Maclean's 2011)

Errrr, what??

The killer line for me was '“We learned that chai is all about having that Zen moment and lingering. Customers acquire a more sophisticated palate and aspire to another level.” (Maclean's 2011)

This is the point I totally lost it, and fell over laughing!! Zen in a cup of chai? Aspiring to a higher level? Of what? I would imagine the chaiwallahs in India would have a really good laugh at that too.

Anyway, the article did push me write this post on chai. Now, masala chai, like curry powder has no one recipe. So to claim that my recipe is authentic will be arrogant and erroneous. What I will say though, is that this is a recipe that is perfected by me, and has been enjoyed by my family. Everyone in India (and the world, including Starbucks) will claim that their chai recipe is the best, and it could very well be the truth (don't know about the Starbucks version though!) But the whole point of chai, is that it will always be as individual as the person preparing it.

It could be as easy as throwing some cardamom and ginger into a cup of black tea and swirling in lots of milk and sugar. Or you could, as in the Maclean's article, spend an entire day stirring a pot of chai. Either way, you adapt the recipe to suit your taste and spice cupboard.

I will, however, make the extravagant claim that nothing beats the taste of freshly brewed chai, with those lovely spicy hints, and warm memories of cold winter's days in Delhi, sitting around in dhabas, debating politics :-) Betcha not even that Montreal teashop can top that!

Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

1 tsp whole green cardamoms
1 tsp whole cloves
1 or 2 inch piece of cinnamon
3 - 4 petals of a star anise
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp whole black peppercorns
½ inch piece of ginger, crushed
Around 4 tsp of loose strong black tea (or 2 black teabags)
Boiling water
Milk and sugar to taste

Method:

Take the seeds out of the cardamom pods. In a mortar and pestle, crush all the spices coarsely. Don't worry about getting them into a fine powder.

Mix the loose tea (or teabag) and the spices in a teapot. Add the ginger and just boiled water and let it steep for at least 3 - 5 minutes. The tea will be quite strong, so if you prefer a lighter tea without milk, then steep for only 2 minutes.

Strain the tea into mugs or teacups, add milk and sugar to taste, and serve.

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Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi needs no introduction to Indians, or for that matter non-Indians! Its a staple of every Indian restaurant, and why not? Its delicious, fruity, fairly healthy, smooth and creamy. And it mellows the taste of those wild Indian spices :-)

However, when I was a kid I just could not stand yoghurt. I don't know what it was... the taste, texture, whatever. I just did not like it, and drove my mother to distraction, as the rest of the family loved it. So you can imagine, lassi was not at the top of my to-drink list.

This all changed when I went to university in Delhi. JNU is well famous for its streetside dhabas, and the hostel we lived in had one right outside the gates, called Godavari Dhaba. Delhi gets brutally hot during the summer, and one hot summer's day, tempted by the smell of mangoes, I ventured out into the dhaba. One of the vendors there, Maamu, was whizzing up mango lassis, and I ordered one. Simply put, one taste and I was hooked.

Maamu's mango lassis are the stuff of foodie legends. Don't ask him how he makes them, just savour the sheer deliciousness of them, and watch the summer heat disappear in an instant [well, not really, but you know fond I am of hyperbole ;-)]

I make mango lassis fairly often here as they're so simple to make. However, due to the expensiveness and general terribleness of mangoes from Canadian supermarkets, I make mine with tinned mango pulp. To be honest, the end result tastes pretty good, and leaves minimum mess too. I have made this lassi with fresh mangoes as well, and its pretty good. If you want to make it with mangoes, subsitute the tinned pulp with the stoned and peeled flesh of 2 ripe mangoes, and depending on your mango sweetness, increase the sugar to 2 tbsp.

A little bit of Godavari dhaba and Maamu's lassi in cold, freezing Canada, old memories sure are sweet!

Recipe:

(Printable Recipe)

2 cups (500 ml) tinned mango pulp (use alphonso or kesar mango pulp for the best taste)

2 cups plain yoghurt

1 cup milk

1 tbsp sugar or honey (optional)

1/2 tbsp fine dessicated coconut (optional)

2 pods cardamoms, seeds taken out and crushed in a mortar and pestle

Method:

Blend together all the ingredients in a blender. Taste, add more sugar if you think it needs it.

If you feel that the mixture is too thick, thin with a little more milk, but lassis are supposed to be thick.

Serve chilled.

 

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