Cooking for Mr. Latte

I just finished reading and rereading 'Cooking for Mr. Latte' by Amanda Hesser. A long time back, my friend A who also shares a similar appreciation for books about food, (not cookbooks really) had recommended this to me. But with the more pressing challenges of graduating on time, this sort of remained on the back burner. A few months back I came across it on the shelves of the public library and got it home. It was such a good read that it went straight to my birthday wish list and R bought it for me. I have always liked books where the narrative is interwoven with stories about food, houses - 'Under the Tuscan Sun' being a good example. This book follows a brief window in the author's life - her courtship with Mr. Latte and the role that food played in it from their first date to their marriage. I like the ease with which the author, (well she writes/ wrote about food for the New York times, so that would explain the ease) writes about her life, invites the reader to follow her experiences with her family and his, and the progress of their relationship, in all of which, food plays a part. In all it was a light, feel good read, for those times when you just need a break!

Corn Chilli Soup

A long time back, R and I had gone to Austin Java Cafe for dinner. We always order their soup and sandwich special. I love soups and they always have a good soup on their daily specials. Our perennial favorite is the African Spicy Peanut Soup, but they had a jalapeno corn chowder that particular day which sounded intriguing. So I went ahead and ordered that. (I am the culinary adventurer of the couple, as you might be able to tell). It was fantastic. A smooth , slightly sweet corn soup with an underlying spicy smoky taste of jalapenos. I don't know how they make it, but I have been dying to recreate it or at least attempt it ever since. I finally got to try it out a few days back. I think theirs was a smooth corn texture, but I let about 1/4th of the corn stay whole and I ended up using Thai Birds Eye chillies instead of jalapenos.

I used about 20 ounces of sweet corn kernels and 8-10 Thai Birds Eye chillies. I covered the corn with about double the amount of water in my soup pot and set it to boil. While the corn was boiling, I stir fried the chilies in a little oil in a pan. When the corn boiled over once, I turned of the heat and let it cool a bit. Then I put about 3/4 of it along with the water from the soup pot in the blender along with the chillies. After pureeing it to a smooth consistency, I put the mixture back in the soup pot along with the remaining 1/4 of the whole corn kernels. I added about 2 tsps of salt and about 2 ounces of Velveeta cheese and let it boil for 10-15 minutes.

Indian curry at Java Noodles

After enduring a considerable period of time feeling nauseated by the sight, smell and even thought of food, I felt really happy at having regained a semblance of my former appetite. I still don't feel like eating any kind of meat. But the one exception I can always make is for the Indian chicken curry at Java Noodles, an Indonesian restaurant in Austin. One might well wonder why would an Indian go to eat Indian chicken curry at an Indonesian restaurant. I did run a quick Google search on Indian curries in Indonesia, but not with much success. I have no idea if it is eaten in Indonesia or if this is creation that took place in the US. Since Java Noodles is a good 14-15 miles from my house and the Indian curry is served only for Sunday lunch buffets, it's not a regular feature of our lives. But some days, the craving hits and I start dropping not so subtle hints to R and a few other friends. Fortunately R and our friends like the food there too, so not much persuasion is needed.

Making sure that we have a light or preferably no breakfast in order to do justice to our hearty lunch, we reach Java Noodles around noon. First I head towards the soup counter and help myself to tangy coconut soup. After that although there is a decent spread of other good stuff like satay, nasi goreng, rendang etc, I head directly towards the Indian chicken curry, ladling plenty of curry in a soup bowl along with 1-2 chicken pieces.I also help myself to some the crusty bread, which is perfect for sopping all the curry. One of the key features that makes this curry is that the chicken is not boned unlike the flavorless morsels which are usually served at other South Asian places where boned pieces are poached beforehand and then added to the curry while it is being heated. The fact that the pieces cook along with the curry lends it a special flavor. I am not sure what other ingredients are used, but I would guess there was liberal use of minced onions, grated coconut and lots of turmeric. I have tried the other food there before, and although it is quite good in it's own right, I don't want to to dilute the flavor of my favorite and so have given up on trying anything else. I do hope the restaurant adds this dish to their regular menu soon!

My Favorite Usal

On a trip to Mahabaleshwar a long time back, my family stopped at a roadside 'khanaval' (a restaurant which serves a Maharashtrian thali ) in Wai for lunch. I still have memories of the usal I ate there. It was intensely spicy and had the most delicious aroma. My mother told me that was because of the kanda lasun masala. I have been a fan of usal ever since, spicy usal with lots of rassa (liquid). Although it was part of the thali and was served with chapattis and rice, I find it tastes great with some bread too, especially the crusty kind to sop all the spicy rassa.

One half onion (about 1 cup)diced
2 cups tomoato diced
2 cups matki sprouts
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asaefotida
1tbsp dry grated coconut
1 tbsp kanda-lasun masala
salt to taste
chilli powder to taste.
1/2 tbsp peanut oil

Heat the oil in a kadhi / wok
Add the mustard seeds to the oil and the asaefotida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the onion. After the onions turn soft and slightly yellow, add the tomatoes, coconut, salt and kanda lasun masala. When the tomatoes become mushy and start letting out all their liquid, add the matki sprouts and about 2 cups of water. Set the heat on medium and let the 'usal' boil for some time. Add some more water as per your liking and some chilli powder and salt as per taste. Garnish with coriander. It tastes great if some lemon juice is added right before serving.

Tomato Soup

I have loved tomato soup ever since I was a child. Steaming hot soup with lots of croutons, a swirl of cream and generous sprinklings of freshly ground black pepper.. yum! Hotel Darshan in Pune at the intersection of Prabhat Road and Karve Road used to serve really good tomato soup. In Austin, Romeo's serves a really good tomato basil soup. Tomato enthusiasts know that the best tomatoes are available here in summer, but this is a great way to eat some tomatoes in winter too. This is also a great lunch option with some crisp toast instead of the croutons.
However I am not a big fan of tomato soup loaded with cream, it takes away from the natural taste of the tomato. I much prefer a lighter soup with a more concentrated tomato taste. The addition of cream is basically for thickening the consistency and to give it a smoother texture. One way to get round this is to add cornflour, but a better way is to add boiled carrots or potatoes. Carrots are preferable for the color as well as the taste they add to the soup.

Start by washing 4-5 big tomatoes, usually Roma. Cut a cross shape at their stem end to make it easier to peel them later. I take 2 carrots, wash them thoroughly, cutting the carrots into 2-3 pieces each. Set some water to boil, enough to cover all the tomatoes. After the water comes to a boil, add the tomatoes, stem end up, along with the carrots.

Let the water boil for some time, till the skin of the tomatoes starts shrivelling and the carrots turn a little soft. At this point, turn off the heat and remove the tomatoes and carrots from the water with a slotted spoon. I save the water to add to the soup later. I usually wait till the tomatoes cool down before peeling the skin. Blend the peeled tomatoes, and carrots in a blender to a smooth puree, adding some water from the boiling pot if needed. Pour the puree back in the boiling pot. Add about 2tbsp of butter, 4-6 peppercorns, some salt and some basil if desired. Bring back to a boil. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes before tasting for salt. Add a little sugar if desired to balance the tomatoes. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more and tomato soup is ready!

Tomato Pickle (tomatoche lonche)

Tomato pickle is a finger licking good relish, which both I and R love. Lots of tomatoes, garlic, and chillies, sort of like an Indian version of a cooked salsa. My mother made this frequently and I always ate it more like a bhaji (vegetable) than a lonche (pickle). I love to have it with some simple amti bhat or varan bhat. Though earlier I used canned sliced tomatoes for convenience, I have come back to dicing tomatoes myself, even though it is a fairly laborious task as a lot of raw cut tomatoes yields a comparatively small amount of the cooked pickle. Although the preparation time is not much except for dicing the tomatoes, it does take quite a long time to finish cooking. But being patient pays off when you taste the saturated hot garlicky tomatoey taste! When I recently saw the theme of Regional Cuisine of India - June hosted by One Hot Stove, I knew what my entry would be. This is my entry for RCI June: Maharashtrian Cuisine.

Recipe
About 2.5-3 cups of diced tomatoes.
5-6 green chillies, diced into rounds
5-6 cloves of garlic , sliced thin
salt to taste
some sugar, if needed
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2tbsp oil
5-6 kadhipatta (curry) leaves (optional)

Heat the oil in a kadhai / wok. Add the mustard seeds after the oil is hot. After the mustard seeds splutter, add the garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. After the garlic turns golden and slightly crisp, add the tomatoes. Stir the contents of the kadhai, add some salt.
Leave on medium heat, till all the juices from the tomatoes evaporate and you can see the oil separating from the mixture. This part takes a fairly long time. Taste the mixture and add some sugar if the tomatoes are very sour. Turn the heat off and let it cool down for some time.

Living in Tacoland

After spending almost four years in Tacoland (Austin) with it's umpteen number of Taco Shacks, Taco Delis, Taco Cabanas and of course the ubiquitous Taco Bell, one tends to take the taco for granted. Though I did fall in love with the first ever potato egg cheese breakfast taco that I ever had (lots of hot salsa on the side, of course), nevertheless I have never gone somewhere just to eat tacos. Till I discovered Torchy's Tacos on South First - a humble mobile food place, it reminded me of the Chinese ( really Indian Chinese) food vendors near University Circle in Pune. Though our moms frowned at our eating there, and the food was not perhaps the best (nostalgia makes everthing taste better), it was always a fun place to go to with my friends, sit on our two wheelers, munching chicken lollipops and eating spicy chicken Manchurian with fried rice.

Torchys reminded me a little of the same, though it is located at a much prettier setting, by the side of a creek with red lanterns strung on tree branches. However the rest of it is bare basic functional with a few plastic chairs and tables between the two mobile foot eateries. The food is good and justifies the line of people always seen there. The first time I went there, I had the monthly special Cool Runner taco comprising of Jamaican Jerk Chicken, avocado, mango, cheese and freshly squeezed lemon in a flour tortilla. It was so good that my Ranch Hand ( I hope I remember the name correctly here) taco paled in comparison and I don't recollect it at all. It wasn't bad at all, but the Cool Runner just completely overshadowed it. The unusual combination of the spicy Jamaican Jerk Chicken with the sweet- sour mango flavor and the smooth avocado and a squeeze of lemon juice was just delicious. I was left thinking if only I had ordered two of the same. Two were plenty of food for lunch and more than enough motivation to convince R to make the trip back with me some day.

The next time we went, we also had our friend A ( always willing to try something new), all of us ravenous after a 5k ( to be honest, I walked). We got done with the 5k around 11 am, a perfect time to eat some tacos. After a long and circuitous drive from Mozart's to South First (for some reason, many streets were closed downtown), we reached Torchys only to discover to my great dismay that they had changed the monthly special (yes, it does change every month). So no Cool Runner this time. I ordered the Baja Shrimp and a potato, egg, and jalapeno breakfast taco. R ordered the same while A ordered the breakfast taco along with a fried avocado taco ( highly recommended by vegeterians), all on corn tortillas this time). The Baja Shrimp was yummy with fried shrimp in a creamy sauce and shredded cabbage and carrots. The creamy sauce probably had crushed jalapenos in it. The breakfast taco was good too, but I ll opt for a flour tortilla for the breakfast taco next time as the corn was a little too strong a flavor for the egg and potato mixture. R and A liked their tacos enough to order one more. Go Torchys! I ll be coming back for more.

Climbing The Mango Trees

Just finished reading "Climbing The Mango Trees - A Memoir of a Childhood in India", an autobiography by Madhur Jaffrey which recounts her childhood and adolescence years growing up in India. I have been a big admirer of Ms. Jaffrey's cookbooks ever since my mother bought "Eastern Vegeterian Cooking" more than ten years back. I really like her writing style and for the longest time, I used to read the narrative accompaniments preceding the recipes rather than the recipe itself. My mother then increased her collection of Madhur Jaffrey's books to include the "Far Eastern Cookery" and "Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook - Food for Family and Friends". I read all of them, they would be my introduction to hummus, tabbouleh, and satay ayam. To a girl growing up in Pune, these were exotic recipes indeed and later after moving to the US, I had a very definite idea of all that I wanted to try eating. In fact, I carted these books to the US with me and my brother gave me " A Taste of India" as a wedding-going away gift. I still had not read the recipes, quite far away from trying to cook any of them. It would still take a couple of years for me to start cooking from them , though my mother had already tried out many of the recipes to great success. Still, I was surprised at how easy it was to follow the recipes and somehow the narratives with each recipe gave me a much better idea of what I should expect the end result to be (a very helpful factor in case one has never tasted the food item before).

So when I saw "Climbing the Mango Trees" on Amazon, I knew I had to buy it. It chronicles Ms. Jaffrey's years growing up in Dehli. What I really liked and which was a natural extension of the narratives which I used to like before, was the writing style which interwove the story of growing up in north India in pre-Independance years, with the eating rituals which seem to be a staple of the Indian culture across geographies and time. The book evokes the varied experiences of life in India, the most poignant perhaps being the one about anticipating the monsoon. The emphasis on seasonality and fresh home cooked food would also be a constant in my childhood although it would be the 1980's then and I grew up in a totally different part of India. Perhaps living in the USA where I see the same vegetables year around and people loading grocery carts with ready made frozen food makes my hyper aware of these facts. Growing up, my mother rarely let us eat leftovers, at the most the next day, but food was cooked to be sufficient for one or at the most two meals and if there was any left over, it was inevitably thrown away. I still do not like to eat food left over from more than a day, although there is not much one can do at times about that. Cooking fresh for each meal also meant a huge variety of food, prepared in different ways. R never likes to see the same dish for more than 2 meals.

The only complaint I have with this book is that it stops too soon,I would have loved to know more about Ms. Jaffreys prolific career, both theatrical and culinary. Hopefully there's another book coming out soon.

Mango Pudding

This is one of those recipes I have grown to depend on. I am not much of a dessert person and am always on the lookout for a quick dessert recipe. I ate this mango pudding in the form of a mango pie at my friend A's place a couple of years back. I loved the mango flavor combined with the 'kharvas' like texture. I used to love 'kharvas' back in India. Since A is a very good cook and I was just testing the waters at that point, I assumed the recipe must be complicated and left it at that. I came across it again at my friend S's place for Diwali. She assured me it was pretty easy to make and well so it was. I looked up the recipe online and tried it out. I was delighted to see that I did not have to stand in front of the stove for hours to make it. In fact after a 15-20 minute preparation, all one has to do is leave it in the refrigerator. I make only the filling and let it set in a serving dish instead of a pie crust. The only other alterations I make are to use fat free cream cheese instead of normal cream cheese and to sprinkle saffron strands on top.

Onion Soup

It actually snowed today in Austin! We have had two days of freezing rain and winter storm warnings from the weather bureaus, so have had to sit at home for the two days with not much to do. Snow is rare in Austin, the last really small snowfall occurred in February 2004. It snowed at night and by 10 am it was all gone.This time, we saw the snow falling, the snowflakes getting bigger and the snow accumulating in our backyard, on our neighbors roof and the front yard. After the drab rainfall over the past few days, this was a refreshing and beautiful change.

We went for a short walk in our neighborhood and admired our neighbors daughters snowman. After our chilly excursion outdoors, we decided we needed some hot onion soup for lunch. My father introduced me to onion soup, when he cooked it one day. My father did not cook very often when we were growing up, but whenever he did , it was always good.

Onion Soup
4 yellow onions, cut into half and then sliced thin
8 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 cup of milk
10 cups of water
some rosemary
some sage
4 garlic cloves, sliced
4 bouillon cubes
salt to taste
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour


Melt the butter in a deep pot over low heat. The Calphalon soup pot is another of my prized possessions , its absolutely fantastic for making soups and sambar. After acquiring this soup pot we really have started drinking a lot more soup, though not really sambar. Add the peppercorns, bay leaf, sage, rosemary, garlic and sugar. Add the onions after the garlic turns a little golden and cook over medium heat till the onions turn golden brown. Add the flour and mix everything together. Add salt, water, bouillon cubes and milk. Stir for some time and then let it boil on low-medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.

We ate the soup, liberally topped with freshly ground black pepper, with some artisan bread, sliced lengthwise, topped with some cheese and toasted in the oven for 2 minutes.

New Years 2007

Pollo Pibil , a Yucatan speciality of chicken baked in banana leaves at Fonda San Miguel - totally recommended!

Pattice

Being Puneites / Punekars, one of the memories both R and I have is that of the Hindustan bakery vegetable pattice. These were available only on Sunday, and due to high demand were usually sold out from the neighborhood bakeries by 9 am. Sunday morning breakfasts consisted of hot tea with vegetable pattice, accompanied by the Sunday morning newspapers and followed by all the Sunday morning shows on Doordarshan, well at least till the invasion of cable. I think pattice are available in Poona throughout the week now, but at that time, we used to really look forward to eating them and we still think of them on Sunday mornings.

Recently my brother in law R3 mentioned that he had a recipe for these pattice. I wanted to try the recipe immediately and I did.

1 packet of Pepperidge Farms pastry sheet (there are two pastry sheets in one packet. Each is folded into three parts. I could make around 6 decent sized pattice from one pastry sheet)
Potato Bhaji (I cooked this in the Maharashtrian style)
Kheema
Some water in a bowl

Kheema Recipe
1/4 lb Chicken Kheema
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chili powder
2-3 tsps ginger - garlic paste

Mix this with some yoghurt, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of turmeric and 1 tsp chili powder.
Heat some oil, add some ginger garlic paste when it is hot, fry the ginger garlic paste for a minute and then add the kheema. Add some garam masala and let it cook till there is no liquid left. Let this cool down.

Leave the pastry sheets to defrost for 40 minutes as per the instructions. On a lightly floured surface, open the pastry sheets and cut them each into three parts along the folds and then each part into half. This should leave you with 12 pastry rectangles. Preheat the oven to 400'F. While the oven is preheating, place some potato / kheema mixture a little off center on each pastry rectangle and then fold them to cover the stuffing. I made 12 pattice of potato and 12 of kheema. Place these on a baking sheet and after the oven is preheated, leave them inside for 10 minutes. I made the mistake of using aluminum foil and had trouble removing them later. A friend suggested the use of baking sheets. After 10 minutes, we had hot, straight from the oven, flaky pattice!! Thanks R3.

The Elephant Safari

The Long Boat on the banks of the Maekong river

on the river


first sight of the elephant camp

Our elephant still searching for bananas and sugarcane
pieces even after we had finished feeding him all that
we had



Northern Thai style picnic lunch: those neat triangular
banana packages contain rice


Sticky rice steamed in banana leaves

the tsongtao

We had planned on doing an elephant safari in Northern Thailand for a long time before we actually reached Thailand. Earlier R was trying persuade me to sign up for one whole day of mahout training, at the end of which I would be riding alone on an elephant, and directing him myself! R wanted to add the Mahout certificate to his many accomplishments, however..... I was not very keen on spending an entire day of my precious vacation becoming a mahout. So we compromised by going on an elephant safari in Chiang Rai. We went to the main town of Chiang Rai and hunted down a tour company called Golden Triangle Tours, highly recommended by Frommers. After going through a variety of tours that they offered, we settled for this one which combined a long boat ride, an elephant safari, a northern Thai style picnic, a visit to three tribal villages and a famous local waterfall.

We started off from our hotel around 8 am, after a good breakfast and were driven to the banks of the Maekong river a little outside Chiang Rai where a longboat awaited us. I had thought that there would be some more people along with us for the tour, but was pleasantly surprised to realise that it was only us, which meant that we could spend as much or as little time at each destination as we liked! The upriver longboat ride was very pleasant in the morning hours, we saw some riverfront houses which obviously belonged to the very wealthy, some shrines and even a river front beach with small cottages built along the riverside where people could picnic and spend the day. On the way, our guide Natcha, who spoke excellent English pointed out the various types of vegetation prevalent in Northern Thailand. In an hours time, we reached the elephant camp village, Ruammit . The villagers of Ruammit are from the Karen tribe and Christian. As we ent on a Sunday, the village looked a bit deserted as most of the villagers had gone to church. It was right around a bend in the river and quite a sight.. 10 - 15 elephants sauntering along a river embankment, quite similar to an ' Indian ghat'. We spent some time with the elephants and talking with other guides and tourists, while the village organization decided which elephants we would get. My mother in law recently told me that R's childhood ambition was to work in a zoo or a circus. True to his childhood ambition, R immediately went about getting acquainted with the elephants. I was a little more hesitant, but utterly thrilled when an elephant I was photographing made a salute!!! We even saw a pregnant elephant whose baby could be seen moving inside.

After we were assigned an elephant, we climbed up to a 'machan' or elevated platform which made it easier for us to climb on the elephant (this was the part I had dreaded before I saw the machan, a previous experience riding a camel in the Jaisalmer desert had taught me that's the roughest part of the ride... when the animal stands up and one is suspended midair for a millisecond!) However this was easy and we also had the 'howdah', the elephant seat. I have to use Indian words as I never got to know the Thai words. The mahout sat on the elephants head , as cool as can be, his legs dangling on the elephants forehead, and thus he sat for most of the trek. We had a bigger elephant, clearly the patriarch of the tribe ahead of us, carrying an Australian couple. The patriarch barged ahead of other elephants , who rapidly made way for him as he trumpeted his arrival to his followers. Clearly, none was going to mess with him! We passed out of the village, the surrounding farmlands, and into the dense tropical jungle. At first, I hung on with some trepidation, clutching tightly to the the iron bars of the 'howdah'. R was enjoying it immensely , this was something he had been wanting to do ever since we decided to visit Thailand, his only regret was that he had to sit on the 'howdah' and not on the elephants back! Slowly we both got used to the elephants gait, though every downhill part of the trek had me clutching to the howdah for dear life. The elephant walked adroitly down narrow pathways, up steep hillsides and through shallow streams. I had to admire its dexterity in navigating this terrain, despite it's size (The Thai elephant can weigh anywhere between 2500 to 4000 kgs and the average height is around 2.5 m). After a little more than two hours through the tropical jungle, we came to the second tribal village camp on the other side of the hill. We had bought a bag of bananas and sugarcane pieces for our elephant at the first camp and fed this to him here. It was a delightful sight to see him munch through the contents of the entire bag in a matter of minutes. Elephants can eat 200 kgs of food and drink 100ltrs of water per day, so I guess it was just a small snack for him. He even examined the plastic bag to make sure there wasn't anything hidden inside at the end.

From here we went by tsongtao to a picnic spot in the hills, it was a very pretty location, by the banks of a stream in a heavily wooded area. Our northern style Thai picnic lunch consisted of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, stir fried chicken, fried catfish, jackfruit steamed with red chili paste , stir fried baby corn and beans, and fried tofu, all this accompanied by a green colored peanut based dip and a red chili based dip. We were supposed to dip the chicken, or tofu or fish in the dip and then eat it with the sticky rice. The food was delicious and tasted even better, I suspect because we were having it outdoors! The steamed jackfruit reminded me of the 'fanasachi bhaji' (raw jackfruit )my mother makes, a great childhood favorite of mine. According to our guide, Natcha, the Thai version is made by steaming raw and chopped jackruit for a long time till it is quite soft, and then pounded with red chili paste along with some other ingredients. We made short work of the food and then lazed around the campsite for a while.

After a short ride in the 'tsongtao' through the mountainous countryside, we reached the Khot Korn waterfalls. We did make a quick stop at another tribal village, but perhaps because we have seen similar villages before, it was not a very unique experience for us. I t was however fun to ride in a tsongtao. Tsongtaos dont usually have air conditioning, to compensate, a pedestal fan was strapped to the seat near the front end of the passenger section. It was one funny sight! The Khot Korn waterfalls gave us an opportunity to enjoy some more of the beautiful northern Thailand countryside. Overall one of the highlights of the trip for us was definitely the elephant ride and the picnic lunch.

Steamed Fish

The salmon steaming in the new steamer wok

It's done!!

Recently I bought an enormous wok (it is called a jumbo wok!) with steamer equipment and a glass lid. I saw it in Costco. R was not around and therefore unable to stop me from buying it. Honestly, I dont know what prompted me to buy a cooking vessel so spontaneously, but it was one of my rare impulse buys. I still remember the days when my mother used to drag me to the kitchen ware shops in Pune. I used to be so bored, I think I used to go stand outside most of the time. And now.. I spend time with my friends discussing my love of Calphalon.. how times have changed!! Anyway, this is a recipe I tried out to inaugrate my new steamer wok.

1 lb salmon, cut into 1/2 inch fillets
1 can coconut milk, (400ml)
2 inch long lemongrass stalk
1/4 inch thick ginger piece
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 cup spring onions, cut finely
2-3 teaspoons of chilli paste
1/4 cup basil leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
ground black pepper

Wash the fish thoroughly and sprinkle the salt, turmeric and black pepper on it.Rub the mixture into the fish gently and place it in the vessel in which it is to be steamed. Shred the lemongrass by hand and place in a small bowl filled with some water. Heat the water and lemongrass for two minutes in the microwave. Add the brown sugar. Cut the ginger finely lengthwise and add that to the hot water as well. Leave it standing for 10 minutes. Heat some oil in a pan and stir fry the basil in it, till it is a little crispy. Remove the basil onto some kitchen paper. Pour the lemongrass-ginger-sugar water on the fish and add the coconut milk and chilli paste. Mix the spring onions into this . Heat some water, 1-1/2 inchs below the steamer plate of the steamer. When it boils place the steamer vessel with the fish on the steamer plate and cover with the lid. I steamed the fish for 18 minutes at the end of which, the fish was done. Garnish with the fried basil. We had it with short grain Jasmine rice and Thai cucumber salad, and R can't say a word against my new acquisition!

Khantoke dinner

Thai style dance

I could not resist slipping in this photo of this ingenious 'chandelier' , a Thai paper umbrella strung with paper lanterns.

People sitting at dinner and listening to the MC.

Dinner

Before the dinner started

Khantokke Dinner

Since for this trip, R and I had decided to go with the flow, and not overplan, we did not have much planned for Chiang Rai other than the elephant safari. We did have some time on our hands and since both of us find it tough to relax too much in the hotel, we decided to speak to the concierge . The concierge, told us about the khantoke dinner, which combined Thai style theater/ dance with dinner. We signed on immediately and that very evening were taken to a large hall, which was open to the street on one side.

Khantoke is a Lanna Thai tradition. There was a stage at one end and low tables with low benches were placed on the floor of the hall before the stage. Big wooden trays ( or small wound wooden tables) filled with food, were placed on these tables along with bamboo containers containing the northern Thai staple of sticky rice, spoons, forks, etc. R and I were taken to one such table and in the manner of the Indian thali meal, attendants started serving us with food almost immediately. We were the only two non Thais at the event and therefore did felt a little lost in the beginning. A lady at the table next to us realized that and in the friendly manner of most Thais, she started speaking to us and explaining what was happening. Four or more people usually sit at a 'Khantoke' dinner , with individual plates and rice containers. Each serves themselves from the common curries, dips and other food placed on the wooden tray, which was replenished almost before it was finished by the attendant. Thais supposedly make balls of the sticky rice and dip it into the curries before eating it. There was a clear soup with some vegetables, 'Gai Tawd' fried chicken with a red chilli dip, Burmese pork curry 'Gaeng Hung Lay' pork curry in the northern style ( a little sour), chicken curry, some stirfried vegetables, boiled sweet potatoes with freshly grated coconut as the sweet dish, since dessert was served as part of the meal, and best of all, addictive prawn wafers (which tasted like the Maharashtrian kurdaya / sandge, which I just love). The food was hot and spicy, just the way I like it. I was still getting used to the texture of sticky rice, and the fact that it is so filling. Even a little amount can fill one up. After most people had finished eating, the theater started. First the MC made some announcement, (all in Thai) and then there were various Thai dances performed by a troupe of girls, like the long nailed dance, the candle dance, the shawl / scarf dance. In between these dances, the MC seemed to be cracking great jokes as the audience was breaking into laughter all the time. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves tremendously, especially a group which had a newly married / engaged couple, who were dragged on stage and introduced, much to the amusement of the audience.
It was quite a unique experience for us as otherwise we had been going to the more tourist type of destinations / events and this was the first time we had actually been with so many Thais.

Tomato Saar or the Indian take on Tomato Soup

This is a really fragrant take on tomato soup, which I love to eat with thick slices of toast or chapattis.

3 tomatoes
2 chilies, slit vertically into 2-4 pieces
2 tsp jeera
1 tsp ghee or cooking oil
5-6 whole peppercorns
6-7 curry leaves
1 tsp asafoetida
around 1 cm of ginger cut into thin slices
salt to taste
sugar to taste
1 tbsp fresh finely chopped coriander

Make a cross shaped incision on the top of the tomatoes. Set enough water to boil so that when the tomatoes are immersed, the top of the tomatoes are covered. When the water boils, add the tomatoes. Let the water continue boiling till the top skin of the tomatoes peels off. Let the tomatoes cool a bit and then peel the skin off. Put the tomatoes in a blender and puree the mixture.

In a kadhai / wok, heat the ghee / oil . Add the asafoetida, the peppercorns,curry leaves and jeera seeds. After the jeera seeds sizzle, add the tomato puree. Add the ginger slices, chilies, salt and sugar. Wait till the tomato mixture boils and add around 2 cups of water. One can add a can of coconut milk instead of the water for a creamier tomato saar that can be eaten with rice. Turn the heat on low and let it cook till it boils once more.
Season with the finely chopped coriander before serving.

Spring Onion Bhaji

Winters started in Austin, or rather Fall. Its windy, chilly and such a huge relief from the scorching still heat of the Texas summer. I really appreciate this weather after 4 long months of summer. This is one of the vegetable preparations I look forward to eating after a long day at work. It takes around 20 minutes to cook and tastes really good with some rotis and raita or rice and dal.

Spring Onion Bhaji ( Kandyachya Patichi Bhaji)

3 bunched of spring onions, cut horizontally (around 2 cupfulls) including the white onion on top
1/2 cup of besan (gram flour)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp peanut / cooking oil
1/2 cup water
salt and red chilli powder to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai / wok .Add the asafoetida, turmeric and mustard seeds. Wait till the mustard seeds burst and then add the 2 cups of spring onion. Add the salt and red chilli powder and mix thoroughly. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes after covering the vessel. The spring onion will have released some water. Add the 1/2 cup of water. When this water boils, turn the heat on low and add the besan. Stir quickly to make sure it mixes in as a smooth paste.Let this cook till the raw smell of the besan is gone.

Red Pumpkin Raita

This is a recipe I learnt from my mother, I have not ever had this at anyone else's home, so have no idea how my mother got this recipe from, but I really like this raita and so does R, so its a common occurrence in our kitchen.

2.5 - 3 cups of pumpkin, cut into roughly square pieces, about an inch wide
1-2 chilies, cut horizontally, I like very fine pieces,
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 tsps cooking oil
curry leaves
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
1 lb / 16 oz yoghurt
1/2 cup coriander / cilantro leaves, roughly chopped


Boil the pumpkin pieces in a pressure cooker till mashable.
Mix the pumpkin, yoghurt, chilies and salt. Mash the mixture a little.
For the seasoning, heat the oil , add the asafoetida, the turmeric, the curry leaves, mustard and jeera till the jeera sizzles.
Pour the seasoning over the yoghurt - pumpkin mixture and mix gently but thoroughly.
Mix the coriander.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Recently I was making minestrone soup based on a Rachael Ray recipe. Can I say I adore Rachael Ray? True, I probably might not like all her recipes and will surely will never be able to make a meal in 30 minutes unless u count omlettes! But I just love her zest for cooking and lively presentation.. and yes her retro kitchen takes the cake! After making the soup, I ended up with huge chunks of cheese and a large quantity of basil. I rarely make Italian food, so I wanted to use them up before i forgot all about them and then saw them after a couple of weeks when the only thing I can do with them is put them into garbage.
I was still pondering this (I was in Costco) when I saw a box of cocktail tomatoes. They were the perfect size to be stuffed, large enough to take a decent amount of stuffing and small enough to be eaten whole! Since I am addicted to Food TV and coould vaguely remember a recipe for cheese stuffed tomatoes.. thats what I ended up making with the leftover cheese and basil. A pesto turkey lunch sandwich at the Moonshine Grill and Patio served as inspiration to make some pesto for the cheese stuffing.

Ingredients:
20-25 cocktail tomatoes
a cupful of basil leaves
a handful of walnuts
5-6 cloves of walnut
a cupful of Parmigiano Reggiano
a cupful of Pecorino Romano
some olive oil
black pepper
salt

So basically went about the process of stuffing the tomatoes by first chopping of the stem end of the tomatoes and then removing the pulp inside. I rubbed the tomatoes with some salt and pepper and placed them upside down on a sieve to drain. Like a good Indian girl I collected the pulp and the drained juices for use on some later day :-). Then proceeded to make pesto by grinding a cup of basil, 5-6 cloves of garlic, salt and some olive oil after adding the walnuts to the mixture midway.
Mixed the pesto with the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, some grated black pepper.
Rubbed the outer skins of the tomatoes with some olive oil and then filled each tomato a little over the brim. Preheated the oven to 400'f and when the oven was ready baked the tomatoes for 18 minutes, till the cheese melted and browned slightly.