Indian Food – Popular or not?

1% of the US population is Indian and yet there is no Indian restaurant that serves authentic Indian food. Why? Some of you already callme the Samosa Nazi, because I refuse to eat a Samosa at a restaurant, simply because I know it’s not going to be as it should be. I very rarely order Chole Batura, for I do not like this iconic dish altered so it can “fit” into the western palette. Why does Indian food feel such a strong need to “fit” into? Why can’t Indian food recognize that it is brilliant as it is?

The most common answer to this Why is; well the vegetables don’t taste the same. You know the potatoes taste different, so how can the samosa taste the same? Really? And so started this blogpost, and the different ideas on why? Here’s what I think is happening, feel free to chime in and correct me.

Still local: Indian food is still very localized. Yes, there are Indian restaurants every where, but unless, the Indians become ubiquitous across the entire country, it’s going to be hard for the food to go mainstream.
Ethnic Cheap: Indian food is typically considered an “ethnic” food, but the prices are comparable to a foreign food restaurant. Foreign food to me is something that very few people would be willing to try, and again that will depend on the demographics. For instance, when Sushi entered Midwest it was foreign, but it has been mainstream in CA for a very long time. As foodies, we may pay a premium for something we consider foreign, but ethnic is typically a step below. Even as Indians ourselves, we scrunge at the thought of paying $20 for an Indian buffet. Why won’t others?
Penny wise pound foolish: Indian restaurants need to stop pinching pennies and do a better job with explaining the ingredients. Maybe spend some money of decor and serving ware too. Even the high end restaurants will charge you for pickles. Come on guys.. it’s time you started counting the dollars and stopped worrying about the pennies and let the pickles flow. In fact have a pickle bar, let your customers try out the mild and spicy tangy flavors. If they get hooked to these flavors it is more business in the long run.
It’s Hot n Spicy: Indian food is misunderstood. Yes, the mention of Indian food brings up images of the burn your mouth curries and sadly we Indians are to be blamed for that. The truth is India started using chilli peppers only after the Portuguese landed in Goa. Until then the Indians used black pepper and Pippali (now only used in pickles.) The truth is Indian food is infused with flavors and on individual preferences can include burn your mouth spiciness.
More than a curry: Curry is a generic term. Curry is essentially a gravy. Americanization of Indian food has resulted in a sad standardization. The truth is Chicken tikka masala and paneer masala do not have the same curry base, and if they do, please walk out of that restaurant. IMHO Chicken tikka masala is a much richer base, where as paneer masala can be made with a basic onion – tomato paste, ginger, a pinch of turmeric, a touch of garam masala and maybe some yogurt for the creaminess. Serve a home cooked paneer masala with hot off the press roti’s, a side of pickle and cucumber raita, you have a health low calorie meal fit to please the pickiest palette.
It’s rich and heavy: Again a sad translation to fit in. Indian home cooked meals are probably one of the lowest calorie intensive meals you can have. The rich, cream based gravies are a sign of desperation by the Indian restaurant owners to lure in the customers.This again stems from the myth that if one takes “chilli pepper” out, the flavors will go away, and so pour in the creams and clarified butter. Try replacing the chilli pepper with ginger, garlic, clove, cinnamon and cilantro. You won’t miss the chilli pepper guaranteed.

Did you see the movie, “The 100 foot journey” if yes, what was your take on it?

The movie does not do justice to its producers (Steven Spielberg or Oprah Winfrey,) it however does bring forth the point of “staying true to your roots.” Most people enjoyed it because it glorified Indian food, but I think it glorified the idea of staying honest with the spices 🙂 It was not about Indian food or how spicy it is. Yes Indian food is hot, but it is sexy hot and not chilli pepper hot. That was my take on the movie. The movie very aptly showed how Hassan Kadam a home trained culinary genius became a sensation in the food world. Hassan was enjoying the glory and fame only to realize very quickly that commercialization and fusion was killing his creativity. He soon realized that the Michelin stars will come only when he stays true to his roots, so he comes back and opens his rackety old spice box to create magic.

Unlike many other cuisines where flavors are shared, Indian cuisine does not share flavors but rather each spice tantalizes the palette unlike any other cuisine. The effortlessly blending in all in while maintaining the distinct flavors is what makes the Indian cuisine unique.

Will Indian food become main stream? Yes, it can ONLY and ONLY if, the true authentic flavors of home cooked meals from the kitchens of Indian can be served in the restaurants. Just like human beings, honesty and authenticity is important in food too.

As Indians we often complaint about how India was dominated and enslaved for centuries. This slavery gave us the rich cuisine today. The Mughals brought in the tandoors and naans, the Europeans brought the the chills, potatoes and tea 🙂 We embraced it all and made it our own. It’s time to embrace it again and stop customizing it to fit the western palette.

Keep it simple and keep it true.

Aaloo Tiki – Dil se.

Aaloo Tiki; crispy on the outside and melt in your mouth inside. What India calls Aaloo Tiki, the world calls Potato Croquettes. Nothing against croquettes, but saying croquettes just doesn’t warm up the memories like Aaloo Tiki does. Dil se translates to “from the heart,” after all it’s Valentines 🙂

A staple street food in North India, Aaloo Tikki vendors, have this huge griddle or taws as it is called in India. Perfect for shallow frying the taws had a lake of boiling oil in the center. Yes, it was a lot of grease, and surrounding the grease were tikki’s – round patties of mashed potatoes an spices stuffed with spiced chana dal (Bengal gram spilt legumes) and molded into this perfect round.

The customer arrives and the vendor pushes the partially cooked tikkis into the pool of oil where it sizzles hot perfectly to a crispy brown goodness.

The Tikki has since evolved from the streets of Delhi to a gourmet delicacy. It’s yummy and versatile. Make them tiny, they are the show stopper at your next holiday party. Make them bigger and cater a vegetarian BBQ, make them just right and have a chaat party at home OR twist them a little, change the shape and have a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

Here’s how I make Aaloo Tiki. Again, these are my ingredient choices, the base is potato and honestly, you can’t go wrong with potatoes, the add on’s can be anything; from mixed vegetables to cheese, or just keep it plain. Either way, because you made it with love, it will taste amazing.

So here goes:

For the Stuffing:

If you want to stuff the tikki with the lentil’s (bengal gram dal) – Take about one cup of dry lentils and soak the lentils for about 3 hours,
boil them with minimal water so they are just soft and not mushed.
Add salt to taste, cayenne pepper, and a squirt of Sriracha sauce or any other hot sauce of choice.
Mix it all in and keep it aside.

You can use anything for the stuffing, cheese, paneer (home made cheese) Or even a dollop of sour cream and dill.

For the Tikki’s – Potato Croquette
Take 5-6 medium sized potatoes, boil them, peel them and mash them.

As a general rule – one medium sized potato will make two small Tikki’s.
If you want your Tikki’s bigger and thicker, then one medium sized potato for one Tikki.
(10 lbs of potatoes makes 45-50 Tikki’s)

Add a handful of crushed ginger, about a teaspoon of finely chopped green chillies (if you want to keep it mild, you can omit the chills. But do add the ginger)
salt to taste, a handful of finely chopped cilantro, a dash of dry mango powder and a tbsp of lemon juice.

Now Add about a cup of bread crumbs.

Mix them all to make a potato dough 🙂

Now let the fun start – take a handful of mashed potatoes, flatten it out,
add about a tablespoon of the stuffing, and gently wrap the potatoes around it.

You can either shape it as a pattie or go artsy and get those cookie cutters out.
Shape it the way you like.

Take a pan, add some oil and shallow fry the tikki.

You have yourself melt in your mouth goodness – Aaloo Tikki – An Imperfectly Perfect Delight.

Souse it with the chutneys of choice. I topped it with some spiced split peas, finely chopped onions, tamarind and cilantro chutney.

FullSizeRender-2 — Aaloo Tikki – It is sinful blessing. An Imperfectly Perfect Delight.

Tea Time Gossip (Chai pe Charcha)

I am steeped in the legends originating from the mountains of China and the world still wonders how I was discovered. I am tiny, very tiny and yet I can fight the scariest and calm the nervous. From the mountains of China, I saw the world beyond and started my journey. From the royals in Europe to the street vendors in India, I have seen it all. I even met the little boy Santiago. He knew that in order to save money and return to Tarifa he had to find a way to get more customers into the grouchy merchants crystal shop. So he started introducing me to all the wary travelers on their way to Mecca. Soon the shop was flourishing and Santiago was rich BUT still torn between returning home or continuing his journey further to fulfill his personal legend. I wonder if he ever met “The Alchemist?” Maybe someday I will meet him again in the bazaars of Tangier, Africa. Today, centuries later my simple green form has evolved into a multitude of colors and aromas. Some call me Green tea, some call me Black tea while others call me Herbal tea. Deep down I am just tea, a simple tiny leaf that was mystically discovered in the mountains of China.

It’s all about tea. While the history of of its discovery continues to be a legend, the taste is not. Tea today is no longer for the royals. It belongs to the common man. The common man who sits under the roadside Banyan tree and sips tee to fight the scorching summers in India, or the common woman who sips it, on her plush desk in the USA, while taking a Skype call. Tea is everywhere.

Chai or tea is today the National drink of India – officially or unofficially, it really doesn’t matter, it is India, after all :)The credit for this goes to its current Prime Minister – Narendra Modi. Like the President of the USA is the grandson of a cook, Modi was a tea seller, and when the opposition mocked him, he started the “Chai pe Charcha” and branded the mockery to one of the greatest political victories in the world. “Chai pe Charcha” translates to “Tea time Gossip.” Gossip isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is when the brainstorming happens, it is when the mind relaxes and says, ok let’s be friends and do something meaningful, it is when President Obama recognizes the subtle symbolism and acknowledges the lack of “chai pe charcha” in the White House. Such is the magic of Chai.

So today’s blog post is about Chai. Not the history, you can Google that. Today it’s about HOW TO MAKE CHAI – the Shilpa way 🙂

Growing up, mom would make a flask of tea every morning and my parents would start their day with a cup of tea. This was their time to catch up with each other, plan the day and maybe the week ahead. The ‘cup of tea’ would stay filled till the very last drop 🙂 Surrounded by tea lovers, interestingly, I never learned to enjoy it until a few years ago BUT I did learn to make it and make it well. Like everything else in cooking, I learnt the basics from my mom and them made up my own versions. In India, guests are like missionaries of God, they can come and go as they like, and when they come, we serve them Chai. So if you are a daughter in a social household in India, chances are growing up you make a lot of chai and practice does make perfect. One such afternoon, I was making chai and a very dear uncle asked me “pati bethi gayi, translates to; Did the tea leaves settle down?” I asked him what he meant, and he explained, when you pour the tea into the cup, there should be no tea leaves in the strainer, that’s the sign of a good quality tea. I was confused, how is that possible? If there are tea leaves, they will be in the strainer, right? He further explained that if you boil it right, they will settle down and so started my journey to make sure those tea leaves settled down.

As I mastered the “Art of Making Tea,” I realized that adding milk before in half and half quantity like it’s traditionally done, never worked. The tea leaves always floated on top. So I reversed the process. I developed my own way and name. I call my style of tea making “The Punju Chai.” Chai is Indian for tea and Punju is slang for Punjabi often synonymous to North India. Punjabi’s are North Indians and in some remote ancestral way descendants of the Aryans ( I think ;)) The difference in tea; Punju chai is chai (tea), for there is TEA and then there is TILK (coined by my dad, once he approved my tea:)). TILK is milk + tea. Punju chai also has milk, but very little, just enough to kill the slightly bitter taste of black tea and TILK typically is lots of milk, and when I say lots.. it’s almost half water that is boiled together to make tea. How can that be tea?

The flavor of tea is so delicate that adding milk and boiling it to glory kills the flavor and aroma of tea, what is left is boiled milk with something that was tea – that’s TILK in my world.

So here’s my way of making Chai – the Shilpa way 🙂

It’s all about the Kettle 🙂 Measure or not, pour in the water, add the spices and let it boil. My favorite spice combination is cloves and cinnamon, but there are many and you can mix and match them all from fennel seeds to ginger to mint. As the flavors seep in, you will notice the color of the water changing. At this point, the water is ready to embrace the tea leaves. I typically put one tea spoon for one cup of tea. Let this boil for about 2 minutes, and then add milk. How much? That’s the tricky question – I add till I like the color 🙂 In about 4 cups of water, it’s not more than a quarter cup of 1% milk. It’s very little milk and that is why it is very important to not over boil the tea leaves as that will make the tea bitter. After you pour in the milk – let it boil once and then turn the heat off and pour in the magic. Add sugar or not and enjoy a culpa chai ! Notice the absence of tea leaves in the strainer – that’s key to good Punju Chai.

ENJOY YOUR “PUNJU CHAI”

A vegetarian Thanksgiving.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
Oprah Winfrey

Such a simple thought and yet so difficult to practice. Just as activities expand with the availability of time, so do our desires with the availability and the widespread culture of shopping around Thanksgiving.

Historically, the roots of thanksgiving goes back to the harvest season and the pilgrims, but for once, I am going to skip the history, because the idea of families gathering to share a wholesome meal brings warmth and a smile to me.

Most holidays are centered around kids, Thanksgiving is not. It’s one of those days that you have to be a grown up to appreciate.

The world Thanksgiving, conjures up images of a turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pie’s galore. For a vegetarian family or at least when the chef in the family is a vegetarian, it poses a different dilemma, how does one combat the challenge of making it all vegetarian and yet have the family enjoy it.

This thanksgiving, like every other year have been invited to a friends for a gathering filled with food and laughter. Appreciate and thankful that she takes the time every year and includes us in the celebrations.

It’s going to be mostly a vegetarian affair at her place, with some bird 🙂 So thought of sharing a few of my favorite vegetarian dishes that work for holiday potluck dinners. What am I taking this year? The Vegetable Biryani.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Wh. Count the little blessings, the big ones will come automatically.

SWEET POTATO WRAPS.

Dicing sweet potatoes takes the longest 🙂

Saw this idea originally on www.showmethecurry.com and I thought it was brilliant. You can choose either red or white sweet potatoes. I tried both and settled on white. I added a few twerks and this is how it goes.

Dice sweet potatoes into small squares. This is the longest and the hardest part for this dish.

Cumin seeds can be used instead of Panch Phoran. You can also skip this, if you don’t have either.

On high, heat some oil in a wok, add some Panch Phoran (its a five spice mix of fennel, nigella, cumin, fenugreek and mustard seeds.)
If you don’t have this – no worries, you can use cumin seeds and if you have neither – don’t worry, just kip this step. Add a pinch of ginger and lots of crushed peanuts for the crunch and texture and saute for a minute.

Allergic to nuts – Add finely chopped celery and green peppers instead.

No allergies – Add it all 🙂

Add the sweet potatoes and stir fry on high till they start feeling tender. You can test the tenderness by pressing a little with your spatula. Once a little tender.. Add the magic ingredient, Sriracha Sauce.

Yes, squirt in Sriracha depending on how spicy you want it to be, add salt to taste, stir fry for another 5-10 minutes or more if you like your sweet potatoes a litte mushy, cook for a few more minutes and your done. Top with some finely chopped green onions. If you don’t like onions.. cilantro works well. If you don’t like cilantro.. top with some dried cranberries. If you like them all – its your lucky day.. add them all.

TO ASSEMBLE:

Take some lettuce, un wrap the leaves slowly _ I haven’t quite figured out how restaurants have those perfect lettuce cups, but I am sure some day, I’ll find out. Buy an extra lettuce just in case you don’t get the perfect cups from the first one.
Add the sweet potatoes, top with your favorite sweet sauce OR do what I do, I take a basic Indian tamarind sauce, mix in some Sriracha and it tastes like heaven 🙂
Ok, now you know, one of the secert ingredients in my pantry is this Sriracha sauce. No need to re-create the wheel, the makers of this sauce do an amazing job. Save yourself some time and use it creatively for the most amazing flavors. FYI.. it works very well with Thousand Island dressing too 🙂

VEGETARIAN BIRYANI

Biryani takes it’s roots in the Persian culture. It probably took centuries and many trade routes to reach India. The word Biryani originates from the Farsi word Birian which basically means “fried before cooking.” Guess mom knew this, cos she always washes the rice, then stir fries with ghee an cumin seeds before adding the water and letting the rice boil. Scientifically, the stir frying breaks the gelatin layer of the rice and allows for a separate grains rather than them being stuck together

So that’s what you go to do first, take any long grain rice, wash it, stir fry it with rice and anise seed. Another favorite of mine and oh so aromatic. True to its name, it is a star ingredient.

Sorry, did not take pics of rice cooking 🙂 and I cooked it in a pressure cooker.. so did not stir fry. But it took literally 5 mins to make the rice.

Since I already have the rice, I am stir frying the veggies (any hard vegetable works; onions, green peppers, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, mushrooms – cut them all length wise,) with anise seed, some cloves, cumin and bay leaves. You only need to add some salt and cayenner pepper to taste now.

Decided to make it in a Tagine, since there is nothing better to do today than cook. It’s going to take it’s own sweet time. Once the vegetables get tender. Layer the rice with vegetables OR do what I do, I just fold in the rice.

I like the rice to get the shades of color due to the spices.. makes it look so much more fall like than being plan white 🙂

Enjoy.

ROASTED MEDLEY: Cauliflower with Red pepper sauce.

This is a very easy recipe and can be prepped two days ahead of time.

For the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce: Buy the peppers: Only Red or a mix of red, yellow, orange works too. I usually roast them in the toaster oven at 350, till they start looking roasted 🙂 Sorry, have never timed it. But you will know. The aroma fills the house and they are ready to be taken out. You can turn them after 10 mins or not, it works either way.

As the peppers roast, take your head of cauliflower. You can choose to marvel at the beauty and magic of nature for a minute and wonder how it creates such perfect symmetry without any tools and gadgets or take your favorite knife and go for it. It’s a personal preference.. You can either cook it as a complete flower, chop it into big florets or chop it into smaller florets. This time, since its more kid friendly, I chopped it into medium size florets.

Now mariniate them. Add salt, cayenne pepper (not too much as you will be adding some in thesauce too,) add about 2tbsp of ginger, one or two cloves of garlic (if you like them, if not, the cauliflower still loves you ;)), a pinch of oregano an thyme, squeeze in just a tad bit of lemon juice and give it a squirt of olive oil and now just mix till they are evenly coated. Then you can store them in the refrigerator till you are ready to bake them.

Meanwhile, your roasted red peppers are beginning to cook.

Once cooked, take them out and let them cool a little – toss them in the blender and give it a twirl, till it is a complete smooth paste.
Now take a saucepan, add some butter – let the butter brown. Which basically is a fancy way of saying, on medium high, let the butter burn for a little – u want it brown not black 🙂 immediately lower the heat, stir profusely as you add cumin powder, some oregano, thyme and cayenne pepper.
And add the roasted red pepper puree.
Keep it on low, add salt to taste and a fist full of finely chopped cilantro. If you don’t have cilantro.. that’s ok.. skip it.
Now cover this with a splatter screen and let the sauce simmer on low for a good 30 mins.
Once cooked, you can freeze it or use it for anything from cauliflower to pasta to pizza.

ROASTED MEDLEY – Cauliflower with red pepper sauce.

To assemble, just add some sauce in a oven safe pan, add layer it with cauliflower, add some more sauce and bake at 350 or 400. This for me depends on if I have other things to do at that time or not.
If you bake at 400 – you have to keep an eye on it. If at 350 – you can easily forget it for 30 minutes 🙂 and then check it with a fork to see how tender it is. I like it when the cauliflower can be separated but its not mushy.

Serve hot over rice or as a side with bread. It is YUMMM!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

In My Kitchen…

In my kitchen, there are no recipes.

Cooking for some is a chore with a sink full of dishes to clean, for some it is microwaving a pre-made meal and for some of us it is an art. I fall in the last category. A self proclaimed artist at soul, cooking is an art for me. I do believe that we eat with our eyes.

Art never followed any rules. The same holds true for my kitchen. There are no rules or recipes followed here. Yes, I do have a collection of cookbooks only because I love browsing through the vibrant colors and the brilliant plating.

Do you know that person who always chooses to bring drinks to a party because they don’t cook? Ever wondered, how they survive without cooking? I do. For most it is the fear of “what if.”

I was 12 years old when I made my first dish; “Baigan ka Bharta.” For my western world friends, it is roasted eggplant, mashed up and seasoned with carmelized onions, tomatoes, salt, cayenne pepper, a dash of garam masala and tons of cilantro. The one thing that dish is not supposed to have is “turmeric,” and that’s exactly what I added. My Nani said, “you never put turmeric in Bharta.” Of course I knew that, but the damage was done. So I quipped.. really, I don’t know Mom always puts it…LOL. Blame it on Mom, that’s what 12 year olds do anyway.

What if I add more salt than needed, what if it doesn’t taste that good? These and more are kitchen fear factors. My answer, so what. So what if there is more salt, you can always add more stock or vegetables to tone it down. So what if it doesn’t taste perfect, a pickle on the side or a chutney on the top takes away the imperfections to make a dish that is uniquely perfectly you.

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure.

In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

― Julia Child

Throw out the what if’s and bring in the so what’s is the key to making cooking fun.

What does cooking mean to you?

Cooking is a therapeutic for me. It’s a stress buster, an escape from the world. Back in the olden days, serving restaurant food was a luxury, today serving a simple home cooked meal to your friends and family is a luxury. I am proud to say, be it a single family dinner or a multi-family holiday dinner, It’s only home cooked food in my home. Yes, I have been told I am crazy for making everything from scratch, but then its craziness in a good way.

Cooking is satisfying. My family gets treated to an a la carte menu every nite. As long as I have their requests in by 5.00pm, I can give them food of choice. When my son was little, I learned the hard way that food cannot be forced down a throat. It has to be relished and enjoyed, only then does it bring in the benefits of healthy and nutrient rich growing, and so started the tradition of a la carte menu. Crazy again, yes.. but the joy of seeing my kids enjoying their food and licking their fingers makes it worth the effort.

It may seem like a lot of effort, but its not. A friend once told me, “you make us working women feel guilty.” I told her, “I also have only 24 hours like you do, so don’t feel guilty.” All it really takes is a well stocked pantry and some imagination. I usually never plan a weeks worth of menu or grocery list. I buy what my eyes take fancy too and then when its dinner time, I open the refrigerator and make it work. Over the years, I have some staples in my pantry and these staples make it all so easy. Trader Joes Red Pepper Spread is one such staple. This little jar is magic.

A hearty delicious vegetable soup.

Every so often when I open the refrigerator there are ten different containers with left over food. What does one do? For instance, recently had lots of spinach dip and my favorite plain simple vegetable soup left over. I could have done sandwiches with the dip but the soup would still be the same. So instead, took the dip and made it into a cream of spinach soup AND took the soup, added some rice with a dash of some more spices and it made a scrumptious pulao. A completely new menu with the left overs. Yes, there is something about the upbeat jubilant homemaker in all this, but it is also very liberating to see an experiment come alive

Cooking is also love. My daughter always wants to know what the secret ingredient is. My answer has been consistent; It’s love.

So next time you are having a tired day, a blah day or a celebration day; step into your kitchen, take a look at your pantry, open the refrigerator and just stare at it for a few minutes. I am sure you will cook the most amazing meal your family ever had.

What did you say? You want a recipe.. free yourself of recipes. Through this space, I’ll show you how.