My World of Food and Travel

My parents are here for some time while the in-laws are away in Assam to celebrate Durga Puja with the other grandchildren. Suddenly, I am no longer the apple of my parents’ eyes. All they can think of is their grandchild, my two year old brat. I am no longer their centre of the universe – that position has been proffered to the gibberish-speaking toddler. They are delighted at every syllable he utters and at every little action. They go into a tizzy at every little sneeze and every little cough. I am driven to frustration by Deta’s countless accounts of “Has he eaten?”, “He must be hungry”, “He is feeling cold”. Ma, in the meantime, gives me accusatory glances whenever the kid opens his mouth to bawl.  But then, that’s what my maternal grandmother had done as well. Every time we went to her place during vacations, I would be pampered royally and Ma and my aunts would be directed to keep me well-fed. “Has she eaten?”, “Give her something to eat, she is hungry” would be her co...

I had a lot of palak (spinach) leaves left over the other day, even after making my favourite fish curry with them . In a way, I was glad to see them as these greens are so versatile and one can make a number of dishes. Packs in the nutrients as well.  My first thought was to make palak paneer, but realized that there was no paneer (cottage chese) at home. But there was an unopened packet of sweet corn kernels in the fridge and that caught my eye. I remembered that we used to be served corn palak in my first office as part of the free (vegetarian) lunch there. The palak part seemed to be the same as the one in palak paneer. Since my original plan was to make palak paneer anyways, I decided to add corn instead of paneer and turn it into corn palak. Let’s get on with the recipe then. Corn palak (sweet corn in spinach gravy) Ingredients: A bunch of spinach leaves, washed 1 carrot, chopped 1 cup of sweet corn kernels 2 onions, grated 2 tomatoes, blanched and mas...

We generally wake up late on the weekends. Breakfast, hence, is quite a late affair. While I do try to make something special for the family for breakfast, the late morning hour and grumbling tummies don’t allow much experimentation. We were out for a late night movie the other day and just could not shake off our slumber the next morning till quite late. By the time I woke up, my father –in-law had already made a stack of hot chapattis.  I should have died of shame! He was confused as to what vegetable to prepare and had left that task to me.  I quickly took stock of the vegetables in the refrigerator and found a packet of small brinjals/ aubergines/ eggplants. I didn’t want our weekend breakfast to be very plain and at the same time not too rich, either. So, this is what I came up with – my version of Masala Baingan or Spiced Brinjal.  Let me take you around to the recipe. Masala Baingan (Spiced Brinjal) Ingredients: 8 small brinjals, keep the stalk ...

April is the month my in-laws had got married. March was when my parents had tied the knot. So, we celebrated another wedding anniversary at our home last Wednesday.  The husband, who had single-handedly cooked for my parents’ anniversary dinner, opted to do the same this time around as well. I had no complaints, given his culinary skills; although the aftermath of the ‘kitchen-storm’ can be a little daunting. Once again, I found myself entrusted with the task of preparing the appetizer. Last time, for my parents’ party, I had come up with Amritsari Fish Fry . It was inspired by a conversation we had in office. Call it sheer co-incidence, but the same thing happened this time also! Nowadays I seem to find my cooking mojo in my work-place!  We have this office boy who makes the round of everyone’s cubicles at around 12.30 pm, half an hour before the scheduled lunch time, to get orders from people who had not brought their food. Not that we can order for stuff su...

I cheated! Yes, I did! I used Thai Green Curry paste instead of making the paste out of scratch. Please don’t kill me! There, I am done with my confession. Now, we shall move on. Seriously, I have become such a ‘short-cut’ girl. I scour the supermarket stores for various ready-made pastes and sauces, although I admit that I have not been able to bring myself up to buying them. I think I am more comfortable buying ginger-garlic paste, tamarind paste and Thai curry pastes than other stuff such as Ragu sauce.  In all fairness, I had tried to make Thai green curry once when I was living in Mumbai, at my cousin’s place. My cousin and I had got hold of this sure-fire recipe in a Sunday Times of India issue and rushed off to the newly opened Godrej Nature’s Basket in Lokhandwala. We had bought all the ingredients – lemon grass, galangal, Thai bird’s eye chillies, basil and the rest from the outlet and set off earnestly to making the curry. Somehow, the end product did not taste lik...

It’s been quite some time since I last wrote on food. Surprising, considering the fact that it occupies my mind most of the time - what to cook for breakfast/lunch/dinner/lunch box and the baby! All the more now since I have my sis-in-law visiting and I want the girl to have a break from her own cooking and go back singing paeans about my cooking. Did I see a smirk on your face just now? In all honesty, I am yet to recover from my vacation mode. I did not put up a finger while I was at my parents’ home and even at my in-law’s home. Things were being done magically. Or to be precise, by my sister and mom at the parents’ place and by my younger sis-in-law at my in-laws’ place. All I did was stretch out my hand for that second helping. That might explain the raised eyebrows aimed at me by my colleagues at work. It seems two weeks of vacation has taken a heavy toll on my already ‘fragile’ weight. Before I indulge in my oft repeated ‘going on an exercise-diet regime’, let me s...

This was not how I had envisaged my first post after Christmas. I had grand plans of putting up a picture of an herb-roasted chicken with the title ‘Chicken roast for a merry Christmas’ or something like that. But thanks to someone , someone who reads my blog and is accountable for the shopping, it did not happen. That particular someone conveniently forgot to get the whole chicken required for the roast and brought cut pieces instead. And he insisted that I never told him about the roast. Okay, before this rant turns more sarcastic, let me concentrate on the food. Perhaps that shall calm me down. So, my plans crashed and I had to improvise on the chicken. I shall put up a post later on the chicken recipe. Now, my original Christmas menu included a vegetarian dish of methi paneer (cottage cheese with fenugreek leaves), a dish I had been wishing to make ever since I read it on P’s blog (presentedbyp.blogspot.com). She is a fantastic cook and I trust each of her recipes. Unf...