childhood memories.. ajwain wali arvi

I lived on a diet of bread, milk and fruits as a child. My mom's skills at serving lightly cooked vegetables full of colour,flavour and nutrition were wasted on me. I took to cooking a little late in life and have been making up for the lost time ever since....

Ajwain wali Arvi is a typical north indian vegetarian side dish and is usually a hit if balanced well with spices..

Ingredients

Arvi (about 750gms) also called collocasia stems

green chillies

dry masalas (red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, corainder powder, dry mango powder, tumeric)

salt to taste

green chillies

ajwain (caraway seed)

Method

Boil the arvi, after washing it well, in a pressure cooker. Peel the brown skin off and cut the stems into 2-3 peices.

Heat some mustard oil in the kadai and put a teaspoon and a half of ajwain and green chillies.

Add arvi peices when the tempering starts spluttering.

Add the dry masalas and saute well till the masalas are nicely roasted.

Serve hot with chapattis and enjoy!

beet and gajor chechki.. an colorful bengali side dish

This is recipe nor the next one are originals. They have appeared on my blog because I tried them out and they were a hit with friends and family. The photos are original though!

I usually use 3 beetroots and 2 medium sized carrots.

Some green chillies: slit

kalo jeera (nigella seeds)

salt: to taste

tumeric and chilli powder - to taste

Cut the beetroots and the carrots into matchstick size pieces.

Heat about 1 teaspoon of oil in a kadai or pan. Once the oil is smoking, put the green chillies and kalo jeers (about1.5 teasp) till they start spluttering.

Put the carrot and beetroot in the kadai, stir well, cover and let it cook for a while

Once the veggies are cooked slightly, add the salt, tumeric and chilli powder and stir. Cover and cook till well done.

Really, it is that simple.

les temoins..

I have been watching a lot of foreign films (as in foreign language by foreign directors,non english or american or british films ) since I have been off work. It's like being in a different country among different people for two hours. If the film is well made, you also get a glimpse of the socio-cultural environment of the land.

One such film I recently saw was a french film called 'witnesses' which was also the entry from France for the Toronto film festival.

A young gay french guy, Manu, from the provinces, arrives in Paris and gatecrashes into his sister's apartment. He soon befriends a middle aged doctor,Eros, who introduces him to the sights and sounds of Paris and also some of his friends. The film is set in the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic broke out. It has a wonderful potrayal of how the lives of the friends, manu and eros and the couple they are friends with : Mehdi and Sarah are affected with the outbreak. That, the French are known for their ability to respect individual choices when it comes to sexual preference, love,marriage,relationships etc is obvious in the way the complex relationships of these friends has been depicted in the films. "I don't care who he sleeps with so long I win in the end'' says Sarah to her friend, about her boyfriend Mehdi, when she finds out about his amorous relationship with a man. The films deals with the outbreak of AIDS affecting one and all on the streets in a manner which I have never seen before. It is all very subtle and matter of fact but very real and focussed.

A powerful film which leaves you wanting for more..highly recommended.

kumror, chana chechki

Kumro and chana, with apologies to minakshi dasgupta

I started out to make a chechki which is defined as a stir fry of vegetables cut into small peices with a tempering of panchphoron or kalo jerey or whole mustard seeds. We like our veggies like cut big and chunky so I decided to do a variation, which was somewhere between a ghonto and a chechki.

so here goes..

Ingredients

Pumpkin, approx 300gms, cut into large chunks

2 medium size potatoes

Kabuli chana, soaked overnight and boiled: 1 1/4 cup
Parval or broad beans : about 150 gms
1 onion- grated
3-4 dried red chillies
a green veg - one can use potol or sheem (english names pointed gourd and broadbeans)
masalas
salt
Red chilli powder
tumeric
corainder and cumin powder
garam masala powder

tempering
panch phoron
Pour a little mustard oil in a kadai. once the oil is hot, put in the dry red chillies and about a 1.5 teaspoons of panchphoron. After they start crackling a little bit, add the grated onion and saute for a while. Add the vegetable one by one in the order they cook.. potatoes, punpkin and then the beans or potol. Cover and let is cook for a while. Mix all the masalas in a little water and then pour it into the kadai, mix well. Add a little hot water at this point if you want a little gravy. Add the chana and mix well. Cover and let is cook till done.

Serve with steam rice.

Ready to eat...

minakshi dasgupta... thank u v much

His angioplasty hit me hard, the uncertainity of life came closer home. It is hard enough to keep a marriage going and a marriage with baggages??? A lived to eat, I did'nt want that to change for him, at least. So everything else took a back seat.. I have been experimenting with oil free/low fat, vegetarian versions of almost everything he liked to eat.
The most popular dishes out of a bengali kitchen are primarily non vegetarian.. macher jhols of various kinds, kasha mangsho, chingri malai curries and the like. The vegetarian part of the bengali cuisine has potential too.. One day, when there are enough recipes for a seperate blog, I will move all this to a food blog, till then read on....

musings from the corporate world

.. ogilvy noor!!??? A whole vertical dedicated to marketing to the muslims, courtesy O&M... ''world's first bespoke Islamic branding practice'' ..Still can't get over it. I have heard of marketing campaigns targetings various demographic segments earlier; the blacks, the hispanics, the NRIs... whatever, so ideally should'nt be reacting to this one, right? What is this going to do? differentiate or assimilate sensibilities ? Are we going to end up highlighting differences which we did'nt notice, which just went into the melting pot of all cultures that make India? Would I feel the same way if HTA came up with something called HTA-Shubh, marketing to the hindus or something of that sort ?

A and me

I figured I don't mind A's patronising anymore!!! being much older and very aware of it, he advices (most of it unsolicited) me on even simple household chores. Realised it has stopped getting my goat anymore!!! what's next? looking like him? they say people start looking like each other when they grow old together....

a summer to remember...

The met department said that the monsoons are likely to hit the city in a couple of days. Summer is finally over, school opens, the dusty foilage will soon wear a fresh green look. I have taken a few months off work and spend the summer at home,no holidays, no travelling, no cousins visiting, just plenty of family time..
JB... he did so much.. learnt french, practiced piano every single day, developed a taste in old classic movies with me, spend hours in the pool, had friends over off and on, and when we would let him, tried cooking. I did all of that with him..I have almost started missing him when he's in school.. an obsessed mom: you bet! I am so proud of him. We were always close, but now we are closer.
A: Illness has brought us closer than we were. Food kept us together, now eating right and cycling has.
Me: watched lots and lots of movies.. developed a taste for award winning films in foreign languages, period films and war movies. Cooked, cooked and cooked... JB says I make the best pasta in the world :) :) well he likes my rissotos and roasts too. Brought my vegetarian bengali cooking as close to perfection as I cooked. Finally started finishing a book in a week. Honed my parental skills,lost a little weight (still a drop in the ocean), finally started cycling and so much more. My to do list still had a few things to complete before I get back to work..
If not for anything else, for being able to bond with my son, for ruffling his hair or giving him a big hug as soon as he gets back home from school, for watching A grin in pleasure when I produce another zero oil delicacy from the kitchen, for finally noticing the beautiful gulmohar trees flowering in all their glory in summers, for growing up a little... this is one of the best summers I have had in a long long time

mumbai meri jaan ?....no way!

after a long long time, a trip to mumbai and got to do stuff I always wanted to:

1. Lunch at Britannia, one of Mumbai's most famous Parsi restaurants in Ballard estates.Famous for it's berry pulao and many other mouthwatering parsi dishes...dhansak with brown rice, sali boti etc. not to forget cool drinks like ice cream soda from parsi run factories.

Also encountered Mr. Boman Kohinoor Irani (picture), one of the partners of Britannia, who insists on taking every order himself despite his frail demenour, failing eyesight, memory etc but an unbetable spirit neverthless..

2. Buying crockery from good earth.. a well appointed lifestyle store epitomising the chic indian look. The largest collection of aesthetically put together designs of crockery and furnishing, difficult to make up your mind.. each peice on display is a collector's item in it's self. I was taken aback at the space they have at their disposal bang in the middle of the now upmarket lower parel area.Also had tea at the tasting room with my two elderly aunts and sister in law. The stylish tea service is done in the beautiful good earth crockey... an experience and fragrance (the store has scented with their own mix of essential oils.. I am told a mix of bergmont, lavender and lemon) to remmember and look forward to in the next visit.

3.A visit to Red Blue and Yellow: A much talked about store when it opened.. though I thoroghly enjoyed my visit, I found the ware disappointing or may be I expected much more.

4. Lunch at the Indigo Cafe: BIL, SIL and me stuffed ourselves at the cafe in Andheri (W). A truly satisfying European meal. Spotted Manish Malhotra lunching with what looked like a young intern at the next table..

on the whole a satisfying trip..

Next trip.. drive on Queen's necklace and lunch at olive or goa portuguesa

waiting, waiting and waiting... sigh!

this and that

Day 1 : down with cramps, bad bout of food poisoning, high fever, in bed the whole evening

Day 2 : cycling in the hills in the evening, cooking, giving the kiddo a nice scrub

what the hell am I trying to prove to myself???

amazing science

Watching JB struggle with names of summer and winter fruits and vegetables got me thinking.. there aren't any summer fruits and winter fruits and vegetables at all.. everything is available round the year now. Most of them are just grown in simulated conditions when the weather is not conducive.
it got me thinking... nothing will remain the same anymore. I wonder what I will teach my grand kids. You may not need acres and acres of farmland to grow tonnes of grain anymore, you may not even need soil to grow plants anymore, plant reproduction will happen in labs and trial farms, cereals will also be sources vitamins and minerals, mothers won't scream at their kids to eat their veggies any more, every law of nature is being challenged, the world as we know it is changing at a much faster pace than one can fanthom.. my brush with food revolution slowly sweeping the world has left me humbled ...

Confused soul

The one thing I can do endlessly is.. watch movies on the home theatre in our bedroom cooled by an oversized airconditioner (A and I had a lot of arguements when we first bought it, but now the sturdy oversized AC is the only thing that manages to cool a room filled with a large LCD and a home theatre system, a PC and 2-3 laptops)

bridge on the river kwai and more...

JB and I have been watching a lot of old movies this summer.. we started with The eagle has landed, Guns of navarone and just finished watching The bridge on the river Kwai, The movie still doesn't fail to mesmerise, even in the world of blu rays and 3 D televisions.Alec Guinness potrayal of the spirited and dignified Col Nicholson is captivating and leaves one asking for more. Needless to say JB loved the film.

afternoons and coffeespoons

A quiet afternoon at home, sigh!, wish there were more of these

smiling thru summer

Things I am doing this summer:
1. Finally getting on to a bike.
2. Swimming almost everyday for a couple of weeks
3.Watched JB learn taking baby steps mastering french
4. learning to appreciate a whole new genre of movie - old war movies, period films.
5. Spending more time with A than I ever have since we got married.
6. Finally reading a new Amy Tan
7. Cooking cooking and cooking and loving it all the way. Rediscovering Jamie olivier and bangla ranna
8. Having friends over to spend the day
...... and more. God where did my life go all these years. A welcome break from work after a long long time.

Duplicity Starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen

Dear Ms. Roberts,

Will you please please not have the saaa...mmm....e expression throughout the whole god dammed film. I liked duplicity though, for its anti-climax and slickness. A good watch.

Your fan since pretty woman
Bubble

Of Mr.Khan and Mr. Khan

Dear Mr. Aamir Khan,
I have been a great admirer of your work for many many years. I have watched all your fims from QSQT to 3idiots in the first week of their release. I even tried joining a fan club till I realized the founder was cuckoo.
I think you are one of the most versatile actors in the industry today.
But I am disappointed with you.. you shunned awards in India on the grounds that they were biased and there was too much politicking and lobbying happening around them and yet you did the same thing for Lagaan at the Oscars!!! Isnt there enough lobbying and politicking happening there too! then why the double standards?

Dear Mr. Sharukh Khan,

Way to go!!! Kudos to you for taking on the fanatic bunch of hooligans who call themselves a political party.

cheers...

I love my life

why oh why am I trying to be supermom... movie plans on a weeknight, dinner parties that start at 11 p.m. on a Sunday night, gourmet meals with no help....:( all with a full time stressful job.

Tommorow is strawberry smoothie and bowl of dried fruit for breakfast for junior, brunch for cinderella.

at work: analysis of a recently completely survey and a search for a financial analyst for a new business line.

and oh yes, I loooo... ve my blackberry curve.

happy to be back

hey I'm back.. what I have been upto these days, well working, keeping the house , socializing but god ! I missed blogging. gettting addicted to facebook and linked in.I have a love hate relationship with my virtual social life.

As for now, I am back at the gym for the umpteenth time, a bigger better and more encouraging one... and a much more motivated me!

My MBA registration is finally happening in the next couple of weeks.

Work.. have moved up the rung and learnt soo soo much in the last one year. Going strong and looking forward for more

My folks.. have been good, dad's finally found something meaningful to do here. had some great times with them this week

entertainment.. brothers and sisters.. I'm hooked :) planning to finally complete my promise to dada about the NFAI membership this week