“Kitchen Chemistry” by Vidya Pradhan from India Currents
I wanted to thank Vidya Pradhan for a wonderful article.
Check this Q and A out at http://www.indiacurrents.com/articles/2012/07/07/kitchen-chemistry
Thanks much for your time!
With much love…
Special lunch for Special people on July 4th!
We have almost no family here in the US, meaning my parents, cousins, relatives, in laws live back in India. But I must say this: what we do have are friends whom we have made along these years, some of whom have turned into family and are very special to us!
So I invited a special couple who are like family to us for lunch on July 4th. I decided to make something different that they would enjoy too! The last time we had them I made this traditional Indian flat bread with Indian Cottage Cheese Curry and Lentil Soup and so forth. This time, I put a lot of thought into the menu.
We started with a chilled Lemonade drink topped with some cumin and “chaat” mix! My husband decided to take this up since he is very good at it:)
For starters, we planned on making a pesto which is made of basil and pistachios. I came across some fresh corn at my Farmers Market and decided to pick some a few days back. So why not use the corn to go with the pesto!!!!!
I grilled some fresh corn in the grill till I saw beautiful char marks on them and then sprinkled some salt, pepper, cayenne and a squeeze of lemon for acidity!
Then, I take a knife and cut off the corn into a bowl and mix my pesto thats filling up the room with its fragrance:)
My husband had also gotten this Crostini bread from the store so we cut slices and serve my “Corn Pesto on top of my Crostini”
Now for the main course! For a very long time, I have been looking to find whats called as King Mushrooms. I have a blog friend Tim and we exchange comments and feedback on our posts and he had mentioned to me that “King Mushrooms” were very flavorful. I had finally picked some from the Farmers Market and was contemplating on making a dish with these gorgeous looking King Shrooms!
So I decided to roast some garlic with these mushrooms in a pan and to place them on what I call a “Beet Carrot Puree”. I love the color that you get when you puree some beets and carrots!!! Its phenomenal and tasty too. The key here is to counter balance the sweetness by the beetroot- and this I accomplished by roasting some garlic (and I mean a good amount of garlic cloves)with some cayenne, salt, cumin, coriander and lemon pepper. Then I blend this roasted garlic infused with my spices along with the carrots and the beets. The cayenne and the spices in the garlic render some heat which knocks out the sweetness of the beets and the carrots and balance them in such a beautiful way!
“Our family” who was visiting us yesterday also wanted to taste my Baked Cauliflower dish. Every single time I make this dish, I always try to make it different, change up ingredients a little bit to see how it turns out! So this time, I made “Baked Cauliflower with Caramelized Onions, Pistachios in a Yogurt Cilantro Basil Sauce”
I baked the cauliflower with my special blend of Indian spices in then oven along with the pistachios. I caramelized some onions and garlic and plated it along with my baked cauliflower!
We also prepared some “Quinoa with Onions, Tomatoes, Jalapeno’s, Slivered Almonds and topped with Pomegranates” that went really well with both my dishes and my guests were introduced to something new that they have promised to learn and cook once they go back.
They simply loved everything and my day was fulfilled and efforts paid off by the smiles that lit up their faces topped with some absolutely wonderful conversation around the table!!!
I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making them for special people close to heart!
With much love as always………
Baked Potato Fingers with baked pockets of garlic!
All of us crave Potatoes fries at some point in our lives lol! I simply crave them the whole time so it was important that I come up with a guilt free recipe that would let me enjoy my craving every single time!
This is such a simple, quick dish and can even be served fancy if you have guests over:) I used Yukon Gold potatoes but you can use any kind- Russet maybe!
I simply peel the skin and chop them into these thin finger lengths and place in a bowl filled with cold water. Wipe them clean with a paper towel whenever ready and arrange them in a baking pan. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon pepper, curry powder(of course!!!!) and drizzle some olive oil and mix them evenly.
In goes these puppies for about 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven. Leave it in for 10-15 minutes and then make sure to take them out and flip the finger potatoes and place them back in the oven so that both sides get cooked and crisp up(yum!)
Now time for my SECRET!!! Take 4-5 cloves of garlic with skin on it. Throw in some love with salt and pepper on the garlic pods and generous amount of EVOO. Wrap ’em in foil and place this in the oven for 20 min’s. You can do this the same time you place the potatoes in that way you save some time and both will be ready around the same time you take ’em out!
After you take out the potato fingers out of the oven, you will see them a little crisp, a little brown and little golden!!!!! I love all these three shades in my potatoes:)
Now take out your pocket of love- the garlic!!!!! Be careful while opening the pouch- You will know immediately with the burst of flavors once you start unraveling the foil:) The skin easily sticks out or can be removed. Now crush this garlic that’s smothered with oil infused with salt and pepper! and mix it with your baked finger potatoes.
Nutrition facts: The potato contains vitamins and minerals, as well as an assortment of phytochemicals, such as carotenoids and natural phenols. Although they are known for their carbohydrate content, they are rich in fiber, they are very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol . It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese.
Potatoes are good for you as long as you prepare them in a healthy manner. Boiled and baked potatoes are good for you, French fries and potato chips are not.
My kids absolutely love them! Serve it fancy or simple- totally up to you! Enjoy!!!!!
With much love, small cravings………..
“A Masterchef contestant who wont eat meat”!Guess who that is? ME ofcourse:)
PETA stands for” People for Ethical Treatment of Animals” . I am a huge supporter of PETA simply because I can relate to their message. They promote Vegetarianism and I am one hell of a vegetarian for sure:)
Check this article under the living section of PETA’s website about my life story, my Master Chef journey and my future plans!
Go to: http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/meet-the-master-chef-contestant-who-wont-eat-meat.aspx
Thanks and appreciate your time. Please email me with any questions at curryliciousme@gmail.com
With much love as always…..
My Clicks and experience cooking @ Williams Sonoma!
As promised, I am posting some pictures that were clicked while I was cooking @Williams Sonoma, Short Hills in NewJersey.
I was asked to start at 12pm and so I went 1 hour early so I can pick some pots and pans that I needed and few spices that WS carried.
Laura Edwards who is an outstanding Chef herself and the lead for all cooking demo’s at WS is a sweet heart and was so helpful. She helped me grab everything that I needed and made me feel perfectly at home:)
I placed all my stuff in a cart and rolled it to my cooking station. It was just about 12pm and I started heating my pan.
What was I making? I had pondered for weeks together to come up with something for the summer that everyone can relate to and enjoy a burts of flavor in their mouth!
I finally decided to make VEGETARIAN SLOPPY JOES for the first half which was from 12 to 1 30pm and then a SAVORY RICE CREPE with INDIAN COTTAGE CHEESE from 1.30 to 3pm!!!! Right around 12pm, I had my pan with all my veggies and was thrilled to mash everything in the pan to get to my desired consistency. I also had my grill pan with buns toasting and grilling them crisp so I can serve my Vegetarian sloppy joes with the grilled bun along with some cilantro and spring onions as garnish!
I had a few people who arrived at the store and it was going slow and I was enjoying my chats with the customers and providing them a detailed explanation of how to create the dish and completely enjoying myself.
All of a sudden after about 12.45pm or so, the store began to get crowded and I was wondering even if I could keep up with the pace. I am trying to toast my buns and get nice grill marks on them, at the same time spooning my sauce and garnish while talking to them. I have a couple of people who had some questions about the dish and my recipe. OMG!!!!!It was craziness at its best:)
Then I had this lady come up to me and ask me: “Is this what’s smelling so good that I was tempted to enter the store and see whats cooking”? I was thrilled and excited to listen to her say that and offered her and her kids some extra samplers!!!!
I had some people come up to me and ask me if I owned a restaurant and if they could come over for dinner:(. That is when I remembered Gordon Ramsay, Graham and Joe during Master Chef. They asked me what my food dream was and I said to them it was to own my own place/ restaurant one day! Ambitious but I think this country is about dreams and following your dreams so lets wait and watch:)
Meantime, I had a special guest who showed up- YAY! My room mate from Master Chef – I call her the CAKE GIRL- SAMANTHA KATE! I was jumping with joy when I saw her. This is the first time we meet after Master Chef! So I really want to thank her for stopping by and showing her support as a great wonderful friend. x0x0x0x0x.
I had some many kids come again and again and sweep my serving tray clean and I am thinking where did those 10 samplers that I just put out go? And then their mom would come running towards me and apologize saying ” Thats his/ her last one”.
I must tell you this that the Vegetarian Sloppy Joes that I made had cauliflower, peas, carrots, green bell peppers, potatoes and I cooked them separately with a bunch of my special masala/ curry powder blend that I make from scratch and then add it to this delicious spiced onion tomato mixture and mash them all up and finally add a touch of lemon juice for acidity!
How else do you think I get my kids to eat their veggies???? And so I was so happy to watch those kids grabbing those samplers and its all gone in a second- Vanished in thin air!
Some people came up to me and said that they would like a meaty texture in their sloppy joes and nothing but meat would do it! Well, I have an answer to every meat question you ask me, people! So there is something called as TVP which is Textured Vegetable Protein. TVP is made from reduced-fat soy beans and is used to replace or extend ground meats and you can basically use it to get that meaty texture along with the above veggies !
Now time flew by like crazy- It was like I blinked and it was 1.45 already! So I was lagging behind in making my Savory Rice Crepes. So I try to put my Veg Sloppy Joes aside and start on my pan of rice crepe. Once I take out the pan, I see a line of people gathering and eagerly waiting to see what I put out next! So I took out my Crepe dough that I MADE ALL FROM SCRATCH.
I had promised a lot of people at the store that I would post the proportions and the recipe to making Rice Crepe dough in my blog. So here goes:
The dough to my Rice Crepe has: 3 CUPS OF RICE GROUND TO A SMOOTH PASTE + 1 CUP OF WHITE LENTILS GROUND TO A SMOOTH PASTE! Then mix everything and add salt to taste and let the dough rest overnight at room temperature. This is important for fermentation to happen (thats my inner Microbiologist talking) and also for the slight acidity that you are looking for when you bite into a thin crispy crepe.
I start making the crepes and filling them with my Indian cottage cheese and placing my samplers on the serving tray. I am not sure if I was slow making the crepes or if it was the people lining up but it was all gone in a flash!!!! I was using 2 pans simultaneously to make Crepes so I can keep up with the crowd.
Finally, Laura came to my rescue and said that I can stop and start cleaning up!
Laura also mentioned that they needed people with great energy who would draw people in with their food and laughter! She has asked me to go back again and we are working on a few dates so will post the dates for my future sessions soon!!!!
I want to thank my husband without whom I couldnt have pulled it off so well…his immense support and encouragement motivates me to do the best I can of whatever life has to offer!
I hope you enjoyed reading and a big thank you to all my friends who showed up and all the rest who were so kind and appreciated my food and walked away friends!!!!
With much love……….