I Salute

We remember

I took this picture last year.

I drove by the Fire Station just now and they have it up again this year. I have to struggle to hold back my tears: for our friend, Jayashree, who made it out of the South Tower, through the debris of the falling towers, back home to her husband and two children. For all the others who did, too. And especially, for the families of those who didn't.

On the nines

Who can resist a post scheduled for 09:09 p.m. on 09/09/09? Not me! If I was really smart though, it would have been scheduled for 09:09 a.m. on 09/09/09. But since everyone thinks I am rather brilliant, we'll just go with the flow and ignore my overly honest, inner voice.

Dana asked me what the significance of all the nines was and if there was something special she should do today. Eat and drink, girl, cos it's the first day of the rest of your life and this date is not going to come around again in your life. Neither will 09/08/09 but let's not go there, shall we? I like dates that look like 09/09/09 - they're symmetric and very orderly; the exact opposite of me.

Nines also remind me of my Dad. He would always calculate the digital root of a number, drop the nines, and ensure that the final number was divisible by three. He was rather upset when he did not get the Volkswagen Golf with the registration number KQZ 873 but was allotted the one prior, KQZ 872. Both were blue, both were great cars but ours had a digital root of eight whereas the other guy's had nine. But, our apartment was A-3. Yay! I presume that some crazy numerologist along the way must have told him that three and nine were good numbers for him, just like the demented astrologer who told him that he would die a watery death at the age of 32. Because of this, he didn't go near a large body of water and he didn't let us either! Needless to say, I hate that astrologer who was off target by 20 years. I have no strong feelings for the numerologist except that I have this urge to start adding numbers - the street number for our house before we bought it (it's a nine! Dad would have approved!), our cars, important dates, birth dates, account numbers, you name it!

As I grow older, I look at all the baggage I carry with me and smile. Memories - of the people who molded us, from our parents to our friends to our teachers to chance occurrences on the street, even. Sometimes there is a hint of an aroma in the air that only I can smell and it propels me back in time to a memory that is so vivid, it could be real. Other times, it's a look on the face of a complete stranger. Is she... could he be... no! They're just passers-by in the walk of life but they leave me with the renewed joy of reliving an event that occurred over two to three decades ago.

Has that ever happened to you?

I'm sure it has! Have you ever taken that feeling and run with it? If it was an aroma or a flavor or even a déjà vu, have you tried to capture the essence of that feeling and tried to recreate tastes associated with it? I know I have. I hold on to it until I have to do something about it, especially if it is related to food. Sometimes just finding the right recipe is action enough, other times I have to do more. Like the time I saw a kid continue to gnaw at an already eaten cob of corn. He dipped it in some kind of sauce and sucked on the cob, over and over again. It brought back visions of a scrawny kid with thick eyeglasses sitting in a small kitchen, dipping her 2 inch share of a cob into a tangy green sauce and sucking the flavors off the cob. Over and over again. I had forgotten the distinctive, slightly garlicky taste of the palakachi amti that my Mom used to make. One that turned dinner time from being a total time-suck to an endless suck of the cob.

And, sure enough, there was soon fresh corn in the Louisville Farmers Market begging to be... er, sucked.

To be honest, the corn wasn't that great because the entire crop had almost been wiped out due to a massive hail storm in the Foothills. But, I bought it anyway because I had a memory that was itching to be recreated and I like to support our local farmers, especially when they are down.

Palak ani makkyachi Amti

Spinach and Corn Curry

• 1 lb baby spinach leaves
• 2 ears of corn, preferably fresh
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch asafetida
• 2-3 medium cloves garlic, julienned
• 2 Thai green chillies or 2-3 dried red chillies
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp tamarind pulp
• 1/2 tsp quick fix ground masala (optional) 
• salt to taste

1. Wash the baby spinach leaves well.
   
   
   
   
2. Soak tamarind pulp in about 1/4 cup water, pop into the microwave for 20 seconds and mush it into a thick paste with your hands. Discard all hard fibers, shell and seeds. Use more water if you need to.
   
   
   
    
   About 1/8 cup fresh tamarind pulp
3. Chop the corn on the cob into pieces that are about 1.5 in to 2 inches thick. About eight pieces is a good number.
   
   
   
    
   Chop with a sharp knife
   
4. Heat oil in a large sauté pan.
5. Add mustard seeds and when they pop, add asafetida.
6. Keep your splash guard handy and then add julienned garlic. Stir until garlic becomes a nice toasty brown but take care that it does not burn.
7. If using fresh green chillies, slice them down their length. If using dried red chillies, break them into 2-3 pieces each.
8. Add chillies, followed by turmeric powder.
9. Add baby spinach leaves and allow them to wilt completely, stirring every so often to help the process.
10. Add tamarind paste, quick fix ground masala, if using and salt. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.
11. Discard chillies, if desired.
12. Use a hand blender to make a thick purée, adding up to 1/2 cup water to bring it to a consistency you like. Or add a few ice cubes to cool the spinach quickly and take it for a whirr in your blender.
    
13. Taste and adjust seasonings at this point. If it's not spicy enough, feel free to add red chilli powder.
14. Return the pan to the stove and add the pieces of cob. Dunk them into the thick green sauce so that they absorb all the zesty flavors as the corn cooks. Do not overcook the corn.
    
    
    
     
    Send the corn for a swim
15. Serve immediately over long-grained steamed rice with homemade yogurt and Indian pickle.

Notes:

1. I think the roots of this dish are in a patal bhaji where the masala was ground with fresh grated coconut but I think my Mom stopped using coconut because of doctor's orders - reduce saturated fats in my Dad's diet. 
2. I've made both with and without the quick fix ground masala. Medha prefers it with the masala, while I like it without. Her Dad doesn't care, as long as he has a pile of pickled jalapeño peppers sitting on his plate.
   

We decided to brave the mosquitoes and have dinner on the patio. It was interesting to watch both Medha and her Dad when they were served dinner.

 

He picked up his spoon

  

  She followed suit.

After a few bites, she looked at him,  then looked at me and did exactly what that child in a small Bombay kitchen had done decades ago: she picked up the cob and sucked on it.

 

With that, I would like to launch IFR: Memories. A series of posts that focus on mundane happenings today that somehow manage to send me into the past. I'd love it if you would join me for more than just the ride. Delve into what defines nostalgia for you: a picture, a smell, a thought, a setting, a landscape, a deja vu. For IFR: Memories, I'm looking for tastes you haven't sampled for at least a decade or more. I would like you to:

1. Write a poignant post that includes a recipe. Your writing is what is of  importance for this event. It needn't be a tearjerker.
2. Some guidelines:
• posts must be in English.
• avoid excessive use of "..." and exclamation points.
  
• proof-read your post for spelling as well as grammar.
• avoid run-on sentences. 
• no smileys or emoticons, please.
  
3. Link to this announcement.
4. Send me an email at indianfoodrocks (at) gmail (dot) com with the following info:
• Your name
• The Name of your Blog
  
• The URL of your post
• The Title of your post
5. You can send me two entries per blog, limiting it to two entries per person.
6. Send me a basket of mangoes Send all this to me before midnight MDT, October 15, 2009.

I will post a summary of all your entries within the following week.

Looking for a logo for this event? You could use this, if you like.

Catching up

Far be it from me to Click and Run, so instead I am updating you on all the fantastic late-summer happenings in my life. But let's get some formalities out of the way first.

My judge's entry to Click: Allium

There! That's done!

The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy. I now have a middle schooler who shows signs of more and more belligerence intelligence and humor with each passing day. I wake up earlier than usual even though middle school starts half an hour later than elementary school, just so that I can get on my bike and attempt to keep up with a bunch of kids racing each other to school.

 

Hey! Wait for me!

As much as I dislike downhill skiing, I love coasting downhill on a bike. I thought I was getting my daily exercise until a bike aficianado told me downhill does not count, at which 2.5 miles of my 5 mile route developed wings and dissipated. The route back home is mostly uphill and I am ready to burst several blood vessels by the time I crawl back up the slope to my home. Neighbors walking their dogs shout out terms of encouragement as they pass me by - in the same direction.

The end of summer vacation meant that I had to get off my butt and Make a Psychedelic Wish Happen. We painted Medha's room: Lemon Zest, Lime Pop, Orange Peel and Ariel's Afternoon Swim (an ocean blue). Yes, each wall a different color. Take my advice and never give in to such a wish. And if you do, ask the following questions when you're buying paint:

1. Does this paint need a primer?
2. Dude, does this paint need a primer?
3. Has this paint can been through the shaker? Did you open it to confirm that it did?
4. And seriously, man, does this paint need a primer?

If you don't ask, you might go home with unshaken paint and worse still, no primer. It could mean up to four coats of paint for reds, blues, yellows and greens.

Then make sure you:

1. Buy one roller nap per paint color.
2. Buy plastic disposable covers for your paint tray.
3. Buy a thick nap (3/4in) if you have knockdown or any other type of texture on your walls, disregarding the Home Depot guy's question: What rough texture are you painting? Your deck?
4. Buy at least one wall brush, a small brush and a foam brush. If you get one of each per color, you don't waste water washing the paint off.
5. Also, buy paint thinner / lacquer to wash off paint residue from the naps and brushes.
6. Buy plastic to cover your floors. If you have wood floors, it helps to get the kind that is not smooth. Yes, I've gone on a nice ride as the stepping stool I was standing on slipped all over the room. 
   

And, while you wait for the paint to dry between coats, store the brushes and naps in air-tight baggies. The plastic bags that breads come in are ideal. You save gallons of water this way even though you create more waste in the landfill. It's a tough balance, according to me.

 

  

The corners, my friends, were my worst nightmare. So I cocked my snoot at them and they are what they are: messy with colors bleeding into one another and parts of the orange-blue confluence only have orange primer.

But you know what? She's happy. Very happy. My back, on the other hand? Not very.

Ganesh Chaturthi this year was very low key. I did not make chavde for the birthday girl, my sister, as planned. But get this: her birthday according to the Gregorian calendar was on the same day as Ganesh Chaturthi, the day she was born according to the lunar Hindu calendar. I've asked what the chances of that are but so far, no one seems to want to take me up on figuring that out. We were treated to a handmade Ganesh at the first Boulder Balvihar of the 2009-2010 school year. The idol was made using regular sifted soil, some wood for a make-shift frame, a coconut shell, fuse beads, yarn and other readily available knick-knacks lying around the house.

Later that week, I had the finest women in the Colorado Front Range come over for an Indian Street food party. I must say this post is chockful of tips because here comes another one: it helps to know where you kept the best Kashmiri chilli powder ever because if you can't find it, you will end up using a new batch of extra spicy red chilli powder. And, you might even add it twice. Like I did.

The pav bhaji was so spicy that even after adding an equal amount of veggies and mashed potatoes to that already in the pot, it still packed quite a kick. Since this took up so much of my time, I didn't get a chance to make homemade papdi and used Tostitos Scoops instead.

As if these were not disasters enough, my bebinca - a traditional Goan dessert - failed miserably. Jen saved the dessert by arriving with chocolate macarons, lemon ice cream and Vietnamese coffee ice cream. Do you know just how lucky we are? I do.

The ladies seem to have survived the spices and have returned to leading a normal eventful life, as is the case in Boulder County. Never a dull moment.

As if I did not have enough to do, I joined a Book Group organized by our school district's Parent Engagement Network at which we will be discussing Sue Blaney's Please Stop the Rollercoaster. I don't have any set expectations or a defined outcome in mind but what I do know is that the parents in my group are some of the brightest minds around. I took espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies and coffee to the first meeting that I had organized yesterday.

 

Bru that cookie!

Yes, I used Bru and they were a bounce-off-the-wall hit. If you haven't made these or eaten these, make it your project for this weekend. It's hard to stop eating them so I sent some over to my neighbors and then handed the rest to a friend who dropped by later in the evening. What are those half-spherical things in the other bowl, I hear you ask. Hold your horses! That story is next.

Marc Brownlow of Figs with Bri has been on a road trip to Zion, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. He was in Denver for a couple of days and we met for happy hour tapas at The Med in Boulder. I drove like the wind from my meeting with precise instructions on where to park sent over texts by Jen "plenty of parking on Walnut heading west." Walnut. Right. No! Left, left. Walnut is one-way along some stretches. West? Gulp! Where are the mountains? Ok, that's west. She was right! Lots of parking! That is usually my worst nightmare, after trying to figure out which direction I am going in, of course.

Rock star Jen with her pink sunglasses

Marc and Brian

Tapas: melon wrapped in bacon. Mmmmm!

Taking Cynthe's advice, I made nankatai for Marc. I made them smaller than normal so that they are easier to eat on the road. Jen said she loved them!

Life's been full and brimming over but it's been good. If all works out, there will be more delicious food in my future: dosas at Masalaa in Denver with Kitt, Dana and Jen.

Have a great long weekend, peeps!

PS Shilpa has posted the round-up for Purplicious. And, Orange you glad it's a new color!

How high is 11,000ft?

Very.

Enough!

I blew a tire on Friday and then found a garter snake living in my garage on Sunday. I've had enough drama to last me a lifetime. I want boring days. I'll even take hot days. Right now, I'm just too much of a wimp to step into my garage. Mow the lawn? Forget it! It took me a while to step out to the yard after the last close encounter of the snake kind. This one is freaking me out even more.

But that's just the tip of everything that's driving me nuts lately. I've come across a fair amount of FUD that Indian food is hard (to cook). No, it's not! If I can cook Indian food, anyone can. I'll tell you what is hard (for me): baking is hard and turning out perfect desserts like they do, is hard.

Those who tell you Indian food is hard are either trying to position themselves as experts on Indian food or trying to recreate restaurant food at home with miserable results. Indian food served in restaurants around here is mostly made up and given fancy names. It is far too greasy and heavy cream is used indiscriminately. Korma? Makhani? Saag? Hello, heavy cream. Even in dal. And quite honestly, do you really want to mix mango purée with Cool Whip and feel happy that you made Indian mango ice-cream? Just like in the restaurants? Or that you made gulab jamun with Bisquick? Puh-lease! People tell me they love vindaloo and that they always order it when they go to an Indian restaurant. Should I tell them that the vindaloo they are eating is just a spicy meat dish in an onion-tomato sauce, nowhere close to the real vindaloo? That the aloo in vindaloo is not potato? That the heat shouldn't come from spoonfuls of red chilli powder but a fiery mixture of spices?

Indian chefs, who know their food history, whip up delights that were served to Kings and Emperors. If we ate like that everyday - forget about your waist - your coronaries would be so clogged that you would be looking at a visit to the ER in your near future. Maybe there was a reason why the Kings died so young!

Regular down-to-earth Indian food is not difficult nor is it very time consuming. I've heard over and over that there is too much prep time and cooking time is also very high. Let's face it: if you are going to eat a homecooked meal made with fresh ingredients, there will always be prep time. And, there will be cooking time unless you eat mostly raw food. The problem lies in the fact that the very Indian food that it gets its fame from is not what we eat on a daily basis. Shaheen's Express Cooking Event led to an overwhelming number of 30 minute meals. Daily Indian fare is simple, nutritious and healthy.

Tossing garam masala into something and then calling it Indian is yet another of my pet peeves. Do it by all means but call it Indian-inspired. I may sound like a purist but I am not. I think that cooking evolves, just as culture does. Chillies were not a part of the Indian cuisine but they are now an integral part of Indian food. And, believe it or not, toasting spices before grinding them into a fine masala is a given. Goda masala? Toasted. An everyday masala? Toasted. Punjabi Chhole masala? Toasted. So if someone tells you that their spice mix is unique because they had a eureka moment and tried toasting their spices before grinding them, hide your smirk and chalk it up to inexperience. Don't understand why toasted spices have such a different flavor? Let's just say there is a basic lack of understanding that there is a chemical change when heat is applied.

What I can understand and relate to is that the ingredients may seem foreign, therefore daunting. It's how I feel when I go to South East Asian stores. Overwhelmed, too. The list of Indian spices can seem endless, although a homecook will tell you that there are just about 5-6 basic spices that she uses on a daily basis. Mustard seeds, cumin, coriander seeds, asafetida, turmeric and red chilli powder are those spices for me. Kadipatta whenever available and green chillies, too. We also use a battery of legumes and grains that many non-Indians may not be familiar with. But let's not confuse lack of familiarity with difficulty, OK? Enough with the FUD and more of Indian cooking as it really is: not just for special occasions but daily food with a variety of flavors and textures.

If you aren't familiar with Nupur's One Hot Stove or Shilpa's Aayi's Recipes, add these to your feeds as they present Indian food the way it is cooked every day. Visit Sailu's Food, too. There are many more blogs like these and what they have in common are the regional recipes I yearn for, that taste of home with flavor-filled memories. That's what I like to put on the table for my family and for my friends.

On that note, I want to share a simple recipe for aubergines or eggplant or brinjals. Eggplant was a much hated vegetable and I sought refuge under "too spicy" or "my tongue itches" whenever possible. It's a different story today and I am glad that I have an 11 year old with mature taste-buds, something I obviously lacked as a child!

This is quick to put together and can be had with rotis or rice and dal. It's often called eggplant stir-fry but the vegetable is covered and cooked well so I am not entirely sure it qualifies to be a stir-fry. Some folks call it spicy fried eggplant - that's probably the closest you could get when it comes to translating its name but it's not really fried either. It doesn't look great nor do I have the patience to style it to look pretty which is why this post needed the picture below but I'll have you know that it's an easy, quick and nutritious veggie dish with the complex flavor of eggplant.

(Idea stolen from a friend of a friend who greeted me this way when we were introduced at the local Indian Store.)

Eggplant Talasani

• 8-10 small aubergines or eggplants
  
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• salt to taste

1. Half-fill a medium saucepan with water.
2. Dice the aubergines into 1 inch chunks and drop them into the water as you chop them to stop them from turning brown.
   
3. Drain and sprinkle red chilli powder and salt.
4. Heat oil in a saucepan and when hot, add mustard seeds.
5. When the mustard seeds start popping, add urad dal.
6. Add the diced aubergines.
7. Sprinkle brown sugar and mix so that the tempered oil coats every piece of the vegetable.
8. Cook on medum heat for about 5 minutes.
9. If you feel that the aubergines are sticking to the bottom of your pan or getting scorched, add a little water - just a tablespoon or so. This dish is not supposed to have any sauce.
   
10. Cover and cook until the aubergines are tender and cooked.
11. Serve with rotis and yogurt or as a side with dal and rice.
    

Notes:

• Typically, jaggery is used instead of brown sugar. Since I do not have access to organic jaggery (is there such a thing?) and I am not impressed with the chemicals used to commercially process jaggery, I buy very little of the stuff. I have also had the misfortune to find a metal staple, jute fibers and other impurities in jaggery that I prefer to substitute it with organic brown sugar instead. The flavor is not quite the same but that's fine with me.
• use more red chilli powder if you want to up the heat or if your chilli powder is not potent enough.
  
• Variations of this talasani include adding a large clove of julienned garlic to the oil. I also like to add asafetida after I add mustard seeds.
  
• You could also switch out the aubergines for other vegetables: zucchini does very well when cooked this way. As does ivy gourd.
  

Hard? You tell me!

In other news, Flower Fest has been born again and this time, we're doing flowers by color. Purple is our first color and the last date for sending in your entries is August 25. So find your flower and sketch, paint, doodle or take a photo. Do what you do best or try your hand with another medium but do it! You don't have to be a blogger to participate; loving flowers is enough!