Even More Unusual

They ran into the house, panting, "Mr. and Mrs. P's house is on fire!" I leaped to my feet, grabbed my camera, and ran out of the house with them, not caring about my general state of dishevel. I go camping with my neighbors several times a year; they have seen me in my morning face as well as my tired-as-heck-give-me-another-drink look by nightfall, so I didn't particularly care. There was a fire in the hood! As I ran, I saw my neighbor John eyeing the first response truck, wondering what the kids had been up to this time. While we don't see these trucks in our 'hood very frequently, we have had them come out every so often - the weirdest one was to help an eight year old who had swallowed a rare Jamaican coin. She figured she wouldn't lose it if she held it in her mouth as she took a last jump on the tramp before they headed off on vacation. Needless to say, her first day of vacation was spent at The Children's Hospital in Denver.

I apprised John of the situation as I ran past him, only to have him give the girls, who were close on my heels, something to giggle about for the next week. Expletives! Pretty much the same words that ran through my mind when the girls first burst into the house with the news.

Too close for comfort

Read on...

Rice Matters: Brown Dhansaak Rice

The official line is that I was giving you guys a break from my almost daily postings in October; but, in reality, I was perfecting The Art of Whining. I whined mainly about too much work that led to too much pain. I am still in pain and have already started complaining about how I will miss the start of the ski season, even though I don't ski. See how good I am at it now?

Because of this constant pain, my culinary escapades have suffered more than a little bit. Rice has become my go-to for most meals. Steamed rice, phodnicha bhath, jeera rice; whichever way I could make it, I did. That brought me face-to-face with the brown rice that is made with the famous Parsi dish, dhansaak. I considered winging it but then decided to turn to 101 Parsi Recipes, by the queen of Parsi cuisine herself, Jeroo Mehta. And she did not disappoint.

The definitive Parsi cookbook

Brown Dhansaak Rice

• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 6 cloves
• 3 cups basmati rice
• 4 tsp sugar
• 6 cups water
• salt to taste

Don't you want to dig in?

1. Wash the basmati rice in several changes of water and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large pot or saucepan; add cinnamon and cloves when the oil is hot.
3. Add sliced onions and cook till they have softened.
4. While the onions are cooking, heat the sugar in a small saucepan till it melts and caramelizes, taking care that it does not burn. A nice dark brown color is desireable.
5. Add 1/3 cup warm water to the melted sugar a little bit at a time, taking care not to burn yourself as it will sizzle and foam as you do.
6. Drain the rice and add it to the pot with the onions. Stir the rice and fry it with the onions for a few minutes.
7. Add the sugar solution to the rice and stir well.
8. Add the remaining water (5 and 2/3 cups) and salt.
9. Bring to a rolling boil, cover tightly and lower the heat to medium low. Cook at this heat until all the water is absorbed and the rice has cooked, usually between 15-20 minutes or so.
10. Fluff the rice and serve right away with any spicy dish with a sauce.

Look, Jen, I prettied with some cilantro!

Notes:

• Jeroo Mehta's original recipe calls for 2 cups of rice. I find this a little too sweet for my tastebuds, so I upped the rice to 3 cups. Perfect for us!
  
• Taste the water after adding salt. If it's not salty, then you need more salt. As the rice cooks, the salt will be absorbed by the grains and it will be just right. Adding salt after the rice is cooked is an option but it doesn't taste the same.
• I have served this with what I call the-rest-of-the-world chhole, a spin on Anita's Punjabi chhole recipe, and it was appreciated. The next time, I served it with rajma and that worked, too. I will probably be making this again for Thanksgiving, but not with dhansaak - the pain, remember?

Yup, I scored!

As soon as I can wiggle my toes a litle bit more, I am planning to make Jeroo Mehta's Lamb chops with green masala. For both those things, I can't wait!

And what of IFR: Memories, you ask? You do ask, don't you? The round up is coming next week, I promise, with all of the four valid entries I received. What can I say? Congeniality was never one of my virtues.

Papeta par Ida

There are days that seem to never end. Today was one of those days. It become excruciatingly so when I realized that I had put it off too long and I really did need to buy Medha some new pants. She's been going around looking like a tangewali. When used to describe someone who has nothing to do with a horse, it means that their trousers or pants are too short. At least, that's how it's used in my family! While we waited for her Science Project pictures to be printed out, we went to the Kohl's next door to remedy this terrible oversight on my part. In less than a half hour, armed with several fleece pants that she needed and matching jackets that she didn't need, we joined the line at the cashier. One woman was being served, next in line was a woman and her daughter and then us. 10 minutes and our status hadn't changed. It was the same story in the other lines else I would have jockeyed to another cashier. Another 10 minutes and Medha couldn't bear it anymore.

Let's go, Mumma! I don't care if my pants are short! I have enough for this week. Maybe we can do this another time.

Ah! I have raised her well! I threw the clothes down and walked out of there, hand in hand with my daughter. Both of us feeling immensely relieved! How do they do it?! I mean on a weekday, a schoolnight? How do they shop for teeny tiny stuff that no-one needs? Stuff that will be put away in a drawer or returned? Just because it's on sale?!

We were so hungry that we stopped to eat some overly processed but delicious and juicy kosher hot dogs at Sam's, picked up our photographs and came home! What I really wanted to eat was papeta par ida - eggs over potatoes - but there was none leftover from the batch I had made on Sunday.

Papeta par ida, also pateta par ida, is a Parsi dish that is quite like a fritata - spicy potatoes that have been doused with well-beaten eggs. I've had this for breakfast, brunch and lunch at a Parsi friend's home so I am not entirely sure when this is served. We usually make a brunch out of it as it is very filling and rather satisfying! A Parsi friend of mine had once told me that my papeta par ida was as good as her mother's!

Papeta par ida

Eggs over spicy potatoes

• 4-5 medium red potatoes, diced into 1 inch pieces
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch asafetida
• 2 small Thai chillies, chopped into two pieces each OR 3-4 long finger hot chillies, chopped into 1 inch long pieces
• 6-7 kadipatta leaves
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp grated ginger (optional)
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 3 whole eggs and 3 additional egg whites

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan.
2. Add mustard seeds and when they pop add asafetida, followed by the chillies, kadipatta, turmeric powder.
3. Then add the diced potatoes and some water, if you decide to use less oil.
4. If you are using ginger, add that too. Followed by salt.
5. Cover and cook on a medium flame until the potatoes are done.
6. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro all over the potatoes. Mix it in if you wish. I like to leave it on top.
7. Add salt to the eggs and beat till they are nice and fluffy and pour into the saucepan.
8. Cover for a few minutes to allow the top layer to cook.
9. When the eggs have set, your papeta par ida is ready to be served!
10. Serve with toast, plain parothas or naan.
    

Notes:

• Take as many potatoes as you will need to make a nice layer of potatoes in your pan. I usually take one extra potato cos I lose about as much while they are cooking. Like so:
  
• If you would rather use 6 whole eggs that really is up to you. I usually take one whole egg and one egg white per person - yes, Anita, that extra yolk goes down the drain.
• The other famous version of this Parsi dish is bhida par ida or bhida par idu. Eggs over spicy okra which is also very addictive.

We usually cut this up into quarters, with one quarter reserved for the hungry little girl as a quick healthy after-school snack.