Raise a Toast

With all the green eyed monsters that Facebook has managed to create, it has done a world of good too. No denying that. It has stopped brats from posting obscenities on Walls because their parents are on Fb too; it has made loudmouths reserve their comments because there are bigger brags in their friend list; it has made people kinder because only if they post kind comments on others' pics can they expect the same favour from them. Facebook has made us a civilized race.


It has reconnected long lost friends & also made 'friends' of people who never were.


Dhondup & I reconnected after seven years. Thanks to Fb. 


An affable lad in his school days with a vibrant woolly cap that made him stand out, Dhondup Tsering is now in Sydney for the past 6 years and marketing a logistics business for the past 3. "On a personal note, the grammar lessons back at SGC have served me rather well. The news report writing has come in really handy and I have written quite a few press releases for work and Tibet related events... So thank you :)."
 This note having suitably warmed the cockles of my heart, I decided to treat Dhondup to something I know all have-been/boarders love.

And it is so easy to make that as the machine does your laundry, you would have made your breakfast & had it too. Before you rush to your logistics job. So wear your woolly,err,chef's cap, young man & let's raise a toast to our tailor made French Toast! 


Ingredients
1. 2 eggs
2. Besan- 1 tbspoon
3. Onion - half/quarter(depending on its size)
4. Capsicum- qtr
5. 2 green chillies
6. Cilantro
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil to cook






Cut the bread as you like.

I've noticed an obvious gender difference in many families. The men like their bread cut into rectangles while the ladies prefer the diagonal cut!

To give 'body' to the french toast, blend besan(gram flour) & salt. 
If you want only eggs, go for it. Whisk eggs & salt then.

Add the eggs in the besan batter & whisk it.

 This(left) is how the mixture will look once done. 

Add the chopped onions, capsicum(I chose red, for its colour), chilli & cilantro & mix well.

Dip the bread slices into the mixture & cook on medium flame.

Turn & cook the other side till golden brown.

Ready to eat! Or pack the lunch box!
Pick that ketchup bottle & enjoy the crisp, colourful French toast :)

 Don't forget the ones for her :)

The lady likes it served on the platter :)
















Great to hear from you Dhondup. Tell me how your French toast turned out. Cheers!

Sunday Ho Ya Monday

Richa is pareshan. "Kya har roz nayi cheezen tiffin mein den yaar!" The tone is frustration laden, the hands uplifted seeking the Saviour for help.


Richa is the coolest mom I know. She misspells her son's name (Adviat, Advai etc. It is Advait. One who is unique. Who doesn't have a dual); uses phrases like ' bekar mein fael raha hai' for the child; ignores him when he cries 'faltu fund ka'; keeps the biscuit jar out of his reach & triumphantly declares, 'mujhe bewakuf samjha hai ki main tere reach mein rakhungi, ha ha ha!'(laugh included).


Advait is 16 months old.


Vineet & P work in the same office; both find their office food wahyat; both have wives who pack their lunch; neither know the notes their wives exchange to accomplish the feat.


This one's for you Richa :)


Call it Egg Chila if you like. Another of my jhatpat recipes. The fast to cook & good to eat types. And not junk!


Ingredients:
1. One cup besan(gram flour)
2. 2 eggs
3. Salt to taste
4. Green peas
5. Chopped
    i.Onions
   ii. Green Chilli(use red chilli powder if you want)
  iii. Cilantro(dhania patta)- optional(I did not add it this time round)
6. Oil to cook
  
Method:


Step 1:Blend besan, eggs & salt.

                                                Step 2: Pour batter in the pan.

Step 3: Spread out the chopped onions, chilli & green peas on the pancake. Cover the pan & cook it for 2 mins on medium flame.

                                        This is how it looks when done. Golden & yummy.

                  The second one got more colourful. I added some chopped red capsicum. You can add whatever veggies you want. Go forth, get healthy!

                                           Step 4:  Turn & cook the other side.

                                               Your chila is ready to eat/pack for lunch.

                                                      Serve with sauce or chutney.

Doesn't that chutney look tempting?I'll give you the chutney recipe when you come home Richa! That promised visit is pending, ha ha ha! Abhi ke liye ketchup se kaam chala lo :)

The Tricolour

The 2010 Republic Day was a historic one for iGATE, Noida. A Hindi kavi sammelan was organised by the HR, in the highly anglicized corporate environment.


Despite reluctance & asides from his team, Ashish Kumar successfully enthused employees & the latent poets emerged that evening in all their glory. Surprising, considering how English has become the backbone of the Indian society & anybody speaking the National language is almost looked down upon with derision!


I admire Ashish for his intensity of purpose. To uphold a cause that is noble is one thing. Most intelligent people do it. To do so despite opposition is the domain of the brave. To hold on to your beliefs when the dissent is internal & go forth & make a success of it, is the mark of the fearless. 


Ashish is fearless. In an age when most around him discuss English music & English films, Ashish writes Hindi poetry & discusses philosophy. He never badmouths his boss & never takes the bait when people egg him on. In a metro that is fast losing its ethos, Ashish is one rock-solid dependable guy. He will never say what he does not mean & when he says it, will keep his word no matter what. He can safely be conferred the epithet of The Wall. Anyway, some cruel Fb users want to rob Jammy of the honour saying 'there is a hole in it!'


The 2012 Republic Day special cake is dedicated to Ashish Kumar. And to all those bravehearts who walk the talk. 


This will take you about an hour to make, preparation & baking included. [And if you make it well, it will finish in those 60 mins too! Trust me, I talk from experience!]


For the last 3 times, I've gone all healthy. I make aata cakes, not maida. They turn out as delicious as the maida ones & make you feel less sinful :)


Here are the Ingredients I used today [the steel bowl you see in the pic is my measure]

1. 2 cups aata
2. 3 eggs
3. 1.5 bowl sugar
4. 3/4 bowl white oil + 3/4 bowl butter
5. Condensed milk(optional)
6. 3/4 spoon baking powder
7. 1/2 spoon vanilla essence
8. Green & Saffron food colours
9. 1/2 bowl Milk










I used a hand blender & a jar to blend the ingredients in.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C. While it is heating, prepare the batter. As the oven switches off in ten minutes, you are ready with the cake mixture! Time is money, people :)

Step 1:Grind the sugar to a fine powder

Step 2:Add the oil & blend for a minute or two.

Step 3: Blend the butter into the mixture.

                                                   Step 4: Whisk the eggs, one at a time.

                    Step 5: This is how the batter looks at this stage. All 3 eggs have gone in now.

                                 Step 6: Add the aata, baking powder & vanilla essence.

Step 7: Add the condensed milk now if you are using it. I did today because I was running out of sugar! Otherwise, skip this & go to Step 8.

                              Step 8: Add the milk to make the batter if you find it too thick.

                                      This is how the aata cake mix looks once blended.

                                       Step 9: Add green colour in 1/3rd of the batter.

  Step 10: By now the oven is pre-heated.

 In a greased tin, pour in the green portion of the mix & put it to bake at 160 degrees C.

     Step 11:As the green layer is baking, add saffron colour to 1/3rd of the batter & keep it aside.

Step 12:In 10 mins when the green layer is a little set, pour in the 1/3rd part of the normal batter.

                      Step 13: After 10 mins, repeat procedure with the saffron batter.

 After 30 mins(or when that heavenly cakey aroma wafts up your nostrils!), switch off the oven & leave the cake inside for 10 mins. Taking out the cake immediately from such high temperature may make it 'sit'.

       Let it cool before you take it out of the tin.Your tricolor cake is ready to savour.           Happy Republic Day, people!

Ashish now works in a different company. I wonder what he organised for the employees this year...

Mishti Mukh

When I was doing a cooking course at the university, I told the Examiner before the practicals that I must get a 1st division because my mother is a good cook :)


Whether I managed my distinction because of that threat or actually because my Chinese fried rice tasted adequately Chinese, I'll never know. What I do know is that it gave me the confidence to light the stove without trepidation; turn it off before the food got burnt & eventually, churn out a meal that was edible, if not heavenly.


Bhai & Tuli were my guinea pigs. From my newly learnt spring roll to the more elaborate nargisi kofta, they lapped it all up. As I soldierly marched on my culinary path, my siblings got used to my passion. They knew they had no escape route and, in time, even looked forward to the new dishes that were coming thick & fast. I don't mean the thick dhokla that refused to fluff or the fast food that slowed down Bhai's digestion. On a kind day I'd give myself a 7/10. Ma would give me a , well...I did get a 1st div, remember ;)

Many years later I met Apar at the workplace. An intelligent Sardar with a passion for cooking & all things creative. We immediately bonded. Whoever says daru & smoking bind people, doesn't know the whole truth. Apar, a bachelor, lived with his flatmate/s & was the Head Chef of his establishment. His kindness was such that he would get food for us in the office despite the different departments & timings we worked in. As with all good cooks, presentation was integral to his dishes.The food looked beautiful & tasted delicious.What gave the food its zing was Apar's passion. Ma always says," Cooking is an art. You have to have patience & passion." Apar exemplified this.


Life has moved on for both of us. Apar is now in Canada & I am in London. Technology binds us together, time zones notwithstanding. When I made ranga alur pantua yesterday, I wondered what Apar was cooking. 


Ranga Alu(Bangla) is sweet potato;Pantua is gulab jamun(loosely translated). We make this during makar sankranti, which falls in mid January. Because we make many other dishes then, it normally becomes a whole week of speciality food.Which is how I ended up making it on the 24th of Jan & not the 15th!


You can make ranga alu pantuas any time you want. It is the healthier version of gulab jamun.


Ingredients [Go by the pictures to gauge the measures]
 The Cover
i. Sweet potato
ii. Rice flour
The Stuffing
i. Khoa (Semolina/Sooji, if you want less fat)
ii. Coconut powder/grated
iii. Sugar
The Syrup
i. 3 cups water
ii. 1.5 cup sugar
iii. 3 small cardamom
Cooking Medium
i.White Oil


Method


Step 1
Cut the sweet potato so it fits into the cooker & cooks faster.

Put the pieces in a pressure cooker & give it 3 whistles on high. If you are using an electric hob like I do, take it off the hob once done. You don't want the potato to overcook with the continued heat.

 Step 2 (Happens simultaneously with Step 1)

In a saucepan add 3 cups of water & 1.5 cups of sugar & let it boil. Add the 3 cardamoms for essence.
The syrup is thin, not as thick as the traditional gulab jamun syrup.The water almost remains translucent.
The potato boiling & sugar syrup happen simultaneously. They don't need much looking after.

Step 3

Make the stuffing while your potato & sugar syrup are boiling. Time management never hurt anybody:)

Take a little ghee/oil in the pan/kadai/wok. Warm it.

 I used semolina/sooji for the filling, not khoa. We are staying away from fat you see ;) 

 Fry the sooji for 2-3 mins.

Add coconut powder. I use dessicated coconut from the store. You can use grate fresh coconut if you like. Fry the sooji & coconut mixture till light brown. If you are using khoa, fry the khoa & coconut.

Add sugar to taste. Remember, sweet potato is sweet. So use your judgement on how much sugar you want the filling to have. Also, the fried pantuas will be dipped in sugar syrup. So decide! 
Also, if you are using khoa, & not sooji, taste to see if you need too much sugar. Khoa has an inherent sweetness.

This is how your filling will look once done. Keep aside to cool.

Step 4

This is when you know your potato is done. The inside looks yellowish, the peel loses its jarring pink tone.

Peel & mash the boiled potatoes & add rice flour/maida just so much that the potato tightens a little. I used rice flour, it gives the pantuas a crispiness that's yum. 

Step 5
Make small round balls with the dough, flatten them on your palm, put in stuffing & make into shapes like below.

 Step 6
Deep fry pantuas till golden brown.

Step 7
By now the sugar syrup is cool. Pour onto the pantuas.
Do not pour hot syrup onto the pantuas, they may break.
The syrup takes on the colour of the pantuas & turns a light yellow now.
You can also make some round pantuas.Put a raisin instead of the stuffing to keep an element of surprise!

I left a few dry so P could have the best of both worlds. He ate the dry ones as evening snack & the syrupy ones for dessert! The way to a man's heart, I tell you...

Masi told me to offer any dish I make to God. While faith is personal thing, I thought I must share this with you. I have come to realize that the act gives the dish a sacredness that makes it transcend the mundane & make it a bhog, a dish fit for Gods! The family then eats it more reverentially & you, the chef, feel more satiated.
Try it once. And see the difference.

If you need any clarifications, just leave a comment.And I'll get back to you. Go get the sweet potatoes folks! What are you waiting for :)


Hey Apar, what's cooking!