Today I Learned

Today I begin this series called "Today I learned," wherein I hope to enlist one to three things that I either learned for the first time, or something that I re-visited and learned again. Considering this is a food blog, I hope to include at least one new food related thing that I learn. 

1. The first thing I was excited to learn early this morning was that today happens to be Stamen Grigorov's birthday and death day. [b: October 27 1878, d: October 27 1945] He was a microbiologist and a physician who discovered Lactobacillus bulgaricus- the stuff that converts milk to yogurt. I have seen these rod shaped bacteria plenty of times under the microscope back in school, but don't recall learning his name. Well, thank you Google! 

2. Today I learned a great lesson on patience. I got myself an unglazed clay cooking pot, only to find out that it came with absolutely no instructions whatsoever on how to use it. Google to the rescue. Found a great YouTube video that explains the process of how to season a clay cooking pot before using. To sum up, after about only 30 hours I just whipped up an excellent claypot of fish curry. Oh, it's simply delicious. Patience certainly paid off, at least in case of the claypot! 

Dad's Fod Post 4: Steamed Dumplings, Plantain Stem, and Lentil Rasam

Here's one from September last year: 

Sep 16 2019:

 

"Better-half was in one of her better moods today (probably since I am taking her out for a movie- 'Saho' in the evening)! Our Movie going is one of those once-in-a-blue-moon occurrences. 

She prepared a grand, very traditional, but rare items for lunch today: 

1. Toovar Dal Steamed Dumplings infused with Fenugreek Leaves: It is called Nuchchina Unde in Kannada and Kandauntlu in Telugu.

2. Banana Stem Sautéed And Boiled in Tempered Curds: Called Baledindina Majjige Huli in Kannada.

3. Village Style Lentil Saaru (Rasam) with karipatta-coriander leaves: Freshly desiccated coconut tempering. Lentils were slow boiled without pressure cooker.

4. Barnyard Millet (Oodalu Millet) cooked Rice Style. 

5. Yesterday's Hitkidbele Kootu (curry made from Surat Paapdi Beans, Dolicos Lab lab to be exact).

6. Curds (Nandini Brand)

 

Actually I missed Paapads, Vadaams (sandige), fried dried savoury chillies and ginger- red dried chillies coconut chutney as accompaniments for the lovely meal. But I kept my “tongue shackled” (Zabaan ko daala Lagaam) and ate the lovely lunch with appreciative remarks now and then to ensure that my Dharam Patni (lawfully wedded wife) turns out some exquisite food regularly! 

 

With such a kind of lunch my eye-lids are getting heavy and it is time for my 40 winks!"

Dad's Food Post 3: Pasta Pulao

My dad whips up a pretty wicked pasta dish, with lots of veggies, and an Indian twist. When I visited last October, he cooked some fantastic penne pasta for Mom and me. I was his sous chef, of course! Here's his most recent pasta pulao recipe that he made for LOH and himself. This was a few days before India went under lockdown due to the pandemic.

March 15, 2020
Anand Lakshminarsu

"Today missed a traditional Banana Leaf Lunch organised by my Niece’s in-Law’s on the occasion of the Namakarana Function (naming ceremony) of my Niece’s second son. 

Reasons: 

1. The LOH is feeling slightly under the cloud (under the weather)

2. It is just a week since I came out of a bad cold 

3. Doctor’s express advice to stay away from crowded places (At least a hundred guests were expected for the programme). 

4. The Maha Mari Carona Amma scare!! [Coronavirus] 

So yours faithfully manfully took up the kitchen department today and dished out a pretty good Pasta Palav! Palav because I did not use Cheese (My Missus is not a great fan of Cheddar which was available at home) and I missed buying Tomato Purée. 

Bought Cauliflower, Capsicum, Bottle Gourd, French Beans, Carrots and Mysore Brinjals from a convenience store nearby. Shelled Peas, Tomatoes, Onions, Green Chillies, Ginger and Garlic were already available at home.

One can see the Veggies in Pic 1. Peas not shown since it was still in the Fridge.

Borges Penne Pasta Packet, Borges Olive Oil and Nandini Unsalted butter were available at home. 

Cleaned, grated, cut/chopped all veggies. Yes, blanched cauliflower and carrots to remove that off putting smell. Thawed the Peas.

The Indian Twist: 

Spluttered the masala base of Sun flower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Jeera, Urad Dal, Channa Dal in Olive Oil and butter. Then added the Onions, Garlic, Chillies, Ginger and Tomatoes and kept frying . 

Then added Beans, Carrot, Brinjal and fried them for some time before dunking the rest of the veggies.

Meanwhile kept the pasta for cooking in a vessel after adding some salt and olive oil to the water, cooked the Penne till it was al dente.

Yes added a kadchi (ladle) full of Penne Cooking water to the Veggies getting cooked. Added Salt and after a final stir covered the Kadaii (wok) and put the stove on sim (medium flame).

Drained the Cooked Pasta and dunked the pasta into the ready veggies and tossed the mixture to get some homogeneity. Yes, my Pasta Veg Palav was ready!

Should say it came out well. My Missus appreciated the result and really enjoyed the PP. Yes, I too.

Time Log:

1. Going to the Convenience Shop and back. Total time including the Walk part (900 metres): 45 minutes included  5 minutes wait time for crossing one Main Road.

2. Preparing the Veggies, Utensils, readying the items 70 minutes. 

3. Cooking time 30 minutes (please note no pressure cooker was used. Veggies will become mushy if pressure cooked)

Food was ready at 1315 hrs. 

PS: I feel proud to say the entire process was untouched by any Lady’s hands including the Shop Assistants. Total Man effort " 

Dad's Food Post 2: Palak Puris and Karnataka Saagu

Here's the next post in the Dad Food series. This one is an account of the delicious food from May 10 and 11 that he posted on May 11 2020: 

Again, LOH means Lady of the House, i.e. Mom ;) 

Written By: Anand Lakshminarsu

Palak Puris

"LOH compensated for yesterday by churning out excellent: 

1. Bottle Gourd Saagu (Sorey kai in Kannada, Ghia in Hindi, Curry Karnataka style). No Chillies or Red Chilli Powder. Only Black Pepper powder for the heat.

2. Palak Pooris (boiled puréed Spinach kneaded with Whole wheat dough deep fried bread).

3. Khara boondi Raita (Savoury Chick pea flour deep fried in tiny ball form profusely dunked in Masala yoghurt) for lunch today. 

Yup, other sides were- 

1. Banana Chips (Bought from Mangalore Stores) 

2. Home made Avakai Pickle 

3. Home Made Makali Root Pickle 

4. Home made Chutney Powder. 

Sadly there is no beer at home, else would surely have helped myself with a glass or two. 

Yesterday’s sad story was:

1. Breakfast was excellent with Fenugreek Dosas (Myentya Dosai) with Chutney Powder and yeah Butter. 

2. Lunch was Palak Infused Pooris with Boondi Yoghurt and Salad, and so was Dinner!! 

Yeah LOH made Pooris at Breakfast time itself. [Lol!] 

BTW yours faithfully made the Salad. Salad was: 

1. Chopped Onions, Tomatoes and Chillies 

2. Grated Ginger 

3. Tea Spoon of freshly squeezed Lime Juice 

4. Tea Spoon of Olive Oil 

5. Salt & Pepper, and yeah Coriander Garnishing." 

Bottle Gourd Sagu

Dad's Food Post 1: Masala Dosa during Lockdown

My dad is an avid writer. A great cook himself. A good food reviewer. An avid foodie. And he is active on Facebook; active is an understatement, really. He has been posting food write ups with pictures on Facebook for some time now, which many of his friends and family members love and appreciate. I thought it'll be nice to capture those, and put them up here. Here goes [I'm merely copying and pasting, with perhaps a few edits here and there]:

Note: He mentions LOH in many of his posts. In case you are wondering what that means, it means Lady of (the) House- his significant other, i.e. my Mom ;)

May 20 2020
Writer: Anand Lakshminarsu

"After ages the LOH dished out top notch Crispy Mysore Masala Dosais. Yum is not enough to to express my satisfaction. 

Mysore Masala Dosai will have no Red Chutney smeared inside. Red Chutney normally has Garlic and Dry Red Chillies ground together with salt . Bangalore Masala Dosai will have this Red Chutney smeared inside.

Yes, the LOH ground the Dosai batter at home using the trusty Preet Mixie. Earlier we had a 1978 make Sumeet bought from Ahmedabad which gave us a fantastic 32 years service before conking off! Yup, Preet is with us for the last 10 years. Just to answer beforehand, we had a Mini-Bajaj Mixie from ‘74 to ‘78. Yeah got married in ‘74!

Would like to mention the Dosai batter this time was Rice, Urad Dal and Methi Dana. For the last 6 years + we avoided Rice and used Millets like Little- Kodo-Barnyard- Foxtail- Proso instead of Rice. 

Yeah you guessed right! Potatoes were bought after a long long time and was converted  into the Masala for the filling into the Dosais. The Masala (Filling) was Potatoes, Onions and Peas with Chillies and Vaggarane (Chonk/ Bagaar). 

How will the Dosai plain or Masala be eaten without Chutney? Yeah some great Coriander-Coconut -Chilli Chutney with Curry Leaves+ Mustard Seeds Chonk  was accompanied while eating the heavenly Dosais. Just for information Kannadigas don’t need Sambar to eat their Dosais. 

Yeah the Dosais were made using Nandini Brand Ghee only (No oil veeil). Also watch the melting Nandhini Butter on the Dosai! 

PS: Thanks to Lock Down we are eating healthy, clean and fresh food because Food is prepared at Home. As for me, I really don’t care if the Restaurants in Bangalore/ Karnataka stop their “Take Away Service” also!" 

                                                                                                                               

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