Skin Food

Towards the end of last year (2013), one fine morning, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I was horrified to see 3 dark spots on my face. One has actually been there for a couple years now, and I just thought it was this lovely beauty spot that had suddenly emerged on my face, and was in fact quite pleased with it. Then I saw this new second spot, just around the corner of my right eye, sort of on my cheek bone, and another tiny one creeping up on the left side of my face, right where one would have their sideburn. That's when realization struck- these are not "beauty spots." These are AGE spots! To heck with "growing old gracefully!" I need to get rid of these notorious age spots ASAP!

After hearing my woeful tale, my very loving husband and children gave me THE perfect gift for Christmas. It sure was thoughtful, no doubt, but also an awakening of sorts. An awakening call that basically said, woman, start taking care of your skin!

Food for Aging Skin

I always tell my children to never look at outer appearances, for real beauty lies within. That is absolutely right, and I stick by it. BUT, if there are remedies for outer "flaws," hey, might as well use them. Double that whole beauty thing by being beautiful inside AND out!

I usually don't make new year resolutions, but this year, I guess I am on this mission to keep my skin looking nice and healthy, and free of blotches by as much as possible. As I am finishing this post, I am sipping on coconut water- that's right, great for the skin. Later, I think I'll cook some mushrooms for dinner, because the selenium in mushrooms is great for the skin.

Remember to keep yourselves fit by exercising, eating healthy, and if you are hanging on to the very last of your 30s, then I suggest you start investing in a couple of those anti-aging products- you might think that you have better things to worry about, but the fact is that most of us haven't reached that level of greatness, and we do tend to deviate towards being shallow when it comes to our appearance.  

Happy 2014 everybody!! ;)

Jackfruit- Kathal ki Sabzi- Vegetarian Meat

If I were to ask somebody to name a few Indian dishes, the immediate answers are most likely to be matar paneer, saag paneer, aloo-gobi, naan, dal, chicken tikka masala, lamb vindaloo, and oh, samosas, of course. Sometimes I might hear baingan ka bhartha, or bhindi masala, and that would make me happy. If I hear masala dosa, idli, vada, rasam, sambar, I will be delighted. But if someone were to say kathal ki sabzi, I would become their fan!

In all the 16 years of living in this country, I have eaten this delicacy only in one Indian restaurant, when we visited Vancouver. Oh wait, that's BC! And in all these years, I've seen only one friend make it for a party, and yes indeed, I am her fan!

Kathal stands for raw jackfruit. Jackfruit resembles the very infamous durian- that stinky fruit, that supposedly tastes heavenly (I have never tasted one). Ripe jackfruit is yellow in color, sweet, juicy and delicious. The seed can also be used in cooking- when roasted, it has a nice nutty flavor, and just delicious. Unripe, raw jackfruit is of course, not yet sweet, and in this stage, can be used as a vegetable. Neat! Here's some more info on the Jackfruit.

For our convenience here, we get to use the canned stuff- first of all, you will not find fresh raw, or ripe for that matter, jackfruit. I have seen it sometimes at the Asian store, but it always looks so sad!

Here is the recipe that I learned from my friend. This is with 1 can. If you want to make it for more than a couple people, then obviously increase the quantity of the ingredients (Did you just go Duh?!).

Ingredients:

1. Young Green Jackfruit- 1 can

Canned stuff (that thing behind is my nifty can opener)

2. Onion- 1/2 a medium size, thinly sliced

3. Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp to 2 tsp or more, per your liking

4. Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp to 2 tsp or more, per your liking

5. Red Chili powder- per taste

6. Cumin seeds- 1/2 to 1 tsp

7. Turmeric powder- a pinch

8. Oil to cook- a few tablespoons

9. Salt per taste

MOST IMPORTANT STEP: 

Note: If you want to prepare this dish for lunch, I'd do the following in the morning itself, or at least a couple hours in advance.

1. Open the can(s), and transfer all contents into a colander, so as to drain out all the liquid.

Drain out liquid, retain the jackfruit

2. Give the jackfruit a good rinse with cold water, and leave it to air out. The idea is to get rid of the "canny" smell- so I'd do this whole airing-out thing for minimum 2 hours.

3. After you are satisfied with the above step, lay out all the jackfruit pieces on a towel/couple paper towels, so as to blot out any remaining moisture. And now you are ready to cook!

Blot out that moisture!

Method:

1. Pour in a few tablespoons of oil (the more, the better! No, really!) in a pan. Get the heat going. Splutter some cumin seeds, and throw in the sliced onions, followed by a pinch of turmeric, and sauté the onions.

2. Just as the onions start becoming translucent, throw in the jackfruit. P.S. I like to cut the jackfruit pieces into halves, to get nice bite-size pieces.

3. Add salt per taste, cumin powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and continue frying. You could add some slit green chilies instead of red chili powder, if you'd like, or both.

4. You don't really need to add any water to cook the jackfruit, because it is anyway quite soft, since it is after all from a can. Just lower the heat, and cover the pan for about 5-10 minutes, to sort of get all the flavors going.

5. That's pretty much it! Remove the lid, and continue frying for another 15-20 minutes. Give it a taste. Adjust spices if needed. And if you think it tastes good, then switch off the stove, and serve it with hot rotis, parathas, or as a side. Garnish with some fresh coriander leaves/cilantro before serving.

Note: You could add some aamchur i.e. dried mango powder, for some sour factor, but I have found that canned jackfruit already is slightly sour, and so I don't add aamchur.

Kathal ki Sabzi

I simply love this vegetable/fruit. There are a couple more recipes that I shall post in the coming weeks. I believe there is a lovely dessert too, that they make with the ripe fruit. And jackfruit chips are simply amazing.

The next time you have a party, ditch the same old matar paneer, and instead make kathal ki sabzi. Your friends will appreciate it!

Interesting to Note:

*Because of the texture of the very versatile jackfruit, a lot of pure vegetarians dislike this preparation, because it makes them think of meat.

*At the same time, a lot of people love it, because it makes them think that they are eating meat. Hence the term, vegetarian meat. ;)

*Then again, some pure meat eaters dislike it coz they'd rather eat the real stuff! Kinda like the real meat versus soy "meat" scenario….

*And then there is the no-fuss kind, such as yours truly, who simply love it, no matter what! ;)

Special Thanks to my dear friend, M, for rekindling my love for kathal!

Swiss Chard Chips- Take One

Remember the beautiful swiss chard I grew in my very own backyard, and was so proud of? I was going to make something fantastic with it. I thought why not try swiss chard chips? Kale chips seem to be the in-thing in recent times, and so I decided that swiss chard chips ought to gain some popularity too......

Aim: 

To make swiss chard chips, that will taste fantastic.

Ingredients: 

1. Swiss Chard- nice and clean

2. Salt

3. Pepper

4. Garlic powder (or a couple cloves of crushed garlic)

5. Olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2. Spread the leaves on a baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle salt, pepper per taste, as well as garlic powder. If you use crushed garlic, just sort of distribute it evenly over the leaves.

4. Drizzle some olive oil all over, and toss everything together.

Swiss Chard with seasoning, all set to get into the oven

5. Set inside the 250 degree oven on the middle rack for 20 minutes.

6. After 20 minutes, remove it from the oven.

Expected Result:

Nicely crisped up leaves.

Observation and Result: 

Nicely wilted (down) leaves. Not to forget, all reduced to barely a spoonful! Sheer disaster!

:( 

Upon Tasting, however: 

Delicious, real delicious!

Back-up Plan:

I added the wilted, yet delicious swiss chard (chips!) into the matar paneer that was cooking on the stove. And well, it was matar-swiss chard paneer for dinner that evening, that tasted just fine.

Into matar paneer

Matar-Swiss Chard Paneer

Conclusion: 

1. Gotta make sure that every swiss chard leaf is DRY. Yep, yours truly was too excited, and did a pretty sloppy job of it.

2. Gotta use LOTS of it, if you want a decent amount of end product.

3. Perhaps I was a bit too hasty in the baking cycle. I found out later that after the first 20 minutes, you must turn the leaves over, and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

4. Perhaps my garden swiss chard was a little too tender, and not suitable for making chips.

5. Therefore, next time, I will just buy that bunch of that humongous swiss chard from the store- that'll definitely make good chips.

Final Note: 

Take Two coming up. I already know that it will be successful! ;)

Swiss Chard

Here's my first crop!! Swiss Chard, purely organic, grown without any chemicals, in my very own backyard. I shall be harvesting it today. I can already tell that this is going to be delicious! :)

Look out for my next post. As soon as I cook something fantastic with these greens!

Sabudana Vada

Low temperatures and clouds in the sky,
Equate to a hot cup of chai,
And pakoras with some ketchup on the side,
And I kind of lost that whole rhyming thing......
But hey, that's beside (the point).
OK, now, people, do not snide,
For fall is here! And don't we all,
Simply love fall?!

Uh, yes, I shall set aside my poetic genius for now, and jump right into the subject of this post. Sabudana Vada is one of my favorite kind of pakora/fritter. Made of sabudana, i.e. tapioca pearls, also referred to as sago pearls. In fact, I have an older post on Sabudana Khichdi that I would like you to skim through. Note down the first part of the recipe, "Prepping those Pearls." That is exactly what you would do to start off with the fritter recipe. Also get those peanuts ready (in the same recipe).

While the sabudana prepping is going on, cook a few potatoes. I like to use my pressure cooker to cook potatoes- the job gets done in 5 minutes.

Ingredients: 

1. Sabudana

2. Cooked potatoes- 2 or 3 (or more, depending on the quantity of sabudana)

3. Green chilies, sliced or chopped, your choice. Qty per your liking.

4. Salt per taste

5. Red chili powder (optional)

6. Pinch of sugar (secret ingredient!)

7. A pinch of asafoetida/hing (good for the tummy)- if you have it

8. Cumin seeds (jeera)

9. Coarsely ground roasted peanuts

10. Chopped fresh cilantro/coriander leaves

Method: 

1. Mix up the soaked sabudana with the cooked potaoes and all the other ingredients. Mash it all up together. Give it a taste, and adjust accordingly.

Note: Potatoes are basically the binding agent here.

2. Make little patties of the whole mash-up. You could make little balls too.

Sabudana vadas- ready to be fried

3. Take a kadhai/wok/pan/pot, pour in a good amount of cooking oil, and get the heat going.

Tip: I just make a very tiny ball with the sabudana-potato mash-up and throw it into the oil. If the tiny ball immediately floats up, I know that the oil is nice and hot, and ready to go.

4. Start frying those patties/balls. You know they are done, when they are nice and golden brown in color. Ladle them out with one of those slotted spoons/ladles onto some paper towel(s), so as to drain of excess oil.

Frying the sabudana vadas

Golden brown delicious sabudana vadas

Yum yum! 

Eat away!! 

Serve immediately with some ketchup, or mint chutney.

The perfect sabudana vada is cripsy on the outside, and soft, and almost gooey on the inside. Best when served hot, off the oil. The coarsely ground peanuts and the cumin add that crunch, and well, I am salivating right now.......

Don't forget that cup of chai! Happy Fall, y'all!

Summer 2013 India Trip- Herur, Kolar, Savan Durga

I spent a good month with my folks in India. It was lovely, as usual. My idea of a vacation is do nothing, absolutely nothing, and that is exactly what I did! Visited a few people, went to a few places around town, and rest of the time, just relaxed at home. And this might seem strange, coming from someone who claims to be a foodie, I was on a complete break from the kitchen!! Forget cooking food, I did not even have to make a cup of coffee or tea! I was not allowed in the kitchen, period. Well, I figured, might as well enjoy while I could!

I dunno if I told you this- my grandma, who I fondly called, "Avva," passed away earlier this year. I was pretty attached to her, and the funny thing is that I still think that she is right there, in that same old house, in the same old kitchen, in front of the gas stove, cooking away..... she was a big time foodie herself. Anyway, so my mom brought back a few of Avva's things, and guess where a few of those things are now?

1. Her mirror, that she bought in 1951- my mom got it re-touched, and now it sits, nice and pretty, on my wall in the family room.

Oh, and do you see that bell right on top of the drawer? That's hers as well! Cute, don't you think?


2. A little stainless steel pot. She used to make rasam (lentil tomato soup) in this pot, if I remember correctly.

I also got back two of her shawls, that are tucked away in my closet. And check this out- I brought back her pickle jar, and it now serves as a planter, which I think is brilliant!

My Avva's pickle jar- now a planter! 

One of the main highlights from this trip was the day trip to my husband's family's ancestral village, Herur. It is so green out there, so quiet, and just beautiful. There are lots of areca nut/betel nut trees, betel leaves, coconut palms, plantain, teak plantations, etc. My son was having a blast, until he started getting attacked by a gazillion bugs! Poor guy got bitten pretty bad, and his arms and legs were all bright red, and swollen the next day. But other than that, it was real nice!

Areca Nut/Betel Nut in the front yard

Betel Leaves plantation

I saw this real old stone pestle and mortar in the home we were visiting. They still use it to grind chutneys, etc. So cool!

And we had fresh-off-the-tree tender coconut water- a thousand times better than Vita Coco for sure! And this is me, enjoying some cool, sweet, refreshing tender coconut water:

Another highlight from this trip was my visit to Savan Durga. Right from childhood, every time we visited the place, my dad and I would climb up the hill- which is in fact one of the largest monoliths in the whole of Asia! The last time I climbed up was when I was in high school. This time I realized that it is actually a pretty tough one to hike up. Hard to imagine that I used to hike all the way up, in my sandals, and sometimes, without shoes! No snazzy gear involved whatsoever! I really wanted to go up this time, but my first thought was, uh-oh, I don't have my hiking boots! Gosh, I have become so spoiled! Well, I hope to go up Savan Durga the next time- with or without my hiking boots!

Couldn't take any pictures at Savan Durga, as my camera ran out of charge..... bummer! Well, it is all in the head, though!

One more major highlight from this trip was our visit to the town of Kolar, to my aunt's place. She and her husband are avid plant lovers- they have grown a very impressive collection of plants all around their house. My aunt has grown an avocado tree, yes, an AVOCADO TREE! Those avocados were unbelievably tasty-- ohhh, I can taste them even now--- buttery delicious!

And once again, major major bummer that happened- while transferring those pictures from my camera to my computer, the Kolar pictures somehow totally vanished!!!! I am SO disappointed! Therefore, sadly, I cannot show you that beautiful avocado tree. :'(

Oh, I mustn't forget to mention the very neat Zojirushi bento box that my husband used back in school. His mom gave it to me this time, to bring back. And I now use it to pack up his lunch! Perfect portions, and super neat! In addition to 3 little boxes, it comes with a tiny little water bottle as well, and one of these days, I just might fill it up with some whisky, and surprise, rather, startle him! Haha! ;)

Zojirushi Bento Box

So there, that's my little summer report for you. After that nice, long vacation, it is back to business, and back to cooking, and cleaning, and setting up appointments, and shopping for school supplies...... uhh, the same old stuff! I know, I know, there's the whole withdrawal symptom thingy goin' on...... but I'll get over it, I know!

Enjoy the last few days of Summer 2013, you all! Cheers!

Squid Ink Pasta

We made our very last trip to Spokane last weekend (insert as many sad face emojees as possible). My brother and sister in law are moving out of WA state, all the way to WI, of all places! *shake head* My brother moved to eastern WA 8 years ago- and ever since, we have visited each other umpteen times. Our visits involved food, of course, but more importantly, unending bouts of laughter, and togetherness. I will miss him like HECK (insert as many teary face emojees as possible)! Then he got married 3 years ago- and luckily, we hit it off- my sister in law, and I. And we continued visiting each other umpteen times. I will miss them like HECK (and now insert those very sad face emojees, and a couple mad face emojees as well)!

With moving comes packing, and with packing, there's a lot of discarding that happens. And often times, a lot of food is thrown away..... from the refrigerator, from the pantry, from kitchen cabinets, from the oven that you used for storage, etc. Yes, even from those bedside table drawers where you stash away a few midnight snacks! Well, since I was there over the weekend, my dear bro and sis in law figured why not give some of that food to someone who would actually use it. And lucky me, got to bring back quite a few things, including some interesting stuff, that I would otherwise have never even thought of buying. One such interesting item was Squid Ink Farfalle.

Squid Ink Farfalle

My first thought was, uggh, not sure if this is going to be good. However, I went ahead, and the result was pretty darn good! Of course, I first looked it up online- and from what I read, the best recipes for squid ink pasta incorporate some sort of sea food, so that the flavors complement each other.

I cooked the pasta for 5 minutes (the instructions said 3-4 minutes). That pasta water turned dark- obviously the squid ink had something to do with it!

Squid Ink pasta, al dente

Ingredients: 

1. Cooked Squid Ink Pasta (this was farfalle)

2. Some garlic powder (crushed garlic would work well too)

3. Some Italian seasoning (you know, oregano, thyme, basil, pepper etc)

4. Some veggies of your choice. I used colorful sweet bell peppers, and green olives.

5. Seafood of your choice- I used tuna for this one. You could most certainly use calamari, that happens to be squid, actually- that'd make it even better.

6. Salt per taste

7. Some oil to sauté

8. Lemon juice

Method:

There isn't a big procedure here, really. I mean, you've made pasta before.....

1. Sauté the sea food, the veggies, throw in the cooked squid ink pasta. Stir it all up.

2. Don't forget the garlic powder/crushed garlic, italian seasoning, and salt per taste.

3. I like to zing it up with freshly squeezed lemon juice right in the end. Done!

Squid Ink Farfalle- YUM! 

The squid ink pasta tasted pretty good. Simple, and elegant. And it wasn't "squiddy" at all. The kids loved it, until after they had finished eating, when I informed them that it was squid ink pasta! *Clever Mom* ;)

So there- getting some squid ink pasta from my bro and sis in law was nice- though them moving away, to the land of moos (get it?), and cheese is certainly not nice! *smirk* But well, the positive thing is that we can make longer road trips every summer, and they can do the same every winter- perfect! That long desire of going RVing might come true after all!