Yes, I do cook!!

Folks who know me well, know that I am not exactly a foodie. I am also a self-confessed 'average' cook. With that background, let me just say that I have impressed myself with my recent culinary skills. Here are some of my mom's recipes that I have successfully made in the past few weeks. I am not very good at accurate measures, most Indians can vary these to suit individual taste. And this is my first time writing recipes, so please....follow only if you are already a good cook and know how to vary measures!!

1. Tomato Rice

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
• 2 medium sized onions, chopped
• Half a teaspoon diced ginger
• 2-3 garlic cloves chopped
• 3-4 tbsp groundnuts
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• Asafoetida -a pinch
• Turmeric -a pinch

For the seasoning:

• 10-12 curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp chana dal
• 2-3 tbsp oil

Others:

• 2 cups raw rice

Method:

Cook the rice in an electric cooker.Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the groundnuts and allow them to fry for about 2 mins. Add the mustard seeds, chana dal and curry leaves. Spread the cooked rice in a wide plate and put the oil/seasoning over it. Cool for about five minutes. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the pan. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Add the asafoetida and turmeric. Once the onions turn translucent, add the tomatoes and fry until they are done. Add salt and garam masala and cook for another minute or two and set aside to cool. Mix the oil/seasoning and the cooked rice with your hand. (This helps spread the oil over the rice). Now add the cooked tomatoes mixture to the rice and mix well.

I absolutely love this easy and simple recipe and it almost never fails. Can be eaten with plain yogurt/raita.

2. Mukkala pulusu/ Sweet vegetable and lentil stew

Ingredients:

About 4 cups of cooked vegetables. The more varied, the better:

• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Yellow pumpkin
• Bottle gourd
• Okra
• Carrots
• Sweet potato (optional)
• French beans (optional)
• Drumsticks- according to taste/preference

For the masala:

• Fenugreek Seeds ( 1 measure)
• Mustard seeds (3/4 measure)
• 2-3 red chillies (or according to desired spice level)

The recipe requires about 2 tbsp of the masala

For the seasoning:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 8-10 curry leaves

Others:

• Asafoetida -a pinch
• Turmeric -a pinch
• Tamarind - a small ball sized piece
• Jaggery/Gur- 3 tbsp shavings
• 1 cup cooked tur dal
• Salt to taste

Method:

Roast the fenugreek seeds on a low flame until you can smell the aroma. Once they are done, add the mustard seeds and roast. Finally, add the red chillies and roast. Let this cool for about ten minutes and grind to a fine powder. I used about 50 gms of fenugreek seeds to make the powder and store it for use in other recipes. Cook the tur dal with salt and keep aside. Chop all the vegetables and pressure cook for about two whistles. Ensure that the vegetables dont get mashed, you need them to be cooked but not mashed. Microwave the tamarind in water and extract tamarind water. Heat oil in a wide bottomed vessel. Add the mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the cumin seeds, curry leaves. Add the asafoetida and turmeric. Now add the cooked vegetables along with the water in which they are cooked. Add more water to achieve desired consistency described below. Add salt and the prepared masala and let it simmer for about 5 mins. Now add the cooked dal, the tamarind water and the gur (I dont follow any particular order!) Adjust the salt/spice/sweetness level according to individual taste. Sugar may be used in place of jaggery. Red chilly powder can be added for those who like additional spice. More tamarind water can be added for those who like a tangy taste. The consistency should of this should be slightly watery, so add more water and let it boil for about five minutes for all the flavours to mix.

Tastes absolutely great with rice and papads. I made this on Monday and savoured it...especially considering the amount of time and effort it takes to make :))

An ode to the maids

Upon announcing my move back to India, one of the first things that my many Indian friends said was 'We'll envy you, you'd have a maid, a cook and a driver!'. Frankly I had'nt given that much of a thought. Difficult as it may be to do everything ourselves in the US, I seemed ok with it. One of the main reasons is that I don't like all the things you have to do to 'maintain' the servants. You have to be kind, yet strict, you have to watch them and yet trust them, you have to confront them and befriend them. Seemed like too much work. Of course we cannot escape the fact that one cannot do everything in India, there's too much dust, we don't have dishwashers, we don't have clothes dryers and the whole set up is different. So it is a necessity, more than anything. For now I don't consider a cook or a driver a necessity, I am going to learn how to deal with one help at home.

And so of course, having finally arrived at our new home at Bangalore, I've engaged a maid. It's only the second day and I am wondering about their class of society, about their lives. My maid's story is not different from what most of us already know - an alcoholic, wife-beating husband; the household mostly running on her own income; a loveless marriage; the 'other woman'; yes - all the ingredients of a 70's movie in India. But this is no movie, this is their life! And today in 2010 when we as a country have made so much progress, what hope do these people have? I always see education as the only saviour and most of the maids I've seen are always keen on having their kids educated. But household help is necessary in India. I wish there was some sort of a co-operative society (not a union, mind you), where these women get trained and there are some ground rules on where and how they should work, organized housekeeping, so to speak. And a moral support group, so that they dont continue putting up with at least the physical abuse. Not all of the servants have good work ethic, so its hard to sympathize with them sometimes, but when I think of their lives vis-a-vis ours, it feels like life or fate or whatever the higher power is, has been unfair to them. Somehow, one almost feels guilty for being priveleged and well-off in India. There's no escape. We can get a car and only move from home to a mall to a fancy restaurant. But can we ignore everything we see along the way? The beggars at the traffic signals, who, of course, I do not encourage....all the uneducated and underprivileged you see everywhere on the streets....just tugs at my heart and confuses me. I do not know what my role is, whether I will do something or not, but I just go through a rush of emotions when I think of some of their lives, I wish I can give them hope and that their lives get better over the years. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to escape even dealing with them, I wanted to escape the guilt......and I wonder when I think that I am a strong woman, for I see these women who endure so much more and support their entire families. Yes, these maids, they are strong women!!!

Aisha -movie review

Alright, I saw the promos and I was taken by Sonam Kapoor's sense of style. The movie also stars Abhay Deol, who's a really good actor. So when my mom suggested we watch the movie, I was all game for it.

The movie is about, well, Sonam Kapoor, who plays a rich, spoiled girl named Aisha. Aisha does whatever she wants to, with daddy dear paying the credit card bills. Early in the movie a typical 'behenji' named Shefali is entrusted to her, and Aisha makes over Shefali, quite succesfully. The repartee's between Aisha and Arjun (Abhay Deol) make the most interesting part of the movie. Aisha is childish and Arjun is wise and charming. Now Aisha moves around with Shefali, and another friend Pinky, and is on a mission to match make Shefali with Ranbir Gambhir, a funny, irritating guy, a typical Delhi businessman. Ranbir has feelings for Aisha and she feels sorry for him. Arjun makes fun of Aisha's attempts at 'social work' aka 'match making'. Other characters enter the movie, and with after its many twists and turns and different pairings, the two main characters Aisha and Arjun realize their love for each other in the end. This is a light hearted romantic comedy of sorts, with a little bit of everything - masala, entertainment, comedy, visual treats and hummable music.
In the acting department, I think this is Sonam Kapoor's best yet. And yes, again, her choice of clothes and styles in the movie is very European, very chic. Abhay Deol always impresses with his honest acting abilities, be it a rich spoiled kid in 'Socha na tha' or a conman/thief in 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye'.
Among the songs, I like the title song 'Suno Aisha', during which the girls shop at name brand stores and generally get dolled up. Its peppy and hey, who doesnt like to watch makeovers? 'Gal mithi mithi bol' is surely gonna be a popular dance song, although its at the very end of the movie.'Behke behke' is your typical 'Salsa' music with good choreography.

All in all,Aisha is an entertaining and delightful movie, perfect for a girl's night in.