Sambar

I am going to complete 15 years of matrimony this July. That's been a long journey. What's the connection between that and Sambar? You will know how.

Today I made Sambar and vegetable curry for lunch. Suddenly while preparing this dish which I can make even in my dreams, I remembered a cookery show where the Chef was trumpeting proudly about how many times he had made a particular dish and how much of an expert he is at that.

Though modesty would prevent me from calling myself an expert at anything at all, I was intrigued by that chef's comment.
I stepped into the kitchen only after my wedding. And we make Sambar at our house thrice a week on an average.

If I take that calculation into account I have made Sambar more than 2000 times. That's a big number.

So if anyone wants to learn Sambar, don't think twice to learn from me :-)

Measurements are hard to give, I have tried my best because I always eyeball the quantities for the dishes that I prepare. Tuvar dal does not exist in Guatemala. We are still waiting for an Indian to open up a store here. I stock up on tuvar dal during the yearly India trip or we buy it from the USA.
Guatemalan Indians must be the only group of people who go to the US to buy Indian groceries. A visit to the US or India or sometimes even Panama, our bags are sure to be filled up with Indian groceries.

Still it isn't easy as you think. I realized how precious every grain of 'dal' could be only after coming here. There is a lot of hassle sourcing the Tuvar dal. We end up getting caught in customs at Guatemala. The customs guy argues with you that it is a 'seed' and it cannot be allowed in Guatemala. For me anxiety works as always. I show up an anxious face, beg and argue with him, tell him that it is my 'baby's food', tell him that it is the only source of protein since I am a vegetarian. After a lot of talking he lets me away with my precious 'dal'. The airport is so small, now the guy knows me so well, smiles and not a question is asked these days.  Many of my friends  especially the men have had issues sourcing the dal into Guate and to their plight many kgs of dal are chucked into the bin without any pity. Poor men, must learn to show up anxiety.

But for the amount of Sambar we make, the stock does not last long and I end up making Sambar with 'Moong dal' which I get from the Chinese store here or worst case use the Guatemalan 'Lentejas'.



Ingredients:

• Tuvar Dal - 2 cups
• Water - 4 cups
• Tamarind - lemon sized
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Red chilli - 2 nos.
• Salt to taste
• Sambar Powder - 1.5 tbsp
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup ( I have used carrots, beans and Zucchini)
• Curry leaves and Cilantro to garnish

Method:

• Pressure cook the dal in 2 cups of water till soft.
• Boil the vegetables in a cup of water.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water and squeeze out the juice. Throw away the pulp.
• When the vegetables are cooked 3/4th add in the tamarind water.
• When it comes to a boil, add the dal, salt and the sambar powder
• If you think that the Sambar is too thick, you may add in a little more water.
• Stir, bring to a boil and switch off.
• In a pan heat the oil and throw in the mustard seeds and the red chillies.
• When it splutters, season the sambar with this mixture.
• Garnish with cilantro and curry leaves.

Serve Sambar with hot rice, vegetable curry and papad.

Picture Illustrations

Egg-Free Basil Mayonnaise

We have a lush Basil plant growing in our little garden. I always make use of the sprigs to spice up the pasta or use them in the regular mayonnaise which I make at home. Believe me, you will never again buy those store packed, heavily priced Mayonnaise. It is not only tasty but so easy to make in a jiffy. I usually make a very small quantity and store them for a week in the fridge. It does not last longer than that in our house.

Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp of cream cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Basil leaves finely chopped - a few sprigs (If you dont have the fresh ones, you could either skip this or you could use the instant dried basil herb from the store)
Yogurt - 1 tbsp

Method :
Blend in all the above ingredients till smooth and creamy.
Go ahead and dress up you salad with this yummy mayonnaise.

Today I made a tortilla roll with some leftover re fried beans and drizzled a few spoons of this mayonnaise on top. It was so good.


You could enjoy them with burgers, sandwiches and salads. The options are endless.

Enjoy!!!!

Picture Illustrations

Kottu Rasam

A few years ago, during a train travel, there were these bunch of Isha yoga meditators in our compartment. They were so real, charged on life and a happy lot. They were all going for a Himalayan Trek and so many of them held great positions professionally. But they were doing a lot of service and volunteering without throwing any weight around. I always hold high regard for people who do service without any motive behind. And this group immediately attracted me. They told me about Isha yoga and I decided to join soon after the travel

I joined yoga to lose a  little weight but there came a point where I started seeing life differently.
I still remember the glow on my face soon after I got initiated to the Shambavi Kriya and the peace it generated around me.

As they say 'You don't choose the GURU, when the time comes the GURU chooses YOU'.

Many of my friends ask me, if I do yoga what are the benefits, will I get this or will I get that? All I can say is when you do certain things without any expectations, you will be surprised at what you get back in return.

When you start following a spiritual master and accept somebody as your GURU you are called as a Spiritual Seeker.  There comes an yearning in you to know something that you don't know. You don't believe anything blindly but want to know. You follow an enlightened or an evolved soul to know.

When I speak of spirituality I am reminded of so many things. I  remember the first time I saw my master, I knew deep from my heart that there is more to this man. He is not just a yoga teacher. I even got a chance to meet him for a few minutes. He got up to greet me while I just fell at his feet. He spoke to me in English and asked me some questions.  I could not answer a thing, but only sobbed uncontrollably. Even as I write this tears roll down.  He just watched me cry and asked me if I had anything to say. I cried even for that. He then blessed me and gave me a few flowers. I have those safe till date.

I can go on and on about my connection with Isha. There's more to it.

It so happens that when you start following a master, the way the world starts noticing you is entirely different. Everything that you do, the way you sit, speak, dress up, do things anything at all becomes connected to your spirituality.  The first attack is always from the parents and spouse. They are the ones who know us inside out and  how mad we can get.
When a furious row happens in the house, the first target is your GURU. 'You speak so much about spirituality, but look at how miserable you are!!!! , nothing has changed, all the yoga that you do is a waste of time. !!!

People don't understand that we are still seeking and not enlightened. Comparing us to a Buddha / Mahaveer / Christ is only ridiculous. We are only seeking and trying to transform ourselves. Please appreciate us for that effort.

Okay!! Today I made this famous south- Indian Kottu Rasam. This Rasam can be prepared in minutes not needing to add dal of any kind. When you have those lazy days where you don't even want to go out for lunch/dinner, you can prepare this in minutes. It is also given to convalescing  patients.

This Rasam with a few papads/poppadums and a dash of ghee on a cup of hot rice will taste heavenly on a rainy day.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind Wate - 1 cup
• Water - 1.5 cups
• Tomatoes - 1 (you can omit it if you are lazy to cut them)
• Salt to taste
• Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
• Mustard, Jeera and Tuvar Dal - all put together 2 tsp
• Red chilli  - 1
• Ghee - for seasoning

Method:

Boil the tomatoes with tamarind water.

Season mustard, jeera, red chilli and tuvar dal in ghee and add it to the boiling rasam.

Add salt and rasam powder and the remaining water.

I love to sprinkle a little bit of freshly ground pepper at this stage.

When it comes to a boil, switch off and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy!!!

Eggless Sugar Cookies

There are some moments with your children that you feel absolutely proud. It is end of the year in my daughter's school. She wanted to gift some goodie bags for the bus monitor, the bus driver and also the helper in her class who have taken care of her throughout the school year.
I was so touched when she told me this.
In this mad, mean world, I just want my children to be compassionate and truthful human beings whatever the circumstances may be. So far they have been walking in the right direction.

This week flew past in a wink. I went through a lot of recipes to make these sugar cookies and finally tweaked here and there and came up with this recipe. These just melt in the mouth and taste great as it is and do not really need any decorations. The recipe will give out about 40 - 50 small sized heart shaped cookies, or 30 small round cookies.
Give a bag of these to someone who has lost their smile and keeps a  long face all the time. They are sure to smile!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Cream - 2 tbsp ( I used whipping cream since that's what I had in the pantry)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp
• salt - a pinch
• melted Butter or margarine - 1 cup

Method:

• Cream the sugar and butter till fluffy
• Add in the dry ingredients, cream and vanilla essence
• Knead into a soft cookie dough
• Allow it to rest in the fridge for an hour
• Take the dough out and roll them thick and flat.
• Using a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies.
• Bake them in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 350F
• Allow the cookies to cool completely and frost the cookies.

Frosting the cookies:

I am still a learner in decorating the cookies.

I mixed icing sugar, vanilla essence and milk to a thick paste.

Using a piping bag, I frosted the cookies and put some sprinkles on them when still moist.

Allow all the frosted cookies to dry before storing them.

Enjoy!!!

Picture Illustrations

Rosette Swirl Cake

I found a Wilton store recently and bought a star tip to do these rosette swirls. I am thinking if I should join a Wilton course soon.

Two minute Emergency Mug Brownie

Today in the baker's guild, this two minute emergency brownie was going viral. Everyone was posting their version and I got too tempted when my cousin too made one and posted a picture of it. And it is a cardinal sin if a chocoholic like me does not try this immediately. It is only a two minute job and I had all the ingredients in my pantry. I just loved the no nonsense cooking it called for. You just need to mix in all the ingredients in a mug and voila, your brownie is ready!!!!

It was delicious and the texture too was amazing like a fudgy brownie.

Try it now!!! You will love it. Thanks to Cheryl Rajkumar's Kitchen Kemistry for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1.5 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tbsp water or milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp choco chips(I used ghirardeli semi sweet chocolate chips)

Method:

• Mix all the wet ingredients to sugar and give a nice stir.
• Add in the other dry ingredients and fold.
• Microwave on high for two minutes.
• Let it cool for two more minutes/
• Dig in with your favurite ice-cream or just like that !!! Enjoy!!!!

Veggie Burger

I made this Veggie burger  and home made french fries for lunch today and shared it with Reina (our domestic helper).
Had a lot of me time today. Did my 1.5 hour of yoga in the morning, went for a 6 km walk, then made home made mayonnaise as well to go with the veggie burger.
My Magical Kithcen would fail to do justice if I don't mention Reina here. For all the mess we do in the Kithchen, if it still sparkles clean the credit goes to the one and olny Reina Maria, our domestic helper since 3 years.

Living in Central America has its own benefits. We have maids in most of the houses just like in India.
Reina means queen in Spanish. Reina is a devout Catholic, a mother of seven children. She lost one of her daughter in  a freaky accident in an encounter targeted at someone else. (When you live in Guatemala, you tend to get used to hearing these incidents just like any daily affair, like now when someone says so and so got murdered, I am not surprised anymore).

We are so grateful to her for all that she does for us. Always smiling and warm, she goes about her work not as a job but as an offering.

She speaks country Spanish, illiterate  and comes to our house dressed so dandy. Changes to work clothes immediately and  while she is done with her work in the evening, puts on her pretty attire again, does her makeup and screams 'Adiiioooooos, Hasta Manana' (Good Bye! See you tomorrow).
She works 8 to 4.30 pm from Monday to Saturday.

She is my daughter's pet and plays and chats with her. It is fun to see my otherwise quiet daughter rattling away with her.  She calls my daughter 'nena' meaning little child.

When someone falls sick in the family she brings in a medicinal herb called 'manzanilla' from the mountains where she lives, boils them in hot water and prepares  a magic concoction. She has learnt to make rotis and she has seen me cook with indian spices.  Sometimes when I get late from work, I tell her to make dinner. She would prepare spaghetti with mustard and turmeric and and all the other indian spices and lovingly serves us. We seem to like the taste for it is is only pure love and nothing else. Many have told me that she is trying to impress me. But is easy to find when people are so truthful.

She has been a great support to us when we live in a country so far way without any family support. She is surprised that we don't eat meat and I told her once casually that we don't eat it because 'It is pecado', a sin to kill animals. Ever since she doesn't bring meat to our house for her lunch even when I have forced her to eat as I know that it is her eating habit and I can no way control that.

She loves to knit and finds out much ahead about my travel plans to India and always makes a small table quilt or tortilla towels for my mom and mom in law.  She has gifted me many aprons  all stitched by her. She surprises my kids with small gifts during their birthdays. Last year we had a party for my daughter's birthday. She sent us some 50 'dobladas' a dish made of corn and cheese. I wonder she is so poor with seven kids and she does these things for me. It touches me so immensely.

In this world of mutual benefits, people like her seem to exist too.

We as a family are only grateful to her, for we know without her our house will never be a 'Home'.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups of assorted vegetables (beans, corn, cabbage, carrot) cut into thin shreds
• 2 boiled potatoes - cubed
• 1 tsp - cumin
• salt
• pepper - 1 tsp
• cilantro - to garnish
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• bread crumbs - 2 cups
• Oil - 1/2 a cup
• Garam Masala - 1 tsp
• Lettuce
• Burger Buns
• Tomato ketchup, honey mustard, mayonnaise etc for the spread.
• Cheese slices

To prepare the burger:

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the uncooked vegetables and cook on medium heat till done.
3. Add the boiled potatoes and green peas and cook further.
4. Add garam masala, salt and pepper.
5. Switch off and squeeze the lemon juice and garnish with cilantro sprigs.
6. Add a cup of bread crumbs and mix well.
7. Let it cool completely. Make small palm sized patties/burgers with your hand.
8. Heat a grill pan and cook the burgers with little oil flipping on both sides.
9. If you need a crunchy burger coat the burger with left over bread crumbs after step no. 7 and then proceed to step no. 8

Assembling the burger:

• Cut out the burger buns and spread home made mayonnaise on both sides.
• Place tomato ketchup, prepared burger,lettuce leaves, cheese one on top of the other.
• Cover with the burger bun.

Serve Veggie burgers with potato chips or home made french fries and a drink of your choice.

Enjoy!!!!

Picture Illustrations:

Baked Egg Free Doughnuts

Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 sachet of rapid rise yeast
Water as needed to knead the dough
Milk - 1/2 a cup
Sugar - 1tbsp
2 tbsp - vegetable shortening
Vanilla essence - a tsp

Method:

Mix the yeast in warm water and sugar and wait for two minutes for it to react and foam up.
Mix yeast with flour and add in the milk, vegetable shortening and water and knead into a soft dough.
Keep dough in a warm place allowing it to rise for an hour.
Check the dough after an hour, it would have doubled in size.
Roll dough and cut them into small doughnuts.
Transfer to baking tray and allow them to rise for another 40 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Frost and glaze the doughnuts with colors and sprinkles of your choice.

Enjoy!!!!


Pictures Illustrations

Doughnuts allowed to raise in the baking tray

Vegetable Samosa

What a gratifying week I have had!

I completed a year working and teaching in an International School. I have had great moments during the term I served there. My English has become a bit 'American' after being with a whole bunch of Americans in the school. I can now easily differentiate how a Spanish guy speaks American English and those words where he would face difficulties on to hide his accent.

I have also felt totally out of place working in a country so far away. Sometimes I was like a zombie - so disconnected with everything around me and just doing my work. However, being the one and only Indian to serve the school in the school's history gave me a kick. I have dozens of pictures with my school kids but considering safety issues I avoided publishing them on social networks and other sites. The kids call me Ms India. It is a bitter-sweet experience when the joyful bundle of kids move on and graduate to another new year in school. They are so adorable that I could eat them all up. I am so happy for them. I even gave out Honors awards to some of them during the annual day award function at school.

Yesterday was end of school and all the teachers went out to San Martin, a famous eatery/bakery in Guatemala for lunch. We had lots of fun - chatting, giggling and clicking pictures all the while. We have another lunch this Monday too.

So here is the recipe for the famous Vegetable Samosa. This was a half a day project for me. Making the samosas and the chutneys to go with them, clicking the pictures and also editing them and finally posting them. I have to give myself a pat for getting them to turn out just perfect. They were nice & crisp on the outside even after hours of making them. I know I have a lot to learn in photography; but, i have tried my best in taking the pictures and editing them too.

Ingredients:
For the crust:

• All purpose flour /maida - 2 cups
• Water - as needed
• Vegetable Shortening or Butter - 3 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp

For the filling:

• Boiled Potatoes - 3-4
• Amchur Powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves - a few sprigs
• Boiled Green Peas - 1 cup
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Method for the filling:

1. Cube the boiled potatoes into tiny cubes.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
3. Add the potatoes and green peas and all the dry powders.
4. Garnish with cilantro and keep aside.

This is your filling.

Method for the dough:

Mix all the ingredients given for the dough and roll into a soft tight dough and keep it covered.

1. Take a small ball of the dough and roll into a thin, small chapathi.
2. Cut into semicircles.
3. Make a cone, put a spoon of the filling inside and seal it shut.
4. Deep fry the prepared samosas in hot oil.

Serve with Imli and Green Chutney.

Picture Illustrations:

Enjoy!!!!!