Mexican Salad

Hazy summer days gave way to sinister skies today. The day started out like any other, bright and full of promise but soon turned dark with grey clouds hovering and completely obscuring my view of Manhattan. It was depressing and gloomy in the apartment and I needed something to pep me up. Creamy avocado came to the rescue. Buttery avocado slices enveloped bright yellow corn kernels and sweet green peas. Vine tomatoes and freshly squeezed lemon juice gave the tang with some chaat masala to keep things interesting.

This is my favorite salad of all times because the I always have all the ingredients in my pantry.


1 can of black beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen sweet peas
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 a ripe avocado
some cilantro leaves
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
salt to taste

pepper to taste

chaat masala (optional)

Defrost the corn and peas. Mix together with rest of the salad ingredients. Add lemon juice, salt etc. At this point I put it a container with a tight lid and shake it vigorously. This breaks up the avocado and it coats everything in a buttery layer. You can add bell peppers if you have them. Chill slightly and enjoy. This is an absolute winner with kids since the flavors are simple and everything is bite sized.

Oh! And I think I have found the perfect way to choose ripe avocados, you just pop out the stem on the bottom and if it comes out cleanly, the avocado is ripe. I have a record of getting the perfect ones using this method so I'm sticking to it!

By the time I made this salad the sun had popped out again. But this is what Manhattan looked like.

A view of the storm from the cozy confines of my apartment.

Sweet, tangy, delightfully chilled- Mango Lassi

2 ripe golden mangoes, bursting with the scent of summer
1/2 cup thick, full cream yogurt
2 tablespoons milk
sugar to taste

Drop in a blender and whip it, whip it good! Serve chilled and enjoy with a creamy lassi mustache.

Mantra, Paramus review

Ever since I heard that there was an Indian place in New Jersey that was voted among the best 25 restaurants, I've been dying to go there. Finally it did happen, but not on a day that I was particularly hungry so I couldn't sample away to my heart's content. So I just wore my loose t-shirt, the one that can double as a circus tent and valiantly fought my way through two courses and dessert.
The first thing that struck me about the place was that it was in a strip mall. Don't get me wrong, some of the best Indian places I know have been in a strip mall, but this just didn't fit in with Mantra's image of an upmarket, fusion food, hotspot. The decor is nice though, not cluttered or overly kitchy. Just a few spots of bright orange color and clean white tables. Once I went inside, I noticed some explanation about bringing good cuisine to malls or something but I was whisked away to my table in minutes. Which brings me to my next point. The staff is absolutely wonderful. The place was full and not once did have to wait more than 5 mins for our server to show up. If she wasn't around, somebody else would be, asking us if we need anything else, filling up our glasses or just smiling and making us feel welcome. The service was attentive and yet non-intrusive, a total delight.
Now for the food, we started with some Sev-Puri type appetizer which was on the house. The Puri was soggy but the topping of kidney beans, tomato, onion, coriander,sev and a tangy tamarind sauce was fantastic. The ratio of tamarind sauce to the onion and sev was just perfect. I wanted to lick the sauce off my plate. The usual papad-chutney combo was replaced by a crispy fafda, generously studded with jeera and again the same tamarind sauce. I could drink that sauce by the gallon. The lobster chaat seemed like a different take on a roadside favorite and the succulent, slightly sweet lobster peices blended well with the spicy chaat masala. We also had the tandoor platter which was tandoori chicken , sheekh kabab and shrimp. I didn't taste the shrimp but take Debu's word on it that it was ok, not too great. The sheekh kabab on the other hand was rubbery. I had to literally wage a war on it. The meat was so tough and rubbery that I spent several painfully embarrassing moments trying to cut into it. The tandoori chicken was perfectly cooked though, juicy and tender with the spice reaching into every nook and cranny.

Not having much appetite for the main course we decided to share the Rogan Josh and a basket of bread. I'll be honest here, I don't know what Rogan Josh tastes like, so I didn't know if this was the real thing. The curry, regardless of whether it was authentic, was wonderful. I had asked for reaaally spicy, knowing that I never get it as spicy as I want but this one was had a wonderful heat that build on after several bites. Its the kind of heat that don't get you at the first morsel, you think 'This isn't so bad, I can eat this' and then slowly builds up till your tongue is on fire. The goat in the curry was so tender that it was almost falling apart. It melted like butter in my mouth. The bread basket was just ok. The laccha paratha was again tough and leathery and even burnt in some parts. The onion kulcha was good, buttery and soft. The saving grace was the rice. Fragrant, tender but with a little bite to it, it was unarguably the best rice I've had in a while.

The dessert has mixed feedback. I opted for Gulab Jamun and while I thought that it was simply not sweet enough, Debu liked it for the same reason. I have heard that their Banana dessert is good but I simply did not have the appetite for it.

I can't tell you about the wine list because I don't know squat about wines, but the staff was helpful and seemed knowledgeable. The prices were reasonable but the portions were not too generous either. Dinner for two with drinks comes to around $120-150. Overall the food was good enough to look over a couple of bad dishes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love the idea of spaghetti and meatballs. On hungry nights I dream about a plateful of spicy meatballs and fresh, steaming spaghetti plucked off the spaghetti tree. Unfortunately, the bland turkey meatballs I've had outside have always fallen short of my expectations. They literally taste like meat boiled in water. So I made my own chicken meatballs, flavored with tons of garlic paste(2 heaping tablespoons to be precise) and green chillies.

I bought boneless thighs and ground them up at home. It was easier than I thought and the thigh meat, although higher in fat was really juicy. Plus I made a big batch and froze them. So I will have a heat and serve meal on my hands when I need it. It was easier than waiting for a table at some Italian restaurent.

Ingredients

4-5 boneless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons fresh garlic paste

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

2 teaspoons of dried Italian herbs

4 green chillies, finely chopped

1 egg, beaten

1 palmful seasoned breadcrumbs

salt to taste

Mince the meat and add all the ingredients to it. If the mixture is too soggy add more breadcrumbs. Oil your palms and make small balls and keep aside. Heat up enough oil in a pan so that the meatballs won't stick and fry them on all sides till golden brown. Drain all the oil out by laying them on paper. At this point the balls will not be cooked through. You can either cook them in pasta sauce or in the oven. I put them on a sheet pan in a 400 degree oven for 35 mins.

Meatballs frying in hot oil! Note to self, buy a splatter screen.

I cooked the spaghetti till al dente and tossed with some store bought arrabiata sauce, sugar snap peas and green peas for crunch and color. And ofcourse, top it with parmesan cheese.

The finished product, we fought savagely over the scraps.

Next, I'm planning to make an Italian sub with the frozen meatballs. I'm thinking of putting the meatballs on a focaccia bread with tomatoes, onions and slices of pepper jack cheese and then grilling it openface. Will put photos of that when I do it.

Aloo Paratha

Just the name conjures up a wintry morning in Punjab. Hot griddles sizzling with pats of homemade butter, the clang of metal spatula on the tawa, thick fluffy parathas with just the right amount of stuffing, served up with a side of full cream yogurt and a slice of tangy mango pickle. Its my favorite breakfast and the ultimate comfort food.


I tried my hand at these last weekend and was pretty satisfied with the result. The aloo stuffing is so versatile you can take it from a simple salt-chilli powder combo to a jazzed up version with finely diced onion and 15 masalas(I counted!)


I have never had much luck with paratha-roti-puri type things. A couple of months ago I got the hang of making rotis and from then on it was an easy transition to parathas. My mom makes these great parathas with a unique flavor combination of ginger and coriander. Its very basic, less than 8 ingredients and the simplicity of the preparation lets the flavors really stand out.

To me it tastes like childhood.

For the stuffing

2-3 medium sized potatoes, boiled and peeled

1/2 inch ginger

1/4 cup coriander leaves

2-3 green chillies

Salt to taste

Grind the ginger-coriander leaves-chillies together using very little oil. Mash the potatoes and add the ground mixture to it. Mix together thoroughly and adjust salt to taste.

For the paratha dough

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp oil

1/4 cup warm milk

a pinch of salt

Water

Knead the dough with enough water to make it soft and pliable. Cover with a wet napkin and let it rest for half an hour.

Make two dough balls, roughly the same size. Roll them out to small thick circles.

Place a scoopful of the potato stuffing in one of the circles and put the other circle on top of it. Seal the sides together by crimping them slightly. Use a touch of water if necessary.

Dust with flour and roll out gently using equal pressure on all sides. Cook on a hot griddle and drizzle generously with ghee. I usually let one side cook without oil till it starts puffing up. Then I flip it over and add a tablespoon of ghee.

Serve with chutney, yogurt, pickles or just some plain butter.

Veggie Puffs

Ingredients: (Serve up to 4-6 people)
Puff Pastry Sheets (Frozen)
2-3 medium size potatoes
½ cup green peas
½ cup sweet corn
Oil, Garam masala, Red chilli powder, salt to taste

Recipe:

Boil the potatoes. Cut into small pieces.
Remove pastry sheets from the box as needed and divide the sheet into 3 parts. (Pepperidge farm 1 pastry sheet contains 3 single layers…so for 4-6 people, 1 sheet would be sufficient.)
Thaw the pastry sheets at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the curry by frying potato pieces, green peas, corn and spices in oil.
Unfold each pastry sheet on a flat surface such as a lightly floured board or countertop. You can roll them a little bit, to make them thinner but do not roll out too much.
Cut each pastry sheet layer with a knife into 9 square pieces. (3 squares in each layer of the sheet, ending up with 9 square pieces.)
Grease the aluminium foil with butter/olive oil to avoid sticking.
Place the squares on a large baking sheet or aluminium foil. (Make sure to place them apart from each other to allow for the pastry to puff up.)
Fill each pastry with a spoon of curry in the middle, leaving room for sealing easily.
Seal filled pastries by folding the edges to form either a triangle or rectangle and pressing the edges together.
Preheat the oven to 300F.
Bake the pastries in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry puffs up and turns golden brown.
Turn over the pastries and bake for another 15 minutes or until the pastry puffs up and turns golden brown.
Serve the light, tasty curry puffs with tomato ketchup or sauce!

Notes:
Don’t cut very large pieces of the pastry sheet.
You can also use onion and mix vegetables (Carrots, beans, peas and corn) if you like.
Similarly you can prepare Egg Puffs by substituting vegetable curry with eggs (boiled, sliced and pepper and salt added)

Quick Fix Tiramisu

Quick Fix Tiramisu

Here's a simple and quick recipe to make yummy Tiramisu. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare this delicious dessert.

Ingredients:

(For 4-6 servings)

8 Ounces regular or light cream cheese
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whipped cream
1 package ladyfingers
½ cup prepared espresso, strong coffee
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Semisweet chocolate, grated for garnish

Recipe:

In a medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract.
Fold in 1 1/3 cups of whipped cream. Dunk lady fingers in prepared coffee. Halve and place layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of glass pan. Spoon half of cheese mixture over ladyfingers. Sift some cocoa powder on the layer. Top with another layer of ladyfingers and remaining cheese mixture. Top with ladyfingers. Spread remaining whipped cream over top. Sift cocoa powder over the topping and garnish with grated semisweet chocolate. Refrigerate the dessert for 2-3 hours.

Source: Television Food network, G.P.
Copyright 2006: Robin Miller