Is it April First?

This is a joke, right? RIGHT???!!!

"It has long been shunned as a junk food, but now, a new study has claimed
that the humble chip can actually battle cancer.
Chips are rich in vitamin C, which boffins consider could fight the deadly disease.
It is thought the vitamin tackles dangerous free radicals, which are associated
with cancer growth, reports the Daily Star. By eating a portion of chips
- which contains five times more vitamin C than a bunch of grapes - people
may keep cancer at bay. And those already suffering with the disease
could even shrink the size of their tumours with a vitamin C rich,
deep-fried potato diet, the researchers said."

I've died and gone to heaven. (Laughs gleefully while tearing open a bag of Lay's Magic Masala.)

A couple of bags later....alright, it was three! Sheesh! Anyway, much later...

Ok, sobering up, could anybody tell me why wasn't the Vitamin C level compared to oranges or other fruits/veggies with notoriously high levels of Vitamin C, why grapes? Seems like a bullshit study to me, sponsored by chip companies.

I love chips, wouldn't give em up for the world, but even I draw the line at believing they are good for me. Its fried, and flavored with artificial ingredients, does that sound like a cancer-fighting diet to you? Indulge in moderation, get your fix of veggies and fruits, there are few things more delicious than juicy fruits and crisp veggies, eat without guilt, eat with an appetite, run, play, laugh...you will be just fine.

Classics...

Sometimes you just don't mess with the classics. So when a traditional chutney is called for, there cannot be any substitute for creamy coconut, fresh sprigs of coriander, sharp green chillies, nutty dal ground together and topped with a simple mustard, curry leaves tempering.

Maybe one odd dried red chili as well and some hing. That's it.

And then simply serve with hot idlis. Another classic.

The one in which...

...we are a little pressed for time and cannot offer you quality material but will direct you to someone that does. I have always been fond of learning about unique cooking techniques. Its an age old art and I'm amazed there is still room for creativity.

Couple of fascinating articles on truly inventive cooking methods.

The first is from Slate about a method of cooking that involves sealing food in vacuum and slow cooking it in its own juices. I can only imagine what a gastronomical delight it would be.
Sous-vide cooking by Sara Dickerman

The other link if from my favorite boredom busting site Listverse. I can spend several happy days browsing the archives. I'm a geek like that :)
Top 10 Unusual cooking concepts by JFrater.

So go ahead, click on the links. You know you want to :)

And just so I can justify this as a food blog, here is a yummy picture of veggies.

Right now...

...... I'm craving the food generally served at Maharashtrian Weddings. I was never a fan of this food when I was kid, begging my mom to take me out for a Pav-Bhaji instead whenever my sorry ass was dragged to a wedding.

(Long linktastic pointless post ahead. With the potential of being incomprehensible to Non-Maharashtrians. Do proceed with caution.)

But for the fact that I haven't 'attended' (they are always attended, never celebrated or enjoyed!) a proper Marathi wedding in years, I found myself craving the very same. Last night, I had a vivid dream about that thali. I drooled over the colors, could feel the flaky Puris and cold Bhajis* under my fingers. I looked down at my fingers squeezing a wedge of lemon over steaming hot rice and Sadhavaran* and could almost taste it. The dream was made more poignant by the fact that I haven't been able to visit Pune for some time and it doesn't look like I will anytime soon. The cousins and friends, in an ultimate act of revenge for me being annoying decided that the best season to get married was whatever season I'm not around. So I'm having me a pity party with visions of Basundi and Batatyachi Bhaji dancing in my head.

I miss...


The Pangat- Rows and rows of gleaming thalis, already glistening with a green chutney, pinch of salt, lemon quarters, bhajis, pickles, Koshimbir, broken pieces of Papad and snowy white Kurdayi*.

Fluffy puris, that release a cloud of steam on being poked.

Maharashtrian style Batata bhaji and Alu cha Rassa.

The Sadhavaran-Tup-Bhaat at the beginning of a Marathi meal. Sadhavaran is nothing but plain toor dal, unadorned by annoying tadka or masalas. Steaming white rice, shaped in Muud(mound) is slapped on to the thali, then some Sadhavaran is ladled out of a big bucket onto the mounds. Close on the heels comes a Ghee guy, guarding a small silver pot of tup/ghee, stingily doling out one teaspoon per person.

Usal- The only one qualified enough to make an appearance. Birdyachi Usal.

Mattha -Steel bowls of Mattha to wash everything down.

And to round off the meal...

Basundi-Thick, pale yellow, almost custardy Basundi, fragrant with cardamom and saffron, dotted with slivers of malai.

This is all I want from life. For now.

Bhaji- Pakoras
Sadhavaran- Plain yellow dal
Koshimbir- Salad, in this case it would usually be cucumber, chopped fine, mixed with curds, groundnut powder, and chillies.
Kurdai- Fried wheat snack, akin to papad

Things are happy in KisstheCook land...

...because I downloaded Picassa 3 which has better collage options than Picassa 2.

So obviously I went overboard and made a gaudy collage. Wouldn't you?

For a more restrained and completely adorable collage, click here.

Curry Puffs

I get manic periods of restless energy sometimes, which balance my procrastination nicely. Too bad the manic fits are few and far in between. So one such time when I had a huge backlog of utterly awful movies I wanted to watch... (Why do I watch awful movies, you ask? Because they are there.) I boiled a bushel of potatoes, defrosted 4 packs of puff pastry sheets and settled in for an afternoon of absolute suspension of disbelief.

At the end of the whole exercise, I has sore knuckles and a freezer full of curry puffs. Now all I have do every Sunday morning is to pull some out, pop them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes and we have fresh Curry Puffs for breakfast or as we like to call em in Pune...Pattice. And only the Hindustan Bakery ones qualify as Pattice, others are just poor imitations. Since mine are undoubtedly an imitation, I will keep calling them Curry Puffs. Pattice and leisurely cups of tea remain a time honoured Sunday tradition in most Pune homes and bringing just a little bit of that to my apartment in NJ transports me immediately to my moms home... lounging about in PJs with Chayageet, endless cups of steaming ginger tea, the idle chatter, the cooker whistle going off, sunlight streaming in through open windows, the much loved ritual of oiling and washing hair. It was a happy place.

Fresh out of the oven- crumbly, buttery curry puffs.

Ingredients

Potatoes

Peas

Fresh curry leaves

Fresh grated ginger

Spices

Turmeric

Hing

Mustard seeds

Cumin seeds

Chili powder

Coriander powder

Garam Masala

Chaat Masala

Salt

Boil, peel and dice the potatoes, temper some oil with mustard, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add the turmeric, ginger and hing. Add potatoes, peas and toss with spiced and salt. Mix and stuff into defrosted puff pastry sheets. Bake at 350 degrees till golden brown and serve hot.

These are great for making ahead and storing since they keep forever in the freezer. Just make sure you freeze them on a tray before you put them a Ziploc bag so that they won't stick together. The process could not be simpler but it is a little time consuming.

Also I haven't given measurments for anything because the mixture is so versatile and everybody has a unique way of preparing it. These are not rules, merely a preference.

Seriously, it could not be simpler guys and biting into a warm curry puff on a wintery morning more then makes up for the sore knuckles. Well, almost! :)

These have to enjoyed with Masala chai.

For my masala chai, I boil the tea water with grated ginger, tiny peice of cinnamon, couple of cardommom pods, 1 whole black pepper, and 1 clove. Then add milk, sugar and strong Assam tea. Boil slightly shy of the nice, red color, take off the heat and cover and keep for a minute. Strain and enjoy.

Love is....

...when the hubby gets chocolaty desserts for no reason....just.

So that's the Chocolate Praline cake, Chocolate Caramel Dome, Tiramisu and a Raspberry torte that was scarfed down before pictures could be taken. These were from Financier Patisserie, a place that I have passed often and drooled at. I would highly recommend..well, everything. :)