Cruel Cooks

What cruelty we are capable of as cooks:

We beat eggs, pound garlic, whip the cream, pummel the dough, dig out the eyes of potatoes, crush spices.
We drop food into hot oil, boil, bake, blanch, broil, freeze.
We also cut, dice, squeeze,scrape, grate, julienne, mince, puree, reduce, scald, sear, shred, skewer, toast and toss.
We de-bone, fillet, gut, shuck and I don't know what else.
Finally we bite and chew it all up and consign our food to the digestive system to continue the process of being broken down.

This protest is being registered on behalf of the BE KIND TO YOUR FOOD society, which currently has a membership of one.

JIFFY VEGETABLES: BHENDI

Bhendi, Bhindi, okra, bendakai, vendakay, lady's finger (why not lady's fingers?).

One evening last week, HD (Hubby Dearest) looked at my face and could tell I wasn't feeling up to par in the heat.
"Let me cook something," he said.
I nodded happily tamping down on my reluctance to refuse his offer and defrost something for dinner. These days he rarely offers, because his own energy level isn't great. (We both know, growing old isn't for cissies).
He said, "Bhendi?'
I nodded. He has recipe is quick and easy and definitely part of our five star recipe collection.

1 16 oz pkt. frozen, chopped bhendi.
1/2 large onion chopped (3/4 cup or 6 ozs chopped).
Salt, chilli powder, haldi/turmeric.
2 Tbsps olive oil.

Heat oil, fry chopped onion.
While onion is frying, place frozen bhendi in a microwave safe dish and nuke for 5 mins. Take out, stir and nuke again for 3 mins.
If it looks uncooked, nuke for two more.
Add chilli powder to onions in pan. Fry for a min.
Add bhendi, salt and turmeric, mix lightly or bhedi will become a mash and remove from stove after 2 mins.
Eat with hot chappattis...ours are whole wheat tortillas from the store that heat up in a minute.
HD swears he doesn't put butter on this dish, but I KNOW he does as soon as my back is turned and I stop talking about clogged arteries.

How else can a simple veggie be so finger licking good?

Thursday, 30th July, 2008.

Another JIFFY BHENDI recipe.

This is my recipe from a Punjabi friend and HD loves it.



Fresh bhendi...I chooses the kind that is fresh and tender, checking by pressing firmly in the middle...the old days when my mother used to test for freshness by breaking the tip are in the past.
Salt, chilli powder, turmeric and oil to fry.

Wash the bhendi, top and tail it with a knife (remove tip and other end), and leave it on a paper towel or kitchen towel to dry. This ensures your bhendi will NOT be sticky. Sometimes I make a slit on the side, sometimes I don't.
This recipe is rather vague re. quantities as it is an 'eyeball' recipe...first you eyeball the fresh bhendi, then you eyeball the pan and put in enough oil (eye balled of course), to coat the bottom of the pan plus one extra Tbsp.
When oil is hot put in chilli powder and haldi, let it sizzle while you eyeball it (twenty seconds or so)then put in bhendi. Stir fry on high for three minutes, then lower heat to medium, cover and let it cook for five minutes more.
Lift lid, test for doneness by poking the fattest bhendi with a sharp knife, then add salt...eyeballing the bhendi of course...mix, leave for another minute.
Eat hot or cold...it is delicious and so easy.

Talking about eyeballing, our parents and grandparents gave us recipes like this. As a teenager I used to wonder how I would ever get anything right if all my Mum's recipes were: Salt is added 'after looking at the vegetables' or 'dittanga', meaning 'correctly for the dish'. I wanted it in spoons and look at me now...daring to give a recipe just like my mother.

She used to make a bhendi dish with chopped bhendi, seasoned with mustard seeds, and fried almost crisp, theonly other ingredients being salt and chilli powder.

As children, we also had bhendi sambar and bhendi pulsu...curry in a hot, sour tamarind sauce.

Cassava, Yuca, Tapioca...and Sardines

My Hunt for Cassava

It started when I finally persuaded an old friend, to visit. We’ve known each other since 1971, so when I say old friend I don’t mean defined by age, I mean by time.
She lives in the States now and we met ten years ago at her place…getting her to come to mine was like pulling a tooth bare handed, but she finally agreed when I told her another teacher and her husband from India were coming to visit.
As soon as she agreed, my mind flew to what I could do to make her visit special. She worked long hours, had had a rotten winter and spring with a spell of bad health, work, rain and tornadoes, and deserved a real holiday. A real holiday to me is good food, people you enjoy being with and interesting things to do.
The good food part was my department so I addressed myself seriously to it.
I remember her saying, (after a visit to India), that she had eaten cassava again, after ages, and that she loved it so much. A phone call to her aunt, revealed my friend had another great love: sardines.
Cassava and sardines made a perfect meal together, Aunty assured me.
First things first:
I started trying to find cassava in any form and couldn’t at the local grocery stores. At the rate of one store a day, which is all I could do, time was soon running out.
In desperation, I turned to my friend and ally: the Internet.
I searched for Kerala cooking sites (my friend had eaten cassava in Kerala) and recipes for cassava.
An e-mail to two blogs: Malabar Spices and Let Us All Cook, led to two prompt replies from Mallu Girl and Sangeeth Raghunathan. Sangeeth forwarded my mail to Cynthia Nelson, who is a great ally in this new world of blogging. Mallu Girl gave me a tip that led the way to enlightenment on the subject of cassava with one question: Did I mean yucca/tapioca? I followed her lead and discovered that’s what I meant, and googling those words finally opened up the world of cassava.
In the meantime, my daily walks had led me through grocery stores where I had finally found one a packet of frozen, grated cassava. There were no recipes for grated cassava anywhere. Another Internet search led to a site that gave me one recipe that I banked just in case…
Searching for yucca on the Internet (the name given by Mallu Girl) led to the fact it is available in Mexican supermarkets, and I hurried to the one close by, overjoyed to find they actually had the product…cleaned and frozen (the easiest way to use it).
That was a lot of work, my friend protested later.
“That wasn’t work! That was research and discovery. Nothing equals the triumph of discovering a new ingredient and a shot at making a new dish!”
My friend looked at me cautiously, “And you enjoy this?”
“For some people, I do.” I clarified, making it clear that I wasn’t insanely rushing around trying to find new ingredients and new recipes for anybody and everybody.
Finding the sardines was just as challenging, but I finally found frozen sardines at a Vietnamese store.
An then, after I had logged all those miles to the delight of my endocrinologist, who says diabetics MUST walk every day (I mean had she known she would have been delighted), I found my favorite neighbor, who is from the Philippines and lives across the street knows all about cassava, where to get it, the best kind to use, etc. Had I but asked!!!.
She said the brown tubers which had been lying under my nose, in every Oriental grocery store, were not easy to clean and sometimes rotten in the center, so I had done well by picking the frozen product.

I finally turned out these cassava and sardine dishes during my friend’s stay. Her true enjoyment of the food I made, was all I needed to encourage me.

Welcome dinner:

Cassava with spices. (made following Aunty’s instructions and reading three recipes.)
I cooked the frozen cassava pieces for ten minutes (not thirty, like the packet said) with turmeric in the water till a knife inserted into it came out clean.
I mashed it roughly and added salt to taste
Then I added a paste of coconut and green chillies.
Finally I seasoned it with red chillies, curry leaves in a little coconut oil.
It looked like potatoes/palya.

SARDINES
After a call or two to Aunty I realized she meant fresh sardines, not canned as I had thought. It was back to the hunt.
A search of Oriental groceries finally led to finding sardines in a Vietnamese Supermarket. Who knew there could be so many varieties of small fish that looked like sardines but were not sardines?
Wash and dry frozen sardines (mine were cleaned).
Heat four tablespoons of olive oil in a flat frying pan.
Place sardines in a row, sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn after one min.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove after one minute.
A little longer makes the outside crunchier but the frozen sardines start falling apart very quickly.
Later during my friends’ visit, we found fresh sardines which could be fried longer and came out crunchier.

Cassava Pancakes (remember the grated cassava that was my first find? I had to finish that while the friend-who-loved-cassava was with me).
(I got the basic recipe from the FAO Corporate Document Repository originated by Agriculture and Consumer Protection.)
Put cassava flour, in a clean dry bowl and add a pinch of salt and mix.
Make a well in the flour. Break eggs into the welt one at a time and mix together.
Add some water gradually. Mix well to a dropping consistency and leave to stand for 20 minutes.
I put 8 ozs of frozen, grated cassava in the blender jar with two eggs, salt, pepper and chilli powder and mixed it all for 2 mins.
Heat 1 tablespoonful oil in a clean frying pan.
Heat the frying pan with sufficient oil to prevent the mixture from sticking when cooking.
(I used a spray and a non-stick pan).
Pour mixture into the pan about two tablespoonfuls at a time. Make sure the mixture covers the base of the pan. Cook over a low heat until done.
Put a little fish mixture into the middle of each cassava cake and fold gently to look like an envelope.
(I made a spicy salmon curry and used that as an accompaniment)

And finally, buoyed by my friend’s enthusiastic reception and approval of these dishes, the fourth and final recipe was served for breakfast one day :

Spicy Cassava Pancakes
(This goes into my 5 star cookbook as the results exceeded expectations.)

8 ozs grated cassava.
1 tsp jeera (whole cumin)
1 sprig curry leaves.
2 green chillies.
½ finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp chopped haridhania (coriander leaves).
Salt, chilli powder, pepper powder (to taste).
1 pinch asafoetedia (hing).
1 egg.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil. Put in hing and jeera. When jeera browns add chopped onion and curry leaves and chopped green chillies. Fry till onion is light brown. Add salt, pepper powder and chilli powder. Mix. Remove from stove. Add haridhania. Cool.
Beat egg and mix everything with cassava into thick pancake like batter.
(This looks like peserhettu mix...a South Indian, moong dal dosa).
Spray non-stick pan with cooking spray, heat, and put in one round spoon of batter (1/2 cup).
Spread like a thick pancake and let it cook. When browned on one side, flip over and brown the other.
Tastes excellent with coconut chutney…or sardines (of course!)

It was fun discovering cassava and experimenting with it. Of course the whole thing was made easier by my pal’s amazement and appreciation.
I’m sharing this in case you need to make stuff with cassava…and also because I like to record rare/uncommon recipes.

FREE RICE.com: FEED THE HUNGRY

Feeding the hungry has been an age old Indian tradition. Those of us who grew up in India, will not forget the cries of, "Amma! Taayi!" at the gate. It was my mother who always sent the servant or one of us children to the gate with a few paisa or some food for the beggar who stood there.
I also remember the lines of poor lining the road on either side of every religious place: temples,churches,gurudwaras, etc. waiting for the devout to come out and give them something.
Some housewives had a charity container on the kitchen counter and when they started cooking, they put a handful of rice into this container to be donated for feeding the poor.
No matter what your physical ability level or time constraints or reluctance to write yet another check for charity, you can contribute today to a wold effort to gather food for the hungry. Just go to FREERICE.com and play the word game there...you will improve your vocabulary and for every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program to end world hunger.
Just a few minutes of your time each day, donates a bowl of rice...what a wonderful, easy way to carry on the tradition of ANNADAANAM (giving of food).

Mango Trifle

This is my entry for Mango Mingle, organized by Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey?
An easy dessert, anyone can make.

The Kent mangoes from Mexico, which are the closest to the Indian Badami, and my favorite, are just coming out and not ripe enough, so I had to settle for Manila Mangoes from the Phillipines for this event.

I first learned to make Pineapple Trifle in my high school cooking class. It was an instant hit at home and my mother encouraged me to make it for parties. One mango season when the house was filled with the heady aroma of ripe mangoes, I substituted mangoes for canned pineapple in the trifle and that was so delicious.

Here's the recipe:

1 store-bought angel food cake (Mine was in a big bundt pan so I used some and froze the rest).
6 really ripe sweet mangoes, peeled and cubed.
1 cup mango, or pineapple juice. (any juice you think goes with mango is fine here).
1 6 oz container fat-free whipped cream.

For the custard I used my blancmange recipe below, using 5 cups milk, 5 dessert spoons sugar (I used sugar instead of Splenda here, as kids were going to have the trifle too), 5 rounded dessertspoons cornstarch, and BOTH almond and vanilla essence.
Shortcut: Use instant pudding mix.
I remove the custard from the stove before it gets too thick.
I do this for trifle only as I want to pour the custard and let the cake soak in it.

If you have the pulpy juice of mangoes or are using pineapple juice, make your custard thicker so it forms another layer for people to see through the glass bowl.

If using thin custard, pour one layer over the cake, return the custard to stove and thicken so it will set for the topmost layer.

Slice/cube cake into 1" thick pieces and layer a glass bowl or individual dessert bowls with it.
Some people melt jam and spread it over the cake at this stage...I don't.
Pour just enough juice to soak the cake...don't drown the cake in juice.
For the juice: If I have really good ripe mangoes I squeeze one or two into pulp and use that. If the mangoes are not that juicy I just use canned/bottled juice.
Place fruit over cake in a single layer.
Pour custard over cake.
Here again, some people use a layer of whipped cream...I don't.
Repeat layers: cake, juice, fruit, custard.
If this is your last layer, set the bowl in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours, to chill the trifle thoroughly.
If you're in a hurry, use the instant pudding which is mixed with cold milk, pre-chill your fruit and your juice, and you can omit the chilling step but it does taste better after a few hours in the fridge.
Decorate with a few pieces of reserved mango and some nuts or cherries...let your imagination be your guide.
I drizzled half a tsp of melted strawberry jam for color contrast on top.

Blancmange/custard.

Heat 4 cups milk with 5 rounded Tbsps sugar on the stove.

Add 1/2 tsp each of almond and vanilla essence.

Mix fifth cup COLD milk with 5 level tablespoons cornstarch without any lumps.

When milk on stove comes to a boil, pour in cornstarch mix, stirring constantly.

Keep stirring till it thickens to desired consistency.

If it has lumps, strain.

If you are not a patient person or too scared to try this, use a large box of instant pudding mix, and follow directions.  If you want to soak the cake in custard remove half the custard to another bowl before it sets, and add more milk so it is runny.

Make it lighter:

Using Splenda and non-fat milk in the custard, and fat-free whipped cream.

Make it Eggless

Use a cake mix and substitute 1 rounded tablespoon plain yogurt for each egg the recipe calls for.

Optional: sometimes I use a cap full of sherry/Cointreau/liquer over the cake layer.
British trifles, served at Army dinners in India, long after Independence, always had a hint of alcohol in them...I guess that was the reason I always felt so happy after trifle and it is still one of my favorite desserts!  Enjoy.

MOST CHALLENGING RECIPES OUTLINED PERFECTLY...

This is the two cents corner again(two cents being what my opinion is worth, as I'm a self proclaimed judge), with my vote for MOST CHALLENGING RECIPES OUTLINED PERFECTLY.
I did thing of calling it the Drool Award but changed my mind as my more sober side reminded me that 60 is only two years away (a year and a half actually, but who's counting?), and aunties who are 58 do not go around giving DROOL awards though their overactive salivary glands may wish they lived close to these folk, so they could taste these dishes under cover of the excuse of judging in person.
As a diabetic, my energy level is not up to making these dishes, but it is up to writing this in admiration of others' efforts.

(Drum roll, please...4 year old grandson bangs on drum while his two year old sister shouts I DO IT, I DO IT...good help is so hard to find.)

And the winners are...

The first award goes to Cynthia Nelson (Tastes Like Home). Watch her slideshow of the dish PARATHA ROTI, on her site, under ALBUMS for clear, concise, step by step directions to make perfect parathas, her way. They look so.o.o.o good.

The next award goes to Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes, for her DANISH BRAID PASTRY.

The way to a man's heart...

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
John Adams Richard Ford, Miss Mulock and Fanny Fern have all contributed to this quote. The last three changed it. Whoever the source, it was one of my mother's favorite saying but her adaptation was: "You may get his attention with your looks but you will keep him with the way you cook." and "A man wants a good meal on the table when he comes home tired."
Alas, where was the romance in her words? Nowhere, but though at fifteen I didn't want to hear things like that, I know a shared love of good food provides part of the glue that holds a marriage together.
I dared not say anything like that to my daughter, who's reply would probably be: "We share everything fifty fifty." Luckily, she married a young man who though he had never cooked a thing before he was married, took to cooking like a duck to water and is now a chef in the kitchen. My daughter for her fifty percent shops for the food, preps it for him and washes up, plus takes care of a two year old and a four year old.
Our son in law takes after his parents, who are both GREAT at whatever they cook.
HD (Hubby Dearest) who had lived abroad for a good many years before we were married and a good cook himself showed me the ropes initially. He was relieved I liked cooking.
I had come equipped with a cookbook of family recipes and those copied from the blackboard at cooking school for four years, and some practical experience. In my mind's eye, I still see my first cooking mentors: my mother getting me to help the cook in the kitchen at home and setting the greatest example by throwing her energy into the making of consistently wonderful dishes,, Sister Rita Mary with her blue eyes twinkling when we did things right in cooking class, Miss Rane, the teacher who came after Sister Rita Mary, urging us on to becoming better cooks, my sister giving me her recipes, and a favorite aunt who's hands worked magic in the kitchen while she labored over a wood stove. The list isn't done without one more great example and inspiration: Joan, an English lady, married my brother in law's brother, a South Indian. They met in England while in college and after they married they lived in India for some time and then came to the States. By the time I came out Joan had learned to cook every single Indian dish possible. She made them like a pro, planning her meals so work and raising her family, didn't come in the way of the full meal she produced every night: rice,chappattis, two veggies, a non-veg dish, rasam and curd. She's kept this tradition up for years, making it seem like such an easy feat. More remarkable than all this: At festivals, she makes the appropriate Indian sweets for each festival, while I place fruits and an apology in front of the Gods. Her husband, Prabhakar Bawa has inspired her with his love for, appreciation of and interest in good food. I can discuss any recipe with him and he will try to trace it for me on the Internet/through his records. Together they collect and record her recipes and share them generously with all of us.
Joan showed me how to cook one day a week for the rest of the week so she's the originator of the idea for my Food Bank too. She rushed out and bought me my first tawa (flat iron pan) and kadai (frying pan), when she heard HD had told my mother we get EVERYTHING here and not to send anything with me. She was the first one who told me the truth...there wouldn't be much available in the way of Indian ingredients in the small town I was going to.
Joan and Prabhakar Bawa...you've certainly helped me on this road.

During my early years here I honed my basic skills with daily practice. Urgent letters were sent home with requests for recipes. Frequent references were made to my cookbook till I became more confident. A sister-in-law's visit, during which time she and I cooked all HD (Hubby Dearest's) family recipes, gave me an idea of the dishes he had grown up with.
Nowadays,my interest is fed by friends, cooking shows and these blogs I love where I can find any recipe I want or could possibly think of and more. I cannot make as many as I would like to, but I still love collecting them.

Lauki in pita pockets

Lauki In Pita Pockets
A quick nutritious recipe anyone can make. Don't have lauki/bottle gourd? Substitute zucchini. It's a low-fat, quick and healthy meal, with a nutritive mix of paneer/cheese and veggies. The whole wheat pita pocket, makes it low-cal and satisfyingly filling.

My entry for http://creativepooja.blogspot.com
This is also my entry for http://funnfud.blogspot.com. Fun and Food/Healthy Eating.


1 cup grated lauki/bottle gourd
1/2 cup grated paneer OR cheddarella cheese.
½ cup chopped tomatoes (I used a mix of orange heirloom tomatoes from my garden and red tomatoes)
½ cup chopped bell pepper
2 chopped green chillies (to taste)
½ medium red onion sliced.
Salt, pepper, chilli powder to taste.

Grate paneer and lauki in food processor.
Heat 2 Tbsps olive oil.
Fry sliced onion one minute, add bell pepper and fry one minute, add chopped green chillies and lauki and fry 2-3 minutes.
Add chilli powder, salt and pepper. Mix.
Add grated paneer, mix well and remove from stove after one minute.
Add chopped tomatoes.
Heat non-stick pan.
Heat pita bread on both sides. (This step is optional)
Cut in half…open each half and stuff with lauki mixture.
Eat/serve immediately.
The crunch of the stir fried onions and bell pepper is a perfect complement to the soft lauki and paneer. I cut extra tomatoes, onions and bell pepper, stir fry the latter two, mix with tomatoes and serve on the side.

MY PERSONAL FOOD BANK

THINK SMART, BE SMART.
One of the first things HD (Hubby Dearest) said to me after we first met in India was, "There are no servants in America."
It was a remark made after he saw the servants we had. Growing up in an Army household there were always servants around us: the cook, the bearer, the ayah (nanny), the maid who swept and mopped the floors, the dhobi who washed and ironed the clothes, the army valet who took care of my Dad's uniforms, the driver, the gardener, the sweeper who cleaned the bathrooms; to name a few.
By the time HD and I met we were down to two...the cook and the maid.
In America, things are totally different. Once you realize you are the only one who is going to help you is you, your wishbone starts changing into a 'do'bone.
I was lucky that HD is of the variety that also helps around the house and has always been better at cleaning than me. Also, very thankfully, I realized he had not been ingrained with the stigma attached to so called 'woman's work'.
The smartest women I know, make the art of running a home into a science of experiments that lead to shortcuts in time and labor without sacrificing taste and quality. The result...balancing a lifestyle that accommodates personal, present day needs of working outside the home, having interests and hobbies that require time, raising children, while gratifying the inborn 'duty' ingrained in us that we should put the best food possible on the table. The latter was my mother's only job and her career...for me it is one of many jobs.
When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had no idea the toll the medicines would take off my general health while controlling my blood sugar. The endocrinologist kept telling me that I had to put myself and my needs first now; to manage my illness.
The needs she said were diet, exercise and rest and that came before anything else I felt I had to do for my family and others. It took months of her repeating this at every visit (she still does), for me to get the message.
The changes took time as I had to battle and subdue the age old instinct in every traditionally raised woman to serve and do for others first...even now there are times when it takes over. But for me, I realized that diabetes is like a donkey...get in the wrong position by ignoring the three main rules...diet rest and exercise and the hefty kick you'll get (blood sugar out of sync, energy level zero, aches and pains, fatigue), isn't worth it. So, like a juggler every day, I practice the art of managing all the balls I have up in the air.
Managing the diabetes right, gives me the freedom to do the things I want, so foregoing food cravings and overcoming the temptation not to walk each day is easy.
Food...making it, having the kind I want each day is one of the challenges.
Since the kids left home, dinner is always Indian food. The older we get, the more we want Indian food and without planning and determination it is getting harder to make it. So, I started a food bank in my freezer for days I cannot/don't want to cook.
The Food Bank is stocked with heat and serve dishes. I cook double at every meal, immediately cool the food I'm freezing and then put it away.
In the case of curries, and sambar, I make a plain base for four times and then when I need it I take out the base add the veggie of the day and hey presto! a new curry in minutes. Guess who's smiling all the way to the table now?
The Food Bank allows me to get the best produce at the best price, when it is in season. I clean, wash and freeze and then I have things like methi (fenugreek leaves) all year round.
Rising Prices Eating into your Budget? Not if you're as sharp as your kitchen knife!
This year I did something new. I found fresh ginger at 69 cents a pound ( a price I haven't seen for ages) and I bought ten pounds. It was top quality ginger with thick stems. I peeled, washed, and grated them in my faithful food processor, froze them in ice cube trays, and a steel plate; cut the latter into squares like burfee and froze them. A few hours later I put all the frozen ginger into freezer bags and they reside happily in my freezer now, awaiting their call to duty.


As luck would have it just before Cinco De Mayo, our local Mexican supermarket had garlic for an unbelievable price too. I go on quality as well as price and these pods looked healthy, white and bursting at the seams with freshness.
I got a large quantity, separated the cloves and let them dry or a couple of days then peeled, grated in the food processor and froze in the ice cube tray.
I have trays that freeze like three inch logs and these frozen logs are easy to break up into one inch pieces before storing.
Have I heard of store bought ginger garlic paste? Of course I have, but nothing like the fresh stuff...when I open up my garlic bag I still smell fresh garlic and my ginger cubes still have the fresh ginger juice they were frozen with. Nothing beats that in our do-it-yourself society. Plus, I make the time to put in what I want out.
Everyone does this with things that are important to them.
Other daily use items in my food bank: methi, coriander leaves, fried onions, chopped tomatoes (when the garden produces a lot, or the price and quality is GREAT).
Just like with money, it is an investment of time and labor but then who's the queen of instant cooking with all the best ingredients on hand?
When guests come to stay I make a few masalas ahead and freeze those too.
. I bag my onions in sandwich baggies, approximating one use per bag, then put all the baggies into a large freezer bag or a big plastic container...saving on using too many freezer bags.
Well fried onion release extra oil which I drain and re-use for cooking other dishes.
To protect my food against electric outages...thank God these are rare here, I have bottles of water frozen in each compartment/drawer of the freezer to act as ice bags.
Should we have an outage, the stuff will be good for eight hours or more, as long as the freezer door isn't opened.

TIPS
1. Don't let food you're freezing for another meal sit out all day long and then freeze it.
2. Freeze leftovers too, instead of keeping it in the fridge and eating it two days running and take it out on one of those 'don't feel like cooking days'.
3. For your food bank, buy the best produce at the best price.
Luckily for me I now live in an area where I'm in the vicinity of a plethora of grocery stores of every ethnic group. They provide an infinite variety of choice and price. I haven't forgotten though, the days, when I lived in a small town, when my best friend would rush to the only local supermarket at the crack of dawn on Saturdays, grab the only two packets of fresh coriander (tired and wilting already), buy one and hide the other one for me. Back home she would call me, go tut tut tut over the fact I was sleeping in, and say, "Look behind the potatoes!"
Every week it was a different place, naturally, and thanks to my friend I would have fresh coriander.
4. I soak and sprout mung and other beans, cook and freeze half for another time.
The list goes on and on, but except for potatoes, you get the idea.

Remember, with me, I do this because of my health constraints...if you have the time and energy to cook fresh every time, go for it.
If you are worried about freezing food and losing vitamins and minerals, remember most of our food comes to us frozen or semi-frozen.
Take a vitamin/mineral supplement.
Eat something frozen,with something fresh at every meal. If you don't like salads, and some Indians don't, eat sliced cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini etc. at each meal.
Eat fresh fruits, nuts and include milk, cheese and yogurt, to help balance your diet.

BEST OF BLOGS...JULY 2008

My two cents worth:
This month's choice for 5 star cooking blogs is MALABAR SPICES.
I stumbled on it while looking for a recipe for a little known ingredient...yucca.

I like the blog for it's great design and set up, ease of use/amount of recipes and great little web genius tricks that I know nothing of but make me very happy to use.

Now, please don't take this as meaning this was picked over other blogs...it wasn't as
I haven't been to all the cooking blogs and this isn't a competition anyway. It's just that while researching, I came across a blog worth mentioning.
So, MALABAR SPICES, you have 5 stars from me, for July 2008