Hey Presto!  A New Kitchen!

My fairy godmother's on vacation whenever I need her; especially now.

Repairs and renovations have me without a operating kitchen, forcing me to spend more time at the computer to the background music of hammering, drilling and occasional treasured bouts of silence.
It seemed like summer would be a good time for this project as we don't cook much in the hot weather and it does feel okay to have all doors and windows open and workmen traipsing through the house.
A new kitchen...isn't that every cook's dream?  A kitchen where one can design everything perfectly.
Enough said.
Once the bids start coming in one quickly bids the dreams goodbye...dream kitchens are too expensive.
New cabinetry costs the earth and we finally found a contractor who said he would re-use our old cabinets in our new design!  A man after HD's heart!
As soon as design started being implemented, we ran into building problems:
"Of course you can't have the stove THERE...the hood has to go over it and there are pipes above where you want it!"
So the stove is moved.  It is only the first of many major concessions,
"Of course you can't have as many cabinets as you want back in the new kitchen...there's no room for them."
I sigh and nod consent, wondering where I will put all the treasures now piled all over the living room and dining room.
As we get into Day 14, I wonder who's kitchen is this anyway?  The contractor's who seems to delight in saying, "Of course we can't put that THERE!"  The electrician's who has changed my light design and replace it with his own.  I can't wait for the plumber and painter to get here with THEIR ideas.
Is it HD's who keeps saying things have to be done RIGHT and keeps reminding everybody about city permits and codes and generally telling the contractor whatever he's doing is wrong and will not be approved by the city!
I think nostalgically of my old kitchen.  It really wasn't that bad...I could have lived with it just making minor changes not one from ground up.  But then I tell myself not to get so easily discouraged.  Change is a good thing, but the process takes tremendous patience.
Whatever estimate one gets has to be multiplied by thrice the amount of time and one and a half times the cost.  Most important is the people who give us bids transform into those who all the pressures of their job to carry out.
I wish we could have just left the house and come back when he e-mailed us the job was done!
Is this contractor the same one who said he would be done before we knew it?  He now has turned into this shifty eyed person who won't meet our eyes when we ask for an end date mumbling about how fast he's going and people don't know how hard his work is.  He's working with teams who are all related to him and have so many excuses for not showing up that his mood gets darker as the days go by!
He's stopped talking to me after he saw the slide in range arrive...he thought it was a cooktop!
Where did he think my oven would go once it was removed from the wall?
I can no longer envision my kitchen and till it's done, I sit in my living room surrounded by appliances in boxes, all the stuff hoarded in my kitchen for umpteen years in wobbly piles around me, my microwave and toaster on my dining table and I pray the workmen will soon be gone, the city will approve all the changes, HD and the contractor will become friends again and I will have...my new kitchen.
In the meantime I feel better just for having written this...

Indian Summers and Pickles (pictures coming)

Summer is pickle making season in India. Indian pickle is nothing like the small cucumbers in brine we get in the States. Our pickles are vegetables dried with salt (no water added) and then mixed with seasonings and chilli powder and oil. They last a year or two if they are made properly.
The most popular pickles in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are made with limes or green mango.
In the North and West almost every vegetable is made into a pickle. Generally pickles are hot and spicy but in Gujarat they are sweet and sour and spicy. In Bengal and Kerala fish and prawn pickles are a specialty. Each community seems to have their own special pickles.

Lime pickle is the traditional South Indian pickle served on every marriage 'thali'. It has to accompany the curd/yogurt rice that is the last course of the meal itself.
Pickle is also an accompaniment to everyday meals, that compensates for lack of salt or spice in any dish. Some people can't eat an Indian meal without pickle.

Traditionally of course pickles were made to preserve the vegetables/green mangoes available in summer for year round use. Marrried women in the South went home to their mother's house for a month or two in the summer, children in tow, and returned after their visit laden with pickles and other treats.
Most pickles can be made by any and everybody but for lime pickle, my mother always said one needed 'the hand'. If you didn't have 'the hand', the lime pickle always went bad i.e spoiled soon after it was made. Luckily for us my mother had 'the hand' and so did my sister. Unfortunately I do not.
The lime pickle was made and stored in an earthen jar about 14" high. The mouth of the jar was tied with a muslin cloth. The lime pickle was removed in small quantities to another glass bottle for serving. Some traditions attached to pickle: A woman having a period could not make or touch the pickle later or it would go bad. No water/wet hands/wet spoons were allowed to come in contact with the pickle. My mother used to say the pickle made by her grandmother who obviously had 'the hand' could last up to three years.

Four friends visited us last year and when the ladies Jessie and Mallika saw how much we enjoyed our lime pickle from India, the latter offered to make some. Mallika said I could put the lime pickle she was showing me how to make in the refrigerator right away and then it wouldn't go bad.
Overriding my protests that she should relax and not work, she made not one but two delicious pickles. The first one was an Instant Lemon Pickle that vanished minutes after it was placed on the table!
The second one was a lime pickle and I still have a small treasured amount left in the refrigerator!


Lemon Pickle...Mallika Arasu

1large lemon chopped into 1 cm pieces
1 c water
Cook lemon in water with 1 Tbsp salt
2 tiny spoons (1/3 tsp) rai and methi (mustard seed and fenugreek seeds)
Roast separately and powder in blender.
Heat ½ cup sesame oil.
Add 2/3 tsp whole rai.
When it splutters add ⅓ level tsp hing (asafoetedia). 
 (If it’s the strong 303 brand of hing, reduce to ¼)
1 ½ big Tbsps chilli powder

I can't believe how delicious this was.

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Lime pickle...Mallika Arasu

10 limes

6 tablespoons methi (fenugreek seeds)
8 tablespoons rai (mustard seeds)
Fry till brown and grind in blender
Cut limes into quarters or eighths (Mallika chopped them into one sixteenths).
Heat ¾ cup til oil
Put in methi and rai powder and ⅓ tsp hing.
Switch off the stove.
Add lime pieces.
Add 6 rounded teaspoons chilli powder
Add 1 level tsp haldi
Add 2 rounded tablespoons rock salt.
Store in a glass bottle in refrigerator.
Shake bottle to toss lime pieces every day till soft (it's ready to eat in about three weeks).

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GREEN CHILLI PICKLE...Lalita Devdasen

To add to this wonderful list of pickles is this one from an old friend.  I changed the recipe slightly by adding apple cider vinegar and increasing the amount of garlic.  Though chefs insist that adding an ingredient or changing the recipe in any way gives you ownership of the recipe, I would still like to credit Lalita as she gave me this recipe.
It is delicious, keeps well in the refrigerator and everyone wants the garlic pods in the pickle laced with the flavor of green chillies.

1 kg green chillies (2.2 lbs)

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp each: dhania/coriander seeds and whole jeera/cumin

2 tbsp amchur powder (amchur/pomegranate seed powder)

1 cup til oil   

1 tsp sugar     

½ cup white vinegar  (I used apple cider vinegar and it gave the pickle a great flavor).      

20 pods garlic, peeled  (I double this amount)

2 inch ginger peeled and sliced or chopped    

Wash and dry chillies on a paper towel.

I use the jalapeno if I cant get the serrano peppers but make sure they are hot.

Roast dhania and jeera seeds in a pan or in the microwave.

Blend fine and mix with salt and amchur powder.

Slit chilles and fill with the powder mix..

Heat oil.  

Add ginger and garlic and fry for a minute

Put chillies in and leave for another minute.

Add 1 tsp sugar and vinegar

Simmer 2 mins.

When completely cool, bottle and store in refrigerator.  The flavor is amazing.

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Sweet & Sour Green Mango Pickle...Cassandra D'Silva

Cassandra was a fellow student in St. Mary’s Training College, whom I knew 46 years ago.  She had the voice of an angel.  Her rendering of ‘Ave Maria’ is one of the best I’ve ever heard.  
One summer she brought in a bottle of this super delicious sweet and sour mango pickle for each friend.  It was a family recipe; a dish from her home town in Goa and one her mother made every year.  Everyone in college and at home loved it, and I made it every year after that as long as there were green mangoes around..

5 lbs green mangoes (Cassie said those on the brink of turning yellow made the best pickle).
2 rounded tbsps chilli powder (she said ‘to taste’)
2 tbsps haldi
1 tbsp methi powder
¼ lb whole rai/mustard powder (powdered rai)
1 tbsp jeera powder
½ lb garlic, peeled.
⅛ lb whole pepper (I reduce this to 1/16)
1 bottle vinegar
1 ½ lb jaggery.
7 rounded tbsp salt (my estimation for what works well)
2 lbs oil

Dissolve jaggery in vinegar on medium heat. Strain the liquid when cool to make sure there is no grit/stones in the jaggery.
Heat oil well.
Put in all the masala and fry well (3-5 mins on medium).
Add mango and garlic cloves. Fry again for 3-5minutes. (my variation)
Add the jaggery and vinegar and allow mango to cook...15 mins.
Cool and bottle.

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My favorite North Indian pickle is green mango made with somph (fennel).
My second favorite South Indian pickle is 'avvakkai', a pungent green mango pickle.
My favorite Maharashtrian pickle is a fresh one made with carrots and green chillies.

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Mint Chutney

Mint Chutney (pudhina/podhina)

Mint (Pudhina) Chutney

This recipe was given to us girls by our cooking teacher when we were 16.  It became an instant hit in our home...and the recipe spread.
When hubby dearest met me for the first time he complimented my sister on this chutney and asked for the recipe.  With a twinkle in her eye she told him it was ‘my’ recipe. I guess the twinkle meant she saw a happy future for us as long as I kept making this chutney!
This chutney enhances lamb dishes and biriyani.  It is delicious  with potato/veggie cutlets.
Add a few leaves to a pulao (Indian fried rice), with a chopped  semi-cooked potato while frying the onions, and it will taste yummy.

A few tips about mint:
When buying mint pick it up and smell the bunch...if it doesn’t have a strong aroma it isn’t right for this chutney.  The best bunches I get are in the Middle Eastern and Mexican supermarkets.
When you do buy a bunch of ‘good’ leaves, put a few stalks in a glass/jar of water in a partly sunny location.  Remember strong sunshine through glass can burn the plant.  
The stalks will grow roots in a few days and you can re-pot it indoors or out, depending on the weather in your area.
Mint in the ground takes over the yard with it’s long roots and our freshly mowed lawn, at one time, had a minty smell, so be careful where you plant it.
Even in a pot, it’s roots come out and spread so move your pot from time to time.
Trim your leaves by taking off the top half of the plant or more to encourage fresh growth.
In summer when your plant is going gangbusters, take the leaves, wash and freeze them for the times you can’t find any.
When the leaves in your pot wilt it is time to re-pot the plants or pull up half of them to give the rest room to grow.

So finally, here’s the chutney recipe:

½ cup mint leaves (wash in 3 batches of water as mint attracts insects)
1 cup cilantro leaves ( wash in 3 batches of water)
½ cup grated coconut
½ medium onion (chop)
2 green chillies
½ - 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 tsp rai (mustard seed)
2 tsp urad dal
1 Tbsp oil.
Salt to taste

In a non stick pan, heat oil, add rai.
When it splutters add urad dal.
Fry golden brown.
Add chopped onion...fry till transparent.
Add mint leaves and green chillies... fry till leaves wilt completely.
Place in blender with washed cilantro leaves, coconut, tamarind, salt.
Blend till slightly coarse.
Taste, adjust salt, chillies and tamarind if needed.
Blend for one more minute and enjoy!

Curry In a Hurry 'N Rice Pulao

Though I haven't posted here for a while because of enjoyable distractions of writing, family and travel, I've been collecting and trying out lots of old and new recipes.
Recently a relative mentioned a friend was going to try some Indian recipes and this reminded me of this recipe, written up years ago for friends who wanted to try their hand at Indian cooking.
I invited these friends for an Indian lunch and gave them a gift of a printed copy of these recipes and an inexpensive plastic box containing the whole spices, a couple of spoons of the curry mix and some Basmati rice so they could try the recipes out themselves.
They were really surprised and delighted and I hope others who want to try Indian curries will too.


Curries, contrary to the picture that seems to go with the word are not burning hot.
The original word is from Tamil Nadu in South India was 'kari' and meant a blend of spices.

Years ago every Indian household started the day with using a roller stone on a flat stone platform and grinding fresh spices for the day. Now the whir of the blender and the availability of all these spices in the stores have made the stone grinders of yesteryears obsolete in most households...but with the mod conveniences and lack of time and a servant to grind the spices emerges on fact: the curries don't taste the same.

To get back to the present, curries should not be dominated by oil or chilli powder. Flavoring should be so subtle that no one flavor stands out and the final result is a harmony of spices that delight the palate. In the South of India where my roots are, curry and rice go together so here are two recipes for you.

CURRY IN A HURRY 'N RICE PILAF

Ingredients (TSP: teaspoon, TBSP: tablespoon, med: medium.)

(1 lb chicken or 2 cups of mixed, chopped vegetables like cauliflower, beans, peas carrots,
potatoes).
3 Tbsps olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1 medium sized onion
4 med. tomatoes
Cilantro
Curry powder mix ( ½ teaspoon chilli powder, ¾ tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp coriander seed powder, ⅛ tsp turmeric, ¾ tsp garam masala, ½ tsp pepper powder).

Heat 3 Tbsps oil, put in one bay leaf, one stick cinnamon, 3 cloves.
(remove the bud of the clove as it will burst in hot oil)
Fry spices on medium heat till you get a good aroma and bay leaf turns brown. (1-2 mins)
Slice one medium sized onion.
Add to bay leaf etc. and fry till golden brown.
Add 4 chopped tomatoes, ¼ cup chopped cilantro, curry mix and vegetables.
Fry for 10-15 mins. Aroma should be great.
Add enough water to cover vegetables and let them simmer till done.
If using frozen peas etc, fry potatoes and cauliflower first for 5 mins
Or if using all frozen veggies, zap potatoes in microwave with little water for 3 mins to soften.
Add salt, one tbsp ketchup, pepper powder, simmer, taste...enjoy!

***This is a red curry...you can turn it into a ‘coconut white curry’ by adding a small (5-6 oz) can of coconut milk.
*** this can become a green curry by blending and adding ½ bunch of cilantro leaves and one green chilly instead of red chilli powder.  Other powders in the ‘mix’ must be included in recipe.
Chilli powder in American supermarkets, gives a red color to curries and isn’t too hot.

Where spices/powders are concerned err on the side of caution as less is more if you aren’t used to them.  Increase usage if your palate demands more spice.

THIS GOES WELL WITH:

PULAO (PILAF)


Ingredients
Basmati rice (available from Indian grocery stores...the long grained, fragrant quality of this rice enhances this dish.)
Olive oil
Bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves.
1/2 medium onion
Garlic paste
Frozen peas
Water and salt.
Turmeric...one pinch

Wash and drain rice.
Heat 3 tbsp oil, fry bay leaf, cinnamon stick and three cloves as above.
Add ½ sliced onion and fry till light brown.
Add 1 tbsp garlic paste and ⅓ cup frozen peas and rice.
Fry 3-5 mins on medium heat.
Add water and salt (double water to rice) and bring to a boil.
Lower to medium and cook for 8 mins or till water is absorbed.
Grains of rice should be separate but when a grain is pressed between thumb and forefinger it
should be soft.
Enjoy.