Good Buy : GO Mozzarella Cheese

I visited the SPAR Hypermarket located on Inner Ring Road, Koramangala, Bangalore today and grabbed a packet of GO Mozzarella Cheese - shredded and ready to use. This product rated at Rs 70, to be used in a time span of three months, provides really light and stringy cheese, apt as a topping for delectable pizzas. Once opened the cheese in shredded form has to be consumed within 7 days. I picked up the "Pizza Italiano" option (as shown in the picture above) , there are many other varieties too - Mexican style shredded cheese, Italian Pasta style shredded cheese and Natural Shredded variety. The zip pouch packaged cheese comes with a mini recipe booklet. I made Pizza at home using this cheese and I must say this mozzarella cheese was stringy; definitely the best, in my opinion, of all options available in Bangalore. There are many imported varieties of this cheese but they are hefty costly. Also one never knows how old these imported stuff actually are, pretty risky to play with an expired dairy product.

I fetched some parsley, capsicum and wheat pizza base from the stores. At home, I brushed the wheat pizza base with some olive oil, dabbed some tomato sauce on it (no special sauce for this -mixed little oregano into our dear Maggi Tomato sauce and done with it), heaped lots of veggies like sliced onions, tomatoes, capsicums, finely chopped parsley and green chillies (for that extra spice) and sprinkled the "ready to use, shredded" cheese. The quantity of cheese used per pizza might appear tad less, but that's precisely the way I like it. I baked the pizza in Microwave plus Convection mode till the veggies were baked and all of cheese melted well.

Here are some more pics of the work slab in my kitchen and the final dish (after a drizzle of mixed Italian herbs on them when out of the oven) -

Christmas time .. Cake time :)

Ok ... so the year 2011 is coming to a quick end. Days are getting colder and shorter. With the mercury dipping outside, isn't the time perfect to heat the oven inside home to high and higher temperatures and bake something special? 

On Friday evening, I was browsing through updates on blogs I follow and I landed at the recipe of Carrot and Walnut cake - http://www.padhuskitchen.com/2011/12/carrot-cake-recipe-how-to-make-carrot.html 

Very simple recipe, easy to follow and the result is an awesome cake with an even more awesome aroma :) 

I will surely keep baking this many times over. Thanks a lot Padhu :) for sharing this recipe with one and all. 

I halved the ingredients mentioned in the parent recipe as I was planning to bake a smaller cake in a 6' round tin. I omitted salt addition. For the 1/2 cup vegetable oil I was to use (ingredient after halving) - I used 1/4 cup vegetable oil and 1/4 cup milk instead. These are the only revisions I made to the recipe. 

Here are some pictures of this very delectable cake - 

The sweet carrots, nutty walnuts and aromatic cinnamon went in together well and provided this little dense, and tasty cake. The second picture might reveal some grated carrot pieces and nuts on careful observation. 

I had to take the pictures really quick because the digging and devoring process went on too fast. 

I wholeheartedly thank Padhu for providing me this wonderful recipe and making my kitchen smell sweet on Saturday :) 

Some Dry Grinding there .....

This weekend I decided to grind some dry powders which can be stored for a good time in air tight containers.
These serve as a great accompaniment for dosas, akki roti and warm rice.

1) Kollu (Horse Gram) podi -
Recipe is as stated here  - http://www.kamalascorner.com/2009/08/kollu-horse-gram-podi.html

I face the problem of water retention in my body at times. This mostly happens when engrossed in work at office, I do not get up at regular intervals to drink water. Regular exercise helps avoid this problem largely. When it boils down to the question of how one can cure this problem through ones' diet, the answer I found from my mother is Horse Gram or Kollu (in Tamil).

Horse Gram is known to remove the excess water retained in body and aids substantial weight loss. However, elders state consumption of horse gram also generates heat in the body and thereby restricts its usage/intake to weekly once. Please consult elders in your family before eating horse gram on a regular basis, they may give specific and apt advise that fits your personal health conditions.

I took to eating horse gram, not for the weight loss reasons but in an attempt to try out how it tasted, like any other pulse I wanted its protein component. I made a simple dal using horse gram, onion and tomato and had it with rotis. Horse gram is very tough and needs to be soaked for 12 hours and then pressure cooked.
I would not say the dal made from horse gram was very tasty - not as much as the moong, masoor and arhar (toor) varieties that I generally cook and eat.

I decided to make a powder out of the horse gram left at home following the recipe from Kamala's Corner. This powder tasted very delicious and it went well along with warm rice and little ghee.
I intend to add a spoon or two of this Kollu Podi prepared while I make rasam. I am sure it will help enhance the flavor of the rasam and add goodness to it.

2) Flax Seeds Dry Chutney Powder - 
I had some flax seeds left at home and here comes the preparation of another dry powder using it.

The recipe to be referred is at  - Indian Food Court, link below -
http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/alsi-seeds-flax-seeds-dry-chutney-powder/#comment-9126

I used the same measure of ingredients and followed instructions Prathiba Aunty has provided in her site. I did not add copra, the chutney powder sans copra was also tasty. I did not have Byadgi chilli powder at home (Byadgi chilli is a variety of chilli grown in Haveri, Karnataka) , so I roasted and ground 8-10 Byadgi Chillies to make up for the quantity of chilli powder used.

Flax seeds have many essential fatty acids in them and are considered vital for healthy skin and hair growth.  Try checking out the benfits of Flax seeds/alsi seeds. I intend to use this powder as an accompaniment for dosas and akki roti. I also intend to slit brinjals (small, purple ones), stuff them with this powder, then fry them with little oil on a tawa, guess this will make a yummy, dry curry.

3) Paruppu podi - Ahh.. here comes my quintessential favorite - Paruppu Podi. Nothing can beat this in taste when mixed in warm rice with little ghee. This dry powder is one of the main reasons why I find Andhra meals very inviting, Paruppu podi is provided liberally in an Andra meal; in restaurants, it is called Gun Powder :) 


The recipe below which I follow without modifications has helped me churn very fine Paruppu Podi - so delicious that my mother loves this version thoroughly. Made from wholesome toor dal, the recipe in the link below is sans garlic (one in Andhra restaurants have liberal dose of red chillies and garlic in them)
Link - http://lakshmisindiancurry.blogspot.com/2010/08/paruppu-podi.html

End of my post .... I am sure, most of you would be getting ready with a fry pan and a mixer to churn out some dry powders :) Have fun .. GRINDING !! 

Karthigai Deepam

Happy Karthigai Deepam to one and all :)

One of the important festivals celebrated in Tamil Nadu fell on Dec 8 this year. 

Casual browsing on details of the festival, a little about its history etc brought me to the link below - 

http://www.kamalascorner.com/2010/11/karthigai-deepam.html 

This is a wonderful website on cooking and has archives of information on many South Indian recipes. Most importantly, I liked the organisation of information on this website. In the link provided above, there is a section on Karthigai recipes and there are some new ones I noted -Sooji Appam and Panaolai Kozhakattai. 

Yes, coming down to what I prepared for the festival - Adai, Appam and Vella Aval were prepared for the occasion. I am sure most of us already know the recipes of Adai and Appam. People usually prepare vella poree or poree urundai using puffed rice which are crispy. I prepared Vella Aval (one using beaten rice flakes), I had it as a prasadham in an Ayyappa temple in Bangalore last week, liked it, guessed what could have gone into making it and prepared along that thought. 

Recipes: 

Vella Aval (Jaggery with Jada Poha) 

1 cup Jada Poha (thick Aval/beaten rice flakes) 

1 cup Jaggery (powdered) 

2 tsp Til seeds (I used brown til)

1 tsp Cardamom powder

1 tbsp Ghee 

2 tbsp Cashewnuts (broken) 

2 tbsp Grated coconut 

Take required quantity of poha/aval in a bowl and wash it well with water. Drain any excess (free flowing) water and let the poha/aval rest in the bowl. The latent moisture in the bowl will cause the poha/aval to swell. The basic intention is to infer the quantity of swollen poha and take equal quantity of jaggery. This proportion would provide the right sweetness to the dish. 

In a pan, heat ghee, add broken cashews and roast well till they are golden brown. Add the til seeds now and roast till they crackle.Take care to maintain distance from the pan as they splutter. 

Now into this, add the powdered jaggery and on light heat, mix the contents of the pan well. The jaggery will melt into a syrup slowly. Add the poha (swollen - Usually, this swelling process takes about 5-7 minutes) into the pan and give a thorough stir. Once the contents of the pan are evenly mixed, add the cardamom powder and turn off the stove. Vella Aval is ready and it came close to the prasadham I had in the temple :) 

Adai 

For 1 cup idli rice - 

Little less than 1/4 cup Urad dall (whole)

1/2 cup toor + channa dal mixture (both dals constitute this mixture equally) 

5-6 red chillies

2 tsp black pepper

All of the above are soaked overnight. These are then ground to a fine batter with sufficient water, salt to taste and a pinch of asafoetida in a wet grinder. The batter is left for 2 hours to ferment, then used to make adais on a hot tawa just the way we make dosa. 

ready to be made into adais. Best served with a dollop of butter/spoon of ghee, can use molagai podi (chutney powder) as an accompaniment. Powdered jaggery as an accompaniment stands out as it complements the peppery taste in adai. 

Appam

1 cup of raw rice in soaked in water overnight. 

1 cup of powdered jaggery (rice and jaggery equal proportions for the right sweetness) 

1 small banana (yellow variety) 

1 tsp cardamom powder

3 tbsp grated coconut or 2 tbsp finely chopped coconut pieces 

The soaked rice is ground in a mixer (after carefully draining water completely) with powdered jaggery and one banana mashed into it. Cardamom powder is added to the mixer contents. Again, one more run of the mixer to ensure all contents are mixed well. Leave the appam batter to rest for 6 hours at least. This resting time is mandatory to get soft appams. If you have time, then grind the rice with jaggery in a wet grinder, this will yield super soft appams when compared to using mixer. 

When the batter is ready to go into the fry pan specifically used to make appam - Paniyaram pan, add the coconut pieces or grated coconut. 

Set the paniyaram pan on stove. In each of the pits in the pan, pour sufficient oil, lace it with small quantities of ghee. I refrain from frying the appams entirely in ghee, though if my maternal grandmother saw this adulteration, she would kill me :) 

Pour a ladle of batter into each of the pits, ensure the batter covers the pit well and does not overflow outside. Cook appams in the pan on medium flame, turn them over after some time to ensure they are evenly cooked. This proportion yielded me 18 appams. 

Mashed banana's addition to the batter makes appam take in a little more oil. But you can pardon yourself once in while as banana adds an unparalleled sweet and fruity taste to appam. 

Hypermetropic Cooks

Another update on my blog ... may be a post that can fit in here and my other blog on cooking - Foodies' Sphere. 

A thought struck me as I was watching an episode of Master Chef India 2 on Sunday - Dec 4, 2011. Four contestants were fighting out an elimination round. I have noted, be it Master Chef India - the first or second season, top contestants are experts in Awadhi, Gujarati, Rajasthani cuisines, they have toiled with the extremely hot Bhut Jolokia chilly from north eastern states, tossed many fishes in kasundi (mustard paste) much in Bengali style, rolled out sheek kababs and patiently cooked flavorful biriyani. 

In the arena of desserts and baked goodies, they are kings and queens. Adept at making mousse, artfully using mascarpone cheese, baking pies, tarts, quiches, meringue cookies and macroons, they also churn out desi sweets like Ghewar, intricately shaped Jalebis and Rasagulla cake in remarkable style even when provided very little time. Simply stating, they know it all. 

The contestants of Master Chef India are unparalleled experts in international cuisine - Risotto, Ravioli, Lasagna, Tortilla, Quesadilla - from Italy to Mexico to China, name it and they present them matching international standards. Be it Galangal ginger, Pad thai, Sushi or other tongue twisting names, these are no surprises to them. The thought process and creativity these people put in, their knowledge of ingredients, quality and taste of end products they create have always startled the three judges on the show and many lucky ones who have had a chance to taste their platter. 

This Sunday, however, I realised, they are all what I can call Hypermetropic Cooks, a new term I have coined to describe at least those who were fighting out the elimination challenge. These hypermetropic cooks  have abnormally above average, in fact, supreme distant vision, in this context, technical know how of recipes made in regions of the globe, miles away from India. When a banana tree came bang in front of them - more precisely, its various parts - banana stem, raw and ripe banana, banana flower were presented as the core ingredient to be used, they were all flabbergasted. If it had been only an expression of shock, I could quite understand it.Their expressions were like all hell broke loose on them on Sunday.  

The four contestants had to prepare a complete platter using raw banana, banana leaf and ripe banana in the first round. The second round involved usage of banana flower and the last one required contestants to prepare a starter using banana stem.

Raw bananas make yummy dry curry, especially when mixed with grated coconut. Ripe bananas could be steamed with honey laced water to provide a simple, delectable dessert. Steaming in banana leaves added an extraordinary flavor to any dish. Ample knowledge can be derived on how to use all of the above elements of a banana plant from Canara coast, states of Kerala and Tamil nadu (as far as I know). Banana flower beats the rest when it comes to taste factor though it is quite meticulous to clean it. Finely chopped banana flower could be mashed with potato and used to make cutlets or mixed with channa dal to make vadas. Banana stem is a miracle ingredient, rich in roughage, yielding tasty dry and yoghurt based curry. The core ingredient is quite common place in the southern states of India and very vital in nutritive aspects too. People who cared to know about global cuisines could have had an easy take that day had they turned a few pages of any South Indian cook book.

I felt a strange sense of ignorance looming in them and I have seen this in most cookery shows aired in India.    There is much more in South Indian cooking than only idli, vada and dosa.Whilst the whole nation has adopted the tandoor, naan, kulcha, paneer butter masala, concepts of weaving magic with a wet grinder and simple fermentation techniques have gone amiss. It is very appreciable people put in sincere efforts to master things that are cooked and served in far off corners of the world, but why some take a huge leap before they are even aware of indigenous lessons is not clear.

I realized that day - to be a key contender in Master Chef India, it is mandatory one excels in North Indian cooking and be a clone of Nigella Lawson in baking. Churn out a 1000 recipes with olive oil but remain blissfully ignorant of the fact that even till oil can be used for cooking. Be crafty with the pasta maker even if you haven't (even once) skillfully squeezed out murukkus and chakalis. With an overdose of enthusiasm, there are takers for the far fetched Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai and Japanese, but even indirect references and simple awareness of completeness and diversity in Indian cuisine strangely goes for a toss.