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INDIAN SUMMER CHICKEN CURRY…CURRY ON THE GO!!
“Playwrights are like men who have been dining for a month in an Indian restaurant. After eating curry night after night, they deny the existence of asparagus”Peter Ustinov The North Indian summer is always unbearably hot, & is meant to last a month or so. That is how we are programmed to survive here, because come July, we welcome the rains with open arms & hearts! This year has been different. It’s almost August & zilch; the rains didn’t come. We’ve seen the monsoons fail…The temperatures are still in the 40’s, & the days are HOT + HUMID = UGH!! An odd shower now & then makes life miserable. This…
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GETTING MY HERBS RIGHT WITH PASTA & CHICKEN
“A man’s nature runs either to herbs, or to weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.”Francis Bacon, Sr. Do I know my herbs? Well I thought I did, & was basking in my limited glory until I saw Helen’s beautiful Thyme shortbread cookies @ Tartlette. Hmmmmm, I thought, how come my oregano looks like her thyme? I got the seeds a while ago, & my gardener planted them. He’d never seen these herbs & I’ve only seen dried ones that looked more like green tea most of the time! Helen wrote to me when I left her a quizzical comment. A few pictures exchanged, &…
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HEY PRESTO…MIXED-HERBS PASTA
“Life is a combination of magic and pasta” Fellini Psychgrad & Giz @ Equal Opportunity Kitchen are hosting the weekly round-up of Presto Pasta Nights this week. Presto Pasta Nights is the brainchild of Ruth & it’s amazingly on it’s 81st week. Pasta is a more than welcome option at home at any meal, so here’s an entry to PPN.I’ve had this Bon Apetit ‘Mixed-herb Pasta’ recipe from Epicurious in my bursting folder for long but the only herbs I had were basil…& loads of it. Then one day the courier came with a well packed box & beautiful handwriting. Excitedly opened it to find the sweetest smelling fresh sage…
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QUENCHING THIRST WITH A MANGO COOLER…CELEBRATING SUMMER!
“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. “ Russel Baker Cooler anyone? Make mine mango… With summer here, a cooler is just the perfect way to chill out. And with mangoes in every avatar flooding markets, how cool would a mango cooler be. In North India, this is a traditional thirst quencher, considered a good way to beat the heat & was made throughout homes across the North. Just the right thing to gulp down when you walk in from searing temperatures hitting 40 degrees C & upwards, & for many, the only way to escape a heatstroke. Aam panna, as it is called…
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PEST of a PESTO… but then onto PASTA! ‘PUTTING UP’!!
“How could such sweet and wholesome hours Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers?” Andrew Marvel Basil Almond Pesto… Snip,snip,snip…all I could hear out in the garden was snip, snip, snip. Sunday morning, me lazing in the study with my cuppa cold milk…one day I like to steer clear of the kitchen in the morning. The snipping didn’t seem to end & I got suspicious. Stepped out to find the gardener trimming away my beloved basil bushes to pretty shapes…I almost passed out! There, lying all around, were bunches of my precious basil! He felt it had overgrown too much & decided it was time to clean it up; for…
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EASY YOGURT DIP…Serve with Chips/Crudites.Always a hit at any gathering!
“Food is so primal, so essential a part of our lives, often the mere sharing of recipes with strangers turns them into good friends. That’s why I love this community.” Jasmine Heiler, about recipezaar.com HUNG CURD (YOGURT) DIP A really simple, extremely addictive, & tangy dip which is a great add-on to any menu. Its one of those ‘quick to put together’, ‘nothing can go wrong’ sorta recipes, which is a great hit and good for finger food. For kids I serve it with chips, and always add veggies like steamed broccoli, cucumber sticks,baby carrots, baby corn etc on the side. Every single time I have served this, I have…
