“Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go.” Erma Bombeck
The Masala Dabba. A name that paints a spicy picture. A fun food styling experiment born out of a conversation one day in December last year. Spices are something that intrigue us, and are sometimes challenging to shoot. So Dolphia floated the idea, and it was instantly lapped up by Simi and lazy me. It’s always great to have something that gives us inspiration, or maybe focus to shoot. The idea was to shoot the spices, in sets of three, month after month.
Doing something creative as a group is always fun. Makes you want to reach out for the elements time and again. Makes you also impatient to see how different minds style and shoot. It’s another new creative start, one that should see a few months of spicy good fun! This month we each picked a spice…
Nigella {not Lawson 😉} sativa or kalonji Fenugreek or methi daana Caraway or ajwain
A step back into the history of the world, and in many ways spices were central to exploration of uncharted territories, to discovering exotic lands. Spices led to wars and empires being built, and then eventually being lost! Nowhere in history would you find the same ingredient common to being celebrated as an aphrodisiac, holding proven medicinal qualities, yet being an inherent part of the ‘recipe’ for embalming! Such great properties can only be SPICEY!!
Spices are an integral part of the Indian kitchen and each one adds punch and flavour to the pantry. Even though I’ve never used the three of these together, individually they pop up every now and then when I cook. Ajwain shows up a great deal in radish or mooli ke paratha, in root vegetable stir fries and in curries. I use it often as a substitute for oregano in my pasta sauces, giving the seeds a good rub between the palms before throwing them in. They have huge digestive properties.
Fenugreek finds itself more often than never in pickles and curry powders. My mother’s aam ka achaar or mango pickle always had fenugreek, and I still remember the slightly bitter aftertaste after biting into the soft firm seed once pickled. I use fenugreek the most in the tempering or baghaar for kadhi, a yogurt curry with dumplings, which is a huge favourite at home. Fenugreek too offers great digestive properties, is used to treat diabetes, reduces blood pressure, congestion and a host of other illnesses.
Nigella of course lands up most often on the naan, sometimes in a ‘paani ke station wale aloo‘ ki recipe {a water based no oil potato curry served with puri at railway stations in India}, and an inherent part of paanch phoron. Paanch phoron is a five spice blend quintessential to Bengali cuisine. Nigella satvia is one of the five, the others being fenugreek, mustard, fennel and cumin, all seeds.
Shooting spices is always challenging but quite addictive. Already looking forward to what we can do next month with the spice girls!!
Do stop by and explore the dabbas/spice boxes of my other two partners in crime spice Simi @ Turmeric n Spice Dolphia @ Story of Cooks
…and if you’d like to learn a bit of food styling, do check out my next workshop with Darter below
“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” Robert Browning
Savoury Braided Bread with garlic, rosemary and sundried tomatoes. In my little corner of the world, home baked bread doesn’t get tastier than this. It’s been a while since I baked bread. Getting onto the KitchenAid Culinary Council got me back to doing something I enjoy loads, baking bread. Just the ease of a dough hook of the KitchenAid stand mixer that works magic inside one big bowl, leaving you hands free to add things at will is a liberating feeling.
I had a field day adding my favourite flavours to the bread. The base dough was deep deep garlic and olive oil of course, two of my most favourite flavours in the world. Then I added more flavours to the bread after the first rise, which happened in the bowl of the KA itself. It’s this very convenience that won me over. Threw in some cheese and sun dried bread, another quick knead with the dough hook to mix in the new additions, and voila! Silky smooth dough ready to braid.
Of course you can just shape the loaf if you like, but for me the eternal charm lies in adding some drama to the bread. A twist to the visual effect. A loaf is pretty enough, but a braid is more fun and prettier. It’s also easier to tear apart and devour.
Recipe: Savoury Braided Bread
Summary: Delicious part whole wheat Savoury Braided Bread where the mixer does all the hard work, literally all in the same bowl. It leaves you all the time in the world to gently braid the silky smooth dough to offer a show stopper loaf. With Christmas holiday colours of red, green and white, this vegetarian bread is bursting with flavour and goodness. Fresh bread will never be the same again! Makes 1 X 12″ loaf. Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 1 hour plus rising time Ingredients:
Dough
250g plain flour
100g whole-wheat flour
1/2 tbsp dried instant yeast
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tsp salt
Pinch sugar
200-250ml buttermilk
40g extra virgin olive oil
50g cheddar
Filling/Topping
Few sprigs of rosemary
3 cloves garlic, sliced
25g sundried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped {reserve a few bits of tomato for the topping if you like}
Himalayan sea salt for topping
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling over
Method:
Place flours, yeast, salt, sugar, minced garlic and dried herbs in bowl of Kitchen Aid. With the dough hook attachment on, run KA on speed 4 for 30 seconds to mix.
Add 200ml buttermilk and olive oil and work dough hook until the mixture comes together and a sticky dough forms. Place the shield, and pour in more buttermilk if required.
Continue to knead to dough for a further 5-6 minutes on speed 5 until you get smooth silky dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Drizzle the ball with olive oil, turn over, cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for the dough to double. It should take a couple of hours.
Preheat the oven to 250C.
Once the dough has risen, grate the cheddar into the bowl and add the sundried tomatoes. With the dough hook, mix in the cheese and sundried tomatoes on speed 4 for 30 seconds to incorporate.
Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Knead for 30 seconds to being together. Divide into 3 parts, and roll into 10-12″ long ropes.
Braid the ropes into a neat little loaf, tucking the ends in to hold the braid. Spray a KA jelly roll pan with olive oil {or lightly brush} and gently transfer the braided dough onto the baking pan. Sprinkle over with Himalayan sea salt, sliced garlic, reserved sundried tomato and sprigs of rosemary.
Bake at 250C for 10 minutes, then reduce to 200C and continue to bake for approximately 30-40 minutes until golden brown, and hollow when tapped underneath. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil as soon as it comes out.
Serve warm with extra virgin olive oil to dip into.
This must be the creamiest, most indulgent tub of ice cream I’ve dug into of late. The flavours were natural, the ice cream smooth, creamy and not too sweet, the online ordering process even smoother. After ordering it quite effortlessly on a snappy and easy app, it was home delivered in under an hour The ice cream was as good as expected. I’d heard great reviews and it certainly didn’t disappoint! It was the smooth process via foodpanda that actually took me by surprise as I’ve had some terrible other online app shopping experiences of late!As time goes by, foodpanda is constantly evolving, getting better and better. They listen, are eager for feedback, and then work on it. My last experience was slightly blehbecause of the pizza we ordered, the pizza company, an MNC, sorely lacking. Not the panda to blame, yet I was curious this time around. And what a pleasant surprise. Things worked like clockwork, the app interface snappy and pleasing. Confirmation messages, a call from the service provider, the happy panda face had me smiling right back! An hour from placing the order, the bell rang and hello, there was ice cream!!
Yesterday was well spent ‘eating’. The day began on a very indulgent note as a bunch of us tripped excitedly across Chandni Chowk, cameras in hand, for a food photo walk. The place was buzzing with social activity rater than business activity since it was a day of celebration, Eid. We hit the road quite early and there was no end to the indulgence. Returned home and headed to my parents for a sumptuous lunch, and swore I would never eat for the next few days!
Today had to be a rather low key diet day. It began with thoughts of just water all day, then maybe milk, yes a bowl of fruit would be good! Then along came this very fun offer from foodpanda, tied to a contest, and I caved in to temptation! Pick a trend, order, take pictures, blog about it. foodpanda is an up-and-coming website that operates by delivering food from a wide range of restaurants to either homes and/ or offices in 100+ cities in India.A meal wasn’t on the radar, but given the beautiful, rainy weekend, some indulgent low fat ice cream seemed like the next best thing! To make it interesting, I paired the Butterscotch Caramel Cake Ice Cream with a slice of eggless wholegrain chocolate chip pie I baked 2 days ago, and Mango Mania with freshly cut mangoes and sprigs of mint. Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream was good on it’s own. Just too good! So, What’s Hip in Food This Summer?
For me, ice cream is Hip in Food This Summer! Eat anytime, store ahead, get creative with it, or then just DIG IN! It’s a fun contest, a simple one that spoils you too as you get vouchers to order the food you blog about!More information here, and the rules here. Hurry because the contest is limited to the first 40 participants.
“The best food items everyone should try out this summer”
Join the contest for a chance to win an amazing prize! If you are a blogger and you like to consider yourself a real trendsetter, don’t wait up. Be the one to decide what’s going to be the hottest food trend this summer.
Complete these 3 easy steps and win!
1. Go on foodpanda.in and order your choice of the ‘most hip’ food items
2. Take a couple of stunning pictures
3. Write a blog post and express your choice of this summer’s next top food trends.
“Ice cream is happiness condensed.”
Jessie Lane Adams
When you hear words like French vanilla, Belgian chocolate and roasted almond, you can virtually taste something seriously good, if not great!Belgiyum from Mother Dairy is all this and much more. It’s truly nice. With flavours that are pleasantly natural and beautifully balanced, the rich creamy French vanilla ice cream leaves you satiated. Just one bite, and you break into a smile. Smooth, crisp, creamy gently please the palette …
I could hardly say no when Mother Dairy asked me if I would like to review their new popular variant in the market, Belgiyum. You see, Mother Dairy has been a tradition at home for years. Talk about brand loyalty and there is no one more loyal to the brand than my father. He’s been like this for years. Well past 75 now, he walks at a sprightly pace to the familiar blue & white booth every other morning to buy milk {this after he’s had both knees replaced}. Milk is just an excuse. He then buys a variety of Mother Dairy ice cream pops, often a brick of butterscotch or vanilla. The fridge is the the kids first halt at their place, and often the last one too. So what if they now tower a head or two above him, they are always hungry for ice cream!
In his opinion, Mother Dairy ice creams also make the best gift, so he always brings us some. A new assortment each time, and always with a huge bag of seasonal fruit. Slave to his habits, I think he hasn’t discovered Belgiyum yet. Well guess who has, and I think it makes a great gift too. Traditions need to be followed, and this is a welcome one, especially in summer. At our place, ice cream is welcome round the year.
So when I took my first bite of Belgiyum, I was seriously going yummmmmm. For someone who often makes fruit based ice creams at home, this was a welcome break. A rather delicious one too. The play of textures is so noticeable. The crackle of the smooth Belgian chocolate coating pairs really well with roasted slivered almonds. Then the rich, creamy, luxurious French vanilla ice creams floods your mouth. Need I say more?
Go grab a bar today and find #TheRealYumm in Belgiyum
“I figure it’s a European thing to eat cheese and crackers before a meal – that’s my afternoon snack, or I do it before dinner.”
Andrew Luck
Oats Nut Crispbread … some pleasures in life are simple. These are one of those. Nibble, nibble, nibble. This crispbread is just the right thing for healthy snacking. Also just right for the cheeseboard, with dips, fruit, crumbled over salad, layered into a savoury parfait … or then, the dough baked into bite sized canapes.
Need I say more? It’s a recipe I developed for the Saffola Fit Foodie website, and it’s one I now make often. It’s amazing how versatile oats as an ingredients can be, and also how much you can push your boundaries if you think out of the box. This recipe is just a small beginning to get you going, to encourage you perhaps to get off the refined way of life. It’s not that I don’t used all purpose flour at all, but I’m happy to say it might be a mere 5% of my baking that sees it. The odd birthday cake, some in a pizza base, maybe in bread dough paired with wholewheat, yet it’s an achievement.
And one of the easiest ways to make the wholegrain transition is via crackers. They are easy, versatile, can be rolled into submission, heartlessly broken into shards or daintily cut into perfect shapes. They are also an absolute treat to eat. Grab some really nice cheese, a chilled glass of wine if you like, fresh fruit and dry, salad leaves, micro-greens, cold cuts, some good company {else a good book} … settle yourself in a heap and get nibbling!
For me these are good any time of the day, any day of the year. Of course I love putting them together more in winter when beet greens and rocket are flourishing. Yet summer is here, a dab of feta, some caramelised onions & garlic jam, balsamic mushrooms, olives, sun dried tomatoes …. you get the drift? Now all you need to do is to make these! You knead to roll!!
Recipe: Oats Nut Crispbread
Summary: Delicious, light, addictive, versatile and simple to make, this Oats Nut Crispbread is very addictive and makes quite the perfect snack for a hungry nibble. If you are adventurous enough, you can even bake the dough into bite sized shells for canapes!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 1 hour Ingredients:
160 gm whole wheat flour
115g oats {1 cup}
40g walnuts, roughly chopped
20g white sesame seeds
20g black sesame seeds
1½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp /30 ml extra virgin olive oil
¾ cup / 175 ml water {approx}
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Place the flour, oats, salt, garlic powder, baking powder and walnuts in bowl of food processor, and pulse for a few seconds to chop walnuts. Add seeds and oil. Pulse briefly to mix.
Turn into a large bowl, add 1/2 a cup of water and knead into a smooth firm dough, adding more water as required.
Knead for 2-3 minutes, and allow to rest, covered, on the counter for 15 minutes.
Roll out on a lightly floured counter, and cut into desired shapes with a fluted pastry cutter, a pizza cutter or a knife
Place on prepared baking sheets and bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly coloured and golden brown on the edges.
Cool on racks. Store in an airtight container in a cool place.
Serve with dips, on a cheese board etc.
“It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life.”
Emmet Fox
Kadhi {Indian vegetarian yogurt curry}. Ask me to pick my favourite Indian curry, and chances are that kadhi will be the first thing that comes to my mind. It is the best comfort food ever, leaves me deeply satiated, fills me with nostalgia right from the aromas that rise from the first tempering. As the flavours of aesofoetida and curry leaves dance wildly in the summer air, I am transported to the air cooled house of Sheela Aunty, my mothers friend from Delhi University.
She passed away several years ago, but a large part of our growing up unfolded under her wings. It is rare for even a few days to go by when we don’t exclaim like her, and then dissolve into giggles. Large-hearted, earnest, easily shocked, far too loving, the best collection of crisp summer sarees, jewellery to make the heart sing {after all she was born into one of Delhi’s leading jewelers families}, too humble, a great Indian vegetarian cook, she left a deep impact on us.
I wasn’t foodily aware or obsessed at the time she was around and still rue the fact that I didn’t get a chance to chase her with paper and pencil to record recipes …I did that a lot {A LOT} after I got married in the mid 1990’s. Pages and pages were filled and I am glad I managed some. Aesofoetida was introduced into our rather differently spiced house thanks to her.
Spices became a fascination, hing or aesofoetida ‘the spice’ I fell in love with. I have grown to love the spice, not very well known in the West, very popular with Indian vegetarian food, and extremely popular down in South India too. Surprisingly enough, you see influences of the spice in non-vegetarian cuisine in Kashmir too! {One of my favourite haunts is Khari Baoli, Old Delhi to visit the spice market seen above. That was at the Lumia shoot 2 days ago}
No tadka or tempering is complete without this magical ingredient, the nostalgia lingers on. So that morning when I looked at the Hamilton Beach MultiBlend Blender and Chopper on my kitchen counter, I didn’t have to think of what to make for lunch. With buttermilk and homemade yogurt in the fridge, I knew it was time for my favourite summer curry.
Sometimes it seems like a bit of work, the pakoras or dumplings actually but in time I have cut the work out for me. Blenders the way to go for curry always, and the Hamilton Beach Multiblender did the job to perfection. In seconds. It also cut the work out when it came to making pakoras, or the dumplings. A friend whatsapped me the other day to say she was waiting for my review as she wanted to know how the onions got cut in the bender. A 100% good I have to say! Finer than I could ever manage, and within seconds. I love that there are two separate jars, complete with blades etc which allow you to multitask!
I’ve been doing a lot more with the multiblender. Grinding oats as I develop recipes for Fit Foodie.
Whisking up delicious smoothies inspired by Aditya on Instagram. #CreateFearlessly is a great hashtag to carry. Goes in line with the ‘Good Thinking’ that spells out the Hamilton Beach line of products! ‘Really Good Thinking’. I’m loving it.
Did I tell you we’re not the only ones who are in love with papaya and smoothies this summer? There’s a little someone who shares every papaya that is cut in the kitchen. She makes a meal of quarter at least before it gets to the blender!
Then there is someone else smitten with the blender. The lad wakes up every morning in a somnambulent state and glides into the kitchen to make himself a frozen strawberry almond smoothie. Goes on to slurp his way through, enjoying it to the last drop, then even washes up the blender! On Mother’s Day, he burst into my room with a tall {and really really good} glass of Guava+Strawberry+Lychee Smoothie that he conjured up for me.Honestly, this is one kitchen companion I am enjoying fearlessly! There have been glasses of cold coffee, mango shakes, papaya flax seed smoothies, 3 batches of kadhi, buttermilk lassi, pineapple apricot coolers, watermelon strawberry delights, aam panna … and plenty more this last month.
The upside is having one kid enjoying it even more. The downside? Yes there is one! The daughter has now threatened to take the Hamilton Beach MultiBlender back with her when she goes back to uni after the vacations. #CreateFearlessly might well reach the battleground between the two kids!
[print_this]
Recipe: Kadhi {Indian vegetarian yogurt curry}
Summary: A quintessential Indian vegetarian yogurt based curry, which can be found adapted to regional taste. This is my version and it is fragrant, addictive and finger licking good. Serve this gluten free dish with boiled rice or even parathas.
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
For the curry
300g yogurt, home made or store bought
250ml buttermilk
1 heaped tbsp besan {chickpea flour}
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/8 -1/4 tsp hing {aesofoetida}
1 tsp salt
First tempering
1 1/2 tsp ghee {clarified butter}, or oil
Pinch hing {aesofoetida}
2-3 whole red chillies
Few sprigs fresh currypatta
1/2 tsp whole zeera {cumin seeds}
1tsp sarson {whole mustard seeds}
1/4 tsp whole methi seeds {fenugreek seeds}
Second tempering
1 tsp ghee {clarified butter}
pinch hing
2-3 whole red chillies, broken
1-2 sprigs fresh curry patta
1/2 tsp sarson {whole mustard seeds}
Pakoras {dumplings}
3/4 cup besan
1/2 tsp salt
pinch baking soda
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 green chilies, broken into 2-3
1/4 cup fresh coriander/curry patta, roughly chopped
1 cup oil for frying {else shallow fry }
Method:
For the curry
Place all ingredients in the blender, and process for 30 seconds until well blended. Reserve.
First tempering
Keep all the ingredients ready as listed. They need to go in rapidly, one after the other, to avoid them getting burnt. The fenugreek is the last and tends to get a little bitter on over browning, so take care.
Heat 1 1/2 tsp ghee in a deep heavy bottom pan, and add the ingredients as listed, ending with the methi seeds/fenugreek.
Immediately pour in the blended yogurt mixture. Keep over high flame until it comes to a boil, stirring often, else it will overflow {and make you weep}.
Once it comes to a boil, simmer for about 30 minutes until fragrant and cooked, stirring once in a while. Keep an eye on it on and off and it tends to come up to the rim of the pan.
Pakoras
Put the onions, green chilies and fresh coriander in the small blender. Chop for 30 seconds, stir, chop again to desired size.
Place ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Stir in enough water to make a thickish batter of dropping consistency. Whisk well with hand to aerate the batter.
Heat oil and gently drop in spoonfuls. If the batter is very thick, the pakoras will be hard. Experiment with one pakora first to check.
Fry over medium heat until they turn golden on one side, then gently turn and fry the other side. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
Drain from oil, blot over kitchen towels, and slide into hot kadhi/curry. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes so that the pakoras get nice and soft.
Final tempering {Optional. I sometimes skip this as the first tempering flavours the kadhi well}
Heat ghee in a small tadka pan {frying pan}. Throw in all the ingredients. Once they sizzle and splutter, get aromatic, take off heat and pour over kadhi.
Serve with boiled rice {with a side of papads if you like}
