The Best Parathas East of the Missippi

And they are! If you are in the North American continent make a trek to Alfred NY to eat these delicious babies. Of course it would also mean that you would need an invitation to my aunt and uncle's house but that could be worked out. I had the pleasure of enjoying various kinds of parathas while I stayed with my aunt and uncle, Varshneyas while recovering from my broken foot. What a treat- the Aloo Paratha, Gobi Paratha, Mooli Paratha are all wonderful. I documented the step by step preparation of the Aloo paratha. Give it a shot or just try to make a trip to Alfred NY!

Ingredients:

To prepare the dough:

3 cups of flour (whole wheat)

water (atleast a cup rest you can eyeball the consistency of the dough)

pinch of salt

Filling:

4-5 Boiled potatoes

1 large onion, finely diced

1 green chili

handful of cilantro finely diced

dry spices: corriander powder, cumen powder, salt, red chili, turmeric, rock salt

Oil to cook with

Salt according to taste.

To knead the dough:

Gosh I wish I could describe this. I have attempted many a complex recipes but I dont think I have ever got my dough to the right consistency.  All I know it takes a whole lot of upper body strength to roll the dough. Take the flour in a big bowl. Add some salt. Start by adding water and mixing it in - like making clay. Keep adding water and gathering the flour into a ball of dough.

For the stuffing:
Even though any different types of vegetables and meat can be stuffed in the paratha, the most popular stuffing is potato or Aloo.
Boil the potato and peal them. Mash the potato using a masher or your hands (freshly boiled potatoes are very hot so be careful).
Add the green chili, fresh cilantro and spices such as coriander, cumin and red chili powder. Also toss in the finely chopped onions in the mashed potato mixture.
Yup and the best way to make the mix is to get your hands in there and mash it to the right consistency. Any large chunks of potato will be hard to roll into the paratha.

To make an aloo (potato) ka paratha:

1. Take a palm full piece of the dough and roll it into a ball.
2. Flatten the ball into a palm-sized circle.

3. Take some the coriander pwd, cumin pwd, red chili, rocksalt, salt and oil and apply it on the flattened piece of dough.

4. Place a generous helping of the potato mix and place it on the center of the dough.

5. Now carefully enclose the potato by folding and pulling the dough over it creating a big ball of dough stuffed with potatoes.

6. Time to roll out the paratha. Dip the ball in flour and gently flatten it with your hands. As you flatten it pull along the edges so that the size is increasing.

 That by the way is beautiful to get it to look like that. Almost impossible task!

 

7. Dust some flour on a flat surface and place the dough on the surface and start to roll the dough into a flat plane evenly.

8. When the paratha is around 1/4 of inch thick. Place it on a flat pan (tawa) and spoon the oil evenly along its edges. The oil seeps below the paratha slowly cooking it. Make sure the tawa is hot before placing the paratha on it. Also keep the heat low to cook slowly.

9. Flip the paratha and allow cooking on the other side at least 3-4 minutes. Apply oil on the partially cooked top surface before you flip the paratha again. Press with a spatula so that the surface is evenly cooking. Repeat till both sides are cooked to a lovely golden brown.

10. Serve the paratha with fresh plain yogurt and a variety of pickles - mango, chili, lime, sweet pickle. Cut the paratha in half to allow steam to escape and enjoy this delicious treat!

More Paratha recipes at Foodista.com

Aloo Paratha

Sushi Night!

So this post has been long overdue. Infact many have been. But I have been traveling a whole lot and was unable to get myself to complete these. So now I am home and completely jet lagged and unable to sleep so I thought I would catch up on some writing.
Sushi night at Janu and Christian's place in Salt Lake City. I heard these were quite famous and involved copious amounts of Sushi and wine. Needless to say I was very excited. Christian, Janu and I were joined by their friends Kian, Krista and Cyrus. Kian is the sushi expert and it was definitely a blast to watch him roll the sushi. All in all it is not very hard to roll sushi at home, however many ingredients are needed to make Sushi night work.

Im not sure if I captured the recipe precisely as this was my first time rolling sushi at home. But Sushi rolling, followed by several rounds of Saboteur (an excellent strategy card game), followed by a very special Persian Tea ceremony with seemingly endless glasses of wine did make for an excellent night.

Im going to attempt to list all the ingredients:
1. Sushi grade rice
2. Rice vinegar
3. Salt
4. Sugar
5 Wasabi- hot
6. Siriacha
7. Eel Sauce
8. Pickled ginger
9. Japanese mayonaisse
10. Assorted vegetables such as sprouts, cucumber, peppers, mango, spring onions, carrots, avacado
11. Dried seaweed sheets
12. Seseame seeds
13. Fresh Sushi grade fish- salmon, tuna, eel. (Kian bought fresh sushi fish from the aquarium)
14. Soya Sauce

Equipment:
15. Bamboo Sushi Mat
16. Paddle for rice
17. Rice cooker
18. A clean cutting board

The prep:

Above is the slice of fresh sushi grade tuna and spicy tuna- made with siriacha sauce and mayonnaise mixed with the raw tuna. Delicious!

To make the Sushi rice:
This is the part I missed on but found a nice recipe online to follow:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-sushi-rice
Keep in mind- Sushi fish should be fresh and sushi rice should be sticky and not the other way around. Kian has prepped the rice for us and he is about to roll the sushi rolls. Can't wait!

To roll a Sushi Roll:
1. Lay the bamboo mat flat on a cutting board. Place a sheet of seaweed on the bamboo mat. Place a generous scoop of sushi prepped rice on the seaweed.

 
2. Press the rice down on 2/3 of the sea weed and spread the rice as evenly possible on that area.

3. Now place the ingredients in single rows evenly on half the rice. Including the slivers of fresh fish.

4. Start by rolling with the bamboo mat and press into a circular tubular form. Make sure that it is a tight fold and all the ingredients are held together.

5. As the roll is about to be complete use apply some water along the edge of the seaweed and close the roll completely.

6. Cut into 1.5" slices and serve on a platter. Sprinkle sesame seeds, squeeze some eel sauce and serve with soya sauce, wasabi and ginger.

Some more expert sushi rolling. I think this is called the outside roll. I was very impressed with Kian's skill to roll these professional rolls. It involved plastic wrap.

Followed by some crazy Persian wedding dance! Vigorously performed by Cyrus and Kian.

Watch the video right here.

For other Sushi recipes check out Foodista:

Tuna Sushi Roll

For the Love of Karela (Bitter Gourd? Melon)

I love karela. And I think the love of Karela runs in the family. My sis loves karela, my mum and dad love karela, my extended family love karela. I think you get my point. You can only have a 'love-hate' relationship with karela. Believe me its not a vegetable that you are ambivalent towards. It has a really bitter taste and either you can deal with it or not. Karela, like many bitter vegetables is good for health. In particular, karela helps with indigestion and it has a lectin of some sort that is like insulin and regular consumption of karela can help curb the onset of diabetes. So there it is good for you. And fresh karelas smell green.

Karela is mostly eaten in Asia and seems like the most common way of preparing it is by deep frying it. Of course anything deep fried should taste good right! Not these suckers- their seeds are very very bitter. Add some salt, squeeze some lime- now that sounds better. However in my household we stuff our Karela with a delicious mix of spices and saute them. These stuffed karelas are insanely delicious.

Here is a confession: I haven't ever really cooked a Karela but have consumed it almost on a daily basis when I lived at home. Believe me my mum makes an amazing Karela.
I had the pleasure of documenting my aunt, Darshana in Alfred, NY make her Karela. Its different from my mom's Karela recipe but just as yummy. OMG!

Ingredients:

1/2 dozen Karelas (Bitter Melons) peeled
Fennel seeds crushed or powdered
Coriander Powder
Cumin
Salt
Red Chili powder
Turmeric
Onions cut in 8's and separated
Oil to cook

1. Peel the karelas and slit them in the center length wise. Be careful not to cut them in half.

2. In a bowl mix all the dry spices. Add the red chili powder and salt according to taste.

3. Take generous helpings of the spice mix and stuff the karelas with the masala. Place the karelas in a plate till they are ready to cook

4. Heat oil in a pan and place the karela in the hot oil in a single layer.

5. Allow the karela to cook before you stir or else all the spices will fall in the oil and eventually burn. The total cooking time is approximately an hour, however toss the karela gently every 10 minutes. Cook until their green skin turn brown and they look well sauteed.

6. Take the onions cut them in eights (half them, quarter them and then further eight them). Separate the leaves of the onions so that they are all in a single layer. Toss any of the remaining spices in the bowl on the onions so that they are basically spiced.

7. Add the onions to the pan of karelas and stire gently.

8. Cover and let the onions saute with the karela.

So here we go delicious Karela. Oh so yummy with roti and some plain yogurt on the side.

I have always been curious about what the Karela looks like on the tree. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rough, bulbous, unpleasant texture of the skin actually blooms into this beautiful flower.

I saw this in an Asian grocery store in Chicago and for all the love of Karela I dont think I could drink this. Karela Pop - Really??

For more recipes on bitter gourd check out Foodista
Stuffed Karelas

Bitter Gourd

Super Caroline's Bacon Turtle Burger Fun!

So here is a good one. Super Caroline, my friend from grad school (the smartest cookie around) is a human computer interface genius who happens to be a great cook, runner, bikes 9 miles to work and makes beautiful art kinda woman. She and I became friends when I had my first official meltdown in grad school. I forgot to hit save (or so I thought I forgot) on a 5000 word Art History final the night before it was due. Of course Super Caroline retrieved my paper and I owed her a home cooked Indian meal. We have been friends since and have had many an adventure fooding around Chicago.

So featured below is her dinner tonight. It looks like so much fun to make but definitely not for the calorie counters (though Super Caroline will probably run it off - oh did I mention she sometimes runs 10 miles to work on LSD - Lakeshore Drive silly).

I love this turtle burger for all the fun that can be had with food.  The photographs and descriptions are courtsey Super Caroline with some minor additions/editions by me. Also I think this would be a perfect "I am uptil 4 a.m. and I am craving bacony something" kind of food.

Ingredients:

Very lean beef and/or buffalo meat or any gorund meat of choice (4 oz would be enough. Make meatballs with the extra).

Andouille sausage or good ole franks

Packet of bacon or more

Cheddar cheese

Garlic cheddar cheese

1 egg white

Spices (salt, peppar, bbq sauce etc)

Ginger, cilantro, chili powder can also be great additions

Start making the bacon weave. Cut some of the fat off the outside of the bacon to make it straight.

 

And this is how we weave bacon. See? all that 4-H isn't going to waste! (4- H for those like me who don't know its some American thing like Girls Scout but for sewing and weaving and making crafty things).

 

Weaving the bacon

 

Ta- da!...........

 

Mix the ground meat, spices and egg white. The egg white is used to help hold things together.

 

Make a meat patty, put it on the weave

 

Place some garlic cheddar cheese on the patty.

 

And more meat! Place another patty on the cheese.

 

And more Cheese ((I told you this was insane)

Fold the bacon weave over it.

Cut sausages in half both length wise and cross wise. If using hot dog it may not have to be split as the sausages are fatter than hot dogs - but way tastier. Make 3 cuts in the "feet" sausages and one cross wise cut in the "head" sausage (so it will look like a mouth opening). Carve out a conical tail as well.

Make holes in the bacon weave, poke sausages into the body embedding them into meat by about 1". Use extra bacon to cover the gap and bring stray ends of bacon into the weave.

Use a spatula to get it onto the pan.

 

Put toothpicks (that have been soaking in water) into the body to secure the sausages and keep the bacon ends secure.

Use an oven thermometer and get that dial up to beef - well! Took her 45 minutes at 400. Cooking time depends from oven to onve so poke the turtle and when the juices aren't red anymore it is well done!

Muaha haaaaaaaaaa!

"Mmmm. and for my next trick... using reptile meat to make a replica of a pig"- Super Caroline

  

Chef's Tip:

• Cutting the excess edge fat off the bacon so it has a more regular shape helps a lot.
• Do not eat all at once.. this could last you a long time. 

Warning: House can smell of bacon for a couple of days

Vaishali's - very healing Mutton curry

Vaishali's was the very first couch I surfed. Not really out of choice but more out of "I broke my leg -and I need your help" type of necessity. I did sleep on her couch for 5 days as the guest room was upstairs. All I can say is that she was an angel who came to my rescue. Also to be noted is that her husband Sudhir had broken his finger in a cricket match accident. So she had taken on nursing two handicapped people back to health as well as taking care of her two year old son. So while I was practicing making my crutches my new limbs she was cooking up a storm feeding all of us amazing food.
The most memorable was the mutton curry that she made. Her mom and Google both say that mutton is good for healing bones. Thank god because this was a treat- hands down one of the best mutton dishes I have ever had (and believe me I have had a few). Vaishali kindly shared this recipe with me.

So here goes: Make it on Sunday. Start early in the morning. Take your time cooking the mutton.
Make sure you have tons of rotis/ naans to go with this. (more than usual)

Mutton recipe
3 lbs of mutton- with bone
3 tbsp of Everest Mutton masala
Red chili powder
Salt to taste
Turmeric

Below are the ingredients for the pastes:

Green paste 

Fresh cilantro

Garlic 5-7 cloves

Ginger - a sq inch

Grind and keep aside.

Red Paste

2 Onions- rough chopped

2 tbsp Dry coconut powder

1-2 Bay leaf

2 tsp cumin

2-3 cloves

1 blk cardamon

1 cinammon stick

2-3 dried red chilies

7-8 black pepper corns

8-9 cashews

1 kalami flower (looking up the english name- any suggestions?)

2-3 roma tomatoes

Saute onions, add the rest of the ingredients except the tomatoes. Grind mixture and add tomato to the mixture.

For cooking the mutton:

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add the green paste to it and slowly cook it in the oil till it turns an olive color (and the oil starts to separate around the edges of the pan)
3. Add the red paste to the green paste and slowly mix the two pastes. Allow the pastes to fry for a while (10 mintutes)
4. Add 2-3 tbsp of Everest Mutton Masala. Stir
5. Add red chili pwd (according to taste), salt and turmeric.
6. Add the mutton and stir it slowly in the paste. Allow the mutton to fry in the paste atleast 30 min.
7. Add water and cover and let the mutton cook for 1 1/2 hours. Periodically check on the mutton and stir.
8. 
   
9. Serve with roti/ naan and rice.

Wickedly delicious! Great table setting by the way.

Frushi anybody? OMG!

Before I left Chicago, Vaishali and I went to this amazing breakfast place called Orange with a Peel in Lincoln Park. Their signature dish is Frushi. Totally worth a try. Frushi is fruits wrapped in rice infused in coconut and orange juice served with mango puree and strawberry puree. Such a cute idea!
We ordered Chai Tea French Toast: Baked, chai tea-infused French toast, stuffed with Ricotta cheese, served over a chai tea latte reduction and topped with honey and caramelized apples. Can you believe this amazing combination. On a cold wintry day this is the ultimate comfort food. We also ordered their Huevos Rancheros: Eggs served with homemade tortilla chips, bean puree and salsa verde, topped with white cheddar cheese & potatoes. Not so signature but just as delicious!

Thanks Vaishali for sharing your excellent mutton recipe. I still dream about it.
Vaishali Katyarmal is an architect from India currently based and working in the Chicago Area. She founded  Silver |a+d|. She recently presented in Pecha Kucha Chicago on February 20th on what we can learn from the Gujarat earthquake and how it is relevant to the post earthquake work in Haiti. Check her presentation here.

Not so successful spinach pies, but inspiring indovator

As my uncle would say "Nothing to write home about", even worse had to throw them away. So why blog about it. After all no one needs to know that disasters can happen to me, right. But I don't want to blame myself for it entirely after all no one told me that the Puff Pastry in the refrigerator (not freezer) was over a year old. Yes after I baked it I tasted what "rancid" really means. The butter and oil was rancid. But I did attempt to make a delicious filling with sauted onions, green chilies, garlic and spinach topped with some fresh feta cheese and delicious olives. I just did not know the pastry dough was bad or else I would have had amazingly gourmet home made spinach puff pies inspired by the fabulous recipe on smitten kitchen. I mean check those babies out. I know that recipe is Phylo and I was cheating with Puff pastry. But what the hell- no one told me that the dough had been sitting there for over a year. Dammit! Done ranting.

On a much brighter note... actually a much more inspiring note see the latest addition to my friend Shagun Singh's blog/ vlog  designwala.org. 
The woman in the video is the incredibly intelligent Lina Srivastava whom I met through Shagun . She is extremely articulate and has  amazing insight on what social design could be, should be in India. (I also retweeted this link- my first retweet ever).

Discovered a new food blog with amazing pictures and was glad to hear that Ms. Humble Pies' biggest problem was photographing and presenting her food. Not so humble pie already has 42 entries for 2010. Has it been 42 days in the year already! Wow- that means we are left with only 323 days in the year or something like that. Yikes!

Yea so luckily I did not use all the spinach filling. Probably will eat them with eggs for breakfast tomorrow...

Mooli (daikon), Radish & Carrot Winter Salad

Winter always has me craving for  Mooli- (Mooli ka Paratha mostly). So I found this recipe online decided to try it out on my aunt and uncle in Alfred. Check out the photo below of Alfred as of this morning. Brrr.

Well back to moolis and radishes- they are low calorie food (anybody calorie counting), full of water so they make you very full, very soon and are high in vitamin C. Everyone knows that carrots are good for your eyes. 

This is a very rustic beautiful salad.

Ingredients:

A bunch of radish

1 root of Mooli (daikon)
Handful of baby carrots

Any medley of radish roots

5 cloves of garlic

1/8 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 lemon

1 tangerine

Salt to taste

1 tbsp of chili flakes (less or more according to taste)

Handful of crumbled Feta

some fresh Parmesan cheese grated for the finish

Slivers of fresh basil

Give the radishes, moolis and carrots a rough chop.

Heat the Olive oil in a pan. Throw in the chili flakes and 4 cloves of chopped garlic.

 

Gently grind the remaining single clove of garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle. Grinding the garlic infuses its juices in the dressing.

Gently scoop the garlic and chili flakes from the heated oil and add to the pestle. Grate in some lemon zest and continue to slowly mix in the pestle.

Add the juice of one lemon and tangerine (carefully deseed before you squeeze in). Use a fork to gently mash the dressing.

Add the remainder oil.

Toss the dressing in the radishes, mooli and carrots.

Add the crumbled feta and Parmesan.

Dress with slivers of basil.

 Radish Roots

The view through the kitchen window in Alfred, NY. Like a postcard! Yes that is deer in the backyard.

Meghna's Favorite: Beef Strips (Kalbi style) and Fish Sauce

Yes Fish sauce! Believe it or not it makes the best dipping sauce with these spicy babies.
So where do you buy short ribs? At the Mexican grocery store. But you have to tell the butcher that you want him to cut long thin slices for the grill. Those costillas or if you are into Korean food like me they look just like Kalbi. They cook up fast on a high heat or in the oven. The thinner they are the faster they cook.

Short Ribs:
2lbs of thinly sliced ribs serves around 4 people or 2 - depends on how much you want to eat.

Marinade:
Siriacha sauce
Sambhal sauce- or hot sauce of choice
salt
corriander pwd
amchur (optional)
chilli powder

1. Mix all the ingredients and generously apply on the short ribs
2. Lay the short ribs on a baking dish (single layer)
3. Cover with foil.
4. Prick the foil and put in the over at 400 F for 45 minutes.
5. OR place on a grill till cooked to your liking (medium or well done)

Fish Sauce - Dipping sauce
So this is interesting. Fish sauce is a Thai sauce used in the base of Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Filipino cooking. It is made of fermented fish and for more information you could Google it or Wiki it. But it is available in the Asian food aisles of most well stocked grocery stores.
What does it taste like: it is very salty and it is strangely not that fishy.

Ingredients:
6-8 green chilies minced (tone it down or kick it up)
handful of cilantro
green ends of spring onions (optional)
minced garlic
juice of 5-7 limes (add more to reduce saltiness)

1. Mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl.
2. Squeeze the lime juice as needed (I go with more lime than less also it strengthens arms).
3. Pour 1/2 cup of fish sauce in the mix.
4. Use a fork to mash it.

Dip these fantastic ribs in the fish sauce.