Garam Masala Tuesdays: Aloo Parantha (Indian flatbread stuffed with potatoes)

Aloo Paranthas, where I come from, are comfort food at its best.

Parantha is nothing but a flat bread. Its an unleavened dough made from whole wheat flour and cooked on a tawa/skillet. Paranthas can be made plain or stuffed and aloo (potato) is most popular when it comes to stuffing paranthas. Paranthas can be eaten  just like that, on their own, but a really good way to eat is to pair the paranthas with yogurt/curd and your favorite pickle.  Aloo paratha is a great one-dish meal for the family that can be served anytime of  the day!

The best paranthas that you will ever find are served in small shops on the roadsides, called dhabas. Some of the best ones I have had, were outside the GE call center (BPO) in Gurgaon, India. The first time I had a parantha there, was when I was an undergrad and my cousin and his  then girlfriend (now wife :)) took me and my brother out partying. After a fun night, my cousin took us to this dhaba for paranthas. Even at 2am the place was crowded with people. My cousin ordered aloo paranthas for us and after a brief wait, a small boy came with our plates of paranthas with a cube of melting butter on top. The parantha was huge and I was sure I would end up wasting it- but one bite and I could not stop myself. I had to really restrain myself to not order another. I did take a few more bites from my brother’s second parantha! Well, I could afford it then!

The second best I have had were when my senior sneaked us out from our hostel during my first year in undergrad and took us to a dhaba next to the IGI airport, Delhi. You should all know Delhi is not a safe place for woman, even during the day and at night time it gets worse. So there we were- just us girls out at 2 at night in a place that was full of scary truck drivers, waiting for our paranthas. And boy, were they worth it. I would still not recommend any girl to go their alone- it did not look like a safe place. But, if you have bodyguards with you, do pay this place a visit!

Ricotta Cheese Balls

Another post!

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so soon!

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Surprised, eh?

Rich Chocolate Cake with Pink Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Chocolate Frosting

I am a leftover girl.

I love eating food that’s leftover from a party.

And if the party is hosted by me, then definitely I like the food more the next day.

Probably the effort that goes into it (even if its just a tad bit of effort), just puts me off my food the day its made.

If anybody else is cooking, then I don’t mind the food that day- in fact even at its worst I love food made by others! C’mon what’s there not to love about it- some one else has taken the effort, someone else is going to do the dishes, someone else has to worry about it being tasty. All that always adds to the taste.

But, my food, I always hate it the day I make it.

That’s what happened with this cake too.

Garam Masala Tuesdays (or not): Cucumber Raita & Naan Pizza

Ok, I know I have been slacking with GMT. I did not post last week because I had other posts to catch up on (by the way, there are still 2-3 recipes in my drafts!) And this week again I could not post on Tuesday.

Its not that I did not have anything to post- I did make Indian- of course I made Indian– its what we eat everyday! But, I just did not get time. I would have posted on Tuesday- but then I was busy the whole day baking three layers of cake and in the evening we went to watch the new and final movie in the Harry Potter series (can’t believe it has come to an end!). Wednesday morning I was busy decorating those cakes- it was my friend’s daughter’s first birthday and I offered to bake a cake for her. In the evening was the barbeque she was hosting for all of us. I thought I’ll post on Thursday but our internet decided to give problems and I had no connection most of the day. Amidst all this I was also dealing with an ant infestation inside our house. Today, finally I found the root of the problem and sprayed tons load of insecticide and put a layer of turmeric powder (my mom says that helps keep ants away) on the crack from where these ants are coming. I hope I have solved the problem but any other suggestion is welcome for future reference!

Not that you asked, but for those of you were interested to know why I did not post, now know!

Since I have been slacking with GMT and haven’t posted for a while, I thought I would post two recipes today instead of the usual one.

And, I do realize its not Tuesday but well, we don’t need Tuesday to make Indian now, do we?

And since its a weekend I am posting recipes that you can whip up in minutes and have the whole day left to relax and unwind with your family!

Alfredo Sauce (With Fettuccine) for July SRC!

When V and I had gone to Ogden, Utah, for a week, we ate at this restaurant called Jasoh. I don’t remember now what V ordered, but I had ordered this alfredo fettuccine served with mushrooms and duck, topped with a chocolate gastrique. It was sooooooo good!

A gastrique is a reduction of vinegar and sugar brought to light caramelization, to which a little stock is added. It is a base to which many other ingredients, or just a few, can be added to form a sauce. It is generally used to create a sweet and sour sauce.

This was the first time I had eaten something savory that had chocolate in it and was really happy to have been adventurous enough to try it! I really wanted to try cooking the chocolate gastrique on fettuccine alfredo, but never got around to doing it.

So, when I was given “From Apples to Zucchini” for my this month’s SRC assignment, I was glad to know Pam had a recipe for Alfredo sauce. I had to give Pam’s recipe a try!

In From Apples to Zucchini, Pam focuses on recipes that feed her family responsibly, with as much nutrition as possible.  She takes great pride in remaking recipes to be healthier, lower in fat and calories than the original, just to prove that healthy doesn’t mean boring and tasteless. The discovery of this site couldn’t come at a better time- I have resolved that this time I am going to take my weight loss program seriously and I have a feeling Pam will be of great help!

Her version of the alfredo sauce is considerably less in fat than the actual version and still tastes great. Its an easy recipe and V and I enjoyed eating it. I also made the chocolate gastrique to go with it but was not as successful- of course, with some tweaks I made it good enough but not like how I had it at Jasoh. And since there were so many afterthought additions, there is no recipe that I can write here today.

Although the gastrique recipe is still a work in progress, Pam’s alfredo sauce recipe is a keeper! Its an easy recipe and as Pam points out its really light in calories as well!

Marbled Matcha & Refried Bean Swirl Bread

I wanted to post about this bread yesterday as part of catching up on the backlog of recipes/photos I have in my drafts, but after the news of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I just did not feel like talking about food. Of course, life has to move on, but my prayers still go out to everyone affected and hope that the guilty will be found and accordingly dealt with.

This bread is actually inspired from David Lebovitz’s blog post where he blogged about this bread during the March Japanese tragedy. And I post about it today in the hope that the people of India also show the same calm and resilience as the people of Japan. (Of course, I hope the politicians do not misinterpret this calm to mean that they can slack with their appropriate measures to avoid such tragedies in the future!)

It happens again….

It’s never nice to wake up to bad news. And when the news involves a terrorist attack, the sick feeling sticks to you for a long time. Mumbai, India, was yet again target of terrorist attacks.

Of course, time makes you move on- much quicker if you are not personally affected by it. You leave your prayers with the people who have been affected-injured, and with the families of those who have lost their loved ones. You are stuck with anger for the mindless and illogical people who think that by killing innocents some purpose is being served. You try to find reason for all this bloodshed- but somehow no logic seems befitting to explain why someone would like to harm somebody who has never inflicted any pain to you – to damage the lives of complete strangers.

I know a lot of people, who after the recent attacks are infuriated, and want the Government to attack Pakistan. I don’t know, if its the fact that I have two of the closest people I know in the defence and that my best friend is planning to get married to one, but I feel war just results in our own soldiers dying. Lives of our own getting lost for a purpose that really doesn’t serve anything. Lot of people are like we should show that India is not some country that can be messed with. But, well, tell me what good has that attitude done for America? They have lost so many of their soldiers and continue doing so. Do you think the problem will ever be solved by punishing many innocents for the actions of few messed up individuals. Call me naive, but there has to be some other solution than jumping at each others’ throats.

And to these people who blame a whole country for the attacks- do they not read about the serial blasts that have been killing innocent Pakistanis so frequently in the recent past.

Its not the entire country but a few (well, quite a few) elements in Pakistan that are to blame for such attacks. But what I would like to point out, initial reports suggest that for the recent terror attack in Mumbai, there is a possibility that the responsible people are an outfit that is operating from India itself. Now, for those who argue that Pakistan isn’t doing anything about the terrorists group in their country and that’s why they should be attacked- then shouldn’t the same logic be applied to our country? Like they say, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others.

A war on another country will definitely not help. Instead our government should stop wasting the country’s money on themselves and wasting time on finding faults with each other and invest in a good intelligence system- so that such attacks can be stopped before they strike. Also a lot of these terrorists are a result of our tampered system. Unemployment, inequality, poverty, no guidance- that’s what the terrorists group take advantage of and are able to give “weak” individuals affected by these circumstances a purpose, a direction to go ahead with. The government of every country should look into the reasons that lead to such circumstances and fix them asap. Hopefully, this would lead to a part of the problem being solved.

Though honestly, I do not know what the best solution is and whether there would be a complete solution ever- heck, I am no expert. These are just my thoughts and I don’t think anybody else should be compelled to agree with me. I do know that keeping your calm  and not getting misled by floating communal sentiments is the best for everyone. All we can do for now is to pray to God to give some sense to people who think such acts of terror are justified. And my wishes and prayers go out to the ones who are injured and hope they recover soon and hope the Indian government does all that they can to get the lives of the people who suffered back on track.

Portobello Pesto Pizza

I won’t be posting on GMT this week. It’s just that I have a ton of recipes in my drafts, so I decided this week I’ll catch up on the backlog of posts I have.

My basil plant has been flourishing and I had tons of basil leaves. Of course, I had to make pesto. While looking for ways to use that pesto, I stumbled upon Brown eyed Baker’s Portobello pesto pizza.

I love Michelle’s site and she has a ton of great recipes to choose from. Luckily, I had some frozen homemade pizza dough that I needed to use up and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.

Pingabhi’s Caramelized Pineapples bathed in Malibu Rum

So, I am a defective piece. I was finally recovering from my sprained ankle- which FYI I sprained COOLING down after exercising. Yes, I do realize the irony- isn’t cooling down done to avoid such injuries? But, I guess my body defies all norms. It really does!

So as I was saying, I was finally recovering from my sprained ankle- when, out of the blue and without doing anything I have this severe lower back pain.

Now, I have a weak lower back- all the years of slouching, bad posture and of course carrying my excessive weight (ok! it’s not that excessive but its quite a lot for me to handle!) has resulted in a weak lower back which results in back pains now and then, but never has the pain been as bad as it is this time. And the most frustrating part is that it started when I was doing absolutely nothing! Its almost like my body was like-

“Hmmm, her ankle is almost fine now, she looks really comfortable.

C’mon lumbar area- do your stuff- start paining- give her pain- give her some real physical pain!”

*the body then goes ahead with a devilish laugh*

and bam! my lower back starts paining.

I tell you my body doesn’t like me.

That’s why, when I have an important outing- my face gets a zit.

Always.

I could cite more examples but I am scared my body would catch up on me catching onto it and do something more severe. (You would think that my body would have had its fun with giving me a painful lower back. But, nah! my body is not that kind!)

And well this pain could not come at a worse time. I am trying to lose weight and have been doing good with my exercise regime. My goal is to fit into my pre-marriage jeans and things were looking pretty good with the dedication I was showing. But, all good things come to an end even though I didn’t expect it to so soon!

I have no clue though how I let myself to become so fat. Actually I do know- it’s all V’s fault. He always made me believe that I looked the same as the first time he saw me- thin and pretty.

Ok.

Here’s a little something about me- something that my dad has identified as the Capricornian trait– my mom has it and since I have her genes and her zodiac sign, it was but obvious that I would get it too. People with the Capricornian trait believe that the blame always lies with someone else. So even though I was the one bingeing and stuffing myself on the freakingly big portions you get at restaurants here, it’s V’s fault that I have become fat, as he led me to believe that none of those calories resulted in saddle bags and big butts (Now, don’t I paint a pretty picture of me? And yes, I know V is a lucky guy to have me:) !)

And since I’m talking about blaming people for my weight problems, there’s another person I would like to blame today. The unfortunate soul who I incriminate for such a heinous crime of introducing this easy a recipe is Pingabhi of My red M&Ms.

These caramelized pineapples are sooooo freaking good. And they are so easy to make. Served with a dollop of whipped cream or with some lemon gelato (yum!) like Pingabhi does, its a great way to end any meal.

Things this good could be so simple to make- who knew!

Garam Masala Tuesdays: Tokri/Katori Chaat Station

So, I had an awesome 4th of July weekend. We went to the Grand Canyon. Spent the night in Sedona. Had a day trip to Flagstaff. Watched a Bollywood movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. Saw Transformers: Dark Side of the moon. Weren’t too impressed by it. On our way back home, got caught in a major dust storm and thunder showers. Overall, a tiring but fun weekend.

The weekend started with a night out with my girlfriends.

Now, the thing about me is that I just can’t hold my alcohol. My drinking capacity on most days is just a glass of wine. On certain days its a little more. But, most of the days its just one glass. When my body is a little brave, I can hold in 2-3 glasses. But, some god-forsaken days, I try to be braver than usual. And those days are followed the next day by a very horrible, sickening feeling called a hangover! The girls’ night out was one such day- where not only was I braver than usual, I was trying to be smart as well and mixed my drinks! Now, mixing drinks is a no-no especially if you want to avoid really bad hangovers. But, that night I tried to act too smart with my alcohol. And like anyone who tries to act too smart but actually isn’t- I fell down real bad the next day.