My Paani Poori foodle and its appearance in the Economic Times.

My Paani Poori Foodle made it to Vikram Doctor’s Column in the Economic times this week. Vikram did a very interesting story on the growing genre of Culinary Comics. (It’s a wonderful article that carries you through this new genre drawing on information from different sources and weaving it together in true Vikram style). If you do not read Vikram’s column – and you should if you are a foodie of any kind – then please start. Because nobody writes as well on Indian food as he does IMHO.

But I digress, Vikram makes an interesting point in his article. About whether expensive food photographs are required in cookbooks – when illustrations might serve better. Particularly because  the Paani Poori Foodle that went in with this story came into being specifically to illustrate what a Paani Poori is. If you have ever tried to explain this to someone who is clueless about it you will know exactly what I mean. 

This month on three different occasions that Shekhar offered to take me out, I wanted Paani Poori. So I began to work on a post on it. The one chaat dish most of us Indian women  LOVE to distraction AND crave when we want to be indulged (especially when pregnant & no I am not..) is Pani Puri!

If one has grown up in India no explanations are required, we will know Paani Poori either as Pani poori or Gol Gappas or Puchkas but how do you describe a Paani Poori to a western audience that might never even have seen one, forget tasting it. And I had tried…

Below is something I had written for an article on Chaat a few years ago in an attempt to describe Paani Poori..

“ It is hard to describe Paani Poori. The whole dish is built around a single bite that must be dexterously assembled and in the mouth in seconds! First the Paani Poori Wallah will take a crisp hollow round poori the size of a tennis ball. Cracking a small hole in it he will fill the poori with a mixture of boiled potatoes, mung beans, chickpeas and tamarind- jaggery chutney (a deliciously thick sweet and sour sauce). Once done he will dunk the whole thing in ice cold ‘Paani’ (a chilli spiked mint and rock salt flavored watery liquid) and drop the morsel onto the leaf receptacle of the eager chaat lover. Said aficionado must get the whole thing in her mouth within seconds or end up with soggy/ broken pooris and soiled clothes. Once in the mouth, the poori cracks open with a satisfying crunch, releasing the icy pani and sweet chutney that slide down the throat leaving behind a mouth full of spicy filling. Hard to resist and extremely hard to stop eating!”

Also hard to visualize in spite of that paragraph of what I think is fab writing above ;).

But add this picture to the writing

And suddenly it’s perfect. 

Trying to take pictures did not work here because you could only show the exterior of a filled poori. So as a food writer and stylist I agree with Vikram. Food photography is expensive and does not always achieve the objective. In fact even writing on Indian food might not always convey exactly what a food is to people who have never seen it. Which is where illustrations work, quite fabulously. It took me a while to actually get this illustration done, but I was able to do what I could not have done with a camera, slice off a segment of the outside poori to reveal the fabulous layers of filling inside that make the Mumbai Paani Poori what it is. 

Click on the picture to find out how you can buy a foodle.

The Paani poori illustration is fourth in my series of Mumbai street foods after Chai, The Mumbai Sandwich and The Vada Pao. I am thinking of what to add to this. I think it is a great guide to Indian streetfood. And now, thanks to Vikram I am thinking along the lines of a book of Foodles on Indian food. It’s a great way to showcase our rich culinary heritage in a simple communicable way. After all food is about sharing isn’t it. 

 

There are many talented artists around the world already showcasing fabulous food through illustrations around the world. If you like my Foodles I would urge you to use the internet and go travel the world of food illustration. There is so much to look at! 

It you know me at all you will know that I love and collect only two food magazines Cuisine New Zealand and the Jamie Magazine, neither of which are available in India unfortunately. While Cuisine does not really carry illustrated recipes, their covers are usually food art. And Jamie, carries some lovely illustrated recipes at the end. Talking about magazines, Saveur Magazine began sourcing illustrated recipes a while ago from their artists. It’s a wonderful selection of recipes and food travelogues. The latest one is by Lucy Knisley author of Relish whom Vikram has written about in his column.

And for illustrated recipes from around the world may I very emphatically ‘suggest’ you check out They Draw and Cook. This is a blog /website that I discovered years ago, run by Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell a brother- sister design and illustration team. They conceptualized the idea of They Draw & Cook while on a family vacation. Nate was trying to recreate a favorite dish - fettucine with figs in a balsamic butter sauce - while Salli sat at the counter with her watercolors painting the crate of figs and they realized how fun it was to illustrate food and started talking about creating a little recipe book for friends, family, and clients. They asked some of their artist friends to help, but didn’t get enough recipes for a book. So Nate built a quick blog and Salli started to spread the word - it spread fast! They Draw & Cook now contains the biggest and best collection of illustrated recipes anywhere. You can spend simply hours browsing through it.  The artists whose work you see on They Draw and Cook are diverse and immensely talented showcasing styles beyond imagining and recipes from around the world. Some are professional illustrators or practicing artists, others are passionate doodlers and some might only recently have begun to draw but they have made They Draw & Cook what is – an endless discovery of inspiration! They Draw and Cook is also available as a book now. 

Links and GYAAN

Here is a link to Vikram’s Column read it, follow it, Thank me J!

Cuisine Food Art covers sorry it isn’t a very comprehensive one, they used to have a proper link on theor site but I can’t find it currently.

And here are links to the other places online I visit for food illustrations, Jamie magazine recipe illustrations (google search link, not been able to find a consolidated page on his sit, mores the pity!), Saveur Selection, They Draw and Cook, and here is a link to a search on Google Food Doodles I found recently. I just LOVE the Julia Child one!

If you liked this article you might like these previous articles I wrote on Comic Cuisine – food in popular comics and Food in Fiction.Also Framed Foodles including the Paani Poori one are now available for sale as well. 

 

Zesty White Wine Butter Green Chilli Fish #Foodle

Having grown up in the city, I have great reverence for any home grown produce. And when I am the recipient of fruit or vegetable from anyones terrace or garden, I'm very excited. Last Week I paid Farzana Contractor, Editor of Uppercrust India Magazine a long overdue visit. It was a great meeting with much deliciousness to come from it. But this post is not about that. This is about food gifts... Farzana had just recievied a bagfull of produce from her farm, and she generously shared some lemons and chikoos from it. 

The lemons came at a very opportune moment too since I needed to test this recipe for my Cooking with Alcohol class and I hadn't been able to find Italian lemons. 

And it was most popular at the class as well, I served it and it was gone in Minutes! You can make the butter and freeze it indefinitely. Use Kingfish (Surmai) or any firm flesed fish. We did it with Basa at the class and it was quite brilliant because Basa's versatality and lack of overwhelming odur and flavour actually allows tha delicate flavours of the White wine and lemongrass to stand out. The Green asparagus is great but this is even berre with white asparagus or Witloof. 

Bon Apettit!

Zesty white wine Green Chilli Fish

Time: 40 minutes ; Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

To make White Wine Butter

150ml White Wine

Zest of two Italian lemons/ Lemon flavoured Vodka

250 g butter, at room temp

2 tbsp Lime Juice

Sea salt

To make Fish

2 X 200 g boneless fish fillets

1 tbsp Lime Juice

salt and pepper to taste

1 green chilli minced

Green or White Asparagus to serve.

Method:

To make White Wine butter - Pour wine into a pan, add lemon zest. Simmer till wine reduces to half, leave to infuse and cool. When cool, strain and reserve. Place butter in a mixing bowl and add reduced wine, using a whisk mix to incorporate over a Double boiler but be carefull you do not want butter to liquify so keep a bowl onf ice water handy to cool it in. When done, keep beating over ice till butter begins to solidify. When butter is almost solid, stir in remaining zest and sea salt. Roll into a log and freeze. 

To make Fish - Season fish with green chilli salt and pepper and coat in olive oil and lemon juice. (add in a bit of wine if you like!). Reserve. Place a bed of asparagus in a baking pan, place marinated fish on top, cover with foilwrap and bake at 180 degrees in a preheated oven for 15- 20 minute. 

Alternatively melt a little butter in a large frying pan over medium heat and coom on a very low flame slowly till done and ligtly golden at the edges. This will take about 2 minutes for medium sized fish piece. Do keep in mind not to overcook as very crispy fish with take away from the flavour of the butter. Transfer to a plate, top with White Wine butter and serve hot over grilled asparagus spears or greens. 

Marinate Basa

Grate zest into wine

Cool

Whisk with Butter

Transfer to foil and roll up. Freeze.

Cook fish lighly

Transfer to plate

Slice up frozen Butter

Arrange on top of hot fish.

Serve

Watch it get wiped out!

Down to the last lick!

GYAAN

Italian Lemons, Witloof, White Asparagus and Basa are all available at Fine food stores like Nature's Basket.

Who says Healthy can’t be sexy?

Often food lovers will one will hear stories of how someone saw a fabulous fish, pork or meat at the market and could not resist picking it up. Well the cook in me gets turned on by vegetables. So when I spotted two voluptuous heads of Pak Choy from Trikaya at Nature’s Basket the other day I just had to buy them both!

Pak Choy PACKED with health but for such a healthy vegetable, it is also one sexy looking one. With its hourglass shape formed by a jade coloured glossy bulbous stem that narrows to a delicate neck before flaring into a lush head of velvety dark green leaves, it looks just luscious!
And if you have not guessed already, I absolutely love the stuff! There are many ways to cook it but for me there is just one. It has to be braised with lots of caramelised garlic and topped with toasted Sesame. Bok Choy, done like this offers a perfect side dish to any main Chinese meal but I don’t like being distracted from mine, so I just make two HUGE portions for myself, pile it onto steaming rice and dig in after spiking it with a little chilli oil or with a little roasted chilli past on the side.


Steaming hot salty, garlic scented Pak choy, with its tender crunchy stems and velvetty leaves, spiked with chilli oil and rounded of with the nutty toasted sesame oil with toasted sesame and chilli flakes adding color and flavou... who said healthy can't be sexy....?
 

 

Its pretty simple to make...

Braised Pak/Bok Choy (Serves 2 or 1 GREEDY Pak Choy llover! Time 15 mins)
2 large heads or 4 baby heads bok choy,
1/2 tsp oil
10-12 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
½ cup stock or water and a stock cube
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp chilli oil
1/3 cup toasted sesame seeds
Chilli flakes to sprinkle over

Separate out the leaves of the Pak Choy and wash well to remove any grit. Slice down the middle and cut or break the stems away from the leaves. Slice the stems up to your preference. Break leaves to bit size. Now, traditionally you would be asked to heat a wok over a high heat but I prefer to use a large flat deep saucepan. The thing is in this case you want a large flat hot surface, so that there is maximum contact between said surface and ingredient to be cooked. The greens have to get scorched within moments of hitting the hot surface before they let off their inherent moisture and begin to steam cook and soften and that is easier done on a large flat pan than a wok. Once pan is hot add the garlic and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes until the garlic is golden and well on its way to browning at the edges. Add the Pak Choy stems in the middle of the pan and spread them out for maximum contact. A moment later, spread the leaves out as well, using your spatula to press them down onto the hot pan. There will be a sizzle, and about a moment later the smell of cooking spinach will rise as the leaves let of their moisture. The window of opportunity to scorch your Pak Choy is that small. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add the Soy sauce to the pan and stir fry a little. Add the vinegar to deglaze the pan of the caramelised flavours of the garlic and greens, add ½ cup water and a cube of stock or homemade stock, allow to simmer a little. The leaves will be a glossy silky dark forest green by now. You have the option of thickening with some cornstarch but I don’t think I need that here. Transfer into a bowl by itself or over steamed rice, drizzle with the oils and toasted Sesame, sprinkle over the chilli flakes and dig in!

Lasagna with Love for Rohan

 

 

When I decided to cook a special birthday dinner for my nephew Rohan just before I left for Kerala, I ambitiously but rather worriedly planned Lasagna. I had a full day that day;reviewing a restaurant at lunch, followed by a couple of meetings before I could get home to work. And Lasagna from scratch was an epic recipe, I had not made in years. I made Lasagna entirely out of my head based on tasting it once in a little Bagni in Italy a few weeks after I married. With no Pasta machine, it took me two days to get the whole thing done using a rolling pin to make the pasta, slow cooking sauce, but it was worht it because my husband still sings praises of it! However the sheer amount of time it took, always detered me from making it again and while I made many lasagnas with ready pasta sheets they were neve quite the same. It was becoming a thing of fantasy. But I was determined to make a special dinner for Rohan and this was a signature dish. 

What made it easier and very special was the entire Ghildiyal Family decided to pitch in. Shekhar who has been making pasta at home of late, did the Pasta sheets using my technique of flavouring them with pepper and herbs, helped by Rohan and 'assisted' by Aman (who kept stealing peices of pasta to make farfale and odd shaped bits of pasta). While I made the sauces in the kitchen. i usually do a tomato sauce but because Rohan loves mushrooms, I was going to do a Mushroom sauce this time. I also did a Minestrone soup and Baked corn on the side. So a few hours later we sat down to dinner and it was the best Lasagna in the world; whisper-thin sheets of fresh oregano flavoured egg pasta intersecting earthy mushroom sauce and warm, oozy, cheesy bechemel with oodles of love stirred in....

Now I COULD tell you that this is the only lasagna recipe worth making and that once you have this lasagna, you will never accept anything less. But you might not believe me. So give it a turn (of the pasta machine) and tell me I am wrong. I certainly will never make a Lasagna with ready sheets ever again. Be warned, however, this is not a Lasagna for the faint-hearted. Making it requires commitment, patience - and TIME (which is probably why I made it after years) and plenty of it. Although, you could shorten cooking time by a few hours, that's right. Hours. If you used Pasta sheets. But then you might as well order in Lasagna!

So while this thing IS a weekend project if there ever was one, we go everyone involved around here the good news is that it makes a lot, and if it does not get wiped out, you might be able to freeze some!
The best Mushroom Lasagna in the world (Time taken: 1 hour plus baking time, Serves: 4)
Notes: You need to pass the pasta sheets through a pasta machine a few times to achieve the most thin and delicate sheets of pasta possible - if you don't have a pasta machine a rolling pin will do, (it did for me all these years) but the results are not quite the same. But really fresh pasta with a rolling pin work better than ready pasta any day so... Also fresh pasta means you can skip the pre-boil step just use a little more sauce. Also remeber proper seasoning is important throughout this recipe, if you undersalt it is going to taste flat and this is one of those recipes you can't correct later.


Thin Oregano flavoured homemade pasta sheets layered with peppery mushroom filling cheese and Bechemel sauce.

Ingredients
For the Pasta sheets
250 g maida
½ tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs

For the Mushroom filling
1/3 c oil
1/2 c garlic, finely chopped
1/2 c onion, finely chopped
1/2 c carrot
1/2 c celery
1 kg mushrooms washed, coarsely chopped
Salt to taste
2 tbsp black pepper or 1/3 cup pickled green peppercornscrushed coarsely
Corn flor or Maida (to thicken if required)

For White/Bechemel sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
2 c milk
4 tbsp Parmiggiano cheese, finely grated
Salt to taste

To assemble
1 large or 2 small baking dishes
250 g mozzarella cheese grated

Method
For the Pasta sheets - In a bowl mix maida, oregano, salt and pepper together. Add oil and mix until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add eggs and knead in as well as possible. Only if required, add cold water kneading well to form smooth dough. Divide into 5 portions and roll out as thin as possible, trim to the shape and size of your container and laying out to dry for about 10 mins. (To store bake on a tava on both sides for a couple of minutes or until little brown spots appear, roll up separated by foil sheets and freeze.)

For the Mushroom filling - in a large vessel, heat oil. Add garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Sautee on a low flame so the vegetables soften and cook but do not brown. Add mushrooms and cook untill done. If the mushrooms let off too much water and it looks like they will not dry out, dissolve 1 tbsp of cornflour or Maida in a little water and add to mushrooms. Allow to cool.

For White/Bechemel sauce - Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour. Stir in and cook, continuing to stir, for 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat and slowly add milk, whisking constantly, until mixture is smooth. Return to heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 10 to 12 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil, thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and salt.

To assemble – spread a little mushroom filling on the base of the baking dish. Lay a pasta sheet on top. Spoon over and spread a little more mushroom filling over the pasta sheet. Scatter grated cheese. Repeat pasta layer, spread a layer of bechemel sauce over, cover with a layer of pasta. Repeat untill you have finished saving the thinest pasta sheet for the top, spread last sheet over with white sauce, scatter with cheese and grill or bake in the oven until cheese is melted and top layer is browned. Serve hot!

Beautiful cakes from Le 15 Patiserrie for a sweet Finale! Mine was a Raspberry tart (that, Aman gobbled three pieces of) and Rohan's was a Chocolate Layer bit of deliciousness (that I gobbled three pieces of)! 

Waking up to breakfast...

July was one of the toughest months I have lived through emotionally in a long time!

It began with shifting home, which was a very positive move, both personally and professionally, but I felt I was betraying the first home we ever owned by leaving it for a better model. And then the day of the shift, I returned from Delhi with some sort of horrid viral and proceeded to collapse, literally! I think I slept through virtually the entire move and poor Shekhar had to handle everything himself! Then came the biggest blow, the loss of someone I loved so much. This was quickly followed by strife on the work front as well, for me and for someone very dear I work with. And then mE magazine closed down. It just felt like too many endings! I found myself questioning things. I have always believed that life sends us the tests and our measure is in how we get through them but REALLY did it have to be so many at the same time. But I guess that was a test in itself. Letting go doesn't always mean you have failed, sometimes it just means you are strong enough to let go.

All of a sudden, I who cannot sit still without doing SOMETHING did not want to do anything. Meeting people, working, eating, reading about food, felt frivolous in the face of the avalanche threatening me. So I went numb. Dealing half heartedly with things I could not ignore but for the most part I just zoned out. I languished about my new house, bummed around Facebook.

Untill I woke up suddenly one morning while I was making breakfast for my husband.

Natasha, my almost 3 year old daughter was off to school for the first time that day. Where had time flown? It seemed like just yesterday when we brought her home, tiny and curled up in her blanket like a question mark that seemed to ask "what is in store for me?And yet there she was, a tiny little person.A tiny NOISY little person, positively fizzing! Buzzing around the house infecting us with her excitement, instructing her dad to pack her tiffin like he did her Bhaiya's, harrowing me to get her bathed and dressed 3 hours in advance!

And amidst all this as I cooked Shekhar's breakfast, my senses seemed to have awakened from hibernation. I suddenly smelled, REALLY smelled the tomatoes as they hit the hot pan and sizzled, my mouth actually watered watching butter as it melted onto the hot toast. As I plated the breakfast, sliding my new creation - roasted tomatoes topped with a perfectly fried egg sprinkled with grated cheese onto toasted bread, I realized just how much I loved doing this daily activity for my family.

Juggling the kids, home and our work, there really is never any time to go out on 'dates', especially since we have no help after 7:00, having chosen to be hands on parents. BELIEVE me dinner out with two kids would TRYLY defeat the purpose! And although I do cook lots of exciting things through the week they need to account for kids, guests and the ladies that work for us so menus need to be simple and account for everyones likes and dislikes. Besides, inevitably, special dinners just never seem to turn out as planned. Kids sense when you want them out of the way and make it their business to make you REGRET feeling like that. By the time you actually get down to dinner you might want to go to bed more! TO SLEEP!

But breakfasts are different. Breakfasts are the beginning of the day. We are all up, refreshed, hungry for the day full of promise that stretches ahead of us. (On weekdays it also means one kid is out of the way at school!) But most importantly breakfasts are customizable. I can do anything I want, make it as elaborate as I want, just for Shekhar. So most mornings, I will browse through fridge and cupboards and plan a plate for him, picking things he likes and bringing them together into a delicious whole. My biggest reward is the look of bliss he gets when I get things right and the breakfast is perfect!

Most days it will be one sunny side egg over a cheese slice, over hot toasted bread and the cheese will have gotten beautifully melty and gooey. The whole would be sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper with a grilled tomato on the side. In fact this is Shekhar's signature breakfast, so much so that Aman (my son) calls it the Papa breakfast.

And often I will vary this, likt that day when I had a brain wave. I thought since S loved of the combination of eggs cheese and tomatoes so much, why not try to combine the tomato and the fried egg by cracking the egg over a layer of tomatoes and laying the whole toast topped with a cheese slice? The logic being that the tomatoes would get beautifully caramelized but would allow the egg to stay soft as opposed to the crispy fried. It worked kind off - the results were delicious, only I have to cook the tomatoes much more.

Some days (usually Sundays when we have Brunch) I will add a couple of sausages to the plate as well (If Aman lets them get there). And when I cook sausages, I always save a few cooked ones to rustle up a sausage omeletfor breakfast the next day. I heat a tbsp of oil, pour add 3-4 beaten eggs seasoned with a little salt and pepper and cook till egg starts to get cloudy. I arrange slices of the sausages with red chillies all around and cook till the omelet is set and sausages are heated through. Great with buttered wholegrain bread.

OR for a truly decadent Sunday omelet, combine 1/2 cup sliced sausage with 1 tbsp each pickled jalapenos and gherkins and 1/2 cup Pecorino cheese, toss well and set aside. Heat oil in a frying pan. Pour in 4 eggs that have been beaten with a little salt. Cook on low flame till egg is almost set. Place filling in the middle. Cook for 2 minutes fold opposite sides over filling and serve.

I will end with this recipe I cooked up or a Me recipe feature a long time ago because it so perfectly garnishes this post.....

Basil scented sunny side ups  (Serves 4 , Time 10 mins. plus a little prep time)
If the only thing you do well is a sunny side up, stun your breakfast guests with a couple of these sensational eggs. Add some chilli to the mix and take a bite from in Latin American cuisine by serving a spicy basil scented a single sunny-side-up egg over freshly steamed white rice so the yolk and oils run into the hot rice.... Heaven! Basil with its spicy, mildly peppery flavor complement eggs perfectly but this is what I call a 'template recipe' because by merely changing the herb you use you could vary the entire recipe.

For Basil Scented Oil
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
A handful of basil leaves (or any fresh intensely aromatic herd herb)
½ cup rice bran oil (I use Tandul)
In a small pan heat oil untill hot but not smoking. Add crushed garlic, stir and allow to cook untill fragrant (not more than one minute). Take off flame and add Basil leaves. Stir well, cover and leave to infuse for at least and hour (overnight is better). When completely cool strain into the bottle of the oil spritzer.  

For eggs
4 eggs at room temperature (cold eggs from the fridge will splutter and soil the surface of your sunny side up)
Crushed pepper corns
Salt to sprinkle

Method
Place a non stick frying pan on a low flame and warm up but do not heat too much, place pancake ring on pan. Spray pan and ring well with Basil scented oil using an oil spritzer. Crack an egg carefully into the ring. The egg will sizzle at it hits the pan, using a fork or a toothpick burst any bubbles that might form.  Once the egg white has solidified you can remove the pancake ring. Allow egg to cook untill it is done to your taste, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Basil is truly an incredible herb. And its spicy, mildly peppery flavor complement eggs perfectly. Look for fresh leaves, they have he best flavour but frozen and dried leaves are worth the effort also in a pinch. The leaves can be used cooked or eaten raw. Crush, chip or mince the leaves and add to recipes, or add whole leaves to salads. Sprigs of basil make a wonderfully aromatic garnish.Try deep frying them for a decadent topping on Thai dishes. If you end up with too many the best way to preserve them is in a pesto sauce.

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Pictures courtesy - Indiasutra.com