Achilles Heel

Another contribution by Radnyee.

Milk. Most definitely, without a doubt, any day of the week- the morning glass of warm milk was my undoing. The creamy, life-sustaining liquid would start to look like striated congealed gloop, and still I’d sit there, eyeing the glass mournfully. I think my record was 6 hours staring at the glass, forbidden from getting up until it was finished. No matter how many tricks my Mum figured out for the rest of my meals, milk remained, for evermore, our Achilles heel.
Now that I’ve seen fussy eaters in action, I’m intrigued by the things mothers do to make sure their kids eat right. It starts with airplane-chappattis and food songs, goes on to the famous ‘this bite for ma, this bite for baba, this bite for your bessst friend’ routine, and as the kids get older, mothers have to be wilier. Or just give up.
I have a friend who drank egg(blech)-banana(yum) milkshake for years without suspecting a thing. And another who thought potatoes were pink, because they’d be soaked in beetroot juice. Others were subjected to the carrot or the stick method. My favorite trick is one I read about- a father who’d arm-wrestle his daughter everyday and defeat her….until she ate her vegetables. Then she’d score a resounding victory!

Here’s an article on getting picky eaters to eat:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/foods-for-picky-children/index.html

What tricks did your mother need to get you to eat? Do you use any of them on your kids- while offering a silent prayer of thanks for your Mum’s ingenuity?

Natural born chef

OK so this something I have believed in for a really long time. Just as there are natural born singers, dancers, pianists there are also natural born cooks. These are people who just have an intrinsic love and understanding of food. They just know what will happen when you add thyme to garlic and can conjour up delicious combinations in their own head.

To me cuisine is an art form where you just have to be talented and gifted and although years of practise and consulting recipe books will result in a well trained cook, there is nothing which will substitute the magic that occurs when you are a natural born cook.

Baking on the other hand I have heard is a science and with the right recipe you will never go wrong. In a way this is true but I still feel that something within you gets transferred to what you cook.

Natural born cooks rarely go wrong and even with limited resources can create masterpieces. They know exactly what is wrong with a dish and how to fix it.

I now wonder which category I fall into!

loved this ad

Strictly not a 'food' ad, but I still loved it. Was forwarded by Sumeer and I had a great laugh when I saw it.

So one of my favourite things to eat are Macarons which are basically two chewy almond cookies made with almond powder, sugar and eggwhite and then filled with ganache. It has its origins in France. There are different versions of it that exist in other parts of the world but the French version is by far my favoirite. When you bit into one you get different textures in your mouth. The outer coating of the cookie is crisp and light and the inner layers are chewy and heavy. Filled within is either a ganache or a cream that gives the cookie a different dimension altogether. I have tried making the same in India, but somehow you dont get the texture right. I think its the quality and fineness of the almond powder that makes all the difference. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8629784138326137181

The double-decker macaron filled with cream that is popular today was invented by the French pâtisserie Ladurée. The story of the Ladurée macaroon starts with Pierre Desfontaines, distant cousin of Louis Ernest Ladurée, who at the beginning of the 20th century first thought of taking two macaroon shells and joining a delicious ganache filling. The way of making them has not changed since that time. http://www.laduree.fr/index_en.htm

The only place I have found these in Bombay is at Theobroma at Colaba Causeway you can contact them on +912222880101. http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/india/mumbai/theobroma

Nothing but nothing but fruit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz3QSH0jsww

My favourite party snack

At every party that I have at home I have a dip that I serve which gets lapped up every single time. Its a simple refreshing yogurt dip that you can serve with chips or Crudités (for the uninitiated, vegetable sticks in French).

Hung curd (hang curd in a muslin cloth. I prefer to use packaged dahi) - 2 dabbas

Chopped garlic - 4-5 small cloves

Chopped onion - 1 small

Chopped chillies - 1-2 depending on taste

Chopped dill - handful

Chopped pudina - handful

Salt and pepper - to taste

Hang the curd till you get rid of most of the water, will take you about an hour or so. Whisk well till it is a smooth paste and then just add all ingredients. Serve chilled with Crudités or chips.

Contribution by Radnyee. Thank you Radnyee :) for me comfort food is clearly half boiled egg and buttered toast

Soul food

A long, long time ago, I can still remember…..how that whistle used to make me smile! The short-long whistle of the pressure cooker signaling that lunch was ready. And in my grandmother’s house, lunch had to include varan-bhaat- the blandest concoction in the Maharashtrian culinary experience. I absolutely loved it. Even today, comfort food to me means varan-bhaat. Every steaming bite brings with it the sound of my grandfather’s old Hindi tapes, the sunlight beaming through frosted windowpanes, the smell of freshly squeezed lemon as my grandmother smilingly feeds me a big mouthful.
Here’s the recipe if you don’t know it already, it’s the easiest thing in the world to make;

Pressure cook the rice and dal in separate vessels. The dal is a mix of split tuvar and moong dals to which water, hing and some turmeric has been added before cooking.
After opening the cooker, add some water to the dal and churn it to make it the right consistency (the texture is critical- not too thick, not too watery)
Serve hot over the rice, with ghee and fresh lemon.

Comfort food is different for different people. I have friends who swear by chocolate. Or khichdi. Or cookies. Found this article in The Telegraph, on comfort food while I was looking for the most popular choices: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080728/jsp/entertainment/story_9610195.jsp

And here’s an old episode of BBC’s Posh Nosh on comfort food- for no particular reason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scPT7n5s4nY

So, did any of this take you back in time? What brings you home in a single bite?

The joys of raita

One of my favourite things in the world to eat is raita. I can eat raita anytime of day even for breakfast. For those who don't know, raita is basically curd with something added to it. It could be diced vegetables, boondi, fruits or even just plain spices.

The softness of the curd combined with the crunch of the vegetables contrasts beautifully and creates magic in your mouth. I love my raita cold and crunchy. My preference for seasoning is black salt and freshly roasted ground jeera.

Have given below some of my favourite raitas. These are perfect for summer and great when you are on a diet (just re-started mine).

Mix vegetable raita - I like to cut small dices of cucumber, tomato, onion, green chillies and coriander. I sometimes add ginger and give a tadka of mustard seeds and kadi patta. Season the dahi with black salt and freshly roasted ground jeera

Pomegranate raita - This is another favourite of mine. My mom made this for the first time a few years ago and we all fell in love. You basically just combine pomegranate and freshly chopped mint in cold dahi and season with salt and black pepper. Its delicious!

Bathue ka raita - Bathua, which is also called "White goose-foot" is a nutritious leafy vegetable of the beetroot and palak family (i.e. Chenopodiaceae) I have posted a picture of the same. I love this raita and really haven't had it anywhere else but at my home, its a great way to add greens to your diet. You boil the leaves for a few minutes and then drain them. Chop them roughly and once cool you add them to beaten curd and spice it up with freshly roasted ground jeera and black salt. Its great with pulav or parathas

The unedited version of an article I wrote for the Indian Express

Almost everyone that I know in advertising at some point of time wants to get out of it. They dream of becoming chefs, restaurant owners, DJs and bartenders. I was one of the lucky few that actually did get away. Right at a time in the prime of my career I quit my job and took the plunge into a world very few are privileged to venture into.

The world of professional cooking is quite a closely guarded secret. With a few exceptions like Kitchen Confidential by Chef Antony Bourdain, there have not been too many books that delve into what actually happens behind the swinging doors of a restaurant.

I had the privilege of studying the art of cuisine at the world famous Le Cordon Bleu School in Paris. A school that has the distinction of being the premier cooking school in the world.

The journey into the kitchen was exciting and exhilarating and at times fraught with peril. I learnt that danger lurks in every corner of the kitchen. You are constantly surrounded by fire and burning hot ovens and 12 inch long razor sharp knife blades. And let us not forget the frisky French Chefs. I learnt to deal with each of these in turn during my ‘stage’ (a fancy French word for an internship) at a two Michelin star restaurant ‘La Terrasse’ in the south of France in the charming little sea side town of Juan Les Pins which is famous for its annual Jazz festival.

Many of the ex-students of Le Cordon Bleu had warned me about French chefs. I had heard stories of girls being locked into walk-in refrigerators and asked to perform sexual favours if they wanted to get out. No one I knew had actually managed to last the three months of the ‘stage’. If the Chefs didn’t drive them out it were the fifteen hour working days where you are too exhausted to even sleep.

I was determined to do it. It was something I had to prove to myself, that I was tough enough and strong enough to survive just about anything. I choose Juan les Pins because I was sick of the gloomy Paris weather and I craved the sun, so I thought what better place than the Cote d’azur, and I was not disappointed. Although it was still cold in April, but it was sunny and the sea was a clear bright blue.

Before I left Paris I had already been pre-warned about Chef Morrisett. The first time I met him I felt he was an imposing personality with a very impressive moustache, eyes that seem to bore into your soul and photographs of naked women in his office. I have to admit that in that instant, I was scared.

The next few months at La Terrace were probably the most emotionally turbulent for me. I came very close to quitting, very often, but I survived. I learnt much more than I ever expected to learn. Not just about food, but I learnt a lot more about myself. I survived groping Chefs, slicing the tip of my thumb off (if grew back), living in a small room with three other women and of course the piece de la resistance which was a third degree burn across my right arm.

I learnt that the world of the French kitchen is truly a man’s world and you have to be tough enough physically and mentally to survive it. If you burn/ cut yourself you don’t cry but just go back to plating the fish that caused you the excruciating burn. If you are sleepy and tired you just drink another shot of coffee and last another few hours.

There were many wonderful experiences too. Like being dead tired and hungry as hell and getting yourself a hot spicy sandwich with fries and a beer and sitting by the beach at odd hours in the morning. Like swimming in the wonderful Mediterranean Sea with fish swimming just below you. And of course the amazing people you meet. The charming Italian that made each day in the kitchen more bearable. The two Indians I made life long friends with. And the incredibly nice French people (yes there were some nice ones).

As much as I may crib about my time at Juan, I know it was probably the best four months of my life. A time and a place where I really learnt to appreciate good food. A place where all that I had learnt at Le Cordon Bleu was put into practise and a place where I came away physically scarred for life but with some of the best memories ever.

An inspiring story

I love food shows and one of my favourite chefs is Chef Curtis Stone who is this Australian guy who looks more like a surfer than a chef. Blond hair bleached by the sun and skin bronzed by the sun.

There are two shows of his that are aired on Discovery, Take Home Chef and Surfing the Menu. Although I adore Surfing the Menu, I also love Take Home Chef; the show is about how Curtis comes to someone’s home and helps them cook a meal for their loved ones.

He specializes in what most call ‘fusion’ cuisine and he does a great job of it. His flavours are simple and clean and his food is healthy and fresh. He seems to like Thai and Indian flavours and uses them liberally.

I happened to watch an episode of Take Home Chef over the weekend and was very inspired by the woman featured. He met up with a woman who I think was Indian or Srilankan. She has been living in the US with her husband who seemed to have Mexican roots. She has recently lost a lot of weight and looked fabulous. Her total weight loss has been 190 lbs which in Indian terms is about 87kgs. Which I thought was crazy; she has basically lost the equivalent of a slightly fat man!!

He made her this really nice light chicken soup flavoured with spring onions and then for the main course there was beef (a bit surprised with that) with a Thai flavoured stir fry of greens. The dessert was an ‘Exotic’ fruit salad with pineapple, lychee and papaya that was flavoured with lime zest* and there was a lime sorbet that was garnished with the same zest.

*Zest basically refers to the outer layer of any citrus fruit. It is extremely flavourful and can greatly enhance any dish it is added to. To get the zest you can either take a grater and gently grate the outer layer or if your knife is sharp and your knife skill are good then peel the outer layer, get rid of the white portion (its bitter) and then finely either slice the zest or then you can even mince it. There is also a 'zester' available in specialist stores that is a hand held tool that is meant to remove the zest easily.