Bisibelebhaat

Habbadoota!
Karnataka is the land of recipes of rice. Talk about 'chitranna', 'puliyogare', 'vangibhaat' or or even the candid 'anna-saaru'. You have an 'anna' for every 'habba'! And while we're talking about rice preparations, one cannot afford not mentioning 'Bisibelebhaat'. One of Karnataka's signature dishes, Bisibelebhaat is a favourite with the young and the old. 'Bisi' means hot in kannada; 'bele' means daal and quite explicably, 'bhaat' is rice. An extraordinary combination of spices. Like most traditions, the blending of spices to form the masala used in bisibelebhaat changes from family to family as the secrets of the winning combinations are passed on from mother to daughter. And like you must've guessed, my bisibelebhaat masala comes from my lovely mother. Though, traditionally served on large plantain leaves with 'Kosambari', a lentil salad and some 'Palya', a vegetable side dish, or even 'mosuru', that's yogurt, it goes extremely well with potato crisps, especially Pune's 'Budhani Wafers', an all time hit with my Dad!


Ingredients:
1 cup of rice
1/2 cup of toor daal
1/2 cup of potatoes
1/2 cup of peas
2 tbsp of tamarind pulp
5 tbsp bisibelebhaat masala
1 tsp red chilly powder
2 tbsp ghee


Method:
Boil the toor daal. When nearly done add the potatoes and peas to it.
Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract its pulp.
Cook the rice.
Add the daal, potatoes and peas to the rice.
Mix the bisibelebhaat masala with a little water, stir and add to the rice.
Add the tamarind pulp, the chilly powder and salt to taste.
Serve with ghee.

Pasta

Apparecchia la tavola!

Let's revive our Italiano
Apparecchia la tavola! (literally, set the table): (ah-ppah-re-kee-ah la ta-vo-lah)to prepare the table that will receive yours friends.
Gira il sugo (literally, turn the sauce): (gee-rah il soo-goh) say this when making a sauce which needs to be stirred with a spoon.
Buon appetito (have a good meal): (boo-on app-èt-it-oh) before a dinner with friends say this to the whole company and expect the same answer in return. it is a blessing for the meal to come.
Complimenti alla cuoca (compliments to the cook): (com-plee-men-tee alla coo-oka)after enjoying an excellent meal, say this to compliment your hostess and (female) to demonstrate your appreciation of her efforts. The male version is "com-plee-men-tee al coo-oko".
La specialita' della casa (the restaurant specialty): (le speh-cee-ah-lee-tah della ka-sah) use this expression to ask for the dishes characteristic of the restaurant.
Pizzeria: (pee-zzeh-ree-ah) very common restaurant where you eat the most famous Italian dish, pizza. We especially recommend pizza margherita, pizza quattro stagioni and pizza capricciosa.
Ristorante Italiano (Italian restaurant): (ree-stoh-ran-teh ee-ta-leea-noh) has an elegant atmosphere where one can enjoy typical soups, pastas, gnocchi, risotti and interesting meat and fish dishes, and where every dish is accompanied by the appropriate wine.
Antipasto (the appetizer): (an-tee-pah-stoh)it's an excellent idea to begin the dinner in the best way.
Primo piatto (the first course): (pree-moh peea-ttoh), generally it consists of pasta, soup or rice.
Secondo piatto (the second course): (she-kon-doh peea-ttoh), generally it consists of meat or fish.
Contorno (side dish): (kon-tor-noh)i is the food usually served with second course, and is usually vegetables.
Cena a lume di candela (light candle dinner): (Ce-nah a loo-meh dee can-deh-la) a romantic tête-à-tête with a special person…
Ho una fame da lupi (literally I'm hungry like a wolf): (oh oo-nah fah-meh dah loo-pih)) if you feel especially hungry, say this as a little joke about how hungry you are.
E' una buona forchetta (literally he is a good fork): (éh oo-na boo-oh-na fork-eh-ttah)an expression used to describe a gourmet, someone who enjoys eating well and appreciates high quality dishes.
Sono pieno come un uovo (literally I'm full like an egg): (soh-no pee-eh-no ko-meh un oo-oh-voh) say this when you've just finished eating and you want no more food, as an excuse for not eating anymore. It actually means that you are full, literally, "as full as an egg".
Ho l'acquolina in bocca (my mouth is watering): (hoh lah-ck-ooh-oh-lih-nah in boh-kah) say this when you see a particularly inviting dish.
Pasta al dente: (pas-tah al den-teh)when pasta is well cooked and seems almost hard and dense. This is the best way to eat pasta.

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Ingredients:
2 cups pasta
3 cups water
1 cup milk
3 medium onions, chopped
3 chillies, chopped
450g tomato puree
peas
broccoli
cauliflower
salt to taste
oil for cooking
cheese for garnishing

Method:
Boil the water and milk. Add the pasta and bring to a boil. Continue to boil till the pasta is well cooked.
Meanwhile, pour some oil in a pan. Allow it to heat.
Add the onions and fry.
Add the broccoli, cauliflower and peas. Fry for a few minutes.
Add the tomato puree and stir. Add a pinch of salt.
Add the chopped chillies.
Add the pasta to this sauce and stir well. Allow it to boil.
Add salt to taste.
Buon appetito!

Punch line

Ingredients:

Method:

wash and Boil masoor with 2 kanda and 3 tomato

separate excess water and mash

oil

heat

jeera - fry till colour change

curry leaves

ginger garlic paste

1 tbsp amti powder
1/3 tbsp chilly powder

fry for one sec

add daal to this

turmeric

coriander

1/2 sp cutneypudi

salt

toop

Chole masala

Spicy and hot!!

The other day, I was lunching with my collegue who has never been to India in his entire life and yet knows 'chole', the better known name for chick peas in Hindi. And that made me think how big a small-town dish like chole masala had made it! So, here's to chole! Served with rotis, batures or rice, but necessarily served hot.

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Ingredients:

1 cup chole
4 medium sized white onions, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped (alternatively. tomato puree)
3 potatoes, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard
4-5 curry leaves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp amchur powder
2 tsp chili powder
salt to taste
oil for cooking
coriander for garnishing
lemon for garnishing


Method:
Soak the chole overnight. Boil for an hour with a bay leaf.
Meanwhile pour some oil into a pan. Allow it to heat.
Add the mustard. When it starts to splutter, add the cumin seeds. Saute.
Add the curry leaves. When it turns crisp, add the bay leaf. Saute.
Add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ginger garlic paste.
When the onions are nearly done, add the potatoes and fry.
Add the tomato (or puree) and fry.
Add the masalas (garam masala, chilly powder and amchur powder).
Add the salt to taste. Add water to match the required consistency.
Garnish with coriander leaves and lemon
Savour!!

Misal

Self Torture !!

Ingredients
200g matki
3 medium onions, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
½ tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp kanda-lasoon masala
1 tsp red chilly powder
½ cup water
salt to taste
oil for cooking

Method
Soak the matki overnight.
Drain the water and keep aside for (12+12+12) hrs so that it sprouts.
Boil the matki.
Pour some oil in a non stick pan. Allow it to heat.
Add some ginger-garlic paste. Stir twice.
Add the onions. Fry till it is half done.
Add the potato. Fry till it is half done.
Add the tomato. Fry till it is half done.
Add the kanda-lasoon masala. Follow with the chilly powder. Top up with the garam masala.
Add the matki. Add the salt to taste. If required, add the water till the consistency is satisfactory.
Relish.

Varan

It doesn't get any better than this!

Each day, I suffer the phobia of answering the question 'What shall I cook today?' and each time, Ma comes to my rescue. I still have the emails which she'd sent me in October 2006 explaining how to make Varan. And guess what, it also included tips like when to turn the stove on and off. I still remember one of her mails instucting me, 'Sona, don't eat the cardamom pods - keep them aside while eating'. That's how caring my mother is. And she gives importance to even the minute details!

Serves 4
Time taken 60 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup of toor daal
3 medium white onions, chopped
5 green chillies, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp of jeera
1 tbsp of mustard
4 corns of black pepper
5 curry leaves
1/4 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp of turmeric
1/4 tsp of garam masala
salt to taste
oil for cooking
coriander for garnishing

Method:
Boil the toor daal till it is soft and nearly melts into the water. This should take around 30 minutes. Once done allow it to cool. Separate the daal from the water. Mash the daal.
Meanwhile, pour oil into a non-stick pan. Allow it to heat.
Add the jeera and mustard. Follow by adding the pepper corns and curry leaves.
Add the chopped onions and chillies. For for about 3 minutes.
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry a little more.
Add the chopped tomatoes. Fry.
Add the mashed daal. Allow it to boil.
Add the turmeric, garam masala and salt to taste.
Add the coriander for garnishing.
Serve piping hot.

Picture unclear. Title unclear.

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Someone mentioned today that the problem with me is not my work or my ethics. The problem is that I do not know what I am going to be doing tomorrow. True. The picture, honestly, is not quite clear to me. But more than that, i was told that I’m not stong. That I don’t always stand for what I believe in. Rather, I don’t believe very strongly in many things. Particularly, those that are related to my life. Strange, that I have very strong and clear pictures and ideas about how the world should be or what other people should do, and yet at that same time a very poor picture about what I should be or what I should do!

I don’t plan my work. I think, I can do with organizing myself a bit. I’m quite loosely held in terms of my tasks for the day. Lets see, this is day 1. From historical data, not sure if I will even see day 2! Its time to go to sleep. Can I wake up at 0540? Well, when I had to write the J2EE certification, I could! I was OK to sleep for 3½ hours that night.

Or maybe it was just a moment of weakess in which I must have appeared to be miserably disorganised. Or, maybe the picture really isn't clear. Damn. Whatever.

The best trip with my best buddies

We spent about a week in Scotland and another in England. It was Christmas/ NewYear's of Dec2007/Jan'08 and my parents were visiting me. Once they landed at LHR, we spent the first day in the suburbs of London just relaxing and giving them a chance to unwind from the 10 hour long flight.


Next, we took a train to Edinburgh reaching there in the morning. We spent the first day enjoying the tour of the castle and the other attractions on the Royal Mile covering everything on foot right down till Hollyrood Castle. We stayed in Edinburgh that night and rented a car the following morning. We drove around to Linlithgow Castle, Doune and Stirling; explored the Trossachs and the Three Lochs Forest, spent some time at Loch Lomond, met Hamish at Callander and stayed the night at Stirling. The following day, we drove via Glencoe to Ben Nevis, Castle Stalker and then followed the A82 by the side of Loch Ness, spending some time at Fort Agustus and then to Inverness where we just crashed for the night. The next morning we shopped at Inverness (it was Boxing day!) and visited Urquhart Castle before starting our drive through the beautiful Cairngorms, to reach at Dunfermline for the night stay. We returned the car the next day and embarked on our journey to London.


Once back in London, we rented a car again to do a series of day trips around London to Cambridge, Windsor, Hampton Court etc. We used the tube and walked around to get to the usual attaractions: Lords stadium, Wimbledon, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, Greenwich, Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, St. James Park, St. Paul's, etc.


What made this trip the best one was not the beautiful locales were in or the weather, food or culture but the amazing company I had - that of my parents - my most amazing travel buddies from whom I have inherited the travelling bug!