Day 10: Bheja Fry and two other fries

Today was a bheja fry day for me. I was almost certain that I wouldn’t be able to goto Bahraich for this Holi. Thanks to some insensible agitators and the ‘ignorant by choice’ persons in Government, opposition and media.

For the 9^th consecutive day, rail services are severely disrupted on Delhi-Lucknow route due to an agitation in support of a senseless demand of reservation in central jobs by a community.

The govt is mum, opposion is mum and media is mum and now my mum is also mum as she will be celebrating(?) second consecutive Holi without any of her sons.

Anyways, only the vernacular media is covering this story which has affected thousands of travelers.

So these reasons were enough to make my Bheja Fry.

What could I do now. After not doing anything for long(or better say not able to think of doing anything) I decided to do two more Fry. This time it was Dal Fry and Aloo Fry. Perhaps these two fries help to cool my Bheja.

The aloo fry is basically fried potatoes in tadka of Jeera, saunf, rai, onions and Kasoori methi.

The Dal fry is basically Moong Ki Daal with haldi fried in loads of desi ghee with jeera, hing, onions, tomato and garam masala.

Since I was in a bad mood, I was prepared for a YUKK type of food. I don’t know how the food turned out to be … actually .. awesome. With due respect to my wife and mummy, I somehow felt I just had the most wonderful ‘Moong ki Daal’ ever. Or it was just I was too hungry.

You gain experience by mistakes and I had my share of them too: Yesterday I made Sooji ka halwa(sugarfree and with added protein powder) for dinner and breakfast and then my experiencelessness(yes, this is a word) began to show. The end product was sufficient enough for my friends and then I had them for my lunch also. A halwa day I would say.

Now today also I did the same mistake, the volume of the dal was enough for 4-5 persons. :( The rice was, however, just ok. The aloo methi was tasty but the oil in it was just double. Aahh.. The initial excitement seems to be over and looks it would take me ages to learn how much ingredients to take for a particular dish.

Wanted to make rotis but aahh.. the bheja fry had sucked me from inside and couldn’t gather courage for the Rotis. Rice is good dear. And when it is India-gate basmati, then it has to be good.

Remembered a song from a hindi movie of 70’s. “Daal Roti khao, prabhu ke gun gao”.

Those days Dal roti meant having very simple food (or say ordinary). Now when we bought Arhar ki Daal for 110 Rs/kg late last year, I looked back and thought, “Zamana wakai mein badal gaya hai” . In our office cafeteria, Dal fry and roti is a delicacy at Rs 100 per plate(approx). Seems the humble Daal has come a long way in these years, enough to fry our pockets at times.

Day 7: This is Not Paneer

Yes, this is not paneer curry. This is tofu. Looks and tastes somewhat similar to paneer.

No, it was not very tough or time taking to cook. Very similar to paneer curry and then Maggi Bhuna Masala came in very handy. Though I am not a fan of these ready to cook masala mixes but then as you know I have just started to cultivate my culinary skills and am also very slow as of now so these are just used to save some time so that I can write this blog before going to sleep. Promise to avoid these and use more traditional methods when I gather some pace.

I won’t talk any more about the dish pictured, however what I would like to talk is about this paneer like thing TOFU.

Paneer is used mostly in the Indian subcontinent only. A very good source of protein and also very versatile. one can cook more than 100 dishes of it. On the other hand we Indians were never very fond of Soya based foods. The soyabeen dal has mostly been used as a fodder and also has always been considered a very ‘heavy’ dal which many having week stomachs would always avoid.

The Chinese, however, were always a fan of soyabean in general and Tofu in particular. So in essence both these ancient civilizations have been having some kind of Paneer, one milk based and one Soya based.

Tofu is made from by coagulating soya milk. And how do we make soya milk. Think. Very simple, grind soaked soyabean seeds with water and blend well. Soya milk is ready.

In past few years, Soya milk and based products are continuing their war to replace regular milk and milk products. We Indians, who swear by anything having paneer in it, have till recently avoided soya based foods(especially tofu). The trend is changing now, very slowly, though. Lifestyles are changing and the risk of cholesterol is higher now than ever. So people who don’t do much physical labour, have to have some thing that reduces their cholesterol intake without disturbing their stubborn taste buds. First we saw Nutralite butter (Though not butter but made from vegetable oils) giving a good competition to amul and now this tofu thing.

There may be many reasons why people buy or why they should or shouldn’t buy tofu, I use it only for following reasons, I don’t like packaged paneer, don’t get shudh paneer always in my neighbourhood, get tofu easily in a nearby mall and also this tofu has a longer shelf life. Also, since tofu is more porous than paneer, it absorbs all the spices and flavor of the food and becomes more tasty.

I often try to try new things and tofu was a successful try.

Some suggestions: Always look for date of packing and try to buy fresh . Also look that its not masala one, just plain tofu. Though very similar to paneer, it needs one extra step before being ready to cook. Cut it in pieces, soak in normal water for 10-15 minutes, squeeze water and soak again for five minutes. Sometimes, there may be some strange odour coming out it but don’t worry, all is well, just repeat the above step one or two more times.

No judgements here. Nothing can ever beat Makkhan or Paneer. They are timeless treasure of Indian cooking. But as we change our lifestyles and spend 10-12 hrs of our day in front of this screen, leaving no room for some exercise, the least we can do is to avoid cholesterol. So replacing a part of our regular butter and paneer with nutralite and tofu can be a first significant step here.

Day 6: The Day of Fast Food

Good evening!

So five days of torture was too much for me. I took a break and went to KFC with a friend. Seeing too many people lined up there for their tray of ‘fast-food’ I thought that this concept of Videshi fast food that our generations has grown up eating is just 15, or 20 yrs old, pioneered by the very humble 2-minute-noodles. We were always told that fast food is BAD still we all loved that.

In the morning I was scanning my kitchen I found makki ka Sattu, which was getting a bit old. So I roasted it in microwave, mixed malai, milk and a li’l sugar to make a paste and had it for the brunch. It kept me full for the day.

Now before many of us start wondering, let me tell you this Sattu thing is one of oldest fast foods still ruling many hearts. Sattu is a very popular food in east UP, bihar, Jharkhand, and some other eastern states.

It is a very simple food. Take any cereal, roast it well, grind it and your Sattu is ready. There may be many variations but basically Sattu is flour of roasted cereals rather than that of raw cereals of which our regular flours are made.

The origin of name Sattu: Sattu was originally Seven Anaaj (seven cereals, millets and pulses) - locally pronounced Sat-anjaa, later transformed to Sattu.

The 7 Ingredients of Sattu are:

1. Makai - maize
2. Jo - barley
3. Chana - gram
4. Arahar - pigeon pea or Toor Daal as we call in Delhi
5. Matar - grean peas
6. Khesari - This dal is not commonly found these days in the market as some researches have proved it to be causing some deseases.
7. Kurthi- This dal too is not commonly found these days in the market but mostly used by tribals. (Some inputs taken from wikipedia)

The most popular one is chane ka Sattu. Full of proteins and easy to digest. As a matter of fact since all the types of Sattu are made mostly from daals, they ought to be nutritious.

Apart from eating it as I had in the morning, there are numerous ways to use Sattu. It’s a very versatile food. The most popular is Baati as in Baati-chokha.(Not to confused by its other cousin from Rajasthan where only atta is used and no Sattu). Think of it. Baati is made in either Eastern India(Baati Chokha) or in Western(Daal Baati Churma) and perhaps nowhere else in India(even if made somewhere else, it will be because of the migrants from these two areas). The only common thing between these two Baatis is that a lot of ghee is used to enhance their taste.

In ‘Eastern’ Baati, Sattu is mixed with some spices(mainly the bharwa mircha) and finely chopped onions and is stuffed in the Baati and roasted on very low flame(Historically Kande ki aag) and eaten with loads of ghee and aloo-pyaaz ka chokha(or Bharta as many would say).

The second dish which I am very fond of is Sattu ka Paratha. Just the most awesome thing I ever had. My wife had never heard of Sattu before marriage. And when I introduced her to this humble roasted thing, it became an instant hit in our kitchen and now I get these Parathas every week.(a complete recipe can be found at http://www.thetastesofindia.com/sattu-ka-parantha/)

One other use is Sattu Ka Sharbat. In hot summers it’s a drink which really cools you from inside. Remember that though the soft drinks that we regularly take throughout summer are cool(in temperature) and refreshing(mostly because of caffeine), their effect on body is hot. Their ‘taseer’ is hot. However, this Sattu ka Sharbat has a cooling ‘taseer’. The best Sattu for this purpose if Jo(barley) ka Sattu. In the hot summer of 2004, I was in Karol Bagh, waiting to meet someone and was exhausted with heat, when I saw a thela selling Sarttu Ka Sharbat (Rs 2 per glass). That 2 Rs stuff saved me from a possible heatstroke that day. (Recipes here http://rasoiya.com/component/rapidrecipe/sattu-soda-drink.html and http://www.rasoia.com/component/rapidrecipe/sattu-drink-salty.html)

Lets end this post with a story my father told me some 15-20 yrs ago.

In older days(30-40 yrs old) many people on their pilgrimage carried Sattu with them and ate it with fresh radishes whenever they felt hungry(eco tourism: ecological and economical ;) ) One foreigner watched them closely and reported this on returning back: “In India there is so much poverty that people eat earth, but as they are not able to swallow it, they push it back with a stick”

Good Night.

Day 5:Thank God it’s Friday!!!

Thank God it’s Friday!!!

We IT people literally live for and on weekends.

Anyways, let’s talk about what I did today. It was 5^th day and still many of my colleagues were surprised at me cooking all my meals. Some friends who read my last post were also very supportive.

Ok let’s come back to the place of action: My 6X10 kitchen, where I do my part time job of being a full time ‘Grihasth’. Today also I didn’t have any veggies or some soaked rajma/chana etc so I decided to try once again the first dish that I ever learnt: egg bhujia. I was in class 3 when mummy taught me this. I was a fussy eater in my childhood and wouldn’t eat anything(the kind of kids you see in complain ads), except aloo ki bhujia and egg bhujia. Kids are just strange; why they like some food and don’t like some other is totally unpredictable.

The recipe is as simple and easy as ABC(exactly what I learnt in class 3):

Heat some oil in pan, add some jeera and finely chopped onions with salt. Fry till they turn pink, as if blushing in anticipation of meeting the yellow yolks. Add the eggs(of course without the shell) and keep on frying on a simmer flame till its ready.

Sometimes we see that not adding many ingredients and keeping the dish simple really helps. Simple onions and eggs when fried on a low flame for some time give you amazing taste.Missed green coriander(Dhania) though.

Now come to the second part: the rotis. Since I generally have parathas in lunch in office(reason disclosed in last post), many ask me if I can make round rotis and also if they become a true phulka. Well I cant say much except adding some pics.

My grocery stock is running out. My wife left here only that much so that I can only experiment. Who knew that I would actually be cooking? So heading tomorrow to Big Bazaar to buy some rajma, Arise Rice, ginger garlic paste and some other stuff. I have no issues with fresh gingers and garlics, but as I told you, I am really slow right now and need some boosters.

Have a great weekend.

Day 4: How it all started

A strange title for the first post a new blog.
Well, 4 days ago i never new i would be writing this post.
So first a little background:
My family and friends know that I and Vandana are expecting later this month. So last weekend we visited her parents place in Kota and now for the next 3-4 months she will be away.(Some time in kota and then in bahraich and again some time in kota; i will be visiting her frequently though)
So in effect it will be a 'Wife bina life' for the next few months.

Let me tell you that i am a very lazy and unorganized kind of person when it comes to home. I never like to keep things in place and though i know a lot of recipes and used to help mummy when i was with her(good 12 yrs ago), i just hate being in kitchen or trying something to cook. Whenever my wife was away in the last 2 yrs, it was just a small 5 day block in 2month's time. So i would eat out or have some maggi rather than cooking a good meal.

This time i had no option; i cannot live on maggi or dhaba food for 4 months.
I told this intention to my wife some two weeks ago(that i would be regularly cooking all my meals for the next 3-4 months). She was so astonished as if i am a chain smoker and have decided to quit smoking.(For the record, i am not).
Anyways, she was planning to finish off all the groceries before going and then i broke the news. Still she tried her best to make the kitchen and all the containers easy for me to use. She still doesn't believe that its the 4th day that i have cooked my breakfast dinner and supper.
Day1:
I came back to Ghaziabad Monday morning and directly went to office.
In the evening i scanned the kitchen found only 3-4 potatoes in the name of veggies. No onion, garlic, ginger or chillies. Also some chakki ka ata(some mix type of wheat, gram, bajra etc) and oils/ghee. So i just made aloo ki bhujia and rotis for the dinner and a few parathas for the lunch next day. Cooking alone seemed to be a herculean task for me, forget about making different stuff for both the meals. So home-foils came in handy; packed all the parathas in them kept in the fridge; also some aloo ki bhujia. Sounds good. huh.
Well, men are bad at multitasking, even more when they are in kitchen. But i decided to try. On one burner, there was this aloo and on the other the great indian breads. OF COURSE you know what happened. After i burned a layer of aloo and one paratha, i switched myself to singlethreaded mode(m bad in multithreaded programming too). So rest of the parathas were fine(read Unburnt).
I had a great interest in geography in my schooldays, never knew my food will also love it.
The parathas looked like map of India and Rotis like Punjab da Naksha. Please leave the aloo now: it performed at its best without his best friend Pyaaz and couldn't do better with only jeera and saro ka tel.

I was happy that i cooked a complete meal afterall. If it was not a good supper, it wasn't bad either.
Next day in lunchtime i got some good reviews with colleagues. May they were as surprised as my wife and trying to encourage me or was me the 'andho me kana raja'.

Day2:
In the evening i bought onions(Missed them badly) and a cauliflower(why, i don't know). Now since this cauliflower was more than enough for me, i decided to give the regular aloo-gobhi a miss and tryout only Gobhi. This time i did one intelligent thing. I called my wife and ask her to dictate me all the steps. Got some surprises also.(Like, i never knew that tomatoes were forst roasted and then peeled off and then used in a sookhi sabji). This time also, i tried to to do multithreading and crashed the code, I mean the most round roti.

Day3:

Searched for rajma and found a little of them. No good for a meal. Also found some chana and some badiyan(made by my naniji). Badiya were easy to make fry them and then cook with potatoes(Oh how reliable you are.). They came out to be good, can't say how, but it was good. Perhaps naniji ki badiyan can never be made BAD.

Soaked the chanas in water for Day 4. Wanted to make chhola.

Today:

Was feeling sleepy all afternoon so couldn't gather courage for Ataa marhna. Then thought of the easiest to make thing:Rice. Also Rice would go well with chhole. boiled them and cooked with the thick amalgamation of onions and tomatos. All was going well when i realised that i had missed some thing. Yes: Salt. Also it looked to me that the color is turning out to be very dull. Well if the chhole don't look good, they won't be tempting. I found Kashmere mirch powder. Heard somewhere that this is for color only and is NOT hot, so i used it generously and the texture came to an acceptable level. But as they say, dont trust everything you hear, i should have asked my experienced wife.
The chholes are now HOT, red Hot.


Though there are some blunders everyday, i am enjoying it. It gives me a sense of gratification which i earlier got when i clicked some good pic(More on this in some other blog). But there are some factors helping me out here;
1. A well maintained kitchen by Vandana.
2. A maid to do the cleaning(without which i would have never ventured into it).
3. The TV serails Wife Bina Life and Mrs tendulkar gave me a confidence that i can also be in Kitchen. I have seens just a couple of episodes and now plan to skip them as i have found some better way to kill my time.
4. The temperature: feb, march, oct and nov are best months to be in kitchen.
5. A thought that the worst food made by me would be more nourishing and less contaminated than whatever i eat out.
6. Working in kitchen everyday increases my respect to all woman in general and my mother and wife in particular. This is one the toughest job in the world.


A long blog for today. Promise to make it short and crisp from now on.

Good nite.

P.S. All readers are requested to post their feedback and suggestions on how i can improve upon in kitchen. This will greatly help me out. My greatest helper/supporter is a bit far away so your help will be deeply appreciated.