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Recipe: Getting The Green Light – Green Moong Dhokla

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If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may not be surprised to hear me say that green moong is my favourite among lentils (you may know it as mung bean, green gram or pachai payiru). As you’d have seen, I’m so in love with its versatility that it’s found a place in recipes as diverse as this crunchy teatime snack and in this deeply filling meal-in-a-bowl. With Republic Day this weekend, honouring the Indian constitution, I thought of how to best honour a different kind of Indian constitution – and once again, the humble yet power-packed mung bean was what came to mind.

Green is one of the three stripes of the tricolour and greenness is something that I think we need and must celebrate in this country. It’s a colour that evokes fecundity, growth and serenity. In my previous post, I talked about the harvest festival Sankranti. As a farm-owner, and someone very invested in using the goods of my garden in my kitchen, “green” is a way of life for me. I hope that this year will be good for farms and farmers everywhere, for political calmness, and for harmony and oneness with nature.

The recipe I am sharing today is for green moong dhokla – a healthy, fermented, steamed dish that can be eaten as a main course, a snack or an accompaniment. Soft and flavourful, a dhokla is so ubiquitously Gujarati that it’s a stereotype. I’ve literally heard people say “Dhokla!” when they hear what my ethnicity is. We have so many varieties, and my personal favourite is actually the buckwheat kind which is eaten on Agyaras, the eleventh day of each month which is traditionally observed by Gujarati Vaishnavites as a relaxed fast during which no grains or salt are consumed, but buckwheat, fruits, yams, potatoes and the like are allowed. I’m not one for fasting, but I always look forward to having some dhokla when I’m around someone who is!

Once again, it was my sister who taught me how to make this – one more classic item from the Gujarati cuisine that she learnt after getting married, just like this til-ka-chikki. She has a knack for making it in practically a snap of the fingers – often, I’d ask for a plate of green moong dhokla, go downstairs for a bit, and come up to see it was already prepared.

This green moong dhokla is eye-catching thanks to its colour, which is always a great way to get kids to eat something that’s good for them. As you may remember from earlier posts, moong is extremely nutritious. It is a great source of fibre, potassium, manganese, folate and various vitamins and minerals. They are also an excellent source of protein, and I would say crucial to a vegetarian or vegan diet. They are known to lower blood pressure and sugar levels, prevent heat stroke, aid digestion, reduce the risk of cardiac disease, and possibly assist in weight loss.

A dhokla could be described as a kind of savoury sponge cake, steamed rather than baked. Every kind of dhokla is delicious, in my opinion. But as a Gujarati, I’m biased. Why don’t you try this version and tell me what you think?

Green Moong Dhokla

(Yield: 15-20 pieces)

1 cup green moong (mung beans)

½ teaspoon ground green chilli paste

1 teaspoon ginger paste

2+2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup coriander leaves

½ cup capsicum

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon eno powder

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

A few curry leaves

Salt to taste

Grated coconut (optional)

 

Soak the green moong overnight. In the morning, rinse the moong, remove the water and put the beans in a blender along with salt, coriander leaves, ginger paste and green chilli paste. You may need to add approximately a ½ cup of water to allow it to grind well. The The consistency of the batter needs to be a little thicker than that of pancake, or in other words, like idly batter.

Now, add 2 tablespoons of oil, and the lemon juice and finely cut capsicum to the batter.

Grease a plate and keep ready. Now, add eno fruit salt to the batter and mix gently. Pour the batter onto the greased plate, cover it and steam for 15 minutes. Below, you can see a traditional Gujarati dhokla cooker which my mom gave to me. I believed it was a part of her own wedding gifts. I’d forgotten that I’d had it and could use it. It’s still in perfect condition, and so compact and ideal. You can also see how it allows for cooking in layers.

Once steamed, remove the plate and allow the dhokla to cool. Cut into a desired shape. Square or rectangular pieces are the standard. I’ve done diamonds here.

In a small pan, add the remaining oil and the cumin and mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. Once they start to splutter, add the curry leaves. Then, pour these over the cut dhokla. Garnish with coriander leaves and some grated coconut.

The green moong dhokla is now ready to serve. Spongy, spicy, and so very nice on the eyes with that gorgeous matcha cake colour. Like I said: have a piece as a snack, a couple as a side dish, or polish off the plate and call it a full meal. But honestly, I’d be surprised if you can stop at just one. These light, fluffy but very flavourful dhoklas demand to be devoured!

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Recipe: Indian Ishtyle – Vegan Masala Milk

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When I was growing up, it was believed in every Indian home that milk provided everything that a child’s developing body needed. Proteins, minerals, the works. This was true to an extent, of course, as milk contains an impressive range of nutrients that the human body needs. There were no fancy gyms back then, but I have fond memories of my siblings and friends and I going to the club and rowing. You needed to have strength to row, and being a vegetarian family, my mum made dairy a big priority so that our fitness and wellness needs were met. We consumed milk fresh and on its own, but also with Bournvita or Complan at different times to keep us going through the day or before going to bed. Coffee and tea were seldom given to children, and in Gujarati households were practically taboo to the point that I did not drink tea until after I was married. But milk was had aplenty. And when winters came around, my mother would prepare a special masala milk loaded with nutty goodness. With almonds, pistachios and good old milk, we had what would be called the perfect protein shake today.

Although I’m now a proponent of this protein-rich pudding that I devour each morning after my workout, I felt sentimental about this simple, nutty masala milk from my childhood days. I then remembered that my mother used to be particularly keen on us having this instead of regular milk during winters, so that we were more fortified. Although Chennai doesn’t experience winter like you may know it, it does rain a lot and kids certainly fall ill during this time. But for us, the Indian “ishtyle” masala milk was just a treat. In some ways, this beverage was our version of a hot chocolate, which is why I share the recipe with you as a Christmas drink.

Second to milk, most Indians still believe that dried fruits and nuts are the best source of protein. Obviously, our ancestors already knew the nutrient values that others are only discovering now. Nowadays, thanks to a growing health consciousness, instead of the customary mithai exchange during festive occasions, we have taken to exchanging pretty parcels of fruits and nuts with well-wishers. As you may know, I use both generously in my muesli, one of re:store’s bestsellers. My mother used nuts to make this masala, but I’ve taken it a step further…

I also feel that the milk we had when we were younger was much less adulterated. Cows were treated better, and most of all, we had the sense that we could trust what we were buying. But milk has nothing to do with the recipe I am sharing with you today, despite its status as a crucial part of my childhood version of this beverage. As you know, I often experiment with vegan ingredients as many of re:store’s clientele enjoy them. So here’s my own twist to my mother’s trusted recipe. Not only is this masala milk vegan, but I also share how to make vegan milk rather than rely on a store-bought product. This way, you can ensure that what you and your family consume is of the best quality.

Vegan Masala Milk

(Yield: 2-3 cups)

Ingredients

Nutty Milk Masala

1 cup whole almonds

1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios

2 pinches saffron

10 pods cardamom

Vegan Milk

¾ cup cashew nuts

1 cup hot water

1 teaspoon milk masala (or more)

2 teaspoons honey (or sweetener of your choice – dates, maple syrup or sugar)

Begin by preparing the nut-based masala, and set it aside. All these ingredients should remain dry until they are added to the milk. You can prepare a larger quantity so you can store and use it later. My mother would make a batch at a time and just blend it into (regular) milk when it was serving time.

Peel the cardamom and add to the remaining ingredients: saffron, pistachios and almonds. Blend. You can make this powder as coarse or as fine as you prefer. If you would like a crunchy taste to your masala milk – which also tastes amazing – you can hand-pound the ingredients instead of using a blender. Store in a clean glass jar and use as required.

Then, make the vegan milk itself. As those of you familiar with vegan diets know, soy, seeds, or almonds or other nuts are the usual source. In this case, I have used cashew nuts. Soak the cashew nuts in water for about 3 hours. Then, remove the water that was used for soaking. Add the hot water, and blend the nuts until they are thick and creamy. If you prefer the consistency to be thinner, add more hot water. Voila – vegan milk! If you’ve ever wondered what it is, you now know how easy it is to make.

Once the vegan milk has been well blended, add the masala prepared earlier and stir. Serve in small cups. I find this vegan milk masala to be very filling and heavy, so I prefer small portions. Sweeten as per your liking.

What I love about this recipe is that it has a bit of novelty to it, as well as a bit of nostalgia. Just perfect for Christmas time, especially if you’re watching your diet this year – don’t you think?

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Recipe: Cool And Complex – Banana-Mustard-Cucumber Raita

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As I may have said a few times before: I’m very, very fond of yoghurt! Ever since childhood, it’s been an absolute requirement for me that every meal must contain yoghurt in some form. As I most often consume traditional Indian (particularly my native Gujarati) cuisines, this doesn’t require me to stretch my imagination or change my palate in any way. You may also recall that my yoghurt is homemade. It is made from a small amount of curd culture saved from the previous pot-full, allowed to set overnight, and consumed delicious and fresh every day.

I find that yoghurt enhances and adds flavour, and depending on how it is made can also add textures and tastes that go beyond what you imagine curd can do. Because it is such a staple in Indian homes, you will find that there are unique systems of making it that depend entirely on the people there. Even a religious view plays a role. For example, my mom’s home is Vaishnav and my in-laws are Jain. So the latter use onions and garlic very sparingly, whereas these were not restricted while I was growing up. The recipes I learnt in both homes were different. So although yoghurt is a vital part of the diet in both my homes, this particular dish is something I learnt after getting married.

From various previous posts, you would know about the Gujarati thaali, the set meal that contains a little bit of every flavour and texture. So you’d be familiar with raita, the thin yoghurt condiment that adds a bit of coolness of the meal, and helps with digestion. Raita is eaten throughout the subcontinent, in dozens of variants. For instance, an onion or kara boondi raita goes perfectly paired with a biryani, adding crunch as well. I have fond memories of long, lazy Sunday lunches during which I’d reach for more helpings of my mother-in-law’s banana-mustard-cucumber raita. I’m delighted to share the recipe for this simple but complexly flavoured dip today.

Banana, as you may remember from this banana-methi fritters recipe is a powerhouse of a fruit, packed with nutrients. It’s also a natural sweetener, and you know how Gujaratis love our sweets. In every kind of dish, you’ll find either jaggery or banana, or both! The sweetness of the banana in this raita naturally offsets the bitterness of the cucumber, which is another powerhouse. Cucumbers have a high water content, aiding rehydration, and are rich in potassium, magnesium and fibre. Adding a touch is spice is the mustard, which is a great source of selenium, zinc and calcium and known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Let me let you in on a secret – I never use the grinder to grind mustard as I don’t like the taste. Instead, I use the rolling pin that we use for rotlis. It’s lovely how such simple and clever innovations happen in the kitchen. I love picking up such techniques.

The flavours and textures of the three, as different as they are, blend very well in the yoghurt base: the banana soft and sweet, the mustard sharp, and the cucumber crunchy.

 

Banana-Mustard-Cucumber Raita

(Yield: 2-3 cups)

 

Ingredients

Raita:

2 cups plain yoghurt

1 cup finely cut banana

½ cup cut cucumber

1 tablespoon finely cut coriander leaves

1 ½ teaspoons mustard seeds

1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

Salt to taste

 

Seasoning:

½ teaspoon sunflower oil

¼ teaspoon whole mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

 

Take the mustard seeds and crush them using any simple method that you use at home. As I said above, I use a rolling pin and board, the same as I use to make rotlis. This crushes the seeds just the way I like it – not too fine, but uneven and broken. You can use the hand pounder too, if you prefer. Crush and set aside.

Place the yoghurt in a bowl and beat well until there are no lumps and the yoghurt is smooth. Now add the salt, cumin powder and crushed mustard powder. The fresh flavour is the key element to this raita.

Now, add the banana, cucumber and coriander leaves. Mix well.

Then, prepare the seasoning. Pour the oil into a small pan. Once hot, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Wait till the seeds splutter, then pour over the raita. Decorate by sprinkling some chili powder for colour, along with some roasted cumin powder and some finely cut coriander leaves.

As I said earlier, there are numerous other kinds of raita, enjoyed all over India. And while I’m nostalgic for my mother-in-law’s Sunday lunch raita, this banana-mustard-cucumber combination I’ve shared above, the current favourite in my home is in fact the sweet and crunchy pomegranate raita. Do you have a variant that you make often? I’d love to know what you think of mine in the comments.

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Recipe: South India Meets The Middle East – Curry Leaf & Green Chilli Hummus

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With the festival of Navaratri coming up, when chickpeas are served to guests in many homes in a simple dish called sundal, I had the humble legume on my mind once again. Only this time, I felt inspired to pair it with another ingredient that’s an essential in every South Indian home: the curry leaf. With the occasional rains we are enjoying in Chennai at the moment, my curry leaf bush has been in full bloom. And when I have so much in my garden or farm, you know that it usually tends to go straight into my kitchen. I took these two local ingredients and put them together in a fusion dish: curry leaf and green chilli hummus.

Hummus is a Middle Eastern dish that is a part of daily cuisines in that part of the world, and is usually eaten with breads. It’s also popular everywhere as a party snack, a perfect dip for everything from sliced vegetables to skewered meat. I’ve tasted a lot of beetroot hummus, so I knew that the basic puree lends itself well to flavourings. That’s when my curry leaves caught my eye.

Also known as “sweet neem”, curry leaf is an ingredient that we almost take for granted in our Indian kitchens. Tempered or fresh sprigs are thrown into curries, the powder is eaten with rice, and so on. It adds flavour to so many dishes that it’s just a ubiquitous part of our cooking. With a range of health benefits, including antioxidant and anti-diabetic properties, it’s no wonder that our ancestors incorporated it into as many meals as they could.  Now that I grow curry leaves in my own home, I have been learning a little about the plant too. Did you know that the tiny berries, which are not used in cooking, are actually high in Vitamin C – but that their seeds are poisonous?

Long ago, my hummus attempts would be so mediocre that a good friend would send me tubs as I so enjoyed the dish. Over time, I learned how to make it and stopped depending on those shipments, just as I stopped depending on store-bought cakes and even began to experiement with homegrown ingredients. Trial and error is the key to learning, and by studying different recipes and adding my own touches, I finally arrived on a version I loved.

The main ingredient in hummus is the humble chickpea, which is a staple not only in the Middle East but all over India in its many forms. It’s eaten boiled for a healthy snack, powdered and roasted and used as a binder, and known by so many names – puttukadalai, chana dal, kabuli (did this come to us by way of Kabul, I wonder?), chole and so on. Abroad, you may know this legume as garbanzo beans. The darker variants have a higher iron content, while the chana dal I use for thus hummus is rich in protein and fibre, thus filling you quickly and also aiding weight loss. It is known to lower cholesterol and diabetic risk, and also has high zinc and folate content.

The traditional hummus has a bland, though satisfying, taste. I thought of how I could kick it up a notch. That’s when I decided to add the equally ubiquitous green chilli, which is rich in Vitamin C, great for digestion – and very piquant!

Tahini, which is made of ground white sesame, and olive oil round out the Middle Eastern flavours. Fortunately, these are widely available at good supermarkets in India and other countries. I used some wonderful olive oil I picked up in Portugal recently, which will be featuring in my blog soon.

The day after I made this curry leaf and green chilli hummus at home, I went to Goa and to my delight, my good friend the designer Wendell Rodricks served the very same dish in his home! I squealed! The coincidence was just too thrilling, and I wanted to share my recipe immediately, so you too can serve it soon.

Curry Leaf & Green Chilli Hummus

(Yield: 1 bowl)

 

Ingredients

1¼ cups cooked/boiled chickpeas

3-4 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup washed curry leaves

1 green chilli

Water

 

In a blender, add the curry leaves and green chilli with 2 tablespoons of water. Blend until you get a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Next, blend the soft cooked chickpeas along with garlic, tahini, salt, half the olive oil and lemon juice.  Blend well until the paste is smooth and looks creamy.

Now, add the blended curry leaf paste to the creamy chickpeas and whir once again until it all mixes well. Adjust the salt and lemon quantities to suit your taste.

If you feel it needs to be creamier, add more water or olive oil to the blend, until it achieves a dip-like consistency.

The curry leaf hummus is now ready to serve. You can have it the traditional way, with flatbreads, whether that’s the Middle Eastern pita or the North Indian naan. Or some healthy quinoa chips, for a wholesome snack. Crunchy vegetables like carrot or celery sticks, toasties, or rice crisps (to keep that South Indian sensibility) are also excellent accompaniments. With a mildly yet surprisingly flavourful curry leaf hummus like this – it’s the dip that’s the main dish, not the accompaniment!

And if you just can’t get enough of that flavour, why not try my curry leaf and raw mango cooler as well?

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Recipe: Mixing It Up – Indian Veg Millet Salad

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I enjoy the creative challenges of coming up with innovative dishes, and salads are a category I worked on happily during the earlier stages of re:store’s journey. Before turning my focus more intently towards baking and photography, I used to take orders for salads. The orders generally came from people who were fitness-focused or preferred to eat smaller meals at work. But that was no reason to eat the same thing every day. So I planned menus of 10-15 salads, rotating them every 3 months.

The salads were inspired by so many cuisines, and people I met, and using a schedule was also something new for me. Before going into business, I’d usually just throw whatever was on hand into a salad. Another thing I learnt was that keeping veggies fresh in India was not easy when they weren’t consumed immediately. Especially when the salad travelled from the re:store kitchen to another’s home, and then commuted with them to their office. So if I put in a fancy leafy vegetable, by the time the customer opened the container at their desk at lunchtime, it would have started to look and taste different. Through trial and error, I figured out ways to use only local and seasonal produce in my salad experiments.

Another thing I don’t believe in is using store-bought dressings, so I made them all from scratch, matching each one to the ingredients used. Naturally, I am also very particular about the hygienic handling of raw vegetables, so I always prepared salads only on the day of delivery.

We often think of salads as a part of Western cuisine, but they are often found in Indian cuisines as well. Whether it’s a home-cooked Gujarati meal or a South Indian one, some kind of raw, cut veggies will be served. While a vegetable smoothie may be a great way to substitute an unhealthy beverage, there are benefits to salads that go beyond taste. God made vegetables crunchy because they are meant to be eaten that way – it all begins by using the teeth and jaw muscles!

The Gujarati word for salad is “kachumber”, and while my recipe contains very diverse ingredients, at its core you could consider it an update on the traditional one. You know how much I love millets, and this salad uses foxtail millet as a base, for substance as much as for its many superfood properties. All the ingredients are available locally and inexpensively. I sometimes use sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin, but the latter are more authentically Macrobiotic here. Even the green peas come from Ooty, not so far away from me at all.

I’d love to share with you some nostalgia about salads and childhood, but let me be honest. Like many people, I often refused to eat vegetables growing up – but now look me, advocating for them!

 

Indian Veg Millet Salad

(Yield: 1 bowl)

Ingredients

Salad

120 grams cooked foxtail millet

½ cup steamed green peas

1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots

¼ cup cucumber

¼ cup finely cut raw mango

A handful of pomegranate arils

A few sprigs of fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves

 

Dressing

2 tablespoons sweet lime juice

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon olive oil

A pinch of pepper

Salt to taste

Place all the fresh ingredients in a beautiful bowl. I have mentioned the quantity of the vegetables – however, you can eyeball the amount and decide for yourself how much you want to use. And of course, innovate. Add or delete ingredients depending on your fridge stock. You could even use any other millet if that suits you.

In a small jar, add all the ingredients for the dressing. Shake vigorously. Pour on the salad before serving and mix together till the dressing coats all the vegetables.

That’s all there is to it. A citrusy, profoundly simple dressing lifts the flavours of an unusual but deeply Indian salad. You have the sweetness of pomegranate, the tartiness of raw mango, the crunchiness of seeds and more. A medley of textures. Just mix it all up! I hope you’ll enjoy this easy recipe from the “salad days” of re:store, excuse the pun!

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Recipe: 3+1 Overnight Oats – Post-Workout Pudding

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At 8am every morning, I make a beeline from my trainer to my kitchen, open the fridge and devour a big bowl of my 3+1 overnight oats. This post-workout, protein-rich pudding replenishes my body and keeps me from taking a bite out of anything that gets in my way, including the Dark Prince’s head! Fortunately for him and for me both, this wonderful pudding is always waiting for me in the morning. Chilled, nutritious and oh so filling. My starvation ebbs away. And I am prepared for my day.

I’ve been exercising ever since my firstborn, and I am obsessed with staying fit and healthy both emotionally and physically. Over the years, I have developed a clockwork diligence with regards to my fitness regime. I supplement this by eating good, home-cooked food, as you know from this blog. I find that a strict diet is not necessary, as long as you eat fresh food, made cleanly and with nutritious ingredients.

I also listen to my body. For instance, when I feel lazy or lethargic, I know I have overeaten. All of us have this capacity. We just have to stay aware, especially as we get older, and listen to what our bodies tell us about how they feel, what they need, and how to address it. Some of this is also a part of my Macrobiotics training, and there are easy ways to incorporate some of those methods into daily life.

Whether you have an intense exercise regime or not, what you have for breakfast has a huge effect on your productivity for the rest of the day. This brings us back to the power pudding that I eat every day. Replenishing protein is my key need, as a gym enthusiast, and I always look for innovative and creative ways to bring more of it into my diet. I hit the jackpot with this delicious – and indeed, decadent! – 3+1 overnight oats.

This pudding is built on just three basic ingredients, which need to be refrigerated overnight. All you need are oats, milk and chia seeds. These are the key elements. Beyond this, you tweak the recipe based on your own tastes, seasonal availability and so on. You can use any type of milk you choose, be it vegan almond or soy milk, skimmed milk, slim milk, coconut milk or good old regular milk.

The +1 for me is usually a fruit. I reach for dates, bananas and berries through the year, and when I have them on hand, any lovely summer fruit. As you can imagine, based on the proliferation of mango recipes on this blog every summer, they were a frequent recent addition to my morning pudding this year. Every fruit has its own range of benefits, as well as sweetening or adding texture to the pudding. You could also add honey or maple syrup if you want to sweeten it. And for an extra boost, mix in protein powder, spirulina powder or açaí powder.

Whatever you choose to add to the base of three ingredients, it becomes a full and wholesome breakfast. With carbs, protein, fruit sugars and the additional goodness of an extra handful of nuts or other ingredient of your preference, a serving of this pudding is perfect to get you through the entire morning. And it’s so creamy and tasty that it’s like having dessert for breakfast!

3+1 Overnight Oats

(Yield: 2 cups)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons oats

1½ teaspoons chia seeds

1 cup milk of your choice

½ cup fruit of your choice

It’s very important that you make this pudding the night before you plan to consume it, as it needs time to set. Simply blend all the ingredients and pour into 2 cups. Garnish with nuts, if desired, and refrigerate. Don’t forget to add the protein, açaí, spirulina or other healthy powder if you wish to.

Enjoy it the following morning, right after your workout or before your busy day starts. If you have a very sweet tooth, like I do, you may add 1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup before you eat it.

This 3+1 overnight oats pudding is one of the healthiest breakfasts you can have, regardless of how demanding your schedule is. It is also, hands-down, one of the tastiest. Give it a try as a replacement for your current breakfast dish, and tell me how it works for you!

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Recipe: A Story From The School Lunchbox – Spinach Rice

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When my daughter was in school, I would send her off every day with a lunchbox that contained as much variety as possible. Whether it was noodles, pizza or something else, I always made her something delicious – but with a healthy twist. Her best friend, a girl from Andhra Pradesh, brought her mother’s spinach rice in her own lunchbox every day. And the girls would exchange lunchboxes. My daughter loved that traditional spinach rice, and her best friend couldn’t get enough of my cooking experiments! When I discovered what was going on, I simply started packing extra of whatever I sent her, so both girls could eat more of our homemade meals.

Recently, this friend visited us, and the girls sat with me and reminisced about the good old days of their childhoods. Soon, they got to talking about the lunchbox swaps, and my daughter was nostalgic, saying how much she missed that spinach rice. As it is made of affordable and readily available ingredients, some variation of spinach rice is a staple in households all over the country. “Spinach” is an entire category of leafy greens. In South India, there are so many kinds available that certain dishes are matched according to the tastes of each. For instance, in Tamil Nadu, the thick small leaves of paruppu keerai (literally “dhal spinach”) go with dhal, the smaller leaves of siri keerai (“little spinach”) taste good with garlic, and are usually stir-fried with the same, and so on. What is known as dill rice in the West is also a kind of spinach rice here.

Spinach, as the cartoon character Popeye popularised, is great for developing a strong and healthy body. It is a muscle-builder, and packed with vitamins, calcium, antioxidants and other nourishing elements. It’s also collagen-rich, which means your skin and hair benefit from it. It is typically the kind of leafy green that kids resist eating, as some kinds are bitter, which is why I was so happy to find out about my daughter’s lunchbox exchanges long ago!

In my previous post, I mentioned a nifty slicer I picked up on my travels, and while these modern conveniences are much enjoyed, I still trust and hold on to our time-honoured appliances. For instance, I have the traditional Tamil aruvamanai, a hooked grater meant to be used while seated on the floor. The lovely thing about such devices is that they are durable in a way that modern devices, especially plastic ones, just aren’t. While this is mostly part of the décor, I’m not averse to using it when I want to. What better way to recreate a nostalgic dish than by using an antique appliance? I pulled out the old aruvamanai and sliced the spinach leaves for this recipe with it…

 

Spinach Rice

(Yield: 4-5 cups)

Ingredients
1 tomato
1 onion
2 cups spinach leaves
¾ cups raw rice
2 tablespoon mung dal
1 tooth garlic
1 green chilli
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon oil
Salt to taste

In a pressure cooker, add the spinach leaves, mung dal, onion, tomato, turmeric, chili, garlic, salt and 3 cups of water. Allow to cook for 2 whistles. In case you do not want to use a pressure cooker, you may cook the same ingredients covered with a lid on a medium flame, until well-cooked and soft to the touch.

Meanwhile, wash and soak the rice in water.

In a pan, add oil, then the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the washed raw rice.

Now, open the cooled pressure cooker. Add the washed and soaked rice to the spinach and allow them all to cook for two more whistles. The spinach rice is now ready.

Serve hot – or in a lunchbox, for your growing children, who may surprise you with their tastes!

The Telugu cuisine of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is known for being spicy, and the spinach rice recipe above, generously shared by my daughter’s friend’s mother, is no different. My daughter says that it tastes just like she remembered it from school. It’s in the original style, of course, but I must take credit for the most special ingredient – her mother’s love!

 

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Recipe: Loaf of Love – Birthday Banana Bread

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June is my birthday month, which means one word, and a very special one for re:store at that: CAKE! As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother once attended a baking course at a catering institute in Chennai when my siblings and I were still in school. For an entire month, she’d bring home the most delectable samples. We couldn’t wait to get home and eat them! The smells and memories of that adventurous time when she started making all these new desserts for us are still with me, and a huge part of the inspiration behind re:store. During that course was when my mother had started to maintain a cherished notebook of baking recipes, which was gifted to me eventually. One of those recipes is what I’ve pulled out for you today – banana bread.

Growing up, I was not a great fan of the extremely nutritious banana, so this was a great way to make sure I ate it. Bananas have been proven to dramatically reduce the risk of heart disease, thanks to being packed with potassium. They improve the digestive system and are said to be beneficial for everything from asthma to weight loss. They are carb-rich, so they boost energy quickly. They are also naturally sweet, which means any dessert you put them in requires less sugar.

Lately I’ve been nostalgic about my growing years and it led me to dig out some old photos from back then. Here are two: an old studio portrait of my mother, who as you know inspires most of my work, and a shot of me from my teenage years by my dear friend Rags Raghavan, who has taught me a great deal about using the camera. Looking at the portrait of my mother, I feel grateful for how re:store has grown from my imagination into what it is today. My mother was in her 20s when it was taken and was about to be married. She went on to become my first, most important culinary mentor, and still is to this day. I remember days spent after school helping with chores in the kitchen; back then I didn’t realize the values I imbibed would be such an important part of me and my journey with re:store. Many of my cooking methods are identical to those of my mother’s kitchen. Grow your herbs yourself, never waste a morsel, always feed and care for staff, and a bunch of other values and tips. Even today, I pester my mother for traditional Gujarati recipes on my weekly visits, and she happily obliges.

Nowadays, I take so many photos digitally, carefully styling and selecting the best ones. Back then, we had manual cameras, with film rolls that had to be brought from abroad. You couldn’t edit those pictures, and you could not take so many either. My first film camera was a gift from my father-in-law, and my kids and family were my first subjects. I still have a soft spot for the old photography methods. They feel authentic to me in a way that I still try to replicate somehow in my modern shoots.

More than being commercially successful, what matters to me is that I am passionate about what I do. I enjoy styling my shoots so much. I am proud to say I work with pleasure!

Food and photography are two sides of re:store, and two big parts of my heart. So without further ado, here’s my birthday gift to you…

 

Birthday Banana Bread

(Yield: 1 loaf)

Ingredients

150 grams unsalted butter

200 grams sugar

3 eggs

110 ml buttermilk

3 bananas

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

350 grams flour

100 grams walnuts

 

Prepare a 10′ loaf tin, by buttering and dusting with flour.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after every addition. Once the eggs have been blended well, add the bananas and buttermilk.

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Fold into the batter. Now add half the broken walnuts as well.

Using a spatula, blend the batter well once more, then spoon it all into the loaf tin.

Take the remaining finely chopped walnuts and sprinkle on top to decorate.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Allow to cool and remove from tin. Slice and serve with a hot beverage of your preference.

I’ve chosen to share this banana bread recipe with you because while it’s a cake, it’s also one of the healthier desserts you can have. If, like me, you have an eye on your fitness, you certainly won’t feel like you’ve cheated on your diet plan. If you’re a fan of banana and looking for something slightly more decadent, try the deep-fried deliciousness of my banana-methi fritters!

I always think of the recipes on this blog as a gift for those who live far away from my kitchen – if you can’t treat yourself to one of my homemade cakes, you can at least try to make it yourself!

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Recipe: The Riches of the Season – Ripe Mango Rasam

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Come summer, every family in India uses the mango in their daily cooking. It can be found in literally every dish: dals, sabzis (cooked with vegetables), pickles, curries, desserts and more. Everybody wants to get creative with the mango, and why not? With 1,500 varieties said to grow in the country, each one sweeter than the other, we are rightly proud of the fruit and look forward to the season eagerly. The different varieties have such beautiful names too: the neelam in Gujarat, the alphonso in Maharashtra and the nectar-sweet imam pasand of South India are but some. While we are unfortunate to not have the pleasure of berries here, the mango more than makes up for it.

Mangoes are popular globally, though they originated in the Indian subcontinent, and are cultivated everywhere from Andalusia to the Caribbean. They are the national fruit of three countries (India, Pakistan and the Philippines) and the national tree of Bangladesh. I have yet to meet a single person who doesn’t like mangoes!

Even if it wasn’t my national fruit, I would consider it a star among fruits. And it’s the star of a recipe my family has been simply loving this summer: mango rasam. Rasam is a thin, spicy South Indian soup which is usually eaten with rice or consumed as a beverage. This mango rasam is a seasonal staple, and is similar to the fajeto, which is also a staple in the typical Gujarati thaali in summers. A summer thaali comprises of layered rotli, a vegetable, dal, buttermilk, aamras or mango pulp in a bowl, raw mango pickle and fajeto. You’ll notice that half the plate is filled with mango in some form! After such a big fat meal, a siesta is also a part of the traditional lunch!

As you may know, I am all about growing my own produce, and this season I am happy to say I’ve been plucking mangoes in my own backyard. You really have to nurture your garden with love and care, and I am a big believer in spending time there, talking to the plants. They do respond, as I have seen for myself. I have learned how to tend to two variants, the killimooku, so named because it is shaped like a parrot’s beak, and the sindura, which is so sweet it is also known as the honey mango. Looking after these trees is an ongoing process. A few months ago, I used a neem spray to prep them for the harvest season, and learned from an organic farmer how to dig a pit a few feet away from the main trunk and fill it with mulch. Dried leaves, coconut husk, a little soil and other compost ingredients decay into fertiliser, giving the tree nourishment. These methods have really worked, as the bounty of fruit from my garden have proved. I knew a couple of months ago when I saw the young, tender leaves come out that the harvest this year would be good. And so it is.

I was making aamras when the idea for mango rasam came to me. As I squeezed the mango pulp and put the seeds in water, I recalled how my mother – who taught me how to never waste food – uses this water to make fajeto. I decided to make it the South Indian way, with garlic and curry leaves. These are not used in the Gujarati version, which utilises yoghurt.

 

Ripe Mango Rasam

(Yield: 3-4 cups)

Ingredients
Rasam

½ cup ripe mango pulp

½ cup cooked, boiled and mashed toor dal

2 cups water

1 crushed tomato

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 dried red chilies

4 cloves garlic

¼ inch piece of ginger

1 tablespoon tamarind pulp

Salt to taste

Sauté
1 teaspoon oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

A pinch of asafoetida

 

In a pot, mix and stir the mango pulp and dal. I have used the alphonso variant, but you can use any ripe mango. Add the water.  Now add the salt, turmeric, asafoetida, crushed tomato and tamarind pulp.

Crush the cumin, ginger, garlic and black pepper coarsely together. Now add this to the mango pulp mix. Place on the stove and allow to boil for approximately 10 minutes. Do not allow it to over-boil – take it off the stove a minute after it starts to bubble.

Separately, heat the oil. Once it’s hot, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves. Finally, pour this sauté into the pot of boiled rasam. Serve hot with rotlis or rice.

Look at that colour – simply irresistible. Every time I set up a photoshoot, I am dying to finish it so that I can eat whatever I’ve been shooting! All the more so when it’s something that should be eaten hot, like this rasam. There’s a particular joy in the question of whether to eat a little, then shoot, or shoot first and eat later. As I was pouring this vibrant, fragrant rasam into the vessel and styling it for my shoot, I decided I would wait. This time, anyway!

 

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Recipe: Keep Your Cool – Spiced Buttermilk & Homemade Yoghurt

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I must have yoghurt with every single meal – a meal is never complete without it, and I am never full! I have tried over the years to go vegan and all that jazz but my love for yoghurt makes this impossible. I can give up milk, but yoghurt? Never. In fact, I loved it so much as a child that my mother had to ration it – she restricted me to a single cup per meal. But how I loved that one cup!

In South India, we take our yoghurt seriously. It has to be perfect – it should not be too sour, it should not have a thin film on top, and it should be smooth not broken. This is how it must be served at the table – and you can be assured that it is served at every table.

I have a friend in Barcelona who visits me each year and takes back a little bit of the yoghurt culture as a starter to make her own. The temperature, quantity of culture and the quality of the milk are very important. Yet, somehow, yoghurt is also very simple to make, which is why it is made in households every single day without fail. I wish sourdough was as easy to make. If you follow me on Instagram, you’d have seen my attempts and adventures at sourdough on my Instastories!

Traditionally, in my home, we set the yoghurt in an earthenware or stoneware pot. I set it both in the mornings and in the evenings, so that we have it fresh at both lunch and dinner. Yoghurt usually sours within a day, so it is one of the ingredients that is often used in leftover-based dishes. Refrigeration can prolong this slightly.

It sets faster in the summers, within 5 to 6 hours. In cooler months, if you set it just before bed, you will certainly be able to have it first thing in the morning. But be warned that these standards are for my climate, here in India. When I visited my son in New York last winter, he had a craving for homemade yoghurt. In the depths of icy November, it took two whole days to set!

So many of my summer stories revolve around my grandparents’ home in Vijayawada. If you went down memory lane with me and my aunt’s rose sherbet or their vetiver-scented curtains which inspired my chia pudding, here is one more from my childhood memories to enjoy: spiced buttermilk. It is a flavour I remember from those summers with my cousins, when we would each be given 25 paisa to go buy ourselves a treat. Someone would get soda, someone would get raw mango slices… My favourite was guava, but buttermilk was what we were always encouraged to have, for its health benefits. What I’ll share with you today is my friend Anandhi’s recipe, made with her guidance. Its core ingredient is homemade yoghurt.

Both yoghurt and buttermilk are great for digestion, and have a cooling effect on the body, which is why they are summer essentials. If you love your dairy like I do – with apologies to my vegan and lactose-intolerant friends! – you’ll absolutely love being able to switch from store-bought yoghurt. After a while, setting it becomes a habit, and it’s always so delicious when it’s fresh.

 

Spiced Buttermilk

(Yield: Approximately 5 glasses)

 

Ingredients

1 cup yoghurt

1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves

1 finely chopped green chilli

Salt to taste

3 cups water

A dash of lemon

1 pinch asafoetida (optional)

In a blender, add all the ingredients, except the water, and whir until everything is well blended. Now add the 3 cups of water. You can adjust the consistency by increasing or reducing the quantity of water to your preference. The dash of lemon gives you a little spring of energy, and the spices add such delicious flavours to the drink. Serve immediately.

Known for its probiotic properties, buttermilk acts as a coolant in the summer months, especially when eating heat-inducing mangoes is a full time pleasure!

 

 

Homemade Yoghurt

As I said earlier, setting yoghurt is both very delicate and very easy. To set the yoghurt, the temperature of the room, the temperature of the milk and the quantity of the starter are all very important in order for the yoghurt to be plain and not sour.

In India, where summers are very hot, I add a ¼ teaspoon of starter yoghurt to a bowl and pour room temperature milk into it. I then cover it with a lid and set it aside for 5-6 hours. Do the same if you are working in a similar climate. After the stated time, open the lid and see that the milk is set and rather tight when moved a little. Now refrigerate. Serve whenever you please.

During the winters, warm the milk and increase the quantity of the starter to ½ or even 1 teaspoon. Cover, and keep in a warm place for 10-12 hours or until set.

I am not a fan of sour yoghurt so refrigerating it once set is key, so it stays fresh for longer.

I’d much rather make my own yoghurt at home, where I know what exactly goes into it, as I’m always cautious about my food as far as possible.

This is the yoghurt I use when making buttermilk, as well as my regular accompaniment to my major meals. Yoghurt with rice, yoghurt with rotli, and of course, yoghurt with re:store’s bestselling muesli. It goes so well with everything, in my opinion!

I’d love to hear in the comments about how you’re keeping cool this summer!

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