Indulge at Restore | Restore by Nandi
Tag

yumyumyum

Browsing
Recipes

Recipe: A Mother’s Valentine – Red Velvet Cupcakes

By

I don’t believe in Valentine’s Day. That’s the reason why you’ve never seen the occasion observed on this blog with a special recipe, even though you know that love is the key ingredient in every dish I create! This year is different, however. The COVID-19 pandemic had brought all my children back home for the first time in ages. Despite all else, it gave us the rare opportunity of being able to have almost a year of each other’s constant company, that too with everyone working from home. Then, right on the cusp of Valentine’s Day, all three of them flew off again, returning to the respective cities in which they are based. I am experiencing all the emotions of having an empty nest, and I need to express them through the way I know best. So here I am in my kitchen, feeling wistful as I lay the ingredients out for some very special cupcakes. This post is a valentine in red velvet, a symbol of a mother’s love.

Through the many months that my kids were back home, they would ask for “a special cake” every other day. Red velvet was one of their favourites in this category, but it was rarely baked at home during the pandemic. I am extremely particular about the ingredients I use, and not being able to source the particular brand of red colouring I prefer meant that this was off the repertoire. As you must have noticed too, accessibility to goods had finally returned to a normal standard here in Chennai, and a beautiful bottle of red colouring now sits on my shelf, ready to bring vibrance to these Valentine’s Day cupcakes.

This one is for my youngest, my daughter, whose hands modelled for my photoshoots through the year. If she wasn’t up for it, I would threaten to withhold a slice of the day’s cake from her, which always did the trick. I often joke with her that my recipes are my prized heirlooms, but it is no joke at all that one of the reasons I compile them this way has always been for my children. My daughter is an excellent baker, and was in fact the one who inspired me to become one too, but she is also a busy young woman and rarely bakes these days. I hope she reaches for this recipe, the next time that she does.

This one is for my second son, my unofficial marketing man, who is so proud of my work and never fails to put a good word in for his mother’s cakes no matter where he goes. He doesn’t cook, unfortunately, but I hope he will pick up this wonderful activity some day. If that day comes, there is an archive right here for anything his heart or his tummy desire.

This one is for my elder son, my partner in the business and a valuable critic whose opinion matters to me very much. He loves cooking, and has just as much of culinary inquisitiveness as I do, and I hope that this recipe becomes a keeper for him.

This one is also for you. I know that many other parents who had their grown kids return and stay unexpectedly last year have felt or are feeling the same pangs that I am. I hope that baking these scrumptious cupcakes will offer you some comfort too. For me, what I noticed is that in the past – when they were away for their education or their work – these pangs were not as intense. They were adults with their own routines, just as I had mine, and I was used to seeing them at only certain occasions. But having this one year that felt like it was just dedicated to family, to catching up with each other on a deeper level, to reinforcing the values we instilled in them and live by… It was a very different experience. Perhaps you can relate to this too.

One day, hopefully sooner than later, when the world fully opens up again, I look forward to jetting off to see my three valentines just as often as always. If ever you bump into me at an airport, carrying big boxes in my hand luggage, you will know what’s in them. My precious baked goods are making their way with me to my children and their friends. Until then, and for long after, this recipe will always be here for them, whenever they want to recreate for themselves the taste of my love.

Red Velvet Cupcake

(Yield: 12 cupcakes)

For the cupcakes:

1 ¼ cups maida

3 tablespoons corn flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup oil

¼ cup unsalted butter

1 tablespoon red food colouring

¾ cup whole milk (room temperature)

1 tablespoon (+ ½ teaspoon) vinegar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cream cheese frosting:

1 cup cream cheese (room temperature)

¼ cup butter

2 cups icing sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

To prepare the red velvet cake cupcakes, preheat the oven to 170°C. Prepare 12 cupcake liners in the pans. You may want to check out this comprehensive introduction to baking, if you need to.

In a bowl, mix and sift together all the dry ingredients – flours, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the milk and 1 tablespoon of vinegar and set aside. This becomes buttermilk.

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat it in well. Next, add the oil, red food colouring, vanilla extract and the remaining ½ teaspoon of vinegar.

Add in the blended dry ingredients from the first bowl a little at a time, alternating them with the prepared buttermilk. Do not over-mix, and be very gentle.

Distribute the cake batter into the lined pans evenly. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Add the butter and mix until the two are well-combined and smooth. Then, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, making sure the sugar doesn’t fly around. Beat until fluffy. There may be quantity variants based on the brand of sugar used, so add more or less to suit your requirement or until the icing is stiff enough.

Top the cooled cupcakes with a swirl of cream cheese frosting, and garnish with sprinkles for a celebratory touch.

This recipe has a generous yield quantity and is meant to be shared. I hope that you will enjoy these sweet delights with those who are most precious to you, during some cherished moments together. I’ve given the recipe away simply as a gesture of joy and camaraderie, but it is also on the re:store menu. If you’d prefer to order some red velvet cake or cupcakes from me, or perhaps any other delectable item from my array of goodies, please drop me a note. The pantry is fully stocked, the kitchen is thriving with scents and flavours, the house is quiet now – and I would simply love to bake for you!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Garlicky Goodness – Asian-Style Buddha Bowl

By

Having travelled through the tastebuds from right here in South India to Mexico and the Middle East and North Africa, the internationally-inspired Buddha bowl series on this blog arrives at its final destination: back on this continent. As I’ve said earlier, every one of these dishes qualifies as fusion cuisine, a tribute influenced by foreign flavours but by no means authentic. The same goes for this delicious, garlic-infused bowl of goodness, reminiscent of cooking from East Asia.

Indians have been very fond of Asian cuisines for the longest time, and what we eat here is really its own sub-cuisine, commonly known as Indo-Chinese food. While I’ve loved ordering these dishes while dining out, I had always been under the impression that Asian cooking involved too many ingredients or prep and that it somehow wouldn’t work for me. All this changed with the lockdown, which has had my daughter living here with us for the past few months. It’s a joy to have her safely here, rather than alone in Mumbai during the pandemic, and what she’s brought along with her is her love for Asian-inspired recipes. They are her own cooking go-to. Somehow, these dishes seem to come together rather naturally for her, and they taste fabulous. Due to her influence, I’ve been leaning towards (and learning how to make) this cuisine more and more, and enjoying the homemade versions, which tend to be healthier.

Fortunately for us, the ingredients are easily available and fresh. The recipes my daughter and I make together are all vegetarian or vegan, which suits us both. We have lunch together daily, and it’s wonderful to share dishes that I’d always only associated with the restaurant experience. I belong to a generation for whom Indo-Chinese food usually had something to do with a social or celebratory occasion, as I described here, so some of those special memories are also evoked at home now too. Nowadays, due to the large expat population in Chennai, we are lucky to also have a proliferation of Korean and Japanese restaurants, giving diners lots more wonderful variety when it comes to international food. My Asian-influenced and daughter-inspired Buddha bowl below, however, takes its cues from the Indo-Chinese restaurants that I was first exposed to. As a relative newbie to recipes like this one, I can assure you that this one is so easy and so tasty to make that you’ll be whipping it up in no time too!

Asian-Style Buddha Bowl

(Serves 2)

Garlic Rice

2 cups cooked rice

2 tablespoons finely sliced spring onions

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon sesame oil

½ tablespoon light soy sauce

Salt to taste

Garlic Bok Choy

1 tablespoon crushed peanuts

½ tablespoon sesame oil

1 bunch cleaned and dried bok choy

½ tablespoon sliced garlic

½ teaspoon grated ginger

2-3 finely cut shallots

¼ teaspoon honey

Salt to taste

A pinch of chili flakes

A dash of lemon

Tofu

6 – 8 slices tofu

1½ tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon hot water

A pinch of sesame seeds

¼ teaspoon honey

¼ teaspoon sesame oil

Broccoli

1 cup sliced broccoli

Salt to taste

Garnish

Cilantro (finely chopped)

Spring onions (finely chopped)

Chili flakes

 

As with all Buddha bowls, each component must be made separately and brought together only when you are ready to serve the meal. Begin by preparing the garlic rice. In a pan, heat the oil. Add the garlic and allow it to sauté until it is golden and aromatic. Now, add the rice. Stir. Add the salt, soy sauce and spring onions. Mix well and set aside.

Then, prepare the garlic bok choy. Heat the oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the garlic, ginger and peanuts. Stir them together. Now, add the bok choy and the honey, allowing the flavours in the pan to coat the leaves well. Sprinkle salt, add the dash of lemon and stir. Set aside.

I prefer the leaves to be a bit raw and crunchy. However, if you like them cooked well and wilted you may make them this way. You may also replace the peanuts with cashew nuts. If you have a nut intolerance, you can avoid the nuts altogether.

To prepare the tofu, first stir all the ingredients except the tofu together in a cup to make a sauce. Set this aside. Now, sauté the tofu lightly in oil.

To prepare the broccoli, drop the sliced vegetable in hot water for a few minutes. If you prefer to, you may sauté it next, or leave it as is. Remove and sprinkle with some salt.

Start assembling the bowl by plating the rice, followed by the boy choy and the broccoli. Finish these off by adding the tofu, which you can top with a teaspoon of the prepared sauce. Place the remaining sauce near the bowl to use as a dip for the tofu and even for the vegetables, if you like them crunchy like I do.

Before serving, garnish the bowl with the cilantro, spring onions and red chilli flakes. As I said right at the start of this series, a beautiful bowl allows the eyes to feast first, and I encourage you to pick one out that elevates your experience of the meal.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these Buddha bowl recipes, which pay tribute to different cuisines that I have loved. For other meal-in-a-bowl dishes, do click on the link and see some of the recipes I’ve shared over the years that fit the bill. Some of my favourites include two Indian classics, the dal dhokli and khatta mung, as well as another Asian-style dish, a stir-fry. I hope you’ll check them out!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Travelling Through Food – Mexican-Influenced Buddha Bowl

By

As promised, the Buddha bowl series now goes international, after the comfortingly familiar South Indian Buddha bowl. This is a Mexican-influenced Buddha bowl, and I’m making sure that you notice that I emphasise the word influenced.  My family enjoys Mexican-style cuisine very much, and I always end up making the more popular dishes, such as tacos, salsa, nachos and even my vegan take on chili, which you may remember from awhile back (this is a vegan recipe too). But over the years, whenever Mexican friends have visited my home, as much as they relish the meals I put together for them, they also tease me by saying that my style is Indian-Mexican, not authentic. I’m proud of this though. To me, fusion cuisine is all about feeling inspired and bringing different worlds together.

I’ve only spent one night in Mexico, en route to Cuba several years ago. That night, my family and I enjoyed dinner at a really nice restaurant, where we ordered a delicacy featuring black ants as a key ingredient. While I didn’t have a bite, my kids found the dish crunchy and tangy and very exciting. What to us was an adventurous dish was just local cuisine in another part of the world. Most of the Mexican food we had tried before was in the USA, and that too must have been one degree removed from authenticity. So to return to today’s Buddha bowl, let’s just say that it has a hint of Mexico, my culinary interpretation.

I often make this Mexican-influenced recipe for lunch, and the current abundance of avocados on the market is all the more reason to do so. These come from Karnataka, where the climate is conducive for their growth. Perhaps it’s because of my Macrobiotics background, but I feel that when all the ingredients in a dish are locally sourced, they tend to go together better. Aside from the fruit, the bowl contains cilantro rice, beans, vegetables and two types of salsa.

I was thinking about the term “Buddha bowl”, and although I know it’s a recently coined term, I believe I can imagine the thought process behind it. Could it be that it was because the Buddha carried a bowl for alms, and as he went from home to home, always received a motley combination of foods, just like the different components of this modern dish?

Carrying a bowl to seek food alms also exists in the Jain community, which many members of my family belong to. My sister, who lives in Mumbai, frequently has saintly women and men come to her home. They carry a bowl, called “patra”, and are supposed to graciously accept whatever is offered to them, although they can request a preferred quantity so that there is no wastage. The alms they receive are called “bhiksha”. Their arrival is considered a blessing, and whatever has been cooked at home that day will be shared with the monks, who are known as “Mahasatiji”. In the Stanakvasi sect of the Jain Shwetambari tradition, there is no idol worship, so the preaching of these monks is sacred and so is their presence. Whenever a Mahasatiji has come by while I’ve visited my sister, I’ve noticed that it feels like a special occasion. There is some protocol involved: the person offering alms needs to have bathed, there is some chanting, and then the Mahasatiji will bless the home before moving on to the next one, where the next person offering alms will look into the bowl and determine what to offer. If my sister had offered roti, for example, they will ensure they offer something that goes with it.

The Mahasatijis also ask for a teaspoon of chickpea flour, which they use to dry wash their patras. They won’t even waste this, as they will let this dry and eat it as well. They do not use soap due to the chemicals, and refrain from electricity too, so they take the stairs up six floors to my sister’s house. The tradition has many principles based on nature and doing no harm.

The patras themselves are made of natural wood, with lacquer, and I have seen them being sold as antiques as well. Perhaps I noticed this because I am always looking for interesting crockery and props for my photoshoots. What kind of vessels do you serve your Buddha bowls in? I’d love to know, as you try out more of this series.

Mexican-Influenced Buddha Bowl

(Serves 2)

 

Beans

½ cup beans (soaked overnight)

2 tablespoons tomato purée (find my recipe here)

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon chipotle cooking paste

 

Tomato salsa

2 tomatoes

Salt to taste

3 slices jalapeño

1 tablespoon cilantro

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

Pineapple salsa

2 cups finely chopped pineapple

2 tablespoons finely cut jalapeño

2 tablespoons cilantro

2 tablespoons finely cut onion

Salt to taste

Spicy red sauce

 

Cilantro Rice

1½ cups cooked rice

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup finely cut cilantro

½ lemon

2 slices jalapeños

Salt to taste

 

Vegetables

2 cups sliced bell peppers

1 cup whole corn

1 teaspoon oil

Salt to taste

Pinch pepper

 

Topping

1 avocado

Salt to taste

Olive oil to drizzle

A squeeze of lemon

Prepare each component, and keep them separate until you are ready to assemble and serve the bowl. Here is the method for the beans. First, pressure cook the beans in water. In a pan, add the oil. Now, add the purée, chipotle paste and salt. I used my fabulous all-purpose tomato puree, which you will surely find convenient to have on hand for many recipes too. Stir. Finally, add the beans. In order to make it in a slightly more gravy style, I added some of the water that I had kept aside.

Next, here are the methods for the two salsas. For the tomato salsa, begin by roasting the tomatoes directly in a low flame until the skins are charred. Peel the charred skins and chop finely. Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix well and refrigerate until use. For the pineapple salsa, simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until use as well.

Now, onto the cilantro rice. In a pan, sauté the rice in oil. Add all the other ingredients and stir on high until it all comes together. You can replace the rice with any grain of your choice.

The vegetables should be sautéed in oil on a pan, and seasoned with salt and pepper as you stir.

Assemble the different components in two medium-sized bowls and add the toppings. Make sure you slice the avocado just before serving, or it will lose colour. Remember what I said in the previous Buddha bowl post about the aesthetics of this serving style and feasting with the eyes first. This dish is best enjoyed warm. You may wish to sprinkle some crushed nacho chips on top for texture too, and I think my kids wouldn’t mind some authentic, crunchy black ants either, if we could find that recipe! As you can see, I’ve also added a bit of green salad on top, as I do love my veggies.

I mentioned earlier that there are avocados galore on the market now, so be sure to come back for the next post, where they will be a starring ingredient…

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: You Won’t Stop At A Slice – Cheesy, Spicy, Garlicky Sourdough Toast

By

When it comes to any dish that I’m a novice at, I love making it as often as possible so that I can learn from each attempt. Novelty is part of the motivation, but improving my success rate is the real goal. The more you use your hands, the better you get at anything. For you, this may be true for one of your own creative passions, and for me this is all about baking and photography. This was certainly the case for me with sourdough. Those of you who’ve followed my sourdough journey through my Instagram Stories over the past couple of years will know how enthusiastically I’ve pursued working on it. Sourdough is all the rage everywhere at the moment, since the pandemic has made so many people  explorers in the kitchen, so it’s especially exciting for me to share this sourdough toast recipe today.

I bake sourdough every other day, and ever since I began doing this, my family doesn’t eat any other kind of bread. They prefer this natural variety to yeast-filled commercially-produced bread, and we use it in many ways. I make pizza bases, loaves and more all the time, and use them in main courses, sides (such as with a lovely minestrone soup, the recipe for which I promised you recently and will share soon) and snacks. At home, we are all very into daily exercise and healthy eating, so we have lots of one pot meals, and a slice of sourdough on the side is always nice. I find that this sourdough toast especially makes for a filling lunch, and that helps us reduce the number of heavy meals we have at supper time.

The idea of making a simple, yet fabulously delicious, sourdough toast came up during our planning for my husband’s birthday recently. This is not an innovative recipe as such, yet it’s one that suits the occasion of a celebration during lockdown. It’s a lovely appetizer using wholesome and easily available ingredients for a small celebration. We decided to have a picnic in our own garden, and I was thinking about which healthy dishes I could make to balance out the indulgence of the white cake I’d be baking when I came up with this idea.

Now, the white cake itself has a funny story behind it. You see, my husband adores the tea cake from the McRennett bakery, which many of us who grew up in Chennai will associate with childhood memories. As it happens, I can’t stand that cake, as it has a very strong vanilla essence smell. We have a running joke in the house that no matter what fabulous thing I have baking in the oven, my husband will say, “I’m going to get a McRennett cake!”, knowing it will tick me off. This year, I turned the joke on him by saying that I’d order him that tea cake for his birthday and not bake any of my own specialties. Secretly, I had a plan to prepare a cake that was inspired by his lifelong favourite, but which I would elevate with my own twists to a level that would make him forget the original. He must have gotten a whiff of my plan, because he said to me that if I could achieve the softness of the original, he wouldn’t mind trying mine. Well, I baked a lovely tea cake with real vanilla and pretty white icing (I rarely ice my cakes at re:store, so you know this was a special treat!) which he enjoyed very much… but it didn’t quite unseat the McRennett as his favourite!

Oh well! At least I can safely say that this cheesy, spicy, garlicky sourdough toast was the hit of the picnic! I’ll always associate it with the memories of the fun we had that day, spending time together as a family in our garden. That’s the thing about food prep: when something is made to suit a particular need or occasion, the dish also gains meaning. Is it for a daily meal, is it for a special person, is it for an event? By thoughtfully planning the lockdown birthday picnic menu to feature a healthy but delicious snack like this, and making sure I prepared it in a way that was also special, the dish became impressed upon my memory and in my culinary repertoire.

Before I share the recipe, here’s a quick note on sourdough itself, just in case you’re curious about what it is. It’s the traditional, ancient way of making bread, which people around the world used for millennia before baker’s yeast was invented. It’s based on natural fermentation, with air pockets created by the same, and it rises beautifully. You can keep the starter going for ages, just like yoghurt. For me, it took a few miserable failures before I managed to get mine going. Before that, friends generously shared their own starters with me, which I fed and nurtured, but there’s a different kind of challenge and a sense of achievement when you’ve made your own. The learning is continuous, especially when you have to take into account variables like weather conditions. Sourdough maintenance is like plant maintenance.  Making sourdough in Chennai weather is a struggle, as the natural temperature is not really conducive, while air-conditioning dries out the starter. I’ve managed to make a few chips and freeze them just in case my sourdough dies on me, and I’ll need to start it all over again. In the meanwhile, we are truly enjoying the bounty of the current batch.

I am almost sure that foodies following this blog have either been making their own sourdough, or have access to a store-bought loaf, so I’ll jump right ahead to what you can do with it, rather than spend time on how to grow it. In case you don’t have it on hand, you can use white bread or any bread you like.

Cheesy, Spicy, Garlicky Sourdough Toast

(Yield: 4 slices)

 

4 slices toast

1 teaspoon oil

2 cups chopped vegetables (bell peppers, onions, garlic, coriander or parsley, cooked corn)

1 tablespoon chopped jalapeño peppers

¼ teaspoon grated ginger

Coriander chutney (alternative: pesto)

Salt to taste

Chili flakes

Butter as required

1 cup grated cheese (alternative: tofu/paneer)

Heat a pan and add the oil. Add the garlic and ginger, and then add the chopped vegetables. Stir-fry on a high flame. This mixture doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to sauté. Add the salt. Set aside. Allow to cool.

Prepare the slices of sourdough by buttering them lightly. Next, spread the coriander chutney (or pesto, if you prefer) over the butter.

Now, add a heaped spoonful of vegetables over the chutney/pesto. Top this with grated cheese or tofu.

Place the bread in the oven and allow to toast/bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and the slice of sourdough turns golden underneath.

Remove the slices from the oven and sprinkle with the chili flakes. Serve warm.

This cheesy, spicy, garlicky sourdough toast called to mind a variety of toasts my family has enjoyed over the years. When I was growing up, my mum used to make a version of masala and mashed potatoes with toasted bread. My husband is an ardent fan of  Bombay toast, as you may remember. In lieu of either, my sourdough toast – rich in fresh vegetables – is healthier, without skimping on taste.

Feel free to substitute the vegetables or even the spices as per availability and preference. You may want to increase the quantity of some based on your taste as well (I’m personally a big fan of corn and bell peppers too). If you prefer to go vegan, just replace the butter with olive oil, and either tofu or paneer are tasty and healthy alternatives to cheese.

This version has become my go-to every time I feel like having a snack. When I’m done with my workout and feel peckish, I whip up a slice or two. I sometimes also have it drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt without adding the spices. Given the lockdown and the limited vegetables that are on hand on some days, I improvise the ingredients. No matter how I make it, it’s unbelievably tasty!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Easy As “AB… Z” – Simple Zucchini Soup

By

The first time that I tasted this sublime soup was when I was visiting a dear friend who was unwell at home. Valli Subbiah is an amazing person with an exceptional gift with kids, and even though she was feeling poorly, her hospitality was as gracious as ever. She offered us this simple, flavourful zucchini soup in mugs. At her place, what was served was more of a hot beverage than a soup, but I made it in a thicker consistency when I tried replicating it at home. Valli was sweet enough to share the recipe with me, and we are both happy to share it with you today.

I’m not a great fan of zucchini, so the fact that this dish captured my heart says a lot about how tasty it is. Since having this soup, I’ve been reading up about the vegetable (well, technically it’s a fruit – did you know?) and am delighted to have found a way to consume something that’s so good for us. It is excellent in supporting or easing menopause and post-menopausal health concerns, and is rich in fibre, folate, Vitamin C and a host of other nutrients.

Zucchini is native to South America, which naturally meant that European colonials began to export and cultivate it too. It’s a late addition to Indian markets, but it’s well-suited to our climes and has a fast growing period, which has made it become popular on our menus over the last decade. I certainly never had it while growing up, and am glad it’s so easily available now. Its novelty to us is revealed in the fact that we don’t have names for it in our own languages. If we are non-English speakers, we just call it “jukini” or “jugni”, in our Indian accents!

Despite the main ingredient being of foreign origin, the most interesting part of this recipe is the distinctly South Indian twist. I love the kick that curry masala gives this soup. It seasons the dish without overpowering the taste of the zucchini. I like dishes which can be subtly enhanced in this way, while retaining the basic flavours of ingredients. If you’re a fan of fusion cuisine, some of my other recipes in this category are here.

There are a few types of zucchinis available in Indian markets, and certainly even more abroad. I used the green one and decided to leave the skin on as it was very thin, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s also good for you. The bitterness of vegetable skins is why people usually discard them, but it’s often the case that nutrients may be packed within. Besides which, leaving the skin on meant that the colour of my soup really popped. You know how I always say that food must please the eye first, which is why attractive plating is so important when you serve a meal.

The aesthetics are also important to me as a photographer. Most of you know that the dark and moody tones of the Dutch masters are my inspiration, and I try to replicate the visual effect of their paintings through my own Indian still life and culinary images. However, while doing the photoshoots for this recipe (yup, I did a few – I have fun playing with different looks and pursuing the perfect one), I decided to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself by making white the key note. I was aiming to capture summer’s brightness in these images, and I enjoyed the result, even though deep, sombre tones will always be my big love. I’m curious to know what you think of this style. I’m always excited about new discoveries both in the kitchen at re:store and behind the camera at Nandi Shah Photography.

It’s birthday month right now at our household, with both my husband and I being June-born. But I’m off sugar for three weeks, and after the cake binge we had on this blog (therefore, at home as well!) recently, I wanted to think up something fun but healthy to share to celebrate. I’d never have imagined that zucchinis would be a part of it, but here we are. This surprisingly simply and surprisingly mood-uplifting zucchini soup really does make me feel like raising a mug or a bowl in a toast!

 

 

Zucchini Soup

(Yield: 2 servings)

 

200 grams chopped zucchini

30 grams shallots

2 – 3 cups hot water

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon curry masala

 

Sauté the shallots in olive oil. Then, add the chopped zucchini and stir for a bit.

Next, add two cups of hot water and cover the pan with a lid. If you want the soup to be a little thin, or want to serve it as a beverage, use the third cup of water as well. As you can see from the photos, I personally prefer it thicker. Allow the vegetables to cook until they are tender.

Finally, add the curry masala and turn off the flame. Allow to cool just a little and blend. Serve the soup while it’s still warm.

Now that I’ve been swayed by the charms of the zucchini, I’m curious about other ways in which I might enjoy preparing it. I’ve heard that zucchini flower fritters are a fun snack, and that the flowers themselves are quite pretty, with yellow petals that brighten the plate. I haven’t seen them outside of photographs, but I’m certainly intrigued about getting my hands on some – both for the taste, and for the look! Another simple way to use the vegetable/fruit is to slice it up, roast it with a drizzle of olive oil, and serve it with a dip. A slightly more adventurous idea, but which is actually quite easy in preparation, would be zoodles. Made with a spiraliser and eaten either raw or cooked, zoodles are an ideal alternative to pasta for those who are on gluten-free diets. Do you have more ways to incorporate zucchini into your meals? Let’s chat in the comments.

I hope you’ll enjoy this simple and wonderfully spiced zucchini soup, and that it will taste just as extraordinary to you as it did to me the first time I had it at my friend Valli’s house. That day, as we sat around exchanging stories and sipping at this deliciousness, we all felt a little better about everything. Some food items and some friends just have that effect, don’t they? I know how important it is to bring comforting things into our lives at this time, and I hope that this recipe will be one of them. May good health return to us all on the planet, and with it, may we cherish our diversity and honour our oneness.

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: The Rustic Loaf –Eggless- Whole-Wheat Saffron & Cardamom Cake

By

For as long as I’ve been cooking, I have woken up every morning wondering what new dish I might try in my kitchen. This hasn’t changed at all during this lockdown. I’m still starting each day by planning what I can prepare. Of course, as all of you are no doubt experiencing too, there’s an extra step of having to be especially creative so as to maximise available ingredients since grocery shopping is more infrequent now. Still, I believe that we must always eat well, as much as we can. Desserts are still on my mind – sometimes the thought I start my day with is: a sourdough-based dish, or a cake? The other day, I picked baking a cake – a whole-wheat saffron and cardamom cake to be precise – and I’m glad to share the recipe with you today.

Teatimes at home now have a whole new vibe. I usually have my tea alone, but with everyone at home all day at the moment, they have become a special bonding experience. This is why a cake made all the more sense to me, as an accompaniment to our cuppas and conversations. With the re:store kitchen on hiatus along with so many other food and beverage enterprises in the city, I also missed baking on a daily basis. Going through my blog, I realised that in these three and a half years, I have shared no more than four cake recipes with you. Given that they are my signature product, I felt that there’s no time like the present to give you another one.

Like most of re:store’s baked goods, this whole-wheat cake is mildly sweet, with no icing. The cardamom and saffron add a faint but wonderful whiff of Indian-ness to it. An added benefit is that it’s eggless – perfect for vegetarians, and in case you’re running out of eggs at the moment. It’s a very easy cake to prepare, as well. Baking cakes always involves a simple formula, as I reminded my niece when she attempted one of the recipes I shared earlier. If you follow the basic principles carefully, they reliably turn out perfect. This one, I can assure you, is not only easy to make but also very tasty.

Earlier, I enjoyed making this cake using mini loaf tins. For a change, this time I baked the cake in a regular-sized loaf tin, selecting it from the pans which I have collected over time. This tin shape makes the cake especially cute, and it comes out in the perfect size to slice up. The portions are ideal for a family of five at teatime. Ours is 5+1 at the moment, including my dog Max – who always reminds us that we better eat up our share quickly, before he gobbles it up!

If cardamom and saffron aren’t available in your kitchen right now, this recipe will work equally well with lavender or even some mild lemon zest. The choice is yours. Feel free to experiment with flavours (and be sure to let me know in the comments later what you decided to do). Happy baking!

Whole-Wheat Saffron/Cardamom Cake

(Serves 5)

180 grams whole-wheat flour

185 grams white powdered sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

½ teaspoon cardamom powder

5-10 strands saffron

65 grams soft butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

240ml whole milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Prepare a loaf tin by greasing the tin and lining it with parchment paper.

Remove a ¼  cup of milk from the 240ml, keeping the rest aside. Soak the saffron strands in this for half an hour or until colour rises.

In another bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix them together well. Then, add the wet ingredients one by one and mix again.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and place it in the oven. Allow to bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Toward the end of the baking process, you may notice that the cake acquires a darker colour on top. This is due to the brown sugar. If you prefer, you may cover the cake loosely with parchment paper while it bakes, to avoid excess browning.

Let it cool slightly, then remove the still-warm loaf and slice it up for serving. The lovely thing about this cake is that it needs no icing or any kind of topping, and responds well to a variety of flavourings. It has a nice rustic look, and tastes perfectly moist and delicious all on its own. The perfect accompaniment is a cup of tea – along with a pleasant conversation…

I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe, and that it adds a hint of sweetness and sparkle to this challenging time!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Berry Delicious – Strawberry Smoothie

By

Strawberries are in season right now, and are easily available at my regular grocery outlets, and I know this is true for many Indian cities. I love tossing a few of these sweet fruits into the blender, along with a fantastic mix of healthy ingredients, to whip up a smoothie in no time. I’m not a great fan of green smoothies, especially ones which involve raw spinach! While I know they are good for us, I have had an aversion to them ever since I once fell sick after having one. It’s interesting how memory and food are so strongly correlated. Our experience of food becomes a memory, and informs our next experience of the same item. But this fun, fruity smoothie is only a repository of goodness for me.

I highly recommend smoothies if you are currently going carb-free or observing a thoughtful diet. They pack a lot of nutrition into a single glass and are very filling. There comes a point when one realises the value of eating healthy and age-appropriately. This is especially important for women who undergo many physiological changes with age. Chia seeds and flax seeds are two ingredients which are particularly beneficial for us, lowering the risks of certain cancers, balancing the hormones and providing nutrition that addresses post-menopausal needs. You can sprinkle these onto salads or lightly onto various dishes, incorporating them into daily meals. I am also keen on innovative ways that centre them as major ingredients. You may remember my take on the trendy chia seed pudding here.

As with my recent stir-fry recipe and so many others that have been shared on this blog over the years, this smoothie recipe is highly adaptable based on personal tastes and dietary needs. For example, my son likes an addition of protein powder in his smoothies. I personally not only hate the taste but am against such chemical supplements, so you’ll never find the same in mine. When I find that I’m in need of a protein boost, I head for these overnight oats or a similar recipe. The use of natural ingredients is important to me, and I don’t like to compromise on this.

This smoothie is based on flaxseed meal and chia seeds, with an eclectic and ever-changing mix of other ingredients. I prepare it through the year, so while strawberry is my current star, I will substitute the base fruit depending on what is seasonal. What’s fresh and being harvested right now matters, as well as what I used to call my mood or state of mind, but which I now recognise as something deeper. I’ve come to understand that what we think of as cravings can sometimes be needs. When your body is asking for a dish, it is sometimes because of the need for a specific ingredient, and its positive effects. The healing or nourishing benefits of that ingredient may be what my body requires each time I feel an urge for a particular taste. We must learn how to listen to our bodies well so that we can identify the underlying need and address it. This means that I may add a bit of turmeric or ginger to my smoothie on certain days, because there’s an extra boost my body is asking for.

My craving for this smoothie itself sometimes reflects my body’s desire for sugar, and I find that this is one of the healthier ways to meet it – through fruits. It’s a great appetite-sater between meals. Nowadays, I often have it for breakfast, or in the evenings if I’ve eaten a complete meal in the morning instead.

As I said earlier, there’s presently an abundance of strawberries in hill stations all over India, and they are plentiful in our urban supermarkets. I believe strawberries are the easiest berry variety to grow in our climes, and they must be a newer crop as they don’t form a major part of my memories of school holiday summers in Ooty. My most cherished memories of strawberries are from trips abroad. It was wonderful to relive my childhood experience of going strawberry-picking with my aunt in America with my own kids. We ate until we were sick of strawberries, if there could even be such a thing!

That reminds me also of a long-ago visit to Italy. Somewhere just outside of Rome, I came upon a place where wild strawberries grew lushly. They were marble-sized, as small as raspberries. I learnt very little about them except that they had a very short growing season, and that they tasted sublime served with whipped cream. They also looked so beautiful that I don’t think I’d blend them into a smoothie even if you gave me a basket of them today. Their incredible flavour was meant to be relished whole. Fortunately for us here in India, strawberry crops of a good quality that are perfect for smoothies are now easily available.

Still, they carry an air of exoticness to me, and it’s never stopped being amazing to me that in some places, sweet strawberries grow the way that mangoes and bananas grow in our own backyards. We don’t care if they fall to the ground or become pulp, if monkeys steal them and just leave their skins, or if they just go to waste. The reverse must be true for those in countries where strawberries run wild, who would be alarmed that we take our own abundant tropical fruits for granted!

 

Strawberry Smoothie

(Yield: 1 glass)

 

3-4 strawberries

½ cup pomegranate arils

1 cup orange juice

1 amla (gooseberry)

1 teaspoon flax seed powder / flax seed meal

1 teaspoon chia seeds

4-5 almonds

Water as required

 

Put all the ingredients into a blender. Add water, either at room temperature or cold/iced, depending on your preference. You may also add mint leaves, as I do sometimes, if you want to enjoy that flavour.

Blend well and serve. That’s really the entire method! The beautiful simplicity of smoothies is part of what lets you be creative with the ingredients. In my home, the components change daily. A seasonal fruit, however, is always the base and the key.

Although some people add nuts directly into their smoothies, I often have a handful of whole ones alongside my drink instead. Walnuts and almonds are my favourites. Together, they form a light but nourishing meal.

You’ll find this strawberry smoothie highly flavourful and filling. It definitely falls into that “how can something so tasty be so good for you?” category! The convenience of putting it together, as well as how quickly you can consume it during a busy day, are also attractive points that make it a dish that’s well worth incorporating into your lifestyle. I’d love to know if you try it out!

 

 

 

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Eating Sunshine & Rainbows – Meal-In-A-Bowl Stir-Fry

By

I love, love, love stir-fry and could eat it every day, and some weeks I think I actually do, making different versions of it as per my craving or mood. A stir-fry is more of a category than a dish, of versatile meals-in-a-bowl that cater to any kind of dietary restrictions, lifestyles or personal taste. My boys love theirs with meat, so I regularly add chicken or prawns to theirs. Vegan versions are protein-rich with tofu. When it comes to stir-fries, to each their own.

The simplicity of my preferred version of a stir-fry, replete with healthy ingredients and subtly flavoured, is something I arrived at after sampling numerous versions in many places. For a long time, I would gravitate towards stir-fries in restaurants, which would be made in an elaborate way with different additives and sauces. Then, I encountered them again when I was studying Macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute, where we ate a lot of steamed and sautéed vegetables. Realising how adaptable this dish was, and how it could be cooked to suit a diverse range of diets, made me introduce it into my repertoire frequently.

Stir-fries are built through a checklist of choices: pick a protein, some vegetables, the oil you’re using, nuts or seeds for texture if you like them, and an optional carb. They can literally be made with whatever basic produce you have available at home on any given day. For me, the vegetables are the star ingredients and I have certain time-tested preferences about which ones are good when cooked in this style. I prefer to avoid water-based vegetables as the stir-fry technique works best for firmer, crisper ones. Baby corn, aubergine, bok choy, spinach and kale are among my favourites.

When I want my meal-in-a-bowl stir-fry to be extra filling, I add a carb to it. This can range from red rice, white rice, millets and pasta, depending entirely on what I already have on hand. All these carbs work well when layered with the other ingredients. Without them, a stir-fry can be enjoyed as a hearty salad. When I am including a carb, I tend to avoid starchy vegetables such as potatoes, so as to keep the dish light. You may also choose to avoid sugary vegetables like peas and baby corn if you’re being strict with what you’re consuming. See what works for you. Ultimately, I still feel that vegetables are vegetables and you can’t really go wrong with them. Sometimes, it’s about using your own intelligence. For instance, in Macrobiotics, nightshades such as tomatoes are believed to not be good for you. That doesn’t mean that you have to eliminate them completely. Instead, you balance them by using a smaller portion and adding extra leafy greens as a counter.

I enjoy the crunchiness and slight rawness of the vegetables so much, as well as the feel-good factor to eating them. At the Kushi Institute, I also learned that chewing is absolutely essential. In fact, at mealtimes we sometimes actually counted the number of times that we chewed one mouthful. The maximum I got to was 25! With the slightly undercooked vegetables, you have to be sure to chew them well. To keep the focus on their natural tastes and textures, I ensure that the spices I use are minimal.

The trick is to incorporate all the colours of the rainbow within the dish, which specialists say will cover a broad spectrum of your nutritional needs in a single meal. Here is a convenient list that explains how and why. I try my best to do this when putting together a stir-fry. Visually too, there’s something so beautiful and appealing about this method. It really does make me feel like I am eating a bowl of sunshine.

Not only is this perfect meal-in-a-bowl versatile in terms of the ingredients you can use, but it can work for any time of the day. Aside from lunch and dinner, I find that a portion of it with a couple of boiled eggs makes for a superb, energy-boosting breakfast. The best part is that it takes all of fifteen minutes to put a bowl together, right from chopping to serving. Sometimes, when my son says he won’t be coming home for lunch but then suddenly shows up because a meeting got cancelled, all I have to do is throw together a few fresh vegetables with a bit of chicken, the way he likes it. Within minutes, not only does he get a delicious home-cooked meal, but he is also fully fortified to get back to work.

 

Meal-In-A-Bowl Stir-Fry

(Yield: 1 bowl)

 

2 cups vegetables of your choice

½ cup cooked rice

1 tablespoon groundnut oil

¾ teaspoon ginger/garlic paste

3 tablespoons cut tofu

2 tablespoons soya sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon chili paste

2 tablespoons coarsely crushed peanuts

Coriander leaves to garnish

Salt to taste

 

Add the groundnut oil in a wok. Once it’s hot, add the sesame seeds and allow them to lightly change colour.

Next, add the garlic/ginger paste. Stir for a minute.

Now, add the vegetables and stir them on a high flame. Do this for about 3 minutes. I like my vegetables to be a bit crunchy so I don’t allow them to cook until tender. Be careful not to burn or singe the ingredients at the bottom of the pan, as this will reduce their nutritional value.

I often use carrots, bell peppers, beans, broccoli, spring onions, raw mango for a bit of tang, and some corn. If you decide to follow the same choices, make sure that the carrots and beans go first as they take a while longer than the others to cook, even slightly.

If you are including a carb, add the cooked rice now. I prefer organic rice varieties, and you can also use millets or orzo pasta. Then, add the tofu.

Finally, add the salt and the remaining ingredients, substituting peanuts and sesame seeds for cashew nuts or walnuts if you prefer. In terms of flavours, some of the best ones are soya sauce, lemon juice, honey glaze and chili sauce/paste. Stir fry for a few minutes on a high flame. Serve hot, garnished with coriander.

There is no single recipe for stir-fry, but this is my favourite. I like the mix of East Asian seasonings with familiar local flavours like raw mango and peanuts, and I find they blend together beautifully. Remember that you can substitute any ingredient for another in its own category; protein, veggies, oil, nuts/seeds and carbs. And most importantly: remember the rainbow, and let green reign!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: Festively Flavourful – Pistachio & Rose Nan Khatai

By

When we were growing up, our mother once decided to take a Western baking class to expand her repertoire in the kitchen. As children, we adored the pastries, cakes and short eats our mother learned to bake there. In those days, embarking on such a class was considered quite unusual and therefore very progressive in Chennai, and in other parts of India. In the hill stations, there would always be families who had learned recipes from the British chefs, so they knew how to bake. In the cities, Western food was available only at clubs, and made by chefs who themselves would have studied under foreigners. For an average homemaker to go out and educate herself in Western cooking was a rare thing. Now, thinking back on how uncommon it was, I admire her all the more.

Mum was always very curious. She always wanted to know how food had been prepared, and never felt any embarrassment about enquiring on the same. She would just ask nicely, and people were often forthcoming about how a particular dish was made. In this way, she picked up a wide range of recipes, and became a master in the kitchen. I’m sure that this trait is something I’ve inherited from her, and I am always eager to keep learning, just as she did.

Our mother attending this baking course opened up so many snacking and celebration possibilities for us. There, she learned not only Western-style cakes and pastries, but various other types of baked goods as well. Among them was nan khatai, a kind of shortbread biscuit that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Nan khatai has an especially interesting story behind it. It is believed that a Dutch couple ran a bakery in 16th century Surat, a Gujarati seaport which had many traders and expats. This establishment was inherited by a Parsi gentleman when the Dutch left the country, but he found no takers for their cakes and bakes. To his surprise, the locals seemed to enjoy the dried, old bread most of all. The legend is that he decided to simply sell dried bread, which gave rise to this particular recipe. A similar biscuit is eaten in Afghanistan and Iran, where it is known as kulcha-e-khatai.

I remember carrying boxes of nan khatai on the train whenever I visited cousins or relatives, homemade gifts from my mother. I enjoy continuing the tradition of taking homemade dishes as gifts when I visit friends nowadays.

This nan khatai is neither Surat-style, nor what my mother was taught at her baking class, nor her own improvisation (the original uses wheat flour; she added a bit of besan or chickpea to hers). It is, of course, re:store-style – loaded with delicious flavours I love to use in the kitchen. Soft and crisp at the same time, this pistachio and rose nan khatai a real treat. Its fusion of cultures and influences makes me feel it’s ideal for an Indian Christmas. As an eggless baked treat, it’s also perfect for vegetarians.

 

Pistachio & Rose Nan Khatai

(Yield: 25 pieces)

100 grams powdered sugar

80 grams ghee (clarified butter) at room temperature

100 grams maida

25 grams pistachio meal

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons semolina

60 grams chickpea flour (besan)

½ teaspoon cardamom powder

A few strands of saffron, soaked in 1 teaspoon rose water

2 teaspoons yoghurt

½ teaspoon pistachio extract

Rose water (if required)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.

Add all the dry ingredients together, sift and set aside.

With a hand blender, beat the ghee and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Now add the yoghurt, pistachio extract and saffron. Mix gently.

Next, add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Use your hands to bring it all together. It will be a soft dough. If required, add 1 teaspoon of rose water to bind it better.

In a baking tray, lay out small rolls of the dough and top each with a slice of pistachio. Make sure there is space between the rolls to give them room to bloom. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, depending on the oven type.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Your re:store-style nan khatai is ready to serve, just in time for the year-end festivities! This Western-but-Asian biscuit is delightful with tea. Isn’t it amazing how much history and how many cultures one little biscuit can contain? Aromatic thanks to the rose water and extra crunchy thanks to the pistachio, I am sure you’ll find it as addictive as I do. Here’s wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas. I hope a batch of pistachio and rose nan khatai will be baking in your oven soon – let me know what you think of it!

View Post
By
Recipes

Recipe: A Tonic For The Changing Season – Raab

By

The seasons are changing and the usual respiratory illnesses are going around as we adjust to the weather, worsened of course by pollution and the busy modern lifestyle. A few years ago, I shared this remedy from my childhood, and many of you told me that you found it effective and refreshing. Now, I’ll share a complementary dish, a warm and nourishing porridge that I absolutely loved while growing up. This raab is like chicken broth for the Gujarati soul, and is one of my most favourite comfort foods of all.

Raab was my mother’s go-to fixer for colds, sore throats, coughs and so on. It coats the throat well, alleviating any itchiness there. New mothers are often fed raab, due to its fortifying properties. I think of it as a dish to simply warm the soul, when you’re feeling down and need a hug. It’s a light meal for whenever you’re feeling under the weather.

Raab falls into the category of “accessible medicine”, something which anyone can make, especially when a pharmacy is out of reach. It is comprised of very basic and affordable ingredients that can be found in any Gujarati kitchen: ghee, bajra (pearl millet) or wheat flour, ginger powder (soont) and edible gum resin (gond). Most communities will have some version of such a dish, made of elements which are at hand for all members of society.

Bajra or pearl millet is usually had during the winter months or during the wet, cold seasons. My aunt, an expert in Gujarati cooking, and from whom I learnt a lot during my many summer holidays with her, explained that bajra and ajwain (carom seeds) are used during winters as they warm the body. In the summers, wheat flour is substituted for the millet. The ginger powder also has a warming effect, in addition to adding taste. I’m still trying to find out exactly why dry ginger powder is used rather than freshly grated ginger, and have arrived at my own conclusion. My theory is this: dry ginger is a ‘yang’ ingredient, hence positively affects the deeper organs in the body like our bones. It is also stronger than hydrated fresh ginger.

My aunt would also also say, “Don’t forget to add the gond.” It has numerous health benefits, including aiding the digestion. I saw this lady in Patdi, Gujarat, selling the resin, which she told me she collected herself from the bark of trees in her village. I couldn’t resist buying some from her.

With so many healthy ingredients, you would imagine that children would need a lot of convincing before they ate this porridge, but that’s not true. Whenever my siblings or I fell ill when we were growing up, I would ask for a bowl of raab as I absolutely loved it. The reason for this is that this remedy is… sweet! This is thanks to the jaggery, of course, which has its own host of benefits, as regular readers of this blog will be familiar with. Raab tastes so delicious that you’d never believe it was good for the body, but the proof is in how healed and nourished you feel after you’ve had some.

If I wasn’t unwell, my mother always said No to my request, and this has created a powerful memory link for me. She never treated raab as an anytime dish, as a result of which I too refrain from doing the same. There is also something to the charm of having it when under the weather, and feeling soothed by it in those times, and I feel this would disappear if I began to enjoy it as an ordinary meal. Today of course, my dearest mother is gone and when I make it for myself, I associate it with being soothing both to my throat and to my heart because it was she who would make it for me…

In that sense, raab is sentimental for me in the same way that laapsi, a sweet I only ever make on Diwali, is. No one is going to stop me from making it at some other time of the year, but I consider it sacred in some way, just as I do the raab.

Raab

(Yield: 1 bowl)

⅛ cup bajra (pearl millet) flour

⅛ cup jaggery

1½ tablespoons ghee

2 cups water

1 teaspoon dry ginger powder

½ teaspoon ajwain

In a pan, add the ghee and the flour. Stir them together on a low-medium flame until the mixture looks like a roux. Keep stirring, making sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan, until it turns a golden colour.

At the same time, in another pot, add the jaggery and the water. Heat until the jaggery melts, stirring occasionally.

Once the roux is golden, add the ginger powder, the ajwain and the powdered gond resin. The gond will make the mixture bubble and fluff up at this point. Finally, add the warm jaggery water. Stir well and carefully, so the mixture does not start to coagulate and get lumpy.

Once it is completely smooth, it is ready to be served. Raab is best enjoyed hot.

As explained above, bajra is especially good for the winters and monsoons, as is ragi. In the summer months, you can replace it with whole wheat flour or any seasonal flour of your choice. If you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, you can also reduce the quantity of jaggery in this dish.

I wish you and your family good health as the season changes, and I am glad to share this simple and satisfying dish that will help with the sniffles and fatigue that are customary at this time. Such recipes have been treasured for generations, and it’s up to us to keep these healing traditions going in the time to come. Here are a few more home remedies: soothing syrup, raisin kalkand syrup and turmeric shot. Each of them boosts the health – and, as I personally find, the mood too! They take me on a trip down memory lane that always reminds me that food is a form of love.

View Post
By
Load More