Vangi Bhath - More Than One Way to Eat Rice!

You know what the Chinese and the Indians have in common? RICE!! It's our STAPLE food. We eat it with everything. 

We Indians ESPECIALLY LOVE mixing it with SPICES and VEGETABLES to make it more flavorful and different. The spices make the STAPLE food more interesting to eat. 

Here's a signature rice dish from Karnataka (a state in Southwest of India) called Vangi Bhath. It's made with a special blend of spices called Vangi Bhath spice powder (which include coriander, black gram dal, cumin, red chili, Fenugreek, cloves, and cinnamon), eggplant or brinjal, curry leaves, peas, cashews, mustard seeds and of course, plain white rice. 

I love eating Vangi Bhath with a little bit of YOGURT!

Quick Tips:

- To make the rice dish, simply follow instructions on the back of the spice powder packet. 

- These packets are available at most Indian grocery stores such as Subzi Mandi or Patel Brothers. 

~Today Is International Hot & Spicy Food Day~

There are numerous kinds of spices all over the world, that contribute to a variety of hot flavored foods. Hot foods can actually be very good for you because of their medicinal and antimicrobial properties. Just to name a few: garlic, chilies, onions, ginger, allspice and oregano. They all aid in killing bacteria and make food safer to consume. We use many of these spices to enhance the flavor of our dishes. Learning that they aid in keeping us healthy is an added bonus!

In keeping with today's "Hot & Spicy" theme, I thought I would share some of our dishes. Heat Seekers Rejoice:

Crispy Chili Poppers (Chili Pakora)

Stuffed Jalapeno Curry

Corn Flakes Mixture (Spicy Chivda)

Peanut (Phalli) Poppers

Crunchy Cashews

Did you know that the hottest chili pepper in the world is the Naga Jolokia, with a Scoville rating between 330,000-1,000,000? I considered myself a REAL heat seeker eating banana peppers, poblano peppers (1,000-2,500 Scoville), jalapenos (2,500-10,000 Scoville), and even habanero peppers (100,000-350,000 scoville) from time to time. After checking these Scoville figures, I realized I have a long way to go to catch up to the top. When I do, I'll make sure I have plenty of milk standing by for the cooling off period.

What is the hottest type of pepper you enjoy or can tolerate? Please share by posting a comment below!!

Surprise, Surprise! - New Features

If you haven't visited our blog already, you will want to now. We are continuously making changes to the site to make it easier for you. We have added some new features that will aid you in your cooking and give you a better understanding of the ingredients we use in our cooking.

Spice Rack 
An explanation of the different kinds of spices and their benefits

Dals and Flours
How and when to use them

Cooking 101
Basic cooking techniques

A Real Crunch Muncher!

If you have ever read "The Namesake" or watched the movie, then you will remember this scene I am about to narrate to you. Ashima Ganguli newly married leaves her hometown in Calcutta, India to settle with her husband, Ashoke in Cambridge, MA. Ashoke is an engineering student at MIT and lives in an apartment on or near campus. Ashima wakes up in the morning and looks around their little kitchen to figure out what to eat for breakfast. Oh, I forgot to mention she's pregnant. I guess pregnant women have all sorts of cravings, something spicy, sweet or salt. All Ashima could find is a box of Corn Flakes in the cupboard. So she takes out a bowl, pours the corn flakes into it and just looks at it; it's so plain. The next scene that I remember from the movie was that she chops up onions and adds them to the cereal and tosses it with masala and salt. Note to self: every Indian household has masala for cooking...it's a necessity.

Anyways, after mixing everything together, she sits down by the table and eats her spicy corn flakes mixture for breakfast with pleasure. Now I have explained this particular scene to you because that was one of the scenes that reminds me of foods I grew up with and how I could relate to the movie. My mom made a similar Corn Flakes Mixture this weekend and I just couldn't help but think of the scene from "The Namesake".  And you know what, the procedure for this snack is so simple and so easy and it takes like 10 minutes. So grab some corn flakes and get cracking!!!

I'm sure you are so excited about this snack that you are dying to know what's in it, right? Well, I'm gonna tell you and then you have to tell me how it turns out. You will never look at Corn Flakes the same way again.

Ingredients:

- 7oz box of Corn Flakes cereal
- Handful of Peanuts / cashews
- Handful of Roasted channa dal
- ½ tsp of Red Chilli powder
- 1 tsp of Coriander powder (dhania),  (optional)
- 1 tsp of Salt (as per your taste)
- ½ tsp of Citric Acid powder, (optional)
- 1 tsp of Confectioner's sugar
- 3 to 4 tbsp of Vegetable oil

Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a small saucepan on medium heat and fry the peanuts/cashews until golden brown.

2) Remove from heat and add coriander powder, salt and citric acid and mix well.

3) Empty the cornflakes into a microwavable contrainer and add the roasted channa dal. Then transfer the  seasoning into it and mix well.

4) Reduce the power level on the microwave oven to 70% power and microwave for just two minutes. (Please note that heating time could vary on the power of the oven).

5) Remove from the oven and sprinkle the confectioner's sugar over using a metal sieve and mix well. When it cools down, store it in a tight container to keep it from going stale.

****If you guys haven't heard of The Namesake, you can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Namesake

Garam Garam Aloo Paratha!!

Today is Mothers' Day!! Let's take a moment and praise our mothers for their patience, love, support and wonderful culinary talents. I had this whole plan of making her all these different dishes but my plans got messed up when we lost power on Saturday due to the weather and I just decided to stick to simple stuff. I took over her cooking duties for the Sunday and started the day by giving her lots of hugs and love.
I saw potatoes soaking in the pot and I quickly knew what she wanted to eat for lunch: Aloo Paratha (potato stuffed Indian flat-bread). If you want more information about this type of bread, search on Wikipedia. This type of flat-bread can be made with different ingredients but potato is most filling and easiest. This flat-bread can be purchased at any grocery store but you know, it always tastes better when it's made at home with love.

To make the dough and the stuffing you need the following ingredients:
- 5 medium Potatoes
- 3 cups of Atta (durum wheat flour), for making the dough
- 1 cup of Atta, for rolling parathas
- Salt, for taste
- Half of medium Onion, chopped finely (optional)
- 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp of Coriander (Cilantro), optional
- 1 tsp of Whole Cumin seeds, optional
- Vegetable Oil, for frying parathas

Procedure:
1) Wash well and microwave potatoes for 8 minutes (or until soft). Remove them from microwave immediately and immerse in cold water for 5- 10 minutes. Remove from water and peel the potatoes. Next, crumble them, add salt, chili powder and mix well and set aside. Finely cut fresh coriander and cumin seeds can be added if available.

2) Take the wheat flour in a shallow container (mixing bowl), add salt to taste and mix well. Knead the flour into a smooth dough by using ½ - ¾ cup of water. Add a teaspoon of oil and cover dough for at least 15 minutes. Watch video for further assistance:http://www.youtube.com/watchv=h2fMTSlsdg4&feature=player_embedded

3) Clean the kitchen counter and take the dough of the size of lemon flatten it and dab it with flour on both sides and roll it evenly into a circular size of approx. 6-inches diameter. Spread 2 heaped tbsp of the potato mixture onto half-area of the circle.

Fold over the remaining half onto the potato mixture and seal the ends, representing a ‘D’. Fold it once more to make a quarter and set aside. Prepare similar quarters with rest of the potato mixture.

4) Heat a Non-stick griddle or tawa on medium heat. Roll-out each quarter into parathas evenly to a size of 6-8 inches long triangle and place it on the griddle.

5) Flip to other side after 30 seconds, and spray oil around and on the paratha. Spread the oil evenly with a wooden spatula and flip the other side. Brown the paratha on both sides.


6) Serve the parathas hot with mixed vegetable achar (available in Indian grocery stores), and/or raita.

Everything Stew with an Indian Touch!

You've heard of the Everything Bagel, right?

It has different kinds of seeds, onions, salt and other ingredients on it. Well, we have something in the same line but it's a stew. It's called the Everything Stew! It's like a Minestrone Soup. 

It has all the vegetables that were in our vegetable drawer plus beans, grains, different kinds of spices and sauces.

I always believe that the best recipes are the ones that you make up on a whim. Everything Stew is just that. My mom started making the stew this way when we were running out of ideas for lunch and needed to make something healthy and hearty. At first, I was not excited about it, I was like, stew? Come on mom.

But you know what, as usual I was wrong. I think my mom knows I'll change my mind once I taste it (I'm the Official Taste Tester in the family). Kind of like how back in the Kings and Queens era, they had peons and servants taste their food before they ate it. It was to ensure that the food was not poisoned or spoiled. In my case, I tell her whether the food requires more or less of a certain ingredient.

I know, it might seem like I'm being biased to my mom's cooking. Everyone would say their mom's cooking is the best. You just have to try it. I would recommend making this when you want to spice up cooking regime. I like to eat it with potato chips, toasted bread or pita chips.

This recipe makes 6-8 servings and you know what....in just 4 steps you have The Everything Stew!!

Click image to enlarge

Ingredients:
- 1 cup or 1 packet of Brown rice/ Uncle Ben’s rice (cooked)
- 1 bunch of Celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 can (14.75oz/418g) of Sweet Corn, regular or cream style
- 1 medium size can of Beans (any variety), wash and drain well
- 1½ cup of Crushed Tomato
- 2 tsp of Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp of Red chili pd / paste
- 2 Red/green/yellow peppers, cut into ½” pieces
- 1 tbsp of Smoked barbeque sauce (optional)
- 2 tbsp of Olive oil or any cooking oil
- 1 tsp of Marjoram (Italian spice)
- ½ tbsp of Salt

Procedure:
1) In a heavy bottomed pan (casserole), preferably of 4 Qtz size heat oil and sauté onions and ginger garlic paste. (Indian Touch)

2) Add celery and peppers until celery is soft and firm. When celery is cooked, add chili paste and tomato pulp for 1-2min.

3) Then add corn, beans, cooked rice, marjoram and salt & cook well (add water to bring the stew to a thick soup consistency).

4) Serve it in a bowl along with veggie sticks or garlic bread or toast. It makes a very satisfying healthy lunch. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-week.

Quick Tips: 
- Barley/ Cracked wheat (dalia) or regular rice can be substituted for brown rice. Any variety of vegetables like carrots, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, beans or spinach can be used.

- If available, frozen mixed vegetable packets are convenient and save time in chopping and cooking.

Spice It Up Baby!!

According to Wikipedia, there's a difference between "to season" and "to flavor" with herbs and spices. For instance, to tenderize meat, one may add salt which improves the flavor. Other seasonings like black pepper and basil may transfer some of their flavor to the food.

In addition to how seasonings are used as described above, the timing of when spices are added to the dish is also important. In Indian cooking, there is a technique you could say is used to enhance the flavor of the food. Besides Chaunk, other words for seasoning are Talimpu, Tadka, or Popu which can be all translated to say tempering in English. This technique is often used in dishes from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Whole spices are fried briefly in oil or butter to release essential oils which enhance the flavor of the dish. Then this mixture with the oil is combined with the dish you have prepared.

It is the last thing we do before the dish is done. One time, my mom was making mango daal and she put it aside to make some other dish. I was so excited about the daal, that I just spooned it up with some rice and ate it. Immediately, I realized something was missing. Can you guess?? The chaunk wasn't added to the dish and it tasted weird to me. Anyways, she took her little saucepan out and heated up the oil, added all the spices and mixed it into the daal and Voila! I ate it twice that night.

Here is the little secret I have been dying to share with you so far. Most Indians keep something called a Spice Box (Chaunk or Taalimpu box) in their spices cabinet for easy access. This box contains the following ingredients from counter clockwise: cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dried red peppers, red chili powder, coriander & cumin powder, garam masala, and turmeric.

It is easy to prepare this box; just use a container (with a tight lid) that can hold smaller containers to hold all these spices which can be placed in a kitchen cupboard. You would be surprised to know that this box isn't just used in everyday cooking. Professional chefs use this too to enhance their cuisines. Don't take my word for it, just take a look at the Iron Chef episode with Executive Chef Maneet Chauhan (from At Vermilion restaurant) vs Chef Morimoto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDMsVs8PjjI. Speed up the video to :40 seconds to see the camera focusing on the Spice Box. In our box, we included the spices we use most and we have salt in a separate container because we use that in everyday cooking. If you would like to learn how to make seasoning for your dishes, please follow this link or take a look on our Cooking 101 page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x96rO6JWUQ&feature=player_embedded

Well, my friends until next time...keep on Cookin'!!!