Vegetables in a Spicy Garlic Sauce on a Bed of Noodles

 

Some days I just have to eat noodles….and I can’t believe that I haven’t made/ eaten or posted more Chinese recipes here….possibly because it almost never even survives being photographed!! A few days ago, I came back home craving for the comfort that only noodles, or a hug from George Clooney can give me…..

I didn’t have beans or carrots, but whatever I had would do quite nicely for what I had in mind….. Vegetables in a spicy garlic sauce on a bed of boiled noodles…….

Don’t let the bad picture deter you. Its hunger married with night time picture taking…..This is comfort food… for the good times and the bad, for the rains and the shine, for sitting on the couch and vegetating or for when you really want to “eat something nice”.

Macaroni Salad

Casa Picola in Bangalore is one of my favourite places to eat. When I lived there, I wouldn’t miss any opportunity to eat there. Not only did they make awesome food, from pastas, burgers, steaks and desserts, plus their prices were easy on the pockets of a badly paid management trainee. I loved the casual atmosphere of the restaurants (they have a few branches and are now even in chennai i am told)-  people would generally hang around and it wasn’t uncommon to see someone strumming a guitar or peals of loud laughter from large groups of people. I think casa picola attracted the kind of people that I wanted to be like- kind of “alternate career” seekers…not the boring 9-5 types– aspiring actors, advertisement professionals, singers, musicians, etc. For a just turned 21, first time employed person, these people were the ultimate in cool… of course I didn’t turn out to be anything like anyone I saw there, my love for their food continues tho, and I always find time to drag whoever I am with to eat there when I visit Bangalore.

They make a lovely cold chicken macaroni salad. When I stopped eating non vegetarian food, I began to have the veggie version of the same thing. It’s a bowlful of macaroni with vegetables, doused in tomato sauce and mayonnaise….described this way I am sure it sounds gross, but you have to have it to know the taste…its addictive!! Though it’s a salad, it is a meal in itself as it is served with toasted and buttered garlic bread. I doubt if anyone can eat anything else after a full bowl of this salad!!

I tried to make this healthier by omitting the mayonnaise, and making a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, basil and tomato sauce. I also find that tossing a salad and dressing is easier in a closed plastic container. It ensures everything blends well and is also way less messy. All you have to do is put in all the ingredients, snap the lid on and gently swirl till mixed. Works best with a large round container. This salad makes for a full meal with carbs and vegetables, and can be had warm or cold. We didn’t have garlic bread, but this was great on its own.

Other pasta dishes on Escapades:

Pasta the forgotten way

tagliatelle pasta for one

Angel hair pasta

Pasta…the forgotten way

Ever since I began working from home, lunches consist of leftovers, or something quickly put together…..minus all the fuss, sometimes I continue working as I eat at the computer…..

err…no this is’nt a claim to an authentic pasta recipe…….on a break just before lunchtime, I chanced upon Aparna’s fabulous pasta salad…..just as I was going over the ingredients and other details of the recipe the power shut off…..all that remained in my mind, was how the dish looked….i came up with this, which is nothing like what Aparna made…..but she was my inspiration nonetheless….So this is my lunch of a few days ago…..the truly Forgotten way!!

It’s a filling meal for one……i tend to overload on the veggies to bulk up the dish and cut out carbs…..it helps me get my full serving of veggies without having anyone turn up their nose at me or painfully pick out the stuff they wont eat (if you haven’t realized by now that k can be a painfully fussy eater…then now you know)…..

this is off to Ammalu’s Kitchen for her herb mania – basil

Dal Dhokli and Makai ki Sabzi for RCI – Rajasthan

Dal Dhokli

Makai ki sabzi

Ever put off something till the context completely changes and you don’t know if you want to finish what you decided to do or abandon?? That’s exactly what I am going through now…..i have had such an eventful few weeks that I had to put off doing what I planned to cook for RCI: rajasthan till two days ago….and when I was finally ready with the post, the same evening, Jaipur the capital of Rajasthan was rocked by several serial bombs that have taken many lives and injured many people…….while I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the television, I completely forgot about my post…..and this morning, I wondered if I should or should not post what I wanted to say and do….

Sounds frivolous for me to be extolling the fragrance and flavour of what I made, while there are people mourning the loss of lives, loved ones and livelihood, while still many hundreds come to terms with this reality of terror…… no one will know why all that happened did happen…..the pink city….drenched in innocent blood…..the community of people who epitomize colour, covered in a way that sends more than just a shiver down my spine…..the people, the crafts, the grandeur, the flavours and smells of one of the most vibrant places on earth, today not knowing why their joie de vivre is snatched away from them…….

I have never been to Rajasthan….and it was on my “places to see before I can’t walk” list for a while now……K and I planned a trip there this sept and god willing we will still go….to the desserts, to the people so talented, so full of life and colour and spirit…..my heart goes out to all of them….for their loss, which is every bit ours…..i hope for the people, the resilience to bounce back…..and not allow the people who did this, the triumph of crippling our soul…….

The earlier post is here

When foodie events are announced all over the blogosphere, I always feel a little excited and my mind more than wants to participate….however, life sometimes has a way of kicking you a little harder and telling you that no matter how obsessed you may be with blogosphere, there is a real life to live and for most part of the time you can regretfully participate by doing a round of the round ups!!

So plans were made and research done to defy all this……because there were these two recipes that I knew I wouldn’t get down to making ever if I passed up this opportunity……and yet I found myself scrambling at the last minute…….considering I am hosting an event this month…..i just hope I fall into a minority category of truant food bloggers, or the good doctor will have my head on a plate!!

Makai ki sabzi and dal dhokli were my chosen two….makai because I have never used corn when I cook tho I always order it when we are eating out….and the picture in the book looked so tempting, the gravy creamy and flavourful and crying out for some hot rotis…..and dal dhokli cos I had it at A’s house one afternoon and I loved it……the creamy texture of the cooked rotis in the flavourful dal (with that much of ghee!! It had better be!!) And I kept telling her over mouthfuls, that it was indian pasta, such a filling meal and so nutritious…… but I had all these demons of imminent disaster over me looming large…..

I made them on two consecutive days and now I realize that the pictures look so similar!! Or maybe all curried and gravied indian food looks the same…..the Makai ki sabzi was spicy and the sharp flavours make it a good dish to put on a party buffet, best eaten with a light pulao or rotis.

And the dal dhokli is something that could quite easily become a part of those times when pasta is all that

can satisfy me!! The warm tangy flavour of the dal, mingling with the ghee seduced spices….ohh!! awesome….and total comfort food……infact when I asked A to mail me her recipe,

she began the mail with “ghee….lots of it” and warned that it would be a waste to

scrimp on it while making this…….tells me how much the cuisine of this royal land is influenced by what else!! Royalty!! Everything is rich, flavourful,

exotic…not to mention cooked in pure ghee! These two are my entries to RCI – Rajasthan…..being hosted by Padmaja of Spicy Andhra….RCI celebrates regional cuisine each month and is the brain child of Lakshmi of veggie cuisine. dal dhokli is also my entry to valli’s roti rendezvous….join her at the roti mela….she dished up quite a storm with the dosa mela last month!!

Lemon Vermicelli

There are times when I get tired of the idli dosa combos and crave something different for breakfast….K isn’t too happy at these times and I have to mask something I like with atleast one element of a dish that he likes to get him to even look at it…(bah!! And people complain only about fussy kids!!) i love vermicelli, but K doesn’t care much for it….. one such discovery was lemon semia….i have never eaten this anywhere else, though I am sure I haven’t exactly pioneered it to shout out eureka!! This is inspired by the lemon idiappam I have had that my MIL makes…..i’ve just substituted vermicelli instead of idiappam….its done in a jiffy and if you have lemons or lemon juice at hand, can be made in as much time as it takes to boil the vermicelli!! So for the days when you need a really quick snack or breakfast, this is a good option. I use the pre roasted vermicelli, it gives it a different flavor and more importantly doesn’t stick together like a stubbornly gummy vermicelli.

this can be made on the stove top and microwave…here is the microwave version…which is off to WBB – microwave foods, hosted this month by Easycrafts ….. WBB is the spell on blogging breakfasts, first cast by the good doctor Nandita at Saffron Trail

Lemon Semia

(To serve 2)

1 cup roasted vermicelli

1 t oil

½ t mustard seeds

1 t urad dal (shelled black gram)

1 t channa dal (split bengal gram)

A few curry leaves

1 T cashew nuts (broken into pieces, totally optional)

A pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

2 T lemon juice

2 green chillies slit lengthwise

1 T freshly grated coconut for the garnish

in a microwave safe bowl, place 1 1/2 cups water, 1 cuproasted vermicelli, salt to taste. cover, and microwave on high for 5-6 mins (that’s how long it takes in my oven, check and adjust the time accordingly). the semia will be just cooked, fluff with a fork and set aside.

in another microwave safe bowl, add the oil, mustard seeds, urad and channa dals, turmeric, curry leaves, green chillies, cashew nuts (if using) and zap covered on high for a minute till the mustard splutters. take out, add the lemon juice, cooked vermicelli, grated coconut, mix well. Serve hot with pickle / chutney or plain. yes….the method ends here…it is that simple!!

tagliatelle for me!!

pasta….if i actually post each time i make or eat pasta, lets just say this blog will be overflowing with pasta posts…..it is this very wariness that has reigned me in…so much so, that i have just two posts with pasta…..to me it is comfort food at its exotic best….it can take on so many avatars, be fiery, demure, mild, kaliedoscopic and yet each time utterly fulfilling…..

with K working himself (and me) crazy…most saturday’s i am left to my own devices….rustling up something for one person isnt half as heartbreaking as eating a solitary meal….most people i know loathe it…but most times we just cant help it…..

this afternoon, to feed myself i looked through my grocery cupboard (since there were no leftovers in the fridge) and found some tagliatelle pasta (the flat ribbon shaped pasta)….K loves this and this is his favourite shaped pasta….it was too little for two people and since i have reduced the intake of carbs, it would do nicely for my lunch…i wouldnt have touched it with a bargepole if it wasnt made of 100% whole wheat either……

i’m not too fond of an overdose of cream and cheese…. i prefer the tangy spicy versions…so i more or less gravitated towards this since i was cooking for myself….. suddenly i was enthu about making lunch for myself…and even told K to hang up cos i was savouring it when he called while i was chomping away…..

this is my entry to the Mingle at Meeta’s.…the theme this month is one dish dinners

Tomato and noodle soup

Pleasantly chill winter nights call for special warmer called soups……….i never thought i was a soup person…. I mean I used to sip my Cantonese soup on my by now scalded tongue every time we went out for Chinese (which was about twice a year) only because it was the tradition to have a soup before the main course (of chow mien…yay!!) and because that’s the way my parents had ordered the food….it wasn’t until many years later that I found out that there were many countries other than china that had soup as part of their meal….naturally I took my time discovering soups and they are still my favourite diet food, also my recovering from a bad cold or high fever food…..they’re also my quick fix for a fuss free meal when I have to feed only myself for dinner food…..ok let me rephrase….. for a not so regular soupy person, I turn to them for warmth and comfort that only soup can give you……………and in the last few years, rarely have they failed me….. this then is a typical no nonsense easy to put together tomato soup, with some noodles thrown in to up the carbohydrate quotient. Simple and filling and great for a chilly evening and my hips are surely saying thank you tonite!!

Killing me softly……Idiappam and Ishtu

K is really upset with me….he claims I have been feeding him to death!! And he’s serious when he says it…..with a writer in the house who’s lost in the characters of his book, his plot and philosophy…..the last thing on his mind is an answer to “what do you want to eat?” …sometimes I think he wants to hit me with the nearest object for asking him such a question and yet I persist with amazing doggedness…….after the last couple of stares I have got from him, I am now turning to amma to answer this question for me….she answers with (hasn’t yet been tortured by this question) enthusiasm and actually asks me to make some innovative stuff for her…..one such request a few days ago was “idiappam and stew” (ishtu…if any self respecting mallu will be quoted here…..but mallu I am not tho sometimes I pretend to be….) …..

this is something I was introduced to at my dear friend D’s house in cochin…..i was already in awe of many things in Kerala…the people, their lifestyles, the urban and rural merging….the terrain and the cuisine…..delicately flavoured on one hand and fiery at another…..so idiappam and stew remains one of my favourites….its so easy to put together and always is well appreciated (yes even K loves it)…..and also is light on the tummy……. We had this for dinner the other night….i made lots of it and we had quite a bit leftover…..idiappam with milk / coconut milk flavoured with elaichi and sugar makes a great breakfast too…..imagine my panic when I found the whole hot case empty the next morning when I checked it!! K was up writing all night and gave in to hunger pangs at 4 a.m!! So much for being accused of feeding him to death!! i guess i stand “guilty as charged!!”………..

Disclaimer: My mallu friends, please excuse me if the recipe I followed is far from authentic!!

cooking for one…….noodles with soup

With K declaring he had a dinner meeting which meant he wouldn’t be gracing the dinner table with me in tow, I was wondering what to rustle up for a quick meal……….every once in a long while, this happens. And am sure I am not alone in what I feel………sometimes cooking for one is more difficult than eating alone!! As I rode up in the lift I tried to think of what leftovers I could make do with, came up with nothing…the fridge, for the first time this month has nestled no leftovers!! The rain since afternoon, now down to a drizzle gave me an idea…….i smiled and as soon as I unlocked the door, kicked off sandals and put away handbag I walked into the kitchen. I decided to play the “how soon can you serve yourself a decent dinner” game…the fact that I was famished helped a great deal. My fix was simple, yet filling and I must add delicious (even if I not so graciously am saying it myself!!). I cooked some Hakka noodles into my creamy mushroom soup instant mix from Knorr soups. I’m not a fan of preserved food. i haven’t eaten too many ready to eat meals either. even stuff like soup and pasta, i like to make from the basic ingredients. but i do stock a few packets of soups for emergencies and hunger striking in the middle of one of our favorite weekend indulgences of watching movies till the morning!! also with K being severely kitchen challenged, i need a back up if i fall ill. but more often than not, i hurriedly use up this stuff when i realise i have been hoarding in vain and the expiry date is approaching rapidly. In less than 12 minutes I sat down to some TV and a dinner that left me very satisfied. Of the 12 minutes, 2 minutes were spent clicking photographs!! never mind the monochromatic colour of the soup, i thought i’d add a dash of colour with the i used a kitchen cloth my mom gave me even if hearts aren’t really my favorite motif!!In fact this quick dinner allowed me the time to not only post this one but I actually overcame my techno phobia and figured out how to upload the pictures I had taken of the baby aloos with kalonji from my phone too!!

chinese ho jaaye??

I am a sucker for Chinese food…at least the kind that we get here…. Indian Chinese…..when I was little (yes, I once was) and I’d be asked what kind of food I liked, I’d reply smartly with “I can eat Chinese food 365 days a year” yes I was that crazy…..infact I managed to convert K who hated the stuff….cos all through our courtship we’d only go for Chinese dinners and lunches….so much so that he stopped asking me what I wanted to eat…he’d just ask “where do you want to eat?” meaning which restaurant……I’m not kidding when I say I can eat any kind of Chinese….good, bad and even sometimes downright ugly…from the Taj to the bandi’s famous and not so much, I’ve had it all and loved it!! I hadn’t really attempted to make anything more than chilli chicken and noodles in the past and I can experiment only one dish at a time….i would be a nervous wreck if I tried anything more ambitious…so it was Chinese night last night….what strikes me always is how simple the cooking process really is…once you trudge through the enormous cutting and chopping that is!! Dinner was ready in about 20mins actually…what with K keeping crazy hours because of his writing and then the Wimbledon adds to my already frayed nerves……this seemed to be such a blessing.

Recipes are here……….