Chocolate Bread Loaf

"Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies." - John Q. Tullius

Be Calm and Eat Chocolate.

I read this recently and thought of Ak.  Not that I don’t think of him otherwise, but this was one of those moments which made me remember how a simple object like Chocolate, can provide instant gratification. A bad day, a headache, post drink, a visit do someone’s house, ill-health or simply, post dinner- All It takes is a piece of chocolate to make Ak happy. I wish that there was something as unassuming and straightforward and effortless that would be a solution to my happiness. Women are just that much more complicated I guess. Although I was quite fixated on chocolate in the early years, as I have grown older- for some reason, my love for chocolate has reduced and I can only eat in extreme moderation. The husband, the brother and the parents however completely compensate.

So, what if one could begin their day with chocolate for Breakfast? I had eaten something similar on a trip to Italy, and this recipe that I had seen in a book on Italian cooking, had been calling out to me for months. Freezing winters, seemed to be the perfect time to test it out and hence, on a cold winter morning, I set out to bake this Chocolate Bread Loaf. I had also been graciously sent some wonderful packets of instant yeast from across the seas by SIL, of which some were still left. The recipe hence, seemed to be good use. The bread turned out to be quite wonderful, almost cakeish- but not a cake. I do think, bread-making practice would have yielded better results, as I kneaded a bit too much maybe- But those, who have delved deeply into the art of bread-making; do give this one a try. You will love it.

This chocolate bread can be a wholesome Breakfast, if toasted and served with butter or cream cheese or even post dinner, with dinner or any other meal. Traditionally in Italy, it is served with Mascarpone or Gorgonzola cheese and a glass of red wine.

p.s Bread making tips would be more than welcome.

Crostini with Caramelized Onion, Feta and Rocket

It’s amazing how versatile the onion is. Or rather I should specify- the Red Onion. Yes, the epitome of Stink-The wonderful red onion. I never knew the concept of Red Onion, until my stint in the UK a few years ago. In our part of the world, Onions were always red or green, aren’t they?

Yes, they make you cry, but what the heck- the flavor I have discovered over time, is surely worth it. The tangy flavor, which I sometimes remove (by soaking cut onion in water for about 10 minutes), is in essence quite wonderful, and for those who despise it, there is news- Onions are good cures for colds (Wikipedia) and are quite useful as flavoring agents.

Well, it was only once I started to cook Indian food often enough, I discovered the difference between the varieties of onion, except just red and green. I figured, how some traditional Indian dishes cannot just be made, using anything else except for red onions. The white onion simply isn’t flavorful enough for its usage in traditional Indian cooking. It was tough, (and expensive) to find good red onions in the heart of where I stayed, but soon enough we realized that food such as the traditional dal with tadka or baingan ka bharta just wouldn’t be the same without the beloved red onion. And therefore, we would stash bags of onions at our home and use them all the time, everywhere. Initially, when I started cooking, I would keep the red onion away from international cuisines, but as I started to experiment, I soon realized that I just needed to pair it well. This dish is my favorite form of the Red Onion – in a cuisine other than Indian. An interesting twist is the caramelization, which adds to the colour as well. I had always thought that caramelized onions are tough to do, but as I learnt from Martha Stewart, the trick really is to cook them slowly. The icing on the cake for this dish is its pairing with 2 of my other favorite ingredients- Feta and Rocket. Am not sure if it is unique, but what I do know is that the blend is absolutely harmonious- I usually drool at the thought of either of these 2 ingredients, and paired together, surely results in bliss. Try at your own risk.

p.s. RB, if you are reading this, for the love of Onions-  this post is for you.

p.p.s. Totally directed by a whim of mine, I’m glad my audience@ 261 enjoyed these as much as I did.

Baked Broccoli and Babycorn

Its unfathomable, how my mind flutters so much. Sometimes I truly believe in my ‘dual zodiac nature’ that describes me as a person getting bored quickly, of anything and everything. I think I have more often posted about how I don’t know where this blog is headed, than posted about real blog stuff. Yes, one can easily predict that the reason I haven’t posted in the last few weeks (despite having a ready documented dish in drafts), is because I have been thinking and re-thinking the blog. Honestly, despite my resolutions to write more, I struggle to stay convinced. Yes, I have been caught up with work, family and so much stuff happening, but I know that’s hardly reason enough to not do this. Today, as I write this, I am almost feeling guilty for not wanting to do this at all. Am not 100% there yet, but I think I am going to try.

This post is about some of the cooking that took place at our abode, in the last month; some of it extremely simple at the end of a hard day, some of it quite “ironchefy” (I quote the 13 year old RB) such as the fancy lemonade (recipe coming soon, courtesy RB), some to remind us of the good things we enjoyed as kids (and don’t indulge in anymore as adults) - such as Jello, which I re-discovered is an art in itself, especially, to remove from the cases, and some to purely enjoy good food. The Baked broccoli and corn dish is one of my all-time favourite- its simplicity is what makes it a pleasure, to cook and eat as well.

Cous Cous Salad with Mixed Peppers

It was only when started working on this post did I realize that I am in love with peppers; yes, the red, green and yellow variety. In the last less than a year of me writing this blog, and me cooking/documenting a lot, I have made a lot of dishes with peppers and repeatedly. I am surprised people around me haven’t killed me yet. But then again, maybe, it is the prettiness and varied nature of the peppers and for some, the healthy aspect that prevents us from getting bored. In fact, I also realized, that there are so many recipes that I haven’t even documented, but I guess they will find their way in soon.

Today’s post is Cous Cous with mixed peppers. I have always loved Cous Cous and now, it is a regular on our dinner menu. Couscous is a North African semolina dish that is traditionally served with a stew or accompanied with vegetables. Extremely simple to make and very, very versatile, Cous Cous is available in dried, instant form, and can be cooked and is ready to eat in under 5 minutes. Even though it resembles pasta, it is much and is among the healthiest grain-based products. It has a superior vitamin profile to pasta, and In terms of protein, couscous has 3.6 g for every 100 calories, equivalent to pasta, and well above the 2.6 g for every 100 calories of white rice. Furthermore, couscous contains a 1% fat-to-calorie ratio, compared to 3% for white rice, 5% for pasta etc. (Source: Wikipedia)

Now that I have justified the wonderful qualities of Cous Cous, how about an actual recipe? This is a great summer salad; can be had warm or cold, and variations can be adopted. I served it as an accompaniment to some bread and pasta with mushrooms in white sauce- however, I am sure its a much healthier meal, just by itself.

Egg Salad Open Sandwiches

Today is Good Friday.

Yes, I am well aware of the goodness of all Fridays, but today really is ‘The Good Friday’, just before Easter Sunday. Last year, On Easter Sunday, we were at the Vatican; that is really one of the rare moments in my life. Ahh- I miss the travels already. With so much activity buzzing around Easter, all the Easter egg preparations, the egg hunt and other activities globally, I have been feeling morally inclined to contribute my bit to the festivities. Having studied in a Christian school throughout, I feel quite connected and aware of the rituals, and rather enjoy them actually. On the contrary, I quite miss the real Christmas buzz- beyond the party season that runs through Delhi. I looked around a bit for some egg colouring, in order to try some devilled easter eggs, but my hunt started late.

                Having had limited options at hand, I decided to wake up early (rather just in good time!) on Friday morning and make some interesting eggy breakfast instead, in order to celebrate Easter. I am not much of an egg person, and from what I have understood, neither is Ak. Although it is quite ironic, that the first thing that I ever cooked @261 for Ak, was of course, an egg for Breakfast. For me, an egg is good for any other meal, except breakfast; Baked eggs, Scrambled (Indian, The traditional English style, Mexican…), etc. I am happy to have eggs for dinner. In the last year or so, with various minor health concerns, in order to be healthy and improve my food habits, I am going to allow Mr Egg to come into my life, more often. Coming back to the post, to celebrate Easter Style, I made Egg Salad Open Sandwiches. I had read this post by David Lebovitz a couple of months ago, and there was something so classic about this simple post- that it had been playing in my mind. I was travelling then, and didn’t get an opportunity, and it was only now, that I finally had eggs to play with, I decided to give this a shot. What I love about David’s cooking is the simplicity and perfect blend of flavours. Am an ardent fan, and the perfect-ness of this recipe, has only made it better from here on.

Spaghetti with Bacon and wine + Italiano Grilled Vegetables

Ak called it “The Quickie Part 2”. I would just say- it was ‘The Use- everything- in- the- Fridge Quickie’.

So, Ak was away yet another time; and that has its advantages and disadvantages. The plus being- I spent the night at parents (Ak+My parents+His Mom: of course- I couldn’t stay alone! Yes people- I have never stayed alone!), and the minus being- the mixed bag of emotions, it brought along. I hate leaving my parents place- yes. I do. each and every time I walk out. Finally when I was back, I was trying to evaluate the pros and cons while feeling horrible - and I did not find a winner.

+@Tk Home: I get to eat stuff that My mom knows I love

-@261: I do consider it home- which means that I miss it.

+@261: I appreciate it much more. That bed is definitely now my bed

-@Tk Home: My room is not my room anymore + Living out of a bag is not fun

+@Tk Home: The unnecessary chit chat till late hours of the night

-@261: All the fresh veggies were not so fresh after my 2 days of being away!

+@261: Well- I get to indulge in more cooking to drown my sorrows for the day J

Simply unacceptable, but Alas, such is life. 

Life in fact, has been so hectic in the last few weeks that my fridge has been stocking up. I have been mostly on a baking spree, and suddenly realized that in the absence of no cooking for 2 days- we had enough things that needed to be cooked on an ASAP basis. So, Brother Ak came over to help me with technology, and got treated to my favorite ham sandwiches, while the other Ak was driving back to Delhi, to be in time for dinner.

I discovered that I had a lot of bacon and peppers (red, green and yellow- Yes, I like to keep my options open) to work with. One of my all-time favorite dishes has been the Penne with Bacon at one of Delhi’s first few Truly Italian restaurants- The Big Chill. Not only does the place hold a lot of special memories for anyone who has been in the age group of 18-26, during that time, but till date, it serves some wonderful food and scrumptious desserts. In due course of time, I have grown over my need to pay a visit there every week, and only occasionally go for dessert, but the food, is surely worth the frequent visit. The Penne with bacon is one of the lighter pasta dishes (most of the others are heavy on cheese and are baked) and has a slightly spicy touch to it. Since Ak is not a Spicy food person, I skipped the dried red chilies and did my own take on it with some left over red wine.  Further, I used spaghetti instead of Penne– simply for its appeal as comfort food. The results were suitably impressive- if I may say so myself, and the accompanying grilled peppers were a brilliant addition to the otherwise unadorned meal. The vegetables are just something that I have cooked up- from my understanding of Italian ingredients. Have been quite the winner, almost everytime I have cooked them. Feel free to improvise!

p.s Sadly, there are no process shots- I wasn’t planning to post this. But the results were so good, Ak convinced me to document it.

Hummus and Taboulleh Salad

For vegetarians, Mediterranean food is truly a delight. In my travels across the world, especially around UK and Europe, Good vegetarian food is hard to find, especially if one doesn’t want potatoes. Although I am not a vegetarian, I don’t particularly enjoy seafood and on the contrary, am an extremely happy vegetarian. Very rarely do I complain about being served vegetarian food and quite often, I end up ordering a vegetarian dish for myself. It was during my stay in the UK that I discovered my obsession and love for ‘the mezze food world’ and oh! What a wonderful world it is! A lot of meals outside would end up in Edgware road (the famous place for all mezze food), and even when eating at home, the many varieties of hummus and tahini would always be found in the fridge. Time being a constraint then, cooking from scratch would be difficult. But since the time I have been back, Hummus at home is an easy go. Quite often, if I am eating out, and if there is a mezze platter on the starter menu, I usually cannot resist ordering it.

It had been playing on my mind for a while to try hummus @261, knowing that it would be a wonderful meal or an accompaniment, but since Ak is not a Chickpeas person, I was skeptical. However, since it was the 2 of us for dinner for a couple of months, I decided to go ahead and experiment with Ak’s taste buds. And I was willing to bribe him a bit with a tempting supplement. The menu for the night was Lebanese bread, Hummus, Taboulleh salad and Kebabs as the bribe for Ak. This meant that even if he didn’t like anything, he would at least enjoy the kebabs for the meal. Initially I had planned to make minced meat kebabs at home, but with work at its peak, I decided to go with some readymade shammi-kebabs from the local butcher; they are as fresh as ever and Ak actually loved them, along with the salad.

The Quickie

I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I take life and things around me for granted; my work, people around me, people I really care about, and of course, my cooking. My next planned post after a very efficient Sunday was to be with my pretty pretty, newly found cupcake cases (I had been desperately looking to find nice-looking, good quality and inexpensive cupcake wrappers all over!). However, this was not to be.

George Kneller said, ‘To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.’

               So, on Ak’s insistence for the quickie ( and I mean the post of course), and because of the beautiful photographs that he took despite my hesitancy to document this, here I am, writing about a very average, very tired and no time, hardly any ingredients available- Sunday dinner.  This was a meal literally, made out of nothing in the fridge. The menu was decided on the basis of 2 key ingredients that were available and then the rest just happened. Each of the recipes, as a matter of fact, has one or two elements missing and hence, has been replaced with something similar and on occasion, even contradictory. Hence, for the convenience of anyone who may want to try any one of the recipes, I have posted the originals.

Disclaimer: If one must try this, it is only at one’s own risk.

Actually Communicating and Cooking!

So, today’s post is sooner than otherwise planned- actually it was completely unscheduled. Had a very efficient workday, with dedicated communication work, only to end with a naïve round of cooking. Considering it was a long working day, with more to continue later, I thought of keeping dinner rather simple; and just as I was about to begin, Ak decided that it was worth writing about. Out came the camera- and I figured that my artless, vague menu was up for some excitement .