"Chatpata Chaat'- Bhel

What foods do you miss most...living away from your home country???
For me...its mostly the street foods....Bhel, Pani poori, Dabeli, Chana Choor,SPDP(Sev Potato Dahi Poori) etc etc.Not that we cannot make them here in USA....but the ease of stopping at one of the stalls, telling the vendor -how 'spicy' or 'sweet' you want your dish, the dish being made in front of you, chaating- gossiping with your buddies, savoring the tangy-spicy-sweet mouthwatering chaat.....ufff even the 'thought' makes me nostalgic and my mouth water!!!
Once,I was telling my colleague at Cornell  'How I miss Indian food'.He was surprised, he said.....but there are so many Indian restaurants here..why don't you eat there! I told him....they do not have 'all' the foods we get in India....and ofcourse the 'taste' is not as authentic. He asked me to describe some dish which I miss the most.I tried describing to him..'Bhel'...Puffed rice mixed with savory snack mixture, raw onions, tomatoes, Tamarind chutney.. etc etc He seemed confused....couldn't really 'get' what I  really miss????
I can totally understand....he hadn't tasted the addictive tangy-sweet-spicy taste of Bhel ...how would he know..what I really miss???
When I was reading 'Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri....a book about an 'immigrant' family......there, the couple migrates to US (may be in 1970's..don't exactly remember when) The lady is 'Bengali'. After coming to USA, she misses ofcourse her homeland, her friends and family....but also the 'food'. She becomes really homesick and tries making 'Bhel' with Rice Krispie cereal !!!!! How cool was that! Because those days finding 'puffed rice and indian grocery' wasn't as easy as it is now! So....we are amongst the lucky ones!!! We atleast can find what we need to make our favorite dish here in US of A!

Here is the recipe for 'Bhel':

Ingredients:
2 cups Puffed rice ( I haven't tried using Rice krispie cereal yet!!) Make sure its crispy.
1Cup Savory 'Hot Punjabi Mix' Farsan
1/2 cup thin Sev
1 onion  finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp roasted peanuts
1 tbsp raw mango chopped (if you like the tang)
Flat pooris if you want to make 'Bhel Poori'. I sometimes use 'Pringles' !!!

For Chutney:
1 tbsp Tamarind extract
1/4 cup grated jaggery
1/2tsp cumin-corainder powder
1/2tsp chili powder
1/4tsp chaat masala
salt
1/2cup water
Mix everything in the water and make Tangy-sweet- spicy chutney.This chutney is pretty watery.

For extra spice:
Crush green chilies and garlic together into fine paste. Add to bhel as needed.

Mixing bhel:
1) Mix together the puffed rice, farsan, half of the sev, onion, tomatoes, peanuts, mango etc.
2) Add the tamarind chutney to make the bhel 'wet' but not soggy.
3) Garnish with remaining sev, cilantro, pooris/ pringles etc
4) Serve immediately!

Enjoy the blissfull combination of various textures and tastes all packed in one mouthwatering dish!

"Everyday Cooking"- Pasta al forno in bianco

Baked Pasta in White Sauce-Spinach Alfredo pasta with tomatoes

Two Spinach Dishes in a row? Yes....you guessed it right....I had quite a lot of Spinach in the refrigerator that needed to be used up! So, day before yesterday I made the Spinach Wheat dosa and yesterday this pasta.

Pasta is often considered as 'comfort' food for many people.And to tell you the truth....it is becoming so... to me as well. Especially, creamy hot pasta.....right out of the oven..with cheese bubbling all over it..nice golden crust...ohhh my..what can be more comforting???It's almost as comforting as 'Varan Bhat' (Maharashtrian yellow daal and rice)..except for few extra calories!!

It was not the case earlier though when I first came to USA.It took a while for me to 'develop' a taste for 'white sauce' based pasta.It was too cheesy and bland for my taste.But when I started to make it myself....it was much better.I could alter the ingredients as I wanted..change it to suite our taste. One more reason to like this pasta was that ....we got 'addicted' to Papa Johns 'Spinach Alfredo Pizza' sometimes with chicken and tomatoes..sometimes just plain. This Pasta comes close to those pizza toppings and has become one of our family favorites. I have shared this pasta with some friends and they instantly became fans too!

Ingredients:
1 lb Pasta -
(Any kind like Ziti, Penne etc. I personally like Rotini because it can hold more sauce in it's ridges)
Shredded cheese-
(Either Italian blend of Parmesan, mozzarella, asiago. Or Just Mozzarella or pepper jack -1 block or 1 medium size bag
Whole milk (about 2 -3 cups) -little more may be needed
Spinach finely cut (2 cups)
Garlic 3-4 cloves
Black pepper (1/4th tsp)
Nutmeg (2 pinches)
Salt
Butter (2tsp)
Flour (2tsp)
Chili powder
Ketchup (2tsp)
Tomato slices (10-12)
Red chili flakes
Italian seasoning (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil) -1/4th tsp

Method:
1) Cook the pasta in boiling water+salt, till al dente. Drain and keep aside.
2) To make sauce- Melt butter in a pan. Add finely crushed garlic, and flour. Fry for a minute or two.
3) Add spinach, fry for couple mins. Then add the milk. Keep stirring till the mixture comes to a boil and thickens like a paste. Add salt, Italian seasoning, black pepper, nutmeg, chili powder to suit your taste. Add the ketchup and stir.
4) To the above sauce, add the cooked pasta, 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Stir well. If the pasta looks dry, add more milk to the sauce. The pasta should have enough sauce.
5) Preheat the oven to 375 F. Transfer the pasta to the buttered baking tray. Sprinkle with 1/4th cup of milk. Put the round tomato slices on top of the pasta. Layer with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle red chili flakes and black pepper on top. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 20 mins till cheese melts.
6) Remove the foil. Transfer to the broiler (heat should be from the top) till the cheese browns up a little bit (will take only about 2-4 mins), so that it forms nice crust on top.
7) Remove, serve hot
8) Enjoy!

Tip: You can also add chicken pieces to the pasta to make ‘Chicken Alfredo’ like pasta

"Everyday Cooking'- Bruschetta

For Diwali weekend, M's Mama from Canada visited us. It was great to have 'family' over for Diwali.And Mama is such a great person..I love when he visits us! He has a PhD in Food science...and knows....'everything ' in the world.You ask him..and he has an answer for you!

So much knowledge, so much enthusiasm at 65 yrs age....he is truly an inspiration for us!

Now, especially since I am taking Food Science courses,it was great to discuss some topics with him....and gain new insight.

On Sunday night, he was going to 'treat' us for dinner.We took him to our favorite Italian restaurant ..."Joe's" in Ithaca. 'M' and I go there to celebrate our 'special occasions' there..well I should say 'used to go there in the past '....as now... with 'E' ...eating out has become a rare event!

Everytime we go to Joe's we order the Italian 'Antipasto' ..Bruschetta.We love the crunchy toasted bread in olive oil and garlic....the fresh salsa made with tomatoes and onions ..fresh tender mozzarella cheese with slight drizzle of Balsamic Vinegar. The whole combination is just 'Perfect'!

So as usual, we ask the waitress to bring us (I pronounced)'Brus-ket-tah'....she look at us for few moments as though we were saying something 'foreign' and then says...Ohhh 'Bru-shetta'.

I felt a little embarrassed...but I have heard 'Giada De Laurentiis' on Food network refer to it as 'Brus-ket-tah'.

So after we come home....we 'Googled' it and found the correct pronunciation...

The Italians call it 'Brus-ket-tah'..and the Americans call it 'Bru-shetta'!

So I was correct! I was more 'authentic' ! Felt like going back to "Joe's ' and giving back the waitress the same 'weird' look and correcting her pronunciation!

Anyways...

I have tried making Bruschetta at home....and it has come closer to the 'Joe's' one...though many different versions of Bruschetta are possible and are made ...

Ingredients:

4 slices Italian bread

2 tomatoes cut 'chunky'

1 onion cut 'chunky'

1/4 tsp crushed garlic

4 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

4 slices Fresh mozarella cheese (not the processed one)

5-6 leaves of fresh basil

1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and black pepper to taste

For more info on cheese:
http://homecooking.about.com/od/dairycookinginformation/a/mozzarellatypes.htm

Method:

1) Brush the bread slices generously with olive oil mixed with garlic paste.Sprinkle Italian seasoning and bake in the oven at 275F till crispy(about 10 mins)

2) Mix tomatoes,onions, salt,black pepper and some Italian seasoning.

3) After the bread is toasted,add a spoonful of the tomato salsa on the bread,place the mozzarella slice,sprinkle with cut basil leaves

5) Drizzle few drops of balsamic vinegar on the bruschetta.

6) Serve immediately otherwise the bread goes soggy.