Vegetable fried rice - a continental favorite

Happy Women's day all you wonderful women out there!! More love, more empowerment to all of you. I am grateful for the influence and impact of several women in my life. I also want to acknowledge the role of many men that simply allowed me to be 'me'. If it hadn't been for a father who never once held me back from doing what I wanted to do, if it isn't for a husband who always supports every "crazy to good" ideas I come up with, if it isn't for the 2 brothers that never treat me differently because I am a girl (I know this for a fact because they never spared me in fights and treated me like one of their own:-)), I am sure my life would have been vastly different. I realize that my life is not the norm everywhere, wishing all the girls same opportunities to spread their wings and grow.

Finally spring break is here :-) and DD is home after more than 2 months. While it may not be spring break for all ages and in all parts of the world :-) I am sure you will share my joy this week. Lotsa love, food, laughter and stories..this week at home. For us, spring break seems to be here triple fold as DD came home with two of her friends. Home seems to be fuller, more alive and happier :-). The girls are having fun doing things on their own, driving in and around PNW and braving the unusually chilly weather.

I don't know how many of you notice the change in eating patterns when kids come home from school. With DD the change is very visible, almost 'in my face' kind of thing. There is no longer any fuss about the food, everything amma makes is delicious and she is almost always hungry. Looking at 3 of them this week has me really sad at whatever the school cafeterias serve as food. Even the simplest of the dishes make them happy and contented.

This fried rice is possibly one of the simplest recipes I have blogged but DD's explicit instructions this time is to make sure I blog it so she can use it when she starts to cook :-), so here I am, the dutiful mom catering to her wishes.

Long time ago (think a decade and half ago) when the Indian food diaspora was not bursting like it is today, all we had access to as quirky teenagers and 'acting' grown up young adults was Indian food at home and outside home. This was the time when the nation's obsession had not gone completely international on the food front. The number of restaurants was very small and the food choice just seemed like an extension of what we normally ate at home, forget the fancy American, Italian, Mexican food. One would go to a hotel (that is what we called them when we were kids) to eat a dose/dosa that had taken an oil bath or a plate of mirchi bajjis that you would not make at home on a daily basis.

But even in those days, one international (??) food had made its way surely into the food scene. Everyone from small road side cartwallahs to decent and trendy restaurants served a genre of food called Indo chinese food. This included the manchurians, crispy, spicy noodles and the very distinct fried rice. I have not visited china (unless you count the couple of lay overs in Hongkong :-)) and am not an expert at anything China, but I have a lot of friends, colleagues from the Chinese community, I would think that makes me somewhat of an authority :-). Indo-chinese food was and continues to be a craze in India even though people are getting exposed to other cuisines. What we know of chinese food in India is really a very Indianized version of the food, many dishes being unheard of and unknown in mainland China :-). But that is the beauty of good food, right? it evolves, morphs and adapts to suit the palate of the people that enjoy eating. I am pretty sure there is a cook's license akin to a poet's license and the creative freedom sets you free.

In any case, not being someone that frequented restaurants, my first bite of the Chinese fried rice was at a hotel infront of my office in namma Bengaluru. BH would stop during lunch time if he happened to be in my part of the city and we would try and catch some time together in the midst of schedules, projects and the deadlines. He being more worldly wise and definitely having visited this place many times before took me there for lunch one day and ordered the veggie fried rice. Crunchy vegetables exuding sesame oil flavor was a new taste on my tongue but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I was full by the time the bowl was half empty though. Those days, restaurants didnt encourage customers to take home the left overs and sadly I had to let it go waste :-(.

We didn't stock the necessary ingredients for making the rice at home in those days and so it became one of the frequent orders when we dined out. I make this often at home as we all love it. I wonder why it had stayed a restaurant food for such a long time given the simple ingredients list. We have a south indian joint here in town and he serves veggie fried rice along with his chettinad specials and dosa/idlis :-) and it is pretty good. So here is an easy to whip up and lip smacking vegetable fried rice.

What do you need to make fried rice? 
1.5 cups short grain rice (I used sona masoori)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp chili sauce
1 Tsp white vinegar (optional but recommended)
1/8 Tsp black pepper coarse ground
1.5 inch ginger made into a paste
2-3 cloves of garlic made into a paste
3/4 cup finely chopped green beans
3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup thinly chopped cabbage
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup finely chopped assorted colored pepper (I haven't used any this time)
1 Tsp salt
3 Tbsp oil (preferably sesame oil for that authentic flavor)

How do you make fried rice? (as you will see, it is very easy and simple :-))

• Get the vegetables chopped and keep them ready
• Wash & soak rice for 20-30 mins 
• Heat 6 cups of water in a big pot and bring it to a gentle boil
• Drain the water from the soaked rice and add rice to the boiling water. Add a couple drops of oil and stir it in. 
• Lower the heat to medium and let it cook for about 10-12 minutes or until rice is just about done. 
• Switch off and drain all the water out. I let this water cool completely and use it to water my potted plants (nammamma said that it actually helps bring out the flavor in the curry leaves plant and I follow the advice)

• Run cold water on cooked rice, fluff it up with a fork and let it cool
• Heat a big wok and add sesame oil. Let it heat up almost to its smoking point. 
• Add chopped onion and saute for 30secs. 
• Add ginger and garlic paste followed by finely chopped carrots & beans
• Let them cook on high flame for a minute, add cabbage and half of the spring onions. 
• Stir the vegetables constantly on flame and let them turn slightly tender.

• Add the sauces and vinegar to the vegetable mixture along with salt. 
• Add coarsely crushed pepper. 
• Add cooked rice and stir them together. 
• Taste test and adjust spices & salt to your liking. 
• Garnish with reserved spring onions. 
• Serve hot/warm.

Notes: 

• BH and I added 1/2 Tsp/per serving of a green chili chutney to make a little hot for us
• The girls scrambled a couple of eggs with a dash of salt and pepper and added it to the rice. 
• A favorite way of serving this fried rice in India is along with a side of gobi manchurian, I didn't make them this time :-)
• Vegetables in this rice are cooked al dente and retain a crunch.
• Using a wide wok and keeping it on high flame is key to a well blended fried rice.
• Make sure rice is cooked so as the grains are separate and fluff

Gongura Pulihora (Spicy seasoned rice with sorrel leaves) - Summer comes to a close and a new year begins

We are literally baking here for the past few days, temperature is at its northern tip as far as PNW is concerned and us poor folks pampered year long with moderate temperatures are now whining and complaining as loudly and as often as we can. At our home, this is the time of the year we seriously think of getting an air conditioner but by the time we get off our seats and put the thoughts into action, the weather would have changed and temperature gotten normal :-), so has been the story for last 5 years and the same continues this year as well. I don't feel justified spending money on something that I would use for a minuscule percentage of the year, also we spend a big part of the day in air conditioned offices as the week starts where everything is cool and nice, so the AC has been just a passing thought until now, maybe as the glaciers start to melt and the heat becomes unbearable in a few years, we will give it some serious consideration :-). Until then, let me enjoy the abundant sunshine and the naturally available vitamin D. The plants and flowers outside seem to be in complete agreement with what I say. 

I have turned into an infrequent blogger recently and had not even checked the blog for comments or the facebook for reactions in a while. As I logged in today after a couple of weeks of inactivity, a very pleasant surprise awaited when I saw the FB likes is now up beyond the count of 1000. A small but definite milestone and surely a nudge for me to get back to active blogging :-). I promise I will do the best, thank you all for visiting, stopping by to say hello and spreading the word. The recipes I blog about are very close to heart and the stories that go with it are from personal experiences, it makes it all the more fun when strangers stop by to read it. I am in my 5th year of blogging, I do this mainly for my own selfish purposes using the blog space to chronicle the happenings of my life and to document the recipes I cook at home. The pictures are by no means top class but I hope they support the story I write around the recipe and most of all they are fruits of hard work. I feel genuinely happy when this little space gets some TLC and attention.

As I was looking at the stats on my pages, I also saw a few discussions about a recent episode of plagiarism. If you are active in the food blogging world, you probably have read/heard about it by now, I have been just slow to catch on. I don't intent to shame anyone personally but this blogger apparently became popular with hits in the scale of 100,000 on her youtube videos and the website within a span of mere months. Days of instant gratification and personal glory, right? Turns out that most of the recipes were lifted word by word from some of the well established food blogs without so much as an acknowledgement. With the modern tools and easy access to content at fingertips, all you need for a starter kit is a laptop, browser and some good search key words. What gets lost in this crazy craving for popularity is someone else's hard work and effort put into creating the original piece.

Food blogging is a strange world, if you were to take a recipe there isn't much that any of us are creating afresh but the presentations are morphing, the need to have food appealing to eyes is now a well recognized fact.  The recipes by themselves are mostly handed down from generations and enjoyed by many people. Outside of small variations,personal taste differences and the trend of fusion, the core of a recipe is generic across geographies. So if they are all the same, what is plagiarism in the food blogging world? Plagiarism is when you lift content (recipe, pictures, presentation) from another blogger's space without due permission, plagiarism is when you reproduce another blogger's content without any acknowledgement and claim it as your own. Every food blogger worth his or her salt has painstakingly spent time to document what is in the family for ages, been generous to share the recipes with everyone. You will appreciate the effort that goes into each blog piece only if you are a blogger yourself. Just to put things into perspective, it takes me about 5 hours on an average to get a blog post out from the time of cooking, picture taking, processing, thinking of a context to present the content, actually writing the blog, proof reading and publishing it. Some days, it just doesn't come together at all no matter how hard I try while on other days it flows like an easy normal delivery. I do it only because I am passionate about it. So if someone is using the content or pictures from my blog, I would expect them to have the courtesy to acknowledge it. What was heartening about this particular incident was that there was active protest from the bloggers that literally brought the plagiarizing youtube channel and the website down but what is not so good is that this youtube channel is back in business within the week claiming that all non-original content has been removed. I sincerely hope that is the case. Please help food bloggers by identifying stolen content if you see one.

Other than the high temperatures, for me personally it feels like summer is over with DD heading back to school and starting another year. Can't believe the little girl is no longer a little girl but a fine young lady we are extremely proud of. Her summer though short at home was eventful, full of new adventures, memorable with lot of life lessons. We mostly stood on the side lines as she ventured into unknown territories and faced challenges as she always does - with a smile on her face. For me, acknowledging the fact that she is growing up is easy but letting go when needed is the most difficult part and I am trying my best to overcome my urge to try and guide her every so often. I intend to keep at it and hopefully become good decent at it in a few years decades :-)

Both times when she came home from her new adventures, DD was so happy to come back to the familiar kitchen, her own old dining table and have home food. I made this gongura pulihora 2 weeks back when she came home after a 7 weeks stay away and took it to the airport as we went to receive her in the afternoon. The first thing she noticed was the aroma as she climbed into the car and as a spoon full of rice went into her mouth, all she said was, "Ummm..". I made it again a few days later since she liked it so much and even after a week of home food, she was happy to polish it off clean.

This pulihora is a Telugu version of puliyogare or tamarind rice and replaces tamarind with sour sorrel leaves. The tangy rice with the freshly roasted and powdered spices makes it a delectable home coming recipe. It is simple to make, genuine in flavors and brings that comfort feeling when you eat it. Gongura or sorrel leaves are the pride of Telugu cuisine, if you like these tangy leaves, you can get them easily in the stores (Indian or Asian groceries are the best places to find these) during summer. We make pachadi, pappu on a regular basis but the pulihora got added to the repertoire recently. If you are craving for something spicy and South Indian, if you love rice, this is a heavenly eat. It is easy to put together and tastes better as it ages (best eaten the day after or a few hours after making it). You can roast the gongura leaves and store them in refrigerator for later use.

Happy Independence day to all my fellow Indians and people of Indian origin across the globe!

What do you need to make Gongura pulihora? 
1 cup gongura leaves
1 cup cooked rice (use long grained rice such as sona masoori)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tbsp oil
Spice powder: 
1 Tbsp chana dal
1/2 Tsp urad dal
1/2 Tsp fenugreek seeds
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
1 Tsp coriander seeds
1/2 Tsp cumin
2-3 dry red chilies

Seasoning: 
1.5 Tbsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tbsp chana dal
1 Tsp urad dal
2 Tbsp peanuts
5-7 curry leaves (optional)
1 dry red chili broken into pieces
1/8 Tsp asafoetida
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder

How do you make Gongura Pulihora?

• Pick gongura leaves from the stems and discard the stems. 
• Wash the leaves in a couple of runs of water and spread them on a dish cloth or paper towel to remove all the moisture. Or pat dry the leaves if you are in a hurry. 
• Heat a Tbsp oil in a wide pan, add the leaves and fry them until they wilt and become a single soft mass, takes about 3 minutes on medium heat. 
• Switch off and take the cooked leaves onto a plate. This can be put into a zip lock bag and stored in the fridge for upto a month. 
• Cook 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water and a drop of oil (oil helps to keep the rice grains fluffy)
• Once cooked spread the rice in a wide plate or mixing bowl and let it cool. 
• Dry roast all the ingredients listed under 'Spice powder', start with the dals & fenugreek and once they turn light pink, add coriander, cumin, sesame seeds and red chilies. Roast them until fragrant and the chili crisps up. 

• Let the mixture cool, then grind it to a powder with a slightly coarse texture. Add this on top of the rice along with salt. 
• Add the cooked gongura leaves on top of the rice. 
• Heat oil for seasoning, add mustard, peanuts, let them roast for 30 seconds. Add the dals, asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves (if using). Stir it with a spoon and roast until the peanuts start to pop and the dals turn golden. 

• Pour the hot seasoning on top of the rice. 

• Once warm enough to handle, gently bring everything together with fingers. Don't put a lot of pressure or the rice will turn mushy. 
• Taste and adjust salt, gongura as needed. 

• Let this rice sit for atleast 30mins for the flavors to mingle together before serving. 

Notes: 

• The leaves can be roasted like described above and stored in the refrigerator for weeks. You can pull out the required quantity and use it in the pulihora, pappu or pachadi. 
• Spice powder can be made ahead of time too and in larger quantities but I prefer to make it fresh. 
• Add cashew nuts in place of or in addition to the peanuts for seasoning if you like. 
• The tanginess in Gongura leaves varies with the variety, taste the rice and adjust if you need more tang, do not add all the leaves at once. 
• I like to use whole leaves in this recipe as they look pretty in the final recipe, if you don't like it, go ahead and chop them before frying in oil. 
• Letting the rice to rest for a half hour is very important for the flavor to come together, allow time for this. 

Gobi Bhaath (Cauliflower Rice) - Subtle and mellow on spices, huge on flavors

Cauliflower or Gobi is a winter vegetable in India, I find it in all seasons here. Small insects inside the florets are expected norm in Indian cauliflowers and that is why they are dunked in hot salt water before cooking, here the florets are all insect free and ready to use. If inclined, I can even get a chopped and ready to use packet of Cauliflower florets, though I prefer to get a nice, fresh head of the vegetable and cut it myself :-).

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers" - Laurie Colwin

Cooking for me is all about memories and reminiscing the experiences, every dish I cook brings back something from the past and hence it never tastes the same even if I follow a recipe to the tee. But it is also about making new memories and experiences as we journey along in life, agree?

We went to watch a movie called '100 foot journey' yesterday, DD was reluctant to accompany since it promised to be a gastronomically inclined movie. For all the passion I have in cooking and food in general, my only child doesn't exhibit the same traits. I am a totally positive person and think that she is a late bloomer :-), we will wait and see. While she enjoys good food, she doesn't dissect to smell, taste and enjoy every morsel like I do. On the good side she is happy with most of what she is fed.

Back to the movie, it is full of food, in every conceivable way :-), why not since it tries to show case Indian and French cuisines, right?. There is a funny feud very well portrayed by 2 actors I love to watch (Helen Mirren as Madame Mallory and Ompuri as Papa Kadam), and the rest of the cast is great too. The blaring music, bold flavors and bright colors of Indian cuisine & culture contrasts completely with the subtlety of the French food, and the two groups end up just 100 feet apart from each other. While one is native and established with a Michelin star, the other is uprooted from familiar territory and trying to find a home in an unknown country, the only common thread is food. But food in the two camps is totally desperate in the ingredients, way of cooking, serving etc. War breaks between the two establishments, until Madame Mallory finds the potential in the young cook (not chef mind you!) of the newly arrived family and takes him into her fold. The movie touches Michelin starts (if you are a foodie, you definitely would have heard about this) and the innovations that turn cooking into a science in the race after the twinkling stars. He brings her 2 stars within a year and goes off to bigger adventures (no spoiler alert, go watch the movie if you are piqued :-)). Like Papa says, "breaks do break for a reason", they find their heart's desire in that quaint village and discover compatibility where none seemingly exist at the beginning of the story.

But the movie is also about finding the best mushrooms by the side of the stream in the village, feeling the sea urchin and being able to imagine its taste when cooked, looking deep inside your heart and using the wisdom of generations before, feeling & smelling a spice box that has been in the family for generations, making food with your loved ones and enjoying it. I relate more to this type of cooking than the scales & measurements. I am not averse to invention but I want to understand the taste of the familiar first before I go after the unfamiliar. For me recipes in books do not mean a whole lot until they come into my heart and into my pots (lines shamelessly stolen from the above mentioned movie :-)). I love to cook feeling every ingredient. Whether you spoon in spices (Papa) or sprinkle them (Madame Mallory), ultimately it is all about food that touches your senses and brings you visions of home.

I made this cauliflower bhaath (or Gobi bhaath as we call it) for our brunch yesterday. Like I have said before, this vegetable got into my repertoire only after marriage. Amma makes Gobi bhaath using her 'all purpose podi' which is a family favorite. While I make it that way sometimes, I also make this flavorful bhaath that we enjoy. Spices are mild in this recipe, at best sprinkled (I can see Papa Kadam scoffing at it :-)) and do not over power the taste of the vegetable. Gobi itself is cooked tender but does not fall apart and remains moist with the juices of the masala. It is a perfect lunch box item and a full blown meal if you add a yogurt based raita on the side. I do not typically add potatoes but it is definitely an option.

What do you need to make Gobi Bhaath? 
1 medium sized head of Cauliflower/Gobi
2 cups rice (Basmati preferred)
2 small bay leaves
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp garam masala powder
1 Tbsp oil
To grind: 
i/2 cup onion chopped roughly
1/2 cup tomatoes cubed
2 green chilies
1 inch piece of ginger
Dry roast & powder:
2 pieces of 1 inch long cinnamon
2-4 cloves
2-3 pieces of mace
1 green cardamom
pinch of nutmeg
8-10 black pepper corns

How do you make Gobi Bhaath?

• Chop and separate the florets of Gobi. Keep them dunked in warm water with a little bit of salt for 10-15 minutes. 
• Take them out, clean once under running water. 
• Soak rice in 4 cups of water for 20-30 minutes. 
• Take a big pot that can hold all of the gobi, add water to submerge all the pieces, add 1/2 Tsp salt and 1/4 Tsp turmeric powder, cover and let the water come to a roaring boil softening the pieces. 

• Switch off, drain all the water and keep the gobi until needed. 

• Dry roast the spices listed under 'dry roast and powder', use a cast iron pan and on medium heat, roast the spices for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

• Take them to a blender and powder them coarsely. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients listed under 'To grind' and make a smooth paste. 
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or pressure cooker. 
• Add the ground masala paste and fry for 2-4 minutes or until the raw smell reduces. 
• Add the par cooked gobi florets along with the bay leaves and mix them well to coat with the masala. 

• Drain water from the rice, wash it twice in running water and add it to the pan. 
• Add 3 cups of water (remember the ground masala adds to the liquid content), garam masala and salt. 
• Stir in gently to mix, cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes or until rice is cooked and fluffy. 

• Switch off and let it stand for 5-10 minutes before using a spatula to fluff up the rice. 
• Your fragrant gobi masala rice is ready. 
• I served it with a simply delicious tomato-onion raita made with fresh tomatoes from the backyard. 

Notes: 

• Take care not to over cook gobi pieces the first time, they will continue to cook along with rice. 
• Cut gobi into big pieces so they do not disintegrate on cooking. 
• You can add par cooked potato pieces & green peas to the rice. 
• Garnish with chopped cilantro before serving. 
• If you like crunchy gobi pieces in the rice, cool the par cooked gobi completely, roast them in a couple of tbsp of oil until they are cooked and crispy, add these to the rice before serving and fold them in. 

Achari Chole Pulav - pulav made with freshly roasted pickle spices

I promise I won't talk about weather today, not even the declared emergency in the Southern states and the layers of ice.. I am completely done with (just reading about and hearing of) the weather this year, I can't imagine how people affected directly are managing. I personally am enjoying the temperatures here with a little bit of snow thrown in for variety last weekend which by the way is completely gone and the roads are safe and clear.

Now onto other interesting topics :-). After having worked at my last company for 6 years, 2 of which remotely (yep, I was the working woman in my pajamas :-)) which kind of explains the flexibility I had to do other things, I finally bid adieu to that work and have accepted an offer to work in the Marissa Meyer style :-), I get up, get dressed, go to an office and work. I am on that 'in between' 2 weeks right now before starting off in another 10 days. Working from home while has its perks also comes with its list of woes, first & foremost from people asking me incredulously, "How do you do that?". It is simple really, just draw the lines on what can and cannot be done during your work hours and you will keep the productivity high come rain or shine :-). That was a phase of life, I accepted and enjoyed but it is now time to change some gears, I am looking forward to my new stint, will keep you all posted.

Obviously this is a change and like all changes it will take some time to become used to. Does that mean I am going to stop blogging? Heck, no, not a chance. This activity has brought so much of personal satisfaction I can't even begin to describe it to anyone, it has been an anchor on bad days and made me feel like a soaring bird on better days. As I start my new adventure, I might skip some beats but I am sure things will fall into place like they always do. Until then, my dearest readers, please hang in there with your support, visits and feedback.

I am using these 2 weeks of break to read, read and read a lot of books that were on my list (like I am either starved or will never again get time in my life to read :-)), it feels like old days in school and college when the first thing I would do after every set of exams was to go to the library and get an armload of books and sit in a corner of the big yard and read to my heart's content. One thing, I couldn't do then was to ever sleep without finishing a book, so there were many long nights. I haven't been able to do that in many years but finally did that last few days :-) and it felt so.. good.

I got a few books this past week, while some are worth talking about, a few were bad choices and better left alone. If there is one thing I would say without an instant's delay when I asked what I like most about this second home of mine is the public library system here. Coming from India, I had spent most of my childhood and young adulthood in libraries I thought had a great collection. My parents being voracious readers themselves, got us books to read from every possible place. If there was a library in the neighborhood, I definitely had been there at some point. But nothing had prepared me for the experience of the easy accessibility of public libraries I find here. They are free, they have huge collection and are every where. DD literally grew up in those cozy rooms filled with shelves of books since she was a toddler. The first thing we would do when her summer vacations started every year was to go the local public library and sign up for summer reading though she didn't need any incentive for reading. I am glad she enjoys reading just for the fun of it.

So back to the list of books I enjoyed recently, here are some. Hope you like some or most of these, do let me know and we can strike a conversation.
ElseWhere by Richard Russo
This is a memoir, a beautiful story of the author's relationship with his mother. Having been brought up by his single mother, it traces how the dependency equation changes as they grow older. The mom is someone who is born and grown up in a small industrial town that is in ruins and wants to get away, but as the memoir unfolds you will see that it is not from that town she wants to really get away but doesn't feel settled and happy anywhere else either. There is a heart breaking diagnosis he makes post her death which seems to give him some understanding of things. For me, all that mattered was the bond that is forged between the mom and the son. It is not a light read definitely, tugs you down at places but I enjoyed it very much. So I went ahead and got another book from the same author, 'Nobody's Fool', haven't started it yet.

And the Mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Having read his earlier two books, I was waiting for this one to come out but didn't get a chance to get my hands on it until now. There are some books you cannot read in a hurry, they have to be slow reads, pondered over, felt in the bones and that is the only way to enjoy them. KH's books are like that, you cannot read them at one stretch because the subject invariably is heavy at the same time you cannot read a couple of pages (like I am doing my next one here), leave it lying on the night stand and return after a few days/weeks. Like his previous novels, this is set in Afghanistan too but the characters take you around the world to Greece, Paris and California, the story is told in first person by different characters and you can almost feel their life and see it unfold infront of your eyes, very vivid, almost graphic description - that is the power of his narration.

American Pie by Peter Reinhart

Well, there had to be atleast one food related book, right? I was looking for his other book 'Bread Baker's apprentice' but all the copies were out and I am on a hold list for it. I first saw a PR's pizza recipe in a magazine and made it at home last year, it was an instant hit and I fell in love with this master's recipe and techniques. Also, I gradually found out that he is one of the most revered baker, baking instructor and is most passionate about pizza making. This book has recipes at the end (I haven't gotten there yet) but what interested me is his search for finding the roots of this pie and find the best of it. There is a lot of travelogue and history associated with each place he goes to and it is as delicious as a perfectly baked pizza' :-). I am still savoring it.

Back to the recipe today, what I have is a very aromatic, tangy and spicy pulav that is so simple to make you will be licking your fingers longer than it took to actually make the rice. I saw this recipe in a cookery book by one of my favorite chefs who passed away recently - Tarla Dalal. I really salute the lady for her versatility and the sweet nature that seemed to exude in her TV appearances. However, I have found that I do not personally enjoy her recipes when made exactly to the Tee but take an idea from her, apply some of my own personality, the dish will invariably be a hit. This is what I mostly do with TD's recipes, a little change here, an addition there, some variation and I am good to go. This achari chole pulav can be made on any day with some basmati rice, a can of garbanzo and some spices. There are no vegetables here and hence is perfect for the day when you have just cleaned up your refrigerator and not yet restocked it.

For a South Indian by birth and nurture like me, pickle masala has a different connotation than what it includes in North Indian pickles. Mustard, red chilies and fenugreek are the common spices but North Indian pickles add some more. While I do not necessarily enjoy these spices in pickles, I have realized I love those flavors in curries and this rice. TD's recipe asks you to just roast the whole spices in oil but I feel they make a better impact when coarsely powdered to release their flavors. You can do it either way.
What do you need to make Achari chole pulav? 
1.5 cup basmati rice
1.5 cups cooked garbanzo beans/chole
1 cup long sliced onion
2 Tblsp oil
1 cup yogurt (slightly sour and a day old works best)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste, remember pickle has loads of slat already)
1/2 Tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1/8 Tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup chopped mint
1 Tsp mango pickle/thokku (use good quality flavorful pickle for best results)
2 green chilies

Achari masala:
1 Tblsp mustard
3/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds/methi
3/4 Tsp nigella seeds/kalonji
1 Tblsp fennel seeds/saunf
4-5 red chilies

How do you make Achari chole pulav? 

• Soak rice for 25-30 minutes.
• Wash and rinse in 2 changes of water.
• Make a coarse powder of the achari masala.

• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or pressure pan, add cumin and bay leaf.
• Once cumin sizzles, add onion, let brown slightly and turn limp, stir once or twice.
• Add the ground powder and roast for 30-45 seconds.
• Add chopped mint, yogurt and pickle and mix well.
• Add chole and let it cook on low heat for 7-8 minutes to get the flavors to the core of garbanzo beans.

• Add the washed rice, give a gentle mix and add 1 cup of water(See NOTES below).
• Cover with a tight fitting lid, simmer the heat and cook for 15 minutes. 
• Open the lid and check if it needs additional water, adjust accordingly, cover back and continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes. 

• Switch off & let it sit for 10 minutes before opening the lid again and fluffing the pulav with a fork. 
• Steaming hot, bursting with flavors pulav is ready to serve. 

Notes: 

• Basmati rice especially when soaked before cooking takes less water, you will also need to count the amount of liquid that is already in the pot as yogurt. Adjust water accordingly. I would start with that 1 cup and sprinkle a couple of spoons if the rice looks very dry at the end of the first 15 minutes of cooking. 
• The quality and taste of the pickle you use matter a lot in this rice, mango pickles (just the masala part with no mango pieces) work best especially the Andhra avakkaya or the thokku. Original recipe uses green chili pickles as an alternative.

• You can add paneer cubes marinated in the pickle flavors to this pulav for added protein and taste. Toss paneer cubes in 2 Tbsp of yogurt mixed with 1/4 Tsp of the pickle masala powder and a pinch of salt, keep aside for 20-30 minutes. Add them towards the end of cooking process. Use directly if you have fresh paneer or toast them lightly in oil if using the frozen variety. 

Palak Rice - a post Holiday quick eat

Hey everyone, hope you all had a good Thanksgiving break if you reside in the US or a great weekend otherwise. We had a wonderful time, enjoyed our vacation and came back yesterday early morning. Everything about the tropical heaven from swaying coconut trees to the fragrant jasmines reminded me of home the entire time. We did some hitherto not done activities as a family and liked it very much. Have loads of pictures to sort through, I will post some on the blog or on the Facebook page, look for them in the coming weeks. Until then, here is a quick preview of some of the tropical beauty.

Before we left for vacation last week, I made sure I had emptied the refrigerator except for a few things that either was not going to go bad or I couldn't get to despite my best intentions. While it felt great to not waste any produce, it also meant I had to go shopping as soon as I came back. So when our travel got a little sticky and we ended up reaching home the next morning instead of the prvious late night, I just couldn't get to the stores and had to make do with whatever I got from scraping the bottom of my refrigerator tubs. All I had left was about a quarter bag of spinach, some green chilies, cilantro and ginger. As there was much to catch up on the work front, I made a quick palak rice that fits snugly with a lunch box menu or a hot plate serving.

We love our greens especially Spinach. There used to be a time when I didn't accept a non sticky spinach when I initially came here. Spinach symbolized a slightly okra-like sliminess in India and also the bunches we got home from the greens patch next door always had loads of soil sticking to it :-). Nammamma kept them in a bucket of cold water the previous evening to wash away the dirt before she picked the leaves and separated the stems for cooking. When I got the first bag of baby spinach here which also had a label  'triple washed, ready to use', I was one of the doubters. It took a while to get adjusted to the new Spinach but I have grown to love them over the years especially the reduced part of cleaning and chopping (if you are one of those super pressed for time, go ahead and get the chopped frozen ones to make life easier :-)). For me convenience plays a big role but as long as there is no compromise on the taste or nutrition.

Back to the Palak rice, this is a very flavorful rice, perfect for when you have little time and still craving for home cooked deliciousness. It is a one pot meal with minimal frills attached to the cooking, while the really basic version (like I have below) is perfectly suited for a thread bare refrigerator supplies, you can definitely jazz up this rice with additional veggies or spices if you are so inclined. I have some variations in the last section if you are interested. Try this and let me know how you liked it.

What do you need to make Palak rice?
2 cups rice (basmati or other long grained rice soaked in water for 30 mins)
4 packed cups of cleaned palak/spinach
2 Tblsp oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
handful of cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans
Whole spices:
2 pieces of 1 inch long cinnamon
1 green cardamom
4 black peppers
3 cloves
To grind:
1/4 cup cilantro
4 green chilies
piece of ginger
1 Tblsp grated coconut

How do you make Palak rice?

• Blanch palak for 2 minutes in boiling water, strain the water and reserve it.
• Puree the palak once it cools down.

• Dry roast the spices for a minute until they are warm, take it aside into a blender jar.
• Add green chilies, ginger, coconut and cilantro to the blender and make a coarse paste. Use a couple of table spoons of water you have reserved.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or pressure cooker, add sliced onions and salt and cook on medium heat until onions first turn limp and then start to brown up.
• Add the blended mixture of spices, pureed palak and mix well. Taste and adjust salt or spices to your liking.
• Wash the soaked rice and drain it. Add the rice to the pan, measure 3.5 cups of reserved water and add it. Add the chickpeas if using.

• At this stage you can transfer all the contents to a pressure cooker or rice cooker or continue to cook in the same vessel with a tight fitting lid. Cook until rice is done and fluffy.

Notes:

• You can add a handful of mint while making the paste but I prefer the mild taste of palak in this rice and not necessarily turn it into a pulav. Choice is yours.
• If you have a ripe tomato on hand, either slice and sauté them with onions or grind them with the masala. This adds a little tartness to the rice and enhances the taste.
• Skip the chickpeas if you don't have them (I usually keep some boiled beans in the refrigerator or a ready to use can in the pantry), instead you can garnish this rice once done with ghee roasted cashews or paneer/tofu cubes - yummmm. Or add a handful of green peas or other beans of choice.
• Do not throw away the palak blanched water, use it wherever you need liquid/stock as it is full of nutrients.
• If you are using the open vessel method, bring the heat down to low and also ensure the bottom of your vessel is heavy and thick.
• Soaking rice for 30 minutes helps reduce the cook time, this can be done while you are prepping the rest of the things.
• Blanching palak removes the raw smell of the leaves. As soon as you switch off the stove after boiling the leaves, take them out of the water and run cold water on them to retain the rich green color of the leaves.