aartipaarti

(If you’re wondering about this recipe format, check out this post).

Wish I had a photo of this beauty to show you, but Bren and I scarfed the whole ding dang jar all by ourselves!  Really!  I might have to make another batch… shouldn’t cranberries be on sale now?  Because they’re oh-so expensive around Thanksgiving?

No, they’re not.

Actually you can see a little blob of it on the plate next to the Aloo Tikki Bennys.

So good you guys.  Cranberries, black peppercorns, mango and pomegranate seeds.  Mmmmm.  Tart, peppery, sweet, crunchy, soft… and a real treat for ya mince pies!  That’s “eyes” in Cockney-speak.

Not only was this great on leftover turkey, but it’s also great on a cheese sandwich!

And I was really rather proud the other night because Nathan Lyon (he of Food Network Star fame, and whose awesome seasonal-cooking cookbook is imminent) tried it out and said that it was better than his!  That’s really saying something y’all!!

Ok here you go:

-x-

aarti

You may not know this about me, but at the moment, I’m rather obsessed with makeup.

I love to watch makeup videos when I’m not scouring Twitter and my Google Reader for the latest food tidbits.  A few faves: my beloved Kandee, the irrepressibly cool Pixiewoo sisters, and one of the few Indian makeup tutorial-ists whose makeup I like, Umapreve.

I suppose it’s a way to relax, to turn my brain off… food blogs, mags and shows used to do that for me, but now, quite honestly, it feels a bit like work.  So, makeup videos it is.

I went a little nuts for a while, scooping up new makeup every week.  It started to freak me out a bit, so I imposed a moratorium on myself a few months ago: no more new makeup until 2012.  I was surprised how hard it was at first; with every new makeup video, I found myself wanting another eyeshadow, another new eyeliner.  I suppose it was a bit of a pressure-release valve.  Feeling under the gun?  Treat yourself to a new eyeshadow.  Heck it’s only $15… $20 with shipping!

I rather fear showing you my makeup drawer.  There’s a lot in there.  To be fair, I got a LOT of it for free from the lovely makeup artist who dolls me up for the cooking show, Linda.

Anyway, I just wanted to complain about how I have YET to find the right foundation for this Indian skin of mine.  I have a NARS one that is pretty close, if I mix it with a colour from Makeup Forever.  The Laura Mercier one is just plain awful (and I had the guy working the store choose it for me!).  Tell me I’m not alone here, desi girls… every foundation looks reddish compared to my skin, except for the Nars one, which looks a little yellow.

So here is my official plea: please, oh please makeup companies!  Take heed of a growing population (Indians, Pakistanis, Persians, Arabs!) whose undertone is not pink… but olive-y yellow.  I want my face to be the same colour as the rest of my body!  Not a ruddy pink balloon floating above an olive-brown body!!

#firstworldproblems

-x-

aarti

p.s. I will say that closest I ever came to finding the perfect coloured foundation was a drugstore brand: Loreal’s Perfect Match in W7 I believe.  But I found that foundation didn’t have much staying power and often ended up smeared on Bren’s tshirts after I hugged him!

A few years ago, I was out of work, out of ideas and generally, out of hope.

My days consisted of umpteen cups of coffee, sixteen too many re-runs of “Reba”, and cooking.  With no news jobs on the docket, I had abandoned my dreams of joining Christanne Amanpour as she took on the Ayatollah.

Then one of my close friends started a blog; she’d just had a baby and in order to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest adorable developments in her son’s life, she posted stories and photos.  It was wonderful.

And so, ever the copycat, I decided to start my own.

I’m not sure why.  But I’m so glad that I listened to that instinct.

I discovered that, despite what my secondary school History and English Lit teachers had said, I actually could write (So THERE Mr. Bond-Lewis and Mr. Moore!).

I discovered that I could take a good photo every now and then.

I discovered that I could cook a little something here and there, and talk about it on camera.

Food blogs took over the hours I had previously devoted to Reba: Pioneer Woman, Joy the Baker, A Life of Spice, Gluten Free Girl, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

The intense beauty of their writing, their dedication to blogging regularly, the honest-to-goodness breathtaking photos, the vulnerability with which they shared their lives… they all made me feel like not simply a reader, but like a dear old pen pal.  Today, whenever writer’s block looms on the horizon, I still visit these “friends” in search of inspiration, both of the food and the writing variety.

Imagine my joy then, to have these veritable lords (Ladies?) of the blogging world actually know who I am!

I was literally sweating out of every pore on my face when I got to meet Ree, aka The Pioneer Woman.  Then, she wrote about me.  (Um, we email each other now.  Ri-dinky-donk.)

I tested and re-tested my Palak Paneer recipe before I gave it to Shauna (GF Girl), who graciously tried it out and wrote about it on her blog.

Jaden Hair, of the feisty and fabulous Steamy Kitchen blog, made my Ketchup Chutney, shmeared it on a cheese sandwich and shared it with her readers.

And now, two more of my heros have honoured me.

Joy, aka Joy the Baker, interviewed me as part of her adorable new podcast, “Let’s be Friends”… you can listen to it for free here, and find out why, among other things, if you’re considering a stint on reality TV you must have cute PJs… I can’t tell you how geeked I am about this you guys.  SO.  GEEKED.  OUT.

We just met up for coffee on Wednesday.  Yup.  Just me.  And Joy.  Chillin.  So ridiculously surreal.

And then, as if THAT wasn’t good enough, Monica Bhide, (whose book Modern Spice encouraged me to keep cooking the way I do without fear of shaming my ancestors), who, waaaaay back in the day before Food Network Star, actually responded to my email requesting notes on my budding YouTube show… interviewed me for a series entitled, “In Conversation with Exceptional Women”.

I actually spit up my tea when she asked if she could include me in the company of Ruth Reichel, Amanda Hesser, Lynne Rosetto Kasper, Paula Wolfert and Padma Frickin Lakshmi.

And now, it’s available as an ebook!  Click on the picture to buy this little treasure… skip over my interview and read about what’s in Ruth’s fridge, a surprising fact about Padma, what motivates Dorie Greenspan.

So yeah… this is The Surreal Life.  Free of alcohol-laced absurd hook-ups in the swimming pool and oversized egos.  Replete with sweetness, generosity and geeky blogger dreams coming true.

-x-

aarti

My friend Karen made the world’s largest batch of mashed potatoes (love you Karen!) for Thanksgiving.

It must be a special gift to know just how much mashers to make. Last year, I brought a similarly enormous garlicky bowl of the buttery spuds to a family Thanksgiving, only to find that the host had already made an equally enormous batch. And so, my perfectly whipped concoction, all 5-kazillion pounds of them, remained in the very same Trader Joes bag I’d brought them in for the rest of the day.

No, of course that didn’t hurt my feelings. Noooooooo. Not THIS little self-obsessed girl. Not. A. Smidge.

I was too busy shining up my halo and being “grateful”.

Ha!

Then there was the Thanksgiving when the tubers went down the, ahem, tubes. No one made any. And since we don’t hardly eat mashed potatoes the rest of the year, imagine my disappointment!

Again, yes, this is all about me. I suppose that’s what you get when you name a blog after yourself.

Continue reading »

Hey y’all!

How are you? I hope you had a great weekend. I did; it rained here in Los Angeles, which always puts me in a good mood. Especially when we’re watching a good movie or two (Cedar Rapids! Hilarious!), whilst a pot of soup is bubbling away in the oven.

Sometimes I’m in such a rush doing the 5000 things I’ve set for myself that, I don’t get to carefully photograph the finished product and double-triple test it… and so a pile of recipes is lying in a dark corner somewhere, recipes I’ve promised you but failed to type up. (Typing up and posting beautiful photos can take me about 4 hours… for ONE POST! Isn’t that crazy?!).

Enter: Recipe Shmecipe… a simplified recipe, written the way your mum or aunty would tell you how to make something, over the phone. If you have even a baseline idea of how to cook, this is will be all you need!

So here’s the first one, and listen up y’all cow-huggers (heehee!): it’s VEGAN! Woohoo!

Continue reading »

Are you guys aware of Marcel the Shell? If not, watch the first video, the one that made every viewer’s heart melt into a puddle of chocolate, liquid rainbows and sparkly baby shoes:

And now, the second one! Don’t miss the “zzzzzzzzzzz”s….

There’s a picture book too! Too cute!

-x-
aarti

Someone asked for some ideas for an Indian-inspired Thanksgiving so, I humbly offer you five of my own:

1) Tandoori Chicken or Turkey
My recipe would be enough for a whole chicken but you would probably want to double or perhaps triple it for a turkey. In this month’s Bon Appetit, there is a recipe for Tandoori Turkey; they recommend marinating the turkey in an oven-roasting bag, then on the big day, cooking it in the bag for the bulk of the cooking time. When there’s 30 minutes to go, rip open the bag and allow the top to brown. I might try this method, with my tandoori marinade recipe though. It seems a tad easier than theirs!

2) Butternut squash, lentil and coconut stew
This soup is a good starter and especially good if you’re a vegetarian or vegan; beautiful autumnal colours, lots of bright flavour. Plus, it fills up your tummy, so you’re less likely to eat that third or fourth (ahem) slice of pie.

3) Roasted Root Jumble with Feta Cheese
This one is so easy, and such a crowd-pleaser. Pick whatever root vegetables you love, toss them in oil and spices, roast until salivatingly caramelized. Top with salty feta cheese. Boomski.

4) Mujadara: Lebanese Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions
While rice may not be a standard addition at the Thanksgiving table, you aren’t going to get any complaints if you serve this one. We went to a Persian Thanksgiving last year, and there were not one, not two, but three different kinds of pilafs on the table. Colour this girl, very VERY happy. This Lebanese pilaf is packed with flavour, thanks to a healthy dose of black peppercorns and lots of caramelized onions. You could add some nuts and even some candied orange peel to make it a little more holiday-friendly.

5) The piece de resistance: My stuffing muffins!
This one requires a red carpet, trumpets, court jesters, the whole 9. My mum’s stuffing is one of the things I miss the most in the world. Originally, she came up with it when she was making roast chicken, slathering our own version of harissa, which we call meet mersang, all over the bird, then stuffing it with a bread-bacon-mint-raisin mixture. These days, I’m realising that it’s probably safer not to stuff the bird, but holy crow, this stuffing has written its name on my heart. I adapted the recipe a bit and turned them into muffins, so that there’s a good crispy-to-tender ratio in every bite. Mum would also put the whole lot in a loaf pan, and bake it, then cut into slices before serving. Yum. The recipe recently caught the attention of Oprah’s magazine, O! Check it out!

-x-
aarti

So many things buzzin’ around the noggin today, so I thought I’d share them with you.

1) Food Mills
We’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, a perfect way to warm up our new table (more on that later this week, hopefully!).

Since we haven’t had a proper dining table for the past eight years, we haven’t hosted Thanksgiving all that often. When we did, it was in a very casual fashion. Our friends brought their favourite sides which ended up on whatever surface we could find: counters, coffee tables, empty chairs…

But since we’re planning on having people over this year around an honest-to-goodness dinner table, I’ve been paying particularly close attention to all the Thanksgiving advice in the various food mags. One mentioned that the best mashed ‘taters are achieved only by using a food mill (or a ricer, which I happen to use all the time. Cue hand cramps because you can only do a potato at a time!).

Do I really need another bulky piece of equipment in my kitchen? One that I may not use all that often? I have a ricer, a Vitamix, an immersion blender… I issued a survey on Facebook and Twitter and the consensus seems to be that indeed, they are bulky, and yes you may not use them all the time, but when you *do*, you’ll be mighty glad that you have one.

I’m thinking about getting this one. What do you think?

2) Tattoos
I’ve been threatening to get a tattoo for a couple of years now but I just can’t seem to settle on a design.

After I won the show, I wanted to mark the milestone by getting something on my left inner wrist; I decided a lion would be appropriate because of the verse that got me through the final stages of Star.

But I haven’t been able to settle on an image yet. I want it to be graphic, not photorealistic, but not cartoon-like either; it needs to be fierce while remaining regal. I know, I’m picky but, this will be with me until I’m playing with my grandkids, God willing. Better make it a good’un. And whenever I look for images of lions with crowns, I only find either ones on coat of arms or the Rasta version, neither of which really speak to me. So far, this is a favourite:

But there’s so much detail there that I don’t think my narrow little wrist would do it justice. A bartender I spoke to in Visalisa, CA suggested I get it on my inside arm, near my tricep. Ouch.

Meanwhile, Bren found these cute images of lions… they don’t necessarily inspire fear and wonder, but they are HECKA cute!

Check out the rest of the animals on the page. You might keel over from all that cuteness on one page.

3) Victoria’s Secret Models
Yup, it’s another body-issue thing.

I’ve always though that those models had unbelievable bodies, unattainable even. Well, turns out, I was right! Check out the kind of diets they have to follow in order to into tip-top shape for the VS show: egg powder and a gallon of water. It’s kind of reassuring isn’t it?

4) Vegan Schmegan
Ok now, don’t get upset. I still love meat, I’m not abandoning my precious bacon or any of that but… Bren and I are going vegan until Thanksgiving. There’s no real reason for it really, other than my own effort to sneak even more vegetables and fruit into our diets.

Bren’s aunt turned me on to the 21-day Vegan Kickstart issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and in particular, my interest was piqued when she mentioned they were doing an Indian version. My peeps have been rockin’ the vegan diet for centuries; knowing how to sling a few spices here and there can really breathe some drama into an otherwise boring bowl of rice and lentils. Can you sense the Indian pride oozing through the screen at you?! Rawr!

Anyway, you can register for it online, which means you get recipes and encouragement sent over to your inbox everyday. It officially kicked off today, so apart from a breakfast of egg salad (we needed to finish off the eggs in the fridge!) we’re on it. I checked out some of the recipes on the site and since they’re not that user-friendly (do you have time to soak rice and urad dal overnight, then grind it, then steam it?! Didn’t think so), I’ll be posting some of the dinners I come up with here.

Having done the Daniel Fast before, which is even more restrictive (no white sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol), I think we’ll be fine, but already I’ve craved braised chicken and a slab of tuna. Funny, huh?

Tonight’s dinner was corn pasta with butternut squash, cremini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes with harissa, thyme, rosemary and a little cinnamon. Oh and a touch of honey. SO GOOD. If you’d like the recipe, let me know and I’ll put it up tomorrow.

5) Oh, and this…

Pumpkin Gnocchi from Happyolks on Vimeo.

…from a new fav site, Happy Yolks.

Well that’s all the randomness for now. Time to sip on some warm apple cider, read a book and pass out.

-x-
aarti

I come from farming people.

My dad grew up on a farm in Mangalore (India), replete with rice paddies, coconut trees and cows. One of my fondest memories is of he and his younger brother waxing nostalgically about waking up before the crack of dawn, downing a cup of steaming tea, then running out to plough the paddies. After hours in the fields, armed with a gigantic appetite and speed-of-lightning metabolism, they’d rush back into the farmhouse where their mum had prepared a huge, satisfying breakfast: fish curry and rice.

I liked everything about the story except for that last part. Fish curry and rice?! I was NOT a fish fan growing up, and there’s no greater way to distance a fish-hater than to conjure up a picture of fish for BREAKFAST!

These days, I think I’d quite like that.

Uh oh, I feel an attack of the side notes coming on!

Side note #1: Give it up for my fellow Mangalorean: former Miss World, and current queen of Bollywood, Aishwarya Rai!

Yeah. We don’t all look like that in Mangalore.

Side note #2: I like to think that those agricultural genes account for my build; this body was made for coercing stubborn bullocks through mud and for carrying hefty jugs gurgling with freshly harvested milk! Even this morning in Pilates class, while I struggled through some of the ab exercises (curse you, Teaser!), I glided through the lunges. Nope, these thighs aren’t the long, elegant ones of say your garden-variety Victoria’s Secret model, but they are made of strong stuff and I’m learning to love them.

Where was I?

Oh yeah! I felt those genes kick into gear in another way a couple of weeks ago…

I had just finished up my cooking demo at the Savor the Central Coast festival in San Luis Obispo, CA.

This was the most beautiful demo set-up I’ve ever seen! Everyone gathered in this massive old wooden barn, complete with strung lights, reclaimed iron legs on the demo table…

…and a huge, simple cross hanging in the window (the event was held on a former mission).

After I wrapped up, someone asked me if I’d like to milk a goat.

Um, what? WHO says no to that?!

And so, meet my new friend Cherry.

Cherry was a big’un with a very sweet face.

At first, she was a little standoff-ish, sizing me up out of the corner of her eye. I don’t blame her. You don’t want just anyone handling your, um, teets.

After letting me practice on her thumb, Cherry’s owner showed me how to put it into practice on the “real deal”.

And then it was my turn. I looked her in the eye, and said, here we go, love. I reached for her gently, scared of hurting her but, sensing my nervousness, Cherry bucked a little.

Hmmm, I told myself, trepidation wouldn’t work with my girl. A good strong grip was the ticket (man, there is no way to write about this without a double-entendre or three, huh?).

Success!

It was so satisfying, you guys! As I sat there, milking away, I felt the world kind of melt away a little bit, and for a very small second, I channeled my ancestors… although they milked cows not goats, and probably didn’t view with it even an ounce of the romanticism I did!

I tasted a little of her milk, directly from the source, so to speak: sweet, extra creamy, and none of the gameyness that I usually associate with goat milk. Plus, it was warm. Such an interesting sensation — made me realise how accustomed we are to drinking chilled milk.

And just when I was thanking my ancestors for leaving a little bit of that instinct in my bones, the owner told me something that made my chest swell with even more pride: Cherry had never been milked by hand before! Yay! In fact, she said that I did such a good job that she gave me a blue ribbon.

Yeah yeah, she probably gives that out to everyone, but let me have my moment, ok?

-x-
aarti

So, yesterday, I told you guys about the utter joy I got out of growing my own oyster mushrooms using the Back to the Roots mushroom kit.

Well, guess what?!

If you’d like to try them for yourself, I have a special present for you!

Check out the special offer that the co-founder, Nikhil Arora, is extending you and me:

“I’d love to offer your readers a discount, they can use code mushrooms4me10 and get 10% off and free shipping on 2 or more! Also, if they post a pic of their fully grown kit on our facebook page, we’ll donate one to an elementary school of their choice!”

Cool, huh?

The Back to the Roots website has a long list of recipes you can make using these little ones, but consider making these beauties:

These are my Shroom & Tater Potlis (or parcels), inspired by Yotam’s recipe in his exquisite tome, “plenty”. My version uses (of course!) plenty of ginger, garlic and my favourite vinegar of the moment, malt vinegar.

I love cooking in parchment. When I was a little girl, we spent a few weeks in London one summer, and I remember going back to an Italian restaurant over and over because they served a pasta dish that had been cooked in parchment. My sister and I couldn’t get enough of it; the dish itself was delicious but oh, the simple joy of a paper-wrapped surprise coming to the table! Even though we knew exactly what was in that package, I remember hardly being able to control my excitement as it came to the table.

Why do kids love that so much? And why do we lose that ability as adults to take pleasure in such a simple thing? Every time the waiter ripped open the parchment for us, plumes of steam thrust themselves into the air, scenting us with cheese and garlic. We oooh’d and aaah’d.

Potli (POE-tlee) means little bundle in Hindi, I believe; we’ll wrap up a handful of aromatic spices in a piece of muslin or cheesecloth and drop that into a pot of boiling rice, or a pot of slow-cooking meat, similar to the bouquet garni of many a Western kitchen.

Mum would also use that word to describe the delicate little bun old Indian women tie their hair into, a whisper of the luscious locks of their youth. Or she’d use it to describe a cute little swollen-with-momma’s-milk baby belly. It occurred to me that when my mum sees the photos of these little parcels, that’s probably what she’ll call them! (See? All food IS Indian food! If you don’t understand the reference, click here).

When I made this dish for Bren last week, he called it “elegant”, a word which I wouldn’t use to describe my food. I’m a rustic (read: messy) cook and I’m ok with it. But someone I wanted to impress was coming over, this would be on the menu. It’s almost effortless, super mega (yup, there I go again) delicious and reminds me to take a second to enjoy the simpler things in life.

Note: if you’re making enough to feed 4 as my recipe calls for, you will probably need to supplement your Back to the Roots harvest with some store-bought ones. I used a host of wild mushrooms in this version, but I’ve also made this using a combo of brown mushrooms (creminis), shitakes and a few oysters (for texture). Use whatever you have. It will be delicious no matter what!