It seems like ages since I've updated this blog. Oh wait! It's actually been ages. Over two months and not an entry. Seems a little strange. It's not like I've not been cooking; I've been cooking like a maniac some days. It's not like I didn't have time; I've been a sloth quite a few of those days. It's just, you know, just not been going right. Just when I think, I have life figured out, I have something new to look forward to, it all seems to come crashing down. So much so, I don't think I should think so much anymore


I've been making this so often, but forget to take a picture every time. Yesterday for some reason, I got confused with the order quantities and had a ton leftover which I boxed up and gave to my sister in law. I also got her to model for me when she came over. Not an easy task with two rowdy boys, one who wanted the phone and the other who just want to go home or get banana chips!

This is actually the easiest thing to make. If you're from south of the Vindhyas you probably make Lemon Rice, this is just savvying it up using rice noodles instead of rice. I'm going to go ahead and call this Lemon Rice Noodles though in fact I'm actually using limes. Just the way it's been called so far and I'm no path-breaking trendsetter here.

Ingredients

Rice Noodles - 200g pack
Water to cook the noodles

1 tbsp - sunflower oil
1 tsp - mustard seeds
3 -  green chillis split long
1 -  sprig curry leaf
1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
Juice of 3 limes
Salt to taste

Method

1. Cook rice noodles till al dente. Follow instructions on the pack. Do not let it turn to mush.
2. Drain & run cooked noodles under cold water to stop cooking. Further drain in colander
3. In a wok, heat the oil and temper mustard seeds
4. Add green chillis & curry leaves to the temper. Stir around till the raw taste goes off. Take care to ensure the curry leaves don't burn.
5. Briefly take the wok off heat and add turmeric, back on heat and stir with the chillis and curry leaves. Again, take care the turmeric doesnt burn.
6. Take the wok off heat and add the drained and cooled noodles.
7. Sprinkle lime juice and salt over the noodles and toss to distribute evenly. (I used my hands to toss the noodles)
8. Place it back on heat and gently warm it through allowing the flavours to combine.
8. Et Voila! Lemon Rice Noodles ready.

Oru naadan meen curry straight from my Mum's kitchen to me and then to you. Hopefully, there are no Chinese whispers going on here and I get it right enough, for you to get it right.

Every summer, back home, we'd have a deluge of mangoes coming in from our backyard, our ancestral home, our generous neighbours, friends and family. Everybody is gifting each other mangoes; ripe, unripe, the soft squishy local ones, the ones somebody's managed to wangle from a cousin who has an estate far away and decided to gift you just cos you're their favourite cousin. You'd think it happens across the country in summer, but I doubt anyone incorporates as much of mango into their daily dishes as Malayalees do. I might be wrong, but there are so many mango dishes it could just start coming out of our collective noses and ears.

Raw mango is a favourite. It makes its way into a lot of savoury gravy dishes - Meenum (Fish) Mangayum, Chemmeenum (Prawn) Mangayum, Chakkakkuru (Jackfruit seed) Manga are some of those common ones. Then there is Pazhamanga Pulissery, Manga Pacchadi, the list goes on. By now you would have figured out, if you're not from Kerala, that manga stands for mango in Malayalam.

Fish marinated for frying

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil
6 shallots sliced
3 green chillis cut into half lengthwise
1" ginger pound into a paste
3 cloves garlic smashed
1 sprig curry leaves (divided to two)
1 small raw mango diced
2 tsp chilli pwder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
6 fish heads/slices of medium sized fish, cleaned
1 cup water or coconut milk(second press)
1/2 cup coconut milk (first press)
1 tsp coconut oil to drizzle on top.

Method.

1. Heat the coconut oil in an earthern ware pot/kadai.
2. Gently saute shallots, chillis, garlic & ginger till the shallots turn translucent.
3. Add half the curry leaves, mango and all the powders and stir quickly to avoid the powders burning.
4. Immediately add the fish and water to the pot and stir gently so that everything mixes in with the fish.
5. Cover and cook for 10 mins or till the fish is cooked.
6. Once the fish is cooked, add the first press coconut milk and gently simmer the gravy never letting it boil.
7. Finish it off with a drizzle of coconut oil on top and the remaining curry leaves.


Obviously I was too impatient to wait for a proper picture before attacking the fish fry.

I've been going to the stores at odd hours recently, which means day time around noonish. It's these times, when normal households shop, that are actually quite fascinating. One, it's a lot less crowded than shopping in the evenings. Two, you get access to far more ingredients than you would if you were running into a store just before closing time. Three, everything is a whole lot fresher. I've just suddenly realised I've been getting wilted veggies most of my life!

And I also realised, my local grocery store would carry a lot of the exotic stuff I read about online, if only I were to go at the right times. I'd been reading about Kale for a while online and I'd never had a clue as to what this leaf was. For a while, every recipe I looked up seemed to have kale, though I still fail to understand the kale chips part. But yes, even that seems possible. Perhaps, one day, even I'll try it out in my kitchen.

So I got this box of American Curled Kale, which surprisingly was not too expensive. I kept wondering what to do with it for a day or so and then decided to throw caution to the winds and do my own thing. Thankfully, it worked out fine. One thing I remembered from all the articles I'd read up was that kale takes a while to cook. I chewed on a leaf raw, and surprisingly it tasted sweet to me. Anyone else experienced that? It was also quite chewy, but that was something I'd been expecting.

So there is nothing much to this recipe. One day, someone's going to ask me why all these entries and instructions for the most basic things. But then, as I know it, it's for these basics that instructions are most needed. Building it up from there is an easy enough route after that. Maybe you'd want a pasta bake after that, or perhaps an egg custard using kale. But hey, everyone needs a starting point.




Serves 1

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 cups Kale (stalks removed, leaves torn)
• 4 cloves garlic sliced
• 1/2 red onion finely diced
• salt, pepper & red chilli flakes
• A drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 100g Dried Spaghetti

1. Cook the Pasta in salted water al dente. Drain and keep aside.
2. In a frying pan, heat olive oil on medium low heat
3. Gently saute garlic, onions till onions are translucent.
4. Add kale. Cover and cook for 10 mins and let it cook in its own steam
5. Remove from heat once kale is tender but still has a bite to it.
6. Toss with cooked pasta.
7. Add seasoning, chilli flakes & extra virgin olive oil.
8. Toss once again to evenly season.
9. Serve with warm crusty bread.

For someone beyond a certain age, I sure order in a lot. That is despite having a cook who comes in daily and would make anything I'd ask her to. One problem I have is, I don't like warming up food. I'd rather have it fresh than from the fridge. Of course, there are exceptions. But most days it's either the local Chinese or Punjabi food which makes it to my dinner plate.

Then I realised. The one thing I order the most is something called Teppanyaki Noodles from Wok Hei. I have an unreasonable amount of these noodles. So I thought maybe I should try making it at home just to make myself feel healthier. Off I went in search of Teppanyaki Noodles.
 

Are you single? Do you live alone? Let's bond over meals that conquer singledom.
I'm a fan of one bowl meals and an even bigger fan of meals which don't need to be prepped in huge portions resulting in leftovers lasting in the fridge forever and forever. I'm also a fan of meals which can be put together easily. Also as you know a fan of all things delicious. In my opinion, this qualifies for all of the above.

I fear I'm not going to do justice to this entry cos I've a massive writer's block. Not that I'm much of a writer but still... This dish or rather curry is so beautiful, it's worthy of a poem. But I'm not a poet or any such fanciful creature. So I dutifully enter this recipe which is not really a recipe for this divine curry which I could slurp up probably everyday of my life. I'll have to think up a better name also for this dish.