Rocking The Nutty Boat!!

A simple entry for jugalbandi Click: Show us your nuts, December 2007.

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Rasedaar Aloo-Gobhi | Fragrant Potato-Cauliflower Curry

 
Aloo-Gobhi sabzi (Potato-Cauliflower Vegetable) happens to be one of my favourite vegetable combinations. There are so very many ways in which this vegetable combination is cooked and dished out. Yet it is only in winter that one gets the opportunity of enjoying it in this fragrant curry form. Primarily because this recipe uses loads of Dalchini or Cinnamon. Cinnamon which is an essential spice in Indian cooking, is regarded by Ayurveda as a warming spice. It is, in general, used in combination with other spices that complement its flavour and often in its bark form. Also it is used to flavour savoury vegetables and meats from the main course rather than sweets and desserts! Cauliflower curry with cinnamon is a perfect example of this. I find it to be a comfort food - tasty, warming, and utterly delicious once served on a bed of Basmati rice.

Christmas Cookies: Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls

Now home-baked cookies and I have a history of sorts. I developed an avid interest in baked goodies early on, and as time went by it turned into a passion of sorts. Yes, there's always a time for a story and this is one for Christmas cookies. As I stumbled across Susan's Christmas Cookies from Around the World 2007, I was inspired to dig out my old faithful - a treasured recipe book which holds a collection of my very favourite tried and trusted cookie recipes. Just a turn of the page and memories of baking batches of cookies for school events, for family, friends all came flooding back. Just as much as I loved the aroma of my Mum's kitchen every time I loaded in a fresh batch to bake, the fact remains that I really have not had the time or the opportunity to indulge in this joy for several years. Now thanks to Susan I have come back to delight in baking cookies. Of course half the joy of baking cookies at home (read from scratch) lies in the sharing. With every fresh batch I have been counting off friends and family to whom I am shipping off these delectable delights. May be that is the true spirit of a Christmas cookie - its sharing!! I have picked my favourite cookies - Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls to share with everyone at Eat Christmas Cookies!

Hot Mango Salsa

Mango is a great favourite on the Indian sub-continent. Indeed, as a mango lover one can't help but be passionate about this beautiful fruit. Every summer, desis in the US bemoan lack of access to the over a 100 varieties of mango available freely on the Indian sub-continent. And every so often I get a mango craving and I am tempted to buy one of the beautiful orange, yellow, and green mangoes in the local supermarket. Yet, these mangoes are very fibrous they don't do too well on a dessert plate. So to satisfy my mango cravings I began to experiment using these sweet fleshy fruits in new ways. I remember standing in my kitchen, mango staring at me when memories of eating sour kairi (raw mango) with rock salt and red chilli powder on a hot summer's day, flashed back to me. Mmmmm, the texture of the raw mango mingling with the sharp and mellow flavours was just heaven. And well, just like that I decided to do the same to the nice ripe mango on the kitchen table. An onion here, tomatoes there, green chillies, cilantro, and freshly squeezed key lime juice - hey presto - utterly delicious mango salsa.