It’s been aaaages. Five months almost, ah…well, what to say, life came in the way.
But I was rustling up something for friends the other day when I suddenly remembered to get my camera; that’s the basic problem, usually I just forget, and somehow, if I don’t have a photograph, I don’t feel like posting.

Well, back to food. Papeta-par-eeda, or eggs on potatoes. This is a simple Parsi dish that can be eaten for breakfast, or as a side with any meal. Or even as a snack. It really doesn’t take long and there are all kinds of short-cuts, ( some of which taste better than the original – like replacing potatoes with deep fried potato wafers / crisps / chips – but then doesn’t the sinful stuff always taste better? ). It’s a bit like a fritata. Incidentally, Parsis put eggs on just about everything, especially if it’s a vegetable.

Here’s what I did, in a step-by-step

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PAPETA-PAR-EEDU (Eggs on Potatoes) Serves 4
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INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
4 large potatoes
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 chili
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
A pinch turmeric powder
Oil to fry – about 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon chopped Coriander for garnish

PREPARATION
Cut the onions long and thin, and the potatoes a thin and flat as possible. Chop the chili up fine.

Put the oil in a skillet and when hot, put in the onions to fry. When the turn pale brown add the garlic cloves after crushing them slightly. Fry a little more.

Meanwhile to save time, boil the potatoes in water with salt. Don’t let them get completely soft, about 5 minutes short of done.

Add the turmeric powder, chili and red chili powder to the onions.

Drain the potatoes thoroughly and add to the onions let them fry till cooked properly but not soft. Flatten them evenly in the skillet.

Meanwhile break the eggs carefully, separating the yolk from the white and beat each separately. The whites should be as stiff as you can get them. Mix them together quickly and pour immediately over the potato mixture. Cover and leave till it sets, between 3-5 minutes.

Cut up into squares, garnish with coriander and serve hot. Yum!!

As I mentioned, Parsis can add eggs to anything. Try this on cooked fried okra, tomatoes or white pumpkin. More details soon.

I promised myself sometime back that I’d actually use the recipe books I have. Well, I did make this dessert from Sanjeev Kumar’s book quite a while back, and the people I served it to said, “yummm, and “I’m impressed!” and “this is sinful”, etc, but I really wasn’t very convinced myself. Well for one, I’m not much of a fan of condensed milk. I find the taste absolutely cloying. There was a little granular texture that I didn’t care for, but that’s possibly because the mango pulp I used was frozen for over a month. It certainly got finished, though my 5 year old who has a real sweet tooth couldn’t be persuaded beyond 3 bites.

Would I try it again? Yes, once more. It was super simple and quick. It had no eggs. I loved the way it unmoulded so perfectly. It looked fabulous. I want to see if the texture is improved with fresher pulp. For that I’ll have to wait for summer again I guess.

Here goes. This is my version. His had some oranges and sweet limes to garnish which I didn’t have at home.
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SANJEEV KAPOOR’s MANGO BAPA DOI Serves 8
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Ingredients
1 tin (400 grams) Condensed Milk
1 cup thick yogurt
1/2 cup mango pulp [ I used 1 full cup ]
1/2 cup chopped mango to garnish
(more…)

This is about as healthy as street food can get, and the added plus is that because it’s street food my little one loves it, and is willing to have it happily even at home. In fact last night I got the best complement ever! “This is better that what we get on the road.” Wow!
I won’t even get into the recipe for the “real thing”, my main intent making this at home is to get a larger than normal serving of vegetables into the meal. The real thing is spicier and has a more extreme sweet and sour taste.
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KACHHI DABELI HOME-STYLE make about 6 dabelis
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INGREDIENTS
2 large potatoes
1 small onion
1 large tomato
1 carrot
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1 tablespoon jaggery / 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup tamarind pulp
1/4 cup cilantro (coriander / kothmir) leaves cut fine
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Yellow fine sev (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
Salt to taste
Some pomegranate if you have it.
Oil
Indian Pav. Burger buns will do the job as well. (more…)

I mentioned recently about They Cook & Draw. Well, a few days back I came across a recipe that I scribbled down and that was held up by magnets on my refrigerator since. This morning I actually woke early enough to try the Supreme Orange Sponge Cake. For a change, I actually had every single ingredient – not that there are many, in my kitchen. It was simple and it turned out wonderful! There’s nothing quite like the tangy flavor of orange wafting round your kitchen on a summer morning! Mmmmmmmm!

This is the recipe, almost ditto, but I added some milk and butter, simply because at one point the batter was just too thick to stir! I think I would have liked double the orange juice too but I had no more. And the walnuts are my addition too.
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SUPREME ORANGE SPONGE CAKE Serves 8
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INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
5 tablespoons orange juice ( 1 small orange should be enough)
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon salted butter
7-8 walnuts. 4 whole for the top, the rest crumbled (optional)

PREPARATION
Turn your oven on high and grease your baking tin. (more…)

This is one on a list of comfort foods if there’s one. Though I admit, the only time I think of making it is when I have excess milk in the fridge.

More inportantly, I’d decided I was going to follow a recipe from one of my numerous cookbooks and so started searching for the ideal Kheer recipe. Ideal for ingredients in my cupboards. I found it in The Food of India from Periplus World Cookbooks, a book with beautiful photographs, and recipes written for westerners, and those who know more than a little cooking. For example it said ‘Bruise the cardamoms’. Basically that means crush them slightly so they’re open but the seeds don’t fall out. I had to look it up!Ultimately though, I ended up doing my own thing, loosely based on what was in the cookbook. Below is my slight adaptation.
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RICE KHEER. Sweet Rice Pudding Serves 6
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Ingredients
1 cup rice
6 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
6 cardamom pods, bruised
10 almonds, blanched and slivered
20 raisins
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

PREPARATION
I’ve made kheer before and frankly I prefer the rice well cooked.
So this time I washed the rice, then cooked it for about 7 minutes in 1 cup of water.

After this, add milk, bring to a boil and then let it simmer. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t start burning at the bottom.

When the rice is almost done, add the sugar, cardamoms, essence, and almonds. Cook until it reaches the consistency you’d like, but ideally the rice, though a little mushy, should not have reached a point of blending with the milk.

If your milk is drying out add more, or even add water.

Remove from heat and eat either hot or chilled. Enjoy!