I happen to love paneer (non melting, unaged, farmer’s cheese).
Growing up, I don’t remember mom cooking much paneer (cheese). It was something that we ate at restaurants.
As a South Indian our diet mostly consisted of rice, lentils, vegetables, and chicken. Paneer/cheese was considered ‘North Indian food’. So when we wanted to eat, we would go out to a restaurant for a treat, and what a nice treat it was.
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Yes, it’s my 50th post and I can’t believe I made it this far.
These last 3 months have been beyond what I could ask for. You being a huge part of it. Can you imagine that you work so hard on your recipe, your writing, your pictures, and you see 3 views? That sucks big time. I also saw that those views were mom’s, my teen’s and mine.
I remember when I was overwhelmed at the very thought and process of creating a blog. There were questions like ‘Honey, how can I make this picture bigger’ to ‘Nik, can you please teach me how to add links’. They seem simple right, but too much for me then. Technical details seemed to pass through me without touching me.
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She was the lady who carried a cane basket filled with different fresh greens. She came every morning door to door to sell greens. A simple yet strong woman. I fell in love with her(my keerai lady/greens lady). Why, you might ask?
Her husband abandoned her. She adopted a little girl at 2 months and she started living for the little one. She sold greens in the mornings and did household chores in the afternoon for a living.
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“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French…… GARLIC makes it good.”-Alice May Brock These Garlic bread knots with sriracha coated are easy and filled with flavor.
GARLIC SRIRACHA Bread Knots- Multi Grain |foodfashionparty| #garlicbreadknots
Do you have a green thumb??
If you do, I admire you and if you don’t I’m secretly happy;). I hear about homegrown tomatoes, chilies and fruits being so tasty and my friend even grows sugar cane, CRAZY…Why does it come so easy to some and here I am with a single leaf Banana tree which has been alive for 4 years with only couple of leaves present all the time. I water it, ummm, maybe not all the time..But it hasn’t dried up on me yet, that’s the bright side.
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A Recipe has no soul. You as a the cook must bring soul to the recipe. – Thomas Keller
Happy July Friends. Hope your weekend was good with perfect weather.
Mine I can say was hot and irritating. Our a/c is not working and it was 100 in the Bay. Thankfully I got a chance to stay in the skating ring with my preteen, safe for 3 hours while my little baby played cricket for hours in the burning heat. I also had a brilliant but impractical idea of driving around so we don’t have to walk into the oven. Well, that did not happen, I wonder why.
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“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” – Robert Browning
Fresh baked bread at home in India is not some we saw a lot of. Flatbreads like Chapathi, rotis, paratha and many were common but yeasted bread was something we got in bakeries. Bakery breads were simply amazing. Moving to California where there is so much diversity in food and it’s cuisine that my love for food just quadrupled(and more). San Francisco is known for their Sourdough, some of the best I’ve had.
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A healthy outside starts from the inside. –Robert Urich
There are so many grains that some of us have no clue about, but if I can speak for all, Quinoa is not one of them. Popular among the gluten free population, it’s a grain which looks simple and humble to being cute once cooked. Packed with antioxidants and filled with fiber, these tiny grains gives a new meaning for power punch. If you want to learn about some new grains check out this LIST, it’s interesting.
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“People forget what they ate, but they always remember Dessert, so make it memorable”.- Ina Garten
Medjool dates with their crinkly top, sweet second layer was known as the fruit of the royals. But, it’s easily accessible to us commoners now. The chewy texture, the naturally maple sort of taste and it’s size makes for a easy pick me up snack.
Dates are consumed on it’s own for it’s nutritional value and distinctive taste. But, the middle easterners have gotten quite creative with these pick me up beauties. Taking a note from their page, the MEDJOOL dates get makeovers every chance a cook gets.
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“Shucked and boiled in water, sweet corn is edible and nutritious; roasted in the husk in the hottest possible oven for forty minutes, shucked at the table, and buttered and salted, nothing else, it is ambrosia. No chef’s ingenuity and imagination have ever created a finer dish.”
Nero Wolfe in ‘Murder is Corny’ by Rex Stout
You know sometimes how we write off saying, it’s just a fritter, whats different?..Having made patties/ fritters 1000 different ways(OK maybe not that much…I’m exaggerating). The season of corn is here, it’s sweet, delicious, healthy and available in abundance throughout the summer. The freezer section of the corn is flash frozen at it’s peak and has the same nutrients and flavor as the fresh ones. It is an ingredient which can be used all year around and it is another innovative way to use fresh corn of the cob.
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Largely popular in Greece with a light tomato sauce, this dish is not something that comes to mind when we think about Greek food right..? GIGANTES also known as elephant beans(it looks like elephant ears)are quite popular there. I can say, that it is much flavorful than I thought it would be. They adapt to their cooking environment very easily, are so meaty and very hearty for the non meat eater, perfect for vegans. I had these beans at a restaurant Kokari in the bay and wanted to reproduce it for a while now, but of course you add your touch. How many of you, go to some restaurants, have something tasty or unique and have an urge to cook that up at home? I do it all the time, I take it as a challenge in which I succeed at times and sometimes not. It’s always worth a shot.
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