Sauteed Garlic Herb Mushrooms

When you are either learning the basics of cooking or have been at it for a while, being asked to create a dish from memory is always challenging and tricky. The challenge increases multiple fold when it has to be from someone else's memory. Yes that is the story behind this dish. This other day when I made pizza - which I have several times - hubs somehow decided to take a trip down the memory lane. He began describing how when he was in India, they had opened a brand new Pizza Hut in his city, one of the very first ones in the entire country in those times. He of course had paid a visit to eat a veggie pizza that as he describes cost an arm and a leg. The one thing they brought with the pizza was a sampler of sauteed garlic mushrooms on the house. The pizza was great, he goes on, but the taste of the mushrooms stuck with him. Of course I took the hint, asked him a few questions on what more he remembered of what it looked like, and tried it. Yes he said these were better than the ones he had way back when. What a relief!

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Bhindi/ Okra Masala

There are a couple of posts in which I have used okra as the primary ingredient. Every time I use okra, I try to make it a point to clarify that it is a tricky vegetable to cook with. If not done right, it can get slimy and texturally unappealing. A simple trick can get it right and avoid keeping you from liking an otherwise wonderful vegetable. The trick is as simple as dry them completely after washing and before cooking and always cook them uncovered. Most people just fry them to avoid the slime but using these two simple tricks, you can uncover a whole new side of okra. This okra preparation is tangy and mildly spicy and one of my personal favorites. Even though you will intend to serve it as a side to a meal, they tend to be more popular as finger food and will be gone before you get a chance to serve!

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Aloo gobhi masala

loo gobhi, always a crowd pleaser, is a combination of two most universally loved vegetables potato and cauli cooked together with various spices in an onion tomato base. This humble dish is staple in many Indian homes - except of course those times of the year when gobhi is ridculously expensive - and can be made many different ways. Aloo gobhi rose to international fame in Gurinder Chadda's movie "Bend it like Beckham". It is weird but every time I make aloo gobhi it reminds me of the famous dialogue from the movie where the mom tells the football playing daughter "aloo gobhi banana seekh le warna shaadi kaun karega" (learn to make aloo gobhi to get a prospective groom which she can only get by knowing how to cook this and not playing football, HA HA)!
I like the simplicity of the dish and the amazing taste. Can be served as lunch or dinner accompanied with roti, paratha or rice. They make a great filling for wraps and a great pizza/tart topping for that matter. Now there are a number of ways in which I make Aloo Gobhi - the party or potluck way, with gravy, without gravy, my mom's way the Bihari way. This I guess is the way I make it that I have developed on my own having eaten it at several restaurant and adding my own twist.

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Chilli Paneer dry/Paneer cheese in a spicy chilli soy sauce

o tantrums and food have any relation for you? Well, in my case, growing up they had quite a lot to do with each other. This is what my dear mom used to cook especially for me when me - the brat - used to tell her "mom, you don't love me anymore", count to her all the occasions when I was refused an ice-cream, a barbie doll, Shahrukh's poster and the bestest most expensive dress in the mall! She knew how to get me back to behaving normally... lol.

I love Chinese food but I have a certain (very strong) bias towards Indian-Chinese (aka indo-chinese) cuisine. We Indians have had a long-lived love affair with Chinese food. Long before pizzas, burgers and junk food became popular, it was Chinese food that most of us wanted when we craved something exotic and different. One may argue that Indo-chinese is not really chinese food as it is not very close to authentic chinese food. It has been totally adapted and re-flavored to suit an Indian palette. But hey, that is what fusion food is all about, right? Who knew the marriage of a little soy sauce with Indian spices could be so delicious! A big bright star of the Indian Chinese cuisine, featured on almost every menu of an Indian restaurant, be it upscale or roadside.

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