Thursday, November 15, 2012
Diwali special meal...Desi Macaroni and Ice- cream sandwiches!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCfwbzzUSUQ&feature=g-feathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCfwbzzUSUQ&feature=g-feat
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Idli Origin-Gujarati origin-Indonesia origin-Karnataka origin
Simple dish Idly has been in controversy regarding the origin.
Idly in literature
‘iddalige’, first mentioned in a Kannada work Vaddaradhane of Sivakotyacharya in 920 AD. The Sanskrit Manasollasa of 1130 AD has ‘iddarika’. Tamil apparently only first mentions ‘itali’ in the 17th century.
Gujarati origin
Gujarat have IDADA which is steamed dhokla made from same ingredients as Idly.Namely Urad dhaal and Rice which are fermented overnight and next day steamed.Gujarathis claim Idaly is a dish which came to south from Gujarat during 10/12th century AD.when lot of silk weavers from saurashtra came to south via Maharashtra.The dukkia is first mentioned in AD 1068 in Gujurathi Jain literature, and dhokla appears in AD 1520 in the Varanaka Samuchaya. Besan flour is fermented overnight with curd, and steamed in slabs which are then cut into pieces and dressed with fresh coriander leaves, fried mustard seeds and coconut shreds. A coarser version is khaman and both are popular breakfast and snack foods in Gujurat. But we have to note that Gujart was ruled by chalukyas and Rastrakutas for many centuries before that and Idada may be from iddalige. Since we dont find references to that before that.
Indonesia origin
Acharya notes:the use of rice grits along with urad dhal,the long fermentation of the mix, and the steaming of the batter to fluffiness. Only after 1250 AD are there references to what seem to be idlis as we know them. Achaya’s contention is that this absence from the historical record could mean that idlis are an imported concept — perhaps from Indonesia which has a long tradition of fermented products, like tempeh (fermented soy cakes), kecap (from where we get ketchup) or something called kedli, which Achaya says, is like an idli. This is plausible enough given the many links between Southeast Asia and South India, through rulers and traders. Acharyra also adds many legendary stories ,but there is no basis for them.
Heuan tsang says no steaming vessels south india in seventh century.But steaming vessels are not required for steaming dishes , steam can be produced using cloth over the vessel, still this method is used in south India.
Karnataka origin
Vaddaradhane by Shivakoti Acarya ( Rashtrakoota times)of the 10th century names Iddalige ( Idli ), Holige (Poli) and Savige ( Vermicelli). The 12th century encyclopedia Manasollaasa of Somashekhara Ballala III (Kalyani Chalukya) is a veritable treasure house of recipes and cooking styles. Lets not forget that these were empires with catholic tastes and wide trading hinterlands.
Friday, November 9, 2012
What's cooking in the Dak Bangla?
Mid-day, Mumbai, Updated: November 09, 2012 15:26 IST
Dak Bungalow (or Bangla) cuisine,
sadly, is a near-forgotten culinary treasure that survives among a few
remaining khansama families and Anglo Indian households. Rajika
Bhandari's The Raj on the Move retraces some of these flavours from
sooty kitchens served for the 'Sahib' and the 'Mem'One was a dish called 'Country Captain'. It is also a dish that has travelled the globe and has thus taken on many different forms: some globetrotters report consuming a dish called General Chicken at a Chinese restaurant, only to discover that it was indeed an unmistakable close cousin of the Indian Country Captain curry. In its very basic form, it is a curry or stew of chicken, enhanced with turmeric and chillies and bread, if any was available. Butter was not easily available, and in its place the cook was quite likely to offer the unsuspecting guests some red-currant jelly in a little bottle that has formerly contained pomade for the hair.
Caramel custard, or 'custel brun' as it was known among Indian servants, was to become another staple of the dak bungalow dining table because of the easy availability of eggs and milk. Like 'sudden death', it too acquired a nickname -- '365' -- because it was served almost everyday of the year, or so it appeared. Some English travellers banned the dessert at home because they were forced to have more than their fill of it while staying at dak bungalows and eating at railway stations.
But some inspired cooks went above and beyond, experimenting with known techniques and inventing a repertoire of dishes unique to the menu a traveller could expect at these bungalows. Famed khansamas such as Bernard of the Bilaspur Circuit House and Peter of the Krishnaghur Dak Bungalow, who learnt to prepare a hybrid Anglo-Indian cuisine, offered up memorable dishes that could almost border on sublime. One such dish and a star of Anglo-Indian cuisine was the delectable chicken cutlet that survives to this day and has taken on many variations, ranging from vegetarian to mutton and paneer cutlets.
When Lady D'Urban, the wife of Sir Benjamin, the former governor of Cape Colony, became gravely ill during her stay at the Cape of Good Hope in 1840 and was unable to consume the average meat dish, an ingenious Bengali cook from India accompanying the group came up with a 'delicate little chicken cutlet' that was at once easily digestible and delicious, so much so that the Lady consumed nothing else for the next several days.
Country Captain
Cold meats and curries are sometimes converted into this dish, the condiments for which are as follows: Two chittacks or four ounces of ghee, half a teaspoonful of ground chillies,one teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground turmeric, and twenty onions, cut up lengthways into fine slices.
Cut up in the usual way an ordinary curry chicken. Warm the ghee and fry the sliced onions, which when brown set aside; fry the ground turmeric and chillies, then throw in the chicken and salt, and continue to fry, stirring the whole until the chicken is tender. Serve it up, strewing over it the fried onions.
Source: The Indian Cookery Book, 1948
Dak Bungalow Murgh Roast
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 whole 3 1/2 lb chicken, cleaned (do not remove the skin)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of one lemon
2-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and chopped
2 green chillies, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
Method:
Prick the chicken all over then rub with the salt and lemon juice well into the skin. Set it in a bowl and let it marinate for an hour.
Place the ginger, garlic, chillies, turmeric, yoghurt and garam masala in a food processor and process to a puree.
Pour this puree into a plastic bag and place the chicken in the bag as well. Fasten the bag securely and shake it until the chicken is well covered with the marinade. Refrigerate it for 4-5 hours, or even overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C, gas mark 5).
Using either a wok or a saucepan large enough to take a whole chicken, melt the ghee over high heat.
Drain the chicken from its marinade, reserving any left over, and brown the bird on all sides in the wok. Use a pair of wooden spoons or tongs to turn it.
Do not pierce it with a fork. Now place the chicken in a baking pan and pour the ghee remaining in the wok over it.
Let it bake in the oven for 30 minutes, loosely covered with a piece of foil.
Half-way through the baking time, spoon any remaining marinade over the chicken, and then baste it with the juices and ghee in the bottom of the pan.
Serve hot or cold.
Baked Rose Custard: An Update of the Classic Caramel Custard
Serves 5
Ingredients:
1 pint milk
4 tablespoons sugar
3 whole, beaten eggs, plus 2 beaten yolks
1/2 teaspoon rose water
1 tablespoon flaked almonds
A few rose petals
A pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C, gas mark 2).
Blend the milk, sugar and salt together.
Beat in the eggs and egg yolks.
Add the rose water and mix well.
Pour into an oven-proof dish and bake for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top with almonds.
Decorate with a few rose petals.
Source: Jennifer Brennan, Curries and Bugles:
A Cookbook of the British Raj, 1990
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
They paid for kachauri, abuse came for free
The archaic gate of Banaras Hindu University looks down somewhat
unconcerned over the stretch in front. This old gate symbolises the
great divide between the two worlds; the intellectuals inside the high
boundary walls and the commoners present in the daily din of Banaras
outside.
Some so-called malls have sprouted sporadically from the haphazard
conglomeration of small shops and eateries that mark every road and lane
of this ancient city, which many think is the cultural hub of Hindu
India. On both sides of the road, western burgers and eastern
Pakauri-jalebi live side by side.
You may call it the peaceful co-existence of cultures. And the same is
true of BHU, settled calmly and uncomplainingly amid the squalor and
filth of the Varanasi lanes snaking round the great centre of wisdom and
knowledge, established by Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya. The image of
BHU surrounded by Varanasi is somewhat reminiscent of the ruling deity
of the city, Lord Shiva and the snakes round his neck. Shiva with his
eyes half closed lives on in an eternal trance and so is his city. But
despite its state of trance and choking traffic, numerous activities go
on side by side and the road from the Lanka gate leads, willy-nilly,
directly to Sankat Mochan, the famous abode of Lord Hanuman, made more
famous by the terrorist attack a few years ago. Nestled on the famous
Sankat Mochan campus, there is a small roadside eatery, popularly known
as Chachi’s ‘kachauri’ shop.
If you are looking for any signboard, then you cannot discover Chachi’s
shop. Just ask anybody. It is known to almost every Banarasi, male or
female. Chances are he/she would volunteer immediately to escort you
there. “Mouth publicity” as the most ancient means of advertisement, has
spread the reputation of Chachi far and wide. Human generations change
in a span of 20 to 25 years but when it comes to a campus, it takes only
two to three years. The anecdotes about Chachi and her kachauris have
formed a nostalgic chapter in the memories of BHU alumni for the past 50
years or so. But there is something peculiarly ‘Banarasi’ about her
reputation.
Whenever the shop was open — and it was almost always open — the slim
old lady of medium height and fair complexion could be seen doing some
chores, serving kachauris, abusing customers with all seriousness or
instructing her assistants who were mostly her own children or their
offspring. Every product is known by its producer.
Chachi was known for the kachauris she sold but she was known, more
primarily, for the classy and typical Banarasi abuses that she
distributed free of cost with the kachauris. People enjoyed the
kachauris but they enjoyed the abuses even more as these came from
Chachi. Full of slang, slanderous, vitriolic, vituperative and enriched
with the local Banarasi tongue, chachi’s tone was never afraid of
anybody. But there never was a real anger behind those words that might
have caused a war had someone else spoken like that.
BHU students, scholars and teachers used to visit Chachi’s shop as if to
get some relief from boring artificialities of the sophisticated
behaviour they were expected to put up inside the intellectual walls of
the university. Sometimes, Chachi was silent and serious but her
customers would not have it. They would intentionally do something to
irritate her. She often understood their mala fide intention to provoke
her. She would try not to break or budge but a typical Banarasi knew how
to play the game and ultimately, Chachi would lose her patience and her
tongue as well.
A silent Chachi would suddenly blast at a simple request for serving
kachauri fast. She would blast the heckling customer who, with a naughty
smile, would then heave a sigh of great satisfaction. He would hear her
vitriolic reaction with great pleasure. Perhaps she was the single
shop-owner in the civilised world who could afford to treat her
customers with such a stream of blunt abuses and still they would flock
around. You can get kachauris anywhere in Banaras but where else would
you get that prolific flow of ‘desi gaali’?
‘Gaali’ (abuse or swear words) is an essential part of the
typical Banarasi culture. A Banarasi feels indigestion if it is already a
day and he has not given vent to a few original abuses and slangs. gaaliAn exchange of gaali
is a must and sure sign of closeness between friends and relatives
There have been many who could show their ingenuity and originality in
the art of coining new ‘gaalis’ but none could excel Chachi. So she was most lovable in her own way.
Banarasi kachauris are prepared with spices mixed with urad dal and served with curry in a leaf-made dona.
You may add jalebi, if you want. There was no space inside or outside
the shop to sit. You have to eat the things standing by the street.
Whoever you are, you have to stand there like a commoner and wait for
your turn to come. In this, Chachi was a great leveller.
Many celebrities from different walks of life used to visit her shop to enjoy her original Banarasi gaali.
Rajan and Sajan Mishra, the famous music maestros, regularly haunt
Chachi’s shop and Manoj Tiwary, in one of his hit songs, promises his
heroine a treat at Chachi’s if she accepts his invitation to visit
Banaras. Chachi was never awed by any personality whoever he or she is.
When someone introduced a celebrity to her, her response would be
something like, ‘B…..wale hain to hain badkaa. Achha ta hum kaa Karin? Khaae ke baa ta khaa na ta jayen saar bhaad me.’ (Let
him be whatever he is. How does it concern me? If he wants to eat
something, let him eat and get lost.) Her outbursts which usually
started with ………but leave it aside.
Once Smriti Iraani of Saas Bahu fame came to the shop. Chachi
served her kachauris but did not say anything; did not abuse her. Smriti
asked Chachi to give her some ‘gaali’, Chachi smiled back with affection and said – ‘You are my daughter. I will not abuse you.’
One may think that she was either mad or it was her style. In fact,
neither Chachi was one of those rare samples among humans who are never
fake and who never bother to feign suavity to please anyone. She could
see through the facade of the so-called civilised manners. She bothered
for none and was not impressed ever with appearances and positions. She
was bluntly honest in her behaviour to everybody — and affectionate.
She never perhaps knew that she was an important and undeletable image
in the nostalgia of BHU alumni. Her memories are cherished by many in
India or abroad, for many of them had seen her benevolence, hidden
behind the mask of her vituperation. She, perhaps, was a living revolt
against the general cult of suavity.
Now Chachi is no more. On February 3 last, she passed away, leaving a
resounding silence behind. Kachauris are still being sold in her shop
with the same spices but the spice of life is lost.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Arya Mahila PG College, Varanasi. Her email is: aryakvt@gmail.com)
Keywords: Banaras Hindu University, college life
Saturday, November 3, 2012
LIP -SMACKING MENU FOR MID-DAY MEAL IN TAMIL NADU-
-
Noon meal gets spicy
Thirteen varieties of rice and four types of egg
‘masala’ will soon enrich the plates of students benefiting under the
nutritious noon-meal scheme of the State government, Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa
told the Assembly on Friday.
Making a
suo motu statement, she said the purpose was to break the monotony in
the menu under the scheme introduced by former Chief Minister M.G.
Ramchandran 30 years ago and to make them palatable.
The
government consulted well-known chefs and nutrition experts on this
issue and ‘channa biriyanai’ and pepper egg were served on an
experimental basis in a school in Saidapet and the Andhanallur panchayat
union school in Chief Minister’s Srirangam constituency.
The students liked it and the chefs demonstrated 13 varieties of rice and four types of egg ‘masala.’
The
Chief Minister said the new scheme would be introduced in one taluk in
every district and depending on the feedback, this would be extended to
other areas gradually.
There would be one set of menu for the first and third weeks of a month and another set for the second and fourth week.
The
students would be served vegetable ‘biriyani’
and pepper powder egg
on
first and third Mondays; ‘channa-pulav’
and tomato ‘masala’ on Tuesdays;
tomato rice and pepper egg on Wednesdays; rice, sambar and boiled egg
on Thursdays and curry leaf rice or green (keerai) rice, egg masala and
roasted potato on Fridays.
The menu of second and
fourth Mondays would be ‘sambar’ rice,
onion and tomato egg ‘masala’;
mealmaker and vegetable mixed rice
and pepper egg
on Tuesdays; tamarind
rice
and tomato egg ‘masala’
on Wednesdays; lemon rice,
tomato egg
‘masala’
and ‘sundal’
on Thursdays and
rice
, sambar,
boiled egg
and
roasted potato
on Fridays.
The Chief Minister said
the government would also provide a variety of dishes to the children
attached to ‘anganwadis’ in the State.
Special attention would be made
to the children, considering their requirements and digestive capacity.
The
children would get tomato rice
and boiled egg
on Mondays;
mixed rice
and ‘sundal
’ on Tuesdays;
vegetable ‘pulav’
and boiled egg
on
Wednesdays;
lemon rice
and boiled egg
on Thursdays; ‘dhal’ rice
and
boiled potato
on Fridays and mixed rice
on Saturdays and Sundays.
Ms.
Jayalalithaa said the new menu would increase the number of students
attending school and improve their nutritional requirement.
Keywords: noon-meal scheme, Jayalalithaa, noon meal menu, child nutrition
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Just one junk food meal can up heart attack risk
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012,09:45
73
Experts at the EPIC Centre of Canada’s Montreal Heart Institute, affiliated to the University of Montreal, say the key to staving off heart disease and other illnesses caused by clogged arteries is to switch to a Mediterranean-style diet, based on healthy foods like oily fish, fresh vegetables and olive oil, the Daily Express reported.
Dr Anil Nigam, director of research at EPIC and associate professor at the university’s Faculty of Medicine compared the effects of junk food and a typical Mediterranean meal on the ability of arteries to dilate after a temporary five-minute blockage.
The research looked at 28 nonsmoking men, who ate a Mediterranean-type meal first and then a junk food-type meal one week later.
After the Mediterrean-style meal the men’s arteries were found to dilate normally and maintain good blood flow.
But after eating the junk food the arteries of the study participants dilated 24 per cent less than they did when in a fasting state.
The findings were presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
CHOCOLATE Food of the Gods
Introduction
Chocolate has been described as being more than a food, less than a drug. This description points to the singular position this wildly popular confection plays in our lives. Popular to the tune of $74 billion annually, chocolate begins as a tiny blossom on a small tropical tree. Only three out of a thousand of these will produce the cacao pods that after a labor intensive and lengthy journey, with several chemically and technically complex steps along the way, will end up in your hand as a candy bar.The products of this tropical tree have played many roles through the centuries. In 1753, Linnaeus designated the tree Theobroma cacao, which translates to “cacao, food of the gods.” Several hundred years later, chocolate lovers would agree with this appellation although for the Maya, who honored a cacao god, the term had a more literal and spiritual meaning. The Aztecs used cacao beans as currency and as food and drink for the privileged. Spaniards introduced the drinking of chocolate to Europe where, in the medical system of the time, those who could afford it used chocolate as a tonic and remedy. The purported health benefits of chocolate are once again creating a buzz as industry sponsored research suggests that dark chocolate might possibly lower blood pressure and provide antioxidant benefits.
Five hundred years after its adoption in liquid form by the Spanish court and nearly two hundred years after a Dutch chemist’s invention paved the way for its creamy solid form, chocolate continues to expand its role. A recent market for premium chocolate has created connoisseurs who seek out rarified confections in the form of single origin bars with a 72% cacao content infused with such back-to-the-future flavors as the aboriginal Mexican combination of ground chilies and vanilla. Today’s consumers of chocolate can have an effect on how it is grown and harvested by buying a bar with a “Fair Trade” label, insuring that the growers and workers that produced it earn a living wage under humane conditions. Those aware of the loss of biodiversity in tropical forests caused by cacao plantations can buy organically grown chocolate, which supports the more time consuming practices of ecological agriculture.
And remember, the food of the gods might, just might, be good for you.
How the Aztecs Prepared Chocolate
Although the earliest use of cacao has been traced to the Maya and Aztecs, the recipes for its preparation have come from Spanish colonizers.One of the earliest descriptions of the native grinding and drinking of cacao comes from writings published in 1556 by a man known to scholars as the Anonymous Conquerer, apparently an adventurer connected to Hernando Cortés.
These seeds which are called… cacao are ground and
made into powder, and other small seeds are ground, and this powder is
put into certain basins… and then they put water on it and mix it with a
spoon. And after having mixed it very well, they change it from one
basin to another, so that a foam is raised which they put in a vessel
made for the purpose. And when they wish to drink it, they mix it with
certain small spoons of gold or silver or wood, and drink it, and
drinking it one must open one’s mouth, because being foam one must give
it room to subside, and go down bit by bit.
This drink is the healthiest thing, and the
greatest sustenance of anything you could drink in the world, because he
who drinks a cup of this liquid, no matter how far he walks, can go a
whole day without eating anything else.
Cacahuatl to Chocolate
Cultural hybridization not only changed the drink, it changed the name of the drink. By the 1570’s, the Spanish were using chocolatl, a combination of a Mayan (chocol=hot) and an Aztec (atl=water) word. One theory put forth for the name change is that the first two syllables of cacahuatl, the Aztec word for cacao, are a vulgar term for feces in most Romance languages.
Health Food of Barouque Era
In this facsimile from a 1640 English translation of an earlier work, a Spanish physician lists the many health-related effects of chocolate.
Drink of the Elite
And it was a drug taken in liquid form. Until the invention of a specialized hydraulic press in 1828 paved the way for the solid chocolate we know and love, chocolate was always a drink. It was commonly mixed with water or milk, with flavorings such as vanilla, cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice and chilies.
Coenraad Van Houten
The modern era of chocolate making began in 1828 when Van Houten patented his method for removing most of the cocoa butter from processed cacao, leaving a powdered chocolate. Untreated cocoa mass, or “liquor,” the end result of grinding cacao beans, contains about 53% cocoa butter. Van Houten invented a hydraulic press which reduced the amount to about 27%, leaving a cake that could be pulverized into a fine powder, which we know as cocoa. To improve this powder’s ability to mix with liquid, Van Houten treated it with alkaline salts, which came to be known as “Dutching.”
With the cocoa butter separated from the mass, chocolate makers now had a new and intriguing substance. Adding it to chocolate creates a creamier and more malleable product, making it supple enough to be molded into bars and more eleaborate filled confections.
More Than a Drink
Maya cacao god
From archeological evidence, it is clear that the natives used cacao in a wide array of drinks, gruels, porridges, powders and probably solid substances. Ground cornmeal was often added. Flavorings such as vanilla, chili peppers, honey, annatto and allspice were often added as well as the dried flowers of various Mesoamerican trees.
Several varieties of cacao are used in making chocolate. All are believed to have originated in the Amazon and upper Orinoco River basins.
Aphrodisiac?,
Health Food??,
Addictive???
Chocolate does contain small amounts of several psychoactive substances that act as stimulants and mood elevators. There is also the pleasurable sensation caused by the fact that this luscious substance melts at mouth temperature. And isn’t a heart-shaped box of chocolates the quintessentially romantic Valentine’s gift?
All that researchers can tell us is that although eating chocolate is undeniably gratifying, there is no scientific proof that it is either an aphrodisiac or addictive. And as for the recently touted health benefits of chocolate? There have been some intriguing discoveries regarding high blood pressure and chocolate’s antioxidant properties but no doctor or nutritionist is prescribing candy bars as health food.
© 2007 Albert R. Mann Library, C
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)