Bhanwar Lal’s Sooji Toast

I’m home! I’ve been back for just under two weeks and finally made my way in to the kitchen today. I must admit that it did feel a bit weird to start with. As a member of a middle class Indian family, I’ve grown accustomed to having domestic staff in the house. Before moving to the US for school, I would only head to the kitchen to make enquiries about lunch or dinner, but never to actually cook.

Growing up in the Army, which has retained many vestiges of its colonial past, I found that my father’s rise in rank also saw an expansion in his retinue. It was when he became a Brigadier, though, that our lives changed (g)astronomically. Bhanwar Lal bhaiyya (Hindi for older brother = bhaiyya) joined my father’s staff as a chef when I was in sixth grade. And what a chef at that. At six feet tall and with a booming laugh he always looked out of place in the kitchen. But, it was here that he worked his magic. Although an incredible master of all things delicious, we, as a family, are convinced that it’s his unbelievable warmth that really imbues his cooking with its impeccable flavors. He’s retired from the Army now and working in Rajasthan, but is always there to partake in important events in our lives. Just this past week, our house was packed to the rafters with friends and family visiting for my sister’s wedding. Bhanwar Lal bhaiyya was around to make sure each of them was stuffed to the gills with his delicious offerings and untiring generosity.

Would you look at that!

Sooji or Semolina toast was a little something-something BL, as we often called him, would cook up for my sister and I, sometimes as a snack with our evening cold-coffees or for breakfast on Sundays. This post is dedicated to the big man with a bigger heart we’ve been lucky enough to have in our lives.

Dinner Date: Spaghetti Special

Ingredients. SO pretty.

Yes, I made dinner for a date. It is Friday night after all. For those of you who read my other blog – fiveandeighty – and think I’m a male-hating, emotionally stunted, heterosexual single woman: I am not. Not all of those things at the very least. In fact, my date tonight was with Brad Pitt. We were hanging out at my place. Me settled in my fisherman chair in June of 2014, he fly-fishing somewhere in rural Montana back in the 1920s. Me tucking into a delicious dinner that I made with limited means in a nearly packed-up kitchen, him finding his angling rhythm thigh deep in a gushing stream. Okay, so I made an awesome meal and watched A River Runs Through It on Netflix while eating it and drinking a glass of wine. I’m sure my evening qualifies as a raging success of a date in some cultures, or will in the not so distant future.

Although I do have a soft spot for the unattached species, this spaghetti special doesn’t include singledom as a prerequisite to cooking or consumption. Also, I ate enough for two so this should be a cakewalk for an actual date.

The Right Kind of Mush

Mush Soup.

So, soups aren’t exactly my favorite thing. I mean they’re liquid food after all and the kind of consistency usually reserved for the toothless. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. As mentioned in my posts earlier this week, my visits to DC and NYC were indulgent in many departments, food most certainly being one of them. Since coming home, I’ve tried to clamp down on the calories and opt for more wholesome options that keep me full for longer and still manage big points on the taste scale – this baffles me to no end, but more on that at a later date.

It so happens that I was in DC with a very close friend – Shagun – who actually gave me the mushroom soup recipe I’m talking about in this post. Shagun is not only one of my sister’s closest friends from college, and by extension mine, but also our partner in crime when it comes to health-food drives and battling the bulge. She also has an eight-year-old son, and in her endeavor to have him eat healthy and stay interested in her culinary labors, she comes up with some interesting experiments in the kitchen. This recipe is, however, by no means over-the-top ‘oh-my-god’ exclamations inducing. But, it’s simple, and I adore simple. Also, the advantage of a soup made from mushrooms is the texture. It is liquid-like, but also has that surprise chunkiness every now and then.

Saturday Shocker: Black Eyed Pea Cutlets

This recipe makes four cutlets. I ate the missing one.

You should know that I’m being totally serious with the title to this piece. I mean, who would think Black Eyed Peas, or Lobia as I’m used to calling them, could actually make cutlets. But, here’s the shocker: they can, and damned good ones at that.

Thinking about what to eat for dinner last night posed some immense problems. I had a well-stocked fridge staring back at me, but I felt nothing. Yes, I’ve begun to ‘feel’ things about food – somebody please find me a job! But, back to last night: I was certain I was going to eat my daily dinner staple – a leafy salad – but, I wanted to eat something along side, as long as it wasn’t excessive in the carbs or fat department.

Back home, my mother, dealing with the demands of the health food drives my sister and I often go on, has a go-to menu of dinner dishes that keeps things fresh for us. Among them are these wonderful, almost zero-oil cutlets she makes with Bengal gram. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen Bengal gram on any of my grocery runs here in the US, although I’m certain it’s available at Indian stores.

Anyway, what I did find in my kitchen were Black Eyes Peas. Not Fergie and gang but the actual legumes. And thinking of their consistency I imagined they’d work well in the form of cutlets. Turns out I was right (just look at the picture)! So, if you’re interested in an easy, not too heavy on the calories option for a snack or a side for dinner, I suggest you scroll down.

Stop & Guac

I’ve been done with school for a few weeks now and I have to admit, I miss it already. I love the rhythm of a regimented life and having extra time on my hands makes me antsy. But, I’ve tried to occupy myself with other pursuits like setting out on driving expeditions with my friends, reading, checking my bank account to see if my tax returns are in (finally happened yesterday!), going for long walks, doing yoga, and cooking!

Haymarket Farmers Market, Boston.

Just last week, I set off to Boston with three of my friends and while we were walking around the city we chanced upon the Haymarket Farmers Market. Up until then we were planning on grabbing a bite at one of the many Italian joints in the city’s historic North End. But, finding ourselves surrounded by the sights and smells of fresh vegetables and fruits, we decided to pick up some ingredients, head home and cook. Good decision.

Back at my friend Angie’s place we headed to the kitchen and got cooking. Although we each had something to do, I spent the better part of the hour gawking at my Turkish friend Tugba as she expertly de-fleshed and scooped our freshly purchased ripe avocados, chopped onions and other things, and whipped up a fantastic guacamole within no time. My brain absorbed everything.

Today, fidgety and confined to my apartment thanks to an overcast sky threatening rain, I was about to fry my brain with some mindless TV, when I decided to stop and guac! The result was, how do you say, umm, frickin awesome.