Panfusine

Anyone from Mumbai (the city formerly known as Bombay), with a passion for its incomparable street food will relate to the following scenario. Standing in front of a vendors cart waiting for a fresh batch of Batata vadas (garlicky potatoes enrobed in a spiced chickpea flour batter) to be fished out of a huge wok of hot oil, there is an aroma that quietly stamps itself into your memory. Rustic, yeasty and downright comforting. The stacks of  country rolls piled up 2 feet high, in the corner. These are the native 'Ladi Pav', a Portuguese contribution to this vibrant culinary scenario. The Pav is everything that the snooty slice of white bread is not -  tough, chewy, with a tang that is halfway to sourdough. Its usually partially sliced,  soaked in melted butter when served up with Pav bhaji or Usal. Alternatively, dusted liberally with garlic chutney with a golden orb of batata vada stuffed in between. Lets not beat around the bush, the Pav has always been looke...

Kumquats definitely lucked out in the aesthetic beauty department when it comes to citrus fruits (although, Mayer lemons come in a close second). Tiny, golden,  olive sized, and a spectacular shade of vibrant orange that almost seems to radiate a glow from within.

I can't seem to ever be sure why baking always seems to involve a certain level of complexity. Maybe its my inherent South Indian background where baking is almost unheard of, -- for starters, the first time I ever set eyes on an 'oven' was when I was 7 years old, and even then, it was one of those gadgets whose main purpose was to store pots and pans. Daily cooking was always on the stove top and the level of heat applied was always measure in terms of high, medium or 'simmer'. Three settings and the particular burner (the 'Big' or 'small' ) used was all that determined the technique for countless delicious meal sessions that Amma dished out day in & day out. Temperature control was unheard of!

I can't think of a better way to start my blogs than with a great bread, There is something so primal,  so satisfying about bread, I wonder sometimes if there is an evolutionary aspect to bread and the effect its aroma has on the human physiology. The glorious 'umami-ness' (if there does exist such a word), the caramel colored crust and the pillowy chewy crumb within. Aparna's pick for January's bread was a simple Pane Siciliano, which is made from Durum Semolina flour rather than the standard all purpose flour. The result is a  bread whose crumb isn't quite 'airy' , but rather fine. The addition of a pre- ferment (the Cresciuta as its called in Sicily) adds a depth of yeasty flavor. For once, I didn't add to or tweak on the original recipe, In fact, I made sure that I stuck to the original list of ingredients and followed the recipe to a T. Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Sesame Seeded Semolina Bread) (Adapted from Mary Ann Espo...

Its been a while since I did one of these baking projects. Lets see, I made the bread (Gibassier) for July but did not blog about it, and then completely skipped the next three sessions. Of course, there was a bit of ambiguity in the selections, so laziness got the better of me and I merrily skipped these. Aparna Balasubramanian's selection for this month was a recipe from Indian cuisine, a lesser known bread compared to the ubiquitous Naan & Kulchas. Sheermal traces its origins to Persian cuisine and is basically a leavened bread kneaded with milk instead of water. Its slightly sweetened and the primary flavors are the heady notes of Saffron, backed up with a supplementary floral flavoring, usually rose or screwpine /pandanus/kewra. The 'Sheer' apparently is the Persian word for milk and thats where the name originates, although the term also occurs with the same meaning in Sanskrit (Ksheer). It is traditional eaten as a breakfast dish along with tea or paired...

My 'burn out' from daily recipes is yet to dissipate, but I think I still plod on. Quickly scribbling down ideas as they pop into my head and before they disappear, like the same flash with which they crossed my train of thought. My support system comprising of fellow bloggers gave me a much need 'kick in the pants' last weekend when we met up at home for a casual lunch. Siri, the bubbly author of ' Cooking with Siri ',  Radhika   ( Food for 7 stages of life ) and Latha ( A Peek into my Kitchen ).  (L to R: Siri, Me, Radhika & Latha) As is with all the food bloggers I've met so far, there was no ice to break whatsoever, the conversation just flowed, along with the wine & food! Quinoa, roasted corn & Black bean tabbouleh with pomegranate Motivation all fired up, I decided that I was going to surprise my son by making him Pizza for Dinner. My standard go - to failproof recipe for the dough is from Food52 - in particula...

AAAH.. Summer holidays, the kids are out of school and my home looks like it gets hit by a daily tornado, that somehow magically manifests itself 2 1/2 minutes after I clear up a spot. On the bright side, The farmstands are all open with a bounty of fresh 'just picked' sun kissed produce. And, as my 8 year old phrases it, 'Mommy's going cuckoo about vegetables'. I need to keep him in my good books, since he is grown to be a valuable culinary consultant, with a near perfect sense of taste and flavors combinations. Food seems to have drummed into me an alternate deep meaning to the term 'Home Sweet Home'. My vegetable patch (over ridden with weeds and seeds of plants that survived the intense winter last year) is almost like a pet that I look forward to taking care of every day, and there is a real tangible reward, a handful of strawberries, a couple of cucumber for the day's salad. t Emotional attachment to the vegetable path makes it all the mo...

I've racked up about 1/2 a dozen of my dishes perfected and photographed, and yet, when it comes to actually writing them up to publish them, it appears that I've been afflicted by a kind of writers block. I seem to be having a hard time trying weave in interesting anecdotes to the recipe (which has been promptly jotted down faithfully in one of my notebooks I keep stuffing into cabinets and shelves in almost every room, so that I don't forget exactly what went into it. I get my breaks from these blocks with the baking projects thankfully. Aparna picked out a Persian bread for this month and gave an advance notice that there wasn't much historical information she could dig out, other than the fact that the recipe from Greg & Lucy Malouf's book 'Saraban' - A Chef's journey through Persia. There was something intriguing in that combination of Cumin Cardamom, turmeric and dates, so much that I did not even try to add any of my quirky touches to...