Cooking like my mother

I think of samosa as the king of all snacks ( described here ). In India, good samosas are available everywhere and trying to make it at home is not worth the effort. There are halwai shops (read here for a definition) everywhere that make good samosas and sell at a reasonable price. Usually each shops has a set time in the afternoon to make fresh samosas. Since most of the neighborhood knows this time, you can see people queuing up around that time to get the fetch freshest samosas while friends and family waits at home with chai on the stove. On a recent visit to my hometown Agra, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this tradition continues. I have been trying to learn how to make really great samosas at home since the time we moved out of India.  Over time, I have tried several recipes and learned to make them from scratch but making the dough, rolling and stuffing each one is a time consuming process. Here I am  making Samosas using a shortcut by stuffing the potato masala

Roasted eggplants & preparation Baigun bharta is my 'go to' vegetable dish for all sorts of occasions. It is a great accompaniment in any Indian meal and can also be served as a dip/topping with crackers, bread. I prepare it for parties, picnics, potlucks and camping trips. Here I am preparing it as part of a vegetarian dinner meal I offered as an auction item to support my neighborhood school.  Eggplant is first roasted, usually directly on top of the gas flame, and then cooked with garlic, onion, ginger, tomatoes and spices. Since I don't have gas stove at home, i end up roasting the eggplant in the oven. Overall flavors are not as smoky but still very good. Eggplant pulp and juices after removing the skin Final dish prepared and ready to go in a takeout container Recipe Heat the oven in broil position. Cut couple of 1 to 2 inch slits in the eggplants and broil till skin burns on all sides. This usually takes

It goes without saying that fresh ground spices will make your food more aromatic and flavorful. Grinding your own spices is easy and require hardly any time or technique as long as you know how to measure and have some machine to grind small batch of spices. I use a small coffee grinder. I do buy already ground spice powders but there are some that I always make my own. Making bhuna jeera (roasted cumin seeds) powder or dhaniya (coriander) powder is totally worth the effort and these are used in Indian cooking all the time. Recipes Dhaniya powder - I make a small batch of dhaniya powder whenever i run out and need some more. I keep it coarse. Bhuna jeera powder - Heat a heavy bottom skillet/pan on low to medium heat. Put cumin seeds turning them every few minutes till a shade darker. You will be able to smell as the aroma is released. Let it cool and grind. Again, I like it slightly coarse.

Fried roti chips with home made salsa My mother had lots of easy, creative ways to use leftovers and convert otherwise stale, tasteless food into something delicious. So when I have stale roti/parathas (Indian griddle bread), I fry them to make delicious roti chips.