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Cooking under Quarantine

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On March 5th, my office asked all employees that could work from home to work from.  Within weeks with shelter in place announced, and schools/university closed, our family of four started our stay at home routine. At the 3 months mark, I thought it will be fun to record what we have been cooking/eating and how making infrequent trips to the grocery store impacted our cooking.  Looking at all the food photos for last 3 months, It was easy for me to categorize everything we cooked and ate into following categories 1. Comfort food, quick and simple -  This is the first category of dishes, each one we have likely cooked multiple times. These are the dishes I resorted to when I did not have time to plan in advance and needed to quickly get something on the table. Many of these dishes are using ingredients I usually keep a good stock of in the pantry. From top (L to R) - Pesto pasta with tomatoes, Noodles with Tofu and vegetables, Pasta Puttanesca, Beans and Rice with salsa, guaca
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Coconut ice cream

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A scoop of coconut ice cream is just what doctor ordered for me to relax! Equal amount of condensed milk, evaporated milk and coconut milk with a pinch of ground nutmeg is mixed together to make this delectable coconut ice cream. This is an old reliable recipe which needs 5 minutes to make + time to freeze.
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Paneer Makhani: pantry wala

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Quick recipe to turn paneer into something 'kid-delicious' (this is when my kids find something delicious) using ingredients usually available in my pantry. Paneer Makhani (पनीर मखानी) literal translation means paneer with butter. There is no real butter in this recipe but i am still going with the name. The recipe is inspired by paneer makhani recipe here in the winning collection of Reader's potluck recipes published here .  Usually I make modifications based on what is available in my kitchen. Here I have added fresh parsley to the onion, garlic mixture and add spices per our taste. I am also using half and half instead of heavy cream. Paneer Pantry wala with dal-onion paratha To further read about dal paratha, please read  here .
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Leftover makeover - dal partha

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It is spring break for the kids and by the end of each day, we were running out of ideas on how to keep kids fed. After a long day of feeding and cleaning, i decided to try an old trick known to all experienced mothers in India of making chapati dough with leftover dal, whole wheat flour and onions and then making parathas (griddle Indian bread). Kids eat it with plain yogurt or ketchup and us with leftover curry. The process was so quick that I forgot to take any pictures. Here I manage to get a shot of one of the parathas being cooked.
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Spring cleaning of my pantry & refrigerator

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My pantry is usually very well stocked with different types of grains, flours, beans, legumes, nuts, spices, noodles, pastas, sauces, oils etc. I keep a running shopping list on my phone for items that run out or running low as a reminder to buy it when I am at the store next time. I don't like to waste food so I am on the lookout for things that might go stale or bad. But periodically or sometimes a month or two before a long vacation, I go through a more formal cleaning approach where I stop buying ingredients for stocking and start planning meals with the intention of clearing out ingredients in my pantry and freezer. Since ingredients that linger longer in the pantry are typically the ones I don't use a lot of to start with, it takes some effort to plan meals around it. For this spring cleaning, I have moved all items that need to be consumed completely to an eye level shelf in the pantry. Having these items in front of me will serve as a reminder and my goal i
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Paneer Achari Kati roll masala

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Kati rolls (look here  for an explanation) using achari paneer (Indian cheese cooked with spices used for pickling) has become a staple in our house. What is there not to like?  These rolls filled with paneer cooked in flavorful pickle spices and vegetables are easy to make and one of the favorite foods for my kids. Sometimes when I am puttering around in the kitchen (like today), I will make a big batch of paneer achari masala and keep it. Once you have the masala already made, making paneer achari kati roll takes only 10-15 minutes. I feel like a mom with super powers on a weekday dinner with this masala in my pantry! Recipe I have been following achari paneer recipe at  Manjula's Kitchen . For making a bg batch of masala, I usually multiply the dry masala measurements by 4 or 8 except for red chilies (which i keep on the lighter side). After roasting and grinding the masala, store in a glass bottle with tight lid.
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Karela: my new favorite vegetable and minimalist way to prepare

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Comfort food at its best - arhar dal, rice and karela! All leftovers enjoyed for a quick lunch. I was talking to my sister in India and she mentioned she had prepared Karela (करेला ) that day. Karela is a summer season vegetable and since this is the beginning of the summer in India, my sister told me that fresh karela was available in the market. I could picture tender green karela piled up in the vegetable markets in India. As I talked to her more, I started to crave karela and wanted to make it. Lucky for me, I had bought karela just few days ago at the Indian store. I could hardly wait to make it. I would not have had this reaction 20 years ago. As a kid, I thought of karela as a bitter vegetable grownups ate just because of its health benefits (and it is an impressive list, read here to get a sense). As I got interested in cooking, I was definitely fascinated by the elaborate steps, time and care my mother and others took to prepare and I wanted to learn to make it but I
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