Cooking like my mother

If you have read my last post here , you have the background of how Nimona needs fresh peas. Now I want to fast forward 10 years. To this date, I have not made Nimona myself. I have had the urge to make Nimona with what is easily available (frozen peas) several times, but I have let it pass. But then I have been craving Nimona for some time and yesterday I decided to make it using frozen peas. After I put all the spices and closed the pressure cooker lid for nimona to get cooked, I came downstairs to do some work. As I went back upstairs after couple of minutes , right kind of nimona smells were coming out of my kitchen. I was very excited. I immediately put some rice and had a nice nimona - chawal meal the moment rice was done. In conclusion I can say that somebody who has craved nimona all this time but eaten it only couple of times in last 10 years, it was a big treat. I am sure it will be better with fresh peas. Recipe 3 cups peas 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used musta...

When mummy spent couple of months with us 10 years ago, it was a big opportunity for me to watch and learn from her. I would ask her to cook my favorite things as kids, things that I did not eat as kid but had grown to like, and even things that you hardly ever make at home in India (like jalebi, boondi, dal ka samosa) since they are easily available in the market. She prepared everything I sked for. But every time I asked her for Nimona, a childhood favorite of mine, she asked for fresh peas. I pointed to the big frozen bag of peas in my fridge and she simply said you cant make nimona unless you have fresh peas. One time we did find shelling peas in the market and we ended up buying 1-2 lbs but the peas that came out were little and we hardly filled a cup. So she just gave me the recipe and asked me to make it with fresh peas. Nimona, a spicy green pea curry, was prepared at our house in winter months when peas are in abundance. After you buy the peas in their pods, there w...

It has been sometime since I posted anything. But the good news (for me) is that I have cooked and collected material for lot of recipes. Let me start with one that has become a staple for weekend breakfast at our house. Namkeen sevanyee simply means savory vermicelli. When I was growing up, only way we ate vermicelli was in kheer (pudding). Mummy must have acquired the savory recipe from somewhere - don't exactly remember when and where. It was always a big hit served with any chutney and was part of breakfast rotation for mummy. Mummy made the vermicelli with vegetables on hand - cauliflower, potato, carrots, peas being the main ones. I have also used cabbage, green beans, bell pepper at times. Only trick here is to cook the vermicelli in boiling water and then run it under cold water. This little trick prevents vermicelli noodles from becoming one sticky mass. Mummy boiled the vegetables separately as well, sometimes the night before. This makes preparing this dish a snap. I do...

Mummy was always adding new pans, pots and cooking gadgets to her kitchen collection. Sometimes she discovered a new recipe needing that special gadget and other times she simply found a better, newer version of a gadget she alredy possesed. Whatever was the reason for her new purchase, we always benefited from it. She either bought the new gadgets for us or passed on the older version. Idli stand to make choti (small) idlies was one such purchase she made while visiting my brother in Surat. She bought several of these stands, keeping one for herself and giving others to my sister, sister in law and me. Idli, sambhar and chutney were standard fare for the parties at home. Idlies were considered light yet falvorful and festive, a departure from usual fried stuff like poories, bhatura served at parties. Making idlies was a ritual requiring lot of planning and multiple steps stating from soaking the dal, rice and then grinding and waiting for the batter to ferment. Recreating same taste ...

Mummy made this sweet chutney using amiya, hindi name for unripe, green mangoes. Amiya's tart flavour makes it a good choice for pickles and chutneys. Every year, when amiya was available in the market, the sweet chutney is amongst one of the many pickles/chutneys mummy prepared. After making a big batch of chutney, she stored it in several clean glass bottles. One of those bottles used to find a permanent place on the dining table because we consumed the chutney in variety of ways almost whole day. Sometimes we spread it on top of a toasted bread for breakfast or snack, other times we ate it with roti/paratha with the regular meal, and then there were times we will scoop it on top of mathari or crackers or eat it plain like it was a dessert. 'Radha, now why does the picture shows apples and not mangoes?' you ask. If I were to pick one food related thing I have missed most about India, I will have to pick mango (atually there may be a tie between guava and mango). Ripe man...

"Mixture" was the name given to the stew like mixed vegetables mummy prepared when root vegetables are in season. I must confess that I did not like this as a kid but grew up to appreciate the simpicity of the dish and the natural flavours of the vegetables it highlighted. The combinations of the vegetables work very well together, providing different textures, flavors and color to the dish. This was also one or Papa's favorite thing. The success of this recipe is dependent on finding the freshest vegetables and adding lots of garlic and hot green chillies. This definitely deserves a trip to the farmer's market. Ingredients ------------- 1 tbsp oil (i used olive oil) 1 tsp cumin seeds 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in small pieces 2-3 green chillies, cut in small pieces 2 tomatoes cut in small pieces 1 mooli (asian white radish) diced 1 medium size turnip diced 1 carrot diced 2 cups spinach chopped 4 small eggplants (indian eggplant) diced Recipe ---------- 1. Hea...

If ever I were to plan whole week's menu, I always add making soup to the list. But by the time I am done making the dinner, making soup feels too much work and there is no time left to execute the multiple steps required. Mummy had broken down the steps and simplified the process so in winter months, we could have soup every day. She prepared a big batch of concentrated concoction for the soup, boiled vegetables blended and strained, ready to be served by just adding water and spices. One batch lasted her couple of days and next batch was prepared when the previous one got over. The soup was almost always tomato based and was referred to as simply "Soup". Mummy added vegetables like Lauki, carrots, spinach, depending on what was available. She took delight in secretly feeding these vegetables in soup, especially to kids. Sometimes she served fried bread croutons along with the soup. In the evening, an hour or so before dinner, the soup was served in small tea cups or sma...

Bajare ka pua is one of those things that Mummy made and I always enjoyed but never got around to cooking it on my own. Bajare Ka Pua also turned out to be one of the last things Mummy made that we were fortunate enough to try. It is always going to hold a special place in my heart for that reason. Best way to describe a pua is to call it a sweet fried bread. It has the sweetness from gur (jaggery) and slightly bitter (but sweet) after taste from the millet flour. In winter months, when millet flour is available, Mummy made the puas to be enjoyed by us kids and my father. She had a special snack cupboard in the house where all the special treats were kept. One of my favortie thing to do when I visited her was to check the snack cupboard. It was a delight to find some of the items I had not tasted for a long time. So how did I got around to making the pua? 1st March was the festival of Holi and I wondered about what to prepare. I decided to make puas. I felt nervous because even though ...

In our house (as in most houses in India), it was common to serve raw 'salad type vegetables' with the meals. We called it 'salad' though we ate it more like a relish along with all other food. The choice of vegetable to serve as 'salad' depended on what was in the season. Cucumbers, tomatoes in summer and radishes, carrots in winter. I love the one mummy made with radish and tomatoes. It is visually very appealing and very falvorful and her special touch was to grate the radish instead of just cutting it. Grating the radish allows flavors to get mingled with tomato very nicely. The recipe is so simple that one can not go wrong with it. I use daikon, the type of radish available in India in winter months. You start with peeling and grating the radish, squeezing grated radish between your hands to take out the juice and mixing it with chopped tomatoes, chopped cilantro and green chillies if you can handle the heat. Then you add a litle bit of salt and lime juice ...

Tahari, a vegetables and rice dish, was a sunday lunch staple and was also prepared any time a sumptuous meal had to be prepared in a hurry. Mummy made this also on the day of Basant with yellow color of tahiri matching the yellow colors of Basant. Mummy made tahiri using gobhi (culiflower), matar (peas) and gajar (carrot) making this dish very colorful. Mummy was a stickler for finely grating the onions instead of chopping it. I think this made the onion masala really stick to other vegetables and rice making each bite more falvorful. She always cooked tahari in a pressure cooker which also allowed for flavors from vegetables and masala get mixed with the rice really well. I made this today and we ate it with mooli-tamatar (radish, tomato) relish, another one of mummy's easy yet favlorful relish recipe. Ingredients ----------- 2 cups rice 3 tbsp oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp black pepper whole 3-4 tej patta (dried bay leaves) 1 tsp cloves 1 big onion, finely grated or ground in a f...

Mummy made bharwan shimla mirch (stuffed green bell peppers) with the stuffing made out of potatoes flavored with methi and saunf (fenugreek and fennel seeds). Since the recipes for making stuffed peppers is more elaborate, she had a simpler version that provided all the flavors with half the fuss. In this version, she cut the green peppers and potatoes and prepared it with the same masala as the one used for stuffing. When I made this last week, we ate it with parathas (pan fried bread) and plain yogurt. Ingredients ----------- 2 tbsp oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 1-2 green chilies cut in small rounds 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp red chilli powder 1 tbsp coriander powder 2 tbsp feneel seeds coarsely ground 1 tsp garam masala powder salt 3 medium size potatoes, peeled and cut in small chunks 2 green bell peppers, cut in small pieces 1 tbsp amchoor powder Method ------- 1. Heat the oil in a wok on medium heat. 2. When oil is hot, add fenugreek seeds. Let it sizz...

The reaction from people of all ages who taste the appams for the first time is always the same - they find it delicious and they always assume that making it must be really complicated. I cant describe how surprised and pleased I was when Mummy introduced Appams to me several years ago in 2001 or 2002. I had eaten something similar in Bangalore but had no idea of how to make it. I was even more pleased to find out that Mummy had got me an Appam Patra, a special gadget/pan required for making Appams. Mummy had got these pans on special order from Madras. Since there was a high demand for the pans among anybody who tasted the Appam and also because they were not available in Agra, i considered myself extremely lucky to get one. This is a good example of how mummy was always seeking and embracing new recipes and making it part of the family tradition. Having learnt the recipe, I made it and served it to people who visited us and had a similar reaction. Anybody who tasted appams for the f...

Mummy thought about feeding us good food that was packed with good nutrition. One time when I was little anemic, she advised me to add more palak (spinach) in my diet. 'Adding other ingredients like paneer or potatoes (as in usual spinach dishes like palak paneer and spinach with potatoes) will prevent you from eating lot of spinach' she insisted. She gave me this spinach recipe with just 3 ingredients (not counting salt and oil) that allowed me to add more spinach to my diet and hence add more iron. I did not think much of the recipe when she described it to me but once I started to make it, I got hooked. I usually ate this with roti or paratha and plain yogurt. This recipe has also become a staple for me every time I have worried about my iron intake like during my pregnancies. Ingredients 1 tbsp oil or ghee 4 cloves of garlic crushed 1 lb spinach 2-3 red chillies broken in pieces or hot green chillies sliced salt Method 1. Wash the spinach and cut it in small pieces 2. Heat ...

I had made a big batch steamed pattodas roles(recipe previous post ) and I still had some left. Mummy had told me that you can even fry the steamed pattoda pieces like pakoras. I had never tried that before and I decided to give it a try. So sunday morning, I prepared some chickpea batter (using chickpea flour, salt, red chilli powder, amchoor powder, all combined with water to make a paste with heavy cream consistency. Spices can be added per taste) for pakoras and dipped pattoda pieces in it and fried it in oil till golden brown. Results were good. What will you call it? Pattoda Pakora?

I never had any formal training in cooking my mother's dishes. Not that it is common in India for mothers to formally teach their daugthers how to cook. We just learn by watching, by being a helper in the kitchen or just by hanging out. My most formal training happened when she visited us and I requested her to make this or that. This is one of those dishes that I learnt in that visit. Mummy and I had gone for vegetable shopping and she was surprised at the presence of taro leaves. She was even more surprised at the size of those leaves. As kid, I did not enjoy this dish but remember all adults in our family really relishing it. So I was skeptical at first but loved it after she made it. We liked the dish so much that we kept using all sorts of broad leave greens (spinach, collard greens, kale.) to make this dish that summer. Two weeks ago, when I was visiting a mexican groceries/vegetable market, I found the taro leaves and I knew I had to make this dish. The dish can be served wi...

Mummy's cake is one of those dishes that most of us will remember for a long time. She owned a oven for as long as I can remember. The older oven, once it stopped working, was painted and mounted on the wall and was used as an airtight little cupboard to store special snack/food items. She baked cake for the birthdays for anybody that mattered to her. If it was my birthday, no matter where I was, I knew she must have baked a cake for me. She had improvised her cake recipe over time. In the beginning, she used condensed milk but then when she visited us in 2000, she once showed me how to make the cake with ingredients almost always available in my kitchen. Lately she had been using yogurt in her cake recipe which I never learnt. I will ask didi (my sister) or my aunts for the recipe with yogurt. Then we had to also experiment with the temperature at which to bake. Her oven in India only had one setting and we dont know what it was. Last week was my son's birthday, first birthday...

Just the thought of trying my mother's recipes by cooking each one gets me excited but also makes me very nervous. I am not sure where to start. I am most nervous about not being able to recreate the same taste. And this is the reason the dishes I like the best are the ones I never cook on my own. Mummy loved to cook, she cooked a variety of things, she cooked lot of dishes that I consider unique to our family, the city/region she grew up in, dishes that I have not easily found outside our family. Some of these dishes even have names that dont sound normal names for dishes - ex. Dal Ki Dulhan (Lentil's bride), Nau ratan chutney (chutney made out of 9 gems). Then she also cooked lot of other dishes that were not so common the region we lived in. She had been cooking south indian dishes (sambhar, idli, puliyara, upma) much before it became popular in the north. She had an oven for as long as I remember. Eeven now, it is not common to find ovens in homes in India. She used the ove...