Aloo Palak (Spinach with Potatoes)

After the popularity (and blog success) of Shakuntala’s Aloo ki Ras Bhaaji, I had been trying to get her to teach me something new. She hails from Western UP in North India and I incorporate a lot of North Indian influence in my everyday food. This essentially makes my everyday food only a variation of hers. Last week I decided to try her version of Aloo Palak (spinach with potatoes) that is a variation on my Punjab-type.

Aloo palak is a popular no-fuss Punjabi dish. A long long time ago we lived briefly in West Delhi where the population is mainly Punjabi. On the way back from grocery shopping my Mom would sometimes pick a kulhar (a disposable terracotta take-away container) of aloo palak from Sardarji’s dhaba to serve at dinner.

Those were days when there were open, unbuilt-upon areas available where a woman could set up a make-shift tandoor, dug into the ground, and provide roti-making service to other harried housewives at lunchtime in the peak of summer. I remember my mom occasionally sending me and my younger sister with some dough, flour, and ghee to get them made into hot tandoori rotis. There was some nominal charge per roti for the baking and the lady also got to keep the dry flour and any ghee that did not get used up.

It used to be fascinating to watch the woman pinch off the dough and pat it into a thick roti, place it on a hand-held cloth padding for the final slap onto the hot surface of the glowing tandoor. One by one they would go in. She would then pick her hooked metal spike and dislodge one from the clay surface and flip it onto the hot coals to briefly cook the other side before pulling it out.

Of Wadis and Papads

Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab

Despite living in Punjab’s neighbourhood all my life it is only this year that I finally visited Amritsar for the first time. While I couldn’t find much time for a city tour, I did visit the Harmandir Sahib in the evening. Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple because of the gilding on its walls and domes, is the most sacred of Sikh shrines. Work on the temple started in the late 16th C and over the next couple of centuries it attained much of its present form. Maharaja Ranjit Singh is credited with the exquisite marble and gold work on the temple.

Outside the Temple are many shops and dhabas catering to pilgrims and the casual tourist. I was told the best place to buy the famed spicy Amritsari wadis and papads was right there. I picked on one that claimed to be dealing in these commodities for over a 100 years. Seemed like they would know what a good wadi should be.Wadis are available with varying degrees of spicy-ness. I naturally, asked for the spiciest ones. Then I had to pick between ‘with or without plums’. Hmm…with plums sounded nice, but plain ones are classic. So I got both. When I was paying for them there was some confusion regarding which were which – after discussing at length I managed to confuse the shopkeeper as well . To tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell even after cooking, unless by some strange coincidence, I ended up keeping all of one kind for myself and distributing the other between family and friends. Family and friends, those of you with better sense of taste, please stand up and let us know if you detected any note of tart plums in yours.

Mint and Walnut Chutney

Mustard fields, Punjab

Spring arrives early in the Northern Plains of India. The Hindu calendar marks Basant Panchami as the first day of spring. Basant coincides with blooming mustard fields, and it is from these perhaps, that the colour yellow has come to symbolize spring to us. If you have ever seen a mustard field in spring you will know the magic I am talking about. Reading about spring and cherry blossoms on other blogs also reminded me of Kashmir. Blossoms of the cherry and the almond trees herald the arrival of spring in the valley.

If anyone likes warmer weather it is my potted mint. After looking sad all winter it perks up at the sight of spring. As the bright green leaves begin to grow they find their way into a lot of things in my kitchen – omelettes and scrambled eggs, cold soups and salads, refreshing jal jeera, and into many a chutney. All of you probably have your favourite recipe for mint chutney. As do I.

Whole Wheat Pita and some Labneh

The Arab-middle east-North Africa region, even the Mediterranean, have much that can be thought of as a common food heritage with the Indian subcontinent. The use of spices such as cumin, peppercorns, nutmeg, and bayleaf provide for the linking aromas, and the prominence of lentils and beans as a major ingredient in everyday food also speaks of a shared history. I find the similarities even more striking with North Indian food.

It is a cuisine for which the Indian palate needs no gradual tuning. We can embrace it in a bear hug the very first time we meet.

Besides the similarity in the use of spices, lentils and beans, as also vegetables, I find the plentiful use of yoghurt and the variety in flatbreads another reason for its easy adaptability to the Indian meal time. Even when meat is part of the meal, it is never the meal itself, and will always be served with some bread akin to out roti/parantha, and maybe a small bowl of dahi, the kind that has become better known as Greek-style yoghurt.

A Hearty Potato Soup

It is no longer hot-soup season in Delhi anymore. A rough draft of this post has been sitting all season. It is easily amongst my favourite soups and I have made it multiple times this past winter as well. There is just one problem – I have found it very hard to photograph.

Good picture or not, I am writing about this hearty winter soup so that those of you still in the cold can make a bowl and think of me. We are talking comfort food here.

If we talk comfort food, can potatoes be far behind? And this potato soup is a must try. It has a link to graduate school for me. There were some of us who would bring brown bags for lunch, usually leftovers from the previous nights dinner. No better way to unwind from a good day at school than to cook yourself a good meal (after that cup of tea, of course). And if you are, as I was, separated from your family by a couple of continents and an ocean, a good meal is what you need. Not microwavable frozen pizza.

On most days we want to cook simple dishes that are easy to prepare, homely, yet satisfy the need for change. Exotic dishes that require slaving in the kitchen for hours cannot be part of graduate school. And my impatient nature explains my affinity for dishes that look deceptively complicated.