Blogging on the go: jasmine memories

Handful of tea leaves, one cup of green tea with an incredibly poetic name - green pond reflecting the falling star - from the Sichuan region of China. Powerful enough to stir up 23 years of memories from Jamshedpur, India.

No, I haven't been drinking Chinese green tea for most of my life. It was the bold fragrance of the tiny jasmine flowers released by the addition of hot water. Those tiny flowers floating serenely above the forest of green triggered a part of  my memory box that I rarely visit.

Vivid rushes of excitedly collecting raat ki rani while waiting to go to school at 7am; observing snails manouvre the garden path littered with jasmine; my grandfather slowly walking down the steps to walk in the jasmine garden; studying on the steps while intermittently staring at the garden and the world beyond the boundary wall; playing with friends, running up and down the verandah; nights spent staring at the moon from the bedroom window; looking up from a book to see my then crush (now husband) riding by on his golden Saffire right when I was thinking of him. 

Jasmine, the background fragrance of my growing up years.

Prawn rice: a recipe

I cook so infrequently that I actually feel a great and deep sense of accomplishment on occasions I have managed to cook for two days in a row. So imagine my sense of pride when I realised this is my 8th straight day of cooking regularly. And that means - 1) I've been eating right, 2) I've been sleeping well and 3) I've been spending less. Yay! 

As they say, "success breeds success" and I am so encouraged by these positive changes that I want hope it leads to a lifestyle change! Anyway, this morning my lunch options were last night's dal chawal or bread omelette. Craving for something interesting, I decided to put the leftover rice to use, made super yummy prawn fried rice in less than 20 minutes and skipped off to work. The contents of my lunch box helped me smile through what would have been a morning full of grimaces!

Ingredients

1. Boiled rice, fluffed
2. 1/2 big capsicum cut in cubes
3. 1 small onion, diced
4. 1 spoon olive oil
5. 6-7 peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen
6. Salt
7. Pepper
8. Soya sauce

Prep

Heat the oil for a minute or so on a low flame

On a medium flame, add diced onions and cook till slightly translucent, stir frequently

Add the capsicum and while stirring frequently, make sure it cooks through while staying slightly crunchy

Add the defrosted prawns and mix well 

Add salt and pepper as per your liking

Once prawns are cooked (they cook real fast), add the rice and mix very well

Once every grain seems coated with the oil and seasoning, top off with soya sauce

Mix well and, serve. Or in my case, pack!

Happy, skippy lunch is ready to go :)

Morning rush = no pictures. The only picture was sneaked in under the rather bemused expression of my senior colleague!

What was in your lunch box today? Let me know and I'll try it :)

Poha in a mug

Poha and I go back a long, long way.

From tiffin box lunches in school, to being the favourite 'hot' breakfast in LSR and SIMC canteens, to the sev laden 8am poha from aluminium drums provided by the enterprising ladies of *beep* Bombay Mumbai, to the legendary Indori poha jalebi, to Kavita didi's fantastic nimbu heavy poha, to MTR's ready-to-eat 3 minute poha version. Phew!

Today, the easy-to-make-tasty-to-eat poha makes for one of my favourite breakfasts on days I have time to make it in the morning. Only now-a-days, it's poha in a mug!

What is your favourite go-to 'hot' breakfast? Let me know, and I'll try it! :)

Marriage is: matar pulao and tamatar alu

Like the perfect marriage, there can be no perfect picture to post at the seemingly perfect time on a less than perfect (and active) blog.

So, without any further ado, I'm going to launch right into my latest obsession - matar pulao! And mind you, it's no ordinary pulao this - it is the recipe of my ancestors; a great Raisurana secret, no less! My grandmother used to  make pot fulls of this mythical pulao on Sunday afternoons and the family would literally scarf it down. And my aunts and mom, party to the secret, would just pick up a pressure cooker of matar pulao right off the stove and rush out the door for family picnics in the winter sun. 

The world's best picnic entails sitting under some trees, on a random water tank somewhere in Golmuri or Telco (Jamshedpur references), with hot matar pulao on a paper plate accompanied with salad, lemon juice and tamatar chutney. Beatles playing on the car stereo. And the family. Perfection!

That's the Raisurana part of the story. As the title suggests, this post is about marriage, indicating two sides of a story. 

In the absence of lemon juice; ingredients for a salad; gud and panchforan for tamatar chutney, I decided to couple the matar pulao with tamatar alu from the husband's family. This tamatar alu has to be the simplest and bestest recipe ever. It is the most constant standby in my recipe book. Can't find inspiration? Make tamatar alu! Don't have much time? Make tamatar alu! No dal in the house? No worries, watery tamatar alu can sometimes be better than thick and rich tamatar alu! My mother was less than impressed with this 'lazy' combination but believe me, once she tries it, she'll be converted for life!

So, I know that the pictures aren't great but the look on the husband's face while having my grandmother's recipe along with his family's staple, was worth more than a thousand good pictures!

Every marriage has it's own unique flavours. Mine tastes like matar pulao (peas pulao) with tamatar alu (potatoes floating in tomato gravy). What does your marriage taste like? I would love to know!

Not just another pasta sauce: A recipe

I'm back in my cooking phase. The kitchen is busy again. And the weather is just wonderful right now. It's the onset of a beautiful, cold, windy HK winter. And I am sitting at my window listening to "From London With Love" and feeling happy, and content!

On evenings like this, a bowl of hot aglio olio spaghetti accompanied with some steaming spicy sauce is all that's needed to spell perfection.

Ingredients 

1 big pink onion, sliced in half moons

3 medium sized tomatoes, de-skinned and pulped

2 bell peppers, preferably in different colours, cut into long strips 

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 dried red chillies

Mushrooms (optional, for vegetarian preparation)

4-6 chicken sausages (optional)

Salt 

Pepper

Oregano

Parsley

Red chilli powder

Chilli flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

Prep

On a frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on high heat

Once the oil is hot, add the sausages, if they spit and crackle reduce the heat

Brown the sausages on all sides - don't sear, just brown

Once done, take sausages off the pan

Turn the heat up and add the onions and bell peppers

Sear them till slightly blackened

Add salt and garlic, mix well

Once the onions are soft and start browning, add the red wine 

At medium high heat, combine well and let simmer till wine is reduced by half

Add the tomato pulp and mix well with the sauce

Add pepper, chilli flakes, oregano and chilli powder

Mix well and add the sausages back in

Cover with a lid and let simmer for about 20 minutes

Depending on your taste and preference, you can either take it off the heat when it is still slightly runny or when the sauce is nice and thick.

And your pasta accompaniment is ready! 

Now just pour out a glass of the same wine used in the sauce, serve up a big bowl of paste, take a seat by the window and let out a big sigh of content! :D

And by the way, the leftover sauce can be used over the next few days in sandwiches, as a dip, a snack and in Maggi!!

After work snack attack