mayurisjikoni

Cooking from a cookbook     The 80th theme for #FoodieMonday #Bloghop is Cookbook Cooking . Now I certainly do not have a shortage of cookery books, they line a whole shelf in the kitchen. I've left some in Bangalore and have a few in Montreal. So when my friends from FoodieMonday decided on cookbook cooking, I didn't know which one to choose. I could have played it safe and selected my favourite Tarla Dalal. However,I remembered the cookbook that my son and daughter in law had given to me as a Christmas present 2 years ago. I'd drooled over the pictures and wowed all the recipes, closed it and put it on the shelf.         So I thought its time to dust it and actually make something from that book. Which book you may ask? Well its a thick and heavy vibrant vegetable cooking from London's Ottolenghi called Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi . Vibrant it definitely is. He uses such exotic combinations to create drool worthy, exotic, healthy concoctions. Yotam O...

baking again    Its been a long time since I baked a bread. A cool rainy weather called out for some soup. Making soup for dinner meant a home baked bread. I dug out my 'to try list' and made masala bread. The first time I had made masala bread was when I was attending the baking technique classes in Bangalore. Adding all sorts of masalas to the bread was totally new to me... at that moment I frowned at the idea of adding coriander, onion, garlic, curry leaves, chillis etc to the bread dough. Wondered how it would taste and it did turn out delicious. Forgot about the bread till I opened the 'to try list'.     Masala bread is a good accompaniment to any smooth soup like broccoli , cauliflower , tomato soup  or any soup of your choice. The leftover bread made a lovely in between snack as it tastes good on its own. The charming thing about baking this bread is that you can add the masala according to your taste. By masalas I mean onion, garlic, green chillis, ...

exotic aromas Making home made spices is delightful and in the process we can make them in the proportion that we want. Adding a bit more cinnamon, less cloves, just enough jeera etc. The recipes are just a rough guideline and eventually one develops their own unique masala or spice mixture. I have had several requests for home made spice recipes. So finally I have managed to compile the recipes and its time to share them with you.  The trick is to roast the spices over very low heat so that they do not get burnt. Let the spices cool before you grind them. Dhana jiru is used a lot for most gujarati dishes. DHANA JIRU 1 cup dry whole coriander (dhana) ¼ cup jeera (cumin seeds) 1 tsp oil Heat oil in a small pan over very low heat.  Add the coriander and keep on stirring till it begins to turn a bit brown. Add the jeera and keep on stirring till the whole mixture turns golden brown. Let it cool before you grind it. Store in an airtight jar. TEA MASALA 100g black pepper 75g cinnam...