A Recipe, A Book and a Cause!

It's that time of the year when my Organizer is almost full! Mine runs from October of old year to October of the next year. Call me old-fashioned, I am still into writing all my appointments, meetings, kid's activities etc. in a book. I tried the Palm-Pilot when it first came out, but i just could not get the hang of it! So much so that it remained not updated for weeks together and i usually forgot appointments or conferences etc.! So I've given up and i stick with the good old dated organizer.
Wondering what all this is about??? The other day I stopped by at Borders bookstore to look for a new organizer. My favorite place to hangout! Though i don't get a chance to do much of it nowadays. Instead of buying an organizer I ended up buying 2 books - a little hand book on easy to cook Italian dishes and "Dakshin" by Chandra Padmanabhan - a South Indian Vegetarian cookbook. I must have been hungry - it was early evening almost closer to dinner time, I was so taken in by the glossy pictures that I just had to have the book.
Like always I brought it home and spent about 2 weeks reading and ogling at the pictures. Most of the recipes hit very close to home, very much like my mom's style of cooking and so I was familiar with most of them. But I really liked the way that Chandra describes the entire process from scratch with no shortcuts! Very authentic recipes and very articulately segmented into various divisions.
So finally I decided to try a very simple recipe the other day - Vegetable Korma - it was very similar to the way I made mine but it had some extra ingredients that I usually did not use. I tweaked the recipe a bit to make the process simpler. The verdict - it was delightfully delicious!


Vegetable Korma from Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan

You will need:
3 cups of Mixed vegetables - I used fresh green beans, carrots, Potatoes, Green peas, Frozen Baby Lima beans, some Edamame and about a quarter of a head of cauliflower.
1 Large Tomato
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Canola Oil or Olive Oil (she says Ghee)
a few bay leaves (i was out of these)
1/2 bunch of Fresh Cilantro for Garnishing

For the Masala Paste:
1/2 coconut grated (I just used about 3 tbsp fresh grated coconut)
8 green chillies
1/4 onion - chopped
a small piece of ginger
1 pod garlic (she does not have this in her recipe, i just used my own discretion)
a few sprigs of cilantro
some water

Grind all of the above into a smooth paste and keep aside.

For the Masala Powder:
1 tbsp Aniseed (Somf)
a small piece of cinnamon
a few cloves
a few pods of cardamom
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Note: I used a masala powder that one of my friends gave me - which she got from back home India. It seemed to have similar ingredients as above. And i verified that with her. But she also said that it included some more additional ingredients. She said it was called "Curry Masala Podi" and was usually used in cooking Mutton Korma and such. She said she would get me the recipe from her mother-in-law. Will update you guys when i do get that recipe.
But in the meanwhile, the above is what Chandra recommends. Dry roast all of the above spices in a saucepan and then grind into a smooth powder.

Method:
Here's where i tweaked the recipe quite a bit. In a pan, heat the oil. Add the bay leaf and some chopped onion. Saute until transclucent. Then add the chopped vegetables, salt and cook until half cooked with some water. Meanwhile, I coarsely ground the tomato into a semi-puree. Add this to the vegetables. Then add the masala paste and masala powder and cook, covered with a lid until throughly cooked ( for about 10 minutes). Add water if needed. Serve hot garnished with chopped cilantro.

Here's another look... I think it looked pretty darn close to her picture in the book.



I apologize dear friends for not posting or adding my two cents on most of blogger friend's blogs! I have been very busy. For one, my parents left to India and i have been depressed and have been trying to handle things on my own. I really miss them and miss the comfort of having them at home.
Apart from that work, travelling, kids and other stuff have taken up all my time. I hope to be regular now :-)

With so much going on, I did not get a chance to participate in the Subscribe to Smiles - FAHC Campaign on time. But I still want to show my support to this worthy cause. I figured better late than never.

Subscribe to Smiles
The Feed a Hungry Child campaign was started by one of our dear blogger friends VKN of My Dhaba. A wonderful worthy cause, where the mission is to feed one hungry child at a time. And as a reward their wonderful smiles and lots of good will.
In a world of so much waste, I shudder each time I see food go down the drain or trash. Knowing fully well that there are so many hungry children in the world. This thought really disturbs me. Every day, online I see pictures of poverty, pictures of children malnourished and pictures of children with no food, no shelter or no clothes. Some of the basic necessities of life that we all take for granted.
Please take some time to think this through and please do your share. However, small every cent/penny or goodwill counts! Remember that little drops make a mighty ocean.

Please do participate! And Thanks so much in advance for your time and contribution!