Cauliflower and Potato stir-fry

I refuse to call this Aloo Gobi (the similar concoction that you get at Indian restaurants). It is lot less spicy and after you eat this, there is no sign of a food baby. At home, the vegetable dishes were the light, everyday foods. When we'd have guests over, the vegetables would be served to balance the richness of the meat dishes.

My guide was the recipe from Aarti Sequeira's vault. She grew up in India and then lived in the Middle-East and then the States. I totally love her food... maybe because I can relate to her. Aati's recipe.

Cauliflower and tomatoes were winter veggies in Bangaldesh when I was little. Now, I guess you can get them all year long. Other than winter bringing in the "nicer" weather and weddings, it brought its fresh bounty. There was also these special red potatoes that you only got in winter. And I LOVE potatoes. I still love cauliflower, potatoes and tomatoes (although my tomato-gorging has been cut down due to health reasons). I make this dish a lot. It's quick and easy and reminds me of my childhood winters.

Ingredients:
1 lb bag of frozen cauliflower (thawed)
1 medium golden potato
1/2 cup of shelled peas
1/2 cup of diced red onion
1 medium tomato diced (get whatever is cheap, 2 tomatoes if using roma)
1 1/2 tbsp of oil (any kind, preferably canola)
1 tsp of ginger grated or paste
1 tsp of garlic paste or finely chopped garlic
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 green chili or serrano peppers (alter to taste)
1/2 tsp cayenne (alter to taste)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
cilantro chopped for garnish

Heat oil in a wok. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook in medium-low heat. In the meantime, cut the potato in bite-sized pieces and keep it aside. In a small bowl, mix the ginger, garlic, turmeric, cayenne and coriander with 4 tbsp of water and keep this spice mix nearby.
When the onions in the oil are translucent, add the green chili, cumin seeds and enough salt for the whole dish. Stir lightly and cook for about 1 min. Add the tomatoes and the spice mix. Cook in medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked and the mixture has a consistency of a thick sauce. Ideally, you should be waiting till the oil separates. I am inpatient, I just make sure that the spices and the tomato are cooked and saucy and then proceed on to the next step.
Add the potatoes and cauliflower. Stir to coat the veggies with the sauce. Add 3/4 cups of water. Turn the heat up to make sure that the water warms up evenly. Once you see the bubbles, turn heat down to medium-low, cover the pot, set timer for 10 mins and go do your thing. In 10 mins if the veggies are not cooked evenly yet, add 5 more mins to your timer. When the veggies are cooked all the way, add the peas. Cook uncovered for about 5 more mins to make sure the dish won't give off liquid once cooled.
You are about to cross the finish-line. Garnish with the cilantro and you have a delicious and healthy meal that you can eat a lot and still not feel like a cow!
Back in the day, I ate this with rice. Indian restaurant patrons eat aloo-gobi (the spicier kind) with naan and flatbreads. It works amazingly well as a work lunch in a pita pocket. Just take the pita bread and the veggies separately and warm and assemble before eating. Oomph it up a bit with spreading a tangy chutney on the inside of the pita. This just might be my lunch tomorrow at work!

Pani Puri

Pani Puri (and its many variations) probably reigns the world of street foods in the general Indian subcontinent region. Wikipedia does a good job at educating us about this round deliciousness at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pani_puri. In Bangladesh, we call it phuchka, a little different (and better!) than the Indian counterpart. It's more substantial, dare I say, more classy. Indian pani puri is a little messy, our phuchka involves a sit-down occasion with plates and silverware. Anyways, this is the Indian version that we made for my Nepali friend. It's her first time away from Nepal and when asked what she would like to have for lunch, she said    "PANIPURI!"

The concept is simple, you grab a puri (crisp), you make a hole on the top, put the filling inside and then take a bit of the liquid into the crisp using the crisp itself. Oh, then you put it in your mouth, crunch, feel the sweet, spicy goodness and go, "Ooooh!"

This recipe has the following parts
Puris (from Indian grocery stores) photo
Potato filling
Pani (the dipping liquid) photo
Sweet tamarind/bhel chutney (the sweet-tangy kind)
I think it's difficult to say exactly how much of the potato filling and liquid is needed for x number of puris, because it depends on your preference of the ratio between the fillings.

The potato filing
2 medium sized golden potatoes
1 tbsp of finely diced red onion
1 tsp of chaat masala (can find it in Indian grocery stores)
salt to taste
1/2 serrano pepper (can skip it if desired)
2 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro

Pani
Pani puri masala (liquid or ground)
5 cups of water
1 green chili or serrano pepper
2 tbsps of mint leaves chopped
Juice of one lemon
Or... follow the instructions on the packet, verbatim

Buy about 40-50 puris from the store. This recipe is not for the pani puri kits. Only get the puris. Add water to the tamarind/bhel chutney if needed so that it has the consistency of bbq sauce. Keep them on the dining table and don't worry about them until you are ready to eat.

Boil, peel and finely dice the potatoes. Add the rest of the filling mix well. Adjust any ingredient as needed.

While your potatoes are boiling, you can make the pani. Make sure the water is cold. If you have a food processor, use that little beast to make a paste using the pepper, mint leaves and lemon juice. I don't have one, and the amount seemed too small to use the blender. I just chopped the leaves and the pepper finely and then muddled them using a mortar and pestle.
Now the masala part is a little tricky. First add the raw ingredients., muddled or paste, to the water. Add a bit of the masala (I used the liquid kind from a jar) into the water. Taste. Adjust. Taste again. Keep doing it until it's spicy enough but you are not burning. It's good, but I guess not good enough to be the last meal...Or is it?

Okay, we are ready to eat! Crack the top of a puri, put some potato filling inside, add a bit of the chutney, pick up some of the pani with the puri and enjoy!

Street foods come home

Among the things that I miss most about Bangladesh is those delectable goodies that you would buy from the snack-carts by the sidewalks. I used to save my lunch money and stay hungry (surprise!) to have a feast with those goodies after school. They were not the healthiest by any means, but even the thought of the crunch-munch and the tangy-sweet-salty flavors make my mouth (literally, as I type this) years after those balmy afternoons.

I love having people over and cooking with others. My friend Sam and Dristi were over and what's better to make for lunch than foods that make all of us reminisce about our school-days? We made Aloo Chaat (spicy tangy potatoes), Pani Puri (crisps filled with goodness) and Momos (Nepali dumplings with a spicy sauce).

Aloo Chaat/Spicy Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 potatoes (I used the regular yellow kind)
1 green chili chopped (or Serrano or Thai red chili) - leave out if desired
2 tbsp cilantro chopped
1 tbsp mint leaves (can leave out)
1tsp chaat masala (any Indian or large grocery store carries this)
1 tbsp bhel chutney (again Indian grocery store)
Juice of half a small lime
1 tbsp finely diced red onion

Add the lime juice and water to the bhel chutney (essentially tamarind chutney with sugar, can make it at home if needed) so that it gets a sauce-y consistency.
Boil potatoes to the extent that after you chop them into bite size cubes, the pieces are still firm. Add the bhel sauce and the chaat masala to the peeled and chopped potatoes. Toss lightly with a fork. Garnish with the chili, cilantro mint, and onion. Voila! Deliciousness!
The beauty of this kind of food is that you can alter the recipe in any way you want. I don't like raw onions, I leave that out. I add a bit more bhel chutney. Taste it while tossing, and adjust.