Romancing a simpler time - Pear and Cheese Bread

It was the year 1999. I was studying in Chennai and my then boy-friend was supposed to visit me for a day. All I knew was that he said he would meet me at my hostel bus stop in the morning. Taking into consideration his estimated arrival time, how long he would take to drop his stuff off at his friend’s house, freshen up, and then reach my hostel, I figured it would be 9am. So I waited patiently.

8.30am – What if he arrives early?  I skipped breakfast and rushed to the designated meeting place. Giddy with the promise of romance.

9.30am – Still waiting with mounting excitement.

11.30am – Excitement turned to severe butterflies in my stomach. Probably the result of a hungry stomach.

1pm -  Tears and trepidation. My heart beating faster every time I saw an auto pass by. Feeling conscious of the many people who kept looking at me wondering why I had been sitting at the same bus stop for the past many hours.  

1.30pm – Nervous wreck.

And finally when he walked up to me a good 5-6 hours after the appointed time apologizing profusely about a bus break down… well I’m not going into how that story ended. Because that is not the point here.

The point is, there was a certain drama and romance to not having cellphones, not having every minute and second mapped out, of not tracking someone’s every move by the hour. Yes it could be frustrating, but we knew no other way and I believe the love stories of those decades were so much more a by-product of destiny because of that.

Destiny. Love. Back to basics. A simpler time. Bread.

Riddikulus-ly Pink Beetroot and Strawberry Smoothie

I am posting this just to get over my ridiculous need to blog about food only when I have something random, funny, introspective or nostalgic to go along with the recipe. For once, I don't. I mean, I don't have anything of any importance to say right now. And the lack of having anything of any consequence to write about, has been stopping me from posting about food. Which is ridiculous.

I know what you are thinking. How are they related? Just writing about a dish, its recipe, the cooking method; that should be enough, right? Yeah. It should be. But I am weird. That's the only explanation. I like my food to have a story. Any story. (Also I kinda like to think that all you guys come visit my blog as much for the crazy stories as the decent recipes). So I am now trying to post without a story. Or without anything really. Other than the food. And now I have successfully rambled on about nothing without a mention of the recipe! Riddikulus!

Oh, and if you think that I spelt 'ridiculous' wrong there, then clearly you haven't read Harry Potter and you cannot ever be my true best friend. Ok, yes, I know you may not want to be my true-best-friend, but its your loss, really. And since this post (which started with all good intentions) has now really fallen under the ridiculous category, let me enlighten you with the advantages of a 'Riddikulus' spell:

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

Phew! First of all, thank you everyone for the many many comments on my First Anniversary post. I was honestly overwhelmed and elated that so many people liked the madness that spilled onto that post. Sometimes my craziness and tendency to be dramatic have to be reigned in... I think I might genuinely scare people off otherwise :D So after the Film Food post, I wanted to blog about something that matches up to it, if not in terms of zaniness then sheer scrumptious-ness at least! So I decided to bake some muffins for the first time. My friend SM gifted me a Muffin Tray long ago along with assorted baking goodies and equipment. But it has taken me months to finally get around to baking some muffins in the tray. One of the main reasons was that I didn't have muffin tray liners. In fact I still don't have any :( It's just that there is no store near my house that stocks any baking paraphernalia and I'm too lazy to travel 30km to Crawford Market to buy stuff. So these Chocolate Chip Muffins finally got made without liners and were none the worse for it :)

Whole Wheat Pancakes

I just love fresh, warm pancakes for breakfast with a dollop of butter and loaded with honey or maple syrup… So when I saw Arundati’s recipe for Whole Wheat Eggless Pancakes, I thought I must give it a try. Especially now that Sid is not in town, this is one of the advantages… Coz he sadly hates eating anything sweet in the mornings.

However it having been a working Saturday, when I got into the kitchen to make the pancakes on Sunday morning, I realized that I had run out of Whole Wheat flour (aata) and I did not have any buttermilk left over either. So here is my version of the recipe that turned out equally well I think.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour (Aata) – ¼ cup (that’s all I could scrape up from my flour box)
Makai Aata (Maize flour) – ¾ cup
Jaggery (Gur) – 2 large tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Vinegar – 1 tbsp
Cinnamon powder – ¼ tsp
Sodium bcarbonate/Meetha Soda/Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Honey

Pour the vinegar into the cup of milk and keep aside for 10min. Mix the whole weat flour and the makai ka aata with the baking soda, cinnamon powder and jaggery. Pour in the milk and vinegar into this and mix well till there are no lumps of flour remaining. Leave aside for 10min to let the jaggery melt in properly. The batter should be the consistency of your regular dosa batter – easy to pour, but not watery.

Heat a shallow frying pan and pour in a ladle full of batter. Do not spread it with the ladle like a dosa! Allow it to spread itself naturally into a round shape. Pour a little butter or oil around the edges. Let it cook for about a minute till you see little bubbles bursting on the sides of the pancake, then flip it on to the other side carefully. Let it cook for another minute or until you see the edges browning.

That’s it! Serve hot with a tiny blob of butter and honey drizzled all over.

A, my special brunch invitee on Sunday, absolutely loved these pancakes and was extremely disappointed that I had made just 5 of them. But it was my first attempt, so I made a smaller batch. Now I’m all set to try out variations. I have a feeling this batch did not turn out as fluffy as they could be… So I’m going to try it with eggs the next time.

It was so easy to make that this last picture is of the pancake made by A. And if a man can turn out such a perfect pancake, you know you can too!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Last week my local vegetable vendor who has his ‘thela gaadi’ below my flat had some really nice looking green tomatoes. I had no clue what to do with them, but they looked so fresh and irresistible that I bought 250gms of the raw tomatoes. They lay in my refrigerator for 4-5 days and just when I feared they would all ripen and the whole point of buying them would be lost, Sunday happened :)

So for the brunch, I decided on fried green tomatoes to go with the scrambled eggs and toast. It’s a really simple recipe that I believe is a hot favorite American breakfast dish too… you know, grilled tomatoes and fried green tomatoes and the like. Green tomatoes, however, are pleasingly sour and make for a tangy fried tomato dish.

Ingredients

Small raw green tomatoes – 250 gms
Besan (Gram flour/chickpea flour) – 3 tbsp
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Paprika/Chilli flakes
Oil – 2 tbsp


Cut the tomatoes into round slices and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Mix all the remaining spices and salt to taste with the besan and add a little water. This besan mixture should be the consistency of your regular “pakoda” or fritters mixture. In a frying pan heat 2 tbsp of oil on high. Coat the tomato slices with the besan and shallow fry in the pan, turning the other side after a couple of minutes. Serve while hot and crispy.

Cheese Scrambled Eggs

Sunday breakfast at our place usually ends up being a brunch. I hate mornings.. and on Sunday I try to stay in bed for as long as I can. This Sunday was no exception; and now with Sid gone for a month on his shoot, there was no one to persuade me to do otherwise. So I woke up at 10am and remembered too late that I had asked A to come over for breakfast! But luckily, A is no early riser himself!

What started out as a promise to feed breakfast, soon turned into a mini brunch. Cheesy scrambled eggs with toast, fried green tomatoes, and eggless pancakes were the “Sunday Specials”. And the brunch turned out to be so delicious and filling, that I skipped lunch altogether… or maybe that’s because by the time we were done, it was 12.30! But I’m not complaining, and neither is A I think.

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

Eggs – 3
Herb cheese – 1 cube (I use Laughing Cow assorted cheese cubes)
Milk – ¼ cup
Oregano
Chilli Flakes
Salt
Pepper
Coriander leaves
Oil/Butter – 2 tsp
Olives (for garnish)

Whisk together the eggs, cheese and milk in a bowl. I crumbled in a piece of Danish Blue Cheese I had to add that extra zing. When the eggs are light and frothy, add the oregano, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Remember to go easy on the salt if the cheese you are using is a bit salty. Whisk again.

Heat the oil/butter in a non stick frying pan. When it’s hot enough, pour in the egg mixture slowly and start stirring. Make sure your flame is not on high otherwise the eggs may burn or turn brown. Remove from pan while still a little creamy. Garnish with coriander leaves and olives. Serve piping hot with some buttered toast.