Arbi Chi Bhaaji (Indian style taro root)

This week is turning out to be all about revisiting my childhood favorites. I got my okra fix earlier and today I'm going to share with you another beloved vegetarian dish - arbi (taro root) - but this time, with a bit of twist. 

Bhendi Chi Bhaaji (Marathi style okra)

I'm super excited to share today's recipe with you because it is my number 1, hands down, definite, complete, utter favorite vegetable dish ever. It is also ridiculously simple, quick, and easy. Even as a vegetable-abhorring child I would inhale this dish by the spoonful, and I still find myself going back for more. In fact, I don't think I've ever made it and not finished it in one sitting.

Ta da! Bhendi chi bhaaji - okra, cooked Marathi style.

Kohlrabi and Kheema

The past year has been intense in every which way. There have been some beautiful moments and some exciting new endeavors, but also a lot of sadness and loss that have threatened to overshadow everything else. And while I've been caught up in all of these things (I think they call it life), my little blog has languished in a corner. It's cheered up every now and then when I used it as a quick resource when I wanted to recreate that green tomato bhaaji or whip up a batch of maple olive oil gingersnaps for the holidays, but it's been largely ignored. So it started getting antsy and prodding me and poking me, and I've decided it's just too cherished to lie around getting dusty and faded.

And here's the perfect recipe to kick off the new year. Just familiar enough to be comforting, and with a hint of something different to make it a little exciting.

It all started a few months ago when my sister bought a peculiar, stubby, green vegetable called kohlrabi and knew she'd seen it before. Thankfully we've got aunts, cousins and a mom who are only too happy to chime in and solve life's little mysteries. Turns out, it's what I've grown up knowing as "navalkol" - a faintly turnipy, potatoey vegetable that typically got pushed to the sidelines. Jumping ahead a few months, when I spied these little green monsters last week, I thought I'd pick them up and then go directly to the source for a dish that would bring kohlrabi in as a central player on our table. I called up my grandma and announced, "I've got some navalkol - now tell me what to do with them." After her momentary bewilderment (I suppose it's not quite the conventional conversational gambit, but she should be used to it by now after the many times I've asked her ridiculous kitchen questions) she started off by asking me what I had in my fridge and my pantry, gave me a quick and dirty recipe (no measurements here) and set me on my path.

Sugar and spice and everything nice

You know my predilection for putting just a dash of this and a hint of that in everything I make. Spices are the joy of life. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm all for the true flavor of things and enjoying the freshness and tasting the dew that quivered on the leaf just that morn and all of that. But now that I've started learning how to use spices not to cover up, but to enhance, I see how the right spices and herbs can really wake up the food you make - bring out the essence of even the dew, if you will - and take a dish from tasty to scrumptious in 2 seconds flat.



And so, when the good folks at Aromatic Spice Blends sent me a heap of spice mixes to try, of course I was excited! They use quality ingredients and all the blends are small batch and freshly made, which is pretty much the key to a good spice blend. And after trying these, I can't wait to get to the other little packets!!

Combine that with just a little time on hand (enough to cook, but alas not enough to freshly grind my own spices - as is most often the case) and a certain husband's upcoming birthday, and I was hopping around with delight.



Plus, MIL had gifted me a Bundt cake pan (Bundt! Oo! Doesn't the word just promise fun?) that's been giving me a come hither look ever since Christmas.

So first up, a little spiced bundt cake. And then, a quick curried eggplant that comes together in under half an hour with the help of a pre-mixed spice blend.

Turmeric Pickle (Haldi cha Loncha)

Welcome to 2014 at M in the World! Is it too late to wish you all a brilliant new year? Yes? Oh well - I do wish it to you! A year of strength and joy and beauty to you all.



From the severe lack of posts you've probably guessed that something's up. And it is. And it sucks. This isn't the "I'm out of dark chocolate too bad so sad" variety of sucks either. It's stuff that makes you think about the great unknown and shuffling off this mortal coil. Stuff that makes you appreciate the things in life you so often take for granted. Stuff that focuses on the words we often throw around without really feeling the bigness of them - words like grace and mindfulness, peace and dignity, joy and family. So bear with me while we ride this roller coaster out, will ya? Things might be a little erratic on M in the World, but keep checking back in please!

And in the meanwhile, let's push this stuff under the rug for a minute (man my emotional rug has a lot of crap under it - what about you?) and talk about something else. What about the weather eh? Oh, you have a snow day, do you? Polar vortex, you say?

Well do I have something exciting for you! The perfect project for a day at home. Something sour and salty and briny and earthy. Something bright and fun (probably best handled in small-ish doses though). Something that makes your mouth pucker up even as you're reaching for a little bit more. Something that adds a little spice to your life.

Diwali cha faraal: Shankarpalya

It's pretty festive around these parts - Halloween with all the baking, roasting, and carving it involves, and Diwali with all of its lights and food and family fun! Happy Diwali everyone!!

Now I don't know about you, but whenever we celebrate a festival around here, we seem to focus on the eating, drinking, and general merry-making parts of it. Not for us the fasting and penance (though oxymoronically enough, fasting or "upaas" food is absolutely delicious and worth making even if you're not fasting, and happens to make "fasting" pretty freakin' enjoyable - in fact, watch out for an upaas food post here soon). 

And when the festival in question is Diwali, that means you start mixing up some dough and frying up some deliciousness! It's time to get busy making some "Diwali cha faraal" - or festive treats specially for Diwali.

Apple Guava Chaat

What's sweet and spicy and crunchy and mushy and seasonal and delicious?

When you've had enough of stewing and baking and cooking your apples and you're looking for something with a little bit of a savory crunch to it, take some inspiration from delicious Indian street food and pop your apples into a nice ol' chaat.

Indian Curried Green Tomatoes Bhaaji

This is it. This is the one, the only, the whole and sole green tomato recipe you need. Throw away all those fried green tomato recipes. Only ever curry green tomatoes from now on!

KIDDING totally kidding - fried green tomatoes are amazing and if one has 2 green tomatoes one must always fry at least one of them. I'm just saying, curry the other, and you will make yourself doubly happy and you'll get flavors that you would never have thought of with regular ol' frying. In fact, I fried some up too, and I'm going to post that recipe next week!

But no, seriously, don't go frying up all your green tomatoes. If you're looking for a perfect sweet and tart and savory and succulent vegetarian dish, this, friends, is it.

Dahi Bhat

Some days you're feeling kinda sickly (sorry about the paucity of posts this week!). And some days your mom isn't around to make her delicious clear chicken soup that cures all ailments (no really - there is some magic in there!). And some days you just want to tuck into something plain and comforting. For those days there is dahi bhat (quite literally, "yogurt rice"). Soothing, full of good probiotics, and just comfort food at its best.

Guava!

If you live in a part of the world that has delicious pear-like (but not as sweet!) guavas easily available, count yourself lucky. I usually only get a bite of the green jems when I visit India while guavas are in season. So while I was wandering around Chinatown on a quest for lychees (sadly I didn't find any that looked very good - I guess lychee season is pretty much over), I was thrilled to come across guavas too! Although these were nowhere near the deliciousness that is an Indian guava, hey, close enough.

And when you get a guava, you gotta eat it Indian style - sprinkled with sea salt and chili powder.

 

Paneer Curry

Some nights you look in the fridge just when you're on the edge of hunger. You know you want dinner soon, but the only thing staring back at you is some frozen chicken that was supposed to have thawed, but decided not to. Those are the nights you need to have some paneer on hand - super easy, super quick, chop up some onions, some tomatoes, toss in some spices, and dinner is served!

Cheese, onion, tomatoes - that's all you need, really.

Panko Crusted Neon Eggplant Cutlets

Monsoons in India are always muddy and wet and soggy and damp. You know what else they are? The perfect weather for all kinds of fritters, whether it's hot onion bhajiya as the rain is crashing down and it's dark as night at noon, or delicate potato fritters when the rain is just drizzling and you want something to nibble on with your afternoon cup of tea.

It isn't the monsoons here, but a nice cool shower would definitely be welcome in these soaring temps. And I don't have besan (chickpea flour) on hand to make a typical Indian pakora or bhajiya batter, but I do have panko crumbs. And so I say - good enough! Let's get a' fritterin' and just imagine up a crashing thunderstorm!