~You Always Remember Your First Time~

1991

First winter, snow angel and snowball fight in the United States.

1994

Ate my First cheeseburger and frankly I was a bit perturbed by it. I couldn't understand why it tasted so funny. Halfway through the burger, someone pointed out that there was beef in it and I freaked out (I was a strict vegetarian back then). It was an innocent mistake.  

1996

Took my First cooking class (International Cuisines) in high school and loved learning new dishes.

2002

First time eating sushi and wondering why it tasted so funny. Oh yea, because I was eating EEL. However, eel avocado became my favorite roll soon after. 

2003

First time making perugu or dahi (plain yogurt) on my own in my little Hoboken apartment and eating it with rice. Yogurt Rice is my comfort food. 

2010

My First food blog about Indian cooking; it is now in its fourth year. Woohoo!! Thanks everyone!

2011

My First Scandinavian Smorgasbord party 

2012

Won VIP tickets to my First food festival, Varli Food Festival, through Yelp.  

Photo from 123newyear.com

Two weeks ago, I attended my First Lunar New Year dinner and Tea Lunch which was extended to me by one of my close friends. According to Chinese culture, it's important to bring in the New Year by having a feast the day before and day after the holiday. I was able to join the feast the day after the celebration and boy was it delicious.

Can you recognize any of the dishes? Did you notice anything interesting? I noticed the multiple bowls of rice surrounding all the meat and vegetable dishes. You always start with a certain carb and you add on from there. South Asians start with RICE, East Asian with RICE and/or RICE NOODLES, Italians with PASTA, Spanish with RICE. Do you see a trend here? 

In my culture, we never show up to our relatives place without bringing something. It's just wrong. So I arrived at my friend's place bearing a tray full of Daan Taat (Egg Custard Tarts) for dessert. I was proud of my achievement and hard work. 

Even though we were all full from dinner, everyone ate one of my tarts and that made me happy. It gives me no greater pleasure than feeding people. That night I knocked out like I was in a food coma.  

Although I was still feeling full from the night before, I couldn't turn the invitation to attend another New Year festivity. My friend and his parents invited me to Tea Lunch at a popular Dim Sum House in the neighborhood. Believe me when I say this, the place was popping and there so many people waiting to be seated. 

And since this was Tea Lunch, my friend's dad served everyone tea that he brought back from his recent trip to China. After we settled down, we started our lunch. Ladies with carts full of all sorts of dim sum came around us and handed us whatever dishes we wanted. Here's a few that I remember (click on the dishes for pictures): shrimp shumai, Jin deui (fried glutinous rice balls with sweetened black sesame paste), vegetable spring rolls, Cheong fan (rolled rice noodles) with sweet soy sauce, Do fu fa (tofu pudding), and Fung zao (steamed chicken feet - I didn't try and that was fine with me). 

Halfway through lunch, we heard music coming from near the entrance and we turned out attention to see two yellow dragons making their way around the tables. It doesn't matter how old you are, everyone loves Dragon dances. And since it was Lunar New Year, parents gave red envelopes to their children to hand to the dragons (you can see in the video). It was so cute. Have you ever seen these dances before? 

I had so much fun that weekend. So many foodie delights and festivities that will stay with me forever. Thanks to my friend for extending the invitation to celebration with his family. I was truly touched. I'm looking forward to many more Firsts and here's wishing you...Gong Xi Fa Cai !! 

Check out Serious Eats Guide to Dim Sum, it's a fun read: http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/04/guide-to-dim-sum-dumplings-siu-mai-bao-chinese-steamed-buns.html

~Happy 2014 & Makar Sankranti To All~

"Good things come to those who wait."

Hope everyone had a good holiday! This past Christmas, instead of buying gifts for everyone in our family, we planned and invested in a MODERN NEW KITCHEN. Our holiday was spent clearing off everything from the kitchen and into storage; only the essentials were kept around. 

The construction started in the new year and is still going. With no cook top, we've been preparing our vegetable curries with the use of the microwave and a hot plate. We also bought some frozen entrees (ex.: Tandoor Chef's curries, Masala Dosa with Coconut chutney, Udupi Onion Uttapams with Tomato chutney and Deep Foods' Palak Paneer & Paneer Bhurji Pockets). Occasionally we eat out so we don't get bored of the same old dish. 

With each week, the scenery changes so there's something new to look at and admire. I can't wait for our kitchen to be furnished with all new appliances and cabinetry. It will surely be a wonderful splendor! Once all the construction, installation, and tiling is completed, we will post the before and after pictures. We can't wait and we know you can't either!

Bombay Grill Restaurant - Permanently Closed but not Forgotten!

Oh Bombay Grill, oh Bombay Grill,
of all the North Indian restaurants most yummy

Oh Bombay Grill, oh Bombay Grill,
of all the North Indian restaurants most variety

Every dish was a treat to eat and brought me much delight

Oh Bombay Grill, oh Bombay Grill,
your friendly service can never be forgotten

Oh Bombay Grill, oh Bombay Grill,
oh how I will miss your sweet greetings and warm welcomes.

  

I request a moment of silence to recognize a fallen restaurant that has impacted my life greatly. I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch and the place was boarded up. Surely this must be a mistake, but it wasn't. I couldn't believe it. I had recently I've dined at this restaurant many times in the past couple years and am sad to see it go. It was a boutique restaurant with seating for up to 40 patrons with clear view of the kitchen. The family that owned the restaurant was friendly and catered to their guests' needs pretty well including adjusting spice levels of their dishes and as well as food allergies. It felt like I was "home".
On all the occasions I've dined here, I ordered from their a la carte menu and loved all their dishes very much. My favorite dishes were Garlic naan, Paneer Bhurji, Chicken Shahi Korma, Sarson ka Saag with Makki ki Roti. The dishes were always well prepared and one could tell from the clean plates left behind after guests left. Since it was a small restaurant, you couldn't help but smell the aroma of roasting spices and fresh naan being baked in the clay oven. I surely hope this restaurant makes a comeback soon!


For more restaurant reviews, please visit our Where To Eat page.

Keep Calm and Enjoy a Hot Bowl of Carrot, Ginger, Tofu Soup

Spinach sorbet? Kale sorbet? Kale and carrot smoothies that are drinkable? How is all this possible? This is all made possible by the Vitamix Blender! Where have you been all my life? I know. Before the blender's arrival, my mom and I used to eat salads for dinner and then made smoothies with the Magic Bullet. Unfortunately, the smoothies weren't as "smooth" and we could only make one serving at a time. With the Vitamix blender we made ~4-5 (8oz) glasses of smoothies per session -- Vegetables never tasted this good.

That's not all! We can make soups, dips, sauces, and even frozen desserts. What a mouth full!! There's a world of possibilities with this blender...now that's what I call a resourceful gadget -- it earned a spot on our kitchen counter!

Last night, I took a break from smoothie making and tried my hand at Hot Soups, especially in this cold weather. Below is one of the recipes which I found to be easy and did not require many ingredients (compliments of the Vitamix cookbook). This recipe makes 4 servings.

Carrot Ginger Tofu Soup 

Ingredients:
- 2 cups (260g) chopped carrots
- 1/4 small onion, 1 ounce (28g) peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch of white pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger root
- 1/3 cup (70g) refrigerated tofu
- 2 cups(480ml) chicken broth
- Fresh coriander for decoration (optional)

I tweaked some of the ingredients to meet my family's eating habits: they're vegetarian!! 
- 2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste
- pinch of ground black pepper 
- Vegetable broth (Made broth using 1 vegetable bouillon cube and added it to 2 cups of boiling water)

Procedure:
Heat oil in a small pan and saute carrots, onion, and garlic over medium heat until onion is clear and carrots are tender about 15-20 minutes. Add a little broth, if needed. Place into the Vitamix container. Then add salt, pepper, ginger, tofu, and broth in the order listed into the Vitamix container and secure lid. Select Hot Soups program. Press Start. Allow machine to complete programmed cycle.

Celebrating Diwali - Out of the Darkness and Into the Light

Diwali is like Thanksgiving and Christmas for us. This year, we were thankful for the clear skies and no hurricanes in sight after previous years' horrendous weather surrounding this holiday. And what holiday is complete without good company and good food. We started off the festivities on Friday with sarvapindi for dinner and jalebi from Sukhadia's (savories and sweets shop).

On Saturday, we went to temple and enjoyed the Diwali festivities there. Word to the wise, if you are planning to visit the temple on holidays, start early so you don't get stuck in the crowds. Since it was Diwali, the temple arranged lunch for the patrons so we enjoyed the food there as well. It was a nice feeling to be among all the worshipers.

After lunch, we gathered in the family room and while playing our favorite card game Rummy, we watched classic Hindi movie songs on the Tube. The classics were the best, don't you think? I'm talking about songs with Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, and Dev Anand. Anyways, check out my winning hand after 4 failed rounds against my family. Go me!

13 Card Rummy game with 8 as the Joker 

As the day became night, we lit diyas (oil lamps made of clay) and placed them around the house as well as on the outside to Light the Night and keep darkness away.

For dinner, we started off with haanvi as our appetizer and then moved on to main course which was Rajma served with Basmati rice that was seasoned with cumin seeds, toasted cashews and raisins. I never used to like nuts in rice but this preparation was very tasty.

Rajma (Indian chili) 
click on name to see recipe

We also ate the rice with Beetroot raita (yogurt dip):

Beetroot Raita
(click on name to see recipe)

Just like every holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, a holiday isn't a holiday without the sweets or desserts. For Diwali, we bought an assortment of burfis and pedas as well as jalebi. One of my sister's friends brought Cannoli Cake from Cake Boss Cafe from New York City so dessert was definitely decadent and rich to say the least.  We topped off dessert with bubbly Bartenura Moscato. The evening was delightful and SWEET!

Hope future Diwali celebrations are this relaxing and fun!

Click here to see how others celebrated Diwali this year!

Pumpkin Halwa

A great way to use pumpkins in Indian cooking is when making curries and/or sambhars. These dishes are usually served with rice but they can also be enjoyed as it is. The first time I ate pumpkin was on Thanksgiving at my uncle's house many years ago. We had just moved to the States and celebrated our first American holiday. My aunt served me a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It was delicious but a bit too sweet for me at that time. Since then, I've adjusted to the taste and enjoy it every year.

These days, pumpkins are being incorporated into a lot more recipes than just pies. It's about time don't you think! We're adding our recipe into that pot...just in time for Diwali, the Festival of Lights which falls on Nov. 2.

Check out our recipe for Pumpkin Halwa below:

Pumpkin Halwa

Ingredients:

- 500 grams Pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 0.5" cubes

- 3.5 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk

- 1/8 cup Instant Dry Milk powder

- 2 pinches Cinnamon powder

- 2 pods Cardamom, seeded and powdered

- 1/8 cup dry coconut powder

- 2 tbsp Butter

- 5 to 6 Almonds or Cashews, sliced (for decoration) and toasted

Procedure:

In a thick non-stick sauce pan, heat butter and the pumpkin cubes. Stir fry for a minute and cook the pumpkin until soft under closed lid for 8 to 10 minutes on medium heat. Mix intermittently. When the pumpkin is cooked, using a thick wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the pieces well into paste. Now add sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon powder, instant dry milk powder, and coconut powder and mix well. Cook the mixture by mixing regularly to avoid sticking until it moves from the walls of the container. Add the cardamom powder into the halwa mixture. Transfer it into a greased plate and top it with the toasted almonds or cashews.

Click on the headline to read more about How pumpkin moved beyond the pie, and into curries, cereal bars, and M&Ms… from Food Navigator-Usa.com.

DUSSEHRA GIVEAWAY: $25 AMAZON.COM GIFT CARD

UPDATE: The winner of the $25 Amazon.com Gift Card is Andrew: “I've loved Indian food, as well as other Asian food for as long as I can remember. This was due to the exposure that you get to it living in Sydney, which (as I'm sure you know) is very multicultural. I use lentils in all kinds of dal dishes, changing the spice mixture slightly, as I please each time. And then, of course, there are chickpeas, broad beans, etc. There's just so much available for a good low fat diet, and it's delicious, too!

Congratulations, Andrew! Your gift card will be emailed to you soon. 

Thank you all for participating. We enjoyed reading your responses and are delighted that you have subscribed to our blog. 

Wow, how time flies! We're just a week away from Dussehra, which falls on Sunday, October 13th this year. Dussehra is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. This year, we're celebrating the holiday in our own way by participating in the American Heart Association's Heart Walk and 5K Run in our community. It's time to take a STAND against Heart Disease! My mom and I have been participating for the last few years and cannot think of a better way to celebrate Dussehra than joining the cause once more. 

TAKE A STAND for your health! Share your thoughts and you can win. 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
One winner will receive a $25 Gift card to Amazon.com, delivered via email. 

HOW TO ENTER:

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post and answer the following question(s):

How do you incorporate spices and/or lentils into your cuisine to stay healthy? (Click on spices and lentils for examples)

You can receive up to 3 additional entries to win by doing the following:

1) Subscribe to Indian Khana Made Easy by RSS. Come back and let me know you've subscribed in an additional comment on this post. 

2) Become a fan of Indian Khana Made Easy on facebook. Come back and let me know you became a fan in an additional comment on this post.

3) Follow Indian Khana Made Easy on Twitter. Come back and let me know you've followed in an additional comment on this post.

Deadline: Monday, October 14, 2013 at 11:59pm EST.