Bagalabath Recipe

I tried making the South Indian curd-rice or Bagalabath yesterday night. Quick and simple to make and tastes delicious. Being a North Indian, i didnt really know that curd-rice is typically eaten at the end of the meal. I actually ate it as a full meal with the gobhi-gajar-shalgam pickle. Awesome combo! Funny trivia is that since i only eat Basmati Rice, thats the only one i had at home so i made bagalabath with Basmati rice. My tamil friends were all laughing at this. Here is the recipe:

1. Make the rice in the microwave. Put some more water so that the rice are overcooked and can be mashed easily later.
2. In the mean time, take some ghee in a pan and heat. Add mutard seeds once the ghee is hot. Once the mustard seeds sputter add ginger, green chillies to the pan and mix. Now add curry leaves.
3. Take some seedless grapes and split them into halves. Add these to the pan mix. Also add a pinch of hing to this.
4. Once the rice are done, mash them and while mashing them add some milk to it. Once they are mashed, add curd . The amount of curd depends on the amount of sourness you like. So you can add more as you like.
5. Add the above rice-curd mix to the pan and garnish with very finely chopped coriander leaves.

The old chocolate days!

I had a slice of a "Chocolate on Chocolate" cake today at Prolific Oven. Pretty delicious and ofcourse loaded with calories :-) . It reminds me of the exam days in Madison. I had Trader Joes , a block away from my apartment During the exams i used to eat huge portions of junk food. i used to walk down to the Trader Joes and buy a plethora of food items like veggie chips, my favorite pink lemonade soda, a big tub of salsa, veg cutlets, tandoori masala chips. One of my exam favorites were the chocolate cup cakes i used to buy at Trader Joes. Sitting whole day on the weekend in the apartment, i used to have a delicious feast with the cup cakes and other stuff..somehow eating used to get the exam stress off my mind..Those days were fun!

This one is for you - Dadi..

Solitude is sometimes a good means to reconnect to your past. I generally go for a short walk after finishing lunch at work. I headed again today alone for a short walk. The thoughts which crossed my mind were of my childhood when I was blessed to have my dadi (grandmother) around. She was the most magical person for me ever. I remembered how i used to trouble her after coming back from school and she used to take everything with a smile. She was my best friend, confidant, my candy supplier and what not. She used to pack lunch for me everyday for school and used to give me a slice of my favorite home made pickle made by her in my lunch box. My mom never knew about it as she didn't like me eating too much of pickles which would lead to coughing. And then the summer vacations which i loved to spend with her. I remember hazily as i was in nursery or the next grade probably that time. She used to make mango ice cream and i used to wait impatiently for it to freeze opening the freezer every 20 mins. She used to put me to sleep for a short nap after lunch and i used to wake up and run back to her. I remember pulling her hair when she used to comb and climbing all over her on the sofa. She used to buy me those small toys which the guy on the road used to sell passing by our house every afternoon. She used to go to her cupboard, pull out some coins from her old tin can and buy me those small goodies. I don't remember she scolding me for anything ever, and i still wonder why as i was such a troublesome kid , especially I used to deliberately trouble her a lot. She was calm, sweet and adorable. She was the best and her memories will always be in my heart...