With a little help from my spice friends

There's a great line in the movie "The Namesake," where one of the characters scoffs at the idea that she should be "a good Bengali housewife and make samosas every Thursday from scratch." I'm not quite sure what it is about that line that stands out to me- me agreeing with her or me wishing I were that good little housewife.

I've long come to terms with the fact that I would make a horrible housewife -- let's face it, I hate cleaning, I like cooking but only when I want to, and I'm not the neatest person. I think the only thing that bugs me is that I feel like I don't cook as much as I think I should and that after being married almost 4 years I should be a whiz in the kitchen.

Case in point -- with Indian food I feel like I'm still quite the novice. I still rely on cookbooks for much of my legwork. I haven't mastered the art of "andaaj," which if you've ever tried to watch your mom or aunt cook something and ask how much of something they put in and they answer, "well I don't measure these things, you'll just have to use 'andaaj' and you'll know when it's right" and then you want to pull your hair out in frustration, you'll understand.

Oh yes, where was I? My self-supposed short-comings with cooking desi-style food, that's right.

Okay so anyway I guess my biggest hang up is that even though I crave good old home-cooking or I want to try to make something that looks good out of my cookbooks, what I can't get over is how much time you have to put into it. I joke that if I want to make beef it's a 3-hour endeavor. And it is! The stupid beef takes like freakin' 2 hours to get soft, and that's not counting all the time you spend slicing onions, getting all your spices ready, and then browning the stupid onion and the spices before you even begin cooking the beef. Sorry, there I go off again!

Right, so we'll just cut to the chase and say that it's the prep work that scares me off from experimenting more. I have to make sure I have all the ingredients, because of course the list of spices involved is a mile long. Then I have to measure out everything and chop up whatever needs to be chopped. Then the afore-mentioned browning of the onions, which I have discovered through lots of trial and error is a crucial step if you want any kind of decent gravy and you can't rush it.

So as you see, for me there's no way in hell I can pull off this kind of food during the week after I get home from work or from the gym. Almost all desi-cooking experiments are reserved for the weekend when I can take my sweet time.

Yet there is a way to pull it off. But not without some self-imposed guilt-trips on my part.

I am talking about those lovely prepackaged spice mixes you can get at the Indian groceries -- like Shan masala mixes, in particular. Or even some of the spice pastes in a pouch I've seen at World Market or Whole Foods.

I personally think these are great -- the spices are all measured out for me and the directions are usually pretty straight-forward. I usually tweak stuff to make it even easier and usually don't use even a fourth of the oil they call for. Now, the resulting food does in no way taste like anything I ate growing up, but that's fine with me. Sometimes I want to try something new and not put a lot of effort into it. And sometimes convenience wins out over authenticity for me.

Now then, where was that guilt-trip I promised? Oh right. Well part of me feels like I'm cheating when I use these masala mixes. I've had this discussion many times and the conclusion amongst my friends is that it's not cheating because you still have to cook the stupid dish in the end. Oh and that we'll never be like our moms and make EVERYTHING from scratch because that's just not possible for us. I'm fine with it when it's just food for the hubby and me, but when I've used the mixes when we've had dinner guests that's when I feel guilty. I just have this stupid idea that I should wow people with my efforts and that by using something that's pre-mixed I didn't put in all the effort nor did I hit upon that particular spice combo all on my own.

See where I'm going? I know, I'm spending way too much time worrying about it. But the other thing is that when I use these mixes, as yummy as a lot of them are, I'm not really coming any closer to making foods the way my family does. In fact, on a recent trip to visit some relatives, my phupi (dad's sister) sniffed at the notion of using Shan mixes because "they taste all weird. They put all these spices in there that we don't use." Then again, who's to say that we make it the correct way in our family, right?

I can go on playing this tug-of-war in my head about this or just accept the fact that sometimes life is just too busy and to take the help where I can get it. If I can get all my spices pre-measured and not have to do too much other prep work then that's half the battle. And if it means that I can actually pull off a desi-style dinner during the week, then that's extra brownie points for me. And if it means that I made enough food so that I don't have to cook for a few days, then that's even better!

Oh and speaking of making samosas from scratch, no I haven't done it, but I have figured out a couple short-cut methods to make it easier! But I most certainly will not be making them every Thursday.

Pondering with a pinch of stubbornness

It's not that I don't want to post. It's not that I don't have ideas.

I just don't know.

I think it's that I feel that my blog isn't as cool-looking as other ones are and so I make excuses about posting.

And I'm just not sure if what I'm doing is interesting enough to attract readers or keep current ones. (Insert guilt-trip)

Once upon a time I posted food stuff to another blog but then I got bored/overwhelmed there as well. I think I was trying to do too much then as well -- weight loss stuff, recipes, general food gabbery. I'm afraid I'm doing the same thing here -- bentos, recipes, randomness. But at the same time, I don't think it's too confusing. I think I've just gotten lazy and haven't been able to think of anything witty to write.

But you know what? I'm going to keep plugging away.

I do have some goals though:

• I want to learn to take better food pictures
• I want to organize my blog better
• I want to incorporate previous posts from my other blog -- this may involve moving content from here to that blog or vice versa
• I want to do more recipe reviews
• I WILL QUIT BUYING SO MANY DAMN COOKBOOKS! :D

I have a very bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them. I promise this will not be one of those.

Dinner for One

With the hubby being out of town, I thought I would finally get to experiment and make recipes I'd been eyeing or finally buckle down and be a good little weight watcher.

No and no.

Even after going on a "healthy" grocery shopping spree after dropping the hubby off at the airport I still found ways to conveniently be too tired to cook dinner and pack a lunch.

We'll just say Wendy and I became good friends over the past few days.


So today, faced with the prospect of a good flank steak about to go bad, I decided enough was enough and damnit I was going to cook a nice healthy dinner for myself.

Et voila, a beef stir-fry was created.

It's nothing fancy, just sliced up some flank steak and marinated it in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, chili paste, lime juice, and green onion for a few minutes and then stir-fried it with some vegetables. Easy peasy AND I had enough for dinner, tomorrow's lunch, and dinner tomorrow night.

I hope Wendy doesn't miss me too much.

Apology and PSA

Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've been packing bentos and cooking, but I've just been too lazy to take pictures and post. A pathetic excuse, but that's really what it is.

To help make up for my lack of attention, I've decided to do a PSA/enabler post.

Those of you who already are or aspire to become cookbook whores -- I've been finding really good deals at Costco lately. They've got all sorts of really good ones and at deeply discounted prices that sometimes beat Amazon prices. Which is good if you're like me and can't stand to wait 3-5 days for your precious new book to arrive.

One thing I've discovered is that sometimes the selection changes very quickly and if you hem and haw too much over buying one, it may not be there in a couple weeks. Good thing I'm obsessive and go back frequently.

Seriously though, I went in last week to get some other stuff and saw the new Ellie Krieger cookbook, and then hit the jackpot when I saw quite a few of the cookbooks put out by Cook's Illustrated like "The Best International Recipe," which I've been coveting for months. I had a really hard time just limiting myself to the two, but in the end the fact that it was raining outside, I had a dinky umbrella, and I didn't want to risk getting any new books wet clinched it for me.

So if you come out of Costco wondering how the hell you spent over $50 on cookbooks and wondering where you're going to put them, it's not my fault!

"Fast Food"

I'm playing around with the old digital camera again, but still seem to take crappy pictures. I know a lot of it is the lighting in the kitchen and for some reason my hands shake when I take the picture. Oh well.

Tonight's dinner came together pretty easily, which was good since I was tired from running errands after work.

I'd bought some Trader Joe's Boolkogi a few weeks back and decided a couple days ago that it was time to pull it out of the freezer. It's basically Korean-style marinated sliced beef. I just grilled up on on our grill pan (leaving the mess for the hubby to clean up!) and it took less than 10 minutes. I had one of those bags of ready to steam broccoli from the produce department, so that got nuked for 4 minutes while the beef cooked. Then I had those handy pre-portioned brown rice cups I've been finding at Kroger on and off. A minute later in the microwave and dinner was ready! Healthy, delicious, and fast -- my kind of weeknight dinner.

And of course I packed leftovers in a bento for lunch tomorrow. This is one of the last boxes I bought way back in January, can't remember if I'd used it yet. It's pretty small, but if packed right should keep me full for a few hours.

Recipe Review: Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes and Romano Cheese

Disclaimer: I was experimenting with our old digital camera today, please forgive me for the ugly picture.

I love the combo of pasta, shrimp, and garlic, if previous posts haven't been obvious enough. I've had this recipe from Cooking Light saved in my recipe file for what seems like forever and finally decided it was time to try it out. It seemed yummy enough, calling for orzo, shrimp, and garlic among other ingredients. I'd never made orzo before but happened to have some in my pantry (funny how that worked out!), evidence of past shopping expeditions.

As usual, I tweaked it to fit what I had in the fridge and to my tastes. I subbed Campari tomatoes for cherry tomatoes (they were getting wrinkly), shaved Parmesan for the Romano, and added baby spinach to the mix.

Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes and Romano Cheese

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked orzo
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used frozen)
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. minced garlic
crushed red pepper to taste
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup baby spinach
1/3 cup shaved Romano or Parmesan
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Cook the pasta in boiling water, then drain and let sit.

While the pasta is cooking, heat up 1 tbsp. of the olive oil and saute shrimp, adding salt and black pepper. Remove from pan when pink. Add remaining oil, then add onions, cooking until they start to turn golden. Add garlic and crushed red pepper, cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes and spinach and cook until spinach begins to wilt. Now add the pasta and shrimp back in, mixing to combine thoroughly. Add more salt and pepper to taste, then add cheese and basil.

Serves 4.

Verdict: Ehhhhh. I think I need to make it again to give it a fair shot. I'm not a big fan of cooked fresh tomato, so might need to tweak that. Less onion or even omitting the onion might be something else to consider. Using fresh shrimp instead of frozen would be an improvement. Oh and not forgetting the basil would be good too -- I thought it was missing a little something.

The original recipe says that leftovers taste good as a cold pasta salad. Hope so, because that's getting packed into my bento for tomorrow's lunch!


UPDATE:

The leftovers tasted MUCH better cold at lunch, so maybe this would be better off as a pasta salad rather than a warm entree.

Recipe Review: Sesame Brown Rice Salad with Chicken

It feels great to be blogging again! For those of you who aren't aware, I'm a CPA, so from January to mid-April I'm pretty busy with taxes and thus have little to no free time. This also means I rarely cook and I sure as hell don't have the energy or brain-power to write fun stuff.

But that is all past us now.

With the end of tax season also comes a renewal of effort to lose weight and get in shape. I usually pack on about 5 lb. each tax season from stress-eating, minimal exercise, and eating tons o' crap. This year was the first time in 5 years that I didn't gain any weight! Yay!

Anyway, so now that I have free time to cook and blog again hopefully you'll notice a healthier trend to my recipes and bentos.

So starting us back off on the path to good, healthy eats I decided to try out a recipe I swiped from the Weight Watchers message boards. This recipe was originally adapted from Cooking Light but I tweaked it even more for my tastes.

Sesame Brown Rice Salad with Chicken

2 cups cooked brown rice, cooled
2 cups shredded chicken breast
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup broccoli slaw
3 stalks green onion, chopped
4 tsp. canola oil
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sambal oelek (garlic chili paste)

Toss the rice, chicken, and veggies in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine rest of ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Drizzle over rice salad and toss to mix. Makes 4 servings.

Note: I cooked the brown rice in chicken broth for flavor. I browned the chicken breasts in cooking spray, added salt, pepper, and Emeril's Asian Essence for flavor, and then poached the chicken in water.

Verdict: thumbs-up from the hubby and me. This will definitely go into recipe rotation.

Garlicky shrimp and spinach with pasta

Major confession: this is one of my "toss stuff in a pan" dinners where I don't measure anything. So if you're okay with figuring out what works for you, then read on. If not, then read on anyway!

Garlicky Shrimp and Spinach with Pasta

shrimp (I used frozen, uncooked, peeled shrimp -- fresh would be better)
spinach (I used frozen chopped spinach - fresh baby spinach would be nice here)
olive oil
minced garlic
salt & pepper
crushed red pepper
parsley flakes (yes I know fresh is better, but this is what I had)
lemon juice
"light" butter spread (you can use real butter if you want) (or use fake butter spray if you're being REALLY good)
pasta (I used Ronzoni Smart Taste rotini)

Start boiling water in a saucepan for the pasta. Make the pasta according to directions on package. While cooking pasta, start shrimp and spinach.

Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add shrimp and spinach -- all the water will come out so you're kinda steaming it all. Cook off the water, then add the olive oil and minced garlic, salt & pepper, and crushed red pepper. Cook for a few minutes, the shrimp should be nearly cooked at this point. Now add a small spoonful of the light butter spread, the lemon juice, and the parsley flakes. It should smell very yummy at this point.

Once the pasta is done, drain it. By this point the shrimp and spinach should be done, so dump the pasta into the frying pan and mix it all up. Try to coat the pasta with the garlic and spinach. Taste for seasoning and add whatever you think is lacking. Does it taste right?

Eat up! I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese on mine and we served with garlic bread. If you're piggies like us you'll eat the whole pan and won't have yummy leftovers for the next day.

Recipe Review: Chicken Korma

Mmmm, chicken korma. So many versions, not enough time to try them all! I think every recipe I've looked at or tried is different, so I'm not really sure what is a "true" korma. What korma means to me is a dish with a fragrant, creamy, light-colored gravy. Is that vague enough?

Anyway, I've tried making korma on my own based on what I thought it had in it or based on one of those conversations with your mom where they don't really tell you amounts or precise steps, but rather what's in it. These usually result in something that smells kind of like what I remember but something still isn't right. I tried making a korma out of a low-fat Indian cookbook that was okay, but didn't quite taste like what I remembered either. I didn't want to try recipes that looked too involved or required me to make a nut paste since I'm lazy and that's not really how it was made at home. I'm sure someday I'll get around to trying all the different recipes, but for now I wanted something that tasted familiar. I think I've come close, even though it may not be exactly how my mom makes it.

As you know, I've been on a cookbook buying spree the past couple months. Before I buy something I usually research it, unless it's one of those cookbooks in the bargain book section at Borders or Barnes and Noble, and then I grab, buy, and question its usefulness later because it may not be there next week. Anyway, in my Amazon-fueled research, Julie Sahni's "Classical Indian Cooking" kept popping up as a must-have. Indeed, I remembered that we even had a copy of it at my parents' house so I figured it must be pretty good. So to get to the point, I bought it, perused it, and decided that I needed to test it so I figured making the chicken korma recipe was a good start because it met my criteria of no nut pastes, no long spice lists, and low-complexity.

Verdict? Good call! It smelled so freakin' good as it was all cooking and we were not disappointed when dinner came around. It got a thumbs-up from both the hubby and me.

And as usual, I have to tweak something in each recipe I try. In this case, I used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of the breasts specified in the recipe, drastically reduced the amount of oil called for, used nonfat plain yogurt, and opted out of the heavy cream originally called for at the end of the recipe.

Chicken Korma

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tbsp. canola oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp ginger paste
12 cardamom pods (I smashed them slightly)
24 whole cloves
4 bay leaves
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tsp salt

Heat the oil over medium-high in a large pan and add the onions, cooking for a few minutes, then adding the garlic and ginger. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the whole spices and keep cooking until the spices and onions begin browning. Don't brown it too much if you want your korma paler than mine looks in the picture.

Add the coriander and cayenne pepper. Now begin adding the yogurt a few spoonfuls at a time, combining thoroughly each time. The onion-yogurt mixture will be really thick at this point. Add the chicken and make sure everything is combined thoroughly. Cook for a few minutes to brown the chicken. Add the salt and water, stirring before you lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes. If the gravy is still liquidy, then increase the heat and keep stirring so that the gravy reduces. You want the gravy to be thick and clinging to the chicken. Adjust salt if necessary.

This makes about 4 servings. We ate it with regular long-grain white rice, but basmati would be better.

Recipe Review: Achaar Gosht

I will admit to being an achaar addict. Even if my food is spicy and flavorful enough, I always feel that some achaar will make it even better. I love it -- spicy, sour, hot, what's not to love? If it tastes good with my food, then why not go one step further and cook it with my food? Well, I guess I wasn't the only one with this idea, because I've seen this dish in cookbooks and in the prepackaged spice mixes at the Indian stores.

This is a recipe I've actually made a few times before, all to rave reviews. Unfortunately I can't take credit for the recipe. I discovered this gem in Anjum Anand's book "Indian Every Day," and I'm so glad I gave it a try. It earned me brownie points with the in-laws AND my parents!

I tweaked the recipe a bit for my tastes -- Anand's original recipe calls for lamb, which I'm not so fond of, so I used beef. But if you like lamb or goat, then go for it. She also calls for cumin seeds, brown mustard seeds, fennel seed, nigella seeds, and fenugreek seeds individually. Since panchforan mix contains all these ingredients and I'm lazy, I just used that instead. One thing I didn't tweak was the mustard oil. I think that and the unique spice mixture are the key to the dish.

Achaar Gosht

Ingredients:

2 tbs. mustard oil
5 tsp. panchforan mix (or 1 tsp each of the spices listed above)
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp ginger paste
2 serrano chilis
2 tsp. coriander powder
1 lb. beef -- I use stew meat from Publix
3 cups hot water
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
2 tbsp lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large pan on high heat and then reduce to medium. Add the panchforan and fry until the seeds start sputtering. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger and cook for a few minutes, until the onions begin to brown. Now add the chilis, coriander powder, and meat, bringing the heat back up to high so that the meat browns after a few minutes. Lower the heat again to medium and keep stirring for about 10 minutes.

Add salt, stir, and then cover and lower heat to medium-low. After about 10 minutes, add half the water and stir again. Cook beef for an hour and a half or until tender, adding small amounts of water and stirring periodically. You don't want the mixture to burn and start sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When the beef is done, add the yogurt and rest of the water, combining thoroughly. Increase the heat and stir the beef in the gravy for about 10 minutes or until the gravy begins to reduce and thicken around the beef. Add the lemon juice, crushed black pepper, and garam masala. Add more salt if needed.

This makes about 4 servings and goes great with basmati rice, pita bread, or parathas.