Monday, July 22, 2013

And this is how I blew the clouds off the sky on a Monday!

There I was stuck in a jam for an entire stretch, early on a Monday morning right upto the last traffic signal. The fact that I was blue, that my arms ached thanks to balancing a machine I hadn't since a long time back did not help. And I was worried sick lest I be accosted by one of the eunachs standing in line to rip a passer's bye off his money... And then suddenly everything just came alive with Lenny Kravitz. I raised the volume to my favorite song and saw this little kid going to work in a light blue t-shirt. That just blew the clouds away 

Friday, January 11, 2013

Beetroot, tam style... and my own twist

Well this was way back when I ate it, the taste just lingered on. We had gone for a holiday to Kodai, my parents, bro, sis and me. I had just finished my 11th exams and ofcourse had faired pretty badly. Well if you expect a teenager to be interested in her studies, you must be out of your mind! Somebody please remind me when my son reaches that milestone. We stayed in this lovely guesthouse of Mahindra's with fruit trees all around. It had an awesome library, so between studying, sight-seeing and eating absolutely yummy food, I would read my road to heaven, well I was almost there, among the clouds atleast.
Oh but I am forgetting the objective of this blog. You know I hate beetroot, well normally I do. Dad used to force down slices of beetroot sprinkled with lime juice into my throat. But for this one dish, thank the whole tam community for this, it almost made me fall in love with beety roots!

From what I have tasted, this is what I have conjured, I am sure I am missing a few ingredients and adding stuff that I like, but I manage to get the taste and more, nevertheless... my Recipe for your tired tongue :-)
Ingredients
Grate beetroot, could be just 1 big one. Grate or grind half  a coconut to get say 1 or half a cup.
Wash a handful of curry leaves and keep them ready, you never know who might just chew them up.
Chop a little piece of ginger into very tiny pieces as an ode to Hopkins and his fetish for fingers!
I love peanuts, so I will add these as well, 1/4 cup is good. You could skip this if you are not pro-peanuts or peanuts symbolize something else alltogether. We would need some mustard and pepper corns too for the seasoning. You could use a green chilli or more to spice it up. A little oil and a tbspn of ghee would just clinch it.
Action time
Now pull out that battered yet shining warrior, well  frying pan of yours. Pour some oil, don't overdo it as you are going to anyways mix in some ghee later. Once that heats up throw in the seeds, mustard and peppercorns, gently I mean. Toss in the curry leaves, ginger, sliced green chillies and peanuts and wait for a minute or more for them to turn a little crisp. Now you can place the grated beetroot in the pan and fry for a bit. Now is a good time to add that tbsp. of ghee. Well while you are at it and in a slight hurry, add most of the grated coconut as well, keep a little for garnishing it at the end.
Now its all about frying upto the point you think you can deal with it, longer the wait and the stirring, the crispier it gets. Just before taking it off the pan you have to add the left over coconut shavings and mix it in along with some salt. If you want you could add a teeny weeny bit of ghee again to light up your belly.

Well I am done explaining, let me know if you do take on beetroots my way and if you actually loved it.