The Week That Was!

I was talking to a friend who mentioned how she thinks about food before going to bed and then wakes up thinking about food. That is exactly what I do. So most news articles about food are the ones I read.

This is what I saw last week regarding the dirty dozen in food (Pesticide Residue) for 2019 by the Environmental Working Group. The one that surprised me was potatoes. The rest I already knew about. While washing with water helps reduce the amount of residue. Soaking them in water with a tsp of baking soda for about 10-15 minutes and then washing them will help further.

DIY
It is also that time of the year when you are planning on getting your garden ready for planting for the season.

Here is an article that I wrote a while ago Gardening 101. If you are into making your garden look neat and pretty, here is a link to 5 easy to Install Landscape & Garden Edgings for DIY Enthusiast.

Wishing you all a happy growing season.

TV
NCIS

There are not a lot of shows I have been watching for this long. DD was about 6 years old when this show started right after JAG another favorite TV show of mine finished. Now she is college and I am still watching this show. Hmm!! Anyway I had stopped watching this for a while, now I am catching up on the shows.

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Beetroot Piratal - Beets with Spices

Beets have been a favorite of mine. The earliest memories of beets was this raita made at my grandmother's place. The other favorite way of eating is just a simple stir fry with onions and green chilies and maybe a tiny bit of sambhar powder. You can also make beetroot poriyal like this one but use beets instead of carrots.

when we were kids, we had this cook at home. She made the tastiest recipes and this is a recipe from memory of how she used to make beets. She made a paste of coriander seeds, coconuts and I am guessing chilies and maybe a bit of cumin and pepper corns. It turned out really good. I am not sure if it had the same taste because I don't remember it that clearly.

Here's the recipe in pictures,

Peel and chop the beets into small cubes.
Make a paste with coconut, chilies, coriander seeds, cumin and poppy seeds.
In a wide mouthed saute the onions and seasonings and add in the beets.
When the beets are half cooked add in the blended paste and saute till the moisture evaporates and the beets are nice and dry and the masala coated.

Beetroot Piratal
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 4 medium sized beets - 2 cups of cubed beets
2. 1/4 cup chopped onions
3. seasonings: mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves
4. salt to taste
5. 2 tsp of oil
For the Paste
6. 1 tbsp grated fresh or frozen coconut
7. 2 red chilies
8. 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
9. a pinch of cumin seeds
10. a few peppercorns
11. 1 tsp of poppy seeds (optional)
    

Method

1. Wash the beets, peel and cut the beets into small cubes.
2. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil add the cumin seeds, followed by the mustard seeds and when it pops add the curry leaves, followed by the onions.
3. Saute the onions till it starts to brown.
4. Add in the chopped beets and saute till they are half cooked (no need to add water)
5. While the beets are cooking, blend the ingredients under 'For the Paste' using about 2 tbsp of water to a fairly smooth paste.
6. Once the beets are almost cooked, add in the paste and saute till moisture has evaporated and the masala looks coated on the beets. Take about 10 -12 minutes.

Tastes good as a side or mixed in with rice. ike what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

We turned off Prime and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we found other ways to use the time.

Two news stories last week that affected me was of course the college admissions scandal and the shootings in New Zealand. We knew in our hearts that New Zealand would stand up and do the right thing and along with it a sinking feeling that incidents like this will continue to happen in the US because our politicians prefer not doing anything and reading opinion pieces like this and this is all I seem to be able to do.

The other news story was about how rich paid money to get college seats. The news wasn't particularly surprising. How is it different from what Fred Trump, Donald Trump, Charles Kushner and even legacy admissions do for that matter? Why is that the rest of the populace who does not have the money or a parent who went to one of these top colleges have to struggle so much harder without knowing what to do to get into these colleges?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/an-investigative-journalist-on-how-parents-buy-college-admissions.


Movies

Watched The Green Book. Extremely well made movie in spite of its slow pace it keeps the viewer engrossed. Fantastic acting and based off a true story this movie is worth watching.





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Currant Jelly - Using an Instant Pot

Instant Pot has become an indispensable apparatus in my kitchen . Did I tell you that already? I must have mentioned only a few dozen time surely. The Instant Pot makes an easy job of making jelly without having to spend time standing in front of a stove stirring and making sure it does not stick to the bottom. With an Instant Pot while you still have to stir occasionally, the even temperature prevents it from charring and sticking even when you let your attention wander off for a few minutes.

If you do not have an Instant Pot and have to use the stove top, use this recipe, still easy to do without very many steps. Right after we harvested currants in early summer I did a batch of the jelly and the subsequently harvested fruit was frozen. It took me about 45 minutes from start to finish and unlike on the stove top I left the Instant Pot to do its thing in the first 20 minutes and then during the next 20 minutes did an occasional stir till the jelly sets.

The currant seeds are slightly bigger in size and we do not like the texture so I filter it out but if you use a fruit this process should be even more faster. Once the fruit is cooked, blend, strain, add the sugar and cook again in the Instant Pot.



Here is the recipe in pictures,

Take the frozen currants in the Instant Pot. Cook for 25 minutes.
Once the currants have cooled blend and strain or use the juicer attachment of the blender and extract the pulp .
Add the top attachment that prevents the seeds from getting mixed with the pulp. Blend till all the pulp is extracted.
Pour the pulp and measure, I had about 1 1/2 cups.
Mix the pulp and the sugar in the Instant Pot and in saute mode, normal setting cook the mixture.
Mix the pulp and the sugar in the Instant Pot and in saute mode cook the mixture.
Cool to transfer to sterilized glass jars.

Works perfect on toast, pancakes or as a topping for ice cream.

Currant Jelly in an Instant Pot
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3 cups of frozen currant which gave about 1 1/2 cups of fruit pulp
2. 1 1/4 cups of sugar

Method

1. Take 3 cups of currant in the Instant Pot, put it in manual cook mode for 25 minutes. (Since the fruit was frozen I did not add any water. If using fresh fruit add about 1/4 cup of water.)
2. Let the pressure subside naturally. Remove the lid and let the fruit to cool.
3. Take the cooked fruit in a blender (I used the juicer attachment of the blender) and blend for 3-4 minutes. By now the pulp should be oozing out. If you are using a regular blender, blend till the fruit is mashed up completely.
4. Measure and tip the pulp back in the Instant Pot along with the sugar.
5. Put the Instant Pot in Sauté mode in Normal setting. Once the Instant pot flashes hot keep an eye, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
6. In 15-20 minutes the jelly should be set. Do a water test - put a drop of the jelly in a small plate of water and if it does not run the jelly is ready.
7. Cool and pour into sterilized glass jars.
   

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Quick and Easy Paniyaram

Paniyaram - these small fluffy round Danish style Indian savory pancakes for lack of a better term is loved by all. The kids love it and along with some coconut chutney it is perhaps the best weekend breakfast item. Why only weekend because unlike dosai or idli you need to enjoy this in a relaxed manner.


If you make idli batter half the work is already done. In a few days when the batter becomes sour and you are wondering what to do - paniyaram should be the answer.

Get the batter and the onions, chilies, curry leaves and cumin ready.
Blend the onions,chilies, cumin and curry leaves and mix it into the idli batter.
Heat the paniyaram pan, grease each hole with oil and add the batter into each hole.
Flip and cook on the other side.

The perfect breakfast for a weekend.

Quick and Easy Paniyaram
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3 cups of old Idli Batter
2. 1/4 cup of chopped onions
3. 3-4 green chilies
4. 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
5. 10 curry leaves
6. oil for making the paniyaram

Method

1. In a blender blend the onions, chilies, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
2. Add the blended onion mixture to the idli batter and mix.
3. Place the paniyaram pan on the stove, grease each hole with oil.
4. Pour about 2 tbsp of batter into each hole, drizzle oil on top(I normally don't) and let cook for a couple of minutes.
5. Flip it over and cook for another 2 minutes.
Repeat till all the batter is finished.

Serve with coconut chutney.

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