This blog has a new URL

As you may have noticed if you are reading this post the URL to my food blog has changed.
For reasons of global understanding

(I had to explain to many people what Bendekayi = Lady's finger and Karimb = curry meant, that doesnt say a lot about clarity)

I have changed the url of this blog to http://thebravecook.blogspot.com
I request you to update all your favourite links and blogrolls to this new url (Yeah right, like I have that many visitors)
But Pleeeeze do update your links gang!

Hurrah it's Maggi Maggi day

No, you got it wrong. I am not going to dispense gyaan about how to make Maggi. As is evident on the back of the cover it's a simple three step process. What I am doing with this post is showing off. Yes. I finally got Maggi noodles looking exactly like the advertisement and not like Shavige Payasa gone wrong. So Yay to me!!

Here's the evidence

Dress makes personality in food?

I have been watching a reality show called Top Chef and it led to a realisation that in the western world Presentation takes the center stage. Whether it comes to one's own dressing or their food's. Whatever the taste maybe first impression wows (pun intended)! I was trying to figure out the same about our Indian food. Do we Indians look for visual appeal in Indian food? When was the last time you took a good look at the Bisibelebath served in a bowl before spooning some on to your plate and gobbling it up? When was the last time you dint toss aside the measly coriander leaf which looked wasted on a bowl of vegetable pulav? In Bangalore where the hotels which make maximum profit are the fast food kinds, who even cares for presentation? Neither the cook nor the customer has the time for it. Somehow the casually put together subway sandwich also looks appealing here! I wonder how many different ways one can present a masala dosa without losing authenticity. Where am I going with this post? Well, for starters I take a look at the wonderful people out there blogging about Indian food. The first thing that strikes me are the photos of the finished product, presented and photographed beautifully. I have gone to many restaurants where the food looks great but tastes average or below whereas in a "Sagar" (I dont know why but it has become a norm in Bangalore to end the name of any hotel with that word if a fast food joint, almost like xerox) there is no time for presentation but the taste is just perfect. Which would we pick if there is no place with an ideal marriage between presentation and taste? Presentation is important but is it more important than the taste? Taste is important but would you eat something if it looks crazy?

The great American Oven

What I notice the most in Western cooking in contrast with Indian is the usage of the oven. Almost everything is grilled or baked. There is very little cooking in the pot that goes on. For that matter there is the most minimal amount of grinding too. There is a world beyond salt jars and pepper mills that the westerners havent figured out. But what I appreciate a lot is the variety of herbs and other non-spice ingredients that go into their dishes. And also I like the way they learn to distinguish the different smells of each ingredient. They know the smell of cinnamon from cumin seeds, and this after the dish is cooked. My nose hasnt caught on to this fine art and I am always at a loss for words when I am expected to identify every ingrdient which has gone inside a gravy that was served in an Indian restaurant in a foreign setting and with non Indians for company!
I have a huge oven in my kitchen right now which I havent been brave enough to start using. I am wondering if I should take a couple of recipes from the Food channel and try them out. Ofcourse it does need more patience than going out and ordering your food. So am still toying with the idea. One of the first rules in any art is to understand the audience. And my audience is the rice-rasam variety. Will I get any leeway? The lasagne, breads and cakes are all tearing me away from the regular fare. Do I dare? Watch this space and I will let you know :)

Virindh (Tamil for Farewell party)

My parents crossed the proverbial seven seas to set foot on the land of Fortunes - Amerikya yesterday. The dutiful daughter *lol* that I am I went over to my house last weekend to help them pack for their long stay there. Also got the brilliant idea of doing a Virindh for them at home instead of oily restaurant food. Moreso I wanted to spare my mom the strain of cooking for all of us when there were other last minute details to be taken care of. Yeah, I decided to cook for them! You must be thinking that for a person who blogs about cooking and recipes, it should be a child's play. I tell you, its always easier to preach than to practice. In any field!!
I decided to do the Nalagri and Shavige Payasa for them as it would be easy on their systems(not too spicy).
I have a distinct characteristic - my memory does not have instant recall for nasty things. And because of this I dint remember an erstwhile experience of cooking shavige entirely in milk (It had turned out rock solid inspite of using around 2 litres of milk).
So there I was standing in front of the stove and dreaming about accolades as I added the milk to the cooked shavige without bothering to realise that it was still hot. By the time the table was laid for lunch, the payasa had solidified! So much so that my dad had to ask me what I had made or to put it in his words "What should I imagine this to be and eat?" :). In essence I ended up making shavige payasa without much milk or sugar!
As far as Nalagri was concerned, all was well as far as the cutting and steaming in cooker went. Even the boil and all went off pretty well. But the one mistake I did was not to have PA (performance anxiety). Let me explain - whenever I cook at my husband's house, I am always afraid that what I make will become a disaster and I will get labelled as the worst cook of their family. Its not easy to take criticism from in-laws :) So I take extra care and precautions with tasting and making sure it comes out right. But at my home I was totally relaxed and ended up taking my parents for granted. My father never complains about qualityof food unless extremely provoked (his philosophy is that he is thankful to God everyday for getting atleast that much). My mom will never say anything bad about her kids. She will never criticise because her philosophy is that her kids are the best :). With this ideal setting, I never bothered to taste much or think about making it perfect. Come lunch time and the Nalagri had become solidified like a curry because I hadnt added enough water while it boiled!
Sigh! So much for a Virindh!! But the best part was everyone was so nice to me and they ate it without much fuss!
Appa amma I hope to have become better at cooking by the time you are back. A Welcome Back party is due from me :)
For the rest of my readers, please dont jump to conclusions about my recipes. They are to the T :)

Be back in some time

I havent done much cooking for a whole month and half now. So, nothing to update here. But there are a few nice recipes I do want to try out and post for example "Kadagpuli" and Kolamb". These are somethings that my mom makes as would any Iyengari person. I havent gotten around to trying out the first one but have done the second. Will post the recipe soon along with photo hopefully!