My New Food Blog: roodonfood.wordpress.com

For anyone who stops by - I've started a new food related blog: http://roodonfood.wordpress.com


Thanks very much.
Rajbot

Strange Food Combos/Food Hacks: Bhelpuri + Tuna

    
           
        +  









One of my favorite food hacks is: Bhelpuri + Tuna.

All You Need Is:
-A cup of bhelpuri mix (I like Surati)
-A can of tuna
-A handful of chopped onions
-Tamarind Chutney to taste
-Yogurt (optional) to taste
-Chili Powder to taste

(Combine everything in a bowl and enjoy).

The salty, soft texture of the tuna contrasts nicely with the sweetness of tamarind chutney and the crunch of bhelmix. Throw in some onions and you have a great snack.

(Reason for Creation: No chickpeas in the pantry, so improvisation).

Images Sources:

http://bombaybazaarstore.com/images/products/2725.jpg
http://howmanycaloriesshouldieatadayinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tuna-207x300.jpg

Food I'm No Longer Scared to Make: Chicken Paprikash

One of my resolutions this year is to work new entrees and spices into the repetoire.

The 1st New Dish for the New Year: Chicken Paprikash.  - I first heard the name via Master Chef back in the summer. Honestly I was interested because the name is appealing. I'd never used Paprika much other than with home fries on occasion so to have it as the lead spice was outside of my Indian food-centric comfort zone.

In learning that it uses cream heavily, I was sold. Clearly this is not for someone searching for healthy but most likely searching for delicious.

Here is the nice simple recipe I followed:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_paprikash/

The big substitution I made was to use heavy cream rather than sour cream. The final result was actually quite good. The sauce is rich and creamy with a beautiful beige-red color. The smokiness of the paprika really comes through. It's worth noting that I bought a decent one called Pride of Szegeo.  The chicken paprikash was delicious though next time boneless chicken will be used. (It makes it easier to mix in sauce). For the second helping the next day I picked up some egg noodles (which were conveniently on sale for $0.99!).

Score one for Team Hungary. I now understand why it's the official spice of that country.
I'd score this a 5 out of 5 on the Raj Food scale (ROOD).

Foods of Our Time Update / Followup 2: Seven Rivers

Quick followup: I tried the buffet at Seven Rivers ($6.99) with my brother. Just as the previous visit, the establishment was exceedingly clean. During our visit, they had rice, tandoori chicken, daal chicken, kala chana, begun aloo and a very spicy.....pasta. The daal chicken had a fair amount of heat so be weary if you can't handle spice. I was disappointed with the veg selection but the other foods were delicious. The pasta was an oddity. It was made with Indian spices and was probably the spiciest item. The nice thing however is that the manager who came out to greet (very nice guy) told us that everyday they'll feature different items. I'll definitely be back to give it another go - especially have that amazing kopi torkari (cabbage curry).

On a side note, I took a few sweets to go. I had one type which I'd never seen before called the Habshew (Habshi) Halwa. It's made with wheat and milk solids. It was wonderful. In fact I loved the other sweets from Seven Rivers as well. They're a great introduction to Indian sweets because they're not nearly as sweet as most places. Highly recommended.

Rajbot Rating: 9/10

Foods of Our Times Update: Collard Greens

Quick update on the collard greens from the Saturday farmer's market trip. 

Here is essentially what I did (serves 2):

~1/2 pound fresh collard greens

~1/4 Vidalia onion

2 cloves garlic

1-2 strips bacon or fakin bacon

salt and pepper to taste

1.5 tomatoes, diced

8 oz veg stock

a bit of olive oil

Chili Power (optional)

Coat a saucepan with a few tablespoons of oil. Add in your onions and cook until the onions are a little translucent. At this point add in crushed garlic cloves and bacon/fakin bacon/ham (the more of this you add the smokier the flavor. Allow to cook for a minute or so. Next add your diced tomato, collard greens, veg stock. Now cover the saucepan at a low-medium temperature for about 40-45 minutes (this isn't spinach so it takes awhile). Most of the liquid should be absorbed by the end into the collard. Collard should be tender but not wilted.

Add salt, pepper and chili powder to taste.

Results: I made it in the above fashion and it was not totally successful. Well, I should prefaced by saying that I liked the flavor but I'm a big fan of the stuff. As previously mentioned, my girlfriend wasn't a fan of the earthiness the first time but this version "I liked it better than last time." It's the small victories, friends.

Foods of Our Time: Grand Army Plaza: 2nd Trip to Farmer's Market

I just got back from the Farmer's Market at Grand Army Plaza. I'm proud to report the trip a success. Rather than arriving in the late afternoon as per the previous visit, I got there around 9am which meant we had first pick of most everything. The first stop of course was to the cider donuts which are mandatory (2/$1).

As the market has increased in popularity, prices have really started to come down and variety has increased as well. After last week's successful torkari I was extra excited to see what this week's market would inspire. We bought some beets which I'll probably make into a torkari (Bengali style). Some collard greens which I'd like for my friend to no longer be afraid of. We also bought some cider. Next time around I'll pick up some daikon (mullo) which is a type of radish.

We also spotted a couple of runners who had the brilliant idea of running to Grand Army (presumably from the 15th Street Roundabout and rewarded themselves with hot cider. Note to self: I will have to try this soon.

The morning was really chilly for early spring (29 degrees feels like 19) but the walk was well worth it to catch Park Slope just waking up. This year I'm really going to appreciate the spring.

Foods of Our Time Update

The other day I purchased a butternut squash and a turnip at the Park Slope Farmer's Market. After patting myself on the back a little for supporting local, I subsequently panicked a little after learning that this was not the turnip I thought I'd grown up eating. (The torkari I was thinking of was one Ma would make with finely chopped cabbage)
As it turns out Shalgam (Hindi and Bengali for turnip) is actually very common to Indian cooking so recipes aplenty. Thankfully, with Ma's advice (she suggested using some panch phoran* or jeera) and the recipe mentioned below, the dish turned out a success.
*I like this person's description of it.

Essentially I did a variation of the recipe found at The Food We Eat:
http://thefoodweeat.typepad.com/the_food_we_eat/2008/10/turnip-and-potato-curry-aloo-shalgam.html


Note: I still need to make haste and find the best way to use the recently purchased shallot. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open. Thanks.

New York Awesome: Park Slope, Brooklyn

I love my neighborhood in the Spring.

For the first time in what feels like 6 months, it's beautiful outside. We went for a walk alongside Prospect Park on down to the weekly (Saturdays) farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza. We picked up a turnip ($1/lb), butternut squash ($1/lb), and one shallot ($5/lb). I only know what to do with the butternut squash. The other two I'll need to find out a bengali kopi torkari recipe or a good American recipe for turnips.

On the way pack we stopped by the a legendary vegetable patty from Christie's on flatbush for only $2.25. Cutting over from the park we walked down 5th avenue, stopped at the park in front of the Old Stone House noshing on potato salad, macaroni salad and the patty. Life felts pretty good today. Big ups to Brooklyn

Rajbot Restaurant Review: Devi

My company was nice enough to treat me to a fancy meal at a restaurant of my choice. Since I'd wanted to try it for some time, Devi was a pretty easy final choice.

The restaurant is well designed. As soon as you walk in, you appreciate the high ceilings and wild colors. The effect is to walk into a chill palace of sorts.

We settled on Bhel puri and the crab cake appetizers. The crab cakes were tasteful but not much by way of Indianness in the spices. The Bhel Puri was nicely presented shaped in the form of a triangle. My colleague found it a bit spicy. I thought it was spot on sweet versus sour.

For entrees we made two big mistakes:
She got the Chole Bhature which was quite spicy by my standards and not terribly filling either
I got the Turkey Keema which had an unhealthy dose of salt rendering it difficult to eat.
We also got a side of Dal Makhani - this however, was fantastic. It had just the right amount of cream. Both main dishes were probably not ordered terribly often.

The cocktail I ordered was actually quite good. I believe it was called a Cilantro tonic. It was light and refreshing. It was worth noting that they bartender gave a healthy poor.

For desert we tried the Mango Cheesecake. As somewhat expected, it was very, very intense. I recommend having some coffee/espresso to go with it and you can enjoy it. Points though to the desert chef for attempting something tricky.

Overall the presentation of each and everything was great. (When you stepped away to the bathroom, you'd find your napkins refolded on the table). The next time - and there will be a next time, we will try to order something more staple.

First 5k

Yesterday's weather was quite cloudy and cool with the clouds occasionally spitting at us. We left pretty early since its a bit of a hike from Brooklyn to Harlem (Riverside Park). Arriving right on time for registration (though haven't take a wrong turn or two) we waited about an hour for the official start time of 9am. Turnout was strong with a total of close to 300 registered. Thankfully it didn't rain at all during the run itself.

This was my first 5k mind you, so I'd set the expectation low. I'd hoped that there would be a good showing of portly folks who would surely be slower than I. Sadly, few if any of these people showed up. In fact, 99% of the people were in great shape. I was even more disconcerted by the various runners club jerseys. It was clear we were to be outclassed and outranked - and we where. While the dust the other runners left behind was indeed eaten and enjoyed by yours truly I definitely picked up the pace myself versus past attempts. I ended up finishing out at 35:15 which is an improvement from my loops in prospect park (generally 10 minutes longer on average).

Overall, I loved the event and am planning on taking part of several more 5k in the next few month. The point afterall is to better yourself - so it's not worth beating yourself up over not being in first place (at least not yet?)

Pre Run Foods: Banana, Coffee and home. Maplet Nut Clif Bar (in transit)

Best Post 5k Food to Eat?

Cannoli from Ferrara's of course.

Eating With Anger on Bad Days

The week has moved along with great haste. Technically, that's not true. It has gone at the same pace as always, but the week has been the busiest at work since I started.

We've recently got a chunk of business which is fantastic but certainly makes work complicated and demanding. My job entails working in front of the computer all day which is fine (nothing to boohoo) except there has been no pause for a break outside. As is standard in whatever industry you work in everyone needs things as quickly as possible.

Because I've been working hard and probably because I look a little strung out, sales has bought me lunch a few times this week. This I realize is my reprieve. Yesterday we had a sub style sandwich and....what can I say? I attempted to stare down my sandwich. How could it challenge me? Was the sandwich a manifestation of the irritating aspects of my job? Hell, yes I realized. I tore it to shreds with my suddenly fang-like teeth. It felt good and just. I was done with the sandwich in less than 4 minutes.

Today we had prosciutto sandwiches on crunch/chewy french bread. I swear the sandwich cried for mercy - but it was just too delicious and I was just too angry. I chewed my bites beyond necessity (Part of the appeal of crunchy / chewy textures is the stress relief). I finished the sandwich is about 3 minutes.

Anger though is all consuming (get it? wacka wacka wacka!) Once I decimated the prosciutto sandwich I scoped the room only to realize there was no more food willing to take me on.

I'm not sure angry eating is healthy. I really should get out more.

New York Awesome #4: Foods of Our Time.

(Clockwise: Sauce, Fried Okra, Country Fried Steak, and Collard Greens)

Country Friend Steak Makes Me Swoon. There. I said it.

I was saying to a friend the other day that I could really go for some fried okra. The other recent craving came after seeing an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in which he had some delicious looking Country Fried Steak in West Texas. Since coming to New York from the South, I'd only had it once or twice.

As divine providence would have it, we came across a great restaurant called Lobo in our neighborhood, Park Slope which served both. It is said that if you bring together three food things together it equals good times. Not only was there gravy and steak, but the meat was fried?

Now before you judge please note that the meal was entirely vegan. Just kidding, it was fried and glorious.