FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A thought for the Lenten season:

It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat.

Naguib Mahfouz

Mushroom Dip

THE next time you're wondering what dip to make, try this easy one out. Quick, simple and tasty.

What you need:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup button mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
100 gms cream cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter in a pan, add onion and mushroom and cook on slow heat for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add the wine. Set aside to cool. Beat cream cheese till smooth, add the onion/mushroom mixture, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well together and hey presto! it's ready for use. For a smooth finish, just pulse the mixture for a minute in a mixer.

Serve on Melba toast or crackers, garnished with a little chopped tomato.

ON THE SHELF

ROYAL Falooda Mix
EVERYONE loves falooda but no one likes to make it from scratch. Most of us prefer to order ours from local ice-cream or lassi bars, usually on a day out.

And so, full credit to my dear friend Aruna for introducing me to Royal brand falooda mix. The packet contains sabja seeds, vermicelli and pink, rose-flavoured granulated sugar. It's a one-step method. You warm a litre of milk along with a glass of water, empty the contents of the pack into it and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and then chill. Serve as it is, or topped with either jelly or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or both. Tastes as delicious as it looks. The packaging is simple. What you see is what you get!

Since I love shortcuts and anything that’s quick and easy, I’m hooked to this one. Happily enough, I also found it in my neighbourbood supermarket.

This is a product I’ll always keep handy. Serves six and at a mere Rs.50 for the 200gm pack, it won’t even make a dent in your pocket. Also available in flavours like vanilla, mango, strawberry and butterscotch, but traditional rose is the best. When you think falooda, you think pink.

SPLITZ Tamarind Concentrate
TAMARIND is the most commonly used souring agent in Indian cooking, almost on a daily basis in curries, chutneys, sambar, rasam and even in some rice dishes.

I’ve rarely bought tamarind concentrate, always preferring to use whole, cleaned tamarind by soaking it in warm water to extract its pulp or grinding it straightaway in a masala.

Shop shelves stock many brands of tamarind concentrate, but Splitz is one that caught my eye, and one that I bought, for the first time. I guess it had something to do with the packaging. With a tiny opening (that can be closed) at the top left corner of the pouch, it’s most convenient to use. You can simply squirt the tamarind straightaway into a sambar or a rasam a little at a time and adjust the taste. True to its claim, it's cooking without mess.

The product has no added preservatives. Shelf life: 24 months. A 227gm pack costs Rs. 54.

Crunchy Carrot Salad

YESTERDAY I got a "recipe exchange chain" mail from my friend, which required me to post one recipe to the first of two names that appear in my mail and then copy the chain mail and forward it to 20 others. Over a period of time I'm supposed to receive 20 easy to prepare tasty recipes, provided there's no break in the chain.

The mail helpfully suggested that you could post a recipe that you know in your head, one that you turn to when you're short of time. No sweat here. I was quite happy to not have to disengage myself from my seat in front of the computer and have to dig and delve into my recipe collection to find a suitable recipe.

This simple salad recipe is always in my head. Doesn't require any fancy ingredients. All that you need will most likely be found in your kitchen at all times. Health benefits? Plenty. Not just your dose of beta-carotene from the carrots, but also added nutrients and nutty flavour from the toasted peanuts.

Tastes really refreshing, healthy, and crunchy and most of all, so easy to prepare. Munch away on it like a rabbit.


What you need:

3 cups grated carrot
3 tbsp coconut scrapings
1 medium sized onion, chopped fine
2 tbsp green coriander, chopped fine
2 tbsp peanuts, toasted, skinned and crushed
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
Juice of half a lime
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp sugar

For the tempering:
1 sprig curry leaves
Half a teaspoon mustard seeds
A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
A teaspoon of oil

Heat the oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the asafoetida and curry leaves, give it a quick stir and remove from heat. When completely cool, mix in with the main salad ingredients. Toss well together and serve.

PS: You can vary the quantity of green chilli, peanuts and coconut a little bit to suit your taste.

TIP: To crush the toasted peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and run a rolling pin over.