Carrot Kheer

"Carrots and milk? Anna, that sounds gross..." Mr Ladybird warned - and so I threw down the gauntlet (in this case, an oven mitt)  and declared, "Game on!" Mr Ladybird is always rather frank is his opinions on food... so I do enjoy the challenge at times. At other times it can be a bit, well, pesky! But I could understand Mr Ladybird's hesitation. He has become somewhat of a kheer snob. There, I said it! Since I started making chaval kheer (a creamy indian rice pudding), he shuns others' versions (which is really rather sweet in a stubborn kind of way).

This recipe comes from British-Indian chef and author, Anjum Anand. I have had mixed success with her recipes in the past, but I was convinced the flavour combination would work a bit like carrot cake - sounds odd yet, somehow, it works.

Carrot Kheer
1L full cream milk
250g carrots, grated
1/2 tsp green cardamom seeds, finely ground
pinch saffron
3 - 4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped pistachios to garnish
2 tbsp flaked almonds (optional)

1. Heat the milk in a wide, heavy-based saucepan, stirring and scraping the base with the spoon frequently to make sure the milk does not catch and burn. Keep cooking until it reduces by about one third - this takes about 25 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and continue cooking for another 15-25 minutes or until they are soft and the milk is as thick as you like it. (I like it at a just drinkable consistency) It will also thicken up slightly once chilled.
3. Stir in the sugar, saffron and cardamom powder, cook for another 2 minutes and taste for sweetness. Bear in mind chilling dulls the sweetness of food, so add a little more than you think you will need.
4. Cool and then place in the fridge for several hours, covered with clingfilm as milk absorbs flavours from other food in the fridge. Overnight is best to allow the flavours to infuse. When ready to eat, serve in bowls sprinkled with the nuts.

The result? Delicious, slightly carroty and beautifully scented kheer without the starchiness of its rice equivalent.

Oh.. and you'll never guess who came back for seconds ;)


Ladybird x

Quorn Tikka Masala

It's official - quorn is here!

I recently had the pleasure of receiving a number of Quorn products to try before they hit stores around the country - I know, pretty cool, huh?! Quorn is a meat free, soy free protein and is perfect for vegetarians. I have tried other such products from Sanitarium without much success or enjoyment, but quorn is in a league of its own. It really does taste good, it's very versatile.. and it has finally become available in Australia!

Below is an adapted recipe from the Quorn UK website, and makes for a very tasty dinner. The freshness of the lime and fresh coriander combined with the fragrance from the cardamom is wonderful. This is even a good recipe to try if you wanted to replace the quorn with chicken.

Ingredients

For the tikka marinade:
300g bag Quorn pieces, straight from the freezer
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 c natural yoghurt

Masala sauce:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 small brown onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
seeds from 6 green cardamoms
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 large red chilli, chopped (with seeds if you like it hot)
3 tbsp tomato purée
250ml water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves Garnish
juice 1/2 lime
freshly ground black pepper
dollop pouring cream (optional)

Method
1. Combine the tikka marinade ingredients and marinate the Quorn pieces for up to 2 hours.
2. To make the masala sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan or a saucepan nd sauté the onion, ginger, chilli and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes until softened but not coloured.

3. Add the dry spices and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes then add the tomato purée, water, sugar and salt. Partly cover and simmer this mixture gently for 10 minutes.
4. Transfer the Quorn pieces and marinade into the masala sauce and simmer gently for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the chopped coriander leaves, lime juice and freshly ground pepper. Stir in cream if desired.
6. Serve garnished with fresh coriander and a slice of lime along with basmati rice.


Quorn will be available from Coles and Woolworths by end June.
For more information, check out the Quorn website: http://www.quorn.com.au/

Ladybird x

Chaval Kheer (Creamy Rice Pudding)

Kheer comes from the Sanskrit word 'Ksira' meaning condensed milk. It is thought to be the world's oldest form of rice pudding. In fact, it is thought that the British came up with their version of rice pudding during their conquest of the subcontinent! At any rate, I adore making this dessert. Although it does take a bit of time to condense the milk by hand, I find there's something very therapeutic about all that stirring :)

Every region of India has their own take on kheer and so there are countless varieties of this heavenly Indian dessert. The basic ingredients are whole milk and sugar, then there is usually a grain. If it isn't rice, it might be whole wheat or vermicelli. Flavouring ingredients can include spices such as cardamom and saffron and it is often adorned with sultanas, nuts and sometimes even a little edible silver - who would have thought it would be possible to eat bling!

For me though, I have always thought that kheer is a very personal experience. Recipes and preferences really do differ from household to household. So, I'd like to share my recipe with you. It's very simple, but hard to resist...

Ingredients

2L fresh whole milk
Slightly less than 1/2 cup aborio rice
5 green cardamom pods
1/4 cup sultanas
3/4 - 1 cup white sugar, depending on your preferred level of sweetness.
2 tbsp pistachios, shelled and unsalted

Method

1. Wash and drain the rice in a sieve. Set aside.
2. Tap the cardamom pods open slightly.
3. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan and add the cardamom pods. Stirring constantly, bring the milk to the boil over moderately high heat.

4. Reduce the heat, add the rice and stirring attentively, gently boil for 25 to 30 mins.
5. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for another 10 to 15 mins stirring constantly with a smooth, sweeping action.
6. Remove from heat and remove and discard cardamom pods. Stir in sugar, followed by sultanas. The sultanas will plump up as they absorb the milk.
7. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate for several hours.
8. Top with shaved or chopped pistachios and serve.

Tips

• Kheer can be served cold or warm, the choice is yours!
• Kheer should be of a just drinkable consistency. If it is to thick, you can always add more milk later to thin it.
• If you're thinking.. "Arborio rice is not very Indian" - you're absolutely right, it's not! But it makes for a very creamy result ;)
• I find that organic milk makes excellent kheer, but do buy the homogenised stuff.
• Don't worry about the skin that forms on the top while you are reducing the milk, you can skim it off once the kheer cools.
  

Namaste, dear readers!



Ladybird x

Groceries in Gujarat, India

It's been a little while since my last post from Singapore and I am at last here in India! India - truly a land of contrasts, and a place where your senses are bound to be overloaded. It is a country that deeply affects its visitors. No matter what kind of person you are, India will leave a strong impression on you - you may love it, you may hate it. For me personally? I love it.

I have been looking forward to blogging about India for a long time but now that I am actually here it is proving to be a little difficult. Internet access is not always readily available, and sometimes photography of food is sometimes not just practical. However.. I will endeavour to share with you what I can.

So I'll start with where we landed - Ahemadabad in the state of Gujarat. Gujarat is in western India and is a vegetarian state of approximately 20 million people. Here we are fortunate enough to be able to stay with family which of course makes for a very homely stay in a place. One thing I love about Gujarat is that as a vegetarian state, one is spoilt for choice when it comes to food. The variety of traditional vegetarian foods available is mind blowing! I also saw so many fruits and vegetables that I had never seen let alone eaten before, so it was quite an adventure.

Most middle class Indian families in Gujarat and Rajastan purchase fruit and vegetables from mobile grocery vendors. These men wheel their carts (or lahri) through the streets calling out to advertise their wares. All you have to do is open your front door and you have a fruit and veg shop right in front of you. Beats going to a supermarket if you ask me! I just had to take a picture of this, and the vendor was only to happy to oblige.. happily posing with his wares :)

As for the quality - no doubt some of the best fruit and veg I have seen and tasted in a long time. The first thing that struck me was that they did not look perfect, and they were a lot smaller than I am used to seeing in Australia. However, this is because they are organically grown. The bananas were sooo tasty, and the tomatoes were good enough to eat whole, the carrots were almost red in colour.. I could go on and on, but alas my soon to expire internet connection prevents me from doing so!


Love,

Ladybird x

Raj Restaurant, Singapore

Greetings from Singapore! Mr Ladybird and I touched down here late last night and spent today rushing around doing some last minute shopping before we fly out to India tonight. We also got ourselves a new camera - can't wait to try it out on the trip! At any rate, all that shopping makes for a very hungry traveller, so we stopped by Little India for some lunch.






We both ordered Chole Batura - a very traditional North Indian dish. The chole is the yummy chickpea curry, and the batura are these oversized hot, and crispy puris. They are enjoyed with raw onion, and we also had some cooling raita on the side. The raita was very good - the yoghurt was freshly made and was cooling on the palate.

So a very enjoyable lunch indeed. This airconditioned, vegetarian oasis was a much needed ecscape from the heat, hustle and bustle on the streets of Singapore today.

Anyway, I had better sign off for now... Stay tuned for posts coming soon from India!

Take care for now,

Ladybird x

Channa Dal

I made this quick and easy dal with the pressure cooker this evening. Chana dal is my favourite dal of all. It's so comforting to eat.. although, I have to admit it probably wasn't the best choice of dinner given it's so warm in Sydney at the moment!

As I've mentioned in a previous dal post, there are sooo many dals (legumes) to choose from. But what is chana dal? Chana dal is produced by removing the outer layer of black chickpeas and then splitting the kernel. Of course, don't do this yourself :) You'll be able to buy chana dal in any indian food shop. Nutrition wise, chana dal is really good for you. It has a low glycemic index and is high in fibre, protein and zinc - hurrah!

Beloved pressure cooker

Cooked dal-slightly soft but holding its form

The dal after the fried garlic and spices have been added

The finishing touch - fresh coriander & lemon

You can find the recipe here. I found this recipe months ago and have been using it almost every week since then! However.. I don't use ghee in my dals, I used 1 tbsp canola oil instead. I also like a good squeeze of lemon to give it a nice lift :)

Punjabi Daal

Daal and rice is a real Indian comfort food - and it's very good for you too! In Hindi, daal means lentil- so daal can be the raw lentils, or the cooked dish. In both the raw and cooked state, there is huge variety. A lot of people think that all lentils taste the same, but they don't! It really depends on the lentil and what you cook them with, and each region of India has their own take on daal recipes.

You can do the whole soaking and boiling thing, but I just use a pressure cooker. Oh, how I love my pressure cooker friend :)

This evening I made this daal. I made this recipe up myself so I don't really know what to call it - Punjabi Daal because it's thick..(?) Anyway, here's how I made it...

Ingredients
1 cup yellow split peas
salt
1 -2 tbsp canola oil
1 chopped onion
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinammon stick
2 cloves
1 bayleaf
wedge of lemon
approx. 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method
To make this daal first sorted and rinse the daal (lentils). Then cooked the daal, 3 cups of water and a good teaspoon of salt in a pressure cooker over low-medium heat for 1 whistle (about 10 minutes). Leave the pressure cooker to sit - the pressure will gradually release by itself in about 15-20 minutes.

NB - Never open a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure either by waiting or lifting the whistle. It can be extremely dangerous. Trust me, I learnt that the hard way about 6 years ago- daal ended up pasted to the white ceiling :(

Then fry the onion in half the oil. While it is browning add the turmeric and chilli powder. Set aside.


Next you have to fry the whole spices. I use a special Indian ladle to do so, but you could do it in a small frypan too. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for a minute, then add the cinammon stick, cloves and bay leaf. Please be careful when frying - stand back as it may spit, especially as the cloves plump up and go 'pop'. Fry for about a minute.


Carefully tip the fried spices and fried onions into the cooked daal and bring the pot to the boil and simmer for a about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add a good squeeze of lemon and mix in chopped coriander.

Serve with basmati rice, and a side of vegetables. Yum yum :)


Ladybird
x

Maya da Dhaba, Surry Hills

Maya da Dhaba in Surry Hills is my favourite Indian Restaurant in Sydney. Mr Ladybird and I frequent the restaurant at least once a fortnight, and we really have a good time when we visit. So we headed there once again last night.

The service is good, and the head waiter Gary knows us by name and always makes sure that we are well looked after. He knows where we perfer to sit; what we like to drink; and, he can usually predict what dishes we will order!

Some of my favourite dishes are the Vegetable Navrattan Korma, the Panir Ka Salan. It's not on the menu, but sometimes Gary has the chef make me Cheese and spinach naan - one of my favourites! But last night our order was a little different. We ordered the Paneer ka Salan, which is strips of paneer sauted with capsicum, onion , spices and finished with fresh tomatoes and coriander. Our second dish was Punjabi Baingan which is baby eggplant pan fried with tomatoes, chillies, onions and spices. To go with that we ordered Roti, a Kashmiri Naan and of course Rice. The food, needless to say, was excellent. The only diappointment for me was the Kashmiri Naan which is traditionally a sweeter naan, filled with dried fruit and coconut. But it was way too sweet, and the crunch of the sugar sprinkled inside was a bit unpleasant, so I gave up on it. That teaches me for being too adventurous! (should have listened to Mr Ladybird's caution on that one...)

Despite that, the food at Maya is very good, and authentically north Indian, and I love that you never have to say mild, medium or hot when you order - you pretty much get it just as it would be made back in India. Incidentally, this makes Maya da Dabha a great place for us to bring guests for dinner when we have family/friends from India staying with us - we can be sure that our guests will not be disappointed.

On Eatability.com.au it only scores a rating of 6.9 which really surprises me. Maybe it is too authentic for some (?). At any rate, I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an authentic Indian meal in Sydney.

http://www.mayadhaba.com.au/

Love,

Ladybird

x

Masala Dabba (Spice Box)

Almost every Indian household has a spice box or, in Hindi, a masala dabba. It is a good way to store your spices, and keep them away from light and moisture.

A friend mentioned to me that she would like one, so I had Mr Ladybird pick up a small one from MGM Spices on Cleveland St, Surry Hills. It's a small version, and I think it's just adorable. The perfect size, especially if you're not using it every day. I haven't taken a picture of the one we got for her, but here is what it would like once filled:


The average masala dabba is made of stainless steel and has 7 individual compartments where you can store your favourite spices. The spice box also has a snug-fitting lid is sometimes see through, but I prefer complete stainless steel (keeps out the light).

So, what do you put in each compartment? It varies from household to household, but this is what I keep in my masala dabba: turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander power, cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, ajwain seeds and fenugreek seeds.

So if you are interested in Indian cooking, throw away those spices you bought in the 1990s that now resemble and taste like sawdust! Why not invest in an authentic masala dabba and start getting creative!

Some spice tips:

• Don't buy spices from the supermarket - you are sure to get ripped off, and there's no telling how long the spices have been on the shelf in that clear plastic packaging. Instead, go to an Indian spice shop.
• For spices such as cinammon, green cardamom, bay leaves, saffron, keep them in separate containers in the fridge (or else in a cool, dark place). Doing this will keep their flavours longer and ensure the flavours don't mingle together.
• Buy your spices in small quantities as they go stale and lose their flavour over time. Keep unopened spices/legumes in a sealed container in the fridge until you're ready to use them.
• Be kind and patient with yourself :) The first few times you use spices you might be disappointed with the result. But persist and experiment with them, and you will slowly develop 'a hand' for it.

Love,

Ladybird x