lessons from Maggi episode and a recipe of REAL food | eggplant open sandwich with feta cheese and home grown rucola

Looks like Maggi has raised a generation of devotees who wouldn't listen to logic when it comes to MSG and it's being healthy, unhealthy or nonreactive in human body. I am amazed to see people who come up with 'facts' about MSG being natural and harmless, and how they have been using it for ages and are still alive. They forget the hormonal imbalances they are facing and the metabolic disorder that runs in the families.

I have some experience in consulting people with metabolic disorders and letting them heal just by switching to real food only, the reason I can say with some surety that the food like objects thrown at us by the food industry are really harmful even though we don't realise to start with. But we start noticing when the odd symptoms of IBS vanish when we switch to real food, the hormonal disturbances that just felt like a bother start getting healed and we notice the better quality of life we experience.

Better energy levels, better fitness and better lifestyle is compromised when junk food creeps stealthily on to the family dining table. Thankfully, if one realizes early and gives the body a chance, the body shows how it can heal with a little discipline practiced.

The recent controversy about Maggi is a great opportunity to investigate into each packaged food you buy, and make informed choices. You may want to see a study that indicates how MSG and trans fats together cause fatty liver disease and continued intake of these keeps damaging cells, causes cell cycle and lipid storage impairment, hepatic inflammation. No prizes for guessing that MSG and trans fats are used together in most processed foods causing chronic dislipidemia. 

Stop being trapped into a cheap packet of Maggi. Start recognizing real food, the taste will surprise you and you would start looking for more good sources of ethically grown vegetables, fruits and grains, better sources of meat, poultry and seafood. Just don't be misled by claims that everything is polluted in this world and we don't have any choice but to dig into a bowl of instant noodle.

Now let's see how do we make the real food simple, almost instant just like the instant noodles and delicious with the real taste, the way nature intended. Yes, there are some people allergic to eggplants (brinjals) too but I have myself seen how some people who were actually allergic to brinjals started eating them happily after their other diet habits were changed through a methodical personalised program, allergies sometime aggravate in the presence of other unnatural foods in the diet, once you remove those factors the allergies go on their own.

Eggplants or Aubergines are commonly called as Baingan in India. This vegetable gets mixed feelings in almost every country I guess. Some people who hate mushy vegetables never get the fortune to taste the subtle flavour that this buttery mush packs. But eggplants can be made into such delicious mush that you would start loving Baba ghaoush, Caponata, Grilled aubergines, Stuffed brinjals, Japanese style grilled eggplants and even Baingan ka chokha which is the simplest mashed vegetable we make almost twice a week. I am guilty of not sharing the baingan ka chokha recipe but I will correct that really soon I promise.

These large round variety of brinjals is considered to be good for chokha and bharta in India and we buy these by the dozen. Okay, half a dozen if not a dozen :-)

Fat round slices of the same round variety of brinjal is shallow fried to make a 'Begun bhaja' which is a Bengali classic and I have adapted the Begun bhaja to make these open sandwiches for a hearty brunch or a breakfast when I want very little bread and loads of vegetables.

Bread is always whole wheat and home baked. Open sandwiches with free form loaves make better sense and a topping like these brinjal rounds make it really irresistible.

If I tell you there is no recipe for these sandwiches and that these are the yummiest sandwiches one can have, you shouldn't be surprised. Just make it once for the sake of ease and simplicity of this recipe and get addicted to the real pleasures of real food.

Just remember to choose light weight fresh brinjals to make this sandwich topping. 

ingredients...

aubergine slices as many as you need, make more as you would consume more than you think
salt as required
mirin or balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar to drizzle ( I use mirin)
feta cheese to smear on the finished sandwiches
pepper or other seasoning if you need ( I did not need here as the peppery rucola was quite a lot)
eggs to serve the way you like
bits of bacon if you like
olive oil or mustard oil to shallow fry (I have used both and love both)

procedure ...

Slice the brinjals thickly, slash them lightly on one side and sprinkle salt generously over them all. Let them rest for at least an hour. Wash under running water and drain in colander.

Smear a skillet with oil, spread the aubergine slices slashed side down, let them brown and then flip them to cook on the other side too. Drizzle oil as required.

Drizzle with mirin or vinegar or lime juice once done and arrange over toasted bread. Smear feta cheese and top with rucola or other salad greens of choice.

If making these for a larger crowd you might want to flash fry these brinjal rounds as shallow frying takes a bit of time and doing many batches can be distressing for the cook.

Brinjals don't absorb oil when flash fried in really hot oil.

If using the oblong variety of brinjals you can only slit the brinjal into two lengthwise and shallow fry as directed.

You can also use the white or green varieties of eggplants (brinjals) for making these sandwich sliders or toppings. These greens ones grew in our garden for a few years till I removed the plants, this year we are starting to get slender purple brinjals.

Minimal effort can bring so much natural flavours from real food. This brinjal sandwich will become a favourite with your family trust me.

We even love a salad made with chunks of brinjal prepared the same way. I will update those pictures of the brinjal salad here soon, we normally have it for a quick dinner and photography doesn't happen in such times.

Tell me what interesting ways you like your brinjal?

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quick aubergine pizza : a grain free pizza that we love

There is a series of coincidences going on in my household. This weekend I was planning to bake a thin crust pizza for dinner and a neighbor couple calls and comes home. No there is no coincidence in neighbors visiting but this couple have young kids who used to come to our place long back when Mithi was alive. These kids were remembering Mithi ki mummy ka pizza and when their parents told us this, I got thinking why I had a thought of a thin crust pizza for dinner and couldn't make because of not having the home made tomato concasse ready that I use for my homemade pizzas. Nevertheless I am baking thin crust pizzas for these kids this week.

And then I was making this eggplant rollatini from World Feast and was reminded of an eggplant (aubergine) pizza that I bake sometimes and was in an impression that I have already shared it on this blog. But when I was looking for aubergine pictures in my digital clutter that the collection of my pictures is, I found these aubergine pizza pictures that were not even processed. Then I realised this aubergine pizza never made it to the blog. This aubergine pizza was made and photographed last December on a weekend, and photographed in day time. We rarely eat any kind of pizza in day time and rarely have the patience to shoot them before the cheese sets again while the pizza gets cold. That explains the absence of pizzas of all kinds on this blog except this buckwheat base pizza that I make when we have fresh rucola growing in the garden.

But none of the pizzas I bake is simpler than this one. Just slice the vegetables, layer up and bake.
No dough no distress ;-)

So coincidence or serendipity brought this aubergine pizza out of the closet and here it is. A delicious pizza can't be any better believe me. Can't be quicker either.

You just have to slice big round aubergines. Take care to use only fresh aubergines without seeds. Brush the slices with olive oil and sprinkle salt on them.

Then you slice really fresh, ripe and the most flavourful tomatoes you can get. Some sliced or minced garlic cloves, some torn basil and oregano, red chilly flakes and salt to be sprinkled. Go by your mood when deciding the quantity of seasoning and herbs. you need not sprinkle any salt over the tomatoes but go by your instinct.

Then bake for 5 minutes at 250 C in a preheated oven. Now is the time to slice some mozzarella cheese thickly and spread over the hot layers of aubergine, tomato and herbs.  Bake again for a couple of minutes till the cheese bubbles.

Serve immediately.

Bubbling stringy mozzarella cheese has a way to enhance the taste of tomatoes and aubergine. The herbs and seasonings help to get it irresistible.

You wouldn't feel the need to have a 'base' for this pizza as the aubergine slices give this pizza a stable base that holds fine. Keep the slices of aubergine a bit thick and let them cook thoroughly in the first round of baking. Sometimes I add minced red bell peppers or minced or sliced mushrooms over the tomato slice but that is not obligatory.

I have done many experiments with making a 'pizza base' using vegetables including cauliflowers, cabbage and even potato slices but the best taste was with aubergines to be honest. Although Arvind likes the potato version too.

And here is the last bit of coincidence that happened just now. I had suggested 'aubergine' as one of the vegetables to be included in the next week's meal plan of a new client of mine who is a young girl not very well acquainted with kitchen and she wrote back immediately asking for what is an 'aubergine'?

I am not joking :-)

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a day with WOW women and #Lumiaapptasting at Taj Mahal Hotel, my love for travel and a recipe of eggplant rollatini from World Feast

I am sure most of you know about The WoW Club. Women on Wanderlust is a group with a sole motto of traveling and yes it is a women only group. We all understand well that when it comes to travel alone for a woman, there are a lot of constraints that come into the way. Safety while travel, getting time out from the daily grind of handling home and work and of course the stress of booking hotels and tickets are the main deterrents in that order. I know many single women who crave to travel but keep waiting till they find a suitable travel companion. A group like The WoW Club solves all of these problems and even encourages those who have a family but can manage to travel alone to get some breather away from the family responsibilities. I met many of these women at this event who have taken to travel like fish to water and are happy like a bird. Travel makes one feel the freedom like nothing else. Out of the comfort zone and yet very very comfortable with the unknown, unseen.

So when these women on wanderlust come together for an even organised by Microsoft Devices for Lumia app tasting along with wine tasting and sampling good food, you expect an eclectic mix of women from all age groups, from all over the country having a blast. Poonam Kaul (Director Communications, Nokia) and Shabri Kashyap spoke about traveling and how cell phone apps can be helpful for travelers.

 What if the event is hosted by two boisterous punjabis adding loads of fun to the evening. Playing games with the attendees, singing songs and doling out prizes.

Many apps were introduced to the travelers present there. Some apps are really useful for a traveler like finding places worth seeing in the vicinity, finding restaurants and even clicking good pictures or selfies.

Chef Vikas Khanna released his new book World Feast at the event and wooed the audience by his charming smile as always. Rajiv Makhni (technology writer and TV host) was a live wire with antics too.

This is a hefty book with beautiful pictures and recipes that you would want to try immediately. Looks like a coffee table book but a real useful cookbook for those who want to have a taste of the world. The book has recipes from all over the world that can be easily created in an Indian kitchen, very practical recipes I must add.

The first thing I wanted to cook from this book was an eggplant rollatini that is inspired by Gordon Ramsay's eggplant rollatini stuffed with mozzarella.

This one is stuffed with ricotta and I loved this idea so much that I actually made fresh ricotta and yet finished cooking it within 30 minutes. Yummy melting ricotta infused with red chilly peppers wrapped in melt in the mouth smoky slices of eggplant. This is a recipe that defines the combination of simplicity and good taste.

Since we are getting very good round variety of eggplants in this season, I used those and made wraps instead of rolls but that doesn't change the way it tastes. Rather you can stuff more ricotta in each of those rollatini. Absolutely cheesy yummy.

I replaced the type of chilly peppers used depending on the season again. The fresh red chilly peppers are so irresistible these days and they worked so nicely for this recipe too.

recipe of the eggplant rollatini stuffed with fresh ricotta (no baking) ...

ingredients..
(2-3 servings as a side dish)
one large round variety eggplant (to make 6-7 thin round slices or equal size)
ricotta cheese 200 gm**
fresh red chilly pepper 1 large or to taste (some more for garnish)
extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp ( I used extra virgin mustard oil and the result was great)
salt and pepper to taste

procedure...

Mince the red chilly peppers and keep aside.

Slice the eggplant thinly and grill over gas flame placing them over a metal grid. You can brush them with oil before grilling or just grill them directly, I like them both ways as once cooked and lightly charred, the eggplant is heavenly any which way. You can also grill the eggplant slices in the oven but I love doing it over the flame. Flame grilling is much more enjoyable. Grill the slices on both sides till lightly charred and done.

I made fresh ricotta** while the egg plant was sliced and grilled on gas flame. The recipe of fresh ricotta is given below.

Place a pan on gas stove and pour the oil. Without waiting for the oil to heat up, tip in the minced red chilly peppers and let it sizzle for a second. Now tip in the fresh warm ricotta along with salt and pepper to taste and scramble the whole mixture to make a creamy consistency.

By now the eggplant slices will be grilled and cooked thoroughly. Place them one by one on a work surface (or chopping board), spread a generous spoonful of the warm ricotta stuffing and fold the slice to cover the stuffing. You can also roll the eggplant slice if you wish. Serve immediately. We like them warm in this weather but in summers it would be just right even when served cold.

You can arrange all the rollatini in a baking tray, spear some pomodoro sauce over it, grate mozzarella cheese over it and bake it till the cheese melts and serve bubbling hot. That makes a richer version of the classic Italian rollatini.

** To make ricotta cheese for this recipe, mix 3 cups of whole milk with a cup of fresh cream (25%) and bring to a soft boil. Take the pan off the flame and add 2 tbsp of lime juice drop by drop and stir till the milk solids curdle and whey separates. Line a strainer with a cheesecloth and pour the contents into it so the curdled cheese collects in the cheesecloth. Let it drain for 5 minutes, place in a bowl and mix using a fork or whisk so it stays creamy for the recipe. Use the whey to make soups of to knead bread dough.

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I came across these interesting lines by vikas Khanna while flipping across the pages of World Feast.

I have always felt migration can be in the physical sense covering a distance to be somewhere and it can also be a state of mind when you unlearn a few conditioned 'truths', conquer mind blocks and move into a new territory of knowledge, realization and growth. And freedom.

You don't have to migrate from one place to be into a new place, travel makes is possible to keep migrating to new places and experiencing the unknown very often to those who choose to be free.

I love going to new places, exploring the unseen, witnessing new horizons, meeting new people and learning about new cultures. Sprinkle some love for nature into this and it makes a heady cocktail that makes an experience called travel. I like being a traveler on a whim, with no definite plan to visit the touristy spots and going by instinct. I have traveled on my own and with Arvind a lot and there have been a few times when we travel in groups too especially when we go for treks and cycling expeditions etc but I think we enjoy being on our own most. Although I feel really comfortable even with strangers and I am very accommodating with my co-travelers whenever there have been such times, I feel the need to experience things in our own way is always better. For travel is a very very personal experience, we live through it differently and learn through it very very different. People and places make an impression on all of us, but slightly differently to each one of us. That defines our journey.

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eggplant raita or baingan ka raita : two recipes to make the everyday meals interesting

Eggplants are versatile vegetables found in various shapes and hues. I have grown almost all possible colours and shapes of eggplants in my gardens over the years and have found slight variations in taste and aroma etc, and the way they cook to become too soft or a little firm. Some of them have a little bitterness after cooking and some have a subtle sweetness that they impart to the baingan bharta or baba ghanoush we make with them.

I am now realizing that I haven't yet shared our traditional recipe of baingan ka chokha (eggplant mash), not even the baingan ka bharta, both being similar in looks but very different in flavours. I will correct this mistake really soon and share both the recipes. This eggplant raita or baingan ka raita recipe was long overdue since Amrita asked for it once I shared a picture of this raita with a beetroot salad recipe. Now that this raita is quite frequent on my plate owing to the ease to cook it and the way I can make variations too, I took a few more pictures and now the recipe is here. I am sharing two variations of eggplant raita. One with the green eggplants from my garden and another with the round purple variety that is also called bharta wala baingan here in north India.

These green oblong beauties are fresh from my garden and I sometimes just grill them on gas flame for a couple of minutes as they cook really fast. I never bother to peel these ones after grilling as the skin is very thin and doesn't change the taste of whatever I cook with them. I make a smooth blended raita with these which is mostly had like a thick cold soup.

Here I served it with a raw papaya paratha (with besan and atta mix) and polished off a huge bowl of this raita with just one paratha. This recipe is useful when you want to consume loads of vegetables and some calcium supplementation in your food too. I have added sesame seeds to this raita along with hung yogurt to fortify it with calcium.

Recipe of eggplant and sesame seeds raita

ingredients
(2 servings)

grilled eggplant peeled (if required) and mashed 1 cup
hung yogurt 1 cup (preferably full fat)
sesame seeds 2 tbsp
garlic cloves 5
paprika powder or mild chilly powder 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure

Powder the sesame seeds first in food processor of blender. Add hung yogurt, mashed eggplants and other ingredients together and blend till smooth. Serve as desired.

You can use fresh yogurt if you like this raita a little liquid but note that the grilled eggplant mash is quite watery too.

The round purple variety of eggplants is more fleshy and more aromatic I feel. I have not grown this variety for years now but I keep buying it whenever I see some fresh light weight eggplants of this variety. Always choose shiny, light weight eggplants with a fresh green crown on them.

These need to be flame grilled too to made into a raita. This raita is more like a mashed chunky mix of flavours that feels almost like a subzi (curry). You can make it more like a white raita by adding more yogurt or buttermilk to the recipe but it would depend what you are serving it with. Tweak the recipe as it suits you.

Recipe of chunky baingan ka raita

ingredients
(2 servings)

2 medium sized round eggplants flame grilled and peeled or 1.5 cup cleaned and mashed grilled eggplants
minced green chillies 1 tsp
minced garlic 1/4 tsp
finely diced red onions 2 tbsp or a little more
chopped coriander greens 3- tbsp
salt to taste
hung yogurt or thick yogurt 1 cup or more to suit your taste

procedure

Mash everything together to make a thick mix. Serve as required. Here I had it with a multigrain roti (flat bread) and amle ka achar along with loads of cucumber and radish batons on the side.

The kind of simple meals I like. Such meals are very good for days when you want a light yet tasty meal to satiate you.

I have shared some oriental style eggplant recipes here, please check out if you love eggplants like me and want to eat eggplants differently.

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