Posts

Cooking With Lotus Roots
While on a recent trip to the Asian market to buy ingredients for sushi (my current obsession - more on that later in another post!), my husband spotted a packet of lotus stems or lotus roots.  Lotus roots in Indian style yogurt soup (kadhi) is a childhood dish we grew up eating. The roots looked just as I remembered them and my curiosity peaked enough to grab a packet in my shopping cart. Stir-fried lotus roots It turns out that the terms lotus roots and lotus stems are used quite interchangeably  - but they are the same thing, circular inner parts of lotus under water adorned with beautiful pattern as only what nature can make!  They can be boiled, sauteed, stir-fried - very versatile. They are also super rich in anti-oxidants. They are very mild in taste - which make them an ideal blank canvas to add any flavorings in. I decided to cook it two ways. First the traditional Marathi way of boiling it with Kadhi and serving with rice. The second was…

Picnic food: Pita Pockets w/ Lentil Stuffing
Impromptu picnics are so much fun. All you need is good weather, a yummy picnic basket, a nearby park and you can look forward to a sunny afternoon filled with good food and company of the people you love! There are a bunch of very nice parks near our place, some boasting of lakes and boating, others with tennis courts and huge play structures for kids and yet others with cool redwood coves - so any given weekend morning when the picnic fever sets in, we pack our lunches, grab some toys for the little ones and a cozy book for the older ones and head out the door with our rusty picnic mat. I have a couple of go-to picnic recipes which rely on ingredients that are always in my pantry or fridge. And these pita pockets with lentil stuffings are one of the family favorite ones. It needs a bit of prep time but it's very filling and the variations of "make-your-own-pita-pocket" always keeps the fun going for the kids and grown-ups alike. The b…

Steamed Broccolini w/ Garlic & Reading Charlotte's Web
Spring is a great time to enjoy broccolini. For last few weeks I have been seeing large bunches of super fresh broccolini at our farmer's markets in California for $1/bunch. Since it's grown in abundance in spring, it's also super cheap in spring. Contrary to perception (and what I believed for many years), broccolini is not baby broccoli. Though they are so much alike in looks and taste! It is a spring vegetable similar to broccoli but with long thin stem and a slightly stronger taste.  Wikipedia  calls it a hybrid between broccoli and gai lan. We love broccolini at our house and always devour it in spring for as many weeks as it's on market. While you can steam it, saute it or roast it, my favorite cooking method is to steam it and then saute lightly with garlic oil.  We bought an instant pot mini duo a few months ago and it's great for quick steaming tasks. I used the steam setting with 0 minute cook time; and released the pressur…

Hello Again... (after a hiatus)
It has been a very long time, blog, but I have missed posting here a lot. I guess life happened, things got crazy at work and at home with a new kindergartner in tow this year!  I am also not cooking as much these days, but I am hoping to change it now that I have a bit of a breather for next few months.  Last year we started on an Indian Tiffin service plan for the weekdays (one of the perks of bay area!) so I rarely cooked on weekdays for the past 6 months. It was hard to let go of food for me, but that was a practical option for our family and so we embraced it. I try to make up for it by going a bit overboard over the weekends :) One of the new entrees making a round at our dinner table these days is this veggie General Tsao's stir fry. It is a very versatile recipe - and becoming my go-to Friday evening dinner.  The thing that really pulls this together for me is this  general Tsao's stir-fry sauce  I ordered from Amazon. It's n…