Bengali Stir fried carrots and beans with caramelized onions

This past weekend was wonderful, we had friends over, sneaking in the last spurt of summer before school and the somewhat faster pace of things hit. What was especially fun was, that most of the food with the exception of some shrimp and tofu were all from the backyard. The menu was simple -fresh cucumber dip, a tomato eggplant and mushroom curry, lentils with spinach, grilled shrimp (in a chili mint marinade) and tofu (soy honey glaze and this stir fry. For whatever reason, I have not done a lot with beans, just not too sure why, but this year we seem to have a bean bonanza.

This simple saute is colorful and would complement almost all meals. What is nice is that people picked on it just by itself like a warm salad. This recipe is close to a weeknight dish that my mother often made, except she used potatoes instead of the turnips and cut the vegetables smaller. I have used a combination of the yellow wax beans and the green beans to offer a nice contrast of colors.

Stir fried carrots, turnips and beans with caramelized onions

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

3 tablespoons oil (mustard or olive)

1 teaspoon panch phoron (Bengali 5-spice mixture)

1 red onion, cut into a fine dice

2 pods garlic, minced

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

2 turnips, peels and cut lengthwise into 1-inch pieces

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into length wise pieces

2 pounds green and yellow beans, trimmed and either left whole or cut into halves

(not the intent here is to have some symmetry between the vegetables in terms of sizes)

2 green finger chillies, trimmed and slit

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add in the panch-phoron and wait for the seeds to crackle.

2. Add in the onion, garlic and ginger and reduce the heat and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring the mixture frequently. At this point the onions should wilt, soften and begin to turn softly golden in the edges.

3. Add in the turnips and the carrots and mix well and cover for 5 minutes.

4. Add in the beans, chillies, sugar and salt and mix well. Cover the mixture and cook on low for another 10 minutes, the vegetables should be reasonably soft but retain just a little crunch.

5. Check the seasonings and stir in the lemon juice and serve.

Kathleen's Tea Room

LT on Whole Wheat Toast

Earlier this year, when the whether was cooler, I ventured one lunchtime to try out Kathleen's Tea Room. I think my love for tea competes very strongly with my love of wine. This visit turned out to be a fairly costly one, since I actually ended up with a ticket for parking incorrectly. Fortunately, the tea room was a lovely place to visit. A small place somewhat bring forth the appearance of an old english cluttered service room.

There tea selections were not very extensive but adequate, their service came in mismatched (as in different cups and plates for different tables) completing the atmosphere of a down home feeling.

In general, had this place been closer it would have been a good place to take a book and read on a quiter day. The tea was brewed in piping hot water (one of the most essential elements of brewing black tea). Actually a simple fact that most people overlook.

`A somewhat lopsided view of what the place looks like.

The sandwich that I ordered was nice and substantial, in fact my only complaint with it was it was too much like a good lunch sandwich rather than a  teatime sandwich. It came with a side of potato salad, healthy but a better option than potato chips.

So if like me you want something warm when there is a nip in the air, a quaint place where you can while an hour or two with friends or even your favorite book, try to take a ride up county and check this place out. If you like to collect tea and try some later, they also sell loose tea like most tearooms.

Kathleens Tea Room

979 Main Street

Peekskill, NY

914 734 5420

Stone Barnes Agricultural Center and Cafe

While we all know about the Blue Hill Restarant at Stone Barnes, there is also a little cafe with a small but quite satisfying selections of salads, sandwiches, crostada's, light baked items all of which are made from the amazing bounty of the agricultural center. If like us you want a good weather day outdoors, please to venture out to the agricultural center.

While I love to talk about food, it is one of the many attractions of spending a day here. Whether permitting you can get good exercise all across the campus, seeing animals, flowers, beautiful happenings of a working farm. The deal here is that I feel like I earn my meal.

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Onions on a conveyor belt



Hanging out with the turkeys

The above are just some snippets of a beautiful summers day with the kids and friends. It was wonderful feel like we had a picnic without having to tote a bag full of food.



Fading Away..

I would love to think that we have months and months of this beautiful summer left, but even as I go through sorting out things for tomorrow, Deepta starts second grade, I can officially tell that summer is kind of on it's way out. There are apples everywhere an official logo of fall.

I felt a little nostaglic as I put away an assortment of baby blankets I had made for Deepta, when she was little, some beautiful one in particular, color co-ordinated with the crocheted valance for the room. She is growing up. One of the weekends we had managed to get away this year, we had gone to PA, one of the highlights were watching these swans and the little cygnet, one can see why the ugly duckling lable came.

It is funny to see how protective the parents are of their little one always walking before or after the little one, depending on the situation. Not very different from any other animal.

C

The salmon, that I made was mostly to useup the herbs in the patio, it was a green marinade that I coated the fish with overnight and then grilled with the marinade on. Topped with some lovely grilled onions, the results were quite amazing. This can certainly be broiled, the onions might be a little harder to recreate in the oven.

Green Marinade Salmon

Prep Time: 4-6 hours (to marinade)

Cook Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 large piece ginger

2 pods garlic

2 green chilies

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

1 bunch (4-6) scallions

1/2 cup basil leaves

Juice of a fresh lemon

1/3 cup olive oil

2 pounds salmon steaks (I used sockey wild salmon)

Oil for brushing

2 thickly sliced red onions (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Place the peeled ginger, garlic, salt, cilantro, scallions, basil leaves and lemon juice with the oil in a blender and blend into a smooth paste.

2. Place in a ziplock bag with the salmon and marinate for 3-4 hours.

3. Heat the grill and cook the salmon for about 5 minutes on each side.

4. Also place the onions on the grill if using, and cook with the salmon. To serve, place the salmon on a plate and top with the onions and enjoy with a glass of chilled rose.

The Kati Roll Company

A kati roll is a hard concept to define. Actually the home of these amazing creations is Kolkatta, the city in India where I grew up. These amazing creations of skewered marinated chicken (hence the term Kati, which refers to a stick) are grilled to amazing perfection.

A rich flatbread called paratha is cooked on a large flat griddle, the meat is placed on the center and it is garnished with vinegared sour onions, the whole thing is rolled up and served in greaseproof paper. Quick, tantalizingly tasty, street food at it's best. The kati roll is a newer term more popular for Western clarity, since the Kati roll distinguishes itself from other rolls such as spring rolls, egg rolls, salad rolls, I think you get the idea.The magic and delight of the Kati roll is captured by the Kati Roll company, a little joint in NYC. I personally like the one on 39th street, but this really is a matter of convienience. The menu of this small place constantly bustling with action is a lovely rectangular piece of stiff paper that illustrates the name with pictures. Actually it reminds me of an Indian voter card. The walls are adorned with classic (70's) hits and larger than life Bollywood icons and the vibe is very festive with lively Indian music.

The waiters (all wearing uniformed tea-shirts), are quick and turn around business promptly. It certainly is a fun place to sit with friends, drink you masala chai and enjoy a roll. I have not tried their vegetarian rolls, but highly recommend either their chicken or shammi kabab rolls. The do a good job packaging the rolls to go, in a lined pretty bag, that actually holds the heat well. I have quite often brought them home for dinner and they need little heating. All in all an fun try.

The Kati Roll Company

49 West 39th Street

(between 5th and 6th Avenues)
New York, NY 10018

212 730 4280

http://www.thekatirollcompany.com/

The passionate tofu

A lot of people I know treat tofu as the poor step sister of paneer, the creamy rich Indian cheese. I first began using it in my cooking as a convienience (since it is more readily available) and later in my classes, to accomodate my vegan students. Eventually, firm or extra firm tofu has now become more of the norm for me rather than an exception. It actually absorbs flavor beautifully. This lovely delicate sauce that showcases two of the seasons gifts - tomatoes and red peppers offer a perfect match for the mild tofu.

The base of the sauce needs very little effort but some planning because a large part of the recipe is cooked in a slow cooker, but here again, I actually do this while I am out and about doing errands or even before I go to sleep ( now, my slow cooker does shut off, by itself), so the overnight works. Anyhow, the deep flavors of the base are coaxed to gentle flavorful sweetness and then married with a hint of spice and melowed with the richness of a touch of cream. The cubed tofu is simmered in this sauce for about 15 minutes and voila, you have a dish that is elegant, healthy and quite luscious to eat.

Tofu in a fenugreek spiced pepper cream sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes (4 hours in the slow cooker unattended)

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 medium red bell peppers

4 tomatoes

1 tablespoon grated ginger

3 pods garlic

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1.5 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons agave nectar

1.5 cups of half and half

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (sold in Indian grocery stores)

2 cups extra firm tofu cubed

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Method of Preparation

1. Dice the red peppers, removing the seeds and stalk.

2. Dice the tomatoes.

3. Place the peppers, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chili powder and salt and oil in the slow cooker and cook on the 4 hour high setting for 4 hours.

4. Place the cooked pepper mixture into a blender and add in the agave nectar, half and half, water and blend to a smooth puree.

5.Place the puree in a cooking pot and bring to a simmer, add in the dried fenugreek leaves and tofu and simmer for about 15 minutes.

6. Turn off the heat, drizzle well with the black pepper and serve with rice or crusty bread.

I think our kitchen tables, must be at their all time messy state competing only with the dinning table. We have supples and school paper work, yes, its back to school time, almost!

Tiffinwalah - An amazing meal

It is hardly a novelty to find good food in NYC, one can get almost anything that ones heart desires. This was a rainy sleepyI afternoon, my favorite kind of eweather, cool but not too cold, wet but more a rainy mist rather than pouring rain. I would have loved to walk miles and miles, but since I could not I settled for the next best thing - to walk a few blocks to find a place that caught my eye. Tiffin, in Indian parlance, referrs to snack and in South Indian cuisine this refers to items such as Dosa (lentil and rice flour crepes.

The restaurant was vegetarian, and had a simple fairly South Indian menu. What was amazing about the place was how well, it hadher created a wonderful, homey atmosphese with very little fuss.
The ambience was simple but had lots of simple character - ther decor consisted of steel Indian tiffin carriers, there are layers containers joined with a carry on handle. Each compartment is for a separate dish to make a complete meal. The simple small tables all had little ivy plants. The buffet self service had large plates and for a nice and very homey touch lots of steel bowls. A very simple accent but again very authentic and very Indian. The small tables had little ivy plants as centerpieces and a corner of the restaurant had a bookshelf and a tiny alter to Krishna.

Nothing still had prepared me for the wonder and delight of their food. My taste buds woke up with the pure crisp sharpness of black pepper in the vadas (lentil dumplings), sang with the taste of fresh ajowan in the spinach whole wheat flat breads and was cooled and satiated by the fragrant mint and cilantro chutney and cool tangy raita. I wanted to eat five times more, but time and my stomach were full. I will be back and highly recommend checking it out if your are in that neck of the woods.

Tiffinwalah
127 East 28th Street
New York City
http://www.tiffinwallah.us/

Ps. The food is very affordably priced as well.