Indian Cornbread

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set off to find a sea route to India. But as many men are wont to do, he just did not stop & ask for directions, he took off in the opposite direction & quite serendipitously, discovered the Americas... and a slew of new culinary gems that were to redefine classic cuisines in other parts of the world. (potatoes & chili peppers ring a bell anyone?)
Corn or Maize is a Native American staple, and corn bread is a well known comfort food in the southern parts of the US. Its baked in cast iron pans using baking powder rather yeast as a leavening agent, and hence can be whipped up quickly if the right ingredients are available.
My' Desi' tribute to Cornbread was a 'handvo' made with hominy grits combined with a store bought 'handvo' flour. The end result is a dish which tickles the tongue with the added crunch provided by the corn grits. (for those who are unfamiliar with American staples, Grits is just corn, ground to the consistency of wheat dhalia or Lapsi).

The flour & grits (in equal parts) were made into a thick batter using buttermilk. Added to this were Salt, pepper, & 2 cups of grated Zuchhini squash & other goodies & baked till Golden brown!,

Served this with a quick tomato chutney & a side of fresh garden salad (with a delightful quirky dressing!)

Comments

Unusual Ingredients - Unripe Blueberry Achar

T'was just another Summer afternoon, The kids were home for the summer holidays, getting bored, there's only so much summer reading you can force them to do, and the Indian mommy in me could no longer caution them against going out in the afternoon (I've solemnly refused to use that horrid excuse of 'You'll get a dark tan if you stay out in the mid day sun'), and so we decided to head out to Terhune orchards for the blueberry picking. The kids never say no to outings to the orchard, they LOVE the trip there, the cute yellow dogs and the cats, the chocolate crinkle and Snickerdoodle cookies, and they positively trip over grabbing buckets and heading joyfully towards the berry bushes... ... And there it ends, the younger one loses herself in her delightful imaginary worlds where she probably thinks she's hacking her way through virgin Amazon jungle, sighing at every branch that brushes against her legs, picks 2 or 3 berries as if they were a new as

Sputtering back....

I seriously feel like this scene from the movie 3 idiots .. remember this one? The way I kept racking up drafts and eventually stopped doing that as well. Lulled into complacence by the quick high from Instagram posts. Recipe measurements hastily scribbled into a Moleskine notebook faithfully depending upon my moods. The truth is that I keep over thinking the backstories needed to make the post more interesting while in reality the truth is that ideas and inspirations just occur spontaneously (like little itches , sneezes or twitches) whenever the opportunity happens to strike. Some really cool ideas that scare the beejeezus out of me and yet prove to be utterly delightful and simple in the end. Others, that seem so trivial that I feel it wouldn't be worth crowing about -- even if there are enough other recipes in that genre that get so much publicity simply because the author happens to have the right marketing knack. So in the past 4 years that I've been

Product Review: Ninja Mega Kitchen system and a recipe for Masala Dosa

One of the biggest reasons for attending conferences is the priceless experience of meeting fellow bloggers and get an invaluable exposure to all things culinary. This includes vendors with new products to savor and get inspiration from. I had no complaints about whatever appliances I had for making traditional Dosa (Traditional South Indian rice & lentil crepes) batter, a sturdy tabletop stone grinder that you could add the Urad dal, turn the timer on , and 30 minutes later, come back to a container full of fluffy, batter with the consistency of whipped egg whites. The The cons of this is the cleaning up, of the various parts, the roller, the grinding bin, the multiple trays on which the rollers need to be placed while transferring the rice & lentil batter, the invariable drips of thick batter on the counter.... you get the point, It takes quite a bit of time. I was pleasantly surprised when the appliance company, Ninja asked me if I'd like to try any of their

Panfusine

Search This Blog