The pre-Diwali office pot-luck...

I've always landed up in offices where people love to eat... IETS has been no exception. The gang from the BKC office has transported their urge to eat all things nice to the Saki Naka second office untarnished and if anything enhanced :)

Sharp at 1 I got a call from Ophi summoning me to the second floor for the lunch...

The alluring part for me about this feast was the fact that almost everything was home-made...

The spread on the table started with Farrari Patties. Now this is something that is had during उपवास/upwas, so it came with a bowl of smooth and sweetened whipped dahi...

Farrari Patties

The term farrari relates to all things that are used during upwas. The potato enclosed and deep fried roundels themselves had a yummy filling of flaky hand grated coconut shavings with an interesting blend of fresh shredded herbs.

Inside the Farrari Patties...

The staples like chappatis and rice were bought to save the trouble for everyone...

To go with the rice Rajesh's wife had made a very nice and homely Sindhi Kadi (सिन्धी कढ़ी) 

Rupa had brought some Undiu--the quintessential touch of Gujarat. Awesome to eat, nightmarish in terms of logistics to make...

Aishwarya made and got a light and fragrant pulao (पुलाव)

A fragrant pulao

... and to go with it, a light and interesting mixed vegetable curry...

Shobha introduced the flavour of the Southern reaches of India with Idlies and Mulaga Podi (also know as Gun Powder, Sambhar, and some awesome coconut chutney. 

Idly

Mulaga Podi aka Gun Powder

Gingelly Oil

Idly, Gun Powder (Mulaga Podi), in Sambhar

Awesome coconut chutney

I'd contributed a simple Bengali style Methi phorondiyey Phulkopi aar Palngshaker Torkari (মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি)  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry) ... Most of which was devoured by the time I landed up to click a photo for posterity... So I am guessing it was liked :)

মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry)

After the spread was done, I moved on to the sweet bit. Ophi had made her hugely popular (and trademark :P) Mangalorean Coconut Cake

Ophi's Mangalorean Coconut Cake

A piece of Ophi's Coconut Cake

Sujyothi and Beni contributed and got some yummy Kesar Jalebis

A box full of Jalebis

Jalebi

The to end the desert section, Abhijit and Venkat enleashed tubs of Fruit Salad with Ice-cream from Aditi

Of course good things in combination taste divine... So I dolloped some of the fruit salad with some coconut cake to make things happier still :)

Combo of Fruit salad, ice cream and Ophi's Coconut Cake...

Simple Vegetable Stew

I'd intended to make this yesterday in the night, but I reached home, played with the cat and promptly fell asleep.
Not a very interesting thought when  you've got to chop vegetables AND cook in the morning. :(


I learnt how to make this stew from my dad. However, usually the stock is always from the boiled meat (beef or pork). In this instance, I wanted to make it with just vegetables...


I took whole cloves (lavang), cinnamon (dar chini), cardamon (elaichi), tej patta (bay leaves), and pepper. To give a little twist I added some kari patta (curry leaves) and of course crushed some ginger and garlic. Now, for those from the South of India, the curry leaves would be a normal fixture, but I have grown up consuming stews sans this... 

Next, the vegetables got chopped...

While all the spices sputtered in hot oil in the pressure cooker...

I first added the tomatoes and quartered onions since I like a bit of their juices to pick up the fragrance of the spices and take them to the other ingredients. I use very little oil, else I could just add everything in and the oil would take it everywhere.

Next everything else went in and got stirred around...

Then I just added water and pressure cooked everything for two 'whistles' of the pressure cooker while I prepared to leave for office...

I waited impatiently for the cooker to cool enough before I packed my lunch box...

And almost scaled my palate as I rushed through breakfast (of the same stew...)

Try this one... And Bon Appétit!

Samudra Methi - Phulkopi

Waking up groggy in the mornings, I just want to get lunch cooked while I brush my teeth and run around to let the (very reluctant to wake-up-and-get-out) cat out.


I rustled this up and bought chappatis on my way to office a few days back.

I chopped up some cauliflower (aka phulkopi to us Bengalis) and dug out some samudra methi and quickly washed everything and put it in my large sieve to drip dry. I discovered samudra methi in Mumbai. You find these little bunches of baby methi that you get in bunches. A dozen bunches come for ten rupees. I have even got 18 once when I haggled with a vendor in Santacruz station late one evening. And... 20 this weekend in Dadar...! Definitely better than buying the normal methi...

I put a little oil in the non-stick pan and threw in some jeera and methi seeds till they crackled. The chopped cauliflower and sautéed them till I got a nice aroma out of them. This takes about ten minutes on my hob. On hotter hobs it will take half the time.

A few swished of the knife later, the methi was ready to join the gang...

I resisted the temptation to cover the pan since the methi would stop looking nice and green. Also the baby methi is so tender, I would get some mash if I did this. 

A few minutes later my lunch was ready...

And this is how it looked in my lunch dabba...

Phulkopir Torkari

This started out as a make-do curry cooked for a quick lunch. After some incessant gorging on yummy Bengali wedding food at Vaswar's marriage, I just wanted some simple home cooked food. I took what ever was there in the fridge and in the spice cupboard and put this together.

First I smashed some ginger and tossed it in with paanch phoron (Bengali mix of five whole spices) and two medium sized tomatoes in mustard oil. To this I added a little turmeric and some Kashmiri chilly powder to add some colour.

I then added the chopped cauliflower (phulkopi in Bengali) florets and coated the mixture. Covered the cooking vessel and let it cook a bit.

  Once the cauliflower is cooked a little I added some peas (the last few peas from a retreating winter :( ) and then the chopped methi.

Voila! The phulkopir torkari is ready :)