Dudh Diye Lau

Literally translated as Lauki/ Bottle Gourd/ Dudhi/ Ghiya cooked with milk, a Bengali specialty for summers.

Bengalis have a knack of combining the strangest of ingredients and coming up with something very exotic. If you are craving for something extremely natural in taste, try making the Dudh Diye Lau.

One person who couldn't be happier about the fact that I am eating my vegetables is my Mum. My Mother used to make this dish at least once a week all through the summers of our our growing up years in India. How I hated it then!

She’d say, “pet thanda thakbe”, your tummy will remain cool. Bottle gourd or lauki/lau has many health benefits including a cooling effect due to its high water content.

And that’s how the lau in this recipe is cooked, in its own water!

Ingredients for Dudh Diye Lau are:

1 good looking Bottle Gourd/ Lauki/ Lau about 500 grams
Half teaspoon yellow mustard powder/ ground to a paste
Half teaspoon whole yellow mustard seeds
2-3 green chilies, broken from the center
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour/ maida
Half cup milk
2 tablespoons desi ghee
Sugar
Salt

Wash the whole bottle gourd and peel the skin. Cut small sections of the gourd and then chop each very finely.

In a wok or sauté pan, heat ghee and toss in the yellow mustard seeds, green chilies and the bay leaves. Let the mustard seeds splutter and change color to a darker hue.

Now add the finely chopped gourd. Add the powdered mustard seeds, salt and sugar. Cover and cook till the gourd is done by not mushy.
The salt will do its trick on the bottle gourd and it will release a lot of water. Let the gourd/ lauki cook in its own juices.

Mix all-purpose flour/maida and milk and sieve. Add this mixture to the cooked lauki/lau.

Mix well and lower the heat. Let the maida and milk mixture get absorbed by the vegetable. The consistency at the end should be thick and not runny. The Dudh Diye Lau should also have a balance of salt and sweet, so check the seasoning at the end. You may add a wee little ghee to finish it off.

Traditionally, bhaja bori (fried lentil bari) is added as a garnish to this dish, but I haven’t done that since I did not have any at home.

The Dudh Diye Lau is usually made for lunch and served with rice as a first course, sometimes second only to some uchche bhaja (fried bitter gourd).

Summer Solstice

I don’t know about anybody else, but Summers are a BIG deal for me here.

I behave like a squirrel during these three months of Summer, hurrying to do my bit, appearing very busy and stopping for nothing and nobody.

But I take my time to  capture in my camera Nature’s dance of happiness. I keep gazing at the blue sky through my sunglasses, get more tan than needed on my Indian skin, sit by the window and soak enough sun so that I don’t have to pop Vitamin D pills for the rest of the year.

But that’s not all, I make jugfuls of nimbu paani (which P guzzles down after his eight kilometer daily runs) or aam panna and shakes and fruit smoothies. Oh and pickles too, to sit in the sun while I dress up my window sills and put all my plants in the balcony.

There is lots to love about the summer landscape. Apart from obviously family visiting and bringing me gifts and goodies from India.

I am cherishing my golden days of Summer in Toronto and looking forward to getting my next crop of tangerines. 
Okay, I have a feeling I should make myself busy again.

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Aam Panna

"Aam" is Hindi for Mango, and "Panna" translated literally is "Emerald".

So the next time you spot young green mangoes, think of all the wonderful possibilities you can bring in your kitchen with young raw mangoes. Including a very desi reason of a glass of chilled Aam Panna, something that many Indian homes rely on to beat the searing heat of the mid 40°C of the Summer months.

My Mum would make a big jug of this Aam Panna or Aam Poda Shorbet (Roasted Mango Sherbet) during the months of late April and May when raw mangoes were showing up in the bazaars in abundance.

Green Mangoes are a source of pectin and some good acids, plus the essential nutrient of Vitamin C.

During the summer months, when dehydration is almost inevitable, the Aam Panna helps to quench thirst while working on your body to prepare it to fight against excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron. So you see, apart from being high on the taste quotient, the humble Aam Panna is well-respected health-wise too.

I am not a big fan of sour mangoes, but the roasting of the green mangoes on an open gas flame adds a smoky flavor I simply cannot resist. Plus the balance of salt (I use black salt) and sugar tempered with some dry roasted cumin seeds makes the Aam Panna an all time summer favorite.

Ingredients for Aam Panna are:

3-4 green mangoes
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
Black salt to taste
2-3 cubes of ice 
Sugar

Smoke or roast the raw mangoes. Hold the mangoes over a low open gas flame. Rotate frequently. I used my stove-top rack (remember that roti mesh?). It should take about 20-30 minutes for raw mangoes to cook till the core.
The skin will pop to let out juices and will char on all sides. Poke a fork to know if the mango is cooked till the insides.

Let the mangoes cool down completely before handling them.

Meanwhile, dry roast the cumin seeds in a pan and crush them coarsely.

Peel the mangoes and squeeze the pulp out of them. No need to show any TLC when you are squeezing, do it with all the energy that you can muster. As if you are very, very angry at the mangoes…or the summer!

Discard the pits.

In a blender, mix the mango pulp, five-six cups of water, ice cubes, black salt, sugar (I used quarter cup of fine sugar) and give it a good swirl. Add the crushed cumin seeds and give it one last whoosh.

Pour the Aam Panna in glasses and serve. You can even sprinkle a few flakes of cayenne chili. Enjoy the sweet-salty and smoky-citrusy taste of this raw mango delight.

Aam Panna is probably a very important reason why I looked forward to Summers in India. Cheers!

I am sending my Aam Panna to The Summertime Sipper Recipe Contest.

Ricardo Encore

Ricardo keeps me busy with his easy and almost artful recipes. Ricardo Larrivée is a reputed cook and food writer and hosts his own show on Food Network. They say he is “Quebec’s answer to Jamie Oliver”! They also say that Ricardo’s accent reflects his personality. Which I feel is endearing and charming and sweeps me off my feet, just like his quick and casual recipes.

Here are two very quick and easy Ricardo-recipes I made yesterday. There are two good reasons why you should make them this weekend – beer and vodka! Onion Rings are a classic American fast food everyone loves. Ricardo’s has very simple ingredients and some beer, all of which you would usually find at home. Here is how I followed his recipe:

1 large white onion
1 cup unbleached flour
2 + 2 tablespoons corn starch
Half teaspoon baking powder
1 cup beer
Oil for deep frying
1 egg
Salt and pepper

Peel and cut the onion into thick slices. Separate each slice without breaking till you get lots of individual rings.
Dust it with two tablespoons corn starch. I used a plastic box with a lid to do this. Sprinkle, shut and shake! Simple.
Make a batter with the egg, flour, two tablespoons corn starch, baking powder, pepper powder and a cup of  your favorite beer. Blend them all together till you get a smooth pancake-like batter.

Heat oil in a fryer or wok. Dip each onion ring in the batter and deep fry. Its important you do the step of dusting the onion rings with the corn starch, this helps the batter to cling to the onions all too nicely.
Fry till the rings are golden brown. Drain excess oil on paper towels.
Sprinkle some salt on the onion rings and serve immediately.
If you are mad about onion pakoras and bhajias, you will really love this!

While we are talking about madness, remember to inject a little fun and flavor this summer with these lollies for grown ups. Ricardo never fails to surprise me, and this one is extra favorite because he has turned my favorite drink – the Bloody Mary or Caesar into lollypops. 

Ingredients for Caesar Lollies:

1 oz vodka
Clamato juice (I used the spicy one)
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Lemon juice
Pepper
Salt

Pour everything in a glass, mix well and pour out in ice lolly moulds. Freeze for at least 6-8 hours. Serve the Ceaser Lollies on a bed of ice!
Now doesn’t that look delicious and dead simple?Use your imagination and make lollies with just about anything – watermelon, mango, litchi juice…There are no perimeters to a frozen delight in summer.