Of Sandwiches and control

What might buying a sandwich have to do with control issues one might wonder!
A lot, especially if you pay attention.

On one end of the spectrum is Jimmy John's where you in effect, cede all control over how your sandwich turns out. About 120-130 seconds after you uncertainly utter the number of the sandwich you want, and while you were still thinking of the veggies you might request or dressing you might want to hold, to assuage your guilt, the sandwich wrapped up is in your hands. If you start getting proactive and start rattling off your preferences right after choosing the sandwich number, you might as well be talking to the wind. The friendly order taker patiently waits through, what apparently she thinks is your "yadda yadda ... blah blah ...", until you pause to catch a breath, when she yells only your number to the production crew.
It makes you wonder though, somebody must have sat down to decide how much lettuce or mayo should go or not in a sandwich. From the taste of the finished product, that somebody seems less likely to be a chef and more likely a corporate head honcho.
See now what I meant about control? For your lunch, you in effect ceded control to a corporate suit to decide its specifics. I am sure it makes you feel so much better :-)

If it bothers you though, there is the other end of the spectrum in - Subway where the preparer is an artist of a very liberal predisposition and in effect refuses to accept the certainty of anything on her canvas - your sandwich, even bread. So you make choices over every little detail - salad/sandwich/wrap, bread (6 kinds), cheese (no,yes,double out of 5 kinds), toasted or not, meat selection and quantity, veggies out of a dozen choices and finally dressing - out of yet another dozen choices.
You cannot just point to a sandwich off the board and hope to escape the decision-tree that ensues. At the end of which, you have lost all interest in food and just want to pay and escape their clutches. No guarantee of taste here either, but at least it was you in the driver's seat.

If either extreme isn't for you, there is a middle of the road at Potbelly's where you have either choice. Pick a number and let them do it all, or pick a number and customize. They achieved this nirvana by limiting your choices to a handful (again that head honcho, but at least not a micro-manager). But if this were it life would be too simple. I have been there many times, but somewhere they manage to sneak in, what seems like a pint of olive oil into the sandwich, which drips to the wrapper, smears on your fingers and seems to stay with you for at least a week.

Any better suggestions? All I want is a decent sandwich.

Natural healing through spices

The spice-rack of an Indian food lover is usually a chaotic assortment of a large number of spices with wide ranging tastes, smells and flavors. From sweet-smelling cinnamon to vile tasting fenugreek, from earthy cumin to sharp cloves there are many individual flavors and smells to choose from and an almost unlimited number of combinations. Besides being excellent additions to food, these spices are also said to hold medicinal properties.
Many of us have suffered natural remedies for everyday ailments at the hands of our mothers or grandmas. Here's a list of recommendations for medicinal usage of Indian spices. Now before you read any further, let me warn you not to depend on these remedies as your fallback option in case 'healthcare reform' begins to suck big time. The author a.k.a. I offer no express guarantees for the efficacy of any of these remedies. Heck! I don't even think many of them would taste good either. Now that the standard disclaimers have been dispensed with, here goes:

COMMON COLD: Mix a gram of cinnamon powder with a tsp of honey to Cure cold.
Prepare tea adding ginger, clove, bay Leaf and black pepper. Drink twice a day.
Ginger tea is very good to cure cold. Preparation of tea: cut ginger into small pieces and boil it with water, boil it a few times and then add sugar to sweeten and milk to taste, and drink it hot.
DRY COUGHS.
Add a gram of turmeric (haldi) powder to a tsp of honey to cure dry cough.
Chew on a whole cardamom.
BLOCKED NOSE: Tbsp of crushed carom seeds (ajwain) and tie it in a cloth and inhale it.
SORE THROAT: 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera) + few small pieces of dry Ginger to a glass of boiling water. Simmer it for a few minutes, and Then let it cool. Drink it twice daily. This will cure cold & sore throat.
Boil carom seeds (ajwain) in water and inhale the steam.
BACKACHE: Rub ginger paste on the back to get relief.
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: Chew 1-2 garlic cloves first thing in the morning with water.
(Nobody may come near you all day leading to a relaxed mind ;-)

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: 1 tbsp ginger (adrak) juice+1 tbsp ground cumin seeds (jeera) twice a day.
MIGRAINE: Boil 1 tbsp pepper powder + a pinch of turmeric in a cup of milk, and drink for a few days.
TURMERIC: Apply turmeric powder to injuries to stop the bleeding. It also works as an antiseptic.

HEADACHES.
-Use 5 almonds with hot milk in your daily diet.
-1 gram black pepper + honey or milk, twice or thrice a day.
-Apply almond paste (or raw almond butter) to forehead.
-Eat an apple with a little salt on an empty stomach everyday.
-For headaches caused due to cold winds, apply paste of cinnamon in water to forehead.
TURMERIC
-Turmeric can be used in treating arthritis due to its Anti-inflammatory property. Add 1 tsp turmeric powder to a Cup of warm milk every day. Apply paste locally to affected areas.
-Turmeric lower cholesterol prevents formation of internal blood clots, improves circulation and prevents heart disease and stroke.
HICCUPS: Take a warm slice of lemon and sprinkle salt, sugar and black pepper
On it. Suck on it until hiccups stop.
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
-To 1 glass water, add 2 tbsp coriander(dhania) seeds and bring to a boil. Let the decoction cool for some time and then strain. Drink this mixture twice a day.
-Sunflower seeds are extremely beneficial, as they contain linoleic acid that helps in reducing the cholesterol deposits on the walls of arteries.
SINUSITIS
-Mango serves as an effective home remedy for preventing the frequent attacks of sinus, as it is packed with loads of vitamin A.
-In cup of water, boil 1 tsp of Fenugreek seeds and reduce it to half. This will help you to perspire,
dispel toxicity and reduce the fever period. OR Tie a tsp of black cumin seeds in a thin cotton cloth and inhale.
TONSILLITIS
-Squeeze a lemon in a glass of water + 4 tsp honey + 1/2 tsp salt. Sip it.
-To 1 glass boiled milk, add a pinch of turmeric powder and pepper. Drink for 3 nights.

Call of the Orient...

Last Friday, like every weekend my sleek Aussie temptress beckoned me for yet another tryst. Not being very strong willed to resist her charms, I answered her call. It just so happened that we were both longing for the pleasures of the far East and an idea occurred to me - 'Honey'.

To be precise - 'Honey mustard grilled chicken'. I am drawing a blank for a better, more imaginative name for the dish we concocted. If after reading, and hopefully trying the recipe, you are struck by a sudden inspiration for a name, please let us know.

In our quest for Asian inspired grilled fare, we have had several follies, few accidental discoveries and even fewer moments of true genius. Described here is the distillate of all those experiences. Without further ado, here is the recipe:

The bird:
2.5 - 3 lbs chicken in grill-able size pieces. (too large and you have to discount for the inevitable charcoal crust. Too tiny and frequently it becomes all charcoal)

The marinade:
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp mustard preferably the kind with coarse ground seeds.
1 tbsp horseradish sauce (or a couple packets of Arby's Horsey sauce ;-)
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste. Easily substituted by a tablespoon of each - finely chopped up.
1 tbsp ground black pepper
salt to taste
optional- for an extra kick - add some hot red chilli-pepper.

Whisk it all together and apply generously on the skinned and patted dry chicken.
Leave it in the fridge overnight or at least for 3-4 hours.

Our sizzling Aussie gave the chicken thigh pieces a beautiful caramelized glaze in about 5-6 minutes each side. Needless to say, you gotta consult your own grill on this one.

Heavenlicious - may be an incorrect adjective as per British or American English, but then as we say out in the far East - communication is only partly via language. (totally made up!)

Hope you like it.

Marshmallow roasting - novices, experts and ...

What would be summer without camping, camping without campfires or campfires without marshmallows?
Frankly we don't wanna know!

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to secure a beautiful wooded spot in our favorite campground and so, went camping Friday night. Adding to all the evident pleasures of camping - the outdoors, open skies, stars and closeness to nature, is the practical utility of doing it on a Friday - its still only Saturday afternoon when you return home after a night in the woods. You are still buffered by a Sunday from the gloom and doom of Monday. (To understand my perspective better - read this)

Anyway, back to the topic of the day - Marshmallows. I mean of course we had other delectable goodies - mostly supplied by Trader Joe's - Curry flavored Naans and Pollo Asado for grilling. But the show stealer were Marshmallows as we witnessed the emergence of expertise in roasting them, as also the continued bungling on parts of others - but I jump ahead of myself.

As soon as we arrived at the campsite, we set about furiously trying to confuse each other - in other words began setting up the tent. My new rule for tents is - anything that's not pegged to the ground will confound you sooner or later. The kids watched amused as their parents unintentionally played buffoons.
Finally it was accomplished and I started our camp-fire which eventually got going. And that was when my better half decided to open the bag of marshmallows and went hunting in the woods for the right twigs for the job and we started toasting them.

The first few could best be described as charcoal encrusted marshmallow bits. And here's where my better-half began to justify the adjective- better. She methodically set about experimenting with distance from flame and position in the fire pit etc and finally figured out the perfect combination of getting toasted crispy exterior with a nearly melted interior. While the kids and I looked on in amazement. Needless to say, I tortured a couple more in a fruitless pursuit of improvement and quickly gave up. While my know-it-all older daughter quickly asserted that mom's were just like hers implying that mom had learned fast and well from her.

So, toasted Marshmallows started out as appetizers and continued on to the dessert course.
Meanwhile the main-course of Grilled Pollo Asado (Chicken marinated in Mexican Asado spices) and curry flavored Naan - also grilled briefly to warm it up, had to be content with being mere side-kicks to the 'Mallows.

For several long moments afterward we sat in the prairie looking at the stars in a quiet, moon-less night uninterrupted by any sounds and lights of civilization. At the moment, life was indeed good!!

Foodie Jaunt involving Turkey & Iran

No, We didn't visit Europe lately, nor Central Asia.
The farthest we made it to was to the new (to us) Whole Foods of St.Paul.

Now one might wonder why it took us - fervent adherents of the religion foodism, so long to get to Whole Foods. The short answer is - Trader Joe's of Woodbury.

Trader Joe's satisfies our cravings for exotic & organic fare, without burning a hole in the wallet. So, we kept making plans for a visit to Whole Foods, but then kept putting it off. Finally a couple weeks ago we visited Whole Foods of St Paul and fell in love with the store. Before I go completely off on a tangent and forget the original topic, let me just say that we found quite a few delicacies - including a curry chicken salad from the deli, yummy pastries, delicious sausages and much more.

My better-half also picked up some ground Turkey - evoking an inward groan from me. "We will have to endure some 'healthy' burgers pretty soon" was the thought that ran through my head. Well, for once, I am glad to admit that I was wrong. :-)

Following an Iranian recipe, we made some oven baked Turkey Kebabs with a few simple ingredients:
1 lbs ground Turkey
1/2 an onion chopped up
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tsp sumac (a Middle Eastern Spice with a very interesting flavor)
If you wish to spice it up some more, add a quarter tsp of Garam Masala.

Mix it well and in a baking dish flatten the mixture in an even layer about 1/2 inch thick. Even though I forgot to mention it before, you might want to spray the dish with some oil or cooking spray.
That is it! Bake it in an oven preheated to 375 deg F for about 25 minutes.
Now take 3-4 vine ripened, quartered tomatoes and place them on top of the kebab and put dish back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so.

It tastes best with some plain basmati rice cooked with a teaspoon of butter. Baked tomatoes eaten with the kebab and rice add a wonderful taste to it.

A glass of Jacob's Creek Merlot (2007) paired nicely with the meal.

As you can see, one doesn't need to spend a fortune in airfare to enjoy a Turkey Kebab a la Persia.

Vegetyranny of Vegeterribles

Twice every year, for a little over a week, we submit ourselves to a Vegetrocious diet of Vegetyrannical Vegeterribles.

In other words we go vegetarians as defined in India. Neither going to the extreme of vegans - who eschew all dairy, and nor being as liberal as European or American vegetarian tradition of eating eggs and fish as part of a vegetarian diet.

Before I was domesticated and roamed wild, I never observed this tradition and ate what I pleased and when I pleased. With extremely gentle persuasion and in fact mere hints and gestures, my better half got me to follow some traditions including this one. There was a fair bit of kicking and screaming on my part involved, especially when I was gently informed that during this period I may not supplement the blood that runs in my veins using the a certain red fluid that comes in green 750 ml bottles with a cork. With some drama I bid au revoir to those immensely considerate and beneficent friends.

It used to be that I would look upon the arrival of the Nav-ratri (literally: New Night), when vegetarianism infects us, with horror. The horror gradually mellowed to trepidation and finally into acceptance of the inevitable. Like taxes, but twice as frequent - its a certainty of life.

But this year, it was different. I can't say with a straight face that I actually looked forward to it, but the truth is (and I shudder to accept it) that I actually enjoyed myself (gasp!!). There! I said it, I enjoyed the tyranny of vegetative outgrowths of plants. And not even once did I miss a bite of a succulent steak or a juicy lamb-chop. Even the aforementioned red fluid didn't lure me to its lair in my liquor cabinet. I wondered more than once, if something was broken inside me, but then stopped thinking on those morose lines.

The household commandant of all things religious - aka the benevolent dictator of the household, being a bit more zealous in observance, eschews even cereal, legumes, beans, onion and garlic from her diet. Now a foodie may feel depressed at all these restrictions, but actually there are a plethora of choices to sustain and in fact even indulge yourself.

Here are some of the goodies that we feasted on:

- Pancakes made of dried and ground up water chestnuts. Simply mix the chestnut flour with some buttermilk, chopped ginger for some kick and season with salt and pepper and make pancakes on a hot skillet. Yummy!! :-)

- Soaked and sautéed tapioca with cumin and red pepper. The tapioca pearls are soaked in water, which is drained and they are then sautéed with cumin seeds. Salt and cayenne pepper added for seasoning.

- ... you say potato... : A very delicious soup of potatoes and tomato. This curry is called 'jhol' (literally: watery). Boil or m-wave potatoes, peel them and chop into small pieces. Fry some cumin seeds, ginger and whole red peppers in a sauce-pan and add a fair amount of chopped tomatoes. When the tomatoes are cooked well, add the potatoes - boil and simmer for a few minutes. Voila!!

- Mushrooms sautéed in butter with nothing but salt and pepper to season them. Mmmmmmm!

- Veggie soups with anything and everything available in the kitchen.

- Pan-grilled eggplant steaks ;-) : just season with salt, add some red pepper and dried mango powder or even some yogurt. Really delicious and satisfying.

And now for something really gourmet!!

On a hot skillet or tabletop grill, cook some sliced (1" thick) eggplant slices, zucchini sliced along its length, sliced red bell peppers, sliced mushrooms.

The sauce: While the above is cooking, chop some tomatoes and with a bit of chopped ginger for a kick, either m-wave them or cook them in a sauce pan with some water. To be extra fancy, remove the seeds and peel the tomatoes and when cooked thoroughly, mash them or blend them in the pan for a consistent sauce.

Assembly:

Take a round 1/2" slice of paneer (Indian farmer's cheese) or fresh mozzarella and sprinkle it with salt, pepper and some fresh parsley or dried parsley flakes. Coriander/cilantro can be used for more fragrance.

In a plate, put a slice of eggplant, stack a seasoned slice of mozzarella on it, add the assorted grilled veggies on top and finally pour a tablespoon of sauce on it.

Get creative and serve it as you please - my artistic abilities in food presentation are rather limited, hence the simple suggestion. :-)

Hope you like it.

p.s. The term vegeterribles was coined by a close friend who also gets credit for introducing me to some wonderful Vietnamese food.

Wonders of Vietnamese cuisine

If there wasn't a risk of running afoul 1.3 billion Chinese, I would claim that Vietnamese food is more sublimely delicious and in certain ways better Chinese food, but since it's impossible to avoid national prides in this day and age, I would not make the claim and rather keep the thought to myself.
After all, why try and reduce a nation's cuisine by comparing it to that of a neighbor's?

Usually we seek out and try new cuisines, but in this case, the credit goes to two good Vietnamese friends, who introduced me to the mouth-watering delicacies on offer. We have tried several Vietnamese restaurants around town and each has its own distinctive dishes that we love.

When most people think of Vietnamese foods, they picture mouth-watering Pho (soup). But there is much more to it than just soups.

Oyster wings: (Que-Viet village house) Now don't try to be cute! Oysters, like buffaloes have no wings. We have tried it in several other places, but nobody even comes within the same galaxy as the ones done by Que-Viet. Perfect balance of spice, heat and oyster sauce. Heaven on wings!!

Egg-Roll Salad: Meaty and spicy eggrolls are cut up into bite-sized pieces and mixed with sprouts, cucumber and some greens over chilled plain rice noodles. Served with fish-sauce. For an added kick, mix some hot chili-sauce into the fish sauce before pouring it over your salad. Mmmmm Mmmmm! Good!! This dish is one of the staples that we survive on.
Que Viet , Bona and Mai Village tie on having the best egg-roll salad. Though Duc's of St. Paul runs a close second.

Beef Appetizers: Here Bona takes the cake. Their Bona Beef skewers and the La-Lot Beef (marinated beef wrapped in Hawaiian La Lot leaves and fried) are superbly scrumptious.

Beef Salad: Que-Viet has virtually no competition on this one. Marinated and grilled beef served on the salad in place of egg-rolls. Very very flavorful and juicy.

I have only listed the highlights of these restaurants here. They have many more offerings on their menu that are mouth-watering. Definitely worth a try.