Sweeten that "Sour Grape"

... and then contentment set in.

period.

How easy it is to be content? I ask myself this question quite often. Scream your lungs out, but you will still have voices around you saying that "it is" not enough. I instantly shun them aside, all within and say "it is", and that's how its going to be.

Life's too short to worry about the quantum of contentment in others, that's if contentment could be measured. I notice a lot of people who are not yet in their happy zone and it stretches to such an extent that they ensure that those who are content and are within their radar are negatively affected too. A clear cut case of sour grapes. Not attainable hence call it sour and mull over it. No one said life was easy but it's the way you look at things that matter the most. If you call something unreasonable, then it is going to be unreasonable. If you are going to call it sour, its definitely going to remain sour, but only for you.

Reach out to that highest branch to grasp the fruit, smile relentlessly all the way through the climb, ignore the bugs, the pests, the thorns and you will come out victorious. The sour grape story teaches us a lesson, fabled or realistic, it does pay to learn and implement it. A theme well thought out, an ingredient which rules this weeks post, the fruit - A Grape.

Grapes may be astringently acrid and acidic but there's a hint of sweetness in them that enraptures your taste buds. A fantastic fruit which we all enjoy and relish, green or red, they are versatile enough to be used in many ways.

A nice recipe, which I relate to sweetening up the sourness in the grape, it urges you too to look at things in a different way.

Ingredients:

10-12 Green Grapes
10-12 Red Grapes
1 cup Hung Curd
2 tsp Mustard Paste (freshly made, not the French variety)
A small bunch of Fresh Mint
1 tablsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tsp Honey
A pinch of Cumin
Black Salt & Paprika to taste



Wash & slice the grapes into thin roundels and keep aside.

Beat the hung curd till smooth and add the honey, mustard paste and spices. Mix well and add the mint and coriander. Toss in the grapes and mix well. Let it sit for a while and serve chilled.

Incidentally, a lot of contentment is achieved whenever I am invited to meet with like-minded people. The bloggers who are now a part of my little world, give me great joy in preserving my contentment and making it a lot more stronger. This time we were invited over to Olive with a couple of new bloggers in our tribe (it's growing and I am loving it) and the event hosted by United Breweries Group who introduced us to their range of wines branded as Four Seasons coupled with Olives carefully selected four course meal. The event planners, Melissa & Tara from Grey had planned out a wine degustation and it turned out quite a handful.

Pairing food and wines is an art. A lot many of us (probably including me) do not know the finer nuances of the right pair, but yes, if you do make an attempt and of course, someone with a fine nose and sensitive taste guides you through it, its worth the experience and it leaves an overall sense of nirvana to your taste buds.

In India, the norm is usually not to have alcohol with food. A lot of us have the drinks before dinner and then move on to the meal. The west usually associates a drink with the food. A clearly wise habit considering you are keeping your stomach and blood stream content with the effect of alcohol dimmed by the food which you eat with it. I love having a drink while eating, not only is it fulfilling, but every sip of alcohol refreshes your taste buds to a fresh new feel and makes every bite of your food tastes like its first.

The Sauvignon Blanc with Wine Cured Grape & Goat Cheese Salad

This wine was served with the salad, I had a bit of Four Seasons Rose to begin with when we walked in and the sweetness of the rose was cutting into the flavors of the sauvignon blanc, but surprisingly, a bite into peppery arugula in the salad brought out the flavors of the wine. A clear case of sweetening the sour grapes, dont you think? sometimes its the food which matters too when pairing the wine, and it does wonders to your palate. The creamy goat cheese had a nice silky finish to the slightly biting flavors of the wine.

The Viognier with Baked Fillo - Wrapped Brie

The next pairing was The Viogner. A first timer for me and described as an intense perfume of blossom, dried apricots and peaches. The thin crusty layers of the fillo was quite a treat with a plump filling of brie (a little too much actually) with a drizzle of honey at the base, but The Viogner had its way around the full meaty feel of the dish and left the taste lingering on much after I was done with it.

Rushina of A Perfect Bite who invited us over, had the char-grilled prawns. I was not much in a sea-food mood, but I could see it did make an interesting pairing with The Voigner.

The Merlot & Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with The Chicken Shish Touk

A double whammy for me, I do have a penchant for Merlot and probably veer more towards this grape variety due to its ripe and deep flavors whereas the Cabernet Sauvignon (Their premium ranged Barrique Reserve) borders with a bit of spice hence I was reduced to alternating between both as they had been served together in front of me. Oddly, the juggle between the two was fun as my Chicken which was marinated with an overwhelming taste of cumin was excellent with the subtle yet dark fruit flavors of the Merlot and the saffron rice with which the chicken came along with went perfectly well with the Cabernet Sauvignon. Alternating between a subtle wine to a fiery dish and a rich full bodied wine with something light, is a good pairing.

The Blush Cocktail with Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee / Wild Berry Cheesecake

Dessert wines are a fledgeling introduction in India, considering we Indians do have a sweet palate to go with, I am quite surprised that dessert wines are not widely advertised or served around here. The Blush Cocktail was a heady concoction of Four Seasons Blush with Cointreau (again my favourite liqueur) and Strawberries and I did catch a piece of melon too?

If all that wine dint leave me content, I think I would be kidding myself into believing that lifes good after all !

Old is Gold

The other day, I came back from work a bit early from a slightly crazy fear ridden day, what with the Ayodhya Verdict impending like a large doomsday and everyone waiting around at work with bated breath for a snippet of news such as bombs, riots and sneaking a look out of the window once in a while. The window sneak paid heavily as every time someone glanced outside there was some shop shutting down or the conspicuous fading of traffic on the usually busy street. As the clock hand grew nearer to the verdict hour, the streets had a eerie silence and one of us stepped out to check the other offices... The building was deserted?

All right, total panic, everyone just took off. Weird how fear takes over our senses and thinking. We lose all perspectives and logic and just do what everyone else does. Anyway, point was since I was not in some warrior mood and pretty much welcomed the early holiday from work, I set off for home.

Not surprisingly, Dad too had got home from work with a similar story, offices deserted, streets empty etc. etc. Well that was it, Mom, Dad and Me, right there at home, in the middle of the afternoon, with the television on and the remote being clicked carelessly to surf between a dozen news channels, all airing the same thing, the proceedings.

Since we all had nothing better to do, we just sat around the television, with the very predictable verdict playing on. Bored as we were that a perfectly interesting day was turned to rubble, we started talking amongst ourselves. For the first time, in a long time, I had actually had a conversation with my parents. A delightful, airy, fun filled conversation with no discussion about problems, stresses, this one did this and this one did that. It was just - talk. We spoke for hours till the sun set, evening set in, the warm and jolly mood got even more delightful as dad poured out his drink and I set out to make a summery cocktail for Mum and Me. Now, I do not know if it was the sudden coincidence of all three of us being together at a unobtrusive time with the city in tension, but there was a warm feeling which set me thinking - we hardly ever spend time with the people who are closest to us. We get so busy in our own little world, that spending time, most importantly, quality, no nonsense, enjoyable time with the family, is completely lost.

When we were in a Joint Family, no matter what, as per tradition one meal was always with the family, everyone included. Tradition is the key; to maintain a lifestyle rich of culture and values, one must incorporate a little time for the people who matter most to us. I love spending time with my family, immediate yes, but also the far off and the occasional.

Tradition too can be incorporated in daily cooking. I have learnt that certain things need to be done in a certain way. I set out to make Thai Curry that night. The recipe called for a pungent curry paste to be prepared for the Red Thai Curry. I had all the ingredients, I also had the mixer ready to whizz it all up (simplified as electronics make our life now). But our conversation was still animated and underway, and someone mentioned how my grandmother used to make chutneys, pastes, korma masala - all without the help of electronics in the hey-days, using a stone pestle. I suddenly remembered her old stone pestle. I made a quick visit to the garden storehouse and located the cobwebby but rough hewed stone pestle still intact. I cleaned it up well and set about making the perfect, aromatic, Red Thai Curry paste ever.

For easy locatable ingredients, I have done away with the exotic ones and tried using locally available ingredients all in the same family. In effect, Galangal is replaced by Ginger, Kaffir Lime by Lemon Zest and Juice, Thai Chillies with our Desi red ones.

Ingredients:
(Makes 1 cup)

2-3 Fresh Red Chillies (De-seeded)
2-3 Dry Red Chillies (Washed, Soaked in Hot water and De-seeded) - reserve the water

10-12 Garlic Cloves (roughly chopped)
1.5" Piece of Ginger (roughly chopped)
1 Lemon (Zested - ensure you avoid the white pith)
and the Lemon - Squeezed separately
2-3 Stalks Fresh Lemon Grass (Chopped fine)
1 Large bunch - Coriander (Only the Stalk part)
Rock Salt to taste
1 tablsp White Pepper whole
1 tablsp Coriander seeds whole
1 Large Onion (roughly chopped)

Place all the ingredients on a wet stone pestle and proceed to smash it with the pestle using smooth circular motions. It's best to use your hands and very little or no water to collect the coarse mix while crushing. Keep grinding and crushing till you get a smashed up paste and start pasting it more with the help of a little red chilli water as and when needed. Check for salt and lemon and grind into a smooth paste.

Adjust the heat of the paste with less red chillies or more depending on personal preference.

You can store this curry paste in your freezer compartment for over a month.


I just read an excellent recipe for Thai Red Curry, so I'll save the trouble of reiterating the perfect Red Thai Curry. Make use of the paste with this recipe and you cannot go wrong. Here's the link from a fellow blogger and an excellent cook - The Perfect Bite (Thai Curry)

As they say Old is Gold, I assure you, you will change the way you look at certain recipes, if you change certain methods of cooking the traditional way (time permitting of course). I am sure, many of my readers will have some sort of stone pestle lying around somewhere (I still have a larger one being used as a planter now, I plan to bring that out in case of larger portions). If you have the time (and the arms) make use of it to grind many pastes / chutneys. It will certainly add that flavour and flair to your recipes.