Happiness Quotient

A colleague told me this little incident, a jolly fellow, who seems to be a person with unimaginable normalness living a worry free life (if there ever was). He was on his bike on a cool Sunday afternoon going about his way when suddenly a lady in a car swerves and stops bang in front of him practically toppling him over from his Sunday afternoon cruise. A petrified silence later, just as a mini mob was gathering around, he decided to do something which a normal person wouldn’t. He smiled, he had a large smile on his face and that was all what was needed for that lady to get that color back on her face. She got off from her car; automatically the crowd dispersed as though assuming that these two knew each other and there was no major “scene” going to take place; and she profusely apologized for her misjudgment and they went their way, shaking hands, relieved that nothing untoward or disastrous had taken place.

Now fortunately no one was hurt but just a little shaken up, and ultimately, it left both parties with just a scary memory. What ticked in me was the fact that this reaction can only come from a content person. Look back, every time you lose your mind, short fuse your temper or merely snap at someone in anger, it’s all the bottled up frustration of a past memory, situation or experience. If one is truly content and happy, it shows, and it shows in every possible situation.

I try and keep a cheerful aura around me whenever I can, this could be anytime – from the drive to work in the morning with the music on full blast or when I sipping on my coffee during a short break at work staring out from my cabin onto the vast uninterrupted view of the ocean (thinking about what’s cooking next), or even in the maddening crowds in the train ride back home some day’s (yes, I admit with my Ipod plugged in). I have attuned myself into dividing my stress time during stress time and cheerful happy content times at any other given moment. I have come to realize that the more I keep this feeling around me, the easier it is to deal with the other elements of life. Yes, there are times when things are out of hand or uncontrollable, but there’s always a break and that’s the moment you should seize to shroud yourself in happy thoughts.

Cooking makes me happy; creating dishes makes me even happier. I am the most content when I am with my ingredients and kitchen. You can wake me up at an unearthly hour and ask me to whip up an omelet and I am raring to go (yes, it has happened one summer over at a cousins place, he did not know the “C” of cooking and that fat ass was hungry at 3:00am). I love getting creative with food, and it usually does snowball into a marathon session of crazy plotting and planning which takes the better part of my time, but the end result – accolades, which in turn – makes me happy!

A small creation I whipped up during a talk-a-thon with my photographer. We were tossing around ideas on what to shoot next (another major role player in my happiness quotient), I was going Asian she wanted to go “something on bread” and that got my creative juices flowing and decided why not combine both. This little dish I created, is quite a hit, though have to still make it for a larger audience, I’d definitely like you to try it out. It’s a breeze and sure-fire hit at your next cocktail do.

Ingredients:
1 French Loaf (Sliced thickly)
1 clove garlic (minced)
2 tablsp Sesame Seed oil (you can use olive oil)

Crispy Spinach Topping
3 large bunches Spinach (washed, dried and chopped into thing strands)
1 tablsp Sesame Seeds (Til)
1 Green Chili Sliced
1 tsp Sesame Oil (Or Olive Oil)
1 tablsp of – powdered sugar, salt and white pepper (mixed)
Oil for frying

Spicy Mushroom and Tofu Topping
6 white button mushrooms finely chopped
6 Babycorn – sliced diagonally into roundels
100gms – Tofu, cut into small squares
4-5 cloves – sliced garlic
2 tablsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Celery chopped finely (optional)
1 tsp Red Chili paste
A sprinkle of five spice powder
Salt & Pepper to taste

Procedure
Mix the garlic and oil and keep aside (the longer it is kept the better it is)
Place the slices of bread on an oven proof tray and spread some garlic oil onto each slice.
Place under a grill and toast till lightly crisped.

For the spinach topping
Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel and add half a bunch of spinach strands in the oil. Make sure you don’t add too much as the hot oil tends to spill over the sides if not in a deep enough vessel. Deep fry till the color changes to a dark green. Remove with a slotted spoon over layers of absorbent paper napkins. Fry all the spinach, this should leave you with about 1½ cups of fried spinach leaves.

In a wok, heat a little oil, toss in the chilies and sesame seeds, when the seeds crackle toss in the spinach and toss around, remove and sprinkle generously with the sugar-salt-pepper powders. Keep aside.

For the Spicy Mushroom and Tofu Topping
In a small wok, heat the oil till smoky, throw in the garlic and almost immediately add the mushrooms, after a quick stir add the rest of the vegetables. Toss around with the soy sauce followed by the chili sauce. Remove and sprinkle some five spice powder and keep aside.

To serve
Top each slice of bread with the stir fried spinach, top with the spicy mushroom mix and pop into the oven for a few minutes to heat it up a bit. If serving immediately, toast the bread right before tossing your toppings.

This dish is a bit over the top with fried spinach, but the finale is a yummy toasty crunch with a spicy soft topping.

A feather in my cap

There's a fine line, there is always a fine line. I always wondered what the big hoopla was about the humble mushroom. I'v been subjected to nose wrinkling, poisoned stares and annoyed expressions through the course of mushrooms whenever ordered or made. 

This is a little anecdote year's ago, when mushrooms had just become popular in and around town. We had gone on a road trip down south with extended family and had stopped over at an udipi for lunch. Since we were a large group, peak summer afternoon sun beating down mercilessly, we were ushered into a private terraced area of the restaurant covered with banana baby trees and money-plant leaves veining their way through the walls and ceiling , brushing dangerously close to the waka-waka fan. We were seated on a pink, sunmica covered table with steel mugs of chilled water and plates laid out, spotlessly clean. Once our gang decided to accustom ourselves to the surroundings (not used to stopping over in a small unknown town, abruptly for lunch) and took our places, the laminated menu was brought out (complete with a retro poster of a bollywood movie? and Om Puri staring out at you with a grumpy expression amidst pictures of random South Indian dishes?). Everyone ordered the usual:

Group Member 1: One Idli and one Sada Dosa, two chutneys, no sambhar

Group Member 2: I'l have one Sada Dosa with a plate of Idli and make it one Idli one Medu wada in one plate

Group Member 3: One Butter-Masala-South Indian-Special-Cheese-Onion-Chilli-Dosa for me, avoid the Coriander please (like that was a hindrance)

Group Member 4: Lime Juice Soda - Sweet (poor fellow, threw up in the car. There has to be 'one' car sickness member in the group, otherwise it's not a road trip)

and so on... 

One person stood out (not me), and asked the waiter: What's todays special?

What came, was special. A simmering and spicy concoction of baby button mushrooms (not the horrid, briny, tinned ones) in a coconut gravy, true Manglorean style with steaming white fragrant rice with just a hint of chilli. Now that was what I would call a gourmet inspired dish - so what if it was in a small town, and so what if mushrooms were just in vogue. 

We landed up ordering a few of those plates, barring a few, who were tucking in the normal fare with the usual nose wrinkling - annoyed expression which was fair competition to our friend "Om Puri". 

The argument here is, why do people STILL perceive mushroom as some sort of non-vegetarian ingredient. I have seen (again, I go back in time) triumphant yelling on devouring a whole mushroom, like it was an achievement by itself. Yes, we all know its a kind of a 'edible" fungus (whoever said 'edible' and 'fungus' at the same time, scary) but it is so. I still know of a lot of people, especially vegetarians, who detest mushrooms, purely because they assume it to have a life of its own and probably a dish equalling hunting down your own game and roasting it, and somehow, that ideology just does not seem to die in some people. Well, to one's own I guess. As for those who attempted it, their triumph equalled that of crossing the thin line from vegetarianism to hardcore meat eaters (whatever makes them happy).

I enjoy this humble ingredient, always have! I have had many an experiment which rarely failed. I love stir fried mushrooms and there is an art in getting the right texture to your mushroom before using it in your final dish. Ideally mushrooms should never be washed as they absorb the water in which they are washed like a sponge, but you can and must clean them with a dry cloth, and then peel them. Look closely at the point where the stem meets the cap, with a sharp knife, reach under the cap and peel a fine layer from the stem right till the top. It should peel of easily like a hot knife on butter. Do it on all sides and you will have a perfectly dry  and pristine white mushroom cap without the need of washing it. 

You will observed that when cooked, mushrooms (especially the white button ones), which consist of a high percentage of water, release a lot of it (but natural). So if you are going to wash your mushrooms, they are going to absorb and release water while cooking. In the process, they shrivel up and turn slightly rubbery, in the process losing their earthy flavors. The right way to cook mushrooms is to thrown them in the pan with a little oil which is kept on high heat. Toss around quickly with a wooden spoon and ensure you dont squeeze any of them. No salt, no additives should be added at this point. Once you feel the oils coated the mushroom and the steams pouring out, immediately turn off the gas and plate it out, keep aside to use, as required. You can add, garlic, dry herbs or anything during the cooking process (as an added flavouring, complimenting the dish you are creating) as long as there is no water based ingredient. This is what the right texture of mushrooms in a mushroom dish should be. You can add these to gravies, sauces, pastas or anything for the matter. 

I have created a delicious dish, a spontaneous creation as I love using seasonal ingredients and mushroom being versatile, can be mixed and matched with many ingredients. This is a juicy concoction of baby Green Tomatoes, Green Garlic, tangy lemon and Stir Fried Mushrooms in an Asian stir fry sauce. 

  

Ingredients:

1 pckt Button Mushrooms - Halved

2 Baby Green Tomatoes (Diced)

4-5 shoots - Green Garlic (Finely Chopped, including the green shoots)

1/2 Lemon - Sliced Thinly

1 tablsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Light Soy Sauce

2 tablsp Oyster Sauce (Vegetarian version can be used)

Salt & White Pepper Powder

A dash of bitters (optional)

A pinch of dried celery (optional)

 

In a wok, heat the olive oil on high heat, throw in the mushrooms and toss around on high heat. When just about ready, throw in the chopped garlic and stir fry till fragrant and till the garlic has browned in a bit. Add the Soy Sauce and Oyster Sauce stir fry and tossing well without lowering the heat and add all the seasoning's. Add the lemon slices, dash of bitters and tomatoes and stir fry till the sauce coats the ingredients evenly. 

Plate it out in a shallow dish and serve immediately.   

Chasing ... Reality

I observed a jolting sight which got me thinking about a lot of things we go through in the course of life. A drive back from lunch today, stuck in traffic, head lolling due to the lack of sleep all because of the blurred life we all live - work, social, personal etc. I suddenly saw a half naked little kid probably about the age of 4 spring out of his hut and in another second his doppelgänger rushing out of the same hut and chasing him. They went round their hut twice, they ran on the footpath still chasing and being chased and ran around again repeating the same thing till they fell back on the side of the road on a small patch of dried grass laughing heartily and started munching on lollipops. The green light came on and the cars accompanied by the inevitable cacophony jolted me from my observation and I was back to reality.

Reality? what reality. I was lost in thought over something quite jarring about life and how we evolve. I re-winded my thoughts to 24 year ago, when I too recollect, running - carefree ! just like these two little kids munching on lollipops.

Think about it, every time, as kids we would be left off to play and we would land up "running"; running to catch a ball, running to chase another person, running to hide, running to throw. The finale would be an exhausted and aching body but with a very surreal satisfied feeling.

They very first game we played in life is "chase". The only difference is, the young chase because they are attuned to breaking free off anything remotely stifling or tying down and as adults we are on a chase and only land up stifling and being tied down.

Why then the first lesson in life we learn, cannot be integrated in the way we lead it. Life as you know, is one big chase or race... but have you ever considered to stop and wonder what or against whom are we racing? As kids we never considered what or whom we raced and chased, we just did it for our satisfaction. It never mattered that we caught the person we chased, nor did it matter that he was faster. In the end, we would fall back with the other and rest it out probably laugh about it and get back to our own little world, till the next time/day when the chase would begin again.

Now, all we do is chase our dreams, chase our career, constantly rushing to catch up with just generally everyone within our purview and ... I wonder, where is that pause button where we just fall back, satisfied and be able to laugh?

I have consciously vowed to integrate this little incident and lesson into my life. Pause, randomly, but pause. You deserve to have that luxury a lot more often than normal and all things materialistic will automatically cease to exist. Try it, and as I quote a term from a friends gtalk status, you'd be experiencing "Mini Moksha" every time you did.

In an anomalous way, this next dish can quite relate to what I experienced in those few moments. I call it Sweet Sago Pops. These are mildly spiced sago kabob's skewered onto sweet sugar-cane sticks to resemble candied lollipops but savoury and deep fried. Instantly, it takes you back to your fun carefree lollipop filled chasing days.

Ingredients:


3 large potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed
1 cup Sago (Sabudana)
1 tablsp Ginger Chilli Paste
1 White Onion - finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic - mashed
2 tsp Mango Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Arrowroot Powder (or Cornflour)
A Large Sugar-cane Stick
Oil For Frying

While buying the sugar-cane stick, ask the vendor to cut it into foot long pieces and peel it for you. Chop it into long finger chip size pieces when you get back home and keep aside in the refrigerator.

Soak the Sago in a cup of warm water for a few hours. It should be puffed up well and translucent.

Keep aside a handful of sago and add the seasoning's and paste to the rest and being to mash it all up well. Slowly add a little of the mashed potato and continue to mash till all the potatoes and the sago mix are all well incorporated. In a little pan, heat a tsp of oil and stir fry the garlic and onions till translucent. Top it onto the sago-potato mix and stir it up. Check salt and pepper and keep this dough aside.

To proceed add a few spoons of arrowroot or cornflour into the mix. Take one of the finger-chip sized sugar-cane stick in one hand and  a table tennis sized ball of the dough in the other. Proceed to wrap this mixture onto one end of the sugar-cane stick and squeezing it gently with your palm to resemble a kabob. Keep aside on a paper towel and proceed to make the rest of the kabob's till the mix is all used up.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel. Dip the kabob side into the oil either with your hands (if you are comfortable getting so close to the hot oil) or with a pair of tongs. Fry the pops till crisp golden brown and drain on paper towels.

Tip:
If you use a frying pan, try using a smaller but deeper one. Add only enough oil to cover the length of the kabob and place the kabob sticks, kabob side down, with the sugar cane sticks resting on the sides of the pan. This way you need'nt hold onto it or do them one at a time.

Serve with a side of fiery mint chutney and indulge your senses to a spicy starter with a chewable sweet stick you can munch on while you reminisce about your own childhood.