Recipe: Chives pesto pasta

I’m always thrilled about working with new ingredients in the kitchen. This time around, it was chives. Yeah, I get it, it’s not exactly hipster or revolutionary but I’d always ignored chives in the herbs section of the supermarket I go to, and picked up basil or rosemary instead. Chives, as far as I knew, was at best just for garnish and I was not going to pay Rs60 for a minuscule bunch of the strange herb. Also, anyone who’s familiar with my cooking style knows that I don’t care for presentation or making my food look good. If it’s got bags of flavour, my job’s done.

Anyway, I finally picked up chives because I wanted to see if I can do more with it. And since I had signed up for the Del Monte: Blog Your Way To Italy contest, I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate it in my pasta. I was sent a packet of the brand’s Chifferi Rigati pasta:

Del Monte Chifferi Rigati pasta

And I decided to try my hand at making a pesto out of chives, which turned out quite delicious. Mixed it with pasta, topped it with cheese, a garlic-parsley seasoning and stuck it in the oven for a bit. Simple, light, fuss-free dinner. Here’s an ingredient list:

INGREDIENTS 

Pasta: 100 gm (I used Chifferi rigati but you could use Penne or fusili too)

Water – as required

Frozen corn – 1 cup

Onions – half (chopped)

Garlic – crushed – 4-5 cloves

Cherry tomato – about six (halved) – I used one regular tomato since I did not have cherry tomatoes

Garlic-parsley seasoning – a pinch

Herbed butter – one table spoon

Salt and Cracked black pepper – as required

Cheese – I grated one cube of Amul cheese:) but feel free to use any cheese you prefer

I also used a Greek salad seasoning mix with thyme, marjoram, garlic and a whole bunch of spices- it’s punchy, aromatic and slightly sweet too

For the pesto:

Chives – chopped – one bunch – 30gm

Garlic – one clove

Almonds – 6 pieces

Grated Parmesan cheese – one tablespoon

Olive oil – one table spoon

Freshly squeezed lemon juice from half a lemon 

A pinch of salt and cracked black pepper

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METHOD

Chives Pesto

Halve the almonds and garlic and toss them on a dry pan for a few seconds. You could use raw garlic too, but I have mixed feelings about it, so I always let it cook for a few seconds before using it!

Almonds and garlic dry roasted in a pan

Blend the almonds and garlic along with finely chopped chives, olive oil, parmesan cheese, pepper, salt. Add lemon juice towards the end and taste it to check if it’s well-balanced.

Powdered/grated Parmesan cheese is a boon for lazy cooks like me

Pasta

Bring water to a boil in a thick-bottomed vessel, add salt and drop the pasta. Stir once in a while to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook till its al-dente, and not leathery. The best way to check is to take out a piece of pasta, cut it and chew it. Drain excess water, wash the pasta in cold running water to stop it from cooking. Set aside; brush it with a wee bit of olive oil to prevent it from clumping together. Or add a bit of olive oil to the water while cooking your pasta.

In a pan, add herbed butter, and toss crushed garlic, onions, tomatoes and corn, some salt, Greek seasoning, garlic-parsley seasoning and black pepper.

In a bowl, mix the pasta with the veggies and the chives pesto.

Yes, it’s a green muddled mess, but it tastes fresh. The leftover pesto is a great bread-spread:)

Transfer to a baking dish. Top it with grated cheese. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese melts.

Thanks to my insane photography and plating skills, it looks dodgy and suspicious. But try it, you might like it, after all!

Made tarts with cheese and the pesto

Now, dig in. Yes, it’s messy, but a great alternative to your regular pesto, alfredo or arabiatta!

Learning to ‘adult’: part one

There was a time when catching up with friends meant liberal doses of alcohol and copious amounts of junk food. Mixing beer with Red Bull? No problemo. Bring on the fries with extra cheese. And an extra round of shots please.

Not anymore.

These days, when I’m having a party at home or ordering in food, I have to take into account which of my friends is lactose intolerant, which one is allergic to gluten, and factor in the vegans, the ones with acid reflux, the vegetarians, the meat-eaters, the ones who are okay with chicken but not seafood, the ones who like black coffee and the ones who like their coffee with some milk and sugar, friends with borderline cholesterol or diabetes, those with strange food allergies. The list is endless, and the worst part is when there’s an overlap; like, friend with acid reflux + gluten and lactose intolerance. So cooking or even deciding on a restaurant that is least likely to kill my friends is a daunting task. Or I could risk losing my friends by tricking them into eating something like this:

What you must do if you want to be friendless and forever alone.

I have been part of drunken conversations involving the nutrient content of pecan nuts and this one time I was at a friend’s place, everyone sat in a circle and opened up about their most profound food allergies yet. It was like being part of a support group for people with acid reflux. ‘Oh I know it’s hard, I’ve been through it. Don’t worry, you’ll come out stronger’. And everyone narrated their harrowing food-aftermath experiences. ‘I had some greasy Chinese food and thought I was going to die,’ someone said. The look of horror and disapproval on everybody’s faces was palpable.

A few years ago, why, even until last year, I never paid much attention to what I was eating and how it was impacting my body. I used to spend most evenings in Madras after work at this Spanish Tapas Bar (it was neither Spanish, nor Tapas, but a bar at best, kind of like the one in Cheers, where everybody knows your name) and we’d indulge in late-night shenanigans over multiple orders of patatas bravas, nachos and sangria. If it made me sick, I did not realise it. And while it was always great fun, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to that routine, for my own benefit.

It’s true that as you grow older, you ought to take care of your body with more love and care. You have to be more mindful of what you are eating and drinking; that’s precisely what I’ve been trying to do since New Year’s. So here’s a list of things I’m doing these days that I think will help me in the long run:

• I’ve cut down on coffee. Just one tiny cup to kick start the day as opposed to at least 3-4 cups that I was OD-ing on when working in an office.
• I’ve started reading the nutrient chart on the cover of packed food/ingredients and condiments. Most of them are loaded with trans-fat, artificial flavours, MSG and sugar; lentils, grains, flour, etc are all heavily processed and vegetables have pesticide traces that can harm your body. Knowing what you are eating is key to making some healthy changes.

This makes me want to go to Taco Bell, but I’ll kill my urge with salad instead.

• For the same reason as stated above, I have limited my consumption of ready-made dips, jams, juice, bread spreads and the like; you’ll be surprised at how easily you can make these things at home, and how tasty they are without the addition of all those godforsaken chemicals.
• I used to always stock my kitchen with snacks and chips. Every time I saunter into the kitchen, I’d simply pop in some heavy-calorie junk. Now I buy them very rarely, and very little so it doesn’t stay in the kitchen and tempt me.

• When I go to the supermarket, I keep a list and stick to it. Also, by-passing sections (snacks, cosmetics, bakery) where you don’t ‘need’ to buy from keeps distractions to a minimum, so your cart only has things you have listed and you absolutely can’t do without.
• I keep a bottle of water next to me, and re-fill it whenever it’s empty. It’s the best way to ensure you’re always hydrated.
• I’m okay with drinking green tea. I’m not crazy about it, but I can live with it. Which is saying a lot.
• I have made it a habit of taking a brisk evening walk, unless I’m unwell or out on work. I need my everyday outdoor fix.
• I don’t eat out much these days. I cook all my meals at home, and I’m totally cool with staying at home on weekends too, while earlier I used to insist on eating out every weekend.
• I don’t drink much either. I don’t see the need to quit because I enjoy the occasional drink and it has never been a problem. I may have a drink or two, twice a month, at the most.

Well, can’t argue with that

In other words, I’m ‘adulting’ (and trying to be excited about turning 30 in a few months).

Any tips and suggestions on healthy habits that have worked for you?

Recipe 2: Goan Vegetable Xacuti

I discovered Goa quite late in life. It was one of those places I always imagined I’d party at, with friends; do a chill road trip, bum around in the beaches and knock down a few beers. All of which did happen eventually, a couple of years back.

And since that first trip in 2013, Goa has remained a constant on our annual holiday plans. No questions asked. It’s just a question of whether we want to go during the monsoons or in February, when the New Year madness dies down. Every time we go, we discover a new facet of the beautiful state, mostly in the north side; we haven’t been to south Goa, though it’s very much on our list.

Breakfast at Curlies, Anjuna Beach

There are days, such as today, when I miss Goa – the carefree life, sun-kissed beaches, the monsoons that turn the entire state into a fresher shade of green. So I play some fun music on my laptop – Goan, Cuban or even Robin Schulz (it doesn’t matter) and cook a Goan curry. I may be vegetarian but I love the strong flavours in Goan food – the garlic, the tamarind, kokum, spices and I’m a sucker for coconut, which is used quite often in this cuisine.

One of my favourite things to do while on holiday is scour the local markets for spices and ingredients. So the last time I was in Goa, I picked up some kokum, along with other local spice mixes.

So, this is how dried kokum, a common ingredient in Konkan food, looks like (see pic below); it’s kind of like tamarind, but it tastes quite different. It gives a tangy taste to the curry; kokum extract is served as juice all over Goa and it has many health benefits. Kokum extract is mixed with coconut milk, salt and ginger-garlic-chilli paste to make Sol Kadhi, a drink which is said to aid digestion. It’s usually had after meals, or sometimes along with rice.

That black thing you see on the plate? That’s kokum

I absolutely enjoy making Goan vegetable Xacuti, a simple Goan curry – although it is best prepared with seafood, I love the vegetarian variant too, ever since I first had it at Viva Panjim in Panjim’s quaint Fountainhas neighbourhood. Here’s a quick recipe that is at once heart-warming and delicious. Disclaimer: it may not be 100% authentic, but it works for me, M and friends.

Home-made Vegetable Xacuti; you’ll find some capsicum, mustard seeds and kokum floating on my gravy. It’s okay; what’s life without little imperfections. Besides, I’m not on Masterchef! And I’m sure my variant is quite different from the traditional ones prepared in Goan households:) That’s why cooking is so much fun right? You add your own twist to food, based on your tastes and preferences. It’s so personal and subjective. And this is one rambly caption. Phew.

Ingredients:

Vegetables – I used the following, but you can go with whatever you like (except for water-based ones)

Carrots – peeled and diced – 2

Onions – 2

Garlic – 6 cloves – crushed

Peppercorns – 1 tsp (optional)

Turmeric – 1 tsp – (optional)

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tsp

Cauliflower – blanched and separated into florets – about 1 cup

Tomatoes – diced (or crushed) – 1 large

Xacuti masala – 2-3 tsp (I picked up the dry spice mix from the local market in Panaji, but it’s very easy to make it at home; here’s a recipe you can try)

Kokum extract – less than quarter cup (Soak about five pieces of kokum in some water and leave it for a few minutes; the water will turn a deep pinkish-red which is the extract. it can be quite strong, so use it as per your taste. Alternatively, you can use tamarind paste or extract.)

Coconut milk – about 3 table spoons

Note: The addition of both tomato and tamarind/kokum can make the dish really tangy. but the coconut milk mellows down the impact, so it’s okay to use both.

Tempering:

Coconut/vegetable oil – 3 tsp

Curry leaves – shredded – a handful

Coriander leaves – chopped – a handful

Green chillies – slit – 1

Method

In a thick-bottomed pan, add some oil and toss the crushed garlic followed by curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Pop in the chilli too. Add a tea spoon of turmeric (optional) and the Xacuti masala, and keep stirring. The heady aroma of garlic, curry leaves and the masala always makes me insanely happy!

Now, add the onions and cook till they become slightly pink and transparent. Next up, add the tomatoes, followed by carrots and the cauliflower florets. Add some salt. Now add the kokum/tamarind extract. Cover the pan and stir it every once in a while until the veggies are cooked. At this point, I usually add half a spoon of the masala or crushed pepper when the curry is still simmering. But hey, you probably don’t have to. Also, keep tasting every now and then to check if there’s enough salt and if the spices are balanced.

Just before turning off the gas, add the coconut milk and mix it all up. Don’t let it boil after the addition of coconut milk, because it can split. Finish off with some fresh coriander. Serve it with rice, roti or garlic Goan pao.

On being a ‘vegetarian’ foodie

There’s this misconception that you can’t be a foodie if you are vegetarian. Which is ridiculous. Whenever I recommend a new restaurant in town or gush about a cafe I went to, my friends’ immediate response is: ‘But you are vegetarian. What did you even eat?’ or ‘How can you be a vegetarian and a foodie?’. Well, I understand where they come from, but then eating meat alone does not make one a foodie. And given that one’s taste in food is highly subjective, why does it even matter? I’m vegetarian and a big foodie. Period. Now, go figure.

I don’t judge people who eat meat – M loves meat and I cook it for him at home sometimes (if it’s frozen stuff; I can’t clean and cut from scratch) – but I constantly feel the need to justify my vegetarian-ness. I don’t think non-vegetarians are ever asked: ‘but why do you eat meat?’. I have to always field questions ranging from, ‘so you like animals?’ to ‘where do you get your proteins from?’ to ‘I feel sorry for you, you don’t know what you’re missing’ and it’s exhausting to deal with this kind of condescension from people who somehow believe that they lead more fulfilling lives than you because of their food preferences.

It’s kind of like reverse-racism (I don’t believe it really exists but there are some exceptions). Food snobbery is real. I’ve seen the way some people and even restaurants treat vegetarians – like they are lesser mortals who have no business visiting a restaurant and ordering food. Look at their guts, how dare they walk in like that and order a bowl of vegetable stew.

I grew up in a vegetarian community where meat-eating was frowned upon. And I know some people in my family – those from my mom’s and grandma’s generations – who would not even go to a restaurant that serves both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. That’s just how they are and I respect that. With my parents, though, I’ve been somewhat successful in dispelling this notion and they believe that it’s perfectly okay if people choose to eat meat. Now that they have a meat-eating son-in-law, they understand it even better, although my grandma tells me every now and then that I have to convert M to vegetarian. I don’t take her seriously, so I just laugh it off.

Of course, those from my generation are a lot cooler in that respect. My sister and I don’t mind it. Have I tasted meat? Yes, from crabs to lamb to chicken to fish. Did I like it? Not really. I like vegetarian food any day, it’s a taste that appeals to me. Some of my friends are surprised I don’t like meat despite having tasted it and cooked it, but that’s just how it is. I’m not hung-up or anything but well, I’m allowed to eat what I like, yes? But if I’m marooned in an island with absolutely no vegetarian food, I’d definitely eat meat, simply because I don’t want to die of starvation. So, there, I’ve made my position clear. Let’s move on with our lives now. Have a good day folks!

Panacotta at an Italian restaurant in Delhi. *drool

Mac and cheese for the win! (Pics by M)

Recipe 1: a summery quiche

I speak so much about cooking on this blog but I’ve not posted a recipe to date. I keep taking stylised, and sometimes terrible, pictures of food I cook at home. You’ll find some of them on Instagram. So, in keeping with the randomness of this blog, I thought I’ll post a recipe, a quiche (with my own little twist), because, well, why not.

Quiche is one of my favourite baked dishes. I have only tried baking it once, and was very pleased with the way it turned out. Making the quiche crust at home is easy too if you are patient and plan ahead.

Home-made quiche

Pie Crust

For my pie-base, I followed Martha Stewart’s basic pie crust recipe

Once you prepare the dough and seal it into the tart pan, you have to blind-bake it. It sounds complicated but it’s basically just sticking the tart pan sealed with the dough into the preheated oven (set to 190 degrees for 20 minutes) with weights. You add these weights so that it presses the bottom of the pan and bakes the base firmly. I used a parchment paper topped with raw chickpeas as weights, while the standard is usually raw rice, dry beans or pennies.

Essentially, you blind-bake the pastry when you want it to be partially cooked before you stuff in the filling – to avoid a situation where your filling is baked but your crust isn’t. Get it? After the crust takes on a mild golden brown hue, take it out of the oven, and let it cool, while you get the filling ready.

And if you are using say, chickpeas as weights, don’t make the mistake of re-using the chickpeas to make hummus. I thought it was a genius idea to avoid wastage but it was inedible, mostly because the chickpeas were probably radioactive. But nobody died.

Filling

I just went with the flow as far as the filling was concerned. So here’s what my summery quiche had inside of it:

Garlic – 4-5 pods (crushed)

Onions – 2

Tomatoes – 1 large

Spinach – about 200gm (cleaned, dried and blanched)

Frozen corn – one cup

Shredded chicken – one cup. (I’m vegetarian, but M likes his meat, so in went the frozen chicken shreds)

Basil leaves – a handful

Pesto – because I’d made a fresh batch at home just the previous day and thought it’d be a good idea to add some to the filling. It added a nice zing.

Flour – one table spoon

Milk – 350ml

Butter – two tablespoons

Eggs yolks – 3 (or 2, if you don’t want it too eggy)

Grated cheese – one cup

Seasoning: crushed pepper, oregano, salt

Step 1: Veggies and chicken

Heat some butter or olive oil in a pan. Toss the crushed garlic, onions and cook till the onions are caramelized. Add the tomatoes, corn, shredded chicken (thawed) and spinach. Cook for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the pesto, topped with basil leaves.

Now toss the cooked veggies and chicken into your blind-baked tart which must have cooled by now.

Step 2: The creamy part

The standard practice is to whip cream and egg yolks together before adding it atop the veggies and chicken in the tart pan. But I somehow never liked the idea of using cream, so I made a basic Bechamel sauce instead.

Bechamel sauce:

In a thick-bottomed vessel, melt two table spoons of butter, toss a couple of crushed garlic pods. Now add one table spoon of flour, and keep tossing it so it gets cooked. At this point, add about 350ml of warm milk and keep stirring with a whisk until it starts to thicken. This will take about five minutes or more, depending on the quantity of milk. Once it thickens, remove from the stove, season with salt, pepper and some oregano, if you like. You can even add half a teaspoon of nutmeg for flavour. Now this white sauce was my substitute for cream.

Whisk in the egg yolks into this sauce and pour it over the filling in the tart pan. Mix it so it’s levelled.

Add the grated cheese. I used a mixture of Parmesan cheese and basic Amul cheese cubes (grated). Mix it, so the cheese is evenly spread up to the bottom.

Step 3: Baking

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and place the assembled tart pan inside. Let it bake for 40 minutes until the top is golden brown.

This is how mine looked. Not the best picture, but the quiche itself turned out pretty delicious, and was devoured by M and friends alike.

Did you bake/cook something recently? Do share your thoughts and some cool hacks that you’d recommend.