The Foreign experience in India!

First of all, some of the so called 'wild' behavior of the tourists, I have witnessed myself. The thing to remember is that whenever you visit a foreign country you should take care to pay heed to the local customs and traditions. Also, I have posted some guidelines here for the tourists visiting India for the first time.

Remember, India is a huge country and for the most part it is yet to adopt the western way. Just because you see a cow walking on the road that does not mean that the whole of India is backward or is still antiquated. Frankly, I do not see why seeing a cow on the street amazes the foreigners so much. The cows are present in the villages in the west as well, so why is it that an Indian cow can attract so much attention?

Anyway, here are some of the pointers that I think foreign tourists should take a look at,
1. First of all, leave all your perceptions of India back in the west, India is not just about snake charmers, elephants and jungles. There are quite a few tourists who seem to think that Rudyard Kipling's romanticizing of India is all true when it is not.

2. Please take care not to wound the sentiments of any Indians that you may meet, do not mock them or say things about their religion. Remember that most of the Indians, especially in the south know English quite well, even the beggar on the street would know a smattering of English.

3. When you leave the airport or the train station, ask the government official or the tourism board people to help set up your transportation, other wise you are setting yourself to get fleeced. Once you enter India, think in Rupees and not dollars.

4. DO not wear skimpy clothes, it only brings unwelcome attention and what is more it is not appreciated by the locals. I know that the Indian summer can make many a westerner sweat like anything, so do not travel to India in the peak summer season. Remember that India is not LA, so take care to wear modest clothing at all times.

5. Remember to drink plenty of fluids when in India as the heat can really get to you unless you are in the north where the opposite would hold sway, north as in the Himalayas.

6. Remember to buy some stomach medicine and carry it with you at all times as most of the Indian food is 'too spicy' for almost all the westerners. If you are the kind of person who loves a bowl of hot chili, you would love the Indian food.

7. Indians are always ready to help you at the drop of the hat, so if you need assistance, you can probably ask them for assistance. Indians by and large are quite friendly people.

8. When visiting a temple, please take care to heed the local customs, some of them may seem too antiquated to you but it is not your country so remember to follow them accordingly. When it says no photo should be taken in a temple of god, which means no photo. If you do not follow that, it may result in your camera getting confiscated or worse, in you getting arrested.

9. Certain temples are off limits to all foreigners and no exceptions are made as far as this goes, so sorry about that.

10. When you visit an Indian household, remember to take some gift with you. Take care to leave your footwear OUTSIDE the house. most of the Indians do not appreciate you trampling all over their homes with your shoes.

11. Do not hug or kiss an Indian woman as a form of greeting, that may be the norm in the west, but in India, it will result in you getting into a lot of hot water.

12. Above all, remember to be courteous and thank any Indian who helps you. Also, take care not to litter and have a nice time in India!

Dim sums and the glory of it!

I kind of like the title, don’t you? Well, any New Year that is on the horizon only gives us an extra reason to have fun. One of the ways for me to relax and have fun is to cook whether it is baking cookies or making a full fledged meal.
I love my Dim sums and make it a point to cook one variety or the other of it, at least, once every two weeks. You can make Dim sums as the steamed variety or the boiled ones or the fried ones. It is up to you. The thing to note here is that if you are planning to make fried ones, remember that olive oil can change the flavor altogether. So just use ordinary cooking oil for this purpose and forget all about the fat content of it and so on.

It is only once in a blue moon that you are making these dim sums so just use the cooking oil and not the olive ones. What is more it is only the trans fats that you should be worried about, so to use fresh cooking oil would not harm you much. Here, I am going off on to a different tangent altogether, so coming back to dim sums, they are very easy to make and you will enjoy the experience of making them.

My favorite dim sum is the chicken wontons and for this you will need 6 ounces of chicken breast, remember you can increase the amount of the ingredients and you will need to compensate. Now, you will also need some shallots, some garlic paste [makes it easier to cook with], some sesame oil or peanut butter [for that smoky aroma], some vegetables [ your choice, but I normally use carrots, cabbage and bean sprouts],2 tbs of soy sauce and some sugar. You will also need some chilly paste as well as some salt and a deep pan for the frying.

Heat the oil in the pan and fry the shallots, garlic paste and the chilly paste. Add the chicken and stir fry, remember that when the chicken changes color, which means that it is almost cooked. Tip: try to leave out the skins, as this will help the chicken to absorb the flavors quickly and cook well. Now, remove the pan and let it cool down. Take some of the wonton wrappers and place a small portion of the chicken curry mixture in the middle; now wet the edges of the wrapper with water. Use a second wrapper on the top and bring all the edges together. You can do it with the single wrapper but it is much better to use the two of them. You can then close it and make then ends as stylish as possible or not. It is all up to you.

Heat the oil again in the pan and start frying the wontons. Remember, do not keep the oil on high heat as that would sear the wontons and you do not want that. So, keep the flames on medium and fry the wontons until they turn golden brown. Enjoy your wontons and have fun at the same time. Good luck with your cooking and a Happy Chinese New Year!

How to Make Magical Cookies the Whole Family Will Love!

Christmas is a time of joy and fun, and I for one am glad that it is that time of the year, not because of the gifts, the love or the family that gathers all around you. It is that time of the year that we all try out our hand at making cookies and it is fun doing it.

For one, the cookies are never perfect and we know that it has been prepared with love and affection. I have a huge family and both men and women try out their hands at making the magic cookie each and every year, the magic part is that as you bite into it, it brings out this big smile on your face especially as you see the chefs looking anxiously at you.

The recipe is a very simple one to follow and anyone can do it, at least that is what they say at my place while they all try their hands at making it.
Take about 2-3 ounces of chocolate, my favorite ones are the bitter chocolate ones, then about 1 cup of butter, 1 cup of sugar,2 large eggs well beaten,little bit of vanilla for that nice sweet smell.

In addition to the above, take some 2 and 1/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, some salt for the balance[ I never get this part right, the last time I made cookies it turned from sweet cookies to salty ones] and any additional that you want to pop into the mixture.

Now, first heat the pan, melt the butter and then the chocolate until it is well melted into a smooth paste with no lumps of any sort.Add the sugar and shake it and stir it. Sometimes the chocolate and sugar mixture may stick to the sides, don't worry too much about that.Once it is all blended, add the vanilla,salt[be careful here] and the flour and anything else as well and mix it all up.put the whole thing in the fridge for some time and while it is in the fridge, take out your cookie cutters, clean it and rub some butter on to the cutters so that as you cut the cookies the dough does not stick onto it.Now take out the dough from the fridge, roll it and smack it as much as you want to.

Remember it is all about love and caring so who cares if it gets a little messy, the whole fun is in making it.

Now using the cutters, cut it in any shape you want to, then put the cut raw cookies onto some butter sheets and in a big pan. Heat the oven to some 350 to 375 degrees and cook for some 8-10 minutes. And once they are made, take them out and cool them for some time.

Now is the fun part, you ask all of those who are there in your house to eat it and if possible you record their expressions on a camera so that you can all laugh at the Magic cookie and the expressions that it brings to your face as you eat it!

The Potato fry!

The potato has certainly turned into one of the most loved veggies. The funny thing is that potatoes did not make their presence in the international arena until a few centuries back, before that, there were no potatoes, can you imagine that? A world without potatoes, a dreary world it must have been, indeed.
Anyway, one of my favorite dishes is the 'Potato fry' and it is very easy to make it. Take about 3-4 medium sized Potatoes, about 1/2 kilo of it and boil it for say 7-10 minutes or so. Then, peel it and cut into small bite sized pieces and keep it aside. Now take about 2-3 onions and cut it into slender long pieces and keep that aside as well.

Now, pour some olive/cooking oil in the pan and fry some garlic, add the onions and shallow fry the whole thing. After a few minutes of doing this, you can now add some turmeric powder as well as some cumin powder. Fry it for some 2 more minutes, now add the potatoes and mix it all very well until the potatoes get the color of the turmeric powder. Once that is done,add some chili powder and some salt and fry it some more. Then, add some coriander powder as well and fry it all some more, now add the coriander leaves and mix it all up very well. Your Potato fry is all ready to go!

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Prawns stir fry!

First of all, when it comes to prawns you should know that it takes very little time to cook them and that it is very easyt o overcook the prawns.Keep that in mind, that said, cut up some garlic and fry it until you can smell it. Then cut up some shallots into very small peices and then fry it along with the garlic. This should be done until the shallots are al-dente.
Now you add in some of the pepper powder along with some turmeric powder and coriander powder. Now you fry the whole thing again at least until the flavors come wafting to your nose. Now you add in the prawns and let the whole thing mix up very nicely. With that, the prawns should be cooked in 2-3 minutes flat. you can add in some mushroon soy sauce for additional flavor as well.Enjoy your Food.

The success in the Spanish tortilla saga!

First of all cooking does not come natural to me and believe It or not i can mess up even the most basic of instructions when it comes to cooking. Anyway, i recently saw this show on cooking the perfect Spanish Tortilla and i was hooked, i wanted to make it and tried my hand at doing so. The only problem was that although my heart was on making one it seems that my mind was intent on making another, complete burnt out rubbish. I can swear that as my heart pounded and the blood rushed to my temples as I sat watching the stove with anticipation of the most perfect Spanish Tortilla, the only thing that came wafting to my nose was the smell of the burnt out egg. That was one total and utter disaster.
But I persevered and i surprised myself yesterday with the most perfect Spanish tortilla which by the way is a kind of an egg pie with potatoes,onions,garlic and anything else for the filling. Anyway my Spanish experience yesterday taught me that failures are indeed stepping stones to success. So I march on, intent on conquering other cooking peaks, for today, I have decided to make a stir fry prawn and egg pepper. I shall post tomorrow on how that went,wish me luck!

Spanish tortilla in the making!

I have tried my hand at making the 'Spanish tortilla' and I have to say that it was an unmitigated disaster. First of all, the potatoes did not cook properly, that is there were lumps in the potatoes that were not cooked at all. To add insult to injury, the onions did not cook evenly either.
On top of all this, I had to add the egg and the melted butter along with the herbs. All I ended up getting in the end was one fiasco that is not worthwhile remembering about. But I am determined to get it right this time around, I have taken the recipe down from this online site and shall try my luck again by the day after tomorrow. I will update all of you as regards my efforts in the Spanish tortilla experience!

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Active cooking hits the Telly!

For the tata sky subscribers,now there is a bonanza of sorts.now they can get the latest cooking recipes as well as the latest cooking tips from this channel.the active cooking always features 4 different styles of cooking at one time,anything ranging from a snack to a dish featuring international cuisine.
As a matter of fact, i learned to cook 'al-dente' only from this channel as well as to how to cut the beans at cross lengthwise.there is such a wonderful plethora of tips that are available at this channel and i honestly think that this channel is indeed a good buy.so if you are already a tata sky subscriber,then all you have to do from the following months is to simply notify the tata sky people that you like this channel and would indeed like to subscribe to it!it is that easy and soon yo will pretty much cook pasta with bechamel sauce!

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