Author Archives for Swati Raje

Happy Blogaversary!!!

Happy New Year!!

As I reflect upon the past year, and particularly over the past few months, I am saddened to leave 2012 behind and yet glad to begin 2013.  In a way I was ready for this past year to end.  There are many reasons why but mostly I am looking forward to the many promises that the new year holds along with the many culinary adventures to be had.

2012 was full of fun & laughter shared alongside food & wine with family & friends.  I published my first post on this blog on January 12th one year ago.  Thus the title of this post.  I hope you have all enjoyed this journey with me so far and hope that you will continue to follow my adventures into the world of food.  I have had over 2,600 views along with a following on Facebook and I must say I am thrilled at the tremendous response I have had from you all.  Thank you!!

I wanted to send 2012 out with a bang and couldn’t quite decide on a topic since I have had so much wonderful food and wine over the holiday season.  As I sat to a New Year’s day dinner hosted by a friend, it came to me in a flash………celebrate all the awesome meals of the holiday season.  You may want to grab a glass of wine as you read this post and celebrate along.

Diwali (Hindu festival of lights)

Life became busier than normal 
immediately following Superstorm Sandy.  The Diwali holiday landed the week after power was restored and we tried to get life back to normal.  To celebrate I had planned a Diwali party at my house on November 17th with 40 guests.  Last year I had to cancel this event due to the aftermath of the freak Halloween snowstorm and I really hoped it would not be a repeat episode for 

Crostini w/ wild mushrooms & goat cheese

this one.  But power was restored just six days prior leaving me almost no time to plan for the party and yet determined to make it happen.  With the help of others I managed and the party was a great success and a fun time was had by all.  I typically serve finger food to make it easier for everyone to walk around and some items on the menu this year were Batata Wada, Shrimp with tamarind & chipotle sauce, Crostini w/ goat cheese & wild mushrooms, Paneer Methi Tikki, Warm Dates w/ Prosciutto, a smoked salmon platter, profiteroles and much much more.  With the help of family & friends and few items ordered from a restaurant to complement mine, we had a pretty nice spread if I do say so myself.  All of course washed down with wine, rum, vodka, scotch and other beverages of choice.

Party Prepping

The food and party were a big success and the evening ended up with Bollywood dancing lessons in my living room.  Not taught by me mind you.  I have decided to make it an annual event as I had so much fun decorating with rangolis (designs with colored sand) and diyas (lamps) throughout the house.  Many of the guests got into the spirit and wore Indian clothes which made the party more festive.

Our family Diwali dinner was hosted by my cousin in Long Island.  Over the years our family has grown and it’s so much fun to get together and celebrate and watch all the kids of today’s generation enjoy the festivities as much as I did when I was young.  My cousin had made a veritable feast of Butter Chicken, Spicy Shrimp, Undhiu (a Gujarathi mixed vegetable dish), and so much more.  My favorite of the evening was something called Haraa Bharaa Kebab which is made with spinach, peas, potatoes, chilies, spices and is absolutely delicious.  I got the recipe from my aunt and will be making them soon and will share with you all.  I couldn’t stop eating them.

Thanksgiving

The very next week was Thanksgiving.  For the past several years, my family has started a tradition of doing a destination Thanksgiving.  We rent a large home at a location within driving distance, set up meal menus for the weekend including the main Thanksgiving meal, assign everyone items to bring and food to make, and we spend four days bonding over food, music, board games, poker, karaoke, hiking and pool tournaments.  One year we even got in a bit of skiing.  It is an absolute blast.  This year the extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins could not join us so it was just our immediate family of 10 and we went to a lake community in the Poconos.

Idli Sambar

We typically cook a traditional dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, gravy and all the fixin’s.  One of my mother’s neighbors asked her what the traditional Thanksgiving meal in India is at which she, of course, started laughing while the neighbor stood there clueless as to the source of her laughter.  I am often amazed by the ignorance of so many but this was a funny one.  Well I suppose if the Canadians have a Thanksgiving day, the pilgrims and “Indians” must have made it to India.  As usual I digress. The rest of the weekend meals will range from take out Pizza to Idli Sambar (South Indian specialty).

This year’s activities included a lot of hiking.  We hiked various trails in Hickory Run State Park full of waterfalls, steep climbs and geocaches for the boys.  One of our favorites was the Boulder Field Trail.  It is a 3.5 mile trail which ends in a large field of boulders which one must then cross in order to get to the parking lot where we were picked up by the other half of our group which decided to turn back a mile into the hike.  Although the crossing seemed daunting at first, my son, sister-in-law and I made it across and even beat the pickup car to the other end.  I just remember being happy to have my Rangpur & tonic upon returning to our temporary home.



December (Yes, I’ve officially dubbed this a holiday)

One of my favorite things to do as the holidays begin is bake cookies.  There was a time when I would bake over one thousand cookies of different kinds to give away to family, friends, neighbors and clients.  I have significantly curbed this enthusiasm over the years and today have more realistic goals.  For this season I opted for Biscotti laced with Godiva, Madeleines (you may have read the post) and some fruitcake cookies which were delicious.


This year’s Christmas parties seemed to start immediately after Thanksgiving.  In addition there were milestone birthday parties thrown in.  My office holiday dinner took me to Zylo Steakhouse at the W in Hoboken.  A fun night with great wine and great food.  We chose a great Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany the filet served for dinner and a Pinot Noir for the salmon.  The very next night I found myself at Prana Lounge to celebrate a 40th birthday.  Drinks, dinner & dancing – how could one go wrong.  Two weeks later I was celebrating a friend’s 50th with braised short ribs and more great wine pulled from his cellar along with lots of other great food.

My family celebrates Christmas to some extent but we modify the schedule to suit everyone.  This year it was on the 22nd and my mother hosted with lamb curry, Tondlee (Ivy Gourd – refer to post on Thai poached chicken), chapatis & more.  I ate too much as I always do when my mother cooks and highlighted my evening with a glass of a rare 1980 Lagavulin Single Malt that my father received as a gift and I hide in a cabinet in his bar.  It makes me feel as if he’s there with us somehow.

Christmas Eve was spent with some good friends who invited me to spend it with them for the second year in a row.  After an amazing adventure into Chinese & Malaysian cuisine last year, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  What we got was a fun filled evening with great conversation, lots of laughs, good wine and a delicious dinner highlighted with individual portions of Beef Wellington.  Their annual tradition is to go walk around the neighborhood and see all the luminaries light the way for Santa Claus however this year we got something even more exciting as we watched the snowflakes come down to promise a white Christmas.



Christmas Day turned out to be somewhat of a culinary mystery to me.  My aunt and uncle hosted and the plans to get together were quite last minute.  I had no part in planning the menu (nothing like shunning responsibility in advance) and sometimes I’m glad for it.  The menu consisted of baked ziti, lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, chicken parmigiana, garlic bread.  I have never seen so much Italian food or tomato sauce in an Indian household.  Not to mention all the appetizers that came before dinner.  I’m fairly certain that it took me several days to get over my food coma.

My son & I spent the days between Christmas and New Year skiing in Vermont.  We were rewarded with three glorious days of fresh powder and took advantage of every bit of it.  One of my son’s favorite things to do and is a requirement after a hard day on the slopes is a stop at the Waffle Cabin.  These fluffy sweet concoctions are not the best in the world but oh do they taste awesome at 4pm as the lifts are closing and all you want to do is hit the hot tub that awaits across the bridge.


  












The year ended with our traditional early family dinner at Giorgio’s in South Orange.  It’s a BYOB with great service and homemade pasta. The food was very good and the kids particularly enjoyed the Nutella pizza.  New Year’s day rounded out the holiday festivities with a small dinner party hosted by a friend with veal rollatini wrapped in prosciutto, cheese & asparagus, roasted brussels sprouts, homemade tortellini, and creamy cauliflower & sweet potato soup.  A wonderful start to a new year!!!



And so we embrace 2013 reminiscing upon the good times of the past year and ready to make more memories in the new one.  Twelve pounds heavier now, I plan to spend some time at the gym in the upcoming weeks and focus on my generally healthy lifestyle.   Here’s to a new year that is filled with even more fun, food, family & friends!!!!

Swati



The Swatini – my very own Holiday Cocktail

So, if you follow my page on Facebook, you know that I was determined to come up with a cocktail for my book club group meeting this evening to celebrate the holiday season.  Here’s what I came up with……

Let’s call it the Swatini……why not!!  No self confidence issues here…..


Ingredients

2 Cups Williams-Sonoma Pomegranate Cherry Margarita mix
2 Cups Vodka (I used Ketel One ’cause that’s what I had)
50 ml St. Germain
Juice of one Orange (I used a Naval)
Juice of one Lime
1/4 tsp Fleur de Sel


Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and serve over ice in whatever glasses you have on hand.  I used the stemless wine glasses.  I like my cocktails on the tart side so you may want to add some sugar or honey, but I must tell you that there wasn’t a drop left and this one was a big hit!!!!  Some even switched from the delicious Rioja to the Swatini!!!

The book we discussed for all of 20 generous minutes – Gone Girl.

Cheers!!

Recipe – Madeleines

 
I make these delicious cakelike cookies every year for the holidays and they are always a big hit.  I can’t believe Starbucks sells a stale version for $1.95 each.  I’m not sure where I got this recipe anymore as I’ve had it written on an index card for years, and today it is covered with stains from all my baking adventures.  Sometimes I will variate the recipe by adding other flavoring and spices (cardamom, orange zest & Grand Marnier work really well) but this year I left them alone.  Hope you try them and enjoy!!
 
Ingredients
 
4 eggs
2/3 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 lb (1 stick) butter – melted & cooled
1 Cup sifted flour
2 tsps lemon zest
Extra melted butter for pan molds
 
Recipe
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)
 
Lightly brush melted butter onto each mold in the madeleine pan.
 
In a Kitchen Aid with balloon whisk, beat eggs on low speed while slowly adding the sugar and salt.  Turn mixer to high speed and beat until mixture is ribbony & pale yellow (approx. 10 minutes).  Turn down to low and add vanilla and stir till combined.  Remove bowl from mixer base.  Using a rubber spatula gently fold in the flour until just combined.  Add the cooled, melted butter and fold until incorporated.  Be sure to take the spatula all the way from the bottom up to make sure you get all the butter mixed in since it will sink to the bottom.  Add the lemon zest and complete folding.
 
Place a tablespoon of batter into buttered molds and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from mold immediately and cool on wire rack.  Serve sprinkled with powedered sugar or dip narrow end into chocolate.  Makes approximately 24.
 
 
 
 
Happy Baking for the Holidays!!
Swati

 

Chinese Hot Pot

If you live in the Northeast, you will recall a little storm that passed by here recently named Sandy.  The storm itself was interesting, cool & scary at the same time.  The aftermath was, and for some still is, challenging at best.  I was lucky to have only lost power for two weeks and got in shape walking everywhere due to a lack of gasoline in my car.  Others lost so much more and are still suffering.  My life and the life of those around me has now gotten more or less back to normal, and I hope that those of you who are still affected see quick progress very soon.  Our thoughts are with you.
As we counted the days without electricity and gasoline in our cars, we also counted on our neighbors for support.  It was wonderful to see everyone come together and help whenever possible.  Facebook and text messages became our lifelines to each other and for information.  We brought our children together in parks or each other’s homes to play as they suffered from boredom without school, TV & video games.  We took turns making meals from food that would have otherwise been thrown away due to spoilage and served them by candlelight.  We provided warmth to those without heat if only for short bursts of time and access to our wireless service if it was active.  In so many ways, tragic events serve to bring us closer together.
In the midst of our facebook/texting conversations, a small local group of us decided that whoever got their power back first would host a party for the rest.  The winners were L & W and the date was set for November 10th.  The menu – Chinese Hot Pot…….
Until this day I had never encountered this wonderful experience.  When we arrived, our hosts had the table setup for the event, and for me it was most certainly an event.  There were plates, bowls, spoons, chopsticks and a utensil that resembled something I might use to scoop out goldfish from their abode.  At the center of the table was a propane stove with a pot of bubbling broth.  Surrounding the pot were large plates of thinly sliced raw meat (beef & pork), mushrooms, fish balls, pork balls, tofu squares, dumplings in all shapes and sizes, quail eggs, regular eggs, watercress, cabbage & mushrooms.  At one end were more than a dozen jars & bottles of condiments of different kinds like soy sauce, rice wine, multiple varieties of hot sauce with different levels of heat, chopped garlic & ginger, etc.  It all looked amazing and I felt like we were about to play a really fun game with food….


As we began our adventure, W added the fish/shrimp/pork balls, dumplings, mushrooms, vegetables, tofu and quail eggs to the broth to start them cooking.  He then demonstrated how to combine the condiments in our bowls depending on the flavors and heat level we each preferred.  Some cultures add a beaten egg to the sauce to thicken the consistency a bit.  We proceeded to make our sauces and take our places at our assigned seats where we used the goldfish scoop to remove the cooked food from the broth onto our plates.  The ceramic spoons were used to add some of the broth to our sauce mixture to add flavor and provide the desired consistency.  Using our chopsticks we picked up our chosen morsels, dipped them into our individually concocted sauce and popped it into the mouth.  It was absolutely delicious!!!  The thinly sliced raw meat is not added to the broth.  Instead it is placed into the small mesh scoop which is then held in the broth for a short amount of time for the meat to cook and then eaten by dipping in the sauce.

 
 
Completely filled with happiness we moved onto dessert and more wine.  It was an evening I will not likely forget anytime soon.  A big thank you to my hosts!!!

One of the things I find most fortunate about my life is that I have friends from many different cultures and nationalities.  This has allowed me, over the years, to gain exciting experiences that others may not.  Some think I’m crazy because I will talk to strangers while traveling and later stay in touch and become friends with them.  But I can’t imagine all the experiences I would have missed out on had I just played the quiet, confused tourist.  So I encourage you to have your own food experiences through friends of different cultures while you share yours with them.  If nothing else, it is tasty and lots of fun and most certainly capable of curing the post hurricane blues!!!

Thai Spiced Cold Poached Chicken

For the past few weeks I have been craving the Khao Man Gai that I had from a food truck in Portland.  When I went food shopping this weekend I decided I was going to attempt to replicate it (yes I’m a trekkie) with my own spin. And so began dinner tonight.  I went from this………



To this………

 
 
So I poached the chicken breast in a water solution of salt, Thai red curry paste, sliced ginger, sliced red bell pepper, lime slices, & cilantro.  I started it in cold water on low heat and brought it to a simmer and let it simmer until cooked.  I served it with Jasmine rice cooked with grated ginger & cilantro and Tondlee (Indian vegetable called Tindora in Hindi; Ivy gourd in English).  Tondlee is what we call it in Marathi.  They look like this…………..
 
 
I slice them lengthwise and cook them in a bit of oil with mustard seeds, chopped onion, salt, red pepper, turmeric and cumin-coriander powder sauteing them on medium heat until cooked to desired doneness.
 
Overall the meal was really good and my little 10 year old man scarfed it down in no time.  It helps that I starve him for several hours before an experiment meal.  But seriously he commented that it smelled good while doing homework upstairs and then asked that I remember the recipe so I could make it again.  Always a compliment from my mini food critic.  Personally I thought it could use the following improvements:
  1. More heat and more salt in the poaching liquid.  Perhaps some chopped green chilis will do the trick in addition to more red curry paste.
  2. More ginger & cilantro in the rice.  I could hardly taste either.
  3. Grate the ginger in the poaching liquid for more even distribution of flavor.  Particularly since I boiled the poaching liquid after removing the chicken and used it as a sauce to serve over the chicken and rice.
  4. Cook the chicken for about 5 – 10 minutes less.  It was a bit tough for me….and I really dislike tough or stringy chicken.  Might also want to try it with skinless, boneless thighs instead of breast.
The above 4 items are the reason I didn’t bother posting the recipe.  In my mind it has not yet been perfected.  I also want to try this with a little coconut milk in the cooking of the rice.  Once perfected I will post but I’m looking for suggestions to improve my efforts.  This was my first attempt at poaching chicken so if you’ve found the best way to do it, please let us know.
 
I can’t wait to try this again and improve upon it.  I will have my very own version of Khao Man Gai!!!
 
Happy experimenting!!
 

 

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