The magic of fermentation: Sauerkraut

I can never stand this statement “oh, finding food abroad is so difficult, how do you manage? Have you started to eat meat?” Give it a rest dear people. Finding food is easy when you first find your tongue. Keep an open mind to relish and approach new food and flavors. Don’t be suspicious about food. The very first touch down on your tongue is going to tell you the taste and until that time, be with an open mind. And it is always polite to tell, “I do not like how it tastes” rather than spitting out and yelling “It tastes terrible or it is the worst dish.” No one is going to cook and present something that is terrible, well, unless you have displeased your wife!

Tastes can be unique, divine, smooth, spicy, heavenly, elevating and the list can just keep continuing how your mind is going to perceive it. One persons like can be another persons dislike when it comes to taste and there is yet another category called acquired taste. I feel sauerkraut would, for me, fall under this category.

Sauerkraut is the most common food you would come across when living in or traveling Europe. Most popular in Germany, Poland and Bulgaria and served almost with every other form of food, Sauerkraut forms an essential part of lunch. To put in simple language, Sauerkraut is nothing but fermented cabbage. The lactobacilli bacteria acts upon the cabbage and ferments it naturally turning it into this very healthy sauerkraut and as the name suggests, it is a little sour. It is abundant is vitamin C when consumed raw and can be added in salads.

Remove the first few leaves from cabbage. Do not wash the cabbage. Finely shred it and put into a food grade plastic vessel. Do not use the cabbage stems for they would spoil the smoothness of the sauerkraut. Pack the shredded layer of cabbage tightly and sprinkle rock salt. One handful of rock salt should be sufficient for one cabbage. Allow it to stand for sometime. The salt will cause the cabbage to water out. Now take a plate that can just fit into the vessel and press down on the cabbage until the water accumulates on top of the plate leaving the cabbage beneath the plate. Allow this to stand for 3 days. This might take more time in European countries but in India, 3-4 days should just be fine. Remove the liquid from the top before taking out the sauerkraut and if you want to store it for more days after removing some, then after placing the lid back on, pour the same liquid over. If you find some moulds growing, do not panic, just scoop them out. You will get a fermented smell which is distinct of the sauerkraut. Before adding the salt you can add cumin seeds or fennel seeds to impart a slight flavor to the sauerkraut.

Add this raw to salads or cook it well in a pressure cooker. The cooked sauerkraut can be an excellent accompaniment to boiled/smashed potatoes. Further more, sauerkraut can be used as a filling in number of dishes.

Note: The cabbage will turn mild translucent upon fermentation. The sauerkraut can also be taken out and used when it is just half fermented. This is referred to as fresh sauerkraut and makes an excellent salad. It is also advisable to place a heavy weight over the lid so that the cabbages are pressed down further away from the liquid on top. Wrap the weight in a plastic cover to avoid any contamination.

Pure Polish, Pierogi

Discovering new food for my tongue is always the exciting part of every tour I make and I take time to sit on the internet just to do research on the traditional food and find out the vegetarian options available. Before my trip to Krakow, Poland, I could interact with two Polish friends who guided me to Polish food that I have eventually fallen in love with. I was blessed in two ways. One, I could find out the exact restaurant they suggested and they served awesome Peirogi and two, I was able to relish proper home made Peirogi prepared in the traditional way. When I first told my friends that I ate Pierogi with potato fillings they stuck their tongue out and mocked that it was Ruskie and not traditional and then when I told them about the sauerkraut filling, they accepted me into the league of Pierogi lovers.

Pierogi is the first Polish fascination I am going to write about and then later follow this up with another wonder as soon as I cook it. The day I ate Pierogi, it was Vinayakar chaturthi and it felt like I was not missing the kozhakattais. Well, this is a very crude comparison just with respect to how it looks! Then when I described it to amma, she reminded me of the Chinese kozhakatais (well, she invented this name) she used to make. But yet again it would be blasphemous to compare Pierogi with this, even though the outer layer is the same. And oh, this is the egg less version!

First a dough needs to be made with all purpose flour. Make the dough with dilute milk, salt and a small pinch of sugar. Egg lovers can add in one yellow into this and Vegans can just ignore it and proceed. Once the dough is made, make small Chapattis with it, 3 inches in diameter. Thanks to Amma and sister for this effort for without them my Pierogis would have lost shape!

Be creative with the fillings. But here is the traditional one. Saute sauerkraut (a separate blog is coming up on this), finely chopped onions and finely chopped mushrooms. Use very little oil to sauté them and add some cumin seeds and a dash of pepper after all these vegetables have been added. Cook them well and add salt, take off the flame and then add finely grated cheese. Mix well. The cheese will melt mildly and make the filling thick. You can ignore the cheese and substitute the sauerkraut with finely shredded cabbage. Alternatively you can play around with smashed potatoes and cheese or blue berries and strawberries!

Now place a spoon of this filling in the middle of the 3 inch Chapattis and close it and seal the edges properly. Do not over stuff it, but make it in such a way that it is full and fat and properly sealed. Drop these into hot boiling water in batches and carefully cook them. Melt butter in a skillet and sauté these boiled Pierogis in this. Do not fry them too deeply but just until you start to see the fry patterns appearing. Garnish with roasted onions!

Flowery delight: Cauliflower manchurian a.k.a Manjaree

Here is yet another dish that held my fantasy for a long time. Amma forbade ordering this in the restaurants because she feared that they would be too lazy to clean the cauliflower and the food might contain worms. Every time amma used to make cauli, she would remove those slimy squiggly green fellows and so very rarely ordered gobi manchurian (gm). I consider this gm as the finest collobration between India and China.

My college canteen spoiled me with this dish. We used to call it Manjaree. "Anna, one plate manjaree. Ozhunga parthu samachaduthanae? (properly cooked right?)" used to be our order line every time. Ramamurthy mama would always give a friendly tap for this question and assure us that he would bear the medical expenses if anything happened to us because of his food. Nothing has ever happened!

Gm could be a dry starter or made into a gravy to accompany fried rice or fulkas (my fav combos) and other combinations will also be fabulous anyways! Combinations are a seperate blog and I know so many people, including me, relishing certain combos that could be just un thinkable!

Cut the cauliflower into nice florets, wash them well and dry. Cut onions, capsicum and green chili into big pieces. Separate the onion as big leaves after it is cut. Sprinkle vinegar over this onion-capsicum-green chili mixture and set aside. Make a thin batter with all purpose flour adding along coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, ginger garlic paste and salt. Don't make the batter as thick as for making bajji or pakodas. Make it in such a consistency that it will coat your cauliflower and not create an envelope for it. Dip the cauliflower florets into this batter and fry them crisp. Set aside and seriously fight the temptation to eat them before the procedure is complete!

Fry finely chopped onions with ginger and garlic pieces in little oil. Add chili sauce and soy sauce into this. You can additionally add sweet-sour sauce too and I usually substitute the chili sauce with the Thai version of seasoned red chili vinegar called Sambal Olek ( thanks to Sharan for introducing me to it ). Now add the marinated onion-capsicum-green chili after draining the excess vinegar off into this and give it a stir. Add the fried cauliflower florets and toss your pan a couple of times to aid good mixing. Now add finely chopped spring onions and toss again. If you are not comfortable with tossing, then carefully stir to mix well. The dry manchurian is ready!

To make the gravy version, we need not do the marination step. Instead these cut vegetables can be added before adding the sauces and cooked along. Once the sauces are added, add water and cook on low heat. Starch solution or corn flour solution can be added to thicken the gravy. When the gravy is thick, add the fried florets and simmer for a few minutes before garnishing with coriander leaves.

My personal advise, dry version is the best! If you notices, Gm does not contain any garam masala though you can experiment sprinkling some. The sauces play the most crucial role in bringing out the Chinese taste. Also, carefully add salt to this dish because the sauces will already contain salt.

Guru Batik to Aang, Banana curry soup!

You read it right! It is a soup made with bananas. I am a huge fan of the Avatar series, No, not the hollywood movie made by Cameroon, but the original cartoon series that has now been made into a movie by Manoj.

Aang drinks up a juice given to him by Guru Batik and exclaims that it tastes like onion-banana juice. Before I could see the expression on Aangs face, my face went into a twisted contortion and a repulsion for a taste I have never experienced. I just could not imagine this combination and thought that it was cartoony fun.

One day in the mensa, the menu read, banana curry soup : 60 cents. This is not huge money to experiment with an un-experienced taste and when I tasted it, I had to go back for two refills. To put it in Aangs perspective, it sure will help gain spiritual highness!

There are not many convincing recipes about this Estonian soup on the internet and so my curiosity drove me to ask dear Frau Fidan Batman about this. And then I cooked this the very evening for dinner.

Take a vessel and add cut bananas into it. Add water just enough to submerge the bananas and let it boil until the bananas are cooked. Saute finely chopped onions in butter along with a very small piece of garlic and an equally sized ginger. Once the onions are translucent, sprinkle curry powder (coriander, cumin, fennel, pepper, cinnamon, paprika and turmeric) and salt. Transfer into blender along with the boiled bananas and blend until very smooth. Transfer back into vessel and bring to required consistency with water. Cook on low heat and finish off with cream. Before serving, in the cup, add few pieces of unsalted banana chips into the soup.

* picture to be uploaded soon

* the curry powder is not our usual Indian curry powder!

Dai ... Dai... todays menu, Masala VaDai !!

This is an item than can instantly create a mouth water and any number of vadai´s you consume, you will always be left wanting for more and more! And the best masala vadai is always got in the street shops. I remember Appa used to buy this delicacy from a shop near Appar swami koil. The shop opens at 4pm and the vadais are already sold out by 5pm. For 1 Rupee, one can get 2 vadais wrapped in an old Hindu or Dhinamani or Anantha Vikatan. Also in the train journeys, the vadai used to be so tempting. The entire bogie would be automatized but Amma would never allow purchase fearing hygene factor. I should confess that during my lone trips to Bombay, masala vadi always accompanied Ayn Rand!

The first time I made this in Germany was for 2008 Christmas party and it was finished the very second I presented it. Lentil cake with spice was how I advertised it. What is in a name when the aroma and the taste are going to dominate?! Yet again, here is an item that is juiced with cinnamon and fennel.

Soak the channa dhal for at least 40 minutes. Drain the water completely and transfer into mixer. Add one pod of garlic, an equal size of ginger, few cinnamon sticks and salt. Grind coarsely. Add whole red chili and give it a few more spins with resting time in between so that it does not become a batter, but remains coarse. Add little water if it is very dry. Transfer to a bowl and add lots of chopped onions, fennel seeds, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Mix well. Roll into medium balls and press between the palms to obtain the vadai shape. If the batter doesn't hold, don't add water into it! Just sprinkle some besan (channa dal powder, kadalai mavu) and mix well. Fry in oil at medium heat until cooked. Serve along with hot tea!

Last Sunday, 8.8.2010, I went to Tez`s house to make this. Making Masal vadai for 6 grown ups is not ordinary feat I say and I get high when my friends eat it and their expression tells it all. Prakash could not keep away from the kitchen. So I gave him the first vadai for taste. After relishing it, he stole yet another and ran away just like a kid! Who can resist it?!

I am awaiting pictures taken by Yathi. Once they are in my inbox, they will be in my post.

Saluting Aphrodite:Tzatziki ; First steps into Greek cuisine

The Greek mythology has always fascinated me. The world of Gods, just like our own mythology has much to offer for knowledge and fascination. It is my dream to visit the Islands of Greece one day to satisfy my hunger for history, art,mythology and food! In fact, in ever country I set my foot on, I try to learn about the traditional food and taste as much as the vegetarian plate has to offer. There have been some quite huge bills because of this and I don't regret any one of them, with just Venice being an exception. I will write a separate blog on this issue soon!

Tyatziki is a simple introduction to the Greek cuisine. It is a dip that can be had with variety of items, the non vegetarian list being bigger than the vegetarian one. My suggestions for this dip would be just about anything starting from Samosas, pakodas, masala vadai, bajji, baturas, naan, grilled vegetables, spicy rice variates and cutlets.  Or just dip your finger in and keep eating it! To simply define it in terms of known items, Tzatziki is the Greek alternative for Raita!

The main ingredient required is thick thick curd. Suspend curd in muslin cloth overnight and use the condensed yogurt. Peel cucumber, remove the seeds and grate them. Squeeze them dry. Add this to the curd(200gms). Finely mince 2 big pods of garlic (use a garlic press for best results) and add. Next goes in finely chopped Dill (5 leaves), salt, white pepper powder( a table spoon), 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 table spoons of lemon juice. Mix well and the dip is ready! It is a very healthy dip too and stays up to to one week in the fridge!

Unconventional combinations: potatoes in yogurt

There are times when people get bored with conventions and want to try something new. Some people are a bit too energetic just to try something new, but they invent something new! Out of one desperate energetic situation there arose a recipe which carries no name so I simply put them as potatoes in yogurt. There might be recipes similar to this one or may be even the same one which has a name to it, but for me, this one just happened in the kitchen in-situ!

As I have described before in my Mor Kuzhambu blog, yogurt or buttermilk is going to reflect the spices that we add in and that is what exactly happens here and yet another happy thing I like about this particular recipe is that it contains specifically self tailored spice mix. To get into details of what made me choose these ingredients for the masala would be a very tough one to answer. Impulse? Or may be a voice from within guiding my hands to pick up just these dear fellows? Or I could have just got lucky!

Dry roast half a stick of cinnamon, 2 cloves,  half a table spoon of cumin, one spoon of dhaniya seeds, 2 or 3 red chilies and 10 whole black pepper. Roast until you feel the room being filled with the aroma or if you have a cold while cooking this, just keep an eye until the cumin or dhania starts turning brown! Transfer them to a blender and make it into a fine powder. The dhaniya and the pepper tend to dominate the flavor but still the cinnamon and cloves do not get totally suppressed. I am sure many people will find this combination interesting.

Chop onions (how much ever you want to!) very fine and add it to just melted butter in a cooking pot that can be closed. Stir the onions and add into it boiled and peeled baby potatoes (80% boiled). Add turmeric, salt and the ground spices and top it with just a scoop of butter. Close the lid and shake well to mix and allow to cook on low heat. Allow the onions and the potatoes to get cooked in the butter. Keep shaking the vessel slowly so that the bottom does not burn and to allow all the potatoes to get well coated. Once this is done, add thick whipped yogurt and stir softly. Allow to simmer, closed on a very low heat for 3-4 minutes. Garnish! Eat with rice or rotis!

And then Rp said, let there be taste!