Quinoa Salad with Greens and Smoked Chicken

I don’t have a real excuse for not blogging. I have been terribly lazy of late, coupled with pretty busy work days. Of course, I’m moving cities soon, so that’s always a hassle! 

I have been cooking a lot lately, mostly for some house parties we hosted recently, so this recipe is a detox recipe, from all such. 

I have been experimenting with different grains and cereals lately and have been experimenting a lot. Many such experiments have ended up in the rubbish bin, but some (such as this one) survived. So here goes.

You will need:
Quinoa: 1 cup

Water: 2 cups

French beans: 200 gms.

Baby spinach: 200 gms.

Smoked chicken: 200 gms. (Optional)

Lemon juice: 1 teaspoon

Balsamic vinegar: 1 tablespoon

Olive oil: 1 teaspoon

Regular cooking oil: 1 tablespoon

Palm sugar: A pinch

Pepper: to taste 

Salt: to taste 

Wash the quinoa. In a pot, boil the quinoa in two cups of water for 7 minutes. Add salt and the olive oil. Turn off the heat, cover it, and forget about it for at least 10-15 minutes.
Trim the edges of the French beans and slice the smoked chicken. 

In a frying pan, heat the cooking oil and fry the French beans and smoked chicken for about two minutes. Add the sugar and the baby spinach. Once it wilts slightly, turn off the heat.

Toss this is balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork. The entire water should have been soaked up by the quinoa. 

Serve by tossing the quinoa with the greens and chicken or serve the greens and chicken on a bed of quinoa.

Happy eating!!

Eating through a thaali

What is a thaali? For the uninitiated, a ‘thaali’ means a ‘plate’ in Hindi and in Bengali (and I assume several other Indian languages and dialects). In the food world, a ‘thaali’ is several dishes, served on a large plate. 

Contrary to culinary styles of the West, traditionally, each Indian meal comprises several courses. A home cooked meal could be a simple roti subzi affair, or if you grew up in a home like mine, about 4-5 dishes on an average.

(Above: A home cooked Mizo meal – all cooked by my friend’s super amazing mom. Rice, lentils, ancham(mustard greens), squash and smoked pork)

Served on a large plate (usually metal or earthen), typically, a vegetarian thaali consists of staple carbohydrates (rice and/or roti/chapati), a dry vegetable dish, a gravy vegetable dish, daal (lentils), raita (yogurt with or with vegetables), papad, achar ( pickles) a dessert. Meat and fish dishes are also a part of a ‘thaali’, as non-vegetarian options. The number of dishes vary with the decadence of the meal. 

(Above: A raan (whole leg of lamb) thaali)

Every state in India boasts their own thaali. The concept of eating several courses for a meal has been disappearing from homes for several reasons including the shift to nuclear families and urbanisation. Thankfully, thaalis are always in vogue and easily available in restaurants, to give everyone a taste of traditional food. If you really want to experience the best thaali type, multi-course Indian meal, make Indian friends and make sure you are invited to a wedding or for some festival celebrated at home!! 

Thaali eating guide:

1. Divide up your rice for the number of dishes that you have been served. Very important, if you are a small eater.

2. Focus on eating the dishes, go slow on the carbohydrates.

3. Seconds are served at almost all restaurants, so don’t be afraid to ask for more. 

4. Eat up. 

5. The most important one: Skip breakfast.

Happy eating!! 

(Above: A vegetarian Malyali thaali. Mahabelly, New Delhi)

Back from my hiatus

I’ve been away for far too long. In the last year and a half, I quit my job, moved cities, started another job and got caught up in everything around me. Mumbai is a crazy busy mad city and has always been a city I love, and I am glad to be here; but I am surprised at how much I miss Delhi.

The last few months have been crazy hectic at work (the life of a corporate lawyer is unnecessarily complicated), and I have found myself increasingly missing this place where I had found some virtual friends, fellow food lovers, great photographers and spectacular cooks. So at last, I got off my (pardon my French) ass, and I am willing myself to stop working 18 hours a day, and try and get back to blogging some.

So here’s to another attempt at blogging about food and everything else that I love. I plan to make some changes around this virtual space that I (kind of) own (for free!).

It’s good to be back again. 🙂