Sweet Potato Humman With Papada Kismoor: Fat-Free Cooking

I always felt a bit like an outsider looking into the extended household of my childhood where uncles, aunts and cousins spoke to each other in Konkani, cooked Konkani food, and retreated to their Konkani native towns with cute names like Hubli and Sirsi for the summer.

That's because although my dad was a Konkani from Karwar in northern Karnataka, my mom-- a Maharashtrian-- taught my brother and me to speak Marathi as our first language. She also cooked mostly Maharashtrian food at home. As a result, Ashwin and I were the only two kids in the Honawar clan whose Konkani didn't sound as musical as it sounded stilted, and whose dinner plate featured varan instead of dalitoy.

But our proximity to dad's family members who all lived within a mile's radius of our home also helped me become familiar, at an early age, with the delicious flavors of Konkani cuisine. Later in my childhood my Goan stepmom introduced me to Goan Konkani food which stands apart in a class of its own.

Tomato Dal With Phulkas: Fat-Free Cooking

Sauteing in water instead of oil might sound strange and even a little yuck to someone who loves delicious food. In fact, right now I can imagine some of you shaking your heads going, oh, come on! But trust me when I say that it makes almost no difference to the flavor of many Indian foods, like curries and dals. And it can be your waistline's best friend.

Most Indian recipes start out with a "tadka" or "phodani" of oil, where you heat some oil then add spices like mustard, cumin, chillies, and asafoetida. The oil extracts the flavor of the spices, helping it mingle with the foods.

Most of my Indian recipes start this way too, except -- having always been health conscious-- I usually cut down the oil to just about a teaspoon or, at most, a tablespoon, which then gets split into several servings. But recently a great deal of research has emerged that shows cutting added fats from your diet altogether (yes, even that teaspoon) can be extremely beneficial to health. Bill Clinton, the first name in veganism today, says he's done it, and his cardiovascular health has never been better. He's also lost a lot of weight.

Pappardelle Pasta With Roasted Tomato Chipotle Sauce

It's Christmas Eve and the neighborhood is looking really pretty. Yards are draped with multicolored lights and inside windows you can catch glimpses of ornamented Christmas trees. It's all quite picture-perfect except at the malls, I'm sure, where it's a mad rush and you won't catch me within a mile of those during this season (or most times, for that matter).

I was planning to post some more cookie recipes for you last week, but my oven went on the fritz and will remain quite useless until next week when the repair service arrives. Everything works a little slower around the holidays, but how could anyone be mad about that?

It's probably a good thing too, because I had been on a bit of a sugar high these past few weeks with all that cake- and cookie-baking. Having to rely solely on my cooktop and my tiny toaster oven for all my cooking, I've gotten a little ahead of myself and started coming up with healthy recipes in anticipation of that inevitable New Year resolution: weight loss.

You know I like to cook healthy most times, but I am not one of those people who can stomach bland albeit wholesome food. I love food, and I like it to be delicious: a luxurious treat for my tastebuds. My Pappardelle Pasta with Roasted Tomato Chipotle Sauce proves food does not have to be high-calorie to be rich, nor dripping with grease to taste great.

Vadakari

Desi's the kind of guy who usually just eats whatever I cook, but sometimes -- to my delight-- he will come up with a special request. Usually it's a taste from his childhood in Madras. This past weekend it was a request for Vadakari (also sometimes called Vada Kari or Vadai Curry), a spicy dish he and his brothers would sometimes order at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Chromepet, a suburb of Madras where he grew up.

I have been cooking Tamil food for so long now I could pass for a native, but I must confess Vadakari is not something I'd ever heard of before. So I set about trying to find a recipe and landed at this one which sounded really good. I adapted it a little, and voila! I had a wonderful new recipe that not only any vegan would love, but one that would satisfy any carnivore's chewy tooth. Now that's a find.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

New Year's resolutions about eating skinny are for the new year. For now I give you this scrumptious Chocolate Oreo Cake.

Early on in a new vegan's journey comes the delicious discovery that Oreo cookies-- yes, those gorgeous little black-and-white nuggets of chocolaty goodness-- are vegan. And life is never quite the same again.

We all can agree that Oreos aren't health food,  but it would have to be a true killjoy who does not enjoy eating one every now and then. And the holidays are a perfect excuse. My Chocolate Oreo Cake is two layers of moist, velvety, soft-as-a-cloud chocolate cake sandwiching a layer of white vanilla buttercream. On top goes an icing of chocolate buttercream and some Oreo cookies. Can you imagine more deliciousness in one place?

Peanut Curry, Spiced Brown Rice, and Cabbage Subzi

...Or Shengdanyachi Aamti, Phodanicha Bhaat ani Kobichi Bhaaji.

This is the kind of meal we cook and eat in our home most days. It's traditional Indian food at its wholesomest. The kind you won't find at an Indian restaurant, but is better than anything you could eat out.

To make this protein-packed meal I dug into my Marathi roots. My mom, a Maharashtrian, left in me a deep and lasting love for the food of this beautiful state on India's west coast. Although she passed away when I was a child, growing up in Bombay, Maharashtra's capital, meant I was never too far from the delicious flavors of Marathi cuisine.

At its very best, Maharashtrian food is simple yet complex. Its most brilliant dishes-- like varan (a dal dish), or the Shengdanyachi Amti (Peanut Curry) I have for you today-- need just a few ingredients, but they pack a powerful flavor punch. The peanut curry is typically eaten by Maharashtrians when they are fasting for religious reasons, usually with a "rice" made of varai, or samo seeds. Since samo seeds are not something I find at my local Indian store, I thought I'd make instead a healthy, lightly spiced brown rice dish, Phodanicha Bhaat, to go with it. And because a subzi (or bhaaji, as we'd call it in Marathi) is a must with any rice-curry combination, I made an easy but classic Cabbage Bhaaji that both Desi and I love.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake With A Lemon Glaze

A plump, golden Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake with a Lemon Glaze is what I have for you today.

After all these years of baking vegan cakes and cupcakes, I am still amazed at how easy it is to eliminate animal products like butter, cream and egg and still get a perfectly moist, airy and beautiful result. All of it minus that awful egg odor. If you don't believe me, all you have to do is try this cake.

Lemon and poppy seed are a classic combination, and just one bite of this amazing cake will tell you why. I used Meyer lemons which have a distinctive flavor and are sweeter than your average lemon, but it's perfectly fine to use regular lemons instead. You could even try substituting other fruit juices.

Tofu Makhani

Here's a master recipe for a gravy you can use to make any kind of "makhani" dish.

If you've eaten at an Indian restaurant, you've likely come across Chicken Makhani, or Butter Chicken. The reason for Butter Chicken's immense popularity is its smooth, signature-orange gravy that wraps itself silkily around your tastebuds, and the fabulously buttery flavor that rounds off sparkling notes of spicy, sour, salty, bitter and sweet.

But Butter Chicken is also not, as the name suggests, a healthy dish. It usually includes cream, butter, and -- of course, chicken, with all of the accompanying fat and cholesterol. All of which makes it a no-no in my kitchen where the only creatures who wander in are there to eat, not be eaten.

Butternut Squash Risotto

The cold chill of winter is not without its warm comforts: fuzzy slippers, the glow of the holidays, friends and family, cookies hot from the oven...and Butternut Squash Risotto infused with the woodsy fragrance of sage.

It is hard to ignore winter squash in the market this time of year. There they sit, yellow butternut, green acorn, orange pumpkin, showing off their cutely plump shapes and screaming: "Just buy me already! I promise not to spoil. And I'm delicious."

But their looks, resilience and addictive flavor are not the only thing that's wonderful about them. Winter squashes and their orange flesh pack in huge quantities of vitamins A, B and C, fiber, iron, and -- surprise-- omega 3 fatty acids, making them one of the healthiest veggies you can eat.

Goan Feijoada

My Goan stepmother is a talented and adventurous cook. The last time we were visiting with her and my dad in Goa, she pulled out some pink beans from her pantry and introduced them to us as "Portuguese beans."

While Indian cuisine is rich in all sorts of beans and legumes, pink beans are not something I had ever encountered before in India (although I always have them in my pantry here in the United States). No wonder my stepmother was proud of her find. She used them that afternoon to cook up a delicious, coconut-based curry very much like this Feijoada I have for you today-- a dish Goa adopted and adapted from its Portuguese colonizers.

Half a century after the Portuguese left Goa, their memory lingers on. You can hear it in the names of Goans and in their language, see it  in the beautiful churches and buildings that dot the landscape, and taste it in Goan cuisine which includes dishes like Xacuti, Balchao, and Vindaloo.

Indian Grocery Shopping List

Some of you have asked for a basic Indian grocery shopping list, and here it is.

One of the challenges of living here in the United States but cooking Indian food in my kitchen most days is that I need to be pretty organized when I go grocery shopping for ingredients I can only find at an Indian store. That's because the Indian grocery store nearest me is more than 10 miles away, so it's not like I can just pop out to the shop around the corner for that missing ingredient while I'm putting dinner together in the midst of a busy work week.

The grocery list below is a master list for pantry items that won't spoil on you for months or even years. If you are an Indian food enthusiast, I'd recommend keeping all of these handy. But if you cook Indian just once in a way, you might want to get only the items I've highlighted in bold type. I've deliberately not included Indian vegetables, because I wanted to focus on items that you can keep in your pantry without worrying about cooking them the next day. That said, I do have some fresh herbs on the list that are essentials in Indian cooking. Some, like coriander and mint leaves, you will find at any grocery store here. Others, like curry leaves, are harder to come by. If you buy more curry leaves than you will use up immediately, divide them up in an ice tray, fill with water, and freeze. Thaw the ice cubes and the curry leaves when you're ready to use.Always store your spices -- whole and powdered-- in airtight jars in cool temperatures.

Wherever possible, I've tried to give short explanations or link to recipes so you will know what these ingredients are for.


GRAINS:

Basmati Rice
Brown Basmati Rice
Cracked Wheat
Flattened Rice (Poha)
Puffed Rice (Kurmura)
Rava (Cream of Wheat, Sooji)
Whole-Wheat Durum Flour (for chapatis, pooris and other Indian flatbreads)
Millet Flour
Bajra Flour
Besan or Chickpea Flour

LEGUMES:

Tuvar Dal (pigeon peas)
Chana Dal
Urad Dal
Moong Dal
Masoor Dal
Rajma (red kidney beans)
Chickpeas or chole or garbanzo beans
Matki (tiny little brown beans)
Whole Moong Beans
Chawli (Black-eyed Peas)
Whole Masoor
Peanuts

SPICES:

Red Chili Powder
Paprika
Turmeric Powder
Black Mustard Seeds
Cumin Seeds
Coriander Seeds
Fennel Seeds (saunf)
Ajwain or Carom Seeds
Kalonji or Onion Seeds
Poppy Seeds
Fenugreek Seeds
Sesame Seeds
Saffron
Cardamom pods (green)
Cardamom pods (brown)
Cloves
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Mace
Black Pepper
Bay Leaves
Whole Red Chillies
Asafoetida or Hing (Not strictly a spice, but it gets clubbed in here because it's used like one)


READYMADE POWDERED SPICES:

Garam Masala
Biryani Masala
Pav Bhaji Masala
Sambar Powder
Rasam Powder
Chaat Masala
Amchur Powder
Goda Masala
Tava Masala

OILS:

Unflavored vegetable oil, like canola or peanut oil
Sesame oil
Coconut oil
Mustard oil

MISC.:

Jaggery (an unrefined Indian sugar that's perfect for Indian sweets)
Tamarind, pulp or pods
Poppadums or papads (rice or lentil crackers that can be zapped in a microwave in an instant to provide a crackly, delicious accompaniment for meals)
Golden raisins
Cashews
Pistachios
Coconut milk
Alphonso Mango Pulp
Kasoori Methi (dry methi leaves)

FRESH AND FROZEN ITEMS:

Curry Leaves
Coriander Leaves
Mint Leaves
Shredded Coconut
Green Chillies

Sablé, Or French Shortbread

I am a sucker for shortbread, but then who isn't? Especially when it's elegant French shortbread, buttery and crumbly with just a hint of sugar. A Sablé.

I've shared with you before many shortbread recipes, including one for the classic Scottish Shortbread, and one of the chief differences between the two versions is that the French recipe usually includes egg. I subbed with some vegan cream cheese, which really helped with the wonderful texture of the cookies. I think the French version is also easier to make, especially with a foolproof recipe like this one which I adapted heavily from one I watched on America's Test Kitchen.

What Would Thoreau Eat? This Kale And Potato Subzi, Perhaps?

Simplify, simplify!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Desi and I were at a place as far removed as can be from the rapacious frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We were in Thoreau’s Walden, visiting the rich world of a visionary who lived nearly two centuries ago but whose ideas of simple living, self-sufficiency and coexistence with the non-human creatures of our planet are relevant as ever.

Thoreau needs no introduction-- he is an inspiration to philosophers, environmentalists and simple living advocates the world over. Indians know him as the man whose essay on civil disobedience inspired Gandhi’s own movement of satyagraha, or peaceful resistance. With his two-year experiment of living in harmony with nature on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, chronicled in his masterpiece Walden, Thoreau showed the world how a frugal life pared down to the barest of essentials can be rich and rewarding-- perhaps far more so than a life crammed with meaningless “stuff.”