Melted Brie and Balsamic Bruschetta Dip

Hope you are all having a great start to the new year, and dealing with the fact that the holidays are over much better than I am. I think I am in denial and am having trouble getting back into the routine. I stubbornly refuse to take down the Christmas ornaments and get into the celery nibbling mode that is typical for this time of year. All your amazing carrot soups and Tabbouleh posts may help me finally get over cookies and desserts though, so please keep them coming! 

We had a truly wonderful two weeks with my sister- in-law and family visiting us and I so miss my nephew, niece and our monkey being all kinds of goofy together- whether it was endless jumping around to Gangnam Style or being Batman, Super girl and the big monster and chasing each other around the house.  Thank God this time the three kiddos did not decide to fall sick together and we didn't have to make those dreaded trips to the ER like we did the last two times we all met up. So we had a great time- lots of poker playing, charades, just dance 4 sessions, and my cute as a button little niece and I were even able to do craftsy shrinky dink jewelry making and use her easy bake oven cake decorating kit which I admit was a Christmas gift as much for myself as it was for her! 

We even managed to do a little sightseeing this time, and went wine and cheese tasting and picnicking in wine country.Yes, it is almost always picnic weather in California, but hey, all weather is wine and cheese weather :)

Photo taken by my sis-in-law 

 We went to the Mondavi and Gundlach Bundschu Wineries in Napa and like every time we visit, I decided that we must visit more often. Would love recommendations for wineries to visit so do comment on the ones you love.

He did ask for wine but the monkey only got to taste water :) 

The Marin Cheese Company in Sonoma (not too far from the kiddo's favorite Train Town) is a great place for all cheese and wine lovers to go to and is such a nice picnic spot, with  lots of space for the kids to run around, a pretty duck pond, picnic tables and a convenient, well stocked tiny little deli with all kinds of cheese, wine, sandwiches, pastries, deli meat..all kinds of wonderful things, so you don't have to bring your own food, or even paper cups and things because they give you all that. 

They have lots of cheese set out on platters to taste, their specialty being small wheels of brie and we made a beeline for the one that was topped with an amazing roasted tomato and caper bruschetta which was the starting point for this post. We enjoyed the combination of bruschetta and the soft cheese both with garlic bagel chips and the baguette that they even slice up neatly for you, and I decided to make my own version at home with whatever I had on hand, though I would love to try another version with either broiled or sundried tomatoes. 

I LOVE cheese but I don't like brie too much, especially on its own, so this warm, gooey, cheesy dip with balsamic bruschetta was the most delicious way for me to use up the last of the cheese hanging out in my fridge and the perfect quick and easy, delicious appetizer that I see my self throwing together all this year. I love it so much, I may even put it inside a sandwich.  

Melted Cheese Bruschetta Dip
Makes enough appetizer for two-four people 

2 plum tomatoes chopped
1 clove garlic minced
3 thai green chilies chopped ( optional) 
2 small pearl onions chopped or a tablespoon of chopped regular onion
1 tsp chopped fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried 
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp rice vinegar ( optional) 
1 small brie round ( I used Rouge Et Noir Le Petit Bleu from Marin Cheese Company and also tossed in a bit of some Parmesan that needed to be finished, but you can use any melting cheese you like, even a mix since we will be melting them together to make a spread or dip) 

Method:
Keep the cheese aside and mix all other ingredients gently together in a small bowl
Taste and adjust, adding more herbs or more tomato if you find the mix too garlicky or spicy for your taste
Set in the fridge for about an hour or longer
If your cheese has a thick rind, cut it off since it won't melt and chop up or grate the cheese if you are using a hard cheese
Heat either on the oven, stove or in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds to a couple of minutes or just until the cheese is slightly melted, warm and gooey
Stir up the melted cheese and top with the bruschetta mix
Enjoy over some lightly toasted baguette or crackers and a glass of chilled Gewürztraminer!

I am sending this dip over to Lisa the Authentic Suburban Gourmet for her Appetizer party to celebrate her blog birthday! 

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easy and quick cashew chicken stir fry and a trip to china town

Photo for "Less is More" Photography Exercise 

When we were kids, on Sunday after breakfast mom's kitchen was closed, and that was one day in the week she usually didn't cook. Sundays meant church, grocery shopping or trips to the zoo or the park, all of us watching the Mahabharata or Tipu Sultan on Door Darshan ( ah! those days before cable!) and the highlight being when dad would take us to our favourite neighbourhood eat out. Most often these were small hole in the wall kinds of places which I have learnt have some of the best food! Annapurna for crispy Dosas, the Shawarma stand at a nearby park, Moti Mahal for their yum butter chicken or to Golden Dragon, our neighbourhood Chinese restaurant where the food was in no way authentic to China but modified and spiced up to suit local tastes which is why I will only call it Asian inspired or Indo-Chinese.

Now that we live in the San Francisco Bay Area,  I have the opportunity to taste and discover many kinds of cuisines and sample unusual dishes and ingredients - from fresh tofu straight from the bamboo molds to funky fermented things. But even today when I crave Chinese food what I usually mean is the familiar, Indo-Chinese dishes like sweet and sour pork,  chilly chicken, gobi manchurian etc. that I grew up eating.

So when I recently wandered around the colourful and bustling San Francisco China Town where I guess I will taste the most authentic versions of Chinese Cuisine without actually taking a flight to China, I found the food ( apart from the dim sums which I LOVE) to be bland to my taste buds accustomed to the heavy dose of garlic and ginger and assaulted with spices. Although I am beginning to appreciate more subtleties and nuances in flavour, more often I like my flavours really bold!

Visiting China Town:
Walk! It's impossible to find parking here. Plus it's great to wander around and soak in the ambiance and especially interesting to visit during parades and festivals- though ofcourse would be much more crowded then.
My little one loved the stone lions outside the Chinese Benevolent Association building.
For knick knacks and props : The Far East Flea Market 
and The Wok Shop for cast iron woks and other kitchen utensils
Keep an eye out for street art by the UK artist Banksy 

I love going to China Town to pick up unusual ingredients and inexpensive little props for the blog. It's good to carry cash as some stores don't take cards.
It's also great fun to walk through the busy market and see weird things like dried sea urchin that I someday hope to find a way to use in my cooking! There are also lots of familiar things too, like this dried shrimp that made my Mallu mouth water.

China Town has very unique bakeries with impossibly fluffy sponge cakes and filled steamed cakes, and these cute shaped breads, that I spotted while I was traipsing down the busy markets, camera in one hand and my delicious bubble tea in the other. That was a good day!



When I got back home I was craving some of the kind of spicy Asian inspired stir frys that for me ( An Indian in the US)  is quintessential Chinese food. I am very curious to hear suggestions for authentic and unique Chinese food I should try next time in China Town.

I usually make stir frys in my cast iron skillet to give the chicken a nice sear and a better alternative to deep frying. Garlic powder gives it that restaurant type taste, though I often add a lot of fresh garlic as well, being a household of garlic lovers! I toss in what ever vegetables I have on hand- broccoli, mushroom, peas, even a bag of frozen mixed veggies. That day it was bell peppers and onions and a handful of cashews for crunch!  It may not be authentic, but it sure tastes good!

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easy onion drop biscuits: no eggs no butter, tender and flaky in 15 minutes!

These savoury, tender and flaky biscuits are really easy to make and go well with stews and soups and are good enough to munch away on their own. I crumbled them over this cumin  roasted cauliflower soup. The best part is that it uses very common pantry staples and yes,  no eggs and no butter. Still delicious.

There should really be nothing more for me to say to convince you to try them immediately. Now.

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cumin roasted cauliflower soup- hearty & healthy

“Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24) BXVI: The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity #Lent #Pope2You  - From the Pope's daily twitter updates during Lent

Sometimes an idea will come and settle in my head. Then it's like everything around me conspires to make me put that idea into action. That idea for some time now was earth shattering. Life changing. Actually it was just...cumin roasted cauliflower soup.

See, I discovered the joy of roasted veggies only after moving here with a large, lovely oven at my disposal. As a kid I wouldn't eat cauliflower unless it was crispy fried like in Gobi Manchurian a delectable but greasy Indo- Chinese dish. Since then I have grown to appreciate my veggies, but even more so after I discovered roasting them. Baked sweet potato "fries", broiled sweet bell peppers, smoky roasted eggplant and best of all, cumin roasted cauliflower bliss.
So while I have been routinely roasting my cauliflower sprinkled with a little cumin, pepper and salt and enjoying delicious cauliflower chips for some time now, one day I just had the idea to make them into soup.

Since that day I kept hearing cauliflower everywhere- the women at the table next to ours at a restaurant kept raving about the cauliflower soup they were having and which I then wished I had ordered. Then some good friends blogged about it or mentioned making it and by then I was longing/craving cauliflower soup and just had to make it!

There are lots of cauliflower soups out there. A friend recently made one that was light, refreshing and delicious and I'm looking forward to her recipe and hope to try it soon too.
This one is hearty, thick and robustly flavorful and very filling. Soup never makes me feel full. But this one does. And its healthy and yummy to boot.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent for us Christians. It is a period of penance, abstinence and sacrifice, remembering the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ, Who we believe died painfully on the Cross to atone for all our sins. This period of around 40 days leads up to Easter which celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and reminds us that we too must strive not for the fleeting pleasures of this life but of eternal life in Heaven.

During Lent we are called to pause and reflect on our own lives and turn away from sin. We are to do charitable acts and to observe fasts as a simple exercise of "showing our passions who is boss" and knowing that we can control our desires if we want. Even if our desires in themselves may not be sinful, indulging every one of them could be dangerous, making us more likely to give in to sin so we practice a little self restraint during this time.

Some people give up meat and alcohol or something else they really like during this time. There was a little girl who gave up the colour pink, her absolute favorite :) People find really creative ways to make their Lenten sacrifices like this girl I read about who is giving up fashion for a cause. In support of those giving up meat for Lent I plan to post several more healthy vegetarian dinner ideas in the coming month like this soup.

For me eating only veggies is quite a treat and not really a sacrifice so I will have to find something unpleasant but good for me to do. Any ideas? maybe giving up sweets or undertaking a major kitchen and paperwork re-organisation effort. Or I might have to take up some form of exercise especially after the two year old  bumped his head against my tummy today and then kept saying "bouncy-bouncy!"

You don't have to be Christian to participate in Lent. A little self restraint once in a while is good for everyone. But I must admit -this soup with some flaky onion biscuits for dinner? Not very sacrificial at all!

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grilled chicken wings indian style for the last few weeks of summer

This has been one glorious summer. Beautiful sunny days just meant to be spent outdoors. Picnics, barbecues  melting ice cream, fairs, trips to the park and the  farmers market and a bounty of fruits and veggies and grilling. Let's not forget the grilling!

Especially when it came with views like this..

and days like these..

This is a picture I love of the little monkey going for a walk (or rather a run!) with his Ammama, after which he brought me this flower, sometimes its a leaf or a twig. Once it was a tiny rock. Toddler treasures! 

But back to the grilled chicken which made this summer complete. Simple to make on a grill or under the broiler or even on a pan on the stovetop. Easy and delicious! 

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