Punjabi Food Recipes

Sorry it took me so long to post these recipes for the meal we had on Saturday night in Bakersfield.  Do try them and let me know how it all turns out -- and if you have a suggested improvement, please do share that too! :)

Baingan Bharta (serves 3-4 people)

1 large eggplant (or 2 medium-sized)

1 white medium sized onion, chopped fine

3 tomatoes (crushed, chunky)

1.5 tablespoons crushed ginger

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

.5 green chili chopped fine

1.5 teaspoon lemon juice

.5 teaspoon garam masala

.5 teaspoon cumin seeds (jiru)

.5 teaspoon turmeric (hardar)

Salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Wash the eggplant and stab the eggplan 5-6 times around.  Put the eggplants in the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, turning periodically so you don't burn one side.  Be sure to put them on a rack with a tray below as water will release from the eggplants as they cook.
2. Once eggplants look soft and roasted, take them out of the oven and put them in a plastic bag and seal it for a few minutes to help separate the skin from the eggplant.  Then remove the skin and mash up the inside of the eggplant with a fork.
3. Heat up a few drops of oil in a saucepan/pot and add the jiru.
4. Stir in the onions until lightly browned, then add the tomatoes.
5. Add all of the masala including hardar, salt, garam masala, ginger, garlic and chopped chillies.
6. Stir for 1-2 minutes, then add the roasted mashed up eggplant with a little bit of water.  Stir for a few minutes and then cover and leave to cook for 7-10 minutes.
7. Add the lemon juice and then serve with coriander garnish.

Saag Paneer (serves 3-4 people)

16 oz can chopped spinach

1 pack paneer, cubed

.5 medium sized white onion, crushed

.5 green chili, crushed

1.5 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon garlic

.5 teaspoon garam

 masala

.5 teaspoon cumin (jiru)

4 tablespoons cream

Salt to taste

1. Crush the onion, green chili, garlic and ginger into a paste
2. Heat up a few drops of oil in a pot and add the jiru
3. Drain the spinach in the tin and then add to the pot, add a little bit of water
4. Cover and cook the spinach for 20-25 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot
5. Once spinach is cooked, remove from the pot and heat up a few drops of oil in the pot
6. Add the paste you made and stir until lightly browned, then add the garam masala
7. Mix in the cooked spinach and salt to taste, You might have to add a little bit of water if the mixture is too thick.
8. Use a hand blender to blend the mixture in the pot completely.  Let it cook for 5-7 minutes.
9. Heat up a separate nonstick skillet on medium heat and add the paneer cubes (no oil is needed, as oils release from the paneer when you cook it).  Lightly grill the paneer and then remove from heat.
10. Now add the cream to the saag mixture and stir it in.  
11. Then add the paneer and serve with coriander garnish.

Dal Makhani (serves 3-4)

5 fistfuls of black urad dal

1 fistful of red kidney beans

.5 medium-sized white onion, chopped fine

1 tomato, crushed

1.5 tablespoon crushed ginger

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

.5 green chili, chopped in large pieces

1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder or tandoori red powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

.5 teaspoon cumin (jiru)

5-7 tablespoons fresh cream

Salt to taste

1. Cook the urad dal and kidney beans in a pressure cooker for 12-15 minutes.  Keep the water after it is cooked (it should look like a deep red colour).
2. Put a few drops of oil in a pot and add the jiru
3. Add the chopped onions and saute until lightly browned
4. Add the chopped tomato along with the ginger, garlic, garam masala and Kashmiri red chili powder or tandoori red powder.  Stir for a minute or two.
5. Add the cooked daal with the water from the pressure cooker.  Add the chunks of green chili and salt to taste.
6. Cover the pot and cook for 1-2 hours if possible to get the best taste.  Stir regularly to make sure dal doesn't stick to bottom of pot and add water as necessary during the cooking process.  
7. Once the dal is cooked and has thickened to the right consistency, add cream and garnish with coriander when serving.

Happy cooking!  And if you have a recipe you think the rest of us would love to try, please do share!  We all love good homemade food :)

Family Reunion in Bakersfield

As most of you have heard, over half the family got together for a reunion weekend in Bakersfield to warm up my parents' new house from November 7th to the 9th while Deep and I were visiting. We had such a great time seeing everyone and I think everyone enjoyed hanging out just for the sake of it, without a wedding going on or some other big function. It was relaxing and everyone had a great time just catching up!

On Friday evening, everyone started arriving at our house, where we had an exciting menu of kachri bateta! As you can imagine, we were loud as usual and there were many laughs to be had including the imaginary baby shower that Usha Aunty is planning for us in May (no, I'm not pregnant!) and Reema and Poonum in the hot seat about getting married before they go out of date :) Saturday morning we were off to Rashmi Kaka and Bharati Kaki's house for brunch, featuring khichi, thepla and a variety of other Indian favourites! In the afternoon, we all split up and did different things -- one group of Dads took all the little ones to see Madagascar 2, all the chica cousins went shoppping, the teenage boys all headed to the driving range and the last group got busy at our house cooking and preparing for the evening festivities.

Saturday evening started with some delicious paneer samosa starters that Usha Aunty's friend made followed by a traditional Punjabi meal that I made including Saag Paneer, Bengan Bharta, Daal Makhani, two types of Raita, kachumber, green salad and more! Dessert featured Usha Aunty's yummy chocoloate pista specials and Priti's lovely halwa. I know what you're thinking -- why am I going on about food? Because that's what we all love! :) The night was filled with more laughter, as you can imagine, with Hansa Baa and Usha Baa joining in the company of the other two Baa's, everyone making fun of Reema's boyfriend Anil (who is sindhi) for being more Gujju than all the Gujjus there, the entire gang enjoying antakshri and back to the other favourite subject of the weekend -- Reema, Raagi and Poonum's pending weddings!

Sunday morning we were off to Usha Aunty and Ashok Uncle's place for a delicious brunch featuring everything you can imagine from utthappam to fresh baked bagels to cereals to a variety of fresh fruit and more! The weekend sadly concluded on Sunday afternoon as everyone started to head home in different directions.

I think everyone had a fantastic weekend and we're looking forward to the next family reunion!

Click on this link to see some photos from the weekend:

http://picasaweb.google.com/deepandtrishna/FamilyReunionInBakersfield

Home-Remodel - Master Bathroom

Earlier this year, we decided to remodel some areas of the house. The start is with the master bathroom. The pictures below are representative of what's been going on

This was our Master Bathroom Tub Area on July 25th

This was the evening of July 25th. The whole bathroom was stripped

On July 26th, they built the new frame for the new Jacuzzi

On July 28th, the new Jacuzzi was installed. The rest of the bathroom is being prepared for the tiles.

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Geni - Everyone's Related

After several conversations with Dipu Bhai, Trishna and Alpesh we realized two major opportunities that the internet could be used to bring our family closer.

1. Communication
2. Family tree and history

With the help of Dipu bhai the shahfamilyblog.blogspot.com was born. With over 25 posts ranging from topics of; birthdays, baby annoucements, family trips, family pictures and jokes. With the collaboration from more family members, I'm sure we will all agree that the blog is a fantastic emerging tool for our family to communicate.

While surfing the internet to find a tool that would help us establish a family tree online, we found a website called www.geni.com.

• Geni.com is a private place for your family to build your family tree, preserve your history and share your lives.
• Geni, the fast free fun way to create your family tree and stay in touch with your family network.

We recently started a family tree for our family and it has already grown to over 200 people with the help of Dipu Bhai, Trishna and Alpesh. Its been an exciting ride and we would love everyone to join in on the fun.

The website is easy to use and has already proved to be useful when thinking about how certain individuals connect to our family. In the next couple of weeks, you will probably be seeing invites from us (Dipu Bhai, Trishna, Alpesh or myself) and we can all find out how big our family tree really is!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email or comment on this post.

Thanks!

Below is a video on how to get started on Geni.
How to get started on Geni*
* Instead of immediately signing up, I would get an invite from one of the names mentioned above, because we probably already have you in the family tree.

Cartoons about Astronomical Gas Prices

A Weekend in Venice

For the first long weekend in May, we decided to check out Venice! We figured its not too hot in Italy yet and hopefully not too smelly in Venice either (Rahul and Sahil can tell you all about their smelly experience in Venice!) :)

Venice is a really beautiful and picturesque city -- it looks exactly as you would imagine it to! In case you're curious, check out our photos. Little alleyways everywhere with really cute little footbridges every 50 metres to cross over canals, old buildings line the canals with little boats tied at docks, no cars anywhere, so all public transport is via the waterways.

We had a fantastic time overall and really enjoyed taking ferries up and down the Grand Canal (the real one, not the one at the Venetian) :) and had some delicious Italian food, including some of the best pizzas ever! Harry's Bar is a great place to pop in and enjoy a bellini -- after all, they were invented at this bar in Venice and really, they are the best bellinis we've ever had!

Its the one place in the world that's even more expensive than London (imagine that!), so we'd recommend going once the dollar strengthens against the Euro :) If you're planning to go and would like any tips, just give us a shout.