Let's start at the roots.. Indigenous Rajasthani delight

So I think since these days I am in Grad School (Read: student budget. Translate: have to cook more), I should revive this space (not that there was much happening here anyways)..but seriously, it's about time that I describe the patterns I see in the kaleidoscope of my kitchen here, rather than slapping short blurbs about these experiences onto my Facebook page

So what do I cook nowadays? Indian, Indian and more Indian food (c'mon, I am trying not to feel homesick alright!). And when talking about Indian food, how can my traditional cuisine be far behind. So let's start with the culinary delights from my beloved Indian state..my roots, my true home. Rajasthan. Just hearing its name, or thinking of my many captivating trips there, or simply reviving the magic of its beauty etched in my mind is enough to make my heart warm up with joy. The sheer thought brings a smile on my face and makes me want to go back, to soak myself in its vibrant culture and humble traditions.
...Yes, I am in love with Rajasthan, the colorful desert state of India. The land of the spectacular sand dunes where majestic forts have withstood the test of time and live to tell a story of their own. Where tradition meets modern. Where your eyes are treated to a gorgeous color fest. Where folk stories and folk dances form the everyday life.

And since I grew up in a traditional Rajasthani family I have, of course, developed my own palate for spicy delicacies and...ghee and...oh yes, sweets! Most of Rajasthan is covered in arid land and sand dunes; therefore, over the course of time the scarcity of water (and thus fresh vegetables) have resulted in unique food dishes that make me admire the creative imagination of the people who conjured up these recipes. Without much ado, here comes our first indigenous item of the cuisine, one that I find extremely fun to make and eat~~ Papad ki Sabzi!

Pssst: maybe in the coming few weeks (hopefully not months) I will share some recipes/ blogposts from my mum's kitchen that are simple to execute and yet delightful to serve.

For this time, I found a video that details out all the step-wise procedure to prepare papad ki Sabzi.Show Me the Curry

Till then, happy cooking!

The Other Day…that was not Just Another Day

...so what happened the other day?

The other day, I overheard my brother talk my parents about his medical reports and his high cholesterol levels. I was obviously shocked: to learn about his health conditions at such a young age and more from the realization that I too, must have a genetic tendency towards high cholesterol and other undesirable health conditions given my parents’ medical history. You know, khoon ka rishta (blood ties) and all? It struck me that at that very moment I was carrying the genes (the monstrous little things that I can’t even see) which could manifest into high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. Yes, these three devils are a trio that comes together, much as in ‘Ek par Do—Muft! Muft! Muft!’ (Buy One, Get Two Free)

But even amidst my shock and despair I thought, wait—there has got to be some way to ensure that these monsters don’t take complete charge of my mortal being? I am sure if I make some ‘choices’ different from what I have been making until now, I will be able to prevent the danger or at least stall it for a few more years. So what could I do differently now? I believe I could eat a right diet, lead a correct lifestyle and of course, sweat it out with some (dreaded?) exercise to burn those extra calories away. However if you ask me, of all the above I find ‘eating right’ the best option for me as I love food! Ironical, isn’t it? If I enjoy eating so much, logic says that I should find eating ‘right’ the most difficult of these choices for better living. But as much as I relish food, I hate exercise! (common story, right?) So I choose the lesser evil of the two. I can bring myself to eat healthy than to run (yawn) a few kilometers every morning!

And it is also another matter I thoroughly enjoy cooking some yummy food for everyone (of course for myself too :P). For me, cooking for someone is a favorite way of expressing my love and extending a hand of friendship—something like the Stone Soup Story. Of all the things one can do, cooking to say ‘I love you’??!! But I think it comes to me naturally that I want to feed everyone around me, even if at times I may have only so much to feed myself. Besides, cooking helps me—almost like any other therapeutic activity—to not only satisfy my hunger but also to lift my spirits and help me cope with my moody days (oh sure as hell I can be moody). So call me a Big Mommy who cooks keep everyone happy, or just a Crabby Chef trying to fix my temper around the kitchen, I love cooking—that’s it!

Anyways, as you have already heard enough I zeroed in on ‘eating right’ as my first step towards healthy living and geared up (read: grabbed my apron and cooking spoon), taking it upon myself to cook some healthy and delicious (yes, healthy CAN be delicious too, don't be so surprised it’s not a miracle, really!) meals for our family at least until we are all together here at my brother’s place. That very day, I set an aim to conjure up at least one healthy side dish or appetizer with each meal (jeez, ‘each meal’?? whatever was I thinking when I resolved to do that—this is already seeming a humongous task).

In my last post, I know I promised to share a few recipes that I try out with you all. But before I start, let me warn you though: these days I mostly love trying out new salads and soups with different flavors so don’t be surprised if I start advocating a healthy diet or campaigning (rather shouting aloud) slogans like “Eat Raw Food” or “A Soup a Day keeps the Doctor Away.” And I bet I won’t have a very subtle way to do so, since I have a not-so-subtle personality. Blame this obsession with health foods on my taste buds (yes, I actually ‘love’ eating raw stuff) or for that matter, my training in Yoga (oh didn’t you know? I am a trained Yoga teacher—although I hate to exercise myself!). But one thing is sure; I have come to realize and profess the benefits of healthy cooking and healthy eating to one and all. My family and friends will vouch for that, I am sure! They are sometimes so tired of my constant rant about ‘healthy, healthy, healthy’ that I secretly doubt my folks will throw me out or bar me from entering the kitchen someday!

But dear readers, don’t you worry. At heart I am a foodie and love the sinful stuff too (ever ready to bring on the chocolate and the yummy cakes)! So in addition to enlisting the numerous benefits of gulping down a bowl of Carrot and Red Pepper Soup, I will also share some of my experiences while baking the World’s Best Ever Heart Healthiest Chocolate Chip Cookies (which I have almost perfected now). Oooh, talking of that sugary stuff reminds me that I cannot wait to sink my teeth in the Mango Crumble Pie that is lying in my freezer at the moment!(drools) See? There is some good stuff that’s definitely coming your way...and you thought I am only about to write a boring health blog..tsk tsk..

Nonetheless, in my next post I will make an auspicious start to my Healthy Food series, and spice it up with some not-so-healthy recipes in the coming days. So catch your breath (or rather, whip up your appetite) and I bet I won’t disappoint you!

The Stone Soup Story

Ting! Ting! Ting!
The Stone Soup——does it ring a bell? I am sure it must, as it was one of those lovely stories that we heard during our adolescent years. I used to love this one, particularly because the story taught me something really important. I will come to that moral in a bit, after I have eloquently narrated the story (I know I know, you must have by now remembered the story; I am only doing this for the sake of narrating it my ishtyle! :P)

The Stone Soup story is a very old fable, the origins of which are not fully known. I obviously do not know when the story was first told, but when I searched for it on Google I found versions of the Stone Soup story from post-war Eastern Europe, North America (reeling under during the Great Depression) and a Portuguese version too. The story has definitely moved around the world, even to Northern Kenya! This aptly shows how popular it must have been and I have no doubt about that, given that the story appeals to the entire human populace (if I may say so). The Stone Soup is a story about making something from nothing, a story of “unity in adversity.” A simple mixture of stone and boiling water takes the form of a delicious soup with the addition of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. At heart, the traditional story is a trickster tale. Typically, the person who starts preparing the soup is a stranger who is denied the food he requests from someone living in a house. In many versions, including in the American Civil War version, the stranger is a soldier looking for food.

Ahem ahem...now that I have managed to generate a little bit of curiosity for the actual story, I won’t waste time in narrating this age-old fable, a personal favorite of mine, and this is my personal favorite version of it!

And since I am of the strong belief that all stories MUST begin with “Once Upon a Time,” here I go...

Once upon a time, a kindly old stranger was walking through the land when he came upon a village. As he entered, the villagers moved towards their homes locking doors and windows.
The stranger smiled and asked, "Why are you all so frightened? I am a simple traveler, looking for a safe place to stay for the night and a warm place for a meal. "
"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "We are weak and our children are starving. Better keep moving on."
"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his cloak, filled it with water, and began to build a fire under it.
Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a silken bag and dropped it softly into the water.
By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come out of their homes or watched from their windows. As the stranger sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their fear.
"Ahh," the stranger said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."
Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a small cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot.
"Wonderful!!" cried the stranger. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king."
The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for everyone in the village to share.
The villager elder offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magical stone, but he refused to sell it and set out to continue his travels the next day.
As he left, the stranger came upon a group of village children standing near the road. He gave the silken bag containing the stone to the youngest child, whispering to the group, “It is not the stone that is magical, but the villagers that had performed the magic. Use the stone wisely when you wish to feed yourself and others who are starving."

Doesn’t it sound lovely? There's even a Stone Soup Poem that I found...



As a little kid, I wondered at first if the stone was really magical. But as I grew older, I learned the hidden meaning(s) of this story. We have all been taught to share, to care and to work together with others. But this story and its simplistic approach taught me much more—that it is important to share and care when we are all facing some adversity, some difficulty, some hurdle, some crisis! That’s when we are all so weak, and that’s when we need each other’s support. By working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good can always be achieved. And so I coined the term “Unity in Adversity.”

Now before I get preachier, I want to share what is My Veggie Stone Soup all about. It is my endeavor to share my own cooking experiences through this blog, my experiences of sharing food with all those around me.

O.K. honestly speaking, some of these are not just harmless ‘cooking experiences’ but truly my (mis)adventures in the kitchen. But c’mon, I have been cooking so much lately that why not share my recipes with whosoever wanting to try them out? This thought obviously prompted me to sit down and write these very lines for your eyes to read, but most importantly I want to thank my dearest dost Snigdha for the inspiration that I drew from her Life on Simmer. I got hooked on to the idea of writing a food blog only after reading her wonderful blog.

So coming up are some lovely recipes from my kitchen, and I swear they will be simple enough to try and delicious enough to feed your guinea pigs. Ha ha ha..yes, it is most critical that you do find a bunch of such good-natured food-lovers who will try your cooking and let you experiment with their palate. And mind you, good-natured is important because you don’t know how your cooking will turn out to be. As far as I can assure you, there is nothing to really worry about here. I will have tried all of these recipes before I post them, and will hopefully not post my disastrous ones for you to try.

As I gear up to cook up something today, I’ll leave you with Julia Child’s charming wish-

“Bon Appétit!”