Indian Food and Cooking

My adventure with the Indian cuisine started one nice day in Brussels. I had eaten only solid food for a few days and I was just dying for a soup. Then someone said they had this marvelous soup in the Indian restaurant nearby and suggested we tried it. And off we went!

They only had spinach and carrot soup I think, but the chap over there was very eager to please customers. Thus, when I asked for vegetables soup, he said they had just that (after all, spinach and carrot are vegetables, aren't they?!) and offered to bring it ASAP.

Everyone who tasted my vegetables soup knows that by that I meant a minestrone, and everyone knows what minestrone looks and tastes like. Now imagine my shock when they brought a thick, creamy, green... thing! There I was, looking all around, wondering how to react to it. Who had seen green soup before? (Guys don't bloody laugh, I was born in a small place where the only extravagant cuisines were Italian, Greek and little Turkish, but that only because we had considerable communities of Italians, Greeks and Turks in town! Green soup was literally.... alien to me!)

So I discreetly called the waiter and asked what kind of soup that was. In a semi-annoyed, semi-surprised, semi-frustrated voice the man told me that it was "totally vegetable soup". Then I asked in a sweet voice what vegetables had gone into my soup, and the man told me in an overly courteous way he was not sure because he was not the one who was making the soup, he was just serving it. So I wondered whether it would help me in any way if I slapped the guy. A pacifist by nature, I gave him an unnatural smile and let him go. He gave off a sigh.

The first few bites must have felt for me just like realizing that the land he had just discovered was not India for Columbus: a mix of disappointment and joy. As my taste-buds got used to the new wonder I really got over my initial reticence and had one more serving. I thought I thus had my revenge on the waiter, but I noticed the proud victorious grin on his face when he brought the bill. Who won? Both of us, I guess :)

Now after an undisclosed number of years I am more than familiar with Indian food. It's part of my life just as much - and occasionally even more than - my native Romanian cooking not only because my husband Rakesh is an Indian, but also because I got to love it myself. Sometimes you won't believe the blunders I make though, so there's definitely room for improvement!

Among my recent attempts at improving my Indian cooking skills I have to quote the most successful. My friend Maddie, a chef in UK, had the kindness to share with me a link to the site of an amazing Indian cook (Thanks a million Maddie!!!). Her name is Manjula and she is a magician in the kitchen, making all the impossibly complicated dishes absolutely accessible to everyonye. Watch a few of her videos and you'll see what I mean!

So whenever you're in the mood for an amazing Indian dish, just go to www.manjulaskitchen.com and select one of the many delicious recipes. Watch the video and then get yourself going! In the end, you'll surely discover India with your taste buds! Again and again!

This being said, I'm off to try Gajar ka Halwa. Enjoy your culinary trip to India! Cheers!

My Favourite Winter Salad Recipe

Winters are challenging times for people who made a habit out of eating raw foods. Especially if temperatures go well below zero, those wonders of health suddenly don't look friendly anymore - considering none of us has the time to take them out of the fridge hours before eating them so they reach room temperature.

Not to worry! Here's the solution to it: combine it with a serving of piping hot nutritious grains. You can choose from a wide variety including brown rice (the white one is devoid of nutrients through the process of polishing), barley, quinoa. Besides giving a "hot" touch to the salad, these will bring their own nutritional benefits.

In case you don't have a salad recipe that you think might go with this suggestion, try this:

1-2 cups rice or grain (brown/basmati rice, barley, millet, quinoa or buckwheat)
juice of 1 lemon
1-2 teaspoons healthy oils (flax seed, olive, coconut)
salt to taste
1 avocado, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 green / red / yellow capsicum finely cut
1-2 sprigs green onion (optional)
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)
roasted almonds, whole or chopped (optional)
your choice of fresh or dried herbs (cilantro, basil, oregano)
pepper to taste

This is a recipe I got from Dr. Robert O Young's newsletter. He is a Ph.D who researched the importance of food in developing dis-ease free lifestyles, and his findings are simply amazing!

To access more of his hugely informative newsletters please visit http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.com or sign up at www.phmiracleliving.com

Be good, stay healthy, have a great weekend and...

Bon appetit!