Cabbage and lentils and friends

An impromptu evening hang out at our place with my friends Shiv and his wife Chandrika and my room mate Sanjiv.

My friends came home for Diwali

Cabbage curry (stir fry) cooked with peas, onions and fried mustard seeds and gram pulses. South Indian style cooked dish.

Potato, spinach gravy dish cooked with cummin seeds, onions, garlic, garam masala and red chillies

Dal, simple lentil soup made out of split mung beans (without peel). With the peel mung beans look green in color.

Thai Vegetable Stir-fry with Fried Tofu Seasoned with Green Curry Paste and Coconut Flakes

Grilled vegetables cooked for a Thai night. The veggies were grilled in a cast iron skillet.

Grilled tofu. You can find more tofu recipes in these books.

Grilled tofu, rice cooked in a Rice cooker

Cooking Stuffed Poblano Peppers

This post is a mini cookout that I did on a quick break from studying. Came back from the lab with my friend Claudia and we both cooked stuffed poblano peppers. It came out quite well, but what I loved was the amazing colors of the raw materials! Enjoy.

Colorful peppers! yumm.

Poblano peppers

Claudia giving finishing touches.

Filling the peppers with salted rice, cheese and tomatoes!

Quick recipe:

Bring 3-4 quarts water in a large pan to boil

Cut the tops of the peppers, take out the innards, keep the tops by the side.

Preheat over to 400 F.

Add the whole peppers to the boiling water and scald for 3-4 minutes. Take out and place them in a colander in the sink to drain the water.

Arrange the peppers standing up in a deep baking tray (glass/pyrex tray of the correct size is preferred) and fill them each with layers of rice, cheese, chickpeas and tomatoes sauce.

Top with some tomato sauce once each pepper is filled, then pour one or two more large spoons of sauce around the peppers.

Place in oven and bake for 15-20 mins or until a sharp knife pokes into the pepper easily.

Remove from oven and serve.

Food (Dosas)

Captions: (Left to Right) 1. Dosa batter after grinding; 2. My telugu speaking friends who were excellent "dosa flippers"; 3. The creations, crisp masala (stuffed) dosas; 4. Idlis - Dosas - Allotropes? 5. The entire feast spread Top row: Onion-tomato chutney, Tamarind chutney, Idlis, Podis.
Bottom row: Sambar, Cilantro-coconut chutney (green), Dosas, more masala dosas.

Where to get Awesome "South" Indian food.
(Note that south indian food is very different tasting compared to "indian" food in most restaurants named Delhi Palace, India Palace, Taj etc. etc.. in the US. The texture and feel of the food is different, you do not have "breads or naans" on the menu, there is lot of rice or rice based items. They are all spicy. But it is fun! Dosas are 'crepe' like items.

Excellent locations to have dosas (by city)
NYC: Lexington Ave & 3rd St., Saravana Bhavan, Udupi, other places nearby.
Washinton DC.: Amma Vegetarian Kitchen, Georgetown.
San Francisco/San Jose/Bay Area: Komala Vilas, Santa Clara.
Los Angeles:
New Orleans (new!): That Indian Place -a very inexpensive dosa joint (lunch only) in New Orleans, LA.
A short video on dosa making.
Delhi, India: Saravana Bhavan, Connaught Place/Rajiv Chowk area.
Kulithalai, Trichy District, Tamil nadu : Venganna Cafe. (rocks!!!!)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: Saravana Bhavan, Adyar Woodlands, Pretty much everywhere in TN seriously!

My Mom's Second Visit to US

(Republished on 4/21/08)
Pictures from a pot luck party. Most of this delicious food was made by my mom. I did the prep work (cutting the vegetables, soaking, making dough etc) and immediately took pictures of the colorful veggies! Yum yum.

Travel Delay on United Airlines

So right now I am traveling back (read: waiting in the airport) from New Orleans, LA back from the ACS conference to State College. I will miss my connection from DC to State College because of a flight delay from New Orleans to Wash DC (IAD), because UAL's plane from Chicago is delayed.
Anyhow, I called United Customer support (877 228 1327): I reached a person within 2 minutes of holding. Anyhow after that the person spoke nicely and offered me a travel voucher for 100 bux valid for one year (via email in 2 days acc. to them).

Let us see what happens. The worrisome part was that I wanted to find out about accommodation for the night, but that could not be arranged. So anyhow, right now I am debating what to do, etc.
I might have to spend a to stay in DC, it is not a cheap city!

I am just going to wing it and see what the city will have to offer late tonight.