New ventures in eating and cooking

The last 6 weeks has left me occupied with my two children and the business of settling each of them into school and nursery. My son went from having mama 24/7 to a few days of nursery away from me and his precious big sister. This was a significant change for him and I welcomed the balance of mama time and nursery time. He had much to look forward to such as the different stimulation varying from the cool music teacher with his guitar to eating together with the rest of the children on small tables and chairs and might I add, without any help! I was curious how this last task would pan out as my boy generally has ants in his pants. After several weeks into the process, I was happy to learn that he sat with the rest of his peers and was having seconds as well! And this has of course had an effect at home, as he is able to sit longer than usual.

My daughter is slowly settling in at reception (also known as kindergarten) and she has had some days where she has had school lunches and other days when she and I have lunched together. On the days that she is at home, her appetite has almost doubled and I am so pleased with this. As a baby she was a small eater and its only over the years that her desire for food has grown. And now it seems that being at school has only expanded her tummy!

So now I will start my classes once she has fully settled, and this will be towards the end of November and I will update my blog, Facebook page and website www.spicesformysweets.com with dates.

In the mean time I have done some interesting talks, one has been for a local clinic specialising in alternative therapies. I spoke about the beneficial uses of spices and baby food and offered some pureed samples for clients to try, one of course was my favourite butternut squash puree with roasted cumin and steamed plums puree with star anise, black peppercorns, cinnamon and clove.

Then this weekend I did a cooking demo at a quaint shop that sells spices by the weight. It was a fantastic experience where I demonstrated how to cook tadka dal (tempered lentils) and Bombay aloo. I was so high on adrenalin after the class and got so much positive feedback. I hope to do some more classes here in the future!

The Summer of Food and an Autumn of Cooking

I am feeling rather creaky after two months of not writing on my blog and I have to admit the break has been refreshing. The family and I were away in India over the summer months and it was a new adventure being in the motherland during the post monsoon, mosquito season. The children enjoyed all the Indian delights of paani puri, kulfi, and roasted corn with lemon and salt. The fruits in season were the succulent custard apples and sweet pomengranates and the children ate these both in fruit and ice cream form!

For me, it was a time off from cooking and I solely focused on indulging on food at any opportunity! I relished every bite of my grandma's cooking from the area of Sind, lollas with maaki for breakfast to sai bhaaji for lunch and gosht dubalroti for dinner.

Then there was the Goan food we tried which has strong Portugese influence, a couple of  that stuck out for me was the pork vindaloo which used sugar cane vinegar. I ate this with small bread rolls to mop up the vindaloo sauce. It was just wow! Then there was a seafood stew, with a mellow gravy and bits of prawn and crab floating in it. Again, very very nice. Then of course the street food, I had my sev puri and bhel puri. Indian food aside, there was also some fantastic Chinese meals, sushi and pizzas. But I have to say my all time favorite was eating sharing platters with cocktails amongst close friends. I think it was the best combination of good conversation and food!

Since coming back to London, we have been busy settling the children into both school and nursery. The much needed mommy-time is somewhere in the distance till they both settle and in the mean time its been non stop cooking (surprise surprise!). After Indian food overload, the children were happy to come back to a more balanced diet of pasta, stir fries and of course home cooked Indian food. I tried after ages, a moreish bean curry. To my delight, my daughter enjoyed it the first time so much that she demanded it again for lunch today! And with the cold weather setting in, its perfect!

So here is my recipe for a moreish bean curry. I used 2 cans of black eyed beans and 1 can of butter beans (or giant baked beans as I like to call them)

3 cans of beans
half a large onion
3 garlic cloves grated
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1/2 tspn red chilli powder
salt to taste
handful of finely chopped coriander

1.  Sweat the onion on low heat along with the grated garlic and ginger in a tablespoon of oil.
2. After 7-8 mins, the onions will be translucent. Now add the dry spices and cook for a minute.
3. Add the can of tomatoes and finally the beans (you can discard the water).
4. Add two cups of water and simmer on low heat for 45 mins.
5. Add the coriander right at the end and stir through.

Serve like a soup with some crusty bread on the side, or with boiled rice and yoghurt.