I want my Baby Back Baby Back Ribs

I have fond memories of going to Chili's as a kid with my family and LOVING the baby back ribs.  I never thought I, someone who hardly knows how to turn on the oven, would be attempting to make them.  Surprisingly they are really really easy.

When I figured out that I wanted to start cooking, I knew just the person to help me out.  Except for the fact that she lives 750 miles away, Shivani was perfect to help me with this.  First of all, she is an amazing sister in law (Anjay's cousin's wife) and even though has only been married into the family a few short years, has made me feel like she enjoys my company and has been the first one to treat me the way I had always hoped to be treated as family (see my very first blog for more on that topic).  She has an adorable little baby boy too, Aditya, who is just 2 months old so understands the need for quick meals and most importantly KNOWS HOW TO COOK.  I love the few dishes I have had the pleasure to try and Anjay has texted me pictures of the food she has made for him when on business trips so I know my husband approves as well.

She sent me a few recipes which I will be trying and sharing as well but pointed me towards this slow cooker recipe for ribs. 

Anjay picked up the pork ribs from Aldi.  I was all ready to get started and he asked me if I wanted him to take off the fat.  Well, I didn't know you were supposed to do that!  So sure, go ahead, and then in all honesty he ended up doing most of the work.   According to Shivani, we were team building, so its OK. :)

Once we trimmed the fat, we added the seasoning and brown sugar splenda.  We had Hamburger Seasoning on hand so decided to use that.  We did need much more BBQ sauce then described in the recipe, probably more like 2 cups and really you need the full bottle so we had to open a 2nd. 

Finally, you stick it in the slow cooker and try to get it to stand up with the meaty side facing the outside.  We could not get it to stay up, probably because we cut it in half and maybe we shouldn't have, so it kept falling down.  As an extra step, she told me to add some jalapenos on top to spice things up.  Let them sit for 7 hours and serve hot.

They were delicious!  We served them up with fries just like I remember eating them at Chilis and I loved them.  Thanks Shivani!

Zucchini Mini Muffins

Aria is definitely my most difficult eater and she loves to pick out all the vegetables that she can see in her food.  Since Anjay was traveling last night, I decided to cater to the girls so that they could get involved in the process of selection and also the cooking.  I decided on following this recipe for Zucchini Muffins.  There was a ton of "that is disgusting" and "there is no way I am eating those" but I told them we wouldn't make them only they promised to eat one each.  We didn't have any vanilla so we exchanged it for maple and I cut the amount in half just to be safe.  During the process the batter got very difficult to mix and there was still flour not mixed so we had to add more milk.

Guess what, they loved them!!!  Even took them to school for lunch the next day to tell their friends all about it.

Akash wanted to get in there too!!

Bhel in a Box

When I was at the Indian grocery store, I noticed these boxes and have to share since I tried one for lunch today.  I usually have some of the ingredients for bhel in my house since it really requires no cooking but the big bag gets stale over time and rarely have everything I need.  These are perfect to take to work, taste delicious, and require no work!  If you have never had Bhel before, it is a crunchy spicy mix that you top off with amli chutney which is also included in the box.  At $1.50 you can't go wrong!

Anjay's Favorite - Khichi

Anjay has always loved his mom's cooking but one that has always been at the top is Khichi.  It is an acquired taste as the first time I tried it I was not a fan but after 11 years being in the Bharadwa family it is actually something I enjoy.  Avani and Aria have yet to acquire the taste.  It is a doughy flavorful mixture kinda like a spicy sticky cookie dough.  After getting the recipe from Anjay's cousin, Anita, I thought it was time to head to the Indian store since it's the weekend and give it a try.

When at an Indian grocery store it can be a bit hard to find stuff if you aren't sure exactly how to pronounce it so I had to enlist my mother-in-laws help once again to speak with the guy behind to counter to find my ingredients!  For future reference this is what Kharo looks like.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 tbsn cumin seeds

1 tbsn sesame seeds

1 tspn salt

1 tspn papdio Kharo

1 green chili (mom said 2 but I was too scared and I used jalapeños)

1 bowl rice flour (I used cereal bowls)

2 tbsn oil

Serve with:

Red chili powder

Oil

Instructions:

1.  In a pot boil 2 bowls of water with the seeds, salt, and Kharo.  Let boil for 8 minutes.

2.  Grind the chili to make a paste

3.  Take the boiled mixture off the stove and add the paste

4.  Slowly add in the rice flour bit by bit because it will get lumpy quickly if you don't 

5.  Add oil

6.  Stir well and return to low heat

7.  Stir regularly for 30 minutes

Mine ended up being very dry and got lumpy so (I had to call mom a few times) we ended up adding 3 bowls of water and mixed thoroughly.  It wasn't perfect but we were close.  Anjay had seconds!

Bombay Wellingtons and Kadhi

Night number one, Wednesday, did not go so well.  I decided to make (with my nanny) "Bombay Wellingtons" which was a recipe that a friend had posted on Facebook from her blog.  I didn't have the exact ingredients so we used a yellow pepper instead of green, and puff pastry sheets which means you have to cook for 30-40 minutes instead (which made dinner late!) .

Aria doesn't like anything that is not bread and cheese so her not taking more than a rabbit size bite was not a surprise.  Avani did not think that the idea of a pastry with meat went well together and instantly shouted "Chicken with a Pastry!!  Those don't go together".  Now I forced her to take a bite and her preconceived notion that it would be disgusting still remained and she continued to complain while she ate it.  After we added some ketchup to it and she had eaten a satisfactory amount, I asked if she was done and she said no, ate the whole thing but "it was disgusting".  Anjay, who was the target audience, had just returned from a sausage plant where he saw a live hog be converted to the links that we buy in the grocery store and had temporarily became a vegetarian.  He didn't even take a bite.  I on the other hand thought they were fabulous!  Arjun had some leftovers last night and was also impressed so the recipe is great, thanks Amrith!

Night two, obviously we had to go vegetarian so I called up Mom and Dad (Atlanta ones) and told her I have all this Besan in the house and what can we make with it.  Mom threw out Kadhi and Pakora so we thought we would give it a try.  Here is the recipe we followed:

Pakora Ingredients:
1 Chopped Onion - dime size pieces
1/2 Chopped Cauliflower - dime size pieces
1 Chopped Potato - dime size pieces
1 Green Chili Grinded (or paste) with seeds removed
1 tspn Haldi (Turmeric)
1 and 1/2 tspn salt
1 cup Besan Flour
2 tspn Oil

Kadhi Ingredients:
1/2 Container Yogurt (store bought plain)
2 tbsn Besan Flour
1 tspn Haldi (Turmeric)
1 tspn Sugar
1/2 Lemon
1 tspn tea masala
1/2 tspn ginger paste
1 tspn cumin seeds
2 tbspn oil

Instructions:
1.  Prepare oil in either a fryer or a large pot with enough oil to dip the Pakoras. 
2.  Mix all the Pakora ingredients into a bowl.
3.  You will know the oil is ready when you put it in and starts to sizzle. 
4.  Take a spoon size of the mixture and fry in the oil until brown.
5.  Set the pakoras to the side.  If you make extra they are perfect to serve as appetizers with ketchup.
6.  To start the Kadhi, blend the yogurt with 1/2 the container of water and the Besan.  Make sure there are no lumps.
7.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend again.
8.  Heat up the oil in a pot or wok with the cumin seeds.  When it is hot enough it will brown and pop.
9.  Add the yogurt mixture at the high heat and stir.
10.  After a few minutes, reduce the heat to low heat and occasionally stir for 20 minutes.
11.  Add a few of the pakora pieces to the kadhi until it is soaked and serve hot!

Avani loved the Pakoras.  Aria, well was Aria.  Most importantly, Anjay loved it.  Success.

The Way to A Man's Heart is Through His Stomach

My first attempt at blogging clearly didn't work.  Here I am 2 years later, almost to the date, and I am inspired to blog again!  I honestly think it would be therapeutic for me so I am going to give it another shot.

One major change is the newest member of our family, Akash Jayden Bharadwa, aka the love of my life.  He was born in March last year and I could not physically love him more!

Other than that, I am the same person.  An honest to a fault mom who always looks miserable, loves to renovate and is a complete open book.

Recently, I was persuaded by some of my wonderful sister-in-laws when out on a girls night out in Atlanta when I shared one of my stories to make another major change.  I told them the joke that I tell my girls all the time.  In the beginning, mommy's heart belonged completely to Daddy, 100%.  Then when Avani was born, she instantly captured my whole heart.  When Aria came along they had to share it 50-50.  Finally the adorable rascal was born and they are now all down to 33.3333333333333 (and they like to argue about that .00000000000001)!  Ofcourse the question (being Anjay's sisters) was how come Anjay doesn't get any of my heart anymore?

Besides the fact that it is a joke I laugh about with my kids, it raised the topic of making sure your husband knows he is a priority for you.  So I wondered, how do you actually do that?  I don't think many of them had thought about the how part but once questioned, we came up with some:

• Asking him how his day was
• Making time for just the 2 of you, i.e. date nights and vacations
• Being interested in his hobbies

At the end of the day, the one thing that was a reoccurring theme from all 5 of them was preparing his favorite home cooked meal for him.  Now mind you, I did remind them all that we are now in 2015 and not living in India but at the end of the day, that didn't seem to matter.  The consensus was that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach so in order to show my man that he is a priority to me (so my kids can still get 33.333333 each) I have decided that I am going to learn how to cook!

Ofcourse for most people this is not a big deal.  You probably can throw a meal together and don't think about it twice.  For me this is not the case.  I grow up in a house with lots of help including a live in housekeeper/cook and therefore was never domesticated.  After we got married, Anjay actually enjoyed it, then when we had children we hired a nanny and have had them help in that department as well.  Before that conversation it had probably honestly been a few years since I had cooked a meal fancier than pasta from scratch (successfully without having to toss it and get take out). 

Back to why I was inspired to write, I thought people might find my journey to learn to cook interesting and maybe even learn a recipe or 2.  Who knows but certainly wish me luck because I'll need it!