MoMos with Yagya Aunty

After Alma my Iranian neighbour left the apartment in moved Prashanti. Nepali, just out of college and into her first job, she makes for yet another wonderful neighbour. True to her name she is calmness personified. Meeting her and her friends and family, all the Nepali women seem to me to be very charming and delicate. Along came the parents a-visiting and before long Yagya aunty and Ganesh uncle were performing poojas at our place! We were so blessed to have them around for Ganesha Chathurthi as well as for Deepavali. How often do you have people of the same faith move next door? In a place like DC!! Ever since of course, my eating habits have been pampered by aunty's cooking. Momos with tangy accompaniments are delivered hot-hot almost daily at my doorstep. After a long work day, this is welcome respite with Mint Tea.



Yagya aunty with Sandhya after a hard day's labour! Cooking Aloo and Tomato Achaar, Making Momos and Sel....




The single most important aspect of Momo making.
Wet the circular wrapper with water all around the edges, fill with filling.
Hold Momo in your left palm.
Join the fag end of the right side by wetting the edges, put your left thumb between the layers and with your right thumb and index finger create frills on one side, stick the inside edges.
Close the Momo.
Let the sides droop a bit, like a basket so that the Momo can sit in the steamer.
Steam in steamer for 5 to 10 mins. Remove, Cool, Serve.




Not just food, there was great entertainment too! We played Dumb Charades with other cousins who had come by to say bye to aunty-uncle who leave soon. Here the talented girls sing 'Dream Dream Dream...Dreeeeeeam'





Pouring Red Hot Chutney over Piping Hot Momos is one of the greatest blessings of life....




This is how they should look when they are done, a bit shiny and translucent. Common, make a few and impress your friends now!



Prashanti is making all the right poses in the kitchen with the steamer, picking on Momos to see if they are done.




As for the Aloo Achaar, it has Til/Sesame paste with Lemon juice and Timul - a fragrant black Pepper found ONLY in Nepal and in the Schezhuan province of China.



The Tomato chutney is hot and tangy more so because of the special kind of souring agent - a Lemon ie Lapsi - is used, that is found ONLY in Nepal.



The grated Choyote is mixed with grated Cheese/Paneer, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Salt and Oil but you could substitute with grated Cabbage and grated Carrots too.



The Choyote filling has some water in it, it is alright to fill the Momo with that, don't be afraid of making it wet!




The Hong-Kong wrapper from the Korean market is thinner, the Shanghai one is thicker, it is generally found in the freezer section next to ready-made Momos.



Ingredients: Salt, Oil, grated Ginger, grated Garlic, grated Cheese/Paneer, grated Choyote, grated Onion

Ash-e joe with AH

The fun part about being in DC is that your neighbours are from various parts of the world and with a little neighbourly effort they turn into great friends and family members. Alma and her family moved in next door about two years ago and was I delirious...that year I was into Iran and here we had Iranians next door! After a visit to Tehran and Esfahan, where the food is mostly non-vegetarian I realized the value of Ash. Ash, the soups, are of various kinds and here is the one that is traditionally fed to young babies as their first whole meal and kind of remains forever after for most Iraninans, the best comfort food. I can totally see why! All that nutrition and goodness, especially in Winter months. This, Alma made for us in their newly bought, elegant home. She says she is now into Indian food after meeting me and her favourite item is Dosas with Coconut Chutney :)



Stirring the pot



Kashk or Whey is used as a garnish as well as in the soup, the Iranian species is a little sour



The Greens. They are available in dried form in all Iranian stores. Yekta and Sam's Market on Rockville Pike



The Lentils.



The Bean mix - mostly Garbanzo and Kidney and White, pearled Barley (Joe/Jo/Jow)



Fry some Onions and add to the mixture as well as some cooked Rice (not shown in photo)



Garnish with dried, fried Mint and Kashk, if you have them some fried Onions too




Detailed Recipe Here:
http://musicalchef.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/ash-e-joe/

Baklava with Indira Konduri

It has been a tradition for the past few years that Indira, Shobana and I make Diwali sweets together. Usually we settle on two sweets and two 'hots'. We have to find a weekday that suits everyone and work in a terrible frenzy to get back to our daily grind for the next work-day but it is totally worth it. This year we tried to do something different, Laddoos and Jangris are a trifle boring, no? So when Indira suggested that we could try her newly learnt recipe for Baklava, we voted YES!

Bottoms Up! for the process!



Pour sugar and honey syrup (with orange zest and cardamom) over the baked Baklava, let it cool, serve!
(For Syrup - water to sugar ratio is 1:11/2)



Let the Baklava bake till the top is browned



Pre-cut this pastry, afterwards it might refuse to listen! Decorate with cloves



Once you add filling cover again with sheets of phyllo, butter up again



You will need walnut/almond/pistachio nut mixture with powdered sugar for filling




That is the phyllo tray, butter, walnut mixture, not very complicated don't you think?




Lay the dough sheets in your buttered aluminium tray, butter them up too, each sheet should be buttered separately




This is your phyllo dough (Athens brand) and the recipe
De-frost overnite in the refrigerator, thaw the next day an hour before making your Baklava.

Detailed Recipe Here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baklava-352471