Rice and vegetable casserole
Ingredients
- Basmati rice 1cup
- Salt 1 tsp
- Water 2 cups
- Onion 1.5 cups
- Carrots, sliced 2 medium
- Beans 1 cup
- Celery 1 cup
- Corn 1/3 cup
- Condensed cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup
- Milk 1/2 cup
- Garam masala (optional) 1 tsp
- Basil (optional) 1 tsp
- Ground pepper 1/2 tsp
- Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
- French fried onions 1 cup
- Salt to taste
Procedure
1. Heat oil in a skillet.
2. Saute onion till translucent.
3. Add Basil.
4. Add the rest of the vegetables and let it cook on medium low covered.
5. In a separate pot, bring water to a boil, add the rice and salt, let it cook on low, covered for 20 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. In a mixing bowl mix the condensed mushroom soup and milk. Add in the vegetables and cooked rice to the mixture.
8. Add in the spice powder and pepper.
9. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and spread the rice mixture.
10.Garnish with the French friend onions.
11.Bake covered for 15 minutes, remove it, cover with silver foil and bake again for 15 minutes.
Almond Balwa
This is a philosophical dish. I started with the intention of making a burfi from a Chitvish recipe, however I got lost and it morphed into a halwa and it tastes very good. Much like a lot of things in life. I am not sure if I should call it Balwa or Hurfi.Regardless of what you call it, it tastes really good. Like those really expensive dry fruits based sweets in India. It took around 6 hours (worth the effort) of cooking on medium-low to get this result.
Time of effort: 30 mins
Time to table: 6 hours
Ingredients:
Almonds 1 cup
Sugar 2 cup
Water 3/4 cup
Milk 1/2 cup
Ghee 3 tbsps
Procedure:
1. De-skin almonds
Boil 4 cups of water.
Turn off heat and put almonds into the boiling water.
Let it sit for 15 mins.
Pass the almonds through a colander and pour cool/room temperature water on it to stop the cooking.
Deskin the almonds.
2. Prepare almond paste
Grind the almonds to a smooth paste using the milk.
3. Prepare the sugar syrup
Mix the sugar in the water and let it heat at medium. The sugar should reach 1 string consistency (around 230 degrees farenheit).
4. Bringing it all together
Add almond paste to sugar syrup and cook on medium low. Stir occasionally (every 20 mins). The mixture will gradually thicken into a halwa. Add the ghee towards the end.
5. Grease the pan pour the halwa into the pan.
Your kundali please
“Are you an FTE?” I met a fellow Indian near the water cooler at the workplace. I had seen this person a few times walking in the hallway. This time around he paused and introduced himself. He spoke with an American accent. I gathered from his name that he was from the same region of India as me…so why the accent? I can understand Indians trying to pronounce English words with an American accent to be understood better by Americans, however I cannot understand two first generation immigrant Indians speaking with each other with an American accent? What is that about? Could it be that this morphed accent becomes their new normal? Anyways, the enquiries begin. I am always amazed how predictable the first level of questioning is, like an elimination round?
1. Am I an FTE (full-time employee)?
2. How long have I been working at this organization?
3. How long have I been in town?
4. Where was I before I moved here?
5. Where does my husband work?
6. Where do I live? Closest crossroad?
7. Which daycare does my child go to?
At this point I start cringing and want to flee the scene. He stops short of asking for the kundali/jathakam of my family. Why the curiousity and insensitive probing? Has this information enriched the persons day in any way? How and what does he hope to gain from this information? This person is by no means unique, most Indians go through these questions on first contact. Is it because of a lack of imagination while trying to socialize? I have never had this experience with immigrants of other cultures or Americans? I hope that some day Indian immigrants come up with better ideas for first round conversations.
