Pitle

Breakfast. Hurried or leisurely. Tasty or tasteless. Rich or healthy. Variety or monotony. However you perceive breakfast, there is no denying that it is the most important meal of the day. On days when I find butter too heavy and jam too sweet, when I find I have little time to chop onions to make poha and when upma seems uninteresting (that can happen, you know!), I turn to this comforting dish that Amma saved for those leisurely breakfasts and hurried dinners. As with upma, I know that this dish has lovers and haters, I am yet to meet someone who is indifferent to my favourite bread spread: Pitle.

1/4 cup Gram Flour (Besan)

1 tsp Chilli Paste

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

1-2 tsp Tamarind Paste

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

2 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Salt to taste

In a mixing bowl, place the gram flour, coriander leaves, chilli paste, turmeric powder, salt and tamarind paste. Add 1/2 to 2/3 cup of water and whisk together until there are no lumps in the mixture.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the asafoetida and the curry leaves. Add the gram flour mixture and cook on a low flame while stirring continuously. The pitle is ready when it becomes thick and takes on the consistency of flowing custard.

This makes a great bread spread (especially if you, like me, don't care as much for sweet breakfasts). This tastes great with hot chapatis and, at my place, is a favourite with this and this. And this is a specialty of the konkani/marathi world, not to be confused with the Tamilian Pitlay!

Day 8 of the marathon. Check out these links to see what my co-runners have come up with. DK , Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.

Mixed Vegetable Poha

Poha is one of favourite breakfasts. And I make it quite often, not just for breakfast, but for dinner as well. And I add as many vegetables as I possibly can while making it. Potatoes were a standard in the one Amma made. My Mami added peas to it. I add whatever I can lay my hands on. I love eating colourful stuff and the addition of a variety of vegetables results in a rainbow like dish and I kind of love it. Many months ago, I was looking at one of Nandita’s videos and I saw her add soya granules to her poha. Then Rajitha came up with soy as the ingredient for this month’s WBB. I thought about the various ways in which I could sneak in soya in a breakfast dish. I thought about a banana shake with soy milk. I thought about soya beans in gravy to go along with toast. But I remembered that I had a packet of Soy Day granules. So in that went into my poha on a chilly morning. I made a very heavy breakfast so that I could do with something light for lunch.

1 cup Beaten Rice (Poha)
1/3 cup Soy granules
1 Carrot, cut finely
3 Spring Onions, chopped
2 tbsp Corn
2 tbsp Peas
1 tsp Oil
¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 Green Chilli, slit
Salt to taste

Wash the beaten rice and drain it. Add the salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder and keep aside.

Soak the soy granules in water (or prepare them as per the instructions on the pack. I use Soy Day as the effort involved from my side is minimal. It soaks in ordinary water.)

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the mustard, cumin and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the green chilli and the spring onion whites. Add the curry leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the carrots, peas and corn. Add some salt and then cover and cook for a few minutes. Add the beaten rice and soy granules. Garnish with the spring onion greens. Enjoy this as soon as it is made.

Off this goes to Rajitha in celebration of Soy this month.

Cheesy Bread Spread

When Jai and Bee made their post for Earth Food with What's wrong with this picture? this is what I wrote in their comments section:

I was taught from my childhood that I must never waste. It’s a lesson that has been valuable. I cook what I need to, use up the leftovers or give them to someone who can utilize them before they go bad. When I made my paneer in white gravy, I took it over to the neighbours for lunch. There was one serving left in my bowl and the lady of the house was about to throw it when I stopped her. I promptly took it back home and Sachin polished it off that evening. There are enough and more hungry people in the world and I can’t believe that in this day and age people waste food. Is it their way of telling the world that they’ve arrived?


I totally believe that that must be the driver. I meet so many people who say, "Oh my husband won't eat leftovers." Or "I never eat the morning's food in the evening." My heart breaks when I see people throw good food away. I've always cleaned up my plate during a meal. I serve myself exactly what I need. Appa always used to say, "You have no idea how fortunate you are. There are so many people out there who don't know if and where their next meal is coming from.

If each of us was to say that "Save the World" is a campaign that is meant for the big people and not us, our Earth is going to suffer. It is up to us to do the little things that add up to become the big thing. How do I try? By consuming only what I need, trying not to waste, taking the bus instead of driving, giving to charity not what I don't need or can't use, but what the recipient can actually use, buying fresh produce from the local markets, and so on and so forth. It is whatever I can do to make this place a better place to live in. Be it by helping the earth itself, or the people who live in it.

• I cook rice in a pressure cooker so I don't waste excessive water.


• If I've cooked dal or a vegetable with more water than I should have, I use the water in my cooking.


• I try and consume whole fruits and don't discard the peel as far as possible.


• I use milk cream (even the little bits sticking to the sides of the vessel) either in my cooking or I make butter and buttermilk out of it.

And having grown up in Madras with acute water shortage:

• I continue to take a bath with half a bucket of water.


• I don't leave the tap running while I am brushing my teeth.

I keep all windows at home open and try not to use the AC too much.

Eating out is something we take for granted these days. While growing up, we had very few restaurants and having lived inside the IIT campus meant that you had to go outside the campus if you wanted to eat out. And that WAS a big deal.

While I do cook at home most of the time, I must admit that eating out is one of my weaknesses. Be it chat on the roadside, finger food at a lounge or a proper meal at an Italian restaurant, I simply love it.

In the last ten years, ever since I left home, I have been careful with my money to the extent possible. (Even then India Today interviewed us about money issues and told the world that we have only Rs. 189 in our joint account. News that shocked my family more than anyone else.) Eating out, though often, meant that I'd bring any leftovers back with me. I'd either consume the stuff, or give it away. But I can't remember having wasted food.

This is my entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle.

After an entire week of Eating out while eating in, we were probably tired of it. We wanted to also celebrate ten months of being married. So we ordered some food. The lady who took our order sensed excitement in our voices and told us she'd throw in a little extra subji as a compliment because if we ordered an entire serving, it would be too much for the two of us.

When the delivery boy came, we had a huge packet. We enjoyed the meal of lacchha paratha, naan, achari aloo, paneer tikka and dal makhni. The leftovers were finished over the next day. But she also sent us pickled onions and some green chutney. S's foot was really bad at the time and while I was clearing up, his foot topped the green chutney container. We managed to put away everything else. I didn't know what to do with pickled onions though. I was worried that they'd pass on their fragrance to the other stuff sitting in the fridge.

A couple of days later, I had a very good idea when I was beginning to clear the fridge in preparation of our trip to Manali. It was time for breakfast and I was browsing through the contents of my dearest companion. This is what we had for breakfast that morning.

Ingredients:

1 Tomato, chopped

2-3 pickled Onions, chopped

2 pods Garlic

1 cube Cheese

1 tsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

Salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a mixer jar and grind to a semi-smooth paste. Spread this over toast for a quick breakfast.

I think I could also add a little milk or water to this and make it a cheesy dip. The flavours blend in really well and the breakfast was neither too sour, nor sweet. It wasn't bland nor spicy. As they say, it was just right!

Coriander Mint Tomato Chutney

If it is bread I must eat in the morning, then I can probably have it with jam or jelly once a week. The rest of the time I need something salty/spicy. Again, as I put up with GERS, I cannot have spicy food in general, and definitely not in the morning. So, I eat toast with leftovers, with "pitti chitni", a very typically konkani gun powder, with pitlay, or chutney.

Just about the time I moved to Bangalore from Hyderabad, a colleague and friend, Priya, invited me to stay over. She and her husband, Arun, treated me to a nice dinner at Little Italy. The next morning Priya set out to make breakfast. She has this cute little kitchen garden and grows herbs and even baby tomatoes. She just went out there and picked up a little of this, a little of that... maybe this would go well too... oops, what about that one there... in they all went ...into the blender and what came out was a tasty spread.

So, this recipe is thanks to her.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Coriander Leaves

1/4 cup Mint Leaves

2 pods of Garlic

1 Tomato

1 green Chilli

1" piece of Ginger

Salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to a coarse paste in a mixer. Eat it with just about anything. The tomato adds the tang to this chutney where lime juice usually does the trick. I spread it on toast and the bread went down faster than it usually does.

I am sending this to Trupti at The Spice Who Loved Me for WBB # 12 : Spice it Up! as my second entry. Trupti has recently been invited to be a guest writer on the Food Network of Canada's food blog. Congratulations Trupti!

Garlic Toast

Again, a recipe that has its recent origins at my work place. All of us in my lunch group felt that we had boring stuff in our lunch boxes and decided to order a little something to pep up the meal. So, we decided to get some garlic bread and potato wedges from Slice of Italy. The potato wedges were deep fried and I like mine grilled. But the garlic bread was superb.

That same evening, I wanted to try it out. But I didn't have french bread, so I used whatever slices I had at home. I also didn't want to be too generous with the cheese as that much cheese, twice in the same day, may be a little too heavy to handle.

I grilled the slices of bread for 3 minutes on each side. I prepared the garlic butter spread using

1 tbsp Butter

1/2 tsp mixed herbs (basil, parsley, thyme)

1/2 tsp Chilli flakes

1 tsp Garlic, finely chopped

I spread this on the prepared slices and grilled them for a minute more. I grated a small block of cooking cheese and sprinkled this ober the slices and grilled for another 90 seconds. The cheese came out all bubbly on top and the garlic toast was divine. I wanted to make some soup and have it along with the toast. Then again, lazy me took over the enthusiastic me and I ended up eating just the toast for dinner. Yum!

Mushroom and Capsicum on Toast

If there ever was a breakfast number that I could call my very own, this would have to be it. I have always loved cookbooks and I treat Tarla Dalal as my foster mother. I've learnt as much from her as I have from Amma. Though I have never met her, I think I may love her almost as much as I love Amma for teaching me so much that I know.

One of the books of Tarla Dalal's that we've owned for a long time (I can't remember which) has a recipe for Chilli Cheese Toast. I tried this and we all loved it. I decided to experiment a little bit with the dish and slowly added ingredients of my own. I make it as a special breakfast dish on weekends and when I have someone visiting. My cousin, Priyakka, who doesn't eat capsicum has no option but to eat them when I make this. I chop the veggies so fine that if she started to pick the pieces, she'd be eating the dish for dinner.

This morning, I decided to make this for several reasons.

1. It is a Saturday.

2. I had a lot of left over vegetables.

3. My husband, S, is back after a week long trip and I wanted to make something nice.

4. I wanted to send in my signature breakfast dish to Trupti at The Spice Who Loved Me for WBB # 12 : Spice it Up!

Ingredients:

1/2 each of Red, Yellow and Green Capsicum, finely chopped

1/4 cup Mushrooms, finely chopped

1 medium Onion, finely chopped

3 pods of Garlic, finely chopped

1/4 tsp each of Basil and Parsley

1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Flour

3/4 cup Milk

1-2 cubes or slices of Cheese, chopped or grated

Salt to taste

6-8 slices of Toast

Melt the butter in a pan and add the chopped garlic and the onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped capsicum and fry for a few more minutes. (This looked so colourful that I had to take a picture!)

Add the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the parsley, basil and chilli flakes. Add the flour to the vegetable mixture and pur the milk into this after the flour has fried for 2-3 minutes. Add the cheese and salt and mix well till the mixture thickens.

Spread this on Toast and enjoy it on a weekend morning. You can also spread this on bread and grill it for a few minutes till it browns. This spread can also be used as a stuffing for grilled sandwiches. Or you can just put some on top of Monaco biscuits and make it yummy finger food.