Quick Indian Cooking

This was the longest birthday celebration ever. On the eve of the big day, my client took a colleague and me to a night out at Cirque du Soleil.

It was to celebrate the end of a major project – the development of a new luxury report followed by its global media launch. We had collectively spent months of blood, sweat and tears. Now it was time to let our hair down. In style.

We grabbed a glass of champagne and sandwich each and made our way to the red carpet box. As the acrobatics started, so did the assault on our senses.  With every air borne somersault, we clutched the edge of our seats. It was fresh, bold and full of punch.

Not unlike a Chaat, I thought to myself as we left the venue mesmerised by the production. [Do I never stop thinking about food??] These spicy and tangy snacks are the mainstay of street food vendors and tea parties back home. The word literally means “to lick” or relish. It’s impossible not to, with the explosion of flavours on offer.

I went out and bought Papdi (pronounce paap-ri), the flat flour biscuits, that are layered with boiled potatoes, yogurt to make Papdi Chaat. Spicy tamarind sauce, written about here by my friend Rosie, and coriander chutney give the dish a kick. Along with a sprinkling of pungent spices and topping of crushed crispy fried noodles or Sev.

Unlike the modern circus, this required no special skill. Just a specialist shopping trip.
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Turns out early January is the best time to throw a party. I sent out 50 invites expecting lame excuses like diets, detox and depression. Instead I got back 45 RSVPs.

Oops.

I wasn’t quite planning to throw myself the biggest Indian-themed birthday party ever. Am I the only one who gets more excited about growing old, grey and wrinkly with every passing year?

Still, no time to back out now. Hubby and I made an urgent dash to stock up on an evening’s supply of champagne, spirits and vino. We sourced proper glasses from the merchant. And I dispatched him to buy my birthday cake, while I cleaned the new black lacquer cake stand and practiced my coy, surprised look to perfection in front of the mirror.

Food, of course, was on top of mind. I certainly wasn’t going to spend critical beauty-routine time to cook a three-party curry dinner or fashion three different kinds of kebabs. So I improvised on supermarket bought basics to dish up:

1. Cocktail sausages with a vindaloo glaze
2. Vol au vents with a keema filling inspired by Mandira
3. Cucumber and mint raita with mini naans

Hubby bought not just one, but two cakes. My Domestic Goddess friend and little sis arrived early to help. I downloaded the best play list since Now 71. And we had the best ever evening in months.

Mark Twain said “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Quite.
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Happy New Year everyone. This year I had the dubious pleasure of partying stone sober until the wee hours of the morning while everyone drank too much and imploded like cheap Christmas tree lights. Now I back at work with post holiday blues. Don’t you just love ‘em?

In my years of moping around following the festive season, I now have a tried and tested formula for surviving the dreaded New Year return. I:

• Blew my entire January salary in the winter sales
• Pencilled a party on Saturday to celebrate my birthday
• Booked a week long holiday to recover

Of course, no post-Christmas period would be complete without lashings of guilt at having consumed more food than the average farmyard pig. So  I am also keeping a close eye on what I eat, upping intake of veggies and limiting chocolates to a sensible quantity.

The first Indian recipe of the year was a healthy treat from the South of India – Avial. This coconut-steeped steamed vegetable curry was light, refreshing and the perfect way for me to use up the remaining carrots and potatoes in my complimentary box of organic vegetables from Abel & Cole.

The best thing about Avial is the coconut in it. My usual trick is to by frozen grated coconut at Oriental supermarkets. But I also buy fresh coconut when they’re in season. As I had neither I used unsweetened dessicated coconut, which worked remarkably well!

Coconut isn’t the most low fat of ingredients. But I did away with coconut oil, whole fat yogurt and steamed all veggies in my recipe making it far more healthy. And there is a whole list of other vegetables you can use.

A positive start to the New Year methinks. Hope yours is filled with good things!
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