My new favourite way with mushrooms

My grandmother (called chaachi by her siblings, children and grandchildren alike) was a formidable force in our family. In her white mundu, cotton top and large hoops of gold that dangled from her ears, she was ever the gracious, devout Syrian Catholic matriarch – Mother of 9 strapping lads and 2 girls, this was the real grip that kept the family, home, hearth and plantation going. Each of her kids regarded her with a mixture of fear, reverence and love. Each seemed convinced that s/he was the one she had a special bond with, her secret favourite. She had a proverb for every situation, advice for every concern, solution to every problem. What’s more, farm hands, cousins, neighbours..all sought out her secret Ayurvedic ‘green’ remedies to drive away pains, heal wounds and cure secret illnesses. To my young, citified eyes, chaachi was a rather intimidating figure. More the busy disciplinarian than the dada dadi ki kahaaniyaan type of grandmother, she was the last word on all things to do with farming, Catholicism, and upbringing of cattle and kids. And yet she was our last resort to get what we wanted out of our parents. If chaachi had agreed to a jaunt we had planned, no elder would ever have the guts to refute.

Fragrant fresh tomato sauce and a gluten free pasta solution

Here is a quick pasta dish that is one of my favourites. Now you could easily make this with Durum Wheat or even Whole Wheat Pasta (Spaghetti would be ideal) but these pastas ofcourse have gluten in them and from my recent ranting post  you will know what treachery gluten has done unto me. What’s more, most pastas that claim to be Gluten Free have Corn and unfortunately that’s something else that I am allergic too. But pasta is one thing I am absolutely NOT ready to give up on. Infact that’s one of my pet projects that I have planned. Making GF pasta at home from scratch. I have even worked out a flour blend that should work. Yippee! For now. when I need a quick fix, I have taken to making pasta with Thai rice noodles. And to my absolute delight, cooked al- dente, they worked pretty well!

Soul Onion Soup with Meatball and Spaghetti

Long ago, when at college, there was a time when I was obsessed with caramelised onions and french onion soup. I had just bought an encyclopaedia of vegetables on sale (which was the only way a pauper student could have afforded it) and the pictures of the beautiful onions turning from white to pink to gold to brown tantalised me. Just the technique of cooking onions slowly, lovingly  for about an hour in which they transformed to a beautiful sweet gold seemed so enticing that it became something of a religion with me. Time consuming and a great way to get away from campus life, I escaped into French onion nirvana (I also obsessively made plum jam, chinese fried noodles and caramel pop-corn…all in a mini hostel room in the make believe world of design school). Having made and consumed enough soup while listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘I am a rock’ and mending my constantly broken heart in those fool-hardy days, I never caramalised onions again for the last 10 years.

Lazy Holiday Pasta with Roasted Tomato and String Beans

I had to share this with you immediately. Just finished eating a big bowlful of this awesome pasta and the thought of  writing about it makes me want to run right back and finish the meager portion that is remaining.