Dubba Time

Well well well, I really want to be a good cook, a great pal to my hubby and a good writer! Hmm, not too many expectations.

What I should also aspire is to be an early riser. Linus wakes up before me except on weekends. I gingerly get up to his early morning sweet nothings. I have in fact induced him to saying 'Ram Ram' the first thing when he wakes me. It reminds me of my nani (maternal grand ma). She used to do that when I spent a month with her as a kid.

So, I get up and dash to kitchen within few minutes. Luckily I plan breakfast the night before. So I do not waste a single second thinking (which is such a chore!!) and get along making nashta (breakfast). Linus is not really someone who likes milk, except in cold coffees or strawberry shakes, that is. So no crunchy cereals. I juggle the breakfast among, upmas and pohas and aaloo toast and parathas and toast with baked beans and vegetable sandwiches. So far so good. Much to my delight, he is not finicky at all. And ocassionally kisses my hands as a gesture to praise how good the breakfast has been. He is bad with words, and I always forgive him for not talking too much because there hardly is time when I have finished my chatter!

Well, so after breakfast I generally pack the same dish for his tiffin. He takes this tiffin at tea time in office. For lunch he goes the cafeteria in his office and eats boiled carrots and broccoli, which he would otherwise never come close to at home. Today for a change I packed paranthas and sabzi (curry) in his tiffin. I made Gobhi parantha for the breakfast and struggled to prepare alloo matar and plain paranthas for his tiffin. All this within an hour is prize for me...but lousy for Linus. He got late today! He leaves 8ish and it was 8-30 today..

However, he just messaged me that sabji (curry) was great! Hmm and I tell him so more of 'Munna bhai lage raho' (keep going buddy!!) And he smiled. I felt like a real nice wife for the first time this morning .. packing the traditional going to office tiffin, rather than school time tiffin.

Umm, I must explain I don't feel like a wife, or I guess there is not much wifely feeling really at all. It is like a friend to another. And yes, the closest and dearest friend.

So, here I am deciding to be an early riser because it is 'Dubba Time' (pack the tiffin! time)

I hope I will be able to continue doing small things for him, even after I go back to India. That's because my mother in law looks after everything there and she pampers me a lot and wouldn't want to see me slogging in kitchen!

:) but I like packing his lunch! Seriously.

Palak Corn Sabzi

I guess the Bhook Lagi! title is so apt for my blog. Because well as soon as dinner is ready, it is served and as soon as it is served it is dined! 'Arrey photo shoto chhodo...zor kee bhook lagi hey!' ( forget about taking pictures, I am almost famished)hubby is almost begging ;-) or so I like to think.

So we both sit down and enjoy a nice dinner. Yesterday it was Tikada (or plain paratha), palak corn sabji, daal and rice.

The recipe today is about palak corn. Many of you must have your own recipes for this great dish, but let me add my version to the burgeoning collection of palak delicacies.

What we will need:

Palak (Spinach) about 100g roughly chopped
Tomato 1 medium size chopped into cubes
Corn (I used half cup of frozen corn without sugar)
Onion 1 medium size chopped
Green chillies 1 ( depends on how spicy you want your curry to be)
Milk 2 table spoon
Oil about 3 table spoon

Spices
Dhaniya Powder (Corriander Powder) 1 teaspoon
Jeera/Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Jeera powder/Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Sugar (a pinch)
heeng/ Asofoetida one pinch

Now lets get set and GO!

Heat one table spoon oil in a pan/karahi. When it is hot add green chillies (split them first ...please) and then add the palak/spinach.

Cook on medium heat till the spinach leaves wilt. Put aside.

Grind it to a paste after it cools down... Meanwhile heat one and half table spoon of oil in a pan (you can reuse the same pan) add onions. When they are a little browned add tomatoes and then throw in the dhaniya/corriander powder, put salt to taste.

When the rawness of tomatoes goes away, let the mixture cool and then grind this too.

Now again take a pan heat a little oil and sputter jeera/cumin seeds in it.add heeng/asofoetida, haldii/turmeric powder, red chilli powder and then pour in the onion tomato mixture. Saute for a minute then add the corn. Saute for another few minutes, then add the grinded palak/spinach paste. Add jeera powder, pinch of sugar and milk.

Now be patient, cover the curry and let it simmer for about 5 mins in low heat. Make sure it is not runny so you adust the amount of water depending on how consistent your palak/spinach paste and onion mixture paste was.

Hmmm... I promise to put up a photo of this dish soon. As I am hoping to cook it again this week and hopefully way before hubby gets home so that I can get time to say cheese or rather the spinach and corn can pose stylishly!