Tasting Indian (again)

This time of year I get a bit hyper and full of ideas. I think it’s what my grandmother used to say about the rise of the leaf invigorating us all. I must come out of hibernation then drive myself and everyone else around the twist with the next scheme I come up with.

Take yesterday for example. I had my car booked in for the N.C.T. The purple princess passed her test with flying colours after much nerve racking observation from the gallery. The reason it was nerve racking was because the tester seemed to develop a bit of a thing for her, in that he tested her brakes twice and spent a lot of time checking her undercarriage. In the time it took him to test my P.P, three other cars were done in each of the lanes. But he declared her passed and said she was a cracking little car.  Bit of motor maternal pride was experienced!

On the way back I spotted a new Asian supermarket, and I had to go and check it out. I was really impressed with it. In fact I am so impressed I took a registration form so I can get details of all their offers. This is because as I browsed the aisles to the sound of beautiful Indian music, I took it into my head to re ignite my interest in Indian cookery and make friends with my Madhur Jaffrey cook book again.  I am even planning a paneer making session over Easter and will be having a go at the beloved Dal soup recipe that has been overlooked for a while followed by my all time favourite Biryani.

                                    

This is one of the aging hippie’s weaknesses. I adore a good Biryani. Each time I go for Indian food I promise myself I will try another dish but I always get drawn back to Biryani. I stand up to myself at places I’ve eaten in before and change, but if it’s a new place I head straight for the love of Biryani.

                                                     

So I will be back with my shopping list to pick up my split peas and spices, ready to cook popadoms and whatever else takes my fancy. If we don’t get hot summer in Ireland this year at least my kitchen will have an Indian one. I read somewhere that in Indian there is 2000 different varieties of rice. This is because, as part of the food culture different rice were used for different seasons or different health reasons. In order to protect these ( no,i am not getting on my soap box today about G.M) the inspirational Vandana Shiva has established 34 seed banks in 13 states in order to protect these and increase awareness of protecting our planet. Why do I know this? Because I have a rice obsession. I love the stuff.

In the meantime I shall be planning the new menus and keeping you all posted on what works or who gets their head blown off with too much chilli. I am now off to cook up another one of my ideas. I have decided to make some skin cream from a kit I bought from www.aromantics.co.uk. I will let you know in the next post how I got on with that. Hopefully I will be scented of Rose or patchouli for the next few months.

Until the next brainwave!

Keep smiling