Paan Daan

Paan is an indian snack that is made up of beetle leaf, areca nuts, slacked lime (common in Panns) and variations of fillings. Today in restaurants, there are 'menus' for Paans. One of the famous types one can get is the Benariasi Paan. There is a famous classic Indian song 'ooh khaike paan benaras wala...' which references the Benariasi Paan. The song can be heard on youtube. 

The beetle leaf is said to have stimulating effects and many people get accustomed to eating it just like smoking. It is also considered to be a palate cleanser / breath cleanser. It is an acquired taste to a new comer.

I find it quite refreshing. Actually it is more nostalgic than anything else. My grandmother used to be crazy about Paans, she had a 'Paan Daan' which a container that is like a mini shop for making Paans for oneself (I only learnt about the term 'Paan Daan' from a professional Paan maker who insisted on getting the term right before i left his shop :) ). I remember stealing some of her stuff just because I was curious. It reminds me of her when ever I have it.

The following pictures show a Benarasi Paan from that Paan maker. I love the neatly packed beetle leaf with all the goodies inside.

The following is a Supari Paan with extra beetle nuts. Its definitely a good option for the foodie who doesn't mind trying new things. 

Here are a few links on Paans' background and more information on it:
source 1: Paan Masala
source 2: Article about someone's experience with Paan

Asian Store food haul

I love the local asian store near my place, I find tons of new types of instant ramen and they are interesting and delicious. This time I got two types of spicy ramen (when they say spicy, they mean business. Im not complaning!)

When the package is opened, everything is neatly packed and the instructions were just to add hot water until the line marked in the cup.

The bits of soy nuggets were nice and the re-hydrated veggies went well with the noodles.

This was the second ramen and when I added hot water to it, the whole room smelled like seafood.

Not sure what the yellow bits were for, not too bad in taste but weird at the same time lol....

These black sesame crackers were a treat, they were sweet but not crazy sweet at the same time. Inside, the crackers were packed into sub packages and i liked how neatly everything was put together. This would be a nice evening/mid-afternoon snack with tea.

South Indian, North Indian, Rose Ice Cream

So vi and I were at this Indian fast food place and came across a Kulcha. A Kulcha is like a stuffed naan some people say that it is different from a naan in that it is made baking soda as opposed to yeast (not sure if its true) source. I got a spicy onion kulcha. It was paired with really homey maa-ki-daal (mothers' lentil soup) and a yummmy mint yoghurt and some side salad.

He tried Idli which came with the standard white chutney and sambar. The nice addition was the tomato chutney it was delicious

Lastly, we discovered rose ice cream. Where can you get this? It was such a unique fine. I didn't even know it existed until now. Not too well known is that rose has been integrated into Indian cuisine which involves rose drinks too.

My first Onigiri!

I really like the asian market near my place, and always find something new to try. This time it is the onigiri, which is a rice with a mini filling inside and seaweed wrapped around it.

The packaging was so lovely and even the inside was nicely done.

The two fillings that I got:

The seaweed was actually packed separately from the rice to maintain its crispiness and freshness.

My first attempt at putting it together was not too good as you can see. It tasted delicious and I paired with Genmaicha tea. mmm.....

Mentaiko filling....

The tart umeboshi filling....

I did a better job the second time :)

Yumm..........

Mixed Salad

This is a really nice summer salad recipe that I made before and will be making it this summer too. I was so excited to get some micro greens and a mixed bag of greens. In this salad, the greens were the star of the meal.

Ingredients:
Any salad greens
Baby tomatoes
Feta Cheese
White onions (optional)
Micro-greens (can be substituted with sprouts too)

Dressing:
Balsamic Vinegar & Honey (if you like more tart add more vinegar then honey, if sweeter then more honey than vinegar, or just equal portions if you are not picky about things)
Salt (according to taste)

Party Deviled Eggs

So here are the marbled eggs from before and there was a party in the evening so I made deviled eggs from the eggs I had at hand.

Ingredients:
Eggs (8)
Mayonnaise (1-1/2 to 2 tbsp)
Mustard (1-2 tsp, or more if you loooove mustard)
Lemon Juice (1-2 tsp)
Pickles (as much as you like)
Jalapeno (as much as you like)
Green onion (white part, optional)
Bacon (optional)
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt, Pepper to taste

Method:
First cut the eggs in half.

Then remove the egg yolks in a separate bowl....

Next, cut the green onion (white parts) reeeally finely, pickle, jalapeno, juice the lemon...

Then add 1-1/2 to 2 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 tsp of mustard, and the rest of the cut green onion, pickle, jalapeno and 1-2 tsp of lemon juice (removes the 'egginess'), salt and pepper (add little by little, tasting frequently..........and might i say, taste little quantity each time ;) ). And if you like it hot add cayenne pepper.

I would suggest adding the mayo in little quantities to make sure the resulting mixture is not to runny.

Since I added everything at the same time and mixed it all up, there was no going back. But the taste was good so i was forgiven lol

Add the mixture to a ziploc bag so its easy to pipe into the egg whites.

After piping in the yolk mix, garnish with a few bits of pickles and jalapeno and if you like bacon dont be shy ;)

If its a yes to bacon, make sure you add little less salt than you would put normally to the yolk mixture, since the bacon is salty by itself.

Sprinkle some freshly ground pepper and viola!

Ooooff the gorgeousness!

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs

I fell in love the moment I saw the beautiful eggs. It is such a work of art and very simple to make.

I made this some time ago and my family and myself were fascinated by the prints on the egg.

From the recipes that are available online, many call for the addition of soy sauce to the recipe for 'salting' the eggs. For my recipe I added what I had at that time and didn't add star anise or soy sauce. My main goal was to recreate and the marbling. It also gave me the option to season the eggs as I like after they were cooked.

Here are two recommended links for recipe with soy sauce and more of a 'traditional' Chinese preparation. Source 1, Source 2.

Ingredients:
Eggs (8)
Tea (I used the regular loose black tea. Tea bags can also be used) (3-4 heaping tbsp)
Whole Cinnamon sticks (4ish)
Few cloves (4ish)
Water
Orange peels (just a few 3-4 small pieces)

Method:
First pre-boil the eggs in water for about 5-10 minutes (time after the water starts boiling). Then crack the shells as shown below. It helped me to use a heavy serving spoon to induce the cracks on the egg shells better than cracking them against the table or wall.

Then put the eggs back into the pot and added the water, tea, orange peels, cinnamon and cloves. The amount of water should be level with the eggs an/or a little higher. One way of having a deeper and darker color is by adding more tea leaves.

Boil the eggs for 2-3 hours in medium heat and this is what it looks like:

Leave the eggs overnight for an even deeper color. When I did this, even the shells were dyed.

And viola!

Words can't describe how pretty they look.

The residual shells look really cool too. 

Here is the cross section. Deviled eggs any one?