On radishes and rainbows June 13, 2012

Radishes have never been on my top ten vegetable list. I’ve navigated through life keeping them at an arms bay. Well, apart from the occasional stuffed radish bread (mooli ka paratha) that I genuinely love thanks to my mother’s perseverence in trying to get me to like the stuff. So in a fit of nostalgia I had planted some radish seeds that I smuggled in from India as a sort of culinary ode to my lovely mother whom I sorely miss and dearly revere.
This past week we’ve had some very near and dear visitors at Sargahaz. My mother’s best friend’s daughter and her husband graced our home and hearth for the first time while on their European jaunt. The radishes couldn’t have ripened at a more perfect time.
What better way to share nature’s bounty than with someone who has more or less been a permanent fixture in your childhood, someone whom you have grown to regard less as the daughter of or sister of but more as a personal friend and soul sister!
Shalu and I reminisced about our shared childhood, bonded over future hopes and dreams and the atmosphere in my kitchen held a certain kind magic which transported us to a time when life was simpler and with fewer shades of grey. For one incredible moment I was back in my mother’s kitchen – kneading the dough, preparing the stuffing, rolling out some atrociously shaped parathas all under mum’s watchful eye.
And then it was 4pm, lunch was two hours late and a pair of very hungry husbands, one very polite (Shalu’s) and one very impatient (mine ofcourse) walked in on us and poof! Fairy godmother has left the building!
So, while I bet you expect me to share the parathas recipe with you, instead I’ll share one of Shalu’s fantastic Kashmiri ones, that is more versatile (you could probably use any variety of radish) one that I’ve just made and served for lunch today and one that I’ll certainly be making more often in days, months and years to come.
This ones for you Shalu! Thank you for bringing back a piece of my childhood.

Mooli ka raita
2-3 white long radishes, peeled and grated finely (the ones I harvested are about 3″ diameter and 9″ long)
1 litre yoghurt (homemade always tastes better)
A sprinkle of cumin powder
A dash of red cayenne powder
Salt to taste
Chopped fresh coriander leaves to garnish (optional)

Beat the yoghurt with the spices. Add the grated radish and mix well. Top with coriander and serve. This can accompany your biryani or parathas. Or, it can be a one dish wonder, an easy quick fix for hunger pangs and the star of your meal!

You can also follow the same recipe, ditch the coriander, ditch the radish and use grated cucumber instead ( my mother made this often). Dig in and relish the taste of early summer on your plate!

The grass is green and the roses red…….. June 12, 2012

About three years ago, when we bought Sargahaz, the entire property was covered with knee high pampas style grass. So high was the weed in places that the existence of a small outdoor cellar was a well kept secret until we stumbled upon it quite accidentally one day.
We had to deep till the land to uproot the weeds and wild grape vines that climbed all over the hill and far away. The end result was a dark chocolatey barren 4 acre patch of land.
So, for the past two years, it has been Gabor’s main mission (read obsession) to restore the greenery.
The dude is up at all odd hours sowing grass seeds, huddled over patches of land examining “growth rate” of said grass, watering the entire land (no sprinkler system I might add) night and day. Thank god for our rainwater collection thingummy – otherwise our water bills would be off the charts. Not to mention his shooing off all sundry, our two year old daughter Antara included, off his precious turf, lest her heavy footsteps crush his precious green gold! He even woke up in a cold sweat couple of months ago owing to a nightmare about the “perilous state” of “his” grass. Lord have mercy!
Gabor has even taken to conducting what can be best described as ariel surveys of our land to better gauge the green cover he has achieved, and while other men would furtively glance at bombshells of the female persuasion that on occasion grace the hills and surrounding properties, mine spares his quota of furtive eye action for the grass growing on the lands of the competition – and competition to him encompasses every square inch of area from here to kingdom come!
Though I must say that the green gods are finally warming up to Gabor’s single minded dedication. We now have strong tufts of grass juxtaposed with patches of chocolate brown soil that Gabor has grown to tolerate. Barely.
Antara, I, and the rest of our clan of visiting family and friends have since duly complied and reserved our footfall to “paths” allotted by Gabor and the occasional patch of Gabor approved green.
Life with my boy is never dull. Tease him mercilessly as I must about his odd manias, I sure as hell love him more for having them, not despite them. The proverbial meadow of our life shall always be greener with him around.

Global warming, gluttony, gloating and guilt…… June 9, 2012

If its not some up-to-no-good “neighbour” harvesting our walnuts before we do, it’s mother nature at her spiteful best, sending gusts of unseasonal frost to deny us of our promising walnut blossoms. Gabor and I have never had it this bad.
So when digging into the recesses of our freezer lead to the discovery of a secret and long forgotten stash of walnuts salvaged from the previous years’ plunder, one could not help but put the loot to good use.
I have a condition bordering on mania when it comes to honing my brownie baking skills. The walnuts were beckoning and my fingers were itching to put my mercilessly yet-again-tweaked brownie recipe to the test.
And the end result was utterly, sinfully, taste bud tinglingly……good.
Now would be a good time of mention that we at Sargahaz like our sweets ever so,,,, well, slightly sweet, so if you have a major sweet tooth to cater to, you can tweak the recipe, yet again, to accommodate your needs.

Slightly Sweet Chocolate Walnut Brownies
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter
280gms bittersweet chocolate
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup toasted coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour a 8 x 8 baking tin. On a low heat melt chocolate and butter together, then cool till just warm. Beat eggs and sugar till creamy, add in the vanilla essence, chocolate mixture and beat till combined. Add to this the flour and salt (combine the two in a separate bowl) bit by bit and incorporate well. Stir in the walnuts, and then spread the resulting mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes – I like my brownies moist and not baked to death so the end result should stick to your cake tester in moist crumbs rather than come out clean.
Remove from the oven, cool, slice and let the gloating and glut fest begin! And don’t let the morning after guilt to get to you! Live once, live well!!

P.S. In the time between writing out this blog and actually getting down to posting it, I have yet again tweaked the recipe. Apart from the obvious substitution of nuts such as pistachios, pecans, cashew, using semi sweet or milk chocolate in addition to bitter chocolate as long as the weight is 280gms total, I think it would be divine to spread some melted chocolate on the brownie, topping this with some raspberries and cooling till the raspberries are set before serving, and oh yes, sprinkle with caster sugar. So you have bitter, sweet and tangy tingly sensations!
Enjoy!

Cut or Compote June 8, 2012

While I really can’t refute the fact that the best way to eat a strawberry is as nature intended us to – flush red and freshly picked, there comes to notice a recipe that begs to differ.
So, this is what I do with the strawberries that don’t make the cut, I make ze compote!

Strawberry Compote:
1/2 cup scant brown sugar
Juice of 4 oranges
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
2 1/2 cups strawberries thickly sliced or halved

Mix the brown sugar, orange juice, orange rind and cinnamon stick together in a sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil on a medium flame. Add the strawberries and return to a boil. Remove from the heat, pour into a heatproof bowl and cool.
Et voila! You have your very first batch of strawberry compote!

I usually serve this with muesli topped with vanilla yoghurt. Or as a sauce for vanilla ice cream, or simply shove spoonfuls into my mouth and go mmmmmmmmmmm!!
Happy eats!

Going Country May 31, 2012

Its been a long time coming,,,,, a natural progression in the scheme of things to come.  With all the fruit growing and harvesting, jam and syrup making, the SargaHaz pantry overflows with goodness.  So, we decided to put everyones tastebuds to the test and Et Voila! ”Going Country”, our in house culinary brand is born.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of my dear friend Ami, my words have a home in the playful labels that she designed to accommodate my not so occassional flights of fancy.  We’ve finally arrived and are here to stay!

Here’s a sneak peak.

Going Green May 30, 2012

The general consensus among all sundry is that Rohini can’t garden. The “complicated” art of seed sowing, plant watering, weed plucking is simply too much for her to handle.

What better motivation than to prove the detractors wrong!
Day after day I find myself plodding in my garden, sowing seeds, gathering weeds, watering leafy bits and hoping for bountiful harvest of human fodder.

So, after all the 5am awakenings and garden tool brandishings, I am delighted to report a bountiful harvest of spinach and a merry reaping of strawberries so sweet (though powdery) that they make you sing!

The SargaHaz kitchen garden is now a sight to behold. Neat, tidy and weed free rows upon rows of fruits, herbs, and vegetables all in different stages of fruition. Life is about to get finger licking good.

And……………. I’m Back……Again!

Dear Reader,

Oh how I’ve missed you! A lot has transpired these past years. SargaHaz has been successfully transformed from a former ruin to a beautiful vineyard retreat where Gabor, Antara and I now reside and receive guests. My natures’ child Antara is blossoming into a gentle and fragrant flower, my gardening (s)kills are on the mend and Gabor is reveling in his role of king of the hill and chief bottlewasher rolled into one. Life is glorious! Welcome to our world!

www.sargahaz.eu

Cat Burglar November 22, 2010

Miklos the hobo is a man with a plan.  Every summer he goes very R.L Stevensonesque, what with the twinkling stars as his bed companions and his bread dipped in the proverbial river.  Come winter, he cosies up by the hearth, or better still under downed blankets and makes himself quite at home in the houses that he burgles. 

Not that Miklos is one to over extend his welcome.  It is all part of the “let’s get into prison” deal where he enjoys the true hospitality of the state in the cold months.  Meals on time, clean clothes, clean sheets and cable television.  A couple of years back, Miklos chose Gabor’s parents summer-house as his winter time hideaway till the cops came and got him.  Eventually.

On an unrelated matter, the hill life is rife with cats.  The cats have some unspoken code of conduct – each adopts a resident family and expects to be fed by them come cold season.  In return, the cat provides the family with steady companionship – like it or lump it.  

Ginger the cat has adopted us.  He accompanies us on our daily jaunts around the hill, scoping the land for rodents.  And Ginger is blessed with a fine set of vocal chords that he chooses to exercise come day or night, rain or shine.  The blessed cat does not cease to meow.  Ever!  To paraphrase, I have the cat filed under “general nuisance”

Back to Miklos, whose residency permit at the local prison ended last week.  One cold dark evening we heard a crash and a bang and some indignant voices outside the kitchen window.  We seldom have visitors braving the cold just to say hello, so Gabor decided to have a look-see.

Turns out, it was the police.  They had come to warn us about “the return of Miklos”.  And while floundering in the darkness, they managed to get a little too close for comfort and Ginger gave them a right fright.    If the police can’t get past Ginger, there is no hope for Miklos.  I now stand corrected.  Ginger’s insistent meowing is music to our ears and one couldn’t ask for a better or for that matter greedier guard cat.

Mikloses of the world be warned!  We are clawed and dangerous!

Harvest HarWaste November 18, 2010

Invigorating crisp October skies, hypnotic rhythms of the snipping of grapes,  buckets laden with the bounty, vats full with eager stampers, festively ginghamed tables bowing under the weight of a feast – the perfect harvest!

Gabor had been scrutinizing the ripening of our grapes with a fanatical zest.  This was after all, our very first harvest as proud owners of SargaHaz and its bountiful vineyard. 

Week after week, the grapes deepened in shades of gold, juicy globes full of promise – proof enough that all was going to plan.  Harvest dates were plotted and re-plotted with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.

Then came the rain.  It poured.  And poured.  And just when you thought the skies had finally run out of steam, it poured some more.  Our golden beauties turned an omnious shade of brown mingled with pale tones of rot. 

So, accompanied by a light drizzle, one dull October morning, Gabor & family harvested all that remained in the aftermath of nature’s carnage.  We lost half of our crop this year to ma nature’s rampage.  Any and every notion one has of a vine harvest remain a fantasy.

Theres always another time.

À votre santé!

VaVa Voom!! September 28, 2010

Kati Neni won’t be receiving that phonecall afterall!!
New Well – Check
Water in said well – Check
Pumping rate of water in said well – 10 lts per minute!! Check Check Check!!!!
Am I going crazy or am I going crazy!!!!