Happy 1 year Blogiversary!! We've Got Winners!

    Today's my One Year Blogiversary here at The Colors of Indian Cooking. Whoopeee! I just ate that cupcake by the way. I split it with Alan and it was really, really good. I didn't bake it myself. I wish I knew how to turn out such a baked good. I know a lot of you can do it and every time I see cupcake posts I'm inspired. One of these days I'll get there.
   Meanwhile, sitting around here with a nice case of the sugars from my half of the cupcake, I've been thinking about the blog. How did I get here, how did this happen?
    I can hardly believe a whole year has passed. A year ago I'd never intended to start a blog. I'd been cooking Indian food for 20 years. My journey to Indian food started in the most unlikely of places, my doctors office.
     I'd been diagnosed with cancer in my 30's. Me! The non-smoking, non-drinking vegetarian who nobody thought was really sick, was really sick. It was pretty freaky, all my friends were having babies..I was having a tumor.
     While I started my course of Western medicine, my doctors suggested other things I might try too. Guided imagery, meditation, something that involved lying on a floor in a dark room with a doctor from UCLA while he played cranked up movie soundtrack music out of speakers placed sound side down on the floor until I was practically bouncing and vibrating from the sound. I still have no idea what that was all about. I heard later that the neighbors had him evicted for noise pollution. I also decided to go macrobiotic.
     Pretty soon I was boiling Kombu and making miso, grating burdock root, and enjoying daikon radish. I was also giving up all my favorite vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes) which happened to be of the Deadly Nightshade variety. A definite no-no in my Macrobiotic world.
I also was not eating very much.
       My doctors were concerned. They asked me why I wasn't eating. I told them I was bored. I just was not turned on by the burdock root. I explained about the eggplant and potatoes, and the whole Deadly Nightshade thing. My oncologist just looked at me. "You like the eggplant? Just eat the eggplant! Eat something!" I figured considering my condition he had a point.
     Right around that time another of my doctors mentioned an Ayurvedic diet. He said that his wife was very involved in that and that I might enjoy it. "Ayurvedic diet?" I thought. "What was that?"
"Indian food!!!!" he said.  I loved Indian food. He had me at turmeric.
      In the Indian food department, it turned out I'd scored big time. My sister-in-law is a well known Indologist and has lived and worked in India for years. Of course she cooked the food. Really, really well. She got me started and I haven't looked back.
   I started cooking Indian vegetarian food. I learned from Yamuna Devis' book Lord Krishnas' Cuisine and went on from there. I cooked and cooked and feasted on all my favorite Deadly Nightshades to my hearts content. It made chemo a lot easier for me, I was happy, my doctors were happy.
      Finally, my treatment stopped but the Indian cooking didn't. I talked to people, they taught me things and I kept cooking, day in and day out. I started cooking for friends, then I was invited to cook for people I didn't know, people who wanted healthy, fresh, organic Indian food. Low on oil high on taste.
       So how does this lead to a blog? A year ago Alan and I went to a meeting of something called Wired Sonoma. Paula Wolfert was there and introduced me to the guys that were putting together A Million Cooks. By the end of the meeting, I was doing a podcast. A one minute podcast.  When I discovered one minute isn't enough time to convey a recipe, I figured maybe I ought to start a website. So I did. And that's how I got here.
 
  So, now that you've waded through the whys and wherefors of this blog.....on to *The Winners!!!
*winners drawn randomly
 We have three winners. Two will get the Ceramic Chicken Cookers, One the pair of Game Hen Cookers. Thanks to everyone who entered. I'm grateful for your kind words and your support. Most of all,  thanks to the folks at Early Morning Pottery who made these gifts possible.
  Winners of The Ceramic Chicken Cookers:

1.) Cool Lassi of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
2.) Janis Tester of Bite Me New England
 and 
Winner of the Game Hen Roasters

3.) Brie:LeGrand Fromage of  Le Grand Fromage

So if the winners will contact me I'll get your earthly address and send these cookers off to you!
 Once again thanks everyone, and I just had to share this beautiful Sonoma afternoon with you.

1 Year Blogiversary! Ceramic Chicken Cooker Giveaway.

 When Jerry and Jerry of Early Morning Pottery contacted me about giving away some of there fabulous ceramic chicken cookers, I was stoked. Ever since we got one of these from Paula Wolfert for our anniversary a year ago, I've been a chicken roasting fool. One of the things that the two Jerrys mentioned to me was that besides all the other ways one can cook a chicken with their roaster , it would also work as a tandoor.

A home tandoor oven is my holy grail. I've lusted after them in online shops and fantasized where I'd put one  on our property. The one thing holding me back is the fact that we live on a woodsy hilltop in Wine Country and it gets very, very, very dry up here in the summers. Everyone is very fire safe and we keep a close eye out for sparks. Most of the grilling on our hill is done on large gas grills in cleared areas. It was one of the first things the neighbors explained to us when we moved up here. No flames. No how. No way.
 So after grilling my tandoori chicken over charcoal for many years in Santa Monica and over a gas grill in Sonoma, the idea of trying it in the oven using one of those nifty cookers seemed like an interesting challenge.
 First, I tried it my way using the marinade recipe I'd used for 20 years...it wasn't pretty.  In fact those pictures will never see the light of day. Then I thought, Kathy you rebel, the Two Jerrys have a recipe on their website for a reason. Why don't you just follow their directions, after all, it it is their cooker. What a novel idea!
 So I did and this is what I got!
 The chicken started out looking a little Pepto-Bismolly since I was toying with food coloring instead of the small vial of ground red powder I usually have from the Indian Market.

But, the colors settled while roasting, fortunately.
Happy chicken Happy wife!

I'm used to cooking tandoori chicken in skinned pieces. This chicken is marinated with the skin on and the spices and seasoning are different than my old recipe. But, following the Two Jerrys' website recipe, I had a beautifully cooked bird.
 I whipped up a cauliflower dish and some spicy kirbies (little pickling cucumbers) a bit of naan bread and it was lunch.

 The chicken turned out moist and tender.

I'll be posting the cauliflower recipe soon but I wanted to give you a look at how these Cookers work. If you want one, I'll be giving away 2 plus 1 set of Game Hen Cookers in a random drawing  on June 14th. To enter, just follow the bouncing rules.
About my Giveaway:
 Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page and talk about it on your Facebook status.
or
   Become a follower of The Colors Of Indian Cooking
or
  Follow @kathygori on Twitter
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it.
 Or
If you already follow, or tweet just leave a comment and let me know.
 Winners will be chose at random on June 14th .
 Good luck!

Through The Looking Glass Dinner: Tandoori Chicken Plus....

About a month ago we had a group of friends over for a Tuscan style roast chicken dinner. It was Spring and I was returning to my Italian roots.
Alan had suggested that I do the same menu only with the Indian version of each dish, sort of a Through The Looking Glass Dinner.

 So the same people  we had last month are coming back for more. The only thing I've not duplicated are the fava beans, as it's getting a little late in the season for them. I was worried about toughness. So, off with your Fava beans!

Since I'm giving away 2 Ceramic Chicken Cookers and 1 set of  Ceramic Game Hen Cookers courtesy of Early Morning Pottery as part of my 1 Year Blogiversary I thought I ought to use my Ceramic Chicken Cooker to do what they'd originally been intended it to do. Make Tandoori Chicken!
 I've had an entire chicken marinating in tandoori spices since yesterday. In the past whenever I've cooked Tandoori style I've cooked on clay tiles inside the barbecue which is as close to a real deal Tandoor oven as I can get. This time I'm trying the Chicken Cooker and can't wait. It works perfectly just plain roasting, so it ought to give me a great tandoori experience.
 I've just finished setting up the dessert which was inspired by a recipe from my talented friend Shirley at Enriching Your Kid. The first course is a cold soup courtesy of  the brilliant Sanjana at K.O. Rasoi. My naan bread is nestled close to my Volvo in a warm garage rising merrily. There are other dishes afoot and I'm going out to the farm now to see what the earth holds for me.

Beans With Something Extra! Plus A Giveaway!

I never was a big green bean fan growing up. Mainly because the beans I was usually served weren't green at all but rather grey and flabby, the 90 pound weaklings of beans. They didn't look like they were full of vitamins and raring to go to work on my system but rather as though they'd spent their short bean life couch-surfing and watching Jersey Shore. They were skanky. What wouldn't be after being boiled for nearly an hour so they'd be "done" by the time they reached the table.
 When I started cooking Indian food 20 years ago, a new world of beans opened up to me; different varieties of beans, different ways of preparing them, none of which involved cooking them for too long.

 This last Meatless Monday, I decided to try green beans pan-sauteed in a chickpea flour nest.
  The original recipe comes from Yamuna Devis' book The Vegetarian Table: India. This is my adaptation of this dish.
  Here's what I did:
 Wash and cut 1 and 1/2 lb of green beans into 1 inch pieces. Chinese long beans would be ideal for this but if you can't get them, (I couldn't) any type of good summer beans will do. Set them aside.

 In a bowl mix together:
 1/2 cup gram flour (chickpea flour)
 2 tsps of garam masala
 1 tsp of salt
 1/2 cup of water
 Whisk it into a thick batter and set it aside.

In a deep skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
 When the oil is hot toss in:
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
 When the mustard seeds start to pop, add in the green beans.
 Stir them around for a bit, then add in 1/2 cup of water.

 Turn down the heat, put a cover on the pan and  cook them for about 10 minutes or so till they are just tender.
 Take the lid off the pan and pour the chickpea batter around the outside of the beans in a ring.

 Let the batter firm up to a pancake-like texture.
Then drizzle 1 tbs of butter or ghee over the beans.

Sprinkle 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro over the whole thing and gently stir everything together so that the batter forms crisp little pieces of chickpea goodness.

Add a bit of salt if you wish and serve it up.
 The contrast in textures and taste in this dish is great . I halved this recipe for the two of us when I made it the other day and I wish I hadn't, it was that good!
 About the Giveaway
  As I mentioned before, our 1st Blogiversary is approaching and the people at Early Morning Pottery have given me 2 of their wonderful ceramic Chicken Cookers, and 1 set of Game Hen Cookers to give away in celebration. The rules are simple:
 Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
 On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page here and talk about it on your Facebook status.
or
   Become a follower of The Colors Of Indian Cooking
or
  Follow @kathygori on Twitter
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it.
 Winners will be chose at random on June 14th .
 Good luck!

Yes! Soup For You..Plus The Rules Of The Game! Win A Ceramic Chicken Cooker From Early Morning Pottery.

I love Meatless Monday. One reason is because it overlaps into Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday too! Whee! Leftovers.
 Soup is a natural for left over meals. Especially chilled summer soups like the one I prepared yesterday. This soup involves no cooking, no muss, no fuss. All you need is a blender or food processor, a frying pan and you're good to go.
 Here's what you do.
 Peel, chop and seed 1 large cucumber
 Place it in a blender or food processor with 2 and 1/2 cups of plain yogurt.
 Blend until smooth.
 Pour into a bowl and toss in:
 1/3 cup of toasted finely chopped  walnuts
 2 Tbs chopped fresh mint
 2 Tbs olive, almond or walnut oil. I use walnut oil.
 1/2 tsp salt
 1 tsp ground dry roasted cumin seeds.
 Mix it up, cover the bowl and stick it in the fridge to chill.
 I served it with a thin slice of cucumber floating on top and a sprig of fresh mint.
  Delish. You can also spice it up a bit with a dash of kashmiri chili, it's up to you.
  Now for The Contest
 The Colors of Indian Cooking is celebrating its' 1st Blogiversary this month and I will be giving away some prizes, generously donated by Jerry and Jerry Of Early Morning Pottery.
  They are the makers of Vertical Ceramic Chicken Cookers. Paula Wolfert gave us one of these cookers for our anniversary last year. They work like a dream. No fuss, no muss, perfect birds every time.
   Now I'm passing these little gems on to you.
 I have been given 2 Chicken Cookers and 1 set of Game Hen Cookers to give to 3 lucky winners.

 The Winners will be chosen at random but there are a couple of rules to enter.
Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
 On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page here and talk about it on your Facebook status.
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it. 
The 3 Winners will be randomly selected on June 14th.  I'll contact you and get all the info so we can send the cookers on their merry way.
 Good luck!