Empire Ghee Rice

Bangalore - A workaholic city bustling with IT professionals offers myriad choices for Foodie's around the globe. Be it gourmet & fine dining options or the simple to humble inexpensive Tiffin items, there is something for everyone in this city with great affordable choices & tasty options to suit your palate and pocket. In Bangalore, if one visits Hotel Empire they have a special menu which is most sought after by me and my friends. It was a combination of Veg/ Chicken Kebabs, Ghee Rice served with Salad on the side and Veg/ Chicken Gravy. Over a period of time, this became so famous amongst my friends that every time we went there, we knew what we wanted to order. The flavour has left an indelible mark on my memory. This ubiquitous combination is quite enjoyed by some of my dearest friends in Bangalore.

I usually use the cooked rice from previous day for a good fluffy textured Ghee Rice. Its important to thaw the rice at room temperature before use. The cooked rice has to be dry with less moisture. The more grainy and separated the rice is, the better your Ghee Rice. I added Cashew Nuts to spruce up the flavour. My husband is a big fan of Ghee Rice and he enjoys this with Chicken curry with thick gravy or Fried Chicken. Its an occasional treat for us owing to the high calories involved. The recipe is quite simple and is an effort to recreate the same long forgotten flavour.

~ Empire Ghee Rice ~

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Rice (cooked) - 4 cups
Onion (sliced) - 3/4 cup
Cashew Nuts - 1/2 cup
Ghee
Salt

Method:
Thaw the rice at room temperature at least 1/2 before use. Use a large faced deep sauce pan, that way your rice gets evenly warmed. First heat a huge quantity of Ghee, allow to melt and saute the cashew nuts. Let them turn golden brown with a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and keep them aside. Next saute the sliced onions and saute them till they turn crunchy and golden brown. The texture should be like deep fried onions. This whole process takes around 10 minutes. After the onions are fried completely, transfer them to a paper towel and keep aside. Now, add the cooked rice in ghee, give a good stir, much better if you can shake up the rice without using a spatula or ladle. The intention is to get the ghee coated and not to break the rice. Adjust salt now. Once rice is fluffy, turn off flame. Garnish with fried onions and cashew nuts. Serve warm with a gravy of choice.

Note - For best results, use good quality Ghee or Unsalted Butter. Fried Onions render a good layering to the dish. Ensure they are completely fried to get a good bite of crunch. Do not add too much salt as your complementary dish would have sufficient salt.

Udupi Mattu Gulla or Udupi Brinjal - An Essay

The story of Udupi Brinjal or Gulla begins with a key figure, a saint named Swami Vaadiraja. In Udupi, a special variety of Brinjal is known as Mattu Gulla or Matti Gulla. This is a heirloom variety of seed with a 100+ year old legacy and age; grows only in the land of Udupi at a small village named Mattu, located near Udayavar. This story was narrated to me by my mother. Swami Vaadiraja used to offer a delicacy prasad named Hayagreeva Maddi to Lord Hayagreeva, a white horse lord. Hayagreeva Maddi is a sweet delicacy made of Bengal Gram, Jaggery, Ghee and Grated Coconut. Incidentally, this is my mothers favorite sweet as well. Vaadiraja used to offer the offering everyday to Lord Hayagreeva. This Maddi was kept on his head and the horse-shaped lord would partake some portion of it and leave some for Vaadiraja.

Some devotees who did not get to eat the Maddi plotted a plan and mixed poison in one such preparation. As usual, Vaadiraaja offered the offering to Lord Hayagreeva and no sooner he had a portion of it, he turned blue. Lord Hayagreeva did not leave any morsel for Vaadiraaja and cleaned the bowl. Incidentally, the Udupi Krishna idol turned blue. The same night around, Vaadiraaja had a dream that few seeds of a brinjal ought to be given to Udupi village farmers hailing from a place named Mattu. They would be required to harvest a crop and offer the Mattu Gulla or Brinjal to Lord Krishna. The Brinjal would serve as a remedy for extracting the poison off the lord. Promptly, the farmers sowed the seeds, harvested the crop and offered the Gulla to Lord Krishna and thereby the poison removed. This is the famous folklore associated with the origin of Mattu Gulla.

This Brinjal came to be known as the famous Mattu Gulla or Matti Gulla. This Brinjal is green in colors opposed to conventional blue Brinjals. The crown of the Brinjal has thorns on it and this Brinjal grows only in the land of Udupi. The Brinjal has a spherical, oblong apperance with a light and dark green hue as shown in the picture. The other picture is a successful attempt to harvest a Mattu Brinjal grown at a friends place in Udupi in the nascent stage. Even to this date, the villagers come from Mattu to Udupi Krishna Math before sowing the seeds. Once the crop is done and the harvest is ready, the first harvest is offered to Udupi Krishna Math, Udupi and then sold in markets and commercial areas. The Gulla once immersed in water oozes a blackish liquid and hence the water turns black.

Recently, the Udupi Brinjal was in news for lot of reasons. Apparently, the genetic modification of the crop would result in loss of the original composition and makeup of the the famous Brinjal. I was sad to note this as I have been eating the delicious, rare, green Brinjals ever since I was a kid. Hope the centre takes a firm decision to abhor and stop the practice thereby giving the Brinjals their unique identity and status for which they are well known for.

We make lot of delicacies of Brinjal like Stuffed Brinjal (Gulla Puddi Sagley), Gulla Fritters (Gulla Bajey), Gulla Sambhar (Gulla Kolmbo). My granny awaits the Gulla season to arrive so that the enture family can sample a piece of this tradition which has a rich legacy and saga associated with it. She has one old lady Farmer who supplies us with Gulla straight from farm since last 25 years; every year when the harvest season completes, she first comes to our place because she knows half of her supply would dwindle in a minute. I hope and pray that the genetic modification battle ends on its own without hampering the originality and the genetic makeup of this great vegetable which we all adore in my family.

Update - [Further to this post getting published, a good samaritan send me a link on the whole debate of genetic modification of Matti Gulla. The need for Mattu Gulla to attain a GI Status, Geographical Indication is the crux of the debate. The sad part is the Brinjal would lose its essence should the GI status be opted for, owing to further propagation of the modified form of Brinjal which leads me to believe that the original taste and flavour of the Brinjal would be compromised for. I know that having eaten vegetables for ages this need not be a big issue but considering the various marvels of technology and the bane it brings along, this is just the beginning. The day is not far when most of the vegetables which we consume are genetically modified and revolutionised to a great degree beyond recognition. The taste would be a far cry from what you consumed as a child. My empathy goes to the hard working Farmers who would lose out a great share of the productivity pie if the move gets replicated to other vegetables leave alone the good old Brinjal. The article and subject matter details can be found on this article]

New York Bits and Bites: Street Food - A Narrative

I had heard so much about New York, thanks to the infectious influence of long hours of Bollywood movies and song sequences. During my first trip to this city, I must confess I was smitten by the beauty and totally bowled over! Enchanted was the word.

Sky-kissing tall skyscrapers, illuminated and gigantic Empire State, Statue of Liberty at Liberty Island, Ellis Island, busy volley of Subways arriving and departing, Yellow cabs, Streets and Avenues which forms a quintessential part of the unique geography, Chrysler building, Yankee stadium for sports aficionado, Broadway musical, Rockefeller centre, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, MET Museum, MoMA Museum, Wall Street: Bull, Staten Island ferry. I have already become a big fan of this unique city. Its truly a melting pot offering something for everyone.

One of my Indian friend tells me that New York is like Mumbai. Well me thinks yes and no as well. Yes, because the city has same infectious energy, extremely raring-to-go spirit. No, because its still different in lot of ways. My friends had told me that NY is famous for its street food. I was on my pursuit of sampling some delicacies which I had heard were quite famous here. The first thing which catches your sight would be the numerous rickety Carts selling Sandwiches, Bagels, Hot Dogs, Pretzels, Falafels. Given a chance I would personally prefer eating from the Cart vendors as the food is economical, tasty and packs in flavours of NY city to the brim. My personal favorite would be these 4 goodies which I found irresistible. You just cannot seem to get enough of it.


1. Pretzel: A bread pastry which finds its roots in Germany; has the shape of a three looped knot resembles a braid knot as well. Its slightly salty but can keep you going without any hunger pangs for next couple of hours especially if you are hopping around the city and soaking in some local flavours, all for $2.50. (Thanks to the Cart owner for allowing me to picture the Pretzel).

2. Egg and Cheese Sandwich: My top favorite - Slice of fried eggs topped with a slice of cheese and some spices all packed in delicately grilled sandwich bread. I can have this tasty sandwich at any time of the day. The best ones I have tasted are available at Newark Penn Station Food kiosks. Since I picked my Sandwich from Au Bon Pain, a famous breakfast joint in NYC, they offered to prepare a butter-on-both-sides Bagel with stuffed Cheese and Eggs, well fried, all for $5.00, include some freshly brewed Latte with cream as well.

3. Cheese Cake: Supposedly NY is famous for this. Not a street food but can be found at prominent pastry shops in NY city. I sampled mine at Junior's near Times Square. The flavour was tangy, cheesy, creamy and out of the world. Most of the pastry shops have a Cheesecake to offer. The ones at Junior's have more than 3- plus varieties of these and high chances are, that you would go greedy with the delights; Think this was for around $5.00 a pastry (don't recall quite well, but was wuite affordable and worth every dime you spend).

4. Falafel Sandwiches: I loved the Falafel sandwich you get at Allan's near Broadway (quite close to the Wall Street Bull - on the same street). He customises your taste, spice. "Some more spice" I raved. I regret I could not get a picture nevertheless the taste is one of its kind and closest to the Middle-Eastern flavours of Falafel. The chickpea Pakoras were fried to perfection and nestled cosily in Pita Pockets with ample helpings of spicy sauce which was oraneg and red in color. All this for $4.00; Enjoy your hearty meal!

Blossom Tea @ San Francisco

"San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art. Every block is a short story, every hill a novel. Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal. That is the whole truth." ~ William Saroyan

During our recent trip to San Francisco, one of our very close friend, R took us to a very quaint restaurant - The House of Nanking. The restaurant located on Kearny Street (between Jackson St. and Columbus Ave) is a quaint, tiny, no frills restaurant. The finest part of this restaurant is the space is hardly two-room setup, the place has stacked boxes of pantry within the eating space and around the cash register. The ambience is very rustic. Lights are dim and give you a feel of the old-world charm.

We found this amazing drink there known as the Blossom Tea. Served in large beer mugs with abundant helpings of warm water, the tiny blossom blooms as time passes and within half an hour, there is a mighty jasmine blossom staring in your face. One of the best things I have experienced in my culinary journeys thus far. The tiny plant oozing out bathing happily in warm water is truly a sight to see. I checked with my friends later and came to know that the Chinese Blossom Tea - Blossoms are available at Chinese grocery stores like Lion.