I am finishing my dissertation this semester. And until it's done, I am LYING TO MYSELF if I think I'm going to give this blog the attention I'd like to. Far more honest to put it aside for now, focus on the big priority, and return without a guilty conscience.
Look for more this summer, and wish me luck in the meantime!
October 15th is Blog Action Day, when bloggers
get together (so to speak) and talk about a single issue – this year’s topic is
poverty, and what we can to do eradicate it.
I’d like to share a few links to my favorite
groups that are working to end poverty. Though I tend to gravitate to groups that focus on food, gender, and the politics thereof, there are many worthy orgs out there doing good work - please donate/share as you can!
Heifer International has the goal of supporting people in achieving
long-term economic development and independence. They do this by providing gifts of livestock
(of whatever animal is appropriate in the local context: everything from buffalo
to ducks to honeybees) and requiring the recipients to pass on the gift (in the
form of some of the offspring of their animals) to others in their communities,
as well as providing training in their care.
I love the idea of an ever-spreading network of animal husbanders,
tending to their creatures and teaching others to do the same. Heifer publishes a magazine with fabulous,
priceless pictures of baby animals and their humans that reliably makes me cry.
Kiva is a microfinance organization that lets regular people
lend money to entrepreneurs all over the world.
Because of the nature of microfinance (focusing on very small
businesses), a lot of these loans are made to women (and some of their lending
partners codify the ideal of gender parity by only disbursing the loan funds to
women, though the loan may be going to a family business). Businesses are of the mom-and-pop type –
small restaurants and food shops, fabric, tailoring. The default rate on loans is microscopically
low, and when the loan is repaid, you can get your money back or loan it to
someone else.
Finally, two NYC-based groups that target hunger:
Citymeals-on-Wheels delivers food to elderly, homebound New Yorkers. And City Harvest rescues unused food from restaurants, grocers, and farms and delivers it to community food programs.
Dried moong beans are pretty – like little jewels in every shade of army green. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see half a bean with a little cavity in it, where an enterprising buggy once made its home.
I’d never made them before this attempt, but I liked the looks of them, so I called home for instructions. This version includes a bit of masoor daal for added background. Mom passed the phone to my dad after giving me the recipe, and when I told him my plan, he told me that he’s not a big fan. Why, I asked? “Too froggy,” was his reply. Do not ask me what this means.
I used a pressure cooker to make this, which forces me to address the whole issue of pressure cookers, which I’ve been avoiding all this time. My people (and by this I mean all desis) use pressure cookers routinely, for almost all meat or daal dishes. Until I left home, I didn’t know that pressure cookers weren’t de rigueur all across non-desi America. Because of this slant, the methods and timings I use for many dishes are pressure cooker-specific. They could all be made without pressure, and certain steps would just take longer. In this case, in place of the pressure step, you could cook over a low simmer, covered, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed.
recipe: sabat moong
4 cups water
1 cup whole moong, rinsed
1/2 cup masoor daal (split), rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 light tsp cayenne
1 light tsp salt
pinch of turmeric
for tarka: a few tablespoons oil, the chopped greens of 2 scallions, and 1-2 tsp minced ginger
If pressure-cookering, put water, whole moong, salt, cayenne, turmeric, and garlic into pot, cover, bring up heat and pressurize for about 4 minutes of weight-whistle. If not pressure-cookering, start with more water and cook, covered, over a low simmer. By either method, cook until moong beans are nearly tender; then add split masoor daal. If pressure-cookering, close up pot and re-pressurize about 1 minute after addition of masoor daal. Otherwise, cook on a low simmer another 15-20 minutes, or until masoor daal has mostly disintegrated into the dish. Add water as needed.
For the tarka, heat a few tablespoons oil in a small sauté pan. When the oil shimmers, add the scallions and minced ginger – after just a second of cooking, add the oil/scallion/ginger mixture to the pot of daal (which should now be completely tender); stir it up to integrate. This is very homey and comforting served with white basmati rice.
I didn’t make these up, but I wish I had. They’re not Punjabi, as far as I know (but aren’t pakoras one of those patterns into which anything can be inserted without making it not-a-pakora?). I’ve been coming across various renditions (some with flour, some with besan), and thought I’d fry up a batch. There’s some resonance here for me with frying things and rain and being sick, but I have a cold so the association is muddled in my head.
Anyway, I just felt like frying, okay?
These would be great with brunch, or as dessert, or with chai. I would leave the banana pieces fairly big, because during frying they soften up and their edges kind of melt into the fried batter in an amazingly delicious way. My sense is that less-ripe bananas would be best – again, because cooking softens/ripens them quite a bit. The ones I used were yellow, without any brown spots yet.
recipe: banana pakoras
4 bananas, peeled and cut into squat cylinders
1 cup whole grain pastry flour (all-purpose flour would work fine)
1 cup almond milk (or any other kind of milk)
1 egg
1 T canola oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
approx. 1 cup canola oil (for frying)
Heat the cup of oil over med-hi heat in a heavy pan. While it’s coming up to temperature, mix up all the batter ingredients until smoothish, then dump the banana chunks into the batter. When the oil is hot, use a tablespoon to scoop up one piece of banana at a time and drop it in the oil. Fry a minute or two on each side, until it’s a lovely golden color. Drain on paper towels and serve while toasty.
I was at the farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza last weekend, on a mission for peaches (peaches are almost done for the season, and I remembered them late, and I was having an existential meltdown because once they’re gone, they’re gone until next summer. It’s a long time until next summer – who knows how I or the world or peaches could change by then?), when I was accosted by these baby eggplants. They looked like little purple-striped schmoos, like the perfect food source, sitting there in a cute little heap. So I brought them home and plotted their use in aloo-bengan.
I cut off the green cap, left on the skins, and sliced each one in half. If you’re using a large eggplant, the amount of skin is entirely up to you. Leaving some on will help the eggplant hold together a bit as it cooks. You can peel it entirely if you’re skin-averse. I like to peel longitudinal stripes down the sides, so that I’m getting rid of about half.
recipe: aloo bengan
1 big onion, chopped
3 T veg oil
1 good-sized eggplant, cut into chunks or slices (about 3/4 to 1 inch at the thinnest)
2-3 red potatoes, peeled, cut into long pieces (like wedges for roasting)
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 light tsp cayenne
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 jalapeño or other green chile, sliced
2-3 scallions, chopped
Brown the onion in the oil over med-hi heat. Add the eggplant, potato, tomato, salt, cayenne, and turmeric. Give it a stir to distribute everything, cover the pot, and turn the heat down low. Stir occasionally and gently. A bit of sticking to the bottom of the pot is normal. If it’s sticking enough to concern you, add a tablespoon or two of water. Cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender. In the last few minutes of cooking, add the jalapeño, scallions, cumin and coriander.
