Skip to main content

A lunch is a lunch is a breakfast

Before we go to the recipe, an aside on Bombay Bais. A bai is a magical domestic help. She comes for a hour every day and does the dishes & laundry and cleans the house. And if you want (I do!), your bai would also cook your food. The arrangements vary, but in my case my bai shows up once in the morning, makes me breakfast, packs my lunch and usually leaves me something for dinner in the fridge. I know, I know - I have a food blog and I love to cook - but not every day, and not three times a day.

Wondering why we are discussing this? For this explains how I ended up eating my lunch for breakfast today. My bai has an easy time on weekends for I cook myself half the time. But today, I told her to make me arbi (those gnarly colacassia roots) for lunch. I don't know what the original plan for breakfast was, but it was something boring like fruit or toast. Half an hour later, I peeked in and saw this magical arbi fry cooking on the stove. Who wants fruit after that. So here's my breakfast : arbi fry and parantha.



To make Arbi fry, wash the colacassia pieces. Put them in the pressure cooker just as they are (unpeeled and whole) and parboil. I've noticed that 2-3 whistles in the cooker usually does it. Take care not to overcook at this stage. Let cool, then peel and cut into pieces.

Heat oil in a pan. Add turmeric powder, salt and ajwain. Let sizzle for a few seconds, then add arbi pieces. Let it cook unstirred on a very low heat. You need the underside to get crisp so resist the temptation to stir it too soon. After a few minutes, turn the pieces over and cook the other side.

While it finishes cooking, make the parantha. Or at least, I think that's what you do. For what I got was this plate nicely arranged already. What a nice way to start the weekend!

Comments

delhibelle said…
what a yummy looking sabzi ! Thanks for sharing:)
Srivalli said…
Ok simran I must say you are lucky!..:)..nice looking parathas too...I love arbi..but never added ajwain to it!...we normally add that to bajjis..so maybe since this is also fried in oil..it will taste great!
Anonymous said…
Sri - I agree. I dont know what I would do without my cook. And yes, I always add ajwain to arbi, its such a lovely combination.
Pooja V said…
Having domestic help is such a bliss, I guess will hv to do without one till I get back. Great sabzi.
Medhaa said…
The subzi looks so simple and yet tasty, I miss my bai here.

You have a great blog here.
ranji said…
delicious combo of arbi and rotis...the arbi fry looks perfect and yumm..
Unknown said…
I think this is why I am still in India. Every time I think of moving abroad, the thought of doing my own laundry scares me :)
Hetal said…
Nice recipe...
Anonymous said…
its bit hard to get ajwan here, I should try without it.

Reemas,
PrivateMarriage.com

Popular posts from this blog

Announcing AWED : Britain

Before I ate my first Italian wood fired pizza, before I went to that swanky Japanese sushi bar for the first time, or the neighborhood Chinese joint, the first non-Indian cuisine I encountered was British. Not real food, mind you, but the tempting, oh so delicious descriptions in my favorite novels. From Enid Blyton to Jane Austen to P.G. Wodehouse, every favorite character in every favorite novel seems to have food on their mind. Yes, British food gets ridiculed a lot. But forget their main course dishes for now, and think of the full English breakfast and the elegant afternoon teas. Then try imagining the world without cucumber sandwiches or potato chips and you will realize you can't do without British food. Which is why when I saw that DK was looking for hosts for her monthly event AWED (A Worldly Epicurean's Delight) and there has never been a British AWED, I promptly signed up. The rules are simple really: Make any vegetarian or vegan British dish (eggs are

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.