Music and Art

Cooking

The satisfaction I get from a full stomach and a stimulated palate have made cooking the newest art I have pursued. As a child I enjoyed baking for family events, and within the past two years I have grown to love cooking. On an evening inside I find few things more satisfying than whipping up a recipe I have created and experimenting with flavors. My mantra: if I like it, I better learn to cook it.

So far, my culinary abilities limit me to mostly vegetarian, Indian, and some Italian cooking. I love collecting recipe books. Within my collection are three Moosewood Collective Cookbooks (The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, and Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home), the Silver Palate Cookbook, the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, the Frog/Commissary Cookbook, and several others. In the future I would like to purchase Larousse Gastronomique, The Professional Chef, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Culinary Artistry, The New Joy of Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, True Thai: The Modern art of Thai Cooking. There are tons of other books that pique my interest, but I guess there isn't time or room enough to write them in!

My latest online read on cooking: The reluctant gourmet.

Recipe of the Day:

Chola by Rupal

Ingredients (amounts are approximate. Improvise as desired)

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1 tsp. Cumin Seeds
1 tsp. Mustard Seeds
1 ˝ medium onions, chopped
˝ inch ginger, chopped
˝ tsp. turmeric powder
2 10-oz. cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. coriander powder
˝ tsp. red chili powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 heaping Tbsp. pav bhaji masala
2-3 heaping Tbsp. Yogurt
salt to taste

Instructions:

Put vegetable oil in a saucepan at high heat. Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and cook till they start to splatter. Add chopped onions, ginger, and turmeric powder. Saute till onions are softened. Add chick peas, tomatoes, and ˝ - ž cup water, as needed. Add coriander, chili powder, garam masala, pav bhaji masala. Bring to a boil (mixture should be thick, like a stew). Reduce heat to a simmer and allow vegetables to stew, stirring as necessary. Add yogurt and salt to taste. Add additional spices, if desired. Allow to cool before serving so that the chola can thicken.

Updated 01/03/2004