Roasted Red Pepper Bread

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I got tagged!

Well, this is something that has been going around food blogs for a while and is called the Seven Links Challenge, where bloggers choose 7 of their posts that deserve to be recognized and talk about them.

Sawsan of Chef in Disguise tagged me.

Firstly, I want to thank Sawsan for thinking of me for this challenge and secondly, for taking me back on sort of a walk down the memory lane of all my posts.

By the way Sawsan has a great blog and some amazing recipes and stories. Do check her out.

Now the rules for being tagged are simple. The first thing you have to do once you are tagged is to list out 7 of the following things from your blog:

1. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL POST:

It has to be the post I did on my brother and my mom’s famous chocolate balls. Why is it beautiful? Well, because it was dedicated to one of the most beautiful persons I know (and I am talking about the inner beauty here) and it talks about a recipe by another beautiful person in my life (here I am talking about both inner and outer beauty)- my mom.

2.THE MOST POPULAR POST:

According to site stats, its the Macaron Cake post I did. And rightly so that it is the most popular one. It is also one post I am really proud of because I turned a complete failure into a great tasting delight!

3.THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL POST:

I don’t think I write anything too controversial; well, at least I try not to. But I guess the one on Mooli Parantha is the only post that comes to my mind. Well, at least my mom thought it was controversial as I was really heavy worded in that post! The post is also an example of my previous photography!

4. THE MOST HELPFUL POST:

Hopefully, my GMT posts are the most helpful ones because I really do put a lot of research in them. But I guess, if I had to pick one it would be the carrot cake truffle post I did. Again a failure that turned into something really delicious!

5. THE POST THAT WAS SURPRISINGLY SUCCESSFUL:

It has to be the coconut ice cream post. And the surprise has to be more from my Mom’s side than mine’s. She was sure that I would fail in making a nice creamy ice cream. She tried her best to convince me not to make it, but I did and she was pleasantly surprised by the taste, the texture and the fact it was made without an ice cream maker!

6. THE POST THAT DID NOT GET THE ATTENTION IT DESERVED:

I think the Caesar Salad post. It was one of the earlier posts I did and I actually can’t complain about the lack of hits on that post because I did not even put a picture up for it. Plus, hardly people viewed my blog then- my blog and its existence was only known to a few of my close friends and family. But, the recipe that I used has always been a hit with everyone. And that’s why I feel I wish it should have gotten more attention.

7. THE POST I AM PROUD OF:

It has to be my April Daring Bakers’ Challenge because of the creativity involved. I love those vegetable bowls even though I would most probably use them as decoration pieces (as they do get a little chewy when you dehydrate them). It was also the first time I tried my go at fried ice cream and noodle bowls.

Now that that is done. As part of being tagged, the second thing you have to do is to carry the tagging on and tag 5 more bloggers.

I would like to see what the following bloggers have to say about their posts:

And since all of you were kind enough to read through this (and even if you weren’t), I will leave you with the recipe for this Roasted Red Pepper Bread I had made the other day.


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Garam Masala Tuesdays: Aloo Parantha (Indian flatbread stuffed with potatoes)

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Aloo Paranthas, where I come from, are comfort food at its best.

Parantha is nothing but a flat bread. Its an unleavened dough made from whole wheat flour and cooked on a tawa/skillet. Paranthas can be made plain or stuffed and aloo (potato) is most popular when it comes to stuffing paranthas. Paranthas can be eaten  just like that, on their own, but a really good way to eat is to pair the paranthas with yogurt/curd and your favorite pickle.  Aloo paratha is a great one-dish meal for the family that can be served anytime of  the day!

The best paranthas that you will ever find are served in small shops on the roadsides, called dhabas. Some of the best ones I have had, were outside the GE call center (BPO) in Gurgaon, India. The first time I had a parantha there, was when I was an undergrad and my cousin and his  then girlfriend (now wife :)) took me and my brother out partying. After a fun night, my cousin took us to this dhaba for paranthas. Even at 2am the place was crowded with people. My cousin ordered aloo paranthas for us and after a brief wait, a small boy came with our plates of paranthas with a cube of melting butter on top. The parantha was huge and I was sure I would end up wasting it- but one bite and I could not stop myself. I had to really restrain myself to not order another. I did take a few more bites from my brother’s second parantha! Well, I could afford it then!

The second best I have had were when my senior sneaked us out from our hostel during my first year in undergrad and took us to a dhaba next to the IGI airport, Delhi. You should all know Delhi is not a safe place for woman, even during the day and at night time it gets worse. So there we were- just us girls out at 2 at night in a place that was full of scary truck drivers, waiting for our paranthas. And boy, were they worth it. I would still not recommend any girl to go their alone- it did not look like a safe place. But, if you have bodyguards with you, do pay this place a visit!

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Marbled Matcha & Refried Bean Swirl Bread

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I wanted to post about this bread yesterday as part of catching up on the backlog of recipes/photos I have in my drafts, but after the news of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I just did not feel like talking about food. Of course, life has to move on, but my prayers still go out to everyone affected and hope that the guilty will be found and accordingly dealt with.

This bread is actually inspired from David Lebovitz’s blog post where he blogged about this bread during the March Japanese tragedy. And I post about it today in the hope that the people of India also show the same calm and resilience as the people of Japan. (Of course, I hope the politicians do not misinterpret this calm to mean that they can slack with their appropriate measures to avoid such tragedies in the future!)

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