First roast some cubed beets – 400 for 20 min
While that’s roasting – make the dressing. The recipe calls for juice of 3 sour oranges and 1/4 cup lime juice. I did 2 cut up mandarins , 1 large tbsp of marmalade, about 1/2 cup or lime juice, some vinegar, salt and sugar(I used some jaggery which is called Panela in Mexico)
Marinate one large onion, some cilantro and mint and 1 Serrano (recipe calls for 2 habanero which are beyond us)
Add roasted beets hot and let it cool
First fry up cubes of paneer with a little salt and turmeric
Rinse your poha (half cup per person) a couple of times and leave it to drain
Fry a potato , add to paneer
Make tadka – oil, mustard seeds till they pop, pinch of asafetida, pinch of turmeric , curry leaves and dried chillies (I had some stuffed ones)
Add onions and salt and this is where my recipe is different – let them catamelize slowly
Add poha and potato and paneer to pan
Add shredded coconut (about quarter cup) and cilantro and steam for 5 min
The plan
Sew the front bands right side together , iron the band with the seam underneath. Stitch in the ditch and finish your front bands
Stay stitch top and bottom and then sew the bottoms of the bands together
I need a lining so I cut it out to the pattern of my thin fabric – first the armholes -match them exactly with plenty of pins, then flip it over and understitch
Tack rest of lining to the cloth – get the gathering stitches and tack to the lining and prepare to add yoke in
Yoke is in, add some gotapatti lace
Now add lining to back- finish the arms holes and just tack down the others beyond the hemline
Join the 2 together at the shoulders and sides -leave seam allowances at the bottom- the skirt lining will be more of a slip
Now make the collar- first I form the collar, iron the bands underneath
Now pin it up and baste in place
See the collar in and then top stitch the edges
Add a lower frill – use gather stitches and baste – it take a while
Sew the last frill in- join the pieces, add 2 gathering stitches above and below the seam line
Add lower frill, add lace to edges – now figure out how long to keep the skirt lining – 18 inches seems good
Ok this turned out cute
Make crunchy tofu- dry tofu out, add salt , pepper, sesame seeds (or panko) and soy sauce. Bake at 400 for 15-20 min
Make the peanut sauce (from America’s text kitchen)
5 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp chili crisp or more, 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tbsp crushed garlic and some hot water to make creamy paste (less than half cup)
Add to noddles with veggies (I did cabbage, scallions, herbs)
Start with one half cabbage, one half onion, few garlic cloves and 2 eggs
Add 2/3 c of flour of your choice – I used a fish fry mix – cornflour, besan anything will work. Add water as needed , now cook on either side
Serve with chimmichuri (parsley, tarragon, mint, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar) and some Arabic cheese
The aim is to modify this to give a saree appearance with pleats on the left shoulder front and back. Also I don’t like the peplum fold.
Step 1- cut out pattern for size 14
Now pin up the corner you don’t want pleats in and cut the muslin you are practicing on
Keep one side of the back the same, add pleats to the other side
Ok that worked some – here is the Muslin mockup
But I’m going to try the full sleeve version. I have a 1 m corduroy fabric – let’s see if I can cut a full sleeve blouse from that
Transfer the markings
Sew the pleats and tack them to the inside – edge finish the tops with a zigzag stitch
Add back facing , understitch the edges and sew the shoulders and sides
Add the peplum – sew it together and then you will need some gathers. I modified the peplum to add 2 inches – half inch to each side. My waist is larger than the 1970s ladies
Add the zipper – make it invisible , tack down the back facings after . Add a label. Also then wish you had a serger for prettier edges
Now the hands- sew the edges together. I do the gathering stitches in a contrasting color. For rhe sleeves, turn in 7/8 inches, press under slightly and sew to form a 3/8 inch so so casing channel for elastic
Making casing , feed elastic in, sew together and close casing- you have an elastic sleeve
This one worked well! It’s a keeper
So this is the inspiration
This was the pattern and I planned to add a drawstring and buttonholes at the waist and make the kimono in velvet and get the trims in India
This is how it started – you have to be careful of the nape in velvet – it has to drape the same way
Sew the back , shoulders and sides with a 5/8 inch hem
Arrange the borders and connect them – 5/8th seams !
Make one inch box pleats on either side of midline so the neck band fits, alternatively you can do gathers- just so the notches line up. Then add a staystitch just under the hemline
Now sew that trim on matching the notches and the seams and the curves – I used basting stitches for this one
Sew the other band on this way and notch all the curves
Turn the edge over and sew down over a basting stitch
Then realize that you’ve messed up the nap and have to redo a whole band so cut new pieces and start the unsewing process
Attempt 2- pin the band and just planning on a top stitch
Fold the other side in and make sure band lies flat
Ok so far laying much better than other technique – may have to redo other band too
Now pin it in and sew
Ok this worked beautifully – annoyingly I have to redo the other side now
Done with the other side ! This is how I’ll be doing my front bands from now on
Hem the arms to 5/8 inch
Now for the drawstring – first use safety pins to make sure the placement is correct
Ok that turned out cute- more to follow when I get the trim
Lay down the lace over the pattern- fold the hem allowance in the pattern, look at the neck. Do the motifs make sense ? Here they don’t – so it’s appliqué work later
Next pin everything before cutting
Take care of motifs while cutting
Line the pieces up- realize you’ve messed up one of them and fix it and line them up again
Hem the lining
Mark the seams on the lining- sew to lace with a zigzag stitch beyond the seams. The lace is tough to sew through – use lots of pins. A basting stitch would have been a good idea here
For the shoulder seams without any lining- cut a 5/8 inch of lining- zigzag it to one end and cut off excess. I used the selvedge end so it wouldn’t have to be zigzagged
Sew side seams and shoulder hems
Tack lining down in a few places, hand sew the shoulder seams back
If there are gaps in the lace – just add motifs
And that’s the shirt
Indochinese is nostalgic to immigrants and I’ve tried for years to make a good paneer Manchurian. I think I finally have a recipe that’s worth writing down. The trick is replacing the ketchup with maggi hot and sweet tomato chilli sauce. Bonus – it’s ready in less than 20 min.
It’s inspired by this Ranveer Brar recipe. The ingredients are all approximate except for the sauce – measure that one out.
First soak your paneer in warm water for 15-20 min. It makes a big difference. Then fry it in about half an inch of oil till it’s brown on all sides. Remove paneer.
Next prep your stir fry ingredients- about a cup of onion, less than half a cup of scallions, about a tbsp each ginger and garlic and interestingly about half a cup of cilantro stalks . A chilli or two would work as well
The sauce is 1/3 cup of soy sauce and 1/3 cup of maggi hot and sweet tomato chili sauce (from your friendly Indian store), 1/3 cup water, a large tsp of sugar , a tsp or so of vinegar and lots of black pepper
Start stir frying – in the paneer oil, add onions and then scallions and cilantro stems and ginger and garlic. There should be a lot of different textures in this dish. Then add the paneer back and the sauce and cook for 2 min or so. Add a tsp or more of cornstarch slurry and the dish is done!
It’s spicy , sweet and very delicious.
I’ve been on a long quest for the perfect potato sagu- the kind served with rava idli and ghee in Bangalore restaurants. I think I’ve found it- the trick is thickening the potato curry with ground roasted chana dal. This is a satisfying curry – good with rice, roti or store bought Malaysian flaky parantha (lovely as a treat- but sadly too unhealthy for daily eats)
Step 1: wash and dry roast 1/4 cup of chana dal till pale brown- grind fine in a coffee grinder. Make a paste with about half cup of water
Step 2: tempering – standard South Indian – in 1 -2 tbsp of oil, add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds and heat till they sputter, add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds, a pinch of asafetida, 1/2 tsp of turmeric and 1-2 dried red chilies and 2-3 kadipatta leaves.
Step 3: add chopped potatoes and water and salt and boil for 10-15 minutes till cooked though
Step4: add chana dal paste, cook for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with roasted cashews and cilantro and squeeze about one lemon to taste in the curry off the heat.
Delhi Girl Meets Food 