The sun and the galavanting

Its been a bright blistering sun in Bangalore lately and the perfect time for drying. So I decided to dry out some tomatoes in the yard. Halved some of the Roma and quartered the others depending on how I could de-seed them and left them out to dry in the sun. With this being the driest month in Bangalore since 1988, the tomatoes dehydrated completely in just three days. The smarter half had seen a recipe where the sun dried tomatoes were boiled in vinegar and then stored in olive oil. So decided to give that a try. I boiled the tomatoes with some black pepper, garlic cloves and marjoram in vinegar.

With Arnav in my mom's place Rahul and I decided to go to Russel Market to check out the stained glass and Mosaic in the church there. Going all the way to Russel market and not going to Adams ( a store famous with the restaurateurs in Bangalore) and the market would be a sin, so bought some glass jars at Adams for the sun dried tomatoes and Rahul's Feta. Now we finally have nice jars to put stuff in!!!

The tomatoes have a wonderful sweet sour taste, and with time I think the EVOO should also flavour it.

Return from Coorg

Just came back from Coorg yesterday. Had the most wonderful holiday in a long time. Stayed with friends in the estate in a 250 year old house. The room overlooked the hibiscus garden of all possible colours and the paddy fields just beyond. Arnav enjoyed playing in the mud outside and in the coffee drying yard.

We had left for Coorg armed with yeast to bake some bread in the makeshift oven formed next to the hearth over which the milk and water are boiled every morning. By popular demand it was whole wheat and onion bread.

Knowing fully well that I would not be able to get up at 4 in the morning, I started on the process the previous night and got the first rise by 10:30. Kept it in the mould which was actually an aluminium tin-anything that would fit into the hole in the hearth, for the second rise and left it overnight in the refrigerator. The search for the perfect container is another story that had taken place the previous year. Luckily Muthu Aunty remembered to keep the tin a place which she easily could place. The next morning, it had risen to a little more than double its size and was ready for the hearth oven. Kept it in the oven and kept turning the tin every 12-15 mins, which was actually a waste of exercise since the oven was evenly heated inspite of the firewood burning on one side only. Well... the result was a well baked, slightly dense whole wheat onion bread. Could have been made a little lighter by adding a little cream to the dough, but there's always the next year.

More about the fantastic vegetarian food by Muthu Aunty to follow. I am sure her meats are as delicious, but her vegetarian sure would give it a run for its money.