Rasaswad

Even since I got introduced to international cuisine, tacos always meant the special shaped, crispy things...back in India, I even tried making them from scratch (shaping them over a rolling pin or something). Then, in the US, the taco shells came from a box, and made for good grad school gathering chow. And then came the trips to the west coast, with those soft Masa tacos, and obviously, there's no going back now. In my mind, the distinction between Tex-Mex and true Mexican food is much more clear now. No more over-salty taco seasoning packets for me. Rick Bayless is my new hero, Patti's mexican table my new favorite show, and simple, fresh ingredients are the order of the day.  The problem? I didn't have this realization when I lived in localities with huge Latino populations, and where I live now, many of the basic ingredients are just harder to find...everything from Queso Fresco and Masa-Harina (I bet stores around my older apartments must have even carried fresh ...

You don't always need to go crazy when someone is coming over for a meal...Some times, just simple, home-style, tasty meal and old friends can make for a wonderful time. This was one of those meals... As with most Gujarati meals, you have lots of different dishes, but each one fairly simple to make. Typically, you serve one or two farsans (savory items), one or two misthan (sweet items), one or two main shaak (vegetables), one Kathol (beans), dal and/or kadhi, salad, rice, roti, achar, chutney and papad. This was my menu: Samosa and chutney Patra (They came out from a frozen box). (a good gujarati menu should have one fried and one steamed "farsan" or savory items.  Another good combination is lilva kachori / vatana ghughra and khandvi / dhokla). Shrikhand (Yes, the desert is a part of the meal) Gajar no Sambharo (The salad component) Fansi dhokli / pakodi (The main shaak/ vegetable) Khatta Mag (The kathol component) Rice and Roti (I skipped some of the con...