CLICK: August 2008 – Citrus, A Mixed Vegetable Xacuti and Some Spring Onion Pancakes.

This is a post with one picture post and two recipe posts. Since all three are related in some way to Jugalbandi, they’re all under one header in one post.
First the matter of CLICK, the monthly photography theme is event. This month’s “Citrus” and this picture is my submission for the event.

Unravelled?

I was peeling an orange to decorate my chocolate mousse when inspiration struck me! How great, I’m not sure. But if someone else would have taken a picture of me (in the middle of the chocolate mousse-making mess, half peeled orange and a camera in hand) trying very hard to take the perfect(?) orange picture, it would definitely have had everyone in splits.

Mixed Vegetable Xacuti:

Zlamushka’s Tried and Tasted event is featuring Bee and Jai’s blog this month. Their blog, Jugalbandi, showcases their unique style of writing (whether about food or in general), their exotic garden produce and beautiful photography. If you haven’t seen the blog, then please go over and take a look and you won’t be disappointed.

They have an interesting variety of recipes but what caught my eye was the Xacuti. Xacuti is essentially a non vegetarian dish that Goa is famous for. Bee’s vegetarian version was just right for me. After doing some research, on the net and otherwise, I made a few changes and cooked up this version of a vegetarian Xacuti.We had it with Basmati rice. Each household/ recipe has its own version of the combination and amounts of ingredients that go into making the spice paste for Xacuti.

Bee used cauliflower and potatoes while I used a mixture of vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, some frozen peas and potatoes). My version can be found here.

Verdict:

It was good and tasted a lot like the vegetarian versions served at some of the better restaurants here. To describe it, I would say it tastes a lot like a Vegetable Kurma with a greater variety of spices. We think it would taste best served with rice based preparations like Idiyappam or Vellayappam.


Spring Onion Pancakes:

Bee's Spring Onion Pancakes was another recipe I had bookmarked to try out from Jugalbandi, as the idea of savoury pancakes appeals to me. I made some changes to this one too (I find it difficult to resist tweaking recipes!:D), to suit our taste.
I added some cornmeal, a tbsp of wheat bran, some mustard, asafetida and curry leaves to the pancake mixture. My versioncan be found here.

Verdict:

These pancakes made a tasty and filling breakfast, served with a spicy coconut chutney or powdered jaggery. You could try it with honey too, if you feel a pancake needs a sweet element to be perfect.

These two recipes are going over to be a part of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen for this month's Tried and Tasted.