Recipe of the month: Bread Pakoda

My in-laws were in town for about 3 weeks last month. They had a wonderful time with the kids while I caught a much needed break. We couldn't venture out as much as we would have liked to (thanks to the wretched 'haze' 😒) save for another trip to Madame Tussaud's and a get together at a friend's place but it was a refreshing change, nonetheless. On the bright side, one of the things you can do when you are stuck at home is cook up a storm so that is exactly what we did.

My MIL makes this bread pakoda quite frequently when she is entertaining guests, on festive occasions or during her customary new year parties. Usually when you hear of bread pakodas, you expect deep-fried batter coated bread filled with a spiced potato or a mixed vegetable filling. But my MIL's version is far less cumbersome, less heavy and I daresay comparably delicious. Trust me when I say that it totally satisfies your fried food cravings.

A few guidelines while making this dish - use either white or whole meal bread (I'm not sure multigrain will work as well), make sure it is the salted variety and not the sweet kind, try to get the largest loaf available, preferably use bread that has been refrigerated at least a day in advance and use fresh oil for deep-frying. The consistency of the dipping mixture is important too, but you will get a hang of that by experience. My MIL typically uses finely chopped onions, garlic, green chilies and fresh coriander to flavour the dipping mixture, but you could add in some fresh ginger and/or curry leaves if you like. Since the dipping mixture has plenty of bright fresh flavours incorporated into it, you really don't need any accompaniment to these pakodas. Just pick up a hot crispy pakoda and begin munching!

My trusty Canon DSLR conked off just as I was gearing up to prepare this post. As a result, I was forced to use my Sony cybershot to take the photos (which made me very grumpy indeed). I really wanted to feature this snack on my blog, and I wasn't sure if I would be making it in the near future (with my upcoming India trip and all) so I decided to compromise. Bleh.

So, the next time you feel like indulging in the pleasures of the deep-fried variety, why not consider these yummy bread pakodas? It can be prepared in a jiffy, is something different from your usual run-of-the-mill deep-fried Indian snacks and tastes pretty darn good.

Gardens by the Bay - Singapore

This post has been on the cards for ages. Garden's by the Bay is a nature park located in central Singapore adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The sprawling garden is an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden". It is one of Singapore's premiere attractions and a place I highly recommend that you visit. I myself have been there a dozen times. Over my numerous visits, I have amassed a huge collection of photographs which I was saving for a blog post (that never happened). The other day, I was combing through my albums looking for something in particular and found several folders containing photos of Gardens by the Bay. That jolted me out the procrastination mode I was in and is the reason you are reading this post right now.

I decided not to split this post into two or more parts since this tourist attraction comes under the label 'Singapore' on my blog and I would rather have all the information in one place (I'm just finicky that way). The downside to that is that this post may come across as long-winded and photo-heavy. I like to be thorough even if it is at the cost of giving my readers a headache 😄

The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. The largest of the three gardens is Bay South Garden which showcases the best of tropical horticulture and garden artistry. The Bay East Garden has a 2-km promenade frontage that embroiders the Marina Reservoir. It is an ideal picnic setting with lush lawns and tropical palm trees. From the waterfront promenade, you will see a picturesque view of the city skyline. I had been to this part of the gardens a few years ago to watch the New Year fireworks. Bay Central Garden serves as a link between Bay South and Bay East Gardens. It has a 3 km waterfront promenade that allows for scenic walks stretching from the city center to the east of Singapore.

The Bay South Garden is the one that receives the maximum number of visitors because of what it has to offer. Inspired by an orchid, the design resembles Singapore’s national flower, Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’. Take note that all the photos in this post were taken at the Bay South Garden.

The Bay South Garden has two cooled conservatories - The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest situated along the edge of the Marina Reservoir. The two imposing glasshouses are a sight to behold and are special due to the fact that they are columnless (i.e. without additional interior support) and because the architecture aims at reducing the environmental footprint. Rainwater is collected from the surface and circulated in the cooling system which is connected to the Supertrees (man-made revolutionary trees that dominate the garden's landscape). You can’t miss the massive Supertrees here. These alien-looking vertical gardens are between nine to 16 storeys tall. You can walk on the aerial walkway between two Supertrees to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the gardens.

Let me take you on a tour of the different attractions within the Bay South Garden

Baker's Corner: Mixed Vegetable Frittata

I had been to Jason's The Gourmet Grocer at Ion Orchard sometime ago. I love going to specialty grocery stores to ogle at what they have to offer (especially the fresh produce section). The produce is so vibrant, diverse and irresistible that it makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I got myself a shopping basket and started picking things off the racks. By the end of my shopping, I had some baby Portobello mushrooms, asparagus spears, zucchini, avocados, fresh Italian salad leaves, a gigantic juicy peach & some organic blueberries among other things. The urge to get back home and prepare a healthy veggie-packed brunch was overwhelming. As luck would have it, my hubby had just got me a fabulous 10-inch copper-bottomed anodized skillet that was begging to be put to use. I decided to make a frittata so I could incorporate most of the colourful vegetables I had gotten as well as give my new skillet a chance to make its debut. It went so well that many a frittata have graced our breakfast table since then.

A frittata is an Italian egg-based dish which can be likened to a fancy or decked-up omelet. It is simple, quick, delicious and healthy. This dish is perfect for a weekend brunch or a quick weeknight dinner. Moreover, it serves as the ideal vehicle for whatever left-overs are languishing in the fridge or to use up any vegetables that are about to cross the threshold into the 'questionable' category. 

There is no set-in-stone method to make a frittata although there are some pointers that you can keep in mind so that you don't end up with a dry and/or bland dish. 

• Cook the ingredients that go into the frittata completely and make sure there is no moisture in the mixture
• Season both the vegetable mixture and the egg mixture. You can use salt, pepper, red chili flakes, dried herbs or any seasoning blend of your choice 
• Use full-fat dairy. Whole milk works well but you could also use sour cream, crème fraîche or yoghurt. For 6 eggs, you can aim for at least a quarter of a cup of dairy (I have used half cup in this recipe)
• Add the cooled vegetables to the egg mixture, mix well and then put it back into the skillet 
• Cook frittata in the skillet for 5 min and then transfer to a preheated oven until the frittata is cooked through. Do not overbake a frittata 
• Cool for 5-10 mins before slicing the frittata into wedges

When I feel like putting together a hearty brunch, a frittata along with a simple salad, roasted potatoes, toasted bread and a fruit platter is what I do. When I have avocados that are perfectly ripe, my go-to salad consists of salad leaves tossed with chopped avocados, tomatoes, nuts (walnuts or pistachios), parmesan shavings and a dressing of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, hot sauce, garlic power, salt and maple syrup.

If you have leftover frittata, you can warm them up and use them to make a scrumptious wrap for brunch the next day. Toast some tortillas or pita pockets, spread some mayo mixed with hot sauce and layer chopped up frittata with salad leaves and chunks of avocado and tomatoes. 

This is my rendition of a frittata. These combination of ingredients work well together resulting in a frittata bursting with flavour and texture. I make small variations depending on what vegetables I have (refer notes for ideas). 

What ingredients do you like to toss into your frittata? Leave a comment to let me know.

Recipe of the month: Methi Dosa

From where I come from, we have what we call a 'uppu-huli-khara' dosa which literally translates to salt-sour-spicy dosa that is a breakfast staple. It is made by grinding raw rice along with a range of spices, tamarind, jaggery and grated fresh coconut. It does not require any fermentation so it can be made at reasonably short notice. This ground mixture doubles as the paste used to make patrode (a dish from Mangalore-Udupi in which colocasia leaves smeared with this batter and then steamed or fried) and as the batter used to make a variety of dosas.

I make this dosa all the time because both me and my husband like it very much. What's more is that it doesn't require any side dish. Back home, for a basic uppu-huli-khara dosa, the accompaniments that are served alongside are honey, yoghurt and grated coconut with jaggery but in my household, we relish it just with a knob of butter. Another plus is you don't have to fret about perfecting the clockwise circular motions that are required for dosa-making. You can be as random and imperfect as you please.

Like I said, this is the same batter that I make when I'm preparing patrode. When I'm not going the patrode route, I make a few variations of this dosa. Sometimes I add in chopped fenugreek (methi) leaves, sometimes chopped colocasia (patra) leaves, other times I use thinly sliced roundels of eggplant, ridge gourd or bread fruit dipped in the batter and arranged on a tawa to form a dosa. Even shredded cabbage can be mixed into the batter and spread in the form of dosas but I am not too big on cabbage so I tiptoe around it. On certain occasions I've even used leftover batter to coat an assortment of vegetables like onion, capsicum, potatoes and baby corn to make deep-fried vegetable fritters. Whatever the variation, I can assure you that the outcome is finger-licking good 😊

When I first asked my mum the recipe for this batter about a decade ago, she said she just eyeballs all the ingredients so her way of explaining was telling me to add 'a little bit' of this and 'a little bit' of that. She also told me to keep in mind that the strength of the spices that I get in Singapore may not be comparable to the ones available in India. Of course that isn't much help to a novice cook so it took me a couple of not-so-successful attempts before I figured out the quantities of the ingredients that work best for me. After optimizing the recipe, I realized that even I tend to eyeball the ingredients so the last time I made this dosa, I carefully documented all the quantities and proportions that I used. Good thing I did that.....in the future, my daughters won't complain when they ask for the recipe and I don't give them exact measure of the ingredients. I'll probably just tell them to go  look at my blog (if it still exists then).

Anyway, of all the possibilities with this dosa that I've discussed so far, my favourite by far is Methi Dosa that I prepare by adding chopped fresh methi leaves and chopped onions into the batter. Garlic is something I only started adding recently (I make sure the taste is subtle) and that is only in the case of methi and patra dosas. Adding garlic is optional though so if you don't want it then just skip it. My husband absolutely loves the taste and texture of chopped onions in these dosas so whenever I'm making them, he will be snooping around in the kitchen to check if I'm using enough onions to suit his liking. On the rare occasion that I end up with leftover methi dosa batter, the next day I get out my ebelskiver pan, grease the indentations with a little ghee, spoon dollops of batter into it and cook on both sides until it is cooked through. I had seen my MIL doing this so I've also started doing it. It makes for a different yet tasty variation.

If you master this batter, there are so many things you can do with it that you will be spoilt for choices. Just imagine, a huge batch of this batter and breakfast will be sorted for a few days.

Now that I'm done highlighting the versatility of this dosa, here is the recipe....