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India – Photos

Sunday, March 19th, 2006

All my photos are now online at my flickr site:

I think this is my favourite one of the lot so far, taken at dinner at sunset at the Jagat Niwas Hotel, Udaipur.

Left - right: Michelle, me, Gary, Brad

Left – right: Michelle, me, Gary, Brad.  Happy days.

Posted in India, Travel | 5 Comments »

Udaipur – recipes

Sunday, March 19th, 2006

Chai

Per person:

1 glass milk

Half a cup of water

Two teaspoons sugar

Half a spoon of black tea leaves

1 cardamom pod

2-3 black peppercorns

Half an inch of root ginger (whole)

Combine the liquid in a pan.  Crush the ginger and cardamom, add them to the pan along with the sugar.  Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.  Strain into a glass, and voila – the drink of the masses here in India.

Channa Masala

Soak a few handfuls of chickpeas according to the instructions on the packet, then boil them until they’re soft.  Use more or less depending on the numbers you’re feeding.  For the masala sauce (this does 1 or 2 people – multiply it up if you’re feeding a crowd):

5 cloves of garlic

2 small red onions

1 inch piece root ginger

Another red onion, chopped

Small pinch of garam masala

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

2.5 teaspons ground coriander

0.5 teaspoon chilli powder

Small pinch tumeric powder

0.5 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon soya oil.

In a pestle and mortar or fod processor, blitz the first three ingredients.  Put the oil in a pan, add a pinch of cumin, add the third red onion, and fry until browned.  Add the blitxed garlic, onion and ginger.  Add half a glass of water, and spices.  Boil until the water evaporates.  Add the tomatoes (if you wanted to do a different veg masala, eg potatoes and spinach, add them at this point with some water, and cover until they’re cooked).  Slightly crush some of the chickpeas with a spoon, add to the masala sauce.

Vegetable Pilau rice

You can use any vegetables for this – we used cauliflower, cabbage, peas, spring onions – absolutely anything would be good.

Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, get it hot, then add a pinch of aniseed seeds.  They should pop a bit.  Put the vegetables and fry them until they’re soft.  Then add a pinch each of chilli, turmeric, and ground coriander.  Tomatoes should go in last.  Add a bit of water, and simmer.  When the vegetables are done, stir through enough rice to feed you all.

Chapatti

1 cup of wheat flour

Pinch of salt

Enough water to bind.

Mix the ingredients to make a dough, take a ball and roll it out, then fry it in a hot, dry pan.  Turn it over when bubbles appear on the surface, and spin it round in the pan to ensure even cooking – hot air gets trapped during cooking, so be careful.

Naan

Basic recipe:-

1 cup white flour (I think in the uk you’d probably use plain, maybe someone can experiement with plain/self-raising flour and let me know?!)

2/3 spoons yoghurt (plain, not strawberry)

0.5 teaspoon sugar

Mix into a dough, and cook as the chapatti above – in a hot dry pan, turn when you see bubbles, and spin it carefully to cook evenly.

For scrumptious spicy tomato and garlic naan, set 2/3 tablespoons of plain yogurt to drain in a small sieve (like a tea strainer).  Throw away the water in the bottom, and to the rest (I think it’s the curds), add 2/3 cloves of crushed garlic, crushed back pepper, and salt.  Put this on top of your cooked naan.

Chop 3 or 4 good, sweet tomatoes.  In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil with a pinch of aniseed – again, this should pop.  Add a chopped small red onion, and stir.  Add a pinch of chilli and turmeric, and stir through with the tomatoes.  Add salt and a little sugar.

Put this mixture on one half of the garlic-topped naan, and fold over like a sandwich.  Eat, pausing every so often to exclaim “mmmmmmm” and “wow”.

Enjoy, people!

Posted in India, Recipes, Travel | 1 Comment »

Udaipur – Lovely, Miss Moneypenny

Saturday, March 18th, 2006

An early morning start from Pushkar to Udaipur saw us all bleary eyed, not least Gary who was feeling decidedly iffy this morning.  Unfortunately his condition got worse throughout the long, hot, journey over bumpy and winding roads (not surprising, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 1 Comment »

Pushkar – Holi Cow

Friday, March 17th, 2006

From Jaipur, the others had discussed hiring a car and driver to tour round Rajasthan, and they asked me if I wanted to share it with them, as the first couple of stops (Pushkar and Udaipur) were on my itinerary.  ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 3 Comments »

Jaipur – Celebrity status

Thursday, March 16th, 2006

Our first full day in Jaipur, the dusky pink capital of Rajasthan, consisted mainly of shopping and sight-seeing. Well, for me it did, for the guys it consisted of sitting around patiently in shops whilst I haggled. Anyway, I got ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 7 Comments »

Agra/Jaipur – A surprisingly good day

Monday, March 13th, 2006
We were only staying in Agra one day, which is pretty much par for the course - once you've seen the Taj Mahal, it just makes you pity any other monuments. As Gary, Michelle and Brad were all heading to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 7 Comments »

Delhi/Agra – A teardrop on the face of eternity

Sunday, March 12th, 2006
No, I'm not getting all poetic, that's how a writer once described the Taj Mahal.  More of which later... (just to make sure you keep reading!) My last day in Delhi, although somewhat of a non-event in that I just wandered ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 12 Comments »

Delhi – Water, water, everywhere

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Yesterday (9th March), I slept late again, so unlike me - either this is me in total chill-out mode, or I'm still getting used to Delhi time. A bit of both, maybe?

I'd decided to go and see ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 9 Comments »

Delhi – And so it begins

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Before I tell all about Delhi, I need to go back to yesterday when I took my flight out. In classic Suze style, I'd left so much stuff until the last minute. I was packing up my house ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in India, Travel | 14 Comments »

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