Sibling Rivalry?

Paul and I were watching Sophie part of this week. Normally, Sophie and Lily are the best sort of friends--always playing and napping together. However, this morning Lily decided to tell Sophie to "take a hike." I am still not sure if she was playing or seriously throwing a temper tantrum.

As usual, Lily was definitely hamming it up for the camera. She loves to have her photo taken.

Cooking with Pushpa: Lesson 4

Today's lesson . . . Chicken and Vegetable Biryani. To be honest, I really do not enjoy biryani. It is typically rice with a lot of oil and a few peas, and I find it a very boring food experience. However, Ann-Sofie who also employs Pushpa says her biryani is wonderful, so Paul and I decided to try the dish. I have encouraged Pushpa to also add more vegetables which allows this meal to be well-balanced, tasty, health, and easy to prepare.

Chicken and Vegetable Biryani (To serve 10-12 people)

Ingredients:

• 3 potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 small head cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 100 g. green beans, chopped
• 12 oz. white mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1 kg. (2.2 lbs.) chicken breast, cleaned and cubed
• 1/3 cup garlic and ginger paste
• 2 400-500 g. containers of plain yogurt
• 2 packets of biryani masala
• 1 tbsp. turmeric
• 1/4 c. coriander powder
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 bunch of fresh mint and coriander leaves, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• Rice (We like to use Basmati.)
• Oil

Directions:

1. Add a few tablespoons of oil to a heated medium sized pan and saute all vegetables, except for the mushrooms and broccoli, for about 5 minutes.
2. Place chicken in a large mixing bowl, add mushrooms and zucchini, and then add the cooked vegetables.
3. Next, add the yogurt to the bowl and mix everything together.
4. To the yogurt mixture, add the garlic and ginger paste, biryani masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder and 3/4 of the freshly chopped mint and coriander leaves. Mix the spices into the yogurt mixture and let marinade for 5-10 minutes.
5. Add 4 cups of rice to a pot and cook following the recipe for the rice you have selected to prepare.
6. Bring the saute pan with oil, back up to high heat and saute the sliced onions until crispy. These onions will be used to garnish the top of the biryani.
7. Add the two chopped tomatoes to the yogurt mixture.
8. In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and the chopped onions and saute for 10 minutes.
9. Add the yogurt, chicken, and spice mixture to the sauteed onions and gently saute for 30 minutes.
10. After 30 minutes, get out a large serving bowl. In the bowl, first layer the rice, then the chicken, and finally the vegetables and sauce. Garnish with the remaining fried sliced onions and chopped cilantro and mint leaves.
11. Serve and enjoy

Later that evening, after our bellies were full, Paul found someone napping from her exciting day of hunting for stray cats in the alley . . .

A Saturday Stroll to Koreagaon Park

Paul and I enjoy waking up Saturday morning and taking a walk from Kalyani Nagar to Koreagaon Park. Though, this is not a long, leisurely stroll like the old days when we would walk to Sweetwater Cafe for a coffee in the morning, it does somewhat replicate what we used to do at home.

We cannot take all the credit for this idea as it was not our original brainchild. To be completely honest and candid, we were a bit apprehensive to the idea of walking as a form of relaxing entertainment in Pune. Motorbikes, lack of sidewalks, the dog patrol, and autorickshaws can oftentimes make walking more of an obstacle course and a less enjoyable experience. However, our friends J and Cindy convinced us to go with them to German Bakery many moons ago, and since that day Paul and I really enjoy our little Saturday morning people watching excursion. We do not leave the house as early as we used to with them--they were really good at making us wake up early--but now we leave around 9 am for our little stroll to see all the morning business happening in our neighborhood.

We left the society and saw this woman and child outside the building, upon first glance you cannot easily tell what they are doing.

Then, we realize it's a newborn litter of pups playing in the grass . . .

We cross the bridge from Kalyani Nagar into Koreagaon Park and make our way down Lane 7 to see these cows meandering about . . .

We make our way up and down the lush, green canopied Lanes and encounter this interesting home delivery truck opposite the new Poonawalla "Mansion, Plantation, Estate, Whatever-You-Wish-To-Call-Their-Gigantic-Home" . . . Hmmm, Burger Mail? Sounds like something Paul would be interested in trying!

We continue on our stroll and finally arrive at the German Bakery for brunch. It really is not German at all, but we enjoy it for their terrible coffee, fresh fruit salads, strawberry and pineapple juices, eggs, and good hearty, dense bread. It's also a great place to go people watching and try to discern everyone's "story."

We leave German Bakery and make our way back to Kalyani Nagar with a quick stop at ABC Farms to purchase some lemongrass and tour, by happenstance, the new ayuvedic center. The lemongrass makes some excellent tea that our friend Adriana showed us how to prepare. Most importantly, it is quite refreshing in the Indian heat. Just boil a full kettle of water and pour over a handful of the lemongrass. Allow the tea to steep at least 5 minutes, and serve hot or cold. Now, the ABC Farms Ayuvedic Center was interesting, but probably not anything Paul and I will try soon.

We returned back home to greet a happy Lily at the door, who quickly became unhappy when she realized her fate was a bath that afternoon. Here she is all squeaky clean with her homemade haircut that is growing out badly . . .

Later that afternoon, Paul and I decided to go out for some grooming as well at the O Hotel. I was actually pretty impressed with the results. It was entertaining for Paul to watch me get my haircut when at the end 3 men were actually blow drying and straightening my hair. We went home, and then later that night back to the O Hotel for a yummy sushi dinner. Not a bad end to a lovely, relaxing day in Pune.