If you haven’t tried a rose apple native to Southeast Asia, it is one of the most thirst-quenching fruit you can eat when you’re feeling parched. I had this in Gujarat one day when we were making a trek up a steep hill to visit a temple at the top. The woman selling fruit en route got her customers at the right place and the right time!

A teaspoon of: U2. Listening to: When I Look At The World.

Homemade Masala Bread with turmeric

One of my fondest memories growing up was waking up to the welcomed aromas of homemade baked bread on a long weekend Sunday.

For Mother’s Day this past weekend, I wanted to recreate that exact same bread that my mother used to make for us (Mom deserves some love back!)…but with a masala turmeric twist!

Rummaging through my mother’s old recipe file, I found her homemade baked bread recipe. The reviews were great and everyone said it was just like mom’s.

I realized making fresh baked bread doesn’t take a rocket scientist! No bread machine required.

Here’s the recipe:
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I love having lingering breakfasts on long weekends!

Turmeric Masala Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups soft whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 tbsp. raw cane sugar
2 tsp. dry quick-rise yeast
2 tbsp. Arvinda’s Madras Masala
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fennel seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1 cup warm milk
1 tbsp. olive oil, to garnish
1 tsp. raw sesame seeds, to garnish

Method: In a large measuring cup combine warm water with sugar and dry quick-rise yeast. Mix until frothy.

In a large bowl, combine soft whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. Fold in Arvinda’s Madras Masala, salt, fennel seeds and turmeric powder. Fold in yeast mixture and combine with flours. Add warm milk. Dough should be a sticky consistency. Cover dough completely with another bowl.

Set dough to rise in a warm place in your kitchen or on the counter top. I left it to rise overnight, but 3-4 hours will do.

Line a rectangle loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 425F.

Add dough to loaf pan. Using a knife make a slit down the middle. Pour in olive oil and garnish with sesame seeds.

Bake for 45 minutes. Test bread is done by inserting a knife in the centre of the loaf. If knife comes out clean it is done. Cool for 5-10 minutes and slice using a serrated knife.

Another place to get in your turmeric!

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Wishing you a lovely long weekend (for those who have the day off)!

For now, here’s my “things-to-do” list. I’ll also add having gratitude to the list–for all the good things in my life.

The Girl’s Guide to Loving Life

A teaspoon of: Coldplay. Listening to: The Scientist.

Arvinda’s masala tins make for a unique and memorable wedding favour.

If you’re a lover of Indian food or just love to cook, why not treat your guests to an Arvinda’s masala tin (masala = mixture of spices) along with a hand-selected recipe of your favourite dish.

Food gifts are always well-received! They’re usable, instill inspiration in your guests and create a memorable experience.

The best wedding favors I’ve received at weddings are ones you can eat (or drink!).

And…something that contains turmeric would be a tribute to good health!

To inquire about Arvinda’s masala tins, please send us an email: info@arvindas.com

Choose a colour that suits your theme – visit http://www.arvindas.com to see the full range of Arvinda’s masalas.

To see Arvinda’s full range of masalas (choose a colour to suit a theme) please see here.

In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful day which is something to be very happy about! Wishing you a lovely day.

I’ll leave you with 3 Simple Rules In Life:

These are 3 simple rules in life…

A teaspoon of: Michael Buble. Listening to: It’s A Beautiful Day.

For a beautiful presentation, Indian curries are served in a wok-like, Balti-style dish made from steel. In Toronto, buy these from Kitchen Queen in Toronto’s Little India.

Kitchen Queen is an amazing little store in Toronto’s Little India, jam-packed with Indian artifacts, statues, kitchen utensils…and balti dishes!

Take a look!

We’ve bought so many things from here–ghee containers, stainless steel rice spoons, masala spice boxes, decorative Indian cloths, stainless steel plates (thalis) and more.

If you’re in the area, please give them a visit and you’ll be greeted with some wonderful hospitality from owner Gautam Mashetty and his wife, Kavita.

Owner, Gautam Mashetty in his shop in Toronto’s Little India, Kitchen Queen.

Kitchen Queen is at:1415 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ont. M4L 1Z5, 416-466-4314

Anyone who is interested in exploring Little India join us for a Walking Tour of Toronto’s Little India scheduled on June 23rd, 2013. For more information and registration, click here. It’s a wonderful cultural experience!

A teaspoon of: Bahamas. Listening to: Lost In The Light.

Tandoori Marinated Tofu on skewers on a bed of curried barley.

Do you ever feel like you’re on auto-pilot, and sort of robotic in your actions?

Sometimes the habits and lifestyle we keep is only out of mere habits, habits that we can change by making easy and simple changes. Small changes collectively make a huge impact. This is what the Earth Day movement is all about!

Adopting a plant-based diet is single most effective way to show Mother Earth some compassion. Meat production is extremely intensive on the environment so even cutting back on meat once a week can make a huge impact! Read more about the environmental impact of eating a meat-based diet in the Vegetarian Times here. Hellllo Meatless Mondays!

Serve this tofu on top of a bed of rice or grain of your choice or on top of a salad.

Try Arvinda’s Tandoori Marinated Tofu recipe as a tasty and delicious way to enjoy tofu. I favour Ying Ying Soy’s Tofu because it is organic and genetically modified free. It’s available at Whole Foods Market or you can visit their retail outlet in the bottom level of Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market. Try their Marinated Gourmet Curry Tofu - it’s awesome!

Ying Ying Soy’s Nigari organic tofu

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Tandoori Marinated Tofu

Ingredients:
1 pkg. firm tofu, organic (300g)
1/4 cup yoghurt (optional)
1 tbsp. Arvinda’s Tandoori Masala
2 tbsp. coriander, finely chopped (optional)
salt, to taste
2 tsp. oil

Method: In a bowl, mix yoghurt with Arvinda’s Tandoori Masala and chopped coriander. Add salt to taste. Marinate for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a skillet or on an indoor grill. Fry marinated tofu until yoghurt is absorbed and golden in colour. Serve on top of a salad or on a bed of rice or grain of your choice.

Arvinda’s Tandoori Masala is the perfect blend for marinating tofu.

With Indian spices, it’s a lovely way to enjoy tofu!

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Indian cuisine offers the palate a variety of flavours to enjoy vegetarian foods. Try some of our vegetarian recipes below:
Arvinda’s Saag Paneer
Arvinda’s Quick & Easy Channa Masala
Arvinda’s Aloo Gobi ~ Potato & Cauliflower Curry
Arvinda’s Masoor Dal ~ Red Lentil Soup

To commemorate Earth Day 2013, Arvinda’s is offering an online exclusive special – Arvinda’s Tin Refill Spice Kit: 8 of our signature spice blends sold in pouches for $29 (shipping included)! Offer expires April 25th, 2013 and only applies to Canadian addresses. No substitutions please.

Arvinda’s Earth Day Tin Refill Kit ~ $29 includes shipping!

This is a great way to try Arvinda’s spice blend collection! Purchase online for a limited time.

A teaspoon of: Hannah Georgas. Listening to: Robotic.

Chocolate Shrikhand with Cranberries – a decadent treat!

Can I just say, sheer decadence can be captured in a cup of Shrikhand, a Gujarati dessert of strained yogurt spiced with cardamom and other Chai spices. A spoonful of this heavenly dessert can always put me in a good mood.

Just give me a reason and I will make this dessert in a moment’s notice!

Presentation is pretty in a glass dessert bowl or cup.

I feel I’ve explored every rendition of this amazing dessert…except with chocolate!

These days I seem to have a mild addiction to chocolate so it was just second nature to add some dark cocoa powder to the recipe to hit the spot for a chocolate craving.

These days I feel if a dessert does not have chocolate in it – it’s not dessert!

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Creamy Chocolate Shrikhand with Cranberries
Normally for this recipe we strain full-fat yoghurt through a cheesecloth, sweeten it with sugar and fold in aromatic chai spices like cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg. This recipe is the ‘cheating’ method, using honey flavoured greek yoghurt as a shortcut.

Ingredients:
1 tub honey flavoured greek yoghurt (500g)
2 tsp. Arvinda’s Chai Masala
2 tbsp. dark cocoa powder
pinch turmeric powder
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp. dried coconut, shredded

Method: In a bowl stir greek yoghurt with a spatula. Mix in all ingredients. Spoon into dessert cups and garnish with cranberries and coconut. Serves 4-6.

This dessert is creamy and has a mousse-like texture.

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Rules of Life | Tumblr

A teaspoon of: Pink featuring Nate Ruess. Listening to: Just Give Me A Reason.

Chai Spiced Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Anyone interested in learning more about lucid dreaming can refer to the works of Stephen Laberge, one of the leading researchers on the subject. Tibetan Buddhists were the first to lucid dream through yoga, to awaken the consciousness in a dream state.

Lucid dreaming aside…the odd times I do remember a dream here or there, the feeling seems to be so profound I find myself taking a mental cue to actually act upon what I saw or deeply felt in my dream. I’m no dream expert, but we do know dreams carry some form of meaning in our everyday lives.

So last week there was a pineapple upside down cake in my dream. Not sure what meaning this carries, but I thought about this cake all week that I just had to make it.

The timing is good for this cake for an early April recipe. The sun shines brightly but as you take a step outdoors, the bitter cold wind hits hard making you return back reaching for the winter coat! This is the time of year when we’re getting teased about nicer, warmer weather, but it’s not quite here yet. So the taste of tropical pineapple and exotic warming chai spices remind us of the warmer, beautiful days ahead to come (hopefully sooner than later!).

This cake is eggless but adapt according to your diet.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup jaggery or brown sugar
1 tsp. Arvinda’s Chai Masala
1 tbsp. water
6 pineapple rings (cut 1/2 inch thick)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup jaggery or brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. Arvinda’s Chai Masala
2 cups spelt flour
1 cup milk

Method: In a non-stick skillet, melt butter and blend in sugar and Arvinda’s Chai Masala. Add water and blend. Add pineapple rings and caramelize for 7-10 minutes until pineapples are cooked and softened.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 16×16 inch square baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, blend butter with sugar. Add baking powder, vanilla extract and Arvinda’s Chai Masala. Fold in spelt flour. Add milk and mix well.

Line bottom of baking pan with pineapple rings. Pour in batter. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
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Arvinda’s Chai Masala seems to pair great with apples, pears, pumpkins…and now pineapples! Try it in your fruit desserts for a twist on a classic recipe.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” ~ Walt Disney

A teaspoon of: Jack Johnson. Listening to: Upside Down.

Kale & Broccoli in a Curried Broth – a great way to helping you feel energized, happy and loving!

With the arrival of spring it is time to readjust, wake ourselves out of a slumber and reenergize our spirits and beings.

This is the perfect time to fill our body with all good things, give our butts a bit of a kick before the start of the summer season and give ourselves a mental ‘check in’ if we’re meeting all our life’s undisclosed desires.

Spring is a great time to add some energy-boosting foods to the diet and get the heart-pumping!

When we feel alive and full of energy, then only can we radiate our internal happiness to others, being a good spouse, mother, father, sibling, friend or acquaintance to our loved ones. Some may say putting yourself first is selfish, but indeed it will benefit everyone around you.

We all know happiness is infectious. Think of doing one good deed for a stranger and who knows, that happiness can spread thousands of miles!

Signs of spring!

I was flipping through the latest LCBO’s spring issue of Food & Drink and was inspired by all the fresh and greens included in springtime cooking.

Still being March, I’m very much into soup. With broccoli, kale, green onions and coriander in my fridge, I thought why not toss all of those into a curry broth. To make this a complete meal, I added navy beans and paneer (Indian pressed cheese). Yes, you heard me right…paneer!

It was the first time I added paneer in a soup and I was pleasantly surprised! Normally paneer is enrobed in a delicious curry sauce to give its texture a lot of flavour so I doubted its application in a soup. Surprisingly its texture is interesting enough to add some depth to an otherwise light and simple broth.

And more experiments to come with paneer from my end…

Try this recipe using Brar’s Malai Paneer, which has a lovely soft and creamy texture.

For now here is the recipe:
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Kale & Broccoli in Curried Broth with Paneer

Be good to yourself and enjoy the spring season with energizing good food like this green soup with turmeric!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp. Arvinda’s Curry Masala
1/4 broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup kale, chopped
10 cups vegetable stock OR 10 cups water and 2 vegetable stock cubes
1 cup navy beans, cooked
1/2 cup paneer, cubed
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup coriander, chopped

Method: In a large pot, gently heat oil. Add onion and cook for a couple of minutes. Add Arvinda’s Curry Masala and mix. Add broccoli and kale and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add vegetable stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add turmeric powder, navy beans, paneer, green onions and coriander. Serves 6-8.
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How To Have A Lovely Day (www.justmotivated.com)

It doesn’t take much to have a lovely day, now does it!? Here’s wishing you a lovely day AND spring season.

A teaspoon of: Muse. Listening to: Undisclosed Desires.

We made a flavourful curried Masoor Dal Soup with Seasonal Vegetables for Friday night ‘Out Of The Cold’ program.

We’re not out of the cold yet. And for those who don’t have shelter or food, the winter is bitingly difficult to get through.

For Toronto’s homeless community there exists a wonderful volunteer-based initiative program in partnership with Dixon Hall called Out Of The Cold which provides safe refuge, hospitality and emergency shelter to the homeless on these cold, frigid nights.

On Friday nights the program is run at All Saints Kingsway Church in Etobicoke specifically for men. This location is known to bring in many numbers of men from all over Toronto as it’s considered very safe and welcoming. They provide beds, socks, blankets, fresh clothing, a delicious hot meal and even Friday night entertainment with a movie night.

Selena who is a coordinator of the program here, said that often many of the men who find themselves homeless came out of unforeseen unfortunate circumstances.

In many cases, it’s a divorce that broke up the family where the father ends up paying more spousal support for his children than he can afford, leaving him not enough money for his own shelter and food. Mental illness is another a huge factor. The issue of homelessness is complex. A program like Out Of The Cold is there for those who are somewhere in between, allowing for dialogue and learning more about life on the streets which creates a sense of community and hope.

Susan and Danielle helped me make a delicious curried Masoor Dal Soup for Out Of The Cold.

I had the lovely opportunity to work with Susan and Danielle from the Compost Council of Canada to contribute a delicious, warming and flavourful seasonal soup for Friday night’s dinner, which attracts up to 100 guests sometimes.

For those who read my posts regularly here know I love this Red Lentil Soup with Arvinda’s Curry Masala. I make it all winter for myself so why not share a favourite with everyone else?!

Although I normally don’t use a stock for any of my Indian dishes, we used this flavourful stock as the base for the soup with the many seasonal vegetables we had on hand.

For those of you curious and want to make this, here’s a short video tutorial.

And here’s one of two batches of soup we made. Yummy and warming!

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
- Helen Keller

A teaspoon of: Lifehouse. Listening to: Somewhere In Between.

Tandoori Naan Pizza ~ a perfect March Break treat!

Allowing kids to become familiar with ingredients and getting them to learn about cooking at an early age will be something they will appreciate later in life.

Cooking is a life skill and developing an appreciation for home cooking early on will inspire their creativity and maybe even awaken a passion they never knew they had!

Tandoori Naan Pizzas are easy to make, loaded with flavour and a fun food the kids will love. Here is what you’ll need for an Indian-inspired pizza…

Kids will love eating these and making them too!

Sauce:
1/8 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ red onion, chopped
6-8 Arvinda’s Curry Leaves
1 can (796 ml) diced tomatoes
1 tsp. Arvinda’s Curry Masala (use less if you think the kids will prefer more milder)
1 tsp. sea salt

Marinated Paneer & Vegetable Topping:
1/4 pkg. (100g) Indian cheese, paneer, cubed
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. Arvinda’s Tandoori Masala (add more for bolder flavour)
1 red pepper, cubed
1/4 red onion, cubed (optional)
1/4 zucchini, cubed
6-8 Arvinda’s Curry Leaves

Method:

Sauce: On medium heat, gently heat olive oil. Add garlic and onion and fry until fragrant, for a couple of minutes. Add Arvinda’s Curry Leaves and fry for one minute. Add diced tomatoes (with liquid reserve). Simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in Arvinda’s Curry Masala and sea salt to taste. Set aside.

Topping: In a bowl, mix oil with Arvinda’s Tandoori Masala. Toss in paneer and vegetables. Marinate for an hour in refrigerator. In a skillet on medium heat, gently fry paneer and vegetables for a couple of minutes.

Assemble naan pizzas: Perheat oven to 350F. Arrange naan on a baking tray. Spread with tomato sauce, add paneer and vegetables, add Arvinda’s Curry Leaves and top with cheese. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden. Makes 4 pizzas.
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Yum!

A teaspoon of: Enrique Iglesias. Listening to: Escape.