Mangold: German Influence in My Kitchen!

Nowadays I am trying things I never tried in India. Not only I am trying my hand on German recipes but also I am picking up new vegetables at the supermarket and trying to cook them independently without looking into a cookbook.
This week I cooked brussel sprouts and swiss chard. I did not even know about these vegetables as I was in India. Another new entry to my kichen is the button mushroom. Yes, of course I tasted them before, many times actually, but I never cooked them at home. I enjoyed my learning experiences, especially the one with Mangold.

Sunday Dinner with Friends: a Wonderful Evening

Food is an important part of culture of a country. It is not just eating but it reflects a lot of things about the social culture of the socity it belongs to. After coming to Germany I am discovering a very different food culture. This discovery is one of the most pleasurable experiences I am having here, more so, because I am not just a taker enjoying passively whatever coming on my plate but also participating in a food tandem partnership with Germany.
Last Sunday I invited some of my friends for dinner to experience some typical Indian home-cooked food. So, I cooked for my friends:
Alu Paalak --- Spinach and potato (North India)
Dimer jhol --- typical eggcurry we cook at home (Bengali food)
Kashaa Mangsho --- spicy chicken curry (Bengali food)
Aluseddho --- mashed potato, our kind
sada bhat --- steamed rice
Narkol naru (see below!)
Sujir Payesh (see below!)

My friends brought differnt types of chocolates for me, and wine of Wuerttemberg. Yes, I am, at the moment, in the heaven for chocolates and bread and bier! I must learn how to make these chocolates, some of them at least, before I leave this country!
But, icing on the cake was this:


I am really food-happy here because I am open to taste everything. Maultaschen is one of my favourites and so is Gaisburger Marsch, too. They made me fall in love with Swabia during my first few days here at the hotel.
As I browsed through the book, I came across this piece of wisdom I must share with you:
" Bei den Reichen lernt man das Sparen, bei den Armen das Kochen!"
So true!`

I am so glad that I will be able to cook some of the dishes I have enjoyed and appreciated only in restaurants so far.
Thank you so much, people, I love you! You gave me such a wonderful evening as a gift. And you are the motivation for my most serious hobby i.e.cooking!

Potato Pan-Cake with Schmand: My Russian Weekend 2

This was my favourite of all! This was our Friday dinner that gave us enough calories to burn for the whole next day! On Saturday we walked for eight long hours!
I can cook this for my friends!Recipe will follow.

My Russian Weekend!

From India, sitting in a garden house in Bamberg, Germany, having an authentic home-cooked Russian lunch in an unusually warm Spring afternoon!! Doesn't it sound interesting?
This was my first Russian food exprience:

1) Fish


2)The plate contains salad, beans (pickled), carrot (pickled)and yes, Kartoffelbrei (mashed potato), we are in Germany after all.



The ingredients of the salad are crab, hard-boiled egg, sweet corn, rice and Schmand(creme)/mayonese. Now I can make this salad, too, thanks to my host, a beautiful young lady working for an MNC on deputation in Bamberg!
This was just the small beginning of the weekend-long feast.

Eating White Sausage Like a Bavarian!

White sausage with sweet mustard! Out of this world!
I can suck the meat out from inside the skin. And why just before noon, I can eat them round the clock. In fact they made my dinner today!

Building Kebap Connection

---- The Very Popular Döner: One of the Celebrities Among Snacks

Even before I have realised, I became a frequent visitor to Germany's possibly the most popular turkish food chain. One possible reason is that it reminds me of shawarma I used to have from Kerala food joints on Bangalore streets.
Usually I have a small portion like a Döner-viertel (quarter) or a halb (half) there but today I had a dinner.
Just have a look:


This looked like chicken and vegetable stew to me but my companion cried, "Looks exactly like Saambar!" No comments!
And these were complementary with this:



Quite a lot for one tiny stomach like mine! Right?

On Königstraße, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof

I never thought I would find something like this on Königstraße.
This looks so so so spicy.

No I have not yet tasted it. It looks too spicy even for the feast for my eyes.
It is cheese-pepper salat with onion rings. really eye catching with yellow and red peppers.

And look at this.

Doesn't this look like paneer curry. It is sheep milk cheese. Paneer is cottage cheese. Only after tasting it I can tell you, if it is paneer from sheep milk or not. It's a Corsican dish cooked in olive oil, with garlic and some selected herbs. Looks yummy and good for vegetarians!

And this is Peperoni from southern France:


There were innumerable examples like these on Königstraße posing as an unbearable contrast to people begging,though not for mere food, I am sure, and not really comparable to my poor motherland. But still, affluence and wealth at one hand and people asking for money on the other, did create a very disturbing cohabitation for me.
Poverty exists eveywhere, though not always equally acute.



----- A Foodstore on Königstraße