Recipe: Beets

Beetroots are one of my favourite vegetables to eat and they're so easy to prepare.

I know people like to have them steamed then served cold in salads, but I am not a fan.  I like them warm when eaten.

So, I'm sharing my Mom's quick and tasty beetroot recipe with all of you.

Ingredients:

BEETS  - a bunch of them, peeled, cut into cubes

1 tsp of OIL

1-2 tsp of CUMIN

pinch of SALT & PEPPER

sprinkle of SESAME SEEDS 

OPTIONAL curry leaves

How to cook:

1 tsp of oil in a hot pan, lower the heat, add the cumin, let it brown a little.

Add the beets, add a bit of water, a bit of salt and the optional curry leaves (y'all know how much I love me some curry leaves), cover the pan and let the beets cook through on low heat.

When the beets are cooked through, sprinkle some pepper and some sesame seeds to serve. 

• And alternative way to cook the beets is to toss them into boiling water (unpeeled) and boil them until soft, then dunk them in cold water and the skin will easily peel off (this way you don't get as much beet staining your cutting board).  Then you simply cook in a pan with oil/salt/pepper/cumin and serve with sesame seeds.

 I like to serve beets with indian style masala potatoes, dal (lentil curry) and rice.  

 

TRAVEL: India: Delhi: Haldirams

Location:

somewhere in Delhi

www.haldiram.com

Anyone who has ever visited an Indian family's home or is Indian is familiar with the Haldiram's symbol.  See below (image from Google)


No Indian tea-time is complete  without Haldiram's.

A bag of bhel puri or chiwda will always be kicking around the cupboard of an Indian home.

So think of the impact of going to a Haldiram's RESTAURANT.  I was amazed, astounded, in awe of the industry that is Haldiram's.

Look at the number of servers behind this counter as you walk in:

now that's service !

There were three people asking me what I'd like.

And then there's the sweets.  My God, the sweets!  Imagine the biggest Indian Mithai (sweet) shop you've been to in Toronto, then triple that!  Row after row of delectable goodness...all so fresh, too!

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeets

Then there's the "restaurant" part of it, more like fast food, where you pre-order then wait in line and bring back your goods to round tables that you stand at to eat.  It was lunch time when we went and incredibly packed so at least they've figured out that putting chairs into the equation would be a waste of time.

The chinese food was delish!!!  Made specifically for taste buds that can appreciate spice.  I don't know why fries are a chinese dish in India, but we saw it a lot.  Spicy fries.  Can't complain though, I'd never be able to get spicy fries in the Western world unless I made it myself.

the chinese food (with fries)

The channa batura was....well, see for yourself.

channa batura!

HUGE!

You even have to go through a security check/terminal to enter Haldirams.

Now, that's hard-core!