Cooking with Ish

What has food got to do with Robots? Well!  Dinners fund the passion for building Robots. So all our dinners have been fundraisers for our Robotics team – X Team. About 16 of them. Our very first dinner was for the earthquake victims in Nepal and the second one was for a soccer coach’s baby that needed an operation . After that, all our fundraisers have been for X Team Robotics. This Jan 27th,  X Team  dressed as Musketeers,  won the Montana State Championship, at the FTC ( Robotics competition) in Bozeman. Thanks to my world famous designer niece, Karishma @ http://www.KKristina.com, who designed these awesome costumes for our Musketeers. It was really an exciting moment for all of us to win the top award after four years of Robotics.

Our X Team  – Musketeers in action at the state tournament in Bozeman

So our Feb 11th fundraiser will help fund our trip  for Super- regionals Robotics tournament in Tacoma, Washington from March 9th – 12th.

The Feb  Indian dinner will be served by X Team at Creperie as usual

The food is prepared with mostly local & organic – fresh ingredients & homemade spice blends! Almost all the dishes are Gluten free except for Naan & Vegan except for the Chicken dish  & Raita and usually set up like this : – 

The Feb 11th menu is : –

Mulligwatany Soup : Organic Toor daal simmered with assorted veggies in a sauce comprising coconut, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and tamarind

Khus-Khus Chicken Masala: Local chicken cubes simmered in an aromatic sauce comprising roasted shallots, tomatoes, garlic, ginger spiced with (white poppy seeds, Cayenne pepper,cloves, and cardamom and )

Alu :  Local Yukon potatoes seasoned  with a blend of Spices( Tumeric, Coriander, Cumin, Garam Masala )

Cholle-Palak:  Organic garbanzo beans cooked with Spinach and flavored with a sauce comprising, garlic, ginger, tomato and other spices

 Pulao : Basmati Rice with peas, almonds and fresh pomegranate seasoned with garam masala

 Naan : Local white flour bread (is used to scoop up the meat/veggies)

 Raita : Homemade Yoghurt blended with grated Cucumber and Garam masala ( can be added to meat/veggie dish to make it milder)

 Spicy Black Chutney: A spicy blend of  Hot peppers, ginger, garlic and goda masala and salt (to be added to the meat/veggie dish to make it more spicy)

 Drink – Chai Tea: Freshly made hot, creamy, fragrant with black tea, fresh cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and sugar

Dessert: Gulab Jamun ~ doughnut like balls soaked in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom and rose water…..

To make a Reservation contact Ish at Cookingwithish@gmail.com Dinner seating at 5:30 PM ,  cost $ 33

Now Kichdi is also also known as a mish-mash; an assortment of different ingredients thrown together!!! And this blog post seems like a mish-mash of robotics, Feb 11th dinner menu and now a recipe.. mmm! A kichdi recipe fits in perfectly with the scheme of things… Also it  is a fast and a quick dish to prepare.

Ingredients

1 Cup rice
1/2 Cup daal (Red lentils or yellow Mung daal)
3 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of frozen peas and assort veggies

Seasoning

2-3T Avocado Oil/Ghee

1 Bay leaf
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced ginger
1 Cup Sliced onions
1 Cups chopped Roma Tomatoes

Spices

1/2t Tumeric
1/2t Cayenne pepper
1/2t salt
1-2 T Garam Masala
Salt to taste

Method for making Kichdi

Wash rice and daal in cold running water about 4 -5 times till water runs clean and soak for 15 – 20 mins

Seasoning

1. Heat Oil/ghee in a  5 qt pan
2. Add Bay leaf, garlic, ginger and saute for 2-3 mins
3. Add onions and saute for 3  mins more
4. Add peas and other veggies and Saute for 2 mins
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute for 2 mins
6. Cover and cook for 3-5 mins, till all the tomato is softened and blended well with the onion mixture
7. Put washed  rice and ground daal  along with hot water in a pan
8. Add Tumeric, Cayenne pepper and salt
9. Let it come to a nice boil
10. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes, until all water evaporates
11. Let sit for 5 more minutes.
12. Add Garam Masala

Enjoy with a dollop of ghee…