1 (29 to go) - Bengal Gram with Coconut

Most of the times I don't know the original name of the dish that I am making, primarily because most of the times I am probably not making an original dish. So, I will try to stick to a generic name for the dish. This is one is Black Gram with shredded coconut. Soak around 150 gms of bengal grams overnight and pressure cook them. Soak 2 pods of tamarind beans in hot water for 20 mins. Then mash the beans to get the pulp out. Keep aside. In a pestle and mortar grind 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1.5 tsp coriander seeds, 1 inch long cinnamon, 5 cardamoms, 5 cloves, 1 inch long ginger and 2 green chillies. In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil and put 1 dry red chilli and a tsp of mustard seeds. Let it sputter. The add the ground spices and roast till you get a nice aroma. Then add the tamarind pulp and let the mixture reduce. Add 50 gms of shredded coconuts to the pan and cook till the mixture dries. Then add the boiled bengal grams and cook. Serve with roti.

Folly - As is with all experiments, they never turn out their best the first time. Therefore, folly. I was using actual tamarind beans from Fiesta Mart rather than using tamarind paste. The real thing is way too sour compared to the paste. Just use one bean.

Now serving dinner...

I have to admit, however lame it might sound, that the inspiration to this new project was in a viewing of Julie and Julia. I am not claiming to be anyone akin to either Julie or Julia, I don't aspire to be one of them, in fact I didn't even like the movie and I hate Meryl Streep (Amy Adams was the only reason I saw the movie). If I have to choose an inspiring enough food themed movie I would probably pick La graine et le mulet or Bella Martha. I have also discovered that I will never make a career in blogging, as is evident from this blog. So, this is not about Julie and Julia or food blogging or any other form of blogging. This project is just to fill time. Time that I suddenly seem to have over the Christmas holidays 2009, doing things that I like - cooking, eating and attempting to write. At the basic idea of the project is to cook up 30 new dishes (drinks, appetizers, main course, anything), things that I have never cooked before, over the holidays, then write about those on this blog. I will try my best and if it does not work out, cool. I fail. In this effort the people I thank and am in awe of are my mom and sisters who have the best recipes, some great food bloggers and some great TV shows (read Bizarre Foods and No Reservations). Bon Appetit.