food is therapy: January 2010

My husband and I just spent 3 weeks in India. We stayed in a small village in Karnataka with an Ayurvedic doctor and his extended family. For 3 weeks we had 3 meals cooked by the doctor's mother. Breakfast was usually plain gruel while lunch and dinner were the same chipati or dosa with a some veggies. The food was simple and clean but by the 3rd week I was dreaming about what I was going to eat as soon as I returned home. Here's what we ate every day!

The chipati was actually called Roti, it was made without wheat flour. It was tasty for the first week but after that each time I sat down to eat I prayed for variety. I realized I'm pretty spoiled with food back home so I'm a bit more appreciative for the abundance that we have here in the states. The Mama of the house made a coconut chutney which I LOVED. It is just blended coconut, fresh cardamon leaves, mustard seeds, and chili flakes. She also taught me how to make Roti's.

The dough is rolled out onto a banana leaf than put onto a flat iron pan for 2 minutes on each side.

This was our house mother for last month.
She didn't speak any English but we were able to communicate our excitement when the coconut chutney and beet root was served.

During the last week in India all I could think of was our friend JB's bacon cheese burgers. I wanted one so badly that we planned our first real meal while we were still in India. I'm not joking when I say that JB's burgers are the best I've ever had. Here are pictures from our first day back. I had to use the camera on my phone so the pictures do not do justice to these scrumptious masterpieces. He used roasted onion, french cheddar cheese and thick-steak-like pieces of bacon to top the juicy meat. YUM!