ELECTIONS: A COOKING CONTEST ON BRINJAL RECOMMENDED
THE 30-MINUTE GOURMET
News Paper – Bangalore Times, TOI
Published on - September 10, 1999
Author - RAJ MADNANI
Eggplant, glorious brinjal. (And spinach, glorious spinach.) Many get confused about eggplant and brinjal - they are one and the same. Speaking of which, confusion not eggplant, many are also confused about who is a more suitable candidate for Prime Minister. The choice is clear: Ms Sonia Gandhi or Mr A.B. Vajpayee. Newspapers and each leader's opponents are unnecessarily muddying the waters by asking questions on experience and education - they were never important during the last 12 elections, why raise these issues now? How then does one decide, you may ask me.
I did some quick thinking, as we have very little time left before the 14th election next year. I recommend a cooking contest to determine the winner.
The art of cooking is more important than education, experience, political savvy and legislative skills all of which rarely come into play during a politician's career. We cook every day, sometimes three times a day.
Half the population cooks every day. Even men are giving up their remote controls and inching towards the kitchen. I have the right recipes for them to cook, carefully selected so both can show their appreciation of foreign cultures.
Atalji must make an Italian Egg plant Parmigiana and Soniaji must make an Indian Spinach and Corn Pulao. For a cooking contest, the rules must be fair and the result decisive. Gulam Nabi Azad is not allowed to help Sonlaji even if she asks for it, and George Fernandes is not allowed to help Atalji even when asked to keep away. And if Mr Kesri wants to join the competition, he will have to make disco pav bhaji in Amul butter, with help from Sharad Pawar. They'll never get it right.
For the parmigiana, take a ripe egg plant, make thin slices, less than a quarter inch. Shallow fry in olive oil until soft, then cover in a breaded batter, and shallow fry again in olive oil until crispy. If you like it cheesey, sprinkle Amul cheese powder generously in the batter.
Remove when crispy, cover with a zesty Italian tomato sauce which has been described before, top with grated mozzarella cheese, sprinkle dried oregano and basil, and bake in the oven on high for a few minutes. Serve immediately to your party, and to the journalists who have lined up.
For the pulao, for two cups of uncooked rice, make a quarter cup of spinach puree by boiling and blending the spinach leaves. Add salt and ground white pepper, a tablespoon of oil and two table spoons of onion paste. Keep aside about half a cup of pre-boiled fresh corn kernels, or the American canned variety. (As an alternative to corn, deep fry paneer in mini cubic sizes - works well as a garnish on the spinach rice.) Start cooking the rice, stir in the spinach puree. Add a tablespoon of chopped green chillies or chopped red chillies, if you like the hot chilly connection. In the last few minutes, add the corn. Serve immediately to your family, I mean party, and to the journalists if any show up.
Many have offered their services to judge this contest. The choices are most confusing. I have to select from these pairs: George Bush Senior and Bill Clinton people who consider basmati and pizzas American; Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair people who consider Indian food number one in Britain, but go to Italy for vacation; and neighbours Benazir and Imran - unlike Atalji, both have refused to ride the empty bus from Lahore to Delhi.
I would judge on freshness, flavour, texture, presentation - but the rest of the country will demand something more: character and appeal. We don't need confusing elections any more. We need more theme restaurants - Indian and Italian. Both countries have great tomatoes, strong garlic, hot peppers, fiery tempers and great people. Who cares if a pizza was Italian before? It's Indian now! And it tastes better!! Bon Appetit.
