Indian Travel Food

Indian Vegetarians like us have some challenges while travelling in the remote areas and small towns of United States. Let alone Indian food, just vegetarian food is pretty rare in these remote places. With years of travelling to such places, I have got some good experience on what to carry and how to manage the food.

In preparation for our trip, we went to an Indian grocery store. Some things that can be easily carried are:

1. Quick tea - Comes in flavors like Masala, Cardamom, Ginger. It is instant tea and all you need to add is hot water. It makes the most delicious tea for all tea lovers.

2. Maggie Noodles - They are quick to make and there is some nostalgia with the spicy taste and warmth it provides. 

3. Instant Bhel - Deep brand has come up with this instant bhel. The dry mix includes the puffed rice, sev, dry onion, dried tomato and dried coriander leaves. A separate chutney packet has a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce. A quick mix of the both packets yields a very satisfying and filling snack.

4. Packets of dry snacks - both sweet and spicy are good to stay awake while driving. A variety of biscuit packets are good to carry along while hiking and with tea.

Food items bought from other places

1. Sometime back we had sampled the Madras Lentils from Costco. I usually don't like to buy packaged ready to eat curries as have the smell of preservatives or are just too salty. However, I had liked the taste of the Madras lentils and it did not have any preservative after taste. I decided that it will be a good accompaniment to plain rice or bread.

2. Chocolate Milk - We bought  a case of the Kirkland brand chocolate milk tetra packs. 

We made a lot food made at home to take on the trip. The food was meant to last at least 10 days without refrigeration. 

1. Palak puris - Puri with spices and spinach puree. These last a long time, are very filling because of the whole wheat flour, provide a boost of nutrition from the spinach. These make for a good on the go lunch. 

2. Ghari - These are sweet pumpkin puris. The sweetness in these puris comes from jaggery which is loaded with iron. The pumpkin keeps them soft. They provide a boost of energy are easy to carry and last a long time without refrigeration.

3. Sanja Poli - The sweet poli, stuffed with sheera lasts a long time without refrigeration. They are quick to make and very filling.

4. Instant Upma/Poha - Deep and MTR started selling these products about a year or two ago. The product provides the convenience of a microwavable bowl so that you can cook and eat right out of it. Adopting that idea, we made the instant upma and poha. We were carrying bowls and a kettle with us and would be able to make the poha and upma within minutes.

5. Bhadang - The puffed rice chivda is tasty, filling and a healthy snack. 

6. Idli - We made a few idlies to last us the first day of travel. We could eat them quickly with some chutney pudi.

7. Rice - We carried regular rice and a Rice cooker to cook it.

Palak Puri

Idli and Chutney Pudi

Sanja Poli

Instant Poha and Upma 

Bhadang

In addition, we carried

1. Plastic Plates 

2. Plastic Bowls 

3. Spoons and Forks

4. Knife

5. Electric kettle to boil water

6. Rice cooker to cook rice and Maggie.

7. Dish washing soap and scrubber

Carrying non disposable plates and bowls helped us reduce our luggage and helped the environment too.

We enjoyed local food and flavors wherever possible. We love Taco Bell, Subway and pizzas and was on or food rotation.

Summer 2017

Summer vacation is upon us. School will be out soon. Summer fill us up with anticipation – of all the fun things we will do and the free time we will have to laze around. Being a full time working mom, I usually enroll Aditya for summer camps. However, this year since my mother is with us, he will go only for a few weeks of camps and be at home rest of the time.

We have planned an exciting trip during this vacation. We are doing a cross country road trip right upto the Canadian border. Our 15 days on road will take us through 7 states and 3 national parks. The highlights of the trip will be the Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park.

The parks located in the Rocky Mountain range are only open during summer. These are the most famous national parks in the country and visited by thousands of people every summer. The drive up north leaving the sweltering summer of Houston will be very pleasant. I am looking forward to the long and relaxing time we will have.

A long vacation needs a lot of planning. The route and the hotels were planned well in advance. Since summer is the only time, people visit Yellowstone and the nearby parks, the hotels get booked up very quickly. We did our booking for the national parks in January and were still quite late. In addition, we have also planned our daily itinerary. The parks being so large with lot of things to see and do it is necessary to plan our time efficiently.

The third thing is packing. We will need to plan for freezing temperatures to summer like temperatures because of the altitude differences. 

Being vegetarian we have many limitations eating in small towns where there aren't many options. We usually pack some food with us which makes for quick and easy meals while on vacation.

Soon we will be all set and ready for or longest road trip so far!!

Black Eyed Peas, Barley Soup

A quintessential part of winter is a heartwarming bowl of soup. Soups are nutritious and easy to make. You can add or remove ingredients as per once taste, preferences and availability.
One such soup I made on New Years day was black eyed beans and barley soup with vegetables. Eating black eyed beans on New Years days is a tradition in southern United States. It is considered lucky to eat them and they bring prosperity. There are some traditional ways to make them, but I chose to make soup.
In Maharashtra, India it is called Chavli and is eaten as a 'Usal' with poli or rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup Black eyed beans - Soaked in water overnight and then pressure cooked till soft
1 cup Barley - Soaked for 4 hrs and then pressure cooked till soft
1 sweet potato - peeled and chopped in 1 cm pieces
1/2 yellow onion - chopped fine
2 cloves garlic - chopped fine
3 roma tomatoes - chopped
3 tblsp - tomato paste
1 carrot - chopped
2 celery stalks - chopped
10 green beans - chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 tblsp Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Procedure:

In a pressure cooker or a pot, add the olive oil. Once slightly hot, add the garlic. Let the garlic saute for 20 seconds and then add the onion. Saute the onion till soft - 2-3 mins. Next add in the celery, carrots, beans and sweet potato. Stir around and saute for a couple of minutes. Next add in the tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir. Add the corn, black eyed beans and barley. Add water as required to adjust the consistency. Some of the water will get used in cooking the vegetables. Add salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and bay leaves. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for 1 whistle (approx. 15 mins.). If cooking in a pot, it may take longer to cook the vegetables through (approx. 20-30 min). When the pressure subsides, you will have some hot soupy goodness ready to eat.

I had some water in which I had boiled some four cheese ravioli. The raviolis usually break a little and the cheese gets into the hot water. The water was basically cheese broth and I thought it will be a good addition to a soup. The broth add a rich flavor and a little creaminess to the soup and stepped it up a notch. Grating a little Parmesan cheese will also give this effect.

Enjoy!