Maggi Noodles. Synonymous with a lot of memories, mostly from times when one was too lazy to cook but too hungry not to eat? Those childhood times when Maggi was the THE snack of all times? How your mother scolds you that you serve Maggi for breakfast? Umm, no? Ok, maybe the last one is just me. Nevertheless, would be hard to find an Indian (or as Wiki tells me, a Singaporean, Malayasian, New Zealander or Aussie) who hasn't had Maggi in their lives. If you're below 60 years of age, that is. Somehow, old people and noodles just don't get along. And that's a brilliant idea for a next blog post. Oh, did I just say that aloud?
Why talk about Maggi now? Because I'm hugely hugely impressed by how innovative the blokes at Nestle are! They've just introduced Maggi Rice noodles!! After the regular noodles, the wheat flour (atta) noodles, now rice! Natural progression, one could say. And something that makes a lot of sense.
I'm a big fan of Maggi noodles. I still remember fighting for one extra strand of noodles with my brother (who, after punching me, would graciously offer me two, thereby making me look like the bad person in front of my mother, not to mention a complete glutton for noodles). How I used to cycle the 400m to the nearby shop to buy noodles and pester mom to make it for me before my brother comes. Ok, my brother is always a part of the noodle story 'coz, seriously, I HAVE fought that many times. Yes, I make a lousy sister. And no, I'm not so now. Happy? Those were times when I had just learnt cycling, so no matter what the distance, it was always my trusted BSA SLR. Even if it was to my friend's who lived, hold your breath, two doors away! I mean, two whole doors! Can you believe that?
Ok, umm, back to noodles. Back then, there was just veggie, chicken and tomato flavors, and we used to be such devoted fans of the veggie flavor. If my mother had the patience and the time, she would make it extra special by adding real veggies and it would look like the picture on top of the cover! Ah, those were good times. Then came a lot of flavors that didnt quite click (Chatpata, if I remember correctly), and I think there was one which was supposed to be like noodles in soup.
The marketing for Maggi has always been very sensible. Their '2 minute' tag line was very appealing for mothers and kids alike - mothers needn't spend precious time in the kitchen again and kids can make an entire project out of it! Let's face it, for a lot of us, the first dish we ever made in the kitchen (and for some, the only dish we can make in the kitchen even now) is Maggi noodles. If you were exceptionally talented, you would've made an omlette already, but hey, for regular people like me, it was noodles. Ok, I'm sorry my mind is so tangential, this post is still about noodles, noodles and just noodles.
The popularity of Maggi stems from the fact that it made noodles easy and non-messy. Though it neither tastes nor looks like the authentic chinese noodles, it is very much an accepted type of 'noodles'. So much so, I've seen restaurants serve 'Maggi noodles' next to the other regular Chinese/Conti dishes.
As to the catalyst of this post, Maggi Rice Noodles - available in 3 flavors: Shahi Pulao, Chilly Chow and Lemon. Take my advice, the last two suck big time - even more than Maggi Dal Atta noodles (which was banned from my kitchen after I couldn't finish even half a plate of it, even when I hadn't eaten all day). Shahi Pulao is just about palatable. Which made me realize that nothing compares to the original no-nonsense, no frills, regular good ol' Maggi Vegetable Noodles.
I'll let you guys in on a small secret - my most profound thoughts come to me when I'm standing in front of my stove, waiting for the oil to heat up before I add the mustard for the sambhar's tadka. Believe it or not, the biggest test for your patience occurs at that time - the oil has to be hot so the mustard pops and gives an aroma, but it shouldn't be too hot that it burns the mustard (then you end up with bitter seeds all over your sambhar). For someone who starts making dinner at 9:00 PM, those 2 odd minutes in front of the stove, waiting for the oil to heat up, feels like an eternity ('coz you're hungry enough to eat wood, but then since you're not a woodpecker, doesn't help at all. BTW, I know a woodpecker doesn't 'eat' wood, it just pecks at it. Jus' go with my flow, will ya, and stop analysing!). And that is when the mind wanders.
The wandering mind shalt return when the mustard is burnt. Yes, that's like a law. Lucky for me, it wasn't all that burnt (and no, you cannot go ask my husband if that is true). I got all the stuff from the fridge that needs to go into the sambhar and kept it all ready. And then...
Now, did you know that I've digressed from my original topic so much that the topic discussed on digression feels like the main topic? Go scroll back, read the first line and come back, I'll wait.
(Took you this long to read one line?) Right, what was that oh-so-profound thought, you ask? In those quiet moments of desperation, I realized that I first need to cook the dal before I make the tadka for the sambhar. **runs to hide before someone comes**
Thursday Tortures, this one. You're most welcome. :-)
Image Source: Yummy sambhar-vada isn't it? Me yet to have lunch ;-)
Alert: Please ignore this entry - this is purely for my 'saving-someplace-handy' purposes. I'm tired of saving notepad files and then forgetting where I saved them. I'm also tired of sending it as email to myself (how pathetic!) and then forgetting to which folder I moved it. I'm even more tired of taking printouts and losing it in the Mt.Everest-y pile of paper (read: crap) that I have on my desk.
This is a recipe that my mom gave me when hubbie had a severe bout of the oh-so-common cold. I'm going to try this out over the weekend, so till then I need the recipe to be available 'somewhere'!
So here goes...
Ingredients: To fry and powder finely Dried chilli - 3 Black pepper - 1 tbsp Urad dal - 1 tsp (Tamil - ulutham paruppu, Telugu - Uddi pappu, Mallu - no idea!)
Curry leaves - a handful (Tamil - karivepilai, Telugu - karivepaaku, Mallu - Karivepila) Salt - to taste Tamarind - a small ball (Tamil - puli, Telugu - chinthapandu, Mallu - puli)
How to? Powder the items-to-be-powdered. To this add the curry leaves, salt, tamarind and a bit of water - grind this to a smooth paste.
Take oil in a kadai, add mustard, turmeric and asafoetida. Add the ground paste to this and cook on low flame till the oil seperates and comes to the top. (Something like your 'pulikaichal' consistency - that paste thing you add for tamarind rice)
Done!
To be had with rice. If you're like me, you can have it with idli, dosa..anything!
I don't know how this will taste (I can guess it will be 'kaaram' looking at the first 2 ingredients). I can try it out and let you all know on Monday. Till then..you can try it at your own risk :-)
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