Saturday, March 17, 2007

Feedback on Saffron Trail

This is the official bouquets and brickbats (and queries) page for the Saffron Trail blog.

What inspired me to start this page were a couple of mails in the last two days from two very happy people. One had found a recipe she was searching for long, something her mom used to make and she wanted to recreate her mom's magic. Sharing my mom's version of that 'something' she was yearning for could take her back to the times she shared with her mom. That was extremely touching for me and she was nice enough to make me feel good about spending hours on writing and sharing my food experiences.

The other mail was from someone in my city, who had liked the simplicity of an everyday subzi and thought of writing to me, making me believe in the fact that simple is indeed beautiful.

The purpose of this page is to have a general interaction with my readers about anything mentioned in the blog. This is especially useful about old posts, because readers tend to think that comments left on old posts may be missed or go unanswered.

This feedback page is not restricted to bouquets and warm hugs alone. If you tried out something I've shared and you didn't think the end result was correct / good enough, please write back and I shall see where I have gone wrong. Blogging for me is a process of continuous learning. Learning to write enchantingly yet from the heart, learning to photograph in such a way that the person seeing it feels like recreating it in his /her kitchen and learning the art of precision. Although most of my recipes use simple ingredients available in most kitchens,for me -any waste of food is a crime, especially being from a country where many people are not lucky enough to have two square meals. So I sincerely wish that anything you've tried from my blog never goes waste. If it is a matter of not sharing my taste of a certain food, then of course it is a different story.

How can you use this page
  • What you've tried and liked from Saffron Trail
  • Any queries about a certain ingredient - nutritionally or otherwise
  • Any queries about what more can be done with a certain ingredient - for eg. If you've bought black chick peas for a certain recipe, you may want to have more uses for it than just one recipe
  • Any recipe where you don't find the instructions simple / clear enough to follow
  • Any traditional Tamil Brahmin recipe you are searching for. I could ask my elders at home and help you with it
Instructions

Leave your feedback in the comments section with a brief, relevant title such as :
Request
Query
Bouquet
Brickbat etc.

I shall reply back to your query as soon as I have the relevant answers.

Thanks again for all the love and encouragement!

30 comments:

Katie said...

I feel like I just had a little visit to yout kitchen!
I've had okra in soups and gumbos but never cooked with it.
I don't know if it's even available here but, now, I'll look.
I can always add a new vegetable to my repetoire!

Sakshi said...

Hey have sent you an email which might be stuck in your spam folder. Pls check and revert back...

Thanks,
Sakshi

http://sakshijuneja.com/blog

Unknown said...

@Katie - Thanks for that sweet comment! You will find okra in the frozen section or in an Indian store.

@Saakshi - Recd your mail and replied :)

Vidwata said...

hi Nandita,

thanks for putting comment in my blog. That did make me sit up and write a new post. However, I am yet to update it...

But I needed to tell you this, I am so inspired by all the food blogs that I have been visiting that I decided to start one!!

You might like to check it out...
http://bhook-lagi.blogspot.com

I will try to tinker around and see how i can make the blog more techno savvy and yes brimming with more recipes too!

Unknown said...

Hi Nandita,
I stumbled into your blog yesterday by accident and I am so happy that I did.It brought a lot of memories from my childhood .I am a tambram and most of the recipes in your blog under that sec.are the ones that I grew up eating.I had a request,if you could post an authentic recipe of Morcoimb on your site it would be great.
Thanks

Unknown said...

Vidwata,
That is excellent! A food blog is just a personal food diary which our progeny may love to check out in the years to come...will surely check out your blog!

Vasudha,
Thanks for the warm comments...Mor kozhambu it is...my mom comes to stay with me for some days from tomorrow and your request has come in at a perfect time, coming up soon girl!

Vidwata said...

Hi Nandita,

I have come up with a request. Actually I bought rye flour mistaking it to be wheat flour (since both come in same white and brown pack and the names are written in French and the packs are stacked together and I sometimes get preoccupied and look at one pack and pick the other :) )

So, I googled and realized there isn't any Hindi term for rye flour. I really am not up to making sour bread out of rye. But have you ever tried something with this flour! If so do let me know..please... lest i end up using the rye flour as 'palethan' (to dust the rotis while making them..

Other intersting thing I would like to share is... I always thought those leaves were methi, but I figured out they were cornsalad, called rampon in French. I use them to make methi paratha.. but I would love to get your view on Cornsalad!!

This time this much... the new cook keeps meddling meanwhile!

Unknown said...

Vidwata,
While rye is used in making bread - you could try out some Indian recipes like Chila by mixing half of rye flour with half of besan, adding onions, tomatoes, chillies etc and spreading into a thick pancake. Some bloggers from European countries have written about baking with this flour. You could do a search on blogger/

Cornsalad- something I haven't heard about- you say it is a leaf?

aruna said...

Hi Nandita,

I come across your blog a while ago.. since then iam a regular visitor and i love it. Especially your tambram recipes. Whenever i read about your recipes my memories with my mums cooking comes back to me. I love the way you giving authentic names to dishes. Ofcourse, that's what we grew up hearing right!!
I have a general qeustion ... i have been hearing about "tagged" in many blogs. what is it? how do you get tagged?
keep up the good work nandita.
Aruna

kpks said...

Hi,
I love your quote from the puranas.
It has inspired me to start nursing a pomegranate tree and mango tree in my balconey - eventually in the small garden area in my apt.
I also have a request. WOuld you participate in a lunch box challenge?
http://kpks.blogspot.com/2007/06/lunch-box-challenge-aka-please-gauthams.html

I am looking for simple recipes for my sons recipe...
Thx
KP

Unknown said...

Aruna,
Thanks for your generous compliments. Getting tagged is nothing but one blogger 'tagging' the other blogger to take on a questionnaire - or taking up a challenge...if i write about my top 5 favourite restaurants and tag you, I expect you to do the same and 'tag' some one else to continue the task! Hope that helped

Unknown said...

KPKS,
I so glad that the line from our Puranas had that effect on you...its a most beautiful feeling to see something grow out of a dry seed and experience one of nature's miracles...a lemon seed that accidentally fell into a flower pot has now started shooting out leaves, one whiff of the leaf and i knew this is lemon indeed...
:)

satya said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Aruna said...

Nandita, Yday while browsing ur site I saw a video of preparing "Rasam", I have been serching since then to view it again, but couldnt find it, can u please help me...???

Unknown said...

Aruna, you should find it here
http://www.nautanki.tv/pplayer2.php?mid=saffrontrail&pid=846&cid=17

Aruna said...

Nanditha, The first time I saw that video I hadnt seen the first part, like the presenters name etc, but I was thinking that seems like u, infact I again wanted to ask u if it was u in the video...I saw the video now, It is UUUU!!! Its soo nice to see & hear u, I beat the rasam also tastes good :)

Thx Nandita...

Unknown said...

Thanks for the sweet words of encouragement Aruna!

Sreenidhi Nayak said...

Hi nandita..

Great blog :)
Could you please tell me what a balanced indian vegetarian diet should consist of...for eg. - i have read that the no. of servings of vegetables should be around 5....what does 5 mean...is it 5 cups or what ?
Thanks a lot.
Sree.

Unknown said...

Sreenidhi -You are right - one needs atleast 5-9 servings of vegetables /day to get all the vitamins and minerals. Different vegetables and fruits have different measures, for eg. 1/2 cup cooked spinach is one serving, 1 cup raw leafy veggies are one serving.
Check this site for more details
http://www.5aday.org/html/consumers/serving.php

Venkat Krishnan said...

Hi Nandita,

I was searching for authentic brahmin recipes (which I grew up with) and accidently landed on your blog. My mother used to make many of these items, but unfortunately I couldn't make it without a proper recipe. I can't even search for the some of the recipes with the name we use at home. You have solved all these problems. I now feel reconnected to my good old days. Nostalgic!

Thanks and keep up your good work.

Venkat

Archana Doshi said...

Dear Nandita, I am a new blogger and came by your site whilevisiting other food blogs. Lovely site and great recipes. I am a south indian myself and love to eat and cook food.

I had a request. Could you add my site as a link to your blog list. I would really appreciate it.
The link is
http://archanaskitchen.wordpress.com
Thanks
Archana

Anonymous said...

HI

Very Nice Site.
Keep up the Good Work.

Please include my Site in Your Blog.
http://www.funfun.googlepages.com

Many Thanks,
SIVAKUMAR.

Unknown said...

Hi Nandita,

Your recipes look great and the pictures make me hungry! I am so glad to see such an authentic South Indian blog on the internet. I am sure to try some of your yummy dishes.
Your blog has become one of my favs and I have added a link to it on my blog so that I can easily find you :)
Feel free to link to my page and drop by or make suggestions at any time: http://food-fanatic.blogspot.com/
It would be great to hear from you coz you seem quite experienced in cooking :)
Priyanka

PKumathe said...

Hi!

Thanks for ridge gourd recipe, was looking for iyengar taste kotu's.I am in Uganda and started missing this food

Vani said...

Hi

ur blog is great. also checked out the baby blog. thats excellent too. can u please post Vathral kuzambu recipe ( tambram style ) when u have time

thnx
Vani

Nimmi said...

Hi Nandita,

I saw the response to Aruna by you posting the link on preparing Rasam. However, I get this error prompt as under:

Error 404. Page Not Found

Can you help? Keep up the good work. I had posted 2 comments on the karela subzi & cauliflower spinach pasta casserole. However, got no response. Take your time & revert.

Cheers,

Nirmala Iyer

Unknown said...

Hi Nanditha,

I stumbled upon your blog in search of gettin in touch with you.

Extremely impressed with your blog and also saw your son's pics .... very happy to see my doc friend following her heart and also interested in cooking like me :)

Seema

Rekha said...

Hi Nandita,
Came across your blog when I was doing a search for quick desserts. A very good job indeed, I should say.. :)
Cooking inspires me too, and like many of your dishes, I too allow a lot of creativity and imagination into my cooking. But unlike you, I am too lazy to blog them, would rather keep in touch with good blogs like this.
Will post requests for new dishes with time, following it in the meanwhile.. :)
Cheers
Rekha

Unknown said...

Hi. I enjoy your blog and am saddened to see that your photobucket account has become inactive and that some images no longer display properly. Can you fix this? Harry

http://saffrontrail.blogspot.com/2006/10/potato-rosemary-focaccia-pugliese.html

kaly said...

Oh ! Nandita how are you? remember me? we met at the cooking thingy! You gave me your blog address !!! Remember??? Well what I can say is you might have forgotten! as you have too many faans!!!!!

great Blog I love It!