Love-in-a-Mist. What a romantic name for a flower. The purple on is what is called Love-in-a-Mist. Nigella damascena is the botanical name. The white one is Nigella sativa (sativa, meaning "cultivated"). Nigella sativa is the plant that gives us the delightful little seeds called Kalonji. If you want to be prosaic about it, call them: Nigella Seeds. I have been working with Kalonji this week, because I wanted to discover a bit more about the taste and properties of this seed. I used it in a simple roti, just cooked the kalonji in a bit of oil and added it to a plain wheat roti dough. That simple addition gave a wonderful rich oily taste with a bit of pungency. It also adds a visual dimension to the bread (or whatever you put it in): tiny black spheres dotting the dish like a negative of the night sky. OK, that was a bit weird, but, hey, it's my blog.
We took the kids on an adventure today. We went to "Little India" on Pioneer Avenue and 183rd St in Artesia. We only went to a few shops, but it was like a mini vacation. We will blog more about it in the coming days. We ate at Udupi Palace, a south indian vegetarian restaurant. The atmosphere was casual and the food was, I don't use this word very often, amazing. We had two types of idli, samosas, a huge puri with chickpea curry, and a chili pepper samosa that was so hot I could only take a few bites. Michael managed to eat two pieces. I also bought an idli stand so that I can now try to make my own idli. Now that I know what good idli are like, the bar has been raised quite a bit on our little project. I figure I have another 10 months to try and master idli, paniyaram, roti, and all the other fabulous foods.
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