Lemons & Rinds

The other day at the Farmer's Market, I grabbed some Italian Eggplants. Not much difference from the regular Big Eggplant, these are bit smaller in size. Also, now with the temperatures reaching 90deg, I try to finish up cooking in the mornings in just an hour or so. This idea of grilling the Eggplant is my way of cutting cooking time as per the season. All the more because, our toddler relishes the simple grilled eggplant and for the adults I add it the Bharta Masala. For this one my handy gas grill was used. I sliced 3 medium size Italian Eggplants in roundels, not fine slicing though, otherwise it will fall apart.  Grilled them skin on with olive oil, salt and pepper. Till here, it is for kids to be relished with a sour cream dip. For adults, I chopped 3 bird chillies, 1 medium size onions, some ginger and garlic (thats to taste and yes, I have given up making those ginger-garlic paste and storing in the refrigerator, it dsnt do any good to the dish, waste of time...

 My father always asks me if plums in the US are tangy or sweet? since in India most of the times plums are very sour. So my family back home has stopped buying them altogather. My parents are not one to eat much of sour or tangy food. Every season I say that plums in the US are really PLUM and sweet. Only the skin is tangy sometimes. However, I had to take back my words the other day. I bought some plums from our local Farmer's Market and they were a mix of tangy and sweet. There were no buyers for it in the house. Out little toddler declared "Plums are Sour". So I had to go hunting for a recipe to turn them into something the whole house would smell divine. I could not ball down on one fix recipe, I was missing on ingredients. So finally, I decided to come up with my own version. I do not follow these kind of recipes exact, and modify it according to what is on hand (as is I was trying to use up the sour Plums, why do extra shopping?) Here is how I made this Plum ...