Devi's Kitchen

Indian style Hot and Sour Chicken Soup

2008-07-02T20:36:00.004+01:00

It has been a while since my last post. This blog is my me-me time, something I enjoy doing. Like always my me-me time is a last priority and sometimes it never features in that list. But today is a unique day, a combination of sick children, rain and a desire to cook something as cure to all - a comfort food basically, landing on Sig’s wonderful blog and her JFI Tamarind event. I decided to try something different with my comfort food – Chicken soup. When someone has a cold at home, my first recourse is to make crab curry and after that chicken soup. We had crab curry last Sunday, but the coughs and colds are still around. For the JFI-tamarind event, I decided to make a spicy hot and sour chicken soup and yes the sourness in the soup comes from tamarind.

Tamarind is one of the key ingredients in Tamil cuisine. Coming to think of it all vegetable gravies (kuzhambu) have tamarind as their main ingredient. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that tamarind has influenced the way the Tamil cuisine has evolved. The thought of experimenting with tamarind has not occurred to me before and thanks to the JFI event started by the amazing Indira of Mahanandi and hosted this time by the lovely Sig of Live to Eat for giving me a chance to try and share this. The results were very good and the soup was what I needed on a rainy summer’s day. Now many can dispute with me, if it really is summer in this part of the world. But that is a different story.

Chicken stock:

For making chicken soups, I believe in making my own stock. I save up all the bones in the freezer for making stock. When I don’t have enough bone, I use some chicken thighs or small whole chickens to make the stock. Place the chicken bones/thighs, 3 big onions quartered, a bulb of garlic, 2 carrots cut into chunks, a bay leaf, few pepper corn, a sprig of coriander leaves, some spring onions in a stock pot and cover it with water. Bring the stock to a boil and skim away the bits you get on the top. Then reduce the fire and let the stock simmer for a couple of hours. Drain the stock using a sieve. The stock lasts for 3 days in the fridge or you can freeze the stock for later use.

For the soup:

Onion chopped – 1
Tomatoes – 1.
Ginger – 1 inch
Garlic – 4 pods
Peppercorn – 1 Tbsp
Cumin – 1 Tbsp
Fennel – 1 Tbsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Tamarind – size of a small lime.
Chicken – 100 gms.
Oil – 1 sp
salt

Soak the tamarind and extract the liquid. To speed up the process, microwave the tamarind on high with some water for a minute. Then mix some cold water to this and extract the liquid.

Grind the peppercorn, cumin and fennel in a blender. Chop the onions finely, and cut the tomatoes so that you get eight pieces out of it. Finely chop the ginger and garlic.

Heat oil in a pan and add the ginger garlic and sauté for a minute. To this add onions, curry leaves and tomatoes and sauté till the onions are soft. If you like your soup hot, increase the amount of peppercorns. Add the chicken and sauté until the chicken is sealed. Add some water to this mixture and then add the powdered spices. To this add the tamarind extract. Let it come to a bubble. To this add a liter of chicken stock and season with salt. Let it come to a boil and cook until the chicken is cooked. You can garnish with coriander leaves if desired.

Serve with some bread. It will warm your heart as one of my little solider says.

Markets

2008-02-19T23:08:00.021Z

The word market brings back some of my sweetest childhood memories. My dad was (and still is) the grocery shopper and sometimes he would insists that I tag along. I must admit that I didn't enjoy the trips to Coimbatore markets much. How can I, when I have been to much better markets in Madurai with my grandmother. We always looked forward for the trips to Madurai during our school holidays. If one were to put all my paternal cousins in a room, we could easily make 2 cricket teams including substitutes and umpires and still would have few left for audience. My grandmother took us all (well most of us younger ones, the older ones had far more important things to do) with her to the markets. I simply loved it. She would get us steamed or grilled corn on the cob and lots of raw mango seasoned with chilli powder and salt. My granny had a unique bargaining style, which always swinged her way. She could have taught Hillary a helpful trick or two, if she were alive now. And of course she knew all the vendors by name and found time for family/market gossip with them. I think my love for markets started there.

Then there were the trips to maternal grandmother's village. A small tiny village that wouldn't show up on any map, however much one zooms in. In contrast, I was the oldest grandchild to my maternal grandmother and enjoyed a special privilege (still do) in the family. There were no markets in the village, so the fruits and vegetables came from the fields, milk from the herd, the chicken from the pen and mutton only on very special occasions (like when the son-in-laws came for a visit). Back then there was a concept called santhai (sort of farmer's market), where one came to buy and sell their produce. It was generally held in the nearest town. The connection to the town was by a bus which made 3 trips daily. My granny took us to the town in the morning on the day of the santhai, the long narrow road winding its way through many more tiny villages. The bus was filled with people who somehow were related to one other and would in turn fill the bus with baskets and fellow passengers with happenings in their village.
The mornings were spent in the markets and my granny would treat us to lunch in one of the eateries and then there would be a movie in the afternoon. After which we went back home in the evening bus. What I loved about the trips were the santhai and seerani (a sweet that is very special to the town, I have never seen it anywhere else). The smell of the market and noise with all that battering was such a glorious experience. As a child I would stare wide eyed at the wares on display and enjoy the snacks that my granny brought me. She would meet a whole load of her relatives and friends (she was a teacher and it seemed to me that she knew everyone). One of those relative-meeting gave me a fascinating insight to my grandmother's life, the one I didn't know about. She is one of those million unsung feminist in the world, without whom the things we take for granted (like education for girls) wouldn't have happened. She was a truly remarkable person and I attribute my fiery feminism to her influence.
Last week my mother described about this new supermarket near our home in Madurai during our weekly telephonic conversations. My heart skipped a beat when she explained about the rows of vegetables and fruits and the cool air conditioned room they were stacked in. Wal mart I hear is steering to swipe the small markets off in the premise of 'more choice for customers'.
Luckily there are 4 farmer's markets around the area I live. I cannot visit the Solihull market as it is on a Friday. But the others which are on Saturdays, I make a point to visit with the troops on toe. Below is a picture of some produce from the Kings Norton Farmer's market.

No more corn on cob for the kiddes, it is hot dogs now. But at least I know the sausages are devoid of the dreaded 'Es' and the bread is whole meal, organic. Another picture of Moseley Farmer's market where one can buy Ostrich burgers.
I somehow think shopping in the farmer's markets would cultivate a sense of respect for the food we eat in the children and hopefully they will follow the tradition as adults.
I had a write up of markets lying in the Draft for quite some time. When Gay of Scientist in the Kitchen announced the 'To market, to market' event, the post has been dusted and is now ready to enter the event. I am looking forward for the round up and reading about markets all around the world.

Batata Nu Shaak (Pan fried potatoes)

2008-02-18T20:35:00.011Z

RCI is a wonderful food event started by Lakshmi of Veggie cusine and the current month's event is hosted by Mythili of Vindu. Her choice is Gujarati cuisine. My exposure to authentic Guajarti food was pretty late in life. Better late than never yeah. I have two good friends who happen to be Guajarati and fantastic cooks. Through them I was introduced to goodies like Dhokla, pakoda kadi and Undhiyo, things I didn't know existed before. It will be a sin not to mention the soft rotlis they make. They turn out the same size everytime, soft and almost melting in the mouth. What I like best is that the rotlis stay soft even after hours. It is simply amazing the way Guajaratis create varieties of snacks with chick-pea flour (gram flour).
My entry for the RCI - Gujarat event is Batata Nu Shaak a simple potato fry, that can whipped up in less than 20 minutes. The recipe is from Madhu Jaffery's 'A Taste of India'. Here is how it can be made
Ingredients
Potato - 5 small potatoes (cleaned and diced)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Asafetida - a pinch
Cumin powder -1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add the asafetida, turmeric powder and then the potatoes. Stir the potatoes to ensure even cooking. When the potatoes are cooked add the cumin, corriander and chilli powder. Mix well with the potatoes and continue frying for 2 more minutes. Remove from fire and serve as a side dish. It went very well with parupu sadam (lentils and rice). Madhu suggests that the dish can also be served with roast and grilled meat.

Cookies for my lover...

2008-02-13T21:51:00.006Z

and the children. Love is in the air and so are the hearts searching for that elusive perfect gift. I have never been a good gift giver. I spend ages thinking, planning, shopping and end up with something that is never appropriate. S is quite used to all this and it is our 8th Valentine Day's together. This year, I thought would be no exception until I chanced upon Zorra's event. What a wonderful idea, an edible heart. My first instincts were to make a lamb briyani and shape into hearts. Now that should give an insight into my gifting abilities. And then as luck would have it, I chanced upon Sunita's cookies. It had to be cookies then for the lover and the children (they are in the middle of a mid term holiday). I had never made cookies at home and so they are a real treat. Thanks Sunita for the recipe and thanks Zorra for hosting the event.
The recipe is essentially the same as Sunita's. The only change I made to the recipe is to substitute the porridge with powdered cashew nuts.
The batter was less watery and the cookies didn't spread that much. The cookies were well received even though S is on diet.

Ah the joys of food blogging, a decent gift at last.

Stir Fried Chinese Noodles

2008-02-07T21:18:00.001Z

Year of the Rat starts today. As a toast for the Chinese New Year I made this easy stir fry noodles. My older son was so excited with his present of a red envelope with a coin inside by one of his Chinese classmate. He was so excited that he showed the envelope to everybody and talked about it. The little thing also learnt to say thank you in Chinese.

A New year every month, how nice. There will be a break in March and then with April a New year starts in the Tamil and Telugu (?) Calendar. Some helpful soul has found out that the Cambodians also celebrate their New Year in April. If the wise chief minister of TamilNadu could move the Tamil New Year from April to March instead of January, we can have a hatrick of New Years. Now wouldn't that be nice? What would definitely be nice is this noodles and read on to find out how to make it.

Ingredients

Noodles - 250 gms (cooked according to the packet instructions)
Carrot - 1 cut into thin strips
Green chillies - 5 cut into thin slices
Mushroom - 100 gms (sliced thinly)
Onion - 1 sliced
Garlic - 1 (cut into thin strips)
Chicken - 100 gms (cut into bite strips)
Prawns - 6 big ones (cut into bite sized pieces) or 12 small ones

Soy Sauce - 7 Tbsp
Oyster Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Rice Vinegar - 2 Tbsp
Fish sauce - 2 Tbsp

Peanuts - 4 Tbsp (roasted and crushed)

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain the noodles and rinse under running water and dribble some oil(sesame oil gives it a special flavour) in the noodles and mix it. This prevents the noodle from sticking.

Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a very hot wok. Having a hot wok is important for any sir fry. When the oil is hot, put the onions, carrots, garlic and green chillies. Fry until the onions turn brown and then add the chicken. When the chicken is sealed, it is the turn of the mushrooms. The prawn goes in next. Fry for a minute and then add the soy, fish and oyster sauce. Since the ingredients are not seasoned, be liberal with the soy sauce. Lastly add the noodles and give ir a good stir. Garnish with coriander leaves and the peanuts. The peanuts add a lovely crunch to this yummy noodle. This noodle is the perfect dish to curl up on the sofa with and watch Master Chef.

Cooking from blogs - Aappam and Stew

2008-02-06T19:57:00.000Z

Hooray !!! I found an aappam recipe that does not require coconut in any form.
If you are looking for a working combination of aappam and stew, then look no further, for you are in the right place. If you are looking for an authentic Keralan recipe, then this is not it. I’ve been looking around for a non-coconut recipe and finally spotted it here. It is a down to earth no-nonsense food blog and is to-the-point. There is an elaborate catalogue of South Indian veggie recipes. I am raring to try the snack recipes.
The stew is derived from 3 different recipes. The basic is from Mandhu Jaffery's Flavour's Of India. The second source of inspiration is from this lovely blog. Finally the idea to pressure cook the stew is from here.
Oh yes, the original recipe for aappam had coconut, but I cut it off and it still tasted great.

Aappam
Par boiled rice - 1.5 cups
Raw rice - 1.5 cups
Urad dal - 1/4th cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Cooking soda - 1tsp
salt as required.

Wash and soak the rice, lentils and fenugreek seeds for at least 8 hours. Grind them to smooth batter. It takes quite a while even in the grinder. Add salt to the batter and ferment it overnight. If living in cold countries shove the batter container in an oven and turn on the light. Or better still sit the container in the boiler room overnight (this never fails, if you have the boiler on for a reasonable period of time in the night). When it’s cooking time, add the cooking soda to the batter and thin it with water or coconut milk to a consistency that is between double and single cream. The batter should flow freely. Take a big ladle of the batter and pour it on the aappam chatti (wok) and rotate it to spread the batter in the wok. You will end up with thin batter on the sides and the rest settling in the middle. Cover it with a lid and cook until done. If you don't own an aappam chatti, you can use small size frying pan (which is what I did before I owned an aappam chatti).

The resultant aappam was light with the crispy sides and fluffy centre – in one word perfect.

Chicken Stew
For the chicken stew you will need

Cardamom -5
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
Cloves - 6
Peppercorns - 1Tbsp

Onions - 2 medium size sliced thinly
Ginger - 2 inch sliced into strips thinly
Green chillies - 6 (4 whole and 2 slit)
Flour - 1 Tbsp

Potatoes - 2 medium sized (cut into chunks)
Chicken - 700gms (cut into medium size - for best flavour use thighs)

Coconut - 1/2 ground into a smooth paste
1Tbsps fennel seeds and 1 Tbsp poppy seeds (ground together into fine powder)

Small onions or shallots - 4 finely sliced.
Curry leaves - 1 twig
salt as required

Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp.

Heat oil in a pan and add in the whole spices. Saute for a few seconds and then add the onions, ginger and chillies and fry till the onions are transparent. Add the flour and saute for a minute. To this add the chicken and potatoes and give it a stir. Season with salt and then add the coconut paste, poppy-fennel powder and some water (if your stew is very thick). Close the cooker and pressure cook to 2 whistles. When the steam is settled, open the cooker and adjust the water level (if too thin boil off the excess liquid in a high flame, if too thick dilute it with some water). Heat a small pan and add some oil. When the oil is hot add the sliced shallots and fry it until golden. To this add the curry leaves. Pour the onion-curry leaves seasoning into the stew and remove from fire. Finally add the lemon juice and mix well.
The troops loved it. To be honest, I was surprised by the wonderful flavour of the stew. This is one lipsmaking recipe and will find a place of pride in my everyday menu.

Pancake

2008-02-05T21:03:00.000Z

Two revelations on pancake day. One, I don't own a whisk. I really don't. Everytime my hand holds a fork, my brain makes a mental note to pick up a whisk the next time I go shopping (it has become an auto reflex of sorts) to be duly forgotten. Two, my photographic skills sucks, sucks big time. I belonged to the majority which did not know about PD until I read about it in the newspapers. The younger troops consider pancakes as special treats. The truth is I make pancakes when I run out of idli and dosai batter or to inject some fruit into the troop's systems. Today happened to be one such day and I can't let Pancake Day pass without savoring it. So here goes the recipe which is incredibly simple.

Self raising flour - 5 Tbsp
Egg - 1
Milk - 1 cup
butter/oil as required

Beat the egg in a bowl and add the milk to it and mix it. Sift the flour into the egg-milk mixture. Whisk it up with the butter or oil (I prefer olive oil to butter), till the flour is well combined and forms a batter of single cream consistency. Add more milk if necessary. I prefer to add flour to the liquid as the batter ends up smooth without lumps. Take one ladle of batter (apprx about 3 Tbsps) and pour on a greased pan. Rotate the pan in a circular fashion to spread the batter evenly. It takes about a minute to brown on one side. With a flat spoon flip the pancake over. If you want some fun try flipping it the Chefy way. I have never been one for any kind of physical action. I put it down to a lack of hand-eye coordination. S had tried to get me into badminton and table tennis and now knows better. I use a flat spoon to flip my pancakes. The other side requires less than a minute (apprx 40 secs) to cook. Stack the pancakes to keep warm. Serve it with syrup of your choice.
I prefer to serve it with jaggery syrup. It sounds weird, but it is my idea of a perfect match. Plus the iron in the jaggery would not hurt much.

Variations: To the pancake batter, add some mashed banana to make banana pancakes – camouflaging fruits for fussy eaters.

Not again

2008-01-29T22:53:00.000Z

Oh Dear God, its started again. I mean the moral policing business in Chennai. What is happening to my dear state in recent years? First there was a huge uproar for a sensible talk from a pretty actress and then there was this new dress code for college students and now Shriya’s dress. A dress of all things on Earth!

I grew up in a Coimbatore and went to one of those super Godly catholic schools run by strict nuns. The uniform I wore was a white shirt and half skirt. I had worn that for 12 years and no one even winked. The same school has a salwar kameez as uniform now. All the government/municipal schools which had half saris as uniform have changed to Salwar kameez. Are we retreating into some kind of old Victorian world and the current 50 somethings are steering us towards that era? I really don’t get it. I am of the opinion that ancient Tamilians (those who wrote all the sangam poems) were very liberal when it came to clothes. In one of the old Puranannuru poems, there is a sentence describing the clothes the leading lady wears. It describes that the material the lady wore was so fine that one could see through her dress. Can’t imagine what the Moral Police would do if someone was to write a similar poem, let alone wear such a dress.

Is this Talibanization of TamilNadu? And oh, as if there is not enough on the platter, Tamilans can no longer celebrate New Year in April, instead it will be in January. Is there any sense amidst this madness or is it madness to search for sense?

Kozhuva Meen Tilappichathu (Kerala Anchovy Curry)

2008-01-21T18:57:00.000Z

Of late I haven't kept myself updated with the events in the food blogosphere. It all boils down to laziness. When I read about the RCI Kerala event, my laziness had to take a holiday. The recipe I am blogging about hopefully is an authentic Kerala one. I got it from this site and made a few modifications - not to the ingredients, but to the way they were prepared. It is bit strange that I could not find any information or about how authentic this recipe is. If any of you out there know more about this recipe, please let me know. I would like to know about its origin and this is one of the reasons that I am posting this recipe as part of RCI Kerala. It is strange in another way - the ingredients are crushed (only very old recipes call for crushing instead of grinding) and the sour element is got by Vinegar (I would expect Vinegar to be associated with Goan cuisine). With the rattling done, the recipe procedure goes like this......

Kozhuva (Nethili) - 500 gms
To Grind (coarsely)
Small onions - 25 (or 2 big red onions)
Garlic - 2 pods
Ginger - 1 inch
Others
Green chillies - 3
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 Tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Lemon juice - Juice of half a lemon/lime
salt as required.

The original recipe calls for crushing the ingredients under grind. Although on holiday, my laziness would not let go of me completely and hence I got my good old blender and intended to ground them coarsely and ended up grinding them smoothly. Anyway after grinding them, heat oil and pour the ground ingredients and chillies. Adding ginger and garlic for a fish curry is a first for me. When the raw smell of the ginger-garlic is considerably less, add the turmeric and chilli powder along with some curry leaves and water. Let the gravy bubble for a few minutes. Add the fish to the gravy and wait until the fish is cooked. Take the fish off the stove and add the lemon juice. The original called for vinegar, but somehow I couldn't get myself to add vinegar to this curry. My apprehension of adding ginger and garlic for the curry was completely misplaced and the result was yummy. All I can say is, I am glad that I tried out this recipe and will definitely try it when I can get hold of some more anchovies.

Chettinad Kozhi varuval (Chettinad chicken fry)

2008-01-18T23:13:00.000Z

I am a convert, ever since I watched Hugh’s chicken run on Channel 4. The program highlighted the pitiable conditions of the intensively reared chicken (popularly called broiler chicken in India) Vs the better conditions of free range chicken. You can find more about it here. The site has a facility where you can find free range chicken near the place you live in the UK. This program got me thinking hard and long. Now that is something that doesn’t happen often, I mean the thinking bit. If truffles are cultivated and available in plenty would they demand the respect they have now. As food becomes cheap we loose respect for it and abuse it. To turn this around, I have chosen to buy free range chicken and decrease the frequency of chicken consumption. What I do is buy one whole chicken and get the hubby to cut it (he can be a real sweetheart sometimes) and store it in different bags in the freezer by cuts – bony bits, fleshy bits and the thighs. The bony bits for kuzhambu, fleshy bits for varuval and the thighs go under the grill.

Let me give my brain its much needed rest and stop rambling about my new found enthusiasm for free range chicken and get to the recipe. This Chettinad chicken varuval is Mrs Mano’s recipe. She posts her recipes here. I have tried many of her recipes with stunning results and wouldn’t shy away from recommending them. Alright before you loose patience here goes the recipe.... (ah finally)

Ingredients

Chicken – 750 gms

Grind

Garlic – 4 pods
Ginger – 1 inch
Fennel – 1 Tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1tsp
Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Pepper – 1 Tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp
Yogurt – 1 Tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt as required

Frying 1

Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato – 1 chopped
Ginger-Garlic paste – 1½ Tbsp

Frying 2

Onion – ½ sliced
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Red chillies – 3
Pepper powder – 1 tsp

Method

Grind together all the ingredients under ‘Grind’ to a paste. Marinate the chicken with this paste for a couple of hours. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions. When the onions are soft add the ginger-garlic paste and then the tomatoes. Fry until the tomatoes are soft and the oil comes out. To this add the chicken with very little water and cook until done and the water is evaporated. In another pan heat some oil and fry the red chillies, curry leaves and the sliced onions. When almost done add the pepper powder to the onion and mix it well. Add the fried onion to the cooked chicken and give it a stir. Vola there you have a lip smacking chicken dish. Although the list of ingredients looks exhausting, it does not take a lot of time to make this. So please don’t let the long list put you off from trying the recipe and of course you can adjust the spice level.

Pongalo Pongal

2008-01-15T11:21:00.000Z

Wish you all a happy Pongal and Sankranti. As I am writing this, news has come out that the Supreme Court has lifted the ban on Jallikattu (Phew that was close). I shudder to think how folks from my native town would have reacted if the ban had stayed. Jallikattu reminds me of the rare occasions we celebrated Pongal at my maternal grandmother’s village. The village falls on the wrong side of Vaigai river and cannot benefit from the river water. As is the case with most Indian villages, the harvest mainly depends on the mercy of the monsoons. And we all know how our dear old monsoons behave.

The village folks rarely celebrated Pongal as there was little to harvest and very little to celebrate about. When the monsoons are well behaved, the harvest is bountiful and Pongal is celebrated with such gusto that, town folks like me wonder why our parents left the village. The huts and houses are white washed, the cows decorated with colourful dots on their body and vibrant colours painted on their horns - the atmosphere is electric. There is something in the air which brings joy by merely inhaling it. I am missing all that this very moment and to a certain extent depressed (too harsh a word, I know) that my children cannot experience it.

I do try hard to bring in the spirit at home. Although my younger troops don’t agree with the Naragasuran version of the Deepavali story (they go with the ‘Rama coming from forest’ version), bringing in the Deepavali spirit is much easier. Help comes in the form of schools discussing the ‘Hindu’ festival. When it comes to Pongal it is hard, but I keep trying. It doesn’t hurt to taste some yummy Pongal and other delicacies in the process. Pongalo Pongal !!!!!!!

Nethili Meen Varuval (Spicy fried anchovies)

2008-01-06T21:05:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! I am back from hibernation! Here I am fulfilling one of my New Year resolutions – not to neglect my blog. Abiding by Newton’s third law, I am also breaking one of my resolutions by posting a non-veg recipe. Ah it is the first post in the New Year and it has to be a special recipe and this one sure is. Anchovy is a special fish and I can still remember the taste of my athai’s (aunt) nethili meen kuzhambu. She is one hell of a cook and fish is her speciality. The way anchovies are used in Italian and Greek cooking is wonderful and has opened my eyes to the wonders of using them as an ingredient. This recipe is an Indian one and is sure to tickle your taste buds. Since it is a small fish, they can be eaten whole, although some people insist on cleaning before cooking. For this recipe I used slightly larger ones, which were cleaned. If they are really small, I wouldn’t bother with cleaning. Here goes how to make it,

Set 1
Anchovies – 200gms
Rice flour – 2 Tbsps
Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 Tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt as required
Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp

Set 2
· Onions – 1 thinly sliced
· Garlic – 3 pods crushed
· Ginger – 1 inch grated
· Sambhar powder – 1 Tbsp
· Fennel seeds – 1 Tbsp
· Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp
· Curry Leaves – a twig

Mix all the ingredients under set 1 and leave to marinate for half an hour. Pan or deep-fry them until cooked and set aside.
Heat some of the left over oil in a pan and add the fennel seeds and curry leaves. Then add the onions and fry them until golden. To this add the ginger, garlic and sambhar powder and fry until they are well mixed. To this add the fried anchovies and lemon juice and stir carefully until well mixed.This is a yummy dish that will lift your spirits and keep you going on those dark rainy winter days.

Kerala Eral Kuzhambu (Kerala Prawn Curry)

2007-12-08T16:50:00.000Z

A Madhu Jaffery recipe again with a twist. This is from her book ‘The flavours of India’ and she opens the recipe with the line ‘I Love this dish with a passion’. I have made a twist, a tip I found here. Having spent 21 years of my lifetime in Coimbatore, means that the Kerala influence is inescapable. We had a neighbour from Kerala who also happened to be a great cook. She would share many of her special dishes with our family. I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Kerala and I cherish that experience. Lots of yummy food everywhere we went. Unfortunately I was with a gang who was fussy about food and was complaining. Nevertheless I enjoyed the food and loved it. Nothing I am ever going to say will do justice to Kerala food. Here goes the recipe,

Prawns - 600 gms (Shelled and deveined)
Onion - 1 (medium sized thinly sliced into half moons)
Garlic - 5 (cut into thin pieces)
Ginger - 1 inch (grated)
Chilli powder - ½ tsp
Paprika - 2 Tbsp
Turmeric Powder - ¼ tsp
Coconut milk - 400 ml
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Green chillies - 3
Tamarind - lemon size
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2Tbsp
Salt as required

Grinding

Coriander seeds - 3 Tbsps
Fenugreek seeds - ¼ tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 twig

Dry roast the coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and pepper and powder it in a blender with the curry leaves. Once the powder is fine add 5 raw prawns to it and grind it with some water. Heat the tamarind with water for 2 minutes on high. Dilute with cold water and extract the juice. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the curry leaves, onion, garlic and fry till brown. Once brown add the ginger and sauté for one more minute. To this add the chilli, paprika, turmeric powders and the ground paste and fry till blended. Add the tamarind extract, salt,green chillies and let it bubble. To this gravy add the coconut milk and the prawns. When the prawns are cooked, remove from fire and enjoy with hot boiled rice. If you enjoy very spicy food, the paprika can be replaced with chilli powder. The gravy is thick and would go well with Chapatti as well. This dish is a treat for your senses. It looks, smells and tastes divine.

Beans and Chickpeas Salad

2007-12-04T19:31:00.000Z

Apologies to all for subjecting you to my bad photos in my previous posts. Today I found out that one of my younger troops had changed the settings in the camera and the results are – well you have already seen them. To be fair, bad photographic skills run in my family line. My dad took pictures of my mom in London with her head cut off. We ended up with many pictures of my mother from neck down. Till date I am not sure if my dad has poor sense for photography or if he did take those pictures on purpose. Anyways back to food it is salad time again. There was a warning in my previous post about S wanting to eat salad everyday (before you get all the wrong ideas, let me clarify that salad is considered a snack by S and not a meal). Now that the purpose is clear, I can go ahead with the recipe

Salad

Chickpeas – 1 can
Haricot beans – 1 can
Onion – ½ sliced
Carrot – 1 (cut in the middle and slice into thin half moons)
Cucumber – ½ cut thinly
Lettuce – ½ shredded
Sesame seeds – 2 Tbsp (dry toasted)
Green chillies – 2 (slit in the middle)
Jalapeno peppers – 10 pieces (optional).

Salad dressing

Sesame oil – 2 parts
Olive oil – 1 part
Soy sauce – 2 parts
Lemon – 1 part
Salt as required

Drain the peas and beans from the can and run them under cold water. Warm them up in a microwave and mix with other salad ingredients. The Jalapeno peppers are optional, I added them as I wanted to finish off the bottle. For the dressing combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until an emulsion is formed. Since soy sauce is salty and hence less salt is required for this salad. This dressing is simply delicious. I am planning to make plenty of it, store in the fridge and add it in small amounts to any salad I make. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix it well. Since this is a warm salad, it is perfect for those cold winter evenings as a snack. As an after thought I added some dill to the salad (for no particular reason) and the dill actually went very well with salad. In retrospect, a pinch of the fennel falvour with fennel bulbs and/or seeds would also lift the salad. That is an idea for my next recipe.

Avocado Salad

2007-12-03T20:28:00.000Z

A few years back, I went vegetarian (don’t ask me why) and ended up eating yogurt rice all the time. I did not have the energy or time to cook something vegetarian for me, while the family ate something else. Re entering into the Non-Vegetarian world (not because I didn’t like eating yogurt rice all the time, in fact I still love it) made me realize that my family ate very little veggie food. Since then I have made it a point to limit meat and chicken to one day a week. It has been a battle ever since. My blog is a good reflection of my battles and their outcomes. Before this entry the veggie score stands at 14 while the non-veggie is close behind at 13. Leveling the scores would mean a loss and who likes loosing. So here I am with a vegetarian salad recipe. Oh yes you read that right, a salad it is and a vegetarian one at that. It is my own recipe made with ingredients that I could reach in my store cupboard and fridge without much effort.

So here goes my recipe with a toast to all things veggie

Avocado – 2 (Chopped into bite size pieces)
Lettuce - ½ (tear into bite size pieces)
Jalapeno chillies – 10 cut pieces (straight from the jar)
Cucumber – ½ shredded
Red Onion – 1 thinly sliced
Coriander leaves – 2 Tbsp (roughly shredded)

Salad Dressing

Olive oil – 3 Tbsp (preferably extra Virgin)
Juice of one lemon
Chilli flakes as required (how else can I convince S to eat a salad)
Salt to taste

Place the avocado, lettuce, jalapeno chillies, cucumber, red onion and some coriander leaves in a salad bowl. To make the dressing combine the salad dressing ingredients with a whisk until it form an emulsion like liquid and adjust seasoning. Pour the salad dressing over the veggies and mix well. That is how this yummy salad can be made and can be enjoyed any time of the day. The salad turned out so yummy that S wants salad everyday – now that is something I never even dreamed would come out of his mouth. To make this salad a meal by itself, grilled or any kind of cooked chicken can be added. There I go again, am I ever going to win the battle!!!!

Spicy Bolognese sauce

2007-11-28T22:22:00.000Z

Italian food is one of my favorite. It is there on my top three list and I love to try different Italian recipes. This spicy Bolognese sauce of mine is influenced by Delia’s recipe which you can find here. As a South Indian I had to spice the sauce, not that I like spicing all food that I come across. But when I read a recipe, I feel it could do with some spices and this was one such. I cut down on the meat level demanded by the original and used lamb mince instead of beef mince. This went down very well with the troops. I also spotted a potential to camouflage veggies in this recipe - will have to try that next time.

This is how it can be made

Lamb mince – 500gms
Canned tomatoes – 2
Tomato puree – 4 Tbsp
Onion – 1 chopped
Garlic – 2 big finely chopped
Nutmeg – 1/2 grated
Coriander powder – 3 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Olive oil – 4 Tbsp

Heat the olive oil and add the onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes. Add the mince to this and fry until the mince turns brown. Add the canned tomatoes, tomato puree and the spices and mix it all up. Season with salt and pepper and enough water and let it bubble. Once the gravy starts bubbling reduce the fire and let it simmer for 2 hours without the lid(this is important). The end result will be a thick brown-reddish sauce. It tastes yummy with Spaghetti. The sauce could also be frozen and goes well with rice and chapatti too.

Meen Varuval (Spicy fried fish)

2007-11-25T22:10:00.000Z

It is Fish time again. My family especially my son can’t get enough of fish. This is a pan fried recipe. The fish could also be deep fried, but pan frying saves a bit of oil and so I prefer it. The marinade is very simple and the marinating time required is also only about an hour.

Coriander powder – 2 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 Tbsp
Fennel powder – 1 Tbsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Salt as required
Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp
Fish steaks – 4 medium size or 2 large ones.
Oil

Mix all the ingredients and make a paste with some water. Rub the paste on the fish and leave it to marinate for at least an hour. Heat a pan and pour about 5 Tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot add the fish steaks and fry them 5 minutes on each side. If the steak is thick the fish may need more time to cook. The fish goes very well as a side dish with many rice dishes. I made it with King Fish steak. But any firm fish will suit the recipe.

Chicken Biryani

2007-11-23T13:32:00.000Z

Deepavali cannot be Deepavali without Biryani for me. My mother makes Biryani on that day. Many of friends think it is odd to cook non-veg on Deepavali. As with almost all recipes there are many different versions. I learnt to make mine from my cousin who is a fantastic cook. She was my savior when I first came to the big bad(or good) city of Chennai. She actually taught me the basics of many things apart from cooking like the art of buying make-up and draping a sari really-really fast. We don’t see each other or talk often now, living in different continents doesn’t help. Following in the family footsteps I made Chicken Biryani for Deepavali. Before I go in depth detailing my family history here is the recipe.

Red Onions – ½ Kg
Tomatoes – ½ Kg
Ginger-garlic paste – 2 Tbsp
Slit green chillies - 5
Mint leaves – a big bunch
Coriander leaves – a big bunch
Cardamom – 2
Bay leaf – 1
Cinnamon – a long stick
Cloves – 3
Chicken – 1 Kg
Oil – 6 Tbsp
Basmati rice – 1 Kg ( 4 cups)
Salt as required

Slice the onions thinly, and chop the tomatoes finely. Chop the coriander and the mint leaves finely. Wash and rinse the rice. The preparation and cooking takes time. Heat the oil in a hard bottom vessel and add in the spices. When they start to pop add the green chillies. And when the skin of the green chillies start to turn white add in the sliced onions and fry. This is the most important stage of cooking. The deep dark brown color comes from these well fried onions. The quantity of onions should reduce to at least one fourth the original volume. When the onions are a deep brown and reduce considerably in volume add the tomatoes and fry them till the oil floats on the top. After this add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears. Then add in the chopped leaves and again fry till they are well combined and sweated down. Add the chicken into the masala and coat the chicken well with this. Add the washed rice and 6 ½ cup of water and mix well. Season with salt and leave the vessel open until bubbles start to appear. Close with a lid and get the stove flame to as low as possible. You could also finish the cooking in a mild oven. To maintain the flavours, you can seal the lid with dough made from wheat flour. It takes approximately 25 minutes to cook, you can check by opening the lid to see if all is well. You can serve the Biryani with onion raita. I always make more, so there will be plenty of left-overs for the next day. The re-heated Biryani, the day after tastes even better. Enjoy!!!

Cabbage and Pattani Poriyal (Cabbage and peas stir fry)

2007-11-22T17:25:00.001Z

Stir fry dishes are very popular in the region I come from. But they are not called stir fries, we call them poriyal. With a simple tempering process, the vegetables are transformed into delicacies that one craves for. Strangely I like cabbage poriyal, in fact I like cabbage in all forms. This poriyal is generally had as side dish for rice and would go well for Chapatti as well. This recipe can be adopted for any vegetable. I just added the peas to get a two dimensional color to the finished product. With the daylight becoming shorter, the photos of the food under my kitchen light are shaded and sometimes they end up like stills out of a badly shot Mani Ratnam movie.

Shredded or grated Cabbage – 2 cups
Peas – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Salt as required.

Steam the cabbage and the peas till nearly done. I like a little crunch, but if you like it well done, you can cook it thru. Heat a spoon of oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop add the urad dal and when they turn golden add the curry leaves and the slit green chillies. After a few seconds add the steamed cabbage, peas and season it with salt. Stir fry it for a few minutes and remove from fire. It is a simple and easy dish.

Tandoori Chicken

2007-11-21T21:13:00.000Z

I love all things food. I remember cherishing a copy of Folio – food edition that came long ago with ‘The Hindu’. The food of a region reflects the culture to some extent and one of favorite day dreams while traveling is – discovering an ancient recipe book while digging (I am always a foodie anthropologists in my day dreams) in the Indus valley (thinking big). I love to know what the ancients ate, no matter the geography and wouldn’t mind trying out recipes. Anyway back to reality and the best I could do is watch cookery programs on TV. As a native I am interested in how the British perceive Indian food, so of particular interest are the food programs that are actually shot in India. All famous TV cooks have done it. From Keith Floyd to the latest Gary Rhodes many have made the trip. Of them all, Madhu Jaffery’s series scores the highest and Gary Rhodes the lowest. He did not find a pudding in India worth cooking and that I guess sums it all about his understanding of Indian food. I chanced upon the Tandoori chicken recipe on the Indian series that Madhu did. This chicken was made by a street vendor in Amritsar. I can’t kick myself enough for not committing the recipe to paper. But I made an attempt with the aid of my brain calls and the results were certainly worth a try. Especially if you have parties, this recipe can come in handy as you can marinate the chicken the day before and cook it in an oven on that day.

You will need

Chicken thighs (with legs) - 4
Single cream – 50 ml
Ginger-garlic paste – 2 Tbsp
Coriander powder – 2 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 Tbsp
Garam masala – 1 Tbsp
Red food color – ¼ tsp (optional)
Lemon juice – 2 Tbsp
Chat masala – 2 Tbsp
Salt as required

Make the marinade by mixing all the powder except the chat masala with the cream, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste and salt. Remove the skin from the chicken and clean and dry them. Make deep slits on the thighs. Rub the marinade on the chicken and well into the slits. If you want to reduce or increase the heat, adjust the chilli powder accordingly. Cover with a Clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, the more the better. When the chicken is ready to cook, preheat the oven to as high as possible. Bring the chicken to room temperature and rub it with some oil. When the oven is really hot, keep the chicken into the oven on a baking tray. After 10 minutes turn the chicken over and baste it with the juices in the tray or with some oil. When both the sides are cooked (you can check by piercing the chicken and if the juices run clear then it is cooked) remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Then cut the thighs into 2 (you will get a drumstick and the actual thigh part). Toss the chicken or rub it gently with chat masala powder (this does make a difference) and the chicken is ready to serve. Every time I make it, the chickens are well received.

Meen Kuzhambu (South Indian Fish Curry)

2007-11-16T23:18:00.000Z

Bang after an extremely busy and lazy period. How you may ask one can be both at the same. Actually this is what I specialize in and am good at it - 30 years of practice helps. It has been festivities involving fireworks first for bonfire and then for Deepavali. I have been bingeing on too many goodies that is way beyond my waist could cope with. Trying to sober down but without much success. This meen kuzhambu recipe reflects my position, trying hard to sober down but returning to old ways. So here is the recipe for meen kuzhambu for the pure pleasure of food. I got the recipe from this site (a great place for discussing food especially South Indian style) and have pretty much used it without any change.

Shallots – 1 cup (or 1 large red onion)
Coconut – ½ a coconut
Tamarind – lemon size
Tomato – 1
Corriander powder – 4 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 2 Tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Fish – 750 gms
Fenugreek seeds
Curry Leaves
Sesame oil – 3 tbsp

Peel and chop the onions except 6 of the small onions. Is using a big onion chop it to medium size and reserve ¼th of them. Grind the coconut, tomato and the reserved onions to a fine paste. To this add the powders and grind again. Extract the tamarind juice and mix it with the ground paste. Clean the fish and rub it with turmeric powder and salt. Heat 2 Tbsp of sesame oil in a pan. Any oil can be used, in Tamil Nadu sesame oil is used to get a unique flavour. When the oil is hot add the fenugreek seeds (this gives a wonderful aroma) and add the curry leaves and onions and fry until the onions turns colour. Then add the ground paste with some water. This has to bubble of for atleast 20 mins. Use more water if the curry is thick. Then add the fish of your choice. King Fish goes very well for this recipe. Cook the curry till the fish is cooked. Pour over the remaining sesame oil on the curry and close it with a lid and enjoy. I have tried some other fish curry recipes as well, but none is as good as this one. The Kuzhambu taste even better the next day.

Beans Poriyal (Spicy Beans Stir Fry)

2007-10-24T17:21:00.000+01:00

Got off the phone after a long chat with my mom and as of this moment I am filled with random thoughts. First and foremost, how will life be when I am 55? The very thought of me and S sitting by the fire on a cold evening waiting for a call from one of our children, gives me shudders. Suddenly I am homesick, I want to go home and give my mom a big hug, go around the Meenaskhi Amman temple and taste the panniyaram from the raod side vendor in Madurai. So what you may ask prevents me from actually getting on the plane and shooting off to India? Apart from the family politics it is my green policy - Don’t want to contribute to the extra amount of Carbon Di Oxide. Okay that is a lousy reason. Leaving the reasoning behind and concentrating on the task at hand – What can make me feel better. A dash to Sparkhill and tucking into some of those oily samosas? The traffic on the road puts me off from going anywhere near that place. Remember I have an affinity to Traffic Jams.

Back to the present suddenly I start counting my blessings. One of them is my best friend B who is baby sitting my troops today, the whole day. Ain’t I lucky? Thanking my stars and hoping that the stars will be shinning 25 years later, I decided to cook beans poriyal for B. This is something that mom used to make often and a recipe that I had never asked her. I just simply know how to make it after eating it for ages. So here goes my recipe

Dwarf Beans – 200 Gms
Grated Coconut – 1 Tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Asafetida – a pinch
Slit Green chilles – 3runchy and hence don’t cook them thru.
Curry leaves – a twig

Chop the beans and steam them till ¾ cooked. I like the beans to have a little crunch. Grate the coconut. The easiest way is grating fresh coconut using a blender and running it till the coconut is coarse. Better still if you get hold of some frozen coconut you can use them. If using desiccated coconut, soak them for a while in water and then drain the water and use the coconut. Heat a spoon of oil in a pan and temper it with mustard seeds, urad dal, green chillies and curry leaves. When Mustard seed pops up add the steamed beans and stir fry for a minute or two. Season it with salt at this stage. Remove from stove and add the coconut. Mix thoroughly and server it as a side dish. It goes well with rice, noodles and pasta. This recipe is quick, easy, simple and yummy.

Pasta Bake

2007-10-23T18:53:00.000+01:00

Everyone has a different pasta bake recipe. I tumbled upon mine by combining two recipes watched on TV. If truth be told, this recipe was a result of confusion – one of those stories with happy endings. After a few iterations, pasta bake has become one of my camouflage dishes. You can add in any vegetable, steamed and mashed of course to evade detection. My kids love it and it doesn’t take too much effort to cook, what more could a mother want. I love it too; it’s a shame that S doesn’t like pasta. This is what he is missing……..
My troops are an undisciplined lot and could not wait until their Commander took a picture

Pasta – 200 gms
Cheese grated – 150 gms (this can be adjusted to taste)
Basil leaves – chopped

Optional Garnish

· Cooked Tuna steaks – 50 gms

· Cooked Prawns - 6

White Sauce

· Flour – 1 Tbsp

· Butter or Olive oil – 2 Tbsp

· Milk – ½ cup

· Grated cheese – 1 handful (optional)

Vegetable sauce

· Carrots – 2

· Potato – 1

· Any combination vegetables can be used although I stay away from cauliflower and cabbage

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. For the white sauce, melt the butter in the pan and add the flour. Mix the flour and the butter and combine it well. Start adding milk in spoonfuls and keep mixing. When the milk is combined well with the flour mixture add some more. Continue the process add milk-keep stirring to avoid lumps. When you have finished with the milk add the cheese. Stir it only in one direction (not both ways), it has some thing to do with the proteins in the cheese. The white sauce is done when the cheese is melted. The consistency of the sauce is a little thicker than single cream.

If you are one of those lucky parents whose kids eat veggies or don’t have kids then you don’t have to make the sauce, just steam the vegetables you want to use.

If you are like me then steam the vegetables and puree it in a blender. Now for the assembling bit – Place the pasta in a baking bowl and add the white sauce, vegetable sauce/or vegetables and then add the optional garnish. You don’t have to add the fish, I do, just to further the temptation for my children who happen to love fish and prawns. Alternately you could add cooked chicken or anything your heart desires. Mix them all thoroughly and cover with grated cheese. My choice of cheese is Mild cheddar (kid friendly), but Parmesan would go well too. Add the chopped basil on top and bake it for 20 mins at 200 C in a preheated oven. The basil crisps up during the baking process and needless to say is delicious. Go on give it a try, you will not regret it. Although I have presented it as a kiddie recipe, it is equally good for adults. Perfect food to enjoy on the sofa before the TV.

Sarkkarai Pongal

2007-10-22T17:57:00.000+01:00

If there is one dish that has probably survived without much change for centuries, it must be Pongal – Tamil food can’t get any more authentic than that. The cooking method might have changed over time, but the dish itself has undergone only little change.

The finished product depends on the quality of the main ingredients used, rice and Jaggery. Par boiled rice is generally consumed in TamilNadu, it always intrigues me as to why par boiled rice isn’t used for making Pongal. I am sure there must be some significance. I make Sarkkarai Pongal for most festivals including Saraswathi Poojai as it is simple to make and delicious to eat. Hence decided to enter it for the RCI Tamilnadu festival food event. This recipe of mine is influenced by reading various tips from this place, a wonderful site for discussing food. So here goes my recipe

Rice – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 cup (Oh yes I have a sweet tooth)
Cardamom – 2 (roughly smashed)
Ghee/butter – 1 spoon
Milk – 1 cup
Cashew nut/raisins/thinly sliced coconut strips – as per taste

Pressure cook the rice with 1 cup milk and 2 cups water. Once cooked mash it with a spoon as much as you can. In a thick bottom pan place the jaggery and ½ cup water on slow flame to melt it. Skim away any impurities that may come on the top. There are different varieties of jaggery and many people consider achu vellam the best. I use a combination of achu vellam and karupati (this gives a nice brown colour to the Pongal). After skimming away the top layer, add the cooked rice and stir well till all the water in the mixture is absorbed into the rice and the rice reaches a thick consistency. In a small pan heat the butter or ghee and add the cashew nuts, raisins and/or the coconut strips. When the cashew is golden brown and the raisins swell add this garnish to the rice and mix well. Finish off by adding some crushed cardamom. Some like to finish off with a generous amount of butter. There you have it, a dish favoured by all Gods!

P.S - a handful of moong dal is generally added to the rice in the cooker. I have found that moong flares my younger troops eczema and so I haven't included it in the recipe. I feel it doesn't make a big difference to the taste.

Chicken Tikka Masala and perfection

2007-10-17T22:24:00.000+01:00

Just when one thought that one had enough dose of CTM, no not from the Baltis, rather from the plethora of food programs, there comes along a program from BBC (little surprise there) in its ‘quest’ to find the ‘perfect’ CTM, whatever that means.

The perfectionist in this case is the famous Heston Blumenthal of ‘The Fat Duck’. He travels to Delhi (where else) in search for the perfect Chicken Tikka Masala. Until this point the program followed the time and tested track. And then it went a step further in search of perfection. No the tandoori oven in the car park dug by the chef didn’t shock me. All the lab tests conducted to verify if yogurt really made a difference to the marinade didn’t do the trick. The double marinade and the technique didn’t move me. The way the sauce or rather what went inside got me jumping mad on the sofa – A regular tomato sauce with the usual onion, ginger, garlic and tomato paste (cooked in a pressure cooker and reduced) was underway when suddenly the chef tossed in some cashew butter that is ground cashew nut paste for you and me. The crown of the whole episode was when a can of coconut milk went in. Everything that happened after that including the butter did not matter much. And this ladies and gentleman is the perfect Chicken Tikka masala.

Prawn Pakoda

2007-10-15T13:11:00.000+01:00

My family loves sea food and prawns are always a treat. I made these yummy little things for some friends. Who can resist some deep fried goodies especially when the goodies happen to be prawns! Prawns come in different shapes and sizes and I happen to think that the small fresh water ones we get in India (read as Madurai) are the best flavoured ones. Ah well I am partial in everything that is remotely connected with Madurai, how could I not be? Here in UK it is hard to find uncooked small prawns and so we have to settle for the bigger variety. It is nevertheless yummy and is delicious in curries, pastas and everything else they are made with. Once again this recipe is adapted from my ‘Rs 15’ cook book. What ever will I do without it!!

Prawns – 250 gms
Gram flour (Kadlai mavu) – 3 Tbsp
Rice flour – 4 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 3 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Mix the flours, chilli powder and salt to the prawns and let it rest for half an hour. The water in the prawns help to bind the marinade with the prawns. If using cooked prawns, make a loose paste of the flours, salt and chilli powder with some water and then add the prawns to the paste. Also reduce the salt level if using cooked prawns. Heat the oil in a wok and deep fry them. This can be served as a starter or as an accompaniment. If serving as a starter, you can make a dip using soy sauce, rice vinegar, oil, minced garlic, chillies and chopped coriander to go with it. Enjoy the prawn pakodas.

Ghee Rice

2007-10-14T21:42:00.000+01:00

Ghee rice as the name suggests is a very rich concoction and meant for special occasions. My mother who doesn’t believe in coconut milk has never cooked it. When at school my friends talked about ghee rice, I always thought that it meant white rice mixed with ghee. I can’t remember when I first tasted the actual Ghee rice or when I cooked it first or where I got this recipe from. But this is a pretty standard recipe, mildly flavored by spices and needless to say a little unfriendly around the hips.

Without much ado here is the recipe,

Onion – 1 thinly sliced
Green chillies – 5
Cardamom – 2
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
Bay leaf – 1
Ginger-garlic paste – 1 Tbsp
Cashewnuts – 10 (optional)
Basmati rice – 2 cups
Ghee or butter – 50 gms
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Mixed chopped vegetables – 1 cup (carrot, peas and potato)

Heat the butter or ghee in a pan and add the spices. In recent years I use sunflower oil or Olive oil. Then add the onions and Chillies and fry until it is soft (don’t brown them). Then add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears. To this add the cashew nuts and the vegetables. Any vegetable can be added, to make it look nice include green and red colour vegetables like peas, beans, broccoli, carrot. I tend to add frozen vegetables, saves time on cutting the veggies. Saute them for a few minutes and then add the washed rice and fry it briefly in the ghee mixture. For 2 cups of rice, 4 cups of liquid is required. Add one cup of coconut milk (The tinned ones are very good) and add 3 cups of water. The general rule is to add one fourth of coconut milk and three fourths water. When the water starts boiling reduce the fire to the least possible level and close with a lid and cook until done. For 2 cups of rice, it generally takes 20 mins to cook thru. When done mix the rice gently with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon. Server hot with a raita and enjoy all the praise from the guests. If I use frozen veggies and coconut milk from a can, this rice gets ready in 30 minutes.

Sausages with carrots

2007-10-08T22:07:00.000+01:00

Proudly presenting another successful camouflage dish – Sausages with carrots. This is strictly for kids who can eat Non-veg but would refuse to eat veegies. If someone in your house hold falls in this category read on, else well you can read on and make it a bit spicy to adapt to your taste. This recipe is adapted from Marcella Hazan’s ‘The essesntials of Classic Italian cooking’. The original calls for red cabbage. Since my son can smell a cabbage from miles away, I tried carrots and it turned out yummy. In addition for the first time in 3 years, my older son actually ate grated carrots knowing exactly what he was eating. It is a milestone today and thanks to blogging for marking this momentous day.

This is a quick and easy recipe with stunning results (if you like sausages).

Sausage – 3
Carrot – 1 large or 3 small grated
Garlic – 1 Tbsp chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cook the sausage in a griddle or a frying pan. Prick the sausages with a fork while cooking to ooze some of the fat in the sausage. Once done, slice the sausages into 1 inch thick pieces.

Heat a spoon of oil olive in a pan and add the garlic. When the garlic turns brown add the grated carrot (in the original recipe, red cabbage is recommended). Cook this until done, turning the carrots gently in the pan and season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked sliced sausages and mix together. Serve it as a main course or as a side dish and enjoy. My kids lapped it up and Oh boy am I one happy bunny?

Vendakkai pachadi (Spicy Okra with lentils)

2007-10-08T21:04:00.000+01:00

This is one of my signature dishes, mainly as it meets the elusive balance of being appreciated by S and maintaining a no-protest status from the children. This is from ‘Rs 15 cook book’ (that’s the nickname for my precious book) that I picked up in Chennai road side. S has never been keen on Okra until he tasted this. It is also one of my Veggie camouflage dish. The smaller troops don’t realize what goes down their throat and the battle is won without a war. If only mothers had a say in the decision making process, the world would be a better place. Me and my wishful thinking!

To the recipe now

Vendakkai (Okra) - 200 gms (sliced very thinly)
Onion medium size – 1 chopped
Tomato – 1 chopped
Green chillies – 2
Sambhar powder – 2 Tbsp (if not using sambhar powder substitute with 1 Tbsp of Corriander powder and 1Tbsp od chilli powder)
Tamarind – size of half lemon
Garlic – 1 clove (chopped or sliced)
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Mustard seeds – 1 Tbsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Oil for cooking
Salt according to taste
Paruppu (yellow lentils ) – ½ cup
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Pressure cook the lentils with some turmeric powder until half cooked. Soak the tamarind in little water and heat it for a minute in microwave (high) and sqeeze the juice out. Heat the oil (sesame oil tends to add a special flavour for this dish) and when hot enough add the mustard seeds. When they start popping add the urad dal. When the dal turns brown add the curry leaves and then the chopped onions and garlic. Fry until the onions are soft. Then add the sliced okra and keep frying. The pan tends to brown rapidly during this process and it is important to turn the veggie. After 5 minutes, add the green chillies (whole) and then the tomato. Add the sambhar powder and some water to avoid the browning of the pan. When the okra is half cooked add the lentils and water if necessary. Close with lid and cook until the okra and the lentils are cooked thru. Add the tamarind juice and let it boil for a few minutes. If the pachadi has too much water, increase the heat to reduce the water. The dish should be semi dry. It is generally meant to be a side dish. As a result of camouflaging, my dish turns out to be gravy that can be mixed with rice. The okra just melts (really my kids have never found out what goes through their mouth and they wolf it down) in your mouth. This is great as an accompaniment for all rice dishes and yummy with chapatti.

Karuvadu Thokku ( Salted dried fish dry curry)

2007-10-03T20:20:00.000+01:00

It has been a hectic week so far and I haven’t had the time to post anything or to do anything else that could be labeled as leisure. To quantify it with an example, I missed the Nigella Express program (yeah it is that busy). When life gets this mechanical, the only way I keep my sanity to bearable limits is by cooking and eating, what else. So as a me and me only dish, the karuvadu thokku came into existence. None of my troops are keen on karuvadu , but hey I am the mummy. For the last 4 years (my vegetarian years), dried fish was banned in our household. It is time for a revival, what better way than this one, my mom’s recipe. Thokku might not be the right description for this dish, but then again remember I am the Mummy. So here goes the recipe…….

Karuvadu (salted dried fish) – about 10 small pieces
Onions – 2 medium size
Garlic – 2 cloves
Tomato – 2 medium size
Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 twig

Heat a spoon of oil in a pan and add the fennel seeds and curry leaves. When the seeds change colour add the chopped onions, garlic and sauté till they turn golden brown. Then add the tomatoes and fry till they are mushy and combined well with the onions. Then add the chilli powder and fry for a few minutes. Now add the karuvadu (washed and cut into very small bite sized pieces) and fry into the masala. Add few spoons of water to prevent it from burning. I like the karuvadu to be cooked for a long time about 15 minutes. Add water from time to time the thokku is dry. Salt should be added last if required. It is a great for Sambhar and Yogurt rice. If made a bit mushy then it would go great with idlis too.

As expected none of my troops wanted to have anything to do with karuvadu. Ah well sanity preserved.

Sunday Lunch

2007-09-30T22:52:00.000+01:00

Thinking about a few different ways of putting this elegantly found me seriously wanting in English vocabulary. Putting it bluntly, my family is non-vegetarian and Sundays were the days when the menu was non-vegetarian. Being predominantly vegetarian, the once in a week departure from routine was special and it was made more special as it would be had at a leisurely pace with the whole family, followed by a through reading of the ‘HINDU’ magazines and a small nap. Brings back fond memories, good old days! Life has developed into a fast pace that it is a month since I laid hand on ‘Sunday Times’. I would love to pass on this Sunday feeling to my children and try to make it a special one. After being a vegetarian for the last 3 years, my system is still in the process of adapting itself to meat/chicken and fish. This week we had some friends over for Sunday lunch and so it had to be good. Ever since we found that one of my troops have a bit of cholesterol more than absolutely necessary, we have cut down on red meat. Today I made an exception and decided to treat us to a yummy lamb curry. Baked chicken, some boiled eggs, carrot raita and rasam rounded up the menu nicely. It was a hit and with some pleasant conversations, it was an ideal Sunday.

Cooking from Blogs

2007-09-30T22:49:00.000+01:00

The chicken recipe for this Sunday lunch was from this wonderful blog. The movement my eyes met this recipe, it was so tempting that I knew I had to make it. Instead of a whole chicken as suggested, I tried chicken thighs. It turned out so good that I might try it again.Thanks Maneka !

Chettinad Aatukkari Kuzhambu (South Indian Lamb Curry)

2007-09-30T22:34:00.000+01:00

Generally I tend to adapt recipes to my taste. This is one of a few recipes that I follow faithfully and thanks to Madhu Jaffrey. I found this wonderful recipe from a Madhu Jaffrey book in the library and copied some pages 4 years back. Unfortunately, my memory is weak and fails to find the book name. I have never even tried another recipe for lamb kuzhambu(curry) after discovering this treasure. You will have to try it to appreciate it and I promise you will not regret. It is a bit laborious, but worth every bit.

A bit of caution though – This is pure indulgence and a little heavy around the waist.

This is how it can be prepared for 1Kg lamb.

Lamb/mutton – 1 Kg

Dry grind

Fennel seeds – 2 Tbsp
Poppy seeds – 2 Tbsp
Corriander powder – 2 Tbsp
Chilli powder – 2 Tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Wet grind

Garlic – 8 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Coconut – 3/4^th of ½ a medium size coconut

Tempering

Fennel seeds – 1 spoon
Cloves – 2
Aniseed flower – 1
Cinnamon – 2 sticks
Curry leaves – 2 twigs

Others

Onion – 1
Tomato – 1
Oil – 4 Tbsp
Salt

Grind the dry ingredients into a fine powder. Grind the wet ingredients into a smooth paste. Chop the onions and quarter the tomatoes.

Heat oil in a thick bottom pan and add the tempering ingredients. Once the fennel seeds change colour add the chopped onions and fry till golden. Add the powders and fry for 2 minutes. When it starts sticking to the pan add the quartered tomatoes and fry till they are slightly mushy. At this stage add the ginger-garlic-coconut paste and fry well till the raw smell disappears. The masala might need some water to stop it sticking it to the pan. When a nice aroma comes from the masala add the washed and diced lamb/mutton. There are two ways you can do it. The quickie way is to cook the meat in a cooker and add the cooked meat to the masala. The round about way is to add the lamb raw and add 4 cups of water to the masala. Close the gravy with a lid and simmer until the lamb is cooked. This might take some time and not very environmentally friendly. The guilt can be erased to some extent as it is once-in-a-while dish and it really is worth it. Once the lamb is done and the gravy reaches your desired consistency switch off the flame. The consistency I prefer is thick gravy. It is great for boiled rice and idlis. Hot steaming idilis with mutton kuzhambu is S’s favourite and mine too.

Mushroom onion fry

2007-09-28T22:25:00.001+01:00

This is one of my recipes that are made as a quick fix, with whatever is available in the fridge and pantry. I am prone to this style of cooking. S was amused at my style of cooking when we were newly married (not anymore, he is used to it) and told his friend that he never gets to eat the same thing twice as I come up with different dishes all the time. The real reason behind the variety is that, I would forget what I put in a dish the previous time and wouldn’t know how to reproduce it. Anything that feels good to my heart will go into it. Some mushrooms were left in the fridge and the thought of having something nice and spicy with rasam rice were reasons good enough for cooking it.

Mushrooms - 4 large field sliced (about 300 gms)
Onion - 1 sliced
Tomato puree - 1 Tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 Tbsp
Paprika - 1 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1tsp
salt

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin and fennel seeds and then add sliced mushrooms and onions. Fry them till they are soft. Add the tomato puree, chilli powder, paprika and salt. Cook until done. It is not necessary to add water as the liquid that comes from mushroom while cooking is sufficient. Don't wash the mushrooms, clean them with a kitchen towel. This turned out really well, well enough to blog the recipe. It tasted great with dosai the next day too.

This is the first time I am committing my ad hoc recipe to paper. Thanks to blogging.

Rasam (Spicy Tamarind soup)

2007-09-26T21:49:00.000+01:00

The general tendency of Indians is to spice up almost all food. Their British counterparts do the same, but in the reverse direction. The result - the world is rewarded with three dishes chicken tikka masala, kedgeree and mulligatawny soup. Rasam is the origin for mulligatawny soup meaning milagu thanni (pepper water). Probably Rasam is one of the few dishes that are reminiscence of an old cuisine that managed to retain its originality even after the deadly chillies were unleashed from South America. In the part of the world where I come from, a cook is judged by the quality of rasam they whip up. Unfortunately for me my dad never liked rasam and so my mother made it occasionally. I think a balance has been reached, when I married S who can make fantastic rasam. I never cook rasam as S makes the best rasam. Every guest who comes home for a meal unfailingly has a second helping of rasam rice.

This is a special recipe because there is no powder involved and all the ingredients are assembled from scratch. Here is how he makes it. This recipe makes about 3 liters of Rasam. S doesn’t believe in small quantities!

Tamarind – 1 lime size ball
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Tomato – ½
Salt
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Corriander leaves – to garnish

To grind

Garlic – 1 whole pod
Cumin seeds – 3 Tbsp
Curry Leaves – 1 twig
Red chillies – 4
Pepper corns – ½ spoon

Grind the ingredients under ‘To Grind’ in a blender. Extract juice from the tamarind and squeeze the half cut tomato into the tamarind juice and add in the tomato pulp also in the juice. To this add the turmeric powder, asafetida and the ground paste. Add salt and taste it. You can adjust for seasoning at this stage. S feels it is very important to taste it at this stage. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. After they pop add the tamarind water mixture. Another thumb rule is to always add the water to the tempering of mustard seeds and oil, never the opposite. It makes a difference to the end result. The last bit is never to let the rasam boil. When it just starts boiling, take it off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. This is a bit garlicy in taste. You have to taste it to appreciate the flavours of rasam.

Variations:

If you want to make parupu rasam, then add some mashed paruppu and the water that it was cooked in.

To make it a tomato rasam, squeeze 1 more tomato and add the pulp.

To make it a pepper rasam, reduce the red chillies and add more pepper corns.

Mulu Kathirikkai vathakal (Stuffed Aubergine curry)

2007-09-26T21:10:00.000+01:00

One of my colleagues hates aubergines. My reaction always is - wait until you set foot in Andhra to change your mind. One has to give it to the Andhrites for their imagination for creating many many varity and in so doing taking the humble aubergine to great heights. There are so many recipes that I have a theory which goes like this – For every great aubergine recipe from Andhra there are minimum 5 greater aubergine recipes from the same region. This is one such recipe, combination of two recipes one from a cookbook by Mallika Badrinath and the other from my ex-colleague. It is divine with plain boiled rice.

You will need

Aubergine – 300 gms
Sambhar powder – 4 tbsp (if the sambhar powder is bland add some more to make it hotter)
Coconut – 3 Tbsp grated (if you want a smoother texture then grind the coconut)
Tamarind – size of ½ a lime
Onions – 2 small (finely chopped)
Channa dal – 2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Oil.

Microwave the tamarind for 2 minutes high with some water. Dilute with some cold water and extract the juice. The juice should be thick and so the water used must be as little as possible. Heat some oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the channa dal and wait until they turn light brown. Add the chopped onions till they turn soft. In a bowl mix the onions, sambhar powder, tamarind juice, coconut and salt.

Slit the aubergine into 4 on the top without cutting them. The idea is to keep them whole and stuff the onion mixture in them. The aubergine have to be stuffed individually.

Basic Recipe Courtesy Mrs Mallika Badrinath

Heat 3 Tbsp oil in a pan. Add the aubergine to the oil and if you have any of the onion mixture left add it on top. Fry for a few minutes, then add water, close the pan and let it cook. Check every 5 minutes for water and move the aubergine without breaking them if they are sticking to the pan. The more oil in the pan, the less possibility for the curry sticking in the pan. As a result you will end up with an oily, but lip smacking curry. Once the aubergine are done, remove from heat and serve with hot boiled rice. If Nigella were to taste it she would probably describe it as ‘Hmm out of the world’.

Pasta with Vegetable Sauce

2007-09-24T21:41:00.000+01:00

My older son does not like vegetables and can make my life difficult by refusing to touch anything that has vegetable. Well that is a rather blunt statement that many mothers would concur with. It is a constant quest of mine to find techniques to camouflage vegetables and make it look edible for a 6 year old. The idea for this was formed after watching a program in BBC about food. This dish is a tried and trusted recipe that works with my kids and the best part is my son loves it. They look forward for 'Pasta Days' which is generally on Thursday. Mind you, he doesn't know what goes in it though. So all the mothers out there, here is stress free veggie route.

You will need

Pasta - 3 handfuls
For the Sauce
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Mixed Vegetables - 1 lb
Garlic - 2 cloves

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. I prefer Penne pasta as it can take in more sauce.
For the sauce steam the mixed vegetables. The ones I use mostly are beans, carrots and peas. However over the last year, I started using seasonal vegetables and had success with courgettes, butternut squash, celery, pumpkin, potatoes, peppers and broccoli (yes, you read that right, cauliflower however is not suitable).
Heat a spoon of oil in the pan and add the chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes. Once they are soft and cooked add the steamed vegetables and mix it for few minutes. Let the vegetables cool and use a blender to grind them into a smooth sauce.
Serve the pasta with sauce. The sauce is delicious. For the senior troops, I spice it up with some chilli powder and serve it as a chutney for Idli and Dosai.

Linguine with Chilli Prawns

2007-09-24T21:35:00.000+01:00

India

won the 20-20 world cup and what can be a better occasion for a celebration dinner!

We had gone to the birthday party of a dear friend’s and had a great celebration dinner, so was in a mood for something non Indian but still special today. Thinking about specials, I landed up on this recipe.

Cooking pasta is always a bit of flinch for me, mainly because S does not appreciate it and the kids love it. Weird as it may sound, he really doesn’t. To try and reach a compromise I have resorted to the versatile Linguine. The sauces are not heavy and easy to cook.

You will need

Linguine – 4 bunch ( about 250 gms. I use hand measure, 1 handful per person).
Chilli – 4
Garlic – 3 cloves
Lemon juice – 2 Tbsp
Prawns – 16 (4 each)
Roasted pepper (capsicum) – 1 (Roast the pepper on a gas flame, remove the skin and chop)
Tomatoes – 2 quartered
Coriander leaves – a handful
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Basic Recipe Courtesy Good Food magazine October 2002

Cook the linguine according to the packet instructions and drain. Add some butter or olive oil to the linguine.

For the sauce, chop the chillies and garlic. Heat 2 tbsp of Olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and chilli. After 30 seconds add the tomatoes and roasted pepper. Add the prawns and cook till they turn pink. To make life easier, I use frozen cooked prawns. Add salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice and adjust seasoning according to taste and add the coriander leaves. Toss the cooked and drained linguine in the sauce. Scoop into a bowl and enjoy.

Arisi Parupu Satham (Rice with lentils)

2007-09-24T12:59:00.000+01:00

This is another of my one-pot dishes which is quick, easy, delicious and comforting. The origin of this dish can be traced back to the regions surrounding Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It reflects the attitude of people from that region – simple, no-nonsense, straight forward and down-to-earth.

I do this on lazy rainy days, when there are lots of better things do outside the kitchen without compromising the meal. Strangely my mother never made this at home and I learnt it from one of best friend and slightly adapted to suit my taste buds.

Rice – 3 cups
Lentils – 1 cup (after some trial and error, I found 3:1 ratio works well).
Mixed Vegetables – 1 cup ( frozen veggies are a quick way to add flavor to the rice)
Onion – 1 sliced
Tomato – 1 quartered
Garlic – 1 sliced
Sambhar powder – 1Tbsp (optional)
Curry leaves – a twig
Mustard seeds -1 tsp
Urad dal (split black lentils) – 1 tsp
Channa dal (split yellow lentils) – 1 tsp
Dried red Chillies – 3
Salt – as required
Oil – 2 Tbsp
turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Purists don’t add the vegetables and Sambhar powder for this rice. But I find this as an easy way of getting some veggies into the kids system. Wash and rinse the rice and lentils. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the mustard seeds and after they pop add the urad dal and channa dal. The channa dal gives a nice bite to the rice. When they start browning add the curry leaves and the red chillies. When the red chillies start turning colour, add the onions and tomatoes and garlic. When the onions are soft add the vegetables and then the sambhar powder and salt. Mix in the rice and lentils and add 7 cups of water (6 for the rice and 1 for the lentil) and close the cooker with the lid and put the weight on. I generally cook for 2 whistles, this may vary depending on your cooker size and make. The end texture is a bit mushy (texture similar to bisibele bath or risotto). But S doesn’t like the mushy texture and so I reduce the water level by one cup and the rice will come out with their grains separate (like briyani). With some chips and yogurt at the side to give contrasting textures the rice is a bliss on those rainy evenings.

Valakkai Varuval (Raw Banana chips)

2007-09-23T22:10:00.000+01:00

It is raining bananas this month in JFI and this is my drop of the rain! This recipe is from a treasure filled recipe book that I procured on a road side for 15Rs nearly a decade before. The purchase of the book was one of my many spontaneous reactions in the brief period that I was engaged to be married. This is an unusual recipe that calls for deep frying and pan frying and tastes excellent. With minimum effort and few ingredients that can easily be found in the store cupboard it is a winner.

Raw Banana – 3

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp

Garlic 4 cloves

Salt – as required

Cut the banana into half. Peel the skin and cut it into ½ inch pieces. Mix turmeric powder and salt to the banana and let it rest for 5 minutes. Peel and crush the garlic. Heat oil in a pan and deep or shallow fry the banana till half done. Drain the chips on a paper towel. Coat the chips with chilli powder. Heat the pan with a spoon of oil and return the chips to the pan and fry them. Two minutes later add in the crushed garlic and fry till the chips are cooked. The crushed garlic gives it a unique flavour and goes well with Sambhar rice or yogurt rice. Or this can be a good replacement for potato chips (French fries).

Spicy fried Sardines

2007-09-21T22:49:00.001+01:00

Sardines are called mathi in Tamil and is one of the most under rated fishes in the world. But I happen to love it. My love affair with sardines started when I was 13, on a summer vacation. It was only me and my dad at home for almost a week. Needless to say he cooked all the week and one day he got 2 kilos of sardines and deep fried them. I ate it all (almost all) within an hour and that is when it all started. I like to deep fry it, till the bones are crisp as this reduces the fuss by making it edible. It is a simple recipe.

Sardines – 8

Turmeric powder – 1 Tbsp

Chilli powder – 2 Tbsp

Salt – as required

Oil – for deep frying

Clean the fish and clean the gut. Some super markets stock cleaned and gutted sardines in the frozen section. If using frozen fish never defrost in a microwave, thaw naturally. Marinate the fish with salt, chilli and turmeric powder for 30 minutes to an hour. Heat oil in a shallow pan and deep fry them till crisp and drain on kitchen towels. It is one of my favorite fish recipes. My kids love it too. My daughter who prefers pink even in fish (salmon) loves to eat fried sardines with Paruppu (lentil curry) or Rasam rice.

Sundakkai Puli Kuzhambu (Pea aubergine hot and sour curry)

2007-09-21T21:26:00.000+01:00

One Eared bunny carrying pea aurbigines

Puli kuzhambu roughly translates into sour gravy, and is very easy and simple to cook. The three elements that epitomizes Tamil cuisine are uppu (salt), puli (tamarind) and milagai (chilli) and puli kuzhambu is the best example that brings out all the 3 individual flavours to their fullest, yet blending to create a taste that can only be described as magical. The gravy can be made with different vegetables. Last week when i saw some fresh pea aubergine (sundakkai) in a Chinese grocery, i simply couldn't resist it. Pea aubergine are usually dried and then used to make gravy or deep fried as an accompaniment for yogurt rice in South India. Fresh Sundakkai is a luxury and a real treat if made into puli kuzhambu. The gravy is cooked using sesame oil which gives it the unique taste.

1. Pea aubergine (Sundakkai) - 100gms
2. Chilli powder - 2 Tbsp
3. Coriander powder - 4 Tbsp
4. Tamarind - a lime sized ball ( If you can't get hold of tamarind, then 2 Tbsp of tamarind extract available in supermarkets can be used)
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Fenugreek seeds - 2 Tbsp
7. Shallots or small onions - 10 (alternately 1 big red onion can be used)
8. Tomato - 1
9. Green Chilli - 1
10. Curry leaves - 1 twig
11. Sesame oil - 3 Tbsps (Vegetable oil can also be used instead)
12. Asafetida - a pinch

Chop the onions if using big ones, if using shallots then cut them into two. Quarter the tomatoes.
To extract the tamarind juice, place the tamarind in a bowl and add enough water to immerse it and then microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and add some cold water (so that your hands won't burn when you dip in the hot water) and squeeze the tamarind. Filter the water and retain it and throw the pith.
Heat a wok and add 2 Tbsp of sesame oil. When the oil becomes hot, add the fenugreek seeds. When they start turning brown add the curry leaves, Asafetida, green chilli (whole) and then the onions. Sauté the onions and then add the sundakkai and fry it for a few minutes. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and mix it with the onions and sundakkai. Add the tomatoes and then add some water and salt to it. When the vegetable is half cooked add the tamarind extract and let it boil. When the gravy is thick and the vegetable is cooked add the remaining 1Tbsp of sesame oil and remove from fire.
This tastes heavenly with hot boiled rice.

Random Musings

2007-09-21T11:54:00.000+01:00

When struck in a railway station waiting for a delayed train I chanced upon an article in ‘Independent’ which actually praised Blair’s educational policies. Blind me, I couldn’t believe it. The thought of dismissing it as a weird dream would have succeeded had the station speakers not reminded me of the signaling problems in Woking. The only predictable part of my lifestyle for the last 3 years had been to wait endless hours in train stations. It would be unfair to credit Virgin Trains and Richard Branson or the railway schedules. It is just me. I have this remarkable ability to get myself stuck in airports, railway stations and motorways. No I don’t drive, but hey when I am on a car, then a traffic jam is inevitable. After watching all the episodes of ‘Heroes’ aired on BBC I am almost convinced about my special ability to slow trains, cars and planes. Going back to the article in question again, it was a surprise to me that anyone wrote anything in praise of Blair. Probably it is true as it talks about 'real achievement' .

Before I could recover from the shock, there was another article in ‘The Times’ applauding Mrs Blair. Again surprisingly, the article had positive things to say about Cherie Booth’s people skills. No kidding. To top it all up with an icing, Gordon is labeled as the new Thatcher. I dread to think what might be coming next. Silly me, it is elections of course. Hmm should I be voting Labour? But where are the other parties, were they called Conservatives?

Fried Rice

2007-09-19T13:16:00.000+01:00

The secrets behind making a good fried rice are
good quality soy sauce,
hot wok/pan and
cold rice.
Equipped with the above you can't go wrong. It is one of my favorite recipes. It is quick, easy and very flexible. There is no fixed ingredients except soy sauce and you can make it with any veggie, meat, seafood and adjust it according to your taste buds - spicy, bland or some where in between. I do it as a quick lunch when I am in need of some self-pampering and when there is left over rice. So today it was a combination of both, self-pampering plus left over rice. You can use any vegetable you like. The ones I used today happened to be in my fridge. Don’t let the long explanation put you off, with the vegetables prepared it take 5 minutes to cook.
This is how I made it today.

Celery – 2 stalks thinly sliced (how else can I get celery into my battalion’s food cycle)
Pepper – 1 cut into strips
Carrots – 1 medium size cut into strips
Chilli – 4 chopped
Spring onion – 2 plus 1 more for garnishing
Pepper – 1 Tbsp freshly ground
Soy sauce – 2Tbsp (I use 1Tbsp for each person)
Ginger – ½ inch cut into strips or chopped
Garlic – 1 chopped finely
Rice – 2 cups cooked and cold. Any kind of rice is suitable, I have used Basmati, Ponni and Thai Jasmine rice with equal success.
Eggs – 2 optional
Prawns – 4 optional

Heat the wok till its nice and hot. Pour about 2 Tbsps of oil and when the oil is hot add the ginger and garlic. Fry for half a minute (don’t let it brown) and then add the veggies and stir fry. If using prawns add in the prawns and cook till it turns orange. Add the soy sauce (I am quite liberal with soy sauce) and cook it till the liquid is reduced. Add the cold rice and some salt (the soy sauce is salty and hence reduce the salt level). Stir it with the veggies and prawns.

Now about adding eggs. There are two stages at which you can add eggs. You can add them along with the veggies and scramble them. This way you can see bits of scrambled egg in your fried rice. The other method is to beat the eggs in a bowl and add them to the rice. This way the rice will be coated with the egg and when you stir fry the rice, the rice will be covered with tiny white and yellow speckles which look nice. Ever since we found that one of my squad has more cholesterol than is normally required, I tend to cut down the egg. If I do it just for me I add the egg to the rice.

Once the rice is fried, remove from fire and garnish it with spring onions and black pepper. The whole stir frying process takes about five minutes. If you have some left over rice and if you want a hearty meal under 10 mins then this is the recipe. You can use frozen veggies instead of preparing the vegetables yourself. To describe the dish in one sentence – What more could you want from life.

Pavakkai Varuval (Stir fried Bitter gourd)

2007-09-17T22:10:00.000+01:00

Bitter gourd – ¼ Kg
Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
garlic – 1 clove

This is a simple and delicious bitter-hot vegetable fry that reaffirms the words “ the best food is generally simple food”.

Chop the bitter gourd. I generally slice the gourd in rings, but if the gourd is nice and rounded (like me), I slit it vertically and then slice it up.

Heat oil in a pan and add the cut gourds. Fry for a few minutes and add some salt if you think the gourd requires some water. The salt brings out the water from the gourd. Add the chilli powder and fry till done. Sprinkle some water if the vegetable is very dry. Continue the process till the bitter gourd is well cooked. Add one crushed garlic and mix it with the cooked vegetable and remove from fire. If you like it hot like I do, then increase the chilli powder and adjust the spice level according to taste

The bitter and hot gourd tastes excellent with the bland yogurt rice.

Paruppu Keerai (Greens and Lentil curry)

2007-09-17T21:07:00.000+01:00

This is a recipe I adapted from my neighbour “Aunty” in Hyderabad. Did that happen 6 years ago? Seems like last month. Those were good old days when I was learning to cook. This is a firm favorite with the family, which is a good thing as it is an easy to cook one-pot recipe. I try to make it once a week with different kinds of keerai(green). I saw some fresh methi (fenugreek) greens at the grocers last Saturday and had to buy it. So Vendhaya keerai Paruppu it is today.

4 medium bunches of Vendhaya keerai (Methi leaves)
Paruppu (lentils) – 1.5 cups
Onions – 2 (preferably Indian red onions)
Tomato – 2
Garlic – 2 cloves
Ginger – ½ inch
Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
Corriander powder – 2 tspn
Turmeric powder – ½ tspn
Tempering
Mustard seeds – 1 tspn
Urad dal – 1 tspn
Cumin seeds – ½ tspn
Curry leaves – 1 twig

Chop the onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Wash the Lentils and the greens. Chop the greens (if you are lazy like me, then never mind the stalks, if you are a perfectionist then pick out the leaves). In a cooker add all the above with some water. It is important not to add salt at this stage. Put the weight on and cook until done. Open the cooker and add salt and boil the paruppu if water level requires to be reduced.

My daughter who is 3 helped me peel the eggs. This picture is posted by a proud mom.

Temper some oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and curry leaves and add it to the paruppu. I remember the dish being bright red when my neighbour prepared. My little one cries ‘karam karam’ when she sets sight on chilli powder, so to get the red colour without the chilli powder, I use paprika. It is one of the little tricks that I have up my sleeves. Hope you enjoy this simple, yet healthy and tasty recipe.

Kozhi Kuzhambu (Chicken Curry - South Indian style)

2007-09-16T21:43:00.001+01:00

Kozhi Kuzhambu

This is my mother-in-laws recipe, who is a fantastic cook. It is a bit different from other kuzhambu recipes as the chicken is first sautéed in oil to seal its flavour.

Chicken – 1 Kg

Sambhar powder – 4 Tbsp (if not using sambhar powder substitute with equal parts of coriander and chilli powder)

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Tempering

Mustard seeds – 1 tspn
Fennel seeds – 1 tspn
Urad dal – 1 tspn
Cumin seeds – 1 tspn
Curry leaves – 2 twigs

Masala

Red onion – 2 large (or 10 small onions)
Coconut – ¾ of one half of a medium size coconut
Garlic – 10 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch
Curry leaves – 2 twig

The iron wok in the picture has a special place in my kitchen. I brought it in the Meenakshi Amman temple markets in Madurai. I use it for frying and tempering.

Clean the chicken and rub it with turmeric powder and salt. Fry the ingredients under masala in a little oil and grind it into a paste.

Heat 2 Tbsps oil in a pan and add the chicken and fry it till the chicken is sealed. Then add the sambhar powder and mix it well with the chicken. Add the ground masala and adjust the water level as required. Close with lid and cook until chicken is cooked.

Heat another pan and 1 tbsp oil and add the tempering ingredients. Once the mustard seeds pop and the urad dal is brown add it to the kuzhambu and cover it with a lid. It tastes very good and will go well with chappati, rice and parotta. S likes to have this kuzhambu the next day with parotta.

Grilled Pompfret

2007-09-16T20:08:00.000+01:00

Grilled Pomfret

My son loves fish and so do I. When I was pregnant with my second child, we went to the fish market in Birmingham every week and tried many kinds of fish. Coming from TamilNadu, I was amazed how different fish can be from one part of the world to another. The market has a wide variety of fish. Even King fish and pomfret are available now. The recipe below is inspired by the fish recipe from Madhu Jaffery’s Far Eastern Cookery. The strong spices do not over power the fish flavour. You can taste the spice and the fish.

Pomfret Fish – 1 (weighing approximately ½ Kg),

For marinating the fish

Chilli powder – 1 Tbsp
Paprika powder – 1 Tbsp (it gives a lovely red colour)
Corriander powder – 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder – ½ tspn
fennel powder – ½ tspn
lemon juice – ½ lemon
turmeric powder – ½ tspn

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade into a paste. Clean the fish and make slits on the fish. 2 slits on each side. Rub the paste on both sides and inside the slits. Pat the fish with some oil on the top. It helps the marinade to sweep into the fish. After 2 hrs, grill the fish on medium heat on both sides about 10 mins on each side. Take care not to over cook the fish, the fish will loose its flavour and become rubbery.

Sunday Cricket

2007-09-16T19:17:00.000+01:00

When S said “shall we got for 20-20 cricket match on Sunday as I have free tickets, thanks to my friend N”, I simply couldn't say no. Not that I like cricket, as a matter of fact I try and avoid it when I can. Denying S and the kids the opportunity to watch India in action would be sacrilegious. Imagine how I felt when I eventually found out that India was not playing in Edgbaston this Sunday. S was a bit surprised that I thought India was going to play in Edgbaston. He informed me that they are in South Africa and are playing some sort of world cup. How on earth am I supposed to know that? Anyway we decided to give it a go, not before we sat down for a Sunday lunch (recipes to follow). The match was due to start at 12.45 and we managed to reach the stadium at 2.30 after parking the car at not-to-be-parked place.
I expected to be bored and was honestly dreading the afternoon. I tried to reduce my apprehensions by concentrating on the fact that I could get into a summer dress that was brought a year ago. Not bad yeah, it fit me last year and it fits me this year. Pat on my back and way to go.
My apprehensions were unwarranted as I warmed to the cricket match. We saw the last 10 overs of Worchester Royals batting and the first 10 overs of Warwickshire batting. When we left Warwickshire was 100 for 2 cruising towards victory. I saw all the action, a stump out, couple of clean bowleds, few lbws, a clean-bowled-but-no-ball (personally I like that the best), 2 great catches, lots of 4s and a 6. At the end, it was a good time out with the family. I am tempted to do that again next summer. Next time around I will remember to wear my jeans as I was the only one in a dress in the whole stadium.

Vinayagar chaturthi

2007-09-15T22:33:00.000+01:00

Ah Another Food Blog! I simply had to do it after 2 years of dancing on the wall. Fall on the blogging side and what better day to start. So here I am on Vinakaya Chaturthi typing furiously on my laptop after downing a reasonable number of kolukattais and a huge amount of pori. Today was a typical day, frantically shopping uniforms for my younger daughter and musing over the system which demands that kids as young as 3 wear black school shoes for nursery. Surely something is wrong. So it seemed for my son as well. How can anyone not want cake on their Birthday? He was referring to Vinayagar’s taste buds preferring kolukattai over cake.
This day brought back some nice childhood memories of eating white chundal and pongal from a temple near my home. Back then my mom used to make the brown chundal and I used to crave for the white chundal (channa). Time has traveled a full 360 degrees and now I get plenty of the white variety, but crave for the black ones that mom used to make. Now for the task at hand, the recipes, the Vinakaya Chaturthi delicacies.

Sweet Kolukattai
This is my mom's recipe and I call her every year to get the recipes!!!

For the sweet filling:
1. 3/4 part of half a coconut - grated. What i generally do is to use the blender to get the grated texture.
2. 250 gms jaggery. You guessed right, I do have a sweet tooth.
3. 5-6 heaps tbsp of roasted split gram (potukadalai)

For the outer covering

Rice Flour - 1 cup
A pinch of salt
oil - 1tsp

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a blender. The mixture should be workable into small round balls. If you cannot make it into balls blend it a bit more. If it is too watery, then add one or 2 spoons of the roasted gram. Make them into small balls.

Mix the rice flour with the salt and knead into dough. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and fry the kneaded dough for 3 minutes. The intention is to get workable dough. Take a ball of the rice dough and flatten it on your palm. Place the sweet ball in between and cover it up to make the kolukatais. Roll them between the palms of your hand to get a smooth finish. Prepare all the kolukattais the same way. Oil the idli steamer and place the kolukattais and steam them for 10 minutes. If using a cooker, steam them without weight for the same time. Open the cooker and let it rest for 2 minutes and then remove them. They are yummy.

Savory Kolukattais

Prepare the rice dough the same way as for the sweet one with little more slat.

onion - 1 finely chopped
chillies -4 finely chopped
ginger -1 inch finely chopped

Heat a tsp of oil and fry the onion, ginger and chillies until soft. The onions should not turn brown, but should be cooked. Mix this with the rice dough. Make small balls and an impression with your thumb in the middle and steam for 10 minutes.
They are yummy too.

Chundal

200gms of chundal. If using dried variety soak them the previous day in generous amount of water.
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
urad dal (split black lentils) - 1 tsp.
Dried red chillies - 3 ( increase for a more spicier version)
coconut - 2 Tbsp grated
Curry leaves - handful
turmeric powder - a pinch

Pressure cook the chundal with salt for 2 whistles (it may vary depending on the cooker size).
Heat a pan with a tsp of oil. When the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. When they start popping add the urad dal and fry till they turn light brown. Add the curry leaves, dried red chillies and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute till the red chillies puff up. Take care at this stage, a moment more and you are sure to have the whole family sneezing. Add the cooked chundal and fry till it is covered with the seasoning. Add the grated coconut, mix it again and remove from fire and enjoy.

Pori (Puffed rice)
I must admit that last year I forgot to offer Pori to Vinakaya. I am sure he got his revenge by delaying all those Virgin trains that I step on. Yes all of them. Incredible but true. So I remembered and made both the sweet and the savory version this year. I hope this appeases him.

Sweet Pori

Potukadalai - 2Tbsps (lightly roasted)
Peanuts - 1Tbsps (dry roasted)
Jaggery - 2 Tbsps grated or minced
Pori - 3 cups.

Mix all the ingredients and the sweet pori is ready. Can there be any quicker and delicious snack than this. Wait until you taste the kara (savoury) pori

Kara Pori

Red Chillies - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 1 clove
peanuts - 2 Tbsps (dry roasted)
Pori - 3 cups

salt as required

Heat a pan with a 1/2 tsp of oil. Add the turmeric powder, red chillies and then garlic. Add the pori and the peanuts and mix thoroughly. Remove from fire and enjoy.

So that is all for today. I almost forgot to upload the pictures. A warning at this stage would be deemed necessary about my photographic skills. In one word it is appalling. As days proceed I hope to improve my skills. Did I say that 3 years back? I cannot sign off for the day without giving credit to S my husband for the pictures.

Any comments and suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks for dropping in to read my blog.