Galavat kabab

Galavat Kabab

Next in the series of kababs is the galavat  kabab. This kabab caught my fancy because of the story behind its origin. Supposedly an elderly nawab was very fond of the good things in life (as nawabs usually are!!). However due to his old age he had lost his teeth and dentures were not available then. So what was he to do??Apparently his khansama or cook came up with the idea of marinating the mutton keema with a tenderizer like papaya. This allowed the elderly gent to enjoy his delicacy without much fret.

Papaya and pineapple are two excellent meat tenderizers. Papaya contains an enzyme called Papain which catalyzes the break down of proteins and makes the meat so succulent.  Once you marinade the meat overnight it reduces the cooking time as much. Moreover for healthier cooking I prefer to shallow fry my kababs. Just a little bit of oil, fry on high heat on both sides to seal in the flavours and then cover and let it cook in its own steam.

Ingredients

750 gm mutton mince

2 tbsp raw papaya paste

1 onion, puréed

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp vinegar

Salt to taste

2 onions chopped

2 tbsp roasted gram flour

1 ½ tbsp roasted ground coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

½ cup chopped fresh coriander

2 tbsp chopped mint

Pound separately

1 tsp methi seeds

1/2  nutmeg

Small piece of cinnamon

Marinade the mutton mince with papaya, puréed onion, ginger paste, garlic paste, vinegar and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Add pound masala, gram flour, fresh coriander, mint, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, chopped onion.

Cover and keep for another hour. Now form small kababs and shallow fry in a pan till cooked. 

Utterly Sinful Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Utterly Sinful Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

I am in the mood for something utterly decadent. And what can be more sinfully decadent than chocolates and peanut butter. I know..I know…you pile on calories that way…but what the dickens!! I want something sticky, gooey, chewy, and sweet to make my day.

I have this jar of peanut butter and I keep a spoon beside it so that I can dip in and have the peanut butter just like that. That’s how fond I am of all things divine and delicious.

This utterly sinful brownie recipe is Rachel Allen’s. I have made a few adjustments mainly because my jar of peanut butter was half empty..:) I made do with whatever I had. I made two batches with different cooking temperatures and time settings. When I followed the recipe my batter got a bit over baked and the result was a chewy, caramelized texture. The next time I lowered the temperature a bit and adjusted the cooking time. The brownie turned out to be fudgy. Both tasted equally good. It is totally up to you how you prefer it.

And believe me it is worth making this brownie at least once. You can run that extra few miles, forgo your other indulgences, detox for a week or whatever. But DO NOT…..simply DO NOT miss out on this brownie.

Ingredients

225 gm dark chocolate, chopped

100 gms white chocolate, chopped

200 gm crunchy peanut butter

225 gm butter

300 gm castor sugar

3 eggs, beaten

75 gm flour

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Use a loose bottom pan and line and grease the pan.

Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a double boiler.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs till pale and light. 

Add the cooled chocolate mixture and continue to whisk.

Sift in the flour and baking powder. Fold in gently. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Scatter the chopped white chocolate. Then using a spoon put dollops of peanut butter all over the batter.

Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove for the oven and cool before unmolding.

For my next batch I reduced the temperature to 170 degrees and baked for about 40 minutes. It turned out to be more fudgy and chewy.

Breaded Fish Filet

Breaded Fish Fillet

My recent trip to Odisha was a memorable experience. The weather, the beaches, the sea waves, the moonlit night everything made the whole experience special. 

What I really miss now is the awesome food. It is true that there are so many kinds of cuisine in our country that most of them have been left unexploited and unexplored. All of us are fond of Mughlai food, South Indian fare, to an extent Bengali preparations. But I seriously feel that Oriya food has not got its due recognition. 

Two things a Bengali cannot do without are fish and sweets. Travelling from Bikaner to Puri, via Kolkatta, I was happy that I would sample the choicest of Bengali sweets in Kolkata. However I was blown away by the taste and texture of Oriya sweets. In fact I found it better than the ones I had in Kolkata and I am talking about the simple fare not the 5 star variety.

 You have these local vendors carrying 5-6 variety of sweets in small aluminium utensils stacked one on top of another. Considering it rather pedestrian affair I didn't have them at first. And when I did sample one out of curiosity I could stop myself.

I then realized that for food to taste good it doesn’t have to be sprinkled with dry fruits or gently wrapped in silver warq. Those simple sweets were irresistible.

And of course not to forget the fish, the fruit of the sea, the glistening jewels of the deep, the utterly scrumptious, divinely tasty maach.

In Puri, every evening, you have laid out before you a bouquet of myriad varieties of fish that the fishermen had caught that very morning. You can just pick out the ones you like and the cook will marinade it, dip it in batter, fry it and serve it to you right in front of your eyes. The aroma of fresh fish fry permeates the environment and I bet you will not feel like having anything else.

Taking this trip down the memory lane has made me hungry for…(you guessed it!!)…some fish. Today I am making a very simple, quick, easy and tasty breaded fish fillet. You can use any kind of fish for this however it is always better to use boneless fish filets. This is basically finger food and you do not want to end up with a mouthful of fish bones and then having to use your fingers to pick them apart. I make this dish entirely on estimation and instinct. However for the uninitiated I will try to give some measurements.

Ingredients

55 gm fish fillet (I have used frozen Basa fish)

2 tbsp ginger paste

2 tbsp garlic paste

2 tbsp green chilli paste

1 tbsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

1 egg, beaten

1 cup flour

Bread crumbs as required

Cut the fish fillets into the sized you desire. You can even make them into fish fingers. Pat the fillets dry. Apply ginger paste, garlic paste, green chilli paste, lemon juice and salt and leave to marinade for an hour.

Now take each fillet, roll it into flour then dip it into beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs.

Rolling it in the flour ensures that the ginger-garlic paste adheres to fish pieces. If you dip them directly in egg then the paste runs off the fish along with the egg. 

What I prefer to do is prepare these fish fillets and store them in the fridge overnight. This allows the soft breadcrumbs to harden a little and when you fry them later they turn out crisper and crunchier. However if you don’t have that much time you can directly fry them after rolling in breadcrumbs.

Shikampuri Kabab

Shikampuri Kabab

I am very fond of travelling..not just to big cities, historical places, hill stations but also small places one has not heard the name of..Lumbding, Sialkuchi, Morbi, Alang...and I have very fond memories of my visits.

One such visit was to the city of Nawabs, Lucknow. The occasion apart ( attending a marriage), I had a great time shopping and eating. There is something about Awadhi cuisine that sets it apart. Maybe it is because of the influence of the Middle East, Persia, Kashmir. Even the names sound exotic and drool worthy..kababs, kormas, nahari kulchas, salan, pasinda…

On my trip to Lucknow I had the opportunity to sample some of their fine kababs. There are so many kinds of kababs- kakori kabab, galuti kabab, patili-ke-kabab, boti kabab, sheek kabab, ghutwa kabab, galawat ke kabab and so on. The kababs are melt in your mouth delicious. They are resplendent with all kinds of flavours and are simply awesome.

The kabab I have tried here is the Shikampuri Kabab but with a difference. The original recipe calls for a filling of hardboiled egg which I decided to omit. Mutton and egg both are not good for high blood pressure patients. No point having both of them together in the same dish. The kabab still tastes very yummmmm….

Ingredients

½ kg mutton mince

¼ cup chana dal

10 flakes garlic

1 tsp shah jeera

3-4 green cardamoms

Small stick cinnamon

4 cloves

2 tbsp oil

¼ cup almonds, soaked, peeled and cut into small pieces

Small piece of fresh coconut, grated

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp turmeric

1 egg

Salt to taste

Wash and drain the keema well.

Soak the dal in water for 1 hour.

Pressure cook together mince, dal, garlic, green cardamom, shah jeera, cinnamon, cloves and oil with some water.

After 5-6 whistles switch off the gas and wait for the pressure to drop. If there is any water left in the cooker put it back on flame and dry out the water, stirring constantly.

To the mutton mince add the blanched almonds and grated coconut. Fry for 3-4 minutes. Remove form fire and cool. Put the keema in a blender along with salt, turmeric, lemon juice, chilli powder and egg. Blend well to form a thick paste.

Now form balls and shallow fry the kababs. 

Paneer Dahiwala

Paneer Dahiwala

Paneer is a staple of Indian food. Being historically an agrarian society we are still wholly dependent on milk and milk products. No meal seems complete without curd. Milk is to be had twice a day. And if nothing else then paneer is always there to complete the menu.

Paneer is a must have for all my vegetarian friends. I keep browsing through recipes to think up something new and exciting every time. The recipe here is simple but believe me the simplest things are the tastiest. It is never a good idea to overpower the dish with myriad condiments. What should stand out in the dish is the simple flavour of a few ingredients. 

We tend to be a bit heavy handed when it comes to spices. The paneer dishes I have in restaurants are usually smothered in ghee and roasted spices. The tadka flavour stands out and finally you don’t get to taste the actually paneer. In this recipe the paneer is simmered in a very simple onion and cashew gravy so that the taste permeates the paneer slices.

Paneer dahiwalal

Ingredients

400 gm paneer

10 cashews

4 cloves

2 bay leaves

4-5 dry red chillies

1 cup fresh yoghurt

4 onions

4 cardamoms

1 stick cinnamon

3 green chillies chopped

Quarter the onions and boil in water for 10 minutes. Blend along with the cashews. 

Heat ghee. 

Add onion paste and fry.

 Add the green chilies. 

Pound together red chilies and coriander seeds.

Add to the gravy.
Add beaten curd.
Season with salt and sugar and fry till the oil separates.
 Add the paneer pieces, little water and simmer till you have thick gravy.

Coffee Orange Marmalade Pudding

Coffee and Orange Marmalade Pudding

There are so many things one can do with marmalade. I especially like the Orange marmalade cake. This recipe too sounded nice and so I tried it out. Turned out pretty well too. If you like bread pudding then this is a definite yes-yes.

The original recipe had orange flavoured custard powder which I dint have. So I substituted it with coffee flavoured. You can use any flavour you want or have handy.

This poor man’s pudding has a special place on the dinner table. If nothing else one can at least feast on bread pudding. Bread, fresh or stale, is easily available in every home. And the possibilities of experimentation are endless.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups milk

½ packet Coffee flavoured custard powder

 4 tbsp Orange marmalade

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp butter

 1 ¼ cups bread crumbs

1 egg

First make the custard using the milk, custard powder, sugar and butter. Boil the milk along with suagr and butter. Dissolve the custard powder in a little cold water and add to the milk.

Cook for a few minutes.

Pour the custard over the bread crumbs and mix well.

When cool, add the marmalade and beaten egg.

Grease little moulds.

Pour into little moulds and cover with foil.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

Prepare a Bain Marie.

Bain Marie is a fancy term for a hot water bath. It is used to cook delicate desserts like puddings, custards and terrines as it creates a gentle and uniform heat around the food.

Simply take a baking dish and fill it ¾ with water.

Put it in the oven to heat the water. Once the water is hot the put in the moulds and cook for about 40 minutes.

Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Chicken in Mushroom sauce

Indian cuisine is infused with aromatic spices and masalas. Our palette is also used to the hot and spicy taste. However at times I find it a refreshing change to have something milder. Something that doesn't have the rich red colour of butter chicken, the distinct flavour of cumin or coriander, the crunchiness of the onions or the tartness of tomatoes.

This chicken and mushroom recipe is simple yet tasty. Be sure to use fresh button mushrooms. The tinned ones are soaked in brine and they don’t have the freshness or flavour of those milky white mushrooms. 

Whenever I am dicing up a whole chicken I ensure that I use the leftover bones, wings and neck pieces to prepare some chicken broth. They are handy while making chicken soup and also in dishes like these. If I have no immediate use of the broth I simply freeze it and use it later.

To make chicken broth I pressure cook chicken pieces, one chopped onion, some carrot if I have any, few black peppercorns, one black cardamom, little bit of javitri(mace)and some salt to taste. Turn off heat after 2 whistles, strain and cool.

Baked Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

½ kg boneless chicken, cubed

Butter, salt and pepper to taste

Mushroom sauce

500 gm fresh button mushrooms, sliced thin

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp parsley (dry parsley is available in most departmental stores)

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

¼ cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Marinate the chicken with salt, pepper and butter for half an hour. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is baking prepare your mushroom sauce. Remember the chicken and sauce should be ready at the same time.

 Melt 1 tbsp butter. Sauté the mushrooms. Keep aside.

Melt the rest of the butter. Add the flour, pepper and nutmeg. Keep stirring on low heat. Once the flour starts changing colour remove from heat and add milk add broth. If you add milk while the pan is on the flame it will start forming lumps. Beat well to mix the flour and milk properly. If you see that lumps are already forming just give it a whizzz in the mixer. Now put it back on flame to cook so that the raw taste of flour is no longer there. If the mixture thickens too much you can add some more milk or broth.

Now add the chicken and parsley.

Transfer the whole thing to a baking dish and bake again for 15 minutes. The dish is best eaten warm.