Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian dish. It is a kind of fried rice which is great amalgamation of different flavours. Traditionally it is made with prawns, eggs, chicken, tamarind, chilli and many more flavoursome ingredients. It is not for nothing that it is considered the national dish of Indonesia. 
Sitting in a remote corner of the country there are so so many ingredients that I can’t lay my hands on, even something as simple as lemon grass. However that should not mean that I cant tweak the recipe a little to suit my condition. 

Ingredients

For spice paste
4 peppercorns
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
3 tbsp roasted peanuts
½ tsp sesame seeds
1 onion, chopped
1” ginger, chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 garlic, chopped
2 green chilli, chopped
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/4 lime juice
salt to taste
Grind all to a fine paste. 

For Indonesian fried rice
2 cups rice
3 onions, sliced
100 gms green beans
3 carrots, sliced fine
1 large brocoli, chopped
1 bunch spinach, chopped fine
4 garlic pods, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
200 gm boneless chicken, sliced
1 tbsp soya sauce


Boil the rice. Heat some oil. Deep fry 1/4 of the sliced onions till brown. 

Saute the green beans, carrots, broccoli and spinach. 

Keep aside. Heat some oil. Saute the remianing onions and garlic. Add rest of the vegetables. Add the spice paste and tomato puree. Fry for a minute or two. Add the rice. Add soya sauce and check the salt. Fry for some time on low flame.Your Nasi Goreng is ready. Top with the browned onions and some roasted peanuts.  

Chicken Nibblets

Chicken Nibblets

I am often left with chicken bits and scraps after I take out meat for mince. Sometimes I make chicken stock out of them. This time I had lots of chicken wings that had accumulated over the days. I decided to make a snack out of them and I decided to call them Chicken Nibblets. Because you can nibble on them while watching television. It is hot and spicy..an Indianised chicken wings recipe. 

Ingredients

500 gm chicken wings (or any other scrap pieces you have)
2 onions, chopped
5 garlic pods, chopped
2” ginger, chopped
2 bay leaves
½ cup curd

For spice mix

8 whole chillies
2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
4 cloves
1” cinnamon
1 tsp peppercorns
12 tsp grated nutmeg
2 black peppercorns
1 tsp turmeric powder
Dry roast the spice mix ingredients and grind them. 

Marinate the chicken in curd, spice mix and 1 tsp salt for 2 hours.

Heat some oil. Add the bay leaves, ginger and garlic. Add the chopped onions and sauté on high flame for 2 minutes. Add the marinated chicken pieces. Fry for 5 minutes, sprinkle a little water, cover and cook till done. 

Rista

Rista

Rista is a Kashmiri dish, part of their famous wazwan. It is cooked during weddings and festivals. Spicy meatballs are simmered in a yogurt based gravy. When I first came to Leh I would see many road side vendors sitting with big aluminium handi which would have some very fragrant thing simmering inside. I tried it out and realised it was Rista. Ever since then I have been dying to try this recipe out. I have made some changes in the original recipe to suit my requirements. 

Ingredients

500 gm minced chicken
4 brown cardamoms, seeds pounded
1 tsp saunth or dry ginger powder
1 tbsp kashmiri red chili powder
 salt to taste
1 egg white

make a potli of
2 tbsp saunf powder
2 grren cardamoms, crushed
2 black cardamoms, crushed
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1" cinnamo, crushed
4 cloves
2 bay leaf
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tbsp kasuri methi

for the gravy
2 onions, sliced fine
1 1/2 cups dahi
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste

Put the mince, saunth, cardamom seeds, red chilli powder, salt and egg white in a mixer and blend well to get a smooth paste. Put a little oil on your hands and then make small balls of the mince. Keep it aside.

Take a litre of water in a big pan and add the potli of masalas.

 Bring it to a boil and then simmer for sometime so that the water is infused with the flavour of the masalas. Add the chicken balls in the water and simmer for 15 minutes till cooked.
Heat some oil in a wok. Fry the sliced onions till browned. Make a paste of the browned onions. Heat some oil. Add cumin seeds. Mix together curd, browned onions paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt  and add to the pan. Stir it comes to a boil. Add the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes. 

Steamed Orange Chocolate Cake

Steamed Orange Chocolate Cake

After one and half hour of badminton every day in the evening I somehow drag my tired body home. It is impossible for me to think of cooking anything for the evening. Sitting with a hot, steaming cup of tea in my hand, as I go through my recipe book, this steamed cake catches my eye. 

I have never eaten or baked a steamed cake. I wonder how it will turn out. The combination is a classic orange chocolate one. So what could go wrong?

 But do I steam it in a water bath? There are no oven temperatures mentioned. So maybe not an oven. And I don’t have a large enough pressure cooker.

 What to do? How about the momo steamer. I am an avid momo eater and I have a big enough steamer. So here goes or nothing. 

Its steamed cake today. 

And I wonder where I got the energy from!!!

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup milkmaid
2 tbsp orange juice
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ cup flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Mix together butter, sugar, milkmaid and orange juice in a pan and put it on medium heat. Stir till the sugar dissolves. Cool it a little. 
Beat the egg with the vanilla essence and add to the cooled milkmaid mixture. 
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the pan. 
Grease a 5 inch springform pan. Pour the batter in the baking pan and steam for 40 minutes. 

The cake was delicious. It was so unlike a normal cake. It didn't rise much and had the texture of pudding. It was gooey, chocolatey and stick to your teeth rich. 

Mutton Dum Biryani

Mutton Dum Biryani

I am still in search of the perfect biryani, whether chicken or mutton. I have tried various recipes but that perfection still eludes me. For this recipe I read up many recipes on the net and tried an amalgamation of my own. 

Ingredients

500 gm mutton, cubed
4 onions, sliced fine2-3 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2-3 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp pepper corns
2 star anise
2-3 mace
2-3 brown cardamom
3-4 green cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
8-10 cloves
1 cup curd
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
salt to taste
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
2 cups basmati rice
1/2 cup ghee


First, wash the basmati rice well and leave it to soak for 1 hour so that the kernels soak well.
Heat some oil well and fry the onions till brown. 

Dry roast fennel, coriander, peppercorn, star anise, mace, brown cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon and curd. 

Grind it into a fine powder. Take half the browned onions and crumble them a bit. 

Marinate the chicken with the crumbled brown onions, curd, dry masala mix, salt, turmeric and red chili powder for 2 hours. 

Meanwhile parboil the rice with 1 tbsp salt. spread out the rice on two plates to dry them a bit. 
Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the marinated mutton and saute on a high flame. Close the cooker and cook till two whistles. 
Now take a heavy bottomed pan. Spread a layer of rice. Then spread the mutton and a layer of browned onions. Put another layer of rice and then a layer of browned onions. Spread the coriander leaves. Close the lid and seal with kneaded dough. You can either put it on the flame directly or you can put it on a tava so that it doesn't burn.

 Cook for 2 hours and the mutton will cook in its own dum. 

Egg Roll

Egg Roll

A staple on every road in Kolkata is the Egg Roll. It is a quick and fast food that sells like hot cakes. There are so many variations and fillings that the mind boggles. It is nothing fancy but is a substantial food that you can eat on the go. Even at home you can use left over chapatis to make egg rolls with vegetarian or non-vegetarian fillings. 

Ingredients

Rumali rotis or chapatis (as many as you want egg rolls)
1 egg per roti
Salt to taste
Onions, sliced
Capsicum, sliced
Mayonnaise
Mustard sauce
Tomato ketchup
Shredded paneer or chicken for filling

Slice the onions and capsicums. 
Mix together mayonnaise, mustard sauce and tomato ketchup in equal quantities. 
Heat a flat tava. Heat 1 tsp oil. 
Beat one egg with some salt. Pour the beaten egg and then place the roti on top of the egg. 
Push down the roti gently so that the egg below spreads out and the roti is completely covered with egg below.
 Fry for a minute and flip over. Fry another minute. 
Remove and put on a plate egg side facing you. 
Spread some of the sauce mix. 
Place sliced onions and capsicums in a line at one end of the roti. Place paneer or chicken on them. 

Roll up the roti and your egg roll is ready. 

Pancakes

Pancakes

My son has developed an interest for cooking. He wants me to show him how to make his breakfast of single fry, omelette and scrambled eggs. Of course he is under supervision whenever the flame is on. 
Conservative mindset may frown at the idea of teaching a male child cooking. But I feel that food is a basic necessity and it is important that each individual must learn how to sustain oneself. 
He has been after my life to make pancakes. He downloaded a few recipes and tried it out. So today, seing his interest, I decided to have a pancake cooking event. 

Ingredients
(This makes about 6 fluffy pancakes)

1 cup flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
¼  cup oil
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Mix all the ingredients. Heat a flat pan or tava. Put one large ladle full of batter on the tava. Do not spread like dosa batter. The batter will spread a little on its own. Keep the flame on low and let it cook. If you want you can drizzle a little oil on the pan. After 3 minutes flip the pancake and cook the same way. 
Pancakes taste best with pancake syrup. You can also drizzle some honey on top. There are some many fruit based toppings for pancakes. But today I have made plain pancakes with syrup. 

Kale Chane ki sabzi

Kale Chane ki sabzi

I remember when I was a kid we used to travel in sleeper class in trains. The best thing I used to like about train journeys was the different kinds of food and other stuff that were sold in the compartments. It might be anything from local sweets, toffees, candies, samosas, sandwiches, jhaalmuri etc.

 The thing I liked best was the kala chana. They were simply boiled and mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, green chillies and chaat masala. It would be sold in newspaper cones with another piece of folded newspaper acting as the spoon. 
It was such a simple dish yet I have never been able to recreate it to my satisfaction. As my mom would point out that special flavour used to come from all the dust and grime but whatever the case that taste still eludes me. I guess some memories are better left undisturbed or the magic will be lost. 

I always cook kale chane ki sabzi as an ode to that childhood memory.

Ingredients

1 cup kala chana, soaked overnight
½ tsp baking soda
1 onion, sliced fine
¼ cup tomato puree
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp chana masala
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked chana dal with some salt, turmeric and baking soda. 
Heat some oil. Add the cumin seeds. 
Add the ginger paste and sliced onions. Saute till the onions change colour. 
Add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala, chana masala and salt. 
Cook till the oil starts leaving the sides. Add the masala mix to the pressure cooker in which you boiled the chana. If required add some water.
Cover and simmer for 20 minutes till you get a thick gravy.