Chocolate Brownie with chocolate Sauce......Super chocolately and meltingly gooey :)

Hello Everyone!!!!!! Sorry I had vanished for a while, I was on a week long Vacation and then it took me another week just to get back to the GRIND..........
I was vacationing in Goa, and I have brought back loads of great culinary experiences to share, that for later though.....
The first thing my husband requested was for me to make this Chocolate Brownie with chocolate sauce dessert that he has been missing. As I made it I realized how amazingly easy this recipe is and had to share it...... So here is the  amazing Chocolate Brownie with White chocolate chips recipe.
This recipe does not need eggs and butter if you wish, but comes better than any of brownie recipies with eggs. I make this dessert everytime I find myself looking for that prefect moist gooey.....Chocolate cake, all of my family and friends who have tried this have loved it.........and come back for more. This is quite a rich dessert and goes very well with good quality Vanilla ice cream.

Dry Ingredients:All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cups (225 gms)

Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup (200 gms) (Increase it to 1 cup if you dont use choco chips)

White Chocolate Chips - 1/4 Cup

Wet Ingredients

Water - 1 cup (250 ml)

Half a Vanilla Pod / Vanilla essence  - 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice / White Vinegar - 1 tbsp (I used lemon juice)

Oil / Melted Butter - 1/4 cup (60 ml)

In a bowl, add the water, vanilla essence, sugar, lemon juice or Vinegar and oil or butter. Mix well till sugar completely dissolves . Keep aside.
Take flour, baking soda, baking powder and coco powder and sift together to make sure the flour, soda and baking powder and coco powder is evenly spread out (If you dont have time to sift then just add the ingredients and mix) .Then slowly add the the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients mixture may be in 2 parts.
Mix well so no lumps are formed, then add half of choco chips and gently mix it. The batter will be runny like. Preheat oven to 180 deg C for 10mins. By the time grease the cake pan with few drops of oil and pour the batter into the cake pan and top it with remaining choco chips. Bake it at 180 deg C for 35 min. It will be set on the top like the brownie and as you cut through there will the gooey chocolate sauce. This dessert is best served warm with a good quality Vanilla ice cream. If you refrigerate the left over in the fridge be sure to warm it up before serving, as such the dessert will remain good for 24 hrs if left out as well, in a cool place.

Mom style chilli chicken :-) Delicious

Hello...... Thought I will quickly post a recipe om my mothers chilli chicken. There is nothing authentic about it, but it's just so delicious I can eat and eat and eat some more. You guys should try it. Without any doubt I am confirming that it will turn out gorgeous. By the way, I would like to add that Maa deciphered this recipe because my my sheer love for Chinese food, and by Chinese I mean Hindustani Chinese .I have traveled to Bejing and Shanghai and I have had authentic Chinese there and I will confess it's rather bland for our taste. I am not saying it wasn't  nice, in fact it was delicious , though you have to be prepared to handle the smell of fish sauce, its just that I prefer the Indian version.
 Here I would like to also say that, thanks to my working with some really nice media companies , they have taken us to some nice places and that's given me an opportunity to experience a varied range of cuisine. When my colleagues were happy to eat the Indian food arranged for them, I was always open to going out and trying the local cuisine. The sea food platter at Bali was gorgeous, it was a beach side shack and over twenty of them and each had like ten tables, with the last table almost into the sea, and you could feel the waves on your feet. In the night these tables were lit up with candles and the only sound you could hear was the the sound of waves and people chatting away softly. In a distance you could see the flights land and take off from Depensar airport. The view was breath taking as you feel the flight is landing into the sea. To sit there, have wine and gorge on the sea food, was an experience i cant explain enough. So was the fish and lobster that a few colleagues who are fond of food like me and I, bought live at Pattaya and got it cooked in front of us, when they served it, it seemed the fish would come alive anytime, as it looked the same, but when you close your mind to all that and taste the fish you will feel an explosion of flavors in your mouth, fresh fish made in fresh ingredients, fabulous. The Chinese at Shanghai or the late night dinner at a really small joint in Hong kong. There is a really interesting story about Hongkong. So I am at this place eating my food and these two girls sitting at the table next to me exchange pleasantries and then say " in our country no eat alone", I have to confess it was really sweet of them. They shared their food with me and explained to me in their broken English what I should eat with which sauce. I did though return the favor the next day. I was at this restaurant all alone once again experimenting with food as I really wanted to try peaking duck. Since I was alone they requested me to share the table with a few people. They also said that I had to order a full duck as they wouldn't serve pieces. So I requested the people sitting on my table to join me. They willingly agreed and it was a blast. The food of course was delicious and the experience incomparable.

 Ok let's get back to the recipe.

                                                  Mom style chilli chicken. 

 What you need:

 Chicken 1 kg on the bone or Boneless as per your preference. Ask your purveyor to make u chilli chicken size pieces.

 For the chicken marinade: 

4-5 tbsp tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce
4-5 spoon chilli sauce
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp vinegar
2 eggs
1 tsp oyster sauce (I add ) optional.
Salt to taste.

 To finish the dish. 

Lots and lots of garlic cloves, say 2 full garlic bunch
12 green chillies slit through the center
Spring onions 2-3  

What you need to do: 

 Take a bowl, add all the ingredients of the marinade and mix well, add the chicken to it and mix so that the chicken is coated well. Fry this chicken in batches, it cooks really quickly so make sure it doesn't burn. Once all the chicken is fried, in the same oil add the chillies garlic and spring and slightly fry, add the chicken back to the pan and stir. In the mean time to the bowl where you had made the marinade add 3 spoons of tomato sauce , 4 spoons of chilli sauce, 1 spoon of soya sauce, and 1 spoon of vinegar. Mix and add it to the chicken. Stir and leave for 5 minutes. Chilli chicken mom style done.

 Note: If you want gravy just add a cup of or more water to it and adjust the seasoning of the sauces. Take a bowl, add all the ingredients of the marinade and the chicken to it.

Weekend Menu Continues. Peas pulao, Spicy mango chutney And Kachumbar

I will get straight to the point guys. Along with the mutton and the aubergine i had served Peas pulao, a spicy coriander and raw mango chutney and Kachumbar.

                                                 Peas Pulao 

What you need:

250 gms good quality rice.
100 gms frozen or fresh peas.
Whole garam masala mix ( 1 black cardamom, 3 green cardamom,  1 small piece cinnamon, Cumin 1tsp, 2 bay leaves, 5-6 cloves)
1 large onion finely chopped.
Some cashew nuts and almonds chopped.
2tbsp Ghee or Unsalted butter.

How you do it.

Finely chop the onions. Wash the rice and squeeze a lemon in it.  Take a pan and add the Ghee/butter, when it starts to sizzle add the whole spices listed above together. Let its aroma rise, but don't let it burn. Be careful, cloves generally spurt in hot oil/ghee/butter. as soon as the smell starts to rise add the onion and saute it high till brown.
Now add the peas and the dry fruits and slightly saute it and add the rice and mix well. The rice should coat well in the flavored ghee and peas mix well in it.You can add some extra ghee before you add the rice if you feel the pan is too dry and the ghee has burnt out. Take it off the gas. Now take microwave dish add the rice to it and double amount of water e.g. 250 gms of rice will need 500ml water. Cook in the micro for 18 minutes. You check then it should be done. If its not gave it a few more minutes.

Note:

• If you don't have a micro , don't bother, just add water to the pan you sauteed the rice in. Again water will always be double the amount of rice. Put the flame on high and cook uncovered till the water and rice starts boiling, as soon as that happens, reduce the flame and partially cover ( so that there is some space left for the steam to escape) and cook. Keep checking in between.
• Remember the best way to know that the rice is done is take a knife and run it through the center. When you pull out, no rice should stick to the knife. That's Maa's trick to check. :-)
• I didn't add salt and whatever i was serving it with would have salt. You can add a pinch if you want.
• You can also add Cauliflower, carrots etc along with the peas and make it a veg Pulao and serve it with Raita. Will tell you guys a nice raita recipe soon.

                                   Spicy Coriander and green mango chutney. 

What you need:

1 Green mango
a bunch of coriander
6 green chillies
5 cloves of Garlic.
Salt to taste.
Mustard oil to Garnish.

What you need to do:

Peal the green mango and chop out the pulp.  Was the coriander but don't chop out the stalks. In a blender, add all the ingredients except mustard oil and blend to a fine consistency. Once done in a bowl add 1tsp of mustard oil and add the chutney to it. Mix well. The mustard oil will add an amazing punch. The number of chillies you use can always be adjusted. You could start with 2 and then make it spicier if you want to.

                                                         Kachumbar.

What you need:

2 onions
2 Tomato
4 green chillies
salt to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
A pinch of Fried Cumin powder/ Chat masala / Aamchoor.

What you need to do:

Finely chop all the above listed ingredients. Before serving, add the lime juice, salt and which ever flavor u chose from the above. Get experimental use what you like.

The above listed recipe's go very well with the mutton recipe i gave you earlier. Try the combo....
Happy Cooking :-)

Lunch Date with "Kanpuriya" and Aubergine with a curd Garnish.

A nice weekend just went by and we are back to the grind, and I am already hoping today was a Friday :-(. Anyways, no more Monday blues , lets go back to the weekend and tell you all about it.

Its been bloody hot in Mumbai, and finally rain Gods have shown some mercy and monsoon is hit Mumbai. I remember i moved here last year exactly in June and experienced my first brush with Mumbai rains. To say the least , it indeed is beautiful and at the same time dreadful, with bad ass traffic and water logging.By the time its October, it gets on to your nerves , your clothes take days to dry and its all soggy and a weird feeling. Oh Yes!!!!! your electronic equipments go for a toss.But you know what , Just walk out one day into the rains , to Marine Drive or the Worli Sea Face, or Juhu, Or even our very own beach near 7 Bungalows. One walk and you will forgive all the above mentioned vices. Its heavenly , to just stand with your arms spread , your eyes closed and soak in the feeling of those constant drops of water soaking your body. Its Divine.

I guess i got carried away :-), coming back to the weekend, Friday was chill, just sitting at home and drinking. I have a friend who has just moved from Delhi to Mumbai and is staying over. We had planned to go out for a film but Smita , ya that's her name, backed out and said she just wanted to chill at home. we chatted and slept really late and consequently woke up only at 4pm the next day! The weather was cloudy and i had an instant urge to eat Mutton, so we went out and got some, in the process felt the first few drops of Mumbai rains. Now, i have this habit of never buying small quantities of Meat. I generally buy whatever parts that i want and then get it weighed. That way i get the appropriate type of pieces that i want to serve. Moreover, left overs are always welcome and serve as my lunch for the next few days to office.

The recipe for the same is already listed. Kanpuriya aka Priyanka is a really old and dear friend and she was due to come home for a really long time. So I was glad it was finally happening. She did ask me if she could get Tom, and I was more than happy to welcome him. Tom happens to be a German and the menu was all Indian so I was a little skeptical, but then what the hell, I thought the least he would be is sporting enough to at least try the food and boy sporting he was, and I shall get to that later. Sunday was when the lunch was,and like I told you earlier I don't by mutton miserly,hence I had enough to serve for lunch. Now all I had to do was a veg side dish and a peas pulao. There was of course a spicy dhaniya(coriander ) chutney, and a kachumbar to enhance the food. Priyanka had promised to get some wine and I shamelessly had asked her to get 2 bottles :-). It began to pour by the time she was to arrive with Tom , and the mood was absolutely set for good lunch, with friends and wine of course. What I did for the veg side was an aubergine curry served with a curd garnish. I will be honest here, I was never a huge fan of aubergine my self but this friend from Calcutta had called me for dinner once in Delhi and her mother had made this dish and insisted that I try. Trust me it blew my mind away. She was generous enough to share the recipe and I have fed a lot of my friends that and they all have loved it. Hence sharing it. This one is a must try guys. Here is how you make a simple aubergine absolutely exotic.
 
                                     Susmita Aunty's aubergine with a curd garnish.

What you need:

Small aubergine (baigan)12-15
1 tsp cumin (Jeera) seeds
1 tsp Nigella Seeds( kalongi/mangrail)
1 tsp Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
1 tsp Fennel Seeds (saunf)
1/2 tsp Asafoetida (hing)
1 tbsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya)
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Chat Masala.
1/2 tsp Turmeric (Haldi)
250 Gms Curd
1 Tbsp Sugar
salt to taste.
Garnish with fresh coriander.

How its done.:

Chop off the stem of the Aubergine, and chop each into 4 pieces not smaller than that. Sprinkle some salt and red chilli powder on it. Mix well and let be for say 10 -15 minutes. Take a kadhai / or a non stick pan, add some oil to it and once the oil is hot add Cumin seeds, Nigella seeds, Carom Seeds, Fennel Seeds and Asafoetida all at once. When it starts to sizzle add the aubergine along with all the salt and chilli and stir well so that its coated with all the spices in the pan. Now add the coriander , turmeric and the chat masala, add one cup of water stir again and cover and cook on a low flame. Keep checking in between, if you feel its getting dry, you can always add water in small quantity. Cook till its done.
While its cooking, take the curd and beat it well , use a fork its really convenient. Add the sugar and the salt to balance. Keep beating it so that the sugar dissolves. Add a pinch of red chilli powder mix well and keep it in the fridge. The curd should be really cold.

Once the aubergine is cooked , shouldn't take more that 15 -20 minutes, take it out in your serving dish. The gravy should not be too runny. Just a nice thick consistency with all the spices you have added. top this with the curd and serve immediately.

Note : 

•  Its very important the you don't mash the aubergine while stirring. It should cook but keep its shape. 
• You can play around with the chilli and chat masala as per your taste. If you like it spicy or Tangy, its your call. 
• Do add water as it helps the spices to blend with each other and also facilitates the cooking process. But please , when its done the gravy should not be runny or you will not get the desired layers of aubergine and curd. it will all mix up. If you feel that the gravy is too runny when the aubergine is done just uncover and increase the flame and stir gently. the water will dry up and you can get the consistency that you want.
• The trick for serving this dish in the best possible way is that the aubergine should be pipping hot and the curd ice cold.

I really don't have pictures to show as i forgot to click how the table looked, but it was a pretty decent spread.Tom was like i don't like meat on the bone so i was a little worried that he may not enjoy, but he ate well , i wonder whether it was the food or he was being a true gentleman, but it made me happy. And hey we did polish off both the bottles of wine, Priyanka wasn't drinking , she has this cat allergy that she is on medication for and is not allowed to drink. Sorry Pri, but more for us :-P

It was still pouring post lunch so Smita and I volunteered to drop them home , but not before we stopped for a coffee at Costa, to sit out in the rain and just watch the beauty of it.

I also did a peas pulao, kachumbar, and spicy chutney. Will just let you know in a bit how it shaped up.

The holiday and Mom's style Mutton

Hey guys ..... Like i said earlier, early this month I was home and what a blast it was. Basically the reason for being home was , my Nani who was of course a rock star and adored me and for course all the other kids, passed away on 2nd June 13 years back. Since then , every year we have a puja on the day and the whole family gets together to remember her fondly and just bond and have a good time together. I am sure that's what she wanted. We don't mourn her, we just celebrate life they way she did everyday that she was alive. I must tell you she was a true fighter and a very strong woman.

So there i was, since work was easy and allowed me to travel back this year. Everyone from my mothers side had come over so the house was buzzing with kids and my Mama i must mention him... become a kid along with us. So we would sit at the dining table and gossip all day and just eat and eat and eat some more. The puri, dum aloo and jalebi in the morning , the samosa and chaat in the evening, the mutton everyday except the day of puja.

Yes guys, i just mentioned mutton, cause i am finally posting the recipe of mutton made by Maa. Actually mom is taught it to my Cousin Miss Molly Singh and that girl boy i tell you makes it even better than mom. I have tried to replicate it a million times, but have never succeeded. So I sat down with her, and finally wrote down the ingredients and the process. Follow it and i hope you Guys will do a better job than i do, but then i have eaten the original so i am being overly critical about what i make.

Maa's style Mutton Curry - Chef and Recipe Molly Singh (Thank you behna)

What you need:

Mutton 1kg
Onion 700 Gms
2 full Garlic
1 1/2 inch Ginger
12 whole Gol mirch (black pepper)
2 Badi elaichi (Black cardamom)
3 Choti Elaichi (green Cardamom)
1/2 grated Jaiphal (nutmeg)
2 Javitri (Mace)
1tsp Haldi (turmeric)
1 1/2 inch Dalchini (Cinnamon)
10 -12 Laung ( Cloves)
1 1/2 tsp Jeera ( Cumin)
4-5 Whole red chilli's
2 Tejpatta ( Bay leaf)
Salt to taste

What you need to do:

Make a paste of all the spices in a blender. That should leave you with just Mutton and Onions. Now finely chop the onions and keep it aside. Add a Tbsp of mustard oil and a pinch of red chilli powder to the mutton and leave it aside.
Now take a Kadhai , and add mustard oil to it and add the onions and some salt. Lower the flame and cover and cook for 15-20 minutes. The onion will release the water, once that's done increase the flame and brown the onions. (you can adjust the time according to the way you see the onions shaping up, Please keep checking in between so that it doesn't burn or stick to the pan). Now that the onions are brown add the spice paste to it and cook on low flame till the spices are cooked. You can add very little water in between so that the spices don't stick to the kadhai.
While you are doing this, take another pan , add a little mustard oil to it and season the oil a bay leaf, a few garlic cloves. Remember to add only a little oil say 2 tbsp, as the mutton too as some oil. Fry it on a high flame till its all brown say for 5 minutes then lower the flame and cover and cook stirring in between every now and then. This way you can cook the spices and the mutton together and separately.
When the spice is cooked and ready and the meat by now will have released all its water and also slightly cooked in it. Add it to the spices along with the water released from the meat and cook together till the meat is done. You can adjust the amount of gravy by adding water and salt to taste. My suggestion, keep a very thick gravy. Garnish with fresh Coriander.

                  The Meat lovers Who are always ready for a meal on hearing its cooking.

Enjoy.


Note: 

• Your cooking time of the meat will depend on the quality of the meat. If the size of the Goat is big its going to take a long time, but trust me do not use a pressure cooker. Use a high flame only where its mentioned by me. Have patience. Its yum.
• Serve it with Kachumbar( finally chopped, onion, tomato and green chillies, and mixed with salt and lemon juice. You can adjust the dressing as per your taste.) and Rice or Chapatti.
• The same recipe can be followed with Chicken.  Just make sure that this time when you fry the chicken separately you do it only when your spices are ready and chicken takes very little time to cook. So all you need to do is brown it and then cook it with the spices.

Thank you Nikhil for the introduction, Hello everyone! I' am very happy to be part of this forum and to contribute. I love food and love cooking, and for the most part I love to cook, cos I love to eat. Food for me is an art, and it brings together all the senses, sight, sound, smell and taste. In this space I will be sharing recipe's and the various experiences I have around food. I also love travelling so I will be sharing with you as many new gastronomical experiences form different places as possible. That's it from me for now......

Creamy Cauliflower Gravy:     

Today's Recipe is my take on a creamy Cauliflower gravy. I have developed this recipe from one of my friends recipe of Aloo (Potato), Gobi(cauliflower) Mutter (peas) gravy, But since I had only Gobi and needed it in a gravy form I Innovated on the recipe. This Cauliflower comes out as a rich creamy tasting dish.

Will serve 3 people as a main course.

This dish is best accompanied with Garlic Bread and also goes really well all Indian Breads.

Ingredients:

Medium Size Cauliflower - 1 (cut into medium size florets)

Cloves - 3

Cardamom - 2

Fennel - 1 teaspoon

Medium Size Onion  - 2 (finely chopped)

Oil - 4 teaspoons, 2 spoons Butter can also be substituted for oil it only makes it more creamy

Cumin powder - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric - 1/3 teaspoon
Green Chillies - 3, or according to your taste

Garam Masala - a pinch

Dry Mango (Aamchur) powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Plain Yogurt beaten - 3/4th cup

Salt - I recommend 1 teaspoon, but you can add to your taste

Sugar - a pinch

Heat oil in a pan, add the whole dry Spices (Cloves, Cardamom, Fennel). When you can smell the spices from the oil, add the onion and fry till pale pink. Then add green chillies, Cauliflower and the powdered spices (Turmeric, Cumin, Coriander, Dry Mango and garam masala). Give it a good stir and cook on low flame covered for 10 min.

Take the lid of and add 1 tea cup of water, cover and cook again for 10 min or till the water is 98% absorbed and Cauliflower cooked. Take the mixture of the heat and let it rest for 5 min uncovered and sprinkle a few granules of sugar, Mean while you can beat the yogurt, and slowly incorporate it into the cauliflower mixture, taste and adjust the salt as required.

Note : This dish cannot be reheated after adding the curd, So if you like you can make the Cauliflower in advance and reheat and then add the curd just before serving. This is done cos yogurt tends to break when heated.

Ridhima.... Welcome aboard

Hey all I was on leave last week and was traveling home. Five days of all bliss and hogging and by hogging i mean real serious eating. Will tell you, all about it .... and of course how it was be with family and eat and eat and eat some more. Even cook for them .

For now I will quickly take the opportunity to introduce Ridhima , a friend and food fanatic. To add to that she loves to cook and experiment with food. She will be writing here hence forth and sharing her experiences in her own foodilicious way..... Bring it on Girl.... Together we shall work towards simplifying food and making people want to cook and enjoying it.

Welcome Aboard.

Spicy baked fish With Nuts.

The 2nd thing on dinner Sunday night was a Spicy baked fish with nuts. I had to do something to go with the butter garlic prawns that added a punch. Its spicy and you can feel all the flavors just with the first bite you take. After a really long time i relished something i was trying for the first time. Have a look try it , just might work for you ..... And ya ... its an outstandingly simple dish and an impressive one when you have guests over.

What you need.:
One full fish, something like a snapper (recipe book recommends) , I used a Surmai (King Fish)
Salt to taste.
Juice of 2 lemons.
4 tbsp olive oil
2 onions sliced (I added some spring onions too for the colour)
10 garlic cloves finely chopped.(recipe says 5 , but i love garlic)
1 green bell pepper , Seeded and chopped.
2 fresh green chillies, 2 fresh red chillies, Seeded and chopped.
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder.
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp curry powder ( I used Mangal Dhansak masala , its available in Mumbai, you can use Sambhar masala also no sweat )
3 large fresh tomatoes finely chopped
4 large fresh tomatoes pureed ( recipe says canned passata- bottled strained tomatoes) keep it simple just make a puree. It worked for me.
6-7 cherry tomatoes. It looks really nice.
A bunch of chopped coriander
Pine Nuts toasted. ( I used cashew and almonds toasted and chopped. )
Coriander and parsley to garnish.

What you need to do:

Prick the fish all over with a fork and rub the salt and the juice of two lemon all over and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.
During this time heal oil in a pan and add the onions and half of the garlic and cook for about 5-7 minutes until soft.
Add the bell pepper, chillies, the spices(coriander, cumin and curry powder,turmeric) and cook for about another 3-4 minutes.
Now add the the tomato paste, tomatoes and coriander and cook for about 5 -7 minutes. Don't add the cherry tomatoes as yet.
Now finally add the cherry tomatoes and the spring onions and cook for another 2 minutes.
Once the fish is marinated, take a baking dish and sprinkle half the nuts on the base. Top this with half of the sauce you have prepared and then add the fish with its marinade. ( Remember i didn't add salt as the marinade already had the salt. ) Sprinkle the remaining garlic over the fish and top with the marinade. Finally sprinkle the remaining nuts.
Cover the fish with a lid or a foil properly and bake for 30 Minutes at 180 Degrees. Let it rest for a few minutes before you take of the foil.
Garnish with coriander and parsley.

Serve hot. I tried it with rice. The sauce tastes awesome.

I apologize for the bad picture quality but my camera is in a bad shape and this is the best I can do with my phone. Trust me guys , this dish looks awesome and is full of all fresh flavors.

I made a fresh powder of cumin and coriander by grinding them in a blender. It brings out the real robustness if you use whole spices and blend them rather than use powder. Try it for any Dish that you make.

I know i have promised Maa's Mutton and Fish specials. It will be up over the weekend.


Recipe: Courtesy "The New Fish Cooking Encyclopedia" 

Caprioska! My way............

Hey ...... Just a quick cocktail recipe.  CAPRIOSKA ...... And its yumm.

What you Need For 2 Drinks. - Recipe courtesy - S.K

1 whole lemon
Some mint Leaves.
Vodka 90ml
7UP / Sprite
Ice preferably crushed or cubes will do.

What you need to do. :

Take a cocktail mixes. Quarter the lemon and add put it in the mixer, add vodka 90ml and the mint leaves. With a pestle or any thing stiff, mash the three together, so the the juice of the lemon mixes with the vodka and is also infused with a hint of mint. Pour the content along with the mashed lemon and mint leaves in equal parts in two different glasses. Top it with 7up/ Sprite and crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Cheers............

Note:
The amount of alcohol you add is up to you. There is no rule about how much you should add. But when you make a cocktail always use a measure.
The 7 up makes up for the sugar syrup and soda jazz you would have to do. Its simple and easy. If you want to do it the right way, use Brown sugar/ sugar syrup and top it with soda.

Mr. Jack .... a friend and Fish again.

Year ends are really tough and long , but somewhere it adds to a lot of excitement , challenge and and some tension as well. The days become longer than usual , but if it is a really satisfying day then driving back with music of your choice feels like it was all worth it ..... last evening was one such evening. i felt happy after a great day at work .... and the thought of what was to follow exited me. I could see my glass of Mr. Jack with Coke while i cooked and had a friend coming over to taste the food ...... Will you believe it .. He refused Mr. jack , the dude had to work the next day , as if I didn't have to. Anyways , i a couple of my drinks while i cooked and here is what i did. Its a dish made from fish fillet and served with mashed potato.

 Fried Fish in tomato and Garam Masala Sauce Served with mashed potato.

Here is what you need:


2tbsp Cornflour
1tsp salt
1tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground fennel seeds
1tsp ground coriander
2 medium Fish Fillets cut into 2 pieces.
oil
mashed potato to serve.

For the sauce:


3-4 tomato puree (paste)
1tsp garam masala
1tsp chili powder
1 tsp crushed garlic
1tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1tbsp oil
1 bay leaf
3-4 black peppercorn
1 cinnamon stick
1tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint.

What you need to do :

Mix together cornflour, salt, garlic powder, chilli powder,ground ginger, ground fennel seeds and ground coriander. Spoon the mixture over the 4 fish fillets and make sure they are well coated.
Heat a pan and add the oil, place the fillets in it and after about 4 minutes, spoon the hot oil over it and turn the fillets and repeat the process till the fish is cooked. it will take max 10 minutes.
Make the sauce by mixing together tomato puree, garam masala,chilli powder,garlic , ginger, salt and water and set aside.
Heat oil in a Kadhai and add bay leaf, peppercorns and cinnamon. pour the sauce into the pan and reduce the heat. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally. Then simmer for 5 minutes. Gently slide in the fish fillet and cook for further 2 minutes. garnish with chopped mint and coriander. Serve with Mashed potato.

Note: to check if the fish is cooked, take a fork and insert in the side, it should easily go in and the texture will be completely opaque.

Recipe: "Best ever Indian cook book" Picture: what i finally ended up plating.

The Gas and film Disaster, and Butter Garlic Prawns. Continued from Fridays incidents

Post the gas debacle on Friday, we woke up to a fresh morning the next day. The first thing on our mind was to procure the LPG, so that the half cooked chicken could be finished and then polished off. I had gone out to buy some smokes as we had run out of it, and I chanced upon a vendor. It was just blissful to meet him. We did manage to get a cylinder at a premium price of course but it didn’t matter.

The chicken was prepared and devoured by us and we settled down to watch some television. In all this fun I completely forgot that an old colleague, Mukesh was to come home. We used to work together during my Star TV days and now he once again works for the same company as me. He had a review meeting on Monday so I had asked him to come for the weekend so that we could chill. In between all the lazing he calls that he will be reaching home in an hour, so I asked Sagar if I could call him over as well. Sagar was cool about it so Mukesh came over. The dude walks in with beer, and we knew Saturday is going to be interesting. Well I guess I said that too early, during one of those beers we decided to go and watch a film that night. Believe you me it was a disaster. The director lost the plot somewhere and we felt lost for sure. The only saving grace of the film was the female protagonist. She was like a breath of fresh air in all the pollution and chaos caused on screen. Anyways we all make mistakes.

Sunday first half was really lazy until Sagar had to go fetch his mother from the airport, Yes !!!! Exactly the same aunty whose world famous Pepper chicken I spoke about earlier. So I will get to eat the real deal and I shall tell you all about it. So, we headed home and on the way decided to eat something good. The mood was fish / seafood so we chose to stick to my tried and tested Butter garlic Prawns and Surmai (King fish) baked in tomato sauce (my first attempt which Mukesh volunteered to try) to be served with steam rice. Of course we planned to have some caprioska by the time the food got ready. The mood was set, there was good music , cocktail and of course  hopefully good food. I shall start with the Butter Garlic prawn. Trust me guys you can’t go wrong with this and it’s a must try. I mean you just can’t go wrong with delicious ingredients like Butter, Garlic and Prawn. They all are in their own self divine. Here you Go:

What you need:

Butter 300gms  ( Be liberal )

Prawns 20 medium/ large, with the tail, but not the really huge ones. Makes it look good.

Pepper as per taste

Lots of Garlic Very finely chopped.

Fresh Garlic paste.

Spring onions 2

What you need to do:

Wash and DE-vein the prawn. Add a couple of teaspoons of vinegar to the prawn while washing. It will help you lower the fishy smell ( Thanks S.K for this tip, would have never known without you telling me about it. Its such a help while cooking fish). To this add 2 tbsp of fresh garlic paste and leave it in the fridge.

Now chop the spring onions along with the bulb but keep the bulb separate.  Fine chop the garlic and by lots I mean a lot. At least 25 clean cloves.

Once that’s done, take a non- stick pan, on a high flame add the butter to it. When the butter begins to sizzle, add the garlic and the bulb of the spring onion to it and keep stirring. Once it’s slightly brown add the greens of the spring onion and flow that up with the prawns after 2 minutes. Don’t cook the greens too much. Now keep stirring, and add the pepper powder. Stir for another 2 minutes and turn off the Gas. Remember to have the flame on high all through. The whole process should take you not more than 8-9 minutes.

Note:

Ø  Please try and use peppercorns that you have powdered in a mortar and pestle or even a blender so that it’s not completely a powder but also has granules. Crushed peppercorns. You can use white pepper if you know someone who is allergic to pepper. 

Ø  The easiest way to finely chop the garlic is, take a chef knife, place the garlic on the chopping board in a heap place the tip of the knife on the board and just move the base of the knife up and down like a hand pump, bring the garlic in a heap every now and then.

Ø  Remember, prawn cooks really quickly, if you over cook, it will become rubbery. Hence the time span for your entire cooking process should be, 4minutes for the garlic and spring onion bulb to brown, 2 minutes for the spring onion greens and 3 minutes for the prawns. You can adjust the time as per your choice though. The prawns will turn pink and its done. One final thing if you feel the prawn isn’t cooked after 3 minutes don’t panic or over cook. Just leave it covered for a few minutes. And it will cook in the heat.

Ø  And lastly, I haven’t mentioned salt as butter will have its share of salt. So add salt only if you want more. A good cook always tastes his food. Don’t be shy to do that.

Go ahead and enjoy. This one is a guarantee.

The weekend that was.

A nice chilled out weekend followed by a hectic days of work, Such is life. Why can't we work at timings that suit our convenience. I would loooooovvvvvee to sleep late in the mornings. Anyways, here is how the weekend panned out. Friday evening post work i headed to Sagar's place a very dear friend for a long time now. My intention was simple, the dude had to make Pepper Chicken which is his Maa's recipe, and it is the best in the world. without doubt, Period.
We went for our game of squash and then headed out to pick up some chicken for the evening and got stuck in a massive traffic jam. We were in different cars so i told him to hell with the jam i am parking the car to the side and picking up the chicken as the shop would close otherwise. Just imagine my desperation.
Anyways we got what we wanted, infact picked up quite a lot of it as we wanted to have the pepper chicken as well as some regular Garam masala Chicken with rice for dinner. Believe me Sagar was appalled when i told him i had picked up so much. He was like who is going to eat all the its just the three of us, oops i forgot , Pankaj, another really close friend had planned to join in at the sound of what was being made and ofcourse the fact that three old friends would hang out have a few drinks and relish the food. I told him take it easy dude it will be polished off. :-).
So we eventually get done with the Jam , get home and head straight to the Kitchen. Oh not to forget, Sagar in the mean time had checked with Aunty for the best possible way to make it and i couldn't wait. Oh ya , i am listing the Recipe below with his permission but don't stop reading there, you have got to know what happened later... Here is What he did. :

Aunty's World famous Pepper Chicken. - Chef : Aunty's son, Sagar Pushp.

What you need:

• Regular Vinegar.
• Peppercorns crushed.
• 650 Gms Chicken, ( bone / boneless/ Liver.) whatever you enjoy. The best is a good mix of chicken with the bone if you not serving at a house party with a decent mix of liver.
• Garlic Paste 50gms - preferably home made. 
• Salt to taste

What he did:

Wash the chicken and rinsed the water thoroughly. Now take a pan and add regular cooking oil to it. When the oil is nice and hot, add the garlic paste, be very careful when you are doing that as the oil will sputter and you ma burn your self. If you fear that the garlic may burn in the hot oil, reduce the flame before you add the garlic paste. Once the sputtering stops brown the garlic paste, stirring constantly. Once its slightly brown add a spoon of vinegar to the mix, be very careful again. Finally add the chicken and stir it constantly. Add a pinch of salt but not too much as vinegar is also already added. Keep stirring and cooking. You can also adjust the flame if you feel the chicken begins to hold to the pan. Add a couple of spoons of vinegar more , it really depends on how tangy you want the chicken. I will suggest don't go over board with it. Just make sure there is a slight tangyness or it will over power the taste of pepper and chicken. Once the chicken is almost done add the crushed pepper corns a few pinches at a time and keep stirring, till you feel its spicy enough. Its as per your taste. You are done. its ready to eat.

Note: when you add the chicken it will leave a lot of water while cooking. You could possibly dry up the water on high flame or leave the chicken a little soupy , just enough to coat the chicken well and serve it with bread.

So, now that the much awaited chicken was done, we arranged for the other preparation of chicken to be made. The onions were fried with blended Khada Garam Masala and cooked and finally the chicken was added. We reduced the flame and sat with the pepper chicken and our Havana Club Rum and began to devour it. Trust me 7 minutes is all that it took and the dish was as clean as new.

This is when i get to go and stir the chicken since it was being cooked covered and we didn't want it sticking to the pan and burning, hence you have to stir it occasionally and keep the flame low all through. I realized the gas wasn't burning. So i switched off and then switched on the knob but it still didn't and then the realization stuck in, the gas was OVER .....!!!!!! The chicken still half cooked. We didn't know what to do it was almost 12 in the night. All we could do was abuse Sagar for not checking and call in for food.

An evening that was supposed to be a Havana Club and chicken evening Turned into a Kichadi and Rum evening. Thank God the Pepper chicken was done or I would have a murder on my hands and Sagar would be dead. Not to forget, Pankaj's Maa and Dad are in town and when she asked him for dinner he very stylishly said you guys eat "I am going to eat Chicken". It was hilarious.

Chicken Pie

The 2nd thing on dinner the other night was chicken pie. I made it more like a shepherds pie . Honestly i came up with a concoction of my own for the same . Have a look at what i did and then decide for your self.

What you Need.
For the pie:
1 celery with the stem chopped into fine pieces
A small bunch of parsley
A little rosemary fresh preferably
A little thyme fresh preferably
Mushroom 150 gms
Spring onions 2 stalks with the bulb
Finally chopped garlic.6-7 cloves.
Sweet corn a fist full.
White wine 1 cup
Flour (maida) 1 tbsp
100 gms butter
Chicken stalk 3-4cups. (Recipie Below)
200 gms chicken bite size pieces
200 gms chicken Liver
Salt to taste.

For the topping.
Boiled potato 400 gms.
Milk 1/2 cup
Butter 100 gms

Method :


Take a non stick pan, add some olive oil to it and when the oil begins to sizzle add the garlic, once the aroma starts rising add the thyme and the rosemary. Now quickly (don't let the herbs burn too much) add the Chicken and cook for 7 minutes on high flame stirring constantly. Then add the chopped mushroom , spring onions, celery, chicken liver, sweet corn and cook for 5-7 minutes on high flame, season with some pepper. Reduce the flame and cook for further 3-5 minutes covered.
Take this out of the pan and to the same pan add butter, once the butter melts add flour and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed. To this add the wine and keep stirring till the alcohol burns out say 3 minutes. Once that's done add the chicken stalk and keep stirring. You will have a fine gravy. to this add the the cooked chicken and vegetable. and cook together for 5 minutes. Turn of the Gas.
Peel the boiled potatoes mash it and add milk and melted butter to it and mix it well. I added some fine chopped green chili, garlic and parsley to it. Go wild add any herb you like, season with pepper. Blend it really well so that you have fine paste of the potato. Now take a baking dish, put the pre-prepared chicken and top it up with the potato paste and bake in an oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or till you have a light brownish texture.

Note: You can add herbs to the butter and flour roux if you want. Also what i did for the chicken stalk was take 5 maggi cubes and added 3 cups of water to it and boiled it. Its as pretty ok. I am also adding a stalk recipe posted online make it if you have the time. Fresh is always better. I did not add salt as stalk generally has salt. You can if you want.

Chicken Stalk Recipe.: By Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken carcasses, including necks and backs
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2
• 4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2
• 1 leek, white part only, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 to 10 peppercorns
• 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 gallons cold water

Directions

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.

Baked chicken in fresh chilli sauce over snow pea Salad

What is it with these friends of mine, all they want me to do is cook. I am not complaining here but every time they want to catch up they are like make us something nice. One such friend messaged me on Tuesday and said exactly that. - "would you like to meet tomorrow evening ? Me - Ya sure , She - Make me something nice to eat and drink! " . So i made her the watermelon margarita that i have mentioned earlier. For food there was Chicken Pie and Oven baked chicken. I shall start with the oven baked chicken.

The cook and the Glutton :-P



Oven Baked Chicken in Fresh chilli marinade served over Snow Peas salad.

Chicken Breasts 2. ( when you divide it from between it become 4 big pieces. )

For the Marinade.
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
2-3 Tbsp English mustard
10-12 garlic cloves
A small bunch of parsley.
a pinch of salt.
3 large Kashmiri red chillies.
A little Rosemary
A little thyme.
Olive oil / Vegetable oil


For the Salad
Snow peas 150 gms or as per your requirement - Blanched and sliced if large
Cilantro 1cup
Mint leaves 1cup
Spring onions 1
1 onion
I added some rockets (optional)
A fist full of sprouts.

Method:

Take the chicken breast and just beat on it lightly to flatten it a bit. You can use the back of your knife. Make 3 gashes on each of the 4 chicken breasts and season with pepper and salt.

In a blender mix all the ingredients except the chilli, and make a smooth paste. To this paste add four spoons of oil (olive preferably) and blend again. Now chop the red chillies very finely and add it to the paste in the blender, and run the blender only for say 20-30 seconds so that the chillies mix with the paste but is still in small little pieces and not a complete paste.

Now rub this paste well over the chicken, place the chicken in a bowl or place cover with a cellophane and leave in the fridge to marinate. I had all the time in the world so i left it over night. You will need 30 minutes to 1 hour. You will have the marinade paste left with you after coating the chicken. keep that you are going to need it.

While the chicken is marinating blanch your snow peas. (blanch - add the snowpeas to boiling water, leave it for a few minutes, then immediately use a strainer to strain the hot water and now add the snow peas to cold water to shock it. This will stop the cooking process due to the warmth and retain the crunchiness.). Chop all the ingredients mentioned above for salad and mix it all together in a bowl.

The chicken by now will be ready to cook. Grease  your baking tray and place the chicken breasts on it. Drizzle the top with some oil. Pre heat the oven at 200 degrees, (or a convection microwave at 200 degrees) Place the tray in and cook for 25- 30 minutes.

Before plating, add the left over marinate to the salad and mix well, season with salt, pepper , olive oil and lemon. You can adjust the taste the way you like. Once the chicken is ready, let it rest for a few minutes, then chop it into 2 pieces and serve over the salad.

Enjoy.

Note: This recipe is by Donna Hay, but she used only fresh chilli and oil for the coating, and she makes another chicken with the mustard and and the other ingredients mentioned in the marinade . I mixed the two and tried. turned out pretty ok. You can simply try the recipes separately as well. If i do try will keep all of you posted.

Chicken pie is pending and i shall update on that soon.

Have fun...........................................:-) 

Water Melon Margarita

I did have my planned dinner last night. I just thought i would quickly talk about the drink of the night before i can elaborately write about the food served.

Ingredients

• lime zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp regular salt
• lime wedges for garnishing
• Prepare some fresh water melon juice/puree and some chunks of watermelon
• fresh lime juice
• Tequila 60 ml (or as per your taste)
• orange-flavored liqueur , you can use Grand Mariner or Triple sec (if you don't have one don't panic , just don't add it. )
• 1 cup ice

Directions 

In a medium pan, combine the lime zest, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. Cool to room temperature and strain the zest. (Can be made in advance; keep in a covered container in the refrigerator.).

Chill a Margarita glass in the freezer for 30 minutes. if you don't have it use any glass ya ..... I used the best possible option i had.

Place the coarse salt in a shallow dish or saucer. Wet the rim of the glass with a lime wedge and dip the glass into the salt, coating the top edge.

In a shaker, combine 2 tablespoons of the cooled lime syrup with the watermelon puree/ juice as per your taste, 1 spoon of lime juice, tequila, orange-flavored liqueur, and ice. Shake well and pour into the the prepared glass, and garnish with a slice of lime

 .

*Note: To make the watermelon juice, remove seeds from fresh watermelon and cut into large chunks or simply cut into large chunks. Place in blender and process until smooth, if the seeds have been removed its ready to use. If you haven't removed the seeds just strain it and discard the pulp. Its just simpler. 

Also what you could do is dip the pieces of watermelon in a little Tequila /vodka and leave it over night and add those pieces to the drink once ready. Enjoy. Margarita generally is made from Tequila. I had only Vodka at home so I used it.

This recipe is adapted from the internet, and just simplified by me for my convince.  So thank you to whoever had posted it. 

The food recipes from last night are still coming up so keep checking this space. 

Later................... :-)

Donna Hay's Egg Florentine

Hey guys , i have had a really good last weekend lots of friends lots of fun. Saturday in fact was an extensive cooking day, but we shall get to that later, and watch out for it cause the two recipes are straight from Maa's kitchen.
Donna Hay is an Australian food stylist, author, and magazine editor, of whom i had never heard till a friend mentioned her to me and her style of cooking. I went on Google looked up. i have to confess was mighty impressed with the way she simplifies cooking and keeps the flavors simple and clear. It was so tempting that i had to try something just to know if the recipe mentioned really worked that well. I assure you it does, hence here is something i tried, " All credits for the recipe goes to Donna Hay" , i am only sharing the experience of trying it. Here is what you need:

1 tablespoon white vinegar 3 eggs Bread as per your taste wild rocket (arugula) leaves hollandaise sauce 2 egg yolks 1 tablespoon lemon juice sea salt and cracked black pepper 125gms unsalted butter, melted and hot , if you are using regular butter please don't add the salt   To make the hollandaise sauce, place the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and process until combined. With the motor running, gradually pour the butter in a thin stream and process until thickened. Set aside. Note: I added 50 gms butter instead of 125gms as the recipe said, and my blender is not  the  one where you could pour the butter while running, hence i stopped poured the butter and started again. was as yumm. i also added one whole lemon instead of one tablespoon as i love that sour taste.  Heat a deep frying pan of water over low heat until just simmering and add the vinegar. Crack an egg into a small bowl and gently pour into the pan. Cook the egg for 2−3 minutes for soft poached or until cooked to your liking. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. Repeat with the remaining eggs. To serve, top the bread with the rocket and poached eggs and spoon over the hollandaise sauce. Note : i had never poached an egg before , so here is my mistake , i took a lot of water and the egg just disintegrated and it looked like an egg soup, disgusting i tell you. I had seen on television people poaching the egg so i would give it a shot this way. I would treat the water as oil and take only that much the egg is submerged partially. I did that and it worked , yeh yeh yeh ...!!!!!!!!!! I wanted the top cooked a bit too so i took a spoon and spooned some of the hot water over the egg and the picture will tell you how it turned out. The rest is really simple. Try is guys its outstanding. I am also doing another chicken recipe of her's. In fact i am fusing two recipes and trying something , will talk about it once its done. Will try and keep the flavors simple though.  Thank you Donna Hay for enriching my life some more and Anjali for introducing me to her.

Butter chicken

Butter chicken as promised............The way i do it.

What you need.

Chicken 1.2 kg with bone or bone less as per your choice.
2 large onions.
250 grams tomato
a couple of spoons of curd.
Kashmiri red chilli
red chillis.
green chillies.
melon seeds 1tbsp
Fresh cream200 gms
Coriander seeds 1 1/2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1 1/2 tbsp
1/2 spoon turmeric 
Ginger 1 inch
Garlic 10 cloves.
1 tbsp garam masala powder.
Dried Fenugreek leaves 2 tbsp
Boiled egg and cherries to garnish
Salt to taste.

In a blender beat the curd with Kashmiri red chillies and marinate the chicken in it till you prepare the remaining ingredients for the curry. You can do it for longer , there are no strict rules.
Now chop the onions and fry it in butter/ Ghee till its really brown and the water in it has dried. take it off the flames and take a blender, add the onions , ginger , garlic, red chillies , green chillies, melon seeds, garam masala powder, turmeric, coriander seeds and cumin seeds to a fine paste. Now add this to the chicken and leave it for a bit , till you puree the tomatoes.
Now you are ready to cook. Take a heavy bottom pan, and add some butter/ Ghee to it. You can add some green chillies/ fennel seeds/ Cardamom/ Cloves either one a just a little of either two, reduce the heat and add the chicken with the marinade as well as the onion paste. cover and let it cook for a bit, do stir is occasionally to avoid the sticking to the pan.
After like say 10 minutes add the tomato puree (please make a fresh puree rather than a canned one). and cook till almost done. Add the salt now. Finally add the fresh cream and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the dried fenugreek and stir. Garnish with grated boiled eggs and cherries. Serve this with any kind of roti / paratha / butter pav /or even a good Basmati rice.

Note: Haven't mentioned the quantity of chillies as i do it as per taste. Try using green chillies when u make the paste. It brings with it a certain freshness. Also Kashmiri red chillies are for color rather than taste so dont be too apprehensive. You can add some powered Kashmiri red chillies if you feel the chicken is too white or yellow for the red texture.
Also if you don't like the feel of curd or do not have the time you needn't marinate it at all. Just prepare your paste and get on with the cooking. Its as good.

PS : this one is my own experimentation. and i keep playing around with the ingredients. I would suggest you do the same.

Go ahead ENJOY. My friends did so i am Glad .

Pasta ...........

Hey, I have had a couple of friends as house guests for over two weeks , and my life and house has been turned on its head, but i love it all since they are great people and lovely company to hang out with. Now that they are traveling for a shoot to Delhi i have actually had the time to share some of the happenings as well as a couple of recipes that i tried.

But lets first take it from the top, and the feeling of having people over when you stay alone. Its actually great people provided whoever is staying fits into your scheme of things and these guys were outstanding , no really i mean it , they are traveling now and i kind of miss not having them around. The two weeks were full on party time , of course i would mention alcohol, the only draw back was Smita fell ill for a good 5 days and that was a dampener , i am glad she is fine now since she looked pretty bad. Well in between all of this i did make some food. Pasta was on demand and i was tired after work so chose to do this really simple pasta.

What you need:

Pasta - cooked till AL -Dante
a couple of tomatoes
Basil
Cheese
Parsley
Garlic
Green chillies

Blend the tomato , basil , chilli and garlic. Take a pan and cook it for a bit say 7 -10 minutes. Then take the pasta add the sauce as per your taste whether you want it dry or running. Garnish with parsley and grated cheese.

P.S : i added the chilli to the tomato for a spicier taste. i also added broccoli , baby corn and mushroom for the vegetarian and sausages for the non -Veggis. You can add whatever meat you like as per your taste. Bacon goes really well, so does boiled chicken.

Note: this recipe is courtesy some show i was watching on TLC. Tastes pretty OK.

 I also did make butter chicken. That's coming up soon, you guys will love that.

Deja Vu

Last week was a great one after a really long time , professionally as well as personally. I was traveling to Delhi for work and of course had decided to spend the weekend there, so there was lots of handwork followed by lots of alcohol and friends. OK i would like to reiterate my point WE ARE NOT ALCOHOLICS, but then friends and alcohol is a combination you don't get too often.

Professionally too it turned out to be a week of achievements , primarily because one of my clients who everyone considered was going to default for over a year of payment , ended up paying the entire amount and my boss who was convinced that they were going to 'latkao' me , now owes me a dinner. Cant be lunch you see, i don't drink during work hours.:-)

There was a lot of work for sure to be done and back to back meetings but come Saturday and it was party time. Shailja and Manas , my ever so endearing friends and hosts once again were welcoming all our friends to come over to their place and hand with us. They have been married some months now and are still in the process of home building and were missing the key ingredient to it, a Sofa in the living space. So come Saturday morning once Manas headed out for some work Jazz (hate bosses who keep useless leadership meetings on a Saturday) , Shailja and me set out to buy a 3 seater for the living room , what we ended up coming back with was a full set of Sofa and believe you me it was very smart. Manas was left with no option but to smile and say very nice , the brat did like it though. Food of course was left to me to cater to and i didn't want to be cooking when everyone was over so thought will fix them some Chicken Thai red curry and Steam rice for dinner for the drinking bit was over.

Here is what i did .

• Chicken 2 full (these guys are good eaters) ; small pieces , as your butcher to make it like chilli chicken pieces and he will.
• 4 Good stalks of lemon Grass
• A bunch of kafir lime leaves
• a big piece of galangal ( Alternative : ginger)
• Red chillies for taste and color
• Fish Sauce as per tolerance of your guests.
• Few pealed garlic say 7 or 8
• A bunch of Basil leaves.
• Coconut milk. 3 cups ( i always taste and judge)

Take all the ingredients except the chicken and mix in a blender or Mortar and Pestle. Mix this paste to the chicken. (No need to leave aside for a while . You can cook right away). Take a pan add some oil to it and to the oil add a couple of Kafir lime leaves , once the leaves are completely crisp remove it from the oil (this gives the oil a lemony zing and a good smell). Add the chicken and cover and cook till almost done. You can check the seasoning in between, of course add some salt, and you can add Kashmiri red Chilli for the red color and slight bitterness,(i add green chillies while blending for the spice). Once the chicken is almost done , add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a few minutes. Garnish with lime leaves / Basil and serve immediately.

You can also add vegetables to the chicken. I had sauteed Zucchini , Eggplant, mushrooms and Baby corn and added to the same. People loved the vegetables along with the chicken.

The food was polished off with almost nothing left for me to eat , and hey i was a guest there ! Anyways, its always a pleasure to watch people enjoy the food you have put your heart into. A lovely trip, an eye opener as well to an extent and i have my reasons for it but ya ..... It felt Surreal even like i said a deja vu.

*Recipe courtesy TLC