Category Archives: Cooking indian

Cooking indian

Moilee

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this is a creamy coconutty sauce that’s traditional with fish. We can also use it with prawns.

But tomorrow I’m doing this for my friend Gautam Kotwal ,with crabmeat wontons/ravioli.

That recipe is for another time though. Today we just make the sauce. or rather you make the sauce and can add some fish or prawns to cook in the sauce.

Oil -15ml.

Mustard seeds-1/4tsp about 1g

Onion brown/ yellow depending on the country you are in just not red -1 medium sized one about 200g.

Curry leaves -fresh only please 1sprig

Asafoetida/hing -small pinch.

Green chilli- 1-2 slit length wise.

Ginger – 1 small piece maybe 5 g sliced vey thin or cut in julienne

  • Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds until they crackle.
  • Add in everything else on list above and saute till onion is transparent, do not brown.
  • Then add in half a tin of coconut cream or 3/4 of a full one (400 g) usually and a pinch of turmeric , and salt.
  • Simmer with pescado/ fish for those of you who do not speak spanish of your choice and eat with rice , appams or thick dosas( there is recipe for that here).

Turmeric- pinch

Coconut cream -1 can – use maybe 3/4th. hard to say without seeing how good your coconut cream is.

Salt – to make bland things better and increase your blood pressure if you eat too much

Cooking indian

Chicken or not 65

This i first ate on the streets on Hyderabad, and was great as a starter, snack to munch on. This is my version of it..

Make a fritter batter with
flour -25 g
cornflour – 40 g
chicken stock powder- 2 g/ ½ tsp
pepper – .5 gm ¼ tsp
water .. to form a thin batter
Paprika- 5 g/1 tsp
.Mix with raw sliced chicken/ paneer/ canned baby corn or mushroom, approximately 250 g , and deep fry…we never said was going to be healthy.

Then
Heat 10 ml oil add some curry leaf ,1 sprig
sliced chili – ½ or more if you want to be a fire breather
and chilli powder. -5 g/ 1 tsp
Whisk
yoghurt -1T/ 25 g
coriander -½ t/ 2 g
cumin powder – ¼ t/ 1 g
Ginger and garlic paste- 10 g/ 2 t

Add to the curry leaf and chilli mix and saute with the fritters till dry and coated with the mix..

Garnish with crunchy spring onions.

Best eaten with warm beer..yes i like warm beer.

Cooking indian

Ram Baan or

One ring to rule them all,
one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

After that rather theatrical name we must get down to brasstacks. The first part of the name comes from King Ram from the great indian Ramayan and baan the arrow or missile he used to vanquish the great demon / Rakshasa , Ravan. This term was used for a base onion and tomato gravy in my hotel company many many years back which used to go into allmost all the Indian food and thus the second part of the Tolkien title from the One Ring.

heres how we do it

oil -10 ml
butter15 gm
cumin -¼ tsp
cardamom green-2
cinnamon- 1 small pc

cloves 2-3
Heat oil, add butter and whole spices
then add 500 gms chopped onions and saute on low heat till light brown.
Add ¼ tsp coriander pdr, 1/8tsp cumin powder, pinch turmeric powder.
Add in about 20 gms of ginger and garlic paste. continue to saute.
Add in 400 gm tin of chopped tomatoes , and slow cook till the oil starts to separate out.

Cooking indian, Cooking international

Barbacoa with roasted coconut and chettinad spice rub

This version of meat comes from a transmogrified version of a Barbacoa, but flavoured with traditional south Indian spice mix where they would shudder at the mere thought of the holy cow tainting the spices .Never mind the fact that the neighbouring state Kerala has plenty of Beef Pepper fry .

But never mind we must go boldly where no man has gone before . We will then take it further and serve this rich spice laden stupedous concoction and put it in a bao or a sourdough bun or even a dosa .Our recipe serves 4 hungry people or more if you only serve it as finger food

Beef rump or similar-600 g
For the marinade
Yoghurt- 2 TB/55 gms approximately
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp , 2 gms
Ginger and Garlic paste- 2 t /10 gms
Salt- 1
For the gravy
Oil- 1T /20 gm
Curry leaves- 1 sprig/ 1 gms
green chilli- 2 ea/ 5 gms
Onions brown peeled and chopped-250 gms
Tomato crushed/ Tomato passata – 75 gms
coriander powder- 1 t/ 5gm
cumin powder- 1/2 t / 2 gm
chipotle chilli – 5 gms-
coconut cream- 100 ml
For the dry spice mix
Cardamom green- 3 ea
Cloves- 2
cinnamon stick – 1 small
Bayleaf- 1/2- The indian bayleaf is actually a cassia cinnamon leaf called tej patta, if you dont have that then use bay,
dessicated coconut- 1T/ 15 gms
peppercorns- 8-10
star anise/anasi poo- 1/2
fennel seeds- 1/2 t
Dagadphool/Kalpasi- 1-2 gms this gives it a unique aroma
Toast all in the microwave and then grind to a coarse mix
Method.
Marinate beef, ideally overnight, if pressed for time then atleast a few hours.
for the gravy, heat oil add curry leaves , and green chilli and then the chopped onions, sand saute till brown
add the powder spices and tomato and cook till the oil starts to separate from the mix.

Garnish with toasted sliced coconut ..

Cooking indian

Sabudana khichdi

Sabudana khichdi This is a very traditional breakfast food, served in Maharashtra , and made usually by the ” Bamans/Bramhins”. Luckily i was half of one so got to taste this delicacy many a time as a child. The sago or tapioca pearls are made from the sap of the tapioca,( Dont ask me how, because i have never researched that).

To date there are several tradional eateries in my town of Pune, where this is served only once or twice a week, depending on their menu or when it used to served as a fasting food.Some oof those places like ” Sri Uphaar Gruha”, maintain their tradition.Another place where i would eat this a lot was at Deccan Gymkhana Tennis Club, where an old guy called Appa was running their canteen. 2018 when i went to look alas, the whole place had changed

  1. and the canteen disappeared. Even Sri Uphaar gruha had moved from its share a bench with some unknown stranger and only 15 seat capacity to just down the road in a more spacious place. Fortunately the food was still good

Ok before we meander too much lets get back to the job in hand .

  • Sago/ Sabudana pearls(large sized )- 200 gm/ approx 1 cup
  • peanuts shelled, peeled roasted – 2 T/ 40 g
  • Green chilli- 1 medium
  • Potato 1 medium(125 g or so ) cooked and peeled
  • Salt to taste
  • Sugar- to taste
  • cumin / jeera seeds- 3 gm/ 1 t
  • Ghee/ clarified butter- 10 g/ 2t
  • Oil- 10 g/ 2 t

The pre preparation starts the night before, when you soak or just wash the sago pearls. What i like to do is just wash in a strainer and wash a few more times after and they will swell up./Alternately you can also soak with the barest minimum water to just come up to the surface level of the pearls in a bowl.Beware too much water and the tapioca starch in it will make it into a sticky yucky gooey mess. Practise and experience helps.

The next morning the soaked pearls should be swelled up and easy to separate not clumped up. To the sago we add crushed peanut+chilli which we blitzkrieg together in the blender. ( Not too fine mind it , we like some texture in it).We also add salt and some sugar to taste. its not a sweet dessert so the sugar is just to balance the chilli and make it oomph.

Heat the oil and ghee and add the cumin, cook it till turns browner but not burnt then add the cubes of potato and saute them till they are coated and not very mushy. The next step is crucial too to ensure you dont get stodgy khichdi.

Add in sago mix and stir very lightly.keep on a medium/ low heat and cover just for a minute. you might need to add more oil/ ghee .Any longer and the pearls over burst and get mushy, we just want them translucent and slightly sticking to each other.

Garnish with chopped coriander and shredded coconut and or cucumber and yoghurt relish and sing an ode to ye olde masters Appa..