With all my food there’s always a bit of a story or some witty banter or somesuch going on.

Makes it a more like a gripping potboiler with some hints of dark humour and stuff..Not embellished to be fictional but sometimes unbelievable and true.So our tale begins with the ubiquitous and humble samosa which is found anywhere in India . I worked once in a place where we sold the most expensive samosa in all Bombay..and it’s was priced so with good reason .Our restaurant part of the Oberoi airport services , had restaurants in all 3 of the airport terminals, NTB – new terminal building for all domestic private carriers,NDT- new domestic terminal and this was actually a newish building for Indian Airlines domestic flights and NIPT , new international passenger terminal or Sahar airport.

So I was posted there straight out of Oshm/Ocld the finishing school for Oberoi hotels where we went through boot camp of hotel chef life after finishing our Diploma in Hotel management.

So to cut a long story short I was posted to NIPT , the first and only graduate to go there and it was brutal .we would get 45 mins notice and had a to make a meal for 400 hungry passengers whos flight had been delayed.Thats a main meal we are talking about for smaller meals we would be cranking it out in 15-20 mins onwards ..LR ( light refreshment)meant one samosa and one sandwich triangle , so you would say Sheesh that’s easy why this guy is moaning so much. Ok so one night , I and one more commis chef made 1500 Lrs, and the breakfast for 500 . This is a kitchen with antiquated equipment and a walk in freezer which used to be +1-2 C.

I would work only night shifts when it used to busiest and we had two stalwarts who were out samosa production team Madhusudan Biswas ( who passed away unfortunately) and Keshav Ganguly. Approximately 1500 samosa made from scratch day in day out sometimes more..when we crossed the 3000+ mark we would sometimes order these from outside. When I landed there I had no clue what I was getting into..bright eyed and bushy tailed I was and soon had to get down to learning also from the more experienced guys even though technically I was their boss/ supervisor.

All the old guys there who I’m in touch with still remember samosas being cooked at all hours ..freakingly nightmarish..Ok time for a break

Ok Ok Here we go finally

Pastry/ outer cover

Flour -150 g

Whole wheat flour – 75 g

Fine semolina – 25 g

Baking powder-1 g

Ajwain seeds( carom ajowan) acts as an anti flatulent ..a small pinch lightly crushed between your fingers

Salt – approximately 5 g

Oil or fat- 35-40 g

Water – enough to form a semi stiff dough- approximately -125-150 g .This will largely depend on what kind of flour you guys are using.

• To make the dough you mix all the dry ingredients together very well ( it’s good to sieve the flour also to take out bits of plastic etc ..)
• Add the oil and 80%of the water and mix lightly .cover the dough and rest for about 15mins.then knead it well and add the water a bit at a time to make your stiff dough.if your dough is too soft won’t get crisp.
• Then rest again .this has to be rolled out and folded into a conical pyramid shape and then stuffed and then slow fried. A video will explain how that happens .Writing about it just won’t be good enough.

For the filling

• Potatoes boil and then peel and crush-150 GM’s( 2 medium sized ones)
• Green peas – 25 g/1 T
• Onion – 1 chopped /75 g
• Carrot -1/2 peeled and chopped 40 g
• Cauliflower – 50 g roughly chopped
• Coriander sprig- 2 washed and chopped
• Mint -1 sprig as above.
• Oil -25 g
• Cumin -1/4 t
• Fennel seeds-pinch
• Coriander powder-1/2 t
• Turmeric powder-1/4 t
• Red chilli powder-1/4 t
• Garam masala powder- pinch best if you make yourself.
• Lemon juice – 1/4 t
• Green chillies-1 or as many you can handle
• Ginger and garlic paste -1/2 t

Heat oil add cumin , saute the onion and then add the rest of the ingredients and saute till all vegetables are cooked . Reserve the herbs and lemon to add right in the end .

The most important bit is that it should be tasty so feel free to play with the ingredients and have fun while doing it..

Also slow fry so gets even shorter texture when U eat..enjoy with some green Coriander chutney or sweet tamarind one

22-Feb-07..first written in 2007 , then had to pull out all content because the site got hacked ..so decided to revive it

So we have this smart suave dude ,Rahul Ponappa, who’s now somewhere in the USA.Hes from Coorg in Karnataka,a smaller town in South western India which has a unique cuisine of their own.Pona as we used to call him was my batchmate in Oberoi hotels but a management trainee as opposed to me ,I was the kitchen trainee and was a great guy who also survived OSHM/OCLD, which was the boot camp like no other for our hotel company.

½ kg jungle mangoes (small and slightly ripened)

Masala 1:
Roast to a dark colour the following ingredients and
grind fine:
1 tablespoon jeera powder
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Masala 2:
2 tablespoon cooking oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
4-5 garlic chopped
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 ½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoon jaggery syrup

METHOD:

Skin the mango keep the skin in another bowl and add 200ml water.
Squeeze the skin of all the juices, keep liquid, throw out the
skin. Set aside.
The whole mango with seed, salt and chilli powder, put into a vessel
and cook on low flame.
Take a small shallow frying pan and heat the oil.
Season with mustard seeds, curry leaves and garlic.
Add the sliced onions and the ground masala, stir fry.
Add this to the mangoes in the vessel.
Now increase the flame to medium heat and cook for
1-2 minutes, adding the jaggery syrup.

Mix well and serve.

Mango curry goes well with white rice.

This is my take on a chicken chettinad or a south indian styled chicken curry. The chicken could be substituted with lamb or beef and then you need to make some adjustments for salt or spices, but more or less will work.What is key though it tasting, chilli in one part of the world might be a bit hotter than the other so its important to taste and experiment a little bit to get to what you will enjoy.

When i was a Chef Tutor, i trained some of my students, Simaranjit Singh and Shamika Ratnayke to make this for a live competiion and they won a gold medal and best in class.Now you go and win a medal from your family /friends.!!

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 t/5 gm

Chicken thigh skinless on the bone is preferred- 500 gms

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- yes its unusual to use a mexican smoked chilli but this gives it an amzing flavour profile. Substitute with smoked paprika if not possible to get chipotle

coconut cream- 200 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 chicken, ideally overnight, if pressed for time then atleaast 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.

Add in the marinated chicken and simmer for about 35 mins or so along with the coconut cream.Towards the end add in the dry spice mix and some chopped coriander.

Enjoy with malabar parathas or thick dosa or rice.

Ingredients for marination

650 gms lamb (with bone)

50 gm yoghurt /dahi

1/2 tsp turmeric /haldi

2 tsp chili powder (check spice heat )

1 green chilli, slit into 2 pcs

1 tbsp chopped coriander

1 tbsp chopped mint

1/2 tsp garam masala pwd , ( make your own it’s much better)

1 tsp.ginger garlic paste 

50 gm fried onion 

1 tsp salt

Marinate overnight

Wash and keep 300 gm long grain Basmati rice, remove water and keep for about 30 mins. You can do this before you start cooking lamb 

In a small bowl, take 30 ml hot water, put in half gm saffron, 1  teaspoon shahi jeera/royal cumin and 1/2 tsp kewda water.

Method 

•  In a clean pan, take 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp ghee
• Add 2 pieces cardamom, 1 small cinnamon stick (dalchini), 3-4 cloves(lavang), small piece star anise(chakriphool), small piece mace(javitri), 1 bay leaf(tejpatta), 1 big black cardamom (badi velchi). 
•  Add in 1 big onion (150 gm), finely chopped and fry till golden brown.
•  Add 2 tsp ginger garlic paste and 2 finely chopped tomato(150 gm or half a small can of crushed tomatoes )
•  Add 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, and fry the onion tomato masala nicely, let oil leave the sides of the pan. Keep on a low flame till done.
•  Next add marinated lamb and cook in the pressure cooker. don’t fully cook it, depends on your meat quality.. till the pressure builds up .
•  Once your lamb is done, transfer it into a pan. let it dry little bit.
• . Boil water in another pot, add salt and cook Basmati Rice till 1/3 to half done.
•  Drain the rice.
• . Deep fry potato cubes/pieces. I cut and cook in microwave for 2 mins before deep frying. Add the potato pieces to the lamb masala in the pan.
• Pour drained rice on top of the mutton. 
• 14. Pour over shahi jeera and saffron mixture on top.
• 15. Add on the top 1 tbsp fresh chopped mint, 1tbsp fresh chopped coriander 1 tbsp fried onion and 1 tbsp ghee.
• 16. Put a tight lid on and then leave on dum for about 10-15 mins max. Keep a heavy flat pan below this pot to prevent it from burning.
• you can replace the lamb with chicken and it will come out very well too,.
• You can shower me with mucho dollars/shekels/drachma /and i can make it for you..or teach you how to make it..