Coconut Chicken Soup; Tom Khai Kai

Bangkok is a very interesting city. It reeks of a character which tells stories. To me the word vibrant best describes it. It is truly like the capital of a kingdom. There is something ancient about the feel of the place inspite of the very modern malls. There is a sense of mystery in the air. As though everyone and everything has a secret. 

When Molly and Rahul lived in Bangkok we used to visit them often. Molly would research very seriously and discover little corners of food haven and we used to eagerly patronise them. Eat with gusto and discuss the dishes for hours. Till the next hop to a new place, on the same day. We visited with cousins, with friends and just ourselves. Bumped into other friends from Mumbai and delighted over that too. On the first evening that we would land her cook would toss up the best ever phad thai noodles. Thai food was always a favourite. But these trips took the experience to another level. Restaurants-small and big, food courts, streets, take-homes; food everywhere was always delicious. In Bangkok and in the islands and mountains all around. 

Bringing to you one such peek today. A delicious Thai soup, tom kha kai. My version of it.

I used about 200 ml chicken stock and 200 ml of coconut milk. Pour both in a large bowl. Add one inch of Galangal sliced in pieces, 10 peppercorns, 3 Kaffir lime leaves and the stalk of one lemon grass leaf. I usually bruise the stalk and add it. This should simmer for a good ten minutes in low heat. Then allow it to cool and strain it. Keep the broth in a bowl. 

Chop 8 button mushrooms in thick slices. Slice 6 baby corns lengthwise making 3 strips from each. Take about 250 grams boiled chicken and make semi thick boneless pieces. I also took a bunch of spring onions and chopped them into smallish bits. Add all of this to the broth and set to simmer. 

In 5 minutes or so, add 1 more Kaffir lime leaf, 3-4 tbsp fish sauce and 3 tsp soy sauce. I did not add any salt as the fish sauce is salty. Now juice in one lime. Finely chop 2 bird eye chillies and spice up the broth. If you like spicy, take 3 of them but not more. Garnish with coriander leaves. 

I served it for dinner last night with a bowl of rice in the soup and made it a one pot. Feedback from self designated food critiquing teenager; this dish is 'creative'.......

Lemon Parsley Smoked Paprika Chicken

Today I tossed up a lemon parsley smoked paprika chicken. But first let me tell you about my friend Shirin's mom who lives in Bayswater, London on top of a Waitrose store. Everything about Aunty Krishna is a sweet picture. At mid eighty she remains spirited and keeps a quaint little flat. There are cheerful flowers at her window. An aged but not worn out throw on her couch. Vintage-d coffee mugs brighten up her open kitchen. Carefully chosen art gifted by her son-in-law and some family pictures hang on her walls each narrating a memory. A tall umbrella which doubles up as her walking stick stands where it is supposed to stand as eager to step out once in a while as she is.

I really like aunty. I suspect she likes me too. After we were treated to a sumptuous breakfast and coffee, she called Jeet, my husband into the kitchen and made him stand on a stool to reach up to a shelf high up. Out came a breathtaking gold guilded fruit bowl with matching ashtrays. I welled up. She said she wanted me to have it, her shopping from her first ever trip the the Self-ridges. It is today one of my prized possessions. 

This recipe I dedicate to aunty. Also because the smoked paprika I have used is a recent gift from Shirin who I think has picked it up from Krishna aunty's grocer below, Waitrose, the store which treats her to a coffee everyday. 

I used the breast on the bone pieces of chicken. To eight of these I applied salt, coarse home ground pepper and smoked paprika. I gently massaged the chicken with these three spices and set it aside for a good one hour. In the meantime please par boil 10 odd sweet potato chunks with a dash of salt. Leave the dark pink skin on the chunks. 

In a glass of about 100 ml milk dissolve a tsp of flour. I used whole wheat flour.

In another glass, take a 100 ml of chicken stock. Fresh is fine. I used the bullion that Meenu gets me. I must add that Meenu whom I have become friends with through Shirin is my star attraction in London now. I shall talk about her gorgeous Wembley home lined with large roses and a welcoming warm lasagna in another post. 

Time to cook. Take a non stick wok and brush some olive oil. Pan grill the chicken till golden on both sides. Picture below shows you the colour you should look for. While doing so flavour by throwing in 2 sprigs of parsley. Take out the pieces and place the potatoes in the same wok. Grill on all sides for a minute each and add the milk and the stock. Keep your flame at low-medium heat. Now toss in about 10 odd French beans snipped at their two ends. In another 2 minutes, slowly place the chicken pieces into the wok. Add the zest of one lemon and slice the same lime to add to the gravy. I did not add any salt because my stock was salty. Cover the wok and allow the broth to simmer. In 5 minutes, please check if a cooking needle sears through the chicken easily. 

Serve with brown rice. 

Khandvi Salad

Often we have Indian food on a menu and we are racking our brains for an accompanying salad. Cucumber-tomato-onion-coriander leaves finely chopped or "cuchumbur" seems to be the only option. Then it seems so hackneyed. Yet so refreshing, so classic. But then there is something a bit daily about it. Recently, Sharoon messaged that she had been served an interesting salad at a party and very generously she shared the recipe.

Sharoon enjoys the whole idea called 'food'. A full time corporate careerist and mom, she still finds the time to hunt for recipes, attend cooking classes, plan a cook-along on her trips, visit produce markets, write food books, and of course cook up dishes. I often get a food query, a clarification question from her. And I also often get valuable ideas and suggestions. There are people who live to eat and those who eat to live. Sharoon is clearly a live to eat person. Cheers to that!

Cheers to this recipe too! I served this at a recent home party. Everybody loved it. So, I am sharing a recipe which served 20 odd people. Please adjust proportions when you try to make it.

I took 3 large carrots. Peeled and washed them. Next you have to grate the carrot. Also, wash a medium sized green cabbage and grate it. Then clean a bundle of coriander leaves and chop finely. De-seed 2 green chillies and chop finely. Take 2 limes and juice them. You will also need half a cup of salted peanuts, each peanut needs to be halved longitudinally.

In a warm walk, pour in 11/2 tsp oil. In a minute add a tsp black mustard seeds and about 15 curry leaves. To this add 1 tsp salt and the peanuts. In another minute toss in the vegetables. Stir fry. Add the chillies and the coriander leaves. Toss and stir. Time for lime juice. Mix.

Take about 2 packets of Khandvi and cut them in thin slices. Add to the salad. the Khandvi usually has some seasoning on its body, please use them too. Taste for salt and tang check.

Serve warm or cold. Both taste as good. 

Chilli Prawn Oil

Bengalis are less divided by caste or economic standing than they are by being 'Bangaal' or 'Ghoti'. There is no SOBO vs Suberb or NCR vs New Delhi positioning in people's minds in Kolkata. But there is this refugee from East Bengal even if the family has crossed borders before 1947 versus the homegrown gentry from West Bengal classification which creeps into every introduction. The two aquatic stalwarts which gained brand position to keep the war flag furling are 'Hilsa fish' alias 'Ilish maach' and 'Tiger prawns' alias 'Chingri maach'. 'Bangaals' eat 'Ilish'; 'Ghotis' patronise 'Chingri'. Because the banter in the 20th century is innocuous and because the Bengali person always overeats, everyone eats everything equally delightedly namely 'Ilish', 'Chingri', 'Paapda', 'Rui', 'Bhetki' and more.....

'Ilish" is a seasonal fish. The first recipe which is tried out with the first coveted catch or buy of the year is 'Ilish-er Tel' which is like a flavoured chilli oil. This is mixed with a small portion of rice and this constitutes the first few mouthfuls of the 'Ilish' celebration for the year.

My mother refused to be defeated by seasonality. Why should she have 'maacher-tel' only and only when river Padma bestowes her blessings on us. She concocted a 'Chingri-er tel' coined for your convenience as 'Chilli prawn oil.'

This is what you do. Marinate about a kg of Tiger prawns with its head intact with salt, 11/2 tsp red chilli powder and 1 tsp turmeric powder. Keep it like this for atleast an hour and a half.

You will need about 6 odd fresh green chillies. Wash and slit them vertically through the centre. In about 4 to 5 tbsp mustard oil once warmed throw in the green chillies. Because they have been slit, they will not sputter and throw up sharp hot seeds. Keep the heat low. In a minute add 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 2 tsp red chilli powder. Within a minute pop in all the prawns and fry in medium heat on both sides for 2 to 3 minutes each. Keep a lid on while you do this. If you feel the oil has got used up, warm another tbsp of hot mustard oil and pour it in. In another minute you are ready. Taste for salt. Mix with white rice and have gold red rice with crunchy spicy prawn.

Ma cooks really well, she makes many prawn variations. But this one has completely won my husband's heart. And his stomach. Now even he who barely cooks has learnt to make this.

One last anecdote. My mom is a 'Bangaal' and my husband is a 'Ghoti'. I told you, the love of fish brings the two close. Not a Bengali for nothing. 

Chemeen Ularthiyathu

I can view stretch marks on my thighs….

Huh! What?

This came into my whatsapp inbox the other day. The lanky bordering on thin fifteen year old boy sent it to me just before his ICSE Biology paper.  From his room to mine.  Like that Beatles song, with love from me to you.

Do something! A diktat? Or a plea garbed as an instruction? Or an exasperated statement which actually was meant to be, I can view stretch marks on my thighs like you can……Possibly!

Ever since we are eating quinoa, grills, smoothies interspersed with crisps and an occasional chocolate. Occasional has had a change of definition from once in a while to everyday.  The mother of course does not work for Frito Lay. Nor for Lindt for that matter, So she cannot be allowed any lee ways. No short routes for us. Health is the new flavor of delish in the kitchen. Thus happened Naachni Dosas or millet crepes with a St. Thomas Christian Prawn dish called ‘Chemeen Ularthiyathu’.

The millet dosa batter came in a packet.  I am bothering only with recipe of the fresh sauted prawn masala. Works?

Prep work would be to soak 5 dried Kokum fruits in a cup of warm water at least an hour before you begin to cook.

For a kilo of Prawns, cleaned, tailed and beheaded, take about fifteen to twenty curry leaves, two large red onions and a tsp of mustard seeds. I prefer the black ones for this recipe. Slice the onions. In a warm wok, pour in about one and a half tsp oil and allow it to warm. Spoon in the mustard seeds and when they start crackling add the onions and the curry leaves. Fry till the onions turn brownish pink. Set this aside.

We Bengalis fry all our fish. Most of them for sure. So I lightly coated the prawns with salt, turmeric and chilli powder and sauted the prawns for a couple of minutes. If they released a little water I allowed them to be sunk in that water. Down in Kerala they would leave the prawns untarnished.

In a thick bottom deep dish I ladled in the prawn with its water and the Kokum with its water. Now finely chop an inch of ginger and four pods of garlic and add both to the deep dish. Slit four green chillies, cut half a coconut in half inch long and one forth inch thick pieces and take a cup of hot water. All of this goes into the deep dish. Season with a tsp of chilli powder, half a tsp of turmeric powder and salt to season. Mix well and set the dish on heat. Cook until most of the water evaporates and the prawns get cooked till tender, Add the onion mustard curry leaf seasoning to this and toss well for two more minutes.

Remove from fire. Serve hot. As I said millet dosas make a perfect partner.

  

Mango Chilli Fish

This morning Jeet was informing us about the leadership session talks that he enjoyed last evening at a media event. Daniel Pink, Gary Kristen, Prahlad Kakkad....discussions, anecdotes, cook-alongs were the topics in the flow of the conversation. It somehow meandered to a debate on overcoming fears, the why and how of it. Of course, first came the what. Snakes, heights, insects, staying home alone in the night seem to be the family favourites. Aayush argued with me that we must confront the fear, challenge it and get over with it. I was being stubborn, said things like my fears are my right....I know I was quite misplaced. But I ain't confronting anything. Anyway, this was our break-talk today. 

So the word fear stayed. The theme of the thoughts also lightened, thank heavens(!) and I remembered another fear that I was grappling with. Apologies that I am trivialising the word, but this one is the fear that I will feel to call Debita one more time for this golden recipe of mango chilli fish. Next time, read as 11th time, I will not be given the recipe over the phone and hence I better record it for my sake. And for everybody's sake. Summer is almost here and it brings with it green-yellow-golden mangoes. I did spot a cart today. 

So, the recipe. Only because I am afraid of Debs rolling her eyes. and also because it is fabulous. 

Take about 10 fish fillets almost an inch and a half thick cut in rectangles. I recommend you use Beckty or Snapper. Wash well and marinate with salt, pepper and lime juice. Set aside for atleast an hour. 

Scoop the sweet and tangy flesh out of 2 large mangoes and blitz it. Make a regular tamarind chutney with salt, sugar, red dry chillies and cumin powder. You can make it and use for your "chaats". For this recipe you will need very little. 

Chop 1 large red onion finely. Also chop 11/2 inches of ginger into really thin slits. 

Back to the fish, beat an egg in a bowl and take some dry corn flour on the side. Warm a non stick wok, pour a tbsp oil. Egg wash each fillet, pat on corn flour on both sides and fry to a light crisp state. The fillets will acquire a sheen and a shine. Place them on a flat dish which has a slight edge.

Next in warm sesame oil, use 1 tbsp, lightly fry the onion until pink and add the mango pulp. In the next and a half minute add the ginger. Once it simmers gently pour in 2 tsp of the tamarind chutney. Season with salt and spice with red chilli flakes. Keep the sauce handy. 

Just about 10 minutes before serving warm the two separately and pour the sauce on the fish. Let it sit and soak for 10 to 12 minutes and serve. 

Everybody will want to lick their fingers. I kid you not.

Mexican Quinoa Salad

In the last decade the magic called the secret of the universe became popular. The secret, a hugely published one, and thank God for that, said that if you wish for something earnestly and expressed it to the universe, then the players and the powers of the universe will make it happen for you. We saw this in motivation power point slides. We read it as Rhonda Byrne wrote it. We heard Sharukh Khan say it in cinema. Melodramatically presenting, this came true for me too. I was keen on joining a Book Club and a little ardent-to-learn-cooking client's mom just by chance invited me to one. It has been a pleasure ever since.

I met this talented, artistic and sophisticated painter in the club. The first attribute which attracted me was they she hardly ever wore make-up. Do not get me wrong. I love lipsticks and coloured eye pencils. But I dig faces which can leave home glowing with no brush or puff or stick that has touched them. Hey Universe, hope you are listening... Mansi Gupta spoke about her penchant for painting, jewelry designing and writing poetry on the first day we met. No, we were not digressing from our scheduled discussion. We were yet to pick a book that day. She also said that she was learning finance for non finance to be able to work in her family business. Bam! Another reason to get impressed. Passionate towards all that is artistic and yet jumped in to hold realistic reigns.

All of the above. And a lunch invitation to the serene Juhu home where her unique understanding of Shiva and Shakti hung on the walls. Dressed in ivory sans make-up, needless to add, adjusting to all our time schedules, she served us a beautifully hand crafted meal, presented as deliciously as it was cooked. The Mexican quinoa salad stole hearts. Lucky for us, she has permitted to share the recipe which she has learnt from somewhere and improvised on a bit.

Take two cups of quinoa and boil it. This will serve a large group of about ten. Boil with four cups of water like you would boil rice. Drain out the water and leave it till it becomes a bit springy. Chop into smallish bits one red and one yellow bell pepper. Do the same to one large red onion. Boil a cup of corn and finely chop a fist bundle of coriander leaves. Wash well six odd stalks of spring onion and chop like you do for Chinese food using the green and the white of them. Also chop 2 medium sized tomatoes. Finally take a tin of black beans, I like to use the brand 'Epicure', strain well. Now mix it all together. Add salt, lemon juice and finely chopped green chillies to season.

I recommend that you make it maybe 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with roughly crushed roasted soya chips.

It is nourishing. It is colourful. It is warm and fuzzy. Of course, it is delicious!

Thanks Mansi. Thanks Nishka.