I was watching an episode of Luke Nguyen's Vietnam. This recipe fascinated me. It was like being in the lanes of Hanoi all over again. Shopping for little nothings from quaint corners, buying local art with the blazing red eye catching flowers on canvases everywhere, sitting to eat on really low plastic chairs and thanking the heavens with every intake of the brilliant textures of quail-squid-clams-what not, hearing the shrill sweet noises of rubber horns on local rickshaws, drooling over innumerable mugs from the romantic coffee repertoire, and wanting to eat more and more and everything that was on display at every street joint. Yes, Vietnam wins hands-down amongst many destinations that I have been lucky to visit and a re-visit with girlfriends is now on the bucket list. Who wants to come with me? You can enlist only and only if you are a lover everything that is delicious.
Back to my recipe. I could not remember all the steps that the brilliant chef was showing on telly and I also would not be ambitious to recreate his version because his essential ingredient was fresh green little bunches of peppercorns which he plucked from trees in a pepper plantation. This lucky act of cooking amidst the green under the liquid blue sky on a rustic stove itself I am sure will make his creation top class. But try my version that I share with you from my black and white modern kitchen in Mumbai. My recipe is a take-off from his with my own twists in it.
I used a kilo of chicken on the bone. Wash it well and marinate with about 4 pods of crushed garlic, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and about 20 pearls of roughly crushed peppercorns. Keep it overnight.
Also remember to source 1 large tender coconut with abundant water in it. Dice 1 tomato. Keep ready half an inch of 'galangal' and bruise it. Also keep ready a sprig of lemon grass. I like to use 4 or 5 red bird eye chillies for the recipe.
On the day of cooking which is the next day, shallow fry the chicken making both sides burnt golden. Slice 1 red onion and take 4 or 5 pink shallots. Side-wise make slant cuts of 6 or 7 baby corn tubes.
In a warm wok, add the chicken along with the pan oil, the baby corn, the onions, the shallot, the 'galangal', salt to taste, 2 tsp freshly ground pepper powder, the bird chillies and the tomato. Toss everything in the heat for 3 minutes at high flame. Now is the refreshing addition to the recipe. Pour in the whole coconut water and bring to a boil. Toss in the lemon grass and allow the chicken to simmer at medium heat for a good 10-12 minutes till it softens. Pierce the meat to ensure it is soft. Add about 3 tsp full fish sauce.
Pour on sticky rice or brown rice and dig in while it is fresh from the wok. Delicacy...sublimity..., sophistication.... rich sweetness.......peppery sharpness - these are the sensations which will overwhelm you.
What if Vishnu avatar Parasurama had not thrown his axe across the sea from Konkan to Kanyakumari? Would we still have Kerala? A land of temples, churches and mosques? Is that really why it is considered as God's own country. I would like to believe that pristine beaches, emerald backwaters, dense forests, exotic wildlife, deep rooted cultures, jeweled lagoons and bays, long river networks and mind blowing food is what win the state its name. I have not seen enough. But I have seen enough to believe in the miracle called Kerala.
Even before that I met Angela. She was recruited just before me or maybe even earlier in the Customer Service team at Standard Chartered credit cards, Bangalore. Our work was intense and chaotic. We would vacillate between fire-fighting and crisis management. Lunch breaks were treasured moments. We would share our lunch boxes. She was lucky. Her mom packed her food. Often she would get the Erachi Varattiyathu aka the Kerala beef fry and I would partake of this hand-created bliss and reach heavens or maybe God's own country itself!
Beef is not available here any more. So I tried the recipe with mutton. I recommend you use beef and that you use the boneless variety. Rest, just follow this recipe. It is bang-on.
For this recipe, I used half kilo mutton as in lamb and I kept it on the bone. So, first steps would be that in a pressure cooker you boil the mutton with one red onion sliced, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, salt to season, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 3 cups water. Allow about 6- 7 whistles. The meat should cook well.
Take 1/4 of a dry coconut. Slice them. Fry them till golden. Set aside. Take a hand full of fresh curry leaves. Set aside too.
Take 2 tbsp broken cashew and grind into a paste with a tad bit of water.
Now take about 2 red onions and slice them long. Fry them till pink. Add 2 slit green chillies and half the above curry leaves. Toss for 2 minutes.
To this add 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste. Next add cashew paste. Stir for 2 mins in low heat. Add chilli powder depending upon your taste remembering that it is a spicy preparation, 2 tsp coriander powder and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. Suate well.
Chop one large tomato into medium small pieces. Add to the above wok. When you do this increase the heat to high flame. Stir well so that the mix does not stick to the surface of the wok.
I added the meat now with about a cup of the water it was boiled in. Blend everything in with your spatula. Season with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 to 1 tsp freshly ground fennel powder and 1/2 tsp pepper powder. I also poured in 1 tsp white vinegar now for acidity. Cover and keep at low heat now for the meat to roast.
In about 5 minutes, add the fried coconut slivers, the rest of the curry leaves and some freshly chopped coriander leaves. The final colour will be a delicious blackish brownish gold and the meat will be tender and well roasted.
Transfer to a dish. Enjoy with ghee rice or the traditional "puttu". I served it with plain crisp "dosas".
President H.W. Bush said broccoli tastes like medicine. In 1990 he banned the cooking of it in Air Force One. A slogan in 2002 by one produce company saying " broccoli and bush, we are both good for America" failed to change the president's mind about the ban. Wonder if he would have been re-elected had he eaten some broccoli.
I am sharing a broccoli recipe. It is indeed indo -western in its flavours. You will feel the sense when you have it. And I promise you even your Bush alike broccoli hating child will love this dish.
I learnt this recipe from Prajakti, my little ex neighbour who had made this for her mom in Kolhapur. For me to think that Prajakti is wedded and kidded itself is a lot to handle. Then to learn a recipe created by her is just too much. And too too lovely!
Take a mid size broccoli flower. Cut broccoli florets keeping a little bit if the stem. Blanch in hot water. Set aside.
In a small blender make a paste with 3 tbsp broken cashew nuts. I use broken ones to save some money. Blend this cashew paste with a cup of milk and about 2 tbsp fresh cream. Do the blending with a fork or a gentle hand whisk.
Grate about 1/2 an inch of ginger. In a pestle and mortar crush 6 pods garlic and 1 large green chilly. You can use a garlic crusher too. Chop a large red onion in long slices.
In warm 1 and a 1/2 oil lightly fry the ginger, garlic and chilly for 1/2 a minutes and toss the broccoli with a dash of salt. Make the green vegetable crisp and warm.
Separately again in 1 and a 1/2 tsp warm oil caramelize the onions till they are pink and crisp. Add the cashew-milk-cream mix. Gently blend in medium heat and season with salt and pepper or chilly flakes.
To serve place the broccoli on a plate and spoon on the sauce ensure generous coating of the green florets. Enjoy with multi grain bread or even as it is.
