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.
I call this my Monday Magic recipe. You have done the groceries last weekend and you don't want to step out to buy stuff until Friday. The family wants something delicious and new, 'new' being the operative word here. You don't have much time on your hands and you need already-at-home ingredients.
I give you a magical solution dear chicken likers.
Marinate a kilo chicken on the bone because bones emit a juicy flavour with ginger, garlic and coriander paste seasoned with salt and chilli powder and sour curd and set aside for 6 hours. For the paste you should take 1 inch ginger, 6 pods garlic and a fistful bunch of coriander leaves with stalks. The sour curd quantity will be 200 grams.
Finely chop 4 onions.
In a wok, heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp ghee. To this pool throw in 2/3 cloves, 5/6 peppercorns, 2/3 green cardamom and 2 dried bay leaves. In less than a minute add the onions and let them turn brown. Next just add the whole chicken with the marinade. Stir and mix well. Cover with a lid at medium heat. The chicken should cook in its own juices. Please don't add anything, no water at all. Keep removing the lid and stirring every now and then. Once the chicken is soft add 1/2 tsp 'garam masala'(can be store bought at an Indian store for those living abroad) and increase the heat. Just toss it around for another long minute.
You will serve delicious, juicy, tangy, kicky chicken to the lucky eaters. I bet you they will bless you!
Calling out to vegetable lovers. A subtle wholesome delicate vegetable gravy making you feel as though you are walking through vast fields under a blue sky. It could be a bright summer day or a comforting winter afternoon. Sweetness from fresh vegetables combined with piquancy from fragrant spices creates a mystical nuance. Mother taught me this recipe over one recent long phone call. Must remember to pat her on this one. Like many before.
Take 2 drumsticks, clean the unnecessary threads from the sides and cut them in 2 inch lengths. Next take 250 grams sweet pumpkin and cut in cubes. Also add about 2 ridge gourds, scrape the sides and cut them into chunks.
Fry 3 red chillies in a tsp warm oil. Grind into paste when cool. Take 2 tsp nigella seeds and make a paste with half tsp water. Keep aside.
In a tsp ghee, add a tsp of the following mix of spices - fenugreek, fennel, nigella, cumin and black mustard seeds. In Bengal this is a backbone spice always stored in a jar and called 'Paanch Phoron'. Once the seeds sputter, grate an inch of ginger root. In another minute add all the vegetable and add salt to season. In another 2-3 minutes pour in a cup of warm water. Let the vegetables cook and the gravy simmer. Season with a dash of sugar, the red dry chilly paste and the nigella paste. In another minute the dish is done.
Steam some white rice. Enjoy with the fragrant vegetable gravy.
When we were little girls, the pretty girl in the class was supposed to be snobbish or unkind or immodest or just not nice. Sour grapes of course. It took a few years and a few pretty women to lend grace and maturity to my growing out of this bias. Sigh! One such pretty woman is my friend Resh. Reshma is gorgeous. We hung out a lot in my Bandra days. My discerning hubby would know instantly that I was with her from my exceptionally sweet tone over the phone Ha ha! This is Reshma's always lilting influence on others and this is also too many years of marital know-it-all!
Reshma loves aqua colours. She bakes beautifully. She hand paints and restore furniture which most often she transforms into aqua hues. She makes artistic cushion covers. She never gets angry. She loves living in a joint family. She is a superb mom to two beautiful girls. And every single thing around her is pretty. And I wish she would give us her homemade 'choles' as Diwali gifts which we could freeze for 40 days!
So is this recipe of lemon pound cake which she taught me during my tea cake bazaar last year. It is luscious lemony and lilting!
You will need 5 eggs, 200 grams unsalted butter, 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of shortening which can be vegetable oil, 1 level tbsp baking powder, 1/4th tsp salt, 1 cup of milk, 3 level or less cups of sugar, 6 tbsp lime juice and grated rind of 11/2 lime(if the lime is large then use 1 only).
In a bowl, beat with an electric whisk the butter, shortening and sugar and allow it to soften and be smooth and creamy. In about 5-6 minutes of beating, add 1 egg at a time beating constantly. This means add an egg and beat for 2 mins and only then add the next egg and repeat.
In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt and after mixing with a dry spoon pass through a sieve.
Now reduce your beater speed to medium low.
Add a bit of milk, beat for a minute. Next add a part of the dry mix and beat again. Repeat this in similar steps with the milk going in the last. You batter is creamy and soft now.
With a cake spatula fold in well after now adding the lime juice and rind. Pour onto a prepared cake tin. Bake at 150-160 degrees for 40 minutes. The baking time changes from oven to oven. A needle prick will help you decide if the cake is baked well.
Brew some tea. Cut a slice of lemon pound cake. Reach heaven.
I find it rather cute that the word casserole can apply to the dish in which it is cooked and also to the dish itself. The container meaning is that it is cooked in or on an oven and also used for serving. The dish meaning is that it is a stew which is slow cooked. I know everyone knows all this, but it is fun to write.
For this recipe of a fish casserole, I had about 10 one inch thick fillets of Beckty. Red snapper or cod will do well too. Wash the fish well. marinade with salt, fresh pepper powder and lime juice. I marinated for about 6 hours.
Make about a cup of usual vegetable stock.
At the the time of cooking, peel, wash and cut chunkily about 2 red carrots. Slice finely 2 red onions. In a tbsp warm meted butter add 2 bay leaves and the onions and allow them to turn transparent and pink. To this add the carrot. season with salt and pepper remembering that you had coated the same seasoning onto the fish. After about 2 minutes add the vegetable stock cover with a lid and let it simmer for 10 minutes. take the lid off and gently place the fish in one by one. The cooking time will now be only 4 minutes. The fish will become soft and creamy. Add to teh fragrance with a sprig of thyme and dramatise with a spoon of capers. In this picture, I added parsley instead of thyme, but please keep thyme handy. Works better.
Your fish casserole is ready to enjoy. The flavours are subtle, gentle and romantic. Bread will be a perfect accompaniment.
