Khumb Masaledaar

A sleepy Sunday, with nothing much to do except cook some good food and look at yr sons create mayhem. The worst thing is to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, say 4 AM, to go for golf and suddenly check the messages that arrived post you hit the bed, to realize that none of your golfer buddies are going to be coming. With no sleep now, and a few hours to kill, kitchen happens to be the only retreat to hit. Precisely what I did this morning. Its a different story though that I slept for 5 hours post everyone getting up :)

Khumb Masaledaar

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 250 gms
Green Bell Pepper (Capsicum), diced - 1 No.
Onions - 2, made into a paste with 2 green chillies
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 3 Tblsp
Tomatoes - 3 made into a paste
Garam Masala Powder - 2 Tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 2 Tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 Tsp
Cloves - 1/2 Tsp
Cinnamon - 1 stick ( 1')
Cumin Seeds - 2 Tsp
Corriander Seeds - 2 Tsp
Black Peppercorns - 2 Tblsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 Tblsp
Yogurt - 3 Tblsp
Salt - To Taste
Oil - 3 Tblsp


Method: Pre-preparation:
1. Grind the whole spices. Keep aside.
Preparation:
1. Heat Oil in a pan.
2. Add in the onion, green chilli paste. Fry till the paste starts turning golden brown.
3. Add in the ginger garlic paste. cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add in all the masalas (spices). cook for 2-3 minutes or till masalas are done.
5. Add in the bell peppers.
6. Add in the tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add in the yogurt. Mix well.
8. Add in the mushrooms and the salt.
9. Add in a little water, if desired. Cook till mushrooms are done.
10. Serve hot.

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Going Bananas over Banana Bread

Last night in between breaks watching the Mumbai Indians post their third successive loss, I noticed a few bananas in the fruit basket, resting away peacefully, without a worry of being devoured. Infact they had been resting there for some time now…a few days only, but they were now very ripe and just the right to being mashed away into some banana bread.

Banana bread is a type of quick bread that uses baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast. Thus, it is also more of a cake. Also, unlike most breads where you end up making a dough and rest it, here you end up making a batter. All the more reason, of it being more of a cake.

The first banana bread was probably baked in America in early 1930’s and since then its popularity has only spread. It is now a staple of many breakfast cafes’ around the world and has so many variations right from Chocolate added to it, to nuts and other added fruits too.

I experimented with an easy recipe and wanted to have a banana bread which is less denser than what you find in the US or UK, and of a much softer, spongy cake like consistency (in other words, the kind my son loves).

Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cup sugar
1 ½ cups refined flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tsp Cinnamon powder
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
20 gms, Raisins, soaked in 30 ml Rum

Method

1. Mash the bananas in a bowl.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.

3. Preheat oven to 250°F.

4. Bake in a buttered loaf pan for 25 to 30 minutes (or until a toothpick stuck into the bread comes out clean)

5. Slice and serve.

Note : Quick breads are breads that use chemicals leavening agents, rather than yeast. Yeast requires some time to rise, and also the correct temperature, time etc., whereas Baking powder don’t require all the time, hence, the name.

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Paneer Makai ( Cottage Cheese with Corn)

This weekend has been crazy ....with the IPL starting, my evenings are more or less booked, sitting infront of the TV and following up matches.
When you have so much packed up into your schedule and yet want to cook, it calls for dishes that are easy to make, do not require a lot of preparation and delicious to have.
With paneer and American corn kernels being regulars in the fridge, this one was an obvious choice. Yet, it was none other than my spouse who ended up making this one up. Wonder if a variation with tofu instead of paneer with some more things like mushrooms, spring onions and red chilli powder thrown in, make it more killer than it is. Anyone willing to try that version out, do keep me posted on how it turns out.

Ingredients:
Cottage Cheese(Paneer) or Ricotta - 200 gm, cut into 1/2" cubes
Corn kernels ( the sweet corn) - 1 Cup
Bell Peppers, Red, Yellow, Green - 1 each, cut into juliennes
Cumin - 1 Tsp
Asafoetida ( Hing) - A pinch
Green Chillies, finely chopped, or Slit into 2 - 2 No.
Ginger, grated - 2 tsp
Oil - 4 Tblsp
Salt To Taste

Method:
1. Heat 2 Tblsp Oil in a wok. Saute the Bell Peppers and Cottage cheese/ricotta cubes till they are lightly browned. Remove and keep aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the same wok. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida.
3. When the cumin seeds start to crackle, add in the grated ginger and green chillies. Saute for half a minute.
4. Add in the corn kernels. Add in a cup of water and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a creamy consistency.
5. Add the sauteed bell peppers and cottage cheese/ricotta cubes. Mix well.
6. Serve hot garnished with chopped cilantro.

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Lachhedar Aloo - Tandoori Fare for the vegans

After my ode to butter chicken in my last post, I drift further up north and into the Pakistani territory to bring out some cuisine from there. My grandfather migrated to India after partition and left his house in Sialkot to establish himself in Delhi.

On my different visits to UK and US, one thing that came out very strongly was that a lot of Restaurants serving Indian Cuisine ( they stated so on their billboards and at the entrance - Finest Indian Cuisine) was run by either Bangladeshi's or Pakistani's. So you found eateries with names like 'Jewel of India', 'Taj Mahal', 'Delhi Durbar' owned and operated by people who had never been to the places their restaurants stated to be from.
Quite frankly, I have nothing against them. Overseas, we are all the same, and believe you me I found them extremely hospitable even at their homes, even though I was from another country.
The cuisine from Pakistan is rich in its own right. The different regions still preserve their culinary heritage. One such region in Balochistan.
Balochistan, is the rugged western frontier province in Pakistan. It happens to be the largest province in the country and is named after the Baloch which are Iranian people. Quetta is its capital. Quetta, a name in pashto language translated means 'Fort'. The region is known for its exotic fare of kebabs. Though most if its cuisine is mutton based, I managed to find a dish to excite the vegans.

Lachhedar Aloo

Ingredients:

5 Potato slices disjoined,
1 tsp Amchoor powder
1 Tsp Kasoori Methi
2 Tsp Garam Masala powder
2 Tsp Cumin Powder (Zeera)
3 Tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 tsp Oil
Salt
1 tsp Red chilli powder
2 tsp Cheese grated
1 tsp Hung curd
1 tsp Roasted chana powder

Method:

1. Clean and peel potatoes.Slice disjoined. ( Parboil if you are going to grill in Microwave. Takes a long time otherwise)
2. Prepare marination with grated cheese, hung curd, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, kasoori methi powder, amchoor powder, jeera powder, roasted chana powder, red chilli powder, oil and salt.
3. Add the potatoes to the marinade. Keep chilled for an hour.
4. Take a skewer and skewer the marinated potato one by one and roast it in the tandoor till it turns golden brown.
5. Serve hot with mint chutney.

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Butter Chicken

Tomorrow is Baisakhi ...the Punjabi New Year, as is the new year of a lot of other regions. Sitting in Hyderabad, its nostalgia time. Not that, it would have been any different sitting in Delhi. Over the past few years, or say decades, such regional festivals have almost lost their fun, frolic and festivities associated with it. They remain...just a public holiday. A day to rest and make a visit to the mall.

The real charm of enjoying them lies still in the small towns and cities untouched by the westernization of the country, in the way that the metros and a few cities like Hyderabad have been.Ideally, a real great post on this occassion should have been a recipe for makki di roti and sarson da saag, or maybe a kheer or phirni recipe, but guess it'll have to wait.

Being a punju, and a real proud one at that, this blog of mine lacks some real great, eternal favorite punju dishes, even the crossover ones.
So, here let me start, with the one dish that comes to everyone's mind when they say Punju cuisine ...Butter Chicken!

Butter Chicken or Murg Makhani is a creamy, lip smacking dish made with grilled pieces of boneless chicken in a rich tomato gravy.

Now don't let the list of ingredients and various marinades get to you. It is really simple to cook and seriously takes me only a couple of hours to get this on the table. The trick is to plan and multi task. Start with getting your marinades ready and starting with marinating chicken first and getting the vegetables and pastes ready in the meanwhile. Now a lot of grocery stores have the butter chicken sauce already available so that you can make it even quicker, but I prefer doing it the hard way...the right way.

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

2 Portions

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts, boneless, cleaned, washed & cut into 1 inch cubes - 3

For the Marinade:

First Marinade -

Lemon Juice - 45 ml

Garlic Paste - 15 gm ( 3 Tsp.)

Ginger Paste - 15 gm (3 Tsp.)

Second Marinade -

Yogurt - 1/4 Cup (55 gm)

Cream - 1 Tblsp

Garlic Paste - 15 gm ( 3 Tsp.)

Ginger Paste - 15 gm (3 Tsp.)

Cumin Powder (Jeera Powder) - 1/4 Tsp

Red Chili Powder - 1 Tsp
Black Cardamom Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Green Cardamom Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Cinnamon Powder - 1/4 Tsp

Salt

For the Gravy -

Butter - 50 gm

Ginger, chopped finely - 2 Tsp

Garlic, chopped finely - 2 Tsp.

Tomatoes, roughly chopped - 500 gm

Ginger, chopped finely - 1 Tblsp

Cashew paste - 3 Tsp

Red Chili Powder - 1/2 Tsp.

Cream - 50 ml.

Green Chillies, cleaned, slit and deseeded - 1

Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Kasoori Methi (Dried Fenugreek leaves) - 1 tsp.

Salt

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the 1st marinade and rub the chicken pieces with this. Keep aside

for 20 minutes.

2. Combine the ingredients for the 2nd marinade. Post 20 minutes add the chicken pieces to this 2nd marinade and mix well such that all pieces are covered with the marinade. Keep aside for a couple of hours in a refrigerator.

3. Melt half the butter in a large pan or handi. Add the finely chopped ginger and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or till all mositure evaporates.

4. Add in the tomatoes and salt. Mix well. Cover and cook till the tomatoes are mashed.

5. Switch off the flame and allow this tomato mixture to cool. Post cooling, puree this mixture ina blender.

6. Skewer the chicken pieces and grill them at 180°C for 15-20 minutes or till 3/4th cooked. (Note: If grilling in an oven, then keep a tray underneath the skewers to collect the drippings.)

7. Take a handi/pan and put on flame. Melt the remaining butter. Add in ginger and the green chilly. Saute for a minute.

8. Remove the chicken pieces from the skewers and add them to the handi/pan. Combine well and cook for a minute.

9. Add the tomato puree and salt. Mix well and increase flame. Bring to a boil.

10. Reduce the flame to medium and add in the cashew paste. Stir and add in the red chili powder. Mix well.

11. Simmer and cook till the gravy attains a thick saucy consistency. Remove from flame and stir in the cream. Put back on flame.

12. Bring to a boil. Add in the kasoori methi and sprinkle the garam masala. Stir and adjust

seasoning.

13. Remove from the flame and serve hot.

Is ideal with some tandoori roti or pulao. Normal roti or steamed rice will also do.

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Stuffin myself with Muffin

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Enough has been said and written about it. It provides the body with the right fuel to keep us going through the day. And as said, “Well begun is half done”.

The weekend happened to be a long one, with the Ugadi festival (Telugu New Year ) on Monday and it was just the break I needed to get away from the maddening workplace. Since this was an unwinding and catching movies weekend, there was to be no golf and come Monday the skies opened up and rain gods again poured down.

The weather was perfect for some good food, and I had been contemplating making some muffins for a long time. Today was just the day to go ahead and have them ready for breakfast.

I had this good recipe from cooks.com which I had tried out in the past and felt the need to make some adjustments. Firstly, it was for strawberry muffins and I wanted to make some chocolate ones, secondly, the sugar quantity prescribed in the recipe was extremely low. The muffins per that came out, so to say, bland. So I made my own adjustments and made the chocolate muffins …it surely was a good breakfast :)

For the original recipe you can visit the cooks.com site and have a look at that one too. Just remember my words on the sugar part.

Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup sifted refined flour
2 cup powdered sugar
3 tsp. baking powder

5 tsp cocoa powder

½ tsp Eno (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla essence

1 tsp chocolate syrup (Hershey’s)
1 chopped chocolate

Method:

1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder, eno and salt.

2. Beat eggs. Blend in oil, vanilla essence, milk & chocolate syrup.

3. Add the liquid to dry ingredients. Stir quickly just until moistened.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Spoon into well greased muffin tins.

6. Bake at 220 degrees for 25 minutes or until done.

7. Remove to wire rack. Serve.

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A Berry Healthy Breakfast Smoothie

After a very long time, I post something potable on this blog. My weekdays have again become the gruelling battles to attain metrics. Exercising with this schedule becomes a distant reality and a round of golf a weekend luxury, something sacrificed to rest the overworked body. Atleast we can eat healthy. Since, Lunch and Dinners are an indulgence for me, Breakfast are where I like to make up for all this. Maybe too little at this stage, but a start is a start.

Smoothies first hit the US market in the 1960's with the advent of the health industry and vegetarianism. But the smoothies of that time differ from the smoothies of today in terms of the fact that the old days smoothies contained only Fruit Juice, fruits & ice. Today's versions have milk ice or frozen yogurt added to them.

Incase you want to dig in more into the history of the smoothie or how they have evolved over the years read this or my favorite wikipedia thread.

This also happens to be my entry to Mansi's WBB Balanced Breakfast event. it is the 20th edition of the WBB ( which stands for Weekend Breakfast Blogger's ), so I didn't want to miss out on it, plus I had given a commitment to Mansi that I would surely send in a contribution (Srivalli, yours is in the works) ...read more on WBB Balanced Breakfasts on Mansi's blog .

Ingredients:

2 Cups Strawberries
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Tblsp Honey

Method:
1. Wash and cut strawberry tops .
2. Put all ingredients in a blender.
3. Blend & drink to your health. (Garnish with a sliced Strawberry)

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Yeh Cheese(Cake) bada hai mast mast !!!

So, rounding up my cook a meal for your wife day and getting into another one (the weekend has begun), I give you a relatively easy and tasty cheesecake. Cheesecakes occupy a significant place in my life and our household. Much before, my wife fell in love with me, she fell in love with the cheesecakes I made at Hotel Management Training facility. Even though she would hate to catch my sight and interact with me, she would queue up to get a bite of the cheesecake. Time flowed by, and I moved on to a different department in a different city, we met again,fell in love and tied the knot. The Cheesecakes stopped coming. The only cheesecakes we had post marriage were the ones we had every other weekend at the Cheesecake Factory at Beachwood, OH. Thus it was but natural for me to round up the meal with a cheesecake made by me after all these years.

Now cheesecake comes in a wide range of styles on the way it is made, taste and the type of cheeses it uses. For more information on the different styles and sub-styles read this wikipedia thread. It provides a real meaningful and academic insight. Taking a queue from one quote mentioned there, it is indeed a canvas to work on.

I typically made a cheesecake that used a short crust base and was set (with the aid of gelatin). This time however, I used a cracker (biscuit) crumb base and baked the cheesecake. For knowledge sakes, it was a cross between different styles namely, the Ann-Arbor and the New York style. The heart shape again was not by design. I could not get to find a springform pan in the city (I have really searched high ...donations are welcome :D), the heart shaped cookie cutter was the only one available. Needless to say, both mother and son, polished of the whole thing in minutes (and there were 8 batches that were made).

Ingredients:

For the Base / Crust
3/4 cup cracker crumbs ( I use either Glucose biscuit or Marie crumbs)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

For the Cheesecake:
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt ( hung for 2 hours to drain water )
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup cream cheese ( I used the amul version available...worked fine)
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Cup Strawberry Puree

For the Coulis
1 cup Strawberry puree, chunky
1/4 cup sugar
2 tblsp water

Method: For the Base:

1. Mix butter and biscuit crumbs and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened.
2. Press crumb mixture over bottom of prepared pan ( read springform, else use a big cookie cutter ..easy to remove as base is crumbly).
3. Bake crust until just golden, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside while preparing filling.

For the Cheesecake:

1. Combine yoghurt, sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. set aside.
2. In a large mixer or a bowl, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth.
3. Slowly add the yoghurt mixture, eggs, and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture; beating on low speed until combined.
4. Add in the Strawberry puree slowly, so as not to curdle mixture.
5. Pour into prepared pan over the base.
6. Bake at 160°C for 45 mins, or until the center is nearly set.
7. Cool for 30 minutes, remove the sides of the pan, then cool completely. Chill for 4 to 6 hours.

For the Coulis:

1. Combine ingredients.
2. Put on a low flame. Simmer, reduce a little and remove. 10-15 minutes
3. Chill.

Before signing off ....Happy Holi !!!

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Mint Potatoes

This is something I had been thinking of doing for a long time...to cook baby potatoes in chopped mint. The only dilemma being whether I wanted to toss them in mint or have them marinated in mint and then spit roasted. In the end, I kept the spit roast option for a later time.
Thankfully, because this was meant to be an accompaniment to the Ravioli and I wanted something simple. Also, the green color of the dish fully complemented the red color of the ravioli perfectly.
A most important aspect of menu planning is not only to ensure you do not repeat your ingredients in the menu ( 2 potato dishes would have killed the menu), but also to ensure you do not repeat the colors too often.

Mint Potatoes Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes - 10-20
Mint, Chopped Finely, - 1/2 cup
Garlic, Minced - 3 tblsp
Shallots, Finely Chopped - 1/2 cup
Black Pepper, crushed - 2 tblsp
Salt - To Taste
Butter - 10 gm
Lemon Juice - 20 ml
Parsley - 1 1/2 tsp

Method:
1. Par boil baby potatoes. Peel and keep aside.
2. Melt butter in a pan. Add in the minced garlic & shallots.
3. Saute till shallots turn translucent.
4. Add in the baby potatoes. Toss well and cook till done.
5. Add in the mint, black pepper & salt. Mix well. Cook for additional 2 minutes.
6. Add in the lemon juice and toss well.
7. Sprinkle some parsley and take off flame.
8. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve hot.

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Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce

There are weekends and then there are weekends. Of late, the day after I arrived from my Chennai trip, I was told that I would be moving to handle a new business for the organisation. Though it was something I had handled before in the company, the only difference this time being that it was not looking too good and almost everybody was looking at its numbers on a daily basis (read CEO's ). That day was the beginning of the end ...atleast for my spare time. Numerous crazy, 18 hour days followed, days turned into weeks and finally a month. With some sanity coming back to things, I decided to take an extended break...a luxurious 3 day off. I spent the time catching on some much sought sleep :), a lot of golf and quality time with the family. One of the main events of this quality time was the "cook a meal for your wife" day.
After a long time, I finally decided to don the chef cap and cook some exotic fare. It wasn't an elaborate meal, a just right trio of main course, the accompaniment and a 'to-die-for' dessert to round things off.
The menu for the evening was,

Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce
Mint Potatoes
Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis

Could have tossed in some garlic bread but then that would have meant to sacrifice a round of golf :)

To start with Ravioli is a stuffed pasta whose name is derived from the verb ravvolgere (meaning 'to wrap').

Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Pasta:
Refined Flour - 1 Cup
Egg - 1
Salt - a Pinch
Water - To knead into a dough

For the Filling:
Garlic, minced - 4-5 cloves
Onions,finely chopped - 2
Mushrooms, finely chopped - 5-6
Cheese - 10 gm
Olives - 5-6
Black Pepper- 2 tsp
Chilli Flakes - 2 tsp
Salt - To Taste
Olive Oil - 2 Tsp

For the Sauce:
Tomato, concasse - 5-6 No.s
Tomato Paste - 1/2 Cup
Onion, finely chopped - 1 Cup
Garlic, minced - 6 cloves
Basil - 1 Tblsp
Thyme - 1/4 Tsp
Oregano - 1 Tsp
Tarragon - 1/2 Tsp
Black Pepper - 1 Tblsp
Parmesan Cheese, grated - 1/2 cup
Salt - To Taste
Olive Oil - 2 Tblsp

Method:

Make the pasta dough:
1. Combine the ingredients.
2. Knead until a firm & smooth dough forms.
3. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour.

Make the ravioli filling
1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. 2. Add Onions & garlic. Saute till onions turn translucent.
3. Add in the mushrooms and cook till they are done.
4. Add in the grated cheese, olives, chilli flakes, black pepper and salt.
5. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes. The filling is ready

Make the sauce:
1. Heat Olive Oil in a non-stick skillet.
2. Add Onions, garlic, thyme, basil, tarragon & oregano.
3. Cook till onions turn tender. (5 minutes)
4. Add tomatoes & tomato paste. Bring to a boil.
5. Add in water, black pepper, salt & grated cheese. Simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes.

Make the ravioli
1. Roll the dough into thin sheets.
2. Arrange tablespoon-size dollops of the filling 1 1/2" apart on one of the sheets.
3. Brush a little egg white around each dollop, then place another sheet directly on top.
4. Gently press around the filling to remove any air pockets and seal the sheets.
5. Using a cutter or a knife, cut out ravioli squares or shapes that you want. ( I used a heart shaped cookie cutter)
6. Sprinkle with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.

Cooking the ravioli
1. Boil water with salt and a few drops of oil added to it.
2. Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water until they float to the top, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Take out and Drain well.
4. Toss with the tomato sauce.
5. Garnish sprinkled with some fresh parsley. Serve.

Note :
1. The tomato sauce is the basic way to make it. I ended up using the short cut by using Prego. You can do the same by using either Prego or Ragu.
2. Another thing that I tried out was using cream cheese in the filling.

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