Chillie Coriander Pasta

Ocassionally, I do get it right!

I cook up a quick salad for my brown bag lunch (actually white plastic container in a white plastic packet lunch). While I have been eating really healthy (and keeping trim), the food is really bland. Not bad...just bland. At work, all of us eat together in a long room. And while everyone readily dig into the assorted fruits I bring, salad is left for me, untouched. Mostly.

Today, was different. However, most of my colleagues just happened to be out. Only four of us at lunch, two of whom are vegetarian and the salad I made had chicken. So, here it is, if not interesting enough for anyone else, then, atleast for me...to remember the recipe.

You will need:
Canelloni pasta: a handful really, 15-20 if you want to be picky. Any pasta would do, I presume
Boiled shredded chicken: a small cupful
Garlic: 1/2 tsp diced
Dried red chillie: 1
Coriander: 1/4 cup
Salt, freshly ground pepper
Oil: 1 tbsp

How to:

1. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet. Drain, keep 2-3 tbsp of the water in which the pasta was cooked in.
2. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Add the diced garlic and red chillie julienned. You can de-seed and put the chillie if you can't stomach hot. I just love the smell of chillie cooking...although we - Ma, R & I were all coughing and gasping from the fiery fumes!
4. Add the chicken and stir.
5. Add the drained pasta.
6. Add 2-3 tbsp of the reserved liquid
7. Add the coriander
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Stir to mix-well and remove!

Viola! Done.

Brinjal fried in eggy batter

I am awfully allergic to eggs. It runs in the family (of all the things I could have inherited...). And it is agony for me at lunch time when nearly everyone bring egg in one form or the other. Sigh! I can only gaze in envy and dismay. And here I have to mention that dimer dalna - bengali egg curry is one of the things I can make well.

Today was no exception - two boiled eggs, one omlette, one egg roll, one egg chowmein and on top of it all, J - the VSO volunteer joined us for lunch and this is what she brought:-

Talang Tortang (I hope I got that right) - Brinjal fried in eggy batter.

1. You will need:
   
   Eggplant 1
   Egg 1
   Oil 2-3 tbsp
   Salt to taste
   Soy sauce

How to:

1. Wash and pat the eggplant dry. Prick it with a fork.
2. Roast it whole over a naked flame (like for baigan ka bharta).
3. Let it cool, remove the peels - which should have turned flaky by now. Keep the tail on.
4. Flatten it by pressing gently.
5. Beat the egg. Add a little salt.
6. Heat oil in a flat pan.
7. Dip the flattened, roasted eggplant in the beaten egg and fry for about a minute.
8. Remove and eat with steamed rice.

J said that it tastes really well with soy sauce sprinkled on it just before eating but she found the local soy sauces sweet - I assured her that salty soy sauce is available and I have no doubts that she will soon locate one. Afterall, three days after she joined (first time in Calcutta, ever), she attended our NGO's 20th anniversary in saree having found a boutique which stitched her choli overnight and 4 months later she had found herself a music teacher and has already learnt three rabindra sangeet and which she sings very tunefully, albeit with a sweet accent! She also cooks well.

Fried Chicken, Hyderabadi (well almost)

Last week I had a joyous reunion with a school pal, "bees saal baad"! Two and a half days of almost non-stop yakking, some shopping, endless cups of tea. She made this really easy and very tasty dish for us and since she hails from hyderabad, it (this dish) is sort of Hyderabadi!!

You will need:
Chicken: 1 kg cut into pieces
Onions: 2 medium, finely sliced
Oil: 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

For the marinade:
Garlic: 6-7 pods
Ginger: 1" pc
Green chilli: 1
Coriander leaf: one handful
Salt: A pinch
Yogurt: 100gms

How to:

1. Wash the chicken pieces and drain.
2. Grind coarsely the ingredients (except yogurt) for the marinade in a mortar / pestle.
3. Combine the ground ingredients, yogurt with the chicken and keep for an hour.
4. Heat oil in a large non-stick pan to smoking.
5. Lightly saute the onions.
6. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and fry on high flame.
7. Gently turn the pieces over to ensure proper frying on both sides.
8. When the water released by the yogurt dries up, add a little water and rest of the yogurt marinade.
9. Adjust salt.
10. Lower flame and cook till the chicken is done.

There will be no gravy in this dish and can be eaten with rotis or naans...but worked just as well as an accompaniment to beer on a warm evening!

Is it Pizza?

It looked liked it, smelt like and tasted like it too ... but dare I call it a pizza? Well why ever not? And it was quite easy to make. I actually made it in the commercial breaks while watching Gerard Depardieu in "My Father the hero"!



What I used
(I made two. The following are the ingredients per pizza)
Pizza base: 6" diameter
Capsicum: 1
Tomato: 1
Onion: 1 (A insisted)
Salami: 2 slice
Salt
Olive oil
Cheese


What I did

1. Brushed the pizza base with olive oil.
2. Sliced the capsicum, onion, tomato in to thin rings. Quartered the salami slices.
3. Layered the the pizza base, in order - the tomato, onion, capsicum, salami.
4. Topped it up by grated cheese.
5. Grilled the pizza in my OTG at 210 deg for 15 minutes. And viola!

Note: The cheese had melted nicely all over but the base had become crunchy. That wasn't bad to eat...but I still have to figure out how to keep the base soft.

Shahi Bharta

Bhags sent a mail to me yesterday convinced that I had chickened out of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. Afterall, I couldn't even figure out the contents of the secret package she sent me!! I assured her that I would be coming up with my post on it soon, in the next few days, infact. Till then, here is a recipe that R sent me. It combines brinjals with prawns

You will need:
Eggplants: 2 large, seedless variety
Mustard oil: 3 tbsp
Onions: 2 minced
Garlic: 1tbsp minced
Small prawns: 1/2 cup, shelled
Oil for frying
Egg: 1
Salt, sugar and red chilli flakes

How to

1. Cut the eggplants into halves , boil, de-skin, cool, mash and then keep aside.
2. Heat 3 tbsp mustad oil in a pan, add the minced onion and garlic, saute.
3. Add the shelled prawns.
4. Fry for a while and then add 2 chopped tomatoes and the mashed eggplant.
5. Stir fry till the oil separates.
6. Gradually add salt, sugar, red chilli flakes and finally a shredded fried egg. Mix well.
7. Serve with rotis
   

Viola! Although R has written serve with rotis, a hard core bengali like me would obviously prefer it with rice!!

Hearty Soup for a cold winter day

First day of the new year dawned cold, crisp and a minor crisis of taps running dry. (It has now developed in to a major crisis since we are still without water second day). We were constantly assured of the problem being resolved in the next half hour which kept getting delayed. Around 2, I tore myself away from the net and went into the kitchen and cooked up this one dish meal...a winter favorite for us and really easy to make.

The original recipe is a non veg one with "lardon fume". But the veg version is equally easy and tasty as well.

You will need:
Onions: 1
Spring Onions: 3-4
Garlic: 3-4 (or less if you dont much care for garlic)
Bay leaf: 1
Peppercorns: 5-6
Tomato: 2
Carrots: 2
Cabbage: 1/2 a medium sized one
Pasta: 1 cup
Chicken stock cubes: 2
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
Water

How to:

1. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a deep pot (I use a pressure cooker).
2. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.
3. Add the onions and spring onions and fry till they turn pink.
4. Add the tomatotes and the veggies, lower flame, cover and cook till the tomatoes release their juices.
5. Add the pasta, the garlic (which I smash using a heavy spoon), the stock cubes, 2-3 cups of water and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Then lower and cook till the pasta is done (as per the instructions on the pasta packet which is normally 10-12 minutes).
6. Adjust for salt, you could add some chillie flakes if you like and hey presto...

Ah! Hot thick soup warming your belly on a cold winter day or night....

The Non-Veg version differs only in one ingredient and in the first step. The rest is identical:

In a pot, add the strips of smoked bacon directly, without the oil. As it fries, it releases its fat and then follow steps 2-6. Hmm...it tastes out of this world. And beware, this heavy soup is somehow siesta inducing. So be ready to crawl under a heavy quilt after this meal, and so logically keep this dish for a lazy weekend!

Akbaree pasand

Recently, I have been having a long distance reunion over email with a few old pals. We have been busy getting an update on our lives. I happened to mention I had a food blog. To which, my old pal S now living in Australia, had his own recipe to share. But be warned. This is for the really adventurous!

1. Drive to supermarket , pick up a kg of lamb/beef and Shan ' s kashmiri mutton masala
2. Put on a kadai, throw in the mutton with the masala and cook for 10-15 minutes while you down 3 scotch on the rocks.
3. Garnish as per suggestion on the box . And there was a time when I couldn't fry an egg ... brings tears to my eyes when I see what I have accomplished.

For those not into dare devilry, here is another recipe from R: Akbaree Pasand. She got it from somewhere. The USP of this recipe is that it works for both mutton and chicken! And it makes a change from usual mutton or chicken curry! She swears its easy. It reads easy. (Apparently it's an Aghan recipe).

You will need:

Mutton or chicken 1 kilo
Onions: 4 medium or 3 large ones
Shahjeera: 1& 1/2 tsp
Shahmarich: 1& 1/2 tsp
Jaiphal (nutmeg): 1& 1/2 tsp
Oil for cooking

For the marinade
Fresh curd 350 -400 gm
Red chilli powder 2 tsp
Salt 2tsp or to taste
Sugar
Garlic paste 3heaped tbsp

Marinade according to the meat: Mutton should be marinated for 3 hours and chciken for 40 minutes or so.

How to

1. Heat about a cup of white oil in a wok / kadai.
2. Add 4 medium chopped onions or 3 very large ones as you see fit. Fry for a few minutes.
3. Now add the marinated meat and fry till the oil separates (12-15 minutes for chicken and about half an hour for mutton).
4. Then add shaajeraa powder, shaamarich powder and jaipahal powder and toss and turn,(they should be 1 1/2 tsp to 2 but nutmeg 1 1/2 will do).
5. Lower flame and cover and cook till done.
6. When serving sprinkle fresh coriander leaves, onion rings or fried onions (beresta ) and whole green chillies.

Note: The dish is cooked without water. If the dish is made using chicken, the bones can be used but for mutton, minimal bones are preferred.

Jeera Chicken

R was here. For ten whole days. At first I was a bit nervous about my very basic kitchen. No mixer, juicer, blender. No toaster. No OTG. Very very basic. Turns out, I needn't have worried on that account. I was very eager to show off my house keeping -skills. And to some extent I did. But for some strange reason, whatever I cooked...fell flat and how. I even over boiled the rice to a unholy mess. Yikes. And served it to not only her, but even to two friends of hers, who had dropped in to say hello. I am lucky that one of them gave me a beautiful lapiz lazuli pendent, before he tasted my cooking. Eeps. So much for my bragging. Even A's vouching for my cooking (that is my cooking before R's arrival) seemed false. And to think I had the guts to keep a food blog. Anyhow, I managed to salvage the situation a little bit. I did make couple of passable veggies dishes. (The rice was still over boiled). So I am afraid of posting anymore of my own recipes. Instead, I have here a recipe for Jeera Chicken that R picked up from a programme on TV. And like she is wont to, remembered it properly without bothering to write it down. It was YUMMY. And yes, Shubo Bijoya to everyone.

You will need:
Chicken 1 kg, cut into medium pieces
Onions 2 large, cut into rings
Green Chillies 3, Chopped
Fresh corainder 1 1/2 cups, chopped
Cumin seeds / Jeera 3 tsp
Jeera powder 1 1/4 tsp
Dhania powder 2 1/2 tsp
Mustard oil, Salt and Sugar as required

How to:

1. Heat 4 tbsp mustard oil in a kadai / wok.
2. When the oil is hot, throw in 1&1/2 tsp jeera seeds; When the seeds start to pop, add jeera powder followed bythe dhania powder. Stir.
3. Add 2 tsp salt, sugar 2 tsp and a little water.When the oil floats to the top, throw in the chicken pieces and toss so as to coat the pieces well with the spices.
4. Let it fry on high for about ten minutes. Sprinkle a little water in between so that the chicken pieces don't stick to the pan.
5. Then lower the flame. Pour water to make the curry. Cover and cook till the chicken is cooked.
6. Again increase flame to reduce curry and then adjust sugar and salt. Take off fire.

To garnish

1. Heat 4 tsp mustard oil in a wok. Add 1&1/2 tsp jeera, chiilies, onionrings and lightly fry for two minutes. Add coriander and remove from fire. Garnish the chicken and serve!

Bon appetit!!!!

Ma's Prawn and Sausage Fried Rice

Ma sprung this Prawn and Sausage fried rice on us during a do, long back when we were in the middle-east. Just like she does everything. No fuss, no elaborate planning, no discussion. Just go ahead and do it. I think she only made it just that once. And never afterwards. Like I remember the wafer thin, amazingly tasty sooji biscuits she ahd learnt at a cookery class. I still remember them although she made it only once when I think I must have been 6 or 7 . No matter how much I cajoled her - she never made them again.

I spoke to ma last night and asked her for this fried rice recipe. She absented mindedly said yes. Later, I shot off an email to R as well, just in case. This morning, I find the recipe in my mail box with an accusing note from R: "How cum you don't remember that I had cooked this dish for you when I had come visiting you in Paris? And yet you remember the time long back when ma made it"? Not deliberately, dear R, first time makes the strongest impression, right?

You will need:
Pre-cooked / left over rice: 2 cups
Onion: 1 medium diced finely
Green chili: 2 sliced finely (optional)
Tinned sausage: 1 cup, cut into roundels
prawns: 1/2 cup small prawns
Mixed vegetables like carrots, beans: 1 cup
Ajinomoto: a pinch
Salt: 1 tsp
Sugar: 1/4 tsp
Vinegar: a dash

How to:

1. Saute the sausage in oil. Keep aside.
2. Parboil the carrots, beans. Drain and keep aside.
3. Lightly fry the prawns. Trick is to heat oil in a pan on high flame. Drop in the prawns, stir and remove immediately. Should not take more than 30 secs.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry till they turn pink.
5. Add the chili, sliced capsicum, the veggies.
6. Add salt, sugar, a pinch of ajinomoto (optional) and a dash of vinegar.
7. Add the prawns.
8. Stir to mix well.
9. Lower flame, cover and keep for couple of minutes so that the aromas mingle well.
10. Viola! Its ready to eat.

Note: This is really easy. Left over rice, sausages out of a can and any veggies that you might have in your fridge!

Merguez Meal

Just the other day, we were reminscing about France. What do we miss about it? Food mostly. "Cheese", I said. "Merguez" said A. We first tasted this spicy north african sausage in France. With Couscous Royale.

Later on, I was brave enough to pick up some from the super marche and make my own dish. Rather simple it was (but sometimes, simple is best) and ofcourse, the Merguez did its own trick and the dish was marvellous. Definitely not gourmet, but damn good nevertheless.

You will need:
6 merguez (2 for me, 4 for A)
1 large or 2 small capsicum / green bell pepper
2 large tomatoes (smaller if you prefer less tart)
2 large onions

(That's it). No salt, no oil. Just a frying pan. And remember to keep the windows open and an exhaust fan switched on, if you do have one in your kitchen.

How to:
1. Put a frying pan (large enough to hold 6 long merguez) on high flame.

2. When the pan's heated up, put the merguez in.

3. Within a minute of so, the fat from the merguez will start oozing out.

Roll them over so that they are evenly fried, in thier own fat!!

4. Add the onions, tomatoes and bell pepper (all together, order doesn't matter).

5. Keep rolling the merguez to get them evenly fried (in their own fat).

6. When they are done, put them on the dish and eat!!

The fat from the merguez gives a lovely flavour to the onions / pepper / tomatoes.

Its a wonder that something so simple could taste so GOOD!!

Well, do try it...out, while I go and wipe the drool of my keyboard! (Just kidding).

Oh yes, ofcourse, to be eaten with bread of your choice.