Of Frying Pans and Seared Chickens

I shifted from using my kadais to flat frying pans recently, the ones with raised edges.. those which look like saucepans with a growth impairment. The results, for some reason were amazing, an unbelievable improvement. Not sure about the science behind this as yet.. maybe an even distribution of heat?

I shifted to this after my recent Master Chef USA addiction. The contestants were using techniques with droolworthy names, pan-searing, braising, stir frying, pan fryinng(ok, am familiar with some of them). The common vessel seemed to be a flat bottomed pan and a lot of the more delicate meats seemed to be cooking pretty quickly on them too. 

The other factor was not being able to find my microwave grill rack. I had this sudden desire to grill some chicken in a different marinade every day of the week, but my grill rack has disappeared. Pan-searing or tawa frying seemed likely to produce somewhat related results. 

The first thing I did was winter stir-fried vegetables (separate post on that). They came out super-scrumptious. Then I shifted to the chicken. I got about 500 gms of de-boned chicken breasts (I prefer legs, but they didn't have deboned legs, and I thought boneless flat pieces would be easier to sear in a pan)- they look like flat strips. I cut them up smaller , divided them into sections and marinaded them as follows:

a) with soya sauce, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper- These were the first batch I tried searing in a pan. Searing basically involves keeping the chicken face down in a pan, and then once it browns turning it over and letting the other side cooked. Since these were the first batch I did, and I was REALLY sceptical about meat cooking in a really short time span, I kind of burnt this lot.. however the burnt part was easy to scrape off and the honey-soya sauce mix tasted good

b) Pesto and Yoghurt- Had a jar of rocket pesto which I mixed with some curd. These were the best of the lot. I had learnt my lesson the first time, that these were really small pieces and searing probably lessens the cooking time, so I turned them around and took them off the pan at what seemed like optimal times , and it worked. The chicken came out supple and tender which was  a big surprise, because usually I find breast pieces stringy, tough and dry. I realised that this could be because: the breast pieces usually take less time to get cooked through, so while cooking a chicken with an assortment of parts, by the time the tougher pieces get cooked, the breast is already overcooked. Hav decided to work with specific pieces in future. In terms of the taste of the marinade also this was a clear winner.. tasted a bit like reshmi kababs with pesto. I was even able to manage a little glaze with lemon juice :)

c)Normal tandoori mix- curd, ginger, garlic, red chilly powder, salt, jeera, mustard oil,aamchoor.. I didn't burn these but definitely overcooked them. The marinade tasted ok.. could hvae done with sharper flavours. Guess will have to figure out the science behind this too.. are any of the flavours undercutting the others?

I used up the chicken making a normal kosha chicken with onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic (shredding WHOLE spices) but more in the nature of a stir fry, where I prepared the masala first (frying onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic)and then added the chicken and seared it.

So two more marinades still on the card, an orange/shredded ginger one, and a honey/mustard one

Stir fried mushrooms with cheese

I made some stir fried mushrooms recently which turned out pretty well. I used a recipe I got from a booklet which came with BBC Good Food India, compiled by Himalaya who are advertising their mushrooms, of course modifying it to suit myself.The original recipe also contained tomatoes and capsicums which I skipped, wanting to enjoy the full, unadulterated flavour of mushroom

I used:

2 packets of normal mushrooms
2 Onions
Several cloves of garlic
Chives
Black pepper powder
Cheddar cheese


Slice the mushrooms sometime before and lay them aside. Then chop the onions fine and start sauteeing them. While the onions are softening, grate the garlic cloves. By the time they are done, the onions will be pinky-brown. Now is the time to toss in the garlic. Let it fry and release it's flavour. I also tossed in some dried chives I possessed. Once these are nicely roasted, I put the mushrooms in, and stirred a whole lot. Then I covered the wok and let it cook by itself.  Mushrooms release a LOT of water, and are best cooked in their own juice covered on low heat. They remain nice, rich and meaty. I finished off with some black pepper powder and sprinkled grated cheddar cheese on top before taking it off the flame. The end result was extremely satisfying. The mushrooms were nice and rich, having been stewed in their own juice :P, and were tender without being soft.Black pepper added a kick. Tasted really awesome on bread , as a topping. 

Baingan ki Dry Sabji

Brinjals, together with cauliflowers have to be my favourite vegetables. I like the smell of both raw and cooked brinjal, their rich purple colour, their inherent rich taste which makes even a simple chachhari seem ...rich ..:)
My simplest go-to recipe is to just stir-fry them with Paanchphoron, but I wanted something a little less basic and something a little more ..like the hearty sookhi sabjis of north india which I love.

I followed the recipe from here, however, I did not fry the brinjals and potatoes beforehand(actually I did not add potatoes at all). That specially seems to fit the objective of this blog, which is mainly to produce eatable and more than eatable food in the shortest time possible. While frying the vegetables would definitely have added to the taste (in fact, most of my Bengali folks did not believe that brinjals could actually be cooked without being deep fried at first), it would  have resulted in a much longer, more laborious process, to say nothing of the quantities of oil that would have been required.

Ingredients:

Brinjals
Whole Ginger
Green Chillies
Red chillie powder (optional) or Deghi Mirch
Tomatoes
Jeera Seeds
Dhaniya Powder
Turmeric
Dhaniya Patta



Slice the brinjals into smallish pieces, whichever way you like. I cut them into halves and then slice them longitundinally and then horizontally. I find large or medium sized brinjals much easier to do than those tichy small ones.Rub some salt on the pieces (this apparently makes them absorb less oil) and leave aside.

Heat some oil and chop the tomatoes while the oil is heating. Once the oil is heated, drop the jeera seeds into the hot oil, and once they stop spluttering add the tomatoes and stir till mixed. Now add green chilies(though I usually add these first, however I tried it in another order here), give the tomatoes some time to get nice and squishy.. Meanwhile scrape off the ginger peel and grate it; revel in the fragrance. (it helps to have soaked the ginger piece in some water)
Now in a small bowl mix the grated ginger(should be paste like), the turmeric, coriander powder, red chillie powder with some water and make into a smooth paste. By this time the tomato pulp should have been squished out. Add the masala paste and stir till it becomes semi-dry and everything is well integrated. Now add the brinjal, stir it so that it is well coated with masala put the heat on medium high and cover it. Add salt, and keep stirring at five or ten minute intervals so that all the brinjals get the heat evenly. Add more oil if required. I like my brinjals nice and soft and mushy. While the brinjals are cooking, one can chop coriander leaves and put them in at the end, however this adds to the time spent in the kitchen.

Note: this dish tasted better a couple of days AFTER I made it, in a similar way to meat dishes.

Besan Wali Capsicum

The last couple of weeks, I tried two recipes and pretty much struck to the instructions for both, which is a bit rare for me, being really lazy to go through multiple steps etc. However these were very simple, so am writing them down before I forget. This one is the first. I followed the recipe from here , pretty much as described, only leaving out the coriander as I didn't have any and the hing (asafoetida) as I turned allergic to it a while back.

The capsicum in this recipe is cut in semi-cube chunks. IE cut the capsicum in 2 halves longitudinally and de-seed. Then cut into long strips and then cut them in a transverse direction.
Otherwise more or less as described, I roasted some besan in a kadai, then emptied it out. Then I heated some oil and allowed some cumin seeds and fennel seeds to crackle (the recipe calls for fennel powder, but not having any I used whole seeds) and added some dried red chillies. Looking back, I think I put in too many fennel seeds - they impart a slightly bitter taste.Once the spices were roasted, I put in ginger paste, turmeric and garam masala, and roasted the whole mixture till the whole spices had a nice dry crumbly coating. Then I put in the capsicum with salt and cumin powder and stirred till it was coated and covered it and let it cook. Once the capsicum was soft and turning from dark to bright and then to a sickly lizardlike green( meaning nearly done) I added the besan and amchur covered it again :). The besan added an extra touch, adding a nice gatthe/vadi like feel to the dish. Works well with chapatis. Capsicum is both easy to cut and cook, so apart from roasting the besan this dish is very easy and hassle free. It had a slightly bitter taste in parts, I am not sure whether this is a property of capsicum or the overdose of fennel seeds. Ms.Nishamdhulika recommends keeping the capsicum chunky but I prefer them soft.

The original Original Sin

Is when you grate boiled potatoes, dunk them into beaten egg, season liberarally with salt, pepper, herbs, anything that takes your fancy and THEN form them into roundels and lightly fry them in butter on both sides, AFTER of course having grated/broken some cheese on top. They didn't look like much so I didn't take pictures, but had one yummy Sunday dinner.


The basic inspiration was a lot of reading about rosti, latkes, other form of potato pancakes. These turned out to be potato omelettes instead but were still really really GOOOD.

Pumpkin something

I made something out of pumpkin today. I planned on trying out a Bihari recipe from BBC Good Food India's June issue, but it turned out that I didn't have most of the ingredients. Yeah even something as basic as ginger. Grocery shopping is my pet peeve and I will be more than happy when my mother comes and takes that over for a couple of weeks. I don't mind cooking two meals for her in exchange. The problem is a) the poor to pathetic quality of most vegetables in this region ( I think people here just don't eat well, or are not bothered) b)if two things you need are available at any given place then the third isnt. Ginger of course is available everywhere , so I'm just making excuses, when basically I forgot :). Sitting down and making a list never works because I promptly forget stuff while making the list, or I leave the list at home. I used to use a note taking app on my phone, which was good, since the phone is kind of surgically attached to one's palm, one can just jot down items as and when they occur to one.

So I decided to modify the pumpkin recipe to a great extent. Pumpkin is hellish to cut so I usually ask the vegetable seller to slice it longitudinally for me. I put these long slices into the microwave for ten minutes, with a little bit of oil (optional). They come out all nice and soft and that is when I slice them into little pieces. I used a tadka of kalonji (nigella seeds) and red chillies. I also used a lot of boris, (those bengali lentil globules/spheres?) which make any dish taste nice. People usually deep fry them, but being lazy I just dry roast them in the Kadai before frying the tadka in the same kadai. Once the pumpkins came out nice and soft I just sliced them and put them into the kadai with the tadka and the bori and added salt, rock salt and amchur and stirred it together and let it be there for some time. Didn't taste too bad, texture was interesting. Would have been better if I'd had the energy to peel the pumpkin, but they eat them with skins on in S. India it seems so I guess it doesn't poison me and peel is supposed to be good for you, roughage and what not.

My Pune trip from the culinary angle

I went to Pune two weeks ago for a very close friend's engagement. A co-explorer of cities, of seedy eateries, a fellow movie addict and a partner in crime, a loyal supporter. True to form, I had a nostalgic food fest (Marathi snacks are just so the ticket) and carried back a lot of khau. Two years of integration/assimilation into the Marathi community in JNU meant of course Bakarwadi, Masala Kachodi, Bharang(my friend Akshay used to get the best ever) , Chivde , Shrewsbury biscuits, Kayani's Cake, lovely vinegary-fiery green chillie pickle, shop-bought bright red Warhadi Thecha (I think it was Kelkar's), my friend M's mom's home made green chilly thecha with peanut chunks in it(I used to think she was a magician), Lasun Chutney, my favourite Shengdano Ki Chutney( I love peanuts). I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with Amba Lonche - I think Marathis have got the secret of how to make the most PERRRFECT mango pickle ever. Just the right levels of sour-salty-ness. It's not much publicised but I think it  is WAY better than the ubiquitous Punjoo or Tam / general Southie pickles you get on the market.

In fact their green chillie pickle is pretty damn good as well. I like the taste of whatever little daily Marathi home style cooking I have tasted as well- it's very simple but very different- the dominant tastes are peanuts, mild amounts of coconut and this secret masala called Goda Masala.

Leaving Delhi obviously felt terrible, the people and the camaraderie and the historicity and the lovely long foggy winters. Contributing in no small measure to this was the general Thecha- Lonche deprivation and the nostalgia for Bakarwadi - Chivda.There are certain foods which, as much as or more than the taste, also carry some very emotional associations. Usually one's native cuisine does this to one, for me a lot of  Marathi food and the sound of the language brings back memories of long nights maroing adda in and out of Lohith and Chandrabhaga, Mahanadi,complaining about boredom, mess food, lovely night walks,the thrill bike rides(my first ever encounter with bikes), learning a new language, going to watch a play in Marathi, which M tried to whisper interpret, and then admitted she didn't understand much either because it was a dialect instead of hoch Marathi, singing Dada Kondke songs. I kind of relived this this July for a bit with U and was happy that he listened with so much patience:) as well as accompany me to Chandni Chowk.

So to get to the food. Started off with lunch at Maithilee's house,really yummy cauliflower Sabji cooked by the lady who looks after her nephew. Was eating cauliflowers after ages given the general standard of cauliflowers here which try their best to convert you into an insectivore.As mentioned, the marathis use this secret Garam masala called Goda Masala, which make the simplest of recipes taste DIVINE. Together with this there was Methi Theplas and some Dal Rice(simple Dal, which I think they call Varan Bhath). In the evening M (whom I call Dory) started off on the usual food pilgrimage. Luckily didn't have to go too far as there is a competent Chitde's, a nice Konkani store and a super Halwai within walking distance from her place. We picked up Aloo Shev, Aloo Papad (which we finished in Pune), Shrewsbury Biscuits, a kilo of Bakarwadi, a kilo of Masale Kachodi, a bottle of Mapro's strawberry crush, Goda Masala(forget the brand), and a packet of Kepra's mango pickle. Also some Shengdana Chutney (peanut chutney) and Lasun Ki chutney(again forget the brand). We finished this expedition with some really nice Pura/ Puria? Chi Vadi and this thing called Matar Karonji (which was like a samosa patty but with a pea's stuffing) at Chacha Halwai's. The latter was so good I finished off the last one in the shop.
At dinner that night, M's mother yet again reminded me that she is  magician. Bharli Vangi -brinjals stuffed with peanuts and Usal, a sprouts dish.  The awesome thing about Marathi Ghar Ka Khana is that it is so simple yet so tasty. And of course it's the nicest thing ever when somebody so lovingly cooks for you.There was some very nice Upma the next morning for breakfast which we ate on the drive from Bombay to Pune(and such a lovely drive it is, rolling green hills and mist), Maharashtra does seem to have a lot of things which make it seem like an interesting place to explore/settle in. Beaches, sea, lush green hills, ruined forts, history, food. Nice people speaking a comprehensible language. What I don't like are the rains. I am a sissy who doesn't like getting messy. We stopped at Lonavla which is pretty, if only the rain hadn't killed it.
I won't talk about the engagement food much here, because that was nice, but standard north Indian party food type food... but move on after that. ...In Bombay, my friend P joined us together with a junior of ours, another Madhura. We went to Madhura's house afterwards, and then I wanted to go to P's house and say hello to her parents, whom I haven't met for ages. P lives in Borivali and I liked the ride ,from Thane to Borivali, it seemed like more of the Mumbai Pune highway landscape. And while people have raised eyebrows at my going to Bombay and not wandering around town, I'm glad I went, because her mom was so happy to see me and gave me a BIG hug, and who the hell wants to wander around dirt and mud while getting drenched. Had a nice chat, planned a future trip, next month, and then got fed royally by P's mother. Aloo Matar, which had a nice coconutty-peanutty feel, and paneer(aloo matar was a real winner)- and apart from the warmth it just feels so good to have tasty home cooked food without having to cook it yourself. Auntie also ground me fresh peanut chutney to carry back home and I was OVER the MOON. I left a box of chocolate fudge from Lonavla with them.

When I visit them I will carry some Ooty chocolates and Mysore Pak. I came back with super heavy bag full of food, and a smile and much love :)

and I had a fitting Samadhi for the remaining Khau last Sunday. Invited a bunch of people (about 6) over for evening snacks and put out the spread below. I had greedily polished off the Aloo Shev, and there weren't enough Shrewsbury biscuits to go around, and I ain't sharing homemade peanut chutney, till I get my grinder, but the rest was all there.
On the table there is Strawberry Crush,Chitde Chya Bakarwadi and Masala Kachodi,some Lakshmi Narayan Chivde which I got here from Total Mall,to supplement the theme, chikki and chocolate fudge from Lonavla, Varng (puffed rice mixture) and some Bong chanachur (Mukhorochak) which my mom had sent me with my meds and which luckily arrived that very afternoon. The Pongal-Sambar was my friend Pramila's tiffin, and I kind of regret not tasting it now. My friend Rekha who pampers us like crazy supplied the samosa and the jalebi from Bhikharam's, and the two bottles of wine which she had received as a birthday present. I had planned to make some Anda Bhurji or Sabudana Khichdi but didn't feel up to it, which was a good thing as there was lots of this stuff left over which was ultimately sent home with D( whom we call the son of Rajanikanth :P). I think everybody had a nice time cos they stayed till 10:30. Teas seem to be a good idea and maybe we will do more such.

Come to think of it, a cooking blogger who is also a pork lover shouldn't name herself after the most famous pig in literature.

Oh well.

A return to blogging and brinjals

I decided to return to this blog after nearly a year. I abandoned it because a) I kind of stopped trying out new stuff b) the blog template got really messed up c) I realised a lot of my cooking methods were completely unscientific and I didn't have the energy to re-write posts

A year down the line, I am more tech savvy, :P and with the encouragement of a good friend U decided to clean up this space. I am ALSO a quicker cook, and realised I didn't have to try exotic to get innovative. Just simple endless variations on the daily sabzis can lead to endlessly different tastes ( specially since I eyeball all my ingredients). I have ALSO resolved to try re-writing older posts. So here goes.

Of late I have ended up making a lot of dry sabzis (somewhat like stir fries) which require very little time to be spent in the kitchen.Just roast the seeds, add the vegetables, stir add masalas, stir, cover, go have bath, come back to find it almost/completely cooked. Set rice to boil in the meantime.  Standard lunches comprise this one veggie dish, rice and chicken if I have happened to have cooked any over the weekend. While shamelessly parochial about hardcore Bengali cuisine being the best for daily consumption(though while living at home I would turn up my nose regularly at said cuisine) I have decided that most of it is way too laborious and finicky for the average lazy woman who likes cooking as the means to an end. So I looked at a wide variety of recipes and found a lot of North Indian stuff which sounded surprisingly easy ( I think everyday, home-style North Indian food is super-yummy as well)... and now my cooking is a mish mash of everything and I just throw together whatever I feel like eating at that particular point of time. I am NOT very fond of Veggie Curries except for standard stuff like Dahi Bhindi or Shorshe Begun or Kopir Dalna, so I keep them dry. That way ..if I don't feel like making rice I can turn them into sandwiches or better still get hot rotis from the office ( Rs 10 for 4 rotis) and eat them with some pickle on the side.

My MOST  recent effort in this line was a rather pleasantly surprising brinjal dish

Now.. brinjal is without doubt my favourite vegetable, though cauliflower nearly ties with it. Due to it being an almost impossible task to find gobhi sans insects here (this is a part of India where I really think nobody even LOOKS at what is on their plate or dumps everything into some form of lentils) I have resigned myself to Gobhi-Deprivation for most of the year till I can shift to more congenial territory( I was MOST impressed by the vegetable stalls in Pune eg- LOVELY white cauliflower and ripe red ready to burst tomatoes, vivid purple brinjals- I should have taken a photo.:( )
So brinjals it is (and why do I keep getting a mis-spelling indicator?)
For this recent dish:

I chopped two mediumish brinjals into teeny pieces. Of late I am getting better at chopping things up teeny which I hated before. A decent assortment of knives goes a long way. Chopped into long strips with a big meat knife then into smaller ones with the thin onion slicing one.  Then I heated oil and let cumin seeds splutter. I tossed in the brinjal and coated it nicely with oil and the cumin, keeping heat high all the while. Covered it and sliced onions again into small pieces( it kind of grows on you, I guess :P. Also a useful skill to advertise when one is no longer a bachelorette-can be used as a deterrent ).Stirred in the onions, stirred a while till I got bored, turned heat to medium, put in an OVERDOSE of cumin powder( I am a moody cook) having got some cumin pangs that day, some amount of coriander powder, some salt, mixed in the spices, covered it and went and had a bath and stuff. Came back to find it almost cooked. Put in some amchur and let it finish. I charred it a bit- having picked up this trick on another cooking blog, which I will try to trace. Eaten with rice, and the next day with bread. Brinjal when properly cooked should be nice and soft and this WAS.