Indian Food

Tweet I have heard that all wild fish taste different – they are gamey – a quality I am slowly learning to appreciate.  By living in a city, I hardly get to eat anything that is both non-commercial and wild. Hence, an invitation to savor a wild-caught bounty from Hudson River was a rare opportunity. The allure of fishing lies somewhat due to the fact that it is a quiet and enduring pursuit of unknown – we don’t know if a trout or mackerel or anything at all would be our meal as the result. The wild-caught fish I was getting for dinner was trout. I’ve heard that the rainbow trout are the best tasting freshwater fish in the United States. But do they taste different than their store-bought counterparts? My chef’s mom used to steam-bake the whole fish. We stuck with the method, stuffing the fish with a mixture of sautéed garlic, crushed almonds, mayonnaise, some knickknack spices, freshly grounded back peppers, and sea salt. Trout were topped with sliced lemons, then carefully wrapped in stapled wax paper pouch, and cooked for approximately thirty minutes at three hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Cooked trout retained its delicate flavor. Other additions acted more like a side condiment, optional to use, not necessary. Wild trout seemed to have a superior flavor, better texture, as well as lively color than their mass “hatchery” produced cousins. A better flavor may be due to romantic notion or really because the wild ones eat fresh natural diet while the stocked ones are largely fed on fish pellets. The experience of eating wild food reminded me where our food really comes from. Most people in this world grow, fish, hunt, or at least cook their food from scratch. On contrary, most of us struggle with even properly nuking a frozen box of entrée from Trader’s Joe. We import higher percentage of seafood than oil in this country. Are we eating too much easy fish? At the end of the meal, my chef asked me playfully how much these wild fish fetch in a DC restaurant? I didn’t answer, but quietly thought the experience of eating non-commercial wild-caught fish is far valuable than market price of fish.

Ingredients:Medium size brinjal - 5 Nos Tamarind - A big gooseberry size Red Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon Asafoetida Powder - 1/4 teaspoon Oil - 2 to 3 tablespoons Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon Curry Leaves - few Salt - 1 teaspoon or as per taste To fry and grind: Til seeds - 1 tablespoon Fenugreek - 1/2 teaspoon Method: In a dry kadai put the til (sesame) seeds and fry till it starts crackling. Remove and keep it aside. Same kadai add fenugreek seeds and fry till it turn light brown. Allow to cool. Powder both the fried til seeds and fenugreek. Soak tamarind in a cup of water and take out the tamarind juice. Chop the brinjal into tiny pieces. In a thick bottomed kadai, put the oil. When it is hot add mustard. When it starts pop up, add Asafoetida powder and curry leaves. Then add chopped brinjal pieces and fry for few minutes. Close with a lid and allow to cook on low flame. No need to add water, but if necessary just sprinkle a handful of water and cook it till soft. Once it is cooked soft, add red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it well. Then add tamarind extract and stir well. Allow to cook till it become thick. Finally add the til and fenugreek powder and once again mix it well and remove. It can be eaten mixed with hot rice or serve with chapati/bread. Note:We can also grind the brinjals to a paste and use it in the above recipe. In that case, first fry the brinjal pieces in a teaspoon of oil. Cool it and then grind it to a coarse paste. Or you can grill the whole brinjal, remove the skin and grind it to a coarse paste. If you want to keep it for a week or so, then little more oil and make this thokku.

After seeing that the Chocolate Kalakand was a hit, I started thinking what else can be twisted with chocolate. When my relatives visited us, I thought of making gulab jamuns. However I didn't get time and those ready mix packets were lying around still. When the idea came to mind, I was so happy that I could do something new with the old stuff. I knew my kids won't eat gulab jamuns, so making it with chocolate, I was sure they will love it. Since it was a sweet I safely thought I could do it once they go to sleep. The many memories of Amma making it late night came to mind. Since childhood, all birthdays and special festivals are marked with Gulab Jamun making. Amma always used to make it late night and by morning, I would eagerly wake up to see those fried balls turned as monsters after dunking all the syrup. In all her experience of making gulab jamun, I don't think we have ever had a failed experience. And the batch used to last couple of days depending on the occasion. I like it cold and hot as well. I was surprised that though I practically grew up with this sweet, I have never made in my kitchen with a ready mix, other than the times I made for Indian Cooking Challenge. During this challenge, I had made from the scratch each time I made. Thinking of this sweet, also reminds me of my friend who made it for the first time when we were kids. She thought one has to roll out the balls big before frying and soak. So she made huge balls and soaked. Once these got soaked, they turned out to be tennis balls! We had such fun teasing her on her experiment. So using a ready mix was a first time experience for myself. When I had set up to make, I was debating if I should use melted chocolate or Cocoa powder. I settled with Cocoa powder with a chocolate bit as a stuffing. I knew somehow adding the cocoa might make the dough sticky. As expected it did towards the end. Care should be taken to add water little by little to get a stiff dough. My brother's family had come down the day I made this and the kids were so busy. I hurriedly packed some for my colleagues and they were surprised that I would think of such combinations. Everything was licked clean, with some comments like they didn't know if it was halwa or gulab jamun. One batch towards the end, got disintegrated into the sugar syrup and I didn't remove it out. After knowing that the taste was awesome, I offered to my kids and I was so glad that both Konda and Peddu loved it. Chinnu refused to eat though being tempted to note that it was chocolate. However after the first gulp, he was sticking to my side. Konda pointed out to me that maybe Chinnu wants another bite. I saw Chinnu nodding his head and looking sheepishly wanting another bite. So you know end of the story, the entire bowl was finished within minutes. I had to tell my friends that what they tasted was the last of the chocolate gulab jamun. And the next will happen if I make it again. Surprisingly hubby dear who doesn't like anything twisted or fusion, said this was very good. Chocolate Gulab Jamun Ingredients Needed: For the Jamun Readymade Gulab Jamun Mix - 1 packet (250 gms) Cocoa powder - 3 tsp Dark Chocolate bits for the stuffing Water - 1/4 cup for every 1 cup mix For the Sugar Syrup Sugar - 200 gms Water just enough to cover Cardamon powder Oil for Deep frying Ghee - 2 tbsp to be added to the cooking oul while deep frying How to prepare Chocolate Gulab Jamun In a wide bowl, empty the gulab jamun mix. I measured it out to be 2 & 1/2 cups. Add cocao powder and mix well. Now slowly add water by 1/4 cup and knead to a soft and pliable dough. Let it rest for 10 mins. Heat a kadai with oil and ghee, Keep it on low. For the Sugar Syrup In a pan, take the sugar and mix with water. Bring to boil, remove scum if any. Then again cook for 15 mins on medium flame. As such for this syrup, we are not particul

Gulamba in Marathi Time: 15-20 minutes 1.25 cups Gulamba Ingredients: 1 cup grated green mango (peel 2 medium green mango and grate using big hole grater) 2 cup jaggery, chopped 1/2... Read complete recipe on my blog http://chakali.blogspot.com

Khari murgi with potatoes

Gulamba in English ???: ??-?? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ???????: ? ?? ?????? ??? (? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ??????? ?????????.) ? ?? ???, ??????? ?/? ??????? ????? ????? ?-? ????? ? ???????... Read complete recipe on my blog http://chakali.blogspot.com

The week passed up quite quickly, with the school reopened for the kids and things became hectic again. This weekend went off as quickly it came in and I didn't' do my usual elaborate meal. Today's Kofta curry is made with Bottle gourd and the gravy came out very well. I guess this is a recipe that Amma saw in some channel or something. Both Amma and Athamma watch these TV Cookery shows without fail. And when I get back home, it's really so funny hearing what all these chef do in the name of innovation. Not only impressing the audience, but making them their mouthpiece is a commendable job. Meaning Athamma peaches their recipes so much and tells me that I should try it out. I tell her that I have so many recipes yet to make, I surely wouldn't want to try from the shows. Anyway coming to the recipe, here's a delicious and low cal kofta curry, that makes a great side dish for rotis. Sorakkai Kofta Curry For the Koftas: Grated Bottle gourd - 1 cup Wheat flour - 1/2 cup Besan / Gram Flour - 1/2 cup cooking soda a pinch Salt to taste Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp Grate the bottle gourd, squeeze the excess water. Take the squeezed out bottle gourd in a bowl, along with the rest of the ingredients. Mix it all together. Now add the squeezed out water and slowly make a dough that's stiff. Divide into small balls, making sure it doesn't break up. Steam cook for 10 mins. Once done, shallow fry for couple of mins. Keep it aside. For the gravy Cooking oil - 2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste - 3/4 tsp Green chili, chopped Tomato puree - 2 cups Red chli powder - 1 tsp Salt to taste corn flour paste - 1 tsp with 1 cup water coriander leaves In a bowl, mix the corn flour in a cup of water to a lumpless liquid. In a non stick pan, heat oil, saute the ginger garlic paste, along with green chilies. Next add the tomato puree, red chili powder and salt. Bring to a boil. Now pour the corn flour mix. Simmer and let it thicken. When the gravy is cooked and thick enough, add the fried koftas and garnich with coriander leaves. Check out what Vaishali and Champa have made for their weekend.

Bandra, the one suburb in Mumbai where you can’t throw a stone without hitting a restaurant’s façade, has welcomed another new establishment. Say hello to Nom Nom, a sister outlet of the popular South East Asian restaurant in Andheri. Though just over 2 months old, this 2,200 sq feet Bandra outlet has already caught the fancy of foodies, if the number of people waiting to book a table on an early Friday night is any indication. As is to be expected, the Bandra Nom Nom shares several similarities with the Andheri outlet – the wooden décor, high ceilings and the sense of space and privacy even when largely occupied. Both restaurants have another thing in common – the muted lighting, except that the Bandra outpost is like a dark tavern, which initially pleases but later leads to confusion about the food on your plate. While mood lighting is fun, a little more light on the table helps one appreciate what’s on the plate; ultimately isn’t the food one of the prime reasons we visit a restaurant? Nom Nom’s exhaustive menu has dishes overcrowding the pages bound together by wooden flaps. Holding it is a task because the pages keep toppling off courtesy the flimsy binding, as is selecting what you’d like to go for because there’s so much text on the menu. Since Nom Nom specializes in South East Asian cuisine, the menu helpfully mentions the country of origin for each dish, but that still did not make the job of ordering for dishes any less perplexing. Spinach Dimsum So we decided to let our server do all the work. When he said “Leave it to me,” we thought he was referring to the decision-making process. We later found it to be  the name of a ginger based drink! Well, it was quite refreshing, with ginger pieces floating within that added a nice crunch. The Kokum Cooler was too sweet which gave us the impression it was made from kokum syrup and not fresh kokum. We began our meal with Bird Chilli Prawns (430) – succulent prawns tossed in soy sauce and Thai Chilli and not as spicy as we expected. The Cottage Cheese and Spinach Dim Sum isn’t a great looker but health nuts will probably relish it. The well made Wasabi Mushrooms (240), crispy fried mushrooms doused with a mild Wasabi sauce, made my nose feel funny for a minute when chomping on the mushrooms, but that slight discomfort was well worth the interesting taste. The Miso Soup with Fish (290) was served in a pot, which when uncovered, flooded our table with its fragrance. With bits of Shiitake mushrooms, tofu, spinach and fish, it’s definitely not for the faint hearted who have only dabbled at the periphery of Oriental food. Either you’ll like this soup or hate it; definitely evocative of a passionate reaction. The Salmon and Cheese roll (690), served with pink ginger slivers and wasabi, was an interesting take on traditional Japanese fare. Call it fusion sushi if you like. While you can see and taste the salmon, I felt the cream cheese was lost in the crowd. We were told that the Crab drizzled with Singaporean Hot Sauce (750) involved the tossing of fresh crabs with crushed black pepper. It did have crabs, albeit the thick-skinned, puny ones that weren’t easy eat. But the disappointment of the crab was well compensated by the super-spicy garlicky sauce – sauce so thick that it clung to our fingers. Messy as it makes our fingers, it’s impossible to resist the urge not to lick them, which we did and happily too! The Tiger Prawns Robatayaki (750) was not actually tiger prawns but medium sized ones that were charcoal-grilled and basted with lemon-butter-soy sauce. This was definitely a thumbs down, because the salty prawns were too dry and chewy. The Burmese Khao Suey (290) was the only dish we had in Nom Nom where the portions were surprisingly inadequate. There were miniscule portions of condiments like crispy fried onions, fried ginger, chopped cashew, coriander and chopped Chilli. We would have liked more quantity and options. But the mildly spicy milky

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 3/ Day 2Theme: Course Wise Meal from any State - Maharashtra/ Lunch DishesDish: Vaal Dal Khichdi Day 2 of BM# 29 and I'm doing 'Maharashtrian cuisine-Lunch dishes' theme. Today's dish is also another one-pot meal, but this time its a legume and rice combination, Vaal Dal Khichdi. Nupur @ One hot Stove is one of my favorite bloggers and she happens to be a Maharashtrian. So I have perused her blog a lot for this week's theme :-)When I saw her post for Vaal Khichdi, I went out and bought Vaal dal to make the dish. Vaal is slightly bitter, but the addition of tamarind and jaggery tames it a little bit in this dish. My 5 year old didn't dig the bitterness, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. So thanks to Nupur for introducing a new legume.Read more »

Zucchini and summer time go together. It seems easy to grow and I have read and heard stories of people running away from their neighbors and friends because of the generosity that comes when you... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]