Categories
Recipes

Aromatic Chicken Keema

We’re eating a lot of chicken these days and need to figure out more ways of cooking the bird. We made this aromatic chicken keema using whatever we had at hand.

The main issue with chicken keema is that it can get a bit dry if even mildly overcooked. If you experience this with your keema, try this method of keeping minced chicken moist.

Ingredients:

  • Chicken keema, 500gm
  • Onion, medium, one, chopped
  • Garlic, 4 large cloves, chopped
  • Tomato puree, 1 tbsp
  • Meat masala, 1 tbsp
  • Chili powder, 2 tsp
  • Salt, 1 tsp
  • Haldi, 2 tsp
  • Kewra water, 3 tbsp
  • Lemons, 2, juiced
  • Kasoori methi, 5gm/2 large pinches
  • Fat to cook

Method:

  1. Mildly brown the onions and garlic in hot oil/fat
  2. As that’s happening, mix the meat masala, chili powder, salt and haldi together with the tomato puree and a little water to form a paste. Add the paste to the pan and cook on medium till the fat separates from the mixture.
  3. Add the chicken keema, mix well (or it’ll clump up) and cook on medium, covered for about 7 – 10 minutes or until cooked.
  4. Add the kewra water, kasoori methi and lemon juice. Mix well and turn off the heat.
  5. Serve hot.

Notes:

  • Adjust chili and salt per taste
  • Good kewra water (screwpine essence) is necessary for the aroma.
  • A pinch of sugar might be nice.
Categories
Recipes

Vegetable Pakodas

We do like our vegetable pakodas (fritters) and every now and then we’ll binge on the stuff. This is one of the recipes we use. It’s a blend of different vegetables, is easy to make and the outcome is little, crisp bite sized pakodas that are great on their own as well as if put into a kadhi.

Ingredients:

  • Aubergine, round, medium, diced
  • Bell pepper, medium, diced
  • Onion, medium, diced
  • Garlic, 6 small pods, minced
  • Green chilies, 2, minced with seeds
  • Basil leaves, handful, minced (we had some lying about)
  • Besan/chickpea flour, 2 cups
  • Red chili powder, 1 tbsp
  • Salt, 2 tsp
  • Kasuri methi, 2 loose pinches/2-3 gm
  • half to 1 cup water

Method:

  1. Mix everything together, going slow with the water as needed instead of pouring the whole lot in together; this should result in a fairly dense batter. These pakodas need to be small, and cooked on medium heat until they’re golden brown. Any bigger and they’ll be raw on the inside.
  2. I made them by scooping up a tablespoonful of the batter/dough, and then using another spoon, scraping parts of the dough from the first spoon into the oil; about 2 to 3 little pakodas per spoonful of dough.
  3. Another method would be to scoop up little bits of dough with wet hands, flatten it a bit with the thumb and then shove off the fingers it into the oil with the thumb.

Notes:

  • Use as little besan as possible if you’re watching your carbs; just enough to bind the vegetables together.
Categories
Recipes

Chilli Garlic Chutney

We keep this chutney around the house as it’s useful for quick stir fries, an easy dip and even a dynamite mug of soup.

Ingredients

  • Dried red chili, 150gm, soaked
  • Garlic pods, 150gm
  • Salt, 2 tbsp
  • Sugar, 1 tbsp
  • Vinegar, white, half cup
  • Vegetable oil, half cup
  • Water as required.

Method

  1. Blend all the ingredients together, using the soaking water for the chilies as required to facilitate the blend.

Notes

  • If using for soup, straining the final liquid makes it more pleasant to drink. You’ll also need to adjust the seasoning.
  • The salt in this chutney is a little lower than required for a dip. This is to prevent overdoing the salt when using in stir fries that could have other salt-bearing flavors, such as soy and fish sauce.
  • Very similar to this recipe posted earlier.

Categories
Recipes

Stuffed Thaipo

A Thaipo appears to be a much larger version of the momo, usually stuffed with spiced meats and a boiled egg, sometimes halved. I’ve seen it made with both regular dough as well as leavened dough. The ones with leavened dough are similar to Chinese stuffed baos.

They can be made in bun shapes too, if you don’t want to fold.

If you want to see the hot, freshly made Thaipo getting sliced in two, click here to see the video on Instagram.

I tend to use the same proportions and method for any recipe requiring leavened dough, unless I’m in a hurry.

Ingredients:

  • For the wrapper
    • All purpose flour / Maida, 3 cups
    • Instant yeast, 2 tbsp
    • Salt, 1 tsp
    • Water, 1.5 cups
  • For the stuffing
    • Eggs, 6 – 7, boiled and shelled
    • Pork, 400gm, finely diced
    • Mushrooms, 1 pack / 250gm, finely chopped
    • Garlic, 20 cloves (small), finely chopped
    • Spring onion, whites, 10 medium
    • Green chilies, 10, finely chopped
    • Red chili powder, 1.5 tbsp
    • Degi mirch powder, 1.5 tbsp (for colour)
    • White vinegar
    • Salt to taste
    • Fish sauce, 1 tbsp
    • Light soy sauce, 1 tbsp
    • Oil for pan frying

Method:

  1. Combine the dry ingredients together, then add the water; mix with a spatula. No need to knead. Leave overnight or 8 – 10 hours, covered. Knock it back and knead a little to get it into shape for rolling just before use. Use wet fingers.
  2. Marinate the pork in the fish and soy sauce for an hour or so.
  3. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic. When it begins browning, add the onions, chili powders and green chilies. When the onions begin releasing back the oil, add the pork. Stirring every so often, cook the pork on high heat for about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cook until the mixture is dry. Adjust seasoning. Let cool.
  4. Using a little extra flour, separate the dough into 6 – 7 pieces. Roll them out into circles of 6″ diameters.
  5. Put about 2 tbsp of filling plus an egg into each one; fold like a momo / dumpling as per your skill level and let them stand for a while, covered, to rise for a bit, say 15 minutes. Steam for 20 minutes.
  6. Serve with chili-garlic chutney or mutton/vegetable broth.

Notes

  • I used pork shoulder; about 15-20% fat.
  • You can stuff with anything you want, including vegetarian fillings. Just make sure the filling is dry, or your Thaipos could end up with soggy bottoms.
  • Look up dumpling folding videos if you want to fold them properly; otherwise just make them into a little ‘bag’, pinching off excess dough at the top. They’ll taste just as good. As you can see, I’m a beginner at folding too.
  • Great for chilly winter morning breakfasts with hot mutton broth. That’s how I first ate them many years ago in a tiny Tibetan shop, early one winter morning in McLeodganj.
  • You can use the same dough to make tingmos.
Tingmos made with the same dough.
My poor dumpling folding skills.
Categories
Recipes

Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

We do like meatballs in tomato sauce at home, and make these every so often, though it’s usually with a red meat. This time I only had chicken available, and tried adding pork fat to make the meatballs juicier. I don’t think it really made much difference and will probably not add it next time.

We ate handmade noodles with this. I just make a dough of APF/maida, water and egg, using an egg for every 100gm dough, estimating about 150gm per person. The dough is rolled out to about 1/2 – 1mm thickness, allowed to dry for a few minutes, then sliced into flat fettuccine-like noodles, tossed in a little flour, and cooked for a minute or so in simmering, salted hot water.

Ingredients

  • for the Meatballs
    • Chicken, minced, 500gm
    • Basil leaves, 20gm / handful
    • Mint leaves, 20gm / handful
    • Whole wheat flour, 15gm / 1 tbsp
    • Aubergine, diced, 75gm / half medium
    • Bell pepper, 50gm
    • Green chillies, 4, finely chopped
    • Pork fat, 30gm, grated from frozen
    • 2 eggs, beaten
    • Salt to taste
  • for the Tomato Sauce
    • Tomatoes, 1 kg, fresh, pureed
    • Basil leaves, 20gm / handful
    • Black pepper, freshly cracked, 1 tbsp
    • Garlic, 6 large cloves, finely chopped
    • Onions, 1 large, finely chopped
    • Olive oil, 2 tbsp

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs. Shape into balls with wet hands, or with a spoon and deep fry on medium heat until golden brown on the outside. Drain and reserve. They may no be fully cooked, so check before eating one if you’re tempted.
  2. Heat some olive oil and first fry the garlic, then the onions, then the ground pepper and basil leaves, giving each one about a minute in the hot oil.
  3. Add the tomato puree, simmer for 20 minutes, covered. If its thicker than you like, add a little stock or water.
  4. Add the meatballs, simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
  5. Simmer for another 10 minutes, uncovered.
  6. Adjust seasoning. Serve on noodles.

Notes

  • These go well with a dry red wine.
  • Add chopped green chilies to the onions if you want an extra chili hit.
Categories
Recipes

Pot Roasted Pork with Chili Lemon Relish

Every few weeks I’ll go pick up a few kilos of pork and binge eat it for the next few days. This morning I picked up a shoulder and a few ribs. The shoulder was pot roasted with simple flavours and eaten with a super-hot relish. The piquant relish cut through the fat and brightened up the meat considerably.

Ingredients:

  • Pork shoulder or other large cut
  • Soy sauce, dark
  • Chutney
    • Green chili peppers
    • Lemon
    • Salt

Method:

  1. Heat a large pot and keeping it on high heat, sear the meat for 2 – 3 minutes on each side.
  2. Pour on the dark soy coating the meat (don’t overdo – coat, don’t drown it)
  3. Adding a little water from time to time, cook the pork on a very low flame for a few hours until cooked. Turn the meat over periodically to get coated with the sludge forming at the bottom of the pot.
  4. Coarsely blend the green chilies; mix with lemon juice and salt. I went the old fashioned way with a mortar and pestle, which is why there’s so little of the precious chutney in the picture.
  5. Serve.
Categories
Recipes

Malai Masala Sauce

This is a really simple sauce that’s based on the classic sauce Soubise, which is really an onion sauce. I’m aware of two classic recipes. Both start with sweating onions in butter. One variant then blends this onions-butter mixture in Bechamel sauce, and the other, in cream. I prefer the cream variant.

The picture was Indu’s lunch from a few days ago. I used the Malai Masala sauce with some leftover cooked chicken breast.

This malai masala sauce ended up being used in a few dishes before it was over, demonstrating its versatility. This is a high fat, high calorie recipe.

Ingredients:

  • Cream, 200 ml tetrapak
  • Onions, 2 medium, finely chopped
  • Garlic, 5 – 7 cloves, finely chopped
  • Meat Masala, 1 tbsp (I used Kitchen Fables)
  • Butter, 2 tbsp
  • Oil, 2 tbsp
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  1. Heat oil to medium, add meat masala, reduce heat to a simmer, gently fry, set aside.
  2. Heat butter to medium, add onions and garlic, mix well, reduce heat to a simmer, sweat for about 10 minutes, add meat masala mixture from step 1, gently cook for another 10 minutes, set aside and let cool.
  3. Blend mixture from step 3 with cream.
  4. This will likely set into a thick-ish paste.
  5. Dilute with hot water in a pan and add cooked meats or quick cooking vegetables of your choice to use.

Notes:

  • If you don’t want to store it, add water to the cream while/before blending and use it all up. I liked having it in the fridge and being able to quickly mix it with water, salt and cooked chicken or mushrooms etc.
Categories
Recipes

Pumpkin, Spinach & Buttermilk Soup

There’s a contest on at CAL, that laid certain ingredient restrictions for qualifying entries. I chose to work with Pumpkin, Spinach and Cinnamon from the list.

It’s fun to try and make something when we don’t have a world of choices. I also believe we’re at our creative best when our options are restricted.

This soup won’t taste very good with rice or rotis IMO, even though it seems more like a curry. Might go well with Kerala parottas or Bengali lucchis – maida flatbreads of different sorts essentially.

It is low carb, somewhat nutritious, though it can support more vegetables to improve nutrition and quite low fat.

Ingredients:

  • Main
    • Pumpkin, about 300gms, blended, with a little water
    • Spinach, handful, chopped
    • Buttermilk, Mother Dairy, masala version, 2 packets (400ml)
  • Flavours
    • Onions, 2 medium, finely sliced
    • Ginger, 3 tablespoons, grated
    • Mustard seeds, 3 teaspoons
    • Urad dal, 3 teaspoons
    • Cinnamon, 1/4th teaspoon
    • Green chilies, 6 pieces, slit
    • Black peppercorns, 1 tsp, pounded fine
    • Hing powder 1/2 tsp (not pure resin)
    • Red chilies, dried
  • 3 tsp cornstarch mixed with cold water
  • Finish
    • Garam Masala
    • Salt to taste
    • Coriander, fresh, for garnish

Method:

  1. Heat oil, splutter mustard, brown the urad dal, fry the ginger, hing, dried red chilies, fresh green chilies and curry leaves.
  2. Add the onions, fry till beginning to brown at the edges.
  3. Add the pumpkin, mix well, add the buttermilk. Thicken with cornstarch and mix well. Simmer 2 – 3 minutes.
  4. Bring to a boil. Add the spinach leaves, cinnamon, salt and garam masala per taste. Simmer 5 minutes. Mix well.
  5. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Notes:

  • Thickening is to avoid the buttermilk splitting/curdling. If you’re alright with that, skip the cornstarch.
  • Cream can taste nice in this. If you do add cream, be careful of it splitting, both due to temperature, and acidity.
  • This soup supports more vegetables. Add as per cooking time required. For example, add carrots toward the middle and small broccoli florets towards the end.
  • Reduce chilies per taste. Keep in mind, chilies will reduce carb cravings.

Categories
Recipes

Grilled Baingan

We love baingan at home in all its shapes and forms. One time I remember really, really wanting that last piece of begun bhaja and ending up promising to take my daughter to the movies in return for her claim. That one piece cost me 750 rupees.

This was part of a platter we ate a couple of days ago.

Ingredients:

  • Baingan/Aubergine, small-medium sized long variety, sliced in half, lengthwise
  • Chili powder + salt dry mixture (1:2)
  • Lemon juice
  • Oil
  • Lemon zest (optional)
  • Feta cheese (optional)

Method:

  1. Rub the aubergines with the chili salt mixture. Score them with a knife as in the picture. This looks pretty and helps cook it faster too.
  2. Heat your grill pan to almost smoking hot, brush it with a little oil. Place all the aubergines, scored side down on to the pan
  3. Reduce the heat and wait until the purple color has faded across at least half the height of the aubergine. Add a little more oil if it’s all gone. Don’t try to remove or shift the pieces. Press each one down gently.
  4. When each piece is faded all the way to the top, wait another couple of minutes and remove them from the pan.
  5. Serve hot after squeezing on some lemon juice.

Notes:

  • You can use slices of round aubergine too. Remember to score.
  • Sprinkle on some lemon zest and crumbled feta cheese if you want.
  • With thicker slices of baingan, you can also sprinkle a little water from time to time and cover the pan to allow for the effects of the hot steam.