Quick-n-Easy Chicken

I made this last night in a hurry with some leftover frozen chicken as a surprise treat for Sunny. As I don’t eat chicken I have no way of saying how it tasted, but the aroma was good and Sunny was spotted licking his fingers. So there!

Directions

1. Slice thinly 1 small shallot and finely chop 5 medium garlic cloves.
2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a wok/skillet.
3. Add 1 split green chilli and the sliced shallot and stir fry till the shallot turns golden.
4. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant – about a minute or so.
5. Add 1/8th teaspoon red chilli powder and fry for a minute.
6. Add 200 gms. Chicken pieces and stir fry on high for 5 mins.
7. Add salt to taste, mix, cover and simmer on low till the chicken is cooked through – about 20 mins.
8. Add 1 teaspoon tomato ketchup, 1 teaspoon chilli sauce and 1 tablespoon soy sauce and mix thoroughly.
9. Increase the heat to medium high, and cover and simmer the chicken for another 5 mins.
10. Remove from heat and serve hot with roti, rice or noodles.
(You can add water and simmer and reduce the gravy to the desired consistency).

Serves 1.

Tomato Chutney (Sweet)

I never cease to be amazed at the way eating traditions differ so widely among ethnic groups subsisting on the same culinary practices. For example, most non-bengalis like to have their meal with the accompaniment of Achaar (pickles) and Chutney (relish), while Bongs like to have chutney at the end of the meal with Papad (poppadoms) followed by sweets. In fact, when we used to live in Central Kolkata during my childhood we had very few Bengali aquaintances and when once in the bluest of the blue moons we had occassion to visit a Bengali friend of Papa's or my aunts' or attended a wedding, we used to be highly confused with the practice of serving the chutney at the end, where we didn't know what to do with it - our usual practice being to mix it with rice or dip the puris/kachoris in it. Our bengali hosts in turn would be not just a little puzzled at our (to them) unusual request of asking for the chutney in the middle of the meal. When we shifted to South Kolkata the cirlcle of our Bengali friends grew and gradually our tastebuds were also bongified, so much so that now I and my Mom are suckers for bangali ranna - Chaatni being our especial favourite.

This is Sunny's favourite chutney, that I learned to make from his shejo mashi and have been making with great success for the past couple of weeks. For those who like to end their meal on a sweet note, yet would be happy to do without the cloying sweetness of the usual desserts, its the perfect denouement to any meal - with the perfect tang of tomatoes coupled with the savoury depth of ginger and the sweet-sourness of raisins. I'm told its good for the digestion too, though I'm yet to do my research on that. The best thing is that it can be made in bulk and stored upto a week in the fridge. Next time I'm considering adding a teaspoon or a half of chaat-masala to give it that slight chatpata edginess of pickles. Mmmmmmm..... drool!

Ingredients

Tomatoes (Plum/Roma) - 1-1/2 kgs.
Fresh Ginger - 1" piece, grated
Green chillies - 5 sliced finely
Sugar/Jaggery - 500 gms. + more to taste
Raisins - 3/4th cup, soaked
Amaavat/Aamshotto (Preserved Mango Relish) - 1 stick / 1 heaped tablespoon
Salt - scant 1/4th tsp.
Mustard seeds - scant 1 tsp.
Vegetable oil - 1/2 tablespoon.

Directions

1. Wash and chop the tomatoes into medium dices.
2. Dice the amaavat into 1/2" squares.
3. Heat oil in a wok/heavy bottomed pan.
4. Once smoking hot, add the mustard seeds and once they stop spluttering add the tomatoes.
5. Stir thouroughly and add the salt
6. Mix to combine, lower the flame, cover and simmer for 7-8 minutes.
7. Remove cover, add the raisins, ginger, chillies and sugar/jaggery and mix thoroughly.
8. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook stirring frequently (to prevent the mix from sticking to the bottom of the pan) till it reaches a very thick viscous consistency.
9. Check for sweetness, add more sugar/jaggery if desired and cook further till dissolved properly.
10. Remove from flame, immediately add in the amaavat and mix to combine.
11. Let cool, and then ideally chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours. - best chilled overnight for the flavours to meld.
12. Serve as accompaniment or on its own as a dessert to a traditional Indian meal.

Slurp! Drool! Lick! :D

Mushroom Pepper Fry

Who doesn't love mushrooms? We sure do! A lot! And are constantly trying to find new ways to enjoy these beauties. We differ slightly in the way we like to eat the fungi - while I prefer them in simple stir-fries, grills and soups so as to be able to enjoy their natural flavour and texture to the maximum (as with most other foodstuff), Sunny likes to go the whole masaledaar hog - rich, spicy gravy-drowned mushroom curries and kormas. Me being a more selfish, er, picky eater, the last two times I cooked them, our mushrooms were made into simple, tasty and wholesome stir-fries - once with vegetables and once on their own. Sunny being the last person to denounce my cooking on earth, he ate them up quite uncomplainingly (not that he had any other option), though the only compliment he offered was that the taste kind of "grew on you" - so that finally when he was able to relish the dish he was at his last bite! This, from a usually effusive person, was a bit of a damp squib; though trust me it was quite tasty if one is into the whole natural flavours thing like me. So I gave the dish a 50/100 score and decided to move on.

Last Sunday Mr.Mushroom Man brought the bounty home again, and commanded me to cook them up Sunny-style. Now, blame it on my selective comprehension or onto the fact referred to here in fine print, or both as mutually symbiotic causalities (do I have any idea what I'm talking about?), I decided to reach a compromise and cook something nice and spicy which would be light on the stomach too. I had no desire to ingest copius quantities of fat-laden gravy and consequently spend my Sunday evening snoring away to glory. So I cooked this fry up in a jiffy, and boy! did it turn out to be nice?! Its full of natural umami (like artificial MSG or Ajinomoto) flavours, the onions add a nice crunch while the roasted peppers give hint of grilled smokiness - resulting in a unique yet well-rounded taste. The best thing is that a small quantity goes a long way in both whetting and satisfying the appetite. We both liked it, and here it is for you to savour.

Ingredients

• Button/Cremini/Baby Porcini Mushrooms - 250 gms.


• Potatoes - 2 small
  
• Anaheim Peppers/Pahadi mirch - 2
  
• Onion - 1 medium, diced finely
  
• Garlic - 2 large cloves, finely diced/minced
  
• Freshly ground black pepper - 1-1/4 tsp. or to taste
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Sugar - 1/8th tsp.
  
• Key lime - 1
  
• Vegetable oil / Butter - 1 tablespoon

Directions

1. Wash and chop the mushrooms into roughly equal-sized medium dices.
   
2. Wash and pat-dry the chilli-peppers. Roast them over open flame/grill till the skin is charred black. Immediately put them inside a plastic bag and keep aside. The peppers will sweat and after about 5 mins. or so, take them out and peel-off the black skin with your fingers. It will come-off easily. If you want you can give the peppers a quick wash to rid them of any residual black bits, but personally I prefer to leave them as is as that is where the flavour resides.
   
3. Finely chop the peeled peppers. Mix with the chopped onions and set aside.
   
4. Heat the oil/butter in a skillet/pan/wok.
   
5. When smoking, add the garlic and stir for a second or so until golden and fragrant.
   
6. Immediately add the potatoes and stir fry for about 5-6 mins. on high so that they form a crispy outer layer.
   
7. Add the mushrooms to the pan, give a leisurely stir or two on high, add the salt and sugar, mix and cover.
   
8. Lower the flame to medium-high and simmer the pan until the potatoes are cooked through.
   
9. Add in the onion-pepper mix and the ground black pepper. Mix thoroughly to combine. Cover and cook for a minute and then remove from the flame.
   
10. Let sit for around 5 mins. Then squeeze-in the juice of the lime and mix thoroughly.
    
11. Serve hot with fresh roti/paratha/buttered toast.

Serves 2-3.

Nani's Saambhar

Getting back home at around 8-8:30pm everyday, the last thing I want to do is to cook a full elaborate meal of dal, chawal/roti and subzi. Though I love cooking and most of the days do go with the full meal routine - dinner being our most substantial meal of the day, since we just grab some quick bites at lunch in office - there are days when I just want to sit back, relax and do nothing. One of the most onerous tasks of married life is cooking everyday, and it becomes especially cumbersome if both partners are working fulltime. And if you are like us, who are fed-up of eating lunch outside every single day and crave good, wholesome home-cooked food, then ordering in is simply not an option.

Yesterday was such a day, er, evening and while I didn't want to cook anything elaborate, I also didn't feel like going out or ordering in - as Sunny suggested. So instead of going hungry, I just whipped up something that was one of Nani's special go-to recipes - easy, fast, wholesome, tasty and nutritious. The best thing about it is that its a full meal in itself, and though as self respecting bheto-bangalees we had it with rice, it can be easily served with fresh buttered bread/rolls/buns/toast. Better still, just fry-up some croutons and pop them in. Very tasty!

Ingredients

Masoor dal (Red lentils) - 1 cup (washed till water runs clear and soaked)
Vegetables: potatoes, beans, okra, brinjal, pumpkin/squash/gourd, carrots, seym (snow peas), drumsticks: no need to be specific here, just go wild - 3-4 cups, washed and chopped into medium dice

Mustard seeds - scant 1 teaspoon
Curry patta/ sweet neem - 1 tablespoon, washed and dried
Whole dried red chillies - 2
Onion - 1 large, sliced
Garlic - 2 large cloves, sliced finely
Ginger - 1/4 teaspoon, grated
Tomatoes - 2 medium, diced
Turmeric - scant 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - scant 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 2 teaspoons
Amchoor (dried mango powder) / Tamarind paste / Kokam - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon, chopped
Salt - to taste
Mustard oil - 1 tablespoon
Water - 5 cups

Directions
1. Heat oil in a wok/pot until smoking and add the mustard seeds, whole dry chillies and curry leaves.
2. As soon as they stop spluttering add the garlic and stir for about 5 seconds or until fragrant. Do not let the garlic burn.
3. Immediately add the chopped vegetables and onions and stir-fry on high for about 5-6 mins.
4. Add the soaked dal (minus the water) and stir to combine. Let fry for a minute.
5. Add salt, sugar, cumin and turmeric and mix thoroughly. Fry for 2 minutes on high and then add the water.
6. Bring it to a boil, then cover and simmer on low until the veggies are cooked through (around 20 minutes).
7. Add the tomatoes, ginger, coriander and amchoor. Mix, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. Remove from flame, taste and adjust the seasonings and serve hot in individual bowls.

If you want to make it more fragrant, as Nani typically did, just add a blob of pure ghee and a scant teaspoon of roasted methi (fenugreek) powder. Divine!
I didn't have either yesterday, but it tasted luscious all the same.
Slurp!

Serves 2 as main course, 4 as accompaniment.

Luchi - Chholar Dal

Sundays are fun days at our home. Meaning we try to do minimum work and spend maximum time lolling around. It also means having a special breakfast and lunch, of which we cook a large quantity so it can double up as dinner too. Less work, see!

So Sunny had been harping since time immemorial about having a traditional Bengali breakfast of Luchi (Maida Puris / refined flour flatbreads fried in oil) and Torkari (vegetable curry). I'd planned on making them this weekend but as luck would have it, I had to work both on Saturday and Sunday, and we had a nice simple lunch of rice, dal and vegetables which Sunny had prepared while I was in office. We ate up all of it, and when we got back home after a little evening stroll, I was too tired to prepare anything elaborate for dinner. Sunny piped in his suggestion of Luchi with Chholar Dal (Curried Bengal Gram), and while I was apprehensive about its being an onerous task to undertake, it surprised me by taking just an hour - from start to finish - to be ready. And was delicious to boot!

An authentic bengali meal that can be prepared in a jiffy - what can be better than that?! Here's how I went about it-

Ingredients

For Luchi
Maida (Refined / All-purpose white flour) - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Sooji (fine grain semolina) - 1-1/2 tablespoons
Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoons + more for deep frying
Yogurt - 1/2 cup, whisked lightly to thin out
Water - as required, for kneading

For Chholar Dal
Chhola / Chaney ki dal (Split Bengal Gram) - 200 gms.
Fresh coconut - 2 tablespoons small dice
Raisins - 1 tablespoon
Whole dried red chillies - 2, broken into half
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Green Cardamoms - 5
Cloves - 8
Bay leaves - 2 small
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Green chillies - 4
Ginger - 3/4th teaspoon, grated
Mustard oil - 1 tablespoon
Sugar - 1-1/4th tablespoon
Turmeric - 1/4th teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Water - 4 cups
Pure ghee (clarified butter) - 1 teaspoon, optional

Directions
1. Wash the dal till the water runs clear and soak it for a minimum 10 mins.
2. Wash and dry the whole spices. Chop the green chillies. Wash and soak the raisins.
3. In a pressure-cooker/large pot/skillet heat the mustard oil on medium-high until smoking. Immediatedly add the cumin, red chillies, bay leaves, cardamoms, cinnamon and cloves and stir till the cumin stops spluttering.
4. Add the chopped chillies and grated ginger. Stir for about 5-6 secs. or until fragrant. Do not let the ginger burn.
5. Immediately add in the soaked dal (minus the water), diced coconut and raisins and stir to mix in the spices. Let fry for about 2 mins.
6. Add the salt, sugar and turmeric and mix thoroughly.
7. Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Remove the scum that rises to the surface.
8. If using a pressure cooker put on the lid and the vent and cook until 3 whistles on high. Remove from the heat and let cool.
9. Alternatively, if using a pot/skillet (like I did yesterday), after the dal comes to a boil lower the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer till the water reduces and the dal is cooked yet al-dente with a thick gravy consistency.(About 40-45 mins.)
10. While the dal is cooking, prepare the dough for the luchis. In a large bowl/platter mix together the maida, sooji, salt and 2 teaspoons oil.
11. Add in the yogurt, and working with your fingers mix it in the flour till the mixture acquires the texture of breadcrumbs.
12. Add water and form it into a ball. It will be slightly wet at this stage.
13. Transfer to a floured surface / sprinkle liberally with dry flour and knead till the dough becomes soft and elastic.
14. Set aside if using later (the dough will rise and aquire a slight tang - perfect for Bhatooraas!)
15. For immediate use, break small balls (about 1" diameter) off the dough and roll out into thin round luchis (approx. 3" diameter) with a rolling pin on a floured surface.
16. Heat sufficient oil in a wok for deep frying. Let your husband fry them in pairs till nicely puffed-up and amber, while you roll out around 20-25 of these cuties.
17. The dal will have cooked by now. Remove from heat, taste and adjust the seasonings, and mix in a teaspoon of Ghee, if using.
18. Lightly mash the dal with the back of a ladle.
19. Serve in individual bowls with the cute hot luchis.
20. Enjoy!

Serves 4.