Sabudana Kheer

This one is not from my Mom's kitchen. I don't think she has ever made sabudana kheer ;) That's where my Mom-in-law steps in. Teaching me recipes that are yet to be cooked in my Mom's kitchen!
This quantity makes about one good-sized bowl of kheer. And is polished off in minutes by an adoring son, 'coz it is made how his Mom makes it!!

Ingredients
Sabudana - about a fistful
Milk - 1/2 litre
Sugar - to taste (about 6-8 tablespoons)
Green elaichi - 1, lightly pounded
Ghee - 1-2 tablespoons

Method

1. Wash and soak the sabudana in water for about 10-15 minutes so that it fluffs up.
2. Boil the milk with the elaichi.
3. Lightly squeeze out the excess water from the sabudana, and in a heavy bottomed pan, saute it in ghee for a few seconds.
4. Add the boiling milk. 
5. Cook on low flame, stirring in between to ensure that the milk is not stuck to the bottom of the pan.
6. After a while, the sabudana will look clear and glassy, indicating that it is cooked.
7. Continue cooking till the kheer reaches the desired consistency.
8. Serve hot.

Butter Chilli Garlic Noodles

Invented in China? Maybe. But Made in China? Naah! It's the Made in India version that I crave.

You guessed it, I am talking about Chinese food! The Indian-Chinese kind I mean. The Chinese-Chinese I am yet to eat. So for now, the Indian version is what makes me happy. The 'died and gone to heaven' kind of happy!

This recipe is what I love eating at one of our favourite restaurants in Hyderabad, Aromas of China. Here goes my simplified take on it.  

Ingredients

Noodles - 1 packet
Butter - a few tablespoons (depends on how buttery you like the noodles)
Garlic, chopped - 4-6 cloves (again, depends on how garlicky you want your noodles)
Red chillies, broken in half - 2-4 (yep! Depends on you. Who else!)
Onion, thinly sliced - 1 large
Capsicum, thinly sliced - 1
Green chillies - optional (depends on how fiery you want the noodles)
Veggies of your choice (you can use carrots, beans, broccoli, corn or babycorn, red or yellow bell pepper, etc), julienned
Chicken, boiled and shredded - optional

Method
1. Add the noodles and some salt to plenty of boiling water.
2. Cook till done. This takes a few minutes. (I usually check by tasting. :P)
3.When it is cooked, immediately drain the noodles and hold under cold running water. This ensures that the noodles cool down and stop cooking. Else, they become soggy and stick together.
4. Spread on a plate and mix in about a tablespoon of oil.

This is how the noodles look at this point.

5. Heat a non-stick pan and add a dollop of butter. You can mix in a little oil if you want, as it prevents the butter from burning.
6. When the butter is hot, add the garlic and chillies and saute for about a minute or so.
7. Add the onion and capsicum and saute for a couple of minutes.
8. Add the remaining veggies, and chicken (if you want), and cook till the veggies are done. Veggies should be crunchy at this point, and not soft or overcooked.

10. Mix in the noodles, give a final stir to mix everything well, and serve hot.

Chholar Dal

Ingredients
1 cup chholar dal (chana dal)
Salt to taste 

Haldi powder

For the tempering
Paanch phoron
Hing
Garam masala powder
Red or green chillis
Bay leaf (tej patta) 

Garnish
Raisins
Grated/ nicely chopped coconut
A pinch of sugar
A little grated ginger

Method

1. Pressure cook or boil chholar dal with salt till cooked.
2. Heat some ghee and add paanch phoron, hing, garam masala, red chillis and tej patta for tempering.
3. Add this phoron (tadka/ tempering) to the dal.
4. When the dal is boiling, add the coconut, raisins, sugar and grated ginger.
5. Mix well and serve hot.

Tip: This dal goes really with with the Bengali pulao I posted earlier.

Simple Tamarind (Imli) Chutney

This is the recipe for a basic tamarind chutney, that goes well with chaats, dahi vada etc. There are several variations, for example, one that includes dates, but I am just sticking to the basic recipe for now!


Ingredients (for a very small bowl of chutney)
Very little tamarind (approximately 1/4th part of a lemon), soaked in water for 1/2 - 1 hour
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder to taste
Nutmeg powder, a pinch
Cumin (jeera) powder to taste

Method

1. Take the tamarind extract and strain it to extract the juice. Now transfer to a non-stick pan and add the remaining ingredients. 
2. Add water and cook on low heat till the chutney reaches the desired consistency. 
3. Taste, and adjust spices as required.

Please note that the chutney will become thicker once cool. So, you may have to mix in some water before serving.

Ma's Special Pulao

Ma makes this special Bengali pulao that is to die for. Although easy to cook, the simple, delicate flavours come together beautifully, resulting in a pulao that tastes just out of this world.

Ingredients

1.5 cups of rice

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste (about a pinch)

Pinch of turmeric
Ghee to cook

Garam masala (about 2 cardamom, 2 cloves and an inch long stick of cinnamon)

Tej patta (bay leaf) - 1 

Dry fruits like raisins, cashews and almonds (optional, but strongly recommended!)

Peas (optional)

Method

1. Wash and drain rice of excess water (we don’t need to soak the rice). 
2. Spread out the rice on a plate and mix in some salt, sugar and a pinch of haldi. Leave for 15-20 minutes. 
3. Lightly saute the dry fruits (if using) in some ghee and set aside. 
4. In the same ghee, add the garam masala and tej patta. 
5.  Let the garam masala crackle, and add the rice.
6. Cook for about 5 minutes till the rice is a little brittle. At this point, you must ensure that the rice is not browned or cooked.
7. Add boiling water (double the quantity of rice) and peas (optional) and cook till almost all the water is absorbed and steaming holes appear in the rice. 
8. Switch off the flame and cover for half an hour. (This is an important step since the rice cooks slowly in its own steam, giving a delicious flavour.)
9. In case it looks a little uncooked, add some water and cook again, uncovered, till done. 
10. Garnish with dry fruits and serve.

Gajar ka Halwa

It is winter already (yayee!) and there is a nip in the Hyderabad air, that had been missing for a couple of years now. With lovely red carrots available available all over, what option did I have, but to pick up a few to make the eternal favourite gajar ka halwa!


Ingredients
One big red carrot, grated
Few tablespoons of ghee
1/2 litre milk (you can use skimmed or full cream)
Sugar to taste (I used about 8-10 tablespoon)
Two green cardamom  (elaichi)
Raisins and cashews to garnish

Method

1. Grate the carrot and lightly saute in ghee to get rid of the raw taste. Take care that you don't cook or fry it. Just a couple of minutes tossing it around should be good.
2. Lightly pound the elaichis and add to milk. You can also use elaichi powder if you have some.
3. Boil the milk in a thick-bottomed vessel, to ensure that the milk does not form a burnt layer at the bottom. (I use my pressure cooker, without the lid.)
4.  Add the sauted carrot to the milk.
5. Stir well. Keep on low flame and keep stirring occasionally till the milk thickens and reduces. 
6. Cook till it reaches the desired consistency (this is the state when there is no extra milk and the gajar ka halwa looks nice and moist).
7. Add sugar to taste. Mix well and turn off the gas.
8. Garnish with the dry fruits and serve hot on a cold winter night.

Tomato Chutney

A perfect accompaniment to a typical Bengali lunch. Also, a quick and yummy sweet dish, especially if guests are practically knocking on the door and you have forgotten to make one. Or, like in my case, if there is a husband with a sweet tooth and always rummaging through the fridge for something sweet!

Ingredients
Tomatoes - 2 small ones
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Paanch phoron or mustard seeds
Dried red chillis - 2
Ginger - grated or finely chopped
Dates - 3-4 (deseeded), or aam shotto (aam papad) - a few chopped pieces, optional
Raisins
Sugar to taste (I added about 6-7 tablespoon)
Juice of about one lemon


Method

1. Heat oil and add red chillis (broken in half), mustard seeds/ paanch phoron to temper the oil.
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, ginger, dates (if using) and water and bring to a boil.
4. Add raisins, aam shotto (if using) and sugar. 
5. Cook till done. It should have a nice chutney-like consistency, depending on how thick you like it.
6. Let it cool down a little, and add some lemon juice for that extra tang.
7. Best served chilled.

Puran Poli

For this Diwali, I told my Mom that I want to make sweets at home. Nothing elaborate. Or difficult. I just don't do difficult! She rattled off a list of easy to make sweet dishes. One of them was the festival staple, puran poli. Which, surprisingly, is not really tough to make.

Ingredients
For the filling
1 cup chana dal (chholar dal), soaked for 15-20 minutes
1 cup sugar
Nutmeg powder
Elaichi powder
For the dough
2 cups atta
Water
Salt
Oil

Method

1. Pressure cook chana dal on high flame for one whistle. Lower flame and continue to cook till nice and mushy (about 5-10 minutes more). After opening the pressure cooker, cook till there is no excess water left in the dal.
2. Transfer dal to a non-stick pan and add sugar. 
3. Add the nutmeg and elaichi powder.
4. Cook till the filling is ready. The consistency should be such that it can be stuffed in a parantha. Hence, not too runny. Or too dry. It should hold good when the parantha is being rolled out.
5. Prepare the dough using the ingredients listed for it. You can cover it with a damp cloth and leave it for about half an hour for a nice and soft dough.
6. Take some dough and roll it out a little. Add some filling to the centre. Seal it in and roll out the parantha. 
7. Heat a tawa and cook the paranthas, preferably with ghee.
8. Serve hot.

Aditya Bal's Dum Murg Ki Kacchi Biryani

He looks as good as he cooks. No, he cooks as good as he looks! I just cannot figure out. Who am I talking about? Aditya Bal, one of the yummiest chefs in India, if you ask me (all puns intended!).

I wanted to share this recipe for two reasons. One, it is a great biryani recipe that worked out really well for me when I hardly knew how to cook. Second, I associate it with some really fond memories, as this is one of the first things that I tried my hand at cooking after getting married!

Seriously! Delicious recipes from one hot guy, cooked for another hot guy ;) Does it get any better? 

Now that I think about it, maybe my interest in cooking has been motivated by factors other than my Mom! Like certain model-turned-chefs who whip up drool-worthy dishes. And you are not even sure what you are drooling over ;)

You can see the original recipe here. I have not made any changes to it. Why spoil a good thing?

Dum Murg Ki Kacchi Biryani

Ingredients

1/2 kg basmati rice
1 kg chicken
2 onions - chopped
1/2 tsp saffron
1 cup milk
Juice of 1 lemon
Fresh green coriander - chopped
2 green chillies - chopped
1 tbsp refined oil

For the Marinade
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 cup curd
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

Spices for Chicken
4 cloves
1" cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 green cardamoms
1 black cardamom
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Whole spices for rice
2 cloves
1/2 " cinnamon
2 green cardamoms
Salt - to taste

For the Dum
Dough made of atta and water

Method

Soak the basmati rice in water for 20 minutes to half an hour.

Marinate the chicken with curd, turmeric, salt, chilly powder and ginger-garlic paste.

Grind all the spices for the chicken in a mortar and add to the marinade. Leave the chicken to marinate for an hour minimum or up to four hours.

Heat 2 tbsp of refined oil in a pan. Saute the onions, till they turn golden brown. Keep aside.

Put the rice into the cooking vessel and add the requisite amount of water. Add the whole spices and the salt. Cover and let it cook till the water is absorbed.

Put the milk into a saucepan and heat till tepid. Add the saffron and stir till the milk takes on the color of saffron. Keep aside.

Crumple half the burnt onions and add it to the marinated chicken. Put back in fridge for half an hour.


To Layer The Biryani

In a handi or an appropriate biryani cooking vessel: put 1 tbsp oil and heat. Add the chicken and cook on high heat till chicken takes on a light brown color and is half cooked.

Lower the flame; flatten the chicken to form a layer. Put chopped coriander and green chillies on top.

Put all the rice on top of this layer and smoothen out. Pour in the saffron infused milk over the rice and add the lemon juice.

Cover the vessel and make long snake off the dough by rolling in on the counter and use it to seal the top of the cooking vessel.

Let the biryani cook on a very slow fire till the seal is hard and the rice looks fully cooked.

Serve hot.

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Basic
Chicken, approximately 200 gram
Water, about 2 glasses (or atleast sufficient to make 2-3 bowls of soup)
Onion, cut into 4 pieces
Ginger/ Garlic (fresh is best, else you can use store-bought paste)
Peppercorn
Salt to taste
Garam masala (optional)

Optional
You can also add some finely diced veggies like carrots, beans, capsicum, sweet corn etc. You will need some butter and chopped garlic to saute these.

Garnish
Lemon juice
Spring onions

Method

1. Add all the basic ingredients to the pressure cooker and wait for one whistle. Reduce heat and let it cook for 10-15 minutes or till the chicken is done. 
2. Let it cool, then strain. 
3. Shred a few pieces of chicken to add to the soup.
4. Heat the soup. 
5. At this point, you can add the optional veggies, sauted in butter and garlic till cooked, but crunchy.
6.  Garnish with spring onions, add lemon juice, and serve hot. You can enjoy it as a starter, or have it with buttered toast for dinner :)

Tip: I usually reserve the remaining cooked chicken to add to pastas, noodles, sandwiches etc.

Cook by Chance??

Actually, I don't really know! What I do know is, that confused as I am about many things in life, cooking isn't one of them. I really do love it :)

I don't have a great story to tell. Living with my husband away from home, I needed to learn to cook to fulfil those (sometimes crazy) cravings for home-cooked food. Which basically means food cooked by my Mom. And Grandmom. And that is how this journey really began. As any journey usually does. From the beginning :) 

I have grown up in a household where all things food, and the menu for the next meal are discussed with great sincerity and gravity. Maybe, this influenced me way before I even realised. Maybe as I sat studying in the kitchen, while my Mom cooked and quizzed me for the next day's exam at the same time, I was learning a lot more than just history or geography. Maybe. I will never know :) 

Maybe, my forays into the culinary world (quite a long shot, this description of what I do in the kitchen!) - after lengthy phone calls with my mother - should probably come as no surprise to me. Perhaps it was meant to be :)

The recipes are nothing new. I am not a great cook. I am just learning the ropes. But if I can share the recipes, that help whip up a quick and yummy meal, why not!  

This blog aspires to be an eclectic collection of recipes - those pestered out of my Mom, those bugged out of friends and family, noted down from my favourite chefs, and of course, those that I picked up along the way and can't really remember from where now :)

Since keeping them all in one place and tracking them down was becoming a problem as the collection grew, and I wanted a common platform to share recipes that I really love (to eat and to make!), this blog came into being. (I am surrounded by two kinds of people - those who love to cook and those who love to eat! Period. Is there a third kind, you ask?? Well there are actually many more, but these two are the kinds I love :).)