8 new dishes coming up soon

Left to right from top:
1. JB's simple green beans with fennel, very quick, very tasty.
2. JB's chola/chana daal - Split Bengal gram with coconut.
3. JB's mince, pea and potato delight, never-fail, quick and easy dish.
4. Chorchori or Bengali-style mixed vegetables (with puin shaag/Chinese spinach, pumpkin, raddish, eggplant and potatoes)
5. Apple streusel cake or light cake with beautiful Granny Smith apples and a delicious, crunchy hazelnut crumble. ('Joy of Baking', Stephanie Jaworski, website)
6. Chicken drumsticks with balsamic ('Maggie's Kitchen', Maggie Beer)
7. Sze Juen Jar Gai or fried chicken Szechuan-style ('The Complete Asian Cookbook', Charmaine Solomon)
8. Mughlai biryani ('The Complete Asian Cookbook', Charmaine Solomon)

For more pictures go to Roti & Roast.
All pictures copyright of Jhoomur Bose.

Palak paneer (Cottage cheese/ricotta in creamy spinach gravy)

21 September 2009

They say that if you were force-fed spinach as a child, you probably wouldn't like it as an adult. Despite the force-feeding though, spinach is another vegetable -- like pumpkin -- I've started enjoying and appreciating more as an adult.

Palak paneer* is one of my favourite dishes, easy to cook and very easy on the stomach as well. For those who are weight conscious, it couldn't get better than this dish: Lots of green, cheese that doesn't make you feel guilty. For moms who find it hard to feed anything remotely leafy to their kids, this is a good option since they don't see the leaves in this dish and it's very creamy, which I'm told kids like.

(*Palak = spinach; paneer = Indian cottage cheese)

Like most Indian recipes, there are different ways to make palak paneer. Since most of those recipes involve frying the paneer and adding cream, I don't really enjoy them. I've also found that in the popular recipes, the spinach base can turn out to be bitter. Even if this sounds like blowing my own trumpet, I enjoy making and eating my version of palak paneer the best.

I use very little oil (1 TBS), don't fry the paneer and have found that my spinach base is much creamier -- without using any cream -- than the other versions on the net. Try it, you'll like it.

JB Special: Palak paneer (Ricotta/ cottage cheese in creamy spinach gravy)

Serves: 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Try this with: Bread or rice

INGREDIENTS

Cottage cheese/ ricotta/tofu 300-500 gms

Spinach leaves 160-200 gms (I use baby/English spinach, works just as fine as the big-leafed variety found in India)

Garlic 4 cloves

Cloves 2-3

Cardamom 1

Black peppercorns 4 (optional)

Bay leaves 2

Onion 1 large, finely chopped

Ginger 1", grated

Salt to taste

Oil 1 TBS

NOTES

It's imperative that you wash spinach and all leafy vegetables very thoroughly. There's often mud and insects hiding between the leaves. A good way to wash leafy greens is to soak them in enough water and let them sit for 10-15 minutes. This way the mud and dirt washes off the leaves and settles at the bottom of your washing bowl/bucket. Gently pull out the leaves, throw the dirty water and rinse the leaves again in running water.

METHOD

1. Cut your paneer, ricotta or tofu into small cubes, cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.
2. Spinach gravy base: Put the washed spinach leaves, garlic, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns in a deep saucepan (with lid). Fill with just enough water to cover the spinach, put the lid on and cook the spinach for 15-20 minutes. Once done, drain the leaves and spices in a colander/sieve, keep the water aside and allow it to cool slightly. Blend the spinach leaves (with garlic and spices) in a blender to form a smooth paste. Your spinach gravy base is ready.
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Once its hot, add the bay leaves and saute for a minute.
4. Add onions and grated ginger and fry till onions are golden. (If you are not using onion, saute the grated ginger for a minute, taking care not to burn it)
5. Add 1 TSP (heaped) salt, mix well and add the spinach paste. The paste could be thick, add about 1/2-1 cup of the spinach water that you've kept aside earlier.
6. Mix well and cook, on high heat, stirring intermittently, till the gravy boils. (For those who like it spicy, you can add chilli powder.)
7. Once spinach paste boils, reduce heat, add the paneer/ricotta/tofu, gently mix it in and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Taste to see if it needs salt and add (or not) accordingly.

Your palak paneer is ready. You can garnish it with a teaspoon of cream or butter. Wasn't that simple? Try the dish and let me know if you like it.

JB special: Butter chicken

14 September 2009

Now I've loved butter chicken for as long as I've loved chicken. But I've had two problems with the restaurant butter chicken -- whether in India or in Melbourne -- I've had. 1) It always leaves me feeling really bloated 2) all the ghee/butter and cream gives me nasty gas.

Forced by my gastronomic disabilities -- love butter chicken, don't want to fart (!) -- I experimented... successfully. Now there are at least five different ways of making butter chicken and a basic e-search will give you those recipes. After trying most of them, this is a version of the butter chicken I've come up with.

What's so special about it? It uses roughly 2 tablespoons of oil, has the authentic taste and does not use any milk products -- butter, cream or yoghurt -- in it. I can hear the puritans yelling, "That's not butter chicken." But hey, try my version, you won't regret it. However, I cannot call it completely fat-free since the cashew nut paste is somewhat fatty. But bloody tasty. :)

JB special Butter Chicken

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 20 minutes (includes marination)

Cooking time: 30 minutes, on low heat, covered

Try this with: Steamed rice, bread or roti/ chapati

INGREDIENTS

For marinade:

Breast or thigh fillets 500 g (cut into cubes)

Salt 1 TSP, heaped

Chilli powder 1 TSP

Ginger paste 1/2 TSP

Garlic paste 1/2 TSP

Vegetable/Canola oil 1 TSP (of 2 TBS)

Turmeric powder 1 TSP, heaped

Coriander powder 1 TSP, heaped

For the sauce:

Onions 2 medium or 1 large, blended

Tomatoes 2-3 medium, blended

Ginger paste 1/2 TSP

Garlic paste 1/2 TSP

Coriander powder 1/2 TSP

Turmeric 1/2 TSP

Fresh coriander 2 TBS, blended

Tomato ketchup 1 TBS

Cashew nuts 100 gms, blended

Water (if needed)

NOTES

1. The chilli powder is optional, the dish tastes just as good without it.
2. The flavour of your butter chicken depends a lot on the tomatoes used: Select ripe tomatoes else the dish can turn out sour.
3. Butter chicken is lightly salted and is somewhat sweetish; don't go adding too much salt.
4. For those who like their butter chicken to taste extra buttery, add 1/4 cup cream with the cashew nut paste.
5. You don't need to add any additional salt, cashew nuts release a natural sweetener that works just fine. However, if the tomatoes are too sour, chuck in a teaspoon of sugar or adjust according to taste.
6. As always, before you put the pan on fire, prepare your indredients first... I've had a rather smokey kitchen because I'm looking for something while the oil burns in the pan.
7. If you have one blender jar -- as I do -- and don't want to go washing after each session, follow this order: Puree cashew nuts first, followed by onions and lastly the tomatoes.
8. While blending, do not add any extra water.

METHOD

1. Mix the teaspoon oil, turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, salt and ginger-garlic paste together. Rub it on the chicken pieces -- should coat every piece -- and let the chicken sit for 20 minutes. (Use this to prepare the other ingredients)
2. Blend the onions, tomatoes and cashew nuts -- separately please -- and keep aside.
3. Heat remaining oil in a pan. Once its smoking hot, add the marinated chicken pieces and stir fry on high heat for 5 minutes or till all chicken pieces turn 'white'. Use a slotted spoon -- leaves the oil in the pan -- to pick out the chicken and keep aside on a plate.
4. Reduce heat to medium and in the same pan, add the onion paste. Fry till it dries out and starts turning golden.
5. Reduce heat to minimum and add the ginger and garlic pastes. Stir fry for 3 minutes.
6. Raise the heat to medium -- sorry, all this heat up-down is only till this step, promise -- add the blended tomatoes and cook, stirring intermittently, till the sauce dries out a little.
7. Reduce heat to minimum, mix in the tomato ketchup, stir fry for 2 minutes.
8. Add the cashew nut paste and blended coriander; mix well.
9. Add the pre-fried chicken pieces and mix so that all pieces coated with the sauce.
10. Add sugar/salt according your taste IF needed.
11. How does the gravy look? Depending on the tomatoes used -- ripe ones have more water content -- and how well you've followed the recipe, you shouldn't need to add any water. However, if the gravy looks too dry, add 1/2 - 1 cup water, mix in. Do remember that butter chicken gravy is never watery.
12. Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes or till chicken pieces are tender.
13. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves, roasted cashew nuts or cream 'squiggles' (as in pic) and serve hot with rice or roti.

Try it!!! And let me know how it turns out. :) If you have a different or better recipe for butter chicken, please do share. Will be happy to put it up here (attributed to you) or to link to your website. Share the love, share the recipes!

JB Special: Sausage Surprise

31.08.2009

You know, I should call this the 'good to throw on face' dish, there's a story behind it.... This recipe is filed under 'fast food' (see quick to cook label) and is really convenient when you're not in the mood to cook something spectacular. Like today, when I realised that I've been very lazy.

While I have been cooking, I've not really put anything up since March. Excuse 1 is that we were travelling from May-July. Excuse 2 is that uni, work and home stuff took precedence after that. Excuse 3, we lost the camera transfer cable and therefore there were no pictures and thus no impetus to cook. Till I realised that there are at least 12 people coming into the site daily and despite the laziness, Google is actually pointing people here. So here's to all who enjoy cooking and those who've been pulling me up for not updating this blog.

As for the 'good to throw on face' bit of the story, well, the year was 2006. I needed the money -- and friends said they loved the food -- so I decided to cater for friends' parties. This particular dish -- with mushrooms instead of the sausage -- was part of the catering order for a birthday party. Due to miscellaneous reasons, I was late to get the food to the party. After cooking the entire day and a fight just before the party, I land with the food and the host gets really nasty on me. Or so I thought. As I laid out this dish on to the table, the poor birthday boy, in his nice Versace suit, said something like, "Why's the food late?" I was pissed off and promptly threw the whole thing on his face and all over his suit. Sigh. Not proud of it but I was told it did taste good.


JB's SAUSAGE SURPRISE (sausage and eggs in tomato sauce)
Serves: 2-4
Cooked on: Stir-fried on high heat
Accompaniment: Drink of your choice
Try this with: Instant noodles, on bread or rolled in a chapati or parantha; makes great 'tiffin'
INGREDIENTS
Sausages 6-8 (I used Woolworth's Sicilian-stlye spicy pork sausages)
Vegetable oil 2-3 TBS
Eggs 3-4, hard boiled
Capsicum 1, big, thinly sliced (I used a red one, you can use any colour you like!)
Onions 2 medium, thinly sliced
Tomato ketchup/Hot n sweet chilli sauce 2 TBS
Salt to taste
NOTES

1. If you don't have sausages in your freezer, you can use stir-fry strips of other meat as well.
2. Just remember to brown the stir-fry strips in oil, it makes them tender.
3. Boiling the eggs first is always a good idea.
4. If you don't have Maggi Hot n Sweet chilli sauce, substitute with any ketchup and a 1/2 - 1 TSP of chilli powder.
5. For vegetarians who eat eggs, substitute the sausage with tofu.
6. Using tofu without the eggs or sausages works just as well.
7. You can use as many vegetables as you like. Just remember if using 'harder' veggies like carrots and peas, blanch them first in boiling water for 5-8 minutes.
8. Blanching: Boil water in a saucepan, put your chopped veggies in it for 5 minutes, take them out, put them in chilled water for another 3 minutes, drain on a strainer.

METHOD

1. Boil the eggs, cool and cut into small pieces or slices.
2. Slice the onions and capsicum and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and once hot, fry the sausages till the outer skin is nicely browned and crispy. Take them out of the oil and place on paper napkins to drain any excess oil. Once cooled -- or if you can handle them hot -- cut into slim, round pieces.
4. In the same oil, fry the sliced onions till nicely browned. Keep aside a table spoon to garnish the finished dish.
5. Now add the capsicum (and other vegetables if using) and fry till vegetables are 'shiny'.
6. Add the tomato ketchup/sauce, mix nicely and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add the sliced sausages and cook for 5 minutes or till sausages are coated with the sauce.
8. Add the salt and the eggs and cook; don't be too hard as you don't want the eggs to crumble completely.
9. Serve on top of toasted bread with salad, rolled in a parantha or chapati (pita bread goes as well) or with rice-daal and add an interesting twist to a mundane meal!

Bon appetit.
PS: If you do try this out and like it -- or not -- please do let me know.

JB Special: Daal/ Dhaal

19. 3. 2009

Update: This dish is an entry for the LiveSTRONG With A Taste of Yellow concept. Started by Barbara Harris as a way of supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Most people I know have at least two food items they hate with all their heart (or stomachs) and will only eat them intravenously, if they were unconscious. When friends tell me about their hate-foods, it’s usually goes back to their childhood and involves some form of force-feeding story. For some, it’s been a case of having mothers who were really adventurous in the kitchen… with disastrous results.

One friend hates spinach because her boarding school chef made spinach for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Another cannot stand beet root because his grandmother forced him to drink beet root juice – and soup and even eat beet root dessert – each time he visited her (that’s four times a week. Another refuses to eat pumpkin because she finds its Hindi (kaddu) and Bengali (kumdo) names offensive! While I don’t really understand that, I do remember my father scolding us by saying, “You bloody kaddu!”

Partner refuses to eat sultanas/raisins because his mom packed it in his school lunch. “Poor boy hates it because of me,” she now rues. He also cannot stand gherkin[1] but refuses to tell me why. As for me, I cannot stand any form of small fish; whether as anchovies or fried like they do in Bengal. Firstly, it’s the smell and secondly it’s the taste. I also cannot eat Hilsa (ilish) – and this is Bengali blasphemy, most worship the fish – because I don’t like its skin.

Once upon a time, I also hated daal. It was more to do with having to eat the daal before I could eat the meat – and I love my meat – than hating daal per se. Thankfully, as I have grown up, I have also grown to love my daal.

It was only after I started living alone that I truly realised how much I enjoyed the simple dish. In fact daal was the first dish I ever cooked… I used less water, cooked in an open saucepan and the whole thing was burnt. I used to stay in a working women’s hostel that time (2000) and it was the hostel’s warden who took pity on me and told me the basics.

Over the years, I’ve come up with my own style of cooking daal and now that I am so far away from home, it is my favourite comfort food. Here’s how I do it.

JB’s Daal
Serves: 4
Cooked on: low heat, covered (20 minutes) or in a pressure cooker (2 whistles)
Accompaniment: a dash of lemon juice or a teaspoon of pickle oil
Try this with: as soup, with bread or with rice.

INGREDIENTS

Red lentils/ Masoor[2] daal: 1 cup
Green chillies: 2, cut into slivers
Cardamom: 1 big, slightly crushed
Black peppercorns: 3-4
Cloves: 2
Garlic: 1-2 pods, depending on size
Turmeric ground: 1 TSP
Red chilli ground: 1 TSP
Coriander ground: 1 TSP
Salt: to taste
Water: 2 ½ cups

Tadka[3]/ tempering

Ghee[4]/oil/butter: 1 TSP
Cumin whole: 1 TSP
Whole red chilli: 1
Onion: 1 small, finely diced
Tomatoes: 1 medium sized, finely diced
Lemon juice: 1 TSP (optional)
Water: According to desired consistency[5]
Coriander: 1 TBS, finely chopped to garnish

NOTES

1. Making the daal in a pressure cooker is much faster than in a covered pan. If you’re using a pressure cooker, the ratio of lentils to water I use is, 1 cup lentils : 2 ½ cups water. Different lentils cook at different rates; for red lentils, two whistles of your pressure cooker should do it. If you’re cooking the lentils in a pan with lid, use 1 cup lentils : 3 cups water. You’ll need to cook for about 20 minutes, checking and stirring the lentils intermittently so that they don’t form a lump or stick to the bottom of the pan.
2. While the daal is essentially done even without the tadka; the latter process imparts more flavour. However, feel free to skip the step and have your daal as is.
3. For a really simple daal, you can skip all spices except for garlic, turmeric and salt and it will still taste good.
4. For thicker daal, add less water when tempering; for thinner daal, add more.
5. A Bengali home favourite – one of mine as well – is to have daal sheddo (thick, plain, cooked daal) with rice. Simply cook the daal with water and salt, reduce the water (on low heat) till most of it evaporates and the daal thickens and mix it with rice and eat.
6. Home remedy 1: In fact if you have an upset stomach, red lentils cooked using only salt and a little turmeric (say ½ tsp or less) is really good.
7. Home remedy 2: Red lentil soup is also the vegetarian answer to chicken soup! If you have a cold, a sore throat or are simply feeling blue; make the lentils with salt, turmeric and 1 TSP of ground pepper; temper with cumin seeds, add water according to the desired consistency.
8. Tasty trick: Leftover daal that you don’t want to eat? Cook it in an open wok till all the water evaporates. What’s left tastes really good when mixed with rice and can also be stuffed into paranthas.

METHOD

1. Wash the lentils thoroughly in water and keep aside.
2. In your pressure cooker/ pan, boil two cups of water (high heat) with all the spices. Once the water boils, add the washed lentils, stir well once and cover the pan/ close cooker lid.
   If in the pressure cooker, wait till two whistles and turn off the gas. If cooking in a pan, you’ll need to cook the lentils till they are soft; take some out on a spoon and press to check. While the lentils are cooking, remember to stir so that the lentils don’t form a lump and don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Just in case – should not happen but if – you find the water is evaporating from the pan and there’s not enough to cook the lentils, add another half cup water.
3. Once the daal is cooked, take the pan/cooker off the stove and place another wok on the stove.
4. If you notice that the daal once cooked is too thick, don’t panic; we shall fix it in the next step.

Tadka/tempering:

1. In a separate wok/pan, heat the ghee/butter/oil on high heat. Once the ghee/butter/oil is really hot, add whole red chilli, cumin seeds, green chilli slivers and chopped onions. Fry the onions for 2-3 minutes till they turn pinkish.
2. Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook, mixing well, for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the cooked daal – careful, the oil is hot and it will sizzle and splutter – and mix well.
4. Add water depending on how thick you want your daal to be; more water for thinner daal, less for a thicker one.
5. Bring it to a boil on high heat then reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Your daal is done! Garnish with fresh, chopped coriander and serve with rice, roti or have it in a bowl. And don't forget to let me know if you like it.

[1] Cucumber type vegetable
[2] Indian glossary
[3] Tadka or tempering is a way of releasing essential oils in whole spices
[4] Clarified butter
[5] Degree of viscosity of liquid

JB Special: Lamb curry

13. 3. 2009

As I had written in my earlier post – Love and the holi mess – Partner and I went for a dinner to this nice couple’s home last night. Partner had told me that the boys had decided it would be a curry-cook-off between the ladies. Our hostess had made really nice butter chicken and I had made the JB-special lamb curry. You can read about what happened at the dinner here.

Here’s the recipe for the lamb curry; it takes patience with this one, but the effort is bloody well worth it.

JB’S LAMB CURRY
Serves: 4
Cooked on: Covered on low heat, 1 hour 30 minutes or till lamb is very tender
Accompaniment: Raita or fresh cucumber-onion salad with a dash of fresh lime
Try this with: Roti or naan

NOTES:

1. How to puree tomatoes: Boil water in a saucepan; put the tomatoes in the boiling water and cook covered for 5 minutes. Remove from the gas and let the tomatoes sit in the water (still covered) for another 5 minutes. Remove the lid and you should see cracks on the tomato skins. Drain the hot water, hold tomatoes – careful, these will be hot – under running cold water/ in a bowl of cold water and peel off the skins. Put the skinless tomatoes in your mixer/blender and run the motor for 2 minutes or till tomatoes are pureed. Done!
2. You can also try this with beef or goat meat. If your family/guests don’t mind bones, choose meat with bones; preferably from the hindquarters. Those who have better suggestions when buying meat, please do share.
3. This recipe takes patience. While the cooking part is not tough, it tastes best when you let the lamb cook over low heat. The first stage involves allowing the juices of the lamb to dry out. The second stage involves adding water, covering the lamb and letting it cook till the water evaporates and the meat is tender.
4. If you prefer a drier curry – tastes better with roti/naan/bread – cook for longer to let the water dry out completely. For those who prefer some gravy, let some water remain.
5. The coriander is a must as I find it adds a particular flavour to the dish. The coriander needs to be added in two stages; majority of it while cooking and then just enough for garnishing before serving.
6. It can be quite irritating biting into the cardamom when eating or worse, chewing on the whole red chilli. Therefore it is prudent to pick out the cardamoms and whole red chilli before laying the dish out on the table.
7. Save yourself trouble and buy the roti/ naan from an Indian restaurant/ dhaba.

INGREDIENTS

Lamb steak: 900 gm, with some fat, cut into small cubes
Mustard oil/ ghee/ vegetable oil: 3 TBS
Onions: 2 large, finely chopped
Tomatoes: 4 medium, pureed
Coriander: 4-5 TBS, washed and finely chopped
Bay leaves: 3
Big cardamom: 2, slightly crushed
Whole black pepper: 5
Fenugreek seeds: ½ TSP
Whole red chilli: 1-2
Garlic paste: 2 TSP
Ginger paste: 1 TSP
White vinegar: 2 TBS
Coriander ground: 2 TSP, heaped
Turmeric ground: 1 TSP, heaped
Cumin ground: 1 TSP, heaped
Garam masala: 1 TSP, heaped
Red chilli ground: 2 TSP, heaped
Salt: to taste
Water: 1-2 cups, as desired

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a deep wok/pan on high heat. Once the oil smokes, reduce heat and add the bay leaves, cardamom, whole black pepper, whole red chilli and fenugreek seeds. Cook for 1 minute.
2. Next add the finely chopped onions and fry them till the onions turn pinkish. Now add the ginger-garlic pastes and cook mixing well till the onions-ginger-garlic turn golden. Take care not to burn the onions.
3. Add turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, red chilli powder, salt and the vinegar and cook, mixing the spices well. Cook for about 5-6 minutes till spice mixture gives off a ‘cooked’ aroma and the vinegar dries out. Keep stirring so that the spice mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan/wok.
4. Add the lamb pieces and mix well to cover all the pieces with the spice-in-vinegar mixture. Cook for about 10 minutes so that all lamb pieces are coated and start turning brown.
5. Add the tomato puree, mix well with the lamb and spices, raise the heat to medium and allow the lamb to cook till it starts releasing water. This takes about 10-15 minutes and you will need to keep stirring the lamb so that it does not burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. Also keep in mind to scrape the spice mix off the sides of the pan while you stir.
6. Reduce heat now and let the water – the tomato puree will also release water – to dry off. Remember to keep stirring and turning the lamb pieces in the pan so that all pieces get cooked evenly.
7. Once the lamb-tomato-spice mix dries – the sign is when the liquid in the pan is visibly reduced, the masala/spice mix starts sticking to the pan and is not easily scraped off – add 2 cups of water and cover the pan.
8. Add the coriander - keeping some for garnishing - and cook for half and hour or more – stirring and mixing intermittently – till the lamb is really tender and the water has almost dried out. If the water has evaporated and the lamb is still somewhat tough – should not happen but if it does – add another half cup water, cover and cook some more.
9. The best way to check if the lamb is tender enough is to pick out a piece with a fork and bite into it! Vary the water amount depending on how much gravy you want: If you want more gravy, add another cup of water, mix well, raise the heat to medium, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remember that the gravy should not be overly-watery.
10. Once the meat is tender and you have your desired amount of gravy, turn off the gas, and transfer the lamb curry to a serving dish, garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve with roti / naan or even bread and you’re done!