Tiranga Kebabs

“- incredible heat, humidity, crazy traffic, pollution, crowds...yet...a true sense of belonging! It’s good to be back”. This is what my facebook status said. And I cannot say it any better.

I was visiting India after 3 long years, and it felt like I never left.
The instant connection is what truly makes you feel “at home”. With a baby in tow this time, I was definitely nervous. I had heard a few scary stories from friends of their kids falling sick, and I was praying our trip stayed rather uneventful. Meher was a trooper, after all. She did great and we had a fabulous trip!

What was the highlight of our trip? Food...and more food, of course! After all, what good is an India trip if you don’t indulge shamelessly! We ate...and ate...and some more. After my initial hesitation to try roadside treats, I readily gave in...And tried very objectionable and questionable foods off the street :) thankfully, the immune system cooperated well.

Oh wait, wait, wait!! How can I possibly forget our FANTASTIC world cup victory! What a high! That was the perfect icing on the cake. See, I’m still thinking food :)

Anyhow, I got back here a few (??) pounds heavier and exhausted with eating Indian cuisine day in and day out. I said to the hubby – that’s it! No more Indian cooking for a month now. And barely 2 weeks later, here I am, craving Indian food (go figure!) and missing home...

So, I thought Tiranga* kebabs will be the perfect, healthy way to celebrate Miu’s 10 month birthday (wow, 10 months! Time sure flies. Happy 10 month birthday, my darling baby!)

Ingredients:

2lbs Boneless Chicken Breasts
Yoghurt
I can’t believe it’s not butter (you can skip this if you like)
Ginger
Garlic
Red chilli powder
Shaan Tandoori masaala
Almonds
Cashews
Sour cream
Black peppercorn or white peppercorn (if you have it)
Green chillies
Fresh Coriander
Mint Leaves


The recipe:

* Cut the boneless chicken in cubes.
* Rub salt and lime and refrigerate for a few hours.

(Tip: while making the marinade, use as much little water as possible)

The Saffron Kebab:

* Melt 1tbsp ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ in a microwave for 5 seconds.
* Mix the butter, 3 tbsp plain yoghurt, 2 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger cube, salt (add less than usual since you’ve already rubbed the chicken with salt), 2tbsp of Shaan tandoori masaala, more red chilli powder (to taste) in a mixer.
* Marinate 1/3rd of the chicken cubes in this mix and refrigerate for 30 mins.

The White Kebab:

* Mix 1tsbp of plain yoghurt, 2 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger cube, 10-12 almonds, 10-12 cashews, 1 tbsp sour cream, 8-10 black pepper seeds (white peppercorn is preferred) in a mixer.
* Marinate 1/3rd of the chicken cubes in this mix and refrigerate for 30 mins.

The Green Kebab:

* Mix 1 bunch of fresh coriander, 4-5 leaves of fresh mint, 2-3 green chillies, 1 tbsp yoghurt, 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 inch cube of ginger and 2 garlic cloves in a mixer.
* Marinate 1/3rd of the chicken cubes in this mix and refrigerate for 30 mins.

The Chutney:

* Mix 1 bunch of fresh coriander, 4-5 leaves of fresh mint, 1-2 green chillies, 3 tbsp yoghurt, 1/2 inch cube of ginger, 1 garlic clove, ½ tbsp of tamarind pulp, ½ tbsp of sugar in a mixer.
* Marinate 1/3rd of the chicken cubes in this mix and refrigerate for 30 mins.

(The chutney is very similar to the green kebab marinade. You want to tone down the ginger-garlic since the chutney is not getting cooked. The tamarind and sugar gives a good sweet-sour flavor).

* Preheat oven to 350 F
* Arrange the kebabs on a skewer in a tricolor fashion
* Spray pam nonstick on the kebabs and the baking tray (baking tray is not necessary)
* Bake for 15-20 minutes and broil at 400F for last few minutes so it gets a glaze.
* Check repeatedly to ensure chicken is not getting overcooked.

Serve hot. Tastes great with mint-coriander chutney and grilled pearl onions.

India won the world cup and the celebration that followed on the streets was unbelievably euphoric! I screamed out aloud “Bharat Mata Ki Jay”!! It felt GREAT.

(If you are an Indian reading my blog, you should try it too…and the recipe as well :))


Tiranga* refers to the national flag of India. The term Tiranga means tri-colored – deep saffron, white and green.

Stuffed Pomfret

Have you ever gone out on a vacation only to crave ‘ghar ka khaana’? Is being homesick somewhat synonymous with missing ‘home cooked meals’ for you? Not that we are too picky about food, but it happens to us every so often. Just the other day, Anshuman & I got talking about ‘comfort foods’ – the kind of food which will give you that comfortable, warm-fuzzy, contented and homely feeling. And if you know me, no points for guessing what my comfort food is – it’s gotta be rice, solkadi & fried fish!

Growing up, seafood was an essential part of our meals. We could, probably, go on for weeks without meat…but fish, we had to have!

I remember my trips to the fish market with mom. As smelly as they were, I was always intrigued with how ‘her preferred’ fisherwoman always gave her the best deal, or so we thought (?). I loved watching my mom bargain and I secretly aspired to have my own “dedicated fisherwoman” one day. :-)

However, for all the seafood we had, it was surprising we never ate stuffed pomfret at home. I recently asked my mom why and she confessed that was because she doesn’t have much of a liking for this preparation.

Mumma, I hope you will read this blog, try the recipe and enjoy it. That will be the best culinary compliment I will receive!

Ingredients:
Fish :-)

Tip: I tend to buy the smaller pomfret, so you can serve the whole fish together with the stuffing to one person and don’t have to cut it up. This way, the presentation looks good too! You can substitute pomfret for butterfish.

For the stuffing:
Coriander
Ginger
Garlic
Green chillies
Coconut
Salt to taste

For the coating:
Turmeric
Red chilli powder
Salt
Tamarind paste
Ginger-garlic paste
Rava (Semolina/ sooji)
Rice flour

The recipe:

The stuffing:
Grind all the ingredients for the stuffing in a mixer.

Tip: Don’t add water at all to begin with. Let the water from the coriander or frozen coconut to mix everything. The stuffing should be as thick as possible so it doesn’t run out. Add 1 spoon of water at a time, so you don’t have excess of it.

The coating mix:
* Depending on what kind of tamarind you have, you’ll need around 1.5 tsp of tamarind pulp. I tend to add more of it, because I love the tangy flavor. If you have whole actual tamarind, microwave a few spoons of water for 30 seconds and let the tamarind sit in it for around 5 mins.
* Mix the turmeric, salt, red chilli powder, 1tsp of ginger-garlic paste and tamarind together. Add VERY LITTLE water again.


* Clean the fish properly. You may keep the head and tail for *ahem* aesthetic/ presentation value. I know a lot of you would probably snip it off for the very same reason. :-)
* Make a horizontal slit along the length of the fish, but be careful to not cut open too wide or else the stuffing won’t stay.
* Add as much stuffing as you can add in the slit.
* Coat the fish with the coating mix and let it sit in the fridge for about 20 mins to an hour.
* You can use a thread to tie up the fish.
* Mix equal portions of rava and the rice flour. I tend to use both because rava gives a crunch while the rice flour tends to coat more evenly. Put a pinch of salt in this mix.
* Remove the marinated fish, remove the thread and coat with this mix.
* Shallow fry on low heat.

For those of you watching your weight, you can bake this as well. If you plan to bake instead of frying –

* Minimize the rava in your coating.
* Spray the fish and baking tray evenly with some oil spray.
* Bake at 325F for 10-15 minutes.
* Keep checking as fish doesn’t take very long to cook.
* When you think the fish is cooked, broil on high heat around 425F for around 5 mins before turning the oven off.

Serve hot. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Stuffed Pomfret is best enjoyed with rice and solkadi*. Get yourself a refreshing cold lager to wash down the spicy fish!

Meher turned 8 months old this week and what better way to celebrate than with a good homely dinner of fried fish and rice! Ah, the Goan in me has spoken. :)

Happy 8th month birthday, Miu baby!

Solkadi* - A coconut milk preparation usually had with rice in western coastal India.

Kadhai Chicken

This Valentine’s Day was extra special; it was the first with our most treasured possession and our deepest love, our baby! I wanted to make it memorable.

I sent an evite to the hubby for a formal dinner at home :) (when you have a 7 month old at home, you run out of ideas very quickly). It seemed all personalized and beautiful to my family, but to me, cooking a special meal for the hubby came very naturally and I knew I wasn’t being all that creative after all. I love watching food channels and the idea of presenting a restaurant style multiple course meal has always appealed to me.

So, I planned just that – 4 appetizers and a lip-smacking entree.

The idea was perfect, and the execution couldn’t be any less. After scratching my head with several cuisine and menu options, I thought to myself – now, what does the hubby love that I can’t go wrong with…and I had my menu chalked out instantly – desi!

I decided to make ‘Kadhai chicken’, a recipe I’ve recently learned and is so finger-licking good! (Ah, all my modesty is out of the window now, for the kadhai chicken is just THAT yum)

Ingredients:
2lbs chicken. (I prefer the Indian style cut up chicken and I usually try and get smaller pieces so the spices really get all the way in).
4inch square of ginger (yeah, needs lot of ginger and garlic)
4 cloves garlic
3 Jalapeno peppers (can add more or less based on spice preference)
3 tomatoes
2 medium sized onions
Coriander

Dry ingredients:
Garam masala
Dhania powder (coriander powder)
Turmeric
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste

The recipe:

Sorry, but you need a lot of oil for this preparation and it isn’t for healthy eating.

* Take oil in a kadhai
* Add 3 inch ginger slivers (leave 1 inch for garnishing)
* Add finely chopped garlic
* Cut the jalapeno pepper in circles and add to the kadhai
* Add turmeric and salt to taste. I tend to add more turmeric than usual, because I love the aroma of turmeric in oily preparations.
* Add dhania powder and very little garam masaala. You can do without the garam masaala too.
* Add chicken and let the chicken cook in the oil for around 10 minutes on a high flame. You will need to stir frequently.

Tip – Do not cover the kadhai, you don’t want a steamed preparation. The chicken should primarily be cooked in oil.

* After the chicken gets a nice coating of the oil, ginger-garlic and turmeric, add chopped tomatoes. You can reduce the flame at this point and let the tomatoes cook in for another 15 minutes.
* Once the tomatoes become somewhat homogenous with the rest of the gravy, add finely chopped onions and let it cook for 20 mins.
* Garnish with chopped coriander, jalapenos and the slivers of the remaining ginger.

Kadhai chicken is ready!

Serve piping hot. Pair the Kadhai chicken with hot tandoori naan and a glass of Robert Mondavi, and you’ve got a winner!

Anshuman gave it a thumbs up. And so, my first blog with Kadhai chicken was the best way to start this new endeavor.