This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
homemade hummus
I had Middle Eastern food – Hummus for the first time in Varanasi – one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest city in India. I liked it instantly.
Since then I had been tasting this at different places in Delhi NCR & liked it.
In one of my net browsing sessions I stumbled upon a recipe to make Hummus & that made me think – Is that really so easy?
So I started my experiments in the kitchen & here is my version. Let me tell u that on every occasion I have served this, our friends have been seen finger-licking.
Interestingly, this homemde hummus actually comes out to be much better than what is served at most Restaurants in Delhi NCR.
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
Home made Thai Green Curry – with fish
Thai Green curry had always been a mystery to me. I wud have eaten this dish in at least 10 different Restaurants in the last two years. Infact, I have at times tend to rate restaurants in my mind on the basis of Thai Green curry!!!!
This eating around of Thai Green Curry continued till I accidentally stumbled upon a Cookery Show on TLC. I found that making this curry from scratch was less complicated than it seems. So recipe hunting started & so did my experiments in the kitchen.
Here is my version of the Thai Green curry with ingredients that r easily available in Delhi.
For the Green curry all that is needed is a paste. The following ingredients are needed to make the paste.
Take 3 lemon grass stock. Clean, remove outer layers & cut them into small pieces.
Cleaned lemon grass stock
Add thumb size Thai Ginger(Galangal).
Thai Ginger – Galangal
Two Kaffir lime leaves
Kaffir lime leaves & Galangal
Take 1 cup coriander leaves & ¼ cup fresh Basil leaves.
2 teaspoon dhania (coriander) powder, 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin) powder, 1 teaspoon brown sugar (use normal sugar as substitute), 2 tablespoon fish sauce & 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 5 fresh green chillies, 2 large cloves of garlic, 1 small onion.
Rest of the ingredients – garlic, cumin, corainder, brown sugar, green chillies, fish sauce, soy sauce
Contributed by Guest Blogger YUMMdoot YUMMRAJ tried Chicken Satay at this place after reading this post & was super impressed. In a nutshell: Though I can never really call Rajinder Dhaba the best of anything, it surely dishes out good food and is an awesome value for money – something that I call a ‘Jack of all Meals & Master of some ‘ eatout. Address … Continue reading Rajinder Da Dhabha (AB-14 , Safdarjung Enclave Market , New Delhi)
Contributed By Guest Blogger Vasudha Mukherjee Bal for ……………the Chef in u
This was one of those weekday nights where I was craving for something different for dinner and yet did not have the energy to spend a lot of time in my kitchen. I was feeling equally lazy to look for recipes and started with a blank slate – wondering what I could do with whatever little produce I had in my refrigerator.
I found that some asparagus stocks that screamed “Eat me before I die” loudly to me as I opened the chiller tray. So did some white fish I bought the other day without a clue of what I would do with them. Found some wilted parsley, a few florets of cauliflower and a lone tomato too as well as some couscous. So decided that I would use the trio of couscous, fish, and asparagus for dinner that day. The trio transformed itself to a memorable meal, so wanted to share my accidental gastronomic discoveries with everyone who cares to read. Here is what I did…
Asparagus with lemon agave vinaigrette
Asparagus with lemon agave vinaigrette
I first microwaved a bag of asparagus for a few minutes – you can blanch them if you don’t have the microwaveable variety. Next, I whisked up a dressing with the juice of a lemon, a dash of orange juice, a couple of diced shallots (or use little red onions), some agave nectar (use honey if you don’t have agave), salt and pepper. Next, heat a skillet, put a tablespoon of olive oil, sauté the asparagus, and spread the dressing over it. That is it!
Fish with lemon garlic sauce.
Fish with lemon garlic sauce
I used haddock fillets, but you can use any white fish that you have with you. I first spread some flour and a couple of teaspoons of panko crumbs on a plate and put salt, pepper and a dry rosemary-garlic rub that I had (use any dry herbs you have). Patted the fish on the flour mixture, shook off the excess flour and out it on a hot grill pan which I had earlier put some oil spray on. (You can use a regular frying pan too, but I love the grill marks that the grill pan gives me, plus cast iron distributes heat evenly).
It was one of those occasions when we were expecting a guest – someone who wud come to our house for the first time. I was thinking about ideas for an innovative starter & that is when my eyes fell on the ripe seasonal mangoes kept in the corner of the kitchen.
I thot – Why not use mangoes? Mangoes? Mangoes for a starter? ……………………. ok, why not a dip made with mangoes? & then slowly over the next 30 minutes I figured it out, tried it & really loved it. So did my guests.
the wow mango salsa
Here is how u can try doing the same.
fresh ripe & juicy mangoes
Peel 2 mangoes & finely chop the mangoes as much as u can. See the pic to get an idea of how u can chop.
how to mince the mango
Keep the minced mangoes aside.
minced mangoes
Take 100 grams of black Kalamata olives & chop them finely.
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
Machher paturi (fish in banana leaf)
U can try this with boneless fillets of fishes like betki or even with pieces of Hilsa (ilish) that have bones. U can try this recipe with prawns as well.
For all of u who stay in Coastal states of India, procuring banana leaf is easy. For the rest, there are markets in all cities that sell regional food – check those places out. In case u do not get it, use aluminum foil instead. The taste will almost be the same. The flavor of banana leaf will be missing.
banana leaves cut into square pieces for paturi
Take 1 inch size cubes of 300 grams boneless betki / standard sized pieces of other fish like hilsa.
Grind 3 tablespoons of mustard with 4 green chillies to a smooth paste. Grate ¼ coconut & keep aside.
The ingredients of machher paturi
Mix together the mustard paste, grated coconut, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon mustard oil & salt to taste. Apply this paste to the fish pieces evenly & leave it to marinate for 1 hour.
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
Chhanar Dalna – Bengali style home made paneer / cottage cheese
Historically curdling of milk was not considered to be good generally in India & particularly in Bengal. With the advent of the Portuguese in mid 1600s, came the cottage cheese & it is from there that the Bengali cooks learnt the use of chhana (paneer) for cooking as well as for making sweets.
Chhanar dalna is a homemade cottage cheese & potato curry.
For making the chhana, boil 2 liters of full cream milk. When it comes to a boil, add juice of 3 whole lemon. The milk curdles. Take a muslin cloth, place it over a large vessel. Pour the curdled milk over the muslin to separate the chhana (cottage cheese) from whey.
Discard the whey & tie the muslin cloth to a potli (see picture). Hang it for 2-3 hours from a height so that the excess whey drains out.
From here , there are two methods –
Method 1: What I have inherited from my family.
Method 2: Experimented as advised by Paromita Dey
Draining the whey by hanging it from a muslin cloth
Method1:
Place the potli on a flat surface & put something heavy on the top for 30 minutes to flatten the Chhana.
Flattening the chhana
Take out the chhana from the cloth carefully & place on a cutting board.
The lump of chhana on a cutting board
Use a sharp knife to cut the chhana chunk into pieces. If u use a blunt knife, the chhana might break / become uneven.
the chhana cut into pieces
Fry the chhana pieces in 1 tablespoon oil on slow fire till they start getting golden brown.
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to drink……………
the thanda thanda cool cool lip licking refreshing good aam porar shorbot – bengali vesrion of aam panna
Summers are in & so r those times when just glass of water is not good enough to quench ur thirst. A tangy refreshing soft drink can often make a difference.
Aam pora shorbot is a Bengali classic drink made from the pulp of raw mango. Here is my take on the Classic recipe.
Take 4 raw mangoes. Ensure that the ones u choose are neither soft nor yellowing.
raw mango / kaccha aam
Wash them & roast them on slow fire direct flames – similar to what u do for baingan bharta (‘begun pora’ in bengali).
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Takes a bit of patience to make but Super good to eat……………
Mochar Paturi
For all of u who stay in Coastal states of India, procuring banana leaf is easy. For the rest, there are markets in all cities that sell regional food – check those places out. In case u do not get it, use aluminum foil instead. The taste will almost be the same. The flavor of banana leaf will be missing.
Take one mocha (banana flower). Remove the red flap layers at every stage. What u r left with is tiny 1 inch sized sticks that look like mini bananas. Take each stick in hand & remove the central piths (the style of the flower / central stock). Mince the sticks into small pieces. This whole process might take a ton of ur patience – Ur problem gets solved in case u have domestic help.
Mocha - Banana flower
Soak overnight in water after adding ½ teaspoon each salt & turmeric.
Boil the mocha with plain water. Discard the water once the mocha softens.
Grind 3 tablespoons of mustard with 4 green chillies to a smooth paste. Grate ¼ coconut & keep aside.
Mix together the mustard paste, grated coconut, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon mustard oil, 1 teaspoon sugar & salt to taste. Apply this paste to the mocha evenly & leave it to marinate for 1 hour.
Marination of mocha
Cut the banana leaves into approx. 15cm X 15 cm squares.
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
Luchi & Chholar Daal is a typical Bengali traditional breakfast.
Luchi & Chholar Daal
Soak a cup of Chana daal (Chholar daal) for one hour. Add salt & turmeric & boil it in an open vessel till just done. Do not overcook it / do not pressure cook.
Boiled Chholar (Chana) Daal
Heat 2 tablespoon of Cow milk Ghee (clarified butter made from cow milk) & lightly fry chopped coconuts, cashewnuts & raisins as shown in the picture.
sliced coconuts, cashew & raisins fried in ghee
Drain & keep aside.
Mix together ginger paste (1 teaspoon), Haldi / Turmeric powder (1/2 teaspoon), Jeera / Cumin powder (1 teaspoon) & Red chilli powder to taste (I use 1/2 tea spoon). Add 2 teaspoon water to dilute the paste a bit & mix well.
the fried spices post addition of water
In the remaining Ghee (after frying the coconut, cashew etc), add ½ teaspoon whole jeera (cumin seed). Add the above-mentioned paste once the cumin seeds start crackling. Fry the mixture continuously till the ghee separates.
