Recipe - Corn Chatpata

Ingredients

1. Corn - 150 gms
2. Onions - 1 medium
3. Garlic - 5-7 cloves
4. Red chilli powder/Chopped Green chillies - To taste
5. Salt - To taste
6. Salted butter - 3 tsp

Method

1. Chop onions and garlic finely. If using green chillies, chop them as well.

2. Heat 2 tsp of butter in a pan and put the chopped garlic (and chillies) in it. After about 10 seconds, put the onions in.

3. When the onions are golden brown, put the corn in. Mix well
4. Put red chillies powder (if not using green chillies) and salt to taste.
5. Cook for a few minutes and put 1 tsp of butter on it. Mix well.
6. Serve :)

Recipe - Garlic Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken (with skin) - 1 kg
2. Garlic cloves - 20
3. Garlic paste - 4 tsp
4. Ginger paste - 2 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
6. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Potato - 3 medium
8. Tomato - 1 medium
9. Onions - 3 medium
10. Salt - as [er taste
11. Red wine - 3 tablespoon (at least)
12. Vinegar - 2 tsp
13. Lemon juice - 2 tsp
14. Lemon - 1 whole
15. Olive oil 

Method

1. Wash the chicken with clean water and pat dry
2. Slowly separate the skin of the chicken from the body (without removing it). Make as much space as possible between the body and the skin
3. Apply the garlic paste and ginger paste to the chicken skin and also on the body beneath the skin. Apply on the insides of the chicken as well
4. Sprinkle the red chilli powder and cumin powder on the chicken and spread it around using your fingers
5. Sprinkle a little salt on it and also a little olive oil
6. Prick a lemon with a small knife and place it inside the chicken cavity
7. Pre-heat the oven to 240 C.
8. Roughly cut all the vegetables into around 1/2 inch pieces and spread them around the baking tray
9. Sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice on the veggies and place the chicken on top of the veggies
10. Put in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200C for 1 hour (1kg->1hour)
11. Once done, take out the chicken and let it rest for at least 15 min before serving

For the gravy

1. After taking the chicken out of the oven, put the baking tray with the baked veggies on a burner with medium to high heat
2. Put some water in it along with vinegar, and red wine
3. Mix a little salt and mix it and let it cook for some more time till the veggies are soft
4. Mash the veggies using a potato masher and let it all cook for some more time
5. You can eat the gravy as it is now or pass it through a sieve to make make it more consistent - the taste is amazing either ways
6. Serve the roast with the gravy

Tip

1. Keep tasting the gravy to adjust the amount of salt, vinegar and red wine
2. The type of red wine used makes a difference to the taste. I prefer a very smooth merlot + shiraz

Recipe - Maharashtrian Chivda

Ok, so today I am gonna write the recipe of something that I have always loved eating, but have never attempted to make. Made it for the first time today and it turned out to be quite decent.

Ingredients: Serves many

1. Pohe (rice flakes) - 500 gms
2. Peanut oil - 5 Tab sp
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
5. Green chillies - 4 big chopped
6. Curry leaves - 20-25
7. Peanuts - half a fistful
8. Split Futane (no idea what it's called in English - xyz nuts) - fistful or more
9. Khas khas (poppy seeds) - 4 tsp
10. Hing (asafoetida) - 1 tsp
11. Coconut dry - 15 pieces thin 0.5 inch long
12. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
13. Salt - 3-4 tsp (as per taste)
14. Sugar - 2 tsp

Method:

0. Ingredients are shown -

1. Take out all the small bits and powder from the rice flakes using a sieve.

2. Keep in sun light for a few hours to make them a little crispy if possible. 

3. Heat a wok and roast the rice flakes a little to make them crispier. Set aside

4. Heat about 4-5 tablespoons of oil in the wok. Put the mustard & coriander seeds in till they pop. Put chopped green chillies and curry leaves. When they start becoming crispy, put the peanuts and the futane in. Let them cook for about 20-25 seconds on low flame. Put in the poppy seeds and hing. Mix properly and put the turmeric powder. Put the salt in and mix well again.

5. Put this mixture into the roasted rice flakes in a separate pan and mix well. Sprinkle sugar over this and mix. let it cool down before storing it.

6. It stays ok for weeks and is good to eat sprinkled with freshly chopped onions.
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It's come out alright. definitely good for a first try. will modify it as i make it more often.

Lonavla/Khandala restaurants

It's been more than a month since I posted a recipe, but circumstances didn't allow. Now I am back, though this post is more about the restaurants in Lonavla/Khandala. I have been to quite a few places there, but I am just giving my views about a few of them -

1. Lagoona Resort - This is a costly place. For no reason. It's not at all worth the moolah. The selection of items in dinner and breakfast is limited and the taste is not good either.
2. Dukes Retreat - This place has a good selection of items in breakfast, though lunch/dinner options are pretty limited. The taste is not consistent. Some dishes were amazing, but some were pathetic. And it is also pretty costly. Not worth the money.
3. Fariyas Resort - Beautifully decorated interiors of the restaurant. Have an option of dinner buffet or continental dishes. Everything we tasted was good! But the price, almost thrice... thrice of what some costly restaurants charge!
4. Mirchi - This is a small place when going towards Mumbai from Lonavla town on the old highway. Decent place. Good taste. Pretty cheap. Definitely worth every bit of money spent. Normal Indian food is better than the chinese they offer.
5. Gavran Tadka - This place is about 5-6 km from Lonavla, on the way to Lohagad. It's in the middle of nowhere and is a very small place. Extremely cheap. Good service. Amazing taste. Easily the best food we had at Lonavla or Khandala

There are many more restaurants there. Might write about them later. Enjoy these till then :)

Recipe - Mix Veg Poriyal or Palya

Poriyal or Palya is a dish from Kerala and Tamilnadu made by shallow frying vegetables and garnished (and slightly cooked) with freshly grated coconut. It can be made using any vegetables and sometimes even made with chicken or lamb. The recipe remains pretty much the same.

Ingredients: Serve 2-3

1. Cabbage - 1 cup chopped
2. Capsicum - 3/4 cup chopped
3. Potato - 1/2 cup chopped
4. Tomato - 1 small chopped
5. Onion - 1 medium chopped
6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Curry leaves - 4-5
9. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Salt - As per taste
12. Coconut - grated 1/2 cup
13. Oil - 3 tsp

Method:

1. Chop all the vegetables into small sized pieces. Break open a ripe coconut and grate it. 1/2 cup is what we will be using in this recipe. Remaining can be stored in the fridge for use in some other recipe.

2. Heat oil in a wok. Put mustard seeds in. When they start popping, put the cumin seeds and curry leaves. Put the chopped onion after 10 seconds. When the onions turn slightly brown, put the other vegetables in and mix well. Cover the wok and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Keep checking every couple of minutes to make sure that the veggies are not sticking to the wok (the water in the cabbage should help, but still it's better to check). Put all the spices and salt in and cover again for 5 minutes.

3. Once the veggies are almost cooked, put the grated coconut in and mix well. Let it cook for another 3 minutes without covering the wok this time.

4. Garnish with fresh coriander if you like and serve with chapati or appam.

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Some chefs put the veggies in boiling water to cook them first and then just toss everything together in a hot oil. I don't like doing that. Also, like I said before, any veggies can be put in this or even diced chicken and lamb.

The nagger made this dish and I must say it tasted amazing! 

Recipe - Spring Rolls (Chicken/Lamb/Beef/Vegetable)

So today, I decided to make something that I have never made before. Suddenly remembered that I bought Japanese rice paper last week. The decision to go for spring rolls was a logical one then :)

Ingredients: Makes about 12

1. Japanese rice paper (refined wheat flour based dough can be made - but I was lazy)
2. Chicken - 500 gms (including bones)
3. Onion - 1
4. Cabbage - same quantity as sliced onion
5. Capsicum  - 1
6. Ginger/Garlic chopped - 3 tsp
7. Carrots - 1 small (if you like it)
8. Sprouted beans (if you like it)
9. Bamboo shoots (I love it, but couldn't get it)
10. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
11. Dark soy sauce - 2 tsp
12. Chilli vinegar - 2 tsp
13. Salt - To taste
14. Oil - LOADS

Method:

1. Cook the chicken in a pressure cooker. 3 whistles of the cooker should do the trick and then let it cool down. Take the meat off the bones and use the bones (and the water in the cooker) to make chicken stock for use in other dishes. Make small (and if possible long) pieces of the meat. Any meat can be cooked in the same way.

2. Chop the onions, capsicum, cabbage and other veggies in long thin slices.

3. In a wok, heat some oil and put the garlic and ginger in it. After about 15 seconds, put the onions in and let it cook for 2 minutes. Then put the other veggies and let them cook for another 3 minutes. Put the chicken pieces in and mix well. Put some salt, red chilli powder, vinegar and soy sauce and mix. Cook for another 3-4 minutes and take off the stove.

4. For making the rolls from the readymade rice paper, some things need to be made ready first. Take a metallic sieve and keep it inverted. Take a flat pan or metallic box lid and fill it with water. Start heating the oil in the wok for frying.

 

5. This is how a rice paper will look before doing anything

6. Immerse one rice paper into the water in the pan with your hands, and hold it there for 5 seconds. Keep one finger below one edge of the paper so it's easy to take out. Take it out and put on the inverted sieve for 10 seconds till it becomes soft.

7. Put some of that filling that we made on the rice paper below the center horizontally.

8. Roll the lower side of the rice paper over the filling.

9. Then roll the mixture towards the top of the rice paper, thus making a nice rolled up rice paper with the filling.

10. Fold the sides on to the roll and stick them properly with your finger using a little water.

11. Put it in the hot oil for frying slowly. As soon you put it in, immerse another rice paper into the water for 5 seconds and put it on the sieve for softening. The roll takes about 20-25 seconds to cook. Be careful not to over cook it.

12. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

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It turned out to be quite good. A couple of the rolls did break while frying, but overall all the rolls turned out quite well. Next time, I am planning to make the wrappers using wheat flour myself.

Recipe - Methi (Fenugreek leaves) Sabzi

Yesterday on the way back when I stopped to buy vegetables, I saw beautiful methi (fenugreek leaves) at the shop. As a kid, I didn't like methi. But I remember seeing fresh methi at a small grocery store in Ipswich many years ago and since it reminded me of India, I ended up buying it and making sabzi. Now, it's one of my favourite veggies. So I ended up buying it and here's the recipe of how I make it. Will upload few other ways of making it some other time.

Ingredients: (Serves 2-3)

1. Methi leaves - 250 gms
2. Onion - 1 medium
3. Potato - 1 big
4. Dry red chillies - 3
5. Garlic - 7-8 cloves
6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
7. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Sugar to taste
11. Oil (peanut/sunflower) - 4 tsp

Method:

1. Generally methi leaves are available in a stack of full stalks. The leaves need to be plucked at their base and the stalk can be thrown away or used to make veg stock. The picture below might help in understanding what needs to be plucked. Wash them properly before using them. I hate this plucking part.

2. Peel the potato and cut it into small pieces. Don't make the pieces too thin. About 3 or 4 mm thickness is good, otherwise the potatoes will overcook as methi takes more time to cook. Cut the onion in long pieces as shown. Finely chop the garlic and break the dry red chillies into large pieces.

3. Take 4 tsp of oil in a wok and heat it. Put the cumin seeds. and quickly put the dry red chillies and garlic in. Cover the wok for 10 seconds.

4. Put the onion in and mix it well. Cover and let it cook till the onion is slightly brown. Don't keep the flame too high or the onion will start sticking to the wok.

5. Put the red chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix it. Cook for 30 seconds.

6. Put the potatoes in and mix them well.

7. Now put the washed methi leaves in the wok and try to mix it. The leaves are gonna shrink in size as they heat up when you mix them. So put them in the wok in batches instead of trying to put all of them at the same time. In the pic below, I have put less than half of the 250 gms I had. When cooked, the 250 gms would become even smaller in size than this.

8. When all the leaves are mixed in, put salt and a little water. The water is needed to stop everything from sticking to the wok. Remember, methi leaves have a lot of water in them so don't put too much water. We are not making a curry. Also, you can keep adding water later till the leaves are fully cooked. Cover the pan and let it cook.

9. One medium-low flame, methi can take about 15-20 min to cook. Keep checking every few minutes to make sure there's enough water in it to cook methi. The best way to know if it has cooked is to eating some of it. When it is soft enough for your taste, it's cooked. Just before it's fully cooked, put a pinch of sugar and mix.

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TIP:: Methi (Fenugreek) leaves can be quite bitter sometimes. One way to reduce the bitterness is to soak the plucked leaves in water mixed with some salt and sugar for 15 minutes.