Mums The Word

Aunty Brinda and Cuckoo Masi's Chocolate Cake

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:58:00 +0000

1 & half cups flour (200 gms)
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
3 tblsp cocoa
1 cup sugar
half tsp salt
6 tablespoons butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Sift flour, salt, soda and cocoa powder

Blend butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk.

Bake in a well greased square tin in a medium oven for about 45 mins.

Ice with a glazed chocolate butter icing
400 gms icing sugar
half cup butter
4 tablespoons cocoa
Very hot water, as much as needed
Sift the icing sugar with the cocoa

Cream the butter till light. Add the icing sugar mixture. The mixture will look lumpy. Start adding the hot water very slowly, mixing vigorously, till icing sugar reaches the needed consistency.
It should be soft and spreadable.

The nice thing about this icing is that it sets with a light crust, but maintains its softness. When sandwiched in the middle of the cake, it keeps the cake soft and moist

This is easy, and most importantly, really economical and foolproof. I got this from your Aunt Noella, Pallavi. We were constantly looking for recipes which not only made food tasty, but also were economical. When our kids were growing up, basic ingredients like cocoa, or mushrooms, or fresh herbs etc. were not readily available in Kolkata, and we would always buy in bulk if we were travelling and found things we wanted...and always bought a little extra to share with 'cooking' friends. Many in our generation didn't necessarily cook, as there were always people available to cook and clean...but Noella and I always found cooking a relaxing and thoroughly creative activity!

Khow Suey

noreply@blogger.com (Rukminee) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Much Khow Suey has been had this season, so here's a recipe. This one is from Sudeep's mum.
Marinate shredded chicken with ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes and salt (all ground to a pasty consistency).
Heat oil, add in some red chilli paste and a tsp of fish sauce.
Add the chicken and cook till the masala separates.
Sprinkle some dry, roasted besan.
Add in coconut milk (according to the amount of gravy you need, add water if necessary).

The measurements are missing but this recipe is too easy to mess up: just go by your foodie/greedy instincts!

The Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (kalpana) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:13:00 +0000

A most glorious day for all humankind, and dogkind.

Liza's Brownies with Fudge, Strawberries Stewed in Ice Wine and Cream

noreply@blogger.com (kalpana) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Need i say a word?

Amen

Liza's Khau Suey

noreply@blogger.com (kalpana) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:10:00 +0000

Don't even ask.

Sunday Breakfast ala Baggy

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:43:00 +0000

Reeling from Baggy's breakfast, grilled tomatoes with olives, coriander and roasted garlic, jacket potatoes with bacon and sour cream, scrambled eggs with sausage... Happy sunday folks!

Khowsuey

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Experiments with cooking and eating continue as usual, had two glorious weekends with two Khowsuey recipes, one at Rukminee's and the next at ours, recipes and more updates to follow shortly! its's been a while..

Accompaniments to edible items

noreply@blogger.com (Rukminee) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:36:00 +0000

... and at Pallavi's behest, I documented this fine installation under our kitchen sink.
First prize for most generous contribution to this artwork goes to Sudeep, to Pondi goes the lifetime achievement award, Nityan has already been awarded the "Best Behaved Drunk" by Sujoy and I would also like to award the "Martyrdom Award" to him for being the tireless man behind the commestibles.

Baked Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Rukminee) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:44:00 +0000

Here's another easy one. I remembered about the picture only after we'd eaten it up!

Preheat your oven at 180F (medium oven).

Chop onion rings and garlic and cover the bottom of your baking dish with these.

Place the chicken pieces on this bed of onion and garlic.

Put more onion rings and garlic on the chicken; crush rosemary, peppercorns and sprinkle all over. Also sprinkle some salt.

Pour olive oil to coat all the chicken pieces and onions nicely.

Pour in a cup and a half of pineapple or orange juice.

Bake for 45 mins (keep checking to see if it's becoming too dry, turn the chicken once in a while and add olives towards the end)

I cooked about 5 pieces of a giant grandfather chicken (much better to get a smaller, more succulent bird) for which I required 2 large onions and 5 large cloves of garlic.

Tomato Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Rukminee) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:27:00 +0000

So, this was a really good tomato sauce I made the other day and it's easy peasy. Remember to be generous with all ingredients and slow-cook the sauce for a long, long time. It helps a lot if your kitchen is stocked with fabulous raw material (I happened to have some great olive oil and fine grade olives).Blanch about 7 medium sized tomatoes, cool and blend and keep aside. Chop three medium sized onions: first halve, then cut half rings, then make fine bits of the rings.Chop plenty of garlic finely: I use about 5 cloves, sometimes more depending on the size. Chop half a large carrot into tiny cube bits like the onions.Pour plenty of olive oil in a saucepan (enough to cover the onions nicely) and also add in a tbsp of butter.Cook the onions on a high flame and keep stirring till they are nice and translucent NOT BROWN. Add in the garlic and some piri piri or dried Goan red peppers midway and cook away till the onion and garlic are soft and cooked.Add in the blended tomato, the carrots, as much as mixed herbs as you'd like and half a chicken stock cube, salt and several crushed pepper corns.Add in a bit of water depending on how thick or thin you'd like your sauce, cover and cook on sim for about 30 minutes. That's it! Add chopped olives once the sauce is cooked, cook your pasta and keep some grated Parmesan or Grand Pardano on the side.Yenjoy!

Fish in Mango Mustard Curry

noreply@blogger.com (anoop) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Ok this mother's recipe fish dish looks complicated but its fairly simple and pretty fast to make. It's from the east coast of Northern Andhra and Orissa. The first time you make it, might be slightly tricky. The second time around, you'll have a better idea of the proportions. The third time, it'll be perfect! And that's how many times I made it.

Fish

Fish (surmai/kingfish) - 10 to 12 pieces

1 tbsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Salt or to taste

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Sprinkle the turmeric powder and salt on the pieces of fish.

Make sure all the pieces are rubbed in on both sides

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan

Fry the pieces of fish lightly until they are firm enough not to disintegrate in the curry.

Mango

1 large raw green mango (make sure its sour)

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

1/2 small cup of water

Peel the mango and cut it up roughly

Boil it in half a cup of water (or less as the mango gives out some water) with salt till tender

Let it cool and blend it in a mixer

Mustard Paste

10 pods of garlic (i put a whole bulb)

2 green chillies

1 tbsp jeera

1/2 tbsp mustard seeds

Grind the garlic, green chillies and jeera till you get a rough paste

Add the mustard seeds and give it quick grind till the mustard seeds are roughly broken (Grinding it more will make the paste too bitter)

Curry

Add mango pulp in a cooking vessel with 3/4 litre water (should make enough curry for the fish)

Add 1 tbsp of sugar (un-heaped)

Bring to boil and add the fried fish pieces

Boil for another minute till the fish is cooked and turn off the fire

Add 1 tbsp of the mustard paste and gently stir (do not add too much as the curry will turn bitter)

Add salt after tasting the curry and gently stir

Seasoning

4-5 pods of garlic crushed

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp jeera

2 red dry chillies

1/4 tsp methi seeds

few curry leaves

1 tsp vegetable oil

Heat oil in a small frying pan

Add mustard and jeera

Add the rest of the ingredients and fry

Add the seasoning to the fish curry and gently stir.

Garnish with a handful (or more) of chopped spring onion stalks

Serve with steamed rice

Like all sour dishes, it tastes better the next day.

Mutton Stew

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:56:00 +0000

This is one of mums classics in the comfort food category. a one dish meal to be mopped up with bread/toast and a salad on the side.

1 kilo meat/lamb
Medium size piece of ginger
1 bulb garlic (or to taste)
5-6 whole black pepper + a liberal sprinkling of ground pepper as well
A dash of Soya sauce ( a teaspoon or so)
A dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 lime
A sprinkling of thyme
2-3 bay leaves
salt to taste
a chicken soup cube ( or stock if its there)
Bacon 2/3 slivers, cut in to large pieces

Marinate the meat in the ginger/ garlic /soya sauce /worcestershire sauce/ pepper/thyme/bay leaves and lime
set aside for half an hour

boil 2 carrots, 2 /3 potatoes and 2 onions separately

In a little oil fry the bacon lightly and then brown the meat that has been marinated.
Add the water which the vegetables have cooked in and a dash of red wine (two table spoons), chicken cube or stock plus salt
and pressure cook.

Once done add a dash of cream and serve.

The Last Word in Fusion Cuisine

noreply@blogger.com (Pritha) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:28:00 +0000

View of the Spiti Valley

I have to share with all you foodies on this blog a unique dish I tasted on a recent trip through Lahaul and Spiti, which I thought was a complete breakthrough in innovation. The only other tourists we saw on that route at this time of the year were Gujaratis from Bombay. Which meant that they were shakahari and that too Jain, sans onion and garlic. At one of the places we stopped for the night, dinner we found much to our excitement, was Chinese. There were just us and a Gujarati family for dinner. Amidst the veg fried rice, veg noodles, ubiquitous chilli paneer, what do I find? Gatte Manchurian! Who among you has had something that beats this?

mushroom risotto

noreply@blogger.com (tess) — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:19:00 +0000

risotto

olive oil and butter
1 or 2 onion chopped
1 or 2 celery stick chopped
garlic (2,3,4 cloves as you like) chopped
cup of risotto rice (or paella rice if no can do)
splash of white wine
stock - home made - we use chicken - lots of/ with water
bay leaf (we believe fresh is better)

olive oil
mushrooms
onion
garlic
green chilli
splash of white wine

parmesan cheese

1. in one pan (heavy bottom) fry up the onion garlic chilli and mushrooms slowly, till they are dark and have let off moisture

2. in another pan (similar ) fry the onion garlic and celery slowly till softened. add the rice and fry till it goes translucent

3. add the wine to the rice which should boil off quickly, stirring the rice. then gradually add the bay leaf and the stock bit by bit stirring, letting the rice absorb the stock, until the rice is softer, but not completely mushy - al dente.

4. mix the mushrooms for a bit.

5. put on plates, and grate parmesan over the top, with black pepper, and maybe a little bit of posh olive oil.

6. serve warm, rather than hot - it makes a big difference.

anything can be added instead of mushrooms, the risotto base is fairly standard.

More Goa

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Mackeral Rechiad and Prawns rawa fry at lisa's house in Goa last month...divine.

Bombay to Goa

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:44:00 +0000

It's been a very long satisfying gastronomical journey, first in Bombay and then in Goa. With some new restaurant finds and some seriously delicious home meals, John's yummy herb/roast chicken with roasted vegetables, amazing papad pizza and by far the best burger in the whole world at Indigo Deli, berry pulav at Brittania, Ruchi's Spagetti, Anoop's Fish in green mango and lisa's prawn curry with drumsticks and prawn rechiad stuffed in squid...all in all a feast fit for many kings, some pictures for now, recipes to follow i hope! (john, ruchi, anoop, liza!)

Sunday Lunch ala Nityan

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Made a delicious Pork Vindaloo and beans and coconut ala Nityan today for family lunch at home, marinated for a day and cooked for 3 hours...feeling very lazy so will post tomorrow, some pictures for now. Love

Pork Vindaloo

1 kg Pork with fat and no skin ( leg )
1/2 kg lean pork
3-4 spoons vinegar (any white or Goa vinegar)
2 large onions (mash/ pulp)
1 whole pod garlic
Nice large piece of Ginger
grind ginger and garlic together in to a paste
1 teaspoon zeera powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 and a half teaspoon chilli powder ( i used a mix of kashmiri mirchi and normal sabut red mirchi ,freshly ground )
11/2 -2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Clean pork and marinate with all the above ingredients, mix nicely and let it sit in the fridge for 12-24-48 hours! ( I did 24)

Put Pork in to a large non stick type cooking vessel on the small flame on simmer for an hour, no oil required (the fat will more than compensate!) you will find water has been released, half cover and let it cook for another 30 to 40 mins . Check salt/ vinegar/ red chilli levels and add if needed. after and hour and a half of cooking add
1 1/2 inch piece of Cinnamon
15-20 pepper corns
5-8 cloves

For the next hour slowly stir the meat, the gravy will thicken, take it off the fire when you see the right consistency. It has a thick small amount of gravy . So total cooking time is 2 and a half to three hours. very simple and highly satisfying, thanks Nityan for this superb discovery! It can be mopped up with bread/ pao's/ sannas!

and for the Beans;

Take Half a kilo French beans, chop really fine after removing the strings etc
Half a grated coconut (or a large heaped handful)

Heat a little oil in a kadhai and put in
1 Teaspoon Black urad dal ( which can be soaked for 10 -15 min to soften)
1 Teaspoon Black mustard seeds
3 Broken red chilli's
a dash of hing if you want

Put in the copped beans and cook for 5 minutes on medium to low fire
mix in salt
Cover and cook for a few more minutes/ keep tasting to make sure the beans don't get overcooked, they should remain slightly crunchy
Close the gas and add the grated coconut and mix, that's it!

Goaaaah!

prash@whyso.com (Prashant Miranda) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:05:00 +0000

So this one is a tried and tested beauty which always brings back memories of Goa. Even though I'm vegetarian now, I still have to make this prawn rechad for my friends here in Toronto who can't get enough of it. There are various versions, but this is my recipe. And with a collection of these malabar spices, who can go wrong?

Prawn Rechad
Ingredients:
1" stick cinnamon
5 cardamom pods
7 cloves
1 tbsp black peppercorn
3 kashmiri chillies
1 pod garlic
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 lb prawns
salt to taste
vegetable oil

So clean the prawns and set them aside. In a bowl, soak the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, chillies, pepper and cloves of garlic in the white vinegar. Add the salt and sugar, and grind to a paste. (Add more vinegar if necessary). Combine this potent mixture to the prawns and mix well. Heat some oil in a frying pan, and fry the prawns until red, succulent and juicy.
Serve hot.....with ample amount of drinks. Personally urak with soda and lime, or fenny or a good old gin and tonic does the trick.

Let's meet in goa.

Here's to Susegaad!

noreply@blogger.com (meg) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:17:00 +0000

I have to say this blog has been the most wonderful idea. How lovely that we can be in different parts of the world and share our food stories... especially when the cooking bug has attacked all of us all at once. Thankyou Pallavi for starting this. You deserve a prize... and here it is.
These are pictures of a small dinner we had for our friends at our new home last week. The menu was completely planned around Susegaad ... Pallavi's Babaghanoush (yum!) and Uzi's aligarh ghosht rice (the first time i ever cooked meat!) were the highlights. The food was amazing.. much enjoyed by everyone and we were pleased with our performance. Now thats a Susegaad success story! Oh and last night i tried Prash's coconut rice. So easy and so yummy. Thanks everyone.

Much love to all

Yum's the word and a happy christmas!

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 07:24:00 +0000

The last week has been a gastronomical bonanza second to none, with mum's amazing spread, radhika bhatia's delicious leg of ham and good old wengers Christmas cake. All we did was eat,now slowly recovering from all that delicious excess...

Uzi's Aligarh Gosht Rice

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Our trip to Aligarh a couple of years ago to see the Numaish, a sensory overload type of mela they have every year was very exciting but what lingers and remains in my mind about that trip was the food we got to eat at Uzi's home, made by her long time lovely cook Ruby. So when the cooking bug bit, (finally..) i knew that her recipes had to be tapped. I have no idea how close this is to the original but its a lovely light one dish meal, best eaten with papad, raita and kutchumbir...really looking forward to our next Aligarh trip to tuck in to ruby's food again :)

The only thing I would add before putting this recipe down is that it is very low on spice, i added green chilli's to give it a little zing, so depending on your spice levels you can add as you like

Mutton 1 kilo
2-3 large Onions ( cut in to big chunks)
1 Inch ginger (grind)
A whole pod or more of garlic ( the more the better/ grind)
4 Tejpata
10 or 15 pepper corns
4 Big elaichi

wrap the following ingredients in a little linen cloth and make a sealed potli/bundle
1 teaspoon dhanya sabut
1 teaspoon sauf
1 teaspoon zeera

Put all the above ingredients plus 2 teaspoons of salt in the pressure cooker with the meat,
add 4 -6 small cups of water ( such that the water is is just about covering the meat)

Give it a whistle or two and lower the flame, leave it on for 5-7 min and then take it off the gas.
Let it cool and open when cool.
Take out he little potli of spices

In a Big pan/kadai put some oil and the following
2 tejpata
4 small elaichi
2 Big elaichi
4-5 long
2-3 pieces dalchini ( Cinnamon)
Zavitri a little

Green chill to taste

Fry the bits of meat lightly with the masalas and after all done put back in the pressure cooker. Leave the water in the cooker as is.

Then take two cups of rice which you can soak for a half an hour ( 2 cups for 4 glasses of water, basically however many cups of water was put in earlier to cook the meat, half the amount of rice) and put in to the pressure cooker and cook on an open fire till water dries op/rice cooks

Separately in enough oil fry lots of onions ( 5-6 ,cut long) till brown and crispy to sprinkle on top.

Bon appetit..:)

PADWALKAI WARKA

noreply@blogger.com (meg) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:03:00 +0000

'Padwalkai' is Kannada for 'Indian Snake gourd'. .. the long green gourd which i have'nt managed to find in London yet, not even at the Taj Stores on brick lane. Padwalkai Warka is what i miss most when i think of home food... and reason enough for this wonderous recipe to be my first contribution on this blog.and because i cant cook it here, instead of pictures of the dish i have for you a drawing of akka when she was very small.. another true warka lover.
Padwalkai Warka is a very local dish from 'Konasagara' (literal translation: sea of buffaloes'!), the village my father comes from. It was when my mother married my father and went to the village (she was 17 and this was 46 years ago), that she was taught how to make this dish. It is best eaten with ragi balls, with a bit of pickle and fried chillies on the side. It is also wonderful with white rice.

So here's the recipe:

1 snake gourd: Peel this strange wonderful vegetable, cut it open and deseed it.
Cut it into small-medium pieces. ( to give you an idea of small- medium:about 2.5 cms roughly)

In a small bowl, pour a little bit of water for soaking in the following ingredients:
6 pods garlic
1 spoon whole black pepper
chopped ginger
4 green chillies
2 spoons raw rice
1 spoon ghasghas

Keep the bowl aside and let these soak in a bit.

Heat some oil in the pressure cooker.
Fry in a bit of mustard seeds, curry leaf and few pods of chopped garlic.
Put in the cut gourd and fry it for just one minute.
Pour in 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk (coffee cup)
Pressure cook this for just one whistle.
Open the cooker and mash up the cooked gourd.
Add salt to taste and a little sugar (quarter tea spoon)
Put 1 table spoon of fresh grated coconut into the soaking bowl mixture, and grind all the bowls ingredients in the mixer.
Mix the ground mixture with the cooked gourd and give it one more boil.
Check for salt and spice. If more spice is desired split a fresh green chillie and drop it in.

Eat with hot steamed rice, pickle and papad.

and think of meg.

with love.

Indo Canadian cuisine

prash@whyso.com (Prashant Miranda) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:43:00 +0000

So we had a wild festive party last night, and for the occassion I made many a batch of mulled wine, 2 apple pies, Guacomole, Channa masala, a coconut rice (which is our south Indian family recipe), but I gave the coconut rice a twist and added Canadian wild rice to the basmati rice. Well there was chicken tetrazzini that Jane made, and a whole bunch of cheeses and short eats. I was up till 3 am cleaning up the place, but now it's time to give you the recipe for the Coconut rice which is so simple to make, and which is one of my favourites.

Virinde Chor (Coconut rice)

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 sprig curry leaves
Whole spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves
1 cup Basmati rice
2 cups coconut milk
a pinch of turmeric powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste

In a pot, pour some oil, and add the whole spices to flavour it. Put in the chopped onion and curry leaves, and fry till golden brown. Wash the rice, and add to the pot. Pour in the coconut milk, with salt and turmeric, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot with a lid and cook for 12 minutes or until done.

It's a simple dish, but quite wonderful. Enjoy

Mum's Parsi Cutlets

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:27:00 +0000

Have been eating these cutlets made by mum since as long as i can remember...They are light, yummy and best mopped up with bread and a light salad.A glass of wine to wash it down would complete a wholly satisfying meal.
Initially I was a bit worried about the fact that I are frying the cutlets raw without pressuring the mince first, but I soon discovered in between many frantic calls to mum that they cooked just fine. And subsequently had a discussion with Uzi about how at her home in Aligarh they too make kache keeme ke kabab, have to get hold of that recipe next.

For the Cutlets
1/2 kilo minced mutton/ keema

2 large onions mash/grate
1 or 2 whole bulb garlic (grind)
2 inch ginger (grind)
1 or 2 green chili
a liberal sprinkling of freshly ground pepper
Coriander leaves/ haradhanya (Lots of it! as mum says the more haradhanya the better)
A little haldi powder
1 spoon besan
2 eggs
2 slices of bread (wet them and squeeze them dry, crumble in to keema)

Take a large bowl/plate and nicely mix the cleaned raw keema with all the above ingredients,
make large round cutlets out of the mixture. If you find the consistency is too liquid add more egg and bread till you get a consistency that holds.
Fry the cutlets till both sides are nice and brown in a shallow pan with a little olive oil. The pan should be hot, and cover the cutlets for a while so that they cook.
Place them in a bowl.

For the Sauce
Grind 6-7 tomatoes with a little sugar in the mixie
Separately grind to a paste;
1 or 2 red chillies
a little garlic and ginger
Cinnamon

In a pan lightly fry the paste and then add the tomato gravy and lightly simmer. Pour the gravy over the cutlets and serve!

Baba Ghanoush/ Eggplant Dip

pallavie@gmail.com (Pallavi) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:59:00 +0000

All ingredients for 1 large Baingan/eggplant ( however saying that the garlic wont increase thaaat much for each baingan added, apologies but some andaz will have to be used). Is delicious with pita bread.

Roast a large Baingan ( or 2 or 3 depending on amount you need) like for Baingan ka bharta on the fire.
Take the pulp out and add a small bit,(say a little less than one inch square) of the burnt part to give a smokey taste.
Mash a whole large pod of garlic.
Roast a table spoon of til/ seasme seeds and grind it in the mixie/ or a teaspoon of seasame paste/tahini
Put the baingan, garlic, til, and a table spoon of olive oil in the mixie ( small container) and give it a very quick spin :) ( like literally 3 secs, it pulverises very fast).The oil will make it go white ( the Baingan colour will change)
Lastly squeeze a lime, grind pepper put some salt and a dash more of oil and give it another very short spin.

cest fini! enjoy...:)