Walnut Chutney

Walnut chutney is probably one of the easiest and simplest of recipes.Its healthy,nutritious and tasty at the same time......All you need is a handful of walnuts,some cashew nuts and a few other ingredients commonly found in every Indian household.... 

Ingredients:
1 large cup of walnuts
6-8 cashewnuts
A bunch of coriander leaves,plucked and cleaned.
A few sprigs of mint leaves,cleaned 
1 green chillie
1 cup of hung curd,well beaten (optional)
salt to taste

Method:
Grind all the ingredients except the walnuts and curd and blitz in a mixer till just ground,add the walnuts and grind well...remove and mix with the curd...curd is an option,you can have it as it is....

Some tips: Dont use the stalk of the coriander,only the leaves and the most important tip is to add the walnuts towards the end....I have included a picture of the walnut chutney with the methi parantha,more of the later in another post....Remember to share and serve with love and kindness....

Mango Chutney

A couple of weeks ago,Chennai had to face the lashings of mother nature in all its glory courtesy "Nilam" the storm... the sound and fury was much more than an actual downpour...nevertheless it brought along with it four mangoes from my tree,a treasure indeed considering its not the season for it and i never knew they had existed in the first place...I used two for a dhall,and one for a fish curry,the remaining one, I had to use for a mango chutney my mother in law taught me...its easy and simple to make often eaten with plain hot rice....

All you need are:

1 large mango skinned and grated fine

Equal amount of coconut grated fine

2 tbs of whole coriander

1 tbs of cumin seeds

8 whole hot red chillies
1 pod of garlic peeled
1 inch piece of fresh ginger cleaned and skinned and chopped

A pinch of asafetida

1 tbs of Bengal gram dhall

1 tbs of Black gram dhall
A few sprigs of curry leaves
1 heaped tsp of jaggery powder 
salt to taste

Method :
In a pan add a tsp of oil and saute all the ingredients except the mango,coconut,jaggery and salt...Saute well to a golden brown..Remove,cool and add all the ingredients together and grind to a coarse paste...check for salt and serve with hot rice and ample servings of clarified butter/ghee...

A few tips...add some water to the jaggery and soak, mix well and add it to the mango/coconut when your grinding...

Remember the spice/salt quotient can be adjusted to individual tastes though i find you can add extra spice to this chutney as the sourness of the mango and the sweetness of the coconut balances it out...Add equal amount of grated coconut without the hard brown skin...This chutney can be refrigerated and kept for many days...can be used as a sandwich spread too....

Nilams fury was not in vain (yes that's what the storm was named)  got to make this delicious chutney and shared it too...

Please share your food and always serve with love and kindness.....

Work Shop with Sara Koshy

Deviating from my normal recipe posts,I am today writing about a work shop I attended hosted by The Chennai Food Guide showcasing the multi talented cook/chef and our principal instructor for the day - Sara Koshy...Those who live in Chennai need no introduction to her,she has been teaching the wonderful art of cooking and baking for more than a decade,proficient in Asian cuisine,she is a powerhouse where food is concerned...

To begin with the workshop had organised a set Thai menu consisting of the following:
Tofu Satay
Chicken Satay
Tom Yum (vegetarian)
Tom Yum Gai 
Red Curry both vegetarian and non vegetarian
Thai Fried rice,vegetarian and non-vegetarian
Buoroy (stuffed Lychees in coconut milk )

The workshop started with the sweet dish first the magical Buoroy,its easy to make and tasted absolutely divine....Meanwhile Sara had started with the chopping of the vegetables for the stock and the main menu....Learnt the art of cutting in yin yang style from her...notice the vegetables are cut at a slant... that's the yin yang effect...

The stock simmered with a delicate balance of many vegetables for a couple of minutes,before it was strained and used to make a light soup...The Thai Fried rice seemed easy enough to make as Sara effortlessly went about showing us all the delicious,perfectly balanced recipes...

Learnt further that Thai food is a mixture of the sweet and the sour,found a lot of it happening at the workshop...chilli,coconut and jaggery played important roles in Thai cooking.The cutting of the Tofu and the skewering of both chicken and Tofu for the satay were explained clearly by Sara..Red curry chicken/vegetable was a simple no fuss recipe,in fact,found that Sara made most of the recipes simple and easy to make....

An evening well spent,thanks to Chennai Food Guide for introducing us to workshops and to the art of Thai cooking by Sara Koshy... Valuable inputs were given by Mohamed Ali M the administrator of Chennai Food Guide on Naga Bhut Jolokia the hottest pepper in the world together with Saras reportee on the distinct use of fish sauce in Thai cuisine...

The pictures you see here are courtesy my dear friend Kamalika Krishmy,who was kind enough to share the photographs of the workshop with me...do check out her blog janakipattiskitchen.blogspot.com

Leg of Lamb

Its the festival of Eid ul Adha aka Bakrid, the time to pay allegiance to Allah by sacrificing a Sheep following in our Prophet Ebrahims footsteps, its the time of meat,meat and more meat...As children,we would wait behind closed windows and doors and await the preparation of biryani,liver fry and so many other delicious preparations my mother would churn out in our kitchen. After the Biryanis and the Kormas it was always the time to make the dried Kebabs....This was always the laborious  process of cutting the meat into long strips,pounding them a bit ,marinating in spices,stringing them and then allowing them to dry...This post however is not about Kebabs,but about a leg of Lamb recipe which i often make post Bakrid..

Ingredients :
1 leg of Lamb kept whole,make gashes against the grain to allow masalas to seep in (i used the front leg approximately weighing 1 1/2 kg)
2 heaped tbsp raw papaya paste
Juice of 4 large lemon
Salt to taste
Apply all the above mentioned to the leg of lamb and allow an hour of marination
Next take
2 tbsp ginger and garlic paste (2:1) ratio or whole ginger and garlic equivalent to 2 tbsp of paste 
10 Red chillies whole
2 tsp Peppercorns
2 inch stick cinnamon
8 cloves
6 pods cardamom
2 tsp coriander powder or 4 tsp whole coriander
2 tsp cumin powder or 3 tsp whole cumin
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chillie powder
1 large bunch coriander leaves,cleaned and washed well or 1 1/2 heaped cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup  mint leaves
3 green chillies
a bit of salt
Grind the above ingredients to a paste adding very little water,till you get a smooth consistency,add 1/2 cup olive oil to the marinade and apply thoroughly to the leg of lamb...seal well with aluminium foil and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours ... keep turning the leg every 6 hours....Remove an hour ahead of grilling and bring to room temperature...
Fire a grill up and place the leg without removing the foil,turning often,till you feel the semi liquid has dried inside.....remove the foil baste generously with melted butter and grill to desired consistency..serve hot with wedges of lime and walnut chutney...

Tips :Remove some of the masala from the leg before putting it on the grill,keep aside and use it later when you remove the foil,basting alternatively with butter and masala...Always grill the leg with the foil on first so as to seal in the flavours...once you feel the meat is cooked and there is no liquid remaining,remove the foil and allow the leg to grill to perfection,baste generously with melted butter.

A leg of lamb should be a little on the spicy side though not overly so,it should have a good amalgamation of spicy and sour in equal proportions...please do try this,its delicious to taste..
  Walnut chutney is very simple,take a handful of walnuts,add 4 almonds,a cup of coriander leaves,1/2 cup mint leaves,2 green chillies and salt to taste..grind carefully with little water,remove .mix in 1/2 cup well beaten curd and you're good to go....

Hope you liked this recipe...do share your food and don't forget to serve with love and kindness

Fish Fingers

This is one of the easiest to make, and the best Fish Fingers i have ever had....The first time i've had this is at my friend Ketu Irani/Sahani`s home,whose mother, Silloo Minoo Irani,one of the kindest person i know,parted with a recipe book (The Time and Talents club Recipe book) which has a plethora of wonderful recipes from several culinary experts of Chennai...Now this recipe is not there in the book,but is oft repeated and made in their home...The recipe book  is a 1934-59 edition and has some great Parsi recipes....This recipe though is what i have learnt from them...thank you Aunty for giving me the book and for introducing me to this recipe.... 

For the Fish fingers,you would need a firm fleshed,less bones and which can be made into fillets,kind off a fish...i find king fish/seer/surmai/vanjaram,works pretty well for this recipe...

Ingredients:
250 gms Fish,skinned,deboned and made into fillets
2 tsp of worcestershire sauce..
1 large egg well beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying
salt and white pepper powder to taste....

Method:
  Clean fish well..drain in a colander for 15 mts...apply salt,pepper and the sauce and allow it ti marinate for not more than 1/2 an hour...Dip in egg,coat with breadcrumbs and shallow fry till golden brown,turning just once....

Some tips on washing fish, to remove its odour...use gram flour...apply as a paste on fish, allow it to rest for five minutes,wash thoroughly.......
If required,you could add some paprika powder to the marinade too...

Hope you enjoy this recipe...its easy to make and tastes good served hot spicy chillie garlic sauce....Do share food and serve with love and kindness.....

Bovine Colostrum Pudding

I was introduced to this pudding by my mother in law,who loved to prepare this whenever our cow had a calf...To the uninitiated Colostrum is the first milk that is produced after a cow has had her calf...the calf has its first feed and the remaining is collected and distributed to family and friends...for those of you who think that this is gross, the understanding from my local milkman is that too much of colostrum is harmful for the calf...the benefits far outway the sorrow of this thought...
  

 Growing up in Chennai in the 60s and 70s was indeed God sent,every home had a cow lazing in a shed at the back of the house..now with homes shrinking in size and want of space and time,obtaining colostrum has become a rare commodity...however my friends tell me that they are available in tins in many countries all over the world....Today bovine colostrum is considered one of the healthiest foods in the world..please educate yourselves and give it to your children and family as much as you can...The process is the same as how my mother in law makes it,though however i have added a few ingredients and eliminated some in conformity to today's taste buds....

Ingredients:
1 litre colostrum milk (I ask for the 2nd days milk)
2 1/2 litres milk
250 gms sugar or to taste
1 tsp nutmeg powder
2 tsp dried ginger powder (sonth in hindi and chukku in tamil)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
6-8 green cardamom, seeds removed and crushed,can add some of the skin too
A few unsalted pistachios cut into slivers can also be added to add a bit of crunch
1 tin whole cream (optional )I omitted it in my second batch and did not notice any difference...

Method:
Boil the milk and set aside to cool thoroughly.....Once cool add in the colostrum and the rest of the ingredients and mix well.....This pudding is always steamed...Place a large vessel with water on stove,place another vessel which fits into the first one and fill 1/2 with the pudding mix...cover and steam for 10-15 minutes...switch off but allow it to remain in the steamer for a while....Alternatively you can pour into ramekins and steam them individually....

Some tips on the pudding....Do not overcook the pudding...at 10 mts open and check to see if its a little wobbly at the center and firm on the sides, that's your cue to switch it off and let it settle in its own steam....Do these in batches so that you can adjust the ingredients subsequently...Never add the Colostrum to hot milk as it will set and cook immediately... For some who don't want the sweet version can add salt and pepper and steam it..cut into pieces and use instead of panner in a gravy... I have watched my mother in law make this,but this is my first attempt,hope you like it...

Theres a lot of goodness in colostrum,hope you will share this recipe with others so that somewhere,someone can benefit and stay healthy and happy...Please share your food and serve with love and kindness....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colostrum

Lentils (Dal)

Lentils or Dal as we refer to it at home is such a comforting food..Trying to follow in my dear mothers footsteps,who always prepared dal everyday quoting",dal helps children grow",this recipe though is my aunts,(Chachi) from my fathers side,who in spite of her tiny diminutive appearance was a powerhouse in the kitchen....Born and brought up in Pakistan,she taught me this dal,which is so simple and easy to make and delicious with both roti`s and rice... I do try to make it at least once a week.... 

Ingredients:
1 cup moong dal (green grams)the yellow variety...
1 big onion sliced absolutely fine
1 big tomato just slit on top but not all the way through,the objective here is to keep the tomato whole...
2 slit green chillies
1/2 tsp ginger and garlic paste (2:1)ratio
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of red chillie powder or even better yellow chillie powder
A few sprigs of coriander leaves cleaned
4 tbs oil
salt to taste

Method :
Take a heavy bottom vessel with lid and add all the ingredients except the oil and onions...add 2 cups water and allow it to cook covered gently stirring the dal occasionally without mashing the dal or the tomato....once the water has drained,check to see if dal has cooked...it should remain whole,but at the same time should have cooked...this dal should remain  thick ,depending on your requirement for the day you could add some more water to make it a little less thick as i have shown in the photo....Remove the tomato and take it of the fire...In a pan heat oil and add the thinly sliced onions in batches...fry till crisp and brown..remove,drain excess oil ...just before serving the dal,add the browned onions to the dish and serve with wedges of lemon...

Some points to remember when your making dal,always pre soak them in enough water (a little more than double) and cook the dal in the same water...do not discard the water....use organic dal as much as possible...lessen the volume of dal if using organic...always remove the scum which forms on top...Enjoy  this dal,its healthy,nutritious and and packed with proteins...Remember to share your food and serve with love and kindness....