Daily Archives: June 4, 2015


Tangy capsicum gravy

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Preparation Time  : 20 minutes

Cooking Time       : 25 – 30 minutes

Serving                 : 4-6 members

Description

My mom is the most sophisticated lady I know on earth. She does a million things at a time and is the centre of attention any where she goes. But she hates to cook and is the last thing she wants to do as well. I know all your minds reading this is ticking with how on earth are you so passionate about food and cooking then ??? Well it’s all from the so called genes that’s been given to me from my grand ma and my aunts ( dads mom and his sisters )  oops coming back to the point. Once on a visit to mom’s place, she had catered lunch for us from a home chef being her own self with laziness to cook . As hubby dear is fussy about eating food from out side, I made sure to taste the dishes ahead and all the dishes were yummy yum. Mom had ordered a typical Muslim lunch with mutton biriyani , onion raitha , a tangy gravy usually it’s made with brinjals, a chicken fry and a firni for dessert. We all relished the lunch with our mouths zipped about the food being catered from outside as hubby dear would just not eat the food. After lunch he kept saying every thing was pitch perfect today. We all kept giggling silently to ourselves. The tangy gravy was my favourite and as tasting it, I kept revising the dishes preparation and Ingredients used. I made sure to try the same the following day at moms place as we had my cousin sister’s  in – laws visit us for lunch from United States. My cousin’s mother – in – law also went head over heels over the tangy dish and took the recipe from me then and there. When ever this dish is served, the recipe is a must share as I remember sharing this recipe with my aunt ( moms last sister ) too. I do use small sized whole slit egg plants and three colour bell peppers using the same recipe. What ever variation it’s lip smacking good. Only later did I know this is an authentic dish very own to the memon Muslims from Bangalore side. With access to the world wide net, did check the recipe and not bad as I did represent the dish as the original recipe. With a big pat on my back from myself…. I Felt delighted as creations do ample justice to their deliciousness.

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Capsicums 250 grams cut into finger size strips
Onion 1 sliced
Cumin powder 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek powder3 pinches
Red chilli powder2 teaspoons
Tomato 4 puréed ( grind with out adding water )
Black pepper corns1 /4 teaspoon
Garlic paste1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Dry red chillies3
Curry leaves few
Tamarind pulp 6 tablespoons
Green chillies 2 slit
Coriander leaves2 tablespoons chopped
Oil8 tablespoons

Ingredients to grind

Ingredients
Quantity
Onion1 fried to pink
Poppy seeds1 tablespoon
Sesame seeds1 tablespoon
Grated coconut1 tablespoon

Method to grind

Grind all the above ingredients together to a smooth paste using little water .

Method
  1. Heat oil in a wide pan . Add the sliced onion and fry to a golden colour .
  2. Top with garlic paste and fry to crisp . Mix in cumin powder , fenugreek powder , turmeric powder , red chilly powder , green chillies , salt to taste and puréed tomatoes .
  3. Sauté for seven minutes and add the ground paste .
  4. Mix well and cook further for another two minutes stirring occasionally making sure the bottom does not burn .
  5. Top with whole red dry chilies , pepper corns , and curry leaves . Stir well and add the capsicum strips .
  6. Toss well and cook for ten minutes in medium heat to tender . Add the tamarind pulp mix well .
  7. Bring to boil , then simmer until oil floats on top . Taste and adjust . Garnish with chopped coriander leaves .
  8. Serve hot as a side dish with biriyani , Paulo , anything and everything.

Notes

Can do the same with whole tiny slit egg plants .

At times I use red bell peppers alone or a mix of red , yellow and green to add more colour to  the dish .


Dahi – cheese ghost kebab

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Preparation Time : 40 – 50 minutes

Cooking Time      : 30 minutes

Serving                : 4-6 members

Description

Meat and cheese is one combination I have wanted to pair together for quite some time . But the two fatty culprits did scare me away because of the calorie in take its going to end up in and not wanting the rats in my laboratory ( oops the Rats  are hubby dear my kids and son – in – law , the laboratory is my kitchen ) who end up eating and have a heart attack over night . So I just threw away the idea from my mind immediately. Later , after a few months time while just whiling away my time over the foodie groups in face book . I came  across a picture of a mutton roast that’s grilled with grated cheese over a hot Tawa . There was a tsunami happening in my mouth as I just could not take my eyes away from drooling . Finally I ended up gulping a hell of saliva . Checked to see who has posted it and who else other than my friend Anisa Arif the spice queen . Well now there is no health issues coming in between as when a friend has tried it , it’s an alerting alarm signal saying its your turn dumbo . Not wanting to repeat the same as Anisa did , I just used a recipe from my hand written cook book and added grated cheese with a revolutionary idea to the filling . This recipe is an authentic recipe very own to the nawabs of Hyderabad . I have just added my twist of adding grated cheese to the filling leaving the recipe undisturbed. As authentic old school recipes need no more polishing to be done . I just found a cheats way of not keeping the mutton whole and the dal used along just led an option to tell when questioned about that the meat used is very little . The amount of roller coaster rides I go through to just satisfy my cravings to experiment a dish with no complaints is sure adventures and worth while when I hear oohs … And aahhs over the table when served filling in a lot of joy in me . This fool proof dish vanished away in minutes and has been on demand from then but I keep it away as I know this fatty culprit is to be enjoyed only once in a blue moon . From humble old school to va – va – voom with a clever riff on the classic worked wonders ….

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Boneless mutton600 grams
Cumin seeds1 teaspoon
Pepper corns6
Ginger1/2 inch chopped
Garlic 10 cloves peeled
Bengal gram 1/4 cup soaked in water for half an hour
Coriander seeds1 teaspoon
Green cardamom1
Black cardamom1
Garam masala powder1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder2 teaspoons
Mace powdera pinch
Salt to taste
Oil2 tablespoons + to shallow fry
Eggs2 beaten with salt to taste

Ingredients for stuffing

Ingredients
Quantity
Onion 1 chopped finely
Hung curd1/4 cup
Grated processed cheese ( I used Amul cubes ) 1/4 cup
Mint + coriander leaves2 teaspoons chopped

Method for filling

  1. Squeeze the chopped onions between your palms to remove excess water .
  2. Mix hung curd , grated cheese , onion , mint + coriander leaves chopped together .
  3. Taste and add salt as the cheese used already has a lot of salt content in it . Place in the refrigerator.

Method for the kebab

  1. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a pressure cooker . Add cumin seeds , coriander seeds , pepper corns ,
  2. black cardamom, green cardamom , ginger and garlic . Stir well for a minute over medium heat . Add the boneless mutton pieces and sauté for five minutes until the colour of the meat changes .
  3. Top with soaked and drained Bengal gram dal , salt to taste ,red chilli powder ,mace powder and garam masala powder . Stir well for about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add one and half cups of warm water and Bring to boil . Pressure cook for 4 or more whistles depending on your pressure cooker to cooked and dry . Remove from heat . Cool completely and grind to a smooth paste with out adding water .

How to proceed

  1. Divide the ground paste to equal lemon size portions and roll to a round with greased palms .
  2. Insert your thumb from the top of the round to get a hollow dent in the middle . Fill the dent with dahi cheese stuffing .
  3. Flatten a goose burry size of the ground meat and cover on top of the filling .
  4. Roll gently to a circle again with no cracks . Then flatten a bit to get tikki / cutlets shape . ( I used a greased cutlet mould to get perfect sized kebabs ,
  5. you can use a Horlick’s bottle top too ) Do the same to all the ground mutton and filling .
  6. Heat oil to shallow fry . Cost each kebab with beaten egg .
  7. Drop into medium hot oil and fry for 40 -50 seconds on one side , then flip over gently and fry to a golden colour and crisp on all sides .
  8. Drain on absorbent paper . Serve hot with mint chantney .

Notes
You can substitute mutton with chicken and do the same

Quite a tricky dish but worth the pain for sure