Jeera Rice (Cumin Rice) and Soybean Korma

Hello friends,

Of all sorts of pilaf, jeera rice has always been one of my favourites. The subtle aroma of cumin along with the overall lightness of the popular Indian dish makes it an ideal accompaniment for any spicy side-dish.

My chosen side-dish for today was soybean korma. Korma is historically a Middle-Eastern dish. It is a rich curry made of yogurt, cashew-paste etc. It has been indianised and is featured regularly in the menu cards of most restaurants serving Mughlai cuisine.

Soybean korma is however, much rarer.

Trust me, even those who are scrunching their noses at the name of Nutrela or soybean, would absolutely love this preparation.

So, here we go:

Jeera Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups of good quality Basmati rice

4 cups of water

1 heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds

2 bay leaves

2 cloves

1 cardamom

1 inch stick of cinnamon

4/5 whole black pepper

4 green chillies (optional)

1 sprig of coriander

1 teaspoon of lime juice

2 tablespoon clarified butter (ghee)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or any flavourless oil)

Salt to taste 

Preparation:

Wash Basmati rice and soak for half an hour. Try not to stir the rice much. Basmati rice is very delicate and if you handle it roughly or stir it around too much there are possibilities of breakage. 

Heat ghee (clarified butter) and oil together in a heavy-bottomed pan/kadai/dutch oven which has enough room for the rice to fluff up. Add the whole garam masala (clove, cinnamon, cardamom, whole black pepper and bay leaves). Add the cumin seeds. Roast on medium heat. Don't let them burn. Here is where you need to follow your nose closely. The moment the aroma of cumin comes out, add the chillies and the drained rice. Lightly toast the rice, stirring gently with a spatula. Add salt, and most of the chopped coriander leaves (leaving some of it for garnishing). After a couple of minutes, pour in the water. The measurement of rice and water should always be 1:2. So for two cups of rice, you need to add four cups of water.

This is one of those rare cases that you absolutely cannot substitute water with chicken stock to enhance the flavour. Please don't! The rice is plenty flavourful and chicken stock will completely undermine the delicate flavour of cumin which is the whole point of this particular pilaf.

Crank up the heat. Cover the lid (if your lid doesn't have a steam escape hole then don't cover it fully). Bring it to boil. Now lower the heat and let it simmer for around ten minutes. Keep an eye on it for it doesn't take a long time to cook Basmati. After ten minutes, remove the lid and check. Again, do not disturb the rice. Gently move it a bit from the side with the help of your spatula and check how much moisture is there at the bottom. It should be ready within a couple of minutes. Remember the rice at the bottom continues to cook long after you have turned off the heat. So as soon as the rice of the top portion looks done, you should take it off the heat. 

I kept the lid of my kadai slightly askew. It helped the rice to dry out completely and not stick with each other. If the bottom portion still remains sticky, just dig in with your fingers (after it has cooled down of course) and break the clumps with very gentle hands.

Finally, garnish the rice with a little bit of chopped coriander leaves and serve with a side dish.

Soybean Korma

Ingredients:

2 cups of Nutrela soybean 

1/2 cup hung curd (1 cup normal yogurt placed in a piece of clean, cotton cloth and suspended for a couple of hours until the water is drained)

4 large onions (sliced thinly and deep-fried until crisp and brown)

7/8 cashew nuts

1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli (or paprika powder)

1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder (or cayenne pepper powder)

3/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of coriander powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder

2 bay leaves

4 cloves

2 cardamom

1 inch stick of cinnamon

4 green chillies (optional)

1 cup of clarified butter/ghee (I know, I know...but you are not making korma everyday and soybean doesn't have any fat)

A few drops of keora water/rose water

1/2 cup of milk

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Boil soybean in water mixed with 1/2 cup milk, one teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt for ten minutes. Drain and press down with the back of a spatula or a potato masher. Let it dry for at least half an hour. The key is to drain the water from the soybean as much as possible.

Blend half a cup of soybean and keep it along with the rest. It would give body to the the gravy.

Beat the hung curd until it reaches a creamy consistency. Soak the cashew nuts for half an hour in water. Blend together brown onion along with cashew and set aside.

Heat a nonstick pan and add clarified butter. Add the bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Fry until they splutter. Add ginger and garlic paste. Stir for a few minutes and add the dry spices, that is turmeric, chilli powders, coriander and cumin powder. Stir on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Lower the heat and add curd. Mix gently with the spices. You can remove the pan from heat altogether while adding curd. Simmer it on very gentle heat for around three to four minutes or until oil separates from the curd. Add the brown onion paste and mix again. By now the spice mixture should look reddish brown and it should smell cooked. Add the soybean and salt and stir on high heat for three to four minutes. Add half a cup of water and put on the lid. Simmer in gentle heat for five minutes.

Open the lid and stir the korma. it should be done by now. If not, add some more water (very little at a time) and let it cook for five more minutes.

Finally sprinkle a few drops of keora water, garam masala and a tablespoon of clarified butter on top. Put on the lid and let it cook at low flame for two minutes. Take off the heat.

Garnish with coriander leaves (optional) and lemon wedges and serve with rice/naan/pita bread.




Enjoy...... :)

Korean Sweet Bun

Hey friends,

I recently bought some high-quality dry active yeast from New Market (otherwise known as Hogg Market) which is a paradise for shoppers as well as foodies like me for they say you can get tiger milk if you search really well! That...is a pretty weird concept (I certainly don't know anyone brave enough to try to milk a tiger) but you get the general picture.

I got this recipe from a Korean website and this was my first attempt at bread-making. There were nerves and a broken cup involved. I better not get into the details.

Rather let's dive into the recipe straight away:

Ingredients:

500 grams plain white flour
12 grams active dry yeast
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 small pinch of salt
1/2 cup warm milk (micro it for 30 seconds and the temperature will be perfect)
Water as required
1 large egg
1/2 cup of vegetable oil or melted butter
Extra flour for dusting the work-surface
1 egg (beaten along with two tablespoon of milk)

Preparation:

First prepare the yeast mixture by mixing together yeast, sugar, warm milk and a tablespoon of flour and set it aside for ten minutes. After ten minutes or when the mixture looks thickened up and bubbles appear around the edges, put in the rest of the flour, egg, oil and mix with a wooden spatula. The mixture should be too sticky to handle. If not, add some water to it. Give it a thorough mix. The dough should be sticking to the side of the bowl. Scrape it on a floured work-surface and continue kneading it with fingertips dipped in flour. Knead gently for five to seven minutes and transfer to a large oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest at a warm place (I had put it inside the microwave) for at least one hour. After one hour the dough should be almost double in size. If not, let it rest for another half an hour or so.

Tip the dough on a floured surface again. Punch the air out of the dough and knead for one or two minutes lightly. By this time, the dough should be smooth and supple and if poked the surface should bounce back. Now divide the dough into equal portions. You can give them any shape you want. I rolled them out like long sausages and made a simple knot. You can just shape them into balls.

Place your buns on a greased baking tray. Keep them slightly apart from one another and let them rest in your oven without turning it on. After half an hour check and see if they have risen further or not. If you have followed all the steps correctly, they should puff up well.

Now brush the top or the entire exposed portion of the buns with beaten egg and milk mixture. This is absolutely crucial if you want a nice, brown crust.

If you want you can top your bread with sugar or sesame seeds. It would look pretty and would add an extra layer of taste/flavour.

Bake your bread in a pre-heated oven in 200 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. After twenty minutes check the bottom of the bread. If it doesn't look cooked, put it in for another couple of minutes. Your bread will become dry if overcooked so be really careful here.

Finally take out the bread and serve warm with butter and jam (preferably mixed fruit).




..........and welcome to nirvana by freshly baked bread! :)

Tomato and Cashew Rice

Hey everybody,

I haven't posted for a long time, but that doesn't mean I have been idle. I have experimented with some really interesting recipes. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures. Without images it is difficult to get a feel about how a dish looks like. Next time I promise not to be so lazy.

So last weekend I had a near constant party at my place for 2-days at a stretch for some friends and relatives came over and we had a blast cooking, eating, singing, chatting, guzzling drinks and in general making fools of ourselves.

Naturally the next day when they were gone and I was alone in my house, I didn't have the energy or the inclination to go out to buy something and I wanted to make something simple anyway after the hectic day at office.

I found a cup of diced tomatoes, a cup of cooked rice, a handful of cashewnuts (gone soft) and half a cup of chopped cilantro leaves (I had used up the stalks elsewhere) and I had to make do with these.

Surprisingly it came out so delicious that I decided to post the recipe. It is dedicated to lazy people like me who want to make something quick but comforting with things that are available in their refrigerator after a long day.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice (the regular one, no need for the long-grain and more expensive variety)

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

1 large tomato diced and puréed

1 handful of cashew-nuts

1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds

1 green chilli (chopped)

1 dried red chilli (whole)

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Salt and sugar for seasoning

Preparation:

Heat oil in a saucepan and throw in the mustard seeds and the whole dried red chili. once they start to splutter add the cashew. As soon as the nuts turn golden brown add the tomato puree and the coriander leaves and stir. Add the chopped green chilli. Add half a teaspoon of sugar and salt as required. I added a few drops of lime juice too. When the mixture doesn't look watery anymore and the colour is darkened add the rice. Stir all the while on high heat. The entire thing should not take more than five minutes. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Mangsher Ghughni (dried white peas cooked with chicken)

Hello,

So today I am going to divluge you the secret of making the Kolkata-style ghughni with chicken. You can forgo the chicken of course, but where is the fun in that?

Ghughni is a quintessential Bengali delicacy which was no doubt imported from the middle-east like many other food items favoured by the Bengalis. We really need a deep and meaningful research on the connection between the two places, but as of now, let us just concentrate on the recipe.

Ingredients:

250 grams of dried white peas or matar
200 grams chicken (on bone, but without liver) cut into small, bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon ginger and garlic paste
2 onions and 1 large ripe tomato ground together into a coarse paste
1 tablespoon cumin powder (dry roasted)
1 teaspoon coriander powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli/paprika powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 cup oil (any flavourless vegetable oil will do)
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 sprig of coriander, chopped (for garnish)
Julienne of cucumber, onions, carrots and de-seeded chillies for garnish

Preparation:.

Soak the white peas for at least 12 hours. Rinse thoroughly and drain. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the ginger-garlic paste. Sauté and add onion and tomato paste. Cook on high heat until water evaporates. Add the chicken pieces and the dry spices. Stir on high heat for about five minutes or until half-way cooked.

Add the dried peas and sauté again. After a few minutes add salt and 2 cups of water. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes or until the peas soften. It does take time for they are really stubborn. The chicken pieces will break and mix with the gravy and will enhance its taste.

Once done, remove from the heat and add lime juice. Sprinkle the garnish on top and serve hot with toasts.

Apple Hand Pie

Hello friends,

So I have been bogged down with work of late that really don't leave me much time to experiment. But I wanted to try my hands at an apple pie for a long time. Since I am yet to buy a pie tin, I decided to go rustic and make a hand pie instead.

It came out FABULOUS!

I really did not imagine it to be so good at my very first attempt.

Here is the recipe...enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the pastry dough:

1/2 cup butter cubes (frozen and grated and re-frozen)
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3 ice cubes (crushed)
1 tablespoon chilled water
A pince of salt (ONLY if you are using unsalted butter)
1 egg mixed with two teaspoon of milk
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar

For the filling:

2 green apple (peeled, cored and diced)
1/2 cup sugar (based on how sour the apple is)
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
1 pinch of salt
3 to 4 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon melted butter

Preparation:

First prepare the filling by melting butter in a saucepan and throw in the cinnamon sticks. When the butter is aromatic, add the diced apple and sweat until they are softened. Add sugar, salt and honey and let it cook over low heat until it is cooked to its desired level. You can cook it until the apple cubes are almost breaking down, so that the filling is more like an apple jam or you may want to cook them less and let them be somewhat crunchy. I cooked them until they were tender and caramelised but still holding their shape.

Set aside and let lit cool (don't forget to take out the cinnamon sticks with at this stage for they have served their purpose.

Now place the bowl and the fork with which you are going to make the pastry dough for at least half an hour.

Sift flour into the chilled bowl. Add the sugar, salt and mix. Add the butter and mix with the fork. Don't use hands. The trick is into keeping the mixture at a low temperature so adding body-heat is a strict no-no. Break the butter cubes to mix them with the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Now add the crushed ice cubes and mix again. It will soon look like wet sand. At this stage take a little bit of the crumb between your thumb and index fingers. If they come together and sticks like a dough it is ready. If not add a teaspoon of chilled water.

Now using your fingers very sparingly make the dough come together. Don't knead. Just make sure that the dough holds itself together, wrap it up in a plastic and stick in inside the fridge for half an hour.

When the filling has cooled down and the pastry dough has been chilled, divide the latter into three/four portions and roll them out individually. Place the filling inside them. Brush the border with melted butter and fold them in a half-moon shape. Cut the edge so that they look even. Now press down the borders with fork to seal it or you can carve them with fingers like I did. Be creative, but just make sure it is airtight.

Now, most importantly, make a few holes with knives on the top of each pie. Otherwise your pie may burst inside your oven and that will not be pretty!

Deep your cooking brush/spoon in the egg and milk mixture and paint the top of the pie (very, very important finishing touch for achieving the striking golden-brown colour). Sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at a preheated oven at 200 degree celsius for 30 minutes in the convection mode.

Cool the pies for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm, but not scalding hot.

What can I say...it is one of the most delicious things I have every tasted!

Doi Ilish (Hilsa fish in yoghurt gravy)

Hello friends,

Recently I made a most extravagant purchase and therefore I thought it warranted a post on the blog. It was a hilsa fish weighing around 1 kilo. I know monsoon is the traditional season to enjoy them, but I just couldn't resist myself. Don't even ask how much it cost!

Now those who don't have access to hilsa, can replace it with shad. I have it on good authority that North American shad tastes pretty similar to our beloved hilsa and is supposed to be a good substitute. I never had an opportunity to put the theory to test (or taste) though.

But one component is absolutely essential and that is the mustard oil and that the dish must be accompanied with steamed rice, piping hot.

So please follow the recipe and enjoy:

Ingredients:

1 hilsa/shad fish with bone (weighing around 1 kilo, cut into 8 to 10 round pieces after discarding the head and the tail portion)
1 cup hung curd/plain Greek yoghurt (placed in cheesecloth or a rectangular piece of cotton cloth, folded once and tied up and hung for an hour or two over the sink so that the excess moisture is drained off)
3 tablespoon white mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon onion seeds (nigella seeds or kalonji)
4 - 5 green chillis (slit in the middle) (or whole, depending on how much heat you like)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 cup mustard oil
salt to taste

Preparation:

You can prepare doi ilish in microwave or in ordinary gas oven. I have described both methods here.

Preparation in microwave:

Wash and clean the fish thoroughly. Pat dry with paper napkin. Grind the mustard seeds  in a food processor  into a smooth paste with a little amount of water and a pinch of salt. Mix the mustard paste, salt, turmeric powder with the hung curd and beat thoroughly. Add it to the fish pieces. Add the oil and green chillies to it. Mix everything with hands very gently. Layer the fish into your oven-proof baking dish. Pour the marinade over it. Don't add any water. Preheat the oven to 210 degree Celsius and cook for 45 minutes. If the hilsa comes with eggs then it will take more time to cook - possibly close to 1 hour. You can prick the fish with a toothpick to see it is cooked thoroughly or not.

Preparation in gas oven:

Rub salt and a little bit of turmeric on the fish pieces and set aside for 10 minutes. Heat mustard oil in a saucepan. Fry the fish pieces lightly on both sides. Add the onion seeds and the slit green chillies. When the spices begins to pop, remove the pan from the flame and add the curd and mustard paste mix with a little bit of water. Bring it back to the flame and cook over very low heat. Add salt and a pinch or turmeric. Mix with a light hand. Cover and let shimmer for five to eight minutes on gentle heat. Add 1 to 2 tablespoon of water if needed. Turn the fish pieces once, so that they are all well-coated with the gravy. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Mutton Curry (Bengali-style)

Hey everybody,

It has been some time since I posted the last recipe. I have not been very active in the kitchen lately because my mom was staying with me for a few weeks, preparing the food for both of us. Also, I have been busy with writing a fanfic on my favourite character of Teen Wolf - the adorable douchebag Derek Hale, who is a devastatingly handsome grumpy werewolf on the surface, but really a teddy bear at heart. I have provided a link below if you are interested (you better be, for I spent a lot of time and emotions on it) and therefore had little time to cook.

Anyways, my mom left this afternoon and I prepared a farewell dish for her, which happened to be one of my favourites.

So here we go...

Ingredients:

1 kg mutton with fat (medium pieces, preferably the front leg portion of a goat or you can replace it with lamb as well and it will taste just as good)

1/2 cup lime juice

5 large onions (red/Spanish ones will taste better)

1 whole garlic

1.5" piece of ginger

2 large tomatoes 

1/2 cup well-beaten curd (yogurt) (optional)

1 tablespoon of cumin powder

1.5 tablespoon coriander powder (optional)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder/paprika powder

2 or 3 green chillies (or according to taste)

3/4 teaspoon sugar

4-5 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (or half a teaspoon of baharat whichever is available)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3/4 cup mustard oil (or any vegetable oil if mustard oil is not available)

Preparation:

First clean the mutton well and pat dry with paper napkin. marinade for 1 hour with lime juice. It will help tenderise the mutton as well as lend a nice flavour. In the meanwhile, slice the onions thinly and chop the garlic finely. Make a paste of ginger in a mixer-grinder with the help of a little water. Roast the garam masala/baharat for half a minute or until the flavour comes out on high flame and set aside. Chop the tomatoes after discarding the seeds. 

Now heat mustard oil in a large wok/Dutch oven until smoke comes out. Reduce the heat and wait for half a minute. Put in the bay leaves first. After half a minute, add the sugar. Stir and immediately after and add the chopped garlic. When the garlic gives out a nice aroma, add chopped onions. You have to be very quick otherwise the the sugar will burn and stick to the bottom. You may of course add the sugar after you add the onions in oil just to be on the safer side. Stir fry the onions until pink and glossy and some of them at least has started to take reddish golden colour. Now increase the heat and add the meat pieces one by one. Continuously turn them to make sure they start to brown on all sides. Stir-fry the meat with the aromatics for about 10 minutes. Add the ginger paste. Continue turning the meat pieces after every 1 to 2 minutes. Keep doing it on high flame for about 5 more minutes or until the moisture from the meat evaporates. If the mutton catches the bottom of the pan, then reduce the heat and add a few drops of water. At this point the mutton pieces should look cooked at least from the outside. This is the time to add the chopped tomatoes, whole green chillies (slit them if you can handle the heat) and all the spices, that is: the cumin and coriander powder, garam masala, the turmeric powder the red chilli powder/paprika powder and salt. Now continue stir frying the mutton on low heat. after 10 more minutes, add the curd. Mix with light hand, cover and let it shimmer for a few minutes. Now transfer the the entire curry into a pressure cooker add 1 to 2 cups of warm water (it depends on how long it will cook in the pressure cooker) and pressure cook on high flame for 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. Wait until it cools down. When you open the pressure cooker, you will see the fat has risen to the top and the curry has taken a wonderful reddish-golden hue. This is the best time to taste the seasoning and to see if the mutton has cooked thoroughly or not. If it hasn't, put on the lid and cook the mutton for further 10 minutes. Serve steaming hot with steamed rice or flat bread (roti) or even pita bread. You can garnish it with chopped coriander leaves, but it is not really needed. The sight of a bowl of mutton curry with an angry red gravy is itself a balm for sore eyes.

Try it out and enjoy...

In the meanwhile, here are the links as promised:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5662795/chapters/13043074

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6049900/chapters/13870195