Baked potatoes with Anchovies

This recipe is a comfort food, and is something to eat as a side dish with rice or bread; as you like it. This is from one of the Jamie Oliver shows. Nothing fancy, just simple ingredients and steps. So here we go.

Ingredients:

• Onion - half
• Potatoes - 3 to 4 small potatoes
• Olive oil - 3 tbsp
• Butter - half a knob (optional add along with olive oil)
• Anchovies - 3 - 4 slivers
• Parmesan cheese - 4 tbsp (grated)
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Chicken stock - 1 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper - to taste

Preparation:

• Finely chop the onions, thinly slice the potatoes (like wafers) and grate the garlic cloves and set aside
• Add 3 tbsp of oil to a pan and heat it up. If you want to add butter, you can add it now. However, instead of 3 tbsp of oil use only 2.
• Add the onions and garlic to the oil and fry until soft
• Add potatoes and salt and pepper to taste
• Let them cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the anchovies, and add half a tbsp of anchovies oil as well
• Stir the pot so that everything comes together and let is simmer
• Add the chicken stock and let is simmer for 5 minutes so that it reduces down
• Preheat the oven at 400 deg
• Once everything is reduced, add them to a baking tray. Drizzle the Parmesan cheese on top and put it inside the oven
• Set timer for 10 mins or wait until cooked. Serve hot with rice or bread. Enjoy

Dum Aloo Kashmiri

I have always been fascinated by this aloo dish. It has been my favorite for a long time, and I always have ordered it from various restaurants. But finally I decided to try it at home and as always it was simple. So here is the recipe for you. 

Perfect for veg Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Ingredients:

• Small potatoes ( 6 - 7)
• Mustard oil - 1/2 cup
• Veg oil - 2 cups
• Ginger powder - 1/2 tbsp or ginger paste
• Clove powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Kashmiri mirch - 1 tbsp
• Green cardamom powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Fennel (sauf) powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Hing - just a pinch
• Cumin (zeera) powder (roasted) - 1/2 tbsp
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chopped coriander
• 1 cup of water

Preparation:

• Boil the potatoes and then peel them. Leave them on a paper towel to dry
• Once dry, poke them with a fork or tooth pick to make small holes in the potatoes. This will allow the masala to get inside the potatoes when we cook the gravy
• Deep fry the potatoes in veg oil, till they are golden brown
• Leave them on a paper towl so that the excess oil is soaked
• Whisk the curd in a bowl till it becomes smooth
• Add the red chili powder, cardamom powder, ginger powder & fennel powder to the curd and mix well. (if you dont get ginger powder, its okay to use ginger paste, makes little difference)
• In a kadai pour the mustard oil and let it heat up. Let the mustard oil smoke. Bring down the gas to medium heat
• Add pinch of hing and clove powder to the oil
• Add half cup of water to the oil and let it come to boil
• Once the mix comes to boil, add the curd mix, and let it cook if required, add water - small quantities only
• Stir and mix and then add salt and potatoes
• Let it reduce, and let the oil separate out
• Add garam masala and cumin powder and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 - 3 mins
• Once done, add chopped coriander leaves and serve hot

Mutton recipe - Katra style

courtesy Chakh le India - Kacha Rasta

A very simple recipe, which goes back to making mutton the classical style using mustard oil. So I must warn all the health conscious folks, you might want to skip this one. Very rustic and earthy. Must try for a cold weekend.


Ingredients: 

• Mutton medium pieces - 1 kg
• Onion finely chopped - 1/2 kg
• 2 tbsp garam masala mixed in 1/2 cup of water
• Mustard oil - 1 cup
• 2/3 green chilies finely chopped
• Garlic cloves chopped - 8-10

• Ginger chopped - 1 inch
• 1 bay leave
• 1 brown cardamon (bada illiche)
• 2 cups of water
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Heat mustard oil in a deep pan (kadai or skillet)
• Add onion, & saute for 2 min or till brown
• Add green chilies, ginger, garlic, garam masala paste and saute
• Add brown cardamon and bay leave
• Add mutton pieces. Add salt. Saute in medium heat for 5 - 7 mins
• Add water and cover and cook on sim for 1 hour
• Stir in between, and if required add water
• Garnish with chopped coriander before serving

Cucumber, Orange juice smoothie

One of the things which health and diet advisers always keep saying, if you feel hungry instead of grabbing something to unhealthy and oily to munch on, snack on something healthy.

So here is the series on Smoothies for you. These are simple, good, tasty, healthy and they can be made really fast and without much fuss. If you have kids who tend go on battle with you once they hear about fruits and juices, this is a solution to your nightmares.

So here is a quick smoothie for your evenings. Serves 2 persons

Ingredients:

• Half of a medium size cucumber
• Orange juice - 1 cup
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Cucumber fingers
• Ice cubes
• Mint leaves

Preparation:

• Peel half of a medium size cucumber and cut it into medium pieces.
• Peel the other half and cut them vertically to make fingers out of them
• Put the chopped pieces of the cucumber, orange juice, lemon juice and ice cubes into a blender
• Hit the button and blend it for about 2 mins.
• Pour the smoothie in a tumbler. Garnish with the cucumber finger and mint leaves

There you go. Cheers... mate!

Pasta with creame & mushroom

This recipe I picked up from the tv show Everyday Exotic on TLC.The simplicity of the dish inspired me. Even though I could not  pick all the actual ingredients that were required, I did my best.

Ingredients:

• Pasta - 200 gms
• Olive oil - 5 tbsp
• Butter
• Shallot or onions - 2
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Thyme - 1/4 tsp
• Mushrooms - 200 gms
• White wine - 1/2 cup
• Whipped cream - 1/2 cup 
• Spinach - 150 gms
• Salt & black pepper

Preparation:

• Cook pasta as per the direction and keep aside
• In a pan add olive and let it warm up. Also add butter. Adding the butter with oil, ensures the butter doesn't burn
• Stir in the diced shallots & garlic. Add the salt and pepper. Saute them over low to medium heat, until they are golden brown
• Add the thyme and diced mushroom and saute them until golden brown
• Add white wine and stir and mix them all well.
• Mix the whipped creame & stir
• Allow the sauce to reduce, it should become thick. In order to check if its thick, dip the spoon and the sauce should coat evenly on the back of the spoon.
• Dice the spinach. Add spinach to the mix and mix them well. Let the mix cook for some time over low to medium heat
• Drain the water from the pasta and mix it with the white sauce. Mix well.
• Add salt & pepper to taste

Tandori Paneer with Vegetables

Ingredients

For Marinade

• Curd – 6 tbsp
• Salt – to taste
• Red chilies – 2 tbsp
• Pepper – ½ tbsp
• Cardamom – 3
• Green chilies – 6
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Ginger Garlic paste – 3 tbsp
• Sugar – ¼ tbsp
• Lemon juice – ½ tsp

Other Ingredients

• Paneer – 300 gms
• Capsicum – 1 medium
• Onion – 2 large
• Carrot – 1 medium
• Tomatoes – 2 medium
• Oil – 5 tbsp
• Chat masala – to taste

Preparation

• Prepare the marinade
• Coarsely crush the cardamom so that the pods open up and seeds come out. Crush the green chilies coarsely (don’t make a paste)
• Mix all the ingredients together for marinade and keep aside
• Dice the Paneer to ½ inch cube; you may keep them larger as well. Dice the capsicum in large chunks however scoop out the seeds
• Similarly dice the tomatoes into large chunks, and scoop out the seeds from the inside. 
• For the onions, dice them into four large pieces
• Mix all these with the marinade and mix them well. Keep them in refrigerator for over an hour.
• Set the microwave to Convection mode. Pre-heat to 150 deg 
• On the microwave metal tray place all the ingredients so that they are nicely distributed. Sprinkle oil over the top.
• Microwave on convection mode @ 150 deg for 15 mins. After which take them out, toss a little and again microwave @ 150 deg for another 15 mins. Check if the vegetables are cooked. If not, then microwave again.
• Place your ingredients in a platter, add a dash of lime and sprinkle with chaat masala. Enjoy

Mushroom Chicken with hot sauce

This simple recipe involves slow cooking of mushrooms along with onions & chicken. The ingredients are simple and make the taste authentic. Remember this a hot dish, so we are going to put loads of chillies, both dry red ones and green ones. So here is the recipe for your cooking.

For gravy

• Onions – 2 large
• Mushrooms – 150 gms
• Vinegar – 2 1/2 tbsp
• Chicken 300 gms
• Salt – to taste
• Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
• Vegetable oil - 4/5 tbsp
• Coriander

For hot sauce

• Dry chillies – 20
• Green chillies - 6
• Tomato – half of a medium size tomato
• Garlic – 5 cloves
• Salt - 1/2 tsp

Preparation of hot sauce:

Okay, you may done this before. I am going to make the same sauce which we use along with momos. It is simple yet its ferocity can humble your palate. If you end making extra, well you can always use it as a dip for tortellas and chips

• Wash the dry chillies and tomatoes thoroughly and keep aside.
• Take whole dry red chillies and  half the tomato; add them to the water and let it boil, until the chillies and tomato are tender. 
• Drain the water; however keep it aside in a bowl.
• Put the boiled chillies, tomato, green chillies and garlic in a blender. Add salt along with 3 tablespoon of water. Use the water kept aside earlier.
• Let it run for a couple of minutes. Check for texture and taste. When you open the blender lid, be careful, don’t lean over. The chilly fumes can be "toxic"
• If required add a little more water and run the blender if it does not make a smooth paste.
• Once you have a smooth paste keep it aside in a bowl

Preparation of chicken:

• Slice the onion and mushrooms into thin slices. 
• Add oil to a kadai and let it warm up. Add onions & salt to it and saute. Once the onion starts to become tender, add the mushrooms
• Saute them so that they become tender. Turn down the oven to simmer. Add vinegar and ginger garlic paste, and allow them to fry. Also add 2/3 tablespoons of hot sauce into the mix, and allow it to slow fry.
• Once the mix has turned golden and has become dry, put it into a separate bowl
• Add 4/5 table spoon of oil to the kadai again and add a little bit of the onion-mushroom mix into the kadai, and add the chicken pieces to it. Add salt & 3/4 table spoon of hot sauce and let it fry. Cover the chicken and let it cook on simmer.
• Once the chicken has become tender, add the remaining onion-mushroom mix and mix them well.
• This is a dry recipe therefore, allow the water to dry off a little bit.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot