Pyaz Basanti - Spring Onions in Spring Yellow!

Kitchen garden has one 15x15ft plot dedicated to onions. The planter had thought of growing organic onions that could be stored for a couple of months. The greenery in the patch, however, turned out to be too tempting to be ignored. It all started with a bunch of spring onions, about eight of those, getting pulled out unceremoniously and then washed thoroughly and then shaken dried. Chopping was an easy thing and was done express fast.

I pulled out some basic spices (no typical measurements being given because it all would depend on your own taste and style).....
cumin seeds,
mustard whole,
asafoetida,
ginger,
garlic,
green and red dried chillies (both chopped),
salt,
curry leaves,
turmeric powder,
water
.....and of course, the wonderful thing called Besan (gram flour) and some desi ghee (could be some fancy oil too!)

The broad ratio that finally worked out was about a cup of chopped scallions to a cup of  besan to two cups of water. Make a fluid paste by adding water to Besan and by adding salt and turmeric powder. mix well and make sure no lumps are allowed to set in.

Heat ghee (and it doesn't smoke!!) and add all the spices (less salt and turmeric powder). Add  ginger, garlic and chopped onions and saute for a couple of minutes. As the vegetable begins to turn tender and glossy (that would be after three odd minutes), add Beasn paste while stirring the mixture. Keep stirring off and on and touch the paste to make sure that it is no more sticky to touch. Add water or cook to reduce water as per your liking. If some of it is gonna land up in a deep freezer for a few days, it would be better to let it remain more fluid than a semi-solid mass.

And here is what that of mine looked.....It looked bright yellow but I added some garam masala in the end and spoilt its looks (no wonder then that garam masala is not there in the list above!)

Machli Manchali - the 'just happened' recipe

Yep, it just happened! I had some frozen fish fillet in the freezer and with the aim of trying out mustard fish in Bengali style, I took it out to thaw it. There were four hours available but I had to be absent during those four hours. Thus, I decided to marinate it. It was, however, a task in itself since the frozen fish had a  a thin layer of hard ice around it, courtesy its time in the deep freezer. Anyways, I applied the marinate and left the place to return it to see a good amount of water in the platter. Thawed fish sat coolly in the middle of the yellow fluid. When touched, it showed the presence of some hard crystals inside its skin. The funda of frying it as per the original recipe, thus, looked unimplementable! I, thus, junked the recipe and went for my own! And it turned out to be very yum. Here is what and how it happened..... 

Ingredients

Fish fillet - 400 gms.

For Marination - Mustard seeds (1tbsp) + Kasoori Methi dried (1 tbsp) + Turmeric (1 tsp) + Fresh                                 lemon juice (1 lemon) + Salt (1 tsp) + Mustard oil (2 tbsp) ....all blended together and                           churned into a thick paste.

Additional ones:-

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp.

Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp.

Oil - 4tbsp.

Ginger - 1 inch

Garlic - 6 cloves.

Black pepper - 10.

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.

Curry leaves - 6 to 8.

Onion medium sized - 02.

Tomatoes - 02.

Dried red chillies - 03.

Green chillies - 03.

Water - 01 cup,

Steps

1.      Apply the marination evenly on the fish and leave for four odd hours if the fish is frozen. If not frozen, cut into pieces of desirable size, apply well and then 30 minutes will suffice.

2.    In a blender, blend together, ginger, garlic, onion, cumin seeds, dried chillies, green chillies, tomato pcs and coriander seeds. We will get a fluffy slurry.

3.    Cut  fish into pcs if not already done. Separate fish from the excess liquid in the plate.

4.    Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Wait till these begin to splutter.

5.     Add the slurry paste and stir for two minutes. Add left over water from the marinate.

6.     Add marinated pieces and one cup of water. Mix well.

7.     Cover and let it simmer for ten minutes on low flame.

8.     Garnish or eat as such without frills. It would taste the same in any case.

Happy Dining

Mutter-Mooli-Gajar; An extramarital Affair!

          During my growing up years, I would invariably get stuck in trying to fathom the possible reason behind calling a white coloured vegetable as radish and its similar looking but reddish cousin as carrot. Though during the journey of walking this earth over intervening decades, I did come across red radish too but by then the issue had become a non-issue! But yes, irrespective of the cloud in mind or otherwise, winters always brought in, along with cauliflowers and lots of leafy vegetables, fresh peas and carrots. Individually as well as collectively, each of such vegetable has its own use but the combo of peas-carrot, mutter-gajar, as a vegetable makes a good dish that is convenient to make, good to look at and has a typical sweetish tinge unless flavours are intentionally tinkered with. While many would love it, I had, during the course of my childhood, had probably starting looking at the dish as something that had to be had for the sake of having. Yes, I would eat everything and all my meals would always be eaten off a biggish platter that me and my disciplinarian dad shared meal after meal. As a result of such a dining arrangement, I could never develop the notion that one had a choice of eating what one would really like to eat. While I ate everything, I did develop own little preferences. Mutter-gajar was good, pretty enjoyable at the beginning of the season but as the winters got harsher, one tended to get fed up a bit. Yes, we didn't have the luxury of 365 days' availability of almost all the vegetables back then. As I look back, now that these two vegetables have entered my kitchen at this point of time again, I can guess that it was that sweetness that would probably put me off a bit during repeated consumptions during those days. Put off, yes but as I said, I ate everything nonetheless!

             A little kitchen garden in the backyard looks innocuous but output is too much for a small family. While one may distribute and share the organic stuff, one cannot just look other way when fresh ones land up in the basket. Gajar ka Halwa could wait and I decided to experiment a bit with the dish this time. I decided to introduce a new character to the life of happily married couple of mutter and gajar, green peas and carrot, that is. The new guy also vindicated my trauma of childhood confusion and so, it was - Mr Radish! Fresh radish from own garden, however, is not as pungent or stinging as the one available in the market. By itself, it would not be able to break the sweet marriage and it needed some support, I supposed. In the end, it turned out to be good one..... a not too sweet but a slightly tangy combo of mutter-mooli-gajar (or peas-radish-carrot). It retains goodness of all three vegetables while making it more friendly for my spice loving taste buds.

Ingredients

Mutter (peeled) - 1/2 cup.

Carrot, finely chopped - 1/2 cup.

Radish, finely chopped - 01 cup. The ratio of m:c:r=1;1;2 helps radish overcome sweetness to a large extent.

Tomato, medium sized - 02.

Green chillies - 06.

Ginger, finely chopped -01 inch.

Coriander fresh - 06 twigs.

Dried chillies - 04.

Black pepper whole - 10

Cloves - 04

Salt to taste.

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon.

Curry leaves - 10-12.

Oil- 01 Tablespoon.

Turmeric powder - 01 teaspoon.

Water - 1/2 cup.

Fresh coriander for garnishing.

Steps

1.     Blend green chillies, ginger, coriander leaves in a blender till a chutney like fluid is obtained.

2.     Roughly mix and grind pepper, cloves and seeds of dried chillies. Chop dried chillies' shells.

3.     In a pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds. Once these begin to splutter, add curry leaves  and ginger. Stir and add roughly ground spices and turmeric powder.

4.     Add tomato pieces and crush the pieces while stirring for a couple of minutes.

5.    Add cut vegetables and stir. Add a little water and mix well. Cover and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes.

6.     Add green chutney and salt and stir. Cook covered for another five minutes, stirring occasionally till water is almost dried up.

7.      Garnish as you like,

The End Product

(No garnish used; in fact, had none left!)

Note:-  The end product, courtesy some sharp spices and good amount of radish, has a balanced flavour. With the option to add/reduce chillies, both green and red, one can play around with the overall taste a bit. Even if one opts for not too hot a version by cutting down on chillies, spices and a bit of overwhelming quantity of radish, together, would balance out the sweetness!

Burp!!

More Recipes HERE

Mirchi-Baingan Salan---Ms Hot+ Mr Cool!

A significant amount of my youth, almost four years, were spent in the beautiful twin cities in Deccan. Secunderabad and Hyderabad of very early 1990s were pretty different then though many things continue to exist and hold on even today. Hyderabad, before gaining its fame as a cyber city, had always been known for its Biryanis, Shahi Tukdas and a food spread that could make any other region in the world jealous of the twins. With love for hot, spicy food ingrained in my DNA, I would always take time to relish Mirch ka Salan- an accompaniment served with Biryani - that, if made to my taste, would invariably overshadow the biryani experience itself. With Hyderabadi Biryani loaded with all kinds of extraordinary Oriental spices, Mirch ka Salan, despite the impression that its name carried, would actually taste a balanced mix of sour-sweet-spicy and not really hot. Such a taste is intentional, I suppose. A combo  of spice-loaded biryani with a flavoured but not hot Salan completes the biryani experience and one comes out pretty satisfied - no fiery tongue and a lingering taste. It scores over dahi/dahi raita that slips towards bland side even though adding refreshing tinge to the dish.

As on date, biryani is not a routine affair for me; nor I have any expertise with the dish though I intend trying my hand sometime in future. So, I wanted the Salan to be a bit more tha  spicy (controlled, as per preference). My aim was to have it as like any other vegetable with roti/chapati or rice and, thus, it had to be given some meat. I had also heard and, probably eaten once or twice, another cousin of Mirch ka Salan, the dish called Baingan ka Salan. Made from the egg plant/brinjal, the dish can replace Mirch ka Salan, esp for those who can't get themselves to have latter. The fact that despite its name, Mirch ka Salan is actually tangy and not really spicy, courtesy choice of green chillies used in the recipe, many people prefer to play safe. For them Baingan one is probably the best alternative.

Having surfed the net for the two recipes, I also came across the combo of the two, Mirchi-Baingan Salan and that is what appeared to fit my bill because of the reasons shared above. So, here how it went.....

Ingredients.....
Fresh Group
Long, light green chillies (ones used for mirch vada; are not really hot; washed before hand) - 06.
Long/tubular brinjals (soft and tender; washed before hand) - 06.
Coriander leave - just enough for garnishing.
Curry leaves - 12.
Ginger - 01 inch.

Curry Group
Peanuts (without shells but with pink skin intact) - 1/2 cup.
White sesame seeds - 1/4 cup.
Cumin seeds whole - 01+01 teaspoon....used twice - once for dry roast (Step 3 below) and once for frying (Step 7 below).
Coriander seeds whole - 1.5 teaspoon.
Nigella/Kalonji - 1/2 teaspoon.
Jaggery crushed - 01+01 teaspoon..... used twice - once for dry roast (Step 3 below) and once for frying (Step 12 below).
Cardamom Black - 02 pcs.
Cardamom Green - 06 pcs.
Dry coconut powder (I used freshly grated coconut) - 1/2 cup.
Cloves - 05.
Fenugreek seeds/Methi - 1/2 teaspoon.
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon.
Water - 01 cup.
Red dried chillies - 03.
Misc Group
Onions (finely chopped) - 02.
Garlic - 06 cloves.
Tamarind - enough to make paste wroth one big tablespoon .
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon.
Oil- 1 ladle full or about 06 tablespoons.
Salt - 01 tablespoon.

Steps
1.    Wipe the fresh veggies dry if still wet. Slitt vertically so that each chilly and brinjal ends up as a bunch of four loose petals, held together by the respective  stems.
2.    Dry roast the peanuts on a griddle till darn brown/blackish marks begin to appear on the pink skin. Remove from the griddle, rub a handful at one time between your hands so that the skin peels off fully. Put in a blender.
3.    On the same griddle, dry roast sesame seeds till a point when seeds begin to swell up; remove from the griddle and transfer into the same blander where peanuts are waiting.
4.    Dry roast all other spices of Curry Group (above) except jaggery, kalonji, mustard seeds, fenugreek, red chillies and coconut. As the aroma begins to build up, transfer into the blender.
5.    Add coconut, red chillies and jaggery and 1/4 cup of water and blend well till a fine, smooth but not too thick a paste is obtained. Use more water, if required,d but gradually.

6.    Shallow fry brinjals and green chillies in an open pan. Brinjals will begin to change colour but take the pan off when all the chillies have turned light with a scalded skin. Shake off excess oil while taking the veggies out.
7.     Add left overs/un-blended ingredients from Curry group and curry leaves to the pan and put it back on the stove. Wait till you see/hear the splutter.
8.    Add chopped onions and let these turn light brown.
9.    Make a paste of ginger and garlic and add to the pan.
10.   Add ground paste and keep stir frying. Oil would start coming out of the mixture.
11.   Add salt and turmeric powder and continue stirring for a couple of minutes more.
12.   Mix tamarind paste and jaggery in 1/2 a cup of water. Add the mixture to the pan.
13.   Add fried veggies, keep the mixture simmering for about 10 minutes on low flame. Stir in-between but otherwise keep the lid covered.
14.   Garnish with coriander or curry leaves and serve.

The product.....

Notes
1.     Dried red chillies is my addition to add  spice to a tangy dish but since these get blended, the red ones are  not visible in an otherwise predominantly greenish-brown dish. Red chilly powder, otherwise, turns the hue of the dish to reddish and 'stand out' factor on the table suffers.
2.     Dry roasting of condiments is how I like to do things though it is not a must.
3.     I have reduced the quantity of sesame seeds to reduce bland taste and a chalky feel that too much of it tends to create,
4.    Traditionally, Salan  is supposed to be cooked in a pot with a sealed lid. Be sure to keep it covered when the dish is in the final phase.

More RECIPES ......HERE