Patrani Macchi

Or what happens when the husband takes over my kitchen

VC has never made me anything more than some eggs, toast and my morning tea. And today I discovered that its not because he can't or he doesn't want to. It's mostly because I have never let him have a go, unperturbed, uninterrupted, unsupervised. So today, after much coaxing, I agreed. I tried to calm down and have an open mind because I have never known VC to cook, or even experiment. But I stand corrected. The man can cook. And how!

Here's how. From calling his mother up for her recipe, to bringing me some fresh water fish, to cleaning it, following the recipe step by step and ensuring that we had a wholesome lunch, VC did it all.

So this post is dedicated tot he surprise visitor who took over my kitchen for the day, cooked up a storm and left me very, very satisfied.

Here's what he used:
450 gms basa fish, deboned (We chose this fresh water fish because given that its the monsoon river fish is way fresher than sea fish, but technically any light, white fish would work)
2 handfuls of fresh coriander
1/2 coconut grated
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 big thumb of ginger
2 green chillies
Juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon chaat masala (this was my little contribution/experiment, and it added quite a distinct tanginess to the dish)
2 large banana leaves

Here's what he did:
First VC ground together the coriander, coconut, ginger, garlic, chillies and salt till it was nice and pasty. Next, add in the lime juice, garam masala and chaat masala and grind again till well mixed.

Start off without adding any water, because you don't want a runny mix. What you can do is have a go without water, and then add in very little if need be so you end up with is a finely ground mixture slightly thicker in consistency than chutney.

Next, he heated some oil in a pan and sauteed the chutney for about five minutes. This is done to cook the masala a bit and get rid of any unwanted moisture.

Then set he the masala aside to cool till it was okay to handle it with his fingers when he got down to wrapping the fish in banana leaves.

Next VC mopped the banana leaf dry so there was no moisture getting in the way.

Once he had chopped the leaf into squares big enough to wrap the pieces of fish, he placed a piece of fish towards the top.

Then, he covered both sides with masala, dabbing it with his fingers so it was tightly packed.

Next, I helped him wrap the fish in the banana leaf and secured the pieces with thread.

In a pressure cooker with more water than you would usually use, place a deep dish/vessel. Cover the vessel with another shallow one. Place the wrapped pieces of fish in it and steam in the cooker without a whistle.

15 minutes later, when we opened up the cooker, the entire kitchen was filled with the aroma of freshly steamed coriander and spices, and VC peeped over the dish with a look that can only be compared to a toddler with a new toy.

Carefully pulling them out, he heated some oil in a pan and lightly pan fried the fish, which was still intact, wrapped in the banana leaf.

When slightly browned on either side, it was time to open it up!

Done!

For all those of you who love fish and thought this was a complicated, intimidating dish to try at home, you have to try this out. If VC can make it, so can you!

Hummus

Real hummus, makeshift non-pita bread

Its time for a comeback. And a comeback of this sort, battling laziness and the lack of time, doesn't just happen. It needs inspiration. And I found inspiration here. And here. And also in a recipe Anand shared with me yesterday, straight from his Israeli friend's home.

So if you're looking for inspiration to get back into the kitchen, this could very well be it. Easy to do, gorgeous to look at, simply yummilicious to taste, and you can do it all be done in no time at all!

Here's what you need:
1 cup kabuli channa (white) soaked overnight
1.5 tablespoons Tahini (easily available in stores, thought Praerna tells me you can do without it too!)
Olive oil
Lime
Salt
Pepper
Jeera powder
Chilli powder
Chopped coriander, to garnish

Here's what you need to do:
Pressure cook the channa for about 20 minutes, in sufficient water and a dash of salt. When it cools, put the channa with just a little bit of the boiling water in a blender.

Add in one and a half tablespoons of Tahini.

Next, slice a nice ripe lime in half and add in the juice of one half. Save the other half for later.

Then, in goes the olive oil, salt, pepper and the jeera powder.

And we're done.

Pour yourself a nice tall mug of beer right about now. Here's where you start chilling, because lunch is going to be ready in no time at all.

Pulse till nicely pasty, and pour into a serving dish/bowl.

Drizzle with the juice of the other half of the lime and some more olive oil. Sprinkle with chilli powder and freshly chopped coriander. And we're done!

Erm, almost done, save the makeshift non-pita bread. Which in our case was actually store-bought pizza base, which i cut into wedges, slathered with butter and toasted on the tawa till golden brown.

Together, even the makeshift pita bread totally hit the spot.

But I'm determined to make my own pita bread the next time. And Anand has promised to show me how, illustrations and all.

To go with it, I whipped up a quick salad, because one must have some veggie quotient too!

Caramel custard

Remembering an old favourite, and trying to get it right

With a lot of weekend time on my hands all of a sudden, I have been catching up everything I have ignored for a while. That includes catching up on the many blogs I read, and sifting and sorting through my pictures/movies/data. While going through my hard disk today, I discovered some unposted pictures that were meant to go into this blog. Thats what led to the noodles post earlier today.

I also found a bunch of pictures from a cookout Anand, the husband and I had at home the last time he was down. And I was reminded of the best, most perfect caramel custard we turned out...

It also reminded me about how I have been missing in action from my kitchen, my blog and the hobby of cooking in general. This is such a simple recipe that Anand shared with me, I realised I had almost everything I needed ready at hand. So inspired by the most perfect caramel custard, I decided I must give it another go. Here it is!

What you need:
500 ml milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (for the custard)
3-4 tablespoons sugar (for caramelisation)
Vanilla essence

What you need to do:
Boil the milk, and add in 1/2 cup sugar, stirring continuously so it is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Crack open the eggs in another bowl and beat till really fluffy. Set aside.

In a pan, spread the sugar out for caramelisation, pour a few cap-fulls of water to moisten it and begin to caramelise on a medium flame.

The sugar will first dissolve, then begin to bubble and slowly caramelise.

If you like it sweet, stop when it is golden. For those who like it slightly burnt, let it cook a while longer.

Pour into the mould and set aside.

Combine the eggs with the milk and mix well. Then pour the mixture into the mould.

Pressure cook for about 20 minutes. And it should come out looking something like this.

Voila! Done!

BBQ masti

Sunday afternoon was spend amidst food, fire, fun, rain, beer and music. We went to a BBQ lunch. On the menu featured 3-4 different kinds of chicken, fish marinated and wrapped in banana leaves, prawns, feta cheese and tomato salad, bbq paneer and roasted potatoes and beets. The weather was just perfect, and to make things better we had a downpour. The BBQ menu was largely improvised and experimental, or so it seemed. Everything was tasty, though :)

Until Sunday I didnt imagine a BBQ get together could get so many people together having so much fun. The lunch began at about 2 and ended close to 7. 'nuff said.

Dont have any recipes to share, but just some snapshots that capture the fun we had: