Monthly Archives: September 2021

Fugias


The recipe was given to me by my sister, which happens to be her in-laws family recipe, passed on to her by her Mother-in-law.  An East Indian traditional dish, mandatory at weddings and festive occasions.  Served with Sorpatel, Vindaloo or any spicy curry.  I have paired it with Chicken Pickled Chops, another East Indian preparation!

Ingredients

  • 500 gms.flour (maida)
  • 2 tbsp rice flour
  • 100 gms sugar
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • ¾  water
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp yeast
  • Oil for deep frying

Method:

Add the sugar, coconut milk, water, butter and salt to a saucepan and heat until the sugar melts.  Set aside to cool a bit. Take the flour in a large bowl or vessel, add the eggs, the yeast and the coconut milk mixture. make sure it’s not too hot but if it’s warm it may help in the dough rising faster. Use a hand mixer (if desired) and mix the batter till it’s like thick cake batter.
Add more water as required to get the right consistency. Should be of dropping consistency but not runny. Leave to ferment for 4 to 5 hrs.

To fry:

A little bit of practice goes a long way in making Fugias.  Mix the fermented batter.  Heat a Kadai or a wok and pour sufficient oil.  When hot, start making the fugias by grabbing the batter with your left hand and squeezing it between the opening in your palm between your thumb and forefinger, like when you form a fist.  Moisten your right hand fingers in water and scoop small balls, one at a time, with your right hand and put in the oil and deep fry on medium flame turning often to cook evenly till golden brown. Instead of your right hand, you can also use a spoon to scoop the batter.  Serve with your favorite curry or enjoy as a snack or with tea or coffee at breakfast.

Tomato Cheese Pizza


A universal party snack – Most simple and so easy to make at home.  Loved by old and young! Feel free to create your own toppings.  Can be baked on the stove top using a pan.

Ingredients (makes 12 to 15 small circular pizzas)

  • 1 ½ cup flour
  • 1 tsp. active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • 2 tbsp. warm milk
  • ½ tsp. salt, or to taste
  • 2 tsp. butter
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup Pizza sauce or as required
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • Chopped and sauteed pepperoni or mortadella (optional)
  • Chopped onion (optional

Mix yeast and sugar in warm milk and stir.  Cover and leave to bloom.  Rub the butter into the flour.  Mix in yeast mixture, stir in the eggs and knead well.  If dough is too sticky dust some flour or grease your hands with butter and knead till smooth. Cover and put in a warm place for 2 hours, until double in size.

Knead risen dough for 3 minutes.  Work into large flattened circles or use a cutter to make smaller pizzas.  Arrange on a greased baking tin and spoon over with the sauce, and other toppings. Sprinkle over with grated cheese.  Bake in a hot oven gas mark 4 for 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve immediately.  To bake on the stove top, heat a flat pan on medium low heat till hot.  Place the dough circles on the pan and quickly add the toppings.  Cover and cook 10 minutes till cheese melts and underside is light brown.

Goan Vatanayanchi Bhaji Chonya Ros


Apart from being famous for sea-food, one of Goa’s typical breakfast menu is Chonya Ros made with dehydrated white or green peas which are soaked in water and boiled!  Chonya Ros or Vatanayachi Bhaji is made with a coconut based gravy and served with puris for breakfast or poi and for lunch or dinner with rice.  A regular item served on religious festivals which involve fasts abstaining from meat.  Garnishing with freshly cut onion, tomato and coriander leaves is an option but lends an additional boost to the dish.  Although mildly spiced, it is truly lip smacking and delicious.  Enjoy as is without any carbs – for an excellent high protein meal!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dehydrated yellow or green peas
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 cup dessicated coconut or dried coconut
  • 4 flakes tamarind
  • ½ tsp. garam masala powder
  • 1 tsp. chilli powder
  • 2 tbsp. oil
  • 1 tsp. salt or to taste

Pick and wash the peas and soak in water overnight.  Drain the water, replenish with fresh water and cook till tender and soft, may take an hour or more.  At the end of cooking add 1 tsp. salt and mix and simmer for 5 minutes.  You can pressure cook if you prefer.  Meanwhile, heat a pan add a little oil and fry one onion, roughly chopped into pieces, till light brown.  Add the coconut and fry until coconut turns brown.  Grind it with tamarind to a paste.  Take a vessel and add 2 tbsp. oil, when hot add one chopped onion and fry till translucent and soft.  Add chilli powder, garam masala and fry for a minute.  Add the coconut tamarind paste and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the boiled peas with the stock and mix well.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes till oil surfaces.  The gravy should be runny.  Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped onion, tomato, lemon and coriander leaves (optional).  Serve with hot crisp puris for breakfast and with rice or bread for lunch or dinner.

Sheviyo Idiyappam String Hoppers


Sheviyo or Shevigo also known as Idiyappam or string hopper is made with ground rice steamed and then pressed into a hand held sev mould or a typical stand alone shevigo equipment.  In Kerala, Tamil Nadu etc Idiyappam is made of rice flour mixed with hot water 2:1 proportion with salt and little oil and kneaded to a soft dough.  The dough balls are then put in the sev mould and pressed onto idli trays and steamed.

I have illustrated the Mangalorean and Goan style of making the Sheviyo i.e. soaking rice, grind to a paste then steaming the batter as a rice cake which is then cut into pieces and pressed as string hoppers with a sev mould.

It can be eaten as a sweet dish for breakfast or a teatime snack garnish with chunn i.e. a jaggery coconut filling or with sweet ros i.e. coconut milk and jaggery mixture.

As a savoury dish serve them with any coconut milk (Roce) curry like chicken or mutton or vegetable stew.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups boiled rice or 1 cup basmati and one cup boiled mixed
  • 1 tsp. salt or to taste

Coconut Jaggery (Chunn) filling

  • 1 cup fresh grated coconut
  • ½ cup jaggery grated
  • ¼ tsp. cardamom powder

Coconut Jaggery Milk

  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • ½ cup jaggery or to taste
  • ¼ tsp. cardamom powder

Wash and soak the rice for atleast 6 hours.  Gridn to a smooth paste, add salt, mix and transfer to a cake tin to steam.  Set the steamer and when the water boils place the dish with the rice batter on the steamer and steam for 20 to 25 minutes on medium high.  To check if done, pierce a knife and should come out clean.  Cut the rice cake into large pieces and press the pieces through a sevio or sev (ghatia/chakli) mould using the plate with large holes (if you prefer thinner strands, use the plate with smaller holes) and press like noodles into small circular heaps. 

To make the chunn – heat a pan and add the grated jaggery, add a little water to speed up melting and cook till fully dissolved.  Add the coconut and cook for a minute, then add the cardamom powder and keep aside till required.

To make the sweet milk – Heat the coconut milk till it reaches boiling point and then add the jaggery and simmer till dissolved.  Add cardamom powder, mix and take off heat.

Serve with coconut jaggery filling or sweet coconut milk for breakfast or as teatime snack and with chicken or mutton curry or vegetable stew for lunch or dinner.

Kashmiri Rogan Josh


Rogan josh or roghan josh or roghan ghosht, is an aromatic curried meat dish of Kashmiri origin. It is made with red meat, traditionally lamb or goat. It is coloured and flavoured primarily by alkanet flower or root and Kashmiri chilies. It is one of the signature recipes of Kashmiri cuisine.

Rogan josh is a staple of Kashmiri cuisine and is one of the main dishes of the Kashmiri multicourse meal (the wazwan). The dish was originally brought to Kashmir by the Mughals, whose cuisine was, in turn, influenced by Persian cuisine. The unrelenting summer heat of the Indian plains took the Mughals frequently to Kashmir, which has a cooler climate because of its elevation and latitude.

While the traditional preparation uses whole dried chilies that are de-seeded, soaked in water, and ground to a paste, non-traditional shortcuts use either Kashmiri chili powder – source: Wikipedia

I was inspired to try this dish after watching Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film Shikara (a 2020 film) where the protagonist is shown cooking and then announcing to her husband the Rogan Josh is ready! The film is based on the love story of a Kashmiri Pandit couple at the peak of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1990s and the subsequent exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley

A fairly simple recipe, without onions, garlic and a minimum of spices!

Ingredients

  • 1 kg. Mutton
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • ½ bunch coriander leaves
  • 2” pc ginger, chopped
  • 2 tsp. chilli powder or to taste
  • Pinch of asafoetida
  • ½ tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1” pc. Cinnamon
  • 2 cardamoms
  • 2 cloves
  • 4 peppercorns
  • Pinch of nutmeg powder
  • ½ tsp. mace
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. saffron
  • 2 tsp. hot milk
  • 4 tsp. ghee

Clean and cut mutton into large to medium pieces.  Beat yogurt and mix with coriander leaves, ginger, chilli powder and asafoetida.  Marinate the mutton with the yogurt mixture for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, grind all the ingredients from cumin to mace to a smooth paste by adding a little water.  Heat crush and soak saffron in milk.  Heat ghee and add the mutton with the marinade.  Cook on moderate heat till all the water dries up. Will take 15 to 20 minutes. Cook further stirring constantly till ghee separates.  Add the paste, saffron and salt just enough water to cook the meat.  Cook for 30 minutes or till done.

Zucchini Fry


The zucchini, courgette or baby marrow  is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are still soft and edible.

Ordinary zucchini fruit are any shade of green, though the golden zucchini is a deep yellow or orange.  At maturity, they can grow to nearly 1 metre (3 feet) in length, but they are normally harvested at about 15–25 cm (6–10 in).

In botany, the zucchini’s fruit is a pepo, a berry (the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower) with a hardened epicarp. In cookery, it is a vegetable, usually cooked and eaten as a savory dish or accompaniment.

Source – wikipedia

Ingredients

(I am using 12 zucchinis approx. in the video recipe, so the ingredients used are proportionately more)

  • 4 to 6 Zucchini
  • ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 to 2 tbsp. Vinegar or Lemon juice, or to taste
  • ½ tsp. turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp. chilli powder or to taste
  • ½ tp. Cumin powder
  • ½ tsp. coriander powder
  • 3 to 4 tbsp. rice flour
  • 2 tbsp. corn flour
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for frying

Method

  • Wash and drain the zucchinis.  Trim the head and tail and cut vertically into ¼” thin slices.  If the zucchinis are tender and unblemished the skin can be retained.  Sprinkle 1 tsp. salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Then drain the water which is released from the zucchinis. Mix the ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder, rice flour, corn flour, vinegar and salt (if required because the zucchinis are already salted) and make a thick paste using as much water as required.  Mix the slices with the batter.  A;ternatively you can dip each slice in the batter to coat before frying, in which case more batter will be required.  Heat oil for deep frying, when hot reduce flame and fry in small batches till crisp and golden.  Drain on kitchen towel.  Serve immediately when still crisp as a side with a main meal or with tomato ketchup as a snack or appetizer.

P.S.: The same batter can be used to fry arbi, egg plant, raw banana, bread fruit, potatoes, yam, mushrooms, etc.

Bhaja Maslar Tarkari


Ingredients

  • 4 to 6 medium brinjals
  • 3 to 4 medium green chillies (slit)
  • 2 to 3 dry red chilies
  • ½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
  • 2 tbsp. ghee
  • 1 cup sour curd
  • 1 tsp. corn flour
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ tsp. salt to taste
  • ½ tsp. sugar
  • ½ tsp. mustard seeds
  • ½ tsp. cumin seeds

Cut the brinjals into four lengthwise, removing the head and soak in salted water till required.  Heat a vessel and add the ghee, when hot add the red chillies and fenugreek seeds and fry for ½ minute.  Add the brinjals and fry till they change colour and turn brown.  Add salt, sugar and green chillies.  Mix the curd with the corn flour (this helps stabilise the curd and prevents it splitting while cooking).  Add the curd to the brinjals and stir then add the water.  Cover and cook till the brinjals are tender and the gravy is thick.  Roast & powder the mustard and cumin seeds.  I usually roast, powder and store the spices separately so have not shown it in the video.  Add the roasted powder to the cooked brinjals.  Stir well and serve hot with pooris or any Indian bread.

Amla Rice


Ingredients

  • 3 cups cooked rice, cooled or leftover rice
  • 8 to 10 amlas
  • 1 small raw mango (optional)
  • 6 green chillies, slit
  • 1 tbsp. chana dal (split chick peas)
  • 1 tbsp. urad dal (split black gram)
  • 10 to 12 cashewnuts or groundnuts
  • 1 tsp. mustard seeds
  • 2 sprig curry leaves
  • ½ tsp. turmeric powder
  • 2 tbsp. ghee
  • 1 tsp. Salt or to taste

Slit the green chillies and grate the amlas.  Discard the seed.  Heat a pan and add ghee, when hot, add the mustard seeds.  When they crackle, add the channa dal, urad dal, cashewnuts and fry till light golden.  Add the green chillies and curry leaves and saute for a minute.  Add the grated amla and (raw mango if using) and fry for a minute.  Add turmeric powder and salt and stir and mix well.  Cook the mixture on low heat for 5 minutes, mix and check seasoning.  Add the cooked rice, mix well and heat through.    

Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Corn Salad


Ingredients

  • 6 large potatoes
  • 2 to 3 tbsp. Olive oil (or any oil)
  • ¼ tsp. Pepper powder
  • ½ tsp. Salt

Toppings

  • Sour cream
  • Green onions
  • Corn salad

Heat the oven to 220 deg C. Clean and scrub the potatoes well keeping them whole.  Prick lightly with a fork to avoid the potatoes bursting.  Mix the olive oil, pepper and salt and brush the potatoes with the oil.  For softer skins, wrap the potato in silver foil, for crunchier potatoes leave open.  Bake for 50 minutes to 1 ½ hours depending on the size and oven temperature.  To speed up baking  pierce a metal skewer  through the potatoes so that heat is conducted to the centres.  To test if potato is done pierce with a skewer which should go through easily.

Prepare the filling while the potatoes are baking so it is ready to be stuffed into the potatoes when baked.  Cut a slit or a cross on the top of the potatoes and squeeze the sides so the top is pushed open.  Use oven mitts as the potato will be hot. Fluff the flesh of the potato with a fork.  Top with your desired filling.  Spoon sour cream mixed with a little olive oil and garnish with green onions and serve with a generous helping of corn salad or fill with sour cream and/or corn salad.  Makes a delicious meal or starter or a side.

Grilled Chicken Salad


Cold grilled meats are the basis for this salad, be it tandoori chicken, Kastoori kabab, chicken tikka, etc.  The salad is so delicious, I could eat it everyday!  Stuff it into pita bread or chapati or roti, for a tasty and sumptuous sandwich.  Leftover grilled chicken works well for this salad.  I simply love this salad and so will you!! Oh so colorful too……

Ingredients

  • 500 gms. approx. Grilled chicken
  • 1 Large tomato
  • 1 Large onion
  • 2 green chillies
  • ¼ cup coriander leaves

Dressing

  • 3 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 tsp. chaat masala
  • ¼ tsp. green cardamom powder
  • 6 tbsp. olive oil or any preferred oil
  • Salt if required

Garnish

  • 2 Tomatoes
  • 1 Lemon
  • 2 tbsp. ginger
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice

Cool the roasted chicken or use leftover chicken.  Debone (if on the bone) and cut into ¾” chunks.  Refrigerate.  Peel and cut onions in larges dices.  Wash and cut tomatoes into quarters, deseed and cut into ½ “ pieces. Clean and wash chillies and coriander and chop finely.

To make the dressing:  In a bowl, mix lemon juice, chaat masala, cardamom powder and oil and adjust seasoning.

Garnish: Slice or cut lemon into wedges, tomatoes into slices or quarters.  Scrape and cut ginger into juliennes and soak  in the lemon juice.

To serve the salad – Mix the onion and tomatoes in the chicekn, add the chopped coriander leaves and chillies, pour over the dressing and toss well. Garnish with lemon, tomatoes and ginger juliennes and serve chilled.

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