Turkey Curry in Butter Sauce

Made this dish for 2009 Thanksgiving dinner at Kristin's house. The turkey dish was hugely appreciated! Adapted it from the Punjabi Butter Chicken recipe...oops, forgot the source!

Ingredients
1 pound Turkey breast pieces
½ cup yogurt
1 tbspn garlic paste
1 tbspn ginger paste
1 tbspn chopped cilantro
1 tbspn garam masala powder
1 tspn cilantro powder
1/2 tspn cumin powder
salt to taste
¼ tspn red chilli powder or cayenne pepper powder
1 big tomato chopped
¼ cup chopped water cress
¼ cup ground almonds (peeled, blanched and finely crushed)
2 tbspn butter

Direction

Marinate turkey pieces overnight in yogurt, ginger/garlic paste, salt, all spice powders mentioned above and chopped cilantro (hint: use madras curry powder about 2 tbspns if unable to buy individual spice powders)

Heat butter in a pan (medium heat), add chicken with the marinade and saute for 5 – 8 mts
Add tomatoes and water cress, reduce heat and simmer till cooked. Use a little water if meat is not cooked.

Serve with basmati rice/wild rice or bread

Chicken curry in cream sauce for Zane

Chicken curry in cream sauce for Zane

Well, this one is for little Zane, who loved my recipe. Many of my friends who hesitate to eat spicy Indian food love this dish too! It's a toned down Indian-western fusion recipe of mine which has become a favorite of most. So Zane, enjoy!

Oops, forgot to take a picture!

Ingredients

Chicken 1 pound washed and cut into medium size pieces
Vegetable Oil 2 tbspns
Water – ½ cup (adjust according to gravy consistency)
Yellow onions 2 big sliced thin lengthwise (optional use sweet white onions for less pungency)
Indian green chillies 2 or jalapeno peppers – deseeded for less spice
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tspn (secret ingredient that lends a nice flavor!) - story in India goes that a spoon of fenugreek (methi) seeds everyday in the morning will cure diabetes.....
Ginger paste – 1 tspn
Garlic – 1 tspn
Salt – to taste
Cilantro (coriander) powder – 1 and half tspn
Cumin powder – 1 tspn
Turmeric powder – 1/4th tspn
Red chilli powder – ½ tspn
(The above powders mixed together is what is popularly called curry powder – well, that’s what the British decided to call it) – you can buy the Shan curry powder from Patel brothers – it’s the best!
Heavy whipping cream – ½ cup or more to taste (another secret but rather unhealthy ingredient in this recipe) – Substitute thick whipped yogurt – it’s yummy!

Method

In a non-stick thick pan, heat the oil and fry the fenugreek seeds till you can smell the aroma, then fry the onions along with ginger-garlic paste & peppers till transparent and cooked. Discard the peppers.
Add and fry the chicken pieces for 3-4 minutes. Add the salt and other curry powders and fry for another minute or two.
Add ½ cup of water and boil the chicken and halfway add the cream / yogurt till done. Make sure you don’t add too much water……..

Sprinkle finely chopped cilantro leaves and serve with rice / bread.

Slumdog Millionaire - My comments on the movie

I got to see the movie yesterday. A movie, which is making waves in the U.S. in newspapers and on popular radio stations. And attracting crowds to watch a movie made by less known Hollywood directors, non-Hollywood actors and set in our very own Mumbai. No, not in Taj and Oberoi hotels, but in the slums of Mumbai. A must see for one & all! Heard its’ won several awards already. Won’t be surprised if it wins some Oscars.

A. R. Rahman (the famous Indian music director) has been very low-key in this movie – not many original compositions like in Bombay Dreams. To my delight he uses the Sri Lankan born-American singer M.I.A’s popular song, “Paper Planes” which is doing the Hot songs round currently on our radio stations here, in one of the scenes as background music. Very apt!

It’s a story of Mumbai slum kids growing up in today’s world. It’s especially about teenager Jamaal (Dev Patel – looks refreshingly young and guileless), the slumdog who goes on to win the 20 million rupees in the T.V show “Who wants to become a millionaire.” A clever tale that defines karma!

The director’s choice of Anil Kapoor as the T.V show host is interesting. Anil K portrays himself as the slimy, full of himself, host, refusing to believe that a slum dog could win so much money without cheating and actually sending him to the police station to be interrogated by the police. Heard the book starts with this as the opening chapter. The movie has changed a number of things from the original book.

Raw, brutal, real, dramatic, tense and what fairy tales are made of. I wondered why it was rated R. Now I know. God, the slum horrors! The piles of s…, the crowds, the awful sanitation and gruesome conditions in which the little rascals but utterly adorable, enterprising children survive in spite of all the odds is a bit much to take. The worst scenes were when the children are maimed, prostituted and forced to beg. The maiming scene is very graphic. But I want my 13 yr old daughter to watch it. How long can we keep the kids protected from the injustices of the world?

So how did the director Danny Boyle (or rather the writer Vikas Swarup - a senior Indian I.F. S officer - of the original book titled Q & A) intertwine a story of hope, inspiration, good triumphs over evil, and romantic true young love (sigh) amidst this grim scenario? Watch the movie to find out.

Mom's Khara (red chilli) powder

So I promised to tell you folks the ingredients that go into my Mom's khara powder. Boy, try asking my Mom for measurements. Here's my conversation with her:
Me: So how much dhania do you need?
Mom: Swalpa. Jasti byada. (Little. No need for more.)
Me: So what's little? One teaspoon?
Mom: Ya or maybe 2.
Me: Give me at least an approximate estimate here.
Mom: O.K. 3 teaspoons.
Me: 3? Now is that little or more?

So it goes.....

I did manage to get the complete details of how to make the khara powder. Remember, if it is not to your liking, just tweak the ingredients and the measurements here and there as you try again :)

Ingredients

1 cup red chilli pods (the real red variety, called byadgi in North Karnataka) but you can use other variety too
3 tspn dhania seeds (cilantro)
3 tspn jeera seeds (cumin)
1 and 1/2 tspn methi seeds (fenugreek)
1 tspn mustard seeds
1/4 tspn pepper corns
1/4 tspn hing (asoefoetida)
Optional - 1/4 tspn turmeric root or turmeric powder (we can add turmeric powder when you cook the lentils, veggies etc)
1/4 tspn salt (acts as preservative)

Method

Fry the above ingredients in a little bit of oil (a tspn) individually, add salt and grind. Then store in an air-tight container.

Channungi Saaru - Belgaum Brown Masoor Dal

This is my Mom's famous channungi saar - made in the typical Belgaum (city in North Karnataka, South India) style with garlic, tamarind pulp and sugar. It is easy specially when you've my Mom's khara powder (red chilli masala powder - made the Belgaum, Jain way). I'll post the recipe to make my Mom's khara powder or a near similar one with other powders soon on my blog. There are many recipes I'm posting which mention my Mom's powder. My sisters and I remember my grandmom used to send this khara powder to my Mom up until she became too old to cook anymore and now my Mom sends us the same powder and I hope to at least pass on the recipe of how to make it to my daughter and the generations to come.

Ingredients
1 cup brown masoor dal (5 - 6 cups water to cook the dal)
1/4 cup thick tamarind pulp (extract from tamarind pod-size of lemon and soaked in water - you can store the extra pulp in the fridge)
1tspn crushed garlic paste (more if desired)
2 tspn Mom's khara powder (use instead 1/4 tspn red chilli powder or paprika, 1/4 tspn cumin powder and 1/4 tspn cilantro powder)
salt to taste
sugar to taste
1/4 cup grated coconut (blend to make paste with little water)
chopped cilantro to garnish
For seasoning - 1 tspn mustard/ cumin seeds, pinch asoefoetida, one sprig curry leaf, 2 tbspn vege oil, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder

Method
Wash lentil, boil in water and set aside. Lentils should be soft and tender but not overcooked. Do not drain the broth. Make sure you add enough water to have sufficient broth / stock. Add vegetable broth from can if you want. Makes dal more tasty.
Heat oil in pan, splutter mustard/cumin seeds, lower flame and add asoefoetida and curry leaves. Then add garlic paste and fry for half a minute. You need to smell the flavor of roasted garlic. Add turmeric powder and stir. Add lentils, tamarind pulp, salt, sugar, coconut and boil till all ingredients blend and a thick gravy is formed. Add more vegetable broth if you want a thinner consistency in your dal. Garnish with cilantro and serve with roti, chapati or rice and ghee.

Sabudana (Tapioca) Sago pearl kichdi with peanuts

I love Sabodana kichdi maybe coz' I make it only twice a month or so. Think Sabudana and I remember my grandma’s fasting days. But I prepare my own kind of Sabudana with onions ( my Jain grandma didn't use it). The secret ingredients in this delicious veggie dish is the coarsely ground peanuts with lemon juice, that indispensable spoon of sugar to make it a tad sweet and tangy and ghee. The dish can be dry if you don’t use oil and ghee generously. One reason I do not cook sabudana kichdi often.

I avoid using asafeotida in this dish. I love to sprinkle grated coconut and keep it as an option as my husband tries to avoid coconut wherever he can (something to do with cholestorol or that it causes more acidity)?

I came across so many discussions about making this interesting dish (the soaking part) on the blogs and I was surprised that I’ve never had difficulty about soaking the sago pearls at all. This dish never lets me down. Always remember to eat some fruits like bananas and drink either milk or majjige (buttermilk - see my recipe elsewhere for majjige) with this kichidi.

Time to share my recipe.

Ingredients

4 tbspns oil
1 tbspn ghee
1 and half cup sabudana / sago pearls (before soaking)
1tspn mustard and jeera seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1 large onion (chopped)
½ russet potato (chopped in small bits – easy to fry)
8 Indian green chillies – chopped medium size
½ lemon (extract juice)
½ cup peanuts – coarsely ground
½ tspn turmeric
salt to taste
1 tspn sugar or1 packet of splenda
¼ cup - cilantro – chopped
grated coconut for garnish

Method

Soak sabudana in water 3 hours prior to cooking. Make sure the water is about 5-6 inches above the pearls. Drain after 3 hours and set aside. You can store the drained sago in ziploc bags in the refrigerator overnight and use it next day.

In skillet heat oil and season with mustard jeera seeds, add green chillies, fry for 10 seconds, add curry leaves and onions, fry till onions are well done, add chopped potato, turmeric powder, half the ghee, fry and close the lid for a minute so that it cooks in the steam, don’t burn it though!

After potato is well cooked, lower the heat totally and add the sabudana, peanuts, salt, lemon juice, sugar, chopped cilantro, rest of the ghee and stir it well for about 2- 3minutes. Check the photo above to see if the dish looks like this! Garnish with grated coconut and serve.

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS – Kiran Desai (Booker Prize 2006)

I read this book both from the perspective of a budding writer and a voracious, eclectic reader.

As a reader, I take immense pleasure, watching a story unfold with many colorful characters and a well-knit plot. The book’s loss is in its characters. The story line is thin and drab, with only four sad creatures (note, not characters) cocooned in a distant place, except for one, who is conveniently packed off to the U.S to introduce a multi-cultural dimension to the plot. Though the synopsis on the back of the book promises hilarity, I couldn’t find signs of delight or humor.

However, the beauty of the novel lies in the writer’s insights and sensitivity to sketch the negative emotions dwelling deep within each of us. Desai’s wisdom in understanding loss is commendable but precisely why the story fails to kindle wonder, hope and inspiration.

After all, it is human nature to seek examples from lively and strong characters portrayed in literary fiction, who can morph loss into gain, sadness into happiness, lightly, humorously and seamlessly, against all odds. There is always the possibility, that false reality / illusion / fantasy (doesn’t fiction fall partially in this realm?) can catalyze optimism and urge one to succeed and find happiness.

As a writer, I am impressed, how painstakingly the author (eight years to write the book and a Master’s in Creative Writing from Columbia Univ … hmmm!) has gone into the finer details of creating word play, lyrical sentences, elaborate, rich descriptions and twists in transitions, which led to the Booker Prize. Any student pursuing creative writing and learning the do’s and don’ts of what makes a book popular and what fetches an honorable prize should read this book.

If you are looking for entertainment, this book is a no, no!

Pav Bhaji dedicated to Hannah

Pav Bhaji

Hannah, this pav bhaji (PB) recipe is for you. Hannah is my daughter’s friend from school who is totally ‘fida’ about this dish. She keeps asking me for the recipe so she can then pester her Mom - Micki to cook it for her. This is a toned down (spice levels) quick and easy recipe, made with pav bhaji masala powder available from the Indian store - read my cooking mantra blog. It’s a great dish for any time and for school lunches.

Some tips before we begin. This is one of the few dishes where I use butter to cook along with vegetable oil, but I always use light butter made from buttermilk that’s low fat and has low calories. Making pav bhaji masala powder from scratch is doable but I avoid it.

Let’s make cooking easy and fun. You can even do away with the garnish. Me thinks, it’s the combination of butter, potato and tomato that makes the dish so tasty. If you are thinking healthy, add boiled, mashed cauliflower and peas with the potatoes.

Ingredients
2 large russet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
Optional – use 1/2 cup boiled and mashed cauliflower and peas (and use 1 potato instead of 2)
1 large onion (chopped)
3 large juicy red tomatoes (chopped)
1 medium sized green pepper (capsicum)
1 tspn garlic
1 tspn ginger
1 tbspn PB masala powder (use 2 tbspns if you want it spicy)
3 tbspn butter
2 tbspn vegetable oil
salt to taste
Optional - 4 chopped Indian green chillies if you want it spicy

For the garnish – optional
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
2 tbspns finely chopped red onion
lemon juice – to taste
Burger buns or dinner rolls (toasted and buttered)

Method
In a large thick skillet sauté the onions, ginger and garlic (green chillies - optional) in oil until its translucent and light brown in color. Add green peppers, saute for half minute and then add tomatoes. Cook tomatoes till well done, adding the butter as you cook it. I mash the tomatoes with a ladle as I stir it. Mix the PB powder and salt and stir for half a minute. Add the mashed potatoes or vegetables and stir for another minute or two. Serve with garnish (optional) and toasted, buttered dinner rolls.

Cooking demo - Egg bhurji - Scrambled egg recipe

Sunset in Annapolis

In hardly a few months of our settling down in Annapolis, after relocating from India, my neighbors and friends began asking me for Indian recipes. I planned hands on cooking demo followed by lunch. The best part was that the local newspaper decided to cover the demo. They ran two pages of my interview with photographs of the dishes and the recipes – such a nice surprise. Unfortunately, the newspaper archives didn’t preserve the pictures for me to reprint it here.

Sailing capital

I invited the guests with a welcome drink – lemon sherbet (paanaka) followed by rice pullav (pilaf), cucumber salad with cilantro and yogurt, mixed vegetable curry (stew), egg bhurji, tandoori chicken and vermicelli payasam (dessert).

I’m posting just one of the recipes with the permission of The Capital Gazette. It’s a recipe I learnt from my mom-in-law who cooks awesome spicy Andhra dishes.

Scrambled egg or Egg bhurji

Ingredients
3 cartons of 8-ounce egg whites or 6 whole eggs

3 medium onions, chopped

2 long Indian green chillies or more to taste (substitute jalapeno peppers, chopped fine)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

3 teaspoons cilantro powder

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Method

In a heavy frying pan, heat the oil and saute the onion until light brown. Add the green peppers with the onion to fry. Lower heat and pour beaten egg slowly in the pan. Mix in the cilantro powder, turmeric, salt and chopped cilantro gently in the egg batter. Do not crumble the egg too much while cooking. Scramble it into thick pieces and serve as a side dish with the rice or bread. The mixture also can be used as sandwich filler topped with ketchup. More cilantro can be added, if desired. Serves 6.

Cooking and the senses

Steel masala dabba - container in an Indian kitchen

It’s amazing how cooking can assail all your senses. Yum and yummier………

First the touch. You can feel the vegetables. You can knead the soft dough with your fingers. Warm melted butter. Cold frozen peas.

Behold the colors. A salad with carrots, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, red, orange and green bell peppers? Yellow lemons. Purple egg plants. Egg white. The bright yellow turmeric, red chilli powder, brown cumin powder stored in the steel garam masala dubba tempt you. The eyes can’t get enough of the variety of colors.

Hear the sizzle of onions, ginger and garlic frying in hot oil. The mustard seeds bursting and popping out of the pan. The whistle blowing from the pressure cooker. The grating of the coconut. Vegetables that go ..... chop, chop, chop. Rice boiling in hot water. Dosas and pancakes hissing on the griddle. Going deaf already?

Smell the curry powder. Festive cardamom. Sweet and spicy cinnamon and cloves. Boiled chicken and eggs. Flavors rising from the pans, tickling your nose and teasing your appetite.

Taste the salt. Savor the sweet crème brulee or holige. Enjoy the tangy rasam as it hits your tongue. Wrinkle your nose when you taste the methi seed in the seasoning. Bitter. Warm up as the spice of the curry settles down in your belly.

You'll also get lots of chances to use your imagination when you've to cook in a hurry, with limited ingredients and no time to run to the store. Don't panic. Let the creative juices flow.

Cooking Mantra

Cooking is fun. I love to tweak the recipes here and there. Think FUSION. No recipe is set in stone. Improvise. That's the key.

I don’t have any qualms using store bought ready made masala powders as long as the brand is good and the expiry date is O.K. Indian stores have gotten better at storing brands that are not stale and are good in quality, not only brands from India but also from countries like Pakistan, Malaysia etc.

Cooking can be healthy. I’m not into the whole grains and only fiber rule. I love my carbs and it helps my gut that sometimes is prone to acting weird with too much diary products and fiber.

I use olive oil where I can and always use low fat light butter. I make chapatis -Indian bread with regular wheat flour. The Indian store stocks a brand that has some amount of bran in it. One can use basmati rice -white without feeling guilty. While fresh veggies rock, there are times when I find boiling frozen corn cobs, using frozen peas and a box of frozen mixed vegetables (lima beans, carrots, peas, green beans) to make a quick curry helps and tastes quite good.

Think O-P-T-I-O-N-S while cooking. There are days when you just have to use jalapenos instead of the spicy green chillies or you may have to use parsley (umm…not my favorite) in lieu of cilantro. You can cook a dish real spicy and then again not use spice at all.

Cooking is fun. As long as it doesn’t become a chore. As long as you don’t have to prepare breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner for family members day in and day out. And of course cooking is great when the chef gets to cook and the others have to wash the dishes.

Cooking is fun when you have music on in your kitchen, specially Bollywood songs. Popular FM channels are fun too when daughter’s in a mood to be mother’s helper in the kitchen.

Apart from cooking Indian food, I get around to preparing Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean and Western dishes. Not regularly but once in a while when eating rice and curry gets tedious.

Food, food and more food

Onions being sauteed in curry leaves, green chillies, lentil seed seasoning

Come October and its time to upload my recipes, stories and yes, lots of pictures of food onto my blog.

Some facts about my cooking and food choices. I’m a veggie by birth, who eats no meat, no sea food and refuse to even have soups made with meat broth. Nothing that crawls, walks or flies J I eat eggs though and I’m glad we get cage-free eggs, veggie eggs, hormone free eggs and so on and so forth.

When I married a meat eater I took the challenge to cook non-vegetarian food without tasting it. Hah, no big deal…I’ve come to know there are many cooks out there doing exactly the same.

My skills as a cook have been put to great use after relocating to the States from Bangalore, couple of years ago. Not too many ethnic communities in the town we live. So less diversity in terms of restaurants, grocery stores.

Lentil & jackfruit pappadums, sandige (rice fryums) and fried dry chillies - used as appetizers or as a side dish with the main course

I’ve to travel once a month, a good one hour on the belt way (yuck…see my blog on driving issues) to get my provisions from the Indian stores. The grocery shops such as Giant, Safeway do not stock curry leaves, Indian green chillies and the umpteen different lentils we get in the Indian stores. These days they carry items such as Naans and packaged Indian foods. Trader Joes and Whole Foods offer samosas, chicken tikkas cooked in their delis.