Spicy Eggplant/ Brinjal/ Baigan Chutney

Brinjal is bitter in taste, but becomes tender when cooked and develops a rich, complex flavor. Lot of people don't like brinjal as its bitter. I remembered eating a brinjal chutney long back in Andhra Pradesh, India and today saw a posting in net about it. I decided to give it a go... and it came out really great.

PROCESS:

Keep diced ginger, Green Chillis and Garlic ready. You need good quantity of ginger & garlic. Cut the brinjal into little cubes and clean them with turmeric water. Leave it till we need it. Now lets take a pan and heat it up. Then add 2 T-Spoon of oil. Add mustand seeds and later cumin seeds to it. Now add, ginger and garlic. Saute it for some time and add chillis. Now add 2-3 T Spoon of Tamarind pulp to it. Saute for few minutes and add the brinjal. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Cook till the brinjal is cooked and leave it to cool.

Now the next step is to add the cooked brinjal in a blender/ mixer. Add salt and little water and blend till it becomes paste like. You can store it in a fridge. Also you can temper it and eat it with Dosa, Idly, Parathas.

Sweet & Sour Prawn curry

Sweet & Sour Prawn curry

Last weekend I tried to do some experiment and cook Prawn curry in a different method. It was a risk worth taking, as it came out really great. I suggest you try to cook in this method and give me feedback. Cooking is an art like photography. You need to keep trying and suddenly unlock the secret of a great recipe. I take many photographs of the same subject/ object and one out of five comes great. Cooking is similar. If you like experimenting, you will surely become a great cook. So lets see, how to make this geat curry. My preperation is for two people, and you can increase the ingredients if you prepare the dish for more people.

PROCESS:

Take 10/12 pieces of Cooked Prawns (I used cooked one which we get in the store, you can try with fresh ones also.) and mix with marination which we prepared.

For the marination, add the following ingredients and mix them well with the Prawn and leave it for 1-2 Hrs.

- 3 T-Spoon of Curd/ Yoghurt
- 1/2 T-Spoon of Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 T-Spoon of Chilli Powder (Optional if you want spicy)
- 1/2 T-Spoon of Oil
- 1 T-Spoon of Ginger Paste
- 1 T-Spoon of garlic Paste
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt

Heat 1 T-Spoon of Oil in a pan in medium heat. Add 1/2 T-Spoon of Cumin Seeds. Add half finely chopped onion and saute. Ensure that, it cooked but not completely brown. Now add the marinated mix with prawns. Now add a T-Spoon of Cumin and Coriander Powder. Reduce the heat and cook it for few minutes. Now add 1 T-Spoon of Lime Juice or Tamarind Pulp. I prefer Tamarind for sourness. Also check if you need to add salt or not. Also add a pinch of sugar. Leave the pan covered for five minutes and allow the prawns to cook. Serve it with rice.

AMBIL - All time favourite recipe of Western Orissa

AMBIL or AMBILA is the favourite dish of Western Orissa. It is also unique to the region. This dish can be prepared very easily and good for health. It is one form of Soup or Sambar. Many variation of Ambil are prepared. However, I am writing about the most common form of this dish. I did not find the recipe anywhere in the net and decided to write about it for the benefit of everyone for easy access.

Ingredients:

- Pumpkin (Makhan), Radishes (Mula), Brinjal/EggPlant (Baingan), Drumsticks (Munga), Lady Finger/Okra (Bhindi), Tomato (Tamatar).
- Gram Flour (Besan) and Yoghurt/Curd (Dahi)
- Mustard Seeds (Soriso), Cumin Seeds (Jeera) or PanchPhoran (Mix of Five whole spices).
- Dry Red Chillis
- Curry Leaves
- Garlic

So lets start the process:

1. Cut all the vegetables (except Tomato) in suqare sizes. In a large shallow pan boil them adding turmeric powder (haldi) and salt. In western orissa we call them Dekchi. You can also use pressure cooker, but you will not get the taste. You have to boil them in medium heat.

2. In a seperate pan, fry the tomatoes with a table spoon of oil and keep it ready.

3. Pour the fried tomatoes into the boiling veggies. Ensure that the veggies are half cooked before adding the tomatoes.

4. Get a bowl and mix the Yoghurt/Curd with Gram Flour (Besan) and add water to make it consistant. Add one table spoon of Besan for four table spoon of Curd. Make it watery like butter milk.

5. Now add the mix to the boiling veggies. You can also add little bit of Salt after checking the taste. You can also add tamarind water if you want it to be sour (khata) test. You need to add the mix before the veggies are cooked. Check the mix, turn off the gas if veggies are cooked.

6.Now its time for Parjha (Hindi: Chaunk, Eng: Tempering). Take a small pan, add one or two table spoon of oil. When the oil is hot add Mustand Seed and Cumin Seeds or Panch Phoran if you have which causes it to start popping immediately. Now add fine chopped garlic and dry red chillis and Curry Leaves (Mersingha Patar). Don't over cook it, it takes a min to cook or it will burn.

7. Pour the mix to the pan in which veggies are boiling. And your Ambil is ready. Serve when hot.

Ambil can be stored for few days in fridge and eaten after heating it up. Infact if you keep the ambil for 12-24 hrs and eat later it taste great. Also there is very less oil and spices used. This dish is full of vegetables and the boiling water is not thrown out. This makes the dish very nutritious and healthy.

So do try it out and give me the feedback. Happy Cooking... DO check out the photos.... I have added which is step by step process. Boil The Vegetables Add Fried/Cooked Tomato Add Mix of Curd and Besan The Final Step of Parjha

Prawn Biriyani - Quick and Tasty

I tried making Prawn Biriyani yesterday and it came out really good. It was quick and tasty as well. Though I love to cook, I am not a writer and you will not find the receipes written in a typical cook book way. I will describe the process of the way I cooked. I learned cooking by experimenting and looking at people cooking. Each time you try cooking a dish, it will come out differently. You will also find that with little change in process the taste differ. I encourage you to experiment and who knows, you will have your own receipe. My preparation is for two people and you can calculate your ingredients as per your requirements.

1. Marinate the prawns in Lime Juice or use Curd, Turmeric Powder, Chilli Powder, Salt. You may add little oil if you are not using Lime Juice or Curd. Keep it for some time.
2. Cut an large onion into thin long slices. Fry half of the cut onions till dark golden brown. This is used for dressing at the end.
3. Now cook the rice till its almost done. we need to cook it again for 5-10 mins in low heat with Prawns.
4. Now take a table spoon of oil in a pan. Add little cumin seeds, Piece of cinnnamon, few cloves and cardamom, one or two dry red chillis.
5. Then add the onions and start frying till golden brown.
6. Add a spoon of ginger/garlic paste if you have.
7. Add a spoon each of cumin and coriander powder.
8. Now add the marinated prawns and cook it for 3-4 mins till its cooked.

In the same pan, now add the rice which is almost cooked (I some times try with cooked rice also to make it quick) If you are cooking for more people, you can layer the rice and prawn. Garnish the fried onions, chopped coiander leaves, one or two sliced green chillies and fried cashew if you have. Now ensure the lid is closed tightly and keep the pan on low flame for 5 to 10 mins.

Thats all... now serve it hot with raita if you have. However, you can also eat only biriyani for the meal. Try it, make some mistakes and you will master the receipe. Take a look at the hot steaming biriyani....

Curry Chat

We had some leftover Pakoda curry. So I decided to make Curry Chat. It is very simple and tastes good. Use any curry which is leftover from the last meal. Add chopped onion, green chilli, codiander leaves and tomato. Add some chat masala. You can add some Yoghurt or Curd. Add some Mixture (fry lentil mix), we got some Madras Mixture last week. You can use any kind of Mixture. Mix it well and your Curry Chat is ready. Its very good for evening snack.

Pav-Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is fast food native to Maharashtra, but popular in most Indian cities. Mumbai is known for its delicious Pav Bhaji. Pav in Marathi means bread and Bhaji is a patato based curry. This was a popular dish for mill workers during lunch as it can be made faster and eaten also. We have been preparing Pav Bhaji for some time now and it comes out good and easy to make. So we thought to share the recipe with all. Our method is slightly different from the typical style of cooking in a hotel. However, its faster and can be made with less ingridents.

Prepare Bhaji or Curry:

1. You need to dice the Potatoes, Carrots, Curliflower, Beans, Green Peas, Bell Peppers. However, we used only Potatoes, Carrots and Green Peas. The more vegetables you can use the better will be the taste. Boil all the vegetables in a Pressure Cooker. Add little salt and turmeric powder with the veggies in the cooker.

2. Take a pan and melt two table spoon of butter or oil.
3. Add cumin seeds and chopped garlic, chilli and ginger.
4. Add some chopped onions fry till golden brown.
5. Add chopped tomato and cook for two mins.
6. Add cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder.
7. Add the cooked veggies and mesh them while cooking so that they become paste.
8. Add some Pav Bhaji masala if you have or you can also add some chat or garam masala.
9. Add a cup of water and allow it to cook for five mins.

Prepare Pav or Bread Roll:

1. Slit the bread roll or bun into two keeping the base intact.
2. On a frying pan, melt some butter and roast the bread from both sides.

Garnish the Bhaji or Curry with chopped onion, coriander leaves and dot with a few cubes of butter. To eat break off pieces of the bread and scoop up the Bhaji and ENJOY! My Bhaji may not look like what you eat outside. I have used very little oil, masala and chilli powder. You may use more of it, if you want.

What's wrong with what we eat

Mark Bittman is a food writer known best for his simple recipes and no-nonsense style. A self-proclaimed home cook, Bittman is not a trained chef but developed an interest in food through his career as a journalist.January 2009 marked the release of Food Matters, Bittman’s exploration of the link between global warming and other environmental challenges, obesity and lifestyle diseases, and the overproduction and overconsumption of meat, simple carbohydrates, and junk food. Food Matters analyzes how the American diet is taking a toll on both human and planetary health, and it offers a viable solution to this dual problem in the form of a diet––and recipes––based on reduced consumption, or sane eating. One of his talks:

Chai-Pakoda (Tea-Deep Fried veggies with gram flour)

When we are kids, we loved when it rained. Lot of rains ment: No School that day, stay at home and have good food, play indoor games and in the evening have Chai-Pakoda and Mudhi (Mur-Mura or Puffed Rice). I remember, one of us used to go out and get Pakoda/Samosa from the nearby hotel and return half wet. Yesterday it rained here and we had cloudy weather. We thought, lets try Chai-Pakoda for evening snack. This is very popular snack in Western Orissa. The best way to have it is with chutney. However you can have it with chilli/tamato sauce.

How to make Pakoda?

Ingridents:

1. Besan (Gram Flour)
2. Onion
3. Diced Garlic, Ginger, Green Chillis (optional)
4. Patato, Curliflower, Leafy Veggies (Diced and its optional)
5. Chilli Powder
6. Turmeric Powder
7. Garam Masala
8. Salt to taste
9. Baking Soda (pinch of it)


Process:

Mix all the ingridents together in a bowl. The mixture needs to be consistent and you need to be careful not to add too much water while mixing. You need to add little bit water at a time. The mixture needs to be thick enough to stick to the veggies.

Take a frying pan and pour any cooking oil suitable for deep frying. Ensure the oil is hot

Make small balls (it will be irregular) of the mixture with your fingers and drop to start deep frying. You need to fry till it turns golden brown. Ensure not to fry too much or it will not taste good.

So we are done... you can serve the Pakodas with any wet chutney (mint, tamato, tamarind...) or have them with ketchup.

Cusine of Orissa

I am a foodie and like travelling to different places to explore the culture and food habits. I found lot of websites and resources of Indian cuisine. However, when we talk of Indian food, most people think of either South Indian and North Indian food. Then you have sub-divisions like Punjabi, Andhra, Kerela or Mughlai and so on.

Indians follow different religion, cultures and the food habits reflects it. If you travel around India and taste the food of different regions, you can know the history and culture of the region.

I found very little references on cuisine of Orissa. People often think that food habit of Orissa is same as Bengal. That is why, there is very little information on oriya foods in Internet. I have found some websites coming up in last few years only. With in Orissa also we have different types of cuisines. We mostly talk about the food of eastern region. However, the tribal regions of north and south orissa, western region also have very rich food history. Since I come from western part of Orissa, I thought, will write on the history, tradition and food habits of western Orissa which is lesser known.

I will also try to go down the memory lane and find out what my mother and grandmothers have been cooking for generations. I hope to find out some old recepies and update them in the blog.

Will keep posting...