Quick Indian Cooking

Yesterday, the guru of all blog gurus came over for dinner.

Hugh Fraser is the mother (maybe father) of all blog developers, a real blog consultant and my occasional tinkering technician.

The plan was that he would come over, I would teach him how to cook a chicken curry and then we would drink wine, chat and eat Indian food.

But, as is to be expected the “drink wine and chat” bit kind of became the real focus of the evening. We ploughed our way through a bottle of Rioja and a bottle of Merlot before I could say “brown the onions” and the less said about the chicken curry, the better.

Still, the valiant Hugh, undeterred by the sight of yellow chicken braved the Chingri Malai Curry or prawn coconut curry and Jeera Pulao, cumin rice. I hasten to add that these were cooked on Sunday and hence unspoilt by drunkenness and too much talking.

Far from being the star pupil, Hugh has resigned himself to waiting for the recipes to be posted so that he can teach himself instead of relying on me.

Here is my recipes to serve 4 for Chingri Malai Curry, a finger-licking Bengali dish that is eaten on special occasions:

Grind the onion and ginger in a blender. Heat the oils and when hot add the whole spices and the sugar.

When the sugar caramelizes into a lovely reddish brown colour, add the onion mixture and fry on a high heat stirring regularly.

When the onion mixture starts losing its pungent smell and slowly goes brown in parts, add the chili, turmeric and tomato.

This is the only tricky part of the recipe. You just have to fry all this until the onion and tomato mixture tastes smooth and cooked in your mouth.

When it does, add the coconut milk, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the raw prawns, stirring gently until cooked.

Add salt to taste and serve immediately.

Now for the Jeera Pulao recipe, again to serve four:

Heat the ghee and fry the whole spices for a few seconds until they let out their lovely aromas.Add the rice and fry until the rice flakes turn a bright white, mixing in salt according to your taste. Don’t go too mad because the prawn curry will have salt in it too. Add 4 cups of water and bring the rice to a boil. When it starts bubbling, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and wait until the rice absorbs all the water.

This aromatic rice is delicious with all curries. I think Hugh would agree too…

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After another long week at work, Hubby and I decided to kick the shoes off and chill out on the couch last night. I decided to put Divya’s Prawn Biryani in a hurry recipe to the test. The words “in a hurry” really pressed my buttons, touched a nerve etc etc.

Biryani is one of the most delicious and time consuming dishes prepared in the Indian subcontinent. It originated in Persia and Arabia and was popularised by the Mughal rulers in Lucknow years and years ago. It has developed into a rice dish that is consumed on special occasions such as Muslim festivals and even Hindu weddings.

The big difference between biryani and pulao, the other popular Indian rice dish, is the length of time for cooking. Biryani often takes hours of slow cooking, with the pot lid sealed tight with a flour dough. Pulao on the other hand is like the quick and easy version. Just as delicious, but not so special.

Divya’s recipe was a complete hit with couch potato hubby and myself. It’s so easy, and requires no special ingredients. Actually, it did need star anise, which I didn’t have. But I’m not one to cry over star anise so I just didn’t use it. And it was great without. What I did was add a bit of saffron at the end, and it gave the pulao a glorious aroma.

This recipe serves 2:

200 gms raw peeled king prawns (I used frozen ones)
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 green finger chilli, slit lengthwise
1 stick cinnamon
4-5 cloves
1 tsp minced ginger and garlic
Quarter tsp chilli powder
Quarter tsp garam masala powder
1.5 cups rice
3 cups water
2 tsp ghee
Sprinkling of saffron soaked in 1 tsp warm milk

Heat the ghee and fry the onions, ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon. When the onions start turning translucent and soft, add the tomatoes and chilli powder.

Fry this paste until the raw smell of the masalas go. Then add the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the water, lower the flame to medium, cover the pan and cook.

When the rice looks half done, add the raw prawns, green chilli and the garam masala. Give the rice a good stir. Recover and cook until the prawns are done and the rice is dry. Before you take the rice off the flame, mix in the milky saffron.

Two things you need to remember: Don’t stir the rice too much or it will not have the fluffy, separate texture that characterises pulao and make sure the prawns are cooked but not overdone.

Seriously moreish dish and great with a dollop of natural yoghurt and pickle.

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Fagged out from the excitement of a friend’s wedding, I could barely lift myself off the couch on Sunday. Forget about bring myself to cook anything. But my Sunday tradition of cooking an Indian meal must be upheld at any cost. Besides, if this whole sloshed on Saturday, recovering on Sunday thing continues unchecked, I’ll have no Indian food for weeks.

I took an easy option.

Years ago my father gave me a brilliant cookbook by Sanjeev Kapoor, India’s first and foremost celebrity TV chef. I found the recipe in it for traditional Bengali fish cakes called Macher Chop. The chops are super easy to make and totally addictive. I try not to cook them for guests to keep it less fiddly, but on a quiet Sunday night in front of the TV, these are just what the doctor ordered.

Here’s my recipe for 2-3:

300gm of cod loin (skinless, boneless)

2 large potatoes

1 large onion

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 green finger chillies (more if you can handle them)

3 tablespoons of white vinegar

Handful of fresh coriander leaves

Half cup raisins

I egg, beaten

Breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons of oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes and cook the fish. I do both in the microwave and it takes 10 minutes for the potatoes and about three for the fish in my 950W mean machine.

Chuck both in a large mixing bowl. Slice the onions and fry until golden brown. Add to the mixing bowl. Then chop the green chillies and coriander leaves, and add to the mixing bowl with the vinegar, turmeric and seasoning.

Use your hands to mash the potatoes and fish, mixing the lovely masala mixture in. Taste to make sure there’s enough salt.

When the mixture looks evenly distributed, fashion it into croquettes about 2 inches long and 1 inch thick, dip in the egg and roll in breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil and shallow fry the little pieces of loveliness until they are golden brown all around.

Enjoy with salad and a selection of sauces – ketchup, tabasco and sweet chilli.

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