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Curries & Stories

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27 December

Hello everyone. Christmas is just over. This time it was a very muted Christmas day across the city due to the covid restrictions. I just went out with a friend for a movie and a lunch. Guess which movie? Tenet. I know some of you might be already wondering how can I see Tenet on a Christmas day, but ya that movie was on the cards for a while and this is the only common holiday we both had. So Tenet it was! Later on we thought of grabbing a Christmas lunch somewhere but most of the places were taking people on a pre-booking basis and the ones which didn't were darn expensive. We could have done expensive too, but since the menus claimed they were serving turkey, and I have had experience when a turkey is not cooked well they are super dry, I was apprehensive in shelling out a grotesque amount only to be disappointed by the taste. Thus we decided to walk the safe path and headed to our tried and tested Malaka Spice in Koregaon Park. They didn't have a Christmas brunch as such but we enjoyed the pan Asian stuffs that are typical to the place. The best thing comes at the end of the food - a cold piece of rum cake soaked in rum and dry fruits which is absolutely ah-mazing. If you haven't been to their place on a Christmas day try visiting just for this piece of cake!

Post lunch we walked down to Natures Basket which is like at a stone throw distance from Malaka Spice. When ever I am in KP I do try to visit Natures basket just to grab some duck eggs. I do not get duck eggs in the part of the town where I live and I love duck eggs. This time I didn't get the eggs, however I got a bunch of other interesting stuffs from there. A beautiful chilli herbed sourdough bread, some cinnamon rolls, a few sauces and a packet of brussels sprouts. They looked so good I couldn't not take the brussels. From quite a few weeks I was deliberating in making a sautéed brussels sprout side and these looked just perfect. I also had a post Christmas day brunch to make, wherein one of the components I wanted to be these roasted brussels.

Pan roasted Brussels sprouts are also called pan fried Brussels sprouts, sautéed Brussels sprouts or pan sautéed Brussels sprouts - and all of them are basically the same. It is the process in which the delicate brussels sprouts are cooked in a fat medium over high heat. The best part about this recipe is that the ingredients are pantry staple - something you would already have at hand, recipe is very simple and the final taste is absolutely exceptional, buttery, flavorful and yet crisp.

Adding the nuts and cranberries give it a lovely crunchy Christmassy texture and pops in a little oomph factor into the simple dish.

Now when you try to get access to quality fruits like blueberry or cranberry it might happen that you don't get them year long. I have come across a brand True Elements which sells a lovely quality of dried blueberry, goji berries and cranberry which you can have as is or use in any of your recipe. They also have a plethora of healthy seeds and breakfast option. I have used the dried cranberries from them in this recipe and I really loved the taste. You can buy them from their site or even from Amazon. This is not a promotional post, since I really loved them I thought of again mentioning them.

Meanwhile the beautiful diary that you see in the frame is from the June Shop. I stumbled upon their website nearly at the beginning of the lockdown period and found a lovely set of spoons which I had purchased. Who ever saw that set would compliment me. It has been a long way from then and this brand grew wonderfully with so many amazing products on their catalog. Recently they were generous enough to send me this lovely name embossed diary to me as a gratitude gift. It was so unexpected that they would value and acknowledge me as their customer and I felt just amazing. So thank you The June shop for this lovely gift!


How to clean and cut brussels sprouts?

To clean the brussels sprouts, trim the ends (the hard parts if any). Most store-bought Brussels will have the stem mostly trimmed off, but if you want to really make sure there aren't any woody parts, take a sharp knife and just cut off the bottom hard part of the sprout.

Rinse them in a large bowl of cold water. (Try not to put under running water, as the brussels sprouts are tender and the leaves may come apart due to water pressure). Brussels sprouts do not usually have much dirt on them, but any dust or sediment should float to the bottom.

Once washed place them on a kitchen towel in a single layer and cover them with the towel and pat dry them as much possible.  

Once dry, for this recipe you need to halve or quarter them depending on the size. Since I had small ones I halved them. (Also they look better halved).


Check Out the DIY Background I made for this shoot.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes  

Marination Time : 30 minutes (Optional)

Cooking Time: 10 minutes 
Serves: 1 to 2 adults

Ingredients:

  • Brussels Sprouts - 100 gm 
  • Crushed Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
  • Garlic - 3-4 cloves
  • Nuts (Almonds/Pine nuts/ walnuts/ pecans ) - handful, chopped
  • Dried Cranberry - 1 handful
  • Paprika/ Red chilli powder - 1/4 th tsp
  • Chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp
  • Refined/ Olive Oil 
  • Salt - as per taste

Equipment:
  • Heavy bottomed pan (preferably cast iron)
  • Knife
  • Bowl

Procedure 

1. Start by prepping the brussels Sprouts as mentioned above. Now after this I like to marinate them a bit. Take a mixing bowl and put the halved brussels sprouts. Add salt, paprika, chilli flakes, crushed pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil. Give it a toss so as to coat the brussels sprouts with the spices. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. This is optional. You can straightaway go for cooking too.




2. Now in a heavy bottomed pan add oil. When it starts to sizzle a bit, add chopped garlic. fry them till golden and then drain the garlic and put it aside.

3. The oil in the pan will now be infused with a lovely garlicky flavor. Now crank up the heat if the oil is not hot. Then place the marinated brussels sprouts cut side down in a single layer on the pan. 




4. Cook until the brussels are deep , dark, golden brown on the face down. Then flip them and let the other side also get a beautiful caramelized sear in same way.

Note: Brussels are very delicate once they are cooked, so when you flip be gentle. I have heard chefs even use a tweezer to flip them in restaurants. That's how delicate they become!



5. Once both the sides are evenly caramelized take them out form the pan. Not to the remaining oil, add the chopped nuts and dried cranberry. Toss them until nuts are fragrant on medium flame. Now return the cooked sprouts pack to the pan. Add also the fried garlic and gently fold everything in.




Note: I used almonds in this recipe with skin on. I feel some nuts with skin on tastes better. Almond is one of them. But you can always take the skin off if you want.

 
Serve hot along with your meal.










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It's been more than a year since my last post and I have been missing this space to say the least. But ya several personal and professional commitments kept me busy all this while and now I am again trying to post a new recipe today.

Its Christmas and probably the time of the year I love the most. I feel like a kid when I see all this Christmas trees and lights and decor.

Usually at this time of the year I am on vacations off to Kolkata my hometown. But due to some other things I had to spend the Christmas in town. I was feeling a bit down about it since I was going to be alone at home that too on Christmas week. But so far I must say its the blessing of the season that it has turned out to be a rather eventful week for me.

We started off with the Secret Santa celebrations last Friday. In case you dont know what is a Secret Santa, its basically a celebration that office guys do wherein you need to pick up a random chit having the name of any of your colleague and you will become the Secret Santa for that person for the next whole week. So in that week you may give your chosen colleague small gifts or chocolates or make them do some fun task like singing or acting etc. and in the last day of the Secret Santa week you give a nice gift to them and reveal the Santa's name. So it has been a super duper fun week so far. Finding clues to get to those chocolates your Santa has left you is the most nail biting event ever! And finally just before Christmas I got a nice pair of earphones from my Santa which made my Christmas a lot more merrier. The celebrations would continue till the end of the year however.


Since I was full of Christmas spirit from the morning I decided to do some impromptu cooking in the kitchen to celebrate the occasion. Christmas means rum, the spirit to the festivities. I had this bottle of rum languishing in my pantry which I had got from Panchgani. I decided to make use of it and make it a fun rum day.

So started off the day by baking some yummy Chocolate, Rum and raisin cupcakes. They smelled heavenly when freshly got out of the oven. My breakfast was thus sorted. Then came the lunch part. I did a quick inventory round up as to understand what can be my possible recipes. When I am happy I always experiment with food. My happiness is directly proportional to good food for sure. So I decided to make a nice mixed noodles and for the side I wanted to make something festive with Chicken. I wanted to make an orange chicken but I didn't have any so the next best thing I could have my hands on were these sweetlimes which I hadn't eaten yet. A quick google search didnt yield any recipes so I decided to make something on my own. And I am glad I did because the flavor of the sweetlime is as enticing as an orange and a good alternate too. All in all it turned out to be a great dish so I decided to share the same with you.

Its an easy breezy recipe with not too many ingredients. I will be posting the recipe of the mixed noodles in another post and link it back.



Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Marination Time : 60 minutesCooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
  • Chicken - 250 gm
  • Sweetlime / Mosambi - 1 (1/2 cup juice)
  • Rum - 1/4th cup
  • Tomato  - 1 medium
  • Ginger paste - 1 tsp
  • Garlic - 12- 15 cloves
  • Green chilli - 2
  • Fresh Ground Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
  • Cornflour - 1 tsp
  • Red chilli powder - 1/4 th tbsp
  • Sugar as per taste
  • Salt as per taste
  • Butter - 1 tbsp
  • Refined Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure

1. Juice the sweetlime, it should be at least half a cup. Make sure you are discarding all the seeds.
You can add a little flesh from the sweetlime in the juice. Keep it in the refrigerator till you are ready to cook.

2. Wash and drain off any excess water form the chicken. Cut it in small cubes of maximum 2 inch pieces and keep in a mixing bowl

3. Bruise the garlic and the green chilli with a mortar and pestle and make a coarse paste. Add this to the chicken. Add the fresh ginger paste and 1/2 a teaspoon salt.




4. Add half of the rum to the chicken. Toss everything together to mix it well. Marinate for an hour.




5. Meanwhile prepare the tomato puree. In a grinder grind the tomato and 1 tsp of sugar together to a smooth paste.  It should be about 5 tbsp, even if you have a bit more it wont be a problem as we are going to reduce it while cooking.




6. Take out the marinated chicken and add 1/2 tsp of cornflour to it and give it a nice toss to coat it well

7. Heat oil in a wok. When the oil is hot add in the marinated chicken. In medium flame fry the chicken for about 4-5 minutes to take off the extra water and the chicken becomes white from pink

8. Add 1/2 tsp cornflour to the tomato puree and add it to the chicken. Add the red chilli powder at this stage. The chicken will cook in the juice of the tomato. If required add a bit of water but not too much to make it runny. Adjust the salt and sugar level. Cook till the gravy starts to thicken and water is all gone.

9. Melt the butter and add it to the chicken. Add the coarsely grounded black pepper and the sweetlime juice. Deglaze the wokand let it simmer to thicken the gravy. Adjust the salt and sugar at this stage as well.

10. You can add grated sweetlime rind at this stage. This is optional.

11. Add rest of the rum and give it a good stir and make sure the gravy sticks to the chicken. Switch off the flame.

Plate it and garnish it with sesame seeds and sweetlime skins. Serve it with fried rice or noodles.




Hope this recipe brightens up your festive season. Wish you all a Merry Christmas!





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About me

I am a software engineer by profession and a writer at heart. Born and brought up in Kharagpur, I moved to the city of dreams Mumbai when I got my first job. Till then I had not cooked a single dish in my life. Not even Maggi or tea. My dad had a strong belief that his little princess never will be in a situation where she had to cook for herself. Hence I was not allowed to spend time in the kitchen till I was studying.


So when I faced the daunting task of living alone, dabbas came to initial rescue. After that I managed a whole year on just boiled vegetables and rice. And then I landed in US. The bounty of fresh produce and cooking ingredients available in the super marts eventually lured me into making my very first meal ever. There was no turning back after that. I finally discovered how much I was in love with cooking and being creative in the kitchen.


This blog is a humble attempt to present our culinary heritage to one and all and document some of the very traditional recipes which gets passed on through generations just by word of mouth.


So just sit back with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the curries and the stories related to each.


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