Katri Bhindi Kayastha style Class 2

Katri Bhindi

Bhindi, Okra or Lady’s finger is just one very popular vegetable for most indians. The way it is made varies vastly from different regions in india. I hail from the north india so this recipe is from delhi kayastha family. in the season one would see this virtually every day, goes as an everyday vegetable but equally be fine for a more formal dinner party. Here I will show you one of the simplest recipes which doesn't mean it is not tasty as this dish just tastes and smells of bhindi itself and my favourite. 

Ingredients:

250 gms of fresh tender light green bhindi, chopped into 1/2 inches pieces

4 tablespoons of cooking Oil

Pinch of Asafoetida

1/2 onion chopped lengthwise

1/4 chilli powder. On this occasion I will try some of the red pepper presented by our own Shirley 

1 tsf Salt

Method:

• Heat the oil in a wok or a frying pan over medium heat.
• When oil is hot add add asafoetida and let is sizzle.
• Add chopped onion and lightly fry for 5 minutes.
• Now add the chopped bhindi, salt and chopped red pepper and mix well. If you want to make it hot one can add either chilli powder or a couple of chopped fresh green chillies.
• Mix well and cook with the wok slightly covered for 5-10 minutes or till bhindi is cooked.

This dish is dry and if there is any water dry it by keeping the lid off on medium heat.

Chole (Chickpeas) Class 2

chole (chickpeas)

Chickpeas or Chole as we north indians call them are one of the favourite roadside market food. It is so popular that a number of vendors have become multimillionaires. one or two places i know in delhi which serve the likes of president of india and bollywood stars when they are visiting delhi. there are so many recipes of making chole which are usually served with bhatura. here i have tried to copy my favourite vendor sita ram divan chand’s style. we are not going to try the bhaturas but have ch0le with indian bread. i will admit that i cheat using Shan’s chana masala, with which one gets a very similar result as when i have used the separate ingredients some of which are rarely used. this is an easy dish and you should get it right most of the times.

Ingredients:

3 tins of chickpeas

2 tea bag

Pinch of Asafoetida

4 tbsf of oil

Shan’s chana masala

1 onions sliced

Method:

• Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan
• When the oil is hot add the asafoetida and let it sizzle, usually a minute or so.
• Put the chickpeas with its water in the pan, keeping the pan on medium to high heat.
• Add approx 5-6 tsf of chana masala and the tea bags and mix well. Ensure that the tea bag doesn't open up. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to low and let the choles to cook till they are very tender. Usually it takes 1 1/2 hours but today we will make it in a pressure cooker and it should take about 1/2 hour.
• When serving garnish it with freshly sliced onions.

Murg Lahori Class 2

Murg lahori

  

Ingredients:

1 Kg Chicken cut in to small pieces

1 cup Yogurt beaten to smooth consistency

10 tbsf oil

1/2 tsf Garam Masala

1 1/2 tsf Salt (to taste)

2 tsf White pepper

2 tsf dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasori methi)

150 mls fresh Cream

2 small Onions

6-8 Cloves

1 inch Ginger peeled

1-2 Green Chillies

Handful of fresh Coriander

Method:

• Blend onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic into a paste.
• Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Add the blended onion, green chillies, garlic and ginger mix and cook for 3-5 minutes till the onions are pink.
• Now add the chicken pieces, salt, garam masala and white pepper. Fry for 3-5 minutes till chicken changes colour. 
• Add the yogurt and fenugreek, 1 tablespoon full of yogurt at a time, keep mixing so the yogurt is well blended. Fry for 3-5 minutes.
• Cover, lower the heat and cook till chicken is tender, approximately for 10-15 minutes.
• Add fresh cream and keeping the heat at low let it come to a boil.
• garnish with chopped fresh coriander and serve hot.

Cookery Class 2

After the success of the first class the pupils felt more at home chopping and cooking independently. In fact as we go from one class to the next the class became more and more confident and needed less supervision.

The purpose of these lessons was to get people who enjoy indian food to be able to cook it authentically and introduce them to many dishes which they may not have had in the so called indian restaurants in the u.k.

one of the participants had presented me with a red chilli plant. it was a good opportunity to use the chilies from this plant in one of the preparations. as these were ready on this day so i chose bhindi as one of the dishes.

This session’s menu was:

Lahori Chicken which is a Pakistani dish shown to me by an indian lady whose family originated from Pakistan but immigrated during the partition of the british raj india. it is one of the dishes one doesn't see very often but is so simple and through these classes i would hope i may make it more popular as it should be!

Katri Bhindi made in a kayastha style.

Chole (Chick peas)  this is one of the most popular dishes for vegetarians in northern india. it started as a street food available for workers at work places or shoppers in the bazaars of Delhi. i was fortunate to have lived as a child near one of the many famous cholewala’s in Delhi. The original chap was an immigrant from Pakistan who arrived in Delhi at the time of Indian independence. He set up a small shop which was on the fringe of what was Delhi though now of course this place would be considered to be in the heart of the metro. i believe he serves the best chole in the world but i am biased. the real recipe is a trade secret and i have tried to create as near a version as i could. for simplicity i use shan’s chana masala which i believe gives a very close result. One can use chickpeas and soak them overnight but once again i cheat and use the tinned version which at least in the u.k. are partially cooked. Using this saves a lot of cooking time with probably a better results.

One would usually serve the chole with bhaturas but that becomes very rich and time consuming and hence become impractical for a one and a half hour class. so i will serve these with pre cooked paranthas. 

Cook & Eat Indian Cookery Class 1

CLASS 1

I have named my classes Cook & eat as these tend to be social events where participants cook a meal under my supervision and handy recipes from me. After cooking we all sit down to eat together over choice of our tipple!

in this class like others we did prepare three dishes and sat down together to eat.here i have given the recipe of only Kashmiri rogan josh as other items have been covered in the main blog.

ROGAN JOSH

This is one of the signature dishes amongst Kashmiri Pandits, but is equally popular amongst the muslim who use onion and garlic in their cooking where as Pandits do not use these ingredients. Pandits in India are vegetarian, often not using garlic in their cooking. Kashmiri Pandit however, due their close links with the invading rulers started eating meat but refrained from adding garlic and onions. Despite not having garlic and onions Kashmiri version of Rogan Josh is such a winner.

  

Ingredients:

1 Kg Lamb

10-12 Cloves

1 inch Cinnamon stick

2-3 Brown Cardamoms

1/3 tsf Chilli powder

1 tsf crushed Fennel seeds

1 tsf Ginger powder

1 ¼ tsf Salt (to taste)

5 tbsf Yogurt

5 tbsf oil

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, when hot put the cinnamon stick and cardamoms stir for 3-4 mins or when they sizzle. 
• Now add the lamb, chilli powder and salt. Slightly brown the meat.
• When the meat is slightly brown start adding yogurt spoonful at a time so that it mixes well. If the lamb catches you can add small amount of water. 
• Add ½ cup of water, Ginger powder and Crushed fennel seeds and give pressure for 25 mins (time will depend on quality of meat). You can cook the meat without a pressure cooker but you need a heavy pan with a tight lid. 
• The time lamb should be tender and the dish should be dry. With the lid of the pressure cooker off dry off any water.   

Sorry, I haven't been active for a while

Hi All

I am sorry for not being active for a while. It is not just laziness but I got way laid as I was trying to develop this site into something different and in the process got lost. OK I am not perfect I admit. Well you may ask what have I been doing with my quest for exploring new dishes and old!
I continue to travel the length and breadth of India once a year. I have eaten and learnt some regional dishes which might interest some of you, these certainly interest me and some have become regulars on my menu. I have also started some teaching classes. These are interesting as well, as I call these Cook & Eat. These are just as the name suggests, people come and cook in my kitchen, in my presence and follow my prepared recipes and at end we eat together. We generally cook 3 dishes and it takes about two hours just enough to finish a couple of glasses of wine while cooking!
I thought it may be of interest that I publish some of these recipes on the net. I am doing this for some giving ideas to prepare a complete meal for yourself or a small group.
After that I intend doing some regional dishes and variations.

Welcome to some of the Cook & eat Classes.......

Fish with Spinach

Having lived in the UK one is privileged to taste cuisines from all around the world, it is not a surprise that one is tempted to create fusion food. All major TV chefs are doing it. Though the fish curries from all regions in India are very good and popular, one thing which I find different between the Indian and European Fish recipes is that the spices in India tend to drown the original taste of the individual fish. This sounds awful even though I do love my Fish curry! Living on an Island gives us the benefit of availability of such a variety of River and Sea fish.

In this recipe I have combined Spinach which is easily available in the supermarkets with one of the much loved fish, ‘Cod’. I added a few chosen Indian spices which gave that Indian taste. If you like green vegetables you will love this dish.

Ingredients:

• 400 gms Cod fillet (one can use any other white fish)
• Small bunch of Spinach roughly chopped taking out the thick stalks 
• 3-4 cloves of Garlic chopped lengthwise. 
  
• 1 tsf Mustard seeds
• 1 ½ tsf Salt
• ¼ tsf coarsely crushed Peppercorns
• ¼ tsf Chilli powder (optional, if you like it hot) 
• 3-4 tbsf Olive Oil

Method:

1. Cut the fish in small pieces. Rub some salt and crushed pepper and squeeze some lemon juice. Keep it aside for 30 minutes in the fridge.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large Frying pan.
3. When oil is hot add the Mustard seeds. They will sizzle and splutter for 30 seconds.
4. Add the chopped garlic and lightly brown. 
5. Now add the Spinach, keep on mixing so that both sides of the leaves are cooked lightly.
6. Add ½ tsf salt and chilli powder and mix. 
7. When the spinach leaves start to wilt add the fish with all juices. Cove the frying pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes till the fish is just cooked. 
8. Serve hot with Nan bread.