Beginner's Class of February 2017

Rajiv’s Kitchen

Cook & Eat Indian Cookery Classes 

CLASS 1

This is the first class of 2017. I have three students, most are relatively new to my classes. As I mentioned in previous blog I not only teach individual dishes but how to cook a meal. In this class we would be cooking the following items and after cooking, together we would eat what is a sumptuous meal. For people who would like to cook for the family or friends each class menu could be the menu for their evening! 

Menu

ROGAN JOSH 

SEM ALOO

TARKA DAL (We will use Red Masoor dal)

RAITA

JEERA RICE

ROGAN JOSH

This is one of the signature dishes amongst Kashmiri Pandits, but is equally popular with the muslim population of Kashmir, 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 to 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

1/8 tsf of Asafoetida

1/2 tsf Chilli powder

1 tsf Paprika

1 tbsf finely ground Fennel seeds

1 tsf Ginger powder

1 1/2 tsf Salt (to taste)

1/2 tsf Garam Masala

500 mls Yoghurt beaten smooth

Water

5 tbsf oil

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, when hot put the cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamoms stir for 5-10 seconds. 

• Add the asafoetida and stir briefly. 

• Now add the lamb and salt. Cook the meat on high flame for 5-7 minutes.

• Add the chilli powder and paprika powder and give it a good stir. 

• Add the yoghurt 1 tbsf at a time stirring and mixing it as you are adding the yoghurt. Keep cooking it till all the liquid has evaporated and the meat pieces have slightly browned.

• Add the Ginger powder and Crushed fennel seeds mixing it thoroughly.

• Now put the water 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 lamb should be tender.

• Finally add the Garam masala. 

Sem Aloo (Potatoes with Beans)

Ingredients:

6-8 small Potatoes cut into small pieces

250 gms Green Beans chopped into 1 inch lengths

1 tbsf Whole black mustard seeds

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped coarsely 

1 Dried red chilli, crushed coarsely

1 tsf Salt (to taste)

1 tsf sugar

Freshly ground Black pepper

4 tbsf oil for cooking

Method:

• Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. When the oil gets hot add mustard seeds, as soon as these start to sizzle add dried red chilli and let it brown. Now add chopped garlic and lightly brown.

• Add the potatoes, mix well with the spices cover and cook till these are 1/2 done.

• Now add the chopped beans, salt, black pepper and sugar. Cook for another 10 minutes or till the beans and potatoes are fully done.

Lal Masoor ki dal (Red Split lentil)

Ingredients:

1 cup split Red dal, washed and drained

4-5 cups of water

1/2 tsf Turmeric

1/2 Chilli powder

3/4 tsf Salt

1 tbsf Ghee

1/2 tsf Cumin seeds

1-2 Garlic cloves peeled and chopped

1-2 dried Red Chillies

Method:

• Put the dal in a heavy pot (I use a pressure cooker), add water, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Bring it to a boil on high heat. Remove any scum from the top.

• If you are using a pot, cover the pot with the lid leaving a very slight opening for the steam to escape, turn the heat to low and simmer it for 30-45 minutes or until the dal is tender. You may need to stir the dal every 5-10 minutes in the last half hour so it doesn't stick. I use a pressure cooker which takes about 5 minutes.

• In a separate pan prepare the tarka by heating the ghee and adding the cumin seeds and letting them sizzle and go browner. As soon as the cumin seeds turn colour add the dried red chillies (I tend to break them). let the chillies turn very dark brown.

• Add chopped garlic and brown it. Your tarka is ready. While the tarka is hot, add it to the dal and mix well. This is best done just before serving.

Class Room 2017 - The Classes

Last year has been quite busy with three classes going all through the year. However, I have not been as organised with blogging.

New Year and New Resolutions! I will add the recipes for two classes one is the beginners and the other for students who feel a bit more accomplished! I am glad to say that people coming for these classes have started to cook Indian meals for themselves as well as for family and friends, which is a credit to them and the confidence they have gained.

The format for my classes remains the same. In the class I try to teach students not only various recipes but to prepare a meal. I tend to choose dishes which compliment each other and the end result is a preparation of meal which could be an envy of many an Indian homes. Here students learn to combine different dishes, present them and eat the food in an Indian way.

I hail from the Delhi, which is a very foodie place and the food served in the homes and the Restaurants there is synonymous to Indian food as is known to most in the world. I am lucky because of that, however I have travelled vastly in India and believe that regional food from all parts of India is as good if not better. In these classes I would like to introduce some of the dishes which I have learnt during my travels. I hope to bring a variety to and fusion of various regional dishes.

My previous blogs helped people to refer to and prepare a dish of their choice but what it lacked was to prepare a meal which for most Indians would be preparing two or three dishes. In my classes I stress what goes well with one main dish and hence we prepare three items in each class. One would be the main dish and others side dishes which for me is presentable meal.

To reflect this I intend to change the format of this blog from just being a recipe scrap book to a reference site where uninitiated could just follow each class  and prepare three dishes which would be a complete meal for a family or a group of friends.

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.