Potato, Rosemary and Pecorino Bread

We have a friend who is a food importer and every once in a way he summons us to his warehouse and we come back laden with goodies. Cheeses, meats, condiments, varieties of flours and fancy ingredients - it's like an Alladin's Cave of foodie treasures! Summons came again this week and the hubby came back laden with a mountain of goodies once again.

Among all the loot were these wedges of Pecorino Romano cheese. Hard and salty, this Italian cheese is made from sheep's milk and, according to the Wikipedia article, is one of the oldest cheeses of Italy.

Now that I had a pile of this cheese I started looking around for recipes and as I wandered around the Internet I chanced upon this recipe via Pinterest. As I read through it I realised not only was it a very easy bread to make, I also had all the ingredients. It was perfect! Well, I didn't have fresh rosemary so I used dried, but that much adjustment is always allowed.

Potato, Rosemary and Pecorino Bread

(This recipe makes two loaves)

1 cup boiled potatoes
20gms Instant yeast
1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup olive oil
2 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
2 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tsp dried rosemary
6-7 cups plain white flour

Boil the potatoes with a good pinch of rosemary. Reserve 1 cup of the water that the potatoes have been boiled in.

In the reserved potato water sprinkle in the yeast if you're using active yeast or fresh yeast and a tsp of sugar. Though I used Instant I forgot it didn't need soaking, but that didn't harm the bread, thank God!

In a clean mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer mix the boiled potatoes, butter, oil, eggs, cheese and the rosemary. Roughly mashing up the potatoes before helps if you're using a stand mixer. If you're mixing by hand make sure there are no lumps of potato in the mixture. Once roughly mixed add the yeast water and stir to combine.

Add two cups of flour sprinkling it in, a little at a time and mix till you get a sticky dough. I used the paddle blade till this stage.

Add the remaining flour slowly, cup by cup, letting the dough firm up. I changed to the dough hook at this stage and it didn't take more than a few minutes for the dough to come together. Roughly 6 cups of flour were enough to get a soft dough.

Clean your work surface and sprinkle some flour on it. Knead the dough for 5 -7 minutes and once it is smooth you can put it aside to rise. Transfer the dough into a clean, floured bowl and cover with a cloth. Let it rise for an hour, undisturbed.

Once the dough has risen all you need to do is punch it down, divide into two and bake. Since my oven could accommodate just one loaf at a time I refrigerated half the dough while the first loaf baked.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and place your loaf on the tray. Cut a square on top of the loaf and put it in to bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Let it cool and then slice and serve with butter if you like.

Kori Gassi - Chicken curry from Mangalore

I'm a fundamentally lazy cook. The very thought of a long laborious process to getting food on the table is enough to dissuade me from cooking the more complicated or just elaborate or time consuming sort of dishes. However, there are those rare moments when a recipe simply calls out to me and my inherent laziness evaporates and I am filled with enthusiasm and energy.

I saw this recipe for Kori Gassi on Ruchik Randhap, one of the first blogs that made me literally drool all over my keyboard - the gorgeous photos, the beautifully documented recipes and the little vignettes about Mangalore, the food, the customs, and the author herself, all had me hooked. Though I have always planned to try out a recipe from here somehow my laziness always won. However today I felt energised enough to make the effort and cook something a little more involved.

I stationed the hubby at the dining table with the laptop and the browser open to the correct page. He read out the ingredients and I put them together on a large platter as I checked to see that I had everything I would need. Luck was on my side and I had everything. Well, nearly. With a few adjustments and replacements I was on my way to making Kori Gassi as described by Shireen on her wonderful blog.

Kori Gassi 

For the masala

2 medium onions sliced
12 dried kashmiri chillies (I used only these)
2 cups grated fresh coconut
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp cumin
12-14 pepper corns
1/2 tsp fenugreek
5 -6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp coriander powder (in place of whole coriander)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp agal (in place of tamarind)
1 inch cassia bark
3-4 cloves
1 tbsp ghee

Heat the ghee in a thick kadai and fry the onions, cassia, cloves and poppy seeds. Let the onions turn a nice golden colour and throw in the grated coconut. I used a tray of grated fresh coconut that I bought from the supermarket. Roast the mixture well and once it gets nice and fragrant add the turmeric and continue to roast for another 5 to 8 minutes. The coconut needs to be nicely toasted.

Now add the remaining ingredients for the masala and let the entire mixture roast well. Keep an eye on the heat and don't let anything burn. Just stir around for a couple of minutes and then switch off. Remove to a large platter and spread it out so it cools faster.

Once cooled grind the masala to as smooth a paste as you can. Use water as required, of course.

Now that the masala is done, the rest of the procedure is fairly simple.

Cooking the Gassi

1 large onion, chopped fine
2 medium tomatoes, chopped fine
ghee
1 chicken, cut into pieces
2 cups coconut milk
salt
1 onion, sliced

Heat more ghee in a thick bottomed vessel and fry the chopped onion. Once the onion has turned golden add the tomatoes. Fry well and mash the tomatoes in. Let it cook for a few minutes till it all smells good and you see the ghee emerging again. Add the chicken pieces now. Stir well to coat and add a quarter of the masala paste too. Add salt. Stir well and cover the pan. Let the chicken cook for around 10 to 15 minutes till it's nearly done.

Now add the coconut milk and the rest of the masala paste. Mix it well and add half a cup of water too. Add more if you feel the gassi is too thick. Add salt if required. Bring it to a boil and then simmer till the chicken is cooked through.

On the side in a small pan or vessel heat a tablespoon of ghee. Fry the sliced onion till it is pale golden and then add it to the gassi. Mix it in and the gassi is ready.

I served the Kori Gassi with plain boiled rice. It was wonderful!

Bhetki Machher Laal Jhol - Bhekti Stew Bengali Style

Our local fish seller stocks most fish varieties that Bengalis like and of them all, the hubby really likes Bhetki. With few bones and a delicious flavour, this fish is something that we have on our table quite often. While the boneless fillets are great simply fried, once in a way I also make a typical Bengali style jhol or thin stew.

There must be only a rare few Bengalis who don't have strong memories associated with childhood, comfort, security and 'maccher jhol'. Fish is served practically every day in a traditional household and my mother also cooked fish daily. There was always a jhol or jhal or, if nothing else, a bhaja.

I remember two basic variations of the daily jhol - the jeere'r jhol or pale greenish grey stew which included a variety of vegetables along with plump Rui  or Katla steaks, and the laal jhol (as I called it) - a richer red gravy with onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. Jeere'r jhol was more frequently made while the laal jhol was made maybe once or twice a month. Though I love both versions, as a kid I yearned for the laal jhol - probably because it wasn't made that frequently.

I had some bhetki steaks at hand and I decided to make that same Laal Jhol of my childhood. My mother always added potatoes to this but since I had none in stock I made mine without potatoes. Do add them if you're making this jhol - half the joy is in squishing the soft flavourful potatoes into the rice as you enjoy mouthfuls of this wonderful jhol.

Bhetki Machher Laal Jhol

4 - 6 Bhetki steaks, with the bone

2 large onions minced fine or made into a paste
2 large potatoes, cut into large pieces
2 medium tomatoes, puréed. Use fresh tomatoes.
3 - 4 fresh green chillies

Mustard oil

salt
turmeric
sugar
chilli powder
cumin/jeera powder
ginger-garlic paste

3 green cardamoms/elaichi
2 bay leaves
1 black cardamom/ bad elaichi

Smear salt and turmeric on the fish steaks and leave aside.

Heat the mustard oil in a thick bottomed wok or kadai till it smokes. Reduce flame. Fry the potato pieces and once they start getting a little red, remove to a plate.

In the same oil fry the fish steaks in two batches. Add more oil if necessary and be sure to heat the oil really well before adding the fish. Don't cook them through, just fry lightly till the surface on both sides is opaque. Remove to a plate.

Now add the whole spices into the oil and fry for a minute till they release their flavours and aromas. Add in the minced onions. Sprinkle a generous pinch of sugar and continue to fry the onions.

Dissolve 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp cumin powder in a little bit of water - about 2 tbsp should do. Pour this into the frying onions. Stir really well and see that it doesn't burn. Add in the puréed tomato and a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste. Mix it all well, add another tablespoon or two of water and let it cook. Keep the flame low so it doesn't burn. You will need to fry this for a bit stirring and mixing frequently.

Add the fresh green chillies. I just break them in half but you can also split them down the middle if you like more heat. Put in the fried potatoes too.

Add about two cups of water and bring it all to a good rolling boil. Add a teaspoon or so of salt. Once the gravy looks cooked and the potatoes are nearly done, add the fish steaks carefully. It won't take more than 3-4 minutes for the fish to cook.

Remove carefully to a nice serving bowl and enjoy this Laal jhol with plain hot rice.

Fried fish with Agal - an extract of garcinia or kokum

Fried fish is something the hubby and I, both love. A simple meal of daal, rice and fried fish is at the top of both our lists of most cherished comfort foods and we have this as often as we can. We are also fortunate to have access to excellent fish here in Kharghar, both fresh water and sea water varieties.

The usual method is to smear the fish pieces generously with salt, turmeric and a good dash of chilli powder and leave them to marinate for 15 - 30 mins before frying. Today, K decided to do something different.

Earlier this year he had worked on an archaeological excavation at Chandore, near Mangaon, that is on the way to Kolhapur and Goa. One of the benefits of working in the villages of India is getting access to some of the finest ingredients for the kitchen.

This time he came back with a huge amount of Kokum (Garcinia indica), something I identify easily with the delicious sharbat that sees us through the heat every summer. I even have a small quantity of the dried kokum fruit in my pantry for adding into the Parsi style coconut curries. He brought home made sharbat, loads of the salted fruit, and a big jar of 'agal'.

I had never seen nor even heard of agal before so I was quite daunted to see the big jar full of this beautiful, though completely unfamiliar new addition to my pantry. Bottles of agal were promptly shared with some of my foodie friends and a more reasonable quantity was saved for our own use.

It has a gorgeous deep pomegranate colour and has uniquely sharp tart flavour - something that K thought would elevate the fried fish from its regular everyday avatar into something much better. How right he was!

Another staple from these trips into the Konkan that K always brings back is kurdai. I've had rice kurdai and wheat kurdai and it's hard for me to decide which ones I like better. They're a kind of papad and must be deep fried and served hot. They're similar to sago papads in that they swell up beautifully and are crisp and light on the palate - a perfect accompaniment to daal and chawal.

Fried fish with Agal

6-8 pieces of firm fish - K used Bhetki or Barramundi
salt
chilli powder
turmeric
1 tablespoon agal

oil for frying.

Wash the fish pieces and drain off the excess water. Marinate in the mentioned spices and agal for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the fish pieces. Dribble the extra marinade onto the fish pieces so they remain moist and succulent.

Two to three minutes with the skin side down and then flip over and cook another minute or two.

We had the fish with hot ambe mohor rice, a nice masala daal that was tempered with lots of garlic, green chillies and fresh coriander, and of course, a pile of kurdai :)

Kheema par Eeda - Eggs on mince. A well loved Parsi breakfast

Breakfast is the husband's domain and though we usually have simple stuff like bread and spread, or muesli/cornflakes, or simple fried eggs, once in a way there's something special.

Yesterday I'd made chicken mince and there was quite a lot of it and so I asked the hubby to make Kheema par Eeda for breakfast the next morning. Ideally I prefer mutton or goat mince but chicken is what we had so we made do with it.

An easy recipe that leads to a sumptuous dish, you might end up making extra kheema more often just so you can indulge in a lavish breakfast more often!

Kheema par Eeda

4 eggs
Goat mince, cooked Indian style with onions, spices and loads of fresh coriander and mint
salt
a dash of oil

Take a flat nonstick pan and set it to heat. Spread the cooked mince evenly across the base of the pan, about half and inch thick.

Take an egg and press it gently into the kheema to make a depression. Make four such depressions. If you're using more eggs, make more! These depressions keep the eggs from running into each other while they're cooking.

Now crack an egg into each depression. Sprinkle a little salt.

Let the eggs cook on a slow flame. You don't want the kheema to burn while the eggs cook! Cover the pan with a loose lid or plate.

Cook the eggs to your desired level of 'done-ness'. The hubby likes them runny and I like mine cooked to death :)

Serve up with toast, butter, jam, mayo and a glass of fruit juice on the side. 

An easy but posh breakfast - Herbed Chicken Omelette

Breakfast was never my favourite meal and I often skipped it in my younger sillier days. Better sense has prevailed and now I cannot function without it. Leave me unfed in the morning and I am so crabby I can't stand myself!

Making breakfast is the hubby's duty and usually he keeps things simple with toast and spread, porridge, cereal and milk, or fried eggs with toast and spread. While I do like eggs I don't like fried eggs. I do love omelettes, however, and once in a way he gets creative and whips up an interesting omelette for breakfast. The interesting element often depends on what's lying in the fridge and occasionally a simple but sumptuous creation arrives at the table.

This morning it was a herbed chicken and cheese omelette.

Here's how -

3 eggs
2 slices Britannia cheese
1/2 cup leftover roast chicken
a splash of olive oil
salt
pepper

Beat the eggs nicely in a clean bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Heat your omelette pan and add a splash of olive oil. Once the oil is heated well pour in the beaten eggs. Let it just set and then arrange the shredded deboned chicken on one half of the omelette.

Place the cheese slices on top. Fold over the the omelette to cover the filling. Cook the omelette till it is set to your preference. Remove to a plate and serve with hot toast, butter, jam and whatever else you like.

Use any leftover cooked chicken. I make roast chicken very often because it's easy to make and is convenient to have in the fridge for impromptu sandwiches and stuffed omelettes like this one :)

Oven Baked Potatoes and Pumpkin Soup

Some times dinner just falls into place serendipitously. That happened today.

My friend Appu stayed with me for a couple of weeks and one of the things we'd planned to do was make pumpkin soup. She makes an awesome pumpkin soup and was to show me how she does it. Anyway, it was one more among the million things we didn't get around to doing. But the pumpkin was sitting there in the veg box making me feel guilty and so I made the soup myself - my own version of course.

Pumpkin Soup 

1 kg red pumpkin, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 large potato, peeled and halved
2 carrots, peeled and halved.
salt
pepper
butter
mixed herbs of your choice

Pressure cook the vegetables till they're all boiled and cooked through. Puree the veggies with a hand blender if you have one or use your liquidiser. Add salt and pepper and whatever dried herbs you fancy. Stir in a bit of butter, and you're done.

If you have fresh celery be sure to add some. Just wash the stalk well and cut into 1cm pieces. If you like the fresh crunch of celery add a few after you have pureed the soup and are heating the soup to serve.

The thing is that this soup, though quite nice, was not exciting enough.

And then I happened to see a post on a food group on Facebook. Oven roasted potato wedges with chilli oil. I read the recipe and it was so easy it called out to me!

Oven Roasted Chilli Potatoes 

4 largeish potatoes, scrubbed really well and cut into medium thick wedges. Leave the peel on.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp paprika powder
salt


Soak the potato wedges in salted water for at least 30 mins. Be generous with the salt so the potatoes absorb enough.

Preheat the oven. Set it at 200C.

Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and spread out the drained potatoes on the foil. Drizzle liberally with the olive oil and scatter the paprika all over. Give it all a good mix with your hands so the potatoes are well coated with the oil and spice. Bake for approximately 20 minutes at 180C. Check for doneness and bake a few minutes more if required or if you want the potatoes to crisp more.

I served these fabulous potatoes with my pumpkin soup - a match made in heaven!

Meeting Matt Moran

There are very few of us that aren't aware of the hit TV cooking show MasterChef and we quite unanimously like the Australian edition the best. The three dapper judges, their benevolent nature, ever smiling faces, friendly guidance and constant encouragement to the participants have made them household favourites. As nice as they are none of these three are my personal favourite. Oh no. For me it was Matt Moran all the way!

So you can imagine my absolute delight when my friend Rushina invited me over to her studio for an informal brunch with Matt Moran himself! I felt like a teenager meeting the rock star of her dreams and yes, for me he is the rock star among chefs. So I was in full fan girl mode and I couldn't wait to meet him. 

Saee and I coordinated and decided to go together. She was nearly as excited as I was though she was not as hysterical ;) 

We arrived nice and early and the first thing we saw was the gorgeously set table. Rushina had out done herself completely. 

We were sat around this beautiful table and Matt took a seat somewhere in the middle of one long side. It was a packed house with bloggers, journalists, and media persons and soon our session began. Rushina introduced Matt and then we had a fun session bombarding Matt with all sorts of questions. He was equally curious and we had plenty of questions to answer ourselves! 

I've been following him on Twitter, reading his updates about his upcoming show Paddock to Plate and it was great to sit across a table and talk to him about it! I'm hoping we get to see this show here in India soon. 

(Photo credit -  APB Cook Studio)

I was happy to meet a few of my blogger friends like Nikhil and Prachi and popular young chef Saransh Goila.

As we chatted with Matt a delectable spread was laid out as a buffet with a few of Matt's own recipes being served. The staff were nice enough to serve us at the table so we could chat on undisturbed. We also had some lovely Australian wines to go along with our meal. 

A spiced up prawn cocktail 

Potato salad with Curried Mayonnaise

Chicken with chorizo and chickpeas

Meringues!

Chocolate Fondant with ice cream and raspberries

I've been to a fair few celebrity chef events but this is one I will always remember. I could never have imagined I'd sit across a table and happily chat away with a chef I'd seen on a top rated international show, let alone one I have a crush the size of the Himalayas on! The hubby had great fun teasing me about this extreme fan girl avatar I'd taken on and yes, I provided him with plenty of entertainment. If you can imagine me hopping around in anticipation the night before you've got the picture spot on! 

Here's what my friend Appu wrote about my Matt Moran.experience. She had a ring-side view of my enthusiasm and has put it down quite perfectly!  http://appuspeak.blogspot.in/2013/08/when-beatles-drove-past-sv-road.html

I'm still floating around a couple of inches above the ground :)

Cup Cakes Conquered!

Sometimes the simplest things can seem like an intimidating mountain. Cup cakes seemed like that to me. I saw friends churning out cup cakes in a jiffy for their kids' lunch boxes, for gal pal parties, for the neighbour's kids birthday party, as gifts on special occasions... it seemed effortless for them and I was always awestruck at how easy they made it look. And here I was, never even tried making a basic cup cake, let alone the beautifully iced and decorated confections that are all over the Internet.

Over the years I had amassed muffin pans, cup cake liners, decorating nozzles for frosting and even sprinkles to decorate with. But no cup cake ever emerged from my oven. Sigh.

I was chatting with two of my dearest friends yesterday (both expert bakers) and I finally demanded a fool proof basic recipe for cup cakes. I couldn't believe how simple it was! With much encouragement and a whole lot of enthusiastic cheering from both I finally took the plunge and made cup cakes.

Here's how

Ridiculously Easy Cup Cakes

In a mixing bowl take

100gms powdered sugar
100gms butter
100gms flour
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract

Beat them all together with your electric hand mixer till it's mixed into a batter. Add a little dahi/curd if the batter is too thick. Don't over beat.

Prepare a muffin tin with your cup cake liners. Drop in a dollop of batter into each cup cake liner and bake in your preheated oven for 15 - 18 minutes at 180C.

Voila! That's it. To think I wasted all these years wondering about the mysteries of cup cakes and how everyone else churned them out so easily! Well, now I know ;)

I didn't get a chance to decorate these babies because the hubby and I couldn't wait to eat them. Well, since they're so easy to make I'll decorate the next batch. Saee and Medha, I promise! 

Chicken in Bahraini spices

Like most other food bloggers I love trying out new ingredients and spices. My friend Jubal told me about a garam masala mix from Bahrain that he'd got and was willing to share with me. It seemed like a regular mix of powdered garam masala that also included turmeric, coriander and pepper among other things. The different spices were layered beautifully in the bottle adding greatly to its charm!

It was with quite a twinge that I emptied the contents into a large bowl and mixed up the spices so we could divide it between he two of us. The streak of black that you see near the top of the bottle is what puts this spice blend apart from other garam masala blends. That's powdered preserved lemons and it adds a fabulous flavour dimension to the mix.

I had to cook dinner and there was chicken thawing in the sink. I decided to try out this newly acquired spice mix and I have a winner!

Chicken in Bahraini Spices

1 chicken, cut into pieces
2 large onions, sliced
20 almonds soaked and then ground to a paste
2 generous tbsp Bahraini Spice mix
7-8 cloves fresh garlic
salt
quarter cup fresh dahi/curd
olive oil
2 potatoes, cut in long thick chips
2 bay leaves

Marinate the chicken in salt, Bahraini spice and curd for a couple of hours.

Heat olive oil in a large cooking pan/pot and fry the potatoes till they are lightly browned. Remove to a plate and then fry the onions. Sprinkle a little sugar to help them caramelise.

Pound the garlic in a mortar and pestle and add the fresh garlic to the cooking pot. Once the onions start going pink add the chicken, leg pieces first. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring once in a while. Then add the rest of the chicken pieces reserving the marinade. Add the potatoes now. Bhunno for a bit and then cover and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Add a cup of water to the reserved marinade and add it to the pot. Let it all come to a boil and then simmer it till the gravy is reduced a little. Add the almond paste and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Check that the potatoes are done.

Remove to a nice serving bowl and serve with plain steamed rice, rotis or a simple garlic and olive oil focaccia. Garnish with a few flaked almonds if you like, to make it look pretty.

The spice mix has a heady lemony scent and results in a robust spicy gravy - flavourful, not hot. The almond paste gives the gravy body and richness making this dish one I'd be happy to serve at a party.

Lau Chingri - Prawns with Bottle Gourd

Bottle Gourd or Lau always put me off when I was a child. I also greatly disliked prawns in those days. I never imagined I would ever cook either of the two myself, let alone together in the same dish! And here I am, after 30 odd years showing off the Lau Chingri I have cooked :)

Lau chingri is an eternal favourite among Bengalis and, as is always the case with such preparations, recipes vary from family to family. I got this recipe from my cousin's wife. What surprised me is the incredible simplicity of this preparation and how frugal the list of ingredients is. See for yourself -

Lau Chingri

10-15 prawns, shelled and deveined
1 medium bottle gourd or Lau, peeled and cubed.

turmeric
salt
chilli powder
tej patta or bay leaves
1/2 tsp whole cumin or jeera
2 dried Kashmiri chillies
mustard oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp pure ghee

Add salt and turmeric to the prawns and fry lightly in hot mustard oil for a minute, turning frequently. Let them turn just opaque. Remove to a plate.

In the same oil add the red chillies, tej patta and jeera. Let it sizzle and then add the cubed pieces of Lau. Add turmeric, a little salt and some chilli powder.

Stir it all well and fry the lau pieces nicely with all the spices for a few minutes. add some sugar and fry some more. Add a very little bit of water, less than quarter cup, and stir again. Once it starts to boil cover the wok and reduce to a simmer. Let it cook for about 10 minutes till the lau is cooked through.

Add the prawns now and cook covered for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Add a generous teaspoon of ghee once the cooking is complete. Leave it covered for a minute. Remove to a serving bowl and enjoy Lau Chingri with gorom bhaat or steaming hot rice.

Chocolate, Coffee and Walnut Fudge

Fudge is one of those things I've been making since my teens. It all started when the Nestle Milkmaid tin labels started carrying recipes to give consumers ideas of what to do with the condensed milk. Create a need to create a market. Smart, indeed.

Among the recipes they had posted was one for chocolate barfi. While their picture on the label showed neat squares with a cashew nut neatly pressed onto the top, I ended up with a gorgeous sticky mass that tasted amazing. My fudge was born!

I have fooled around with different ingredients over the years and this is what I have narrowed it down to. I have no idea what the recipe on the Milkmaid label was, any more.

Chocolate, Coffee and Walnut Fudge

1 tin Milkmaid condensed milk
200 gms good dark chocolate
50gms Amul butter
1 heaped teaspoon Sunrise instant coffee powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Take a thick bottomed vessel, preferable a wok as it is easiest to stir in. Heat the wok and pour in the entire tin of condensed milk. Reduce the flame to the absolute minimum.

Zap the chocolate in your microwave for a minute to soften it. Add it to the condensed milk in the wok and stir well. Add the butter and sprinkle in the coffee powder.

Stir the mixture continuously and mix in the butter properly. The butter will give the fudge a beautiful shine and it also prevents the fudge from sticking to the wok too much. Keep stirring till you have a smoothly blended mix.

Add the walnuts and mix properly. Cook this on low heat till it eventually thickens and becomes fudge-y and sticky. Let it cool a little and then decant to a bowl or lidded box.

Do NOT stick your finger into the fudge while it is hot, you can burn yourself quite badly. It takes time to cool and you must be patient! Once cooled just dig in! 

Hostel Khichdi - Memories of Pune

The years spent in the Deccan College hostel in Pune, and thereafter in our little dream cottage with the not yet hubby were full of food. Though frugal, our meals never lacked in flavour or innovation. K was an accomplished cook already and I was an eager learner, happy to experiment and feed us and our permanently hungry friends too!

A bastion of most hostel cooks' repertoires of easy one pot meals is Khichdi. This humble mix of rice, daal, a few spices and vegetables often makes a daily appearance when you're broke, have a very basic kitchen and  are not a very skilled cook as yet. Khichdi is also synonymous with home cooked food, food that Mom makes, food that comforts and soothes and fills you up.  We made loads of khichdi and we made it in many, many variations.

Khichdi allows you to stretch your creativity and is a very forgiving dish. The basics remain the same - small grain rice, daal, a few basic spices and a pressure cooker are all you really need. You can build on this base and take this humble food to high levels of sophistication. I have added everything from minced lamb, Goan choriz and even spicy tangy prawn pickle to khichdi with fabulous results.

I cannot replicate those hostel flavours however hard I try. I think the secret was in the fact that it cooked very slowly on the hot plate. No matter how low you keep the flame on the gas burner it simply does not cook as slowly and therein lies the difference. But that doesn't stop me from making khichdi every once in a way.

We made khichdi packed with assorted vegetables most frequently. The highlight would be a dollop of ghee on the steaming hot khichdi and this invariably resulted in a burned tongue! While I was quite used to adding potatoes, green peas, carrots and even cauliflower florets, K introduced me to the idea of adding brinjal to khichdi. My mind baulked and I was not at confident that it would work. It did. And how! Now I cannot imagine making khichdi without adding a few pieces of brinjal to it :)

Hostel Khichdi

3/4 cup short grain rice.
1/2 cup masoor or mung daal
1 large onion, sliced
1 large potato, cut into large cubes
6 baby dark purple brinjals halved or 1 medium sized bharta brinjal, cubed
1 tomato chopped
2 fresh green chillies
a hand full of fresh green peas
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
turmeric, cumin, kashmiri chilli powders
salt
mustard oil (or whatever oil you prefer)
water

Wash the rice and the daal really well, drain and leave aside.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in your pressure cooker and fry the potatoes. Once they turn slightly red add the brinjals. Fry for a bit and then add the green chillies and the onions. Stir well and let the onions cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the chopped tomato, the ginger garlic paste and the powdered spices and salt. Add a splash of water so the dry spices don't burn. Stir everything well and chuck in the peas.
Add the washed rice and daal and mix it all well. Add a generous amount of water and bring it to a boil. Shut the cooker and simmer as soon as it whistles. Cook on simmer for 5 minutes and switch off. LEt the steam disperse on it's own.

Serve the khichdi with a generous dollop of ghee, fried/roasted papads, fried fish or prawns or with that Bengali favourite, begun bhaja.

Peanut Butter Crinkles

Peanut Butter is something I have loved since I was a toddler. My earliest memory of peanut butter is this large glass jar of Kraft peanut butter that my paternal uncle and his wife had brought for me from Canada. My mother treasured that glass jar for years until it finally broke when I was in my teens. In fact, my love of peanut butter was so well known in the family that my aunt (the same one who sent that glass jar of Kraft) sent me a jar of Kraft peanut butter among all the lovely gifts she sent me for my wedding :)

I have been so caught up with work and with painting that I've hardly baked anything in recent months. But I've been yearning to! We out at a friend's house for dinner last night as we talked about different foods and favourites, the famous Shrewsbury biscuits of Kayani Bakery in Pune were mentioned. The hubby and I exchanged glances and without saying a word we knew that I'd be baking Shortbread today. Buttery, salty and not too sweet, these melt in the mouth morsels are ridiculously easy to make and they are simply divine.

I dug out my tomes of cookie recipes. If I was going to make cookies I wanted to make many, even some new kinds. The peanut butter crinkles are very easy to make and are just heavenly. Since I had all the required ingredients at hand I decided to make them too.

The recipe is from The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits published by the Australian Women's Weekly. I have tweaked it a bit, of course ;)

Peanut Butter Crinkles

125gms butter. I used Amul
1tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 and 1/4 cup plain flour

Take a large clean mixing bowl. Cream the butter with all the remaining ingredients barring the flour.Sift the flour on a sheet of paper or in another bowl.Tip it into the creamed butter sugar mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon to form a firm dough. if you find the dough is soft add a little flour and knead very lightly to make it firmer.

Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and place onto your cookie sheet. press down with a fork and mark a rough criss-cross pattern on the tops and flatten the cookies out a little. Don't press very hard, just spread the cookies a bit.

Bake for 15 mins in a preheated oven at 180C. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Make yourself a mug of coffee, grab a pile of these cookies, curl up in a cozy corner with a good book and enjoy these peanut butter crinkles. The hubby went a step further- he slathered a cookie with raspberry jam and stuck another cookie on to it to make a PBJ cookie sandwich!

They're so easy to make I'm sure I'll be making them again really soon.