Popatjees - Sweet Puffy Nostalgia

I first heard of popatjees when the hubby reminisced about the tea time snacks his grandmom and grand aunts used to make. His Mamaiji (maternal grand mother) and Serah Aunty (father's aunt) were well known for their repertoires of evening snacks - bhakras, karkarias, chaapat, cake, and on occasion, popatjees. The quirky name had stuck in my mind and I was curious about them but somehow I never got a chance to see them made or actually eat them either.

Popatjes are a simple snack - lightly flavoured fermented dough balls deep fried till dark brown and then dunked in a sugar syrup for a few moments and removed. The fermenting agent is ideally toddy though sour curd is commonly used if toddy isn't available.

The years passed, the elders were gone. I'd not encountered the popatjee yet. But, I had got my hands on my mother in law's popatjee no paenno - the special vessel in which the popatjees are made.

Ingredients were gathered, toddy was procured, the husband was booked for the afternoon, and I set out to make popatjees under his supervision.

1 cup Whole wheat flour 

1 cup Semolina or rava 

2 cups Toddy 

Salt 

2 tbsps Charoli 

2 -3 tbsps Raisins 

1 tsp Cardamom-nutmeg powder 

1 tsp Vanilla 

1 cup Sugar 

2 cups Water 

Oil

In a clean large bowl mix the wheat flour with the semolina. Add a pinch of salt. Into this pour most of the toddy, reserving around a quarter of a cup.

Mix with a spatula to form a loose, thick, porridge-y dough. Add the remaining toddy only if required. Cover the bowl with a napkin and leave it in a warm corner to ferment for 2 to 3 hours.

To make cardamom - nutmeg powder take cardamom seeds and nutmeg in equal weight and grind in a spice mill with some sugar to help it along. Store in an air tight bottle and use as required. Don't discard the skins of the cardamom pods - use them to make masala tea, or in your regular cooking.

Add the raisins and the charoli nuts, along with the cardamom-nutmeg powder and vanilla into the dough. Mix.

In a saucepan pour in the sugar and water and bring to a boil to make a simple syrup. Add a few cardamom peels to the water while making the syrup.

To make the popatjees get your cooking area organised. Put the popatjee no paenno on the gas hob and pour in enough oil to fill all the cavities to the brim. Heat the oil.

Have the syrup ready and conveniently placed nearby. Keep a colander and a vessel under it ready.

Once the oil is hot carefully drop in a heaped tablespoon of batter into each cavity of the paenno. If you're using a regular appe pan these cavities are much smaller so drop in a smaller quantity of dough. 

Turn the popatjee in just a few seconds so the top also gets sealed and you get a uniformly cooked popatjee. Lower the heat and let the popatjees cook for a few minutes, turning as required. 

Remove each popatjee carefully, drain what oil you can and dunk into the waiting syrup. If the syrup is still hot the popatjees will suck it in quickly.

Remove from the syrup in a few seconds, don't leave them in for more than 10 seconds. Let them drain in the colander.

Serve the popatjees as soon as you can.

We had our popatjees with our evening coffee. Well, in our house it's coffee time at tea time ;)

The key to a good popatjee is proper fermentation and if the dough has risen properly you will get a light porous popatjee that will not only absorb the sugar syrup quickly, it also lets a good amount of syrup drain out resulting in a sweet snack that's not sickeningly sweet. We did get the fermentation right, now we just have to perfect the art of getting them properly shaped! Regardless of the less than perfect shape, they did taste quite good and I'm sure Mamaiji and Serah Aunty would have both approved. 

Pakki Keri ma Gos - Mutton with Ripe Mangoes

Everybody knows I don't like fruits and I don't eat them at all if I can help it. So if you're wondering what I'm doing blogging a recipe that has ripe mangoes in it, bear with me! A few years ago I asked the husband to dig up some Parsi dishes that were not so commonly known any more, possibly with some unusual ingredients, that we could add to our menu at Katy's Kitchen. I was a bit weary of the sali botis and patra ni machhis and wanted to offer a wider selection on our menu and have a deeper glimpse into Parsi cuisine. That's when he, with a twinkle in his eye, told me about Pakki Keri ma Gos - goat meat cooked with ripe mangoes. Very predictably I looked at him in complete disbelief and accused him of making up something that was sure not to appeal to me just to get out of the hassle of expanding our menu. How wrong I was!

We've been serving Pakki Keri ma Gos to many of our devoted clients every summer over the last few years and yes, I take full credit for putting it out there again.

The mutton for this dish is cooked with relatively fewer spices making it perfect for a summer meal. This also allows the flavour of the mango to shine through giving the dish a light sweet-sour touch. Use a well ripened but still slightly firm mango reserving a few chunks to be added towards the end.

500 gms Mutton 

1 Large ripe mango, cubed 

2 Large onions, finely chopped 

Ginger garlic paste 

Turmeric 

Chilli powder 

Shahi jeera 

Javitri powder 1/4 tsp 

Saffron 

1 cup Milk 

Garam masala powder 

2 -3 Kashmiri chillies 

Oil

Salt

Wash the mutton lightly, drain off water and then marinate with salt and ginger garlic paste for 20 minutes or so.

Soak the saffron in the milk.

In a thick bottomed vessel heat oil and fry the onions till pink.

Add the Kashmiri chillies and shah jeera and let it sizzle. Add the turmeric, chilli powder, and javitri powder. Add a couple of teaspoons of water and cook it all for a minute.

Now put the marinated mutton into the pot, stir well to coat with the spices and braise for 5 to 10 minutes. Add half the cubed mango and the stone (gutli) of the mango along with saffron milk into the mutton and mix. Pour enough water to just cover the meat, cover the pot and cook on a low flame till the mutton is nearly done.

Add the remaining chunks of mango, mix and cook till the meat is completely done. Dry off the gravy if it is watery. The gravy should be thick, and slightly sticky and the meat should be soft and falling off the bone.

Serve with hot rotis or parathas.

I paired the Pakki Keri ma Gos with a quinoa and vegetable pullao. I cooked this combination for a competition I participated in where the challenge was to cook a dish using mangoes and quinoa. 

Mixed Millet Pullao with Goan Choriz

Challenges add flavour to life and this is something I'm beginning to appreciate even more after I participated in the Commeat Recipe Challenge with KitchenAid India. This challenge, spread over five weeks, had five well known people from the food blogging and writing world with each one setting a challenge every week.

The first challenge was set by Bangalore blogger Neha Mathur and her challenge was "cook something innovative with millets". Now, the thing is, I've led a fairly sheltered life as far as food is concerned and have only recently been formally introduced to millets. There was no rush of creativity and I was quite stymied. The only thing I'd made with millets was a sort of pullao with assorted vegetables and that didn't seem particularly creative or even worthy of the challenge. As I mulled over pullao possibilities and tried to think of something beyond the obvious, I settled on making a choriz pullao using millets in place of rice.

25 Goan Choriz links (for stock) 

25 Goan Choriz links 

1 cup Mixed millets 

1 Onion sliced 

4 cloves Garlic chopped 

1 Green capsicum 

1 Potato 

Salt 

Oil

Dry roast the millets in a frying pan over medium heat till they give out a fragrant toasty smell.
Peel the choriz reserved for the stock and boil in 2 cups of water for a few minutes till the meat is cooked. Strain the meat and reserve the liquid stock.

Cube the potatoes and chop the capsicum into half inch sized pieces.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the potatoes over medium heat till they are cooked. Be careful not to over-brown them.

Add the sliced onions to the pan and fry for a further couple of minutes. Add the garlic too.

Now add the drained choriz meat along with the chopped capsicum, mix well and fry for another minute.

Peel the remaining choriz links and add it all to the pan. Cook over medium heat letting the fat render from the choriz. You can cover the pan at this stage and let it cook for a few minutes. 
Add salt allowing for the millets you will add later.

Remove approximately one quarter of this mix to a bowl and keep aside.

Now add the toasted millets to the pan and mix everything properly. Pour in the choriz stock and once it boils reduce the heat and let the millets absorb all the liquid in the pan.

Cover the pan and let it rest for five minutes. Then fluff up the grains with a fork, garnish with the reserved vegetable and choriz mix and serve your millets and choriz pullao hot.

We thoroughly enjoyed the pullao and, in fact, the hubby had seconds too. And that's not all - my recipe won a prize! Now I have a stylish ice cream scoop from KitchenAid poshing up my small tools drawer.

Pui Chingri

The vegetable market in Nerul is one of my favourite markets - first of all, it's not a concrete building but a neatly laid out grid of old fashioned stalls covered with tarpaulin. The paths between the stalls are uneven and the whole affair is rough and rustic. One jostles other shoppers, avoids the odd rotting veggie on the floor, and tries to catch the attention of the vendor as he attends to other customers, weighs produce, takes payments, and generally goes about his business. There are no aseptic aisles with neatly packaged produce on shiny, well lit shelves. Not that I don't enjoy a trip to the supermarket, but supermarkets don't have that energetic vibe of a proper street market, do they?

I had slid into the habit of buying groceries and even vegetables and fruit online - there's no match for the convenience that affords - but after a few months I was itching to be out there in the market, in the middle of that magical atmosphere surrounded by people, noise, and piles of fresh produce.

I waited for the hubby's day off from work and dragged him off to the market. The monsoons have just hit Maharashtra and fresh greens and seasonal vegetables are now flowing back into the markets. As I wandered among the stalls I came to the one that sells fresh leafy greens of every variety along with an excellent selection of 'videshi' or foreign produce - broccoli, basil, asparagus, parsley, etc., which are now as mundane as carrots and potatoes. As I looked at the leafy greens I saw many I had never cooked/eaten/seen before. So I thought to myself, why not try something new, and picked up a bunch of basella or Malabar spinach, what we Bengalis call Pui.

Leafy greens are commonly used in Bengali recipes and you will find both vegetarian (in fact, vegan) and non vegetarian preparations. Fish and prawns are often stir fried with seasonal greens, lightly tempered with paanch phoron, or just mustard or nigella seeds, or combinations of the same with green chillies, etc., accompanied with vegetables like red pumpkin, potatoes, green peas, brinjals, etc. I decided to make Pui Chingri, a dish I had heard about but never eaten.

Pui Chingri 

15 Prawns 

1 bunch Pui or malabar spinach 

1 Large potato 

1/2 tsp Paanch phoron 

3 Green chillies 

Turmeric 

Salt 

Mustard oil

Shell and devein the prawns, and wash.

Marinate the drained prawns in salt and turmeric

Clean the pui - pick out wilted leaves and discard the very thick, woody bits of stem. Chop and wash the pui greens in plenty of water. Drain in a colander.

Cut the potato into medium sized cubes.

Heat mustard oil in a wok and fry the prawns for a minute till they turn opaque. Remove to a dish.

In the same oil fry the cubed potatoes till they get slightly browned. Remove to the same plate with the prawns.

Add a little more mustard oil to the wok if required and let it heat up. Drop in the green chillies and follow with the paanch phoron.

Once the spices sizzle add the washed and drained pui leaves and tender stalks. Stir it all well till most of the leaves have begun to wilt. Add salt and a little turmeric, cover and cook on a low flame for a few minutes.

Add the fried potatoes and cook further. Don't add any water - the pui will release enough to cook the potatoes. Stir well and cook till the potatoes are nearly done.

Add the prawns to the wok and mix thoroughly. Cover and cook for a minute. If there's too much water in the wok leave off the cover and dry it off till it's minimal.

Serve the Pui Chingri with a simple daal and hot rice.

The pui greeens didn't seem to have much of an inherrent flavour but I still liked the dish and so did the hubby. Smaller prawns would be ideal for this as they pack tons of flavour and would certainly enhance the dish. Teamed with a simple masoor daal and plain white rice, this made for a lovely mid week dinner and the husband has packed the leftovers in his office dabba. Now if that isn't a stamp of approval I don't know what is!

Begun Basanti - Eggplants in Mustard and Curd

Begun Basanti. I don't remember where I encountered this dish for the first time but the name lingered in my mind. I only encountered it online, mentioned on someone's post on Facebook or in a food group or some such random location. The name had me hooked. Compared with 'begun bhaja' 'begun pora' 'neem begun' etc., which are bare descriptions of the dish, begun basanti was mysterious and romantic and deicious all at once!

Today a close friend was coming for lunch and these days, whenever someone comes over for a meal I try to cook something new or special, something I haven't cooked a zillion times already. I had a bunch of lovely green long brinjals in the veg drawer in the fridge and since Bengalis love brinjals I knew I was cooking something with these babies. I remembered Begun Basanti and thought of making it finally.

A trawl through the Internet and a glance through my Bengali cookbooks threw up quite a few recipes with many variations - some had curd, some had coconut, while others had posto (poppy seeds), and some had combinations of these, while the common ingredient was mustard paste. I figured out a basic recipe from my reading and proceeded to make my version of Begun Basanti.

6 - 8 long green brinjals
2-3 green chillies
1 inch fresh ginger
1/2 packet Sunrise Mustard powder
4 tbsp curd, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp kalonji or nigella seeds
turmeric
chilli powder
jeera powder
salt
sugar
mustard oil

Wash the brinjals and cut them into long pieces. I cut the brinjal into 4 inch pieces and slit each piece lengthwise.
Sprinkle salt and turmeric on the cut brinjals and leave aside for 10 minutes.
Soak the mustard powder in a little water to make a runny paste and let it sit for 10 - 15 minutes.
Pound the ginger in a mortar to make it as fine as you can.
Heat mustard oil in a wok or kadai and fry the brinjals till soft. Let the cut sides brown but don't burn the brinjals. Remove the fried brinjals to a plate.

In a bowl combine the mustard paste with the beaten curd, smashed fresh ginger, salt and turmeric. Make a smooth mix. This will form your gravy.
In the same oil chuck in the kalonji followed by the green chillies. You can slit the chillies for extra punch.
Now pour in the mustard-curd paste and stir well. Add some chilli powder and jeera powder. Let this cook for a few minutes till the oil separates out again.
Add the fried brinjal pieces and a good pinch of sugar. Stir gently to coat the brinjal pieces with the gravy. Be careful not to squash or break the brinjal pieces. Let it cook for 3 -4 minutes.
Now add half a cup of water, stir and let it simmer for another couple of minutes. Reduce the gravy to a consistency you like.
Add salt if required.
Remove to a nice serving bowl and garnish with fresh chopped coriander.

This is great as a side dish on an elaborate dinner menu and also as the star of a light dinner paired with simple rotis.

Daab'er Shaansh ar Gondhoraaj Lebu diye Chingri - Prawns in Tender Coconut and Gondhoraj Zest

It was one more of the little dinner parties I have - just a few friends, and a completely home-cooked meal. Since one of my guests was a friend from Australia who misses Bengali food a lot, I was cooking a Bengali meal in her honour. I planned to make the entire elaborate traditional meal right from the bhaja, teto (bitter element) daal, through fish, chatney, and a finale of mangsho'r jhol. However we're having sickeningly hot weather and the hubby cautioned me to pare down the menu as no one would actually enjoy the full spread in this awful weather. That did make sense and I edited my menu severely by removing the little fiddly elements like the bhatey (mashed vegetable) and bhaja (fried accompaniment with daal), and even the vegetable course I had planned.  The final menu had a simple daal, plain white rice, a prawn course, mangsho'r jhol (goat curry) and kaancha aam'er chatney, followed by gur'er paayesh for dessert.

I started out with a plan to make Daab Chingri, a well known Bengali classic, with the prawns. I happened to have loads of daab (tender coconuts) at home and it had been a while since I'd made daab chingri. As it happens with me a lot, though I planned a tried and tested and guaranteed to be great dish, something kept me hesitating, not a 100% convinced. I checked countless recipes online and dithered away, or simply cooked the other things on my menu.

And then it was evening and my guests would be arriving in a little more than an hour! I hadn't made any progress with my daab chingri. And then I had an idea. The daab chingri was abandoned but not entirely. I was in the mood to fool around and I had, what I thought would be a brilliant dish in my mind. But I did have guests to feed - so taking no chances I had a quick confer with the hubby and I was back in the kitchen ready to make Daab'er Shaansh ar Gondhoraaj Lebu diye Chingri.

500 gms, fresh medium sized prawns
flesh from two tender coconuts
1 cup tender coconut water
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 tsp zest of Gondhoraaj Lemon
1 large onion finely chopped
2 or 3 green chillies minced
1 inch fresh ginger
salt
turmeric
Mustard oil

Shell and devein the prawns. You can leave the heads on if you like, I don't because the hubby is allergic to the shell. Marinate the washed and drained prawns in salt and turmeric.
In a wok heat the mustard oil. Once it's hot reduce the flame and chuck in the finely chopped onions and the minced green chillies. Fry slowly taking care not to brown the onions at all.
Smash the ginger into a rough paste in your mortar and pestle. Use fresh ginger instead of store bought paste - the flavour is significantly better. Add it to the frying onions.
After a minute or so add the prawns. Stir well and cook over a medium flame till the prawns turn just opaque.
Now add the coconut flesh and the coconut water. Bring it to a boil and add the coconut cream. You can use half a cup of thickly made coconut milk using a commercial coconut powder if you don't have coconut cream. Mix well.
Let it all simmer till the prawns are cooked. Don't over cook your prawns!
Switch off the flame and then sprinkle the Gondhoraaj zest over the curry. Cover the pot and let it infuse for 5 minutes.
Serve with plain hot rice.

No Mess Tandoori Chicken with Asahi Kasei Foil

This summer we're facing quite a severe water shortage here in Kharghar with water in the taps for less than an hour in a day. One of the biggest fall outs of this situation is that I can hardly cook or bake and that can become really difficult for me to deal with. In the mad dash to fill up water to last through the day, deal with laundry, dishes, and drinking water, not every chore gets done in time. I'm often left with unwashed dishes and half done laundry that takes a couple of days to deal with. There have been times when all I've managed to wash is one coffee mug and the water has gone...

In this situation it's natural that one looks for solutions because eating takeaways and one pot meals for nearly three months is sure to drive us nuts. Yes, I'm using biodegradable disposable plates already and I'm seriously considering paper glasses for coffee/water. But I need to figure out ways to be able to cook interesting things but keep the washing up easy and minimal.

Then I remembered the Asahi Kasei products that I had used at the APB Cook Studio a few months ago at a pot luck event Rushina had hosted. I'd made this Roast Chicken using the cooking foil to fry the potatoes on. I had some of that foil at home and I realised this could be the answer to my prayers!

I decided to make a simple no fuss Tandoori Chicken using the foil in the oven. If you think about it Tandoori Chicken is one of the simplest things one can make at home and that too, with great results. All you really need to do is marinate the chicken for a few hours and then cook it either in a tandoor if you have one, or an oven like I did.

In normal circumstances I would have placed the marinated chicken directly into my baking dish or tray. This time I lined my baking tray with the Asahi Kasei foil and then placed the chicken pieces on it. Not only did I end up with perfectly cooked tandoori chicken thanks to a good recipe, I also had a spotless baking tray with no scorched bits of marinade or cooking juices stuck on it. I could have actually just put that tray back in the cupboard, it was that clean.


For the Tandoori Chicken -

6 full chicken legs - thigh and drumstick
1 cup thick curd
Salt
1/2 tsp Amchur powder
2 -3 drops orange food colour (optional)

Grind together in a little vinegar -

8 - 10 Kashmiri chillies
1 tsp Peppercorns
1/2 tsp Cloves
2" piece Cassia bark
2 Black cardamoms
8 - 10 cloves Garlic

Cut deep slashes into the chicken legs. Mix the ground paste into the curd with the remaining ingredients and marinate the chicken pieces for at least 6 hours in the fridge. You can put the marinated pieces into a sealed plastic bag and freeze till you need them. Just make sure you thaw the pieces properly before you cook them.

Preheat your oven to 180C.

Line a baking dish or metal cookie sheet with Asahi Kasei cooking foil. Turn up the edges along the sides of the dish/cookie sheet.  Place the chicken pieces on the foil leaving room around the pieces so they cook properly. Bake in the hot oven for around 40 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes.

You can also cook this in your frying pan lined with the Asahi Kasei cooking foil. Line the pan with foil covering the cooking surface and the sides of the pan. Place chicken pieces on the foil and then cook covered on a slow flame. Turn the pieces to cook evenly on all sides. The advantage of cooking this dish in the oven is the light charring that gives the tandoori that nice smoked flavour but the pan cooked version is not far behind on the yumminess scale.

Serve hot with rotis, naan, or bread, and sliced onions and fresh lime wedges.

The thing about tandoori chicken is that it's quite a low fat preparation as there's no cream in the marinade and no oil is used in the cooking process. With variations in the marinade one can make quite a range of delicious yet low fat versions of this simple recipe. And of course, the Asahi Kasei foil is quite a boon that makes the washing up woes simply go away.

Mutton Cocktail Kebabs - A Katy's Kitchen Classic

One of the most popular party snacks on the Katy's Kitchen menu is the mutton cocktail kebab. Little morsels of spicy mutton mince deep fried to perfection, these nibbles are perfect for parties or even for a not so quiet evening watching the T20 matches at home. Make ahead if you like (just zap in the microwave before you serve) or serve them hot out of the wok - either way these are just delicious!

Mutton Cocktail Kebabs

1/4 kilo mutton kheema
5 slices bread
2 eggs
2 large onions, chopped fine
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped fine
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped fine
5 green chillies, chopped fine
1 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
salt
oil for frying

Mix all the ingredients barring the sliced bread in a clean bowl. Mix well to blend everything nicely.
Soak bread slices in water for a couple of minutes and then squeeze out as much water as possible with your palms. Crumble this soaked and squeezed bread into the kheema mix. Knead everything together. You need to get a slightly wet mix so if it's too dry add another egg.

Heat plenty of oil (enough to deep fry) in a wok or kadai till it smokes. Quickly spoon in the mix, a teaspoon at a time and fry for three or four minutes, turning gently till the kebabs are cooked through. You can also take a large portion of the mix in your hand and drop in small gobbets of the mix into the hot oil. Either way, be very careful as the hot oil can cause accidents. Do this in small batches so you have better control and the kebabs don't get over cooked.

Remove the kebabs onto a tissue lined plate to get rid of excess oil, and then serve with a mint chutney or with good old ketchup. 

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto and Grana Padano Pull Apart Rolls

If there's one thing that cheers up the hubby it's the smell of bread baking. He'd been bugging me to make bread at home for quite some time but for one reason or the other it just wasn't happening. This morning I decided nothing was going to get in the way - I was going to bake some bread no matter what. Something simple, comforting, and easy to put together with whatever I had in the fridge and pantry. 

After rooting around I found a jar of sun dried tomato pesto and a wedge of Grana Padano cheese among a whole lot of other things and thought of using the two in pull apart rolls. Pull aparts are among the easiest breads you can make at home, and if you're a beginner with breads, these rolls will boost your confidence for sure. Simply make the basic dough, knead for a bit, let it rise, roll out, slather with filling, roll up, slice into portions, place in baking tin, let rise again, and bake. That's it. It's just the initial kneading that requires some attention, and once that's done it's a matter of following a simple procedure step by step.

I've made pull aparts with many different fillings - some sweet, some savoury - and there's no end to the variety of possibilities. Tomato and cheese is a classic combination and it works very well in breads too. In these rolls I used Grana Padano, a hard cheese from Italy that is similar to Parmesan. In fact, you can use Parmesan instead if you prefer. 


Sun Dried Tomato Pesto and Grana Padano Pull Apart Rolls


200 gms all purpose flour
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp butter, softened
1 tsp salt
3-4 tsp sun dried tomato pesto
1/2 cup Grana Padano, grated
extra butter for brushing

Mix the sugar and yeast in a bowl and then pour the luke warm water over both. 

Take flour in a clean mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast-sugar mix. Bring it all together with a pastry cutter (it's less messy) or simply mix with your fingers. You will have a sticky dough. Remove from the bowl to your floured work surface. 

On the side of your work surface mix the butter and salt with your fingers, rubbing in a light circular motion, fingers parallel to the surface. Once the butter looks pale and foamy mix it into the dough. Now knead gently till you have a soft pliable dough, stretching and folding as you go. Dust with dry flour as required if the dough is too sticky. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Roll the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl to rise. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it to double. This should take around 20 to 30 minutes depending on the weather. 

Once the dough has doubled remove it onto your floured work surface. Deflate it gently and knead it for a minute. 

Roll out the dough into a largeish rectangle. Try to get a uniform shape or you will have lop-sided rolls. Spread a generous few dollops of the sun dried tomato pesto going to the edges of the rectangle. Try to drain out as much of the oil as possible from the pesto (when baking, the oil will settle to the bottom of your baking tin and you will end up with 'fried' bits). Grate the cheese over the pesto uniformly. 

Now carefully roll the rectangle Swiss-roll style. Do this gently or your roll will be lumpy and loose. Tighten the roll as you go. You will have a long roll of dough. Cut into rolls with a sharp non serrated knife or a dough scraper. Arrange the rolls loosely in a baking tin, cut sides horizontal, leaving enough room for the rolls to prove and swell till they are double, or just squashed up closely with each other. Use more than one tin if they don't all fit into one, but don't crowd them. 

Once they have proved pop them into a preheated oven at 200C and bake for around 20 minutes till the tops are a nice golden brown. Brush with a bit of butter as soon as you take them out of the oven. 

Serve them warm or enjoy them at leisure with a bowl of soup. 

Begun Pora - Roasted Eggpant Bengali Style

Begun Pora is one of those dishes that every Bengali has encountered at some time or the other in their life time. Like most vegetarian preparations of Bengali cuisine this is another exceptionally simple recipe that's big on flavour and taste, and therefore enjoys cult status.

Years ago when my Didin's sisters cooked on 'koyla'r unoon' or coal fed clay ovens the begun pora was made frequently. That flavour, of course, simply cannot be recreated on a gas stove, and even less in an electric oven. Still, for apartment inhabiting urban dwellers like us the only way to get a relatively good smokey begun pora is to roast it on the open gas flame. Yes, cleaning up after the roasting is a pain but then - no pain no begun pora!

There are many variations to the basic theme of roasted eggplants spiced up and served with rotis or parathas, across Indian cuisines. Some add a medley of spices, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and even curd. The version I like best, probably because that's what I grew up eating, is where the roasted eggplant is simply mashed up and mixed with raw onions, green chillies, fresh coriander, salt, and of course, mustard oil. There is no further cooking beyond roasting the eggplant till it is charred and the flesh is translucent. The smoked flavour dominates, the chillies add punch, the onions give crunch and texture, the coriander makes it fresh and vibrant, and the mustard oil stamps it as clearly Bengali.

Begun Pora

1 large 'bharta' Eggplant
1 medium onion, chopped
2 green chillies, chopped fine
A few sprigs fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine
salt
mustard oil

Wash and dry the eggplant and then make four cuts from the tip to the base, leaving the stalk in place. If it's a really large eggplant make a few stabs in the four quarters just to help it roast quicker. Take a little mustard oil in your palm and coat the eggplant inside and out with the oil. Do this carefully so you don't break off any quarter from the stalk.

Roast the eggplant slowly over the gas flame. It took this one around 20 minutes to roast - I reduced the flame often so it would cook right through and not just burn on the outside. Make sure you monitor the roasting process - Not only can the eggplant burn, the gas flame might also go off because of the juices dripping from the eggplant. So pay attention and NEVER leave it unsupervised. Check the eggplant occasionally by inserting a knife into the flesh to see if it is cooked. The flesh should change colour and become translucent till right inside.

Once it's done take it off the flame and leave it in a plate or wide vessel to cool. Once it's cooled enough to handle peel off the charred peel of the eggplant.

Now add salt, a hefty slug of mustard oil, the chopped onions (chop the onions smallish - not too fine but not coarse either or they will be a little jarring as you eat), chillies, and coriander leaves and mash it up all up and mix well.

Break up the eggplant flesh as much as you can. Once it's all mixed just have a quick taste and adjust salt if required.

Serve the begun pora with hot phulkas or simple parathas. You can add this simple begun pora to a more elaborate menu as a flavourful side dish too.
 

Poached to Perfection - An Easy method for Poaching Eggs

Being married to a Parsi means eggs feature very often at breakfast in our house. Though I don't cook egg curries very often, fried eggs, omelettes, french toast, akuri, etc., are a very regular feature in the mornings. Breakfast is our favourite meal and we like to make a fuss over it adding cold cuts, cheeses, and of course, eggs to the meal. Over the years I have learned how to fry eggs perfectly but the perfect poached egg was still elusive.

I'd seen plenty of videos showing different techniques but I couldn't really master any of them. All that swirling the water and popping in the egg only resulted in a mess of stringy egg whites that looked like very ugly noodles instead of those perfect poached eggs ones saw demonstrated. I needed to find a way to keep the white together and without buying another rash of gadgets and doodads (yes, I'm trying hard not to buy stuff!).

After fooling around with various saucepans, bowls, and ladles I have finally figured out a simple technique that has worked very well, and repeatedly. This is one science project that has yielded good results!

Here's what you will need -

Fresh eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
Water
oil

A small deep saucepan
A large milk ladle
A flexible rubber spatula
Patience

And here's what to do -

Fill the saucepan about halfway up with water. Bring the water to a boil with the vinegar added to it.
Rub the ladle with a drop of oil. This helps release the egg once it's cooked.
In the ladle crack one egg and sprinkle with a little salt. Carefully lower the egg on to the water but don't submerge it. Let the lower side of the egg set with the heat from the water.

Tip the side of the ladle just a little and let very little water run onto the egg. Once again, be careful not to let the egg run out of the ladle or too much water get in. Be patient and do this with confidence and a steady hand. Alternatively pour hot water onto the egg using another ladle. Do this if you are sure you can keep the egg steady and use the other hand simultaneously.

Once the top of the egg is set let more water in and slowly submerge the ladle into the water. The water will foam up so keep an eye on things and don't let it spill over. Reduce the heat if required. Don't leave the egg submerged - let it stay under the hot water just a few seconds at a time.

Pour off any water from the ladle once the egg is done to your level of preference. Try to ensure that all the white is cooked.

Gently prise off the egg using the rubber spatula and slide it onto your ready plate or on a slice of toast. You can slide the poached egg onto a slotted spoon to drain off all the excess water if you like. Be sure not to break the egg.

It takes around three to four minutes to do each egg from start to finish so I make these on days when I'm not in a hurry. Patience is the key here so don't rush things. Make sure you have your equipment in place before you start. And use fresh eggs.

Did you know many Bengalis refer to the good old fried egg as 'dim'er poach'? You should have seen the hubby's face when my mum offered to make him a poach for breakfast when she visited the first time after we were married, and presented him with a perfectly fried egg! Well, my mother has also been educated in the finer points of egg dishes and their correct nomenclature since then, lol! 

Aar Machher Jhol - Another Bengali Fish Curry

As a child I hadn't eaten many varieties of fish beyond Rui and Katla, Chingri (prawns), and the occasional Ilish, Pabda, and Tyangra. Fresh water fish was available in Mumbai but the variety was quite limited. Thus my education about the immense variety of fish that is cooked in Bengali households was very severely lacking. It didn't help that not much other than Rui and Katla was cooked in my Didin's (mom's mom) kitchen so my exposure to fish was limited even in Kolkata, and since I was not an adventurous kid as far as food was concerned, I would refuse to eat any unfamiliar fish at other relatives' houses too.

My interest in food started when I was in the hostel in Pune while studying archaeology. I often cooked simple meals on a hot plate with basic vessels and a frugal pantry. Then I met the hubby and my exploration of food began in earnest. Eventually we married and have finally ended up living in Kharghar, a remote suburb in Navi Mumbai.

The best thing about life in Kharghar is my fish monger. Operating from a shop about 15 minutes away from my house, this fellow has a huge variety of fresh water and sea water fish available daily. All I do is call up to find out what's available on the day and place my order. My fish comes home to me, cleaned and cut as I like, neatly packed. It is from here that I have discovered new varieties of fish that I had never even heard of, let alone eaten. And one of these, Aar maach, has become a favourite now. It's a large fatty fish, no scales, and has very few bones.

Since there was no point in calling up my mum and asking her for a recipe I turned to good old Google. After browsing a little I realised that the best way to cook this beautiful fish is in the traditional jhol style, with onions and tomatoes, ginger and garlic, and green chillies for zest. It's a very delicate fish that tends to break quite easily, so handle it with care while cooking.

Aar Machh'er Jhol

5 or 6 pieces of Aar (around 500gms)
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped fine or pureed
1 tbsp fresh ginger-garlic paste
2 fresh green chillies
2 small Indian bay leaves
sugar
salt
turmeric
red chilli powder
mustard oil
water

Wash the fish gently and drain all water. Sprinkle with salt and turmeric and set aside for 10 minutes. In the mean time you can slice the onion, chop the tomato, and pound the ginger and garlic into a paste.
Heat mustard oil in a thick bottomed kadai. Once properly hot fry the fish, one or two pieces at a time. Flip the pieces carefully to cook both sides. Remove from the oil when you see the first hints on browning on the fish pieces. Set aside.

In the same oil throw in the green chillies and the Indian bay leaves. Add in the sliced onions and a pinch of sugar. Stir well and fry till the onions start to brown. Now add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute. Keep the heat at medium throughout so things cook without burning. Add the tomato and cook further. Put in some turmeric, a teaspoon or so of chilli powder, and salt as required. Stir nicely to mix everything and let the spices cook properly.

Once the oil starts to separate from the mix pour in a generous cupful of water and bring it all to a boil. Slide in the fried pieces of fish and let the curry cook for another five minutes. Aar cooks quite fast so don't leave it to boil for too long.

Remove to a flat bottomed bowl and serve it with plain hot rice. Happiness will happen with the first mouthful :)

The Oriental Hub, Vashi - For Want of a Copy Editor this Restaurant is Lost

There are new restaurants opening up in Navi Mumbai every month and the food scene here is quite exciting. I have been invited to a few previews now and then and have, over time, found a peculiar trend. Plenty of attention is paid to the decor, the cutlery and crockery, uniforms of the servers, the wine list, the dishes on the menu - everything that one would expect. Known as I am as a Grammar Nazi, I unfailingly read menus, flyers, and any other readable things within reach. And I find that the menus and other printed paraphernalia is invariably full of errors. Not just the random typo but serious errors.

Today we went to The Oriental Hub just opposite Inorbit Mall at Vashi. Another one of the many new eateries that have opened in the area, it looked promising enough from the outside. The interiors are spacious and well lit (I really dislike dimly lit restaurants because I like to see and often photograph what I'm eating).

Once we had settled into our seats we were promptly handed the menu cards. Now at most 'fine dine' places one expects a nice looking menu card. If nothing else at least a properly bound menu with neatly printed lists of the items available, sorted into the relevant categories. What we got were cheap plastic folders with photo copied sheets inserted into transparent plastic pockets. I was honestly quite startled. With most dishes priced between INR 300 and 500, this was not a low budget dining hall by any long shot.

While I was still recovering from this shabby menu card the hubby showed me a card placed on the table - It was about Chinese New Year and was attempting to say something intelligent. I will leave it to you to figure it out.

Yes, at first glance we all had a good laugh but it left me feeling irritated and disgruntled nevertheless. I went back to looking at the menu and in the next few minutes my irritation turned to anger and disgust. There were so many mistakes on that menu it became a game among the four of us at the table to find the next ridiculous entry. The menu covered Chinese, Thai and Malaysian dishes and, for some strange reason the Indian options were restricted just to kebabs - no main course, no breads/rice, no sides, no desserts.

Each entry on the menu was accompanied by a description of the dish, sometimes detailed and sometimes so short it wasn't even complete. There were innumerable errors and some of the descriptions made little sense, reading like those seemingly nonsensical results you get from Google Translate.

Take this description of Orange Darsaan - The description reads more like a terse recipe and there's no mention of orange anywhere. There's mango ice cream, though.

Even better (?) is the next dessert - the Tub Tim Grawp (?). Another cryptic sounding recipe, it makes me wonder what a guest will be served if the kitchen staff is following those instructions, and what a guest should expect after reading that.

The Sizzling Brownie entry also seems to be accompanied by a recipe meant for the kitchen instead of a tempting description of the dessert that would make your mouth water in anticipation.

And then there's the Date Pancake that doesn't even deserve a complete description. And don't miss the Treasure Bag - there are milk maids to be found inside!

The bloopers were all over the menu. Like these fairy hunans I saw lurking with the Shriraja sauce.

This ridiculous menu made me wonder why a business would spend several lakhs on renting space, doing up the interiors, hiring consultants to help finalise cuisines and menus, hiring staff, investing in equipment, and all the other associated paraphernalia but would not spend a relatively minuscule amount of money to get the content for menu cards and other things checked. Even a school going child with access to Google would be able to straighten out this ludicrous menu card.

That little promotional card set on every table - how much would it have cost this restaurant to hire a proper PR agency and get a correctly written promotional piece done? How much would it have cost The Oriental Hub to get get proper menu cards made?

About the food - We tried four starters - wasabi prawns, squid in plum sauce, chicken prawn baos, and a lamb starter whose name I don't remember. Apart from the baos being slightly underdone, everything else was quite nice. For mains we had Mei Goreng, and Lamb Rendang with steamed rice. My friends said the Mei Goreng was as removed from an authentic Mei Goreng as possible. If one didn't think of the dish as Mei Goreng it was quite nice, but that was not the point. The sauce of the lamb rendang was delicious but I found the lamb severely overcooked and my jaws ached from chewing endlessly. We cautiously ordered a single portion of dessert - the Lime and Lemon Creambrule. It was an untidily made dessert that had no trace of lime or lemon in it. The hubby said it was a simple egg custard with no cream anywhere. We did mention this to the restaurant manager who noted our dissatisfaction and we were not charged for the dessert.

We paid approximately INR 4,000 for a meal for four. At that price I do not expect a cheap plastic folder with crookedly photocopied sheets, not to mention the rubbish they have printed on it.