Kitchen Experiments: Schezwan Chutney

To begin with, for all our non-Indian readers (ha ha…as if!) ‘Schezwan’ is a modification of the name Sichuan, the province of China renowned for its fiery spicy food.
In India, one gets an amazing array of ‘Indian-Chinese’ (or Sino-Ludhianwi, as labeled by former Minister Mani Shanker Aiyer) food – with smile-inducing names like ‘Chicken 65’, ‘Prawn Bullet’, ‘Singapuri Rice’, ‘Veg Triple Schezwan’, all of which are YUMMY- but as Chinese as filet mignon.
So, given this background, ‘Schezwan Chutney’ is a perfectly appropriate name for this Oriental-tasting spicy sauce/dip/chutney.
The recipe below is courtesy the wonderful Mr. S.N.
Mr. S.N., Mrs. S.N. and P.N. were my guides to foodie goodies beyond Indian food. I first tasted as well as learnt to make pizzas, pastas, tacos and much more at their home. I’ll always be grateful to them for broadening my horizons, food-wise.

Mr. S.N.’s Schezwan Chutney:
Take 10 whole dried red chilies and fry them in a tablespoon of oil till they soften and darken in colour.



Grate 3 " of ginger and sauté it in the same oil as the chilies (you can add the ginger halfway through sautéing the chilies)


Grind the chillies, grated ginger and about 15 cloves of peeled garlic, add 1 tablespoon of sugar,1 tablespoon of vinegar , 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and quarter teaspoon of salt and further grind to smooth paste.

The end result should be a glorious, smooth rich red paste. The colour will vary to the type and age of chilies being used and the amount of soy sauce, but aim for a toe-tingly red.



You can use this chutney as a dip or condiment or to add flavour to other dishes - it gives a zingy Chinese-like taste to whatever it is added to!

Mr. S.N.’s suggested recipe using this paste is:
Peel a boiled potato and cut it into thin finger-shaped pieces.
Heat 1 table spoon of oil, fry the potato fingers, add a quarter spoonful of roasted sesame seeds and stir in Chinese sauce to cover the potatoes

Though Mr. S.N. has kindly given the measures for all ingredients, I would urge everybody to experiment and find the proportion that works for them. That’s the point of a dip or condiment – it alters the taste of any food to what you like :-)

Kitchen Experiments:Arabic Chicken

I have taken over the kitchen from Ma this past week but today it was taken over from me by Dad. Today was the long-awaited day we were going to have one of the few dishes in Dad’s repertoire – Arabic Chicken!
Now, I doubt if the Arabs ever cooked chicken in this fashion, but this was the name given to the recipe by Sachin Pilgaonkar (a cinema and TV actor and producer) on a cookery show. More importantly, it was this recipe which spurred my Dad to not only the kitchen, but also to buy chicken and cook it at home. Mind you, till the fateful day Dad cooked this up the first time last year, we were STRICT vegetarians at home. For decades.
So this dish is doubly special – being both Dad’s baby AND the only non-vegetarian dish to be cooked in our kitchen in 30 years!
This is a quick and incredibly easy dish to make - and is fat-free too! Not to mention its fresh, zingy and tasty. So here is a sure-fire successful recipe for all new-and-bumbling cooks:

Arabic Chicken:
Ingredients:
250 gm boneless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes
250 gm onions,
A healthy-sized bunch of fresh (and I mean FRESH) coriander leaves (only the leaves and the tender part of the stems)
A smaller bunch of fresh mint leaves (say 5-6 sprigs)
Salt, pepper and lemon juice, to taste

For the marinade:
2 green chilies, chopped
¼ inch piece of ginger
1 tsp garlic paste or 3-4 cloves peeled garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs coriander leaves (only the leaves and the tender part of the stems)
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Grind the ingredients of the marinade into a rough paste.
I used the mortar-and-pestle, since the quantity was too tiny to bring out the mixer. (Besides, it’s always fun to use the cool-looking stone M-and-P!)

Mortar and pestle
Rub the paste onto the chicken pieces. Cover and keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes.


Marinated Chicken
Wash and chop (medium-fine) the mint and coriander leaves. Peel and thinly slice the onions.


Take a steel/copper-bottomed saucepan. (About 6-8 inches deep) Line the bottom with a layer of onion slices.


Next, make a layer of half of the marinated chicken pieces.


Sprinkle half the mint over the chicken.


Make a layer of roughly half of the chopped coriander leaves. Sprinkle ¼ tsp of salt all over the leaves.


Repeat all the layers and use up all the chicken, onion and herbs.





Sprinkle the top with some salt and pepper.

Cover with lid and put the pan on the stove, on a low flame.
After 10-12 minutes, remove the lid. The coriander must have sunk a little and turned a darker green. Stir thoroughly. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes (till the chicken is just-cooked)
Add a spritz of lemon, stir and serve piping hot with toast or steamed rice.


You can substitute the chicken with prawns/malai paneer/mushrooms/tofu/boiled potato.
The cooking time will vary according to the ingredient used.
Enjoy!!

P.S.: End the meal on a sweet note with a bite of chocolate. A personal favourite: Twix, with its triple wafer-chocolate-caramel treat! :)

Review: American Donut Shoppe, Atria Mall, Worli

Today was my first encounter with one of the several new doughnut places blossoming all over the city (it’s a growth spurt, believe me!) Till recently, doughnuts were picked up at bakeries and cafes where they were among the plainer offerings nestled against the more alluring pastries, cakes and puddings.

I was thrilled to see these ‘doughnuts-only’ shops, thinking that now perhaps I could re-experience the bliss of biting into a hot, fresh original glazed (first had at Doha) And so with great enthusiasm (and expectations), I visited the stall of American Donuts at Atria in Worli (Opposite Poonam Chambers)

I sincerely hope that the saying “A bad beginning makes a good ending” is true because this first exposure to a doughnut chain product was revolting. I steered clear of the decorated doughnuts in the display case (blueberry-topped, chocolate-covered, dark-and-white-chocolate laced, spread-with-jam etc) and asked for a takeaway of an original glazed (which was not displayed). While I waited for the doughnut to be packed, I saw a video (being shown on a TV near the cashier) about how these doughnuts are made at their factory and drooled at the sight of rows and rows of golden doughnuts getting drenched with pearly white shimmering glaze. I just couldn’t wait to get home and introduce my parents to this culinary delight!

But………………..

Upon getting home and opening the box (in a tearing hurry, pun fully intended) what I saw was a dull, uninspiring, non-shiny lump-with-a-hole. I took a bite, just to make sure – and yes, there was hardly any glaze.



I didn’t expect a warm doughnut (I have realistic expectations) but a stone-cold, hardly-glazed doughnut is difficult thing to swallow (again, pun intended!) And here’s the worst thing (yes, there’s more!) – the texture was nowhere near the light ethereal whisper that I’d relished at Doha – this one was dry, mealy and BREAD-like.




Priced at Rs. 35 (the lowest priced; the chocolate, jam etc ones are Rs. 45), this was a rip-off on a massive scale. I mean, why pay so much for something which is eerily akin to the sweet buns the daily paav-waala gets (5 Rs!)?

Agreed, I tasted only one doughnut and that too only once – but if you cant get the basics right (the original glazed is the foundation of all doughnuts) and if you aren’t consistent, the battle’s lost before it even begins.

I only hope the other doughnut shops have better doughnuts on offer. Else doughnut shops will die out like several expensive food fads Mumbai has already witnessed.(Thai dosa, anyone?)

Kitchen Experiments: Stuffed Soya Paratha

Today saw a successful invention take form in my kitchen – with necessity as its mother, of course. :)

Stuffed Soya Parathas
These are healthy and nutritious (the soya granules do the trick!), apart from being yummy!
Here are the ingredients: (for 4 parathas)

Stuffing:
2 handfuls (1 wati/katori) soya granules
1 medium boiled potato, mashed
1 small onion, chopped fine
½ teaspoon garlic paste or 2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon jeera (cumin) seeds
1 handful coriander leaves, chopped fine
1 green chilli (or to taste), chopped finely
1 teaspoon Rajwadi garam masala (any garam masala will do)
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1 teaspoon red chilli powder (adjust to taste according to the heat of the fresh green chilli)
1 teaspoon oil
½ teaspoon sugar
Juice of a quarter lemon
Salt, to taste

For the covering of the paratha, use normal kneaded dough, the same dough you use for chapattis.
(For the uninitiated: Combine wheat flour, a touch of oil, a pinch of salt and water and knead to form a soft dough, enough to form 4 plum-sized balls. Keep aside, covered, for at least half an hour)

Here’s how you make the parathas:

Stuffing:
Boil a cup of water, pour over the soya granules. Cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Drain excess water (if any) and cool.
Take 1 teaspoon oil in a kadhai/frying pan/ wok and heat it.
Add the cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add the chopped onion, chilli and garlic. Saute for a minute.
Add the soya granules and mashed potato. Mix well.
Add the garam masala, half the coriander leaves, red chilli powder, sugar and salt and mix well for 5 minutes.
Once the mixture has combined well and piping hot throughout, take it off the stove.
Add the chaat masala, lemon juice and the rest of the chopped coriander leaves and mash well. Spread out the mix (in the kadhai itself) to cool. This is how the stuffing looks like, when it’s done:




Assembly:
Take a lemon-sized or plum-sized ball of the kneaded dough and roll it out thinly (like a chapatti). Put a tablespoon of the cooled stuffing in the centre and spread it out slightly. Fold the four sides of the chapatti over the stuffing to make a square envelope.

Cook a hot tawa (griddle) till both sides are flecked with golden-brown spots. Use of oil/ghee while roasting the parathas is optional!

Serve piping hot off the tawa with tomato ketchup or a sweet-and-tangy mint-coriander-jaggery chutney

The last of this season

For all you people who are in far-off lands, who miss Alphonso mangoes....
Here are a few pics of the season's finest - and last. :(