All posts filed under: Main Course

Pathway to Heaven with Bacon Wrapped Prawns

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There are many pathways to heaven they say. With most ending with some bearded gentleman manning the pearly gates. (Or in my case a portly gentleman sitting on a Buffalo who has a really long ledger of life events). And you would have to be good and do good and all that jazz to really even be considered for a chance to get there. Then steps in bureaucracy, where they make you wait at the gates (in a queue mind you…) before they proceed to check your files and then certify your eligibility to enter. Why, some may even be turned away due to a totally negligible mistake (Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, apparently!). So the chances to enter heaven for people like us are slim to none. Since the final destination seems like a distant dream, are we to moan and groan about its inaccessibility? Hell No! (Oops… swearing I’m sure is not allowed. Especially when it involves Heaven’s direct competitor!). So again, you see the chances are really-really teeny-weeny. As …

Fizzy Batter Fried Fish

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Chemistry was an exciting subject in school – at least the part that required us to don lab coats and act like scientists. No matter that the only thing we were actually allowed to do, is heat some substances (washing soda/ copper sulphate) and note down the properties. I don’t want to give you the spiel about how recreating a recipe is nothing but chemistry, but in this case it’s true. I was supposed to use carbonated water or soda, in combination with soda bicarbonate powder to get the desired ‘fizziness’ to make the batter light and crispy. It’s anticlimactic that the actual reaction was nowhere near the explosion that I expected, but more of a tame bubble bath! But the end product was right as promised – crisp, light and almost see-through-lace like batter. Now that’s an experiment recipe worth repeating. Fizzy Batter Fried Fish Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 10 mins Serves 4 What you need: 125 gms Plain Flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of Soda/ baking soda 1 tsp Paprika 150ml cold, …

Coq Au Vin for easy entertaining

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I have not been lazy. The fact that my last blog post was a month and a half ago should not lead you to the obvious conclusion. The reason for not posting is because most of my cooking these days is done in the evening. That leads to the sad fact that there is no natural light to shoot my pictures. (This is the only time I wish I lived in a temperate region where the sun sets late!). This leads to me not posting the recipes because I always feel a recipe is enhanced by pictures. (Which is why I struggle to buy cookbook without pictures, unless it was something monumental like the Larousse Gastronomique!) I make Coq Au Vin pretty often. That’s because it’s easy, can be made in large quantities, it freezes well and the leftovers always taste more brilliant than the day you actually make it. Another more practical reason is to use up leftover wine. (Not that there is too much, but the rare occasions of opening two bottles for …

Tandoori Chicken – without a Tandoor

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I don’t make Tandoori Chicken at home. When you can order the same off the restaurant across the road, it somehow seems pointless. Especially because the restaurant boasts of a tandoor (clay oven) and I don’t. And I would be a fraud to make this at home and call it ‘tandoori’ chicken when in fact – there was no tandoor to make it in! So after struggling with this notion and willfully desisting from even venturing in that direction – the co-resident broke all the rules. He was having a barbeque party and could I please marinate some chicken for it? Sure I said, ‘What marinade do you want?’ Tandoori marinade, he cooed.  *Gasp, splutter, shaking the head in disbelief and denial*. Why don’t you just buy it off *insert name of restaurant here*, I asked. Because for a barbeque party you need to barbeque, not buy stuff and besides it’s not like you will be grilling it, just marinating it, he insisted. Sigh… that logic was sound and I’m a true believer in good …

Ham and Cheese Crepes

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I have been super busy the past two months. Just completed a very big and very important project in life that will serve as a retirement cushion. So pretty stoked! But what that necessarily entailed, was me not having time for the small pleasures in life – like cooking something exciting and blogging about it. The co-resident plays football every Saturday morning and comes home ravenously hungry. I got up early today and decided to make a decadent breakfast for him, to make up for all the days in the past few weeks that he has had to eat Maggi noodles! A ham and cheese crepe is a very nice way of saying thank you don’t you think?     Ham and Cheese Crepes Prep time:10 mins Cooking time: 15 mins Serves 4-6 What you need: For the Crepe 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida) 1 Egg 1 cup + 2 Tbsp Milk ¼ tsp Salt Butter – for greasing the pan For the filling 2 eggs, beaten 200 gms Ham, sliced 6 slices of Cheese …

Chicken Ghee Roast (Warning – It’s Red Hot!)

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Why am I giving you a recipe for a crazy-red-hot dish in the middle of summer? Have I lost my bonkers (and my taste buds)? Ahem ahem… that was a nice opening spiel, don’t you think? Now, getting down to business. If you think about it – all the ‘hottest’ food in the world comes from the ‘hottest’ places. Mexico, Indonesia, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland…all famous for foods that send you running, to pack your tongue with ice! Logically, you would expect these people to be sipping on watermelon juice and eating a cucumber salad and not trying to replicate the external temperature assault, internally! So why do they do it? The wisdom of ages pours forth now (actually this is a result of being a closet trivia junkie!). Spicy food is your best bet to cool down. Capsaicin, the chemical in all spicy food is in cahoots with our central nervous system to help regulate the temperature in our body. It starts by increasing the blood circulation and dilating capillaries – resulting in more of …

Baingan Bharta (Indian Spiced Aubergine/ Eggplant Mash)

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Baingan Bharta is something that I was introduced to seven years ago. (Basically, ever since I started working and it was de rigueur to have lunch in the office cafeteria!). The cafeteria food sucked. And day after day it was pure torture to let the undercooked, over spiced, all-round-sad food enter our mouths. I could have opted to take a lunchbox from home, but it was just too much work in the morning. (Besides, in those days I thought I was too cool for a lunch box!). So it was almost a godsend when a little Dhaba (highway or roadside restaurant; very popular in the North of India) opened up next to office. This was run by a Punjabi family who served home style meals at a modest price. (Which suited our pockets just fine!). They had a fixed menu written on a black board everyday and fixed quantities that would run out if you reached later than 1:30 pm. So we religiously moved our lunch break to 12:30pm and ensured we got the pick …

Chingri Malai Curry (Bengali Prawn and Coconut Curry)

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Bengali food resonates with me on a deeper level even though I’m a pucca Southie. Maybe it’s the rice that bonds us (Bengali’s also eat rice with every meal!), or maybe my love for rosogullas and rasamalai’s have sweetened me towards them, or maybe it’s the fact that half the employees in my ex-company were Bengali! For whatever reason, I love Bengali food. The one thing that I always order in a Bengali restaurant (apart from their gorgeous desserts) is Chingri Malai Curry. Chingri means Prawns and Coconut is used as the base in this curry to give it the quintessential creaminess. This is the mecca of what a curry should taste like for me – Rich, spicy-sweet and comforting. There is this little Bengali restaurant in Indiranagar that serves this curry in a Tender Coconut with the tail of the Prawn sticking out. Just seeing it makes my heat beat faster! The curry also has pieces of tender coconut in it that I love nibbling on. Though I don’t think that’s really the authentic …