All posts tagged: Yoghurt

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 …

Strawberries and Banana Breakfast Smoothie

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My fridge is filled with boxes and boxes of Strawberries. Yes, tis the season to be jolly …again! I’ve raved about my strawberry love many times before so you already know I’m crazy about the little suckers. And I always stock up whenever they come around. Apart from eating them dunked in hot chocolate fudge or enjoying them with the traditional fresh cream I also like to make a mean smoothie out of it. Besides, I just bought a nice Morphy Richards blender this month … so I need to puree and blend! I call this my breakfast smoothie because it gives me the necessary kick to start the day. Yes, I need a kick… I am NOT a morning person. Come to think of it, I’m not a night owl either. I’m a nine-to-fiver! Unfortunately those kinds of jobs are hard to come by and even if they do, it will involve sucking up to someone in a government office! Now that I’m done ranting about the lack of optimal timed employment, I come …

Herby Chicken Salad on Multigrain Bread

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I bought a lovely multigrain loaf from Bliss Chocolates. Yes, yes…they now bake loaves, pita, lavash, foccacia and a host of other yeasty delights. And their packaging is quite nice as well and you know I’m a sucker for such things anyway. After I polished off half a loaf with just olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, I was left thinking how wonderfully this bread would lend itself to my chicken salad. I know it’s winter and a Chicken Salad is more of a light summery meal. But in Bangalore, the sun still shines nice and bright and the skies are awash with my favorite shade of blue. It’s not fair is it? 😛 This basic recipe has many tricks up it’s sleeve. a. You can make this ahead and keep it in the fridge, the flavors just get better. b. So needless to say, it’s a great picnic staple! c. Serve it on some cucumber roundels and you have a fancy cocktail snack at a party! d. I ate this for lunch, so yes …

Mango Lassi and Opportunism

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Mango season is almost getting over and I am downing mangoes by the dozens! There’s a frantic need for me to consume as much as I can before I walk out one day and realize the mangoes are gone (for this year at least!). Now Frooti (it’s the largest selling mango drink in India) will have you believe that you can have fresh mango juice throughout the year… but we all know anything that’s stretched to make it live out of season is, well… bullshit. Opportunism is defined as the practice of taking advantage of circumstances with little regard for consequences. So my need to hoard in season, is justified I think! However, this drive to consume more mangoes than I possibly should, has some very visible repercussions – a couple of extra kilos! (Luckily a flowy summer top will hide most of the abnormalities :P). I digress as usual, but the point of this whole post was to tell you eat as many mangoes as you can before it’s too late! Now the Mango …

Tzatziki – Cucumber Yoghurt Dip from Greece

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It’s pronounced zad-zi-ki, in case you were wondering. I do have a penchant for strange sounding names, they intrigue me and force me to delve deeper into them. And this dip is something that you want to dive deep into. Especially on a hot summer day! It’s really refreshing and cooling and goes fabulously with vegetable crudités or grilled meat. After making it, I served it with some olives and toasted pita for a mezze like feel. And announced with a flourish that the Tzatziki was served! Mom took a look at it and declared that it was not really that exotic or strange, actually it reminded her of the ubiquitous Indian raita or pachadi! Nothing like ‘experience’ to throw water on someone’s excitement! (hmph!). I of course brushed the comment aside with a cool wave of the hand and grumbled that she was closed to experimenting with new cuisines (all the while knowing that I had lost the battle!). So in essence, yes it does look and feel like pachadi and maybe the Greeks …

Anda Raita and the Art of Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

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Two opposites do not make a whole or so said some really intellectual dude. The reason why that strikes me when I made this was because I could never see a dish with eggs and yoghurt as the only star ingredients. (Unless… it was a face mask!) But there are always certain days in the calendar when the same old same old bore you to death and you want to try something radical  different! In my life those days are most days and I am willing to throw down the gauntlet of doubt in the face of strange culinary pursuits. (I know that’s dramatic but it’s a Sunday so allow me my self expression!) My guise was, I’ll keep the yoghurt separate and just ease one boiled egg into it to check for taste. Prototype A. If that passes quality check (i.e. my tongue) the rest of the eggs can join the party. So was the experiment successful? Let’s make that rhetorical. Would I post on the blog if the experiment was not successful? 😛 …

Baked Yoghurt with Cinnamon and Orange Compote

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The BBC Good Food magazine finally arrived in India! (Ok, it arrived in November but I’m writing this post now…Sue me!) Like any food fanatic, I was over the moon. Promptly went and subscribed for it and ran around like a headless chicken to get the first edition in my hand. Yes, I do love books with pictures in it… especially food pictures! Got the magazine back home and devoured it from cover to cover! Bliss comes in different ways to different people. I religiously book marked recipes to try and went and did my grocery shopping. Ain’t I the model foodie? But, days turned into weeks and now weeks into a month and I still hadn’t tried anything. The next issue arrived and I was determined to cook something from the first edition atleast! So obviously I picked the recipe that looked the most difficult, the most beautiful, the weirdest, the most challenging, the easiest! This recipe is more about combining ingredients than actual cooking, but it turned out to be quite the dessert! …

Panchamrutam – The five Nectars

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South Indian festivals are an excuse to indulge in food of the sweet and heavy kind. One of the staples is ‘Panchamrutam’ which means the five nectars. This is prepared as a festive offering and is a medley of all things sweet! It’s a sugar high to say the least and considering this is what we offer our Gods they must be getting off on the sugar buzz! Anyway there are no fixed five ingredients though Milk, Curd, Honey, Ghee, Fruits (esp bananas), Coconut and Sugar are interchangeable. My recipe is almost a fruit salad, but with a holy twist! Bless you… Panchamrutam Prep time: 10 mins Serves: 10 -12 What you need: 2 Bananas 1 Apple 2 Guava 1 Sweet Lime (peeled and segmented) Handful of Black Grapes Half a Pomegranate (peeled and separated) 500 gms Thick Curd 250ml Milk 2 Tbsp Ghee 1 Tbsp Honey 5 Tbsp Granulated Sugar What to do: Wash and dice the apples, guava and Bananas. Peel the Sweet lime and segment it. Remove seeds and transparent layer as …