Breakfast for mommy

This morning, for a change, I decided to cook an Indian breakfast for myself. Tired of making pancakes, waffles or french toast on Sunday mornings, I decided it would be Poori-Sabzi day. Why? Because I wanted to eat it.

Sabzi, is Hindi for vegetables and is often used in colloquial language to describe some kind of vegetable dish that is eaten with some form of Indian bread. This morning the lucky vegetable was potato. Poori, is a round deep-fried Indian bread, the making of which, is a very complicated process of dough making and rolling. But thanks to a very dear friend of mine, I learnt the quick way of preparing this at home. Although the shape of the poori was not round in this case, it tasted equally good. Anurupa, this is for you!

Ingredients:
Frozen uncooked wheat flour tortillas
1 big russet potato
Onion seeds - a pinch
Shallot -1 chopped
Thai green chillies - 5-6
Olive oil - 5-6 tbsp
Turmeric - 0.5 tsp
Paprika - 0.25 tsp or a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry poori

While hubby kept the toddler busy with a sticker book, I quickly chopped the shallot and slivered the russet potato. There are several varieties of potatoes in the world. Trial and error has taught me which potato to use for which kind of recipe. I have found that russet potatoes are great for any fried type of cooking as they soften and cook easily. Red potatoes are great for curries whereas yukon gold fingerlings are awesome for roasting.

On heating the olive oil in a deep dish pan, I added the onion seeds, green chillies and chopped shallots. After cooking the shallots for about 5 minutes, I added the russet potato, salt, turmeric and paprika and let it cook on medium heat covered. I needed to stir it from time to time to ensure it did not get burnt or stuck to the pan.

While this was cooked halfway, I heated oil in a mini-wok. Using a pizza cutter, the frozen tortilla were quartered. When the oil was hot enough so that I could see the vapors, I reduced the heat a bit and fried each quarter of the tortilla one by one to golden brown. On pressing the air bubbles inside the dough piece slightly, the bread becomes puffed. Both sides needed to be fried.

The breakfast was ready in a matter of 20 minutes and mommy had a very satisfactory breakfast today. Daddy joined the feast as well. Did the kiddo eat it? Ofcourse she did! Anything that is not made exclusively for her is well accepted. I can tell she liked it from her nodding -- I know that is the maximum appreciation I am going to get for now :-)

Chicken Tikka Masala

I had been wanting to cook Chicken Tikka Masala at home for quite some time but the thought of making kebobs first and then cooking the gravy separately seemed like too much work for a person who is working non-stop for about 16 hours a day, not to mention the continuous interruption during sleep time. As a result, I had been procrastinating making this dish. I wanted to finish cooking this dish in roughly 30 minutes, just like I need to finish writing my blog on the train in 20 minutes, before my station arrives ☺

With time-limits in mind, I did some planned grocery shopping before hand.

Pre-cooked grilled boneless chicken thighs from Costco (about half a packet)
Red onions – I medium sized (roughly chopped)
Garlic – 2 cloves whole
Ginger – 1” cube
Tomato – 1
Jalapeno -1
Olive oil
Turmeric, salt, Paprika, sugar – all about a pinch or to taste
Liquid whipping cream – 1tbsp
Any ready to cook meat masala or a mix of cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala (about 2tsp each)


My weekend nanny used to work at a restaurant so I gathered her knowledge on how they manage time when cooking this dish. She mentioned she would cook all the vegetables first and then puree them to make it taste richer and save time. Good idea! Works for me.

On warming the olive oil in a deep dish pan, I added garlic, ginger cube, roughly chopped onions and jalapeno with a little salt. The salt brings water out of the onion and would help it cook quickly. About cooking them on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, I added the chopped tomatoes and cooked this covered for another 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally. I set it aside for about 5 minutes to cool. Later, this was transferred to a magic bullet grinder and pureed.

Meanwhile, I chopped up the grilled chicken thighs to bite-size and warmed some more oil in the pan. For curries or gravies, I prefer dark meat (thighs) as they tend to remain softer in the curry. I added turmeric directly to the oil (to avoid the smell of uncooked turmeric) . To this, I added a ready-to-cook Meat masala (Shan’s Matka gosht masala). You can use any Indian meat spices available in the spices section of the international cuisine aisle. Typically these spices have instructions on the package regarding how much spices to use. The spices need to be fried but take care not to burn them. The onion-ginger-garlic-tomato puree was added. The mixture cooked for about 10 more minutes after which I added some water and the chicken pieces. When the curry thickened to desired consistency, I turned off the heat and added cream.

Result – It is often said that if you use good ingredients in your cooking, the final product is usually good. Quite true and naturally, this dish turned out pretty well. This was my first attempt at making this recipe. Would I have done anything differently? Perhaps 2 things: Pre-cooked chicken already has salt, so I would have used a little less salt for the gravy and I would have liked to use tomato puree instead of fresh tomatoes to give the dish a darker color. But yes, the chicken tikka masala was worth the 30 minutes of work!

Mustard Tofu

[Disclaimer: This recipe is exclusively for mustard lovers].

As more and more requests for vegetarian recipes poured in, this week I decided to experiment with another commonly found vegetarian ingredient in American groceries, Tofu.

Tofu, commonly referred to as the soy-version of Paneer by Indians, is a cheese-like product made from soymilk. Tofu, is also often frowned upon by meat-lovers [including my husband ;-)]. So, it is always a challenge for me to turn this ingredient into a delicious dish that hubby would appreciate. Although the method of making tofu may be similar to that of Paneer, my taste buds find it similar to that of cooked egg.

I decided to cook a very simple Bengali style recipe that my mom used to make with eggs. In general, I do not cook deep-fried tofu at home because it consumes too much oil—as a result, the healthy good feeling that I get from eating Tofu gets replaced by guilt of eating fried food (on top of the guilt for not taking out enough time to exercise) .☺

Ingredients:
Organic firm tofu - 1 packet
Turmeric
Salt
Mustard seeds - 1/2 cup
Poppy seeds (optional)
Green chillies 8-10
Olive oil

Before starting the dish, I first sautéed some asparagus spears with olive oil, garlic powder and salt on high flame. I know you are thinking that the ingredients mentioned above do not have asparagus, right? Well, this was actually a side dish I made to keep my little one busy with munching while I enjoyed making my Tofu dish ;-). For mom with independent toddlers, who do not mind eating greens as long as they can eat it themselves, try giving sautéed asparagus spears to your little one and experience the satisfaction if it works!

Anyways, back to my Tofu recipe. I soaked half cup of black mustard seeds, green chillies, a pinch of turmeric and about 2tsp of salt in the pot of the magic bullet grinder. I let this mixture get happy for about 10-15 minutes, after which I ground this mixture to a smooth paste. This is the traditional mustard paste that Bengalis worldwide use in their cooking. In the cofee grinder, I ground about 4tbsp of poppy seeds. The grinding action kept the toddler in the house totally engrossed.

Meanwhile, I cut the Tofu in squares and heated some olive oil in a frying pan. When the oil was warm enough, I threw in a pinch of salt and turmeric to the pan and added the tofu squares. This would add a nice color. After shallow frying the tofu for about 1-2 minutes each side, 2-3 tbsp of the mustard sauce, a little water and ground poppy seeds were added. When the sauce thickened, I checked the salt and added some chopped cilantro and fresh tomatoes. I served this with white basmati rice.

Even my meat lover husband agreed this was yummy! Yay!

(Note: I prefer making my fresh ground mustard paste because it just elevates this dish to a different level. I make this paste and freeze it so I can use it later on. If you are feeling lethargic, feel free to use pre-ground mustard powder and make a paste in water and add chopped chillies. I have also heard some people use Dijon mustard but remember that will impart a sour taste to your dish. Also, if you find black mustard too pungent, either try yellow mustard or mix black and yellow mustard seeds.)