Colorful Vegetarian Briyani

Okay, You might say, where are those beautiful rainbow colors of the briyani?

Briyani is supposed to be colorful with red, green and yellow colored rice, layered one on the top of another with variety of vegetables glimmering through the grains, but No! Thank you! I don’t use food coloring in my cooking, I use colorful vegetables instead, differently-colored-vegetables can also give a colorful effect. And, of course, if you still  insist, I do have an option to use natural food colors like turmeric for yellow, beetroot juice for red color and crushed spinach for green, but that is unnecessary.

Every responsible chef will agree that food coloring is not good for health. I, too, am very much against those bright color dyes used in toffees and ice-creams. Sure, those colored food look very appealing and makes food look brighter, but at what cost?

Food dyes—used in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings—pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. A top government scientist agrees, and says that food dyes present unnecessary risks to the public.

If your child is hyperactive, or has a behavior problem, blame it on dyes and stop his artificially colored candies immediately.

The food will taste good if it is nutritious and made with interest, color is just a feast for the eyes.

I believe that every vegetable has its own taste and its own cooking point. If we cook all together, there is uneven tenderness in vegetables that is good only if you wish to mash them up to make ‘Pav bhaji’, but if you wish to bite each vegetable and relish them, then its better to cook each one differently, some to cook the proper way, with/without gravy as you wish, some to stir-fry and some to deep fry, its just the matter of understanding what kind of taste would suit your dish.

I agree my Briyani does not look beautiful, but it was so tasty that I was very happy that my family enjoyed it.

It takes me about 2 hours to cook Briyani and I really have to be in a very good mood to cook it for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice

4 medium size Onions

6 tsps Olive oil

1 tin(200gms) Soya chunks

1 cup Yogurt

3 tsp Garlic

2 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp red chili powder

2 Cumin sticks

4 Cardamom

4 Bay leaves

4 Cloves

A pinch of saffron strands

1 medium size Carrot(diced)

1 medium size Capsicum(chopped)

1 large Potato (diced)

1 medium size Eggplant (diced)

2 medium size Tomatoes

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

2 tbsp chopped mixed dry fruits(almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts, raisin)

2 tbsp lime juice

4 tbsp milk

oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

So this is how I make……

Step one: Deep fry 3 medium sized onions (sliced evenly) till dark brown, keep it aside.

Step two: While the onions are frying, start chopping other vegetables, and marinate soya chunks in yogurt, 1tsp garlic, 1tsp ginger, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt.

Step three: Par boil the rice (that has been soaked for 30 minutes before parboiling), strain the water, spread it on a big plate and add cumin sticks, crushed cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, saffron strands and 1tsp olive oil

Step four: Fry 1tsp garlic in one teaspoon of olive oil, and stir fry carrots and capsicum, add salt and keep it aside.

Step five: Deep fry potatoes and egg plant

Step six: In a pan, fry one (finely chopped) onion in 2 tsp of olive oil till light brown, add ½ glass of water, cook till onions are tender, add 1tsp garlic and 1tsp ginger, add marinated soya chunks, add tomatoes and cook till oil separates.

Step seven: Grease the pot with 1tsp olive oil, arrange fried onions at the base, cover it with ¾ of spiced rice, add the layer of stir-fried carrot and capsicum, add the layer of cooked soya chunks, add the layer of fried potatoes and egg plant, cover it with remaining rice.

Step eight: Garnish with remaining fried onions, coriander leaves and dry fruits, sprinkle lime juice and milk and I tsp olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil, then with a lid and keep it on low heat for forty-five minutes

Serve with onion raita and potato chips.

Shallow Fried Paneer Patties

I don’t much like fried stuff and will avoid it as much as I can. Its not because it is bad for health, but also too much oil in food spoils my appetite. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I normally squeeze out the excess oil from the fried spring rolls that is dripping oil. The fried stuff served in restaurants is not good because it is fried in trans-oil. The scientists are convinced that fried food, especially those fried in oil that is re-used throughout the day (which most restaurants do) is the major contributors to Alzheimer disease. The frying causes tons of free radicals which is directly proportional to number of times the oil is reheated and there is a direct link between free radicals and Cancer.

Let us face the facts:

Fried food clogs the arteries and leads to stroke.

Modified, processed and fried food don’t break down in body properly; remaining in kidney, liver, intestine, prostate, and colon for extended period of time, if not forever.

But that does not mean that we should not eat oil at all. No, if eaten in moderation, it is important.  Yes, we do need oil for free lubrication of the joints in our body. Fat makes up part of our brain and provides reserves when we are sick.

The great news is that we can unclog our arteries by doing periodic detoxification of blood and re-fortify our organs.

Fried food is delicious, if only it was healthy.Sigh!

But then, Not to worry, there are many other ways that we can replace fried stuff with alternate methods, such as by steaming, baking, sautéing, stir frying or roasting.

We just need to be creative to enjoy the meals.

Last week I made Cottage-cheese-stuffed patties and it was equally delicious.

Ingredients:

½ kg potatoes

1tsp sesame seeds

1tbsp ginger, grated

1tbsp garlic, crushed

1 medium size onion

1 cup cottage cheese, grated

1tsp mango powder

1tsp cumin powder

1tsp red chili powder

1tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1 cup bread crumbs

2tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Method:

Step one

Boil the potatoes, mash it up into a smooth paste, add salt, add sesame seeds and keep it aside

Step two

Stir-fry garlic, ginger, finely chopped onion, add cottage cheese, add dry spices like mango powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, add coriander leaves, add salt. The cottage-cheese-filling is ready

Step three

Make a pair of golf size round balls for each patties

Step four

Flatten one ball, place the cottage-cheese-filling and cover with other ball, Flattened and shape it round and dip into bread crumbs

Step five

Shallow fry in olive oil, slightly brown it and flip to the other side, press lightly for third and fourth flipping till it dark brown and crusty.

Serve it with mint chutney and sliced onions.

Theobroma - a Patisserie in Bandra

A good patisserie should not only have a friendly staff but should also be very clean and hygienic.

Last week I went to buy some pastries and was quite impressed with the pastry shop that I visited here in Spain, where I have come to spend some time.

“May I click your picture” said I and they stopped to pose for me.

Some people sat at the back enjoying chitchat and their midday meal.

I am reminded of the similar patisserie back home in Bandra too.

My friend often goes to this shop after 9pm to buy the bread or pastries, she says that they are sold at half the rate to finish the remaining stock of the day.

This is Theobroma, just off Linking road, opposite KFC.

After receiving the Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Indian Federation of Culinary Associates this year, the following month Kainaz Messman spoke at the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce: "Our success formula is simple, yet it is a difficult balance to get right. We offer a good product at an honest price and have a genuine desire to please. We don’t always get it right but we cannot be accused of not trying. We work endlessly to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers. We judge our own success by the positive comments that come our way and feel genuinely hurt, tired and miserable when the feedback is negative. We serve smiles on a plate and that does make our job a whole lot easier but make no mistake, we work very very very hard for those smiles.

When the owner of Theobroma at Bandra outlet, Kainez Messman talks about the toils and joys of satisfying Mumbai’s sweet tooth, does she also do the quality control? Do we have regular inspections for watching the hygiene and the service of these eating-places?

“Cockroach in my Theobroma hot chocolate! Icky feeling! Not going back” screamed my friend Jhumur on her facebook status.

I asked her whether she complained to the management, and she says that she did but they didn't seem too bothered but after she stared at them like a stubborn mule, they waived off her bill

But not all complain.

A twitter friend, Nitishta found hair in her coffee. Disgusted, she just quietly ordered a fresh one and left'

Would they go again?

"Oh yes." says her friend Poppin "But then again, their blue berry cheese cake gives them the biased forgiveness."

A food blogger who visited this place was disappointed too. You can never fool a food blogger who knows exactly what Kejriwal and Akuri looks and tastes like, Give a different name, if you cannot replicate it, but when people come to eat a particular dish, they expect authenticity.

S Mukerjee says “I knew it! Went there last Wednesday for brekkie and u had to see the confusion, sloppy service and the way the fresh stock was lying around open to the elements in plastic crates- like sabji in a market. I just had a smoothie after seeing the stuff lying around like that..yuckkk”

One thing the management should realize is that the client is not a fool. He will eat the unhygienic food on the road if he wants a quick bite, but if he is walking through those shiny glass doors, and willingly to pay the price, he expects quality and service too.

Wok-An Asian Cuisine

Would you prefer ‘Buffet’ or ‘A la carte’?

H says she would love to go for Buffet because there is a big variety to choose from and there is no hurry to eat, we can take our own sweet time to eat whatever we wish, Chinese, Japanese or Intercontinental food. There is lot to choose from and if we don’t like what is on display we can select the raw stuff and go to cooking station to get it cooked.

Sounds interesting, so family and I headed towards Puerto de la Cruz at ‘Trompo Centro Commercial’ to a special restaurant called ‘Wok’ that serves only buffet. The rate of the buffet varies with 15 Euros on weekends and 10 Euros during weekdays.

“Don’t rush to grab the food like some starving urchins” says B, “let us order drinks first”. The drinks are not included (“they need to make money on drinks”, informs H) so we wait for our order to arrive.

Whenever I go for buffet, I always make a round to see what is on display and make a mental note of the food that I might want to try. There is not much variety. There are only about hundred containers to choose from, and that includes soups, salads, starters, mains and dessert.

I don't have a very large appetite, therefore I must be very selective. I start with sushi, cabbage salad and boiled egg. How pathetic, I pick only two sushis from the variety of twelve different types. one is coated with salmon and other with dried mushroom. I soak each sushi in wasabi and soya sauce, add a bit of pickled ginger and take mouthful. yum...it tastes good.

My brother and his wife are pure vegetarian, so while they nibble on few  vegetarian finger food and salads, they order some food from cooking station. Within ten minute, a plateful of freshly prepared fried rice and Pakchoy arrive.

Pakchoy with sea weeds is crispy, stir fried and cooked in ginger. Brother has his Aha moments with every bite.

After my second round of finger food that includes assorted roasted chicken and some vegetarian snacks, I walk to select few raw stuff for cooking. I pick up shells, shrimps, black mushrooms, capsicum, squids, lettuce and carrots and head towards cooking station to make me a spicy dish.

I want to see him prepare, so I wait. He empties my plate of raw food in a big pan, adds water and lets it boil for five minutes. Filter out the liquid and keeps the boiled stuff aside. He has different containers of differently prepared sauces. He takes a spoon of one sauces, stir fries and then puts the boiled ingredients, add few more sauces, few spices and the plates it.

It is steaming hot, ready to eat.

Completely satiated I head towards dessert station that has fruits, sweets and big range of ice-creams. 

Did I tell you that I am a small eater? Well..they should have served Chinese tea for digestion..you know.....

When in Spain, Eat like Locals do

I asked the kids at home if they would like to go the club for swimming. They didn’t want to go swimming but agreed to come with me to spend few hours at the club and probably try some Canarian food.

Our social club is a great place to spend few hours. It offers beautiful view from all sides and over looks the San Marco beach that has black sand. It is well-equipped club with tennis lawn, play area for kids, swimming pool, sauna, gym, indoor games room and a small restaurant.

We headed straight to the restaurant hoping to eat a typical Spanish food. The menu card had pizzas, sandwiches and few tapas.

We ordered squid fritters, French fries, salads and tortilla. The bread was freshly baked and the lunch was filling. I was hoping I had brought my chili sauce with me because Spanish don’t eat chilies at all and many times I find the food bland.

tuna salad

freshly baked bread

vegetarian salad which contained mayonnaise,pineapple and raisins

egg omelette called tortilla

squid fritters

Okay, I agree what we actually ate were just tapas, one of Spain’s great contributions to world’s gastronomy, and Spanish are seen indulging in this kind of tapas at any hour of the day, eating tapas and sipping beer or cortado (strong coffee) is their general passtime. It’s a good way to sample variety of tastes in short time.

Spanish eating habits are very much different from other Europeans. Spanish normally don’t have breakfast like a king but instead have small meals during day with a large meal during siesta time.

For breakfast they have freshly squeezed fruit juice, sweet roll, croissant or pastries. If you go early mornings out, you are likely to see Spanish enjoying freshly fried Churros with hot chocolate.

At around 11am you see them again in the restaurants having their bigger breakfast, that’s ‘merienda’ or ‘elevenses’ which is always sandwich or ‘bocadillo’ made from baguette and filled with anything from tuna fish, cured ham, cheese or meat.

Lunch hour is the feast time for Spanish people. All the shops close from 1:30pm to 4pm and it’s siesta time. Proper meals at eaten at this time which consists of lentils with chorizo, rice and fish/poultry/meat. Their meal lasts for an hour and it’s a grand feast followed by desert or fruits. Even the restaurants are full during this time with offers of ‘menu del dia’ that is a three-course meal with fixed price and includes starters, mains and desserts. Bread and drinks are also included in the price and sometimes coffee as well. This is more economical that ordering a la carte.

All the shops close around 8pm, and Spanish people socialize after 8pm, eating tapas and sipping beer, to return home around 10pm.

Dinner is very light, just soup, salad and maybe a sandwich while enjoying their favorite TV programs in Spanish language only.

Vegetarian Tortilla

Tortilla is the favorite snack in Tenerife and is available in every bar and in a restaurant. It is normally an egg dish that is stuffed with assorted meat, fish or vegetables. I had blog earlier about this Spanish omelet. I had a guest from Panama city who had demonstrated her way of preparing this dish.

Since this requires egg, therefore this could be limited to non-vegetarian folks only, right?

Wrong!

Vegetarians can be quite creative and those who cannot eat egg will find a way to relish this dish by finding a suitable combination that will replace egg.

Today when I entered the kitchen, I saw M prepare the vegetarian version.

So what did she do to change it to a vegetarian dish. I walked closer to have a look. She was mixing 1 tbsp of wheat flour, 1 tbsp of corn flour and 1 tbsp of gram flour with 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk.

Good enough, egg is the binding ingredient, well this flour batter would serve the purpose too.

So all she needs to do was to prepare the vegetarian stuffing.

She finely chopped the onions, red and yellow capsicum, coriander leaves and green chilies and set them aside.

Potatoes are must in a tortilla dish. Some use the boiled potatoes and some use deep fried. But M is the careful cook and tries to avoid fried stuff, so she diced two potatoes in small bits and steamed them.

For vegetable stuffing, she fried 1 tbsp of garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil and then added chopped cabbage, carrots and mushroom, and stir fried till they were tender.

Now was the time to mix gently all the steamed potatoes, the stir fried vegetables, onion, red and yellow capsicum, coriander leaves, green chilies and avocado into the flour batter.

The mixture was gently transferred to a non stick frying pan, covered and cooked on medium flame for 12 minutes.

after 12 minutes, it was flipped over to other side and cooked for another 7 minutes

The Spanish enjoy this dish with hard drinks, vegetarians will enjoy this with fresh fruit juice. I tasted a slice....no difference at all, so much resemblance in taste too....

PS: But those who are still interested in using egg. You make take 6 eggs. separate the egg yolk and beat the whites till they are stiff. then add egg yolk and all the other ingredients and follow the same method.

Sharpen the Knife

People who have full time live-in maid have one great advantage, that they ask their maid to do all the chopping and cutting for them. But there is risk there. Only the person who cooks knows, in what way a particular vegetable has to be chopped. When chopping for noodles, they have to be chopped in string style, long and thin, when it is for rice dish, it needs to be diced into thin tiny pieces, for veggies to be cooked on high heat, they need to be chopped slant wise and for plain cooking just round circles will do.

It becomes important to chop them yourself rather than giving tutorials to the maid. But then, we will not chop if we don't enjoy it.

There is pleasure in cutting only when we have a sharp knife. No?

Using a sharp knife is as important as using the right kind of knife. With blunt knife there is exertion and too much effort as we struggle to chop, and if we are not careful, the knife may skid and move slantwise chopping a part of our finger too. Ouch!

Over the years, I have used different kinds of sharpeners, metal sharpeners, rough stones or rubbing of two knives in opposite directions.

This is the stone sharpener that I am using nowadays. I had picked this up during my last trip to Bangkok. This has a stone ring in the center that rotates while sharpening the blades.

But the best sharpened knife till date is still those done by professionals who do rounds in narrow streets and sharpen the knife on rotating wheel.

They have a certain knack.

While sharpening the knife the most important thing is consistency. They hold the blade at exactly the same angle for every stroke.

These guys know the correct techniques for sharpening the blades, keeping at certain angle to acquire the correct sharpness.

After every stroke, they check the blades.

The stone wheel is attached to the wheels and while he cycles the wheel, the rotating stone wheel is used for sharpening the knife, sometimes throwing sparkles due to friction.

There are large varieties of knife sharpening stones that are used, and are available in different types, sizes and material compositions.  Carborundrum (Silicon carbide) is the most popular type of material used for knife sharpening stones, the others are made of diamond stones, Arkansas stones, ceramic wet stones and Japanese water stones.  These sharpening materials are quarried of varying grits which are relative to their sharpening function. Smaller grit numbers give the stone a coarse surface which is initially used to get rid of the blade’s imperfections and those with higher grit numbers on the stone gives a finer finish.

Many years ago I had seen a Bollywood film 'Zanjeer' in which Jaya Bacchan plays the role of a lady who sharpens knife and there is a song too...Chakoo churri..tej karalo...

Get the drift??