Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 31 – Ritika Ahuja

The festival of lights can also be called festival of flavours. Indian food is full of flavours and it varies from region to region.

 On Diwali day, a special traditional food is cooked in every Sindhi homes. It is called Satt Bhajju, a pure combination of seven vegetables cooked in a clear stew with no spices, just salt and black pepper.

Every community have their own traditional food during Diwali festival. 

 It is a long held Bengali tradition to eat ‘Choddo Shaak’, a preparation made of 14 different leafy greens, on the day before Kali Puja or Diwali. (Diwali in Bengal coincides with Kali Puja and it is believed that a hearty meal of the fourteen greens keeps the evil spirits away.). ‘Gajerela’, a runny carrot kheer loaded with slivered almonds, is Diwali dessert pudding eaten mainly in north India. Light and fluffy, with a sour and spicy seasoning of chilli powder and dry mango powder,‘Cholafali’ is melt in the mouth traditional Gujarati snack enjoyed during Diwali.   

  ‘Poha’, or flattened rice, is the star of a traditional Diwali celebration in Goa. Locally known as ‘’Fau’, it is prepared in five different ways on Diwali — Batata Fau (with piquant potatoes), Kalayile Fau (with jaggery and spices), Doodhatlye Fau (with milk), Rosathle Fau (with cardamom-infused coconut) and a simple sweet poha prepared with curd or buttermilk. 

 There is certain kind of festivity in air that brings family and community together. All over the world, we see families of all ages participate in community functions during festivals, (but unfortunately), quite lately, it has been observed that the youngsters (in India specially) show little interest in family functions and prefer hamburgers, pizzas or Chinese cuisine instead of eating traditional food during festivals. Many of them are forced to take part in family customs and culture and to enjoy the traditional food and some of them do start appreciating it too. 

Besides traditional food there are sweets, desserts, farsan and savories specially made during the festivals.

Enjoy this Diwali with Home Chef Ritika Ahuja, She is busy making Diwali hampers of every kind.

 

Home Chef Ritika Ahuja(of foodfahionandmoremumbai fame) started with basic cakes, tea time cakes and gradually moved towards frosted and layered cakes. She attended few classes and upgraded to making chocolates too. Presently, her tea time and travel cakes like dry fruit cake, Parsi Mawa cake, Date and Walnut cake, Almond and Cherry cakes are most popular. Her Indian sweets like Besan Barfi, Sev Barfi and Kalakhand are also loved by most.  

 Ritika Ahuja was also with Authenticook for a couple of years for Sindhi Cuisine and then with TinyOwl as a Chef. She is also a fashion designer.

Her love story with food started at a very early age. She belonged to a small family where her mom used to indulge them with delicacies and great variety of evening snacks.

“In those times eating out was not so frequent but ordering in or picking up food surely was. Chinese food was very popular. I remember “Chinese Room” at Kemp’s Corner. It was our favourite eating destination. Remembering the Chilly Chicken from there still makes my mouth water. It was so good! “ She remembers fondly.

After marriage, her adventure with food continued, but now, it was she, who was preparing it. She experimented with new cuisines for her family to enjoy - Pizzas, Chinese, Butter Chicken, Biryani. Her Sindhi cuisine like Sindhi mutton and Kadi Chawal were the most loved dishes! 

 “Later, I felt the urge to try out dishes that I had heard about but never tried cooking before. Thus began my fascination with bakery and desserts.” She says

She has many good food memories to share. One that she vividly remembers is on her Jaipur trip. “During our trip to Jaipur to explore the textile market, we had an exhausting day and were looking for a decent place to have dinner. We entered this restaurant called HANDI on MI Road and ordered their specialty ‘Laal Maas’. It turned out to be absolutely delicious. It is a traditional Rajasthani mutton delicacy prepared in yoghurt, hot spices and dry red chillies. We had it with Roomali rotis. It was an unforgettable experience. In fact I really would not mind going back to Jaipur just to repeat this experience. I had loved it so much.”

She is happy to share her recipe of Crème Caramel

1. Take ¼ cup of water and ½ cup of sugar in a pan. 

2. Keep on slow heat, do not stir. 

3. Soon golden coloured caramel will be seen. 

4. Remove from heat and pour into your pudding bowl. 

5. Boil 1 lire milk in another sauce pan for half an hour. 

6. Add ½ cup sugar, boil again for another 10 minutes. 

7. Remove from heat. 

8. Let it cool to room temperature. 

9. Add 1.5tsp vanilla essence. 

10. Add  6 eggs. 

11. Beat with a whisk/rotary beater till thoroughly mixed. 

12. Pour this mix into the pudding bowl over the caramel. 

13. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. 

14. Steam or bake the pudding bowl in over with 2 cups of water in a tray. 

15. After 30 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool. 

16. Refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours

17. Remove to serve. 

18. For plating, you over turn the bowl to place the pudding upside down in a dish. 

19. Ready to serve. 

20. Options.Garnish with thinly sliced nuts. 

Follow her Instagram account at foodfashionandmoremumbai 

 Stay connected on her Watsapp at 98205 44070 

Fish Curry

 When I see the red bubbling fish curry, I get hungry. OMG. It only 12:30 afternoon and its not even my lunchtime, but I just can’t wait to eat it.

 

 I am confined at home since six months already, but cooking has been my favorite pastime, in between catching various webinars, zoom meetings and Instalive. Not that I ever went to fish market to buy fish, (I rarely do) its too slippery for me to walk in the market, although fisherwomen are quite clean and they maintain cleanliness but there is always too much water on the floor.

 

Plus I have a fisherwoman who visits me regularly. I have known her for many years, always came to my doorstep, cleaned, washed and salted the seafood before she left. There was a personal touch in buying fish from her. She shared recipes, discussed interesting stories and spent some time chatting at my doorstep. Now that my building is redeveloped and with new rules, fisherwomen are not allowed to come up, vegetarian folks get offended by fishy smell, so she waits downstairs outside the gate and I have to go down to fetch it. Like many other changes, the personal touch is disappearing too.

 

The picture looked so good on my Instagram, that few of my friends asked for a recipes (It was tasty of course, but only I ate alone and enjoyed it) but you can enjoy it too.

 

This is how I made it.

 

Marinated 250gms of fish with 2 green chillies, 1inch ginger(crushed), 5 cloves of garlic, 1tsp of turmeric powder, 1tsp of coriander powder, 1tsp red chili powder, 2tsp of Malwani powder, 1tsp of lime juice and salt to taste.

 

Cover and keep it for 2 hours.

 

In a pan, fry 1 large finely chopped onions in 2tbsp of ghee, add marinated fish, add 1 large tomatoes and let it cook for 5minutes.

 

Mix it slowly then add 1cup water, cover and cook on slow flame for 15 minutes.

 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roasted chappatis.

 

PS: Malwani masala is the combination of about 25 spices, that are roasted, mixed, grounded and stored in jars. It is enjoyed in the coastal kitchens of Malvan. You can either make at home (Google it or you can buy from any Indian super store.

American Chop Suey

I had learnt the technique of Chinese cooking many years ago, when there used to be column on ‘Chinese cooking’ in ‘MID DAY’ , the afternoon paper. There used to be a small chat and there would be two recipes per week, every Wednesday. Since I was interested in cooking, I tried two recipes every week dutifully and shared the food with my family. They loved it and encouraged me. The column went on for one year, and I had learnt all the basics of Chinese cooking.

Over the years, I have improved my skill and have even shared the tips with whom-so-ever-who-is-willing-to-learn.

Friendship means cooking specials meals for your favorite ones. This week I invited some of my friends for lunch. My friends also bring dishes whenever we meet over lunch at home  so that there is less pressure on hostess. I had made Thai curry and rice. But then I decided to make a snack that was simple, easy to make and cooked in just 5 minutes. I had fried noodles saved in the fridge, plus some exotic vegetables like red and green vegetables, Bakchoi and mushrooms so all I needed to do was stir fry veggies and pour sauce on it. ...

The romance started as soon as my friends saw the sweet n sour sauce simmering on the stove. I poured that sauce over the bed of fried noodles n crunchy veggies and as soon as the dish touched the dinning table, it disappeared, all I heard was the lip smacking sighs in the room full of food loving friends... such happiness in churning out a perfect meal

My friend liked it so much that she sent back her feedback the next day. She says: “It was a delicious meal. The crunchy veggies & crispy noodles with a delectable sauce with a subtle flavour of kaffir Leaves and the right amount of sweet & sour flavour, the " bang on " consistency of the sauce was simply a gastronomical delight! ! ! ! Thank you. YEH DIL, DIMAAG AUR TONGUE MAANGE MORE.”

I am not sure if I will be able to reproduce the same taste, but my friends want it again…..

Method

Arrange the deep-fried noodles in the plate * Stir fry exotic vegetables like broccoli  red and yellow capsicum, mushrooms, carrots, bakchoi, etc * cover the noodles with stir fried noodles

For sauce

Take 2cups water, add 1tbsp vinegar, 1tbsp tomato sauce, 1tbsp tomato ketchup, soya sauce, kafir leaves, basil leaves, vegetarian cube and 1tbsp corn flour. Mix and heat till it becomes thick

Pour over vegetables.

Tomato Curry

All my Sundays are spend with my family and it’s a day of feast. My sister makes delicious lunch and we all get together and have tasty meals. At night, we have something light. Sometimes I help in the kitchen and get chance to try out new recipes because family is eager to eat something different. The problem with my cooking is that I cannot reproduce the taste. So it’s always ‘enjoy the present meal and don’t ask for repeats.’

For me cooking is a creative activity but it is difficult to reproduce, even if I follow the same recipe. Many times people think that I am hesitant to share the recipe but they don’t understand that I cannot repeat. Maintaining this blog has helped me a lot. I jot down the recipe that I make and ask them to go to my blog to read my recipe.

Sista wanted to have tomato curry. I promised her that I would cook the coming Sunday, but I forget. But promise is the promise, so I made in the mid-week and sent it across.

Sista loved it.

Its easy but too much time consuming. It took me at least an hour to make.

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes

2 tablespoon of tomato soup powder

1tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1tsp fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)

1 pinch of asafetida (hing)

1 inch grated ginger (adrak)

2 sprigs of curry leaves (curry patta)

4-5 green chilies (mirchi)

1 tbsp chickpea powder (besan)

1tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

1tsp salt (namak)

1tsp sugar (shakkar)

1tsp red chili powder (lal mirchi)

dried tamarind flowers (imli key phool)

1 medium size brinjal (beygan)

1 medium size carrot (gajjar)

5-6 okra (bhindi)

4tbsp shelled peas (vatana)

2 medium size potatoes (aalloo)

2tbsp tamarind paste (emlee)

2tbsp coriander leaves (dhania)

Method:

Step1

Tomatoes are boiled in pressure cooker.

Step2

They are removed, peeled and made into puree.

Step3

To the liquid left over after boiling tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of tomato soup powder is added. Mix it well.

Step 4

In the pan, heat oil

Step 5

Add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafetida, grated ginger, curry leaves and green chilies

Step6

Add 1tbsp of chickpea powder

Step 7

Mix it well on low flame till the chickpea powder is roasted well and is light brown in color.

Step 8

Add tomato soup

Step 9

Mix well to clear all the lumps and let it boil

Step 10

Add tomato puree

Step 11

Add turmeric powder, salt, sugar and red chili powder

Step 12

Add dried tamarind flowers

Step 13

Add mixed vegetables like brinjals, shelled peas, okra, potatoes, and carrots.

Step 14

Soak the tamarind in water for 10 minutes, mash the tamarind and squeeze out the pulp leaving behind tamarind water. Add this water to the curry

Step 15

Taste and adjust for salt, sugar and sourness.

Step 16

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with white rice.

Junior Chef Cookery Workshop

My friend, Aanchal, conducts one-day cooking workshopsregularly and most of them are exotic dishes. I am always amazed at the knowledge she has of the latest trends and knows exactly what the people might be interested. Sometimes its dips/pesto and sometimes mock-tails/cocktails, sometimes infused oils and sometimes herbal salad dressing. 

I asked her, “Where do you learn these?” 

She says that she socializes a lot, visits various restaurants and reads latest cooking literature to keep herself updated.

Well, it’s a hard work then.

This week she invited me to attend the children’s workshop that she would be conducting. The menu for the day was Double Chocs-Chip Cupcakes, Mexicans Mini Pizza, Red Cheesy Pasta and  Ferraro Roche shake 

Since I love the company of kids, I was most eager to attend.

I arrived at the venue when the session was on. All children were dressed in cute personalized aprons and a chef’s hat which were especially bought for them. That set the mood and children took cooking quite seriously, willing to learn some basics of cooking. 

All children were given the typed recipes which they could refer to. As the session progressed, some children made separate notes, adding details and their observations.  

There were about 15 children of ages from 4 year-old to 12 years old.

The session started with cupcakes.

The children learnt to identify each ingredient by taste, touch and smell. 


While they mixed the ingredients they licked their finger each time, each one willing to do their part of mixing and setting, getting hungrier each minute, so much so that they could not wait till it was baked and served. 


And yes! They were too hungry to wait for decorating the cup cakes with confetti and cream……

While they waited for the cup cakes to be baked, they were to learn to make Mexican Pizza.

In group of four, children were led to the kitchen to cook the tomato sauce using ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, salt, sugar, basil leaves, oregano, garlic and baked beans. The pizza bread was toasted in the oven and back came the group to the living room to make his/her own pizza according to his/her own taste, adding assorted veggies like red and yellow capsicum, chili flakes, cheese and olives.

While the pizza baked, it was time to make cheesy Pizza. Aanchal, my friend, demonstrated the boiling method of Pasta, informed them about  the right consistency and the duration of time needed to prepare the pasta, then to mix it in the tomato-onion sauce, add herbs and cheese and bake. 

It was interesting to see the children’s focused interest in this activity. Some of them related to me about their interest and their favorite cookery program on TV. All the kids were aware of the TV program ‘Junior Masterchef’ and had their own favorite cook

The impatience was growing and children were eager to taste, Ferrero Rocher milk shake would have to wait, all children were already seated, waiting to eat, and of course, best part of attending cooking demonstration is that there is always food to taste.


After having their fill, children were ready to make Ferroro Rocher milk shake.

In a batch of four they made their milk shake, mixing Ferroro Rocher chocolate with coffee powder, milk, vanilla ice cream, syrup and condense milk with topping of cream and choco-chips.

No children’s workshop is complete without a game and gifts. 


A customized housie ticket with each child’s name printed on the top of the ticket was distributed. But wait, this wasn’t an ordinary ticket; it had the ingredients that were used during the session, very innovative and carefully organized.

There was a gift for every line and two full houses. 


By the time the session ended, children were charged with energy, they shared notes and phone numbers, they even got one cup cake to take-away to share with their family.

A lot of effort was put behind the scene, because planning a children’s workshop is no child’s game……