Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 11 – Priya Bajaj

Rice. Simplest way we can cook this is to boil it using only water, salt and oil. If we have sedentary life style, eating too much rice may increase the risk of diabetes. But then who doesn’t like rice? Nobody can avoid it all together. But we can be creative and cook it in such a way that it is plain, boring, white no more. Everybody understands that, and they will add colourful vegetables, different meat/seafood, flavoured spices, variety of lentils to make it tastier and healthier. The quantity of rice is reduced and there is more of condiments that you use. Double Mazza.

In Vietnam, they make Rainbow Rice called Xoi Nu Gac , they use natural colours of Panda leaves, Gac fruit, Moong beans, Magenta plant. People around the world have their own creation of rice dishes. There is Paella in Spain, Hokein in China, Tehdig in Iran, Jellof in Africa, Nasi Goreng in Indonesia, Rissotto in Italy. That Champorado rice of Phillipines is chocolate porridge rice, just like you will find Saffron and Cardamom flavoured Tehree in Sindhi Homes. We have Khichdi, we have Pilaf, we have Briyani bursting with flavours. What more? If there is left-over rice in the fridge, it dons a new avatar of fried rice at the  breakfast table.

If you drool over flavourful Prawns Pulao by Priya Bajaj I won’t be surprised.

For the longest time, food has been an intrinsic passion of Priya Bajaj (of HD Food fame). It was something that she was good at and it gave her happiness. Her kitchen was her personal artistic space where she would exalt her creativity, vent out the day’s frustration and was the means of expression of love for her family. But the realisation was not just restricted to the realms of her family.  On the suggession of family, neighbours and friends, who encouraged her to climb on a commercial level, she settled on HD Food (H and D being the initials of her two daughters, Hitasha and Dikshaa, providing the initials for her business nomenclatures.)

“I am most grateful to my daughters and everyone else who thought I can do this, and for believing in me.” She smiles.  

She fondly remembers her Grandma’s house in Kanpur, where she tasted Jalebi Rabdi for the first time.

“The one dish that I will always relish is Jalebi Rabdi. Specially the one I particular ate at my Nani’s house when I visited her. I still remember its’ rich taste, when I devoured it for the first time. My Nana would take me to market every Sunday and feed me. The memory is still fresh in my mind.”

Food is the language of love that surpasses everything else and HD Foods is here to inculcate the language of love into the food that she  prepares.

HD Foods specializss in Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Sindhi Cuisine that includes Biryanis and Pulavs, Starters like Bhee pakoras, Dhal Kababs, Dhal Pakwan, Pav Bhaji, Sai Bhaji with Bhugal chawal, and many more. Do not miss her in-house preservative-free Pickles and Sherbets.  HD Foods cater to daily meals as well as meals for special occasions.  

Priya Bajaj is happy to share her recipe of Sindhi Prawns Pulao  

 

1. Add 2tbsp oil in a warm pan and allow it to heat a little.  

2. Add 1tbsp Cumin seeds,  2 medium sized Onions (finely chopped/sliced), 2tbsp Ginger, 2tbsp Garlic and 2tbsp Chillies. 

3. Saute on high flame, till Onions turn golden (not dark brown). 

4. Add all dry masalas like 1tbsp Garam Masala powder, 1tbsp Turmeric Powder, 3tbsp Coriander Powder. 

5. Add puree of 2 Tomatoes. 

6. Sauté this till the oil separates. 

7. Add 3cups Basmati Rice (washed and drained). 

8. Mix gently, well enough to coat rice with masala’s.  

9. Add water as required. 

10. When the rice comes to boiling point add 1kg Prawns and 2 tbsps Coriander leaves. 

11. Cover and cook till done. 

12. Heat ½ Ghee in a skillet and add 1tbsp Garam Masala. 

13. Use this to give a tadka at the end.  

14. Serve it  with Laccha Pyaaz and grèen Chutney as sides   

You can place your order with HD Foods via the contact numbers 90826 21574 

You can also send Direct Message on the social media handles  

 

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Authentic Garam Masala Used in Sindhi Kitchen

The fragrance that you get from woman’s sari is the aroma of the spices that clings to her while she cooks……..

Strangely Sindhi Garam masala is not used in Sindhi Curry, nor is it used in that famous Saibhaji, nor in popular DhalPakwan too.  Garam masala is mainly used in meat dishes

The very first cooking class that I had attended (way back) in my teens, the instructor had said “Don’t think that if you use too much of Garam masala, the food is going to taste beautiful, on the contarary, you will spoil the taste, always use garam masala moderately” this piece of advise has stuck on to me till today and whenever I used garam masala, I use it carefully.

My mom was the greatest cook ever, I don’t remember her churning out a bad dish, whatever she cooked, it always tasted good. I had asked her once as to where did she learn cooking. She had told me that she has been cooking from age nine. Her mother (My granny) cooked only lunch and then spend rest of her days visiting families (either attending condolence meetings, or was on social call, or some private gatherings) and my mom (being the eldest) cooked dinner for the family everyday. If I have to trace my roots, I can go only as far as 1947. Pre-partition stories have been blocked out from my family completely and are rarely discussed (such pain they brought) Sindhis decided to move on (because feeding their family was their priority) and being penniless after partition, men went back to trading, while women cooked together in community kitchens churning out tasty dishes.

Nobody can deny that Sindhis are very hospitable and will never let you go hungry. If you were to create a stereotype Sindhi, then you must agree that they are kind and welcoming, fun-loving, adaptable and extremely close-knit.

I did a little research and this is what I stumbled upon:

It is said that "between the eighth and 10th century the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghbad were at the height of their power and spent lavish amounts of money on their kitchens. The expenditure on food was matched by their gluttony, and cooks from all over the Muslim world, namely Turkey, Arabia, Egypt, gathered at Baghdad and incorporated their own local dishes into the courtly culinary repertoire."Even Indian cooks arrived from Sindh (the southern part of what is now Pakistan), which had been conquered by the Arabs in the year 713. The cooks hailing from Sindh were known for their trustworthiness, ingenuity, and extremely spicy dishes,"

as quoted in the chapter titled Biryani in the book, Curry: A tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham.

During my growing up days, I watched mom roast the spices and then pound them in mortar and pestle mill till they acquired the rough powdery consistency. The pounding of the spices gave me headaches but the aroma that filled my rooms was heady. Eventually I learnt to make Garam Masala from my mom and helped her in the kitchen.

Here I am sharing the recipe of Garam Masala that my mom used to make.

To make Sindhi Garam Masala

Ingredients

100 grams cumin seeds

50grams aniseed

50grams Caraway seeds

25-30 cardamoms

8-10 cloves

50 grams Cinamons

12-13 Bay leaves

Method

Dry roast together all the spices on hot plate on low heat, stirring continuously till you get the sweet aroma of spices.

Take them off the heat and set it aside to cool

Grind when cool and store in air-tight glass bottles.

If you have my book on Sindhi Cuisine, you can find this recipe on page 52

I normally use Sindhi Garam Masala in gravy made of burnt onions, and in meat recipes, but otherwise, most of the vegetarian dishes that I cook, I normally sprinkle crushed mixture of cardamom and Shahi Jeera.

In many Sindhi dishes, a mixture of Caraway-Cardamom powder is added at the end of cooking instead of Garam Masala. This enhances the flavours and aroma of the dish and is beneficial for its cooling effects, as compared to the more heavier garam masala, which is primarily used in meat dishes.

To make one teaspoon of caraway-cardamom powder, grind togather one teaspoon of caraway seeds and 2-3 peeled green cardamom.

This post has been written to mark the tradition (of drying and grinding spices in the month of May) by celebrating 20^th May as International #MasalaDay

May the flavours of Masala enhance your cooking.....hope you are celebrating too.

Breakfast In Sindhi homes

Before the oats, cereals, muffins, pastries and sandwiches made their appearances at our breakfast table, Parathas, Puri, and rice ruled the kitchens. Early mornings, tea or coffee was paired with home cooked meals.

There was a great variety of paratha made with most inovative fillings, sometimes stuffed with potatoes, sometimes with radish, then, there were cauliflower, cottage cheese, peas and sometimes even fenugreek. There were great varieties of puris too. From plain salt and pepper to more elaborate puris that were stuffed with colorful lentils. Curds, pickle and papads were included with puris and parathas.

But I enjoyed Parathas the most, especially those of potatoes mixed with coriander leaves, green chilies and cumin seeds.

Parathas are basically unleavened dough stuffed with spiced mixture of mashed potatoes/vegetables, which is rolled out and cooked on hot plate with butter. Paired with pickle or curd and a hot cup of tea, it made a perfect Sunday morning.

Puri on the other hand is the unleavened dough usually prepared with wheat flour (atta) or refined wheat flour (maida) or coarse wheat flour (sooji), deep-fried in hot oil till they bloat like a balloon. They can be paired with lentils, or potatoes or pickle and sometimes even with sweets like halwa or jalebi.

In my house, Loli was regularly made. This was made with wheat flour where little ghee/or butter was added before kneading, plain loli had only salt and pepper, while masala loli had finely chopped onions, coriander leaves, pomegranate seeds and chilies. This too tasted great with pickles, papads or curds, but I would enjoy it best with fried eggs, (sunny side up) or sometimes with mutton cooked in spinach and tomatoes.

Pakwan was another great delight where the dough was rolled paper-thin and deep-fried. This was relished with lentils and fried papads.

Nowadays we are too health conscious and will avoid fried stuff out right. Now I see youngsters skipping breakfast or relishing baked crisps of rolled oats stuffed with nuts, honey, raisins, flaxseeds, etc. I too prefer a glass of fresh juice in the mornings. 

Cooked meal early morning is never preferred by today’s youth. Wonder if they know the taste of leftover food that was revamped into different dish the next morning.

Leftover Chappatis were cooked in green masala of coriander leaves, garlic and tomatoes to make a dish called 'Mani seyal'.

Rice was fried into yellow rice by adding garlic, mustard seeds, tomatoes, onions, coriander leaves, green chilies and turmeric powder.

While German households had salami, bacon, ham, eggs and varieties of cheese, French German rolls paired with jam, marmalade, honey. In my house, on the other hand, it was simple dried leftover bread cooked with onion, tomatoes, green chilies and coriander leaves called 'Daboroti seyal'. It tasted heavenly with a hot cup of filter coffee.

In Spain, no matter where I went, at every breakfast restaurant was tortilla Esponola. But in my house, we had delicious omelets of onions, coriander leaves and tomatoes, even a simple omelet with just salt and pepper tasted great. Sometimes we had leftover rotis dipped in egg and fried on skillet.

A typical Italian breakfast is made of hot beverages and something sweet to eat like croissant, pastries, cookies and maybe some fresh juice too, but in my house there was thin sweet vermicelli called ‘Sayoon’ cooked with sugar and cardamom.

Every country that I travelled, I saw people relishing different breakfast but there was always similarity between their food and ours to some extend, especially if they were cooked or fried.

Some years ago, One early morning, in Hongkong, it was 5am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to take a bus to far off busstop and enjoy the breakfast. I still remember the beautiful taste of Congee I had on the street. The congee is a simple rice broth that contained pieces of chicken and some deep fried shrimps. I had seasoned it with vinegars in chilies and some soy sauce. In my house congee is also made but we just add crackled mustard seeds and we called it ‘Kweerni Khichdi’ I love this with sour curd and deep fried papad.

Breakfast is the important meal of the day, but now I shudder to eat fried food, bread and potatoes is too much carb, chappatis and puris are too heavy, so I have reduced my diet to just one glass of fresh vegetable juice with a simple toast or cookie. Lunch is when I will eat heavy food and dinner is just soup and fruits and sometimes if the mood is right, will eat the breakfast selection of parathas, puri or rice..during dinner time….

Our elders would eat four heavy meals to survive, and they had no diet issues, I just cannot eat so much, but then, I don’t work physically that hard like my granny or other women in my family used to do…

Here is sharing a leaflet from my book on #SindhiCuisine…..

Patatey ji manni

    (Potato Paratha)

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 potatoes, boiled

3 cups wheat flour

2 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon red chilly powder

1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. Mash the boiled potato and add salt, cumin powder, red chilly powder, onions, green chillies and coriander leaves. Keep aside.
2. Knead the dough for paratha adding salt and 1 tablespoons of oil to the wheat flour.
3. Roll it on a floured board to about 2 inch circle. Put 2 tablespoon of potato filling in the center and gently pick up the sides, press together to form a ball, covering the filling completely.
4. Roll out carefully into round paratha, cook on tava on a medium flame till light brown, using small quantities of oil.
5. Serve with curd and papad.

Lotus stem also known as Kamal Kakri

The other day, one of my friends, who returned from her Kashmir trip had an urge to eat the delicious lotus root that she had so enjoyed in Kashmir. Unfortunately, she could not find in the market in Delhi. It’s a rare thing and not many vegetable vendors sell it. This is usually available at Chinese stores as canned food or if you like fresh stem, then it is normally found in the areas where Sindhi community lives. Lotus stem, also known as Kamal Kakri or Bhien, it is regularly cooked in Sindhi homes.

  

I had posted in detail the recipe of 'Lotus stem in potatoes' at http://papadchai.blogspot.in/2014/03/lotus-stem-with-potatoes.html

I have this recipe ‘Bhugal Bhee Vadi’ in my cookbook #SindhiCuisine on page 64. My friend Anita Mantri, tried the recipe and send me back her feedback. She writes “It bought back nostalgic memories when your mom fed us with utmost love. It was so close to the original taste.”

Lotus stem made its regular appearance in my home during growing up years. Mom used to spend hours cleaning each pore of the stem with a cotton bud. I used to hate the hair-like fiber that would cling to my cheek as I took the bit off the cooked chunk.

Lotus stems were cooked during every family festivals and celebrations, it was considered as the favorite vegetarian substitute. Being very versatile, sometimes it was mashed and rolled into koftas to make kofta curry, sometimes coated with gram flour and deep fried, sometimes chopped finely and paired with carrots and sometimes clubbed with dried mushrooms. In every style it tasted fabulous. Crunchy, delicate, water chestnut like flavor and visually appealing too I enjoyed it a lot.

Today I wanted to make lotus stem again, but there were no onions in my pantry. Should I make Chinese or should I stick to Indian style. My maid had already made chappatis for me, so Chinese was out, couldn’t possibly eat Chinese with chappatis. No way.

The next option was to make in tomatoes. So here is my recipe of Lotus Stem in Tomato gravy.

Ingredients

200gms lotus stem

200gms potatoes

1tbsp oil

1 crushed cardamom

pinch of asafetida

2-3 curry leaves

1/2inch grated garlic

1 large tomato

1/2tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

1.    The delicious lotus stem should be cut into thin strips at a slant and pressure-cooked.

2.    In a pan heat oil.

3.    Add cardamom, asafetida, curry leaves, ginger and tomatoes.

4.    Add potatoes and lotus stem.

5.    Add turmeric powder and salt.

6.    Add half of cup water.

7.    Cover and let it cook till potatoes are tender.

8.    Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves 2 persons