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 

Ginger Fish and Sesame Rice

Fishes are not aware of Covid 19. They continue to swim freely in waters, get caught in nets and finally land on our dining table. 

But I have made fish curry so many times already. Sometimes Maharashtrian style, sometimes Goan style, sometimes Bengali and sometimes South India. There is just slight difference in taste, spicy, bland, sweet, sour.  All the recipes have Indian spices, the only difference is in proportion of the ingredients used and the moods of the chef. that of course! (Just remember  that it is always mood, that plays a major role, if you are not in good mood please don't cook and spoil somebody else's mood)

So, I went Exploring different food channels like food blogs, U– tubes,  even browsed through cook books too (most of the cookbooks in my kitchen have ornamental value, They look good, cuddled together, side by side, in my kitchen showcase behind glass panels, they are useful to start a topic of conversation when I am fumbling for words, sometimes I do read) and of course, sometimes going through those glossy pages does inspire me to cook.  

Anyways back to cooking (I get too distracted sometimes, sorry, I forget that you visit me to read my recipe, not my bak bak)  So, I decided to make fish..unsure of the recipe, totally unplanned, added whatever came to my mind.  

Very soon, it did find its own name… Ginger Fish. 

Lets go step by step

Step one

Wash fish, add salt and cornflour and keep it aside.  

Step two

Make a sauce by mixing 2 tbsp soya sauce, 2 tbsp tomato sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chili sauce, 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp minced herbs, 1 tsp black sesame seeds,  1 cup water. Stir it well to dissolve sugar. Keep it aside.  

Step three

Chop 2 inches ginger into this strips, fry them in 2tbsp of oil till they are crispy and browned. Remove and keep them aside.  

Step four

In the same oil, fry fish (of step one) till it is brown in colour. Used chop sticks to turn the fish to other side. 

 

Step five

Pour the sauce (of step two) on the browned fish and wait for it to bubble.  

Step six

Add crispy ginger (from step three)  Fish is ready ..

You can have it with rice . but I wanted a flavoured rice too. So make rice in sesame seeds. 

For cooking rice 

1. In a pan, add 1tbsp of sesame seed oil 

2. Add one thinly chopped onions and one inch ginger. 

3. Add 1tsp black sesame seeds, 1 tsp mixed herbs, salt. 

4. Add rice and water and cook till ready.  

Serve it with cucumber and glass of lassi (I don't like wine or any other drink during lunch time). You can drink whatever you wish.  

Some fish is left over...but I don't like to waste...going to make fish cutlets...

You have any recipe for me???? 

ps: If you are vegetarian..you can use Paneer (cottage cheese) instead of fish. 

By the way..you can see the video clip of this recipe at 

Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 30 – Rachna Prasad

There are too many dieticians today who control our eating patterns

They advocate with warning instructions such as to avoid all whites that includes white sugar, white flour, white rice, white salt. Avoid fried food (that junk food, remember), Avoid red meat (too much cholesterol), Use olive oil in your cooking.(foreign concept), Do lot of exercises to burn calories,(yes, can do), Join gym to keep fit (better than to running aimlessly in the park, no?) . 

The only problem is that we don't know where to draw a line. We go too much to the extreme to follow the dieticians, causing our family members (specially moms) a lot of inconvenience. 

Mothers are expected to read every label of the food packet she buys from supermarket to check out its nutrition values, the ingredients used, the calorie content, the flavours used(artificial or natural), to check veg/non-veg (green/red dot) and whether its baked, fried or roasted. 

Too much time is spent at bread, biscuits and pasta section to hunt for brown colour ingredients..brown bread, Ragi/Millet biscuits, whole wheat pastas. Some of the brown breads are made of white flour disguised with brown colour caramel (but you may not know till u read the label) 

As a result, the life style has changed. Gourmet food is in. More people are turning Vegan, stylish trend is to eat only salads. The grandparents and parents stay at home, cooking the traditional food for themselves because the health conscious youngsters hardly eat at home. 

Home Chef Rachna Prasad, cooks such delicious meal that there is no desire eat anywhere else.

Rachna Prasad (of Ambrosia Kitchen fame) is Food Curator & Consultant, Chef, Recipe Developer, Pop-up Specialist and a founder of Ambrosia Kitchen. 

Rachna, born and raised in Patna, She has been cooking since she was 14. At that time, her mother’s cooking style influenced her a lot. Her first breakfast that she cooked for her family was a Spanish omelet with garlic bread and potato wedges. 

“Everyone loved it and that still holds a special place in my heart. Cooking, for me, is a stress buster. It inspires me and keeps me charged the whole day. It has given me an identity of my own.” She says.

Rachna specialises in Bihari and Indian cuisine. Her clients call her a ‘Biryani Queen’ and a ‘Diva’ of Indian food! One of her specialty dishes is Mutton Goli Kabab. A delightful Bihari recipe, that used to be a must at every get-together party at her grandmother’s home. The recipe was passed on to her mother after her marriage, it made her famous at her in-laws’ place. Everyone looked forward to the Meat Goli whenever there was a party at home. When Rachna got married she too made it for her in-laws and she gets requests for it all the time.

Rachna moved to Delhi later for a course in Fashion Designing from NIFT although she knew cooking was her true calling! She once spotted a newspaper ad placed by Taj Mansingh Hotel for a position in Food & Beverage. She got the job and thus began her culinary journey. 

“I learned a lot under Chef Bhatnagar at Taj Mansingh and he continues to inspire me to-date. Cooking is my first love, In my free time I like to watch food shows on Bihari cuisine or read up on various recipes, although I enjoy painting, driving, writing poems, art & craft, singing, dancing and spending lots of quality time with my two adorable kids and family.”

Rachna is happy to share her Bihari recipe - Mutton Goli Kababs

1. Pressure cook 500gms mutton mince along with 150gms Chana dal, 1 ½ tsp ginger-garlic paste, 1 inch cinnamon, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp green cardamom, 5-6 black peppercorn, ½ tsp fennel seeds and salt for 20 minutes or until the meat is cooked through. 

2. Transfer into a bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes. 

3. Grind the spiced mince into a soft paste. 

4. Do not add any water. 

5. In a large bowl, combine the meat paste with 1tbsp almond, 1tsp cashew nut, ½ tsp poppy seed paste, 12 soaked raisins, 1tsp lemon juice, chopped coriander, 2tbsp fried onion paste, 2 egg and ½ cup bread crumbs and give it a thorough mix. 

6. Heat oil on high flame in a deep frying pan. 

7. Make small, round meat balls (goli) 

8. Deep fry them until golden brown in colour. 

Serve hot with green chutney and onion rings.

Rachna Prasad was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 5-8 years

 

Follow her on her Instagram at rachnakcp

Contact her on her Watsapp at 9820968751

Email ID - ambrosiakitchen11@gmail.com