Nigella's Mughlai Chicken

Sumitra had just finished her morning chores. Her kids were off to school. The morning sun shined gently on her veranda. She switched on the dusty transistor that sat in one corner of the living room from time eternal ..... it was time for her daily dose of Vividh Bharati. She pulled up the cane chair and sat in the winter sun sipping away her tea and listening to her favorite old Hindi numbers from the eighties.

Her rusted iron gate made a sharp screeching noise, the brown paint on it was already peeling off .... she turned back to see who it was. Her neighbor, Mrs Kumar came hurrying towards her with a packet of sondesh (sweets). The silver foil on the sondesh glittered in the sun and so did Mrs Kumar. She was beaming with joy and pride. Mrs Kumar had smudged some extra talcum powder on her face and her big kohl laden eyes sparkled.

Sumitra and Mrs Kumar had been neighbors from a long time. They had got married around the same time and had moved into the neighborhood just about the same time . Also their husbands worked in the same Sarkari office.

"Meethai kish khusi mein" (What's the good news ), Sumitra asked, picking up a piece of Sondesh from the box. That was exactly what Mrs Kumar was waiting to hear so that she could spill her beans.

"Humare ghar mein aaj subah telephone connection laag gaya, isshi khusi mein" (Got a new telephone connection this morning), said Mrs Kumar in a very dramatic voice."Badhai Ho" (Congratulations),Sumitra said in a feeble voice, her mouth still stuffed with Sondesh.

"Do come home sometime to have a look at our new phone. And don't forget to get Cheeku and his Papa. I will give you my number so that your relatives can call you. Incoming if free she emphasized. This was exactly what Sumitra didn't want to hear. She always wanted to be the first one to get a telephone connection in her colony.

She could hardly wait for Rakesh, her husband to come back from work. Something seemed to bother her the entire day and she was restless. In spite of all this she was making Rakesh's favorite tea time snack. That was something that she would only do on special occasions to bring back the lost charm to her decade old married life.

She waited impatiently walking up and down the verandah ..... her eyes glued on the rusted iron gate and the dusty road. Time stood still for her. As soon as she heard the sound of Rakesh's scooter, she ran towards the gate.

"Mrs Kumar k ghar pe telephone connection laag gaya ji", were the first words she uttered. And to her agony Mrs Kumar's phone rang at that very moment .... the sound loud enough for all her neighbors to hear.

Soon she served the samosa that she had painfully prepared during the afternoon with some tea. They spoke very less between the tea .... Rakesh was busy eating the samosa and nooded his head in affirmation to whatever Sumitra said. He knew no matter what he says, the last word would be of Sumitra's.

Well six months have passed since then. Rakesh had taken a half day off the very next day to put the application for the telephone connection. There are no updates from the telecom department since then. Mrs Kumar drops in once in a while to narrate her 'telephone tales'. And Sumitra still sits on her cane chair waiting for the guy from the telecom office to come with the 'black' equipment and a roll of black wires.

This recipe has been adapted from Nigella's website. I was a bit intimidated by the long list of ingredients. But it turned out to be an easy breezy recipe .... and absolutely finger licking good.

Preparation Time - 60 minutes

Serves - 6

Ingredients

Fresh Ginger Peeled - 2.5cm

Garlic cloves peeled - 4 big

Ground Cumin - 2 tsp

Ground Coriander - 1 tsp

Dried Chilli - 1/2 tsp

Ground Almonds - 4 tbsp

Water - 125 ml

Cardamon Pods - 5 Bruised

Cinnamon Stick - 2 inches

Bay Leaves - 2

Cloves - 4

Vegetable Oil - 4 tablespoon

Chicken Thigh bone in/ boneless - 1.5 kg

Onion - 2 large

Greek Yogurt - 250 ml

Double Cream - 125 ml

Raisins - A handful

Garam Masala - 1tsp

Castor sugar - 1 tsp

Almonds for garnishing

Method of Preparation

1. Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander and chilli into a food processor, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water, then blend again, and set aside. Traditionally, this would be done with a pestle and mortar, and there's nothing to stop you using those, or a little spice grinder.

2. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.

3. Tip in the bowlful of spices and turn them in the oil. Peel and finely chop the onions, add to the pan of spices, and cook until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid them catching. Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to color. Add the yogurt, 125ml at a time, stirring it in to make a sauce; then stir in the cream and sultanas. Add a little water if required.

4. Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the chicken meat is cooked through.

5. Garnish with flaked almonds

Serving Tips

Serve warm with any Indian Flat Bread or Rice/ Pilaf

Spiked Grapefruit !

Summer vacation lunch hour was nothing less than an event at Aai's place ..... Cooking and feeding a bunch of juveniles was no joke ..... and each of us being willful kids ! Lunch time equalled to an hour of mothers howling and kids complaining, cribbing, sobbing and eating. It was like an everyday ritual. Another thing that was an everyday thing was the summer power cut.

Thankfully there was no afternoon power cut that day. But it was still hot and humid. Ajaa (Grandpa) sat by the window bare bodied, reading a book. He picked up the newspaper at intervals and fanned himself. The dusty ceiling fan which was never oiled in it's entire life made a periodic noise with each rotation. I laid on the Araam Chair (Recliner) licking the takuaa (mango seed). The juice dribbling down my elbow.

There was a strange silence in the room after the loud lunch hour. Sundaari our pet cat moved around the house and purred in anticipation of some left over rice and fish.

The only sound that could be heard was that of the ceiling fan and the jingle of Aai's glass bangles. Also some broken piece of peppy Odiya music from the baasti close by (slum) ........

Aai moped the dark grey cemented floor with a wet cloth before she rolled out the sapaa (grass mat).

I jumped off the Araam Chair and snuggled on to her mat. She started patting my back .... a gesture to make me fall asleep. Those days I demanded Aai for an extra story telling session in the afternoons. Aai had a bottomless treasure of stories ....... she could even weave stories from her imagination. The story telling sessions often ended with Aai falling asleep and me slipping off.

Late afternoons all of us (cousins) would gather on the staircase ..... that was the safest place where we could sneak in, far from the sight of our mothers. Somehow we never felt the summer heat. We would play silly games. I being the eldest and the bossy one would direct them all to be my students while I act out as a teacher, a strict one !! Sometimes I would become a doctor and write illegible prescriptions to my patients. We would roll out small balls of papers ..... yes you guessed it. They were pills . We would even enact our moms and play with our cooking sets ..... I wonder if kids today still play such games.

And our games only lasted as long as the nap time of our mothers'. The long hours of silence would break into another session of howls and cries ! Loud enough for Aai to wake up ........ She would walk straight up to the kitchen with puffy sleepy eyes and slice up a watermelon into pieces ... while calling our names.

We would all gather around the big plate of watermelon ..... I would hurriedly pick up my share and go sit by the dusty wooden framed green window with cob webs hanging from the grill and watch the baasti (Slum) children play and hoping to catch up a street fight of the women, if lucky !

Preparation Time - 30 minutes

Ingredients

Freshly squeezed Grapefruit - 1.5 Cup or 2 (Nos)

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Granulated Sugar

Mint Leaves - Few

Freshly Squeezed Lemon juice- 1/3 cup

Ginger - 1 inch

Water - 1 cup

Vodka - 1/2 cup

Method of Preparation

1. In a sauce pan add water and sugar. Put the heat on and stir till the sugar dissolves. Add few drops of lemon juice to it.

2. Muddle few mint leaves and ginger and add it to the sugar solution.

3. Keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hours to cool. It will also allow the mint and ginger flavor to infuse into it. You may do this overnight for instant use.

4. Strain the mint and ginger from the sugar solution.

5. Dip the rim of 6 martini glasses first in a dish with lemon juice and then a dish with sugar. Set aside to dry.

6. Combine the grapefruit juice and lemon juice and vodka, if using, in a pitcher.

7. When ready to serve, place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, add the cocktail mixture to fill the shaker 3/4 full, and shake for about 30 seconds. It's important to shake for a full 30 seconds to get the drink very cold and dilute it slightly with the ice.

8. Pour into the sugared martini glasses and garnish with mint.

Avocado- Rose Milk Shots ....... I am high on a Wednesday !

Why would anyone follow what I am doing ..... I am no celebrity, just another fish in the ocean ! And how in the world am I expected to write my thoughts in just 140 characters ? Yes 140 and not a character more !! Not sure who thought of the magic number 140 .... Oh yah I forgot to mention that I am talking about Twitter. I had been trying and really hard to get a hang of the damn thing. Yes I am jobless !! So I have been trying hard to update my status every now n then .... like 'Having my morning tea ... forgot to add sugar' ,lol. And what makes me glad that there are an equal number of jobless guys like me who respond !

And now that I have finally nailed it .... here comes another one 'Google+', as if the existing social networking sites were not enough. My inbox is getting flooded with requests but I still prefer to be in my cocoon (read Facebook). I know I know .... there is nothing like loyalty, it's just that I refuse to move out of my comfort zone for the time being. It had taken me a lot of convincing and effort to move out of Orkut and join FB ! Yah I did it when my friends were on the verge of disowning me. So guys please be patient with this slow learner :)

Does anyone remember the blue 'Inland Letter' or the 'Yellow Postcard'. Will someone be still waiting anxiously for the postman to come on his rusty rickety bi cycle .... at least some where ?

Or have we left those things far behind us .... True, the Internet revolution has made life much easier and communication in the speed of light BUT even today I would love to sniff the blue color inland letter before opening it. I would still love to rush to the nearest postbox to drop my letter before the last van picks them up for the day. I would jump with joy on hearing the jingle of the postman's bicycle bell.

I agree ... I love being old school when it comes to simple things in life !!

Well ..... I had these avocados staring at me from quite a long time, wanting me to pick them up. I made these rose-avocado shots in a jiffy. And they were just perfect to lift your spirits on a warm summer eve !

Preparation Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

Ripe Avocado - 1

Rose Syrup/ Essence - 1 tbsp

Milk - 2 cups

Sugar- 1 tsp

Rose petals to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the avocado and scoop the pulp into a food processor.

2. Add chilled milk, Rose syrup and sugar to it.

3. Whip it in a food processor till all the ingredients blend into each other.

Serving Tips

Serve Chilled. Garnish with rose petals (optional)

Pulled Chicken Sandwich ....Perfect for the Summer Picnics

Arrrrgghhhh .... These names are driving me crazy ... Apple Citrus, Guava Grapefruit Blast, Warm Vanilla Sugar, Citrus Blueberry Swirl. No I am not reading any menu ..... these are some of the shampoos and of course conditioners available at 'Bath n Body Works' !! I wandered around the shop with an equally clueless husband whom I forced to sniff each of these bottles and give his opinion before I dropped them into my shopping bag. Never thought buying shampoo could be so tedious. Also never in my craziest imagination had I thought that there would be exclusive shops selling toiletries !

I still remember Aai (maternal grandma) rubbing the red horrible looking and equally bad smelling Shikakai soap on my head. Later she decided to go herbal and graduated to Shikakai and Reetha (soap nut), which she would soak overnight in warm water. She would part my hair and rub it with the solution before washing it off. This continued till one day when the Reetha Solution ran into my eyes and caused havoc.

Then came the era of my mom ..... who neither had the time nor the inclination of going through a regime of making herbal soap solutions and rubbing into our hair. She would hand over a shiny one rupee coin and ask me or my sister to run to the Kirana (Grocery) shop to fetch a sachet of shampoo. With fewer names like Sunsilk, Halo and Clinic Plus there was little to get confused about. Radha Shyam the shop owner would snap a sachet from the string while we would stand there staring at the bottles of hard boiled sugar candies.

Maa would not let us use the entire sachet .... she would pour half the packet into my palm and save the remaining for my sister or for the next use. Soon we graduated from shampoo sachets to bottles. But the bottle would still remain in the custody of Maa .... On the days when she decided that I needed a head bath, she would squeeze a little amount from the bottle on my palm. Occasionally I would get into a squabble with her demanding more shampoo .... I would grumble and tell her ' When I grow big and start earning, I will buy my own shampoo and will wash my hair as much as I want'.

Well yes ... I am living that dream but it doesn't give the same kick as that the small amount of shampoo for which I often fought. But sure it brings a smile to my face ...... The small amount of shampoo that Maa poured into my tiny hands taught me a bigger lesson of life ..... to understand the value of even the insignificant things !

Well Maa and Aai have changed much over the years. Aai has moved on to using branded body washes n soaps and Maa no longer takes custody of the shampoo !!

Preparation Time - 2 hours to Overnight

Serves - 3

Ingredients

Chicken Thigh/ Leg Piece - Skinless and bone in - 3 or 4

For the Marinade

Diced red onion - 1/3 Cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder (Preferably Kashmiri Laal Mirch) - 2 tsp
Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/3 tsp

Oil - 2 Tbsp (Canola/ Vegetable/ Olive)
Thick yogurt - 1/3 cup
Salt to taste

For the Sandwich

Baguette - 1 (cut horizontally)

Cucumber Slices

Tomato Slices

Butter at room temperature

Red Onion Slices

Green Chutney (Store Bought)

Method of Preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients required for the marinade. Add the chicken pieces to it and coat the pieces uniformly. Transfer it to a zip lock bag or into a bowl and refrigerate it overnight or for 2- 3 hours

2. Remove the marinated chicken and thaw it to room temperature. Preheat oven at 400 Degrees F. Transfer the chicken to a oven proof dish and bake it for about 40 -45 minutes or till the chicken is cooked. Add the remaining marinade along with onions and bake it separately till the onions get cooked and there is no raw smell.

3. Once the Chicken cools , shred the flesh off the bones.

4. Spread some butter and green chutney on the baguette and layer it into a sandwich by adding shredded chicken, tomatoes, cucumber and red onions.

Jab we Met & a recipe for Raspberry - Ricotta Mousse

Jab we met ......

The day was hot and humid. I bunked office and rushed home. I was out of my comfy jeans and in a starched cotton lucknowi salwar kameez ...... yess the guy was coming from half way across the globe. Kohl laden eyes, lip gloss and Davidoff Cool Water ..... Nah I was not trying to impress him, that was over long time back when we chatted over the internet and interestingly many of the chats ended in an argument. We were poles apart .... and probably by the law of Physics or whatever we were attracted to each other !! And you only thought it happens in Hindi films, didn't you ?

Jab we met ......

We were officially engaged .... yes we lived in the cyber era. No distance was big enough ... we spoke, we chatted , we saw (on the web cam) and we decided. It only cost him his night sleep and few hundred American dollars !

Jab we met .....

I was holding a big bunch of roses and waiting for him at the airport with a hundred eyes staring at me to death. I wish someone told them that times have changed and it is no more that the guy has to bring you roses.

Jab we met ......

I made him squeeze into the auto rickshaw with his luggage coz that was my favorite mode of transport. I bargained and yelled at the auto wala for tampering with the meter and swore not to pay him a penny more. I frowned at J for paying the auto wala whatever he demanded. He smiled and put his arms around my shoulders as we walked down while I went on with my rants about the auto wala and his meter !

Jab we met ......

I made him walk up and down the street and from one shop to another in the hot summer sun ...... while I shopped and decided what he had to wear on the wedding day. And that it had to complement with my Benarasi saree ..... and he complied.

Jab we met ......

We had dinner at a dhabba ... nothing fancy. And the trend of me choosing what to eat had unintentionally began. We chatted more than we ate ..... and I was high on a breezer.

In all these years there have been rare flower surprises or surprise gifts.

But J, don't think that I have forgotten how you nursed me all night when I was not well, the surprise chicken biryani cooked by you, bed tea on weekends and mid night drives to the ice cream shop, eating the worst food I cooked with a smile to encouraging me for whatever I do.

It's five years but seems like yesterday that I said 'I do' ....... Happy Anniversary J !!

Preparation Time - 15 minutes

Serves - 4 to 6

Ingredients

Ricotta Cheese - 2 cups

Raspberry Jam - 1/2 cup

Whipped Cream - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar - 3 tbsp

Fresh Raspberries - 1 cup

Method of Preparation

1. In a food processor, blend the ricotta cheese until light and fluffy, about 20 seconds.Add the jam and pulse until combined. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream until thick. Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat until the cream holds stiff peaks.

3. Working in batches, carefully fold the cream mixture into the ricotta mixture.

4. Spoon the mousse into serving bowls and refrigerate for 1 hour. Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve.

Variation

1. You can use Strawberry Jam if you do not have raspberry jam.

2. Substitute Ricotta cheese with cottage cheese