It's Photo Recipe Time!!!

And after a long hiatus (#2?), the absconding blogger is back! It would be fun to say that I was busy coming up with new ideas for the blog, but really I was just busy with a ton of school work. Part 2 of the last post will come up soon. Until then, I have a post that’s different from what you’ve seen here so far. The posts are detailed to the last quarter of a teaspoon with notes about oil splatters. Not this one though! This post is all about pictures. I picked a fairly simple recipe and decided to do a photo sequence that takes you through all the stages. And the chosen recipe is…..<drumroll please>…..Fried Rice! Yeah…quite the anti-climax.

Fried rice is unavoidable at any Asian/Indian-Chinese restaurant you go to. Whether people in Asia really eat what we call ‘fried rice’ is a whole different question. Anyway, the point is that fried rice is very customizable with every recipe using different ingredients and in varying proportions. It’s really ‘as you like it’. So I’ll tell you how I did it, but without perfect measurements. Enjoy…..

I decided to go with a vegetable, shrimp and egg fried rice tonight. So step 1 involved dealing with the shrimp egg. I thawed about a dozen medium sized shrimp and gave them a quick 5-10 minute marinade with a tiny amount of turmeric, a pinch of salt and a little bit of ground red chilli pepper. I love spices, but if you don’t feel free to just stick to salt…..and maybe some pepper if you wish. Next, I fried the shrimp in about a spoonful of oil in my fried rice pan. Took the shrimp out and then scrambled an egg in the pan….I added the same spices to the egg. Here's what it ended up looking like.

Step 2 – Added a tad more oil to the pan and threw in some star anise, diced red onion, ginger, garlic and some Thai chilli peppers. Star anise is a great aromatic and gives off a pretty good fragrance and flavor to the food. That said, it’s not a must have. Feel free to use five spice powder….or nothing. Oh and those Thai chilli peppers can be nasty hot….so use with care.

When the onion looked done, I added diced zucchini and carrots and let the veggies get cooked. Covering the pan at this point is a good idea. The veggies took about 7-8 minutes to get done.

Next up, I added some thawed corn and the fried goodness (shrimp and egg). And here’s where the customization fun comes in. I used soy sauce, a pinch of salt and some ketchup. You could use oyster sauce or some stir-fry sauce…..get creative! And the FINAL step……I added cold, cooked rice to all the wonderful things in the pan. And this is what it ended up looking like…..

So that was my dinner tonight…..hope you enjoyed it too. ;)

And yes….COLD RICE is the secret to a great fried rice.

Kitchen Experiments: Paneer

It's not like I need an excuse to cook or bake, but spring break has ensured I have some extra time to carry out experiments that have long been on the back burner. This post is not going to have a recipe as such....it's more about my successful maiden attempt at making paneer. If you're familiar with Indian cuisine, you most likely know what it is. For those who aren't, paneer is a kind of soft cheese that can be compared to queso fresco or queso blanco. Paneer is a really versatile ingredient that can go into curries, rice dishes, desserts and more. And if you're me, you can probably just eat it by itself.

So paneer making is not a terribly difficult task. You just need to be a little attentive and a tad bit patient. It's really as simple as adding an acidic agent to boiling milk so the curds separate from the whey. Then you just drain all the whey off and let the curds sit until they are firm. Make sure you save the whey...more on that in a little bit. Here's how I made the paneer.....and keep watching this space for what I did with this paneer.

Paneer

1 quart (946 ml) whole milk
2-3 teaspoons vinegar

Pour the milk into a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil over medium heat. Once the milk comes to a boil, add the vinegar and stir well. As the milk curdles and you see the whey and the curds separating, turn the heat off.

Line a strainer with a cheese cloth or a fine muslin cloth. Place the strainer over a large bowl and pour the contents of the saucepan into the strainer. Let the whey drain off for about 15 minutes. If you want soft, crumbly paneer, you're good to go. If you want it to be firm, make sure the paneer is covered with the cheese cloth and place a heavy weight on top (I used a ceramic mortar and pestle). Let the paneer rest for 2-3 hours and then use it as desired.

Notes:

1. You can use lemon juice instead of vinegar to curdle the milk.

2. Refrigerate the paneer if you're not going to use it immediately. The whey goes in the refrigerator too.

3. The logic behind saving the whey is that it is very nutritious and can be used instead of water in your regular cooking.....while boiling rice or in paratha/chapati dough or even in curries. The whey can also be used to make paneer in the future.

4. If you choose to go the firm paneer way, you can take the bowl with the whey away before you place the weight on the paneer.....whey is nutritious but you don't need to squeeze every last drop of it.

Grand Comeback....It's Curry Time Folks!!!

It has been almost two months since the last post....so so very tardy!! Winter break, research and other school work have been conspiring to keep me super busy and away from my blog. Oh well...to make up for the absence I'm going to share the delicious outcome of an experiment from last year. It's my favorite, very special chicken curry...so meat lovers rejoice!!

Back home, chicken used to play the lead role in Sunday lunches every other week or so. Now that I think back, it was probably one of the things I looked forward to the most on weekends. It's surprising that in spite of liking chicken so much, my own frequency of cooking it is even lower than every other Sunday. Maybe it's because cooking vegetarian lends itself to easier prep and clean up. Anyhow, so I bought some chicken breasts from the store one day and threw together a bunch of things from the kitchen and pantry into a marinade - yes the whole spectrum from veggies to spices to nuts. Now it wasn't nearly as random as I'm making it sound.....I definitely have some sense of what ingredients go together well so long as it's regular kitchen stuff. Now if they put me on an episode of Chopped, I probably wouldn't survive even 5 minutes.....

So getting back to my story, I came up with this chicken marinade and then turned the thing into a seriously amazing curry that far exceeded whatever expectations I had. It's tried and tested and I'm yet to meet a person who dislikes it. Either that or I know some seriously polite people!! If curry is not your style, the marinade along with some red chilli powder (ground red pepper/cayenne pepper), salt and garam masala is fabulous on grilled chicken. 

Chicken Curry

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into medium sized pieces

Marinade :

4 large cashews

2 tsp slivered almonds (without skin)

1 Kashmiri red chilli - optional

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium red onion, sliced thin

1 medium sized tomato, cut into chunks

3-4 large cloves of garlic, cut into chunks

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup cilantro (coriander) leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

¼  tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

 

Curry:

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon garam masala

salt, to taste

1 cup water

Marinade: Soak the cashews, almonds and the red chilli (if using) in warm water for an hour. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the onion until it begins browning. Then add the ginger, garlic and tomatoes and continue to cook until the tomatoes become soft, about 5 minutes. Take it off the heat. Add the soaked ingredients and cilantro leaves. Grind the mixture with a little bit of water (about 2 tablespoons), after it cools. Marinate the chicken with this paste, salt and spice powders. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

Curry: Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chicken and saute for 4-5 mins. Add water and cover the pan to let the chicken cook. When the chicken is almost done, add garam masala. Add more salt and red chilli powder as required. Let the chicken simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Serve over rice or with your favorite bread.

Notes:

1. Slivered almonds are basically almonds with the skin taken off and chopped lengthwise. If you can't find them, just soak whole almonds and make sure you take the skin off before adding them to the marinade.

2. For the uninitiated, a Kashmiri chilli is a kind of chilli pepper that is widely used for color and flavor and not so much for the heat. You can leave it out if you don't have it. 

3. Adding a little bit of cream or half and half during the last minute or two of simmering the curry makes it richer and takes the flavor up a couple of notches. Do not overdo it though.

4. There really is no substitute for cilantro in this one. Parsley will NOT work!!