Sukka Mutton

I would like to introduce to you the Gem of Kolhapuri cuisine, “Sukka Mutton”. This is one of my favourite meat preparations. There are plenty of restaurants in Kolhapur where you get a Kolhapuri Thali which serves sukka mutton. My favourite place is Shetkari dhaba at Phulewadi, Kolhapur. Sukka mutton or Stir fry goat has to be accompanied by “Tambda Rassa” (Goat Soup). But I will feature that in another post of mine.

Ingredients:

1 Kilo Goat curry pieces or lamb pieces

2 cups of grated coconut

2 medium brown onions sliced

1 teaspoon of poppy seeds

1 tablespoon of Kanda Lasun Masala or red chilli powder

1 ½ tablespoon of garam masala

2 bay leaves

7-8 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger

½ cup fresh coriander leaves

3 tablespoon of cooking oil

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Pressure cook the goat or lamb for 15 minutes and separate the stock from the curry pieces. Store the stock for Tambda Rassa/Goat soup.

In a pan roast the grated coconut until golden brown and set aside. In the same pan add ½ teaspoon of oil and roast 1 sliced brown onion until golden brown.

In a blender blend the coconut, roasted brown onion, fresh coriander, ginger, garlic, garam masala, kanada lasun masala and poppy seeds into a fine paste.

In a pan add cooking oil and once hot add the sliced onion and bay leaves. Saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is golden brown. Add the blended paste and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.

Add the curry goat pieces and coat them well with the blended paste. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. If you are not pressure cooking them cover and cook on a low flame for 40-50 minutes. Usually this has to be served dry but if you are not cooking the goat or the lamb in a pressure cooker keep adding the separated stock in small amount until the meat cooks and then let the water evaporate to make it dry. Add some meat tenderiser if necessary to make it tender.

This dish is best served with Bhakri but can also be served with hot Rotis.

 

 

 

Kolhapuri Kat Vada

My home town Kolhapur is most famous for 3 things. Kolhapuri Chappal, Sukka Mutton and chamchamit Misal. Until recently there were very few fast food joints in the city for the simple fact that if people were hungry, they would go and eat Misal any hour of the day. If it is lunch or dinner you have sukka mutton and bhakri as the preferred choice. While I will feature Kolhapuri sukka mutton and tambda rassa in a different article, I will show you how to make the “Kat” for the misal. This Kat can also be used with “Batata vada” to make “Kat- vada”.

Ingredients:

1 brown onion

½ cup freshly grated coconut

4 cloves of garlic

½ inch ginger

¼ cup coriander leaves

4 pods of cardamom

½ teaspoon of fennel seeds

2 sticks of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of coriander seeds

½ teaspoon of cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon of black pepper

2 star anises

½ cup of milk

2 tablespoon of kanda lasun masala

½ teaspoon of turmeric

salt

600 ml of water

5 tablespoon cooking oil

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

In a pan roast the cardamom, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black pepper and set aside. In the same pan roast the coconut until golder brown and set aside.

Add little bit of oil to the pan and saute the chopped onion until golden brown.

In a blender add the roasted spices, turmeric, star anise, roasted coconut, onion, coriander leaves, garlic and ginger and blend to make a fine paste.

In a pan add the remaining oil and add the kanda lasun masala to the oil and saute for ½ minute'

Adding the kanda-lasun masal at this stage ensure that you get the “tavanga” for the misal. If you do not have the kanda lasun masala substitute it with red chilli powder however add the red chilli powder while blending all the masala.

Saute the masala until oil starts separating and add the milk. Adding the milk was a tip, I picked up from my mother in law. Although milk seemed out of place in the recipe the first time I heard of it, it tapered down the spices a fair bit leaving the tavanga and the colour as it is. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes and then add the water. Let the “Kat” boil for about 4-5 minutes and add some salt to taste.

For making Kat vada, halve the batata Vada in bowl and pour the cut over the vada. Garnish with chopped onion and juice of lemon.

 

 

 

Pad Thai

Pad thai is a wonderful preparation and is Thailand's national dish. It is a street food in Thailand and very popular here in Australia. It combines the tangy tamarind, spicy chilli and crushed peanuts. It is one of those dishes that you want to keep on eating.

Ingredients:

½ cup tamarind extract

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon palm sugar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

3 red chillies

½ teaspoon of chopped garlic

2 teaspoon of chopped onion

1 teaspoon of lime juice

uncooked prawns/shrimp

½ cup firm tofu

2 cup flat white noodles

1 cup bean sprouts

½ cup roasted and crushed peanuts

fresh coriander leaves

1 egg

salt to taste

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Soak the flat rice noodles in boiling water until they are soft. Drain the water and wash with cold water and set aside.

The tamarind extract can be bought in any store but if using whole tamarind, soak the tamarind in warm water and them blend it in the blender. Strain the juice using a strainer.

Pad thai sauce

Add tamarind paste to a wok and add the fish sauce. Add the palm sugar and brown sugar,stir and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Set the sauce aside in a bowl.

Noodles

Coat the wok with oil add the garlic, onion and red chillies. Add prawn to the wok and cook until they are pink. Add firm tofu and the egg and cook it for 2 minutes.

Add the noodles to the wok and add 3-4 teaspoon of sauce and add lime juice. Toss the noddles until they are coated with sauce. Add the lime juice and bean sprouts and toss again.

Serve the pad thai with roasted and crushed peanuts.

 

 

Sambar

The recipe for today is sambar. Sambar south Indian dish best eaten with Idli, Dosa, medu vada or just plain rice. It is a sumptous lentils or vegetable stew cooked with toor dal. To make authentic sambar you would need to make the smabar masala from scratch. But in this recipe I am showing you how to make sambar from store bought sambar masala. But if would like to make the sambar masala from scratch please visit www.vahrevah.com from chef Thumma.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

½ cup toor dal

3 tablespoon of sambar masala

1 teaspoon of tumeric

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of asafoetida

curry leaves

3 dry red chillies

1 tablespoon of garlic

1 red onion chopped

½ cup coconut milk

1 potato diced

1 tomato chopped

¼ cup jaggery

1 tablespoon tamarind extract

salt to taste.

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Wash and cook the dal in pressure cooker for 15 minutes under pressure or cook it on a stove until it is tender. Mash the dal evenly and add little water if necessary.

In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once the seeds start popping add the asafoetida, turmeric and curry leaves. Add the red chillies and saute for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and onion and saute until onions become translucent.

Add the potatoes and any other vegetables you may want to use (eggplant or drumsticks go best with the sambar along with potatoes). Add the sambar masala and tamarind juice to the pan. Saute for a minute and add the coconut milk to the pan cook for further 2 minutes.

Add the cooked dal to the pan and add a cup of water and bring to boil. Once the sambar comes to boil add the jaggery and tomatoes. Add salt to taste and simmer until the vegetables are cooked.

Serve with Idli, dosa or medu vada.

Announcing our first virtual food event & a chance to win $20 Amazon gift card.

On 15th August, India celebrates it’s Independence day so finding a theme for this event was easy. Independence or freedom is the theme of this event. So if you have dish that is liberating or asserts your independent style of cooking…that’s the dish we are after. This is not a contest, so everyone’s a winner just for participating. That said, all the foodies who send entries will automatically get into a lucky draw. One randomly picked foodie will receive a $20 Amazon gift card.

Here’s how it will run:

Event: Freedom | Independence
Venue: www.hrishi.com.au
Dates: From 13 July 2011 – 13 August 2011
Entries: If you are sending a blog entry – Up to 5 post entries are more then welcome. Please include – Your name / Blog Name / Blog URL / Photo.
If you are not sending a blog entry – Simply email your name, your recipes with the photo to hrishidesai77@gmail.com
(I am not limiting the size of the photo, since I will resize it before posting anyways)
Roundup: The roundup of recipes received will be presented on 15th August 2011

*If you would like this recipe recorded for youtube/web, please sent it a few days before the roundup. Where possible, I will record the recipes with due credit and post it in the roundup.*

The more the merrier…so feel free to pass this on to fellow foodies. Let’s get cooking.

To view this and other events going on in the blogosphere, click here.

Ragada Patties

Ragada patties reminds me of my uni days. During our study leaves every semester, I used to go back to my home town “Kolhapur” to prepare for the exams. Every evening all of us friends used to hang out at a “tapari” (street vendor) to have ragada patties, pani puri and bhel. I think I spend more time mingling with my friends than studying during these study breaks but that is a topic for another day. I am featuring my version of ragada patties. There are several ways to make it so please comment if you have would like to suggest some missing ingredient.

Ingredients:

For Ragada

1 can of cooked cannellini beans (white peas)

½ bunch of mint leaves

½ bunch coriander leaves

2 green chillies

2 garlic cloves

½ inch gimger

1 onion finely chopped

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon asafoetida

1 tablespoon oil

½ litre of water

salt

For Patties (aloo tikki)

2 medium potatoes

½ inch grated ginger

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon of cumin powder

½ cup green peas

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander

½ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)

oil to shallow fry

salt to taste

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

To make ragada, blend the ginger, garlic, mint leaves, coriander leaves and chillies to a paste.

Heat oil in pan and add mustard seeds and once the seeds start popping add the asafoetida and turmeric. Add the chopped onion and saute until the onions turn translucent. Add the blended paste and saute for further 1 minute on low heat. Add the cumin powder, salt and the beans.

Add water and simmer for 10 minutes.

For patties

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. To the mash add the grated ginger, green peas, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder, fresh coriander, red chilli powder and salt. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and set aside

In a pan add oil. Make flat patties of the mash and shallow fry on both sides until golden brown.

Plate up the patties, top it with garma garam ragada. Garnish with chopped onion, some chat masala and tamarind date chutney.  

 

Shepuchi Bhaji

Dill or shepu as we call it in Marathi is traditionally used as a herb in western cooking. In India fresh dill leaves are used in the main course dish to prepare stir fry dill or shepuchi bhaji. Dill has a very bitter taste and to make it into a main course it needs to be mellowed down a little bit. Garlic does just that.

Ingredients

3 bunches of dill

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 green chillies

½ cup of besan or gram flour

2 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of asafoetida

1 teaspoon of turmeric

salt to taste

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Wash and dry the dill bunches and finely chop the leaves.

In a pan heat the oil and mustard seeds and once they start popping add the asafoetida and turmeric. Add the garlic and chopped chillies and saute for 1 minute.

Add the chopped dill and saute until the dill turns dark green and shrinks. Add the besan, salt and sugar and mix thoroughly.

Cover the pan for 2 minutes on low heat and turn the heat off.

Serve with hot rotis.S

 

Aloo Tikki

Aloo tikki (potato patties) is a savoury snack and famous street food in India. It is one of those starters that makes on almost every Indian restaurants menu abroad. Aloo Tikki is very versatile and works as a great party snack. Make it less spicy it becomes a kids party snack. Aloo tikki can also be used for 'Ragada Patties'.

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes

½ inch grated ginger

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon of cumin powder

½ cup green peas

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander

½ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)

oil to shallow fry

salt to taste

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Boil, peal and mash the potatoes. To the mash add the grated ginger, green peas, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder, fresh coriander, red chilli powder and salt. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and set aside

In a pan add oil. Make flat patties of the mash and shallow fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with mint and yoghurt chutney or tomato ketchup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essential Indian Cooking Ingredients

Indian food is a pot-pourri of spices, colours, textures and flavours….just like a bollywood movie it is full of drama. So if you think Indian food is nothing more than curries and spices and is time-consuming…Think again. We are a father son team on a mission to shatter these myths. Here we showcase how versatile Indian food is and how innovative cooks can be.

If you are just starting out with Indian cuisine in particular, it may be overwhelming if you have not had a lot of exposure to the essential ingredients. For this reason, I have put together an ebook which provides common names and pictures for the most commonly used ingredients.

To download your FREE copy of the Indian Cooking Ingredients: A Visual Guide, just register with your email id at www.hrishi.com.au and we will send you the link via email.

Please leave a comment if I have missed any essential ingredients in the list and I will make every attempt to update the ebook.

Thanks
Hrishi

Burrito

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Ola everyone, como esta? If you haven’t guessed already, today we are featuring a Mexican recipe, Burrito. Burritos are a traditional food of Ciudad Juárez, a city in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, where people buy them at restaurants and roadside stands. It is a wheat flour tortilla wrap which is filled with rice, chicken, salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

Ingredients

Wheat flour tortillas

¼ kilo of chicken cut in stripes

1 can of corn kernel

1 Spanish onion finely chopped

1 tomato chopped

2 red chillies finely chopped

½ cup of chopped coriander

½ cup of cooked Mexican rice or refried beans

1 packet of taco seasoning

cheese

1 teaspoon of sour cream

1 teaspoon of guacamole

juice of 1 lemon

salt

1 teaspoon of oil

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Corn salsa

Mix the corn kernel, some salt to taste, chopped red chillies and the lemon juice and set aside.

Onion salsa

Mix chopped onion, coriander and tomatoes and set aside.

Chicken preparation

In a pan add oil and saute the chicken until cooked. Add the taco seasoning and mix well and set aside.

Burrito assembly

On the wheat tortilla, spread the Mexican rice and some of the chicken. On top of the chicken add the onion and corn salsa. Spread some cheese over the mixture. Add a dollop of sour cream and guacamole. Fold the three sides of the tortilla and wrap the bottom with some Aluminium foil.

Enjoy the Burrito. Adios.

 

 

 

 

 

Burrito

Ola everyone, como esta? If you haven’t guessed already, today we are featuring a Mexican recipe, Burrito. Burritos are a traditional food of Ciudad Juárez, a city in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, where people buy them at restaurants and roadside stands. It is a wheat flour tortilla wrap which is filled with rice, chicken, salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

Ingredients

Wheat flour tortillas

¼ kilo of chicken cut in stripes

1 can of corn kernel

1 Spanish onion finely chopped

1 tomato chopped

2 red chillies finely chopped

½ cup of chopped coriander

½ cup of cooked Mexican rice or refried beans

1 packet of taco seasoning

cheese

1 teaspoon of sour cream

1 teaspoon of guacamole

juice of 1 lemon

salt

1 teaspoon of oil

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Corn salsa

Mix the corn kernel, some salt to taste, chopped red chillies and the lemon juice and set aside.

Onion salsa

Mix chopped onion, coriander and tomatoes and set aside.

Chicken preparation

In a pan add oil and saute the chicken until cooked. Add the taco seasoning and mix well and set aside.

Burrito assembly

On the wheat tortilla, spread the Mexican rice and some of the chicken. On top of the chicken add the onion and corn salsa. Spread some cheese over the mixture. Add a dollop of sour cream and guacamole. Fold the three sides of the tortilla and wrap the bottom with some Aluminium foil.

Enjoy the Burrito. Adios.