Asian Coleslaw

 

Asian coleslaw (Serves 4-6, time 20 mins)
Cabbage, has to be one of the most underestimated vegetables we have in the Indian kitchen. But as the foundation of this Asian style coleslaw it gets a delicious new leasse on life. Make ahead of time (it only gets better the next day) just add bean sprouts, onions and garnish before immediately prior to serving. Add spicy cooked prawns, chicken, tofu of mushrooms for a full meal in a bowl.

For the Dressing
½ c natural vinegar
¼ c honey
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp grated gingerroot
1 tbsp finely chopped chilies
½ tsp chili sauce

For the Salad
½ head cabbage, grated/shredded
½ head red cabbage, grated
1 cup assorted vegetables sliced into matchsticks (carrot, babycorn,
French beans)
½ cup assorted peppers sliced thinly
1 pkt bean sprouts
1/3 c chopped green onions
For garnish
½ c herbs, (coriander, basil and mint) finely sliced into chiffonade
½ cup toasted peanuts crushed coarsely
½ cup toasted sesame

Method:
For the dressing, Put everything into a small screwtop jar and shake well.
Leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge.


To make the salad; Combine cabbage, vegetables and capsicum in a large bowl. Add
dressing and toss well. Refrigerate. When ready to serve add bean sprouts, green onions and toss well. Garnish and serve.

A brunch of mutual inspiration!

 

Its been a while since I have had a weekend like this to slow down, cook and be at home so I was looking forward to this weekend. I had planned to cook dinner for a few friends - a slow cooked lamb in my home made Vincotto, with one of Shekhar's breads and Tiramisu for dessert. But that did not work out. (Harry Potter was more appealing to that friend!) But then brunch worked out with some dear friends we'd been wanting to get together with for a while now. 

So instead of my usual Sunday activity of catching up with favourite TV programs, or a new book, (I like to  do my entertaining on Fridays and Saturdays, and just chill on Sundays)  I decided to cook up a storm!  And soon I was wondering why I had never done brunches before. They are so very convinient to do and offer so much opportunity for creativity. With the lines between breakfast and lunch getting blurred, I could serve eggs and potatoes, but also heavier stuff that would be inappropriate at breakfast. I  also wanted to stick to using things I had at home because I have been collecting a LOT of stuff off late to cook at a later day and it has been piling up!  Eggs were definitely on the menu and at first I thought of doing eggs to order with herbs or a layered Omlette casserole, but I did not have fresh herbs and other stuff I needed. So I homed in on  sn egg dish that was a cross between planned a menu keeping in mind what I already had lyiing around, which is why there is a colorful mix of kafir lime stuffed fish, Mexican Houvos Ransheros, German sausages, etc. Shekhar has been doing some fab breads and I finally got him his yeast as well so he went all out with baking two fabluous breads. It was a lovely morning and when we were done, and things had been cleared away he very neatly tied it up with one of his rare poetic lines, "if I was poetic I would say i hope we continue to inspire one another" Still have a goofy smile on my face!

While we were cooking Aman was setting up a game outside - His version of Age of Empires! (Bilkul baap pe gaya hai!)

Shekhar starts making bread with the dough he started last night.

The cheese is ready.

On it goes!

The Pepper

The Oregano

Then it gets all rolled up!

And sealed at the ends!

And dusted and left to rest!

The Chorizo Cheese Twist

And the Chorizo muscles its way out!

Oiled and glistening and ready to be baked!

The loaf cracks, the chorizo pops out and the oozy cheese follows!

Sliced up and beautiful!

up close and personal!

A thing of beauty should be appreciated from all sides!

Both the breads together!

My Hoevos Rancheros ready to go in the oven! A chunky oregano scented base of zuchini, onion and tomato went first in which I made little wells into which I cracked eggs, A little salt and pepper on sprinkled onto eggs. I then scattersd on cheese and baked the whole thing under foil till the eggs were set. Then I opened it to brown cheese.

Baked Hoevos Rancheros

Easy enough for weeknights and festive enough for weekend specials, make these in indivisual bowls for oomph.

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp chilli flakes

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

6 sprigs fresh Oregano or 1 tbsp dry

5 onions finely chopped

1 Zuchini finely chopped

5 tomatoes finely chopped

1/3 c tomatoe puree

1/3 c cheese, grated (preferably parmiggiano reggiano)

5-6 eggs

2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

Method

Heat oil in a pan on a low flame and add the garlic, chilli flakes and oregano. Stir to distribute flavours into oil. Add onions and stir to coat. Add zucchini and and sweat (not fry, just gently sweat). When soft Add tomatoes and allow to cook till any water has dried out and everything is tender, add salt and mix well, Check salt and adjust seasoning.  Once it is bubbling again add meat balls. Add cheese, lower flame and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. When done the sauce should be a beautiful red flecked with green because of the Zucchini and have thickened to a luscious consistency. Transfer to a baking dish and spread out evenly into a thick layer. Using a spoon, gently make 6 wells in the base. Crack 1 egg into each well. Sprinkle a little salt onto each egg, followed by pepper and sprinkle over with cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes untill eggs are set. Uncover and return to oven for another 5-7 minutes to melt and brown cheese. Serve hot with crusty bread.

The Kafir lime fish ready to be cooked. This is Halwa fish, stuffed with a mix of coriander, dill, kafir lime leaf and garlic. I microwaved it for a bit and then finished it in the pan.

Herb-stuffed Fish
Ingredients
1/3 c EVOO or lemon infused EVOO
2 whole fish slit through the middle for stuffing. (I used Halwa, but Surmai (Kingfish) of Pomfret would also be great)
2 cups fresh herbs of your choice (I used dill and corriander in equal measures, 4 sprigs of kafir leaves)
2 green chillies
1/3 cup garlic
Juice of 1 Lemon
Sea salt
Lemon wedges to serve


Rinse the fish well and remove innards & scale if necessary. Pat dry with paper towels and rub the interior with sea salt and lime juice. Pound or blend herbs with chillies and garlic to make an aromatic paste. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and half the lemon juice to the herb paste and mix well. Stuff the body cavity of each fish with half the paste. Brush both sides of each fish with a generous amount of the EVOO and set aside. After 10 mins place in a glass dish, cover and cook in the microwave on high for 8-10 mins. Remove and finish on the frying pan so you have a nice crisp skin. Serve topped with a little fresh corriancer and lemon wedges.

The fish after cooking, served with a drizzle of EVOO, sea salt and wedges of lime. Was a total hit!

The eggs cooked!

Bread sliced up!

Yoghurt and sesame gratinated Potatoes (Time taken: 30 mins. Serves: 1)

2 pkts baby potatoes, washed and boiled with salt and very little water
1 c Tahina sauce OR 2/3 c yoghurt +1/3 c toasted sesame paste

1-2 green chillies, minced
3-4 cloves garlic

1 tsp oil
Salt 

Combine tahina OR yoghurt and toasted sesame paste, garlic and green chilies in a bowl and mix well until incorporated. (You should end up with a batter the consistency of dosa batter so add a little milk if it is too thick). Set aside. Place a non stick frying pan on a medium flame and brush with oil. Slice the boiled baby potatoes into halves arrange in a single layer in the frying pan as you slice. Spoon the Tahini mix over the potatoes so everything is evenly covered. Raise flame to high and allow cook until the moisture has completely evaporated (about 10 minutes. Alternatively bake it in the oven till the moisture has dried out and potatoes are golden and crusty.  Serve with toothpicks. 

Chicken sausages for the kids!

Though they preferred the Wrustel! (Aaj kal ke bachche!)

A method to my madness when I entertain! (pictures shot by the lovely Jyotica Purwar AKA Curryspice of the blog Followmyrecipe!)

Wrustel my mom got back for me from Austria

Just before I went off to Dehra Dun for the Summer, I did a Mediterranean/Continental themed dinner. I like to do dinner parties around a theme, I do mean Thai, Italian, Vietnamese and Mexican and Mediterranean spreads! When I do my theme based meals I take into account a lot of things, budget, time, guest profile and food preferences and have evolved a method to my madness. And the method to my madness with executing these is template recipes! Template Recipe is a term I coined recipes that I can do various avatars of. For example I always make a potato appetiser, because it is cost effective and potatoes are well loved by everyone. I optimise appliance use so there will always be a micro waved dish and a baked chicken because that I can stick it in the two appliances and keep my kitchen counter free.  

And for each aspect of my meal I have template recipes that I tweak for use depending on the cuisine I am serving. For example in the case of potatoes, I parboil them with their skins on, pierce them all over and then stir fry them slowly in a little oil, finishing with a herb and spice combination to match the meal – parsley and lemon for a Mediterranean meal, chillies, garlic and schezwan sauce for a Chinese meal or thai chillies, basil, palm sugar and fish sauce for a thai meal.  Similarly with the chicken, I will marinate it and then bake it in the oven. A Sundried tomato or Sumac and Garlic paste for an Italian on Mediterranean meal, extra thai curry and a touch of coconut milk for a Thai meal or soya sauce sesame and slivered onions for a Vietnamese meal. Granted this method does not always result in authentic dishes, but often drawing on the flavour profile of a cuisine results in innovative new dishes. 

Cuisines around the world, have many ingredients in common, we've just never thought of it.  Just start thinking out of the box with ingredients you have to hand. You might not always get the exact ingredient you need for a recipe. Using a substitute might sometimes mean a loss of authentic flavor to puritans but we'd still be grilling meat on a fire if we hadn't used what we had to hand – Cuisine would simply never have evolved! Sometimes you will find something that is very close in nature to the ingredient you need. For example, when fresh Parsley is available at the market, I make Middle Eastern Tabouleh salad. But Bulgher wheat, an important ingredient in this salad is hard to find and far more expensive so I substitute Daliya. In fact one cannot get Moroccon preserved lemons in India but substituting them lemon with the normal salted nimbu pickle gives you delicious results despite the fact that the entire nature of the recipe changes. 

I have found doing these meals is excellent for rejuvenating everyone. It's like being somewhere else, doing something exciting and new, but in the comfort of home!  Here is a look at what I cooked for the party! I would like to thank Jyotika of the blog Follow My Recipe again for making my food look so good! If you fancy having a recipe for any of the dishes below, leave a comment and i will be happy to post them!

Meghna who designs some fabulously foodie things arrived first bearing presents of the apron I am wearing, It says on it "Highly Flambeable" I loved it. Luckily Jyotika followed soon after and took these pictures.

I usually unroll the appetisers in stages. Platters of olives ad bowls of nuts are strategically placed all over even before guests arrive.

First I will bring out a dip - That day it was a hung yogurt, herb and pomegranate dip.

As my guests continued to come in, I brought out the chicken kebabas again in keeping with the theme these were flavoured with garlic, Parsley and pistachios.

Shanky of the blog Lotsafood came in to help me slice up the Romanian sausage I had picked up from Terra Madre in italy. This was made by producers who live high in the mointains of Romanis and you can taste the purity of the air in the meat.

Meanwhile i got to cooking the Wrustel!

What a beutiful sight!

While I was in the kitchen Jyotika snuck a picture of my pantry cupboard!

The Romanian Sausage sliced up!

Polenta was the dish of the evening however. A long time ago i cooked Polenta for my husband, it was so bad he flushed it down the loo and refused to eat it ever again. 12 years down the line and much experience later I did it properly. Everyone loved it and I was gratified! 

An Mediterranean themed stirfry of vegetables flavoured with Olive oil and Oregano and left al dente.

Onions, pomegrante and oodles of herbs went into this salad of mine with feta cheese.

The Stirfry closer up! The vegetables were cooked just right!

Pasta ready to be topped with sauce!

Everyone made up their own plates with me spraying salads with pimento oil and Jalapeno sea salt!

a closer look at the Polenta.

My Sun Dried Tomato baked chicken!

Dessert was a trifle in the theme of the evening with mascarpone, mixed with honey, rose petals, dried strawberris and figs spread on a layer of citrus doused cake and topped with a layer of crushed pistachios. ,