Zhanzhanit Thencha Potatoes for Maharashtra Day !

 

 

“Zhanzhanit”- means electrifyingly spicy in Marathi, its an exclusive word used for chilli preparations, mostly the ones that are so hot that it makes one cry while eating. Marathi is the regional language of my home state of Maharashtra and the Maharashtrian communities that live here. This is the state in which Mumbai, the city where I was born, is located and I like to think there is a lot of Maharashtrian in me :) I have also grown up eating Maharashtrian food.  

Chillies which are intrinsic for adding heat to Indian food, only came to us in India in the 17th century with the advent of the Portugese. But for an ingredient that entered our cuisine so late, they managed to make themselves irreplaceable very quickly. Today they are extensively used and every region in India grows a different variety of chillies. Green chillies are used in daily cooking as part of the tempering, to spice up chutneys and salads but usually for their heat alone. 

The Maharashtrian Mirchi Thencha is one of the few Chilli recipes that roasts chillies to make a rustic condiment named after the method of preparation it calls for (Thencha means pounded). The smoky flavour from the roasting adds to the heat of the chillies and the aroma of the garlic. 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes; Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For Thencha
1/2 c hot spicy Green chillies
1 c Garlic, peeled
Salt to taste
Peanuts, toasted and crushed (optional)
Oil

For Thencha Potatoes
250g Baby potatoes par-boiled in salted water with jackets on
1 cup stock
2 tbsp of the Thencha
Salt to taste (if required

Method:
For Thencha : Roast chillies and garlic on a hot pan till slightly blackened. 

Place  in a mortar and pestle or blender and process to a coarse paste with salt and peanuts (if using). 

When done transfer to a jar. Thecha can be stored for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.

To make Thencha Potatoes : Mix Thencha with stock and add the potatoes. Toss well until coated. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Cook till potato jackets are crisp (add 2 tsp of oil towards the end if you like).

Beer Flavoured Spicy Pork Slices

Mad About Meat
As you know I can’t stand beer. But I have more than a few friends who would grow gills and live in a sea of beer given the chance. So whenever I make a meat snack, it is not unusual for them to take a bite and comment that a chilled bottle of beer would be the best accompaniment. Sometimes when I’m cooking for my friends and they’re already drinking beer, I steal some to marinate meat or pour some into the pan as I fry the meat. The beer infuses the meat with a subtly nutty flavor. Here’s an easy tried and tested recipe.
For Marinade
1 Cup of Beer
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2tbsp Sweet and Spicy Tobasco Sauce
1 tsp Salt
Mix ingredients and pour marinade over pork slice. Leave for two hours.
For Pork Slices
1 kg Pork, thin slices (If you’re making it super spicy like I do, choose loin cuts nearer the shoulder, it has more fat and balances well with the chilli. If you want it bland, choose leaner cuts from the center)
4 clove of Garlic, minced
1 tbsp of freshly ground ginger
3 tbsp Dried Red Chilli Flakes
1tbsp Refined oil
2 cups of Beer
1 cup of Bell peppers, cut into squares
Directions
Heat oil in deep non stick pan, add garlic, ginger and chilli flakes and fry on low flame. Add Pork along with marinade sauce. Close lid and cook on high flame for 30 mins or until dry. Add 1 cup of Beer, close lid and cook for another 30 mins on medium flame.
Check to see if pork is cooked, add bell peppers and 1 cup of beer and stir fry on hight heat until peppers are cooked.
Serve hot with beer.

Honey Mustard Pistachios for TV time

So I have been going on about the health benifits of Pistas. But thats not all thats great about them, Pistachios rule in the realm of flavor as well! Multifaceted (literally - Pistachios come in colours ranging from blushing pink to bright green), these nuts can enhance any dish to which they are added. Abandon the sports bar peanuts and serve pistachios with drinks. Garnish amuse bouche and hors d’oeuvres with these visually resplendent nuts. Add chrushed pistas or pista paste to sauces, to add depth to your dishes.

Pistachios complement an astounding variety of meats – chicken to rabbit to pigeon to shrimps (tried and tasted). Vegetarians should note Pistachios are an excellent source of vegetable protein. Add them to your salads, stir fries or sauté with vegetables and fruit as they are good source of monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats which reduce blood cholesterol levels when they replace saturated fats in your diet.

Here is a great recipe from the California Pistachio board.

Honey Mustard Pistachios
Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking time: 20 - 25 minutes

Ingredients
3/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 bag California In Shell Pistachios
1/3 cup raw sugar

Instructions
Preheat oven to 300°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small saucepan, combine honey, mustard and cayenne pepper. Over medium heat, cook mixture for 5 minutes; stirring often. Add pistachios; stir to coat well. In a large bowl, place raw sugar. Add coated pistachios and stir to coat well. Evenly spread pistachios over baking sheets. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool completely (pistachios will harden as they cool). Store in a loosely covered container for up to two weeks.
Makes 12 servings.

Hot Chips!

Nobody makes chips anymore. Or at least that is what I thought until I found out about this innovative chain of stores that are opening up all over the country.

My son usually asks for packaged chips as a treat. An I can't help thinking of how different things were when I was a child. Just about everything we ate came out of the kitchen then, even snacks and chips. Afternoons, when the kitchen was not busy would be dedicated to snack making and we would often come home to delicious aromas of farsans (as snacks are called in Gujarati) being fried or roasted. My favourite days were the ones when potato chips were fried.

Once lunch was out of the way and babies had been put down for their afternoon naps, the ladies of the house, supervised by my grandmother would settle down to an afternoon of chip making, deliciously flavoured with gossip and washed down with hot sweet cups of masalla chai.

Mounds of potatoes would have been washed by the house help and left in readiness. These would be peeled and sliced by hand on a slicing gadget straight into a large container of boiling oil manned by the maharaj or family cook. (In retrospect his stoic silence through all that gossip was admirable!) As the chips got done they would be strained out and deposited on sheets of newspaper spread out next to him. Once cool liberal amounts of salt and chilli powder would be scattered over and everything would be mixed together by hand until each chip was coated.

Now the thing about these chips was that they had substance to them - they weren't the flimsy brittle things we get in shiny packets today. The gadget they were sliced on gave out slices that were 3 times thicker than the commercial chip. These fried into a crisp thick chip that was crisp and hard and yet soft and crunch when bitten and the dousing of salt and chilli powder left your mouth burning - and yet begging for more - and your lips tingling.

A few months ago I tasted Karela chips (no I am not kidding) at a friends home and found them addictive. (Especially with Curd rice). My friend gets them at a store called Hot Chips in Sakinaka and I had been wanting to visit it ever since but it was never convenient and I forgot about it after the baby came. And then fortuitously (or perhaps not for my waistline) I came across Hot Chips while running a few errands right in my proverbial backyard - Powai! Turns out Hot chips is an India wide chain.

Walk into Hot Chips and it's like being in the snack equivalent of a candy store! The are shelves full of chips; potato, tapioca, banana, soya, each in a variety of shapes, sizes and flavours. And not just chips, all sorts of Indian snacks - once the premise of home kitchens and the loving hands of grandmothers and mothers - are available for your delectation. And not only is everything fresh, you could luck out and buy a bag full straight from the pan! And you can buy as little (one lady bought 10 rupees worth) or as much as you like.

I hadn't really thought about chips for a long time and trying to make any at home had never crossed my mind. I mean even if I had the time, I rarely have the inclination to deep fry anything. But I often wished my son had had a chance to experience the variety of snacks of my childhood, instead of the generic packaged stuff he indulges in. The three packets of munchies we picked up today seem to be a good start and hopefully one of these days my son will see through the glamorous packaging and spend the 10 rupees he finagles out of me for his weekly junk food treat on straightforward quality and some amount of choice at a Hot Chips instead of on a packet of generic rubbish!

And me, I am glad for Hot Chips, partly because in an age of production line food and packaged goods it seems to be applying a formula that will perhaps work - filling in a gap that present day moms like me often can't. But mostly I am glad because the aroma of whatever is being freshly fried that assails me when I walk into Hot Chips will give me a chance to recall the happy, carefree days of my childhood when munching through a bowl of chips did not mean counting calories or carbohydrates followed by a guilt trip...

Paunk

Celebrating the season of plenty!

Winter is the season of plenty all over the world and I thought I'd share kick start the refurbished version of my blog with a celebration of the great produce we have available to us in Mumbai these days.
Many parts of rural India are a celebration at this time with fields of ripening produce stretching endlessly into the horizon. Abundance is in the air as nature unleashes her bounty; of the freshest, most tender, sweetest produce. Oversized cauliflowers bloom off vegetable carts, jostling with a host of verdant leafy vegetables; spinach, fenugreek, coriander… flirting with your eyes, tempting you to pick up bunches worth and take them home – no matter that you have no idea what to do with them!
And almost in anticipation of the hectic harvest period to come, rural India enjoys relaxed, lazy winter days with an essential activity… that of sunning oneself in the fleeting hours of winter sunlight. Snacking on something at these occasions is de rigueur be it a nugget of fresh jaggery, sesame chikkis, or Paunk.
Paunk is a winter speciality of the Surat region in Gujarat. The tender version of Jowar (Sorghum millet) Paunk is harvested before it matures into fully grown grains. These tender jade colored kernels are husked and eaten raw and fresh, steamed or roasted under smouldering ashes. Come the winter and, Undhiyu and Paunk parties become Haute in Mumbai. I was hosted at one last year. (Thanks Asit uncle and Swati aunty for being so kind) and here are some pictures.

Tiny jade colored lentil-like grains of Paunk burst between the teeth with a subtly sweet flavour when eaten on their own.

But they are usually accompanied by spicy pepper or garlic sev (crunchy chickpea flour vermicelli like savouries ), chutney, and sugar balls. Their cool color belies it but Paunk is considered very warming to the body and is usually consumed with numerous glasses of thin chaas (buttermilk) to counteract the effect.

Recipe

Paunk na Bhajiya or Paunk fritters are one of the ways in which Paunk is savoured.

Paunk
Serves 6 Time 20 mins
2 c mung dal soaked
1 c Paunk, crushed slightly
2-3 green chillies chopped fine
1 inch piece ginger chopped fine
½ cup coriander chopped fine
salt to taste
¼ cup besan for binding

In a blender place ginger, coriander and chillies and whiz once.
Add soaked mung dal and process to coarse texture. Remove to a large bowl.
Add paunk, besan and salt and mix well.
Heat oil and fry in batches.
Serve with spicy green chutney

Buying guide – The current market rate for fresh Paunk is Rs 200 -250 fresh, and you will find it in the Bhuleshwar market of Mumbai. When buying ensure that Paunk kernels when squeezed exude a milky juice. Eat as soon as possible it has a very short shelf life.
Where to get it in Mumbai????
And for those of us who prefer things ready made, one of my favourite restaurants in Mumbai, Soam, kicks off it's winter festival today (10th of January). Besides Paunk their winter menu also offers tempting traditional treats like Undhiyu, including an oil free version (quite a feat that since the traditioanl recipe calls for oodles of oil) Dashmi and Vaal (Rice flour rotis with tender green field beans cooked in a green masala, Khajur Puran Polis and a host of strawberry desserts.

Soam
Ground Floor,Sadguru Sadan,Girgaon Chowpatty,Opposite Babulnath Mandir, Girgaon Chowpatty, Mumbai, 400007, India
+91 22 23698080