Rainy day Cooking with Yummiez....

Last week the monsoons really made themselves felt. We were rained in with an empty fridge, my cook did not turn up and I had a couple of hungry cranky housebound kids on my hands.. The only thing I had was a few onions!

Rummaging through the freezer and pantry yielded a can of baked beans and a packet of Yummiez sausages. All the makings for of the Spicy Yummiez  sausage stew I had dished up for  the #YummiezWeekends 'meatup' I had hosted at APB Cook Studio in May. As I chopped onions and chillies and got the stew going, the kitchen was filled with the aromas of the stew and I was taken back to the day I had spent experimenting with the Yummiez products while creating the menu for the party.

Yummiez stuff is great for having on hand for any meal from tiffins where there are endless combinations one can create by combining them with breads, dips, spreads, vegetables, salad and even fruit! We use it to top homemade pizzas, make sausage rolls, muffins, and even salads. 

And their Kebab Platter is a particular favourite for me, it comes in handy whenever sudden guests drop in, just fry up on the tava and serve! But they are also great for quick weekday dinners when I am strapped for time. I just put them out with rotis, onion salad, chutneys and everyone rolls their own wraps.  

I realised as we sat down to dinner that I’ve had some sort of Yummiez product; sausages, salamis, kebabs, ready to fry nuggets, popcorn as a fall back in the fridge ever since. They were really, really convenient to have on hand and have come to my rescue on a number of occasions like that day. They are great to just eat but can also be used in many other ways. Here are some recipes I have created that are great to have on hand.

Yummiez  sausage stew

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 packet Yummiez Cocktail sausages

2 chillies, chopped fine

1 onion, diced fine

1 garlic clove, chopped fine

1 tomato diced

1 can baked beans

1 cup stock

2 tbsp coriander

2 tbsp grated cheese

Method

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the sausages for 4-5 mins until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Add  chillies, onion and stirfry till transluscent. Add the tomatoes and stirfry some more. Add the Baked beans and stock and mix. Bring to the boil. Return the sausages to the pan, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 5-6. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle over the coriander and cheese and serve with crusty bread on the side.

WATCH A VIDEO OF ME MAKING YUMMIEZ SAUSAGE STEW HERE

WATCH A VIDEO OF MIXMEAT SALAD HERE

Mix meat salad

Great as a quick party appetiser by itself or as a canapé topping. Also lovely for a sandwich or taco filling.

Ingredients

3 pkts assorted Yummiez sausages /salamis

½ cup Mayonnaise

½ cup Fresh parsley

2 tbsp Tabasco sauce

Method

Cut the Yummiez sausages /salamis into equal chunks. Combine Mayonnaise, fresh parsley and Tabasco sauce in a large mixing bowl. Add the sausages  and mix well. Serve chilled. 

Variation - Chop sausage salami into tiny dice to use this as a sandwich filling and layer in bread with Iceberg lettuce.

 Spicy Skillet Sausages

Ingredients

! tbsp. olive oil

1 pkt Yummiez Spicy Cocktail Sausage halved

4 onions, sliced thick

2 Green chillies sliced fine

1 tbsp BBQ sauce,

½ tbsp. chilli flakes,

Tabasco sauce to taste

Hand full of olives sliced

2 tbp grated cheese

1 tbsp fresh herbs.

Method

Heat oil and add Yummiez Spicy Cocktail Sausages, stirfry until golden and slightly crisp. Remove and reserve. To the same pan add another tbsp. oil, and add the green chillies and fry for 30 seconds.

Add the thick sliced onions and cook till browned on both sides.  Transfer to a bowl and toss sausages, onions with the BBQ sauce, chilli flakes, Tabasco, olives, grated cheese and herbs. Serve.

WATCH A VIDEO OF ME MAKING SKILLET SAUSAGES HERE

Spicy Sausage and Potato Pan-fry (Time; 45 minutes; Serves:2- 4)

This is one of Shekhar’s favourite recipes. Great for any time of day! Serve with bread or as is.

Ingredients

2 tbsp /30ml EVOO

1 level tsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp crushed pepper

250g potatoes, cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes

2 red onions, cut into 8 chunks each

250 g sausage, cut into chunks

50g cherry tomatoes (optional)

 50g G capsicum

Method

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan. Add the chilli and pepper and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add the potatoes and fry for 7-10 minutes until lightly browned, turning regularly. Reduce the heat, add the onions and continue to cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring from time to time until they have softened but not browned. Add the sausage and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the cherry tomatoes and Peppers. Toss everything together well and cook for 3 minutes. Serve hot with Eggs and buttered toast on the side.

Variation, Vegetarians can substitute sausages with Mushrooms or nutrella nuggets soaked in hot stock and drained.

TO. DIE.FOR Chicken Popcorn Chaat

 

Ingredients

1 pkt Yummiez Chicken popcorn

2 tbsp Tamarind chutney

1 tbsp Green coriander chutney

1 small onion, chopped fine

1 small tomato, chopped fine

1 small green chilli, chopped fine

2 tbsp coriander, chopped fine

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp chaat masala

Salt to taste

Method

Fry the Yummiez Chicken popcorn as per packet instructions and lay on a platter.  Combine onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander, lemon juice and salt and mix well. Scatter onion salad mix over the popcorn. Drizzle with the chutneys. Sprinkle over with the chaat masala. Serve immediately.

 More pictures of the 'Meat' up here and a full video is here  the #YummiezWeekends 'Meatup' 

Grilling the Kebabs.

Sausage Muffins 

A buffet of Yumminess at APB Cook Studio

Tadka Lagao! Exploring the concept of Tempering.

 (First published in TOI Crest Sept 17, 2011 issue How to Have a hot Temper.

The ghee shimmered in the pan, calm on the surface, intensely hot just below. In went the spices; asafoetida, cumin, garlic, in a series of angry little explosions. And when the sputtering and frothing of bubbles slowed down, the spices giving their souls over to the hot fat in a cloud of aroma, I added a tablespoon of orange zest, took the pan off the flame and poured the contents onto the waiting cooked split Masoor Dal. With a last splutter of protest it blended in, carrying the flavours of the spice to every drop of the dish in a sigh of orange scented steam.

Yes you read right I just put orange zest in a Dal Tadka! While working on an article on zest, recently I learnt we actually discard the best part of Citrus in India, the skin. Full of aromatic oils it is incredibly rich in valuable phytonutrients and vitamin C which makes it ideal to help the body absorb the iron and protein in dal. And I have been using it for my Masoor and Mung dal tadkas ever since!

So often we do things because we have been taught to do them a certain way. And adding a Tadka, which you might know as chaunk, bagar, vaghar, phodni, poppu or phoron depending on what part of India you hail from, is one of the first cooking techniques we learn in the Indian kitchen. Applied to just about every Indian dish, except dessert, this technique calls for a selection of whole spices to be fried in hot fat (ghee or oil) to liberate their essential oils and flavours. The resulting Tadka added to any dish rounds it off with a quintessential Indian aroma and flavour.

What is even more fascinating is this unifying concept, is incredibly diverse. Rooted in the origins of Indian cuisine, the Tadka travelled along as Indian cuisine spread across the land mass that was India. In fact so intrinsic to the cuisine is it that it has travelled wherever the cuisine has gone and is still applied to dishes in faraway bastions of Indian cuisine such as South Africa, UK, West Indies. In fact in Trinidad pigeon peas are still “chunkayed” (a derivation of Chaunk, one of the words by which Tadkas are known in Inda) with sliced garlic and whole geera (cumin) in oil even today.

Tadkas, their properties and the reasons behind adding certain spices in combination to specific ingredients is an endlessly fascinating subject, but along the way I began to wonder why we stopped at traditional uses for Tadkas? Usually added at the beginning or end of cooking a dish, a Tadka plays a twofold role. Adding flavour AND augmenting the nutritional value of a dish. Fat which carries flavour, plays medium. And when the fat is heated and the spices added to it, the inherent oils in the spices are released into the oil along with their flavours and carried through the dish by it. But the Tadka’s bigger purpose goes beyond mere flavour.

Every element of the Indian Thali has a purpose and the Tadka does too. Somewhere in our culinary history it was deduced that Tadkas augment the nutrition value of a meal. The fat used provides essential fatty acids required by a body and assists in the break down and absorption of oil soluble vitamins. Each of the spices used has a role to play. And the Tadka proves invaluable in aiding these spices in carrying out their preventive and curative roles.

In fact it was a simple Tadka for Mattha, a yogurt based drink, that got me thinking about experimenting with temperings. In the North, yoghurt is considered too cool for the system to digest in the winter so its inherent 'cool' properties are warmed up by tempering it with cumin, garlic and sometimes chilli. As I added cumin, garlic and green chillis to hot to ghee to temper buttermilk one day it struck me that the garlicy buttermilk would be incredible to poach chicken in. I was right. My chicken turned out wonderfully soft, delicately redolent of garlic, cumin and packing a subtle kick of green chilli. It’s now a regular on our menu in myriad ways; as is, hot, cold, in sandwiches, wraps or on salads.

That successful experiment turned my attention to other spice combinations. Spice combinations change in Tadkas as you travel through India. And each offered potential for new combinations. A Maharashtrian Phodni of asafetida, cumin, curry leaves, garlic and chillies, makes a wonderfully aromatic, spicy start for a stirfy of Brussles Sprouts, taking away the sulphurous smell the sprouts have. And at the risk of upsetting my Gujarati ancestors, I have to share that the Vaghaar of asafetida, mustard, kokum, curry leaf and chillies used for the legendary ‘Gujju sweet dal’ is amazing to cook fillets of fish in. Simply temper oil with the spices and lay fish over, pressing gently so spices stick. Flip over when pan facing side is evenly cooked and cook the other side till done, serve over hot rice so the flavoured oil of the Tadka trickles down to the bottom of the bowl! South Indian Sambhar tadkas make an exceptionally smoky, spicy stir fried chicken or sprinkle for Potato wedges. And Bengali Panch Phoron the legendary Bengali 5 spice mix of fenugreek, nigella, cumin, fennel and radhuni made a fabulous crusty meat rub for Lamb.

Pair traditional Tadkas with things they have not been paired with before led to so many winning combinations. But I have used some very simple Tadkas above. The Tadka has evolved as it travelled to adapt itself to what was locally available in the region. Which is why everything from the fat used to the spice combinations varies as one travels through the sub continent. But that said, many spices and their uses are extremely local and do not make it to the larger culinary map. Like the Jumbu grass used for Tadkas in Uttaranchal. This grass has a chive like flavor and is used in its dried form in Pahari Chaunks for dals. I use it very successfully to smoke smoke fish and chicken which results in hauntingly smoky, garlicky flavors.  Although much better known than Jumbu grass, the Tamil propensity towards using Channa and Urad dal in tempering dishes is also interesting to work with. These dals, when roasted in oil take on a wonderfully nutty roasted flavor and texture that makes an ideal crust for coating meat and vegetables in along with spices prior to roasting.

As controversial as my suggestions might sound to purists, my experiments are not about creating bizarre combinations. Experimenting is fun and can lead to delicious ne discoveries.  But it is a good idea to respect the parameters of the ingredients research their traditional uses and use that knowledge as a springboard to create new dishes. Indian cuisine has been using spices for millions of years and has perfected their use (and probably made all the mistakes possible with them!) One does not always need to reinvent things to cook well. It is possible to play with flavours without going against traditional practices; a tadka of whole spices added to a meat dish prior to cooking ensures the flavours infuse through the dish as it cooks. It is a practice that no new experiments can better. I don’t try to. But I find adding a few sprigs of Rosemary to the Tadka results in a fabulously aromatic results uplifting the smoky spices with a lacing of dark green notes. That Rosemary also helps in digestion of meat dishes, especially lamb, beef and pork makes it even more appealing.

I am not doing anything that has not been done before. As new ingredients arrived, Tadkas adapted to include them, a classic example being chillies which are not a traditional ingredient but spiced up Tadkas much later as a cheaper option to pepper. So why stop innovating? With all the wonderful ingredients we have access to today, there are a host of other things that can be added to Tadkas to augment the flavour and nutrition of a dish. Take a few leaves from Thai cuisine and use lemongrass or Kaffir lime leaves and zest in a tadka for Rassam or even Mung or Masoor Dal. Or Zest Citrus into tadkas for anything from Dals to pulavs and curries to uplift the dish and stir in valuable phytonutrients that help fight cancer, high cholesterol and control triglycerides. 

Bollywood, would call what I am about to do Tadka lagana! But do experiment with other ingredients to provoke new flavours and combinations. After all the art of tempering is in our blood… And we are the most important condiment to our cooking yes we might burn some… but eventually we learn some.

Die and go to heaven AKA Aromatic Kaffir Bacon Prawn Stirfry

Die and go to heaven! 

Yep, that’s what it’s called!

So we had a shoot. In which we were supposed to shoot Bacon wrapped prawns, but then we didn’t need to shoot it anymore. But the bacon and prawns were defrosted already. And so I thought of the Thai ingredients languishing in the fridge and the first aromas of a recipe was born. All ti too was a little fast knifework, a dance around a hot pan and I DIED & WENT TO HEAVEN!

Without further ado here it is…. The recipe…. 

Enjoy it, bless me with every aromatic spicy bacony bite.... 

Die and go to heaven AKA Aromatic Kaffir Bacon Prawn Stirfry

Ingredients

½ tsp oil

300 g medium prawns, shelled, deviened

6 kaffir lime leaves, sliced into thin ribbons

3 Thai bird chiles, chopped fine

½ bulb lemongrass, smashed and sliced fine

6 thickly sliced bacon chopped fine

Freshly ground pepper

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp chopped coriander/ green garlic

Method: Combine prawns with kaffir lime leaves, chilies, lemongrass and pepper. Toss well and reserve. Meanwhile in a large pan, heat the vegetable oil. Add the bacon and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the fat has been rendered and bacon is brown and crispy. Add Prawn mix and toss well on high heat till prawns are pink and curled, about 2-3 minutes and dish is aromatic. Add lime juice and stir to deglaze pan. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with coriander or garlic. Die and go to heaven! 

Life begins where your comfort zone ends.

 

Hello Dear Blog and hello Dear Reader,

My apologies for the long silence. I have been away living my dream and dealing with life… But I am back, and I hope to be able to share some really fun food experiences from now on. Be warned, this is a long post, its also rather personal and not very food oriented but I hope it leaves you upliftedand positive...

“Life begins where your comfort zone ends”. I saw this somewhere today and its been on my mind ever since.

We all have dreams. I did too. But I was happy just dreaming mine because doing more would require guts I did not have.

Nanushka AKA Nan Whitcomb, my favourite poet once wrote “you cannot make waves if you do not leave the shore” I loved the line, but I was too scared to really live it. Then one fine day, Shekhar, my husband, handed me the life jacket of his support and pushed me off the shore. Together we began to convert what had become our dream to reality. The gap between having a dream and translating it into reality stretches over a chasm that requires hard work and boundless energy. We crossed our Chasm and launched APB Cook Studio, on the 8^th of August this year. But the work was in no way done because waiting at the other end of the Chasm was an uphill climb to make your venture successful.

It has taken me a really long time to share this here on the blog, in fact it wasn’t until today, that I really felt like I was ready to write about APB Cook Studio on this blog. This blog has pretty much mapped my life since I started it, because every life event ends up affecting what I put here. And of late that’s been Zip. But its also been honest and I did want to put up a glossy shiny picture of happy-happy joy-joy where there wasn’t one yet.

Also Murphy, who wasn’t invited to the party, got upset and kicked in at this point, ensuring everything that could possibly go wrong, did. My smooth running home front went for a toss first with my support system falling apart. The husband had to undergo surgery, setbacks came in all shapes and sizes. In fact August 2012 was possibly the hardest month I have lived in my life. In fact I think I reached my lowest point ever, then. I remember the day. I twas raining like mad and late in the evening. I stood outside a store in Powai, holding bags full of ingredients, completely drenched. I was stressed out and tired and also reeling from hurt because I had just received some bad news. I had to get home, the replacement maid would leave soon and no rikshaw would go where I needed to. I have never felt as alone, helpless and at a loss as I did at that moment. I questioned myself and whether I had taken the right decision with embarking on this path… I wanted a shelter from the storm, someone to take away the hurt, wrap me in a cocoon and make it all better. But there was no one there.

At that point I realised that you are always alone in pain. People who love you will try to support you but you have to deal with it. Solutions and easy answers do not exist. You breathe deep and wait for it to ease a little and fight through, because you can't outrun it and life usually has more to send your way. When you are all alone and feeling cornered the only voice that can make a difference is yours, the only person you have to turn to, is you. We think that life altering moments happen slowly, over time. But they don’t. They happen in an instant, that’s why they are moments. Becoming an adult, a spouse, parent... One moment you are you, the next you have changed. And whatever that moment is, you never, ever forget it.

For me it was that moment, I decided that things had to change. I managed to cajole the next rikshaw that stopped for another lady headed further into dropping me off en route. It worked. It was a small battle but I won it. All the way home I kept congratulating myself. And promising myself that this was it, there was no turning back. There would be no more regrets or self questioning! 

And in the last month or so, I have pretty much stuck by that. I have beaten down many fears I have had for a lifetime, I have crossed milestones, overcome obstacles both good and bad and learned a lot; about business, about relationships, who my friends are and but mostly about myself. Today is I had another moment of self realisation…  

I tested a very promising new instructor and as I watched and listened to him, I was thinking of the potential, how I would package up his class, showcase his skills and immense knowledge and mentally listing the people that had already been to the studio that would love to learn from him. And I realised, that THIS is what I have signed up for, what I wanted; a beautiful inspiring space for passionate cooks of every stripe to realise their food fantasies.... a place where people could come to teach and learn.

Yes things are not easy, the investment is huge, a family’s worth of people who have invested their belief in me, and everything we have has gone into this dream. But you have to be willing to gamble. To recognise you might lose but take the chance, in the knowledge that if you invest wisely, the payoff just might surprise you. After all the bigger an investment the better its return.

The phones have begun to ring, classes have been filling up. We are far away from scaling the peak but success will come, eventually if its meant to. But life is not about scaling the peak, its about the journey to it. I am enjoying climbing that mountain, there are days of foul weather and days of sunshine. But there is much joy to be had in the little things. Small victories, the struggle and standing in the face of storms. Every happy cook that leaves smiling, inspired, raring to cook, that in itself is enough to celebrate.

So dear Reader of this Blog, I would like to officially invite you to APB CookStudio, my living dream, where cooking is FUN! Come say hello, sometime.

And I will leave you with this, do not let fear hold you back on taking that decision… yes you might be wrong, or make mistakes you can’t undo. You might fail, or be rejected but you have to try for yourself, to make your mistakes and learn your lessons. Because I can tell you this, from where I am at ---- knowing is far better than wondering. And the worst outcome, the biggest failure, beats the hell out of not having tried!

Because life begins where your comfort zone ends….

Rushina