Indian

Procrastination – How To Cook Rice and a Simple Dhal

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Happy New Year everyone! Its better late than never…procrastination seems to be my most favourite word for this year if not with everything at least with respect to blog. I’m not hoping nor promising that it will get better, lets leave it for the days to decide. Anyhow, coming to this post, which has been sitting as draft for nearly two months gets finally a way out. The one question people most commonly ask is “how do you cook rice”…I mean in the beginning I used wonder this is crazy simple why are they are asking me in the first place?

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Funda – Steamed Egg Korma

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“The eggs are the backbone of cooking, the cement that holds the castle of cuisine together.”

From the book mastering the art of southern cooking!

As you all know the main components of egg is albumen and yolk, which is mostly composed of protein.  Apart from proteins egg white contains water, small amounts of minerals and sugars whereas the yolk contains fat, vitamins A, D and minerals such as calcium, thiamine, and riboflavin. Depending on the feed of the bird the yolk colour ranges from yellow to deep orange (when the birds are fed with good feed).

The proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids.  In the raw eggs proteins are in their native state, i.e. they are in globular form, which means amino acids are twisted, folded and/or curled up in a very specific way giving the protein its shape and properties. Any induced alteration (mechanical or heat) to these proteins will in turn significantly alter the entire structure of the egg.

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Vermicelli Upma/Semiya Upma

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After the whole cooking episode, I did realise there isn’t any basic or simple recipes in my blog. Over a cup of tea partially dreaming and going through my own pictures, I made up my mind to do some simple basic post, that beginners would find it easy. At least for the ones who follow my bog and for those who have asked for simple recipes, I’m going to come with simple, yet authentic indian food recipes!

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Inheritance – Chicken Dum Biryani

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There are many thing that we inherit from our parents and grandparents. Dum biryani is one such…it runs in our family. Starting from my late grandfather who was a pro in making them. Usually at home mutton dum biryani is made. Be it family get together, wedding and or Diwali it has always been biryani, grandpa has led the kitchen during those times. Let me tell you, almost a decade before these biryani were always made in bronze cooking pot on wooden fire. The whole process of making this is no less than a festival at home, with whole big bunch of family around. Usually the briyani is accompanied with chicken masala, raita and double ka meeta (bread halwa) is must! We kids we were aw struck with the whole making process, all mom’s in the kitchen taking care of pre-preparation step, men at backyard cutting the woods, setting the fire and getting the heating right.By the time we get to eat biryani is late after noon, we end by eating a sweet pan made by grandma. But elders always looking forward to eat biryani the next day. I have admit, now I realise that biryani taste best after its one day old…..With time cooking of biryani move to gas top, the taste did diminish a bit but the essence still remains….so this Diwali I’m here to give you chicken biryani from our family recipe. Here’s wishing you a very happy Diwali, may this Diwali brighten all your lives, do have a safe one …also try to say NO to crackers!

Basics – Sambar Powder and Brinjal, Okra Sambar

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I typed, retyped and deleted already 5 times now, will not keep this post waiting for another day…all I have to say is I’m enjoying doing basic recipe’s. Fortunately or unfortunately I don’t get all required spice powder’s here, which has kicked the basic instinct in me to start everything from scratch. Thanks to coffee powder maker, it grounded my sambar powder beautifully. This post is heavly loaded with pictures…I did the shoot on a bright sunny day with good light diffusor (2 white curtains) and also made proper use of camera stand. Took the pictures in raw format and did minimal editing. Totally it was enjoyable recipe to make and to shoot!
Sambar powder recipe is from mom and aunt, it does’t taste like commercial or something from restaurants, but i can say it has simple, beautiful and fresh flavour. I’m proud of making sambar powder by myself, considering my limitations of vegetarian cooking ability!
Though there are so many varieties of sambar and every house has a unique way to prepare it, this is how its made at home. I prefer thicker consistency for rice and more runny for idly and vada.
Geek note: using camera stand brought great clarity and sharpness to pictures. Will stick to it from now on, can’t trust my wobbly hands anymore. Also thumbs up for pictures in raw formant, you can play a lot with it. Happy cooking peeps!