Tags: murgh, desi, chicken, dal, roti, bhatura, bhatura, kebab, karahi, sambhar

Time to acknowledge the importance of the “festival of light” in every Indian life and bask in the
glory of the festivities which also include the festival food. Divali is derived from the word
‘Dipavali’ meaning ‘a cluster of lights’. Rows and rows of small earthenware lamps are seen in
every home. Diwali is also known for fireworks which go on particularly for almost two to three
days and is especially very popular in kids and grown-ups.
Dipavali is a joyous celebration of the death of titan of hell, Narkasura at the hands of Lord
Krishna. This festivals like all other festivals and rituals, explains the inner personality of man
and his deliverance from his ignorance and ego to attainment of his supreme nature of Godrealisation.
Every man within him both positive and negative tendencies and to pull himself out
of the state of ignorance and ego, he has to employ his positive tendencies to direct his
attention to the higher Self.
Most of the culinary endeavors during this festival revolve around the myriad sweets which
form part of the symbolic transformation that brings about gaiety, joy, bliss and merry-making.
The sharing of sweets and food with friends and relatives next morning carries the new vision,
the vision of Divinity, the vision of Supreme self in one and all.
There are so many sweets which are shared during the occasion. I recount one of my favorites
called Lapsi which is a preparation of broken wheat and sugar. Broken wheat, in fact, is really
versatile as some of you can recollect its role in wheat porridge, haleem (Hyderabadi broken
wheat and ground lamb preparation). The broken wheat for this recipe is available in the
market and one can also obtain it in the home food processor.
Ingredients:
1 cup broken wheat (Dalia)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp green cardamom powder
1 tbsp chopped almond and pistachio
¼ cup full fat milk
5tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
Method:
In a pan, melt the sugar in milk, stir to dissolve equally.
In another pan, melt ghee and add broken wheat, stir from time to time and cook until wheat
takes on a golden hue and exudes nutty aroma.
Next add the sweet milk and bring to simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed and the grains
of wheat are soft and cooked. The good indication of this being ready would be the appearance
of ghee on the sides. Stir gently cardamom powder in the wheat pudding and garnish with
chopped almonds and pistachio.

Tags: kebab, balti, gosht, chana, naan, chettinad, dhokla, handi, lentil, desi

I am myself amazed to see the variety of preparation one would come across visiting different
states of India and also the different countries of the world. While we have seen few of the
lentil recipes in the previous blogs; this does not in any sense means that the lentil repertoire is
over. In some of the upcoming blogs the effort will be to continue to witness the various
application and nuances of lentil right from a standalone main course preparation to being an
important ingredient for a particular recipe. There will be few crossovers also between Indian
and Western preparations as some of the classical Western recipes are almost made in the
same way as their Indian counterpart except for little uniqueness.
The recipe that we have chosen for today is the savoury porridge of ground meat (one can
make with mutton, lamb or beef as the case may be) lentil and wheat. In some of the cases you
may come across some traditional recipes without the lentils; so do not be taken aback by the
various versions of Haleem as the idea is not to create confusion but enjoyment. Some of the
people have also developed the chicken and fish variety for people preferring the mild flavor
out of the dish.
This traditional porridge has its roots in Middle East but the one that we have included today is
the Hyderabadi (Southern state capital of Andhra Pradesh in India) variant which is a meal in
itself. During the month of Ramadan the aroma of this porridge will fill the lungs with the
craving of the same as most of the roadside eateries to popular restaurant will make their own
version to lure the customer on the occasion of Iftar, when the day long fasting comes to an
end and allows the people to break their fast.
Haleem (mutton, lentil and pounded wheat porridge)
Preparation time: 20-30minutes
Cooking time: 45-60minutes
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
½ cup broken wheat
½ kg mutton (alternately lamb or beef)
¼ cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
¼ cup chana dal (split Bengal gram)
4 medium red onion
1tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/3 tsp haldi (turmeric)powder
1tsp red chili powder
1/3 tsp garam masala (hot spice) powder (see the notes on e-book available with sonzyskitchen)
1/3 cup Ghee (clarified butter)
¼ cup cooking oil
2-3green chilies (optional), chopped
1 cup full fat yogurt
Salt to taste
few mint leaves
2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Method:
Soak the broken wheat overnight. Boil the wheat the following day until tender in a suitably large
pan, drain any extra water and cool the wheat down. Using a grinder, grind the moist wheat until
fine and set aside.
In a separate heavy bottom pan, heat oil and fry the onions until lightly caramelized. Remove half
the onion and keep aside for later use.
To the onion remaining in the pan, add ginger-garlic paste and fry for 2-3minutes until raw
aroma of the paste has disappeared. Add mutton, both the lentils, salt, chili powder and turmeric
and cook until the liquid released by lamb have almost evaporated.
In a bowl gently whisk the yogurt until smooth and add it to the mutton taking care to lower the
heat to avoid splitting the yogurt. Stir from time to time until oil starts floating on top. At this
stage add enough water to cover the mutton, cook until the meat is tender and most of the
water has been absorbed.
Remove the pan from the heat and cool down the mixture. Next, grind the mutton mixture until
fine.
Heat ghee in a suitably large heavy bottom pan, add the ground mutton and the wheat and cook
on medium heat for 8-10minutes until the specks of ghee start coming to the sides. Add hot
spice powder and lemon juice and stir to mix well. Check the seasoning and the consistency too,
the texture should be like a thick porridge.
Remove from heat and garnish with previously kept fried onion, chopped green chili and freshly
torn mint leaves. Serve hot.

Tags: indian curry, tandoor, dhokla, desi, tandoori, naan, kulfi, idli, sambhar, chicken

Just as the lentil series was threatening to take centre stage in the preceding blogs, I have
decided to change the topic a little just as to make a happy co-incidence with the election of US
president. The mood obviously is cheerful and optimistic and so wines will take the rightful
place during the celebrations centered on food and dining.
While some of the world cuisine goes very well with wine even to the extent of matching each
of the courses with appropriate grape variety and fizz. Same is not true of Indian food which we
are trying to investigate and explore today.
With the surge in economic activity and globalization of market, it is only a matter of time that
foreign businessmen and visitor will push the Indian dining experience towards acquiring a new
dimension in the form of pairing of Indian food with wine. One could very soon see the a bottle
of wine with the slightest excuse to go with popular Indian food like curries, kormas, biryanis
and tikkas. Some of the prominent Indian restaurant under the aegis of well known hotel
brands like Caridges, ITC and Hyatt have already started the initiative with guarded caution and
some other restaurants, within the hotel and standalone, would follow the suit to bring out the
culinary subtleties of food to complement the notes of wine.
Role of Sommelier
The surest way towards a better melody of curry and wine is to trust the knowledgeable
sommelier (the French term for wine waiter) but the overzealous waiter is equally bad. The
final decision is yours and your ability to afford the elixir of life. One should still be prepared to
question the selection of wine by the sommelier if all the notes are pointing to the same
direction without much informed choices. The idea is to develop the mutually complementing
symphony than the one overpowering other.
Most of the better Indian hotels and some of the up market Indian restaurants have tied up
with their foreign counterpart and arrange training and workshop for its staff to develop the
knowledge and skill. This is also a very good exercise in revenue maximization because of the
margin involved in wines and low labour cost implication in the long term. While the pairing is
still in the infancy in India, it is a common practice in western countries to plan the food around
wine, tapas like food being one of the examples.
Challenges of Pairing Indian food and wine
While it is easier to pair food with some of the cuisines of the world notable amongst them are
Italian, French, Mediterranean because it is a part of their day to day culture, it has always been
difficult to do so with most of the Asian cuisine as it was not a part of their culture. For example
drinking Sake is always very popular with Japanese cuisine. Indian food on other hand has never
been on the same side as that of their western counterparts.
The use of spices, the distractions of oil, the pungency, the inconsistency of recipes that one
wine working with the same food in one restaurant may not be the case with other restaurant.
Mushrooming of Indian restaurants all over the world with their own anglicized Indian recipes
has also not helped the cause. Exception to the rule will always be the delicate Indian
preparations the recipes of which are always guarded secrets of some select few in the India
kitchen.
The complementary notes:
While champagne will always be the natural choice to go with almost the endless variety of
food, the selection though will have to made between brut (dry) and sec (sweet).
Italian red wines like Chianti, Amarone, Barolo, or Barbaresco will go very well with chunkier
Indian food like lamb curry, tikkas and kormas. A good Riesling (white grape) from
Germany, France or Austria would do absolute justice to spicy and lemony food.
Some of the smarter people who do not wish to experience the pain of uncertainty of
choosing red or white would go with Rose wine (wine with the reddish tinge which renders a
pink hue to the liquid) to carry them through the entire meal experience.
Surprisingly the new world wines have charted the lesser known territories than their famed
old world counterparts. Young vintages work well with most of the food and if consuming
more than one wine during the meal experience, chose the lighter wines before full bodied
ones, dry wines before sweet one and lower alcohol wines before higher alcohol wines.
Always insist on tasting the wine before approving the entire bottle; for balance of flavour
work well when you know the spices and herbs and the floral notes of your wine.
We will try to explore more of it in the coming blogs with suggestions and alternatives. Unil
then just remember the popular Latin phrase “ In vino veritas” which means there lies the
truth in wine.

Tags: chana, handi, kebab, desi, roti, tikka masala, bhatura, curries, paneer, kulfi

One of the most prominent lentil preparations which one can come across in any restaurant in India and abroad. Tadka is a generic term meaning tempering the lentil with the spices and herbs cooked in ghee or oil. The tempering also differ from place to place but the purpose remains the same, to impart the interesting twist to the otherwise mundane lentil stew. Some of the popular tempering ingredients are onion, garlic, tomato, green chili, red chili, spices like turmeric, coriander, kasoori methi, cumin etc. The rule of the thumb is to drop the ingredients in hot oil to allow the smoke to surface for a while and then the ingredient is stirred into the lentil which then covered with a lid immediately to prevent the aroma from escaping. If using fresh herbs, add it at the last moment just before serving.

The lentils used for this recipe also vary as some of them would prefer arhar (yellow lentil) or some would prefer massor (red lentil) and moong dal (split skinned moong).

Ingredients
1 cup arhar dal
2 ½ Water
Turmeric – a pinch
Salt – to taste

Tadka (tempering)
2 tsps Ghee
Hing – a pinch
1 tsp Jeera seeds (Cumin seeds) -
1 medium sized onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 medium tomato, chopped evenly
½ tsp Garam Masala
3 or 4 Green chilies (optional)
Fresh Coriander chopped

If using pressure cooker, cook the dal with water and turmeric for 5 minutes (2-3 whistles), allow the pressure to escape completely before opening the lid, and remove the dal from cooker and place in a serving container. If using a vessel to cook the dal, cook in a suitably large container on medium heat for 10-12minutes, checking in between to ensure that they have cooked well.

In a pan heat ghee, add hing (asafoetida) diluted with 1 tsp of water. At the stroke of the first aroma from hing, add cumin and allow crackling. Next add onion and fry until it starts to colour, 3-4minutes. Stir in ginger-garlic paste and cook for another 2-3minutes until raw aroma of the paste has disappeared.
Add the diced tomatoes and cook until oil start to separate and appear on the sides. Add green chilli, garam masala and the dal. Bring to simmer and cook on a low heat for another 5minutes. Check seasoning. Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander, with your favourite Indian bread or rice

Kuntal.

Tags: balti, desi, karahi, roti, idli, sambhar, bhatura, murgh, dosa, naan

Vindaloo now a days, as it stands is a Goan interpretation of the popular Portuguese preparation originally called “Vindalho” which when dissected meant Vinho for wine and alhos for garlic. These two were the integral part of the dish originally made with pork which also contained ginger, pepper and red wine vinegar.

The modern version available in most of the Indian restaurant including the one in Goa is made with lots of chilli, tomato and potato. Potato because some of chefs have presumed that the last word in Vindaloo is equivalent to “aloo” (potato) which most of the Indian likes in some form or the other.  The pork used in the Portuguese recipe is not a very popular choice with the Indians and is a complete taboo with the Muslim Chefs; hence it further underwent a complete makeover and local versions made with lamb or chicken are equally popular with undertones of local Goan feni made with cashewnut fruit.

The original recipe is contained in the curry manual available with www.sonzyskitchen.com. However I will try to recreate the most commonly found lamb vindaloo.

Lamb Vindaloo:
1 kg lean lamb, cleaned and cubed into 1 inch pieces
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 medium red onion, chopped roughly
1 inch knob ginger, scraped and chopped roughly
10 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ cup coconut feni
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 medium potatoes, peeled, quartered and deep fried until crisp
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves, washed and chopped
Salt to taste

Marinating ingredients
10 dried red chillis (can vary the quantity to suit individual palate)
10 peppercorns
10 cloves
1 medium bark cinnamon
5 nos green cardamom
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
1/3 cup malt vinegar

Method:
In a blender, make the paste of marinating ingredients. Marinate the lamb cubes and season a little with salt. Keep aside for 2 hrs to allow the flavour to penetrate inside the meat fibres

In a cooking vessel, heat the oil and fry the lamb, stirring occasionally, until it is light brown on all sides. Add chopped onion, ginger and garlic and continuing frying until the vegetables are brown and cooked. Add turmeric powder and pour in coconut feni and water, bring to boil. Reduce to simmer for 10-15minutes until lamb is tender and the oil starts floating on top. Check seasoning. Serve hot garnished with deep fried potato wedges and freshly chopped coriander.

Bon Appetit !

- Kuntal

Tags: lentil, desi, curries, vindaloo, dosa, palak, indian food, roti, chana, dal

While classifying Handi cooking through the annals of Indian culinary preparation has been the recent endeavour, the cooking vessels in ancient India were mostly Handi-like made from either clay or copper. The pots are typically round thick bottomed which tapers towards the mouth to capture the steam throughout the cooking process. The process is a bit lengthy because it dwells upon the principle of slow cooking to fully develop the flavor and aroma. While  the recipe of “handi dal” vary from place to place, as tracing this recipe through the culinary journey of past years does not yield much information, the widely acceptable lentils for Handi cooking are Arhar Dal, also known as Tur dal or yellow lentil and Whole urad dal, also known as Black lentil. We will try to recreate the recipe which is a close version of what most of the restaurants do while leaving the choice of lentil to you as per your convenience. Please remember that cooking Urad dal will take longer because it contains skin for this recipe and also because it releases its creaminess through slow cooking process as evident in Dal makhni.

Ingredients:
1 cup Yellow lentil (tur/ arhar dal)
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
3 tbsp chopped onion
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 green chili, chopped
¼ cup chopped tomato
3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp ghee/ white butter

Method:
Pick the lentils, wash in running water and keep soaked for 30minutes. This allows the lentil to hydrate and cook evenly. Place the washed lentil in handi with salt, turmeric and water (approximately 4 ½ cup), bring to boil, reduce the heat and remove the scum which surfaces on top.

Heat oil in pan, sauté until light brown, add chopped ginger and garlic and keep cooking until all the ingredients are of the same colour (light brown). Then add green chili, stir for a minute.
Add tomatoes and continue cooking until tomatoes are reduced to a pulp. Transfer the mixture to the lentil and stir. Continue cooking until lentils are cooked and of medium thick consistency.

Just before serving, stir in the ghee/ white butter and chopped coriander. Serve hot from the handi either with Indian bread or as an accompaniment for rice.

Bon Appetit !

- Kuntal

Tags: curries, naan, roti, chettinad, dal, paneer, handi, kebab, kulfi, tandoor

Ganesha Chaturthi or Ganesha Utsav (the special day of the elephant-headed god “Ganesha” who is prayed as the first deity) falls on the fourth day of the Hindu month of Bhadrapada (around August-September). It is celebrated all across India and is the biggest festival in Maharashtra. Even though you may encounter heavy traffic congestion, it is worthwhile to pay a visit to any part of Maharashtra especially Mumbai and Pune.

He has the head of an elephant on which is perched a dainty tiara, four podgy hands joined to a sizeable belly with each hand holding its own symbolic object. One hand has a trishul, or a trident, the second, an ankush, or goad made from his very own broken tooth; the third hand elegantly holds a lotus and the fourth a rosary (which is sometimes replaced by modaks – his favourite sweet). Ganesha is famous not only for being a trickster and for his sense of humour, but equally for his wisdom. He is the son of Shiva (Destroyer in the Hindu Holy Trinity of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer) and Parvati (Shiva’s consort).

Ganesha is the foremost god of the Hindu pantheon. This brave guardian of the door to Parvati’s bath is beheld today as the most auspicious God of new beginnings. He is worshipped during every festival and before people undertakes a journey or embarks upon a new venture. You will also see him carefully guarding entrances to temples and homes, peeping out of calendars and happily gracing marriages and other such occasions.

Ganesh Chaturthi 2008: It’s being celebrated on 3rd September amidst traditional zeal and fervor all across India. The other interesting aspect of this festival is the various traditional offerings

Some of the famous dishes prepared at home during the festival are:
Besan ke laddo (round sweet of gram flour),
modak( sweet comprising of small pearls of gram flour),
moong dal halwa (moong lentil pudding),
Kaju ki burfi (cashewnut nut cake),
puliyodarai (tamarind spiced rice),
puran poli (sweetened bread stuffed with jiggery and Bengal gram) etc.

PURAN POLI

Ingredients

• 1 cup refined flour (Maida)
• 1 pinch Turmeric Powder
• few strands saffron
• 1 pinch Salt
• 2 tsp+1 tbsp Ghee
• Water enough to make dough
• 6 tbsp Oil
• For frying Oil / Ghee

Inner Filling

• 1 – 1/2 cup Jaggery (gur)
• 1 – 1/4 cup Bengal Gram Dal (chana dal)
• 1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder

Method :
Blend the ghee with saffron, turmeric and refined flour. Make a soft dough using water and knead lightly. Leave under a wet cloth for 40-50 minutes.  Knead again. Put in the 6 tbsps oil and knead till completely absorbed. Cover and leave aside for 4 hours. Put the lentil in the cooker for one whistle, allow the steam to evaporate on its own before draining the water. Grind the lentil with jaggery and cardamom powder to a fine paste, slowly cook the mixture with the remaining ghee until lightly aromatic and thick paste like.
Make small balls of the filling. Divide the dough into small balls and flatten them so that it can encase the filling.

Place one ball of filling on the dough and cover and seal up the filling.
Carefully roll out the dough into thick bread like pooris making sure the filling does not come out.
Fry on a tawa pouring ghee around it. Cook on both sides and serve hot.

We Wish the readers a very happy and auspicious Ganesh puja and hope it brings lot of happiness in our lives.

- Kuntal and Puneet

Tags: balti, indian curry, murgh, naan, idli, chana, roti, karahi, dhokla, bhatura

Here is a recipe for a simple Rice Kheer

Ingredients
# 3 Litres Milk
# 100 Grams Rice
# 100 Grams Sugar
# Kesar (Saffron )
# Elaichi (Cardomom)
# Badam (Almonds)
# 2 Tbsp Water

Method
Boil Milk. Add rice to the milk when boiled. Stir the milk until it gets thick and of dropping consistency.
Allow the milk to cool. When the milk mixture is at room temperature, Add Saffron, and Sugar to it and mix it well. The Milk mixture will get a good colour. Top it with Almonds and Cardomom Powder.

Tags: naan, kulfi, sambhar, dosa, handi, chettinad, desi, roti, palak, tandoori

Bhatura is a fried indian bread made from refined wheat flour, typically served with chickpea curry.

Ingredients

• 1 Kg. Maida flour
• Sooji flour (Rava) 100 Grams
• 1 Spoon Baking Powder
• 2 Tbsp. Fat or Ghee
• 1 Cup Curd
• Salt To Taste
• Oil for Deep Frying

Method
Mix all the Ingredients.
After Mixing, make a dough out of it.
Leave the Dough so that it can ferment(because of Baking Powder and Curd) for 6-7 hours.
Make Pedas (small round balls )out of the dough and make Oval shaped Rotis or Chapatis ready for Deep frying.
Deep fry the kneaded Rotis out of the dough.
Serve hot with Khatte Chane.

- Sonzy.

Tags: karahi, tikka masala, tandoori, indian curry, tandoor, chettinad, murgh, handi, naan, dal