Lazy Bone .. Amba Khata (Mango etc)

Someone very very intelligent had once said.. "When the going gets tough.. the tough gets going" ! It essentially means, that when life throws you off the road.. you've gotta be very tough to get through its challenges..

Well, in my opinion.. everyone has their own way to get out of tough situations. We don't really need anyone to tell us how to manage our problems or how to get out of crappy situations.. somehow I feel.. we do approach people when we are lost.. but in the process of getting suggestions and consolations and what not... we eventually figure out our own way... do you guys agree??

Anyways... why am I talking about all this?? Well.. I came across a very similar situation myself.. and I had no one to reach out to.. I wanted to make the very famous Odiya "Amba Khata" at my sister's place.. but the her spinster pad kitchen had no jaggery .. no chili-cumin powder.. and no curry leaves.. but she wanted "amba khata".. and it put me in a fix.. how am I going to make her smile.. I am not my mom..

Mom?? Well.. it was very very late.. and I could not call her.. so I started thinking myself.. and here's what I came up with.. the end product was delicious.. and everyone loved it !!

Ingredients:

• 1 big green mango (cut into big cubes .. ensure that the seed in the middle is cut out of course)
• 1 tea spoon cumin seeds
• 1 tea spoon mustard seeds
• 4 tbl spoon sugar
• salt to taste
• mustard oil

Process:

• Heat oil in a flat pan (which will make it easy to saute' the big mango pieces)
• When oil is hot, add 3 tbl spoons of sugar in it. Make sure it dissolves and does not turn dark brown.. just enough brown is good.
• Now add cumin + mustard seeds now and let it splutter.
• Now add the mango pieces and add a little salt (to taste)
• Saute' until mango seems to be coated enough with the browned sugar
• After 2-3 minutes, add 1/4 cup water and the rest of sugar
• Let it all simmer away together. When the simmering is done the mangoes will be soft and juicy with sugar+salt mixture.
• Sprinkle a wee bit of red chili powder and mix everything well.

This dish is usually a side dish in Odiya kitchen. We have it with rice+dal+subzee etc. Little girls like my sister, would just take it in a small bowl and use their fingers and tongue to take the juicy mango away !!

Enjoy this chatpata mango stuff.. have fun !!

Egg Plant .. what do I make of it ???

Egg Plants.. or brinjals.. I think.. are the most ignored vegetables.. but in the great Odiya kitchen, they are a life saver...

Of all things, if you are dull and too tired to make anything special.. a big bowl of "pakhala bhata" and "baigana" (egg plan or brinjal) anything will make it your day...

Picture this... hot summer afternoon.. the family is back from the morning school.. and the mom is way too sun-struck to cook anything desirably wonderful for them for the afternoon.... so then.. what does she do ??

No Fear.. "ignored" Egg-Plant is Here... a quick.. easy.. breezy.. egg-plan stir fry or hash will make a perfect side for the summer-saver "pakhala bhata" !! With some raw onions and green chillies this will make the greatest after-school meal for everyone at home... So eat and enjoy !!

Ingredients:

• Egg plants (I used 2 long ones, you could use 4-5 round ones) cut into cubes (little longer)
• 1 small white/red onion cut into long slices
• 1 small tomato cut into long slices
• 1 tea-spoon mustard seeds + 1 tea-spoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 tea-spoon Red chili powder
• 1/2 tea-spoon cumin+coriander powder
• Wee bit turmeric powder
• Mustard Oil and salt

Process:

• Heat oil in a open pan and splutter cumin and mustard seeds
• Add onions and fry till onion is softer.. but not very very brown. Slight light brown is good enough.
• Then add the egg plants + the powders and mix well.

• Cover and cook the egg-plants till they are soft.
• When soft, add the tomatoes + salt
• Mix well and keep it all on the stove till the tomato is all mushed up.. if its not, its fine too..

• Ensure that the egg-plants are cooked well and coated good with the tomatoes.

As stated before.. this tastes good with "pakhala bhata" but you can also eat it with simple roti or plain paratha.. but the best is the best !!

Simple Chingudi Jhola ... remembering Mami..

Very recently, I started eating non-veg again after a break of 3 months or so. All my friends are very happy because I will not drag them to a vegetarian restaurant anymore for Friday lunch or dinner. But, I have not started eating everything non-veg. Right now its only eggs, fish and shrimp. Talking of shrimp, I made this easy curry that is the basic style Odiya gravy (used for almost every non-veg dish) and we had it for a Wednesday lunch. Of course, I was on vacation that Wednesday. Mami used to make this typically on weekends (or whenever Baba gets shrimp from the market) and we would slurp the gravy off of the plate and eat loads of rice with it. It was funny how a little non-veg on the plate would drive us to eating so much !!

Here goes the recipe for my friends who have some time remembered their mothers while cooking something similar..... It will take a little time but the end product is worth every minute spent !!

Ingredients:

• 2 Lbs shrimp (peeled, deveined, its good to have just the tail on)
• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 4-5 green chillies
• 1 medium tomato chopped fine
• 2 potatoes peeled & cubed
• 2 - 3 tbl spoons ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tea spoon garam masala
• 1 tea spoon cumin-coriander powder
• 1/2 tea spoon red chili powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

Process:

• Wash the shrimp properly under running water, drain out water and marinate with salt + turmeric + wee bit of mustard oil and keep aside for 20-25 mins.
• In the mean time, heat oil and fry the potatoes a little bit till they are brown on edges. You don't have to cook them fully. Just a 5 min. stir will do.
• After you take off the potatoes, heat a little bit more oil and fry the shrimp. The shrimp will start turning pink and then reddish in color. That's your cue of a good shrimp fry.

• Take the shrimp off the pan and add some more oil and heat well.
• Splutter cumin seeds and then add green chillies + onions at a time.
• When onions are browned up, add the ginger-garlic paste + all powders + little water and fry well till you don't smell raw masala.
• Now add the tomatoes + salt and fry till tomatoes are all mushy.
• When that is done, add the potatoes + salt and mix them in the masala and fry well. This is called "kassa" in Odiya meaning hard-core sauteing (I think)

• When the potatoes are cooked in the masala (8-9 mins) add the shrimp and mix it well.
• Leave the mix on the stove for a while (say 4-6 mins).

• Now, add warm water + coconut milk to the mix and let the water boil vigorously.
• When you have attained your choice of gravy thickness, sprinkle the coriander leaves and leave the gravy covered.

This shrimp curry goes best with while fluffy rice. Nothing else !! Enjoy cooking this for a Saturday or Sunday lunch and enjoy with the whole family. For the side, you may make some amba khata like I did or just some potato or egg-plan hash will do as well.

Egg Pulao ... When it's late.. and you still have time

Little Sis (Please do not go by little.. she's at least 1.5 feet taller than I am) : What's you planning on making for dinner?

Me (almost confident) : Egg Pulao.. biryani sort of thing..

Little Sis: Isn't it binary? .. like is it Egg Biryani or Egg Pulao ?

Me (confused) : Not very sure.. its not really a biryani method .. but it has biryani masala in it.. I saw it on youtube by Vah chef.. Don't need oven or anything..

Little Sis: Thats great.. I love youtube.. Did you see that new video from RA-One.. its funny..

Me (even more confused) : It has biryani in it?? Or Egg? The Vah chef is on that??

Little Sis: No.. just saying about the video on Youtube.. this site is a life saver when you r darn bored..

Me (smiling.. donno for what !!) : Ohh.. we are off the biryani topic.. I see.. we r talking about videos.. :)

Little Sis: Well.. yeah.. you are making it right.. it will be awesomer than the youtube guy.. and make a little more.. I want it for tomorrow's lunch also..

Me (very happy) : hmmmmm ... it will be edible.. so we will be fine..

Little Sis: Thats exactly what I meant !!!! (giggle.. giggle.. giggle...)

Can you believe this !! She was just kidding me around.. she is the sweetest of all sisters. I am sure.. every older sis thinks the same way about their little sisters.. but my case is different.. I learnt a lot from her.. staying calm is one of them (ironically).. and cooking for her smile is another...

Well.. the story is not very long.. I was on a vacation and staying with her.. she was working hard the whole day in her lab.. and I was passing time.. like always.. at home..

When she came back, we decided to go grocery shopping.. and so did we !!

We came back.. and I stared thinking about dinner.. I wanted something spicy.. and she wanted to eat non-veg... So I decided on Egg Pulao/Biryani (am yet to decide on the name .. mind you please) .. and thats when the whole conversation started.. and somehow.. I felt it was funny how we jumped from egg to Vah chef to youtube to RA-one to Boring times and back to egg in just a few lines... sister conversation is just so fast and funny !!

Well.. when I started pulling the ingredients.. I realized.. we had everything at home. before went grocery shopping.. we did that for the heck of it.. which is funnier.. coz I kept saying.. "need to do grocery.. I wanna make something nice tonight".. never realized that the trip to the store was not necessary.. I always had what I needed.. its just a matter of looking..

The above statement is so very true in real life as well.. you'll agree with me.. I am sure !!

Well.. here is what we need for the recipe (inspired from Vah chef's youtube video)

• 7 eggs (6 hard-boiled and 1 raw)
• 1 medium onion (white preferably) sliced into long thin slices
• 4 slit green chillies (add more if your tongue allows so)
• 4 table spoons ginger garlic paste (to be used separately)
• 1 tea spoon red chili powder
• 1 tea spoon cumin powder
• 1 tea spoon coriander powder
• 1 tea spoon corn starch
• Whole masala (cloves + cinnamon stick + black pepper corns + cumin seeds + 2 bay leaves)
• 3 table spoon biryani masala powder (any brand will do)
• 1 cup chopped coriander leaves
• 1 cup chopped mint leaves
• 2 cups rice soaked in water for min. 30 minutes.
• Oil as needed
• Salt of course

The steps are here.. sorry could not take pictures.. will super update some when I make this again..

• Pierce the hard boiled eggs with forks or make cuts with a knife.
• Marinate with the following --> corn starch + chili powder + cumin powder + coriander powder + salt to taste + 1 raw egg + 1 table spoon ginger garlic paste.
• Soak rice in water for at least 30 mins. Drain and keep aside after 30 mins.
• Heat oil in a open faced heavy bottom pan
• When oil's hot add the whole masala and let splutter
• Then add onion and sprinkle a little bit of salt
• Now add coriander leaves + mint leaves + green chillies and fry a bit
• Then add 3 table spoons of ginger-garlic paste to the oil and fry up.
• Now add the biryani masala to it.
• Mix it all together and fry for a minute.
• Now add 3 cups of water to the mix and let it boil
• Once water starts boiling, add the rice and salt to taste. Cover up the pan
• Let the rice be cooked slowly within the pan. Low heat needed.
• Mean time, fry the marinated eggs in very little oil till they are brown on skin. Keep them in the frying pan.
• When the rice is almost done, add the eggs into it and mix slowly.
• Cover the whole pan and turn off the stove.
• Garnish with coriander leaves..

We didn't have enough time to garnish after we started smelling the minty rice.

The smell was so good that me and my sister pounced on the pulao/biryani (still un-decided on the name).. tasted well with simple onion+tomato raita !!

When it comes to enjoying food.. its always nice to have family around... you would agree that.. family + simple dhaaba food is always better than lonely + 5-star food.

Happy Cooking !!

Kottu Paratha.. my first try !!

Sometimes, it just beats me, as to why is Indian cooking so time-taking and tedious. Well, no doubt its very very tasty... I'd give my life for it.. but if its a weekday and you are hungry and you have to make something at home because you are too tired to go out.. what would you do?????

What do I do?? I take a hot bath first... and try to think of one pot meals.. :)

The kottu paratha is one of my favorite one-pot meals (meaning where you don't need another side dish). It isn't Odiya...it's a Tamil dish. I have seen many variations in the preparation but when it came to making at home.. I had no idea what to put in it.. so I put whatever I could recollect .. I hope you try it and it comes out all nice for you too...

Ingredients here...

• Frozen Malabar Paratha (diced up real nice) .. I'm not very proud of it, but I can't make malabar paratha at home yet.. come on.. people need time !!

• 1 big juicy tomato chopped fine
• 1 medium onion chopped fine
• 1/2 green pepper chopped fine
• 1/2 red pepper chopped fine
• 1 carrot chopped fine
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 4 slit green chillies
• 2 tea spoons chat masala
• 1 tea spoon garam masala powder
• Crushed Black Pepper
• 2 eggs (skip if you are making veg.)
• Oil and Salt

Process here...

• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan (preferably the ones which have a wider pane).
• When oil's hot, add mustard seeds and let them splutter
• Now add chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves together
• Fry a bit till onion looses color a little bit. Don't have to make it brown-brown
• Now add tomatoes + little salt and let it cook so it becomes all mushy
• Then add the peppers + carrots and fry them up nice and good.

• Add garam masala powder + chat masala to the mixture.
• Mix well.
• When you think the veggies are almost done (little crunchy is fine), break the eggs on the veggies and scramble. Add salt as needed at this point for veggies and eggs.

• Now add the chopped paratha and fry it all up together.
• Sprinkle a little water using your fingers and cover the stuff up. This will help cook the paratha as well as keep it soft and nice.
• Sprinkle crushed black pepper now.
• When the paratha gets brownish you'd know its all coming together.

• When done, add fresh coriander leaves on top and mix up just once or twice.
• You may add a little bit of lemon juice if you like it tangy..

Once this was done, I was so overwhelmed by the colorful dish that I forgot why I was making faces at Indian cooking. By far.. Indian kitchen and cooking .. both are the best !!

Enjoy !!