Red Goan Chicken -- from Anjum's New Indian

In the last couple of weeks, I have been in deep s*** where time and work is concerned. There is loads of work and very less of time. I don't know how I got myself into this situation but I really want to go and live in Venus with its longer days.

On top of all this the husband will have to move to a work location, beyond everyday commutable distance and so he intends to do a Mon-Thur which essentially leaves me in sole charge of two tiny human beings and their music/taekwondo/swimming/studies/tantrums/fun-moments/life for whole 72 hours and some.

Yeah, yeah M Didi is still around but really not of much help in the evenings. She is not one of those enthu, proactive people you hate at work. She believes in taking things slow, real slow and relaxing a lot which is a mighty good work ethic I must say.

In between all this I have been doing my usual cooking because I feel one of the many purpose that God had in mind while putting me on earth involves offering healthy home-cooked meal to my kids. Yeah, I am a believer that way. But since I have very very little time I cannot go into the details.

Also due to lack of good ol' time, I cannot tell you how embarrassed I am that I did not do a review of Anjum's New Indian(author Anjum Anand) which I received 2 months back. Or say that how beautiful her book is with lush pictures of food. Or how gorgeous, calm and composed she looks hovering over the big pot, very unlike my harried, sweating self over similar pots. Or how her book has nice simple recipes plucked from all around India and then tweaked for the New Indian, whoever he is.

Only thing I can tell you is this Red Goan Chicken Curry from her book is fabulous. The kind that would make you say "De la grandi mephistopheles", like Tenida. I will put down her exact recipe here and then in the Notes I will tell you what all changes I made. Yes, I can never ever leave a recipe unchanged, what can I say ?


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Red Goan Chicken Curry

Make Goan Red Spice Paste

2 large, mild, fresh red chilies, desseded
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1&1/2tsp coriander seeds
3 cloves
6 black peppercorns
171/2" piece of cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
9 large cloves of garlic peeled
1 tsp tamarind paste
3/4tsp sugar
3/4tsp salt
1/3 cup white vinegar

Note: I skipped the Tamarind. Used 2 dry red chili, did not deseed.

Make Red Goan Chicken

Note: I started off by marinating 1&1/2-2lb of chicken pieces in 1 tsp of ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste, salt and 1/4tsp of turmeric. This is not suggested in the book. Anything under Notes is not as per the book.

Heat 4 tbsp Oil in a large saucepan

Add 1 large onion sliced and cook until browned around 10 minutes.

Add 4tbsp of Goan Red Spice paste and cook for 2-3 minutes

Add 4 large tomatoes chopped, salt to taste and cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes have softened and reduced. Uncover the pan and cook the tomatoes further in their juice for 6-8 minutes, stirring in between till you see oil separating from the masala.
Note: I used only 1 large juicy red tomato

Add the chicken pieces(1&1/2lb chicken skinned) and stir well in the pan for a few minutes.
Note: I did this until the chicken pieces were lightly browned

Add 1 cup of water, bring to boil and cover. Cook covered till chicken is done.

Remove the cover, turn the heat up and boil off excess moisture in the pan, tossing the chicken in the reducing gravy all the time. Also check for salt and seasonings and adjust.

Note: This dish was pretty mild and perfect for us and the kids. I would increase heat up a notch by adding a little red chili powder otherwise. I also garnished the dish with some fresh chopped corriander.

Fried Shrimp with Plum Sauce and Sesame Seeds

I had a different post for this week. But then Wednesday happened.And tomorrow is happening, so I could not possibly post a recipe which was blah. And I am not even a cricket fanatic. I am the kinds who watch the last two overs if India has chance to win or lose as the case may be. It is the "chance" thing that gets my adrenaline rushing rather than the actual nittie-gritties of the match. It is like seeing God in action.

Other than the "blah" recipe, there was this shrimp sitting in my draft which was succulent and delicious with just the right balance of sweet and spicy and perfect for a finger licking celebratory snack. The shrimp however did not have a pretty picture to give it company. Actually it had no picture. But a picture or two or even the lack of it cannot really undermine the way a shrimp will taste. It is bound to taste beautiful. That is how it is meant to be.

So I thought this is the dish it is going to be, if you want a quick pick-me-upper during tomorrow's nerve wracking moment. I have decided to sleep and catch the last two overs wonly. Thank You.

This dish started out with a different objective in mind. Two or Three months ago, I found this recipe which was awesome and asked for sesame seeds and plum sauce and of course shrimp.

I did not have sesame seeds or plum sauce. Never do. currently I have none at all.

I bought them.

I proceeded to make the dish which comprised of a gravy of sesame seed paste, tomatoes, plum sauce and what not.It was for a party I was having the next day.

The gravy looked or tasted nothing like it was intended to be. At least what I had thought of as "intended to be". I am sure I had messed up somewhere and so I had this big bowl of reddish tomatoey gravy tasting nothing like it should.

The husband said it tasted like "Tomato Thokku" and he doesn't even know what a thokku tastes like.

I had two options:

1. Redo the same dish with fresh new ingredients -- Boring and hazy future
2. Create a new dish with shrimp, sesame seeds and plum sauce and let the current gravy sit in the refrigerator. -- Fried shrimp bound to be a crowd pleaser. So, yes.

The fried shrimp with sesame seeds and plum sauce turned out to be divine unlimited. It was served with a dip of the remaining shrimp joos and more plum sauce. The shrimps were gone as soon as they were served. No wonder, I eat my share of shrimp while cooking it.

Eat your shrimp and root for your team or if you say "What is Cricket?" just eat the shrimp.


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Fried Shrmp with Plum Sauce and Sesame Seeds

All measurements eyeballed, go with your instinct.

Make a paste of
1 small onion
2" peeled and chopped ginger

Marinade 1 lb of cleaned & deveined shrimp in
onion + ginger paste
1 tbsp of Plum Sauce
salt to taste
1 tsp of lime juice
1/2 tsp of Kasmiri Mirch/Paprika
1/2 tsp of Pepper powder

for 30 minutes

Heat white Oil

Add 1 tsp of sesame seeds and 2-3 broken, crumbled red chili/chili pepper flakes

When the spices sizzle, add the chopped white bulbs of green onions

Follow with the shrimp. Add as many shrimp as can fit in a single layer.Saute the shrimp till they turn pinkish white. Add 1-2 tsp of Plum sauce and some more of the chopped green onion. Toss together. Remove to a serving plate. Do this for all of the shrimp

Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and serve. Use the liquid in the fry pan, some more plum sauce and some hot sauce to make a dipping sauce.

My friend's Chicken Korma

Yes, all those spices and more...

When I was vacillating between blogging and not-blogging a month or two back, I realized two things.

I referred to my blog to cook. Yes, things have gotten that bad over here. Of course I don't trust myself that much and 1" inch of ginger does not warrant an exact measure but I do look up my recipes and then bring out my teaspoons and tablespoons and on days I am feeling gloomy add 2 tsp of Red Chili Powder where it said only one.So Suanta, whoever you are, when you say "Bit peculiar recipes with mild taste...maybe for weak stomach" -- yeah those are my happy days.

The second and more important thing I realized is, I needed my blog to remember.

No, not recipes but small moments in the life of two little girls as they grow up. When we were kids, there were many people cris-crossing through our lives remembering snapshots in time as we grew up. While parents remembered us as a whole, the uncles, the aunts, the grandparents, the dudhwala, the Shanti's Ma remembered how we would love the nimki at the bhujia store, how we insisted on helping with the jharu, how we said "kapekha" and not "opekha". As they talked, reminding us at our 20th birthday about our love for "nimpi" at 3, these childhood snippets took form of a legend.

At 20 I hated such legends.

In my mid-thirties not so much. Now that some of those people are no longer there to remind me how much water I wasted during my baths, I try to remember them. And strangely I do so, by iterating over those snippets they once remembered about me.

My girls' life with all the fullness lacks people to remember things. Yes, there is the camcorder but that is never taken out at the right moment. If at all, it records a staged life rather than the au naturel.

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So if I do not write about how Little S loves eating bamboo shoot from the Thai Red Curry at the restaurant and calls it "bangashur", how the heck will we talk about it 30 years later ?

Like say about this other day when LS broke two of my precious vase that stand right by the fireplace. I loved those. I mean as much as you can love a "vase". For someone like me, that is quiet a lot.I had once screamed when a little boy running around had so much as chipped one of them.

So the other day when I came home and entered a house resounding with eerie silence I didn't once think it was to do with the vase. But Big Sis whispered into my ears, that the vase were gone, LS had shattered them and she had given LS a scolding followed by "thup thup" on her butt. LS sat quietly on her haunches, in a corner, behind the couch. I didn't feel like scolding her. That was a big change in me I realized. Instead I thought of what I could now buy at Pier1.

Later I sat her down and tried explaining why she should not go around home breaking things. Maybe there was not much conviction in my voice. After much explanation when I asked "Tumi bujhecho ki bollam(Did you understand what I told you ?)", she looked at me with her big eyes, said "kichui bojheni(I didn't understand anything)" and with that skipped away.

This I really need to remember for ever. It is important.

Also the fact that LS sat through the entire movie of "Mars needs Moms", in a dark theater, munching chips and trying to climb chairs. She wasn't even a wee bit scared. And that is because her review of the movie said "Chele ta broccoli khelona, cat ke diye dilo, tai or Ma khub boklo( the boy did not eat broccoli, gave it to the cat, so his Mom scolded him)". Regarding everything that happened there after she just shrugged.

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And then the whispering and telling of secrets, a new skill she had acquired. She will come up close to my ear and in a hushed tone say totally illegible things. In response, I will say "Tai naki?" and act surprised. She too will act all astonished at the big secret that has been shared.

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Big Sis teaches LS her alphabets. And honestly what little LS has learned is thanks to her Didi. These days she goes around writing the letter "A" and tells all and sundry, "Ami A likthe pari, B likhte pari na (I can write A but not B)"

These are as important to remember as is this recipe of Chicken Korma which my friend R makes. It is really wonderful, by the way. I love all the spices going into this chicken and it is pretty easy considering that it has such a heavy duty name of "Korma" assigned to it.

I will not go into any debate regarding whether this IS a korma or not. I really do not know what a Korma makes. The other recipe of Chicken Korma that I have is from Madhur Jaffrey, it has almonds and is pretty good too.

This one I find is pretty simple and a lot of the work can be done before hand. So works perfect when you are expecting guests and have a lot to cook. Don't get intimidated by all the spices. I found all of them tucked away some where in the pantry except the white pepper powder.

If I am cooking this on a Sunday for a family meal, I use the pressure Cooker.At the point where oil is surfacing, close the lid of the Pressure cooker and cook till chicken is done.Takes about 4-5 mins after full pressure in my cooker. The advantage of using the cooker is after the chicken is done, I cook rice in the same cooker with a little stock from the chicken gravy remaining to flavor the rice. It tastes wonderful and there is one less utensil to wash.

Both the girls love this Korma and the rice. It makes for a Happy Meal.


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One more Chicken Korma

Marinate 2lb Chicken(skinless & cut in pieces) with

4 hot green chili coarsely pounded
1 tbsp Garlic Paste,
2 tbsp Ginger paste,
1 tsp Corriander powder,
1 tsp Cumin Powder,
Garlic Powder(I used about 1/2tsp),
Ginger Powder(sonth)(I used about 1/2 tsp),
1 tsp Pepper Powder(White is better),
Cinnamon Powder(About 1/4th tsp),
Mace Powder (Just crush some mace roughly in a mortar to make 1/4th-1/2tsp) ,
Nutmeg Powder( I grated a nutmeg to make roughly 1/4th tsp),
Turmeric,
salt

Note: When I am cooking this for everyone including the kids, I skip the hot green chili. Instead I add it later at the very end of the cooking process. Also add Red chili powder and increase spices if you like it that way.

Chop 1 & 1/2 of a a large onion in chunks. Saute till onion is brown on the edges, around 4-5 minutes.

In a blender put
fried onion
1 cup thick yogurt
Make a fine paste

Heat Oil in a heavy bottomed deep pan or use a Pressure cooker.

Temper the Oil with
4 green cardamom,
4 clove,
10 whole black peppercorn

Add the marinated chicken pieces.

Saute/Fry for 10-15 minutes till chicken loses raw color and starts turning golden

Add the onion + yogurt paste. Add salt to taste. Mix well.

Let the masala cook. Sprinkle some water if necessary. When you see oil surfacing add about 1/2 cup of water and let the gravy simmer to a boil. Adjust for salt and other seasonings.

Cook till chicken is done.Garnish with chopped corriander leaves if you so desire.