Food

Chicken curry

This dish can be cooked as a curry to be served with rice or can even cooked as a thick gravy to go with naans or chapati. If you do not want a curry to go with rice then simply go easy on the water. I used boneless chicken because that is what I had. You can use chicken with bone which enhances the flavour of your curry. Chicken with bone always makes a better gravy, if you are cooking chicken with bone use the same ingredients for one kilo chicken.

Here is something for you to keep in mind – Chicken with bone is always flavourful as the flavours of the bone enhance the curry. How you cut your chicken also determines the overall cooking time of the dish. The bigger the pieces the longer the cooking. Let chicken cook on a slow flame for about twenty to twenty five minutes after having introduced the chicken to the dish. Remember also that the flesh of the chicken cooks the best around the bone and when cooked begins to leave the bone and fall off. overcooked chicken is stringy to eat. 

Chicken 600 grams boneless
Onions – two sliced or 200 grams
Tomato – one
Coconut – 1/2
Curry leaves – two sprigs
Meat masala – 3 heaped tablespoons (see below for the link)
Green chillies – 2 (you can use more if you want it super hot)
Ghee – one tablespoon
Oil – as required
Salt as required

For meat masala see link http://www.pottypadre.com/home-made-meat-masala/

Method
Clean and cut the chicken breast into bite sized dices. Grind the coconut with the tomato. You may have to add a little water wile grinding. In a pot heat oil and fry the curry leaves, remove and set aside. Now add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown. When done add the meat masala (three heaped tablespoons) and cook this with a cup of water till the water evaporates eighty percent and the oil begins to float on the side.

Now add the the coconut and tomato mixture and stir it all in. Add a cup of water bring this boil and drop the heat. Let this cook on simmer for ten minutes. Add the chicken and mix it in the gravy. Again bring the dish to boiling point and then drop the heat to simmer. Cover the dish and let this cook for twenty minutes on simmer. Turn off the gas and infuse the slit green chillies. Garnish with the curry leaves you had set side.

For more food recipes go to http://www.pottypadre.com/category/food/

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Food

The Tapestry of Taste – why your curry is not as good as your grandmothers.

We all have powerful memories of being cooked for. There is a flavour of a childhood curry or a dish that lingers at the back of our head but has not yet been replicated on the tip of our tongue. Even family recipes that have been handed down like heirlooms are not able to replicate that particular taste of a fish curry whose flavour along with the aroma seems to be fast fading in some bygone wood fire kitchen. If only our charred earthenware which have now been replaced with Teflon coated utensils could tell the true story of authentic cuisines. What is most tragic is that our children will never know the flavours we have known; their taste buds have been forever altered. 

Aunty Julie never really tells you what she puts in her fish curry?

We blame the loss of traditional food flavours to inaccurate or altered recipes and while that may possibly be true what is also true is that traditional farming  and cooking techniques along the demand for certain foods have given way to strains of produce whose goal is not the production of the best quality ingredients and food but one that rings the cash register loudest.

Ever wondered how come your supermarket has so much honey on its shelves?

The demand for honey keeps soaring while ironically bees are dying in record numbers thanks to the indiscriminate use of insecticides. Yet the production of honey is on the rise and surprisingly met with by the use of hidden additives and other shady tactics. Read the label carefully and what you don’t understand research.

Cooking shows turned the humble garlic into a multi-billion-dollar crop giving rise to garlic that is bigger in size and easier to clean but one which lacks flavour if not messes up your body. Today, growing sugar is like printing money for it has infiltrated all forms of food. From chocolate to avocados, beautiful food can come with an ugly back story.

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Art/ Heritage

THE BOMBAY SEMINARY: The Dark Ages

 Post the treachery at the Fort Seminary, the new Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Fortini in 1841 appealed to Rome for a sound man to take charge of the Bombay Seminary. His precise prerequisites were –‘mature, discreet and of sound doctrine and good moral character.’ It is important to note that unlike his predecessors, Bishop Fortini took residence at Salvation Church, Dadar and not the Fort Chapel.

In 1846 the Fort Chapel buildings underwent renovation which compelled the transfer of the Seminary. The exact date of this transfer is not recorded and the exact location can be debated. However we do know that the Seminary was shifted ‘from Medows Street to the large and pleasant house, purchased as a villa house by Bishop Fortini in 1841 (at Parel).’ (Gense, 1960:161)

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Food

Paplet Hooman (pomfret curry)

Pomfrets – two larger or four medium
Onion – one, finely sliced
Ginger and garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric – 1 teaspoon
Coconut – 1/2
Beydgi chillies – 10
Pepper corns – 15
Coriander seeds – 1 tablespoon
Tamarind – size of a lime
Green chillies – four
Salt as required
Coconut oil as required

Clean and cut the fish into thick slices and marinate with garlic and ginger paste along with 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. Set aside

Grind together to form a smooth paste all the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients except the onions and the green chillies. Usually you need about half a coffee cup of water to grind this but I suggest you go slow when adding. You need a thick masala not a runny sauce in the mixer

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Food

Open Sesame!

Popular all over the world, this tiny, flat, and teardrop-shaped seed packs a powerful punch and not just flavour wise. Just Google the health benefits of one of the oldest condiments know to man and you will be amazed.

White, black, yellow, and red they come in 4 colours.

With their history that can be traced back to ancient India, Egypt, and Assyrian legends and even considered a symbol of immortality at one point. You know you’ve struck food gold when it comes to this delicate nutty wonder.

So how do you know if the sesame you’ve bought is fresh? Smell it. If old, the oil in the seeds will smell rancid. Valued for their high content of sesame oil the funny thing is the oil itself is resistant to rancidity. So it’s best to store the seed airtight in a cool, dark place or in the fridge and the oil in a dark cupboard too. 

In fact in my opinion this is the best way to store most nuts and oils.

Now for its culinary uses.

Let’s tackle this through the regions. I feel it’s always interesting to understand how the very same ingredient can be used in so many different ways all over our wonderful world. This is where man is at his best with his imagination.

Halva, zaatar, sweets, bread, or tahini spread in the Middle East (add some grape molasses and it makes a great snack on bread). In the Mediterranean region, they are used in cakes. In Africa, it is ground as a paste and served alongside mains or added to soups. In Asia on salads,** bakes, sweets, in sushi, etc. Ever tried Ellu Sadam or Sesame rice. Sesame is known as Ellu in Tamil and Kannada. In this traditional dish, where rice is mixed with a spicy powder made from sesame seeds and other ingredients and eaten on special occasions.

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