Food

Chicken curry cooked with curds

Chicken – 1 kg
Onions – 4 large sliced or 400 grams
Curry leaves – 5 sprigs
Ginger and garlic paste – 1 1/2 tablespoon
Chicken masala – 2 1/2 heaped tablespoons ( recipe given )
Sweet Curd – 200 grams
Fresh coriander – one fistful chopped

For the meat masala please go to http://www.pottypadre.com/home-made-meat-masala/

In a pot, heat some oil and add the curry leaves. Now fry the four large onions that have been thinly sliced and continue the cooking process for about ten minutes or till the onions are golden brown but not burnt. Turn off the gas and allow this mixture to cool. Blend the onion and curry leaf mixture in a blender. You may need to add a little water.

When done, place the mixture in the same pot that you fried the onions and turn on the gas. Once hot, add the ginger and garlic paste and cook of a minute. Now add the chicken masala and half a cup of water. Allow this to cook for two minutes before you add another cup of water. Allow this to cook for about five minutes. Now add the chicken that has been washed and cut into curry pieces. Stir well, bring to a boil and then drop the heat to simmer and allow the chicken to cook for the next ten minutes with a lid on top.. After ten minutes remove the lid and allow the extra gravy to evaporate as you continue the cooking process. This may take another five minutes.

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Food

Chillies – Too hot to handle ?

If you can’t handle eating chillies consider yourself normal. Heat is the chilly plants defense system to stop mammals from eating it. Birds on the other hand have no problem; unlike humans the capsaicin in the chilly does not bind to their pain receptors found in their nerves causing them to feel the sharp pain. The distinct burning that we talk about after biting into a chilly is really pain that we experience. And while birds simply crap out the seeds, helping another chilly plant to dandy out of the soil, humans can end up anywhere from a pleasant food experience to a hospital bed. But then again, if you cannot handle chilly, how sorry your palette must be, for nothing can replace the taste of this unique plant in its contribution to food.

Peppers would be the correct way to address a chilly; that is really the broad classification of these ‘domesticated’ heat seeking food missiles. Those peppers which have capsaicin are called chilies, the rest we commonly call bell peppers or capsicums. The bell peppers are sweet when ripe unlike their ‘hot’ cousins. These hot little things originated from Peru, Bolivia and Chile which were at one time part of a larger geographical location called the Tawantinsuyu  Empire or more famously the land of the Incas. Residuals of chilli seeds also go back to 3500 BC  and have been found in ancient cooking vessels in many archaeological digs in Mexico.

Chillies are not native to India! Like tomatoes and potatoes there is a long list of now well-loved Indian vegetables, fruits, spices, snacks and deserts (samosa and gulb jamun included) that made India their home.  Interestingly, potato in Portuguese is called ‘batata’, the same word for the vegetable in local Indian languages like Marathi and Konkani. The Portuguese, like all colonists, were principally interested in trade. Christianity and the Cross were really way down on their shopping cart list; a truth that is often found hard to digest and heavily bandied around by some religious fanatics. Among the items that Vasco da Gama was credited to bring into India was the chilly.

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Food

Meat masala

Tony and Pam D’mello were my neighbours when I temporarily lived in Orlem, Malad West, while my residential colony went under major repairs. They at once took me to their heart and into their kitchen. In many ways I was their adopted son. Both of them are lovers of home cooked food and Tony makes, among other things, the most mouthwatering Christmas fruit cake. I am posting their meat masala which is just divine.

Sharing food recipes is the kindest thing you can do especially if the recipes are as good as family heirlooms. Food brings joy and comfort to many. Sadly, many selfishly guard their recipes and take them to their grave. Bring joy and share your food recipes with me. 

When you make home made masalas, make sure that they are used within the week if not used fresh.

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Art/ Heritage

THE BOMBAY SEMINARY: THE DOUBLE TROUBLE

The long road to Goregaon commenced amidst conflict, confusion and controversies rooted in history and fostered by politics.

It is important to note that up until 1720 the Catholic Churches on the Islands of Bombay, Salsette and Bassein came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa. The priests serving these territories were either trained in Goa or abroad. The ‘seminaries’ that existed at Bassein, Thane, Bandra, Karanja and Mount Poinsur were far from the modern sense of the word.

1750 Bellin Map of Bombay (Mumbai), India

The Bombay Island was passed into the hands of British in 1665. On May 24, 1720, the British issued a Decree expelling the Portuguese Franciscans (the sole missionaries) from Bombay Island thus ending the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa. The British then approached the Vicar-Apostolic of the Great Mogul, the Italian Carmelite Bishop Fra Mauritius to take charge of the four churches on the Island namely – Our Lady of Hope, Our Lady of Glory, Our Lady of Salvation and St. Michael’s. This political action was met with great resistance by the pro Portuguese Catholics in Bombay.

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Food

“Once upon a time there was a young girl who grew up in Bombay surrounded by coconut trees and some curry leaf in her fathers small but beautiful garden. A few years later she went on an impromptu trip with her friends to Dubai where she met a handsome young man.They fell in love and he took her on his magic carpet into the culinary world of Kerala cuisine and she lived happily ever after. “

Introducing my new best friend, the CURRY LEAF. He stands a close to Mr Coconut oil. Curry leaves are packed with vitamin A, B, C, D and E. The curry leaf tree is from the citrus family. Popularly and widely used in the kitchens of South India it is also found in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Burma, Singapore, and Cambodia.

That punch of its flavour is best when used freshly snapped right off the tree. It really does not matter when you add it in your dish. Some recipes will add curry leaves first, some last and some in between. Curry leaves can be used fresh, frozen or dried. Though I always prefer to use fresh curry leaves, it may not  be so easy to come by if your not living in India. Hence in order to preserve them I take off the leaves and freeze them in a glass jar.

My fondest memory of this amazing ingredient is walking into a popular South Indian restaurant called Calicut Paragon in Kerala and watching in awe as the chef there threw more than a handful  of curry leaves into hot oil just before frying up some delicious coconut crumbed prawns. Coming from Bombay and with Goan/ Manglorean roots I had never seen this before and thought it was a superb way to introduce flavour into coconut oil right before frying your fish or meat. Apparently they follow the same process (curry leaves in oil) and apply this oil, once cooled, for thicker and darker hair.

Now let me list my favourite ways to use the curry leaf. There are the usual stews, curry’s, fresh vegetables, rice, breads, drinks, raita and it also features in the most delicious South Indian snacks and breakfast preparations. But the potency of this fragrant leaf is especially predominant when it is used as a marinade, in buttermilk, in podis, in chutneys or roasted and added to freshly ground masalas (think madras curry powder). 

Try this traditional curry leaf peanut chutney powder  

1/3 cup of peanuts (dry roasted for 2 mins and left to cool.)

1/2 a cup of curry leaves.(roasted in the same pan for 2 mins and cooled.)

3 whole dry red chillies  

2 tsp coriander 

3 tsp cumin  

6 cloves of garlic (roast all for 2 minutes. Careful don’t burn them:)

Add:

1/2 tsp fenugreek

1 tsp jaggery

Salt and pepper to taste

Grind all these coarsely. You are looking for a roughly ground powder. Adjust your seasonings or the quantity of ingredients as you go along as some like this sweeter or saltier or spicy. Serve with dosas, idilis, on hot rice with ghee, eggs or anything you prefer. It’s always good to experiment with flavours.

I’ll let you in on another experiment. So we’ve all eaten potato chips but how about Curry Chips? 

Super easy! Slice your potatoes and salt them. After a while pat them dry. Get your oil hot and add a bunch of curry leaves. Stand back, it will splutter and pop. Immediately add your potato in batches. Fry until golden and and place them on a paper towel to drain off the excess oil. Now toss in any mix of homemade roasted curry powder. Top with some lime, mayonnaise, roasted  and roughly crushed peanuts and come chopped coriander. Yum!

Now for Mama Iona’s (my late and very sweet mother-in-laws) Prawn Pulav.

Let’s eyeball this one like they did everything in the olden days. If you know how to make a pulav you are set.😊 Ps: I have added measurements for die hard fans looking for precise proportions.

-Take Two cup’s of basmati rice. Wash and soak it for ten minutes.

-Take some medium sized prawns (around 1/2 kg), clean, devein and toss them with very little turmeric and salt.

 -In a vessel set on a medium flame put some oil. (Try coconut, but you could use regular oil). Throw in some spices –  6 cardamom, 2 cinnamon, 10 peppercorns, 6 cloves) and let them sizzle for a few seconds.

-Add  two medium sized finely sliced onions along with two or three green chillies. Add two chopped tomatoes and some chilly powder if you like it spicier.

– And a tsp. of ginger/garlic paste.

-In a mixer grind coarsely handfuls of washed fresh mint, coriander and our dear curry leaf. One handful each. Add this to the pot.

-Now take your already seasoned prawns and add them to the mix and sauté them for a minute or two.

– Add your soaked and drained rice. Stir it gently in the pot with all those ingredients for a minute.

– Now here’s how you add the water. You always double it to the rice. So one cup rice; to two cups water. 

-Taste your water for salt. Add more salt if you need to.

– At this point for extra flavour you could even grate in a stock cube but remember that you’ve already added the salt.

-Let it come to a gentle bubble on a medium flame. Turn you flame down low and cover the lid tightly and step away for exactly ten minutes.

Don’t open it!

-After exactly ten minutes, turn the flame off and gently fork the steaming rice.

(Do not cover it at this point. If you do you will end up with sticky overcooked rice)

-Top it with some chopped coriander, a squeeze of lime and some toasted cashew nuts and fried raisins if you like.

P.S.- If spicy, a lovely simple raita on the side does the trick.

 You can follow me  – Instagram: @cheriillustrates @cheridafernandez  Email: [email protected]. All art work and photography is copyright protected. Art work by Cherida Fernandez

Cherida Fernandez – Dubai/Mumbai/Kerala/ Goa

 

 

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