Food

Mushroom and capsicum curry

This is a simple yet tasty dish. The gravy will need to be accompanied by any Indian bread as the gravy is a thick onion based gravy.

In order to get the deep brown colour you need to fry the onions in a pan with no oil. I used a cast iron pan which transmits heat quickly, hence you need to keep stirring or you will end up with burnt onions in some parts.

I drop in a bit of sugar while browning the onions. This sugar  caramelizes giving you a nice colour while also sweetening the onions

This dish uses meat masala. Any ready meat masala or what is often called a ‘Sunday masala’ is good. The dish is vegetarian with distinctly non vegetarian flavours. 

Ingredients
Mushrooms -200 grams, quartered
Capsicum- 2 large, sliced
Onions – 3 large or about 300 grams
Tomato – 1, diced
Meat masala – 1 1/2 tablespoon
Ginger and garlic paste- 1 teaspoon
Sugar – 1/4 teaspoon
Ghee – one teaspoon
Maggi cube – one large
Salt to taste

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Food

Brinjals cooked with split moong dal

This dish is perfect as a vegetarian dish for a week day. It combines plant protein and roughage all in one dish. It is easy to cook and has a rather predictable flavour as both the dal and the eggplant compliment each other well. This dish is medium spicy so adjust the heat accordingly. This dish can feeds six hungry people.

Split moong dal – 100 grams, soaked for two hours
Brinjal – one large, diced
Curry leaves- two sprigs
Mustard seeds – 3/4 teaspoon
Green chillies- three large
Onions – two, minced
Tomatoes – one large, diced
Ginger and garlic paste – one teaspoon
Red chilly powder- quarter teaspoon
Turmeric powder- quarter teaspoon
Coriander powder- one teaspoon
Fresh coriander – two tablespoons chopped
Oil as required
Salt as required

Mise en place (preparation)
Soak the dal for two hours. Mince the onions and chillies. Chop the tomatoes and cut the brinjals into large dices

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Food

Chicken Makhni

A few introductory remarks

Most people love to tamper with recipes and then wonder why it did not turn out the way it did. This one is down to a science, don’t tamper with it . Understand the purpose of this dish, it was created to elicit some form of a wonderful reaction to the first morsel. Hence this dish is decadent and not to be wasted on a Monday with no purpose unless you are depressed.  Finally, don’t be stingy with the butter.

A Few tips
Understand what deghi Mirch is. This makes a world of a difference when it comes to this dish. Deghi mirch is a distinctive Indian spice made from a blend of colourful red capsicums and Kashmiri red chillies. It adds a mild heat and a deep red-orange colour. If you don’t have this chilli powder and the ready pack you are using is super hot then cut down the chilly powder to 1 heaped teaspoon or 3/4 tablespoon. Understand the purpose. You want this to have a great colour but not to be over spicy.

Initially while cooking, you will find the the gravy spicy. Relax, the honey and fresh cream are in the recipe for a reason. You can adjust the heat with these sweeter ingredients. If you like you could add ready cooked chicken tikka instead of cooking the chicken but that’s your choice.

Chicken – 1/2 kg (or ready made chicken tikka)
Tomatoes – 500 grams
Cardamom -7
Garlic – 8 cloves
Ginger – 1 1/2 inch piece
Red chilli powder (Deghi) – 1 1/2 tbsp (see note above)
Salted Butter – 1/2 cup
Kasoori methi – 1 1/2 teaspoon
Mace – a pinch
Garam masala powder – 1 teaspoon
Honey – 1 tablespoon
Fresh cream – 1 cup

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Art/ Heritage

LUCA SIGNORELLI: The Damned, 1499 – 1502, Fresco, Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto

Our journey with Signorelli through this ‘End of Days’ series draws us to one of his most acclaimed masterpiece. Titled ‘The Damned’, a single glance at this chaos of evil can shoot shivers down your spine. It renders creativity at its best while inducing a sense of awe and terror in every observer who dares to marvel at the master’s mind.

The painting opens with a glimpse of heaven. Three armoured Archangels, namely Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, stand tall upon brittle billows of clouds. Their attitude and attire denotes their dignity and duty. With half-drawn swords they supervise the fulfilment of the Scriptures – ‘Then the King will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”’ – Matthew 25:41

In a well-proportioned pattern, alongside the Archangels are depicted the devouring devils with swooping bat-like wings. Notice how these muscular mighty figures tremble with fear. They haste towards hell in order to escape chastisement. In doing so, two of the fiends let go of their prey who in turn tumble through the atmosphere into the netherworld.

The foreground of the painting is absolutely appalling. A dense mass of writhing humans twist and turn in agony as diabolical demons torment their beings. To the far left of the foreground lies the ghastly Gehenna gloomed by a fuming fire that consumes the crawling corpses. Could any creature ever comprehend this catastrophic vision?

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Food


When life gives you lemons…all the ‘gyaan’ you needed on lemons
My super talented sister Cherida Fernandez will henceforth be a regular contributor to my blog PottyPadre. Today she will share with you her gyaan on lemons; from preserving it, to its origins and its uses. Oh by the way the artwork is hers too…
Preserved lemon.
3-4 ripe lemons.
Approximately 75 g coarse salt
500 ml glass jar with lid.
1-2 lemons just for juice.(don’t throw away that peel!)

Once you have bought some thin skinned,ripe, lemons.

Slice the whole lemon 3/4ths of the way down into quarters. Don’t cut all the way through. You now have 4 wedges. Sprinkle some coarse salt within the cut lemon. Bring it back into shape with your hands and pack it tightly into the jar.

Do this with all the lemons and once you are done top with some salt and close the lid. Your aim is to have them tightly packed and eventually covered in juice.

For the next 4 days all you have to do is keep it at room temperature, away from the sun and flip or shake the jar. This releases the lemon juice in time.

After 4 days take the 5th lemon and top the jar with its juice. At this point if the lemons are not covered in juice you’ll will probably have to use the juice of one more.

Seal your tightly packed lemon jar well and place it in the fridge or in a dark dry corner and you could flip it from time to time or leave it alone.

Once the skins have changed colour your preserved lemons are ready! This takes a few months and patience on your end. The Moroccans use them after 7 months.  It has a shelf life of 6 months but personally once opened if stored in the fridge I have  used it for much longer. The longer they are left the more softer, richer and darker they become.

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