Now that i have rambled enough about the events around my wedding, and that now I've graduated from being a to-be bride to a Queen-bee wife ;) I think it's imperative that I share some of the wisdom gained through this journey that might help you score some brownie points with the husband/in-laws. That's when you are decent at cooking, but if you are beyond help then these would help you redeem yourself :).
Let's begin with the very basic life saver shall we?
Tea
Really? Who could not know how to make tea? I don't know.. somebody who only drinks coffee :D
Even so I'll help you out, be very attentive and do not treat this as a joke, tea making is a very important part of an Indian's life.
Ingredients:
Basic: Water
Tea leaves (Chai Patti)
Milk
Sugar
Good to Have: Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
Cinnamon (Daal Chini)
Ginger (Adrak)
Fennel (Saunf)
Basil (Tulsi)
Steps:
1. For two cups of tea, add one and a three-fourth cup of water to a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. To the boiling water add 1.5 teaspoons (ironic.. there a separate spoon for tea :P)
3. Add Sugar to taste.
4. Let the water boil till it changes color to a dark brown
5. Add the milk to the portion and marvel and the changing colors :P
6. Bring the tea to boil three four times.
Voila! Your basic tea is ready to serve!!
Now to fancy it up, you can mix and match the Good to have ingredients at the first step itself. My personal favorites are adrak+elaichi and saunf+tulsi depending on the weather outside :)
My first useful post yay!!
Masoor Daal
I know you must be wondering.. Why on earth would somebody need to know how masoor daal is made?!?
But trust me when you are hard pressed for time and people in the house will not be satisfied by bread :) This is the quickest wholesome meal you can stir up with minimum logistics. (But of course you need rice/roti to accompany it)
Ingredients:
Masoor Daal, 1 Cup (Thoroughly washed)
Onions, 2 small (Finely Chopped)
Garlic, 3-4 slices (Ground to Paste)
Ginger, About half an inch (Ground to Paste)
Green Chilli, 1 small
Asafoetida (Heeng), a pinch
Carom Seeds (Ajwain), 1 teaspoon
Bay Leaf (Tej Patta), 1
Turmeric (Haldi), 1/2 Teaspoon
Red Chilli, 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala, 2 Teaspoons
Salt to taste
Water
Refined Oil (Cooking Medium)
Steps:
Let's minimize the number of utensils we'll be using.. So we shall begin cooking in the pressure cooker itself (You can applaud my genius later :P)
1. In the pressure cooker, add about 4 table spoons of vegetable oil. (In case you are entering the kitchen for the first time, it is understood that you turn on the heat ;))
2. To the oil add the heeng, tejpata and ajwain, be careful not to heat them for a long time alone as they can very easily get burnt.
3. Add the onions and the ginger-garlic paste to the oil and cook for 5-10 minutes till the onions become golden brown (Ooh.. I can use fancy terms :) )
4. To this mixture now add all the other spices (Green chillies are also spices. In case you were wondering) and mix well.
Remember these spices have been added according to my tastes and I'm generally not a strong believer of moderation. I will have everything tasting awesome even if it's the modest Masoor Daal.
5. Add the daal and mix it up, cook it for a minute.
6. Now's the time to add the water, usually to a cup of daal 4 cups of water would suffice. But then, this is a function of how thick you would want the daal, I usually put 3 cups as like the daal to be thick.
Now Once you have added the water, the time is right to taste the spices. Just drop a few droplets on the palm of your hand and taste. At this point you must remember that right now the salt should not be just right, as once you pressure cook the daal the water would evaporate and the just right would become too salty. It's a good thing to keep the salt a little less to begin with, as there is a solution to a bland daal, but a daal too salty is all your effort gone waste as no amount of water would regain the original taste.
7. Cook the daal in the open cooker until it starts to boil. This is important as this helps the cooker to build steam faster. Once the daal starts to boil, add the lid and put on the weight.
8. Wait for the first whistle. After the first whistle, simmer the flame and then shut the flame off when the second whistle blows on the low flame.
9. Do Not open the cooker immediately (It won't open due to the steam build-up). If you are in a hurry, you can lift up the whistle and wait for the steam to go away or you could just let it naturally go off for 5-7 minutes.
Open the cooker and serve. Your first edible meal :)
Here I will also let you in on a little secret, the basic recipe to cooking most legumes is the same (Except Rajma and Chole. They are and they will always be special!) the only difference happens in the cooking time required. As you experiment with various daals like moong, chana, urad etc. (It might sound Greek now, but you'll know them when you get there) you would realize you can change gravies by changing spice proportions, adding tomatoes, removing ginger/garlic etc. My mom for example, is a great fan of tomatoes. She adds tomatoes to everything! I'm not so keen on them somehow. So you saw in the recipe above there is no mention at all of a tomato. So you see, cooking is more an art than an exact science, you just need the starting push. The rest would be a function of your own imagination and cooking capabilities. After all, there are tougher things to do than cooking food!!
Rice
Ingredients
Basmati Rice, 1 cup
Water, 2 cups
Steps:
1. Thoroughly wash the rice in an open pot. This is important for everything you cook, adding it explicitly here because rice cooking doesn't have too many steps :)
2. Put the rice and the water in a pressure cooker and let it boil in the open cooker till it starts boiling. Once it starts boiling put on the cooker lid and wait for the whistle.
3. After whistle, simmer the flame, wait for around 5 minutes, increase the flame. After the second whistle. Shut the flame.
4. Wait for the steam to escape, open the cooker and your rice are ready to serve!!
Masala Chicken
Ingredients
1 whole raw Chicken, 850 gms (This is because this the maximum I've cooked :))
Curd, 2 cups
Lemon, 1 (We just need the juice)
Onions (finely chopped/ coarsely ground preferable), 5 medium sized
Garlic cloves, 6 large slices (Ground to Paste)
Ginger, about an inch (Ground to Paste)
Green Chilli, 2 small
Asafoetida (Heeng), a pinch
Carom Seeds (Ajwain), 1 teaspoon
Bay Leaf (Tej Patta), 3
Cardomom, 2
Turmeric (Haldi), 1/2 Teaspoon
Red Chilli, 1 teaspoon
MDH Chicken Masala, 4 Tablespoons (No they have not paid me to advertise it, it just happens to be the one I use. You are free to choose your brand)
Salt to taste
Water
Refined Oil (Cooking Medium)
Steps:
1. Thoroughly wash the chicken, this is just basic hygiene :)
2. Prepare a marinade for the chicken with half of the curd and the lemon juice. Marinate the chicken and keep for about 10-15 minutes. Generally half an hour is suggested by most recipies, but then we're women on the go we don't have much time do we? :P
While your chicken is marinating happily, let's get some masala cooking!
3. In a pressure cooker, heat up about 6 tablespoons of refined oil. Into that add the whole spices i.e the heeng, ajwain, cardomom and tej pata. Yes, these are my standard spices, you could also add cinamom and in winters it's good for health. Be careful not to burn these, so simmer the flame.
4. To this now add the onions, ginger and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes till the onions start turning brown.
5. Now the time is right to add the marinated chicken!
6. After adding the chicken is when the hard part starts. You have to keep stirring the mixture to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom and is cooked evenly.
7. When the chicken is cooked add the remaining spices. Remember, the secret ingredient (not so secret as such as it's readily available and blatently states itself as the chicken masala) is the chicken masala. You would notice that adding this spice significantly lifts the taste manifold. Salt is of course to taste and is very crucial to the final dish.
I can sense a basic question here, how do I know that the chicken is cooked? A very smart question. And I have the answer: You would see the colour of the chicken turn from the raw flesh pink to white and it will slowly start taking the texture we are used to eat it in. I know this sounds difficult in theory, but you'll know it when you see it.
8. Add the remaining curd and cook it for some more time. This the point when you might want to taste a little of the masala to see if all the spices are in proportion and fit for your tastes. I don't know if anyone can prepare a perfect dish without tasting it in phases, because I know I cant! How am I ever to know how much salt is enough salt if I don't taste it! But please don't finish the dish on the pretext of tasting it ;)
9. Last step is to add the water for the gravy, add about a cup and a half of water into the cooker and let it simmer for a bit and then taste the gravy again, it shouldn't be bland but it shouldn't be too salty either. Once the gravy starts to boil, put on the lid and wait for the whistle. Simmer after the first whistle. Keep it on the flame for 10 minutes max. Post 10 increase the flame wait for the second whistle and then take it off the flame, wait for the steam to escape, open and marvel at the beauty that you created with your own bare hands!!
And you can see how ridiculously simple it is! That's the amazing part, isn't it?
Let's begin with the very basic life saver shall we?
Tea
Really? Who could not know how to make tea? I don't know.. somebody who only drinks coffee :D
Even so I'll help you out, be very attentive and do not treat this as a joke, tea making is a very important part of an Indian's life.
Ingredients:
Basic: Water
Tea leaves (Chai Patti)
Milk
Sugar
Good to Have: Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
Cinnamon (Daal Chini)
Ginger (Adrak)
Fennel (Saunf)
Basil (Tulsi)
Steps:
1. For two cups of tea, add one and a three-fourth cup of water to a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. To the boiling water add 1.5 teaspoons (ironic.. there a separate spoon for tea :P)
3. Add Sugar to taste.
4. Let the water boil till it changes color to a dark brown
5. Add the milk to the portion and marvel and the changing colors :P
6. Bring the tea to boil three four times.
Voila! Your basic tea is ready to serve!!
Now to fancy it up, you can mix and match the Good to have ingredients at the first step itself. My personal favorites are adrak+elaichi and saunf+tulsi depending on the weather outside :)
My first useful post yay!!
Masoor Daal
I know you must be wondering.. Why on earth would somebody need to know how masoor daal is made?!?
But trust me when you are hard pressed for time and people in the house will not be satisfied by bread :) This is the quickest wholesome meal you can stir up with minimum logistics. (But of course you need rice/roti to accompany it)
Ingredients:
Masoor Daal, 1 Cup (Thoroughly washed)
Onions, 2 small (Finely Chopped)
Garlic, 3-4 slices (Ground to Paste)
Ginger, About half an inch (Ground to Paste)
Green Chilli, 1 small
Asafoetida (Heeng), a pinch
Carom Seeds (Ajwain), 1 teaspoon
Bay Leaf (Tej Patta), 1
Turmeric (Haldi), 1/2 Teaspoon
Red Chilli, 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala, 2 Teaspoons
Salt to taste
Water
Refined Oil (Cooking Medium)
Steps:
Let's minimize the number of utensils we'll be using.. So we shall begin cooking in the pressure cooker itself (You can applaud my genius later :P)
1. In the pressure cooker, add about 4 table spoons of vegetable oil. (In case you are entering the kitchen for the first time, it is understood that you turn on the heat ;))
2. To the oil add the heeng, tejpata and ajwain, be careful not to heat them for a long time alone as they can very easily get burnt.
3. Add the onions and the ginger-garlic paste to the oil and cook for 5-10 minutes till the onions become golden brown (Ooh.. I can use fancy terms :) )
4. To this mixture now add all the other spices (Green chillies are also spices. In case you were wondering) and mix well.
Remember these spices have been added according to my tastes and I'm generally not a strong believer of moderation. I will have everything tasting awesome even if it's the modest Masoor Daal.
5. Add the daal and mix it up, cook it for a minute.
6. Now's the time to add the water, usually to a cup of daal 4 cups of water would suffice. But then, this is a function of how thick you would want the daal, I usually put 3 cups as like the daal to be thick.
Now Once you have added the water, the time is right to taste the spices. Just drop a few droplets on the palm of your hand and taste. At this point you must remember that right now the salt should not be just right, as once you pressure cook the daal the water would evaporate and the just right would become too salty. It's a good thing to keep the salt a little less to begin with, as there is a solution to a bland daal, but a daal too salty is all your effort gone waste as no amount of water would regain the original taste.
7. Cook the daal in the open cooker until it starts to boil. This is important as this helps the cooker to build steam faster. Once the daal starts to boil, add the lid and put on the weight.
8. Wait for the first whistle. After the first whistle, simmer the flame and then shut the flame off when the second whistle blows on the low flame.
9. Do Not open the cooker immediately (It won't open due to the steam build-up). If you are in a hurry, you can lift up the whistle and wait for the steam to go away or you could just let it naturally go off for 5-7 minutes.
Open the cooker and serve. Your first edible meal :)
Here I will also let you in on a little secret, the basic recipe to cooking most legumes is the same (Except Rajma and Chole. They are and they will always be special!) the only difference happens in the cooking time required. As you experiment with various daals like moong, chana, urad etc. (It might sound Greek now, but you'll know them when you get there) you would realize you can change gravies by changing spice proportions, adding tomatoes, removing ginger/garlic etc. My mom for example, is a great fan of tomatoes. She adds tomatoes to everything! I'm not so keen on them somehow. So you saw in the recipe above there is no mention at all of a tomato. So you see, cooking is more an art than an exact science, you just need the starting push. The rest would be a function of your own imagination and cooking capabilities. After all, there are tougher things to do than cooking food!!
Rice
Ingredients
Basmati Rice, 1 cup
Water, 2 cups
Steps:
1. Thoroughly wash the rice in an open pot. This is important for everything you cook, adding it explicitly here because rice cooking doesn't have too many steps :)
2. Put the rice and the water in a pressure cooker and let it boil in the open cooker till it starts boiling. Once it starts boiling put on the cooker lid and wait for the whistle.
3. After whistle, simmer the flame, wait for around 5 minutes, increase the flame. After the second whistle. Shut the flame.
4. Wait for the steam to escape, open the cooker and your rice are ready to serve!!
Masala Chicken
Ingredients
1 whole raw Chicken, 850 gms (This is because this the maximum I've cooked :))
Curd, 2 cups
Lemon, 1 (We just need the juice)
Onions (finely chopped/ coarsely ground preferable), 5 medium sized
Garlic cloves, 6 large slices (Ground to Paste)
Ginger, about an inch (Ground to Paste)
Green Chilli, 2 small
Asafoetida (Heeng), a pinch
Carom Seeds (Ajwain), 1 teaspoon
Bay Leaf (Tej Patta), 3
Cardomom, 2
Turmeric (Haldi), 1/2 Teaspoon
Red Chilli, 1 teaspoon
MDH Chicken Masala, 4 Tablespoons (No they have not paid me to advertise it, it just happens to be the one I use. You are free to choose your brand)
Salt to taste
Water
Refined Oil (Cooking Medium)
Steps:
1. Thoroughly wash the chicken, this is just basic hygiene :)
2. Prepare a marinade for the chicken with half of the curd and the lemon juice. Marinate the chicken and keep for about 10-15 minutes. Generally half an hour is suggested by most recipies, but then we're women on the go we don't have much time do we? :P
While your chicken is marinating happily, let's get some masala cooking!
3. In a pressure cooker, heat up about 6 tablespoons of refined oil. Into that add the whole spices i.e the heeng, ajwain, cardomom and tej pata. Yes, these are my standard spices, you could also add cinamom and in winters it's good for health. Be careful not to burn these, so simmer the flame.
4. To this now add the onions, ginger and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes till the onions start turning brown.
5. Now the time is right to add the marinated chicken!
6. After adding the chicken is when the hard part starts. You have to keep stirring the mixture to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom and is cooked evenly.
7. When the chicken is cooked add the remaining spices. Remember, the secret ingredient (not so secret as such as it's readily available and blatently states itself as the chicken masala) is the chicken masala. You would notice that adding this spice significantly lifts the taste manifold. Salt is of course to taste and is very crucial to the final dish.
I can sense a basic question here, how do I know that the chicken is cooked? A very smart question. And I have the answer: You would see the colour of the chicken turn from the raw flesh pink to white and it will slowly start taking the texture we are used to eat it in. I know this sounds difficult in theory, but you'll know it when you see it.
8. Add the remaining curd and cook it for some more time. This the point when you might want to taste a little of the masala to see if all the spices are in proportion and fit for your tastes. I don't know if anyone can prepare a perfect dish without tasting it in phases, because I know I cant! How am I ever to know how much salt is enough salt if I don't taste it! But please don't finish the dish on the pretext of tasting it ;)
9. Last step is to add the water for the gravy, add about a cup and a half of water into the cooker and let it simmer for a bit and then taste the gravy again, it shouldn't be bland but it shouldn't be too salty either. Once the gravy starts to boil, put on the lid and wait for the whistle. Simmer after the first whistle. Keep it on the flame for 10 minutes max. Post 10 increase the flame wait for the second whistle and then take it off the flame, wait for the steam to escape, open and marvel at the beauty that you created with your own bare hands!!
And you can see how ridiculously simple it is! That's the amazing part, isn't it?
Grilled chicken with Red Wine marinade
Ingredients:
Chicken Thighs boneless
(6 pieces)
1 cup wine
1 table spoon lemon juice
Red Chilli Powder ½ teaspoon
Black pepper powder ½ teaspoon
Salt ½ teaspoon
Turmeric ½ teaspoon
Steps:
1.Goes without saying, thoroughly
wash the chicken
2.Marinade the chicken in
the other ingredients, cover the bowl and refrigerate it for an hour
3.Melt some butter in a griddle/frying-pan.
Shallow fry the pieces on medium flame till they are properly cooked. This
could take anywhere between 10-15 minutes.
4.Serve them with a slice
of lemon by the side.
Trust me this tastes just as
delicious as it is easy to make!
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