An ode to Calcutta's Continental Cuisine

In the 90s, and I am a 90s kid, typical Calcuttan knew three kinds of cuisines, Indian, Chinese and Continental. Global cuisine, world cuisine, etc were terms yet to enter the culinary fabric of Calcutta, and specialty cuisines like Japanese and Italian were nowhere in the vicinity. And the typical Calcuttan khadyoroshik was pretty happy with the situation. Of course Chinese food ruled the roster, and the ubiquitous chilli-chicken-fried-rice said in one breadth was a perennial favourite and of course the Chow, hakka and gravy (not Cantonese style, but gravy). 

Now coming to Continental cuisine — Chicken roast and prawn cocktail definitely topped the charts, some wopuld say, while others would vouch for the steaks and sizzlers. And Continental Cusine had within its fold everything from the American Tetrazini to the Russian Stroganoff. There seemed to have been a general belief  (except among those who loved it) that Continental food was either bland or had too much cream and cheese. Through my childhood my favourite food was Chicken Tetrazini, and it was BECAUSE of the cream and cheese. 

Anyway, this dish, is my ode to Continental Cuisine of Calcutta. I made it with fish last night, you could do it with chicken too, while sipping on a glass of rum and coke. It had been a tiring day and I wanted to whip up something simple, and was itching to use the block of Parmesan I had brought home the day before.

So what you have is perfectly cooked, tender and flaky pieces of fish in a creamy sauce under a crisp, beautiful golden crust. I love it. Yet to think of a name for this one.

Ingredients

Bekti (fillet, cut in 2 inch cubes) - 1kg
Plain flour - 1 tsp 
Garlic paste - 1 tsp 
Fresh cream - 100g
Parmesan cheese (grated)- 1/2 + 1/2 cup 
Fresh chopped parsley - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Fresh coursely ground pepper - 2 tbsp
Bread crumbs - 2 tbsp (approx)

Method 

Season the fish well and line them the pieces to cover the bottom of your baking tray.

In a bowl, mix together the fresh cream, grated Parmesan (one part), garlic paste, flour, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley (leave a little for garnish). Pour the mixture on to the fish so that it covers the fish.

In the meantime preheat oven at 170 degree centigrade. 

Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top so that it covers the dish more or less evenly. Do the same with the rest of the Parmesan.

Bake the fish at 170 degree centigrade for 20 minutes.

Garnish with parsley and eat it piping hot. Yes I said eat and not serve.

Rocket and Orange salad with Grilled Five Spice Chicken

 

A few days ago one of my friends asked me to toss up and share the recipe for a good salad that spelt winter. She is one of the people who have followed and encouraged my blog since I started a couple of months (three actually) ago and I had to keep her request. 

In fact, I had visualised this salad as and while I was speaking to her, promising her to share a recipe soon. She said winter and she uttered salad and images of luscious oranges, green rocket and, well....meat. It's crazy how I always want meat in my salad. I think it has something to do with my unnatural aversion for healthy everything. 

Anyway, so this is a simple salad with orange and rocket leaves and some grilled chicken. I have used a vinaigrette, a pretty simple one. Just a  little honey, mustard and orange juice. I had thought of tossing in some fresh parsley but decided against it at the last moment. However, its the chicken which gives the twist to the salad. Chicken marinated with some orange juice, garlic and five spice powder. Now I was initially a little apprehensive whether five spice and Dijon Mustard would go together...but they hit it off right from the word go. As for rocket. they are my favourite salad greens, I don't do salad without those in. 

This recipe however is more of an idea. I think salads should be an informal affair. Something you could toss up while sipping on some wine and listening to Adele (I am currently in Adelle mode, in fact Rolling in the deep playing right now) without a care. Although this one is not exactly the toss up and go deal, still I wanted to leave the space for you to do it your way, just how you like it. Pour in as much or as little of each ingredient as you wan, to give yourself a salad just like you like it. What I can vouch for is the combination of flavours. 

Hope you guys like the recipe and please let me know how you find it if and when you toss it up.

Making the chicken

Boneless chicken  

Garlic paste

Orange juice

Honey  

Salt

Paprika

Five spice powder

Oil

Method

Marinate the chicken with the above ingredients and keep aside for about half an hour.

Pre heat oven at 200 degree centigrade and grill the chicken at the same temperature for 25-30 minutes.  If you don’t want to use the oven, grill the chicken on a griddle.

Keep the chicken aside, juices intact.

 

For the dressing

Ingredients

Orange juice

Honey

Dijon Mustard

Garlic paste

Red wine vinegar

Salt to taste

Method

Blend the honey, Dijon mustard and garlic paste well.

Add the orange juice, red wine vinegar, salt, beat and blend well.

 

 

For the salad

Ingredients

Rocket leaves

Orange (pips removed)

Salt and pepper 

Getting it together

Break the chicken pieces with your fingers into smaller pieces. Toss in the rocket leaves, oranges into the chicken (the juices and all) and toss well. Ladle in some dressing or serve it on the side. This one’s one helluva salad!

  

 

PS: Be careful with the oranges. Check how they taste before you jump into the act. Go easy with the orange juice too, you want the flavour, but you don’t want the salad to be too acidic.  

Adana Kebab

It goes without saying that if you're in Turkey brace yourself for the most amazing assortment of kebabs you just can't have enough of . And while in Istanbul, it was my sworn agenda to try as many different kinds as I could. For months, before the trip, I had dreamed about, drooled over and craved those morsels of deliciousness and how.

Once in Istanbul, I wasted no time.

So, there was the Iskender Kebab, a heap of sliced grilled lamb, doused in a subtly flavoured tomato sauce, served with generous dollops of fresh curd. And some restaurants serve a side of potato wedges too! I had my share of the Iskender Kebab at The Pudding Shop, off Sultanahmet Square. The lamb melted in my mouth laced with the flavours of the tomato sauce. And the spoon of thick, creamy yogurt that followed was oh-so soothing on the palate. This was my kind of goodness.

But I was too full to finish the dish and at the end I got to simply fishing the lamb pieces out of the sauce only to be admonished by one of the managers of the restaurant, who told me how I was missing out on the best part of the dish. Which is? Cleaning out the tomato sauce, infused with the juiced from the meat, with some bread. "Scoop it up, scoop it up," he hollered, (yes hollered). I did just that at the risk of an exploded tummy.

Again, though it might sound odd but the best meatballs I have had during my stay in Istanbul were at the Sultanahmet FISH House. So, you have the usual meatballs, KOFTE, served in a light gravy and then you have the grilled ones, soft and smokey, served with a buttery pilaf loaded with pine nuts and an enormous portion of chips — my favourite. I have had grilled kofte in  at least five places during my four days in Istanbul and the most flavourful were the once in Sultanahmet Fish House. And the owner (or manager, I am not sure) Oktay bey turned out to be quite a man, hospitable and helpful.

Then there was the ubiquitous doner, and yes the icli kofte, which I didn't get to taste until the last day and only by chance, just when I had given up on finding it. But that's another story. But one kebab that was a surprise for me, I hadn't heard or read about it before going to Turkey, was the spicy Adana Kebab.

We tasted the Adana Kebab at the Buhara Kebab Restaurant, Sultanahmet. The restaurant was in the same building as the hotel we were staying in and during the first three days of my stay I had completely ignored it. Mostly because we assumed it was not worth a gander and definitely not one of the legendary kebab places we were on the look out for. In fact, I hadn't even noticed the name. But it happened that my brother (also my travel companion) made friends with the guys at the restaurant over an iPhone charger and he insisted we dine at the restaurant on the day we were leaving Istanbul for Cappadocia. I agreed reluctantly only to find out that this place was in fact rated No 1 Kebab Place on Trip Advisor. I had read about it too, just that the name had slipped my mind. And there it had been...all this time.

It was a a great experience made even better by the staff. The young guys who man the restaurant are extremely friendly and add a special note to your dining experience. And I was smitten by the Adana Kebab. The Adana Kebab originated in Adana, one of Turkey's famous Kebab towns, the other being Urfa.  It is spicier than most of the other kebabs we tried and we loved it. The recipe I am sharing is not from any one place, it has bits and pieces from different sources, including little tips from my friends in Istanbul.  It turned out great. I made mini versions though, the real thing it longer.
 

Ingredients

Lamb minced - 1.5 kg
Onions (minced) - 1 cup
Red Bell pepper (minced) - 1 large 
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Ginger  paste- 2 tbsp
Curd - 150 g 
Finely chopped parsley - 3/4 cup
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (optional)

Sumac - 11/2 tbsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Cumin powder - 2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tbsp
Red chili flakes - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil 1/2 cup

Method: JUST 2 STEPS REALLY

Marinate the meat overnight with all the other ingredients and refrigerate.

Make croquet shaped kebabs with the spiced mix or use skewers and grill it on a griddle or slip it into a preheated over (220 degree centigrade) for about 15-20 minutes or until kebabs are soft and succulent. Serve it with a side of buttered rice or Turkish pilaf (recipe posted earlier) and some salad.

CHEERS!!!
PS: You can order for sumac online if you do not get it in your town/city. 

Picture perfect food : Tjalf Sparnaay

Last night I was browsing through some writing on food photography when I chanced across the works of contemporary Dutch artist Tjalf Sparnaay, an exponent of what he himself calls mega realism (part of the global hyper-realist art movement) who, captures on his canvas, mundane odds and ends. Only in his works they no longer remain mundane. They are magnified, larger than life and the detail captured bowl you over.

I was quite taken by his works, especially his oil paintings of food items — sandwiches loaded with ham, boiled eggs and luscious tomatoes, a perfect sunny side up, French fries slathered with ketchup — his paintings are finger-licking good.

Like I have said before I am obsessed with everything related to food. Now I have another something to drool over. I read up some more about him, enough to whet my appetite…erh curiosity and with much thought I shot him a mail asking for an interview.

This blog is fast turning into a recipe blog, and this was just my chance to bring in more elements. I was sure you guys would lobe his work too and a relish the chance to get to know the man. I was hardly expecting a reply considering here was an artist considered one of the most important once working in this style. But fortunately I did receive a reply and unfortunately this is what it read

 

So I wrote back

And he did reply back and seemed quite impressed by "ethic" bit. Honesty pays. Now from what I have read, his cooks the food he paints, usually nothing gourmet or complicated, mostly sandwiches and the kind, photographs them and then converts then paints them on his canvas. Sometimes he also takes a bite or two of his subjects. But it turns out he is not a foodie. He says

"I am no foodie, I paint food because of its landscape like qualities and possibility to tell the story I want about ordinary popular things in a very special way: A painting isolates the subject from daily life and gives it a new reality. Food needs that and (I) can express my skills and love for details and abstract moments as well. "

Not much of an interview but it felt good to have that interaction. And the best part is he gave me permission to use these photographs on my blog and share them with you.

All photographs have been sourced from  www.tjalfsparnaay.nl and the credit is solely theirs.

Thanks Tjalf for agreeing to share this

By the way his original works are priced anywhere between 15,000 and 85, 00 Dollars!!!! 

Tjalf at work 

Kaalo Jeere diye Murgi and a few memories

I have a soft spot for Nigella seeds, the good old Kaalo Jeere. My fascination with Kaalo Jeere started as a child. As a child I used to take dance lessons from a young girl in the neighbourhood. She was the first person who taught me to dance and everyday she had treats waiting for me. She was my favourite and I hated my mother for quite sometime when she decided to put me in Thankumuni Kutty's dance school. However, this particular woman had done a Bengali film, perhaps the only one, which also starred Danny Denzongpa in the role of a care taker. Naturally, it goes without saying I watched that film a hundred times. I had even forced my uncle to buy a VCD so that I could watch , such was my loyalty to my teacher. However, in a particular scene in the film, Danny's character was asked to get "Bhalo Cheerey" (good flat rice) from the grocers and he brought back Kaalo Jeere...and that's what triggered my fascination with the tiny, black grains.

I have other memories to associated to the Kaalo Jeere. It was used as the tempering in a particular soupy potato curry that was a Sunday custom at my place when I was a  child. All of us, my cousins and I,  would gather in the living room upstairs, around the television set, at 10 am to watch Mahabharat, with our Grandmother, and ten minutes later, breakfast comprising Luchi and this potato curry would be brought in. I never really cared what went on in Hastinapur those ten minutes, it was only when I had my plate in hand did I turn my attention to the television. I was always served first, I was the youngest in the house then (a privilege I lost soon enough).

Back in the day when I ruled this household.

The curry is still made at home sometimes, but not as often. It is very simple. Heat the oil, add Kalongi and a couple of dried red chilli, toss in diced potatoes, add salt and fry for sometime. Mix turmeric and red chilli powder in a little water and add it to the potatoes. Stir for a minute and then add enough water to cover the potatoes and a little more, put on a lid and cook on medium heat until potatoes are cooked. Serve with piping hot luchis.

I also love kaalo jeere in Kumror chenchki. My maternal grandmom makes it the best. Again, add kaalo jeere and a couple dried red chili to hot oil, toss in pumpkin cut in thin strips, somewhat like french fries but smaller and thinner. Add salt, sugar and cook on low heat until pumpkin is cooked and oil separates. It is the simplest and the best use of pumpkin to me.  Other than that I like it as tempering in the archetypal Shorshe bata macchh (Bengali style mustard fish) too.

But what I have been contemplating is using it in a meat dish. I do make a particular chicken dish which has nigella seeds but it is used in a mix of a host of spices. I wanted to make a chicken dish that rides solely on kaalo Jeere and that's exactly what I did today.

The ingredients are very simple, mostly the usual ones used in curries. I must mention here that sometimes, using mundane ingredients a little differently can make a huge difference to the dish. For instance onion. It's is used in almost all curries. But sometimes I make the same curry but use onions different. Sometimes I would caramelise the onion and add it at the end instead of frying it at the beginning, sometimes I would make a paste of the caramelised onion and then add it and sometimes I would boil the onions and make a paste of it and use it in the same recipe.

About the recipe. Here it goes

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 kg
Curd: 100 gms
Birista* - 1 cup
Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Tomato puree - 2-3 tbsp 
Whole green chillies (slit) - 6-7
Nigella Seeds (dry roasted and ground) - 4-5 tbsp
Whole peppercorns - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard oil
A pinch of sugar

Method 

• Marinate the chicken pieces in curd and salt for an hour. 
• Heat mustard oil in a pan and add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry for a few minutes, do not burn. Now add the green chillies, tomato puree and peppercorns. 
• Toss in the marinated chicken pieces and the ground Nigella seeds. Stir well, cover and cook until the chicken is almost done. Take the lid off, add the birista and cook on medium heat until the juices dry up and oil separates from the masala. Adjust seasoning, add a pinch of sugar, stir and take off heat. 
• Serve with plain rice.

*Thinly sliced, fried onions. Add a teaspoon of sugar to oil and add the onions just when the sugar is catching colour colour. You will get the brown without burning the onions.